Breaking Through

A FIRE IN THE MIND

Written by Kenneth White and Stephen & Robin Larsen Adapted from "A Fire in the Mind" by Stephen and Robin Larsen

1108 Wellesley Avenue Modesto, CA 95350-5044 (209) 567-0600 [email protected]

FADE IN: NEWSREEL FOOTAGE (BLACK AND WHITE) of the Great Depression. Two years on. The dawn of the Dirty 30s. EXT. NEW YORK CITY - WASHINGTON SQUARE – DAY Homeless FAMILIES shelter in tents and shacks. TITLE CARD New York Summer, 1931 EXT. AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY – DAY The pink brownstone and granite monolith towers among parklike grounds across from Central Park. INT. MUSEUM – EXHIBIT HALL of Northwest Coast Indians. JOSEPH "JOE" CAMPBELL, a lanky and athletic 27-year-old, is surrounded by a forest of Totem Poles. He wears a fringed, buckskin tunic. His fierce, bright blue eyes devour an intricate Kwakiutl totem depicting a sea monster with a frog's body, an otter's paws, and a raven's head. Joe removes an arrowhead from his tunic pocket. He clenches his fist around it. Mythic images stream from the totems and swirl around his head. He opens his arms, closes his eyes, and drinks them in. EXT. FORDHAM UNIVERSITY – LIBRARY – NIGHT A solo light beams from a window atop the ivy-covered tower. INT. DUANE LIBRARY - READING ROOM Joe burns the midnight oil. He has commandeered an entire table. He sits alone, surrounded by books. The Golden Bough by Sir James George Frazer, Psychology of the Unconscious by B.M. Hinkle, The Interpretation of Dreams, Totem and Taboo by Sigmund Freud, The Mind of Primitive Man, by Franz Boas, and The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann. Joe picks up a book. He blows away the dust. SNEEZES. Opens the hefty volume. Reads, scribbles notes, scans, contemplates, writes.

2.

EXT./INT. MANHATTAN APARTMENT – JOE'S ROOM – DAY Joe writes at his desk. A stack of dog-eared Saturday Evening Post magazines sits at his left elbow. A cork bulletin board hangs above the desk. Pinned to it: A postcard of Carmel, California. A watercolor of a small Arts and Crafts cottage. An artist's rendering of the Holy Grail. A child's drawing of an American Indian, ear to the ground, bow and arrow in hand. CLOSE ON the last page of the manuscript. Joe scrawls, "The End." He stacks all the pages in a neat pile. The title page reads:

"Strictly Platonic."

EXT. LONG ISLAND – SANDS POINT – DUSK The pleasure domes of the Gold Coast shimmer like Xanadu. EXT. LANDS END overlooks Long Island Sound. The manicured grounds stretch to the beach. The blue gardens swirl and eddy with GATSBY POSEURS dressed in knife-sharp tuxes and gossamer gowns. The smart set jitterbug to a JAZZ ORCHESTRA. Champagne bubbles and hors-d'ouevres glisten. Torturous WHISPERS and violent LAUGHTER fill the air. Joe, uneasy in his rented tuxedo, escorts 23-year-old PARMENIA MIGEL, a beautiful, serene orchid of a woman, through the labyrinth of excess. JOE Such obvious people. They want what they want and they want it now. PARMENIA They're my friends. EXT. SANDS POINT BEACH Joe and Parmenia stroll along the shoreline. JOE You have to know where you're going to get there. PARMENIA It all sounds so planned, darling. So permanent. So irrevocable.

3.

JOE That's life, yes? PARMENIA That's incredibly boring. JOE I want to write, Parmenia. PARMENIA Writing is a hobby, Joseph. Not a career. You'll never have this doing that. She sweeps her arm to indicate the estate. JOE I want to get married, have children and a home. PARMENIA Where's the fun? The excitement? The extraordinary? Parmenia removes her shoes, tosses them to Joe, and walks ankle-deep into the surf. She dances on the brink, along the ocean's edge. She motions for Joe to join her. JOE I don't own these. He gestures to his tux. PARMENIA You're so pedestrian. JOE I'm sorry. Parmenia stops dancing. She walks back to Joe and yanks away her shoes. PARMENIA So am I. JOE Why? PARMENIA I can't do this. JOE Do what?

4.

PARMENIA Live the life you want to live. JOE Parts or all? PARMENIA All. I don't want children. Or a bungalow in Westchester. I don't want to trek through ruins. I don't want to marry you. JOE I didn't do anything. PARMENIA Precisely. You're in a rut, Joseph. You need to open up, take risks, taste life. Dance more. JOE Give me a chance. PARMENIA I have. JOE What about a second chance? PARMENIA I can't. But, here's something better. She steps closer to Joe. He grins, eager to experience this "something better." PARMENIA (CONT’D) Stop being so rigid. Things never go as planned. JOE I can't help myself. PARMENIA Have you ever done anything for no good reason? JOE Like what you just did? PARMENIA You live too much in here. (touches his head) Not enough in here. (touches his heart)

5.

JOE I can change. PARMENIA You haven't. Parmenia glides back up the path, returning to her world. INT. CAMPBELL APARTMENT – DRAWING ROOM – DAY Joe's 51-year-old FATHER (CHARLES), 58-year-old MOTHER (JOSEPHINE), and 23-year-old SISTER (ALICE) savor afternoon tea. Joe enters. He drops a large manila mailing envelope onto a low table. He STOMPS up the stairs to his room. His mother picks up the envelope, withdraws a stack of manuscripts, and a letter. CLOSE ON the rejection letter from the Saturday Evening Post. EXT. CENTRAL PARK – DAY Joe and his father stand on the turret of Belvedere Castle, perched on the summit of Vista Rock. They gaze out at Turtle Pond. CHARLES CAMPBELL You can't eat words, Joseph. JOE I will not be tied down. Doing the same, dull thing, day-in and dayout. CHARLES CAMPBELL I'm sorry you see my life as such a waste. JOE It's not my life, Father. CHARLES CAMPBELL All that time squandered on "The Waste Land," Arthur, and the Grail legend. Studying things that have nothing to do with survival. That's the true waste. JOE Knowledge is never a waste.

6.

CHARLES CAMPBELL Then use it. Be a teacher. JOE So mundane. Those who can't, do. CHARLES CAMPBELL That's a little harsh, son. JOE The world is changing. I will not be left behind. CHARLES CAMPBELL What do you know about what's out there? JOE I'm about to find out. CHARLES CAMPBELL It's a waste land. All that greed and selfishness. JOE It's time to get out of the stands. CHARLES CAMPBELL And do what? JOE I need to tell my stories. CHARLES CAMPBELL How can you be a serious writer, my boy? What are you willing to sacrifice? For art? JOE Whatever it takes. CHARLES CAMPBELL We made it too easy for you, I'm afraid. Joe stares across the water. JOE I'm going West. Everyone else is. There's something there. Waiting. CHARLES CAMPBELL We expected more. The world has enough vagabonds.

7.

JOE I know what I want. CHARLES CAMPBELL What can one man do? JOE You'd be surprised, Father. You'd be surprised. Joe tosses a stone into the pond. It ripples out in everwidening circles. EXT. CAMPBELL APARTMENT – MORNING Flanked by stone gargoyles, Joe's mother and sister look down and wave goodbye. JOE (V.O.) There was a fire in my mind. Which only a journey could quench. At the front door, Joe shakes hands with his father. All very manly and unemotional. Joe looks up and waves at his mother and sister. He wears the buckskin tunic. He bows and steps into his Ford Flivver. He places the arrowhead on the dashboard, pointing West. He fires up the car and lurches away. TRANSITION TO: JOURNEY MONTAGE Joe drives through a shifting kaleidoscope of American landscapes. TITLE CARD America Fall, 1931 Everywhere he goes, Joe sees deadening poverty and despair. The roads are jammed with FAMILIES. Rubber GYPSIES heading West into the setting sun. EXT. CALIFORNIA - DAY Joe rolls across sun-drenched Southern California to Los Angeles. He turns north and travels up the placid, languid coast through Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo. The road is littered with thumb-riding HOBOS.

8.

At Salinas, Joe heads northeast toward San Jose. EXT. SAN JOSE – MORNING Joe navigates the Flivver through old San Jose. EXT. SAN JOSE – BUNGALOW – MORNING Joe KNOCKS at the front door. IDELL HENNING answers. She's an unpretentious, twinkling, exotic 24-year-old. She wears pajamas, slippers, and a light blue coolie jacket. Her hair is cut short in the new style. JOE Aloha, Idell. IDELL As I live and breathe. Joe Campbell. JOE A long way from Honolulu. They can't decide whether to shake hands or hug. They hug. EXT. BUNGALOW – GARDEN – LATER Idell cuts roses and lays them carefully in a basket. IDELL Trekked to Hawaii and came back more pale than you arrived. So Joe. Joe hangs on her every word. Entranced. Idell looks at him from time-to-time and smiles. Flattered by his attentiveness. And attracted. JOE The university had a very good library. IDELL Ours has better dust. He smiles at her good-natured ribbing. JOE This is so different than New York. IDELL Right Coasters think we're a little odd.

9.

JOE I miss having this. This naturalness. With a woman. Idell smiles. IDELL Enjoy what you've got, Joe. But don't be satisfied. Reach out for more. JOE You're so straightforward. How refreshing. IDELL Be realistic and frank, my friend. That's my motto. Never pretend to feel something you don't feel. GARDEN - LATER Joe and Idell sip tea. Idell smokes a cigarette in a longstemmed holder. She blows smoke rings. Joe pokes them with his finger. JOE I will be anything but ordinary. IDELL It's swell you know what you want. JOE I do. IDELL A journey is like a marriage, Joe. You're dead wrong to think you can control it. INT. BATHROOM – NIGHT Joe soaks in the tub. Idell sits on the toilet seat in her nightgown. JOE It's a silly notion, really. IDELL Nuts to that. Living and writing in Carmel. How bucolic.

10.

JOE Ouch. Not quite the image I had in my mind's eye. IDELL Sorry, kid. JOE It's a fantasy anyway. It will never happen. Who was I kidding? IDELL I have a wild scheme. Kind of dingy, actually. JOE Let's hear it. IDELL Do you remember my big sis, Carol? JOE Redhead, yes? IDELL That's her. JOE I do. Absolutely. IDELL Well, she married a chap who's doing the very thing you want to do. His name is John. John Steinbeck. Heard of him? JOE No, can't say I have. But, I'm not very current. IDELL Neither has anybody else. (she stands) I'd like to get you two together. Why don't we take a run down there? JOE Now? IDELL Tomorrow's soon enough. Pacific Grove is just around the corner. JOE I'm game.

11.

IDELL Me, too. Idell steps nearer the tub. Joe pulls her in. EXT. THE MONTEREY PENINSULA – MORNING The most beautiful marriage of land and sea. Safe harbor for artists and Bohemians. EXT. PACIFIC GROVE - COTTAGE – MORNING The flimsy red house sits on Eleventh Street. It's a little down-at-the-heels. Like the rest of the country. INT. COTTAGE Clean and comfortable, but Spartan. Hard times have hit here just like everywhere. JOHN STEINBECK sits in a straight-backed chair at his card table writing desk. He's a hulking, solemn 30-year-old with a Clark Gable moustache and yesterday's stubble. The resemblance to Joe is remarkable, especially around the eyes, which are a wide-awake, intense blue. On the table in front of him is a used accountant's ledger filled with scrawlings in ripe, rich green ink. Next to it a pack of cigarettes, a sea-shell ash tray, and a small cigarette lighter. He smokes. CAROL STEINBECK sets a cup of coffee on the table. John smiles. She's a handsome, long-legged, redheaded 26-year-old, with a kind of sparkle and feistiness about her. John and Carol wear the same clothes. Denim pants and slouchy jackets. In the style of Ernest and Hadley Hemingway. Also a little worn-out. Carol returns to pacing around a small table that cradles a typewriter. She moves to the fireplace. She centers an ancient brass cup, sitting on the mantle. CAROL Of an unknown God? JOHN Almost. To an unknown God?

12.

CAROL What about ... ? (inspired) To a God Unknown? Steinbeck's face brightens. His right eyebrow exclaims. JOHN Sweet Carol. I don't know what I'd do without my elfin muse. CAROL Don't call me no damn elephant moose, sir. She waddles around like an elephant moose. They both LAUGH. JOHN It's us against the world. CAROL I put my money on us. EXT. HIGHWAY – AFTERNOON The Flivver bumps along old State Route 1 near Watsonville. Joe and Idell chatter non-stop, like students on a field trip. EXT. PACIFIC GROVE – SAME TIME The Flivver cruises along Lighthouse Avenue. MONARCH BUTTERFLIES fill the sky, fluttering on their annual pilgrimage from Canada to their protective winter habitat among the pine forests of Pacific Grove. EXT. STEINBECK COTTAGE – DUSK The Flivver pulls up and parks. Idell gets out and stretches. Carol, sweaty and dirty, rounds the corner of the house, arms filled with fresh-cut wood. She sees her sister, drops everything, and runs to greet her. The sisters hug. Joe clambers out of the Flivver. Carol walks up to Joe. She extends her hand.

13.

CAROL I remember you. JOE And I, you. Something passes between the two as they shake hands. CAROL Six years ago. That fateful voyage to Hawaii. Uh,

...

JOE fateful.

CAROL Helluva journey. Um,

...

JOE quite.

Carol smiles at Joe's flustrated lack of words. INT. STEINBECK COTTAGE – LIVING ROOM – MOMENTS LATER Carol enters and drops the wood by the fireplace. Idell escorts Joe inside. John stands at the bay window. He turns at the commotion. IDELL John, this is Mr. Joe Campbell. CAROL (appraising them side-byside) You two could be brothers. John crosses to join them. He and Joe shake hands. JOE Just call me Cain. JOHN How Abel are you? Carol grimaces and touches her eye. CAROL Shit. IDELL What is it, sister?

14.

CAROL Something in my eye. JOE Let me take a look. CAROL Are you a doctor? JOE Of philosophy. CAROL Close enough. JOE Let's get nearer the light. Joe navigates Carol closer to a floor lamp. Idell hovers. John sits in his chair reading. Uninterested in what is happening. JOE (CONT’D) Now, look up, down, left, right. Ah, there it is. Joe removes his handkerchief from his back pants pocket and lightly touches her exposed eye. JOE (CONT’D) That should do it, yes? Carol blinks rapidly, rubs her eye, and smiles. JOE (CONT’D) Wood ash, it appears. CAROL Lucky for me you were here. JOE Anybody could have done it. CAROL But, you did. DINING ROOM – LATER Carol and Idell remove the dinner plates. Joe and John remain at the table. JOHN Beer?

15.

JOE I don't drink. JOHN I'll have one anyway. John goes into the kitchen and returns with a freshly-opened bottle of Burgermeister. As the two women wash the dishes, we catch bits of Joe and John's CONVERSATION. JOE I studied the Arthurian legends in Europe. JOHN I lived in England for a spell. Did a little research. Plan to write about it someday. JOE Arthur, Guinevere, and Merlin. JOHN Don't forget Lancelot. JOE Undone by a woman. Carol enters in time to hear that comment. CAROL You know what a woman can do to a man. Both men gaze at Carol. LIVING ROOM - LATER Joe and John sit near the fireplace, drinking coffee. TILLIE, John's Airedale, enters and nuzzles Joe's hand. JOE Handsome dog. JOHN Yep, she is. Her name is Tylie Eulenspiegel. We call her Tillie. John SNAPS his fingers sharply. JOHN (CONT’D) Sit, girl.

16.

Tillie hurries over and curls up at her master's feet. JOE So, a writer, yes? JOHN Struggling. JOE A writer, nonetheless. JOHN Can I read a little? JOE Absolutely. CAROL I'll get some coffee started. John goes to his desk, selects some typed pages, and returns. JOHN The hero is Joseph Wayne. Based on Joseph of the Old Testament. JOE That's who I was named after. The interpreter of dreams and mysteries. John is impressed. Joe's knowledge seems almost limitless. JOHN It's about Joseph's journey West. To California's promised land. Joe is a little unsettled by the parallels. JOHN (CONT’D) (reads) "When the crops were under cover on the Wayne farm near Pittsfield in Vermont, when the winter wood was cut and the first light snow lay on the ground, Joseph Wayne went to the wing-back chair by the fireplace late one afternoon and stood before his father. These two men were alike." Joe sits back and closes his eyes, savoring the words.

17.

LIVING ROOM – A LITTLE LATER John flips to the last page of the typed manuscript. JOHN (reads) "He went back to his chair and sat listening to the rush of the waters. He thought of Joseph Wayne, and he saw the pale eyes suffering because of the land's want. 'That man must be very happy now,' Father Angelo said to himself." John finishes and looks expectantly to Joe. JOE I like the idea. But, the characters seem, well, lifeless to me. It all lacked a sensuous, vivid quality. John looks mildly annoyed, then SIGHS. JOHN Yep, I agree. The women enter from the kitchen and join them. JOHN (CONT’D) Mind if I read more? JOE Not at all. JOHN This is a short story. A re-telling of Arthur and the Round Table. JOE Appropriate. JOHN (reads) "When Danny came home from the army he learned that he was an heir and an owner of property. The viejo, that is the grandfather, had died, leaving Danny the two small houses on Tortilla Flat." LIVING ROOM – SOME TIME PASSES Everyone is quiet, caught up in John's vision — a modern tale of the genesis of the Round Table set in Monterey.

18.

JOHN (reads) "The people of the Flat melted into the darkness. Danny's friends still stood looking at the smoking ruin. They looked at one another strangely, and then back to the burned house. And after a while they turned and walked slowly away, and no two walked together." John finishes. Everyone is very still. Misty-eyed, Carol kisses John on the cheek. JOE I think it's tremendous. There's a fine, deep, living quality which ought to ring a bell. Idell nods in agreement. JOHN If it's ever read. Tillie rises, stretches, and ambles over to Joe's feet. She plops down and falls asleep. John glances at his dog, then up at Joe. Joe shrugs. IDELL Joe, tell John your pipe dream. JOE He wouldn't be interested. IDELL Malarkey. JOE Well, John, I'd like to try my hand at writing. Short stories, that is. Perhaps around here. JOHN So, you're insane, too. JOE I'm afraid so.

19.

IDELL (to John) What do you think? CAROL I think you should stay. JOE The night? CAROL As long as you like. EXT. PACIFIC GROVE – CANARY COTTAGE – DAY Joe moves into a small house with bright yellow, cardboard siding. JOHN (OVER SHOT) You know, there's a place right next door to a friend of mine. Just came up for rent. CAROL (O.S.) It's not hoity-toity Carmel. JOE (O.S.) Close enough. CAROL (O.S.) Neighbors call it Canary Cottage. JOE (O.S.) Sounds perfect. CAROL (O.S.) It's settled then. JOHN (O.S.) Welcome to the clan. INT. CANARY COTTAGE – NIGHT GALLERY OF IMAGES (JOURNEY WALL) Tacked to a blank side wall are the mementos from Joe's apartment room – the Carmel postcard, the cottage, the Holy Grail, and the Indian drawing. Joe sits at his desk. He finishes a sketch of a red-haired, green-eyed Guinevere. He pins it to the wall below the mementos. He stares at it a moment. He smiles and returns to his desk.

20.

JOE (V.O.) At last. A world of my contemporaries. Joe places the arrowhead on the window sill above his desk. He flips open a new Saturday Evening Post. He starts a new story in a "new" ledger book like John's. JOE (V.O.) (CONT’D) This constellation of mavericks. On a branch WHISPERING against the window, a COCOON transforms into a beautiful Monarch BUTTERFLY. EXT. NEW MONTEREY – CANNERY ROW – DAYBREAK Cannery Row, the Sardine Factory, the Waterfront, the Docks. New Monterey is an industrial town of Italians, Chinese, Japanese, Slavs, Poles, Mexicans, paisanos, and mulattos who work the canning lines and seine boats. With the sunrise, the day begins for the Free Company of Cannery Row. The compadres of the street. BUMS sleep in barrels. WINOS snore in derelict industrial piping in a vacant lot. BINDLE STIFFS rummage through garbage cans. DORA'S GIRLS drift out onto the porch of the Bear Flag Restaurant, coffee and brandy in hand. WON YEE, proprietor, stands outside the Wing Chong Market. A fishing boat puts out to sea. Followed by another and another, as the SARDINE FLEET begins its day's work. JOHN (V.O.) "Cannery Row in Monterey in California is a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream." MUFFLED, a LEADBELLY swamp blues tune THRUMS the water. EXT. NEW MONTEREY – OCEAN VIEW AVENUE – MORNING John and Joe walk through the fog. JOHN Never known anyone like him. EXT. CANNERY ROW – MORNING They stop before a small, two-storied, weathered wooden building squeezed between two canneries at 800 Ocean View.

21.

It wouldn't be an overstatement to say the building is on the wrong side of the railroad tracks that run parallel to Ocean View, a half block up the hill. Near the front door hangs a rough-hewn wooden sign. The tentacles of an octopus encircle a broken mast inscribed with the words: "Pacific Biological Laboratories." Leadbelly is replaced with the strains of Bach's THE ART OF THE FUGUE, wafting out the open window of the lab. JOHN He loves women — in any way, shape or form. And beer. Across the street at the Bear Flag, two of the local WORKING GIRLS stretch out on the stoop, soaking up the sun and the MUSIC. A couple CUSTOMERS sit in their roadsters, doors open, smoking cigarettes, and enjoying the churchy music. JOHN (CONT’D) He lives for now. INT. PACIFIC BIOLOGICAL LABORATORIES (DOC'S LAB) – MORNING John and Joe enter. They look around. No one home. A big, sturdy-looking, unlocked safe stands alone, piled high with stationery and filing cards. Papers cover a large, weathered work table. Pinned to the walls at eye-level are reproductions of da Vinci, Daumier, and Dali. Joe inspects the library. Goethe, Schiller, Novalis, Spengler, and anthologies on physics and biology. John examines the FAUNA, some living in cages, some dead in bottles and jars. JOHN All that matters is the truth. With a capital "T." Joe takes a closer look at the Rube Goldberg-ish phonograph player SPOUTING MUSIC. John leans down to inspect an empty cage.

22.

JOHN (CONT’D) These days, folks got no courage to live their own life. It's all "have to, not want to." JOE I've never done a thing I wanted to in my entire life. Except come out here. JOHN Not good old Eddie. Doesn't believe in "have to." A RATTLESNAKE lunges at John's face, smashing into the cage bars. John YELPS and falls back. Joe catches him. John smiles sheepishly. He was trying to show off and it backfired. JOHN (CONT’D) He'll give you the shirt off his back. And the skin off my teeth. He's a hard man not to like. John stares at a pickled CHILD'S FETUS floating in a museum jar. Its little legs are crossed in a Buddha pose, as if it were praying. JOHN (CONT’D) Folks around here call him "Doc." He's your new neighbor. The music has ended. The needle SCRATCHES MONOTONOUSLY as it spins against the inside hub of the record. Joe tries to figure out how to turn off the contraption. JOHN (CONT’D) Everyone finds himself in "Doc." ED (OFF-SCREEN) (plain, Midwestern accent) Hey there, oh great writer! Startled, John and Joe turn around. Standing in the doorway is 34-year-old EDWARD FLANDERS ROBB "ED" RICKETTS, sporting a broad-brimmed hat and goatish smile. He is a small, wiry man; genial and full of life. His eyes radiate with mischief. Half-Christ, half-Satyr, his wispy beard ripples in the ocean breeze.

23.

Ed emits a staccato LAUGH. JOHN Hail, oh great scientist! Ed steps into the lab. Joe walks up to Ed and extends his hand. JOE Joe Campbell. Ed lifts a brown paper bag he's been carrying. ED Breakfast. Ed slips off the bag to reveal a quart bottle of beer. He unscrews the top and takes a quick swig. He SMACKS his lips. ED (CONT’D) Nothing like that first taste of cerveza in the morning. Yum-yum. Ed takes a deeper drink, smiles, and waves two fingers in the air, blessing God for the gift of beer. ED (CONT’D) Man can't work on an empty stomach. JOHN Hair of the dog, eh, Ed? ED Scale of the snapper, John, ink of the squid. He shakes Joe's outstretched hand. ED (CONT’D) Mind if I call you "JC"? You look like a martyr. JOHN Ed likes nicknames. ED Comes from being a scientist. Blame it on Linnaeus. JOE I guess I don't mind. Sure, I don't mind at all. I've never had a nickname.

24.

EXT. THE LAB – BACK LANDING – LATE MORNING Ed and John drink beers. Bohemia this time. Joe sips a CocaCola. His gaze alternates between John and Ed and the ocean. Relaxed. Enthralled. Less rigid than he's been in some time. JOHN Ed here has spent his life kneedeep in the tides trying to chart the universe. ED Stars or starfish. It's all the same, you see. JOHN Calls himself a "holistic ecologist." ED Look, ecology is science's way of making up for its sins against nature. Our sins. JOHN Yep, we're all in this soup together. ED All hitched together, Joe. All hitched together. Interrelated parts of a whole. There's no difference between a lovely flower, a good poem, or a sea spider. JOHN We just got to figure out how to get along with the old lady. ED If we don't, we won't survive. Know why? JOHN Because Mother Nature bats last. ED Say, JC, we're meeting Carol at the tide pools later. Care to join us? JOHN Specimens for him, grub for us. Off Joe's confused look.

25.

JOHN (CONT’D) In case you hadn't noticed, times are tough. JOE Unfortunately, I have. EXT. POINT PIñOS LIGHTHOUSE – LATE AFTERNOON Ed, Joe, Carol, and John wade in the tide pools among the large rocks off the coast. They gather sea FOOD and SPECIMENS and dump them into gunnysacks. Joe and John splash Tillie, who dances in the surf, caught between them. JOHN (OVER SHOT) We get what we can where we can. GREAT TIDE POOL - EVENING Ed kneels on the edge of the Great Tide Pool. Joe, Carol, and John hover over his shoulder. Ed tips back his small-brimmed fedora and closely inspects some CREATURES with the twenty-power Bausch and Lomb magnifying glass, attached to a small roller chain, that's always pinned to his shirt. Ed gestures, explains, then glances back to confirm that they understand. They all nod, like good students. ED (O.S.) Starving artist is more than an amateur pose in the Steinbeck adobe. INT. CANARY COTTAGE – NIGHT Joe sits at his desk. GALLERY OF JOURNEY IMAGES He stares at the wall dotted with images of his journey thus far. Next to an image of Lot's wife turned into a pillar of salt, a photo of Ed has been added beside drawings of Coyote the Trickster and Kokopeli. INT. STEINBECK COTTAGE – DAY Different day, same clothes, same work. John is totally absorbed in his writing.

26.

Carol stands beside the fireplace. She gazes at the brass cup. Joe relaxes in the easy chair. Observing. Spellbound. Oswald Spengler's The Decline of the West lies face-down on his lap. Carol sits and types. JOHN Do you like? CAROL I do. It's so damned real. So earthy I can almost taste it. Which would make my stupid stomach shut the hell up. JOHN Don't know whatCAROL You'll be great with or without me. INT. DOC'S LAB – NIGHT Dinner at the lab. GERSHWIN on the phonograph. Artichokes boil on the stove, a small chicken broils in the oven, fresh Salinas lettuce dries on the counter, wine flows. A sumptuous banquet considering the times. The GUESTS are diverse and colorful. Gregarious Bohemians all. Joe and Ed, Carol and John. Fledgling writer and artist 23-year-old RITCHIE LOVEJOY and his same-aged "roommate," NATALYA ("TAL"). JACK CALVIN, adventurer, photographer, writer and his wife, 29-year-old SASHA. Tal and Sasha are the Sisters Kashevaroff, outgoing and outrageous Russian émigrés. They pale in comparison to their 18-year-old sister, XENIA. Ed and John drink freely. Carol entertains the group with over-the-top charades. JOHN "Ain't Misbehavin'"! Carol touches her nose to signal he's right.

27.

CAROL Bingo! Fats Waller tune. JOHN You're wrong. It's Louis Armstrong. ED Stop fighting children. You're both right. JOE Leo Reisman also did it. JOHN Old know-it-all Joe. A real Abercrombie. Carol leans down to kiss John. He turns his cheek. She kisses him hard on the other cheek. Joe has become very much a part of the group. He LAUGHS a lot. From time-to-time, he gazes at Carol. The clothes he wears resemble John's. Ed touches the sleeve of Joe's jacket. ED Nice duds, JC. JOE They're a good fit, yes? Carol appears and plops down between the two men. CAROL Hope you two weren't talking about wittle 'ol me. ED Not a chance. Not a chance. JOE That wouldn't be gentlemanly, now would it? CAROL I'd like Joe to know a little more about the company we keep. This band of goddamned misfits. ED I'll leave you in Carol's capable hands. I hear a beer calling my name.

28.

As Ed wanders off, Carol threads her arm through Joe's and cuddles closer, like a child about to enter a wonderland. She points at a 40-year-old MAN wearing round spectacles and a fedora jauntily cocked at an angle. CAROL (OVER SHOT) That's Henry Miller. He's a writer and dirty old man. Lived in Paris. She moves on to a lean, intense 19-year-old MAN, who Xenia shamelessly flirts with. CAROL (O.S.) (CONT’D) John Cage composes wild music. He's a bit of a prodigy. Very sexy. Damned Xenia will go after anything in pants. JOE (O.S.) Women love musicians. CAROL (O.S.) Some women. Carol scans the room and stops on a dark, distinguished 55year-old MAN wearing an open-collared white shirt, gaucho pants, and red kerchief around his neck. CAROL (O.S.) (CONT’D) Joseph Mora is the "Renaissance Man of the West." Does just about every damned thing. Writer, painter, sculptor. He carved the tomb for Father Junipero Serra over at Carmel Mission. Carol points at a bearded, smiling 45-year-old MAN with a camera around his neck. CAROL (O.S.) (CONT’D) And there's Edward Weston. He shoots naked women and vegetables. Erotic still lifes. I really love his work. She jabs Joe in the ribs with her elbow. JOE I'm not sure I've ever seen an erotic vegetable.

29.

THE LAB – A LITTLE LATER The CACOPHONY of conversation includes snippets of metaphysics, psychology, art, music, and literature. A dab of mythology, a dash of history, a pinch of mysticism. Ritchie draws a caricature of John dressed as King Arthur. The ears, nose, and right eyebrow are accentuated. The cartoon John jousts a dragon labeled "Injustice." Instead of a lance, he wields a fountain pen. Making a point to John, Ed gestures to a GRAPH OF HISTORY that runs halfway around the office. Note cards dot the graph, covered with neat, small elite type. A MAP of WESTERN CANADA and ALASKA is tacked to another wall. JOHN (to Joe) Jack and I went to Stanford together. CAROL Jack's the real adventurer of the two. Jack TAPS the Inside Passage on the map of Alaska. JACK Sasha and I explored most of this. SASHA In an ever-loving canoe. XENIA On their honeymoon. JOHN With a dog. RITCHIE The venerable National Geographic published his scribblings. TAL They're going back to the scene of the crime. JOHN And taking the scientist with them. ED I'll be collecting. A specimen of pink jellyfish, gonionemus vertens.

30.

CAROL (to Joe) That's how our little collective, this salon of New Bohemians, survives. Ed's the butter and egg man. JOHN He makes the money. We spend it. Joe picks up a guitar leaning against one end of a slightly broken-down couch. He STRUMS a few notes. Deftly TUNES. He SINGS a troubadour's ballad. He is very good. He finishes to WILD APPLAUSE. ED Ah, chivalry. Indeed. JOHN Yep, a different time. JOE For the troubadour, love was everything. Nothing else mattered. ED Not even marriage. CAROL You're telling me they believed there was no room for love in marriage? JOE Marriage was a social convention. Love a divine visitation. ED Loyalty was more important than love, you see. Being true. Not cheating. Not running away. CAROL Marriage isn't a noun, boys. It's a verb. It's not something you get. It's something you give. JOHN Got to love the female point of view. JOE A troubadour would rather die than be separated from the one he loved.

31.

JOHN Tristan died for Isolde. CAROL Cleopatra for Caesar. JOE He would sing to his lady even if there was no hope of her ever loving him in return. Joe sings another chanson. This one just to Carol. Carol is enchanted and charmed by Joe's attention. THE LAB – MUCH LATER In a shadowy corner, Ed steals a kiss from Xenia. Everyone notices. Conspiratorial glances all around that say, "There goes Ed again." John drinks alone. A shadow falls across his bottle. CAROL Can I get you some coffee? JOHN I'm fine. CAROL Tomorrow will be here in a minute. JOHN I'll manage. CAROL Blank pages don't sell for shit. JOHN It's garbage anyway. CAROL Doesn't matter. You've got to write every damned day, John. You know that. JOHN Who cares? CAROL I do. I'm counting on you. Hell, I gave up everything because I believe in you. She touches his arm. He yanks it away.

32.

JOHN Stop nagging me. You're always nagging me. CAROL (heated WHISPER) Somebody has to, dammit. Otherwise you'd always be down here with Ed. Drinking and having a helluva good time. While I'm home cooking and cleaning and working odd jobs to make ends meet. You got any idea how damned hard it is to get along on twenty-five bucks a month? Carol thrusts her face in front of John's. CAROL (CONT’D) Do you? Johns stands, glares at her, and walks away. CAROL (CONT’D) (to his back) Of course you don't. Carol turns and sees Joe, who has watched it all. EXT. STEINBECK COTTAGE – NEXT DAY Carol lovingly cultivates the winter flowers and vegetables in their garden. She's attentive because she knows their very life depends on the bounty these plants may produce. John steps out the back door. JOHN Sorry for being such a heel last night. CAROL No, you're right. I am a damned nag. JOHN You are. But, I need you to keep me on the old straight and narrow. CAROL I was a bit of a wet blanket. JOHN Someone's got to be. Else I'd always be out playing with the boys.

33.

CAROL Ed and Joe are fun to be around. JOHN You know I appreciate all you do. I never say it enough, but you know I do. CAROL I do. TITLE CARD Winter, 1932 EXT. CANNERY ROW – DAY In an empty field, the mavericks have assembled. Ed and Joe, John and Carol, Ritchie and Tal, Xenia, the seventh wheel. CRAZY MONTE, a local legend and terminally juiced raconteur, has brought his band of MERRY MEN, which is just a group of intoxicated, rumpled bums looking for free food and drink. They're a ragged collection. Dressed in their skid-row uniform of blue denim bib-and-brace overalls or dungarees, worn white at the knees and butt. They all stand around a somewhat circular collection of flotsam and jetsam collected from the beach and the streets. Driftwood, scraps of iron, discarded sections of houses, rusted car parts, trash can treasures. From high above, we can see that they've assembled a rustic Round Table. Ed places a rickety, high-backed chair at the top center of the table. He gestures for John to sit. He does. JOHN At this table, we're all equal. Crazy Monte staggers up to sit at a bar stool directly across from John. Ed stops him. ED Can't sit there, Monte. CRAZY MONTE Why the hell not? My butt's equal to yours. JOE Yonder seat is the Perilous Seat. The Sege Perilous. (MORE)

34. JOE (CONT'D) It's reserved for the knight who will one day find the Holy Grail and revive the Waste Land. Anyone else who sits there will die.

Crazy Monte's eyes grow wide and he staggers away like he's seen a ghost. JOE (CONT’D) The only one who can find the Grail is the one who has lived his own life. ED The authentic life. JOHN Yep, to sit there, you gotta be true to you. CAROL True as moonlight. JOE Adulterers, the vain, the lustful, and the selfish will never find the Grail. CRAZY MONTE Who you callin' a dolterer? Tillie pulls on her leash. She drags Carol over to where Joe stands. Tillie flops at Joe's feet. Joe bows slightly to Carol. JOE Lady fair. Carol smiles. Attracted. And amazed again at his knowledge. Ed raises his bottle of Bohemia. ED A toast. To the Round Table. We have to take care of each other. If we don't, who will? Who will? JOE We search for that which unites us. JOHN And destroy what divides us. JOE To the Grail.

35.

ED To community. JOHN To equality. CAROL To love. Tillie affectionately licks Joe's hand. EXT. STEINBECK COTTAGE – DAY A pile of paper burns. Tillie BARKS at it. Joe scans the top sheet of an armful of typed manuscript pages. He hands it to John. JOE I liked that one. It showed genuine promise, yes? John hesitates a moment, scowls, wads the paper into a ball, and hurls it into the fire. JOHN All a waste of time. Just couldn't hold water. JOE Precious things make beautiful flames. JOHN I don't want the old stories around anymore. They remind me of where I've been. Who I was. INT. CANARY COTTAGE – DAY GALLERY OF JOURNEY IMAGES The growing collection of images arcs in a circle on the side wall. Joe adds a sketch by W.W. Denslow of a road paved with yellow bricks from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz alongside a painting of a knight crossing a rainbow bridge. He sits. He touches the arrowhead. He continues the story.

36.

EXT. CANNERY ROW – DAY The empty lot between the Bear Flag Restaurant and the Wing Chong Market is a dumping ground for the canneries. Rusty pipes, a couple boilers, and great timbers lie scattered like Valhalla's TinkerToys. Joe and Ed sit on the timbers, warming in the sun like lizards. A copy of The Odyssey lies open on Joe's lap. JOE (V.O.) I've discovered a pattern in all stories of the world. Separation then initiation then return. ED A sort of heroic journey? Zentastic. Joe lifts an eyebrow and smiles. JOE These stories, these myths, explain who we are. Where we came from. Where we're going. They teach us what's good and bad. They help us make sense of a senseless world. We fill the darkness with ghosts, Gods, and heroes. Without mythology, without the old stories, we're lost. ED And that spells trouble, it does. JOE The evidence is everywhere. Suicide, anger, broken homes, wild children, violence, sadness, greed. ED Damned depressing. JOE The old beliefs, the rituals, the myths. They're timeless. And valuable. But, we've forgotten them.

37.

ED Someone needs to bring these stories back to life, you see. So we can find our way home. JOE It takes a thousand voices to tell the one story. INT. STEINBECK COTTAGE – NIGHT John writes so fast, his hand is a blur. As quickly as he finishes a page, tears it from the ledger, and tosses it on the floor, Carol proofs and types it. John finishes with a flourish and dots the period with a resounding JAB. JOHN That feels good. John spins the final page toward Carol like a discus. Joe snatches it in midair and hands it to Carol. JOE You are a man on fire, sir. JOHN It's been so easy. Like someone else was writing it. CAROL But, it's not. It's you. JOHN Thanks to you. CAROL I'm just a typist. EXT./INT. DOC'S LAB – DAY Ed, Ritchie, and Tal listen to RACHMANINOFF, drink wine, and talk. Joe sips water. Xenia gulps Coca-Cola. Ritchie draws a caricature of Ed as a randy Merlin-goat chasing a flock of Damsel-in-distress-sheep. Merlin sports a sorcerer's hat, goatee, and waders. His trousers can't mask a noticeable bulge. He carries a quart bottle of beer and a flashing wand inscribed with the word: "TRUTH." There's a KNOCK at the door.

38.

JOE (expectant) That must be them. ED Hmm, not like them to knock. Ed opens the door. A WESTERN UNION DELIVERY BOY hands him a telegram. Ed returns to the room, opening the telegram. ED (CONT’D) It's from Carol. (reads) "The Steinbecks will be unobtainably devoid." JOE The poor telegraph operator. What a clever mistake. RITCHIE You don't know our Carol. TAL I bet that's exactly what she meant to say. JOE She is too much. Too much. Joe arches his eyebrow. His eyes sparkle. Everyone in the room sees it. INT. CANARY COTTAGE – DAY GALLERY OF JOURNEY IMAGES The circle of images on the journey wall continues to grow. Joe adds a wood block print of Ulysses being tempted by the Sirens next to an image of a Minotaur at the center of a labyrinth and a reproduction of Ophelia by John Everett Millais. Joe stares at the images. Then sits at his desk. Walks back to the wall. And sits at the desk. Gazes at the wall. And stares out the window. The story remains unfinished. EXT. MONTEREY – BEACH – DAY Ed and Joe relax in a deep crease in the white, rounded dunes created by the wind-crouching pines. Thick pine boughs shield it. Lush pine needles carpet it.

39.

JOE How does he do it? How does anyone do it? ED Puts his time in. Heinie in the chair. Words on the page, JC. Words on the page. JOE John has tasted life. I've just read about it. ED You've seen more of the world. JOE Then I must be blind. ED Well, blind men can see. Joe ponders this riddle a moment, then

...

JOE I want to take everything I've ever learned and experienced and mold it into something worthwhile. ED Wow, making a career out of making sense of mythology. Nobody's ever done that. Ever. JOE What about Frazer and Ragland? ED Hobbyists. Rich amateurs. Your obsession could become a profession. Yes, indeedy. JOE What if I can't do it? What if the time isn't right? ED I know one thing. And one thing I know. JOE What's that?

40.

ED You can't do it solo. I'd never chase anything like that withoutThe heavy waves BEAT the hard beach. The yellow light of the setting sun illuminates a cloud to the eastward - a clot of gold. Ed listens. JOE Without? ED Love. Without love. JOE You are a wise man. ED Merlin was a wise man. I'm just a simple scientist. JOE I'm surprised they don't lock you up. ED I'm not dangerous. JOE You're contented. That's worse. ED I know what I like, I do. The wind PLUCKS the pine boughs. The surf POUNDS against the shore. JOE Be careful you don't start a movement, Ed. You'll be sipping hemlock before sundown. ED Got nothing to teach. INT. STEINBECK COTTAGE – NIGHT Joe sits at John's card table desk. He lifts the bread pan that covers the ledger containing John's writing. Carol types. Joe takes a cigarette from John's pack. Joe lights it, takes a puff, and immediately starts HACKING. He COUGHS until he cries. He stubs out the cigarette.

41.

Carol GIGGLES. Muffling the COUGHS with his handkerchief, Joe walks over to the mantle behind Carol. He touches the brass cup. JOE It's little wonder he cherishes you. You're catnip to creativity. Carol blushes. Joe caresses her cheek. Carol CATCHES her breath and closes her eyes. Joe yanks his hand back, like he's touched a live wire. He hovers, tempted to touch her again. Carol opens her eyes. Back to reality. CAROL I need to finish these damn pages. John will be home in a jiffy. JOE Of course. Joe crosses to pet Tillie, who lies at the foot of John's easy chair. Tillie gets up and moves away. JOE (CONT’D) It feels so good to finally shake the Waste Land and all that dust and work on something authentic and honest and relevant. CAROL The Waste Land is real, Joe. Hell, just look around. It's here, now. Use it. Make it part of you and your writing. John does. She turns to look at him. He looks at her at the same time. She holds his gaze for a moment, then looks back at the typewriter. CAROL (CONT’D) We're ... I'm ... it's almost there. (under her breath) Son-of-a-bitch.

...

EXT./INT. CARMEL – COFFEE HOUSE - NIGHT The gang sits at tables near a low, dark stage.

42.

Carol circles around them all. Beautiful, vivacious, filling the room with her life and light. CAROL He's such a damned fine poet. So genuine. So authentic. So California. Joe stares at her, drawn like a moth to a flame. CAROL (CONT’D) This is my special gift to all of you.

...

Joe and Carol's eyes meet. Each flushes momentarily. They look away, nervously. Ed catches it. John is oblivious. CAROL (CONT’D) I hope he touches you as he's touched me. STAGE A single spotlight flicks on, illuminating a solitary microphone and stand. A TALL, SINEWY, WIND-AND-WAVE-BLOWN MAN enters from the wings and steps to the mike. JEFFERS Good evening. Thank you all for coming. My name is Jeffers. Robinson Jeffers. I would like to read a poem I call, "Roan Stallion." (reads) "Humanity is the start of the race; I say Humanity is the mould to break away from, the crust to break through, the coal to break into fire, The atom to be split." Joe and Ed, Carol and John are transfixed. Enraptured by the power of the images, the majesty of the language, the strength and conviction of the delivery. JEFFERS (CONT’D) "Tragedy that breaks man's face and a white fire flies out of it; vision that fools him."

43.

Joe and Carol lock eyes again. And quickly shift away again. John sees. He cocks an eyebrow. JEFFERS (CONT’D) "The heart of the atom with electrons: what is humanity in this cosmos? For him, the last Least taint of a trace in the dregs of the solution; for itself, the mould to break away from, the coal to break into fire, the atom to be split." Jeffers finishes reading, backs away from the microphone, and waits. The room erupts in THUNDEROUS APPLAUSE. COFFEE HOUSE – LATER Jeffers sits with the group. ED I've been trying to get a handle on this idea my whole life, you see. You nailed it in a few words. Zensational. Jeffers smiles. JOHN Breaking through. Yep, that's it, isn't it, Jeffers? Breaking through. JEFFERS Something really big, usually tragic, shatters what we perceive as normal. It triggers a breakthrough to an understanding of the real reality. And makes the dayto-day world seem like a dream. The more you suffer, the more you can recognize the truth that lies beneath. JOE It's not unlike James Joyce's epiphany. Something we experience suddenly changes everything.

44.

JOHN Yep. Or Déjà vu. A taste, an aroma. Even music can trigger a breakthrough. To the other side. ED Yes, yes, yes. It can be a death, a flower, a fight, an opera, a child. CAROL And you never, ever see things quite the same damned way again. JEFFERS We think we know what it is, then life steps in to show us what it really is. ED What is, not what might be. JOE Absolutely. Something opens our eyes and we break through into the light. Each is lost in their mind's eye vision of breaking through. Joe sees a fire-ravaged totem pole, encircled by slaughtered INDIGENEES. Ed sees a polluted tide pool, SEA CREATURES floating on the oily surface. Carol sees a drowned CHILD cradled by a grieving MOTHER, kneeling at the edge of the ocean. John sees LANDOWNERS beating down emaciated MIGRANT WORKERS in a parched fruit orchard. INT. DOC'S LAB – BACK LANDING - NIGHT – (SPRING) The sad, drunken music of LI PO drifts from inside. Ed sips brandy to counter the misty fog. Joe cups a mug of coffee. ED Well, it's a small publisher. JOE A publisher nonetheless.

45.

ED John will finally have a book in print. Zounds. JOE He couldn't have done it without Carol. ED Don't think he'd dispute that. JOE All he does is take. ED Artists are selfish, they are. JOE They would be lost without each other. ED Love is strange, JC. It isn't easy. It isn't always pretty. But, it's all we've got, you see. JOE Carol is a real classic. Rawhide on the outside, butter on the inside. ED She's always been that way. Long as I've known her. A real see-saw. Up and down. Especially when she drinks. Joe thinks a moment, then

...

JOE Listen to me. I sound worse than a school girl, yes? ED Jealousy's a green bitch. JOE I'm in a swamp, Ed. I've been saying "No" to life all my life. I've always been prepping, training, or studying. I feel like I've missed out on everything. ED Well, there's only one way to start saying "Yes" to life. Only one.

46.

JOE Really, and how's that? ED Get plastered. JOE I don't drink. ED Anyone who doesn't drink is sick or crazy or stuck up. Or, in your unique case, lost. JOE That just doesn't make sense. ED All the more reason. JOE I don't follow. ED If you can get pie-eyed and still function in that altered state, it's enlightening because it rearranges all your usual circuits. The world becomes a different kind of place. You just see things through a new set of eyes. JOE I'm still in the dark. ED It's sort of like quest.

...

a vision

There's a glimmer of light in Joe's eyes. He peaks an eyebrow. JOE Like a native American ritual? ED We'll take a whang at it. Then you'll see what I mean, you will. EXT. RICKETTS HOUSE – BACK YARD - NIGHT A full moonrise over Monterey.

47.

Ed pours 100 proof laboratory alcohol into a bowl. He adds fruit juice. He places that bowl inside a larger bowl. He fills the larger bowl with chunks of ice and rock salt. Ed dips a cup in the concoction, sips, and gives himself a "thumbs up." PARTY - LATER Everyone drinks as if it were their last day on earth. Joe keeps up with them, drink for drink. As everyone gets more drunk, Joe — the athlete — stays on a pretty even keel. OUT FRONT A wobbly-wheeled, backfiring, smokebelching truck pulls up in front of the house. Crazy Monte sits in the driver's seat. The band of Merry Men lounge in the back on top of a stack of freshly chopped wood. Ed stumbles out front to check on the commotion. Monte steps out of the cab and falls face-first on the front lawn. ED Looks like you've been busy, Monte. MONTE Tree wuz already dead. ED Doubt the city fathers would agree. Ed helps Monte to his feet. ED (CONT’D) How 'bout a drink? MONTE B'lieve I earned me one. Monte and his paisanos follow Ed around to the back yard. PARTY – MUCH LATER The revelers move together. A primitive, primal, communal dance. As they dance, they knock into the punch bowls, sloshing melted ice and salt water into the punch.

48.

As people dip their cups into the slop and take a sip, they grimace, but continue drinking. OUT FRONT A police car rolls up. Two uniformed OFFICERS get out. One tall, one short. Mutt and Jeff. Two mismatched tinhorns. They listen, then head out back. OFFICER LARSEN Hey, what's going on here? John, passed out on the lawn, suddenly wakes up and bolts to his feet. He staggers to meet the two officers. JOHN (shakes hands) Bill, Tom, good to see you boys. OFFICER WHITE Neighbors are complaining, John. JOHN Oh, we're just having a little clambake, Tom. Come on, have a slug. The officers each take an empty cup offered by John. They fill up, toast, drink, and immediately SPEW the brew all over John. OFFICER LARSEN What are you bughousers drinking? JOHN 100 per cent pure alcohol. Ed got it. OFFICER WHITE Clean it up. I don't want to come back with a meat wagon. They toss their cups on the ground and leave. PARTY – MUCH, MUCH LATER The celebration has moved inside Ed's house. John and Ed sprawl on the floor facing one another. They take turns SLAPPING each other in the face and LAUGHING and rolling around. Joe sits cross-legged, Indian-style. He disclaims in slightly slurred German.

49.

Xenia sits facing him, also cross-legged. They gaze into each other's eyes, forlornly, hopelessly. She looks tragic and exotic. He is splendid and serene. Ritchie draws a caricature of Carol costumed as Guinevere. A scarlet "LOVE" is stitched into her gown. The cartoon Carol plays the lyre for a handful of entranced CHILDREN. Tal turns up the radio, which plays "TOO MANY TEARS." Ed listens to the music with his mouth open, like he always does, as if he's swallowing it whole. He SINGS along. He can't carry a tune in a bucket. Joe can, and does. The alcohol has finally lowered Joe's resistance. Sparks are jumping the gap. Joe stands, looks around, walks unsteadily out the back door, drink in hand. BACKYARD Joe's eyes adjust to the moonlight and the alcohol. Carol perches in the crotch of an oak tree. She SINGS to the moon. She looks sweet, glass in hand, sitting and COOING. Joe toasts her. She returns the favor. It's tipsy and shy, but dangerously flirty thanks to the liquor. Joe sets his glass down and climbs into a smaller oak tree within arm's reach of hers. She finishes her SONG. CAROL Oh Joe, you beautiful thing. JOE Oh Carol, you wonderful creature. Where were my eyes six years ago? CAROL That's what I want to know. JOE Too late now. CAROL The hell it is. Carol strains to grab Joe's arm. She can't quite get there. JOE You know what I think of you.

50.

CAROL I do, I do. If only I could touch you. As Carol stretches again to touch him, the glass falls from her hand and THUMPS to the ground. JOE Allow me. CAROL Come to me. Joe carefully eases out of the tree. He walks up to Carol. He kisses her ankle. And kisses it again. He gets down on his knees to find her glass. JOE Where is that blasted thing?! Joe finds the glass, stands, and offers it to Carol. The back door BANGS open. John stands there, thunder in his eyes. JOHN Shut up! Quit shouting! I can hear every word in the house! Joe drops the glass and straightens up, suddenly very sober. JOE Getting a lady out of a tree, John. That's all. John storms back inside, SLAMMING the door behind. Joe helps Carol out of the tree. She slips, scraping her leg. He catches her, easing her to the ground and into his arms. They hold the embrace. They kiss. Carol pulls away and runs into the house. Joe follows. INSIDE THE HOUSE – KITCHEN Carol flings herself into a chair at the kitchen table, covers her face with her arms, and CRIES. Joe stands off to the side. He looks worried. Afraid he's gone too far. Afraid he's threatened their marriage and his friendship with John. And his chance to be accepted into this group he admires so much. John enters. He clenches and unclenches his fists.

51.

Carol stands and wipes her eyes. CAROL I'm going to lie down. She stops at the door. She waits a moment to see who will make the first move. Neither does. She leaves. Joe and John are left in awkward SILENCE. JOE Gosh, John, I'm drunk. That Mickey Finn was full of some kind of nitro. How's yourself? JOHN Oh, I'm all right. I'm too jumpy to get drunk. JOE That's the adrenaline fizzing through your veins. John puts his clenched fists into his pockets. JOHN Why don't you come down to the house? We had a veal loaf for dinner. There's some left. It'll do you good. Joe is startled that John isn't going to punch him. Or worse. JOE Sure, John. I'd like that. INT. STEINBECK COTTAGE Joe sips coffee. John smokes. Tillie sleeps under the table. JOHN She's very bright. JOE It's obvious she's special. JOHN You know, she's the one who convinced me to give up writing novels of adventure to write novels that found adventure in the ordinary.

52.

JOE She was right. It paid off. JOHN She's quite the editor. And a trained stenographer no less. As well as a pretty fair poet. JOE You're a very lucky man, John. She's completely dedicated to your success. JOHN Yep. But there's always been something missing with her. Like a bird with a broken wing. You feel compelled to mend it. JOE She seems strong enough. JOHN She's not. So be careful. JOE I don't see it. JOHN You will. EXT. RICKETTS HOUSE – JUST BEFORE DAWN Joe wanders back up the hill alone from the Steinbeck's. Alternating between being visible and a ghost as the mist eddies around him. The fog parts. A bright yellow path appears. He can clearly see the way. He follows it. INT. RICKETTS HOUSE – VARIOUS ROOMS The exhausted partiers are scattered, sleeping and SNORING, throughout the house. Joe enters and looks for Carol. He peeks into a bedroom. BEDROOM A dark shape lies on the bed. Joe enters. Carol curls there covered with a blanket, facing the wall, hugging her knees.

53.

Joe sits on the bed beside her. He kisses her temple, her cheek, her mouth. He trembles. He gets up to leave. Carol puts a hand on his arm. CAROL Joe, you're iceberg cold. JOE It's nothing. CAROL Like hell. Lie down. Put the blanket over you. Warm up. JOE That's not necessary. CAROL Please, Joe. I won't seduce you. Not now, anyway. Joe lies down. Carol covers them both with the blanket. CAROL (CONT’D) Was it wrong for you to kiss me? JOE No. It feels right. CAROL John never kisses me. Joe kisses her gently. Again and again. CAROL (CONT’D) This will probably be the last time we'll be alone together. JOE I couldn't bear that. CAROL Kiss me once, Joe. Crucify me. Joe kisses her for a very long time. EXT./INT. RICKETTS HOUSE – BEDROOM – SUNRISE In the hour of pearl, weak light streaks through the windows. Joe and Carol lie under the blanket, fully clothed. Joe wakes first. He sees Carol and flushes a guilty look. He kisses her gently and gets up.

54.

LIVING ROOM – SAME TIME Ed hustles in, much too chipper. He sees Joe and Carol. His reaction says this is not going to be good. Their world is about to change. Ed and Joe make eye contact. Joe trudges out of the bedroom. ED How 'bout a cup of Joe? JOE (grabs his head) Only if it's lethal. (loses his balance) So, this is what saying "Yes" feels like? I'm not sure it agrees with me. Ed steps close to Joe. ED (WHISPERS) Avast, matey, there's riptides below that calm sea. JOE I'm a good swimmer. ED I hope you know what you're doing. JOE I do. Just tasting life. That's all. ED So Joe. INT. RICKETTS HOUSE – VARIOUS ROOMS – SAME TIME The rest of the revelers begin to move around, in varying states of shell shock. John enters. Through the open door of the bedroom he sees Joe standing beside the bed and Carol lying on the bed, halfdraped in the blanket. Seeing John, Ed steps quickly back into the living room. ED I've got a peachy plan. Everyone GROANS.

55.

ED (CONT’D) It's time to re-stock the bank, it is. Let's head down to Big Sur and corral some critters. How's that sound? More MOANS. Carol finally crawls out of bed. CAROL Give me a little damn time to get ready for the excruciation. JOE Think I'll just wait here until the room stops spinning. Joe lies down on the floor. JOHN I'll pass. I have a blank page waiting. EXT. PACIFIC GROVE – MORNING It's a bright blue morning. They all ride in Ed's new used Packard. The bulging trunk overflows with cages, jars, and boxes. Ed drives zanily, tipping his hat to DOGS and BUMS, DEER and METHODISTS, as they pass. Xenia sits up front with Ed. Ritchie and Tal sit in the second seat. Joe and Carol sit close together in the back back surrounded by buckets, rakes, burlap bags, and rubber wading boots. A red blanket, faded to salmon pink and studded with grass seeds and bits of seaweed, covers their legs. They look around, but somehow always end up staring into each other's eyes. Carol is antsy. She makes faces at the VOYAGERS, moving in splendid isolation in their passing cars. She pulls the hair on the back of Xenia's neck. EXT. COAST ROAD – MORNING The Packard passes other SOJOURNERS as they drive along the rugged Pacific Coast south toward Big Sur.

56.

EXT. BIG SUR – PFEIFFER'S BEACH – LATER Ritchie, Tal, and Xenia stay busy collecting specimens. And avoiding the other three. Ed wades knee-deep through the water. Carol dances at the edge of the surf. She twirls the faded red blanket like a matador's cape. Joe watches, then turns to face the ocean, arms outstretched. JOE (recites) "This is the prow and plunging cutwater, This rock shore here, bound to strike first, and the world will watch us endure prophetical things And learn its fate from our ends." Ed comes up behind Joe. ED Yes, yes. Jeffers again, amen. JOE He is this place. It's his world. We're just tourists. ED Once upon a time, the local natives called this shoreline the brink of the world. The Coastanoans would dance on the shore, singing out that they were dancing on the brink of the world. The brink of the world, indeed. JOE Things had better work out here, Ed. Because this is where it all ends. PFEIFFER'S BEACH – LATER Everyone sits on a flat rock marooned on the beach. Each lost in their own world. Joe and Carol huddle together covered with the blanket. Carol gazes into Joe's eyes. Joe gazes back, dreamily. They act like a pair of love-struck teenagers.

57.

XENIA What's with you two ducks? CAROL We're members of a mutual admiration society. JOE Yes, we've agreed to worship each other for at least a week. We didn't get enough approval as children. XENIA Can I join? I'd just die to be admired like that. Sensing trouble, Ed steps in. ED I'll be right back, okay. I thought I saw something I really need. Really. RITCHIE Be careful. The surf looks rough. ED Not to worry, you see. Danger is my given name. TAL Yes, don't do anything abnormally stupid. ED Back in a flash with the well, you know.

...

Ed disappears between two columns of rock, scampering through the opening as the tide rushes out. Suddenly, a wave, larger than the previous ones, rolls up and CRASHES along the beach and into the rocks. Ed's hat appears, floating on the tip of the receding wave. Ed washes into view, arms waving wildly. His head slips beneath the water momentarily. He re-surfaces, flailing his arms. Joe is the first to notice. He leaps off the rock and runs to the edge of the ocean. He stops, making sure he's not hallucinating.

58.

Ed disappears beneath the surface again. Without hesitating, Joe sprints into the surf and dives into the water. He swims quickly out to where Ed is being dragged out to sea by the current. Joe flips a limp Ed over on his back, crooks his elbow around Ed's neck, and swims for shore. By now, everyone has noticed. They've all gathered on the beach. Joe and Ed wash ashore. They crawl out of the breakwater on their hands and knees, exhausted. Ed COUGHS sea water. Joe and Ed collapse on the dry sand. Carol throws the blanket around Joe's shoulders. Ritchie covers Ed with his jacket. Everyone looks at Ed, waiting. ED (CONT’D) I can't swim. Stunned looks all around. ED (CONT’D) Never could. Never learned. INT. DOC'S LAB – LATER Soothing MOZART plays on the phonograph. The tired party enjoys oyster stew. Ed adds cold tap water to his stew. He dips his spoon in, SNIFFS it, then swallows. Carol, as always, is the center of the room, lighting it up. Joe STRUMS along on guitar, playing counterpoint to the music. John sits in a corner by himself. Witnessing, not participating. Ritchie draws a caricature of Joe dressed as Lancelot riding in a wooden cart. The word "Destiny" is crudely carved on the side of the cart. The cartoon Joe lassoes the image of a goddess trapped inside the moon. In the background looms a totem pole etched with the animated, animalized faces of each member of the group. JOE (V.O.) I guess we were all in love with each other. More or less.

59.

INT. CANARY COTTAGE – DAY GALLERY OF JOURNEY IMAGES Joe stands at the journey wall. He thumb-tacks a detailed watercolor sketch of Plato's Cave. It features a blazing fire, people walking a parapet in front of the fire, and more people sitting in front of the parapet and staring at the shadows projected onto a blank wall. Beside it is an image of the Chapel Perilous from Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur and a round, menacing- and mechanical-looking planet. Joe sits. He reaches to touch the arrowhead. It's gone. He looks behind the desk. He opens, closes, and moves his books and papers. He gets down on his knees and checks the floor. He stands. A panicked look in his eyes. JOE (V.O.) Whom the Gods love, they drive nuts. Truer words were never spoken. EXT. CARMEL RIVER – DAY Joe and Ed squat beside a massive fallen tree on the river bank. Ed pokes and prods the tree, stirring up its INHABITANTS. JOE I may have lost it at the lab. ED It's just a piece of flint. JOE I need it. Ed looks up at Joe for a moment, wondering what exactly he needs. He waits for Joe to stop fretting. ED Look, JC, your father is right. You could be a fine teacher. A fine teacher. JOE That's not what I want. I want to write. ED Whatever you're meant to be, you'll be.

60.

JOE I wish I knew what that was. ED Go where your heart and soul want to go. Be what you came here for. JOE How will I know? ED You'll feel it. Deep in here, you see. Ed places the flat of his hand against Joe's chest. ED (CONT’D) Listen for the music. Follow it. Everything will work out. It will. JOE I'm afraid I'll get to the end of the road only to find I took the wrong fork. ED Someday, you'll realize that the life you think you ought to be living is the life you're actually living. EXT. CARMEL - SEVENTEEN MILE DRIVE - SUNSET The Lone Cypress clings to a rocky promontory above the Pacific. Joe and Carol stand side-by-side between the tree and the road. As the sun dissolves into the ocean, Joe reaches out and takes Carol's hand. CAROL Damned gorgeous. JOE Sublime. CAROL This is what you should write about, Joe. Beauty. Nature. Our place in it. How it's all connected.

61.

JOE And love. CAROL And love. They kiss. CAROL (CONT’D) Write about what inspires you. What makes you happy. JOE You do. He tries to stop her talking with his kisses. CAROL I'm flattered, Joe, but there's so much more. All that you've studied. All those stories. It's important. Use it. Before you lose it. JOE You're one of a kind, my lady fair. They kiss again. Longer. CAROL We sure picked a screwy time to fall in love. The world is going to hell in a hurry. JOE I was never known for my timing. Carol takes Joe's face in her hands. CAROL Let's run away together. JOE (doing Bogey) "The train for Marseilles leaves at five." CAROL That's not funny. JOE It wasn't meant to be. She hesitates, caught off-guard, then plunges on.

62.

CAROL All we've got is this moment. Here and now. That's where life is lived dammit. Joe stoops to pluck an aster. He gives it to Carol. JOE If only we could be like this flower. It has no memory. No past, no future. It doesn't understand regrets, or hopes. It lives only for the present. CAROL Can you make time stand still? JOE I wish I had that kind of power. They kiss as though time stood still. ON THE ROAD ABOVE Monte and the Boys watch, hidden in the trees. EXT. STEINBECK COTTAGE – BACK YARD – EVENING A dinner party. All the usual suspects in attendance. The bounty from sea and land is plentiful. CREATURES from the ocean contributed by Ed, vegetables from the gardens of the Steinbecks and Lovejoys. Tal shells peas, Ritchie makes a salad, Ed and Xenia prepare the abalone and sardines, Joe cleans strawberries, Carol slices the fresh bread, and John pours some wine. The communal spirit has returned. Momentarily. Everyone cooks, eats, and drinks together. Joe gives Xenia a guitar lesson. She holds the instrument carefully. She grasps the slender neck gently. She looks up at Joe. Expectant. Malleable. Open. Joe sits at her back, wraps his arms and legs around her from behind, and expertly guides her hands. Carol watches them. Closely. THE PARTY - LATER As the wine flows, so do the emotions. And the armistice is broken.

63.

An angry John grabs Carol by the wrist. He pulls her away from the party. They stand at the back of the yard. And argue in heated WHISPERS. JOHN This is not a good time, Carol. CAROL Dammit to hell, John. Will there ever be a good time? JOHN A baby wasn't in my plans. CAROL You'd better change your plans. JOHN I've already made the appointment. CAROL I won't kill this child, John. I won't. Not for you, not for anybody. It's my body, after all. JOHN It's my career. CAROL I've made up my mind. JOHN You're so damned stubborn. CAROL And you're not? JOHN You frustrate the hell out of me sometimes. CAROL And you, me. John clenches and unclenches his right fist. JOHN I won't hit a woman in our home. CAROL You won't ever hit this woman. Carol turns abruptly and stumbles out the yard.

64.

Joe releases Xenia and stands. Uneasy, anxious. Concerned about Carol and worried that she might be jealous of Xenia. STREET IN FRONT OF THE STEINBECK HOUSE Carol stands alone, SOBBING. Joe hurries to her side. JOE What's wrong? CAROL I'm pregnant. Joe doesn't know how to react. Joy because she now has what she's always wanted. Or sorrow because this changes everything. He chooses ... JOE That's wonderful news. CAROL The father doesn't think so. JOE Why? CAROL Isn't part of the goddamned grand scheme. JOE What are you going to do? CAROL Hell if I know. He reaches for her, but she turns away. INT. DOC'S LAB – EVENING The joyous bounce of LOUIS ARMSTRONG's New Orleans Jazz cakewalks around the room. Joe and Ed, Ritchie and Tal, Jack and Sasha and Xenia enjoy cocktails and conversation as the sun sets. ED It's a thirty-three foot boat called the Grampus, you see. JACK Sasha and I will meet Ed in Tacoma.

65.

SASHA Juneau-bound. ED More tide pools to study. JOE It sounds like a very nice escape. Joe stares out the open front door, as if he's waiting for someone. TAL I have an aces of an idea. RITCHIE Usually curtains for me. TAL Not this time, doll face. Joe, why don't you go with them? You don't mind do you, Ed? ED Not at all. Not at all. It would give us another hand. And mouth. For me to talk with. Most fish can't speak Jung, or discuss Darwin. SASHA Lecture, you mean. JOE It's tempting. JACK Tick-tock, Joe, tick-tock. EXT. PACIFIC GROVE – EL CARMELO CEMETERY – DAY Joe and Ed walk among the tombstones. JOE This seems like such a good life. ED It's not yours, JC. JOE It could be. ED No, it's John and Carol's.

66.

Joe kneels down. He inspects an ancient tombstone. It reads: "Be what you is, cuz if you be what you ain't, then you ain't what you is." Joe captures the epitaph on tracing paper. ED (CONT’D) I know about you and Carol. I do. Joe stands to face Ed, eyebrow crooked. JOE How? ED Monte and the Boys. JOE Why? ED Well, they've got nothing better to do. JOE Did "King John" send them? Ed takes the tracing, glances at it, smiles, then returns it to Joe. ED Look, John's my friend. I had to tell him the truth. I couldn't protect him anymore. Just couldn't. JOE I thought you were in my corner. ED Don't make me choose. Make it right. Make it right. JOE It's not what it seems. ED Small consolation. JOE It's true. ED Carol feels differently.

67.

JOE She'll be fine. ED Truly? Then why does she keep asking about the cyanide I keep at the lab? Joe looks surprised, then not. ED (CONT’D) I told John it'll go sour unless someone does something. JOE Some things heal with time. ED Not this. JOE What did he say? ED He thought you were his friend. JOE I am. ED Prove it. JOE It must be nice being Switzerland. EXT. STEINBECK COTTAGE – BACK YARD - DAY Carol kicks at the withered plants in the garden. Joe glares at her. JOE I hope it was worth it. CAROL The damned doctor said I'll never have children. JOE How could you let him do that to you? CAROL He has a silver tongue. And I was stupid.

68.

JOE Something terrible could have happened. CAROL It did. JOE I thought you wanted children. CAROL I do. (she SOBS) I did. Christ, I did. Carol buries her face in Joe's shoulder. He wraps his arms around her. JOE I hope he appreciates what you've done. CAROL At least he's honest about it. He knows what's most important to him. JOE That's piggish. CAROL That's John. And me. Nothing matters but John. Hell, I've put all there is of me into this goddamned life. JOE He will get the most out of it. With or without you. CAROL I can't leave him. JOE He'll take care of himself. Whether you're there or not. CAROL I know that, dammit. JOE Then why do you let him control you? Carol pulls away.

69.

JOE (CONT’D) Why do you live the life he wants you to? Instead of your life. CAROL Look who the hell is talking. JOE Be true to who you are, Carol. CAROL Could say the same to you, Joe. INT. STEINBECK COTTAGE – DAY John sits at his writing desk, staring at the blank page. He spins his fountain pen in circles. He chain-smokes. He SLAMS his fist against the table. EXT. RICKETTS HOUSE – BACKYARD – NIGHT John chops down the oak tree Joe had perched in. The tree Carol had crouched in is already toppled. Out of sight, Joe watches. TITLE CARD Spring, 1932 INT. CANARY COTTAGE – KITCHEN - MORNING It's a chilly, drizzly, miserable coastal day. Joe sits at the kitchen table, reading The Romance of Leonardo da Vinci by Dmitry Merezhkovsky. His garden gate OPENS and CLOSES. A KNOCK on the door. JOE It's open. It's John, looking like death warmed over. JOHN You got any coffee? JOE Sure. John can't quite look Joe in the eyes. His arms hang awkwardly, fists knotted.

70.

JOHN I want to talk. Joe looks apprehensive. He gestures for John to sit. He does and draws a couple of deep BREATHS. He lights a cigarette, takes a LONG DRAG, and EXHALES. Joe gets up to make coffee. JOE It's good you stopped by, John. I've been meaning to come see you. Joe measures out the coffee into the percolator. As he pours the water in, he can hear John's laboring BREATHS. JOHN I'm not afraid of words. I'm not afraid of emotion. I'm not afraid of you. JOE Wait. Let me fix this thing. John nods, then leans forward, looking down at the floor. He drops the cigarette and squashes it. Joe finishes with the coffee pot, turns on the gas, and sets the pot on the burner. John straightens up, sits back, and crosses his arms. Joe sits at the table. Trembling slightly, he absently rubs his forehead. JOHN How much ... are you in love with Carol?

...

JOE You know how I feel about her, yes? JOHN No. No, I don't. Joe is at a loss for words for once, which throws him off. They sit in SILENCE for an eternity. The coffee BOILS. Relieved, Joe gets up to get the coffee.

71.

Joe pours a cup for John and then himself. He offers the cream and sugar. They both add a little. They stir their coffee. Not sure what to say next. JOHN (CONT’D) Carol knew when she married me, she was only getting half a man. My writing is my true love and mistress. It's what I do. It's who I am. It's a straight line. Each day, I sink more and more into my own world. And Carol is left on the outside. But, she insists on being at the heart of things. That's the way she is, you know. JOE I do. John lightly touches his lips. JOHN I don't like to kiss. I have no nerves in my lips. It bothers me. It angers her. JOE She told me. John turns to face Joe. He looks shot, completely at a loss, unhinged. JOHN Can you give her more than me? Can you? Five years from now, you may stink as much of teaching as I stink of writing. JOE I know what you mean. I thought I knew what I wanted. I was following that straight line, too. Headed toward a classroom. Until all this changed all that. JOHN Have you ever been in love? JOE Yes, but it ended badly. JOHN Will this?

72.

JOE I don't know. I do know I could stop it. If I had to. JOHN Good thing you're as good a man as me. If my pride had been on the line ... If Carol had fallen for a lesser man, I wouldn't have thought twice about ... John knots his fists. JOE I had no idea it had gotten that bad. JOHN I don't want your pity. I don't need anyone's pity. JOE That won't happen, John. We'll work this out. Somehow. Joe and John swirl their cups and stare into the constellations of their coffee. JOE (CONT’D) I explained to Carol it might be better if I just went away. She said that would be the worst thing to do. Better to let it cool than stop it cold. JOHN Yep. End it now and you'll be leaving with my wife's heart. I don't want half a woman. I want all of her. Or nothing. JOE I would to. JOHN A sudden break could break her. JOE That would be the coward's way out. They both drain their coffee mugs. JOHN How much longer do you think you'll stay?

73.

JOE Another couple months or so. It depends on whether I go with Ed or not. JOHN Will that be enough time to sort this out? JOE We'll figure out what's best. For everyone, yes? JOHN It's just not fair, you know. You're younger, more handsome and clever, more athletic, urbane. You're ice cream after church. And freedom. How can I beat that? JOE You've got something I don't. JOHN What's that? JOE You're her husband. JOHN You're right, I am. John takes another agonizing BREATH. And lights another cigarette. JOHN (CONT’D) I can't sleep. I nearly wrecked the car. With Carol and Ed in it. I can't write. I can't do anything. JOE It won't last. It will come back. John rubs his hands together. He still can't look Joe directly in the eye. JOHN I feel like I'll go nuts if she ever left me. JOE I know what you mean.

74.

JOHN I talked with Ed about it. We confronted the issue coldly, scientifically. JOE The only way he sees things. JOHN He figured that since Carol and I had already had our shot, it was possible, even probable, that you and Carol could do the same. He agreed a change right now wouldn't be such a hot idea. They nod sagely, like true enlightened gentlemen. John snuffs the cigarette. JOHN (CONT’D) So, here's what I think we've got to do. You and Carol should see as much of each other as possible. Be as close as you can be. Do whatever you need to do. Now that it's been said, it stings. JOE That makes very good sense. JOHN It's the attention she craves, you know. JOE Then let's give her what she wants. What she needs. JOHN Maybe it'll all come up roses after all. JOE And you can put it behind you and get back to writing. That's the important thing. JOHN You're a good man, Joe Campbell. JOE I never meant for this to happen.

75.

JOHN I realize that. JOE We both know better. We all know this story. It never ends well. Just like that, the male turf battle has been transformed into a male conspiracy. John SIGHS and stands. He walks out the door without looking back. Joe goes to the door and watches John drive away. EXT./INT. DOC'S LAB – NEXT AFTERNOON SHOSTAKOVICH plays in the background. JOE Are you and me back on track? ED Beer under the bridge. Beer under the bridge. JOE John says you've been a confidante in this business of Carol and me and him. ED Your conspiracy against Venus? Joe thinks a moment, then smiles. JOE I suppose you could call it that. Ed LAUGHS his nervous, high, staccato goat laugh. His eyes twinkle. ED Well, I may have offered my two cents. JOE And? Joe looks concerned, like he doesn't want to hear Ed's answer.

76.

ED She was her old bright self when she came to finish some work this morning. JOE Did she say anything? ED Yes, yes she did. Was glad a decision had been made. Wasn't happy about being left out in the cold. No, she wasn't. JOE That's good ...

I think.

ED Look, when it comes to matters of the heart, things are never gravy. Ed goes to the refrigerator. He grabs a chilled mug. He removes a quart of ice cream from the freezer. He PLOPS two scoops into the mug. He POPS a bottle of Bohemia and slowly pours it into the mug. He waits for it to settle. He drinks. The milky foam clings to his moustache. JOE He's such a manipulator. ED Don't fight the tide, JC. Drift with it. See where it takes you. JOE I don't know that I can do that. ED Try. JOE It works if you don't drown. ED You're a good swimmer. There's a KNOCK at the door. Ed answers. TWO LITTLE BOYS stand there. Patched dungarees and grimy faces. Refugees from Our Gang. One clutches a FROG that resembles a miniature dinosaur. The other holds out a bedraggled CAT.

77.

DINOSAUR BOY Hey, Doc, look what we got. ED More specimens? CAT BOY Can we watch you stick 'em? ED Is that your aunt's cat again? EXT./INT. CANARY COTTAGE – THAT NIGHT It's dark. Joe unlocks the front door and enters. He lights a candle and carries it to his desk. Carol stands in front of the journey wall. JOE Carol, what a nice surprise. She doesn't move. JOE (CONT’D) Something wrong? CAROL Why did you give up so damned easily? JOE I haven't. CAROL You've gone over to his side. You've joined the plot. JOE To let our love, what we have, live or die. As it will. It was killing all of us. Especially John's writing, yes? CAROL Christ, it always comes back to John's writing. JOE It's important. You know that. CAROL I'm reminded every goddamned day.

78.

JOE It seemed like the right thing to do. CAROL What about us? JOE Let's see what happens. CAROL Then it's not over? JOE Far from it. Carol steps toward Joe. CAROL Do you have any idea how badly I love you? JOE I do. CAROL Then fight for us. JOE It's tricky. Complicated. Carol turns away to face the wall. CAROL Hell, I give up. It's up to you men. Like it always is. Unfair but real. Joe walks up behind her and wraps her in his arms. JOE So trust me. CAROL I will. JOE You're still my lady fair. She turns to face him. They kiss. Carol blows out the candle, plunging them into darkness.

79.

INT. STEINBECK COTTAGE – MORNING John writes. He reaches for his usual cup of coffee. It's not there. He looks around for Carol. The house is empty, deafeningly QUIET. John lights a cigarette. EXT. LOVERS POINT – SAME TIME Joe and Carol walk arm-in-arm along the bluff above the cove. EXT. LONE CYPRESS – AFTERNOON Joe sits on a blanket below the tree. The contents of an empty picnic basket spread around him. He looks up the path leading to the road above. He checks his watch. EXT. STEINBECK COTTAGE - GARDEN – SAME TIME John and Carol pull the dead plants. Tillie dozes contently. EXT./INT. BEAR FLAG RESTAURANT – BAR - NIGHT The GIRLS kill time reading the newspaper, painting their nails, smoking, and gossiping. Joe and John sit at a table. Empty beer mugs and shot glasses litter the surface. JOE I thought I had it all figured out. JOHN You know, destiny finds you. You don't find it. No escaping it. Or, manipulating it. Joe looks at John a moment, then pours them both another beer. JOE Carol's a big part of whatever it is, or will be. For both us, yes? JOHN Yep. I ask one thing, Joe. If she chooses you, love her as you've never loved anyone before. Make her happy. If that means taking her away, you've got to do that. Joe arches his eyebrow. JOE I guess I never really knew you loved her that much.

80.

JOHN I do. JOE You ever told her? JOHN She knows. JOE Women need to hear those things, John. JOHN I forget. INT. CANARY COTTAGE – DAY GALLERY OF JOURNEY IMAGES On the journey wall, there is now a watercolor sketch of the whale from the Italian book, The Adventures of Pinocchio. Joe sits at the desk. A few new lines have been added to the bottom of his story. He draws the Lone Cypress. EXT. STEINBECK COTTAGE - BACKYARD – NIGHT It's a birthday party. The yard has been whimsically decorated with hand-made party favors. Garlands of dried seaweed festooned with spring flowers drape between the trees. Paper luminarias dot the yard. A fishshaped piñata dangles from a tree. Large hanging banners of butcher paper are hand-painted with birthday greetings that read: "Happy Birthday Ed" and "Look Who's Over the Hill" and "One Peg-Leg in Davy Jones's Locker." John, Ed, Ritchie, and Jack sit at a picnic table nursing drinks. Ed wears a hand-made paper admiral's hat with three spinning pinwheels. Joe sits on the lawn SERENADING the ladies – Tal, Sasha, and Xenia. Carol and Idell sit on the lawn away from everyone. Carol looks beat to hell. Like she hasn't eaten or slept for days. IDELL You've got to let one go, sister.

81.

CAROL How can I? I love them both, even though they treat me like I was their damned dog. IDELL That's a lousy thing to say. CAROL They don't have the right. IDELL Good luck with that. CAROL They don't own me. They can't possess me. Dammit, love dies when you say the word "mine." IDELL You're being a pill. CAROL Doesn't matter. It's out of my hands. IDELL You sure that's smart? CAROL If it resolves things. This being in limbo is hell. IDELL Watch your step, sis. CAROL I wish I were a goddamned nun. Or dead. BIRTHDAY PARTY – LATER The SONG has been sung, the candles blown out, the firecrackers POPPED, the piñata burst, the cake cut and consumed, the humble but heartfelt cards and gifts opened and admired. Everyone is almost partied out. Except the birthday boy, who solicits more birthday kisses, especially from Xenia. Carol isn't done yet, either. She's led most of the birthday toasts and now she's paying the price. Joe and Idell observe the fading revelry from a safe distance.

82.

IDELL You look different, Joe. JOE Good or bad? IDELL No, it's good. Very good. Even better than before. And I should know. Idell smiles, remembering his visit to San Jose. IDELL (CONT’D) You look smug as a bug in a rug. This Bohemian life suits you to a "T." JOE It's what I want. Most of it. Just what I was searching for. Idell leans closer. IDELL (WHISPERS) Take care with her heart, old friend. Before Joe can say what's on his mind, LOUD VOICES interrupt. It's John and Carol. At it again. CAROL (SLURS) There's a passage ... in the Bible. It's been the ... guide for my life. (recites) "When you set your hand ... to the plough, turn not ... to look backward." Carol pushes past John and staggers out the gate. John just stands there. Deer-in-the-headlights panicked. Idell turns back to Joe. IDELL Mark my words. Joe looks guilty. He stares at John then turns to see where Carol went. He wants to go after her, but Idell's words hold him back.

83.

INT. DOC'S LAB – MORNING A GREGORIAN CHANT plays on the phonograph. ED Not like her to wave the white flag. Ed removes two Bohemia beers from the refrigerator. He crosses back to the work table. He opens both, places one in front of Joe, and sits. JOE That offer to go north still open? ED It is. It absolutely is. JOE I'd like to take you up on it. ED Dandy. I'll send a wire to Jack tomorrow. Joe takes a long swig of beer. JOE I'd like to take her. Ed, poised to take a drink, stops and sets the bottle down. ED John is my friend. Carol is my friend. You are my friend. I can't take sides. JOE I'm not asking you to take sides. I'm asking you to take us with you. ED Well, this is awkward. Awkward, indeed. JOE I'm sorry. But, I'm so close. ED To what, JC? JOE The life I want.

84.

ED Want or need? Want

...

or need?

JOE Does it matter? ED You tell me. I can't

JOE ... I don't know.

ED John in on this? JOE We agreed we should let things run their course. So, I guess, that means he's pretty much on board. ED Not like him, either. Not at all. JOE Think Jack and Sasha will mind? ED She'll fit right in. JOE It's settled then. ED JC, I sure hope you know what you're doing. JOE I don't, but that's all part of the adventure, isn't it? All part of going with the flow, yes? Joe lifts his bottle in toast and drains the beer. INT. CANARY COTTAGE – DAY GALLERY OF JOURNEY IMAGES On the wall, a photo of Joe's father, a color image of Zeus, a sketch of Shiva, a watercolor of a silver sword, and a drawing of ancient Hindu warrior-king Muchukunda sleeping in a cavern chamber. All have been added to the circle of journey images. Joe stares at his drawing of the Lone Cypress and his halfempty pages, then out the window.

85.

EXT. LONE CYPRESS - SUNSET Carol stands on the beach below. The undulating kelp beds beckon. She can see Ophelia floating there, her gold hair streaming out behind her. Carol opens her hand. She holds a small, brown medicine bottle. She unscrews the cap and ... A hand reaches in and covers the bottle. JOE (OFF-SCREEN) That isn't the answer. Carol turns to face Joe. CAROL Go to hell. JOE You're stronger than that. CAROL I'm not. JOE You already have the answer. In abundance. CAROL I don't. JOE What about love? And a pure heart? Being true? CAROL To who? Joe steps closer to Carol. JOE I want you to go with me to Alaska. CAROL You better not be toying with me. JOE I wouldn't dare. CAROL Oh, Joe, I was hoping for that. JOE Then you'll go?

86.

Carol kisses Joe. They both look happy for the first time in a long time. They turn to stare out to sea. CAROL How will this fairy tale end? JOE Ask John. He's the writer. CAROL Not after I leave with you. JOE I can't be responsible for that. CAROL His stories can keep him warm at night. JOE No turning back? CAROL No regrets. The incoming tide washes away their footprints in the sand. INT. CANARY COTTAGE – NIGHT GALLERY OF JOURNEY IMAGES Next to a drawing of Rip Van Winkle, a photo of the Grampus has been added to the circle of journey images. Joe STRUMS guitar, playing the same troubadour love song he played for everyone the first time they gathered. The incomplete story lies on the desk where he left it. EXT. CANNERY ROW The Round Table is shattered and scattered. The Sege Perilous split in two. Joe and Ed walk among the ruins. JOE Mother Nature always wins. ED It wasn't her.

87.

Ed touches the crack in the Perilous Seat. ED (CONT’D) Tell me, JC. You familiar with Aristotle's take on friendship? True friendship? JOE It's been a while. ED He believed that a real friend is true to his friend because he sees worthy elements of himself in his friend. A good friend stays in the background and elevates the other to greatness. Are you that kind of friend? JOE Might not have been. ED Could you make the kind of sacrifice Carol made? For John's art? JOE I really don't know. ED She gave up something pretty damned important, she did. She knew what it meant. JOE John's writing doesn't happen if she has the baby. ED Zingo. What are you willing to sacrifice? For art's sake? How far are you prepared to go? For art's sake? JOE I can't say. ED Unfortunately, like war, art has collateral damage. JOE Mother and child.

88.

ED Don't get me wrong. Art is important. Capital "A" or small "a." Very important. It enhances our lives. And makes us better. It's worthy of sacrifice, it is. JOE Guess I'm not a martyr after all. Ed moves around to the remnants of the high-backed chair John first sat in when they created the Round Table. JOE (CONT’D) What now? ED Fix it. JOE Can one man do that? ED You'd be surprised. You'd be surprised. Joe smiles as he remembers when he said the same thing to his father. JOE How? ED Tell more stories. About heroes doing the right thing. FAREWELL MONTAGE Joe walks the cove at Lovers Point. Joe says goodbye to Monte and the Boys. Joe paces around the oak tree stumps John chopped down. Joe gazes out at the Lone Cypress. Joe moves among the debris of the Round Table. Joe stands in the Great Tide Pool and stares at the setting sun. INT. CANARY COTTAGE – NIGHT GALLERY OF JOURNEY IMAGES Joe pins a new image of the Grail to the right of a sketch of Perceval next to a rendering of the two-faced Roman god Janus, which is beside a pen-and-ink watercolor of a frog transforming into a prince.

89.

Joe walks to his desk, grabs a Saturday Evening Post and the ledger with his unfinished story. He goes to the fireplace and feeds the flames, one ripped page at a time. As the last page flutters into the fire, Joe notices something wedged behind the fireplace tools. He stoops down. It's the arrowhead. As he extracts it, he nicks his finger. A single drop of blood SPLASHES on the hearth. EXT. STEINBECK COTTAGE – BACK YARD – DAY The garden has been freshly tilled for the summer planting. John and Joe sit in two, broken-down Adirondack chairs. Joe wears the buckskin tunic and the rest of the clothes he wore when he first arrived. And a new, red tie. JOHN Burned it all, eh? Sounds like something I'd do. JOE You did. JOHN Yep, I did. Funny how soon we forget. Tillie tires of chasing BIRDS and returns to her master's side. JOHN (CONT’D) Why? JOE It wasn't mine. JOHN I'm sure it had promise. Joe smiles, remembering saying the same to John. JOE Not even close to anything of yours. JOHN It was never a competition.

90.

JOE It was for me. Always was, is, and will be. John arches an eyebrow. They sit in SILENCE a moment. JOE (CONT’D) We leave tomorrow. JOHN I'm envious. Maybe I'll join you on the next one. Ed's talking about the Sea of Cortez. His great, modern Odyssey. JOE Come by the lab in the morning. Be sure to bring Carol. I've got something for you. INT. DOC'S LAB – MORNING The Lark Ascending by RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS swoops through the room. Joe and Ed, Tal and Ritchie, and Xenia share a farewell Bloody Mary. Joe gets up to change the record. There's a KNOCK at the door. Before Ed can open it, Carol rushes in. She looks frantically around the room. She sees Joe and goes to him. CAROL (WHISPERS) Joe, John doesn't know. JOE I haven't told him. Carol looks at Joe. A sudden panic on her face. CAROL Why the hell not? JOE It's all going to work out. For the best. CAROL I hope so.

91.

JOE Trust me. CAROL I do. Still. John walks in. He carries a case of phonograph records. He KICKS the door closed behind him. JOHN These are for Jack. ED Nothing will stay this courier. Not even gloom of night. Ed takes the case. JOHN Wish I were going with you. RITCHE Off to Southern California, eh? JOHN Avalon. TAL And Carol's on her way to San Jose? John looks at Carol, who looks away. XENIA Separate beds. JOHN Yep, for a while. JOE Seems we are all going our own ways. More or less. Ed looks at Joe, who nods slightly. ED John, could you give me a hand? I need to load a few things. Ritchie and Tal? Xenia, my wormy worm? Many hands and all that. Glances all around. Ritchie and Tal and Xenia take the cue. John is clueless. Yet again. Ed leads and the rest follow him downstairs to the garage.

92.

Once they're gone, Carol wheels on Joe, stunned. CAROL What's going on, Joe? Joe takes Carol's hands. Fear washes over her face. JOE When John leaves, you're going with him. CAROL The hell I am. JOE You have to. CAROL You're not even giving us a chance. JOE We said there'd be no turning back, but that's just not possible. He needs you and you need him. That's the reality. CAROL But, I love you. JOE And I you. If only I'd met you first. CAROL You didn't. JOE I can't do this to you or to John or to your marriage or to these people. I won't be that guy. CAROL Ever the damned gallant. So Joe. JOE I can't help myself. CAROL I'm not sorry. JOE No need to be. We had our time. An eternity in this one brief moment.

93.

CAROL I'm no goddamned good at love. JOE If only you knew how wrong you are. CAROL Can you really say goodbye and not see me again? JOE I can. I must. CAROL Will you remember me? JOE Forever and always. CAROL Will I someday be just a sad memory? JOE Never. CAROL Nobody will ever love me as much. Joe places the arrowhead in Carol's hand. She tries to give it back. He stops her and closes their hands around it. Joe caresses her cheek like he did that first time so long ago. JOE I hope to see you again someday, my lady fair. LOUD VOICES signal that Ed and company are on their way back. Joe and Carol separate. Ed BURSTS up the stairs, followed by John. ED Tal and Ritchie said to say "adios." Xenia said "do svidaniya." Carol stands, arms crossed. Joe stands apart. JOHN Everything okay?

94.

JOE Yes, but I have to tell you something. JOHN Not necessary. JOE I need to get it off my chest and you need to hear it. JOHN If you say so. JOE Carol's in love with you, John. Not me. She thought she was, but she wasn't. You two need to be together. The world needs to hear your stories. You need Carol to help you tell them. This isn't my place, my time, my life, or my dream. It's yours, John. And yours, Carol. It's time for me to go. It's DEATHLY SILENT. Until Joe extends his hand to John. John hesitates, then takes it. They shake. A noble, manly handshake. Carol gazes at Joe. The look on her face says this will be the last time. EXT. DOC'S LAB – DOCK – MOMENTS LATER Carol stands in the bow of the small motor boat. John FIRES UP the motor. Ed unties the bow rope and tosses it into the boat. The boat slowly moves away from the dock. Carol stares at Joe. She blows him a kiss. She turns away, sits, and stares out at the sea. The boat disappears into the thick morning fog. JOE (V.O.) It took heartbreak to break through. Ed joins Joe at the edge of the dock. The fog drifts around them. JOE (CONT’D) Thanks. ED For what?

95.

JOE Keeping a steady hand on the tiller. ED Well, that's what friends are for. JOE Is this what sampling life is all about? ED It's a start. It's a start, indeed. JOE I need a change of scenery. ED I know just the place. JOE Eddie boy, I think you're stuck with me. Ed and Joe trudge up the steps to the lab. The fog swallows them. INT. CANARY COTTAGE – NIGHT GALLERY OF JOURNEY IMAGES Joe stares at the circle of images. It is complete. The final image is a drawing of a line of people, hands linked, dancing on the edge of the ocean. Joe returns to his desk, sits, opens a new journal, faces the blank page, and ... Writes. ED (OVER SHOT) I think your journey is just beginning. EXT. CANNERY ROW – DAY From high above, the weeds swallow what's left of the Round Table. The petals of a solitary GOLDEN POPPY peek out from the cracked Sege Perilous, reaching toward the sun.

96.

ED (O.S.) Tell me a story, Joe. Your story. TRANSITION TO: TITLE CARD Summer, 1932 EXT. CANARY COTTAGE – DAY Ed's Packard is loaded down with scientific paraphernalia, baggage, and books. Ed sits at the wheel. Joe rides shotgun. The Packard pulls away. JOE (V.O.) "A hero ventures forth from the world of the common day into a region of supernatural wonder." EXT. TACOMA, WASHINGTON – DOCK – SUNRISE As the sun comes up, Joe and Ed, Jack and Sasha load equipment and supplies onto the Grampus. Stowed on the roof is a seventeen-foot canoe, the Nakwasina. NORTHWARD BOUND MONTAGE The Grampus journeys through twisting channels and into hidden bays and inlets. They travel along the sacred coves and shores of the Salish, Bella Coola, Bella Bella, Kwakiutl, Nootka, Haida, Tlingit. Rugged, glacier-carved coastal mountains thrust skyward out of the sea. JOE (V.O.) "Fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won." EXT. KETCHIKAN, ALASKA – DAY Joe and Ed walk through a forest of old totem poles. Joe now sports a beard. There is something strange and familiar about these looming towers of animals, some real, some mythical. All stacked atop each other, as if along the axis of the universe.

97.

Ed gives Joe a miniature scrimshaw TOTEM POLE carved with animated images of each animal he describes. ED The bear represents strength. Deer, the power of gentleness. Turtle, longevity. Coyote, humor. Beaver, builder of home and family. Buffalo, endurance to overcome one's weaknesses. Eagle, courage and wisdom. The frog symbolizes transformation. Wolf, teacher and pathfinder on the never-ending journey. SITKA-BOUND MONTAGE The Grampus moves through more bays, fjords, channels, and coves. The coastline is dotted with villages, bearded cliffs, and leaning totem poles. EXT. SITKA, ALASKA – SHORELINE - DAY Joe dances alone on the edge of the Pacific Ocean, silhouetted against a stormy sky. He reaches out and takes the hand of a 20-year-old GIRL (JEAN ERDMAN), who takes Ed's hand. Then John and Carol, Tal and Ritchie, Jack and Sasha, Xenia, Monte and the Boys all link hands. JOE (V.O.) "The hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man." FROM HIGH ABOVE the dancers weave along the brink of the world. TRANSITION TO: EXT. PACIFIC GROVE – CANARY COTTAGE – EVENING Joe stands beside his dusty Ford Flivver. He wears the buckskin tunic. The totem pole sits on the dashboard, pointing East. Ready to go. Ed sits at the wheel of the Packard. They're both still scruff-bearded, lank-haired, and sunburned.

98.

JOE I'm truly sorry for being the snake in this Eden. ED Well, that's what love does. JOE It wasn't love. ED That's funny. Funny, indeed JOE It wasn't. ED Then what's this hubbub been all about? JOE What I felt for Carol wasn't physical. It wasn't even spiritual. It was something deeper. I was in love with an ideal that wasn't Carol at all. It was something else. Something she represented. ED Ah, the perfect woman. The eternal feminine. The impossible ideal. The unattainable. JOE We're all in love with perfection. It's hard to see the real person behind it, yes? ED Hmm. Can we ever know someone completely? Can we? JOE No, I suppose not. ED No, I suppose not. JOE We all want what we can't have. Whatever that is.

99.

ED The heart is a funny thing, Joe. When it's summer, it longs for winter. When it's winter, it wants summer. There's no fathoming it. Delicious, isn't it? JOE I'll miss her. ED Well, when you set her free, you set yourself free. JOE I'll cherish our time together. ED That's life. It just is, isn't it? JOE Sometimes you have to let go to see if there is anything worth holding onto. ED What will be, will be. JOE But, there are things we never want to forget. People we never want to leave behind. ED Yes, yes, yes. Letting go isn't the end of the world. It's the beginning of a new life. A new life. JOE So true. We must be willing to give up the life we planned to have the life that's waiting for us. Ed fires up the Packard. It RUMBLES to life. ED Look, a journey without a story told is a journey without an end. A traveler is never truly home until he tells his story. JOE I'm almost there.

100.

ED I think you've tasted enough life for now. Lecture over. Over, indeed. They shake hands. ED (CONT’D) God speed and good luck. On the road ahead. JOE And you, my friend. Wherever that journey takes you. ED Tell your stories, Joe. Make the world new again. It's up to you. Ed drives away. He tips his hat to a DOG on a street corner, licking itself. His GOAT LAUGH echoes in the night as he disappears into the mist. TRANSITION TO: REPRISE MONTAGE of days on the Monterey Peninsula. JOE (V.O.) I will always have a deep nostalgia for those wonderful days, when everything that has happened since was taking shape. SUPERIMPOSE A caricature drawn by Ritchie of Joe, Ed, John, and Carol in Pacific Grove. It's Lancelot, Merlin, Arthur, and Guinevere. JOE (V.O.) It was an extraordinary matrix of destiny I had stumbled into. For me, the Monterey Peninsula was the Earthly Paradise. What a time that was. MONTAGE – HERO SHOTS of Ed. of John. of Joe.

101.

JOE (V.O.) We were all on parallel quests. Seeking the key to living a meaningful life. We each found it in our own way. EXT. MONTEREY - BOOKSTORE – DAY Copies of Between Pacific Tides sit in the display window. JOE (V.O.) Ed was writing the guide to the tide pools. EXT. SALINAS – BOOKSTORE – DAY Copies of The Grapes of Wrath sit in the display window. JOE (V.O.) John, the guide to the human condition. EXT. NEW YORK – BOOKSTORE – DAY Copies of The Hero with a Thousand Faces sit in the display window. JOE (V.O.) And I, the guide to the Gods. EXT. POINT PIñOS - LIGHTHOUSE – DAY Ed gathers SPECIMENS in the Great Tide Pool. JOE (V.O.) (CONT’D) As a scientist, Ed didn't know how to lie. EXT./INT. MONTEREY – LARA-SOTO ADOBE – DAY John writes Cannery Row. JOE (V.O.) As a novelist, John didn't know how to tell the truth. EXT./INT. BRONXVILLE, NEW YORK - SARAH LAWRENCE COLLEGE – DAY Joe teaches a class on "Comparative Mythology" to an attentive class of YOUNG WOMEN. JOE (V.O.) As a mythologist, I knew the truth hidden in the lie.

102.

EXT. CANNERY ROW – DUSK In the empty field, Ed, John, and Joe strike an heroic pose behind the intact Round Table. JOE (V.O.) It was a mythic combination. EXT. LONE CYPRESS On the road above the tree, John and Carol argue. They stop. Carol stuffs her hands in her coat pockets, turns, and walks away. JOE (V.O) Nurtured by a remarkable woman who knew the role sacrifice plays in breaking through. EXT. GRENVILLE CHANNEL – SUNSET The Grampus chases the setting sun. JOHN (V.O.) To finish is a sadness to a writer — a little death. He puts the last word down and it is done. But it isn't really done. The story goes on and leaves the writer behind, for no story is ever done. TRANSITION TO: NEWSREEL FOOTAGE John Steinbeck accepts his Nobel Prize. TITLE CARD John Steinbeck won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1962. He died in New York six years later at the age of 66. NEWSREEL FOOTAGE Joseph Campbell teaches at Sarah Lawrence. TITLE CARD The work of Joseph Campbell inspired countless storytellers. He died in Honolulu in 1987 at the age of 83. NEWSREEL FOOTAGE The Monterey Bay Aquarium is re-dedicated in memory of Ed Ricketts, marine biologist and ecology pioneer.

103.

TITLE CARD The Monterey Bay Aquarium, perhaps the finest collection of undersea exhibits demonstrating the principle of ecology in the world, was later dedicated to the memory of Ed "Doc" Ricketts, who died in a car crash near his beloved Cannery Row in 1948. He was 50 years old. TRANSITION TO: DOCUMENTARY FOOTAGE BILL MOYERS interviews Joe Campbell at George Lucas's Skywalker Ranch in 1986. MOYERS I like the idea that it's not the destination that counts, it's the journey. JOE Yes. As Karlfried Graf Dürckheim says, "When you're on a journey, and the end keeps getting further and further away, then you realize that the real end is the journey." MOYERS The adventure of the hero is the adventure of being alive. Joe smiles. FADE OUT. THE END