{"id":2047,"date":"2016-01-23T12:45:24","date_gmt":"2016-01-23T17:45:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lifeinspice.com\/?page_id=2047"},"modified":"2016-01-30T14:08:38","modified_gmt":"2016-01-30T19:08:38","slug":"scene-10","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/lifeinspice.com\/?page_id=2047","title":{"rendered":"Scene 10"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
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\"10trains\"Jake and Amanda continue their conversation.<\/em><\/p>\n

Amanda<\/h4>\n

This Shining Tower, what\u2019re you talking about?<\/p>\n

Jake<\/h4>\n

My Shining Tower, yeah. A mile high and gleaming, springing out of the barren wastes of scorched northern Africa. My monument of hope for all of mankind.<\/p>\n

Amanda<\/h4>\n

I never heard \u2026<\/p>\n

Jake<\/h4>\n

Cuz it didn\u2019t make the 10 o\u2019clock news? No, it wasn\u2019t on the 10 o\u2019clock news. And who controls the 10 o\u2019clock news? Wink, wink.<\/p>\n

Amanda<\/h4>\n

This is your beautiful dream? You the killer?<\/p>\n

Jake<\/h4>\n

And that disqualifies me how, hitchhiker? \u00a0It\u2019s the ultimate dream I kill for \u2026 That look on your face, you think I\u2019m raving?<\/p>\n

Amanda<\/h4>\n

Well, you are raving.<\/p>\n

Jake<\/h4>\n

Of course I\u2019m raving. But then you\u2019re hardly someone who should be making judgments about raving, should you?<\/p>\n

Amanda<\/h4>\n

Can\u2019t argue with that. At least you know where your dreams come from. Leastways they don\u2019t make you all crazy. Not like the things I see.<\/p>\n

Jake<\/h4>\n

Mine just scare the living hell out of me. And I am crazy. In so many ways. And you know it. You know it, damn you. Could even be, that\u2019s why you\u2019re here. Eh? (laughs)<\/em> Death is climbing the stairs, and here we are discussing dreams. Give me your clinical diagnosis of that!<\/p>\n

Amanda<\/h4>\n

I guess we\u2019re both sort of tetched in the head, now you mention it. Alright, drive on.<\/p>\n

Jake<\/h4>\n

I\u2019m humbly grateful. So picture this, hitchhiker. Picture. Shining white sand in every direction, as far as the eye can see. A blinding sun, so bright you dare not look. \u00a0Refuge is found in the shadow, black as black. \u00a0Follow the shadow to where it meets the tower\u2019s base, shining silver, tinted with blue where it reflects the sky, and your eyes go up. And they keep going up and up and up, until your neck is straining as you look ever skyward, you can\u2019t believe it\u2019s so high, what seems an almost solid mass of silver, gleaming almost as though lit from within. It\u2019s so huge, you grow too dizzy to stand. \u00a0You have to turn around and walk away, over the white sand. You finally turn to look again, and now you can grasp it all, and it\u2019s so beautiful. Out of that ascending mass rise shining spires thinner and thinner as they reach for the sky, so thin, so high that you wonder how it is they don\u2019t fall. Now you pick out details, huge walkways and even roadways, vast highways, up the sides, all of shining silver, massive decks and turrets jutting madly all over. Thousands upon thousands of people are inside, all scurrying with resolute purpose, building to keep it going ever higher, but they are invisible to your distant eye. You only see what they have built. The only motion is the shimmer of the heat of the sun coming off the desert sand. You stand there and think, mankind built this. We did this. And if we can do this \u2026 Oh, Amanda, if you could only see it!<\/p>\n

Amanda<\/h4>\n

(she stands, reaches out and touches Jake\u2019s head, recoils in horror)<\/em> It\u2019s like I\u2019ve heard this story before. \u201cAnd the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.\u201d You\u2019ve heard this?<\/p>\n

Jake<\/h4>\n

The bible? Tower of Babel.<\/p>\n

Amanda<\/h4>\n

(pauses)<\/em> Is it? Them words just popped into my head. Oh Jake, Jake, you poor man. You really are reaching unto heaven, aren\u2019t you? You really are.<\/p>\n

Jake<\/h4>\n

Heaven can wait. The assassin \u2014 what\u2019s the status?<\/p>\n

Amanda<\/h4>\n

(closes her eyes briefly)<\/em> All I get is this icy feeling. Just ice. And pain. Closer. Nooooo! (shakes violently for a moment)<\/em> Tell me about her.<\/p>\n

Jake<\/h4>\n

O\u2019Leary sent her.<\/p>\n

Amanda<\/h4>\n

She\u2019s still climbing, Jake. Is that pertinent? \u2026 And who\u2019s O\u2019Leary?<\/p>\n

Jake<\/h4>\n

O\u2019Leary. The killer of dreams! I only kill people, you see. But you wouldn\u2019t have the slightest idea what I\u2019m talking about, any more than you knew who I was before you wandered through that door. Yet you live in O\u2019Leary\u2019s shadow. We all live in his shadow. Did you know that? No you didn\u2019t know that.<\/p>\n

Amanda<\/h4>\n

No, I didn\u2019t know that. But, uh, Jake, Miss Gun Barrel Tits. Minutes away.<\/p>\n

Jake<\/h4>\n

Minutes? An eternity. I\u2019ll fill you in now. He\u2019s midwest minister of environmental protection, one of my counterparts. O\u2019Leary\u2019s the one that did Chicago \u2026<\/p>\n

Amanda<\/h4>\n

Chicago, that awful accident. Wasn\u2019t \u2026 oh lord no!<\/p>\n

Jake<\/h4>\n

Oh lord yes! If it works for his warlords, don\u2019t fix it. If it doesn\u2019t work, then destroy it. Destroy it all! The world gets smaller and smaller and deader and deader, but as long as it outlives him by one minute, no problem. As far as he\u2019s concerned, somebody else can turn off the lights. That\u2019s why I decided to build the tower in Africa. Because Africa has already been completely scorched. So building it there spits in his eye.<\/p>\n

Amanda<\/h4>\n

And you! I hear your words, but don\u2019t quite feel \u00a0\u2026 You\u2019re just this man sitting in the dark, and you\u2019re crazy, and I\u2019m crazy, and I feel \u2026 and I feel \u2026 (screams)<\/em><\/p>\n

Jake<\/h4>\n

And maybe now you get an inkling of why I sit in the dark waiting for death?<\/p>\n

Amanda<\/h4>\n

More than an inkling \u2026<\/p>\n

Jake<\/h4>\n

O\u2019Leary himself is quite the monster, but more horrible is that there could even be an O\u2019Leary, with such power, capable of such horror, and beloved. Beloved by so many. Not in spite of his horror, but because of it. My dream has to be bigger. We\u2019re in a war of dreams, dreams against nightmares. The closer my killer gets, the more I rave \u2026<\/p>\n

Amanda<\/h4>\n

And your tower does what?<\/p>\n

Jake<\/h4>\n

Hope. Different from all the reshuffling and rearranging and renaming and cannibalizing that passes for progress. Something new and beautiful. Something that promises us a future. Something impossible. It has to be impossible, because humanity\u2019s future is impossible. People aren\u2019t evil …<\/p>\n

Amanda<\/h4>\n

No, they\u2019re very \u2026<\/p>\n

Jake<\/h4>\n

Don\u2019t say it, I guess in some way they\u2019re very, very evil. But in any event, death is all they can see, it\u2019s their only choice \u2026<\/p>\n

Amanda<\/h4>\n

While for you sudden death is only one possibility? So you reach unto heaven as the bullets approach from just down the hall. But if you get riddled, damn you, damn you, damn you. If you get riddled, then where\u2019s my hope? Goddamn you, you flash it then snatch it away. God, what have you done to me? I didn\u2019t know (screams)<\/em> \u2026 You\u2019ve got to get offstage. Quick!<\/p>\n

Jake<\/h4>\n

No, damn YOU! Get offstage, down that way. (points)<\/em> You have no business here. This is my game, and I know her quirks. \u00a0She can be fast as a lizard, but not very accurate. Or accurate as a laser, but not so fast. Her deadliness lies in her tracking system and her killer instinct, but the tracking system isn\u2019t perfected, and the long climb will dull her for half a minute. My gamble is that her first shot misses if she goes for speed, and I kill her with my first shot. If she goes for full tracking, then I get in the first shot and I never miss. I figure the odds are on my side. My death wish comes and goes with my mood, but right now I\u2019m rolling in puppies. I must have my amusement! (picks up his gun, slams it on the table)<\/em><\/p>\n

Amanda<\/h4>\n

No! If you\u2019re so fired up to be amused, then you should go interrogate some usual suspects. But you are not to kill her. You hear me?<\/p>\n

Jake<\/h4>\n

And let her kill the dream? Sacre bleu! If that\u2019s your game. Maybe I should have shot you right away. Maybe you\u2019re not what you seem \u2026<\/p>\n

Amanda<\/h4>\n

Your dream deserves better than a crapshoot. My every fiber tells me save you, no matter \u2026 It\u2019s my purpose now, and of course I\u2019m not what I seem. Nobody is what they seem. But it\u2019s my play now! I can handle her.<\/p>\n

Jake<\/h4>\n

Bloody Lane? For a nickel she\u2019d cut you down in a second.<\/p>\n

Amanda<\/h4>\n

True. But nobody\u2019s yet offered her that nickel. I repeat, I don\u2019t want her killed.<\/p>\n

Jake<\/h4>\n

And why not, of all the dying people in the world?<\/p>\n

Amanda<\/h4>\n

I just don\u2019t. I feel something with her I don\u2019t understand. Maybe it\u2019s just that I need to save somebody today. Maybe it\u2019s not just you. Look, I swear she won\u2019t kill your dreams of heaven. I can stop her.<\/p>\n

Jake<\/h4>\n

You stupid bitch! She\u2019s trained all her life. And let me tell you about heaven! \u00a0The stairway to heaven is slick with blood. The bloody realpolitik behind that heaven is that I\u2019m building the tower with slave labor shipped from inside the walls and worked to death. To death! Hear me? And that\u2019s the only reason I keep anyone alive.<\/p>\n

Amanda<\/h4>\n

(growing increasingly angry)<\/em> \u00a0And your gunners to keep them dead.<\/p>\n

Jake<\/h4>\n

Oh, finally the crazy woman is catching on. The math get a little twisted sometimes, but yes, I keep them alive and I keep them dead. The tower gets built, one minute I\u2019m going at it hammer and tongs against all comers, and next the tea-sipping orchid sniffers come aboard like it was their idea all along, and we chat about the myth of progress. If the tower fails, my so-called friends kill me. I got no illusions about that. But for now, those wretches behind the walls are my only hope. No food, they all die and I have no labor. But too much food and the African Improvement Society has no incentive to force them to the tower, and I have no labor. If they weren\u2019t driven by starvation, the Blacks would be perfectly happy to hop and frolic among their ruins and plot at their leisure how to hang me from a lamppost. And the gunners? Couldn\u2019t do anything without the gunners.<\/p>\n

Amanda<\/h4>\n

Cuz you\u2019d be stuck without a dance partner?<\/p>\n

Jake<\/h4>\n

Cuz they give me a tool of scientific measurement. A pressure valve. How often and in what numbers they rush the wall gets pumped into the program and it tells me whether to nudge up the food shipments or cut back a mite. Calculating the death rate is all quite scientific. Speaking of religions.<\/p>\n

Amanda<\/h4>\n

That\u2019s obscene.<\/p>\n

Jake<\/h4>\n

Woo woo! Oh yes, my darling gunners do their part to keep everyone\u2019s religion alive and kicking. And fuck the beauty of it. It keeps everything going and who gives a shit about the aesthetics? And yes, you\u2019re right, I get a dance partner. Can\u2019t beat that.<\/p>\n

Amanda<\/h4>\n

Yet you reach unto heaven.<\/p>\n

Jake<\/h4>\n

Enough of that heaven shit!<\/p>\n

Amanda<\/h4>\n

Or what? You\u2019re gonna shoot me?<\/p>\n

Jake<\/h4>\n

The day is still young and you\u2019re getting to be a royal pain in the ass, and I\u2019m hardly short on bullets. (grins maliciously)<\/em> You stupid cunt! I should have shot you through the head the minute you walked through that door. It\u2019s retards like you that have got to be obliterated, all sensitive-like, without the sense god gave a goose \u2026 (leering madly, he slaps her)<\/em><\/p>\n

Amanda<\/h4>\n

You miserable fuck! \u2026 you hadn\u2019t ought \u2026 \u00a0I should (she stands, long pause, her expression changes from rage to wonder)<\/em> Oh you sneaky little weasel. (smiles)<\/em> I get it. In your script, this is where I slap that stupid grin off your face and light out in a rage, cursing under my breath that you\u2019re a rotten bastard who deserves to die clutching your guts in agony with \u201ckilled by tits\u201d etched on your tombstone. Unh-unh, Jake. I\u2019m not that easy. I stay and you leave. Period.<\/p>\n

Jake<\/h4>\n

You think I\u2019m your typical mass murderer with a heart of gold?<\/p>\n

Amanda<\/h4>\n

Give me a rusty butter knife and I\u2019ll check. But for now \u2026 look, Jake, we\u2019ve only got a minute, and we can\u2019t fiddle around. I hate to ask this, but \u2026 all right, here\u2019s the deal. Do you believe in my visions? Yes or no? Right now. Yes or no?<\/p>\n

Jake<\/h4>\n

And bigfoot and Tinkerbell and the American way and \u2026<\/p>\n

Amanda<\/h4>\n

Damn you!<\/p>\n

Jake<\/h4>\n

Stand in line!<\/p>\n

Amanda<\/h4>\n

Double damn you! Do you believe in my visions? Yes or no?<\/p>\n

Jake<\/h4>\n

I, I don\u2019t know \u2026<\/p>\n

Amanda<\/h4>\n

(she shouts, thunder rumbles in the background)<\/em> My visions? Yes or no!<\/p>\n

Jake<\/h4>\n

(long pause)<\/em> Yes. Yes, I believe in your visions.<\/p>\n

Amanda<\/h4>\n

Okay. She\u2019s close, terribly close. (approaches Jake, puts her hand on his head)<\/em> You get offstage right pronto. Do something amusing, molest small animals or something.<\/p>\n

Jake<\/h4>\n

But what about \u2026<\/p>\n

Amanda<\/h4>\n

I\u2019ll be okay. She\u2019s not after me. Get offstage, count your nads and make sure there\u2019s still two, but get offstage. It\u2019s my play right now. (She stares him down. Jake exits with his gun. Amanda sits in Jake\u2019s chair, her face in shadows)<\/em> Go to, you murderous beautiful dreamer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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previous scene next scene Jake and Amanda continue their conversation. Amanda This Shining Tower, what\u2019re you talking about? Jake My Shining Tower, yeah. A mile high and gleaming, springing out of the barren wastes of scorched northern Africa. My monument … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2047","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P77v4L-x1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeinspice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeinspice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeinspice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeinspice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeinspice.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2047"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/lifeinspice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2047\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2364,"href":"https:\/\/lifeinspice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2047\/revisions\/2364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeinspice.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}