STANLEY.

(scowling)What're you talking about?

LOVEJOY.

Being married to each other.(starts downthe stairs)Have a nice day.

ANGLE ON ILONA, WATCHING.

As Lovejoy approaches and we hear Stanley CALL after him.

STANLEY (O.S.).

No more Sunday dinner at our house, Roger!

Lovejoy gives Ilona a wry grin.

LOVEJOY.

At least some good has come of this.

They get in the van and drive off.

Chili looked at Catlett turning pages, skimming through the script. "I think when Stanley opens his mouth Lovejoy oughta pop him and walk away, not say a f.u.c.kin word."

"That's 'cause you don't know the man," Catlett said, turning another page. "Next, you see him alone in his flower shop watering some plants, thinking what he should do. The man likes working here and now he's gonna lose it. Next, you see him in the van again, going by Roxy's place."

Chili turned pages to catch up, came to a scene, Roxy-it looked like Roxy was having a party.

"Inside the office there," Catlett said, "Roxy's celebrating his putting it to Lovejoy, having drinks with his friends ... Now you see Lovejoy in the van parked across the street, waiting, but we don't know what for. Looking like he's doing some more thinking ... Back to Roxy, he's getting drunk, say he wants everybody to come out to his place on the lake ... Now Lovejoy is listening to symphony music on the radio, still in the van ... Roxy, inside the office, is now getting ugly, has a fight with the woman wants to take him home."

Chili turned some more pages. "What's I-N-T?"

"Interior," Catlett said. "Inside. Roxy goes out ..."

"What's P-O-V?"

"Point of view. Lovejoy's P-O-V, like he's seeing it when Roxy comes out and gets in his Cadillac. Drives off-now we looking at the Cadillac through Lovejoy's windshield, following him."

Both Chili and Catlett turned a page.

"He's got the video camera with him," Chili said. "He's gonna get Roxy driving again."

"That's what he's doing," Catlett said.

"Roxy spots him."

"I could see that coming."

"He makes a sudden U-turn."

For several moments they both read in silence.

"I knew it," Catlett said. "He's on Lovejoy's a.s.s now."

Chili kept quiet, reading the scene:

EXT. CITY STREETS NIGHT.

ANGLES ON the Cadillac chasing the van through traffic, squealing around corners, narrowly missing cars at intersections, the Cadillac, sideswiping a parked car.

INTERCUT.

Roxy at the wheel of the Cadillac, recklessly determined.

Lovejoy in the van, glancing at mirror apprehensively.

EXT. INTERSECTION NIGHT.

Quiet, little traffic, then none. Until suddenly the van comes around the corner and ducks into an alley. We SEE the rear lights go off. Now the Cadillac takes the corner and flies past the alley. After SEVERAL BEATS the van backs out, proceeds at a normal pace.

EXT. LOVEJOY'S FLOWER SHOP NIGHT The van arrives and parks at the curb across the street. Lovejoy gets out slowly, exhausted. As he starts across the street: HEADLIGHTS POP ON.

down the block. We hear an engine roar. And now a car, the Cadillac, is hurtling toward Lovejoy in the middle of the street, frozen in the highbeam of the headlights,in the exact spot where his son was killed.

Catlett said, "Hmmmm," sitting back, finished.

Chili said, "Wait," still reading, "don't say nothing." He was on the second to last page of the script.

INTERCUT.

Roxy hunched over the steering wheel, wild-eyed.Roxy's POV to see Lovejoy through windshield.

CLOSE ON Lovejoy standing in the street.

REVERSE LOVEJOY'S POVCAR HURTLING TOWARD HIM.

Roxy's pov as Lovejoy suddenly bolts for the flower shop.

EXT. FLOWER SHOP NIGHT.

AN ANGLE on the Cadillac swerving after Lovejoy, who dives out of the way just in time.

INT. CADILLAC CLOSE ON ROXY.

His look of horror as he sees: THROUGH THE WINDSHIELD.

The plate gla.s.s front of the flower shop suddenly in front of him.

INT. FLOWER SHOP (SLOW-MOTION SEQ.) NIGHT.

The Cadillac crashes through the plate gla.s.s, plows across the store interior to smash into the refrigerated showcase and come to a dead stop.INT. FLOWER SHOP ANOTHER ANGLE NIGHT Lovejoy enters, cautiously approaches the Cadillac, looks in to see: ROXY IN CADILLAC.

His b.l.o.o.d.y countenance among flowers, plants, the man obviously dead.

Chili turned to the last page. Now the cops are there, lot of activity. Medics come out with Roxy in a body bag. Lovejoy watches, depressed, looks up. There's Ilona. Ilona takes him aside and "with wisdom beyond her years" tells him it's over and a few other things about flowers, saying, "Besides, making things grow is your life."Besides- they used that word all the time in movies, but you hardly ever heard it in real life. they used that word all the time in movies, but you hardly ever heard it in real life.

Catlett said, "Well?"

Chili looked up, closing the script.

Catlett said, "Didn't shoot him, like he should have."

"He didn't doanything, " Chili said. "The guy gets killed, yeah, but what's Lovejoy do?" " Chili said. "The guy gets killed, yeah, but what's Lovejoy do?"

Catlett came up in the chair to lean on the desk.

"He makes it happen."

"What, he planned it? He dives out of the way to save his a.s.s, that's all."

"What you don't understand," Catlett said, "is what the movie is saying. You live clean, the s.h.i.t gets taken care of somehow or other. That's what the movie's about."

"You believe that?"

"In movies, yeah. Movies haven't got nothing to do with real life."

Chili was about to argue with him, but changed his mind and said, "I don't like the ending."

Catlett eased back again. "You want to change it?"

Chili didn't answer, looking at the ZigZag script cover, opening it then and looking at the t.i.tle page.

MR. LOVEJOY.

An Original Screenplay by MURRAY SAFFRIN.

The t.i.tle was the first thing that ought to be changed. And the guy's name. Murray Saffrin was better than Lovejoy.

"You don't care for the ending," Catlett said, "and I don't like the middle part. I'm thinking what we could do is fix it. You hear what I'm saying? Get some heat in it. Make the people's hands sweat watching it. You and me, we could do it. It's our kind of s.h.i.t we talking about here. Like the action Roxy's into you mentioned, doing stolen cars."

"Fix up the girl's part," Chili said. An idea came to him and he said, "We might even be able to get Karen Flores."

Catlett looked up at him. "Karen Flores ..."

"She's been out of movies a few years, but she's good."

Catlett said, "Karen Flores, I know that name ..."

"Change the ending," Chili said, "so Lovejoy's the one makes it happen, he isn't just standing there."

"We could do all that," Catlett said, "you and me, sit down and write the script over where it needs it."

Chili opened the script again, flipped through a few pages looking at the format. "You know how to write one of these?"

"You asking me," Catlett said, "do I know how to write down words on a piece of paper? That's what you do, man, you put down one word after the other as it comes in your head. It isn't like having to learn how to play the piano, like you have to learn notes. You already learned in school how to write, didn't you? Ihope so. You have the idea and you put down what you want to say. Then you get somebody to add in the commas and s.h.i.t where they belong, if you aren't positive yourself. Maybe fix up the spelling where you have some tricky words. There people do that for you. Some, I've even seen scripts where I so. You have the idea and you put down what you want to say. Then you get somebody to add in the commas and s.h.i.t where they belong, if you aren't positive yourself. Maybe fix up the spelling where you have some tricky words. There people do that for you. Some, I've even seen scripts where Iknow words weren't spelled right and there was hardly any commas in it. So I don't think it's too important. You come to the last page you write in 'Fade out' and that's the end, you're done." words weren't spelled right and there was hardly any commas in it. So I don't think it's too important. You come to the last page you write in 'Fade out' and that's the end, you're done."

Chili said, "That's all there is to it?"

"That's all."

Chili said, "Then what do I need you for?"

He heard the elevator as he was opening the door to 325, looked down the hotel hallway and saw Karen coming toward him, Karen in a loose-fitting white shirt and gray slacks. Chili pushed the door open and waited, two copies ofLovejoy under his arm. under his arm.

"I was in the bar when you came in," Karen said. "I thought you saw me." He shook his head saying no, but was glad to see her now, motioning Karen to go in. She said, "Well, I read it." He followed her into the living room, the paG.o.da lamps still on, and dropped the scripts on the counter. A light on the phone was blinking on and off.

"You want to check your messages?"