Friends

INT. ABBEY ROAD STUDIOS – DAY

The band sits around in an irregular formation singing or playing their instruments.

BILLY (singing)

Look out helter skelter
She's coming down fast
Yes she is
Yes she is coming down fast

JOHN

How’s that?

RINGO

I got blisters on my fingers!

FADE TO WHITE.

 

The story continues inside the convenience store of some small town in the middle of the great unknown, America. Charlie strides in, those crazy eyes of his dart about before settling on the white squares resting in a wiry metal basket. Mark takes his book to the cashier, he keeps his eyes securely on his feet as he hands the old man a crumpled $5 bill from the front pocket of his dirty jeans. Sweaty palms clutching his new acquisition he heads out “Hey kid, you forgot your receipt.” No response. Record in hand Charlie moves to pay, watching Mark as if he were a cockroach.

“Oh this one, this is new, I don’t much care for this kinda stuff myself.”

“Yep, yep…aha.”

The erratic behaviour of the customer kills the small talk “That’s $11.79.”

“Ahem, yep, ok” he reaches into his pants, the prison detergent makes his hand itch. A handful of change drops onto the counter and Charlie rushes out.

“Hey Wait! There’s only 9 bucks…” The words fall away as the pickup revs away into the night. Hollywood awaits.

 

Look at your game, Girl

Walking along the dusty track Susan dreams of something more. Each step kicks up a cloud, the sun beats down on her, manifest destiny had been her beacon but it’s waning. She wears her hand like a peek, turning her neck to investigate the rumbling that builds up behind her. Rusty and bottle green, the pickup rattles its way up the hill. Fields as far as the eye can see, water towers and barns, white wooden fences and now the pickup, all they need is an elderly couple with a pitchfork.

Her thin, tanned arm shoots out beside her, thumb erect. The truck skids to a halt about 10 feet ahead of her. Before long she’s stood over a 26 year old blonde woman. Each stab maiming not only her but her unborn child. She wipes her fingers in the dead actress’s blood, scrawls some jargon on the walls and takes her leave.

Jack Nicholson lived in a sitcom house. Champagne doesn’t dull the pain but what about 13 year old pussy. The weight of the black box is comforting. It really is an object of beauty, the curved metal perverting the room, the precision of this tool is obvious from its design. Men love anything that is spring loaded, dials, all of that. So satisfactory is the click that he was sure even the teenager liked it when he shot her.

They laid on the bed, time passed, she looked at the ceiling.

Mark walked past the ‘Carnal Knowledge’ actors house, completely oblivious to what was going on inside. He wouldn’t have done anything anyway, little girls didn’t interest him, Jodie Foster could burn in hell for all he cared. A lot of walking later, America’s a wide piece of earth, and he’s on the Upper West Side. Something heavy in his pocket, it’s not a camera but it’s still satisfying to point at people.

Dakota means friend in the languages of some Native Americans. John didn’t know this, neither did Mark. ‘The bang was frighteningly loud, and in such a public place, what kind of mad man would do this?’ thought Rochel Haurlewoj, a 78 year old Russian woman who had immigrated to New York on 29/7/1913 on the SS Vaderland .

‘How’s that?’ John thought. He’d done some good in his life, right?