(ALL APOLOGIES BY SINEAD O’CONNOR PLAYING)
(MUSIC FADES)
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
(MUSIC PLAYING OVER SPEAKERS)
You’re not queer.
Usually, if I get this far with an American kid, I can get the rest of the way, but with you there’s some… obstacle.
Your mother wouldn’t like it.
I had a friend, um, a homosexual Jewish friend who lived in Oklahoma City.
I asked him, “Why do you live here?
“You have enough money, you could live wherever you like.”
You know what he told me?
(IN DEEP VOICE) “It would kill my mother if I moved away.”
(LAUGHS HEARTILY)
(BIRDS CHIRPING)
(WHISTLE BLOWS)
(TRAM BELL DINGS)
Good luck, Lee.
(MAN SHOUTS INDISTINCTLY)
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
(SIGHS HEAVILY)
(VEHICLES PASS BY)
(NOISES FADE OUT TO SILENCE)
(VEHICLE HONKS)
(DOG BARKS DISTANTLY)
(SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY)
(SERENE MUSIC PLAYING)
LEE: Gracias.
Gracias.
(STATIC NOISE)
Everything in this country falls apart.
Wouldn’t surprise me if I picked up a boy in the Alameda and his…
Someone stole my typewriter.
It was that Brazilian, or whatever he is.
You know him. Maurice.
The wrestler?
You mean the gym instructor, Louie?
No, no, no. That’s another one.
No, Louie has decided all that sort of thing is very wrong, and he tells me that I am going to burn in hell but he is going to heaven.
Serious?
Mm-hmm.
No, Maurice is as queer as I am.
If not queerer… (BELCHES) Excuse me.
But he won’t accept it.
I think stealing my typewriter is a way he takes to demonstrate to me and to himself that he is just in it for all he can get.
Uh-huh.
As a matter of fact, he’s so queer I’ve lost interest in him.
Not completely though…
(CONTINUES INDISTINCTLY)
(NOISES FADE OUT)
(STATIC NOISE GROWS LOUDER)
(CLOCK TICKING)
(TICKING GETS LOUDER)
(FLIES BUZZING)
(STATIC NOISE)
(DISTORTED FEELING)
Hello.
Nazis.
I’ll probably invite him back to my apartment instead of beating the shit out of him like I should.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
LEE: think how much it would cost you to shoot a major in the Mexican Army!
You know what? I’m going to get a bottle.
Well, um, no.
You see, we’re hoping to work on the plans for this boat we’re going to build.
A boat?
MOOR: Yes. At Zihuatanejo.
All right. Well, how about meeting me for a drink tomorrow at the Rathskeller? Say around five?
I expect I’ll be busy tomorrow.
Yes, but you have to eat and drink. (CHUCKLES)
Well, you see, this boat is more important to me than anything right now.
It will take up all my time.
Suit yourself. (CHUCKLES SOFTLY)
Thanks for running interference, Tom.
I hope he got the idea.
I like the guy, but I can’t stand to be alone with him.
He keeps trying to go to bed with me.
That’s what I don’t like about queers.
You can’t keep it on the basis of friendship.
(TENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
(COME AS YOU ARE BY NIRVANA PLAYING)
(CHEERING AND SHOUTING INDISTINCTLY)
(SQUAWKING)
(COME AS YOU ARE CONTINUES PLAYING)
(SONG FADES OUT)
(INDISTINCT CONVERSATION)
One absinthe.
BARTENDER: Hola, Lee.
(INHALES SHARPLY)
(GIGGLES)
(MAN LAUGHS)
Fuck you, Tom!
MAN: So touchy!
I don’t take it personally.
(CONTINUES INDISTINCTLY)
(INDISTINCT CONVERSATION)
(WOMAN LAUGHS)
Yup.
(DOOR OPENS)
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
(CHIMU BAR ARTISTS SING LA MALAGUENA)
Mezcal!
BARTENDER: Si, senor.
(BARTENDER IN SPANISH)
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
(CROWD CHEERING)
(LAUGHTER)
(IN SPANISH) Why so sad?
(SPEAKS SPANISH) I’m not sad.
Not really.
I’m okay.
(SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING)
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
(IN ENGLISH) You been aqui before? Mm?
Yeah, of course, you have.
I’ve been aqui.
(DOOR CLOSES)
(SPEAKS SPANISH) Do you carry a pistol?
LEE: (IN ENGLISH) Yes, I carry a pistol.
(CLEARS THROAT)
(SOMBER MUSIC CONTINUES)
(CHUCKLES)
(MAN MOANS)
(INDISTINCT SHOUTING)
(SPEAKS SPANISH) I have to go.
There’s a brawl out of the Chimu.
I’m going there to drink something.
(LEE CLEARS THROAT)
Adios.
Adios.
LEE: (IN ENGLISH) Get a load of this.
“After he killed his wife and three children,
“he takes a razor and puts on a suicide act,
“but resulted only in scratches
“that did not require medical attention.” (CHUCKLES)
What a slobbish performance!
And on the subject of murder, I’m going…
Sit down on your ass!
(SIGHS)
Or what’s left of it after four years in the Navy.
(SCOFFS)
Lee.
I gotta go.
What are you, henpecked?
Yeah, no kidding.
I’ve been out too much lately, Lee.
Lola’s, Ship Ahoy,
the other places…
My old lady says
I gotta be home for dinner every night.
Fuck, Jim!
JIM: Lee, wait…
LEE: Hi!
Hi.
I just… Uh, I just wanted to tell you that, um…
Mary was in Lola’s a little while ago.
And she asked me to tell you
that she’d be in the Ship Ahoy later on,
around five.
Oh.
(CLEARS THROAT)
Thank you.
Will you be around tonight?
Yes, um…
I think so, yeah.
(AND THE ANGELS SING BY BENNY GOODMAN PLAYS OVER SPEAKERS)
Who is he?
(SCOFFS)
I have no idea.
Tequila. (CLEARS THROAT)
BARTENDER: Yeah.
(MARY CHUCKLES)
(SPEAKS SPANISH) Another.
Another.
(MARY CHUCKLES)
(BARTENDER IN SPANISH) You’re drinking so fast, Mr. Lee!
(SATURDAY NIGHT FISH FRY BY LOUIS JORDAN PLAYING)
ALLERTON: (IN ENGLISH) Two rum and cokes.
(BARTENDER IN SPANISH)
(COINS CLINKING)
(CHUCKLES)
(CLEARS THROAT)
(CONVERSES IN SPANISH)
(IN ENGLISH) Come sit with us over there.
(IN ENGLISH) How did you check the accuracy
of your information? That… That doesn’t…
Actually, uh, we didn’t.
What?
So the Counter-Intelligence Corps got sucked in
on a lot of phony deals when I was in Germany.
And, of course, we cross-checked
all information with the other informants,
and we had our own agents in the field.
Now, most of our informants,
they would come back with some phony information,
but this one character, he made it all up.
(GENTLE MUSIC PLAYING)
I mean, he had our agents out looking out in the field
for a whole fictitious network of Russian spies, right?
So, finally, reports came back from Frankfurt…
it’s all a load of crap!
Oh.
But instead of clearing…
(BOTH CHUCKLE)
Instead of clearing out of town
before the information could be checked,
he came back with more.
Oh.
(MUSIC INTENSIFIES)
(VOICES FADE OUT)
(CONTINUES INDISTINCTLY)
You’re here?
(ALLERTON GRUNTS)
Yeah, I have a sack here.
LEE: Uh-huh.
Good night.
(LEE LAUGHS)
(BOTH CHUCKLE)
Good night.
Night.
(GENTLE MUSIC CONTINUES)
(MUSIC FADES OUT)
(CLOCK ALARM RINGS)
(SIGHS)
There she is!
Yes.
The trouble with me is, I like the type that robs me.
Where you make your mistake is,
bringing them back to your apartment.
That’s what hotels are for.
Well, you’re right there, but half the time
I don’t have money for a hotel.
(LEE CLEARS THROAT)
Besides, I like someone
around to cook breakfast and sweep the place out.
Uh. You mean clean the place out!
I don’t mind the watch and the radio,
but it really hurts losing those boots.
(CHUCKLES SOFTLY)
They were a thing of beauty and joy forever.
(LAUGHS HYSTERICALLY)
I don’t know whether I ought to say things like this
in front of Junior here.
Go ahead.
(BELCHES) No offense, kid.
Did I tell you how I made the cop on the beat?
(INHALES AND EXHALES SHARPLY)
He’s a vigilante, the watchman out where I live.
Every time he sees the light on in my room,
he comes in for a shot of rum.
About five nights ago,
he caught me when I was drunk, and stoned,
and horny.
Well, one thing led to another
and I ended up showing him how the, uh…
cow ate the cabbage.
(LAUGHS)
JOE: The night after I make him,
I’m walking by the beer joint on the corner.
He comes out borracho and says, “Have a drink.”
I said, “I don’t want a drink.”
So he takes out his pistola and says, “Have a drink.”
I proceeded to take his pistola away from him.
He goes back into the beer joint
to phone for reinforcements.
So I had to go in and rip the phone off the wall.
Now, they’re charging me for the phone.
So, I get back to my room, which is on the ground floor.
He’d written “El Puto Gringo” on the window with soap.
(LEE CHUCKLING)
I didn’t wipe it off.
I left it there.
It pays to advertise.
(LAUGHING)
(IN SPANISH) Would you like more?
(LAUGHS, RESPONDS IN SPANISH) Yes.
(IN ENGLISH) Excuse me.
You think he’s queer?
Now I’ve been seeing him for a few weeks.
Seeing him?
Yeah, spending time with him.
Like… I can’t tell.
You could always just ask.
No, no, no, no, no! No!
Well, he must be queer if he’s talking to him.
Dume’s part of that little clique of queers
who go to that beer joint on Campeche,
The Green Lantern.
I know who he is.
He’s the only one of those Green Lantern boys
who’d be welcome in a place like this.
The rest of them are just a bunch of screaming fags.
Would you excuse me?
(INDISTINCT CONVERSATION)
Hey. Tequila.
How do you like this character?
He comes over and asks,
“I thought you were one of the Green Lantern Boys.”
I said, “Well, yes, I am.”
(LAUGHS)
He wants me to take him around
to some of the gay places here.
Hmm.
Truth be told, I don’t take people to the Lantern.
I mean, either you’re going there or you’re not.
Something about the way he asked,
I just couldn’t say no.
(INDISTINCT CONVERSATION)
You don’t know him, do you?
Mm?
He’s always in here, playing chess with the girl.
Mary.
Mary! That’s right, yeah.
She seems nice.
I wouldn’t know.
DUME: Supposing she’s his girlfriend,
then she’s in for a bit of a surprise. Right?
(LAUGHS)
What?
Are you all right, Lee?
Yes, I’m fine.
Well, I just asked if you knew the boy
and I’m still waiting on an answer.
I… Yes, I…
I mean, no.
A little.
Thank you as always
for the enlightening conversation.
Oh, Tom, darling.
Yes, my dear.
Let’s talk Puerto Vallarta.
It’s very nice.
Okay.
A few of us are thinking about going.
It’s on the west coast, there’s a gorgeous climate.
Yeah.
Beautiful men.
(CHARACTERS SPEAKING SPANISH)
(MYSTICAL MUSIC PLAYING)
(COIN CLATTERS)
(CLICKS)
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
(MARIGOLD BY NIRVANA PLAYS ON JUKEBOX)
(CLEARS THROAT)
(LEE CHUCKLES)
I presume Dume told you about my proclivities.
Yes.
A curse… (CHUCKLES)
Been in our family for generations.
The Lees have always been perverts. (CHUCKLES)
I shall never forget the unspeakable horror
that froze the lymph in my glands,
the lymph glands that is, of course,
when that baneful word seared my reeling brain.
Homosexual!
(CHUCKLES)
I thought of the painted, simpering female impersonators
I had seen in a Baltimore night club.
Could it be that I was one of those subhuman things?
I walked the street in a daze,
like a man with a light concussion.
I might well have destroyed myself,
ending an existence which seemed to offer
nothing but grotesque misery and humiliation.
“Nobler,” I thought,
“to die a man than to live on a sex monster.” (SCOFFS)
(MARIGOLD CONTINUES PLAYING)
It was…
It was a wise old queen,
Bobo, we called her,
who taught me that I had a duty to live
and to bear my burden proudly for all to see,
you know, to conquer ignorance and prejudice and hate
with knowledge, and sincerity…
and love.
ALLERTON: Hmm.
Bobo’s words came back to me from the tomb,
the sibilants cracking gently.
(MIMICKING BOBO) “No one is ever really alone.
“You are part of everything that is alive.”
(IN NORMAL VOICE) The difficulty is to convince
someone else he is really part of you.
So what the hell?
Us “parts” ought to work together. Reet?
What I mean is, Allerton, is…
(SIGHS)
We’re all parts of a tremendous whole.
There’s no use fighting it.
The queer bars here don’t compare
to the Stateside queer joints.
I mean, that is depressing.
Uh, I wouldn’t know.
I’ve never been to any queer joints
except those Dume took me to.
I guess there’s kicks and kicks.
You haven’t? Really?
No.
Never.
(INDISTINCT CONVERSATION)
(17 DAYS (PIANO & A MICROPHONE 1983 VERSION) BY PRINCE PLAYS)
there’s a gorilla in a cage…
After you.
Masturbating, and, um…
Should we go back to my place?
I’ve got some Napoleon brandy.
All right.
Hmm.
Hello! (LAUGHS) Hola.
(IN SPANISH) Good evening.
Insurgentes, Monterrey. Three pesos.
Four pesos.
(IN ENGLISH) Oh. Fuck off.
(IN SPANISH) You fucking gringo, son of a bitch!
Get in the car, fucking gringo!
Son of a bitch!
(IN ENGLISH) I’m sorry, I can’t hear you.
(IN ENGLISH) Fuck you, man!
Shit! (GRUNTS)
Fuck, man.
Sometimes I think they don’t like us.
Oh?
Let’s walk, come on.
(BOTH LAUGH)
(17 DAYS CONTINUES PLAYING)
Welcome. Welcome.
ALLERTON: Oh.
Yes! Yeah. (CLEARS THROAT)
(SONG STOPS ABRUPTLY)
(KEYS CLATTERING)
(LEE EXHALES)
Well, uh, welcome. It’s a…
I’ll fix you a drink.
(BOTTLES CLINKING)
(SHELVES OPENING AND CLOSING)
LEE: Ta-da! (CHUCKLES)
(POURS DRINK)
(GLASSES CLINKING)
(SNIFFS)
ALLERTON: Mm.
(COUGHS)
(LAUGHS)
ALLERTON: Oh, good Lord!
Napoleon must have pissed in this one.
Oh, I was…
I was afraid of that, an untutored palate!
Your generation has never learned the pleasures
that a trained palate confers on the disciplined few.
(CHUCKLING)
(COUGHS AND LAUGHS) It is godawful.
Still, it’s better than a California brandy.
It does have a suggestion of a cognac taste.
(SIGHS)
Oh, yeah. (CHUCKLES)
(ALLERTON GRUNTS)
Can I… (CLEARS THROAT) show you over the house?
This is the, uh…
bedroom. (CHUCKLES)
I’ll… I’ll get you some more brandy.
(EXHALES)
(CHUCKLES)
(CLEARS THROAT)
(GRUNTS)
Oh, this is… (LAUGHS)
Sweet stuff, dearie.
This wasn’t made in Mexico.
No, I bought it in Scotland.
(CHUCKLES)
(GAGS)
Are you…
(RETCHING)
(GROANS)
(FLUSHES TOILET)
(TURNS TAP ON)
(RINSES MOUTH)
I wonder what the matter could be.
You didn’t…
You didn’t drink that much.
Are you okay now?
Yes, I think so.
(SIGHS WEARILY)
(GROANS)
(ALLERTON GROANS SOFTLY)
(GENTLE MUSIC PLAYING)
(BREATHES HEAVILY)
Let’s get this sweater off.
Okay.
That rib’s broken.
(GENTLE MUSIC CONTINUES)
(KISSES)
(MUSIC FADES OUT)
Do I smell like vomit?
No.
(GENTLE MUSIC CONTINUES)
(BREATHING HEAVILY)
(MOANING)
(MOANING IN PLEASURE)
(GENTLE MUSIC CONTINUES)
(GRUNTS)
(ALLERTON BREATHING HEAVILY)
(MUSIC INTENSIFIES)
(BREATHING HEAVILY)
(EXHALING)
(BOTH BREATHING HEAVILY)
ALLERTON: Wait, wait, wait.
(MUSIC FADES OUT)
(CHUCKLES)
(LEE LAUGHS)
(GENTLE MUSIC CONTINUES)
(LEE BREATHING HEAVILY)
(MUSIC INTENSIFIES)
(LEE MOANING IN PLEASURE)
(GROANS AND BREATHES HEAVILY)
Fuck!
(MUSIC FADES OUT)
(ALLERTON SIGHS)
(LEE BREATHES HARD)
LEE: I know telepathy to be a fact
since I’ve experienced it myself.
What interests me is how I can use it, you know?
In South America,
at the headwaters of the Amazon,
grows a plant called “yage”
which is supposed to increase telepathic sensitivity.
Medicine men use it in their work
and a Columbian scientist, whose, um, name escapes me,
isolated from yage a drug he calls “telepathine”.
I read all this in a magazine article.
Later, I see in another article
the Russians are using yage
in experiments on slave labor.
It seems they want to induce states of automatic obedience
and ultimately, of course, thought control.
(LAUGHS)
How about the T-bone steak for two?
(IN SPANISH) We’re closing.
(IN ENGLISH) That’s fine.
Oh, they list baked Alaska.
Ever eat it?
No.
Real good.
It’s hot on the outside
and cold inside.
That’s why they call it “baked Alaska,” I imagine.
You know… (CLEARS THROAT) I got an idea for a new dish.
You take a live pig and you throw it into a very hot oven
so the pig is roasted outside
and when you cut into it,
it’s still alive and twitching inside.
Or, if we run a dramatic joint,
a screaming pig covered with burning brandy
runs out of the kitchen…
(IMITATES PIG SQUEALING)
And dies right by the chair.
(LAUGHS)
You just reach down,
you pull off the crispy, crackly ears and…
eat them with your cocktails.
Well, if you insist…
(ALLERTON BRUSHES TEETH)
(LEE CHUCKLES SOFTLY)
I want a rum and coke.
Sure. Why not?
Let’s go to the Ship Ahoy. Come on.
Oh, yes.
(17 DAYS BY PRINCE PLAYING)
(PEOPLE LAUGHING)
MAN: I was treated, you know, by the therapist in the Army.
JOE: What did he say?
He said I’m an Oedipus and I love my mother.
Fuck.
Everybody loves their mother, son.
I mean, I love her physically.
(LEE COUGHS)
I don’t believe that, son.
Lee, did you hear Jim Cochran has gone back to the States?
Mm-hmm.
He plans to work in Alaska.
LEE: Oh, thank God I am a gentleman
of independent means
and do not have to expose myself
to the inclemencies of near-Arctic conditions.
But never mind…
I’ve got bigger fish to fry.
What? (LAUGHING)
“Bigger fish” is right.
Cold…
slippery…
hard to catch.
(IN SPANISH)
How about dinner?
I think I’ll work tonight.
Like the Wallace administration,
I subsidize non-production.
I will pay you 20 pesos not to work tonight.
Need a drink?
No, not now.
Anyway, I have to go.
Um…
I’ll see you tomorrow. (CLEARS THROAT)
Yes, good night.
Eugene…
(INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC PLAYING)
(SUI GHIACCIAI BY VERDENA PLAYING)
(SONG STOPS ABRUPTLY)
(ZIPPER UNZIPS)
(DO I WORRY? BY THE INK SPOTS PLAYING)
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
WOMAN: There you are.
LEE: Oh.
Darling!
(LAUGHS) Look at that!
(INDISTINCT CONVERSATION)
Oh. (EXCLAIMS)
(SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY)
JOE: Tall, handsome, blissfully stupid…
Guys like us have to look out for one another.
(WOMEN TALKING AND LAUGHING)
(LAUGHING)
(MARY SHOOTS TOY GUN)
WOMAN: Yes!
(LAUGHS)
(CONTINUES SHOOTING GUN)
(WOMEN SCREAM)
WOMAN: Careful!
(LEE MUMBLES)
Apologies. (CLEARS THROAT)
You guys all right?
(LEE CLEARS THROAT)
Yes. Yeah.
(CHUCKLES SOFTLY)
I want to talk to you.
Without speaking.
And I wanna touch you…
like… like… like the Russians…
Yeah.
Like the Mayans…
TOM: All right, Bill, let’s take it easy, huh?
Hey. Hey, Tom.
TOM: Come on. Yeah.
(LEE GIGGLES)
You got a drink, Tom? Mm?
Yeah.
I could use a couple.
A cup of water, maybe.
(THUDS)
(TENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
(SQUEAKING SOUND INCREASES GRADUALLY)
(SQUEAKING SOUND CONTINUES)
(BABY’S CRY ECHOING IN DISTANCE)
(TENSE MUSIC CONTINUES)
(MUSIC ENDS ABRUPTLY)
(LEE BREATHING HEAVILY)
(EERIE MUSIC PLAYING)
(BREATHING HEAVILY)
(CHUCKLES)
Aren’t you queer?
LEE: I’m not queer.
I’m disembodied.
(LAUGHS)
(EERIE MUSIC CONTINUES)
(DOGS BARKING DISTANTLY)
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
How are you?
(YAWNS)
Sleepy. I just got up.
See you.
(SLOW DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING)
(LAUGHING)
(INDISTINCT CONVERSATION)
I was thinking about going down
to South America soon.
(GENTLE INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC PLAYING)
Why don’t you come with me?
Won’t cost you a cent.
Perhaps not in money.
(SCOFFS)
I’m not a difficult man to get along with.
We could reach some satisfactory arrangement. Mm.
What you got to lose?
Independence.
Who’s going to cut into your independence?
ALLERTON: Mm.
You can lay all the women in South America,
if you want to.
All I’m asking is, um…
to be nice to me, say…
twice a week?
That isn’t too excessive, is it?
Besides, I’ll, um…
I’ll buy you a round-trip ticket
so you can leave at your discretion.
(GENTLE INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC CONTINUES)
I’ll think it over.
This newspaper job I’m doing runs ten days more.
So, uh, I will give you a definite answer
when the job folds.
Your job is…
(SIGHS)
All right.
(CHUCKLES)
MARY: Hello.
(SMACKS LIPS) Oh!
Well, it’s in the wrong place.
(BLOWS)
(EXHALES)
(LEAVE ME ALONE BY NEW ORDER PLAYING)
(LEAVE ME ALONE CONTINUES PLAYING)
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
LEE: How was your trip to Morelia?
ALLERTON: Oh…
It was all right.
You know, I’m thinking about
buying a half interest in this place.
(CLEARS THROAT)
Hmm.
You exist on credit here, right?
Tom says you owe 400 pesos.
Maybe, if I was half owner of the joint,
you wouldn’t be in a position to ignore me.
(ALLERTON SIGHS)
So how about this trip to South America?
It’s always nice to see places you haven’t seen before.
Can you leave anytime?
Anytime.
(RIDERS IN THE SKY BY VAUGHN MONROE PLAYING)
LEE: Come on, come on!
(RIDERS IN THE SKY CONTINUES PLAYING)
What did you say it was
that you are looking for down here?
No, not here. In Ecuador.
Yage.
Never heard of that.
You heard of H and C, right?
Hmm.
(WHISPERS) Heroin and cocaine.
Ah. (LAUGHS)
(CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS)
You can get those in the city.
Oh. Oh, okay.
In Canal.
Adios.
Gracias, adios.
(MUSICOLOGY BY PRINCE PLAYING)
(EXHALES)
Oh!
(WHISTLES)
(YELLS)
(IN ENGLISH) Fuck you!
Fuck you!
(SPEAKING SPANISH)
(MUSICOLOGY CONTINUES PLAYING)
(TREMBLING)
(WIND HOWLING)
(SHIVERS)
(MUTTERING)
(CHURCH BELLS RINGING)
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
(BREATHING HEAVILY)
(SOBBING)
(GROANS)
ALLERTON: It’s not that much further, all right?
Just a little bit up the road.
(SLOW DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING)
(LEE SHIVERING)
Are you awake, Gene?
Hmm?
Yes.
LEE: Cold? You cold?
No.
Can I… Can I come over… over there with you?
All right.
(LEE GRUNTING)
You’re twitching all over.
Yeah. (SHUDDERS)
Christ almighty, your hands are cold!
(BREATH TREMBLING)
(SLOW DRAMATIC MUSIC CONTINUES)
(LEE GRUNTS SOFTLY)
LEE: Love is…
(ALLERTON BREATHING DEEPLY)
(LEE MURMURING)
(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING)
(GRUNTS)
Fucking stairs!
ALLERTON: Stairs are fine, Lee. They’re fine.
DOCTOR: Take a seat.
Thank you.
Just over here.
(GROANS) Oh, God…
Dysentery?
LEE: Mm-hmm.
Can you describe me your symptoms?
Uh…
Bloody diarrhea, cramps, and, um, vomiting…
ALLERTON: High temperature.
LEE: Yeah, right, high temperature.
Please.
LEE: Yeah, the, the… (CLEARS THROAT)
The prescription that works best is…
(CLEARS THROAT) Paregoric with bismuth.
(CHUCKLES)
Tell the truth now.
Um, are you addicted to opiates?
(LEE SIGHS)
Better you tell me or I cannot help you.
(SIGHING)
Yes.
Uh-huh.
And how long has this addiction lasted?
Oh, just too long, sir, too long.
Um… It’s why I left the States.
Um, my condition makes me a criminal there.
You must stop this habit.
Better you should suffer now than lose your life.
(CHUCKLES SOFTLY) I want to stop.
It’s just… (SIGHS)
I… I need to get some sleep.
I’m going to the coast tomorrow, to Manta, so I…
You must stop this habit.
I know.
Here.
(CHUCKLES)
Thank you.
LEE: Three CCs?
What the fuck am I supposed to do with three CCs?
ALLERTON: Maybe we’ll convince them
to give you something else at the pharmacy.
LEE: Yes, those ladies are so nice, they’ll understand…
(BREATHING HEAVILY)
(GENTLE INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC PLAYING)
(GROANS)
(SPITS)
(COUGHS)
(BIRDS SQUAWKING)
(CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS)
(GROANS SOFTLY)
(GRUNTS)
(GROANS)
(BOTH CHUCKLE)
(GENTLE INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC CONTINUES)
LEE: Should we grab a drink?
ALLERTON: Um… No, I’d rather stay here and take pictures.
(ALLERTON SNORING SOFTLY)
(GROANS)
(CLEARS THROAT)
(SERENE INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC PLAYING)
(CHUCKLES SOFTLY)
(LEE BREATHING HEAVILY)
What’s the matter?
I thought you were going to run your hand down my ribs.
I wouldn’t do that.
You think I’m queer or something?
(CHUCKLES SOFTLY)
Frankly, yes.
(BOTH LAUGH)
LEE: Scooch over.
(SERENE INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC CONTINUES)
(CHUCKLES SOFTLY)
(KISSES)
(BOTH MOANING IN PLEASURE)
(KISSING)
(BOTH MOANING)
(BREATHING HEAVILY)
(BOTH MOANING)
(BOTH BREATHING HEAVILY)
(CHUCKLES SOFTLY)
(BREATHING HEAVILY)
(BOTH CHUCKLE)
Do you…
Do you mind it?
Not terribly.
But you do…
enjoy it sometimes?
Hmm?
The whole deal, I mean.
Oh, yes.
Oh, yes.
(SERENE INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC CONTINUES)
(OBJECTS CLATTERING)
(LEE CHUCKLING)
LEE: Christ! Fuck!
I’m sorry. I’m sorry.
I shouldn’t have tried so soon after last time.
(CLEARS THROAT)
It was a breach of contract.
I don’t like people who apologize at breakfast.
Really?
Hmm?
Aren’t you taking unfair advantage?
Hmm? Like someone was, um…
Like someone was junk sick and…
I don’t use junk,
and I say, “Sick? Really?
“Why do you tell me about your disgusting condition?
“You might at least have the decency
“to keep it to yourself.
“You must realize how distasteful it is
“to see you… you sneezing, and coughing, and retching.
“Why don’t you take it someplace else
“so I don’t have to look at it? You know?
“I mean, have you any idea how tiresome you are,
“or how repulsive?
“I mean, have you no pride?”
That is not fair at all.
Well, it isn’t supposed to be fair.
It’s just a routine for your amusement,
containing a modicum of truth.
Can you hurry up and finish your breakfast
so you don’t miss the Salinas bus?
You’re not coming?
No. I’m going to Quito, remember?
Oh… Oh, right.
DR. HERNANDEZ: Yage?
And why would you say
you were interested in this plant, Mister…
Lee. I… I read about it
in a magazine.
It said that Yage increases telepathic sensitivity and…
You know, the Russians are using it
in thought control experiments and…
And yeah, probably by the CIA as well.
Are you with the CIA?
(CHUCKLING) No.
And then why would you be interested
in thought control experiments?
I’m not. I’m not.
I’m interested in telepathy.
Telepathy? Why?
Hmm.
Oh, I…
(SIGHS)
I suspected that it was only a matter of time
before North Americans like yourself
would start coming to Ecuador seeking out Yage.
Well, yeah, yes…
You think it can fix things for you.
It is not a drug in the sense you understand it.
It is not recreational like cocaine or heroin.
LEE: There is nothing recreational about heroin.
My point is that Yage does not provide a pleasant “trip.”
It is not something to be done casually,
without the proper supervision.
Well, can you provide me with that supervision?
Do I look like an Indian in the jungle?
(LAUGHS) No, but…
I’m sorry. I can’t help you.
How much would I have to pay you for a map?
I think you misunderstand the nature of the telepathy
that can be achieved with Yage.
LEE: Communication without speaking,
on the level of intuition, it’s…
Who is it that you’re trying
so desperately to communicate with?
Your wife?
No.
DR. HERNANDEZ: There is an American botanist
living a few hours outside of Puyo, deep in the jungle.
Her name is Cotter.
She’s mad like you,
trying to develop some medicine.
Perhaps if you pay her a visit, she can help you.
I warn you, though.
Yage is not a portal to some other place.
It is a mirror.
And when you look into it, you may not like what you see.
By the time you realize you are not ready,
it may be too late.
Come, I’ll draw you the map.
(PSYCHEDELIC MUSIC PLAYING)
(GRUNTING)
Careful, careful!
(PANTING)
(GRUNTING, PANTING)
Hello?
(PANTING)
(KNOCKING ON DOOR)
Hello?
(HISSING)
You hear that?
(BIRD CHIRPING)
Hello?
(HISSING)
(CLEARS THROAT)
(KNOCKING ON DOOR)
(HISSING CONTINUES)
Hello?
(HISSES)
(BOTH SCREAM)
(SCREAMING)
Help! Help!
(HISSES)
For the love of God, help us!
Announce yourselves,
or prepare to suffer a fate worse
than whatever that viper was gonna give you.
Right, I’m…
Right there is fine.
(GUN COCKING)
My name is, uh, William Lee. This is, uh, um…
Get up! Get up.
Eugene Allerton.
We’ve come a long way to talk to you.
Doctor Cotter…
I presume.
Mmm.
Mmm.
(CHUCKLES)
My apologies about the viper.
Oh, please, it was just… No, no…
It is there for security, of course.
Security? Why… Why would you…
(CLEARS THROAT)
From prowlers.
Oh.
Coming after my research.
LEE: Hmm.
Why did you say you boys came out here?
(INHALES DEEPLY, CHUCKLES)
Oh, we wanted to ask you about the, um…
The… The vegetation in the area, um…
The… (WHEEZES)
(LEE CHUCKLES)
The vegetation?
(ALL LAUGHING)
I would be the right person to ask about that.
(LAUGHS)
(DR. COTTER SIGHS)
Uh-huh, yeah…
Those are all gifts from the Shuar people.
LEE: Mmm.
My “tribe,” so to speak.
LEE: Can I… Can I ask you about the bowls?
DR. COTTER: Yeah.
They’re for a healing ceremony.
LEE: Right. Mmm-hmm.
Yeah.
(LEE CLEARS THROAT)
Involving a brew
that’s made from one of the plants in the area.
Yage.
Maybe…
Maybe out here, it’s, um, it’s called, um,
Ayahuasca?
I hear the… (CHUCKLES)
The Russians and the Americans
are using it for different experiments.
The truth is…
That’s why we came out here.
I want to explore the properties of this drug.
I’d be willing to take some.
As an experiment, you know?
We both would.
Yage…
is connected to brujeria.
Right.
Witchcraft.
Uh-huh.
(CHUCKLES)
To get some,
you’d have to develop a relationship
with the local brujo.
Yeah?
Right. (CLEARS THROAT)
It’d take years…
to gain his confidence.
Do you have that confidence?
(CHUCKLES)
(BOTH LAUGHING)
Come here! Come here.
(CONTINUES LAUGHING)
I’ve been out here
a long time.
Oh.
(BOTH CONTINUE LAUGHING)
LEE: Yeah…
I think the boys must be tired, no?
Yeah.
I expect they are!
Thank you again for the supplies.
Oh, that’s just… It’s a…
(CHUCKLES)
Come on!
Yeah, come on, let me show you where you’ll sleep.
Okay.
Thank you.
Good night.
(VOICES FADE)
(MUMBLES INCOHERENTLY)
Mmm!
Your friend’s already up having coffee with hubby.
Here!
Why don’t you take this…
(YELPS)
and explore the area today?
Try and kill us something we can eat tonight.
Huh?
(GRUNTING SOFTLY)
(GROANS)
I’m all right. Ah.
(GRUNTING SOFTLY)
Cotter says… (EXHALES)
Cotter says the Indians have cleared
most of the game out of the area.
They all have shotguns from the money they made
working for Annexia.
Shh!
(ANIMAL GRUNTING)
(WHISPERS) What’s that?
(GUN COCKS)
I’m gonna go try and shoot it.
(DISTANT RUSTLING)
ALLERTON: What is it?
What?
What is it?
How should I know?
It’s alive, isn’t it?
(DISTANT RUSTLING)
No! Oh, shit!
(GUNSHOT)
(KNIFE THUDS)
Gene! Gene!
Tell the truth now.
You boys really here for the Yage?
I mean, I appreciate the supplies you brought,
but if I find you trying to run off with my research,
I’ll kill you,
and dump you in the jungle.
(CHUCKLES)
No one will miss you out here.
(CHUCKLES)
Doc…
Doc, I… Ouch! (CLEARS THROAT)
With, with… (SIGHS)
With all due respect, I couldn’t give two shits about your research.
I’ve already forgotten everything you told me about it.
You know it doesn’t get you high, right?
Not like you’re used to.
I’m a medical doctor.
I can spot a junkie from a mile away.
I’m not interested in getting high.
DR. COTTER: Mmm. What are you interested in?
Telepathy.
HUSBAND: He likes you.
ALLERTON: Yeah?
Usually, he bites.
HUSBAND: Hmm.
Hmm.
(DR. COTTER SIGHS)
I’ll help you.
You know where I can find it?
(WHEEZES)
It’s everywhere!
You tripped over it in the jungle this afternoon.
Yeah.
Banisteriopsis caapi.
The Indians call it…
Yage.
(EXHALES)
(SNIFFS)
(EXHALES)
(INHALES, EXHALES)
(ETHEREAL MUSIC PLAYING)
(DR. COTTER CHANTING IN SHUAR)
(INHALES)
(DR. COTTER CONTINUES CHANTING)
(ALLERTON CHUCKLES)
(CHUCKLES)
(ALLERTON SIGHS)
LEE: Mmm.
You feel anything?
No. (SIGHS)
You?
No. (CHUCKLES)
(SIGHS)
I think we just drank a bunch of leaves and twigs
from the ground.
(LAUGHS)
(GRUNTS SOFTLY)
(MUFFLED RETCHING)
(OMINOUS MUSIC PLAYING)
(MUFFLED RETCHING)
(THUMPING)
(LEE GROANS)
DR. COTTER: There they are.
Come on over, boys!
There you go. I’ve got you.
LEE: Mmm.
Easy.
(LEE GRUNTS)
(INSECTS CHIRPING)
(DARK MUSIC PLAYING)
ALLERTON: I’m not queer.
Lee…
I’m not queer.
LEE: I know.
ALLERTON: I’m disembodied.
(CRACKLING)
(INAUDIBLE)
(INTENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
(HEART BEATING)
(INSECTS TRILLING)
Gene…
Gene…
Go to sleep.
(PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING)
You boys should stay a couple more days.
For most people,
the first time’s just an introduction,
the opening of a door.
But for you two…
it was something else.
It’d be a shame not to see where it might take you.
I need to be getting back.
What are you so afraid of?
Hmm?
Door’s already open. Can’t close it now.
All you can do is look away.
But why would you?
(SOFTLY) You should have seen yourself last night.
Yeah.
(MUG CLATTERS SOFTLY)
(SNIFFLES)
(BIRD SCREECHING)
(GRUNTS)
(SCREECHING)
(HISSES)
(UPBEAT SONG PLAYING)
(GRUNTS)
(SONG STOPS ABRUPTLY)
Lee?
Hi, Joe.
Anybody else you’d like to ask me about?
Mmm-mmm.
No one?
A kid named Allerton, maybe?
(GRUNTS)
It’s why you came back, isn’t it?
I was getting around to it.
Hmm.
He went down to South America or some place.
With an army colonel.
How long ago?
About six months.
Allerton went along as guide.
They were going to sell the car in Guatemala.
A ’48 Cadillac.
I felt there was something
not quite right about the deal,
but Allerton never said anything definite.
You know how he is.
Hmm.
No one’s heard from him since he left.
He said something about joining you down there.
He never said anything to you about it?
(CHUCKLES)
When did you get this?
Oh, you know… You know…
You know what happened to my camera, right?
Stolen.
Stolen by this
Colombian kid I was getting acquainted with. (SCOFFS)
Took a bunch of my socks too, the little bastard!
So what’s the story?
You making it with anyone these days?
(SIGHS)
Chimu’s still here.
Why don’t we go check out the local nightlife?
Please…
Yes, I’m not really
feeling up for it either.
(CHUCKLES)
Green Lantern?
(CHUCKLING) Those guys are still here?
All of them, if you can believe it.
All except Dume.
Mmm.
He’s, uh… He’s gone.
He died?
Mmm.
No, he had to go back to Virginia
to take care of his mother.
Oh. (CHUCKLES)
(SIGHS DEEPLY)
It’s funny thinking of him having a mother.
Yes. Well, he doesn’t anymore. She died.
Right…
You look good, Lee.
I do?
No.
But it’s good to see you.
Yeah.
Hmm.
You too.
Yeah.
(INAUDIBLE)
(UPBEAT INSTRUMENTAL ROCK SONG PLAYING)
(SNIFFLES)
(WHISPERING INDISTINCTLY)
(OMINOUS MUSIC PLAYING)
(BREATHING DEEPLY)
(SIGHS)
(KEYS JANGLE)
(ETHEREAL MUSIC PLAYING)
(GUN COCKS)
(GUN CLATTERS)
(LEE BREATHING HEAVILY)
(WINDOW CLATTERS)
ALLERTON: Lee…
(ETHEREAL MUSIC CONTINUES)
(FAINT CLICKING)
( VASTER THAN EMPIRES BY TRENT REZNOR PLAYING)
(FAINT WHOOSHING)
