Bringing Out the Dead Page #4

CUT TO:

INT. MERCY ER--NIGHT

Every large city has a hospital Emergency Room so replete

with trauma, violence and suffering it picks up the sobriquet

"Knife and Gun Club." On Manhattan's Lower East Side it's

our Lady Of Mercy, aka, Our Lady of Misery.

ER:
a white-lit cement box painted yellow and decorated with

old framed Playbills. Four rows of six plastic chairs face a

TV bolted and chained to the ceiling. The seats are filled

with backed-up drunks, assault victims and "regulars,"

bleeding and spilling over against the walls and the floor,

getting up to ask their status or going out to throw up and

have a smoke.

Larry and Frank wheeling Burke in, two IV lines, each

connected to an elbow, tangled in EKG cables. Two LACERATED

RUSSIANS scramble out of their way as they approach GRISS,

the large black sunglassed security guard. He looks up from

his television guide:

GRISS:

Hey partner. Your man does not look

well. They're not gonna appreciate

you inside.

FRANK:

(pumping Ambu-bag)

Griss, let us in.

GRISS:

Things are backing up.

Griss pushes a button, activating the automatic door, striking

the bandaged leg of a man lying down on a stretcher in the

hall. Larry and Frank wheel Burke inside. A pleading family

tries to follow. Griss stretches out his hand:

GRISS (CONT'D)

You can't go in there, folks.

Mary, John and Mrs. Burke rush in from the street, hoping

some miracle has occurred during the drive to the hospital,

approach the sign-in desk.

Frank and Larry pass four stretchers lined against the wall--

a passage nicknamed "Skid Row" leading past triage NURSE

CONSTANCE's station.

NURSE CONSTANCE:

Just keep moving. Don't even slow

down.

Nurse Constance turns back to the nervous man seated beside

her:

NURSE CONSTANCE (CONT'D)

Sir, you say you've been snorting

cocaine for three days and now you

feel your heart is beating too fast

and you would like us to help you.

To tell the truth, I don't see why I

should. If I'm mistaken, correct me.

Did we sell you the cocaine? Did we

push it up your nose?

Rate this script:3.5 / 4 votes