Rushmore Page #3

Dr. Guggenheim nods.

MAX:

Do you regret it?

DR. GUGGENHEIM

No, I don't regret it. But I still might have to expel you.

Max nods. He smiles sadly and whispers:

MAX:

Couldn't we just let me float by? For old times' sake?

DR. GUGGENHEIM

(grimly) Can't do it, Max.

EXT. QUADRANGLE. DAY

Max and Dirk come out the door into the cold. They head

across the grass.

MAX:

They want to kick me out, Dirk.

DIRK:

(concerned) Oh, no. Not again. What are you going to do?

MAX:

The only thing I can do. Try and pull some strings with the

administration, I guess.

DIRK:

(pause)

Maybe you ought to get a tutor.

MAX:

I don't have time for a goddamn tutor. You know my schedule.

INSERT SIGN WRITTEN IN CALLIGRAPHY:

BACKGAMMON CLUB.

Founder:
Max Fischer.

INT. LIBRARY DAY

A long table in the Rushmore library. Max is reading a

library copy of a book about Jacques Cousteau. He is also

playing backgammon with a freshman named ALEX.

ALEX:

Did you hear they're teaching Japanese next year?

MAX:

That's the rumor.

ALEX:

And they're canceling Latin.

MAX:

What? I tried to get Latin canceled for five years. "It's a

dead language," I'd always say.

ALEX:

Well, I guess they finally heard you.

Max shakes his head as this sinks in.

MAX:

At least I saved Dirk from the horror.

Max turns the page of his book. There is a little note

written in the margin in pencil with an arrow pointing to

the text. Max frowns. He turns the book sideways to read it.

INSERT FRAGMENT OF NOTE IN BOOK:

which reminds me of a quote from Henry James: Try to be one

of the people whom nothing is lost.

Max's frown disappears. A change comes over his face. His

eyes glaze over dreamily. He looks to Alex.

MAX:

Who's Henry James?

ALEX:

I don't know.

Max looks back at the book. He studies the quote. He gets up

and goes to the check-out counter. He shows the book to the

LIBRARIAN.

MAX:

What does this mean?

The librarian reads the Henry James quote.

LIBRARIAN:

It means try to be worldly.

MAX:

You mean like smart.

LIBRARIAN:

More or less. Yeah.

MAX:

I'd like to see a list of all the people who've checked out

this book in the past year.

The librarian goes through the cards in a little wooden box.

INSERT SCRAP OF PAPER:

Miss. Cross, 1st grade, room 121

INT. HALLWAY. DAY

Max walks down a hallway in the lower school. He is carrying

the little scrap of paper, checking room numbers as he

walks.

He looks in some of the rooms. He sees kids sitting at

tables with scissors and paste. Kids watching a movie on

science. Kids curled up on mats during naptime.

And then he sees room 121. He goes up to the door and looks

through the window.

A class of first graders is sitting Indian-style in a little

circle on the floor. The teacher is in a tiny little kids'

chair, reading aloud from Kidnapped. She is twenty-eight.

She wears a cardigan sweater and her hair pulled back like a

ballet dancer. She is MISS CROSS.

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