Infinitely Polar Bear Page #6

Amelia trudges alone down an alley.

EXT. DESOLATE PARK. DAY

Amelia cuts through a public park.

EXT. VINYL-SIDED HOUSE. DAY

Amelia approaches a three-story house. She rings the

doorbell. She is dripping wet. One of Cam’s HOUSEMATES

answers the door. He has an unfriendly, suspicious manner

and bad skin.

AMELIA:

My father... lives here?

INT. SECOND-FLOOR HALLWAY. DAY

Amelia passes a fidgety woman with a bowl haircut. She stops

and stares at the closed door to her father’s room. There is

a home-made poster taped to the door which reads:

You say INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY,

I say WE ARE NOT ALONE.

Also taped to the door is a National Geographic picture of a

gorilla. She knocks.

CAM (O.S.)

Yes?

She opens the door. Cam sits over the various parts of a

camera, unshaven with a cigarette in his mouth. He wears

jeans and a green sweatshirt that says “Vermont”. His room

is filled with moving boxes stacked floor to ceiling. He

stands, surprised to see his bedraggled daughter.

CAM:

Darling! Poor little draggletail.

He tosses the cigarette into a Styrofoam coffee cup and puts

it on a table with many other old half-filled cups with

cigarette butts in them. He kneels down to hug her.

CAM:

I’m going to make you some soup.

He picks her up in his arms and carries her down the stairs.

15.

INT. HALFWAY HOUSE KITCHEN. DAY

Amelia’s clothes hang over the hissing radiator, drying off.

Cam stirs soup on the stove. Amelia sits at the table

wrapped in a big towel. Cam opens a tin of biscuits and

arranges them on a plate.

CAM:

What’s my plan? My plan is... get

a job. That’s number one.

Amelia nods her approval.

CAM:

I’ll get out of this halfway house

and get my own apartment. Then you

girls can come for sleepovers and

I’ll make crepes for breakfast and

dinner.

Amelia nods her approval.

CAM:

And then I’ll move back in with you

and Faith and Mommy. That is, if

Mommy will have me.

He holds the plate of biscuits out to her. She takes one.

AMELIA:

I feel like Lucy visiting Mr.

Tumnus.

Cam smiles, pleased.

CAM:

That’s the nicest thing anyone’s

ever said to me.

AMELIA:

Mommy says you have a drinking

problem.

Cam bristles, offended.

CAM:

Most people I know drink far more

than I do.

AMELIA:

I think if you could stop drinking

and take your lithium then Mommy

would let you come home.

16.

CAM:

(sighing deeply)

I don’t think Mommy loves me

anymore.

AMELIA:

But she says she loves you!

CAM:

Really? Does she say it a lot?

AMELIA:

She always says she loves you. But

that it’s hard to live with you

when you refuse to face up to your

adult responsibilities.

CAM:

(frowns)

Do you think Mommy should be

confiding in you like this?

Rate this script:4.0 / 2 votes