Joe Versus the Volcano Page #7

WATURI:

Joe, what are you doing?

JOE:

I'm opening, or closing, the

main drain.

Nothing happens.

WATURI:

You shouldn't be touching

that.

JOE:

Nothing happened. Do you know

how long I've been wondering

what would happen if I did

that?

WATURI:

What's the matter with you?

JOE:

Brain cloud.

WATURI:

What?

JOE:

Never mind. Listen, Mr.

Waturi. Frank. I quit.

(CONTINUED)

JOE VERSUS THE VOLCANO - Rev. 5/16/89 15.

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Joe starts to take some stuff out of his desk. He looks

at his lamp, gets the cord, plugs it in, and turns it on.

WATURI:

You mean, today?

JOE:

That's right.

WATURI:

That's great. Well, don't

come looking for a reference.

JOE:

Okay, I won't.

WATURI:

You blew this job.

Joe takes in the little room.

JOE:

I've been here for four and a

half years. The work I did I

probably could've done in

five, six months. That leaves

four years leftover.

He's been filling up a shopping bag with stuff from his

desk:
three books (Romeo and Juliet, Robinson Crusoe and

The Odyssey), an old ukulele and his lamp. Now he's

finished. He walks out of the room without even looking

at Waturi. Waturi goes after him as he exits.

12INT. ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT - DAY12

Joe is walking towards the front door. Waturi follows

him in. Joe stops at Dede's desk. She's typing. He

looks at her. She stops typing.

JOE:

Four years. If I had them

now. Like gold in my hand.

Here. This is for you.

(gives Dede the lamp)

'Bye-bye, Dede.

DEDE:

You're going?

WATURI:

Well, if you're leaving,

leave.

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

JOE VERSUS THE VOLCANO - Rev. 6/2/89 16.

12CONTINUED:
12

WATURI (CONT'D)

You'll get your check. And, I

promise you, you'll be easy to

replace.

JOE:

I should say something.

WATURI:

What are you talking about?

JOE:

This life. Life? What a

joke. This situation This

room.

WATURI:

Joe, maybe you should just...

JOE:

You look terrible, Mr. Waturi.

You look like a bag of sh*t

stuffed inna cheap suit. Not

that anyone would look good

under these zombie lights. I

can feel them sucking the

juice outta my eyeballs. Three

hundred bucks a week, that's

the news. For three hundred

bucks a week I've lived in

this sink. This used rubber.

WATURI:

Watch it, mister! There's a

woman here!

JOE:

Don't you think I know that,

Frank? Don't you think I'm

aware there's a woman here? I

can taste her on my tongue. I

can smell her. When I'm

twenty feet away, I can hear

the fabric of her dress when

she moves in her chair. Not

that I've done anything about

it. I've gone all day, every

day, not doing, not saying,

not taking the chance for

three hundred bucks a week,

and Frank the coffee stinks

it's like arsenic, the lights

give me a headache if the

lights don't give you a

headache you must be dead,

let's arrange the funeral.

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