The Killing of John Lennon Page #3

---

playing some game

in this big field of rye and all. "

"Thousands of little kids,

and nobody's around -

nobody big, I mean - except me. "

"And I'm standing

at the edge of this crazy cliff. "

"What I have to do,

I have to catch everybody

if they start to go over the cliff - I mean

if they don't look where they're going

I have to come out from somewhere

and catch them. "

"That's all I'll do all day. "

"I'd just stand there

and be the catcher in the rye and all. "

"l know it's crazy, but that's

the only thing I'd really like to be. "

"l know it's crazy. "

Chapter 22.

Page 173.

Then I found another book.

Just as Holden Caulfield

had bled through the ink of "Catcher",

John Lennon

now entered my mind.

There was John Lennon

on the cover.

He was on Liberty lsland,

where the statue of Liberty is.

He was at the base of the Statue of Liberty

with his glasses and cap,

with the scarf around his neck,

having his photograph taken.

I looked at the pictures

of John Lennon

on the gabled roof

of the Dakota building in New York.

Those photographs of him on the roof

entered my mind

and they took on

a life of their own.

And at some point,

after looking at those pictures,

I became enraged at him.

Something inside me just broke.

The great John Lennon,

who'd told us to imagine no possessions,

and there he was with millions of dollars,

and yachts and farms

and country estates,

Iaughing at people like me

who believed all the lies

and bought all the records.

It reeked of phoneyness.

Confirmation.

As soon as I saw that picture,

I knew I was going to kill him.

It was like

I had been handed something.

A solution.

For the first time in years,

all my thoughts were synchronised.

It's what Holden

had fantasised about in the book -

killing the big fat guy

in the hotel,

the pimp, the phoney.

- All done for the morning, sir?

- All through.

- Yeah? Pretty rough night?

- Oh, you know. The usual.

[man] Yeah?

Yeah.

Well, you have yourself

a good morning.

- You too.

- Bye.

[Mark] I'd found my identity,

but I had lost my life.

Mark!

Mark! Mark!

[Mark] I'd sit up all night

and play Beatles records,

speeding them up,

slowing them down,

interjecting my own words.

I would strip naked,

gritting my teeth

and summoning the devil

and wild things in my mind.

I was sending out telegrams

to Satan.

"Give me the opportunity

to kill John Lennon. "

I'm 25 years old.

I've made a decision.

My decision

is I'm gonna go travel.

You're going to abandon

your wife and your mother

and go thousands of miles away,

and you wanna start with New York City?

- It's always about you.

- It's not about me. This is about you.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes