Smokey Joe (scene from)

“Just keep the wheel straight, that’s all you can do. Don’t look at him, there’s no telling what he might do. He seemed so normal. He didn’t seem to have a care in the world. I never knew killers could have a care in the world.” These thoughts raced through John’s mind as he gripped the steering wheel in terror. He knew it now, a murderer was sitting next to him and nothing could be normal again. The silence was beginning to haunt him. It was letting a flood of irrational thoughts pour through his delicate sense of the typical. He had to kill this silence. 1

“So what did Marion say?” The crack of his voice barely startled Rick.2

“Ah, you know? What they all say…” He spoke as if he just woke up, searching for the words to choose beneath a raspy dry voice. 3

Beneath John’s exterior of crippling fear, grew a flame of rage that ignited a fire of courage. This courage circled within him and erupted at this bold lie, “What’s that exactly?”4

Rick continues to cautiously play dumb, “What’s what?”5

John’s courage is the only thing that drives him to continue with his accusation. “What is it that they all say? ‘Please don’t shoot me’”6

Rick futiley attempts to continue his façade, “What are you….”7

“But then of course you don’t listen and you fire a bullet into their head.” John is barely interrupting but continuing his tirade against Rick’s recent actions8

“Okay, now calm down.”9

Driven only by anger, John begins to shout, “CALM DOWN! YOU FUCKIN’ MURDERED SOMEONE! AND YOU EXPECT ME TO CALM DOWN!”10

Rick can only stop him by yelling just as loud, “Fine what do you want to hear? I killed the past three people we’ve visited? Huh?” John takes his eyes completely off the road and looks over to Rick in fear. Rick can only respond to this reaction with a smile, a smile never seen by John before from this mysterious character. “Well now you know the truth. Stings don’t it?” Rick has an entirely different tone of voice, now.11

John pulls the car to the side of the road. He opens his door and prepares to dash out but is shot back by his seat belt. Rick can do nothing but laugh at this point. John is less amused unbuckles the seatbelt and runs out of the car into the snowy woods. Rick calmly exits the other side of the vehicle and begins to walk through the snow, slowly following John. “What? You’re gonna walk out on this now? Come on, man. This is only the beginning. You can’t turn your back on this. It fell onto your lap.” John attempts to continue running as the increasing depth of the snow slows him down. He achieves bearings, attempts to speed up but then trips over a root and hits the ground, giving Rick an opportunity to catch up to him. John attempts to provide Rick with logic, “This is murder!”12

Rick pauses for only a moment, “Legally? Yes. But morally it’s justice.”13

John is stunned. “How can you say that?”14

“I’m speaking the truth. You don’t get what I’ve been through, what I’ve seen….”15

John interrupts in rage, “I’m sorry you’ve had a rotten life but that doesn’t mean you go around killing people!”16

“It does mean that I have a responsibility to save other people from the rotten life that I once lived. You think this world is full of happy hard-working people you go on ahead and live that careless illusion but do not make me out to be the villain.” Rick raises his arms straight out. His shadow covers John, still on the ground, as he screams, “I’m the savior. I’m the provider of justice.”17

John is horrified. “You’re insane.”18

“Yeah. I don’t blame you for thinking that, and maybe I am. But to tell you the truth my insanity is a mere camouflage to the world we live in. I don’t get you, man. We’ve been given this responsibility and you want to brush it off because it’s too much. This is our chance. This is our chance to rid the world of the evil that corrupts it. We can cure this insanity that engulfs our society.”19

“But these are people with families… with respectable jobs…”20

“…with lies! Don’t you get it, yet? Governor Parker, James, all of the people we have seen since we got here are full of lies. They may run the perfect lives to ignorant eyes but they are no better that the rest of us. It is our duty to expose these lies. It is our mission to make sure that these people are brought to justice. By justly killing these people we are exposing the man behind them all.”21

John looks up confused “Governor Parker?”22

“You’re damn right.”23

“The guy is a straight-laced candidate his record is clean.”24

“It’s a lie. The cleanest people have the dirtiest secrets. I hope you can understand that once we are through with our job.”25

“I didn’t ask for this job.”26

Rick squats down to the level of John. “Of course not. But we never ask for our destiny, it only asks for us and we can only respond by following it. We are soldiers, John, just soldiers. We are not fighting evil. We are not fighting good. We are merely fighting each other for no one but each other.”27

“All I was asked to do was find Smokey Joe.”28

“….and we will find him! But we must accomplish this first. What do you say?”29

“No. No. I’m not going to take part in this. This was dirty enough. I should’ve never agreed to do this.”30

“It’s too late, John.”31

“What?”32

“You’ve been spotted. You have been driving the car from three different murder scenes. You’d have to be spotted by now.”33

“No. You’re shitting me.”34

“It makes sense.”35

“I didn’t know a thing.”36

Rick laughs, “The accessory to a murder didn’t know the murder was happening? That’s a great story, stick with that.”37

John searches for a way out for an option but can’t figure anything out, “Why do you need me? What is that you want?”38

“I can’t do this job alone. I need someone to take on this responsibility with me and you were chosen, not by Parker or James but by fate. I can’t deny that and neither can you.”39

“I don’t want this, this is too much.”40

“God damn it, John! This is you’re responsibility. This is your destiny. If you deny this, if you turn away from this…then what the courts will do…that will just be the beginning. I hate to see how natural law burns you, John. I don’t want to be there to watch you wave your own fate away.” Rick sighs and looks down muttering, “I’ll be back in the car. I’ll wait five minutes.” Rick rises from his squatting position and slowly walks away. John sits there frozen in fear. He searched every alleyway of his mind to find an answer, an escape from this dreadful position. He though of running, but to what? He had nothing back home and he would have less once this dark cloud caught up with him.41

At the top of the hill Rick sits in the passenger seat of the busted Ford. The driver’s side door is still open. He knows he is coming. He expects him to come. For he knows that’s what has been destined. He then sees John coming above the snowy hill. He sees John climbing the hill, walking as if he was forced by chains of practicality. He gets in the car, slams the door and before Rick can say a word; he makes his statement, “Okay. I’ll drive, but I’m turning my back on any killing and any other shady activities. If you ask me to do so much as hold a gun then I walk, understand?”42

“Yes, of course.” He outstretches his hand “Welcome to the war Johnny!” John refuses to shake it and throws the car into drive, heading back onto the road.43