ADAM (V.O.)
Those three downhillers were the same troublemakers they’d been when they were alive.
INT. EXPLORE BOOKSELLERS, E. MAIN. SOON AFTER.
Adam is looking at VARIOUS AUTHOR PHOTOS on his own novels in the bookstore. He chooses one book, returning the rest to the shelves.
ADAM (V.O.)
I wanted to give one of my novels to my father. Which one didn’t matter to me; I chose the novel with the author photo I liked best. I wondered what Paul Goode thought about a writer gene—if he believed there was one or not.
EXT. ASPEN SIDEWALK, ISIS THEATRE, E. HOPKINS. LATE AFTERNOON.
The poster for Rim Shot has new meaning, now that we know about Paul Goode’s relationship with the young woman who plays the teenage basketball player. Paul has his arm around the tall girl. We see the worn-out brunette who plays the girl’s mother.
ADAM (V.O.)
When Grace and Matthew came back from skiing, Grace went to the matinee performance of Rim Shot. I took Matthew to the swimming pool and hot tubs. Matthew loved the heated pool at the Jerome, but you can get cold in a heated pool—if you stay in the water too long.
INT. ISIS THEATRE, E. MAIN. THAT SAME AFTERNOON.
PAN: like the gym, the theater is almost empty.
STOP ON: Grace is sound asleep, the light from the screen flickering on her. Except for Adam’s voice-over, the sound of a basketball is the only sound—there’s no dialogue, no music.
A WIDER ANGLE: Nan and Beth enter the row of seats where Grace is sleeping, sitting on either side of her in a predatory way. Monika has slipped into the row behind Grace, leaning over her.
ADAM (V.O.)
From what Grace described to me, I could imagine Monika’s mischief.
Nan and Beth unbutton Grace’s blouse. Monika manages to remove Grace’s bra, exposing her breasts while she’s sleeping.
ONSCREEN: tear-jerking scene from the trailer, after Paul passes the ball to the girl in the wheelchair. The girl takes her time—more dribbling. The girl’s mother can’t bear to watch; she hides her face in her hands.
ADAM (V.O.)
You wouldn’t know from the trailer that you were watching the end of the movie, not that Grace saw the end that afternoon in the Isis.
The teenage girl in the wheelchair puts up a shot; it swirls once or twice around the rim, then falls in. The little coach and the big girl in the wheelchair high-five each other.
FADE TO BLACK. END CREDITS ROLL. MUSIC PLAYS OVER.
The house lights come up on Grace with her blouse unbuttoned and her breasts exposed. There are only A FEW MOVIEGOERS who notice, as Grace struggles to conceal her breasts and button up her blouse. Grace searches for her bra, but it’s gone.
EXT. ASPEN SIDEWALK, ISIS THEATRE, E. MAIN. LATE AFTERNOON.
The three downhillers are laughing. Monika is fooling around with Grace’s bra—it’s too small for Monika. They are bumping and shoving one another, the way jocks do.
EXT. POOL AND HOT TUBS, HOTEL JEROME. SAME LATE AFTERNOON.
Matthew and the little Chinese girl are in the pool, paddling around in their water wings; the kids are the same age. Adam and the Chinese actress and her husband are talking, while they keep an eye on the kids. NO SOUND—only Adam’s voice-over.
ADAM (V.O.)
I couldn’t get Matthew out of the pool, now that he had someone to play with. I was enjoying the Chen family. Grace didn’t tell me she and Matthew had skied a few runs on Aspen Mountain with Mr. Chen and his little girl.
A WIDER ANGLE: a distraught-looking Grace, in her hotel bathrobe and slippers, is disrobing by the hot tubs. Grace gives a wave to her husband and the Chens. Grace makes it apparent that she prefers the hot tubs to joining them in the pool.
ADAM (V.O.)
I could tell Grace was upset about something. The Chens sensed this, too. Mrs. Chen assured me that she and her husband would watch Matthew, if I wanted to join Grace.
CLOSER ON: the hot tubs, where Grace thinks she’s alone. Adam joins her. We don’t hear what Grace is saying, but it’s clear that Lex is listening. It’s also clear, from the way Grace’s hands are all over her breasts, that Grace is telling Adam about waking up in the movie theater with her bra gone and her boobs hanging out of her blouse. Tarzan can’t conceal his dismay.
ADAM (V.O.)
Her bra removed, her breasts exposed, while she slept through Rim Shot—the downhillers had done it. I told Grace this was the twisted work of “three dead skiers,” meaning Monika and her friends. I told Grace I had slept with Monika Behr—hence Monika had it in for me.
Now Grace and Lex Barker are dismayed.
ADAM (V.O.)
This is the way confessing works—once you start, you can’t stop. I told Grace I’d slept with Clara Swift, too—I said I’d told Paul Goode about it. I admitted to Grace that I should have told her and Paul before now.
Tarzan looks like he would rather wrestle a Nile crocodile than hear more confessing—Grace, too.
ADAM (V.O.)
As for telling Grace that Paul Goode was my father, I sensed I’d said enough in the hot tubs—enough for now, anyway.
PULL BACK: there is Mrs. Chen, holding Matthew’s hand. Matthew is shivering in his hotel robe and slippers.
ADAM (V.O.)
I was saved from more confessing by Mrs. Chen. Matthew needed a hot shower or to put on warm clothes. Matthew just wanted to watch his favorite movie—The Little Mermaid.
Adam and Grace get out of the hot tubs. Grace looks in shock. Tarzan, alone in the hot tubs, looks in shock, too.
INT. ELEVATOR, HOTEL JEROME. CONTINUOUS.
Matthew is still cold; Adam is rubbing the boy’s back and shoulders. Grace is untouchable and inconsolable. Clara Swift is looking at all of them with new empathy; Clara knows what a family on the edge looks like. Matthew, still shivering, can’t remember the words to “Part of Your World”—one of Ariel’s songs in The Little Mermaid. Matthew hums the tune, not bothering with the words. Clara Swift hums along with him. She hums beautifully; Clara can carry a tune.
The cowboy and Adam are stunned by Clara’s humming. Matthew, not hearing Clara, just keeps humming the tune to “Part of Your World.” Grace is distraught; she looks crazed.
INT. BEDROOM, HOTEL JEROME. SOON AFTER.
The door to the living room is open. We can hear The Little Mermaid from there. Grace is talking to Adam in a whisper. Adam is getting dressed. Grace paces around, still in her bathrobe and slippers from the hot tubs.
GRACE
You slept with Monika Behr and Clara Swift—a busy trip. I don’t suppose you would object if I slept with Paul Goode. I mean, how could you object?
ADAM
(quietly)
There’s something you should know.
GRACE
Something else?
ADAM
(more quietly)
Paul Goode is my father.
GRACE
(derisively, in disbelief)
Now you tell me!
ADAM
If you don’t believe me, ask him.
GRACE
I don’t believe you.
ADAM
(softly)
I know.
GRACE
You can take Matthew to the J-Bar—get him a hamburger. I’ll just do room service.
ADAM
Okay.
GRACE
Paul Goode isn’t old enough to be your father.
ADAM
(more softly)
I know.
INT. LIVING ROOM, HOTEL JEROME. CONTINUOUS.
Matthew, warmly dressed, is on the couch watching The Little Mermaid. He is riveted to Ariel, who is singing her song. Adam enters from the bedroom.
MATTHEW
(points to his chest)
Ariel wears seashells for a…
ADAM
…a bra.