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[Sometime later Jordan is sitting alone , in the class room, with
Vic next to him. Jordan is staring at an open dictionary. Jordan is
struggling with it.]
Vic: What's that word?__Don't look at the window. What's the word?
[Graham appears at the door.]
Vic:__Uh, what's the sound?__Ok. Finish the chapter and the next ten
poems tonight.
Jordan: What? Are you crazy?
Vic(agitated): Yeah, good question. Look, this is haiku poetry. Haiku
poetry contains only seventeen syllables per poem.. That ain't a lot
syllables. Don't skip any. Get out of my sight.
[Jordan storms out. Graham enters tentatively and sees Vic quietly fuming
at the other side of the class room. ]
Graham: My, ah, daughter is in your class. I mean, in the class that
you're substituting for. Ah, my wife and I , we run a small printing
shop. Well, actually she runs it. Ah, anyway, I've come by for
the submissions? For the Lit? Ah, Angela, forgot to mention that
they have to be at the shop by the morning , or--
[Vic picks up and slams a chair down in frustration.]
Vic: You know that kid that just left here. That _extremely smart kid.
Well, it seems nobody ever bother to notice that he never quite
learned how to read._I mean, it pisses me off. [Vic takes out a
toothpick then holds one up for Graham.] Ah, toothpick?
[Graham takes one.]
[In Angela's parents bedroom that evening. Graham and Patty are there.
Patty is sitting on the floor surrounded by the students lit submissions.]
Patty: Ok, we have to figure out which one is Angela's._So what is this
substitute person like? Is Brian Krakow right? Is he mentally ill?
Graham: Ah, possibly. I mean, he-he, um, didn't give me any kool-aid to
drink, or anything like that. No, actually, he's a pretty cool guy.
Patty: Cool? Cool is not what substitutes are. Substitutes have hard to
pronounce last names and bad haircuts.
Graham: Well, this substitute is cool.
Patty: He's not a substitute. Maybe he's a narc.
Graham: Maybe you're a narc.
Patty: You know what we need? A sample of her handwriting.
Graham: Who are we? The KGB.
[ Graham lies on the bed and picks up one of the papers to read.]
Patty: God, these are weird. I don't know what was wrong with the one
about the oak tree. You don't suppose she wrote the one where
they kill the dog.
Graham[laughs nervously as he reads]: Uh, mayday.
Patty: Is that Angela's? Let me see.[Takes the paper from Graham and
begins to read to herself.] Oh_my_God.
Graham: My juicy sweetness?
Patty: Its the end of the world. _No. No way. I'm not going to print that.
Graham: What happened to freedom of expression?
Patty: Screw it. Ill call this substitute person and explain.
Come on. That doesn't belong in the Lit.
Graham[taking the paper back from Patty and reading]: In the cold
cement basement of love. [ Graham and Patty eye each other as
they wonder the same thing.] You don't think.
Patty: No._ We don't even have a basement._Let me see that again.
Graham: Hey. Get your own.
[Patty enters Vic's empty classroom. Vic is by his desk.]
Patty: Mr. Racine? We spoke earlier. I'm Angela's mother.
Vic: Ah, yeah, yeah. Hi.
Patty: Hi.
Vic: Yeah, I , ah, met your, um, husband the other day.
Patty: Right., um, what I wanted to talk about was, um-
Vic: He's a lucky man.
Patty: Uh, ah, [laughs] Thank you. Um, my husband and I read the
stuff that the kids wrote.
Vic: I hope it didn't give him a heart attack.
Patty: Well.
Vic: Only, you know, he seems a little *fragile*.
Patty: Actually, it isn't my husband who had the problem.
Vic: Really.
Patty: I just think that___There's this one piece in particular that
I-I just don't feel comfortable printing.
Vic[taking the haiku poem from her]: Oh, ah, your, ah afraid that, ah,
Angela wrote it.
Patty: This has nothing to do with whether Angela wrote it.
Vic: So, this is just censorship for censorship sake.
Patty: What?
Vic[taking the papers from her]: Ok. Hand them over. No, Ill, um, type
them myself and Ill have them, uh, xeroxed.
Patty: These are children. We are adults. This is not censorship. This
is_guiding_adolences who need_guidence.
Vic: Yeah, that was a very reasonable opinion. And very clearly stated.
Unfortunately it is total manure.
Patty: Excuse me?
Vic: Its horse manure. I sense you're angry. Are you angry?
Patty: Yes.
Vic: Yes, I sensed that.
Patty: Why is it manure?
Vic: Good question. It is manure because this journal should be about
giving students a voice. Its not about having their thoughts edited.
If these kids aren't afraid of putting their hearts on the page why
should we be afraid of them.
Patty[becoming convinced]: __You should really teach full time.
Vic: We have a difference of opinion. Fine. But you think you should be
in the position of deciding because you have a printing press and I
don't.
Patty: You expect me to answer that question?
Vic: Yes.
Patty:___No._I don't.
Vic[giving the papers back to Patty]: Neither do I.
Patty:__So. __Did Angela write it?
[Vic leaves without answering.]
[A box is delivered to the administration offices and is put on a
bench next to student5. Student5 opens the box and takes
out copies of the Lit and starts handing them out in the hallway.
Mr. Foster, walking down the hallway, begins to notice all the
students with the Lit in their hands. He walks into the administrative
office and sees all the people there are reading the Lit.
He grabs a copy his secretary is reading and walks into his office.
A moment later Mr. Foster yells for his secretary. She opens
Mr. Foster's office door.]
Mr. Foster: I want to see Mr. Racine after the final bell.
Secretary: Yes, Mr. Foster.
[Sharon is in the girls room with two other students. Sharon is brushing
her hair. The two other girls have copies of the Lit.]
Gir1l(to girl2): First of all, whoever wrote it had like zero self respect.
Girl2: I know, I mean, to do it in your basement.
Girl1: I know, my basement is, like, so filthy.
Girl2: Hu, she has no self esteem or she, like, sign her name.
Sharon: Look. He said not to sign it ok? [ A stall door opens and
Rayanne is standing there. Sharon doesn't notice her.] He said it
should be anonymous ok? It was, like, a rule he made in class ok?
Girl1: Um, excuse me. Try your own conversation.
Girl2: Plus a muscle relaxer.
[The two girls leave. Rayanne walks out to Sharon.]
Rayanne: Yooou?
Sharon: So.
Rayanne: You wrote that haiku poem? Yoooou?
Sharon: Yes. Will you shut up about it.
Rayanne: You wrote it? And you don't want people to know that you
wrote it?
Sharon(sarcastically): Oh no. I can't wait for people to find out. I'm
looking forward to it. Why are you even talking to me. We have
nothing to say to each other. Oh, God, do you know how over
my life will be when people find out I wrote it.
Rayanne: Do you know how over mines going to be when they find out
that I didn't.
Sharon: Really? You mean__people think you wrote it?
Rayanne: Well yeah, I kinda gave off that impression.
Sharon: So_why_can't_we_just_ let_ them_ keep thinking that.
Rayanne: We could.
Sharon: Is this a trick or something?
Rayanne: No, it's not a trick. I mean, I want people to think I wrote
it. I wish I had wrote it-written it. I mean, how did you write
something____that good.
Sharon: I don't know. It__just kinda came to me.
Rayanne: My favorite part_is when they become the furnace.
Angela[coming through the door. ]: Rayanne, you would not--
[Rayanne and Sharon both look awkward as if they are embarrassed to be
seen talking together.]
Angela: Hi.
Sharon: Hi.
Rayanne: Hey.
Angela: So, oh my God, you will not believe this. (to Sharon) Actually,
you should hear this too.
Rayanne: Spit it out.
Angela(to Rayanne): Foster has the Lit. Has it, like every copy except a
few that people stole or something. He's refusing to allow us to
distribute it. Because of your haiku thing.
Rayanne: Really.
[Angela's dining room. Angela is at the table eating diner with Patty,
Graham, and Danielle.]
Angela(excited): So Vic says we have several options. We could file a law
suit, like, sue the school for denying us our constitutional rights.
Or, you know, we could, like, stage a walk out.
Danielle: You would not believe how many boxes of thin mints Mrs.
Casteo bought. Nine.
Angela(excited): Vic had the most amazing idea. We could stage a make
believe book burning. Cause, you know, Nazi's burned books. So,
I mean, is that what Foster's saying? That a school should burn
books like Nazi's?
Patty: Except that Mr. Foster hasn't actually burned anything. Has he?
Angela: Has he burned anything. Good question. No, but it amounts to
the same thing. Vic says that if somebody called a-a news station
and read them our poem, we would have camera crews,
instantaneously, all over the school._Is there anymore brisket?
Danielle: You call your teacher Vic?
Patty: You call him Vic?
Angela: It's his name. And I, I know I've been talking a lot about him, but
he's_I just respect him, you know. He's__he's smart. He's
like__he's an adult I can look up to.__Finally.[Angela sees the
stunned look on Graham and Patty's face.] What?
Graham and Patty: Nothing.
Patty: Look, sweetie, um, don't get carried away with this. Ok?
Danielle: I'm going to count my money again.
[Angela gets up from the table and heads for the steps. Patty and Graham
trail behind her.]
Patty: I mean I know how easy it is to get caught up in these things. It's
exciting.
Angela: Exciting? It's not exciting. It's important. It's an
important issue. What? You think I'm doing this for excitement?
For fun?
Graham: Angela.
Patty: The point is, we are concerned. We can't help it. We're concerned
about your future.
Graham: Exactly. We don't want you doing anything that could get you
into trouble.
Angela: I can't believe this. What about all those boring stories I had
to sit through my whole life about how committed you were in the
sixties. About how you believed in things.
Graham: We did.
Angela: Oh, right. Only now you're so terrified of causing trouble you
can't even see what it means to me.
[In Angela's noisy English class. Angela, Brian, and Sharon are there.
Jordan is standing by the window.]
Yvette: It's simple. I say we go to Foster and we tell him we want it.
technically it's our property. It's our class work. He has to give it
to us.
Rayanne(to Rickie as they enter the class room) : What did you hear?
Where is he?
Rickie: Well, people are saying everything. That he was fired. That he
was sleeping with a junior. That he was thrown in jail.
Rayanne: Which junior?
[The bell rings. Mr Foster walks into the class room.]
Mr. Foster: Will everyone please take their seats.[the class settles down.]
As some of you know, I have read the Liberty Lit and found
certian materials in it unacceptable. Those of you who have copies
will please bring them to the administrative offices.
Angela[raising her hand]: Excuse me?
Mr. Foster: Yes, the young lady right there.
Angela: How can you say it's unacceptable if nobody is allowed to see it?
Rayanne[the student's begin to stir]: Yeah, what's wrong with it?
Brian: Can I just say something--
Mr. Foster: Alright, that's enough. I must hold school authorized
publications to certian standards of decency. Anyone found
distributing the journal will be suspended from school. That's a
promise. A new substitute will be here in a minute to work with
you until we find a permanent replacement. Is that clear?
Jordan[looking out the window]: Hey, it's him. It's-it's Mr. Racine.
[Students get up from their seats and gather around the window. Vic is
walking down the steps at the front of the school. The student's begin to
call his name. ]
Mr. Foster: People that's enough.
[Vic sees the people at the window and raises his fist in the air to them,
then walks on.]
Rickie: Vic___Where are going.
Angela: Mr. Racine.
Mr. Foster: There is nothing to see. Kindly take your seats.
[The students slowly begin to move away from the window.]
Brian: All that crap about honesty and truth. And he didn't even teach.
Jordan(loudly): He did teach.
Brian: What?
Jordan: He was the best teacher I ever had.(quietly) Well, he was.
[Angela, Sharon, Rayanne, and Rickie run out of the classroom after Vic.
On the steps outside school they catch up to him.]
Rayanne: Hey Vic.
Angela: We're upset, you know, about what's been happening.
Rayanne: Vic, is it true? Are you fired?
Vic: Yeah, you could say that.
Angela: I can't believe this. I can't believe you were fired because of one
poem.
Vic: Why? You think injustice like that doesn't happen? It happens every
day. Wake up.
[Vic walks away from them.]
[In the administrative office, Mr. Foster's office door opens and Jordan
walks out. Graham is sitting on a bench. He watches Jordan leave and
then Mr. Foster shows Graham into his office.]
Graham: Thank you for taking the time to , ah, ah, for taking the time. Ah,
anyway, I'll make this brief.
Mr. Foster: Let me see. You're daughter is, ah--
Graham: Angela. Angela Chase. She's a sophomore. She had a substitute
teacher in English the past two weeks who I met, actually, and
who actually seems kind of, ah--
Mr. Foster: Mr. Chase, there is no reason to go any further. Mr. Racine is
out, and will no longer be substitute teaching at Liberty in the
foreseeable future.
Graham:___Look. I don't want_to make trouble. But my daughter, he
got her thinking, you know. And questioning. Which is, I mean,
isn't that what all of this is suppose to be about?
Mr. Foster: Mr. Chase--
Graham: It's just that she-she was really shaken up. She believes you
fired him.
Mr. Foster: Well, that's fascinating. Because I didn't.
Graham: You didn't fire him?
Mr. Foster: Never had that particular pleasure. No. I was strongly
considering it mind you and then he quit. Right after I showed him
this.[reads from a piece of paper to Graham.] It's a copy of a
subpena a-addressed to a Mr. Theodore Victor aka Victor Racine
stating that the aforementioned Mr. Racine must appear in a New
Hampshire court within sixty days for failure to pay child support
to a family he deserted months ago etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.[gives
the paper to Graham.] He took one look at that and walked out
that door.
Graham: He deserted his family.
[In Angela's kitchen Patty and Graham are there preparing dinner.]
Graham: So, that's the story of Mr.Victor Racine. Whatever his name is.
God, I wish I didn't know. I wish he hadn't told me. Now, what
do I do?
Patty: You tell her the truth. She can handle it.
Graham: Hm. Hm, I remembered to buy kitty litter.
Patty: My hero.
[Angela is lingering outside Vic's home.]
Angela(voice over): It's so weird that teachers actually, like, live places.
[Vic comes out to his car. He sees Angela.]
Angela: I looked you up in the phone book. I couldn't believe you were
just_right there. I'm sorry if that's not the right thing to do.
Vic: Well, what a waste of a Saturday.
Angela: Um. I heard you left your family. Abandoned them.
Vic: I see.
Angela: So, are you saying you didn't? I mean, what's the truth?
Vic: Well, there are a couple of truths.__ One truth is I left my family.
The other truth is my wife__is far better off without me.__Yes, I
got out. I escaped. I broke out of a prison of my own making,
and many, many people want to punish me for that. Maybe,
including you.
Angela: I don't want to punish anyone. I'm jus__ I'm trying to--
Vic: To what? To understand? Look. My struggle for freedom is mine.
Get your own. Get out before its too late, Amanda.
Angela: Get out? Get out of what?
Vic: That mind control factory. That warehouse they store you in.
Because they don't know what to do with you.
Angela: You're telling me to__drop out of high school?
Vic: Good question. Yes. Run for your life. Save your life. Let the walls
of your ginger bread house come__crashing down.__Or not.
Angela: __It's Angela.__And I have to say, I don't think leaving high
school is the answer.__I don't think leaving anything is.___The
thing is__is I kind of admired you.
Vic:___ Come on. I'll-I'll drive you home.
[Outside Angela's house, Brian is riding his bicycle when Vic pulls up in
his car. Angela gets out and Vic drives away.]
Angela: Like what?
Brian: Nothing. So, is there, like, anyone's car you won't get into?
Angela: Right. I live my life to annoy you, Krakow. You're, like, my
world.
Brian: Shut up. I mean, he's old. He's a teacher.
Angela: What? You think I, like, did something with him?
Brian: I don't know. How do I know?
Angela: Are you demented? Do you just view everything in terms of sex?
Brian: Not everything.
Angela: I had things to say to him. We talked. He drove me home.
Gawd.
Brian: Ok._ I have a right not to like him.
Angela: That's true. You do.
[Angela goes into the her house. Patty and Graham are there in the dining
room going through boxes of girl scout cookies. ]
Patty: Are you ok?
Angela: Pretty much.
[Angela picks up a box of cookies and sits on the couch. A moment later
Patty and Graham are sitting either side of her.]
Graham: You know what this boils down to sweetheart. Every fight is not
worth fighting. You're learning that--
Patty: Exactly. It's just__part of growing up.
Graham: And-and sometimes you have to compromise.
Patty: Well, no one should have to compromise their principles, but, ah, if
you never learned to compromise at all, then--
Graham: Exactly. Be-because compromise is__Well, we all have to
compromise. It's part of life. It's part of marriage. You're
mother and I compromise all the time.
Patty: Exactly. And you can't _win every fight. You just have to_pick
your battles.
Angela: I know. You're right.
[Angela's English class. The new substitute is reading in front of a room
full of uninspired students.]
Substitute: And the Oak tree looks down on us still. Beautiful. Concise.
Excellent grammar. Impeccable punctuation. It is a little difficult to
read, of course, with this foot print. It should probably be retyped.
Still...
[Rayanne and Rickie are looking into the class room from the hallway.]
Rickie: I had her as a substitute once. Vic was cool.
Rayanne: Yeah, he was.
Substitute: All in all an excellent example of creative writing. Ah, which
one of you is Angela Chase?__Angela Chase?
[Brian and Sharon look at Angela's empty seat.]
[Angela is working at a xerox machine. In the hallway she starts to hand
out the copies she has made.]
Angela: Want a copy of the Liberty Lit. It's free. Liberty Lit? Want a
copy? Liberty Lit? It's free.
[Brian approaches her.]
Angela: What?
Brian: Nothing.__ I could take some of those and hand them out upstairs.
Angela: Why?
Brian: Because_I think you're right. I mean, I also think Vic is a complete
degenerate, but, this is freedom of speech.
Angela: You could get suspended.
Brian: So.
[Mr. Demitri approaches Angela and Brian.]
Mr. Demitri: Miss Chase. May I speak with you?
Angela: Ah, wanna copy of the Liberty Lit, Mr. Demitri?
Mr. Demitri: Maybe later. Right now Mr. Foster would like to see you in
his office.
Angela: Ok.
Brian: She's just passing out something our English class wrote. Since
when is that a crime.
Mr. Demitri: Would you like to join her, Brian?
Angela: I can go by myself.
[Angela leaves.]
Mr. Demitri(to Brian): Where are you suppose to be?
Brian: Computer.
[Angela is waiting in the administrative offices outside Mr. Foster's office.
Patty and Graham come in.]
Angela: Oh, no. They called you?
Patty: Of course they called us._I can see that you really took what we
talked about the other day to heart.
Angela: I did.
Patty: Do you know what this means? This will go on your record.
Angela: I want it to go on my record.
Patty: You want it to?
Graham: Ok. Let's just stay calm. We're in the principle's office here.
Angela: I mean, what is the point of school if you can't say what you're
thinking.
Patty: Do you have to be the personal spokes person for the entire school?
Angela: You told me to pick my battles. Well, this is it. It may not be,
ah, a war protest or a civil rights demonstration, but it's all I've
got.__That's not completely true. There are a couple of truths.
You said I needed to decide what to fight for. I decided. I just
think it's wrong to censor people, and I'm willing to get suspended
for it.
[Mr. Foster's door opens.]
Mr. Foster: Mr. and Mrs. Chase. Angela.
Graham[taking hold of Angela]: Listen. Mr. Racine. What he did.
Walking out on his family. You know that can never happen in
our family. You know that, don't you.
Patty: Graham. Of course she knows it. Come on.
Graham: Oh, God, I hate being called to the principle.
[In Mr. Foster's office, Mr. Foster sits behind his desk across from Patty,
Angela, and Graham. He holds Angela's record.]
Mr. Foster: I believe I made it clear to you and your class mates that
anyone caught distributing this issue of the Lit would be
suspended. Do you remember hearing that?
Angela: Yes.
Mr. Foster: And yet not only did you distribute it, you reproduced it using
school equipment and supplies. Isn't that right?
Angela: Yes.
Mr. Foster: And while you were suppose to be in English class.
Angela: And I also cut Bio yesterday.
Mr. Foster: Well. Is there anything you'd like to say in your own
defense?
Angela: No.
Mr. Foster: Because I'm willing to listen.
Patty: Ah, Mr. Foster, if I may interject because--
Angela: Mom.__There's nothing else I want to say.
Mr. Foster: I see. Well[looking over her record]__I'm not going to
suspend you.[Patty and Graham look relieved. Angela looks
perturbed, as if she's been cheated.] I think Mr. Racine gave you
kids very distorted ideas about right and wrong. Angela, this
obviously isn't you. I'm willing to forgive about this one isolated
incident. It's over.
[In the hallway outside Mr. Foster's office Patty and Graham give Angela
a hug and kiss good bye, and walk away from Angela, who looks
disappointed.]
Angela(voice over): Once upon a time there lived a girl. She slept in a
lovely cottage made of gingerbread and candy. She was always
asleep. One morning she woke up. She woke up.
The End.
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