EXT. RED BUIDLING ENTRY.

NIGHT
Red exits and comes to a stop and scans the shadowy
environment.
Absolutely nothing for the longest time.
Red looks out, searching for something.
A body moves out of the shadows and comes to a stop under
the alleyway light.
EXT. BENCH BY LAKESIDE. NIGHT
Red sits next to well-dressed, charming Interlocutor (aka
Inter).
INTER
There was an army general in the
Kangan Republic in the early 90s, a
man by the name of Mongu. Jolly sort
of fella, he forced the President to
resign by abducting his entire
family, and threatening to execute
them. So the President, himself a
corrupt man, resigned power to Mongu
and his associates in the military.
Mongu's first act as Dictator was to
execute the old President and his
entire family. There are rumors that
he raped them, regardless of gender,
and then personally pulled the
trigger on each and every one of
them. He was to exterminate about
half of the minority population in
his country over the next decade...
In the late 90's, in the last years
of the Clinton administration, the
State Department sent a delegation
to the Kangan Republic tonegotiate
stronger trade ties-- Kangan has
large natural reserves of cobalt
ore-- the delegation got there, came
close to a deal, but then backed out
at the last minute, because by that
time the American press had started
playing up General Mongu's human
rights violations.General Mongu
realized he needed to prove that he
had loyalty from his people... So,
the next day, he called the
delegation back to his office and
asked them to sit behind a
protective glass barrier and then he

called a few prisoners in... these

guys were scarred up, some with huge
bulges in their craniums,
malnourished, some walked like
they'd been raped repeatedly. And
General Mongu sat these prisoners
down and placed a gun infront of
them. Mongu said, "I am the leader
of your country. The foreigners say
I have wronged you. If you feel the
same, you may pick up that gun and
kill me now." He did this for over a
dozen prisoners and, of course, not
a single one of them picked up the
gun... Mongu turned to the
delegation and asked "do you still
doubt my people's faith in me, even
the ones who would have most cause
to hate me?" The delegation was not
impressed. One of the ambassadors
made the mistake of suggesting that
all this was staged. That the
prisoners were instructed to not act
out of turn. General Mongu shouted
at his guards to bring the next
prisoner in, he sat the prisoner
down at the chair and changed the
spiel up just a bit: he said "I am
General Mongu, the leader of your
country, the butcher of Kiwali, the
Usurper. The foreigners say I have
wronged you. If you feel the same,
you may pick up that gun and kill me
now. Otherwise I'll pick up the gun
myself and kill you instead." The
prisoner didn't pick up the gun.
General Mongu did. Shot the man
between the eyes... people are
slaves, comrade. Almost all people
are natural slaves.
A silence.
INTER
You're losing heart. You can't lose
heart now old boy. There's a time
for thinking and time for doing. Now
is the time to do.
A silence Red hesitant.
Inter sighs.
INTER

You're disappointing me, champ.

You're really disappointing me.
Interlocutor and Red sit in silence.
INT. RED'S CAR. NIGHT
Red drives. Interlocutor sits in the middle of the backseat.
INTER
You forgot too easily! You didn't
even try to remember! There is a
time for everything, but you're not
a punctual man it turns out!
Red drives, gritting his teeth.
INTER
It'd be fine if you were one of
those emotionally-stunted pacifists,
but you'd rather live with hate in
your heart than be a man.
Red drives on.
INTER
Drop me off here.
Red stops the car. Inter gets out and slams the door close,
walks away without looking back.
Red feels weak.
He starts driving again.

LATER IN THE STORY....

INT. RED LIVING ROOM. NIGHT
Red comes out to the living room to find Interlocutor
sitting on his couch.
Both sluggers.
INTER
Can't leave your door open like
that. Might get some unwanted
visitors.
A silence.
RED

I'm not weak.

INTER
Is that right.
RED
I haven't lost heart. I haven't
forgotten.
INTER
Yet the deed remains undone... any
explanation for that?
RED
I had to go talk to some people.
INTER
Talking? Yeah, talking is good. It's
kind of the opposite of action.
Talking is all theoretical, it's
never grounded in anything-- action
is what matters, and what you lack
in you experiences tonight is
action. Real, practical,
unquestionable action.
RED
There is a time for that.
INTER
Daylight isn't too far, if you want
to stick to the technical definition
of "night."
I do.

RED
INTER
Who all did you "talk to?"
Leon.

RED
INTER
Ah, Leon! I'm sure he had many
things to say, he's a great
conversationalist after all... well,
what did he say?
RED
He said tonight might not be the
night.
INTER

Why am I not surprised?... you mean

to tell me that Leon--a young man
who consumes a pillow's worth of
weed every night-- who has sex only
so he can talk about it-- this young
man advised you against significant,
tangible action? Oh my my my, why am
I not surprised.
A silence.
INTER
Was he the only one?
RED
I went to Evelyn's house.
INTER
Ah. And how did that go?
RED
She didn't open the door.
INTER
Unfortunate. Do you think she had
something to say? Maybe something
that might have to do with tonight?
She's heavily involved in all of
this, wouldn't you say?
A silence.
RED
I don't think tonight is the night.
INTER
Oh buddy buddy buddy you're talking
crazy, YOU'RE TALKING CRAZY you KNOW
that tonight is the night, you are
questioning it because of that
fucking brain of yours that thinks
it's better to think something over
a thousand times rather than take
the most reasonable route of
action--snap out of it champ!
RED
Leon had an excellent point,
mistakes are universal.
INTER
Leon is the opposite of a man. Leon
pisses sitting down. Leon would let
his woman be assaulted and do

nothing. Fuck Leon.

RED
It's not the man, it's his idea.
INTER
The idea reflects the man... why do
you think Evelyn didn't open the
door?
RED
She didn't want to talk.
INTER
Have you met a woman so far who
doesn't want to talk?... Go ask her
nicely. Go to Evelyn and ask her to
tell you a story. Maybe she has one,
maybe she doesn't. But before you
chickenshit out of tonight, go find
out what she has to say champ. As a
favor to me and you.
A silence.