EXTERIOR BRIDGE OVER RIVER –– NIGHT

MEDIUM LONG SHOT –– Clarence is crossing the approach to the bridge and Sam takes a narrow catwalk at the railing.

CLOSE SHOT –– Sam has stopped by the railing at the center of the bridge. The snow is now falling hard.

EXTERIOR RIVER –– NIGHT

MEDIUM CLOSE SHOT –– CAMERA SHOOTING DOWN from Sam's angle to the water, dotted with floating ice, passing under the bridge.

EXTERIOR BRIDGE AT RAILING –– NIGHT

CLOSEUP –– Sam. He stares down at the water, desperate, trying to make up his mind to act.

He has been reading Chomsky and Zinn, the editorials in the New York and LA Times along with the Boston Globe. Worse, he is beginning to believe the things they say.

He leans over looking at the water, fascinated, glances furtively around him, hunches himself as though about to jump.

MEDIUM CLOSE SHOT –– From above Sam a body hurtles past and lands in the water with a loud splash. Sam looks down, horrified.

VOICE (from river)
Help! Help!

True to his nature, Sam quickly takes off his coat and dives over the railing into the water.

CLOSER ANGLE –– Sam comes up, sees the man flailing about in the water, and CAMERA PANS WITH him as he swims toward the man.

MAN
Help! Help! Help!

EXTERIOR TOLL HOUSE ON BRIDGE –– NIGHT

CLOSE SHOT –– The toll house keeper, hearing the cries for help, comes running out on the bridge with a flashlight, which he shines on the two figures struggling in the water below.

EXTERIOR RIVER –– NIGHT

CLOSE SHOT –– The man in the water is Clarence, the angel whose voice we have heard speaking from Heaven. Sam reaches him, grabs hold of him, and starts swimming for shore.

WIPE TO:

INTERIOR TOLL HOUSE ON BRIDGE –– NIGHT

Clarence is standing on the other side of the stove, putting on his undershirt. This is a ludicrous nineteenth century garment which looks like a baby's night shirt – with embroidered cuffs and collar, and gathered at the neck with a drawstring. It falls below his knees. The tollkeeper is seated against the wall eyeing them suspiciously.

CLARENCE
I didn't have time to get some stylish underwear. My wife gave me this on my last birthday. I graduated college in it.

The tollkeeper, about to spit, is stopped in the middle of it by this remark. Clarence, secretly trying to get Sam's attention, now picks up a copy of The Black Book of Communism which is hanging on the line, drying. He shakes the book.

CLARENCE (cont'd)
Oh, The Black Book's drying out, too. You should read David Horowitz's new book.

The tollkeeper stares at him incredulously.

TOLLKEEPER
How'd you happen to fall in?

CLARENCE
I didn't fall in. I jumped in to save Sam.

Sam looks up, surprised.

SAM
You what? To save me?

CLARENCE
Well, I did, didn't I? You didn't go through with it, did you?

SAM
Go through with what?

CLARENCE
Suicide.

Sam and the tollkeeper react to this.

TOLLKEEPER
It's against the law to commit suicide around here.

CLARENCE
Yeah, it's against the law where I come from, too.

TOLLKEEPER
Where do you come from?

He leans forward to spit, but is stopped by Clarence's next statement.

CLARENCE
Heaven.
(to Sam)
I had to act quickly; that's why I jumped in. I knew if I were drowning you'd try to save me. And you see, you did, and that's how I saved you.

The tollkeeper becomes increasingly nervous. Sam casually looks at the strange smiling little man a second time.

SAM (offhand)
Very funny. No one ever tries to save me. That's MY job. Others just take - and never appreciate it.

CLARENCE
Your lip's bleeding, Sam.

Sam's hand goes to his mouth.

SAM
Yeah, I got a bust in the jaw in answer to a prayer a little bit ago. Typical.

CLARENCE (comes around to Sam)
Oh, no –– no –– no. I'm the answer to your prayer. That's why I was sent down here.

SAM (casually interested)
How do you know my name?

CLARENCE
Oh, I know all about you. I've watched you grow up from a little boy.

SAM
What are you, a mind reader or something?

CLARENCE
Oh, no.

SAM
Well, who are you, then?

CLARENCE
I'm a historian who couldn't stand it in academia anymore. I needed to save you, and I couldn't do it from there, there on the campus, so I've come here. Straight to you.

Sam rubs his head with his hand, to clear his mind.

SAM
Oh, brother. I wonder what Martini put in those drinks?

He looks up at Clarence standing beside him.

SAM (cont'd)
Hey, what's with you? What did you say just a minute ago? Historian? I thought all you guys were Marxists or something. Why'd you want to save me?

CLARENCE
That's what I was sent down for. I'm your guardian angel. There are still a few of us left who respect you, want the best for you and know our role in protecting you by telling the truth.

SAM
I wouldn't be a bit surprised.

CLARENCE
Ridiculous of you to think of killing yourself because of what you read in some ivory-tower dweller's books.

SAM (bewildered)
Yeah . . . just things like that. Now how'd you know that?

CLARENCE
I told you –– I'm a historian. A real one, who's read real history - and what's better - I understand it. I know everything about you.

SAM
Well, you look about like the kind of a historian I'd get. No tenure, eh?

CLARENCE
I haven't won my tenure yet. That's why I'm a historian Second Class.

SAM
I don't know whether I like it very much being seen around with a historian without any tenure.

CLARENCE
Oh, I've got to earn it, and you'll help me, won't you?

SAM (humoring him)
Sure, sure. How?

CLARENCE
By letting me help you.

SAM
You'll never get tenure that way, but if you insist...
I found it out a little late. I'm worth more dead than alive.

CLARENCE
Now look, you mustn't talk like that. I won't get my tenure with that attitude. You just don't know all that you've done. If it hadn't been for you . . .

SAM (interrupts)
Yeah, if it hadn't been for me, everybody'd be a lot better off. Hell, according to that Zinn guy, even Christopher Columbus is my fault, and he landed 300 years before I was born! (annoyed with Clarence)
Look, little fellow, go off and haunt somebody else, will you?

CLARENCE
No, you don't understand. I've got my job . . .

SAM (savagely)
Aw, shut up, will you.

Clarence is not getting far with Sam. He glances up, paces across the room, thoughtfully.

CLARENCE (to himself)
Hmmm, this isn't going to be so easy.
(to Sam)
So you still think killing yourself would make everyone feel happier, eh?

SAM (dejectedly)
Oh, I don't know. I guess you're right. I suppose it would have been better if I'd never been born at all.

CLARENCE
What'd you say?

SAM
I said I wish I'd never been born.

CLARENCE
Oh, you mustn't say things like that. You . . .
(gets an idea)
. . . wait a minute. Wait a minute. That's an idea.
(glances up toward Heaven)
What do you think? Yeah, that'll do it. All right.
(to George)
You've got your wish. You've never been born.

As Clarence speaks this line, the snow stops falling outside the building, a strong wind springs up which blows open the door to the shack. Clarence runs
to close the door.

CLARENCE (cont'd)
(looking upward)
You don't have to make all that fuss about it.

As Clarence speaks, Sam cocks his head curiously, favoring his deaf ear, more interested in his hearing than in what Clarence has said.

SAM
What did you say?

CLARENCE
You've never been born. You don't exist. You haven't a care in the world.

Sam feels his ear as Clarence talks.

CLARENCE (cont'd)
No worries –– no obligations –– no eight thousand dollars to get –– no Europeans looking for you with the ICC.

CLOSEUP –– Sam and Clarence. Sam indicates his bad ear.

SAM
Say something else in that ear.

CLARENCE (bending down)
Sure. You can hear out of it.

SAM
Well, that's the doggonedest thing . . . I haven't heard anything out of that ear since I was a kid. Must have been that jump in the cold water back there.

CLARENCE
Your lip's stopped bleeding, too, Sam.

Sam feels his lip, which shows no sign of the recent cut he received from bin Laden. He is now thoroughly confused.

SAM
What do you know about that . . . What's happened? Now, come on, get your clothes on, and we'll stroll up to my aircraft carrier and get . . .

They start dressing. Sam interrupts himself.

SAM (cont'd)
Oh, I'm sorry. I'll stroll. You get some grad students to carry you.

CLARENCE
I can't do that. I haven't got my tenure.

GEORGE
You haven't got your tenure. Yeah, that's right.

WIPE TO:

EXTERIOR STREET –– NIGHT

MEDIUM SHOT –– This is the same empty street where Sam's carrier ran aground. Sam and Clarence come into shot and up to the spot where Sam had left his carrier smashed against the beach. Sam looks around, but his carrier is nowhere to be seen, and the beach is undamaged.

CLARENCE
What's the matter?

SAM (puzzled)
Well, this is where I left my carrier and it isn't here.

CLARENCE
You have no carrier.

GEORGE
Well, I had a carrier, and it was right here. I guess somebody managed to move it.

CLOSE SHOT –– at beach. The Prime Minister of Indonesia passes, trailing a line of carts bareing debris and corpses

PRIME MINISTER (politely)
Good evening.

SAM
Oh, say . . . Hey . . . where's my carrier?

PM
I beg your pardon?

SAM
My carrier, my carrier. I'm the fellow that owns the carrier that ran into your beach.

PM
Which beach?

SAM

What do you mean, what beach? This beach. Here, I ran into it. We were bringing relief supplies in but got too close. The ship ran aground.

The PM bends down to examine the beach, then straightens up and smells Sam's breath. He backs away.

PM
You must mean some other beach. No one came to help us when the Tsunami hit. No one.

SAM (blankly)
No one?

PM
I mean no one.

The PM proceeds down the beach. Sam is completely bewildered.

SAM
Oh, I don't know. Either I'm off my nut, or he is . . .
(to Clarence) . . . or you are!

CLARENCE
It isn't me!

SAM
Well, maybe the carrier's back at sea. Well, come on, Noam.

He puts his arm around Clarence, and they start off up the road.

CLARENCE (as they go)
Clarence!

SAM
Clarence! Clarence!

CLARENCE
You see, Sam, you have no aircraft carrier, and you were not there to help after the Tsuamani . . .

SAM
What do you mean, I wasn't there? I remember distinctly . . .

Sam catches a glimpse of the front of the building with the neon sign over the beach. It now reads "KARLALLAHLAND - A Communist/Sharia Republic" instead of "INDONESIA"

Sam and Clarence get to their feet.

SAM (exasperated)
What the . . . hey, what's going on around here? Why, this ought to be Indonesia.

He points to the sign, and looks at Clarence. Clarence sort of hangs his head. George fixes him with a very interested look.

SAM (cont'd)
Look, who are you?

CLARENCE (patiently)
I told you, Sam. I'm your historian.

Sam, still looking at him, goes up to him and pokes his arm. It's flesh.

SAM
Well then, why am I seeing all these strange things?

CLARENCE
Don't you understand, Sam? It's because you were not born.

SAM
Then if I wasn't born, who am I?

CLARENCE
You're nobody. You have no identity.

Sam rapidly searches his pockets for identification - a copy of the Constitution, or the Declaration of Indepenence, a Social Security Card, but without success.

SAM
What do you mean, no identity? My name's Uncle Sam.

CLARENCE
There is no Uncle Sam. You have no papers, no cards, no Constitution, no Declaration of Independence. . .
(he says these things as Sam searches for them)

Sam feverishly continues to turn his pockets inside out.

CLARENCE (cont'd)
You've been given a great gift, Sam. A chance to see what the world would be like without you.

Sam is completely befuddled.

SAM (shaking his head)
Now wait a minute, here. Wait a minute here. As, this is some sort of a funny dream I'm having here. So long, mister, I'm going back to Washington

He starts off. Clarence rises.

CLARENCE
Washington? Where's that?

SAM (furious) Now shut up! Cut it out! You're . . . you're . . . you're crazy! That's what I think . . . you're screwy, and you're driving me crazy, too! I'm seeing things. I'm going home and see the Capitol. Do you understand that? And I'm going there alone!

Sam strides off hurriedly. Clarence slowly follows him, glancing up toward Heaven as he goes.

EXTERIOR WILDERNESS –– NIGHT

MEDIUM CLOSE SHOT –– George stands a moment, stunned. In the middle of the swamp where Washington D.C. should be. Then he turns and runs until his face fills the screen. His features are distorted by the emotional chaos within him. We see Clarence leaning against a tree, holding his volume of The Black Book of Communism in his hand.

CLARENCE
Strange, isn't it? Each man's life touches so many other lives, and when he isn't around he leaves an awful hole, doesn't he?

SAM (quietly, trying to use logic)
I've heard of things like this. You've got me in some kind of a spell, or something. Well, I'm going to get out of it. I'll get out of it. I know how, too. I . . . I'm going to call on my friend. I'm going to go see John Bull!

CLARENCE
You know where he lives?

SAM
Sure I know where he lives. He lives over there, across the sea.

They walk out of scene.

WIPE TO:

EXTERIOR CEMETERY –– NIGHT

MEDIUM SHOT –– Sam and Clarence approach the tree from which the "United Kingdom" sign once hung. Now it is just outside a cemetery, with graves where the houses used to be.

CLARENCE
Are you sure this is London?

SAM
Oh, I'm not sure of anything anymore. All I know is this should be London. But where are the houses? Where is Parliament?

The two walk into the cemetery.

CLARENCE (as they go)
You weren't here to save them.

CLOSE MOVING SHOT –– Sam wandering like a lost soul among the tombstones, Clarence trotting at his heels. Again Sam stops to stare with frightened eyes at:

CLOSE SHOT –– a tombstone. Upon it is engraved a name. Feverishly Sam scrapes away the snow covering the rest of the inscription, and we read:
IN MEMORY OF OUR BELOVED SON –– JOHN BULL.

CLOSE SHOT –– Sam and Clarence.

CLARENCE
Your brother, John Bull, was killed by the Nazis.

Sam jumps up.

SAM
That's a lie! John Bull went to war! He fought with me! He saved the lives of millions who otherwise would have been murderer by Hitler.

CLARENCE (sadly)
Every Jew, Homosexual, Gypsy and so many others died, as did Freedom's Hope as well. John wasn't there to save them because you weren't there to save John. The world is split between Naziism, Communism and Chaos now. You see, Sam, you really had a wonderful life. Don't you see what a mistake it would be to throw it away?

CLOSEUP –– Sam and Clarence.

SAM
Clarence . . .

CLARENCE
Yes, Sam?

SAM
Where's Lady Liberty?

CLARENCE
Oh, well, I can't . . .

SAM
I don't know how you know these things, but tell me –– where is she?

Sam grabs Clarence by the coat collar and shakes him.

CLARENCE
I . . .

SAM
If you know where she is, tell me where my hope is.

CLARENCE
I'm not supposed to tell.

SAM (becoming violent)
Please, Clarence, tell me where she is.

CLARENCE
You're not going to like it, Sam.

SAM (shouting)
Where is she?

Sam lets Clarence go, and runs off. Clarence falls to the
ground, where he rubs his neck.

CLARENCE (to himself)
There must be some easier way for me to get my tenure.

WIPE TO:

EXTERIOR -- AN ISLAND ON THE SEINE RIVER, FRANCE

SAM
Nooooooooooooooooo!

CLOSEUP –– Sam leaning over a bridge railing, praying.

SAM
I want to live again. I want to live again. Please, God, let me live again!!!!