66. Lilja's Song - Leslie

Recommend listening/viewing for this script - Damien Rice's "Crimes" and "I Remember".

• FADE IN:


• INT. THE MORRIGAN - DAY


• The Cafe is filled with worn sofas and chairs, arranged haphazardly around tables of varying size.


• The walls are painted a dark red and paintings hang crookedly from the wall. The place has the feeling of intentional chaos.


• A bar stool sits in a corner, surrounded by empty couches.


• LILJA, a short, thin woman with long dark hair and a large backpack enters the Cafe and looks around slowly.


• Her clothes are neat, but worn, and her hair and skin hint at the fact that she has not seen a shower in a while.


• She moves to the back of the room, towards the bar stool.


• Placing the back on the floor, she sits on the stool and pulls a beautifully carved mandolin from its place on the side of the pack.


• She holds She strums the strings, staring into space.


• She begins to sing softly.


• Every word she sings sounds as if it is breaking her heart.


• Her fingers caress the strings, her alto a warm rain poured around the lilting tune.


• THE BARISTA works quietly behind the bar, her hair tied into a lose bun around two black and silver chopsticks.


• She stops, wiping her hands on her black and gray apron, and listens thoughtfully to the music.


• The Cafe is sparsely populated by clients.


• They sit, transfixed by the song.


• Lilja's fingers dance across the strings, her hair hanging down past the instrument and she closes her eyes and hunches closer to the mandolin, as if she is trying to embrace the music.


• She finishes the song, her voice trailing away; and sits at the stool for a long moment, contemplating the floor.


• She stands, placing the mandolin back in the pack and begins to walk to the door.


• The barista intercepts her, and discretely hands her a packed brown bag.


• BARISTA
• Thank You.


• LILJA
• No, no, no thanks. Thank you, but...


• The barista pushes the bag into her hand, then turns away and moves quickly back to the bar.


• Lilja continues for the door, and as she begins to push her way outside, a patron tries to hand her money.


• Lilja balls her fist, shakes her head, then exits.


• She looks back into the Cafe through the large windows that line the storefront, then turns, and begins walking down the sidewalk, her worn shoes softly slapping the concrete.


• FADE TO BLACK.