74. Judge, Jury - Leslie

• FADE IN:


• EXT. MAIN STREET - LATE AFTERNOON


• HAROLD K. POWERS stands on the sidewalk, tapping his foot impatiently.


• He sees his dark sedan drive to the corner and let's out a sigh.


• The car pulls to curb.


• The DRIVER hops out of the car, cap pulled low, and opens the back door.


• Harold steps into the car, giving the driver a meaningful glare.


• He pauses, seeing the man's face; it seems unusually pale.


• The door slams, and the driver re-enters the front seat.


• They begin driving winding along side streets to avoid the traffic clogging the city's main arteries.


• EXT. INDUSTRIAL LOT - LATE AFTERNOON


• The car pulls into an empty industrial lot and stops.


• INT. CAR - CONTINUOUS


• HAROLD
• Hey! Why are we stopping here.


• The door opens and the driver sticks his head in the back, his hat is off, revealing skin painted white and twisted clown eye drawn onto his face.


• Harold recoils.


• The driver pulls Harold from the car with ease, despite Harold's struggling.


• EXT. INDUSTRIAL LOT - CONTINUOUS


• HAROLD
• Help! Help!


• The driver flips Harold into a choke-hold, and presses Harold's neck gently.


• Harold's eyes roll, and he slumps.


• INT. WAREHOUSE COURTROOM - INDETERMINATE


• Harold jerks, slowly waking up.


• He is bound to a chair.


• As his eyes adjusts, he sees that his is surrounded by a thick circle of people in demented clown makeup.


• He recoils.


• A WOMAN steps from the crowd.


• Her short, spiky hair is bleached, tipped in dark red.


• Her face is painted half white, half black, with black and white swirls crisscrossing into the halves. Her dark red lips carry a painted sneer, accentuating their actual sardonic curl.


• She wears a flowing dress and a dark corset.


• She circles his chair, studying him.


• Harold attempts to mimic her sneer, playing at being unafraid.


• HAROLD
• And who are you?


• She smiles.


• MS. A
• You can call me Ms. A. I'll be your host this evening.


• She stares at him, and he wilts.


• HAROLD
• Look, why are you doing this? I can pay whatever you want, what do you want?


• The circle moves in tighter, menacing.


• HAROLD
• Please, please, I'll pay however much you want?


• MS. A
• I'd like my family back.


• HAROLD
• Excuse me?


• MS. A
• In 1987, you invested in Myers Petrochemicals. They flooded my little town with chemicals. The river stank from the rotting fish. We fought and fought, but you never listened. And then one by one, my parents, my siblings began to die, cancer, infections, diseases the doctors had no names for. And I am the only one who has escaped to tell you.


• A MAN steps forward.


• A beret covers his dark curly hair.


• His face is painted pure white, and as he looks up, Harold sees that his eyes are pure white as well, his pupils covered by white contacts. His lips, painted black, stand out in stark contrast.


• MR. RAINBOW
• I'm Mr. Rainbow.


• HAROLD
• Rainbow?


• Mr. Rainbow's expression doesn't change.


• MR. RAINBOW
• I like irony.


• He leans closer and Harold pushes back against the chair.


• MR. RAINBOW
• In 1994, your company closed it's factory in Toledo, declaring bankruptcy, robbing thousands of workers of their pensions. Half a year later, the company would miraculously resurrect, at least that's what the Wall Street Journal thought. You moved all your factories to China, blinking at abuse and the loss of dignity of the workers there, because you saved millions on their slave labor. My father never recovered from losing his job and pension. He killed himself. My mother disappeared one night; I raised my siblings. I am the only one who has escaped to tell you.


• He steps back and a shorter WOMAN comes forward.


• 3
• I am 3.


• 3 speaks in the beautifully flowing tones of Columbia.


• She walks with a slight limp.


• She wears a skirt, with fishnet stockings crisscrossing down her legs to black boots.


• Her black hair is tied into two buns held together by chopsticks.


• Her graphic tee is covered with strange symbols splashed in red.


• Only half of her face is painted, in the style of a beautiful venetian mask, the lips warped into a devilish curve.


• The other half of her face is badly scarred.


• Harold can't look at her and tries to focus on the right side of her face or the floor.


• 3 steps close to him.


• She takes his chin and pulls it up.


• 3
• Look at me.


• He flinches, but she holds firm.


• 3
• In 1993, the private security firm you were the chairman of was sent to Columbia to help train the military to fight FARC. My father wrote for a socialist newspaper. They came to our house one day; they tortured my father to death, but not before they had raped my mother and I in front of him. They shot my mother and they tortured me. I was five. Look at me. You did this. And I am the only one who has escaped to tell you.


• Another woman steps forward.


• HAROLD
• Please, no more.


• MS. A
• You have done this. Every one of these stories hold a pain you inflicted. We are your judge and jury, and we find you guilty. You've been weighed. You are wanting.


• HAROLD
• What are you going to do to me?


• 3 steps forward, Harold pulls back.


• 3
• Forgive you.


• MS. A
• We forgive you.


• They step back into the shadows, disappearing.


• Harold sits alone, in the circle of light.


• He twists in the chair, and finds the ropes have been loosened.


• He lifts his hands, and watches the rope slide away from his wrist.


• FADE TO BLACK.