THE VERY WORST THING THAT COULD POSSIBLY HAPPEN, PART 8
INT. EMPIRE HOTEL LOBBY, ALMATY, 1978 - CONTINUOUS
Vinnie, Raul, and Snake greet the driver in the lobby.
RAUL
I’m just saying you guys suck, ok. Why do I have these ridiculous clothes?
CAB DRIVER
Love the robe- are you going to play dungeons and dragons are something?
VINCENT
No, man, you look cool. Like a LARPer. But, like, a cool LARPer.
SNAKE
Let’s go.
Raul howls in PAIN.
RAUL
Ow! Fuck!!
VINCENT
What happened?!
RAUL
I’m fine, I just, I stepped on some glass.
VINCENT
Let me see. Shit. You’re bleeding.
RAUL
I’m fine.
VINCENT
Shoe technology has really come a long way since the Golden Horde, huh?
RAUL
Yeah these boots suck.
SNAKE
They look cool, though.
They walk through the lobby doors.
Theme Music. Titles:
ANNOUNCER
The Very Worst Thing That Could Possibly Happen, Part 8.
EXT. EMPIRE HOTEL LOBBY, ALMATY, KAZAKHSTAN 1978 - CONTINUOUS
They get into the range rover and start driving.
RAUL VO
Vinnie pulled a piece of porcelain out of my foot- it had cut through the soft leather of the stupid boots they left me. And, fucking, The cab driver looked amazing, now he wearing a black suit and tie, Tom Ford sunglasses. Even Vinnie was wearing a suit. Assholes. We got into a dark gray Range Rover, and glided onto a broad, gray boulevard.
CAB DRIVER
Those guys are just an escort. Nothing to worry about.
RAUL
I wasn’t worried, actually.
CAB DRIVER
The museum is just a few blocks away.
VINCENT
I need a coffee. Can we stop and get a coffee anywhere?
SNAKE
No.
VINCENT
Fine.
EXT. MUSEUM OF CARPETS, KAZAKHSTAN, 1978
SANZHAR (’he who pierces,’ 70’s, Kazakhstani) and DAMIRA (’secret,’ 50’s, Kazakhstani) greet the travelers wearing traditional nomadic garb.
SANZHAR
(from a distance)
Hello!
CAB DRIVER
See Raul, you’re going to fit right in.
SNAKE
How beautiful are those coats? Just incredible.
VINCENT
And they wore the hats! Don’t you wish you brought your hat now, Raul.
RAUL
I’m good.
SNAKE
They’ll have a spare.
VINCENT
(under his breath)
They’re gonna offer us tea. I don’t want tea.
The car comes to a complete stop. Doors open.
SANZHAR
Mr Ming, Vincent, my friends! So good to see.
DAMIRA
Yes it is! How was your journey?
VINCENT
Long.
SNAKE
It was fine, thanks. You look good, Sanzhar.
SANZHAR
I wish I could say the same for you, Ming.
SNAKE
It wasn’t my call to be a snake this time.
SANZHAR
Eh, you wear it well. Do you like our new building? The president seems to have found some money under the cushions in the presidential palace.
SNAKE
Its beautiful. Congratulations.
SANZHAR
Thank you. Its been an incredible resource.
SNAKE
And I see they’re feeding you, Sanzhar. Or is that you Damira?
DAMIRA
Oh I can’t control Sanzhar, you know this!
SNAKE
Well, you on the other hand look like you’re ready to run a marathon.
DAMIRA
Pilates.
VINCENT
I tried pilates once, not my thing.
DAMIRA
(ignoring)
And you, you must be Raul.
RAUL
Yes.
DAMIRA
We are very excited to meet you, Raul. I am Damira, and this is my husband, and colleague here at the Museum, Sanzhar.
RAUL
Hello, nice to meet you as well.
SANZHAR
Its a great pleasure. I’ve heard a lot about you. But please, come inside.
SNAKE
We should get to work.
SANZHAR
Understood.
DAMIRA
Come. We have some tea ready in the samovar.
VINCENT
See guys? I told you.
They walk across the pavement and giant doors close behind them.
INT. MUSEUM OF CARPETS, KAZAKHSTAN, 1978 - DAY
The sound of a samovar pouring tea in glass tea cups. Sanzhar offers baursak, a kind of savory beignet. Vinnie is gobbling.
VINCENT
(mouth full)
Mmmmm sooo goooffddd.
SNAKE
Sanzhar, thanks for the donuts, but I’m really hungry.
RAUL
Oh no.
SANZHAR
They’re not donuts, Ming. They’re baursak.
SNAKE
Well thanks for baursak but I’m going to need some snake food. Like, stat.
RAUL
Look, Ming, I’m NOT going out and finding you a mouse in Almaty. I don’t speak the language, I’ve never been in this city... Nope. Just, no. Can’t do it.
VINCENT
A man’s gotta eat, Raul.
RAUL
Not a man, a SNAKE, Vinnie. A TALKING SNAKE.
SANZHAR
Don’t worry, Raul! We knew Mr Ming was coming.
A mouse SQUEEKS as he takes it of a paper bag.
SNAKE
Sweet.
RAUL
Look, guys, I’ve been pretty fucking cool through this whole... whatever the fuck this is... but I’m tired. I’m tired, my life has been turned completely upside down, I’ve lost 35 pounds, I feel sick- all the time - and I want to know what THE FUCK we’re doing in a carpet museum in Kazakhstan.
Beat.
RAUL
Like right FUCKING NOW! Please.
These next lines are quick, quiet:
SANZHAR
That’s fair.
VINCENT
Totally.
SNAKE
I can’t believe it took that long, actually.
SANZHAR
You mean he hasn’t freaked out yet?
SNAKE
Cool as a cucumber.
SANZHAR
Whoa.
VINCENT
I told you he’s a baddass. I saw this dude, and I was like--
The samovar and the tea glasses rattle loudly as Raul SLAMS is fist on the table.
RAUL
(interrupting)
RIGHT FUCKING NOW!
Beat.
DAMIRA
Come with me, Raul. I will explain. Sanzhar, will you get Mr Ming something to clean this up. That carpet you just threw the tea on is over 1200 years old.
RAUL
(trying to calm down)
Fucking great. Sorry. Sorry about that.
DAMIRA
Its ok, its ok. Come on.
Footsteps echo through large marbled spaces.
RAUL VO
Dear Sara, I’m still writing, even though I don’t know if you’ll get this letter- I don’t know where to mail it here in Almaty. Maybe Kate can take help- she’s working at the front desk of the hotel.
DAMIRA
Follow me, over here.
RAUL VO
We walked through the museum’s lobby and into the first gallery. Giant, fantastical carpets and tapestries hung on the walls, perfectly lit in the dim room. The light, and the air, were perfectly treated to present and preserve the textiles. It made you feel calm- the silence and the careful air.
DAMIRA
Not as much is known about the history of carpets as you’d think. They seem to have come into practice around the same time as pottery- but of course, they don’t last as long. They disintegrate. Which is part of their charm. You can’t own a rug forever. You understand? You can steward it through its life- and it will outlast you, your children, your grandkids- but ultimately owning a rug is the work of a hospice nurse. The rug is dying. You help it, give a meaningful life while its still here.
RAUL
I’m trying to be patient, ma’am--
DAMIRA
Damira. My name is Damira.
RAUL
Damira, right. But, when I said I wanted an explanation, I wasn’t asking for a history of carpets in Eurasia. And I’m pretty sure you know that.
DAMIRA
I do.
RAUL
So--
DAMIRA
No, Raul, listen to me- I do. We are less than a hundred meters from the goal- from the place you’ve been trying to get to. And not just trying to get to in the last few months, I mean the place you’ve KNOWN you NEEDED to get to your WHOLE LIFE. So take a breath, and walk slowly, and listen. There is no hurry now.
RAUL
I can’t. I’m one hundred fucking percent OUT OF PATIENCE. I can’t... I can’t take it.
Beat. Raul takes a breath.
DAMIRA
Good. Now. Look at this one. I like this one.
They take a few more steps.
RAUL
Its beautiful.
DAMIRA
Like a cherry blossom tree? Remember when Ming told you about the Cherry Blossoms?
RAUL
No.
DAMIRA
He said they don’t just bloom to propagate the species- remember? They also bloom just to be beautiful.
RAUL
Oh right. He was talking about time.
DAMIRA
Yes. Now look at how beautiful this carpet is. You see how its symmetrical, but its not? I mean, the design is mostly symmetrical, perfectly mirrored on the right side to the left. An imaginary line runs down the middle, yes? But its made by hand, and its old- 700 years old, actually, and its been rolled up and carried on camels, and then unrolled in nomad’s tents for weddings and meetings between tribal elders... it has stains and foot prints, places where the wool from different sheep accepted the dye differently, so even the same indigo turns into thousands of different hues. And here! Here its sagged, because the warps and wefts- the long fibers that hold the rug together, they stretched out a bit. So the symmetry is gone, its just an illusion. The geometry isn’t perfect, and it never was, not even on the day it was it made.
RAUL
And this is a metaphor?
DAMIRA
I just think its cool.
RAUL
Come on, this whole thing, you’re doing, its a metaphor for our lives, right?
DAMIRA
Its not a metaphor for anything, Raul. Do you know about the knot?
RAUL
Uh, no. I don’t think so.
DAMIRA
Oh this is wonderful. The idea is that every rug maker ties one knot the wrong way. Look at this rug over here, its a big one, eh?
RAUL
Whoa.
DAMIRA
You know how many knots there are? I can only give an estimate- we haven’t literally counted, but imagine: 1200 knots per inch across. That would be roughly thirty million two hundred forty thousand knots.
RAUL
That’s... breathtaking.
DAMIRA
Good word for it. You know in Judaism, the word for breath is the same as life?
RAUL
I was raised Catholic.
DAMIRA
Ah. Explains why you would take so much abuse before you freak out.
RAUL
Ha. Maybe.
DAMIRA
So- the knot. Every rug weaver, for as long as we’ve known, they’ve always tied one knot wrong. Just one, out of the millions that go into making up a rug. They do this on purpose.
RAUL
Why?
DAMIRA
Because to try and be perfect would be an insult to God.
RAUL
Do you believe that?
DAMIRA
Eh, no. I mean, the humility is charming, I can appreciate that. But the MISTAKE...! I think the mistake is essential to all human life. Darwin would tell you the same thing.
RAUL
Darwin? Rugs don’t evolve, Damira. You guys are so fucking confusing.
He’s getting weak and dizzy.
DAMIRA
Perhaps.
RAUL
Fuck you, ‘perhaps.’
DAMIRA
Do you need to sit down?
RAUL
I’m fine.
DAMIRA
Ok. What I’m saying is: every advantage, every improvement in a species- they all stem from random mistakes- one little mutated gene, one happy little accident. Sight? That was a mistake. Hearing? That too. Love? Love was probably the biggest mistake of them all. But it gave us some kind of evolutionary advantage, so: there you go. The one’s who can love win out over the one’s who can’t. And multiply all those mistakes over time, and suddenly you have us.
RAUL
I’m truly trying to hear you, right now, Damira, but...
DAMIRA
I know, I know. The answer is: yes, Raul. You are caught up in a mistake. And its forced us to take drastic measures. But in this place, we live for the mistakes. They are the essence of what we are trying to protect.
RAUL
You protect mistakes? This whole mission, or organization- Ai, Kate, Vinnie, Ming- their job is to protect mistakes.
DAMIRA
That’s exactly right.
RAUL
And me - I’m a mistake?
DAMIRA
No no no no. Well...
RAUL
Fuck. I knew it.
DAMIRA
No. You knew something was wrong. That’s because you are snared, tangled up, in a mistake. But you, yourself, you are not a mistake Raul. As far as I can tell, you’re perfectly nice guy.
RAUL
Perfectly nice?
DAMIRA
A little low key, maybe.
RAUL
Aimless.
DAMIRA
Yes, that’s a good word for it.
Footsteps. An elevator dings. They get in.
RAUL
Where are we going?
DAMIRA
To the workshop. The weaver’s room.
INT. CAR IN ALAMTY KAZAKHSTAN, 1978 - CONTINUOUS
In the Range Rover:
TROTSKY
Take a look.
SFX: a newspaper unfolding.
SARA
What am I looking for.
TROTSKY
The date. Here.
SARA
But, that’s not possible.
CLAIRE
I told you, Sara, time enters into us...
TROTSKY
...And transforms itself in us...
CAB DRIVER
...Long before it happens.
SARA
You guys are ridiculous. And you’re not even on the same team, right? I thought Trotsky here worked for dad? Aren’t they the bad guys?
CAB DRIVER
We’re literally talking about time changing.
TROTSKY
Yeah, things change. Besides, I told you, I’m an Autonomist.
CLAIRE
That’s not a thing, Frederique.
CAB DRIVER
I think he just hung out with a bad crowd. That Hans guy--
SARA
Hey, speaking of my dad, where is he?
CAB DRIVER
We left him at the airport, with your boss. He’ll be safe there until we can come back for him.
SARA
In a coffin?
CAB DRIVER
No.
CLAIRE
No.
CAB DRIVER
In a suitcase. He’s fine. Its a nice suitcase.
EXT. ALMATY AIRPORT, KAZAKHSTAN 1978
We hear the exterior ambience, jet whines, and the rumble of a steel container’s rolling side being opened.
HANS
(muffled)
Hello??! HELLO!? Can someone please get me the fuck out of here?
A loud ZIP as a the suitcase is opened. Charlie speaks with a new tone, flatter, colder, all business.
CHARLIE
Hold on! Stop fighting! I’m opening it!
HANS
Ahhhhhh! Phew.
CHARLIE
Mr Cloutier. My name is Charlie, Red Hand 9345. I’ll be assisting you while on you’re mission here in Almaty. The future enters into us...
HANS
In order to transform itself...
(Not waiting to complete the code)
Have you instructions from Directorate yet?
CHARLIE
Yes, I have a brief for you in the car. I’ll take you there now.
HANS
And 5307? Agent Trotsky?
CHARLIE
He’s switched sides.
HANS
Fucking Anarchists.
CHARLIE
He’s not an Anarchist, he’s an Autonomist--
HANS
(cuts her off)
Is that our car?
CHARLIE
Yes sir.
A car door opens.
HANS
We need to move.
CHARLIE
Yes, sir. Where to?
HANS
The National Carpet Museum.
Hans puts the car in drive, we hear him STRAIN as he swivels his head to look behind him.
CHARLIE
Uh, sir... why are you driving in reverse?
HANS
Because we need to make up some time. This is one of our cars, right?
CHARLIE
Yes sir.
HANS
So if we drive in reverse, we can make up a few hours.
CHARLIE
That’s dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.
HANS
I didn’t design the system, ok? Just, put on your seatbelt.
SFX of things reversing as they drive backwards into the city.
INT. CAR IN NUR SULTAN, KAZAKHSTAN, 1978
Music signifies time passing. The car slows and turns.
CLAIRE
Here it is.
SARA
This hotel? Its beautiful.
TROTSKY
We’re a day late, Claire.
CLAIRE
I know.
TROTSKY
That doesn’t present any problems?
CLAIRE
Challenges, comrade! These are trying times!! We must rise to the occasion!
TROTSKY
Fine. How do we rise to these challenges, then?
CLAIRE
I don’t fucking know. I need to talk to the snake. Where’s Ming?
INT. HOTEL LOBBY, ALMATY, KAZAKHSTAN 1978 - MOMENTS LATER
KATE
Welcome to the Empire Hotel--
TROTSKY
Thank--
CLAIRE
Kate! Thank god there you are.
KATE
Mom!
Kate runs over, gives Claire a hug.
CLAIRE
(in Mandarin)
I missed you too. Are you eating? Did you eat?
KATE
Jesus I’ve been here for three weeks waiting for you.
TROTSKY
Who’s this?
CLAIRE
This is my daughter, Kate. Frederique, Sara, this is Kate.
SARA
Hello, it’s so nice to meet you!... Is it strange that she’s only a few years younger than you?
KATE
We get that a lot.
CLAIRE
Sometimes. Sometimes she’s older than me! Can you imagine.
SARA
Not really.
CLAIRE
Well, its because--
KATE
Mom! No time for small talk, alright? We have a problem.
INT. CAR IN NUR SULTAN, KAZAKHSTAN, 1978 - DAY
Charlie and Hans drive into Almaty from the airport.
HANS
Charlie, I need to get into the rug museum. And I need to get in there without being noticed.
CHARLIE
I’m not sure how you’re going to pull that off, Director.
HANS
It will be easy, but I need your help. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m not a beautiful woman.
CHARLIE
(laughs)
No. But you are pretty fucking charming.
HANS
Pull over here.
The car slows and stops.
HANS
Ok, Charlie. You see that door? That’s where the maintenance crews for the rug museum come in. I need you to go over there, and get me a pair of maintenance coveralls.
CHARLIE
I don’t usually do field work- I’m not sure--
HANS
Take off your scarf. Good. Now unbutton your top button.
CHARLIE
Like this?
HANS
Eh, maybe one more.
CHARLIE
How’s that?
HANS
I don’t think you’re going to have a problem getting anything you want.
CHARLIE
Its not 1959 here, Director Cloutier. You can’t say shit like that anymore.
HANS
Just get the fucking coveralls.
A car door opens.
INT. MUSEUM OF CARPETS, KAZAKHSTAN, 1978
An elevator dings and the doors open. SFX of a massive room, and thousands of looms being worked by hand.
DAMIRA
Come on.
RAUL
Holy shit.
RAUL VO
Sara, how can I trust what I see? When the elevator doors open, we’re in the basement of the carpet museum. This room, its massive, I literally can’t see the end. Bigger than the warehouses back in the Kwai Chung-Tsing Yi basin, bigger than the container cities in the port of Hong Kong.
DAMIRA
This way, Raul.
A beat as we hear the echoes of thousands of weavers at their looms.
RAUL VO
The room is filled with thousands and thousands of weavers, each sitting on a stool at a loom, weaving a carpet. The repetition of the image of the weavers made my eyes confused, and the room started turning, the geometry of the vision started bending, and I lost my balance- I take a few steps and almost fall...
DAMIRA
Sanzhar?! Where the fuck is-- oh there you are. Come on, we need to hurry up now.
SANZHAR
I know, I know. Relax, woman. I’m coming.
SFX of a wheel chair as Sanzhar comes up closer to us.
SANZHAR
Help me.
DAMIRA
Really? He weighs nothing.
SANZHAR
Just help me get him in the wheelchair, ok? I don’t want to hurt him.
RAUL
(weakly)
I’m ok, I’m--
Efforts as he gets in the wheelchair.
SANZHAR
You’re fading now, Raul. Its fine. I’ve got you.
(To Damira)
Did you hear from Ming?
DAMIRA
Not yet.
SANZHAR
Let’s go. He’ll show up. He always does.
RAUL VO
They pushed me down an aisle between the endless weavers. They were trying to move quickly, Sanzhar and Damira, but it still felt slow and solemn, like a funeral procession- probably because I was in a wheelchair. The weavers weren’t what you’d expect- I kind of assumed it would be old Kazakh craftsmen, and each of them were wearing the same kind of traditional robes I had on, but it was every kind of person you can imagine. A hipster black kid with thick glasses, and older Indian lady with a nose ring, a teenager singing K-Pop to herself, an old white guy with a hippy beard and bandana around his head. Sara, why is this guy wearing a bandana on his head down here, deep under the desert, in a secret bunker, with literally millions, maybe billions of people weaving carpets?
DAMIRA
Left. Left!
SANZHAR
Down there?
DAMIRA
Yes.
SANZHAR
Ok. Hang in there Raul. Here we go.
Sanzhar and Damira seem to know every weaver by name, and they manage to say quiet hellos as they wheel Raul down the aisles.
INT. LOBBY OF THE EMPIRE HOTEL, KAZAKHSTAN, 1978 - DAY
Back in the lobby.
KATE
You’re all checked in. Here are your room keys.
(Handing out keys)
Mom. Frederique. Miss Cloutier.
CLAIRE
Ok, thanks, toots.
KATE
Mom, don’t call me--
TROTSKY
I”m going to head to my room. Do you need anything, Claire?
CLAIRE
What I need is 24 hours.
TROTSKY
Well yeah, no shit. But how?
CLAIRE
I don’t know, yet. It’ll come to me. I’m going to take a shower. You guys relax.
She walks away.
SARA
The shower part sounds pretty good.
CAB DRIVER
You’re in room 615. I’ll check on Hans and Mssr. Maçon...
SARA
Wait, you brought Mssr. Maçon?
CAB DRIVER
Yeah, he’s the envelope for Claire.
SARA
The what?
TROTSKY
That’s what they call the person who has to be displaced in order to let someone else into our time. The Envelope.
SARA
And Mssr. Maçon has been the ‘envelope,’ for Claire?
TROTSKY
Yeah. You didn’t notice that from the first day she started working with you, you never saw him awake?
SARA
(getting weaker)
I... No, I must have...
TROTSKY
Some boss. He can literally be asleep and no one notices- its this capitalist system, I’m telling you--
SARA
(and weaker still)
Maybe... you’re... right...
TROTSKY
Sara!? SARA!
KATE
Sara! Ms Cloutier??!
The voice echoes and detunes and fades out. A VASE BREAKS, porcelain CRASHES to the MARBLE FLOOR.
TROTSKY
Watch out for the glass. Is she ok?
KATE
She’s fine. I think.
INT. CAR IN ALMATY, KAZAKHSTAN, 1978 - DAY
A car door opens. Charlie gets in.
CHARLIE
Here are your coveralls. I got an extra large- will that--
Hans starts undressing.
HANS
No problems?
CHARLIE
Oh no, they were very nice.
HANS
I bet. Ok I’m going in there. You have a radio, yes?
CHARLIE
Yes, sir, the car has the standard field kit.
HANS
Let me see.
Charlie opens a locked case of some sort.
HANS
Good. You take this one. Don’t contact me unless I contact you first, understood?
CHARLIE
Understood.
In the briefcase there was a dossier. Hans rifles through it.
HANS
And in the file here... yes, these are the plans to Museum. Now listen, Study this map. Its easy to get lost down there. I may need your help. If I’m not back in an hour, then take off.
CHARLIE
And if you’re in distress, sir?
HANS
If I’m not back in an hour, then take off. Period.
CHARLIE
You’re sure?
HANS
Yes. If anything happens and I don’t come back, then just file a report as usual.
CHARLIE
Ok. Good luck, sir.
HANS
And button up your blouse, for god’s sake. You look like a trollop.
Car door. Footsteps on pavement. A steel door opens.
INT. LOBBY OF THE EMPIRE HOTEL, KAZAKHSTAN, 1978
The elevator dings. Footsteps.
CLAIRE
Kate, I need to take a walk.
KATE
Ok...? You know Sara fell down.
CLAIRE
What?
KATE
She passed out. She’s fading. We don’t have a lot of time.
CLAIRE
I know. Shit. It will come to me. I can’t...
KATE
...force it.
CLAIRE
...force it.
CLAIRE
(in Chinese)
I’m that predictable?
KATE
(in Chinese)
You’ve never been predictable, mom. You’re always a surprise.
CLAIRE
Good. I like surprises.
(Walking away)
Love you!
KATE
Love you too.
Footsteps as she leaves the lobby.
EXT. ALMATY STREETS, 1978 - CONTINUOUS
This is a musical break- we listen to almost a full song as Claire walks through downtown Almaty.
She goes to Arbat Street, a busy shopping area. Then walks a little further and comes to the opera.
CUSTODIAN
(in Russian)
The Opera’s closed, sorry.
CLAIRE
The opera’s closed? I just want to take a look.
CUSTODIAN
No. Closed. Can’t go in.
CLAIRE
Oh, I don’t think anyone would mind if I just took a peek. Here.
She hands the Custodian some paper money.
CUSTODIAN
(beat)
Ok. Ok, 10 minutes.
CLAIRE
Time is relative, Tursynbek.
She starts walking into the opera house.
CUSTODIAN
How you know my name?
CLAIRE
(without turning back)
It’s on your uniform!
INT. KAZAKHSTAN NATIONAL OPERA, ALMATY 1978 - CONTINUOUS
Claire walks into the Opera House, its quiet, and gigantic, and regal. A huge door closes behind her. EVNIKA, the set dresser for the Kazakhstan National Opera House is there.
EVNIKA
You’re not supposed to be here.
CLAIRE
I know.
EVNIKA
How’d you get here?
CLAIRE
Long story. But Tursynbek let me in.
EVNIKA
I’m not talking about the custodian.
(In Chinese)
You’re not supposed to be here.
(In english)
This is not you’re time. You’re one of those people who move, eh?
CLAIRE
Yes, I’m one of them. You’re not supposed to know about us, though, are you?
EVNIKA
Of course I know about you. I’m a set-dresser. Knowing what’s going on behind the scenes is my job.
CLAIRE
Interesting.
EVNIKA
You’re a Candle, right?
CLAIRE
Yes.
EVNIKA
(under her breath)
Slut.
CLAIRE
Excuse me?
EVNIKA
Nothing.
CLAIRE
I think I’m supposed to ask for your help.
EVNIKA
Is that hard for you, to ask for help?
CLAIRE
Its not my favorite thing.
EVNIKA
So, what do you have to trade?
CLAIRE
Don’t you want to know what I need first?
EVNIKA
I know what you need. You need 24 hours. You need it to be yesterday.
CLAIRE
You really do know what’s going on behind the scenes.
EVNIKA
Like I said, its my job.
CLAIRE
Yes, like you said.
EVNIKA
So, 24 hours. You need 24 hours. What can you give me for that?