Monster Read online

  JAMES KING and STEVE are sitting on the steps.

  A heavy woman, PEACHES, sits slightly above them, and a thin man, JOHNNY, stands. He is smoking a blunt.

  KING (almost a drawl)

  I need to get paid, man. I ain’t got nothing between my butt and the ground but a rag.

  STEVE

  I hear that.

  PEACHES

  You can’t even hardly make it these days. They talking about cutting welfare, cutting Social Security, and anything else that makes life a little easy. They might as well bring back slavery times if you ask me.

  KING

  If I had a crew, I could get paid. All you need is a crew with some heart and a nose for the cash.

  PEACHES

  Banks is where the money is.

  JOHNNY

  Naw. Bank money is too serious. The man comes down hard for bank money. You need to find a getover where nobody don’t care—you know what I mean. You cop from somebody with a green card or an illegal and they don’t even report it.

  PEACHES

  Restaurant owners got money, too. That’s the only things left in our neighborhood—restaurants, liquor stores, and drugstores.

  KING

  What you got, youngblood?

  STEVE

  (Looks up at KING.) I don’t know.

  JOHNNY

  Yo—what’s your name? Steve. Since when you been down?

  CUT TO: INTERIOR: COURTROOM. BOLDEN is still on the stand.

  BOLDEN

  So he turned me on to 2 cartons for 5 dollars each. I asked him how he copped and he said he was in a robbery in a drugstore. I didn’t say no more because all I wanted was the smokes.

  PETROCELLI

  Did he tell you when the store was robbed?

  BOLDEN

  He said it just went down.

  PETROCELLI

  And when did this conversation take place?

  BOLDEN

  The day before Christmas. I remember that because I gave a carton of cigarettes to my moms as a present.

  PETROCELLI

  No further questions.

  BRIGGS

  How well do you know Mr. Evans?

  BOLDEN

  I know him when I see him.

  BRIGGS

  Did you know him before Christmas?

  BOLDEN

  Not really.

  BRIGGS

  Let’s see, now. You don’t know this man, and yet when you ask him where he got the cigarettes, he’s going to tell you that he got them from a holdup in which he was involved and in which a man was killed?

  BOLDEN

  If he wants to run his mouth, that’s his business.

  BRIGGS

  And didn’t you think it strange that a man would give out information that could be harmful to him if he had actually been involved in this case?

  CUT TO: CU of JUROR looking bored.

  CUT TO: CU of BOLDEN.

  BOLDEN

  Hey, I don’t even care.

  BRIGGS

  Your assault charge was dropped—is that correct?

  BOLDEN

  Yeah.

  BRIGGS

  The maximum sentence for the assault was how long? Do you know?

  BOLDEN

  I wasn’t convicted.

  BRIGGS

  Do you know the maximum sentence?

  PETROCELLI

  Objection.

  JUDGE

  Overruled; it’s pertinent.

  BRIGGS

  So you saved yourself some heavy jail time by pointing a finger at Mr. King, isn’t that right?

  BOLDEN

  I just wanted to do the right thing. You know, like a good citizen.

  BRIGGS (showing anger)

  You were in jail trying to be a good citizen? Or were you really just trying to get out of jail and not caring who you put in? Isn’t that what you’re really doing? Well, isn’t it?

  PETROCELLI

  Objection! Defense counsel is stepping over his bounds.

  JUDGE

  This is a good time for a break. I have some administrative tasks to get done this afternoon. Let’s adjourn until tomorrow. I want to remind the jury not to discuss the case with anyone. We’ll reconvene 9 A.M. tomorrow.

  CUT TO: INTERIOR: DETENTION CENTER. It is night; the lights are out except for dim night-lights placed along the walls. We hear the sounds of fists methodically punching someone as the camera goes slowly down the corridor, almost seeming to look for the source of the hitting. We see two inmates silhouetted, beating a third. Another inmate is on lookout.

  CUT TO: CU of STEVE lying on his cot. The sounds are in his cell, but he is not the one being beaten. We see the whites of his eyes, then we see him close his eyes as the sounds of the beating stop and the sounds become those of a sexual attack against the inmate who was beaten.

  FADE OUT.

  FADE IN: INTERIOR: STEVE’s HOME. It is neatly furnished, clean. STEVE is watching TV with 11-year-old JERRY, his brother.

  JERRY

  You ever want to be a superhero? You know, save people and stuff?

  STEVE

  Sure. You know who I’d want to be? Superman. I’d be wearing glasses and stuff and people would be messing with me and then I’d kick butt.

  JERRY

  I bet you’d be a cool superhero. You know who you should be?

  STEVE

  Who?

  JERRY

  Batman. Then I could be Robin. (STEVE gives Jerry a brotherly shove.)

  FADE OUT.

  Wednesday, July 8

  They take away your shoelaces and your belt so you can’t kill yourself no matter how bad it is. I guess making you live is part of the punishment.

  It’s funny, but when I’m sitting in the courtroom, I don’t feel like I’m involved in the case. It’s like the lawyers and the judge and everybody are doing a job that involves me, but I don’t have a role. It’s only when I go back to the cells that I know I’m involved.

  Miss O’Brien says that Petrocelli is using Bolden’s testimony as part of a trail that will lead to me and James King. I think she is wrong. I think they are bringing out all of these people and letting them look terrible on the stand and sound terrible and then reminding the jury that they don’t look any different from me and King.

  I like the last scene in the movie, the one between me and Jerry. It makes me seem like a real person.

  The man they called Sunset asked me if he could read the screenplay, and I let him. He liked it. Sunset said he liked the name of the screenplay. He said when he gets out, he will have the word Monster tattooed on his forehead. I feel like I already have it tattooed on mine.

  A preacher came to the recreation room with a guard this afternoon. He asked if anyone wanted to talk with him or share a moment of prayer. Two guys said they did, and I was just about ready to say I would when Lynch, a guy who is going on trial for killing his wife, started cursing at the preacher and saying that everybody wanted to talk to him and act like they were good when they were just criminals. “It’s too late to put up your holy front now,” he said.

  In a way he was right, at least about me. I want to look like a good person. I want to feel like I’m a good person because I believe I am. But being in here with these guys makes it hard to think about yourself as being different. We look about the same, and even though I’m younger than they are, it’s hard not to notice that we are all pretty young. I see what Miss O’Brien meant when she said part of her job was to make me look human in the eyes of the jury.

  When Lynch started cursing at the preacher, the guards took the preacher out, and then they came back and turned the television off and made us go back to our cells.

  Notes:

  I couldn’t sleep most of the night after the dream. The dream took place in the courtroom. I was trying to ask questions and nobody could hear me. I was shouting and shouting but everyone went about their business as if I wasn’t there. I hope I didn’t shout out in my sleep. That wo
uld look weak to everybody. It’s not good to be weak in here.

  Every morning we get up and put on our court clothes. The talk is lawyer talk, with all the older guys talking about appeals and “mistakes” that the judge made.

  I feel terrible. My stomach is gassy and bloated. I still can’t go to the bathroom in front of everyone.

  When we got in the court, there was a delay because the stenographer had brought the wrong power cord. The court officer was talking about termites.

  FADE IN: COURTROOM. STEVE and KING are cuffed to a bench. COURT OFFICERS, PETROCELLI, STENOGRAPHER, JUDGE, BRIGGS, and O’BRIEN are present.

  OFFICER 1

  So this guy comes to the house and tells Vivian we got termites. I get home and she’s all upset. I said no way we got termites. No way.

  JUDGE

  You ever see any termites?

  OFFICER 1

  What the heck’s a termite look like?

  O’BRIEN

  Like an ant with wings.

  OFFICER 1

  Then I’ve never seen one.

  OFFICER 2

  I heard they hide in the wood.

  JUDGE

  What I don’t understand is why they have wings if they stay in the wood.

  PETROCELLI

  Are you going to let us do the affidavit on the crime scene?

  JUDGE

  Any objections?

  BRIGGS

  Who’s going to read it in court?

  JUDGE

  The clerk.

  BRIGGS

  No objections.

  O’BRIEN

  What’s with the detective?

  PETROCELLI

  He’s having problems with a hemorrhoid operation.

  BRIGGS

  Wait—I didn’t know that—maybe we can keep him on the stand for an hour or 2.

  CUT TO: CU of PETROCELLI.

  PETROCELLI

  Detective Karyl, can you describe the scene when you entered the drugstore?

  CU: KARYL.

  KARYL

  It was pretty gruesome.

  CUT TO: INTERIOR: Camera pans down aisles of neighborhood DRUGSTORE.

  CUT TO: MS of JOSÉ DELGADO. He moves in slow motion. He is pale, glancing nervously at a point out of sight of camera. He is explaining something to DETECTIVE KARYL, who stands leaning against counter. The DETECTIVE is heavy, stooped.

  CUT TO: A shot of open cash register.

  CUT TO: COURTROOM.

  PETROCELLI

  Are these the pictures you took at that time?

  KARYL

  The crime-scene photographer took them.

  O’BRIEN

  May I see them?

  MS: PETROCELLI hands pictures to O’BRIEN, who places them before her on desk.

  CUT TO: CU of photos. We see legs of the slain drugstore owner, NESBITT.

  CUT TO: BLACK-AND-WHITE SHOTS from various angles of body in grotesque position. Pictures flash in an increasingly contrasty and grainy format until they are hardly recognizable.

  PETROCELLI

  Detective Karyl, when you discovered the body, were there any signs of life in the victim?

  KARYL

  No. But I called the Emergency Medical Service, which is standard procedure.

  PETROCELLI

  And you noted the open cash register?

  KARYL

  That’s correct. And at that time I asked the clerk was there anything else missing. Often in these cases you might find some cough medicine missing, or some attempt to open a restricted-drugs case. There’s a market for drugs of any kind.

  PETROCELLI

  Did you look for other clues, and did you find any?

  KARYL

  We looked for other clues, but we didn’t actually find anything.

  PETROCELLI

  Eventually you began questioning suspects in this case. How did you come across the suspects?

  KARYL

  We questioned a number of people we felt might have some knowledge of the crime. Then we received a tip from a person who claimed he knew what happened to the cigarettes.

  PETROCELLI

  That would be Mr. Zinzi?

  KARYL

  That’s correct. He told us about Mr. Bolden. Then Mr. Bolden told us about Mr. Evans and Mr. King.

  PETROCELLI

  And both Zinzi and Bolden had their own motives in doing this?

  KARYL

  We often use information from informants, especially in murder cases.

  PETROCELLI

  And did you talk to Mr. King?

  KARYL

  To Mr. King and to some of his associates.

  FADE OUT.

  FADE IN: INTERIOR: 28TH PRECINCT. STEVE is sitting on a long, dark bench. He is dressed in cutoffs, sneakers, and a T-shirt. There is a basketball on the floor near him. DETECTIVE KARYL is sitting across from STEVE. He is eating a cheeseburger. Sometimes he talks with his mouth full. A Black detective, ARTHUR WILLIAMS, sits on the edge of the table. He is dressed much as STEVE is and looks only a few years older.

  KARYL

  They’re saying that you pulled the trigger. King said the score was over but you turned back and shot Nesbitt. Why did you do that? I can’t figure it.

  STEVE

  I don’t know what you’re talking about, man. I didn’t do any stickup.

  KARYL

  You figured you didn’t want to leave any witnesses, I guess.

  WILLIAMS

  What are we playing with this guy for? We don’t need him. We got the case locked.

  KARYL

  The DA is thinking death penalty.

  WILLIAMS

  Death penalty? Chances are the judge will push for life without parole. And if they come clean, he might even go for 25 to life. You save a lot of time and money that way.

  KARYL

  I don’t know. The victim was well respected in the neighborhood. Hardworking Black guy, worked his way up. He even sponsored a Little League team. The judge could go for the death penalty if they plead not guilty.

  WILLIAMS

  This guy’s only 16. They won’t kill him.

  KARYL

  What are you, a pessimist? Hope for the best.

  CUT TO: Weird shot of INTERIOR: DEATH ROW. STEVE is seen walking down the hallway between two guards. He is brought into the death chamber. The guards are pale, almost greenish. They lay STEVE on the table for the lethal injection and strap him down.

  CU of STEVE’s face. He is terrified.

  VO (as camera focuses on STEVE’s face)

  Open your legs; we have to plug up your butt so you don’t mess yourself as you die.

  STEVE’s face grimaces with pain as they put in the plug.

  CUT TO: INTERIOR: COURTROOM. KARYL is still on stand as BRIGGS cross-examines.

  BRIGGS

  Did you dust the area for fingerprints?

  KARYL

  It’s my understanding that the crime-scene technicians didn’t find any fingerprints they could establish as belonging to a perpetrator.

  BRIGGS

  Isn’t it true that what you did in this case was to skip the investigation and run to your stoolies?

  KARYL

  We treat each case carefully. We don’t just go through the motions.

  BRIGGS

  The cash register was handled, but you didn’t find fingerprints, is that right?

  KARYL

  Not clear prints.

  BRIGGS

  How about the counter—was that dusted for fingerprints?