Monday, January 1, 2018

Another Day In Peru

            INT.  PRISON CELL  PERU

            The room is dark and dank.  AMY is sitting on the floor next
            to two water pipes that run from floor to ceiling.  She is
            handcuffed to one of the pipes.  Amy is in very simple
            clothes, something like hospital garb, but torn and flilthy.
            Amy is not well; her eyes sunken, her skin ashen, her hair
            matted.  KATHARINE walks in.  Katharine is well dressed,
            simple business-like clothes.  She holds an attache case.
            Katharine walks up to Amy.

                                KATHARINE
                      Amy.

            No response.

                                KATHARINE (cont'd) (contíd)
                      Amy Turlington.   I'm Katharine Beyers.

            Still no response.

                                KATHARINE (cont'd) (contíd)
                      From Amnesty International.

            Amy is startled, slowly looking up through nutrition-starved
            eyes.

                                KATHARINE (cont'd) (contíd)
                      Katharine Beyers.  Did they inform you I
                      was coming?

                                AMY
                      Who are you?

                                KATHARINE
                      Amnesty International.

                                AMY
                      My mother...my mother said you might
                      come...might come some day.

            Katharine checks some papers.

                                KATHARINE
                      I see your mother was last here four
                      months ago.

                                AMY
                      Four months?  Has it been that long?

                                KATHARINE
                      Anyone else visit you?

                                AMY
                      Someone from the embassy.

                                KATHARINE
                      The US Embassy?

                                AMY
                      The guards visit once a day.  They slip
                      food through the slot.

                                KATHARINE
                      Do you remain shackled like this all day?

                                AMY
                      Only when I have a visitor.

                                KATHARINE
                      So you knew I was coming?

                                AMY
                      I didn't know who was coming.

                                KATHARINE
                      You don't seem... you don't seem pleased
                      to have a visitor.

                                AMY
                      After six years here, visitors don't seem
                      to make a difference.  So why the fuck
                      are you here?

                                KATHARINE
                      The American government is placing great
                      pressure on the Peruvian regime to
                      release you.

                                AMY
                      It's taken six years.

                                KATHARINE
                      They needed proof that you were not
                      involved with the Red Star freedom
                      fighters.

                                AMY
                      And so where did they get this proof.

                                KATHARINE
                      Well actually, since you can't prove a
                      negative, the Peruvian authorities were
                      unable to provide proof of your
                      involvement.  So the Americans consider
                      this proof of no involvement.

                                AMY
                      Did you pass the men and women in the
                      cages down the hall from here?  Is the
                      American government going to do anything
                      about them?

                                KATHARINE
                      They are not Americans.

                                AMY
                      Chica.  Jose.  Billy.  Roberto.  Roberto
                      is scheduled for execution.

                                KATHARINE
                      You speak of them as friends.

                                AMY
                      The Peruvians are idiots.  They couldn't
                      prove a fucking thing.  But they
                      convicted me anyway because it would have
                      looked bad to put Peruvians in jail but
                      not the American.  So I am a political
                      prisoner.

                                KATHARINE
                      You want out?

                                AMY
                      Is that a serious question?

                                KATHARINE
                      Would you feel guilt being released
                      without the release of the men and women
                      down the hall?

                                AMY
                      That's a joke.  Six years in a cockroach
                      infested, damp, cold, room, with a bucket
                      to shit in is a fantastic remedy for
                      guilt.  Anger gets rid of guilt.

                                KATHARINE
                      You are angry?

                                AMY
                      Is this thing really going to happen, or
                      are you just some kind of do-gooding
                      missionary hauling a bag of phantom hope?

                                KATHARINE
                      No.  This is real.

                                AMY
                      I can help you after I get out of here.
                      Chica had nothing to do with the bombing.
                      She was unaware of it.  Roberto and I
                      planned the whole thing.  I need to help
                      Chica get out of here.  If I tell the
                      whole story once I am back in America,
                      maybe I can help you get Chica out.

                                KATHARINE
                      You planned the bombing?

                                AMY
                      Made the bombs.  Roberto didn't know what
                      he was doing.

                                KATHARINE
                      Forty school children were killed because
                      of one of those bombs.

                                AMY
                      Yes.  I know.  But thousands of people
                      have been murdered by the Peruvian
                      regime.  Politics are about
                      statement...about symbols.  Forty dead
                      children is some hell of a symbol.

            Katharine pulls out a cell phone.  She flips it open and
            punches in a number.

                                KATHARINE
                          (in Spanish)
                      It's Margarita.  Yes.  Yes...I got what
                      you wanted.  OK.  Thnak you.

            Katharine flips the phone closed.  She then takes out a small
            hand audio recorder and turns it off.  Katharine now talks in
            English, but with a Spanish accent.

                                KATHARINE (cont'd) (contíd)
                      I think the Americans will now back off.
                      I think forty school children is as big a
                      symbol in America as here in Peru.  I
                      thank you for your cooperation.  Consider
                      yourself lucky.  Afterall, you didn't get
                      the death penalty.  Just life.  We have
                      spared your life.  Unlike Roberto, who
                      will be shot next Tuesday outside your
                      window.  You can watch.  A little bit of
                      entertainment.

            Katharine gets up and walks out.

                                                                THE END.

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