DARK FIRE
EXT. GARDEN - DAY - PRE DAWN
JORGE "BOOKS" ORTEZ, thirty five, lovingly clips a brilliant rose bush.
BOOKS V.O.
When I came to this town, I thought it
would be hard to grow roses in the desert.
His weary, gentle eyes light up, passionate, admiring the flowers. Curly dark hair, thick lashes, and fine, aristocratic features make him appear almost angelic.
He turns, collects a watering can, clippers; drops them in a wheel barrow.
BOOKS V.O.
People asked how I did it, and I always
said the secret is to water and prune
them before the sun comes up.
He pushes the wheel barrow across a wide expanse of carefully tended grass. Roses everywhere, magnificent and in bloom. Behind them, a large hospital building, the windows humming with flourescent light.
Beyond the hospital, the sun rises over brown mountains and the stark dusty desert.
BOOKS V.O.
But the truth is, when you have a lot
of time to fill, you can do almost anything.
INT. DEE'S BAR - DAY
In crisp shirt and clean, worn jeans, Books reads a paper back at the bar, a glass of whiskey by his hand. Sunlight streaks across him as the front door opens, and SAMI DOUGLAS, late twenties, hard eyed, but sexy, drops down on a stool beside him.
BOOKS V.O.
Or maybe you do anything you can to fill the time.
INT. BOOKS' DEN - NIGHT
Flickering candlelight illuminates the small room, filled with floor to ceiling shelves of books. Stacks of books crowd corners, a coffee table, balance on the back of a sofa.
Sofa cushions lie on the floor, supporting Sami's leggy body. She wears a Books' shirt, unbuttoned, and nothing else.
SAMI
Hey, Books. Why do you read so much?
Shirtless, Books lifts a glass of whiskey, takes a serious drink.
BOOKS
Thirst.
He climbs on top of her, spreads the folds of her shirt, splashes whiskey on her torso. He moves his lips across her breasts, licking it up. Sami laughs.
SAMI
Still thirsty, huh.
His lips move lower down Sami's chest. Without lifting his head -
BOOKS
Now I'm hungry...
EXT. DESERT ROAD - NIGHT - LATER
Books' battered van bounces onto an old, cracked airplane runway, jolts to a stop at the edge of a steep incline. Far below is a...
DRY LAKE
Bonfires dance along the shoreline. Music - salsa, rap - drifts across the night air.
Whiskey bottle in hand, Books climbs from the van and up to the roof.
A military jet roars across the sky, rises magnificently near, taking off over the lake bed.
BOOKS V.O.
Sometimes no matter what you do, you can't
get rid of the emptiness burning inside you.
EXT. HOSPITAL GARDEN - DAY
MARIA LOPEZ, early twenties, and sweetly beautiful even in her nurses uniform, leaves the hospital, talking earnestly to a young, attractive doctor, CHARLES AMES, thirty. He takes her hand in his.
Mowing the lawn, Books glances at them.
BOOKS V.O.
It makes you start wanting things you know you can't have.
Charles kisses her cheek. Maria draws back. Charles strides away. She stands for a moment, looks after him. She crosses her arms over her chest as if she had a sudden chill.
She moves across the lawn, past Books, his eyes filled with longing. She meets his gaze, curious. He looks away.
INT. HOSPITAL - NURSES' STATION - DAY
Studying a chart, Maria slips behind the nurses' desk, and finds a single red rose. Surprised, she lifts it, touches the petals gently.
HOSPITAL CHAPEL
Maria slips quietly inside. She drops the rose in front of a statue of the Virgin Mary. She kneels, crosses herself, drops her head down in prayer.
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