Stand Your Ground

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In Chapter 40 of FILLMORE, after a night of hard partying, Angie wakes up in Fillmore's apartment, not remembering what happened the night before, so she stumbles outside in her robe 'to get help,' and gets a neighbor to call the cops ...


INT. SLIM’S APARTMENT - BEDROOM - NIGHT
Slim is passed out on the bed, dead to the world.

INT. SLIM’S APARTMENT - LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
Chocolate Z is passed out in a big wing chair,
still holding a bottle of gin.
Angie’s asleep on the couch. Naked.

INT. SLIM’S APARTMENT - LIVING ROOM - MORNING
Sunlight streams in through the windows.
The joint’s littered with empty bottles
and overflowing ashtrays.

Angie stirs. Looks around.
She looks for, finds her pack of Shermans.
It’s empty.

She searches for her clothes,
but all she can find is her blouse.

She puts it on. Tries to button it --
but the buttons are gone.

ANGIE
Shit.

Angie looks at Chocolate Z,
softly snoring in his chair,
holding his bottle like a baby.

Looks around the room,
growing more and more horrified.
Tip-toes to the front door.

EXT. SLIM’S HOUSE - DAY
Sprinklers water the grass. Birds CHIRP.
A WHITE PAPER BOY (13) rides by on his bike,
THROWING newspapers.

A WHITE MILK MAN makes his deliveries.
Angle stumbles out the door,
clutching her blouse closed with one hand.

Looks around. Scared. Starts running next door.
Angie RINGS the bell. Waits a minute.
Shivering in the cold. The door OPENS.

We see a kind-looking WHITE SUBURBAN DAD (40’s)
in his bathrobe.

WHITE SUBURBAN DAD
Young lady, are you okay?

ANGIE
(grabs him, hugs him)
No, I’m NOT. I was kidnapped by PIMPS
who were trying to make me into a PROSTITUTE.

WHITE KID
Come inside. I’ll call the police.

INT. SLIM’S HOUSE - LIVING ROOM - LATER - DAY
Chocolate Z is still passed out in the chair.
Slim shuffles in. Goes to the fridge.
Grabs a beer. Takes a long drink.

Suddenly the front door BANGS OPEN.
A SWAT TEAM storms in.

IRATE SWAT COMMANDO
YOU. On the floor, NOW.

The rest of the cops race around the room.
Searching for evidence.

Grabbing stuff and taking it away.
Chocolate wakes up. Sees the commotion.

CHOCOLATE Z
What the hell?

Starts to stand up.
A commando CRACKS him on the head
with the butt of his rifle.
He goes down, THWUMP.

RED-FACED SWAT COMMANDO
I said ON THE FLOOR.

IRATE SWAT COMMANDO
You’re both UNDER ARREST.

SLIM
For what. Partying?

IRATE SWAT COMMANDO
KIDNAPPING.

They both look around. Realize Angie’s GONE.

INT. SAN FRANCISCO - COURT BUILDING - DAY
Slim sits at the defendant’s table with KENNETH WHITE (40’s),
his new lawyer, pale, thin, balding.

The JUDGE (50’s), a bloated, pompous
Newt Gingrich look-alike sits at the bench.

BLOATED JUDGE
Bail has been set for ten-thousand dollars.

He BANGS his gavel.

INT. COURT HOUSE - MEETING ROOM - MOMENTS LATER - DAY
Slim meets with Kenneth in a small meeting room.

SLIM
Thanks so much for representing me, Ken.
Willie Brown recommended you highly.

KENNETH
It doesn’t look good, Clarence.
They sent the girl back to Los Angeles,
but they’re going to bring her back to testify.
They really want to nail you with this.

SLIM
But she came of her own free will.
Nobody forced her.

KENNETH
That may be, but you have to
realize what it looked like.
A young black girl in a white suburb,
claiming black men kidnapped her
and kept her prisoner.
They have a tendency not to like
that kind of thing in Daly City.
It's not fair, I know.
But there it is.

SLIM
Maybe there’s something I can do --

EXT. LOS ANGELES - CHEAP MOTEL - DAY
Slim stands outside Angie’s room
at her dive motel.

SLIM
We never hurt you.
You wanted to come with us.
Why you lyin’ about it?

ANGIE
You kidnapped me.

SLIM
(smiles)
How much it take for you
get lost here in LA?

ANGIE
(thinks a moment)
Seven hundred.

SLIM
You wait here, I’ll be right back, okay?

ANGIE
(nod)
I’m sorry.
The cops told me to say all that.

INT. KENNETH WHITE’S OFFICE - DAY
Kenneth sits behind his desk.
Slim sits in a chair in front of him.
Slim turns on a small dictaphone. They listen.

SLIM (O.C.)
(electronic)
How much it take for you
to get lost here in LA?

ANGIE (O.C.)
(electronic)
Seven hundred.

SLIM (O.C.)
You wait here, I’ll be right back, okay?

ANGIE (O.C.)
I’m sorry.
The cops told me to say all that.

SLIM
(PUNCHES it off)
That’ll do it, right?

KENNETH
The witness did give false testimony.
But I’m afraid it might not be admissable.

SLIM
Why not?

KENNETH
Because it was obtained by the defendant.

INT. POST OFFICE - DAY
Slim stands at a window wearing a purple suit
and matching hat, chats up a POSTAL WORKER (40’s)
a bored-looking LATIN CHICK (40’s),
who almost be hot -- if you squint your eyes.

BORED LATIN POSTAL WORKER CHICK
How can I help you today?

SLIM
I need a passport, baby.

She nods. Grabs a form from
a stack of shelves next to her.
Slides it under the window to him.

BORED LATIN POSTAL WORKER CHICK
I need you to fill this out, please.

Slim takes it. Looks at it.
Starts filling it out.

SLIM
In case you didn’t guess, I’m a pimp,
and I’m gonna go to Europe and get more girls.

BORED LATIN POSTAL WORKER CHICK
(amused)
Is that so?

SLIM
I make the money with the honeys, baby.

Play your cards right, you can come with me.
Take you away from all this --

She glares at him. Insulted.