From Brassiere To Eternity

Hey there, crime kids. Happy Wednesday. It's time once again to take a trip to the dark side, where your most violent fantasies become sins of the flesh, right here, where the hardboiled action is non-stop, at the coolest crime joint in cyberspace ... at That Killing Feeling.

In Chapter 8 of SPIRAL, Dex takes Andy to adult film star Savannah's Hollywood Hills mansion to hang out, who's delighted to hear Andy's stories about working at Playboy ...


INT. LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
Shannon's living room is gorgeously
high tech with funky, outrageous art.

Shannon and Andy sit on the couch.
Dex sits across from them in a big chair.

They sip beers.
A nice, slow funk groove
plays on the stereo.

ANDY
It's a weird place.
It's not what you'd think, you know,
a swingin' sexy love shack.
It's run by overweight, middle-aged
suburban married guys with facial hair.
It could be IBM.

SHANNON
Holy shit.
That's hysterical.

ANDY
Yeah.
Tell me about it.
It's been a long time since
Hefner was at the cutting edge
of the sexual revolution.
I think he's lucky now if he's
on the edge of cutting a sandwich.

DEX
Or cutting a fart.

Andy laughs.
Shannon rolls her eyes.

SHANNON
I have a sexual revolution
every time I go to work.

ANDY
And get this.
There's tons of openly
gay men working there,
and only one openly gay woman.
So you have all
these Ellen Degeneris types
trying really hard to hide
how much they enjoy what they do.

SHANNON
Do you know the lesbian?

ANDY
Yeah.
She's a friend.
She's cool.

Dex pulls a small white
triangular envelope out of
his shirt pocket
and holds it up.

DEX
Anyone for a little candy?

SHANNON
No thanks.
I gotta be up early tomorrow.

ANDY
I'll do one.

Dex dumps the coke on the table
and chop up four lines.

Shannon watches wistfully.
She's abstinent to make
a good impression on Andy.

Dex rolls up a bill
and hands it to Andy.

Andy awkwardly does a line of coke.
Then another. Takes a sip of his beer.

SHANNON
So Andy, do you get
to meet the Playmates?

Dex does his lines of coke.

ANDY
Oh, yeah.
They trot them out each month.
They go on a tour of
all the executive offices.

SHANNON
I bet they love that.
Especially the lesbian.

ANDY
She does.
What's really funny is seeing
these wide-eyed beautiful young girls
being dragged around to meet
these fat, middle-aged guys.

SHANNON
Do the executives
ever do the Playmates?

ANDY
They say they don't.
But I've heard they do.

SHANNON
I guess it's not that much
different than my business.

Shannon smiles at Andy.
Andy smiles back.
They have chemistry.

ANDY
It's so great to meet you.
You're everything Dex said you were.

DEX
What did I tell you?

SHANNON
(to Andy)
You're so sweet.
And you're everything Dex
said you were. Even more.
(pause)
But unfortunately I gotta go to bed.
I have a very early
call tomorrow morning.
I gotta get my beauty sleep.
(pause)
It's funny.
You're the most normal
guy I've ever met.
But we have to hang out.
Are you free tomorrow night?

ANDY
Tomorrow night?

SHANNON
Yeah.
You have something better to do?