"SNAKELAND MUST BE DESTROYED": SCENE FIVE

* This is a fictionalized account of some shit that actually happened. All the names, locations, etc. have been changed to protect the innocent as well as the guilty. – JG *

INTERIOR – NEEDLE TRAX – DAY

A small one-room storefront, Needle Trax is cozy rather than cramped, with rock posters covering every inch of wall and ceiling space. Racks of rock records line the walls and a couple more create a u-shape for customers with the cash register by the door. Hoover and Griffin hunch over a couple of the racks, near each other but not next to each other. They flip expertly through the records, occasionally pulling something out for a closer look.

HOOVER

Needle Trax was the best record store in Fallsville, and

the most reasonably priced. We used to call the proprietor

“Jim” even though that wasn’t his real name because we were

relatively sure that he was the fat, bearded Jim Morrison who

had faked his death and was hiding from his fans.

ANGLE ON “JIM”, the owner of Needle Trax, as he looks intently at the back cover of the Doors’ “LA Woman” album and strokes his beard. He does, in fact, look like the fat, bearded Jim Morrison pictured on the front cover.

GRIFFIN

Well, what do you think?

HOOVER

What do I think? I think jazz fusion sucks, and

if you buy that John McLaughlin record you are

a goddamned idiot.

GRIFFIN

No, no, I mean about Hannah Graeber.

HOOVER

Oh. That.

GRIFFIN

Yeah, I mean, doesn’t it completely creep you out

that she was killed in Snakeland?

On “Snakeland”, Jim looks up, slightly concerned.

HOOVER

Yeah, man, I think it’s super-creepy. Especially because

it makes me think that one of the Heads did it.

GRIFFIN

You really think one of the Heads is capable of murder?

HOOVER

Have you had the pleasure of meeting

Mike Guerrasio, Griffin?

GRIFFIN

(shrugs) Yeah, I mean he’s a terminal asshole but

murder? That’s something else.

HOOVER

Maybe. (pause) But if he didn’t do it then who did?

GRIFFIN

I heard a lot of Satan worshippers hang out there.

Maybe Hannah was some sort of sacrifice.

HOOVER

C’mon, Griffin, Satan? You may as well believe

in, like...Santa Claus, or Jesus.

Griffin shakes his head and laughs at this. He and Hoover walk over to the cash register where Jim is waiting to cash them out. They place their selected records on the counter. Jim looks down. Hoover and Griffin have placed Gang of Four’s “Entertainment” and The Seeds’ first album on the counter.

JIM

(nods) Nice!

Jim begins checking out their purchases.

FADE TO BLACK