"SNAKELAND MUST BE DESTROYED!": SCENE NINETEEN

* 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

Griffin and Hoover do the record store hunch, flipping through the racks at Needle Trax, looking for treasures. “Jim” sits up front at the register reading a copy of Goldmine magazine.

HOOVER

Find anything?

Griffin holds up James Brown’s Live at the Apollo, Vol. 1.

HOOVER

Nice! How much?

GRIFFIN

10 bucks. It’s worth it.

HOOVER

No doubt.

GRIFFIN

You?

Hoover holds up Love’s best of, “Love Revisited”.

GRIFFIN

Wait, isn’t that mostly “Forever Changes”?

HOOVER

I don’t own “Forever Changes”!

GRIFFIN

Well, then, holy shit, get that!

HOOVER

I will!

They each go back to their individual flipping.

HOOVER

(without looking up)

So, what do you think is going on,

Griffin?

GRIFFIN

(also without looking up)

I don’t know, man.

HOOVER

Are you scared?

GRIFFIN

(pauses)

I don’t know. Should I be? (looks up)

Are you scared, Hoover?

HOOVER

(looks up)

Yeah, kind of. I’m not sure either. It’s too

easy to just say that we’re being irrational

and it’s just a coincidence that all this is

happening at once. I’ll tell you, man, it sure

doesn’t feel like a coincidence.

GRIFFIN

(shivers)

I know. It definitely feels weird, like...

something’s wrong.

HOOVER

Yeah. Yeah.

GRIFFIN

Like there’s no way that I could, like, prove

that the suicides were connected...

Jim’s ears perk up at the mention of suicide.

GRIFFIN

...and it’s not typical depressed teenager shit.

HOOVER

Right, but then why didn’t any of them leave

a note?

GRIFFIN

I know! And there’s no reason why someone

would want Hannah dead. And there’s no reason

for Jeremy Janks to kill his whole family.

HOOVER

(sighs)

It just doesn’t make sense.

GRIFFIN

Hey, I never got to ask you: did you think there

was something really, like, genuinely weird in

Snakeland that day or did we just freak ourselves

out?

Jim almost says something at “Snakeland” but stops himself.

HOOVER

Well, you and D-Man certainly freaked yourselves

out.

GRIFFIN

(winces)

Yeah, I know, but didn’t you think it was weird?

HOOVER

Yeah. All kidding aside, it was really freaky.

The cat fighting the rat was totally weird,

especially after that dream.

GRIFFIN

Especially after that dream.

Neither says anything for a few moments. Jim keeps looking at them.

HOOVER

Well, you wanna check out?

GRIFFIN

Yeah, let’s go.

Jim pretends to be busy reading as Hoover and Griffin place their stacks on the counter.

JIM

All set?

HOOVER and GRIFFIN

Yeah.

Jim looks both stacks over.

JIM

Tell you what, guys: gimme 10 bucks each

and we’re square.

Griffin and Hoover look at each other, shrug and laugh.

HOOVER and GRIFFIN

Okay! Sure!

Jim checks them both out, puts the stacks in two separate bags and hands them over.

JIM

Here you go, guys.

HOOVER

Thanks!

GRIFFIN

Yeah, thanks a lot!

They dash out. Jim sits alone in the empty record store.

JIM

(to himself)

It’s happening again.

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