"Shaun!" "He's gone!" "My god!" "Kai!" "Shaunie's gone!" "You got my goddamn bird?" "!" "Erlemeyer." "Mitch..." "Yost." "You know, I stopped by that cantina down the road last night" "And... there was this inked-up asshole in there" "Talking about "the chemist."" "Yeah, and I remembered that you live down here." "Well, I don't do that anymore, Mitch..." "If that's why you're down here." "So, not making what you used to make," "Do you ever see what we used to see?" "I try to stay eligible." "I pray, I... fast, I meditate." "I try not resent people I haven't seen in 20 years" "Coming down to take my temperature." "Look, I've been up in the air, I..." "I've seen my grandson come back from the dead." "In the cantina." "No, in I.B..." "With clear head." "You know, I..." "I think maybe an extraterrestrial's involved with my family." "My son especially." "The analgesic pioneer." "Do I cross a line, Mitch, if I ask with all this shaking up there..." "Why you're down here?" "I lost my nerve." "Use it up charging big pipe?" "No, big pipe's easy." "Dry land is hard." "What's it take to get across the border now?" "You thinking of going back?" "Aren't you, Mitch?" "See anything in that cantina worth staying for?" "Maybe you came down to renew my eligibility." "Say something, you prick." "It's Tina." "Has Linc got Shaun?" "He's jogging." "Some promo bullshit he didn't bother to mention last night?" "Shaun's not with Linc, Cissy." "Is he with you?" "Anotherfuckingjaunttoseaworld?" "Maybe he's surfing." "His wetsuit's right here!" "Don't you think I know where his fuckin' wetsuit is?" "You motherfucker!" "What did you call me?" "I'll go tell Linc, Cissy." "I'll take him his phone, so he can call you." "Yeah, and don't forget to drown yourself afterwards!" "I drew a full house against a flush." "You want to ride up with me?" "Well, I studied engines so I could make it run." "Shaun's gone." " What?" " He's fucking gone!" "Disappeared overnight!" " Did you call Kai?" " Yeah, she's probably surfing." " And he's not surfing?" " His wetsuit's still at the house." "Those fucking assholes didn't see him." " What assholes?" " I'm telling you he's gone!" "And I want to know where your friend is who said he would be." "That skinny bitch with the camera's place." "Okay, I'm on it, Ma." "I'll go over there right now." "I put him in against a whole different weight class," "They wipe him from the face of the earth." "Christ!" "Shaun is gone and Zip is gone on my watch, do you understand?" "And that's the sum and substance of it from here on in." "Stand watch and fail and stand watch and fail and lose 'em all, one after another!" "Cell phone on alarm, relentless three minute intervals however many hours I was on watch, boss." "And boss, it never went off, boss." "And you wanna know why?" "I'm gonna break your other fuckin' wrist!" "Because I never fell asleep." "That kid had to have turned into mercury and oozed below my watch post at that fence and turned into a tiny silver ball." "Meaning it was me he got past!" "No, god forbid I think that." "Fuck!" "You do not buy a gift and not give it." "that's the oldest bad luck in the world." "Bought for good luck, specifically you on your visit to the mainland." "You break my wrist the minute I don't give it, disaster on disaster since." "Never ever a streak as worse as this." "Excuse me." "If you'll allow me past..." "Just as soon you don't put a beating on me" "Or a skull fracture, and I hope this could break the bad luck and please just take it." "Take it... under that set of circumstances." "For the boy." "For the boy." "That boy Shaun's gone." "Cissy called you." "Shaun's gone." " Do you know where he is?" " No, how would I know?" "'Cause you signed him, she thought maybe you took him somewhere." "Tina, I'm right here with you." "You saw me go out for a jog." "What did I do?" " What, so you're the one who took him?" " I shouldn't have come down here." "I'll do what I do, I'll find him." "Get me to the hotel." "Youshouldgo to Cissy'sshop." "You need to be with people right now." " That where Cissy's gonna be?" " You're the one who talked to her, Tina." "Hang on, jake." "Give her one more thing to freak out about." "Maybe that's what she needs." "It's conceivable this is meant to be reassuring." "If you've lived your life with your head up your ass." "The last tape showed one figure on the sheet behind Butchie's friend and Butchie's friend says, "Shaun will soon be gone."" "This tape shows two figures on the sheet and no speaker." "Assume one of the figures is Butchie's friend, the other is Shaun and both are now gone," "That's a confirmation of the previous message." "Proving Butchie's friend's a sadist" " and a kidnapper." " It's only sadistic if he intends harm." "What the fuck but harm would he be intending to fucking kidnap someone?" "Fuck's sake, Dickstein." " It's me, Meyer Dickstein!" "Don't I fucking know who you are?" "And doesn't that sign at your balls say "closed"?" "I had a dream I was supposed to come here." "Go away." " Did you hear what I just said?" " Yes, Dickstein." "Lay down, take a nap and dream you're supposed to fucking leave." " Move, god damn it." " Excuse me." "He's gone." "Shaunie." "We know." "It's Butchie Yost, looking for John." "He's not here..." "That I'm aware of." "Can I come in for second?" "Your roommate grabbed my kid." " Oh my god." " Are you gonna tell me what you know?" "Yes." "Yes, of course." "Food for thought, anyway..." "As a basis for believing" "Shaun's safe, I'm saying." "You would think sending messages means he's looking for ransom." "People kill kids and ask for ransom." "The notice before the fact is what I'm proposing as a basis for belief." "It certainly invites an answer." "Wouldn't this be a good time to involve the police?" "Sure, they hate us, and who the hell do we say John is?" "Don't you want to help me write a draft?" "I'm gonna look for him!" "Hurry up!" ""To whoever's gone with Shaun"" "Where's the fucking canoe trip to Yosemite?" "It's what he wanted." "Well, he told you these places to go?" "No, he said, "drive," then he'd say, "stop,"" "and then he'd say, "work here."" "Okay, turn it off." "I think he's on some kind of automatic pilot." "Yeah, maybe he's a commercial plane." "Like, he hears something, and then his program tells him what to say back." "Yeah, but who put his program in?" "I don't know." "I mean, he says, "my father did this"" "or "my father did that."" "The president of american airlines." "And he's like he's programmed to fake "oh, I'm sad,"" ""Oh, I'm happy" or whatever else he fucking does." "Yeah, and he'll look like something makes him sad or happy" "If it's in his programming, I..." "I don't know." "And what's the connection to my father going up in the air and all that other fucking shit?" "I don't know." "Well, I guess you don't know fucking much now, do you?" "No, I guess not." "So... if he fuckin' shows up or anything, or if he fuckin' calls." " Yeah, I call that number..." " Right." "That's mine." "This is my fuckin' mother's." "And here, this is the other fuckin' mother." "Did I hurt your tit or anything?" "No." "Okay." "You've got the numbers." "You have one new message." "Kai!" "Shaunie's gone!" "Zip?" "Zip, is that you?" "Please forgive me." "How could I have been so mistaken?" "Your wish is my command... your ladyship." "It's Bill Jacks" "Commencing recon for both the missing." "And please forgive me for being so slow on the uptake." "Never once commucated previous 15 years." "Mr. Cunningham?" "Go away." " I'm serious." " What's happened?" "This is my property." "I'll have you arrested." "For what?" "Barry..." "Just don't!" "Don't touch me!" "Don't put your hands on me!" "I've had terrible dreams too." "Oh, not like this." "Yes, I have." "I dreamed about..." "Butchie's son... there in the bar." " You dreamt he was in the bar?" " Now he's gone." "Things don't happen because we've dreamt them." "No one should go in there!" "I should have leveled the place!" "Why don't we go inside?" "Are you crazy?" "Definitely." "The doctor is in." "My grandson's missing." "Have you seen him?" "Not today." "He was out here yesterday" "With that frat boy." "What frat boy?" "Tall drink of water with the poodle haircut." " John?" " Yeah, that's him." "I'll check into it." "I'll ask the boys down at the V.F.W." "There's not much around here they don't know about." "Thank you." "I'd be the last one to say he's not strange, but" "I'd have said, till now, he's harmless." "He could be brainwashed, he could be on automatic pilot or any other fuckin' thing." "John would hurt himself before he'd hurt Shaunie." "I mean, John, he, he can't even take a dump." "how's he gonna be a master criminal?" ""Did you dump out today, Kai?"" "That he said, trying to make me feel better." "Sweet and stupid, like you." "When?" "At the hospital when Shaunie had his accident." "I said that at my crib, Kai, trying to make him feel better." "Are you telling me John repeated what someone else said to him?" "Hey, Kai, what if John thinks" ""A+ for fume control" means he hopes you feel better?" "If he wants us to feel better, why'd he take Shaun?" "'Cause his pilot's got him on override." "Well, if John's on override," "How do we know he wouldn't hurt Shaun?" "Because John's automatic pilot wouldn't be an asshole." "That's the secret code to us from his pilot, Kai." "What?" ""John can't dump."" ""I'm not an asshole."" "How in the fuck did I miss that?" "We were just talking about Shaunie," "How we know he's gonna be all right." "How?" "Kid needs to be looked for and it has to happen under the radar." "That P.I. In del mar" "Made wonder boy's date rape thing go away?" "Use him." "You know, that congressman whose kid tagged along with the team in the tuamotus?" " Arliano." " Yeah, he's part of some... intelligence oversight committee." "He can notify the bureau on the Q.T." "Good." "I'll do that right away." "Thanks a lot." "Butchie's ride, no?" "Should I be wearing kevlar?" "He's helping find Shaun." "Christ, look at this." "Every fucking promise I ever made, I broke." "Do what you gotta do." "There's one in a row you've kept." "Not that whatever they're on about ain't making the boy's recovery imminent," "The harelip thinks he's onto something." "Wake the fuck up." "Have you seen this kid?" "Look at me when I'm talking to you." "Have you seen this kid?" "Have you seen this kid?" "...Shaun." "He's about this tall." "Oh, miss, pardon me." "Have you heard..." "When we met just now," "I was coming back from the clinic I've leased across the street." "I'd gotten scared there in an examining room." "I'd been imagining days to come, the people I'd be caring for, their gratitude to a physician of my credentials choosing to work with the poor and underserved." "The day before, standing in that room," "I had felt that I had heard those patients' voices thanking me." "Not hearing them today," "I saw that the room was ramshackle and dirty." "Not hearing the hallelujah soundtrack frightened me," "Made me run." "I'd better get that place opened up." "Shall we go?" "Church." "Praying for the boy." "Just married." "Look what rosa gave me." "Avon." "Wonderful." "The care that must go into creating lipstick shades for women of color." " Go to the middle." " Oh, yes." "Please excuse me." "Stay right there." " Thank you!" " I'm coming right back!" "What an extraordinary man." "Listen to me." "Look at this." "I am..." "looking." "I am seeing..." "Avon... in an entirely new light." "This is big." "This is huge." "I think it very well could be." "I want to cook something." "I could eat." "Look!" "Come closer!" "Look!" "Those same marvelous figures." "What did she tell you about these?" "Nothing." "This is huge." "Ramon's thinking of cooking." "I'm sure the Yosts would appreciate that." "Yeah, we built a... room in the back for our grandson." "Is he different after what happened?" "Well, it's hard to say." "You know?" "So, you want a water?" "Yeah, they're going green." "Dust to dust." "Thanks." "Anderson!" "Get back in your vehicle, sir!" "A situation!" "Individuals you want to be looking for" " In an unofficial capacity." " Stop right where you are!" "Step off the street please!" "Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ!" "Jesus Christ." "Still skating, officer Jacks!" "Until you break your goddamn neck." "I'm voiding your summons." "Wear your seat belt." "What a coincidence, running into you, Bill, seeing as you're the reason I'm out here." "Be on the lookout for a white male, Anderson, early to mid 20s," "6'2", medium build," "Brown hair in a poodle cut." "You know I'm writing summonses on the street the next 10 days because you stole the handle off a drinking fountain at the station house and I covered for your ass!" "Anderson!" "Anderson!" "You've gotta focus on the matter at hand!" "All right, tell me what's he done, this guy we're looking for him under the radar." " Neighborhood punks." " Yeah." "God, God damn it!" " Cissy!" "God damn it!" " Fuck you!" "Fuck you!" "Is that... that's the fucking chemist, isn't it!" "I hope you brought a carload of acid, Mitch, and some beads and a fucking bong!" "Shaunie's gone!" "He's been taken!" "You want to tell me what you mean?" "He was here last night... in his bed!" " And now he's gone!" " And you looked..." "Fuck you." "Fuck you!" "Everywhere!" "Excuse me." "I've looked!" "We've looked!" "Everybody's looking who isn't soul surfing in baja with fucking captain crunch!" "Will you walk me through it?" " Walk you through what?" " Well, everything." " What happened." " Why?" "What the fuck are you gonna do about it?" "!" "God damn it." "Maybe I can help." "Okay, there's a tape on the computer and John says, "Shaun will be gone."" "In front of a black curtain." " Yeah, I know that." "I just don't know why that's important." " He looked like a fucking raghead!" " He was wearing a burnoose?" "What's a burmoose, asshole?" " The covering they wear on their heads." " No!" "Well, what made him look like an arab?" "It looked like one of those terrorist threat messages." " Oh, Jesus!" " There was a stick figure drawn on the curtain in white chalk or paint or some fucking thing!" "Bill questioned him about it!" "How could Bill question him if they've disappeared?" "The message was posted, we freaked out," "John came back, Bill questions him" " and Freddy" " About where Shaun was?" "And Shaun was at fucking seaworld with that bitch who spit him out." "All right, Cissy, I'm..." "I'm trying to follow." "Bill questions him!" "Freddy questions him!" "The bitch brings him back from the dolphin tank." "Everything looks like it's all right." " Linc signs Shaun to a contract..." " What the fuck?" "!" "Are you piss in my ear about that with Shaun kidnapped!" "You know, if Freddy talked to John, either John told him what's going on or he's in pieces in a freezer someplace." "He walked out of that room covered in blood." " John?" " And happy as a clam." "Well, that's it!" "The guy's got some kind of supernatural power!" " Really?" "You think so, Mitch?" " Yeah, and it's obviously" "Part of something that's bigger than he is, Cissy." "If you remember, I went up in the air." "Why couldn't you have gone off a cliff?" "Okay okay." "And there's been another fucking message, okay?" "Another curtain." "No John, two stick figures." "Any message?" "I just said there was another fuckin' message!" "But with... words, like "Shaun'll be gone" Like there was in the last one?" "So... but they're both gone." "Look, somebody has gotta walk point." "What do you mean "walk point"?" "Like talk to the cops and the press and the..." " That whole deal." " And you would do that?" "Yeah, well, I did the public service announcements." " "Clean up the sloughs."" " And you hated it." "Yeah, but I did it, Cissy." "That's the point." "I'm..." "I'm just saying give me the weight." "That's all I'm saying." "I'm here." "Let me take it." "Tell me what you see." "You." "Looking at the gin mill, what do I see?" "Nothing since the..." "They closed the door behind them." "The mexican, the doctor and the homo." "Find out what's going on." "Go over, just..." "Find out what they're doing in there." "I'll just ask 'em, that's all, right?" "It's supposed to be a closed premises." "It's the lawyer getting out of the lexus." "Hey!" "They're in the bar!" "Them two that I seen you with, they're in with the physician!" "So now..." "I go over, right?" ""Did you get in all right?" And so forth." "How I open with the jew." "Ask him what happened to my bear." "I... we... who has the cleft palate, spends his time in the internet cafe..." " Wh about him?" " Dwayne and I sent a message to those responsible for Shaun Yost's disappearance." "Did they get it?" "We don't know." "We don't know." "Hey." "That's cool." "He wonders what did you do with his bear." "He's keeping company with teddy." "He'd also like to be ascertained what's going on in here." " Just boys being boys." " Boys." "All right, I'll tell him." "This is big." "What do you got, anything?" "Good?" "Contact." "I didn't know I'd placed an order." "Status quo there... know what I'm saying?" "At a table, the most part." "Physician, maybe off to his... clinic." "Well, actually, my wife and I are hoping this is just a case of our grandson Failing to check in." "Now, when you say his companion is strange..." "Well, he might kind of might give the impression of having a mental disorder, retardation." "And you believe he's a danger to your grandson?" "I'm not absolutely..." "prepared to say that." "Well, what are you absolutely prepared to say?" "Were they already friends when your grandson had his accident?" "What we know for sure is that my grandson's missing, that's why we involved the press." "Dad looks like he wants to take poison." "What if he tells those reporters he can float..." "Like a blimp?" "He can, mom." "I saw it." "Who cares what you saw?" "Or how many figures show up on that harelip's computer screen?" "Me." "It makes me believe he's coming back." "Good." "Good." "That and two dimes of dope, you should be sitting pretty." "Anyways..." "That's right." "Now run." "I'm not running anywhere, Ma." "I'm going over the fence and I'm going out on the water." "Good." "Try to find time to fuck yourself on the way." "It's gonna be all right." "Where's fucking Kai?" "I don't know." "Somewheres waiting for Shaunie." "Got dressed, headed over to the internet cafe like a man possessed." "You go there every morning." "I never felt bore like I had to, Ramon." "And I went..." "And I saw that they needed me and I improvised that communication." "And... it was answered." "You gonna improvise another one?" ""What does your last answer mean?"" "Them stick figures in them catalogs and over the bar?" ""To whoever's gone with Shaun..."" "This is ready." "There's some more stuff packed in the office." "How about giving me a hand and taking this over to the Yosts?" "Of course." "I can barely see where I'm going." "Chemist, you want tuna?" "Thank you." "Come down after you're done if you feel like it." "There's no way he'll come back if I'm here." "When they're done doing whatever it is they do to you, what do they do, pile drive your head into the floor?" "What are you talking about?" "What... you're making sense and then you talk so fucking stupid." "Fuck you." "You came back to be his mother, right?" "Because that's who you said you wanted to be." "Aren't you still his fucking mother?" "Couldn't you do him some good being his mother..." "Right now?" "How about if you go up there and you say "Please, bring my son back." "I know I've been bad." "Give me a chance, I'll be better, but..." "Please bring my boy back"?" "I can't." "I can't go out there." "I wish I could." "I'll fall apart." "I'll fuck it up." "Then stay in here and tell god." "We're very grateful for your cooperation." "What's the word, Jacks?" "Anderson!" "How you doing?" "They still haven't filed a missing persons report?" "Not at this juncture." " You want me to spell you?" " No thanks, I'm fine." "All right, Bill." "Thanks for stopping by." "Hold on there." "Let's see what you've got." "He's grown a lot since this was taken." "I couldn't exactly say how much." "I don't know what he's saying, but I know he's fucking up." "That was the man back in the day." "And that chick that hung with him..." "The hottest piece of ass on those beaches." "Yeah well, those days are gone." "I still recognize the both of you." "Whoever I fuckin' ran away from in that volcano 25 years ago," "I'm talkin' to you." "I don't give a fuck." "I don't need to understand." "I would ask you, avoid harming that kid." "I would say I am here to ask you." "I would say I came here to be here." "I came to california... to ask." "Whatever's gonna happen..." "What are these tits telling you, Rock?" "Rubbing up against those sexy jug ears." "Closing time?" "Correct." "If you'll trust me with the key, I'll lock up." "Spare's under the planter out back."