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Excerpt: The Long Christmas Eve

This is from the second draft script of “The Long Christmas Eve.” Amanda is thinking about Karen Rudolph growing up without her father.

This script excerpt was donated to SMKFans by Suzanne.

Amanda: Growing up without a father.

Lee: (beat) Some people manage to do very well without a father. . .

Amanda: I didn’t meant to get personal.

Lee: I wasn’t speaking personally.

She doesn’t buy this but knows better than to press it. They ride in silence for a beat; then:

Amanda: So, how do you usually spend your Christmas?

Lee: On my living room couch with a large bowl. Of guacamole, a properly chilled bottle of Dom Perignon ‘73 and a good football game.

Amanda: All alone?

Lee: Not necessarily.

Amanda: Oh. . .with one of your little friends, huh?

Lee: Some of them aren’t so little.

Amanda: Don’t you think Christmas is a time to be with people you love?

Lee: My. . .little friends are very loveable.

Amanda: Cheryl or Kathy or Jan. . . some airline stewardess who spilled a Bloody Mary in your lap on purpose?

Lee: I would never have anything to do with a clumsy woman.

Amanda: Isn’t ther anybody you REALLY care about?

Lee: You don’t tend to form deep attachments in this business.

Amanda: It must get very lonely.

Lee: As you’ve probably gathered by now, Amanda, I like being alone.

Amanda: I know, but on Christmas. . .

Lee: Christmas is just another day of the year. It’s 24 hours long, etc. etc.

Amanda: Boy you sound just like Ebeneezer Scrooge.

Lee: All right, Amanda, you want ot hear a Christmas story. . . I’ll tell you a Christmas story. . . . I was undercover in the Middle East. Jerusalem, as a matter of fact — funny place to be on Christmas Eve. . .  I was waiting for a drop and had some time to kill, so I took a walk through the Old City. I wandered into a church. The place was packed — Druse, Copts, English — all together singing. I just stood there listening to the music. I felt peaceful and almost forgot for a moment what I was doing in Jerusalem. . .And then. . .

He stops abruptly; beat; then:

Amnda: And then what?

Lee: And then someone tried to stick a six-inch blade in my kidneys.

Amanda looks at him, aghast.

Amanda: In a church? On Christmas Eve?

Lee: A Mossad agent working for the Russians had followed me in. . . .

Then the scene cuts to them getting out of the car and collecting their stuff.