Harmony

Copyright 1993 Deborah Greenspan

INT.  HARMONY'S APARTMENT - DAY

Harmony pulls her sweatshirt out of Lucy's hands and gets back into bed, pulling the covers up over her head.

                           LUCY
             You're right.  I'm sorry.  It's just
             I hate to see you so down.  We all
             have to keep on trying.  What choice
             do we have? Look at me.

                           HARMONY
             You!  You don't have any problems.
             You!  You're beautiful; you're happily
             married; you're going to have a baby.
             Your husband is successful and happy
             and you love him.

Lucy gets up with some difficulty, and sits down on the bed.

                           LUCY
             I know.  But besides that.  I always
             wanted to be like you!  Independent,
             courageous...

                           HARMONY
             Alone, scared...

                           LUCY
             Strong.  You never needed people...

                           HARMONY
             And no one ever needed me.

                           LUCY
             I guess it depends on your point
             of view.

There is a knock on the door.  JOE's voice calls out.

                           JOE
             Harmony Brown?

                           LUCY
             Yes?

                           HARMONY
                   (whispering)
             Tell him to go away.

                           JOE
             Are you Harmony Brown?

                           LUCY
             No, but she's sick.  She can't come to
             the door.

INT.  THE HALLWAY - DAY

Out in the hall, Joe nudges LES in the ribs and smirks.

                           JOE
              Well I have a check here for her from
              the law offices of Pritcher Pritcher
              and Burns,but she has to sign for it.

                           LUCY
              Well, I don't know...

                           HARMONY
              Let him in!  Let him in!

Lucy hesitates, then opens the door.  The two men push their way in.

                           JOE
              Sorry ladies.

                            HARMONY
              What about the check?

                            JOE
              We come for the furniture.

                            HARMONY
                       (cringing)
              The furniture!

                            JOE
                       (walking toward her)
              Yeah, we gotta repossess it.

                           HARMONY
              No!  Don't come near me!  I'm contagious!

                           JOE
              As long as I keep picking up furniture
              from people with your disease lady, I'll
              stay healthy.  Let's load the dresser
              first Les.

They go to the dresser and start emptying the drawers on the floor. Harmony throws the things back in as soon as they take them out.

                           JOE
              Listen, we can move it just as easy full
              as empty.  You want to keep any of this
              stuff?

                            HARMONY
                      (grabbing her clothing)
              How can you do this?  Don't you have any
              heart?  Stop!

She hangs onto the dresser as they begin to move it from the room.

                           HARMONY
              Lucy, help!

Joe puts his end of the dresser down and walks threateningly toward Harmony, who backs up into the bed and abruptly sits down.

                           JOE
              Now, that's enough.  You didn't pay for this
              stuff and it don't belong to you no more.

They exit with the dresser.  Harmony slams the door and locks it.

                           LUCY
              Can they do that?

                           HARMONY
              Of course they can do that.  The whole
              world is set up so that people like that
              can do this to people like me.

                           LUCY
              But can't we stop them?

                           HARMONY
              I don't know.  We can...barricade the
              door!

She starts pushing the table toward the door.  There's a knock on it before she gets there.

                           JOE
              Hey lady, open the door!  What do you want
              to do, make a federal case out of this?
              You can't win, you know.

Harmony hesitates, then opens the door, watching in growing agitation as they remove the armchair.  At the door, Joe stops and puts down his end of the armchair.  Les looks at him questioningly.  Joe stands there for a moment looking Harmony over.  She steps back involuntarily. Joe moves forward and leans close to whisper, loudly, in her ear.

                          JOE
              I'll tell you what.  I can't do nothing
              about the furniture.  It's my job see?
              But maybe I can help you out.  I could
              maybe come up with say...twenty bucks...

                           LUCY
              What?

                           JOE
              Oh not you lady.  No offence but you're
              a little too far gone.

                           LES
              Even for him.

                           HARMONY
              What?!

                           JOE
              Twenty bucks, you and me...we get it
              on...you know.

With a shriek, Harmony lunges at him and tries to strangle him.

                           JOE
              That's the idea.  But not so loud okay?

He puts his arm around her waist and pulls her closer. Harmony struggles free and moves back.  When her arm comes in contact with something solid, a lamp, she grabs it and throws it at Joe. He catches it before it hits him.  Harmony picks up a book and throws that.  Joe ducks.

                           JOE
              Okay, you don't have to get huffy.  I
              was only trying to help.  Hey Les, is 
              this lamp on the list?

                           LES
              Yeah.

                           JOE
              Well, let's move it man.

They exit with the chair and the lamp.

                           HARMONY
              I'll kill him.  He comes in here again
              and I'll kill him.

                           LUCY
              Harmony.  Now calm down.

                           HARMONY
              I need a knife.  Where's a damn knife?

She goes over to the kitchenette but can't find a knife for all the dirty dishes in the sink.  Joe comes back for the end tables.

                            HARMONY
                        (still looking in the sink)
               Twenty bucks!  Can you believe it?
               Twenty bucks!

                           JOE
               What's the matter?  It's not enough?

                           HARMONY
               Get out of here!

Harmony walks around in circles, trying to contain her rage.  Finally, she gets back into bed and pulls the covers up to her chin. Lucy follows her around throughout this process.  Joe and Les re-enter the apartment. Having removed everything else, they now head for the bed.

                           JOE
                Okay lady, get up.  We gotta take
                                    the bed.

                           HARMONY
                Oh no.  I paid over 1200 dollars in
                installments before I went broke.
                That's enough to pay for the bed and
                probably half an end table.  So you
                just leave the bed and go away.

                           JOE
                Oh man, oh man.  Look you, it don't
                work like that.  Now get offa the bed!
                Unless...you want me to join you?

                           HARMONY
                If you come near me, I'll scream rape!

                           JOE
                Are you kidding?  This is New York.

Joe goes to one end of the couch, Les to the other.  They fold the couch with Harmony in it as far as it will go and carry it out of the room.  One leg and one arm are sticking out and these wave wildly in the air.  Harmony's muffled screams panic Lucy who runs heavily after the moving men.

                           LUCY
                Stop that!  You can't do that!

After a moment, Harmony comes storming back into the room, Lucy following.  She looks around and all the steam goes out of her.

                           HARMONY
                Looking on the bright side, I no longer
                have to worry about where to store my
                furniture when they evict me...

She starts to cry.
                                                                        
                                                      FADE OUT