This was transcribed by Carrie, who I want to thank for contributing such a terrific few scenes! This takes place in 1989. Mason has decided, once and for all, to get help with his alcoholism...and is encouraged by fellow alcoholic Lisa DiNapoli, Julia and Mason's friend and secretary. Julia, however, does not know (Mason wanted to surprise her) and fears the worst. Read on!
Julia is seen walking in from outside with the day's mail. She is in her robe with coffee cup in hand; She picks out a postcard from the stack and reads it, "Dear Mr. Capwell, This is to confirm your reservation for May 2nd. We are holding room number 102 room for you and are looking forward to having you with us. The Oasis Palm."
She then turns the postcard over to view the picture. "Not bad Capwell, Not bad at all." She says while sighing.
Meanwhile in Palm Springs:
Lisa DiNapoli and Mason Capwell enter the Oasis Palm room 102.
L- Sure beats the drunk tank.
M- You sure have a knack for putting things in perspective.
L- Just making observations.
M-Well, Observe … the Olympic size golf course and the 18 hole swimming pool. Or so the brochure claims.
L- Well, observing them is all we have time for on this trip.
M- Well, if it means that much to you we could always cancel the clinic and spend a few days frolicking in the sun.
L- Don't do me any favors. And you must be hard up if you'd rather play golf than dry out.
M- I have it on good authority that traipsing around the links and smacking the hell out of a defenseless little golf ball is very therapeutic. Not to mention, lucrative at times.
L- I bet you've never even invested in a set of clubs.
M- No. Life, Lisa, is frustrating enough.
L- So, you're ready to bail out of the program before it even starts. Is that it?
M- Sounds like a plan to me.
L- Mason, just hang tough, OK? Because if I can do it, you can do it.
M- Yeah, well you either underrate yourself or overrate me. Either way, I lose.
----- Knock on Door-----
M- FORE! Just practicing. Come in.
Room Service waiter- Breakfast is served. Oh, Ms. DiNapoli, would you like yours here or in your room?
L- Here would be perfect, thank you.
M- You can just leave it. That'll be fine, thank you.
RSW- Thank you.
M- Well. And the condemned man helped himself to a hearty sweet roll.
L- Boy, I can't get over your positive attitude. When is Julia gonna be back from her Mother's? Do you know?
M- Didn't I tell you?
L- Tell me what?
M- That uh- she didn't go to Phoenix, after all. She's back in Santa Barbara.
L- Oh, damn!
M- Is there a problem?
L- Well, yes! I thought she would be out of town so I didn't bother to leave word about my absence. I thought I could just pick up the messages from the machine.
M- Boy, is she gonna wonder where you are.
L- All right, give me an excuse. Quick.
M- You're practicing your putting.
L-
M- I wish I would.
Julia stops by the clinic to ask Lisa's sister, Celeste, about Lisa. Celeste informs her that Mason gave Lisa a few days off and that she headed for Palm Springs.
Mason and Lisa enter the room where the AA meeting is to take place.
M- Well, nobody here, might as well hit the links.
L- Yeah, we're a little early, but I thought you'd like to see the colliseum before they let the lions in.
M- You do wonders for a drunk's confidence.
L- What exactly do you think is going to happen here anyway?
M- Oh, something simple, yet profoundly moving. Like me being drawn and quartered, torn limb from limb, whipped within an inch of my life. Salt poured in my wounds.
L- Hmm, I wonder if it's too late for me to sell tickets?
M- At least, I hope I won't be subjected to the ultimate indignity.
L- I know I'm going to hate myself for asking?
M- Being forced to expound, at length, on my inadequacies in front of a room full of strangers.
L- But I think the counselors are going to want to hear from you.
M- My name is Mason Capwell and I'm a worthless, sniveling, mass of bat manure. Something like that?
L- You won't be asked to do anything you're not ready to do.
M- HA! Well, in that case…
L- A few? What a delightful change.
M- Lisa, I will not be pontificated to by a hoard of nattering nabobs of negativity.
L- Boy, when you're nervous you sure come up with some winners, don't you?
M- Well, that one I stole but the point still stands. I have no use for a bunch of theorists whose only interest is analyzing me to death and tying up the remains with a neat little ribbon.
L- They couldn't find a crate big enough to put your contradictions in and they're far from theorists.
M- Theorists.
L- That's what I said. They're recovering alcoholics.
M- Oh great, the inmates running the asylum, that's encouraging.
L- They know exactly where you've been, they've been there themselves.
M- I resent the assumption that anyone knows where I'm coming from or where I've been or where I'm going.
L- Including yourself.
M- Well, great! Kick a man when he's down.
L- They don't come any lower than what I was when I came crawling in here. I had an attitude, I was just boiling for some pompous clown to start shoveling it.
M- And before you knew it you were knee deep, right?
L- All I got was straight talk.
M- You know, this is the first time I've ever tried something like this stone cold sober. I was drunk at the AA meetings. I sort of wish that I'd had the nerve to tell Julia. Almost wish she was here. -SIGH- I really wish I weren't.
Room Service is clearing breakfast as Julia walks in to Mason's room.
J- Hi, I'm looking for Mason Capwell?
RSW- Um, he and a lady checked out a little while ago, went over to Clear Springs.
J- A lady? Ms. DiNapoli?
RSW- Yes.
J- What is Clear Springs? Is that some kind of resort?
RSW- You might say.
J- Um, thanks.
Julia Exits
In the AA Meeting room: Mason sits down and begins.
M- Uh, hello, my name is Mason Capwell and I'm an alcoholic.
Everyone claps.
M- Thank you so much. You've been a wonderful audience. HA! I know there's more to it than that. OK, I, uh, got through the first line alright, didn't I? Boy, tough house, rather play Cleveland. So uh... What do you want to hear? I am an alcoholic: surprise, surprise. I've called it by 1000 other names, each one more misleading than the last. I've romanticized it in ways you can't even imagine or maybe you can. I used to say that wine was not alcohol. It was the nectar of those who would be Gods. I honestly believed that alcohol sharpened my wit, increased my intelligence, and added sparkle to my personality. I couldn't understand why everybody didn't do it. I had other reasons too. I could bore you with them all afternoon.
AA Counselor- You're not boring us, Mason, but it might help if you stop worrying about entertaining us and just spoke about why you're here.
M- Yeah, you're right. Well, maybe I should. Ok, Uh, well- Why am I here? Cue the violins. Well, I, uh, I grew up without a mother really and uh, under the heel of a domineering father. And uh, in constant competition with a small tribe of half brothers and half sisters. Each one of them received far more love and respect than I did. Or at least so I've maintained all these years. The one constant in my childhood was loneliness, I guess, accompanied by a pervasive sense of inadequacies. I wasn't good enough and I never would be.
That's about it. Another drunk's all-too-familiar tale of litany, of woes, trials, and tribulations. All seems a little trite and self-serving now that I say it out loud. Probably a pack of lies, too. Not that I didn't have those problems. I did. I'm just not sure they had anything at all to do with my drinking. Actually, if the truth be known, my drinking may be due to the fact that I was born to it. Silver flask in my mouth. As it were, I recently found out that my grandfather was an alcoholic, also. I may well have inherited the family curse as well as the family fortune. Fortune's fool, fade to black, nothing to be done.
As Mason looks up, he sees that Julia has entered. --
Lisa: You wanted your chance, you now have it.
M-Yeah, well actually um why I drink doesn't make much difference to me. I'm really- I know I you should be concerned because it helps you deal with the disease but I'm really more concerned with why I have to stop than why I began. And that reason is because I want to be able to say to the person who matters most to me that I couldn't have done it without you. Because you saw something in me that I couldn't see in myself. I wouldn't be here if not for you.
--As the scene ends you see Julia in the door way crying. --
