Cliff House: The Rock At Laurel Falls

Friday, May 28, 1993

Starting right where we left off, ROGER has his arms around HOLLY at LAUREL FALLS, but having suddenly become aware of just how "close" they are, she now looks distinctly uncomfortable.

ROGER: Listen to the falls. Summer sure brings it back to me. You know, the time I had with you and Chrissy, it seems it was always summer. [HOLLY draws away from him. ROGER touches her back.] Hey, you’re freezing. Let me get you my jacket . . .

As ROGER turns around and picks up his jacket, HOLLY bends down. She comes back up with a large rock.

HOLLY whispers to ROGER: Don’t!

ROGER is shocked.

ROGER: What are you doing?!

HOLLY “comes to,” looks at the rock, and throws it down, ashamed.

ROGER: I thought we were past that.

HOLLY: Oh, we are! We are!

ROGER: Clearly not!

HOLLY: No . . . I . . . I’m sorry, Roger. I . . . I just . . . We’re all alone here, it’s dark, and I just sorta lost it, so—

ROGER [he turns his back to HOLLY]: Oh, please, please!

HOLLY: Oh, I'm sorry, please. Look, it surprised me, too. Let's just . . . I’m okay now. Let’s let it go.

ROGER [turning to her]: After all these years, you’re still afraid of me.

HOLLY: No, I’m not afraid, I’m . . .

ROGER: Don’t you know what you are to me?

HOLLY looks at him for a second.

HOLLY: No, and I want to keep it that way.

ROGER: You are my greatest regret!

HOLLY moves away from ROGER.

HOLLY: I’m not glass. I don’t break! I don’t walk around in fear!

ROGER: You taught me there is such a thing as forgiveness in this world.

HOLLY: Well, Roger, every grievance . . . rises up now and again . . . especially this one.

ROGER: I loved you. You know that.

HOLLY: Let’s not confuse things here.

ROGER: If there was one day in my life I could take back it would be that one.

HOLLY: Yeah, well the one day I wanted to take back was the day I was born. You helped me feel that way.

After a second, during which ROGER slips back behind his metaphorical “mask,” he asks, “What did you want to talk to me about?”

HOLLY looks around the dark forest, and then says, “Could we go someplace else? This just doesn’t feel right.”

ROGER nods.

ROGER: Sure. Some place well lit. Good idea.

ROGER turns his back on HOLLY and starts making his way out of the woods.

SCENE: HOLLY and ROGER sitting at the bar at TOWERS, facing each other “in profile.” ROGER listens carefully, but looks pained.

HOLLY: Roger, it’s not that I don’t listen to you. It’s just that I object to the way you put things sometimes. I’m not having a second childhood with Michelle. What happened was that we were at the point where neither one of us could stand the sound of people breathing, so we found each other. I will admit that I’m not exactly leading an adult-type existence. I mean, I spend too much time counting the cracks on the ceiling, and being jealous of people on talk shows who have so much to spill their hearts out about. [ROGER nods.] I miss real things. I miss having a reason to get up in the morning. I . . . I want to start over.

ROGER: The answer is “yes.”

HOLLY: You don’t know the question yet.

ROGER: I think I do. You want your old job at the station back.

HOLLY: You gave my job to Gilly, remember?

ROGER: I think Gilly’s finding the demands of the job just a little discouraging. She’ll go along with whatever we decide.

HOLLY: Uhm . . [to the bartender] Can I have another one? [to ROGER] Maybe I’m misspeaking myself. It’s not that I just want to “start over.” I want to start fresh. And, uh, other than my house, which in today’s real estate market is not worth much, I don’t have anything to do that with. So, I would like to sell you my half of WSPR.

ROGER [freezes]: Oh. I see. So, you find the situation—and me—that unredeemable.

HOLLY: No, I just would like to have something on my own, and I would like to offer you the chance to have the station on your own, to run as you and only you see fit.

ROGER: I think I work better with a partner. I think I work better with you.

HOLLY: You fired me, Roger!

ROGER: And you fended me off with a rock, Holly! What is this—just a larger rock?

HOLLY: One has nothing to do with the other.

ROGER: Good. Then the answer is “no.”

HOLLY: Why can’t you see this as an opportunity, for both of us?

ROGER: Why can’t you see that I may have your best interests at heart?

HOLLY: Is it that, or are you just trying to punish me for something?

ROGER: Did you really think I would just write you out a check, no questions asked? What do you intend to do with it, once it’s in your hot little hands? Media is what you know. News is what you know, Holly!

HOLLY: Roger, can’t I be entrusted to invest my own money in something sensible?

ROGER: Frankly, I don’t think so. No. Put yourself in my shoes. You have been moping around for months, winding your fingers through your hair, reading novels that only you and the librarians at Oxford have ever finished, and now, suddenly, you come to me, and say, “Hey, Rog, I think I’d like a few million dollars to do something with, I dunno.” How do I know that you won’t just dribble it away, like you’ve dribbled away everything else?

ROGER listens to her response, but he doesn’t like it:

HOLLY: Do you really want a partner who doesn’t want you? Do you really want to hold my career hostage just to keep me under your thumb? Think about what this could cost you, now, Roger. If I sell to somebody else, you’re gonna have a blind date down the hall to contend with.

ROGER [trying to repair his “dignity”]: Who would be fool enough to want me for a partner? C’mon. Most people understand that partner or no, I run things my way.

HOLLY and ROGER both pause, looking at each other (we see them equally, in profile). Suddenly, from across the bar, GRADY yells, “Yeah, and Jenna’s gonna realize that too, when she finds out about all that loot you’ve been siphoning off to Richmond!”

HOLLY slowly turns her head and looks at GRADY. Then she looks back at ROGER, and tells him, “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” She gets up, leaving ROGER to deal with GRADY.

A little later, at the SPAULDING MANSION, a pensive JENNA sits looking at the note ROGER had left about meeting HOLLY. GINGER comes into the room.

GINGER: There’s a lady to see you.

JENNA [laughs]: At this hour?

HOLLY enters.

HOLLY: I saw the house ablaze with lights; I thought you might be in.

JENNA: Thank you, Ginger. [To HOLLY] Well, I assume you’re alone, are you?

HOLLY: What else would I be? May I sit down?

JENNA: What can I do for you, Holly? I’m really rather busy.

HOLLY notices the negligee JENNA is wearing.

HOLLY: So I see. So ask not what you can do for Holly; ask what Holly can do for you. Do you have a television set?

JENNA: I believe there are seven or eight—but I’ve never really counted.

HOLLY: Well, how would you like a television station to go with them? I just happen to have half of one, right here. [HOLLY pulls some papers out of her purse.]

END of EPISODE.

Next Episode: The Air Conditioner