BARTER (to himself)
Bring more ammo. No problem. All God's children need more ammo.
INT. BARTER'S BARRACKS -- NIGHT
A couple minutes have passed. The barracks are lighted, since the platoon has basically just gotten off duty and no one is ready for sleep yet.
No one except Wilcox, that is. He's sacked out cold. Barter crouches by his bunk and shakes Wilcox awake.
WILCOX (sleepy)
Ungruh?
BARTER Get me that gun. Quick.
And Barter gets up and walks toward his own bunk.
FADE OUT TO BLACK
SUPER:
17
FADE IN
INT. THE MP BARRACKS -- MORNING
The barracks are similar to the red-haired malarial G.I.'s -- two-level bunks on both sides of a long center linoleum walkway. This is the first floor. The one above is identical in layout. At each bunk location, the walls and tall clothes' lockers have been covered with pictures of home, pictures of women, pictures of the MPs themselves posing with weapons and women.
FADE OUT SUPER
Barter sleeps on a lower bunk. Wilcox, a happily crazed look on his face, fills a shot glass with tequila. He sprinkles a little of the tequila onto Barter's sleeping lips. Barter licks at it, slowly rousing from sleep. He slips to the edge of the bunk and looks suspiciously at Wilcox.
Wilcox tosses a shot down, refills the glass and offers it to Barter.
WILCOX Good morning, asshole ... and now, for the finest wake-up you'll ever have in this country ... until the day you leave ...
Barter takes the shot, tosses it down, grimaces slightly, then brightens.
BARTER You bring any coffee?
WILCOX No.
Barter takes the shot glass and bottle, fills the glass again, and tosses the drink down. He hands the glass and bottle over to Wilcox.
BARTER Shit, man. I've had more to drink this morning than I ... man, I played it straight back in the world. Not twenty-one, can't drink. Didn't. I'll tell you something, Wilcox, this place'll fuck with your moral standards.
(pause)
So, why the little morning joy? Thought I'd seen the last of you my first night out with you ... gettin' shot at.
WILCOX Thought I'd wait to see how you handled yourself. Heard you took down an Australian Major last night. Bloodied him up. How come?
BARTER How come I took him down? Or how come the blood?
WILCOX How come the blood?
BARTER Had to. Slater was my partner ...
Barter suddenly stops talking and looks hard over at a bunk across the aisle. SLATER'S sleeping in the bunk. Barter grins back at Wilcox.
BARTER 'Scuse me. You just reminded me of something.
Barter walks over to his stand-up locker and pulls his nightclub out. He walks, stalks his way quickly and surely over to Slater's bunk and slams the butt end of the stick down into the sleeping Slater's stomach. As Slater begins to rise with a scream coming from his lips, Barter grabs Slater's face in his free hand and drives it back into the pillow, leaning over and into Slater's face, he SCREAMS FURY into the man's eyes.
The scream done, Barter pulls back and starts clamping his teeth at Slater, like a rabid animal. Slater takes one horrified look at Barter, looks at the ceiling, and starts screaming in one long, loud pitiful wail.
Wilcox walks over and stands next to Barter. Both of them watch the now-whimpering Slater with smiles and satisfied eyes.
WILCOX Very nice.
(pause) Uh, was there a reason for doing that to Slater? Not that I'm insisting there has to be a reason, you know.
BARTER Slater and me, we get this call. This Aussie major is savaging a bar. We get there, I walk in, begin talking to him. He's not in the mood for conversation and we go to fist city. He takes me to the floor with some fuckin' Aussie move.
WILCOX I've heard about that shit ...
BARTER Slater walks up with his stick and takes a whack at the Aussie's head. He misses and crunches my shoulder. My left arm goes numb. So I figure the only thing to do is to end it quick. I pull back and grab the major's face in my hand and slam his head into the floor. Buncha' times. I was pissed at Slater, you know.
WILCOX Perfectly understandable.
Barter looks carefully at his hand, as Wilcox leads them out of the barracks.
EXT. THE ROAD OUTSIDE THE BARRACKS.
Barter is in his jockey shorts. That's all. Wilcox pulls a couple joints out of his pack and passes one to Barter. They both light up and begin walking down the road, past the barracks.
Barter looks at his hand again.
BARTER Head wounds bleed a lot, you know.
WILCOX Yeah. So how come you did Slater that way?
BARTER Had to. A matter of justice. When I got done with the Major, I looked up. Slater was backed up against a wall, scared. Worthless piece of shit. He needed to have the shit visited upon him for failin' me.
A COLONEL drives by in a Jeep. Barter and Wilcox salute him unconsciously, the joints in their saluting hands. The Colonel apparently ignores their salute.
WILCOX So how come you didn't just write Slater up? Let the Captain take care of him?
BARTER That'd take him off the road. And him bein' on the road's my best chance of him gettin' killed.
Wilcox reacts happily to this. The Colonel circles back in the Jeep and pulls up alongside Barter and Wilcox, following them in first gear from several feet behind.
COLONEL Soldiers!
Barter and Wilcox stop and turn around, comfortable. The Colonel looks hard at them.
COLONEL You saluted me.
WILCOX Damned straight, sir.
COLONEL I once watched a Lieutenant in my command get hit by a sniper's bullet because he was saluted by one of his men. That salute identified him as an officer. The Lieutenant was a shitty officer and deserved to die, but I'm here to tell you I don't. You bic?
BARTER (positive) Sir!
COLONEL I have spent nights thinking, that maybe that enlisted man saluted that Lieutenant on purpose, just to point him out to the sniper and get him killed.
WILCOX Sir. Yes, sir!
COLONEL So, I see the two of you salute me ... I have to think, you're identifying me to the VC for a kill.
BARTER No, sir. I'm sure we're not doing that. Are we, Wilcox?
WILCOX No, sir. That's right, sir, I don't think we're trying to get you killed. If we wanted you dead, sir, we'd do it ourselves.
COLONEL Very good.
(to Barter) Those aren't regulation skivvies.
Barter looks down at his Jockey shorts and touches them.
BARTER Sir.
COLONEL (to Wilcox) Hand over the joint.
WILCOX Sir?
COLONEL Hand over the joint, Corporal.
Wilcox hands his joint to the Colonel. The Colonel runs it across his face under his nose, sniffing. He hands it back to Wilcox. Wilcox takes it back, stunned.
COLONEL (cont.) There's better stuff up north. Maybe I'll get you to join us up there. For a taste of what it's really about.
(pause) That stuff you're smokin's crap. They're selling shit that's laced with opium here in Saigon because they can't get you good shit. Watch out for it. C.I.A.'s behind it and that means it's quality opium. Fuck you up something fierce. Watch out for the C.I.A. You got that?
WILCOX Uh ... yes, sir. Thank you sir.
The Colonel throws the Jeep into gear and guns the engine. Barter and Wilcox ready to throw him a salute and the Colonel rips them with a tough stare. Both young men drop their half-raised hands.
COLONEL Remember what I said about that opium-treated shit. And get some army-issue skivvies, son. Imagine what people would say if you got hit by a truck and you were found in ... those.
BARTER Sir.
The Colonel drives off. With admiration, Wilcox and Barter watch him fade away, like an old soldier. Barter looks at his joint, then at the fading Colonel.
BARTER (stunned) What just happened here, Wilcox?
WILCOX The war. You just had the privilege of meeting a man who's been in the shit, son.
BARTER Been in the shit?
WILCOX Been in the jungle and got his ass seriously shot at. Barter, I've had the honor of knowing only one good officer who's stepped in the shit and come out on the right side about it. You take it correctly, and the thing is, it's gonna leave you a mite skittish and crazy, but a whole lot more human than when you first walked into it.
(pause) Which reminds me, I want you ridin' with me again, son.
BARTER Love to. But how're you going to get Cater to okay it? He hates both of us.
WILCOX No problem. I've got squeeze on that asshole Sergeant. I'll get what I want. Uh, one last thing, Barter. You a virgin?
BARTER No! I mean ...
WILCOX You mean you've seen pictures of it being done. Like the pictures of dead guys you saw on TV.
BARTER (protesting) But these were moving pictures, in full color.
WILCOX We need to get you laid.
BARTER
Hey, look. I'm engaged to a girl back ...
WILCOX Give up on it. If she ain't givin' you any by now, you don't owe her nothin'. I mean, did you tell her you were coming over to this motherfucker?
BARTER Yeah. So what?
WILCOX
Not even a mercy fuck, I bet.
BARTER Hey! You sombitch! You ...
Barter levels Wilcox with a suckerpunch. Wilcox lies there, rubbing his face.
WILCOX Man, you still don't get it, do you?
Wilcox gets slow and sad.
WILCOX (cont.) I wasn't being disrespectful of your woman. I was just tryin' to see if either of you two knew what you were gettin' yourself into in this motherfucker. If you'da known, you two woulda' been makin' love with such a terrible desperation ...
Wilcox slaps Barter on the shoulder and brightens his attitude.
BARTER You're married, aren't you? And you miss her.
WILCOX Used to be married. Got seduced by this motherfucker. So my other wife had to leave me.
(pause) You never know when you're going to die, Barter. So I'm gonna get you laid before it happens so you'll have a real reason to hate dyin' ... and have a real reason to stay livin'. I figure I'll live longer if you're lookin' forward to gettin' laid.
INT. DOWNTOWN SAIGON -- A STEAM ROOM
Barter's in the steam room, kicking back, relaxing. He gets up and finds a towel that he fits across his waist.
WILCOX (O.S.) She's the woman with second sight that I told you about, Barter. Her name's Minh. Absolutely beautiful, but she never talks to one of us ... not a single one of us Americans. Never. So don't even try.
BARTER So how do you know ... how does she tell you about her second sight?
WILCOX (O.S.) The mama-san. Minh tells the mama-san about how we will die. Or live. The mama-san tells us. It is the truth we live by. If Minh's ever wrong ... man, I don't want to think about that. So leave her a big tip.
BARTER This is crazy.
WILCOX (O.S.) Tell me that after you've seen her.
Barter opens the door to another room.
INT. THE PEDESTAL ROOM
This is a rectangular room, about ten-by-fifteen feet. In the center, a three-by-six-foot pedestal rises up three feet. Mist from the steam room's doorway at the back wall flows throughout this room.
MINH, a young Vietnamese woman about eighteen years old walks through the mist and takes Barter by the hand. She leads him to the pedestal. She gently takes the towel from his waist, her long hair rushing across his tight gut. Barter is already drunk from the passion only intimated at this point.
Minh lays Barter out on the pedestal, naked. Barter's head lolls back, his mouth wide open. Minh's hands roll out sideways in the air above Barter, touching his aura.
Minh is shocked. Her head jerks quickly once, twice. Panicked, she drops one hand to Barter's chest, the other to the inside of his thigh.
WILCOX (O.S.) She'll read you first. Then ... well, she does it her way, Barter. Says she's saving herself for a Vietnamese lover out there somewhere. Saving herself for some guy she's never met.
Barter lies face-up. He looks at Minh. She is truly one of the most beautiful women anyone will ever meet in this world. A sensual, natural pull of beings touching each other comes on. A wonderfully terrible lust insinuates itself between her lips and she curls them back in response. Barter moans up at her, his breath escaping slowly. Her breasts are round and her nipples high. She is the terror of the crossover to manhood; and at the same time, she is every reason to make the crossover.
WILCOX (O.S.) She won't make love with you ... won't let you inside her. She's like everything else in this goddamned country ... won't let you inside anything important to her.
Minh raises herself to the center of the pedestal and settles herself on top of Barter. She rises briefly and puts him inside her. She cries out once, sharply, and her mouth gasps for air. Once. Then, the noise again. Then, with a small cry, she begins to move atop Barter.
WILCOX (O.S.) Like everything else in this country, she'll never let you touch her deep enough so you know why we're here. You'll never know why you might die.
Barter's head rises slightly to look at Minh. He suddenly understands that she's violated her rules for this part of her life with G.I.s, and Barter rises, his right hand held out to stop her ...
The Mama-san who runs the place enters the room.
She stops, shocked at Minh's behavior.
MAMA-SAN (screaming) Minh!
Barter waves "no" at her.
BARTER Minh!
Mama-san watches Minh and Barter, then turns away. She EXITS through the door she's entered.
INT. THE MAMA-SAN'S ROOM.
The look on the Mama-san's face is one of resolution and acceptance.
INT. MINH'S ROOM WITH BARTER.
BARTER No. You never do this with us ...
And Minh leans forward, her long black hair covering his face so he can't see her, or her tears, as she moves with increasing fury on him, until he finally, lowers his right hand and takes hold of her and drives her to him as he drives himself into her. Again. And again.
FADE TO BLACK No such thing as love. Move on.