Free Dear John by Jamie Linden Page B

green.
    BERG
    Ah, home sweet home.
    Berg tosses his bag down, then focuses on JOHN’S MAP nearby -- which is now BLANKETED WITH PINS, coating six continents.
    BERG
    Where to next, ya think?
    John pushes past him towards his foot locker without even bothering to look up at the map.
    JOHN
    Wherever they send us.
    John has just started to unpack when--
    VOICE FROM BEHIND
    Actually, we’re sending you back to the States, John.
    He turns to find CAPTAIN MIKE KITTRICK standing in the doorway (Stone is long gone by now, as well).
    CAPTAIN KITTRICK
    I’m sorry. I just got the news.
    John stares at him. Immediately realizes something’s wrong.
    JOHN
    You just got what news?
    161        INT. MILITARY AIRPLANE -- DAY
    John sits in a seat, clearly distracted, trying to ignore the bumpiness of the flight.
    162        INT. AIRPORT -- DAY
    The escalator runs emptily. Finally John’s feet appear.
    He looks around. The airport has not changed one bit except for the fact that this time, no one is here to greet him.
    163        INT. HOSPITAL ROOM -- NIGHT
    Mr. Tyree lays in bed, asleep, tubes coming out of him from every angle. If John looks a few years older now, Mr. Tyree looks a few decades.
    John does not touch him. Instead he just stands there, silently watching his father breathe through a tube.
    164        INT. HOSPITAL HALLWAY -- NIGHT
    John speaks quietly with a DOCTOR.
    DOCTOR
    He’s conscious, but that doesn’t mean he’s lucid. And he’s almost never responsive. It’s just very hard to say how severe the stroke really was because it’s very hard to say how long he’d been lying there before they finally found him.
    John looks away. Guilt flashes on his face. He speaks quietly.
    JOHN
    If...if I’d been there... if I’d found him like that earlier...would it have made a difference?
    The Doctor pauses, looks at John. Takes pity on him.
    DOCTOR
    I doubt it.
    No matter how convincing he sounds, though, it does not appear to do John much good.
    165        EXT. MR. TYREE’S HOUSE -- NIGHT
    John hesitates, not wanting to go in, knowing he has to. Finally he puts the key in the door, walks --
    166        INT. MR. TYREE’S HOUSE -- NIGHT
    And it’s worse than he thought. It’s dark, silent, messy. There’s a dirty dish on the kitchen floor, a meal half-cooked on the stove. His father has never left a dish dirty or a meal half-cooked in his life.
    It’s all too much. John has to turn and walk right back out.
    167        INT. BOWEN’S SEASIDE RESTAURANT -- NIGHT
    The place is practically empty at this late hour. John sits at the bar, alone, peeling shrimp but not eating them.
    Reveal that the table he sat at with Savannah on their first date is right behind him. John steals a glance back at it.
    168        OMIT
    169        OMIT
    170        OMIT
    171        INT. MR. TYREE’S HOUSE -- NIGHT
    John walks back in, sets his keys back down. Gets his bearings. Heads through the house, back to his bedroom.
    But he pauses in front of his father’s den. Then, despite himself, he enters, flips on the light. Looks around the room.
    Here are his father’s coins, stacked all over the furniture. Here is his father’s desk, and his father’s chair.
    John takes a seat. Looks down at the desk. Starts to open drawers. Look through cabinets.
    He finally finds what he was looking for: a clean sheet of paper. He clears some room on the desk, lays the sheet of paper down in front of him.
    Then John grabs a pen, and he begins to write.
    171A      INT. HOSPITAL -- THE NEXT DAY
    John arrives at his father’s room and looks through the window -- to find that the room is empty. Mr. Tyree is nowhere to be found.
    172        INT. HOSPITAL CORRIDOR -- THE NEXT DAY
    John walks down the hallway, looking for a doctor to talk to--
    --when he finds his father on a gurney by the elevator.
    John hurries over. Mr. Tyree is awake, but as the doctor said, that’s not