INT. BOBBY-LEE’s BAR & GRILL – NIGHT

The bar is dark, lit by Pabst Blue Ribbon neon signs and every hue of neon available.  There are pool tables in the back, and over the bar, two aging television sets are tuned in to the first round of the NCAA championships.  DUKE is squared off against East Tennessee State.  It’s the fourth quarter, and the game is tied.

BOBBY LEE

Hey! Gonzalez fouled out!

JASPER

(glancing up from the pool table)

Seriously?  Who’s that leave?

BOBBY LEE

It leaves Myron.  That’s it.

JASPER drops his pool cue on the table and heads for the bar, shaking his head.  As he comes, he crushes the beer can in his hand and lobs it the length of the bar in a glittering neon-enhanced arc.  It lands cleanly in a trash can at the end of the bar.

JASPER

I’ll be damned, Bobby Lee.  The boy is gonna play in the big show.

BOBBY LEE

It ain’t the majors.

JASPER

Hell with the majors, Bobby, this is the champ-een-ship.  This is what makes ’em and breaks ’em.  Win and move on, lose and go home.

BOBBY LEE

Yeah, yeah... we’ll see.

(turns toward the kitchen)

Hey Marge!  You better get out here.

MARGE, about two hundred pounds of dirty apron and frizzy hair steps out from the kitchen in back.  She’s smoking a cigarette, and as she enters the bar she stubs it out against the inside of the sink and flips it across the bar.  It whirls like a top and settles in the ashtray just past where Bobby Lee is standing.  On screen, they announce a new player into the game.

ANNOUNCER 1

And here’s something unexpected.  With Gonzalez out, Duke has to dig deep into their bench.  They’re sending in Myron Lee at strong forward.  For those not familiar with this young man, he comes from a small town called Old Mill down in North Carolina.  He was a late addition to the squad, and we don’t know much about him.  Tonight he has some big shoes to fill.

ANNOUNCER 2

I’ll say Bob; Gonzalez is reported to have size 14 Nikes!

MARGE

Why don’t they say how big Jr.s shoes are? Myron has some BIG feet.

BOBBY LEE

Shut up Marge.  Can’t you see we’re trying to watch this?

At the end of the bar, EUSTACE – sixty, bent and gray with a perpetual frown, waves an empty bowl.

EUSTACE

Hey!  How about some service here?  I’ out of peanuts!

BOBBY LEE grabs a can of peanuts without looking and whips it up into the air.  It lands on the bar, hops once, and tips.  The nuts spill into the bowl, and EUSTACE, still frowning, takes a few and starts to chew.

ANNOUNCER 1

And the ball is in play.  Duke brings it up the court quickly.  Bentley, the point guard, is pretty tired.  He hasn’t had a break in the second half. There’s one minute left in regulation play – the score is tied.

ANNOUNCER 2

Not sure what that Lee boy is doing.  He isn’t moving much.  Maybe it’s a ruse...the defense isn’t paying much attention to him.

Everyone in the bar gathers close around the bar, watching the screen. The game clock has wound down to 15 seconds.  The score is still tied.  Tennessee has the ball, and then, suddenly, a Duke guard steals it, and they are headed up the floor.  Myron hangs back at about the half-court line, watching like he’s not really part of it.  The ball gets passed and passed and passed, but there’s no opening.  Finally, there are only four seconds left, and the point guard sees Myron by himself.  He tossed the ball.

POINT GUARD

SHOOT!

MYRON catches the ball.  He looks at it, bounces it once, and grins.  All of the opposing team converges on him, hands raised.  Myron tossed the ball carelessly toward the basket.  All eyes follow it. The clock counts out...no time left at all... and the ball falls through from half-court.  MYRON has won the game.

BOBBY LEE

Damn.

MARGE

Sure was close.

EUSTACE

HEY!  I spilled my beer here, I...

MARGE whips a towel the length of the bar and it slaps into EUSTACE’s face cleanly, covering his mouth and muting his complaints.

JASPER

Thought for a second there they’d make him move closer...

BOBBY LEE Throws an old beer label two feet toward the trash and misses by a foot.

BOBBY LEE

Damn straight.  They really wanted to win, they’d have given it to the boy at the other end of the court.

MARGE

(turns toward the kitchen)

Glad that’s over.

MARGE runs smack into the door frame and lets out a howl.  On the television, the crowd goes wild...