PHILADELPHIA

                              DR. ARMBRUSTER
                    Leave that.

                              JOE
                    Yeah, but Doc, isn't it true they
                    keep finding out new things about
                    this disease? So you tell me, today,
                    there's no danger, and I go home,
                    and I hold my baby, and six months
                    from now I hear on the news: "whoops!
                    We were wrong.' You can carry it on
                    your clothes, your skin, and now I've
                    got to worry about my kid. What
                    are you doing?

Dr. Armbruster has been preparing a syringe.

                              DR. ARMBRUSTER
                    We're going to draw blood.

                              JOE
                    Why are we going to do that?

                              DR. ARMBRUSTER
                    Joe. I don't care a whit about your
                    private life.

                              JOE
                    You want to give me an AIDS test?!

Joe HOPS off the table.

                              JOE (CONT.)
                    The guy sat in my office! You can't
                    get AIDS that way, right?

                              DR. ARMBRUSTER
                    Right.

                              JOE
                    It doesn't travel through the
                    air, by breathing, or touching,
                    right?

                              DR. ARMBRUSTER
                    Not by touching, or shaking hands,
                    or hugging, using the same toilet...
                    Even kissing someone with AIDS is
                    safe. But it there's something in
                    your past you're worried about...

                              JOE
                    Thanks, Doc, but I don't need an
                    AIDS test. Are you crazy? But
                    thanks for the information. Really.

Joe throws on his jacket, opens the door... then TURNS BACK:

                              JOE (CONT.)
                    In my past?

                              ARMBRUSTER
                    IV drug use.

Joe shakes his head.

                              DR. ARMBRUSTER (CONT.)
                    A homosexual encounter.

                              JOE
                    Get real.

                              DR. ARMBRUSTER
                    Unprotected sex with a prostitute.

                              JOE
                         (thinking it over)
                    Uh.... No. Not really.

                              DR. ARMBRUSTER
                    Or unprotected sex with someone you
                    didn't know very well, any time
                    during the last twelve years.

A MOMENT.

Joe returns to the examining table, and rolls up his sleeve.

                                                  CUT TO:

ESTABLISHING: JOE'S HOUSE IN THE SUBURBS (EXT./NIGHT) ...

                              LISA (VOICE OVER)
                    You have a problem with gays,
                    Joe.

                                        CONTINUOUS CUT TO:

JOB CRADLES HIS BABY AGAINST HIS CHEST (INT./NIGHT) ...

                              JOE
                    Not especially.

Lisa eats standing up, at the stove, while Joe walks the
BABY in their modern kitchen.

                              LISA
                    How many gays do you know?

                              JOE
                    How many do you know?

                              LISA
                    Lots.

                              JOE
                    Who?

                              LISA
                    Karen Berman. Aunt Teresa. My
                    cousin Tommy who lives in
                    Rochester. Eddie Meyers from the
                    office. Joe Cantwell, he's one of
                    the partners. His lover, Greg.
                    Stanley, the guy who's putting in
                    our kitchen cabinets.

For a moment, Joe is struck dumb. Then he says:

                              JOE
                    Your Aunt Teresa is gay? That
                    beautiful, sensuous woman is a...
                    lesbian?

                              LISA
                    Duh...

                              JOE
                    Since when?

                              LISA
                    Probably since she was born.

                              JOE
                    Allright. I admit it: I'm
                    prejudiced. I don't want to work
                    with a homosexual. You got me.

                              LISA
                    Okay, Joe...

                              JOE
                    I mean, two guys, doing the
                    horizontal thing? I don't get
                    it. Don't they get confused?
                    "Is that mine? I thought it was
                    yours." Hey, call me old
                    fashioned, call me
                    conservative... I think maybe
                    you have to be a man to get just
                    how nauseating the whole basic
                    idea really is.

                              LISA
                    Fine, Joe.

                              JOE
                    And the way they work out,
                    pumping up, so they can be macho
                    and faggot at the same time... I
                    can't stand that shit. Now I'm
                    being totally honest with you.

                              LISA
                    That's perfectly clear.

CLOSE ON JOE, LOOKING DIRECTLY INTO CAMERA:

                              JOE
                    Would you take a client if you
                    were constantly thinking: "I
                    hope this guy doesn't touch me.
                    I don't even want him to breathe
                    on me?"

                                                  CUT TO:

THE STREETS OF PHILLY ARE DUSTED WITH SNOW, STORE WINDOWS
decorated for Christmas. Joe steps out of the Famous 4th
St. Deli, with a package (EXT./DAY) ...

TITLE: "Two weeks later."

                                                  CUT TO:

JOE SITS AT A TABLE IN THE PUBLIC LAW LIBRARY, SURROUNDED BY
books and legal pads, hard at work. He's eating a pastrami
sandwich which he hides behind a reference book when a LIBRARIAN
saunters by (INT./DAY) ...

A CHAIR SQUEAKS and Joe LOOKS UP TO SEE:

Andrew taking a seat across the room (the blotches have been
reduced by chemo, but he's struggling with a cold). Andrew
removes notepads and pens from his briefcase. He takes out a
package of tissues, blowing his nose.

                              JOE
                         (under his breath)
                    Shit...

Joe slides to the far end of his table, stacking seven or
eight HUGE REFERENCE BOOKS in front of him.

JOE'S POV, PEERING THROUGH THE REFERENCE BOOKS:

Andrew opens a book, taking notes. Rubs his eyes. Writes
something. Sneezes.

A LIBRARIAN delivers a book to Andrew.

                              LIBRARIAN
                    This is the supplement. You're
                    right, there is a section on...
                         (lowers her voice)
                    ... HIV related discrimination.

                              ANDREW
                    Thank you.

Andrew takes the book from her -- but she remains.

                              LIBRARIAN
                    We have a private research room
                    available.

                              ANDREW
                    I'm fine, thanks.

Andrew BLOWS HIS NOSE. Now other PATRONS are watching.

                              LIBRARIAN
                    Wouldn't you be more comfortable in
                    a research room?

                              ANDREW
                         (pleasantly)
                    No. But would it make you more
                    comfortable?

                              LIBRARIAN
                    Whatever, sir.

The LIBRARIAN turns away, shrugging to a PATRON, indicating
she's done all she can do.

As Joe continues to watch: one of Andrew's NEIGHBORS picks
up his books and moves away.

Joe rises, gliding down an aisle of books, keeping one eye
on Andrew, who concentrates on his work.

Joe approaches, nonchalantly, as if he just happens to be
sauntering by. Suddenly he "notices" Andrew.

                              JOE
                    Oh, Beckett. How's it goin'?

                              ANDREW
                    Fine.

Andrew goes back to his work.

                              JOE
                    Who'd you get?

                              ANDREW
                    What?

                              JOE
                    Find a lawyer?

                              ANDREW
                    I'm a lawyer. How's your baby?

                              JOE
                    Huh? Oh. Great. She's great.

                              ANDREW
                    What's her name?

                              JOE
                    Rayisha.

                              ANDREW
                    Rayisha. Very nice.

Andrew focuses on his work. Joe steps away.

Joe comes back.

                              JOE
                    How did they find out?

                              ANDREW
                         (a second, then:)
                    One of the partners spotted a
                    lesion on my forehead.

Nearby, a CHINESE PROFESSOR looks up, startled, when she
hears the word "lesion."

                              JOE
                    Uh huh...

Andrew concentrates on his work once more.

                              JOE (CONT.)
                    How do you get from one lawyer
                    spotting a lesion, which could
                    have been a bruise, to the
                    partners deducing you had AIDS
                    and basing a decision to
                    terminate you on that
                    conclusion?

The CHINESE PROFESSOR moves away.

                              ANDREW
                    Good point.

Andrew removes a legal pad with "KENTON" written in big
letters across the top, and lots of notes underneath.

                              ANDREW (CONT.)
                    The partner who spotted the
                    lesion, Walter Kenton, used to
                    work for Benton, Myers, in D.C.
                    There's a paralegal there, Maria
                    Torres. She's had lesions on
                    and off for three years. She
                    says it was common knowledge
                    around the office that her
                    lesions were caused by AIDS.

                              JOE
                    They didn't fire her?

                              ANDREW
                    No. They didn't fire her.

Andrew goes back to his work. Joe stands there.

                              JOE
                    So Kenton connected the... lesion,
                    and whatever suspicions he had about
                    your personal life... to this
                    woman, Maria... and blew the
                    whistle on you. Suddenly you're
                    losing files, and it's time to
                    let you go. But, up to this
                    point, you've been their Golden
                    Boy, their rising star... Their
                    behavior is... inconsistent.

                              ANDREW
                    Thank you.

Andrew goes back to work.

                              JOE
                    There is no relevant precedent.

                              ANDREW
                         (not looking up)
                    Arline decision. Supreme Court.

                              JOE
                    Arline?

Andrew SHOVES the legal book toward Joe.

CLOSE ON ANDREW'S HANDS (with one blotch) on the book's white
pages.

The book is still facing Andrew. If Joe wants to read it,
he'll have to turn it around.

Joe looks at Andrew's hands. A MOMENT.

Joe turns the book around, begins to read:

                              JOE
                    "The Federal Vocational
                    Rehabilitation Act of 1973 prohibits
                    discrimination..."

CAMERA CRANES UP, TOWARD THE CEILING... JOE CONTINUES
READING IN VOICE-OVER:

                              JOE (VO) (CONT.)
                    "... against otherwise qualified
                    handicapped persons who are able
                    to perform the duties required by
                    their employment..."

CAMERA GOES HIGHER, LOOKING DOWN ON THE ROWS OF BOOKS AND THE
LONG TABLES DOTTED WITH PEOPLE...

                              JOE (VO) (CONT.)
                    "Although the ruling did not
                    address the specific issue of
                    HIV and AIDS discrimination..."

DISSOLVE TO SAME ANGLE AN HOUR LATER: Andrew and Joe face each
other at their table, but NO ONE ELSE remains at that table,
or at the table next to it...

                              ANDREW (VO)
                    "Subsequent decisions have held
                    that AIDS is protected as a
                    handicap under law, not only
                    because of the physical
                    limitations it imposes..."

DISSOLVE TO A SAME ANGLE AN HOUR LATER (DAY IS TURNING INTO
NIGHT): Joe pacing, Andrew reading. Their section of the
library is COMPLETELY EMPTY but for Andrew and Joe.

                              ANDREW (VO) (CONT.)
                    "But because the prejudice
                    surrounding AIDS exacts a social
                    death which precedes the actual,
                    physical one..."

DISSOLVE TO SAME ANGLE, LATER: Andrew and Joe sit on the
same side of the table, reading the same book.

                              JOE (VO)
                    "This is the essence of
                    discrimination: formulating
                    opinions about others not based
                    on their individual merits but,
                    rather, on their membership in a
                    group with assumed characteristics...

The library is QUIET. Andrew SNEEZES.

Joe scoots his chair away from Andrew by eight inches.

DISCO MUSIC RISES ACCOMPANIED BY THE SOUNDS OF GRUNTING,
HEAVY BREATHING AND SLAPPING FLESH AS WE...

                                                  CUT TO:

MUSCULAR, SWEATY MALE BODIES SLAMMING INTO EACH OTHER, sounds of
GRUNTS, skin SLAPPING against skin (INT./NIGHT) ...

... Hand SLAPPING a butt under satin shorts

... Sweaty armpits... the ROAR OF A CROWD...

... BASKETBALL PLAYERS embracing, twirling each other around, high
fiving...

WIDE ANGLE REVEALS: A basketball game in progress, Sixers
versus the Celtics in Philly's Spectrum Arena.

ON CLOSED CIRCUIT TV: ROBERT PARISH going for a lay-up...

                              WHEELER/KENTON/OTHERS
                    Watch this guy! Nail him! Ouch!