What Geese Can't Fly Read online

  What Geese

  Can’t Fly?

  Inspired by a true story

  Original Screenplay by

  Emily Fagundo Haggman

  and Eric Haggman

  Story by

  Emily Fagundo Haggman

  and Joe Fagundo

  Trapped between two cultures, a young immigrant girl longs

  to leave her family’s old world ways behind, but fears she

  is destined to live a life that they have chosen for her.

  Review & Praise for

  ‘What Geese Can’t Fly’

  “Thoughtfully-crafted and poignant, this beautifully written script is an honest and an often difficult portrayal of what it means to come to America with nothing but hope. Grace’s family endures a great deal of hardship. Set within the beautiful, quaint landscape of Cambridge, Massachusetts, their obstacles are jarring. The story excels in painting the picture of wealth disparity in America, Grace’s family juxtaposed with the ignorant, elitist mindset of others like Alex.

  Voiceover is effectively used, as well, digging deep and emphasizing the emotions that Grace feels as she attempts to navigate through a tumultuous coming-of-age. She and her family are three-dimensional and fully defined. Each member of the house has his or her own specific obstacles, definitive conflicts. But there’s also a strong, overarching family bond that connects them. It helps them survive unspeakable tragedy. The prose is beautiful. It’s poetic and rife with emotion.

  Characters speak with an authenticity while still retaining an edge that makes the overall story feel cinematic and worthy of the big screen.”

  —The Black List, an annual survey of Hollywood executives’ favorite unproduced screenplays

  This book is a work of fiction. References to real people, events, establishments, organizations, or locales are only intended to provide a sense of authenticity, and are used fictitiously. All other characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination

  and are not to be construed as real.

  What Geese Can’t Fly?

  Copyright © 2020 by Emily Fagundo Haggman

  WGAW #1896164

  All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America.

  No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  For more information, email us at [email protected].

  First Edition

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  has been applied for.

  To Mommy and Daddy,

  thank you for teaching me how to fly.

  The Azores Islands are a Portuguese archipelago in the

  North Atlantic Ocean, located about two hours from Europe

  and five hours from North America.

  “The People’s Republic of Cambridge” - where the story is set

  and what would become our new home in America.

  Prologue

  I started my writing journey by taking Robert McKee’s “Story Seminar” not once, but twice – in Boston and Miami.

  Wow! I felt like I was watching a one-man stage show – totally overwhelmed by all the insightful information coming out of his smoky voice.

  After taking the seminar for the second time, I mustered the courage to actually approach Mr. McKee and introduce myself. I told him that I wanted to write a story which would inspire girls and women to not be victims in their lives – to give them the strength and courage to leave abusive or bad relationships.

  His response after taking a long drag of his cigarette, “Listen doll, just write a fucking great story – that’s all you need to do.”

  Okay then – that’s what I put my mind to and started writing “What Geese Can’t Fly” also titled at different points: “Grace’s Goodbye” and “Leaving Tremont Street.”

  Along the way, I began collaborating with my author husband, Eric, and my brother, Joe, who helped to revive so many family memories.

  The story is inspired by my family – first generation Portuguese immigrants who came here, like so many others, to escape poverty, a socialist dictatorship, and to give their children a better life.

  Which, for me, they did.

  But my experience coming to America at five years old was very different from my 10 to 16-year-old brother and sisters’ experiences. Life in America was hell for them. Their painful early years caused my sister and brother to make some miserable choices – choices that I vowed I would never make! You see, when I was younger, I judged them for the decisions they made; but then, I came to understand that our circumstances and environment can shape the choices we make. My empathy for them grew and grew.

  With a little creative license, this is our story. I really started writing it just for myself. Then, it turned into writing something that might help or inspire someone, who may be living in misery or feeling trapped, to change their life and not give up hope. And to realize, there is always a choice - but that choice can only be made by you.

  — Emily Fagundo Haggman

  CAST OF CHARACTERS

  Vieira Family

  Bella - mother

  Fatima - older daughter

  Johnny - son

  Grace - younger daughter

  Fatima’s Husband

  Eddie Pacheco

  Johnny’s Posse

  Tommy Callahan

  Fat Manny

  Little Louie

  Alex McPhearson

  The professor

  Joey Medeiros

  Grace’s boyfriend

  Billy Maguire

  The bully

  Neighborhood Peeps

  Turtle

  Jimmy O’Leary

  Senhora Medeiros

  Opening Scene

  1 EXT. DAY - CAMBRIDGE STREET (MASSACHUSETTS) - SUMMER

  LITTLE LISBON: Azores Travel, Manny’s Corner Store: tripe & linguica on sale, Maria’s Casa de Beauty, Cabral’s Atomic Fish Market and triple decker apartments dot the working-class neighborhood.

  Juggling a stack of books - a pretty, college age girl breezes through the noisy urban street.

  Bronzed olive skin peeks through her yellow sundress as her shiny black hair bounces in sync with her hurried steps.

  GRACE (V.O.):

  This is my neighborhood ... the People’s Republic of Cambridge. Our anchor stores are Cabral’s Atomic Fish Market and the Tremont Bar & Lounge.

  Rounding the corner, she SPEEDS up passing the seedy bar and Roosevelt Towers - a dirty, dangerous housing projects.

  (Shots of Harvard, wealthy Brattle Street neighborhoods)

  GRACE (V.O.):

  Around the corner are the Projects, where dreams go to die. And up the street Harvard Square - with its million dollar homes and trust fund babies whose dreams never seem to die.

  About to cross the street, a shiny black Porsche speeds through a red light BLOCKING the four-way intersection. A Toyota Prius, with a “Save the Bees” bumper sticker, SCREECHES to a halt in front of Grace.

  GRACE (V.O.):

  Dopeheads, rich left-wing liberals and little old ladies dressed in their widow’s black living all together in a state of total disdain for one another.

  2 INT. BLACK PORSCHE

  JOHNNY VIEIRA (30’s), presses HARD on his car horn.

  We catch a glimpse of his sad, lived-in brown eyes as he covers them with his Ray-Bans.

  3 EXT. CAMBRIDGE STREET

  Raking his hands through his dark, curly hair, Johnny leaps out of the car, rushes towards his self-created gridlock.

  SHOUTING at the “bee saving” Prius driver, Johnny abruptly STOPS yelling as he spots GRACE VIEIRA - our narrator -
a sweet-faced girl, with laughing eyes and a disarming smile ... (a bright light amidst grim circumstances).

  She beams him a sunny smile, waves.

  Johnny nods. Turns and darts back inside his Porsche.

  4 EXT. SPRING HILL CASKET MANUFACTURING

  Grace passes a bunch of Tony Soprano wannabes - young, neighborhood guys hanging outside the casket factory chain smoking, talking shit - as a truck is loaded up with coffins.

  LITTLE LOUIE (pointing over at Grace, wolf-whistling):

  Look at the knockers on that one.

  Grace totally ignores the comment as Little Louie continues.

  LITTLE LOUIE:

  Hey baby! Why don’t ya come over here and give me some lovin’!

  CLOSE VIEW ON LITTLE LOUIE.

  WHACK! His head snaps forward as a beefy hand hits him hard on the back of the head.

  LITTLE LOUIE:

  Hey! What the ...

  Little Louie turns around as, six-foot-three, three hundred pound, FAT MANNY grabs him by the scruff of the neck.

  FAT MANNY (blue collar accent):

  What? Are ya’ friggin nuts?

  LITTLE LOUIE:

  Come on. It’s just some good lookin’ broad with big tits.

  FAT MANNY (dangling Louie by the neck):

  What? You been livin’ in a freakin’ cave? You idiot! That’s GRACE VIEIRA. AS IN JOHNNY VIEIRA. That’s his little sista. If he was here right now, he’d stuff your dumb ass in one of them friggin’ coffins.

  5 INT. CHARLESBANK DRY CLEANERS - CONTINUOUS

  A conveyer belt packed with plastic-bagged clothing whirs and rotates behind Grace as she waits on customers from behind a counter.

  We spot her books tucked in the corner.

  Customers walk in and out: pleasant, smiling, polite.

  An impeccably dressed, older, Asian man enters carrying his shirts wrapped in newspaper. He bows. Grace bows back, counts his shirts, hands him a ticket.

  GRACE:

  Doumo Arigatou, Mr. Nakamura.

  Big smile, bows.

  MR. NAKAMURA:

  You’re welcome, Miss Grace-san.

  Mr. Nakamura is followed by a tight-jawed, Boston Brahman. Dressed in Brooks Brothers head to toe, expensive loafers, no socks. Talking on his cell phone, he flings Grace his ticket.

  Grace just stands there as he continues talking.

  TIGHT-ASS BRAHMAN:

  He will never be Club material. We all know if it were not for affirmative...

  (annoyed)

  What are you waiting for?

  GRACE:

  Sorry your clothes aren’t back.

  TIGHT-ASS BRAHMAN (slowly separating his words as if Grace were a dimwit):

  What? I made it perfectly clear when I dropped it off this morning that I needed my tuxedo for dinner at the Harvard Club tonight.

  GRACE:

  I’m so sorry Mr. Eliot. We lost power this afternoon and everything’s backed up.

  TIGHT-ASS BRAHMAN:

  That’s not my problem.

  GRACE:(sliding back his ticket):

  Well. It kinda is.

  He crumples the ticket, throws it at Grace. Stomps out.

  TURTLE (chuckling, Portuguese accent):

  We no lose no power today.

  Behind Grace stands TURTLE - short, round, with his hunched- up, turtle-like shoulders - unsuccessfully trying to tuck his shirttails into his pants.

  GRACE:

  No, we did not. MR. ONE-PER-CENTER just needed a little life lesson. Every time he comes in here he treats us like the great unwashed.

  Pulling his clean, bagged tux off the conveyor belt, she tears off the ticket, crumples it and NBA-like throws it in the trash bucket.

  GRACE:

  Think this is going M.I.A. for a while.

  TURTLE (laughing with approval):

  Grace, them people. They don’t like us. It’s just like the old country. The rich people on the mainland, they own the boats. And us. We work their boats. They’re all the same.

  6 EXT. 1/2 MILE UP ON CAMBRIDGE STREET - CONTINUOUS

  Johnny speeds up the street, darting in and out of traffic, arguing on his cell phone.

  GRACE (V.O.):

  Here’s what they don’t get about us - living in their fancy Brattle Street houses, listening to NPR. All we want is to just fit in. You know ... Belong.

  7 EXT. SPRING HILL CASKETS

  Johnny roars up in front as Fat Manny, Little Louie and his “posse” rush up to greet him. Fat Manny reaches over, pulls open Johnny’s car door.

  FAT MANNY:

  Hey Johnny. How’s it goin’? Everything’s ready for you inside.

  CUT TO:

  8 GRAPHIC: 20 YEARS EARLIER, AZORES, PORTUGAL

  SUN SETS - bathing the black volcanic cliffs in pink and orange hues; fishing boats bob up and down, the blue Atlantic waters splash the rocky shore.

  Portuguese Fado music softly begins ... as the Queen of Fado, Amália Rodrigues, sings in Portuguese “Estranha Forma de Vida” ... “This Strange Life.”

  AMALIA (V.O.) (Singing in Portuguese):

  I live in the sadness of this strange life. This heart of mine beating, longing for lives lost.

  Fado music continues ...

  9 INT. AIRPLANE WINDOW - DUSK, RED-ORANGE SUN

  The sun streaks the face of pretty, doe-eyed 16-year-old FATIMA VIEIRA. Her mother, BELLA, sits next to her holding a crying baby GRACE. JOHNNY’s little boy hand reaches over to comfort the baby, gently patting her back.

  Bella hugs Grace in closer, hiding her tear-stained face into the tucks of the baby’s blanket.

  Weeping, Fatima palms the window as an aerial view of the Azores, Portugal passes below.

  Fado Music continues ...

  10 EXT. SAN MIGUEL, AZORES, PORTUGAL - DUSK

  A blaze of purple hydrangeas ZOOMS by as the plane gains altitude.

  GRACE (V.O.):

  The island of San Miguel where generations of my family have lived. The beauty of the island has long been lost on its people. Lost from a sense of fatalism born of isolation.

  As the island darkens, church bells CLANG. A signal for mothers to scoop up playing children from their stoops; for shop owners to close; for fishermen to tie up their boats.

  GRACE (V.O.):

  Lost from TOTAL domination by the Catholic Church. Lost from decades under a corrupt, brutal dictatorship. Leaving them still with one shared feeling. FEAR.

  Fear of speaking the truth. Fear of being overheard. Fear of just disappearing in the middle of the night.

  Boom, boom, boom. A flurry of shutters SHUT CLOSE all over the island.

  GRACE (V.O.):

  All living in a hopeless psychic prison. One my Vieira family longed to leave behind.

  FADO MUSIC FADES.

  act 1

  Twenty Years Earlier

  11 EXT. CAMBRIDGE STREET, CAMBRIDGE, MA - DAY JARRING CITY SOUNDS AS ...

  TEN-YEAR-OLD JOHNNY VIEIRA crosses the same four-way intersection where we first met him ... arguing with the “Bee Saving” Prius driver.

  Johnny rushes past triple decker apartments and shops - in this RUNDOWN working-class neighborhood.

  SEQUENCE OF SHOTS: O’Brien’s Liquors, Colleen’s Cut & Dry, Sam’s Deli & Meats ... An elderly woman dressed in black sweeps the sidewalk in front of one tiny, out of place and time Portuguese shop - Cabral’s Fish Market.

  12 INT. VIERA FAMILY APARTMENT LANDING, CAMBRIDGE

  Taking two steps at a time, Johnny climbs up the three flights.

  Women ARGUING in Portuguese.

  He STOPS. Heads towards a door marked with a wooden crucifix. Hesitantly, puts his ear up against the door - LISTENS.

  13 INT. VIEIRA KITCHEN

  Dated appliances, faded wallpaper, plastic covered windows, mismatched Salvation Army furniture.

  The meager conditions are masked by colorful ethnic touches: bright curtains, plastic flowers and a huge crucifix of Jesus’ limp body hanging on the cross. />
  BELLA VIEIRA - matriarch - strong-boned with kind eyes - wearing a faded house dress, a multi-colored Portuguese scarf tied around her head, a Saint Michael Archangel medallion necklace hangs from around her neck.

  FATIMA VIEIRA - the lovely, petite 16 year-old girl we first met on the plane - sits at the table peeling potatoes. Plopping a potato into the bowl of water, it SPLASHES back on her face.

  FATIMA (in Portuguese):

  I hate it here. I hate this stupid country.

  Bella vigorously stirs a pot on the stove, wipes at her brow.

  BELLA: (in Portuguese)

  And what Fatima? You think this is the life I wanted?

  FATIMA (in Portuguese):

  It was your choice to leave. Not mine. You should’ve left me behind.

  BELLA (in Portuguese, defeated):

  CHOICE? You know we weren’t safe there.

  Sobbing, Fatima runs past ONE-YEAR-OLD, BABY GRACE - sitting in her high chair licking a spoon. Bella chases after Fatima.

  BELLA (Portuguese):

  Fatima ... You saw what those animals did to your father.

  14 INT. VIEIRA KITCHEN - CONTINUOUS

  A pot sits bubbling on top of the hot stove. Baby Grace sits in her high chair CRYING.

  Johnny swoops in - scooping up Baby Grace in his arms.

  JOHNNY:

  Oh Grace ... It’s okay, Baby Girl.

  Grace squirms - happy, safe in Johnny’s arms.

  Fatima’s SOBS fill the room.

  15 INT. BELLA’S SMALL BEDROOM

  Bella kneels, praying before a dresser that is littered with religious figures and a framed picture of JOSE, - THE FATHER. A candle flickers next to it.

  BELLA (praying):

  Ave Maria cheia de graça, Deus ...

  Johnny gently touches Bella’s shoulder. Sits Grace on the floor, kneels and prays beside his mother.