Taxi Driver: Iris Part II

CUT TO: TRAVIS sits at his desk in his APARTMENT, writing. He wears jeans, western shirt and empty holster. TRAVIS (V.O.): June 11. Eight rallies in six more days. The time is coming. CUT TO: NIGHT. TRAVIS' taxi picks up a FARE in the midtown area and heads downtown. LOWER EAST SIDE. TRAVIS lets off FARE on B Street and cuts across toward Tompkins Square. TRAVIS turns the corner when SKREETCH! he suddenly hits the brakes, causing the cab to rock back and forth. He has almost hit a YOUNG GIRL recklessly crossing the street. She thumps her hand on the taxi hood to regain her balance and stares in shock through the front window. C.U. GIRL's face. TRAVIS recognizes her face: it's IRIS, the GIRL in his taxi a week or so before. IRIS looks at TRAVIS sharply then turns and continues walking. TRAVIS' eyes follow her and she rejoins a GIRLFRIEND. They are both dressed as hippie hookers: sloppy clothes, boots, jeans, floppy hats. And the old come-hither walk is unmistakable. TRAVIS follows IRIS and her GIRLFRIEND slowly as they walk down the sidewalk. TRAVIS' P.O.V. He examines them from bottom to top --boots, legs, thighs, breasts, faces, hats. As TRAVIS rolls astride the GIRLS, he notices the familiar FRINGE OF A SUEDE JACKET standing in the shadows. The GIRLS look toward the SHADOWED FIGURE, smile, acknowledge some unheard comment, and continue on. IRIS looks back uneasily at TRAVIS' taxi and continues on. On the corner stand TWO well-to-do COLLEGE STUDENTS, somewhat out of place in this environment, but making every attempt to groove on it. They are high on something or another. The GIRLS spot the COLLEGE STUDENTS and walk over to them. They exchange some small talk and walk off together. There is little subtlety involved: it is obviously a pick-up. TRAVIS must negotiate a turn around the corner if he is to continue following the GIRLS and their COLLEGIATE JOHNS. This is not so easy, since the traffic is heavy. As TRAVIS slows down to make the turn, he notices ANOTHER HIPPIE HOOKER who had been watching him watching IRIS and her GIRLFRIEND. She walks over to the taxi, loans in the open left front window and gives TRAVIS the come-on disguised as an innocent question: C.U. HIPPIE HOOKER. HIPPIE HOOKER: Hey cabbie! You comin' or goin'? TRAVIS quickly turns his face away from her in a combination of shock, embarrassment and revulsion. He is the child caught with his hand in the cookie jar. The very presence of this crassly, openly sexual human being frightens and sickens him. TRAVIS takes off with a skreetch. His taxi shoots down the block.