Collateral Monologues

A cab driver finds himself the hostage of an engaging contract killer as he makes his rounds from hit to hit during one night in Los Angeles.

Look in the mirror. Paper towels, clean cab. Limo company some day. How much you got saved?

Someday? Someday my dream will come? One night you will wake up and discover it never happened. It's all turned around on you. It never will. Suddenly you are old. Didn't happen, and it never will, because you were never going to do it anyway. You'll push it into memory and then zone out in your barco lounger, being hypnotized by daytime TV for the rest of your life. Don't you talk to me about murder. All it ever took was a down payment on a Lincoln town car. That girl,you can't even call that girl. What the fuck are you still doing driving a cab?

A guy gets on the MTA here L.A. and dies. Think anybody'll notice?

Get with it. Millions of galaxies of hundreds of millions of stars, in a speck on one in a blink. That's us, lost in space. The cop, you, me... Who notices?

Take comfort in knowing you never had a choice.

Okay, look, here's the deal. Man, you were gonna drive me around tonight, never be the wiser, but El Gordo got in front of a window, did his high dive, we're into Plan B. Still breathing? Now we gotta make the best of it, improvise, adapt to the environment, Darwin, shit happens, I Ching, whatever man, we gotta roll with it.

Most people - same job, same gig, doing the same thing 10 years from now. Us, we don't know what we are doing 10 minutes from now.

Max, I do this for a living!

Someday my dream will come. One night you'll wake up and you'll discover it never happened. It's all turned around on you and it never will. Suddenly you are old, didn't happened and it never will, 'cause you were never going to do it anyway.

You attract attention, you're going to get people killed who didn't need to be.

Only thing that didn't show up is the Polish cavalry.

You're alive. I saved you. Do I get any thanks? No. All you can do is clam up. You wanna talk? Tell me to fuck off?

I don't meet people. Risk management. Anonymity. I protect mine. You're not gonna' screw that up. I got a contract with they're bosses. These guys don't get to meet me. They don't know what I look like.

They will kill you. Now, you've got ten minutes. At 10:01 I drive to the hospital and execute your mother on my way out of town. And don't pretend indifference.

Don't get me cornered. You don't have the trunk space.

You got ten minutes. 10:01? I drive the cab to the hospital and execute your mother on my way out of town, and don't pretend indifference.