Page 53 - SHERLOCK transcripts

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SHERLOCK (to himself): Why a taxi? Oh, that’s clever. Is it clever? Why is it clever?
JOHN: That’s him?
SHERLOCK: Don’t stare.
JOHN (looking round at him): You’re staring.
SHERLOCK: We can’t both stare.
(Getting to his feet, he grabs his coat and scarf and heads for the door. John picks up his own
jacket and follows ... completely forgetting to take his walking cane with him. Outside the door,
Sherlock shrugs himself into his coat while keeping his eyes fixed on the taxi. The passenger
continues to look around him, then turns and looks out the back window. His gaze falls on the
restaurant and he looks at it for a few moments while Sherlock stares back at him, then the
man turns towards the front of the vehicle and the taxi begins to pull away from the kerb.
Sherlock immediately heads towards it without bothering to check the road that he’s running
into and is almost run over by a car coming from his left. The driver slams on the brakes and
stops the car but Sherlock, always keen to take the quickest route, allows his forward impetus
to carry him onto the top of the bonnet. He rolls over the bonnet, lands on his feet on the other
side and then runs after the taxi. As the driver of the car angrily sounds his horn, John puts one
hand on the bonnet and vaults over the front of the car, apologising to the driver as he goes.)
JOHN: Sorry.
(He chases after Sherlock, who runs a few yards up the road before realising that he’s not going
to catch the taxi and slows to a halt. John catches up and stops beside him.)
JOHN: I’ve got the cab number.
SHERLOCK: Good for you.
(He brings his hands up to either side of his head and concentrates, calling up a mental map of
the local area and overlaying it with images of the streets along the route which he calculates
that the taxi must take.)
SHERLOCK (quick fire): Right turn, one way, roadworks, traffic lights, bus lane, pedestrian
crossing, left turn only, traffic lights.
(Having worked out the route, he lifts his head and sees a man unlocking the door to a nearby
building. Instantly his mind flashes up a signpost saying, “ALTERNATIVE ROUTE.” Sherlock
races towards the man and grabs him, shoving him out of the way before charging into the
building.)
MAN: Oi!
(John hurries after Sherlock, raising an apologetic hand to the man as he goes.)
JOHN: Sorry.
(The two of them race up the stairs and out onto a metal spiral fire escape staircase leading to
the roof. Sherlock, the lanky git, takes the steps two or even three at a time and John struggles
to keep up with him as he scurries up behind him.)
SHERLOCK: Come on, John.
(Reaching the top of the stairs, Sherlock runs to the edge and looks over before seeing a
shorter metal spiral staircase leading down the side of the building to another door one floor
lower. He gallops down the stairs and climbs onto the railing before leaping across the gap to
the next building. John scrambles onto the railing and follows. Sherlock runs across to the other
side of the roof and again leaps across to the next building. John races after him, but then skids
to a halt when he realises that the gap may be too big for him to jump across. As if in
sympathy, pedestrian traffic lights on the ground change from the green “It is safe to cross”
sign to the red “Stop and wait” sign. John hesitates, looking down at the drop beneath him.)
SHERLOCK: Come on, John. We’re losing him!
(John backs up a few paces and braces himself. As the traffic lights change to “Safe to cross”
again, he takes a run-up and and leaps the gap. Dropping down onto a walkway along the side
of the building, the boys run onwards. The taxi continues its journey on the ground and the
boys gallop down another metal staircase, then run to a ledge and drop down into an alleyway
before running onwards again. Sherlock leads John down the alleyway as, in his head, a map
shows their location in comparison to where the taxi must be. Their paths are beginning to get
closer and they are heading towards a point where Sherlock and John will exit the alleyway onto
D’Arblay Street, into which the taxi is just turning. Sherlock turns the corner and races down
the last part of the alley, only to see the taxi drive past the end, heading to the left.)
SHERLOCK (angrily): Ah, no!
(Without breaking stride, he races out of the end of the alley and turns right.)
SHERLOCK: This way.
(Instinctively John turns left in pursuit of the taxi.)
SHERLOCK: No, this way!

Transcripts by Ariane DeVere (arianedevere@livejournal.com)