Practice: Twin Peaks Mike scene

Mike the One-Armed Man sits in a chair, swears and fidgets. Cooper, Truman, Gordon Cole, and Hawk stand about him.

MIKE
Please give me my medicine. I can feel the change.

TRUMAN
What change?

COOPER
The drug in your possession contains trace elements
usually found in Haloperidol. Do you suffer from
schizophrenia? Multiple personalities?

MIKE
It’s too late …

Cooper shows Mike the flyer picture of the Long-Haired Man.

COOPER
You know this man, don’t you? Why did you lie to me
the first time I questioned you?

MIKE
It wasn’t me. Don’t you understand? It wasn’t me?!!

Mike looks dreadful. Cooper turns to Truman.

COOPER
Give him the drug.

TRUMAN
But …

COOPER
Now.

Cooper turns back to Mike. Reacts. Truman and Hawk SEE what he sees. They freeze. And Mike the One-Armed Man begins a TRANSFORMATION. Mike fights it at first, he arches in his chair as if to fend off some invading spirit. But then his body relaxes completely, his arms fall to the side. Mike’s features shift, a shadow passes into his eyes. His head, once bowed, now raises up; he looks Cooper squarely in the eyes.
MIKE
There is no need for medicine. I am not in pain.

COOPER
Who are you?

MIKE
My name is Mike.

COOPER
What are you?

MIKE
I am an inhabiting spirit.

COOPER
Who is Phillip Gerard?

MIKE
He is host to me.

COOPER
You spoke to me in my dream. Do you remember?
(a neutral response)
Do you know “Bob?”

MIKE
He … was my familiar.

COOPER
(after a beat)
Where does Bob come from?

MIKE
There are indications that we come from another world.

Truman and Hawk exchange a glance. They don’t believe a word.

COOPER
What does Bob want?

MIKE
He is Bob, eager for fun. He wears a smile, everybody
run.
(smiles)
Do you understand the parasite? It attaches itself to a life
form and feeds. Bob requires a human host. He feeds on
fear and life force. I am like Bob. I was once his partner.

COOPER
(quoting his dream)
“Through the darkness of future past the magician longs
to see …”

MIKE
(he completes it)
“… one chants out between two worlds, fire, walk with
me …”
(beat)
But then I saw the Face of God and was purified. I cut
off my arm. And remained close to this vessel.
Inhabiting from time to time for a single purpose.

COOPER
To find Bob.

MIKE
To stop him.
(points to the flyer in Cooper’s hand)
This is his true face. Few can see it. The gifted and the
damned.

COOPER
Is he near? Is Bob near us now?

MIKE
For nearly forty years.

COOPER
Where?

MIKE
A large house made of wood. Surrounded by trees. The
house is filled with many rooms, each alike. But they are
occupied by different souls. Night after night.

Truman and Hawk have no idea what the man is talking about. Cooper does.

COOPER
The Great Northern Hotel.