scenes containing all lines spoken by Stella from her first appearance in Dead Man Talking to her final appearance in Exeunt Omnes.
transcripts pulled from Angelfire and SubsLikeScript.
Glynn: So that's what's allocated in the current budget.
Stella: Can you get more?
Glynn: I can try.
McManus: Leo?
Glynn: Tim. Meet the new head librarian, Stella Coffo.
McManus: Tim McManus.
Stella: Hello.
McManus: Hi. I heard you two were having a meeting.
Glynn: Stella comes to us from Boston where she worked in the public library system for sixteen years.
McManus: Yeah, I gotta admit, I'm a little curious as to why you're here.
Stella: You mean why leave the comfort of Boston for the wilds of Oswald? Well, it's simple. I love to read. And if I can get the men in this prison to pick up a book, maybe their lives will be changed in some small way.
McManus: Admirable goal. Tough task.
Stella: Well, I'm from the north end. To me, no only means try harder.
McManus: Oh, good. Look, I--I hate to do this on your first day, but I need a favor.
Stella: Sure, anything.
McManus: There's a prisoner named Rebadow.
[Library]
Stella: Here goes. Well, first in line. I guess you heard the John Grisham finally arrived.
Rebadow: Oh, I don't read that tripe.
Stella: Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you.
Rebadow: You Mrs. Coffo?
Stella: Miss Coffo, actually.
Rebadow: Name's Rebadow. I've been assigned to work with you. But I'm no acolyte. I know where every decimal in the Dewey system is. Ask me which shelf a book is on, I'll point to it.
Stella: Excellent. I should warn you, though, I'm not gonna sit on my ass and wait for the men to come to me. I want to identify the ones who have no interest in reading, the ones who maybe even don't know how to read. I want to put a book in their hands, and finding the right book is the key. That's where I'm gonna lean on you.
Rebadow: You have my full support.
Stella: Do you have a first name, Mr. Rebadow?
Rebadow: Robert. Though most of the jokers in Oz call me Bob.
Stella: Well, I'll call you Robert then, and you can call me Stella. I'm very pleased to have you on board.
---
[Library]
Rebadow: I'm here to work, Stella.
Stella: Hi, Robert, give me a hand? I need you to take the book cart around today.
Rebadow: William Blake.
Stella: That's right. It's the cover to-
Rebadow and Stella: 'Songs of Experience".
Stella: I never expected to find a Blake fan in here.
Rebadow: I'm sorry, I have to ask, why are you here? Why would you work in Oz as opposed to some city library where you wouldn't be surprised to find a Blake fan.
Stella: Well, one day, about a year ago, I was home taking a shower and I heard a noise. I came out of the bathroom, and there was this kid standing in the hallway with my DVD player. There I am 'au natural' and though I consider my body a beautiful sight, the kid freaks and jumps out the window. He twists his ankle. A couple of minutes later the police pick him up. It seems he'd robbed other people as well. So, I got downtown to testify at some pretrial thing, and there's the kid, Jermaine, so small, so sweet, sitting next to his mother. I think, "he's going to jail." Then I think, "Christ, he can have my DVD player."
Rebadow: You could have dropped the charges.
Stella: I did, but everyone else held firm. I went and visited Jermaine at Juvenile detention and said to him, "Why aren't you in school?" and you know what he told me?
Rebadow: He couldn't read.
Stella: It broke my heart. I went to Plymouth house every week and taught him, and he took to words like a plant to rain. His mind was so sharp, so alive, so thirsty.
Rebadow: That's wonderful.
Stella: He got stabbed and died. And even though I knew there were others like him in Plymouth I couldn't go back. I also knew I couldn't stop what I'd started. So...ta-da.
Rebadow: You came to a place filled with old books and bad attitudes.
Stella: The truth is, Robert, every book on these shelves is new to someone who hasn't read it.
Rebadow: You know, Blake, he said, "There is a moment in each day that Satan can not find."
Stella: That's right. You know what my ultimate goal is? To make that moment last a lifetime.
---
[Library]
Pancamo: There's that little prick. Robson, you shanked me and I almost died. You're going to wish I had.
Stella: Officer! Officer! Officer!
Guard: You boys, cut the shit. Out of here, let's go!
Pancamo: [???]
Stella: Holy shit.
Robson: Yeah.
---
[Library]
Stella: It amazes me some of the books the prisoners read. I mean, Henry James? They had to force feed me James in college.
Rebadow: I, too, thought it odd that Pablo Rosa would want to borrow "The Ambassadors." He's 18, in for murdering a classmate.
Stella: Nice to know he's expanding his horizons.
Rebadow: Turn the book over.
Stella: Is that blood?
Rebadow: He clubbed his cellmate with it.
Stella: Pablo Rosa, huh? What cellblock's he in?
Rebadow: Why? I know you want to help people, but you can't reach a kid like that.
Stella: Which is exactly why I should try.
Rebadow: Doesn't your boyfriend worry, you coming in here every day?
Stella: Is that your not-so-subtle way of asking if I'm 'involved'?
Rebadow: Yes.
Stella: Well, Robert, to me, men are like books. Sometimes I want a romance, sometimes a thriller, sometimes maybe a trashy novel to take to the beach. And sometimes, I want a classic. But when I finish, it's back on the shelves and on to the next.
Rebadow: You've never been married.
Stella: Oh, no.
Rebadow: Then maybe you're reading too fast.
Stella: I'm voracious.
---
[Library]
Stella: Pablo? Come on in.
Rosa: What do you want?
Stella: I've been reading through your records. You're 18, with 18 years left on your sentence.
Rosa: I get parole in 10.
Stella: Okay. So, how do you want to spend that time?
Rosa: Fast as fucking possible.
Stella: The thing is, Pablo, that's not an answer, any more then this is a weapon.
Rosa: Did the job pretty good, if you ask me.
Stella: Not the job it was meant to. Tell me, can you read?
Rosa: Sure.
Stella: Do you enjoy it?
Rosa: No. Books are just shit teachers give you.
Stella: So, you did go to school.
Rosa: Sometimes.
Stella: But not always, because you hated the shit your teachers gave you, right?
Rosa: Uh-huh.
Stella: Well, can't expect everyone to enjoy the same things, so, what I'd like us to do is find a book that's right for you.
Rosa: Why?
Stella: Because when we do, it'll make the time fly, and that's what you want. Tell me some of the things that interest you.
Rosa: Like what? Like pussy and baseball?
Stella: Now, we're cookin'.
---
[Library]
Rosa: Miss Coffo, I finished the book.
Stella: That was fast.
Rosa: It was good, funny.
Stella: Well, sit down and tell me what you liked about it and what you didn't.
Rosa: I can't right now. I got some business to attend to.
Stella: Business?
Rosa: I'll come back tomorrow. In the meantime, can you find me another book?
Stella: On baseball?
Rosa: Whatever, as long as it's funny and good.
Busmalis: Bob, I'm a perfect mess. Hello, Stella. Today's the day I'm supposed to see Norma and suddenly I'm wavering.
Stella: Don't waver, Agamemnon.
---
[Library]
Rebadow: 'Think not thou canst weep a tear, And thy Maker is not near. O He gives to us His joy, That our grief He may destroy: Till our grief is fled and gone He doth sit by us and moan.'
Stella: I love the timbre of your voice, Robert.
Mineo: Wrap it up, Rebadow. Five minutes to count.
Rebadow: Fine, I'll be there in four.
Mineo: Don't be late lover boy.
Rebadow: Did you know that Blake and his wife used to sit in their garden and read to each other naked.
Stella: With no concern for the passerby.
Rebadow: This may sound crazy, Stella, but I want to do that with you, just once.
Stella: Oz has a garden?
Rebadow: I could pay a C.O. for privacy and you could bring a plant. We'll lock the door, kill the lights, sit by a candle to read 'The Marriage of Heaven and Hell,' naked as the day we were born.
Stella: It's a lovely thought, but I don't know if I can even finish what I've started here. Robert, I'm sick. I've been diagnosed with breast cancer. Oh, don't start imagining the worst. I'm gonna be okay.
---
[Hallway]
Stella: I don't want to get Robert in trouble, but I thought you should know.
McManus: It's not like Rebadow to just stop showing up, though he did come to me asking to be switched to another job. You have any idea why?
Stella: No.
McManus: He's probably still depressed about Alex Jr.
Stella: Who?
McManus: His grandson. He died last year of Leukemia.
Stella: His grandson? Of Leukemia?
McManus: I didn't say anything when I initially came to you. I thought that the library would be a good place to distract his mind from his misery. Anyway, he'll be there tomorrow.
[Library]
Stella: So I did good by you with, "Ball Four"? I hit a homerun?
Rosa: I liked the beaver shootings, where the players drilled the holes in the door of the hotel room and watched the stewardess fucking.
Stella: Yeah, well, it's fun for the guys, but how would you like to have been on the other side? What they did was an invasion of privacy.
Rosa: Oh, Whatever.
Stella: Whatever. Now, this is a very good book about women. And I thought something wilderness based, "Into This Air," might be a nice antidote to Oz.
Rosa: Do I look like a fucking boy scout?
Stella: Scout, no, boy, yes. I'll just be a minute. Robert, I'd like to talk to you. When I told you about my breast cancer, I wasn't asking you to watch me waste away and die, Robert. I don't need you for that, if that's what you're afraid of. I know about Alex Jr. This isn't that. I know you're thinking you can't go through the grief again, but what if you're missing the chance to go through the joy, the joy of being there for someone who is going to make it? According to Blake, they go hand in hand, joy and grief, "Piping down the valleys wild," remember? Stop being an asshole.
Rosa: If she's talking to you, old man, show some respect and talk back.
Stella: That's enough, Pablo. Take your book, we're done for today.
---
[Library]
Rebadow: Stella, could you sit a minute? I've dealt with a lot of death in my life.
Stella: We all have.
Rebadow: But for me, this place was never more of a prison then when Alex Jr. was dying.
Stella: I'm not dying, Robert.
Rebadow: You don't know that for certain.
Stella: I'm sure as hell more certain then you are. And you may want to bone up on your apologies, 'cause this one sucks.
Rebadow: I've been insensitive and self absorbed, I'm sorry. I just couldn't deal with the prospect of losing someone else, someone I love.
Stella: You don't love me, Robert.
Rebadow: Yes, I do. And I promise to be here for you.
Stella: I don't want you here. Listen, I'm glad you understand what I'm going through, but your worries, your concerns, don't dissipate simply because you 'fess up to them. My lumpectomy is in a couple of days, as much as I appreciate your feelings for me, right now, you are just not good to have around.
Rebadow: Yes. You're right, of course. But let me say one thing before I go. [Rebadow kisses her cheek]
---
[Library]
Rebadow: Stella?
Stella: I got your flowers. Oh.
Rebadow: Did I hurt you?
Stella: No. I'm just not used to the new breast yet.
Rebadow: I can't tell the difference.
Stella: Only God can make a tree, but fortunately, man can fix pretty much everything else.
Rebadow: Any problems?
Stella: The medicine I'm on is pixelating my memory, so, if I start to repeat myself, or forget a name, forgive me.
Rebadow: No, it's you who has to forgive me for my silliness for thinking we both shared the same feelings.
Stella: The same feelings? I don't know. But, I do love you, Robert, in my fashion. It's all a matter of perspective. To see a world in a grain of sand and a heaven in a wildflower.
Rebadow: Hold infinity in the palm of your hand...
Stella and Rebadow: And eternity in an hour.
[The Hole]
Officer Smith: Ms. Coffo! Adseg is a restricted area.
Stella: I want to see Pablo Rosa.
Officer Smith: Oh, he's not allowed any visitors.
Stella: But I work here.
Officer Smith: Those are the rules.
Stella: How do we get the rules changed just this once?
Officer Smith: I don't know. Talk to someone higher up.
Stella: Who?
Officer Smith: I don't know.
[Hallway]
Stella: He pretends to be a tough guy, but he's not. Pablo's just another terrified kid. And I'm afraid what's going through his head right now, sitting alone in that hellhole.
Rebadow: What would you like to happen?
Stella: Well, at the very least, get him some books to read.
Rebadow: They'll never allow him to have books in the Hole. But there's always a way to finagle something. How much cash do you have?
[The Hole]
Stella: Pablo, can you hear me?
Rosa: Ms. C? You're okay?
Stella: I'm fine. And you?
Rosa: I'm going sort of crazy.
Stella: Well, I'm here to help you with that.
Rosa: How?
Stella: I'm gonna read to you, "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer," chapter one. "Tom plays, fights, and hides. "Tom!" No answer. "Tom!" No answer. 'What's gone with that boy, I wonder? You TOM!' No answer. The old lady pulled her spectacles down and looked over them about the room; then she put them up and looked out under them. She seldom or never looked THROUGH them for so small a thing as a boy. "