Rambling Rose (1991)
by Calder Willingham based upon his book.
FADE IN:
EXT. DELTA TERMINAL - KENNEDY AIRPORT - DAY
On a taxi arriving at the Delta terminal of Kennedy Airport.
A man in a well-tailored gray suit gets out of the taxi.
CUT TO a CLOSER SHOT of the man as he pays the cabbie. He is
WILLCOX HILLYER, the middle-aged "Buddy" of this story and
the observer through whose eyes it is seen. He has a dry,
ironic, rather agreeable manner and he should seem like
everyone's idea of a successful author, a slightly graying,
trim, still-youthful-looking fifty. The CAMERA follows him as
he walks into the terminal carrying a small travel bag.
INT. DELTA TERMINAL - KENNEDY AIRPORT - DAY
CUT TO a shot of Willcox Hillyer at a counter getting his
ticket processed. A little smile is on his face as he talks
to a pretty airline girl. This character likes girls; his
aloofness is modified, his face changes when he talks to
them. The airline girl smiles back, she finds him attractive.
We don't hear what they are saying, no dialogue on track --
it is obvious he is flirting with the girl in a mild way, but
now a frown comes on his face and he turns his head as if
slightly annoyed by something.
CUT TO a POV shot of a tall, gaunt, almost totally bald man
at the next ticket counter. The man is about sixty-five and
looks like a half senile Great Dane. He is DAVE WILKIE,
erstwhile husband of the heroine of this story. Age has not
been at all kind to Dave; his face is lined with bitterness,
he is a sour, angry, lonely man and now he is making a very
unpleasant scene with a ticket girl and an airline
representative, waving his ticket and gesticulating angrily.
He wears an expensive, ill-fitting suit and a Texas-type hat.
We don't hear his angry complaints, no dialogue is on the
track.
CUT BACK to a CLOSE SHOT of Willcox Hillyer as he stares with
a frown at the man. It's as if he knows the man but can't
place him. The airline ticket girl speaks to him and he turns
back to her, his face softening as he answers her, obviously
saying he'll carry his bag. He nods goodbye to the girl,
turns and the CAMERA follows him as he walks some distance
away and stops, looks back with another pensive frown at the
tall, gaunt man at the next counter.
CUT TO ANOTHER POV shot of Dave Wilkie, a longer shot than
the first. The man is now arguing angrily with two airline
representatives, still waving his ticket and shaking his
head. We don't hear him. Lip-readers might pick up what he is
saying: "I'm supposed to be in first class, not tourist.
What's the matter with this friggin' airline?"
CUT BACK TO Willcox Hillyer, a CLOSE SHOT of his face as he
rubs his chin and frowns obviously struggling to remember the
man. The CAMERA holds on him as he stares at the gaunt angry
Dave, racking his brain. He shakes his head, he cannot place
the man and yet he knows him. The CAMERA moves in closer on
Willcox Hillyer's face as he stares in pensive puzzlement at
this ghost from the past and now we hear, as if from a
distance, FAINT MUSIC on the track -- it is "Dixie," played
with beautiful lazy mocking love by the great Louis Armstrong
in his prime. At first we can barely hear it, then the MUSIC
becomes LOUDER as Hillyer's frown deepens and he seems almost
to know the man.
MAIN TITLE (SUPERIMPOSED): "RAMBLING ROSE"
The MUSIC remains a bit in the distance, but it can be heard.
OTHER TITLES (SUPERIMPOSED): over the following action.
VARIOUS SHOTS, on Willcox Hillyer. He gives up his effort to
recognize the strangely familiar Dave with a little shrug,
turns and walks away with his travel bag.
INT. DELTA TERMINAL - LOUNGE - DAY
We see him entering the departure lounge and boarding the
plane.
INT. DELTA AIRPLANE - DAY
A shot of him as he smiles rather nicely at a very attractive
young stewardess as he walks down the aisle of the plane. He
is not a crass or lewd flirt, but life comes into his face
when he sees a pretty girl -- he seems to have a real
affection for girls: toward men he is polite but rather dry
and ironic, almost aloof, but girls he likes. We see him sit
in a seat, open his travel bag and take out long galley
sheets. He stares for a moment rather wearily at the galleys,
then sighs, puts on reading glasses and begins to make
corrections as boarding passengers walk by in the aisle.
Something or someone disturbs him, he looks up with a slight
frown and CUT TO a POV shot of Dave Wilkie, all wonder and
enthusiasm. This OVER the TITLES and we do not hear the
dialogue they speak, what we heard is LOUIS ARMSTRONG, but I
will put the dialogue in here so the actors can act it. We do
not want to hear it, the sense of what they are saying will
be obvious from the acting.
DAVE WILKIE
(not on track)
Buddd-dee! My God, if it ain't
Buddy! Well, if this ain't the
darnest thing!
ANOTHER ANGLE, on them both as Dave blocks the aisle, an
idiot false-toothed grin on his face. Hillyer has a pained
embarrassed smile.
WILLCOX HILLYER
(not on track)
Excuse me... your voice is familiar
and I'm sure I know you from
somewhere...
DAVE WILKIE
(not on track, with
delighted injury)
Awww-rr, Buddy, come on, you know
me!
WILLCOX HILLYER
(not on track)
Well, I... I... ah-h, let's see...
DAVE WILKIE
(not on track)
It's Dave Wilkie! I'm Dave Wilkie,
don't you remember me?
WILLCOX HILLYER
(not on track)
Oh. Oh, God. Of course, Dave, how
are you?
The men shake hands, Dave enthusiastically, Hillyer less so.
We see Dave stow his suitcase and take the seat next to
Hillyer.
EXT. KENNEDY - DAY
CUT TO a shot of a big Delta jet making its final taxiing
turn and ROARING into a take-off.
INT. KENNEDY - DAY
CUT TO a dramatic underbelly shot of the jet going up.
END OF TITLES.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. DELTA AIRPLANE - DAY
A shot of the attractive, young stewardess, harried as she
fixes drinks.
INT. DELTA AIRPLANE - DAY
CUT TO Dave and Willcox Hillyer as the young stewardess gives
them drinks. Dave bestows a sour glance on her when he sees
the single drink, but at the moment he is in the midst of an
aggressively self-satisfied conversation and says nothing to
her. He speaks to Hillyer, who is making a real effort to be
polite but is less than happy about the encounter.
DAVE WILKIE
Well, I am in the construction
business, Buddy, and without
braggin' I have done real good at
it.
(with a meaningful
bitterness)
There are those who wouldn't have
expected that out of me.
(pauses as if waiting for
a reaction, but Hillyer
is very silent)
Right now I'm buildin' a giant
motel unit near Alexandria, outside
Washington, D.C. Not fi-nance, I'm
on the construction side.
WILLCOX HILLYER
(making polite talk)
Well, that's interesting, Dave. I
always liked Washington, it's a
pretty town.
DAVE WILKIE
Oh, it's all right, beats Jew York.
But the niggers have took it over,
just like every other city we got,
only worse.
Hillyer gives a barely perceptible wince at this speech, but
Dave doesn't notice, he goes on with aggressive self
satisfaction after a swallow of whiskey.
DAVE WILKIE (CONT'D)
But I have done real good in the
construction field. What I don't
know about buildin' ain't worth
knowin'. I knocked off twenty-eight
thousand smackeroos last year,
how's that for an old country boy?
Dave pauses, realizes this might not impress; glances down
with curiosity at the galley sheets, then an unpleasant
smile.
DAVE WILKIE (CONT'D)
Ha ha, course you make a lot more.
(points at the galleys)
What's that you got there, Buddy?
WILLCOX HILLYER
(reluctantly)
Galley proof.
DAVE WILKIE
Galley what?
WILLCOX HILLYER
Page proof of a book I'm working
on.
DAVE WILKIE
How about that. Well, you always
were a screwball.
WILLCOX HILLYER
(lifts an eyebrow in mild
irony)
Oh, yeah?
DAVE WILKIE
(unfazed)
I don't mean that the way it
sounds.
(stares at galleys as if
rattlesnake)
Imagine it, a book. And I used to
know you personal way back when.
(pauses, then earnestly)
Tell me something, Buddy, how do
you dream up all that stuff?
WILLCOX HILLYER
(absolutely straight)
Well, actually, we have a little
black boy named Her---t who lives
in the garage. He does it for me.
DAVE WILKIE
(for a moment half
believes it, then a slow,
stupid grin)
Heh heh heh heh, same old Buddy,
always jokin' around. Almost as
much of a joker as your Daddy.
(drains his drink,
grimaces; a heavy
drinker, Dave)
I saw your Daddy a coupla years
ago, I was up in Glenville lookin'
at a motel site. I guess that's
where you're headed, huh, to see
him?
WILLCOX HILLYER
(stares out of plane
window)
That's right, Dave, I'm headed for
Glenville on a whisperin' jet.
DAVE WILKIE
(suddenly calls out)
Hey, girl! Hey, you, give us
another drink!
(to Hillyer, sullenly)
Dumb little bitch, supposed to give
us two in the first place.
Willcox Hillyer listens with a pained half smile, a hand at
his temple.
DAVE WILKIE (CONT'D)
This friggin' airline's out of its
mind.
(a martyr)
The sons of bitches tried to put me
in tourist.
(portentuously
philosophical)
But our whole civilization is
screwed up, Buddy. The heebies and
the coconuts have took it over and
ruined it.
Willcox Hillyer half closes his eyes in weariness, but says
nothing. Gently, he rubs his temple. It is plain Dave Wilkie
gives him a headache.
INT. DELTA AIRPLANE
ANOTHER ANGLE, on the pretty young stewardess as she brings
two more drinks. Dave stares sourly at her, wholly unmoved by
her charm.
DAVE WILKIE
Took your time gettin' here.
WILLCOX HILLYER
She has other things to do, Dave.
Willcox smiles apologetically at girl.
DAVE WILKIE
Supposed to get two drinks in the
first place. This friggin' airline
can't do nothin' right.
The stewardess purses her lips at Dave, who is bowed over his
drink busy opening it. Hillyer lifts an eyebrow at the girl
as if to say, "Don't blame me because of this damned idiot,"
and she half smiles at him.
WILLCOX HILLYER
(obviously getting him off
subject)
Tell me about that job in
Alexandria, Dave, the big motel
you're building.
DAVE WILKIE
(with pedantic exactitude,
the man is a complete
pain in the ass)
Near Alexandria. It isn't in
Alexandria, it is outside it.
WILLCOX HILLYER
I see. Outside it.
DAVE WILKIE
That's correct -- outside it, not
in it. As for the job, well, the
Jewboy suppliers give me a lot of
grief and we use a pile of niggers
to haul and tote and they ain't
worth a sorry-ass damn.
(takes big swallow of
drink)
But I can build anything, Buddy.
Give me the plans and I can build a
goddamn staircase to the moon. It's
a fact, I can build anything...
(pauses, then bitterly)
... but she never believed that.
Oh, hell, no, she never believed in
me.
This is another pointed bitter reference to the unknown
"she." Once again, Willcox Hillyer is deliberately
unresponsive.
WILLCOX HILLYER
Um-m, well...
DAVE WILKIE
(broodingly)
Doubted my ability all along, the
little bitch. I never remarried,
Buddy, you know that, don't you?
WILLCOX HILLYER
Well, no, I didn't actually.
DAVE WILKIE
She's te reason -- cured me of
women once and for all. Oh, I got
rid of her, Buddy, I didn't waste
no time kickin' that bitch out.
Hell, she was screwin' everybody in
Savannah. I caught her in a motel
with this long tall son of a bitch
and boy did I beat the everlastin'
piss out of him!
Dave Wilkie's eyes narrow with vindictive anger as he says it
and one can well believe the streak of raw violence in the
man. It is frightening even now; he is a clown, but he is a
dangerous clown. As his long, bitter, impassioned tirade
continues, Willcox Hillyer becomes increasingly tense and
pale -- it is obvious he detests what the man is saying and
he is struggling to control himself.
Dave's tone and voice are laconically Southern, but the
hatred and misery in his eyes are raw.
DAVE WILKIE (CONT'D)
She didn't marry him, though, later
she married another guy and went to
Winston-Salem. It didn't last
That girl couldn't have no lastin'
marriage, she left him and married
another dumb sucker and went out
west. Little bitch left him, too,
and you know what she's married to
right now?
(puts a big finger on
Hillyer's chest)
A kike. That's right, some kind of
kike horse doctor named Schapiro
out in Seattle, who's got the nerve
to have the same first name I got.
Wouldn't you know it, Rose would
wind up married to a goddamn kike?
She was always out of her friggin'
head and I'll tell you why.
(his eyes narrow and again
he puts a finger on
Hillyer's chest)
Buddy, she was sick in her mind and
between her legs, too. She was
a nymphomaniac.
WILLCOX HILLYER
(he has had enough; with a
pale trembling anger and
in even tone)
Dave, you are as full of shit as a
Christmas turkey and you know it.
Now if you want to start a fight on
this plane and get yourself in
jail, go right ahead. But I am
telling you, you are full of shit
right up to your eyeballs.
DAVE WILKIE
(with surprising mildness;
a little smile almost as
if he is pleased)
I don't want to start no fight with
you, Buddy. Why do you say I'm full
of shit?
WILLCOX HILLYER
Dave Schapiro is no horse doctor
and Rose has been a good wife to
him for a long time. To call her a
nymphomaniac is the most stupid
thing I ever heard in my life.
DAVE WILKIE
(again surprisingly mild)
You loved her, didn't you. Well, so
did I.
(a little shrug)
You'll have to admit she had four
husbands.
WILLCOX HILLYER
Yeah, it took her a while to grow
up and find Mr. Right, but she did
it. She found him.
DAVE WILKIE
(another little smile)
She used to call me Mr. Right.
Remember that, Buddy?
WILLCOX HILLYER
(he is pale with anger)
Yeah, I remember it.
Willcox picks up galley sheets, half turns away.
DAVE WILKIE
Well, I tell you, I don't know what
the world's come to these days.
Things used to be better. We didn't
have any money, but things were
better.
(grimaces in anger)
Goddamn niggers and kikes burning
the flag, rioting, raising hell --
they ought to shoot their asses
off. I tell you, Buddy, where this
country made its mistake was
allowing people without property to
vote.
During this speech, Willcox Hillyer grits his teeth but says
nothing. He keeps his eyes down on the galley sheets. As Dave
shakes his head in sorrow at the state of the nation ..
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. ATLANTA TERMINAL - HERTZ COUNTER - DAY
A shot of Willcox Hillyer at a Hertz Counter in the Atlanta
airport. A tense, wrought up Dave Wilkie is in the b.g. of
the shot. During the following brief exchange, Hillyer is
politely cool, Wilkie under a great strain.
DAVE WILKIE
(holds out hand)
Well, got to get a plane to
Savannah. Great running into you,
Buddy. Give my best to your Daddy.
WILLCOX HILLYER
Yeah, I'll do that, Dave.
DAVE WILKIE
(sweating, tense, under
some kind of awful
emotional strain)
Ah-h, if you happen to run into
Rose sometime... do me a favor,
give her a message for me, will
you?
WILLCOX HILLYER
(a trifle wearily)
Dave, I haven't seen Rose for
years.
Hillyer takes rental car papers from a pretty young HERTZ
GIRL, gives the girl a little smile, picks up his travel bag.
In desperation, Dave takes his arm.
DAVE WILKIE
Buddy, I'm a sick man. I had a
heart attack last year, I wasn't
expected to live.
Hillyer turns to Dave, puzzled and interested; Dave earnestly
explains.
DAVE WILKIE (CONT'D)
You might see her. She writes your
Daddy, and she and that doctor came
to see him, didn't they? I wish
you'd tell her something... I never
could write letters.
WILLCOX HILLYER
(in a different tone,
interested, curious)
What do you want me to tell her,
Dave?
DAVE WILKIE
(a painful inward
struggle; the man is
tormented, miserable)
Oh, to hell with it, never mind.
Don't tell her anything. Don't even
tell her you saw me.
(half turns his back, his
face twisted with strong
emotion)
Got to run, Buddy, I'll miss my
plane.
Willcox Hillyer and the pretty young Hertz Girl stare after
Dave Wilkie as he walks away with spasm-like steps. Hillyer
seems affected, less hostile toward Dave now. He speaks half
to himself, half to the Hertz Girl.
WILLCOX HILLYER
He still loves her. The poor damn
fool still loves her.
HERTZ GIRL
Who was she?
WILLCOX HILLYER
A girl named Rose.
(pulls himself back into
the world of reality)
Still take R75 to Glenville?
HERTZ GIRL
Yes, sir.
Willcox nods thanks and walks away carrying his travel bag.
EXT. ATLANTA AIRPORT - ROAD - DAY
CUT TO a shot of the red Ford driving from the airport.
EXT. INTERSTATE 75 - DAY
A shot of the red Ford on Interstate 75, Atlanta skyline in
b.g.
EXT. GEORGIA INTERSTATE - DAY
On the red Ford as it speeds along a Georgia Interstate
through red clay hills in green springtime.
INT./EXT. CAR - GEORGIA INTERSTATE - DAY
CUT TO a shot on Willcox Hillyer CLOSE ON his face in the
car. He is lost in reflection. A look of bitter sweet emotion
is on his face, an expression of sadness mixed with
amusement. As the CAMERA holds on his face, we hear again on
the track Louis Armstrong's great version of "DIXIE," or
music of comparable power, beauty and nostalgic evocation.
Now the music is stronger, much stronger than behind the
titles, we are beginning to hear it full force.
DISSOLVE TO:
BLURRED SCREEN FLASHBACK:
EXT. HILLYER HOME - DAY
A shot of a thirteen-year-old boy on the front porch of a
house in the sleepy Depression South of many years ago. He is
BUDDY, Willcox Hillyer as a boy. The MUSIC continues as he
shades his eyes to look at something far away.
EXT. HILLYER HOME - DRIVEWAY - DAY
CUT TO a LONG POV shot of a young and very pretty blonde girl
walking slowly up an oak-shaded driveway. A ZOOMAR LENSE
takes us TOWARD her. She is carrying a cardboard suitcase
tied with a string. Her clothes are cheap, her shoes are
dusty, runs are in her stockings. She is sweaty, tired and
seems very nervous. ROSE is a very attractive girl, but her
primary quality is not sexiness, but an innocence and
sweetness. She pauses to wipe sweat from her forehead with
the back of her hand and nervously moistens her lips as she
stares ahead uncertainly at the "nice" Southern home which to
her seems very grand. It is apparent she is badly frightened
and apprehensive about what lies ahead. She is also exhausted
from the heat and a long hot walk in the Southern sun. She
blinks at perspiration, swallows in anxiety again and forces
herself to walk on.
EXT. HILLYER HOME - PORCH
CUT TO a shot of Buddy on the porch. Expressionless,
unreadable, neither friendly nor hostile, he stares with an
even gaze directly into the CAMERA. He has his hands on his
hips in a distinctive way that we will later see is a
mannerism of his father's.
Buddy tries to imitate the style of his father, not always
with complete success. Unreadable as a Sphinx, he stands
there, waiting.
EXT. HILLYER HOME PORCH - DAY
CUT TO a POV shot of Rose at the foot of the porch steps. A
tentative little smile is on her face. It is very plain she
is nervous and frightened.
ROSE
Hello. I'm Rose, and I've come to
live with you and your family.
Silence. The damn boy says nothing. A trifle crestfallen,
Rose moistens his lips and swallows. She ventures another
little smile and the CAMERA follows her as she walks up the
steps. The at-times-insufferable Buddy comes into the shot.
He still has his hands on his hips Daddy-style and his
expression is inscrutable, neither friendly nor hostile.
ROSE (CONT'D)
What's your name? What do they call
you?
Finally, the boy speaks -- and he is not so bad. He's a child
after all.
BUDDY
Lots of things. Buddy, mostly.
ROSE
(greatly reassured, a real
smile now)
Buddy. Well, now, that's a nice
name, I like it. I am real pleased
to meet you.
(solemnly holds out her
hand, they shake)
Hey, look, do you think you got a
cold drink of ice water somewhere?
BUDDY
Sure. Let me take your suitcase.
A warm and beautiful smile comes on Rose's face and a little
twinkle comes into her eyes. The innocence and sweetness are
not lost, that is never lost, but this is a girl who likes
boys and men.
ROSE
You're sweet.
INT. HILLYER HOME BEDROOM STUDY - DAY
CUT TO a shot of Buddy's mother, Mrs. Hillyer, in a Morris
chair in her bedroom study.
MOTHER is a sensitive, kind and rather appealing if slightly
eccentric lady of about 37 or 38. She wears glasses, has a
Victorian hairdo and a 1930ish style dress. At the moment
Mother is absorbed in her studies -- notebooks and history
books are littered and piled everywhere around her chair. She
is drinking a Coca-Cola and smoking a cigarette held by a
bobbie pin. Calmly, she glances up as Buddy enters the room.
The CAMERA pulls back to include him.
BUDDY
The new girl is here.
MOTHER
Wonderful. What's she like,
Brother? What is your impression of
her?
BUDDY
She talks a great deal and smiles a
lot. She's very pretty, she has a
real good figure. She's very
girlish or womanish, if you know
what I mean. She wouldn't hurt
anybody, this girl. She couldn't.
Mother accepts her son's precocious pronouncement as
perfectly normal; talks to him as if he's an adult.
MOTHER
Your impression is very reassuring,
Brother. Of course she's had
troubles, poor thing, but I sensed
that was that the girl was like and
I'm glad to have it reconfirmed.
BUDDY
You mean confirmed, Mother. I
didn't confirm it before. I would
have had to confirm it previously,
in order for it to be reconfirmed.
MOTHER
All right, all right. Doll and
Waski are upstairs taking their
nap, you go get them and bring them
down to the living room. Where is
the girl?
BUDDY
In the kitchen drinking all the ice
water in Glenville. She walked out
here, she didn't go by the hotel.
MOTHER
Walked, in all that heat? It's a
wonder she hasn't got sunstroke.
I'll phone Daddy and you go get
Doll Baby and Waski.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. HILLYER HOME - LIVING ROOM
A shot of Mother, Rose, Buddy, Doll and Waski in the living
room of the Hillyer household. DOLL is a pretty little girl
of about 11, WASKI a boy of 5. Mother's tone is very gentle,
very sweet, very kind. Her unabashed admiration for her own
children has an ingenuousness that is more amusing than
offensive.
MOTHER
Rose, this is Waski. His real name
is Warren but we call him Waski. He
doesn't like it much and I suppose
someday we'll have to stop calling
him that.
WASKI
You can stop it right now.
MOTHER
When he was baby we called him "Wa
Wa," a baby name, you know. You
will find him a very good boy. His
brother can be bad and so can his
sister, but Waski is a very good
boy. And as you can see he's
beautiful.
WASKI
Oh, Mother, cut it out.
MOTHER
(serenely)
There are plenty of girls who would
give thousands of dollars to have
your auburn hair. Beauty is beauty
and that's all there is to it.
Beauty is there and we have to
recognize it. Now Rose, the little
girl sitting across from you with
the blue eyes is Doll Baby. She
looks like an angel and she is an
angel, but she can be a naughty
angel sometimes, although her
father won't believe it. Her real
name is Frances, but we call her
Dolly or Doll.
DOLL
I don't like that, either, it's
worse than Waski. I want to be
called Fran.
MOTHER
Daddy wouldn't hear that. Now the
redhaired boy you see sitting
there, of course you have met him,
he is my oldest son and my most
brilliant child. All children have
great creative powers, but I don't
want to rattle on about my
children, they say I brag too much
about them, especially about
Brother. Am I boring you, Rose?
Rose has not as yet caught on to Mother's style and is
staring at her with lips apart and blue eyes slightly popped.
ROSE
(feebly)
Oh, no, ma'am.
MOTHER
Well, it's rather interesting about
Brother, actually. I realized the
remarkable thing he had when he was
six weeks old. He looked at me and
understood me, he knew exactly who
I was. I know it sounds crazy but
it's true. He's very remarkable, he
was born for the ministry and could
move millions, but he doesn't know
that yet. I have to warn you about
him, he can be very dangerous,
there is an evil streak in him, a
streak of pure sheer meanness. But
at heart Brother is saintly and
that is why he was born for the
ministry even if he doesn't know
it.
Thus, Mother. Slightly cuckoo, a bit out of touch with
reality, but no fool. A very intelligent woman really, and
very, very gentle and kind.
Her style, however, takes a little getting used to and her
long speech throws Rose completely. She stares at Mother in
speechless open-mouthed awe, unable to say a word.
The CAMERA moves in CLOSER on Rose as she moistens her lips,
swallows, tries to talk and can't. She is very, very nervous.
Now she flinches and looks around as we hear a deep masculine
VOICE OVER the shot. It is the voice of DADDY, Mr. Hillyer,
Buddy's father.
DADDY'S VOICE
Honey, you'll scare the gizzard out
of the girl going into the fourth
dimension like that.
ANOTHER ANGLE on Daddy in the doorway of the living room. He
is a handsome man of about forty with a style and a manner
all his own. As extravagant as his remarks often are and
funny though he is at times, the man has a courtly Southern
dignity that is never lost. He is no clown, he is not even a
comedian, he is a man and a formidable man at that: all the
characters in this story love and fear him. We see now where
Buddy got his unreadable expression thing and his hands on
the hips thing. Daddy is unreadable. A straw hat is on the
back of his head, a rolled-up Glenville Tribune is in his
hand, his hands are on his hips. He is staring with what
seems to be stern fierceness at them all, but his attitude
really is inscrutable.
MOTHER
It isn't the fourth dimension. To
you it's the fourth dimension,
maybe, to me it's simply the truth.
DADDY
(staring fiercely at Rose)
Well, well, well. So Miss Rosebud
has arrived. Un-hmm. And you're all
assembled here. Yes, indeed. Un
hmmm.
Daddy walks in as Rose stares wide-eyed at him. It is obvious
he scares the absolute bejesus out of her, she looks actually
as if she might faint, her hands trembling on her lap and her
knees quivering beneath her cheap and tacky dress. But she
has a surprise coming. She is soon to lose all her fear of
him, every bit of it. Daddy walks over and sits in a chair
beside her, stares fiercely at her for a moment, then begins
a long speech. Again, extravagant as this speech is, he is no
clown, he is not "being funny," he means every word he says.
DADDY (CONT'D)
Well, Rosebud, now you are here,
darling, and I swear to God
graceful as the capital letter S.
You will adorn our house, Rosebud,
you will give a glow and a shine to
these old walls. If there's one
thing I like to have around, it's a
frizzy-haired blonde. Now I assume
Mrs. Hillyer and the children have
introduced themselves and made your
acquaintance, and so forth and so
on?
Rose can barely answer, eyes fixed in rapt fascination on
him, a half whisper.
ROSE
Yes, sir.
DADDY
All right. Now as head of this
household I have a couple of
remarks to make. It is my dear
wife's belief, which I accept
although I do not totally grasp it,
that to hire a person to do
household work is a criminal
practice. Therefore, you are here
not as a servant, you are here as a
friend, as a guest and hopefully as
a member of this family. You will
eat your meals with us, you will
share life itself with us -- in
love and harmony, dear Rosebud, in
love and harmony. Do you understand
me?
ROSE
(a half whisper)
Yes, sir.
Daddy pauses, then in a different tone, his hidden gentleness
and kindness are much more plain; as he talks Rose's eyes
begin to well with tears.
DADDY
Now, I know you've had some
troubles in your life, those...
scoundrels in Birmingham and so
forth trying to... lead you astray.
I hope you find a safe haven here,
honey, I know you've had a hard
time. Life can be cruel to a young
girl all alone. We welcome you to
our home, Rosebud, we all welcome
you from the heart and hope you are
happy here.
Rose bites her lip, her eyes are filled with tears; an
inaudible whisper.
ROSE
Yes, sir.
INT. HILLYER HOME
VARIOUS SHOTS of Rose doing household chores: sweeping the
floor, vacuuming, cooking. She is cheerful in her work,
smiling, good-humored and she works hard. It is obvious she
is happy. We see the children in most of these shots. It is
apparent Rose is a very good worker and very happy in her new
home.
INT. HILLYER HOME - KITCHEN - DAY
Rose is washing the dishes while the children finish
breakfast. Buddy looks up from this cornflakes with a
slightly sly expression.
BUDDY
Rose, who were those scoundrels in
Birmingham?
ROSE
Nobody.
BUDDY
But who were they?
ROSE
They were just bad men, that's all.
BUDDY
In what sense were they bad?
ROSE
Bad is bad, Buddy. There ain't no
sense to it.
BUDDY
Did they try to induce you to
become a prostitute?
Rose turns around, lifts her eyebrows, tosses down the
dishcloth.
ROSE
I don't answer talk like that,
Buddy. I just don't hear it, I turn
my back and look away.
Rose turns her back on him.
BUDDY
Was that what they tried to do? Was
that why Daddy gave you the job, to
save you from those scoundrels?
ROSE
Your Daddy is a wonderful man, I'll
say that. He's the best and most
kind-hearted man in the world.
BUDDY
Hey, Rose, did you hear about that
terrible thing down in Cave
Springs?
ROSE
What terrible thing in Cave
Springs?
BUDDY
There was this old man that ate his
niece.
Rose stares emptily for a moment, then bites her lips
together.
ROSE
I didn't hear you. I didn't hear
that.
BUDDY
He really did, he ate his little
niece. He made pork chops out of
her.
ROSE
I don't hear you. I just turn my
back on that kind of talk and look
away.
BUDDY
Well, it's only the truth. There
are horrible things in the world,
Rose.
ROSE
Buddy, you are in one of your evil
moods, I don't want to talk to you.
I'm going out and sweep the patio.
Rose exits and the CAMERA stays on Buddy, Doll and Waski.
BUDDY
Rose is almost as sentimental as
Mother. If there's one thing I
can't stand it's sentimentality. In
Chattanooga this man committed an
almost perfect murder. He killed
his wife with a black widow spider.
DOLL
Oh, shut up, Buddy.
WASKI
Yeah, shut up.
EXT. HILLYER HOME - PATIO - DAY
CUT TO a shot of Rose on the stone patio of the Hillyer
house, an attractive area with outdoor furniture and
crabapple tree limbs overhead. Rose is busy sweeping. The
CAMERA PANS to follow her and we pick up Mrs. Hillyer,
Mother. It is a nice day and she is studying out on the
patio, books and notebooks piled around. Rose glances down
curiously at her.
ROSE
What are you studying now, Mrs.
Hillyer?
MOTHER
More history, Rose.
ROSE
Are you going to get your degree
soon?
MOTHER
Well, I am working on my thesis.
ROSE
(as she busily sweeps)
It must be wonderful to be so
smart. I don't see how you do it,
reading all those books, learning
all that stuff.
MOTHER
(looks up, and gently)
Rose, you work too hard. Why don't
you go sit down somewhere and drink
a Co-Cola?
ROSE
(smiles, trusts and knows
Mother now, not at all
afraid of her)
You're so sweet.
Rose again busily sweeps.
MOTHER
Really, why don't you go sit down
somewhere?
ROSE
I like to work. I don't mind work.
It's the least I can do after all
you and Mr. Hillyer have done for
me.
(stares worshipfully at
Mother)
You're so sweet. There never was
nobody like you.
MOTHER
(gently)
Well, you run on now.
ROSE
Yes, Ma'am.
Exit Rose. Mother adjusts her notebook and turns the page of
a history book as she resumes her studies. We hear the sound
of an approaching CAR and she glances up.
EXT. HILLYER HOME - DRIVEWAY - DAY
CUT TO a shot of a slightly worn-out 1932 Model-A Ford as it
rolls up the driveway of the Hillyer home, Daddy at the
wheel.
EXT. HILLYER HOME - PATIO - DAY
ANOTHER ANGLE, on Daddy as he gets out of the Model-A. He has
his usual straw hat on the back of his head. The CAMERA
FOLLOWS him as he walks onto the patio.
DADDY
Good morning, sweetheart. Beautiful
day.
MOTHER
Yes, it's so nice I thought I'd
work outside.
DADDY
How goes it, darlin'?
MOTHER
Slow, hon. But at least I can
concentrate now that Rose is here.
DADDY
What do you think of her, honey?
Mother doesn't answer, she writes on, head bowed over her
notebook. We see in this shot the hearing aid she wears and
hear from it a faint BUZZ.
DADDY (CONT'D)
Turn up your hearing aid.
MOTHER
What?
DADDY
Your hearing aid, it's buzzing at
me like a snake.
MOTHER
(adjusts hearing aid)
Oh. Did you say something?
DADDY
I asked you what you think of
Rosebud, now that she's been here a
while.
MOTHER
Honey, she's perfect. She works all
the time and she's wonderful with
the children. And they love her,
even Brother likes her though he
won't admit it. I think she's just
perfect.
DADDY
Um-hmm. Almost too perfect.
MOTHER
And she's such a good-hearted
thing, there isn't an ounce of harm
or malice in her.
DADDY
Well, I'll admit I don't see any
flies on her yet.
MOTHER
There are no flies on Rose, I don't
know what you're talking about.
DADDY
Well, she must have done something
to encourage those scoundrels in
Birmingham, even if she did run
away from them.
INT. HILLYER HOME - KITCHEN - DAY
CUT TO a shot of Buddy in the window of the kitchen. He is
propped on his elbows and listening with keen interest to the
talk on the patio. We hear the VOICES of his parents OVER the
shot.
MOTHER'S VOICE
If you mean... boys and men, I
don't think so. Rose seems very
calm about all of that.
DADDY'S VOICE
Well, so far I have to agree. She
seems calm as lettuce.
The CAMERA FOLLOWS Buddy as he draws back into the kitchen.
We see Doll and Waski playing a game on the kitchen table.
BUDDY
Daddy says Rose is calm as lettuce.
Do you believe that, Doll?
DOLL
No.
WASKI
Neither do I.
BUDDY
Oh, Waski, you don't even know what
we're talking about.
WASKI
I do, too.
Buddy turns, looks back out the window.
EXT. HILLYER SOME - PATIO - DAY
CUT TO Mother and Daddy on the patio. Daddy stands up.
DADDY
Well, let's hope for the best,
darlin'.
MOTHER
Hope for the best? I don't
understand all this skepticism. I
thought you liked Rose.
DADDY
I love Rosebud, I am wild about
Rosebud. I just hope she doesn't
turn out to be a hidden hotcha
character, that's all. We have
growing children in the house.
MOTHER
Hotcha character. If I had to live
with your cynicism, I wouldn't want
to live at all. What you can't
understand is that the creative
forces of the universe are
positive, not negative.
DADDY
(gently, his irony is
mild)
All right, darlin', don't go off
into the fourth dimension.
MOTHER
I'm not in the fourth dimension --
(points a finger at him)
-- you are in the fourth dimension,
when you allow skepticism and doubt
to take control. As Blake said, if
God had doubt the sun would go out.
DADDY
(again gentle irony,
always courtly toward
her)
Forgive my crudity, darlin'. I
don't understand these deeper
things the way you do.
MOTHER
(reaches up, takes his
hand)
Be nice to Rose. She's never had a
real home.
DADDY
You're a wonderful woman, darlin'.
As long as you're around, I'm sure
the sun wouldn't dare go out.
INT. HILLYER HOME - KITCHEN - DAY
CUT TO a shot of Buddy and Doll and Waski in the kitchen.
Doll and Waski are playing parchesi on the kitchen table.
Buddy turns from eavesdropping at the window and strolls
across the kitchen, hands in his khaki pants.
BUDDY
It's pitiful. Neither one of them
know.
DOLL
(as she shakes dice)
I think Daddy suspects.
BUDDY
No, he doesn't. Not really.
The CAMERA FOLLOWS Buddy as he goes to the hall door,
carefully opens it to make no noise and peers down the hall.
INT. HILLYER HOME - FRONT HALL - DAY
CUT TO a POV shot of Rose busy dusting hall furniture,
humming as she works. We hear on the track the SOUND of the
Model-A starting, and Rose freezes. Then, quickly, Rose
hurries down the hall toward the front door.
ON Buddy as he watches her through a crack in the door. He
has his hands on his hips Daddy-style and his face is
expressionless.
ANOTHER ANGLE, POV of Buddy but CLOSER on Rose at the end of
the hall. She is staring soulfully through the glass of the
front door as we hear the Model-A go down the driveway. Rose
lifts a hand between her breasts, sighs. A lovesick
expression is on her face.
INT. HILLYER HOME - KITCHEN - DAY
ON Buddy, as he comes back into the kitchen sadly shaking his
head.
BUDDY
It's really pitiful. She's in bad
shape.
DOLL
She's watching the car again?
BUDDY
Yeah.
DOLL
I get so irritated with Daddy. He's
so dumb sometimes.
WASKI
Yeah, I know.
BUDDY
Oh, Waski, you don't know anything.
WASKI
I do, too!
BUDDY
All right, what do you know?
WASKI
Rose is madly in love with Daddy...
DOLL
(pauses, then solemnly)
Well, don't tell Mother.
WASKI
Do you think I'm crazy?
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. HILLYER HOME - DINING ROOM - NIGHT
A shot of the family at dinner in the dining room at night.
Daddy is at the head of the table, Mother is at the other
end.
Buddy, Doll and Waski are all seated in neat, nice clothes,
hands washed and hair combed. Rose is serving, but a place is
set for her. She wears an attractive little apron and is
smiling, blushing, happy as Daddy teases and jokes at her.
DADDY
(in a good humor)
Rosebaby Blossom, these are the
most delicious candied yams I ever
ate! Why, they just melt in my
mouth. And this fried chicken is
fit for a king. How do you do it,
Peachbird? What is the secret of
your art, Plum Blossom, huh?
ROSE
(blushing, smiling)
Oh, I don't know, I... I...
DADDY
Rosebird Baby, you are the light of
my life, darlin'. How did we ever
get by without you?
ROSE
(stares at him, stricken)
I... I'll get the grits.
The CAMERA FOLLOWS Rose as she exits, and STOPS on Buddy and
Doll. Buddy slews his eyes toward his sister, who meets his
gaze for a moment then looks down at her plate. The CAMERA
MOVES on to Mother, who is utterly oblivious of anything
going on between Rose and Daddy.
MOTHER
Rose does have a gift for cooking.
She learns so fast, but mainly I
think it's that she tries so hard.
INT. HILLYER HOME - DINING ROOM - NIGHT (LATER)
ANOTHER ANGLE, on the family as they eat dinner. Rose is
seated at the table now. She is picking lifelessly at her
food and glancing from time to time with a lovesick
expression at Daddy, who is busy eating and seems wholly
unaware of it. Mother also is wholly unaware, but all the
children know what is happening. Rose takes a gravy for a
biscuit and spills a little, her hand is trembling.
MOTHER
(gently, suspects
absolutely nothing)
Rose, you're in an awful dither
tonight. What's the matter with
you, honey, are you sick or
something?
ROSE
(in a feeble voice)
No, ma'am, I'm just fine.
MOTHER
You look sick if you ask me. I hate
to leave you with the dishes and
all, but I'm supposed to go to a
meeting of the Garden Club this
evening.
(to Daddy)
I'll need the car keys.
DADDY
I'll drive you, darlin'. You've got
no business behind the wheel of an
automobile. You don't think about
what you're doing and you'll run
into a telephone pole.
MOTHER
I think about what I'm doing all
the time, and I've got as much
business behind the wheel of an
automobile as anybody. Besides, I
want you to stay and help Rose with
the dishes, the poor girl isn't
feeling well.
DADDY
All right, darlin'.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. HILLYER HOME - DINING ROOM - NIGHT (LATER)
A shot of Daddy alone in the dining room, reading a newspaper
and drinking coffee. Rose comes INTO THE PICTURE, gets dishes
as she clears the table. She stares with a lovesick
expression at Daddy, who is absorbed in paper.
DADDY
(to himself, mostly)
Hmmp. Did you realize there are a
thousand Coca-Cola millionaires in
Atlanta?
INT. HILLYER HOME - FRONT HALL - NIGHT
CUT TO a shot of Buddy and Doll tiptoeing down the darkened
hall toward the front door. We hear the MODEL-A going down
the drive. They peer out of the glass of the front door. They
whisper.
BUDDY
There goes Mother.
DOLL
Yeah.
BUDDY
Let's go peep from the living room.
DOLL
Okay.
INT. HILLYER HOME - LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
The CAMERA FOLLOWS them as they tiptoe into the darkened
living room. They go over to the sliding doors and silently
struggle for the best peeping spot. Buddy gets up high, Doll
down low, at the crack in the doors through which light
shines.
INT. HILLYER HOME - DINING ROOM - NIGHT
CUT TO a POV shot of the dining room, as seen by children.
Daddy sits absorbed in his paper, oblivious of Rose. She is
staring down at him with a pale look of love.
INT. HILLYER HOME - LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
CUT TO a CLOSE-UP of Buddy and Doll, their heads together.
They whisper.
DOLL
I think she's gonna kiss him.
BUDDY
At least.
INT. HILLYER HOME DINING ROOM - NIGHT
CUT TO a POV shot of Daddy and Rose, as seen by children. The
table now is cleared and Rose stands half behind Daddy,
staring down at him with a stricken expression.
DADDY
(half to himself)
Ehh, Lord, should have bought that
stock when we had some money. A
thousand millionaires.
Rose suddenly makes up her mind, places her hand on his
shoulder, turns sideways, sits down on his lap, puts an arm
around his neck.
ROSE
Oh, oh! Oh, Mr. Hillyer, I love
you, I love you so much! I've
tried, but I can't help it! Please
kiss me -- will you kiss me?
For a long time Daddy stares groggily at her with a half
frown as if he can't believe it. In order to stare at her, he
must tilt his head back and, handsome man though he is, he
looks a bit like a startled rooster. Her breasts are pressed
against him, and her eager -pink lips are waiting for a kiss.
DADDY
(finally clears his
throat)
Ahh-hem! Now, Rose, get off my lap.
What are you doing, girl? Are you
crazy?
ROSE
Yes, crazy about you! Kiss me, Mr.
Hillyer!
DADDY
Why, I'm not going to kiss you, you
crazy girl. Now I'm telling you
again, get off my lap. Come on,
Rose, get up. Now you get up, I
say, and stop this!
ROSE
No, no! You don't understand, I
love you! It's real love and I
can't help it! Please kiss me, Mr.
Hillyer, I love you, I love you so
much...
Rose breaks down and begins crying, her head on his shoulder.
She has her arms wound tight around him and Daddy seems at a
loss what to do.
DADDY
(in a shaken voice)
All right, all right. Now calm
down, Rose, the children will hear
you. Calm down, let's talk... about
this thing, let's discuss it.
ROSE
(sobbing)
Don't make me... me... me... get
up!
DADDY
Calm down, Rose, let's calm down
and discuss it ...
INT. HILLYER HOKE - LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
CUT TO a shot of Buddy and Doll. Doll is down near the floor
and can't see as well. They whisper.
DOLL
I can't see. What are they doing,
what's happening?
BUDDY
They're discussing it.
DOLL
I can't see, let me see...
Doll tries to rise up and Buddy puts a hand on her head and
shoves her down.
BUDDY
This is my place and you can't have
it.
DOLL
(a whispered moan of
frustration)
Ohhh-hh... what's happening now?
BUDDY
(his eyes open wide)
He's trying to get up -- good God,
one of her titties is out!
DOLL
Let me see!
INT. HILLYER HOME - DINING ROOM - NIGHT
CUT TO a POV shot of Daddy and Rose, as he struggles to rise
from the chair. They are half falling to the floor and now
they fall, Rose still on his lap. One of her breasts has come
out of her dress, which is very loose and low-cut. She has no
bra, the breast is bare. Daddy is staring groggily at the
breast as if slightly dazed.
INT. HILLYER HOME - LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
CUT BACK TO Buddy and Doll. Buddy is frustrated now.
BUDDY
Now I can't see. What are they
doing?
DOLL
(happy, peeping through
crack)
Boy! Wow!
Buddy groans and peers intently through crack.
INT. HILLYER HOME - DINING ROOM - NIGHT
A POV shot of scene as observed by Buddy. He is up too high,
the dining table blocks his view. We see the lower half of
Rose and Daddy. Rose's skirt is up well above her knees.
INT. HILLYER HOME - LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
CUT TO a shot of Buddy and Doll.
DOLL
Wow! Brrrother!
BUDDY
What are they doing?
DOLL
Buddy, this is amazing, you
wouldn't believe it.
BUDDY
What are they doing, Doll?
DOLL
(staring, enthralled)
He kissed her.
BUDDY
Is that all?
DOLL
(happily, enjoying it)
He had his hand on her titty.
BUDDY
Let me look.
(can't stand it, grabs her
around waist and pulls
her away; eagerly looks,
sags)
Aww-rr...
CUT TO a POV shot of the scene in the dining room.
INT. HILLYER HOME - DINING ROOM - NIGHT
DOWN LOW, we can see under the dining room table now. Daddy
has his hands on Rose's shoulders and is firmly pushing her
away.
DADDY
All right, that is enough of this
nonsense, and I mean enough! Get up
off this floor, Rose, and put your
damned tit back in your dress! Do
you hear me, girl, get up off of
that floor!
Rose, on all fours, blonde hair over her face, making little
whimpering noises of dismay:
ROSE
Ohh-hhh... ohh...
INT. HILLYER HOME - LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
CUT TO Buddy and Doll.
BUDDY
(disappointed)
She's putting the titty back.
DOLL
(a furious whisper)
Buddy, that was my place.
Doll forces her way in and they both peep through crack in
door.
INT. HILLYER HOME - DINING ROOM - NIGHT
CUT TO a POV shot of Rose and Daddy. Rose stands sheepishly
by the dining room table, half-crying as she adjusts her
dress. Daddy sits in his dining room chair. Daddy is glaring
at her.
DADDY
Goddamn you, girl! You've made me
make a fool out of myself, damn
your hide, but let me tell you I am
standing at the pass of Thermopylae
and I won't budge! The very idea,
my own home with children in the
house, to say nothing of my wife --
oh-h, you had better believe I am
standing at Thermopylae, you little
nut, you had better believe it!
What are you, crazy? A man is
supposed to be a fool like this,
but a woman is supposed to have
some control and sense! Are you a
nitwit? What's the matter with you?
ROSE
(weeping)
Oh-h, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Mr.
Hillyer... I just... couldn't help
myself. I'm sorry...
INT. HILLYER HOME - LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
CUT TO a shot of Buddy and Doll as they peep at the door.
Doll whispers angrily at him.
DOLL
Buddy, that was pretty snotty of
you, pushing me away like that just
when it was interesting.
BUDDY
You shouldn't watch such things,
Doll.
They continue to peep with interest through the crack in the
doors.
INT. HILLYER HOME - DINING ROOM - NIGHT
CUT TO a shot of Rose and Daddy. Now Rose is sitting penitent
and crying in one of Daddy's handkerchiefs. Daddy's anger is
gone, he has gotten control of himself and speaks to her now
in a different tone.
He sits beside her, an arm around her shoulders in a fatherly
way.
DADDY
Rose, Rose, Rose, you poor
miserable little child, don't you
know I love you? Do I have to put
my hand on your body or kiss your
pretty lips to prove it? You are
beautiful to me, Rose, I've loved
you since you first came here,
darlin'. And don't you know Mrs.
Hillyer loves you, too, that she's
already taken you into her heart,
and that that woman's heart is as
wide as the blue sky itself and as
deep as the stars?
ROSE
(weeping in handkerchief)
Oh, I know. She's so sweet, she's
been so good to me...
DADDY
Do you know what a friend you have
got there? Do you know she would
fight for you like a tiger, that
she would fly to your defense in an
instant with all the courage in her
soul if anyone tried to hurt you?
Is this any way to repay her trust
and love? Are you ashamed as I am
ashamed?
(pauses as Rose sobs in
handkerchief)
Don't cry, honey, don't cry. But
let me warn you, damn your hide,
this is Thermopylae and I am
standing here. Do you hear me, damn
you. I am standing at Thermopylae
and the Persians shall not pass!
Now get your tail out of here and
go wash those dishes, and stop
crying!
INT. HILLYER HOME - LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
CUT TO Buddy and Doll in the darkened living room. He
gestures that they'd better leave, and they do. The CAMERA
FOLLOWS them as they tiptoe out of the living room.
INT. HILLYER HOME - FRONT STAIRS - NIGHT
ANOTHER ANGLE, on Buddy and Doll as they tiptoe up the front
stairs.
INT. HILLYER HOME - TOP OF STAIRS - NIGHT
ON Buddy and Doll at the top of the stairs. They pause to
talk and now they don't have to whisper. Doll is happy,
pleased.
DOLL
Wasn't Daddy wonderful? He wanted
to kiss her some more and play with
her, but he didn't, because he
loves Mother and all of us, and he
loves Rose, too. Isn't he
wonderful, isn't he great?
BUDDY
(dryly, aloof; he doesn't
mean this really)
Wonderful? He kissed her and played
with her titty, and I don't see
anything so great about that. He
was probably afraid Mother would
come back early and catch him.
DOLL
You know, Buddy, sometimes you make
me sick.
Doll gives him a venomous glance and walks away. The CAMERA
STAYS on Buddy as he stares after her with a thin little
smile. Be seems wryly amused that he has made her angry.
After a moment, he turns and stares in the direction of
downstairs and his face changes. His smile fades, then slowly
returns as he thinks of what has happened.
BUDDY
(quietly, to himself)
Thermopylae. The Persians shall not
pass.
It is obvious that secretly Buddy admires very much his
father's behavior.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. HILLYER HOME BUDDY'S BEDROOM - NIGHT
A shot of Buddy at night in his small bedroom.
He wears a rather skimpy old-fashioned nightshirt that comes
midway between his hips and knees. At the moment he is
finishing brushing his teeth at the bureau, using an old
fashioned water pitcher and bowl. The CAMERA FOLLOWS as he
walks across the room in the light of the lamp by his bed. He
looks around cautiously, then picks up the mattress of his
bed. He pushes it far back and we see springs. He takes out a
small "book" or pamphlet and stares gravely at it.
CLOSE-UP: The front cover of the pamphlet. We see the overall
title: LITTLE DIRTY COMIC BOOKS. And beneath it: BLONDIE AND
DAGWOOD. And beneath that, in smaller letters: "Mr. Dithers
Comes to Dinner -- and How!" We see Buddy's hands in the
shot, and he opens the pamphlet and we catch enough of a
glimpse of the thing to know it is pretty awful -- a drawing
maybe of "Blondie" stark naked with a finger in her mouth
going, "Tee-Hee!"
ON Buddy, as he stares down with grave intentness at the
Little Dirty Comic Book. Slyly now, he retraces his steps to
the bureau and takes out a flashlight. He goes back to the
bed, switches off the lamp, gets in the bed and turns on the
flashlight and pulls the covers over his head. We hear a
faint SOUND on the track and Buddy suddenly yanks back the
covers, puts the flashlight on the table by the bed and
throws the Little Dirty Comic Book under the bed. He lies on
pillow and pretends he's asleep, and we hear the door of his
room OPEN and a CREAKING on the floor.
ANOTHER ANGLE, on a weepy Rose in a very thin nightgown. The
shot is FROM BELOW as Buddy might see her as she stands over
his bed. She looks very lonely and unhappy and is half
crying.
ROSE
Buddy... are you asleep?
ANOTHER ANGLE, on both of them. Buddy stares at her in
surprise. It is dim in the room, but we can see them in the
moonlight.
BUDDY
No, I'm awake. What's the matter?
ROSE
Buddy, I am wandering in a
wilderness, lost.
(sits glumly on edge of
bed)
I just feel awful. Do you mind if I
get in bed with you for a little
while?
BUDDY
Well, all right.
ANOTHER ANGLE, on Rose and Buddy in the bed in the moonlight.
It is all innocent enough, Buddy is a child and Rose
obviously has no lewd intent in getting into his bed. She
lies back on a pillow staring up at the ceiling and smoking a
cigarette.
ROSE
I thought I'd go crazy back there
in that room all by myself with
nobody to talk to. As a child, I
never had no room all to myself, we
were awful poor. Buddy... I have
got a confession to make.
BUDDY
What is it, Rose?
ROSE
It's so terrible I can't tell you.
Oh, Buddy, you don't know how it
hurts to have a broken heart, what
a terrible feeling it is, and I've
had a broken heart so many times.
Men, I don't understand them, I
can't figure them out and they
break my heart, that's all. I can't
find Mr. Right, Buddy, I can't find
him no matter how hard I look, all
I find is a whole pile of Mr.
Wrongs. But this is the worst ever
because it wasn't his fault. It was
my fault, oh yes, my fault, I was
bad -- oh God, I was bad, you
wouldn't believe how bad I was.
BUDDY
(a little smile)
What'd you do, Rose?
ROSE
Buddy, I was horrible. I can't tell
you who it was, but do you know
what I did? I sat on his lap and
got ahold of him and wiggled and
wiggled my ass on him and was
worse'n you could know, a child
like you. Why, I let one of my tits
fall out deliberate on purpose and
practically smack him in the face
with it and I let my dern skirt
come up so he could see my
drawers...
(pauses, realizes this
isn't too dignified)
But to get back serious to what I
was sayin', it is not only, Buddy,
the loss of him but my own bad
behavior what bothers me so...
BUDDY
You were pretty bad, huh?
ROSE
Why, it has just made me ill,
Buddy. I'm sick. I don't want to
eat nothin', I don't, and me I got
a good appetite, that ain't nat'ral
for me. I'm ill.
BUDDY
(slyly, pretends he
doesn't know)
But, Rose, what is the cause of it
all?
ROSE
Promise not to tell Doll? -- or
nobody? Buddy, it's your Daddy! I'm
so much in love with him I am out
of my mind!
BUDDY
But, Rose, how could such a thing
as that happen?
ROSE
I fell madly in love with him when
he called me Rosebud. You know that
first day when I come and he said I
looked graceful like a capital
letter S and called me Rosebud? I
fell madly in love with that man
right then.
(sighs tragically)
But it's a lost love, Buddy. He's a
good man and won't have nothin' to
do with me.
ANOTHER ANGLE, on Rose and Buddy in the bed. Buddy has
propped on an elbow and is staring down at her breasts in the
moonlight -- we see the soft notch between her breasts in the
open V of her thin nightgown. She is completely unself
conscious with him.
BUDDY
(casually)
Can I touch you here?
Before she can answer, he touches her breast with his finger
through her nightgown.
BUDDY (CONT'D)
Hmmm, it's soft. It's awful soft.
ROSE
(casually, doesn't object)
What did you expect?
BUDDY
Well, I thought they were more like
a cantaloupe.
ROSE
Ha ha ha, that's some idea, a
cantaloupe.
BUDDY
(touches her breast more
boldly, his hand outside
the nightgown)
There's some kind of gristle in it,
though.
ROSE
Buddy, quit that, you're just a
child, you're not supposed to be
interested in such things.
BUDDY
Actually, I am, though.
ROSE
(dreamily, thinking of
Daddy as she smokes
cigarette and stares up
at the ceiling)
You know, that Daddy of yours is
the funniest man, the things he
says, you never know what's going
to come out of his mouth next.
BUDDY
Can I put my hand inside your
nightgown, Rose?
ROSE
No, you can't. And I'll tell you
this -- he scares me. As kind as he
is, he scares me. You can't fool
around with him, not with that man.
And, boy, I sure better not try
nothin' like that with him again,
he'll fire me.
BUDDY
Rose, can't I see what the nipple
on it is like?
ROSE
(frowns)
Buddy, what's come over you? A
child like you, askin' such things.
BUDDY
But I'm curious, Rose.
Puts his hand in her nightgown.
ROSE
Buddy, get your hand offa me! Quit
it, get you hand away...
Takes his wrist.
BUDDY
Just for a second. Please, Rose,
what's the harm?
ROSE
(gently)
Buddy, you don't realize it but
what you're doing isn't nice.
BUDDY
Aw, come on, Rose, I want to see
what the nipple on it is like.
ROSE
You don' t need to know that. It's
none of your business.
BUDDY
Aw, be a good sport, Rose.
(sweetly, almost sugarily)
You like me, don't you? I like you
a lot.
INT. HILLYER HOME - MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT
CUT TO a shot of Mother's bedroom-study in the moonlight. We
see Daddy lying wide-awake in a single bed staring broodingly
out into space. Mother lies asleep in a big four poster in
the background of the shot. Daddy sighs wearily to himself in
the grip of "insomnia in reverse."
INT. HILLYER HOME - BUDDY'S BEDROOM - NIGHT
CUT BACK to Buddy and Rose in bed. He has evidently sweet
talked her into letting him fiddle with her; his hand is- in
her nightgown. There is no indication of lewd interest on
Rose's part, a peeved and exasperated look is on her face.
Buddy seems quite fascinated, however.
ROSE
Well, are you satisfied now? Can we
just lie and talk, huh?
BUDDY
Hmmph. It has a nipple, all right.
ROSE
'Course it does.
BUDDY
First I couldn't feel it, but now I
feel it easily, it's like a little
acorn.
ROSE
(moistens her lips,
swallows; it is affecting
her; she frowns)
All right, that's enough.
(firmly pushes his hand
away)
You're just a child and wouldn't
understand it, but that type of
thing can stir a girl up. Now lie
back and we'll talk.
BUDDY
That was very interesting. Thank
you, Rose.
ROSE
(lighting cigarette)
Don't mention it.
BUDDY
(pensively, with the
solemn pedanticness of a
precocious child)
It was softer'n I thought, that was
my main impression. You know, if
you hit a girl there it would hurt
her a lot.
ROSE
Who would want to do such a thing
as that?
BUDDY
Well, some fiend might.
ROSE
(stares wonderingly at
him)
You know, Buddy, sometimes I can't
figure you out at all. You can be
very nice, but like your mother
said there's an evil streak in you.
BUDDY
There's an evil streak in
everybody, Rose.
ROSE
There ain't none in your Daddy. You
know, what happened has just made
me love him all the more. I not
only love him, I respect him, I
admire him.
BUDDY
Rose, I have a serious favor to ask
you.
ROSE
Most men wouldn't do what he done.
If they can get a girl they go
right ahead and get her -- I guess
to hell they do, just like a dern
rabbit. 'Course later they'll tell
her she's no good when they done
the same thing their selves.
They're a bunch of monkeys. I like
'em, but they're a bunch of
monkeys.
BUDDY
(trying to be casual)
Rose, since you're here in bed with
me and everything and I've already
touched your titty...
Can't quite say it; leans over and whispers in her ear and we
don't hear what he says.
ROSE
(her eyes open wide as he
whispers)
Why, Buddy, shut your mouth! What
an awful thing to say, and where
did you get any such idea as that,
anyhow?
BUDDY
I'm curious to see what it's like.
I'm very curious, Rose.
ROSE
Well, now that is just too bad!
Curiosity killed the cat.
BUDDY
Yeah, but satisfaction brought him
back. Can I?
ROSE
No! You ought to be ashamed of
yourself astin' such a nasty things
a child your age!
BUDDY
Can't I touch it a little, Rose --
not a lot, just a little?
ROSE
Of course you can't! I'm... I'm
shocked at you, Buddy, real
shocked! Now you be quiet or I'm
going back to my own bed!
BUDDY
Please, Rose. I'm curious, that's
all, I have a natural curiosity,
it's only human. You're my friend,
aren't you? Don't you like me?
(again sweetly, almost
sugarily)
I like you, Rose, a lot -- in fact,
I love you.
ROSE
(softens despite herself)
Well, you're sweet, but you don't
really love me.
BUDDY
Yes, I do. Please, Rose, be a good
sport.
ROSE
Buddy, you're just a child.
BUDDY
I'm thirteen. And I have a natural
curiosity. It's only nature, Rose,
that's all. Now what's wrong with
nature, huh?
ROSE
Well, nothin'.
INT. HILLYER HOME - MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT
CUT TO a shot of Daddy sitting on the edge of his bed in
pajamas. He looks frowzle-haired and glum. The CAMERA FOLLOWS
him as he wearily gets up and walks across the bedroom in the
moonlight and takes a package of cigarettes from a bureau. Be
glances over his shoulder as we hear Mother.
MOTHER
What's the matter, hon? Is anything
wrong?
DADDY
No, darlin'. Just that damnable
insomnia in reverse. I sleep like a
baby for an hour then I'm wide
awake. You go back to sleep.
Daddy lights a cigarette and walks to the window and stares
out at the moonlit night.
The CAMERA MOVES IN CLOSER on his face and we see a weariness
and strain he has not shown before.
DADDY
The Depression has got me. That
miserable hotel, no money anywhere,
strong men out of work, children
hungry. It's a great life if you
don't weaken.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. HILLYER HOME - BUDDY'S BEDROOM - NIGHT
A shot close on Rose and Buddy in bed. Evidently Rose has
weakened and is allowing him to fiddle with her, but we can
only surmise this, the shot is on their heads and shoulders
and a cloud has crossed the moon, the light is more dim. A
different look is on her face, a solemn expression as if she
is listening to some far away sound that she finds strangely
haunting. She moistens her lips, speaks in a slightly feeble
voice.
ROSE
You better quit that.
BUDDY
But Rose...
ROSE
I must be outta my mind. Buddy,
quit it.
BUDDY
Am I hurting you?
ROSE
(pauses, stares off as if
listening, then in an
even feebler tone, a half
whisper)
No. No, you're not hurting me.
(moistens her lips,
swallows)
But I think you better quit it.
BUDDY
But why, if I'm not hurting you?
ROSE
You wouldn't understand.
(puts a hand on his
shoulder as if to push
him away, but can't; puts
her other hand over her
eyes)
Oh, God, I must be outta my mind.
What would your Momma think?
The hand falls limply from Rose's eyes and she turns her head
to the side and closes her eyes. Helplessly, she lies there
as the boy fiddles with her.
INT. HILLYER HOME - FRONT HALL - NIGHT
CUT TO a shot of Daddy walking down the downstairs hall in a
bathrobe and slippers. He looks very frowzled and sleepy.
INT. HILLYER HOME - KITCHEN - NIGHT
ON Daddy as he walks into the kitchen, turns on the light. He
goes to the ice box, an old-fashioned type made of wood that
takes cakes of ice. Be pours out a glass of milk.
INT. HILLYER ROME - BUDDY'S BEDROOM - NIGHT
CUT TO a very CLOSE SHOT on Rose's face. The light is dim but
we see perspiration on her forehead. Her breathing is not
normal. Her eyes are shut tight, her teeth are clenched.
CUT TO a shot CLOSE on Buddy. We do not see what he is doing,
but evidently he is fiddling with her. He seems quite
interested in the proceedings.
BUDDY
Rose, beyond a doubt this is the
most fascinating experience of my
life.
INT. HILLYER HOME - KITCHEN - NIGHT
CUT TO a shot of Daddy in the kitchen as he sits rather
gloomily at the kitchen table drinking the glass Of milk.
DADDY
(to himself)
Ehh-hh, Lord, man born of woman
hath few days and they are full of
trouble.
INT. HILLYER HOME - BUDDY'S BEDROOM - NIGHT
CUT TO a shot close on Rose ai Buddy in the bed. The shot is
of their heads and shoulders.
She has an arm very tight around his shoulders and her eyes
are shut tight. The moment of truth is at hand.
ROSE
Ohh-hh! Ohhh-hh!
(it's all over; she twists
sideways, puts both arms
around him)
Oh, Buddy, you're so sweet. I love
you a lot.
INT. HILLYER HOME - KITCHEN - NIGHT
CUT TO a shot of Daddy as he washes out the glass in the
sink.
INT. HILLYER HOME - BUDDY'S BEDROOM - NIGHT
CUT TO a shot of Rose and Buddy in the bed. The extremity of
her crime has dawned on Rose and she is sitting up in the bed
with a look of horror on her face. Buddy is staring worriedly
at her.
BUDDY
Rose, are you all right? Are you
sick or something?
ROSE
(staring off in space,
lost in horror)
No. No, I'm all right.
(turns, stares at him,
puts a hand in woe on her
forehead)
Oh, God, what have I done? I have
robbed a cradle and fallen into
hell!
(fumbles desperately on
bed for cigarettes)
I must be crazy, a child like you.
Oh, God, oh, Lord. This is awful,
this is terrible, I gotta get outta
here!
ANOTHER ANGLE, on Rose and Buddy as Rose in a panic gets out
of the bed, pulls down her thin nightgown and tiptoes toward
the door. She stops and looks back as a chilling thought
occurs to her.
ROSE
Buddy, you wouldn't tell nobody,
would you?
BUDDY
(a trifle too piously)
Don't worry, Rose, I won't tell a
soul.
ROSE
I sure hope you don't.
(still in a panic)
I gotta get outta here, good night.
BUDDY
(sweetly)
Good night, Rose.
INT. HILLYER SOME - UPSTAIRS HALL AND DOWNSTAIRS HALL
CUT TO a shot of Daddy walking down the downstairs hall in
his bathrobe. The shot is down the staircase and Rose in the
upstairs hall tiptoes into the picture. A floorboard creaks
and he looks up and sees her.
DADDY
Rose, what are you doing up?
ROSE
Nothin', just goin' to the
bathroom.
DADDY
Is anything wrong?
ROSE
No, sir.
DADDY
Well, good night.
ANOTHER ANGLE on Rose in the upstairs hall. Fortunately for
her the light is dim. Her knees are shaking beneath the
nightgown, she looks as if she might faint.
ROSE
Good night.
The CAMERA FOLLOWS her as she goes on shaky legs down the
hall.
INT. HILLYER HOME - ROSE'S BEDROOM - NIGHT
CUT TO a shot of Rose as she enters her small bedroom.
Feebly, as if totally exhausted, she shuts the door behind
her then leans against a bureau and states into its mirror.
The horror of her own criminality has overwhelmed her. With
trembling hands, she takes a cigarette from her half empty
pack and finds a wooden kitchen match on the bureau.
Her hands tremble visibly as she strikes the match. She has
not turned on the light in her room and her considerable
charms are very apparent in the orange glow of the match.
Burning match in her fingers, she stares at her own
reflection in the bureau mirror, transfixed by a horrible
realization.
INT. HILLYER HOME - DREAM - CELLAR
QUICK DISSOLVE TO BLURRED SCREEN: the border of the screen is
blurred, we are obviously seeing a nightmare fantasy. The
shot is of an eager, excited, diabolically mischievous Buddy
and an astonished, awed DOLL. They are in some far dark
recess of the cellar of the house and the scene is furtive,
murky, cobwebby.
BUDDY
Wait till you hear what happened!
Now you wont believe this, Doll,
but Rose came in my room and got in
my bed last night...
ANOTHER ANGLE on Buddy from below with candlelight giving his
child's face a sinister look. Now he has "Dracula" teeth and
evil arched eyebrows.
BUDDY (CONT'D)
... and she sweated and snorted
like a horse and had a horrible
fit, her eyebrows were all
scrunched up and she groaned like
she was eying and foamed at the
mouth!
INT. HILLYER HOME - ROSE'S BEDROOM - NIGHT
CUT TO a shot of Rose standing horrified before the mirror.
The match is still burning in her fingers.
QUICK CUT TO:
INT. HILLYER HOME - MASTER BEDROOM/STUDY
A shot of Mother in her study, a worried Doll stands before
her. The border of the screen is blurred, it is another flash
of fantasy.
MOTHER
Yes, dear, what is it?
DOLL
Mother, Buddy says Rose got in his
bed last night and he fiddled with
her and she snorted and had a fit --
and he says I would too if I was
grown-up. Is it true, Mother --
would I sweat and snort and froth
at the mouth and have a horrible
fit like he says?
Mother stares in consternation at Doll.
QUICK CUT TO:
INT. HILLYER HOME - FRONT PORCH - NIGHT
A shot of Daddy and Rose on the front porch of the house. The
scene is murky, dark, gloomy night and the weather is bad.
Daddy has his arm rigidly thrust outward as he points down
the driveway. A weeping, slumped Rose sadly walks down the
steps carrying her cardboard suitcase. Fantasy.
DADDY
Out! Out, you viper in the grass!
Out! Never darken our doorstep, you
immoral, terrible girl!
INT. HILLYER HOME - ROSE'S BEDROOM - NIGHT
CUT BACK to Rose standing before the mirror, sick with
horror. A feeble whimper-like groan comes from her.
ROSE
Ohh-hh, ohhh-hh...
(match burns her fingers,
she shakes it out)
Ouch! Oh-hh... ohh...
ANOTHER ANGLE on Rose as she turns from the bureau and stares
off into space, a very badly frightened girl. Half-crying,
she speaks to herself.
ROSE (CONT'D)
He'll tell 'em for sure, he will.
Oh, Lord, what can I do?
INT. HILLYER HOME - BUDDY'S BEDROOM - NIGHT
CUT TO a shot of Buddy half asleep in bed. The light of the
lamp by his bed goes on and he sleepily opens his eyes. The
CAMERA COMES BACK and we see Rose in her nightgown standing
by his bedside. She is very pale and tears are on her cheeks.
ROSE
I hate to turn on this light, you
Daddy's awake downstairs, but I
have to take the chance.
(sits by him on bed)
Buddy, please don't tell on me.
BUDDY
(rather coolly)
I said I wouldn't.
ROSE
(her lip trembles)
Buddy, I have to ask you, as bad as
I've been please have pity on me
and don't ruin me by telling them
what I did. I know it was bad, it
was bad and dumb. But mostly it was
dumb, I didn't mean you no harm,
I'd never want to hurt a hair on
your head and that's the truth. I
love you. But they'd think I did,
they'd think I was awful, they'd
despise me and hate me...
Rose bows her head and begins crying into her hands.
CUT TO a CLOSE SHOT of Buddy. We hear the soft sound of Rose
weeping over the shot. Buddy is affected, his flinty child's
heart has been touched, but he is not quite ready to admit it
yet. He is struggling with himself, trying to remain "cool"
and not show his emotion. He frowns, moistens his lips,
swallows. With seeming coolness, very much as in the scene
with Doll in which he deprecated Daddy's stand at
Thermopylae, he shrugs.
BUDDY
Well, I don't know what you're
worried about. It was my idea, I
was the one who thought of it, not
you.
The CAMERA PULLS BACK to include Rose. She is staring at the
boy with hopeless despair.
ROSE
You don't understand. They'd blame
me, not you. And they'd think I was
awful, a disgustin' girl, which I
am, but Buddy, please don't tell
them. Please don't. Ill have to go
and I love it here, I love your
whole fam'ly, your Daddy, your
Mother...
(pauses, then makes her
final and ultimate plea
in a shaking voice as
tears run down)
Buddy, I know I'm no good, I'm a
bad girl but I can't help it,
please have pity on me and don't
tell! Please don't, please...
Too much for Buddy, he loses his "cool." He swallows and
blinks as if he might cry, then sits erect in the bed and
squares his shoulders and assumes a stern expression Daddy
style.
BUDDY
(very solemnly)
Rose, they could stick splinters
under my fingernails, and I will
never say a word! I will never tell
them, because... I love you!
ROSE
(sees that he means it,
smiles in relief and
throws her arms around
him)
Oh, Buddy, you do love me! I knew
you did, knew it all the time...
INT. HILLYER HOME - MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT
CUT TO a shot of Daddy, lying in bed and staring up
sleeplessly at the ceiling. Insomnia in reverse has got him.
DADDY
(a half whisper to
himself)
Ehh-hh, Lord... great life if you
don't weaken.
INT. HILLYER HOME - BUDDY'S BEDROOM - NIGHT
CUT TO a shot of Rose and Buddy. Rose is sitting on the bed
beside him and she has dried her tears and got herself in
hand.
ROSE
Well, Ill tell you this. I have
learned a lesson tonight. I wasn't
gonna run around, but when I start
botherin' your Daddy and worse
robbin' a cradle, I gotta face the
facts of life.
(pauses, then with firm
resolution)
Tomorrow mornin', I'm gonna get
myself up and go out.
BUDDY
(a wee mite puzzled)
You're going to get yourself up and
go out?
ROSE
Buddy, Mr. Right is out there
somewhere and I'm gonna find him!
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. HILLYER HOME - KITCHEN - DAY
A shot of a coolly angry Mother in the kitchen. It is late
morning. As she talks the CAMERA PULLS BACK to show a
sheepish Buddy standing "on the carpet before her. The other
children, Doll and Waski, are seated at the kitchen table
having hamburgers for lunch. They are happily smiling with
schadenfreude amusement at their brother's discomfiture.
MOTHER
Brother, when I have to wake you up
at eleven o'clock in the morning
you're either sick or you were up
very late last night.
(points a finger at him)
And you weren't reading Huckleberry
Finn. I looked and its not in your
room. Now what were you doing?
BUDDY
(sheepish)
Mother, I have to tell the truth. I
wasn't reading Huckleberry Finn, I
was reading one of those Little
Dirty Comic Books.
MOTHER
(sadly)
Oh, Brother, I am so disappointed
in you. You mustn't look at those
horrible things, they degrade the
human image.
BROTHER
(hangs head)
They're filthy, Mother.
MOTHER
Sex isn't ugly, sex is one of the
most beautiful things in life, the
creative power of the universe is
behind it.
BROTHER
I know, Mother.
MOTHER
But we must respect that power, we
must be in awe of it.
BROTHER
I am in awe of it, Mother.
MOTHER
I don't think you are sufficiently
in awe of it. Get the castor oil.
BROTHER
(winces, as Doll and Waski
happily smile)
Oh, Mother, not the castor oil.
MOTHER
This isn't punishment, I don't
believe in punishment. It's for
your health. Obviously you're sick
if you can act like that.
As she talks, Buddy reluctantly gets a bottle of castor oil
and a tablespoon from a shelf and brings it to her. A smiling
Doll comes forward and hands Buddy half of an orange. He
makes a face at her. Mother takes the bottle and pours out a
tablespoon of castor oil.
BUDDY
(wanly)
Mother, cant you make it calomel
instead of castor oil?
MOTHER
This is for your own good. When you
look at negative, destructive
things like those little filthy
comic books, you are sick. Here,
take this.
BUDDY
(he is resigned, there's
no way out; he makes a
face, swallows the castor
oil)
Geccch, yehh, guhhhh!
MOTHER
Stop gagging like that and putting
on a show, and swallow it.
BUDDY
Uhhh, gahdam stuff!
MOTHER
What did you say, Brother?
BUDDY
I said ahhh-dam stuff.
MOTHER
No, you didn't say that, Brother.
BUDDY
Yes, I did, mother. Your hearing
aid isn't working right. I said
ahhh-dam stuff.
DOLL
No, Mother, he's lying...
BUDDY
Shut up, Doll. I'll cut your guts
WASKI
(happily excited,
stammering)
He did lie, and... and... and
Mother, yesterday he stole money
out of your pocketbook!
BUDDY
Quiet, you little muddy-eyed brat,
or Ill kill you!
MOTHER
Children, children! Be quiet, all
of you!
(the children at once
simmer down)
The vibrations in this house are
strange today. Where's Rose,
anyhow?
BUDDY
She's getting herself up to go out.
MOTHER
(frowns, adjusts hearing
aid)
What'd you say, Brother?
BUDDY
She's getting herself up to go out.
I think she's coming down the hall
now.
MOTHER
Oh, yes, it's Thursday.
(glances around at sound
of an opening door)
Hello, Rose, dear...
(her eyes open wide as she
stares at Rose,
disconcerted; now weakly)
... my, you're... looking pretty...
CUT TO a shot of Rose in the doorway of the kitchen. She is
quite an apparition. She wears bright red lipstick, pink
rouge on her cheeks, mascara and her hair is coiffed up in
some outlandish manner, but her clothes are the most
remarkable thing of all.
The skirt is of strange, pink, semi-shiny and very thin
material and has about a dozen tiny little flowers that could
be rosebuds sewed on it. It fits extremely snugly to say the
least. The blouse seems a composite: it has frilly white
sleeves that are opaque and otherwise is made of filmy white
material that is hardly opaque at all. She has no bra and her
breasts are half visible, the nipples denting the material.
It is pretty wild for 1935. She seems to have on no underwear
of any kind; the skirt, which clings to her like a bathing
suit, shows no panty seams. She is carrying a shiny black
patent leather pocketbook and has on high heel black patent
leather shoes and no stockings. An ingenuous little smile is
on her face.
ROSE
How do you like my outfit? I made
most of it myself.
Rose walks in, "modeling" the outfit and the CAMERA PICKS UP
Mother.
MOTHER
(smiling, slightly aghast)
Well, it's... very gay.
We hear the SOUND of the Model A on the driveway.
BUDDY
Here comes Daddy.
ROSE
(staring down admiringly
at the outfit)
I have a knack for designing
clothes. But I had to buy the shoes
and the pocketbook.
MOTHER
(makes up her mind to
defend Rose)
Well, I think it's charming, Rose.
(tactfully)
But don't you think... ah, the
skirt is a little tight?
ROSE
Oh, no, that's the style. It's
meant to be clinging.
We hear the PORCH DOOR SLAM. Smiling, happy, Rose glances
around. We hear the SOUND of the kitchen door opening.
CUT TO a POV SHOT of Daddy in the kitchen doorway. As usual,
he has a rolled-up Glenville Tribune in his hand and a Straw
hat on the back of his head.His hands are on his hips and he
is hunched forward as if he cannot believe what he sees.
DADDY
Ye gods and little fishes. What
have you done to yourself, Rose?
ON THEM ALL. Rose is smiling, happy to be the center of
attention.
ROSE
Nothin'. I got myself up, that's
all.
DADDY
Got yourself up?
ROSE
Yeah. I'm goin' out.
Daddy walks slowly into the kitchen shaking his head. Sits at
table.
DADDY
Um-hmm. Well, that is the damndest
outfit I ever saw in my life. You
walk down the street like that and
they'll put you in jail, Rose.
MOTHER
Why, they won't either. She looks
pretty. And I wish you wouldn't
pick on the poor girl all the time.
Don't listen to him, Rose, you look
pretty, even beautiful.
ROSE
(smiles affectionately at
Mother)
You're so sweet.
DADDY
If you've got time before you go
"out," get me a half-a-cup of
coffee, Rose. Not a whole cup, a
half-a-cup.
ROSE
Why, sure, always got time to get
you a half-a-cup, and one of these
days I'm gonna get you a whole cup
and see what happens.
DADDY
(a growl, doesn't like
jokes about his foibles)
Um-hmmuhh. I never drink a whole
cup, my nerves can't stand the
caffeine. Ehh-hh, Lord awful
insomnia in reverse last night. Lay
there and sweated blood for hours.
DOLL
(sweetly)
Daddy, Buddy was up late last night
reading little dirty comic books.
Mother gave him a dose of castor
oil and he cursed it, he took the
Lords name in vain, then claimed he
hadn't said it. He lied, Daddy.
MOTHER
You mustn't be a tattletale, dear.
You mustn't be Delilah-ish and
Jezebel-ish toward your brother,
dear.
DOLL
I'm only trying to help him,
Mother.
BUDDY
Heh, what a hypocrite.
MOTHER
(to Daddy)
I do wish you'd speak to Brother.
It's true he's been looking at
those horrible little books again.
DADDY
(stares sternly at Buddy)
Lay off of that stuff, son. It
upsets your mother.
MOTHER
(genuinely worried)
I'm serious. We forget he's just a
child. I wish you'd speak to him.
DADDY
I'll take him with me downtown.
(glances at Rose as she
comes with coffee)
And you, too, Rose, if you want a
ride.
ROSE
Sure, love one. Here's your half-a
cup of coffee.
Daddy is staring with a very dubious frown at Rose's skirt.
He slowly shakes his head.
DADDY
That's a pretty stylish skirt,
Rose. The only thing I don't
understand is how did you ever get
it on.
ROSE
(happy, pleased by his
interest)
Well, it has buttons.
Points to little buttons on right side of the skirt.
DADDY
How can the buttons stand the
pressure?
ROSE
There are more on the other side.
Points to buttons on left side.
DADDY
Turn around, darlin'.
Happy to oblige, Rose turns around. Her plump, round,
feminine behind is only too plainly revealed through the thin
material. Daddy slowly shakes his head.
DADDY (CONT'D)
They'll put her in jail. The damn
little fool might as well be naked.
MOTHER
(a wee mite worried)
Well, it is a little tight. But it
isn't as bad as all that. No one
will notice unless they have such
thoughts in the first place.
DADDY
Who doesn't have such thoughts?
(glances at wristwatch)
We'd better get going.
MOTHER
You're not having lunch?
DADDY
Just half-a-cup of coffee. I never
eat, darlin', you know that. Not
eating and reverse insomnia are my
curses. Let's go, Rose, you and
Brother, let's hit the road.
MOTHER
Rose, you and Brother wait in the
car. I want to speak for a moment
Lo Mr. Hillyer.
ROSE
Yes, Ma'am.
MOTHER
Doll, you and Waski run on, too.
EXT. HILLYER HOME - PATIO - DAY
CUT TO a shot of Rose and Buddy as they walk out onto the
patio of the house. Rose walks down the steps to the flower
garden and Buddy follows.
ANOTHER ANGLE on Rose and Buddy as Rose picks a red rose and
puts it in her hair.'
ROSE
Did your Momma really give you
castor oil?
BUDDY
Yeah.
ROSE
(puts an arm around his
shoulders)
You're my sweetheart.
INT. HILLYER HOME KITCHEN - DAY
CUT TO Mother and Daddy at the kitchen table.
MOTHER
(earnestly)
I wish you wouldn't pick on Rose
and tease her like that. Of course
her clothes are silly, but she's
ignorant, naive, she doesn't know
any better.
DADDY
The girl worries me. If she walks
down the street like that, an army
will be following her.
MOTHER
Well, I admit that outfit isn't
very modest. But she doesn't mean
any harm, she just wants to
attract, attention.
DADDY
She will succeed.
MOTHER
I don't think you understand her.
It isn't sex she wants, it's love
she wants and this is the only way
she knows how to get it.
DADDY
(musingly)
That farmer in Gadsden was awful
eager to get rid of her, and I'm
beginning to see why.
MOTHER
He and his wife both said she had a
fine moral character and was
wonderful with children.
DADDY
Well, she loves children, all
right.
(adds dryly)
She loves everybody.
MOTHER
But that's a wonderful quality, not
a bad quality.
(takes his hand)
Have a little patience with her.
She's such a good-hearted little
thing and tries so hard.
DADDY
(stares pensively at her)
You are the one who's good-hearted.
(rises)
As for Rose, let's hope for the
best.
MOTHER
(rises, again takes his
hand)
Be kind to her. She loves you so
much.
(Daddy stiffens slightly,
and she adds)
In a perfectly proper way, of
course.
DADDY
Yes, of course.
EXT. HILLYER HOME - DRIVEWAY - DAY
CUT TO a shot of Rose and Buddy waiting in a Model A. Rose is
smiling, happy to be going out. The red rose is prominent in
her hair, Daddy walks INTO THE SHOT, gets into the driver's
seat of the car, He glances in a wry manner at the flower in
her hair.
DADDY
What have you got in your hair,
girl?
ROSE
My rose. It's kind of like a motto.
People will say, there comes Rose
with her rose.
Daddy gives her another wry stare and starts the Model A.
CUT TO a shot of the Model A going down the driveway.
EXT. MODEL A IN TOWN - DAY
ANOTHER SHOT or two of the Model A on the quiet summer
streets of a sleepy little town in the Depression South of
years ago.
INT./EXT. MODEL A - DAY
CUT TO a shot of Daddy, Rose and Buddy in the car. Buddy is
in the middle. Daddy is staring expressionlessly straight
ahead. His tone is sternly neutral as he speaks.
DADDY
You were up late last night,
Brother.
BUDDY
Well, a little.
DADDY
Reading dirty comic bocks.
(glances shrewdly at him)
And you admitted it?
BUDDY
(a trifle uncomfortable)
Well, yeah.
Both Rose and Buddy begin to look increasingly tense.
Hawkshaw the Detective is on the scent. Daddy stares ahead.
DADDY
You were up late last night, too,
Rose.
ROSE
(meekly)
Yes, sir. I had to go to the
bathroom.
A long pause, as Daddy stares ahead. His expression is
inscrutable.
DADDY
(finally, "casually")
Sometimes I think I was born to be
a detective. I get a feeling about
things. I'm not always right, but
often I am.
EXT. MODEL A BY LIGHT - DAY
CUT TO a shot of the Model A as it stops for a red light.
INT./EXT. MODEL A - DAY
CUT TO a shot of Daddy, Rose and Buddy in the car. Daddy
turns and stares sternly at Buddy.
DADDY
Son, was Rose in your room last
night?
BUDDY
(scared, but a good liar)
No. Why should Rose be in my room?
Daddy sternly scans them both. They stare back "innocently"
at him. Finally he seems to accept it.
DADDY
I can't imagine why. It was just a
thought.
Daddy shifts gears and faces front. Buddy glances upward in
relief, as if to say, "Wow, that was close."
DADDY (CONT'D)
Where do you want me to let you
out, Rose?
ROSE
Oh, anywhere downtown.
DADDY
You don't know where you're going?
ROSE
Oh, I'll just mosey around here and
there.
EXT. MODEL A - DAY
CUT TO a shot of the Model A as it stops off the main street
of a small sleepy Southern town.
INT./EXT. MODEL A - DAY
CUT TO a shot through the side window on Rose, Buddy and
Daddy.
DADDY
Is this ill right?
ROSE
It'll do just fine.
(gets out of car)
Bye-bye, see you later.
Rose waves goodbye and walks off down the sidewalk, swinging
her hips and her pocketbook,
INT./EXT. MODEL A - DAY
CUT TO a front shot of Daddy and Buddy in the car as they
stare after Rose.
EXT. STREET - DAY
CUT TO a shot of POV Daddy and Buddy of Rose walking along.
MUSIC.
INT./EXT. MODEL A
CUT TO Daddy and Buddy. Daddy slowly shakes his head, shifts
gears..
EXT. MODEL A - DAY
CUT TO a shot of the Model A as it rolls along the main
street.
EXT. MODEL A - DAY
ANOTHER SHOT of the Model A as it abruptly turns a corner.
EXT. MODEL A - DAY
ON the Model A as it abruptly turns around corner. Evidently
it is circling the block.
EXT. STREET - DAY
CUT TO a shot of Rose as she walks along, swinging her hips
and her pocketbook and smiling at whoever she sees. She
passes a few people and she smiles cheerfully at them -- the
men stare with a flat interest at her and the women frown,
but she smiles at one and all.
EXT. MODEL A
CUT TO a shot of the Model A as it creeps along.
INT./EXT. MODEL A - DAY
On Daddy and Buddy in the car.
DADDY
They might arrest her. I doubt it, but they might.
EXT. STREET - BUS STOP - DAY
CUT TO a shot of Rose as she walks up to a bus stop. A fairly
WELL-DRESSED MAN with a door-to-door salesman kit is standing
there. Rose glances at him then sidles up alongside him as if
she's waiting for a bus. He glances at her for a moment with
interest, but doesn't want to stare, looks away. We see the
Model A stop in the background of the SHOT.
EXT. STREET - DAY
CUT TO a shot of Daddy and Buddy in the car, watching Rose.
EXT. STREET - DAY
CUT TO a shot of Rose and the Young Salesman. Rose glances at
the man, glances at him again, then sighs and speaks.
ROSE
My feet sure do hurt.
YOUNG SALESMAN
(turns to her with a slow
smile)
Oh, yeah?
EXT. STREET - DAY
CUT TO a shot of Daddy and Buddy in the car, watching.
EXT. STREET - DAY
CUT TO a LONG POV SHOT of Rose and the Young Salesman. They
are talking amiably. Both are smiling.
EXT. STREET - DAY
CUT TO a shot of Daddy and Buddy.
DADDY
She has made contact.
EXT. STREET - DAY
CUT TO ANOTHER POV SHOT of Rose and the Young Salesman. It is
another LONG SHOT. MUSIC ON TRACK. They are smiling, talking.
The Young Salesman seems to ask Rose a question. She nods and
takes his arm and they walk off.
EXT. STREET - DAY
CUT TO Daddy and Buddy. Daddy is staring pensively at the
scene.
DADDY
I never saw anything like it. How
did she pick him up so fast?
BUDDY
I don't know.
DADDY
The girl strikes like a cobra.
Slowly shaking his head, Daddy starts the car.
EXT. STREET - DAY
A shot of Rose and the Young Salesman as they walk along. She
is holding his arm and they are smiling and talking as if the
best of friends. We hear MUSIC ON THE TRACK. The MUSIC
continues over the following MONTAGE OF SHOTS.
INT. HONKY TONK - VARIOUS SHOTS
ON Rose in a beer "honky tonk" with the Young Salesman in a
booth. He is drinking beer, she is drinking Coca Cola from a
bottle.
ON Rose in the booth, ANOTHER ANGLE. A second man has joined
them, a big beefy man -- he is BUSTER.
EXT. STREET - LATE AFTERNOON
ON Rose as she walks down a sidewalk in late afternoon with
Buster and still another man, a tall fellow in a Coca-Cola
Delivery Man's uniform or shirt. Rose seems to be innocently
happy, but the men appear to be having a mild dispute.
ON Rose getting into Busters car as Buster holds the door for
her, smiling. The COCA-COLA DELIVERY MAN is left on the
sidewalk, disappointed.
INT./EXT. BUSTER'S CAR - DUSK
CUT TO a shot of Rose in the car eating barbecue with Buster.
She is talking animatedly and he seems enchanted with her. It
is dusk.
EXT. HILLYER HOME - NIGHT
CUT TO a shot of a car pulling up in the driveway of the
Hillyer house. Rose gets out, waves goodbye to Buster. It is
night. End MUSIC.
INT. HILLYER HOME - MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT
CUT TO a shot of Daddy in pajamas peering out of the bedroom
window.
DADDY
Well, she's back.
MOTHER (O.S.)
What time is it?
DADDY
Quarter of twelve.
MOTHER (O.S.)
Is she all right?
DADDY
I don't see any bruises or broken
bones.
CUT TO a shot of Mother in bed in the four poster.
MOTHER
Bruises and broken bones, what kind
of thing is that to say?
Daddy walks INTO THE SHOT, sits on the edge of the bed.
MOTHER (CONT'D)
Why shouldn't she go out and have
boyfriends?
DADDY
No reason at all, darlin'.
MOTHER
Well, I wish you'd stop criticizing
and picking on her.
DADDY
Forgive my crudity, darlin'. All
I'm saying is that a girl who would
wear clothes like that is going to
get in trouble sooner or later.
MOTHER
(doubtfully)
Well, time will tell, won't it?
DADDY
Yes, darlin', time will tell.
DISSOLVE TO:
EXT. HILLYER HOME - PATIO - DAY
A SHOT of Mother on the patio studying. It is a sunny
afternoon. Mother looks up idly, looks back down at her
notebook, then looks up again with a frown.
CUT TO A POV SHOT of a SCRUFFY-LOOKING KAN as he darts behind
one tree to another. The Scruffy-looking Man does not seem
sinister, but he definitely is scruffy.
ON Mother. Frowning, she puts down her notebook and rises,
walks toward the door of the kitchen.
INT. HILLYER HOME - KITCHEN - DAY
CUT TO a shot of Rose washing dishes in the kitchen. As
usual, she is in a cheerful good humor. We see Buddy at the
kitchen table building a model airplane. Mother comes INTO
THE SHOT, worried, frowning.
MOTHER
Rose, that scruffy-looking man is
out in the yard again.
ROSE
(her smile fades)
Mrs. Hillyer, I don't know who he
is, I really don't.
MOTHER
I had better call Daddy.
INT. HOTEL - DAY
CUT TO a shot of Daddy behind the desk of a slightly run-down
small hotel of the Depression era. He is handing a key to a
guest.
DADDY
Glad to have you with us, Mr.
Watson. Make yourself at home.
Shadrach, take Mr. Watson's bag.
A black bellboy takes the guest's bag as Daddy turns to
answer a BUZZING switchboard.
INT. HILLYER HOME - KITCHEN - DAY
CUT TO a shot of Mother talking on a phone.
MOTHER
Hello, honey? That scruffy-looking
man is out in the yard again.
INT. HOTEL - DAY
CUT TO a shot of Daddy at the switchboard. Be is grim.
DADDY
Luckily, Johnson just walked in to
relieve me. I'll be right out
there!
INT. HILLYER HOME - KITCHEN - DAY
CUT TO a shot of Buddy and Rose in the kitchen.
BUDDY
Rose, you must know who the fellow
is.
ROSE
(innocently)
Well, he might be that man who
followed me home from the store the
other day. But I don't know who he
is, Buddy, I really don't.
EXT. HILLYER HOME - YARD
CUT TO a shot of the Scruffy-looking Man. Be is half-crouched
behind a big oak, peering at the Hillyer house. We hear the
approach of a car and the man looks over his shoulder.
CUT TO a shot of Daddy in the Model A. The TIRES SCREECH as
he puts on the brakes.
CUT TO a shot of the Scruffy-looking Man as he turns and
runs.
On Daddy as he jumps out of the car.
DADDY
Come back here, sir! Come back
here, you!
Daddy runs after the man.
CUT TO a shot of Daddy running after him.
CUT TO A FINAL SHOT of the Scruffy-looking Man as he leaps a
hedge in full stride.
EXT. HILLYER HOUSE - FRONT PORCH
CUT TO a shot of a worried-looking Mother on the front porch
of the house. Buddy and a meek-looking Rose are in the
background in the doorway. A weary, out-of-breath Daddy comes
INTO THE SHOT and walks up the steps, straw hat in hand.
DADDY
I couldn't catch him. He ran like a
deer.
Daddy fixes a stern glance on Rose. As he does so, Mother and
Buddy also turn and look at her. Rose smiles wanly.
ROSE
I don't know him.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. HILLYER HOME - MASTER BEDROOM - DAY
A SHOT of Mrs. Hillyer in her bedroom study. She is drinking
a Coca-Cola and smoking a cigarette held by a bobbie pin. We
hear the SOUND of an old-fashioned doorbell. She ignores it.
EXT. HILLYER HOME - FRONT PORCH - DAY
CUT TO a shot of a sullen-looking young boy on the front
porch. He is poorly dressed. He rings the doorbell. This is
BILLY.
INT. HILLYER HOME - MASTER BEDROOM - DAY
CUT TO a shot of Mother. Frowning, she gets up.
EXT. HILLYER HOME - FRONT PORCH
ON Mother as she opens the front door. A sullen Billy stares
at her.
MOTHER
Yes?
BILLY
Is Rose here?
MOTHER
She must have gone out for a walk
with the children.
BILLY
(sullenly)
Well, I got to see her.
MOTHER
She isn't here. And I'm sorry, but
Mr. Hillyer doesn't want her to
have callers during working hours.
BILLY
(sullenly)
Where is she?
MOTHER
I said she isn't here. NOW you go
home. Be a nice boy and go home.
Gently but firmly, Mother shuts the door in Billy's face.
A SHOT of Billy frustrated on the front porch. Sadly,
reluctantly, he turns and walks off the porch down the steps.
INT. HILLYER HOME - FRONT HALL - DAY
ON mother, peering worriedly through the curtains of the
front door.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. HILLYER HOME - DINING ROOM - NIGHT
A SHOT of the family at dinner at night. Daddy, Mother, Rose,
Buddy, Doll and Waski. The SHOT FAVORS Mother.
MOTHER
That sulky boy was here again this
afternoon. I was almost scared, he
wouldn't go away.
DADDY
(throws his napkin on
table)
Rose, my patience is wearing thin.
First a scruffy man who runs like a
deer and now a sulky boy who wont
go away. This is getting to be a
regular monkey and dog show.
ROSE
I swear to God I don't know who in
the world he is. Really, I don't, I
don't know no boy like that, I
don't.
Slowly, his face grim, Daddy returns his napkin to his lap
and resumes eating. The children are very silent and look a
trifle scared.
MOTHER
(finally, in a small
voice)
Well, it isn't Rose's fault boys
and men like her. You cant blame
her for that, hon.
DADDY
Rose, I realize you don't know this
boy, but if you know anybody who
does know him, if you have even a
faint clue as to who he might be,
then convey to him that he had
better stay away from my house and
stop scaring my wife... and I don't
mean maybe.
INT. HILLYER SOME - BUDDY'S BEDROOM - NIGHT
CUT TO a shot of Buddy in his room at night. He is dressed
and at a study table listening with cheap earphones to a
homemade crystal radio set. Enter a rather somber-faced Doll
in her nightgown.
BUDDY
(listening)
Chattanooga. I had St. Louis,
Missouri.
DOLL
Buddy, I'm worried about Rose.
BUDDY
So am I.
DOLL
She hasn't got any sense. In some
ways, she's awful dumb.
BUDDY
(takes off earphones,
gives it a moment of
grave consideration, then
his opinion)
It isn't that she hasn't got any
sense, Doll. Her basic intelligence
is probably above average, maybe
quite a bit above average.
DOLL
Then why does she act so dumb?
BUDDY
Dumbness doesn't concern her, Doll.
And neither does smartness. You see
--
Buddy is interrupted by the SOUND of the distant angry shout
of a man's voice, evidently from somewhere outside in the
woods because Buddy and Doll turn at once toward the window.
In shock they listen.
FIRST MAN'S VOICE
You son of a bitch, what are you
doing here?!
SECOND MAN'S VOICE
I'd like to ask you the same
question, you bastard!
FIRST MAN'S VOICE
I told you to stay away from her,
goddamn you!
SECOND MAN'S VOICE
You got no right to tell me to stay
away from her, I knew her before
you did!
BUDDY
Oh, boy. Oh, boy, oh boy. Daddy
isn't going to like this.
FIRST MAN'S VOICE
She told you to leave her alone,
didn't she?
SECOND MAN'S VOICE
Like hell she did! You're the one
she wants to get shed of!
BUDDY
Come on!
He and Doll hurry from the room.
INT. HILLYER HOME - UPSTAIRS HALL AND STAIRS - NIGHT
CUT TO a shot of Buddy and Doll running down the upstairs
hall and down the stairs. The CAM M FOLLOWS them down the
stairs.
INT. HILLYER HOME - BACK HALL - NIGHT
CUT TO a shot of Buddy and Doll as they slow down and creep
cautiously down the back hall to the back porch. We hear the
men yelling somewhere out in the dark bushes.
FIRST MAN'S VOICE
You'll swallow teeth yourself if
you don't leave her alone, you ugly
bastard! Go on, throw one, throw
one!
SECOND MAN'S VOICE
I'll throw one, you son of a bitch!
We hear a great CRASHING in the bushes, a SMACK of a fist, a
GROAN of shock, an OATH, a SHOUT, more CRASHING.
EXT. BACK PORCH - NIGHT
CUT TO a shot from the POV of the children, on Daddy on the
back porch as the lights blaze on. He wears his bathrobe and
has a big shotgun in his hands. Now he speaks in a loud,
clear and very angry voice.
DADDY
All right, I have got a Parker
shotgun here and it is loaded and
the trigger is cocked and wherever
you birds are and whatever you are
doing you had better get the hell
out of here goddamned quick!
A sudden total silence ensues, then a sudden CRASHING in the
bushes as the "birds" take off.
DADDY (CONT'D)
And do not come back, you sons of
bitches! Stay away from my house
and home and my wife and children
or I'll blow your goddamned heads
off!
INT. HILLYER HOME - BACK HALL - NIGHT
CUT TO a shot of Buddy and Doll as they cower in awe in the
downstairs hall. Daddy walks up to them carrying the shotgun.
He is grim and furious, but his voice is surprisingly calm.
DADDY
You children go to bed. And
Brother, stay away from Rose, I'll
speak to her in the morning.
INT. HILLYER HOME - UPSTAIRS HALL - NIGHT
CUT TO a shot of Buddy and Doll in the upstairs hall. Doll
meekly goes to her room.
Buddy hesitates, looks at Rose's door, glances nervously back
at the stairs, then goes to Rose's door, knocks softly, opens
it.
INT. HILLYER HOME - ROSE'S BEDROOM - NIGHT
CUT TO a shot of Buddy and Rose as he stands in the doorway
of her room. Rose is sitting on the edge of her bed in her
nightgown, a damp cloth held against her jaw which seems a
little swollen. A look of fear and guilt is on her face.
ROSE
(rather feebly, as if it
explains something)
I got an awful toothache.
BUDDY
(quietly)
Rose, if you don't keep your
boyfriends away from the house,
Daddy is going to fire you.
ROSE
(innocently)
But I don't know who they are.
Buddy makes an exasperated grimace and exits, shutting door.
The CAMERA REMAINS on Rose as she rolls her eyes upward in
dismay.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. HILLYER HOME - DINING ROOM - DAY
A shot of the family at breakfast in the dining room. The
silence is deafening. Everyone looks depressed except Daddy,
who is aloofly calm. Rose's head is bowed meekly over her
plate as we hear the CLATTER of silverware. Finally, Daddy
speaks in an almost pleasant tone.
DADDY
Well, Rose, my sleep was a little
disturbed last night, and so was
Mrs. Hillyer's, and so was the
children's. How about you? Was your
sleep disturbed, too?
ROSE
(solemnly)
Yes, Mr. Hillyer, it was. I... I
heard strange voices in the night.
DADDY
(softly strumming fingers,
finally)
Strange voices, Rose?
ROSE
(innocent as an angel)
Yes, sir.
DADDY
(still aloofly polite)
Now Rose, stop behaving as if
you're Bo Peep. Those men had a
flight last night because of some
female in this house, and it wasn't
Dolly or Mrs. Hillyer.
MOTHER
(very tense)
I don't think we ought to discuss
this in front of the children.
ROSE
(weeping, a hand over her
eyes)
Oh... oh... oh! I think... maybe...
one of 'em... was Foster... but I
don't hardly know him!
DADDY
Oh, shut up, Rose. Shut your mouth
and quit crying!
MOTHER
(draws herself up)
I will not sit here and listen to
you be brutal to this poor girl.
DADDY
I am not being brutal to her!
MOTHER
You certainly are! She has an awful
toothache, look at her jaw, it's
all swollen.
DADDY
(trying to restrain
himself, aloofly polite
to the utmost)
Darlin', it is not my fault if the
girl has epizootics --
-- The word means "an animal epidemic," and it's a pet word
of Daddy's; he pronounces it epi-zoo-tics, not epi-zoo-ot
tics, and uses it to mean any outrageous human malady --
DADDY (CONT'D)
-- I am not responsible for her
epizootics and I did not bring
about her epizootics. Now listen to
me. When I have to get up in the
middle of the night and defend my
home with a shotgun against a
couple of damned scoundrels
fistfighting in the bushes --
MOTHER
Scoundrels? They weren't
scoundrels, they were just boys.
DADDY
Boys? You say to me boys?
MOTHER
Yes! Yes, I say that to you, they
were boys! Boy friends of Rose,
chat's what they were, and why
shouldn't she have boy friends? Do
you want her to be unnatural? Don't
you think she's human the same way
you are yourself? It's the South,
that's what it is, the South with
its horrible traditions, of slavery
and crime and the oppression of
women, who are just as good as men
and just as human!
DADDY
(his eyes are a trifle
glazed)
Now darlin', what has the South got
to do with this?
MOTHER
(in a real snit, afraid he
will fire Rose)
And when I try to talk to you
seriously, when I try to explain to
you the unlimited creative power of
life, how beautiful it would be if
we gave up this hopeless struggle
and simply loved each other from
our hearts, what do you do -- you
mock me!
DADDY
(mildly, his eyes are even
more glazed)
I don't intend to mock you, dear. I
respect your philosophy. It's
beyond my comprehension, but I
respect it.
ROSE
(head bowed, weeping in a
little handkerchief)
Ohhh-hh, ohhh...
DADDY
(exasperated)
Oh, shut up, Rose, eat your
cornflakes!
ROSE
(piteously)
I'm not hungry.
The word is hongry, not hungry.
DADDY
Now you listen to me, Rose --
MOTHER
(with fire in her eyes)
Just a moment! You are not going to
fire this girl for an innocent
thing like having boy friends, not
while there is breath in my body!
DADDY
I don't intend to fire her,
darlin'.
MOTHER
It isn't her fault if she's
popular... what?
DADDY
I said I don't intend to fire her.
I just want to ask her to keep her
boy friends away from my home and
hearth, that's all.
MOTHER
(simmers down at once, now
calmly)
Well, that's very reasonable. Howe
I hate to bring it up, but she's
got an awful toothache, we've got
to carry her to the dentist.
ROSE
I don't want to go to the dentist.
MOTHER
Be quiet, Rose.
DADDY
Darlin', I'll take a taxi to the
hotel. You and Brother can handle
the girl's epizootics. I'll just
say one more thing.
(turns to Rose and, in a
grave tone)
Rose, I told you you had a friend
in Mrs. Hillyer, didn't I, that she
would fight for you like a tiger?
ROSE
(meekly)
Yes, sir.
DADDY
All right, thanks to her, and
thanks to this case of epizootics,
you are getting another chance.
(points a finger at her,
and sternly)
But don't try my patience again. We
have growing children in this
house. Do you understand me?
ROSE
Yes, sir.
INT. DENTIST'S WAITING ROOM - DAY
CUT TO a shot of Mother, Rose and Buddy in a dentist's
waiting room. Rose is holding a rubber ice bag to her jaw,
which is quite swollen. She is groaning and half weeping in
pain.
MOTHER
Poor thing. Does the ice help,
Rose?
ROSE
Ohh-hh, a little. Oh-h, I ain't
never been to no dentist before.
He's gonna kill me, I just know it.
MOTHER
No, Rose, he'll help you.
ANOTHER ANGLE, Rose shrinks in fear as, enter the dentist in
a white coat, DR. WINTON, a kindly-looking, gray-haired man.
We see a nurse behind him. He smiles in a reassuring manner.
DR. WINTON
Nurse says we have a nervous
patient. Now, young lady, be calm.
First of all, let me tell you, I am
not going to hurt you.
ROSE
Yes, you are.
DR. WINTON
No, I am not.
ROSE
Look, you can't kid me.
MOTHER
(rises, takes her by the
hand)
Now, come on, Rose. Stop being so
childish, come on.
INT. DENTIST'S OFFICE - DAY
ANOTHER ANGLE, on Rose and Mother and Dr. Winton, as they
guide and lead Rose into the dentist's operating room.- She
plants her feet and her eyes open wide with horror as she
sees the chair and other equipment.
ROSE
I'm not goin' in there, I don't
like the looks of it!
MOTHER
(annoyed)
Rose, sit down in that chair and be
quiet! We're trying to help you,
you silly creature, sit in that
chair!
ROSE
(very reluctantly sits in
chair)
Oh-hh, ohh-hh, Lord, he's gonna
kill me.
DR. WINTON
You and the boy wait outside.
INT. DENTIST'S WAITING ROOM - DAY
CUT TO a shot of Mother and Buddy in the waiting room. Enter
Dr. Winton with a little frown.
DR. WINTON
Well, she finally let me look in
her mouth. Is it true she's never
been to a dentist?
MOTHER
She was raised on a poor dirt farm.
I'm sure she's never seen a dentist
or hardly even a doctor.
DR. WINTON
Well, she has one mouth in ten
thousand, I don't see teeth like
that once in ten years. Her trouble
is an impacted wisdom tooth, but
there isn't a cavity in her head,
not a single one. She has perfect
teeth.
MOTHER
But the wisdom tooth will have to
be pulled?
DR. WINTON
Yes, and it's very bad. It probably
should be done at the hospital
under general anesthesia.
MOTHER
That would scare her to death.
She's terrified of hospitals. To
her, a hospital is where you go to
die.
DR. WINTON
I think you're right, it would be
harder on her. But you'd better
call Mr. Hillyer, she's going to
need help to get home.
DISSOLVE TO:
EXT. COUNTRY ROAD - DAY
A shot of Daddy behind the wheel of the model-A. Rose lies
pale and exhausted on Mother's shoulder on the front seat. A
trace of bloody gauze can be seen in her mouth and her eyes
are closed. Buddy is on the back seat.
ROSE
(a whisper, muffled by the
bloody gauze)
Never again, never again...
MOTHER
(with pity, gently)
I know it was bad, honey. I'm
sorry...
ROSE
No more dentists, no more
dentists...
MOTHER
It'll get better now.
EXT. HILLYER DRIVEWAY - DAY
CUT TO a shot of the Model-A in the driveway of the Hillyer
home. Mother helps Rose out of the car, but Rose can't stand
on her feet. Daddy has to catch her from falling. Daddy picks
her up in his arms and carries her up the steps as Buddy runs
ahead to open the front door.
DISSOLVE TO:
EXT. HILLYER PATIO - DAY
A shot of Mother and Daddy and Buddy on the patio. It is a
beautiful sunny morning. Mother and Daddy are seated at an
outdoor table about to have coffee. Daddy is opening mail and
Buddy, in the b.g., is gluing up a kite. Enter a smiling and
healthy Rose with orange juice, toast, cups and coffee on a
tray.
DADDY
Good morning, Rose. And how do you
feel today?
ROSE
Wonderful. Except I can touch the
place back there with my tongue, I
wouldn't even know I had that tooth
pulled.
DADDY
(dryly, as he looks at
mail)
Well, I know it, I just got the
bill for it.
ROSE
Boy, for four or five days there I
didn't think I'd live. But I'm my
old self again!
DADDY
Umm. Well. Yes. But no more strange
voices in the night, Rose.
ROSE
Oh, no, sir.
MOTHER
Rose has learned her lesson,
haven't you, Rose?
ROSE
Yes, ma'am.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. HOTEL - MEZZANINE - DAY
A shot of Daddy peering down at an old pool table in the
mezzanine of the family hotel. Buddy stands by with a pool
stick in hand. In the b.g., we see a black bellboy, SHADRACH,
approaching.
DADDY
I see my mother-in-law's face, son.
Read 'em and weep, boy, I am
playing a spectacular combination,
a triple. The nine ball in the
corner!
(takes his stance with cue
as Shadrach walks up)
Read 'em and weep, boy, that's all
she wrote.
SHADRACH
Mistah Hillyer, the Chief of Police
wants you on the telephone.
DADDY
(about to make his shot,
looks around)
The Chief of Police?
SHADRACH
Yassuh.
Daddy straightens up, sets his jaw, leans the cue against the
table and marches toward the elevator as Buddy stares after
him. The CAMERA STAYS on Buddy.
INT. HOTEL - DAY
CUT TO a shot of Buddy going down the hotel stairs. He holds
onto the banister, sliding with his hands far ahead in order
to take four and even five steps at a time -- it is a
childish trick, the point of the game is to touch as few
stairs as possible.
ANOTHER ANGLE, on Buddy as he jumps down the last remaining
five steps and walks into the lobby. Daddy comes from behind
the desk, grim.
DADDY
Rose is in jail. She bit a
policeman's thumb. Come on, son,
Shadrach can run the hotel.
EXT. MODEL-A - STREET - DAY
CUT TO a shot of Daddy and Buddy in the Model-A. Daddy stares
grimly ahead. Buddy steals a worried glance at him.
INT. LOCAL JAIL - DAY
CUT TO a shot in the local jail. The shot is on Daddy as he
stands before jail bars staring sternly into a cell. His
hands are on his hips, his straw hat is on the back of his
head and a bit to one side. Buddy stands beside him, a little
bit behind, a worried look on his face. The CHIEF OF POLICE,
a fat man, is on the other side of Daddy.
CUT TO a POV shot of Rose in the cell. Her hair is mussed,
her dress is torn. A little innocent, frightened smile is on
her face. The CAMERA PANS to include Daddy and the Chief of
Police.
CHIEF OF POLICE
That was a awful brawl down at the
Busy Beaver, Mr. Hillyer. You know
that fat Horton, the bootlegger?
DADDY
Yes, I know the son of a bitch.
CHIEF OF POLICE
Son of a bitch is right, he dern
near killed a man. And this girl
was the cause of it all. What's
more, she bit a police officer's
thumb right to the bone.
DADDY
Well, Rose, what have you got to
say for yourself?
ROSE
(coughs, then feebly)
I got an awful bad cold.
DADDY
(nods slowly, then with
aloof politeness)
That's all you've got to say,
you've got a bad cold?
ROSE
(coughs again)
Well, I don't know what happened.
They were arguin' about baseball,
then all of 'em started fightin'.
As for that policeman, I didn't
bite him, I don't think I bit him.
In dour silence, Daddy and the Chief of Police stare at Rose.
She gives them a little smile, as if to say, "See how
innocent I am?" The Chief turns to Daddy and asks with dry
irony:
CHIEF OF POLICE
Well, she's your girl, Mr. Hillyer.
You want me to release her in your
custody?
DADDY
No, not really. But I guess we'll
have to do that, John. Let her out.
Let the crazy creature out and I'll
take her home.
INT./EXT. MODEL-A - DAY
CUT TO a shot of Daddy, Rose and Buddy in the Model A. Daddy
stares grimly ahead, silent. Buddy looks solemn. Rose is
badly frightened and still coughing. Finally she ventures a
little smile and speaks to Daddy.
ROSE
I got an awful cold, I think I'm
sick.
Daddy is silent, his eyes fixed ahead.
EXT. HILLYER DRIVEWAY - DAY
CUT TO a shot of the Model A as it turns onto the Hillyer
driveway.
INT./EXT. MODEL A
CUT TO a shot of Daddy, Rose and Buddy in the car. She tries
again.
ROSE
I didn't mean to bite him. He was
hitting Horton with a blackjack in
the meanest way and... and I bit
him accidental.
DADDY
(stops the car, turns to
Rose)
I have to go back to the hotel. I'm
on duty at the desk and who knows a
quest might arrive. I will see you
at suppertime, Rose.
ROSE
(a feeble smile)
I didn't mean to bite him, I really
didn't.
DADDY
I will see you at suppertime, Rose.
ROSE
(feebly)
Yes, air.
EXT. HILLYER HOME - FRONT STEPS - DAY
CUT TO a shot of a shaky, slumped Rose going up the steps
with Buddy as the Model A drives away. Rose is coughing,
looks miserable.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. HILLYER HOME - LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
A SHOT of Buddy and Doll in the living room of the Hillyer
home at night. Doll is half-heartedly practicing scales on
the piano and Buddy is pacing the floor, hands clasped behind
him in something like the style of his father. As the CAMERA
FOLLOWS Buddy in his pacing we see Waski playing with marbles
on the floor.
DOLL
(turns around on piano
stool, to Buddy)
What is Rose going to do? Where can
she go?
BUDDY
They've been in there the longest
kind of time. I can't stand it, I
gotta find out what's going on.
DOLL
You better not snoop, Daddy'll kill
you!
INT. HILLYER HOME - FRONT HALL - NIGHT
CUT TO a shot of Buddy coming with great furtiveness from the
living room out into the front hall. Very cautiously, he
tiptoes across the hall and bows down and listens at the door
of his mother's bedroom-study. He crouches down, peeps
through the keyhole.
INT. HILLYER HOME - MASTER BEDROOM/STUDY - NIGHT
CUT TO a "keyhole shot" of Daddy and Mother in the bedroom.
Mother sits in her study chair, a handkerchief to her eyes.
Daddy sits in a chair nearby. He looks depressed.
DADDY
I'm sorry, darlin', I hate it as
much as you do.
MOTHER
(wanly)
Well, she does seem to cause a lot
of trouble, I admit. But she
doesn't mean any harm and it'll
break the children's hearts, they
all love her.
DADDY
It's because of the children she's
got to go. I don't want to be
holier-than-thou, but the girl
doesn't have the same outlook we
do. Morals don't mean a thing to
her, not a thing, and we can't have
a girl like that in this house.
MOTHER
Who is to say our morals are better
than hers?
(frowns, sighs)
But maybe you're right. She
could... influence Dolly...
DADDY
That is exactly what I'm afraid of.
(pauses, and firmly)
The girl has got to go, darlin'.
MOTHER
But morals come from the heart, not
from rigid rules and empty laws.
And in her heart Rose has never
hurt anyone and she never would.
Therefore, she's not immoral. Not
really.
DADDY
Now look, darlin', this is no time
to go off into the fourth
dimension.
MOTHER
But what I said is the simple
truth. And now I see something
else, I see more deeply into it...
Mother has a slightly "other-worldly" look on her face. Daddy
glances at the door of the bedroom, he suspects something.
DADDY
Just a moment, darlin'.
INT. HILLYER HOME - FRONT HALL - NIGHT
CUT TO a shot of Buddy crouched at the keyhole. With great
alacrity, he jumps up and hurries across the hall and shuts
the living room door just as Daddy whisks open the bedroom
door. Daddy grimaces.
DADDY
Could of sworn that boy was out
here.
Daddy shuts the door and at once almost like the movement of
a ballet Buddy opens the living room door and tiptoes back to
the keyhole.
INT. HILLYER HOME - MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT
CUT TO a Shot of Daddy and Mother. It is another "keyhole
shot."
MOTHER
How could Rose really be a bad
influence on Dolly? She has a
loving nature, you ought to want
someone like that around your
children. Why do you think those
boys and men like her?
DADDY
Well, I have a pretty good idea.
MOTHER
If you mean sex, you couldn't be
more wrong. Rose likes those boys
and men, she has love in her heart,
and that is what they want. It's
the most rare and beautiful thing
in life and that is why they follow
her.
DADDY
They follow her because she's a --
(he is about to say "piece
of tail," but interrupts
himself)
-- no, I won't say that.
MOTHER
What she doesn't understand is that
her behavior is disturbing to other
people. She's young, she's got to
learn to restrain the life force
that's in her. Its creative, but in
her case it's too creative.
DADDY
Darlin', Rose has got to go!
MOTHER
(rises)
I'll talk to her, I'll reason with
her.
INT. HILLYER HOME - FRONT HALL - NIGHT
CUT TO a shot of Buddy in the hall. He jumps up and hurries
across the hall into the living room. Again, as the living
room door shuts the bedroom door opens. Mother starts up the
stairs, her mouth determined.
INT. HILLYER HOME - LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
CUT TO a shot of Buddy and Doll and Waski in the living room.
DOLL
What's happening?
BUDDY
Mother is struggling desperately.
In fact she's fighting like a
tiger. But I don't know, it's
close, it's mighty close.
DOLL
(pauses, then in a low
tone, slightly wide-eyed)
Buddy... does Rose really... "do
it" with all those boys and men?
BUDDY
(aloofly, like Daddy)
Doll, don't ask childish questions.
WASKI
(indignantly, to Doll)
Of course not!
BUDDY
Oh, Waski, you don't even know what
we're talking about.
INT. HILLYER HOME - UPSTAIRS HALL - NIGHT
CUT TO a shot of Mother going down the upstairs hall. She
knocks on Roses door and enters.
INT. HILLYER HOME - ROSE'S BEDROOM - NIGHT
CUT TO a shot of Mother as she walks over and stares down in
shock at Rose on the bad. Rose is lying back on a pillow and
staring groggily at her, obviously not quite all there.
Frowning with worry, Mother sits beside her and puts a hand
on her forehead.
MOTHER
Rose, you're very sick. You're
burning up. Rose, can you hear me?
Rose?
ROSE
(semi-delirious)
What? Wha-at? Mrs. Hillyer?
EXT. HILLYER SOME - NIGHT
CUT TO a shot of an ambulance pulling up outside the Hillyer
house. Attendants get out of it carrying a stretcher.
INT. HILLYER HOME - FRONT HALL - NIGHT
CUT TO a shot of Buddy, Doll and Waski in the front hall.
They are badly frightened, even terrified.
The CAMERA PANS to show the ambulance attendants carrying
Rose strapped in a stretcher down the stairs, as Mother helps
and Daddy follows, both of them very worried. Rose is
conscious now and her eyes roll with terror toward the
children.
ROSE
Buddy! Dolly! They're takin' me to
the hospital! Don't let 'em, don't
let 'em!
The CAMERA STAYS on the frightened silent children as they
stare after Rose on the stretcher.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. HOSPITAL CORRIDOR - NIGHT
A shot of Mother, Daddy, Buddy, Doll and Waski in the
corridor of a hospital. All look very solemn. A nurse leads
them to a door and opens it.
INT. HOSPITAL ROOM - NIGHT
CUT TO a shot of a hospital room. A very pale, sick-looking
Rose lies in a hospital bed. The nurse, mother, Daddy, Buddy,
Doll and Waski enter, all of them looking very grave.
ANOTHER ANGLE, CLOSE ON Rose as she weakly turns her head on
the pillow. Her eyes well with tears as she recognizes the
children.
ROSE
(a feeble whisper)
Pray for me...
ANOTHER ANGLE, on the nurse as she speaks in a whisper we
don't hear to Mother and Daddy, obviously telling them they'd
better go. Daddy beckons to the children and they start to
leave, all looking depressed.
INT. DOCTOR'S OFFICE - NIGHT
CUT TO a shot of DR. F. ROBERT MARTINSON, a rather unpleasant
man with a spade beard. He has a superior, patronizing way of
talking and very little Southern accent if any. The scene is
his office and he is in a swivel chair behind his desk.
As he speaks the CAMERA PULLS BACK to show Daddy, Mother and
the Hillyer children.
DR. MARTINSON
Well, Mrs. Hillyer, the girl is
strong as an ox and that is what is
keeping her alive. But not many
people walk away from double
pneumonia, Madam, not many.
MOTHER
She looks terrible, just awful.
DR. MARTINSON
Of course she does and I must say
I'm puzzled by your delay in
getting her to the hospital. I
should think ordinary powers of
observation would have suggested to
you that she was seriously ill.
MOTHER
She hid it from us, Doctor. She's
afraid of the hospital.
DR. MARTINSON
(a thin superior smile)
Afraid of the hospital?
MOTHER
Deathly afraid of it. Her people
were poor tenant farmers and she
doesn't know anything about doctors
or medicine or hospitals.
DR. MARTINSON
(frowns in open disbelief)
A tenant farm? Are you trying to
tell me that girl is a product of
the hookworm and pellagra belt?
MOTHER
Well, her people were very poor.
She says she was often hungry as a
child, and I'm sure the food she
ate was pretty awful, not a
balanced diet at all.
DR. MARTINSON
Exactly, and that's why she
couldn't possibly have come from
such a farm.
DADDY
(icily polite)
Excuse me, sir, are you calling my
wife a liar?
MOTHER
(embarrassed)
Honey, please...
DR. MARTINSON
(a thin unpleasant smile)
It's simply that I find it
incredible, Mr. Hillyer. Aside from
the girl's illness at the moment,
she is very strong, a very healthy
specimen of a young human female --
and a comely one, too. She must
have gotten protein somewhere as a
young child, if only sporadically.
MOTHER
It is kind of amazing. The dentist
says she has perfect teeth, there
isn't a cavity in her mouth.
MR. MARTINSON
(tries to make a
supercilious joke)
Her entire mouth is a cavity,
Madam, ha ha ha.
DADDY
(dryly, doesn't like the
man a bit)
Ha ha ha ha.
Mother frowns at Daddy and Dr. Martinson gives him an aloof
glance.
DR. MARTINSON
(with spurious dignity)
The point is you don't grow up like
that on a diet of sorghum and
hominy grits. She got protein
somewhere, she's a very strong girl
and I think she'll live... despite
the delay in medical treatment.
DADDY
That's all I want to know.
(rises)
Lets get out of here before I get
the epizootics myself. Thank you,
Doctor, for your discourse, it was
fascinating, no doubt.
MOTHER
Yes, thank you, Doctor.
DR. MARTINSON
(as they leave)
I beg your pardon, epi-zoo-tics? Do
you mean "epi-zoo-ot-tics," an
animal epidemic?
DADDY
(icily polite, from the
door)
No, I mean epizootics.
INT. HOSPITAL - NIGHT
CUT TO a shot of Mother, Daddy, Buddy, Doll and Waski as
Daddy comes out of the Doctor's office and shuts the door.
DADDY
I can't stand that polecat. They
ought to hang him.
MOTHER
You don't like him because he's a
Yankee. He's a brilliant doctor.
DADDY
He's a polecat, dear.
INT. HOSPITAL ELEVATOR - NIGHT
CUT TO a shot of Daddy, Mother and the Hillyer children in a
hospital elevator as a black elevator operator runs them
down. Daddy has his hat politely removed and is staring
pensively ahead.
DADDY
Rosebud looked pretty pitiful in
that bed.
(sighs, shakes his head)
I hope she'll be all right, but I
still think we ought to fire her.
MOTHER
I don't see how you can even think
of it now.
Daddy purses his lips but says nothing. It is obvious the
"epizootics" have saved Rose, at least for the time being.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. HILLYER HOME - ROSE'S BEDROOM - NIGHT
A SHOT of Rose in bed in her own bedroom. She is propped up
on pillows and wearing a rather attractive pink silk
housecoat of Mother's.
A tray is on her lap and she is eating her supper as Buddy
sits on the edge of the bed talking with her, or rather
listening to her. It is obvious she is well on the road back
to health.
ROSE
Oh, he's so kind, so gentle inside,
and so unhappy with that rich wife
who doesn't understand him, her
being a Southerner and everything,
and what a bedside manner he has
got -- so gentle and kind beneath
the professor way he acts!
BUDDY
Rose, you are too uncritical of
people.
ROSE
You don't know the bedside manner
that man has got. Why, it does me
good just to see him sit there all
solemn and go pokin' in his bag
like he's gonna cure me, which he
did of course. And even more
important he loves me, like a
patient I mean, the other day he
got tears in his eyes just
listenin' to my heart beat.
BUDDY
He did?
ROSE
Yeah, he tried to hide it but I saw
'em, and a little bit he says to
me, "You know, you are beautiful."
Now wasn't that a nice thing for a
doctor to say to a patient, wasn't
it? What could cheer a girl up
more?
BUDDY
Rose, I have got doubts about that
doctor and so does Daddy.
ROSE
He's got doubts about hisself and
that's the saddest thing of all.
Would you believe that poor man
thinks nobody likes him?
BUDDY
Yeah, I'd believe it.
ROSE
Well, I like him. I used to be
afraid of doctors but not any more.
Why, he could operate on me any old
time and I wouldn't even be scared.
BUDDY
Rose, you are just entirely too
uncritical of people.
ROSE
I ain't neither. Listen here,
Buddy, besides all his vast medical
knowledge, he has the most kindest
heart beneath the professor way he
acts -- he wants justice in the
world and he's got some real
interestin' ideas.
INT. HILLYER HOME - FRONT DOOR - NIGHT
CUT TO a shot of Mother opening the front door. Dr. Martinson
is there-with his black bag, an icy polite look on his face.;
MOTHER
Oh, good evening, Doctor. Rose is a
lot better, I just gave her her
supper. She's almost all well now.
DR. MARTINSON
Let me be the judge of that, Madam.
MOTHER
Yes. Well. She's upstairs.
INT. HILLYER HOME - ROSE'S BEDROOM - DAY/NIGHT
CUT TO a shot of Buddy and Rose in Rose's bedroom.
ROSE
Justice, that's what he wants,
justice for everybody and
especially for niggers. And I think
that's real nice of him because
black people don't have a very good
life, you got to admit that, to be
a nigger is sometimes practic'ly
fatal, but the wife don't
understand all of that, she thinks
niggers are just so much dirt,
which anybody ought to know better
if they been on their ass their
ownselves -- and that is the cause
of his profound unhappiness, Buddy,
that no-good-mean wife with all her
Southern prejudice against niggers
and everything!
It is a very long speech and delivered with a non-stop
vitality that leaves Buddy a trifle groggy. Slowly, he shakes
his head, as enter Mother.
MOTHER
The Doctor is here. And Brother,
supper is ready.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. HILLYER HOME - DINING ROOM - NIGHT
A SHOT of the Hillyer family minus Rose eating dinner in the
dining room. The meal is almost finished, Daddy cutting apple
pie.
DADDY
Is that Doctor still up there,
Brother.
BUDDY
Yeah, he's still up there.
DADDY
What's taking the rascal so long?
MOTHER
Honey, Dr. Martinson isn't a
rascal, he's one of the finest
physicians in Glenville. He studied
at Johns Hopkins University.
DADDY
I don't care where the polecat
studied.
MOTHER
Sometimes the negativism and
cynicism in you makes me want to
vomit.
(shakes her head sadly as
Buddy surreptitiously
puts his napkin on table)
Your real trouble is that you're
anti-intellectual. The irony is
women are supposed to be emotional,
but I never saw anybody who
depended more on emotion and
prejudice than you do.
BUDDY
(a half audible murmur)
Excuse me, gotta go to bathroom.
MOTHER
Now I have a plan about Rose, an
educational plan. She's getting
better and we don't want any more
trouble --
(notices Buddy slipping
out)
Brother, you ought to hear this.
BUDDY
I'll be right back.
The CAMERA FOLLOWS Buddy as he slips out during following
speech.
MOTHER
First, those clothes she wears.
They're too provocative. I've
talked to her a lot about it and I
think she understands...
INT. HILLYER HOME - FRONT HALL - NIGHT
CUT TO a shot of Buddy as he goes down the hall, eyes
narrowed.
ON Buddy posted in the doorway of the living room. He has his
hands on his hips Daddy-style and is staring sternly up the
stairs.
CUT TO A POV SHOT of Dr. Martinson with his black bag in hand
and shoulders hunched coming down the stairs. The man is
slinking, has quilt written all over him. As he goes down the
stairs he glances to one side, sees Buddy and frowns. The man
gives a sudden nervous start of fright as we hear Daddy's
voice loud on the TRACK.
DADDY (O.S.)
Everything all right, Doctor?
CUT TO A POV shot of Daddy at the rear of the downstairs
hall, napkin in hand and hands on hips. He is staring sternly
at the doctor.
CUT BACK TO the Doctor. He glances nervously again toward
Buddy.
ANOTHER POV SHOT of Buddy. Looks just like Daddy, hands on
hips.
ON Dr. Martinson, as he looks back at Daddy.
DR. MARTINSON
Oh, yes. Yes. Just fine. A few more
days... a little more rest...
she'll be perfectly healthy.
ANOTHER ANGLE on Daddy as he walks forward down the hall
toward Buddy. The CAMERA PICKS UP Buddy and both of them
grimly stare after the fleeing doctor.
DADDY
(in a low, conspiratorial
tone)
What do you think, Brother?
BUDDY
I don't know. But you better watch
him like a hawk, if he comes back
again.
DADDY
He's not coming back again. We
scared the rascal off, son.
(puts a hand on Buddy's
shoulder)
Come on back to supper. Your mother
has a theory about how to educate
Rose.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. HILLYER HOME - KITCHEN - DAY
A SHOT of Mother and Rose and the children in the kitchen. We
see a sewing machine and evidences of dressmaking. Rose has
on a new and modest little dress that Mother evidently has
made for her.
MOTHER
You see, Rose? Now that's the kind
of dress you ought to wear.
ROSE
(less than enthusiastic)
Yeah, it's kinda nice.
MOTHER
You look very pretty in it, Rose.
Really, you do.
ROSE
(smiles at Mother)
Well, you're real sweet to make it
for me.
(puts an arm around
Mother's shoulder)
There never was nobody like you.
And you don't need to worry, I
ain't goin' out no more.
MOTHER
Well, there's no reason you
shouldn't go out, Rose... in
moderation.
ROSE
(a little shrug)
I don't want to. When I was lyin'
there in that hospital bed at
death's door I says to myself, I
ain't goin' out no more. If I ever
get outta this, I'll just stay
home.
Rose casually pulls the dress over her head and stands there
in panties and bra, oblivious of Buddy and the children. She
has about as much modesty as a small child herself.
ROSE (CONT'D)
(rather sadly)
Besides, there ain't no Mr. Right
out there. Or if there is I can't
find him, all I find is a pile of
Mr. Wrongs. I ain't goin' out no
more.
DISSOLVE TO:
EXT. CHURCH - DAY
A SHOT of Daddy, Mother, Rose, and the children all in their
Sunday best going up the steps of a church. Rose looks
virginal in the modest dress Mother made for her.
INT. CHURCH - DAY
A SHOT of Rose, Mother, Daddy and the children on a bench in
church. We hear singing. Rose looks innocent, virginal as she
sings. Mother gives her an approving look, exchanges glances
with Daddy.
EXT. CHURCH - DAY
CUT TO a shot of the Hillyer family coming out of church. We
see them shaking hands with the Minister. Rose smiles
sweetly, modestly.
EXT. HILLYER DRIVEWAY - DAY
CUT TO a shot of the Model A driving up in the driveway of
the Hillyer house.
ANOTHER ANGLE on them all as they get out of the car. Rose
takes Doll's hand with one hand and Waski's hand with the
other.
ROSE
All right, we'll play monopoly
then.
Mother, Daddy and Buddy watch Rose go up the steps with Doll
and Waski.
MOTHER
She's like a different person.
Being so sick made a big impression
on her. I really think she's
learned a lesson.
DADDY
Um-hmm.
(waits as Mother goes on
up steps, then turns to
Buddy and in a low tone)
Come with me, Brother. I want to
show you something.
EXT. HILLYER HOME - ROSE GARDEN - DAY
CUT TO a shot of Daddy and Buddy in a rose garden below the
windows of the house.
It is Hawkshaw the Detective and his Unwilling Assistant.
Daddy solemnly points to dim marks in the flower bed.
DADDY
See that, son? Now this is a heel,
see, and there, that's the ball of
a foot. Someone has been walking
here.
BUDDY
(reluctantly)
Well, it's not very plain.
DADDY
That is because it rained recently,
the rain has obscured the evidence.
But you could still take plaster
casts of these footprints, then
match up the plaster casts with
whosever shoes they are, and that
way you could catch him --
understand?
BUDDY
But how would you find him?
DADDY
Well. Well, what I mean is, you
could prove it was his shoes if you
did catch him. But look this,
Brother, it is even more
interesting. Look at this mark
here, and that mark over there. Now
wouldn't you say those marks are
the marks of a ladder?
BUDDY
Well, I don't know.
(trying to sound like a
fellow detective, but
doesn't want Rose to get
caught)
No, I don't know, Daddy, I think
the rain has obscured it.
DADDY
True, but if you look sharply you
can see that those marks are the
marks of a ladder. Now let's go
back to the garage and see if the
ladder has been tampered with.
INT. GARAGE - DAY
CUT TO a shot of Daddy and Buddy back in the garage. They are
scrutinizing a wooden ladder that hangs on pegs alongside the
garage. All Daddy needs is a cap and a pipe to be a dead
ringer for Sherlock Holmes. He is in dead earnest about this,
it is no Joke and he does not dream of being funny.
DADDY
(points to ladder, eyes
narrowed)
See, son? The paint is flaked off
here, freshly. Look at it, Brother,
there is no question about it. Some
person or persons unknown have very
recently tampered with this ladder.
BUDDY
Well... maybe...
DADDY
And there's only one reason anybody
would want this ladder -- to get up
into Rose's bedroom in the dark of
night! I am going to chain up this
ladder and padlock it! -- and that
is not all I am going to do!
Buddy stares at him in apprehension.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. HILLYER HOME - DINING ROOM - NIGHT
A shot of the whole family at dinner including Rose. Daddy
puts down his napkin.
DADDY
That was a delicious repast, Rose,
as usual. Now I have something of
grave import to say to you and to
Mrs. Hillyer.
(pauses, points at Buddy)
And I don't want you children
snooping, do you hear me, Brother?
Go up to your rooms.
INT. HILLYER HOME - UPSTAIRS - NIGHT
CUT TO a shot of Buddy, Doll and Waski in the upstairs. They
tiptoe along furtively.
INT. HILLYER HOME - STAIRCASE - NIGHT
CUT TO a shot of the children going down backstairs.
INT. HILLYER HOME - CELLAR - NIGHT
CUT TO a shot of Buddy leading Doll and Waski down the steps
of the cellar. The CAMERA follows as they walk past an
ancient coal-burning furnace and...
INT. HILLYER HOME - CRAWL SPACE - NIGHT
climb up into 'a crawl space beneath the front of the house.
A shot of Buddy, Doll and Waski crawling along on dirt in the
crawl space under the house. They come to a floor heat
ventillator grill and stop. Buddy holds his fingers to his
lips and listens intently.
INT. HILLYER HOME - MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT
CUT TO a shot of Daddy, Mother and Rose in Mother's bedroom
study. We see the grillwork of the heat ventillator in the
floor. Daddy is at the climax of his speech.
DADDY
We all love you, Rose. Even more
now, since you've bravely
surmounted all these epizootics. We
admire you, we esteem you, we hold
your hand with love and affection,
we have an investment in you -- and
I don't mean money, although God
knows we have that, too,
considering those godawful hospital
bills...
INT. HILLYER HOME - CRAWL SPACE - NIGHT
CUT TO a shot CLOSE on Buddy, Doll and Waski in the crawl
space. Buddy is smiling in relief. He whispers to Doll and
Waski.
BUDDY
He's not going to fire her.
INT. HILLYER HOME - MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT
CUT BACK TO Daddy, Mother and Rose in the bedroom-study.
DADDY
I mean a human investment, Rose, we
care about you, you matter to us.
But we have innocent and unformed
children in this house and the
monkey and dog show has got to
stop. Do you hear me?
ROSE
(meekly)
Yes, sir.
MOTHER
(a bit overwhelmed by
Daddy)
She hasn't actually done
anything...
DADDY
(very firmly)
Just a moment, dear.
(turns to Rose and almost
sadly)
We can't have it, Rose. Can you
behave yourself -- or not? That is
the question, to behave or not to
behave, to suffer the slings and
arrows of outrageous chastity and
keep your skirt down or to hoist it
in the light of the moon and make
whoopee -- that is the coil
shuffling question.
(a dramatic pause, then
points at her)
If you can't behave I am going to
fire you and I say it in front of
you and Mrs. Hillyer and I mean it.
I point my rigid finger right at
your nose, Rose, and I stare
unwaveringly into your big blue
eyes and I tell you... this is a
final warning. Do you hear me?
ROSE
(very meekly)
Yes, sir.
INT. HILLYER HOME - CELLAR - NIGHT
CUT TO a shot of Buddy, Doll and Waski as they climb from the
crawl space down into the cellar by the furnace.
DOLL
Well, if she's got any sense at
all, she'll listen to that.
BUDDY
Sense doesn't mean anything to
Rose. But I think we're on safe
ground now. Daddy chained up the
ladder, whoever it is can't get in
the house.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. HILLYER HOME - BUDDY'S BEDROOM - DAY
A shot of Buddy sound asleep in his bed in the early gray
dawn. As we DISSOLVE IN on the shot, we hear a loud BANGING
and DADDY'S VOICE.
DADDY (O.S.)
Open that door! Open it up, open it
this instant! Do you hear met open
that door!
Buddy sits quickly up in bed, at once pushes back the covers
and gets out of the bed, hurriedly reaches for his khaki
pants.
INT. HILLYER HOME - UPSTAIRS HALL - DAY
CUT TO a shot of Daddy in the upstairs hall. He is fully
dressed and is banging angrily on Rose's door.
DADDY
Rose! Rose! Open this goddamn door!
Open it or I'll break it down!
ANOTHER ANGLE on Buddy as he hurries down the hall up to
Daddy, in khaki pants and pulling a shirt over his head.
DADDY (CONT'D)
Open that door, damn you!
BUDDY
Daddy, what's the matter?
DADDY
(glances around at him)
She's got somebody in there,
Brother! His shoes are on the back
porch -- there they were, naked and
smiling at me!
(bangs on door)
Rose, open this door immediately!
ANOTHER ANGLE on Daddy as he bangs on the door. We see a
frightened Doll in her nightgown in the b.g. down the hall, a
hand to her mouth. Daddy commences kicking at the door.
ANOTHER ANGLE, CLOSE ON Daddy.
DADDY (CONT'D)
Open up, Rose! Procrastination
won't help you!
Finally, the CLICK of a bolt and slowly the door opens. We
see a wide-eyed, terrified Rose. She has a sheet around her
and evidently nothing more.
DADDY (CONT'D)
(he pushes past her)
All right, where is he? Where's the
culprit?
INT. HILLYER HOME - ROSE'S BEDROOM - DAY
CUT TO a shot of Daddy in the bedroom. He yanks open the
closet door, looks under the bed as he talks.
DADDY
Where is he? I know he's in here,
where is he, Rose? His shoes were
on the back porch I smiling at met
Where are you, you son of a bitch?
In her distress and dismay, the sheet has come down over
Rose's shoulder and one of her breasts is exposed.
ROSE
(feebly, she is terrified)
There ain't nobody here, Mr.
Hillyer! Honest, there ain't!
DADDY
Where is he? Where have you got him
hid?
(notices curtain blowing
in wide open window)
Ah, ha!
The CAMERA follows Daddy as he strides angrily toward the
window and leans out of it and stares down. Rose makes a
little whimpering sound.
EXT. HILLYER SOME - GARDEN - DAWN
CUT TO a POV shot of the garden below as seen by Daddy from
the window. We see lying on the ground BILLY, the Sulky Boy
who scared Mother. He wears only undershorts and is groaning,
holding his leg, which evidently he has injured in jumping
from the window.
INT. HILLYER HOME - ROSE'S BEDROOM - DAWN
On Daddy, as he turns from the window to Rose.
DADDY
And who, Rose, may I ask, is that?
ROSE
Well, it's Billy.
DADDY
And what, may I ask, was Billy
doing here?
ROSE
(a straight answer)
Well, Mr. Hillyer, Billy's very
poor, he don't have no money and
there wasn't no place else to go.
DADDY
Well, it was a silly question.
ROSE
He's a nice boy, you'd like him. He
wants to be a fireman.
DADDY
Ye gods and little fishes, a
fireman. Put on some clothes, Rose,
you're naked as a jay bird. When
you're dressed, come on downstairs.
I'm afraid your friend Billy is
injured, where are his clothes?
ROSE
(begins weeping, both
breasts now are exposed)
Under the mattress. I hid 'em so
you wouldn't be mad. He wants to
marry me, he loves me. I can't
marry him, he's too young and
hasn't got no job, but he loves
me... now you wouldn't hurt him,
would you?
Daddy gently pulls the sheet around her to cover her breasts.
DADDY
I won't hurt him, honey.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. HILLYER HOME - KITCHEN - DAY
A shot of Daddy, Mother and Rose at the kitchen table
drinking coffee in the early morning. Daddy looks grave,
Mother looks sad, and Rose is crying into a handkerchief.
ROSE
Mr. Hillyer, I know it was bad and
I hadn't ought to of done it. But
I'm only a human girl and I... I
ain't always perfect. I promise I
won't let him in the house no more,
I promise. Won't you and Mrs.
Hillyer forgive me?
DADDY
Rose, darlin', you break my heart.
But I am only a human man myself of
the father variety. Rose, pack your
bag, baby, as of this moment you
are hired, mired and fired.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. HILLYER HOME - DINING ROOM - DAY
A shot of the family at breakfast in the dining room. The
dissolve suggests that some time has gone by. Daddy looks a
bit grim, Rose has a wan and depressed expression. Mother
looks worried.
DADDY
(politely)
Well, Rose, going out to look for a
job today?
ROSE
(eyes down)
What's the use, there ain't none.
DADDY
Mmm. Would you get me another half
a-cup of coffee, dear?
Rose rises and he watches her leave, then turns to Mother.
DADDY (CONT'D)
It has been three weeks since I
"fired" her. Is there no way to get
rid of this girl? Are we stuck with
her for life?
MOTHER
She can't get a job, it's a
depression. And we can't just throw
her out on the street.
DADDY
The hell we can't.
Rose returns with coffee and pours it out for Daddy.
MOTHER
Rose, you don't look well and you
haven't eaten a bit of breakfast.
ROSE
I'm not hungry. I can't eat
nothin', I haven't been able to eat
since I got fired. I think maybe
I'm sick.
DADDY
God forbid. You're not sick, Rose,
forget it. Don't get any notions in
your head, you're not sick.
ROSE
Yes, sir.
MOTHER
She does look a little peaky.
DADDY
No, she doesn't, she's fine, fine.
She's perfectly healthy, don't give
her ideas.
ROSE
Well, I'll do the dishes, then I'm
goin' to lie down a minute and
rest. My stomach hurts.
Daddy watches Rose exit to the kitchen, then leans forward
and speaks to Mother, his expression a bit sly.
DADDY
Her plan is obvious, plain as day.
She's going on a hunger strike. The
question is, how do we foil her?
MOTHER
She's just nervous and worried. And
you would be, too, if you had no
job and no place to go.
DADDY
(thinking hard)
Something has got to be done or
Rose is going to be in this house
forever.
DISSOLVE TO:
EXT. HILLYER HOME - DRIVEWAY AND PATIO - DAY
A shot of the Model A coming up the driveway of the Hillyer
House. It is late afternoon.
CUT TO a shot of Daddy getting out of the car. He has a
triumphant little smile on his face.
A shot of Daddy as he walks onto the patio, a rolled-up copy
of the Glenville Tribune in his hand and his straw hat on the
back of his head. He definitely has a triumphant expression.
Buddy on the patio notices it.
INT. HILLYER HOME - KITCHEN - DAY
CUT TO a shot of the kitchen on Mother and Rose. Mother is
helping a rather wan Rose prepare dinner. Enter Daddy.
DADDY
(as if everyone will be
pleased)
Well, I have got news! I called
long distance and spoke to Cousin
Hop and you'll be glad to know,
Rose, I have found you a job!
ROSE
Tennessee?
DADDY
Yes, Tennessee, a lovely state!
ROSE
Well. What kinda job is it?
DADDY
Ahh-hh, you'll like it. It's a
fine, outdoor-type job.
ROSE
You mean a farm?
DADDY
No, no, not exactly. It isn't a
farm in the sense that it's a farm.
Not at all. It's a... dairy
establishment. You'll 1ike it! I'm
sure you'll like it because it's
so... peaceful!
Rose bows her head and begins crying.
MOTHER
Honey, Rose was born on a farm and
has terrible memories of farm life.
Now I don't think --
DADDY
Just a minute, Rose, you don't
understand. This isn't a dirt farm
like the one you were born on, it's
nice. A neighbor of Cousin Hop's, I
talked to him on the phone, a fine
man... it's not a farm, damn it,
it's a beautiful dairy
establishment! Stop crying, Rose!
Do you hear me? Stop crying, it's
ideal!
MOTHER
I don't know how you can call it
ideal -- don't you know what the
word "farm" means to her?
DADDY
I don't give a hoot in hell's
hollow what it means to her! She
can't stay in this house forever! I
fired her, damn it!
MOTHER
It sounds like a farm to me.
Calling it a dairy establishment,
that's just trickery and flummery.
DADDY
Trickery and flummery or not, she's
going there tomorrow on the bus!
It's settled! And I must say we've
been more than fair to you, Rose,
it's pretty selfish and mean
hearted of you to sit there and cry
like that!
Rose sits head bowed at the kitchen table.
ROSE
I'm not cryin' because of me, I'm
cryin' because of somebody else.
DADDY
(stops in mid-air, so to
speak)
What?
EXT. HILLYER HOME - PATIO - DAY
CUT TO a shot of Buddy outside on the patio, listening
intently at the window. He leans forward with a keen
interest, eyes wide.
INT. HILLYER HOME - KITCHEN
CUT TO a shot CLOSE on Daddy. He is peering intently at Rose.
DADDY
What did you say, Rose?
CLOSE ON Rose, as she turns, weeping.
ROSE
Well, I was born on a farm
myself... and I hate to think of
the baby being born on one.
On them all. Daddy and Mother stare in shock at Rose.
DADDY
What baby? What baby? What baby are
you speaking about?
ROSE
Mine.
DADDY
Your baby?
ROSE
Yes, mine. I'm going to have one.
DADDY
(he is "poleaxed,"
staggered)
Good God almighty. This is a
catastrophe, they won't hire her.
MOTHER
(looks up, sees Buddy in
patio window)
Brother, get out of that window!
Buddy ducks down out of eight instantly. Both Mother and
Daddy, however, are too preoccupied and upset to be concerned
with him.
DADDY
(stares off groggily into
space)
This is a total catastrastroke. As
of this moment I am stumped, I
admit, I am stumped and treed both,
the hound dogs have me surrounded.
MOTHER
(as Rose begins crying)
Poor thing, don't cry, Rose. I know
you feel awful, but don't cry,
honey, nobody's perfect. Who's the
father, dear?
ROSE
Well, I... I... I don't know...
maybe it was... but no, you can't
be sure about a thing like that. It
wasn't Billy, I didn't know him.
MOTHER
(gently)
I know it's embarrassing... but who
were you exposed to, dear?
ROSE
Well, now, Mrs. Hillyer, I... ah-h,
that's kinda hard to say.
DADDY
You're not going to get anywhere
with that line of questioning. The
problem is, what are we going to
do?
MOTHER
That's why I'm asking her who the
father is. It's the most vital
question of all. Who's the father,
dear?
DADDY
(offhand; he is thinking
hard about what to do)
She already told you, she doesn't
know.
MOTHER
(naively)
But she must know... unless...
unless... Rose, was there more than
one person?
ROSE
(weeping in handkerchief)
Oh-h, Mrs. Hillyer, I... I can't
think. I... I'm not really sure.
MOTHER
(gently, a tiny frown, a
bit shocked)
Rose, really, you shouldn't act
like that.
ROSE
(weeping)
Oh, I know. But I didn't, really.
Honestly, I didn't. There was only
one, but he's out of town and leave
no forwardin' address.
DADDY
(a brilliant idea)
Ah, ha! Hold the phone! No
forwarding address, huh?
(turns to Mother)
In the shock of this brilliant
move, I forgot something.
MOTHER
What did you forget?
DADDY
I forgot that Rose will lie like a
child. She's no more pregnant than
I am, she just doesn't want to go
to that farm!
ROSE
Yes, I am.
DADDY
No, you're not.
ROSE
Yes, Mr. Hillyer, I am.
DADDY
(triumphant, sure he's
right)
All right, tell us, Rose, what
makes you think you're pregnant?
ROSE
(simply)
I haven't had my period for three
months and my stomach is getting
big.
DADDY
(again "poleaxed" for a
moment, but pulls himself
together)
I don't believe it.
ROSE
It's so, Mr. Hillyer.
DADDY
All right, damn it. We've seen you
with your clothes off around here,
stand up and pull up your dress and
let's take a look!
MOTHER
Honey!
DADDY
She doesn't have to take her
panties off, we can see her stomach
with 'em on. All she has to do is
pull up her dress and let us see
her belly.
ROSE
Well, all right, if you just won't
believe me.
Rose stands up.
MOTHER
Rose, you don't have to.
ROSE
I don't mind.
DADDY
Now, you will see, she's lying like
she always does -- that belly will
be flat as a pancake!
Rose lifts her dress and Daddy leans forward eagerly to
confirm his belief. Rose stands there with her skirt lifted.
She has on a pair of skimpy white panties. An unmistakable,
definite protrusion can be seen in the area below her navel
just above the line of her panties. A stupefied look is on
Daddy's face.
MOTHER
I'd say about three months. Are you
satisfied?
DADDY
I am poleaxed and in a non compos
mentis condition. I wash my hands
or the whole thing.
EXT. HILLYER HOME - PATIO - DAY
CUT TO a shot of Doll walking up onto the patio with
schoolbooks. The CAMERA follows her as she walks over to
Buddy, who is crouched down eavesdropping at another window.
She whispers to him.
DOLL
What's goin' on?
BUDDY
Rose says she's goin' to have a
baby and she sure looks it, but I
don't think so.
DOLL
A baby... and she isn't even
married.
BUDDY
That's the least of her troubles.
Rose had a rare tropic disease and
the little tubes in her that babies
swim down are all stopped up, she
told me all about it.
DOLL
If it isn't a baby... what is it?
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. DR. MARTINSON'S HOME OFFICE WAITING ROOM - NIGHT
A shot of Buddy and Rose in a rather elegant Doctor's waiting
room. It is night and they are alone on a small sofa. Buddy
has a very solemn and worried look. Rose lies weeping in
terror on his shoulder.
ROSE
Oh, Buddy, they're gonna cut me all
up! They're gonna cut my stummick
all open, I'll die!
BUDDY
(trying to be brave)
You won't die, Rose.
ROSE
Buddy, I'm scared, I'm scared!
INT. DR. MARTINSON'S SOME OFFICE - NIGHT
CUT TO a shot of Dr. Martinson's private office in his home,
quite a bit more luxurious than his office at the hospital. A
sober-looking Mother and Daddy sit talking to him. He almost
seems to relish the situation.
DR. MARTINSON
I'm not surprised you thought she
was pregnant. An ovarian cyst can
look very much like pregnancy. But
it was pure wishful thinking on her
part. The girl can never have
children, she had gonorrhea at
fifteen and it was untreated.
MOTHER
(shocked, rather feebly)
Gonorrhea?
DR. MARTINSON
Don't worry, Madam, she can't
infect your dear little kiddies.
She long ago fully recovered, but
the disease did irreparable damage.
The girl is permanently barren.
MOTHER
Well, that's pathetic. Poor Rose,
what a life she has had.
DR. MARTINSON
We make our own lives, Madam. As
for malignancy, I don't think so,
it's very unlikely. I probably
shouldn't have even mentioned that
possibility to her.
MOTHER
(rather coldly, seems
disenchanted with him)
No, you shouldn't have, it was
needlessly cruel. She thinks she
has cancer and is going to die.
DR. MARTINSON
She's an adult, Mrs. Hillyer, I was
merely giving her the facts.
DADDY
Well, it's a disaster. I don't know
what to say, Doctor, I am floored.
How dangerous is the operation?
DR. MARTINSON
Any major operation is dangerous.
However, as we know from her
previous illness, she's a very
strong girl.
DADDY
Well, if it isn't malignant and she
can get through the operation all
right, it might be better than her
really being pregnant. She doesn't
even know who the father might have
been.
DR. MARTINSON
Oh, it's definitely better, beyond
question. A fatherless child, an
ignorant girl with no job, no
money, no home. It's fortunate, a
blessing really, and a stroke of
good luck for another reason I want
to mention to you.
MOTHER
(totally disenchanted with
the Doctor)
This conversation is making me a
little sick.
DADDY
Honey, that's no way to talk to the
Doctor, he's merely doing his job,
dear.
Oddly enough, in the stress of the situation, Daddy now seems
almost friendly to Dr. Martinson, whom previously he
considered a polecat.
INT. DR. MARTINSON'S HOME OFFICE WAITING ROOM - NIGHT
CUT TO a shot of Buddy and Rose in the waiting room. He is
helping her lie on the couch on pillows as she weeps, a hand
over her face.
BUDDY
I gotta find out what they're
saying. You lie back and rest,
Rose, and I'll give you a report on
it.
ROSE
I don't want to know...
INT. DR. MARTINSON'S HOME OFFICE - NIGHT
CUT TO a CLOSE shot of Dr. Martinson. An expression of
distaste is on his face. The CAMERA pulls back as he talks to
Mother and Daddy.
DR. MARTINSON
I'm sorry the truth nauseates you,
Mrs. Hillyer, because before you
leave there's a bit more of it I'd
like to put to you. This operation
provides a therapeutic opportunity
that I feel is quite important in
regard to this particular girl, who
suffers not only from an ovarian
cyst but from a certain
psychoneurotic condition as well.
MOTHER
What do you mean, what kind of
gobbledygook talk is that?
DADDY
Go ahead, Doctor, I think I am
following you.
DR. MARTINSON
(gives Mother an aloof
glance, then to Daddy)
First, about the girl's history.
Evidently she's been very
promiscuous since early childhood,
she has no control over her sexual
impulses. Furthermore, she is
permanently barren, she can't have
children.
DADDY
Go on, Doctor.
MOTHER
(quietly)
Yes, go on.
DR. MARTINSON
I am thinking particularly of the
other ovary. As a rule I don't
believe in removing it. The woman's
hormonal system is profoundly
disturbed, she is subject to
possibly serious depression, she
loses many of her secondary sexual
characteristics for example, her
breasts might shrink and become
flabby, facial hair might appear
along with a coarsening of the
features, and of course her sexual
drive is greatly diminished,
especially in a girl or young
woman. For these reasons I am
opposed to removing the other
ovary, as a rule. Do you follow me?
DADDY
I am ahead of you.
DR. MARTINSON
Then... may I speak quite frankly
with you, Mr. Hillyer?
DADDY
Please do.
DR. MARTINSON
I have of course observed the girl
in treating her.
DADDY
Of course.
DR. MARTINSON
I think we both know her.
DADDY
Yes, we know her.
MOTHER
What are you talking about? I don't
understand all this mumbo jumbo and
the funny looks on your faces.
DR. MARTINSON
Mrs. Hillyer, this girl is sick in
more ways than one. She is an
extreme psychoneurotic with
uncontrollable sexual impulses. It
would be a mercy to spare her the
suffering she causes herself and
others. Therefore I recommend as a
therapeutic measure the removal of
her second ovary. It is ethically
and medically the only proper
decision in this case and I suspect
your husband agrees with me.
DADDY
Reluctantly, I do. It would be a
blessing to her and everyone else.
The girl is oversexed and I say --
spay her!
MOTHER
(slowly rises to her feet
and in a trembling voice)
Over... my... dead... body!
A long, frozen pause as both Daddy and Dr. Martinson stare at
Mother in surprise. She stares at the Doctor with fire in her
eyes. He seems already to shrink a little. Finally she speaks
with a calm fury.
MOTHER (CONT'D)
Are you human beings or are you
some kind of male monsters? Is
there no limit to which you won't
go to keep your illusions about
yourselves?
DR. MARTINSON
(shrinking a little)
Illusions, Madam?
MOTHER
You'd go so far as to mutilate a
helpless girl who has no means to
defend herself, you'd go that far?
Don't you think I know what you've
just said and don't you think I
understand the dreadful and
revolting crime you've just
conspired to commit?
Dr. Martinson stares at her in fear and shock, intimidated by
the calm fury and ice-cold moral indignation.
He opens his mouth as if to speak, but no sound comes out.
Mother turns to Daddy.
MOTHER (CONT'D)
I thought I knew you. I thought I
knew you better, I thought in your
heart you were a good and kind man.
Well, I can't believe what I've
just heard in this room. A
defenseless girl depending on you
for protection, and you propose to
mutilate and destroy her. How could
you listen even for a moment to
that sadistic man?
DADDY
(slightly shattered)
Well, now, darlin'... give me a
chance to defend myself.
MOTHER
I can't believe you really meant
it, if I did I'd want to die. You
aren't a male monster, that man is
but you aren't. Look me in the eye
and tell me, do you really want to
take Rose's womanhood away from her
when it's all she has got?
DADDY
Well, I... I hadn't thought about
it that much. I was thinking...
well, it's an idea, the girl is
oversexed, and...
MOTHER
Rose isn't oversexed, that's
ridiculous. If you're going to talk
nonsense, I don't want to talk to
you at all. Rose is exactly the
same as the rest of us, except more
so.
DADDY
Well, I know, more so. That's why I
was thinking... maybe she'd be
better off.
MOTHER
(with a quiet fury)
Better off? How could she ever find
love and happiness, if you did what
you're talking about? Are you
insane?
DR. MARTINSON
(rather feebly)
Now, may I say, I am against that
particular procedure, as a general
rule. But in a case of near
nymphomania, it doesn't seem
monstrous to me at all, but
medically advisable.
Both Mother and Daddy totally ignore him. Mother's eyes are
fixed on Daddy and he is struggling with himself, staring
down at the floor.
DADDY
Well, now, I admit... in Rose's
case, it would be cruel. If Rose
wasn't attractive and pretty...
well, it would probably be bad for
almost any young woman. I don't
know exactly what I was thinking
about, the doctor said it and it
sounded reasonable.
Daddy finally looks up at Mother and admits his error like a
man.
DADDY (CONT'D)
But you're right, darlin', you're
absolutely dead right, it would be
an awful and horrible thing to do.
I'm sorry, honey, forgive me, I
didn't mean it.
Mother turns from Daddy and walks up to the desk and stares
down at Dr. Martinson as if he is a loathesome bug upon which
she intends to step.
MOTHER
I will not cry like a woman. If I'm
upset it's because of what my
husband said, not because of you.
You can't make me cry like a woman,
a woman has got just as much
intelligence and self-control as a
man. And you get this in your head.
If you hurt that girl, I'll hire
lawyers and sue you for malpractice
for every penny you have got, I'll
do my level best to ruin you. Do
you understand me?
DR. MARTINSON
(a sickly smile, he is
licked totally)
Yes, I understand you, but you have
misunderstood me completely.
MOTHER
(icy cold)
I understand you perfectly. You
leave that girl alone, you wretched
man, or you will be sorry.
DR. MARTINSON
(a foolish smile, as if
Mother has paid him some
kind of compliment)
Actually of course I won't operate,
I don't do major surgery. Dr. Hardy
will operate and of course he'll be
guided by your wishes in this
respect.
MOTHER
Let him be guided not by my wishes
and not by Rose's wishes, although
I am sure they are identical. Let
him be guided by the wishes of the
creative power of life itself,
because that is what has spoken
through me tonight.
DISSOLVE TO:
EXT. STREET BY HOSPITAL - DAY
A shot of the Model A parked on the street outside a hospital
in a small Southern town. We see Daddy slowly pacing back and
forth in front of the hospital entrance, his head bowed and
his hands clasped behind him.
ANOTHER ANGLE, CLOSER on the Model A. Buddy sits in the
middle on the front seat, Mother is at the window. Doll and
Waski are on the back seat. They all are staring with pale
worry at the pacing Daddy fifty feet away. All are
frightened, Mother is very pale. Doll has a tiny handkerchief
to her eyes and is half crying. Even Waski is very scared.
WASKI
(seems on verge of tears)
Mother... is Rose going to die?
MOTHER
(in a trembly voice)
No, Waski, she won't die, because
we are praying for her.
CUT TO a shot of Daddy from the POV of the car. He looks at
his wristwatch, frowns and walks into the entrance of the
hospital.
ANOTHER ANGLE, on them all in the car. They wait, pale and
silent. Doll sniffles in her handkerchief.
DOLL
Why is it taking so long?
BUDDY
Here comes Daddy.
CUT TO a POV shot of Daddy as he slowly walks up to the car,
his straw hat in his hand.
CUT TO a shot of Mother CLOSE on her face as she stares at
her husband as if trying to read the news on his face. A tiny
frown comes on her forehead as icy fear comes in her eyes.
ANOTHER ANGLE, CLOSE on Daddy as he walks up to the window of
the car, hat in hand. A trace of tears can be seen in his
eyes, but when he speaks his voice is calm.
DADDY
(philosophically)
Well, I thought I'd seen the limit,
but these are the most great, gaga
epizootics she's ever had.
ANOTHER ANGLE on Daddy and them all. In pale fear, mother
stares at him, uncertain what has happened.
MOTHER
How is she?
DADDY
Fine.
As mother sighs in heartfelt relief...
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. HILLYER HOME - KITCHEN - DAY
A shot of Daddy sitting with mother at the kitchen table.
Bright cheerful sunshine comes in the window that opens on
the patio. Rose comes into the SHOT carrying a coffee pot, a
sunny smile on her face.
DADDY
You're looking very chipper this
morning, Rose. Sow do you feel?
ROSE
Perfect, wonderful, good as I ever
felt! Except for a big old scar on
my stummick, I wouldn't even know I
been in the hospital.
DADDY
(with mild irony, as she
pours him coffee)
Well, we know you were there. The
bill that hospital sent was
absolutely horrendous.
ROSE
(her smile fades a trifle)
Well, I'll pay you that back
sometime, Mr. Hillyer.
MOTHER
Don't worry about it, honey.
Daddy pauses, seems to be struggling with himself, he is
frowning.
DADDY
Rose... I hate to be mean, but...
(another pause, then a
little shrug)
Oh, nevermind, forget it.
ROSE
(in a little sad voice)
What was it, Mr. Hillyer?
DADDY
(rises)
Nothing, Rose.
Daddy stops beside her, puts an arm around her shoulders and
with weary irony.
DADDY (CONT'D)
We all love you, darlin'.
Daddy wearily picks up his straw hat from the kitchen counter
and walks out of the kitchen on the patio, as the CAMERA
stays on Rose and mother.
MOTHER
Don't worry, honey, you'll find
something.
ROSE
I was offered that job as a
waitress.
MOTHER
Forget about it, I don't want you
working in one of those honky
tonks.
EXT. HILLYER HOME - PATIO - DAY
CUT TO a shot of Buddy on the patio. He has eight or nine
gourds on an outdoor table and is cutting round holes in them
and emptying out the seed. He glances up as Rose walks up to
him, pocketbook in hand. She seems a little sad. But she
smiles at him.
ROSE
Hi, Buddy.
(puts an arm around his
shoulders)
How's my sweetheart who never told
on me when I was bad?
BUDDY
Okay.
ROSE
(picks up a hollowed out
gourd)
Makin' homes for purple martins,
huh? We had 'em on the farm.
They're the prettiest things.
That's what I wish I was, a bird.
Just fly around catch bugs and have
a lot of fun.
BUDDY
What are you going to do, Rose?
ROSE
Take a little walk with me, huh?
EXT. HILLYER HOME - GARDEN
CUT TO a shot of Rose and Buddy on a beautiful summer day
walking in the garden behind the Hillyer house. They walk up
to an empty rabbit hutch. The hutch is made of rough lumber
and chicken wire and has cubicles for about a dozen rabbits.
ROSE
(as she stares at the
empty hutch)
I guess I'll work as a waitress,
Buddy. I done that before and it
got me in worse trouble than you
could know, but I can't stay here
no more. Why did you get rid of
your rabbits, Buddy?
BUDDY
They're dumb things. I got tired of
them.
ROSE
(smiles, touches chicken
wire)
Did you know when I was a child we
had pretty near five hundred
rabbits?
BUDDY
Five hundred rabbits?
ROSE
Yep, we had 'em in orange crates
all over. It was Daddy's dream. He
was goin' to get rich raisin'
rabbits. It was what killed Daddy.
He didn't drown hisself till a long
time later after Momma and Lunette
died of typhoid, but it was them
rabbits what killed him.
BUDDY
How did the rabbits kill him?
ROSE
He thought he could sell 'em, but
nobody but country folks eat
rabbits, Buddy, and they ain't got
no money. We had to eat them dern
rabbits our own selves. Every dern
one, and it took about four years
to eat 'em all up.
BUDDY
(a little smile)
Well, that doctor said you got
protein somewhere and I guess he
was right.
ROSE
Boy did I get sick of rabbit. But
later on after Momma died and Daddy
wasn't doin' nothin' but drinkin',
I sure would of been glad for a
little rabbit stew. You know, I
oughtn't to of told you about what
Daddy done when I was a child.
Until them rabbits ruined him, he
was a real good man, Buddy.
BUDDY
What was your mother like?
ROSE
A saint just like your own mother.
She's up in heaven right now, her
and Lunette, there ain't no doubt
about it.
ANOTHER ANGLE as Buddy and Rose walk away hand in hand away
from the rabbit hutch.
BUDDY
Maybe it was eating all those
rabbits that made you sexy, Rose.
ROSE
Buddy, sex don't mean a thing to
me. It ain't nothin' but a mosquito
bite.
(stops, smiles, puts an
arm around his shoulders)
I'll tell you a secret. Girls don't
want sex, Buddy, girls want love.
DISSOLVE TO:
HILLYER HOME - LIVING ROOM NIGHT
A shot of Mother and Daddy in the Hillyer living room late at
night. Mother sits with a worried expression on a chair, a
kimono around her shoulders. Daddy is pacing worriedly in
pajamas and a bathrobe. He looks at his wristwatch.
DADDY
It's twenty after one.
MOTHER
I don't understand it. Even in the
wild days she was never as late as
this.
DADDY
I'm afraid it's my fault. I made
her feel guilty this morning --
(glances around, sees
something in doorway)
Brother, what are you doing up?
ANOTHER ANGLE on Buddy in pajamas as he enters the living
room.
BUDDY
I heard you talking. Hasn't Rose
come in?
DADDY
No, she hasn't.
(frowns, looks around)
I think I hear a car.
EXT. HILLYER HOME - DRIVEWAY
CUT TO a shot of a 1930's automobile in the Hillyer driveway
at night as it drives up and stops before the front steps.
ANOTHER ANGLE, CLOSE on Rose and Dave Wilkie in the car. Here
DAVE is much YOUNGER, of course, and a rather handsome man in
a stolid way. Even though he is younger than when we saw him
on the plane, he is quite a bit older than Rose. Rose's eyes
are opened wide, she is a bit breathless, obviously something
important has happened. Dave stares at her as if fascinated,
almost as if awed.
DAVE
(rather stiffly)
I want to thank you for a wonderful
afternoon and evenin'. Can I see
you in the mornin'?
ROSE
(a bit breathless)
Yes. Year you can, you sure can.
INT. HILLYER HOME - LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
CUT TO a shot of Daddy peering out of the window of the
living room.
DADDY
Why, that looks like Dave Wilkie,
MOTHER
Who?
DADDY
You know Dave, his wife used to do
dressmaking for you before she
died.
EXT. HILLYER HOME - FRONT STEPS - NIGHT
CUT TO a shot of Rose on the steps. Happy as a clam, she
turns and waves at Dave in the car, then goes on up the
steps.
INT. HILLYER HOME - FRONT HALL - NIGHT
CUT TO a shot of the front hall as Rose comes through the
front door. She is very excited, happy.
INT. HILLYER HOME - LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
The CAMERA follows her as she goes into the living room with
her big news.
ROSE
You'll never guess what happened!
(pauses, then
dramatically)
I have met Mr. Right! I been with
him all day and he loves me, I know
he does, he loves me and he's going
to marry met Be's practi'cly ast me
already!
MOTHER
Well... well, that's wonderful,
Rose.
ROSE
And who do you suppose he is? That
policeman who arrested me, the one
I bit! He is Mr. Right!
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. CHURCH - DAY
VARIOUS SHOTS of a wedding in a tiny country church. We see
shots of Rose in a white wedding dress, smiling, happy. Dave
is stiff and solemn in his best suit. Daddy gravely gives
Rose away. We hear no dialogue here, MUSIC on track. We see
Mother, Buddy, Doll and Waski in the front row, all in Sunday
best and very solemn. We see a CLOSE SHOT of Rose's knees
trembling beneath her white wedding dress as a country
minister marries them. VARIOUS SHOTS of a rather idyllic
country wedding in a very plain, unpretentious country
church, and...
DISSOLVE TO:
EXT. CHURCH - DAY
A shot of Rose, Dave, Buddy, Doll and Waski at a picnic
celebration outside the church by a running brook.
The scene should be beautiful in summertime. We see a
barbecue pit, homemade ice cream in the metal can, other
picnic things. A happy Rose is kissing first Buddy, then
Doll, then Waski. Dave smiles fondly, but rather stiffly at
her.
ROSE
And now Waski, are you and Buddy
and Dolly ready for some ice cream,
huh? Do you like picnics or don't
you?
WASKI
We like 'em! We love 'em!
DAVE
Well, it isn't a picnic, honey.
It's a barbecue.
ROSE
(a little smile)
Okay.
DAVE
A picnic doesn't involve roast
meat, hon. At a barbecue you have a
lot of roast meat.
CUT TO a shot CLOSE on Buddy as he stares pensively at Dave.
The CAMERA stays on him as we hear VOICES OVER. Rose is
happy, Dave phlegmatic.
ROSE (V.O.)
Well, all I know is there's ice
cream. And I'm gonna have me a
plate right now!
DAVE (V.O.)
Better wait, hon. It'll spoil your
appetite. Have some barbecue first.
The CAMERA stays on Buddy, as he stares pensively at Dave. He
has no expression on his face at all.
DISSOLVE TO:
EXT. CHURCH - DAY
A shot of Rose and Dave bidding goodbye to the Hillyers.
Daddy, Mother, Buddy, Doll and Waski are in the model A. Rose
is obviously on the verge of tears as Dave speaks solemnly to
Daddy.
DAVE
Well, we are off to Savannah, Mr.
Hillyer. No more police work, I'm
getting in the construction field.
DADDY
Good luck, Dave. And good luck to
you, too, Rosebud.
ROSE
(begins crying)
Oh, Mr. Hillyer! I just can't stand
to say goodbye!
Daddy starts the Model A.
ROSE (CONT'D)
I love you all! Goodbye, Buddy!
Goodbye, Dolly! Goodbye, Waski!
ANOTHER ANGLE on Rose as she weeps and waves the
handkerchief.
ROSE (CONT'D)
Goodbye! Goodbye!
DISSOLVE TO:
INT./EXT. MODEL A - STREET - DAY
A shot of Daddy and Mother in the Model A as Daddy drives. We
see Doll and Waski solemn on the back seat, but Buddy is not
visible.
DADDY
Well, thank God we are rid of her
at last. And the best thing of all
is that she's happy. The little nut
is happy, she found Mr. Right in
the nick of time!
MOTHER
Well, yes, she's happy. Of course
Dave doesn't have her life force,
not at all. There isn't much
furniture in his house, just a
table and one or two chairs,
whereas Rose has furniture coming
out of the windows.
DADDY
Honey, he is Mr. Right.
MOTHER
(slowly nods)
Yes, I think so. He adores her,
it's almost pitiful the way he
worships her. I just hope she isn't
too much for him.
Mother pauses, frowning, she has her doubts, looks over her
shoulder.
MOTHER (CONT'D)
What do you think, Brother?
Mother frowns in surprise.
CUT TO a POV shot of Buddy on the back seat of the car. Now
it is clear why we couldn't see him in the other shot. Be is
lying down on the seat of the car with his Sunday coat pulled
over his head.
ANOTHER ANGLE on Mother and Buddy, Doll, Waski. Buddy lies on
the seat, motionless with his coat over his head.
MOTHER (CONT'D)
What's the matter with him?
DOLL
(seems awed, staring down
at Buddy)
I don't know. I think he's cryin'!
CUT TO ANOTHER ANGLE on Mother, from the front as she slowly
turns back and stares thoughtfully ahead. The shot is also on
Daddy. They both stare ahead in pensive silence. Finally
Mother speaks.
MOTHER
(rather sadly)
Maybe Brother is right. Maybe so.
DISSOLVE TO:
END OF FLASHBACK
INT./EXT. HERTZ CAR ON INTERSTATE - DAY
ON Willcox Hillyer behind the wheel of the Hertz car. He is
staring pensively ahead, a faint trace of tears in his eyes.
It is a very faint trace, a look of mild irony and amusement
is on his face.
WILLCOX HILLYER
(dryly, to himself)
Mr. Right. Dave Wilkie.
Willcox slowly shakes his head.
EXT. HERTZ CAR - INTERSTATE EXIT - DAY
CUT TO a shot of the red Ford as it takes a turn-off from an
Interstate.
EXT. HERTZ CAR - BUSTLING CITY - DAY
CUT TO a shot of the red Ford as it drives into a rather
bustling little Southern city that does not look at all like
the "Glenville" we have seen. A lot of traffic, new roads,
filling stations, prosperity. It could be Rome, Georgia as it
is today.
EXT. CAR PAST HOLIDAY INN - DAY
ANOTHER SHOT of the red Ford going past a modern Holiday Inn
in the city.
EXT. HILLYER HOME - DRIVEWAY - DAY
ON the red Ford as it turns into a familiar driveway, that of
the old Hillyer home.
But insofar as possible it looks different now, like a relic
from the past.
Maybe the house needs painting, the garden is in weeds -- the
place is not exactly dilapidated, but it is marked by time.
A SHOT of Willcox Hillyer as he gets out of the red Ford and
walks up the familiar steps of the front porch, travel bag in
hand.
EXT. HILLYER HOME - FRONT PORCH - DAY
ON Willcox Hillyer at the front door. He tries the knob,
opens the door and goes inside.
INT. HILLYER HOME - FRONT HALL - DAY
CUT TO a shot of Willcox Hillyer as he glances into the
living room. The room looks the same but different -it is
musty, dim.
Willcox Hillyer stares at it as if haunted a bit, turns and
the CAMERA follows him as he crosses the hall and looks into
Mother's old bedroom-study. This room is quite different. The
four poster is gone. The room is dusty, musty, dark.
Magazines are on the floor in a ring around Mother's old
study chair. We see "male" things. It is apparent Daddy lives
alone in this room.
A SHOT of Willcox Hillyer as he walks down the familiar hall
back to the kitchen.
INT. HILLYER HOME - KITCHEN - DAY
He looks around. No one is there. He glances at a modern
refrigerator that is in pretty poor shape, glances with a
frown at dishes in the sink unwashed. He goes on out to the
patio.
EXT. HILLYER HOME - PATIO - DAY
CUT TO a shot of Daddy putting out seed for birds on a table
on the patio. Daddy now is a very old man, but his
personality and style are the same as ever. He looks up with
a stern frown as Willcox Hillyer comes out on the patio.
DADDY
Well, you rascal, where'd you come
from?
WILLCOX HILLYER
Hello, Daddy. How are you?
DADDY
About as good as can be expected
with one foot in the grave. Good to
see you, son.
(they shake hands)
Did you bring any of that Yankee
whisky with you?
WILLCOX HILLYER
It isn't Yankee whisky, Daddy, it's
Scotch.
DADDY
It's Yankee whisky to me.
Daddy takes him by the arm, leads him back into the kitchen.
DADDY (CONT'D)
How do you stand it up there, boy,
in all that ice and snow? What are
you, a polar bear?
INT. HILLYER HOME - KITCHEN - DAY
CUT TO a shot of Willcox Hillyer and Daddy as they enter the
kitchen. The former opens his travel bag and takes out a
bottle of Teacher's.
WILLCOX HILLYER
I can use a drink after the plane
ride I had.
DADDY
Your wife and children are back in
New Hampshire in the snow?
WILLCOX HILLYER
(a little smile; it is
summer, there couldn't be
snow in New Hampshire)
Yeah, they're in the snow.
Willcox opens whisky, looks for glasses in the dusty familiar
cupboard.
DADDY
Are they polar bears, too?
WILLCOX HILLYER
(frowns at cupboard)
Good God, the way you live here.
This place hasn't been dusted since
Mother died. Look at that goddamned
refrigerator.
DADDY
Got another twenty years in it,
boy.
(something seems to be
bothering him)
By the way, son, do you recall
Rose, that pretty blonde girl who
came to our house way back in 1935
or 1936 and caused such a damnable
commotion.
WILLCOX HILLYER
(frowns, turns and stares
at him)
Of course I recall Rose. In fact
I've been thinking of no one else
for the last hour and a half.
DADDY
How could that be, son?
WILLCOX HILLYER
Dave Wilkie of all people was
sitting by me on the plane -- her
first husband. It's funny you would
mention Rose. Did you hear from
her?
Willcox pours out whisky.
DADDY
(casually)
Well, yes, in a manner of speaking.
You'll have the back bedroom, son,
Mother's old art room. Just be
careful going down the stairs you
don't break your Yankee neck.
EXT. HILLYER HOME - PATIO - DAY
CUT TO a shot of Willcox Hillyer and Daddy as they walk with
their drinks out to the patio.
WILLCOX HILLYER
What's all this about Rose? What do
you mean, you heard from her in a
manner of speaking?
DADDY
Oh, I heard from her, I got a
letter from her, she's fine. But
there is some sad news.
WILLCOX HILLYER
What sad news? Did her cancer come
back?
DADDY
Oh, no, no, she got all over that.
Rose is fine. Let's sit down, son.
WILLCOX HILLYER
Is her husband sick or something?
DADDY
No, it's another thing. I was going
to write you about it, but since
you were coming down anyway I
thought I'd wait till you got here.
What did Dave Wilkie have to say?
ANOTHER ANGLE on Willcox Hillyer and the aged Daddy as they
sit on the patio sipping whisky. Willcox Hillyer is not
disturbed or worried about Rose, Daddy has been very casual
and offhand about it and he has no inkling of what the news
really is.
WILLCOX HILLYER
The pitiful son of a bitch said
Rose was a nymphomaniac.
DADDY
Um-hmm, and I suppose that incensed
you?
WILLCOX HILLYER
You're damn right it incensed me,
the miserable bastard. He also said
the kikes and the niggers have
taken over Washington. D.C.
DADDY
(nods somberly)
Yeah, I know, he was up here. It's
pitiful like you say. When he lost
Rose it ruined the man, it
destroyed him totally when he lost
Rose.
WILLCOX HILLYER
He didn't lose her, he threw her
away.
DADDY
Yes, I guess he did. He threw her
away and it was the mistake of his
life.
WILLCOX HILLYER
(staring off pensively
into space)
You know, I don't know this town
any more. All this traffic, new
buildings, prosperity...
(pauses, almost as if in
pain)
Where have the years gone, Daddy?
Where is the little town I knew as
a boy?
DADDY
At rest in the creative universe
with Mother, son.
WILLCOX HILLYER
(a little smile)
That's what she would say herself.
DADDY
(simply, he is not
emoting)
A wonderful woman, boy.
WILLCOX HILLYER
It always gives me a funny feeling
to come home. Dear old Southland.
Gone. It's all gone, Daddy --
(a fond little smile)
-- except you, you're still here.
DADDY
(matter-of-factly)
Not for long, boy. I've outstayed
my welcome already.
WILLCOX HILLYER
It's funny you would mention Rose,
I was thinking about her all the
way up in the car.
(gives him a glance)
Or maybe it isn't so funny.
DADDY
(as if in previous
thought)
I'm older than hell, boy. But this
Yankee whisky is mighty fine, I'll
say that.
WILLCOX HILLYER
All right, Daddy. We have our
drink, we're out on the patio, you
have prepared me for it. Rose's
cancer has come back, hasn't it?
DADDY
(simply, quietly)
No, son, she is dead.
WILLCOX HILLYER
(numb with shock, for a
moment can't speak or
think)
Dead, Rose is dead? You mean... she
died?
DADDY
I am afraid so, son. About a week
ago. Her husband phoned me, she had
asked him to call me if anything
happened.
WILLCOX HILLYER
(in awful shock)
But... but how? She was young! Rose
wasn't old!
DADDY
She was fifty-six, son. Of course
she didn't look it, nowhere near
it. The cancer came back, I'm
afraid I fibbed about that. But it
was very quick, son. She was in the
hospital only two weeks, and the
last week she didn't know anything.
WILLCOX HILLYER
(in distress, a slightly
choked voice)
Excuse me, I'll be right back.
Willcox Hillyer rises with his drink in hand and walks across
the patio to the kitchen door.
INT. HILLYER HOME KITCHEN - DAY
CUT TO a shot of Willcox Hillyer as he goes into the kitchen.
He picks up the whisky bottle and pours himself a very large
drink.
ANOTHER ANGLE, CLOSE on Willcox Hillyer as he stares across
the kitchen lost in thought.
DISSOLVE TO:
BLUR-BORDERED SHOT OF ROSE
in the kitchen, a sunny smile on her face as she pours coffee
for Daddy. A very quick moment, only a few seconds.
DISSOLVE TO:
A CLOSE SHOT OF WILLCOX HILLYER
in the kitchen, drink in hand, a look of grief on his face.
He struggles to control himself, puts a hand over his eyes,
then pulls himself together, turns from the kitchen.
SHOT OF THE PATIO
ON Willcox Hillyer and Daddy as the former walks up with his
refreshed drink and sits down. He is in control now, his face
is expressionless and he is seemingly calm.
WILLCOX HILLYER
Well, you have knocked me for a
hell of a loop, old man. A hell of
a loop.
DADDY
(simply)
I know. You loved her. So did I. It
was an awful shock to me, too. An
awful shock. Rose was so alive it's
hard to believe.
WILLCOX HILLYER
I can't believe it, Daddy. I know
it must be true, but I can't
believe it.
DADDY
It's true, son. The girl with the
cornflower eyes is dead, she is no
more,
Daddy pauses, in trouble emotionally, but gets a grip on
himself and in an almost dispassionate manner; but powerful
feeling is behind his words.
DADDY (CONT'D)
She got cancer of the breast, was
operated on and had a seven-year
recovery, then after a brief
illness passed on in her sleep, as
the man with whom she'd lived in
beautiful love and harmony for
twenty-five years held her hand.
That is what happened, son, and God
rest her lovely soul!
CUT TO a CLOSE SHOT of Willcox Hillyer. Despite his efforts
to control himself, tears are in his eyes. He clenches his
teeth, takes a big swallow of his drink.
ANOTHER ANGLE on them both as Daddy rises.
DADDY (CONT'D)
And now, if you are through with
that Yankee whisky, we'll go to the
Holiday Inn and get some dinner.
SHOT OF WILLCOX HILLYER AND DADDY
as they walk toward the red rental Ford. Daddy uses a cane.
He is a very old man. Willcox Hillyer looks in pain, he
grimaces as they walk along.
WILLCOX HILLYER
Why Rose? Why Rose, Daddy?
DADDY
Nobody lives forever, boy. Who'd
want to?
WILLCOX HILLYER
That's a hell of a thing to say.
Why, Rose?
DADDY
(stops and firmly)
Now look, boy, get a grip on
yourself. Rose had a good life. She
found her. Right, didn't she? She
triumphed over everything, what are
you blubbering about?
WILLCOX HILLYER
I'm not blubbering.
CUT TO a shot of the red Ford going down the familiar
driveway.
SHOT ON DADDY AND WILLCOX HILLYER
in the car. Daddy is staring fiercely ahead, Willcox Hillyer
stares ahead in gloom.
SHOT OF THE RED FORD
as it pulls up in front of the Holiday Inn we have already
seen.
SHOT ON DADDY AND WILLCOX HILLYER
in the car. Willcox Hillyer sits there staring off into space
in deep gloom. Daddy eyes him and now relents. We see
sympathy in his face.
DADDY
(gently)
Rose isn't dead, son. Not really.
Some of us die, but some of us
don't. Rose lives. As long as some
little girl somewhere gets herself
up and goes out, Rose lives.
CUT TO a shot of Daddy and Buddy, now middle-aged Willcox
Hillyer, as they walk toward the entrance of the Holiday Inn.
MUSIC.
THE END