Coraline Page #7

MISS SPINK (CONT’D)

Oh... Caroline, Caroline, Caroline; you

are in terrible danger.

Miss Forcible snorts.

MISS FORCIBLE:

Oh, give me that cup, April, your eyes

are going.

MISS SPINK:

My eyes! You’re blind as a bat!

Spink passes the cup to Forcible, who adjusts thick

glasses and peers closely into it.

MISS FORCIBLE:

Oh, now, ummm... not to worry, child,

it’s good news: there’s a tall, handsome

beast in your future.

CORALINE:

A what?

MISS SPINK:

Miriam, oh really, you’re holding it

wrong.

Spink forcibly rotates the cup.

MISS SPINK (CONT’D)

See? Danger!

Coraline wants more information.

CORALINE:

What do you see?

The ladies, heads side by side, gaze into the cup. We see

a SPIKY CLAW formed from the leaves.

MISS SPINK:

(ominous)

I see a very peculiar hand...

Forcible rotates the cup back again. Upside down, the

claw hand looks like a GIRAFFE.

MISS FORCIBLE:

I see a giraffe.

MISS SPINK:

Giraffes don’t just fall from the sky,

Miriam.

The stuck candy dish suddenly CRASHES to the floor.

MISS SPINK (CONT’D)

Oh!

MISS FORCIBLE:

Oh, lord!

Coraline asks in a practical voice:

CORALINE:

Well, what should I do?

MISS SPINK:

Never wear green in your dressing room.

MISS FORCIBLE:

Acquire a very tall step ladder.

MISS SPINK:

And be very, very careful. Now, was there

something you came to tell us?

Coraline thinks it over, then shakes her head.

CORALINE:

No, I guess not. Thanks for the tea,

though.

She gets up and leaves, the dogs immediately return to

their sofa.

MISS FORCIBLE:

Toodle-oo.

MISS SPINK:

Cheery-bye.

The ladies resume their card game with Miss Spink turning

to the dogs.

MISS SPINK (CONT’D)

Do you have any nice Queens for mummy?

EXT. HOUSE, TOP OF BASEMENT FLAT STAIRS - SAME

Coraline climbs the stairs up to ground level, intrigued

by her fortune.

CORALINE:

(to herself)

Danger?

Behind her, a PERISCOPE RISES from the WAIST-DEEP FOG.

Coraline just catches it in her peripheral view.

She frowns but doesn't let on she's aware of it. She

walks ahead nonchalantly, the periscope following her,

then suddenly turns and GRABS it, PULLING UP WYBIE, then

PUNCHES him in the arm.

WYBIE:

Owwwwwwww!

CORALINE:

Great, the village stalker.

WYBIE:

Ow. I - I wasn’t stalking you. We’re

hunting banana slugs.

Wybie takes some SALAD TONGS from a tool belt, snaps

them.

CORALINE:

What d’ya mean, “we?”

There’s a soft meowing from under his coat. He opens it

up and the BLACK CAT EMERGES and climbs onto his

shoulders.

CORALINE (CONT'D)

Ha! Your cat’s not wild, he’s a wuss-

puss!

Cat glares at her angrily.

WYBIE:

What? He hates to get his feet wet. Geez.

CORALINE:

(mocking)

Wuss-puss...

Tired of her company, the cat jumps off Wybie, onto a

tree and up onto the roof of the house. Coraline softens.

CORALINE (CONT’D)

So... that doll. Did you make it look

like me?

Wybie, scanning under the ground fog for slugs, sticks

his head up for a moment.

WYBIE:

Oh no; I found it that way. It’s older

than Gramma -- old as this house prob’ly.

Coraline is highly skeptical. Wybie returns to his hunt.

CORALINE:

(points to self)

C’mom - blue hair, my swampers and

raincoat?

Wybie stands excitedly and presents a HUGE YELLOW-GREEN

SLUG to Coraline.

WYBIE:

Dang, check out Slugzilla!

She’s not impressed.

CORALINE:

(frustrated)

You’re just like them.

WYBIE:

Huh?

He looks from the slug to himself.

CORALINE:

I meant my parents; they don’t listen to

me either.

Wybie nods, not listening again, takes his camera -

WYBIE:

Uh huh... You mind?

-- hands it to her. She acts put-out, but frames a shot.

He signals he’s ready and she fires off one auto-flash

shot after another as he strikes silly poses making SOUND

EFFECTS:
horrified of the slug one moment; ready to eat

it the next; pretending it’s something from his nose in

another. She can’t help but GIGGLE.

CORALINE:

Ew!

Finished, Wybie tosses the slug back into the fog, and

takes the camera back. He lowers his head, thoughtful,

then glances up past Coraline at the house. He SIGHS and

speaks in a SAD TONE.

WYBIE:

You know, I’ve never been inside the Pink

Palace.

CORALINE:

(sceptical)

You’re kidding.

WYBIE:

Grandma would kill me. Thinks it’s

dangerous or something.

CORALINE:

Dangerous?

WYBIE:

Well... she had a twin sister.

CORALINE:

So?

WYBIE (O.C.).

When they were kids, Grandma’s sister

disappeared.

(ON CAMERA)

She says she was stolen.

CORALINE (O.S.)

(skeptical)

Stolen?

ANGLE from roof, over CAT’S SHOULDER as dialog continues.

Cat senses something and turns -- it's Coraline’s DOLL AT

THE WINDOW, looking like it's spying on things.

CORALINE(CONT’D)

Well, what do you think?

WYBIE:

Uhhh, I-I don’t know.

BACK TO KIDS. Wybie, astride his electric bike now,

WHISTLES and the black cat jumps down from the roof, onto

his shoulders.

WYBIE (CONT’D)

Maybe she just ran away?

We hear Wybie's agitated grandmother call out.

WYBIE'S GRANDMOTHER (O.C.)

Wyborne!

Wybie turns away: he’s said too much.

WYBIE:

Look, I gotta go.

He starts to pull away.

CORALINE:

Wait a minute!

And he’s gone. PUSH IN on her pensive face.

INT CORALINE’S BEDROOM - NIGHT

CU ON DOLL FACE, back in the chair by the bed. Coraline

takes some yellow cheese from her pocket and puts it by

the door:
mice bait. She lies down and her breathing

slows, the doll watching her with a nearly IMPERCEPTIBLE

SMILE on its face.

INT CORALINE'S BEDROOM - LATER

Coraline sleeping, lighting suggests another dream. SOME

THINGS go t-t-t-t-t-t. Coraline sits up, looks to her

door, and spots a COUPLE OF KANGAROO MICE stealing the

last bit of cheese.

INT. UPPER HALL - SAME

She gives chase after the mice, hopping down the stairs

with the cheese.

INT. LIVING ROOM - SAME

Coraline follows the kangaroo mice directly to the little

door, opened a crack, where they disappear.

She pulls it open. Bricks are gone; tunnel revealed. She

doesn't hesitate this time to crawl through the door.

INT. OTHER KITCHEN - NIGHT

Coraline enters Other Kitchen to find Other Mother

preparing a delicious breakfast. She looks PRETTIER

tonight; her black hair shining, lips REDDER. She stops

HUMMING A LULLABY to greet Coraline.

OTHER MOTHER:

Welcome back, darling.

CORALINE:

Hi.

She is grating YELLOW CHEESE into scrambled eggs.

OTHER MOTHER:

So thoughtful of you to send this nice

cheddar, Coraline.

CORALINE:

Cheddar?... Oh, the mice bait...

OTHER MOTHER:

Would you go fetch your father?

Beams at Coraline.

OTHER MOTHER (CONT’D)

Bet he’s hungry as a pumpkin by now!

CORALINE:

You mean my Other Father?

OTHER MOTHER:

Your better father, dear. He’s out in

the garden.

CORALINE.

But my parents don’t have time to garden.

Other Mother SHUSHES her and pops a strawberry in her

mouth.

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