Affliction Page #2

Jill stands alone in the corner next to the pay phone, tiny,

forlorn. Wade realizes at once he was wrong to leave her

before she had found a friend.

WADE:

Some party, huh? Sorry I lost sight

of you. I had to step outside for a

smoke. You find anybody you know

here? There must be some kids you

used to know from school. You want

to go tomorrow? See your old teachers?

Be more fun than hanging out with me

all day.

JILL:

No.

WADE:

No what?

JILL:

(lifts mask atop head)

No I didn't see anybody I know. No I

don't want to go to school here

tomorrow. I want to go home.

WADE:

You are home. There are lots of kids

you still know here.

JILL:

I don't want to be here. Don't worry,

I love you, Daddy, I do. But I want

to go home.

WADE:

(sighs)

Jesus. Listen, Jill, tell you what.

Tomorrow morning, you still want to

go home, I'll drive you down. I'll

get off work or something.

JILL:

(pause)

I called Mommy.

WADE:

What? You called Mommy? Just now?

JILL:

Yes.

WADE:

Jesus, why?

JILL:

I... because I want to go home. She

said she'd come and get me.

WADE:

Come and get you! Sh*t! It's a damn

half hour drive each way. Why didn't

you talk to me about it first?

JILL:

See, I knew you'd be mad.

WADE:

Yeah. Yeah, right, I'm mad. What'd

you tell her, for Christ sake?

JILL:

I told her I wanted to come home.

Daddy, don't be mad at me.

WADE:

Well, I guess I am. I planned this,

I planned all this, you know. I mean,

it's sort of pathetic, but I planned

it. You shouldn't have called your

mother.

(takes her arm)

C'mon, we're gonna call her before

she leaves.

CUT TO:

EXT. POLICE OFFICE - NIGHT

Wade leads her to a frosted-glass door reading "POLICE",

enters. Inside, he flips on flourescent light, dials the

desk phone. More utility room than office.

He waits. There's no answer. Jill looks down.

WADE:

She's gone already!

(hangs up)

Gone already! Couldn't wait.

JILL:

Yes.

WADE:

That's all you got to say? "Yes".

JILL:

Yes.

WADE:

She won't be here for a half hour.

Think you can stand it that long?

JILL:

Yes.

WADE:

Where do you expect to wait for her?

Obviously downstairs with the other

kids isn't good enough.

Jill sits in a chair facing the dark window pane.

WADE:

Sit right there by yourself if you

want. Wait for her by yourself. That's

fine with me. Just dandy. I'm going

downstairs.

JILL:

That's fine with me too. When Mommy

comes, tell her I'm up here.

Wade Whitehouse stalks out.

CUT TO:

EXT. TOWN HALL - NIGHT

Wade steps outside, notices Jack Hewitt and his kewpie-doll

girlfriend HETTIE, 20, sitting in the cab of his double-parked

pickup, sharing a joint, talking to LaCoy alongside.

WADE:

I thought I told you to move that

truck!

JACK:

Relax, Chief. We're leaving. You

wanna toke?

WADE:

(steps over)

You gotta be more careful about that

sh*t. Gordon or one of those guys

sees you smoking that wacky tabacky

around me they'll expect me to bust

you. And I'll be outta a job.

JACK:

Some job. Here, have a hit. Don't be

such a hardass. I know you got

problems, but everybody's got

problems.

(offers joint)

WADE:

Not here.

LaCoy laughs:
that Jack Hewitt, some guy. Wade holds his

aching jaw. He looks at Jack's young athletic body, his pretty

girlfriend, envies him.

JACK:

Well, c'mon, then. Get in and we'll

take a little ride, my man.

Wade looks up to the window where Jill waits, walks around

the front of the truck, gets in.

CUT TO:

INT./EXT. JACK'S TRUCK - NIGHT

Jack's high-bodied pickup growls in low gear as it drives

past Merritt's Shell station toward Saddleback Ridge. Jack

lowers the radio as Wade asks him about deer season; Hettie

leans forward to hear the music.

JACK:

Got a job first thing in the morning,

first day of season. Saturday I'll

hunt for myself. Twombley something. -

Er --

WADE:

Evan. He's a mucky-muck union official

from Massachusetts. You're lucky.

JACK:

Don't know about lucky. The guy's a

full-blown a**hole. Pay's good,

though. $100 a day. I got to guarantee

a kill, of course. Which I can do.

There's some monster bucks hiding

out up there.

WADE:

How'd you get the job?

JACK:

Gordon, he's always got some angle

working. He wants to keep Twombley

happy, I'm his boy.

Wade grimaces as he passes the joint back.

HETTIE:

What's wrong with you?

WADE:

Toothache.

(to Jack)

You should get close to him. Make

yourself irreplaceable. Guy's loaded.

JACK:

Like you and Gordon?

WADE:

Right. The sonofabitch couldn't get

along without me.

JACK:

(laughs)

Yeah, he'd go broke tomorrow if you

quit him.

WADE:

(laughs)

Right!

A car flashes past.

JACK:

Bastard's got his high beams on.

WADE:

(watching)

Sh*t.

HETTIE:

What?

WADE:

My ex-wife Lillian and her husband.

That was them in the Audi that just

passed us.

JACK:

Audi's a good car.

HETTIE:

What's she up here for?

WADE:

Aw, sh*t, she's here to get Jill. Me

and Jill had a little argument. Jack,

I got to get back, get back to town.

Move this thing, will you? See if

you can get back to the Town Hall

before they get there, okay?

JACK:

Piece of f***ing cake.

Jack brakes, wheels the 4x4 around, heads back to town.

CUT TO:

EXT. TOWN HALL - NIGHT

Most parents have left or are leaving with their costumed

children. Hewitt's burgundy pickup breaks alongside the Audi.

Wade swings open the passenger door, jumps to the ground:

WADE:

Lillian!

LILLIAN:

Where's Jill?

LILLIAN, 40, attractive in an ankle-length hooded coat.

Whatever pose Wade strikes, she strikes the opposite. Her

dress and demeanor set her apart.

WADE:

Me and Jill, we just had a little

spat. She felt kind of left out, I

guess, from not knowing some of the

new kids --

LILLIAN:

Where is she now? Is she in the truck

with your friends?

Jack and Hettie neck inside the cab.

WADE:

She told me she wanted to wait for

you. Inside.

Jill at the window in her tiger mask. Lillian waves; Jill

motions she'll be down.

LILLIAN:

While you went off for a few beers

with your friends? Is that Hettie

Rodgers there, with whatzizname?

WADE:

Yeah.

LILLIAN:

She's grown up some, hasn't she?

WADE:

Oh, Jesus, lay off, will you? It

looks like you've won this f***ing

round already, so lay off a little,

for Christ's sake.

HORNER, 45, Lillian's new husband, thin with thinning hair

and a Tyrolean hat, sees Jill at the entrance and heads toward

her.

WADE:

Horner! Leave her be. This's got

nothing to do with you, so just act

like the chauffeur. Got it?

HORNER:

Wade. Nobody wants any trouble.

Horner greets Jill, walks her to the silver Audi. Passing

parents, listening, give Wade a wide berth.

WADE:

I don't want her to go, Lillian.

LILLIAN:

Don't cause a scene. No one's trying

to win any 'rounds'. Don't make it

any worse.

WADE:

I'm not making it any worse. You

are. Me and Jill could've worked

this thing out. It's normal, it's

even normal for me to get a little

touchy about it. Believe it or not.

How do you think this makes me look,

treating her like some tragic victim

or something?

Horner opens the car door for Jill, shuts it. Wade shoves

him:

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