Agnes of God Page #8

MARTHA:

Larry...

LARRY:

Marty, what are you doing here?

MARTHA:

Larry there's got to be something

missing.

LARRY:

I gave you the pictures Marty, what

else do you want?

MARTHA:

Something they... that they overlooked.

LARRY:

What? You think that the girl is

innocent?

MARTHA:

I don't know.

LARRY:

You got to be crazy.

Larry pulls out a pack of cigarettes, gives one to Martha and

to the

prostitute.

MARTHA:

Larry...

LARRY:

What's the matter with you, you've

seen the reports. It's a cut and dried

case.

MARTHA:

Maybe there's something that's not

in the report that should be.

LARRY:

You're too involved Marty.

(lights her cigarette)

Jesus look at you. Why don't you

turn this case over to someone else?

Larry lights his own cigarette and comes over to Martha.

LARRY (Cont.)

I'll ask around, see what I come up

with. In the meantime you go home

and get some sleep.

MARTHA:

Thanks.

(she leaves)

LARRY:

(calling after her)

If I find anything I'll call you.

59 INT - MARTHA'S APARTMENT - NIGHT

Martha takes off her coat, moves across the room turning on

lights. She

flicks the answerphone on. Her cat meows.

SECRETARY (V.O.)

Hi Marty, it's Helen. Mrs Davenport

called and was very upset that you'd

missed her appointment. She wants

you to call her at home, oh and a couple

of reporters have been trying to get a

hold of you about Sister Agnes. They

seem persistent and they may try to

reach you at home. I didn't give them

number.

Some whirs and beeps. Martha goes into the bathroom.

REPORTER (V.O.)

(French accent)

Hallo, Doctor Livingston. My name is

(?). I'm doing a Sunday article on

Sister Agnes for the Gazette. I would

appreciate it if you would give me a

phone call on 942-2424.

More beeps and whirs. Martha starts to undress.

LARRY (V.O.)

Hi Marty, it's me. Listen I just

talked with Detective Crawley who

was at the convent. She said that

there was one thing that bothered her

that didn't make it into the report.

The waste paper basket. The one in

Agnes' room.

(Martha freezes in the

middle of lighting up)

None of the other nuns had one. Bye.

Martha rushes over to the answerphone and rewinds it.

LARRY (V.O.)

... her that didn't make it into the

report. The waste paper basket. The

one in Agnes' room. None of the other

nuns had one. Bye.

Martha looks thoughtful and flicks off the desk lamp.

60 INT - CONVENT CHAPEL - DAY

Father Martineau is saying Mass. All the sisters are there

singing together.Father Martineau places the host in the sconce,

incences it and raises it

up. Close on individual nuns at prayer including Agnes.

DISSOLVE TO:

61 INT - BARN - DAY

Mother Miriam is kneeling in the doorway of the barn, praying

when Marthaenters. Mother Miriam pauses.

MARTHA:

I've gotten the court's permission

to hypnotise her.

Mother Miriam makes the sign of the cross and stands up.

MOTHER MIRIAM:

And my permission?

MARTHA:

I'd like yours too.

Mother Miriam grabs a bucket and moves across the barn. Martha

follows her.

MOTHER MIRIAM:

We'll see about that.

MARTHA:

Don't deny it!

MOTHER MIRIAM:

I haven't decided yet.

MARTHA:

The woman's health is at stake.

MOTHER MIRIAM:

Her spiritual health.

MARTHA:

I don't give a damn about her spiritual

health.

MOTHER MIRIAM:

I know you don't.

Mother Miriam starts shovelling grain into the bucket.

MARTHA:

Sentence her and be done with it, that's

what you're saying and I...

MOTHER MIRIAM:

I am saying (distorted) a beautifully

simple woman...

MARTHA:

An unhappy woman...

MOTHER MIRIAM:

She's happy with us and she could go

on being happy if she was left alone.

MARTHA:

Then why did you call the police in the

first place Mother, huh?

MARTHA (cont.)

Why didn't you just throw the baby into

the incinerator and be done with it.

MOTHER MIRIAM:

Because I am a moral person.

MARTHA:

Bullshit!

MOTHER MIRIAM:

Bullshit yourself!

MARTHA:

Catholic Church doesn't have a corner

on morality...

MOTHER MIRIAM:

Who said anything about the Catholic

Church...

MARTHA:

You just said...

MOTHER MIRIAM:

What the hell has the Catholic Church

got to do with you?

MARTHA:

Nothing...

MOTHER MIRIAM:

What have we done to hurt you? And

don't deny it, I can smell an ex-Catholic

a mile away. What did we do? Burn a

few heretics, sell some indulgences?

That was in the days when the Church

was a ruling body. We let governments

do those things today. So what did we

do to you eh? You wanted to neck in the

back seat of a car when you were fifteen

and you couldn't because it was a sin?

This time it is Martha who walks away and Mother Miriam who

follows her.

MOTHER MIRIAM (Cont.)

So instead of questioning that one rule...

MARTHA:

(halting)

It wasn't sex. It was a lot of things, but

it wasn't sex. You know when I was in

the first grade my best friend was run

over on the way to school, you know what

the nun said? She died because she hadn't

said her morning prayers.

MOTHER MIRIAM:

Stupid woman... and that's all?

MARTHA:

That's all? That's enough! She was a

beautiful little girl.

MOTHER MIRIAM:

And what has that to do with it?

MARTHA:

I wasn't. I wasn't. She was the pretty one.

She died, why not me? I never said my

morning prayers. And I was ugly, I was

scrawny, I had buck teeth and freckles all

over my face, do you know what the nun

called me, Sister Mary Clitus, called me

Polkadot Livingston.

MOTHER MIRIAM:

So you left the Church because you had

freckles?

MARTHA:

No, because I... yeah, yeah I left the

Church cause I had freckles.

They both cannot help laughing at this absurdity.

62 EXT - COURTYARD - DAY

A couple of nuns walk across the courtyard. Another is

meditating alone. On

a bench a nun kisses a dove and lets it fly away.

63 EXT - GAZEBO - DAY

It is out the back of the convent near the belltower. Mother

Miriam and

Martha are sitting there talking. Martha is smoking.

MOTHER MIRIAM:

When I was a child I used to hear my

guardian angel. She sang to me 'till I

was six years old. That's when I stopped

listening. But I remember the voice. A

few years ago I looked at myself and saw

nothing but a nun who was certain of nothing.

Not even of Heaven. Not even of God. And

then one evening I saw Agnes standing by

her window, singing. And all my doubts about

myself and God were gone, in that one moment.

I recognized the voice. Please don't take it

away from me again Doctor Livingston. Those

years after six were very bleak.

MARTHA:

My sister died in a convent. And it's her

voice I hear.

(a long pause)

Does my smoking bother you?

MOTHER MIRIAM:

No, it reminds me.

MARTHA:

Would you like one? Huh?

MOTHER MIRIAM:

I'd love one.

Martha hands her a cigarette and lights it for her. Mother

Miriam coughs a

lot. Martha pats her on the back.

MOTHER MIRIAM:

I'm out of prac...

(cough)

... practice.

(cough)

MARTHA:

All right?

MOTHER MIRIAM:

Fine thanks...

MARTHA:

Do you suppose the saints would have

smoked if tobacco had been popular

back then?

MOTHER MIRIAM:

Undoubtedly. Not the ascetics of course

but, well Saint Thomas More...

MARTHA:

(chuckles)

Long, thin and filtered.

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