Badlands Page #4

EXT. STREET

Kit and Holly walk down a sidewalk in the residential part

of town.

Kit is consoling her about the fish.

HOLLY (V.O.)

I didn't mind telling Kit about stuff

like this, cause strange things

happened in his life, too, and some

of the stuff he did was strange.

EXT. FEEDLOT

Kit steps on top of a dead cow, as though to convince himself

that it is dead.

HOLLY (V.O.)

For instance, he faked his signature

whenever he used it, to keep other

people from forging important papers

with his name...

INT. HOLLY'S BEDROOM – NIGHT

The CAMERA DOLLIES BACK to reveal Kit lying in bed. His

attitude suggests that this is a scene of her fantasy.

HOLLY (V.O.)

And as he lay in bed, in the middle

of the night, he always heard a noise

like somebody was holding a seashell

against his ear. And sometimes he'd

see me coming toward him in beautiful

white robes, and I'd put my cold

hand on his forehead.

EXT. RIVERBANK

Kit puts on his jacket and heads down a riverbank to the

edge of the water. Holly comes into view, buttoning her

blouse.

HOLLY:

Did it go the way it 'uz supposed

to?

KIT:

Yeah.

HOLLY:

Is that all there is to it?

KIT:

Yeah.

Her questions make him uncomfortable.

HOLLY:

Gosh, what was everybody talking

about?

KIT:

Don't ask me.

Silence.

HOLLY:

Well. I'm glad it's over... For a

while I was afraid I might die before

it happened... Had a wreck, some

deal like that.

Kit points to an uprooted tree lying in the water a hundred

feet away.

KIT:

You see where that tree fell in the

water?

He climbs back up the bank.

HOLLY:

Yeah... The river must've washed the

roots away... You don't care about

anything I say, though.

DISSOLVE TO:

EXT. NEIGHBORING AREA

Holly walks down the bank of the river. Kit falls in behind

her, carrying a large stone. The CAMERA DOLLIES with them.

KIT:

You know what I think?

HOLLY:

What?

KIT:

That we should crunch our hands with

this stone. That way we'd never forget

what happened today.

HOLLY:

But it would hurt.

KIT:

Well, that's the point, stupid.

She gives him a cold look.

HOLLY:

Don't call me stupid.

KIT:

Okay, but I'm going to keep it for a

souvenir...

He throws it away and picks up a smaller one.

KIT:

Or maybe one that's lighter.

He walks over to the car. A bridge is visible in the distance.

EXT. FIELD

Kit releases a large red balloon into the evening sky. A

small basket is fixed to the bottom of the balloon.

HOLLY (V.O.)

Kit made a solemn vow that he would

always stand beside me and let nothing

come between us. He wrote this out

in writing, put the paper in a box

with some of our little tokens and

things, then sent it off in a balloon

he'd found while on the garbage route.

(pause)

His heart was filled with longing as

he watched it drift off. Something

must've told him that we'd never

live these days of happiness again,

that they were gone forever.

DISSOLVE TO:

EXT. CATTAILS

Holly's dog bounds through a stand of cattails. Holly speaks

angrily to her father, who walks toward the dog with a gun.

We do not hear their voices, only music. He shoots the dog

and Holly runs off in horror.

HOLLY (V.O.)

Then, sure enough, Dad found out I'd

been running around behind his back.

He was madder than I'd ever seen

him. As punishment for deceiving

him, he went and shot my dog.

EXT. BRIDGE

Holly's father drags a duffel bag out of his truck and dumps

it over the side of a bridge, into a river. It goes under

briefly, then bobs to the surface. The current takes it off.

DISSOLVE TO:

EXT. MUSIC SCHOOL

Holly sits in the second-story window of a music school.

HOLLY (V.O.)

He made me take extra music lessons

every day after school and wait there

till he came to pick me up. He said

that if the piano didn't keep me off

the streets, maybe the clarinet would.

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