Badlands Page #6

HOLLY:

Daddy... This is Holly... Are you

going to be okay?

Her father does not respond. She looks back at Kit, who avoids

her gaze. She gets to her feet and walks into the kitchen.

Kit follows her.

INT. KITCHEN

Kit closes the back door to the house.

KIT:

I came in the front.

HOLLY:

How bad off is he?

KIT (O.S.)

I can look and see.

HOLLY:

We better call the doctor... Listen.

I'll say how it happened, part I

saw.

KIT:

(sighs)

Well... I don't think that'd work.

This startles Holly.

INT. LIVING ROOM

Kit touches the father's heart.

KIT:

He don't need a doctor.

He walks back into the kitchen.

HOLLY:

Are you sure?

KIT:

You don't believe me, see for

yourself.

Holly stares at her father.

DISSOLVE TO:

EXT. HOLLY'S HOUSE – DUSK

LOW ANGLE of Holly's house silhouetted against the evening

sky. On sound the NOISE of CICADAS.

INT. CELLAR

Kit drags Holly's father into the cellar. Sets him down

gently, then eases out of the room, taking a discarded toaster

with him.

INT. KITCHEN – NIGHT

Kit comes up the steps from the cellar. Holly stands at the

drainboard.

KIT:

I found a toaster.

He sets down the toaster and walks over to Holly's side.

KIT:

Listen, honey. I don't want to...

She slaps him across the forehead. He walks into the now

darkened living room, and sits down at the piano. After a

moment Holly follows him.

INT. LIVING ROOM – NIGHT

Holly sits down on the sofa across from Kit.

HOLLY:

Listen, maybe we ought to tell

somebody about this.

KIT:

You said that once already... Too

late now.

HOLLY:

Why?

KIT:

They're not going to listen to me.

You either. Are you kidding?

A silence follows.

HOLLY:

Suppose the neighbors heard the noise?

KIT:

Wouldn't be funny... Listen, I'll be

back in a while.

He gets up and heads for the front door.

KIT:

Oh... You want to call the police,

that's fine. Just won't be so hot

for me.

There are tears in Holly's eyes now. They exchange looks as

Kit opens the front door. Then he leaves. Holly settles back

on the couch.

EXT. HOLLY'S HOUSE – NIGHT

The house by night.

INT. HALLWAY AND BEDROOM – NIGHT

Holly comes up the stairs, smoking a cigarette. She walks to

her bedroom window. The CAMERA DOLLIES with her. Outside,

under the street lamp, she can see two boys trading secrets.

INT. TRAIN STATION – NIGHT

Kit puts fifty cents into a gramophone booth. He clears his

voice as the machine whirs into operation.

KIT:

My girl Holly and I have decided to

kill ourselves, same way I did her

dad. Big decision huh? Well, the

reasons are obvious, and I don't

have time to go into them right now...

One thing, though... He was provoking

me when I popped him. That's what it

was like, a POP.

Inserts of the booth's mechanism: a light panel measuring

off the seconds and the needle on the record.

KIT:

Course nobody's coming out of this

thing happy, especially not us. You

can't deny we've had fun, though.

Which is more than I can say for

some... Mmmm. that's the end of the

message. I run out of things to say...

Thank you.

He gets these last words in just as his time is up. He gets

the record and steps outside the booth, into the lobby of a

train station.

DISSOLVE TO:

INT. HOLLY'S LIVING ROOM – SERIES OF ANGLES – NIGHT

Kit slams a ten-gallon can of gasoline down on the piano

bench, opens it and begins pouring it out over the interior

of the house, kicking aside everything that comes in his

way.

EXT. REAR OF HOUSE – NIGHT

Holly comes out the screen door at the back of the house,

carrying a suitcase and a painting. Kit appears with a lamp

on an extension cord. He sets it down beside a victrola he

has set up on a table outdoors. He puts the needle on the

record he recorded earlier.

Holly watches him as she retreats to the car.

HOLLY (V.O.)

Kit left a record playing over and

over for the District Attorney to

find. He was gambling for time.

Kit unplugs the lamp, lights a book of matches and pitches

them into a puddle of gas. The back porch of the house

explodes into flame.

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