Beetlejuice Page #12

She holds the cover up to the light.

CATHY:

"Handbook for the Recently

Deceased."

She looks into the model again at the figures of ADAM and

BARBARA. They're now standing together.

CATHY:

(Hums the 'Twilight Zone'

theme music)

She looks around the room as if suddenly someone were going to be

there to answer all her questions. No one is.

A voice sounds from downstairs.

LYDIA (v.o.)

Cathy, Delia needs you!

CATHY gives one more look at the town, and then goes to the door

quickly and silently.

LYDIA (v.o.)

Right now!

CATHY finds the real key to the room in the door, on the inside.

She takes it out of the lock.

INT:
ATTIC LANDING -- DAY

CATHY locks the door quickly, tries the knob to make sure, and

hurries downstairs.

INT:
SECOND FLOOR HALLWAY -- DAY

DELIA stands outside the master bedroom door, arms akimbo. At

her feet is a large box of ADAM and BARBARA's personal

belongings.

DELIA:

Where have you been?

CATHY:

Nowhere.

CHARLES comes out of his room, tossing out empty boxes.

CHARLES:

Hiding out in the attic.

Did you get that door open?

CATHY:

(Hesitating) Skeleton keys

never work.

DELIA:

Take this downstairs. Dump

it.

She kicks the box with ADAM and BARBARA's belongings. DELIA and

CHARLES disappear again.

CATHY lifts the box, and starts downstairs with it. Then she

stops dead still.

At the top of the box is ADAM and BARBARA's wedding picture, with

a swath of spray paint over it, obscuring their faces.

CATHY puts down the box, takes out the picture, and removes the

photograph from the frame.

CU:
BARBARA AND ADAM IN THE PHOTOGRAPH

CATHY:

I knew it.

She slides the photograph under the door of her room, and then

continues downstairs with the box.

EXT:
HOUSE -- NIGHT

Dark, quiet, a light burning in the dining room window.

INT:
DINING ROOM -- NIGHT

The DEETZs around the dining room table. There are candles, good

china laid out -- but they're eating out of Chinese take-out

boxes.

CHARLES, DELIA, and LYDIA are eating with chopsticks, while CATHY

uses a plain old American fork.

LYDIA:

I can't believe that we're

eating Cantonese.

CHARLES:

There's only one Chinese

restaurant in town, darling,

and it happens to be Cantonese.

LYDIA:

I could have a stroke from the

amount of MSG that's in this

food.

DELIA:

This is our first meal in this

house, Lydia. Why don't we all

do our little parts to make it

a pleasant one?

CHARLES:

I'm building you a darkroom in

the basement. Nobody's ever

going to steal your chemicals

again. That'll be a pleasant

change from Manhattan.

LYDIA:

I should have stayed in New York

with my mother. Just driving

through Winter River made me want

to slit my throat.

CHARLES:

We're the first trickle. In a

couple of years this whole town

will be filled with people like

us. Zabar's will open a Winter

River branch.

DELIA:

And when Otho and I get through

with this house, you people are

not going to recognize it as the

same place.

CATHY:

(Meekly) I sort of like it the

way it is.

The family stares at her, unbelieving.

CATHY (cont)

I mean, it's already sort of like

somebody's home, isn't it?

There is a pause, as if the family were considering this whole

business in a new light. Then the moment and the light fade.

CHARLES:

You know, I went in the grocery

store today, and they had never

even heard of arugula.

INT:
ATTIC -- NIGHT

ADAM and BARBARA are pissed.

ADAM is looking through the manual, while BARBARA paces looking

over his shoulder now and then.

BARBARA:

Ghosts have been scaring people

for thousands of years. It

must say something about haunting.

ADAM:

That electricity hurt. I don't

want to have to think about that

kind of thing happening to you.

BARBARA:

I think I'd rather have a

band of gypsies move in here

than have to put up with those

people. And we don't even know

how long we're supposed to stay

here? I wish that book would tell

us something useful.

A GUST OF WIND --

blows down the chimney, turning the pages of the manual.

BARBARA and ADAM shiver with sudden, supernatural cold.

ADAM looks at the book.

ADAM:

(Reading) Section Seventeen-C.

Intercessions and Exorcisms.

BARBARA:

Exorcism. That's where they

get rid of us, right?

ADAM:

Not this kind. This is where

we get rid of them.

BARBARA:

What do we have to do?

ADAM:

It won't work. We need a

graveyard.

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