Beetlejuice Page #24

CATHY:

But --

DELIA:

They were going anyway.

Otho and I are putting

in a Japanese meditation

garden.

CATHY stares at her mother for a moment, and then runs out

through the dining room.

INT:
CHARLES'S STUDY

BEETLE JUICE / IRS is seated in front of a table that is stacked

high with CHARLES's financial records.

BEETLE JUICE / IRS

Some people, Mr. Deetz,

think that taxes are just

a game to be played against

the IRS.

CHARLES starts to sweat.

BEETLE JUICE / IRS (cont)

Mr. Deetz, the IRS plays

hardball.

CHARLES:

Ah, can I get you something

from downstairs. A little plate

of octopus or something?

BEETLE JUICE / IRS

(Smiling) I'm afraid not,

Mr. Deetz. That would con-

stitute bribery. I know

you have a party to give,

so why don't you just leave

me alone for a while? If I

need you, I know where to find

you.

Humbly, CHARLES walks out of the study.

INT:
HALLWAY -- DAY

CHARLES leans against the door, deflated. He thinks of one more

bit of excuse-making and starts to open the door again.

The door is locked.

He backs away in distress.

INT:
CHARLES'S STUDY -- DAY

BEETLE JUICE / IRS gets up from the table, and goes to the window.

HIS POV --

The orchard is almost levelled, but the trees nearest the house

remain standing. CATHY is watching, grief-stricken.

EXT:
BACK YARD -- DAY

CATHY looks up at the house, having sensed that someone was

watching her.

No one appears in the study window. CATHY looks back to the

enormous truck that is eating up and shredding the toppled fruit

trees at an amazing clip.

OUT OF THE OPEN STUDY WINDOW --

A FUZZY-TAILED SQUIRREL makes a nearly superatural leap into the

branches of the last remaining fruit tree.

A WORKMAN applies the chain saw to the trunk of this tree, and in

a brief moment it topples to the ground.

The SQUIRREL is flung free, and lands stunned -- if not dead --

at CATHY's feet.

CATHY tenderly lifts the SQUIRREL and listens to its heart-beat.

It shudders in her hands, and weakly raises a GASHED PAW.

CATHY:

You're bleeding.

She clutches the SQUIRREL to her breast and runs towards the

house.

INT:
CATHY'S ROOM -- DAY

The SQUIRREL is lying in on a fluffed up towel in a wooden box.

Its paw is bandaged, and CATHY is feeding it water from a eye

dropped. It drinks the water eagerly, but still has not opened

its eyes.

CATHY:

I'd feel a lot better

if you'd just open your

eyes.

From outside, we heard DELIA's frantic voice.

DELIA (v.o.)

Cathy, where are the

guest towels?

CATHY:

Coming!

She closes the hinged lid of the box, and pushes it under her

bed.

CATHY:

I'll check on you in

a little smile.

CATHY hurries out of the room, with the towels.

INSIDE THE BOX --

The SQUIRREL opens his eyes. They're COLD AND YELLOW, SNAKE'S

EYES.

INT:
FOYER -- DAY

OTHO has arrived, and is carrying a small suitcase. He is

wearing an enormous fur coat, complete with hood, Norfolk belt,

and contrasting pockets. Whole forests of cute animals perished

to make this tent.

DELIA:

Thank God you're here.

We've got the IRS upstairs,

Cathy pouting in corners,

I can't find Lydia, Charles

is sloshing his way through

a second pitcher of Long

Island Iced Tea, and the dress

I'm supposed to wear tonight

has not arrived from the

cleaners.

OTHO:

Take me to my room, you poor

creature. I brought a suitcase

full of calm.

They start up the stairs.

INT:
UPSTAIRS HALLWAY -- DAY

It's empty. The door of CATHY's room slowly opens. Out steps

BEETLE JUICE as the OLD WOMAN from the cleaners. He is carrying

DELIA's clothes in plastic bags.

He steps directly across the hallway, and enters the MASTER

BEDROOM.

INT:
MASTER BEDROOM -- DAY

OTHO has spread out a pharmacopeia of legal and illegal

substances on DELIA's dressing table, and is allowing her to sort

through.

OTHO:

The pink now, the blue

in fifteen minutes, let

those take effect and then

take a couple of reds

with a glass of apple

juice. That's what

I'd do.

DELIA looks up at BEETLE JUICE / OLD WOMAN standing in the

doorway.

DELIA:

What are you doing up here?

BEETLE JUICE / OLD WOMAN

I knocked and knocked, and

nobody came, so I just

walked on in, and your

daughter told me to bring

these on up here, so here

I am, and you must have a

terrible cold.

BEETLE JUICE / OLD WOMAN is eyeing the drugs, which OTHO has

swept back into his enormous plastic Baggie.

OTHO:

Delia, I think I'm going

to unpack.

DELIA:

I'll come with you. (To

BEETLE JUICE / OLD WOMAN) Just

hang the clothes on the door.

DELIA gets up and goes out after OTHO.

BEETLE JUICE / OLD WOMAN goes to DELIA's closet door and opens

it. It is jammed with expensive clothes.

BEETLE JUICE / OLD WOMAN

My, my. Such a wardrobe.

Rate this script:3.7 / 10 votes