Big Fish Page #9
She moves on to the carrots.
WILL:
Josephine and I have a lot in common.
47.
SANDRA:
Yes, you both think William Bloom is avery smart man.
(beat)
The problem is, you only see me as yourmother, and not as someone’s wife. And
I’ve been his wife longer than I’vebeen your mother. You can’t discount
that.
WILL:
True. But I’ve known him my wholelife, and I don’t feel like I know himat all. Or ever will.
With a look, Sandra acknowledges the stakes.
SANDRA:
I know it’s not easy. Just remember,
he didn’t choose to be your father andyou didn’t choose to be his son. You
just ended up together. You could picknumbers out of a dark bag and it’d bejust the same. If you ask me, it’s awonder parents and children can standeach other at all.
WILL:
But I understand you, Mom. I alwayshave.
SANDRA:
Well, clearly you don’t. But I’m not
the mystery you’re trying to solveright now.
INT. AT THE CHECKOUT - NIGHT
Reaching the CASHIER, Sandra hands over her coupons. Will is
approaching with a Newsweek magazine.
Two checkstands over, an ATTRACTIVE BLONDE WOMAN in her 50’sis getting her change. Though she’s Sandra’s generation, shecarries herself like a much younger woman, with blue jeansand sneakers.
She accidentally makes eye contact with Will as he passes.
We HOLD ON the woman, who tracks Will as he reaches Sandra.
It’s hard to read her reaction: does she recognize him, orjust find him attractive?
Will notices the gaze. The woman turns away.
Will racks his brain -- does he know this woman?
48.
SANDRA:
Before I forget, your father has papersin the basement I’d like you to gothrough. I wouldn’t know what’s
important.
WILL:
(distracted)
Mom, do you know who that is? Blonde
hair.
Sandra looks. After a beat, the Blonde Woman turns again,
semi-casually. Noticing that both Will and Sandra arelooking, she smiles a little before taking her cart to leave.
SANDRA:
(no idea)
Was she one of your teachers?
WILL:
No. But it’s weird. She seemed to
recognize me.
SANDRA:
(to the cashier)
Do you know who that is?
The Cashier turns to look. He can only get a profile as thewoman leaves.
CASHIER:
Never seen her before. Pretty, though.
INT. GUEST BEDROOM - NIGHT
A portable fan quietly WHIRRS in the corner. Turned low, theRADIO on the nightstand is playing a call-in AM sports show,
just a wash of background chatter. Edward lies asleep on hisback.
At the window, Josephine quietly lowers the shade. She
reaches over Edward to switch off the radio. He stirs from
the silence -- he wasn’t fully asleep -- and sees Josephinestretched over him.
EDWARD:
(playfully lecherous)
Hello.
She smiles.
JOSEPHINE:
Hi. How are you feeling?
49.
EDWARD:
I was dreaming.
JOSEPHINE:
What were you dreaming about?
He tries to recollect, but it’s already gone. Josephinemotions, is it okay for her to sit on the bed? He nods.
EDWARD:
I don’t usually remember unless they’reespecially portentous. You know what
that word means, portentous?
She shakes her head.
EDWARD (cont’d)
Means when you dream about somethingthat’s going to happen.
(beat, gathering)
Like one night, I had a dream wherethis crow came and told me, “Your Auntis going to die.” I was so scared I
woke up my parents. They told me itwas just a dream, to go back to bed.
But the next morning, my Aunt Stacy wasdead.
JOSEPHINE:
That’s terrible.
EDWARD:
Terrible for her, but think about me,
young boy with that kind of power.
Wasn’t three weeks later that the crow
came back to me in a dream and said,
“Your Grampa is going to die.” Well, Iran right back to my parents. Myfather said, no, Gramps is fine, but Icould see there was trepidation. And
true enough, that next morning myGrampa was dead.
He sits up a bit in bed, his strength returning.
EDWARD (cont’d)
For the next couple weeks, I didn’thave another dream. Until one nightthe crow came back and said, “YourDaddy is going to die.”
(beat)
Well, I didn’t know what to do. But
finally I told my father.
(MORE)
50.
EDWARD (cont’d)
And he said not to worry, but I couldtell he was rattled. That next day, hewasn’t himself, always looking around,
waiting for something to drop on hishead. Because the crow didn’t tell how
it was going to happen, just thosewords: your Daddy is going to die.
Well, he went into town early and wasgone for a long time. And when he
finally came back, he looked terrible,
like he was waiting for the axe to fallall day. He said to my mother, “GoodGod. I just had the worst day of mylife.”
(beat)
“You think you’ve had a bad day,” she
said. “This morning the milkmandropped dead on the porch!”
Josephine smiles, a half-laugh, which gets him smiling too.
A long beat. Then, deadpan...
EDWARD (cont’d)
Because see, my mother was banging themilkman.
JOSEPHINE:
No, I understand.
EDWARD:
He was slipping her a little extra
cream.
She nods, a bit more of a laugh.
EDWARD (cont’d)
He was filling her basket. He was
making deliveries around back.
As Edward continues, she can’t help but laugh harder,
especially as the metaphors get more vulgar.
EDWARD (cont’d)
He was buttering her rolls. Pumpingher churn. Splashing milk in her box.
JOSEPHINE:
Stop.
EDWARD:
They were squeezing the cheese.
Clanking the bottles. Licking thepopsicle.
51.
She’s starting to cry from laughing.
EDWARD (cont’d)
Cracking the eggs and making an omelet.
With that, he stops. She regains her composure.
EDWARD (cont’d)
Spooning the sherbet.
JOSEPHINE:
(interrupting)
Can I take your picture?
EDWARD:
You don’t need a picture. Just look uphandsome in the dictionary.
JOSEPHINE:
Please?
He rolls his eyes, why not.
Josephine leaves, heading down the hall to get her camera.
We STAY WITH Edward in bed.
JOSEPHINE (O.S.) (cont’d)
I have photos from the wedding to show
you. There’s a great one of you and myfather. I had an extra print made.
Edward grimaces, a flash of pain. Around others, he’s hidinghow much it hurts, but alone we can see how bad it is.
He controls his breathing, trying to push through it.
JOSEPHINE (O.S.) (cont'd)
I want to see pictures of your wedding.
I’ve never seen any.
She returns with her camera. Edward smiles, doing a good jobmasking the pain.
EDWARD:
That’s because we didn’t have a
wedding. Your mother-in-law was never
supposed to marry me. She was engagedto somebody else.
JOSEPHINE:
(loading film)
I never knew.
52.
EDWARD:
Will never told you that?
(she shakes her head)
Probably just as well. He would have
told it wrong anyway. All the facts
and none of the flavor.
JOSEPHINE:
Oh, so this is a tall tale?
EDWARD:
Well, it’s not a short one.
A devilish smile. Pushing past Edward, we settle on thewhirling fan.
MATCH CUT TO:
A SPINNING PINWHEEL
held by a LITTLE BOY. He’s slumped over his FATHER’sshoulder, being carried towards a big-top tent. We are...
EXT. OLYMPIA CIRCUS - NIGHT
...where the second-rate carnival is parked for the moment inan Alabama field. To the left, we spot Edward, 20-ish,
halfway through a bag of peanuts. He’s still carrying thebackpack we saw earlier, and scratched up from his tripthrough Spectre.
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