Bottle Rocket Page #14

DIGNAN:

You're in love with the f***ing

housekeeper!

ANTHONY:

Shut up!

DIGNAN:

What are you going to do, get

married? Have a bunch of little

idiot janitor brats! And go around

scrubbing the --

Anthony slaps Dignan hard in the face.

ANTHONY:

Stop!

(pause)

Now listen to me.

Dignan punches Anthony is the face. Follows it up with one

after another. Anthony ducks and puts his arms out. He falls

on one knee. Dignan immediately turns and walks to the car.

Anthony stands up. He's got a bloody nose. He stares at

Dignan. Not angry. Just weary.

Dignan pulls his tennis bag out of the car. He shuts the

door and walks down the highway.

Anthony walks to the car and takes out his backpack. He

pulls it tight around his shoulders. He looks down the

highway at Dignan. Then turns and walks the other way, into

the distance.

BLACKOUT.

FADE IN:

EXT. GOLF COURSE. DAY

A cold day on a nice country club course. Anthony watches

Bob hit a hard slide straight into the rough. Bob stands

there in a frozen follow-through. Then he suddenly swings

his club and hums it down the fareway. He starts to walk

back to the golf cart.

ANTHONY:

Bob, where you going?

BOB:

I'm not playing any more golf.

ANTHONY:

Why not?

BOB:

Cause I'm not getting any better.

It's a waste of time.

ANTHONY:

You've only been playing for two

weeks, Bob. It takes a long time to

learn this game.

BOB:

You think I'm improving?

ANTHONY:

(pause)

Yes. You just got to stick with it.

Bob looks down the fareway. He takes a deep breath and

starts walking toward his club about twenty yards away.

INT. GOLF CART. DAY

In the cart. Bob's driving. There's a brief silence.

BOB:

You don't have to talk about it if

you don't want to.

ANTHONY:

No, I don't mind.

BOB:

I know it must of been a bad

experience. But it doesn't sound

like it was your fault.

ANTHONY:

Well, I didn't mean to electrocute

him. But the whole operation was my

idea.

MONTAGE:
Electronics wizardry. Splicing wires. Buzzing

electrodes. A filament lights up blue. Pliers and clippers

rewire a circuit breaker, short out the P.A. system,

electrify doors and windows. Anthony continues in VOICEOVER.

ANTHONY (VO)

It took six months of research. I

did all the wiring myself. Switched

AC to DC. Doubled the voltage.

Shorted out the generator. The

whole school was shut down.

BOB (VO)

That's pretty complicated for a

senior prank.

ANTHONY (VO)

I don't like that word prank, Bob.

I was trying to do something more

than a prank.

EXT. SCHOOL. DAY

A large school building. Tall oak trees and benches in the

shade. Green and blue lights blink in the windows. White

flashes and loud jolts of energy dance from room to room.

Mozart plays in the distance.

Students begin to swarm out into the yard.

ANTHONY (VO)

I wanted to create an event.

Something everyone would remember.

And at first it worked perfectly.

The whole school was standing

around outside. Kids running all

over the place. Everybody laughing.

EXT. GOLF COURSE. DAY

Anthony and Bob are standing on the seventeenth green.

ANTHONY:

Even the school custodian Swifty

thought it was great. He kept

laughing and shaking his head the

whole time he tried to disconnect

the generator. And then suddenly

(snaps his finger)

total silence except for Swifty

hanging off the generator with his

leg stuck to it being electrocuted.

Anthony stares down the fareway.

ANTHONY:

Actually he died of a heart attack

brought on by the shock. He was an

older guy.

INT. GOLF CART. DAY

Anthony and Bob are driving back to the clubhouse.

ANTHONY:

I felt terrible. I'd known Swifty

since first grade. He was Dignan's

medicine man for Indian Guides.

They called each other Rattlesnake

and Killer Whale. Whenever Dignan

came to visit me he would act like

he and Swifty weren't that good of

friends, but that was just to make

me feel better. The whole rest of

the school had turned against me.

EXT. BOB'S HOUSE. DAY

Anthony and Bob are sitting by the pool, drinking beers.

Future Man's swimming laps even though it's cold out.

ANTHONY:

At first they were going to charge

me with manslaughter. That's partly

why I was in custody so long. Sixty

days.

BOB:

Sixty days?

ANTHONY:

Yeah. One minute you're studying

Great Expectations and the next

minute you're drawing the Holy Mary

for some kid who tried to stab his

girlfriend.

BOB:

Why were you drawing the Holy Mary?

ANTHONY:

Prison tatoos. I got to be pretty

good. It's not like drawing on paper.

CUT TO:

Future Man toweling off. He wears a Speedo swimsuit. He

walks over to Bob and Anthony. Anthony's just finishing a

drawing of a leaping jungle cat in black and red ink on

Bob's shoulder.

Future Man stops and looks at them with no feeling.

ANTHONY:

(pause)

It's a panther.

Pause. Future Man looks at Bob.

FUTURE MAN:

How's that 700 bucks coming?

BOB:

I'm working on it.

FUTURE MAN:

Hard to find it sitting by the pool

drinking beer and bullshitting.

He walks inside.

ANTHONY:

I thought he didn't have to pay

anything because of the technicality.

BOB:

Yeah, but he still has the

aggravation. Three days sitting in

a cell.

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