Days of Heaven Page #15

CHUCK:

Abby bought me this at Yellowstone.

Chuck shows Bill his knife. Bill reads a name off the

handle.

BILL:

That's what she calls you? 'Chickie?'

He gets up, his nostrils flaring with anger. Chuck thinks

this indignance is on his behalf.

CHUCK:

Doesn't bother me. Should it?

Bill throws down the pheasant he was plucking.

CHUCK:

What's the matter?

BILL:

Don't let her fool you, too. She warms up to

whoever says please and thank you.

CHUCK:

What's the matter?

Bill, still angry at himself, considers telling him.

BILL:

You really want to know?

He would like Chuck to know the truth but does not want

theresponsibility for revealing it. He must find out by

accident.

Luckily they are interrupted as Ursula runs up, pointing

over her shoulder. A pair of three-wing airplanes sputters

into view low overhead. One seems to be having engine

trouble.

183EXT. FIELD NEAR BELVEDERE

The planes set down in a nearby field. "Toto's

Flying Circus" is emblazoned on the wings.

184NEW ANGLE

Five PEOPLE clamber out, members of a seedy

vaudeville troupe. They swagger around, filthy with oil from

the backwash of the props, looking more like convicts than

entertainers. Their LEADER is an excitable Levantine.

LEADER:

How long it take to fix? Very mooch time! Now look where you

hab stuck us. Salaupe! You forget who I aim!

Bill, Abby and Ursula approach the aircraft with the

greatest caution, like the Indians at Cortez's ships.

185EXT. SCREEN - NIGHT

A JUGGLER and a SNAKE CHARMER perform first

separately,

then jointly as a slap act. A DOUBLE TALKER weaves sentences

of absolute nonsense. After a moment a black and white image

appears over his face and he drops out of sight.

The troupe is putting on a show to earn its supper. ONE of

them stands behind the viewers -- Abby and Bill, Chuck and

Ursula -- cranking a carbide projector by hand. A silent

movie appears on the screen, full of extraordinary

pratfalls, disappearances and other tricks of the early

cinema. Chuck has never seen anything remotely like this.

CHUCK (o.s.)

How'd they do that? Where'd he go? There must be

a wire. Etc.

He steps forward to inspect the screen, actually just a

sheet hung along a clothesline, to see whether the image is

coming from behind. Bill and Abby sit rapt as children,

nostalgic for Chicago.

186EXT. DINNER TABLE - NIGHT

Ursula serves dinner. She is excited by the

visitors'

city ways. They are bored with her, all except the

youngest, GEORGE, a young pilot in a white scarf.

URSULA:

We never hear a thing out here. It's like being

on a boat in the

middle of a lake. You see things going on, but way far away,

with no voices.

GEORGE:

Maybe time to clear out.

George puts his hand on hers. She snatches it away.

GEORGE:

What's the matter? Aren't I your

type or something?

The Doubletalker pokes his fork into a pudding. A balloon,

concealed beneath the surface, explodes to general delight.

Down the table Abby and Bill chat with the Leader.

LEADER:

You do not understand, sir. I am saddled with asses, yaays?

I, who

once played the Albert Hall

BILL:

You. hear that? He called me 'sir.'

In their gaiety he carelessly puts a hand on Abby's leg.

187TIGHT ON CHUCK - NIGHT

Chuck looks on from the shadows, no longer just

puzzled but angry. He has watched them behave this way a

dozen times before, but tonight, with other people around,

he must see it more directly.

188EXT. STRAW STACK - NIGHT

George tells Ursula a joke. She dissolves in

giggles before he can finish, as though amazed at his power

to dispense illusion.

189INT. LIVING ROOM - NIGHT

Chuck, alone in the darkened living room, calms

himself down by breathing through a rubber mask into a

respirator. Joyful noises reach him from outside.

190CHUCK'S POV - NEXT MORNING

The next morning Chuck looks down out his

bedroom window.

The troupe is packing to leave. Still troubled, he walks to

the bed and and stands over Abby.

CHUCK:

What's going on, Abby?

She does not respond. He yanks the sheet off. She is wearing

a nightgown. She looks up and frowns. This is the first time

she has ever seen him this way.

CHUCK:

You know what I mean. Between you and Bill.

ABBY:

I have no idea.....

CHUCK:

(interrupting)

Something's not right, and I want to know what.

Abby jumps out of bed and assumes the offensive. She has no

other choice.

ABBY:

Say it out loud. What're you worried about?

(pause)

Incest?

CHUCK:

It just doesn't look right. I don't know how

brothers and

sisters carry on where you come from, but...

ABBY:

(interrupting)

Did you ever have a brother. Then who are you to

judge? Maybe if

you had, you'd understand. Anyway, times have changed while

you've been stuck out in this weed patch. We're

************************line missing****************

She puts on a robe and walks out. Her last argument has

worked best. Chuck never imagined he was in step with the

times.

191EXT. BELVEDERE

Abby slips out the front door. She looks around

to make sure that Chuck is not watching her, then heads off

to find Bill. The vaudevillians gorge themselves on last

night's leftovers, steal flowers from the flower beds,

etc. ONE sits off by himself, playing a French horn.

192EXT. DORM

She finds Bill by the dorm throwing a

switchblade in the ground, a toothbrush in his mouth.

ABBY:

I have to talk to you.

BILL:

Look what I traded off those clowns. For a

bushel of corn!

She draws him by the arm behind a wall. She is trembling

with fear.

ABBY:

Chuck is suspicious.

BILL:

Chickie you mean? So what?

ABBY:

Really. This is the first time he's ever been

like this. I'm scared.

All this flatters Chuck in a way Bill does not like.

BILL:

What for? Why're you so worried what he thinks?

ABBY:

He could kill us. I want to live a long time,

okay? I just got

started and I like it.

Bill shrugs, as though to say he can handle whatever Chuck

can dish out and a little more.

ABBY:

You might take a little responsibility here. You

got us into all this.

BILL:

Did I? Well, it never would've come up if you

hadn't led him on.

Led Chickie on!

ABBY:

Is that the best you can do? Knowing you it

probably is.

You've made a mess of our lives, okay. Don't pretend it was

my

fault.

Bill combs his hair to calm himself down.

BILL:

Why's this guy still hanging on like a goddamn

snapping turtle?

Because of you. Boy, this was a great idea. Right up there

with Lincoln going down to the theater, see what's on!

ABBY:

Keep your voice down.

BILL:

Don't give me that. When a guy's getting

screwed, he's got a right

to holler.

ABBY:

You're such a fool!

BILL:

What?

ABBY:

Nothing.

BILL:

I heard what you said.

ABBY:

Then why'd you ask? Oh, how did I ever get mixed

up with you?

Abby, in terror of Chuck's finding out, cannot understand

why Bill seems to care so little.

BILL:

You've gone sweet on him. You have, haven't you?

Abby hesitates. Bill throws his knife away.

ABBY:

I admire him. He's a good man.

BILL:

Broad shoulders. I know. Very high morals. Why

can't he talk

faster? It's like waiting for a hen to lay an egg.

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