Days of Heaven Page #21

BILL:

Who do you think you are? Now you've ruined it.

What's got

into you?

CHUCK:

Where you headed?

BILL:

Why do I have to tell you? I can come and go

when I like.

This is still a free country, last I heard.

Bill stops when he sees the stool. Chuck calmly strops the

razor on his stirrup flap. There are no secrets now.

BILL:

What can I say? Too late for apologies. You've

got a right

to hate me.

Chuck puts the razor away and advances on Bill with the

stool.

BILL:

I want to leave. You won't ever see me again. I

already got what

I deserve.

There is nothing Bill can say to appease him. This will be a

fight to the death. Chuck lashes out with the stool. Bill

ducks too late.

BILL:

Watch it!

Chuck comes at him again. Bill throws a punch, but Chuck

blocks it and knocks him down again with the stool.

Bill reels back and cracks his head on the bicycle frame.

This time he stays down. Satisfied the struggle is over,

Chuck goes back to get some rope.

282NEW ANGLE

Chuck shuts his eyes to mumble a prayer of

absolution--in Russian.

Bill in a panic, snaps a spoke out of the broken wheel and

lays it against his sleeve.

Chuck moves in for the kill. Bill gets to his feet. He wants

to run but fear makes his knees like water. Suddenly, they

are face to face. Chuck swings at Bill with the stool but

misses. Bill lifts the spoke above him and

drives it deep into Chuck's heart.

Chuck gasps. Bill seems just as shocked. Chuck sits down to

determine the gravity of his injury. Blood jets rhythmically

out the end of the spoke, as though from a straw. Bill

circles him, unbelieving.

BILL:

Should I pull it out?

Chuck puts his finger over the end of the spoke. Blood seeps

out the side of his mouth, like sap from a broken stem.

BILL:

I better get somebody.

He tries to catch the reins of Chuck's horse, but it shies

out of reach, its conscience repelled. He looks back at

Chuck in anguish. What has he done?

BILL:

You were my friend.

283TIGHT ON BILL AND HIS POVS

The Belvedere is visible on the horizon. Bill

hesitates

a moment, then heads back on foot to find Abby. He gives

Chuck a wide berth.

Then, on a ridge in the distance, he spots Benson.

BILL:

Get a doctor! Fast!

How much did he see? Bill does not stay to find out but

takes off running, though not without first collecting his

rabbit.

Benson, meanwhile, bounds down the hill to Chuck's side.

His left sleeve has been burned away. The flesh beneath

is the color of a raw steak.

284CHUCK'S POVS

Chuck sees the smoke from his fields, the burnt

deer,

a circling hawk.

285TIGHT ON CHUCK

He breathes in gulps. His eyes are blank, like a

child's

marbles. He takes Benson's hand.

CHUCK:

(weakly)

Wasn't his fault. Tell her...forgive them.

The locusts can be heard no more. The prairie makes a

sound like the ocean. Chuck turns his back and dies.

286TIGHT ON BENSON

Benson weeps. Whether or not he understood

Chuck's last

wishes, he seems unlikely to abide by them.

287EXT. BELVEDERE

Bill finds Abby bound to the house like the

figurehead

of a ship. He cuts her loose. The ropes fall at her feet.

She is free.

They look at each other for a moment.

Then, in a rush of compassion for them all, she throws

her arms around him.

Bill wonders if she is taking him back. Might their

differences all have been a terrible misunderstanding?

ABBY:

We have to hurry. Chuck's out looking right now.

Oh, Bill,

what have we done? He took his razor. We need to hurry. He

might be coming back any minute.

Bill mentions nothing of his encounter. She grabs her

bindle, Bill a handful of silverware and an umbrella.

After a moment's hesitation, he puts them back.

288NEW ANGLE

They run down to the barn, where the cars are

stored.

The saplings in the front yard have been stripped even

of their bark. Abby stops to look back at the Belvedere

one last time. Chuck does not want her anymore. How

could she expect him to?

Bill grabs her by the hand and tugs her along.

289EXT. BARN

Abby throws open the doors of the barn. Bill

cranks up

the engine of the Overland.

ABBY:

Will the cops be looking for us, too?

BILL:

Probably.

Abby stands in the door. She is reluctant to leave, though

she

knows they must.

BILL:

Get in.

She notices that Bill's lip is cut, his shirt soaked with

blood.

ABBY:

What happened to you? Where's this from?

Bill looks down. He forgot.

BILL:

Had an accident.

She looks at him for a moment, not quite trusting this

explanation. The engine catches with a noise like start-

led poultry. Bill gets behind the wheel. Just as they

are pulling out of the garage, Ursula runs up, black

as coal from battling the fire all night.

URSULA:

Where you going?

BILL:

(breathless)

We got in a jam. You'll be safer here. Say we're

headed for town.

Take care of the rabbit, too. He's yours now.

URSULA:

What's the matter?

BILL:

Just do what I say. Why're you always arguing

about everything?

Wait here till we get in touch.

Bill gives Ursula his wallet and a kiss. Abby gives her a

hug.

290EXT. BURNT GRASS

They roar off through the burnt grass of the

prairie.

Abby waves goodbye.

291THEIR POV (MOVING)

As they crest a ridge, Benson appears in front

of them,

waving a hand to flag them down. Bill puts his foot on

the gas. Benson sees they are not going to stop and fires

at then with a pistol. Bill grabs a shotgun from a scab-

bard under the dash and fires back. Nobody is hurt.

ABBY:

What's the matter with him?

Bill shrugs. Inside he feels a great relief. They are

free at last. At last he has her back.

292EXT. BONANZA GATES

They veer off across the prairie, towards the

Razumihin

gates. The music comes up full.

293EXT. SHACK ON RIVER

They have come to a lone shack on the river, a

drinking

house for passing boatmen. They negotiate (in pantomime)

with the PROPRIETOR for a tiny steam boat moored at the

end of the pier. When the car is not enough, Abby throws

in her necklace.

294ABOARD THE BOAT

They board the boat and turn down stream. There

is a phonograph

on board.

295TIGHT ON NECKLACE

The necklace sparkles on the hood of the car--a

hint

they are leaving behind evidence that could betray them.

296EXT. BOAT ON RIVER - AND MOVING POVS

They glide along in the hush of evening. The

reeds are

full of deer. Cranes, imprudently tame, dance on the

sand bars.

Bill looks around in wonder. He knows these may be his

last days on earth. Abby throws a sounding line.

A COUPLE from a local farm seeks privacy in the willows.

Other BOATMEN glide past in silence. A CHILD plays a

fiddle on the deck of a scow. HUNTERS creep along the

shore in search of waterfowl.

297EXT. CAMP - DUSK

Bill sleeps under a tarp. Abby looks out across

the water

and bursts into sobs. She has wronged Chuck and thrown

her life away.

298THEIR POVS (MOVING) - NIGHT

They shine a lamp into the murky depths and

spear pickerel

with a hammered-out fork.

Strange rocks loom up and give way to wide moonlit fields.

They have the sense of entering places where nobody has

been since the making of the world.

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