Days of Heaven Page #23

ABBY:

They'll teach you poise, too, so you can walk in

any room you

please. Pretty soon you'll know all kind of things.

(pause)

I never read a whole book till I was fifteen. It

was by Caesar.

They laugh at her careful pronunciation of "Caesar."

317EXT. TRAIN STATION

Abby's train is about to leave. The CONDUCTOR

walks by

blowing a whistle. A five-piece BAND plays Sousa airs.

They are practically the only civilians on the platform.

The rest are SOLDIERS bound for Europe, where America has

just entered the War, on fire with excitement and a sense

of high adventure.

URSULA:

I like your hat.

ABBY:

It doesn't seem like a bird came down and landed

on my head?

Abby takes the hat off and gives it to Ursula, who lately

has begun to take more trouble with her appearance, comb-

ing her hair free of its usual snarls. They laugh at their

reflection

in a window of the train.

ABBY:

I hardly ever wear it. Be sure and write every

week.

Signals nod. A lamp winks. There are leave-takings up

and down the platform as the train slides away. Abby hops

on board. A SOLDIER next to her sheds bitter tears.

URSULA:

You write me, too!

They wave goodbye.

318EXT. ARBORETUM - NIGHT

Late that evening Ursula lowers herself out a

third-floor

window of the Arboretum with a rope made of bedsheets.

319TIGHT ON GIRLS AT WINDOW

The other GIRLS stand in their nightgowns and

wave good-

bye, amazed at her boldness.

She slips off into the night.

320EXT. BACKSTAGE DOOR - NIGHT

Ursula looks in a backstage door. She can see,

through

the wings, a MAN dancing on stage. There is a feeling of

mad excitement about the place.

The person she is looking for is not here, however.

321EXT. ALLEY - URSULA'S THEME - NIGHT

She runs down an alley. A man steps out of the

shadows--

George, the pilot. She throws herself in his arms. This

is our first sight of him since he left the bonanza.

URSULA:

You're here! Oh, hug me!

They kiss madly, with mystery. The moonlit, midsummer night

thrums

URSULA:

Aren't we happy? Oh, George, has anybody ever

been this happy?

He rocks her back and forth in his arms. They laugh,

thinking what lucky exceptions they are to the world's

misery.

URSULA:

Hurry. They'll be looking for me.

322EXT. AIRPLANE - DAWN

George bundles Ursula, giggling, into a biplane.

URSULA:

This doesn't even belong to you. Suppose they

catch us?

323EXT. PASTURE -- DAWN

From a pasture outside town the plane rises into

the vast dawn sky.

324INT. TEXTILE FACTORY

Abby changes bobbins on a huge loom. A pall of

lint and

anonymous toil hangs over the factory. Down the way a

handsome MALE WORKER smiles at her. She smiles back,

interested.

ABBY:

It seems an age we've been apart, and truly is

for those who

love each other so. Whenever shall we meet?'

325TIGHT ON MACHINERY

The shuttle rockets back and forth. Off camera

we hear

Abby reading what seems part of a letter to Ursula.

ABBY (o.s.)

Soon, I hope, for by and by we'll all be gone,

Urs. Does

it really seem as though we might?'

326UNDERWATER SHOT

We look from the bottom of a river up toward the

light.

In the foreground, dangling from the tip of a submerged

limb, is the bracelet Abby threw away.

ABBY (o.s.)

'The other day I tried to think how I'd look

laid out in a solemn

white gown. Closing my eyes I could almost hear you tiptoe

inlook down in my face, so deep asleep, so still.

327EXT. FIELDS - SERIES OF ANGLES

The PEOPLE of the Razumihin rebuild the land --

raising

fences and sinking a well, plowing down the stubble and

putting in the seed.

ABBY (o.s.)

'I went to Lincoln Park Zoo the other day. It

was great as usual.

I enclose a check.'

An ANONYMOUS YOUNG MAN, standing on a carpet

of new-sprung wheat, looks up with a start. From the

distance comes a ghostly noise--the call of the prairie

chickens at their spring rites. He listens for just a

moment,

then returns to work.

THE END:

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