Days of Heaven Page #6

BILL:

You know I love you, don't you?

ABBY Yes.

Abby guesses what is going through his mind, and it shocks

her.

ABBY:

Oh, Bill!

He takes her into his arms, full of emotion.I

BILL:

What else can we really do? I know how you

feel, but we keepon this way, in five years we'll be washed

up.

He catches a stick drifting by and throws it further down

stream.

BILL:

You ever think about all those ladies parading

up and downU

Michigan Avenue? Bunch of whores! You're better than anyI

of them. You ever think how they got where they are?

He wants to breathe hope into her. He thinks of himself as

responding

to what she needs and secretly wants. When she does not

answer he gives up with a sigh.

BILL:

Let's forget it.

ABBY:

I know what you mean, though.

He takes her hand, with fresh hope of convincing her.

BILL:

We weren't meant to end up like this. At least

you weren't.

You could be something. I've heard you sing. You have a lot

of fine qualities that need to come out. Ursula, too. What.U

kind of people is she meeting

up with, riding the rods? The girl's never had a clean

shot--

never will. She oughta be in school.

ABBY:

(nodding)

You wouldn't say this if you really loved me.

BILL:

But I do. You know I do. This just shows how

much. We're shitI

out of luck, Abby. People need luck. What're you crying

about? Oh,

don't tell me. I already know. All on account of your

unhappy life and all

that stuff. Well, we gotta do something about it, honey. We

can't expect

anybody else to.

Abby runs into the woods.U

BILL:

Always the lady! Well, you don't know how things

work in this country. This is why every hunkie I ever met is

going nowhere.

(pause)

Why do you want to make me feel worse than I

already do?

BILL (CONT'D)

(pause)

You people get hold of the guy that's passing

out dough, giveI

him my name, would you? I'd appreciate it.

62TIGHT ON BILL

Bill skims rocks off the water to calm himself

down. HeI

feels that somehow he did not get to say what he wanted to.U

63EXT. WOODS BY RIVER

Abby is dressing in the cool woven shade of the

woods when

Ursula, her face caked with a mask of river mud, jumps from

the bushes with a shriek, scaring the wits out of her

sister.

64EXT. BELVEDERE - DUSKU

On their way home they pass the Belvedere. A

single light

burns on the second floor. Abby picks cornflowers to put

in her hair. Bill runs his hand down her back.

ABBY:

Why're you touching me that way?

He shrugs. Muffled by the walls of the house, above the

cries of the peafowl, they can faintly hear Chuck singing to

himself.

BILL:

He's singing.

ABBY:

He can't be too sick if he's singing to himself.

BILL:

He might be singing to God.

They look at each other and smile. It does not appear that

she has held what he said by the river against him. Bill

stands for a moment and looks up at the Belvedere before

passing on.

65EXT. SEPARATOR, LAST SHEAVES, RATS

Work goes on the next day. As they near the last

sheaves of unthreshed grain, hundreds of rats burst out of

hiding. The harvesters go after them with shovels and

stones. The dogs chase down the ones that escape.

66BENSON AND CHUCK

Benson and Chuck smile at each other.

BENSON:

We should be done around four.

They improvise a chat about past harvests. Years of shared

hardship have drawn them close. Chuck trails off in the

middle of a reminiscence. Something else weighing on his

mind.

CHUCK:

(shyly)

You put her on the slowest machine?

Benson nods.U

67NEW ANGLE

The threshing is done. A bundle is pitched into

the separator backwards, snapping it abruptly to a stop. The

drive belt whips along the ground like a mad snake.

68EXT. PAYROLL TABLEI

All hands line up at the payroll table. McLean

gives out their wages in twists of newspaper. Chuck and

Benson shake their hands.

69TIGHT ON BILL AND SORROWFUL MAN

A SORROWFUL MAN shows Bill a picture of a woman.

SORROWFUL MAN:

And I let somebody like that get away from me.

Redhead. Lost her to a guy named Ed. Just let it happen.

Should've gone out there outside the city

limits and shot him. I just about did, too.

(pause)

If you're knocking yourself out like this, I

hope it's for a woman. And I hope she's good looking. You

understand?

70TIGHT ON ABBY AND URSULAI

Abby snatches a cigarette out of Ursula's mouth,

takes a drag and throws it away. When Ursula goes to pick it

up, she stamps it out.

ABBY:

Don't spend a cent of that.

URSULA:

Why don't you leave me alone?U

ABBY:

I'm not going to sit around and watch you throw

your life away.

Nobody's going to look at you twice if you've got nothing to

your name.

Ursula dislikes meddlesome adults. She takes out a pouch of

tobacco to roll another cigarette. Abby swats it out of her

hand and chases her off.

ABBY:

You want me to cut a switch?

71SERIES OF ANGLES - FESTIVITIES - DUSKU

There are feats of strength and prowess as

workers from the many fields of the bonanza join to

celebrate the harvest home: boxing, wrestling, barrel

jumping, rooster bouts, bear hugs, "Crack the Whip" and nut

fights. Two tractors, joined by a heavy chain, vie to see

which can outpull the other. Chuck lifts the back wheel of

the separator off the ground; Benson replies by holding an

anvil at arm's length; they tease each other about showing

off. A GYMNAST does flips. They all seem happy as kids on

holiday.

72NEW ANGLE

Bill and Ursula share a cigarette. Ursula tries

on his sunglasses.

URSULA:

We going to stay?

BILL:

If she wants to.

URSULA:

You'd rather go?_

Bill, after a moment's thought, shrugs.

BILL:

She's the one has to say. You put aspirin in

this?

URSULA:

No.

She hands back his sunglasses.

BILL:

Keep them.

73EXT. MUD PIT - DUSK

Two TEAMS of harvesters have a tug of war. The

losers are dragged through a pit of mud. Cradling handfuls

of slime, they chase the winners off into the dusk.

74BILL AND ABBY - DUSKI

Bill finds Abby sitting off by herself, wanting

no part of the festivities. This is the first time since

their arrival in Texas we have seen her wearing a dress.

BILL:

Sunny Jim, look at this. My first ice cream in

six months. And the lady even asks do I want sprinkles on

top, thank you. Big, deep dish of ice cream. You couldn't

pay me to leave this place, Got you one, too. You should've

heard the line I had to give her, though. Oowee!

ABBY:

Good, huh?

BILL:

Great.

ABBY:

Now you're trying to coax me. You never used to

act like this.

Bill throws down the bowls of ice cream. In the distance,

some MEN compete at throwing a sledge hammer.

BILL:

For as long as I can remember, people been

giving me a hard time about one thing or another. Don't you

start in, too!

ABBY:

You want to turn me into a whore?

BILL:

We don't have to decide anything final now. Just

if we're going to

stay. You never have to touch him if you don't feel like it.

Minute

you get fed up, we take off. Worst that can happen is we had

it soft

for a while.

ABBY:

Something's made you mean.

She walks off, uncertain what Bill really wants.

BILL:

Or else we can forget it. I'm not going to spend

the whole

afternoon on this, though. That I'm not going to do.

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