Hardcore Page #4

JAKE:

If you say so.

Mary watches him a moment and thinks.

MARY:

Kristen went on that convention today,

didn't she?

JAKE:

(mildly surprised)

Yeah. How did you know?

CUT TO:

INT. JAKE'S BEDROOM - NIGHT

Jake lies in bed, sleeping. Blue light falls across his face.

He is dreaming.

CUT TO:

EXT. BELLFLOWER CHURCH - DAY

A row of church buses are parked in the lot of First Christian

Reformed Church, Bellflower, California.

They have come from the various other Christian Reformed

communities around the country: Zeeland, Michigan, Midland

Park, New Jersey, Sioux Center, Iowa, Ripon, California.

Clusters of youths sit on the church steps and spacious lawns.

CUT TO:

INT. MEETING ROOM - DAY

A hand-lettered poster on an easel reads: "Today's Topic:

Doctrine -- Relevant or Old-Fashioned?"

A slight, pretty GIRL about fifteen stands up before the

discussion group. She wears an Elton John T-shirt and name

tag. She holds her Bible with both hands.

GIRL:

Even though the doctrinal standards

were written a long time ago, I think

they are more relevant than ever.

Especially in this age of

permissiveness and "anything goes..."

CUT TO:

EXT. BELLFLOWER CHURCH - DAY

Kristen and Marsha stand near a tree. Kristen is wearing her

red sweater and jeans.

Nearby, a group of boys sit in a circle on the grass telling

jokes and listening to metal rock on a transistor radio.

KRISTEN:

You going to Knott's Berry Farm with

him?

MARSHA:

He asked me. You going with anybody?

KRISTEN:

(shrugs)

I don't know.

MARSHA:

You ever play Chicken?

KRISTEN:

What's that?

MARSHA:

(teasing)

You never heard of that?

KRISTEN:

Com'on, tell me.

MARSHA:

Well, a boy goes like this, see.

Using her finger, Marsha traces a looping oval around

Kristen's right breast, starting at the neck, working down

to the midriff, and back up her left side.

KRISTEN:

What does that do?

MARSHA:

Well, each time he comes in closer,

like this.

Marsha traces another circle inside the first one. She draws

a narrowing spiral around Kristen's breast.

MARSHA:

(continuing)

He keeps coming closer until you say

"Chicken." Then he stops.

The girls giggle.

KRISTEN:

You and Jerry do that?

Mrs. Steensma steps out onto the lawn and calls to Kristen

and Marsha:

MRS. STEENSMA

Kristen, Marsha! Time for your

discussion group.

MARSHA:

(grudgingly)

Oh, all right.

MRS. STEENSMA

And put your name tags back on.

The girls pull their name tags out of their jeans and clip

them on as they walk back toward the church.

CUT TO:

INT. TWELFTH STREET CHURCH

REVEREND VANTIL, a stately man about fifty, stands at the

pulpit. The front of the church is plain and stark, adorned

only by a large wooden cross.

The Christian Reformed Church is not one which believes in

emotional appeals or confessions. It is a religion of

scripture, creed and doctrine. Reverend Vantil, dressed in

black, addresses the congregation as if he were a businessman.

And his business is sin, guilt and redemption.

He speaks calmly and powerfully. The church echoes with the

weight of his words:

REV. VANTIL

...our study of the Heidelberg

Catechism, reading today Lords Day

number one, question and answer one

and two:

(reads)

Q:
What is your only comfort in life

and death? A:
That I, body and soul,

both in life and death, am not my

own but belong unto my faithful Savior

Jesus Christ. Q:
How many things are

necessary to know to live and die

happily? A:
Three: the first, how

great my sin and misery are; the

second, how I am delivered from all

my sin and misery; the third, how I

am to be thankful to God for such

deliverance.

Later. The CAMERA TRACKS UP the aisle as the congregation

rises to sing the doxology. Jake stands with his sister and

brother-in-law.

CUT TO:

EXT. TWELFTH STREET CHURCH - DAY

The parishioners, fighting off the winter cold, work their

way to their cars.

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