Human Nature Page #12

INT. POLICE STATION - NIGHT

The cops are transfixed.

LILA:

He bolted.

CUT TO:

INT. FOREST - DAY

We are with Lila. She creeps along, when suddenly a tan,

muscular figure tears out from behind a tree and runs,

practically on all fours, through the dense underbrush.

Lila follows, almost as agile as the forest creature.

Nathan just stands there. The chase continues. There is a

great deal of heaving and panting. Puff shimmies up a large

tree. Lila follows. Puff leaps from branch to branch.

Lila follows easily. Puff swings from a vine. So does Lila.

Finally they come to the end of the trees, a clearing. There

is no nowhere for Puff to leap. Lila is with him in the tree.

They are crouched, bloody, heaving, on separate branches,

staring at each other. After a long moment, Lila speaks.

LILA:

Who are you?

Puff c*cks his head. The high timbre of her voice surprises

him, pleases him, but he doesn't understand the words.

LILA:

You don't understand my language, do

you?

Puff looks at his crotch. Apparently there is some activity

down there. Lila, following his eyes, glances down there

also.

LILA:

(laughing)

I take it back, you do understand my

language.

Puff grabs for his crotch and begins to play with himself

distractedly, looking at her all the while. He falls out of

the tree. Lila gasps. Branches crack and snap as he passes

through them and then there is an unpleasant thud when he

hits the forest floor. Lila shimmies down the tree, and kneels

by Puff. He is unconscious.

LILA:

Oh God.

Nathan comes limping through the brush. Somehow his safari

suit and boots are as clean and pressed as they were in the

car. He is carrying Lila's clothes. Somehow he has had time

to neatly fold them.

NATHAN:

Oh my God! Is he dead? Please put

something on.

Lila looks up at icily at Nathan.

NATHAN:

You'll catch cold. It's cold.

(beat)

What do you suppose he is, a

survivalist?

LILA:

I think he's feral.

NATHAN:

(jumping back)

Feral? Don't touch him! He might be

diseased! He might... My God, rabies!

LILA:

He looks perfectly fine.

NATHAN:

I think we should go. Please. Before

he wakes up and, I don't know, eats

us, or whatever feral things do.

LILA:

I don't understand you. This is

fascinating and you just want to run

away. I mean, here we have a human

being totally uncontaminated by

civilization, totally free, and all

you want to do is run back to your...

NATHAN:

(thinking)

Actually, I just had an amusing

thought.

LILA:

What?

NATHAN:

(musing)

Feral, huh? Totally uncontaminated?

LILA:

Look at him. He doesn't understand

English. He moves like an animal.

NATHAN:

It's perfect!

LILA:

Nathan, what the hell are you talking

about?

NATHAN:

(doing a little dance)

Forget mice! Actually forget guinea

pigs, cats, monkeys, and chimps also.

I'm on to stage five: The human

subject.

LILA:

Oh no. You can't take him from his

home, Nathan.

NATHAN:

(ranting)

Don't you see? He's my Tabula Rasa,

my Eliza Dolittle. He's my ticket to

the top of the Behaviorist food chain.

He's going to make me famous.

LILA:

I won't allow you. It's wrong. He's

happy here.

NATHAN:

Is he, Lila? Is he happy living filthy

and naked alone in this tick infested

wilderness? Never to know the love

of a good woman, never to revel in

the pitter-patter of little feet,

never to read Moby Dick, or marvel

at a Monet, or just sit back after a

day of hard but rewarding work, smoke

a pipe, and wonder about the nature

of reality.

LILA:

(weakening resolve)

You'd be taking away his freedom,

Nathan.

NATHAN:

Freedom's just another word for

nothing left to lose, Lila, to quote

Janet Jackson.

Lila looks off into the distance, her eyes brimming with

tears. As Nathan continues his speech, we move closer and

closer into Lila's eyes. Nathan's voice fades into nothing

by the time we dissolve.

Rate this script:5.0 / 2 votes