Human Nature Page #2

COP:

(checks watch)

Jesus.

CUT TO:

EXT. SUBURBAN STREET - DAY

It's got that faded, "memory" look. Twelve year old Lila

hurries home from school, books clutched to her chest.

Other kids walk along the street in pairs or groups, laughing

and chatting. Lila walks alone, a worried scowl on her face.

LILA (V.O.)

Something terrible happened when I

was twelve.

CUT TO:

INT. LITTLE GIRL'S ROOM - DAY

Colors are still muted. It looks to be somewhere in the early

70's based on the preponderance of Bay City Rollers posters

on the wall. Twelve year old Lila enters the room, closes

the door, locks it, rattles the doorknob to make sure that

the door is really locked. She draws the shades. She pulls

some t-shirts from her dresser drawer and stuffs them into

the space between the bottom of the door and the floor.

KID BROTHER (O.S.)

(muffled)

Hey, no fair!

TWELVE YEAR OLD LILA

Drop dead, Eric.

Lila stands nervously in front of the full-length mirror on

her closet door. She takes a deep breath and begins to

unbutton her shirt, watching herself carefully in the mirror.

ADULT LILA (V.O.)

Something terrible started to happen

to my body when I was twelve. My

mother said because of it I would

never be able to get a man, so I

should get used to the idea of

dedicating my life to the pursuit of

knowledge, or religion... or whatever.

Lila's shirt is now unbuttoned. She pulls it open. She is

wearing a training bra over the very beginning of breast

buds. On the chest above the bra, and on her stomach below

it, is hair. Dark curly hair. She stares at it, touches it

cautiously. Then she starts to cry. She crouches into a ball

and weeps.

ADULT LILA (V.O.)

The doctor said...

CUT TO:

INT. DOCTOR'S OFFICE - DAY

Old fashioned office. Twelve year old Lila sits on the

examination table, her shirt off. An elderly male doctor

touches the hair, fingers it. Her mother looks on.

DOCTOR:

(to the mother)

It's hormonal. Nature is a funny and

complex thing. It could get worse

with time.

Young Lila turns to the camera.

TWELVE YEAR OLD LILA

By the time I was twenty I looked

like an ape.

CUT TO:

INT. POLICE STATION - NIGHT

The cop who vomited, gags again. Lila stares at him. Her

face is hard, blank. She stubs out her cigarette.

CUT TO:

INT. AUDITORIUM - DAY

Puff testifies before the committee.

PUFF:

I don't think there's anyone in the

world who doesn't know by now that I

was raised in the wilderness by an

ape. Well, to be fair, by a man who

thought himself an ape, but it amounts

to the same thing gentlemen, does it

not?

DISSOLVE TO:

EXT. FOREST CLEARING - DAY.

This has a faded, "memory" look also. A naked, bearded, dirty

middle-aged man and a naked, dirty ten year old Puff walk

along like apes, crouched over and dragging their knuckles.

PUFF (V.O.)

My father escaped from a New Jersey

mental institution in 1963.

CUT TO:

EXT. CITY STREET - NIGHT

It's raining and deserted. Puff's father, in pajamas, comes

tearing around the corner. He runs crazily towards the camera,

waving his arms, puffing out his cheeks.

PUFF (V.O.)

He had been committed the previous

year after applying one too many

times at our local zoo for the job

of "apprentice ape."

Puff's father passes a newspaper vending machine, stops,

goes back and examines the headline. It reads: President

Kennedy Assassinated. Puff's father looks heavenward and

clutches at his temples in despair.

PUFF (V.O.)

My father saw what the human race

had come to while he was... in

captivity. He felt something had to

be done to create a better world.

CUT TO:

EXT. SUBURBAN HOUSE - NIGHT

Puff's father climbs out a second story window with a small

bundle in his arms. He runs off into the night.

PUFF (V.O.)

He stole little me from my mother,

his ex-wife, and raised me, with

love and tenderness and respect, as

an ape like himself.

CUT TO:

INT. AUDITORIUM - DAY

Puff looks pointedly at the congressman.

PUFF:

Apes don't assassinate their

presidents, gentlemen.

Rate this script:5.0 / 2 votes