Human Nature Page #31

We move into an extreme close-up.

NATHAN:

(beginning again)

I don't even know what sorry means

anymore. It's odd. When I was alive

I knew -- maybe it was all I knew...

DISSOLVE TO:

EXT. FOREST - DAY

Lila runs to Nathan. She kneels beside him.

LILA:

He's dead.

PUFF:

(calmly)

We bury the body. We disappear into

the woods. Nobody knows.

LILA:

(beat, then quietly)

No. This is the end of the road.

There's a dead human being here. For

all of his faults, he was a human

being, and certainly a victim of his

culture as much as anybody.

PUFF:

Forget him, Lila. We'll disappear.

We'll never talk about it again.

We'll never talk again period. I

love you.

LILA:

Puff, what happened to you is as

much my fault as Nathan's. Maybe

more so, because I knew it was wrong

and I went along with it anyway. I'm

taking responsibility for the murder.

I want you to go back to your old

life.

PUFF:

I won't let you do that. I shot the

bastard. And I'm glad.

LILA:

No. Go back to the woods. This is a

sacrifice I need to make. In my world

we have something called penance.

It's another abstraction, but I had

the concept drummed into my head

during my years in the convent. It

doesn't exist for you, and it

shouldn't. See, I could never be

free again anyway, so I might as

well be in jail.

PUFF:

(beat)

Then I'll live for both of us, Lila.

I'll be the most free, truest animal

in the whole forest. For both of us.

LILA:

(tearing up)

That's what I'm counting on.

PUFF:

(an idea)

But first I'll live among them, just

long enough to testify before congress

about the waywardness of humankind.

LILA:

(shrugs)

Okay. If you think it will help.

CUT TO:

INT. JAIL - DAY

Lila, now in prison coveralls, sits in a dayroom with other

women convicts. She is watching a TV mounted on the wall.

Puff is testifying.

PUFF:

And so, gentlemen, that is my story.

I agreed to testify before this

committee because I hoped to convey

to the American public that there is

indeed a paradise lost. Human beings

have become so enamored of their

technologies and their intellectual

prowess and their fancy gourmet foods,

that they've forgotten to look to

the Earth as a teacher. This is

hubris, my friends. And my story of

destruction and betrayal is proof of

that. I will keep my promise to Lila.

I will shed this suit and go back

into the wilderness. I will live out

my days naked and free.

CONGRESSMAN:

Thank you, sir. Your story has touched

us all deeply. We will pass some

legislation addressing this problem.

PUFF:

Thank you. That is all I ask.

(to camera)

Good-bye, Lila. I take you with me

in my untamed heart.

Puff stands and exits the auditorium. Flashbulbs flash.

In the prison common room, Lila wipes a tear from her eye.

She seems genuinely happy. She looks out a small barred window

and sees a bluebird light there, then fly away.

CUT TO:

EXT. WASHINGTON STREET - DAY

Puff walks along, a man on a mission. As he walks he sheds

articles of clothing. He is followed by reporters and

cameramen and celebrity hounds. Soon he is naked.

CUT TO:

EXT. SUBURBAN STREET - DAY

Puff walks along, naked. People cheer from porches.

CUT TO:

EXT. RURAL ROAD - DUSK

Puff walks along. He is still followed by reporters. Cows

watch the parade.

CUT TO:

EXT. FOREST - EVENING

Puff walks along a dirt road. He is about to disappear into

the forest. An older woman rushes out from the crowd.

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