I Walked with a Zombie Page #14

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MRS. RAND

Thank you , Clement!

She takes it and starts slitting the wrapper eagerly.

EXT. THE GARDEN AT FORT HOLLAND -- DAY

Betsy and Holland start across the garden to the porch.

EXT. THE PORCH -- DAY

Mrs. Rand seems them and waves a section of the paper in

welcome.

MRS. RAND

You're just in time. Will you join

me in the Sunday paper?

Betsy and Holland sink into porch chairs, looking grateful

for the shade. Betsy takes off her hat and tosses it onto

the coffee table.

HOLLAND:

Considering that the paper is three

months old and this isn't Sunday --

no thank you.

BETSY:

(smiling)

I guess I'll wait until I'm home,

Mrs. Rand.

Mrs. Rand looks at a page of rotogravure section.

MRS. RAND

(casually)

That's a long wait...

HOLLAND:

I'm afraid not. Betsy's leaving

us, Mother.

Mrs. Rand puts down the paper and looks at them, startled.

HOLLAND (cont'd)

She's decided to go on the next

boat.

MRS. RAND

Why, Betsy -- we can't lose you.

You mean too much to us here.

BETSY:

That's sweet of you, Mrs. Rand.

HOLLAND:

Betsy feels there is nothing she

can do for Jessica...

PAGE MISSING:

EXT. GARDEN AT FORT HOLLAND -- DAY

Rand and Dr. Maxwell come through the gate and walk up the

garden path. As they do so, Mrs. Rand comes down the porch

steps. Betsy and Holland follow her.

MRS. RAND

Dr. Maxwell -- it's nice to see

you.

RAND:

(grimly)

Dr. Maxwell has very unpleasant

news for us.

HOLLAND:

(nervously)

An accident at the mill?

DR. MAXWELL

No -- it's about Mrs. Holland. A

result of our discussion the other

day, I'm afraid.

HOLLAND:

What about her?

DR. MAXWELL

In view of all the circumstances,

the commissioner has decided on a

legal investigation.

HOLLAND:

Investigation of what?

DR. MAXWELL

Of the nature of Mrs. Holland's

illness. And, of course, the

events which led up to it.

HOLLAND:

In other words, I'm on trial.

DR. MAXWELL

I did everything I could to

forestall this, Paul. I don't

think there's any question of your

innocence in the matter. But

there's been too much talk. The

thing's out of hand.

HOLLAND:

Maybe it's better this way, Mother.

I'm glad you're going home, Betsy --

you'll be out of the mess.

RAND:

But she isn't. She's been

subpoenaed.

Holland turns to the Doctor, his face stricken.

DR. MAXWELL

Miss Connell's testimony will be

very important.

BETSY:

(quietly)

I would have stayed anyway, Dr.

Maxwell.

RAND:

We're all in it. There won't be a

shred of pride or decency left for

any of use.

(violently)

Say something, Paul! You've always

been good with words. Put some

together, now, and tell us that

you're not responsible -- that

every damnable bit of it doesn't

rest squarely on your shoulders!

MRS. RAND

You're wrong, Wesley. The guilt is

mine -- all of it.

RAND:

(bitterly)

Are you going to lie for him,

Mother?

MRS. RAND

Betsy, tell them about the

Houmfort. Tell them what you saw

there.

BETSY:

(protestingly)

Mrs. Rand...

MRS. RAND

You must, Betsy. They'll have to

believe you.

BETSY:

(reluctantly)

Mrs. Rand was at the Houmfort that

night. But there's nothing wrong

with that. She's gone there for

years -- trying to take care of

those people, to help them.

RAND:

What do you mean?

HOLLAND:

I don't understand...

DR. MAXWELL

I think I do.

(smiling)

I've often talked a little voodoo

to get medicine down a patient's

throat.

MRS. RAND

It's more than that, Doctor. I've

entered into their ceremonies -

pretended to be possessed by their

gods...

They stare at her, dumbfounded.

MRS. RAND (cont'd)

But what I did to Jessica was worse

than that. It was when she going

away with Wesley. There was that

horrible scene.

She turns to Rand.

MRS. RAND (cont'd)

You thought she loved you, didn't

you? She didn't. She didn't love

anyone except herself -- her

reflection in the mirror, the look

she could bring into a man's eyes.

RAND:

That isn't true. You never

understood her.

MRS. RAND

(disregarding his protest)

That night, I went to the Houmfort.

I kept seeing Jessica's face --

smiling -- smiling because two men

hated each other -- because she was

beautiful enough to take my family

in her hands and break it apart.

The drums seemed to be beating in

my head. The chanting -- the

lights -- everything blurred

together. And then I heard a

voice, speaking in a sudden

silence. My voice. I was

possessed. I said that the woman

at Fort Holland was evil and that

the Houngan must maker her a

Zombie.

Dr. Maxwell has been studying Mrs. Rand with a curious,

intent expression.

DR. MAXWELL

And what happened then, Mrs. Rand?

MRS. RAND

(unsteadily)

I hated myself. I kept saying to

myself over and over again that

these people had no power; they had

no strange drugs; that there is no

such thing as a Zombie.

DR. MAXWELL

Ah -- that's where reason took

hold.

MRS. RAND

Yes, I said it, and I made myself

believe it. But when I got here,

Jessica was already raging with

fever.

DR. MAXWELL

Two things had happened, Mrs. Rand.

One was that your daughter-in-law

had been taken ill with a fever.

The other thing -- completely

disconnected -- was that you had

wished her ill, because she had

hurt your sons.

MRS. RAND

(protesting)

But I had no thought of harming

her. It wasn't I...

DR. MAXWELL

You were possessed. That is true --

possessed by your subconscious

mind. You were in the Houmfort,

surrounded by their symbols. To

them, nothing worse can happen to a

person than to be made into a

Zombie. Your subconscious mind

used their own words for evil.

HOLLAND:

Dr. Maxwell is right, Mother.

DR. MAXWELL

(gently and kindly)

Emotion tricks all of us, Mrs.

Rand. And you are a woman with a

very strong conscience. That

conscience has been tormenting you.

The rest is coincidence. There is

no such thing as a Zombie. The

dead do not come back to life.

Death is final.

From the hills comes the sound of a single conch, loud and

thin.

The CAMERA PANS from the group around Mrs. Rand to the tower

door. Jessica walks out of it and comes slowly past the

fountain.

EXT. HOUMFORT -- NIGHT

The CAMERA IS FOCUSED ON a little five-and-ten-cent store

doll about three inches high. It is dressed in a crude

imitation of Jessica's loose, belted, white gown. A thread

is tied around it and this thread leads off, taut.

The CAMERA PANS ALONG the thread to show us that the other

end of the thread, some twenty feet long, is held by a negro,

crouched near the altar. Halfway between this man and the

doll, the Sabreur, his sword stuck in the mound before him,

straddles the thread, his hands clasped around the thread but

not touching it. Carre-Four stands watching.

The conch is blowing its strange, magnetic call and the

negroes are chanting as they watch the Sabreur and the doll.

The Sabreur makes motions as if he were pulling on the thread

but still does no touch it. He makes these motions over and

over again. The doll moves slowly. Then suddenly stops.

The Sabreur's most frantic efforts fail to move it.

OMITTED:

EXT. THE GARDEN -- NIGHT

ANOTHER ANGLE -- Jessica comes slowly past the fountain.

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