Marlowe Page #4

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Cole follows him into the kitchen.

He gets on his hands and knees in front of the stove

and tries to see under but it is too dark.

COLE:

Marlowe, you under there?

Marlowe, Marlowe – where are

you?

After a few moments Marlowe suddenly appears with his arm

stuck through a ring so he is holding it up near his

shoulder.

Marlowe gently places the ring on the floor and looks up at

Cole and makes his mouse face smile, ear to ear.

Cole reaches down and picks up the gold and diamond studded

ring made a long time ago. He pushes it from hand to hand

examining the shinning diamonds like small pieces of glass

shining up out of a pool of gold leaves and roses.

Marlowe looks up instantly and in a fraction of a second he

jumps up and climbs into Cole’s pocket. Before Cole can

even say anything, Miss Penny is purring at his feet and

rubbing her body back and forth across his legs.

LOUISE:

You locked the cat in your room

Cole, did you know that?

Cole turns around he sees his mom standing behind him and

his dad just coming down the stairs. Before Cole can say

a word his mother grabs the ring out of his hand.

LOUISE:

Where did you find this Cole?”

Lloyd walks in the kitchen.

LLOYD:

Find what? What did the boy

find?

Louise holds the ring up and Lloyd stops in the kitchen just

staring at it.

COLE:

It was under the stove. I

dropped a marble and it rolled

under and when I was looking

for it I saw the ring and pulled

it out.

Lloyd looks long and hard at Cole and then back at the

ring.

Louise walks into the living room and sits down and fans

herself with her hand trying to catch her breath. She turns

and looks at her son.

LOUISE:

Cole. That is your father’s

grandmother’s wedding ring and

it’s been lost since the first

day our family ever moved into

this house.

COLE:

Is it valuable? Will it save

the farm?

LLOYD:

It is valuable – very valuable

but not enough to save the farm

but it will buy us some time and

– it’s a sign that the rest of

the fortune could still be here.

Go give this to your mother Cole

and then come back here and help

me.

Cole hands the ring to his mom and then returns to the

kitchen where he helps his dad pull the stove out from the

wall until it is in the middle of the room – as far as the

steel gas line will let it move.

COLE:

Oh boy, it is really dirty

back there dad. Look, there’s

even a dead mouse.

Lloyd gets on his hands and knees and aims a flashlight down

the small hole where the gas line comes up.

LLOYD:

This holes even too small for

a mouse to get through. That

damn ring must have been down

here the whole time but under

one of these legs or something

and we never saw it.

LOUISE:

We should say a prayer of thank

you.

Lloyd looks at Louise long and hard and then just steps out

of the area where the stove lives and leaves into the living

room.

LLOYD:

You say a prayer while I go and

call Sandy down at the jewelry

store and see if we can get an

estimate on my mother’s ring

which was really her mother’s

ring and maybe older.

Cole looks for a long time behind the stove to make sure

there is no more treasure in some corner but the area is

totally clean and there is nothing else to see.

Cole runs upstairs and closes his door behind him. He

rushes to the book and holds up the picture.

INT. COLE’S BEDROOM - DAY

He uses his finger to trace every object until he comes to

the ring. He looks down at Marlowe who is just climbing out

of his pocket.

COLE:

You saw this ring didn’t you?

You saw this in the treasure

and you knew where it was.

That is why you are so smart

and you are. If you knew – if

you could see…

Without another word Cole jumps off his bed and races for

the computer. He types a few words and hits the mouse and

images of watches come up on the screen.

Cole finally finds the picture he is looking for and he

shows it to Marlowe who never made it out of the pocket.

Marlowe is stunned. There on the screen is a picture of his

watch treasure including the chain.

He hops out of the pocket down to the desk and then closer

to the screen until he finally reaches up and touches it but

it is flat and does not feel like his treasure watch.

COLE:

You know don’t you? You know

where it is don’t you? You can

show me where it is right?

Marlowe is very excited but does not understand what Cole is

saying.

Cole hits the print button and his printer prints the watch.

Cole pulls the paper out of the printer and sets it on the

desk in front of Marlowe. Marlowe stands on it, touches it,

walks on it and then thinks about what his next move is

going to be.

COLE:

Show me. Show me the place.

Marlowe hears the words but they make no sense to him.

Marlowe looks out the window and Cole notices.

COLE:

Is it outside? It is. I know it

is. I can tell by the way you

reach for it. I’ll bet it’s in

your old house, where you were

before you came here – cept you’re

an aleene and…

LLOYD:

You stay home Cole while your

mother and I drive into town

and see how much we can get for

the ring – you found.

Cole hears the front door slam and a few minutes later he

hears the car drive away.

He puts out his hand for Marlowe and Marlowe jumps in it

excited about a new adventure.

Cole pops the tiny mouse in his shirt pocket and grabs a

flash light from his bureau drawer. He also picks up

his Swiss Army knife out of the toy pile and a small, camp

shovel he keeps in the corner for camping trips.

COLE:

Okay Marlowe, we are going to

find the watch and make

everything in my family happy

again.

Cole walks out of his room.

INT. UPSTAIRS LANDING – DAY

Cole walks down the hall to the stairs, down the stairs to

the front door and out the front door.

EXT. FRONT OF HOUSE – DAY

Cole walks carefully down the front steps and starts to walk

toward the field when Marlowe pops his head out of the

pocket.

Marlowe sees where they are and immediately runs down Cole’s

body until he stands on the ground facing the porch.

COLE:

What is it? I thought your home

was out in the field?

Marlowe looks up at Cole and then into the darkness under

the porch. Marlowe slowly walks toward the side of the

porch.

Cole steps around the mouse and watches as he approaches the

darkness under the porch and then further under the house.

COLE:

So your house is under there?

I never been under there and

it’s too small for me to go

with you.

The tiny mouse seems to understand what Cole is saying so

without any more words Marlowe walks into the darkness.

INT. UNDER HOUSE - DAY

Cole takes out the flashlight and makes a light for Marlowe

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