Marlowe Page #6

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anything out here like that

again, you come in and wake me

son – you understand?

COLE:

Yes sir. Good night.

Cole makes sure he still has his knife and he turns off the

flash light.

He runs up the stairs of the porch.

INT. THE HOUSE – NIGHT

Cole runs up the stairs of the house and back to his bed

where he covers up his head with the thick quilted comforter

and goes to sleep.

INT. MOUSE BURROW – NIGHT

Marlowe leans against the old wood post of the house and

wonders how long he has been there.

Finally Marlowe can’t stand it anymore so he sticks his head

out and no one is there.

Slowly Marlowe investigates until he is sure that no one is

around and he starts back, smelling his own scent, moving

closer and closer to the point where they entered the wall

from under the house.

He comes to where the opening was but it is filled up with

pieces of wood and cloth and junk and it’s all crammed in so

tight he can’t even remove one small piece.

Marlowe turns around and goes back the other way. He

follows the mouse scent which brings him to another dead end

in the wall.

Finally Marlowe sees the only way out is up and he looks for

a pipe or cord or wire but finds none.

He finally just starts to climb the side of the wall until

he reaches a hole, drilled by humans, through the wood and

he pushes himself up through it with some difficulty.

INT. THE ATTIC - NIGHT

The attic of the house is dark. Marlowe’s huge, moist eyes

glisten as he sees deep into the darkness of rat country.

A male and female rat stood ice still looking down on

Marlowe.

Finally the male broke his trance and moved around the mouse

slowly smelling all parts of the animal.

When he had done the female took a few quick smells and then

turned around and walked off across the insulation bats

covered here and there with rat droppings. The male

followed her and the mouse followed them.

The rat colony had located in the corner of the attic beams

where they continued on outside and formed the eaves of the

house.

Around these corner beams were holes where the plaster was

never finished and these holes were the doorway into the

house from the outside.

Marlowe popped his head up out of the insulation and it was

day in the attic and light came through many holes in the

roof and holes around pipes that went through the roof and

holes from tin grates that vented the attic.

He took one step and then another step and finally a third

step and it was all clear. He took one more look around and

there they were.

Four of the ugliest rats Marlowe could imagine and their

hot, red eyes looked like flaming coals and they moved

together like a trained unit and Marlowe knew in an instant

that he only had seconds before his life ended in agony.

Marlowe moved backwards as they surrounded him and then the

biggest of the lot jumped in front of Marlowe and stood up.

Marlowe froze except for his face which had the huge desire

at that moment to smile. Slowly the smile spread across his

face until his teeth were bared, his mouth closed and his

eyes popping.

For just a moment the large rat stepped back in fear of the

smile and right at that time the hallway entrance hatch down

into the house slammed open and Lloyd stuck his huge head up

through the hole and turned on the attic light.

The rats were gone in an instant as Lloyd yelled down to the

others.

LLOYD:

My God Louise we got ourselves a

damn village up here.

LOUISE:

Don’t swear Lloyd – in front of

the boy.

LLOYD:

Cole, you go down in the kitchen

and get them trapes, the poison

pellets, the sticky rat plates

and some cheese and peanut butter.

Go now son.

COLE:

Yes sir.

LLOYD:

Well, that boy said he could hear

something up here and by gosh –

he did.

Suddenly Lloyd turns around and there, just in front of the

attic vent stands a mouse in clothes – smiling.

Lloyd grabs onto the ladder with both hands. Then he lets

go with one hand and plucks his glasses out of his pocket

and puts them on.

The mouse is even clearer now. Lloyd can see right down to

the animal’s teeth. His eyes start to run out of focus. He

tries to rub his eyes with one hand while still holding on

but he loses his balance and his feet slide out of the

ladder rungs and he slides straight down to the hallway

floor where he falls back and then onto his back.

Lloyd looks up – focuses his eyes as Louise starts screaming

for help - and sees, hanging over the lip of the hatchway to

the attic, a mouse in a vest, pants and shirt.

And an ear to ear grin on its face. That is the last image

Lloyd had in his mind when he finally passed out.

EXT. FRONT OF HOUSE – DAY

The ambulance drives out of the gravel driveway and then

down the lane leaving Cole, holding onto his mother around

her waist while Louise clutched herself around her chest.

Marlowe, unaware of the tragedy, had waited until all the

people had come and gone carrying Lloyd away, making a lot

of noise and carrying many, many objects Marlowe had never

seen.

All was quiet in the hall. Marlowe crept down one leg of

the ladder until he was just off of the floor. He could see

Cole’s door down the hallway – which seemed totally empty

even of the cat.

Marlowe was just about to hop down from the last rung when

he looked up and saw the four ugly rats roaming around the

hatchway hole peering at him.

Marlowe knew it was now or never and he flew off the ladder

with a bounding leap. The largest rat was right behind him

as they both narrowed their distance to Cole’s door which

was shut.

Marlowe could feel the hot breath of the ugly beast behind

him. The world seemed to slow down and everything was

moving in slow motion.

Marlowe turned down on his side and slid toward the hole

like it was home base. The rat dug in its claws on the

hardwood floor to slow down just as he was approaching the

closed door.

Marlowe – sliding on his side just about to go under the

door – looks back in horror as the cat comes up on the rat

from behind with her mouth completely open and the full

force of her huge body coming down into him from a leap.

As Marlowe passed in slow motion under the door he saw the

rat’s face turn from the hunter into the hunted just as the

cat lurched down with her mouth and plucked the rat right

off the floor and flung him across the hall into the wall

where he smashed and then slid down in a pile of crumpled

fur and bloody whiskers.

Marlowe watched under the door as he came to a stop to see

the cat lift the rat in the air with its paws and then jump

back down on the rat until he stopped moving.

After that she played with him look a ball, bouncing his

broken body across the hall and then retrieving it again

just to play another round.

Marlowe was exhausted and could no longer watch the scene in

the hallway – always thinking that it could have been him.

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