Marlowe Page #7

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He limped back into the toy house and closed the door.

The tiny, shivering animal made his way up the stairs and

plopped down on the bed in the first room he got to.

Marlowe closed his eyes and did not dream but escaped into

the infinite dark world of no shapes and no sounds except

before long the tiny sound of Marlowe - SNORING in a dark,

empty sleep.

INT. HOSPITAL – DAY

Cole sat quietly in the waiting room while his mom paced

back and forth wringing her hands and assorting her hair, in

between crying into a hanky.

Cole can’t stand it any longer and he sorts through the

magazines until his hand falls on The Scientific American.

Cole reaches down and opens the magazine like a deck of

cards and Cole’s eyes grew very large and his attention was

straight down on the left hand page.

CLOSEUP – MAGAZINE

A magazine articles reads, “Human brain cells make mice

smart. A team of neuroscientists has grafted human brain

cells into the brains of mice and found that the

rodents’ rate of learning and memory far surpassed that of

ordinary mice. Remarkably, the cells transplanted were not

neurons, but rather types of brain cells, called glia, that

are incapable of electrical signaling.”

“The new findings suggest that information processing in the

brain extends beyond the mechanism of electrical signaling

between neurons.”

Cole look up and his head ached from all the words.

He rubs his eyes as he reads the very bottom of the page,

“a theft in the lab where some of these mice had been stolen

and never returned.”

COLE:

Maybe – you’re not a aleene

Marlowe. Or maybe you are

and you are the leader of those

ones that were taken. Wow.

Marlowe, I think you’re famous

and you don’t even know what

that means.

A doctor finally comes in and starts talking to Louise.

He sees his mom raise up her hands and arms like she was

trying to fight something.

Finally the doctor motions for Cole and his mom to follow

him.

INT. HOSPITAL CORRIDORS - DAY

They walk forever until Cole stops at the door behind Louise

because there were so many tubes and wires and things

hanging off of his dad.

INT. PATIENT ROOM - DAY

Finally Louise motions for him to come in and stand beside

the bed. He stood for a long time and then Lloyd opened up

his eyes and he looked straight up at Cole and started to

talk.

LLOYD:

You seen him haven’t you? You

seen – the mouse that wears

clothes.

LOUISE:

Oh God Lloyd, Cole has not seen

any such thing and…

LLOYD:

…I seen him. Up in the attic

while I was on the ladder.

Clear as day he was dressed.

In a suit. He scared me and I

fell. Hurt myself.

LOUISE:

Lloyd, you almost killed your

self and you didn’t see any

damn mice in a damn suit and I

don’t want to hear that kind of

talk until you get your senses

back, do you understand me? We

live on a farm and we need you.

We need you.

Louise starts to cry and Cole backs slowly out of the room

until he can’t hear her any longer.

INT. HOSPITAL CORRIDORS – DAY

He sits in a chair outside the room and waits. Finally

Louise comes out of the room and takes Cole by the hand

and they go home.

INT. THE HOUSE – LATE DAY

Cole looks around at every corner but Marlowe is not to be

seen.

Finally Cole lies down on his bed with his hands under his

head looking up at the ceiling trying to understand the

events.

Suddenly he sits up and freezes. He concentrates on sound.

He jumps off the bed and gets down on his knees and he moves

slowly toward the sound which is almost not there.

He arrives at the toy house. Cole reaches over and slowly

removes the roof and there, asleep on one of the beds is

Marlowe – snoring.

Cole cannot contain himself and carefully places the

roof back on the house.

He jumps around his room waving his hands and arms above his

head like a football fan and then – crash – his door opens

and his mom stands there glaring at him.

LOUISE:

What is it? Are you up here

cheering that your dad is in a

hospital?

COLE:

No mam.

LOUISE:

Then what?

COLE:

I can’t tell you.

LOUISE:

What? What did you say young

man?

COLE:

It’s a secret between me and…

LOUISE:

Have you been down there playing

with those Rodger boys again?

You have and do you know how I

can tell – because you always

comeback home with some attitude

that is not appropriate for you

or your age or this family. So

you will tell me the secret or

you will be grounded, no playing

in the field or with your

friends until you cough it up.

Louise turns and closes the door behind her.

He stood in shock for a few minutes until he realizes that

Marlowe was out of the house and watching him from the

floor.

COLE:

Marlowe, Marlowe, I thought you

were dead. But you’re not cause

aleenes live forever, even if

they have human brains.

Cole sits down on the floor and tries to think about what he

should do when Marlowe starts jumping up and down until Cole

sees him and puts out his hand.

Marlowe jumps in the hand and then hops up to his shirt

pocket and drops in.

COLE:

Okay I guess. I really don’t

know what this means but maybe

you want to go back and look

for the watch now that it’s

light outside.

Again Cole gathers the flash light and the Swiss Army Knife

and heads down the stairs.

INT. THE HOUSE – DAY

He passes through the kitchen and living room and out the

screen door onto the porch.

EXT. FRONT OF HOUSE - DAY

He jumps down the steps and turns and walks to where the

steps disappear under the house.

Marlowe hops all the way to the ground and instantly

disappears under the house.

INT. UNDER HOUSE - DAY

He runs straight for the sub floor and jumps up onto it and

runs further into the darkening cave.

Marlowe curled his nose back like he had seen rats do and he

tried to snarl as he ran but it just came out a squeak.

Ahead he could see something sparkle in the dark with light

coming down from the hole in the kitchen behind the stove.

Marlowe arrives and unwraps the watch from a kitchen towel

scrap.

He sinks his teeth into the chain and pulls and the watch

dutifully followed him.

Marlowe races for the light outside and runs so fast he

jumps right into the waiting hand of Cole who drops the

flashlight.

Cole fondles the treasure as Marlowe makes his way into the

pocket on Cole’s shirt.

LOUISE (O.S.)

Oh My Gosh.

Cole’s mom is standing right behind him. He turns and show

her the watch.

COLE:

It’s – it’s the treasure watch

mom – it was the secret.

Louise walks a few more steps forward and gently lifts the

watch out of Cole’s hands.

She staggers over to an old chair and sits down and starts

crying.

Cole moves across the porch and approaches his mom. He

holds out his hand and she grabs it and places it on her

shoulder and looks up.

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