Marlowe Page #8

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Slowly Louise eyes grow wider and wider and wider until they

are about to pop out.

Cole looks down and sees Marlowe looking straight into the

eyes of his mom.

Louise passes out.

Cole holds her and steadies her on the chair and suddenly

she wakes up and stands up.

Now Louise is looking down at Marlowe but her eyes are just

as eye popping.

She drops straight back down into the chair but as she

passes the mouse she is in slow motion and gets a very long,

good look at the animal in clothes.

LOUISE:

Your father saw a real mouse in

clothes, isn’t that right Cole?

COLE:

Yes mam.

LOUISE:

And – the – animal is the one

who found the watch and the

ring, is that right son?

COLE:

Yes mam.

LOUISE:

Does – it talk?

COLE:

No – but I been teachen him

things and he’s got a name.

Marlowe.

Marlowe recognizes his name and looks up at Cole and climbs

out on his arm.

LOUISE:

Ohhhhhh. I’m sorry but I am

terrified of rats and mice.

But – obviously Marlowe is no

ordinary mouse. Did those

clothes come out of the toy

house?

COLE:

Yes. And they fit him perfectly.

LOUISE:

Good. That’s good. Cole, I am

just going to go into the house

and get myself a drink and I don’t

want to scare the little critter

so if you’ll just back up and give

your old mom some room…

Cole backs up as Louise stammers to her feet and immediately

disappears into the dark house.

INT. THE HOUSE – DAY

Cole carefully enters the house and sees his mom at the

dining room table drinking whisky from a shot glass.

LOUISE:

What is it Cole?

COLE:

Well mom I used to think Marlowe

it was a aleene but then I read

this really cool story in a

magazne while we were waiting for

dad and it’s one of those that dad

reads all the time.

Louise pours another drink as Cole runs off and returns with

the magazine.

He puts it down in front of her and steps back.

Louise unconsciously takes her glasses off the table and

puts them on.

LOUISE:

Scientific American. Experiments

– mice injected with human –

animals are smarter – lab mice

stolen and still not found.

New York.

Cole sits down at the table and Marlowe walks off his arm

onto the table.

Louise looks like she has seen a ghost.

LOUISE:

Let him stand – he should stand

on the magazine – not the table.

Marlowe seems to understand her concern and he hops back on

Cole’s arm and sits.

LOUISE:

Cole, we have to go to the

hospital and get your dad out.

They think he is not mentally

well but he is more well than

all of us I think. Marlowe

must stay here in his – your

toy house until we get back

and then we – we will see when

we get back, won’t we?

COLE:

Yes mam.

Cole moves restlessly across the kitchen and up the stairs.

He hears his mom pour herself another drink and starts

crying again.

When he is almost at the top of the stairs he hears his

mother laughing and crying at the same time.

INT. HOSPITAL - DAY

Cole is half asleep as his mother drags him down the halls,

up the elevators, down more halls, back again because they

went the wrong direction and finally into dad’s.

Cole immediately curls up in a stainless steel chair with a

leather padded seat and goes to sleep.

Suddenly Cole felt a pull on his arm. He opens his eyes to

see his mother pulling him up. Behind her, dad is in a

wheel chair with his clothes stacked on his lap complaining

how this wasn’t right.

Cole is pulled again down the endless hallways and up and

down elevators and finally out the front door and then into

the back door of the car and then it all went black.

INT. COLE’S BEDROOM – NIGHT

Cole slowly opens his eyes and slowly focuses on two figures

standing at the end of his bed.

He sits up and rubs his eyes as Lloyd and Louise come into

focus.

LOUISE:

Cole, your dad and I want you

to get dressed and then call us

after you’ve brushed your teeth

and washed your face, do you

understand?

COLE:

Yes mam.

Cole hopped out of bed after his parents left and

immediately opened the top of the toy house but Marlowe was

not there.

Cole leaves his bedroom and quickly returns, put his shoes

on and sits on his bed.

COLE:

Okay mom and dad, I’m ready.

Lloyd and Louise come in and stand awkwardly for a moment

and then Louise sits on the edge of Cole’s bed while Lloyd

sits down at the desk in front of the computer.

LLOYD:

Where is it Cole? The rat.

COLE:

It’s a mouse dad and he’s not

here – right now.

LLOYD:

I read the article Cole and

those mice were in New York

and the folks who stole them

didn’t bring them all the way

out here to another state, okay?

Second, that animal had clothes

on and the only way that could

have happened is if you did it.

COLE:

But…

LLOYD:

Don’t interrupt me Cole. Now –

I don’t know where you got

that animal and I don’t know

how long it took you to train

him to wear clothes but it must

have been awhile to do that

which is probably why your

grades are down and you’re not

doing as well in school as you

were.

COLE:

But …

LOUISE:

Stop Cole and listen to what your

dad is saying.

LLOYD:

So, this is what we are going to

do. You’re going to wait until he…

COLE:

Marlowe…

Cole says defensively.

LLOYD:

Marlowe comes back, you’re going

to trap him, bring him to me and

we will take Marlowe far away

from here and let him go in

someone’s field. And in the

meantime we are going to study

our family watch to try and

find the message that was left

in it concerning the family

fortune and its whereabouts.

Do you understand?

Cole shook his head even though he didn’t understand.

INT. THE HOUSE - NIGHT

Marlowe stood next to the watch on the table in the living

room.

He could hear the voices coming out of Cole’s bedroom but

the words did not make sense

He carefully pried open the top and pushed the dull silver

lid open on its silver hinge.

Marlowe looked with marvel at the watch face, the letters

inscribed in gold, the two large hands and the tiny black

second hand.

He used his finger to trace the letters embossed on the

white, pearl backing.

The DOOR upstairs CLOSED LOUDLY. He quickly closed the

watch cover and it was then that he noticed that there were

small, very small feet carved around the rim of the silver

cover.

Marlowe nervously traced the almost microscopic feet around

the rim until they stopped at a symbol.

He could see that it was a round shape inside a square box

and then another round shape inside the first round shape.

There were green triangles touching each other at their base

around the inside. In the middle were red and blue diamond

shapes placed next to each other forming a star shape.

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