Marlowe Page #9

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abundance blessing

abundance blessing

Lloyd and Louise were almost at the table so

Marlowe runs down a table leg and hides.

INT. DINING ROOM – NIGHT

Lloyd and Louise sit down and Lloyd picks it up

and rolls it around his hands as he looked in

every corner, under every lip and curve until he

gently sets it down and rubs his eyes for relief.

Louise put on her glasses and picks up the watch and does

exactly the same routine her husband has just performed

LOUISE:

I just don’t see anything.

Cole walks into the room unnoticed and sits down at the

table. He waits but neither of his parents see him really

they are so disappointed.

He reaches across the table slowly and puts his hand on the

watch and pulls it back to him. He sits and stares intently

at the piece as Lloyd and Louise talk in the background.

COLE:

I guess it isn’t the right watch,

huh?

LLOYD:

Hello Cole, I didn’t even hear

you sit down, I’m sorry.

COLE:

So, it ain’t worth anything?

LOUISE:

Isn’t dear, not ain’t and it

could be worth something, your

father and me just thought it

was worth a whole lot more than

an old, silver time piece.”

Cole reaches across the table and pulls a magnifying glass

to him and then he picks it up and examines the watch

closely.

He finally looks up slowly with the glass still at his eye

and he sees an enormous Marlow and yells.

Louise sees the mouse and screams as she shoves her chair

back away from the table.

Lloyd is dumb founded and does not move but he does not take

his eyes off the well-dressed rodent.

Cole calms down and puts the glass down right next to the

watch.

Marlow carefully walks over to the watch and stands next to

it looking at both parents.

COLE:

That’s Marlowe dad and I’m

pretty sure he is 1 part aleene

and part smart mouse from the

aperiments they did on him in a

lab.

Lloyd and Louise try to speak but nothing comes out.

Marlowe leans down and delicately turns the watch so he can

see the side of the lip.

Then his tiny hands take the glass and prop it up in front

of the lip and he stands and holds the glass waiting.

Cole finally gets off his chair and bends down so he can see

through the glass at the watch.

COLE:

Wow, dad, there’s some tiny

little feet that walk around

the part that opens. Look.

Lloyd stammers up, holding onto the table so he doesn’t fall

over and then he stands all the way up and slowly moves

around the table, never taking his eyes off

of Marlowe, until he arrives at the place Cole was only now

Cole is standing.

Slowly and awkwardly Lloyd gets down on his knees until he

can see through the glass.

LLOYD:

Well I’ll be hornswoggled. It’s

true. Little etched feet that

move around the lip until they

arrive at…

Excitedly Lloyd stands up and then sits immediately in

Cole’s chair.

He takes the glass and the watch and turns the watch until

he arrives at the sign.

LLOYD:

Well damn. What is this? Never

seen anything like this. Louise,

come over here and look at this.

Louise also stammers up and also uses the table for support

before she is sure of her legs and then she starts the

journey around the table to Lloyd who holds the glass and

the watch up in the air so she doesn’t have to bend over to

see it.

LOUISE:

I’ll be. It’s a blessing from

the Lord that is exactly what this is.

LLOYD:

What is it?

LOUISE:

Why, don’t you know Lloyd, the

man who knows everything about

barns? My great grandparents

were traditional Pennsylvania

Dutch and they did what all

their Dutch neighbors did, they

painted these hex signs at the

peaks of barns in Pennsylvania

and the surrounding area. I was

taught that they were "painted

prayers," or petitions made

visible, asking God for the

blessing of protection for

their homes and farms. The

sign also asks Heaven for,

good fortune, abundance and

prosperity or inviting guests

to be welcome in your home.

LLOYD:

Well ain’t you just an

encyclopedia of information

Louise. Barn would have said

it all – it’s somewhere in the

barn!!

Lloyd stands up and puts the watch and the glass on the

table and then he sees Marlowe, standing and waiting and

Lloyd sits down again.

Louise also sees Marlowe again and sits in another chair at

the table. Cole walks over and stands behind Marlowe and no

one talks.

LLOYD:

Cole, sometimes things come

about that are just darn right

impossible to believe and this

seems to me and your mother –

to be one of those times. Now,

I don’t even know what to say –

to you or this animal.

Lloyd tries not to look at Marlowe as he speaks.

LLOYD:

Marlowe obviously turned the

watch so we could see the feet

and the symbol. I wish with all

my heart I could explain that –

to someone - but I can’t even

though I know it’s true. You

understand Cole?

COLE:

No sir.

LOUISE:

Of course he doesn’t understand,

you didn’t say anything. What

your father is trying to say

Cole is that we now know that

Marlowe, a mouse in toy store

clothes, lives in our house but

we can never tell anyone. Ever.

You understand Cole. If we went

out and told all our neighbors

that we had a mouse dressed in

clothes who seems to understand

something about us and does not

fear us – our neighbors would

have us hauled away in a wagon

and the county would take you

and put you up for adoption and

no one would ever ask about

Marlowe.

COLE:

I get it dad. People would say

we were nuts.

LOUISE:

They’d say more than that I’m

afraid but – right now we have

something to do in the barn and

that mouse is obviously coming

with us, right Lloyd?

Lloyd looked at Marlowe for a long time and then he looked

at Louise and Cole and then back at Marlowe.

Cole walked to the table and put his hand out and dutifully

Marlowe hopped in and Cole transferred him to his shirt

pocket where Marlowe jumped in and then popped his head back

out – looking like a tourist going for a trip.

Lloyd shook his head up and down FOR ‘yes’ as he turned and

walked toward the front door.

EXT. FRONT OF HOUSE - DAY

Louise fell into line followed by Cole and the tiny army of

four marched out the screen door, across the porch and down

the steps.

INT. THE BARN – DAY

The barn contained a history of junk, transferred through

the family down to this final resting place where sections

of the barn were this families stuff and other parts were

packed with some cousin’s material belongings giving the

whole place the effect of being some old, lost junk store

now covered in dust and a place in the dark for spiders and

rats to rule.

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