Misery Page #5

ANNIE:

...it's like a visit from my oldest,

dearest friend.

PAUL:

I was supposed to be home for her

birthday three days ago.

ANNIE:

Your agent said she would tell her you

were okay. But I'm afraid you'll have to

wait until tomorrow if you want to speak

to her yourself.

She starts to leave, stops at the door.

ANNIE:

(She looks at him now

with almost a look of

amazement)

Oh, Paul, what a poet you are...

As she leaves --

DISSOLVE TO:

PAUL, watching as she enters, moves to him, carrying a tray.

ANNIE:

I made you my speciality -- scrambled

eggs a la Wilkes. And I'm on page 75.

PAUL:

I guess that means it's okay.

ANNIE:

No. No, it isn't, it's --

(halts)

-- oh pooh, I can't think of any words.

Would "great" be insulting?

PAUL:

I can live with "great."

He starts, with effort, to eat.

ANNIE:

(as she turns, goes)

No, it's not just great, it's perfect,

a perfect, perfect thing.

CUT TO:

PAUL'S ROOM. MID-AFTERNOON.

ANNIE is clearing Paul's tray. She hands him his Novril; he

quickly swallows them.

ANNIE:

I'm up to page 185. I always get sad

when I pass the halfway point. Will

you do me a favor? I'd love it if you

would autograph my copy. I already

have your autograph on a picture, but

it would mean so much to me to get it

in person. I know you're right-handed,

so don't worry if it's not so legible.

I'll cherish it anyway.

As PAUL signs the book:

ANNIE:

I don't mean to pry, but I've read in

two magazines now where you were seeing

this model who does those disgusting

jeans commercials. And I said it can't

be true. Paul Sheldon would never waste

his time with a trampy woman like that.

PAUL:

Well, you can't believe everything you

read in magazines.

ANNIE:

I knew it. I knew it wasn't true. Boy,

how do they get away with printing

stuff like that?

PAUL:

You'd be amazed at what some people

will believe.

He finishes the autograph, hands the book back to her.

ANNIE:

Thank you so much.

PAUL:

My pleasure.

DISSOLVE TO:

THE WINDOW. LATE - AFTERNOON SUNLIGHT.

CUT TO:

THE DOOR. IT opens and guess what -- a sow lumbers in.

CUT TO:

PAUL, kind of stunned as this female pig skitters its way around

the room, excited, confused, slipping and sliding.

CUT TO:

ANNIE, all smiles and happiness, laughing in the doorway.

ANNIE:

I thought it was time you two should

meet. Paul, say hello to my favorite

beast in all the world, my sow, Misery.

PAUL:

Misery?

CUT TO:

THE PIG, snorting around the room.

CUT TO:

PAUL AND ANNIE, watching it.

ANNIE:

Yes. I told you I was your number-one

fan.

PAUL:

I'm getting to believe you.

ANNIE:

This farm was getting kind of dreary,

what with just the few cows and chickens

and me --

(happy)

But when I got Misery here, everything

changed -- she just makes me smile so.

PAUL:

She's a fine...uh...pig is what she is...

ANNIE:

(scooping up the pig,

holding it tight as she

stands by Paul)

I'm on page three-hundred now, Paul, and

it's better than perfect -- it's divine.

What's the ceiling that dago painted?

PAUL:

The Sistine Chapel?

ANNIE:

Yeah, that and Misery's Child -- those

are the only two divine things ever in

this world...

PAUL watches as the pig skitters out of the room with ANNIE in

pursuit, happily imitating the pig.

ANNIE:

Woink! Whoink! Whuh-Whuh-WHOINK!

CUT TO:

PAUL staring after them -- what the hell was that?

CUT TO:

THE WINDOW. DUSK.

ANNIE'S VOICE is heard softly.

ANNIE (o-s)

When my husband left me... I wasn't

prepared, it wasn't an easy time...

PULL BACK TO REVEAL

ANNIE, standing at the window, her back to the room.

In bed, PAUL is dealing with a bedpan, peeing.

ANNIE:

For a while I thought I might go

crazy.

PAUL:

I know how that can be.

ANNIE:

I don't know about you, but what I did

to get through it was I dove into work --

days, nights -- night shifts can be

lonely at a hospital. I did a lot of

reading. That was hen I first discovered

Misery. She made me so happy. She made

me forget all my problems.

(She smiles now)

'Course, I suppose you had a little

something to do with that too.

There is a peeing sound.

PAUL:

Yeah, well...

He is embarrassed.

ANNIE:

(She isn't)

I just kept reading them over and over.

I know when I finish this one -- and

I've only got two chapters to go -- I'll

just turn right to the front page and

start reading it again.

PAUL:

I'm...

ANNIE:

(She turns around,

moves to the bed)

Done?

PAUL:

Yeah, thanks.

ANNIE:

No problem.

As she takes the bedpan...

ANNIE:

Don't get me wrong. I'm not against

marriage per se. But it would take a

pretty special guy to make me want to

go down the aisle again.

PAUL:

Well, it's not something you should

enter into lightly.

ANNIE:

It boils down to respect. People just

don't respect the institution of

marriage anymore. They have no sense

of real commitment.

CUT TO:

PAUL, attempting to smile. There is not much he can say to this.

ANNIE:

I'd love to stay here and chat, but

I'm right at the end and I gotta find

out what happens.

PAUL:

Well, I hope you like it.

ANNIE:

Of course I'll like it. Misery's about

to have her child. What's it gonna be,

a boy or a girl? Ooh, don't tell me.

With that, she exits.

CUT TO:

THE WINDOW. MOONLIGHT.

CUT TO:

PAUL. He's been dozing but now his eyes flutter awake as we

CUT TO:

THE DOOR. It opens and ANNIE enters, comes to his bedside.

CUT TO:

PAUL. Hard to see. He squints up as we

CUT TO:

ANNIE. CLOSE UP:
her face is ashen pale.

ANNIE:

You...you dirty bird. She can't be

dead. Misery Chastain cannot be dead!

How could you?

PAUL:

Annie, in 1871, women often died in

childbirth, but her spirit is the

important thing, and Misery's spirit

is still alive --

ANNIE:

(screaming)

I DON'T WANT HER SPIRIT! I want HER!

And you MURDERED her!

PAUL:

I DIDN'T...

ANNIE:

Then who did?

PAUL:

No one -- she just died -- she slipped

away, that's all.

ANNIE:

(screaming)

She slipped away? She slipped away? She

didn't just slip away. You did it. You

did it. You did it. You did it. You

murdered my Misery.

And now she has lifted a chair -- it's heavy but she's very strong

-- and she raises it and turns on Paul, and it's high above her

head, and PAUL realizes that this might be it, she might shatter

him with it, crunch his skull -- and that's just what she seems

she's about to do -- and then she swings it, not against him but

against the wall, and it shatters and she's panting from the

effort as she turns on him again, her voice surprisingly soft.

ANNIE:

I thought you were good, Paul, but

you're not good, you're just another

lying old dirty birdie and I don't

think I better be around you for

awhile.

(she crosses to the

door, then stops)

And don't even think about anybody

coming for you, not the doctors, not

your agent, not your family -- because

I never called them. Nobody knows

you're here. And you better hope

nothing happens to me because if I die,

you die.

CUT TO:

PAUL, watching as she closes the door behind her. Then there is a

RATTLE OF A KEY and the sound of the door to his room LOCKING.

CUT TO:

ANNIE, getting in her Cherokee and gunning away.

CUT TO:

THE ROOM.

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