O Brother, Where Art Thou? Page #16

UNDERWATER:

A silent world. Everett tumbles in the current in natural

slow motion.

Suspended around him are scores of tins of Dapper Dan pomade.

Other objects spin slowly by; framed sepia-tinted family

portraits, tree limbs, a fishing pole, an outhouse door, a

frying pan, a noose, an old banjo, the wild-eyed frantically

paddling bloodhound, a tire with a rope tied around it.

FURTHER DOWNHILL

The churning torrent opens into a lowland to become a newly

created river, fast-moving but no longer violent.

After a beat of hold on the rippling waters, the surface is

broken by the up-bob of a pine coffin.

The coffin floats downstream for a beat and then Everett

pops out of the water next to it, gasping for air, shaking

his head clear of water, and moving his shoulders to finish

freeing himself from the rope round his wrists.

Pete and Delmar emerge nearby, gasping for air.

The men hang onto the coffin, which bears them downstream.

Dazed, they look around.

The inundated valley shows only the occasional roof- or

treetop poking out of the newly formed river. All is quiet

except for the gurgle of water.

DELMAR:

A miracle! It was a miracle!

EVERETT:

Aw, don't be ignorant, Delmar. I

told you they was gonna flood this

valley.

DELMAR:

That ain't it!

PETE:

We prayed to God and he pitied us!

EVERETT:

It just never fails; once again you

two hayseeds are showin' how much

you want for innalect. There's a

perfectly scientific explanation for

what just happened -

PETE:

That ain't the tune you were singin'

back there at the gallows!

EVERETT:

Well any human being will cast about

in a moment of stress. No, the fact

is, they're flooding this valley so

they can hydro-electric up the whole

durned state...

Everett waxes smug:

EVERETT:

Yessir, the South is gonna change.

Everything's gonna be put on

electricity and run on a payin' basis.

Out with the old spiritual mumbo-

jumbo, the superstitions and the

backward ways. We're gonna see a

brave new world where they run

everyone a wire and hook us all up

to a grid. Yessir, a veritable age

of reason - like the one they had in

France - and not a moment too soon...

His voice trails off as he notices something.

A cottonhouse in the middle of the river is submerged to its

eaves. A cow has taken refuge on its roof. It stands staring

at Everett, who returns the stare.

He shakes off the vision and clears his throat.

EVERETT:

Not a moment too soon. Say, there's

Tommy!

Tommy has indeed just surfaced downstream, clinging to a

half-submerged piece of furniture.

EVERETT:

What you ridin' there, Tommy?

The furniture beneath him begins to rotate in the current

and, to keep his head above water, Tommy climbs in place

like a hamster on a wheel. As the chest exposes its ribbed

upper half:

TOMMY:

Rolltop desk...

STREET:

Everett and Penny walk arm in arm, the seven Wharvey gals

behind. The girls sing 'Angel Band' as the grown-ups talk.

EVERETT:

All's well that ends well, as the

poet says.

PENNY:

That's right, honey.

EVERETT:

But I don't mind telling you, I'm

awful pleased my adventuring days is

at an end...

He fumbles in his pocket.

EVERETT:

...Time for this old boy to enjoy

some repose.

PENNY:

That's good, honey.

EVERETT:

And you were right about that ring.

Any other weddin' band would not do.

But this-here was foreordained, honey;

fate was a-smilin' on me, and ya

have to have confidence -

He is slipping it onto her hand.

PENNY:

That's not my ring.

EVERETT:

- in the gods - Huh?

PENNY:

That's not my ring.

EVERETT:

Not your...

PENNY:

That's one of Aunt Hurlene's.

EVERETT:

You said it was in the rolltop desk!

PENNY:

I said I thought it was in the rolltop

desk.

EVERETT:

You said -

PENNY:

Or, it might a been under the

mattress.

EVERETT:

You -

PENNY:

Or in my chiffonier. I don't know.

Everett shakes his head.

EVERETT:

Well, I'm sorry honey -

PENNY:

Well, we need that ring.

EVERETT:

Well now honey, that ring is at the

bottom of a pretty durned big lake.

PENNY:

Uh-huh.

EVERETT:

A 9,000-hectacre lake, honey.

PENNY:

I don't care if it's ninety thousand.

EVERETT:

Yes, but honey -

PENNY:

That wasn't my doing...

Indignation quickens her pace. Everett keeps up, and the two

are pulling forward out of frame.

EVERETT:

Course not, honey, but...

We are now on the Wharvey gals who follow in a ragged bunch,

still singing. From somewhere distant, through the song, we

can just hear a rhythmic clack of metal on metal.

The second-to-last girl is the oldest; she holds a piece of

string along which we travel, still listening to Penny and

Everett, off:

PENNY:

I counted to three, honey.

EVERETT:

Well sure, honey, but...

We reach the end of the piece of string; it is wrapped around

the waist of the toddler, who lingers in frame. She gazes

down a quiet street at the edge of town that ends in an open

field.

EVERETT:

...finding one little ring in the

middle of all that water...

His voice, and that of the singing girls, recedes.

EVERETT:

...that is one hell of a heroic

task...

The string is given a tug and the little girl waddles out of

frame.

A train track is thus revealed in the distance. The rhythmic

clack is from the hand-pumped flatcar.

The blind seer pumps the car along the distant track, singing

harmony under the Wharvey gals' receding voices.

THE END:

Rate this script:4.5 / 6 votes