Psycho Page #17

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SAM:

I've only been here five. Right now

it feels like ten, but...

LILA:

All right! Then call! At least, call!

Mrs. Chambers goes to phone, dials operator.

MRS. CHAMBERS

(into phone)

Florrie, the Sheriff wants you to

connect him with the Bates Motel.

She hands the receiver to the Sheriff. He takes it,

reluctantly, listens to the dim sound of RINGING on the other

end. After a moment:

SHERIFF:

(into phone)

Norman? Sheriff Chambers.

(listens)

Been just fine, thanks. Listen, we

got some worries here. Did you have

a man stop out there tonight...

(listens)

Well, this one wouldn't be a customer,

anyway. A private detective, name

of...

MRS. CHAMBERS

Arbogast.

SHERIFF:

(into phone)

Arbogast.

(listens)

And after he left?

(listens)

No, it's okay, Norman. How's it been

going out there?

(listens)

Well, I think you oughta unload that

place and open up closer in to the

action, a smaller place, you know...

but...

LILA:

Please!

SHERIFF:

(into phone)

Sorry I got you up, boy. Go back to

sleep. Yeah, be glad to.

(hangs up, turns to

Mrs. Chambers)

Said to give you his regards.

SAM:

(faint irony)

Was that all?

SHERIFF:

This detective was out there and

Norman told him about the girl and

the detective thanked him and went

away.

LILA:

And he didn't go back? Didn't see

the mother?

The Sheriff looks long at Lila, shakes his head

sympathetically.

SHERIFF:

You should've called in the police

the second you found your sister has

skipped. You go starting private

investigations, using people you

don't even know...

LILA:

What difference does that...

SHERIFF:

Your Detective told you a nakedfaced

lie.

MRS. CHAMBERS

Barefaced.

SHERIFF:

He told you he wasn't coming right

back cause he wanted to question

Norman Bates' mother, right?

LILA:

Yes.

SHERIFF:

(a pause, then calmly)

Norman Bates' mother has been dead

and buried in Greenlawn Cemetery for

the last ten years!

There is a long silence. Sam and Lila stare at the Sheriff.

MRS. CHAMBERS

I helped Norman pick out the dress

she was buried in. Periwinkle blue.

SHERIFF:

It ain't only local history, Sam,

it's the only murder-and-suicide

case in Fairvale ledgers! Mrs.

Bates poisoned this guy she was...

involved with, when she found out he

was married, then took a helping of

the same stuff herself. Strychnine.

Ugly way to die.

MRS. CHAMBERS

Norman found them dead together. In

bed.

SAM:

You mean that old woman I saw sittin'

in the window wasn't Norman Bates'

mother?

MRS. CHAMBERS

(hopefully, happily)

Maybe you saw Mary!

SAM:

I'd know the difference between Mary

and an old woman.

SHERIFF:

Now wait a minute, Sam. You sure you

saw an old woman?

SAM:

Yes! In the house behind the motel.

I pounded and called but she... just

ignored me.

SHERIFF:

And you want to tell me you saw Norman

Bates' mother.

LILA:

It must've been. Arbogast said so,

too... and he said the young man

wouldn't let him see her because she

was ill!

The Sheriff stares at both of them, and when he finally speaks

there is an almost inaudible tone or irony in his voice.

SHERIFF:

Well, if the woman up there is Mrs.

Bates... who's that woman buried out

at Greenlawn Cemetery?

QUICK CUT TO:

INT. NORMAN'S PARLOR BEHIND OFFICE - (NIGHT)

Norman sits in the dim, one-lamp light, the phone next to

him, his hand still near it as if he had not been able to

move his hand after hanging up. He is staring at the shrike-

like bird which is perched on the lamp shade. Decision and

resolution are beginning to show in his face. Suddenly he

rises, starts quickly out of the room, tries to switch off

the lamp as he goes and in so doing succeeds only in knocking

the bird off the shade.

He watches it fall, does not try to catch it. It hits the

floor with a thud and sawdust spills out. He stares sadly at

it, for a moment, then tends down, scoops up the sawdust,

tries to press it into the split seam, picks up the bird,

puts it in a drawer. Then he puts out the lamp, goes out,

crosses the darkened office and goes outside.

CUT TO:

EXT. MOTEL AND HOUSE - (NIGHT)

Norman comes off the porch, walks to the path and directly

up to the house, opens the door and goes in.

CUT TO:

INT. DOWNSTAIRS HALLWAY AND STAIRWAY - (NIGHT)

SHOOTING UP THE STAIRS

Norman goes up, pauses one moment outside his mother's door,

then opens it and goes in, leaving the door open.

For a moment we hear only Norman's low, quiet voice, his

words indistinguishable. Then we hear the cold shot of his

mother's derisive laughter.

MOTHER'S VOICE

I am sorry, boy, but you do manage

to look ludicrous when you give me

orders!

NORMAN'S VOICE

Please, mother...

MOTHER'S VOICE

(Sharp, laughter all

gone)

No! I will not hide in the fruit

cellar!

(A shrill laugh)

Think I'm fruity, huh?

(Hard, cold again)

I'm staying right here! This is my

room and no one will drag me out of

it... least of all my big bold son!

NORMAN'S VOICE

(Rising now, anxiously)

They'll come now, Mother. He came

after the girl and now someone will

come after him! How long do you think

you can go on... Mother, please,

just for a few days, just so they

won't find you!

MOTHER'S VOICE

(Mimicking)

Just for a few days...

(Furious)

In that dank fruit cellar? No! You

hid me there once, boy, and you won't

do it again! Not ever again! Now

get out!

(A pause, quiet)

I told you to get out, boy!

(A longer pause)

Norman! What do you think you're

going to do? Don't you touch me!

Don't! Norman!

(A pause, then

cajolingly)

All right, son, put me down and I'll

go. I'll go on my own two feet. I

can go on my own two feet, can't I?

During all this the CAMERA has been slowly creeping up the

stairs. It does not stop at the top however, but continues

on the same high angle that we had in Scene 57.

She starts to laugh, a terrible sound like an obscene melody.

NORMAN'S VOICE

I'll carry you, mother.

Norman comes out of the room, his mother held in his arms,

her head leaning against his shoulder. He carries her down

the stairs, along the lower landing to the cellar stairs,

and then down those stairs to the basement.

DISSOLVE TO:

EXT. FAIRVALE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH - (MORNING)

An overcast morning, but a sunny-faced crowd. The service is

just over, there is contentment, and peace, and just a little

I-went-to-church-smugness in the faces of the churchgoers as

they come out of the chapel, and spread their separate ways

away.

Amongst the crowd, waiting and searching the faces, are Sam

and Lila. In their expressions there is no peace, no

contentment. CAMERA MOVES IN CLOSE. They are not speaking.

Lila looks as if she has had no sleep.

Suddenly, Sam becomes alert, takes Lila's arm, starts toward

the church.

CAMERA MOVES WITH THEM, stops as they approach Sheriff and

Mrs. Chambers. The Sheriff stares rather sympathetically at

Lila. Mrs. Chambers smiles nicely.

SAM:

We thought, if you didn't mind, we'd

go out to the motel with you.

MRS. CHAMBERS

He's already been.

SHERIFF:

Went out before service.

MRS. CHAMBERS

Have you two had breakfast?

SAM:

(To Sheriff, not a

question)

You didn't find anything.

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