Red Planet Page #13

One light on...a cellar light.

SOUND:
Ree-ree-ree...then...

SOUND:
Kick! THUMP!

SOUND:
Ree-ree-ree...

INT. THE CELLAR, WITH MISSY DANDRIDGE

She hangs limply, hands dangling at her sides, above the table,

which now lies upon its side. We can see the note clearly. She

pinned it to the bodice of her housedress.

SOUND:
Car engines starting up.

EXT. IN FRONT OF THE GRACE METHODIST CHURCH DAY

People are coming out and getting into their cars and turning on

the headlights, even though it is only mid-morning.

In the immediate f.g. is a hearse. Four pallbearers are loading a

coffin into it.

EXT. LOUIS AND ELLIE, ON THE CHURCH STEPS

ELLIE:

They're all turning on their lights!

Daddy, why are they all turning on

their lights in the middle of the day?

JUD, dressed in a rusty old black suit and a black tie, comes out

and stands with them. He looks haggard and old.

JUD:

They do it to honor the dead, Ellen.

ELLIE:

Is that right, dad?

LOUIS:

Yes. To honor the dead.

EXT. THE CHURCH PARKING AREA

More cars start up; more lights come on; the back doors of the

hearse swing closed.

EXT. LUDLOW CEMETARY DAY

[NOTE:
In the book LOUIS finds it difficult to enter at night

because of a high iron fence. Here we should see there's no such

problem; there's only a low stone wall between the graveyard and

the public road.]

The mourners are of course gathered around the grave of MISSY

DANDRIDGE. The coffin rests above it on runners.

MINISTER (voice)

May the Lord bless you and keep you;

may the Lord make his face to shine

upon you, and comfort you, and lift

you up, and give you peace. Amen.

EXT. LOUIS, ELLIE, JUD

As the mourners begin to break up, these three start back toward

LOUIS'S car.

JUD:

Rachel not feeling well?

LOUIS:

Well...a touch of the flu...

ELLIE:

She's in bed. She was throwing up.

Ever since Mrs. Rogers called and said

Missy--

LOUIS:

That's enough, Ellen.

They've reached the CREED station wagon.

JUD:

Out of the mouths of babes, Louis.

LOUIS:

This babe has said enough.

He opens the front passenger door.

LOUIS:

Hop in, Ellie.

She does, and LOUIS closes the door.

JUD:

Poor Missy. God, I was sorry to

hear. I remember when she was

no older'n Ellen there, walking down

to the store with her Raggedy Anne

doll draggin' behind her in the dust.

I don't know why God takes someone

like her, who should have a bunch of

years still in front of them, and lets

an old sh*t like me just go on and on.

LOUIS:

My father used to have a saying, Jud--

"God sees the truth, but waits."

JUD:

Ayuh...how is your cat, Louis?

LOUIS:

It's Ellie's cat.

JUD:

Nope. He's your cat now.

JUD opens one of the back doors as LOUIS goes around to the

driver's side.

INT. THE BACK SEAT OF THE WAGON

JUD has tilted over in one corner and is snoring. His Walkman

'phones are on and we can hear the tinny sounds of Billy Idol. A

little old man's drool trickles down from one corner of his mouth.

SOUND:
ELLEN

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