Red Planet Page #2

ELLIE (raptuous voice)

Wheee!

LOUIS:

Ellie, you heard your m---

His eyes widen.

EXT. ELLIE

ELLIE:

Wh--

SOUND:
A heavy twang! as the rope breaks. The tire swing--with

ELLIE still inside it--goes crashing to the grass. ELLIE screams

and begins to cry--a little hurt and a lot surprised.

LOUIS and RACHEL run to her.

LOUISRACHEL:

Ellie! Are you all right?Honey? Are you okay?

EXT. ELLIE, RACHEL, LOUIS, A CLOSER SHOT

ELLIE'S parents reach the tangle of tire, rope, and six-year-old

girl.

ELLIE:

Hurrts! It hurrrrts!

LOUIS:

Anyone who can scream that loud isn't

ready for intensive care just yet--

looks like she just skinned her knee.

Nevertheless, he begins to rapidly disentangle his daughter from

the tire. RACHEL helps.

EXT. GAGE

He's standing in the driveway by the front of the car, utterly

forgotten in the heat of the moment. His diaper is sagging quite a

bit; the boy needs a change.

He stares toward the scene of the accident for a bit, then loses

interest. CAMERA FOLLOWS as he walks down the side of the station

wagon, little bare feet slapping on the asphalt. He stops for a

moment at the back, looking at the cat-carrier, which LOUIS never

got around to opening. CHURCH is staring hopefully out through the

mesh.

GAGE:

Hi-Durch!

CHURCH:

Waow!

GAGE bends down and tries to open the cat-carrier's door. No soap.

Either he can't solve the latch or his fingers don't have the

strength. Anyway, he stops trying after a moment.

SOUND:
Growing thunder of an approaching truck - a big one.

EXT. THE ROAD (GAGE'S POV)

A big tanker truck--silver body, ORINCO written on the side in

blue letters--blasts by.

EXT. GAGE, BY THE CAT CARRIER

The windlash if the passing truck blows GAGE'S hair back from his

forehead. We should be scared here--not by the truck, but by

GAGE'S lack of fear. He's smiling, happy.

GAGE:

Druck!

He starts down the driveway toward the road.

EXT. LOUIS, RACHEL, ELLIE (AT THE SWING)

ELLIE has been disentangled from the swing. She's sitting by the

wreckage at the end of the driveway, weeping hysterically (as much

from tiredness as from pain, I think) as LOUIS and RACHEL examine

her scraped knee. The wound doesn't look too serious.

LOUIS (to RACHEL)

Would you get the first aid kit?

ELLIE (screaming)

Not the stingy stuff! I don't want the

stingy stuff, daddy!

RACHEL suddenly looks around toward:

EXT. THE FRONT OF THE WAGON (RACHEL'S POV)

No one there.

EXT. RACHEL, ELLIE, LOUIS, BY THE SWING

RACHEL:

Gage's gone!

LOUIS:

Jesus, the road!

They get up together.

EXT. GAGE, AT THE EDGE OF THE ROAD

A truck is coming. A great big one.

EXT. ANGLE ON THE TRUCK, CU

The grille looks like a tombstone that's learned how to snarl.

EXT. GAGE

He takes a step into the road...and then big, gnarled hands grab

him.

GAGE looks rather surprised at this, but not worried--this kid is

used to being picked up and treated humanely. To GAGE strangers

are as interesting as...well, as interesting as Orinco trucks.

EXT. GAGE AND JUD CRANDALL

The fellow who has picked GAGE up is a man of about eighty in old

blue jeans, a faded Bruce Springsteen t-shirt. Over this he wears

a faded khaki vest with bright silver buttons. His face is deeply

wrinkled and kindly.

JUD CRANDALL (to GAGE)

No you don't, my friend--not in

that road.

But he softens this with a grin. GAGE grins back at him.

GAGE:

Drucks!

JUD (low)

No sh*t, Sherlock.

JUD carries him up the driveway to the station wagon. Here he's

joined by LOUIS and RACHEL, out of breath and really scared. ELLIE

brings up the rear. She's still sniffling.

RACHEL:

Gage!

JUD (hands him to her)

He was headed for the road, looked

like. I corralled him for you, missus.

RACHEL:

Thank you. Thank you so much.

LOUIS:

Yes--thanks. I'm Louis Creed.

He sticks out his hand and JUD shakes it. LOUIS takes it easy--no

crushing JayCees grip, or anything like that--the old guy looks as

if he might have arthritis.

JUD:

Jud Crandall. I live just across the road.

RACHEL:

I'm Rachel. Thanks again for saving

the wandering minstrel boy, here.

JUD:

No harm, no foul. But you want to watch

out for that road. Those damn trucks go

back and forth all day and most of the

night.

He leans over toward ELLIE.

JUD:

Who might you be, little Miss?

ELLIE:

I'm Ellen Creed and I live at 642

Alden Lane, Dearborn, Michigan. (Pause)

At least, I used to.

JUD:

And now you live on Route 9 in Ludlow,

and your dad's gonna be the new doctor

up to the college, I hear, and I think

you're going to be just as happy as a

clam here, Ellen Creed.

ELLIE (to LOUIS)

Are clams really happy?

They all laugh--even GAGE.

RACHEL:

Excuse me, Mr. Crandall--I've got to

change this kid. It's nice to meet you.

JUD:

Same here. Come over and visit when

you get the chance.

As RACHEL, carrying GAGE, moves away:

ELLIE (worries)

Daddy, do I really have to have the

stingy stuff?

LOUIS:

No-I guess not.

ELLIE:

Yayyy!

She goes belting off.

JUD (amused)

I guess your daughter there ain't

going to die after all.

LOUIS (also amused)

I guess not.

JUD:

House has stood empty for too long.

It's damn good to see people in it again.

SOUND:
A truck engine, gearing down.

EXT. A MOVING VAN

It blinks and comes lumbering into the Creed's driveway.

EXT. LOUIS AND JUD

LOUIS:

Hey--they actually found the place!

JUD:

Movin' in's mighty thirsty work. I

usually sit out on my porch of an evening

and pour a couple of beers over m'dinner.

Come on over and join me, if you want.

LOUIS:

Well, maybe I----

RACHEL (voice)

Louis, what's this?

EXT. RACHEL AND GAGE

GAGE has been changed, and RACHEL is following him as he explores

the nearest edges of the new homestead. They are fairly close to

the wreckage of the tire swing, and here is the head of the path

ELLIE has already glimpsed.

EXT. LOUIS AND JUD

They cross to the van. The FIRST and SECOND MOVERS are just

climbing out of the van.

FIRST MOVER:

You Mr. Creed?

LOUIS:

Yes. Just a second.

EXT. RACHEL AND GAGE, AT THE HEAD OF THE PATH

She's holding GAGE on her hip now, and both of them are looking at

that strange (and oddly enticing) path which disappears into the

deepening twilight. LOUIS and JUD join them.

LOUIS:

The movers--

RACHEL:

Yes--I know. This path, Louis? Where does

it go?

LOUIS:

I don't have the slightest idea. When I saw

the house, this field was under four feet

of snow.

RACHEL (smiling)

I bet Mr. Crandall knows!

JUD nods. He smiles, too, but underneath the smile we sense that

he is serious.

JUD:

Oh, ayuh! I know. It's a good story, and

a good walk, too. I'll take you up there

sometime, and tell you the story, too--

after you get settled in.

He smiles at them and they smile back--it is a look of

understanding and real liking, in spite of the age difference

between the CREEDS and JUD.

EXT. THE CREED HOUSE NIGHT

SOUND:
Crickets. Ree--ree--ree-ree...

There's one light upstairs, one downstairs. Perhaps we see the

path, glimmering away into the field? Either by virtue of it being

mown, or by virtue of some gentle optical trick? Maybe.

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