Red Planet Page #4

JUD stops. LOUIS looks glad of the rest; he's sweating and there

are wide dark patches under his arms where the Gerrypak's straps

are.

LOUIS:

Who owns the woods up ahead? Paper

companies?

JUD:

Nope. The Micmac Indians. What's up

ahead is all that's left of their

tribal lands.

ELLIE (giggling)

Micmac, Ricmac, Kickmac, Sickmac.

JUD (smiles)

Ayuh, it's a funny word, ain't it?

You tired of totin' that yowwen yet, doc?

LOUIS:

Not yet...how much further is it?

JUD:

Aw, you'll be okay. Less than a mile.

He starts off again, fresh as a daisy. ELLIE scampers after him.

LOUIS rolls his eyes at his wife and RACHEL rolls hers back. Then

they press on.

EXT. THE ARCH READING PET SEMATARY

EXT. JUD AND THE CREEDS, ON THE PATH

JUD (stopping)

This is the place, honey.

ELLIE is of course second. Se tries to read the words on the arch

but can't. She whips around to look at her mother.

ELLIE:

What's it say, mommy?

A strange expression has come over RACHEL'S face--she doesn't like

this. Not a bit.

RACHEL:

It says Pet Cemetery, hon. It's

misspelled, but...that's what it

says.

She runs for the arch. RACHEL starts; looks more uneasy than ever.

RACHEL:

Ellen--!

EXT. ELLIE

She's almost under the arch. She looks back, questioning.

EXT. RACHEL, LOUIS, JUD

RACHEL (a bit lame)

Be careful.

EXT. ELLIE

She goes racing into the Pet Sematary.

EXT. RACHEL, LOUIS, JUD

JUD lights a cigarette with a wooden match, using his thumbnail.

JUD:

I told you it was a bad road,

Louis--it's killed a lot of pets

and made a lot of kids unhappy.

But at least something good come

of it. This place.

ELLIE (excited voice)

Mom! Dad! Y'oughtta see it!

EXT. ELLIE, AT THE EDGE OF THE SEMATARY

She surveys the rude markers with puzzled delight, then runs

toward the center, pausing to investigate some of the markers as

she goes. We clearly see the symmetrical pattern of rings.

EXT. RACHEL, LOUIS, JUD

They are walking slowly toward that rude archway. LOUIS is

extremely interested in all this, but it's becoming clearer and

clearer that RACHEL is troubled. They stop and look in.

RACHEL:

How can you call it a good thing?

A graveyard for pets killed in the

road! Built and maintained by broken-

hearted children!

JUD:

Well, but Missus Creed! It ain't

quite that way, deah!

LOUIS:

I think it's rather extraordinary.

RACHEL:

Extraordinarily morbid, maybe.

She's growing more and more upset. JUD looks at her curiously.

JUD:

Well...they have to learn about death

somehow, now don't they, Missus Creed?

The little ones?

RACHEL (coldly)

Why?

JUD:

Well...well, because--

ELLIE (voice)

Mommy! Daddy! Look at me!

EXT. ELLIE, ON THE DEADFALL

She has begun to climb it, and this looks like an extremely

dangerous proposition. ELLIE, however, is having the time of her

life. A branch breaks under one of her feet and she switches

nimbly to the next one up.

EXT. THE GROWNUPS, AT THE ARCH

JUD (alarmed)

No, honey! You don't want to go

climbing on that! Come on down!

He hurries in.

EXT. ELIIE, ON THE DEADFALL

She looks back at JUD.

ELLIE:

It's okay, Mr. Crandall--

EXT. ELLIE'S FOOT, CU

The branch she's on breaks with a dry CRRRACK. Her foot drops down

suddenly.

EXT. ELLIE AND JUD

She totters backward, pinwheeling her arms, and JUD catches her as

she falls. Not much of a catch because she wasn't too far up.

LOUIS joins JUD and ELLIE. GAGE jounces along on his back.

LOUIS:

Have you got a death-wish, Ellen?

ELLIE:

Well, I thought it was safe--

JUD:

Best never to go climbing on old blowdowns

like this, Ellie--sometimes they bite.

ELLIE:

Bite?

JUD:

Ayuh.

EXT. RACHEL, STANDING AT THE ARCH

Her discomfort makes one thing very clear--she doesn't want to

come in.

RACHEL (calls)

Is she all right, Louis?

EXT. LOUIS, JUD, ELLIE

LOUIS (calls back)

Fine! Come and see!

EXT. RACHEL, STANDING AT THE ARCH

RACHEL (calling)

I think I'll sit this one out, doc.

EXT. LOUIS, JUD, ELLIE--BY THE DEADFALL

ELLIE:

I want to look around, daddy--

may I?

LOUIS:

For a little while.

JUD looks toward:

EXT. RACHEL AT THE ARCH (ELLEN IN F.G.)

RACHEL has retreated a bit. She sits on the pine needle carpet of

the path, opens her purse, and draws out cigarettes.

EXT. LOUIS AND JUD

JUD looks at LOUIS as if to say "What's all this about?" LOUIS

looks away.

ELLIE (voice)

Dad! Daddy! Look! A goldfishie!

EXT. ELLIE

She runs from one tombstone to the next, cheerful as maybe only a

kid could be in such a place. She looks at BIFFER'S tombstone; at

SMUCKY'S.

EXT. LOUIS AND JUD

They are walking slowly toward her. LOUIS is looking at the

tombstones.

LOUIS:

I can hardly read these.

JUD:

Ayuh--they get older as you go

toward the middle. (Points) Pete

LaVasseur's dog is buried there...

(points) the Stoppard boys' racing

pigeon that Missus Cowley's cat

got...and I think that's the cat

himself right there, although it's

been so many years I can't tell for

sure.

(calling)

Missy Ellen! Come over here just a

minute!

EXT. ELLEN

She runs amid the tombstones--they have worked their way near to

the center and there are quite a few of them--and joins the

adults.

JUD:

I see you're quite a reader for such

a little girl. Can you read that?

He points again, and Ellen goes over for a look-see.

EXT. ELLEN, AT THE GRAVE MARKER

It is a small slate marker slanted to one side. ELLEN reads the

words laboriously, tracing them with her finger.

ELLEN:

"Spot a good fellow we love you boy."

(Pause) "Owned by Judson...Judson..."

Gee, I can't read the rest.

EXT. JUD AND LOUIS

JUD:

Last name's Crandall, little missy.

LOUIS looks at him sharply as ELLIE rejoins them.

JUD:

That's where I buried my dog Spot

when he died of old age in 19 and

14. Dug it good and deep. By the

time I finished, I had blisters all

over my hands and a hell of a crick

in my back. Soil's stony up here.

ELLIE looks awed. LOUIS looks a little awed, too.

JUD sweeps a hand around, indicating the whole sematary, but is

still looking at ELLEN.

JUD:

Do you know what this place is,

Ellie? Oh, I know you know it's a

boneyard, but a bone ain't nothing

and even a whole pile of 'em don't

amount to much. Do you know what a

graveyard really is?

ELLIE:

Well...I guess not.

JUD:

It's a place where the dead speak,

Missy.

He sees her startled, uneasy expression and laughs. He ruffles her

hair reassuringly.

JUD:

No--not right out loud. Their stones

speak...or their markers. Even if the

marker ain't nothing but a tin can

someone wrote on with a Magic Marker,

it speaks. Ain't that so, Louis?

LOUIS:

I think it is so, Ellie.

ELLIE:

What if you can't read what's

written on there anymore?

JUD:

Well, it still says some animal got

laid down here after, don't it?

ELLIE:

Yes--

LOUIS:

And that someone cared enough about

that animal to mark the spot.

ELLIE:

To remember.

JUD (smiles)

Yes. To remember. This ain't a scary

place, Ellie. It's a place of rest

and speaking. Can you remember that?

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