Red Planet Page #5

ELLIE (a little awed)

Yes, sir.

They start to walk slowly back toward the arch.

EXT. RACHEL, OUTSIDE THE ARCH

It's clear she's impatient and out-of-sorts with the whole thing.

RACHEL (calls)

Louis, can we go? I'm tired!

EXT. LOUIS, ELLIE, JUD

ELLIE:

Mommy! This is a place where dead

animals talk! Mr. Crandall said so!

EXT. RACHEL AND ELLIE

But RACHEL is not amused. She doesn't like any of this.

RACHEL (soft)

Did he.

EXT. LOUIS AND JUD

LOUIS:

My wife is not crazy about cemeteries

of any kind. As you may have noticed.

JUD:

Me neither. But I believe in knowing

your enemy.

LOUIS looks at him, startled, then decides this is a joke. He

laughs. JUD smiles, a trifle thinly.

EXT. THE ARCH, A NEW ANGLE

The men rejoin RACHEL and ELLIE.

LOUIS (voice)

Did we take too long?

RACHEL (curt)

Well, if supper's burned, I'm not

the one going out for pizza.

They move away.

EXT. THE DEADFALL, FROM THE ARCH

The face we saw at the beginning of the movie wasn't there when

the visitors were there...but it's sure there now, leering at us.

INT. THE KITCHEN TRASH CAN NIGHT

There are two greasy boxes poking out with NAPOLI PIZZA stamped on

them. Guess dinner was burned.

THE CAMERA PULLS BACK and we se LOUIS sitting at the kitchen

table. The table is covered with newspapers. On it, LOUIS is

putting together a complicated model boat, using glue and

tweezers. He's wearing glasses.

ELLIE comes in, wearing a nightgown. She watches him for awhile.

LOUIS (not looking around)

Hi, babe.

ELLIE:

Daddy, that Pet Sematary is there

because of the road, isn't it?

LOUIS looks around at her, surprised.

ELLIE:

That's what I think. I heard

Missy Dandridge tell Mom when

Church was fixed he wouldn't

cross the road so much.

LOUIS:

Well, it's always better to take

precautions--but I'm sure Church

will be all right, honey...

INT. JUST OUTSIDE THE KITCHEN DOOR

RACHEL is coming along with some dirty dishes. She hears voices

and stops, listening, her face troubled and afraid.

ELLIE (voice)

No he won't! Not in the end! He won't

be all right in the end no matter how

you fix 'im!

INT. LOUIS AND ELLIE

Ellis has started to cry.

ELLIE:

In the end he's gonna croak, isn't he?

LOUIS:

Lovey...Church might be still alive when

you're in a high school...and that's a

very long time.

ELLIE:

It doesn't seem long to me. It seems

short. I think the whole thing about

pets dying s-s-sucks!

Poor kid's bawling her eyes out now. LOUIS folds her into his arms

and she hugs him tightly, wanting his comfort.

LOUIS:

If it was up to me I'd let Church live

to be a hundred...but I don't make up

the rules.

ELLIE (muffled)

Well who does? God, I suppose. But he's

not God's cat! He's my cat! Let God get

His own, if He wants one! Not mine! Not

mine! Not--

She breaks down completely, sobbing, and LOUIS rocks her back and

forth.

INT. THE HALLWAY OUTSIDE THE KITCHEN, WITH RACHEL

She is crying silently.

INT. ELLIE'S BEDROOM NIGHT

She is a dimly perceived hump in the darkness. An oblong shaft of

light falls on her, illuminating her more clearly. She's asleep

with her teddy encircled by one arm and her thumb corked into her

mouth.

INT. THE DOORWAY, WITH RACHEL

RACHEL looks at her daughter with infinite love and then quietly

closes the door.

INT. LOUIS'S AND RACHEL'S BEDROOM NIGHT

LOUIS is in his pajamas, propped up on pillows on his side of the

bed. There a number of medical books scattered around him and he's

making notes from one as RACHEL comes in.

RACHEL:

She's finally asleep.

LOUIS:

She was a little over-excited,

that's all. Poor kid.

RACHEL:

It was that place. That creepy cemetery

up in the woods. Whatever disease the

kids in this town have got, I don't want

Ellie to catch it.

LOUIS:

Jesus, Rachel, what's got into you?

RACHEL:

Do you think I didn't hear her tonight,

crying as if her heart would break?

Here she is thinking Church is going to

die.

It should be clear to us by now that, despite her words, RACHEL is

much more upset than ELLIE was. LOUIS slowly puts his notebook

aside and caps his pen.

LOUIS:

Rachel...someday Church is going to

die.

RACHEL (whirls on him)

That is hardly the point! Church is

not going to die today, or tomorrow--

Never mind. I can see you don't have

the slightest idea what I'm talking about.

She stalks to the bathroom, which adjoins. LOUIS follows. She goes

in and slams the door. He goes for the knob.

LOUIS:

Rachel--!

SOUND:
CLICK OF THE LOCK.

LOUIS stares at the door, bewildered and upset.

EXT. ROUTE 9 NIGHT

Here comes a big Orinco truck, droning along, headlights glaring.

INT. LOUIS'S AND RACHEL'S BEDROOM

The headlights of the truck illuminate the room and we see LOUIS

and RACHEL asleep, each as far over to his/her own side as he/she

can get, with a big empty space in the middle.

Lights and TRUCK SOUNDS slowly fade.

INT. GAGE MORNING

Cheerful little clots of scrambled eggs are scattered all the way

across the tray of his high-chair--it looks a little like a map of

the Pacific islands done by a guy who only had a yellow crayon.

Now he scoops up a handful and throws them.

INT. THE KITCHEN TABLE, WITH ELLIE

Splat! Eggs on the serving plate of toast.

ELLIE:

Yee-uck! Gross!

INT. THE KITCHEN, A WIDER SHOT

RACHEL is at the sink, doing dishes (we see the blackboard with

its message near her).

LOUIS comes in, wearing a sport-coat and slacks, ready for his

first day on the job...and ELLIE is in a pretty first day of

school dress.

LOUIS:

He can't help it, babe. Emily Post is

going to be beyond him for a few years.

INT. BY THE KITCHEN DOOR

Here is the cat-carrier with CHURCH inside it. He waows unhappily.

INT. THE KITCHEN TABLE, WITH ELLIE AND GAGE

ELLIE gets down and goes across to the cat-carrier.

ELLIE:

I don't want him to get his nuts

cut, daddy! What if he dies?

INT. RACHEL AND LOUIS, BY THE SINK

LOUIS looks shocked and amused by ELLIE'S colorful choice of

words.

LOUIS:

Good God! Where'd you hear that?

INT. ELLIE

ELLIE:

Missy Dandridge. And she says it's a

operation!

INT. RACHEL AND LOUIS, BY THE SINK

LOUIS tries to kiss RACHEL'S mouth. She turns her head slightly so

he gets her cheek instead. She's still mad. LOUIS'S amusement

dies.

RACHEL:

Honey, Church will be fine.

INT. ELLIE, BY THE CAT CARRIER

ELLIE:

But what if he dies and has to

go to the Pet Sematary?

INT. LOUIS AND RACHEL, BY THE SINK

She gives him a look as if to say: "There! Now do you understand

what you did?"

RACHEL:

Don't be silly. Church is not going

to die.

LOUIS:

According to what Mr. Crandall says, the

road's a lot more dangerous than the

operation. Church will be just the same.

Well--almost the same--and we won't have

to worry about him getting turned into

catburgers by one of those damn Orinco

trucks.

At this RACHEL tightens up still more in that funny way--she's

actually angered by LOUIS'S reference to catburgers--but under the

anger we sense she is deeply shocked, as a prudish woman might be

shocked by a dirty joke. For RACHEL, that's just what death is.

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