Red Planet Page #8

He's naked but for a towel around his waist. He's obviously fresh

from the shower.

He starts down to the bedroom to dress.

BLACK. And on it a third title card: CHURCH.

Over this the SOUND of a RINGING TELEPHONE.

LOUIS (voice)

Hello?

INT. THE CREED LIVING ROOM AFTERNOON

There's a bowling match on TV. LOUIS, dressed in his Saturday

afternoon grubs (jeans and a Maine sweatshirt), has the phone to

his ear.

JUD CRANDALL (phone filter)

Louis? 'Fraid you may have a spot of

trouble.

LOUIS (frowning)

Jud? What trouble?

INT. THE CRANDALL LIVING ROOM, WITH JUD

He's on the phone, looking out his window.

JUD:

Did you tell me Rachel took the

kids back to Chicago for a few days?

INT. THE CREED LIVING ROOM, WITH LOUIS

LOUIS:

For Ellie's birthday, yes. I didn't

go because her old man thinks I'm a

sh*t and the feeling is heartily re-

ciprocated...they'll be back tomorrow

night. Jud, what's this about?

INT. THE CRANDALL LIVING ROOM, WITH JUD

JUD:

Well, there's a dead cat over here on

the edge of my lawn, Louis. I think it

might be your daughter's.

INT. THE CREED LIVING ROOM, WITH LOUIS

LOUIS:

Church? Oh. Oh, Jesus.

EXT. THE CRANDALL HOUSE, MEDIUM-LONG

We're looking across from the CREED lawn. LOUIS waits for one of

those trucks to go blasting by and then crosses. It's cold and

windy. Downed autumn leaves fly.

LOUIS and JUD stand over a small furry body like mourners.

JUD (voice)

Well?

EXT. THE CAT'S BODY

It's lying on its belly and doesn't look much damaged. Hands--

LOUIS'S--come into the frame. He puts one hand under the cat's

head and lifts it so the open eyes, now a dull green, stare into

THE CAMERA. There's some blood on its ruff. That's all.

EXT. LOUIS AND JUD, ON THE EDGE OF THE CRANDALL LAWN

LOUIS:

It's Church.

JUD:

I'm sorry. At least it don't look like

he suffered.

LOUIS:

Ellie will, though. She'll suffer plenty.

From his jacket pocket he takes a green plastic garbage bag and

hands it to JUD. JUD holds the bag's mouth open on the ground

while LOUIS kind of shoves the body in. During this:

JUD:

Loved that cat pretty well, didn't she?

LOUIS:

Yes.

LOUIS twists the bag shut and puts one of those plastic ties on

it. Then he holds it up.

LOUIS:

Bagged cat. What a mess.

JUD:

You going to bury him in the Pet

Sematary?

LOUIS (a little bitter)

I guess that's what it's there for, huh?

During all of this JUD has grown peculiarly intense.

JUD:

Going to tell Ellie?

LOUIS:

I don't know.

JUD:

Seems like you told me about a promise

you made--

INT. THE CREED KITCHEN MORNING

GAGE is in his high chair. ELLIE, in her first-day-of-school

dress, is in her place. LOUIS is sitting at his own place staring,

hypnotized, at the middle of the table, where there is a large

serving dish. On the dish is scrambled eggs, strips of bacon, and

CHURCH'S corpse--staring eyes, bloody ruff and all.

RACHEL (impatiently)

Don't shilly-shally, Louis. Give the

little girl her promise.

EXT. THE CRANDALL LAWN, WITH JUD AND LOUIS

LOUIS (defensive)

That was a mistake. But Rachel...

she doesn't like to talk about

death, or even think of it. Her

younger sister died of spinal

meningitis when Rachel was eight.

Rachel was there when it happened.

Alone. I guess you could say it

made a complex.

JUD:

Cat's just as dead, Louis.

LOUIS (snaps)

Well that's a big help! (Pause) I'm

sorry, Jud.

JUD:

No need to apologize.

LOUIS:

Maybe when they call I'll just tell

Ellie I haven't seen the damn cat

around. You know?

JUD (after a long pause)

Maybe there's a better way.

EXT. THE START OF THE PATH TO THE PET SEMATARY, LONG EVENING

LOUIS and JUD cross the road from the CRANDALL side. LOUIS is

carrying the plastic bag in one hand and a flashlight in the

other. JUD has a pick and shovel in one hand and a flashlight of

his own in the other.

Evening shadows have grown long. It's maybe an hour until dark.

JUD and LOUIS stop near the replaced tire-swing.

EXT. LOUIS AND JUD

JUD has a Walkman clipped to the belt of his pants and earphones

slung around his neck.

LOUIS:

Jud, this is crazy. It's going to

be almost dark before we get back.

JUD:

It's going to be dark before we even

get where we're going, Louis. But

we can do it...and we're going to.

LOUIS:

But--

JUD:

Does she love the cat?

LOUIS:

Yes, but--

JUD:

Then come on.

He puts the earphones on, effectively forestalling further

argument, and pushes the PLAY button on the Walkman. We can hear

Marshall Crenshaw singing "Crystal Girl." JUD starts away. After a

moment, LOUIS follows.

EXT. THE PET SEMATARY AND THE BACK OF THE ARCH LATE EVENING

The SOUND of crickets...ree-ree-ree...

The SOUND of footfalls.

Faintly, the SOUND of Huey Lewis and the News, singing "Working

For A Living."

It's now almost twilight.

JUD and LOUIS enter the Pet Sematary. LOUIS is looking around

curiously.

LOUIS:

Well, folks, here we are, in Louis

Creed Dreamland.

JUD snaps off the Walkman and puts the earphones around his neck

again.

JUD:

What say, Louis?

LOUIS:

Nothing. (Pause) Do we plant him on

the outer circle or start a new one?

JUD:

We're still not where we're going.

He walks past LOUIS and toward the deadfall. LOUIS follows.

LOUIS:

What do you mean?

JUD:

The place we're going is on the

other side of that.

He points at the deadfall.

LOUIS:

We can't climb over that. We'll break

our necks!

JUD:

No. We won't. I have climbed it a time

or two before, and I know all the places

to step. Just follow me...move easy...don't

look down...and don't stop. If you stop,

you'll crash through for sure.

LOUIS:

I'm not climbing that.

JUD:

Give me the cat. I'll take care of it

myself.

He holds out his hand and LOUIS sees the old man means exactly as

he says. After a moment he says:

LOUIS:

Let's go.

JUD starts up one side of the deadfall, and in spite of its

snarled tangles, he mounts as easily as a man climbing a flight of

stairs. After a few second, LOUIS follows.

LOUIS (low)

Thank God my Blue Cross is paid up.

EXT. THEIR FEET

First JUD'S pass THE CAMERA, then LOUIS'S, partly obscured by the

swinging cat-bag. Their feet unerringly find the right branches

and just as unerringly miss holes which look like ankle-breakers.

EXT. LOUIS

He's grinning, exhilarated.

LOUIS:

God, this is amazing!

EXT. JUD

There are beads of sweat on the old man's face. He looks both

stern and a little scared.

JUD:

Just don't stop and--

EXT. LOUIS

He looks down.

EXT. LOUIS'S FEET

A dead branch snaps under one of them like a gunshot and that foot

plunges down maybe six inches.

EXT. LOUIS

He lurches to the edge of balance, then regains it.

LOUIS:

And don't look down. Right.

He continues.

EXT. THE DEADFALL, REVERSE TWILIGHT

JUD reaches the top and starts down the far side. LOUIS reaches

the top.

EXT. LOUIS

LOUIS (amazed)

Holy...!

EXT. BIG GOD WOODS, LOUIS'S POV

In the dying glow of twilight, this should be a mystic, awe-

inspiring shot. There's no more scrub underbrush and junk pines

and juniper-bracken here; ancient firs rise almost like Sequoias.

The sunset light shafts among them. This is a real forest... an

old forest. And winding upward among the trees along that needle-

carpeted floor, clearly marked by large white stones, the path

goes on.

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