Rope Page #9

and you'll be driving up in good weather.

l almost wish l were going with you.

lt might be rather exciting.

Driving at night always is,

but driving with you and Phillip now...

might have an additional

element of, uh... suspense.

You were right, Phillip.

Those books were tied clumsily.

- He's got it. He's got it!

- Phillip.

He knows. He knows. He knows.

- Alright, easy. I'll take care of it.

- No, you won't.

I'd just as soon kill you

as kill him - Sooner.

This is what you wanted,

somebody else to know.

Somebody else to see how brilliant

you are, just like in school.

I told you he'd find out,

but you had to have him here.

- Now we're done for!

- Shut up!

You made me do it

and I hate both of you. I was -

(Gunshot)

- Stupid babbling drunk. l'm sorry, Rupert.

- It's alright.

It's alright. If you really want to kill,

you don't miss, not at that range.

Of course he didn't want to kill you.

He didn't know what he was doing, any

more than he knew what he was saying.

I didn't want anyone to know this but

he's becoming an alcoholic, Rupert -

Brandon,

will you step over there, please?

Phillip's drunk, Rupert.

Surely you don't take those

nightmare ideas of his seriously?

Brandon. Brandon, I'm tired.

And in a way, I'm frightened, too.

- But I don't want to fence anymore.

- What are you going to do?

I don't want to,

but I'm gonna look inside that chest.

- Are you crazy?

- I hope so.

- With all my heart I hope I'm crazy.

- This has nothing to do with you.

- I've got to.

- Don't.

- I have to look inside that chest.

- Alright!

Go ahead and look.

I hope you like what you see.

Oh, no. No!

(Brandon) - Rupert -

- I couldn't believe it was true.

- Rupert, please -

- Please what?

Listen to me. Let me explain.

Explain?

Do you think you can explain that?

- Yes, to you, because you'll understand.

- Understand?

Rupert, remember the discussion

we had before with Mr Kentley?

Remember we said, 'the lives

of inferior beings are unimportant'?

Remember we said,

we've always said, you and I,

that moral concepts of good and evil

and right and wrong

don't hold for the intellectually superior.

- Remember, Rupert?

- Yes, I remember.

(Brandon) That's all we've done.

That's all Phillip and l have done.

He and I have lived

what you and I have talked.

I knew you'd understand, because,

don't you see, you have to.

Brandon -

Brandon, till this very moment,

this world and the people in it

have always been dark

and incomprehensible to me.

I've tried to clear my way with logic

and superior intellect.

And you've thrown my own words

right back in my face, Brandon.

You were right, too. If nothing else,

a man should stand by his words.

But you've given my words

a meaning that I never dreamed of!

And you've tried to twist them

into a cold, logical excuse

for your ugly murder!

Well, they never were that, Brandon,

and you can't make them that.

There must have been something

deep inside you from the very start

that let you do this thing,

but there's always been

something deep inside me

that would never let me do it,

- and would never let me be a party to it.

- What do you mean?

I mean that tonight you've made me

ashamed of every concept I ever had

of superior or inferior beings.

But I thank you for that shame,

because now I know that we are each

of us a separate human being, Brandon,

with the right to live and work

and think as individuals,

but with an obligation

to the society we live in.

By what right do you dare say

that there's a superior few

to which you belong?

By what right did you dare decide

that that boy in there was inferior

and therefore could be killed?

Did you think you were God, Brandon?

Is that what you thought

when you choked the life out of him?

Is that what you thought

when you served food from his grave?

I don't know what you thought,

but I know what you've done.

You've murdered!

You've strangled a fellow human being

who could live and love

as you never could.

- And never will again.

- What are you doing?

It's what society's going to do. I don't

know what that will be. I can guess.

And I can help. You're going to die,

Brandon, both of you!

You're going to die.

(Someone Running)

(Woman) Was that a gun?

(Man 1) Yes, there was a shot fired

(Woman) Must be from the next street,

(Man 2) Is someone fighting?

(Man 1) We think it came from there.

(Man 2) No, it was back there.

(Woman 2) Did you hear that gunfire?

(Man 2) Yes, they did, up there.

(Woman 3) There were shots fired!

(Woman 2) Yes, it came from there.

(Man 2) What is it up there?

(Woman 1) Must be a stickup.

(Man 1) Somebody should go up there.

(Man 2) I think that

somebody better call the police.

(Man 3)

Did any of you hear any shots fired?

(Man 2) Somebody better call

a squad car. Can l use your phone?

(Man 2) l'm not going up to look.

There might be a mad man up there!

(Indistinct Conversation

From Street Continues)

(Sirens Wailing)

(Man On Street)

Here comes a squad car now.

They're coming.

(Sirens Blaring)

(Piano)

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