Sister Act Page #13

Willy heads for the fax machine. Vince regains his

composure, and picks up his own phone; he pushes a button.

VINCE:

Sorry, baby... you are? Totally? Not a

stitch?... Yeah, I'm naked too...

inside...

INT. CONVENT CRAFTS ROOM

This is a large, open room where the nuns create various

gift items which the convent sells to support itself.

Several nuns sit at a table, diligently hand-painting

Christmas cards and making Christmas tree ornaments.

On the other side of the room is a large, free-standing

loom, which resembles a grand piano. The loom is wooden; a

tapestry is half-completed. Mary Patrick is seated at the

loom, which is a complicated mechanism. Christy stands

beside her.

MARY PATRICK:

The minute I saw you. I said to myself,

she's a weaver. Have you ever used a

loom?

CHRISTY:

Not in years.

MARY PATRICK:

Well, it all comes back, in just a

jiffy. I'm working on a wall-hanging, of

the convent.

CHRISTY:

Why?

MARY PATRICK:

To sell, of course. I hate to say it,

but we're in terrible trouble here at St.

Katherine's. We need a new roof, the

furnace is going, and there's no money.

CHRISTY:

But don't you get money? From the

Vatican?

Page 44.

MARY PATRICK:

Mary Clarence. Goose. We're completely

self-supporting. Like all convents. Like

yours.

CHRISTY:

Oh, right. At my old place, we used

to... wash cars. Groom dogs. So... nice

loom.

MARY PATRICK:

Isn't it lovely? Now I'll demonstrate,

and then you can hop right in.

(as she deftly works

the loom)

You just draw your beater in, keep it

pressed against the pick, and open the

shed. Then pass your shuttle, beat, and

open the next shed. Shuttle. beat, beat,

shuttle, beat, shed. Keep tension on the

warp. Is that clear?

CHRISTY:

(pretending to be

fascinated)

Just about. Show me again.

MARY PATRICK:

You betcha.

CRAFTS ROOM - AN HOUR LATER

ANGLE on the wall hanging, which has progressed

considerably.

ANGLE on Christy, leaning against the wall, thumbing

through a magazine.

ANGLE on Mary Patrick, hard at work at the loom.

MARY PATRICK:

Shuttle, beat, shed. And watch your

heddles.

CHRISTY:

I love my heddles. Show me again.

Mother Superior appears.

MOTHER SUPERIOR:

Mary Clarence -- how is your weaving

progressing?

MARY PATRICK:

Oh, she's doing just fine, Reverend

Mother -

Page 45.

CHRISTY:

Really catching on.

MOTHER SUPERIOR:

Good. Mary Patrick, I need you in the

office. Mary Clarence, carry on.

Mother Superior gestures to the loom. Christy sits at the

loom, and waves as Mother Superior and Mary Patrick exit.

Christy stares at the loom; a look of horror crosses her

face. She has not been paying attention to Mary Patrick's

instructions. She cracks her knuckles, as if she were

about to play the piano. She grabs two parts of the loom,

at random. She moves these parts.

ANGLE on the loom. As a result of Christy's movements,

the loom collapses, piece by piece. The tapestry unravels,

the many skeins of wool snap, and the mechanical apparatus

disintegrates, until finally the entire loom shudders and

falls to the floor, as Christy watches, aghast.

INT. CORRIDOR

Mother Superior is striding down the hall; she is livid.

Christy trails behind her, trying to keep up.

CHRISTY:

I'm sorry, I'm not a weaver!

MOTHER SUPERIOR:

Months of work, and the loom, absolutely

ruined!

CHRISTY:

Look, this isn't my kind of thing! I

wasn't cut out to make little tapestries,

or knit little sweaters! I don't do that!

I'm a star!

Mother Superior stops dead in her tracks; she turns and

stares at Christy. Then she smiles, in a rather

frightening manner.

MONTAGE - CHRISTY

A)on her hands and knees. scrubbing the stone floor of a

convent hallway.

B)crawling along between the pews in the chapel, oiling

every inch of wood with a bottle of polish and a rag.

C)crawling along the convent roof, cleaning out gutters

with a trowel. She discovers a dead rat in one of the

gutters.

Page 46

D)sewing; she is repairing a hole in a habit. The CAMERA

PULLS BACK. Christy is sitting in a small stone room,

surrounded by piles of torn habits, linen and other

mending.

INT. MOTHER SUPERIOR'S OFFICE

Christy is on the phone in the darkened office. She keeps

checking the door, to make sure no one is listening.

CHRISTY:

(into phone)

Let me talk to Detective Eddie Mulcahy.

It's an emergency. Real bad.

EDDIE'S VOICE

Mulcahy.

Christy cups her hand around the phone and speaks quietly

and frantically. INTERCUT between Christy and Eddie.

CHRISTY:

Eddie, you've got to get me out of here.

EDDIE:

Not again. You can't keep calling.

Somebody's going to catch on to where you

are.

CHRISTY:

But I'm going insane! All these people

do is pray and work, work and pray! I

don't get it -- when's the weekend? They

have gruel, Eddie, that's what they call

food! Gruel -- it's like Alpo for nuns!

I sleep in a cell, on a board, and I pray

five times a days Do you know what I

pray for, Eddie, do you have any idea?

Check your crotch, Eddie --anything fall

off yet? Get me outta her!

Rate this script:4.3 / 3 votes