Sounder Page #14

REBECCA:

I guess they musta sent 'im to another camp.

They all start moving for the house.

REBECCA:

What's that you carryin'?

DAVID LEE:

Some books Miss Johnson gave me.

REBECCA:

Who's Miss Johnson?

DAVID LEE:

Miss Johnson is a teacher, and...

They move on through the yard.

INT. KITCHEN-SITTING ROOM - DAY

They enter -- DAVID and the other children sit at the table -- REBECCA begins

to prepare something for the boy to eat.

DAVID LEE:

So when I left, she gave me these books.

REBECCA:

Miss Johnson must be a real kindly lady.

DAVID LEE:

She is, Mama...

(pause)

When the fall comes, she wants me to come to

her school.

REBECCA:

How can you do that? You don't live anywhere

near that school.

DAVID LEE:

She says I can come live with her while school

goin' on, and come back home every time there

ain't no school.

REBECCA:

But who's gonna help me here with the house and

in the field?

She puts some food on the table before him -- he hesitates before eating --

she is about to exit through the back door -- stops in the doorway and turns

back to him.

REBECCA:

If your father is back by then it's all right

with me if it'll be all right with him...

REBECCA moves out just like that, leaving the boy thrown and bewildered for a

moment -- he looks in the direction of his mother's room for awhile and then

slowly starts to eat, with his appetite practically gone -- JOSIE MAE and

EARL on the other side of the table are staring at him.

DAVID LEE:

Whatcha starin' at?

JOSIE MAE:

Tell us some more 'bout the trip!

EXTs. CORNFIELD-WEIGHING STATION - DAY

A hot, mid-July day -- late afternoon -- REBECCA, DAVID LEE, JOSIE MAE and

EARL are working the mill.

DAVID LEE points with his fingers in giving out assignments to JOSIE MAE and

EARL. They run across the fields to a particular row of corn, with croker

sacks in their hands.

JOSIE MAE and EARL are behind REBECCA, picking the corn in armfuls -- run

back to the stationary place where they left their croker sacks, and drop the

corn into the sacks.

EXT. CORNFIELD - DAY

A white man in a wagon rolls in the aisle between the rows of corn -- stops

the wagon at each sack, where REBECCA and DAVID LEE load the corn up on the

wagon.

EXT. WEIGHING STATION - DAY

The wagon rolls up to the weighing station on MR. HOWARD'S premises and comes

to a halt -- REBECCA and DAVID LEE climb down from the wagon. MR. HOWARD is

there.

REBECCA and DAVID LEE unload the sacks from the wagon, and put them down on

the scale, while the man who was driving the wagon writes down the weight

numbers on a piece of paper --

INT. THE KITCHEN - NIGHT

REBECCA, JOSIE MAE and EARL are gathered around DAVID LEE as he slowly

completes writing a letter -- he sits back to read it.

DAVID LEE:

(reads)

"Dear Miss Johnson. How are you? I am doing

okay. I told my mama, my brother and my sister

about you, and they like you too. I can't make

this letter too long because I have work to do.

Bless you, David Lee Morgan"

They all look to each other with big triumphant smiles of pride on their

faces.

REBECCA:

Son, you sure write a good fine letter!

EXT. THE WOODS - DAY

DAVID LEE walks through the woods with a book in his hand -- he stops, sits

down at the base of a tree, when suddenly he reacts as if he hears something

-- he rises and rushes away -- he runs, stops and looks around him, in search

of someone, and then he takes off again at high speed along a pathway of the

woods. His speed builds and builds, and suddenly he breaks the woods, and the

night, into high grass field.

EXT. GRASS FIELD - DAY

It is broad daylight, and the sun is shining -- DAVID LEE wipes his eyes and

looks about the field of high grass -- he hears a voice and takes off running

until he breaks the high grass into open field.

EXT. OPEN FIELD - DAY

He sees his father, with SOUNDER at his side, standing about three hundred

feet away from him, smiling. He rushes to his father -- they embrace and then

they start to run across the open field, the three of them. They run and they

run, keeping pace with each other, as their speed increases. DAVID LEE drops

his book, stops to pick it up -- after he straightens up with the book to

continue the running, he stops in his tracks -- his father and SOUNDER are

nowhere to be seen -- he looks out over the entire field -- they are not

there.

INT. CHILDREN'S ROOM - NIGHT

DAVID LEE wakes up -- he looks to EARL and JOSIE MAE, and then into the empty

darkness of the room, and wonders; where did the dream come from -- where did

it go to --

EXT. THE PORCH - DAY

Later the same day, DAVID LEE is lying on his stomach, reading from one of

his books. REBECCA is doing some sewing -- SOUNDER comes from around the side

of the house, hobbling back and forth to the road and back.

REBECCA:

What's wrong with him, David?

DAVID LEE:

It's the heat.

REBECCA:

It's when the heat is so bad, dogs go crazy.

DAVID LEE:

He won't go mad -- he's just lookin' for a

cooler spot.

REBECCA sees a lone figure upon the landscape way out from the house emerge

as a speck and slowly grow into a ripply form through the heat waves -- JOSIE

MAE and EARL come from around the house and sit down in the yard.

REBECCA:

Who's that to be fightin' scorchin' heat out in

open land like that?

SOUNDER moves about restlessly in the yard -- and then suddenly the voice of

the great coon hound breaks the sultry August deadness and dashes across the

road toward the figure. REBECCA jumps to her feet.

REBECCA:

He's gone mad! Stop him, David!

DAVID LEE takes off after SOUNDER -- his voice is ringing at a peak as he

keeps moving until he arrives at the figure. REBECCA sees the man kneel and

take the dog into his arms, and now the light hits at the top of her mind.

REBECCA:

Oh my God, it's Nathan! It's Nathan!!!

She drops everything and charges off the porch with JOSIE MAE and EARL,

making haste behind her.

MEDIUM ANGLE - REBECCA, JOSIE MAE and EARL - PORCH POV

As they dash across the road and into the field, almost in one physical

motion.

QUICK PULL TO:

FULL LONG ANGLE - MORGAN FAMILY - PORCH POV

DAVID LEE falls into his father's arms -- REBECCA embraces and holds him

close to her -- JOSIE MAE and EARL move into his embrace -- SOUNDER moves

back and forth around them -- DAVID LEE jumps up and down with joy -- They

start moving toward the house -- NATHAN moves with an accented limp in his

right leg, and then they stop.

SMASH TO:

EXT. THE FIELD - CLOSE FACE ANGLE - DAVID LEE - DAY

DAVID LEE:

What's wrong with your leg, Daddy?

CLOSE FACE ANGLE - NATHAN LEE

NATHAN LEE:

Got it hurt in a dynamite blast, son. The dirty

dogs had no more use for me, so they let me

have time off my sentence, and let me come home.

PULL TO:

FULL ANGLE - EVERYONE

REBECCA:

The most important thing is that you're home!

(pause)

We was gonna have cold eatin' tonight, 'cause

of the heat, but now, I'm goin' to cook!

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