The Bad Seed Page #5
- APPROVED
- Year:
- 1956
- 129 min
- 4,188 Views
they used to sing of me.
"Hasn't got much sense.
Let's write her name on the privy fence."
Children can be nasty, don't you think?
Please, Hortense.
You're so attractive, Christine.
You got exquisite taste in clothes,
is what.
Of course, you got amples of money
to buy them with.
What I came to see you about...
I asked Miss Fern
what happened to Claude's medal...
- ...and she wouldn't tell me a thing.
- I don't know...
You know more than you're telling.
You're a sly one because of the school.
You don't want the school
to get a bad name.
But you know more than you're telling,
Miss "Butter Wouldn't Melt" Fern.
There's something funny
about the whole thing.
I said so over and over to Mr. Daigle.
He married quite late, you know,
in his 40s.
Of course, I wasn't exactly what the
fella calls a spring chicken, either.
We won't have any more children.
No more.
Please, Hortense,
let me take you home where you can rest.
Rest? Sleep?
When you can't sleep at night,
you can't sleep in the daylight.
I just lie, and I look at the water
where he went down.
Christine, there is something funny
about this whole thing.
I heard your little girl was the last one
to see him alive.
Would you ask her
about those last few minutes...
...and tell me what she says?
Maybe she remembers some little thing.
Oh, I don't care how small it is.
No matter how small.
You know something?
Miss Fern dyes her hair.
She knows something
and she won't tell me.
Oh, my poor little Claude...
- ...what did I do to you?
- Oh, Hortense, I'll speak...
Somebody took that medal off his shirt.
It couldn't have come off by accident.
I pinned it on myself and it had
a little lock with a clasp in the back.
It was no accident.
You can wear such simple things,
can't you?
I never could wear simple things.
I couldn't even buy them.
When I got them home,
they didn't look simple.
He was such a lovely, dear little boy.
He used to say I was his sweetheart...
when he grew up, and I used to laugh so.
"You'll forget about me long before then.
You'll find a prettier girl and marry her."
And you know what he said then?
"No, I won't...
...because there's not a prettier girl
in the whole world than you are."
If you don't believe me,
you ask the lady who comes in and cleans.
She was present at the time.
Why do you put your arms around me?
You don't give a hoot about me.
You're a superior person and all that.
I'm just...
God forgive me.
There were bruises on his hands...
...and that peculiar crescent-shaped mark
on his forehead...
...that the undertaker covered up.
He must've bled before he died.
That's what the doctor said.
And where's the medal?
Who took the medal?
I have a right to know
what happened to the penmanship medal!
If I knew, I'd have a pretty good idea
what happened to him.
I know why
you put your arms around me.
I'm as good as you are.
Claude was better than your girl.
He won the medal. She didn't.
I'm drunk.
It's a pleasure to stay drunk
when your little boy's been killed.
Maybe I better lay down.
We'll go home. You can lie down there.
Why not?
Why not go home and lay down?
Goodbye, all.
- Sorry.
- Oh, who cares what they think?
I drank a half a bottle of bonded corn
in little sips, so I'm drunk as I can be.
Poor woman.
I'll be getting back.
Thank you for bearing with her
and with me.
I'll, um...
I'll talk to Rhoda. I...
I know there isn't anything
that will help that poor creature...
...but I'll do what I can.
We both have to do what we can.
- Goodbye, Mrs. Penmark.
- Goodbye, Miss Fern.
She'll have to live with
this until she dies.
Yes, until she dies.
Thank you.
Rhoda. - Yes, Mother?
Will you come in a moment, please?
May I just finish this last page?
- Very well, but then I wanna talk to you.
- Yes, Mother.
Hello?
Yes, speaking.
Kenneth?
Oh, darling, I am so glad you called.
Honey, what was the accident
at Rhoda's school?
was drowned?
The little boy who was drowned?
Well, has it affected Rhoda any?
Oh, no. No, Rhoda's her usual self.
She's right outside where I can see her.
I just talked to her.
I miss you both
and love you both so much.
Aw, do you really, darling?
Well, I hope it won't be too much longer.
Well, it'll be at least four weeks.
Oh. Heh.
Four weeks is a long, long time.
Well, um, write to me as...
- Kenneth.
- Yes, darling?
I love you.
Colonel
Penmark, the general is waiting, sir.
I'll be right there.
Honey, the general just buzzed for me.
All right, dear,
then don't keep him waiting.
Goodbye, darling.
Give my love to Rhoda.
Bye.
Oh, Monica.
Don't be alarmed. I'm just in and out.
This is not another psychiatric session.
Come on in, please.
It's Rhoda's locket I'm using
for an excuse.
where they'll change the stone...
...and clean it in one day.
I'll get the locket.
- I think it's in her treasure box.
- Good.
They didn't agree to this
without a little pressure.
- In fact, I had to threaten them.
- Oh, not really.
You don't know the old busybody.
She uses pressure, influence,
bribery, blackmail.
And I had to pull them all
on old Mr. Finchley.
He said this little job would take
at least two weeks.
But I told him straight...
...I'm handling
the community chest again this year and...
Oh, you found it. The darling.
She keeps her treasures so carefully.
It's a kind of miserly delight.
- Shall I wrap it?
- No, no, darling. I'll just drop it in my purse.
My horoscope says that today is the day
for paying attention to small objects...
Now I take to the air, dear Christine.
Only do forgive me for bursting in
and rushing out.
- No ceremony, please.
- No, no, darling. Be seeing you.
What did you want
to see me about, Mother?
So you had the medal after all.
Claude Daigle's medal.
- Where did you find it?
- How did the medal...
...happen to be hidden under the lining in
the drawer of your treasure chest, Rhoda?
Now, I want the truth.
Mother, when we move
into our new house...
...can we have a scuppernong arbor?
Can we?
Oh, it's so shady and pretty.
- And I love sitting under it...
- Answer my question.
I'm not as innocent about what went
on at the picnic as you may think.
Miss Fern has told me a great deal.
Don't make up any stories for my benefit.
What was Claude Daigle's medal
doing in your drawer?
It certainly didn't get there by itself.
I'm waiting for your answer.
I don't know how the medal
got there, Mother. How could I?
You know how the medal got there,
you know very well how it got there.
Did you go on the wharf
during the picnic?
- Yes, Mother. I went there once.
- Before or after you were bothering Claude?
I wasn't bothering Claude, Mother.
- Why did you go on the wharf?
- It was real early, when we first got there.
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"The Bad Seed" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 18 Nov. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/the_bad_seed_19713>.
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