The Big Blue Page #3

The Priest is in it.

JACQUES' Father and LOUIS take off their caps. JACQUES

takes the gold coin out of his pocket.

The pope nods to JACQUES. His father looks over at him

without understanding. The child quickly puts the coin

back in his pocket.

EXT. BOAT - DAY

LOUIS casts anchor. A few feet away, siting on a rock,

the kid with little round glasses is fishing. He turns

around to the boat. JACQUES smiles and waves at him.

ENZO waves back, obviously disturbed in his fishing session.

FATHER:

Jacques, come help me.

JACQUES helps his father into the diver's suit. The burly

man struggles into a pair of weighted lead shoes. He seems

sluggish and tired. JACQUES watches worriedly. He has a

weird feeling.

JACQUES:

You shouldn't dive everyday, Papa.

UNCLE LOUIS:

Then you shouldn't eat everyday,

Jacques.

His father catches him fondly by the scruff of the neck.

FATHER:

(winks at him)

Don't worry. When I'm tired down

there, the mermaids help me out.

Father and son smile at each other. Then his father puts

the helmet on. JACQUES joins LOUIS at the pump.

The heavy diver's suit disappears slowly underwater. The

gleaming copper helmet is the last thing to slide out of

sight.

JACQUES and LOUIS work the pump. Regular, steady motions

to maintain the flow of air.

UNCLE LOUIS:

(to Jacques)

Hey! Have you ever seen a mermaid?

JACQUES:

No.

They keep on pumping for a while, then...

UNCLE LOUIS:

I've seen them.

UNCLE LOUIS goes on. JACQUES doesn't budge.

UNCLE LOUIS:

Don't you want to know where?

JACQUES looks at the bottom to watch his father.

He doesn't answer.

UNDERWATER - JACQUES' FATHER

He moves along slowly in his cumbersome diving suit. He

is working the top of a rock outcrop on the sea floor. He

sees a sponge, hooks it; puts it in a bag that's attached

to a life line from the boat fastened to his waist. He

moves on.

INT. BOAT - JACQUES AND LOUIS PUMPING

They keep up the rhythm. Sitting on a rock at a distance,

ENZO watches them. UNCLE LOUIS is bored stiff.

UNCLE LOUIS:

Why don't you ask me?

JACQUES:

What?

UNCLE LOUIS:

Where I saw the mermaids?! Why

don't you ever ask any question?

I'm always the one asking the

question! We're sitting here like

two stones and I'm taking to myself.

Ask me something, Goddamnit!

JACQUES calmly looks over at him, slows down his pumping

and almost serenely asks him:

JACQUES:

(in a completely

flat tone)

Why did my mother leave?

UNCLE LOUIS seems disturbed by the question. A beat.

UNCLE LOUIS:

(ill at ease)

Come on now, pump!

UNDERWATER - JACQUES' FATHER

He is walking with difficulty at the bottom. His bag is

full of sponges. He seems to be having trouble breathing.

EXT. BOAT - JACQUES AND LOUIS

JACQUES and LOUIS are pumping silently. UNCLE LOUIS feels

obliged to answer JACQUES' question.

UNCLE LOUIS finally breaks the silence and explains:

UNCLE LOUIS:

Your mother didn't leave. She

went back to America, that's all.

It's her home. She's allergic to

this Island. She likes

refrigerators and machines that

clean the floor... so one day she

left. Woman are like that,

unpredictable, like the sea.

They haven't been paying attention to the bubbles gushing

at the surface. The air hose is being pulled down in a

very worrisome way.

JACQUES:

(with a slight grin)

So where did you see mermaids?

UNCLE LOUIS smiles.

UNCLE LOUIS:

In the bars in Athens!

Very pleased with himself, UNCLE LOUIS burst out laughing.

JACQUES shyly shrugs his shoulders. The air hose is

suddenly yanked down. JACQUES immediately sees all the

bubbles. He is white as a sheet.

JACQUES rushes to the side of the boat and starts yelling

down at his father. He grabs the life line and starts

pulling at it hysterically. The air hose snaps and starts

flying around like some crazy snake. JACQUES tries to

jump overboard. UNCLE LOUIS catches hold of his foot at

the last second. JACQUES is slapping the water with his

hands, trying to go down but UNCLE LOUIS won't let him.

JACQUES is yelling desperately. ENZO is now standing on

his rock, watching the scene, horrified.

The sea now looks as if it were boiling.

UNCLE LOUIS grabs hold of JACQUES and hugs him in his arms.

Standing on his rock, ENZO is now crying desperately.

ENZO:

(screaming)

Jacques! Jacques!

The last air bubbles are now breaking on the surface; it

looks as if they will never stop.

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