The Cider House Rules Page #9

EDNA:

No one's going to hurt you, dear.

Have you come to visit us? We have

beds, you know. Have you had any

breakfast? What's your name?

The girl won't speak; when Edna touches the girl's forehead,

she pulls back her hand in alarm.

INT. OPERATING ROOM - MORNING

Edna is holding the head of the frightened young girl. The

girl is feverishly hot and whimpering; she keeps looking at

her feet in the stirrups as if she's an animal caught in a

trap. Larch and Homer stand on either side of her.

EDNA:

Her temperature is a hundred and

four.

LARCH:

(very gently)

How old are you, dear? Thirteen?

The girl shakes her head. The pain stabs her again.

LARCH:

Twelve? Are you twelve, dear?

(the girl nods)

You have to tell me how long you've

been pregnant.

(the girl freezes)

Three months?

Another stab of pain contorts the girl.

LARCH:

Are you *four* months pregnant?

The girl holds her breath while he examines her abdomen;

Homer very delicately examines the girl's abdomen, too.

HOMER:

(whispers to Larch)

She's at least *five*.

The girl goes rigid as Larch bends into position.

LARCH:

Dear child, it won't hurt when I

look. I'm just going to *look*.

Homer assists Larch with the speculum.

LARCH:

Tell me:
you haven't done something

to yourself, have you?

TWELVE-YEAR-OLD GIRL

It wasn't me!

LARCH:

Did you go to someone else?

TWELVE-YEAR-OLD GIRL

He said he was a doctor. I would

never have stuck that inside me!

HOMER:

Stuck *what* inside you?

Homer holds the girl still--she is babbling on and on while

Larch is examining her.

TWELVE-YEAR-OLD GIRL

It wasn't me! I would never do no

such thing! I wouldn't stick that

inside me! It wasn't me!

Larch, his wild eye peering into the speculum, makes an

audible gasp from the shock of what he sees inside the girl.

Larch tells Homer to have a look. Larch then whispers

something to Edna; she brings the ether bottle and cone

quickly. Larch starts putting the cone in place, over the

nose and mouth of the frightened girl. Homer bends to the

speculum.

LARCH:

(to the twelve-year-

old)

Listen, you've been very brave. I'm

going to put you to sleep--you won't

feel it anymore. You've been brave

enough.

Homer stares into the speculum; he closes his eyes. The girl

is resisting the ether, but her eyelids flutter closed.

EDNA:

That's a heavy sedation.

LARCH:

You *bet* it's a heavy sedation! The

fetus is unexpelled, her uterus is

punctured, she has acute peritonitis,

and there's a foreign object. I think

it's a crochet hook.

Homer has pulled off his surgical mask. He leans over the

scrub sink, splashing cold water on his face.

LARCH:

(to Homer)

If she'd come to you four months ago

and asked you for a simple D and C,

what would you have decided to do?

*Nothing*? *This* is what doing

nothing gets you, Homer. It means

that someone else is going to do the

job--some moron who doesn't know

*how*!

Homer, furious, leaves the operating room. Edna lifts the

girl's eyelids for Larch so that he can see how well under

the ether she is.

LARCH:

I wish you'd come to *me*, dear child.

You should have come to me, instead.

INT. CORRIDOR - MORNING

Homer storms down the hall, then stops, pulling off his white

coat. Angry, pacing, he kicks at nothing.

EXT. ST. CLOUD'S - GRAVEYARD - EARLY MORNING

Buster and Homer are digging the pit. Larch paces by the

coffin of the 12-year-old girl.

BUSTER:

What'd she die of?

LARCH:

(inhales deeply)

She died of *secrecy*, she died of

*ignorance*...

Buster nods, but he's totally bewildered.

LARCH:

(to Homer)

If you expect people to be responsible

for their children, you have to give

them the right to decide whether or

not to *have* children. Wouldn't you

agree?

Buster doesn't get it. Homer has heard this too many times;

he rolls his eyes.

HOMER:

How about expecting people to be

responsible enough to control

themselves to begin with?

LARCH:

How about this child? You expect

*her* to be responsible?

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes