The Glass Castle Page #6

but I won't ever know

"because it's

impossible to breathe

"when you're drowning in..."

He cusses.

"It's impossible to breathe

when you're drowning in sh*t."

(LAUGHING)

(BANGS ON ROOF)

ERMA:
Keep it down!

This is gonna be a fun week.

(TV PLAYING INDISTINCTLY)

You bring a sharpener?

Yeah, in my bag downstairs.

Okay.

(BRIAN AND ERMA

TALKING INDISTINCTLY)

ERMA:
Stop worrying.

BRIAN:
No, Erma, please.

ERMA:
You do what I tell you.

BRIAN:
Stop it!

ERMA:
Just be quiet, boy.

Listen to your grandmother.

No, stop it! ERMA:

Where are you going?

ERMA:
Hold still! Hey!

Get away from him! Lori!

The boy's britches

needed fixin'!

I know what I saw.

She's a pervert!

You little b*tch...

Hey, hey, hey! Let's

just calm down, okay?

(GASPS) (GLASSES CLATTER)

(GRUNTS)

JEANNETTE:
Come on,

hold her down!

Stay the hell off of

me, ya little beasts!

LORI:
Nobody messes

with our brother!

(ALL SHOUTING)

No! No! Put me down!

Dad,

we were just

protecting ourselves.

Erma was grabbing his...

Shut up!

I don't wanna hear

another damn word

about whatever did

or didn't happen!

It don't matter!

Brian's a man. He can

take care of himself.

Can't you?

Let's go.

Are you comin'?

Come on, kids. Let's go inside.

Come on, guys, let's go.

Come on.

Get out.

Not if you're gonna drink.

You promised.

(DOOR OPENS)

(DOOR SHUTS)

I'm not going.

Wait, wait.

Don't! Please, Dad!

(CRYING) You...

(JEANNETTE SPEAKING

INDISTINCTLY)

See what you do?

REX:
It was one damn drink!

ROSE MARY:
That's a

lie, and you know it!

I can smell it on your sweater!

JEANNETTE:
Come on, let's go.

REX:
You a bloodhound

all of a sudden?

Why don't you go sniff your

own butt for a change,

'cause that ain't smellin'

too pretty these days!

That's very funny!

You're supposed to be

at work right now!

You're gonna lose another job!

Why don't you go get a job

instead of wastin' your

time on all this crap!

What the hell is this anyway?

ROSE MARY:
Abstract

expressionism!

Well, here's some

realism for you!

Wow. You're just

like your mother!

(GRUNTS)

Don't you touch me!

Get back here, castrating whore!

ROSE MARY:
Get off me!

REX:
Come here!

(SHOUTING) (CLATTERING)

Maureen, you wanna jump rope?

Yeah.

(SHOUTING CONTINUES)

Ready?

Go.

(LOUD THUD) ROSE MARY: No! No!

REX:
Come on! ROSE MARY: No!

Get up here, God damn it...

JEANNETTE:
Mom!

Rose Mary! JEANNETTE: Hold on!

(ROSE MARY SCREAMING) (GASPING)

Mom! ROSE MARY:
Help me!

Help! God, help me!

LORI:
Don't let her fall!

JEANNETTE:
What did

you do to her?

REX:
I didn't do anything!

Get your hands off me!

I don't think you want me to let go...

Ow! She bit me!

ROSE MARY:
Pull me in!

REX:
God damn it!

(ROSE MARY GRUNTING)

ROSE MARY:
He tried to kill me!

Mom, are you okay?

(PANTING) I'm okay.

What do you mean, is she okay?

Am I okay? She just bit me!

Well, why did you push her?

I didn't push her! She jumped!

I swear to God!

You know, she's crazy!

You saw, she just bit me!

I think she broke...

(GRUNTING) REX:
Jesus!

(GRUNTING)

(PANTING)

(BOTH LAUGHING)

You are one hell of a

woman, you know that?

And you're a stinking,

rotten drunk.

But you love this stinking,

rotten drunk, don't you?

(BOTH MOANING) Oh, Rex...

(PANTING)

(CONTINUES LAUGHING)

(SIGHS)

Hey, sweetie.

You have to leave him.

You know, when your dad

first met my mother,

he asked her why she didn't have

any of my paintings

on her walls,

and she said she didn't

want to encourage

a habit with no future in it.

He looked her right

in the eye and said,

"To hell with the future!

"Masterpieces like these

"should be on

display right now."

So he took down

all her paintings

and put up mine.

He's never going to change.

You have to leave him.

I can't.

YOUNG LORI:
Maureen, do

you have any queens?

YOUNG MAUREEN:
Go Fish!

Brian, do you have any nines?

YOUNG BRIAN:
Go Fish!

We don't need them.

They're never going

to take care of us,

so we have to do it ourselves.

We'll all go to school

and start saving up

so we can move out

when we're old enough.

If we're going to

make it out of this,

we have to do it together.

Deal?

We are getting the

heck out of here.

(CHEERING)

(BLOWING WHISTLE)

(CAMERA CLICKING)

(INDISTINCT)

(INDISTINCT)

Miss Bivens asked me to be

editor of the paper next year.

What? That's amazing!

(CHUCKLES)

I swear, by the

time you graduate,

you're gonna have every school

in New York fightin' over you.

(SNIGGERS)

They're here.

Don't worry about us.

We'll be fine.

Yeah.

Hey...

(CHUCKLES) I left

five bucks in there.

Start savin' up. You're next.

Dad's in the backyard.

I think it's clear.

(CHUCKLES)

I love you guys!

(GIGGLING)

YOUNG MAUREEN:
Love you.

All right, bye!

JEANNETTE:
Okay, bye!

Love you! Love you!

(DOOR OPENS)

(DOOR SHUTS)

GIRL:
Lori, we need to go!

REX:
Hey! Where the hell

you think you're goin'?

Guess it wasn't clear.

- Hey! Lori!

- Talkin' to you, girl!

Get your ass outta that car now!

Drive, go!

(PANTING)

(INHALES SHARPLY)

You know why she left?

Huh?

Brian? You know why she left?

Maureen?

You gonna leave, too?

Answer me.

Answer me!

Rex... REX:
Shut up!

No, sir.

(SIGHS)

Somebody take out

the damn trash!

(PHONE RINGS)

JEANNETTE:
Lori?

LORI:
Coast clear?

Yeah. He's passed out.

How is everything?

LORI:
Well, last night

at the restaurant

I met a writing

professor from Barnard.

I told her you were gonna

apply to her school,

and she was really

nice about it.

She said she'd be happy

to read your stuff.

Are you serious?

Yeah. She said to call her

when you get up here.

That's amazing.

How's the escape fund looking?

Oh, it's getting close.

I think I've baby-sat every

demon child in Welch by now.

You wanna hear? Mmm-hmm.

(RATTLING)

Sounds like freedom.

She sounds fat. (LAUGHING)

Oh, you're really gonna

love it here, Jeannette.

It feels like you're breathing

for the first time.

I don't think he's

gonna let me go.

Hey, come on. Don't

even think about that.

(GLASS SHATTERING) It

doesn't matter anyway.

You can do whatever...

What was that?

Hold on. Can you call me back?

Okay.

I'm sorry.

Erma died.

(INDISTINCT CONVERSATIONS)

Do you think Erma ever

did something to Dad?

Like what?

Like what she did to Brian.

(SIGHS)

You can't think about

things like that.

It'll make you crazy.

I'm gonna meet you back at home.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(INDISTINCT CONVERSATIONS)

Dad... I'm sorry about Erma.

When it's time to go, you go.

I'm not talkin' about that.

"It's impossible to breathe

when you're drowning in sh*t."

ROBBIE:
Ready to

lose that 40 bucks?

(LAUGHS)

ROBBIE:
You can pay me

now or pay me later.

You still believe

in your ol' man?

Do you wanna help

me hustle this guy?

Make some money?

Yeah, okay, so...

Long as you stroke his

ego, he'll keep playin'.

I'll pull the plug the

second we've drained him.

(CLEARS THROAT)

You know the drill.

Robbie!

ROBBIE:
Hey, Rex.

(INDISTINCT CONVERSATIONS)

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