The Lovely Bones Page #4

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Did I mention taxes? Len, you can tell a lot about a person from taxes.

Please will you just stop it now? Will you just stop!

Can't you just leave it alone?

Jack, I know it's been 11 months. I know you've been trying to deal with this in your own way but...

She's not coping very well.

She needs help, Jack.

She needs someone to help her

get through this.

Grandma is here! Grandma! Grandma is here!

What's my mother here?

- Look, you're not coping, ok?

Len's worried, I'm worried, your mother offered to help.

You invited her here?

- Darling.

Hello, mother.

- Look at you! Are you eating?

Is this all of it?

- Don't be ridiculous! That's just my make-up.

Oh, you're as handsome as Hell, Jack.

- Lindsey, honey, are you going to say hello?

The child hates me.

So, What will it be, Jack?

Actually, I'm not drinking these days.

- Ah, that's your problem in a nutshell.

Are we still a family?

- Of course we're a family!

Your mother's in crisis,

your father's a wreck.

What does that make you?

I'm in charge.

He walked through the woods, looking

for rabbits.

Then he sees three. He grabs his gun,

looks and aims.

And then, a giant puff of smoke -

he doesn't see them any more...

Then he realizes that his gun,

it was out of bullets. Then he runs.

You're the Salmon girl, right?

Ok.... O-k!

Holiday!

Grandma, I know where Susie is.

Yeah, Susie is gone to heaven, sweetheart.

- Lindsey said there is no heaven.

alright then, she's dead.

You might be dead soon.

- Why do you say that?

Because you're old.

too much of that polish.

And anyway, nothing's going to happen to me.

You know why?

Because I take my medicine, everyday.

Grandma, she's here.

What?

- Susie.

Susie's in the in-between.

iI was in the blue horizon, between

heaven and earth.

The days were unchanging.

And every night, I dreamed

the same dream.

The smell of damp earth. The scream that no one heard.

The sound of my heart beating, like a hammer against cloth.

And I would hear them calling.

The voices of the dead.

I wanted to follow them.

To find a way out.

But I would always come back

to the same door.

And I was afraid.

I knew if I went in there...

I would never come out.

My murderer could live in

one moment for a long time.

He could feed off the memory

over, and over again.

He was animal.

Faceless.

Infinite.

But then he would feel it.

The emptiness returning.

And the need would rise in him again.

Go.

- Here in?

When summer came, he noticed young

lovers would sneak into the cornfield.

He began to follow them, and watch.

Will you come to bed?

Yeah, soon.

Ohh, Buckley did this, right?

- Correct, he said that this is our house...

This is the police station, and that's you.

- That's me?

Mmm hmm!

Yeah, he made you chief of police, so...

- I've gained 20 pounds.

That must be, uh - the uniform.

- The dangers of a desk job.

Why don't you have a seat..?

I'm living with this every day!

- What about your marriage?

What marriage!?

Jack is sleeping in the study!

You have to find a way to keep going. - Mother!

You don't have a choice!

- I am coping with this! If you can't give up. you have to...

Ah, bingo! That is cooking Sherry! Please - Please!

- You have to find a way to live with this.

Live with it!? I am living with this!

- No, no - You're not! I am dealing! I'm coping!

I'm dealing with it. So what?

You have a tomb in the middle of your house!

Oh sweetheart, do you really think if you

seal it up, that the pain's gonna go away?

My mother went as far away as she could.

She found a job at a small orchard

outside of Santa Rosa.

The work was hard, but

she didn't mind.

If anyone asked, she said

she had two children.

Dearest Lindsey...

And Lindsey, who always said

she didn't believe in love...

found it anyway.

And there it was. The moment

I would never have.

My little sister had run ahead of me.

She was growing up.

What's the matter?

I thought you'd be happy.

I am happy.

I'm very happy.

Why are you crying?

No - you think she did not want to kiss him?

- No, she did.

She wanted to kiss him very much.

Always, I would watch Ray.

I was in the air around him.

I was in the cold winter mornings he spent with Ruth Conners.

That strange, other-worldly girl...

who so easily accepted the presence

of the dead among the living.

And sometimes, Ray would think of me.

But he began to wonder, maybe it was

time to put that memory away.

Maybe it was time to let me go.

Lindsey, throw it!

Missing girl, Susie Salmon and

sister Lindsey Salmon (right)

My Murderer had finely tuned instincts.

He knew my sister had begun to wonder about the solitary man who lived in the green house.

She seemed intent on crowding him.

And he resented it.

He began to feel a familiar itch.

Mom, look!

- Just a second.

Careful, honey.

- Mom!

Really, that is a beautiful smell...

Mom, look!

Hey Dad! Look at me!

Oh - Mr. Salmon, hi.

What is that?

- Oh, it's just a project I'm working on.

You're a hunter?

- Ducks.

That's a blind right?

Yeah.

- So those things really work?

Oh yeah.

It's all about concealment,

the art of concealment.

And patience. Takes a lot of patience.

Sit for hours on end in the dark.

I'm an outdoors man.

Always have been.

Mr. Salmon?

I just, um... I never got a chance to

tell how sorry I am about your loss.

Dad...

Here, let me help you.

- Oh no, that's alright. Really, I can manage.

No, it's no trouble.

Alright, I appreciate it.

Dad, look!

- This is for you.

Mr. Harvey, you really shouldn't... You are welcome.

That's a beautiful smell.

Hey, look at me!

- Careful, honey.

Oh, that really does smell...

Delicious.

- Beautiful, yeah.

Dad! (Isn't that something...)

Hey Dad, look at me!

I think it's time for you to

go home now, Mr. Salmon.

Go on home.

I'm sorry. I can't help you.

What did you do to her!? What did you do to MY DAUGHTER!?

It's gotta stop, Jack! You came this close to getting arrested tonight!

You're lucky George Harvey declined to press charges!

Lucky?

Your father put a hole in the man's back door.

Yeah, he should have put a hole in his head!

- Lindsey, please!

Did you hear that, Jack?

This is the example you're setting for your kids!

Persecuting the neighbors!

- He is not crazy!

I didn't say that.

- Well then why won't you listen to him?

Because you need evidence, Lindsey.

You can't go around, making accusations against George Harvey when you have no evidence!

You need proof!

- You are pathetic.

Why can't you just admit it?

You stopped looking for her, a long time ago.

Len's right. He's right.

It's time to put this behind us.

It's gone on too long.

This has to stop.

- Dad...

Things will take their natural course, Lindsey.

Len, I appreciate everything you've done. You've been a great friend to me.

That goes for Abigail, too.

You've been a great friend to both of us.

Murder changes everything.

When I was alive, I never hated anyone.

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