The Piano Lesson Page #4

AUNT MORAG:

Watch your feet!

NESSIE:

Watch your feet!

ADA and FLORA find the family fun frightening and have taken refuge in

the bedroom.

AUNT MORAG:

Careful! Watch his hand.

NESSIE:

Watch his hand

The REVEREND tickles his sister as she tries to get the sleeve off his

hand. NESSIE squeals with excitement.

AUNT MORAG:

Stop it!

NESSIE looks towards ADA panting with excitement at the fun.

AUNT MORAG:

(shooing the Reverend out)

We'll bring out the bride.

The two women now fit the wedding dress on ADA.

AUNT MORAG:

LIFT - YOUR - ARM - UP - DEAR.

FLORA sits on the bed sulkily. She leans back and crosses her leg.

FLORA:

My REAL father was a famous

German composer

AUNT MORAG:

Ohh the tag is broken.

FLORA:

(continues) .... They met when

my mother was an opera

singer... in Luxemburg...

The two women pause to look at FLORA. ADA signs to FLORA "THAT'S

ENOUGH!"

FLORA:

Why?

ADA looks away, the two women finish primping the dress. FLORA crosses

her arms.

FLORA:

I want to be in the photograph.

Sc 22 EXT STEWART'S Hut DAY Sc 22

NESSIE half holds an umbrella over ADA as they make their way to where

the camera is setup in front of a chair and a sparse display of three

toi-toi. All about the house is muddy, so much so that they must weave

their way through on planks and logs. A fine veil of rain is falling

across the distant bush, the whole valley is shrouded in mist. STEWART

looks through the camera at the REVEREND and the photographer who are

posing as the couple, complete with tatty bouquet. STEWART notices

ADA's arrival and seeing her as a real bride, his bride, he is

struckdumb with pride, even the rough tapes at the back or the dress

cannot destroy the illusion.

STEWART:

Beautiful.

The umbrellas are held away, the rain pours down.

Sc 23 INT/EXT STEWARTS HUT BEDROOM DAY Sc 23

AUNT MORAG has brought a chair into the bedroom and sits knee to knee

with FLORA.

AUNT MORAG:

I thought she met your father

in Luxemburg.

FLORA:

Well, yes, in Austria where be

conducted the Royal Orchestra.

AUNT MORAG:

(frowning) And where did they

get married?

AUNT MORAG checks to see if someone is coming.

FLORA:

(her Scottish accent becomes

thick and expressive) In an

enormous forest, with real

fairies as bridesmaids each

holding a little elf's hand.

AUNT MORAG sits back, regarding FLORA with obvious disapproval and

disappointment. She smooths back her hair.

FLORA:

No, I tell a lie, it was in a

small country church, near the

mountains

AUNT MORAG is becoming involved again. She leans forward.

AUNT MORAG:

Which mountains are those dear?

FLORA:

The Alps.

AUNT MORAG:

Ohhh I've never been there.

(she leans forward)

FLORA:

Mother used to sing the songs

in German and her voice would

echo across the valleys

That was before the

accident....

AUNT MORAG:

Oh what happened?

MORAG looks over her shoulder as FLORA continues to talk, so

persuasive is FLORA's storytelling that the scene comes vividly to

life, albeit in FLORA's dark pupil.

FLORA:

One day when my mother and

father were singing together in

the forest, a great storm blew

up out of nowhere. But so

passionate was their singing

that they did not notice, nor

did they stop as the rain began

to fall and when their voices

rose for the final bars of the

duet a great bolt of lightening

came out of the sky and struck

my father so that he lit up

like a torch... And at the same

moment my father was struck

dead my mother was struck dumb!

She- never-spoke-another-word.

AUNT MORAG:

Ohhh ... dear. Not another word

From the shock, yes it would

be.

The story is interrupted by the return of the wedding party who are

dripping wet, exactly as the couple in the story. AUNT MORAG bustles

over to take off the wet wedding gown, her face puckered with tragedy.

AUNT MORAG:

Terrible. Terrible

Before she can undo the ties ADA pulls it from herself so aggressively

that the ties and part of the gown comes apart. None of this is a

concern to ADA who is distracted with fear for her piano. She crosses

to the little window and stares anxiously at the falling rain.

Sc 24 EXT BEACH DUSK Sc 24

Soft piano music has been playing over the previous scene. Now it

builds to strength as sea water swirls high around the piano, small

and embattled on the dark rainy beach.

Sc 23 INT STEWART'S HUT BEDROOM DAY Sc 25

It's morning of the next day. ADA and FLORA sit amongst tea chests in

the bedroom. ADA is signing intently to FLORA. FLORA signs back,

sometimes using words. STEWART watches uneasy with their secret

communication. As STEWART enters the animation is suspended. ADA

stands and takes a step back as if to attention.

STEWART:

I shall be gone for some days.

There is some Maori land I want

and may buy very reasonably.

(STEWART shuffles) I am hoping

you will use the time to settle

in, and, in some ways we may

start again

FLORA and ADA look at each other.

STEWART:

All right?

ADA looks at him blankly, then nods.

Sc 26 EXT STEWART'S DAY Sc 26

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