The Rapture Page #7

SHARON:

God is calling her too.

PAULA:

Why don't you sell the house? You

can't just walk away from it.

SHARON:

Of course, I can. There's a better

house waiting for me. God is

building me a mansion, right now.

What should I wear?

She takes out a few dresses.

PAULA:

God won't come, the bank will own

your home, and what are you going to

do then?

SHARON:

I'm going to Heaven, Paula. I'm

going to Heaven. Mary and I are

going to Heaven. And we'll wear

these dresses, together, when we

finally meet God. Randy always liked

this dress. I'll wear it for him.

I'll be seeing him soon. And he

always loved to see Mary in this.

PAULA sits on the bed.

PAULA:

Don't you get a white robe and

wings?

SHARON:

Angels don't have wings. And I don't

know about the robes. I don't know

what they wear, but I guess I'll

find out.

SHARON packs a sweater.

PAULA:

Then what's the sweater for?

SHARON:

It gets cold at night in the desert.

PAULA:

Winter is coming. You'll need more

than a sweater.

SHARON:

He's taking us soon, very soon.

PAULA:

How do you know?

SHARON:

He told me.

PAULA:

Sharon, Sharon, listen to me. I

don't know if you can hear me, but

listen to me. You need food.

SHARON:

Not that much.

PAULA:

You need a tent. I don't want you

guys sleeping out in the car. Okay.

Candle, matches, flashlight.

PAULA pulls the named items out of the bag.

SHARON:

Thank you, Paula.

PAULA:

You need something else. You can't

go out to the desert alone, there's

a lot of creeps out there, Sharon,

and a woman alone, I'm scared.

SHARON:

God will take care of us.

PAULA:

Maybe. Insurance.

She takes out a small handgun.

SHARON:

Oh, Paula, no.

PAULA:

You don't have to use it. But you

have to take it. And you can bring

it back to me when you come home.

SHARON holds PAULA'S hand, and she looks at the gun.

SHARON:

I'm not coming home.

Cut to:

EXTERIOR:
DESERT CAMPGROUND. DAY.

SHARON and MARY drive into a campground somewhere in the

high desert. There are Joshua trees, yuccas, and large rocks

and rock piles.

MARY:

Mom?

SHARON:

Yes, Mary.

MARY:

This doesn't look like Heaven, Mom.

SHARON:

This isn't Heaven, honey.

MARY:

Then why stop here?

SHARON:

Think of Heaven as a great big hotel

or a big office building.

MARY:

Yeah.

SHARON:

Well, this is the lobby, this is

where we have to wait.

MARY:

For what?

SHARON:

The elevator.

Another car pulls up.

Dissolve to:

INTERIOR:
TENT. NIGHT.

SHARON and MARY sleeping. We go into SHARON'S dream. She is

dreaming of the Pearl.

Cut to:

EXTERIOR:
DESERT CAMPGROUND. DAY.

ROCK CLIMBERS are high on the sheer face of a rock wall.

MARY watches them. One CLIMBER rappels down the rock and

lands beside them. He is lean, muscular, cool.

MARY:

Are you waiting for God, too?

CLIMBER:

Oh, is that what you guys are doing

here?

MARY:

God is coming back.

CLIMBER:

Sounds good.

MARY:

He really is.

CLIMBER:

Okay.

MARY:

He's coming tomorrow.

SHARON:

No, soon, Mary. He's coming soon.

They look up at the sky.

EXTERIOR:
DESERT CAMPGROUND. NIGHT.

SHARON puts MARY to sleep in the tent.

EXTERIOR:
DESERT CAMPGROUND. LATE DAY.

There isn't much food left or water. We hear a loud siren.

SHARON grabs MARY. MARY grabs for her toy panda.

SHARON:

That's it! That's it, Mary, here it

comes, here it is, he's calling us,

come on, hurry, hurry ...

She runs with MARY up a rock formation, higher and higher.

The sound continues. MARY drops her panda and screams out:

MARY:

Panda!

SHARON:

Mary, come on ...

MARY:

No, Panda!

SHARON scrambles back to get the doll. It is out of reach.

She gets it. MARY hugs her panda, and they continue on up

the rock until we have a good view of the whole campground.

EXTERIOR:
TOP OF ROCK PILE. DAY.

The horn is still loud and clear. SHARON holds MARY, their

faces lifted to the sky, waiting for the Rapture. We see a

CLIMBER running across the parking lot to his car. He turns

off the alarm, and the sound stops. SHARON remains frozen

for a second; then she sits down. For the first time, we see

real doubt and the beginning of defeat. MARY starts to cry.

MARY:

I miss my Daddy.

SHARON:

Honey, I miss your Daddy, too.

MARY:

I want to see him again.

SHARON:

You will, you will see him in

Heaven.

MARY:

Why can't we go to Heaven? Mommy, I

want to go to Heaven.

SHARON:

We have to wait until God calls us.

MARY:

Did God call Daddy? When you die is

that when God calls you?

SHARON:

Yes.

MARY:

Then I want to die.

SHARON:

No, sweetie, no.

MARY:

You want to go to Heaven, don't you?

SHARON:

Yes.

MARY:

And you believe that when we die

we'll go to Heaven, because we're

saved, right?

SHARON:

Yes.

MARY:

Then why can't we just die and go

there really quickly and be with

Daddy again? Why do we have to stay

here and just hang around and wait

for God? Come on, Mom, let's die.

SHARON puts her arm around her. She is too young to really

understand what she's asking for.

SHARON:

Let's give God one more chance.

Cut to:

EXTERIOR:
DESERT CAMPGROUND. DAY.

A county sheriff's car drives into the campground. FOSTER

MADISON gets out of it. MARY and SHARON pray at a picnic

bench. Something about SHARON attracts him. He could be hard,

but he is curious, soft.

FOSTER:

Howdy.

SHARON:

Hello.

FOSTER:

I'm Foster Madison.

SHARON:

Sharon. And Mary.

FOSTER crouches to be closer to MARY.

FOSTER:

Oh yeah? I have a sister named Mary.

She's all grown-up now.

MARY:

Are you with God?

FOSTER:

I'm with the sheriff.

MARY:

We're waiting for our father.

FOSTER:

Where is he?

MARY:

Heaven.

FOSTER:

Don't you go to school?

MARY:

I don't have to go to school.

FOSTER looks at SHARON.

SHARON:

I'm not asking you to understand, or

to have faith, but the end of the

world is coming, and we're a lot

safer out here.

MARY walks away.

FOSTER:

Well, there's a two-week limit on

staying here.

SHARON:

Is that a limit on how long I can

stay in the park, or how long I can

use this campsite?

FOSTER:

Actually, it's just a limit on how

long you can use this particular

campsite.

SHARON:

(points to different

campsites)

So if I move over there, or over

there, or over there ... I can stay

for another two weeks.

FOSTER wants to be fair; he sees a woman in need.

FOSTER:

Technically. I can't stop you.

SHARON:

Thank you.

FOSTER:

Could I ask you a question?

SHARON:

Sure.

FOSTER:

Is this good for your little girl?

SHARON:

Have you been saved?

FOSTER:

No.

SHARON:

Do you know what that means?

FOSTER:

Yeah.

SHARON:

Would you like to be?

FOSTER:

Oh yeah, yeah sure, who wouldn't.

SHARON:

Why is it so hard for you to pray?

FOSTER:

You have to surrender to God, don't you?

SHARON:

(not fully certain)

That's right.

FOSTER:

It's in my training. I don't give

up my gun.

SHARON:

But you'd like to believe.

FOSTER:

That these are the last days?

SHARON:

You know they are. God is coming

back to judge the world. A lot of

people are going to suffer.

FOSTER:

I hope that's not true; but if

there's no law against it, my hands

are tied.

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