The Rapture Page #8

SHARON smiles a little.

SHARON:

I bet with a little prayer you'd be

on my side in an hour.

FOSTER:

Well, then it's time for me to go.

Watch out for the coyotes.

(To MARY:
)

Good-bye.

MARY:

Good-bye.

FOSTER gets back into his car. When he is gone, SHARON

breaks down and cries.

EXTERIOR:
DESERT CAMPGROUND. NIGHT.

The moon is behind clouds. Wind pulls at the tent flaps.

INTERIOR:
TENT. NIGHT.

The camera moves toward SHARON. We're getting inside her

dream again. Brief glimpses of an orgy.

INTERIOR:
SHARON'S DREAM.

The Pearl recedes, gets smaller, and finally disappears.

Blackness.

MARY:

(voice-over)

Mom ... Mommy ...

INTERIOR:
TENT. NIGHT.

SHARON wakes up; her eyes are hollow. MARY is awake.

MARY:

Mom ...

SHARON:

(lost)

What?

MARY:

Mom, I'm hungry.

EXTERIOR:
DESERT CAMPGROUND. DAY.

SHARON looks through trash cans. No food. She turns the

water jugs upside down. No water. MARY watches her.

MARY:

You said we'd give him one more

chance.

SHARON:

(impatient)

Who?

MARY:

God. You said you'd give God one

more chance, and if we didn't get

the Rapture that we could die.

That's what you said. You promised.

SHARON:

(gently avoiding

the question)

Baby ...

MARY:

Don't you believe in God?

SHARON Yes.

MARY:

Don't you love God? Then why can't

we just go to God? Go now. Now.

SHARON doesn't answer immediately.

SHARON:

(the implications

are frightening)

One more chance.

Cut to:

EXTERIOR:
DESERT CAMPGROUND. NIGHT.

A motorcycle comes into the campground. SHARON and MARY are

in the tent. SHARON pokes her head out. The motorcycle comes

closer. SHARON gets out.

FOSTER, out of uniform, is on the motorcycle.

FOSTER:

I ... I was in the neighborhood.

SHARON:

And you thought you'd come by for a

cup of sugar.

FOSTER:

No. Actually, I came to bring you

this.

He reaches into his pack for a blanket. He hands it to her.

SHARON:

We have sleeping bags.

FOSTER:

Yeah, I know, I, it's just that

sometimes you want to sit on the

ground, you don't want to get dirty,

it s nice to have a blanket.

SHARON:

Thank you.

FOSTER:

I, I brought your little girl a

candy bar. I know moms are worried

about cavities, so if you don't want

to give it to her, you know, I'll

understand.

SHARON:

I'll give it to her.

FOSTER:

You can share it.

SHARON:

Thanks.

He wants to talk. He looks at her.

FOSTER:

Well, I'll check up on you again

sometime, if that's okay.

SHARON:

Thank you.

And he rides away. She returns to the tent.

INTERIOR:
TENT. NIGHT.

Close on MARY. She cries out in her sleep.

MARY:

Mom! You have to make up your mind,

now! Gabriel is coming, Mom, Gabriel

is coming.

(She wakes up, and she

is in a kind of trance,

staring at her mother,

afraid for her.)

He's God, Mom, He's God. Don't ask

God to meet you halfway.

(A final cry.)

Mommy!

SHARON:

Wake up, Mary, wake up. It's okay,

baby, it's okay.

MARY wakes up, and she cries deeply. Her face tells us

everything:
she has given up hope.

SHARON:

Come on, baby, you're just hungry;

we'll get something to eat. Come on,

let's go to town.

MARY:

No, we can't leave.

SHARON:

Yes, we can.

MARY:

But we don't need any food. God will

give us food when we get to Heaven.

I'll be in Heaven tonight. There was

a river. And I was in Heaven.

SHARON:

Where was I?

MARY:

You were there.

SHARON:

Good.

MARY:

Sort of. You were there, but only

sort of.

SHARON tries to make sense of this. She can't; she's too

tired right now for tests of faith. She smiles and looks her

daughter in the eye.

SHARON:

It's almost morning. As soon as the

sun comes up, we'll go get something

to eat.

Cut to:

EXTERIOR:
JACK IN THE BOX DRIVE-THRU LINE. DAY.

SHARON is at the pick-up window. The food order is put out

for her. The CASHIER waits for the money. Behind him is the

MANAGER.

CASHIER:

Eleven dollars and twenty-eight

cents, please.

SHARON looks at him. He knows what the look means.

CASHIER:

Oh, no you don't.

SHARON quickly grabs the food and drives away.

CASHIER:

Call the police.

MANAGER:

No.

CASHIER:

Why not?

MANAGER:

She had a kid.

INTERIOR:
CAR. DAY.

SHARON returns to the Joshua tree campsite. MARY devours her

burger and fries. SHARON'S face is set. She is on the other

side of something powerful.

EXTERIOR:
CAR. DAY.

SHARON drives down a road.

EXTERIOR:
BURNED HILL. LATE AFTERNOON.

SHARON and MARY walk up the hillside. MARY kneels and

clutches her toy panda. SHARON stands behind her.

SHARON:

Do you love me?

MARY:

Yes.

SHARON:

Do you love Jesus?

MARY:

Yes.

SHARON:

You know, in Heaven there's Jesus

and Baby Jesus, together, and Baby

Jesus has the special job, has the

special job

(breaking down)

of looking out for all the children.

Mary, do you love Baby Jesus?

MARY:

Yes.

SHARON:

It's not fair to make you pay

because I'm lost. If God loves us,

He'll understand. We're going to

Heaven now.

MARY:

We're going together?

SHARON:

Together.

Now we see the gun that PAULA gave her before she left home.

The sun is going down.

MARY:

And Daddy? Daddy's in Heaven.

SHARON:

(this thought

comforts her)

Daddy. We'll see Daddy. Yes. And

we'll be together forever because

nothing is broken in Heaven. I love

you.

MARY:

Daddy.

SHARON:

You have to love God, Mary, do you

love God?

MARY:

Yes.

MARY makes a face as though she's about to enter icy water.

With her panda tucked under her arm, she clasps her hands in

prayer even harder.

SHARON:

Tell Him that. Don't be afraid.

SHARON pulls the trigger, and the gun fires. MARY is dead.

SHARON takes the gun and puts it to her head.

She holds the gun. We watch. We wait. Will she? Can she? She

empties the gun into the air, screams at the sky; then she

sits down on the ground; then she lies down beside MARY and

goes to sleep.

Fade-out.

Fade-in:

EXTERIOR:
BURNED HILL. LATER. NIGHT.

SHARON places a cross on the panda on top of the grave and

then gets up. She walks away, empty.

We hear hoofbeats, one horse, distant. The sound gets louder.

INTERIOR:
SHARON'S CAR. NIGHT.

SHARON speeds down the highway, and everywhere she looks she

sees a white horse flashing in her vision.

Cut to:

EXTERIOR:
FREEWAY. NIGHT.

SHARON keeps speeding. The white horse is gone. And then the

red lights of a sheriff's police car appear in the mirror.

The siren is close. She is sure she has been caught. She

pulls over. The sheriff's OFFICER MADISON from the

campground. He shines his searchlight on SHARON'S car. Then

he walks to the car and knocks on her window.

FOSTER:

Could you get out of the car, please?

SHARON gets out of the car.

FOSTER:

What happened to God?

(He can see she is

in some kind of

distress.)

What's wrong?

She doesn't answer.

FOSTER:

I have to see your license and

registration, please.

SHARON:

They're in the car.

She gets them. She holds the license and registration out in

her hand.

FOSTER:

Thank you. Could you step over into

the light, please?

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