The Sweet Hereafter Page #13

SAM:

Well, okay. I'll take you about

nine-thirty in the morning. That's

okay with you?

NICOLE:

Great.

Silence. SAM gets up to leave the room.

NICOLE (CONT'D)

(voice over)

Before, everything had been so

confusing. I never knew who was to

blame. But now I know. He's just a

thief, a sneaky thief who had robbed

his daughter. Robbed me

of...whatever it was that my sister

still had and I didn't. And then

the accident robbed me of my body.

CUT TO:

INT. CAR -- DAY

SAM and NICOLE are driving to town. They don't exchange a

word.

CUT TO:

EXT. COMMUNITY CENTRE. -- DAY

SAM is carrying NICOLE up the stairs of the community

centre.

There is no ramp, so the wheelchair is left at the bottom.

He is having difficulty, because NICOLE is keeping her body

stiff and won't hold on to him.

CUT TO:

INT. COMMUNITY CENTRE. -- DAY

NICOLE is wheeled across the floor of the community centre

to a table where the depositions are being made. MITCHELL,

SCHWARTZ, and the STENOGRAPHER are waiting for her.

NICOLE:

(voice over)

The last time I was in the community

hall was for the big Christmas party

almost a year ago. It hadn't

changed.

CUT TO:

INT. COMMUNITY CENTRE. -- DAY

The deposition. SAM watches his daughter as she speaks

confidently into the microphone. The STENOGRAPHER takes

notes.

NICOLE is answering questions from the opposing lawyer.

MITCHELL is also taking notes.

SCHWARTZ:

Now on that morning, did there come

a time, Nicole, when you left your

parents' house?

NICOLE:

Yes.

SCHWARTZ:

What time in the morning was this?

NICOLE:

About eight-thirty in the morning.

SCHWARTZ:

Was anyone waiting for the bus with

you?

NICOLE:

No. I was alone. My sister Jenny

was sick and stayed home that day.

SCHWARTZ:

Was there anything unusual about the

driver, Dolores Driscoll, or the bus

that particular morning?

NICOLE:

Like what? I mean, I don't remember

a lot.

ANGLE ON MITCHELL

MITCHELL:

I object to the form of that

question. Note that.

SCHWARTZ:

Was the bus on time?

NICOLE:

Yes.

SCHWARTZ:

And where did you sit that morning?

NICOLE:

My usual place. On the right side.

The first seat.

SCHWARTZ:

And according to your recollection,

there was nothing unusual about the

drive that morning?

NICOLE:

Until the accident? No.

(beat)

Yes, there was.

ANGLE ON MITCHELL

Worried about this new information.

NICOLE (CONT'D)

It was when Sean Walker got on. He

was crying and didn't want to leave

his mother. Mason Ansel was sitting

beside me. I asked him to move, so

I could quiet Sean down. When the

bus started up, a car came around

the corner and almost hit Sean's

mother. She was okay, but it really

scared Sean, because he watched it

out the window.

SCHWARTZ:

And was this incident caused in any

way by anything the driver of the

bus did?

Pause. MITCHELL is nervous.

NICOLE:

No, she hadn't even started to move

the bus. It was the car's fault.

MITCHELL is relieved.

SCHWARTZ:

There was nothing reckless in Mrs.

Driscoll's behavior?

MITCHELL:

I object to that form of question.

Note that.

NICOLE:

(answering the

question)

No.

SCHWARTZ:

Did there come a time when all the

children had been picked up?

NICOLE:

Yes.

SCHWARTZ:

You remember that much?

NICOLE:

As I'm talking, I'm remembering more

about it.

MITCHELL is worried.

MITCHELL:

Note my objection. She said, 'As

I'm talking.'

SCHWARTZ:

Did there come a time when the bus

turned off Staples Mill Road onto

the Marlowe Road at what's called

Wilmot Springs?

NICOLE:

Yes.

NICOLE:

There was a brown dog that ran

across the road up there, right by

the dump, and Dolores slowed down

not to hit him, and he ran into the

woods. And then Dolores drove on

and turned onto the Marlowe road, as

usual. I remember that. I'm

remembering it pretty clearly.

SCHWARTZ:

(eyebrows raised)

You are?

NICOLE:

Yes.

MITCHELL:

(worried)

Note that she said 'pretty clearly'.

Not 'clearly'.

SCHWARTZ:

And what was the weather like at

this time?

NICOLE:

It was snowing.

MITCHELL:

Unless the report from the National

Weather Bureau for the district on

January 23 goes into the record, I

will object to that question.

SCHWARTZ:

I will offer that report. Well,

then, now that your memory seems to

be clearing, can you tell us what

else you observed at that time?

NICOLE:

Before the actual accident?

SCHWARTZ:

Yes.

NICOLE stares at her father as she responds.

NICOLE:

I was scared.

SCHWARTZ:

Why were you scared?

SCHWARTZ:

This is before the accident, Nicole.

Do you understand what I'm asking?

NICOLE:

Yes, I understand.

SCHWARTZ:

Why were you scared?

NICOLE:

Dolores was driving too fast.

Silence. MITCHELL is watching his entire case crumble.

SCHWARTZ:

Mrs. Driscoll was driving too fast?

What made you think that, Nicole?

NICOLE:

The speedometer. And it was

downhill there.

SCHWARTZ:

You could see the speedometer?

NICOLE:

Yes. I looked. I remember clearly

now. It seemed we were going too

fast down the hill. I was scared.

NICOLE looks at MITCHELL, who stares back.

SCHWARTZ:

How fast would you say Mrs. Driscoll

was going? To the best of your

recollection?

NICOLE:

Seventy-two miles an hour.

SCHWARTZ:

Seventy-two miles an hour? You're

sure of this?

NICOLE:

Positive.

SCHWARTZ:

You believe that the bus driven by

Mrs. Driscoll was going at seventy-

two miles an hour at this time?

NICOLE:

I told you I was positive. The

speedometer was large and easy to

see from where I was.

ANGLE ON:

The speedometer from NICOLE'S P.O.V. It reads fifty-one

miles an hour.

SCHWARTZ:

(voice over)

You saw the speedometer?

NICOLE:

Yes.

SCHWARTZ:

Did you say anything to Mrs.

Driscoll?

NICOLE:

No.

SCHWARTZ:

Why not?

NICOLE:

I was scared. And there wasn't

time.

SCHWARTZ:

There wasn't time?

NICOLE:

No. Because the bus went off the

road. And crashed.

SCHWARTZ:

You remember this?

NICOLE:

Yes. I do now. Now that I'm

telling it.

MITCHELL:

(defeated)

She said, 'Now that I'm telling it'.

Note that.

SCHWARTZ:

What do you remember about the

accident?

NICOLE:

I remember the bus swerved, it just

suddenly swerved to the right, and

it hit the guardrail and the

snowbank on the side of the road,

and then it went over the embankment

there, and everyone was screaming

and everything. And that's all. I

guess I was unconscious after that.

That's all. Then I was in the

hospital.

SCHWARTZ smiles and makes some notes in his pad. He talks

to MITCHELL without looking up.

SCHWARTZ:

Do you have any questions, Mr.

Stephens?

MITCHELL stares silently at NICOLE for a long time.

NICOLE:

(voice over)

Daddy was leaning forward in his

chair, his mouth half open, as if he

wanted to say something. Like what,

Daddy? Like 'What about my money?'

NICOLE and SAM stare at each other.

MITCHELL:

I have no questions.

SCHWARTZ:

Thank you, Nicole.

NICOLE wheels herself away. She passes MITCHELL.

MITCHELL:

(in a low voice)

You'd make a great poker player,

kid.

NICOLE wheels herself over to her father.

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