Myth (A Modern Fable) Day 1 [Screenplay]

FADE IN:

PRELUDE: EXT. THE BADLANDS. NOON.

A rocky piece of desert. A snake slides down an outcrop and settles, practically invisible, among gorse except for its eyes which appear to glow orange.

A few moments later a small rodent enters center screen. As it does so the snake’s eyes close. The animal cannot see the snake and does not sense any danger from the gorse, entering it in order to gain some shade. As it does so the snake attacks its prey, killing it and immediately beginning to ingest it.

The camera zooms slowly in toward the glowing orange eye of the snake, dissolving to become the sun for the opening scene.

OPENING TITLES

DISSOLVE

OPENING DAY:

EXT. THE BADLANDS, SOUTH DAKOTA, LATE AFTERNOON.

The camera zooms out from the red sun now seen descending behind a line of hills. In the foreground is the Badlands Loop Road.

A Prairie Dog scuttles over a rise beyond the far lane of the road. It stops before the lane almost as if it were checking traffic to see if it is safe. Simultaneously a motor home appears screen left coming around the hill on the twisty section of road and then disappears off screen.

As the Prairie Dog reaches the nearside lane the motor home, entering from screen left, runs over it, killing it.

There are four people inside the vehicle. A MAN is driving, a WOMAN is seated next to him and a BOY and older GIRL, of teenage, are seated behind them. They are not talking and look at once, both grim and nonchalant. At the teenagers feet lies a Doberman.

The vehicle plunges into a tunnel formed by a natural arch in the rock. At once a coyote’s cry is heard.

On an outcrop of rock with a brilliant scarlet sunset behind it is the Coyote. As the camera zooms slowly in toward the coyote a close-up of a NATIVE INDIAN CHIEF is overlaid. The Indian talks in Sioux without translation. His manner is clipped and appears belligerent. His image fades after he has spoken and at once the coyote lies down.

After a few seconds it looks behind as if aware of a presence, and then gets up and runs away into the night.

CUT TO:

EXT THE BADLANDS, SOUTH DAKOTA, NIGHT

A Parking site off road close to the Wounded Knee memorial site; the sun has set and it is already dark.
The motor home enters and parks and the headlights are turned off. After a moment the reflection of a coyote is seen softly padding toward the vehicle.
The interior lights are turned on illuminating the coyote scaring it away

FADE TO BLACK.

DAY 1:

INT. MOTOR HOME, KITCHEN AREA, MORNING.

The Girl and Boy are seated, eating with the dog underneath the table on the floor. The woman is drinking coffee and staring out the window. The Man enters from bedroom groggily.

WOMAN
(Looks at Man and then turns back toward window and pulls up the blind)
Fuck me, Sand

MAN
(half-asleep)
Uh?

WOMAN
Yup, it’s definitely sand

MAN
It’s a desert – what were you hoping for – Times Square?

WOMAN
After last night’s irrigation the least I was hoping for was a green and fertile valley stretching for miles.

MAN
Oh – Christ you know I can never go a full night without…

GIRL
…drinking a case of beer before bedtime? Your liver…

BOY
Don’t forget the prostrate…

GIRL
…must be pickled

MAN
Easy guys I’m on vacation. Can’t I have fun too?

WOMAN
Fun…it’s that what you think. Christ it’s like sleeping under Niagara Falls.

MAN
(Sarcastically)
Are you missing your beauty sleep, honey?

WOMAN
Just because it won’t do you any good doesn’t mean I have to miss out.

GIRL
Even the dog pisses
quieter than you.

MAN
What should I do? Go out into the dark, out into the scary desert?

BOY
Nothing out there as scary as you

WOMAN
Oh that’s a good idea – so then we wake up in a lake

MAN
No different at home. Are we all on edge?

WOMAN
(sarcastic)
Home? That’s an anachronism
isn’t it?

GIRL
At home (pause) in our old home we didn’t notice it. It was just another noise in the great city symphony.

BOY
It’s another world here – creepy, but not in a fun way.

WOMAN
Right – it’s too quiet. You get so used to the city that you don’t hear it breathing anymore. Out here every little creak or knock is amplified, especially somebody draining their bladder four times a night!

GIRL
Mom, if the old bear keeps you up all night do you want me to make breakfast.

BOY
And who’s gonna wake you up?

GIRL
You usually - all your pubescent animal groans. Oh...oooh…oooooh!

WOMAN
(To daughter)
It’s a deal. Tomorrow you fix breakfast, you
(to son)
…help her and I’ll lie in.

BOY
And what about my vacation?

WOMAN
(Sardonically)
Boy, you were born on vacation.

GIRL
(Giggles)
That’s right.

Boy and girl begin arguing.

MAN
Out! Out! Both of you; go and tidy up the desert or something.

(They exit)

MAN
You know they won’t.

WOMAN
Won’t what?

MAN
Make breakfast.

WOMAN
I know…but it’s enough that they offered.

Pause

MAN
You’re okay with this aren’t you?

WOMAN
With what?

MAN
This trip.

WOMAN
It’s for all of us, isn’t it? In the long run?

MAN
(looks tenderly toward her)
I hope so.

WOMAN
(sympathetically)
But you’re not sure?

MAN
(cheerfully)
Hopeful…

(pause, and then resignedly)

and uncertain

WOMAN
Coming back here may make a difference to our future. But I’m not like you. I don’t believe in magic spells that can make everything right. All I see here is just a lot of sand and rock.

MAN
We've got time… I think you'll take to it. We have a new home to go to now.

WOMAN
I liked our old place.

MAN
And so did I. I liked all my (pause) our old places. But it’s never worked trying to ride it out. It was time, that’s all.

WOMAN
Jesus, I know, but that was the nicest spot of all, against the ocean. I was so happy there. We had good friends, the school was great. We both had steady jobs.

MAN
But you always knew that eventually we’d have to move.

WOMAN
But not so soon. I could handle one or two moves at the right time… a different scenario, different friends, neighbours – a thing regular people do. But this…shifting again and again, half a dozen towns all over the country; never settling for more than two or three years, dragging them with us…it’s depressing.

MAN
It’s hard but they’ve lost friends too.

WOMAN
They’re young, and to them it’s another big adventure. They’re happy to see the world, but they’ll be like me sooner or later; soulless, rootless – unable to find a home.

MAN
They’re learning to adapt.

WOMAN
Any better than me? Trying everything humanly possible to fit in, only to land back in another hole we’ve dug for ourselves.

MAN
I know, but for you three there’s hope – at least you have that.

WOMAN
(sarcastically)
That’s hope? Excuse my ingratitude!
(she pauses and he looks at her sheepishly)

Honey, I realise that there are few beings born to a care free existence, so I don’t expect to live with you and be pampered; but there are times when I find it impossible to forgive. Please don’t compare your life with ours – we’re not the culpable ones.

(another pause – he lowers his eyes -she softens)

I’m sorry I didn’t mean to be cruel.

MAN
You’re truthful – that’s all. And I have to accept that.

WOMAN
I just wish sometimes the world would fit in with us for a change. Don't we belong here too?

She exits. The Man’s anger begins to rise in sympathy with his wife. A rasping sound is heard while he is in close-up. He moves out of shot and the camera pans down to four large scratches across the breakfast table. The camera then pans back up to a position toward the middle of the table with the motor home window behind as the man leans back in his seat. Camera zooms slowly into the round pull of the window blind through which a NATIVE AMERICAN INDIAN can be seen standing off into the distance.

FADE TO BLACK.

EXT. DESERT, MOTOR HOME, AFTERNOON.

The Man is standing around a barbeque with the Woman. The Girl and Boy are playing a game with the dog in the near distance.

MAN
(Flipping burgers with a spatula)
Impressive, isn’t it.

WOMAN
No. It’s dry, dusty and full of goddamn flies.

MAN
Just like I remember it!

WOMAN
Sure?

MAN
Well, not so crowded.

Pause

WOMAN
What was it like before?

MAN
Lonely

WOMAN
Why so nostalgic then?

MAN
Oh, I don’t know, innocence maybe.

WOMAN
So this is what it’s all about? When we you ever innocent?

MAN
Here, once. (Orates) The sophistication of the modern world eradicates a certain mystery that can only be appreciated with naivety.

WOMAN
If I were you Confucius, I'd stop philosophizing and concentrate on the food. You're burning it.

MAN
(Ignoring her and shaking the spatula as if deep in thought)
You know what if I could unknow the world or at least my part in it maybe I could go back, rectify the mistakes, or at least isolate myself from them; maybe even do some good.

WOMAN
Meaning?

MAN
We could live different lives.

WOMAN
A different future?

MAN
Right.

WOMAN
Do you see me anywhere in this vision of a bright new world?

MAN
Where would…
(Drops burger)
Oh shit!

WOMAN
How do you like your burger, rare, burnt to a crisp and coated with our special blend of sand and dead flies

MAN
Perhaps Madame Michelin could fetch me a beer?

WOMAN
It’s amazing, it really is.

MAN
What?

WOMAN
To old world grizzlies like you a woman's place is in the kitchen, while
the man swills beer and watches TV except of course when there's a barbecue, then we're not qualified to cook, but, ah, we do get to fetch the beer.

Goes toward Motor home

MAN
Get yourself one too!

Woman gestures with middle finger in response as she is walking away

GIRL
Hey, is it ready yet?

MAN
(Holds up a burning sausage in close-up obscuring body of Girl)
I guess so.

Woman returns with beer as the Boy and Girl draw towards the barbecue.

BOY
One of those for me?

WOMAN
Oh sure and an apple juice for the old Man.

MAN
You’re too young for alcohol.

BOY
Look at those burgers; how can you expect me to eat them without alcohol. Besides the nearest hospital is fifty miles away.

GIRL
(Aside)
I wouldn’t take the chance if it were 5 minutes away.

MAN
They’re cooked then aren’t they?

WOMAN
(Taking up a burger and breaking it in two revealing the raw uncooked inside)
Are they?
(Throws it to the dog, who smells it and refuses)

They all laugh

BOY
All right, I’ll try one.

Grabs a burger and puts it into a bun then smothers it in ketchup.

GIRL
He likes vary the taste of his ketchup by adding a little food now and then.

BOY
Shut up! This is a small mercy to my stomach.

GIRL
Your stomach wall is lined with ketchup. Anything you eat never gets digested, it slips straight through to your ass.

Boy picks up the ketchup and sprays it at the Girl. Her T-shirt is speckled with red dots.

GIRL
You fucking shit.

MAN
Enough. You,
(Points to Girl)
get changed. You,
(Points to Boy)
put down the weapon and decide what you’re going to do with that.

BOY
(Puts down the ketchup and the burger)
I’ve kinda gone off it.

Woman gives the Man a can of beer, takes the spatula from him, and throws him a beer.

WOMAN
Let’s stick with tradition, eh; I’ll cook, you get drunk. And you two can collect firewood for tonight.

Camera pans into the barbeque flame.

EXT. DESERT, EVENING.

It is a clear night. They have made a campfire. The Man is drinking, the Woman reading with the aid of a torch. The two teenagers are making a noise in the near distance, playing around with the dog, who barks occasionally.

MAN
What are you reading?

WOMAN
Poetry.

MAN
So the landscape has finally inspired you. I told you this land is timeless. Except for the highway it hasn’t changed at…

WOMAN
Sorry to interrupt the travelogue, but it was recommended to me.

MAN
Who by?

WOMAN
Jill.

MAN
Oh, …the…organizer of that book club you joined…

WOMAN
…and was kicked out of.

MAN
I thought they’d stopped meeting.

WOMAN
No, they just changed venues.

MAN
And conveniently forgot to mention it to you.

WOMAN
As usual.

MAN
Still, it had its uses didn’t it? That Sioux woman – never would have met her would I?

WOMAN
You! It was me that had to go to her. She was never comfortable giving me that book, in fact I’m sure it was her that stirred up trouble.

MAN
Some people have a natural affinity for these things. You’re old enough to know that by now.

(pause)

WOMAN
When are you going to try? – Do you want me to be there?

MAN
Tonight – alone; you go to sleep. I won’t drink too much tonight.

WOMAN
I won’t be sleeping.

MAN
Well watch them sleep. Anyway what’s the poetry for?

WOMAN
Antidote. “Blue remembered hills”

MAN
What?

WOMAN
It’s a nostalgic image. Maybe I’m
Chasing my own innocence, something
I’ve never really experienced.

MAN
Read one

WOMAN
No good to you is it with your murky history. After all isn’t that the purpose for this diversion.

MAN
Vacation – anything else is a bonus.
Relax - read your book. I don’t need poetry…
(Throws out his arms)
I’m surrounded by it.

WOMAN
Well if it's all the same to you,
I'll stick with this.
(Returns to reading)

A rustling sound is heard, then silence apart from the crackle from the campfire.

WOMAN
(Looks up from book)
What’s that?

MAN
What’s what?

WOMAN
I can’t hear anything.

MAN
You can’t hear what?

WOMAN
Nothing, I can’t hear anything.

MAN
(flabbergasted)
That book’s in English isn’t it?

WOMAN
Of course, why?

MAN
Then can we talk in English too?

WOMAN
We are - you’re not listening.

MAN
What!!! I give up.

WOMAN
Ssh, where have they gone?

MAN
(understanding)
The kids? - they’ve just moved out of earshot, that’s all.

WOMAN
It’s too dark. We don’t know what’s out there.

MAN
The same things that were out there today – it’s just that someone’s turned the lights off.

WOMAN
Having you heard of nocturnal activity?

She gets up from chair with the clear night sky clustered with stars behind her torso. She calls to them but is answered by complete silence until suddenly a coyote cries off in the distance.

MAN
(From chair)
Sit down, they’re won’t be far away.

WOMAN
(Sitting back down)
I suppose not but I’d rather have them here by the firelight.

MAN
Man’s greatest invention. Both friend and enemy, it warms and yet it destroys.

WOMAN
Listen Prometheus, unless you’d like an eagle ripping out your desiccated liver for eternity, I suggest you get them back.

MAN
Sit down and stop worrying. Believe me there is nothing out there any scarier then those two.

WOMAN
I’m not worried – but I still don’t share your faith.

Shuffling noises are heard beyond the campfire, nearer than before.

MAN
Is that them?

Suddenly between the two chairs a small white face from a spot at ground level springs up in an arc between them, the face growing larger as it nears. It is the Boy trying to surprise them. He is wearing what appears to be a Native American Indian Headdress.

BOY
Wooah! Wooah!

The Man and Woman do not react in surprise.

WOMAN
(Almost nonchalant)
There you are.

MAN
Where’s the Girl?

GIRL
(Coming in out of the darkness with the dog)
Over here.
(To Boy)
I told you it wouldn’t work, nothing scares them.

Dog moves toward campfire and lies down.

WOMAN
Never mind that, where’d you get the hat?

BOY
Hat! Have you no respect for the original landowners around here? This is a headdress.

MAN
(Uneasy)
I know exactly what it is. Where did you find it?

GIRL
(Points off into the darkness)
Up in those cliffs this afternoon. He’s been saving it especially for tonight to try and scare the shit outta you.

BOY
(Removing headdress)
For what it was worth.

MAN
Where in the cliffs? It can’t have been just lying there.

GIRL
We found a cave.

WOMAN
What sort of cave?

BOY
Jesus…a ‘hole in the rock’ type of cave.

MAN
What else was in this cave?

BOY
Some bones, wall paintings; the usual stuff you see in movies.

MAN
You shouldn’t have taken anything.

WOMAN
Oh come on, you’re not getting superstitious are you?

MAN
I thought you were the one who was trying to avoid trouble.

WOMAN
What trouble has he caused?

MAN
Burial grounds are sacred places to the Indian people. It should go back.

WOMAN
And if it doesn’t are we going to be murdered in our beds tonight by the ghosts of Cochise and Crazy Horse.

The Boy pretends to throw a tomahawk and the Girl pretends to take the blow in her back.

MAN
Cochise and Crazy Horse didn’t live here.

GIRL
You’re very knowledgeable aren’t you?

BOY
So who are the famous Indians of the Badlands?

MAN
The Dakotas belong…belonged to the Sioux – you know - Sitting Bull?

BOY
Never heard of him.

GIRL
A true patriot; immersed in the history of this great country of ours.

BOY
So, history’s a dead subject. It doesn’t interest me.

GIRL
Sitting Bull defeated Custer at the Little Big Horn.

Boy shrugs his shoulders

WOMAN
So that’s it. We’re all going to be scalped tonight.

Boy and Girl begin to dance around the campfire. The Boy proceeds to mime scalping her head.

MAN
There isn’t an Indian dead or alive would dare take you on; we should show some respect, that’s all I’m saying.

WOMAN
What… is this guilt, from you? Why should you feel guilty? Did you kill him? Anyway he’s at peace - he’s at rest, lucky for some.

GIRL
That’s right; whoever owned the headdress has been smoking a peace pipe with his forefathers for a long time now.

MAN
I don't care.
(Looks at Woman for support)
He shouldn’t have taken it.

WOMAN
(To appease the Man)
Still, he’s right. Perhaps it should go back.

BOY
Aw!
(Disappointed and angry)
Well I’m not going back there tonight.

WOMAN
Nobody’s going back there tonight. We’ll go tomorrow.
(To Man)
Happy?

The Man looks ruefully at her as she gets up out of her seat.

WOMAN
Christ – it’s pitch black out there. I’m not stumbling around getting lost just for the sake of an old hat! Besides you have other things to do. Let’s get to bed you two.

She walks toward the Motor home and the Boy and Girl follow her. The Man remains at the campfire with the dog in the foreground apparently asleep. An ember suddenly erupts into a bright flame.

Neither the Man nor the dog is disturbed.

FADE.

EXT. WOUNDED KNEE MEMORIAL SITE, LATE EVENING

Long shot of the Man kneeling in a Christian style in front of the memorial stone. A powerful torch light illuminates the man and the memorial from screen right. The man’s hands are at his side yet his manner suggests he is praying or incanting. After a few seconds he leans forward extending his hands and putting his head against the ground.

FADE TO BLACK.

INT. MOTOR HOME, NIGHT.

All four are sleeping. The moon shines brilliantly outside the window. of the Motor home. An amber ornament sits on a table and the moonshine is refracted down toward the dog and projected onto its sleeping eyelid. A low guttural sound is heard from outside. The dog’s eye opens and glows orange through the projection.

EXT. MOTOR HOME, NIGHT.

From some scrub brush approximately twenty feet from the vehicle the head of a coyote peeks through.
INT MOTOR HOME, NIGHT

The dog snarls and begins to rise. It lowers itself down to the floor and heads toward the door which is closed.

EXT. MOTOR HOME, NIGHT.

The coyote backs its head back inside the scrub

FADE TO BLACK.