"WILD AT HEART" Screenplay by David Lynch And now the story of Sailor and Lula... FADE IN: EXT. CITY STREET - DAY A MAN rides a screaming massive Japanese motorcycle - wound out to maximum R.P.M. up the street. CUT TO: SIGN BY ROADSIDE The sign reads "KIDS PLAYING - SPEED BUMPS". CUT TO: EXT. CITY STREET - DAY With a whine from hell, the front tire of the motorcycle hits a speed bump. The motorcycle becomes airborne and on the way up slices itself in half as it scrapes along the full length of a Datsun Kingcab. In the air, the rider and motorcycle twist violently as they fly by. The motorcycle bounces off a black '66 Chevrolet and makes a sound like the end of the world. The rider hits the same Chevy a moment later. Like a broken ragdoll shot from a cannon, the man punches through the back window blowing glass for a block. He stops somewhere under the front seat and a bubble of blood forms out his nose. The motorcycle continues on sliding and spinning with an ear- piercing howl for one entire city block. CUT TO: EXT. NEIGHBORHOOD STREETS - VACANT LOT - DAY Two rabid dogs fight ferociously in a vacant lot - ripping each other's flesh. An OLD COUPLE, both with walkers, inch painfully along nearby. OLD WOMAN Oh my God! Why they doin' that? OLD MAN Who the hell knows. What you have in your mouth? The old woman begins to turn away, covering her mouth with her hand. OLD MAN Spit it out!!! Pull your teeth out... doctor said. What you tryin' to do? SPIT IT OUT!!! The Old Man grabs the Old Woman by the neck and squeezes. Out comes a tangled and sticky ball of hard fruit candies. CUT TO: WASP NEST A thousand wasps hover threateningly in the air around the nest. A SMALL GROUP OF HARDENED CRIMINAL NINE-YEAR OLDS sporting hideous grins, bat the nest violently to and fro with sticks. One kid busies himself shooting a large can of Black Flag garden spray into a crack in the nest. Another stomps half-dead wasps up and down the sidewalk. All the kids are making animal noises of one sort or the other. CUT TO: INT. FORTUNE HOUSE - DAY The telephone rings. MARIETTA PACE FORTUNE, a rich Southern woman around fifty, carries her Martini and Rossi sweet vermouth drink across the living room and answers the phone. MARIETTA Hello... Who is this? CUT TO: INT. PEE DEE COUNTY WORK FARM - DAY A GUARD stands by as SAILOR RIPLEY, twenty-three years old - lost somewhere between the cool long-gone generation and a used-car salesman - speaks on a prisoner phone in a green cement cubicle with one bench. SAILOR (into phone) ...Sailor Ripley... Can I talk to Lula? CUT TO: INT. FORTUNE HOUSE - DAY MARIETTA There's no way in hell you can speak to her and... CUT TO: INT. PEE DEE COUNTY WORK FARM - DAY SAILOR (feeling a smile coming on) What?... CUT TO: INT. FORTUNE HOUSE - DAY MARIETTA ...Yes you heard me... Don't ever call back here again. Marietta hangs up the phone as LULA PACE FORTUNE, Marietta's twenty-year old daughter, comes quickly down the stairs. LULA Mama??? MARIETTA You know who it was and you know you aren't, and I mean ARE NOT gonna see him EVER... End of story. LULA (quietly) Like hell. Marietta, her hand still on the telephone, grips the receiver so hard her knuckles turn white. CUT TO: INT. FORTUNE HOUSE - LULA'S ROOM UPSTAIRS - DAY Lula enters her room and cranks up her stereo. Speed metal music jumps up to around one hundred twenty decibels. CUT TO: INT. PEE DEE COUNTY WORK FARM - DAY The guard escorts Sailor away from the telephone and back to his cell. The iron bars of the door slide across Sailor's face and close with a bang. CUT TO: EXT. THE MUSIC BAR - NIGHT A beat-up, red '64 Ford Falcon station wagon filled with insane TEENAGERS on speed and PCP race out of control down the street past the club - leaning out the car in every direction. They scream out to the desolate-looking passerby. TEENAGERS EAT SHIT MOTHERFUCKERS!!!!!! The camera cranes up to the neon club sign and gets lost among the hot pink neon, the frantic moths and the intense electric buzz. CUT TO: INT. THE MUSIC BAR - NIGHT Lula and her friend, BEANY THORN, sit at a table drinking rum Coca-Colas while watching and listening to a white blues band called THE BLEACH BOYS. The group segues smoothly from Elmore James's "Dust my Broom" into Robert Johnson's "Me and the Devil" and Beany lets out a snort. BEANY I can dig this music... But not that singer. LULA Why? He's right in the groove. BEANY He's so ugly. Guys with beards and beer guts ain't quite my type. LULA (giggles) Seein's how you're about as thick as a used string of unwaxed dental floss, don't know how you can criticize. BEANY Yeah, well, if he says that all that flab turns into dick at midnight, he's a liar. Lula and Beany laugh and swallow some of their drinks. BEANY So, Sailor's gettin' out soon, and you're gonna see him? Lula nods and crushes an ice cube with her back teeth and chews it. LULA Meetin' him at the gate. That phone call this afternoon was the signal. My deranged mama's hid the keys to my car. But of course, I know exactly where they are. BEANY I didn't hate me so much, I'd feel better wishin' you luck. LULA Can't all husbands be perfect, and your Elmo prob'ly wouldn'ta ever got that second one pregnant, you hadn't kicked his ass out. BEANY So you're gonna be needin' the "blue- bird" pretty soon? LULA Real soon... I'll be makin' the swap tomorrow, and thanks again, Beany. The Bleach Boys kick into some kind of Professor Longhair swamp mambo. CUT TO: EXT. BAY ST. CLEMENT - DAY Plumes of smoke from fires rise in the distance. DISSOLVE TO: INT. FORTUNE HOUSE - DAY An empty living room. The smoke from the city fire appears during the course of the DISSOLVE to be in the living room - then it disappears. An empty hallway. An empty stairway. INT. FORTUNE HOUSE - MARIETTA'S BEDROOM - DAY Feet (Lula's) was across carpet. A closet door opens. A hand (Lula's) reaches into the pocket of a coat in her mother's closet. The hand comes out clutching car keys. INT. FORTUNE HOUSE - STAIRWAY - DAY Lula races down the stairs and through a door into the garage. CUT TO: EXT. FORTUNE HOUSE - DAY The electronic garage door opens and Lula drives her '80 Black Camaro out and away. The garage door closes automatically. CUT TO: EXT. CITY STREETS - DAY Lula drives fast up a neighborhood street. She turns a corner and disappears. CUT TO: INT. BEANY THORN'S GARAGE - DAY Lula throws her car keys under the front seat and goes around to Beany's '67 dark blue Thunderbird convertible - fishes around under the T-Bird's front seat for the keys - finds them - jumps in and takes off. DISSOLVE TO: EXT. FORTUNE HOUSE - DAY Marietta leaves her Cadillac Seville in her driveway and enters the house. We can hear her calling out for Lula in the distance. The calling changes - it becomes angry. The garage door opens and Marietta comes storming out. She leaps in her Caddy and peels out. CUT TO: INT. "SOUTHERN TIME" BAR - DAY Marietta enters the bar on the run. She calls out to the BARTENDER... MARIETTA Where's Johnnie? He's not in his office. BARTENDER Haven't seen 'im yet today, Marietta. MARIETTA (slightly hysterical) Well I gotta find him - right this minute! CUT TO: EXT. PEE DEE COUNTY WORK FARM - DAY Sailor is waiting out front as Lula pulls up in her T-Bird - throwing out a cloud of dust. They're both smiling. LULA Hey baby... SAILOR Peanut... They kiss tenderly and then Sailor walks around the car to get in while Lula opens up a suitcase and gets out his snakeskin jacket. SAILOR Hey, my snakeskin jacket... Thanks, baby... Did I ever tell you that this here jacket for me is a symbol of my individuality and my belief in personal freedom? LULA 'Bout fifty thousand times. I got us a room at the Cape Fear, and guess what?... I hear Powermad's at "The Hurricane." SAILOR (smiling) Stab it and steer. Lula tromps it and throws out an even larger cloud of dust. CUT TO: INT. CAPE FEAR HOTEL - DAY Sailor and Lula lay on the bed in the Cape Fear Hotel listening to the fan creak. LULA Did you ever think somethin' like about the wicked witch of the east comin' flyin' in?... Did you ever think somethin' and then later think you've said it out loud to someone? SAILOR I really did miss your mind while I was out at Pee Dee, honey. The rest of you, too, of course. But the way your head works is God's own private mystery. What was it you was thinkin'? LULA Well, I was thinkin' about smokin' actually... My mama smokes Marlboros now, used to be she smoked Kools? I stole 'em from her beginnin' in about sixth grade. When I got old enough to buy my own, I bought those. Now I've just about settled on Mores, as you probably noticed? They're longer. SAILOR I guess I started smokin' when I was about six... My mama was already dead from lung cancer... LULA What brand'd she smoke? SAILOR Camels, same as me... Guess both my mama and my daddy died of smoke or alcohol related illness. LULA Gee, Sailor. I'm sorry, honey. I never would have guessed it. SAILOR It's okay. I hardly used to see them anyway. I didn't have much parental guiding. The public defender kept sayin' that at my parole hearin'. He was a good ol' boy, stood by me... Even brought me some cartons of cigarettes from time to time. LULA I'd stand by you, Sailor... through anything. SAILOR Hell, peanut, you stuck with me after I planted Bob Ray Lemon. A man can't ask for more than that. Lula pulls Sailor over to her and kisses him soft on the mouth. LULA You move me, Sailor, you really do. You mark me the deepest. Sailor pulls down the sheet, exposing Lula's breasts. SAILOR You're perfect for me, too. LULA You remind me of my daddy, you know? Mama told me he liked skinny women whose breasts were just a bit too big for their bodies. He had a long nose, too, like theirs. Did I ever tell you how he died? SAILOR In a fire, as I recall. LULA Started he couldn't remember things? Got real violent? Mama kept tellin' me it was on account of lead poisoning from cleanin' the old paint off our house without usin' a mask... But I don't know. Seems like his brain just fell apart in pieces. CUT TO: INT. FORTUNE HOUSE - KITCHEN - NIGHT CLYDE FORTUNE tears a door off the kitchen cabinets and strews the cabinet contents all across the counter and floor. He puts his fist through the kitchen window. He leaps on the counter and bats the kitchen ceiling light - smashing it. He kicks over the refrigerator. CLYDE FUCKIN' BITCH!!!! CUT TO: INT. CAPE FEAR HOTEL - DAY Lula's eyes look off, remembering. LULA Finally in the middle of the one night, with me and mama asleep upstairs... he poured kerosene over himself and lit a match. CUT TO: INT. FORTUNE HOUSE - LIVING ROOM - NIGHT Clyde Fortune, completely engulfed in fire, races across and back the living room until he collapses in a fifties modern armchair. The drapes behind him burst in flames. LULA (V.O.) Near burned down the house. We got out just in time. The whole living room goes up in flames. CUT TO: INT. CAPE FEAR HOTEL - DAY CLOSEUP - The red hot ash of Lula's cigarette as she inhales deeply. As she exhales a cloud of smoke she turns to Sailor. LULA It was a year before I met you. Sailor takes the cigarette out of Lula's hand and puts it into the ashtray by her bed. He pulls her to him and kisses her throat. SAILOR You have such a pretty, long neck, like a swan. LULA Grandmama Pace had a long, smooth white neck. It was like on a statue it was so white? Sailor drifts his thumb over Lula's left nipple then cups her breast in his hand. They kiss. CUT TO: INT. FORTUNE HOUSE - DAY Marietta pours JOHNNIE FARRAGUT another shot of scotch. MARIETTA I knew this would happen. Soon as that piece of filth got out of Pee Dee, I knew there'd be trouble. He's just got some kind of influence over her I can't decipher. There's somethin' wild in Lula I don't know where it comes from. You gotta find 'em, Johnnie. JOHNNIE He served his time for what he did. Another thing... If Lula went with him of her own volition - willingly, that is - there ain't much can be done about it. MARIETTA Don't talk down to me, Johnnie Farragut. I know what volition means, and that's why I want Sailor Ripley off the planet! He's pure slime and it's leakin' all over my baby. Maybe you could push him into makin' some kinda move and then kill him dead. You'd only be defendin' yourself, and with his record, nobody'd fuss. Johnnie pours himself another tumblerful of Walker Black Label. JOHNNIE I'll locate Lula, Marietta, and if she's with the Ripley boy, I'll give him a talkin' to and try to convince her to come back with me. That's about all I can do. He takes a long swallow from the tumbler. Marietta begins to cry. She blubbers for a few seconds, and then stops as abruptly as she'd started. Her grey eyes glaze over. MARIETTA I'll hire a hit man if you don't want to help me stop this thing. I'll call Marcello Santos. JOHNNIE Now, Marietta, I am goin' to help you. And don't be gettin' carried away. You don't want to be bringin' Santos and his people into it. MARIETTA You're just jealous of Santos cause he's sweet on me. JOHNNIE Darlin', you ain't seein' Santos again, are ya? MARIETTA Oh, Johnnie Farragut... Don't you trust your very own Marietta? JOHNNIE Sorry, sweetheart. Bein' in love with you like I am brings out that ugly jealous side. MARIETTA Well stop worryin' about me and start worryin' about how you're gonna get that Lula back here and away from that murderer. JOHNNIE Sailor ain't a murderer. You got to get off that kick. And far's I can tell, Sailor was entire clean prior to that involvin' Lula. Even there he was protectin' her. You oughta be thankin' him for that. That Bob Ray Lemon they say was comin' after the both of 'em. Why am I tellin' you this, you was around that night. You ought to know just exactly what happened. Sailor just got a little too forceful is all... You remember that night... CLOSEUP - Marietta' eyes as she thinks back. CUT TO: INT. BAY ST. CLEMENT HOTEL - BALLROOM - NIGHT We see Marietta standing in a carpeted hallway above the ballroom. Dance band music can be heard in the distance. Sailor appears coming up the hallway - slightly drunk - he carefully sets his drink on the carpet outside the MEN'S ROOM. Marietta's POV of Sailor entering the MEN'S ROOM. CLOSEUP - Marietta's glazed eyes and smiling face. Marietta's POV of walking toward MEN'S ROOM. CUT TO: INT. FORTUNE HOUSE - DAY MARIETTA Maybe I was there, but I didn't see anythin'. All I know's that trash killed a man with his bare hands. Hands which are now prob'ly all over my baby! JOHNNIE Marietta, settle down now darlin'... I want what's best for her, too - like I said, I'll do what I can to bring her home. CUT TO: INT. CAPE FEAR HOTEL - DAY Lula is standing in the bathroom of their room at the Hotel fooling with her hair in front of the mirror. Sailor can see her through the doorway from where he lays on the bed. LULA Sailor, you are somethin' else, honey... When I was fifteen, Mama told me that pretty soon I'd be startin' to think about sex, and I should talk to her before I did anything about it. SAILOR But honey, I thought you told me your Uncle Pooch raped you when you was thirteen. LULA That's true. Uncle Pooch wasn't really an uncle. He was a business partner of my daddy's? And my mama never knew nothin' about me and him - that's for damn sure. His real name was somethin' kind of European, like Pucinski. But everyone just called him Pooch. He came around the house sometimes when Daddy was away. I always figured he was sweet on mama, so when he cornered me one afternoon, I was surprised more'n a little. SAILOR How'd it happen, peanut? He just pull out the old toad and let it croak? Lula brushes away her bangs and frowns. She takes a cigarette from the pack on the sink and lights it, then lets it dangle from her lips while she teases her hair. LULA You're terrible crude sometimes, Sailor, you know? SAILOR I can't hardly understand you when you talk with one of them Mores in your mouth. Lula takes a long, slow drag on her More and sets it down on the edge of the sink. LULA I said you can be too crude sometimes? I don't think I care for it. SAILOR Sorry, sugar. Go on and tell me how old Pooch done the deed. LULA Well, mama was at the Busy Bee havin' her hair dyed? And I was alone in the house. CUT TO: INT. FORTUNE HOUSE - KITCHEN - DAY We see what she talks about. LULA (V.O.) Uncle Pooch came in the side door through the porch, you know? Where I was makin' a jelly and banana sandwich? I remember I had my hair in curlers cause I was goin' that night with Vicki and Cherry Ann, the DeSoto sisters. Uncle Pooch must have known nobody but me was home, cause he came right in and put both his hands on my butt and sorta shoved me up against the counter. CUT TO: INT. CAPE FEAR HOTEL - DAY SAILOR Didn't he say somethin'? Lula shakes her head. She picks up her cigarette, takes a puff and throws it into the toilet. EXTREME CLOSEUP of cigarette in toilet. LULA Not really. Least not so I recall now. Lula flushes the toilet and watches the More come apart as it swirls down the hole. EXTREME CLOSEUP of cigarette coming apart as it swirls. SAILOR So how'd he finally nail you? Right there in the kitchen? LULA No, he picked me up. CUT TO: INT. FORTUNE HOUSE - KITCHEN / MAID'S ROOM - DAY We see what she talks about. LULA (V.O.) He was short but powerful. With hairy arms? Anyway, he carried me into the maid's dayroom which nobody used. We did it there on an old bed. CUT TO: INT. CAPE FEAR HOTEL - DAY SAILOR 'We' did it? Whattaya mean? Didn't he force you? LULA Well, sure. But he was super-gentle, you know? I mean, he raped me and all, but I guess there's all different kinds of rapes. I didn't exactly want him to do it but I suppose once it started, it didn't seem all that terrible. It was over pretty quick, and after Uncle Pooch just stood there and pulled up his trousers and left me there. I stayed in bed till I heard him drive off. Then I just went back into the kitchen and finished makin' my sandwich. SAILOR And you never told nobody about it? LULA Just you. Uncle Pooch never acted strange or different after. And he never did anything else to me. I always got a nice present from him at Christmas, like a coat or jewelry? CUT TO: TWO LANE HIGHWAY - DAY LULA One hundred twenty decibels - head on collision of a '54 Ford Pick-Up and a '64 Chevy Station Wagon. No survivors. Balls of flame and grinding metal. CUT TO: INT. CAPE FEAR HOTEL - DAY LULA Uncle Pooch died in a car crash three years later while he was holidayin' in Myrtle Beach. They still got way too much traffic there for my taste... And another thing, baby... That government of ours should be keepin' us separated from outer space... SAILOR Here she goes again... LULA Sailor, that ozone layer is disappearin'. Seems to me the government could do somethin' about it. One of these mornings the sun'll come up and burn a hole clean through the planet like an X-Ray. Lula strikes a match and lights another cigarette. SAILOR (laughs) That ain't never will happen, honey. Least not in our lifetime. Somewhere in the hotel a woman laughs. It is a kind of wild, crazy laugh, and for the few seconds it lasts, Lula's face goes pale. SAILOR You okay, honey? LULA That woman's laugh creeps me out. I heard somethin' like that... somewhere before... Sound'd like the wicked witch... SAILOR Just sounded like an old gal havin' a good time to me... You ready to dance? LULA I'm always ready to dance. But I need me a kiss first, honey. Just one? Lula and Sailor kiss. In the middle of the kiss, the woman's creepy/crazy laugh is heard again in the distance and Lula's eyes snap open with a kind of fear. CUT TO: EXT. FORTUNE HOUSE - BACKYARD - LATE AFTERNOON / EVENING Marietta is escorting MARCELLO SANTOS and two stiff drinks to a table in her backyard. SANTOS I knew you'd want it again... MARIETTA That's not why I called. SANTOS Oh yeah - sure... okay. MARIETTA Santos... It isn't. SANTOS Have it your way... But you want it. MARIETTA Lula's gone off with Sailor. SANTOS What do you want me to do about it? MARIETTA I want you to take care of Sailor, so he won't ever be able to bother my baby again. SANTOS Take care of him? MARIETTA Yes. SANTOS What does take care of him mean? Do you want me to give him food or some clothing? MARIETTA What's with you? You know what take care of him means. I don't call Santos except for one big reason. SANTOS Big is the key word, and I'm telling you I want it bad. MARIETTA I want you to get rid of Sailor. SANTOS Get rid of him? MARIETTA Yes... Get rid of him. SANTOS How would I do that? Send him on a trip - like maybe to Hawaii? MARIETTA Santos, why in hell do you insist on playin' this stupid game? SANTOS Just tell me what you want. MARIETTA I don't need to explain anymore'n I have... You know damn well. SANTOS You need to explain it. MARIETTA All right... I want you... to... kill... Sailor... As simple as that. SANTOS Simple? Kill him? How? MARIETTA That's your business... I don't care how. SANTOS Like an accident where maybe Lula might also get hurt? MARIETTA NO... For God's sakes, Santos! SANTOS Well, like kill him with the atomic bomb? MARIETTA Santos... SANTOS Explain it... I told you. MARIETTA Shoot him. SANTOS Shoot him? Like with a gun? MARIETTA Yes. SANTOS Where? In the leg? MARIETTA No. SANTOS Where? MARIETTA In the head. SANTOS Shoot Sailor in the head with a gun... Now I'm beginning to get it... You want me to shoot Sailor in the head with a gun. MARIETTA Yes. SANTOS But where in the head? Not the chin, I hope. MARIETTA No... In the brains... What little I'm sure he has. SANTOS You want me to shoot Sailor in the brains with a gun. MARIETTA Yes. SANTOS Through the forehead? MARIETTA Yes. SANTOS Wrong! It's much better to blow a hole in the back of the head... right toward the bridge of the nose... Lots and lots of irreparable damage. MARIETTA See! I knew you had it all under control. SANTOS Why didn't you send Johnnie Farragut? MARIETTA Maybe I did... Try New Orleans first... Lula can't ever stop talkin' 'bout that town. SANTOS On one condition... He pauses and smiles strangely. SANTOS You give me your permission to kill Johnnie Farragut. MARIETTA (whisper) Santos... No... Please, Santos... SANTOS You're not tellin' me that you're sweet on him? MARIETTA No... But... SANTOS One day he's gonna find out what we're up to with Mr. Reindeer, and he could cause us a lot of trouble. They stare at each other for a moment. SANTOS I'm gonna take your silence as a "yes"... MARIETTA Santos... I can't... SANTOS Shhhh... It's all right... Also, I either take you or that pretty daughter of yours to bed. MARIETTA You fucker, don't you ever touch Lula - You fucker, I'll kill you. SANTOS (laughing) Put your shoulders back. MARIETTA What? SANTOS Put your shoulders back, I said. Marietta puts her shoulders back and Santos comes and stands in front of her. SANTOS You got nice tits. MARIETTA Someone's gonna see us. SANTOS (smiling as he starts to feel her breasts) That's just another part of the price to pay. MARIETTA Santos... You kill that Sailor, otherwise he's gonna turn my baby against me. Santos lifts one hand up to Marietta's chin and raises her face up towards his. SANTOS Look at me... There's no turning back on this... I'm gonna kill Sailor... That's for sure. CUT TO: INT. "THE HURRICANE" - A SPEED METAL CLUB - NIGHT We see the sign which has all the letters tipped way over to the right - as if in a hurricane. Two leaning palm trees border the sign. One hundred decibels of speed metal. We see the name "Powermad" on the bass drum. The BAND segues into "Slaughter House" and it's a hot one. Sailor grabs Lula and they start dancing like two jacked-up spastics in an electrical storm. A few PUNKS actually stop dancing to watch Sailor and Lula. They thought they'd seen everything. CLOSEUP OF LULA AND SAILOR They're in love and dancing hot. An IDIOT PUNK moves close to Lula and rubs up against her as he dances by. Sailor turns to the lead guitar player and signals him to stop the music immediately. Suddenly everything is deathly quiet. Sailor gives the man a fully extended "Reno point"... SAILOR Are you going to provide me with an opportunity to prove my love to my girl? Or are you gonna save yourself some trouble and step up like a gentleman and apologize to her? IDIOT PUNK Don't fuck with me, man. You look like a clown in that stupid jacket. SAILOR This is a snakeskin jacket, and for me it's a symbol of my individuality and my belief in personal freedom. IDIOT PUNK ...Asshole. SAILOR (as he moves toward the Idiot Punk) Come here. LULA Sailor, honey... The Idiot Punk tries to hit Sailor, but Sailor slaps him so hard his knees almost bend backwards. The Idiot Punk goes down - fighting back tears and holding his cheek. SAILOR (helping him up) I'm sorry to do this to ya here in front of a crowd, but I want ya to stand up and make a nice apology to my girl. IDIOT PUNK (to Lula) I'm sorry. LULA Hell, you just rubbed up against the wrong girl is all. SAILOR That's good... Now go get yourself a beer. (turning to the band) You fellas have alotta the same power Elvis had... Y'all know this one? Sailor starts to sing an Elvis Presley song, "Love Me." As the band joins in with a perfect back-up - Sailor sings to Lula. The Speed Metal crowd is mesmerized. DISSOLVE TO: INT. CAPE FEAR HOTEL - NIGHT CLOSEUP of pink - the whole screen is filled with pink nylon. Panning down, we see Lula's breasts, which stand up and say "hello." Lula puts on her favorite pink shortie nightgown. LULA Why didn't ya sing "Love Me Tender"? You told me that was your favorite love song. Sailor turns around from his sprawled on the bed position watching The Dating Game show. SAILOR 'Cause I'm only gonna sing that song to my wife. Lula makes a face. She lies down on the bed next to Sailor. LULA What you want to watch this trash for? Ain't one of those people have a real thought in their brain. SAILOR That so? (keeping his gaze on the TV) You want to tell me what, if any, real thoughts you had lately? LULA What you have to get personal about so quick? All I mean is you could possibly read a book. Sailor grunts. LULA What's that honey? SAILOR We didn't have no TV up at Pee Dee, baby, you know? Lula slides her head up and kisses Sailor on the cheek. LULA I'm sorry, sweetie. I forget some moments where all you been the last two years. SAILOR Twenty-three months, eighteen days is all. Don't need to make more'n it was. (referring to Dating Game show) This couple's goin' on a date to Hawaii. The girl chose him over the other two guys. LULA Don't the reject guys get anythin'? SAILOR Gift certificates to Kentucky Fried Chicken. LULA That don't seem fair. SAILOR Hell, why should the Datin' Game be different from real life? At least them boys is gonna get somethin' to eat. LATER - IN THE DARK Sailor and Lula are in bed. Lula lays in Sailor's arms. LULA Sailor? SAILOR Yeah? LULA Wouldn't it be fabulous if we somehow stayed in love for the rest of our lives? SAILOR (laughing) You think of the weirdest damn things to say sometimes, peanut. Ain't we been doin' a pretty fair job this far? LULA Oh, you know exactly what I mean, honey? It'd make the future so simple and nice. SAILOR At Pee Dee, all you think about is the future, you know? Gettin' out? And what you'll do and what you'll think about when you're on the outside again. LULA I just think about things as they come up. I never been much of a planner. SAILOR It ain't altogether terrible just to let things go along sometimes. Lula, I done a few things in my life I ain't too proud of, but I'll tell ya from now on I ain't gonna do nothin' for no good reason. All I know for sure is there's more'n a few bad ideas runnin' around loose out there. EXTREME CLOSEUP of match girding along the strike pad and bursting into flame. Lula lights her cigarette. LULA You know there's somethin' I ain't never told you about, Sailor, and this here's a story with the lesson that there's a right time and a wrong time for things to happen... When I was almost sixteen I got pregnant. Sailor looks her in the eyes. SAILOR Musta been a lesson tellin' ya it was the wrong time... What did you do, your mama find out? LULA (nods) She got me an abortion... CUT TO: INT. ABORTION CLINIC - MIAMI - DAY EXTREME CLOSEUP of dying fetus with one hundred twenty decibels Lula's scream over. The fetus twitches in its little pod of blood. EXTREME CLOSEUP of pulsing vein in Lula's neck - LOUD VIOLENT HEARTBEAT SOUND - LIKE A DOUBLE-PEDALED KICK BASS DRUM. EXTREME CLOSEUP of Lula's forehead covered in sweat running down to her eyes - open wide and WILD. EXTREME CLOSEUP of fetus into medical trash can. EXTREME CLOSEUP of bloodied abortion instruments. The DOCTOR leans across the abortion table. LULA (V.O.) ...from some old doctor with the hairiest nostrils and ears I ever seen. EXTREME CLOSEUP of doctor's nose and ears... HAIR! LULA (V.O.) Afterwards... Momma says... We see Marietta standing next to the doctor. LULA (V.O.) ...I hope you appreciate my spendin' six hundred dollars, not countin' what it cost us to get here and back... This man's the best damn abortionist in the South. CUT TO: INT. CAPE FEAR MOTEL - NIGHT SAILOR You tell the boy who knocked you up? LULA It was my cousin, Dell, done it? His folks used to visit with us summers. SAILOR What happened to him? LULA Oh, nothin'. I never let on to mama about Dell bein' the one. I just flat refused to tell her who the daddy was? I didn't tell Dell, neither. He was back home in Chattanooga by then, anyhow, and I didn't see the point. Somethin' terrible happened to him, though. Six months ago. SAILOR What's that, peanut? LULA Dell disappeared. Dell was learnin' a hard lesson. What I learned from observin' Dell is I think people who are frightened want to disappear. He'd startin' behavin' weird? Like comin' up to people every fifteen minutes and askin' how they were doin'? CUT TO: EXT. CITY STREET - CHATTANOOGA - DAY DELL, wearing a soiled double-knit suit stops a LADY in the street, and smiling about the fact that earlier that morning he's placed a cockroach on his anus, he speaks to the woman. DELL How're ya doin'? CUT TO: INT. CAPE FEAR HOTEL - NIGHT LULA And just seemin' real spacey and actin' funny. SAILOR Actin' funny how? LULA Well, like mama told me, Aunt Rootie, Dell's mama? She found cockroaches in Dell's underwear. CUT TO: INT. AUNT ROOTIE'S HOUSE CLOSEUP of Aunt Rootie - unfolds a pair of dirty jockey shorts and several cockroaches fall out. CUT TO: INT. CAPE FEAR HOTEL - NIGHT LULA One time, Aunt Rootie caught Dell puttin' one big cockroach on his anus? SAILOR Hell, peanut... LULA One time - real late - like about two thirty a.m.? She found Dell up in the black of night all dressed and makin' sandwiches in the kitchen. CUT TO: AUNT ROOTIE'S HOUSE - KITCHEN - NIGHT In the dark kitchen, AUNT ROOTIE finds Dell making sandwiches - slicing them on the diagonal. AUNT ROOTIE What're ya doin'? DELL Makin' my lunch!!! LULA (V.O.) Dell told her he was makin' his lunch and goin' to work. He's a welder? And she made him go back to bed. We see Aunt Rootie cross the kitchen - take the knife away from Dell and lead him out of the kitchen. CUT TO: INT. CAPE FEAR HOTEL - NIGHT LULA Then he'd carry on about the weather? Talk about how rainfall's controlled by aliens livin' on earth. Also how men wearin' black leather gloves... CUT TO: INT. AUNT ROOTIE'S HOUSE - DELL'S ROOM - NIGHT Dell, crying uncontrollably, is in the center of the room squatting like an Indian in his jockey shorts. He has a long ruler stretched out in front of him which he's using to press down on the top of a lone black glove on the floor. LULA (V.O.) ...are followin' him around. SAILOR Prob'ly the rain boys from Outer Space. CUT TO: INT. CAPE FEAR HOTEL - NIGHT LULA It ain't so funny now, though. December before Christmas? Dell disappeared again and Aunt Rootie hired a private eye to find him. He was missin' for almost a month before he wandered back in the house on mornin' dressed in some filthy Santa Claus suit. EXT. AUNT ROOTIE'S HOUSE - DAY Dell walking to house. CUT TO: INT. AUNT ROOTIE'S HOUSE - DAY Dell enters the front door in a Santa Claus suit so filthy you can hardly see the red through the black. He walks right past Aunt Rootie and goes back into the kitchen. There he immediately does a spread-eagle on the floor and violently scratches his left ankle. LULA (V.O.) The private eye cost Aunt Rootie over a thousand dollars? Then a little while later Dell ran off a third time to some place he said would "give him peace of mind." Nobody's seen him since. CUT TO: INT. CAPE FEAR HOTEL - NIGHT SAILOR Sound like ol' Dell's more'n just a little confused, peanut... Too bad he couldn't visit that ol' Wizard of Oz and get some good advice. LULA Too bad we all can't, baby... One thing about Dell? SAILOR What's that? LULA When he was about seventeen, he startin' losin' his hair. SAILOR So? LULA He's twenty-four now? A year older than you? And must be 'bout bald. SAILOR There's worse things that can happen to a man, honey. LULA Yeah, I suppose. But you know somethin' baby, hair does make a difference. Lula turns to study Sailor. LULA I sure am glad they didn't give you no prison haircut... (sexual whisper) Gives me somethin' to grab hold of while we're makin' love? They kiss passionately. DISSOLVE TO: INT. CAPE FEAR HOTEL - NIGHT Sailor gets up from the bed and begins putting on his clothes. Lula is painting her toenails red. SAILOR Let's go dancin', peanut. I'm ready. LULA We gotta be careful, honey, my mama's gonna have Johnnie Farragut on us like a duck on a june bug, and he's one clever detective? You know how clever? He once told me that he could find an honest man in Washington. My toenails gotta dry first anyways, Sailor. SAILOR One thing puzzles my mind, sugar... You're twenty years old - aren't you ever curious why your mama has this fixation on keepin' us apart? Puttin' a detective on us. I'll tell ya Lula... Well... It's more'n me killin' Bob Ray Lemon... LULA Maybe my mama cares for me just a little too much... SAILOR Yeah, maybe... Sailor's eyes seem to be thinking back... CUT TO: INT. BAY ST. CLEMENT HOTEL - HALLWAY ABOVE BALLROOM - NIGHT We see an empty carpeted hallway and can hear a ballroom dance band playing in the distance. Sailor obviously slightly drunk, comes down the hall. He carefully, almost losing his balance, places his drink outside the MEN'S ROOM and enters. Marietta standing down at the other end of the hall - also drunk - smiles and stares at the MEN'S ROOM door through her glazed eyes. Sailor enters the MEN'S ROOM. CUT TO: INT. MEN'S ROOM - BAY ST. CLEMENT HOTEL - NIGHT Sailor steps up to a urinal and starts doing his business. Marietta suddenly appears - drunk and laughing. She grabs him and pulls him into a stall - closing and locking the door behind them. MARIETTA Hey, Sailor boy, you wanna fuck Lula's mama?... SAILOR No. MARIETTA Well, she wants to fuck you. She starts trying to French kiss Sailor when an OLD MAN comes in to urinate and Sailor and Marietta freeze - in a kiss. Sailor is going crazy in one way (wishing this wasn't happening.) Marietta is going crazy in another. The man finishes and as he leaves... OLD MAN (covering his eyes from seeing them) Lousy fuckin' homosexuals... SAILOR (instantly pulling away from Marietta) What are you, sick? I'm with Lula. MARIETTA No... I just wanted to kiss you good- bye... You know too much 'bout little Lula's mom... SAILOR Whattya mean? MARIETTA Well, Johnnie told me you used to drive for Clyde and Santos... SAILOR So? MARIETTA So maybe one night you got a little too close to the fire... And you're gonna get burned, baby... And besides that, you're shit... D'you think I'd let my little girl go with shit like you?... Why, you belong right here in one of these toilets. SAILOR You're gonna have to kill me to keep me away from Lula. MARIETTA Oh, don't worry 'bout that... CUT TO: INT. CAPE FEAR HOTEL - NIGHT SAILOR It's a prob'lm I don't think's gonna go away too soon though... Peanut, I'm thinkin' of breakin' parole and takin' you out to sunny California. LULA Sailor! SAILOR You up for that? LULA I'd got to the far end of the world for you, baby... You know I would. SAILOR Those toenails dry yet? We got some dancin' to do. We drift down Lula's long white legs to her blood red toenails. CUT TO: INT. "THE HURRICANE BAR" - NIGHT CLOSEUP of Lula's dancing feet in black spiked-heel sandals exposing blurred blood red toenails. Lula and Sailor are at it again - dancing as if plugged in to the main power plant. DISSOLVE TO: INT. BAR - BACK OF "THE HURRICANE" - NIGHT Drenched in sweat, Sailor and Lula sit at a corner table chug-a-lugging "Rolling Rock" during the band's break. Lula notices a GIRL in the corner eye-balling Sailor. She splits her attention between the Girl and Sailor. LULA ...That's an awful long way to go, just to get some pussy. SAILOR Yeah, I had my first taste on that trip to Juarez. At that age you still got a lot of energy. LULA You still got plenty energy for me, baby. Lula has had enough of the girl staring at Sailor. LULA Take a picture, bitch... It'll last longer. GIRL Oh yeah? LULA I'll slap those eyes right outta your head. The girl gets up in a huff and leaves. LULA Sorry, baby... When's the first time you done it with a girl who wasn't hookin'? SAILOR Maybe two, three months after Juarez. I was visitin' my cousin, Junior Train, in Savannah, and we were at some kid's house whose parents were out of town. A girl comes up to me that was real tall, taller than me. CUT TO: INT. JUNIOR TRAIN'S FRIEND'S HOUSE - KITCHEN - SAVANNAH We see what he talks about. SAILOR (V.O.) She looked right at me and run her tongue over her lips and put her hand on my arm - told me her name was Irma. CUT TO: INT. BAR - BACK OF "THE HURRICANE" - NIGHT LULA What'd you say to her? SAILOR Told her my name. Then she said somethin' like, 'It's so noisy down here. Why don't we go upstairs so we can hear ourselves?' She turned around and led the way. I knew I had an important lesson to learn that day. CUT TO: INT. JUNIOR TRAIN'S FRIEND'S HOUSE - STAIRWAY - NIGHT We see what he talks about. SAILOR (V.O.) When she got almost to the top step I stuck my hand between her legs from behind. CUT TO: INT. BAR - BACK OF "THE HURRICANE" - NIGHT LULA Oh, baby. What a bad boy you are! SAILOR (laughing) That's just what she said. I had a boner with a capital "O." I went to kiss her but she broke off laughin' and ran down the hallway. I found her lyin' on a bed in a room filled with assault weapons and Penthouse magazines. She was a wild chick. She was wearin' bright orange pants with kind of Spanish lookin' lacy black stripes down the sides. You know, them kind that doesn't go all the way down your leg? LULA You mean like pedal pushers? SAILOR I guess. CUT TO: INT. JUNIOR TRAIN'S FRIEND'S HOUSE - BEDROOM NIGHT We see what he talks about. SAILOR (V.O.) She just rolled over onto her stomach and stuck her ass up in the air. I slid my hand between her legs and she closed her thighs on it. CUT TO: INT. BAR - BACK OF "THE HURRICANE" - NIGHT LULA You're excitin' me, honey. What'd she do? SAILOR Her face was half-pushed into the pillow, and she looked back over her shoulder at me and said, 'I won't suck you. Don't ask me to suck you.' LULA Poor baby. She don't know what she missed. What color hair she have? SAILOR Sorta brown, blonde, I guess. But dig this, sweetie. Then she turns over, peels off them orange pants, and spreads her legs real wide and says to me... CUT TO: INT. JUNIOR TRAIN'S FRIEND'S HOUSE - BEDROOM - NIGHT IRMA (her smiling face) Take a bite of peach. CUT TO: INT. BAR - BACK OF "THE HURRICANE" - NIGHT LULA (howls) Jesus, honey! You more'n sorta got what you come for... You better run me back to the hotel, baby... You got me hotter'n Georgia asphalt. SAILOR Say no more... But go easy on me, sweetheart... Tomorrow we got alotta drivin' to do. (he takes out a cigarette and laughs) Hotter'n Georgia asphalt? EXTREME CLOSEUP of match striking and bursting into flames. WHITE OUT: OUT TO: INT. THUNDERBIRD CONVERTIBLE - DAY Sailor is at the wheel of the dark blue '67 Thunderbird convertible. They are flying down a two-lane Southern highway. LULA I'll drop mama a postcard from somewhere. I mean, I don't want her to worry no more'n necessary. SAILOR What do you mean by necessary? She's prob'ly already called the cops, my parole officer, her p.i. boyfriend Johnnie Farragut. LULA I suppose so. She knew I was bound to see you soon as you was sprung, but I don't figure she counted on us takin' off together like this... I guess this means you're breakin' parole, then? SAILOR You guess? My parole was broke two hundred miles back when we burnt Portagee County. LULA What'll it be like in California, Sailor, do you think? I hear it don't rain much there. SAILOR You got about six more big states to go before we find out. LULA We got through two states already. Lula lights up a cigarette. SAILOR That don't smell like a More. LULA It ain't. It's part of the lessons of life. I picked me up a pack of Vantages before we left the Cape? SAILOR They sure do stink. LULA Yeah, I guess, but - and here's the lesson part - they ain't supposed to be so bad for you. SAILOR You ain't gonna begin worryin' about what's bad for you at this hour, are you, sugar? I mean, here you are crossin' state lines with a A-Number One certified murderer. LULA Manslaughterer, honey, not murderer. Don't exaggerate. SAILOR Okay, manslaughterer who's broke his parole and got in mind nothin' but immoral purposes far's you're concerned. LULA Thank the Lord. Well, you ain't let me down yet, Sailor. That's more'n I can say for the rest of the world? Sailor laughs and shoots the T-Bird up to seventy. SAILOR You please me, too, peanut. CUT TO: INT. JOHNNIE FARRAGUT'S '69 MAROON BUICK - DAY Johnnie Farragut drives down a Southern highway on his mission. DISSOLVE TO: INT. THUNDERBIRD - DAY SAILOR Life is a bitch and then you marry one. LULA What kinda trash talk is that? SAILOR (laughs) What it says on the bumper sticker up front. On that pickup. LULA That's disgustin'. Those kinda sentiments shouldn't be allowed out in public. Is this Biloxi yet? SAILOR Almost. I figure we should find us a place to stay and then go eat. LULA Got anyplace special in mind? SAILOR We oughta stay somewhere outta the way. Not in no Holidays or Ramadas or Motel Six. If Johnnie Farragut's on our trail he'll check those first. EXT. THUNDERBIRD / EXT. THE HOST OF THE OLD SOUTH HOTEL - DAY They pass the Biloxi City Limit sign. LULA How about that one? The Host of the Old South Hotel. SAILOR Looks more like the Ghost of the Old South, but we'll try her. CUT TO: INT. THE HOST OF THE OLD SOUTH HOTEL - EVENING The room is large but cheap. Lula strips off the dishwater grey bedspread and tosses it over by the bureau. Sailor looks out the broken window. LULA I H-A-T-E hotel bedspreads. They don't hardly never get washed, and I don't like the idea of lyin' on other people's dirt. SAILOR Come look at this. LULA (going to the window) What's that, honey? SAILOR (thinking about death) There ain't no water in the swimmin' pool. Just a dead tree fell in, prob'ly from bein' struck by lightnin'. LULA (thinking about granddad) It's huge. This musta been a grand old place at one time. SAILOR Let's get fed, sweetheart. The light's fadin' fast. CUT TO: EXT. ROADSIDE PAYPHONE - NIGHT Marcello Santos is making a phone call. SANTOS Hello there, Mr. Reindeer... Marcello Santos speaking. CUT TO: INT. MR. REINDEER'S POSH NEW ORLEANS RESIDENCE - NIGHT An old man, MR. REINDEER, wearing a tuxedo is sitting on the toilet - his pants down - talking on the bathroom phone. He laughs a long deep smoker's laugh. MR. REINDEER (laughing) Mr. Marcello Santos... Hey there... That was great shit you sent in last month... CUT TO: EXT. ROADSIDE PAYPHONE - NIGHT SANTOS I gotta problem... In fact, I gotta coupl'a problems... CUT TO: INT. MR. REINDEER'S POSH NEW ORLEANS RESIDENCE - NIGHT MR. REINDEER (laughs again) Gotta coupl'a problems, huh?... For each problem drop a silver dollar through my mail slot... With all particulars... We'll work out "il conto" later... CUT TO: INT. JOHNNIE FARRAGUT'S MAROON '69 BUICK - NIGHT Johnnie Farragut steers the Buick down the dark highway past a sign which reads, "NEW ORLEANS - 26 MILES". CUT TO: EXT. BEACH - NIGHT Sailor and Lula are walking along the beach. Lula takes off her shoes. LULA (sing-song spells) M-i-ss-i-ss-i-pp-i... You can almost hear that jazz blowin' up from the big N.O. SAILOR Lula... I learned somethin' interestin' today on a science show I heard on the radio... How leeches is comin' back into style. LULA Say what? Honestly, sugar, you can talk more shit sometimes? She takes out a cigarette the length and width of a Dixon Ticonderoga No. 2 pencil and lights it. SAILOR Got you a pack of Mores again, huh? LULA Yeah, it's a real problem for me, Sailor, you know? When I went in that drugstore by the restaurant in Biloxi? I saw 'em by the register and the girl throw 'em in. I'm not big on resistin'. So what about a leech? SAILOR Heard on the radio how doctors is usin' leeches again, just in old times. You know, when even barbers used 'em? LULA (shuddering) I got one on me at Lake Lanier. Lifeguard poured salt on it and it dropped off. Felt awful. He was a cute boy, though, so it was almost worth it. Sailor laughs. SAILOR Yeah, well listen to this... Radio said back in the 1920s a I-talian doctor figured out that if, say, a fella got his nose cut off or bit off in, say, a barfight or somethin', they'd sew one of his forearms to his nose for a few weeks... Then put leeches on it. CUT TO: CLOSEUP OF MAN WITH FOREARM SEWED TO NOSE CUT TO: EXT. BEACH - NIGHT LULA Sailor? You expect me to believe a man'd be goin' around with a arm sewed to his nose? SAILOR (nodding) How they used to do it. Course they got more sophisticated ways now. Radio said the Chinese, I think it is, figured a better idea is by insertin' a balloon in the forehead and lettin' it hang down on the nose. Lula shrieks. LULA Sailor Ripley! You stop! You're makin' this shit up and I ain't gonna sit for it! SAILOR Honest, Lula. I prob'ly ain't precisely got all the facts straight, but it's about what they said. LULA Honey, we're goin' to bed now and it's time to change the subject. She's so cute Sailor just has to kiss her. DISSOLVE TO: INT. THUNDERBIRD - SOUTHERN HIGHWAY - DAY Sailor and Lula pass a sign that reads "NEW ORLEANS - 26 MILES". Sailor pulls off the road into a Gulf gas station mini-mart and stops the car next to a self-serve pump. A sign on the top of it says "PLEASE PAY INSIDE BEFORE FUELING". SAILOR We're about dry bones, sweetheart. We don't wanna have to push this "bird" into New Orleans. LULA We sure don't, honey... (shouting to Sailor as he goes into the store) Get me a Mounds? INT. MINI-MART - DAY A tall OLD BLACK MAN about seventy years old, wearing a torn green Tulane tee-shirt and a dirty orange Saints baseball cap, is filing items on the counter by the cash register. In the pile are four ready-made, plastic-wrapped sandwiches, two tuna salad and two cotto salami; six Twinkies; a package of Chips Ahoy chocolate chip cookies; four Slice colas; two Barq's root beers; and a large package of fried pork rinds, extra salted. BLACK MAN (to Sailor and another guy also waiting to pay for gas) Sorry, gentlemen. I'm 'most finished on my shoppin' here. ERV This be it? BLACK MAN Y'all take American Express? ERV Yessir. BLACK MAN Then lemme throw in a couple more things. Sailor and the man in line behind him watch as the black man gathers up several more packages of Twinkies along with a few cupcakes and half a dozen cans of Pretty Kitty cat food, three liver and three chicken dinner portions, and tosses them on his pile. BLACK MAN (to Sailor, smiling - showing no visible upper teeth) Pussycats gotta eat, too. He hands an American Express card to the clerk, ERV, who runs it through the verifier. The card checks out okay and the old guy prepares a charge slip, has the man sign it, and bags the purchases. BLACK MAN (to Erv) I'd just soon have a paper bag rather than a plastic one, if it's same to you. ERV (shoving the plastic bag he filled towards the black man) We don't have no paper bags. A telephone begins to ring and everyone looks around. The Black Man reaches in his jacket pocket and pulls out a portable phone and punches "send." BLACK MAN (into phone) Hello... Yeah, mama, I'm on my way... (to Sailor and other guy as he picks up his bag and heads out) Thanks for waitin', gentlemen. Everyone is silent as they watch the old Black Man hobble out. SAILOR (to Erv) All I want's ten bucks regular. Oh yeah, and a Mounds bar. Erv takes one off the candy and gum rack next to the register and lays it on the counter. Sailor gives him a twenty dollar bill. SAILOR I ain't got my American Express card with me, so I gotta use cash. Hope that's okay. Sailor smiles, but the clerk keeps a poker face and just gives him his change. The guy in line behind Sailor shakes his head and grins. EXT. MINI-MART / THUNDERBIRD - DAY Sailor goes back to the car. LULA That took long enough. You forget my Mounds? Sailor tosses her the candy bar. SAILOR I really do think the country done changed just a little while I was away, peanut. Lula sinks her small white teeth into the chocolate-covered coconut. LULA (as she chews) You got to keep an eye on it. That's sure. Sailor starts pumping gas. CUT TO: INT. MR. REINDEER'S POSH NEW ORLEANS RESIDENCE - DAY CLOSEUP of mail slot. Two silver dollars comes through it and one falls head up and the other tails on the rug below. CUT TO: INT. MR. REINDEER'S POSH NEW ORLEANS RESIDENCE - DAY Mr. Reindeer is just finishing dialing a number on the telephone. MR. REINDEER A coupl'a silver dollars came my way today... I'm sending one of them to you with a paper on the beneficiary... As usual, you are completely free to fulfill the obligation in any manner you so desire. He hangs up the phone and starts dialing another number. DISSOLVE TO: INT. THE ROUND ROOM RESTAURANT - NEW ORLEANS - DAY At a table near the window, Johnnie takes a man-sized pull off his Dixie beer in between bites of an oyster sandwich. A large, chocolate-colored man in his early thirties, REGINALD SAN PEDRO SULA, and a smaller white man, DROP SHADOW approach with their trays of food. REGGIE Do you mind if we share this table? The others, they are occupied. Johnnie looks around - sees that there are quite a few empty tables - he looks the men over quickly. JOHNNIE (cautiously) Alright... By all means. Make yourselves at home. DROP SHADOW (as he sits down) Muchas gracias. REGGIE My name is Reginald San Pedro Sula. But please do call me Reggie. This is my friend, who we call Drop Shadow. He is always with me. Johnnie wipes off his right hand on his napkin and shakes. JOHNNIE Johnnie Farragut. Pleased to meet ya. Reggie and Drop Shadow begin eating ferociously, finishing half of their meal before saying anything more. REGGIE You are from New Orleans, Senor Farragut? JOHNNIE Johnnie, please. Nope. Charlotte, North Carolina. Here on business. Reggie smiles broadly, revealing numerous tall, gold teeth. DROP SHADOW Mr. San Pedro Sula is from Honduras. REGGIE Do you know Honduras, Johnny? JOHNNIE Only that it's supposed to be a pretty poor sight since the hurricane came through last year. REGGIE Yes, that's so. But there is not much to destroy. DROP SHADOW No big buildings like in New Orleans. JOHNNIE Whattaya do there? REGGIE (laughs) Oh, many things... DROP SHADOW Mr. San Pedro Sula's got an appliance shop. REGGIE But I am also with the government. Johnnie takes a bite of his oyster sandwich. JOHNNIE In what capacity? REGGIE In many capacities. DROP SHADOW Mr. San Pedro Sula is with the Secret Service. Reggie reaches into his back pocket and takes out his wallet. He hands a card to Johnnie. JOHNNIE (reading aloud) General Osvaldo Tamarindo y Ramirez. Telefono 666. REGGIE He is my sponsor. The General is the head of the secret police of Honduras. DROP SHADOW Mr. San Pedro Sula is one of his operatives. Johnnie hands the card back to Reggie and Reggie gives him a small piece of paper, folded once. Johnnie unfolds it. The printing is in Spanish. REGGIE That is my permiso. DROP SHADOW Mr. San Pedro Sula's permit to kill. REGGIE Only if necessary, of course, and only in my own country. (laughs) JOHNNIE Of course. Johnnie refolds the piece of paper and hands it over to Reggie. DROP SHADOW Mr. San Pedro Sula's authorized to carry a .45. REGGIE United States Marine issue, before they made the unfortunate switch to the less dependable nine millimeters. I have it here, in my briefcase. Reggie holds up his stainless steel briefcase and then replaces it on the floor beneath his chair. JOHNNIE Why are you in New Orleans? If you don't mind my askin'. REGGIE Certainly not. We are here only briefly, in fact, until this evening, when we fly to Austin, Texas to visit a friend of mine who is an agent for the CIA. DROP SHADOW He wants to take Mr. San Pedro Sula and me bass fishing. REGGIE We are in the same businesses and also we are fishermen. Johnnie swallows the last of his beer and stands up to leave. JOHNNIE (extending his hand) It's been a real pleasure. I wish you both buena suerte wherever you go. Reggie and Drop Shadow stand up. They shake Johnnie's hand. REGGIE The same to you. If you are in Honduras, come to the Bay Islands and visit us. The Hondurans are great friends of the American people. But I have a joke for you before I go. If a liberal, a socialist, and a communist all jumped off the roof of the Empire State Building at the same time, which one of them would hit the ground first? JOHNNIE I couldn't say, which one? Reggie turns to Drop Shadow and lets him have the punch line. DROP SHADOW (grinning) Who cares? CUT TO: INT. HOTEL BRAZIL - NEW ORLEANS - EVENING Sailor and Lula are just finishing making love in their room. As Lula climaxes, her left hand opens and spreads wide. The lay quietly for a moment. LULA I love it when your eyes get wild, honey. They light up all blue almost and little white parachutes pop out of 'em. Oh, Sailor you're so aware of what goes on with me? I mean, you pay attention. And I swear, you got the sweetest cock. Sometimes it's like it's talkin' to me when you're inside? Like it's got a voice all it's own. You get right on me. SAILOR You really are dangerously cute, honey. I gotta admit it. Lula lights a cigarette. SAILOR Let's head out into the crazy world of New Orleans... I gotta get somethin' to eat. CUT TO: INT. RONNIE'S NOTHIN' FANCY CAFE - NEW ORLEANS - LATE EVENING Sailor and Lula sit at the counter drinking double-sized cups of community coffee. A MAN on the stool next to Sailor lights up a rum-soaked crook. GEORGE My name's George Kovich. Bet you've heard of me. SAILOR Don't know that I have... Should I know about you for anythin' in particular? GEORGE Was in all the papers three years ago. I'm seventy-six, was only seventy- three then. Had a business in Buffalo, New York, called Rats With Wings. Killed pigeons for anyone who wanted 'em killed. LULA Why were you killin' pigeons, Mr. Kovich? Were you in the extermination business? GEORGE No, ma'am. I was a housepainter, in the union forty-one years. I'm retired now, livin' with my sister, Ida. Ida moved down here twenty-five years ago, married an oil man named Smoltz, Ed Smoltz. He's dead now, so it's just me and Ida. I sold my house and moved down after the city of Buffalo put me out of business. Hell, RWW was doin' them a service, and they charged me with endangerin' the public. LULA What's wrong with pigeons, Mr. Kovich? GEORGE They're useless pests. I've shot hundreds of 'em... CUT TO: EXT. CITY STREET - ROOFTOP IN GEORGE KOVICH'S NEIGHBORHOOD - DAY George is shooting pigeons as fast as he can. GEORGE (V.O.) ...My neighbors hired me to get rid of the pigeons that gathered on their roofs and porches... CUT TO: INT. RONNIE'S NOTHIN' FANCY CAFE - NEW ORLEANS - LATE EVENING GEORGE ...Neighbors asked me how come the spotted bastards didn't light on my house or my brother Earl's anymore, and I told 'em the truth. I shot 'em... Earl's gone now... CUT TO: INT. EARL KOVICH'S HOUSE - DAY Earl pitches forward out of his easy chair and hits the carpet hard - screaming in pain. GEORGE (V.O.) ...Heart attack six months ago - had that cholesterol thick as shit... His widow, Mildred, she still lives in the house next to mine. CUT TO: INT. RONNIE'S NOTHIN' FANCY CAFE - NEW ORLEANS - LATE EVENING GEORGE She's stone deaf but the racket the pigeons made drove Earl crazy. He could hear 'em even with the TV on. He owned a bar thirty years, The Boilermaker, on Wyoming Street. Earl's roof was a favorite spot for pigeons. They lit there day and night. I wanted to toss a grenade up there. SAILOR If your neighbors didn't mind, how'd you get put out of business? GEORGE Woman drivin' down the street spotted me with on a roof with my rifle. She called the police and they came over and arrested me. Thought I was a sniper! Boys at the VFW loved that one. Cops didn't understand about the pigeons, the damage they do to personal property. I used to complain to the city but they never lifted a finger. I was gonna put out poison, but I was afraid somebody's cat would eat it. Hell, I had six cats myself. So I used the .22 because it didn't make much noise and the ammo was cheap. SAILOR What happened on the charges? GEORGE Guilty on a reduced charge. Hundred dollar fine and ordered to desist. Pigeons carry diseases and muss up the place. You seen it. Plain filth. Kovich stands up and puts some money on the counter. GEORGE It's a serious situation. Not like the Turks and the Armenians, maybe, or the Arabs and the Jews, but I want people to remember me and what I've done and pick up where I left off. Somebody had to make a move. It was nice meetin' you folks. George Kovich nods and leaves. SAILOR What lesson do get outta that story, Lula? LULA It's just another case, Sailor. SAILOR What's that, peanut? LULA One person thinks he's doin' somethin' good and ever'body else gets upset about it. Sailor looks up at Lula. SAILOR Ain't it the way... CUT TO: INT. HOTEL BRAZIL - NEW ORLEANS - NIGHT It's very quiet in the hotel room and the clock says four a.m. Lula and Sailor are lying in bed arm in arm. Sailor is fast asleep - snoring. Lula is wide awake. LULA Sailor?... Sailor, honey? Sailor snaps awake with a snort. SAILOR Huh? LULA Ever imagine what it'd be like to get eaten alive by a wild beast? Sometimes I think it would be the biggest thrill? SAILOR My God, (looks around) it better be, darlin', cause it'd be the last... What time is it? LULA Shhhhh... It's four o'clock... That woman's laugh the other day had somethin' to do with this feelin'?... Like bein' ripped apart by a gorilla, maybe... Grabbed sudden and pulled apart real quick by a real powerful one. Lula's left hand opens and spreads wide. SAILOR Lula, sometimes I gotta admit, you come up with some weird thoughts... LULA Anythin' interestin' in the world come out of somebody's weird thoughts, Sailor. You tell me Sailor, who could come up with shit like we're seein' these days? SAILOR You got me, peanut. LULA (smiles - turns to him) You certain? SAILOR I ain't never met anyone come close to you, sugar. LULA Recall the time we was sittin' one night behind the Confederate soldier? Leanin' against it. And you took your hand and put it on your heart and you said, 'You feel it beatin' in there, Lula?... Get used to it, 'cause it belongs to you now.' D'you recall that? SAILOR I do. LULA I was hopin' you would. I know that night by heart. Sometimes, honey? I think it's the best night of my life. CUT TO: BEHIND THE CONFEDERATE SOLDIER Tight Two-Shot Lula and Sailor with their arms around each other - cheek to cheek - talking softly. A strange presence begins to build and a piece of sad nostalgic music plays. CUT TO: INT. HOTEL BRAZIL - NEW ORLEANS - NIGHT LULA (lost in the memory) I really do think it's the best night of my life. SAILOR We didn't do nothin' special I can remember. Just talked, is all. LULA Talkin's good. Long as you got the other? I'm a big believer in talkin', case you ain't noticed. SAILOR Too bad they don't give an award for talkin'... You'd win first prize. Especially with those tits. LULA You think so, baby? Does my talkin' bother you, honey? SAILOR No, I like gettin' up around four a.m. and talkin' bout wild animals... Though you woke me up this time in the middle of a dream. I kinda wish I didn't remember it. Up at Pee Dee, I couldn't remember any of my dreams. LULA What was this one? SAILOR It wasn't no fun, Lula. The wind was blowin' super-hard and I wasn't dressed warm. Only instead of freezin', I was sweatin' strong. CUT TO: CLOSEUP OF EYES Black sweat is rolling down the forehead and over the eyes. SAILOR (V.O.) The water was rollin' off me. And I was dirty, too, like I hadn't had no bath in a long time, so the sweat was black almost. CUT TO: INT. HOTEL BRAZIL - NEW ORLEANS - NIGHT LULA Boy, sweetie, this is weird, okay. SAILOR I know. I kept walkin', I headed for your house, only it wasn't your house, really. You let me in only you weren't real pleased to see me. You kept askin', 'Why'd you come to see me now? Why now?' Like it'd been a long time since we'd seen each other. LULA Oh, baby, what an idea. I'd always be happy to see you, no matter what. SAILOR I know, peanut. But it wasn't all like you were so unhappy I was there, just you were upset. My bein' there was upsettin' to you. You had some kids there, little kids, and I guess you'd got married and your husband was comin' home any minute. CUT TO: CLOSEUP OF EYES Black sweat is rolling down the forehead and over the eyes. SAILOR (V.O.) I tell you, Lula. I was shakin' wet. All this black sweat was pourin' off me, and I knew I was scarin' you, so I took off. CUT TO: INT. HOTEL BRAZIL - NEW ORLEANS - NIGHT Lula puts her arms around him. LULA Sometimes dreams just don't mean nothin'... Stuff comes into your mind and you don't have no control over, you know? Anyways, dreams ain't no odder than real life. Sometimes not by half. SAILOR Well, I ain't upset about it, darlin'. Just give me an odd feelin' there a minute, is all. Lula lifts her head and kisses Sailor under his left ear. She rolls over on top of Sailor. LULA Take a bite of Lula. CUT TO: INT. SNUG HARBOR BAR - NEW ORLEANS - NIGHT Johnnie Farragut sits down on a stool at the bar. CHET, the bartender, approaches. CHET Hey!!!... Johnnie Farragut. How are you, my man. JOHNNIE Real good, Chet... It's been awhile. CHET Everythin's relative. Where's that Marietta Pace Fortune? You two didn't split up, I hope. JOHNNIE No... She's fine. Back home. CHET What'll it be? The regular? Black Label? JOHNNIE Set one up. Chet brings him a double. CHET So who you out sleuthin' for now?... Can I help ya? JOHNNIE Actually, I'm lookin' for Marietta's daughter, Lula. Her and 'er beau took off the other day. Marietta's real upset about it. CHET Hell, that rings a bell. Someone told me somebody lookin' like her was at the Nothin' Fancy yesterday. JOHNNIE Sounds right... I'll check it out. CHET (checking for a gold ring on Johnnie's hand) You hitched yet? JOHNNIE No sir... CHET It's none of my business, but when are you and Marietta gonna tie the knot? I always wondered why you never did. JOHNNIE Not for lack of love, I can tell ya that. CHET That's what I mean... Always looked like you was just knocked out in love... Was real nice to see. JOHNNIE I'll tell ya though, it's comin' up to the time when Marietta and me might just set up house together and settle down... I think that time's comin' up right soon. But like you said, everythin's relative. FADE OUT: CUT TO: EXT. HOTEL BRAZIL - NEW ORLEANS - DAY Lula waits just by the lobby door of the hotel. In the back of the lobby in the shadows is an ancient, old BLACK MAN who stares at her. Sailor pulls the T-Bird up in front of the hotel and Lula hurries out to him and tosses their suitcase in the backseat. LULA Let's get outta here... I suddenly got a funny feelin' about this place. Feelin' all that voodoo... SAILOR (winks at her) Gotta hex from a voodoo? LULA (smiles) Who do? SAILOR You do. They laugh and take off around the corner and up past the Cafe Du Monde. LULA Oh my God... It's Johnnie... Duck down!... Get goin'! SAILOR (looking around frantically) Where? LULA