Did Theo have feelings for Nell?
Even though Theo really cared about Nell as a friend. However I wonder if there could have been more to their friendship, since i have a feeling that they had romantic feelings for one another.
share[some spoilers, perhaps]
Well, yes, if you go back to the novel, I think the whole point of the story is Theo's approach to Nell, Nell responding to that (probably on an emotional rather than precisely romantic level), and then Theo's ultimate rejection of her. The Hugh Crain story is mostly a MacGuffin (although opinions may vary).
In the thread above ("The Caretaker Must Be Pissed"), I mentioned a script idea I'm trying. I'll give you a hint: what happens if Eleanor can convince Theo to accept her?
P.S.: Yes, Mr. Dudley did notice the car against the gate. He seemed to take it in stride, however, almost as if he wasn't that surprised.
In the scene where the girls Theo and Nell have first met, and are chatting in the bedroom, I'm pretty certain that Theo was hinting that she was bisexual to Nell. She mentioned that she had both a girlfriend and a boyfriend, and she asked Nell whether she had any boyfriends or girlfriends.
I think Nell was much more reserved than Theo. It is hard to tell whether she understood Theo's advances or not.
They certainly cared for each other though, as the movie moved on.
Theo was a complicated character, and I'm not sure whether anyone is aware of this, but she was also representing the seductive power of the Devil. Hence, in the scene where Nell tells Theo that she likes her boots, Theo tells her they are Prada. i.e. The Devil wears Prada.
So you see, this movie has a lot more to it than meets the eye!
:-)
http://www.wix.com/butterflyinabottle/bernadettebutterfly
I didn't write this in chronological order; I have to arrange the pieces after writing - it's a work in progress.
The movie opens with a character that I made up; he doesn’t exist in any other version. (Actually this is supposed to be the 1999 version as I imagine it.)
In this case, Professor David Marrow hired four people, instead of the three as in previous versions. The fourth person is a young black man from New York City named Roland Sykes. He is fairly tall and lanky and about 30 years old.
Roland is riding a subway train from Queens to Manhattan (the train is actually outdoors at this point on an elevated section). He is going to meet David at Columbia University so that he can get a ride to the Berkshires.
He’s sitting in a seat near the end of the car with his luggage, and he is reading a newspaper.
A musician busker comes through the end door. He is a middle-aged black man carrying a guitar, a portable amplifier and a small folding stool. He set up near Roland and starts his introduction.
“Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, sorry for any interruption, but I’d like to do a song for you today. Now you’ll probably remember this one.” He takes a moment to tune his guitar. “This is by the great Bobby Womack - hope you enjoy it.”
Most of the passengers have seen many buskers, candy-sellers, panhandlers, and others working the trains - it’s practically a daily occurrence - and few of them give him more than the slightest notice. Roland glances at him and goes back to reading his paper.
The other man starts his act:
“I was the third brother of five,
Doing whatever I had to do to survive.
I’m not saying what I did was all right,
Trying to break out of the ghetto was a day-to-day fight.
Been down so long, getting up didn’t cross my mind,
I knew there was a better way of life I was just trying to find.
You don’t know what you’ll do until you’re put under pressure,
Across 110th Street is a hell of a tester.”
He’s singing this enthusiastically, but he’s noticeably off-key. Roland is finding this amusing, and he tries to avoid laughing out loud. He has to rub his face to hide his smile.
The other man continues:
“Across 110th Street,
Pimps trying to catch a woman that’s weak . . .”
The doors open at a station, and the musician glances out.
“Oh, man, a cop!” He jumps up and quickly takes the seat next to Roland. A police officer comes into the car, takes a look around, and then goes through the end door to the next car.
Musician, “That was close. I had one of them give me a ticket last week. . . so how’s my singing? A little rusty, right?”
Roland doesn’t want to hurt his feelings, “No, you’re pretty good actually.”
The man smiles and pats him on the arm, “Come on, I know you’re just being polite.” He glances at Roland’s luggage, “You going on a trip?”
Roland, “Ah-huh, up to the Berkshires.”
Musician, “Yeah, really, a vacation?”
Roland, “More like a working vacation, sort of a temp job.”
Musician, “So what’ve they got you doing up there?”
Roland is starting to wonder how long these questions are going to continue. The other man notices Roland’s slightly annoyed expression; he decides to introduce himself, “Hey man, I’m Fred, glad to meet you.” He holds out his hand so that Roland can shake it.
Roland, “Okay, I’m Roland. . .you probably won’t believe this, but this guy, this psychologist, is doing a study of ghosts, and he’s paying me to stay in a haunted house - well, it’s supposed to be haunted, anyway.”
Fred, “Ghosts are real you know, I’ve seen them a few times myself.”
Roland, “Yeah? Where was that?”
Fred, “Down in North Carolina. Now, they’re scary when they’re around, but basically they’re just a nuisance. You see any up there, don’t pay them any mind, you hear?”
Roland shrugs, “All right, I’ll be cool if they show up.”
Fred, “You have to hang out with this dude all by yourself?”
Roland, “No, he’s hired three other people.”
Fred, “Any of them ladies?”
Roland, “I don’t know, I won’t know until I get there.”
Fred, “You could get lucky.”
Roland, “Oh no, I already have a girlfriend.”
Fred, “Yeah, but still. . .”
Roland, “No, this lady is special; I’m really tight with her.”
Fred, “You got a picture of her?”
Roland thinks to himself, Well, why not? He takes a photo out of his wallet and hands it to Fred.
Roland, “That’s Yolanda.”
Fred, “I see what you mean, she’s really fine. So what’s she doing while you’re busting these ghosts?”
Roland, “She’s seeing some of her family down in Venezuela.”
Fred, “Venezuela, huh? I’ve never been there, how about you?”
Roland, “Not yet.”
Fred, “You might be soon - meeting the folks, if you know what I mean.”
Roland, “I know her parents, they’re already here, over in Jackson Heights.”
Fred gets up, “Well, time to get back to business. I guess this car is a complete loss.”
Roland, “You’ve got seven more to go on this train.”
Fred, “True, but you know brother, you could salvage something of this situation, right?”
Roland laughs, “Okay, I can do that.” He pulls out a few dollars and gives them to Fred.
Fred, “Thank you, I appreciate that. Ah, you ride this train a lot?
Roland, “All the time.”
Fred, “So maybe I’ll catch you again soon.”
They wave good-bye, but then Fred stops for a moment.
Fred, “Yo, Roland, when there’s something strange, in the neighborhood, who you gonna call?”
Roland smiles, “You’re gonna be calling me!”
*********
There’s a brief scene of Roland emerging from the subway at 116th Street and Broadway.
Then we see David Marrow in his office at Columbia University; Roland will be meeting him there in a short while.
David is taking a last look at the paperwork for the people he’s hired; he’s sitting at his desk, and his assistant Mary is opposite. There is a photo attached to the top of each pile.
David, “Ok, Eleanor Vance here, you remember her?”
Mary, “Oh yes, she seemed very nice.”
David, “I thought so too, but I don’t know if you saw this - the first letter she wrote to me was a bit odd.” He flips through the pages until he finds it. “First of all, she starts off with a bit of poetry. Listen to this, ‘Dear Dr. Marrow: Can’t seem to face up to the facts, I’m tense and nervous, can’t relax; I can’t sleep, my bed’s on fire, don’t touch me, I’m a real live wire.’”
Mary, “That’s not a poem, it’s part of a song.”
David, “Oh, you know it then? So she just didn’t make this up. Then she writes a few lines in French. Ce que j’ai, ce soir la, - ‘what I’ve done that night, what she said that night, realizing my hope, I’m going to glory;’ that doesn’t make any sense.”
Mary, “Well, that’s sort of the whole point of it.”
David, “After that it’s very straightforward, although at the end, she signs off, ‘sincerely yours, Eleanor Vance’, then she’s got, ah, just a nonsense word repeated, fah, fah, fah, looks like about twelve times, although she hyphenates some of them.”
Mary, “That’s part of the song too, you know how singers will do that sometimes.” She thinks for a second, then sing-songs a bit of “Strangers in the Night”, “You know, like, doo-bee, do-bee doo, doo-doo doo-doo doo. . .”
David, “So how do you do that with fah, fah, fah?”
Mary sings that too, “It goes like, fah-fah-fah, fah-fah-fah-fah. . .”
David chuckles, “Somehow Sinatra does that kind of thing better. What is the name of this song anyway?”
Mary is reluctant to mention that it’s “Psycho Killer,” “Well, it’s by a group called The Talking Heads. You remember them, they had some hits about ten years ago.”
David, “It sounds familiar, but I can’t place them.” He looks at Nell's photo, “When I interviewed her, she seemed pleasant, but very. . . low-key, is the way I might put it. Especially since I met Theodora the day before.”
Mary, “Oh yeah, she was hard to miss.”
David, “Flamboyant is how I’d describe her. Although I got the feeling she was putting on a bit of an act.”
Mary, “How do you think they’ll get along up there?”
David, “We’ll have to see, but I suspect Theodora is going to be rather assertive about things. I hope Eleanor doesn’t get pushed around too much.”
[The reason Eleanor wrote this goofy letter is that she thought the ad she was responding to was a prank, and she was surprised to find out that it was real.]
*********
There’s a scene of Roland entering Marrow's office; then of them walking across the campus. Roland discusses his job and why he doesn’t have a car of his own. (He wrecked it in an accident.) I’ve written the scene but I’ll skip it now.
The next scene: Eleanor is driving on the dirt road up to Hill House. We first see the car in an overhead shot, then from the front, approaching (pretty much like it was actually done in the 1999 movie).
A song is playing on the car’s tape deck through this (this being 1999, cars still had tape decks) and we hear Nell singing along:
“One hundred cups of coffee, five hundred cigarettes,
A thousand miles of highway and I ain’t forgot her yet,
But I keep on moving, keep a moving on down the line.”
Then we see the car from the side, revealing Nell behind the wheel.
“Ain’t nothing in my mirror, just a cloud of dust and smoke,
What do you expect when some old trucker’s heart gets broke?
Yeah, trucker’s hearts get broke.”
Then she sings the chorus:
“Those big wheels of rubber gonna rub her off of my mind,
I’m a highway junkie and I need that old white line.”
She slows down and pulls some papers out of a bag on the seat. She picks up a map, but it’s one from National Geographic and shows something completely irrelevant, like Australia. She tosses it aside. During this she sings,
“Was ten miles out of Nashville, I’m doing about ninety-one,
State boy pulls me over, said where’s the fire son?
He said, where’s that fire son?”
She finds the right map, showing part of Massachusetts, looks at that and then through the windshield.
“I said man there ain’t no fire, I’m running from a flame,
Go on and right your ticket, but I ain’t the one to blame,
That county judge tried to rob me blind.”
Hill House appears as she turns a corner.
“Those big wheels of rubber gonna rub her off of my mind,
I’m a highway junkie and I need that old white line.”
She stops in front of the gate and looks through her papers again. An instrumental part of the song is playing now.
She suddenly notices Mr. Dudley standing quite close to her open window. When the lyrics start again, she starts singing too, but now she turns her head and sings directly to him.
“So I rolled on down to Memphis, I had nothing left to lose,
Wanted to hear some rock and roll, but all they played was blues,
Didn’t to want to hear no blues.”
Dudley raises his hand and makes a motion with his fingers as if turning a knob. Nell turns off the tape but continues singing to him.
“So I went to call up Elvis but Roger Miller grabbed the phone,
He said dang we drive them 18-wheelers, boy you’re the kind of the road,
You’re the king of the road . . .”
She stops at this point; she sees him looking at her without any expression on his face.
Dudley gestures towards the car’s tape deck, “Chris Knight?”
Nell is a bit surprised, “Oh, you know the song. You’ve heard the Randy Travis cover of it?”
Dudley barely nods, “That one’s ok.”
Nell consults her papers again, “You must be the caretaker, Mr. Dudley.”
Dudley, “One and the same. You must be either Theodora or Eileen Vance.”
Nell, “It’s Eleanor, Eleanor Vance.”
Dudley, “Anyway, you’re on the list.”
She notices that he has nothing in his hands, “What list?”
Dudley, “My list.”
Nell, “Right, you memorized it.”
Dudley, “There’s only four of you.”
Nell, “So there’s another woman coming up here.”
Dudley, “Appears to be.”
An awkward silence grows as she realizes he’s not going to say more. She gestures towards the gate, “Ah, are you going to let me in?”
Dudley, “If that’s what you want.”
Nell, “By the way, I’ve got a couple of boxes in the back. Will you help me bring them in?”
Dudley, “I’ll have to look at them first.”
He abruptly leaves her and walks over to the gate. He unlocks it and swings the two sections open. He makes no gesture; he simply stands aside. She drives through and parks by the front door.
After she gets out, she looks at the house for a moment. She tries to think of something to say as Dudley walks up.
Nell, “So, Hill House.”
Dudley, “That’s because it’s on a hill.”
Nell, “Of course, I was just . . .”
He interrupts her, “The boxes?”
Nell, “Sure, they’re in the hatch there.”
As she unlocks the hatch, he notices the license plate, “New Jersey, huh?”
Nell, “You ever been there?”
Dudley, “Nope.”
Nell, “You should go sometime.”
Dudley, “And see what?”
Nell, “I don’t know, maybe the Paramus Park Mall. It’s got a waterfall inside.”
By now the hatch is open and Dudley is test lifting the boxes. Nell tries to keep the conversation going, “Did you know there’s a song that mentions that mall, it’s even got a scene set there?”
Dudley ignores her, “What have you got in here, bricks?”
Nell, “Sorry, it’s some stuff for entertainment . . .”
Dudley, “I’m going to need a handtruck.” He points towards the house, “Go on in, it’s unlocked. See the missus, she’s right inside.”
Nell, “The missus?”
Dudley, “Mrs. Dudley.”
Nell, “Ok, then you’re married.”
He gives her a slight look of annoyance, then he walks off without saying anything else.
Nell says quietly to herself, “What a happy guy he is.”
She gets a suitcase, a shoulder bag, and CD/tape player out of the hatch and closes it. Then she goes up to the front door and enters the house. She stands there for a moment, looking up at the high ceiling of the front hall.
**********
Well, that's how it starts. Thanks!
GunHillTrain:
Oh my!! I really like ur style. It seems kind of mellow, what with the casual chat and music, but there is a kind of suspense to the proceedings too.
I think the extra character, Roland, is a good idea. Somehow he makes things more real. In the 1999 movie, there is a lot of surrealism, and you seem to have drawn a character who counteracts that. I love the way you do dialogue. You're really thorough, but it still sounds spontaneous. Are you still intending to write it as a comedy? I think what you've written stands on it's own as not being funny, which is saying a lot about your ability, because it's hard to write a good story without using much humour.
I loved reading it. I read it twice actually. Do u live in the USA? Sounds like you know your way around. :-D
PS: I like the ghostbusting comments, and Nell's comment about the waterfall sounds so oddly natural! :-D
http://www.wix.com/butterflyinabottle/bernadettebutterfly
Thank you!
I admit, you are not the first person to read this. I've had two people I know personally and about half a dozen people on-line read portions of it and give me feedback.
Yes, I would say it's a sort of comedy. I've written a good portion of it and there's not going to be a turn towards the surreal, although there are a few unexplained events. The basic idea is about how Eleanor deals with this new situation - which I might say is the main point in all the versions.
I live in New York City, although I did live in New Jersey for years too; thus I rely here on places I know (I've seen the waterfall in the Paramus Mall!)
Again, thank you for you input.
*********
I have a short scene with Eleanor meeting Mrs.Dudley, but I haven't finished it yet. Mrs. Dudley does give her standard "I set dinner at six" speech.
I like the scene where Eleanor looks out the window and sees Theo’s car in the driveway. It would keep it as an Alfa-Romeo convertible, although a somewhat newer and thus less expensive car than the classic 1959 version shown in the real movie. (It will become clearer that Theo does have some money, but she’s more middle-class rather than actually rich.) Then:
Theo is walking up the stairs with Mrs. Dudley when she first sees Nell.
(This is the only scene where I use much dialogue from the 1999 movie. I guess I have to share a writing credit with David Self then!)
Theo, “Hi. Don’t worry, I’m not an obsessive packer. It’s just that getting people to help me schlep these things around is a cheap and exploitive way of making new friends.” She hands a bag to Nell, “Here. I’m Theo.”
Nell, “I’m Eleanor Vance, but everyone calls me Nell.”
They’re now walking down the hallway towards Theo’s room
Theo, “Well, ‘everyone calls me Nell,’ don’t you just love it here? It’s sort of Charles Foster Kane meets The Munsters or something.”
Nell, “I always thought The Addams Family was the better show.”
Theo, “Really? They were pretty much the same, weren’t they?”
Nell, “Not at all; how about Morticia, for example? I actually wanted to be her when I was a kid. By the way, I like your boots.”
Theo, “Aren’t they great? They’re Prada, that’s Milan, not New York.”
Nell, “Well, I get my shoes at Target. That’s Clifton, not Hackensack.”
Theo, “And where are those places?”
Nell, “I’m from New Jersey, the town of Fair Lawn.”
Theo, “Fair Lawn. Such a bucolic name.”
Nell, “It sounds like a critique of landscaping, doesn’t it? Someone asks, ‘How’s your crabgrass problem?” and the answer is, ‘Oh, fair to middling.’ ”
Theo, “I think you’ve lost me there.”
Nell, “It’s a play on words; fair could mean either ‘pleasant’ or ‘mediocre’, right?” Theo is still baffled, and Nell laughs, “Oh, forget it. Let’s see what they got for you.”
They enter the room reserved for Theo.
Theo, “This is so twisted, seriously twisted.”
She jumps on the bed, and bounces around for a moment.
Mrs. Dudley is standing by the door, and she starts her memorized speech for the second time, aiming it at Theo now. Nell is right next to her.
“I set dinner on the dining room sideboard at six; you serve yourselves. Making breakfast is your responsibility.”
Nell is a step ahead of her and says, “You don’t wait on people.”
Mrs. Dudley looks at her, but Nell is looking out across the room. She starts up again.
“I don’t stay after dinner. I leave. We live in town, six miles away.”
Nell, “I thought you said five miles.”
Mrs. Dudley, “No, it’s six, it’s always been six. What is it with you?”
Nell, “What’s with you? Do you press button B7 and the same thing comes out every time?”
Mrs. Dudley, “Fine, you finish telling her the details.”
She turns and leaves so abruptly that she almost seems to vanish.
Theo, “She obviously likes you.”
Nell is looking down the corridor Mrs. D used for her exit. She says, “Well I think she’s a cyborg; she’s got a steel frame under her skin.” She puts on an accent, “ ‘ Are you Sarah Cahn-ner?’ ”
Theo, “Who’s Sarah Conner?”
Nell laughs, “Never mind.”
Theo, “I assume you’ve met her husband too.”
Nell, “Oh, yes, Mr. Dudley, isn’t he a sweetheart? I was going to ask you - just a causal question - what does everybody call you? Something like Ms. T.?”
Theo realizes that she is being teased, “No, they call me Theo, short for Theodora.”
Nell, “Were you named after the Empress Theodora?”
Theo, “I don’t think so; who was that?”
Nell, “She was in Sixth Century Byzantium. Now she was a very impressive lady.”
Theo, “I guess being an empress is a big responsibility.”
Nell, “There was an emperor too, her husband Justinian.”
Theo, “What was he like?”
Nell, “They shared power, but she may have been the brains behind that particular operation.”
[This is the first time Theo is impressed by what Eleanor is coming up with, but she doesn’t want to admit it yet.]
Nell, “Something else I was wondering about; what is your last name? I don’t think you’ve mentioned it yet.”
Theo, “Why do you want to know?”
Now it’s Nell’s turn to be baffled, “Well, if you don’t want to tell me.”
Theo, “It’s Padgett, ok?”
Nell, “So - you’re Theodora Padgett.”
She can tell from Theo’s expression that she’s not particularly fond of her full name.
Theodora tries something different. She walks over to her luggage, removes her coat and then her dress; she’s wearing a black negligee. (This is much like the real movie, except Nell keeps looking at her through the entire sequence.)
Theo, “So, what do you do, Eleanor?”
Nell, “I’m between jobs right now.”
Theo is facing her now, and Nell looks her over.
Nell, “I see you’re one of those people who let their underwear do the talking for them.”
Theo, “Oh, this?”
Nell gestures towards the low cut garment, “Yeah, that old thang. . . So, what do you do?”
Theo gets back on track, “I’m supposed to be an artist, but I’ve been distracted from work by love. You know what I mean?”
Nell, “No, tell me about it.”
Theo, “Hey, don’t tell me New Jersey’s that different from New York.” She gives a touch of scorn to the words “New Jersey.”
Nell, “Not at all, we’ve got indoor plumbing too.” She pauses for a moment to let that sink in. “So, what is going on with you then?”
Theo presses on, “I’d say my boyfriend is one kind of person, my girlfriend an entirely different kind. I wish we could all live together, but that’s never going to happen. It’s hard when you’re the only one at the party, you know?”
Nell, “It could be worse, at least you’re not one of those ladies you collects a lot of cats.”
Nell is smiling at her, and Theo is feeling a bit flummoxed now.
Theo tries another gambit. “What about you? Any husbands? Boyfriends? Girlfriends?”
Nell, “No, I’m a free agent right now, no entanglements.”
Theo is putting on a black gown; she walks over to Nell.
Theo, “A blank slate. I could imagine painting your portrait directly on you.”
She reaches out and plucks something from Nell’s jacket, “Sorry, you had a hair on you.”
Nell reaches over and tugs the edge of Theo’s gown at the neckline. She says, “Nice material. . . Ah, Ms. T, maybe we should have a cup of coffee first, don’t you think?”
Theo, “Okay, if that’s how you want to be about it.”
Nell, “That’s right. I mean, before you start painting on me or whatever else you have in mind.”
Theo, “I was just talking.”
Nell, “Great, let’s talk, a good way to get to know each other, right? By the way, Ms. Padgett, there’s a speed limit in this state, forty-five miles an hour.”
Theo, “What does that mean?”
Nell, “You’re supposed to say, ‘How fast was I going, officer?’ ”
Theo, “All right, how fast was I going, officer?”
Nell, “I’d say about ninety. Now, you say, ‘Suppose you get down from your motorcycle and . . .’ ”
Theo, “Wait a minute, I don’t have to say anything. Where are you getting this from?”
Nell, “You don’t recognize it?”
Theo, “Should I?”
Nell, “Well, I’ll tell you about it later. And, really, don’t worry, I’ll settle for a cup of coffee, but I think you know what I really need.”
Theo thinks about this for a moment, “Maybe it’s time for us to go downstairs.”
Nell, “Sure - let me stop in my room first; I want to get my boom box.”
Theo, “You’re going to play music?”
Nell, “Perhaps; sometimes life needs a soundtrack.”
As they’re walking out the door, Nell looks at her and says, “They’re quite a pair, aren’t they?”
Theo looks down at herself, “What pair?”
Nell “The Dudleys, I mean.” She can’t help chuckling, because she just fooled Theo exactly as she intended to do.
********
Nell’s “I’ll settle for a cup of coffee, but you know what I really need,” is a reference to the REM song, “I Don’t Sleep, I Dream.”
There really are Target stores in the two towns Nell mentions.
*********
Eleanor and Theo are walking through the first floor of the house; in a minute or so they’ll reach the Hall of Mirrors.
Theo is noticing various architectural details, “This place is hardly subtle, is it?”
Nell, “Yeah, our good Mrs. Dudley was complaining about dusting. Can you imagine her dusting this place by hand? That would be like dusting an auto assembly plant.”
Theo, “I think you’re exaggerating a bit.”
Nell, “No, I’ve seen the GM plant in Linden.”
Theo, “Linden; another New Jersey metropolis?”
Nell, “Yep, you got it . . . hey, here comes the man himself.”
Mr. Dudley is coming from the opposite direction. He’s wheeling a handcart, and on it are the two big cartons from Nell’s car.
Nell tries to be friendly, “Hey, Mr. Dudley, I see you’ve got your handtruck.”
He gets right to the point, “So where did you want these things?”
Nell, “Well, they’re marked already.”
The one on the top is marked “Parlor” and the one on the bottom, “Bedroom.”
Dudley, “Ok, so they are.”
Theo looks puzzled, so Nell explains, “It was just obvious there would be such rooms here, right?”
Dudley takes the top box and puts in on the floor. He says, “What have you got in here, cinder blocks?”
Nell, “You said that already.”
Dudley, “No, I said bricks, remember?”
Nell, “Hah, I guess you did. Anyway, it’s just some stuff - there’s a lot of videotapes in that one.”
Dudley leans on the cart and looks up the main staircase. The others follow his gaze.
Theo, “That’s some staircase.”
Nell, “You don’t have an elevator in here, by chance?”
Dudley, “No, there’s no elevator.”
Nell, “I guess it’s okay if you open that box, put the stuff in shopping bags or something - you could make smaller loads that way.”
Dudley, “I suppose I could.”
Nell, “I could help you with that, if you want.”
Dudley, “Yes, you could help.”
He puts a hand out and rubs his fingers together. Theo whispers to Nell; Nell reaches into her jacket and pulls out a ten-dollar bill. She smiles and hands it to him.
He turns it over a couple of times and looks skeptical.
Nell, “Oh, all right.” She brings out another a bill, a twenty. She holds it up, “See, Jackson!”
Dudley takes this one and looks it over too.
Nell, “Come on, that’s my gas money.”
Dudley, “Ok, good enough.”
Nell, “So give me back my ten.”
He gives a small shake of his head, and Theo gives Nell a nudge.
Nell, “No problem, keep it - and, really, thanks for doing this. You know, we should be on a first name basis, don’t you think? We’re going to be here a while.”
Dudley shrugs, “So who are you again?”
Nell, “Eleanor, or just Nell, whatever you prefer.”
Dudley, “And you?”
Theo, “Theodora, remember? Or Theo, that would be fine.”
He nods and just looks at them.
Nell, “And, what’s your name?”
Dudley, “It’s Randolph.”
Nell, “Do people call you Randy?”
Dudley, “No, they just call me Randolph.”
Nell, “How about Mrs. Dudley? I bet she calls you Randy.”
He probably understands her double-entendre, but he won’t admit it, “No, she calls me Randolph too.”
Nell, “I guess that’s all settled then. Now, about the boxes. . .”
Dudley, “Don’t worry about the boxes.”
Nell can see that this conversation is reaching its end. She says, “Great, so we’ll see you around, I suppose.”
They give little waves to him and walk off. He watches them go, and then shakes his head.
*****
GunHillTrain:
Thank you for posting more of your script! I can see the humour quite clearly in this part. You are very quick-witted, I must say! I love the whole thing. I'm not just saying that - I really think it rocks! Not a dull moment throughout. You are talented. :-D
I love the way Nell teases everyone, too. Especially the Dudley's. Have you actually writen nearly the whole script for your version?
You should post some more.
:-D
http://www.wix.com/butterflyinabottle/bernadettebutterfly
Thanks for your interest! It's helpful to have people on-line read my stuff because I assume I'm getting an honest opinion one way or the other
I was wondering - I've never been to England - what Essex is like (beyond what is on Wikipedia).
I got into writing fan fiction scripts because of Lili Taylor; I had rented some her movies and I got the idea that she wasn't getting scripts worthy of her potential. I thought I could come up with something better; I began "script doctoring" some of her existing films and trying out some original ideas.
On this Haunting script, I've got something that - well, I don't know if it's nearly complete or not. I do have an idea for an ending. I also have a few "prequel" scenes of Eleanor's life before Hill House and sequel scenes set afterwards.
By the way, have you read the novel?
******
I want to have a scene in the Hall of Mirrors (which was only in the '99 movie), but it isn't finished yet.
The next scene is not done either - that would be a sort if get together, a cocktail party without cocktails, where the five people talk.
I do have this dialogue ready:
Eleanor and Theo are sitting in the parlor:
Nell, “So where do you live, exactly?”
Theo, “I already told you, New York.”
Nell, “But where in New York?”
Theo, “Oh, you wouldn’t know the area.”
Nell, “I’m not a complete hick. Try me.”
Theo, “It’s called DUMBO, which stands for down under the Manhattan Bridge. . .”
Nell, “I know where it is, it’s one of those names realtors make up.. If they ever get to Fair Lawn they’ll probably call it FaLa. So, you don’t live in Manhattan then, you’re in Bro-o-o-klyn.” She pronounces the name of the borough with an exaggerated New York accent.
Theo wants to defend her present home. “It’s quite an up and coming area, actually. Fashionable yet bohemian at the same time.”
Nell, “You don’t say,” She realizes she is making some progress, and continues her probing. “Where are you really from? You didn’t grow up in DUMBO, I assume.”
Theo can’t find a way to evade the question. “Ohio, I grew up in Ohio.”
Nell, “That’s a big place. Where in Ohio? Shaker Heights?”
[An upscale suburb of Cleveland.]
Theo, “Ashtabula, okay, are you satisfied?”
Nell, “Wow, that’s the town Bob Dylan mentioned.”
Theo, “He sang about Ashtabula?”
Nell, “Well, sure, it goes 'I'll look for you in old Honolulu, San Francisco, Ashtabula, you're gonna make me lonesome when you go.’ ”
Theo, “I’m amazed. I’ll have to check that out.”
Nell, “I’m amazed too. You mean you don’t have a copy of Blood on the Tracks?”
*****
Ashtabula is small city on Lake Erie; it was a gateway to the former steel industry centers around Youngstown.
*******
This scene is loosely based on the orientation scene in the real movie; it's the sitting area in front of one of the fireplaces.
Professor David Marrow is standing; he leans on a kind of podium or lectern. (The novel has a scene like this too, where the professor stands during his talk.) David has has some notes in front of him.
As he looks at his "employees”, Nell is sitting on the far left, then Luke, then Roland. Finally, Theo is sitting in a chair by herself, at a right angle to the others.
As he is about to begin, he notices that Nell has brought a bag of taco chips, and two cans of soda. She gives one can to Luke, and puts the opened bag on the sofa between them. David didn’t expect this, but he didn’t specifically forbid it either, so he decides to ignore it.
[I took David’s lecture directly from what the equivalent character, Dr. Montague, says during his orientation in the novel.]
He begins, “It took me a while to decide how best to prepare the four of you for Hill House. I certainly could not write about it, and I am most unwilling now to influence your minds with a complete history before you had a chance to see for yourselves. I will try to explain that our purpose here, since it is of a scientific and exploratory nature, ought not to be affected, perhaps even warped, by half-remembered spooky stories which belong, more properly to a - let me see - a marshmallow roast.”
He looks around to see how this is going with them. Theo and Roland are looking back at him without expression. Nell and Luke are looking at him too, but they’re also crunching away on the chips from the bag. David is mildly irritated for a moment, but then he continues his presentation.
David, “As a matter of fact, my researches over the past few years have led me to certain theories regarding psychic phenomena for which I now have an opportunity to test. Ideally, of course, you ought to not know anything about Hill House; you ought to be ignorant and receptive. However, I realize that it is most impractical to leave you entirely without background information, largely because you are not people accustomed to meeting a situation without preparation.”
As he his speaking, he notices some activity among the people in front of him. Theo is staring at the chip bag, then she catches Nell’s eye. She points to the bag and makes a gesture meaning, Me too?
Nell nods and the bag is passed by the two men over to Theo.
David, “Now, we will take up the history of Hill House. You will recall the houses described in Leviticus as ‘leprous’, tsaraas, or Homer’s phrase for the underworld: aidao domos, the house of Hades. I need not remind you, I think, that the concept of certain houses as unclean or forbidden - perhaps sacred - is as old as the human mind. Certainly there are spots which inevitably attach themselves to an atmosphere of holiness and goodness; it might then not be too fanciful to say that some houses are born bad. Hill House, whatever the cause, has been unfit for human habitation for upwards of twenty years. What is was like before then, whether its personality was molded by the people who lived there, or the things they did, or whether it was evil from the start are all questions I cannot answer. Naturally, I hope we will all know a lot more about Hill House before we leave.”
He is noticing more things going on. Theo is looking at him, but she is still eating steadily from the bag. Now Nell catches her eye, and Nell gestures with her hands to indicate, Well, send it back.
Theo nods, but first she takes a few handfuls of chips out and puts them on the arm of the chair so she has a stockpile for herself. She passes the bag to Roland, who gestures to Nell for permission to eat some too. Nell nods her assent.
David stops his talk, and addresses Theo, “First of all, would you please not put your chips directly on the chair?” [Since he signed the lease, he’s responsible for any damages.]
Theo realizes her blunder, “Oh, I’m so sorry.” She picks up her chips - or most of them, anyway - and tries to juggle them in her hands.
David looks at the other three, “Also, can I assume the noshing arrangements are all set up now?”
They all nod. David is just about to start again when Luke’s can slips out his hand and he spills soda all over his lap.
He jumps up, “Oh s___, how did I do that!”
There is a flurry of action as the other people get up to assist him.
Nell, “I’ll get some towels from the kitchen, ok?”
David, “No, wait, I’ve got a handkerchief - Roland, you’ve got one too?”
Roland, “Yeah, sure.”
Luke is looking at his wet clothes in dismay, “Oh, man - do you mind if I go and change my pants?”
David, “Could you please hold off for just a few minutes?”
Nell, “Yeah, don’t be embarrassed, we all know what really happened.”
Luke tries his best to dry off with the handkerchiefs. He looks at the sofa cushion, “That’s wet too - I can’t sit there.”
Nell, “Here, take my spot.” She points to the dry cushion. He sits there, and she perches herself sideways on the arm of the sofa (there isn’t anywhere else for her to go, except the floor). The other two return to there previous places.
David gives them a moment to settle in, then he speaks to Nell, “Ah, would you please not put your feet on the cushions?”
Nell, “Oops, I’m sorry - no problem.”
Instead of moving, she takes her shoes off, and puts her feet - she’s wearing socks - back on the couch. (She may actually be touching Luke with her toes.)
Nell, “Is this all right?”
David sighs, “Yes, good enough, I suppose. Anyway, I was saying - ok, here it is: No one knows, even, why some houses are called haunted. Well – disturbed, perhaps. Leprous. Sick. Any of the popular euphemisms for insanity; a deranged house is a pretty conceit. There are popular theories, however, which discount the eerie, the mysterious; there are people who will tell you that the disturbances I am calling ‘psychic’ are actually the result of subterranean waters, or electric currents, or hallucinations caused by polluted air; atmospheric pressure, sun spots, earth tremors all have their advocates among the skeptical. People are always so anxious to get things out into the open where they can put a name to them.”
He’s getting a rhythm going, but he notices that Nell is not paying attention to him. She is scanning the area around the sofas, as if looking for something. Then she gets up, looks around the end table for a second, and finally she walks behind the couch.
David, “What exactly are you doing?”
Nell, “I lost my chips.”
David points, “They’re right there - Roland has them.”
He indeed still has the bag; it’s on his left side where Nell couldn’t see it. Now it’s his turn to be embarrassed, “Oh yeah, I do - sorry about that.” He hands the bag back to Nell.
David, “Now, can I assume the chips and soda situation is finally straightened out? So - as I was saying, ah, putting a name to things, yes, even a meaningless name, so long as it has something of a scientific ring. Well – I first heard about Hill House a year ago, from a former tenant. He began by assuring me that he had left Hill House because his family objected to living so far out in the country and he ended by saying that in his opinion. . . “
Nell suddenly puts her hand into the air. For a second David thinks this is a mistake, or that maybe she’s just stretching, but she keeps her arm up.
David, “Now what?”
Nell, “I have a question.”
David, “Yes, I can see that. Couldn’t you wait until I was done? I was going to take questions at the end.”
Nell, “You’re right, go ahead.”
David, “Since you’ve already interrupted me, you might as well ask it now.”
Nell, “Ok, I noticed the TV in the parlor; is that connected to the dish outside?”
The irrelevancy of this question takes David by surprise. [He’s only known Nell for a few hours; later he would understand the message she’s sending him. I suspect another line from “Psycho Killer” has flashed through her mind, You’re talking a lot, but you’re not saying anything.]
David, “No, I am sure it’s not. I made sure Dudley disconnected it.”
Nell, “How about the VCR? Does that work?”
David, “I really don’t know; I guess so.”
Nell, “I was asking because I brought some videotapes I wanted to show.”
Suddenly everybody’s interest perks up.
Luke, “Really? What do you have?”
Nell, “I’ve got a lot of stuff. Let’s see, one of the things I’ve got here is The Taking of Pelham One Two Three.” [Obviously this is the 1974 version.]
Roland, “Oh, yeah, I’ve seen that - I must have been about twelve back then.”
Theo, “What is this about?”
Nell, “It’s about these guys who hijack a subway train.”
Theo, “How do you hijack a train?”
Nell, “Well, when you see it, you’ll find out.”
David realizes he’s been completely shunted out of the picture, and he tries to regain control, “Hold on a moment, I never said anything about videotapes.”
Nell, “Hey, you guys, you all want to see some movies, right?”
There is a general assent about that.
Nell speaks to David, “See? Vox populi.”
David decides not to confront her head on, “I’ll tell you what, we’ll go over the details of your stay here in a moment. But first, I’d like to finish my outline of what we’re trying to accomplish, the theoretical aspects of it, I mean. Now - oh, I got it – the former tenants, ah, the other people who rented Hill House. I found that none of them had stayed more than a few days, certainly never the full terms of their leases, giving reasons ranging from the dampness of the location. . .”
He’s just getting back on track when Theo’s cell phone rings. For a second, she’s not sure about what to do with the chips she’s still holding, then she dumps them on the arm of the chair again. She takes out her phone and speaks into it softly.
Theo, “David, you’ll have to excuse me, there’s something going on at work, I’ve really got to deal with this.”
Before he can answer, she’s up and crossing the room so she can continue the conversation. He looks back at his remaining audience.
Nell, “It’s really amazing that she didn’t turn her phone off.”
For the first time, David thinks to himself, She’s got to be kidding me.
She looks back at him with a look of complete innocence, a look she can put on at almost any moment.
David, “Yes, well - let’s keep going without her. Maybe I’ll just stick to the highlights here. Ah, where was I?”
Nell, “Something about subterranean waters, wasn’t it?”
David, “I was way beyond that, as I recall.”
He glances through his notes, and during that pause, he notices that Roland is now up to something. Roland has pulled out his wallet and is looking through some of the cards in it.
David, “If I may ask, what are you looking for?”
Roland remains very nonchalant, “I just remembered I have this dentist appointment next week that I forgot to cancel. I can call from here, right?”
David shrugs, “Yes, of course, I don’t see why not.”
He notices that Luke and Nell are ignoring him now and are whispering to each other. He can’t hear what they’re saying, but he guesses from their gestures that Luke is still embarrassed about spilling his soda and Nell is trying to reassure him.
David looks at his watch, “Well, dinner is scheduled in twenty minutes. How about we pick this up later - after we’ve all been fed, ok?”
Nell, “Giving up the ghost, huh?”
He stares at her, and she gives him a little smile that signals, You’re finally getting it; of course I’m playing with you.
David, “By the way, does anybody have any questions about what I’ve said so far?”
They look back blankly. David can’t help shaking his head.
Nell, “Class dismissed?”
David nods and gives them a little wave with both hands signalling, Yes, go.
***********
GunHillTrain:
Hi! I'm loving reading all your stuff. It's so cool! I read the last part three times, as it's funny. It's true, the characters would be funnier if they made more faux pas. Such as the potato chips, mobiles, etc. In real life people are exactly like that.
:-D
Yes, I live in Essex, but I live right on the outskirts, in a little town called Hainault, which is only a short train journey into London, actually. Hainault train station is actually on the London Underground map. On the Central Line (the red line) which runs through London. Have you ever been to England? (Don't come here. It's totally gross. I am speaking to you as a hostage.)
:-D
I like Lili Taylor, too. I believe she once dated the actor, John Cusack. A lot of people think she wasn't very good in 'The Haunting' but I think she was just right. Dreamy, but smart.
http://www.wix.com/butterflyinabottle/bernadettebutterfly
I've never been to Europe at all. I wish I could travel more, but so far I haven't been able to do that as much as I would like. I'd probably go to England at least once to satisfy my curiosity.
Just wondering: where would you prefer to live if not in England?
Lili Taylor is married now to a writer, Nick Flynn. They have a daughter who was born in 2008. I've seen a couple of photos of her daughter on-line,
I know there is a limit to the size of messages that can be posted here. I want to post this scene now, and I'll post the next one - the first Hill House dinner - in a separate message immediately after this one.
P.S.: You can see that Eleanor is very smart in this version too.
*************
This is a continuation of the previous scene in the sitting area by the fireplace. As the rest of the group disperses, David decides to talk to Nell privately; she’s not acting quite like he expected when he interviewed her in New York.
David, “Eleanor, could I talk to you for a few minutes more?”
Nell, “Yeah, sure.”
David, “All right, would you please sit down?”
They’re in same area where the group had listened to his presentation.
David, “So, are you feeling ok?”
Nell, “I’m fine, I guess; why are you asking?”
David, “Well, you’ve had a long drive up here. Did you come up the Taconic?” [i.e., the Taconic Parkway in New York State.]
Nell, “No, I went over to Danbury and then up Route 7. You know, it’s more scenic; I wanted to go through the towns.”
David, “Do you mind if I ask you again about some things you said in your interviews? I mean, you did reveal a lot about yourself there.”
Nell, “Ok, go ahead.”
David, “You said you took care of your mother for eleven years, at your home. You said you were there most of the time.”
Nell, “Right, that’s true.”
David, “What did you mean by, ‘most of the time’?”
Nell, “Oh, I mean I had other people who were around to help out. Like my sister for example – she would often cover for me.”
David, “So you were able to go out at times.”
Nell, “Yeah, like in the early years, I went to college part time at Montclair State.”
[A college in Northern New Jersey.]
David, “Right, you mentioned Montclair State in your application. Did you get a certificate of some kind?”
Nell, “Actually, I have a B.A. in English literature.”
David is a bit surprised; he assumed that she studied something vocational, and would have an associate’s degree at most. It’s the first time he realizes that he’s underestimated her.
David, “Did you ever have some free time just for yourself?”
Nell, “Ah-huh, it usually worked out to a certain number of hours each week.”
David, “If I may ask, what was the longest, ah, single period you were ever away from the house?”
Nell, “Well, it was supposed to be about forty-eight hours, max.”
David, “Supposed to be?”
Nell, “I came home late. This guy Jimmy, he rented a beach house down in Manasquan . . .” [A resort town on the Jersey Shore.]
David, “That’s ok, I don’t need to know why, I’d just like to know how late you were.”
Nell, “Oh, almost a full day.”
David, “How did that go over at home?”
Nell, “When it came to my sister, that was definitely a T.S.H.T.F. situation.”
David, “How’s that again?”
Nell.“The s___ hit the fan, David.”
She expected him to laugh, but he doesn’t.
David, “I hope you don’t mind, but you did write about this - your mother died three months ago?”
Nell, “Yes, right.”
David, “I’m very sorry. So, you’re still living there at this point?”
Nell, “Sure, I’ve been getting out more, but there’s been a lot of things to deal with around there.”
David, “So the three weeks you’ll be up here, that’s the longest you’ve been away from Fair Lawn since you were seventeen?”
Nell, “All right, so? You’re really beginning to sound like a psychologist.”
David, “Well, I am a psychologist. I’m just concerned about your state of mind here.”
Nell thinks for a second, “Look, I’m really sorry about the chips and soda and everything.”
David, “That’s ok, it wasn’t such a big deal. I’m just, concerned, because the emotions of the people here can effect the manifestations coming from the house. It’s important that we don’t get stressed out.”
Nell, “Who’s stressed out?”
David fidgets and tries to make light of it, “Well, I was getting stressed out a few minutes ago.”
Nell smiles, “Since you got me here, is there anything else on your mind? Really, go ahead, it’s ok.”
David, “Well, I was wondering why you brought videotapes up here.”
[Videotapes were still in common use in 1999.]
Nell, “Hey, you never said I couldn’t bring them. If fact, you mentioned the VCR during my interviews."
David, "That's right, I remember now. Probably a mistake on my part . . . Anyway, how many tapes do you have?”
Nell, “I’m not sure, I’ve got a whole box; there’s at least twenty in there.”
David, “That’s almost one for every night.”
Nell, “What’s the Boy Scout motto, be prepared? Besides, I’ve got a theme with some of them: New York in the ‘70s.”
David tries to be conversational, “Really.”
Nell, “Yeah, you know what’s a great flick, I got it here, Across 110th Street.”
David, “I’ve never heard of that one.”
Nell, “It’s got Yaphet Kotto and Anthony Quinn. You must have heard of Anthony Quinn.”
David, “Of course I know who Anthony Quinn is. . . Nell, ok, the tapes are here, don’t worry about it. I have one more question, before you go.”
Nell nods.
David, “You’ve spoken to the other people here already?”
Nell, “Oh yeah, they seem fine.”
David, “Theodora too?”
Nell, “Why do you want to know about her?”
David, “Just that she’s the only other woman up here.”
Nell smiles to herself as she remembers her earlier encounters with Theo, “Ah, my first impression is that she’s quite a piece of work.”
David, “What makes you say that?”
Nell, “I don’t know, it’s kind of early, I’m sure things will be fine.”
She stands up.
Nell, “I assume you’re still cool with me being here, right?”
David stands too, “Of course, I’m glad you could make it.”
Nell, “Great. I’ll see you at dinner, ok?”
********
One of my prequel scenes is about the incident Eleanor describes above - the one where she is a day late in returning from a trip.
Also, note that in this version she hasn't sold her mother's house yet.
The next message continues with the dinner scene.
The first dinner at Hill House is a scene in all versions going back to the novel.
On the first night they are in the seats that they will habitually use for the rest of the time at Hill House. David is at the head of the table; Nell and Luke are to his left. Roland is directly opposite him. There is a place for Theo on the right, but she hasn’t arrived yet.
Mrs. Dudley has put various covered serving dishes and warming trays on the table; she left the house a few minutes before the others sat down.
David, “I’m glad after these weeks of planning to finally have you all in one place - well, we will when Theodora gets here.” He glances at his watch. “Anybody know where she is?”
Nell, “Oh, probably looking for those subterranean waters.”
Roland tries to suppress a snicker.
David, “No, I was going to say, before we ran out of time, that Hill House is actually very dry. . .”
He stops and looks sharply at Nell, but she gazes back with a bland expression.
David, “Anyway, we’ll try to go over more details later, or perhaps tomorrow morning.”
At this moment Theo glides into the room. Let's assume she's beautifully dressed as Catherine Zeta-Jones was in the real movie.
Nell, “Here she is.” She sings, “ ‘She’s fashionably lean, and she’s fashionably late. . .’ ”
Theo, “Excuse me?” She notices that Roland and Luke are chuckling.
Nell, " 'She's the queen of cool, she's the lady who waits . . .' "
Theo, as she sits down, “What’s so funny?”
Luke, “Nothing really, we’re just glad to be here.’”
Roland, “Yeah, that’s it.”
Theo looks skeptical, but Nell says to her, “Love your hair, by the way.”
Theo, “Oh, why, thank you.” Almost unconsciously, she reaches up to touch her elaborate hairdo.
David, “Luke, I was going to ask you to pick a bottle of wine for us to start. Ah, I don’t see a corkscrew. . .”
Luke choses a bottle, “I don’t think we have to worry about that.” He unscrews the top and puts the cap on the table.
Nell, “Yeah, no complications! Hey, let me see that for a second.”
She looks at the label, “I didn’t know Arkansas had vineyards.”
Theo, “No way.”
Nell, “Yes, way. White Oak Winery, Bluff City, Arkansas.”
Theo reaches over and takes the bottle, “That can’t be possible.”
Nell, “Read it and you’ll see. Notice the vintage too.”
Theo, “There doesn’t seem to be any.”
Nell, “That’s my point. Unless February is a vintage.”
Theo, “What do you mean? It doesn’t have a month on it.”
Nell, “I know, I know, I was just kidding you. Although, truly, this must be the favorite of the all the guys behind the Amtrak station in Little Rock.”
[i.e., the capital of Arkansas.]
Theo, “You’ve been to Little Rock?”
Nell stifles a laugh, “No, not really. . .”
David interrupts her, “All right, Theodora, would you pass the bottle around? And let’s see what the main course is.”
He points to the largest tray on the table, and Luke lifts the lid. The plate is heaped with slices of meat that appear to be beyond well-down; they are burnt-looking, dark brown verging on black. They are no garnishes of any sort.
Luke can’t hide his disappointment, “It looks like, I don’t really know. . .”
Roland is more blunt, “What the hell is that stuff?”
Nell, “Now I know what they mean by ‘meat is murder.’ ” She picks up a piece with a serving fork and drops it on her plate. It seems to make a clattering sound on as it lands.
Theo, “Well, Eleanor, I suppose you are going to be our food taster?”
Nell looks pleased, “I’d be honored, Ms. Padgett. ”
Theo winces when hearing her own last name. Nell meanwhile is sawing away at the slice with a steak knife and not making much headway.
Luke, “I was hoping the center would be juicy, at least.”
Nell, “I think your hopes are going to be dashed.”
Roland, “That’s got to be either beef or lamb, right?”
Nell, “It looks more like deep-fried hockey puck.” She sees Theo staring grimly at the meat platter.
Nell, “Don’t look so worried. I sure it was alive at some point.”
Theo, “Ew, I can feel my stomach turning.”
David, “Let’s see what else we’ve got here. Roland, how about that one?”
Roland pulls the dish forward and makes a face, “This smells nasty.”
He lifts the lid to reveal watery cabbage.
Nell, “Hm, cabbage au jus.”
Roland, “How’s that again?”
Nell, “I mean cabbage in its own juice.”
Roland, “Cabbage is not supposed to be in its own juice.”
Nell, “Of course, that’s the point. . .”
Theo, “Ok, don’t panic yet, there’s one more.” She lifts the lid on the dish, which is filled about equally with lumps of potatoes and water.
Theo, “We can be sure this is potatoes - what kind, however, seems to be a mystery.”
Nell, “If you just average everything in there, I guess you could say they were mashed.”
David, “I can see why Mrs. Dudley left before we sat down.”
It’s his first real attempt at a joke since they arrived, and Nell finds it funny. She then says, “All’s not lost, we do have dinner rolls.”
These are actually more like kaiser rolls. Nell picks up one and slices it in half.
Nell, “Let me try something, maybe we can salvage this yet.”
She puts the meat slice in the bread to make a sandwich, then picks it up with her hands. She bites through the bread easily, but the meat is too tough; she yanks at it with her teeth.
Suddenly she notices David looking at her with disapproval. She takes the gnawed sandwich out of mouth and tries to put it down delicately.
Theo, “Eleanor, since you seem to doing so well, would you try the wine for us too?”
Nell, “Sure, no problem, enough wine can cover a multitude of sins.”
She pours a glass and tastes it. She tries to avoid grimacing, but the others notice her expression.
Luke, “So how is it?”
Nell, “Well, I, for one, am lucky; my car is low on brake fluid.”
Theo, “It can’t be that bad.”
Nell, “True; if you can avoid actually smelling the stuff, it goes down pretty easily.” She points to the sideboard behind Theo, “I think Mrs. D has left a few other goodies for us.”
Theo turns around to get a cake plate. There is a package of chocolate chip cookies under the glass cover.
Theo, “And what is this supposed to be?”
Nell, “Dessert, I guess.”
Luke lifts the cover and takes the bag.
Nell, “Hey, you’re going to ruin your appetite.”
Luke, “I was only going to have one.” He has only known her for a few hours and doesn’t realize she is teasing him.
David, “There is yet one more thing over there. Theodora, would you?”
She takes an ice bucket from the sideboard and puts it on the table. There are beer cans placed in the ice.
Theo, “What a classy set-up this is.”
Nell takes a can, “Oh my God, it’s Old Milwaukee.”
David, “So?”
Nell, “So? It’s only about the worst beer on the planet. No, let me amend that, there is a tribe in Peru that drinks fermented pelican guano.”
Theo, “That’s totally disgusting!”
Nell, “Well, I read about it in National Geographic - it’s like 100 proof. Believe it or not, it goes back to the ancient Incas.”
David, “Anyway, people, let’s not spend the entire dinner talking about the food.”
Luke, “The cookies are pretty good.”
Roland is munching on one too, “They’re ok. I’d rather have Famous Amos though.”
Nell is still preoccupied with the drink situation, “White Oak and Old Milwaukee; an Ozark Mountain boilermaker.”
Luke, “Wow, is that really what it’s called?” Again, he doesn’t realize that this is a put-on.
David raises his voice to get their attention, “As I was saying. . .first of all, now that dinner is, ah, revealed, please, serve yourselves.”
Nell, “Do we have to?”
He gives a hint of annoyance, “No, you don’t have to; you can just go hungry if you prefer.”
With that, the people around the table reluctantly start dealing with the serving dishes.
David, “Now, unfortunately I didn’t properly schedule my talk earlier; maybe I can cover a few issues now, and then we can finish the rest later this evening.”
He looks around to see if the others are following him. Mostly they are not; they are trying to cope with the awful food on their plates. He presses ahead anyway.
David, “Yes, well, one very important topic is Hugh Crain, the builder and first owner of Hill House, oh, some one-hundred and ten odd years ago. There’s quite an elaborate story about him and his family that revolves around this house.”
Nell, “How elaborate?”
David pauses and decides that this is an innocent question, “It’s pretty involved . . . you know what, I think it may be a bit much for the dinner table.” He regroups, “What I am interested in hearing is what all of you are bringing to this project - it is your personalities that will shape, in all probability, what we are able to discover here.”
They have all heard this theory before, during their interviews. David seems to be looking for volunteers, but there aren’t any.
David, “Theodora, you had something of interest, I remember.”
Theo, “Yes, I’d be glad to discuss it.” She’s ready to go on for some length, and she addresses her colleagues, “Well, I’ve often had this - this feeling that I may have some psychic abilities. So: David gave me this simple test. He had Mary - you remember her, his assistant? - he had her hold up cards in another room, and I was to able to perceive correctly what many of them were.”
Nell pops the top on a beer can and starts sipping from it.
David, “I have to say - must you drink that straight from the can?”
Nell, “David, I’m not going sully a clean glass with this.” She can see he’s not amused, “All right, I’m sorry - I’ll pour it.”
David, “Theo, as you were saying. . .”
Theo, “Yes, it was quite amazing, I was able to guess - I should say know - what the cards were far beyond mere chance. Let’s see, first I got eighteen cards out of twenty, then fifteen out of twenty, then it was up to nineteen out of twenty. . .”
She looks at Eleanor and says, “Well, that’s pretty incredible, don’t you think?”
Nell knows that Theo is looking for some kind of validation or even approval, and she decides to withhold that for the moment.
Nell sings, “ ‘She won’t waste time on el - e -men-tary talk.’ ”
Theo, “What are you singing about?”
Nell, “A twentieth-century fox.”
Theo, “Isn’t that a movie studio?”
Nell, “It’s also - and I really mean this in a good way - it’s about you.”
David can sense the tension building between the two women, “I really don’t think this is a particularly, well, fruitful topic. Luke, you haven’t said said much yet. You look puzzled about something.”
Luke, “I do? Well, yeah, I did have a question, but I don’t know if it’s appropriate right now.”
David, “Go ahead. For this to work, we have to be completely open with each other.”
Luke, “Ok, what I was wondering - is Mrs. Dudley going to cook all of our meals here?”
From the murmurs around the table, it’s obvious he’s struck a nerve.
David, “We’re back to this. Look, everyone, we have to concentrate on what we’re doing here, not the experience of just being here.”
Nell, “Yeah, David, but we can’t do anything for you if we’re not happy with the room and board.”
David, “I admit, this first meal is something of a disappointment.”
Nell, “Disappointment?” She waves her hand over the table, “This lady couldn’t even serve some pickles or a salad or anything like that.”
Roland, “An appetizer would have been nice. Maybe some chicken wings.”
Nell, “You like those? There’s hardly any meat on them. I could imagine a big plate of fried calamari with marinara sauce.”
Roland, “Yeech, I hate squid.”
Luke asks Nell, “Do we have any taco chips left?”
Nell, “There’s half a bag in the fridge, I think.”
David, “All right, so we’ve vented about this, that’s good. . .”
Roland suddenly realizes something, and says to Nell, “That pelican guano thing, you just made that up, didn’t you?”
Nell, “Bingo! How did you figure that out?”
Roland, “It’s obvious, it doesn’t make any sense.” He chuckles, “Ancient Incas!”
David, “So this is settled for the moment, I hope.”
Nell, “No it isn’t. We want to know what you’re going to do about it.”
David, “We want to know? Have you become . . . ok, I’ll tell you this, when I made the arrangements for this house, Mrs. Dudley made it clear she could handle all the lunches and dinners here - we, of course, will be responsible for our own breakfast. Anyway, she actually seemed eager, if that’s the right word, to do this job.”
Nell, “She certainly did the job on this meal. Hm, some lines come to mind.” She recites them:
“ ‘Between the idea
and the reality,
between the motion
and the act,
falls the shadow.’ ”
Theo, “Mrs. Dudley being the shadow, I assume.”
Nell, “Yes, her shadow merely falls across some steaks, and - poof! - they turn into these charred, well, whatever these are.” She gestures towards the meat platter.
Roland, “I have a hard time imagining them as ever being steaks.”
David, “I will talk to the Dudleys, see what kind of menus they have in mind.”
Nell, “That’s it? You’ve got to be more forceful than that.”
David, “So what do you propose I say?”
Nell, “Tell her that her meals should be served on the third circle of Hell.”
Luke, “What level is that?”
Nell, “That’s where the gluttons are.”
Roland, “Man, that is one harsh punishment.”
David, “That’s not exactly a diplomatic way to put it.”
Theo, “It just occurred to me, Mr. Dudley has to live off this year-round.”
Nell, “I’m beginning to understand what’s wrong with the poor guy.”
Luke, “Maybe he gets take-out.”
Roland, “I know I would.”
David, “I think we’ve covered this thoroughly, haven’t we?”
Theo, “Could you imagine, somehow, if she started a catering service?”
Nell, “Yeah, let me think of the name, it would be - Gulag Food Concepts!”
Theo, who works in advertising, can appreciate this, “That’s pretty good!”
David, “Eleanor, could I have your complete attention for a moment?”
Nell, “Sure, what is it?”
David, “You are happy to be here, aren’t you?”
Nell, “Of course, except for a few details.”
David, “Good, because when I interviewed you, I had the impression - an expectation in fact - that you’d be a stabilizing influence here, especially since potentially there could be some emotionally-charged situations occurring in this place.”
Nell, “So what do you want me to do?”
David, “I don’t know yet. I’m just trying to integrate my different impressions of you. Well, that’s among the things we could talk about later. Meanwhile, let’s . . .” He gestures toward the table.
Nell, “Commence feeding?”
David, “Something like that.”
Luke, “Would you like some cookies?”
Nell, “Might as well.”
Theo is trying the wine.
Nell, “What do you think of it?”
Theo, “I tried to avoid sniffing it, as you said. . .”
Nell, “It packs a wallop, if you can get it down.”
Theo, “I guess February was not their best month.”
Nell, “About average, actually.”
Theo shakes her head, “God help Bluff City, Arkansas.”
Nell, “You know, when Gorbachev cracked down on vodka in the Soviet Union, people really used to mix brake fluid with their home-brewed stuff.”
Roland, “Come on, this is like the pelicans, you’re playing with us again.”
Nell, “No, I swear, this is true. They used antifreeze too. You can imagine some guy walking into a Moscow auto supply store and he starts singing, ‘Set ‘em up Joe, I got a little story to tell . . .’ ”
David, “Sinatra, of course.”
Nell, “Very good, Doctor, although he wasn’t the first to record it.” She taps the bottle, “Aren’t you going to have some of the Razorback State’s finest vintage?”
David, “After hearing the early reviews, I think I’ll pass on it.”
Theo wrinkles her nose as she raises her glass, “Could this really be made from grapes?”
Nell, “The grapes of wrath, perhaps.”
David, “All right, people, as I said, we’ve really done this topic completely now.”
Theo, “I’ve got an idea. Now that we’re all here, I want to propose a toast.”
David, “Great, what do you want to toast?”
Theo came up with the concept without having a follow-up, and for a moment she looks blank.
Nell, “To just being here?”
Theo, “No, I got it, I meant to the builder of Hill House, Herb McCain.”
David, “It was Hugh Crain.”
Theo, “Right, whatever. To Hugh Crain.”
They clink glasses. David uses his water glass. Nell grabs her beer can and uses that. She looks at David and shrugs.
#####
There is a Bluff City, Arkansas, near White Oak Lake. I made up the idea of a winery being there.
The lines of poetry Nell recites are from T.S. Eliot’s The Hollow Men. The song lyrics she uses are from “Twentieth-Century Fox” by The Doors.
The story Theo tells about identifying cards is from the novel.
Hi there! :-D
I've never been to Europe, either. If I could live anywhere besides England? I would definitely choose the USA. As a matter of fact, my dream location is New York.
When I was 13 years old, I watched the movie, 'West Side Story', and something in my heart yearned to go to New York. I would cry into my pillow at night because I wanted to go live there so bad! I even secretly packed a suitcase with clothes and hid it under my bed. But my older sister found it, and told my parents, so that put a stop to that. I never got round to going......But I do have a huge photo of New York on my bedroom wall. It's the New York skyline. (I'm pretty sure I sound like Nell talking about her 'little apartment and the buoys in the harbour :-D)
If you want to got to England, then go, but if you do, trust me that nothing and nobody in your life will ever be the same again. Curiosity? Curiosity killed the cat! (I'm now pretty sure I sound much like Mrs Dudley at this point, warning the girls that she doesn't stay after it gets dark :-D)
I like Lili Taylor, she is such a gentle performer. Glad to see she is settled. Have you seen her in 'The Notorious Betty Page'? Such a terrific movie.
Thank you for posting more of your comedy script. You have such a lively brain! How on earth do you come up with it all? All these details and facts intertwined with a story. You are a very special writer, with a special way of recording and transmitting what you want to paper. Your writing is like the streets of New York, busy, colorful and witty!
:-D
http://www.wix.com/butterflyinabottle/bernadettebutterfly
Well, from the point of view here in the USA, I thought England was part of Europe!
So if I visit England, "nothing in my life ever be the same again?" Do you mean in a negative way? Or I guess you're kidding me a bit.
Did you know that West Side Story (the exteriors) was filmed in a neighborhood that was replaced by Lincoln Center? In the opening dance number you can see some new apartment towers going up in the background. Anyway, you probably would want to visit the USA a few times before committing to a move here.
The reason I'm here is because my immigrant Italian, German and Irish ancestors came here a long time ago (like 1850 - 1900) and never left. I've never lived in Manhattan, only in places like Brooklyn, the Bronx, and New Jersey - although I've had many jobs in Manhattan.
I've had the characters come from the New York area (although Theo, for example, grew up in Ohio) because I'm familiar with the settings. Any details I came up with are mostly from places I've seen myself.
I've haven't seen Bettie Page yet. I admit I can imagine Lili Taylor doing the Nell role I'm writing here; it would be interesting to see her project her personality into it.
***********
After dinner, David has his people reassemble over by the fireplace where he earlier attempted his lecture.
[When they are all present, it will be from David’s left to right: Eleanor, Luke, Roland, and Theo.]
David is standing by his lectern when they start coming in. Nell and Theo are pretty blitzed from drinking too much and not eating enough. Nell walks in holding a wine glass and a beer can, while Theo has two wine glasses. They both take the places they had before. Nell puts her drinks on the side table.
David, “Would you please not put those on the table?”
Nell, “What am I supposed to do? There are no coasters.”
David, “I know, but they can’t go there.”
She decides to put her drinks on the floor. She gets up to position a footstool, then she sits down again and put her feet up.
Nell, “Ah, the rise of the Ottoman Empire.”
She looks over at Theo and waves, “Hey, small world, isn’t it?”
Theo waves back. She has taken Nell’s lead and put one wine glass on the floor while holding the other one.
Roland arrives next and takes his seat. He’s only had about two drinks, so he’s feeling a bit mellow but is in far better shape than the other two. David himself is stone cold sober.
David, “Ok, so where’s Luke?”
Theo, “He’s getting coffee for everyone. Did you know, Mrs. Dudley set up the coffee pot to brew and just left it the kitchen?”
Nell, “Yeah, she completely forgot about it.” She leans forward and wags a finger at David, “Doctor, I’d recommend you fire her tired old booty.”
David, “Really? And replace her with whom?”
Nell is caught without a ready answer. At that moment Luke comes in with a tray. There are five filled mugs on it, a creamer and sugar bowl, and spoons. He is probably a bit more inebriated than Roland, but not nearly as much as the two women. He seems to be doing ok with the tray, however.
Theo, “Would you look at what this guy is doing for us!”
Nell, “Luke, you are a gentleman and a scholar - and a waiter!”
Luke looks a bit embarrassed by these comments as he starts serving from the left, where Nell is sitting.
Nell, “You didn’t bring any saucers.”
Luke, “I didn’t think you’d need them with mugs.”
Nell, “That’s ok, I’m just yanking your chain.”
He continues serving, moving around the room, until David is the last to get a mug. Then he stands there with the tray, looking confused.
David motions to the left, “Just put it on the floor over there.”
He does that, and returns to his seat, where he spilled the soda earlier. He pats the cushion.
Luke, “Oh, it’s still damp.”
Nell, “No problem, I’ll take care of it.”
She turns the cushion upside down, and smoothes it into place.
Nell, “There, nice and comfy.”
David, “So everyone, I think we’re going to be a bit less formal in this session - I’m not going to stand behind the lectern here like this was Psych 101.” He pauses for a second to let this witticism sink in, but it seems to have no impact. “I’m just going to take a seat, so I can be at your level, so to speak. And, let’s sip our coffee for a few moments while we get settled in.”
He pulls a chair forward and sits in it.
Theo, “I sure hope this isn’t decaf.”
Nell, “No, this stuff is juiced; this is the real thing.”
She takes a gulp from her mug and collects her thoughts, “Hm, I’m feeling kind of hungry.” She speaks to Theo, “How about we go down to the diner in Hillsdale and have a very late brunch?”
David, “Hold on a minute. . .”
Theo, “Or a very early breakfast. They do serve breakfast at all times, right?”
Nell, “Any diner that’s worth anything does that. You know what I’d like? A Western omelet, hash browns, rye toast. . .”
David is so surprised by this turn in the conversation that he let’s them go on for a few moments more.
Theo, “Blueberry pancakes would be great right now. Although, I don’t think we’re in any condition to drive.”
Nell, “Roland will drive, won’t you Roland?”
Roland, “Who? Me?”
Nell, “Yeah, you don’t have any pressing appointments tonight, do you?”
Roland, “Oh, ok. . .”
Luke, “Can I come too?”
Nell, “No, somebody has to stay here with David in case he has to deal with any, well, things that go bump in the night.”
He looks very disappointed. Nell laughs at him, “Of course you can come. David, you’re invited too. In fact, maybe you should drive.”
David, “All right, I let this go on because I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. If you remember from your interviews, you are supposed to stay within the grounds or the house itself. And do you remember why that is so important?”
No one has an answer for him.
David, “I’ll refresh your memories. One of the points of being here is that we need to discover the interaction between your various personalities and any, call them potentialities that may be in the house. One of your main duties is to focus on the house, to actually be present here. Thus, I can’t have people wandering in and out all of the time and lollygagging all over western Massachusetts.”
He waits to see if there are any challenges, but there are none.
David, “In any case, Dudley has to open and close the gates.”
Nell, “You mean we’re locked in here at night?”
David, “No, I have a set of keys too - and they’re staying in my possession, by the way.”
Everybody drinks their coffee for a moment. David reaches up for his papers on the lectern.
David, “Now, I have these prepared notes, but as I said, I’m going to put off those for tonight. I’m just going to over a few details for now and, I hope, get some feedback from all of you.”
Nell puts her hand in the air.
David, “Eleanor, how can you have a question when I haven’t said anything yet?”
Nell, “I don’t have a question, I’ve got to go to the can.”
David, “Excuse me?”
Nell, “You know, the ‘loo.”
Theo, “She has to powder her nose.”
Nell, “There’s nothing wrong with my nose, I’ve got to take a . . .”
David, “I get it, go if you have to.”
Nell stands up, “I’m really sorry, but with the beer and the wine and the coffee. . .”
David, “You don’t have to explain it.”
Nell says to Theo, “How about you? You about due?”
Theo stands up, “Overdue, I’d say.”
Nell, “Thank God there’s one on the first floor.”
Theo, “Yes, we don’t have to climb those damn stairs.”
They walk out and leave David gazing at his remaining two colleagues.
David, “Do either of you have anything you’d like to contribute - and please, nothing about food.”
Roland laughs, “No, not quite that, but I was wondering how long the Dudleys have been working here.”
David, “Seems like forever, from what I understand. Well, in fact it’s close to thirty years, I think. They don’t actually live here, of course; they have a house in town.”
Roland, “I don’t know if you’ve heard this, but Nell got his first name; it’s Randolph.”
David, “How did she find that out?”
Roland, “She asked him.”
David chuckles, “I should have known.”
Luke feels the need to add something, “That’s some fireplace.”
David, “Dudley got the fire going today, although I’ve been feeding it since he left.”
Luke, “It’s kind of excessive for June, you could say.”
David, “Yes, but everything about this house is excessive.”
A few moments of awkward silence pass and then Eleanor and Theo return. They were in the middle of a conversation, which they resume as they sit down.
Theo, “So this state trooper stops me as I’m coming into Danbury. . .”
Nell, “You’ve got to watch for those Connecticut cops; they’re a bunch of traffic Nazis.”
David, “Please, could we avoid any cross chitchat during this?”
Nell, “Well, if you insist.”
David, “Nell, let me start with you for some feedback. I get the feeling you’re not at you’re best right now.”
Theo laughs, “That’s because she’s completely toasted.”
David, “Shish, please, let her answer.”
Nell, “That’s ok, I can deal with it. Let’s see, some lyrics come to mind.” She sings them, “ ‘I been along walking on fortune’s cane, tonight I’m stepping lightly and I’m feeling no pa-a-a-in.’ ”
Luke, “I know that, isn’t it, ah, from ‘Human Touch?’ ”
Nell, “Nope, sorry, right church but wrong pew - no gold star for you.”
David, “Maybe you’re not up for this tonight - maybe you need to regroup for tomorrow.”
Nell, “No, I can handle it. Tell you what, I could use another cup of coffee.”
Luke, “I’ll get it for you, if you wish.”
David, “Can’t you wait until we’re finished?”
Nell, to Luke, “Would you? That would be really great.”
David, “All right, go ahead. We’ll keep going and he can catch up later.”
As Luke leaves, Nell points in his direction and says to Theo, “Hey, pretty thoughtful of him, he’s getting my coffee.”
Theo seems annoyed, “Yes, I can see that.”
David, “Now, everyone, for tomorrow - as you know, I’ll be giving a set of written personality tests while you’re here, and tomorrow morning would be good for the first set.”
He pauses for a moment, then he says, “Hm, I’m surprised no one asked me how long this will take.”
Roland takes the cue, “All right, how long will these tests be?”
David, “They’re open-ended, they’re not timed - but the first set usually requires about two hours.”
Nell, “What is this, the GRE?”
David, “I’ve already told you all about the tests, so it shouldn’t be a surprise. Another task, we really have to see more of the house, go through all of it and get ourselves oriented.”
Theo, “This is really a big place; Nell compared it to an auto factory, I think.”
Nell, “Right, GM Truck and Bus Group, Linden, New Jersey.”
David, “You certainly pin down the details.”
Nell, “Just trying to be helpful, Doctor.”
David, “I know, I wasn’t being sarcastic. So, I think this house exploration may be a bit much for tomorrow afternoon. We’ll do that the day after. I think tomorrow we should spend some time just hanging out - getting comfortable with one another.”
Luke returns with the coffee, “Did I miss anything?”
David, “Somebody will fill you in later.”
At this moment Theo knocks over one of her wine glasses with her foot.
Theo. “Oh dear, I’m sorry.”
Roland, “Don’t worry, I’ve got it.” He gets up to blot the spill with his handkerchief. “Man, this thing is still wet from last time.” [When Luke spilled his soda before dinner.]
Nell, “No great loss with that wine.”
David, “It’s not the wine I’m worried about.” He speaks to Luke, “Since you seem to be our gofer this evening, would you please get some paper towels from the kitchen?”
Luke, “Someone will fill me in, right?”
David, “Yes, I already said that. Now, this is the second spillage incident in here; let me remind all of you that this is not a Ramada Inn.”
Roland is still struggling with the spill. Nell says to Theo, “You could give him a hand.”
Theo, “Using what?”
David, “Roland, leave it alone for the moment. What I want to emphasize is that not only is the house over a hundred years old, many of the things in it are at least that that old. Don’t treat this place like one big rumpus room.”
Nell gestures toward the lamp on the table, “This looks like a real Tiffany lamp.”
David, “It is a real Tiffany; Mrs. Dudley told me about it.”
Nell, “Whoa.” She pats it gently.
Luke returns with the paper towels, “So what did I miss this time?”
Nell, “David’s giving us all raises.”
Luke, “Really? How much?”
Roland and Theo laugh at him, and he realizes he’s been fooled again.
Nell, “I’m sorry, you’ve been a good sport. Could you give me the towels, please?”
Then she yells, “Heads up,” and hurls the roll over to Theo, who catches it awkwardly.
David is trying to hide his dismay about what has been happening in front of him.
David, “I think I should wrap this up for tonight. Let me close with this: even if nothing unusual seems to be going on, I want you all to remain alert. Stay focused. To put it another way, please avoid any unnecessary distractions.”
Roland, “Do you think anything will happen tonight?”
David, “I’m pretty sure the house will be quiet tonight. There is a pattern to these things, as though psychic phenomena were subject to laws of a very particular sort. Oh, there is one bit of news; I confirmed today that my wife will be joining us next week.”
Luke, “You’re married?”
Nell, “Didn’t you notice his wedding ring?”
Theo, “Guys don’t look at other guys’ ring fingers.”
Nell, “In most cases, anyway. . .so what is Mrs. Marrow like?”
David, “You’ll find out when she gets here. I will tell you, she teaches at Columbia too; in fact, she’s in the psychology department with me.”
Nell, “Oh, so she’s also Professor Marrow.”
David, “Of course, you can call her by her first name, which is Grace.”
Nell, “Grace; hm, an intriguing name.” She says to Theo, “You looking forward to meeting this lady?”
Theo nods, “You bet!”
#########
Grace is the name of the professor’s wife in the 1963 movie version. Her first name is not revealed in the novel. And of course, she’s not in the ’99 movie at all.
David’s line about “the house being quiet tonight” is from the novel.
Eleanor is singing a couple of lines from Bruce Springsteen's "Lucky Town."
Hi :-D
I've read the whole lot now. I'll come to that in a minute.
Yes, in the UK, we say 'UK and Europe.'
Well, I said that nothing in your life would ever be the same again, if you were to come to England, because it's true! I could give you some tips on how to conduct yourself, once you arrived here, I suppose. It's of vital importance not to be taken in by anything you see, because nothing you see is real. From the moment you step off the plane, your foot will be the only one on English soil.
Being an American, as well as a writer, you are perceptive and totally individual. You will probably begin to notice the cycle of people and comments being repeated around you. Nobody means anything they say. Also, don't give anything away about yourself, except for the purpose of testing the situation. Such as this simple test: throw out some totally unique and outlandish comment or behaviour and wait to see it come back to you, like a boomerang. When it does, then you'll know wot I mean when I said you'll be the only person there. It will not be a pleasant discovery, and will disturb you, which is why I said nothing in your life will be the same again. :-|
You probably think I'm nuts, but this is sound advice.
:-)
Every time I watch West Side Story, I'm gonna look out for the apartment towers. It's so cool that you know about all these things. Your ancestors always lived in New York since they emigrated to the US? You must be quite a native. I've heard that it's good for a writer to write about what they understand and have knowledge of, so it is a brilliant idea of yours to create characters from New York in the story. This theory reminds me of 'Little Women' when Jo is advised to stop writing fantasy and horror, and to write instead about what she knows and understands. At first she is deeply offended and hurt, but then she gets it - and she writes 'Little Women.'
I think I like the last part of your script the most. You seems to understand psychology pretty well. I don't think I could manipulate conversations as well as you do. The character's dialogue is very fast and you seem to have thought it out a lot. Some of it is full of surprises, too. Yeah, I can see Lili Taylor being good playing your Nell. She has the ability to be very funny and cheeky.
:-D
http://www.wix.com/butterflyinabottle/bernadettebutterfly
If I ever did go to England, it would likely be as a visitor for perhaps no more than a week to ten days. And a tourist never gets the full story on a place.
Yesterday I did talk to a friend of mine who once did some graduate studies in England (he grew up in New York); I asked him again what he thought of living there. He wanted more specific questions from me. If you don't mind, I may send your advice paragraph to him and get his opinion.
No, I don't think you're nuts! But, I may be a bit confused. Are you trying to say Americans are more open and straightforward or something along those lines?
I just saw the West Side Story opening again on YouTube. There are some nice overhead shots of New York circa 1960. During the dance/rumble sequence, some of the gang members climb up a pile of rubble from a demolished building, and the new apartments are in the background. (And you also have Russ Tamblyn, the Luke Sanderson of the '63 Haunting - and another Robert Wise movie!)
Oh, yeah, I do have a direct line of ancestors going back to the immigrant generations.
I wanted to post this bit of text, which is a character sketch of Eleanor Vance's life before Hill House. It's not part of the narrative; I just wrote it to keep track of what she says about herself. You might find it interesting to see how I imagined her.
Eleanor “Nell” Vance
As in all previous versions, Nell is the main character; the story I’ve tried here is, as before, her story.
There are several places where Nell refers to The Day of the Locust, and I’m reminded of this description of Tod Hackett early in the novel: “he was really a very complicated young man, with a whole set of personalities, one inside the other like a nest of Chinese boxes.” I suspect Nell recognized something of herself when she read that passage. In fact, at one point she indicates that she identifies with Tod rather than the main female character, Faye Greener.
A Biography
Nell’s twenty-eighth birthday, June 30, 1999, falls during the middle of her three weeks at Hill House, an event which she marks in a small but memorable way as described in the script. She has lived since the age of four in a 1950s vintage two-story house in Fair Lawn, NJ, a suburban town across the Passaic River from the old industrial city of Paterson and about ten miles from New York.
Nell was the main caretaker of her ailing mother for eleven years, just as originally described by Shirley Jackson. And, as in the novel, she has a sister, six years her senior, who here is named Jane (as in the 1999 movie).
However, these years, although a difficult time for Nell, were not merely a period of “unending despair” as described by Jackson. This was an eventful time for her, not because of chance, but because of her own efforts to push against her circumstances.
Nell was a high school senior when her mother fell ill; her sister, who was married and had a small child, lived a few blocks away in the same town. Her family agreed that Nell should finish high school, and her sister stayed with her mother while Nell was in class.
The time of her graduation was a crisis for her. Her high school boyfriend, Ron, was going to attend Rutgers, the state university, in another part of New Jersey (Nell had planned to go there too), and her best friend Lydia was going to a college in Boston. Nell hoped to maintain contact with them, but eventually they drifted away. I think she knew this was likely to happen. She called that period the “most awful summer ever.”
But Nell showed her mettle here - she argued that she should be able to attend college somewhere, and she used her mother as a “swing vote” against her sister (for the first of several times). Nell got to take classes at Montclair State University, a short drive away, and her sister would stay at the Fair Lawn house when Nell was in school. It took her five years, but she earned in B.A. in English.
Montclair State was where she met her second boyfriend, Raoul. He had been born in the Dominican Republic, and came to the United States at the age of five; he now lived in the nearby city of Passaic. With Raoul, Nell gained not just a boyfriend, but somebody to help her with her burdens. He had a large family, with members in both New Jersey and New York, and Nell met many of them. In fact, for a while she was sort of “adopted” by Raoul’s family, and his relatives (as well as classmates from the college) were often in Fair Lawn to have dinner or just hang out.
Nell insisted that Raoul be able to stay overnight at the house, in her room with her. It helped that her mother liked him - after all, he was helping to take care of her. But when it came to her sister, Nell used outright defiance. She tells Theo later, “My attitude was, I’m eighteen, I’m a woman now, I’m doing what I want.” She understood that Jane was basically powerless to do anything about this.
Near the end of her first semester, Nell developed an additional strategy to make her life better. During the previous year, she had taught herself to cook - mostly by getting the information from books and just following the instructions. Over time she reached the point where she could make almost anything from scratch. She no longer bought canned soup, for example; she had a continuous process going of making soup stock and then making the soup itself the next day.
Jane and her husband started dropping by more often for dinner - no so much to see Nell and her mother but rather because they liked Nell’s cooking. Nell then presented her “food for time” idea to them. She would cook enough extra food for them to take home; in fact, they soon became virtually dependent on her to feed them. In exchange, she would get a certain number of hours off each month while Jane covered for her in Fair Lawn.
This deal was too good for Jane to pass up, and Nell often used her days off to go some place with Raoul. Sometimes they visited his relatives, many of whom lived in Washington Heights and the Bronx. [Both in New York.] Often they would just go on an excursion somewhere in New York. At Hill House, she tells Roland about one misadventure they had while trying to take the subway to the Rockaways.
The stability of this situation ended when Raoul graduated a year ahead of her, and took a job in Connecticut. As with Ron, Nell tried to maintain a long-distance relationship, but this didn’t work out. But Nell always knows where opportunities lie, and one arrived in the form of a local carpenter named Jimmy. He was hired to do some repairs and renovations on the Fair Lawn house.
Nell was twenty-four at this time, and Jimmy was her boyfriend for the next four years. In many ways he took the same role around the house as Raoul did. But while Raoul was a pretty mellow guy, Jimmy had a different personality. He was basically a good-natured person, but he also had a “bad boy” side, as Nell describes it. Her mother liked him a lot (he was probably rather good looking, for one thing), but tensions developed between him and Jane. Nell later describes this as the “immovable force meets the irresistible object.” (Theo tells her, “You got that backwards,” and Nell answers, “I did that deliberately.”) Jane must be the former element in that statement and Jimmy the latter one.
The “food for time” project continued, and Nell and Jimmy sometimes went to New York. Sometimes they just drove around in his car, drinking and playing the stereo. Nell later admits that there is a wild side of herself that she wanted to get out during this time with him.
Nell developed a new “entourage” during this period, although these people were not like Raoul’s family. Jimmy had many social contacts among the twenty-somethings of Fair Lawn and adjacent towns, and these friends were often at her house. Some of these people were reliable, and Nell could depend on their help; others just wanted to party, and she tried to control them if possible. She says, “I did have some authority, partially because I was Jimmy’s girlfriend, but mainly because it was my house.”
Nell seemed to initiate the breakup with Jimmy, which took place in the winter of 1999. His increased drinking and drug use was the main reason. Nell has had drug experiences too - in fact, she continued to maintain some pot plants in her basement - but she didn’t want to get stoned “on a Tuesday morning after breakfast” as he did. Also, he was using some unspecified harder drugs (probably cocaine and/or meth) by this time.
[The three prequel scenes I wrote illustrate something of Jimmy’s relationship with Nell and Jane's reaction to him.]
Jimmy in fact went into rehab at some point that winter. When he came out, Nell wondered if he was going to contact her and ask to be taken back. But he didn’t, and she took that as an indication that it might be time to move on.
Her mother died in March, 1999. Nell knew that she was almost certainly going to have to sell the Fair Lawn house. She could split the proceeds with her sister, but the two of them hadn’t reached a final decision by the time Nell traveled to Hill House. Jane suggested that she move in with her (she was now living in Wayne, NJ, a more upscale town about five miles away), but Nell was very much against this idea.
Nell thought that David Marrow’s ad was a prank, which is way she wrote a somewhat goofy response. However, he did have her come in for an interview at Columbia University. (All the people he hired, in fact, had to meet him before he agreed to bring them to Hill House.)
*******
It happens that the next scene I was going to post is that conversation between Nell and Roland mentioned above.
GunHillTrain:
Hi! Yes, you can tell your friend what I've said about England if you like.
'Are you trying to say Americans are more open and straightforward or something along those lines?'
I think anyone, from any country, who comes here is in trouble. I was just pointing out that Americans believe that people should make an individual effort, to make the world a better place. England is a nanny state, where people do not make individual efforts, and are threatened by those who try to do so. So as an American, you may be hurt and saddened the most.
:-)
I love what you've written. It's so interesting to read the history of Nell. I've never read the book, but I get the impression that your script is original, but also there are some facts from the book and movie. I wonder why Nell's history is so important? I wonder why it is so relevant in a ghost story? When she says, 'It's about family, it's all about family.' I wondered how important her past was, but it had not really been included in the movie as much as you have included it in your script. What do YOU think the relevance was of Nell's background to the plot? I've not every really got to grips with that. Have you?
It's funny Nell thought David's ad was a prank, as though if you respond in humour, you get a real surprise - I bet she didn't expect to get an invite to the house!
:-D
http://www.wix.com/butterflyinabottle/bernadettebutterfly
[Some spoilers.]
Good evening - it's about 7:30 PM here.
On what Americans think: that's a pretty big topic, because it's such a big and diverse nation. (I haven't seen as much of the country as I would like.) I have to give that a bit more thought!
Why is Eleanor's history important? Well, in all the versions, she is going through - or trying to go through - a delayed coming-of-age by going to Hill House. In the novel and the '63 movie, I think what she's really haunted by is her own past. On the journey up there, she seems to have a burst of optimism, but she starts to lose her nerve almost as soon as she arrives.
During her time there (about a week) she attempts to make connections with the other people, especially Theo, but fails to accomplish that. When the professor drops her from the experiment - evicts her, really - she is crushed, because she didn't expect to go back to her old life and she has no alternative plans.
The '99 movie attempts to redeem her by having her become some kind of savior. She discovers Hugh Crain's ledger books, finds out that Crain is her own ancestor ("her family"), releases the trapped souls - well, sorry, I found that rather overwrought. The ending is still awfully glum.
Maybe I'm closer to the original in mine - except that Nell's previous eleven years were not a solid block of "purgatory." During that period she already has done some growing up by out-maneuvering her domineering sister. And actually, by having those other people around, including Raoul and Jimmy, her mother benefitted. I think her sister knows this, but refuses to admit it.
Also, I have it so Nell has always assumed she will be going back to Fair Lawn to sort out her life there.
***********
This scene is during the first week, but I'm not sure of the exact chronology. Anyway, Eleanor has made some decisions about she is going to be attempting at Hill House.
One morning Eleanor and Roland Sykes are the first people to arrive in the kitchen for breakfast. They are both eating cereal. [I'm including the first part of their conversation about New York.]
Nell, “So, where in Queens are you?”
Roland, “You know anything about the place?”
Nell, “Yeah, a little.”
Roland, “All right, you know Ozone Park then?”
Nell, “Sure - are you near Lefferts Boulevard?”
Roland, “Pretty close, I’m at the station just before that - 111th Street.” [Just like Theo, he’s impressed that Nell has this grasp of details.] “So when have you been out there?”
Nell, “Well there was this guy I knew, Raoul, and he really liked this group called The Ramones. . .”
Roland, “I do know who the Ramones are. They’re from Queens too, remember?”
Nell, “Oh, that’s right, Middle Village.” She realizes that Roland has probably given her a subtle rebuke for assuming a black guy might not know The Ramones
He smiles and lets this pass, “Ok, so what happened?”
Nell, “Well, you must know their song ‘Rockaway Beach’ then.”
He nods, “I sure do.”
Nell, “So Raoul gets the idea to go out to Rockaway. Except we got on the wrong train, and we wound up at Lefferts Boulevard instead.”
Roland, “I know, it’s easy to make that mistake
Nell, “Then we go down to the street, and he’s asking people, ‘Where’s the beach?’ ”
[The station is on an elevated track, not in a tunnel. This was the line Roland was riding in the opening scene.]
Roland, “Man, I wish I could have seen this!”
Nell, “Yeah, people were laughing in his face. Finally, someone puts us straight, so we doubled-back and got the right train. I was wondering, that’s a strange name - Ozone Park - do you know where it came from?”
Roland, “Ah, I do know the answer to that one. There were some real estate developers, about seventy or eighty years ago, and they wanted to give the idea that you’d be getting all these ocean breezes.”
Nell is a bit surprised he knew anything about this, “But it’s not really on the ocean.”
Roland, “Yeah, tell me about it. More like Jamaica Bay at best.”
Nell, “Also, the word ‘ozone’ - somehow that doesn’t bring up the right associations for me.”
Roland, “I’d agree with you, but, hey, that’s what they were thinking back then.”
They sit eating their cereal for a few moments.
Nell, “Would you mind if I told you about a certain situation up here, I mean a personal one?”
Roland looks a bit dubious, “I don’t know, why tell me?”
Nell, “Well, when you hear what it is, you’ll realize why you’re the only one I can tell.”
Roland, “Ok, so why tell anybody in the first place?”
Nell, “I just need to tell somebody, get this off my chest.”
Roland thinks for a second, “All right, no problem, go ahead.”
Nell, “When I came up here, I had an idea in the back of my mind, well maybe I’d meet someone here who was potential dating material, if you know what I mean.”
Roland, “So you did meet someone.”
Nell, “Ah-huh, that’s right.”
Roland, “So it’s Luke then.”
Nell, “Yes, but there’s someone else too.”
Roland, “You can’t mean David; he’s married. Not that it ever stopped anyone.”
Nell is enjoying this guessing game, “No, not him.”
Roland, “Hey, you can’t mean me then, because . . . “
Nell laughs, “Don’t take it personally, but I know how devoted you are to Yolanda.
Roland, “Absolutely, that’s completely true – and hey, I was just kidding you a bit. But then, who is it?”
Nell, “I’m a little surprised you didn’t get this - I meant Theo.”
She can imagine the proverbial light bulb going on over this head. He says, “O-o-oh, I see.”
Nell, “Now, this could be a tricky situation.”
Roland, “That’s for sure.”
Nell, “For one thing, I think Theo has a bit of interest in Luke, although it doesn’t seem particularly serious.”
Roland, “Not as serious as you are, I guess.”
Nell, “Yeah, exactly. Besides I can tell he’s already much more interested in me.”
Roland, “I think I’ve noticed that.” He tries to look pensive, “So you have to keep him for yourself, and meanwhile you’ve got to make your own moves on her.”
Nell, “She started it, she made some moves on me that were pretty blatant, I’d call them. And you know what’s interesting, she talked about having a boyfriend and a girlfriend back in New York.”
Roland, “Maybe she’s just boasting; maybe they don’t really exist. We all don’t know each other very well yet.”
Nell, “Well, I think I can find out, one way or the other. And I do wish she’d drop her Ava Gardner act or whatever she’s doing. Now then, my inclination about all this would be to play it straight, just tell both of them what I want and see what happens.”
Roland, “Sounds like a plan to me. I suppose you’re looking for some advice, right?”
Nell, “That would be great.”
Roland laughs a bit, “Unfortunately, I’m not sure I have any for you. . . all right, how about this, maybe you should just relax, play it by ear.”
Nell, “What does that mean? It’s so trite.”
He finds this amusing too, “Sorry, that’s the best I’ve got for you.”
Nell, “Ok, how would feel if you were Luke in this situation?”
Roland, “I don’t know, I can’t speak for the guy.”
Nell, “Try this then: if some woman, say Yolanda, had presented you with this idea, at the beginning, could you handle it? I don’t really mean Yolanda - just some hypothetical situation.”
Roland, “Wow, now that’s a stretch. I would guess most people, despite what they might say, are really happier with exclusivity, right?”
Nell, “I do intend to be upfront with them, completely transparency, you could call it. Everybody knows about everybody else, that’s how I’d put it.”
Roland, “If you’re going to pin me down on this, I’d say pick one or the other - but hey, if you can convince the two of them to go along with it, then all power to you.”
Nell, “Look, this is actually pretty straightforward. I just want to arrange dates with them now. I'll meet them - separately, of course - when we get home next month, and then I see how it’s going. Well, anyway, thanks for listening to me.”
Roland is still amused, “Glad to be of assistance; any time.”
He gets up to put his bowl in the sink, and moves to leave the room.
Nell, “Aren’t you going to hang out when the others get here?”
Roland, “Ah, not today. I think I just take my coffee and stretch out on a couch for a while.”
Nell, says, almost to herself, "Journeys end in lovers meeting."
Roland, "And that's from?"
Nell, "From Shakespeare. The lines go like this:"
" 'O, mistress mine, where are you roaming?
O, stay and hear; your true love's coming,
That can sing both high and low:
Trip no further, pretty sweeting;
Journeys end in lovers meeting,
Every wise man's son doth know.' "
Roland, "And how many lovers do you expect to meet?"
Nell, "As many as I can get!"
Roland, "Whoa, I'm giving you a wide berth."
She laughs, and then she blurts out, “ ‘Rommel, you magnificent bastard, I’ve read your book!’ ”
Roland laughs too, “Yeah, I remember that.”
Nell, “So you have seen the movie.”
Roland, “Of course I have!”
[Roland had talked about the movie Patton at the get-together on the first afternoon. I haven’t finished that scene.]
Nell, “Did Patton really read the book?”
Roland, “Now you got me. I’ll have to check on that one.”
********
Rockaway Beach used to be a seaside resort but now, like Coney Island, it’s only for daytrippers.
Nell's lines are from Twelfth Night. Eleanor says "Journeys end in lovers meeting" several times in the novel (and in the first movie?) but she doesn't recite all of the lines.
GunHillTrain:
Oh my! It just gets better and better, you know!? I love the unexpected twist that Nell is interested in Theo romantically! How sweet! And confiding in Roland as the only person who it is really possible to confide in, is really clever. It binds the two characters of Nell and Roland together, for the story.
You seem to be very well read. Did you study English Literature at Uni or something? At first, I thought the music and literature references were going to go over my head, but actually those bits are perfectly balanced by the humour and steady plot.
Well done, you!!! You must be really proud of yourself for writing this. It is really quite wonderful. How long did it take you to write? I mean I know you are not quite finished the whole thing yet. Do you write as your job, or do you write as a hobby? You are very gifted.
:-D
http://www.wix.com/butterflyinabottle/bernadettebutterfly
Good evening:
By the way, I've noticed your comments about Death Wish 3. I saw that on TV once, and I thought it might be a satire, a comment on the whole Death Wish franchise. But maybe I'm reading too much into it! (Some interesting Brooklyn locations, however.)
Actually, the twists I wrote do have some basis in the novel. Eleanor, Theo and Luke all seem to be open for romantic possibilities. About halfway through the text (maybe the fourth or fifth day at the house) Eleanor and Luke do make an approach towards each other, but their conversation is extremely awkward and they both botch the attempt.
In the book I think Eleanor also has an "infatuation" of sorts on the other woman, although it could just be an interest in friendship. But there are a few hints that Nell might accept anything Theo proposes, except what really occurs, which is rejection.
I studied history at college (City College of New York, City University). I do know two English majors: my ex-wife and my daughter (who will be twenty-one in August). (I also have a son who is eighteen.) I didn't get an interest in poetry until quite recently.
I've been writing scripts on and off for a while. The first thing I attempted was a re-write of another Lili Taylor movie, I Shot Any Warhol. This Haunting script is the first one where I was able to get some momentum going.
And, yes, for the moment anyway, this is just a hobby!
************
In the novel, during the first week, a great deal of tension develops between the two women - "quarreling," as Shirley Jackson calls it. I've tried to show something like that too.
In this scene the five people are playing poker - Eleanor's idea, of course. There will eventually be money at stake, just "nickels and dimes" to start, and this was also her idea.
Two of the people, Luke and David, didn't know the game, so Nell volunteers to teach them (including how to make bets).
They are in their usual places at the table, except for David. Roland is the dealer, and he is sitting at the end of the table. Theo is at his left side of the table. David, Nell, and Luke are along the right side. Luke is just watching at this point.
They’re playing five-card draw, a simple form of poker. [I hope I get all the poker details right here.] Nell wrote out a sheet with all the possible poker hands for Luke, and David now has it next to him.
Nell, to David: “Now this is just an exhibition match, so I’m going to talk you through everything.”
Roland, as he deals, “I’ve never heard of six wild cards before, where did you get that from?”
Nell, "This can be fun. I once had an eight-high straight flush and I still lost.”
David, "Which are the wild cards again?"
Nell, "It's deuces wild - I mean the twos, plus two jokers." She can see that he's still baffled by this. “Don’t worry, everything will become clear. If you went to Princeton and Columbia, you can handle this.”
Nell then allows herself a flight of fantasy. “I could see myself as a riverboat gambling queen. I’d come in all dainty-like and then take all these guys’ money.”
Theo, “I thought you were supposed to be Cleopatra.”
Nell, “Oh, that’s just my day job.”
[I didn't post the Cleopatra scene yet.]
Roland laughs while Theo rolls her eyes. Nell looks over at Luke, who smiles back at her. She says, “You’re still in training, you know; keep track of this too.” She points at the cards in David’s hand.
Luke, “Fine, I’m following you all the way.”
David is staring at his cards, trying to discern some pattern. Nell is still distracted by her fantasy. “Yeah, I’d be on this boat, and the waiter would come to the table and ask, ‘Would the lady like a sarsaparilla?’, and I’d say, ‘No, bourbon please, I’m thirsty today’.”
Theo tries to get the focus off Nell, but all she can come up with is, “Oh, please.”
Nell, “And I’d need a pistol to keep in my garter belt. And not a little derringer, it might be a Colt .45 revolver.”
Theo, “Why would you need a gun?”
Nell, “That’s so I could shoot cheaters.”
Theo, “You’d shoot them?”
Nell, “Well, maybe just get them away from the table.” She raises her hand as if holding a gun. “ ‘Ok, Deadwood Dick, I see those cards up your sleeve.’ ”
Roland, “Deadwood Dick? I’ve heard that somewhere, and he wasn’t a gambler.”
Theo, “Could we please get on with this?” She gestures towards David, “The poor man is sitting there waiting for you to tell him something.”
Luke, “Hey, I’d like to know - on these riverboats, do you have a nickname?” He knows she will come up with something, and he’s looking forward to her answer.
Nell, “Of course, I’m Naughty Nellie, my name is known from Cincinnati to New Orleans.”
Theo, “You just had to encourage her. All right, you’re naughty, hm? I thought you didn’t like cheating.”
Nell, “That doesn’t refer to cards, my dear, it’s about men.” She giggles and points at Theo, “And you’re a legend too. You’re Madam Theodora, and you run a notorious house of ill repute.”
Theo, “That’s how you see me, in a brothel?”
Nell, “You’d fit in pretty well.” She starts singing, “ ‘There was a house, in New Orleans, they call The-o-dora’s Place. . .’ ”
Theo, “I don’t have to listen to this.”
David, “Wait a minute, calm down. And Nell, could we get to the matter at hand here?”
Nell, “You’re right, let’s get back on track.” She looks at David’s cards again. “So what do you think you’ve got there?”
David, “I don’t see anything.”
Nell, “That’s because you don’t have anything.” She turns to Luke, “You can see that too, right?”
Luke, “That’s right, it’s zilch.”
David, “So what do I do about it?”
Nell, “Take at easy. First, it’s Theo’s turn to make a bet, sweeten the kitty.”
David, “Sweeten the kitty?”
Nell, “I mean an initial round of betting, get some money in the pot.”
The players have pieces of tableware in front of them that they will use as mock cash for this exercise.
Theo, “Ok, finally. . . here, a spoon.”
David, “So I should put in a spoon too?”
Nell, “Yeah, that’s your best course, but you have two other options. You could just fold right now, but I think you should stay in and put down a spoon, that’s called ‘seeing’ her bet. Or, you could raise the bet, put in a spoon plus a fork. You might do that if you think you have a particularly strong hand.”
David, “Obviously I don’t.”
Nell, “Right, but you could bluff, pretend that you have a better hand than you really do, and bet accordingly. You’d be hoping they get intimidated and drop out.”
David, “Wouldn’t that be cheating?”
Nell speaks to Roland and Theo, “Is this guy squeaky clean, or what?” She then says to David, “No, it’s not cheating per se, it’s psyching out the other players. In any case, you’re nowhere near ready to attempt that kind of thing.”
David and Roland put in spoons.
David fiddles with his tableware, “How much are these things worth again?”
Nell, “It doesn’t matter, just think of everything as one unit. Now, you have a chance to get new cards. Let’s see, keep a high card.” She points to a queen. “Just pick any other three to get rid of.”
Roland deals new cards to the players.
Nell, “Now, you’ve got to keep track of what the other players are up to. Both of them took three new cards, so the most they could have started with is a pair. But you also have to look at people’s facial expressions, their gestures, especially at a moment like this.”
David, “You might be able to see if they’re disappointed or not, you mean.”
Nell, “Exactly. But you’ve got to control your own expressions too, if possible.” She points to Theo, “Now that one, she’s cool under pressure. Inside that pretty little head lies the mind of a killer.”
Theo can hear a compliment in this, and moves her head to signal, Well, isn’t that obvious?
Luke, “By the way, David, that’s where the expression ‘poker face’ comes from.”
Nell pats Luke on the shoulder, “See, this guy has the makings of a real sharpie.” She then says to Luke, with mock seriousness, “Now don’t you get all overconfident on me, you hear?”
Luke, “Don’t worry, you’re bringing me along just fine.”
Nell catches the double meaning of this, but she tries to hide her satisfaction. Theo, however, notices that she is running her tongue around inside her mouth.
Theo, “Okay, are you done with your little speeches now?”
Nell, “Hey, I’m teaching these guys. Maybe you’d like to take over?”
Theo, “Oh no, you’re bringing them along just fine.”
Nell shoots her a dirty look, but then turns her attention to David’s cards.
He now has two sevens and a joker, three of kind. Nell points to the joker, “You see that, right?”
David nods.
Nell then circles her finger to encompass the sevens, “And you get this too?” Theo and Roland can probably tell he has three of kind, but it’s just a practice game.
Nell makes sure Luke sees the cards, “You’re staying on top of this, I assume?”
Luke, “As you said, I’m staying on top.”
Nell almost winks at him, “Hey, sharpie, slow down a bit.”
Theo seems irked by their interaction, but a moment later Nell turns her attention back to the game.
Nell, “All right, The-o-dor-a, make a bet.”
Theo, “Oh-kay, a fork.”
David, “So should I ‘see’ her fork?”
Nell, “Let’s take a chance here, put in the fork, and raise her. . . a knife.”
After David bets, Roland sighs and folds his cards, “All right, I’m out.”
Nell, “Roland, it’s just tableware.”
He guffaws for a moment.
Theo, “I’ll see your knife.” She puts one in the pile.
Nell, “Now remember, she could have raised the stakes again, and you’d have to decide, fold or put more in.”
David, “But she didn’t, so. . .”
Nell, “So David, show her your cards.”
He puts them down tentatively, “Ah, three sevens.”
Theo quickly puts her cards down, “Three jacks.” She does have three, no wild cards.
Nell, “Oops, okay, David you lost this one.”
Theo gathers the pile of tableware with the same eagerness she’d use with real money. “Yes, Naughty Nell, you’re bringing him along just fine.”
Nell, “It’s just one round. You know, why don’t you come with me on these steamboats?”
Theo, “I thought I was running, ah, my place.”
Nell, “You’re getting tired of that, you’re having one of the younger girls run it day-to-day. You’ve got some new talents to develop.”
Theo, “I don’t want to know what my old talents were.”
Nell, “Anyway, we could work as team, except we wouldn’t tell anyone that. We’d clean up, I think.”
Theo, “Well, isn’t that a form of cheating?”
Nell, “No, it’s a form of bluffing, I’d say.”
The three men are listening to this with a combination of amusement and confusion. But it’s obvious to them that the two women are working out some tense issues between them.
Theo, “Where did you get this riverboat notion? From that river near you, the Paterson River?”
Nell, “It’s the Passaic. Paterson is the city.”
Theo, “Sorry, I’m up not up on the subtleties of the Garden State.”
Nell, “I know, Jersey is so de classe, not like the tony precincts of Ashtabula.”
Only the two of them knew about this until now.
Roland, “Where is Ashtabula?”
Theo, “Never mind, it’s not important.”
Nell sings, “ ‘I went back to Ohio, but my city was gone. There was no train station, there was no downtown.’ ”
Roland, “I didn’t know you were from Ohio.”
Theo, to Nell, “Why, why did you have to. . .”
Nell, “You never said it was confidential.”
Theo is resting her chin on her hand, one finger against her cheek. She’s annoyed but also looking for some strategy to handle all this.
Nell, “I wouldn’t mind being Chrissie Hynde for a while.”
Theo, “Is there anybody you don’t want to be?”
Nell, “Yeah, I once wanted to be Patti Smith, but now I rather be Joan Jett.”
Theo, “You and Joan have so much in common.”
Nell, “It’s the idea of being on stage with tight leather pants and a guitar. All of the girls want to be me, all of the guys want to. . . well, maybe some of the girls want to too."
Theo, “Nellie dear, before you melt down in your chair, maybe we should get back to the game.”
Nell, “Yes. . . Doctor, I think you’re ready to make your debut into gambling society.”
She sweeps all the tableware aside.
Nell, “We’re going live now. Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time to show your money.”
They prepare for the next round; Roland shuffles the deck, and the players start digging in their pockets for coins.
Theo, “This should be fun.”
Nell speaks to David, “Don’t worry, I’m right here.”
Theo, “I’m sure that makes him feel better.”
Nell, "You know, you and I should get together sometime for some serious poker. After that, I'll be buying my shoes from Milan too. In fact, I'll be flying over there myself to pick them up."
Theo, "You think you could take me on, huh?"
Nell, “Well, listen to this: in the round after this one, I’m bringing my young protégé here back in.” She gestures towards Luke.
Theo, “You’re going to coach both of them at once?”
Nell decides to deal with this head on, “Theo, I can handle all the men you can throw at me.”
She sits for a moment as the other four look at her. She tries to imagine what each one is thinking.
Nell, “Roland, please deal the cards.”
***********
It struck me that Nell and Theo are sending signals to each other during this game, the message of which is something like, I'm interested in you, but I don't know how to deal with you yet.
GunHillTrain:
'I've noticed your comments about Death Wish 3. I saw that on TV once, and I thought it might be a satire, a comment on the whole Death Wish franchise. But maybe I'm reading too much into it! (Some interesting Brooklyn locations, however)'
Oh yes, I wrote a little bit about Death Wish 3 because one of my favourite actors, Alex Winter, stars in it. Most of Death Wish 3 was filmed in London, England. They built a set made to look like New York, in a deserted area of London.
A lot of people seem to think the Director, Michael Winner was satirising with this movie. I suppose he hopes people do think that...... :-D
*******
Ok, I've read your latest instalment, and it is getting quite cheeky and a bit saucy. I like it. It's interesting to consider how the characters easily become so caught up in their relationships, that they seem to have become disarmed in facing the real danger - that they are in a haunted and dangerous setting!
But card games are a useful distraction. At least they're not playing ouija board! ha ha
I suppose your son and daughter could also be permitted to read your script, as it would be interesting to get their opinion! :-)
http://www.wix.com/butterflyinabottle/bernadettebutterfly
Yes, I knew about the London sets for Death Wish 3. But the movie mixes the studio scenes with real location shots in an almost random manner. I can usually tell the difference because of the architecture and street fixtures; it's very hard to fake New York convincingly. For example, the scene during the closing credits is in Brooklyn and the one where the thugs roll Bronson's car down a hill is in upper Manhattan.
I remember when I saw the trailer for the first Bill and Ted movie in 1988. I really wanted to see it; maybe that was the last time a trailer had that effect on me! Anyway, Alex Winter seems to be doing more directing than acting in recent years.
My daughter took a screenwriting class recently, I did mention my script to her, but I haven't sent it yet.
*****
Exactly how "haunted" Hill House is will become an open question and a topic of conversation for the people there. I do have a few twists in that direction that are not in any other version.
The professor's wife will indeed bring an ouija board - or really a version called a "planchette" - up there. I lifted that idea out of the novel. I hope Shirley Jackson would approve.
********
I decided to post the three "prequel" scenes I wrote; no one else has read these yet.
Eleanor later talks about these events, but I wanted to see if I could create the dialogue for them as they really happened. All include Nell's third boyfriend, Jimmy the carpenter. I wrote in the character sketch about how he wound up in rehab by 1999 - effectively ending their relationship. There is quite a bit of foreshadowing here about his path to that end.
Here Jimmy and Nell had a two-day "pass" to go to a beach house on the Jersey Shore while her sister Jane covers for her. They wind up returning nearly a full day late. (Nell briefly described this to Professor Marrow on the first day.)
Jimmy is driving his car as they pull up in front of the house in Fair Lawn. He turns off the engine and they both stare at the house.
Finally Jimmy says, “Well, I know she’s in there. We can’t stay out here forever.”
Nell, “Let me talk to her; I think I can handle it.”
Jimmy, “If you say so. It’s really going to hit the fan, you know that.”
Nell, “I’m ready for it. Let’s go.”
The leave the car and go up the walk to the front door. Inside, they find Nell’s sister Jane sitting in the living room. She stands up and walks towards them.
Jimmy looks over at Nell, expecting her to say something, but for a moment she seems tie-tied.
Jane waits for a moment, and then says, “You’re exactly twenty-two hours and. . .” She glances at her watch, “Thirty-four minutes late.”
Nell, “I’m really sorry about that, but we had to . . .”
Jane raises her hand, “Hold on. First, James, don’t you have some place to be now?”
Jimmy, “I do? Maybe I should get something to eat; I am feeling kind of hungry.”
Nell, “There’s some lasagna in the fridge. You can heat that up.”
Jane, “That’s not what I meant.”
Nell says to Jimmy, “Go ahead, it’s ok.”
Jimmy, “Are you sure?”
Nell waves him away, “Yes, go in and heat it up.”
As he leaves, Jane says, “I didn’t mean he should start cooking things here.”
Nell, “Hey, it’s my kitchen.”
Jane, “Is it your house too?”
Nell, “In a way it is.”
Jane, “You don’t pay for it.”
Nell, “I run it. Let’s sit down already and talk about this.”
Jane, “No, I think we’ll remain standing.”
Nell, “What is this, boot camp?”
Jane, “Excuse me?
Nell, “I expect you to say, ‘My orders are to weed out any non-hackers from my beloved corps.’ ”
Jane sighs, “Nell, every time we talk about something serious you cover it up with these nonsensical digressions.”
Nell, “It does make sense, if you think about it for a moment. You’ve heard of Parris Island?”
Jane, “I haven’t and I really don’t care. Why don’t you tell me what delayed you all this time?”
Nell, “We just couldn’t drive up yesterday.”
Jane, “That’s because you were both drunk, isn’t that true? I could hear it in your voice when you called here.”
Nell can’t see any way to lie her way out of this, “Ok, yes, we weren’t in any condition to drive, it wouldn’t have been safe.”
Jane, “I suppose the rest of Jimmy’s crew was in the same shape. But there are these things called trains, you know.”
Nell, “Oh, man, we’d have to go all the way into Hoboken, and back out again. And we still would have been late.”
Jane, “Not as late as this. You would have been here sometime last night.”
Nell, “And Jimmy’s car would still been down there.”
Jane, “He could have retrieved it later. Or one of his hangers-on could have driven it back.”
Nell, “Look, I said I’m sorry.”
Jane, “It’s more than that. It’s obvious that Jimmy’s effect on you is completely dysfunctional.”
Nell, “First, that’s none of your business, and second, and more importantly, it’s not even true.”
Jane, “But it is true, because you’ve not taking your responsibilities seriously. He turns you into an overgrown teenager. And I know the real reason you let him affect you so much.”
Nell, “And that would be?”
She leans forward and says in a stage whisper, “Frankly, Eleanor, in my opinion you’ve been thinking with your c__t.”
Nell is so shocked she doesn’t have an immediate reply. Her impulse is to yell at Jane, but she gains some control over herself.
Nell, “Well, Janey baby, I could say some things about you. You could suck a golf ball through a garden hose . . .”
Jane, “You think you’re so clever.”
Nell, “. . . or the chrome off a trailer hitch.”
Jane, “That’s supposed to be sarcastic, I see.”
Nell, “Hey, some ladies might consider those compliments.”
Jane, “It sounds like you’re quoting something again.”
Nell, “I sure am. Can you guess where it’s from?”
Jane, “No, I can’t be bothered.”
Nell, “You know, I can’t be bothered either. I’ve had enough of this.”
She turns and walks out. She goes down the hall to the kitchen. Jimmy is sitting at the table; the oven is heating up and a dish of lasagna is on the table. Nell sits down without saying anything.
A moment later Jane appears in the doorway.
Nell, “Oh, you’re still here?”
Jane, “Yes, and I see he’s still here.” She points at Jimmy, “I forgot, James is staying for dinner.”
Nell, “In fact, he’s staying as long as he wants.”
He points to the lasagna, “Hey, Jane, do you want some too? It’s really good; Nell puts green peppers in the sauce.”
Jane, “No thanks, I’m going to check in on mom one more time and then I’m going home.” She looks at Nell, “Try to catch up with the laundry by tomorrow. I don’t think any’s been done in a week.”
Nell salutes her and says, “Aye-aye, ma’am.”
Jane shakes her head and leaves.
Jimmy, “What’s with the ‘aye-aye, ma’am?'”
Nell, “Oh, I was imagining her as a drill sergeant - one from the Marines, not one of those soft-hearted Army guys.”
Jimmy, “That sure fits. It reminds me of that line - it’s really great - the one that goes, ‘Who’s the twinkle-toed c__ksucker who just signed his own death warrant?’ ”
Nell, “I was just doing some bits from that! Did you hear me in the living room?”
Jimmy, “No, I couldn’t hear you from here. It’s just that, great minds think alike, right?”
He reaches his hand across the table and Nell reaches over to hold it.
Jimmy, “So how did she react to all that?”
Nell, “The usual way. If I’m not completely obvious and literal-minded, she has no idea of what I’m talking about. But, there was one thing she said - well, she said something really nasty to me.”
Jimmy, “You want to tell me about it?”
Nell, “Not the details, not now.”
Jimmy, “It occurs to me, although she’d never admit it, she may be envious of us.” He thinks about this for a moment, then he puts his hands behind his head, “When she gets into bed with Lou [Jane’s husband], she puts her hands back like this, then she puts her legs like this.” He puts his legs out and spreads them apart, “And then she says, ‘I’m ready for my wifely duties.’ ”
Nell laughs, “And then she goes, ‘I must think only of the Queen.’ There is something else she’d never admit, I think she has a bit of a thing for you.”
Jimmy covers his eyes in mock fear, “Please, Nell, you’ll give me nightmares.”
Nell, “She’s not that bad looking.”
Jimmy, “But her personality! And besides, she doesn’t even like me that much.”
Nell, “Actually liking you as a person doesn’t have anything to do with it.”
Jimmy, “Well, the main thing is, we’ve really been busted now.”
Nell, “Yeah, I don’t expect to get another weekend pass for a long time, if ever. Yuck, pina coladas and pot brownies; I’ll never do that combo again.”
Jimmy, “You could get high from the sugar alone.” He gestures at her, “Come on over here.”
She goes over and sits in lap; she puts her arms around his shoulders.
Jimmy, “I’ve got an idea. If Nell can’t go to the beach, we’ll bring the beach to Nell. We’ll get an aboveground pool, one of those circular ones, and we’ll set it up in the yard.
Nell, “Those things are about two feet deep.”
Jimmy, “There are square ones that are a bigger.”
Nell, “I definitely need a new bathing suit to go with it.”
Jimmy, “Oh, right, I’m sorry about that.”
Nell, “Don’t worry, I really enjoyed losing the old one.” She kisses him.
Jimmy, “Although, you really only lost half ot it.”
Nell, “The most important half, I’d say. It’s probably in Portugal by now.”
Jimmy, “More like Seaside Heights. Somebody will find it and wonder why there’s no person in it.”
Nell, “But you’ll know where she is.”
He pulls her closer, “Comfortable?”
Nell nods, “I could stay like this - well, for a long time.”
He touches the lasagna dish, “Are you hungry?”
Nell, “Oh yeah, heat up the whole thing. We’ll make some spaghetti to go with it.” She stands up and thinks for a moment.
Nell, “Before we do that, I ought to go up and talk to mom.”
Jimmy, “Are you going to apologize for being a day late?”
Nell, “Yes, I really have to.”
Jimmy, “And how about Jane? You kind of left her in the lurch too.”
Nell, “I’ll have to think about that. We did call her yesterday.”
Jimmy, “But we gave her the lamest excuses; she wasn’t fooled a bit. Hey, maybe I should apologize to her too. ”
Nell, “How about this: offer to do some small projects around her house for free. I know she’s got a lot of things that need fixing.”
Jimmy, “So I’d have to be alone with her over there?”
Nell, “That’s right, I can see her making you a pitcher of lemonade, ‘Here James, it’s so hot and you’ve been working so hard.’ ”
Jimmy, “Maybe she’ll spike it with some vodka.”
Nell, “If she offers you a real drink, watch out. Note what she’s wearing too. I know it’s hard to believe, but she might have a see-through negligee somewhere in her wardrobe.”
Jimmy, “Wait a minute, are you trying to get me into trouble or something?”
Nell, “No, sweetie, I trust you with her - I should say especially with her.”
*****
Nell lost the bottom half of her bathing suit while fooling around in he ocean with Jimmy.
Hello :-D
It's simply great, u know! I love all the marine stuff in it. It's hilarious! I really like ur version of Nell, and in some ways I think I like her more than the Nell in the 1999 movie. And that is really saying something.....!
Yes, Alex Winter has been directing and writing movies for some years now. However, he is just about to shoot 'Bill and Ted 3' with Keanu. So we will see him acting again very soon. :-D
I'm a writer, too. But I am an Astrology writer. I don't really write other things. (Although I did write a romantic love story for a competition we held on the John Cusack board, once.) :-D hee hee
Also, I just want to say that I find your script is very cosy. I always found the Haunting movies to be very cosy. I often watch them in bed just before going to sleep. It's one of my favourite things about the movie. I'm glad you still have included that feeling in your script.
Bernadette xxx
http://www.wix.com/butterflyinabottle/bernadettebutterfly
Yes, I noticed that you mention the Marines in your profile, but it seems to be the American Marine Corps rather than the Royal Marines. Or maybe you mean both.
I have looked at your astrology site. Interesting how some people want readings "pairing" them with celebrities (if I understood those sections correctly.) Do you get a lot of those?. I guess that shows the power of the media.
I found the novel and '63 movie versions of The Haunting to be rather sad and unsettling because of Eleanor's inability to get through this transitional period in her life. The way I portray her, most of what goes well for her is because of her own efforts to make things happen. She certainly pushes back against her sister, and is often successful at that.
(By the way, I guess Kenau and Alex Winter are going to be the teachers in this new Bill and Ted saga, and two new guys are going to having the excellent adventure.)
********
This scene is in the backyard of Eleanor’s house in Fair Lawn during the same summer as the previous scene. Jimmy has set up an aboveground pool in the yard as he had promised.
Jimmy invited some of his friends, both male and female, over for a pool party. As sometimes happens, Jimmy had some drugs available and has distributed them to certain members of the party who wanted them.
Eleanor is completely sober. She is wearing her bathing suit, and she is reading a book while sitting in a folding chair. The woman sitting to her left is tripping on acid, and she is listening to music through ear phones while staring at a CD case. Jimmy has had one of the pot brownies Eleanor sometimes bakes. He is talking to some people a few feet behind Nell.
Nell's sister Jane enters through the side yard. She didn’t call ahead; she just arrived unannounced as she often does. Eleanor looks over her book at her but doesn’t say anything.
Jane, “Everybody here seems to having a grand old time.”
Nell, “You know Fair Lawn - the Riviera of Bergen County.”
Jane frowns, and then says to the woman in the other chair, “Hi, ah, Cheryl - did I get your name right?”
Nell, “That is her name, it’s Cheryl.”
Jane bends over and waves her hand near the woman’s face, “Cheryl? Cheryl?” Then she says to Nell, “What’s wrong with her?”
Nell, “Nothing that I know of.”
Jane, “I’m right in her line of vision; she has to see me.”
Nell, “She’s absorbed in the music, I suppose.”
Jane, “Nobody could be that absorbed - oh, never mind.” She pulls a chair over and sits down, facing Nell.
Nell, “Pull up a chair and relax.”
Jane, “I already. . .oh . . . anyway, so what are you reading?
Nell, “It’s called Miss Lonelyhearts.” A moment goes by.
Jane, “Aren’t you going to tell me what it’s about?”
Nell, “Ok, I’m just getting into it. So far, there’s a reporter, he got assigned to take over the advice column at his paper - he’s become Miss Lonelyhearts, I mean.”
Jane, “Where did this happen?”
Nell, “It takes place in New York . . .hold on, it’s a novel, you do get that, right?”
Jane, “How would I know it’s a novel unless you tell me?”
Nell seems at a loss for words; she looks upwards and rotates her hand in the air.
Jane, “And why didn’t they hire a woman for the job?”
Nell, “I don’t know yet; maybe I will when I finish reading it.”
At this moment Jimmy comes over and sits in a chair on Eleanor’s right.
Jimmy, “Hi Janey, welcome to the Hopper Avenue beach.”
Jane, “Hello James, how are you today?”
Jimmy, “James! Hah!”
Jane ignores him and says to Nell, “I see you have a new bathing suit.”
Nell, “I lost the bottom of the other one down in Manasquan.”
Jane, “Didn’t you check the house before you left?”
Nell, “All right, in a sense I do know where it is; it’s in the Atlantic Ocean.”
Jane, “How did that happen?”
Nell doesn’t want to answer this; she shakes her head and hopes that Jimmy catches the signal not to answer either. Fortunately, he changes the topic.
Jimmy “Hey, Nell has been having me read some poems, did you know that?”
Jane, “I find that hard to believe.”
Jimmy, “Yeah, there’s this one, it goes, ‘Turning and turning in the widening gyre;’ that means circle, right?”
Nell nods. Jimmy continues, “ ‘The falcon cannot hear the falconer.’ Then there’s, ‘I should have been a pair of ragged claws . . .’ ”
Nell interrupts him, “That’s from a different poem.”
Jimmy taps himself on the head, “Right, I should have known that.”
Jane says to Nell, “He couldn’t possibly know what he’s talking about.”
Jimmy answers for her, “Of course I know what I’m talking about.” He looks at Nell, “It’s, I mean the first one, it’s sort of about World War I.”
Nell, “Well, I’d say it was influenced by the war. He’s mostly talking about what events may occur in the future.” She can see that she has Jimmy’s complete attention, while Jane can’t hide her skepticism.
She continues, “Some lines that would be directly about the war would be: “My friend, you would not tell with such high zest, To children ardent for some desperate glory, The old Lie, Dulce et Decorum est Pro patria mori.”
Jimmy, “What does that mean?”
Nell, “The old lie? That means, ‘it’s sweet and proper to die for one’s country.’ ”
Jimmy, “That’s awesome.”
Jane, “You could translate that?”
Nell laughs, “Not really. I had to look it up.”
Jane, “Oh, you . . .”
Jimmy laughs at her too and then says, “I love her voice; I could listen to her recite all day.”
Jane says to Nell, “How could you fall for such obvious flattery?”
Jimmy, “It’s not flattery because it’s true!”
Nell, “Yeah, and ah, Jane, please stop talking about people like they aren’t there.”
Jane, “Well, Jimmy’s sort of here; I don’t know about her, however.” She points to Cheryl. Nell looks over and shrugs.
Jimmy, “Nell, do you have something you could read to us?”
Jane, “Hold on, this is a serious topic. It’s obvious that these two. . .” she points to Jimmy, then Cheryl, “Are on something, although not necessarily the same thing.”
Nell, “They’re on their chairs, for example.”
Jane, “You know what I mean, there’s rampant drug use going on here.”
Jimmy, “How do you define rampant?”
Jane, “Pervasive, all encompassing, whatever. Who’s taking care of mom right now?”
Nell, “Lydia is inside at the moment. You remember her; she’s came back for a visit this week.”
[Lydia went to school with Nell.]
Jane, “But you should be in there.”
Nell, “I told mom I’d be out here for a while, and she was fine with that.”
Jane, “And when Lydia’s not here. . .”
Nell, “If necessary, I have other people I trust.”
Jane, “You mean Jimmy and his crew of ruffians.”
Nell, “Funny, I always think of them as droogs.” Jane doesn’t respond to this, so she continues, “I’m here every day, I know what’s going on, and if mom had an issue with anything, I would know about it long before you did.”
Jane, “Well, I’m definitely going to check with her in a moment.”
Jimmy, “Could I get you something first, like a screwdriver?” Jane looks confused.
Nell, “He means an orange juice and vodka, not the handtool.”
Jane, “It’s only two o’clock.”
Jimmy looks around, “If this was Cancun, you wouldn’t think twice.”
Jane, “But this isn’t Cancun.”
Jimmy, “It’s the best we can do in North Jersey. Hey, hang around for a bit while Nell reads us something.” He says to her, “You will, won’t you?”
Nell smiles at him, “If you want me to, of course I will.” She reaches for a book on the table next to her.
Jane, “Is this going to take long?”
Nell, “I have something in mind; I’ll just do the first section.”
She opens the book and finds the place she wants.
Nell, “Since we perhaps have a military theme going, we have here Lessons of the War. It has a dedication, To Alan Michell - I’d have to check on that.”
She looks at each of the two members of her audience in turn. She continues, “Then there’s an epigram: 'Vixi duellis nuper idoneus Et militavi non sine gloria.'”
Nell, “Which translates, ‘Lately I have lived in the midst of battles, creditably enough, and have soldiered, not without glory.’ ”
Jane, “You looked that up too.”
Nell, “In fact, there’s a footnote right here telling me what it means. Now let’s get into this already. As I said, I’m going to do only Section 1, which is called ‘Naming of Parts.’ ”
She reads the first stanza.
“Today we have naming of parts. Yesterday,
We had daily cleaning. And tomorrow morning,
We shall have what to do after firing. But today,
Today we have naming of parts. Japonica
Glistens like coral in all the neighboring gardens,
And today we have naming of parts.”
Jimmy, “Ok, that’s good, keep going.”
Nell looks pleased. Jane seems unmoved.
Nell reads the next stanza.
“This is the lower sling swivel. And this
Is the upper sling swivel, whose use you will see,
When you are given your slings. And this is the piling swivel,
Which in your case you have not got. The branches
Hold in the gardens their silent, eloquent gestures,
Which in our case we have not got.”
Jane, “What is this about?”
Nell, “If you let me read the next three stanzas, you might start to get it.”
Jane, “I haven’t got all day.”
Jimmy, “Will you please not interrupt her!”
Nell raises her hand, “Ok, I’ll get ahead of myself and tell you a bit about it. He must be in an army camp, in basic training, and the instructor is showing the parts of a rifle.”
Jane, “You can’t have guns in a poem.”
Nell, “You can have anything in a poem.”
Jane, “I would think it would be mostly, like, flowers.”
Nell, “There are flowers! He just mentioned the Japonica. And there are more flowers, if you would just let me get to it. In fact, here they are.”
”This is the safety catch, which is always released
With an easy flick of the thumb.And please do not let me
See anyone using his finger. You can do it quite easy
If you have any strength in your thumb. The blossoms
Are fragile and motionless, never letting anyone see
Any of them using their finger.”
Jane abruptly stands up, “I really should go in and see about mom.”
Jimmy, “Don’t go now; it’s just getting good.”
Jane leans forward and stage whispers to Nell, “These, these people . . .” She waves her arm to indicate Jimmy’s friends, “They call you ‘book chick,’ did you know that?”
Jimmy leans forward in his chair and whispers too, “I can hear you!”
Nell laughs, “Actually, I take it as a compliment.”
Jane, “Whatever, the main point is that this situation is completely unacceptable.” She gets up and leaves without saying goodbye.
Nell says, even though Jane can no longer hear her, “Don’t let the door hit your a__ on the way in.”
Jimmy, “She can’t really do anything; she’s hasn’t got any leverage.”
Nell, “I know that, but she manages to darken the day anyway.”
Jimmy, “So what war is this? The poem, I mean.”
Nell seems distracted, “It must be the Second World War, based on his age and when it was written.”
Jimmy, “You know, I liked it.” He points to Cheryl, “Is she ok?”
Nell, “She’s been tripping for a while. At least she’s calm; concentrating on the music, I guess.”
Nell takes the CD cover from her hands. Cheryl doesn’t seem to notice.
Nell, “Rain Dogs. Pretty good album.”
Jimmy, “She got it from your living room.”
Nell, “Oh, I should have known.” She leans over so she can just hear the music from the earphones. “ ‘Gun Street Girl;’ probably the second best song on there. How about you? Did you like your brownie?”
Jimmy, “Only the best; Eleanor’s Famous, right?
Nell, “At least you’re still pretty lucid.”
Jimmy, “But Jane noticed it pretty quick.”
Nell, “With her instincts, she should join the DEA. Listen, I really should go in and see what’s she’s up to.”
Jimmy, “Do you want me to go with you?”
Nell thinks for a moment, “No, I think I should handle this by myself.”
Jimmy, “Nell, I’m sorry, I mean about my friends and everything . . .”
Nell, “Don’t worry about it; I’m in charge here, not her. And they’re my friends too.” She gets up to leave, then turns around.
Nell, “About the bathing suit; thanks for keeping quiet about that.”
Jimmy, “Hey, no problem. . . Ah, are you going to read more to me when you come back?”
Nell, “Sure; the whole thing, if you want.”
*********
Miss Lonelyhearts is a 1933 novel by Nathanael West. Lessons of the War is a 1960 poem by Henry Reed.
The two poems Jimmy quotes from are The Second Coming by William Butler Yeats and The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S. Eliot. Nell is quoting from Dulce et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen.
Rain Dogs is an album by Tom Waits. The “best” song Nell must be referring to is “Downtown Train,” which is one of the songs she later sings while wooing Theo at Hill House.
GunHillTrain:
Hello again :-)
Yeah, I like marines. I like the 'Jarhead' movie and book, and they are US marines. But I like the Royal Marines, too. (Although I would think they are a bit dodgy, wot with them being English and all).
My Astrology readings are for people who want to find out about themselves, and their relationships with other people. It's not surprising people want readings with celebrities. It doesn't show the power of the media. It shows the power of the human heart!
:-D
Iwish I knew wot 'Bill and Ted 3' will be about, but so far we can only guess. Alex Winter said that it will be a surprise for everyone.
Ok, now onto your script. I have to say, at this point, I think it is a good model for a novel. The only reason I say this, is due to the fact that it includes so much detail, I'm not sure how it will come across as a movie. What is your target audience for this movie script? I'm not sure whether it can be mainstream. I've never touched drugs, myself, so I can't identify with this part of the script, though that does not mean that it doesn't work. That's just my personal inexperience. And this does affect the dialogue and the story, so I think I may be a little out of my depth.
It's really very good.
********
http://www.wix.com/butterflyinabottle/bernadettebutterfly
Hello!
I didn't mean to make judgments about people who want readings about themselves with celebrities. I understand it very well. For a while I went through a period when I had an interest in Lili Taylor that went well beyond the usual kind of fandom. One manifestation of this was an intense concern about the state of her career and her overall well-being.
I've noticed a lot of people on-line who are posting celebrity comments and are expressing some variation of my own state of mind. Here is someone who is specifically writing about Taylor:
http://tinselpit.com/?p=257 ("Lili Taylor: What Happened?")
*****
You're right, some of this doesn't seem like a movie. Some of it is like a novel, or a mini-series, or even a stage play. I don't really have a target audience now, but then I'm mostly writing it for my own satisfaction. It helps a great deal to have other people comment on it like you have been doing; I appreciate that.
Maybe at some point I will write something that has a tighter "format," that fits more neatly into a category. I still think I'd prefer to do it as a script, for a movie or TV show, rather than a novel.
********
The drug use in that scene is supposed to be of secondary importance; it foreshadows Jimmy's later stint in rehab that marks the end of his relationship with Nell. The key aspect of the scene is how she has gotten him interested in poetry (and probably history as well) for the first time in his life.
Nell's sister is convinced that he is faking this interest; she seems to believe (or wants to believe) that Nell is incapable of knowing whether he is sincere or not.
It struck me that the song Nell is singing as she approaches the Hill House gate is really about Jimmy. She identifies with the narrator, the broken-hearted truck driver who is "running from a flame."
I had several other songs that were candidates for that scene, but I finally settled on that one without fully knowing why.
***********
The final prequel scene is short.
This takes place in the kitchen of the Fair Lawn house on a Sunday morning sometime in 1996. Nell and Jimmy are sitting at the table, and both are nursing hangovers. Nell is sipping a glass of tomato juice with a lemon slice, and Jimmy is having breakfast, which consists of a bowl of corn flakes and a bottle of beer.
Nell’s sister Jane opens the back door of the house, which leads directly into the room. She has her own set of keys so she can let herself in. She remains standing through her entire time there.
Jane, “Well, you two are up bright and early.”
Jimmy glances at the clock on the wall, “It’s eleven o’clock; we could do worse.”
Jane, “You could do better. So, corn flakes and Heineken, huh? The breakfast of champions?”
Nell, “Wow, I’ve never heard that one before. Did you just make that up?”
Jimmy intervenes, “I admit, I’m having some of the hair of the dog that bit me.”
Jane, “Mauled you is better way to put it.”
Nell, “You’re such a wit, Jane, I never realized that before.”
Jane ignores her and says to Jimmy, “Ew, you’ve got milk on your flakes.”
Jimmy, “You bet, that’s the only way I’ll eat them.”
Jane, “But the beer! Anyway - Nell, what’s going on with you today?”
Nell, “I’ve felt better.”
Jane, “You’ve looked better.”
Nell, “What exactly are you doing here?”
Jane, “Nothing special; I just came over to say hello.”
Nell, “Well, hello.”
Jane frowns at her for a moment, “Actually, I was checking in about Mom too.”
Jimmy, “She’s fine.”
Jane, “I was speaking to my sister.
Jimmy, “Whoa, ok . . .”
Nell, “You heard what he said. Go talk to her yourself.”
Jane, “I certainly will. You two are in no condition to give her any responsible care.”
Jimmy, “So we’re a little hung over. It’s not a big deal; it’s not one of those epic ones.”
Jane, “Epic?”
Nell, “You know, like the Iliad and the Odyssey.”
Jane, “Excuse me?”
Nell puts her hand over her face, “Oh, never mind. . .”
Jimmy, “Relax, sit down and have some breakfast. We have Cheerios if you don’t like corn flakes.”
Jane, “No thanks, I already ate. . . Eleanor, I wonder where you got the idea that you could have him just move in here for days on end.”
Jimmy, “Him? I’m sitting right here.”
Nell looks at the wall to her left, “I see by that calendar that I’m twenty-five. I get to decide who is in my own house.”
Jane, “The point is, this is not suitable for mom, for what you have to do for her.”
Nell, “He’s been a great help for me, I’ve told you that before. And besides, mom thinks he’s great.”
Jimmy puts a thumb up, “Yeah, give Jimmy some credit.”
Jane, “I guess there’s no accounting for taste.”
Nell, “I suppose so; she had you, didn’t she?”
Jimmy, “Oh, that was a low one. Hey, Jane, stop tying your panties into a knot over this.”
For the first time, Nell smiles, “I bet she could do that with her hands behind her head.”
Jimmy, “Really? That sounds pretty interesting.”
Jane, “Come on, stop it already. You can delude yourself, but you can’t fool me. You have him over here for your own benefit.”
Nell, “So? I’m entitled to some happiness.”
Jane shakes her head, “Nell, you’re such a little slut, do you know that?”
Jimmy can see that Nell is giving her a look they call “the glare of death.” Jane doesn’t seem to notice it, and stands there waiting for a reply.
Nell stands up, takes her glass, and hurls the tomato juice into Jane’s face. Jane sputters, but she’s too shocked to say anything. She doesn’t notice that the lemon slice is now stuck to the front of her shirt.
Then she puts her hands up to her face and says, “Oh, my eyes.” She goes over to the sink and wipes her face with a dish towel. When she’s finished, she notices the lemon; she peels off the slice and drops it into the sink.
Nell is still standing; she seems calm as she looks at Jane. Jimmy is looking too, curious about what is going to happen next.
Jane is too confused to think of a response. She utters a sound of frustration, and goes out the way she came in, closing the door behind her. Nell and Jimmy expect her to slam it, but she doesn’t.
Nell sits down in her chair.
Jimmy gestures towards her glass, “I guess you should pour yourself some more juice.”
*********
If you like, I could post some selected scenes from the Hill House portion of this. I do envision that one of the key events of Eleanor's life is her relationship with Theodora.
GunHillTrain:
Hi back :-)
Just read the last bit of your script. It is quite free-spirited, and it flows very nicely. I understand how Nell has had an influence over her boyfriend. It seems as though she is the kind of person who would have a strong influence over anyone! She's very smart and interesting.
I'm picking up a kind of dreamy atmosphere now. In the movie, Nell was dreamy, and here too, in your script the dreamy, philosophising aspect is present. I think it is important that you are writing it for your own satisfaction, as this allows you the freedom to philosophise. You can really sense it in the story, you know. It's rotten that Jane thinks Nell cannot take responsibility for herself. In many ways, Nell is smarter and more worldlier than Jane is. I think the song 'running from a flame' is the perfect choice of song for the scene where she arrives at the house. Really good choice.
Yes, post more. It's nice to read a script. I've never been asked to read anyone's script before!
*****
Oh, that's ok, I know you didn't mean offense when you said that people wanting readings with celebs just shows 'the power of the media'. You are absolutely right. After all, it is the media that has introduced us to the celebs, and therefore it is the media we have to thank when we are lucky enough to fall in love with a celeb, or to regard them as a friend. I had a feeling you had a soft spot for Lili Taylor. You seemed to think very highly of her. I think she is lovely, too.
Bernadette xx
http://www.wix.com/butterflyinabottle/bernadettebutterfly
Speaking of celebrities, I did take a look at the message board for Winona Ryder's page. As on most IMDb boards, there are a few strange things going on, like the person (a troll, perhaps?) who claims to know of a rumor linking Ryder with Mel Gibson. I found that amusing, because they seem like such an unlikely match (although I guess there have been stranger ones than that).
I suspect many celebrities are a bit ambivalent about their fans. "We" - the audience, who may number in the millions - know a lot about them (or imagine we do), while they know nothing about us. I may be projecting my own feelings, but I would be reluctant to lose my privacy for that kind of fame.
********
If Eleanor seems dreamy, maybe that's because she's usually pretty relaxed. Or maybe the word I'd use is poised. She does understand her own assets, like her intelligence, and she's pretty confident about maneuvering around her sister (who is indeed envious of her talents, I think). Of course sometimes Nell loses her cool, as she did during the tomato juice incident.
The title of the song at the beginning is "Highway Junkie." The Randy Travis album came out in 1996, but the Chris Knight version wasn't until 2001. Thus Nell has to be playing Travis's album - and I have to adjust her dialogue with Mr. Dudley.
(Both versions are on YouTube if you are curious.)
Hey, you're the first person to ever read the prequel scenes!
********
During the first week, it's sort of Everyday Life in a Supposedly Haunted House.
Eleanor and Theo are trying to figure out an approach to each other, but things can get pretty tense between them.
One night Nell gets Luke, Theo, and Roland to watch some movies with her. (There is a VCR attached to the TV set.) She rummages through her videotape box until she finds what she wants.
Nell, “I’ve got this classic ‘70s cop movie, The Seven-Ups, for us to watch. Have you ever seen this?”
Theo, “I’ve never even heard of it.” Already she knows this is not to her taste.
Nell, “Well, you must know who Roy Scheider is.”
Theo, “Actually, I don’t.”
Nell, “He was Chief Brody in Jaws, that was a couple of years after this.”
Theo doesn’t seem impressed, “Okay, so what?”
Nell, “I tell you what, let’s vote on it. Everybody who wants to see this, raise their hands.”
Luke and Roland vote yes along with Nell.
Nell, “Any no votes?”
Theo just sits there.
Nell, “I’ll count that as an abstention. Look, give it a chance; wait ‘til you see all of the location filming in here. It’s worth it just for that.”
After she sets up the tape, Nell takes the remote and squeezes in between Luke and Theo on the couch. She puts her arms around the shoulders of both of them.
Nell, “Well, it’s great to be here with my two new buddies.”
Luke looks pleased; Theo seems uneasy, barely tolerating being touched like this.
We then jump to the middle of the movie within the movie. Nell has a running commentary going, and she stops the tape at times to show something; occasionally she even rewinds it for another pass at a scene. By the time of the big car chase in the middle of the film, she is completely absorbed in this.
In The Seven-Ups, Roy Scheider is driving his car across West 96th Street in New York, in close pursuit of another car with two criminals in it.
Nell, “They keep showing the same streets to make it look longer.”
Luke, “Well, you really have to know New York to notice that.”
Nell, “No, I think it’s too obvious. Look, they’re going past Amsterdam Avenue again.”
Luke, “How do you know it’s Amsterdam?”
Nell, “There’s that bank on the corner. The one that’s a CVS now. And now they’re at Broadway again.”
Luke, “Really? That’s Broadway?”
Nell, “The theater on the right was replaced by an apartment house.”
Luke, “Yeah, I’ve got to remember this was around ‘72”
Nell, “Right. And here’s Amsterdam again, except we’re looking west now.”
Luke, “The way the cars bounce on the hills, it reminds me of Bullet.”
Nell, “That’s because the same stunt driver planned this chase too. In fact, he’s the guy driving the Bonneville.”
Luke, “Oh wow, really? You know that for sure?”
Nell, “Absolutely.”
Theo doesn’t say anything, but she’s squirming with annoyance. For one thing, Nell is obviously leaning against Luke by now. Nell glances over at her with a look that says, Pretty neat, right? Theo gives her one of her, You think you’re so clever looks.
Nell, “Ooh, ooh, watch this carefully.”
The Seven-Ups shows the crooks’ car sliding into an intersection on Riverside Drive.
Nell yells, “Don’t open that door!”
A second later a stuntman opens the door of a parked car; the crooks’ car speeds forward and rips the door off its hinges.
Roland, “Yeah, you timed that perfectly!”
Nell, “See? I told you I’ve seen it before.”
Now a regular police car joins the chase on Riverside Drive.
Luke, “It took forever for some other cops to show up.”
Roland, “This was long before Guiliani time, that’s for sure.”
Nell, “Hey Roy, you need a bigger police car.” She looks over and gestures at Theo like a stand-up comedian after a big laugh line. Theo didn’t get the reference and just looks blank.
The Seven-Ups now shows the three cars rushing over a viaduct.
Nell, “See how the police car almost lost control? I bet they didn’t plan on filming it that way.”
Roland, “Yeah, those old Plymouths handled like shopping carts.”
Luke, “So where is this now?”
Nell, “That’s the bridge that takes Riverside over 125th Street.”
Theo grabs the remote and stops the tape.
Nell, “Hey, what are you doing?”
Theo, “Nell, I see you have an encyclopedic knowledge of New York geography, but must you tell us every goddamn street in this inane movie?”
Nell, “How could it be inane? You’ve got Roy Scheider and Tony Lo Bianco in the same film.”
Theo, “I don’t care if Sir Laurence Olivier is in it, it’s still a piece of schlock.”
Nell pokes her in the side. “What’s the matter, you feeling a little crampy tonight?”
Theo, “You have an incredible amount of gall, you know that?”
Nell, “Well, you’re the DiMaggio of gall, you make it look easy.”
Theo may or may not get the reference, but she knows she has been verbally outflanked. When that happens, she sometimes gets up and leaves in a huff, as she does now.
Nell looks over the back of the sofa at her as she walks away. “Oh man, there she goes again.”
Roland takes the vacated spot on the couch. “Maybe you should go a bit easier on her.”
Nell, “Why? I haven’t done anything wrong.”
They resume watching the tape, but now Nell is silent.
Luke, “Is this still on Riverside Drive?”
Nell stops the tape and sulks.
Luke, “Is something wrong?”
Nell, “I’m not sure anybody is really interested in my comments.”
Roland, “Oh, who’s being too sensitive now?
Luke and Roland exchange glances.
Roland, “Look, we appreciate what you have to say, isn’t that right?”
Luke, “That’s right, we want to hear you.”
Nell, “Okay, I just wanted to be sure.”
She resumes the movie.
Nell, “OK, this is still on Riverside. Now watch this.”
The crooks’ car hits the police car from the side and knocks it into an oncoming vehicle.
Roland, “Not the finest moment for New York’s Finest, I’d say.”
Luke, “So now Scheider has to capture them all by himself?”
Nell, “There’s a lot more to come, I’m not going to give it away. Just watch and you’ll see.”
[Nell presents a second tape too, the 1979 movie The Warriors. She invites David to watch this, but after seeing the opening credits and part of the first scene, he knew this was definitely not something he was interested in, and he excused himself.]
"Guiliani time" refers to "law and order" Mayor Rudolf "Rudy" Guiliani, who was in office at the time.
***************
The next morning the four “subjects” are watching TV again. Nell found the unplugged connection to the satellite dish and, being Nell, she put it back without asking permission.
Nell and Theo are sitting next to each other. [I've noticed that their body language reveals a lot. There may be tension between them, but they always place themselves close to each other.] Roland and Luke are to their right.
[In the 1999 film, Nell has an AMC Gremlin and Theo has a red Alfa-Romeo convertible. They will refer to their cars in this scene.]
There is a soap opera playing on the TV.
Nell addresses the other people, “Is anybody really watching this?”
Luke, “I think Jerry Springer is on if you want to see that.”
Nell clicks the remote to the correct channel. On the screen two women in black dresses are brawling with each other as Springer’s “security” people try to separate them.
Theo, “This is so totally bogus; it’s all scripted.”
Roland, “Yeah, he basically has the same gimmick every day.”
Nell, “All right, I’ll try to find something better.”
At this moment David Marrow comes in. By now he’s realized that Nell acts as the ringleader for the other three.
David, “You’re watching regular programming now?”
Nell, “The cable from the dish was disconnected, so I put it back.”
David turns off the set. “I know, I had Dudley disconnect it. Look, I allowed the videotapes last night, but this is not acceptable. Remember what I said at the beginning, no TV?”
Nell, “Come on David, there’s nothing to do in this horrible place. It’s like sitting in a psych ward all day.”
Theo, “Oh, is that something you’re familiar with?”
Nell gives her a dirty look, but David speaks first.
David, “Well, this isn’t supposed to be a vacation, you know.”
Nell, “And the pathetic food that Mrs. Dudley comes up with. . . ”
Theo is in full agreement on this, “Right, either she boils everything into mush or she burns it.”
Roland, “Yeah, that’s some nasty cooking from that lady.”
Nell, “I wonder where she learned to cook? Probably at Rikers Island.”
Theo, “I doubt that; there would have been riots in the dining halls.”
[Rikers Island is the main jail complex for New York City.]
Nell, “Couldn’t we at least order some pizza once in a while?”
David, “Who’s going to drive up here with that?”
Nell, “Promise the guy a big tip, like 50% of the tab.”
David, “It already appears that you’re pretty well fed.” He gestures at the clutter of bottles and snacks on the coffee tables and even the sofas. “You’ve got an entire buffet set up here. I hope you’re not staining the furniture.”
Nell, “Don’t worry, we’ll clean up.”
Theo looks at the cracker box she has been noshing from and seems to be talking to herself, “Why are we eating all this junk?”
Nell, “That’s because we don’t have enough to do.” She reaches down to an ice bucket and pulls out a can. “So, David, would you like a beer?”
David, “It’s eleven o’clock in the morning!”
Nell, “So who cares?” She looks at the can. “This stuff is awful. Is this all we’re going to get, Old Milwaukee?”
David, “I’m not the food and beverage director around here. Dudley buys everything.”
Nell, “Yeah, and you’re not the Berkshires version of a tummler either.”
David, “A what?”
Theo, “She means entertainment director.”
[Theo has picked up some Yiddish words since moving to New York.]
David pulls a footstool over and sits down, “Maybe I should remind all of you that I’m paying you to be here, right?”
Nell, “Ah, the cash nexus raises its ugly head.”
David, “Please don’t resort to Marxist theory. You’re getting $900 per week; no heavy lifting, you don’t have to deal with the public, you don’t even have to commute. You’re happy with the pay, aren’t you?”
Nell, “Actually, I was going to ask you, do you think you have any more projects coming up where you might need me?”
David, “That depends on the pace of my research, and also how well this project goes. And the amount of grant money has to be considered too.”
Nell, “So how do you expect to do with these grants?”
David gets a bit pompous here, “You know, the science comes first; I never let mere money get in the way of that.”
She senses that he’s fibbing about this; money obviously has an impact on what he can do, and his airy dismissal of it irritates her.
Nell, “Well, David, I know you’re doing psychology, but from my point of view you’re in a business - the railroad business, and the main product you’re delivering is gravy.”
Roland and Luke laugh at this, but all David says is, “Excuse me?” He probably didn’t catch her meaning because of the backwards way she phrased it.
She teases him a bit more; she sings a few lines from Donna Summer’s “Bad Girls.”
Nell, “I’ve got a song for you . .”
She gestures back and forth between them as she sings,
“Hey mister, you got a dime?
Hey mister, you got the time?
I know what you want,
You got what I need,
I’ll be your baby,
if you spend it on me.
Hey mister, spend some time with me.”
Nell (to David), “Why are you giving me that look?”
Roland, “Any man would give you a look with what you’re doing.”
Nell, “No, that’s not it - David, you poor guy, you don’t have the slightest idea of what I’m talking about.”
David, “Well, of course I do.”
Nell, “Really? I don’t think so. You can’t figure out the lyrics of this moldy disco chestnut.”
Theo, “Don’t listen to her - she’s got an obsession when it comes to these ridiculous songs.”
Nell ignores her and presses David on her point, “Go ahead, tell me what the song’s about, then.”
David, “It does sound familiar, maybe if I heard it again. . .”
Nell, “Luke, tell him what it means.”
Luke, “It’s about hookers.”
Nell, “Ri-i-i-ght.”
Theo, “You think you’re so clever.”
Nell looks at her, and Theo knows the gist of what’s coming.
Theo, “Oh, please, spare us.”
Nell sings an earlier verse of the song to Theo. She does the voice of Summer, and also the voices of the back-up singers who repeat the end of each line.
“Now you and me, we’re both the same, both the same,
Although you call yourself by a different name, different name,
Your mother won’t like it when she finds out, finds out,
Girl is out at night. . .
Bad girl, sad girl, you’re such a dirty bad girl, beep-beep, ah-hah.”
Theo, “Thanks for sharing another bravura performance with us.”
Nell, “I always wanted to be a disco diva. You know, I’m really thinking about that pizza now. Ride with me into town and we’ll pick up some.”
Theo, “That’s an twelve-mile round trip!”
Nell, “You’re not doing anything.”
David, “Nell, you’re not supposed to leave the house.”
Nell, “David, don’t been such a nudnik.”
David, “A what?”
Nell, “A nag.” She turns toward Theo. “Let me drive your Alfa, okay?”
Theo, “Absolutely not.”
David, “Are you hearing me?”
Nell (still talking to Theo), “I know how to use a stick-shift.”
Theo, “I said no.”
David, “Nell . . .”
Nell, “Ok, you drive then.”
Theo, “I don’t want to drive. Besides, there’s no room in my car for a bunch of pizza boxes.”
David, “NELL. . .”
Nell, “Shush, I can’t think like this. Damn, that means we’ll have to take the Gremlin.”
David, “You’re not taking anything.”
Nell, “Well, we’re not walking there.”
David, “I mean, you’re not going, period.”
Nell, “David, let’s get real here. . . “
David, “I am getting real, I mean serious here. I’ll withhold some of your pay if you leave.”
Nell, “Oh, chill out already.” She looks over at Luke and Roland. “Let’s vote on it. What kind of toppings do you guys want?”
Luke, “I’ll take pepperoni, or sausage if you have to get that.”
Roland, “Mushrooms and onions sounds good.”
Nell, “See? It’s four to one in favor. So what do you want on yours?”
David, “Nell, this is not a democracy, it’s a job.”
Nell, “We’re not in some Shanghai garment factory.”
David, “Sorry, you'll forfeit some pay if you go. You too, Theo.”
Theo, “I can’t believe you’d do that. How much will we lose?”
David, “I don’t know, let’s say $300.”
Theo, “My God, that’s like one-third of the entire week.” [They’re getting $900 per week for three weeks.]
Nell (to David), “You’re being a total d--kwad.”
David, “No, I’d say I’m being a boss.”
Nell leans back against the cushions, “Great, so it’s boiled potatoes tonight, and boiled cabbage, and deep-fried mystery meat . . .”
[Mrs. Dudley has been serving pretty much the same thing every night.]
They all sit there sulking for a moment. Then Nell sings again, more softly than before.
“She already knows
She’s seen her bad times,
She already knows,
These are the good times.”
David, “Now I remember - you’ve been doing Donna Summer.”
That breaks the tension. Roland and Luke start laughing.
Nell, “Yeah, David, you finally got it!”
She tries to high-five him, but he doesn’t raise a hand. She swings through the air and slaps him on the lower part of his arm.
**************
I found an episode of Jerry Springer on YouTube from the spring of 1999 (“Brawling Babes”), and that is what they were watching for a few moments.
GunHillTrain:
Hi again! I read it three times, to make sure I understood it thoroughly. I thought it was interesting when David realizes that Nell is the 'ringleader' of the group. In the movie, she was rather passive, although she did know her own mind. They kind of remind me of naughty schoolchildren, and David is their teacher! It's cute and funny. If I was David, I WOULD deduct some of their pay, as they are being rather rebellious. I notice that there seems to be rather a lot of spilling of food and drink on the floor and furniture - I take it your Nell does not love the house nearly as much as Nell did in the movie?
I'm honorerd that I'm the first person to read the prequel sequences (which ones are those?).
*******
You read a post on Winona's board about her possibly having an affair with Mel Gibson....yes we all heard about that. Trust me it is very unlikely, as Mel made some anti-semitic comments at an event which Winona (who is half Jewish) happened to overhear. Apparently he called Jewish people 'oven dodgers'. I don't think she is very keen on him. He seems to be very irresponsible.
I think I would enjoy being young and famous, but I'm not sure I would like it to last too long. You know, have fun and get lots of attention, but then become more serious and private as I got older.
I hope you've been well, btw. Do u write every day? Do u have a special routine? I have coffee and read books in the morning, and I have wine and write my Astrology Readings in the evening.
:-D
http://www.wix.com/butterflyinabottle/bernadettebutterfly
The prequel sequences are the ones about Eleanor's life before Hill House; I only have those three you read, involving her boyfriend Jimmy and his effect on her sister. Thanks for reading those; it's great to get feedback.
I don't attempt to write every day; I only write when the inspiration strikes me. The only other script I've made any headway on (and not much at that) is loosely based on a 1995 movie called Four Rooms. (I don't know if you've heard of that one.)
By the way, I was curious about that John Cusack romantic story "competition." I assume that must have been based on his movie roles. Was one of those Say Anything or High Fidelity?
*******
I think the reason for Nell's teasing the Professor - like the issue with the snacks all over the parlor - is that she has has one foot in adulthood and one perhaps still in adolescence. She's probably aware that she is going through a overdue coming of age experience at the house. She may not have an opinion about liking or disliking the house itself; she's more concerned about what is going on with the other people there.
If you can get a copy of the novel, I would recommend it; it's a quick read. The tension that builds up between Nell and Theo is very well described. The reasons I have for it here are quite similar to the novel: 1. Which one is going to be the center of attention, and in effect have control over what happens, and 2. What is the nature of their relationship (friendship or something more) and whether that relationship has any sort of future.
This is an example of interaction between them during the first week:
Nell is sitting on a couch in the parlor, holding what looks like a toy stuffed snake, but it’s really a “breeze blocker,” one of those things people put along the bottoms of doors to keep drafts out.
Luke is sitting in a chair near her, and Roland is a little further away. The usual array of snacks is on a coffee table, including some fruit. Theo has just walked in, and she’s standing there trying to decide whether to stay here or go to her room.
Nell picks up a bowl of grapes and hands it to Luke. “I’ve got an idea. I’ll be Cleopatra and you’ll be Mark Antony. All you have to do is feed me grapes by hand.”
She lies down on the sofa with her head on the end cushion. She looks over at Roland, “Hey, I’ve got a job for you too.”
Roland, “Oh, no, I already know what this is going to be.”
Nell, “Really? Are you sure?”
Roland, “Yeah, pretty sure.”
He gets up and walks over with his newspaper. Then he starts making fanning motions over her with it.
Nell, “Very good. Except, a little slower; I’m trying to enjoy this languid Egyptian air.”
He looks skeptical for a moment; then laughs at the silliness of it.
Theo, “So what am I supposed to be?”
Nell glances at the other two. “Can you believe how she just hands me these setups? Ok, you’re the humble servant girl from, let’s say, Macedonia. You do know where that is?”
Theo, “Well, sort of.”
Nell, “Good enough. Antony, feed me.”
Luke starts plopping grapes into her mouth. Nell speaks in the ornate language of some Hollywood swords and sandals epic. “Now I really feel like Cleopatra, Queen of the Nile, the Passaic, and the Hackensack. The silty waters of these three great rivers courses through my veins.”
[The latter two are in New Jersey of course.]
Theo, “What the hell are you talking about?”
Nell, “Servants are not to speak unless spoken to.”
Theo mutters something under her breath.
Nell, “What was that? Never mind, your time will come. Meanwhile, as the Bard said:
‘Age cannot wither, nor custom stale,
Her infinite variety: other women cloy
The appetites they feed: but she makes hungry
Where most she satisfies; for vilest things
Become themselves in her: that the holy priests
Bless her when she is riggish.’ ”
Theo, “What does ‘riggish’ mean?”
Nell, “Take a guess.”
Theo thinks for a moment, “Okay, I’ve got it now.”
Luke, “Ah, I don’t.”
Nell shakes her head, “She’s really hot, ok?”
Luke, “So Shakespeare was saying, I guess . . .”
Nell, “He’s pretty clear about it, ‘She makes hungry where she most satisfies’ - hm, I’m getting hot just thinking about that.”
Theo, “That’s how you see yourself?”
Nell, “It’s something to aspire to, at least.”
Theo, “So what’s with the snake?”
Nell, “This isn’t just any snake, it’s my asp.” She holds out the stuffed serpent, “Would you like to kiss it?”
Theo isn’t about to fall for that prank, “Sorry, dear, I think I’ll pass on that one.”
Nell takes the bowl from Luke. “Antony here must soon return to Rome. Another conquest to be done, I’m afraid. Then we will be alone, except for. . .” She gestures towards Roland.
Roland, “Hey, I don’t want any part of this.”
Nell is looking directly at Theo, “It’s true, the queen has succumbed to decadence. She indulges in unrestrained debauchery with her servants.”
Roland stops his fanning, “Oh, man. . .”
Theo is irked when Nell makes these explicit references to her when any of the men are also present. She says, “You know, under your delusions, you’re just this weird little geeky chick from New Jersey.”
Nell feels a spark of anger; she hands the bowl back to Luke. “Antony, dear, hold this for me. She’s taken her wits out for battle.”
Nell sits up on the sofa. “I remember when we first got here, you referred to me as [she mimics Theo’s voice] ‘everybody calls you Nell.’ Well, you’re Theodora, but everybody calls you Birthday Cake.”
Theo, “Birthday Cake?”
Nell, “Yeah, when you walk down the street, guys say, ‘Everybody’s getting a piece.’ ”
Roland, “Oh, that was cold.” He’s impressed by how Nell dissed her.
Luke, “Maybe you went too far.”
Theo remains outwardly calm. “No, I think she went just far enough.” She sits down on the sofa. Nell shrinks back; she also knows she went too far.
Theo, “You do have the cutest little asp - may I see it?” Nell hands her the stuffed toy.
She sits for a moment and looks at it. Then she quickly raises it and whacks it across the side of Nell’s head.
Nell, “Hey, that hurts!”
Theo raises it to strike again, but Luke moves to stop her. Nell bounces off the couch and out of range. She taunts Theo by singing, “ ‘Egypt was troubled by the horrible asp, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. . .’
Theo flings the snake onto the top of a bookcase.
Nell, “How am I supposed to get it down from there?”
Theo, “Well, that is one asp that isn’t going to be troubling anybody.”
Theo walks out into the hall. David is standing there, staring at a wall.
David, “Take a look at this.”
The wall is light painted plaster; there is writing scrawled across it in a large, loopy script.
Theo, “That’s so weird - I can’t make out what it says, except for the top line; that’s kind of funny; ‘Hi Eleanor,’ with an exclamation point.”
David, “Seems rather breezy, doesn’t it?. The rest of it is part of a poem, I guess.” He steps back a few feet so that he can take it all in, “It seems to say, ‘There were ghosts in the eyes of all the boys you sent away; they haunt this dusty beach road in the skeleton frames of burned out Chevrolets.’ ”
Theo, "That sounds awfully familiar; where have I heard that before?"
Nell, Luke and Roland enter the hallway, curious about where Theo went after she left the parlor.
David says to Nell, “Look at this, it’s addressed to you.”
Nell stands back and reads it and is then able to recite what the next lines would be, “ ‘They scream your name at night in the street, your graduation gown lies in rags at their feet. And in the lonely cool before dawn . . .’”
David, “So you know this poem then.”
Nell, “It’s not a poem, it’s a song.”
David, “What song has lyrics like that?”
Nell speaks to Luke, “Go ahead, tell him.”
Luke, “It’s ‘Thunder Road.’”
Nell, “See? Even a guy from Long Island knows that.”
David, “Where exactly is Thunder Road?”
Nell, “David, it’s metaphorical.”
David, “Ok, I get it now.”
Nell, “Sorry, but sometimes you can be a bit thick about these things. If you really want to know, I think it’s set in the Pinelands of New Jersey.”
[David has a blind spot about most popular music.]
David, “So you two are the only ones who know the lyrics.”
Roland makes a gesture of raising his hand, “I know them too. But wait a minute, I didn’t write that.”
David, “I didn’t suggest that you did.”
Nell (indicating herself and Luke), “And we didn’t write it either.”
David, “Fine, don’t worry about it, I believe you.” He walks up to wall and rubs his fingers on it, “It’s chalk. That’s good; the Dudleys won’t ask us to pay for repainting.” Then he takes out a pen and a small notebook and he starts writing in it. As he does that, he says, “I was thinking, could you all supply handwriting samples for me?”
He’s surprised that they seem amused by his request. Nell says, “What are you, a detective now?”
David is rather flustered, “No, I just . . . I’m going to write a paper about this eventually, you know that.”
Nell pats him on the shoulder and addresses the others, “He’s so thorough, isn’t he?”
David, “Nell, if you could do me a really big favor – could you give me the full set of lyrics? I’m assuming they must be meaningful to you in some way.”
Nell, “If you think that’s important, of course I can do that. Too bad I don’t have the CD with me; we could listen to the entire album.”
**********
I have the writings on the walls show up several times. The idea for chalk instead of paint came from the '63 movie.
GunHillTrain:
Hi!!! It's me again. I hope you had a great weekend! I went shopping and bought a dress, and later came home and cooked a beautiful fish pie......
I'm glad you like my feedback. I wish I had more experience to help you, but I guess I do have some. So that's not too bad! You asked me:
'By the way, I was curious about that John Cusack romantic story "competition." I assume that must have been based on his movie roles. Was one of those Say Anything or High Fidelity?'
Well, about three years ago, I used to frequent John's board. One time, one of the girls posted a thread especially for the purpose of creating a competition to describe what our personal 'Dream Date' with John would be like. Entrants had to post their entries on the thread, itself, so everyone would be able to read them. There were no rules, and in fact, some entries were much longer than others, some were verrrrry abstract, and some were mere poems. I wrote a Gothic Romance, myself, including only a subtle indication of it being an actual date. I also based my story on the fact that John Cusack is a HORSE in Chinese Astrology!
I got laughed at for mine! One sarcastic person posted, 'I take it you write Harlequin novels, Bernadette?'
But in the end, we decided that everyone was a winner. It was lots of fun. It would be cool to do it again someday. I can post the story again on that board if you want to read it.
******
I'm getting quite excited now that letters have begun to appear in chalk over the walls of the house in your script. I liked that it was a poem, rather than a strange message. It is more intellectual, I think. I'm wondering whether Nell is a bit barmy at this point. I mean, playing with the draught excluder, and pretending it's a snake..... she's very silly. As you say, she does seem to be experiencing an adolescent cricis in her life! But I will say, if I was there in that house, I would like her to be there with me. She lightens things. It's so odd, because in the movie, it is Luke and Theo who provide the lightness which detract from Nell's dark wallowings.
I can't wait to read more.
:-D
http://www.wix.com/butterflyinabottle/bernadettebutterfly
Hi Bernadette:
My weekend was pretty quiet. I’m going to see my “kids” (funny I still use that term for them) next weekend as a somewhat late 4th of July holiday.
Yes, feedback helps, even if it doesn’t seem like you’re offering advice. It’s as if certain almost subconscious ideas come up through the process. For example, Eleanor’s dual-personality (the immature part that she’s leaving and the mature one that’s she’s developing) seems clearer now that you’ve commented on her.
I didn’t realize that the story competition was about the real John Cusack. He’s seems rather private about his personal life, so I don’t know much about him. In any case, don’t feel bad about being compared to a Harlequin Romance. A lot of what I’ve been writing has elements of romance in it, something I never thought I’d be involved in. (Although I don’t think I’d fit Harlequin standards, whatever those are.)
So if you’re thinking of starting the Cusack thread again, I’d expect you’d get some responses from people who don’t remember the one from three years ago. By the way, how do you define Gothic Romance?
************
Professor Marrow thought the wall writing was part of a poem, but three of the other people recognized it as song lyrics. “Thunder Road” is in fact a Bruce Springsteen song. The full version with lyrics is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PBSb5-v0uM
I think Nell did “create” the writing in some way; Marrow later comes up with a theory of “unconscious telekinesis.” Nell identifies with the narrator of the song, who in the full lyrics is making a romantic proposal. Of course, for Nell, both Theo and Luke are the targets for this song, although Luke is the first one to get it since he is the one who knows the complete lyrics.
Nell may be a bit manic at times, but I wouldn’t call her barmy. A lot of the things she says and does are tongue-in-cheek; she knows they’re silly. There’s some romantic tension going on with the Cleopatra sequence too. Luke is smitten enough with her that he’ll do things like feed her grapes by hand, just because she asked. Theo is irked because, among other things, she’d like to be the center of attention like that but Nell is stealing the limelight.
**********
I have a couple of short scenes here. The first one has never been read by anybody but you because I just finished it. It's the Hall of Mirrors sequence, on the first day, which was only in the '99 movie. I thought about not attempting this one, but I changed my mind. It's certainly an example of Eleanor's affinity for music.
Eleanor and Nell approach a set of large double doors in a hallway on the first floor.
Theo, “Should we go in?”
Nell, “No one said we couldn’t.”
Theo pushed the doors open. A set of rusty machinery, outside the doors, starts clanking into motion.
Nell is momentarily distracted by the machines, “Dudley should put a little 3-in-1 oil on that. A lot of 3-in-1 oil, in fact.”
The inside of the room lights up, and an elaborate stage set consisting of a moving platform and mirrored walls starts operating. There is music playing too, which sounds like something from a carousel, and the sound fills the large room.
The two of them enter the doorway to get a better look. Theo is the first to step onto the platform.
Theo, “Oh my God, this is incredible.”
As she comes around, she notices that Nell is still standing there. She steps off onto the floor.
Theo, “Is there something wrong?”
Nell gestures towards the ceiling, “It’s this music, it’s just so lame.”
She looks over at the wall, and finds a switch. She pushes it down, and the music is cut off, although the platform keeps moving.
Theo, “How did you know that would do it?”
Nell, “It says so, right here: ‘Music: On/Off.’ ”
There is a small box on the wall connected to the switch. She opens the panel, takes out a tape, and tosses it on the floor.
Theo, “Great, now we don’t have any music.”
Nell, “Oh, we have music.” She taps her boom box, which has a sling so she can hang it off her shoulder.
She also has a shoulder bag, which she opens and shows to Theo, “Here, pick something you like.”
Theo looks at several CD cases, and takes one out of the bag.
Nell, “Interesting choice. Now pick a song, one where you know all the lyrics.”
Theo, “Why is that?”
Nell, “Because we’re going to sing it.”
Theo, “Sing it, you mean right here?” She gestures towards the center of the room.
Nell, “Yes, right here. And we’re going to dance too. Can you dance at all?”
Theo, “Oh yeah, pretty well in fact. How about you?”
Nell, “I don’t trip over my own feet - well, barely. So, are you game for this?”
Theo, “Ok, sure, let’s try it.”
Nell touches the CD case, “And the song?”
Theo looks through the play list and points to one.
Nell, “That’ll work.”
She puts the player on the solid part of the floor and puts the CD into it.
Theo, “What kind of dancing are we going to do?”
Nell, “I don’t know, we’ll improvise it. We both know the song, so that will help.”
Nell turns the machine on and steps onto the platform. As the instrumental part plays, she warms up by swinging her body around. As she whips her head back and forth, her hair flies in front of her face.
For a moment, Theo just stares at her. Then Nell raises her arms and invites her onto the platform.
For the first few moments, their dancing is rather awkwardly. They hold hands and try to swing each around, which is difficult to do on the moving platform.
The get their singing coordinated much quicker:
“Suicide blonde, suicide blonde,
Suicide blonde was the color of her hair.
Like a cheap distraction for a new affair.
She knew it would finish before it began,
Something tells me, you lost the plan.”
For the chorus, they let go of their hands and dance separately, which is easier to do.
“You want to make her, suicide blonde,
Love devastation, suicide blonde.”
As the chorus repeats, Nell breaks in, “How’s my dancing?”
Theo, “You’re terrible.”
Nell, “At least you’re honest.”
Theo, “Let’s get off this; I’m getting dizzy.”
They move out into the hallway, with Nell shifting her boom box. On a solid floor, their dancing seems better. They sing the next stanza together:
”She stripped to the beat, but her clothes stayed on,
White light everywhere, but you can’t see a thing.
Such a squeeze, such a mad, sad moment,
Glory to you, glory to you, take me there.”
During this stanza, they notice that Luke Sanderson has come into the hall. He’s standing there, gaping at this spectacle. The two women wave at him to acknowledge his presence.
As an instrumental part begins, Nell and Theo try to dance in parallel, facing him. He gets the impression of two go-go girls moving in unison. He leans against a door jamb, folds his arms, and smiles as he watches the show.
When the lyrics start up again, Nell grabs her tape machine and she and Theo start singing again. But they raise there arms, move towards Luke, and sing the lyrics to him. He’s caught by surprise, and he starts backing up as they move in around him
“Got some revelation, put into your hands,
Save you from your misery, like rain across the land,
Don’t you see the color of deception,
Turning your world, around again.”
Nell turns the machine off; by this point Luke has retreated several yards. Both of the women are somewhat out of breath from the dancing.
Theo, “Why are you backing off?”
Nell, “Yeah, we’re not going to bite.”
Luke, “I did?” He looks around, “I didn’t even notice. So which one of you is the Suicide Blonde?”
Nell, “Both of us, ok?” He laughs at that.
Nell, “You must be employee number three. I’m Eleanor Vance, and this is. . .”
Theo, “Theodora, just Theodora, or Theo is fine.”
Luke, “Pleased to meet you, I’m Luke Sanderson.”
Nell, “Do people call you Skywalker?”
Luke, “Oh yeah, I get that all the time.”
Nell, “Well, you may get it here too.”
Luke, “Do I have a choice?”
Nell, “Probably not.”
Theo tries to get a word in edgewise, “Did you just come up from New York?”
Luke, “Long Island, actually.”
Nell, “Really, what town?”
Luke, “You’ve heard of Massapequa?”
Nell, “Massapequa, I love that name. Did you know that in the original Indian language it means, ‘place by the sandy beach?’ ”
Luke, “Wow, I’ve never heard that one before.”
Nell, “You’ve never heard it because I just made it up.”
He laughs at that. Theo thinks Nell is starting to dominate the conversation, so she comes up with an idea.
She says to him, “Say, there are some amazing design details we’ve seen in here, like this hall of mirrors back there. I’ll give you a quick tour, if you like.”
Nell steps in front of her, “Don’t worry about it, you’ve just had a long drive, I’ll show him around.”
Theo tries to step around her, “No, really, I’m fine, I’ll handle it.”
For a moment they nudge each other trying to get into position.
Luke, “Wait a minute, why don’t you both give me a tour?”
Theo, “I’ve got a better idea; why don’t you pick one of us?”
[She assumes her good looks are enough to carry the issue.]
He thinks for a moment, then he raises a finger and moves it around. They can read his lips as he says, “Eeny-meeny-miney-moe” to himself.
In a couple of moment he lands at Theo.
Luke, “Ok, so it’s you - ah, Theo?”
Theo, “Great, let’s go.”
She smiles at Nell, who scowls back at her. Nell shakes her head as she watches them go.
Then she decides to make the make the best of the situation. She switches the player on again and sings along again. The chorus of the song is repeating now again. She doesn’t dance now, but she moves her arms as if she were on stage.
As she sings, David Marrow and Roland Sykes walk in. (They drove up in David’s car.) They stop abruptly and stare at her.
She looks sheephish as she switches off the player. She knows David, of course; they’ve met several times in New York. She guesses that Roland must be Employee No. 4.
Roland smiles at her and recites a later lyric from the song, “ ‘Everything you want to be, and everything you are.’ ”
Nell, “Right, that’s it, you do know this song!”
********
In the ‘99 movie (and here too) David arrives so soon after Luke that I guess they may have met up somewhere along the way (in Hillsdale?). David may have gotten hung up talking to Dudley for a few moments.
This scene is about five days later. I didn't post Nell's longest conversation with Luke (on the first day). This is a shorter one. Her relationship with him is obviously pretty mellow, especially compared to the drama going on with Theo at the same time.
The two of them are poking around the Hill House library. Nell finds an original edition of The Day of the Locust on a shelf. At this point they’re sitting near the bookcase where it had been filed.
Nell, “This is a real rarity, there were only about 1,500 of these sold. Have you read this?”
Luke, “No, I think I saw a movie version of it once on TV; didn’t it have Donald Sutherland?”
Nell, “That’s right, but there are some things you can only get by reading the book. You know, there’s somebody in here that reminds me of Theo - it’s the actress, Faye Greener.”
Luke, “She was played by Karen Black, right?”
Nell, “Yeah, but in the novel she’s only seventeen years old.”
Luke, “That does make a difference.”
Nell, “I’ll say. Anyway, let me find the part I was thinking of.” She flips through the pages. “Ok, here’s the setup. This guy, Tod Hackett, he’s a set designer and he has a bad infatuation on Faye; she’s trying to be an actress but she also imagines herself to be quite a little hottie.”
Luke, “But Theo is older than she is.”
Nell, “Well, let me get to this, you’ll see. So Tod has a publicity photo of her, she’s been an extra in some sandal epic, and she’s wearing a harem outfit.”
Luke, “You can never go wrong with a harem outfit.”
Nell laughs at this, “Oh, you guys are so predictable - anyway, this is how she’s described, ‘She was a tall girl with wide, straight shoulders and long, swordlike legs. Her neck was long too. . Her face was much fuller than the rest of her body would lead you to expect and much larger.’ Doesn’t that sound like our artistic colleague?”
Luke, “Well a bit, that’s true.” He’s wondering what this is leading to.
Nell, “This is the part that really gets me. She’s lying on a couch, and Tod looks at the picture and thinks, ‘She was supposed to look inviting, but her invitation wasn’t to pleasure.’ ”
Luke, “Doesn’t he think she’s hot, too?”
Nell, “Yes, but listen to this. He goes on, ‘Her invitation wasn’t to pleasure, but to struggle, hard and sharp, closer to murder than to love. If you threw yourself on her, it would be like throwing yourself from the parapet of a skyscraper. You would do it with a scream. . . Your teeth would be driven into your skull like nails into a pine board and your back would be broken. You wouldn’t even have time to sweat or close your eyes.’ ”
Luke, “Wow, that’s one high-maintenance chick.”
Nell is caught by surprise and laughs. Luke laughs too, but he’s also a bit confused. He says, “So what kind of maintenance are you?”
Nell, “I’d expect you’d spend time with me and talk to me. If you think that’s high maintenance, then, well . . .”
Luke, “Oh no, of course not.” But he feels he’s being pulled along faster than he wants to go. Nell changes her tack a bit.
Nell, “I know that Theo has noticed you.”
Luke, “Ok, that’s true, so. . .?”
Nell, “Well, if you went with her, you’d be batting third in her line-up.”
Luke, “I see, so she already has a couple of guys then.”
Nell, “Actually, one of them isn’t a guy.”
Luke is a bit surprised. “Hah, well, that’s interesting.” He’s finding this conversation a bit awkward. Nell can see this, but she makes her point.
Nell, “I, on the other hand, am unattached, I’m completely free and clear.” She raises her arms with her hands facing up, a "That’s the way it is” gesture.
Luke nods, but he doesn’t have a response. Nell gives him some breathing room.
Nell, “Relax a bit, it’s almost lunchtime. I’ll keep the book around, maybe you’d like to read it?”
Luke, “What if I don’t finish it?”
Nell, “It’s pretty short, and we’ve got tons of time up here. And if you have to take it with you, no one’s going to miss it. Just mail it back to Dudley when you’re done.”
[It struck me that Nell identifies herself with Tod Hackett, the main male character in The Day of the Locust. Tod is looking for some way to approach Faye, which he never succeeds in doing. Likewise, Nell is fumbling around, trying to approach Theo.]
Hello, it's me, I'm back!!!
:-D
I took a while to read this, as I found the dialogue so interesting, and I wanted to look up all of the music and other references etc. You know, just to make sure I understand everything that is being said.
I love the hall of mirrors scene, because Nell changed the carousel music for her own funky tape! That would be so cool, because you could have a little private disco in there. (I thought they were all going to for a moment). You're so clever, the way you insert little changes to the movie. For example, Nell simply finds the music switch. In the movie, you would never think of doing that.
'She was a tall girl with wide, straight shoulders and long, swordlike legs. Her neck was long too. . Her face was much fuller than the rest of her body would lead you to expect and much larger.’
I find this quote so funny. I know it's not your own words. But I've never seen a woman with 'long, swordlike legs' before in my life!! Her feet must be very pointy!! Ha ha :-D
When Luke recommends 'The Day of the Locust' to Nell, and suggests she takes the copy away with her, and mails it back when she's finished, I thought.....NO!!! Haunted House Golden Rule Number ONE: NEVER REMOVE ANY ITEM FROM THE HOUSE.
In fact, there was an item removed from the house in the 1999 movie. Do you think you know what it was? I won't tell you, so you can check it out for yourself. But it is very bad luck to remove an item from a haunted house. The house gets angry, you know.
I hope you are well, anyway. Yes, I think my John Cusack story is Gothic Romance. But it also has elements of horror and comedy in it. So goodness knows what classification that would be?!
Love Bernadette
http://www.wix.com/butterflyinabottle/bernadettebutterfly
Hi Bernadette:
Yes, I'm doing well. I took my "kids" to the beach (the Jersey Shore) last weekend and I got the traditional Independence Day / early July sunburn.
I didn't know there were rules about haunted houses. I'm guessing that the item removed from Hill House had to be taken by Mary and Todd, because they were the only ones to leave (right after the incident with the harp). Am I right?
(So what happens when Mr. Dudley changes the light bulbs? Does he have to store the old ones in the basement forever?)
Regarding the swordlike legs: I imagine those to be like dancer's legs. If you realize that this is supposed to be about Theo too, and if you imagine Catherine Zeta-Jones playing the part - then all you have to do is think of the dance moves Zeta-Jones makes in, say, Chicago. So the sword reference does seem pretty apt.
By the way, Nell recommended to book to Luke, not the other way around. It reminds me of the scene in the backyard at Fair Lawn with her previous boyfriend Jimmy - she got him interested in the poetry she likes. Also, she's reading another Nathanael West novel, Miss Lonelyhearts, when that scene opens.
*******
I figured with how much it must have cost to build that hall of mirrors set, it should be used more extensively. In fact, Eleanor does stage some musical numbers in there later (she recruits Professor Marrow's wife for some of these after she arrives.) Maybe I'll actually try writing one of those scenes if I can decide which song to use.
I assume you have heard of the band INXS (from Australia); Theo picks their CD and then one of the songs:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_%28INXS_album%29
I've read they were one of Princess Diana's favorite bands, which is kind of amusing and touching at the same time.
**********
I guess I should move this story along. It’s mid-afternoon, and everybody is at loose ends. They played cards earlier, and dinner is still several hours away. Theo, Luke, and Roland are sitting in the parlor at this point. (By the way, you are the first person to read this one too.)
Eleanor comes into the room, but she doesn’t go straight to where the others are. Instead, she moves in a circle around the edges.
Nell sings as she makes her circuit, “ ‘I walk in a room, you know I look so proud, I’m moving here, in this atmosphere, well, anything’s allowed.’ ”
Now she changes direction, and moves towards them.
Nell, “ ‘And I go to this here party, and I just get bored, until I look out the window, see a sweet young thing, humping on a parking meter, leaning on the parking meter. . .’ ”
She’s looking at Theo, and Theo is glaring back at her.
Nell, “ ‘Oh, she looks so good, oh she looks so fine, and I got this crazy feeling, and then I’m going to - ah-hah - make her mine, make her mine.’ ”
Now she sits down on the sofa, quite close to Theo.
Nell, “I think I’ll skip ahead a few lines.”
Theo, “What-ever.”
Nell starts singing again, “And her name is, and her name is, tee - aytch - ee -oh-oh-oh-oh, T-H-E-O, Thee- ee -oh, T-H-E-O. Thee-ee-oh. . .”
She stops abruptly and shakes her head.
Nell, “It doesn’t really work with just two syllables.”
Theo, “Well, how many do you need?”
Nell, “It was written for three - the name is actually Gloria: ‘Gloor-ree-ah, G-L-O-R-I-A, Gloor-ree-ah. .’ ”
Theo glances nervously at the two men, who are watching this with some interest. She says, “Where are you getting all this?”
Nell, “That’s the title of the song, ‘Gloria’ - although I was doing the Patti Smith version of it.”
Theo thinks for a moment, “Wait a minute, didn’t somebody else cover it once?”
Nell, “Well, yeah, Van Morrison wrote it originally.”
Theo, “No, it was another woman, I’m sure of that. Now I remember, her name was Laura Branigan.”
Nell, “Hah, an easy mistake to make; that was a completely different song with the same title.”
Theo, “Come on, you must be kidding me.”
Nell appeals to Luke and Roland, “Guys, you can back me up on this, right?”
Roland, “She does know what she’s talking about, it’s another song.”
Nell, “Think about how it goes.” She sings, “ ‘Will you marry for the money, take a lover in the afternoon,’ and then it ends up with, ‘and you really don’t remember, was it something that they said, all the voices in your head, calling Glor-or-ree -ah.’ ”
Theo, “Ok, I concede, I don’t know why I bothered to challenge you on this topic.”
Eleanor leans back on the arm of the couch and seems pleased with herself for a moment, then she looks around the big room and sighs, “Another long day up here.” She looks at her watch, “I shouldn’t have looked, it’s only three-thirty.”
Theo, “I can never really feel relaxed around here, even outside.”
Nell, “That’s because the whole place looks like a resort for zombies - very upscale zombies, mind you.”
Theo, “What exactly are zombies, anyway?”
Roland, “I know this, they came out of beliefs in the Caribbean, like in Haiti, that the dead, or the ‘undead’ you might call them, could be reanimated and controlled by sorcery.”
Nell, “I heard this theory that what they called zombies may really have been people with schizophrenia, or some other mental illness.”
Roland, “I didn’t know about that idea, but yeah, it sounds plausible.”
Nell, “We should ask David about it, he’s the expert on the paranormal.”
Theo, “And where is our beloved leader this afternoon? Off wanking somewhere?”
Nell, “Miss Theo! Such language from you. Although, we’ll give you a pass because you used an Anglicism.”
Theo, “I’m sorry, you’d think he’d give us part of a day off so we could leave here and get a change of scenery. It’s not like we’re actually doing anything of importance.”
Luke, “You know what we could do? We could drive up to Bennington; I think we could be there in about an hour.”
[Bennington is a college town in southern Vermont; the school there has the same name. It also happens to be the town where Shirley Jackson lived much of her life.]
Nell, “You’ve been there?”
Luke, “Well, yeah, I knew this girl who went there - ah, this was about ten years ago.”
Nell, “I didn’t knew you went to Bennington.”
Luke, “I didn’t, I went to Hofstra. What happened is, I met her one day in Washington Square in New York.”
[Hofstra is a college on Long Island.]
Nell, “And what were you doing there?”
Theo, “Must you grill the poor guy? He was there because it was a nice day, ok?”
Nell, “Hey, I’m having this conversation with him.” She gestures towards him, “So?”
Luke, “Actually, I was there trying to buy pot.”
Nell, “I knew it, suburban kids always went there to get drugs.”
Theo, “Wouldn’t you include yourself in that?”
Nell, “No, I had my own supplier, a guy named Jimmy.”
Theo, “You knew a drug dealer?”
Nell, “He wasn’t a dealer, he was a carpenter.”
Theo looks puzzled, so Nell continues, “He also happened to be my boyfriend for a while. Anyway, Luke, I assume things must have gone well with this girl if you went all the way to Vermont for her.”
Luke, “Well, yes, it did go very well.”
Nell, “Did you also score some pot?”
Luke, “No, not that day.”
Nell, “I understand Washington Square was past its prime by then. Although, with Guiliani now, you practically need a permit to breathe there.”
Roland says matter-of-factly, “Unless you’re white.”
The others are a bit taken aback by this. Nell says, “Whoa. . .”
Roland, “All right, I will make a concession, Rudy has a problem with anybody who’s against his plans for a Newer New York.”
Nell, “He probably wants to rename it Rudianapolis.”
[I think I mentioned that Rudy Guiliani was the "law-and-order" mayor at that time.]
Theo, “We’re digressing all over the place. We still haven’t figured out how to get away from here for a day.”
Nell,”We could just go. We’ve got three cars among us, we don’t lack for wheels.”
Theo, “Good, since you seem to have all the ideas, you can tell David we’re taking a jaunt to Vermont tomorrow afternoon.”
Nell, “Ah, I don’t know, I’m having second thoughts. We need some pretext, like the pizza run I proposed.”
Theo, “Since that was shot down, we’ll need something else. Anyway, we don’t have to go all the way to Bennington just for pizza.”
Nell, “They probably have better pizza then in Hillsdale. Hey, Sanderson, you must have some knowledge of that.”
Luke, “Actually, I don’t remember, but there are several good restaurants in town.
Theo, “Oh, real food - it’s too painful to think about. We simply must get away from Mrs. Dudley’s horror show cuisine once in a while.”
Nell, “Ok, relax, we’ll think of something. Meanwhile, let’s make the best of what’s left of today. How about this: we can play Truth or Dare.”
Theo, “God, let’s not and say we did.”
Nell ignores her, “All right, Theodora, Truth: what’s your middle name?:
Theo, “Why do you want to know that?”
Nell, “You said the same thing about your last name.”
Luke, “What is your last name? I don’t think David mentioned it.”
Nell, “He didn’t; her last name is Padgett.”
Theo looks annoyed, but Nell presses on, “Ok, your middle name, or are you copping out?”
Theo, “It’s Lucretia; are you happy now?”
Nell, “Wow, your parents didn’t know when to stop.”
Theo, “Hey. . .”
Nell, “Well, think of it: Theodora Lucretia Padgett; it doesn’t exactly trip off the tongue.”
Theo, “All right, Eleanor, Truth: what’s your middle name?”
Nell, “It’s Ruth - which, when you think of it, is most of truth.”
Theo, “See, that’s a nice sensible name, and it fits with your other names.”
Nell, “Don’t get so defensive, we still love you whatever you’re called, isn’t that so, Roland?”
Roland, “I’m not getting in the middle of this.”
Theo, “You know, this game is just warming up: Dare, Nell: tell David we’re having dinner tomorrow in Bennington.”
Nell, “You’re back to that. For one thing, what is Mrs. D. going to do with all her, ah, victuals for the evening?”
Theo, “Another Dare; tell her to take the evening off.”
Roland, “Better tell her early, before she starts marinating the meat.”
Nell laughs, “Yeah, in motor oil. 10W-40 is the secret to her recipe.”
Theo, “So, are you going to tell him or not?”
Nell, “I’m not sure - this may take some finessing.”
Theo, “Ah, I knew it, you’re all talk and no action.”
Nell, “All right, a Dare: you tell him.”
Theo puts her hands in the air and waves them around, “I don’t know, I admit, I’m not ready to do it either.”
Nell, “Take it easy.” She points to the two men, “Why don’t one of you gentlemen come to the aid of us ladies and do it for us?”
Luke stumbles into a response, “Why us? We don’t know how to handle it any more than you do.”
Nell folds her arms and looks away from him. He seems upset that he incurred her displeasure.
Roland shakes his head and says, seemingly to himself, “Oh man, what a pathetic scene this is.”
Nell suddenly comes out of her sulk (which was faked anyway) and says to Theo, “I’ve got one, it’s sort of of a dare: tell us a term for, er, wanking that isn’t as vul-gah as the way you put it.”
Theo, “What are you talking about now?”
Nell, “I know of several, such as gilding the lily, although that only applies to females.”
Theo, “Good for you, we’re really impressed.”
Nell, “I think it sounds kind of sweet, actually.” She looks out one of the windows, “The sun is over the yardarm. Time for pre-dinner drinks, perhaps.”
Theo, “I’m going to come out of here both alcoholic and anorexic.”
Nell, “Don’t be so negative. Luke, you’re our wine steward; what do we have in the cellar?”
Luke, “It’s not a cellar, it’s a pantry.”
Nell, “I know that. . .”
Luke, “There is something from California.”
Nell, “Oh my, we don’t have to drink Ozark Daredevil Juice. What town is the winery in, did you notice?”
Luke, “Some place called Coalinga.”
Nell, “Coalinga, huh? Not the Napa Valley, but getting closer. Is it screw-top or cork?”
Luke, “It definitely has a cork.”
Nell, “Dudley must be angling for a big Christmas bonus.”
Roland, “Yeah, too bad we won’t be around to give it to him.”
********
The line “The sun is over the yardarm” (i.e., it’s late enough to start drinking alcohol) is from the novel, although it was spoken by Professor Montague.
I wasn't sure I was going to use the next scene, but one of my readers told me to keep it in. It's similar to the one above in that Nell is using music to both woo and tease Theo.
But Nell blunders here; her impulsive interest in pranks gets out of hand. She plays a Nine Inch Nails/Trent Reznor song called "Closer" which has explicit lyrics, and Theo finds this upsetting rather than funny (and she's probably justified in that). But, things have to get a bit worse between them before they get better.
It’s the middle of a another dull afternoon at Hill House during the first week. It’s so dull that Theo has fallen asleep, stretched out on a couch.
Luke and Roland have resorted to tossing a baseball back and forth across the parlor; they’re throwing underhand, because of the relatively short distance involved. Luke has a glove, but Roland has to catch with his bare hands. (I think Owen Wilson does have a ball and glove in the real movie.)
After one particular throw, Roland says, “Hey, take it easy, I don’t have a glove.”
Luke, “Ok, sorry about that.”
In her sleep, Theo hears percussion-like sounds, and she imagines for a moment that she is dreaming it:
Boomp, dah. Boomp, dah. Boomp, dah. . .
She wakes up and glances over; she realizes the sounds are coming out of Nell’s boom box. A moment later the lyrics of the Nine Inch Nails song “Closer” start:
“You let me violate you, you let me desecrate you.
You let me penetrate you, you let me complicate you. . .”
Still groggy, Theo sits up and sees Nell stretched out on a parallel couch; she is eating cake from a plate, and her boom box is perched on the back of the sofa. She is looking straight ahead, pretending that she doesn’t notice Theo.
The song continues:
“Help me, I broke apart my insides, help me, I’ve got no soul to sell.
Help me, the only thing that works for me, help me get away from myself. . .”
Theo becomes aware that this isn’t some random song; the message of it is being directed at her. The two men continue tossing the ball, although they too are listening to the lyrics.
Trent Reznor’s voice drops in pitch:
“I want to f___ you like an animal. . .”
With that, Roland looks over and misses a catch completely; the ball sails past him and smashes a vase on a pedestal behind him.
Reznor seems to be chanting now:
“I want to feel you from the inside,
I want to f____ you like an animal.
My whole existence is flawed. . .”
Out of the corner of her eye, Nell can see Theo’s nostrils flaring, which gives her a warning signal. Theo is quickly up from the couch, but Nell’s reflexes are faster. She tosses the cake plate aside and grabs her machine. She dashes across the room to get behind Luke.
Theo strides across the room instead of running, “Get out of the way!”
Luke steps aside and leaves Nell exposed again. She retreats further, but she is trapped in a corner.
Theo puts her hands on the wall on either side of Nell’s head. Nell cradles the machine in her arms. The song is still playing,
“You can have my isolation, you can have the hate that it brings. . .”
Theo, “Turn that damn thing off!”
Nell flips the switch, then looks over at Luke as if pleading for help. He shrugs to indicate, There’s nothing I can do.
Theo, “He can’t help you now, believe me.” She gains some control over her anger, “What exactly is the name of this song, hm?”
Nell, “Ah, it’s ‘Closer’ ”
Theo, “ ‘Closer?’ ”
Nell, “It means closer to God.”
Theo, “Well, I’m going to send you closer to God if I hear it again.”
Nell is really worried. The other woman is several inches taller than she is, and her arms are still next to her head. Nell contemplates dropping her machine so she can protect her face.
Theo, “How would you like it if I bought you a new boom box?”
Nell, “Well, I like this one just fine.”
Theo, “Yes, but you will need a new one if I smash this one to pieces.”
Nell nods meekly.
Theo, “And, I won’t buy another one until after we get home. You don’t want to spend the next two weeks without your music, now would you?”
Nell, “Ah, no.”
Theo puts her arms down and catches her breath, “Now, I think everything is completely clear, am I correct?”
Nell, “Oh yes, very clear.”
Theo, “Ok, good.”
She turns as if to leave, and Nell sneers at her. However, Theo anticipated this, and she turns back again and catches Nell’s expression. Nell gives a little smile as if to say, Oops.
Theo starts to cross the room, and Luke steps back to let her pass. She reaches the doorway where Roland is looking mournfully at the wrecked vase.
Roland, “Oh man, look at this thing, it’s completely broken.”
Theo seems impatient, “Just pick up the pieces and throw them out. No one is going to miss it.”
************
Of course, someone does notice its absence.
Well, this is the most recent scene - it fits into the second day at Hill House.
Just to clarify something: I've added characters who weren't in the real 1999 version. Some are from Shirley Jackson's original, like the professor's wife who is mentioned here but hasn't arrived yet. Some I made up, like Roland Sykes, who is a young (30-35) black man from Queens in New York; he is the fourth person Professor Marrow hired for the experiment.
The regional details mentioned herein: Montclair State (Nell's alma mater) is part of the state university system in New Jersey, Queens College is in the city university system of New York.
Scene: The second morning at Hill House, right after breakfast.
Professor David Marrow is having his employees take a written test. He’s got a makeshift set of tables and chairs arranged in one of the rooms; it looks a bit like a mini-classroom. Eleanor and Luke are sitting at the first pair of tables, and Roland and Theo are in the next two.
[This is based on some elements from the 1999 movie; Marrow does distribute test packets, but he allows the people to work on them on their own time. In this version he attempts to have organized sessions. Anyway, his first two lines here are from the movie – give credit to either David Self or Michael Tolken for those.]
David is standing in front of them; he’s holding thick packets of paper.
David, “These are standard cognitive and perception tests. I’ll be giving you a variety of these over the course of our time here.”
He distributes a packet to each of the people; as he does, he says, “You are not in competition, so don’t worry about being the head of the class. Go ahead, you can flip through them if you want.”
Theo immediately goes to the last page, “Oh my God, there are 129 pages in this thing.”
David, “Yes, but you’re not being timed. If you just go through it at comfortable pace, it should take about two hours or so.”
Theo, “Two hours?” She sighs, then she gets up and, still holding her packet, she walks over to a nearby couch. She stretches out on it, half sitting and half lying down.
Nell, “Hey Theodora, why don’t you relax and take a load off?”
Theo, “That’s exactly what I intend to do.”
David looks perturbed for a moment, then recovers, “Ok, you can work from there if you wish.” He takes some pens out of his pocket, “You’ll need one of these.” He passes the pens out, then he sits down in an armchair facing them.
Nell immediately raises her hand.
David, “You don’t have to – just say whatever it is.”
Nell, “Ah, should we write our last names first?”
It takes a second for David to realize that he has been had. He breathes out and says, “If you just put a big E on there, I’m sure I’ll figure it out.”
Luke, “Anybody know today’s date?” This is a serious question.
Roland, “We just got here yesterday!”
Luke gives himself a mock tap on the head, “Yeah, right, it must be the nineteenth.”
Now Theo has an issue, “I’m sorry, David, but I’m going to have trouble writing on my lap. Do you have a clipboard or something?”
David, “Well, you were the one who . . .” He restrains himself, and then says, “Let me see what I’ve got here.”
He rummages through a book bag by the chair and pulls out a thick magazine, “I think this will do.”
Nell, “What magazine is that?”
Theo has it face down on her lap; she flips it over, “It’s Vanity Fair.”
Nell, “Could I borrow that issue?”
David, “I don’t see why not. Actually, my wife has the subscription.”
Nell, “So you need her permission?”
He looks at her, trying to figure out her expression, but he can’t decipher it, “No, we don’t need her permission.”
Nell points to the Columbia University logo on her cover sheet, “I was wondering, could you translate the Columbia motto for us?” [It’s written in Latin.]
He stares at her again, then he leans back and sighs, “All right, if you want to know, it says, ‘In thy light shall we see light.’ It’s from Psalms, thirty-six nine.”
Nell, “Nice. At Montclair State, it was carpe diem, seize the day. I really like that one; in fact, I’d make it my personal motto. So, Theo, what was your school?”
Theo, “Ohio State at Columbus.”
Nell, “And their motto?”
Theo, “Oh, what was that again? It translated, I think, as ‘Education for Citizenship.’”
Nell, “Kind of bland, I’d say.”
David, “People, we’re going to have, literally, days and days to talk about our almae matres.” He gestures towards the desks, “Could we get to the task at hand here?”
Roland, ”Doesn’t anyone want to hear about Queens College?” He’s not as good at hiding his expressions, and he smiles at David. David shakes his head and points at the desks again.
The four people open their packets and start reading the first page. Eleanor also does something else. She opens her purse and takes out a small set of earphones; then she places them in her ears. She picks her boom-box off the floor – David didn’t really notice it before – and sets it on her desk. Then she plugs in the jack, flips the switch for the cassette deck, and looks at her test again. During all this she avoids any eye contact with David.
David has stayed in his chair while she set up her machine. Then he gets up, and Nell does look up at him. He walks over and pushes the machine’s pause button.
Nell pulls off the earphones, “What, is there some protocol that we can’t listen to music during this?”
David, “Well, I’ve given this test numerous times, and no one has ever tried to listen to music. I would think it’s self-evident that it would be a major distraction, right?”
Nell leans back and rubs her eyes, “It’s a bit early in the morning for this kind of thing.” She taps Luke on the shoulder, “Would you do me a favor? I’d really like another mug of coffee. The carafe is still set up in the kitchen.”
Roland chuckles at this; David is too surprised to say anything.
Luke takes it stride, “Sure, no problem; you like it light and sweet, I think.”
Nell, “Yes, but use please use artificial sweetener. She’s got some Equals in the cabinet over the sink.”
He gets up to go to the kitchen.
Theo, “I’d like some more coffee myself.”
Nell, “Then go get it; there’s enough left for the two of us.”
David is trying to regroup. He looks at his watch, “We’ve been using up quite a bit of time on the preliminaries here.”
Nell leans back, tapping her pen on the desk, “David, could I speak frankly?”
David, “Eleanor, I wouldn’t expect any less from you.”
She smiles to show she’s amused, “All right, is it really necessary for you to sit there staring at us for two hours?”
He seems confused, “I could read a bit; I’ve got some work to catch up on.”
Nell, “No, I mean, do you have to be in the room at all? It’s not like were going to cheat or something.”
David, “Of course not, there wouldn’t be any point in that, I already told you . . .”
Nell smiles at him again. He stops and thinks for a moment, “It seems like you all need to get settled in, maybe chat a bit and, ah, vent a little. Ok then, I’m going to have some coffee myself and then – I’ll be around, I’ll check in to see how you’re doing. Does that sound reasonable?”
They all nod at him; there seems to be assent on this. At this moment Luke walks in with Nell’s mug. He has it set on a saucer; there is a spoon in the mug and some packets of sweetener on the saucer.
Nell, “Thank you, Luke, that was very thoughtful of you.”
Luke, “You’re welcome; it was my pleasure.”
As she puts the sweetener in, she glances over at Theo, who is glaring at her.
She then tastes the coffee, “Wow, this stuff is bitter.”
Luke, “It’s from the same batch Mrs. Dudley made last night.”
David, “That reminds me – Theo, I’ll brew a fresh pot so you can have some too.”
She gives him a thumbs-up sign from her position on the sofa.
Just as he starts to leave, Nell sticks her hand in the air again and starts saying, ”O-oo, o-oo, o-oo . . .”
He turns to see Roland and Luke laughing, and even Theo is smiling. He thinks he detects a hint of fakeness in Nell’s innocent expression.
David, “Nell, what could you possibly want now?”
Nell, “I just need to know: when we’re doing these problems, do you want us to show all our work?”
David, “What work?”
Nell, “I mean anything we write to solve the puzzles.”
David, “Oh, scratch paper. You can write on the sides or the back of the pages. I’ve got a legal pad here; you can have that if you want.”
Nell, “No, I get the idea, I’m ok now.”
David, “Good, so . . .”
He starts to leave again, but he glances over his shoulder to see if he’s going to make it out this time.
Nell says to Luke, “Don’t expect him to come back any time soon.”
Luke, “He’s just getting coffee.”
Nell, “You missed it. We made a deal with him; he’s not going to, let’s say monitor us too closely during these tests.”
Theo, “You know he seems like an ok guy. Why were you ragging on him like that?”
Nell, ”Well, if I didn’t actually like him, I wouldn’t be teasing him so much. I just found it funny how he had this classroom set-up here.”
Theo, “Force of habit, I guess. He is a professor.”
Roland, “Yeah, and he’s just trying to do his job.”
Nell, “You’re right, maybe I went too far. I’ll make nice with him later.”
Roland, “I did like that bit . . .” He raises his hand, “That ‘o-oo, o-oo.’ thing.”
Nell, “You know where that’s from?”
Roland, “Sure I do.” He sings, “ ‘Welcome back, your dreams were your ticket out . . .’ ”
Nell, “Right, you got it! So, what’s the motto of Queens College?”
Roland, “ ‘We learn so that we may serve.’”
Nell, “Pretty good, although I still think ‘Carpe Diem’ is better.”
Theo is lying across the sofa, looking through her packet again, “This thing; two hours? We’re going to be at it for the rest of the day.”
Nell, “Let’s negotiate to finish it tomorrow.”
Theo notices the mailing label on the magazine, “Look at this. Grace Marrow, she, I mean they live in New Jersey too. A town called Closter.”
Nell, “Really? That’s in Bergen County with me . . . Another Jersey girl. I can’t wait to meet her!”
*****
Actually, Closter and Fair Lawn are at opposite sides of the county, but Nell is being tongue-in-cheek as usual.
Later, Nell will find out that Grace grew up in Connecticut and David is from another part of Massachusetts (Beverly).
Dude; this isn't a *beep* fan fiction site, what is wrong with you?
shareThat was four years ago; I think the statute of limitations has passed on that.
Funny, no one else ever complained about those fan fiction things when I used to post them years ago. I only put them there if somebody asked for new installments.
IKR? Wonder if him in BernadetteButterfly ever got a room?
Stalked by coleburnz07 since 2012 and Scarletknights since 2007!share
Hah, I might have considered it, but I'm in the United States and she's was in England - couldn't afford the airline tickets even if I wanted to try an intercontinental experiment.
share