(The girls pause, crouched next to a rock. Robert and Dorothea go over the top of a dune. The girls come running up. Robert takes off his shorts, has swim trunks underneath. "Take Back the Night." [music].)

(Robert is lying on top of Dorothea, kissing her. Scene of her exposed underwear.)

ELIZABETH: Gosh! Wish we had your camera.

(Thelma grins, pulls her camera from her purse and begins taking pictures of Robert and Dorothea making love. Elizabeth says nothing, looks up and smiles, rests her chin on her hand. When done, Robert rolls on his side and fans himself with his shirt, followed by Dorothea wiping the sweat off her forehead.)

(The girls are walking into some dunes from the beach, after watching Robert and Dorothea make love on the beach.)

ELIZABETH: Have you seen it before? I mean people really doing it? (Pause.) I have. Sometimes. At night on cable. When they're not home.

ELIZABETH: But not like that. Not with everybody watching.

THELMA: I know about it properly from school.

ELIZABETH: But isn't she awful with all those awful sounds? And Robert... (Thelma tosses her bottle aside.) Don't do that, it's a waste, you could've got a dime on that.

THELMA: I'll say I lost it. I don't like him doing that with her.

ELIZABETH: I would never do it. Not with everybody watching. I bet even the fisherman could see her. She's aw-ful.

ELIZABETH & THELMA: Fla-ky! (Giggle together.)

(Richard is in his darkroom, examining a gangproof of Thelma's pictures with a rectangular magnifying glass. He places a negative into an enlarger slide and slides it into the top of an enlarger.)

(Thelma is outside the boat shed, angry at Richard for not giving her the pictures she had him develop. Richard is standing in a motorboat holding an envelope with the prints.)

THELMA: I only took some pictures! There's nothing wicked about taking pictures! If it was wicked, they shouldn't have been doing it! I want them!

RICHARD: Only if you promise not to tell anyone that I developed and printed them. You promise?

THELMA: They're mine.

RICHARD: If you say anything... about anything... to anyone... I'll say you're lying again. I'll say I didn't do it and I've never even seen them.

THELMA: I'll say I did it. I'll say--

RICHARD: Don't be stupid. You can't do them. You don't know anything about photography.

THELMA: I do.

RICHARD: Yeah. And mice can paint pictures. (Hands Thelma the envelope) Here. You can clean the boat shed. (Hands Thelma a mop.) And you might need this in case your eyes pop out. (Hands Thelma a bucket.)

THELMA: Very funny.

(Richard leaves, Thelma opens the envelope on the wooden railing, looks at the prints, and her eyes nearly pop out.)

(The girls are sitting in a car, laying out the pictures.)

ELIZABETH: What're you gonna do with them?

ELIZABETH: I think we should give them to the papers. And have them print it. Then everybody'll know. Then they'll be sorry.

THELMA: I think they should pay us a lot of money not to tell.

ELIZABETH: You're not gonna stand there and tell them, are you? I'd melt in pieces!

THELMA: We could send them one. Put it in their mailbox. Then they'd know.

("I Was Born to Cry" is playing again on TV. Next to the TV is a pink flamingo. The girls are in a bedroom, cutting out newspapers to make an anonymous note. Thelma is in a blue nightgown, kneeling at her bed, cutting. Their blackmail note reads:

leEVE ONE Hundred dollars in DOLLAR bills in A eNvelOPE IN YOUR Car BY The FAR Ma CY

Newspapers are scattered all over the chair and floor; some portions of titles seen are: "Tallahassee...," "Nation...," etc.)

THELMA: And we could write them a note. Saying they have to pay us. With words cut out of a newspaper. I've seen kidnappers do it.

ELIZABETH: How we gonna get the money?

THELMA: They could leave it somewhere. And we could get it when they've gone.

(Robert reaches into his mailbox outside Sandcastle, finds an unsual envelope on top of the usual mail, opens it while at the mailbox and sees the pictures it contains. The mailbox is black and is labeled with the rental house name: Sandcastle, BOX 316, BOX 316. He comes inside, where Dorothea is preparing food in the kitchen.)

DOROTHEA: Hi hon.

ROBERT: Hi.

ROBERT: How's the coffee?

DOROTHEA: Hot! And pancakes. (Mixing pancake batter.) Anything?

ROBERT: Oh, circulars. Send a coupon, win a prize.

ROBERT: I was wondering... whether to drive in and speed up the arrangements... about the cash.

DOROTHEA: Alone?

ROBERT: Yeah. Well, there's... two of us together, there's always a risk.

DOROTHEA (walking over to him, stirring the batter): Honey, I'm not your wife. What is it?

ROBERT (hesitates, stands and walks to the counter): Here. Better have a look.

(Robert tosses the envelope down on the counter next to Dorothea. Dorothea opens it, sees the pictures, her mouth drops, she holds her head in disbelief.)

ROBERT: Read it. Read it!

DOROTHEA: "Leave one hundred dollars in dollar bills in an envelope in your car by the--farmacy"--they can't spell!

ROBERT: Not very greedy, either. A hundred dollars!

DOROTHEA: "Agree today. Do not watch or else." What are you going to do? Robert, what are you going to do?

ROBERT: Hey, don't get hysterical. I need to think.

DOROTHEA: Well, what's to think about? It's that little brat. Oh! (Sits and clutches her head.) And you had to give her a camera.

ROBERT: Uh. Now you're being ridiculous.

DOROTHEA (angrily): Me? You were the one who had to give her a camera!

ROBERT (shouting): It's a holiday town. Everyone's got cameras!

DOROTHEA: And you gave her one.

ROBERT (shouting): Yes, to get her off her backs!

DOROTHEA (standing, angrily): Why didn't you tell her just to get lost? Afraid she might stop loving you?

ROBERT: Dotty, Dotty, Dotty! She's nine years old!

DOROTHEA: And little kids of nine don't think like that. Ah, no! Kids of nine are holy, innocent, little lambs!

ROBERT: Shut up! Either say something helpful, or don't say it! They're professional blowups done by an expert, not by a kid of nine!

(The girls are at home watching an action movie on TV. In the show, a big rig is being fired upon by several officers with rifles. Elizabeth is impatient, stands up and sits closer to Thelma.)

ELIZABETH: How do you know they're not out?

THELMA: Because they wouldn't leave their windows open.

ELIZABETH: Then how do you know he's read it?

THELMA: Because I saw him on the veranda earlier. And I could tell he'd read it.

ELIZABETH: I expect they don't care. (Sits on arm on couch, blocking Thelma's view of the TV.)

THELMA: I was watching!

ELIZABETH: You're always watching. He probably tore it up.

THELMA (pushing Elizabeth out of her way): He wasn't even ?tending then. (Elizabeth clumsily drops into a chair.)

(TV: You son of a bitch!)

ELIZABETH: I doubt he'll leave us the money. At least he just won't leave it and go away. He'll see us!

THELMA: Stay at home, then.

ELIZABETH: No. I'm gonna come.

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File: lsq04.htm
Updated: November 27, 1998

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