(Robert is driving alone down the Plantation road, sees the girls hitchhiking along side of the road, honks twice, stops, rolls down the power window on the passenger side to talk to them. The girls run up.)

ROBERT: What're you two up to?

ELIZABETH: We're going shopping!

ROBERT: What for?

ELIZABETH: Just to look.

ROBERT: Better get in the back.

(The girls get in the car, Robert begins driving.)

ROBERT: Well, don't you get bored, just looking? You don't mind the heat?

ELIZABETH: I like it! [note]

(Robert opens the glove compartment while driving. The girls look at each other knowingly, then surreptitiously lean forward to watch as he pulls out the envelope that contains the money, then jump back when he slams it shut, look at each other.)

(Robert arrives in town, pulls into a parking space, FURNITURE store sign is in background. They get out and the girls pause on the passenger side of the car.)

ROBERT: Well, you kids want a Coke?

THELMA: No thank you, Robert.

ELIZABETH: We're going shopping!

ROBERT: Well, suit yourself.

THELMA: Thanks for the ride.

ELIZABETH (holding up her finger): Yes, thank you.

(Elizabeth turns around to look at Thelma, and the girls leave. Robert sits down at a table in a restaurant that overlooks the street. The girls are walking alongside a building wall that says Lanier Pharmacy [note], with "Lanier" underlined and preceded by an illustration of a soda.)

ELIZABETH: What's he going in there for?

THELMA: So he can watch. He's gotta wait 'til three.

ELIZABETH: What're you going to do about it?

THELMA: Wait 'til three!

(RADIO: Well, it's opening day... Keepin' you company from three to five. I'm outta here into that gorgeous sunshine.)

(Robert is taking in the scenes of everyday life as the radio plays. A man behind a trash truck is throwing a trash bag into the back, where a blue-and-white sign behind the truck says USED CARS. Little Billy is spinning around doing mime acts in front of business with a hanging sign that says MARIE'S LAUNDRYLAND while a small white boy rolls on the ground near him.)

(RADIO: Stay tuned. And stay cool.)

(Robert looks up and sees Elizabeth standing quietly in the doorway of the restaurant, looking at Robert.)

ROBERT: Hi.

ELIZABETH: I've lost Thelma, Robert. She's my friend. Can I sit down? It's really hot.

ROBERT: Yes, but one side or another. You're a better door than a window. I'm looking for something. Sit down! No, not there, over there.

WAITRESS: Would you like more scotch?

ROBERT: Uh, no-- eh-- a Coke for the lady.

ELIZABETH (hugs Robert, blocking his view): Wow! Coke! Thanks!

ROBERT: For gosh sake, cut it out. Sit down!

ELIZABETH (pulling on the curtain, blocking Robert's view): Everything's closed. Then I lost her. Have you seen her, Robert? Thelma. She's my friend.

ROBERT: No, I haven't seen her. Would you leave the curtain alone?

ELIZABETH: Of course.

(The waitress comes, and blocks his view of the window. He leans forward anxiously to try to see past the females.)

WAITRESS: There you go.

ROBERT: Excuse me.

ELIZABETH (picking up the bill): I've gotta pay.

ROBERT: No, I'll pay.

(Elizabeth "accidentally" spills the Coke into Robert's lap.)

ROBERT: Woah! Jesus!

ELIZABETH (clutching her fingers to her mouth): I'm sorry, Robert.

ROBERT: Na, it's alright. It'll dry. (Thelma comes running up.) I guess it's the heat. Here's your friend.

THELMA: I was over there. I shouted but you didn't hear!

ROBERT: What?

THELMA: That man! He--he was looking in your car! (Little Billy is walking towards the restaurant near Robert's car.)

ROBERT: Bloody right! (Robert runs outside after Little Billy.)

ROBERT: Hey! Hey! (Little Billy turns around to see who's shouting at him.) Yes, you! Stop! Cut it out!

THELMA & ELIZABETH: Yeah! (They slap each others' hands.)

(In the background is a Chevron station sign, and also a sign indicating highway 98. Robert chases Little Billy and corners him just as Little Billy is about to climb over a wooden fence.)

ROBERT: Hey! Hey! This is the guy?

THELMA: No, Robert!

LITTLE BILLY: Hey man, what'd I do?

ROBERT: You ran!

LITTLE BILLY: Well, so did you, man!

ROBERT: Sorry. Would you-- (Hands Little Billy some money.) Please, buy yourself a drink.

LITTLE BILLY: Naw, man, you drink it yourself, you need it more than me.

(Little Billy leaves. Robert walks up to Thelma and holds her by the waist with both hands to look into her face. Elizabeth comes around the corner one way while Little Billy leaves.)

ROBERT (to Thelma): You saw him. What was he like?

THELMA: Thin.

ROBERT: Uh huh. And he went to the car and then what?

THELMA: He bent down. He closed the door, and I shouted for you.

ROBERT: And he ran?

THELMA: Was it important?

ROBERT: Yes, it could be!

(Robert runs off, leaving the girls alone.)

THELMA: You got it?

(Elizabeth pulls up the front of her dress, where the envelope is protruding from the top of her panties. The girls strut off proudly.)

[book excerpt]

(The girls are sitting at the counter of a store in downtown Apalachicola, and the waitress hands them two strawberry malts with a cherry on top. Both are wearing ridiculous colored-hair wigs.)

ELIZABETH: Whatcha gonna do with yours?

THELMA: Buy something.

ELIZABETH: What?

THELMA: A present. A radio. Like Little Billy's. Then I can play my tapes.

ELIZABETH: I'm going to invest mine. I'll ask my daddy.

THELMA: You can't. You can't tell anybody.

ELIZABETH: If I spent it, then we'll have to give them the negatives back. That's what you're supposed to do. They pay and you spend and you're supposed to give it back.

THELMA: I don't care what you're supposed to do. You're supposed to do what you wanna do.

(Robert slowly pulls a single white envelope from his Sandcastle mail box. He comes rushing into Sandcastle where Dorothea, wrapped in a towel, has just gotten out of the shower.)

ROBERT: We've got them! The negatives! Can you believe for a lousy hundred bucks we've got them? We've won! (Pulls Dorothea on top of him on the bed.)

DOROTHEA (incredulously): No!

ROBERT: Oh yes yes yes yes yes! What would we do without the negateeves? And I look at these negatives and I say to myself: (Italian accent) Eh, what a sexy Capone!

DOROTHEA: Mon don.

(Robert hugs Dorothea happily and rolls on top of her, and she giggles ecstatically. Through the window we see Thelma standing, waiting atop the wooden walkway, leaning against the railing, looking at Sandcastle.)

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Updated: November 27, 1998

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