"Little Sweetheart" script #7

(Thelma is pulling milk out of the refrigerator.) [note]

MRS DAVIES: I didn't hear you come in. Have you seen Richard? Mister Burger was over looking for him.

THELMA: What for?

MRS DAVIES: I didn't ask. It's none of my business. And I don't think it's any of yours. (Thelma puts the milk carton back into the refrigerator.) You really got that shirt very dirty. (Thelma glances down at the right sleeve.) I want you to take it off. Don't be late.

THELMA (alone, leaning against the refrigerator): This is station WLIZ. And this is me.

ROBERT: Yes, Thelma, what is it?

THELMA (sweetly): My mom wanted me to tell you that she hasn't seen Richard. When I see him, do you want me to tell him to come and see you?

ROBERT: Yeah. Tell him to come running.

THELMA (innocently): Aren't you and him friends anymore?

ROBERT: Just tell him to come.

THELMA: Is Elizabeth here? She said she was coming here to see you.

ROBERT: Well she didn't. Now look, I'm very busy.

THELMA: I think she's lost.

ROBERT: She'll turn up. Just tell your brother.

(Mr. and Mrs. Harrison are sitting on the couch at the Davies house, and Mrs. Davies walks up. Mr. Harrison is clutching his hat in his hands.)

MRS DAVIES: Richard's gone off, too. It never occurs to them that they might be upsetting people.

MRS HARRISON: At least he's nearly an adult. She's a child of nine.

MR HARRISON: But we don't know that anything's happened yet. I'm sure there's some perfectly reasonable explanation.

(Mr. Harrison looks at Thelma, who is standing in front of a window, he gets up and sits in another seat closer to Thelma, to question her. He's wearing ridiculous-looking shades on his eyeglasses, flipped up.)

MR HARRISON: Now, you were playing together. Didn't she say where she was going?

THELMA: She said she was going to see Robert.

MR HARRISON: Did she say what she was going to see him for? Could she have gone somewhere with him, for a ride?

MR HARRISON: Did she say "Goodbye," or "I'll see you later."?

MR HARRISON: Can you remember exactly where you were, when she left? Can you show me? Would you mind? You might just--spark something off.

MRS DAVIES: Oh no, of course not, Thelma will help you.

MR HARRISON: Uh, do you think my wife could--stay with you, just for a while, 'til we get back? She's a bit--distraught.

MRS HARRISON: Not unreasonably. (Mr. Harrison looks grim.)

(Mr. Harrison and Thelma are at Robert's door.)

ROBERT: What did she want to see me for? Do you know? (Thelma pauses, shakes her head.)

ROBERT: How long's she been gone?

MR HARRISON (flips up his shades): Just this morning.

ROBERT: So--what're you going to do now?

MR HARRISON: Wait another hour and then call in the police. Not much else I can do. I have no idea where to look. She could be anywhere.

ROBERT: Yes, I suppose so.

(Robert hurries into the bedroom, where Dorothea is standing, leaning drunkenly against the glass door, drink in her hand. The ocean is reflected in the glass door.)

ROBERT: Get dressed!

DOROTHEA: Is that the boy? What did he say?

ROBERT (pulling clothes rapidly from the closet): Look, just move it. We're getting out. They're bringing the police! Get your clothes on!

(Robert rushes out of her bedroom, Dorothea sits down and takes another drink.)

ROBERT (from the other room): Are you moving?

(Dorothea nods, takes off her black blouse, sits topless, in a drunken stupor, takes another drink. Robert rushes in.)

ROBERT: Oh, Jesus, Dotty! (Dorothea giggles.)

ROBERT: Oh, come on. Come on. We've not time. No time. (Forces Dorothea to her feet.) Come on, come on baby, let's go. (Escorts her to the bathroom shower.) Come on, sweetheart. (She starts to fall.) Oh no you don't! Come on! Come on.

ROBERT: Are you going to get ready?

DOROTHEA: Yeah.

ROBERT: In five minutes?

DOROTHEA: What?

ROBERT: I love you.

(Dorothea giggles drunkenly, but suddenly Robert turns on the cold water on her, causing her to yell.)

DOROTHEA: Agh! Agh!

(Robert closes the shower door on her, as she gets accustomed to the cold water. Dorothea is out of the shower, sitting, combing her wet hair with a blue brush, puts on her sunglasses, rubs her face, Robert comes in.)

ROBERT (drying Dorothea's hair with a towel): Why did I think that screwing you would sweeten my life?

DOROTHEA: Because it did, didn't it?

DOROTHEA (pushes the towel aside): Say again. Say you love me.

ROBERT: I love you. (They kiss.)

DOROTHEA: You're not mad at me?

ROBERT: No, I'm not mad at you. Just mad. We're both mad. (Dorothea giggles and they kiss again.)

(Robert and Dorothea's car is coming down the causeway out of St. George Island, Mr. Harrison and his station wagon are on the side of the road, Mr. Harrison signals for them to stop, and Robert pulls over. A police siren is heard, and a police car arrives and pulls over.)

MR HARRISON: Could you--hold on--just a minute, please?

ROBERT: My lady's not very well. I'm just going to see the doctor.

MR HARRISON: The sheriff wants to... have a word with all of us. (Little Billy is sitting in a police car, Robert looks over at Dorothea, the sheriff hurries up to the driver's side of Robert's car, wearing sunglasses.)

ROBERT: We're just on our way to see the doc.

SHERIFF: What doctor's that?

ROBERT: Well, we thought we'd check it out. Blue Cross, or whatever.

SHERIFF: There's a child missin', sir. I appreciate your predicament. But the sooner we can ask some questions, the sooner we're gonna get some answers, and everybody's gonna be happy.

ROBERT: Well, certainly, if there's a child missing.

SHERIFF: That's what we're gonna find out. So if you'll just turn your vee-hickle around, my deputy there'll back up and give you some room. I do appreciate it. [book excerpt]

ROBERT: Thank you.

(Robert turns his car around. Little Billy is sitting in a police car, in custody, watching Robert turn his car around. The police radio is going. Robert drives back up the causeway.)

(Richard arrives home to find a police car outside his house, police radio going, and a deputy waiting aside the police car. The deputy looks up as Robert passes by. Inside, the sheriff is standing in the living room while Mrs. Davies sits nearby in a chair in the corner. The sheriff begins to question Richard.)

SHERIFF: We're makin' inquiries about a little girl.

RICHARD: Thelma?

SHERIFF: Elizabeth. Harris. Have you seen her today?

RICHARD: No, I've been out all day.

SHERIFF: Where?

RICHARD: Walking.

SHERIFF: All day? Didn't you find it a mite hot?

RICHARD: Yeah, I guess so. Yeah, it--it was hot, I was sweating.

SHERIFF: Well who'd you see on this walk?

RICHARD: No one.

SHERIFF (sarcastic and intrusive): No one? Seems to me, if a person goes out walkin' all day, he sees someone. Like Elizabeth?

RICHARD: No, I--I already told you. I haven't seen Elizabeth, all day.

SHERIFF: But you saw sometime. Now who was it?

RICHARD (looks down): I can't tell you.

MRS DAVIES: Richard! We're all very worried about Elizabeth. Help the sheriff.

SHERIFF: Please. Do you know you're the only one who can't account for himself all day?

MRS DAVIES (angrily): Richard, tell him!

RICHARD (stands, turns angrily): OK! You wanna know who it was? I was with: Marissa. OK?

MRS DAVIES: Who?

RICHARD (rolling his head in exasperation): She used to work for us. Now she works for someone else. I went to see her because she said... she was having my baby.

MRS DAVIES (standing in astonishment): That's ridiculous!

SHERIFF: Please, ma'am. I'm just tryin' to find out where he was all day.

MRS DAVIES: Yes, but you see he doesn't understand that by lying--

RICHARD: Lying? I'm not lying! If you weren't so blind, so involved with yourself and your Uncle David this, your Uncle David that... Thelma knew. I thought everybody knew.

MRS DAVIES: About a baby?

RICHARD: No, that was just a way of--shutting it down--of finishing with me. [book excerpt]

MRS DAVIES: Richard...!

RICHARD (turning defensively): Anyway, it wasn't true.

SHERIFF: Can she back up your story?

RICHARD: Yes. If you mean can she tell you I was with her: yes.

(Mrs. Davies' face twitches in anger at him, then she stalks off. The sheriff silently watches her leave.)

SHERIFF: OK. You tell me where I can find 'er, and--that'll be that.

(The sheriff gets in his car and drives off, siren going, and is being watched by Thelma from behind the wooden stairs of the house, who is wearing a white hat. Inside, Mrs. Davies is fluffing the pillows on the couch and sees Richard come in the room and sit on the couch.)

MRS DAVIES: Mister Burger called. He said he wanted to talk to you.

RICHARD: What about?

MRS DAVIES: I don't know. He didn't say.

RICHARD: Well then it can't be that important, can it?

MRS DAVIES (sits down): Richard, I've called Uncle David and asked him to come back. I can't manage by myself any more.

RICHARD: You could've asked me. (Stands up and leaves.)

(Thelma watches from the window as Uncle David arrives. Uncle David pulls a dark overnight bag from the trunk and is wearing a dark blue tie and light blue shirt, coat slung over one shoulder.)

THELMA: Hi Uncle David.

UNCLE DAVID: Hey! Thelma! How's my girl?

THELMA: Great!

MRS DAVIES: Honey, Uncle David wants to talk to you.

UNCLE DAVID: See, hon. Something serious might have happened to Elizabeth, and your mother and I would never forgive ourselves if... (Long pause as he chooses his words.) Nearly everybody in this whole world is kind and good just as you see them. But some people are not so good. So we don't want you to go anywhere by yourself until Elizabeth's been found. OK?

THELMA (shrugging): Yes, Uncle David. Suppose they never find her?

UNCLE DAVID: Well, the police always find people. Maybe not always right away. OK, now, you promise me.

MRS DAVIES: Promise Uncle David.

THELMA: OK, Uncle David. I promise. (Bites her lip.)

MRS DAVIES: Good!

(Dorothea is sitting at the bar in Sandcastle, twists the cap off a liquor bottle and pours herself another drink.) [note]

ROBERT: You need that?

DOROTHEA: You going to leave me?

ROBERT: I'm getting ready to go.

DOROTHEA: Without me?

ROBERT (stands up, puts his arm around her): Babe, why are you doing this to us? I got us into this, I'll get us out of it.

DOROTHEA (head against his shoulder): You can't. They're looking for the car.

ROBERT: We'll walk.

DOROTHEA: You can't leave without the pictures. You can't get them tonight.

ROBERT: Jesus, Dotty. It took us one year and fifteen days to progress... and get away from the crap. Just because some silly little kid goes missing, I'm not going to let ourselves get trapped in it. (Walks to the glass door to look out.)

DOROTHEA: If you're thinking of leaving without me... hmph! (Takes a drink from her glass.)

(Robert turns around from the glass door, shakes the car keys, puts them on the table, stands with one arm on his hip.)

ROBERT: Go to bed, Dotty. (Robert pauses, leaves the room.)

(An officer is running along the bay shore with a leashed police dog. Two officers with leashed police dogs are scouting along the tops of some dunes among pine trees, and they start down the dune. Four other officers are climbing over a wooden walkway in the woods, one with a police dog, all with sticks. A police helicopter is heard.)

(Richard is at Robert's door.)

ROBERT: Better come in. Sit down. D'you want a drink?

RICHARD: Uh, Scotch.

ROBERT: No Scotch.

RICHARD: Do you have any rye?

ROBERT: Rye. Now sit down.

(Robert mixes drinks at the counter, Richard sits on the couch, Robert looks at Richard sitting expressionless, Robert hands Richard a drink, sits down, they both take a sip, Robert puts down his own drink, yanks at his trousers to lean forward.)

ROBERT: Now, you little shit. I want those photographs back. If you open your mouth I'll make sure that you never open it again. (He twists Richard's wrist.)

RICHARD: You're hurting.

ROBERT: Yes, and if I wanted to I could break your wrist.

RICHARD: Please, I don't know what you're talking about, sir.

ROBERT: You broke in here.

RICHARD: I've never been here before.

ROBERT: Don't lie! (Robert releases Richard's wrist, shoves him back into the couch.) Right. Let's see if we can refresh your memory. [book excerpt]

(Robert goes to the bookshelf, pulls out a photograph that was slid between two books, one of the love-making pictures that Thelma took. Some of the books on the shelf are: To the End of the Night, Alla Awakes.)

ROBERT: You've seen this before?

ROBERT: Where? Where!?

RICHARD: Somebody gave it to me.

ROBERT: Yes. People bring you film and you process it. Who?

RICHARD: I don't know.

(Robert twists Richard's wrist.)

RICHARD: My sister! Ow! (Robert, shocked, lets go of Richard's wrist.)

ROBERT: Your sister...

RICHARD (gaining more nerve): Yes. (Robert stands, walks off slowly, dumbfounded.) You gave her the camera for her birthday. She got me to show her how to use it. She gave me some other pictures, too, of you and-- your-- Look, I didn't know until I developed them. I didn't know she'd taken pictures like that.

ROBERT (incredulous): She's a nine-year-old kid. Nine-year-old kids'r not into blackmail.

RICHARD: Thelma is. She always blackmails me.

ROBERT: What a little sweetheart! Who taught her all this?

RICHARD: Hhh. Some people are just born that way?

ROBERT: Oh, no. No. (Shakes his head.) People are not born that way. [book excerpt]

RICHARD: When my father died, it upset me. But not Thelma. She just... sat around... Just the same as always, just watching TV, all day long.

ROBERT (returns to the couch, sits): Why didn't you tell your mother?

RICHARD: She's like Thelma. She doesn't listen.

ROBERT (slow and incredulous): Thelma. Dotty said it all. It's so simple.

RICHARD: What about the story in the papers?

ROBERT: Oh, it's just the press. Look, I want those pictures. Can you get them for me? (Richard shakes his head.)

ROBERT: Well, do you think you could persuade Thelma to come here?

(Richard thinks, is reluctant, doesn't answer.)

ROBERT: Look, I didn't hurt the other kid. I don't know anything about her. I just want those pictures, and to give her a damn good frightening. [note]

RICHARD: I'll try.

(Thelma is at home, watching a SWAT team show on TV in the kitchen with Uncle David. Both are seated at the counter.)

(TV: In the worst case, a team member could get wounded and killed entering the structure. We require the smallest man on our team to be able to get the largest man on our team out...)

(Richard enters the kitchen.)

UNCLE DAVID: Harrison said they're bringing in dogs.

THELMA: No one's going to find her. They don't even know if she's lost. Do they?

RICHARD: I wanna see you. In my room.

(TV: Our primary concern is really getting him out...)

THELMA (peeved): Excuse me, Uncle David. (She switches of the TV via remote.)

UNCLE DAVID: Keep an eye on her. The police don't her going anywhere alone. [book excerpt]

(Richard and Thelma are talking privately in Richard's bedroom. On his wall are road signs that say ONE WAY, KEEP ..., there is a white glider, and a Confederate flag.)

RICHARD: Mr. Burger wants to see you.

THELMA: I don't want to see him.

RICHARD: He wants the pictures that you took.

THELMA: I didn't take any pictures. Elizabeth took them. (She fidgets with a black-and-white photograph on the wall.)

RICHARD: You're lying. You lie about everything!

THELMA: I'm not lying!

RICHARD: Somebody ought to get rid of you. We'd all be a lot better off without you.

THELMA (fidgeting with confederate flag): You just want mom to yourself.

RICHARD: Are you going to give him the pictures?

THELMA: I don't have them!

RICHARD: Then he'll have to go to the police.

THELMA (turns around angrily): It's not my fault! I'm not a liar!