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FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY
WILD AT HEART a love story And now the story of Sailor and Lula..... 1. EXT. CITY STREET - DAY A MAN rides a screaming massive Japanese motorcycle - wound out to maximum R.P.M. up the street. CUT TO: 2. SIGN BY ROADSIDE The sign reads "KIDS PLAYING - SPEED BUMPS". CUT TO: 3. EXT. CITY STREET - DAY With a whine from hell, the front tire of the motorcycle hits a speed bump. The motorcycle becomes airborne and on the way up slices itself in half as it scrapes along the full length of a Datsun Kingcab. In the air, the rider and motorcycle twist violently as they fly by. The motorcycle bounces off a black '66 Chevrolet and makes a sound like the end of the world. The rider hits the same Chevy a moment later. Like a broken ragdoll shot from a canon, the man punches through the back window blowing glass for a block. He stops somewhere under the front seat and a bubble of blood forms out his nose. The motorcycle continues on sliding and spinning with an ear-piercing howl for one entire city block. CUT TO: 4. EXT. NEIGHBORHOOD STREETS - VACANT LOT - DAY Two rabid dogs fight ferociously in a vacant lot - ripping each other's flesh. An OLD COUPLE, both with walkers, inch painfully along nearby. OLD WOMAN Oh my God! ... Why they doin' that? OLD MAN Who the hell knows. What you have in your mouth? The old woman begins to turn away, covering her mouth with her hand. OLD MAN Spit it out!!! ... Pull your teeth out ... doctor said. What you tryin' to do? SPIT IT OUT!!! The Old Man grabs the Old Woman by the neck and squeezes. Out comes a tangled and sticky ball of hard fruit candies. CUT TO: 5. WASP NEST A thousand wasps hover threateningly in the air around the nest. A SMALL GROUP OF HARDENED CRIMINAL NINE-YEAR OLDS sporting hideous grins, bat the nest violently to and fro with sticks. One kid busies himself shooting a large can of Black Flag garden spray into a crack in the nest. Another stomps half-dead wasps up and down the sidewalk. All the kids are making animal noises of one sort or the other. CUT TO: 6. INT. FORTUNE HOUSE - DAY The telephone rings. MARIETTA PACE FORTUNE, a rich Southern woman around fifty, carries her Martini and Rossi sweet vermouth drink across the livingroom and answers the phone. MARIETTA Hello... Who is this?... CUT TO: 7. INT. PEE DEE COUNTY WORK FARM - DAY A GUARD stands by as SAILOR RIPLEY, twenty-three years old - lost somewhere between the cool long-gone generation and a used-car salesman - speaks on a prisoner phone in a green cement cubicle with one bench. SAILOR (into phone) ...Sailor Ripley... Can I talk to Lula? CUT TO: 6A. INT. FORTUNE HOUSE - DAY MARIETTA There's no way in hell you can speak to her and... CUT TO: 7A. INT. PEE DEE COUNTY WORK FARM - DAY SAILOR (feeling a smile coming on) What?... CUT TO: 6B. INT. FORTUNE HOUSE - DAY MARIETTA ...Yes you heard me... Don't ever call back here again. Marietta hangs up the phone as LULA PACE FORTUNE, Marietta's twenty-year old daughter, comes quickly down the stairs. LULA Mama??? MARIETTA You know who it was and you know you aren't, and I mean ARE NOT gonna see him EVER... End of story. LULA (quietly) Like hell. Marietta, her hand still on the telephone, grips the receiver so hard her knuckles turn white. CUT TO: 8. INT. FORTUNE HOUSE - LULA'S ROOM UPSTAIRS - DAY Lula enters her room and cranks up her stereo. Speed metal music jumps up to around one hundred twenty decibels. CUT TO: 9. INT. PEE DEE COUNTY WORK FARM - DAY The guard escorts Sailor away from the telephone and back to his cell. The iron bars of the door slide across Sailor's face and close with a bang. CUT TO: 10. EXT. THE MUSIC BAR - NIGHT A beat-up, red '64 Ford Falcon station wagon filled with insane TEENAGERS on speed and PCP race out of control down the street past the club - leaning out the car in every direction. They scream out to the desolate-looking passerby. TEENAGERS EAT SHIT MOTHERFUCKERS!!!!!! The camera cranes up to the neon club sign and gets lost among the hot pink neon, the frantic moths and the intense electric buzz. CUT TO: 11. INT. THE MUSIC BAR - NIGHT Lula and her friend, BEANY THORN, sit at a table drinking rum Coca-Colas while watching and listening to a white blues band called THE BLEACH BOYS. The group segues smoothly from Elmore James's "Dust my Broom" into Robert Johnson's "Me and the Devil" and Beany lets out a snort. BEANY I can dig this music... But not that singer. LULA Why?... He's right in the groove. BEANY He's so ugly. Guys with beards and beer guts ain't quite my type. LULA (giggles) Seein's how you're about as thick as a used string of unwaxed dental floss, don't know how you can criticize. BEANY Yeah, well, if he says that all that flab turns into dick at midnight, he's a liar. Lula and Beany laugh and swallow some of their drinks. BEANY So, Sailor's gettin' out soon, and you're gonna see him? Lula nods and crushes an ice cube with her back teeth and chews it. LULA Meetin' him at the gate. That phone call this afternoon was the signal. My deranged mama's hid the keys to my car. But of course, I know exactly where they are. BEANY I didn't hate me so much, I'd feel better wishin' you luck. LULA Can't all husbands be perfect, and your Elmo prob'ly wouldn'ta ever got that second one pregnant, you hadn't kicked his ass out. BEANY So you're gonna be needin' the "blue-bird" pretty soon? LULA Real soon ... I'll be makin' the swap tomorrow, and thanks again, Beany. The Bleach Boys kick into some kind of Professor Longhair swamp mambo. CUT TO: 12. EXT. BAY ST. CLEMENT - DAY Plumes of smoke from fires rise in the distance. DISSOLVE TO: 13. INT. FORTUNE HOUSE - DAY An empty livingroom. The smoke from the city fire appears during the course of the DISSOLVE to be in the livingroom - then it disappears. An empty hallway. An empty stairway. 13A. INT. FORTUNE HOUSE - MARIETTA'S BEDROOM - DAY Feet (Lula's) was across carpet. A closet door opens. A hand (Lula's) reaches into the pocket of a coat in her mother's closet. The hand comes out clutching car keys. 13B. INT. FORTUNE HOUSE - STAIRWAY - DAY Lula races down the stairs and through a door into the garage. CUT TO: 14. EXT. FORTUNE HOUSE - DAY The electronic garage door opens and Lula drives her '80 Black Camaro out and away. The garage door closes automatically. CUT TO: 15. EXT. CITY STREETS - DAY Lula drives fast up a neighborhood street. She turns a corner and disappears. CUT TO: 16. INT. BEANY THORN'S GARAGE - DAY Lula throws her car keys under the front seat and goes around to Beany's '67 dark blue Thunderbird convertible - fishes around under the T-Bird's front seat for the keys - finds them - jumps in and takes off. DISSOLVE TO: 17. EXT. FORTUNE HOUSE - DAY Marietta leaves her Cadillac Seville in her driveway and enters the house. We can hear her calling out for Lula in the distance. The calling changes - it becomes angry. The garage door opens and Marietta comes storming out. She leaps in her Caddy and peels out. CUT TO: 18. INT. "SOUTHERN TIME" BAR - DAY Marietta enters the bar on the run. She calls out to the BARTENDER... MARIETTA Where's Johnnie? He's not in his office. BARTENDER Haven't seen 'im yet today, Marietta. MARIETTA (slightly hysterical) Well I gotta find him - right this minute! CUT TO: 19. EXT. PEE DEE COUNTY WORK FARM - DAY Sailor is waiting out front as Lula pulls up in her T-Bird - throwing out a cloud of dust. They're both smiling. LULA Hey baby... SAILOR Peanut... They kiss tenderly and then Sailor walks around the car to get in while Lula opens up a suitcase and gets out his snakeskin jacket. SAILOR Hey, my snakeskin jacket... Thanks, baby... Did I ever tell you that this here jacket for me is a symbol of my individuality and my belief in personal freedom? LULA 'Bout fifty thousand times. I got us a room at the Cape Fear, and guess what?... I hear Powermad's at "The Hurricane." SAILOR (smiling) Stab it and steer. Lula tromps it and throws out an even larger cloud of dust. CUT TO: 20. INT. CAPE FEAR HOTEL - DAY Sailor and Lula lay on the bed in the Cape Fear Hotel listening to the fan creak. LULA Did you ever think somethin' like about the wicked witch of the east comin' flyin' in?... Did you ever think somethin' and then later think you've said it out loud to someone? SAILOR I really did miss your mind while I was out at Pee Dee, honey. The rest of you, too, of course. But the way your head works is God's own private mystery. What was it you was thinkin'? LULA Well, I was thinkin' about smokin' actually... My mama smokes Marlboros now, used to be she smoked Kools? I stole 'em from her beginnin' in about sixth grade. When I got old enough to buy my own, I bought those. Now I've just about settled on Mores, as you probably noticed? They're longer. SAILOR I guess I started smokin' when I was about six... My mama was already dead from lung cancer... LULA What brand'd she smoke? SAILOR Camels, same as me... Guess both my mama and my daddy died of smoke or alcohol related illness. LULA Gee, Sailor. I'm sorry, honey. I never would have guessed it. SAILOR It's okay. I hardly used to see them anyway. I didn't have much parental guiding. The public defender kept sayin' that at my parole hearin'. He was a good ol' boy, stood by me... Even brought me some cartons of cigarettes from time to time. LULA I'd stand by you, Sailor ... through anything. SAILOR Hell, peanut, you stuck with me after I planted Bob Ray Lemon. A man can't ask for more than that. Lula pulls Sailor over to her and kisses him soft on the mouth. LULA You move me, Sailor, you really do. You mark me the deepest. Sailor pulls down the sheet, exposing Lula's breasts. SAILOR You're perfect for me, too. LULA You remind me of my daddy, you know? Mama told me he liked skinny women whose breasts were just a bit too big for their bodies. He had a long nose, too, like theirs. Did I ever tell you how he died? SAILOR In a fire, as I recall. LULA Started he couldn't remember things? Got real violent? Mama kept tellin' me it was on account of lead poisoning from cleanin' the old paint off our house without usin' a mask... But I don't know. Seems like his brain just fell apart in pieces. CUT TO: 21. INT. FORTUNE HOUSE - KITCHEN - NIGHT CLYDE FORTUNE tears a door off the kitchen cabinets and strews the cabinet contents all across the counter and floor. He puts his fist through the kitchen window. He leaps on the counter and bats the kitchen ceiling light - smashing it. He kicks over the refrigerator. CLYDE FUCKIN' BITCH!!!! CUT TO: 22. INT. CAPE FEAR HOTEL - DAY Lula's eyes look off, remembering. LULA Finally in the middle of the one night, with me and mama asleep upstairs ... he poured kerosene over himself and lit a match. CUT TO: 23. INT. FORTUNE HOUSE - LIVINGROOM - NIGHT Clyde Fortune, completely engulfed in fire, races across and back the livingroom until he collapses in a fifties modern armchair. The drapes behind him burst in flames. LULA (voice-over) Near burned down the house. We got out just in time. The whole livingroom goes up in flames. CUT TO: 24. INT. CAPE FEAR HOTEL - DAY CU the red hot ash of Lula's cigarette as she inhales deeply. As she exhales a cloud of smoke she turns to Sailor. LULA It was a year before I met you. Sailor takes the cigarette out of Lula's hand and puts it into the ashtray by her bed. He pulls her to him and kisses her throat. SAILOR You have such a pretty, long neck, like a swan. LULA Grandmama Pace had a long, smooth white neck. It was like on a statue it was so white? Sailor drifts his thumb over Lula's left nipple then cups her breast in his hand. They kiss. CUT TO: 25. INT. FORTUNE HOUSE - DAY Marietta pours JOHNNIE FARRAGUT another shot of scotch. MARIETTA I knew this would happen. Soon as that piece of filth got out of Pee Dee, I knew there'd be trouble. He's just got some kind of influence over her I can't decipher. There's somethin' wild in Lula I don't know where it comes from. You gotta find 'em, Johnnie. JOHNNIE He served his time for what he did. Another thing... If Lula went with him of her own volition - willingly, that is - there ain't much can be done about it. MARIETTA Don't talk down to me, Johnnie Farragut. I know what volition means, and that's why I want Sailor Ripley off the planet! He's pure slime and it's leakin' all over my baby. Maybe you could push him into makin' some kinda move and then kill him dead. You'd only be defendin' yourself, and with his record, nobody'd fuss. Johnnie pours himself another tumblerful of Walker Black Label. JOHNNIE I'll locate Lula, Marietta, and if she's with the Ripley boy, I'll give him a talkin' to and try to convince her to come back with me. That's about all I can do. He takes a long swallow from the tumbler. Marietta begins to cry. She blubbers for a few seconds, and then stops as abruptly as she'd started. Her grey eyes glaze over. MARIETTA I'll hire a hit man if you don't want to help me stop this thing. I'll call Marcello Santos. JOHNNIE Now, Marietta, I am goin' to help you. And don't be gettin' carried away. You don't want to be bringin' Santos and his people into it. MARIETTA You're just jealous of Santos cause he's sweet on me. JOHNNIE Darlin', you ain't seein' Santos again, are ya? MARIETTA Oh, Johnnie Farragut... Don't you trust your very own Marietta? JOHNNIE Sorry, sweetheart. Bein' in love with you like I am brings out that ugly jealous side. MARIETTA Well stop worryin' about me and start worryin' about how you're gonna get that Lula back here and away from that murderer. JOHNNIE Sailor ain't a murderer. You got to get off that kick. And far's I can tell, Sailor was entire clean prior to that involvin' Lula. Even there he was protectin' her. You oughta be thankin' him for that. That Bob Ray Lemon they say was comin' after the both of 'em. Why am I tellin' you this, you was around that night. You ought to know just exactly what happened. Sailor just got a little too forceful is all... You remember that night... CU of Marietta' eyes as she thinks back. CUT TO: 26. INT. BAY ST. CLEMENT HOTEL - BALLROOM - NIGHT We see Marietta standing in a carpeted hallway above the ballroom. Dance band music can be heard in the distance. Sailor appears coming up the hallway - slightly drunk - he carefully sets his drink on the carpet outside the MEN'S ROOM. Marietta's POV of Sailor entering the MEN'S ROOM. CU of Marietta's glazed eyes and smiling face. Marietta's POV of walking toward MEN'S ROOM. CUT TO: 27. INT. FORTUNE HOUSE - DAY MARIETTA Maybe I was there, but I didn't see anythin'. All I know's that trash killed a man with his bare hands. Hands which are now prob'ly all over my baby! JOHNNIE Marietta, settle down now darlin'... I want what's best for her, too - Like I said, I'll do what I can to bring her home. CUT TO: 28. INT. CAPE FEAR HOTEL - DAY Lula is standing in the bathroom of their room at the Hotel fooling with her hair in front of the mirror. Sailor can see her through the doorway from where he lays on the bed. LULA Sailor, you are somethin' else, honey... When I was fifteen, Mama told me that pretty soon I'd be startin' to think about sex, and I should talk to her before I did anything about it. SAILOR But honey, I thought you told me your Uncle Pooch raped you when you was thirteen. LULA That's true. Uncle Pooch wasn't really an uncle. He was a business partner of my daddy's? And my mama never knew nothin' about me and him - that's for damn sure. His real name was somethin' kind of European, like Pucinski. But everyone just called him Pooch. He came around the house sometimes when Daddy was away. I always figured he was sweet on mama, so when he cornered me one afternoon, I was surprised more'n a little. SAILOR How'd it happen, peanut? He just pull out the old toad and let it croak? Lula brushes away her bangs and frowns. She takes a cigarette from the pack on the sink and lights it, then lets it dangle from her lips while she teases her hair. LULA You're terrible crude sometimes, Sailor, you know? SAILOR I can't hardly understand you when you talk with one of them Mores in your mouth. Lula takes a long, slow drag on her More and sets it down on the edge of the sink. LULA I said you can be too crude sometimes? I don't think I care for it. SAILOR Sorry, sugar. Go on and tell me how old Pooch done the deed. LULA Well, mama was at the Busy Bee havin' her hair dyed? And I was alone in the house. CUT TO: 29. INT. FORTUNE HOUSE - KITCHEN - DAY We see what she talks about. LULA (voice-over) Uncle Pooch came in the side door through the porch, you know? Where I was makin' a jelly and banana sandwich? I remember I had my hair in curlers cause I was goin' that night with Vicki and Cherry Ann, the DeSoto sisters. Uncle Pooch must have known nobody but me was home, cause he came right in and put both his hands on my butt and sorta shoved me up against the counter. CUT TO: 30. INT. CAPE FEAR HOTEL - DAY SAILOR Didn't he say somethin'? Lula shakes her head. She picks up her cigarette, takes a puff and throws it into the toilet. ECU of cigarette in toilet. LULA Not really. Least not so I recall now. Lula flushes the toilet and watches the More come apart as it swirls down the hole. ECU of cigarette coming apart as it swirls. SAILOR So how'd he finally nail you? Right there in the kitchen? LULA No, he picked me up. CUT TO: 31. INT. FORTUNE HOUSE - KITCHEN/MAID'S ROOM - DAY We see what she talks about. LULA (voice-over) He was short but powerful. With hairy arms? Anyway, he carried me into the maid's dayroom which nobody used. We did it there on an old bed. CUT TO: 32. INT. CAPE FEAR HOTEL - DAY SAILOR ‘We' did it? Whattaya mean? Didn't he force you? LULA Well, sure. But he was super-gentle, you know? I mean, he raped me and all, but I guess there's all different kinds of rapes. I didn't exactly want him to do it but I suppose once it started, it didn't seem all that terrible. It was over pretty quick, and after Uncle Pooch just stood there and pulled up his trousers and left me there. I stayed in bed till I heard him drive off. Then I just went back into the kitchen and finished makin' my sandwich. SAILOR And you never told nobody about it? LULA Just you. Uncle Pooch never acted strange or different after. And he never did anything else to me. I always got a nice present from him at Christmas, like a coat or jewelry? (pause) CUT TO: 33. TWO LANE HIGHWAY - DAY One hundred twenty decibels - head on collision of a '54 Ford Pick-Up and a '64 Chevy Station Wagon. No survivors. Balls of flame and grinding metal. CUT TO: 34. INT. CAPE FEAR HOTEL - DAY LULA Uncle Pooch died in a car crash three years later while he was holidayin' in Myrtle Beach. They still got way too much traffic there for my taste... And another thing, baby... That government of ours should be keepin' us separated from outer space... SAILOR Here she goes again... LULA Sailor, that ozone layer is disappearin'. Seems to me the government could do somethin' about it. One of these mornings the sun'll come up and burn a hole clean through the planet like an X-Ray. Lula strikes a match and lights another cigarette. SAILOR (laughs) That ain't never will happen, honey. Least not in our lifetime. Somewhere in the hotel a woman laughs. It is a kind of wild, crazy laugh, and for the few seconds it lasts, Lula's face goes pale. SAILOR You okay, honey? LULA That woman's laugh creeps me out. I heard somethin' like that... somewhere before... Sound'd like the wicked witch... SAILOR Just sounded like an old gal havin' a good time to me... You ready to dance? LULA I'm always ready to dance. But I need me a kiss first, honey. Just one? Lula and Sailor kiss. In the middle of the kiss, the woman's creepy/crazy laugh is heard again in the distance and Lula's eyes snap open with a kind of fear. CUT TO: 35. EXT. FORTUNE HOUSE - BACKYARD - LATE AFTERNOON/EVENING Marietta is escorting MARCELLO SANTOS and two stiff drinks to a table in her backyard. SANTOS I knew you'd want it again... MARIETTA That's not why I called. SANTOS Oh yeah - sure ... okay. MARIETTA Santos... It isn't. SANTOS Have it your way... But you want it. MARIETTA Lula's gone off with Sailor. SANTOS What do you want me to do about it? MARIETTA I want you to take care of Sailor, so he won't ever be able to bother my baby again. SANTOS Take care of him? MARIETTA Yes. SANTOS What does take care of him mean?... Do you want me to give him food or some clothing? MARIETTA What's with you?... You know what take care of him means. I don't call Santos except for one big reason. SANTOS Big is the key word, and I'm telling you I want it bad. MARIETTA I want you to get rid of Sailor. SANTOS Get rid of him? MARIETTA Yes... Get rid of him. SANTOS How would I do that? Send him on a trip - like maybe to Hawaii? MARIETTA Santos, why in hell do you insist on playin' this stupid game? SANTOS Just tell me what you want. MARIETTA I don't need to explain anymore'n I have... You know damn well. SANTOS You need to explain it. MARIETTA All right... I want you ... to ... kill ... Sailor... As simple as that. SANTOS Simple? Kill him?... How? MARIETTA That's your business... I don't care how. SANTOS Like an accident where maybe Lula might also get hurt? MARIETTA NO... For God's sakes, Santos! SANTOS Well, like kill him with the atomic bomb? MARIETTA Santos... SANTOS Explain it... I told you. MARIETTA Shoot him. SANTOS Shoot him? Like with a gun? MARIETTA Yes. SANTOS Where?... In the leg? MARIETTA No. SANTOS Where? MARIETTA In the head. SANTOS Shoot Sailor in the head with a gun... Now I'm beginning to get it... You want me to shoot Sailor in the head with a gun. MARIETTA Yes. SANTOS But where in the head?... Not the chin, I hope. MARIETTA No... In the brains... What little I'm sure he has. SANTOS You want me to shoot Sailor in the brains with a gun. MARIETTA Yes. SANTOS Through the forehead? MARIETTA Yes. SANTOS Wrong! It's much better to blow a hole in the back of the head ... right toward the bridge of the nose ... Lots and lots of irreparable damage. MARIETTA See! I knew you had it all under control. SANTOS Why didn't you send Johnnie Farragut? MARIETTA Maybe I did... Try New Orleans first... Lula can't ever stop talkin' 'bout that town. SANTOS On one condition... He pauses and smiles strangely. SANTOS You give me your permission to kill Johnnie Farragut. MARIETTA (whisper) Santos... No... Please, Santos... SANTOS You're not tellin' me that you're sweet on him? MARIETTA No... But... SANTOS One day he's gonna find out what we're up to with Mr. Reindeer, and he could cause us a lot of trouble. They stare at each other for a moment. SANTOS I'm gonna take your silence as a "yes"... MARIETTA Santos... I can't... SANTOS Shhhh... It's all right... Also, I either take you or that pretty daughter of yours to bed. MARIETTA You fucker, don't you ever touch Lula - You fucker, I'll kill you. SANTOS (laughing) Put your shoulders back. MARIETTA What? SANTOS Put your shoulders back, I said. Marietta puts her shoulders back and Santos comes and stands in front of her. SANTOS You got nice tits. MARIETTA Someone's gonna see us. SANTOS (smiling as he starts to feel her breasts) That's just another part of the price to pay. MARIETTA Santos... You kill that Sailor, otherwise he's gonna turn my baby against me. Santos lifts one hand up to Marietta's chin and raises her face up towards his. SANTOS Look at me... There's no turning back on this... I'm gonna kill Sailor... That's for sure. CUT TO: 36. INT. "THE HURRICANE" - A SPEED METAL CLUB - NIGHT We see the sign which has all the letters tipped way over to the right - as if in a hurricane. Two leaning palm trees border the sign. One hundred decibels of speed metal. We see the name "Powermad" on the bass drum. The BAND segues into "Slaughter House" and it's a hot one. Sailor grabs Lula and they start dancing like two jacked-up spastics in an electrical storm. a few PUNKS actually stop dancing to watch Sailor and Lula. They thought they'd seen everything. CU of Lula and Sailor - they're in love and dancing hot. An IDIOT PUNK moves close to Lula and rubs up against her as he dances by. Sailor turns to the lead guitar player and signals him to stop the music immediately. Suddenly everything is deathly quiet. Sailor gives the man a fully extended "Reno point"... SAILOR Are you going to provide me with an opportunity to prove my love to my girl? Or are you gonna save youself some trouble and step up like a gentleman and apologize to her? IDIOT PUNK Don't fuck with me, man. You look like a clown in that stupid jacket. SAILOR This is a snakeskin jacket, and for me it's a symbol of my individuality and my belief in personal freedom. IDIOT PUNK ...Asshole. SAILOR (as he moves toward the Idiot Punk) Come here. LULA Sailor, honey... The Idiot Punk tries to hit Sailor, but Sailor slaps him so hard his knees almost bend backwards. The Idiot Punk goes down - fighting back tears and holding his cheek. SAILOR (helping him up) I'm sorry to do this to ya here in front of a crowd, but I want ya to stand up and make a nice apology to my girl. IDIOT PUNK (to Lula) I'm sorry. LULA Hell, you just rubbed up against the wrong girl is all. SAILOR That's good... Now go get yourself a beer. (turning to the band) You fellas have alotta the same power Elvis had... Y'all know this one?... Sailor starts to sing an Elvis Presley song, "Love Me." As the band joins in with a perfect back-up - Sailor sings to Lula. The Speed Metal crowd is mesmerized. DISSOLVE TO: 37. INT. CAPE FEAR HOTEL - NIGHT CU of pink - the whole screen is filled with pink nylon. Panning down, we see Lula's breasts, which stand up and say "hello." Lula puts on her favorite pink shortie nightgown. LULA Why didn't ya sing "Love Me Tender"? ... You told me that was your favorite love song. Sailor turns around from his sprawled on the bed position watching The Dating Game show. SAILOR 'Cause I'm only gonna sing that song to my wife. Lula makes a face. She lies down on the bed next to Sailor. LULA What you want to watch this trash for? Ain't one of those people have a real thought in their brain. SAILOR That so? (keeping his gaze on the TV) You want to tell me what, if any, real thoughts you had lately? LULA What you have to get personal about so quick? All I mean is you could possibly read a book. Sailor grunts. LULA What's that honey? SAILOR We didn't have no TV up at Pee Dee, baby, you know? Lula slides her head up and kisses Sailor on the cheek. LULA I'm sorry, sweetie. I forget some moments where all you been the last two years. SAILOR Twenty-three months, eighteen days is all. Don't need to make more'n it was. (referring to Dating Game show) This couple's goin' on a date to Hawaii. The girl chose him over the other two guys. LULA Don't the reject guys get anythin'? SAILOR Gift certificates to Kentucky Fried Chicken. LULA That don't seem fair. SAILOR Hell, why should the Datin' Game be different from real life? At least them boys is gonna get somethin' to eat. LATER - IN THE DARK Sailor and Lula are in bed. Lula lays in Sailor's arms. LULA Sailor? SAILOR Yeah? LULA Wouldn't it be fabulous if we somehow stayed in love for the rest of our lives? SAILOR (laughing) You think of the weirdest damn things to say sometimes, peanut. Ain't we been doin' a pretty fair job this far? LULA Oh, you know exactly what I mean, honey? It'd make the future so simple and nice. SAILOR At Pee Dee, all you think about is the future, you know? Gettin' out? And what you'll do and what you'll think about when you're on the outside again. LULA I just think about things as they come up. I never been much of a planner. SAILOR It ain't altogether terrible just to let things go along sometimes. Lula, I done a few things in my life I ain't too proud of, but I'll tell ya from now on I ain't gonna do nothin' for no good reason. All I know for sure is there's more'n a few bad ideas runnin' around loose out there. ECU of match girding along the strike pad and bursting into flame. Lula lights her cigarette. LULA You know there's somethin' I ain't never told you about, Sailor, and this here's a story with the lesson that there's a right time and a wrong time for things to happen... When I was almost sixteen I got pregnant. Sailor looks her in the eyes. SAILOR Musta been a lesson tellin' ya it was the wrong time... What did you do, your mama find out? LULA (nods) She got me an abortion... CUT TO: 38. INT. ABORTION CLINIC - MIAMI - DAY ECU of dying fetus with one hundred twenty decibels Lula's scream over. The fetus twitches in its little pod of blood. ECU of pulsing vein in Lula's neck - LOUD VIOLENT HEARTBEAT SOUND - LIKE A DOUBLE-PEDALED KICK BASS DRUM. ECU of Lula's forehead covered in sweat running down to her eyes - open wide and WILD. ECU of fetus into medical trash can. ECU of bloodied abortion instruments. The DOCTOR leans across the abortion table. LULA (voice-over) ...from some old doctor with the hairiest nostrils and ears I ever seen. ECU of doctor's nose and ears ... HAIR! LULA (voice-over) Afterwards... Momma says... We see Marietta standing next to the doctor. LULA (voice-over) ...I hope you appreciate my spendin' six hundred dollars, not countin' what it cost us to get here and back... This man's the best damn abortionist in the South. CUT TO: 39. INT. CAPE FEAR MOTEL - NIGHT SAILOR You tell the boy who knocked you up? LULA It was my cousin, Dell, done it? His folks used to visit with us summers. SAILOR What happened to him? LULA Oh, nothin'. I never let on to mama about Dell bein' the one. I just flat refused to tell her who the daddy was? I didn't tell Dell, neither. He was back home in Chattanooga by then, anyhow, and I didn't see the point. Somethin' terrible happened to him, though. Six months ago. SAILOR What's that, peanut? LULA Dell disappeared. Dell was learnin' a hard lesson. What I learned from observin' Dell is I think people who are frightened want to disappear. He'd startin' behavin' weird? Like comin' up to people every fifteen minutes and askin' how they were doin'? CUT TO: 40. EXT. CITY STREET - CHATTANOOGA - DAY DELL, wearing a soiled double-knit suit stops a LADY in the street, and smiling about the fact that earlier that morning he's placed a cockroach on his anus, he speaks to the woman. DELL How're ya doin'? CUT TO: 41. INT. CAPE FEAR HOTEL - NIGHT LULA And just seemin' real spacey and actin' funny. SAILOR Actin' funny how? LULA Well, like mama told me, Aunt Rootie, Dell's mama? She found cockroaches in Dell's underwear. CUT TO: 42. INT. AUNT ROOTIE'S HOUSE CU of Aunt Rootie - unfolds a pair of dirty jockey shorts and several cockroaches fall out. CUT TO: 43. INT. CAPE FEAR HOTEL - NIGHT LULA One time, Aunt Rootie caught Dell puttin' one big cockroach on his anus? SAILOR Hell, peanut... LULA One time - real late - like about two thirty a.m.? She found Dell up in the black of night all dressed and makin' sandwiches in the kitchen. CUT TO: 44. AUNT ROOTIE'S HOUSE - KITCHEN - NIGHT In the dark kitchen, AUNT ROOTIE finds Dell making sandwiches - slicing them on the diagonal. AUNT ROOTIE What're ya doin'? DELL Makin' my lunch!!! LULA (voice-over) Dell told her he was makin' his lunch and goin' to work. He's a welder? And she made him go back to bed. We see Aunt Rootie cross the kitchen - take the knife away from Dell and lead him out of the kitchen. CUT TO: 45. INT. CAPE FEAR HOTEL - NIGHT LULA Then he'd carry on about the weather? Talk about how rainfall's controlled by aliens livin' on earth. Also how men wearin' black leather gloves... CUT TO: 46. INT. AUNT ROOTIE'S HOUSE - DELL'S ROOM - NIGHT Dell, crying uncontrollably, is in the center of the room squatting like an indian in his jockey shorts. He has a long ruler stretched out in front of him which he's using to press down on the top of a lone black glove on the floor. LULA (voice-over) ...are followin' him around. SAILOR Prob'ly the rain boys from Outer Space. CUT TO: 47. INT. CAPE FEAR HOTEL - NIGHT LULA It ain't so funny now, though. December before Christmas? Dell disappeared again and Aunt Rootie hired a private eye to find him. He was missin' for almost a month before he wandered back in the house on mornin' dressed in some filthy Santa Claus suit. 48A. EXT. AUNT ROOTIE'S HOUSE - DAY Dell walking to house. CUT TO: 48. INT. AUNT ROOTIE'S HOUSE - DAY Dell enters the front door in a Santa Claus suit so filthy you can hardly see the red through the black. He walks right past Aunt Rootie and goes back into the kitchen. There he immediately does a spread- eagle on the floor and violently scratches his left ankle. LULA (voice-over) The private eye cost Aunt Rootie over a thousand dollars? Then a little while later Dell ran off a third time to some place he said would "give him peace of mind." Nobody's seen him since. CUT TO: 49. INT. CAPE FEAR HOTEL - NIGHT SAILOR Sound like ol' Dell's more'n just a little confused, peanut... Too bad he couldn't visit that ol' Wizard of Oz and get some good advice. LULA Too bad we all can't, baby... One thing about Dell? SAILOR What's that? LULA When he was about seventeen, he startin' losin' his hair. SAILOR So? LULA He's twenty-four now? A year older than you? And must be 'bout bald. SAILOR There's worse things that can happen to a man, honey. LULA Yeah, I suppose. But you know somethin' baby, hair does make a difference. Lula turns to study Sailor. LULA I sure am glad they didn't give you no prison haircut... (sexual whisper) Gives me somethin' to grab hold of while we're makin' love? They kiss passionately. DISSOLVE TO: 50. INT. CAPE FEAR HOTEL - NIGHT Sailor gets up from the bed and begins putting on his clothes. Lula is painting her toenails red. SAILOR Let's go dancin', peanut. I'm ready. LULA We gotta be careful, honey, my mama's gonna have Johnnie Farragut on us like a duck on a june bug, and he's one clever detective? You know how clever? He once told me that he could find an honest man in Washington. My toenails gotta dry first anyways, Sailor. SAILOR One thing puzzles my mind, sugar... You're twenty years old - aren't you ever curious why your mama has this fixation on keepin' us apart? Puttin' a detective on us. I'll tell ya Lula... Well... It's more'n me killin' Bob Ray Lemon... LULA Maybe my mama cares for me just a little too much... SAILOR Yeah, maybe... Sailor's eyes seem to be thinking back... CUT TO: 51. INT. BAY ST. CLEMENT HOTEL - HALLWAY ABOVE BALLROOM - NIGHT We see an empty carpeted hallway and can hear a ballroom dance band playing in the distance. Sailor obviously slightly drunk, comes down the hall. He carefully, almost losing his balance, places his drink outside the MEN'S ROOM and enters. Marietta standing down at the other end of the hall - also drunk - smiles and stares at the MEN'S ROOM door through her glazed eyes. Sailor enters the MEN'S ROOM. CUT TO: 52. INT. MEN'S ROOM - BAY ST. CLEMENT HOTEL - NIGHT Sailor steps up to a urinal and starts doing his business. Marietta suddenly appears - drunk and laughing. She grabs him and pulls him into a stall - closing and locking the door behind them. MARIETTA Hey, Sailor boy, you wanna fuck Lula's mama?... SAILOR No. MARIETTA Well, she wants to fuck you. She starts trying to French kiss Sailor when an OLD MAN comes in to urinate and Sailor and Marietta freeze - in a kiss. Sailor is going crazy in one way (wishing this wasn't happening.) Marietta is going crazy in another. The man finishes and as he leaves... OLD MAN (covering his eyes from seeing them) Lousy fuckin' homosexuals... SAILOR (instantly pulling away from Marietta) What are you, sick?... I'm with Lula. MARIETTA No... I just wanted to kiss you good-bye... You know too much 'bout little Lula's mom... SAILOR Whattya mean? MARIETTA Well, Johnnie told me you used to drive for Clyde and Santos... SAILOR So? MARIETTA So maybe one night you got a little too close to the fire... And you're gonna get burned, baby... And besides that, you're shit... D'you think I'd let my little girl go with shit like you?... Why, you belong right here in one of these toilets. SAILOR You're gonna have to kill me to keep me away from Lula. MARIETTA Oh, don't worry 'bout that... CUT TO: INT. CAPE FEAR HOTEL - NIGHT SAILOR It's a prob'lm I don't think's gonna go away too soon though... Peanut, I'm thinkin' of breakin' parole and takin' you out to sunny California. LULA Sailor! SAILOR You up for that? LULA I'd got to the far end of the world for you, baby... You know I would. SAILOR Those toenails dry yet? We got some dancin' to do. We drift down Lula's long white legs to her blood red toenails. CUT TO: 54. INT. "THE HURRICANE BAR" - NIGHT CU of Lula's dancing feet in black spiked-heel sandals exposing blurred blood red toenails. Lula and Sailor are at it again - dancing as if plugged in to the main power plant. DISSOLVE TO: 55. INT. BAR - BACK OF "THE HURRICANE" - NIGHT Drenched in sweat, Sailor and Lula sit at a corner table chug-a-lugging "Rolling Rock" during the band's break. Lula notices a girl in the corner eye-balling Sailor. She splits her attention between the girl and Sailor. LULA ...That's an awful long way to go, just to get some pussy. SAILOR Yeah, I had my first taste on that trip to Juarez. At that age you still got a lot of energy. LULA You still got plenty energy for me, baby. Lula has had enough of the girl staring at Sailor. LULA Take a picture, bitch... It'll last longer. GIRL Oh yeah? LULA I'll slap those eyes right outta your head. The girl gets up in a huff and leaves. LULA Sorry, baby... When's the first time you done it with a girl who wasn't hookin'? SAILOR Maybe two, three months after Juarez. I was visitin' my cousin, Junior Train, in Savannah, and we were at some kid's house whose parents were out of town. A girl comes up to me that was real tall, taller than me. CUT TO: 56. INT. JUNIOR TRAIN'S FRIEND'S HOUSE - KITCHEN - SAVANNAH We see what he talks about. SAILOR (voice-over) She looked right at me and run her tongue over her lips and put her hand on my arm - told me her name was Irma. CUT TO: 57. INT. BAR - BACK OF "THE HURRICANE" - NIGHT LULA What'd you say to her? SAILOR Told her my name. Then she said somethin' like, ‘It's so noisy down here. Why don't we go upstairs so we can hear ourselves?' She turned around and led the way. I knew I had an important lesson to learn that day. CUT TO: 58. INT. JUNIOR TRAIN'S FRIEND'S HOUSE - STAIRWAY - NIGHT We see what he talks about. SAILOR (voice-over) When she got almost to the top step I stuck my hand between her legs from behind. CUT TO: 59. INT. BAR - BACK OF "THE HURRICANE" - NIGHT LULA Oh, baby. What a bad boy you are! SAILOR (laughing) That's just what she said. I had a boner with a capital "O." I went to kiss her but she broke off laughin' and ran down the hallway. I found her lyin' on a bed in a room filled with assault weapons and Penthouse magazines. She was a wild chick. She was wearin' bright orange pants with kind of Spanish lookin' lacy black stripes down the sides. You know, them kind that doesn't go all the way down your leg? LULA You mean like pedal pushers? SAILOR I guess. CUT TO: 60. INT. JUNIOR TRAIN'S FRIEND'S HOUSE - BEDROOM NIGHT We see what he talks about. SAILOR (voice-over) She just rolled over onto her stomach and stuck her ass up in the air. I slid my hand between her legs and she closed her thighs on it. CUT TO: 61. INT. BAR - BACK OF "THE HURRICANE" - NIGHT LULA You're excitin' me, honey. What'd she do? SAILOR Her face was half-pushed into the pillow, and she looked back over her shoulder at me and said, ‘I won't suck you. Don't ask me to suck you.' LULA Poor baby. She don't know what she missed. What color hair she have? SAILOR Sorta brown, blonde, I guess. But dig this, sweetie. Then she turns over, peels off them orange pants, and spreads her legs real wide and says to me... CUT TO: 62. INT. JUNIOR TRAIN'S FRIEND'S HOUSE - BEDROOM - NIGHT IRMA (her smiling face) Take a bite of peach. CUT TO: 63. INT. BAR - BACK OF "THE HURRICANE" - NIGHT LULA (howls) Jesus, honey! You more'n sorta got what you come for... You better rum me back to the hotel, baby... You got me hotter'n Georgia asphalt. SAILOR Say no more... But go easy on me, sweetheart... Tomorrow we got alotta drivin' to do. (he takes out a cigarette and laughs) Hotter'n Georgia asphalt? ECU of match striking and bursting into flames. WHITE OUT: CUT TO: 64. INT. THUNDERBIRD CONVERTIBLE - DAY Sailor is at the wheel of the dark blue '67 Thunderbird convertible. They are flying down a two-lane Southern highway. LULA I'll drop mama a postcard from somewhere. I mean, I don't want her to worry no more'n necessary. SAILOR What do you mean by necessary? She's prob'ly already called the cops, my parole officer, her p.i. boyfriend Johnnie Farragut. LULA I suppose so. She knew I was bound to see you soon as you was sprung, but I don't figure she counted on us takin' off together like this... I guess this means you're breakin' parole, then? SAILOR You guess? My parole was broke two hundred miles back when we burnt Portagee County. LULA What'll it be like in California, Sailor, do you think? I hear it don't rain much there. SAILOR You got about six more big states to go before we find out. LULA We got through two states already. Lula lights up a cigarette. SAILOR That don't smell like a More. LULA It ain't. It's part of the lessons of life. I picked me up a pack of Vantages before we left the Cape? SAILOR They sure do stink. LULA Yeah, I guess, but - and here's the lesson part - they ain't supposed to be so bad for you. SAILOR You ain't gonna begin worryin' about what's bad for you at this hour, are you, sugar? I mean, here you are crossin' state lines with a A- Number One certified murderer. LULA Manslaughterer, honey, not murderer. Don't exaggerate. SAILOR Okay, manslaughterer who's broke his parole and got in mind nothin' but immoral purposes far's you're concerned. LULA Thank the Lord. Well, you ain't let me down yet, Sailor. That's more'n I can say for the rest of the world? Sailor laughs and shoots the T-Bird up to seventy. SAILOR You please me, too, peanut. CUT TO: 65. INT. JOHNNIE FARRAGUT'S '69 MAROON BUICK - DAY Johnnie Farragut drives down a Southern highway on his mission. DISSOLVE TO: 66. INT. THUNDERBIRD - DAY SAILOR Life is a bitch and then you marry one. LULA What kinda trash talk is that? SAILOR (laughs) What it says on the bumper sticker up front. On that pickup. LULA That's disgustin'. Those kinda sentiments shouldn't be allowed out in public. Is this Biloxi yet? SAILOR Almost. I figure we should find us a place to stay and then go eat. LULA Got anyplace special in mind? SAILOR We oughta stay somewhere outta the way. Not in no Holidays or Ramadas or Motel Six. If Johnnie Farragut's on our trail he'll check those first. 66A. EXT. THUNDERBIRD/EXT. THE HOST OF THE OLD SOUTH HOTEL - DAY They pass the Biloxi City Limit sign. LULA How about that one? The Host of the Old South Hotel. SAILOR Looks more like the Ghost of the Old South, but we'll try her. CUT TO: 67. INT. THE HOST OF THE OLD SOUTH HOTEL - EVENING The room is large but cheap. Lula strips off the dishwater grey bedspread and tosses it over by the bureau. Sailor looks out the broken window. LULA I H-A-T-E hotel bedspreads. They don't hardly never get washed, and I don't like the idea of lyin' on other people's dirt. SAILOR Come look at this. LULA (going to the window) What's that, honey? SAILOR (thinking about death) There ain't no water in the swimmin' pool. Just a dead tree fell in, prob'ly from bein' struck by lightnin'. LULA (thinking about granddad) It's huge. This musta been a grand old place at one time. SAILOR Let's get fed, sweetheart. The light's fadin' fast. CUT TO: 68. EXT. ROADSIDE PAYPHONE - NIGHT Marcello Santos is making a phone call. SANTOS Hello there, Mr. Reindeer... Marcello Santos speaking. CUT TO: 69. INT. MR. REINDEER'S POSH NEW ORLEANS RESIDENCE - NIGHT An old man, MR. REINDEER, wearing a tuxedo is sitting on the toilet - his pants down - talking on the bathroom phone. He laughs a long deep smoker's laugh. MR. REINDEER (laughing) Mr. Marcello Santos... Hey there... That was great shit you sent in last month... CUT TO: 68A. EXT. ROADSIDE PAYPHONE - NIGHT SANTOS I gotta problem... In fact, I gotta coupl'a problems... CUT TO: 69A. INT. MR. REINDEER'S POSH NEW ORLEANS RESIDENCE - NIGHT MR. REINDEER (laughs again) Gotta coupl'a problems, huh?... For each problem drop a silver dollar through my mail slot... With all particulars... We'll work out "il conto" later... CUT TO: 70. INT. JOHNNIE FARRAGUT'S MAROON '69 BUICK - NIGHT Johnnie Farragut steers the Buick down the dark highway past a sign which reads, "NEW ORLEANS - 26 MILES". CUT TO: 71. EXT. BEACH - NIGHT Sailor and Lula are walking along the beach. Lula takes off her shoes. LULA (sing-song spells) M-i-ss-i-ss-i-pp-i... You can almost hear that jazz blowin' up from the big N.O. SAILOR Lula... I learned somethin' interestin' today on a science show I heard on the radio... How leeches is comin' back into style. LULA Say what? Honestly, sugar, you can talk more shit sometimes? She takes out a cigarette the length and width of a Dixon Ticonderoga No. 2 pencil and lights it. SAILOR Got you a pack of Mores again, huh? LULA Yeah, it's a real problem for me, Sailor, you know? When I went in that drugstore by the restaurant in Biloxi? I saw 'em by the register and the girl throw 'em in. I'm not big on resistin'. So what about a leech? SAILOR Heard on the radio how doctors is usin' leeches again, just in old times. You know, when even barbers used 'em? LULA (shuddering) I got one on me at Lake Lanier. Lifeguard poured salt on it and it dropped off. Felt awful. He was a cute boy, though, so it was almost worth it. Sailor laughs. SAILOR Yeah, well listen to this... Radio said back in the 1920s a I-talian doctor figured out that if, say, a fella got his nose cut off or bit off in, say, a barfight or somethin', they'd sew one of his forearms to his nose for a few weeks... Then put leeches on it. CUT TO: 71A. CU of MAN with forearm sewed to nose. CUT TO: 72. EXT. BEACH - NIGHT LULA Sailor? You expect me to believe a man'd be goin' around with a arm sewed to his nose? SAILOR (nodding) How they used to do it. Course they got more sophisticated ways now. Radio said the Chinese, I think it is, figured a better idea is by insertin' a balloon in the forehead and lettin' it hand down on the nose. Lula shrieks. LULA Sailor Ripley! You stop! You're makin' this shit up and I ain't gonna sit for it! SAILOR Honest, Lula. I prob'ly ain't precisely got all the facts straight, but it's about what they said. LULA Honey, we're goin' to bed now and it's time to change the subject. She's so cute Sailor just has to kiss her. DISSOLVE TO: 73. INT. THUNDERBIRD - SOUTHERN HIGHWAY - DAY Sailor and Lula pass a sign that reads "NEW ORLEANS - 26 MILES". Sailor pulls off the road into a Gulf gas station mini-mart and stops the car next to a self-serve pump. A sign on the top of it says "PLEASE PAY INSIDE BEFORE FUELING." SAILOR We're about dry bones, sweetheart. We don't wanna have to push this "bird" into New Orleans. LULA We sure don't, honey... (shouting to Sailor as he goes into the store) Get me a Mounds? 74. INT. MINI-MART - DAY A tall OLD BLACK MAN about seventy years old, wearing a torn green Tulane tee-shirt and a dirty orange Saints baseball cap, is filing items on the counter by the cash register. In the pile are four ready-made, plastic-wrapped sandwiches, two tuna salad and two cotto salami; six Twinkies; a package of Chips Ahoy chocolate chip cookies; four Slice colas; two Barq's root beers; and a large package of fried pork rinds, extra salted. BLACK MAN (to Sailor and another guy also waiting to pay for gas) Sorry, gentlemen. I'm 'most finished on my shoppin' here. ERV This be it? BLACK MAN Y'all take American Express? ERV Yessir. BLACK MAN Then lemme throw in a couple more things. Sailor and the man in line behind him watch as the black man gathers up several more packages of Twinkies along with a few cupcakes and half a dozen cans of Pretty Kitty cat food, three liver and three chicken dinner portions, and tosses them on his pile. BLACK MAN (to Sailor, smiling - showing no visible upper teeth) Pussycats gotta eat, too. He hands an American Express card to the clerk, ERV, who runs it through the verifier. The card checks out okay and the old guy prepares a charge slip, has the man sign it, and bags the purchases. BLACK MAN (to Erv) I'd just soon have a paper bag rather than a plastic one, if it's same to you. ERV (shoving the plastic bag he filled towards the black man) We don't have no paper bags. A telephone begins to ring and everyone looks around. The Black Man reaches in his jacket pocket and pulls out a portable phone and punches "send." BLACK MAN (into phone) Hello... Yeah, mama, I'm on my way... (to Sailor and other guy as he picks up his bag and heads out) Thanks for waitin', gentlemen. Everyone is silent as they watch the old Black Man hobble out. SAILOR (to Erv) All I want's ten bucks regular. Oh yeah, and a Mounds bar. Erv takes one off the candy and gum rack next to the register and lays it on the counter. Sailor gives him a twenty dollar bill. SAILOR I ain't got my American Express card with me, so I gotta use cash. Hope that's okay. Sailor smiles, but the clerk keeps a poker face and just gives him his change. The guy in line behind Sailor shakes his head and grins. 75. EXT. MINI MART/THUNDERBIRD - DAY Sailor goes back to the car. LULA That took long enough. You forget my Mounds? Sailor tosses her the candy bar. SAILOR I really do think the country done changed just a little while I was away, peanut. Lula sinks her small white teeth into the chocolate-covered coconut. LULA (as she chews) You got to keep an eye on it. That's sure. Sailor starts pumping gas. CUT TO: 76. INT. MR. REINDEER'S POSH NEW ORLEANS RESIDENCE - DAY CU of mail slot. Two silver dollars comes through it and one falls head up and the other tails on the rug below. CUT TO: 77. INT. MR. REINDEER'S POSH NEW ORLEANS RESIDENCE - DAY Mr. Reindeer is just finishing dialing a number on the telephone. MR. REINDEER A coupl'a silver dollars came my way today... I'm sending one of them to you with a paper on the beneficiary ... As usual, you are completely free to fulfill the obligation in any manner you so desire. He hangs up the phone and starts dialing another number. DISSOLVE TO: 78. INT. THE ROUND ROOM RESTAURANT - NEW ORLEANS - DAY At a table near the window, Johnnie takes a man-sized pull off his Dixie beer in between bites of an oyster sandwich. A large, chocolate-colored man in his early thirties, REGINALD SAN PEDRO SULA, and a smaller white man, DROP SHADOW approach with their trays of food. REGGIE Do you mind if we share this table? ... The others, they are occupied. Johnnie looks around - sees that there are quite a few empty tables - he looks the men over quickly. JOHNNIE (cautiously) Alright... By all means. Make yourselves at home. DROP SHADOW (as he sits down) Muchas gracias. REGGIE My name is Reginald San Pedro Sula. But please do call me Reggie. This is my friend, who we call Drop Shadow. He is always with me. Johnnie wipes off his right hand on his napkin and shakes. JOHNNIE Johnnie Farragut. Pleased to meet ya. Reggie and Drop Shadow begin eating ferociously, finishing half of their meal before saying anything more. REGGIE You are from New Orleans, Senor Farragut? JOHNNIE Johnnie, please. Nope. Charlotte, North Carolina. Here on business. Reggie smiles broadly, revealing numerous tall, gold teeth. DROP SHADOW Mr. San Pedro Sula is from Honduras. REGGIE Do you know Honduras, Johnny? JOHNNIE Only that it's supposed to be a pretty poor sight since the hurricane came through last year. REGGIE Yes, that's so. But there is not much to destroy. DROP SHADOW No big buildings like in New Orleans. JOHNNIE Whattaya do there? REGGIE (laughs) Oh, many things... DROP SHADOW Mr. San Pedro Sula's got an appliance shop. REGGIE But I am also with the government. Johnnie takes a bite of his oyster sandwich. JOHNNIE In what capacity? REGGIE In many capacities. DROP SHADOW Mr. San Pedro Sula is with the Secret Service. Reggie reaches into his back pocket and takes out his wallet. He hands a card to Johnnie. JOHNNIE (reading aloud) General Osvaldo Tamarindo y Ramirez. Telefono 666. REGGIE He is my sponsor. The General is the head of the secret police of Honduras. DROP SHADOW Mr. San Pedro Sula is one of his operatives. Johnnie hands the card back to Reggie and Reggie gives him a small piece of paper, folded once. Johnnie unfolds it. The printing is in Spanish. REGGIE That is my permiso. DROP SHADOW Mr. San Pedro Sula's permit to kill. REGGIE Only if necessary, of course, and only in my own country. (laughs) JOHNNIE Of course. Johnnie refolds the piece of paper and hands it over to Reggie. DROP SHADOW Mr. San Pedro Sula's authorized to carry a .45. REGGIE United States Marine issue, before they made the unfortunate switch to the less dependable nine millimeters. I have it here, in my briefcase. Reggie holds up his stainless steel briefcase and then replaces it on the floor beneath his chair. JOHNNIE Why are you in New Orleans? If you don't mind my askin'. REGGIE Certainly not. We are here only briefly, in fact, until this evening, when we fly to Austin, Texas to visit a friend of mine who is an agent for the CIA. DROP SHADOW He wants to take Mr. San Pedro Sula and me bass fishing. REGGIE We are in the same businesses and also we are fishermen. Johnnie swallows the last of his beer and stands up to leave. JOHNNIE (extending his hand) It's been a real pleasure. I wish you both buena suerte wherever you go. Reggie and Drop Shadow stand up. They shake Johnnie's hand. REGGIE The same to you. If you are in Honduras, come to the Bay Islands and visit us. The Hondurans are great friends of the American people. But I have a joke for you before I go. If a liberal, a socialist, and a communist all jumped off the roof of the Empire State Building at the same time, which one of them would hit the ground first? JOHNNIE I couldn't say, which one? Reggie turns to Drop Shadow and lets him have the punch line. DROP SHADOW (grinning) Who cares? CUT TO: 79. INT. HOTEL BRAZIL - NEW ORLEANS - EVENING Sailor and Lula are just finishing making love in their room. As Lula climaxes, her left hand opens and spreads wide. The lay quietly for a moment. LULA I love it when your eyes get wild, honey. They light up all blue almost and little white parachutes pop out of 'em. Oh, Sailor you're so aware of what goes on with me? I mean, you pay attention. And I swear, you got the sweetest cock. Sometimes it's like it's talkin' to me when you're inside? Like it's got a voice all it's own. You get right on me. SAILOR You really are dangerously cute, honey. I gotta admit it. Lula lights a cigarette. SAILOR Let's head out into the crazy world of New Orleans... I gotta get somethin' to eat. CUT TO: 80. INT. RONNIE'S NOTHIN' FANCY CAFE - NEW ORLEANS - LATE EVENING Sailor and Lula sit at the counter drinking double-sized cups of community coffee. A MAN on the stool next to Sailor lights up a rum- soaked crook. GEORGE My name's George Kovich. Bet you've heard of me. SAILOR Don't know that I have... Should I know about you for anythin' in particular? GEORGE Was in all the papers three years ago. I'm seventy-six, was only seventy- three then. Had a business in Buffalo, New York, called Rats With Wings. Killed pigeons for anyone who wanted 'em killed. LULA Why were you killin' pigeons, Mr. Kovich? Were you in the extermination business? GEORGE No, ma'am. I was a housepainter, in the union forty-one years. I'm retired now, livin' with my sister, Ida. Ida moved down here twenty-five years ago, married an oil man named Smoltz, Ed Smoltz. He's dead now, so it's just me and Ida. I sold my house and moved down after the city of Buffalo put me out of business. Hell, RWW was doin' them a service, and they charged me with endangerin' the public. LULA What's wrong with pigeons, Mr. Kovich? GEORGE They're useless pests. I've shot hundreds of 'em... CUT TO: 81. EXT. CITY STREET - ROOFTOP IN GEORGE KOVICH'S NEIGHBORHOOD - DAY George is shooting pigeons as fast as he can. GEORGE (voice-over) ...My neighbors hired me to get rid of the pigeons that gathered on their roofs and porches... CUT TO: 82. INT. RONNIE'S NOTHIN' FANCY CAFE - NEW ORLEANS - LATE EVENING GEORGE ...Neighbors asked me how come the spotted bastards didn't light on my house or my brother Earl's anymore, and I told 'em the truth. I shot 'em... Earl's gone now... CUT TO: 83. INT. EARL KOVICH'S HOUSE - DAY Earl pitches forward out of his easy chair and hits the carpet hard - screaming in pain. GEORGE (voice-over) ...Heart attack six months ago - had that cholesterol thick as shit... His widow, Mildred, she still lives in the house next to mine. CUT TO: 84. INT. RONNIE'S NOTHIN' FANCY CAFE - NEW ORLEANS - LATE EVENING GEORGE She's stone deaf but the racket the pigeons made drove Earl crazy. He could hear 'em even with the TV on. He owned a bar thirty years, The Boilermaker, on Wyoming Street. Earl's roof was a favorite spot for pigeons. They lit there day and night. I wanted to toss a grenade up there. SAILOR If your neighbors didn't mind, how'd you get put out of business? GEORGE Woman drivin' down the street spotted me with on a roof with my rifle. She called the police and they came over and arrested me. Thought I was a sniper! Boys at the VFW loved that one. Cops didn't understand about the pigeons, the damage they do to personal property. I used to complain to the city but they never lifted a finger. I was gonna put out poison, but I was afraid somebody's cat would eat it. Hell, I had six cats myself. So I used the .22 because it didn't make much noise and the ammo was cheap. SAILOR What happened on the charges? GEORGE Guilty on a reduced charge. Hundred dollar fine and ordered to desist. Pigeons carry diseases and muss up the place. You seen it. Plain filth. Kovich stands up and puts some money on the counter. GEORGE It's a serious situation. Not like the Turks and the Armenians, maybe, or the Arabs and the Jews, but I want people to remember me and what I've done and pick up where I left off. Somebody had to make a move. It was nice meetin' you folks. George Kovich nods and leaves. SAILOR What lesson do get outta that story, Lula? LULA It's just another case, Sailor. SAILOR What's that, peanut? LULA One person thinks he's doin' somethin' good and ever'body else gets upset about it. Sailor looks up at Lula. SAILOR Ain't it the way... CUT TO: 85. INT. HOTEL BRAZIL - NEW ORLEANS - NIGHT It's very quiet in the hotel room and the clock says four a.m. Lula and Sailor are lying in bed arm in arm. Sailor is fast asleep - snoring. Lula is wide awake. LULA Sailor?... Sailor, honey? Sailor snaps awake with a snort. SAILOR Huh? LULA Ever imagine what it'd be like to get eaten alive by a wild beast?... Sometimes I think it would be the biggest thrill? SAILOR My God, (looks around) it better be, darlin', cause it'd be the last... What time is it? LULA Shhhhh... It's four o'clock... That woman's laugh the other day had somethin' to do with this feelin'? ... Like bein' ripped apart by a gorilla, maybe... Grabbed sudden and pulled apart real quick by a real powerful one. Lula's left hand opens and spreads wide. SAILOR Lula, sometimes I gotta admit, you come up with some weird thoughts... LULA Anythin' interestin' in the world come out of somebody's weird thoughts, Sailor. You tell me Sailor, who could come up with shit like we're seein' these days? SAILOR You got me, peanut. LULA (smiles - turns to him) You certain? SAILOR I ain't never met anyone come close to you, sugar. LULA Recall the time we was sittin' one night behind the Confederate soldier? Leanin' against it. And you took your hand and put it on your heart and you said, ‘You feel it beatin' in there, Lula?... Get used to it, cause it belongs to you now.' D'you recall that? SAILOR I do. LULA I was hopin' you would. I know that night by heart. Sometimes, honey? I think it's the best night of my life. CUT TO: 86. BEHIND THE CONFEDERATE SOLDIER Tight Two-Shot Lula and Sailor with their arms around each other - cheek to cheek - talking softly. A strange presence begins to build and a piece of sad nostalgic music plays. CUT TO: 87. INT. HOTEL BRAZIL - NEW ORLEANS - NIGHT LULA (lost in the memory) I really do think it's the best night of my life. SAILOR We didn't do nothin' special I can remember. Just talked, is all. LULA Talkin's good. Long as you got the other? I'm a big believer in talkin', case you ain't noticed. SAILOR Too bad they don't give an award for talkin'... You'd win first prize. Especially with those tits. LULA You think so, baby? Does my talkin' bother you, honey? SAILOR No, I like gettin' up around four a.m. and talkin' bout wild animals ... Though you woke me up this time in the middle of a dream. I kinda wish I didn't remember it. Up at Pee Dee, I couldn't remember any of my dreams. LULA What was this one? SAILOR It wasn't no fun, Lula. The wind was blowin' super-hard and I wasn't dressed warm. Only instead of freezin', I was sweatin' strong. CUT TO: 87. CU of eyes. Black sweat is rolling down the forehead and over the eyes. SAILOR (voice-over) The water was rollin' off me. And I was dirty, too, like I hadn't had no bath in a long time, so the sweat was black almost. CUT TO: 88. INT. HOTEL BRAZIL - NEW ORLEANS - NIGHT LULA Boy, sweetie, this is weird, okay. SAILOR I know. I kept walkin', I headed for your house, only it wasn't your house, really. You let me in only you weren't real pleased to see me. You kept askin', ‘Why'd you come to see me now? Why now?' Like it'd been a long time since we'd seen each ohter. LULA Oh, baby, what an idea. I'd always be happy to see you, no matter what. SAILOR I know, peanut. But it wasn't all like you were so unhappy I was there, just you were upset. My bein' there was upsettin' to you. You had some kids there, little kids, and I guess you'd got married and your husband was comin' home any minute. CUT TO: 87A. CU of eyes. Black sweat is rolling down the forehead and over the eyes. SAILOR (voice-over) I tell you, Lula. I was shakin' wet. All this black sweat was pourin' off me, and I knew I was scarin' you, so I took off. CUT TO: 89. INT. HOTEL BRAZIL - NEW ORLEANS - NIGHT Lula puts her arms around him. LULA Sometimes dreams just don't mean nothin'... Stuff comes into your mind and you don't have no control over, you know? Anyways, dreams ain't no odder than real life. Sometimes not by half. SAILOR Well, I ain't upset about it, darlin'. Just give me an odd feelin' there a minute, is all. Lula lifts her head and kisses Sailor under his left ear. She rolls over on top of Sailor. LULA Take a bite of Lula. CUT TO: 90. INT. SNUG HARBOR BAR - NEW ORLEANS - NIGHT Johnnie Farragut sits down on a stool at the bar. CHET, the bartender, approaches. CHET Hey!!!... Johnnie Farragut. How are you, my man. JOHNNIE Real good, Chet... It's been awhile. CHET Everythin's relative. Where's that Marietta Pace Fortune? You two didn't split up, I hope. JOHNNIE No... She's fine. Back home. CHET What'll it be? The regular? Black Label? JOHNNIE Set one up. Chet brings him a double. CHET So who you out sleuthin' for now?... Can I help ya? JOHNNIE Actually, I'm lookin' for Marietta's daughter, Lula. Her and 'er beau took off the other day. Marietta's real upset about it. CHET Hell, that rings a bell. Someone told me somebody lookin' like her was at the Nothin' Fancy yesterday. JOHNNIE Sounds right... I'll check it out. CHET (checking for a gold ring on Johnnie's hand) You hitched yet? JOHNNIE No sir... CHET It's none of my business, but when are you and Marietta gonna tie the knot? I always wondered why you never did. JOHNNIE Not for lack of love, I can tell ya that. CHET That's what I mean... Always looked like you was just knocked out in love... Was real nice to see. JOHNNIE I'll tell ya though, it's comin' up to the time when Marietta and me might just set up house together and settle down... I think that time's comin' up right soon. But like you said, everythin's realtive. FADE OUT: CUT TO: 91. EXT. HOTEL BRAZIL - NEW ORLEANS - DAY Lula waits just by the lobby door of the hotel. In the back of the lobby in the shadows is an ancient, old BLACK MAN who stares at her. Sailor pulls the T-Bird up in front of the hotel and Lula hurries out to him and tosses their suitcase in the backseat. LULA Let's get outta here... I suddenly got a funny feelin' about this place. Feelin' all that voodoo... SAILOR (winks at her) Gotta hex from a voodoo? LULA (smiles) Who do? SAILOR You do. They laugh and take off around the corner and up past the Cafe Du Monde. LULA Oh my God... It's Johnnie... Duck down!... Get goin'! SAILOR (looking around frantically) Where? LULA Never mind where... Get outta here... I mean it, Sailor. SAILOR I'm goin'. Sailor pulls the car up fast and hangs a right turn. CUT TO: 92. INT. CAFE DU MONDE - DAY Johnnie smiles as he watches Sailor and Lula turn the corner. JOHNNIE (to himself) Ain't love wonderful?... WAITRESS What's that? JOHNNIE I said, ain't love wonderful? Johnnie raises his cup of coffee to Sailor and Lula - who have long since disappeared. JOHNNIE Good luck to you kids. CUT TO: 93. EXT. CITY STREET - NEW ORLEANS - DAY Sailor and Lula drive. LULA You think he saw us? SAILOR Who knows, baby? LULA He was sittin' there havin' a beignet at the Cafe Du Monde. Do you think he saw us? SAILOR Lula, darlin'... Makes no difference anyway... We're outta here. We watch the car disappear up the street. Slowly the camera pans and Reggie and Drop Shadow come walking happily along the sidewalk - whistling. CUT TO: 94. INT. THUNDERBIRD Lula and Sailor are motoring along. SAILOR Sweetheart, keep your panties up. We're in Jimmy Swaggart country. Sailor and Lula both laugh. Up ahead, Sailor spots a hitchhiker. He slows to pick him up. LULA Sure you wanna do this? Might be a way they could track us. SAILOR He's just a regular guy't needs help, honey. Look at him. The HITCHHIKER is a man about thirty with a pack on his back, and he is carrying a large, covered cardboard box. He is filthy, with an uneven smile that exposes his jagged yellow teeth. Lula opens the door for him, and after he loads his stuff, Sailor takes off down the highway. ROACH Thanks a lot. I been standin' out there off and on for two hours, ha-ha! Since noon about, ha-ha! Cops catch ya hitchin' on a Interstate around here they throw ya on a county road crew for a week, less you can pay the ticket, ha-ha! Which I ain't got, ha-ha! SAILOR My name's Sailor, and this here's Lula. What's yours? ROACH Marvin DeLoach. But ever'body calls me Roach, ha-ha! Roach DeLoach, ha-ha! LULA You always make that strange little funny laugh when you talk? ROACH Ain't laughin', ha-ha! SAILOR What you got in the box? ROACH My dogs, ha-ha! Roach slides the top off and tilts the box slightly toward the front. Inside are six small husky pups that are not more than two weeks old. ROACH I'm headed to Alaska, ha-ha! These dogs is gonna be my sled team, ha-ha! LULA (to Sailor) This guy's crazy. SAILOR Where you from, Roach? ROACH If you mean where I was born, it was Belzoni, Missi'ppi, ha-ha! But I been brought up in Baton Rouge. LULA Why you goin' to Alaska? And where'd you get them puppies? They look sick. Roach stares down into the box at the baby huskies and strokes each of them twice with a religiously unwashed hand. The dogs whimper and lick his dirty fingers. ROACH I saw this movie on TV, ha-ha! The Call of the Wild. I ain't never seen snow, ha-ha! I got these dogs at the pound. Nobody wanted 'em, ha-ha! Ever'body here got theirself pit bulls or some kinda hounds. I'm gonna feed these boys good so they'll be big and powerful and they can pull me real fast through the snow, ha-ha! Roach pulls a piece of raw cow's liver out of one of his pockets of his field jacket and begins ripping little bits off it and feeding them to the dogs. LULA (screeches as she sees this) Sailor! Stop! Stop the car now! Sailor pulls off the road onto the shoulder of the highway and stops. Lula opens her door and jumps out. LULA I'm sorry, but I can't take this. Roach, or whatever your name is, you come out of there with them dogs this instant! Roach sticks the liver back in his pocket and pulls his pack and the box of tiny canines after him. Once he and his belongings are deposited on the roadside, Lula hops back in the car and slams the door. LULA I'm truly sorry? I'm truly sorry, Roach. But ain't gonna make it to Alaska? Least not any part of the way with us. You'd best find a party to take care of those dogs proper, before they all die? And, if you don't mind my sayin' so? You could most certainly use some serious lookin' after yourself, startin' with a bath! Lula takes a pair of sunglasses off the dashboard and puts them on. LULA Drive. Sailor takes off. SAILOR You don't feel you was a little hard on the guy, honey? LULA I know you're thinkin' that I got more'n some of my mama in me? Well, I couldn't help it. Sailor, I really couldn't. I'm sorry for that guy, but when he pulled that drippin' hunk of awful-smellin' meat out of his pocket? I near barfed. And them poor diseased puppies! SAILOR (laughs) Just part of life on the road, peanut. LULA Do me a favor, Sailor? Don't pick up no more hitchers, okay? CUT TO: 95. INT. INEZ'S FAIS-DODO BAR - NEW ORLEANS - NIGHT/ 95A. INT. FORTUNE HOUSE - MARIETTA'S BEDROOM - NIGHT Johnnie is seated in a telephone booth at the back of the bar. JOHNNIE No, Marietta, I haven't found 'em. MARIETTA This is the kinda mistake can take a Hindu's lifetime to unfix... You better get a move on, Johnnie, before that boy got her holdin' down a Memphis streetcorner and shootin' dope up her arms. We see Reggie and Drop Shadow enter the bar. Reggie's unsmiling eyes drift across the room until they see Johnnie in the booth. He stares coldly and waits. Drop Shadow adjusts his socks. JOHNNIE Really, Marietta, you got more scenarios swimmin' around in your brain than Carter got pills. Try to take it easy. Go over to Myrtle Beach for a few days. MARIETTA I'm stayin' right here by the phone until you find Lula, then I'm comin' to get her. You call soon's you got somethin', even if it's three in the a.m. JOHNNIE I will, Marietta. Goodbye now. Johnnie hangs up the phone and exits the booth. As he crosses the bar... REGGIE (shouting) Hola! Senor Farragut! We meet again. Johnnie goes over to Reggie and Drop Shadow and shakes hands. JOHNNIE I thought you two were in Austin, Texas. Or Takes-us, as they say in these parts. DROP SHADOW We were. Now Mr. San Pedro Sula and I are on our way back to Utila, in the morning. REGGIE Would you like to enjoy a martini with us? JOHNNIE Why not? How was the fishin'? REGGIE I think they are too serious, these American fishermen. In Honduras, we are not so concerned with the method. Reggie orders martinis for the three of them. JOHNNIE So, it's back to the islands. DROP SHADOW Yes. Mr. San Pedro Sula spoke yesterday to his son, Archibald Leach San Pedro Sula, who is named after Cary Grant, and he told them there was a shooting. REGGIE Teddy Roosevelt, one of the local shrimp boat captains is in jail now. These people are friends of mine, so I must return and find out what happened. JOHNNIE This island of yours sounds like a kind of unpredictable place. REGGIE (laughs) It has its moments of uncertainty. DROP SHADOW But how are you finding New Orleans, Senor Farragut? JOHNNIE Call me Johnnie... N.O. has always been a good town to sit around in. REGGIE I can tell you are an intelligent man, Johnnie. One difference between your country and mine is that in the islands, it does not pay to reveal one's intelligence... Others may use what they perceive against us... Reggie raises his glass to Johnnie's. REGGIE Hasta siempre. JOHNNIE Hasta siempre. REGGIE Do you know how it came about that copper wire was invented in Scotland? JOHNNIE How's that? DROP SHADOW Two Scotsmen were fighting over a penny. Johnnie finishes off his martini. JOHNNIE I gotta admit, you guys are (sliding off the stool) two in four dozen. REGGIE The real joke is we never went fishing, but we're still fishing. Johnnie squints his eyes thinking about this one. Reggie and Drop Shadow smile and stand to leave. CUT TO: 96. INT. THUNDERBIRD - STREETS OF NUNEZ - NIGHT Lula and Sailor cruise the dark streets. LULA I wouldn't mind a little night life. How about you? SAILOR Hard to tell what's shakin' in a place like this, honey. You don't want to be walkin' in the wrong door. LULA Maybe there's a place we could hear some music. I feel like dancin'. We could ask someone. 97. EXT. RED DEVIL GAS STATION - NIGHT Sailor spots a Red Devil gas station that still has its lights on and pulls the car over. SAILOR Someone up here might know somethin'. Two skinny, pimply-faced guys, BUCK and BILLY, wearing dirty coveralls walk over to them. BUCK Gas? SAILOR Got enough, thanks. We're lookin' for a place has some music, where we can maybe do some dancin' - get somethin' to eat, too. Anything like that around here? BILLY Cornbread's. They got western. BUCK No food, though, 'cept bar nibbles. Lula slides over in the front seat and leans across to Sailor. LULA How about speed metal? The kids look worried and take a step back. LULA Any kinda rock'n'roll, honey. BILLY There's a boogie joint just about a mile straight out Lafitte here. But that's a black place mostly. BUCK Mostly black though in that boogie place. SAILOR What's the name of it? BUCK Club Zanzibar. SAILOR You say it's straight ahead a mile? BUCK About. Where Lafitte crosses over Galvez Highway. State Road 86. SAILOR Thanks. Sailor and Lula drive off. Buck and Billy go back inside the Red Devil station. Guess who is over the corner cleaning nuts and bolts with a toothbrush and gasoline ... It's DELL! CUT TO: 98. EXT. CLUB ZANZIBAR - NIGHT The Club Zanzibar sits in the darkness on the left hand side of the road. A string of multi-colored lights is hung over the front. Sailor parks the Thunderbird across from the club and cuts the engine. SAILOR You ready for this? LULA We'll find out in a hurry. CUT TO: 99. INT. CLUB ZANZIBAR - NIGHT When they walk in, the BAND is playing a slow blues and THREE OR FOUR COUPLES are swaying on the dance floor. There are a dozen tables and a long bar in the room which is done up in a strange dark azquatic motif. Eight of the tables are occupied and SIX OR SEVEN MEN stand at the bar. Everyone in the place is black except for one WHITE WOMAN who is sitting alone at a table smoking a cigarette and drinking Pearl straight from the bottle. The atmosphere is not friendly, but Lula takes Sailor by the arm. LULA Come on. They step up to the bar and order two Lone Star beers. The BARTENDER, a tall, heavyset man slowly forms his hand into "the bird." He holds his hand that way while he speaks... BARTENDER ZANZIBAR This is a friendly place, son. You folks just relax and have a nice time. LULA (bound and determined not to be intimidated) You got yourself a deal. BARTENDER (to Sailor) That's a real jacket... By that, I mean a real stupid jacket. SAILOR This is a snakeskin jacket, and for me it represents a symbol of my individuality and my belief in personal freedom. BARTENDER Fuckin' honky cracker mumbo jumbo. The bartender moves on down the bar. Lula and Sailor take a small table near the door. LULA I'll be damned if I'm leavin'. That band is too good? SAILOR Uh huh. LULA You notice that woman when we come in? The white woman sittin' by herself? SAILOR Yeah. LULA Well, she ain't talked to nobody and ain't nobody spoke to her that I could tell. What you make of that? SAILOR Honey, we bein' strangers here and all, this is the kinda place we don't want to make nothin' of nothin'. LULA You think she's pretty? Sailor looks at the woman. She lights a new cigarette off a butt, then squashes the butt in the ashtray. She is thirty years old, maybe more. Shoulder-length, bleached blonde hair, black at the roots. Clear skin, green eyes. Long, straight nose with a small bump on it. She is wearing a low-cut lavender dress that would have emphasized her breasts had she not been so flat-chested. Slender. SAILOR I tend to like 'em with a little more meat on the bones. Face ain't bad, though. Lula gets quiet and sucks on her beer bottle. SAILOR What's wrong, sweetheart? Somethin' botherin' you? LULA Mama. I been thinkin' about her. She's prob'ly worried to death by now. SAILOR More'n likely. LULA I want to call her and tell her I'm okay. That we're okay. SAILOR I ain't so sure it's a great idea, but that's up to you. Just don't tell her where we are. LULA (to Bartender) Pardon me? Y'all got a phone here I can use? BARTENDER ZANZIBAR Can't you read? LULA (sees the sign - then to Sailor) Back in a bit. She kisses him on the nose and walks back through a dark little door to the payphone. CUT TO: 100. INT. FORTUNE HOUSE - BEDROOM - NIGHT/ 101. INT. CLUB ZANZIBAR - PAYPHONE - NIGHT Marietta answers the telephone on the second ring. OPERATOR I have a collect call from Lula Fortune. Will you accept? MARIETTA Of course! Lula? Where are you? You all right? LULA I'm fine, mama. I just wanted to tell you not to worry. MARIETTA Why, how could I not worry? Not knowin' what's happenin' to you or where you are? Are you with that boy? LULA If you mean Sailor, mama, yes I am. MARIETTA Are you comin' back here soon, Lula? I need you here. LULA Need me for what, mama? I'm perfectly fine, and safe, too. MARIETTA You in a dance hall or somethin'? I can hear music behind you. LULA Just a place. MARIETTA Really, Lula, this ain't right! LULA Right?! Mama, was it right for you to sic Johnnie Farragut on us? How could you do that? MARIETTA Did you run into Johnnie in New Orleans? Lula, are you in New Orleans? LULA No, mama, I'm in Mexico, and we're about to get on an airplane to Argentina! MARIETTA Argentina! Lula, you're outta your mind. Now you just tell me where you are and I'll come for you. I won't say nothin' to the police about Sailor, I promise. He can do what he wants, I don't care. LULA Mama, I'm hangin' up this phone now. MARIETTA No, baby, don't! Can I send you somethin'? You runnin' low on money? I'll wire you some money if you tell me where you are. LULA I ain't that dumb, mama. Sailor and I been on a crime spree? Knockin' off convenience stores all across the south? Ain't you read about it? Marietta is crying. MARIETTA Lula? I love you, baby. I just want you to be all right. LULA I am all right, mama. That's why I called, to let you know. I gotta go. MARIETTA Call me again soon? I'll be waitin' by the phone. LULA Don't be crazy, mama. Take care of yourself. Lula hangs up. Marietta hangs up and begins pacing the livingroom floor. CUT TO: 102. INT. CLUB ZANZIBAR - NIGHT Sailor and the bleached blonde in the lavender dress are together on the dance floor. Lula sees them, goes over to the bar, picks up a beer bottle and throws it at Sailor. The bottle bounces hard off his back and clangs to the floor, bouncing but not breaking. Sailor turns around fast and looks at Lula. Everybody else in the place is still. 103. EXT. CLUB ZANZIBAR - NIGHT Lula runs out. Sailor follows. Sailor finds her sitting on the ground, leaning against the passenger side of the Thunderbird. Lula's eyes are red and wet but she isn't crying. Sailor kneels down next to her. SAILOR I was just wastin' time, peanut, till you come back. LULA It's me who's wastin' time, Sailor, bein' with you. SAILOR Honey, I'm sorry. It wasn't nothin'. Come on and get up and we'll take off. LULA Leave me be for a minute? Mama gets all insane and then I see you practicin' your individuality and personal freedom with some oil-town tramp. How you figure I'm gonna feel? SAILOR Told you not to call your mama. Sailor stands and leans against the hood of the car until Lula gets up and climbs inside. He wraps his snakeskin jacket around her and starts the car. Lula kisses Sailor on the cheek, puts her head down sideways on his lap and goes to sleep. Sailor drives. CUT TO: 104. INT. FORTUNE HOUSE - MARIETTA'S BEDROOM - NIGHT Marietta paces, but then goes back to the phone. She dials a number and gets an answering machine. MARIETTA Santos... If you get this message, call me right away. It's Marietta... I don't know, Santos... Maybe this is all not... Call me. She hangs up. She dials another number. It answers. MARIETTA Johnnie! At last! I thought you was never gonna come back to your room. CUT TO: 105. INT. FORTUNE HOUSE - MARIETTA'S BEDROOM - NIGHT? 106. INT. JOHNNIE'S HOTEL ROOM - MAISON VIOLETTE - NEW ORLEANS JOHNNIE I got some news, Marietta. Lula and Sailor been here. They checked out of the Hotel Brazil on Frechman Street yesterday. MARIETTA Listen, Johnnie, Lula just called me. She knew you were in N.O., so they left the city. JOHNNIE Did she tell you where she was callin' from? MARIETTA No, but my guess is they're headed west, so prob'ly Texas. Their money must be runnin' low. I don't think Sailor had much to begin with, if any, and Lula took the six hundred she had saved in the Cherokee Thrift. JOHNNIE How'd she sound? Was she doin' okay? MARIETTA Could she be doin' okay, Johnnie? She's tryin' to prove somethin' to me, that's all. Lula ain't doin' no more'n showin' off, defyin' me... (stifles a sob) Johnnie, I've done somethin' bad... JOHNNIE What? MARIETTA I won't tell you over the phone. I'm comin' to N.O. and I'll tell you then. JOHNNIE Marietta, I was just gonna leave and see if I could pick up their trail. MARIETTA No, you wait right there for me... I'll be on the Piedmont flight tomorrow at seven. Meet me at the airport. JOHNNIE I'll meet you, Marietta, if that's what you want, but I'm against it. MARIETTA Seven tomorrow evenin'. Se can eat at Galatoire's. Fix it. Marietta hangs up. CUT TO: 107. EXT. SHELL STATION - HOUSTON - DAY Sailor and Lula are in a Shell station just outside of Houston. Sailor is filling the Thunderbird with regular. An OLD MAN sits near the pumps listening to the radio playing a sad big band tune. Lula starts to slowly snap her fingers to the beat and the old man gives her a beautiful smile. LULA (smiling and snapping her fingers) How much we got left, honey? SAILOR Under a hundred. LULA You want to stick around here, Sailor? See if we can get some work? SAILOR Not in Houston. We'd be better off in some place more out of the way. LULA You want me to drive for a stretch? Give you a chance to rest. SAILOR That'd be good, Lula. Sailor kisses her and climbs into the back seat and lays down. Lula slides behind the wheel and lights up a More. She winks goodbye to the old man and wheels the car out towards the big beyond. CUT TO: 108. INT. TEXAS HIGHWAY - DAY The reception gets bad on the big band tune and Lula starts turning the dial. Up comes a nationwide call-in talk show and she leaves it there. ARTIE MAYER, the radio host talks to his callers. ARTIE (with a gruff Brooklyn accent) Come in, Montgomery, Alabama. CALLER #1 (elderly sounding woman) Artie? That you, Artie? ARTIE Yes, ma'am. What's on your almost- perfect mind this evening? CALLER #1 How ya feelin', Artie? I heard you wasn't doin' too well recent. ARTIE I'm fine, thank you. I had a cardiac infarction but I'm on a new diet and exercising regularly. I've never felt better. CALLER #1 Well, that's so good to hear, Artie. You know some of us depend on you down this way. You're so entertainin' and you get so many interestin' guests. ARTIE Thank you. It's listeners such as yourself who made me want to get up out of that hospital bed and back into the studio as fast as I could. LULA (attacking the dial) Jesus! How could anyone listen to this crap? Lula takes a puff of her More and tosses it out the window and starts turning the radio dial - finds a news station. REPORTER (NEWS STATION) ...live in exchange for sexual favors. Police said they have identified and questioned at least four girls, all Asians twelve to fifteen years old, who have been living in the North Houston warehouse with a Vietnamese pimp since February. The girls are being treated as victims, said police Sergeant Amos Milburn. ‘These are really just children,' he said, ‘but they've been exposed to a lot already. LULA (lights another cigarette) I'll bet. REPORTER In international news, India plans to release crocodiles in the Ganges, the holy Hindu river in which millions of people bathe annually, to scavenge for corpses, authorities said. CUT TO: 108A. MURKY WATER WITH DEAD BODIES FLOATING A crocodile suddenly breaks the surface of the water with a rotted human corpse clutched in its mighty jaws. REPORTER (voice-over) The reptiles were supposed to be of a docile species, said a senior government official, but it seems the breeders bungled and reared attack crocodiles. CUT TO: 109. INT. THUNDERBIRD - HIGHWAY TO SAN ANTONIO - DAY LULA Damn! REPORTER The Indian official who supplied this information did so only on condition of anonymity. The Uttar Pradesh state authorities last October released five hundred turtles... CUT TO: 108B. MURKY WATER WITH DEAD BODIES FLOATING A giant turtle breaks the surface of the water clutching a rotted human corpse in its mighty jaws. REPORTER (voice-over) in the Ganges near Varanasi to try and reduce human pollution and now plan to put in the crocodiles to devour floatin' corpses dumped by Hindus too poor to pay for cremation. CUT TO: 110. INT. THUNDERBIRD - HIGHWAY TO SAN ANTONIO - DAY LULA HOLY SHIT!! IT'S THE NIGHT OF THE LIVIN' FUCKIN' DEAD!!!! Sailor jumps awake in fright as Lula yanks the car off the road and brings it to a screeching halt in the middle of the desert. SAILOR What's that, peanut? LULA I can't take no more of this radio... (switches it off) I ain't never heard so much concentrated weirdness in my life, Sailor Ripley, you find me some dancin' music right this minute... I MEAN IT!! Sailor starts spinning the dial. LULA (still crazed) The world's gettin' worse, I think, Sailor. And it don't sound like there's much we can do about it, neither. SAILOR This ain't news, sweetheart. I hate to tell ya. Suddenly Sailor finds a station - THE STATION - and he and Lula look at each other in disbelief... SAILOR POWERMAD!!! Sailor turns it up full blast and he and Lula dance hard until they disappear in the dust. CUT TO: 111. INT. MAISON VIOLETTE - LOBBY - NEW ORLEANS - NIGHT Marietta and Johnnie are standing at the registration desk - talking to the HOTEL MANAGER. MANAGER Here's your key. Mr. Farragut's already taken care of everything. I hope you'll be comfortable, Mrs. Fortune. You're in room 351 right down the hall from Mr. Farragut. The DESK CLERK steps in from a room behind the registration desk. DESK CLERK I have a phone call for you, Mrs. Fortune ... at the phone by the fireplace. Please wait for it to ring. Marietta looks at Johnnie. She goes to the phone and picks it up when it rings. MARIETTA Yes?... CUT TO: 112. INT. HOTEL ROOM - NEW ORLEANS - NIGHT Marcello Santos sits on the edge of his bed holding the telephone. SANTOS I got your message... But you went right to Johnnie, didn't you?... I can't trust you, bitch - not for one minute... Naughty girl... Sailor and Lula are headed west, and guess what? There's no turning back. I'm in a killing mood. MARIETTA No... SANTOS My very best to Johnnie... Bless his soul. He hangs up the phone. CUT TO: 113. INT. MAISON VIOLETTE - LOBBY - NEW ORLEANS - NIGHT Johnnie enters as Marietta hangs up the phone - covering her fear. JOHNNIE Who was that?... Who know's your here? MARIETTA I'll be damned if that wasn't a wrong number? CUT TO: 114. INT. MR. REINDEER'S PRIVATE DINING ROOM - NEW ORLEANS - NIGHT Upstairs in a private dining room, Mr. Reindeer is dining with TWELVE GUESTS in formal evening attire. Behind him, a JAZZ TRIO and a STRIPTEASE ARTIST are hard at work. Mr. Reindeer smiles and leans over very close to a beautiful WOMAN sitting to his left. MR. REINDEER Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet, eating her curds and whey... Along came a spider and sat down beside her, and extended his hand out to play. With this, he reaches under the table between her legs. She turns red and Mr. Reindeer laughs and lights a cigarette. MR. REINDEER Oh dear... Another Miss Dull Cunt. Reggie and Drop Shadow enter through a door on the other side of the room. Reggie catches Mr. Reindeer's eye and smiles. Reggie reaches in his pocket and takes out a silver dollar - flips it in the air - catches it - and puts it back in his pocket. Mr. Reindeer smiles and waves him over to the table. He whispers something in Reggie's ear - then gives him an envelope. MR. REINDEER When I gave you the silver dollar I forgot to give you the contents of this envelope. They are to be returned. Show it just before the deed... Reggie pockets the envelope - joins Drop Shadow - and as they are leaving the dining room, they join a woman, JUANA, who looks half- Oriental, half-Cajun. She wears a strange, short, yellowish-bleached blonde wig. CUT TO: 115. INT. GALATOIRE'S RESTAURANT - NIGHT They go downstairs together. At the bottom of the stairs, Reggie and Drop Shadow catch sight of Johnnie who is sitting in the back of the restaurant having dinner with Marietta. When Johnnie sees the two of them he waves, but at the same time gets a chill up his spine. MARIETTA What is it, Johnnie? JOHNNIE Just some guys I met here... I keep seein' 'em... (looks back at Marietta) Now tell me... Marietta continues to stare at Reggie, Drop Shadow, and Juana before turning back to Johnnie. She also feels the fear. MARIETTA Johnnie, I can't tell you, honey. Is there anyway we can get on the road tonight? We've got to find them kids. JOHNNIE Somethin' was upsettin' you bad last night, and you wanted to tell me and I figured you wanted to tell me so's I could help... MARIETTA I did, honey, but that was last night... Let's just find those two kids before it's too late. JOHNNIE Honey, I have to ask you this... Is Santos involved in any of this? MARIETTA Hell no, baby... I wouldn'ta done that without tellin' you. JOHNNIE That bastard Pucinski... MARIETTA Who?... Uncle Pooch?... JOHNNIE Yeah... The one that introduced Santos to you and Clyde. MARIETTA Johnnie... That's the past... We gotta get on to our future, sugar! JOHNNIE (smiles) All I have to do is grab my suitcase, and I'm ready. You're lucky cause I happen to love night drivin'. MARIETTA Let's head for Texas and see if we can pick up the trail. JOHNNIE Did I tell ya it's great to see ya again? MARIETTA This 'bout the fifth time? CUT TO: 116. INT. MAISON VIOLETTE - STAIRWAY AND HALLWAY - NEW ORLEANS - NIGHT Johnnie and Marietta climb together to the second floor and Johnnie takes Marietta to her room. MARIETTA (as she enters her room) I'll pack my things and meet you downstairs. JOHNNIE And to think what coulda happened in that king-sized bed tonight... MARIETTA (pinching his cheek) You won't of missed much. JOHNNIE See ya downstairs. CUT TO: 116A. MAISON VIOLETTE - JOHNNIE'S ROOM - NIGHT Johnnie smiles and heads up to his room. He opens the door and steps inside. WHAM!! Johnnie is knocked in the head with a heavy metal pipe and he goes down hard. A large dark figure grabs on to him and pulls him to an open window and lowers him into the back of a pick-up. The dark figure follows out the window. DISSOLVE TO: 117. INT. MAISON VIOLETTE - LOBBY - NEW ORLEANS - NIGHT Marietta is sitting in the lobby trying to hold herself together - half- sobbing. The MANAGER approaches and sits next to her. MANAGER I'm afraid his car is gone, Mrs. Fortune. MARIETTA I don't understand this... I don't understand this one bit. He was supposed to meet me right her in this lobby. Somethin' bad has happened - I jus know it. MANAGER Perhaps we should call a local law enforcement officer. MARIETTA HELL NO!!! That's the last thing we need... A buncha cops runnin' around. The front desk clerk steps from behind his desk and hurries into the lobby. DESK CLERK I'm sorry... But I have overlooked this. I'm truly sorry, ma'am. He hands Marietta a note inside an envelope which she opens and reads immediately. We see the note. NOTE Gone fishing with a friend - maybe buffalo hunting. Johnnie. MARIETTA Oh God! What does that mean? MANAGER I'm sure I wouldn't know, ma'am ... and buffalo hunting too ... hmmmmm? MARIETTA And jus when my baby's out on some Texas road with a killer. The front door of the hotel opens and in walks Santos. He seems to know exactly where Marietta is and steps to the door of the sitting room off the lobby. He stands in the doorway and smiles at Marietta. MARIETTA (horrified whisper) Santos... Where's J-J-Johnnie? SANTOS Shhhhhh... (to the manager and desk clerk) Thank you, gentlemen... I'll look after her now... The Manager and Desk Clerk bow to Marietta and Santos and go back through the lobby. Santos walks over to Marietta. Marietta stands. MARIETTA Santos... What's happenin' here? SANTOS Hey... Stop the nervous cry-baby routine... You're my girl now... Santos is gonna wipe away those tears and make you happy... Come on, let's get outta here. MARIETTA Where we goin'? SANTOS Got word the kids are moving through Texas... I think an ending is being arranged there... Come on, lemme see a smile. MARIETTA Please Santos... Where's Johnnie? CUT TO: 118. EXT. SMALL HUT - DESERTED BAYOU - NIGHT Light comes from one small dirty window. CUT TO: 119. INT. SMALL HUT - DESERTED BAYOU - NIGHT Johnnie is tied to a small wooden straight-backed chair. His mouth is gagged and taped shut. His hair is caked with dry blood and one fresh tickle curls down his forehead to his eyes which are just now beginning to open and focus. Juana is finishing tying his left ankle to the chair leg. Johnnie moans and Juana brings her big, smiling face up in front of his. JUANA Johnnie, you take a good look at me, baby, cause you gonna haf'ta watch close to know when we do it to ya... Y'all count when I touch the bottle - HO!!... (she slaps Johnnie hard across the face) There I slap that mutha fucka face - pay attention fucka - otherwise we haf'ta work it all night... Too much fun for us - you see what I mean? Now watch me how I touch a bottle and you count how many times. Juana steps two paces across the hut where two dirty old soda bottles sit - one in one corner perched on a dried tree trunk - the other in the opposite corner perched on an old fence post. Juana touches the left bottle (#1) once, and crosses and touches the right bottle (#2) once and comes back and touches Johnnie's face. JUANA You see, Johnnie. I toucha number one bottle once, I toucha number two bottle once, and I touch your face. This is a game we love to play. I get hot already... Now you meet second Mr. Killer... Does he fish or don't he? Reggie and Drop Shadow step out of the darkness behind Johnnie and come around to face him. REGGIE Hey, Johnnie... Reggie - you remember Reggie, don't ya? Look what I caught. (to Juana) I'm gettin' hot too, mama. Reggie and Juana kiss hot in front of Johnnie. Juana puts her face down in front of Johnnie's again. JUANA Now Johnnie... We want to feel the feelin'... Feel the feelin'... We be gettin' up close to you, mutha fucka, then we go out away ... no' mally we touch two bottles - both bottle b'fore comin' back and touchin' you... This mean you okay fo awhile... If we go out away, and we touch ONLY ONE BOTTLE b'fore comin' back and touchin' you - you gonna hear a click from a gun b'hind you and then it's gonna be bout ten seconds... Remember that number ten - then that's when the end come... What end I talk 'bout Johnnie? - I talk about THE END, FUCKA- That head will go every part'a this room... I talk 'bout NO MO JOHNNIE... I think you understand now - we play game. REGGIE (from behind Johnnie) I can't stop her, Johnnie... She get's me too hot doin' this... I'm gonna be right here, but I'm gonna stand right behind ya with this big ol' gun here... Reggie reaches his hand around in front of Johnnie - showing him a .45 Automatic. DROP SHADOW That's a Marine issue. It goes off somethin' terrible - you wanna see? Drop Shadow pulls the hammer back which makes a loud "click." JUANA You hear click? Johnnie jumps as Drop Shadow blows a big hole in the far wall in front of Johnnie. REGGIE (laughs) Hell, it's even worse than I remember... Wait a minute... Reggie comes out in front of Johnnie - Juana grabs him. They kiss hot again. JUANA Okay, gimmee 'nother kiss, Reggie b'fore I fuck ya right now... FUCKIN' HOT NOW, REGGIE. (she opens her mouth with her tongue sticking out) FUCKIN' HOT! Juana screams like a monster from hell coming up close to Johnnie's face. JUANA You think you gonna live through this night?... YOU WRONG... I SMELL YO SHIT NOW, JOHNNIE. GIVE US ONE MO KISS, REGGIE. OH FUCK ME!!! WE TOUCH BOTTLES NOW - FO WE CAN'T WAIT NO MO. Reggie goes back behind Johnnie quick. JUANA I go out now... I toucha one bottle... Reggie... I toucha two bottle... I come back, I touch Johnnie... AHHHHH ... I touch myself... (she puts her hand between her legs) HA!... Now I go out - I toucha one bottle... Do I touch second bottle?... I go now and touch... OH OH... Okay... This time I toucha second bottle... I go back, I touch Johnnie... Then I go back - I kiss Reggie with big gun... Oh God, Reggie done got two big guns... HAH!!!... I go out now... SO FUCKIN' HOT NOW, MAYBE TOO FUCKIN' HOT NOW, FUCKA. I toucha one bottle... DO I GO TOUCH A SECOND BOTTLE?... HUH? - I DO THIS TIME TOUCH SECOND BOTTLE - I RUN BACK TOUCH JOHNNIE - TOUCH REGGIE WITH TONGUE - TOUCH MYSE'F IN HOT FUCKIN' PUSSY - GO OUT NOW... NOW I GO ROUND AND ROUND YOU AHHHH - GO OUT AND TOUCH A NUMBER ONE BOTTLE - WAIT NOW!!! ... REGGIE... YOU SHOW NOW- Reggie reaches his hand around Johnnie's face - tears off tape and gag - then opens his hand and shows Johnnie a cufflink with a particular design in turquoise, orange, and silver. REGGIE I forgot to show you this. The gentlemen that gave this to me said you'd recognize it. Said he wanted it'd be 'bout the last thing you ever saw in this life. JOHNNIE (recognizing cufflink) Oh God... OH GOD... Santos... Oh God Marietta ... are you in on this?... OH GOD!!! JUANA I GO ROUND AND ROUND - DO I TOUCH A SECOND BOTTLE B'FORE I TOUCH JOHNNIE - DO I? DO I???......... (very quietly and breathy) No... I touch Johnnie. As her finger touches Johnnie's face there is a loud "CLICK." Johnnie moans and closes his eyes. JUANA (counting fast) One ... two ... three ... four ... five ... GETTIN' TOO FUCKIN' HOT, REGGIE... FEELIN' MYSE'F ... six ... seven ... eight... Johnnie starts to scream and violently try to move out of his chair. JUANA Nine... (she moves out of the way) FUCK ME NOW, REGGIE... TEN!!! We see a hole in the front of the barrel - BOOM!!! The opposite wall and bottles get covered with blood. Juana and Reggie race into each other's arms and kiss right above Johnnie's dead, bloodied head. JUANA FUCK ME!!!! CUT TO: 120. INT. THUNDERBIRD - TWO LANE TEXAS FARM ROAD - NIGHT Lula and Sailor are driving through the dark desert. LULA Sure is a big deal round here... Alamo Road, Alamo Street, Alamo Square, Alamo Buildin', Alamo Alamo. They ain't forgettin' about it in a hurry. That's the thing 'bout memory? Some things you wish you could forget... What's troublin' you, sugar? SAILOR You know, Lula, I never told you what all I was doin' before I met you. LULA I just figured you was out bein' Mr. Cool... SAILOR Not exactly, sugar... One reason we're in all the trouble we're in right now is cause of what I was doin'... I tried to tell you this before... LULA You're scarin' me, baby. SAILOR Well, there's a good side as well as a bad side to it... The good side is I knew your daddy, and I thought Clyde was a good ol' guy... LULA You knew my daddy? SAILOR Yes I did... I sure did... The bad side of it is I did some drivin' for a man named Marcello Santos... LULA Oh shit... SAILOR I quit workin' for 'im, but just before I did, I ended up one night at a house... I don't know what it is they all think I saw that night, but I was just sittin' out in the car till the whole place went up in flames. LULA God, Sailor... That's the night my daddy died. SAILOR I know, sugar... But while the place was burnin'... Before Santos came out - I pitched some rocks at the second floor windows case anyone was upstairs sleepin'... Afterwards... When I met you, I always liked to think I mighta saved your life. LULA That's some big secret you been carryin', Sailor. SAILOR We all got a secret side, baby. Hope you don't think I been lyin' to you 'bout other things, sugar. LULA How'd you know my daddy? SAIL0R Met him through Santos... Clyde - your daddy - had some sorta business deal with Santos. Lula stays quiet for a moment - listening to the heavy hum of the V-8. SAILOR Lula, you there? LULA Yeah, I'm here. SAILOR You upset with me? LULA No, Sailor darlin'. Just shockin' sometimes when things aren't the way you thought they were... I been carryin' a secret too... CUT TO: 121. INT. FORTUNE HOUSE - LIVINGROOM/UPSTAIRS HALLWAY/BEDROOM - NIGHT The livingroom is on fire. The livingroom is on fire and we move upstairs - Lula races through the smoke-filled hallway to her mother's bedroom. The livingroom is on fire and Lula throws open the door to her mother's bedroom just in time to see Marcello Santos leaving through a window. Her mother laughs a wild, crazy laugh - exactly the same laugh Lula heard on the porch of the Cape Fear Hotel. LULA (voice-over) That night in the fire while my daddy was dyin'... I saw mama up in her room with Santos... CUT TO: 122. INT. THUNDERBIRD - TWO LANE TEXAS FARM ROAD - NIGHT LULA ...They was laughin' arm in arm like animals. SAILOR I didn't want to say it ... but I had a feelin' Santos was up to somethin' with your mama... LULA (quietly) My mama... (after a pause - she smiles) So Sailor, our histories have been somewhat intertwined. SAILOR They have, sugar. LULA I take that as a sign that we were destined by fate to be together. SAILOR It's a comfortin' idea. LULA Well, we're really out in the middle of it now, ain't we? SAILOR There's worse places, honey. LULA If you say so. SAILOR Trust me on it. LULA (turns to him) I do trust you, Sailor. Like I ain't never trusted nobody before. SAILOR (after a moment) We'll be al'right, peanut, long as we've got room to move. LULA (looking into the highway) What's that? SAILOR I don't know... Looks like clothes. Sailor starts to slow down. The highway is suddenly littered with clothes strewn everywhere and two open suitcases smashed near the side of the road. Sailor slows down to a crawl. He and Lula turn to each other - they've just seen TWO DEAD BODIES. One close to the side of the highway - and other just off in the desert brush. Off behind is an overturned car. LULA Oh God, Sailor. SAILOR One bad car accident... LULA SAILOR!!! Coming out of the darkness is a YOUNG GIRL, her clothes half torn off - blood draining out of several deep wounds. LULA Sailor, what are we gonna do? SAILOR I don't know, honey, but we gotta help that girl - get her to a town and hope no one catches on I broke parole. They get out of the car and the girl comes toward them screaming. GIRL (completely gone in shock) I've got about five hundred dollars in my wallet and I can't find it... My mother's going to kill me. It's got all my cards in it... It was in my pocket... Now my pockets gone. MY PURSE IS GONE!!! NOW SHE TELLS ME. The girl starts walking back toward the car. SAILOR Let's get ahold a' her quick. LULA You think she's gonna make it? SAILOR Don't know, but she's gonna bleed all over our car, I'll tell ya that... (to Girl) Hey... Hello... Girl... You gotta come with us, honey. Sailor reaches out cautiously and takes hold of the girl's arm. GIRL OWWW GOD!!! LEAVE ME ALONE... ROBERT!!!... Shit, I got this damn sticky stuff in my hair... She keeps digging her fingers into a bloody wound in her head. GIRL Gotta find my wallet. (to Sailor) Don't you say one word of this to my mother. God, she's gonna kill me. The girls falls to one knee and struggles to get back up. Sailor and Lula each take an arm and try to help her. GIRL WHERE'S MY HAIRBRUSH?... Sailor and Lula help the girl stand, but her eyes start rolling back and a bunch of fresh blood comes gushing up out of her mouth. LULA I can't take this, Sailor. She's dyin' right in front of our eyes... SAILOR I'm afraid she is, baby. Sailor kneels down next to the girl and runs his hand gently across her forehead. GIRL (wide-eyed now) Get my lipstick... (whisper) It's in my purse. The girl dies. Sailor and Lula hold real still for a moment. Lula starts to cry. LULA She died right in front of me. Why'd she have to go and do that, Sailor? SAILOR Let's get outta here, honey. Before getting up, Sailor lets his hand come off the girl's forehead down over her eyes - closing them. He puts his hand on her cheek then gets up. He puts his arm around Lula and they go back to her car. Sailor helps Lula in on her side and closes the door for her. He goes around, gets in and looks over at Lula, who breaks down crying harder. Sailor starts the car and takes off. FADE OUT: FADE IN: 123. INT. THUNDERBIRD - BIG TUNA - MORNING The Thunderbird drives past a large stucco fish on a rock stand which has a sign on it that says "BIG TUNA, TEXAS." Sailor cruises the T-Bird along the main street of Big Tuna, eye-balling the place. SAILOR Well, it ain't exactly Emerald City... LULA Not quite as bad as the weather though... It must be a hundred and ten and it ain't even noon yet. 123A. EXT. IGUANA MOTEL - MORNING Sailor pulls the car up in front of the Iguana Motel. SAILOR This'll do. CUT TO: 124. INT. IGUANA MOTEL - DAY The room is simple: double bed, dresser, mirror, chair, sink, toilet, bathtub (no shower), electric fan, window overlooking the street. SAILOR Not bad for eleven dollars a day. LULA No radio or TV... She strips off the spread, tosses it in a corner and sits down on the bed. LULA And no AC. SAILOR Fan works. LULA Now what? SAILOR Let's get a sandwich and find out about some work. LULA Sailor? SAILOR Yeah? LULA This ain't exactly my most thrillin' notion of startin' a new life. They stare at each other. Lula suddenly feels sick to her stomach and slumps down on the edge of the bed. LULA I'm gonna stay here in this room, Sailor. I don't feel so good? This heat makes me tired. SAILOR Okay, honey, I'll see you later. CUT TO: 125. EXT. RED'S GARAGE - DAY A tall, skinny man, RED, in his early thirties with wild, uncombed hair the color of pomegranate, walks out of the garage. SAILOR You Red? RED (with a smile) Well, I ain't Blackie. Sailor holds out his right hand to shake. SAILOR Name's Sailor Ripley. Katy over at the drugstore thought you might have some work I could do. Red extends his oil-blackened right hand and shakes. RED Things ain't real hot right now. Rex, there though, (nodding toward a half-naked man burrowed under an '83 Buick) is about to relocate in about a week to San Angelo. I might could use a man when he does... You good with engines? SAILOR I ain't no Enzo Ferrari, but they used to call me Wrench when I was a kid. RED We'll see how she goes then when Rex takes off. Check back. Two men, SPARKY and BUDDY, both about forty, walk up to Red. One of them wears a grey baseball cap with a Confederate flag on it and the other has an LBJ straw Stetson. SPARKY How's it look? RED Reckon the head's cracked, like I thought. SPARKY Shit, that's what I was afraid of. RED I'll get you foreigners a beer. BUDDY (to Sailor) I'm Buddy, and this here's Sparky. Sailor introduces himself to Sparky and Buddy and Rex. They all shake hands or nod and move out of the sun to drink their beers. SAILOR My girl and I are lookin' for a place to settle. We're bunked down at the Iguana Motel. SPARKY So are we. It's the only motel in Big Tuna. Have you met Bobby ‘Just Like The Country' Peru yet? SAILOR No, we just got in a hour and a half ago. BUDDY You will. He's the Mr. Fix-It at the Iguana. His truck broke down here a couple of months ago. REX Escaped con. Man got some serious prison tattoos. RED Ever'body got a past. BUDDY Just some got more future in 'em than others. REX That ain't no lie. Sailor finishes his beer, stands it on the ground and steps on it, crushing it flat. SAILOR Been nice meetin' y'all. 'Preciate the beer. I'll be seein' y'all soon. BUDDY Very soon. SPARKY One thing about bein' in Big Tuna: you don't have much choice about who you see and who you don't. CUT TO: 126. EXT. IGUANA BANK - DAY The temperature on the tower reads "One Hundred Twelve." CUT TO: 127. INT. IGUANA MOTEL - DAY In front of the door there is a large, damp spot on the rug where about a hundred and fifty flies are buzzing and landing. Sailor sees this when he opens the door. He steps across the large spot and finds Lula just waking up on the bed. LULA That you, Sail, honey? SAILOR The only one. Lula opens her eyes and looks at him. LULA You find any work? SAILOR Maybe. Met a guy named Red, owns a garage, could have some work in about a week. Met a few hard luck boys who's stayin' here. What's that smell? LULA I barfed. Tried to make it to the bathroom... Turned out it was the wrong door anyways... I sorta got it cleaned up. SAILOR You sick? LULA A little, I think... Darlin'? SAILOR Yeah? LULA Come sit by me. Sailor goes over and sits on the bed. LULA I don't know that this is the right place for us. Sailor strokes Lula's head. SAILOR It ain't gonna be forever, peanut. Lula closes her eyes. LULA I know, Sailor. Nothin' is. CUT TO: 128. EXT. SKY OVER BIG TUNA - EVENING The darkening evening sky is filled with flying monkeys. CUT TO: 129. INT. IGUANA MOTEL - COURTYARD - NIGHT Sailor, Lula, Sparky, and Buddy are sitting in the courtyard of the motel sharing Sparky's fifth of Ezra Brooks. An electric bug killer is working overtime. Buddy is reading from a newspaper. BUDDY (reading from paper) "Robert Brenton, twenty-five, was killed when his car went off the road on State Highway 118, according to the Department of Public Safety. Brenton and two passengers, William Reese and Susan Day, were thrown from the automobile, reports said." Sailor looks at Lula. SAILOR Susan Day... The assistant manager, TOMMY THOMPSON, speaks from the shadows behind the group. TOMMY Robert Brenton, that dumb fuck. That stupid shit... That fuckin' Bob was so fuckin' dumb... He deserved to die... That asshole. They all look over at Tommy. BUDDY Hey, Tommy... What's goin' on over there in number four where al them bright lights are all the time? TOMMY Them are makin' a pornographic movie... Texas style... Why? You wanna join in? SPARKY How do you get sixteen Haitians into a Dixie Cup? LULA How? SPARKY Tell 'em it floats. BUDDY Sparky's big on Florida jokes. SPARKY You need a active sense of humor to survive in the Big Tuna. BOBBY PERU walks in and comes over. BOBBY Hey, everybody. BUDDY Sailor, Lula, this here's the man himself. Bobby, this is Sailor and Lula, the most recent strandees, economic variety. Bobby nods to Lula and offers a hand to Sailor. BOBBY Bobby Peru, just like the country. Sparky and Buddy laugh. BUDDY Accordin' to Red and Rex, Bobby's the most excitin' item to hit Big Tuna since the '86 cyclone sheared the roof off the high school. SPARKY Only in town two months and there ain't a young thing around don't know how that cobra tattoo works, right, Bob? Bobby laughs. He has a lopsided grin that exposes only three brownish front teeth and he has flat black eyes that seem to reflect no light. LULA You from Texas, Mr. Peru? Bobby pulls up a chair and pours himself a shotglass full of whiskey. BOBBY I'm from all over. SAILOR (noticing a USMC tattoo on Bobby's right hand) You was in the Marines, huh? Bobby looks down at his hand, flexs it. BOBBY Four years. SPARKY Bobby was at Cao Ben. LULA What's Cao Ben? BOBBY (to Lula) How old are you? LULA Twenty. BUDDY Lotta women and kids and old people died at Cao Ben. BOBBY March, 1968. We torched a village and the government made a big deal out of it. Bobby sips the whiskey and closes his eyes for several seconds before reopening them and looking at Buddy. His eyes open slowly and they practically burn a hole in Buddy. BOBBY (to Buddy) You was on a ship, pardner. Hard to make contact with the people when you're off floatin' in the Gulf of Tonkin. SPARKY (changing the subject) Hey Bobby, have yourself another glass 'a Jack. Sparky refills Bobby's shotglass. Bobby tosses it back in one gulp. BOBBY Don't mind if I fuckin' do... Speakin' 'a Jack... One-eyed Jacks yearnin' to go a peepin' in a seafood store... Good meetin' you. Adios, boys. He walks out and after he's gone... LULA Somethin' in that man scares me. BUDDY No shit. SPARKY (pouring himself another shot) Bobby's got a way... Can't shake that institution odor. Lula puts a hand on Sailor's leg. LULA Darlin', I still ain't feelin' so well. I'm goin' to bed. SAILOR I'll come along. They say goodnight to Sparky and Buddy and head for their room. CUT TO: 130. INT. IGUANA MOTEL - SAILOR AND LULA'S ROOM - NIGHT SAILOR Man, that barf smell don't fade fast. Lula goes right to the bed and flops down on it. SAILOR Anything I can do for you? LULA No, I don't think so, Sail. I just need to lie down. Lula listens to Sailor brush his teeth, urinate into the toilet and flush it. Sailor comes out of the bathroom and climbs into bed. LULA Sailor? You know what? SAILOR I know you ain't particularly pleased bein' here. LULA Not that. Look at what I wrote down cause I can't say it. Lula hands Sailor a note which reads "I'm pregnant." Sailor looks into her eyes. SAILOR It's okay by me, peanut. LULA Well, nothin' personal, but I ain't sure it's okay by me. Sailor crumples the note and puts it in the ashtray. LULA Really, Sailor, it ain't nothin' against you. I love you. SAILOR Love you, too. LULA I know. Just I'm sorta uncomfortable about the way some things is goin', and this don't help soothe me. SAILOR I know this ain't easy, Lula, but I ain't gonna let things get no worse, I promise. CU of Lula setting fire to the pregnant note in the ashtray. DISSOLVE TO: 131. INT. IGUANA MOTEL - SAILOR AND LULA'S ROOM - DAY CU of flies on vomit stain. There is a knock on the door which wakes Lula from her nap. She opens the door. Bobby Peru stands outside. BOBBY Hey, pretty woman... Sailor here? LULA No, he's out changin' the oil in the car. BOBBY Man, I gotta take a piss bad... Can I use your head there? LULA Well... Yeah - okay. BOBBY I don't mean your head head - I'm not gonna piss on your head - your hair an' all... Just piss in the toilet. Y'all take a listen - here a deep sound comin' down from Bobby Peru. Bobby enters the bathroom and starts to urinate. CUT TO: 132. EXT. PERDITA DURANGO'S HOUSE - DAY Sailor pulls the T-Bird up front and hurries up to the screen door. Flies are buzzing all around. PERDITA DURANGO comes forward out of the darkness inside. PERDITA (recognizing him) Oh... Look at this... What do you want, snakeskin? SAILOR Just passin' through on my way to who knows where... PERDITA Sure... I figured I'd see you sometime... SAILOR Hopin' you could tell me if there's a contract out on me. I really need to know. PERDITA By who? SAILOR I think Santos or Marietta Fortune. PERDITA Heard you was goin' out with that bitch's daughter. SAILOR You heard right. PERDITA You really are one dumb asshole. SAILOR Life is unpredictable. PERDITA Does that girlfriend of yours know that her mama and Santos killed her daddy? (Sailor doesn't answer - Perdita smiles) Does she know her own daddy was one of the biggest drug dealers around - till he started snortin' the shit himself?... (Sailor doesn't answer) Does she know you was around that night her daddy was set fire to? SAILOR I didn't see nothin'... PERDITA Yeah... But I did... And I told you all about it... SAILOR Is there a contract?... We made a deal once that we'd tip each other off if we ever heard. PERDITA I know... I remember. SAILOR Well?... PERDITA I ain't heard of nothin'. SAILOR Thanks... Sailor goes back to his car and takes off. CUT TO: 133. INT. INGUANA MOTEL - SAILOR AND LULA'S ROOM - DAY Bobby is pacing around the room. BOBBY Hey... You gotta smell in this room of puke... You been pukin' in here, little girl? Huh?... You sick?... Pregnant? LULA (flinches) You used the toilet, now you can go - what I do around here ain't any of your business, that's for sure. BOBBY You know, I really do like a woman with tits like yours that talks tough and acts like she can fuck like a bunny... Can you fuck like that?... You like it like a bunny?... Huh?... Cause baby, I'll fuck you like a real good like a big ol' jack- rabbit bunny... Jump all around in that hole... Bobby Peru doesn't come up for air. LULA Get out. BOBBY Am I scarin' ya?... Your pussy wet? ... Come on ... is it?... (moves his hand toward her) Hey, don't jump back so slow... I thought you was a bunny... Bunny jump fast - you jump back slow... Mean somethin', don't it?... Means somethin' to me... Means you want Bobby Peru... You want Bobby Peru to fuck you hard baby - open you up like a Christmas present. Suddenly Bobby jumps back, shakes his head and straightens his hair. BOBBY Hey... I'm sorry... I don't think I'm bein' too polite here ... and I apologize... Hell... A man sees a pretty woman and first thing he knows, he loses his manners... Sure sign of modern times... Next thing ya know, his old hand'll start crawlin' around where it oughtn't to go... I'll be real honest with ya... I'd like to fuck you and tear you open like a paycheck envelope... Will you be honest with me - would you like me to do it?... Just a simple yes or no... He steps a little closer to her. BOBBY Just feel me breathin' on you... And you'll know I mean business when it comes to fuckin'. With all the strength she can muster, Lula slaps Bobby across the face. LULA GET OUT!!! Bobby grabs on to her hard. BOBBY Bobby Peru grab you now... Hold you tight... Feel everythin' in you now... Stay quiet... Say "fuck me" and then I'll leave. LULA (struggling) No way... GET OUT!!! BOBBY Say it!... I'LL TEAR YOUR FUCKIN' HEART OUT, GIRL... Say "fuck me" soft - then I'll leave. Say "fuck me"... Whisper it... Then I'll leave... Say it... Say it - Say it - Say it... Bobby moves in very close to her - Lula's trembling. Bobby puts his hand on her neck and moves it up and down behind her ear. BOBBY Say it... Then I'll leave... Whisper it... Whisper it... Whisper it... Whisper "fuck me"... His hand moves down over her breasts - down across her stomach - and down. Lula's left hand opens and spreads wide. BOBBY Whisper it... Whisper "fuck me"... Whisper... Whisper... Whisper... Whisper... LULA (whispers) Fuck me. BOBBY Someday honey, I will... But I have to be goin' now... Conta i no joras... Bobby leaves smiling and slams the door. Lula stands trembling clicking her heels together. LULA (whispers) Sailor... CUT TO: 134. EXT. IGUANA MOTEL - AFTERNOON Sailor is just about finished changing the oil in the Thunderbird when Bobby Peru pulls up in the maroon Eldo. BOBBY Need a hand? SAILOR Thanks, Bobby, 'bout done. Sailor throws some stuff in the trunk and closes the lid. BOBBY How 'bout a beer? SAILOR That'd be fine, Bobby. BOBBY Let's go by Rosarita's. You been there yet? SAILOR No, haven't heard of it. BOBBY Thought maybe Sparky and Buddy'd taken ya. Come on, I'll drive. 134A. INT. ELDORADO - BIG TUNA - DAY They get into the Cadillac and Bobby takes off down Big Tuna's main drag. SAILOR This your car? BOBBY (laughs) Hell, no, belongs to my girl's sister. The sister's been over to New Orleans, lets us have it while she's gone. Where's that pretty little lady of yours today? SAILOR Restin' in our room. She ain't been feelin' well. BOBBY Sorry to hear it. SAILOR New Orleans, huh?... We was just there. CUT TO: 135. EXT. ROSARITA'S - DAY Bobby parks the Eldo in among half a dozen pick-up trucks. BOBBY Used to be this was a Mobil. Man converted it into a private club and named it after his wife. She left him and he shot himself. The wife owns it now. CUT TO: 136. INT. ROSARITA'S - DAY They enter a long, dark room where a DOZEN MEN, most of them wearing cowboy hats, sit on stools at a bar drinking beer out of frosted mugs. BOBBY No hard liquor here. Just beer. They claim two stools. BOBBY Couple Stars, Jimmy. The BARTENDER brings over two bottle and two mugs - then walks back to the other end of the bar. SAILOR Thought you said this was a private club. How come I'm allowed in without bein' a member? BOBBY You black? SAILOR No. BOBBY You an indian? SAILOR No. BOBBY Then you're a member... Three or four millionaires in here right now. SAILOR (looking around) They look like a bunch of good ol' boys to me. I guess it's oil money, huh? BOBBY Oil, gas, cattle, farmin'. Ain't nobody shows off around here. Iguana County's one of the richest in Texas. SAILOR Wouldn'ta guessed it, that's sure. BOBBY Ready for another? SAILOR Why not? DISSOLVE TO: LATER Bobby returns from the jukebox and sits down next to Sailor. BOBBY Q-7, three times. Pee Wee King's "Waltz of Regret," my favorite tune. Pee Wee's steel guitar ripples through the cigarette haze and buzzes around Sailor's head. His reflection wobbles in the long mirror behind the bar. BOBBY I been studyin' a situation over in Lobo, take two men to handle it. SAILOR What's that? BOBBY Feed store keeps up to five K in their safe. Need me a good boy for back-up. Even split. You interested? Sailor stares at Bobby and works hard to focus his eyes. SAILOR No... I don't think so, man. BOBBY Be easy, Sailor. There's two employees. I take one in the back to open the safe, you keep the other'n covered... You ain't plannin' on raisin' a fam'ly in Big Tuna, are ya? SAILOR (on the alert) Whattaya mean family? BOBBY (smiling) Well... I mean like Lula bein' in a family way. SAILOR (a tinge of jealousy/fear) Lula tell you she's pregnant? Bobby grins, showing those three brown teeth. BOBBY Couple grand or more'd give you two a leg up. Get you to the west coast, Mexico, most anyplace, with a few dollars in your jeans. I got it figured good, Sailor. SAILOR When did you talk to Lula? BOBBY Talked to her this afternoon... While you was out. SAILOR She really say she was pregnant? BOBBY (smiles - puts a hand on Sailor's shoulder) Just took a guess is all... You in or out on this deal? SAILOR (looking at Bobby's hand on his shoulder) I ain't fuckin' sure, Bobby. BOBBY Don't think about it too long. (nods toward Sailor's mug) You had enough? SAILOR (finishing his beer) Have now. BOBBY Come on outside, I got somethin' to show ya. 136A. EXT. ROARITA'S - LATE AFTERNOON/EVENING Bobby looks around in the purple twilight before he opens the trunk of the Eldorado. He peels back a brown army blanket. BOBBY That's a double-barreled, sawed-off, Ithaca shotgun with a carved pistol grip stock wrapped with adhesive tape. Next to it's a cold Smith and Wesson .32 handgun with a six inch barrel. These'll do 'er... Loosen up that five grand... Two and a half for you and the little lady... Bobby closes the trunk. Sailor stands - hesitating to commit. BOBBY How much money you have between the two a'ya right now?... SAILOR Forty bucks... BOBBY This is easy money, pardner... No ones gonna get hurt in this thing... And I don't think you can afford not to take it... I'll be bringin' the Eldo 'round the front of the motel at ten tomorrow mornin'... If you ain't a pussy - you'll be there. Sailor stares at him and his fist clenches. SAILOR I don't particularly care for that kind of talk, Bobby. BOBBY Hey... I never said you was a pussy... Always figured you had the big ol' round balls for this kind'a thing... Sure would set you and that pretty little girl up good. SAILOR Yeah ... yeah... I guess so... That kind'a money'd get us a long way down that yellow brick road... Bobby cocks his head and squints at him questioningly. SAILOR ...But DAMN man... This better go smooth. BOBBY Like takin' candy from a fuckin' baby... CUT TO: 137. INT. IGUANA MOTEL - SAILOR AND LULA'S ROOM - NIGHT Sailor bends over the bed and kisses Lula's hair above her left ear. LULA You been drinkin', huh? SAILOR Few beers is all. Feelin' any better? Lula rolls onto her back. LULA Can't tell yet. Where'd you go? SAILOR That smell's still fillin' this room good. LULA Buddy and Sparky come by earlier. SAILOR (looks right into her eyes) And Bobby too, I hear... LULA (can't look at him) Yeah... He was lookin' for you. SAILOR You talk to 'im some?... LULA Some... Sparky said Red's promised to have him and Buddy out of here by the weekend. SAILOR Oughta make 'em happy. LULA So where'd you say you was? SAILOR (can't look at her) Went with Bobby. Sailor sits on the bed and starts undressing. LULA Sail? SAILOR Uh huh? LULA Let's leave here. SAILOR We're goin' to, Lula, real soon. LULA I mean tomorrow. SAILOR We got about forty bucks, sweetheart. That'd get us to El Paso. LULA Rather be in El Paso than Big Tuna. Sailor gets into bed. SAILOR You shouldn't be smokin' if you're pregnant. Ain't smart. Lula sticks a More between her lips and lights it. She takes a deep drag, blows out the smoke, and stares at Sailor. LULA Who says I'm smart? You up to somethin' with Bobby Peru, Sailor? SAILOR What could I be up to, Lula? LULA He's a stone fuckin' criminal, honey, and you ain't. SAILOR I killed Bob Ray Lemon, didn't I? LULA That was a accident. I bet both our asses Bobby Peru done murdered all kinds of people, and meant it, too. SAILOR That was in Vietnam. LULA He's the kind liked it. SAILOR Lula, I got to get some sleep. LULA Buddy told me about that thing at Cao Ben? SAILOR What? LULA Was a massacre. Soldiers there murdered old folks, women and babies, and dumped 'em in a trench. Bobby Peru prob'ly killed the most. SAILOR Lula, he mighta did, I don't know. But it don't matter now. Lotta guys go outta control in a war and it ain't their fault. Lula puffs hard on her cigarette. LULA I sure enjoy smokin', Sailor. I hate that it's bad for you. Sailor turns on his side, away from Lula, and pulls a pillow over his head. LULA That man's a black angel, Sailor. You hook up with him, you'll regret it. If you live to. S AILOR Thanks, darlin', I know you got my best interest in mind, and I 'preciate it sincerely. I love you, but I gotta sleep now. Lula lights a second More off the first one and stubs out the butt on the dresser top. LULA This whole worlds wild at heart and weird on top. Lula turns over, away from Sailor. LULA (softly) I wish you really, truly loved me... I wish you'd sing me "Love Me Tender" ... I wish I was somewhere over that rainbow... Shit. Shit, shit, shit. CU of Sailor's eyes - he remembers. CUT TO: 138. INT. BAY ST. CLEMENT HOTEL - STAIRCASE - NIGHT Sailor and Lula are walking down the carpeted stairs when Sailor is called by BOB RAY LEMON, who is coming down towards them fast. Marietta stands at the top - watching. BOB RAY Hey Sailor... Wait a minute... I got somethin' for ya. As Bob Ray passes Lula on the stairs - he puts his hand between her legs. Sailor starts to see red. Bob Ray smiles and steps down to Sailor. He leans in and whispers in Sailor's ear. BOB RAY Shit, man... Marietta says you been tryin' to fuck her in the toilets for the past ten minutes... You crazy fuckin' bad boy tryin' to fuck your girl's mama... How do you think that cute little cunt Lula would feel about that? Hey, take a look at this... (shows Sailor one thousand dollars in cash) Marietta just gave me this to kill you right now, and afterward she said Lula was mine to fuck all the way into next Sunday. Bob Ray pulls a knife, but Sailor's fist is already halfway through Bob Ray's brain. From there, Sailor steps firmly into the crazy zone. Amidst blood-curdling hysterical screams from a growing throng of SOUTHERN BELLES, Sailor starts taking Bob Ray apart limb by limb and doesn't stop until Bob Ray lays completely destroyed and completely dead at the foot of the stairs. The crowd of formally dressed onlookers stand aghast. Sailor stares up at Marietta. Both their eyes burning with hate. CUT TO: 139. INT. IGUANA MOTEL - SAILOR AND LULA'S ROOM - NIGHT Sailor is dripping with sweat. His teeth are clenched tight and his fists violently grip the sheets, as if any minute he could tear the bed apart. CUT TO: 140. INT. PERDITA DURANGO'S HOUSE - NIGHT Bobby lets the screen door bang shut behind him as he comes in and roams around the livingroom. PERDITA Nice of you to drop by. BOBBY Told ya I would. You still riled? PERDITA (laughs) You still screwing sixteen-year-olds in the ass? Bobby keeps circling. BOBBY Ain't never had no girl pull a blade on me. PERDITA Wish I'd fuckin' cut you up good. BOBBY You heard from Reggie? PERDITA Juana called. They're stayin' another week. Bobby stops walking and stares at the photograph on the wall. BOBBY Stayin' a few extra days in the big N.O., huh? This you? Perdita turns her head and looks, then turns back. PERDITA Yes. We see the photo now. In it are Perdita along with her sister, Juana, and her husband, Reggie, whom we recognize as the killers of Johnnie. BOBBY Don't look like you. Bobby turns around and leans down and puts his face next to Perdita's from behind. BOBBY The cobra's waitin' to strike, chica. PERDITA That guy Sailor came around this afternoon... Asked me if there was a contract out on 'im. BOBBY (laughs out loud) No shit?!?! You know him? PERDITA Used to. BOBBY What'd you say? PERDITA No, of course. Bobby takes out a silver dollar and flips it into the air. It lands tails up in his hand. He pockets it. BOBBY That's right... Could have a bad accident, though ... before ... durin' ... or after a hold-up... PERDITA What's gonna happen when he sees me drivin' the car tomorrow? BOBBY Maybe he'll get a little nervous, but who gives a shit? Bobby lowers his hands into the front of Perdita's blouse and cups her breasts. She burns the back of his left wrist with her cigarette. Bobby jumps back, then grabs Perdita's hair and pulls her over the couch onto the floor. Neither of them speak. She tries to stand, but Bobby keeps his right foot on her chest while he blows the back of his wounded wrist. Perdita shoves his leg to one side and rolls away. She stand up and spits at him. BOBBY (grinning) I knew we could be friends again... CUT TO: 141. INT. IGUANA MOTEL - DAY Lula lays very still on the bed. Her head is close to the small turquoise radio on the bedside table. She is listening to a piece of sad, nostalgic music and as we move in closer to her and the radio - the volume increases. Lula remembers some "moments" in her life with Sailor: (Music continues over) When he kissed her outside the jail gate. When he touched her breast the day after he got out of jail. When they sat behind the Confederate Soldier. When they danced to "Slaughter House." Suddenly, Lula sees an image in her mind that she does not recognize. She sees an abstract image of reflected light with two eyes looking through it at her. The image puzzles her. (The Music continues over) CUT TO: 142. EXT. IGUANA MOTEL - DAY The big Eldorado pulls up in front of the Iguana Motel where Sailor has been waiting in the hot sun. Bobby opens the door. BOBBY Jump in back. Sailor crawls in the back seat and sees Perdita just as she floors it and they take off in a cloud of dust. 142A. INT. ELDORADO - BIG TUNA - DAY SAILOR What's she doin' here? BOBBY She's my girl... She's drivin'... That bother you? SAILOR Why should it? BOBBY That's right... Take one of these. SAILOR What is it? BOBBY Panty hose. Work better'n stockin's. Pull one of the legs down over your face and let the other leg trail behind your head. You get the pistol. (hands him the .32) Remember, soon as we get inside, you keep that bad boy up where those hicks can see it. Once they notice the Ithaca and the Smith, they'll know we ain't foolin' with 'em. PERDITA Comin' up on it now, Bobby. CUT TO: 143. EXT. RAMOS FEED STORE - DAY Bobby slips the panty hose over his head and adjusts it. His face looks crooked and distorted. BOBBY (frightening whisper) Come on! Get that mask on! Sailor rips open the package and pulls a nylon leg over his head, stretching the calf part to fit. Perdita pulls up in front of the store. The street is deserted. BOBBY Keep it revved, Chiquita. We won't be long. Just goin' in to get our five grand. CUT TO: 144. INT. RAMOS FEED STORE - FRONT OFFICE - DAY Bobby and Sailor enter the feed store. Bobby raises his sawed-off shotgun and points it at the TWO OLD MEN behind the counter. BOBBY Into the back room, both of you, NOW!!! Bobby and the two men head down the hall into the back room. BOBBY (calling back to Sailor) If anyone comes in, herd 'em back here quick. CUT TO: 145. EXT. RAMOS FEED STORE - DAY Suddenly, an Iguana County DEPUTY SHERIFF cruises up in a patrol car and parks it on angle in front of the idling Eldo. The Deputy gets out of his car and walks over to the driver's side of the Eldorado. DEPUTY Waitin' for somebody, Miss? PERDITA Mi esposo. He's in the feed store picking up some supplies. DEPUTY You'd best be careful of that cigarette, Ma'am. It's about to burn down between your fingers. Perdita stubs out her Marlboro in the ashtray. PERDITA Gracias, officer. CUT TO: 146. INT. RAMOS FEED STORE - FRONT OFFICE - DAY The two old guys have their hands in the air and are moving back behind the counter. Bobby is just finishing tying off a bag of money. Sailor is by the front door holding his pistol on the two old guys. When Bobby finishes tying the money bag - he lifts the shotgun and blows a hole through the chest of one of the old men. Sailor goes into shock. SAILOR BOBBY!!!! STOP IT, MAN!!! CUT TO: 147. EXT. RAMOS FEED STORE - DAY Reacting to the shot, Perdita jams the gear shift into reverse and peels out, knocking the deputy down. CUT TO: 148. INT. RAMOS FEED STORE - FRONT OFFICE - DAY Sailor turns his pistol on Bobby now. Bobby spins his shotgun around and points it at Sailor. BOBBY You're next, fucker. The second old man is reaching under the counter. Sailor fires his .32 at Bobby. There are no live bullets in his pistol. It just makes a dry click. Bobby smiles and is just about to kill Sailor when out of the corner of his eye he catches sight of the second old man bringing out a big shotgun of his own. Bobby instinctively spins and empties the second barrel of his two-barrel shotgun into the old gentleman. As Bobby is reloading fast, Sailor sprints through the front door. Bobby is right behind him as he flys out the front door. 148A. EXT. RAMOS FEED STORE - DAY The deputy recovers and comes up on one knee with his revolver clasped in both hands. He fires his first shot into Bobby's thigh and his second into Bobby's left hip. The shock of the initial slug causes Bobby to drop the bag. The impact of the second forces Bobby's right hand to twist sideways to that both barrels of the shotgun wedge under his chin. The Ithaca goes off, blowing Bobby backwards through the RAMOS on the plate glass window of the feed store. Sailor hits the ground - losing the Smith as he falls. He puts his hand over his hosieried head and keeps his face in the dirt until the deputy orders him to stand up. CUT TO: 149. INT. IGUANA COUNTY COURTHOUSE - DAY Lula is sitting on a bench in the waiting room of the Iguana County Courthouse Building when Marietta and Santos walk in. As soon as she sees Lula, Marietta runs over, sits down next to her and hugs and kisses her. MARIETTA Oh baby, I was beginnin' to think I was never gonna see you again. Tears are pouring down Marietta's cheeks. She holds Lula to her and Lula does not resist. Lula just stares at Santos. MARIETTA You're comin' home, precious. Santos' gonna drive us to the San Antonio airport. LULA Mama, Sailor's in deep trouble here. I just can't leave him. Marietta takes Lula by the shoulders and looks straight at her. Lula's eyes are bloodshot, her hair is greasy and stringy, and her cheeks are pale. MARIETTA Oh, yes, you can. Santos steps forward. Lula begins to tremble. SANTOS Your mama's been real worried 'bout you, honey. Me too... Can you give your old friend Santos a hug, too? Santos' arms begin to go around Lula. Lula lets out a blood-curdling scream and shakes like a leaf on a tree. Santos grabs her hard - in a bear hug. On one shirt cuff we see a cufflink which is turquoise, orange, and silver. CUT TO: 150. INT. WALLS UNIT - DAY Sailor lays on his jail bed reading a letter from Lula. LULA (voice-over) Dearest Sailor Darling, The first thing you'll want to know is I'm keeping the baby. Mama wasn't for it in the beginning but I think she's looking forward to it. I'm gonna name it Pace no matter if it's a boy or a girl. Pace Ripley sounds good, don't it? It's kind of hard to believe that Pace will be six years old when you get out. I feel like I'm kind of in prison too, but I know in six months, it'll be over and I'll have a son or daughter to show for it. Our child!! I love you Sailor. I don't know how much or what it means though I miss you an awful bunch sometimes I know you're thinking about me cause I can feel it. I miss you not being around to call me peanut nobody else ever called me that. Mama married Santos. It just about drove me crazy. My daddy left a lot of money somehow and they're spending it like there is no tomorrow. I'm going to move out as soon as I can. Mama and Santos said because of the baby they're lookin' at the two of us in a different light - whatever that means. Johnnie Farragut has plumb disappeared. No one knows where. I miss him, but not near as much as I miss you. Time don't really fly honey does it? Love, your Lula P.S. I miss dancing... CUT TO: 151. INT. FORTUNE HOUSE - DAY Lula sits in her bedroom reading a letter from Sailor. SAILOR (voice-over) Dear Lula, It is fine with me about the baby as you already know. And Pace being your family name and all is just right. What about a middle name if it is a boy after my granddaddy Roscoe? He would be proud I know though he is long passed. Pace Roscoe Ripley does not sound so bad do you think? This place is not so pretty as Pee Dee. Not pretty at all. There are boys inside these walls meaner than Peru you can bet. There is a Death House. I am getting along. The only thing is not thinking about the future. I miss dancing with you, too. I love you. It is hard to end this letter. If I stop writing you're gone. There is not a lot more to say though. Vava con dios mi amor. Sailor LONG FADE OUT: CUT TO: 152. INT. MARIETTA FORTUNE'S HOUSE - EVENING/ 153. INT. LULA FORTUNE'S HOUSE - EVENING - (SIX YEARS LATER) Six years later... Lula stands in the living room holding a glass of ice water while talking on the telephone to her mother. Marietta is wearing a giant diamond ring on one hand and the other hand is holding a Martini and Rossi sweet vermouth. Marietta is slumped over in an ottoman with wheels and is pushing her drunken self around the livingroom as she talks on the phone. LULA I'm goin', mama. No way I can't go. MARIETTA You ain't takin' Pace, though. LULA Course I am, mama. MARIETTA (sighs) What time's Sailor's train get in? LULA Six. MARIETTA Got any plans? LULA Figure we'll go have supper someplace. Maybe get some barbecue out by Stateline. Sailor always liked that Havana Brown's Pig Pickin'. MARIETTA Well, you be careful with that boy, Lula. LULA Sailor ain't a boy no more, mama. MARIETTA Don't mean him. It's Pace concerns me. LULA Really, mama, I gotta go. MARIETTA What if I asked you not to? LULA Wouldn't make any difference. MARIETTA What if I told you not to? LULA (forcefully) Mama ... if you get in the way of me and Sailor's happiness, I'll fuckin' pull your arms out by the roots. Lula hangs up and throws her glass of water at a picture of her mother - draining it. CUT TO: 154. INT. LULA'S CAR - EVENING PACE ROSCOE FORTUNE is a shy, polite, innocent six-year old who wears a long-billed fishing cap and pants with suspenders. PACE How'll we know what he looks like? Lula makes a wide left turn onto Jeff Davis Highway without signaling, causing the driver of a white Bonneville headed across the intersection to jam on his brakes in order to avoid a collision. The Bonneville driver sits on his horn and shouts at Lula. PACE Mama, you almost crashed us. Lula steadies the steering wheel of her Camaro with her left elbow while she strikes a match and lights up a More. She throws the match out the window and takes possession of the wheel with both hands, the cigarette is clamped in her teeth. LULA Don't give me no trouble now, Pace, please. This ain't the easiest day in a long time. And what do you mean how are we gonna know what your daddy looks like? You seen his photo. PACE How'll he know what we look like? He seen our photo? Lula puffs furiously several times on her More before she takes it out of her mouth and drops it. LULA Damn it, child! Now look what you made me do. PACE What I made you do, mama? Lula feels around on the floor with one hand until she finds the cigarette. Sirens can be heard up ahead. LULA Nothin', honey. (stubbing it out in the ashtray) Mama's just actin' strange. PACE You ain't actin', mama. LULA Why, Pace Roscoe Ripley, ain't you got one cute mouth tonight? They pass an automobile accident where a man has been thrown into the curb - his head broken open and bleeding. The ambulance is just arriving. Lula looks away. CUT TO: 155. ACCIDENT - EVENING A CRAZY MAN in a wheelchair is wheel up to the accident victim, who is bleeding profusely and in a state of shock. The man in the wheelchair stares at him for a moment. WHEELCHAIR MAN Hey man... HEY... Same fuckin' thing happened to me last year... CUT TO: 156. INT. LULA'S CAR - EVENING Pace looks up at his mother. PACE I still ain't sure what my daddy looks like. LULA Like you, sweetheart. You and your daddy got the same mouth, eyes, ears, and nose. Only difference is your color hair is like mine. PACE My daddy ain't never killed nobody, has he, mama? LULA Course he ain't never killed nobody. Why'd you say that, Pace? PACE Heard grandpa Santos and grandmama talkin'. LULA And? PACE Grandmama said how Sailor murdered a man. LULA Wrong, baby. Your daddy never committed no murder. Musta been you didn't hear grandmama proper. He made some mistakes, is all. Your daddy ain't always been so lucky... We're almost at the depot, honey. Sit back a minute. CUT TO: 157. EXT. TRAIN STATION - EVENING Lula pulls the Camaro into in the station parking lot and kills the engine. PACE Why we sittin' here, mama? LULA Thinkin' a second, baby. Lula gets out and goes around for Pace. They hold hands as they walk toward the station. The big clock on the side of the building shows ten minutes past six. PACE I'm scared, mama. LULA Why, honey? PACE Case daddy don't like me. What if he don't like that I don't got his color hair. LULA Pace, your daddy'd love you even if you didn't have no hair at all. CUT TO: 158. INT. TRAIN STATION - EVENING Lula sees Sailor as soon as she opens the door. He is sitting in an orange plastic chair against the opposite wall, smoking a cigarette. LULA Still partial to Camels, huh? Sailor smiles. SAILOR First pack of tailor-mades I had in a while. He stands up and looks down at Pace, who is still holding hands with Lula. Sailor puts out his right hand. SAILOR You must be my son. LULA Shake hands with your daddy. Pace releases Lula's hand and puts his own in Sailor's. Sailor grips it gently but firmly, pumps once, then lets go. SAILOR Pleasure to meet you, Pace. I read a lot about you. Sailor looks at Lula. Her eyes are full of tears and she lets them loose. Sailor tries to smile. LULA You hungry? Pace and I ain't had dinner yet. SAILOR Lead the way. Sailor picks up his black metal suitcase and follows them to the car. CUT TO: 159. INT. LULA'S CAR - NIGHT Lula drives. SAILOR No rag top, huh? Lula starts to reply, then stops. She stares straight ahead, gripping the wheel hard. Suddenly, she pulls over to the side of the road, turns off the engine and gets out of the car. PACE What's wrong, mama? SAILOR (turning to Pace and patting his head) Don't worry, son. Just stay here. Sailor gets out and goes over to Lula, who is leaning back against the hood. LULA I'm sorry, Sailor. I just can't help it. Give me a minute and I'll quit. SAILOR Boys frightened, Lula. This ain't no good. LULA Really, Sail, I'll be okay. SAILOR It's a mistake, honey. You two go on. I'll walk back to the depot. LULA What're you talkin' about? That's your son in there. SAILOR He ain't never known me, Lula, so there ain't much for him to forget. Not seein' each other for six years makes it next best to simple for us, too. LULA How can you say that, Sailor? SAILOR What makes sense, is all. Sailor goes around to the driver's side, reaches in and pulls the keys out of the ignition. He unlocks the trunk, removes his suitcase, and closes the lid. LULA Don't do this, Sailor, please. Sailor slips the keys in her shirt pocket and leans his head into the car. SAILOR (to Pace) Oiga, amigo. If ever somethin' don't feel right to you, remember what Pancho said to The Cisco Kid... ‘Let's went, before we are dancing at the end of a rope, without music.' Sailor stands up and looks at Lula. Her eye makeup runs in dark streaks down her face. ECU of Lula's eyes. Her eye makeup runs like black sweat over eyes and down her cheeks as in Sailor's dream. SAILOR You been doin' fine without me, peanut. There ain't no need to make life tougher'n it has to be. He picks up his suitcase, kisses Lula lightly on the lips and walks away. She lets him go. CUT TO: 160. EXT. CITY STREET - LATE AFTERNOON/EVENING Sailor walks down the street pretending hard not to care. CUT TO: 161. INT. LULA'S CAR - LATE AFTERNOON/EVENING Lula climbs in behind the wheel - sobbing. Pace sits sadly, staring out the window. CUT TO: 162. EXT. CITY STREET - LATE AFTERNOON/EVENING Sailor continues walking down the street. A GANG OF INSANE KILLER TEENAGERS on PCP appear and come towards Sailor. They circle around him, coming in closer for the kill. SAILOR What do you faggots want? That's all it takes. The gang is on him. Sailor tries to defend himself, but one big punch to his nose sends him down and out. Blood begins to pour from his swelling nose. 162A. EXT. CITY STREET - LATE AFTERNOON/EVENING CU OF SAILOR'S FACE - a bright light illuminates it. In the sky above Sailor, a large glowing bubble holding the beautiful Good Witch of the North comes floating down above him. GOOD WITCH Sailor Ripley... Sailor's eyes suddenly see the Good Witch through his closed eyelids. His mouth speaks through closed lips. SAILOR The Good Witch... GOOD WITCH Sailor... Lula loves you. SAILOR But I'm a robber and a manslaughterer and I haven't had any parental guidance. GOOD WITCH She's forgiven you of all these things ... You love her... Don't be afraid, Sailor. SAILOR But I'm wild at heart. GOOD WITCH If you are truly wild at heart, you'll fight for your dreams... Don't turn away from love, Sailor... Don't turn away from love... Don't turn away from love. The Good Witch disappears. 162. EXT. CITY STREET - LATE AFTERNOON/EVENING Sailor opens his eyes and drags himself and his giant swollen nose up on his feet. The gang still stands around him. GANG MEMBER You had enough, asshole? SAILOR Yes, I have... And I wanna apologize to you gentlemen for referring to you as homosexuals. I also want to thank you fellas, you've taught me a valuable lesson in life. (lifts his head high) LULA!!!! Sailor turns around and starts running back. The gang watches him go. CUT TO: 163. INT. LULA'S CAR - LATE AFTERNOON/EVENING Lula sits in the car in the middle of a giant traffic jam. She is still crying and horns are honking all around them. CUT TO: 164. EXT. CITY STREET - LATE AFTERNOON/EVENING Sailor runs up the street, holding his nose and SCREAMING LULA'S NAME. He rounds a corner and spots her in the middle of a sea of cars. He starts running towards her - leaping from one car to another until he jumps on the hood of Lula's car. She sees him. SAILOR LULA!!!! LULA SAILOR!!!! Lula wriggles out of the car and flys into his arms. Behind them is a giant golden sunset. As they embrace - the sound of the horns goes away. Lula's gaze goes to a reflection of golden light on a windshield. It is the same abstract scene she saw before in her room in Big Tuna, but now she knows what it is. It is Pace's happy, smiling eyes looking up at the two of them in love. Sailor, with a giant blue nose, looks into Lula's eyes and sings "Love Me Tender." The people in their cars, and the people on the street look on with a feeling of love and happiness in their hearts. THE END