EXT. CEMETERY - NIGHT
Sophie falls into an old cemetery and skids up to a
headstone.
SOPHIE
Oh nuts!
She scrambles away from the headstone and off the grave. The
old black SEXTON digs nearby in a grave. It is the last of
three.
SEXTON
I thought you might be by here
sometime. Mind the flowers, please.
Sophie looks down and sees she's crushing flowers on a grave.
She hops off them.
SOPHIE
Oh sorry!
SEXTON
Not a problem. Just gotta watch it.
She walks over to where the sexton digs.
SEXTON (CONT'D)
Don't mind if I don't shake. I got
work to do.
SOPHIE
What are you doing?
SEXTON
Girl, what does it LOOK like I am
doing?
SOPHIE
I mean why are you doing it at
night?
SEXTON
More respectful. For the ones here
and the ones not here.
SOPHIE
Ummm. . .am I "here" or "not here"?
The sexton keeps digging.
SEXTON
"Not here."
SOPHIE
Good. It's creepy here.
She sits with him in silence while he digs.
SOPHIE (CONT'D)
I'm glad you're here though.
SEXTON
I'm "not here."
She giggles.
SOPHIE
Right. I'm glad you're "not here"
then.
SEXTON
Welcome.
SOPHIE
Aren't you afraid?
SEXTON
Of what?
Sophie considers it for a moment and looks around.
SOPHIE
Of them.
SEXTON
Why would I be afraid of them?
SOPHIE
They are dead and all icky.
SEXTON
Icky huh?
SOPHIE
You know. Decay and stuff.
SEXTON
Yeah I know "decay and stuff."
He stops digging and climbs out of the hole. He sits on the
edge of it and opens a sandwich from his nearby lunch pail.
SEXTON (CONT'D)
Lemme tell ya something. And you
listen good, you hear?
SOPHIE
Yessir.
SEXTON
I loves them. Each and every one.
Sophie wrinkles up her face in disgust.
SEXTON (CONT'D)
Oh now, don't you go giving me the
hairy eyeball. I'm telling ya the
truth.
Sophie starts to protest. The sexton stills her.
SEXTON (CONT'D)
I loves them, and I gives them
respect--maybe even more than they
deserved in life.
SOPHIE
But why? They're dead.
SEXTON
Child--the measure of a civilized
man is how he treats a carcass. Do
you know what I'm sayin'?
SOPHIE
No sir.
SEXTON
Well, I didn't think so. No matter.
They sit in silence.
SEXTON (CONT'D)
Do something for me wouldja?
SOPHIE
I-I-I guess so.
SEXTON
See that angel stone a ways out
there? The cryin' one?
She looks across the cemetery into the gloom.
SOPHIE
That one WAY over there?
SEXTON
Yessm.
SOPHIE
What about it?
SEXTON
I want you to walk over there to
her and say "hello."
SOPHIE
ALL the way over THERE?
SEXTON
Yessm.
Sophie's panic rises.
SOPHIE
Why?
SEXTON
I told ya. To say "hello."
Sophie gets up and brushes herself off.
SOPHIE
Way over there?
SEXTON
Yessm. I'll be right here.
Sophie takes a few steps and looks back. The sexton motions
her onward.
She walks by the graves whistling.
SEXTON (CONT'D)
No whistling! You disturb people!
SOPHIE
Sorry!
She reaches the ANGEL of Grief monument. Sophie stands and
looks at her.
SOPHIE (CONT'D)
(under her breath)
Nuts!
ANGEL
Such language.
Sophie jumps as the Angel raises her head.
SOPHIE
Sorry ma'am. Ummm. . .the sexton
sent me here to you.
ANGEL
Did he now?
SOPHIE
Yes ma'am.
ANGEL
Give me your hand.
SOPHIE
Ma'am?
ANGEL
Are you deaf? Put your hand in my
hand.
Sophie reaches out and holds the statue's extended hand.
ANGEL (CONT'D)
Cold isn't it?
SOPHIE
Yes ma'am.
ANGEL
Lifeless?
SOPHIE
Yes ma'am.
ANGEL
And yet, I speak to you. How is
that?
SOPHIE
I don't know.
ANGEL
Dead people speak to you all the
time though don't they?
SOPHIE
I'm not sure what you mean.
ANGEL
Sure you do.
SOPHIE
I--
ANGEL
How long has Dad been dead?
SOPHIE
I think fifteen years.
ANGEL
And everyday you relive his pain.
SOPHIE
His?
ANGEL
Yes. It wasn't yours until he gave
it to you.
SOPHIE
No ma'am.
ANGEL
So why do you keep it?
SOPHIE
Where would I put it?
ANGEL
Why do you think you're here?
SOPHIE
The sexton--
ANGEL
All that pain is just as cold and
lifeless as everyone here. May it
rest in peace.
The angel bows her head back on the monument and stills.
Sophie squeezes her hand, but it is just stone.
She backs away from the statue, and trips on a head stone. A
skeletal hand juts up out of the dirt and grabs her wrist.
She wrenches her hand away and runs across the cemetery.
She can't see the sexton anywhere, and she panics. Skeletons
and corpses thrust out of the graves and reach for her as she
runs by.
She is lost.
One corpse clutches her, and she screams and wrestles away
from it.
She turns to run, but the sexton catches her.
SEXTON
Whoa there girl! What's wrong?
Sophie stops screaming and looks around. She is back across
the cemetery where she started.
SOPHIE
But they were trying to get me!
SEXTON
Who were?
SOPHIE
The "heres."
SEXTON
Child, they's all asleep. Dead and
buried.
SOPHIE
But--
SEXTON
Sometimes things in our heads are
worse than what's before our eyes,
don't ya think?
SOPHIE
(at a whisper)
Yessir.
They stand in the silence for a moment.
SEXTON
Yessm. I loves 'em all.
(A beat)
Well, I best get you to where
you're going so I can finish up
here.
SOPHIE
Oh but there is a very bad man
after me! And he will be here any
minute to get you!
The sexton chuckles. They walk towards the mausoleum at the
top of the hill.
SEXTON
Child, he ain't coming here.
SOPHIE
Yes he will! He's gotten all my
friends! And he'll--
SEXTON
No he won't. I promise.
SOPHIE
How do you know?
He looks back at the graves.
SEXTON
I know too much about him. You take
care now, ya hear?
Sophie steps through the veil at the entrance of the
mausoleum.
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Script created with Final Draft by Final Draft, Inc.