PIGGS - A Novel with Bonus Screenplay (30 page)
I am real tired, Mr. Dupree.
They are moving out of the pasture and into some pretty dense woods.
CECIL
Cecil.
GLORIA
Could we do it some other time,
Cecil.
CECIL
You'll feel better, you get off your feet.
The dance is a demanding profession, you don't have to tell me that.I know how much you are giving of yourself.
GLORIA
Uh-huh...
EXT. ESTABLISHING SHOT
RUINS OF BATTLE OF BRITUN FAMILY FUN PARK
SERIES OF SHOTS
CECIL'S POV
Cecil looks around with interest. In the faint light of dawn we see phantoms of WW II...Messerschmitts, Spitfires, rusted and entangled with vines, half-hidden in the dense forest. A dummy from a men's store sits in one of the cockpits, half-eaten by termites. There are broken rides, a tilted merry-go-round with "kiddie" airplanes instead of horses.
CECIL
This is right interesting.
I have been by your place a hundred times before, but I've never been in.
GLORIA
Isn't much left to see.
Cecil bumps into a wing.
CECIL
Whoa. That one nearly got me.
Gloria stops.
CECIL
Ah, why we stopping here, dear?
GLORIA
We're here, Mister--- Cecil.
This is where I live.
Cecil grins, turns around a couple of times, raises one hand over his brow, like an Indian scout.
CECIL
Where?
I don't see a thing. You gotum teepee somewhere?
Gloria looks grim, clearly not amused.
GLORIA
Up there.
CECIL
Up wh-- Holy shit.
Cecil looks up.
POV CECIL
CAMERA ROAMS WAY UP
Thirty feet in the air, perched, anchored in the branches of great, ancient oaks, entwined with vines, is an enormous ANCIENT AIRPLANE, a Junkers JU 52. It looks as if it simply
grew
there. Wooden rungs are nailed to the trunk of one of the trees.
CECIL
You're kidding me, right? Doesn't anybody
live
up there.
GLORIA
Well I'm anybody, and I take offense to that.
CECIL
You're an overly sensitive person. Anybody ever tell you that?
Gloria glares at him, then starts climbing the ladder, talks to him over her shoulder.
GLORIA
I said coffee.
Don't be expecting anything else.
CECIL
Right. Certainly not...
Cecil watches her, takes a deep breath.
CECIL CONT'D)
(mutters to himself)
Oh, fuck.
Cecil begins to climb.
CUT TO:
Cecil freezes halfway as a tinny loudspeaker begins to play a RECORDED MESSAGE. Static interrupts. Strings of Christmas LIGHTS blink.
Cecil nearly loses it.
HOLD ON CECIL
RECORDED MESSAGE (O.S.)
THIS IS YOUR JU 52 JUNKERS AIRCRAFT, WORKHORSE OF THE GERMAN AIRFORCE...
TAKING WING IN 1930, THIS CELEBRATED PLANE SERVED AS PASSENGER, TRANSPORT AND BOMBER FOR-
SOUND: SHRIEEEK!
WIDEN ON CECIL
Cecil sweats, as he slips, reaches the top.
MESSAGE (CONT'D)
---POWERED BY THREE BMW RADIAL ENGINES THE PLANE ATTAINED A SPEED OF---
CUT TO:
INT. THE PLANE
The walls are of corrugated iron, the rounded ceiling is low. Gloria has decorated the walls with curtains.
There is a tiny kitchen between the wings. Cecil perches on one of the uncomfortable fold-out canvas seats along one wall (designed for troops).
Gloria is in the kitchen, facing away from Cecil. Her voice is too high, she's talking too fast, clearly nervous, rattling on.
GLORIA
...I'll tell you what, there are people who do not respect your feelings at all, and I mean even someone who is supposed to be a friend. Like Maggie Thatch, whom I am very close to?
Gloria drops a saucer.
GLORIA (CONT'D)
Shit!
Well you'd think, all right? We are watching this National Geographic show?
About gnus?
She hits that mute and says, Gloria, you are crazy as a duck, girlfriend.
Isn't anyone mentally right living in a fucking German airplane...
ON CECIL
Cecil is taking in Gloria's parts.
CECIL
I see...
GLORIA
Isn't any
Germans
doing that, Maggie says.
They are living in houses like anyone else...
Cecil furtively empties his coffee under the seat.
ON GLORIA
Gloria turns, takes a breath and faces him.
GLORIA
See, I grew up in this thing. The park went busted when I was thirteen. Daddy died of drink and I went to live with Aunt Brill.
(no pause in her speech)
It has been nice talking to you, Cecil. Be real careful on your way down.
CECIL
Honey, you didn't want me coming here, I'm aware of that, it is normal behavior, I seen it a hundred times. You're thinking, hey, is he going to make me fuck him or not? You know it, I know it, that's why I got you in the car.
GLORIA
Well are you?
Cecil stands, and Gloria reacts by backing away a step.
CECIL
Nah, I used to be crazy as shit, you know? Stuff a kid'll do. Steal a guy's bike, burn his trailer down. See, that's a part of growing up. You quit doing that, start using your head.
FAVOR GLORIA
GLORIA
Uh-huh...
CUT TO:
EXT. LITTERED GROUND
CLOSE ON the forest floor, littered with a long-time accumulation of take-out cartons, paper cups, candy wrappers, etc. A taco wrapper drops to the ground and we PULL UP to Jack, half-dozing in the cockpit of one of the rusted, ancient aircraft. He holds a paper cup in his hand, as he chews absently on the taco.
BACK TO SCENE:
CECIL
Like with you, right? I tell myself, Cecil R. Dupree, you can
do what you want, you can screw this lovely person all night, don't even have to ask. You don't want to do that, you can give her a puppy.
Give her a kitty cat.
Give her a trip somewhere.
Cecil stands by the outside door.
CECIL (CONT'D)
See what I'm saying?
You get to be Cecil Dupree, it's just as big a kick
not
to do something as it is doin' it.
GLORIA
Sometimes it helps to...open up and share?
I do appreciate that and--
And I do appreciate your---
Cecil holds up a warning finger, looks grim.
CECIL
Huh-uh.
Do not mess with my head, Gloria.
Do not ever tell me what you think I want to hear.I am declaring my affection for you, understand that? And get some real coffee.
Grind the beans yourself.
Find a place to live.
Cecil Dupree doesn't go with a lady, he's got to climb a tree.
Cecil steps out on the wing. A flight of crows is sitting there; they screech and scatter.
CUT TO:
ON JACK
He hears the crows, looks up, suddenly alert. He makes a face, like "Oh, man, I can't handle this..."
CUT TO:
POV JACK
Cecil climbing down. Gloria appears, watching him.
ON JACK
He pounds his fists on the ancient instrument panel. Some of the glass dials crack and fall apart.
CUT TO;
Ricky is standing a few yards away. He turns as he hears the breaking glass. Holds binoculars in Jack's direction.
BINOCULAR VIEW:
View of Jack.
BACK TO RICKY
RICKY
Bastardo....
MOVING SCENE
INT. CECIL'S CAR
Cecil sulks in the back seat, stares at Cat's bald head. Grape is in the front as well. Cecil's brooding has turned his birthmark darker than ever.
GRAPE
Hey, what happened?
You get any, man?
CECIL
Shut the fuck up.
GRAPE
Yes, sir...
The car passes a convenience store.
CECIL
Stop.
Back up, Stop it right there.
EXT. CECIL'S CAR
Cat turns the car around, stops at the store.
CECIL (O.S.)
Cat, get me some Snickers.
Get me a Dr Pepper.
CAT (O.S.)
You got it.
INT. CAR
CECIL
Get me some Head 'n Shoulders.