A Stark And Wormy Knight (36 page)

Authors: Tad Williams

As she’s putting it on, YOUNG TOPHER swings his legs down from the couch back and sits looking over the others as the acoustic intro of “And You And I” begins. JANICE and KIMMY are both clearly nervous.

YOUNG JANICE

They’re so tiny! How long is this going to last?

YOUNG BRENT

A while. I wish I could have got Stringer to get me this stuff earlier — it’s amazing to go, like, to the park. The grass looks alive.

YOUNG ERIC

The grass is alive.

YOUNG BRENT

You know what I mean.

(to Kimmy)

But wait ‘til you see the stars. They look just… far out.

YOUNG ERIC

They are far out.

Everyone laughs, even BRENT.

YOUNG BRENT

(in a bad Brooklyn accent)

Quit bustin’ my balls, Pierson.

(holds out the acid; normal voice:)

Okay, boys and girls. Come and get it!

YOUNG TOPHER

Slow down, Zenger. I wanna show you guys something.

YOUNG BRENT

Fuck, Holland, this shit doesn’t even come on for an hour. Let’s just take it and then you can show us.

YOUNG TOPHER

(enjoying his mystery)

No, you’re definitely gonna wanta see this first.

There’s a pause: TOPHER’s clearly waiting to be asked.

YOUNG ERIC

Okay, what is it?

TOPHER extends his hand, in a fist, palmside down, then turns it over and uncurls his fingers to reveal five shiny BLACK PILLS.

YOUNG BRENT

What the fuck are those?

YOUNG TOPHER

The. Fucking. Best. High. Ever.

YOUNG BRENT

Looks like speed, man. Black beauties.

YOUNG TOPHER

Oh, no, my little Bent Zengerdenger. This is shit you’ve never seen. Ain’t nobody ever seen this. This… is Black Sunshine.

YOUNG ERIC

Topher, what exactly the hell are you talking about?

TOPHER slides from the couch onto the floor, takes a theatrical swig from the rum bottle, enjoying everyone’s attention. Just to piss them off, he takes an elaborate time lighting a cigarette, too.

YOUNG BRENT

Come on. Jesus!

YOUNG JANICE

Ooh, the mystery man.

YOUNG TOPHER

Okay, you know the lab? The place my old man works?

YOUNG BRENT

Where you have a job pushing a broom on Saturday mornings?

YOUNG TOPHER

(unfazed)

Yeah. That lab. Well, Castillo the fuckin’ head janitor had to go home because he got sick — he was, like, green — and he left me the keys to lock up. Man, normally he’d rather leave me alone with his fuckin’ daughter than even let me touch ‘em, but he was in bad shape, pukin’ his lungs out all over the restroom…

YOUNG ERIC

You have a gift for storytelling, amigo.

YOUNG TOPHER

I do, don’t I? So anyway, I thought it might be a good time to check out the drug refrigerator, the one that’s always locked with this big old fuckin’ lock? Just in case they had some like pharmaceutical quality coke lying around, or some shit like that.

KIMMY

Topher! You could go to jail.

YOUNG TOPHER

Not unless I was stupid enough to get caught. So I’m checking it out, and they’ve got a little glass jar of these babies in the back, in some kind of a plastic envelope, with all these yellow warning stickers. The name was fucked up — Dee-oh-noxy-somefucking or other — but right there on the label it says, “hallucinogen”. You know what that means, right, Pierson? ‘Cause you’re so smart and shit in English?

YOUNG ERIC

You stole some drugs you don’t know anything about, except they said “hallucinogen”? You’re crazy, Topher.

YOUNG TOPHER

(suddenly angry)

Don’t fucking talk to me like you’re my dad or something, Pierson. I’m not stupid. I had the keys, remember, like to the files and stuff? I went and looked in the folders, checked it out. It’s an experimental drug they’re working on for some government project, and it’s basically just like acid, except cleaner, ‘cause there’s a couple of different electrons or some chemistry shit like that.

YOUNG BRENT

Fuckin A. Experimental acid? For the government? What kind of shit is that?

YOUNG ERIC

And you just walked off with ‘em? Like they’re not going to notice.

YOUNG TOPHER

Cool out, man. I found some other pills that looked just like ‘em — some kinda water-retention shit. So if they give ‘em out to somebody for an experiment they won’t get high, they’ll just get… whatever. Bloated.

(cackles)

And the scientist guys’ll just say it’s like “a non-standard reaction to the medication”. I hear my dad talk about this stuff.

(brightly)

So, whaddaya say? Let’s get high!

YOUNG JANICE

(incredulous)

Huh? You don’t think we’re going to take those, do you?

KIMMY

I think maybe I should go home.

YOUNG BRENT

No! No, don’t, Kimmy. It’s cool. We’re just going to take acid — Topher’s only playing around.

YOUNG TOPHER

I ain’t fuckin’ playin’ around, Zenger. This is fuckin’ straight up. What, are you all pussies? No offense, ladies.

YOUNG ERIC

Just cool out, Topher. It was pretty amazing you did that, but we’re not going to take something no one’s ever heard about. What is this “Black Sunshine” shit, anyway? They give their drugs names like that?

YOUNG TOPHER

I made it up. Pretty bitchin’, huh? I made a copy of Castillo’s key too. If this shit is half as good as I think it is, I’m gonna creep half the next batch and sell it for ten bucks a hit. Send some to Ozzy and the boys and get a backstage pass forever. Come on, Pierson — it’ll be far fucking out!

ERIC shakes his head grimly. BRENT has already begun giving out his WINDOWPANE ACID to the girls.

YOUNG BRENT

Just forget it, Holland. Come on, you’ll blow the mood. We’re just getting to the good part of this song.

BRENT puts his own portion on his tongue, then hands the rest to ERIC; as ERIC takes his, the girls look at each other.

YOUNG JANICE

We’re just going to take half.

They break one hit of acid in half and each take part, KIMMY having trouble swallowing. ERIC turns and offers the last squares of windowpane on his fingertip to TOPHER.

YOUNG TOPHER

I can’t fuckin’ believe you guys. The last night of summer. Fuckin’ lightweights! What have you got to lose, Erky? You ain’t even staying around this asshole town.

He holds the five black pills in his hands and stares at them, then stares at ERIC’s proferred acid. BRENT has his eyes closed, swaying to the music — one hand is against KIMMY’s leg, which she’s trying to ignore. TOPHER looks them all over, then abruptly THROWS the five pills up in the air.

CLOSE ON: BLACK PILLS, TUMBLING

As they come down, TOPHER lets them fall into his mouth like candy. It’s hard to tell whether they all make it in – at least one bounces away — but from the way TOPHER holds his mouth closed, he’s clearly got some.

ERIC

(genuinely startled)

Fuck, man, what are you doing… ?

JANICE

Topher? You’re joking, right? Spit them out!

TOPHER swallows elaborately, then grins.

YOUNG TOPHER

Party time… !

We DISSOLVE TO:

INT. — JANICE’S HOUSE – MIDNIGHT

ADULT ERIC and ADULT JANICE have fallen asleep on the couch, curled together. Shadows are moving across their faces — it’s windy outside. JANICE is twitching. ERIC is murmuring in his sleep, small, unintelligible sounds of fear.

INT. — BRENT’S HOUSE — SAME TIME

ADULT BRENT is lying face down on the rug with the bottle of rum tipped over beside him, wind moaning in the chimney. At first we think he might be dead, but as we move closer we see the sixth BULLET is still gripped in his fingertips.

INT. — CONVALESCENT HOSPITAL — SAME TIME

We are looking down a long hospital corridor, from TOPHER’s POV — it’s his odd SHADOW we see on the wall beside us. The wind is loud now, wailing. As the shadow passes across the open doors of the patients’ rooms, we hear some of them cry out loudly in nightmares. We see others flail in their beds. The shadow passes the nursing station where the DUTY NURSE is sleeping as though she’s been poleaxed; as the shadow crosses her she flinches and whimpers. A few more steps and our POV reaches the hospital’s front doors, which FLY OPEN so hard the glass shatters. The sound of the wind is a ROAR now. POV pauses for a moment, looking out on the dark and the trees.

We are now behind the dark humanoid SHAPE, which moves out the doors, out of our view. The doors swing back, as if the force that held them open has released them. A few more shards of glass tinkle. The winds are still fierce.

Our viewpoint turns, moving back down the hall much faster than we came the other way, past the sleeping nurse, past a few patients wandering in the hall, lost and weeping, to TOPHER’s room.

On the bed is the hardened shell of TOPHER’S DISCARDED SKIN, a horrible relic, clearly empty now, lying cracked open, broken into several pieces on the white sheets.

SLOW DISSOLVE TO:

INT. — JANICE’S HOUSE – MORNING

CLOSE ON ADULT ERIC’S FACE: He’s sleeping, still fully dressed on the couch. JANICE comes into the room in a bathrobe, toweling her hair. She stands over him, a look of troubled fondness on her face, then lays her hand on his cheek for a long moment before sliding it down to his shoulder and gently shaking him.

JANICE

Wake up, Rip Van Winkle. The power’s off. I used most of the not-very-hot water on a quick shower, so you have a choice — a cup of lukewarm water to wash with, or a cup of lukewarm water to make instant coffee with.