PIGGS - A Novel with Bonus Screenplay (31 page)

Read PIGGS - A Novel with Bonus Screenplay Online

Authors: Neal Barrett Jr.

Tags: #General Fiction

 

CAT

Some what?

 

CECIL

Head
and
Shoulders.
 
Go on, get out of here.

 

OUTSIDE CAR

 

Cat leaves. Cecil gets out. Grape has the sense to keep quiet.

 

POV CECIL

 

Cecil watches two little KIDS making wide circles on the drive, running over crickets with their bikes.

 

BACK TO SCENE

 

Cat returns.

 

CAT

They didn't have a Snickers.
 
I got you a Mars.

 

CECIL

I told you a Snickers, I don't want a Mars.

 

CAT

They didn't have none.

 

CECIL

You didn't look.

 

Cecil grabs the Mars and the Dr Pepper, hands the shampoo to Cat

 

CECIL

They got a hose by the tanks.
 
Wash your head.

 

CAT

What for?

 

Cecil's look silences Cat at once.
 
He does what he's told, goes to the hose.

 

One of the kids circles Cecil.

 

KID ONE

Why's he doing that?
 
How come he washing his head?

 

CECIL

'Cause he wants to.

 

KID ONE

Man hasn't got any hair.

 

KID TWO

Won't do any good, man hasn't got any hair.

 

The kids laugh, make circles around Cecil.

 

CECIL

Stop it. Quit doing that.

 

KID TWO

Doing what?

 

CECIL

That.
 
Running over bugs! That's a disgusting thing to do.

 

KID ONE

Ain't your bugs, man.

 

CECIL

You don't talk to me. You do what I'm saying.

 

KID TWO

Better not squish those bugs.
 
Lone don't like you squishing bugs.

 

CECIL

What?
 
What'd you say?

 

KID ONE

Where your Indian?
 
Where's old Tonto, man?

 

KID TWO

Tonto, he giving himself a
sham
-poo.

 

KID ONE

Shit.
 
Tonto hasn't got no hair.
 
Can't get a sham-poo, man don't got any hair.

 

KID two

Where your horse, Lone?
 
Where you got Silver?
 
He waitin' in the car?

 

The kids laugh and squash bugs.

 

CLOSE ON CECIL

 

Cecil's birthmark gets darker and darker.

 

BACK TO SCENE

 

CECIL

Give me the keys.

 

GRAPE

What for?

 

CECIL

Give me the
keys.

 

Cecil walks around and opens the trunk.
 
Paws around, picks up a Winchester 12-gauge pump.

 

GRAPE

Cecil, this ain't a good idea.

 

CECIL

Get in the car.
 
Get Cat.
 
Get him in the back.

 

GRAPE

I'd like you to think about this.

 

Cecil snicks a shell into the chamber.

 

CECIL

Right. Fine.

 

GRAPE

Shit, Cecil...

 

CECIL

Killing the poor is a blessing, Grape. What kind of life are these little bastards going to have, you ever think of that?

 

Going to grow up and make more little kids, little assholes running over
bugs.

 

Cecil raises the weapon and fires. The barrel jerks up.

 

CUT TO:

 

STORE FRONT/CECIL

 

Cartons of Coke in front of the store explode.

 

Cecil blasts away. The glass front of the store shatters.
 
The boy in the store ducks.
 
The two kids scatter on their bikes. Cecil fires until every shell is gone.

 

ON CAT

 

Cat's eyes are full of shampoo; he can't see a thing. Grape leads Cat to the car.
 
Cecil, his mask dark as night, in the driver's seat, skids away.

 

EXT CAR

 

Car makes dust.

 

CECIL (O.S.)

Laughs like a maniac.

 

DISSOLVE TO:

 

INT.
 
WAN'S STORAGE ROOM -EARLY MORNING

 

Jack, weary, walks in, finds a shabby blanket among stacks of toilet paper, cartons, etc. Wraps the blanket around his shoulders. Ortega sleeps nearby. Jack turns to leave, and Ortega wakes up.

 

ORTEGA

What the fock you doin' here, Jack?
 
I am thinking you are gone, that I am not ever to be seeing you and my car again. Like maybe you are on the way to Delaware or Maine.

 

Jack is leaning against the doorway, anxious to leave.

 

JACK

Jesus, where am I going to find a better place than this?
 
Long hours, great pay. All the Chink food I can throw up, what else could a guy want? I was in the joint, got to where I couldn't eat a thing. Doc Huber, he was serving life for patient abuse. He'd eat a pancake. Wouldn't eat anything else. There was other guys in there wouldn't eat anything but peas. Fucking green peas. I couldn't see the sense of that.

 

SOUND of toilet flushing. Jack looks up, realizes Ortega is gone.

 

DISSOLVE TO:

 

EXT. OUTSIDE DAIRY QUEEN RESTROOM - DAY

 

SOUND: MATCH toilet flushing.

 

Hutt comes out, zipping up, walks to his car.
 
Sees THREE GIRLS in cheerleader suits inside, a couple of other PEOPLE. A cardboard sign in the window tells us where he is:

 

INSERT: WE SUPPORT THE LIBERTYVILLE WOLVERINES!

 

Picks up paper cup of coffee he's left on the fender, gets in.

 

POV HUTT: Sees the TROOPER walking toward him in typical trooper gear. Sees the front of the COP CAR around the side--it wasn't there before.

 

HUTT

Fuck...

 

TROOPER/HUTT

 

Trooper looks in window.

 

TROOPER

Afternoon, how we doing, sir?

 

HUTT

Fine, you?

 

TROOPER

Shoot, I could do without the heat.

 

HUTT

Me too.

 

TROOPER

I like the Dairy Queen better'n any place you can find.
 
I see one I'm going to stop there.
 
A lot of places, you don't know what you're going to get.(beat)

 

This your vehicle, sir?

 

HUTT

Huh? No, it's a rental, not mine.

 

TROOPER

Louisiana plates.
 
That where you're from?

 

HUTT

Baton Rouge.

 

TROOPER

(grins)

Oh, yeah... You like the Park Avenue?

 

HUTT

Sure.
 
Good car.

 

ANOTHER ANGLE

 

TROOPER

Mostly we get your Fairlanes.
 
You're smart, you'll stay clear of a Ford.
 
Can I see your license and registration?

 

HUTT

Sure.

 

Hutt shows him, keeps his cool.

 

CUT TO:

 

Cheerleaders and other patrons are watching all this with interest.

 

BACK TO SCENE:

 

TROOPER

This your current address, Mr. Hutt?

 

HUTT

Kenny.

 

TROOPER

What?

 

HUTT

Hutt.
 
Hutt Kenny, not Kenny Hutt.

 

TROOPER

I don't think I know anyone named Hutt.

 

HUTT

Right.

 

TROOPER

(pause)

Would you hang in there a minute, sir?

 

Trooper goes to his car, stays there a moment.

 

CLOSE ON HUTT

 

Hutt looks irritated, hot.

 

OUTSIDE DAIRY QUEEN

 

A couple of cheerleaders and patrons are now outside, trying to listen. Hutt gives them an irritated look.

 

AT CAR

 

TROOPER

Just checked you 'cause you were out of state, sir.
 
Kinda routine.

 

HUTT

Sure.

 

TROOPER

Only thing is, I ran your name through, and a lot of bad stuff come out.
 
I guess you're surprised to hear that...

 

I got thirty-two arrests here...assault, assault, breaking an' entering, possession of a controlled substance, ah, assault-assault-assault.
 
You assault folks a lot down there, Mr. Hutt?

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