Scene 16

EXT. FALLS LAKE - DAY

Evening. RIPPLES at a spot in the water. Charles’s head emerges from the lake. He is still hurting, looking far, and trying to calm himself down.

FLASHBACK (INTERCUT) - LATE TEEN MEMORY

CLOSE UP: TEENAGE VIVIAN’s MERCILESS LAUGHTER

YOUNG CHARLES watches on dumbfounded standing in the middle of the same grove, a SYMPATHETIC TEENAGE ANNIE, 19 by his side.

END OF FLASHBACK AND BACK TO SCENE

Jack Doherty emerges from the bushes by the shed and uncannily gazes with a smug smile at Charles’ figure who is now swimming on his back towards the rocky bank.

MUSIC CUE: SINISTER NOTES PLAY.

PETER (V.O.)
It would take me years to get rid of the guilt over the wish that had developed in me then... the wait... for something to happen...  some wrinkle in the fabric of our...

INT. PETER’S OFFICE - DAY

Peter sits in his office reading the same book he previously received in mail. The open window shows it’s late in the evening. Meditatively, he removes his reading glasses and chews the temple tip.

PETER (V.O. CONT'D)
... lives, so that I could subject another man’s soul to my personal scrutiny.

Scene 17

INT. MAURICE HOUSEHOLD - DAY

Charles Maurice is working at the table in his studio. He compares a large INCOMPLETE sketch of the Dashbury Mansion to three other COMPLETE SKETCHES OF DIFFERENT VIEWS as he draws. The room is lit with lanterns and niched candles.

The outer door into the house HEARD OPENING o.s.

CHARLES
Annie! Did you find everything you were looking for?

FOOTSTEPS into the studio. It’s Jack Doherty with a fresh supply of logs that he carefully places to a side.

JACK
Hello! I’m making the rounds of this neighborhood today. Thought might as well drop in your share. I’ve hired Danny for help. He’ll collect charges later. How are you doing today?

Charles, a bit annoyed, a bit unsettled, finally forces himself into a response.

CHARLES
Thank you.

JACK
(laughs)
Thank you? What’s the matter with you, ol’ man? What happened to you?
(steps closer)
I heard about your, um, losses and I feel sorry. And I heard of your marriage, congratulations! I roasted this crane I caught on the lake the other day for the missus. Hope she’ll like it.

Jack tries to hand in the wrapped crane, but Charles, who has been icily staring back, regally points to the table with an eye-brow. Miffed, Jack puts down the wrap.

JACK
That’s the best crane you’ll
ever find in this whole region. Bet, you remember that. I set it aside for you the moment I brought it down.

Jack takes a look at the sheets and chuckles.

JACK
(oily-voiced)
So it’s true then. This is what you have become... What happened to my Charles, where did he go? Do you ever wonder? Sure a tragedy happened but... this is not who you were. What went wrong?

Charles is deeply lost in thought. Jack steps even closer.

JACK
You used to be the most charming daredevil that I’d ever known...

Charles seems affected and is attempting to recall something, anything...

JACK
We made all sorts of trouble, in school, in the alleyways, in the church even! You were the band leader, followed and envied!

FLASHBACKS - EXTREMELY BRIEF MEMORY FLICKERS (SUPERIMPOSED ON BLACK CARD)

TEENAGE CHARLES, 16, runs out of SCHOOL BUILDING laughing with a BUNCH OF FRIENDS.

Teenage Charles roasting birds on a lakeside bonfire with same BUNCH OF FRIENDS.

INTERCUT (SUPERIMPOSED ON BLACK) – PRESENT DAY CHARLES’ CLOSEUP: HIS FACE IS DRAWN WITH THE EFFORT OF RECALL.

Leaning on bare rock side, Teenage Charles and BUNCH OF FRIENDS laugh going through an illustrated pamphlet. The face of a leaner, TEEN JACK DOHERTY can be spotted.

INTERCUT - CHARLES’ FACE SHOWS ‘STONE IN THE STOMACH’ DISCOMFORT.

JACK (O.S.)
After school we’d go deep into that thicket beside the lake and...

BACK TO FLASHBACK

Teenage Charles and Teen Jack laugh and run up the slope of the thicket, facing away from the view.

END OF FLASHBACK AND BACK TO SCENE

Jack is standing right next to Charles now.

JACK (CONT’D)
... do whatever the hell we wanted.

Charles SNAPS OUT OF IT. He is shaken, feels threatened and regains distance with Jack.

CHARLES
You, sir, are an intruder.
You entered my house without permission or announcement, so I must ask you to leave.

Charles appears hounded by flashbacks again and tries to keep it together. DAZED and LIGHT-HEADED, he holds on to the back of a chair for support. Jack emotes a mixture of shock and disappointment.

Just then, Annie Maurice arrives with a batch of multicolor fabric and appears surprised.

ANNIE
What is going on? Are you alright, Charles? Who is this man?

Annie comes straight for Charles to look at him. She then turns vehemently towards Jack.

ANNIE
Who are you and what are you doing in my house?

Charles tries to grab Annie’s arm.

CHARLES
Annie, Annie! It’s alright. You-

Pushing away Charles’ hand, Annie notices the load of wood.

ANNIE
Oh. So you’re the woodworker?
May I ask you, Mr. Woodworker, what in God's name are you doing in my house upsetting my husband?

Charles tries to grab Annie’s hand once more but fails, while Jack is totally out of his element, creeped out.

JACK
Look missus, I’m an old friend and I didn’t mean to upset anybody.

CHARLES
He’s leaving, Annie. Just let him go.

ANNIE
You go inside, Charles. You go in right now. You don’t look well.

Exhausted, Charles goes into the bedroom.

INSIDE THE ROOM, Charles is half lying on the bed and presses his eyes hard.

ANNIE (O.S.)
You didn’t mean to what?

OUTSIDE IN THE STUDIO, Jack is unsure what to do.

ANNIE
Can you see what you have done to him? Leave right now or I’ll call a sentry right around the corner.

JACK
(gestures placatingly)
Please forgive me, ma’am. This was a mistake.
Annie watches Jack leave the house.

INSIDE, Baby Lily COOS and WHIMPERS. Charles, color drained from his face, stares wide-eyed at the ceiling. Annie enters, looks at him sympathetically and moves to pick the Baby up.

CHARLES
Leave her with me. I want to hear her voice.

FADE TO BLACK.

FADE IN:

Scene 18

INT. HORSE-DRAWN CARRIAGE - DAY – TRAVELLING

Charles and Annie Maurice are in the carriage.

CHARLES
Let’s go to Dr. Rigsby’s house!

ANNIE
I think Dr. Robinson may be the kind of doctor you need.

CHARLES
I don’t want to see him! And I am not crazy.

ANNIE
Sometimes I think you are a little...

Charles looks at her aghast. Annie suppresses a smile. Though he’s WELL-GROOMED, Charles’ eyes are PAINED and TIRED.

REAR VIEW: Annie puts her head on Charles’ shoulder.

CHARLES
Don’t worry. I will be fine.

GRAPHIC: A BLOSSOMING

INT. RIGSBY CLINIC/RECEPTION - DAY

Peter Robinson walks out from his office. The RECEPTIONIST (JULIA SEYMOUR), 37,  is animatedly conversing with Annie. Charles stands facing a framed painting on the back wall.  

ANNIE
Dr. Robinson. I’m Annie Maurice. My husband needs to see you.

PETER
Nice to meet you.
(glances at Charles)
I am already introduced to your husband.

ANNIE
You are? Charles!

Charles turns and begrudgingly takes off his hat.

INT. DR. ROBINSON’S OFFICE - DAY

Peter nonchalantly opens the Thursday edition of the “HOMEFRONT” and taking a look at his sketched picture, puts the paper back. Charles sits IMPISHLY EMBARRASSED.

PETER
It turns out there was a particular reason for the secrecy.

Charles is aware of the difference between the two of them. His own carefully maintained youth is undermined at present. Peter is just a naturally evergreen presence.

PETER
I must say, I was flattered.

CHARLES
Don’t.

PETER
Yes. I shouldn’t be. So how did you become an artist?

CHARLES
I began woodworking for Olivier Shamrock, the only artist our town had back then. It’s his painting out there. I would dabble with some of his material. He liked what he saw, took me under his wing.

PETER
He died 15 years ago, I hear. Couldn’t you inherit his studio?

CHARLES
His mercenary sons wouldn’t allow it. Back then I was still known as the freak from the woodshed.

INT. RIGSBY CLINIC RECEPTION - DAY

Julia Seymour and Annie are huddled close over the desk. Julia says something to which Annie looks skeptical. Shamrock’s painting, a large frame, is visible in the b.g. Annie looks worried.

ANNIE
Jack was a friend? I don’t ever remember seeing him...

INT. PETER’S OFFICE - DAY

Peter and Charles look solemn.

PETER (V.O.)
It would be wrong to say that I persuaded him...

PETER
There must have been something poignant... a surge of emotion so strong it hurts like a blow... or an image that threatens to overwhelm... that you feel as this inexplicable headache... Don’t you think so?

CHARLES
I do not know what it is that shuts everything down. A man surrounded by a fog in a moonless night... he doesn’t know what lurks beyond...

PETER
But you are a man of imagination, and as I’ve gathered from your reputation, a skeptic of what’s given, almost an iconoclast so to speak. What springs up in your mind’s eye when you try to see through it?

CHARLES
Nothing. Nothing in almost two decades of recalling, except a few bits of life after school, and then the headache... The only new thing that I can report is a few strange dreams I’ve been having, but I do not know what they might mean.

PETER
What about your last solid memories, after which you draw a blank?

CHARLES
I remember helping my mother in her housework, helping my father with his woodwork. And then she died, and I believe, I continued to assist my father. I remember my friends from school, both the Higher and the Lower sections, when we were all little. They nearly all are the denizens of this town, of course.

PETER
What about your sister?

Charles looks up and stares at Peter. He sits back in his chair, taken aback, then forces himself to chuckle.

CHARLES
I don’t remember having a sister. How... Who told you?

PETER
(unfazed)
I took the liberty of hearing your story from Marshall Jones.

CHARLES
He never countered me, those many years ago, when I told him I didn’t have a sister.

Charles gulps, looks about confused, stunned. His eyes gather mist. He speaks with a shiver, and in an affected voice.

CHARLES
I am not even sure anymore of the memories I do have...

Peter gives him space before resuming.

PETER
Of course, it has to be your decision, whether you want to
engage in this admittedly... painful effort of discovery, or rather, rediscovery...  

CHARLES
Who wouldn’t want to recover what they have lost? But I am afraid to make the leap because I’m unsure of what I’m supposed to find at the end of this abyss... and whether it’s worth it. I’m not sure if I’m ready to trade the serenity of my life for an illusory destination.

PETER
You should remember though that it is that very serenity which may empower you to make such a quest...  not unlike a toddling babe who ventures beyond the range of her elder’s hand when she knows they would be right there looking out for her.

Charles is lost in thought.

Scene 19

INT. CHARLES’ BEDROOM - NIGHT

Moonlight streams through the open window. At the table, Charles Maurice takes out THE LAST PAGE from an old sketchbook. Annie and Baby sleep in the b.g.

CLOSE UP OF THE SKETCH:

A FADED paper held up by Charles’ fingers. DRAWN IN PENCIL, the figures of a man and a woman hold the hands of a boy in the middle. The older figures have INDISTINCT FEATURES. The boy is a rough impression of a youthful Charles. The woodshed forms the b.g. The drawing is titled “FAMILY” and initialed C.M. in simpler, less masterful calligraphy.

CHARLES’ HANDS CRUMPLE UP THE SKETCH

Charles partly covers his face with his hands and weeps.

EXT. DASHBURY ESTATE - DAY

Charles and Ralph sitting down CASUALLY on a grassy knoll. Charles is half lying, playing with grass. The view of an EVENING SKY and the mansion is disrupted by a CANVAS on an EASEL depicting a FAITHFUL FRONT VIEW of the building, that infuses the scene with a RICH, GRAND BEAUTY.

PETER (V.O.)
A cautious, guarded journey into his own mind was something he had sought all his life.

A BUTLER carries a USED TEA SERVICE away.

LADY DASHBURY, 61, seated on a garden chair in the front lawn, looks anxiously at Charles and Ralph in the distance. She looks questioningly at the approaching Butler.

BUTLER
I served Miss Dashbury and her guest at the upper sitting room.

LADY DASHBURY
Make sure none of them come down for a walk today.  

BACK AT THE GRASSY KNOLL:

CHARLES
What would we see if we could somehow strip this sky away?

RALPH
Another universe in the agony of birth?

CHARLES
Sounds... sights... the painstaking arrangements that we pass our whole lives specifying, beautifying for our sake and others’... what are these but... facades?

Ralph looks askance.

CHARLES
We use these to cloak our private worlds, each to his own taste. Or else, the gaping voids would threaten to swallow us...

Scene 20

INT. CLINIC’S RECEPTION/ RIGSBY’S OLD OFFICE - DAY

The reception room is empty. Doctors Peter Robinson and Barton Rigsby are sitting in Dr. Rigsby’s old office.

PETER
So I’m seeking to have a look-in tangentially here. Nothing about this case is straightforward.

DR. RIGSBY
Are you developing new techniques to, um, tangentially access his mind?

EXT. RIVERSIDE - DAY

Robinsons and Rigsby’s are having a family picnic by the river.

PETER (V.O.)
His being an artist certainly helps. His memory is an abyss and I’ve often realized...

The Doctors move up along the riverside. The Robinson Children tag along, while Eleanor and MRS. RIGSBY, 60, have tea.

INTERCUT - INT. RIGSBY CLINIC - DAY

PETER
... that’s where our most original ideas spring from. don’t they? ... That large unknown inside all of us!

INTERCUT - EXT. RIVERSIDE - DAY

SOUND of TORRENTIAL DOWNPOUR, o.s. The Doctors and Children push through heavy bushes in their way.

PETER (V.O.)
Those ideas must have something to do with things that have affected us, but that we have forgotten about for some reason...

The TORRENTS are DEAFENING now. The party comes upon a clearing. A MAGNIFICENT WATERFALL crashes down on boulders until the whirling currents calm down in the shape of the river. The falls pour against a rock face about three storeys high.

INTERCUT - INT. RIGSBY CLINIC - DAY

DR. RIGSBY
So what have you prescribed?

PETER
I have asked him to be a bit more observant...

INTERCUT - EXT. RIVERSIDE - DAY

The sounds of the present scene are MUTED. The two doctors are engrossed in keen observation and discussion, while children excitedly watch the spectacle of the falls. Dr. Rigsby points to a few spots on the scene.

PETER (V.O.) (CONT’D)
... to introspect about the sources of his inspirations. His dreams, his obsessions... Where do his daydreams take him?

INTERCUT - INT. RIGSBY CLINIC - DAY

PETER
What does he imagine or secretly wish how his old life and family would have been like...?

DR. RIGSBY
Either it is the beginning of a long-winded road... or you are just building on straws!

PETER
So be it.