Moonrise Kingdom Scene 4

[Mrs. Bishop brandishes the note with her free hand.]

MRS. BISHOP: Come down and read this.

[A radio squawks in the woods behind the house. Mr. and Mrs. Bishop turn quickly toward the sound. Mrs. Bishop looks tense. Becky’s garbled voice says over a tinny speaker:]

BECKY (V.O.): Scout Master Ward confirms they’ve had no luck. They’re going home for the --

[There is a rustling and the sound of a car door opening -- then the radio cuts off. Mr. Bishop frowns. He shouts:]

MR. BISHOP: Who’s there?

[Captain Sharp emerges slowly from the dark, tangled in a bramble, hopping slowly on one foot as he unwinds a root from around his ankle. He smiles awkwardly and says:]

CAPTAIN SHARP: Good evening. Sorry to startle you. I was just --

MR. BISHOP: *angrily* What are you doing here? Nobody called the police.

CAPTAIN SHARP: I know, that’s what I’m saying. The search party’s not over yet. In other words --

MRS. BISHOP: Suzy’s missing, too! Go find her.

CAPTAIN SHARP: *hesitates* OK. Where’d she --

MR. BISHOP: Wait for me.

[Mr. Bishop disappears into the house. Captain Sharp and Mrs. Bishop exchange an uncertain look.]

[INT. STATION WAGON. NIGHT]

[Captain Sharp pans a spot-light back and forth in the darkness while he steers the car. The lamp has a short in it and flickers with each bump. Mr. Bishop rides in the passenger seat. He stares ahead down the road and says to himself:]

MR. BISHOP: How can we help her? She’s got so many problems. It’s getting worse.

Mr. Bishop looks strangely to Captain Sharp. He asks:

MR. BISHOP: Whose fault is it?

CAPTAIN SHARP: *hesitates* don’t know, but just for the record: ninety-five percent of all runaways return home within six hours. That doesn’t do you any good right now. It’s just a statistic -- but in all likelihood Suzy’s probably hiding in the closet at her best friend’s house playing Chinese Checkers at this very moment, as we speak.

MR. BISHOP: She doesn’t have any friends.

CAPTAIN SHARP: *long pause* How’s Laura?

MR. BISHOP: *irritated* How’s Laura?

CAPTAIN SHARP: Mrs. Bishop, I mean.

MR. BISHOP: I don’t understand.

CAPTAIN SHARP: Is she upset?

[Mr. Bishop looks baffled and disgusted. He throws his hands into the air. He looks away and shakes his head. Silence. Captain Sharp wiggles some wires.]

CAPTAIN SHARP: I got to get this spot-light fixed.

[EXT. BISHOP’S HOUSE. NIGHT]

[Captain Sharp and Mr. Bishop come to a stop and get out of the station wagon. They look dejected. The screen door bangs open, and Mrs. Bishop quickly descends the front steps with a open shoebox full of letters in her hands. She says breathlessly, shouting:]

MRS. BISHOP: She has a pen pal! It’s very intimate! They planned this together!

[Captain Sharp takes one of the letters and studies it. He says to himself:]

CAPTAIN SHARP: Sam Shakusky. That’s my escaped Khaki Scout. His family died.

[Mr. Bishop takes a handful of the letters and flips through them. He stops suddenly. He looks horrified.]

MR. BISHOP: Holy Christ. What am I looking at?

[INSERT:A small painting on construction paper of a naked girl stepping into a bathtub. She wears a flower in her hair.]

[Mrs. Bishop continues to shout as she explains:]

MRS. BISHOP: He does watercolors! Mostly landscapes, but a few nudes!

[Lionel, Murray, and Rudy watch from a downstairs window. Lionel takes a bite from a bowl of melting ice cream. Mr. Bishop stares at the painting. He squints at it and asks incredulously:]

MR. BISHOP: She sit for this?

[Captain Sharp and Mrs. Bishop look over Mr. Bishop’s shoulder. Captain Sharp says calmly:]

CAPTAIN SHARP: What does he say?

[MONTAGE: The history of Sam and Suzy’s correspondence.]

[Sam, dressed in a greasy jump-suit, writes at a work bench in a garage while six teenagers take apart carburetors behind him. They are his foster brothers. Sam reads in voice-over:]

SAM *V.O.*: Dear Suzy, You have a superb voice. You were my favorite animal in the program, by far. Please, find enclosed --

[Suzy writes at a small desk on the upstairs landing while Lionel and Murray play a loud duet on a red piano behind her. (Rudy turns the pages of the sheet music.) Suzy reads in voice-over:]

SUZY *V.O.*: Dear Sam, Thank you very much. I got replaced as the raven because I yelled at Mrs. Lynn. After that I was only a blue jay, but --

[Sam works in an alley emptying garbage from several small trash cans into a larger one. Mr. Billingsley watches television in a window, smoking a cigarette. He points to a crumpled wrapper on the ground. Sam picks it up.]

SAM *V.O.*: Dear Suzy, I am sorry your brothers are so selfish. Maybe they will grow out of it. Sometimes people do things without knowing the reasons for --

[Suzy reads a book called Disappearance of the 6th Grade. There is an illustration on the cover of a school-teacher levitating at the front of her classroom. There are several watercolor pictures taped to the wall behind her. Most are landscapes of small-town vacant lots. One is a swimming girl in a bikini.]

SUZY *V.O.*: Dear Sam, You are an excellent painter, especially trees and telephone poles. Is the girl in the water supposed to be me? My favorite color is --

[Sam stands in pajamas staring blankly, eyes wide, at a dog house in flames next to a rusty swing-set. A dachsund sits next to him, also watching. Mrs. Billingsley comes running out of the house with a fire extinguisher.]

SAM *V.O.*: Dear Suzy, I accidentally built a fire while I was sleep-walking. I have no memory of this, but my foster parents think I am lying. Unfortunately, it is --

[Suzy stands in the kitchen looking out through a pane of glass with a hole smashed in the middle of it. Mrs. Bishop is next to her with her hair hanging over the sink while the two of them carefully pick bits of glass out of it.]

SUZY *V.O.*: Dear Sam, I am in trouble again because I threw a rock through the window. My mother still has glass in her hair. Also --

[Five of Sam’s foster brothers watch calmly as the sixth throws Sam against the wall then jumps on top of him, pinning his arms to the floor while Sam struggles crazily.]

SAM *V.O.*: Dear Suzy, I have been trying very hard to make friends, but I feel people do not like my personality. In fact, I can understand why they might --

[A classroom of sixth graders watches in a panic as Suzy throttles one of her classmates. The classmate flails and grimaces as she is strangled.]

SUZY *V.O.*: Dear Sam, Now I am getting suspended because I got in a fight with Molly. She says I go berserk. Our principal is against me. Why do --

[Sam does sit-ups on a hard mattress in a basement room lined with bunks. He counts out the repetitions under his breath. There is a small, black and white photograph of a man and woman at their wedding tacked to the wall above him.]

SAM *V.O.*: Dear Suzy, I know your parents hurt your feelings, but they still love you. That is more important. If they --

[Suzy stands in a doorway screaming at her family while they watch wearily from the dinner table with forks and knives in their hands.]

SUZY *V.O.*: Dear Sam, I do think you should think of their faces every day, even if it makes you sad. It is too bad they did not leave you more pictures of themselves. Can you --

[Sam writes in his bunk crouched beneath a blanket with a Khaki Scout flashlight pointed at his paper.]

SAM *V.O.*: Dear Suzy, Here is my plan.

[Suzy writes in her bed crouched beneath a quilt with a plastic lantern glowing beside her.]

SUZY *V.O.*: Dear Sam, My answer is yes.

[INSERT:A sheet of wide-ruled yellow paper which reads in a boy’s penciled scrawl:]

SAM (V.O.): Dear Suzy, When?

[INSERT:A sheet of pink stationary which reads in a girl’s red felt-tip cursive:]

SUZY *V.O.*: Dear Sam, Where?

CUT TO: Suzy kneeling in the dark, crouched in front of an upper window with the shoebox of letters beside her. Outside, the woods are black beyond a moonlit field.

SAM *V.O.*: Dear Suzy, Walk four hundred yards due north from your house to the dirt path which has not got any name on it. Turn right and follow to the end.

[Suzy raises her binoculars to her eyes.]

SAM *V.O.*: I will meet you in the meadow.

[EXT. WIDE MEADOW. DAY]

[The next morning. The end of the path cut through the high grass where Sam and Suzy met the day before. Captain Sharp, Scout Master Ward, Mrs. Bishop, and Becky stand in two groups talking. Gadge and Skotak stretch a string with ribbons tied to it from stake to stake marking a perimeter. Lazy-Eye walks with the wire-haired terrier pulling at its leash. Other scouts search the field and scan the horizon.]

[Captain Sharp’s station wagon and Redford’s motorcycle are parked in the dirt.]

[Mr. Bishop stands off to the side by himself poking at the ground with a stick. He has two black eyes, and half his face is swollen and purple. Scout Master Ward asks Becky quietly:]

SCOUT MASTER WARD: What happened to him?

BECKY: I’m not sure. I think he went searching in the dark.

[Mr. Bishop says loudly without looking up from the ground:]

MR. BISHOP: She stole the batteries out of my flashlight.

[Scout Master Ward looks at Becky and grimaces. Becky raises an eyebrow. Mrs. Bishop stands next to Captain Sharp. They move slightly away from the others. Captain Sharp whispers quickly, almost inaudibly:]

CAPTAIN SHARP: I think he’s onto us.

MRS. BISHOP: *instantly* Of course, he is.

[Captain Sharp looks surprised and defensive. He whispers back:]

CAPTAIN SHARP: Of course, he is?

MRS. BISHOP: Of course, he is.

CAPTAIN SHARP: *confused* Why aren’t we worried about that, then?

MRS. BISHOP: I am.

CAPTAIN SHARP: *astonished* Well, I didn’t know. Or, anyway, I thought I was wrong. Did you hit him?

MRS. BISHOP: No. He fell in a ditch.

[Nickleby pops up from below the tall grass and thrusts an empty can of cat food into the air. He shouts excitedly:]

NICKLEBY: Cat food! I think it’s a clue.

[The group quickly gathers around Nickleby. Mr. Bishop snatches the can out of his hand and examines it. He says blankly:]

MR. BISHOP: That’s her.

[Mr. Bishop throws the can away over his shoulder and walks off with his hands in his pockets. Nickleby runs after the can and picks it up again. Mr. Bishop continues down the hill. Scout Master Ward watches him. He asks Mrs. Bishop, uneasy:]

SCOUT MASTER WARD: Where’s he going?

MRS. BISHOP: I don’t know.

[Mrs. Bishop follows Mr. Bishop. Captain Sharp turns to the rest of the group and says briskly:]

CAPTAIN SHARP: All right. We know they’re together. We know they’re within a certain radius of this spot. I’m declaring the case with the county right now. Until help arrives:

[Captain Sharp looks to Scout Master Ward as he points to various scouts and divides the group into teams:]

CAPTAIN SHARP: I’m deputizing the little guy, the skinny one, and the kid with the curly hair to come with me in the station wagon. Randy, you drop-in and head up-river with the rest of your troop, then split-up on foot. Becky, call Jed and tell him to circle over this end of the island and fly low.

CUT TO: A binocular shot of the seaplane flying in a pattern. It banks sharply. The binocular shot tilts down. Far below, in the distance, Captain Sharp’s station wagon rumbles along a dirt road through the woods. The binocular shot pans wide. On the side of the river, Scout Master Ward’s motorboat stops.

[Two scouts, tiny figures, pull the camouflage net off the hidden canoe.]

[EXT. HIGH RIDGE. DAY]

[Suzy watches through her binoculars while Sam crouches beside her. They are hidden behind a pile of rocks. Suzy says ominously:]

SUZY: They found the canoe.

SAM: *angry at himself* Rats! I should’ve put more pine needles on it. Let’s go. We’re almost there.

[Sam lifts his backpack onto his back and slings his air-rifle over his arm. Suzy picks up her suitcases and puts the kitten on her shoulder. They walk down a narrow path through a thicket. They emerge into a small clearing.]

[Sam and Suzy stop in their tracks.]

[Deluca, Nickleby, Panagle, Izod, and Lazy-Eye stand in a row along the edge of the woods ahead of them. Deluca brandishes his hunting knife. Nickleby, Izod, and Lazy-Eye point their bows and arrows. Panagle holds his walking stick weapon. The wire-haired terrier strains growling at the end of his leash. Deluca jerks him back. The kitten cowers. The sound of a motorcycle guns, and Redford bursts through the trees, pops a wheelie, and skids to a stop. He lifts his goggles.]

[The motor idles. Sam says finally:]

SAM: What do you creeps want?

[Redford shrugs and answers with a callous smile:]

REDFORD: We’re looking for you.

SAM: Why?

REDFORD: Because you’re a fugitive.

SAM: No, I’m not. Didn’t you get my letter of resignation? I quit the Khaki Scouts.

REDFORD: You’re still in uniform.

[Pause. Sam quickly takes off his shirt and throws it aside.]

REDFORD: Well, it doesn’t matter, anyway. You don’t have that authority. We’ve been deputized. Now are you going to come along peacefully or not?

[Sam takes a deep breath. He pleads:]

SAM: Listen to some reason: I don’t like you. You don’t like me. Why don’t you stupid idiots just let us disappear?

REDFORD: *pause* It’s tempting, but I can’t allow it.

[Deluca spits on the ground. He says to Suzy:]

DELUCA: You shouldn’t be friends with him.

SUZY: *offended* Why not?

DELUCA: Because he’s crazy.

SUZY: *coldly* Maybe you just don’t know him.

REDFORD: We know him a lot better than you. He’s emotionally disturbed because his family died. Nickleby, tie him up.

[Nickleby takes a step forward with his bow and arrow pointed and ready. Suzy looks furious. Sam flips his air-rifle off his shoulder with a twirl. He points it at Redford and Nickleby. Nickleby hesitates. Sam says darkly:]

SAM: Do not cross this stick.

[Sam motions to a twig on the ground in front of him. Silence.]