INTO EVERY LIFE
A Screenplay by Dakota Balmore
FADE IN:
EXT: A STREET OF ROW
HOUSES IN SUBURBAN BALTIMORE DAY
A residential street
lined on both sides with two-story brick row houses. Cars are parallel parked on
both sides of the street. A moving van is double-parked and men are moving
furniture into an end unit.
CHESSIE DAVIS and
KEVIN BOSTWICK are standing across the street from the van watching the
move-in.
TITLE OVER:
Late June, 1960
Suburban Baltimore
CHESSIE (V.O.)
Into
every life a little rain must fall—or so the poets say. The rain may cause
discomfort at first because of opportunities missed, especially for a pair of
thirteen-year-olds. But the nice thing about rain is that long after it
disappoints—good things begin to grow.
KEVIN
Seen
any kids yet?
CHESSIE
Nothing
but the moving men. I wonder if the family got here yet.
KEVIN
Of
course they got here. How do you think the moving men got in?
CHESSIE
Maybe
they were given the key by the owners.
A
woman steps out through the front door of the house and stops one of the moving
men as he carries a pair of lamps up the steps to the concrete porch. She talks
to him for a few seconds, and then both go inside.
KEVIN
There’s
the mother.
CHESSIE
How
do you know she’s a mother?
KEVIN
You’ve
got to think positive, Chessie. We need a good tight end for our neighborhood
football team if we are going to beat the Essex Hornets. This family is going
to have a boy who’s 13 like us, only he’s going to be six-foot tall and weight
200 pounds. That will just about do it for the Hornets for our Fourth of July
all star game.
CHESSIE
And
what if they don’t have any kids, Kevin? What if they have a girl?
KEVIN
Gag
a maggot, Chessie. Think positive, will you? Your thinking could jinx us.
CHESSIE
(points
to the truck)
Hey,
look!
One
moving man hands a large refracting telescope from the truck to another moving
man.
KEVIN
See,
what did I tell you? It’s a boy! Come on.
Kevin
and Mark cross the street and stand by the fence to watch the telescope go into
the house.
KEVIN
Well
at least the new boy and you have something in common, Chessie: astronomy.
CHESSIE
Maybe
it belongs to the father. Maybe he doesn’t have any kids. Kevin, maybe he’s an
astronomer.
KEVIN
(punches
him in the arm lightly)
Gosh,
Chessie, you are hopeless. Any minute now we are going to see a six-foot boy
come out of the door. You wait and see.
A
petite thirteen-year-old MARY ANNE LANDERS comes out the front door and looks
at the boys. She is wearing a dress that comes down to her ankles, has
pig-tailed black hair, freckles, large glasses, and a big smile on her face.
KEVIN
Oh,
my word. What the hell is that?
CHESSIE
I
think it’s Webster’s final definition of ugly.
KEVIN
I
hope she’s one of the moving men.
CHESSIE
Maybe
she’s a cousin or something to your six-foot tight end.
KEVIN
Now
you’re thinking positive.
Mary
walks to the fence where the boys are and waves a friendly hello as she
approaches.
MARY
Hi,
there. I’m Mary Landers. You guys live around here?
KEVIN
No,
actually. I’m…uh…John Smith, and I’m visiting from California. You know
California? That’s a long ways from here.
CHESSIE
And
I’m John Doe. I come from…Alaska.
MARY
Both
named John. What a coincidence. Since you live so far from one another, how do
you know each other?
KEVIN
Uh…John…Doe
I mean…we…uh…we used to be neighbors.
CHESSIE
That’s
right. We lived in…
KEVIN
Ulan
Bator.
MARY
Mongolia?
KEVIN
You
know where that is?
MARY
Of
course. I got an A in geography at my school in New York. I study it myself,
too.
CHESSIE
Well,
this is not that Ulan Bator. It’s the one in…
KEVIN
Nevada.
It’s a very small town.
MARY
Is
it near Las Vegas?
(Kevin
shakes his head no)
Reno?
(Chessie
shakes his head no)
Ely?
(Kevin
shakes his head no)
Mount
Wilson?
(both
boys shake their heads ‘yes’)
It
must be a very small town. That’s where the observatory is you know. You like
astronomy?
KEVIN
Chess…uh…John
Doe does. Does your brother do astronomy?
MARY
I
don’t have brother.
KEVIN
Oh,
brother.
CHESSIE
Do
you have a sister?
MARY
No.
KEVIN
God
has been looking out for us. Well, we hate to cut it short, but we have to
catch our planes early in the morning. We need to get home and get some sleep.
MARY
I
won’t ask you who you’re staying with. I wouldn’t want to put you both on the
spot…John…and John.
The
boys start to walk up the street.
MARY
John?
The
boys keep going until they remember that they are Johns and turn around.
MARY
John
Doe…can I see you a minute.
Chessie
leaves Kevin and goes to Mary.
MARY
(giggles)
That
was all very funny. What’s your real name?
Chessie
stares into the innocent eyes of Mary and sees something appealing.
CHESSIE
Chessie
Davis. I live right across from you in 1001: the end house by the alley.
(comes
out of his trance)
Look,
I’ve got to go. I don’t have any time to waste. Bye.
MARY
(waves)
Bye
Chessie. That’s a neat name. Hope to see you again soon.
Kevin
hits Chessie in the arm when Chessie comes near.
KEVIN
What
did you tell her your name for?
CHESSIE
I
don’t know, Kevin. I honestly don’t know.
They
continue to walk up the street as Mary goes back inside her house.
INT.
CHESSIE’S BEDROOM DAY
Chessie
and Kevin are fooling around with a tape recording machine on Chessie’s bed by
the window. Kevin is speaking into the mike and occasionally Chessie leans over
and laughs in his face or smacks him lightly in the arm.
KEVIN
And
that’s it for the Kevin Bostwick show here on WKBB radio 964 AM on your dial.
Now, I’m going to hand the mike over to my co-DJ…Chessie Davis!
Chessie
takes the microphone as Kevin looks out the window.
CHESSIE
Thank
you, Kev, and that brings us into this hour with Chessie J. on WCJD, your cool
sound for really neat kids.
KEVIN
Hey,
turn it off. Look who’s coming up to the alley.
EXT.
HIGH ANGLE SHOT OF A DIRT ALLEYWAY BETWEEN ROW HOUSES DAY
The
dirt has turned partially to mud and the sidewalk and street in front of the
house are wet.
Mary
Landers is walking across the street from her house and entering the alleyway.
KEVIN (V.O.)
Jimmy
Braidy and his boys are in the back alley and I think they see her. They’ve got
something in their hands. Wait! They’re entering the dirt alley from the other
side. Oh, damn, this ought to be good.
EXT.
HIGH ANGLED SHOT OF A BACK ALLEY DAY
The
alley runs behind the backs of two long rows of row houses. Five kids, most
older than Kevin and Chessie, are entering the dirt path of the side alleyway.
The
five boys come up on Mary and sling mud on her dress and face.
Mary
turns quickly toward Chessie’s fence and shields her face.
The
boys pick up more mud and wait. Then three of them walk off laughing.
Mary
turns around and the other two boys hit her square in the face with the mud.
Jimmy
puts a hand on her face and rubs the mud in, while the other boy picks up more
mud and throws it on Mary’s dress.
INT.
CHESSIE’S BEDROOM DAY
KEVIN
Bingo!
One ugly witch creamed. That was great.
CHESSIE
Yeah,
but they could have just thrown it on her and left.
KEVIN
Oh,
no. Ugly people deserve everything they get.
CHESSIE
But
it’s not her fault.
KEVIN
(punches
Chessie hard in the arm)
What’s
this? Is Chessie soft on the neighborhood troll?
CHESSIE
No,
of course not. Yeah, ugly gets what ugly deserves. Let her have it good, I say.
(leans
out the window)
EXT.
THE DIRT ALLEY UNDER CHESSIE’S WINDOW
DAY
The
boys are gone now. Mary faces Chessie’s house, pulls mud off her face and
clothes, and wipes it on the fence.
When
she has gotten most of it off, she walks back toward her house and disappears
inside.
INT.
CHESSIE’S BEDROOM DAY
CHESSIE
Did
you see that? She didn’t get mad. She didn’t even cry.
KEVIN
Well,
trolls have no feelings, you know.
CHESSIE
I
know that. But…she walked back to her house as though she had…I don’t know…a
pride about something.
KEVIN
Ding,
dong, the witch is dead. That’ll keep her from haunting the outdoors. Let her
stay in her cave.
CHESSIE
I
don’t get it.
KEVIN
What’s
to get? Come on, switch on the recorder and do your show.
CHESSIE
(switches
on the recorder)
And
this is Chessie Davis, back after a short break. Boy, do I have some big tunes
to spin on the wax. Later Kevin is going to come back and give us the latest
news and weather, but right now…it’s time for the Shadows…and Apache!
INT.
THE DAVIS LIVING ROOM NIGHT
The
TV is on and Chessie is seated in shorts and shirt by the front window.
Two
smaller boys are sitting in front of the TV watching “Gunsmoke.”
Mrs.
Davis is knitting in an easy chair.
Mr.
Davis is stretched out on the sofa with the newspaper over his face sawing
logs.
Chessie
looks out the window.
EXT.
THE LANDERS HOUSE NIGHT
Mary
is in her front yard looking up into the sky with her binoculars.
MRS. DAVIS (V.O.)
What
are you looking for, son?
INT.
THE DAVIS LIVING ROOM NIGHT
Chessie
lets the curtain fall back in place across the window and turns to his mother.
CHESSIE
Nothing,
Mom. Just seeing if Kevin was out there.
MRS. DAVIS
Labor
Day’s going to be here in another few weeks. It’s time to get you and the boys
some back-to-school clothes. You mind if we go to Robert Hall’s this week one
day after your father gets home from the plant?
CHESSIE
It’s
all right with me, Mom.
He
goes back to watching TV for a while. Then he looks out the window again.
EXT.
THE LANDERS HOUSE NIGHT
Mary
is writing something on a clipboard propped on top of her fence. Then she looks
up through her binoculars and goes back to the clipboard to write once again.
INT.
THE DAVIS LIVING ROOM NIGHT
Chessie
looks once up and down the street from the window and then gets up.
CHESSIE
Mom,
I see Kevin out there. May I go talk to him for a few minutes?
MRS. DAVIS
It’s
all right with me if it’s all right with your father.
(Mr.
Davis snores)
It’s
all right with him. Don’t stay out too long, the mosquitoes are bad.
CHESSIE
I
got that covered, Mom.
Chessie
goes out the front door.
EXT.
THE DAVIS PORCH NIGHT
Chessie
comes out the door and goes to a small metal box on the porch.
He
removes a dried-out cattail and a pack of matches.
Picking
up a can of lighter fluid, he sprinkles some on the tip, and then lights the
cattail.
The
flame burns quickly down to red-hot embers and he goes down the steps of the
porch.
EXT.
THE LANDERS FRONT YARD NIGHT
Mary
is looking through the binoculars when Chessie comes into the scene and walks
up to the fence holding the lit cattail in one hand.
CHESSIE
What
are you doing?
MARY
(jumps)
Oh,
my god, you scared the crap out of me.
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