"WHAT DREAMS MAY COME" (1998)

WHATDREAMS MAY COME

Based on the novel by Richard Matheson

Director: Vincent Ward

Warmly lit room, crammed with cozy sofas, ancient wing chairs, and coughing, sneezing, ‘whining CHILDREN.Infant to pre-teen, each with a parent or two, the racketis something, the motion constant.In one corner,a CASTLE with clockwork moving figures keeps a few youngsters occupied. Toysin use, parents at the edge of their patience.PAN the walls now, to feature...

... fanciful ARTWORK, everywhere. Vivid colors, somewhat fantastical reality. Keep PANNING to a MURAL, set close to the floor, children's height.Slightly surreal garden, an Italian villa overlooking fromahillside.And facing the mural...|

... an eight-year-old girl with serious eyes and the stub of a yellow crayon is carefully enhancing the mural.She has found a rear-view figure of a small nude boy, and is drawing a stream of pee, from where his hidden organ might be releasing it.Nearby, her mother, a bird-like, overdressed woman looks the other way, speakingin low, irritated_ tones to her cellular phone.Into the bedlam of the room, strolls...

we doctor iin white coat and dangling stethoscope. CHRIS NIELSEN is 45, cheerful and loose against the tension of this maelstrom.Keen eyes, a soft and decidedly likable smile as he scans his file on the move. Every parent locks focus, please God, me next. Noticing this, he grins...

The girl with the crayon looks up.She's the winner. Palms the crayon, self-consciously. The mother has heard her name, and shoots an imperious hand up, wait a minute, I'm finishing here.Chris just goes up to the girl...

Looks at the mural. Sees that the boyis now peeing.

Chris turns to the mother's outraged eyes. Smiles.

| CHRIS My kid used to say, “Whats the difference? You weren't looking anyway."

_ -The-mother.doesn'tknow what to do withthat. But she doesn't ee it.

~MRS. JACOBS Wehad a fouro'clock.|

Chris looks back.Only into Stacey’s eyes.|

(REVISED: 6/24/97: GOLDENROD)2

CHRIS

Siete

Well, I'm training all these kids to get sick on schedule, but it's tedious work.

(to Stacey) Youlike rabbits?

Stacey shakes her head.

Can I win a smile here? Almost.

Holds out his hand, she takes it. He leads her to an area where four very large rabbits inhabit four messy cages, beneath a huge print.Points to an enormous Belgian Hare...*

CHRIS , You wanna take him home?

* She looksup.Really?

CHRIS

@ Too bad, he's mine.

Now they're grinning at each other. He's walking her out of the waiting room, downa| corridor, as the mother follows.

ad

Likethewaitingroom,theexaminingroom is lined withprints.Isthis apediatricsoffice or a gallery? *

-CHRIS Head still hurt?

Henods, understands.Butit's not abiggdeal.‘Theyhave entered intoanexamining room. Art here, too. Swoops her up onto the table.Staresin her eyes, real close.

He puils the MRI fromits manila envelope. Slides it into a brightly lit vertical display screen.Eight views of Stacy's brain. C eal “hin

(REVISED: 5/30/97; YELLOW)3

Now he looks over. First titime.But there's no impatience in his eyes.Gentle look, gentle voice..

And holds the look.Until she knows he will.The intercom BUZZ.

But he doesn't jump up.Just turns backto Stacy...

+ And breathein and out... not fast, just regular. ae Sat Stacy tries.Chris nods, good, real!good.Points to the flashing light on the cordless C],

phone.

The kid laughs. Chris gestures, keeps it going. Great! Lifts the phone...

| CHRIS | White dress, black shoes. No underwear. *

_ANNIE NIELSEN, 37, petite and sleek. Jet black hair cut short andsoft, sheis genuinely lovely.She holds her cordless phone as she paces anxiously along the wall of the artOn

Ete

gallery.The paintings she passes are 19th century.

atontig ANNIE ' seawater Christy, I've got a meltdown. Sa

... okay, your choice on the shoes, no pressure.

She’s in no mood to fool around.—

ete vt aswelA

Two young ASSISTANTS still hanging and lighting paintings. To the side, WORKERS. on LADDERS are nailing exhibition SIGNAGE which reads “Restorations of Romantic.

Landscapes- A Retrospective”.

INTERCUT CHRIS 5

Stacy still breathing into her hands across the room. Chris calmly pulling from the drawer of a small corner desk, a large plastic sheet of mounted SLIDES...|

He pulls the MRI from the display screen and replaces it with the sheet of slides.We now see the slides are of paintings, perhaps four dozen, across the top is scrawled SUBMISSIONS. As Stacy's mother watches, outraged by his change of focus, Chris begins to scan the slides with an expert eye...

na

three,right...?

Na ante A ne> te INTERCUT ANNIE 6

Sheis standing now at the entrance to another room, her anxious’eyes falling on a grouping of paintings with dark and disturbing themes, trying to hold back tears, nodding at the phone, maybe, yeh.

She’s calming, his soothing voice talking hher through 1it.

| ANNIE Better than theMurphy’s, y'think?

tm

(REVISED:6/24/97:GOLDENROD)

She can’t even believe how much she loves him.

~ CHRIS (0.S.) Only if you are incredibly grateful.

A.7 INTERCUT CHRIS - CHRIS’ OFFICE - DUSK A.7 * |

He has taken the cordless phone into his office for privacy.

Chriss glances at a paintingby Annie whichhangsin his corridor. A strikingly original rendering of a blurred FEMALE FIGURE as an old fashioned WASHING MACHINE floating through a ghostly 19th Century romantic landscape. Overtones post-modernist version of a Dali meets German romanticism.

| CHRIS ‘Maytag by Moonlight’.I'll bring it right over.

INTERCUT ANNIE &B.7

Clinging to her phone.Talking to the man she loves.

He's made her smile. He alone can do.that.

He is breathing hard, provocatively into the phone. She laughs.

Hear his moan of excitement.

| ANNIE - Okay, weirdo, I'll be home late, but I'll be there.I'll bring my tool kit.

INTERCUT CHRIS.

Re-entering the examining room. She'll be ail right now. Murmurs...

Hangs up. Looks to Stacy, whois still breathing into her hands, but has obviouslybeen following the conversation with great interest.He does more heavy breathing to encourage her tokeep it up.She giggles, and keeps going.Momis dumbstruck, but heignores her. Tellsthekid...

| CHRIS My wife restores pictures. And paints her own. Paintings are the most interesting thingsin this world... next to your brain.

And makes the CUT sign.Stacy stops.

mn CHRIS Feelin' better? |

The kid thinks about it.And nods.Slightly amazed.He's not, turns to Mom...

[ CHRIS Any migraines in your family?

Chris driving the freeway. On the seat next to himis a long, thin GIFT, wrapped iin reflective paper, with a gold bow, and a CARD tuckedin which reads ‘DD Anni’. Light BLURRS past.He enters anendless, darkly-lit TUNNEL.

(CHRIS(V.O.) I said, "G'bye. I loveyou." I'll always remember -that.

Easing around a curve. Something Wrong up ahead, sudden HORNS, tires SCREECHING...

... hear the CRASH, see a Porsche FLIP over,SKIDDING on the shoulder, two other — cars COLLIDING, a wheel comes OFF andROCKETS back STRAIGHT AT us, and...

..MISSES somehow. The tunnel traffic SWERVING to avoid the pile-up, SAILING past, horns BLARING, except for Chris, who...

(REVISED: 6/10/97: GREEN)-7

..pulls‘OFFonto theshoulder.SLAMStoa stop.GRABShis black medicalbagfrom the seat and RUNS toward the disaster. Everything a chaos of lights and horns, Chris RACING totheupside-downPorsche,ayoungwoman inside, terrified, bloodonherface. Chris...

.. YANKS the door OPEN, with a CRUNCH of metal grinding metal.

The word lostin the CRASH of another car joining the pile-up, Chris WHIRLING tto see..

.. something HURTLING AT US, and...

BLACK SCREEN.

Silence. .

CLOSE on the stove top, butter sizzlingin a skillet. One egg breaks into the pan,‘two, three.PULL BACK to see.. .

.. Annie yawn. Keeps one eye on the bacon, which looks nearly done. Another on the toaster. |

REVERSE ANGLE... two children. At the tableis MARIE, 8, delicate, with caramel hair and huge quiet eyes. She reads a Garfield book andignores her bagel. At a counter in the corer is IAN, 13, rugged, rangy, a jock.Beautiful sleepy face.

IAN © I don't. Actually, ,

_He is languidly working ona half-finished MODEL of an aircraft carrier.

I'llget something at school.

| IAN Have to carb up, Mom, gotta a game.

(REVISED: 6/10/97: GREEN)

ANGLE...Chrishasbeenwatching fromthedoorwayHisson putsthelast touches ona repair to a minor fitting.

Chris looks down.Doesn't know what to do with that lie.And seeing this....

Puh-leeze?Just for me?Annie wants to, but...

| ANNIE a I'm sorry, baby, I've got this meeting.Angie will swing by, on the way to get your brother. I'll let her take thevan...

~ Does that help?Marie looks down, as if a light dimmed out.Staring blankly at her book. On impulse...

| ANNIE ~But I will see your chorus thing tomorrow.

The chocolate eyes come. back up..

Annie goes, strokes her baby's hair...

The nanny-housekeeper ANGIE pokes her head in. She is young, Latina...

And disappears.Both kids stand, puil their books together. Ian looks to his dad...

He means that. Seriousand contrite and responsible all at once. His dad nods, tonight. The tall boy kisses his shorter mom.Ambles off.Marieis slower. Gives her mom a grateful kiss and hug.A quicker one for dad, and she too is gone.Annie glances to her husband...

A smail smile, for she knows the answer. He looks to the bacon and eggs.

BRIGHT, blinding FLASHES. When they subside, we are looking DOWN on the accident scene in the tunnel.The flashes were welding sparks, as firemen cut away partof— an overturned car to remove a female corpse.

From our AERIAL VIEW, we see paramedics loading a man's body into the back of a waiting ambulance.We move down, as if following them. SMASH CUT TO...

i1 INT. HOSPITAL ROOM - NIGHT 11*

BRIGHT,Hickering LIGHT. Itiis the strobing of a faulty fluorescent tube. As it clears, our view is..

HIGH ANGLE from the ceiling of a brightly-lit room. A figure lies motiontiessiin the bed below, curled on its side.Tubes,monitors, the works.As bad as it gets.|

Our VIEW SHIFTS slightly,bobbing up and down. As ifthe POV of a helium balloon. - But always watching the bodyin the bed,

Below us, the body.SPASMS, a small but frightening movement. A deep growlingin its chest.

(CHRIS (V.O.) It was the last breakfast, of course, we never saw _them again.Four years.Why would I dream it now?

_ The body below curls unconsciously closer to a fetal ball.

(REVISED: 6/24/97: GOLDENROD)10

And we begin to drift DOWN nov, ina graceful series of slow arcs, like a feather settling toward earth.Toward the body.

Closer. The body rolls its face away from us. The tubes stretch to their limits.

Still closer now. Right down to the FACE. Itis Chris' OWN. Horribly battered, barely recognizable.Our POV STARTLES slightly. Then, settlesin for a closer look.

| - CHRIS (V.O., hushed) God, I never had a dream like...

they are swollen shut.And from somewhere...

The voice is young and easy.As direct.as it is kind.

Wearetrying to look around...

Our POV WHIRLING in all directions...

12 OMITTED © : . 12

Chris floating on his backin a pale azure lake. All around are mountain peaks, villages: -dotting the shoreline.In the distance, a city we can't knowis Lugano. and1creamy and bathes the setting into something beyond perfection.And Chris...

ll

rises.Walks to shore, to where his towel and duffel bag lie.Heis younger in this place, but somehow the same. As he begins to towel off, he squints at the sun-splashed ‘lake, because a small SAILBOAT iis approaching, 16 feet,a Lido, one-handed by...

@ young woman. Ina bikini. Jet-black hair.

He laughs. She has sailed closer. He thinks about it, and points toward Lugano across the lake.

She nods, like that was sensible advice.Waves a thank-you.And sails away.

- As hewatches.

We are inthe front hall of a comfortable home. A hallway lined with art. Our POV looks around, VOICES, low and grave from a room somewhere.But here...

..STOP. Stare directly at us.A strange, worried look.The dog begins to slightly edge away with what could only be a whimper...

‘MALE VOICE (V.O.) She does. Dogs are different.

And we look up, whirling,in every direction...

.. and we can. A blurred SHAPE at the end of the hail. Scarcely even\ discernible as the silhouetteofaman. |

Is that you, the blur?

Il

We are staring so hard at the blur. Trying to make the focusa little sharper. When we can't, we FLOAT toward the distant voices, the dog tagging along, as we pass...

.. adoor jamb with a smudge of PAINT. We stop. Look at it. Itis the doorway to Annie's STUDIO, we see the large room in darkness, covered easels, canvasses lean against the wails.Back to the paint smudge...

Chris’ hand reaches out.Tries to wipe the smudge away.

| CHRIS (V.O.) Ialways havetocleanitup. *

But the paint won’t budge.He moves on...

.. Into the living room. A dozen friends, family, circulate. Speakingin low tones. Casting glancestowarda far sofa where CINDY, Annie's best girlfriend, comforts her. Thereis intelligence and sympathyin the liquid blue eyes that stare into Annie’s, the strong fiingers that clasp Annie’shands.

'- MALE VOICE v.O., simply) You've died, Chris.

Annie's eyes are red, her faceis hollow. She stares through her friend, into a misery and fear so profound shecan scarcely contemplate it.

A beat.Before...

The voicesounded more uncertain than omniscient. ‘That makes u:usturn toward the blurred shape.Whichis now by the mantle.

eee CHRIS wv.O.) How come I see everyone, Doc.? Everyone but Yor

anes

‘MALEVOICE (V.O.) .. Im the one you don't want to see.You don't want to be dead.

We are drifting toward the shape, which gets no clearer as we come closer. On the mantle _are two PHOTOGRAPHSin simple frames.Ian, flashing his jock give-a-fuck grin.

Our POV hesitates. As if stopped by the question.

And our VIEW moves to Marie's photo. Thoughtful pose, no smile.

CLOSE on Marie, alone, propped up on pillows, hugging her well-worn STUFFED TIGER.Her face sheens with sweat.Pull back to see her daddy with his stethoscope to ‘her chest.: Now her side.Now lower.

She doesn't smile.Keeps watching with those'serious eyes that seém so old.He takes off his jacket.Sits down on her bed.

And stays quiet. Justsmiling ather.-Until the silence makes her say so directly...

ae MARIE Don't you haveto go somewhere?

He stares at her. So sad to hear those words, Shakes his head.

Only her eyes smile. But they do. So clearly, it meltshimstraight through. As her quiet— mouth says...

~ MARIE You could teach me that.

(REVISED:5/30/97;YELLOW)14 ed |

Hard rain filtering through giant trees.Two SHAPES running toward us in dim light, they are shouting, laughing, swearing.Crashing across the underbrush, they are Chris and Ian, racing each other through the downpour to...

... Slam againsta huge TRUNK.This tree is so big, its canopy so thick, the rain scarcely trickles here.Still laughing, they crouch together in its protection.Catch their breath.

Then, silence.Gazing up, leaning back against the bark, each other. Good to be there.

Which makes his father turn. Hmmn?|

Well.She didn't want us to do this.Cos... y'know... grades, and stuff.

And stuff.Chris staring at this boy.Until he decides to say...

That sounds almost ominous in its quietness.The boy alerted.

And we always listen.To each other.

Afullbeat. eS SOS

IAN| What did you talk ab...

The kid so shocked, he can scarcely comprehend. Flickering across young eyes, resentment, fear.But mostly, astonishment. A betrayal he could never have believed possible.By the one person he'd known he could always trust.

Anorganplays.ALutheran cross stands sentinel above a bankof flowers.PANthepews of the chapel to find CHILDREN amongthe adults.Nearly a hundred. For this is no ordinary funeral. Through the glass walls, brilliant sunlight lends ironic counterpoint. PAN quickly to the first row, to the aisle, where...:.

Chris holds Annie’s hands in his.Real tight. They are stunned, uncomprehending as they Co gaze at their children's coffins.The music stops.A slender, scholarly MINISTER rises to the podium.Behind him, flowers rest on TWIN CASKETS.The crowd wants to be quiet

for him. But there are open sobs that spring up here and there. And the minister waits. He surelyunderstands.CLOSEon himnow..

He seems, himself, almost too sad to continue.

CLOSE now on one of the coffins, pass through its side tosee IAN, eyesclosed. Heis* beautiful, at peace.A breath of air blows mysteriously across the still face.Somewhere,a woman begins to CRY hysterically, and we cut... BACK TO Chris.Holding onto Annie.

Their jast morning. Angie has pulled out the chevy van. Both kids are climbing in, as

..Chris RUNS out to catch them.Marie has forgotten her lunch again.He hands it to her through the open window... |

Marie cuts him a look.Hears this a lot.

Loveyou. | | oan a

She leans out. Kisses his cheek. His son hasn’t turned.

Ian knows it’s forhim. A manly wave, without nung And Angie PULLS AWAY...

Chris stands. Watching them go.. Seeing his children’s heads through the glass, he looks uneasy.

Wishes he’d said more. Then again he always does.

A different day, a different funeral home. Itis anotherfuneral. AMONSOONof rain cascades beyond the glass. Thereis only a single CASKETnow, larger, full-sized. All the mourners are adults.Annie sits with Cindy today, her eyes frightened, struggling to hold back tears.RACK FOCUS to the back of the hall, center aisle, two figures stand...

Chris. And his blurred companion, who has now taken on aclearerimage. A bodyina workshirt andjeans, a cowboy’s body, not one we'd expect. We see now that his hands*

are those of ablack man. The faceis still blurred, as through frosted, slightly distorted glass.

And without turning...

CHRIS : The kid's funeral.I was sitting... right up there, but...

And stops.Because...

He looksnow.Tothecowboy.

Chris looks down. He can see himself now, as we see him. He flexes his hands, watchingthem move.

Chrisbegins towalkdowntheaisle. Hiscompanion stays with him.

A coffin ofpolished rosewoodrests beneatha splashofflowers.Therainpoundsharder. Chris stops now. Just behind Annie.Just at her shoulder. While on the podium...

And Annie'stears come.She can'thelpit now.Ather side,Cindyglares bullets at the minister on the podium.But here,in the aisle, Chris crouches beside his wife.The. minister drones on. |

(REVISED: 6/24/97: GOLDENROD)17

_ He reaches a hand toward her face...

: CHRIS He just doesn't know what to say.

And it stops. Just short. Fingertips would give anything to caress her hair, less than an inch away.

CHRIS : Jesus, Doc,this is thegod-damnedest dream.

Chris starts to cry, too. And there they are, husband and wife. Silently crying their hearts out.For love of each other.

CHRIS | Fess up, Doc.If I was dead.Could I cry?

Shakes his head. It tears him to shreds to see her like this.

| MALE VOICE (V.O.) Given all this. Be surprised if you didn't.

Chris in Annie's sunlit studio, alone with the cowboy, whose features we still can't see. - He walks from canvas to canvas, taking it all in.-

Any of these yours?

Chris has to laugh, in spite of himself.

The cowboy stands in front of an easel, a large landscape of a lake ringed by forest and ‘mountain. In the far hills, a few simple brushstrokes suggest a dwelling. Ona closer promontory, stands a small, lone silhouetted FIGURE. ‘Clouds roll over the peaks, a soft mist.It isa work in progress, almost finished, but...

... The lower right corner of the painting has not been completed.Part of it contains sketches of trees not yet painted in.Part of it remains completely blank.

There are two large prints hanging nearby,each of a forested lake. Clearly, Annie has borrowed elements from thesefor her painting. | *

AT:

All around are dozens of other prints, clippings, tear-outs, masterpieces from which she has also taken inspiration.

Chris points to a large blown-up photo of LAKE MAGGIORE. We recognize it from Chris' memory of meeting Anniein her sailboat.

...andpoints to the tiny dwelling on the far hillside of the painting. ‘Nearby, clipped to the easelis a snapshot.Young Annie on her sailboat.Chris points to the lakein Annie's painting, the same sailboat floats on the water. Then...

And this was our first picnic, stuff like that.

Near thee sailboat, picnic things onthe bank. No human figures, there. Only the one, in’ foreground, the MAN seen at the crest of a hill. Looking down on all ofit.

The cowboypoints to ablanksection inthelower comer,bythepicnic.Thereisia pencil sketch,theoutlineofa huge tree.

: CHRIS She never finishes things on time.That always used to bug me.

COWBOY | Used to?

And tuins his blurry face toward his companion. A beat of silence.

CHRIS « Figure of speech.

Annie at the writing desk. Opensthe cloth-bound book. It isablankjournal. Empty _ pages.

(REVISED:5/7/97:PINK)19

Annie glances up. Astray thought?It was almost as if she heard something.He steps up behind her. Right behind her. It seems to break her reverie.

| CHRIS (softly) How you doin’, babe?

She lifts her pen. Begins to write in the book.He reads over her shoulder, and we hear her innervoice...

| ANNIE (V.O., writing)

Thinks.But onlyaninstant.Writes...

‘His hands come up.Why is he afraid to touch her?He's wondering that.

Almost overcome by that.Keeps going.:.

More than he can bear..

And she stops. His eyes flicker at that. Why did she stop?

And the penis frozenin mid-air.

It is a strange look on her face, all right. Like listening for a sound from another planet.

She shudders.He leans down, lips right to her ear. The barest whisper.

She is sudenly at the edge of tears.He won’t move, not an inch.—

: CHRIS Write it down.

C'mon!C'mon babe...

CHRIS | Write, "ThisisChris, I still exist."

And as if moving by itself, her hand SCRIBBLES something violently.But she won't. lookdown.

She looks.It says-THSICRS-ISTILEXST.

| CHRIS > God bless you, darlin’. You are the best, you are my ba...

... she CRUMPLES the paper in anguish.LURCHES from the desk, her chair FLYING back, Chris instinctively DODGING its path.Annie THROWS herseif on the bed, ‘miserable and desperate. Curls herselfin a fetal ball.Not unlike Chrisin his hospital bed. He can only watch.His heart breaking.And breaking again.He climbs upon the bed,o behind her tremblingback...

.. and lies down.Inches away.Gets his mouth as close to her ear, without quite touching.

No change.Nothing.

And on this.Her breathing slows.

His hand caressingher hair, without touching,-an inch away.

And we will make love.

We see her face so clearly. Tormented, torn to pieces.

| | CHRIS | And everything... I ever promised you... will be...

Frombeneaththesheets,ChrissitsBOLTUPRIGHTinbed,GASPINGa strangled SHRIEK inthe dark, and...

CLOSE as he knew she would.Her eyes frightened for him, and seeing her so near, so loving,soterrified for his sake...

her lovely face, and draws her close.

He stops. She looks deeply into his eyes. From so near.

ANNIE | This is the dream.I'm not here.

Her lips part.She moves closer.

| ANNIE Tlove you, Christy.I always will.

Her eyes close.Her mouth almost to his...

BLINDING sunlight. A grassy slope. Chris standing, his hair and clothes unaffected by the breeze thattousies...

.. Annie's hair. Sheis kneeling on the grass. Not far away. She has a bundle of flowers wrapped iin newspaper. They are very pretty.

There's no rules.It ends when you want it to..

co | - Heis there. The black cowboy with the features we can't quite see. Although this time, a we nearly can,

| | COWBOY Someplace else.

For the first time, the cowboy's mouth can be seen to move.His words seem more spoken than voice-over. Something elseis gone, that slight resonant timbre that made his |voice seem enhanced.Heiis becoming more like us.

COWBOY | What do you think, I'm some figment of your imagination?

The cowboylooks down. Scratches theback ofhis blurry head.

Andshrugs.

COWBOY __..

( . That's the point. If there is a point.

° . Chris starts down the hill. Toward the woman he loves. But the cowboy doesn't move.

| COWBOY ) Realityis.When you're tired of hurting the both of you.You'll leave.

Well, Chris has to smile at that one.And shake his head.He’s reached her now. Standing behind her kneeling form.Nearby, we see two tarnished PLAQUES, the names: of his children.The dates of their lives.But just now, Annieis cleaning bits of dirt and grass from a shiny new plaque.It says:CHRISTOPHER JAMES NIELSEN.1953- 1998.BELOVED FATHER AND HUSBAND. FOREVER.

And Annie's fingers reach for that word. The bronze letters. Rest tenderlyon them. He leans socloseaboveher... |

His fingers CLOSE on her shoulders, and she SHRIEKSan agonized HOWL from the depths of her soul, he clutches TIGHTER and she screams LOUDER until he realizes, and...

... lets go.Annie, shattered, dissolves in tears.

Chris stares down at her. He knows. Hehas known, against his denial, even before this. A smail bitter smile...

And GONE.Annie alonein frame. A deep, cleansing breath. Sheis better now, somehow.Almost startled by that.Wondering why.

REVERSE ANGLE... the hillsideis empty above her. No husband. No cowboy. The breezealittle stronger now, as she...

... unwraps the flowers,so carefully. Thereis a plastic vase setinto the earth before the plaque,She places them there.The breeze blows a few petals free.But that's all right._

She folds the newspaper that wrapped the flowers. Compulsively, absently, meticulously. Marine folding a burial flag.She tucks it away.

Kiss her fingertips. Touch his name.

And she, too, is gone. Walking slow. Down the hill.

Annie, armsfolded, stares at herpainting of the lake. The present shenever gave‘him. Her hand reaches, her fingertips nearly touchI ey move over the water, past the cottage, |the sailboat, the picnic things, and finally to...

... the uncompleted corer. She lifts four SKETCH PENCILS from the easel’s tray.* Chooses one, and begins to SKETCHin the empty spacea NEW TREE, much larger and granderthan all the others.She sets the other pencils downin the tray, next to a painted woods, just below thecrest of a hillside, as we CUT TO... kk

27 OMITTED

CLOSE on Chris, his eyes DARTING, here, there, where am 1? PULL BACK to reveal...

...a WOODS of vibrant color. Too vibrant, surrealistically so.He looks around, this can’t be real.Reaches out, touching a brillant leaf, only to find it is...|

..paint.Not painted, but made completelyof paint.Which comes off on his hand.AD flower, a tree trunk, the same, and suddenly...|

a: RUSTLING, he WHIPS around,as something moves through the paint foliage to reveal itseltas..

..a young DALMATION. Soincongruous in this bizarre place.Chris squints, he could almostswear... |

| CHRIS Katie...?

Katie WOOFS happily. Trots over for a cuddle as Chris sinks down to embrace the dog...

He looks around...

Utterly, confused, disoriented...

CHRIS ‘

Katie WOOFS again, and his eyesreturn to her. So happy to see her, he can't keep from beaming. | |

CLOSE on Katie, the Dalmatian, but not as we've seen her. Sheis old here, blind andin pain. Trembling on her soft blanket bedin the corner of Annie’s studio. Crouched next to her...

_ .» Marie, with her huge dark eyes. She studies her friend, carefully, all over. Katie's pain registers in the little girl's expression. But she will not cry.

Inthedoorway,her parentsside byside.Thismoment shared,like allothers.Itisthe mother who steps forward.Crouches at her daughter's side.

, ANNIE Katieisn'tgoingtheretogetwell,sugar.

Marie doesn't understand.Or doesn't want to.

But Annie raises a hand, without turing. Not:angry at him. Just...m handle this. Never wavering from Marie’Ss eyes... |

I'm going to help her die, yes.

Winds her fingers. ‘Arounda smaller hand.

She hurts bad,-and nothing can help that.I'm going to stop it, because I love her.

The stare hoids. The dark eyes harden.

You're going to kill my dog. -

But Annie won't blink. Won't cop out.

Something. passes between them. It carries acceptance. And trust.

(REVISED:5/30/97:YELLOW)26

Marie’s eyes cloud with feeling.

Chris and Katie where we left themin the paint woods. They are a few steps fromthe crest of a hill, and as they climb it...

They reach the crest, Katie BARKS. And Chris FREEZES. Because he is looking down on avista whichis..

ANNIE'S PAINTING. The lake, the forest, the mountains, the cloud-strewn sky. All made only of paint.But three dimensional, countless miles wide and deepand high. Unwittingly, Chris' own posture at the top of the hill has become the precise figure in _Annie's painting, completing the image.A stunned, forever moment,

Emotions swim in his eyes.

| CHRIS Maybe you're in mine.

Near the foot of the hill now. A deep forest, a rippling lake, made entirely of paint. Three- dimensional, surrounding us, yet very still. HEAR a crunching, as

Chris and Katie come around the hillside, on a dirt-brown path just above the lake.Chris soon finds he is MIRED. in paint above his knees.He looks down the path, to see..

here, the cowboy’s body. Chris squints...

(REVISED:5/30/97:YELLOW)27

Haif a beat.And then the cowboy waves, cheerily.He's walking effortlessly, but moving

usto seeé..

.. Albert’s face, for the first time. Heis indeed black,a boyish 25,sleepy eyes, roguish good looks. A glint of mischief, but yes, angelic all the same. Chris taken a back by this face.So Albert laughs...

He grins, so cowboy-handsome, Chris has to smile in spite of himself.

Chris just blinks, confused, delighted, dumbfounded.

Albert laughs.Chris remembering how much he loves this guy. And then he realizes something more..

Go ahead, say the word.

Albert grins, yep. Chris keeps trying to standon top of the paint-mudlike Albert, but he| can’t. | . |

ALBERT | I thought you recognized me, when you kept saying ‘Doc,’Me being your favorite doc of all time.

From Chris' face. Thathe is.

His arms already opening, elise

(REVISED: 5/30/97: YELLOW)27A*

(O _.Guess so. Because Albert GRASPS him tight. So tight. They look at each other. Very softly...

-Maybe. Chris looks around, still trying to step out of the paint.

27A*

Albert taking it in. It is magical, impossible. And in such complete and exquisite detail.

Chris’ eyes moving everywhere. In absolute wonder. Paint SUCKING around his thighs. |

- CHRIS Buenthere's so much here she didn't paint, like that ir

The BIRD is lavender, huge, majestic. A raven the size of a condor. Motionless, like everything,ona high branch.

Annie gave you a start. Sorta like handrailsto hang onto.But you're creating an entire world, here. From your imagination, from other paintings you love... anything youwant.

Staring at the creature. Its frozen, regal elegance.

And then.ItDOES.Thelavender birdFLAPSits greatwingsandSOARSeffortlessly into the painted sky. And Chris laughs with delight.

CHRIS| Can I make him do a barrei-roll?

| ALBERT _You're the painter now!

The bird sails UP into an airplane LOOP,then DIVESinto a barrel-roll, flecks of paint flying from its wings, and as it SWOOPS over our head...

.. itSHITSa massive globof purple paint thatSMACKS Chris square in the face. Albert ROARS with laughter. Chris grins, wiping a clear space for his eyes.|

(REVISED:7/8/97:BUFF)29

C) Noes

Now whywouldIdothat?

Scrapes his finger in Chris' purple glob.Tastes it.Not half bad...

Looks around.

And there itiis. Through the mist. Miles away. A graceful Italian villa. It looks pretty grand,Whenhetumsback...

32. OMITTED 32

33 = OMITTED 33

ae

CO A. 34 SUMMERLAND - EXT. LAKE SURFACE - SUNSET _ A384 *

a Albert STRIDING across the surface of the lake. Katie trots happily at his side. No* sweat.Albert PEERS down,-as if looking below thesurtace, at...*

B. 34 SUMMERLAND- EXT. LAKE FLOOR | B. 34 *

Chris jumps into the water and sinks to the bottom. 8

He trudges along the bottom of the lake. He is not in a good mood.*

| CHRIS — | * Last time you pick the short cut.| *

does.thoughhe is under water, we hear his words clearly (with only a slight gurgle),as* oes

C. 34 INTERCUT ALBERT | , . C34 *

...Albert on the surface.Despite the distance between them, they seem ableto hold at* completely normal conversation. | | *

oo Albert thinks about that. Calls down... *

TO | ALBERT *

Well. What do you mean by‘you’ anyway?I mean, * are you your arm or your leg...? *

D. 34 INTERCUT CHRIS or | 34 *

..Slogging along, feeling miserable.So | | *

_CHRIS * Partly. : *

CHRIS | | * IfI could surface, I’d be Bob...But, I'd still be me.,;*

ss CHRIS. * ad brain, I suppose.. *

Ao

(REVISED: 8/7/97: SALMON)29B

\ A _E. 34 INTERCUT ALBERT Oe E.34 *

, ALBERT _ : ‘ But.It's just a body part, likeyour heart or your x fingernail.Why is that the one that’s ‘you?’ *

| F. 34 INTERCUT CHRIS ae Z F. 34 *

yo : CHRIS ete | ‘ | Because ‘I’ am sort of a... voice.In my head... *

oe (struggling)| | * The part that thinks...and feels...and is conscious of* things... *

Chris is partially submerged.© | *

-_,.CHRIS (muffled) | * ...including that there is a ‘me’ to be conscious of.°|*

He starts to rise to the surface of the water.

:298

(REVISED: 8/7/97: SALMON)30

..break THROUGH the surface. Albert and Katie stand right there waiting on the bank.*

‘ALBERT (not missing a beat) & So your consciousness is you.If that disappears, you don't exist.If it's still around, you do. That’see whyyou’re stillhere. *

Chris rises out of the water up to his chin. *

Albert grins.

Chris continues to rise, pausing as the water comes to his chest level.

As Chris steps out of the water,Albert turns and squints up...

..toward the villa.From here, we can see that it has...

Albert thinks about that. Interesting.

And starts off toward the villa. Chris stands a beat, working on that.

+

They sit at a paint tablein a paint room, each holding apaintmug of steaming coffee. Chris stares down at thie stuff.

: ALBERT Drink, willya?Just think, it's coffee if you want it to be. ‘

Chrisis scared,but he takes aasip. Makes a HORRIBLE face. Brownpaint all over his mouth.

| ALBERT Why jis this so hard? Look...

Look...

~ 30

(REVISED: 8/7/97: SALMON)30A

_Chris staring.because...

(REVISED: 7/8/97: BUFF)31

Gesturesaj}around... |

Don't you get it? ; NO

ALBERT —

ON When the house falls down. You get out and walk _—_ away.

Themostbeautifulsmile.

Chris looks down at his chest, his legs...

_ ALBERT | You see a body, because you're comfortable seeing one.Like the lake, the bird, we're seeing what we choose tosee. |

So!Albert stands up.Takes his coffee to the solid wall. Smiles an enigmatic smile, an

places his hand against the interior of the square...

... PUSHES it out, as if it were solid stone.AS light FLOODS in, the paint wall CRASHES on the ground outside the collage.Chris looks through the window to see that

..thewhole World belowis REAL. Paint lakehas become WATER. Paint forest has become TREES.Chrisis awestruck at Annie's world come ALIVE, the most dazzling landscapehe has ever seen. SOUNDS of nature POUR through the window,

-Chris looks at him. I did this?

(REVISED: 6/10/97: GREEN)32

— ALBERT - Thoughtisreal,physicalistheillusion.Ironic,huh?

AshestaresdownattheincredibleWORLDhehascreatedfromAnnie'spainting...

_And turns to his friend.As if the cowboy has the answer. Albert smiles gently...

(sighs) Maybe he’sjust.:.up there, somewhere.Shouting down that he loves us.Wondering why we don’ t hear.You think?

They gaze at each other. A nice moment for them.

And, without thinking, Chris does.

They smile at each other. And in that moment of silent connection...

They sip their coffee.Like friends anywhere.

Chris, Albert and Katie stroll by the water's edge.Chris glances down and sees FOOTPRINTSin the sand trailing offinto the distance.

CHRIS | Whose are those?

Curious, Chris follows the footprints which lead towards thick bushes. The footprints continue on, but suddenly, a slight movement behind leaves, and...

..A PEACOCK darts from the bushes.The bird flies towards Chrisin a vibrant burst of color. Chris pivots with the peacock as it flies past towards the lake, his eye suddenly ioea CATCHING...

OIE (REVISED:6/10/97:GREEN) NEN «reeceAe ei A Te ... ANNIE, naked, DARTING from bushes to gracefully DIVE into the lake. Only the briefestglimpse,butheknowsit'sher.Ashewatched,thrilled, mesmerized...

32A*

(REVISED:5/7/97:PINK)33

_.her body GLIDES beneath its rippling surface, sensual, exquisite, free. He glances up to see if Albert sees her too, but when he turns back...

..the fantasy is GONE. Concentric circlesSspread out in1ripples from the place he imaginedher dive.

HeissoJost.In suchdespair.

CHRIS | The point is, that’s all I’ve got!

TheangersetsAlbertback.

Staring at each other. A tough moment.

Silence.. Thebreeze becoming:awindwe canHEAR.Thesoundofwhat’spent-up inside.

Chris glares at his friend. A sudden SILENCE. No wind 2att all. And just above a whisper...

oo CHRIS. Man.You don’t knowus.

a, And from the heart...

How can he make him understand?

You can’t reach her. No matter what y...

| CHRIS SHE HEARD ME! SHE WROTEIT DOWN, ‘I STILL EXIST"!

_ That ECHOED across the lake and offthe mountains. Likethe voice, the anguish, of God.

And 2 finger comes up.To remind.

Remember?And darkly, Chris does.

ALBERT : At this point, it’s like you’re a different species on a different planet.Forget it.

Do you hear that...?

...Chris hears it.Can’t accept it.Looking around in frustration, he sees...}

..FOOTPRINTS once more. These lead along the shoreline, stretching into the distance. And there by the waters edge,a pile of...

..children’sthings. Clothes, toys, a STUFFED TIGER. A tiger we've seen. In a child’s | sick bed.

CHRIS

And he RUNS,fast this time, RACING along the shore afterthe footprints, which finally round abend, and... . |

...Vanish, He WHIRLS, SHOUTING...

- Straight INTO the FACE of Albert, who has somehow appeared inches behind him. Holding...

..the stuffed tiger. Chris takes it from him with. great |tendemess. Strokes the worn plush ofitsfur...

| ALBERT Well, ‘here’ is big enough for everyone to have a private universe.But that’ s not why you haven’t seen them.Is it. .

Strange tone to that.As if he knows something.

And walks out of frame.Chris staring after him.Katie WOOFS, and they follow.

39 - EXT. FOREST- SUNSET 39. *

Strolling now through leafy green woods, a thick canopy of foliage above. They turn a bend in the path, and suddenly...

They stop. Stare at each other. Chris moves past Albert through the grass, into...

WHITE, and some thick, grainy, charcoal COLUMNS rising to the heavens. As Albert catches up, Chrisis staring upward at...

..@ gigantic SKETCH of a TREE. We recognize it as a finished sketch of the new tree Annie had begun after Chris had left herin the cemetery.

He looks back to his friend.|

eee

ee ——

Realizes...

Albert sure does.He looks at Chris. Alittle sideways.

Strange Question. So off the point.

More strange words,But Chris rather likes them.

ALBERT | ..-SOul mates, it’s extremely rare, but it exists.

Chris blinks. ,Leans his hand against the charcoal trunk.

And looks up.To the magical tree.

Pulling back. Chris looks at his hand...

wit is now filled with a clump ofsoft charcoal. He startsto pack it, angrily like a black snowball, and...

(REVISED: 10/6/97: TAN)37

40 OMITTED 40 *

(REVISED:10/6/97:TAN)38

—42 OMITTED 42

Annie sits on the floor of her studio, with her kkiioss drawn up,leaning back against Ginger. Writing on the journalin her lap...

_ ANNIE (V.O.,writing)| Sweet Christy. It's already nearly one-thirty, and— I've still got the pharmacy, the grocery, calls to return, well, a few... cook our supper, nice and slow... drink some wine.And then, it'll be dark.

Cd Runs her hand back through Ginger’s fur. Studies the page.

, ANNIE (V.O., writing) Nothingto:it..

She rises, goes to her easel. We see shehasnow painted brilliant FALL COLORS onto the huge tree.Reds,golds,orange.Leaves are falling gently. Piled on the ground. AAnd on top of 2 nearby hill she has painted... |

..a small mound of EARTH.With a SLITin the ground beside it.And KNEELING. there...

vathe tiny figure of a WOMAN. Her head bowedin lamentation.

Annie touches the paint with her finger. Still wet. And our VIEW PANS up to...

..the lake.At the foot of the mountain.Which BECOMES...

...the azure lake we've seen before.Mountain peaks, villages dotting the shoreline. Lugano, white and miniature in the distance. The younger Chris reclines on his elbows...

... looking out across the water. Maybe searching for a sailboat.

_ANNIE (0.S.) Can Isit here?

He STARTLES from his reverie. Tums to see the younger Annie in her shorts and halter and smile.She carries a picnic basket anda blanket.

How about if I say please?

Good. She doesn't mind that he's tryinga little hard. She likes him. Settles on the bank, spreading out her blanket...

: CHRIS Did you find Switzerland?

She begins to unpack. |

| ANNIE

I did, and I claimed it for Missouri.

Out is coming a red cloth. And napkins, and cups.

“ANNIE Like Columbus. Planted my little flag, sold beads to thenatives... | ;

She looks.up at him, with the most wonderful smile. .

They had sandwiches there.I brought you some.

And out they come. Lay them neatlyina row. Once more, the dark eyes, the brilliant easy smile, a slender hand extended... |

I'm Ann Collins.

| He's staring so hard, it's a beat before he takes her hand.

‘CHRIS ... sure, the one who discovered Switzerland.It's in all the papers.

Is it?She holds his hand.Until he remembers to say...

Almost. She seems so comfortableinhis awkward silence. As if she could just sit there forever, without speaking.

CHRIS” How did you know I'd be here again?

They just hold the look. And...

.. and we MATCHCUT to the same view of the lake. Chris turns easily. The dream of Annie. gone. Albert and Katiearethere, slightly concerned.

- CHRIS- She brought me sandwiches, y'know.

He looks down the hillside to the lake. Albert wants to take Chris out of his reverie...

| ALBERT

+ Let me show you something.

j Neel” ..we standatop a CLIFF. An endless SHEER DROP toa vast POPPY FIELD, which stretches up the side of a gentle hill. Beyond, in far distance,is a ring of mountains.

~4i

a

And a vision of Annie APPEARS on the peed across the poppy field.Sheiis SHAKING OUT theirpicnicbasket.

| CHRIS Okay, I'll fly.

ALBERT| Uh...Idon’t think so.

Chris cuts him a look.

Chris looks back to Annie. Blanket FLAPPING in the wind.

this... eae ; _ I'llhandle

And DIVES OFF the cliff, body arched like a mighty superhero, only to...

DROP like a ROCK, flapping his arms uselessly, SCREAMING his gutsout, he picks0, up terrifying MOMENTUM, only to...

.. HIT the ground RUNNING, TEARING across the poppy field toward theflapping - blanket at WARP SPEED, occasionaily trying unsuccessfully to take flight again, he BLASTS up the hillside, straight...

..INTO the flapping blanket, which PLASTERS itself across his face and body, BLINDING him as he WHIZZES by, drastically OVERSHOOTING the mark to DISAPPEAR over the hilltop, and...

.. REAPPEARin far distance, out-Roadrunnering the Road Runner,ZOOMING up the side of a majestic MOUNTAIN to... |

4!

(REVISED: 6/24/97: GOLDENROD)42

...stop. At.the summit.- Slowly, he peels off the blanket to GULP at the sight..

Where did she go?

...Staring down from the top of the world.

-Huge, resounding, world-record ECHO. Followed by...

We're looking around. A little scared.

_Bigger echo.Then...

And POOF, the most exquisite fluorescent rainbow.Chris marking it.Got it.

| And then he turns. And sees on a hilltop below him...

Something that was never there before. It is bright with the colors of autumn.

Suddenly, Albert and Katie appear beside him. Staringalong with Chris at the huge AUTUMN TREE, areal tree now, with leaves as bright as those Annie had painted.Chris gazes down,awed by itsmajesty.

CHRIS” My mom said.Only.God can make a tree.

And softly, almost to himself...

-CHRIS wl think Annie does it better.

He looks to his friend. Albert smiles back. No words are needed. In the silence...

(REVISED: 6/10/97: GREEN)43

Chris looks back down at Annie’s tree. A single LEAF drops, floats down slowly.

| CHRIS | So beautiful.

And with that,a WIND COMES, and blows...

..all the leaves from the tree, they SCATTERin a dazzling, thrilling burst of confetti. Some of the leaves blow toward us, SWIRL around us, and now...

the tree is BARE. A SKELETON of stark, barren branches. Chrisis struck by this. Overcome by the intensity of his longing for Annie. His despair at their separation.

Despondent, follows the flight of the last leaf, as it flutters to the ground near by. Onto...

renderingof...

his own GRAVE. The headstone. BELOVED FATHERAND HUSBAND. FOREVER. And...

Chris SINKS to his knees beside the grave.As he bows his head, he has unknowingly assumed the pose that Annie’s own lamenting figure borein her final addition to the painting.We DISSOLVE TO... |

51 OMITTED : a ; | 51

52 OMITTED SS 52

53 OMITTED —its | | 53

Darkness. A light FLICKERS on, revealing...

... the silent studio. Annie walks into frame, still wearing an oversized basketball jersey as a nightshirt.Haunted eyes.She stands before our painting. Hugs herself.|

The magnificent AUTUMN TREE. She touchesa leaf, testing that it is still WET. ‘Wipes it AWAY,which does not smear the branch beneath, protected by its hard glaze.For some _reason she can’t explain, she LIFTS a can of SOLVENT from the table, and...

SQUEEZES a line of liquid over the top of the tree. As the solventtRUNS DOWN, it DISSOLVES ALL the leaves, until whatis left begins to emerge as..|

..the same STARK SKELETON of branches that Chris was left with after the wind. The. trees in both worlds identical once more.And staring at what she’s done, bewildered...

55 SUMMERLAND .-- HANGING GARDEN- MORNING | 5§

Chris, ina HANGING GARDEN, which is a more elaborate version of Annie’s garden. Nearby, we seea MARBLE TERRACE, overlooking a large serene POND.Chris is pacing, agitated.Something is wrong, but he doesn’t know what.:

He looks up to see a young Asian WOMAN, perhaps Thai,early 20's. Lovely and _ delicate, her hair black and shining like Annie's.

Dark, serious eyes. Pethaps concerned she's been too forward.

He smiles, afraid his mood offended her. She glides forwardin her sarong. Above her breast, a metal tag that says LEONA.He stares at it, and her, as if trying to recall something.

His look lingers. And not because she's lovely. Something else.

CHRIS : I would, but travel makes me nauseous.

And now she smiles. A dazzling, ultra-feminine smile of grace.She takes his hand...

LEONA | . So, you be Dorothy.And I'll be Glenda, the Witch. of the North.

—_ He blinks Charmed, but uncomprehending.

(REVISED: 8/7/97: SALMON)45

- - LEONA _ ee 7 That means.You can close your eyes.

He does.Our screen BLACK. In an instant...

56 SUMMERLAND - EXT. CITY - LATE AFTERNOON aoe 56

Open to find we are on an enormous STAIRCASE. People are sitting and talking, strolling, Chris and Leona appear, dressed as before, except that now Chris’ face, hands, wardrobe are clean, freshand handsome. He looks down at himself, alittle stunned by the tranformation...

He looks up into her friendly smile.Grins, gestures at the others...

That they do. And lots of it. As they walk down the stairs, he is looking everywhere...

alti | LEONA we ee You've beenpaintingyour own world. Whenwe oe live together, we have to have a common vision.

She points into distance, across a lovely WATERWAY,wherea glittering CITYis built— amongprecipices and enormous gardens.Striking, imaginative architecture. Tiny silhouettes of moving figuresin the sky.

: ‘CHRIS Nice to think people can be together, get along...

‘LEONA There’s strengthin numbers. When we tap into everyone, we can’figure out:things no computer could dream of. |

Smiles at the thought.

She keeps hold of his hand, butin a completely innocent,nonsexual way. More like alittle girl.Katie taps along as they continue to descend the stairs...

(REVISED: 8/7/97: SALMON)45a *

_ Albert, for example, is sort of a missionary. Saving

lost souls.

| LEONA (laughs) Hardly. They’re the ones who can’t...well, can’t get ere.

Sheglancesover. Howishetakingthat?—

They look up to see a FLYING female BULLDOG and her FIVE flying PUPS pass over them.

Hear a WOOF. They look down. Katie is walking at Leona’s side, in a perfect ‘heel’ position. |

A. 57 INT. ANNIE'S KITCHEN - EVENING A. 57 *

...Annie’s head bowed, bending over something in the same posture that Chris usedat the grave.But she is not kneeling.She is writing in a book.

| ANNIE (V.O.) | Dearest Christy. I don'tknow how this day unraveled on me...

PULL BACK to see Annie, jotting in the journal which rests on her kitchen counter.

She turns away now and we see the preparation of an elaborate mealin progress.Mixing bowls, vegetables chopped and waiting, pots simmering.

Watch her face.As this flickers behind her eyes.

Back to Chris and Leona. See far below us that the stairs DISAPPEAR into fog. Along ~ the way, there are areas where people gather. With a single motion of her hand, Leona sends KatieRACING OFF to play with a group of other DOGS.When Leona looks over,

she finds Chris iis now distracted, agitated, as if some unknown thingis disturbing him. She saysonly...

LEONA | Albert saysto cheer you up.You have difficulty adjusting to..

He turns.On the way that sounded.

CHRIS | They died years ago.That's one of the reasons I'm worried about my wife.

Leona thinks about that. As if it is surprising, and very interesting.

They were killed in aterrible collision.Our nanny was driving, it wasn't her fault, she barely survived...

Ah.Leonaunderstandnow.Nods,morewithcomprehensionthansympathy. Hefollows Leona's eyesnow... | |

y9 tO &@ group of LITTLE GIRLS playing. Onehas her back to us, her longred hair flying in the breeze, mostly obscuringthe face ofa girlfriend. who SUDDENLY, is partially revealed,as.eee

face,and...

it is NOT Marie, afterall Leonawatchinghis profile, through all ofthis. He drawsa breath...

| CHRIS . It wasthe trucker's fault.But my wife believed... if she'd been driving the kids, her protective instincts would have...

ay, And his voice trails off. a

He glances at her. Odd, he never thought of that.

A. 58 INT. KITCHEN - NIGHT A. 58 °*

Two candles light a table. Set for one. See now that the kitchen has been darkened, turned into a setting for a romantic meal. Annie sits alone with her untouched supper. Staring at a flame.

‘ANNIE (V.O.) IfI'd walked out that night, for our Double-D.You would have never beenin that tunnel.Doing mea favor.

She lifts a fork.It remains poised in the air.

Triesa bittersweet half-smile.

Back to Chris and Leona. They have arrived at thewater’s edge. People float by playfully. Children are swimming.Leona ushers Chris ontoa flat boat.Takes a long pole and pushes them OFFinto the river, as..

..Katie JUMPS aboard. Just in time. Leona studies Chris’ face. How increasingly distracted, anxious he has become.

He doesn’t answer. So lostin thought, he seems not to hear her: We hear a CHOIR, coming somewhere from the shores, singing in DIFFERENT LANGUAGES.The effect

*.

is mesmerizing, and the sound washes over Chris, as he steadies himselfin the boat.

(REVISED: 10/6/97: TAN)49

A. $9 OMITTED | a AL 89 *

As Chris and Leona drift, Katie sits at Leona’s feet, having her ears stroked tenderly by the young woman.But Chris seems ever more distracted, concerned.

Where were you, just now?

LEONA

| | Your mind’s been wandering all afternoon.

Oh.Well...

| CHRIS |

I was just thinking.About someone..

Shestudieshim.

| LEONA

Your wife.Must have loved her children.Very much.

(REVISED: 6/24/97: GOLDENROD)20

Said lightly.Out of the blue.He looks uP to her eyes.

She stares in his eyes.More VOICES are singing now, alwaysin astriking blend of different languages.

, LEONA Tell me a memory of your own. Say, with your daughter.

Hold the look.

Eight-year-oldMarie, propped up by pillowsin her sick bed. By her sideis a chessboard, which Chris, sitting at the foot of the bed, studies intently.As he concentrates on his next move..

she turns to the MARIONETTE STAGE on her night table. Beautifully designed out of cardboard, hand-painted by Annie with 19th century backdrops. A large STAIRCASE | rises up from center stage and disappears into painted clouds.On either side of the stage is a hand-painted mural of a maze-likeCITY rising like a bridge abovea WATERWAYthat circles the stage.Angelic marionettes obscure the painted clouds and touch down where cardboard waves lap at the edge of the proscenium.

As Chris ponders his next move, Marie begins movinga flat boat across the cardboard waves, past Annie’s painted backdrop, a fanciful creature-filled rendition. Marie lifts a PENCIL, and...

..DRAWS a flowing mustache ona half-man, half-flying fish figure...

- CHRIS (O.S., soft) Hey. That's someone else's art.

Which was her point. The logic of an eight-year-old. When she glances up, she has his full attention.Points to the angels and clouds, Mom’s vision of heaven...

He laughs.

(REVISED: 6/24/97: GOLDENROD)Sl

Waiting for her to finish. She clears her throat.

ey are Exactly. She hugs her stuffed tiger. The one we saw on the Summeriand shore. He looks at his watch. eerie er

Annette She looks from the stage to the chessboard. So

~ MARIE I haven't won yet.

... no, I like that I haven't won.It means you're not. cheating, and when Iwin, I'll really win.

Still staring at the board.

He moveshis Rook.To Queen's Bishop six.

She's reading his eyes in a way we now find oddly familiar.

Itis fully night now.Ashadow from the moon passes over the boat as we emerge from a large arched mass.As the boatpulls into. the night sky we pull back to reveal an enormous city forming a bridge over the river. Thisis the same bridge and city Annie painted on each— _ side of Marie’s puppet stage.The cloutis iin the sky perfectly match those on Marie’s walls.

His smile has an inner light. Because maybe he is starting to realize.

(REVISED:5/30/97:YELLOW) 52

Leona clears her throat.

LEONA | 7 I didn't look like this. In the body. You know.

Shakes her head. No, I didn't.

: LEONA We flew to Singapore once.And my daddy smiled at the flight attendant.Who looked like this.And wore this name tag.Leona.

Tears stand in his eyes now.Everywhere, the sound of the CHOIR...

Tears on her face now. For some reason, that makes him very happy.

She shakes her head. And as she does, another IMAGE appears...

..the face of 8-year old MARIE, as‘She looked on Earth.It fades.And from the beautiful. Asian face his daughter now uses..

He wraps his fingers around her hand. Brings it to his lips. Slowly, now...

... she slides her arms around her daddy's neck.

Holds him.So tight.

HIGH ANGLE... the city from above, an immense and intricate web of light, bouncing off the water, surrounding their boat,t, shimmering as each chordis struck.

CROSS-FADE TO...

(REVISED: 9/3/97: CHERRY)53

Chris backin the hanginggarden, alone among vines and flowers, lostin the feelings that flood through him.The premonition that has been growing through the day. He steps onto..

..the marble terrace, overlooking the pond. Night stars twinkle iin the water, We PUSH INTOhistroubledeyes...

64 OMITTED | i 64

65, OMITTED 65

Annie’s dressingtable. PAN across it to her diary. Opened t6 a page where once she had written: IN THE MIDDLE OF THE COURSE OF MY LIFE, I FIND MYSELF IN A— DARK FOREST, FOR THE STRAIGHT WAY IS LOST...

Keep PANNING.Strewn across the table, a multi-colored cascade of PILLS.A carton of sour cream.A metal bowl.

Our ANGLE ROTATES to see inside the bowl. A mashed-up pastel-streaked PASTE. -Some crumbled bits of pill remain.

See her now. In her prettiest nightgown. Her face scrubbed clean, actually shining. The happiest we've seen her, exceptin dreams.

She sits attthe mirror. Studies her face. As if really looking at it for the first time.

She picks up a hairbrush. Studies it, too. Everything looks new tonight. Everything has her attention.

(REVISED: 6/10/97: GREEN)53A*

-53 A*

(REVISED: 5/30/97: YELLOW)54

oov She tosses her head fearlessty. Begins to brush the black hair. Hard. To make it shine...

There.She does look quite beautiful.Not that she would ever be satisfied.Stares at this face...

... for the last time.

Stands.Gathers up the bowl.

Takes it to her bed. A:box of flat crackers. Her open journal. She takes it in her Jap, lifts her pen...

She dips her finger in the paste, tastes it, makes a face.

Oh, well. Scoops a cracker into the mix. Begins to write...

Sadness. For the first time.

Actual tears.Which make her stop.How foolish.

_ Kiss her fingertips. Touch the words.

The floodlit greenhouse, the hanging vines and blossoms. A couple sits, leans back against him.They aregazing at a travel folder. BoraBora, lush and primal and exotic.

She looks back at him. He seems transfixed by the images.

OB life. |

He wraps his arms around her. And his legs. She iis safe now in his cocoon.

ANNIE | You taught me the one thing.The only thing.Worth remembering.

And she stares at him. Her silence prompts an expectant...

| CHRIS Which is...?

_ She yawns. And snuggles nearer. Puts her nose against his, looksin his eyes, from an imchaway...

Oh yeah. It was... never give up.

And softer...

She kisses him. So beautifully.

| Closes her eyes. Whispers...

SUMMERLAND- EXT. VILLA GARDENS - NIGHT 69 *

Chris blinks, from his reverie. He stands at the terrace railing, looking down at the pond. Stars are reflectedin the water, all the stars.He looks up, to see the canopy. Breathtaking.— A vision of perfect heavens.

Chris startles to see him sitting on the stone railing, which had been emptya moment before.He smiles at his young friend...

Intense look. One Chris can't interpret.

Thank me?

Oh. Albert's eyes go down. A sudden flash of panic...

(looks up) Especially now.

Thegentleness of that. As ominous as any words Chris has ever heard.. Albert motions, come sit beside me. Hesitantly, Chris does, eyes on the cowboy'sall the way..

Stopped by the iook in Chris’ eyes. Better come out with it. |

J7

CO ALBERT ~ Chris, Annie's dead.She... she killed herself.

A stunned moment of non-reaction. And the wave of pain floats over Chris. What she musthavegone through.

| ALBERT It's not a thing I ever expected.

‘CHRIS (so quietly) Well, like I said.You don't know us.

Albert's pain seems as great as his own.

But Albert is just staring.Eyes hollow, even frightened.Chris puts a hand on his arm.

ALBERT

\ You don't underst...

CHRIS | ...She won't cling like I did. When do 1see her?

Albertlooksinhis eyes.

ALBERT ~ _Never. Chris, you never see her.

Andeverything.Stops.

ALBERT | She's a suicide. She goesto another place.

Ragethatisoutrage.

Thisis so hard.

NU | : ... reality.The way things work.

(REVISED: 5/7/97: PINK)58

He WHEELS away, white gravel FLYING,| WHIRLS back, to...

Well.ShouldI?

ALBERT

CO Youcanhidefromthis.Oryoucanunderstandit.

YouJustcan'tchangeit.

Talk.Now.

Anon-compute.Albert figured that.At least he has his attention.

Different.How to explain this...?

He looks from Chris’ eyes into the still fountain. The reflection ofall those stars.

He swirls his fingersin the water...

_38

;i @Ne And the starry reflections DISAPPEAR. He’glances up. The stars are gone now, from the skyaswell.

| ALBERT In denial.That's aDig place, Chris, as infinite as this one.

Chris looks down. When his eyes come up.They are not to be fucked with.

He raises his hand to the sky and the stars glow BRIGHTER, bathing the garden with the silver of a thousand moons.

And suddenly, the stars FLASH WHITE HOTas a thousand SUNS, flooding the garden with brilliant,unbearablelight..

Steps up to the cowboy. In his face.

| CHRIS

You say there's no rules., How about that autumn tree, you were pretty surprised that came through to me, weren't you?

No answer. Because he was.

Silence.

(REVISED:5/30/97:YELLOW)60

: ALBERT (quietly) I don’t know.All any of us here know.Is what we, and others, have seen.

And...

One finger up. Right at Albert’s eyes.

Cause you ain't seen nothing yet.

A long look.A longerone...A murmured...

And searing day is NIGHT once more.A cooling breeze. A smile...

Cathedral ceiling with walls of translucent marble.Like the Beinecke Museum at Yale, but the size of St. Peter's Basilica.A thin layer ofWATERcoats the floor. The entire space is a single READING room, but with narrow niches of books all the way up the walls.Small FIGURES not tied by gravity FLOAT idly in the air, casually searching through the stacks. Most readers are reading as fast as they can tum pages.An odd, mesmerizing sight.

- Albert and Chris are in a small SAILBOAT moving along the shallow water. Albert spots his target and both men begin to LEVITATEup into the stacks of books towards a lone igure.

The man is well past fifty, with a long, hard body, salt and pepper brush cut. His face is angular andleathery, with small ice.blue eyes. Maybe this guy was Sheriff in Dodge.He reads only one book, through round gun-metal rimmed spectacles.And he hasn't turned a page yet.

AndFLOATS UPtotheTRACKER.SoChrisdoes the same.Theman peers down at Chris through the gun-metal glasses. .No smile.

Ne’ TRACKER

This the guy who doesn't give up?.

(REVISED: 5/30/97: YELLOW)61

Chris nods, once.It is. fr4

Constantly. | :

But the Tracker keeps looking only at Chris.

TRACKER | I hear the same thing. I also hear I read too slow, and don't need glasses.My eyes being a figment of my imagination.

Now he smiles, just a little.

The Trackernods, alittle slowly.No, I don't guess you will.

Just the words choke Chrisup to the top. He nods, yeh. Very strong. And readingthat conviction...

Tears stand in Chris’ eyes. This man is now a god he would follow anywhere.

-. TRACKER One thing. .

Anything, |

Chris does. | Neat”

| TRACKER You can't outsmart it, you can't beat it.

Watches Chris thinking. About what that might be like.

| TRACKER And you can satisfy yourself.That you didn't give up.And that has to be enough.|

Hold the look. Strong as the Tracker's own.

The Tracker doesn't look happy with that. But he doesn't seem surprised.

Close your eyes.

One last look. And Chris does. Our screen BLACK. In scarcely a second...

OPEN onto..

Chris, Albert and the Trackerare in a small boat, navigating a claustrophobic waterway still inside the library. Floating downatunnel of books, limitless shelves rising above us.

CLOSE on| Albert asleep. ‘Snoring lightly.

He is that.

_ Chris intent on Albert, doesn’t see the Tracker’s laser eyes studying his profile. Cg

—_~

Glances up to the Tracker’s gaze.

The boat begins to ROCK a little.The water starting to get a bit faster.

CHRIS : Has he really saved souls? I mean, fromhell.

-Stares in Chris’ eyes. And from out of the blue...

Were you proud of your own kids?

A beat.Chris doesn’t back down an inch.

The look holds.

Chris still irritated. More than irritated.

| TRACKER (simply) It’s juice. ae

( > No smile: No smile at all.~

Juice is strong.It connects.

Connects.

Receiver.For...

Smallsmileofirony.

| TRACKER Any signal iis stronger where there’s no interference. Your wife’s signalis loving...:

Foliow?

~ like it around.

S A. 72 EXT. RIVER-DUSK | A. 72

The boat EMERGES onto a VASTriverway. Heavens are black, nothing but darkness ahead. The boat ROCKS, current really MOVING now. As Chris HANGS ON, he looks up into the dark skies, which seem to growangrier, and...

...aGHASTLY FALLINGFIGURE,plummets throughtheheavens,half-glimpsed, disappearing into mist. Chris shudders slightly. We’re heading someplace ominous, he knowsthat.

‘CHRIS -How do you do this?Track her.

Which makes Chris glance over. To the ice-blue eyes.

| TRACKER. What did you think I tracked? It’s a mental landscape. “Yours.

Calm gaze. Behind the gun-metal glasses.

ge , CHRIS oy What did you do in life?

In the body?You mean, the last time?

Chris blinks.Remembers...

| TRACKER Yep, we do it again, sometimes,Only if we choose (o-Last trip, I was in the same line of work I do ere.

That popped straight out.So does the Tracker’s easy chuckle.

Fairly observant.You might could do this work yoursel...

The boat rocks, and Chris turns to glimpse a gigantic TIDAL WAVEin far distance, moving toward us. |

Albert is JOLTED awake, the three men hanging on for dear life. Only the Tracker seems calm,Laughs. |

Chris’ eyes cut to him.

Smiles.With nothing amused behind it.

Suddenly, from BENEATH the surface, human FIGURES begin APPEARING...

CLOSER to the rim, faster, FASTER... |

— Youwant toexp .

— reality. Make you believe what they do, that their woridis real.

Pulls out a calico bandana. Wipes his glasses with it. More figures are surfacing now, perhaps there are fifty. . |

"TRACKER Once you lose your consciousness.Even for an instant.There’s really no way back.

Puts them back on, carefully.The figures converging on our boat, reaching up to the railings, and... |

That becomes your world.Forever.

..«©PULLING our boat suddenly OVER, FLINGING Chris and the others FREE as they BO...

..UNDER the surface, and we CUT TO... |

...Chris’ POV, as we rise back up, breaking the surface to see...

...the huge WAVE CRASHING down on us, and we go...

..PLUNGING DOWNin the roiling water, Chris TUMBLING now, deep, his mind going to...

Standing in his driveway.The last moment he saw his children.

The van PULLS AWAY. He can see their faces, then the back of their heads.

And he stands alone. Wishing he’d said more. |

| CLOSE ona‘computer monitor, which sits on Annie's bedroomdesk. The words CASH FLOW. Items, numbers...

SEE the bedroom now, lined with art. He's sitting onthe edge of their bed, with a cold bottle of beer. Outside the window it is POURING RAIN.

: CHRIS Look, I talk to him at.feastas much as you do, I'm the one he©studies W:.

(REVISED:6/24/97:GOLDENROD)

She is pacing, bouncing off walls, her work forgotten. Gesturing so hard with her Diet Coke that it sloshes from the can and onto her hardwood floor.

It'sa new school, a harder school.He needs to organize, manage his time, make the commitment...

She has stopped pacing.Behind her, we see two panels.One of paradise.The other, a wild, disturbing, imaginative vision of hell.Bleak, surreal, with hybrid flying or crawling creatures. *

| | ANNIE ... andthen you live your life.That's how you did it, and it took you through Med School, and it's not him.He's a different person, Christy, stop paying lip serviceto respecting that, and actually notice it, one time. | 7

Silence.He feels attacked, and he's angry.

CHRIS oo And you're saying.He's going through ail this.So he won't let me down?

Her arms folded across her chest. This whole thing is tearing her apart. The vision of Hell looms aboveher.

Shakes her head.The frustration has her at the edge of tears.

You tell him he can do it.And when he can't he thinks he's shit.

A whisper...

Now, how sick is that? |

Jan and his father. Beneath the huge tree. Rain‘is pouring, like a waterfall. The disbelief and betrayalin the boy's eyes.

| CHRIS How do you feel?

herr) The voice is honest. But there is no tenderness in it.

Onlysilence. In away,theyseem more distantnowthanever. Thefatherlooksdownat hishands.Therain.©

_ Don't you think I can make it, if I dig in?

Chris nods his head, unblinking.Okay.

| IAN But that doesn't mean give up. I mean, you always - taughtme to digmin, believein myself...

CHRIS

Lo

Well, do you?

A sigh that is almost a sob escapes from the boy.

These other kids, they don't have to put in the time I do... and when I come to the test... it just...

Hewon'tcry.Butitisn'teasy.

He has to say it.It's too late not to.

I'm not as good.As anybody else.

The father reaches-out. Puts his hand over his son's.

| CHRIS So I did a pretty great job, huh?Helping you believe.In yourself.

- Chris sits back. Absorbs that shot. And then...

| CHRIS on --[don't know what school you belongin, or what __ work you'll do, or who you'll marry, or...—

No. I don't. . |

And he smiles.Because that's true.

~ CHRIS You are the best guy.

He chokes a little on the feeling of that. Which makes him smile again.

CHRIS © And if I were going through hell. There's not another man Id want with me.

79 OMITTED © 79

OMITTED $0

(REVISED:6/24/97:GOLDENROD) 70

A. 81 EXT. SHORE- DUSK | < A. 81 *

AERIAL VIEW of white-capped water POUNDING onto black volcanic terrain. CUT TO..

CLOSE on Chris as he WASHES up on the forbidding fog-covered SHORELINE.Still bodies lie along the water’s edge.As Chris picks himself up, he sees the Tracker already on his feet.Looking back to the surf, he now sees Albert being washed up nearby. Chris goes to help the young man to his feet, and as he does, he catches a glimpse of...

... The Tracker watching them. For some inexplicable reason, he seems displeased. The three climb the brow of a small hill, and see...

as if growing out of the earth itself, the fog-shrouded skeletons of...

..OHIPS. Just the faint sound of a bell tolling slowly.Chris is clearly worried now, just a feeling about this place that he doesn’t like.Looks to Tracker...

‘The Tracker’s face is dark and cold.

Chris considers this.

-CHRIS _That’s because I was thinkingof somebody else.

Albert puts his hand out for Chris’ and begins to lead him. Chris is confused. Chris glances back to the Tracker,who simply turns away. Chris lets go of Albert’s hand. They waik on in silence.

They are approaching the eerie SHIP GRAVEYARD where ocean liners with their sides gutted out, now visible through the fog, JUT out from the crusted earth. Cargo ships lie toppled on one side, rusted. : The bow of a cruise ship is thrust through the volcanic floor.

They come to a gigantic AIRCRAFT CARRIER.Part of its hull has been stripped away, and as we pass alongside, we see fleeting IMAGES of tormented FIGURES in cubicles _that were once staterooms, now exposed to our view.

All along the endless hull are DRAWBRIDGES and massive ELEVATORPLATFORMS, where people are trying to get onto the deck of the ship, which TOWERS above us.

| CHRIS _My God, these poor people...

Approaching now a GASH in what must have been the massive cargo HOLD.Voices NS within begin to RISE, sounds of anger, bitter QUARRELS, savage, vindictive, from THOUSANDS of throats, a terrifying cacophany.Closer, to see through the gash...

..SHAPESin restless, constant movement, SHOUTING at each otherin SCREECHING hysterical tones. No one could follow a word of this, and still they SCREAM atone— another, always without physical contact, but often from a distance of barely inches. Closer now...

..Lheir clothing hangs from their bodies, their faces are, distorted, distended with rage into caricatures, bloated or hollow, shaped by the venom that POURS into their unbearable babble...

...They begin to turn on us, eyes. glinting, fingers stabbing out, SHRIEKING at us now, in increasing numbers. Albert just squares his shoulders...

Chris watches the young man, preparedto plunge into this horror. And...

Brilliant sunshine.The bank of flowers across twin caskets. A hundred children among the mourners, tearful, confused, no way to cope with the meaning of something that could not happen. Andin the front pew...

hushes, and it is silence that escorts him up the carpeted steps. To the small podium. He looks down first, to gather himself.When he looks up...

.. everyone is waiting.So he looks to the only person who matters.She's waiting, too.

There'sa man Ian never got to know.

Yes, she nods.Tell them that.

He swallows. So that he won't cry. Waits.

| CHRIS He's a good-looking,clear-eyed young fella, maybe 25.Ican see him clear...

Shakes his head.Boy, he sure can.

| CHRIS He's a guy men want to be around. Because he has integrity, you know.He has character. And you can’t fakethat...

Can’t. Shakes his head again. He won’t cry. Won't do that toAnnie.

(REVISED: 5/30/97: YELLOW)72

Oh yes,theydo.

The verybest...

This is where he loses it.Right here, but he keeps going...

CHRIS | See, that's where he really shines.Because he looks in his kid's eyes... and the child knows that his daddyseeshim...

Stops one last time.For a new reason.Because this is the part he most needs to say.

— CHRIS © .. sees him.And sees how he is wonderful.And then... the child knows he's wonderful... and that's the start he needs.

Can you all see that?

_ CHRIS This is quite a guy.Ian never got to meet.God bless his soul.

Back at the hell of the maddened mob in the ship’s hold. Albert urging us on...

Chris glances back to the Tracker,who simply turns AWAY. When Chris looks back,© Albert is only a few feet from the opening, from the SNARLING, BELLOWING mass of them, and on reflex, Chris...

... FLEES across the distance, THROWS an arm OVER Albert's shoulder, AROUND his throat, pulling him backwards with all his strength...

‘CHRIS Don't...

Albert struggling in Chris' grasp, turning to face him, eyes wild, as...

(REVISED: 5/30/97: YELLOW)73% e

And on that word. Everything stops.The CRIES of the fury are all around them now. But they see nothing, hear nothing.Only...

CHRIS ae We don't have to.Your mother's not in there.

Chris watches as tears wellin his son’s eyes. They are alonein the insanity of this place. - Nothing makes sense.Except to hold him strong by the shoulders, and tell him...

And across the face of our black cowboy FLICKERS anotherimage.The face of Ian as— the 13-year-oldwe knew on Earth.w

Which makes his son laugh through his tears. Chris leaning close enough to whisper...

_Kisses his son's face. Ian the cowboy slides his arms around his dad. As his sister did before him.Holds him tight enough to crush the two of them.Into one.Looks into his eyes... |

Can you handle me this way? Can I be who I want to be?

The feeling floods through his father. From his heart...

That’s all Iever wanted. . *

The words he had never said. The ones his son needed to hear.

suddenly,a huge ELEVATORPLATFORM drops into frame from above, with a SCREECHING of pulleys and chains. It settlesto the earth, beside us.

(softly) | | | ‘TRACKER Goingup. pis * Elevatortohell.

PEOPLE are coming from all over.CLIMBING onto the platform.The Tracker turns to Jan... |

Chris is stunned.Ian seems to have anticipated this, but is defiant...

(REVISED: 5/30/97: YELLOW)73A*

C) | Leaving? Chris’ double-take. What is this?

The Tracker stays with Ian’s eyes. You gonna tell him? Apparentlynot. All the Tracker sees there is rebellion.Turns to Chris...

73 A®

TRACKER ° Ever since you began to suspect ‘Albert’ was your son, you’ ve lost all signal from‘your wife.

Short, sharp breath from the kid.

: IAN (ALBERT) He’s never been anywhere like th...

-TRACKER ..neither have you.I’ve got a better chance of watching one than two.

Thatscores. Ian holdshisbreath.TheGEARSoftheelevator’s machineryGRIND,the metalSCREECHES.ItRISES,twofeetoffthesand,horriblyfull,readytogo...

Ian glares at the Tracker,fierce and pleading at once...

And if he never sees her?Never says good-bye...?

Ian helpless. Looks from one tothe other. ‘Then THROWS his arms around his father. ~Murmursclose...

Don’t listen to him.Hugs Chris tight.

Stares in his fathers eye

Jesus. Could almost make a man believe in himself. Tan lets go, and the Tracker...

«PULLS Chris ONTO the platform. They sit on the edge, legs dangling, the Tracker holding him strong, as Chris stares at his son, only inches away.|

And Chris is struck by this.Because he hadn't. YS

HOLD on Chris. As the truth of this hits.

Machinery RATCHETING, the platform TREMBLES, the GRINDINGincreases. SHOUTING above it... |

| IAN (ALBERT) ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED...

And the elevatorLIFTS OFF, Chris, the Tracker,all of them SAILING UP toward the deck many storeys aboveus. Albert SCREAMS after them...|

.. WHENWE DIED!(ALSERY)

And heis alone.©

te 84 OMITTED 84

gs OMITTED | 85

(REVISED:6/24/97:GOLDENROD)76

_OMITTED : | 87 C) 8

A. 89 EXT. PLATFORM ELEVATOR - NIGHT | A. 89

~Chris perched on the edge-of the platform. Oblivious to the Tracker,the damned surrounding them, the horrific CLANGING noise.As they RISE, we catch brief GLIMPSESof tormented FIGURES0in cubicles that once were staterooms, now exposed toourview..

va WOMAN dressedin black, a tiny child’s COFFIN strapped to her back, endlessly searching through dozens of pairs of children’s SHOES...

..another WOMAN sitting alone, SOBBING piteously,then STOPPING abruptly, looking around, with sly paranoid eyes to see if anyone is watching her outburst, then CONTINUING her hysterical WAILING....

..four MEN, each SCREAMING soundiessly, their bodies STRAINING to give vent to _ their rage and anguish, their screams silent because their faces haveNO MOUTHS...

And as we keep RISING we see Chris oblivious to it all, thinking only of his son’s words. We PUSH INTO his. blank, staring eyes...

CLOSE ona slender, shaky hand. Slash SCARS on her wrist.She STRIKES a match to| ‘life..

SEE her now as she lights the cigarette, aided by a man's cupped hand.In the B.G., a hospital SOLARIUM, sunny, patients and their visitors.||

The man's hand strokes hers. Gently. She seems not to notice.

It beats imitating statues.

She nods, guess so. When she looks up, we see his eyes.

She stares in those eyes.Doesn't know how to do this.We can hardly hear...

ANNIE | ..yeh, well, why do you want to be saddled with some psycho who tried tokill herself?

(REVISED: 6/10/97: GREEN)76 AX

He really loves her. She can see that. Makes things harder.

Draws on her smoke. Sees how much she's hurting him. Which kills her.

76A*

(REVISED:6/10/97:GREEN)| 77

For one thing.Why aren't you in here?

eee why didn't you go nuts?Your children died.

He takes her hand. She lets him, but her eyes stay shaky. And wary.

Ah.She takes another puff

He nods, I guess. She looks at him with real compassion. Murmurs...

_Sometimes.When you win, you lose.

Gets to her feet. In her hospital gown. Stubs OUT her cigarette, on a SMASH CUT TO...

Chris on his platform, SOARING up, the horrific SOUNDS, his blank stare,as suddenly the grinding MACHINERY...

..CLANGS to a stop, and we are JOLTED with its force. A familiar hand on Chris’ shoulder... |

They are stopped at the vast MAIN DECK of the gigantic ship. He pulls Chris OFF the platform, ONTO...

(REVISED: 5/30/97:YELLOW)78

..the lip of the massive DECK, as the elevator SOARS UP, carrying everyone else| AWAY. - |

We are alone.A smail weather-beaten sign says HELL.

Stretching out across the deck are what seem like COBBLESTONES in the dimness.Chris Starts to cross them at a brisk pace...

| CHRIS No problem...

..the deck beneath his feet becomes UNEVEN.He hears a strange muffled GRUNT, and glances down to see that he is not standing on a cobblestone at all, but a...

..living HUMAN FACE. Which peers up at him from beneath the sole of Chris’ shoe.

Chris nearly has a heart attack.He looks up to see an OCEAN of human faces protruding from what once were stones.Packed together like sardines.Some laughing, some moaning.Most of them basically bored and accepting of their lot.|

Chris’ eyes DART down...

A heart stopping moment.Chris chokes up, overwhelmed...

CHRIS" Dad. 7

7 FACE Son.;.

oo. CHRIS (squinting) Dad?

And bending down, catching the light...

one

hemea

(REVISED:5/30/97:YELLOW) 79

Oh.

The Tracker has caught up now. Tugging on Chris’ arm, let’s go. And as they head off, Chrisbegins...

..HOPSCOTCHING across the sea of faces, Chris APOLOGIZING to everyone, trying to be gentle, suddenly SEEING...

...ANNIE’S FACE nearby, among the others.Chris. blinks. My God!

CHRIS

Co ANNNIEEEEE!

And BOLTS toward her, the Tracker in pursuit , as....

...Chris LUNGES toward Annie’s face, which suddenly...

..BECOMES instead the face of a laughing CREATURE, but Chris’ hurtling MOMENTUM...

BREAKS THROUGH the surface, as the deck GIVES WAY,andhe issuddenly...

..FALLING, bodies once trapped by the surfacecrush FALL WITH him, everyone REACHING, SCREAMING OUT, as they break free, Chrisjoining in theSHRIEKING

94 OMITTED : oe 9

OMITTED | | : 95

Cy

(REVISED:5/30/97:YELLOW) 80

A. 96 EXT. ANNIE’S- DAY | A.96 * : Scar

CLOSE on Chris PLUNGING INTO water from a great height, “lsappearing, and we

AERIEL VIEW from HIGH above looking down through the partially-destroyed RUIN of a great OVERTURNED CATHEDRAL, fragments of walls and spires overgrown with rotting creeper vines, and FALLINGthrough the space between us and the water and ash below...

..BODIES which tumble, and disappear like snowflakes before they reach the ground. CUT TO...

B.96 EXT. UNDERWATER B. 96*

...Chris FLAILING underwater in near-backness. As he churns, an OBJECT floats near him, wreathed in bubbles, closer, we see it is...

the VAN,his children INSIDE, as he last saw them, he LUNGES toward them, but the van is GONEin blackness...

Strange SOUNDS now, SHAPESin the dark, Chris WHIRLING this way and that, _frightened, his mouth OPEN, he...

...BREAKS the surface.Stillin darkness, he can’t breathe, GASPING as if trying to suck| air from inside a plastic bag, completely panicked, until...

And a FLARE of LIGHT breaks through the blackness, illuminating the mist and ash. Chris SUCKSin a lungful of air,BLINKING against the light, to see..

..the Tracker on dry land. Chris PULLS himself from the water. Exhausted, he sinks down beside the Tracker to see that they are beside...

...Simple suburban HOMEindisrepair. Patchy, dying lawn, a pitted driveway, a rusted mailbox. Theplaceso tiny and alone against vast surroundings. Theprison of a private hell.

TRACKER : oO Impressive. ‘ *

Chris still struggling to catch his breath.

~TRACKER That jolt of fear for her. It connected.

And points up the densely overgrown driveway. To the nearly-hidden house.

| TRACKER She's in there. |

(REVISED:5/30/97:YELLOW)80A*

Chris blinks.Hardly able to absorb the words. Fighting all of his exhaustion, Chris squints up at the place, disbelieving...

-CHRIS It looks like our home in Woodsi...

Strong enough to bring Chris' eyes over.

A long stare.That doesn't get any easier.

_Has to say this.

Because it can happen.

| TRACKER You want to see her, tell her what’s in your heart...

(softly) .. and then go.

A beat.

What?? Chris can't believe he heard that.

80:A*

TRACKER > I knew you could get us here.You're a competitor withabigego...

Chris just stares.Who is this guy?

_CHRIS How would you know the first thing about me?

The Tracker studies him.Tilts his head.

| TRACKER You called your son "Albert."Who was that?

| CHRIS | The first doctor I ever practiced under. He was like a father.

Now Chris isn't talking at all.

Child psychia...

And stops.Cold. |

| TRACKER (helpful) ... psychiatry.And he was always a slow reader. But these... used to be rimless.

And the rest of me.Usedtobe black. |

He puts the spectacles in his protégé’s lap.And Chris' eyes grow wide.Albert the Trackerleans close...

Do you know why we chose to look so different? Me, the children...

‘Chrisis wondering justthat.

(REVISED: 6/10/97: GREEN)82

(smiles) To each other.

And Chris is watching that smile.The love behind it.

-TRACKER I've been waiting for years. For the chanceto watch out for you.And I'm watching out for you now.

All his heart in this.A father’s wisdom.

: TRACKER This isn't like the rest of hell, son, you've got no defense against Annie.

None at all.You know this.

-TRACKER If losing yourself, and your soul... if being swallowed by hell itself... could possibly save her. I'd say, go for it, kid.And I'd be there cheering you on.

Shakes his head.Puts his hand on Chris' shoulder.

You're stubborn, you're an asshole, I know that look...

And waits, with perfect timing, until Chris' smile begins...

_ TRACKER But you've got your children back now.And they ‘need you.

He watches the smile die.Good.

| TRACKER (whispers) Three minutes. ; |

Chris coming up the driveway. Tangled, overgrown vegetation has surrounded this place, like a rotting jungle, forming a canopy that completely shields the cathedral walls and crater from view.We could bein suburbia now, except that the house itself seems to have stood without maintenance for fifty years.Trash barrels overflowing.

As he walks, he begins to murmur absently to himself, as if not knowing why...

(REVISED: 9/3/97: CHERRY)82A

fo~ ae ne’ CHRIS

..in the middle of the course of my life...I find| * myself in a dark forest...for the straight way is * lost... | *

He goes to the door. Stares at it for a beat... and when he knocks...

..itdriftsOPEN.Hestaresintothedingy,unlithallway.

B82A

No answer.No sound.

| CHRIS (louder) Hello?Your door is open.—

Silence.He walksin.The hardwood flooris blistered and buckled, large frightening CRACKS run the length of the walls.Into the living room...

the rugs are stained, the furniture hideouslychipped and grimy, the mirrorabove the ‘mantelpiece iis shatteredin a fine cobweb of refracting fragments. Through the yellowed glass door, we see the garden.

A figure kneeling by roses.

He is frozen now. Staring. He can only see her from behind. Watch her as she tends a flower bed of dying blossoms.And at last...

.. he crosses the room.Quietly, slides open the glass door. But even this gentle sound causes her to...

- WHIRL on her knees, gasping, startled. Her hair hangs untended, her face hollow, haunted. But sheis still Annie.

ANNIE ‘ Who are you?

‘He has to shake off the disbelief at actually being with her. His longing to run to her.. The shock of her suspicion and fear and, above all else, non-recognition.From somewhere, he finds a smile. _

‘I'm your neighbor.

She squints. My what??

Her hands clutch her garden tools, arms instinctively crossing her chest.

ANNIE

| ... like, what?What did they say?

His smile gets warmer, calmer. Against every emotion.

- CHRIS Let's see.You're a widow. Atalented artist, work for a...museum, right?

Her wariness is childlike, exaggerated. How can this man know these things?

Lookstothe flowerbed.Itbreaks hisheartjusttoseetheconditionof...

- CHRIS

And Annie bites her lip. Glances down at them. -

Theyweresohandsome.Butnow...there's no water pressure in the neighb...|

She looksup athim.Asifhe hasspokenina language shecan't quite make out.

I could bring some water over.—

Allmy utilitiesareworking. Soare everyone else's.

She blinks.Anon-compute. :

~ CHRIS Don't you think it’s odd that all your services are out, and you're the only one?

te>t

-84

Seeeceeemin

Other things are missing, too. All my clean clothes, and the books I want to read.Worst of all, some of my favorite paintings, the ones I have to work on...

|Saidsimply.Asifasmalldetail.

Pes CHRIS Could I ask- wh...

Annie SCREAMS, a blood-stopping shriek from her soul. He sees a huge TARANTULA crawling toward her over a nearby rock. As her scream CONTINUES, he goes to her, takesthegarden trowelfromherhand,and interceptsthepathofthelumberingspider, scooping it up in the trowel. Her eyes wide, horrified...ae

They're everywhere now!Every day!

Heflingsthetarantulathroughspace,todisappear inthedensetrees acrosstheyard.Her paniceases.Hecrouchesdownnear hernow,nottooclose. Reachestohandbackthe- trowel, whichshecan'tbring herselftotouch.Butwhenshelookstohis eyes...

She still looks frightened.He nods, gently.

ANNIE : Most of my precious ones.The ones that... remind

He stays quiet.The slightest questioning in his eyes.

Remind me of my husband.And my children. That's why I never leave..

, CHRIS Because...they mightreturn...?

And on this. Her eyes go blank. A curtain has fallen.

i:‘\wo, ke

, CHRIS Thope that's true.With all my heart.

He waits.She's not even looking at him anymore.Suddenly...

His eyes tryingso to connect with hers. Andso she looks down. At the handsin her lap.

No response.No movement.He can't see her face.

He leans ever so slightly closer.

She draws a sharp breath. Her delicatejaw sets in what looks like anger. Very quiet rm with...

_ANNIE Don't you havetoleave?

She still hasn't looked up.| | ' os &

ANNIE |

Buthe doesn't move.Instead...

Ae, .» Still quiet. But very firm. Very definite.

Silence.She is still looking down, but her anger is evident.

Landscaped grounds of Annie's hospital.We see patients, strolling shakily with family or attendants.Some pushedin wheelchairs.The sunlightis warm.And over by a bed of tulips...

..@womansits on the grass. In her hospital gigown. Staring blankly at the flowers. A man approaches now. Kneeis beside her. She doesn't lock up, but we know she recognizes him.He speaks very quietly...

Just as well. She doesn't seem to hear him. He takes from his pocket... a slim envelope...

He opens the envelope. He puts the ticket in her lap. Her eyes do not leave the tulips.

And slowly, her eyes go to the ticket.Read it.

And her eyes come up to his.Questioning.

Oh.‘Herlipspart...

| ANNIE That would be two Ds, wouldn't it?

She watches his slow smile. The one thatcompetes with the tears poolinginhis eyes. He whispers...

- ey f!\a

CHRIS.

my I stand corrected. nents eis1 'Her eyes moving over his face. Showing no expression of her own, His tear falls, and she looks at it curiously.He wipes it away.

Staring at each other now. He doesn't know what to say. Hates himself for that.

Whatever interest Annie may have hadin this conversation has vanished. She looks back to the tulips.

Can he even finish the sentence?

Something flickers across Annie's eyes. Some spark of something.He's watching that...

Annie turns.Slowly.To him.

| CHRIS What's true in our mindsjis true.Whether other people know that or not.

She looks at him with curiosity. Like an object she'd never quite noticed before.

} CHRIS That's howI realized.I'm part of the problem.Not just because I remind you...

He shakes his head slowly.No, it's not that.It's...

... because I didn't join you.So I left you alone.

That's what he came toSay. He clears his throat. He slides back alittle, he'sleaving now. But he stops.To lookin her eyes.And whisper...

| CHRIS Don't give up.Okay?

The looks holds. When he starts to stand, her hand STABS out. CLUTCHES at his wrist.Slowly, slowly, she brings his hand to her lips...

.. kisses his fingers. Itis a good bye he never expected, and his heart breaks inside him. Andshe...

... releases his hand.Lifts the ticket from her lap, and...

.. TEARS it savagely in two.His breath catches, and she tears it again, and again, and AGAIN. She looks up.As deep into him as she can see.|

Annie kneelingin herprivateHell. By her dying roses. Her eyes flat, completely unmoved.

So you reconciled, that’s very romantic.

|Lookingin his eyes.

Asif she’s made a point.She looks down at her gardening tools.Begins to lay them out, side by side...

ANNIE |. Her husband didn't think so.

Well, he’s an idiot.

Said with such complete conviction. Her eyes come up.

CHRIS | Being strong, not giving up... that was just his place to hide.

She considers this. And looks away. To the roses.

She reaches to one.Touchesapetal, which falls.

She SNAPS off the blossom.What's left of it.

He cant reach her. He looks down at his handsin despair. Strangely, this brings her eyes to him. |

And when he saw his children again, they knew he | hadn't grieved them like their mother...

thi tries to drawa breath. The air isdike razor bladesin his lungs, And she's watching is.

He looks up at her. For this is what he came to confess.|

_ CHRIS ...adistance.

Now his eyes fill. Just when he didn't want them to. The words sound strangled...

He nods.Theyare.

So strong. He can't keep his hopes from rising.

| CHRIS It's not hard.I can show you how.

Ican.Her eyes alight for the first time.

We see her mistrust, her fear. But her desire overcomes, and slowly... her eyes flutter closed.Our screen BLACK.

Silence.

BURST of sunlight through brilliant stained glass, the organ playing, the church lendent with flowers, pews filled with everyone in their Sunday best, here to wish them well.All are restless, expectant, we PAN up the red carpet of the center aisle, through the open doors at the rear ofthe hall,to...

... the antechamber. A lone figure stands in semi-darkness. Perfect wedding dress of pure white.Annie's black hair shines.beneath its veil.She is beautiful, looking everywhere, dumbstruck at the flawless detail of this "dream." As another figure...

... Steps beside her.He wears a morning coat. She blinks in wonder at the sight of him. Whispers his name... |

‘His eyes move over her face.

And whondwho else.elWould, ,Wouldyou be marrying?21In your dreams.

Tearsstand in her eyes. She reaches to touch his face.

ANNIE ~ I've missed you so.

Wecan feel her heart pounding.

Howcan thisbe,you're...

-She can't say the word.

He kisses her mouth.So tenderly.Her eyes close, and she gives all her heart to this kiss. And when it ends... .

_ANNIE There was this man.In our garden. And heesaid, "close your.eyes... |

He leans to her, and as her eyes flutter closed, he kisses them.The organ plays "Here Comes the Bride."

Her heart seems about to burst. She folds her arm tight through his. He murmurs close...

-And off they go. Down the center aisle. One step at a time, as everyone's breath stops just. to see them.The MINISTERis waiting, the same slender, scholarly figure who spoke at their children's funeral.And when they reach him...

... he smiles.Into the hush of this chamber.|

The couple holds each other's hands. Stares into each other's eyes.

So she takes a breath. Holds on tight.

Shakes her head. Tells him... :

| ANNIE But I will hold this precious dream. In my heart. Forever.

His turn now. She's waiting, eyes shining. He takes his breath. Murmurs...

CHRIS | Don't yousee,Annie?Thisisallreal.Thatmanin the garden...

Her eyes have only an instant to flicker in puzzlement, before...

Hereyes widen.Withsudden comprehension.Herlipspartin...

.. an echoing SCREAM. Of purest agony

MATCH CUT to her face, the dying echo of her shriek. Her shock, her torment at this betrayal.Heis so frozen that he still holds her hands.realizing this, she PULLS them free inrevulsion.Lookingupinwonderandhorror...

-Astumblingstepbackwards, andthenanother...

ANNIE | Did you think. You could take him from me?

A low MOAN of disgust and anguish,and she WHIRLS, RUNNING into the house,as we..

HOLD on him. Hold. Hold.

Annie curledin a fetal ball, sobbing softly, her eyes struggle to cope with the most intense pain she has ever known.PAN TO... |

.. the doorway. He stands, staring at the misery he has caused. ‘He knows what he hasto do. Quietly now, respectfully, he goes to her bed...

... climbs up, behind her trembling back.Inches away.So softly...

CHRIS" _Am catching youat a bad time, here?

- He can't evenn smile at his own insane joke. He canonly sigh, withpain that matches her own.

CHRIS — Sorry, babe.There's some things I have to say. And there's only... a few moments left.While I still can.

He looks down on her. Tries to gather his thoughts.

Yeah. Let'sstartwiththat.

For some reason. This seems inexpressibly sad.

Staringather.

He wants so much to touch her. Knows he can't.

He points now. Toa painting on the wall.

CHRIS | See, we were going to be right there. Forever. ~

Itisadegraded versionofAnnie’spaintingofthelake.Nowcrackedand warped, discolored, weeping oil.As we CLOSE on it, we see...

foursmallFIGURESwehadn’tnoticed before.Theyare huddled together,justbelow the cottage.Embracing.

Back to him, now. So near to her.

(REVISED: 5/30/97: YELLOW)95

Her haunted eyes so far away.Her hand in a smail fist pressed to her mouth.

He stares down. One tortured impossible breath.

CHRIS — Thank you. For every kindness.

Wow. So many, dizzying.

Yeah.That one, especially.

Shakes his head at that. Reliving for a moment.

Hecloses his eyes.Whispers to himself...

CHRIS — God, you were my life.

He looks down at her frozen profile.The distant, vacant eyes.

Off the bed now,heading for the door...

STRIDING down the hallway, fast, strong, THROW open the front door...

And there, sitting aways down the hill, on the dying grass, a lone figure. He looks uncharacteristically anxious. Which, against every emotion shooting through Chris, brings the trace of a smile... a quiet...

Albert the Tracker stretches his long legs.No smile yet on the lean features.

And Chris nods.Guess I was.

The Trackeradjusts his gun-metal glasses. He's not happy to be right. Not happy at ail.

Chris nods once more.He knows that now.The Tracker clears his throat.

TRACKER — Didyou come close...?

His eyes so sad above the smile.

-. CHRIS (softly) .. Oh, yeah.

But somehow, very calm.

A flickerofapprehension acrosss the Tracker's eyes, because some instinct anticipates danger.

‘CHRIS To tell you I'm givingup...

And in the instant the Tracker relaxes...

The Tracker freezes. To stone.

Ido.

- His eyes say, thanks, Al. For everything. And then...

... he's gone.The door closes STRONG.Forever.

HOLD on the Tracker. What has he done?

107 HELL -INT. HALLWAY- DAY (107

Chris stands looking around at the filth, the cracks, the melting paint.Okay, I'll deal with it.Unti |

.. the SCREAM. It continues, and he holds his ground, takes a breath. He'll deal with this, too. With anything.

Down the hall. Strong, sure steps. Into the doorway...

She cringes at the edge of her bed.Horrified eyes watch another TARANTULA, twice the size of the first one, slowly feeling his way toward her across the sheets.She shrieks and SHRIEKS,and...

.. he is there, scooping up thespiderin his bare hands, going calmly to the glass door, ; setting it down on the grass, shutting the door FIRMLY. Safe, now. Tums to her...tremblingonthebed...

He crosses the floor. Kneels down beside her bed.His face so close to her terrified eyes. But they are watching him.

a

He reaches so gently, his fingertips brush her arm, and she RECOILS, fearfully. But he doesn't mind.

But... |

| CHRIS But we'll be together.

The tears pool in his eyes. He hadn't expected that.

He folds his hand over hers. She tries weakly to pull it free, but he won't let her.

_Staring inhereyes,

She is staring back.Transfixed.

Her eyes flicker. Her lips part.

He shakes his head. Nah, not for any of that.

Leans close. So the last words can be a whisper...

... Just to hang around you.

And withthose words, a light goes out behind his eyes. He blinks, pulls back, jooks around...

His.arms hug himself against that. And then, his gaze falls on...

.. her. And with the non-recognition in his eyes, we SNAP TO...

his VIEW of her face.So close.The light dawning behind her dark eyes... a wondering...

We blink, BLACKENING the screen for an instant. Sheis up now, on one elbow, pure blindpanic... |

Reachesoutto us,blindly...

| ANNIE Christy!Don't give up...!

AndBLACK SCREEN.

Silence.In the darkness.

Still BLACK. then, our eyes OPEN to see...

Chris waking.He looks around, startled.Heis alone,ina room. Confused, devastated that Annie and her house are no longer there. He has lost her. He SPRINGS out of bed to see through the window...

...the hillside. The lake heknows, ringed with forest. Andjust below him...

..the loveliest garden.

Chris alone in the garden. Wandering, lost, oblivious to its beauty, until a voice comes...

He WHEELS around.She is THERE.He blinks.Is it an illusion? But when he sees her incredible smile, tears spring to his eyes.

She comes to him.Her hands on his chest, his face...

And when she does, she stays close.

He laughs softly.

(REVISED:5/30/97:YELLOW)

She has to-smile back. Swallowing her own tears. Maybe that's right. Maybe it wasn't closeatall.

His eyes moving over her face.

She nods at that.Become somethingof a believer herself.

CHRIS * Like the view...?

CUT TO...WIDE ANGLE.It is of course, Annie’s painting. Only now, for the first time, it is completely real. *

- On Annie. Overwhelmed byjoy.‘High above the world they have created for each other. The most beautiful view in heaven.

They're having the best time.

CHRIS | Nothing about her. Was ever that. ~

They turn. The Tracker fills the doorway of the house on the glentle slope, just above | them.We've never seen him happy before.It looks rather nice.

- . TRACKER ; Ready for that surprise I promised?

She looks to Chris. Then nods to the Tracker,expectantly. We hear the WOOF. Before the Dalmatian slips past himinthe doorway.Annie's eyes flash bright with astonishment. Can it really be Katie?

a TRACKER That's not.The surprise.

And from nowhere, beside him appears...

... an eight-year-old girl.Caramel hair. Annie's dark eyes.Two hearts explode in the same instant... and even so, the child can't quite believe...

Annie THROWS her arms out, and her baby SLIDES down the slope, RUNS to her mom's arms, CRASHING into Annie, sending them both SPRAWLING and laughing and kissing and holding onto each other for dear life. Until...

In the doorway.A 13-year-old boy.Rugged, rangy, a jock. Beautiful sleepy eyes.The eyes lock to his mom's.He SLIDES down the hill, comes to her side, crouches down, real close. Can't keep from smiling, with...

She just grabs him around the neck, kisses him so fiercely, it brings a silence that no one wants to break.So patient Katie...; :

... trots over.Her turn for some loving.

Are you Mommy's dead doggie...? |

Katie licks her face egregiously. Annie has one arm around each of her babies now. It's all too much.And all just right. .

Hey, am I the only one cryin’?

They all look around. For the moment, he is. ‘Has to take off the spectacles to wipe at his eyes. — oO

| TRACKER Annie, you ‘gonna let these kids get outta costume?

She doesn't understand.

Wanna see us the way we met Dad?

She still doesn't quite get it.Looks back to her husband.

| : CHRIS You had your rush.Take a chance.

And when she looks back, her arms are around two young adults. She startles, a little. _The young woman with the Asian face smiles a lovely smile...

| MARIE (LEONA) We could change back. So you're not with ‘Strangers.

But Annieis just shaking her head. Staringso deep into those dark eyes. Nothing could make her give up this angel she never thought she'd see.She looks from her, to the black cowboy,andback.Thesoftestwhisper...

Chris steps in.They embrace.Our huddled family looking for all the worid like the four tiny figuresin the painting on Annie’s wall.And whenChris pulls back...

..Annie takes Marie’s facein her hands.

ANNIE — | My God.Now I've got agirlfriend.

Her daughter smiles so gently.

‘ MARIE (LEONA) And she’ll be waiting, right here. When you get back.

The look holds. Annie’s loving smile fades to bittersweet.

- Annie shaking her head. Her smile luminous once more, she wraps her hand around his.

TRACKER: But she wants to, she needs t...

| IAN (ALBERT} (cuts him off,sharply) Letme do this, all right?

The Trackerfalls silent. Everything.Silent.

Chris looking from his wife, to his daughter, to his son.Whatis this?|

| IAN (ALBERT) It’s about rebirth. About mom choosing to go back.

And seeing his shock...

Don’t worry, Christy, I’m not going to do this.

(REVISED:6/10/97:GREEN) 103

NL MARIE (LEONA) | Shekilledherself.There’sareasonthatevery

religion in the world talks about atonement, or

Staring in his baby’s eyes. So young, and suddenly so wise.

And those words. Break through. They leave a silence. Chris looks to Annie...

7 | ANNIE

I’m not going to leave you, Christy.

Helickshislips.Histhroat dry.

And as they stare in each other’s eyes...

(REVISED: 6/10/97: GREEN)104

Siscoyran

~MARIE (LEONA) She will die.In her thirties.

Inherthirties.He stares at his wife with such love and pain.

_MARIE (LEONA) I told you about tapping into everyone all at once. It’s like all thejuice from every brain that ever lived.

_Chris tries to imagine this.

"MARIE (LEONA) It’s stronger than any computer. Enough to predict the consequence of every event on Earth

He’s nodding.Smiling.Locked to his wife’s eyes.

That hits Annie like a ton of bricks.We?

Hell doesn’t count, we screwed up on Earth.Let’s do this together.

Can we?Can we be togeth...

Alleyes turn.How does he know?

(REVISED: 6/24/97: GOLDENROD)105

@ The cowboy smile. Just for his dad.

ae IAN (ALBERT)

So I found one. Bornin Philadelphia, a boy, both parents doctors. You followin their footsteps...

Eyes lockedto each other, father and son.

What more can I say? |

The Tracker grunts.Not so sure.

That quiets the room.

Of course.. That hadn’t occured to Chris. |

--.TAN’(ALBERT) |You'll be with her:at her death.

CHRIS | For a change.© |

‘IAN (ALBERT) But you’ll be alone, mourning her. For forty years.

All eyes on him.

Hey. Nothing’s perfect.

(REVISED: 5/30/97: YELLOW)

Her head is shaking, her eyes filling...

I will. Fromhis heart...

He leans closer, as if they are alone in the world.

_ CHRIS | Will you finish our home.Paint all the art.And have it waiting here for me?

~ (soft grin) Maybe lose the columns?

She looks back at the columns.Nods, yeh, maybe I should.

When she turns back to Chris, he is leaning closer...

Only time for her eyes to close, her mouth to part, and as they kiss...

SMASH CUT TO...

Blur ofmotion, WOMAN on gurney being rushed through sliding doors, doctors and staff _on the run, this one's a problem...

WIDE AERIAL VIEWofflooded plains, villages...

(REVISED: 5/30/97: YELLOW)107

A simple room, clean, but without visible high-tech support. Two mid-wives, one barely a teenager, attend a young Hindu woman in calm, but painful, labor...

RAPID INTERCUT now, between...

114 _ INT. PHILADELPHIA- ees 114

hard, in agony and really scared...|

115 JAFFRA... 115

the woman smiling, bearing down, bravely not crying, her face bathedin sweat, the young midwife reaching under the cloth, between her legs, and... stops.Her face freezing...

-116 PHILADELPHIA... . 116

..a man and woman iin mask and gown BURST into the room. He is the husband, rushes _ to his wife's side, clutches her hand. The woman is the senior doctor, takes herposition between the writhing patient's legs..

117 JAFFRA... | 117

...the older mid-wife has replaced the girl, all business now. the patient's eyes are bulging, sheis SCREAMING now, unable to control the suddenly excruciating pain...

118 FASTER INTERCUT between the two... 118

... a blur of bodies, movement, hands, the women SHRIEKING, just alike, until...

119 SPLIT SCREEN... 119

two babies, side by side, pulled out into the world. The boyis white, but now bright rred, howls with rage and life. But on the right hand side of the screen...

‘mother sitsBOLT upright, GRABS her child from the mid-wife and... STRIKES a blow across the infant'sback, and the. child...

.. GASPS, breathes, SCREAMS.

Two mothers clutch their babies.FREEZE FRAME.

CUT TO BLACK. ROLL END CREDITS.