睡谷英文剧本04

PART 4

EXT. VAN TASSEL HOUSE, FRONT PORCH -- DAY
Ichabod comes out. KILLIAN, a dashingly rustic man, carries his son, THOMAS, 5, and chats with Baltus. Doctor Lancaster peers off at something through a SPYGLASS.
BALTUS
Hail, Constable. How are you?
ICHABOD
Well enough. Your gathering does honor to the deceased.
DOCTOR LANCASTER
(still using spyglass)
We must be a curious sight to him.
ICHABOD
What are you spying on?
DOCTOR LANCASTER
(offers the spyglass)
The Lenape. He comes to gawk at civilization from time to time.
ICHABOD'S POINT OF VIEW -- THROUGH SPYGLASS
Searching a line of trees and foliage far away...
DOCTOR LANCASTER (O.S.)
Do you see the Redskinned bastard?
There he is -- the LENAPE. A towering savage with misshapen features covered in tumors. He ducks away.

BACK TO SCENE ON PORCH
Ichabod lowers the spyglass, a little awed.
ICHABOD
He is a behemoth.
DOCTOR LANCASTER
A diseased monster.
BALTUS
If you gentlemen will excuse the doctor and I... we have financial matters to discuss.
Ichabod and Killian nod as Baltus and Lancaster head in.
KILLIAN
Master Crane, sir. I'm glad we have time alone. You've been told plenty about the Horseman, I'm certain.
ICHABOD
More than enough, actually. (tired laugh)
I beg you, no more, please.
KILLIAN
No, sir, no. If you ask me, I say you just laid eyes on our murderer through that glass.
Ichabod ponders, folding the spyglass.
ICHABOD
Tell me something. (pause)
What becomes of Young Masbath?
KILLIAN
Van Ripper and his wife agreed to take him. They have children and a good home and good land.
Ichabod nods. He turns to look THROUGH THE WINDOW. In the DINING ROOM,, Van Ripper rises, ill. His wife questions his health, but he holds her off and vomits.
Ichabod notes this with a deep sigh.

EXT. VAN TASSEL ORCHARD -- EARLY EVENING
Ocher dusk. Ichabod rides to Young Masbath, seated on the ground, miserable. Young Masbath does not look up.

ICHABOD
Find yourself a place in the servants' residence and wake me before dawn. Our first task will be an unsavory one.
Ichabod rides. Young Masbath runs to his horse and follows.

EXT. CHURCHYARD AND CEMETERY -- DAWN
Steenwyck is on horseback, looking down at Ichabod, furious.
FATHER STEENWYCK
It is sacrilege!
ICHABOD
I cannot proceed without examining the previous victims.
Steenwyck looks to men with shovels. Killian's there. Philipse, hung-over, stands beside Young Masbath.
FATHER STEENWYCK
Magistrate Philipse, surely you can stop this.
Philipse just looks up with a helpless expression.
FATHER STEENWYCK
I will not allow it. I will not!
ICHABOD
Protest to my superiors if you like.
FATHER STEENWYCK
Your superiors are two days away!
ICHABOD
Then, you should have left two days ago, because I have men willing to help me today.
Ichabod motions. Killian leads the men to the graveyard. Steenwyck watches, enraged. He kicks his horse and rides. Philipse looks worried.

EXT. CHURCHYARD AND CEMETERY -- LAT

ER MORNING (TIME CUT)
A PSALM is HEARD READ by STEENWYCK O.S. while a coffin is exhumed. Ichabod guides the lifting. The coffin is put near the headstone "WINDSOR." Ichabod looks...
At the church, Steenwyck faces about fifty people who now take up the PRAYER.
Across the cemetery, two coffins, one small, one large, are pried open. "VAN GARRETT, 1799." Killian leads the effort with Young Masbath's aid...
The lids come off, revealing the HEADLESS BODIES of a MAN and a little BOY. Young Masbath backs away.
At the "WINDSOR" coffin, nails creak as Ichabod opens the lid. WE Do NOT SEE inside, but when Ichabod does, he is aghast. He looks to the men, angry.
ICHABOD
Why was I not told of this?
No answer. Killian arrives, nods solemnly.
KILLIAN
The Widow Windsor.
ICHABOD
Is that all you say? Look at her.
KILLIAN
It's not something people speak of openly. She did not remarry.
Ichabod kneels, studying. Now, WE SEE: the belly of the headless corpse is bulbous, because the Widow Windsor was very far along in a pregnancy.
Ichabod notices: a tear in the cloth of widow's blouse. He reaches through the tear, feeling the stomach.
He straightens, greatly troubled.

INT. DOCTOR'S RESIDENCE, MEDICAL ROOM -- MORNING
Scissors cut open the widow's blouse. There's an inch-long WOUND on the moldering belly; a sword puncture.
Ichabod examines the corpse on a table. Lancaster watches, anxiously mopping his face. Young masbath's in a corner. Ichabod goes to write in his ledger full of notes.
ICHABOD
What is the common thread between these victims?
YOUNG MASBATH
I'm sure I don't know.
ICHABOD
We must discover it. The reason the murderer chose these persons.
Ichabod goes to look at the widow's corpse, pondering.
ICHABOD
The wounds are the same. Cauterized. No chopping or half-measures either. One stroke took the head. Have you seen, doctor... ? (pointing to it)
Even the spinal bone... sliced as smooth as butter.
DOCTOR LANCASTER
I do not care. You are welcome to use my work area, but I beg you... return her to her resting place.
ICHABOD
In time, doctor. Soon as I finish.
Ichabod picks up an iron knife. He looks to Young Masbath.
ICHABOD
You should step outside.

EXT. CHURCHYARD CEMETERY -- EARLY EVENING
Ichabod and others restore graves. Ichabod looks to the church, where Clergyman Steenwyck stands in the door.
FATHER STEENWYCK
The devil sent you, Ichabod Crane. (pause)
The Lord will not forgive your sins.
Steenwyck shuts the creaky doors.

INT. VAN TASSEL HOUSE, ICHABOD'S ROOM -- NIGHT
Ichabod sleeps, dreaming...

ICHABOD'S DREAM -- FARMLAND -- DAY
A young BOY, 10, stands in a wheat field with his back to us. A FEMALE VOICE is HEARD FAINTLY, getting LOUDER.
FEMALE VOICE (O.S.)
Ichabod! Ichabod... come along.
The boy, YOUNG ICHABOD, turns, smiling. He runs. We FOLLOW to a clearing behind a frontier home. MOTHER waits. Lovely woman. She kisses him.

ICHABOD'S DREAM -- YOUNG ICHABOD'S BEDROOM -- NIGHT
Dark. Young Ichabod, i

n bed, has one eye open. Across the room, Mother has her back to him. She's WHISPERING something to no one. She turns...
Young Ichabod pretends he is asleep.
A DRAWER is HEARD SHUTTING. Mother exits. Ichabod gets up, curious, opens a drawer... finds something behind clothing.
It's a piece of reed grass, woven into an elaborate pattern with shafts of wheat twisted into the center. Young Ichabod replaces it, closes the drawer.

ICHABOD'S DREAM -- MARKET SQUARE -- DAY
A busy, muddy street lined by wares and produce. Young Ichabod walks with FATHER, an emotionless man. Father stops to examine tools. Young Ichabod stays by him, but something captures his attention...
Across the way, Mother is involved in a argument with a FREAKISH-LOOKING WOMAN. They shout. People stop to watch. Can't make out words, but Freakish Woman is furious.

ICHABOD'S DREAM -- STORM SKY -- NIGHT
LIGHTNING flashes over tree tops. THUNDER BOOMS.
INT. VAN TASSEL HOUSE, ICHABOD'S ROOM -- NIGHT
Ichabod jerks awake in his bed.

INT. VAN TASSEL HOUSE, KITCHEN -- NIGHT
Ichabod enters with a lantern and his ledger. He sits, studies notes, then notices there's a light down the hall.

INT. VAN TASSEL HOUSE, SEWING ROOM -- NIGHT
Opposite an elaborate loom, Katrina reads by candlelight. She looks up, seeing Ichabod enter.
ICHABOD
Sorry for disturbing you. I thought a forgotten candle was burning.
Katrina self-consciously closes her shabby book, puts it with another on her lap and covers them.
KATRINA
You do not disturb me. Please stay. Having trouble sleeping?
ICHABOD
May I ask... why do you cover your book that way?
KATRINA
You pay great attention to small things. I hide these as I hide all my books. Father would not approve, lest it were the Bible.
ICHABOD
I, um... I have something to show you, if you have a moment.
Ichabod sits, looking through his ledger.
KATRINA
These are strange... may I?
She takes his hand, spreads the fingers to the palm. She touches the many evenly spaced scars.
KATRINA
These scars. How did you get them?
ICHABOD
I have had them since childhood. I cannot remember what from.
KATRINA
It would be interesting to find out.
Their eyes meet. Ichabod gets back to the ledger. Katrina seems to relish the effect she has. Ichabod finds a paper disk on string, illustrated thusly:
ICHABOD
Here it is. A bird on one side. His cage on the other. Now, stare at it. (spinning it)
The bird seems to be in his cage.
KATRINA
Yes, he does. May I try?
Ichabod gives it. She spins it, smiling.
ICHABOD
He only appears to be inside the cage. The point being...
KATRINA
You made this, and the drawings?
ICHABOD
Yes, but listen. The illusion is easily explained. The eye retains each image, till they combine. And yet, some would call this toy magic.
KATRINA
Don't you see why? Look closely a moment. Put your intellect aside. (spinning it)
Can't you see what is inexplicable?
Ichabod watches it spin. He shakes his head, unimpressed.
KATRINA
Oh, y

ou are hopeless. May I keep it at least?
ICHABOD
If you want. But...
KATRINA
Then, I also have a gift for you. True magic which even you will not be able to deny.
She hands him a book. "ROMEO AND JULIET." Ichabod stands, offering it back, but she will not take it.
ICHABOD
Thank you. No. Here...
KATRINA
I insist that you have it.
ICHABOD
(resigned, leaving)
Very well. But, it will only sit gathering dust.
KATRINA
That would be a pity. Those words might show you something you've never seen before.
Ichabod stops at the door, looks back. He exits.


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? Washington Irving