ANOTHER COLLABRO WITH RHODA PENMARQ!

Hey Folks!

Ms. Rhoda Penmarq has once again applied her fantastic visuals to some of my words, this time it is the "movie version" of my Snakeland piece, "Snakeland Must Be Destroyed!" You can check it out here!

"SNAKELAND MUST BE DESTROYED!": SCENE SEVEN

* This is a fictionalized account of some shit that actually happened. All the names, locations, etc. have been changed to protect the innocent as well as the guilty. – JG *

INTERIOR – HOOVER’S BEDROOM – DAY

ANGLE ON the door to Hoover’s room as it opens from outside. D-Man walks in, not really paying attention.

D-MAN

So your mom told me to just come on

back, I hope it’s alright...

D-Man looks up.

D-MAN

Oh, shit!

ANGLE ON Hoover, who is contorting his body into a pretzel-like shape. He is holding an antenna in his left hand, has a weird tinfoil sculpture in his right hand, and he has his foot placed squarely on a boom box in the middle of the floor. From the boom box comes a very faint radio signal.

HOOVER

Trying to tune in WQCC.

D-Man closes the door behind him, shakes his head.

D-MAN

Fucking college radio. They should issue an instruction

book – “On sunny days, face east and wave your hands

in a circular motion. On rainy days, face west and move

your hands counter-clockwise”. Ridiculous.

D-Man walks over and takes the tinfoil mass from Hoover’s right hand and walks over to another part of the room. The radio signal gets marginally stronger.

HOOVER

I know it’s ridiculous, but it’s the only way to

ever find new bands, you know?

D-MAN

(Sadly) I know, man, I know.

They stand silently for a moment, turning this way and that. The radio signal does not change in volume or clarity.

HOOVER

So I’ve been having really weird dreams lately.

D-MAN

(smiles) Caitlin Toole?

HOOVER

(sighs) No, that’s not weird, that’s pretty much every

night now. I mean like really weird.

D-MAN

(suspicious) Well, how weird are we talking, man?

I mean, I don’t want to hear anything gross,

you know? Save that stuff for Griffin.

HOOVER

(exasperated) It’s not gross, it’s just like...I

dreamed that Hannah Graeber came

back to life.

D-Man goes rigid.

HOOVER

And she was in Snakeland, and she

told me this poem about cats, and rats

and snakes.

D-MAN

Hoover, I had the exact same dream.

Hoover drops his arm and the antenna falls to the floor.

HOOVER

No way!

Immediately, the radio comes roaring in, crystal clear, with “I Will Dare” by the Replacements. Hoover laughs.

HOOVER

Don’t move, don’t move!

They stand still and listen to the song.

FADE OUT AND INTO:

"SNAKELAND MUST BE DESTROYED!": SCENE SIX

* This is a fictionalized account of some shit that actually happened. All the names, locations, etc. have been changed to protect the innocent as well as the guilty. – JG *

HOOVER (v.o.)

Later that night, I had a dream about Hannah Graeber.

FADE IN:

EXTERIOR – SNAKELAND – DAY

Snakeland, an abandoned industrial wasteland, sets the stage for this scene. HANNAH GRAEBER, a Head girl dressed in a denim vest, black concert t-shirt, tight stone-washed jeans and strappy black boots, walks along the edge of a concrete wall. As she walks, she recites this poem:

HANNAH GRAEBER

The cats create, anticipate

There’s six of them

And one of me

But they all die

Then I am free

Cats and rats have heart attacks

And they all die

And we all die

And they all live

And we all live

But snakes don’t die, they multiply

And shed their skins

And say goodbye.

On “goodbye”, Hannah steps far to the right and falls off the wall. The CAMERA, as if it were a person, goes running up handheld to the wall where she was walking and looks over. There is no one fallen, no one there underneath.

CUT TO:

INTERIOR – HOOVER’S BEDROOM – NIGHT

Hoover bolts upright out of his bed, sweaty and awake. He cups his hands and runs them over his face, wiping the sweat out of his eyes. Hoover looks over at the clock – it reads 6:66. Hoover shakes it off, looks again; the clock reads 3:33. He sighs thankfully, falls back to the pillow and attempts to go back to sleep.

FADE OUT AND INTO: