PART 2

JIM: (calling) Hey!

JIM: Hi.  I
saw you before.

JUDY:
Bully for you.

JIM: You
don't have to be unfriendly.

JUDY:
Now that's true!

JIM: (smiling) See?

JUDY:
"Life is crushing in on me."

JIM: (smiling) "Life can be
beautiful." Hey, I know where it was.

JUDY:
Where what was.

JIM:
Where I saw you. (no
answer) Everything going okay
now? (no answer) You live around here?

JUDY: (relieved) Who
lives?

JIM: (continuing) Where's Dawson High
School?

JUDY: (softer) University and
10th—Want to carry my books?

An auto horn, stuck, in the distance.

JIM: I
was just getting my car.  I could
take you.

The horn
approaches, loud.

JUDY:
The kids take me.

JIM: Oh.

Another angle.  JIM and JUDY as the car, horn blowing,
wheels into view above them and comes careening into the alley.  JUDY sees it and moves a step away from
JIM.

JUDY:
I'll bet you're a real yo yo.

JIM: I
love you too.

JUDY is
moving toward the car.

BUZZ: (looks after JIM then at JUDY) What's that?

JUDY: A new disease.

BUZZ: (a little suspicious) Friend
of yours?

JUDY:
I'm glad they let you out.

BUZZ:
Nobody chickened.

JUDY: I
heard about it.  You're lucky he
lived.

BUZZ:
They always live.

During
this JIM has gotten his car and has driven up.

JIM:
Where's University and 10th?

JUDY: (pointing right) That way!

CHICK: (pointing left) That way!

BUZZ: (pointing up) That way!

LECTURER
(O.S.): The immensity of our universe. For many days before the
end of our earth people will look into the night sky and notice a star,
increasingly bright and increasingly near.

LECTURER
(O.S.): As this star approaches us, the weather will
change.  The great polar fields of
the north and south will rot and divide, and the seas will turn warmer.

Low angle.  LECTURER.  A dry, elderly man in
a stiff white collar.  He is
seated at a desk, the light from the reading lamp spilling upward onto his
face.

LECTURER:
The last of us search the heavens and stand amazed.  For the stars will still be there,
moving through their ancient rhythms.

Angle shot.  Students.  Some watching, some
taking notes.

LECTURER
(O.S.): The familiar constellations that illuminate our night
will seem as they have always seemed, eternal, unchanged and little moved by
the shortness of time between our planet's birth and its demise.

Med.
shot.  PLATO
staring upward.

LECTURER
(O.S.): Orion, the Hunter.

PLATO
looks off. Med. shot.  JIM (from PLATO's angle).  JIM is seated in the row ahead of
PLATO.  His lips are parted as he
looks up.

JIM:
Boy!

PLATO: (leaning forward) What?

JIM: (surprised) Once you
been up there, you know you been some place!

LECTURER
(O.S.): Gemini, the Twins.

Two
shot.  JUDY and
BUZZ.  BUZZ has his arm
around her.  He is nuzzling her
ear.  She is blandly watching the
dome.

LECTURER (O.S.): (continuing) Cancer,
the Crab.

BUZZ
pokes JUDY who looks at him.  He
curves his wrist toward her, opening and closing his first two fingers like the
pincers of a crab.

BUZZ:
I'm a crab!

She
laughs.  So do the others.

LECTURER
(O.S.): Taurus, the Bull.

JIM: (in good imitation) Moo!

He waits
for approval. Angle shot. Nobody laughs.

CRUNCH: (flat) Yeah, moo.

BUZZ:
Moo.  That's real cute.  Moo.

GOON:
Hey, he's real rough—

CRUNCH:
I bet he fights with cows.

BUZZ:
Moo.

They
turn from him.  JIM withers and
looks front.  JUDY smiles a little
and looks away so the others cannot notice her amusement.

LECTURER
(O.S.): Sagittarius and Aries—all as they have ever been.

PLATO
leans in and touches JIM's shoulder, lightly at
first, then harder.  JIM turns to
him.

PLATO:
You shouldn't monkey with him.

JIM:
What?

PLATO:
He's a wheel.  So's she.  It's hard to make friends with them.

JIM: I
don't want to make friends.

LECTURER
(O.S.): Has not yet been seen by planets deep within the other
galaxies, we will disappear into the blackness of the space from which we came.

LECTURER
(O.S.): Destroyed as we began in a burst of gas and fire.

The sky
is blasted by a wild flash of light.
Music reaches explosion.  The
stars appear again. Moving shot.  Faces of normal kids watching seriously—very impressed.

LECTURER
(O.S.): (continuing) The heavens are still and cold once more.  In all the immensity of our universe and
the galaxies beyond, the Earth will not be missed.

Med.
shot.  JIM and
PLATO looking up.

LECTURER
(O.S.): Through the infinite reaches of space, the problems of
Man seem trivial and naive indeed.
And Man, existing alone, seems to be an episode of little consequences.

PLATO
ducks his head down on the back of JIM's chair.  JIM looks at him.

LECTURER
(O.S.): That's all.
Thank you very much.

PLATO:
Listen, I told you not to fool with them.
Now they're waiting for you. If you don't want trouble, I know a place
we can go—

JIM
looks up at him.

PLATO:
It's a big mansion and we could sneak around there and they wouldn't even
know.  You could be safe—

JIM: Who
lives there?

PLATO:
Nobody lives there. Come on, let’s go.

JIM: (wearily) You know something?

BUZZ:
What?

JIM: (reproachfully) You watch too much
television.

Med.
shot.  The group
and JIM.  JUDY has come to BUZZ, stands on the wall above him.

BUZZ:
Hey, he's real abstract and different.

JIM: I'm
cute, too.

Suddenly
GOON starts clucking softly like a chicken.  One by one the others pick it up.  BUZZ, the last,
crows.  Silence.
Med. shot.  The
group and JIM.

JIM:
Meaning me?

BUZZ:
What?

JIM:
Chicken?

The
group gives a quick, short laugh. Med. shot.  JIM as he takes off his glasses,
smiles.  Shakes
his head disapprovingly.

JIM: You
shouldn't call me that.

JIM: (softly to JUDY) How
about you? You always at ringside?  You always travel in this rank company?

BUZZ
clutches JIM's hair and jerks his head up.  He cracks JIM smartly across the face
with the palm of his hand.

JIM: I thought
only punks fought with knives.

BUZZ:
Who's fighting?  This is the test,
man.  It's a crazy game.

BUZZ:
Somebody find him a knife.

PLATO:
Jim!

JIM: I
don't want trouble.

BUZZ: (furious suddenly) You crud chicken!  You're wasting our time!

BUZZ
viciously slaps JIM across the face.
JIM lashes out and misses.
BUZZ hops back.

BUZZ:
Yeah—that's pretty close.  How
about a little closer, Toreador? Cut off a button and you get to join the club!

MIL: Buzzy!  Look
out!  He's got a chain!

Outside entrance of parking lot.  A uniformed GUIDE of middle-age stares past camera.  Cries of "Ole," are heard in
the distance.

GUIDE: (turning) Mr. Minton!  Mr. Minton!  Trouble!

The
LECTURER appears running.  He stops
short at what he sees, and blinks in the sunlight.

JIM: You’re satisfied or you want more?

GUIDE:
Look.  There's your audience.

LECTURER:
Oh, I don't think so.  From the school?

CRUNCH:
Honk.  Let's split.

Group as they look off and see the GUIDE and LECTURER
approach.  BUZZ and JIM are both breathing hard.  PLATO is getting to his feet.

BUZZ: Split for what?  Couple old poopheads?

He folds
up his knife and puts it away.  So
does JIM.

BUZZ:
Say the word and you're cold, Jack—you're dead.

JIM:
I’ll meet you some place with none of these things. That’s trouble.

BUZZ:
How then?  You know the Millertown bluff?

COOKIE:
The bluff, Buzz!  That's dangerous
up there.

BUZZ:
Draw him a picture, Chicken Little. Cookie, you call Moose and get a couple
cars.  We're going to have us some
real kicks. Eight o'clock. Little chickie-run.  You been on chickie-runs
before?

JIM:
Yeah—that's all I do.

BUZZ: At
eight o’clock?

JIM:
Yeah!

JIM: Who
knows.
Plato?

PLATO:
What?

JIM:
What's a chickie-run?

JIM:
Mom?

The
figure straightens and turns around, smiling.  It is the FATHER.  He is neatly dressed in his business suit
but wears a Mary Petty apron.

FATHER: Hiya, Jimbo.

JIM
leans against the wall, shaking his head and trying not to laugh.  The FATHER laughs unhappily, trying to
make it all seem a joke.

FATHER:
You thought I was Mom?

JIM:
Yeah!

FATHER:
It's just this get-up.  The girl's
out and I was bringing Mom's supper.

JIM: (giggling) And
you dropped it?

FATHER: (laughing too)
Yeah!  Shh!

JIM:
That's funny!

FATHER:
I better clean this up before she sees it.

He
starts dabbing among the spilled dishes with a wet cloth. JIM watches him.

JIM: Let
her see.  What could happen.

The
FATHER continues dabbing.

JIM:
Dad—

The
FATHER looks up at him.

JIM:
Dad—don't.
Don't.

JUDY: (rising) Daddy—

He looks
at her.

JUDY: (quietly, afraid) Didn't you
forget something?

JUDY'S
FATHER: What?

JUDY
doesn't answer, but leans down and kisses him quickly on the lips.

JUDY'S
FATHER: (continuing; shocked) What's the matter with you?

JUDY
freezes, frightened.  He collects
himself a little.

JUDY'S
FATHER: (continuing) You're too old for that kind of stuff, kiddo.  I thought you stopped doing that long
ago.

JUDY: (very hurt) I
didn't want to stop.

The
mother enters briskly from another part of the house—an attractive,
brittle woman of thirty-five.

JUDY'S MOTHER:
Didn't want to stop what?

JUDY'S
FATHER: Nothing.

JUDY: I
was talking to Dad.

JUDY'S
FATHER: I didn't kiss her so it's a big thing.

JUDY'S
MOTHER: (calling to kitchen) Bertha!  You
can serve the souffle! (to FATHER) Fish souffle. (to
JUDY) You don't have to stand there,
darling.  Drink your tomato juice.

JUDY
slides into her chair reluctantly and unfolds her napkin.

JUDY: I
guess I just don't understand anything.

JUDY'S
FATHER: I'm tired, Judy.  I'd like
to change the subject.

JUDY:
Why?

JUDY'S
FATHER: I'd like to, that's all.
Girls your age don't do that.
You need an explanation?

JUDY: (very low) Girls
don't love their father? Since when?  Since I got to be sixteen?

She
half-rises to kiss him again.

JUDY'S
FATHER: Stop it now!  Sit down!

JUDY rises,
weeping.

JUDY:
May I please be excused?

She
starts out.  The FATHER rises and
follows after her.

JUDY'S
FATHER: (softly) Hey, hey, Glamorpuss.  I'm sorry.

She
leaves the room, interrupting the joke he was going to make.  He turns back to the table and sits
down.  The MOTHER rises and comes to
him.

JUDY'S
FATHER: (continuing) I don't know what to do.  All of a sudden she's a problem.

JUDY'S
MOTHER: She'll outgrow it, dear.
It's just the age.

BEAU:
The atomic age!

The door
slams.

JUDY'S
MOTHER: (kissing her husband's hair) It's the age when nothing fits.

FATHER You awake?

JIM:
Hey—I want to ask you something.

FATHER: (happily): Shoot, Jimbo.

JIM:
Suppose you knew that you had to do something very dangerous—where you
have to prove something you need to know—a question of honor.  Would you do it?

FATHER: (laughing) Is there some kind of
trick answer?

JIM: What would you do, Dad?

FATHER: (evading) I wouldn't do anything
hasty. Let's get a little light on the subject.

The
FATHER turns on the light and looks at JIM who is now sitting on the edge of
the bed.  He removes his jacket and
the bloody shirt is revealed.  The
FATHER stares.

JIM:
Blood.

FATHER:
How'd that happen!  What kind of
trouble you in?

JIM: The
kind we've been talking about. Can you answer me now?

FATHER:
Listen—nobody should make a snap decision—This
isn't something you just—we ought to consider all the pros and
cons—

JIM: We
don't have time.

FATHER:
We'll make time.  Where's some
paper.  We'll make a list and if
we're still stuck then we ought to get some advice—

He goes
out, to the study next door.  JIM
rises.

JIM:
What can you do when you have to be a man?

FATHER:
Well, now—

JIM:
Just give me a direct answer! (pause) You going to stop me from going, Dad?

FATHER:
You know I never stop you from anything.
Believe me—you're at a wonderful age.  In ten years you'll look back on this
and wish you were a kid again.

JIM: Ten
years?  Now, Dad—I need an
answer now!

FATHER:
I just want to show you how foolish you are.  When you're older you'll laugh at
yourself for thinking this is so important—

During
this, JIM has kicked off his shoes and put on his boots and jacket and goes
out.

Living room featuring stairs.  JIM comes
running down the stairs and out the kitchen door.

FATHER (O.S.): Jim?  Will you listen?  You can't go out till we—Jim!

The
FATHER comes down the stairs, goes to the front door and calls:

FATHER:
Jim?  Jim!

He goes
to kitchen door,

BUZZ: (calling out) Hey,
Chicken-Little.

PLATO
stops.

BUZZ:
Where's Toreador?  He beg off?

PLATO:
He's not scared of you.

BUZZ: (laughing) Yeah? (to GOON) Goon!  You
seen that adolescent type anywheres?

JIM's car as
JIM gets out and PLATO runs to him.

JIM:
How'd you get here?

PLATO: I
hitched.

JIM:
Boy, I bet you'd go to a hanging.

PLATO:
My personality's showing again. Should I leave?

JIM:
No.  It's okay.

BUZZ
enters.

BUZZ:
Come on.  Let's see what we're
driving.

JIM gets
out; PLATO starts to follow.

BUZZ:
Just him.

JIM:
Stay there.

The two
boys move away.  PLATO looks after them,
hurt, then goes to side of JUDY and stands. Dolly shot.  JIM and BUZZ as they
come forward.

BUZZ:
What you say your name was?

JIM: Jim
Stark.

BUZZ:
Buzz Gundersen.

MOOSE:
Got some goodies for you, Buzzie-boy.

BUZZ: Flashlight?

JUDY: Is
he your friend?

PLATO:
Yes.  My best
friend.

JUDY:
What's he like?

PLATO:
Oh, I don't know.  You have to get
to know him.  He doesn't say much
but when he does you know he means it.
He's sincere.

JUDY:
Well, that's the main thing—don't you think so?

PLATO:
Maybe next summer he's going to take me hunting with him—and
fishing.  I want him to teach me how
and I bet he won't get mad if I goof.
His name's Jim.  It's really
James but he likes Jim more. (laughing)
People he really likes—he
lets call him "Jamie."

BUZZ:
Better try the doors.  Jump out.

JIM
opens his door.

BUZZ:
No—quick, man!  You got to
break quick.

BUZZ: (quietly) This is the
edge, boy.  This is the end.

JIM:
Yeah.

BUZZ:
You know something?  I like you, you
know?

JIM:
Buzz?  What are we doing this for?

BUZZ: (still quiet) We got to do
something.  Don't we?

JUDY:
Feel okay?

BUZZ:
Give me some dirt.

She
bends out of sight for a moment as BUZZ goes on talking, then hands him the
dirt.  He rubs it into his palms.

BUZZ:
Hey, Toreador!  She signals.  We
head for the edge.  The first guy
who jumps—chicken!

JUDY and
BUZZ kiss, without much interest.

JIM: (calling softly) Judy.

Med.
shot.  JIM's
car as JUDY comes to him.

JIM: Me
too. May I have some dirt, please?

She
looks at him a moment then bends and hands him some dirt. Their heads touch for
an instant.

JIM:
Thank you.

She
breaks the look and hurries away.

JUDY:
Hit your lights!

Suddenly the headlights of all the cars come on full.
Reverse shot.

CROWD: (in a single breath) Oh!

Rear view.  Edge of the bluff as
the two cars go over.

JIM: (a harsh whisper) Where's
Buzz!  Where's Buzz!

PLATO working his way through the crowd.

PLATO: (calling) Jim!  Jim!

CRUNCH.  CRUNCH looks up as he hears JIM's repeated cry.

JIM
enters behind him, continuing blindly on his way.

CRUNCH: (tight fury) Down there!
Down there is Buzz!

JIM
looks over the edge.

JUDY: (hardly audible) This is fine—

She gets
out and starts away, leaving door open.

JIM: (calling quietly)
Judy.  Will you be okay?

PLATO
looks at him.  JUDY hesitates.  JIM raises a hand to her in a shy
farewell.  She smiles vaguely, then hurries away from them.