Secret Window
Mrs. Garvey There. That’s it. [Begins to descend stairs, then stops] Not another word from me. [Mort watches her go down bitterly, then resumes smoking] Mr. Rainey.
Mort Hm..? [He hides the cigarette]
Mrs. Garvey Can I make you something to eat?
Mort No. I ate. Well.. earlier. I’m going to eat later. And I’ll make it myself.
Mrs. Garvey You’re a good man, Mr. Rainey. [Nodding]
Mort You too, Mrs. Garvey. [He watches her go down again] [He frowns, and continues to smoke]
Scene 6 : Setting : The Living Room : Characters : Mort Rainey, Amy Rainey, Ted Milner.
Mort [Coming down the stairs and shooing away smoke] It’s my personal business, Mrs. Garvey. Thank you very much. My personal business. [Sees couch] Oh! My pillows now. [He throws the pillows off the couch, and lies down] Her sticky weird fingers on my privacy. Sighs I didn’t steal that story. [Closes eyes] [Turns to face forward] I don’t think.. [Shot of clock] [Mort drifts off to sleep] [The door of the house shakes] [Mort drifts still] [Shooter walks in] Phone rings [Mort blocks away the sun] Wha—? Mm.. [He sits up wearily and searches for the phone] Phone rings [He stand up and brings the phone to the couch] [Lies down and answers] Hello?
Amy [On phone] Hello Mort. Mort groans [In person] Are you alright?
Mort Yeah, I’m alright. Why wouldn’t I be alright?
Amy [On phone] I don’t know. [In person] You’re up there all alone. Anything can happen and nobody would know.
Mort [On phone] I’d know.
Amy [On phone] Right. sighs Hey, hey. How’s my little baby puppy? Did Chico ever get those cataracts removed?
Mort Scowls Why did you call, Amy? What do you want?
Amy I had one of those feelings I get. [Grabs wine and glasses] I know you think they’re stupid, and you don’t believe them but I believe them and um, [On phone] [Mort scowls and strangles the phone] I was making a sandwich and I had this sensation that you might not be okay. [Mort turns on the couch] I held off as long as possible, [Sets down the wine and glasses into a bag] um but then I couldn’t anymore so here I am.
Mort Well, I don’t know what to tell you except I’m fine.
Amy Nothing weird happened or anything? [She walks off]
Mort [He hesitates] Do you remember Secret Window?
Amy [On phone] What?
Mort My story. You know, the one where the… [scratches face] the woman has the garden [On phone] And then the guy has the uh.. shovel?
Amy [Walks] Not one of my favorites..
Mort That’s good to know.
Amy [Laughs] Well, it was kind of hostile, don’t you think?
Mort [Sits up and grabs the phone] Gee, I miss your constructive criticism, I really do.
Amy [Wipes lips in a mirror] What about the story, Mort?
Mort [Goes to the kitchen] Oh, I was just wondering whether you think it’s possible that I might have been influenced by anybody or anything at that time?
Amy [Fixes hair] Other than Jack Daniels?
Mort [Returns to couch, drops phone on table ding ] I know that part, Amy, hence the question. [Sits down, wipes top of mountain dew can]
Amy [On phone] I don’t know. Yu got kinda weird on that one. You’d write it mostly at night. I think. [Mort blows on can] [Amy turns away from the mirror] What do you mean influenced anyway?
Mort [On phone] I don’t know.
Amy [On phone] Like by another story?
Mort Look, forget it.
Amy Mort. [Sits on bed] You swore the one time was the only time.
Mort [On phone] Forget it. Please, please. Just forget it. Come on. How’s Ted?
Amy Sighs He’s fine.
Mort I was thinking that he and I should get together sometime, have a drink because you know, we’ve been to a lot of the same places.
Amy You know what? I gotta go.
Mort So do I.
Amy [Lies back on the bed] Okay.
Mort Is he there?
Amy [On phone] No. [In person] We’re not together.
Mort [Is amazed] Wow. Well.. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t on the verge of doing Snoopy dances. Heh.
Amy No, Mort. [Sits back up] sighs What I meant was, we’re not together at the moment. [On phone] He’s coming over later. He hardly ever comes here, I usually go to his house.
Mort [Smiles] There’s a useful detail. Thanks for that. [Lies back down]
Amy [Looks out window, sees Ted’s car pulling in] Don’t ask, then. It was working just fine that way.
Mort [On phone] I think you should have him over the house more. [In person] Such a nice house, I like it, I mean I love it. That’s why I bought it.
Amy [Ted approaches the house] Goodbye, Mort.
Mort Goodbye, Amy. [Both hang up] [Sits up, with head in hands] Oh, shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.
Scene 7 : Setting : Outside : Characters : Mort Rainey, John Shooter, Tom Greenleaf.
[Mort walks down the muddy path outside, holding a walking stick] [He slaps a mosquito on his neck] [He stops at the clearing, seeing Shooter’s car]
Shooter You read it?
Mort I did.
Shooter I imagine it rang a bell, didn’t it?
Mort Oh, it certainly did. [Approaches Shooter] When did you write it?
Shooter I thought you’d ask that. [Sits on his car]
Mort Well, sure. That’s the whole point isn’t it? When two writers show up with the same story, it’s all about who wrote the words first. Wouldn’t you say that’s true?
Shooter I suppose I would. I suppose that’s why I came all the way up here from Mississippi. [Mort stops, sticks the walking stick in the ground leaning on it, and turns to the road] Honk honk honk [Mort waves, Shooter salutes with his hand] I wrote it seven years ago. 1997. How’d you get it? [Mort smiles] It’s what I really want to know. [He goes up to Mort] How in the hell did a big money-scribblin’ asshole like you get down to a little shitsplat town in Mississippi and steal my goddamn story?
Mort Drop it. [Walks away]
Shooter Drop it? Drop it? What in the hell do you mean, Drop it?
Mort [Comes back] You said you wrote your story in 1997? i wrote mine in late ‘94. It was published for the first time in June ‘95 in a magazine. Nice try, Mr. Shooter, but I beat ya by two years. So if anybody’s got a bitch about plagiarism, it’s me. [Turns away]
Shooter You lie! [Pins him against the car]
Mort [Throws him off] No I don’t!
Shooter Prove it!
Mort I don’t have to prove a thing to you. Go look for yourself. Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine June 1995.
Shooter And how am I supposed to find that?
Mort That’s not my problem.
Shooter Am I supposed to drive down to your house in Riverdale New York and ask your wife Amy for it? [Mort looks shocked] [Shooter smiles] I read it on your book jacket.
Mort [Gulps] That’s not my house, that’s hers.
Shooter What the hell does that mean?
Mort What do you think it means, you ignorant hick? I’m in the middle of a divorce! D-I-V-O-R-C-E—di-vorce.
Shooter You strike me as the kind of guy who’s on the lookout for a head he can knock off with a shovel. But what you don’t understand is if we do start to fight, it’s not going to end until one or the other of us is dead. [Goes to the car] [Mort is nervous] Hold your water. I’m just gettin’ m’smokes. [He offers one to Mort]
Mort I don’t smoke.
Shooter I’ll give you three days. You call your ex and get her to send you the magazine with your story in it, if there is such a magazine, and I’ll be back. [Slips a cigarette into his mouth and lights it]
Mort If I show it to you, will you go back to wherever you came from and leave me alone?
Shooter [Puffs smoke] [Nods] Three days. [He returns to his car]
Mort Always a pleasure to meet a reader.
Scene 8 : Setting : The Living Room : Characters : Mort Rainey, Chico.
[Shot of table with a sandwich with a bite taken out of it, Doritos, an open jar of Jif, an almost empty glass of milk] [The clock ticks] [Mort sits at the table, the dog on the floor] [The faucet leaks] [Mort looks down, then up] [The dog licks its lips] [Mort picks up the sandwich sadly]
Mort [Sighs] I don’t wanna call her. [Gets on floor, holds the sandwich out to the dog] [Lies down next to dog] I wanna go to sleep, I wanna take a nap. Huh? [The dog eats the sandwich] Okay. No nap. I give her a call about the magazine.. I go write some crap for a couple of hours.. [The dog isn’t paying attention] And then I get to take a nap. A dog barks from outside [Chico looks away] Right? Chico? [The dog gets up and leaves, heading to the doggy door] [Mort turns his head to the dog] ChicoOoOoO don’t be discouraAaAaAaged! [The dog walks out] Alright, go ahead and be discouraged, ya blind [Gets up] bastard. See if I care! [Unplugs the phone line] [Heads to the couch] And returned [Sits down] to the couch. Sighs [Takes of watch] In shame. Degradation. [Puts watch on table] [Takes off glasses and puts them on the table] [Takes off shoes] [Lies down] Sighs Sloth. Sloth. [The clock ticks] [The shot pulls away into darkness] [Mort tosses and turns on the couch] [He turns to the edge, and sees he’s hanging over a waterfall] [He falls off, flustered] [He pushes back his hair and groans] [Picks up watch, then puts on glasses, then pushes back hair again] [Puts down watch and breathes in] [He gets up and goes over to the sink, fills a glass of water] [He places it up to his mouth to drink, but notices that his back door is open, and there’s something white on the wall blowing in the wind] [Is curious, goes up closer to get a better look, places the glass on the counter] [He opens the door, and flips the light switch, but the light doesn’t turn on] [He scowls, and goes in to get a flashlight] [Turns the flashlight on, and examines the light, noticing that there is broken glass on the floor] [He moves the flashlight around and looks elsewhere, then walks over to the garbage bin] [He moves the beam across trees, and his car] [Goes down the stairs, and over to the wall and finds a note attached to the wall HAve 3 days i am Not JokiNg NO POLICE”] [Mort turns to the garbage bin and sees a white blanket over something] [He focuses the flashlight on it, then turns away] [He turns back and approaches, then pulls off the blanket] [The dog with a screwdriver through its head is under the blanket] [Mort falls away] Oh! Uh. Ho.. uh.. [He looks at the dead dog, moves his flashlight all around him, breathing heavily] Shooter! I’ll get you for this! You hear me? I’ll get you for this! [Mort returns to the house and locks all windows and doors] [He walks forward and looks around the house] [The sun is coming up, and he buries the dog int he ground with a shovel] [He sticks the shovel in the ground]
Scene 9 : Setting : The Sheriff’s Department : Characters : Mort Rainey, Dave Newsome, Secretary.
[A shot of Tashmore lake]
Dave Chico? He killed Chico?
Mort Yeah. Last night, around 9. I was asleep. [They walk towards the building] Look, he left this [Holds out the note]
Dave [Takes the note] You have 3 days, I’m not joking. No police. Hahaha. Anytime somebody sits down and writes “No police” That’s just about exactly the time that a fella should get himself over to the police. [He opens the door] [Mort goes in, then Dave]
Mort Yeah, yeah. Well, that’s what I figured. [They walk to Dave’s desk] So what I’ve got is a detailed description of him, I’ve got a detailed [He turns to Dave] description of his ca—Dave : Type a little harder. You have to get through the carbon [He points to the secretary’s papers]
Mort [Dave walks to behind his desk] [Mort is shocked at the rudeness] You know what, [He points] I didn’t get the license plate number, but I’m sure they were Mississippi tags. [Dave puts his glasses on and sits down] I think that it started with an A.. ‘cause that’s what I see in my mind.
Dave [Picks up needlepoint] Needlepoint! Can you believe it? Doc says it’s good for the arthritis. [Does some needlepoint]
Mort Yeah.. [Glances at secretary] [Sits down] Anyway, anything you can find out about this guy I would really appreciate—Dave : I must cut quite an intimidating law enforcement figure, huh [Laughs]
Mort [Is nervous] I-I’d like to know what I’m dealing with here, because maybe he’s got a violent history.. uh… maybe you find him, you could talk to him. I think that would probably be better.
Dave So, you got yourself a member of the crazy folks tribe?
