Secret Window
Dave [Nods] Okay. Sure. [He takes his head out of Mort’s window]
Mort [Mort backs out, then passes Dave and slows down] [He points at Dave] I’m gonna call you on the phone, okay? [He takes off]
Dave [Watches him drive off] [Nods] Okay.
[Back at Ted’s house, Ted sits down, playing with his car keys in his hand. He thinks] [He sighs and gets up and leaves the house]
Scene 29 : Setting : In Mort’s Car : Characters : Mort Rainey.
[Mort pulls into his driveway] [He stops the car and picks up the package lying on the passenger seat] [He looks at it. It is partially open. He looks at it in fear and touches on the tab] [He rips it open and pulls out the magazine, throws the envelope on the passenger seat]
Mort [He looks at the magazine] 1995. [He flips to the contents page] Contents.. [He traces his finger to Secret Window] 83. [He flips the pages quickly] 83. [He flips some more, then stops] 81. [He turns the page] 82. [He looks to the next page] 99. [He looks at the page numbers, flips back, then forward] 99? [He turns the magazine on a slant and sees that there are pages that are cut out of the spine] You cut it out.. [He traces his finger down the spine] You son of a bitch. [He looks at the open magazine] You….. cut it.. out of the magazine..
Mort’s Voice : Wait a minute, how would he do that?
Mort I don’t know… But he did it.
Mort’s Voice : Think about it. [Mort closes the magazine] How?
Mort I don’t know. [He gets out of the car]
Scene 30 : Setting : The Living Room : Characters : Mort Rainey, Mort Rainey.
[Shooter’s hat sits on the coffee table] [Mort enters the cabin, breathes out and sits on the couch] [Looks down at the hat and swallows] [He picks up the hat, turns it upside down, and looks at it] [He suddenly puts in on his head] [Flexes his jaw] [He stands up and walks slowly to the mirror] [He looks at himself, adjusts the hat]
Mort Why’d you put it on?
Mort [Still touching the hat] I dunno..
Mort Maybe he wanted you to.
Mort [He stops touching the hat] Why would he want me to put his hat on?
Mort Maybe he wants you to…
Mort [He turns around] Maybe he wants me to what?
Mort [Moves his fingers around his head] To get confused.
Mort Oh, I’m already confused, pilgrim. [He takes the hat off] Plenty confused. [He walks away] So don’t talk to me about confusion.
Mort Wait a minute, now [He takes off his glasses and polishes them with his jacket] back up just a sec. What about that?
Mort [He turns away and takes off his jacket] What about what? [He walks away]
Mort Well, pilgrim, Shooter’s Bay, and a half a dozen other details you’ve chosen to ignore. [He appears, leaning on the couch]
Mort [He puts on his bathrobe] You know what? You’re nuts. [He walks away] I don’t need to listen to this shit from you.
Mort [Appears in front of him] Are all these things coincidences? [He puts his glasses back on]
Mort I’m wearing his bruises, aren’t I? Aren’t I?
Mort Are you?
Mort Well… [He rolls up his sleeve to reveal nothing] [He becomes confused] this doesn’t make any sense.. [He walks away]
Mort [Appears in front of him] Would you like to hear something that does make sense? Call the police. [Mort turns away, but Mort appears in front of him holding the phone receiver] Call Dave Newsome, tell him to get down here right this second and lock you up before you can do any more damage.
Mort I’m gonna get a knife and cut you out of me.
Mort’s Voice : [Disappears] Before you kill anyone else.
Mort [He puts his head in his hands] I didn’t kill anybody.. [Flashback to Mort yelling at Amy and Ted] [Flashback to Mort entering the room, holding a gun]
Mort’s Voice : You had a gun.
Mort [Still holding his head] Wasn’t loaded..
Mort Really?
Mort No no no..
Mort [He walks to in front of Mort] You almost killed them. You wanted to.
Mort The gun was not loaded!
Mort [Smiles] You still want to.
Mort Shut up!
Mort [He takes Mort’s hands] Listen to me, because this is how it happens. This is happens to people.
Mort [He looks up at Mort] Shut up!
Mort There is no John Shooter.
Mort [Turns away and looks up] Ra.. ra..?
Mort There never has been. You invented him.
Mort Ra! ra..!
Mort Listen to me, [Mort looks like he’s about to explode] not to him. Before it’s too late.
Mort Leave me alone! [He picks up the silex and hurls it at the wall] Huuu! Crash [The lamp falls off the table]
Mort’s Voice : You are alone..
[ Mort Advances to the dent in the wall] [The dent begins to crack the wall, and the whole cabin splits down the middle] [Mort follows the crack] [Mort looks down]
Mort’s Voice : You’re not handling this.. What you’re doing is—Everything you’re doing is wrong – is wrong. You’ve been eating potato chips this way for 30 years.. Everything you’re doing is wrong.. For 30 years.. For 30 years.. [Mort catches a glance of himself in the mirror, but it is of his back even though he is standing in front of it] [He advances slowly to the mirror] ..Sister found out about the broken window. And the school had to be withdrawn from the competition… Sister found out about the broken windows.. out of the competition competition.. Then she got up from the table. We didn’t talk for the rest of the night.. rest of the night… [He is right up in front of the mirror, but he is looking at the back of himself] Todd Downey thought that a woman [He turns away from the mirror and looks around] who would steal your love – What does Todd Downey have to do with it?.. Everything.. I’m starting to believe that Todd Downey was right.. Everything that you’re doing is wrong. [He turns back to the mirror]
Mort What is happening to me?
Scene 31 : Setting : The Living Room : Characters : Mort Rainey, John Shooter, Tom Greenleaf, Ken Karsch.
Shooter’s Voice : Oh, I think you know. I think you have a real good idea.
Mort You don’t exist.
Shooter [Descends the stairs] Me? I exist Mr. Rainey. I exist, because.. you made me.
[Flashback to Mort at a flea market trying on the hat in a mirror, Amy standing behind]
Mort Check it out!
Shooter’s Voice : You thought me up.
Mort [He goes up close to the mirror] I’m a dairy farmer from Mississippi.
Shooter [Comes down the stairs] Gave me my name, told me everything you wanted me to do. [Flashback of Mort lighting the champagne bottle, tossing it in the study, walking off wearing the hat, and the whole house going up in flames] [Mort thinks] I did them things.. so you wouldn’t have to. [Flashback to Mort riding in Tom Greenleaf’s truck with Ken]
Mort [Points to the spot where Tom had honked the other day] Right up there, Tom. We were standing right there.
Tom [Ken looks suspicious] Yeah, I know Mort. I saw ya. I didn’t want to say it in front of him, but you were alone. [Flashback in flashback to Tom honking at Mort who is alone in the clearing honk honk honk ]
Mort I know, Tom. Look, just pull over there for a second. I wanna show you something. [Shot moves down to reveal that Mort is holding a screwdriver and an axe]
Shooter’s Voice : [Mort thinks some more, a disgusted look on his face] You didn’t have the stomach to do it yourself, but you knew I did. [Flashback to Mort stabbing Ken with the axe in the throat and stabbing Tom in the head with the screwdriver] Are we done yet? We got things all cleaned up around here? [Shooter comes over]
Shooter What’s the real reason I come for?
Mort Fix the story.
Shooter That’s right.
Mort Fix the ending. Gotta fix the ending.
Shooter’s Voice : And how do you suppose we ought ta do that? [Shooter places the hat to Mort’s chest]
Scene 32 : Setting : The Living Room : Characters : Mort Rainey, Amy Rainey, Ted Milner.
[A car approaches the house] [The shot pulls through the mirror to a car stopping in the driveway. The door opens and Amy comes out]
Amy Mort? [She looks around and closes the car door] [She walks, but something is on her shoe] [She looks down, picks it up. It is a page from the magazine] [She looks confused] [She hears a noise, looks down and sees pages blowing away from Mort’s car] [She walks forward, to the front door] [She lifts her hand to knock, hesitates, then knocks knock knock knock She looks down knock knock knock ] [The door opens a bit, she opens it up]
Amy Mort? Are you there? I saw your car outside. [She swallows and pushes the door open] Hello? [She steps inside. The house has been totaled] [She looks around, puts her bag down, and sighs] Mort? [She walks over to the corner and looks around] Chico? [She walks away and looks up. She sees the dent in the wall] [She looks to the coffee table and sees a bottle of Jack Daniels and a pack of Pall Mall’s] [She goes over and nudges the bottle] That explains a lot.. [She walks over to the window] What the hell? Floorboards creak from above [She looks all around the cabin] [She goes up the stairs, stepping on the magazine] [She looks around the top floor] [Walks over to the table, there is a doll that looks exactly like her, the manuscript, the slinky, and some other papers] [She picks up the manuscript] [“John Shooter” She reads] [She notices something on the table. “Shooter” 5 times in a row is carved into the wood] [She puts the manuscript back down] [Her eyes go to the window, “Shooter” is written in white. “Shooter” is carved into the coffee table. “Shooter” is carved in the walls all around her] Creak [The door opens, revealing Mort wearing the hat]
Amy [Jumps and Gasps] [“Shoot Her” is carved around him on the walls] [Amy covers her mouth and gasps] [Mort raises his eyes to look at her. He looks very mysterious] H-H-H-Hi. [Mort stares at her angrily] [Amy comes closer] Jesus, Mort. [She looks down at the front door which is open] W-Where-Where did you get that old thing? The attic?
Mort [In a southern accent] It’s mine. Wasn’t ever anybody else’s.
Amy [Backs away a bit] [She breathes out] M-Mort.. What’s wrong?
Mort [Advances to her] You got you a wrong number, missus. [He puts his hand on the back of her head and takes out her ponytail] [She moves away from him, down the stairs] Ain’t no Mort here. Mort’s dead. [He advances, and she backs away down the stairs] He did a whole lot of squirmin’ around but in the end, he couldn’t lie to himself anymore. Let alone, to me. Now, I never put a hand on him, Misses. I swear. He took the cowards way out.
Amy Why are you talking this way, Mort?
Mort It’s just the way I talk.
Amy You’re scaring me..
Mort It don’t matter. [He pulls out a pair of scissors from behind his back] You won’t be scared long.
Amy [Gasps] [Mort grabs at her hair with the scissor, pulling out a chunk of it] Ahhh! [She hits him in the face] [He falls down, the hat coming off his head] [Amy grabs her bag and runs out of the house] [She drops the bag and gets into the car and locks the door] [Mort slowly gets up, and puts the hat back on. The scissors with the hair are in his hand] [Amy mumbles to herself and tries to get the car going] [Mort puts the scissors down on the porch and picks up the rock with 3 fingers] [Amy struggles to get the car to go] [She looks up. Mort is walking to the car] [The car is stalling and won’t go] [ Smash he breaks the window with the rock] [He reaches in to get her] [She releases the parking brake and the car backs up, Mort hanging in the window trying to pull her out] [He pulls her through the window, the car hits a tree] [She drops on the ground. He drags her by the back of the jacket] Help! [He drags her through the front door]
Mort I’m about done fussin’ with you. [He drags her over to the table and grabs the screwdriver] [He plunges it into her right ankle]
Amy Ahhhhhhh! [She turns around and kicks him in the face] [He falls down] [He gets up] [Amy gets up and walks to the door, leaving a trail of blood on the floor] [Mort kicks her out of the house] Ahh! [She lands on her head on a rock] Agh! Huugh..
Mort [Comes out of the house] I am so sorry, Missus. But right is right, and fair is fair and something.. has got to be done. [He takes a shovel] [Amy looks up at him and struggles to breathe. Her face is all bloody and dirty] [He walks over to her] By the way, I want you to know that none of this was my idea, it was Mr. Rainey all along. [He hovers over her]
Amy [Grabs his pant leg] But you are.. Mort.. Rainey.
Mort [Smiles, his lip is cut open and there is blood on his face and in his mouth] I got a place for ya.
Amy You are.. Mort.. Rainey!
