As the pages turn,,,

[akaRichie]

how bout an on going screenply 'on the fly', everyone takes turns adding a scene.

I'll start (don't know what this is but it just came to me)

INT. DIMLY LIT WALKWAY - CITY PARK - NIGHT

Clouds billow and pour like ink over the hot prairie horizon.

GEORGE
The sky's angry tonight.

GEORGE YOUNG, a leathered farmer in his late fifties, peers off to the sky. His dirt stained hands wipe sweat from his brow.

GEORGE
Dammn it's sticky...

[akaRichie]

let me start that again (been a long day)


EXT. PRAIRIE FIELD - EARLY EVENING

Clouds billow and pour like ink over the hot prairie horizon.

GEORGE
The sky's angry tonight.

GEORGE YOUNG, a leathered farmer in his late fifties, peers off to the sky. His dirt stained hands wipe sweat from his brow.

GEORGE
Dammn it's sticky...

[Yellowhair]

In the distance, is his daughter, ANGELA, fifteen going on twenty-five. An only child, she worships her daddy.

ANGELA
Daddy! Mama's ask'n for ya!

With a heavy sigh, he looks at the dark clouds once more, then hurriedly heads toward the main house.

[Cornell]

As he reaches the old farmhouse with its peeling yellow paint and slipping green/gray shutters, Angela throws herself into her father's arms, not able to contain the bubbling giggles within her throat.

ANGELA
Mama's got some good news to share with ya, Daddy!

GEORGE
Is that right? Supposin' what that is?

ANGELA
I'm not saying, Daddy, I crossed my heart and hoped to die in not tellin'.

With biting clarity, George studies his daughter's face.

[Rabid Runner]

GEORGE

Suddenly George grabs at his chest. His fingers crawl into the loose folds of skin just under the second shirt button. His eyes flicker out of focus. His knees twitch and then cave in slowly. He sags to the ground.


ANGELA

"Don't you want to hear the good news, Daddy?"

[smartblawned]

Suddenly the sky is lit by a FLASH of LIGHTNING followed by a commanding ROAR of THUNDER. Angela falls to her knees beside her father

ANGELA
(screaming)
Mama! Come quick, Mama!

The wind grows more fierce as another FLASH of LIGHTNING fills the sky. Angela shudders at the following BOOM of THUNDER. The old wooden screendoor CREAKS open and MAMA appears on the porch. Oblivious to George laying in a heap on the ground, she stares at the storming sky

MAMA
What is it now, wildchild?

ANGELA
Mama... can thunder hurt us?

We pan off to see an unmanned tractor in the middle of a half mowed cornfield....

Sorry, akaRichie - I just couldn't resist...

[akaRichie]

LOL!

[Cornell]

We pan out and back to focus on the main house from a distance. We see Mama (in slow motion) look down horror-stricken and falling to her knees to the stillness of George's limp body. The agonizing screams of both mother and daughter are carried on the wind.

[akaRichie]

George moans and raises his head

GEORGE
Mamma's news...tell me Angie baby, before I go...

ANGELA
Oh daddy, you'll be so proud of me. Cousin Elmer asked Mamma if I'd marry him!

George managed a smile and looked lovingly at his daughter.

[ksk2]

(I really should be helping out Tina's thread in One on One that's similar to this, but what the he-ll...)

GEORGE
That's all I need, girl. Knowin' that you and yer Ma will have someone around... But --

(George clutches chest in renewed pain)

GEORGE
(cont)
It cann't be Elmer... Things you don't know about that boy, things we never told you...

(gasps for breath)

ANGELA

Like what, Daddy? What do you --

George rallies his fading strength and grabs Angela's upper arm, pulling himself up to gaze eye to eye with the teen.

GEORGE
The things he had to do back when... when he...

[Yellowhair]

George gasps, as the light rain touches his strained face. Angela winces.

GEORGE
--Angela... Cousin Elmer has done
some bad things, baby--
(coughing)
When he was barely seventeen he had
to take his Aunt Lucille down to Florida
cause she needed... sunshine--

ANGELA
Sunshine? Daddy are you hallucinat'n?

GEORGE
Sunshine, baby. But he met up with
some unscrupulous con artists--

ANGELA
Bad men!

GEORGE
--and them fellers sold people swamp
land left and right... till them
government boys got called in.

ANGELA
Well, well, I uh... don't know, Daddy!
I can't marry a swamp swindler! Maybe
I'll just wait and go to college! I
think I'll study anthropology!

GEORGE
(gasping for breath)
Baby, you do that for... Daddy an...

ANGELA
Daddy! Daddyyyyyyyyyyyyy!

His head falls back, she SCREAMS, hugging him up against her breast. The wet rain on her cheeks mixes with tears and she holds her father, knowing that her life from this moment on is forever changed.

[Rabid Runner]

At the funeral, ANGELA notices a really cute PALLBEARER. She catches his eye several times.

"He sure does look like daddy," she thinks to herself.

[Cornell]

Okay, I'm upset...I did NOT want DADDY to die! For heaven's sake, couldn't we have said he got a snake bite or something and would have been okay! Then, he could have found out that MAMA was preggers again after all these years! Yes, YES, and then we could have gone into that whole hogwash maybe about another Beverly Hillbillies family or Green Acres or better yet, Little House On The Praire something or another! Or for god's sake, maybe the storm became a tornado, then we could have whisked them off to Kansas or something--there you go--a whole different take! Damn, I hate funerals! Pass me a hanky, please.

[Bill Marquardt]

A muffled voice is heard ...

[TinaRM]

a muffled voice is heard...and then a slight tap. Then a loud knock.

The Pallbearers drop the casket on the ground and back away. The frightened look on their faces terrify the crowd gathered at the gravesite.

DADDY (V.O.)
Hello? Hey? Somebody out there?

ANGELA
Oh my GOD! It's Daddy! He's alive!

Angela runs to the casket. She falls on her knees on the wet freshly dug soil.

Carefully, she opens the casket.

BUBBA, Angela's 2nd cousin, once removed, stands over her shoulder and peers into the casket.

BUBBA
(whispering)
I see dead people.

Elmer takes off his 10-gallon hat and slaps his knee in disgust.

ELMER
(to Daddy)
Dammit man, this is the third time I have killed you, what is it gonna take?

Angela looks at Elmer with wide eyes and says...

[ksk2]

DADDY
Bubba, I may's be dead, but's I know's one thang trooooo and cleeeer...

(Daddy gets up on one elbow)

DADDY
(cont.)
That line only works on film iffen yer under twelve years old with the cutest darn face... Now's whaaaaar's me dang-ass truck wi' the 8 foot tall wheels?!? Been dead a whole dang afternoon...

[Rabid Runner]

LMAO! Good one. :)

[akaRichie]

LMAO!!! I think I just choked on a popcorn kernal! :lol

[Yellowhair]

INT. ANGELA'S BEDROOM - DAY

She sits up in bed, her Mama walks in with a cup of coffee in her hand.

ANGELA
I just had the strangest dream...
Daddy was alive and asking for
a pickup truck.

MAMA
(laughing)
Always wanted one of them big 'uns.

ANGELA
Mama, now don't get upset, but I
been think'n an I want to go to
college an study... anthropology.

MAMA
Anthru what?????

ANGELA
It's digging up bones and stuff,
Mama. Just like Indiana Jones.

MAMA
Honey, that's just make believe.

ANGELA
No, Mama. I'm gonna be Angelena:
Ark Hunter. Gonna find the real one!

Mama sits down on the bed, shaking her head, while Angela drags out boxes of maps and old newspaper clippings.