Editors' Choice in Scripts: Cardinal

Cardinal

By Eudora A.

FADE IN

A wooded valley. The sun is rising over the right side tinting the trees gold. The trees have lost most of their leaves.

DISSOLVE TO:

EXT. DRIVEWAY - DAY An old fence with peeling white paint. Splitting it is a dirt driveway leading to a cabin in the background.

EXT. PORCH - DAY JAY, a 15-year-old with a clean face and glasses, sits quietly on the porch of a weathered but sturdy hunting cabin with stuffed animal heads mounted along the wall. He is dressed warmly. He looks to his left at a cardinal hopping about the branches of a leafless tree.

JAY (V.O.) I grew up in Arkansas. As a kid, I thought that was a funny word.

BRYSON Jay, look!

BRYSON points excitedly at a deer at the edge of the tree line on the right side of the porch.

JAY (V.O.) I asked my history teacher why it was called that.

The deer stands still under a thick tree with low branches, bowing its head to eat. Bryson hands the gun to a confused-looking Jay.

JAY (V.O.) She told me the settlers got the word from the Algonkian name for the Quapaw.

Jay shakily takes the gun. He moves cautiously to the right side of the porch and his head is a few inches shorter than the rusty light fixture next to him. Bryson stands back behind him, bouncing slightly in anticipation. The deer hears a noise and holds its head up.

JAY (V.O.) She said it meant “south wind.”

Jay stands still and slowly brings the gun up to aim. His face looks scared. He closes his left eye and points the rifle.

The deer looks at Jay but does not move.

JAY (V.O.) She said it was a sign of respect.

Jay furrows his eyebrows. He holds the gun firm, but it begins to shake. He opens his eye and slightly lowers the gun.

JAY (V.O.) But it didn’t matter.

A loud gunshot rings out. Jay closes his eyes, flinching. He quickly opens them and looks at the fallen deer. PAYTON, a 15-year-old with a small, crudely drawn tattoo of a knife on his cheekbone, approaches the deer from the other side of the house, holding a rifle. He is wearing shorts, a T-shirt, and a baseball cap with the American flag on it. Bryson runs to meet him. Payton stands tall and smiles. He waves his arms in the air excitedly. Jay stands frozen. His eyes are wide in shock.

JAY (V.O.) They killed them anyway.

EXT. TREE LINE - NIGHT Payton is throwing wood onto a large bonfire ten feet away from the tree line. He has blood on his hands. Bryson is yelling loudly towards the sky. Jay sits on the ground near the fire. He is staring intently with a pale, emotionless face toward the fire where the deer is now strung up and gutted on the tree where it was shot. Bryson howls and Payton joins him. Jay does not move or make a noise. He continues staring.

EXT. FIELD - DAY Bryson is driving a four-wheeler through an open field as Jay holds on, riding behind him. Jay is squinting his baggy eyes in the wind. His nose and cheeks are red. Payton is driving behind them on a four-wheeler. Payton and Bryson are wearing the same dirty clothes as the two previous scenes, but Jay is wearing a different, still layered outfit. Payton and Bryson do not appear cold.

JAY (V.O.) Growing up, my mother told me I could be anything I wanted to be.

Payton drives past on their left side. He looks at them and laughs.

JAY (V.O.) My father said the world was harsh and I needed to be tough.

Bryson laughs and speeds up, trying to race Payton. Both four-wheelers are heading for a ditch. Bryson and Payton play chicken and glance at each other as they speed forward.

JAY (V.O.) When I was 13, my dog died.

Jay looks nervous. At the last minute, both four-wheelers turn away from the ditch and nearly flip.

JAY (V.O.) They told me he’d gone to live with a family member that had other dogs he could play with.

Bryson and Payton both yell out loudly into the frigid air. Jay’s face relaxes some.

JAY (V.O.) But the kids at school said that just meant he’d been hit by a car.

Pan out on the vast field as the two four-wheelers continue speeding on into the large open field of dead grass.

EXT. STREAM - DAY Bryson, in only boxers, runs past the camera and jumps into a stream about 3 feet deep. Payton is taking off his shorts.

PAYTON Hey, come on, Jay!

Payton waves at Jay. He runs and jumps in the stream.

JAY (V.O.) My teachers always told me to behave like the other students.

Jay stands away from them. He is fully clothed and slightly shivering. His hands are fiddling with each other above his waist. His feet shift his weight back and forth. He looks hesitant. The four-wheelers are behind him.

JAY (V.O.) The kid who beat me up at recess said I’d never fit in.

Payton and Bryson laugh and splash about in the stream.

BRYSON (Voice cracking) Get over here!

Payton laughs and jumps on Bryson. Jay stares for a moment. He reluctantly begins taking off his jacket.

EXT. WOODS - DAY Payton and Bryson are hiking up a forest hill. They both have wet hair. They are smiling and joking back and forth. Jay is hiking slower, a little behind them. He also has wet hair. His mouth is in a slight frown, and his eyebrows furrow upwards to look pitiful. His breath pants as he walks slowly.

JAY (V.O.) A pastor once told me God sees everything, so I had to be good.

Payton and Bryson are nearing the top of the hill. They begin to run excitedly.

PAYTON Hurry up, Jay!

Jay turns his head forwards to look at them. His face becomes more alert but still tired. He begins to run. After a moment of running, he hears a noise and glances over at a cardinal chirping on a nearby tree branch. As he sees this, he lands on a rock that rolls out from under him.

JAY (V.O.) This confused me because he also said Jesus had died so that I was already forgiven.

He falls. He lets out a yelp that is cut short when he hits the ground. He rolls down the hill until he crashes into a tree.

JAY (V.O.) My mother corrected me, saying some things can never be forgiven.

Jay blinks and scrunches his face. He has a long cut on his

right cheek. His hair is strewn about his face. He looks to his left and right and then reaches down next to him and picks up his glasses. They are shattered. Jay sighs and puts the glasses down. He hears a rustling above him and looks up squinting. At the top of the gray trees, he sees a cardinal. It hops among the branches for a moment, looking down at him. Jay frowns at it.

EXT. PORCH - DAY Jay stands on the porch. His head now reaches the bottom of the light fixture. He is wearing shorts and a thin long sleeve shirt. He has a scar on his right cheek. He has no glasses, and his nose is not red. He is holding an upright rifle in one hand, resting it on the floor. He watches the woods for a moment. He holds his head up and his back straight. He does not shift his weight or fiddle his fingers. His face is stern and focused. A deer emerges from the trees. Most of the trees have brown leaves on and scattered around them. Jay turns his head slightly when he sees the deer. He lifts the rifle up and holds it in both hands. The deer stops walking and leans down to eat. Jay aims the rifle at the deer and closes his left eye. The sight of the gun almost touches the scar.

JAY (V.O.) I wonder if I’m forgivable.

CUT TO BLACK:

EXT. TREE TOPS - DAY The tree tops of the forest. The branches are gray, and brown leaves scatteredly adorn them. The only sound is the leaves lightly blowing in the wind. A cardinal appears from the trees and quickly flies away into the sky.