Open:
Rural Outskirts - gravel road
Fading In from Black, insects crescendo their buzzing symphony. In the distance is a low rumbling of tires rolling over gravel, a set of headlights appear over a hill, the rumbling gets louder. As the car draws near, the headlights cutout and the car turns off the road into a clearing, moonlight silhouettes the car, a luxury model with plenty of trunk space. the car stops, the engine continues to rumble for a moment before cutting out. The radio inside is still on, a comedy bit finishes and there a muffled roar of a crowd's ovation. The two front doors open, immediately ending the sound through the speakers. A joyous laugh is heard from GIO, the driver. The passenger, CLARK, gets out first and gets two shovels from the back seat. GIO gets out:
G: You can't tell me that shit ain't funny
C: Crass maybe
Funny no
The two take in the clearing, walking it, their footsteps' soft percussion ends with the sound of a shovel breaking dirt.
C: This good
G: Why so serious cousin I thought you'd dig Deuce's set
C: It's no different from a thousand other comedians
Rough language and misogyny big fuckin' deal
G: No need to genre-lize and get all big wordy
C: Let's just do this
Clark strikes the ground with shovel, picking up dirt and tossing it to the side.
C: Get it over with
For the next few moments he is the only one digging, medium paced and determined.
G: Well, Deuce sells out The Garden, so he must not be funny at all
C: Just dig Gio
Gio begins to dig, at first the shoveling is incongruous, a moment passes and the two find a rhythm.
G: So guess who I fucked last night
C: Your mother
G: That was two nights ago
No really guess
Gio stops digging
C: Dig
G: Not until you guess smartass
Clark's digging accelerates.
G: Just guess a name
C: Sophie Weinstein
G: You're disgusting
Her only holy hole is behind the teeth (laughs)
Come on you know it's true
C: Don't care Gio
Gio begins digging, the two shovels are offset but soon find a rhythm
G: you know what your fucking problem is
You need to get laid, get your dick wet
C: Oh, that's my problem, is it
G: Yes which is why I brought it up,
So I fucked Marie Batone, you know the twin
Well she told me her sister, Gloria, has a thing for you
Like first date fucking type thing
You should hit that before it's too late
Her sister was just ripe, Glorious
and she didn't make me wrap it
C: Well, the sooner we dig this fucking hole
The sooner I can dig into the same family you're fucking
Right
Gio's shovel slows
G: Yeah
The digging ensues off rhythm for a moment
G: Man, I'm starving
C: Still
You just imbibed yourself on that burger
G: Yeah
I just know once we're done here I'll need some grub
C: Processed meat Gio
G: Huh
Gio finds the rhythm again, with his shovel
C: Processed meat
it isn't filling for long
Terrible for your health
G: It's not that bad
C: The machinery taints it
G: The machinery makes it taste good
C: Your Funeral
Gio's digging slows
G: I'm young
C: Me too
A moment of digging. Thunder rolls in the distance.
C: Fuck
This is gonna get messy
Dig faster Gio maybe we can beat it
G: I don't think so
Clark stops shoveling.
C: Do we have boots in the trunk
G: Salvatore didn't say there were.
C: You're cleaning the mats then
Clark continues digging, slightly faster than before. Gio keeps his own pace.
G: What you can't clean up your own damn mess
C: I had to clean the whole fucking car last time, remember that paddy fuck and his whore
G: Fine
I guess I'll be cleaning shit up
That'll give you time to go and sex up Gloria
C: Would you stop with this dick cupid shtick
G: I'm just trying to help you out cousin
Gio's digging finds rhythm with Clark's
C: My name is Clark
G: I know cousin
You need to lighten up
C: And you need to fuck off
Clark stops digging, pulls out a flask and swigs.
C: Want a sip
G: Yeah
Gio stops shoveling and swigs. The cricket's symphony has become very dense.
G: Fuck man You and your gin
When you gonna switch to a man's liquor
Clark begins digging again
C: Maybe when you pull some weight, in this hole
Get to digging
G: What's your rush cousin
The rain is gonna come before we finish anyways
After taking a second long gulp, Gio digs slowly.
C: Since when do you know everything
G: Since always cousin
C: Do you know who's in the Trunk
G: No
Gio's digging accelerates
G: I went to Salvatore's garage, got the keys from him and left to pick you up
C: Salvatore didn't say anything
G: He didn't say much
He did tell me to tell you not to make such a fucking mess this time
C: Fuck you
G: His words not mine.
Gio slows down and finds the rhythm again
C: I will be so happy when I never have to dig a fucking hole again
G: That'll be the day
C: Someday soon
G: You think so
C: I got a feeling in my gut
G: And if it doesn't happen soon
C: I'll leave
G: You know you can't just leave your family cousin
C: My name is Clark
I'm not your cousin
It's not my family
G: It is your family cousin
C: What if it wasn't your blood
Making you come out to these bumfuck outskirts
To bury people who gave your "family" trouble
G: I don't have to worry about that
C: Suit yourself
Gio stops digging
G: What the fuck are you getting at cousin
C: Nothing
Just ranting
G: You're awfully strange today
C: I'm not the only one
G: You mean Me
C: I mean Franco.
Thunder Claps. The Storm is approaching
G: What about papa Franco?
C: I saw him today. I went to tell him that I want out, if it could be arranged
G: What did he say?
C: He said it could.
Not in so few words.
He talked the best he could, I got the gist of what he was saying, but I dunno.
Didn't look well, kept talking about strange shit
G: What did he say?
C: He said he was surrounded by ghosts.
Regrets
He spoke quite a bit about Gabriel
At first he thought I was Gabriel
G: Gabriel's been dead longer than we've been alive
C: I know
Franco told me Salvatore and Benito still haven't stopped competing to replace him as the favorite
He's sick of it
I think he's losing it
G: Well one of them have got to run the Shipping Business when he's gone
C: Of course Gio
Dig
G: I just felt a drop
C: Dig fast
Gio begins to dig
G: We're not going to beat it.
C: Your optimism knows no end
You really must want to clean this mess
Rain begins to fall
G: We're already in the mess.
C: This is deep enough for one
G: It's for two
C: You didn't say there were two bodies in the trunk
G: Didn't I?
C: Who's in the trunk Gio?
Clark stops diggin
G: I already told you I don't fucking know
C: Did you even check the trunk
G: Of course, but the poor bastards are done in bad
C: Of course
G: What did you arrange with Franco?
C: He told me to meet with you, do this one last task
Clark Begins Digging
C: And I'll be free
G: Did you tell Salvatore
C: He wasn't in the garage
G: What about Benito
C: It's none of his concern
G: He might think differently
C: Do you
G: No
I'm happy for you cousin
Lightning Strikes nearby, the clearing is lit briefly. Clark and Gio pause and face each other
Rain Pours
C: A fucking mess
G: We were never going to beat it
C: Just Dig
Clark begins digging. The dirt is now turning to mud, the crunch of digging has turned to a squelch
G: I feel fuzzy
C: You're cold
G: No I mean my insides
I feel like I'm expanding
C: You stopped digging
G: Oh Right
Gio begins digging very slowly
G: I'm sorry cousin
C: What for
G: You've been trapped with us for so long
We've had good times, sure
Now that I think about it, you must have always been miserable
But we've had some good times
We've had some good times
Clark Remains Silent
G: You remember that time we broke into Salvatore's Liquor cabinet
We got plastered in his office
C: Yeah, he was livid with both of us
He made me clean the garage floor with a toothbrush
G: We were so drunk
He told Benito and I only heard one sentence from him about it
C: What did Benito tell you
G: "Salvatore should have had a better lock"
C: Fuckin' Benito
G: I know, he let me off easy
He gave me this look I'll never forget
His eyes were lit, and his smile
Malicious
C: If it had been his liquor
He would've had both our heads
G: He's a cutthroat motherfucker
C: Franco thinks so
G: He said that
C: It's why he's letting me go
G: Because of Benito
C: Because of a lot of things
He considers neither Benito nor Salvatore as his own
And his Wife
G: What's he got against Estelle
C: His words were:
The Seed of my tree of troubles is that Bitch of a wife I'm tied to
In hell, may she be skinned
Her rubber hide stretched over the drums that demons beat
as Odin's Crows pick apart her rancid meat
G: The Fuck
Estelle was his rock. He wouldn't have his empire without her
C: I know.
He didn't want this life
Did it for the sake of his family
G: but now he hates his family
C: Doesn't think it is his family
Said Gabriel was the last of his family.
G: And what do you think?
C: It's not my family
Never was by blood
G: It's mine
All by Blood
Benito and Florence
Franco and Estelle
Salvatore
C: Not how you think it is
G: Explain
C: Benito is your father
Your mother though is unknown
G: Florence is my mother
C: Franco pulled your DNA and had it tested
She is not your mother
Benito and Florence have been lying all this time
Gio stops Digging
G: What the fuck are you trying to prove
Clark stops digging
C: Who is in the trunk Gio
G: I told you
I told you I don't know
C: Bullshit
G: What does it matter
C: Because I know who is in the trunk
Silence. Thunderous clap.
G: DO you
C: Do YOU
In a panic, Gio wrestles a pistol out from the waistline of his pants.
Clark knocks the gun out of hand, with his shovel, and swings again at Gio, hitting him in the head
Gio stumbles into the side of the hole's wall, Clark seizes his hair, kicks the back of his kneecap bringing him down to the mud
C: Who did you put in the trunk, Gio
G: Fuck you cousin
Clark shoves Gio's head into the puddling mud in the bottom of the hole for several seconds before pulling his head out.
C: Just own up to it
G: You can't kill me I'm family
C: WHO DID YOU PUT IN THE FUCKING TRUNK
G: When Benito finds out, you're a dead man.
Clark shoves his head into the mud once more, for a bit longer than before.
Gio Coughs as he emerges from the mud
C: Franco's letting me go
He knows what you are, what you all are
Mixed breeds
You, Benito, Salvatore
He told me what you came out here to do
He told me what Benito told you to do
And you won't admit to it
G: It's Salvatore!
In the trunk.
C: It's too late, Gio.
And Salvatore isn't the only one in there
G: Yes he is!
C: False.
You're laying right next to him.
G: But
Clark shoves Gio's head into the mud, this time for a long time.
Gio goes still.
Clark stands up
With a roar he kicks down into Gio's body until he is out of breath.
The rain is pouring with a lulling roll of thunder throughout:
Clark digs into Gio's pockets pulling out his wallet and the keys to the car.
He climbs out of the hole, walking fast to the trunk which he opens with a key.
There is a buzzing from the trunk light.
A few grunts of strain are heard from Clark, pulling a body of dead weight out of the trunk and letting it plop to the ground.
Again a few grunts as a second body is removed, plopping to the ground.
Clark drags one body to the hole, pushing it over the edge and onto the half submerged body of Gio.
He returns to the second body and drags it to the hole. Pushing it in.
With a shovel, Clark pushes the mound of now muddy dirt over the bodies, sloppily.
When the hole is covered Clark tries to catch his breath.
The buzz from the trunk's light continues to saturate the scene.
Clark takes a deep breath as he walks back to the car. He tosses the shovel into the trunk and closes the lid.
The buzz stops.
He opens the driver side door and gets in.
When he turns the key, the uproar of laughter from the comedy bit continues where it was last cut off.
Clark shuts off the radio and starts the engine.
Slowly, he pulls out onto the gravel road and drives away.
Fade to Black.
