Getting There
SCENE ONE
EXT. CLARKS HOUSE — MORNING
SIMON is sitting behind the wheel of his car, drumming on the steering wheel. His car is not fashionable, maybe a Prius. The clock in the car says 9:47. CLARK emerges from the house with two suitcases. He comes up to the passenger side window, which SIMON rolls down.
SIMON
Got everything?
CLARK
Yeah.
SIMON
Then what are you waiting for?
CLARK
Do you really expect me to drive three thousand miles in this thing?
SIMON
It’s what we’ve got.
CLARK
Get out of the car.
SIMON
Clark we’re behind schedule as it-
CLARK
Get out of the car, grab your bags, and follow me.
SIMON
I really don’t think-
CLARK
We’re behind schedule as it is.
SIMON gets out of the car and grabs his bags from the trunk. He follows CLARK over to the garage, where he is opening the door. A nice, stylish car comes up. CLARK opens the trunk and puts his bags in it, followed by SIMON’s.
CLARK
I’ll take the first shift.
CLARK gets in the driver’s seat and SIMON gets in the passenger’s side.
SIMON
This is a bit more comfortable.
CLARK
I’m glad you like it. It’ll be your home for the next two days.
SIMON
Then we better get a move on. L.A. here we come.
CLARK starts the car and music begins to play. They pull out of the garage and we get our first real look at the car.
SCENE TWO
Opening credits roll as they go through New York City, crossing bridges, passing landmarks, etc. Finally they are getting onto the highway. They sit in silence for a few moments.
SIMON
We’re going to have to come up with something to talk about.
CLARK
Like?
SIMON
I don’t know we’ve been working together nearly six months we hardly know anything about each other.
CLARK
Sure we do.
SIMON
Where am I from?
CLARK
(thinks for a moment) I don’t know.
SIMON
Illinois.
CLARK
Ah the land of Lincoln. Chicago?
SIMON
The suburbs.
Cut to a map, dropping a pin in northern Illinois and zooming in.
SIMON (voiceover)
A town called Mount Prospect.
Cut to a young, maybe five or six year old YOUNG SIMON.
SIMON (voiceover)
Pretty normal I guess, little sister, public school. Four bedroom, two bath house individualized yet identical to all the others around it.
Cut back to the car.
SIMON
Where’d you grow up?
CLARK
Texas.
SIMON
What part?
CLARK
Just outside Amarillo.
The map pans from Mt. Prospect to Amarillo and drops a pin there. It then zooms in. Cut to a YOUNG CLARK, about the same age as YOUNG SIMON.
CLARK (voiceover)
Rural area, older brother. We had a farm, fair amount of acreage.
SIMON
So you worked on the farm?
CLARK
Starting when I could walk. I can’t imagine there was much of that in Chicago.
SIMON
No closest I ever got to that was camping.
CLARK
Boy Scouts?
SIMON
Yup.
CLARK
How’d that go?
SCENE THREE
EXT. FOREST — DAY
Cut to a slightly older YOUNG SIMON, maybe nine or ten. He is wearing a Boy Scout uniform and smiling immensely.
SIMON (voiceover)
I loved it, the outdoors. The woods, the lake, they all agreed with me. The other kids though,
YOUNG SIMON gets picked up by a group of other kids and they start running down the dock with him. They throw him off and he freeze frames in midair.
SIMON (voiceover)
didn’t agree with me so much.
It resumes and he splashes into the water.
Cut back to the car.
CLARK
You didn’t stand up for yourself?
SIMON
Well…
Cut to a soaked YOUNG SIMON coming up a path. There is a group of older kids waiting for him at the top of a hill.
BULLY SCOUT #1
Have a nice swim, Simon?
YOUNG SIMON
I did, thanks.
BULLY SCOUT #2
Well then you should go for another one.
A few kids begin to come towards him, but he puts his hands up in fists up.
YOUNG SIMON
Stay back.
BULLY SCOUT #3
We’re not scared of you buttface.
YOUNG KENNETH (offscreen)
What about me?
They all look behind the group of kids, where YOUNG KENNETH is standing. He is not strong, but taller than all of the other kids. Cut to YOUNG KENNETH and YOUNG SIMON being thrown off the end of the dock. It freeze frames in the same way it did before.
SIMON (voiceover)
And that’s how I met Kenneth.
It resumes and they both splash into the water. Cut back to the car.
SIMON
You ever get in fights when you were a kid?
Cut to TEENAGE CLARK getting punched in the face and falling on the ground outside of a car.
Cut back to car.
CLARK
Only one I’d actually call a fight.
SIMON
What was it over?
CLARK
What any fight worth getting into is over.
SCENE FOUR
EST. FARM — BEFORE SUNRISE
INT. TEENAGE CLARK’S ROOM
TEENAGE CLARK lays in bed and his alarm goes off. He gets up and gets dressed into overalls and a t-shirt.
INT. BARN
TEENAGE CLARK milks a cow.
EXT. HOUSE — DAYBREAK
TEENAGE CLARK gets into a pickup truck and throws his backpack into the passenger seat. He is eating an apple. He pulls out of the driveway.
EXT. AMARILLO STREET — EARLY MORNING
The pick up pulls up and stops at the intersection. MARY is crossing the street in front of the pick up. TEENAGE CLARK leans out the window.
TEENAGE CLARK
Mornin’ Mary.
MARY smiles dismissively and continues walking. TEENAGE CLARK puts a cigarette in his mouth. He watches her walk away.
Cut back to car.
SIMON
A girl?
CLARK
I only saw her once a day, on my way into town in the morning.
INT. TEENAGE CLARK’S ROOM
TEENAGE CLARK gets dressed into his overalls again.
INT. BARN
TEENAGE CLARK milks a cow.
EXT. HOUSE — DAYBREAK
TEENAGE CLARK gets into a pickup truck and throws his backpack into the passenger seat. He stops before he is all the way into the pickup truck and looks back at the house.
EXT. AMARILLO STREET — EARLY MORNING
The pick up pulls up and stops at the intersection. TEENAGE CLARK is wearing nicer clothes now, a polo shirt and a cowboy hat. MARY is crossing the street in front of the pick up again. TEENAGE CLARK leans out the window.
TEENAGE CLARK
Howdy Mary.
She looks at him and giggles.
MARY
Howdy.
Now it is a montage of TEENAGE CLARK pulling up in different nicer outfits and saying hello to MARY while CLARK says his voiceover.
CLARK (voiceover)
It quickly became the highlight of my day. Each night I’d lay out my clothes for the night before, eventually it got to the point where I would even wear my Sunday clothes to school on occasion.
EXT. AMARILLO STREET — EARLY MORNING
The pick up pulls up to the intersection. TEENAGE CLARK is wearing a suit and tie. MARY is crossing the street in front of the pick up again. TEENAGE CLARK leans out the window.
TEENAGE CLARK
Mornin’.
MARY (smiling)
Mornin’.
MARY begins to walk away, but TEENAGE CLARK leans out the passenger window.
TEENAGE CLARK
Hey Mary you wanna lift to school?
MARY turns around and smiles.
INT. TEENAGE CLARK’S PICKUP — EARLY MORNING
MARY sits in the passenger seat while TEENAGE CLARK drives.
MARY
Clark, it is Clark isn’t it?
TEENAGE CLARK
Yes ma’am it is.
MARY
You live on the farm down past Cypress Street right?
He tenses at the mention of the farm.
TEENAGE CLARK
Yes ma’am I do.
MARY
How is that work?
TEENAGE CLARK
It…it’s a good day’s work.
EXT. SCHOOL — MORNING
The pickup pulls into the parking lot.
MARY
Thanks for the ride.
TEENAGE CLARK
You want one tomorrow too?
MARY smiles sweetly.
MARY
I’d like that. See you tomorrow.
TEENAGE CLARK
See ya.
MARY gets out of the car. CURTIS is walking by and greets MARY. MARY gives him a hug. CURTIS looks over to the pickup and snarkily acknowledges TEENAGE CLARK.
CURTIS
Thanks for getting her here in one piece, farmboy.
TEENAGE CLARK looks dejected as CURTIS puts his arm around MARY. During CLARK’s voiceover there is a series of clips of TEENAGE CLARK and MARY driving to school.
CLARK (voiceover)
Farmboy or not, I was smart enough to know Mary belonged with somebody better than Curtis. The two of us grew pretty close over the next few months, until a stroke of spontaneity crept up on me.
SCENE FIVE
EXT. AMARILLO STREET — EARLY MORNING
MARY is getting into the pickup next to TEENAGE CLARK. They pull away, then take a sharp turn.
MARY
Clark, you’re going the wrong way.
TEENAGE CLARK
I know. I don’t think we’re going to school today.
MARY (laughing)
And where is it that we are going?
TEENAGE CLARK
Wherever you want.
During CLARK’s voiceover, TEENAGE CLARK and MARY do different things throughout the day: go out to eat, walk through a museum, MARY plays guitar for TEENAGE CLARK, etc.
CLARK (voiceover)
What inspired my ditching school that particular day I still don’t know, but I learned more that day than I had from any class I’d ever attended.