CLEAN MONDAY By Megan Drysdale
Note: 'This first day of Great Lent is railed "Clean Monday" becaus e Christians are railed upon to begin the holy season with "clean heart s and good intentions."' http: 7/atheism. about. corn/library/glossary/western/bldef cleanmonday.htrn I
FADE IN: 'S BEDROOM - DAY The bedroom is sparse, with minimal decorations in the style of the late 60s. There are a few generic pictures on the wall., a clean-cut 30-year-old, is lying in bed, his eyes closed. His alarm goes off; he hits it, and stares at the ceiling. EXT. SCHOOL - DAY The school is gray, in the same fashion as the other military buildings. Canadian and German flags are being raised by a couple students. Kids are entering the school hurriedly., 11, is walking up the steps slowly, a backpack over her shoulders. The bell sounds. "0 Canada" sung by children starts playing. 'S BATHROOM - DAY Daniel is dressed in military uniform. His jacket is hanging on the door behind him. He is brushing his teeth, and then begins washing his hands, using a small brush, scrubbing around his fingernails. SCHOOL HALLWAY - DAY Kara is led to a classroom by MRS. CLOVIS, SO. A few straggling kids are running into other classrooms. When Mrs. Clovis opens the door to the classroom the singing is much louder than before, drowning the hymn. 'S LIVING ROOM - DAY There's a large photo album on the coffee table. Daniel walks past it towards the kitchen we can see through a doorway, then stops and goes back to the album. He stares at it for a minute, and then opens to the first page, flipping through the book slowly. The binder is full of paper with children's messy writing scrawled all over it. All are variations of "This soul belongs to Daniel," with a child's signature underneath.
2 There are more of these slips of paper framed and hanging on the walls. Daniel closes the book and walks into the kitchen. EXT. MILITARY BASE GATE - DAY A large sign on a barbed- wire fence indicates it is a Canadian military base in Germany. Signs in English, French and German warn that all visitors must check in at the gate. Daniel approaches the gate in a beat-up 1960 Ford sedan, stopping in front of FRANK, 23, one of the three guards. Frank points his gun at Daniel's forehead. FRANK Put up your hands or I swear to God I'll shoot! Daniel raises his hands slowly. Frank keeps the gun up for a minute, then relaxes, hangs the gun at his side, and breaks into a grin. Daniel grins back. Is that ever gonna get old? FRANK Whenever you stop raising your hands, you woman. Pull over, I'll introduce you to the new guy. Frank hits the roof of the Ford affectionately as Daniel drives through the raised gate and parks just inside. Soldiers and troops are on runs and drills. Daniel gets out of the car as Frank comes up with RICHARD, 37. FRANK Danny, Rich. Rich, Danny. Rich just come up from Winnipeg. RICHARD Yeah, yeah. Got in a couple days ago. FRANK So where you off to? You don't start for another couple hours. 2
Just heading over to the school. FRANK Daniel here gets a kick out of the kids. Visits almost once a week. Like to see how the future generation's shaping out. RICHARD My daughter just started there today. (pulls a picture out of his wallet) Kara. She's in the fifth grade. Daniel takes the picture and looks at it casually. RICHARD (CONT'D) It's gotta be rough on the kid, moving halfway through the year. She'll be fine. I know a couple kids in her class. Good kids. She'll fit in just fine. FRANK We better get back to work, man. Daniel gets back into his car as Frank and Richard go back to their posts. He starts the car, then looks down at the picture of Kara in his hand. He pulls out and drives further into the base. CLASSROOM - DAY Kara stands at the door of the classroom as the students sit down, presumably after finishing singing "0 Canada." HAZEL, a young teacher, is standing in front of the classroom - her name is written on the chalkboard. Also on the chalkboard is information about purgatory and Lent. 3
4 Sister Hazel motions Kara to come stand beside her. HAZEL Don't be shy. Introduce yourself. I'm Kara. Me, my dad and my mom just moved here. HAZEL Thank you, Kara. Do you know your name means precious? What a perfect way to start our unit on Lent. Because every soul is precious. If you could just sit- (Guides Kara to a desk beside, 11) right here. Now, today is the first day of Lent. How many of you know what Lent means? Students inaudibly answer Hazel's questions. I'm Nathan. Hi. I'm Kara. HAZEL How long does Lent last? (raising hand) 40 days. Do you believe in all this junk? I dunno. I guess so. 4
5 HAZEL Now, Ash Wednesday starts the season of Lent. Can anyone tell me what Ash Wednesday signifies? No one here even has their souls anymore. (studies Kara closely) Except for you. (raises hand) The first day of the forty days Jesus spent in the desert fasting. KAPA What do you mean you don't have a soul. Everybody has a soul. I don't. The students open their notebooks and begin to copy notes. (CONT'D) You'll meet Daniel at recess. He told me he was coming today. EXT. SCHOOLYARD - DAY Daniel stands over by the fence. There are several kids, between the ages of six and 12, around him, trying to get his attention. Nathan and Kara walk towards him from the other side of the field. My brother Will doesn't like him. But he's pretty nice. He seems pretty nice. 5
6 Will doesn't like him because his friend John waited too long. MR., 46, a large man, and the principal of the school, heads over to Daniel. Nathan makes a bird call. Daniel looks up, notices Nathan, then Kara. Nathan signals towards Mr. Havard approaching. Daniel starts shoving candy and small bits of paper into the pockets of his uniform. SCHOOL HALLWAY - DAY Havard and Daniel walk, with Daniel following behind, towards the principal's office. Daniel looks down, then drops to the ground. Havard doesn't notice for a few steps. Daniel pushes a loose tile in the wall back in place. He double-knots his shoes as if he's been tying his shoes all this time just as Havard turns around. Daniel stands up. EXT. SCHOOLYARD - DAY Nathan and Kara sit at the top of a monkey bars. Through a bay of windows Kara and Nathan watch Daniel stand up and resume following Havard. It looks serious. He won't get in trouble. Daniel and Havard disappear out of sight. Nathan jumps off the play equipment. Come on. 'S OFFICE - DAY The office is sparse, with little more than a massive desk, three chairs and a few filing cabinets. A large window overlooks the playground. 6
7 Daniel sits in one of the two chairs in front of the desk. Havard is standing behind his desk, his back to the windows. I don't think it's appropriate for a 30-year-old man to be talking to children from the other side of the fence. I know most of those kids' parents. I don't understand what the big deal is... What exactly do you talk about? Daniel looks at him, like he's in disbelief. (CONT'D) Are you the one who's been trading children for their souls? Excuse me? One of the parents approached me. Said a man bought her son's soul. This can't be what you dragged me into your office for is it? Could you empty your pockets? Wow, now that's... Sure, what the hell. Daniel stands up and reaches into his pants pockets. He pulls out two dozen individually-wrapped hard candies. Daniel drops them on back down. Havard's desk, then takes one and sits 7
8 Help yourself. Daniel unwraps the candy and pops it in his mouth. SCHOOL HALLWAY - DAY The hallway is deserted. Nathan peaks his head in from a door leading from the playground, checks to see if the coast is clear, then motions Kara to follow him. They walk in silence down the corridor. Are we allowed in here? Shhh. Nathan stops in front of the same windows that Daniel had kneeled in front of. He pulls at a tile on the wall. Four slips of paper with "good for one soul" and children's signatures fall out, as does several hard candies and the picture of Kara. Nathan shoves Kara's picture in his pocket before she sees it, then scoops up the rest. 'S OFFICE - DAY Havard is sitting at his desk, Daniel still sitting in the chair across from him. Havard's clearly been talking for awhile. Daniel watches Kara and Nathan make their way across the playground, opening the candies. EXT. SCHOOLYARD - DAY Nathan and Kara are sitting at the top of the monkey bars. Nathan is inspecting the four pieces of paper. Kara is watching four girls Double Dutch. 8
9 FOUR GIRLS 'S BOUGHT OUR SOULS AND THEY'RE IN A BIG BOO K HOW MANY DAYS TILL HE COMES FOR YOU? 1, 2, 3,4,5,6... What do you want for yours? You can get almost anything you want. For what? My soul? Nathan nods. Can I... Can I think about it? Yeah. It's better even. If you don't give it to him right away. You can get something better. What did you get for yours? Nathan shrugs and Kara looks at him, waiting for him to answer. She turns her attention to the girls skipping rope. You could be friends with those girls. Right. They wouldn't be friends with me. Daniel could do it. Could make you popular. Kara shakes her head no, not tearing her eyes off the girls. Nathan pulls out the picture of Kara and sneaks a look at it. 9
10 Don't wait too long, okay? Maybe a couple days. Then you'resafe. Hey! That's my dad! Richard is walking in front of the windows towards office. Havard's Kara jumps off the monkey bars and starts jogging towards the school. Nathan runs after her and grabs her arm. He looks busy. Kara blushes and pulls her arm away. Kara and Nathan walk around the playground. Nathan is scanning all the kids, until his eyes stop on JOHN, 13. That one. That one right there. MONTAGE - FLASHBACK 1) At night, a deserted street in the Private Married Quarters on the military base. John looks behind him, walking fast. 2) John is running, glancing behind him. Someone is following, gaining on him. 3) Daniel's fist. 4) John is crying, curled up in a ball, his arms protecting his head. 5) Daniel is carefully framing something. He mounts the frame on the wall. It is a piece of paper with scrawled writing and a legible 'John' signature at the bottom. EXT. SCHOOL YARD - DAY Nathan stares at John until the older boy notices him and looks back at him. 10
He's the one that told. Kara looks from Nathan to John then back again. Nathan unwraps a hard candy and pops it into his mouth. John looks away, scared. (CONT'D) But he didn't tell them everything. The bell rings and Kara and Nathan head back into the school. Kara looks scared, walking a step behind Nathan. 'S OFFICE - DAY Havard opens the door to his office, revealing Richard. Richard steps into the office, looking around, until his eyes land on Daniel. He smiles. Hey, Rich. RICHARD What're you doing here? You two know each other? (ignoring Havard) You tell me. Apparently I' m buying up the souls of children. What about you? RICHARD What? (laughs) I did that as a kid. I think mine still belongs to Leah Good. CLASSROOM - DAY Hazel is standing at the front of the room with her head bowed. The students are at their seats, their heads also bowed.
12 HAZEL (head bowed) Eternal rest grant to them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen. 'S OFFICE - DAY Richard and Daniel are both standing and laughing. Havard is trying to get their attention. Gentleman! Can we get to the issue at hand? Yeah, he's right Rich. RICHARD (formally) All right, Mr. Havard. You called the Canadian Army to report a soul stealing? It's about a grown man hanging around elementaries and threatening- RICHARD Did you threaten anyone, Dan? Not as- (raising his voice) A parent called me this morning and said that her son has been having recurring nightmares, about this man- RICHARD You called the Canadian Army based on a dream? Look, this is a good man. Do you have anything to go on beside the nightmares of a little boy? 12
'3 I saw him shove slips of paper into his pocket at recess. And? RICHARD CLASSROOM - DAY Hazel is at the chalkboard, writing notes. Students copy them. We should find Daniel after school. Hazel stops writing at the chalkboard and looks towards Nathan and Hazel. The two put their heads down and keep writing. Hazel continues writing at the chalkboard. (CONT'D) I want to know what happened. I thought you said he never gets in trouble? He isn't in trouble. I just want to know what happened. Besides, you still have to trade. You said it was better to wait. Daniel will give you what you want. Just tell him. I don't know what I want. 13
14 Everyone wants something. I don't even know if I want to trade at all. Hazel turns away from the chalkboard. SHHHHH! HAZEL Hazel turns back to writing on the chalkboard. Do you want to have what happened to John to happen to you? I think you're lying. I don't think Daniel buys souls. It's so stupid. You heard them on the playground, didn't you? The song? The slips of paper we found? (pulls out Kara's picture and drops it on her desk) Then how do you explain this? HAZEL Do I have to separate you too already? Now hush! Kara stares at her picture, her eyes wide. Your funeral. Don't say I didn't warn you. 14
15 The bell rings. Nathan collects his books and leaves the room, refusing to look at Kara. Kara follows him. Nathan! SCHOOL HALLWAY - DAY The halls are full of students, who part to let Daniel and Richard pass. The to talk inaudibly, and laugh. They part ways. Nathan tries to catch up to Daniel, but is caught against the flow of students. Daniel! Kara tries to catch up to Nathan, but also has to fight her way through the crowd. She doesn't see Daniel ahead of Nathan. Daniel watches the reflection off the window of the two kids following him. EXT. SCHOOL - DAY Daniel practically bounces down the front steps of the school. He's halfway across the grass when Nathan bursts out of the school, with Kara a few seconds behind him.! Daniel turns around and waits for Nathan to catch up. Nathan stops in front of Daniel. Kara still doesn't notice Daniel until she reaches Nathan. Nathan looks from her to Daniel; Kara has fear in her eyes, while Daniel watches her closely. This is Kara. FADE OUT. 15