HONEY # 1

1 INT. CHURCH. DAY`

Opening credit sequence. Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor,
Opus 64 is heard over. A match is lit. A young girl’s hand, holding
the burning match, lights a votive candle, illuminating the church
vestibule.

In a high wide shot the YOUNG GIRL carries the candle across the
vestibule, places it alongside other burning candles.

A small congregation watches as a PRIEST swings a smoking
incense-filled silver thurible on either side of a coffin.

The YOUNG GIRL’S hand moves back and forth through the candle flames –
caressing them, being caressed by them.

YOUNG GIRL (voice over)
‘I just want to be normal’. Honey used to say.

2 EXT. OUTBACK AUSTRALIA. LATE AFTERNOON

Music over and credits continue:

HONEY, in her mid to late teens, stares into space, lost in her
memories; her face bathed in early morning sun.

YOUNG GIRL (voice over)
There’s a bit in one of her poems that goes:

HONEY, wearing jeans and a long-sleeved shirt, crouches close to the
edge of a bluff overlooking a vast outback landscape. In front of her
is a pile of leaves and twigs.

YOUNG GIRL (voice over)
’I’m not bad and I’m not mad but I am, it is true, a little bit sad.’

HONEY strikes a match, lights the leaves.

YOUNG GIRL (voice over)
’The last thing I want is to be normal,’ I said. (GIGGLES) It was love
at first sight…

HONEY watches as the fire bursts into life.

YOUNG GIRL (voice over)
…but I discovered takes take more than love to kill a Green Goblin.

HONEY is mesmerized by the flames. Her POV:

A small Green Goblin in the midst of the flames that looks over its
shoulder at Honey, smiles at her.

HONEY extracts credit cards, a driver’s license and Medicare card from
her wallet and throws them in the fire.  Deep in the background there
is a car – a figure pacing impatiently up and down beside it.

HONEY takes a battered photo from her wallet. We catch only a brief
glimpse of what appears to be a woman and a girl before HONEY throws
it into the fire. She watches as the edges turn brown and begin to
burn. In a sudden movement she reaches down and pluck the photo from
the fire.

3 DIRT ROAD. BLUE MOUNTAINS. EARLY MORNING

Music and credits continue over the wheels of a motor bike spining on
a dirt road.

DANIEL, late 30s, wind in his hair, drives his Harley Davison fast on
a on a dirt road - crash helmet and a blue duffle bag strapped to the
back of the bike. As he leans into a sharp curve in the road the bike
slides out from under him; skids sideways along the dirt road,
disappearing in a cloud of dust.

The dust clears. DANIEL lies beside his motor bike in the bush, opens
his eyes, looks at the gash on his arm for a moment, feels his body
for other wounds, stands, grimaces a little, rights his Harley, kick
starts it, drives off.

4 JASPER’S BEDROOM. DAY

Music and credits continue over JASPER, 9, bare-chested, wearing
jeans, pink wig, looking at herself in a mirror. The reflected image
reveals skinny legs, flat chest, spindly arms. In one hand ,a plastic
guitar. JASPER, lips liberally daubed with red lipstick, mimes music
emanating from a tape deck: JASPER playing at being an androgynous
rock star.

5 EXT. CLIFF FACE. DAY

Music and credits continue over a foot, in a rock-climbing shoe,
seeking out a cleft in the rock 20 feet from the ground.

DANIEL, ‘solo climbing’ (no ropes), clings to the face of a cliff –
his concentration intense. He releases one hand, dips it into a chalk
pouch at his waist, reaches up, his chalk-white fingers searching out
something he can grip. He finds a small rock extrusion, explores it
with his fingers, grips onto it. He releases one of his feet – moving
it to a small cleft on the rock face.

6 DINING ROOM. DAY

Music and credits continue over HELEN, mid 30’s, pretty, her blonde
streaked hair stylishly groomed, holding a framed photo. A white
leather lounge suite and large aquarium filled with exotic tropical
fish dominate the room. The table is neatly set for three. On it rests
an antique brass chafing dish and a bottle of Brandy. The walls are
adorned by framed black and white professionally taken family photos –
some of which include Helen as a late teen and early 20s model.

7 JASPER’S BEDROOM. DAY

Music and credits continue over JASPER putting on a training bra
stuffed with tissues. She looks in the mirror, adopts a ‘feminine’
stance; appraises the reflected image.

8 DINING ROOM. DAY

Music and credits continue over HELEN as she finishes hammering a stud
into the wall. She pauses for a moment to pay full attention to a
much-loved part of the concerto (the music over sourced to her CD
player) before resuming her hanging of a photo whose contents we do
not see. She lifts it and hangs it from the stud in the wall. The stud
gives way, the photo falls, disappears from frame. The sound of
shattering glass.

9 JASPER’S BEDROOM. DAY

JASPER wipes the lipstick from her lips, takes off the pink wig. Her
blonde hair falls below her shoulders. She picks up a pair of
scissors, looks at herself in the mirror.

10 INT. CAR. DAY

CLOSE ON a journal collage: a pressed flower, a caricature of a
smiling octopus, a post card of a green fern seedling curling up from
barren bushfire-burnt soil.

NEWS READER (radio)
…Another scorcher predicted for today…

HONEY, in the passenger seat, tries to find room on the page for a
photo of a happy mum, dad and daughter (not Honey). A battered blue
teddy bear, one arm missing, sits on the dash.

NEWS READER (radio)
… no relief in sight for the heat that…

HONEY reaches out to change the station. The driver, JOHN, late 40’s,
sips beer from a bottle, reaches out to stop her.

NEWS READER (radio)
…saw temperatures in the high 30s yesterday…

HONEY withdraws her hand for a moment. When JOHN withdraws his, she
reaches out quickly and changes to a music channel:

RADIO
“One day a near Selina Lord, I let him slip away…”

JOHN smiles, hands the bottle of beer to HONEY.

RADIO
“He's lookin' for that home, and I hope he finds it…”

As she takes a swig of beer, JOHN turns the music down.

RADIO
“But I'd trade all of my tomorrows for one single yesterday to be…”

HONEY reaches out and turns the music up again. JOHN holds his hands
up: “OK, you win.” HONEY smiles, returns to her journal.

RADIO
“…holdin' Bobby's body next to mine…”

11 EXT. OUTBACK ROAD. DAY

John’s beat up old blue Holden passes a sign: THANK YOU FOR VISITING
SOUTH AUSTRALIA. Singing over from the radio.

RADIO
“Freedom's just another word for nothing left to loose…”

12 CLIFF TOP. DAY

DANIEL, sweating, sits on top of the cliff looking out over a
mountains and valleys, oblivious to his bleeding arm. The only sounds:
the wind and occasional bird cries. He takes a cigarette packet from
his pocket, extracts a cigarette, holds it between his fingers, looks
at it closely for a moment, puts it in his mouth, draws on it, unlit.
He closes his eyes for a moment – imagining, remembering.

13 EXT. ROADSIDE CAFÉ. DAY

JOHN, in the drivers seat, hands a cheque book through the window to
HONEY, standing by the car. She is not happy. She glares at JOHN for a
moment, turns petulantly and walks towards the café. JOHN watches her,
takes out a cigarette.

14 INT. ROADSIDE CAFE. DAY

HONEY carries meat pies, a loaf of sliced white bread and assorted
junk food to the counter.

HONEY places a cheque on the counter. The PROPRIETRESS behind the
counter notices the bandage protruding from the sleeve, points to a
sign:  SORRY NO CHEQUES

PROPRIETRESS
Sorry dear!

HONEY
Dad’s wallet got stolen.

The PROPRIETRESS glances to where JOHN, in the background, can be seen
filling the car with petrol. She raises her eyebrows questioningly.
HONEY flashes an innocent young girl’s smile.

HONEY
Cross my heart and hope to die.

PROPRIETRESS (smiles)
Well I hope you don’t die, dear. Not for a long time yet.

15 INT. BATHROOM. DAY

HELEN stands in front of a three mirrored bathroom cabinet looking at
the cut on her finger, a band-aid in her hand. As she lifts her bloody
finger to put it in her mouth she looks at her reflection.
Dissatisfied with what she sees, she opens one of the mirror doors so
that she can see a reflection of her profile. She then reaches out to
move the third mirror so that she can see her other profile and
catches, in reflection:

JASPER, her hair cut crudely short. HELEN reacts with shock.

16 CLIFF TOP. DAY

DANIEL looks up, sees a bird hovering motionless in the wind. He
stares at the bird for a long moment.

Pull back to reveal DANIEL a small figure in a vast Blue Mountains landscape.

17 INT. ROADSIDE CAFE. DAY

HONEY standing in the doorway of the café, clutching her arm full of
food. The PROPRIETRESS looks at HONEY’S bandaged arm.

PROPRIETRESS
Does your mother know where you are?

In the background JOHN can be seen leaning against the car, smoking a
cigarette, his eyes HONEY.

HONEY
My mother’s dead.

PROPRIETRESS
Oh, I’m sorry dear. So it’s just you and your dad?

HONEY looks back towards JOHN, nods.

18 EXT. OUTBACK ROAD. DAY

The Holden is parked at the side of the road, boot open. John kneels,
unscrewing the number plate. HONEY sits closeby, cigarette in hand,
crying. JOHN shouts at her.

JOHN
For chrissakes, Catherine!

HONEY wipes tears from her eyes, puffs on her cigarette as JOHN screws
a new number plate in place, throws the ‘old’ number plates into the
boot, alongside another set of number plates, three DVD players, two
TVs, and other stolen goods.

19 EXT OLD FACTORY PARKING LOT. DAY

DANIEL rides his motor bike into the parking lot outside a renovated
factory. He parks beside a truck that has PITT ART SUPPLIES AND
FRAMING  written on the side of it.

DANIEL parks, moves fast to the entrance, trying to catch up with a
MAN pushing a trolley filled with large wooden packing cases. His
mobile rings. He takes it out of his pocket.

20 INT. FOYER. OLD FACTORY. DAY

DANIEL, mobile to his ear, walks into an upmarket complex of studios
for photographers and others involved in the  advertising and fashion
industries. He follows the trolley of packing cases.

DANIEL (on mobile)
I’m here…

DANIEL greets a slim TEEN MODEL with a smile as she and other MODELS
walk by. TRACY, early 30s, appears in a doorway up ahead, mobile to
her ear, opening the doors for the trolley.

DANIEL
Sorry, sorry, sorry…

TRACY shakes her head.

DANIEL
Traffic!

21 INT. PHOTOGRAPHIC STUDIO. DAY

From a high perspective, framed by colourful Indian cloth, DANIEL can
be seen following the trolley through the door into a large studio
space – the furniture and interior design of which bespeaks his
success as a commercial photographer.

TRACY
You’ve forgotten, haven’t you?

DANIEL looks across the studio to a glass-enclosed conference room in
which THREE ADVERTIZING EXECUTIVES sit at a table.

DANIEL grimaces, collects himself and starts to walk towards the
conference room. TRACY reaches out, stops him.

TRACY
Wait.

She takes his hands, looks at them. His fingers are stained with white
chalk dust. TRACY shakes her head, wets her fingers with her tongue,
wipes the chalk stains from his fingers. DANIEL submits to this
sheepishly. TRACY notices the wound on DANIEL’S arm, shakes her head.

22 INT. CAR. OUTBACK ROAD. DAY

HONEY sweats profusely. Her face is pale. JOHN drives on a deserted
outback road. HONEY looks at her shoulder. Her POV:

The Green Goblin, angry, sits on her shoulder. He points at her
accusingly, opens his mouth to speak. JOHN’S POV:

HONEY covers her ears, closes her eyes. There is no sign the Goblin.
HONEY opens her eyes, tries to flick the (now invisible) Goblin away.

JOHN looks at HONEY with concern.

JOHN
Katie!

JOHN takes a vial of pills from his pocket, hands them to HONEY. With
shaking hands she tips 10 or so pills into her hand. JOHN knocks them
from her hand.

JOHN
Three!

HONEY nods, picks up three tablets, throws them in her mouth. JOHN
hands her his can of beer. HONEY washes the pills down with a swig,
looks at her shoulder again – terrified.

23 INT. DANIEL’S STUDIO. CONFERENCE ROOM. DAY

DANIEL sits at the table with the THREE AD EXECUTIVES, a band aid on
his wound. Referring to the mock-up ad in front of him:

AD EXECUTIVE
We love this 100%…OK, 95%…it’s just…the girl…her smile…

DANIEL’S  attention is on the packing cases on the other side of the
studio. One has been unpacked and TRACY is looking at the framed
photos inside it.

AD EXECUTIVE
…perhaps there’s something you could do in photoshop to make her look…happier…

24 INT. CAR. OUTSIDE PUB. LATE AFTERNOON

HONEY sits in the blue Holden, outside a pub in an outback town,
sweating in the heat. She looks out the window at:

JOHN, in the beer garden – drinking and talking with TWO MEN.

HONEY picks up her fountain pen, mouthing words silently to herself as
she looks down at:

Her journal resting on her lap. Honey has started a new double-page
montage. There is a caricature of John, a photo of an octopus cut from
a magazine, an artist’s impression of Joan of Arc burning at the
stake, the photo of the mum, dad and daughter. Honey has written the
beginnings of a poem.

How much blood…

HONEY thinks for a moment, writes some more for a moment before looking back at:

JOHN regaling the TWO MEN with a story. They laugh appreciatively.
HONEY watches them for a moment. Her attention is caught by the family
sitting at an adjacent table:

The MOTHER, in her 30s, sits alongside the FATHER, in his 40s, her
head resting on his shoulder. They both look at their DAUGHTER, in her
mid-teens, standing closeby telling them an animated story. The MOTHER
and FATHER laugh. The MOTHER looks up at the FATHER lovingly. The
DAUGHTER glows with happiness as she registers her parents
appreciation of her story. The trio could be an advertisement for the
‘perfect family’.

25 EXT. DANIEL’S HOUSE. LATE AFTERNOON

DANIEL pulls up on his motor bike alongside a large SUV in the
driveway in front of a large timber home of modern design. JASPER runs
through the front door and down the path.

As DANIEL gets off his motor-bike he registers JASPER’S short hair
with shock. HELEN appears in the front doorway.

JASPER (excited)
Tell me you like it?

Before DANIEL has a chance to respond HELEN indicates with a shrug and
upheld hands that she had nothing to do with this.

DANIEL
I though we had an agreement.

JASPER
You and mum had an agreement!

DANIEL shakes his head. JASPER smiles seductively, holds out her arms.
DANIEL holds up his hands, walks past her, towards HELEN. JASPER pouts
for a moment but takes this in her stride.

26 INT. YOUNG HONEY’S BEDROOM. NIGHT

YOUNG HONEY, aged 9, lies awake in her bed cuddling a blue (two-armed)
teddy bear. There is fear in her eyes. She hears the door to her room
open, closes her eyes.

HONEY’S MOTHER, wearing a white night dress, walks in and kneels
beside Honey’s bed. She looks at her daughter, madness in her eyes,
reaches out, brushes hair from YOUNG HONEY’S neck, leans close to kiss
her neck, her face, her ears. Tears fill her crazed eyes.

JOHN  (voice off)
Fucken bullshit!

27 INT. CAR OUTSIDE PUB. LATE AFTERNOON

HONEY, asleep in the passenger seat, her journal in her lap wakens in
shock. JOHN, sitting in the driver’s seat, drunk, grabs the journal,
throws it out the window, starts the car.

HONEY (screams)
No!

28 EXT. CAR OUTSIDE PUB. LATE AFTERNOON

HONEY leaps out of the car in a panic as JOHN starts to drive off. As
she starts to pick up her broken journal and the photos, newspaper
clippings, pressed flowers etc, JOHN stops a little down the road.

As HONEY inspects her damaged journal JOHN backs up, pulls alongside
HONEY crouched at the side of the road.

JOHN
Get in.

HONEY shakes her head. JOHN leaps out, grabs HONEY, drags her to the
car, pushes her into the passenger’s seat.

29 INT. CAR OUTSIDE PUB. LATE AFTERNOON

HONEY flips through her journal as JOHN staggers around the back of
the car and falls into the driver’s seat. HONEY looks for something in
her journal but can’t find it.  She panics as JOHN starts the car,
pulls out onto the road.

HONEY (screams)
Stop.

30 EXT. CAR OUTSIDE PUB. LATE AFTERNOON

HONEY leaps from the car, runs back, looks for something but can’t
find it. And then she sees it, picks it up. It is the photo she had
thrown in the fire – its edges burnt.

31 INT. DINING ROOM. NIGHT

JASPER, face up close to the aquarium, purses her lips, kisses a
tropical fish on the other side of the glass as DANIEL, in the
background, pours kerosene into the burner at the base of the chafing
dish while HELEN moves first course dishes aside.

DANIEL
You want to look like a boy?

JASPER turns to face DANIEL - grins, nods.

JASPER
You and mum always wanted a boy.

DANIEL
Not a Tomboy.

DANIEL lights the burner under the chafing dish.

JASPER
Well, if you and mum make me a brother I’ll grow my hair and act like a girl.

HELEN (smiles)
Will you now?

HELEN pours Brandy from the bottle into a measuring cup as JASPER
walks up, dips her finger in a pot of honey, puts her finger in her
mouth.

HELEN
You washed your hands?

JASPER ignores HELEN as she pours the Brandy into the pan.

JASPER
Anyhow, it’s my hair!

DANIEL
Your mother just asked you a question!

JASPER
Yes, I’ve washed my hands… millions of times.

DANIEL
Jas, you asked if you could cut your hair. We said no. It’s…

JASPER
But it’s my hair and…

DANIEL
When you’re grown up you can decide…

JASPER
That’s discrimination

DANIEL
Jasper! How many times…?

JASPER
But dad…

HELEN
Hey, you two! I really do not want an argument right now…

The Brandy in the flambé pan is boiling now.

JASPER
When’s a good time for an argument, mum?

HELEN smiles, takes a long match from a box.

HELEN
How about 10.15 tomorrow?  I think! Have to check my diary.

JASPER laughs. HELEN strikes the match alight.

HELEN
You want honey or maple syrup?

JASPER
Both.

HELEN smiles as she lights the Brandy fumes. Flames leap up.

32 INT. MOTEL ROOM. NIGHT

JOHN, in underpants only, sits on a single bed watching TV as he
drinks from a longneck bottle of beer. He is very drunk.

HONEY, in jeans and shirt, sits on another bed, repairing her journal
with sticky tape. She secures the burnt photo: a mother with her young
daughter sitting in her lap. Alongside it another photo of an octopus
clinging to a rock underwater.

HONEY becomes aware that JOHN is standing beside her. She closes her
journal, clutches it to her protectively.

JOHN
Bedtime.

HONEY looks at him, scared. She shakes her head.

JOHN
Get into the fucken bed.

HONEY shakes her head. JOHN reaches out to grab her journal. HONEY
clutches it to her chest. JOHN grabs her. HONEY breaks away from him,
runs into the adjacent bathroom, stands under the shower recess,
clutching her journal to her, terrified.

JOHN staggers to the door, a large hunting knife in his hand.

JOHN
Get into the fucken bed.

HONEY shakes her head.

HONEY (crying)
I don’t care if you kill me.

JOHN holds the knife to his own throat.

JOHN
It’s me I’ll fucken kill!

JOHN moves runs the knife across his scrawny chest, draws blood. HONEY
watches, transfixed. He reaches forward, turns the shower tap on.
Water pours over HONEY, clutching her journal, trying to protect it
from the water.

HONEY walks from the shower like a zombie, past JOHN, into the
bedroom, wipes water from her journal, places it on the table, moves
to JOHN’S bed, lies on her back, stares at the ceiling. JOHN, knife at
his side, watches her, shakes his head.

JOHN
What the fuck!

JOHN staggers to the bed, flops alongside HONEY.

JOHN
Fucken bitch!

JOHN tries to get under the covers. Suddenly, HONEY turns to him,
grabs him, wraps her arms around him, holds him tight.

HONEY
I’m sorry.

JOHN pats her reassuringly: “It’s OK”.

LATER

HONEY lies on the bed staring at the ceiling, a ‘mad’ look in her
eyes, JOHN asleep beside her, snoring. She looks at her shoulder.
HONEY’S POV:

The Green Goblin smirks at her. HONEY tries to flick it away but her
hand passes right through it

A mad look in her eyes, HONEY swings her legs off the bed, flicks at
her shoulders to rid herself of the now invisible Goblin, stands,
looks back at John, sees the knife on the floor beside the bed, moves
over picks it up, grasps it tightly, looks with anger at JOHN’S
blotchy face. Her eyes blaze as her grip on the knife tightens.

...to be continued...