The Big Book of Hap and Leonard Read online

  PAGE FIVE

  Six Panels

  Panel One:

  INTERIOR CLASSROOM, DAY

  Big panel for establishing classroom and kids.

  No teacher is present yet. Blackboard. Desks. A globe of the world setting on it. Usual stuff. Pencils, notepads. Teacher supplies.

  The kids are all sitting in their desks. Jesse is in the front row wearing ragged clothes, and behind him is Hap, simply dressed. Nothing fancy, but not ragged.

  In a desk on Jesse’s right is a solid-looking fifth grader, already looking as if some day he’ll own a car dealership, have a gym membership, and have a mistress on the side and a fat pile of money. He’s got a flattop and he’s well-dressed for a fifth grader. This is JAMES.

  Behind James is a near carbon copy, a little smaller, red hair. This is Ronnie. He’s yukking it up over James’s remarks.

  Across from James there is a cute, blonde girl. This is MARILYN. She’s laughing as James delivers his line. If ever there was a wicked harpy in the making, she is it.

  JAMES

  Jesse, you steal those clothes off a drunk?

  SFX

  Giggles from Ronnie and Marilyn, or any sound effect for laughter you like.

  Panel Two:

  FRONT VIEW SHOT OF JESSE

  He’s the main focus, but to his right side (our left) we can see James, his mouth open.

  Jesse is sitting with his head hung, and we can see James thundering along with his abuse.

  JAMES

  I bet you sleep under the porch with the dog.

  Panel Three:

  INSERT CLOSE ON JESSE’S FEET.

  He has monogrammed socks. Cheap-looking with a big “S” on them.

  CAPTION

  Jesse’s secondhand socks especially drew James’s ire.

  Panel Four:

  James pointing at Jesse’s socks, his head thrown back in a laugh.

  JAMES

  What’s that “S” for, Jesse? Sardines? No, I know. Skunk?

  Panel Five:

  ON HAP

  He doesn’t look happy about what’s going on, yet he sits, closed mouth.

  CAPTION

  I didn’t like what they were doing to Jesse, but to my shame, I said nothing in his defense.

  Panel Six:

  ON JAMES as he touches Jesse’s shoulder with his ruler, as if knighting him.

  JAMES

  I dub you “Skunk.”

  PAGE SIX

  Five Panels Panel One:

  The teacher coming into the room. He’s a big jock-looking guy, but with a kind face. This is Mr. Waters.

  MR. WATERS

  James. Be quiet.

  CAPTION

  Our second-period teacher always took up for Jesse. He knew what was going on.

  Panel Two:

  WE SEE:

  Mr. Waters seated at his desk with a book cracked open, and his mouth is open as well, and he seems to be giving a lecture or commenting on something to do with the studies.

  And we see James passing a note back to Marilyn.

  Panel Three:

  INSERT NOTE AND MARILYN’S SMALL HANDS:

  We see what it says.

  I can smell Jesse from here.

  Panel Four:

  Marilyn leaning forward, holding her nose. This is at a cross-hatch angle, and we can see the red-headed kid in this scene as well, and he’s grinning.

  Panel Five:

  On Hap, looking disappointed in himself.

  CAPTION

  I should have said something. But they were the most popular kids in school, and I feared I might redirect their wrath from Jesse to me.

  PAGE SEVEN

  Six Panels

  Panel One:

  As they are leaving the classroom, filing out, Jesse is in front of Mr. Waters’s desk, walking with his head down.

  MR. WATERS

  I like your socks, Jesse. Monograms are a sign of sophistication. I need to get me some.

  Panel Two:

  Jesse in the hallway, Hap behind him.

  CAPTION

  Nice try on Mr. Waters’s part, bless him, but I think recognition of socks with a monogram that didn’t fit Jesse’s name only made him feel worse.

  Panel Three:

  ON THE PLAYGROUND

  James and Ronnie have Jesse on the ground, and James is kicking him while Ronnie is bending over him, punching him in the back of the head. Marilyn is watching, laughing, her pretty blonde head thrown back, giving some impression of the beautiful but mean-spirited human being she will grow up to be.

  CAPTION

  It was bad enough he got beatings at home for nothing, but now he was getting the same thing at school.

  Panel Four:

  Marilyn has turned her head to look at Hap while the beating continues in the background. She is smiling.

  Hap standing there, dumbstruck.

  CAPTION (1)

  Marilyn. She was so pretty. And I was so smitten.

  CAPTION (2)

  Goddamn me.

  Panel Five:

  ANOTHER ANGLE ON SCENE

  Now Marilyn and Hap are close together and both are laughing as Jesse continues to take a beating in the background.

  CAPTION

  For a moment I was no better than them. Like Jesse, I just wanted to belong.

  Panel Six:

  Ronnie has Jesse’s foot, and Jesse’s shoe is off, and James is peeling off the monogrammed sock. He has his head turned to show the smell is offensive.

  JAMES

  I’m going to put this in a jar of alcohol as a little souvenir of a skunk hunt.

  PAGE EIGHT

  Six Panels

  Panel One:

  Jesse is sitting on the ground, crying, putting his shoe on his bare foot. He’s looking over at Hap, who is standing with the others. They are all laughing, including Hap.

  Panel Two:

  Jesse walking home, one foot without a sock, bloody, with his books under his arm. Hap watching from a distance.

  CAPTION

  I began to distance myself from Jesse. I too began to see him as weird.

  Panel Three:

  CLASSROOM, ANOTHER DAY

  All the seats, viewed from the front of the room, over Mr. Waters’s shoulder. Everything is arranged the same. Except for Hap. He’s now sitting at a desk closer to Marilyn.

  CAPTION (1)

  I was too young to know what it was about her that stirred me. I just knew what I felt wasn’t a need to pee.

  CAPTION (2)

  It wouldn’t be the first time my dick steered me wrong, but it was the worst time.

  Panel Four:

  The kids are filing out the door. Hap is last in line. Mr. Waters is at his desk.

  MR. WATERS

  Hap. Stay a minute.

  Panel Five:

  Hap standing in front of Mr. Waters. They are the only ones in the classroom.

  MR. WATERS

  You and Jesse been friends since you were both knee-high to a grasshopper. He doesn’t need you joining in with those jackals.

  HAP

  Yes, sir.

  Panel Six:

  As Hap is going out the door, Waters, visible at his desk, calls out.

  MR. WATERS

  You’re better than that.

  CAPTION

  Only I wasn’t.

  PAGE NINE

  Four Panels

  Panel One:

  Hap inside his home, the curtain cracked, looking out at the street, and we can see Jesse over Hap’s shoulder, walking down the road past the house.

  CAPTION

  Jesse quit coming by the house. And I avoided him when I could.

  Panel Two:

  HALL OF HIGH SCHOOL, FEW YEARS LATER

  The kids are about seventeen in the following scenes.

  Hap is walking down the hall, books under his arm, and coming toward him is Jesse with his books. Jesse looks equally uncomfortable.

  CAPTION

  I saw
him at school now and then. But we seldom spoke. For me, he was fading into the background.

  Panel Three:

  CAFETERIA

  Jesse sitting at a table, alone, with his sack lunch. Across the way at a table with others, including the bullies, sits Hap. He’s looking at Jesse, but Jesse doesn’t see him.

  CAPTION(1)

  Jesse couldn’t afford school lunches. He brought his, when he had it to bring.

  CAPTION (2)

  A can of sardines or sausages, some crackers. All of it he ate with his fingers.

  Panel Four:

  Fairly large panel so we can take in the budding sex bomb that is Marilyn.

  CAPTION

  Marilyn went from being a mean little kid—

  MOMENTS LATER, SAME SCENE

  Marilyn with her tray of cafeteria food, a carton of milk, and she’s in mid-model stride.

  Marilyn, older now, a real knockout in a mini-skirt so tight that if it had a pocket and there was a coin in it, you could read the writing on it. She has long, blonde hair, great cheekbones, and full lips. She looks like the kind of girl that would make you set fire to the pope and throw your wife into the flames after him. She’s walking toward Jesse’s table. She is smiling in a friendly way.

  PAGE TEN

  Five Panels

  Panel One:

  FULL PANEL ON JESSE’S FACE

  He’s staring at Marilyn, and we can see her reflection in his wide eyes. His skin is popped with sweat. He looks as if he could shit a high chair with a baby in it.

  CAPTION

  —to being an entitled, mean-spirited—

  Panel Two:

  Jesse stands, and we’ll catch him in mid-stand, slightly bent as he comes to his feet. Marilyn is also in view, very close to his table, smiling wickedly, as if she’s about to drop her panties right then and there and bend over a chair.

  CAPTION

  —devil with the face and body of an angel.

  Panel Three:

  Jesse pulling out a chair for Marilyn. He’s hopeful she’s going to sit with him, and it looks as if that is exactly what she is about to do.

  CAPTION

  When she spoke, it was loud, for all to hear.

  MARILYN

  Are you kidding? I just wanted to see what a loser eats for lunch. I thought it might be roadkill.

  Panel Four:

  WIDE VIEW OF CAFETERIA

  All the kids are laughing as Marilyn, still carrying her tray, is walking away from Jesse’s table, our view being her back and that marvelous ass. Her head is turned toward the table where Hap and the two bullies sit, and we can see her smiling her killer smile. Jesse is still standing, still feeling the insult.

  SFX

  Ha, ha, ha, or whatever sound effects you feel are appropriate for a room full of mean laughter.

  Panel Five:

  Jesse, red-faced, is leaving the cafeteria with his sack, his head hung.

  PAGE ELEVEN

  Four Panels

  Panel One:

  EXTERIOR HIGH SCHOOL

  Jesse outside the school, sitting on the curb eating his lunch.

  CAPTION

  After that, Jesse ate his lunches alone.

  Panel Two:

  INTERIOR HIGH SCHOOL, HALLWAY

  Jesse coming down the hallway, and everyone in the hall, including Marilyn, Ronnie, and James, have turned their backs to Jesse. He is walking silently right behind them. Hap is not present in this shot.

  CAPTION (1)

  The wicked trio came up with a new plan to torment Jesse. They decided to treat him like a ghost.

  CAPTION (2)

  Word was spread that when he was present, he was to be ignored. That if he spoke, no one was to respond.

  Panel Three:

  DAY, STREET IN FRONT OF THE PICTURE SHOW

  Hap in the driver’s seat of a tan Impala. He has the window down and he’s looking at Jesse walking on the sidewalk in front of a movie theater with a marquee that announces the current film. ROSEMARY’S BABY.

  CAPTION (1)

  I had had enough.

  HAP

  Hey, Jesse.

  CAPTION (2)

  I decided not to continue with that trio’s meanness. But me and Jesse didn’t go back to being friends as before.

  Panel Four:

  Jesse is so happy to be acknowledged, he’s stopped walking, and is smiling awkwardly and raising his hand in a friendly wave as Hap drives away in his Impala.

  CAPTION

  Still, I was done with that bullshit.

  PAGE TWELVE

  Five Panels

  Panel One:

  THE SCHOOL CAFETERIA

  Hap is standing in the lunch line with a lot of other teenagers, holding an empty tray, waiting to pick up his food. Behind him, coming through the door from a hallway, we see Jesse entering, carrying his sack.

  Panel Two:

  Jesse passing Hap, as Hap turns to look at him.

  HAP

  Hey, Jesse.

  Panel Three:

  Jesse has stopped and turned toward Hap. The look on Jesse’s face is serene.

  JESSE

  Hi, Hap.

  Panel Four:

  CENTER OF CAFETERIA

  At a table, sitting together, our trio of bullies, Marilyn, James, and Ronnie. They are all sitting with their lunches. Jesse is walking directly toward them. Marilyn is really looking good this day, at her devastating, mini-skirt best, her long legs crossed.

  Panel Five:

  ANOTHER ANGLE, JESSE’S POINT OF VIEW

  Jesse has his back to us, but at an angle, so we can see part of his face, and we can see his hand reaching into his lunch sack. He’s standing right by the trio’s table, in front of an empty chair.

  The trio is looking up at him with a “what the hell?” attitude.

  CAPTION

  In that moment, Marilyn dropped their code of silence toward Jesse.N

  MARILYN

  Kind of lost, aren’t you, Skunk?

  PAGE THIRTEEN

  Six Panels

  Panel One:

  Jesse has pulled a revolver from his sack. Marilyn has jumped to her feet, and we can see her chair tipping over backward behind her.

  JESSE

  My name is Jesse.

  Panel Two:

  Gunfire in Marilyn’s face. A little blast of light and smoke.

  Panel Three:

  James, still in his chair, his mouth open in surprise, as he takes a full blast in the chest.

  Panel Four:

  Front view of Ronnie running toward us, but his hands are thrown out and we can see his chest bursting open as a bullet exits, and in the background we see Jesse pointing the revolver at him, a thin smile on his face.

  JESSE

  Bingo.

  Panel Five:

  CAFETERIA

  Teenagers running in all directions, but in the center, calm as a fence post, is Jesse, walking, the revolver by his side.

  Panel Six:

  Hap is standing by himself, the tray dangling in his hand by his side, and Jesse is walking right up to him.

  JESSE

  Bye, Hap.

  CAPTION

  I don’t know for sure how I found my voice, but when I did, it seemed to be coming from some place cold and far away.

  HAP

  Bye, Jesse.

  PAGE FOURTEEN

  Six Panels

  Panel One:

  Jesse exiting the cafeteria, entering into the hallway. Behind him, viewed through the door, but still in the cafeteria, Hap is following.

  CAPTION

  I can’t explain it, but I walked out after him.

  Panel Two:

  IN THE HALLWAY

  Jesse, and coming down the hall is the teacher Mr. Waters.

  MR. WATERS

  Jesse. What have you done, son?

  Panel Three:

  We are looking down Jesse’s gun arm as he fires at Mr. Waters, who is taking the shot in the head and lu
rching backward from it.

  CAPTION

  I guess Mr. Waters was just in the way. Wrong place, wrong moment.

  Panel Four:

  VIEWED OVER HAP’S SHOULDER AS HE STEPS INTO THE HALLWAY

  At one end of the hall are two glass doors, and Jesse is using one hand to push one of them open. The revolver dangles in the other hand.

  CAPTION

  I think I knew what was about to happen. It might have been for the best.

  Panel Five:

  CLOSER ON JESSE As the glass door is closing behind him. We see him through the glass as he places the gun to his head and is pulling the trigger.

  SFX

  BLAM!

  CAPTION

  His head jumped to the right a little, and then he fell.

  Panel Six:

  Jesse lying on the ground, a crowd around him that includes Hap. There’s one boy in the crowd leaning over Jesse, looking down on him.

  BOY

  What got into Skunk?

  PAGE FIFTEEN

  Five Panels.

  Panel One:

  Hap has angrily grabbed the boy by the shirt.

  HAP

  Don’t call him that. Don’t ever call him that.

  Panel Two:

  LATER THAT DAY

  CAPTION (1)

  When they went out to tell his parents what had happened . . . that Jesse was dead . . .

  Sheriff’s car pulling up in front of Jesse’s home, the hovel.

  CAPTION (2)

  . . . that Marilyn was disfigured, James was dead, and Ronnie was paralyzed from the waist down . . .

  Panel Three:

  IN THE YARD

  Sheriff and a deputy looking down at a dead dog in the yard.

  CAPTION

  . . . they found the family dog dead in the yard. I figured Jesse didn’t want him to go hungry.

  Panel Four:

  INTERIOR SHACK, BEDROOM

  Jesse’s parents lying on their backs, with their heads missing for the most part. They are just holes where bullets have gone through them. There is something lying across the old man’s chest.

  CAPTION

  They discovered Jesse’s parents on the bed where he had shot them in the face, numerous times.