Stephen Metcalfe - Writer and Director

Veil on the Water is based on the stageplay, VIKINGS.

V E I L O N T H E W A T E R

CREDITS BEGINS - EXT. A BACK ROAD - NIGHT
A battered pick-up truck, engine laboring, comes swerving up the road. It veers across the center line and then jerks back. It cruises into the bushes and long grass alongside the road. It careens back to the middle of the road. Headlights approach from the opposite direction. The pick-up seems aimed at the oncoming car. There is the screech of tires and the blare of horns as the pick-up swerves at the last minute, barely missing the oncoming car. The driver of the pick-up sticks his head out the window and yells angrily.
DRIVER
Whereja learn t’ drive!?
The pick-up truck swerves up onto someone’s lawn, fishtails and makes it back onto the road barely missing a picket fence. It roars on.
THE PICK-UP
comes flying up the road. It takes a sudden turn into a driveway - takes it much too fast - and the rear end of the truck sends the two metal trash cans at the end of the driveway flying.
The driver doesn’t stop but accelerates up the long, gravel packed driveway in a cloud of dust and thrown stone.
EXT. THE HOUSE - NIGHT
The truck roars up and brakes to a skidding stop, barely missing a crash into the closed garage doors.
The driver pushes open the truck door... and falls out of the truck. He staggers to his feet. He is drunk.
PETER LARSEN is a strong looking man in his early forties. He is very tan from working out of doors. He stands a moment to get his bearings... he starts walking... and immediately falls over a small hedge.
THE SIDE OF THE HOUSE
is on a slope. There is a walk leading up towards a deck and a back door. Peter comes around the corner of the house and up the lawn. He mumbles a steady stream of profanity as he goes. The grass slippery with dew and Peter slips and falls flat on his face. Cursing, he rises and staggering on, climbs the stairs to the deck.
ON THE DECK
Peter tries to pull open the door. It is locked. He shakes it, furious. He searches in his pocket for keys. No fucking keys. Outraged, he throws himself at the door. The door is, of course, open and he hurtles through. There is the sound of him crashing into something and falling.
THE HOUSE
is quiet, peaceful, almost pristine in the moonlight. There is the sudden sound of someone falling over furniture - CRASH!
A light now goes on in a room on the first floor - YEN’S room. A light goes on in a room on the second floor of the house - GREGORY’S room. And then:
PETER (V.O.)
Everybody go the fuck back to bed!
The lights go out... one... two.
EXT. THE HOUSE -
IN A SERIES OF CROSSFADES -
Night moves towards dawn. Moonlight gives way to sunshine. In the light of morning the house we see suggests craft and workmanship. It is a beautiful house; simple, yet elegant. The grounds are beautifully maintained. Sunlight touches painted shutter, warms the red brick of the chimney. Birds begin to twitter through the trees in the yard. It is the beginning of a summer day.
IN THE HOUSE -
Sun light fills the kitchen...
The study...
The light plays across the living room rug. A table lies overturned on the floor near the stairway. The lamp that was on the table is on the floor in pieces. A stained-glass skylight turns the wall by the stairway into a rainbow.
CREDITS ENDS AS - INT. HOUSE - BEDROOM - MORNING
A gnarled, wrinkled, very strong looking hand reaches out and hits a switch on a stereo. The house is suddenly filled with music - waltzes.
IN A SERIES OF FAST CUTS -
STEREO SPEAKERS are everywhere throughout the house. The music blasts.
INT. A BEDROOM - MORNING
Under a messy pile of sheets, a blanket and pillows, there seems to be a dead body. The sound of waltzes echoes through the walls. The body thrashes. Then tosses. Then moans. Then bolts up from underneath the sheets and pillows. It is Peter and he is horribly hung over.
PETER
Yennnnns!!!
The music continues.
INT. YENS’S ROOM - MORNING
An old, regal-looking Great Dane lies next to a bed. The dog’s name is LOKI.
PETER (O.C.)
(from upstairs)
Turn that shit off!
That wrinkled hand reaches out to scratch Loki’s ears.
YENS (O.C.)
He’s up.
Loki thumps his tail against the floor in appreciation.
INT. THE HOUSE - MORNING
The remains of the shattered lamp are swept into a dustpan. GREGORY LARSEN rises and walks from the living room into the kitchen. He’s 19, with the same strong frame as his father.
IN THE KITCHEN
Loki is eating from his bowl. Gregory kneels and pats him.
GREGORY
Is that good? Yeah. Good Loki.
He rises, goes to the wastebasket to dump the dustpan.
IN THE FOYER
Peter comes slowly down the stairs. He is now dressed. Every step hurts. He turns at the bottom of the stairs and heads toward the kitchen.
IN THE KITCHEN -
Gregory looks up as Peter enters the kitchen. A moment as they look at one another. Gregory breaks it off by moving to put the broom and dustpan away.
There is a bottle of aspirin on the kitchen table. Peter dumps some into his hand, throws them in his mouth and chews them like candy. There’s a cup of coffee on the kitchen table.
PETER
Is that mine?
GREGORY
If you want it.
Peter picks it up; sips. And grimaces.
PETER
There’s no sugar in it.
GREGORY
Sugar’s no good for you.
PETER
Who says?
GREGORY
You do.
PETER
When did I say that?
GREGORY
The other night.
(a beat)
When you were drunk.
A beat. Peter reaches for - CLOSE ON - the sugar bowl. Peter dumps two spoonfuls of sugar into his cup.
GUNNER
Your funeral.
Peter just glares. Gregory turns and goes outside. Peter sips his coffee. Better.
PETER
I must of been drunk.
EXT. THE HOUSE - THE DECK - DAY
Gregory is sitting at the deck table. Peter comes out on to the deck carrying his cup of coffee. He squints painfully as the light assaults his eyes.
GREGORY
You want something to eat.
Peter shakes his head.
GREGORY (cont’d)
A muffin?
PETER
No.
GREGORY
Bacon and eggs?
PETER
Christ, no.
GREGORY
French toast.
PETER
I don’t eat breakfast, Gregory.
GREGORY
...used to.
Peter grunts in disgust, turns and goes back into the house. Gregory sits there a moment, thinking of something else.
INT. THE KITCHEN - DAY
Peter throws his coffee out into the sink. He stands a moment, feeling really awful. He looks to see if Gregory is coming back in. And then he opens a cupboard, takes out a bottle of Meyer’s Rum and fires a fast one down right from the bottle. He grimaces.
ON THE PORCH
Gregory rises, moves to the door.
IN THE KITCHEN
Peter, fumbling, quickly puts the bottle away - into the wrong cupboard - closing it just as Gregory enters. Gregory stares suspiciously. Peter moves to the kitchen table, sits and lights a cigarette.
PETER
He up yet?
Gregory takes his cup to the sink; washes it.
GREGORY
His door’s open. He’ll come out when he’s ready.
Gregory dries the cup, puts it away. And sees the bottle of rum. He takes it down. Peter stares as he puts it back where it belongs. And then Gregory turns and walks out of the kitchen. A moment. Peter sighs and sips his coffee.
INT. THE GARAGE - DAY
The garage is filled with sudden light as Gregory raises the garage door. He picks up one of several large wood tool boxes and carries it to the bed of the pick-up truck. He hoists it up and in. He looks back towards the house.
GREGORY
(calling)
We’re gonna be late!
INT. THE KITCHEN - DAY
Peter is sitting at the kitchen table, smoking and drinking more coffee. Gregory appears in the doorway to the deck.
GREGORY
We’re gonna be late.
PETER
Is the truck loaded?
GREGORY
No.
PETER
Then you’re gonna load it and I’m gonna sit here till you’re finished. Then we’ll go.
There is the sudden sound of a door closing. Both of them freeze, almost guilty and look towards Yens’s room.
YENS’S BEDROOM
is on the first floor of the house, down the hall from the kitchen.
ANGLE ON - The bottom of an aluminum walker. The shoes and pants of the man using the walker. The man moves slowly. He carefully plants the rear legs of his walker, walks two steps, then places the front legs of the walker down so that he stands steady. He repeats. Click - shuffle - bump.
IN THE KITCHEN
Peter and Gregory quietly and uncomfortably listen to the sound of the man in the walker making his way down the hall.
LOKI pads into the kitchen as if he’s the scout for the coming army. The dog whines, disturbed by the sound of the walker. Peter and Gregory are motionless, not looking at one another. The sound of the walker stops.
REVERSE ANGLE - It is YENS. Yens is in his mid to late sixties. He too is a powerful looking man but one who has been fighting a lengthy illness. He has a wonderfully thick moustache, and clear eyes. He stands ramrod straight in the walker. He glares at Peter and Gregory...