INT. THE LIVING ROOM - FULL SHOT
Lydia is hovering near the radio. Cathy is sitting on a
footstool. The windows are boarded, and the lights in the
room are on. A tremendous amount of static is coming from
the radio as Mitch and Melanie join them
LYDIA
I can't get any of the local stations.
I think this is San Francisco.
ANNOUNCER
...would include formulation of a
central financing committee to handle
credit and to allocate responsibility
for the various facets of the project.
A vote on the motion is expected
early tomorrow morning.
TWO SHOT - MELANIE AND MITCH
listening.
ANNOUNCER
Continuing with the local news, police
are still investigating the series
of valuable jade burglaries in the
Chinatown area. The round-up of known
criminals has not as yet produced a
suspect, but Commissioner Nelson
said today he was certain the
burglaries were quote linked and the
work of the team of professionals
unquote.
(pause)
In Bodega Bay early this morning, a
large flock of crows attacked a group
of children who were leaving the
school during a fire drill. One little
girl was seriously injured and taken
to the hospital in Santa Rosa, but
the majority of children reached
safety in the town.
(pause)
On the national scene today, the
opening of the new session of Congress
was marked by a State of the Union
address that...
MITCH
Is that all?
ANNOUNCER (O.S.)
...drew a standing ovation for the
President. The Chief Executive, in
discussing our relation to Europe
and the rest of the world community
said: "These various elements of our
foreign policy lead as I have said
to a single goal --
MITCH
(sighing)
We're going to need more wood for
the fire. We can't let it go out.
ANNOUNCER
(continuing as drone
in background)
The goal of a peaceful world of free
and independent states. This is our
guide for the present and our vision
for the future -- a free community
of nations, independent but
interdependent, uniting north and
south, east and west, in one great
family of man, outgrowing and
transcending the hates and fears
that rend our age. We will not reach
that goal today or tomorrow. We may
not reach it in our lifetime. But
the quest is the great adventure of
our century. We sometimes chafe at
the burdens of our obligations, the
complexity of our decisions, the
agony of our choices, but there is
no comfort or security for us in
evasion, no solution in abdication,
no relief in irresponsibility.
(pause)
In assuming the tasks of the
Presidency, I said that few
generations, in all history, had
been granted the role of being the
great defender of freedom in its
hour of maximum danger. This is our
good fortune, and I welcome it now
as I did when I first took office.
(pause)
For it is the fate of this generation --
Of you in the Congress and of me as
President -- to live with a struggle
we did not start, in a world we did -
not make. But the pressures of life
are not always distributed by choice.
And while no nation has ever faced
such a challenge, no nation has ever
been ready to seize the burden and
the glory of...
LYDIA
(pause)
Did you you get the windows in the
attic, Mitch?
MITCH
I got them all, Mother.
LYDIA
When do you think they'll come?
MITCH
I don't know.
LYDIA
If there are... larger birds, Mitch...
they'll get into the house.
MITCH
That's a chance we have to take.
LYDIA
Maybe we ought to leave.
MITCH
Not now. Not while they're massing
out there.
LYDIA
When?
MITCH
I don't know when. We'll see what...
LYDIA
Where will we go?
MITCH
I don't know yet. I think we'll be
safe here.
(Pause)
Let's bring that wood in.
LYDIA
What happens when we run out of wood?
Music begins to play. The music is sweet, with violins and
long piano arpeggios, almost too much to bear against the
tension being played in front of it.
MITCH
I don't know. We'll break up the
furni...
LYDIA
(shouting)
You don't know, you don't know!
When will you know? When we're all
dead? Like Annie?
CATHY
(shrieking it, her
face white)
Mother!
LYDIA
(at Mitch)
If your father were here...
MITCH
(sharply)
Mother! I'm trying my best!
(shaking his head)
I'm... trying... my...
LYDIA
(trembling, nodding)
I'm sorry, Mitch.
CLOSE SHOT - MITCH
the strain showing on his face. He nods briefly.
MITCH
Let's get the wood. Why don't you
make us all some coffee, Mother?
FULL SHOT - HOUSE
as Melanie and Mitch come out and head for the pile of wood.
There is a NOISE in the sky. Startled, glancing upward, they
begin to run back toward the house and then stop and slowly
scan the sky.
FULL SHOT - ENORMOUS FLOCK OF BIRDS
flying in tight formation.
TWO SHOT - MELANIE AND MITCH
MELANIE
Where are they heading?
MITCH
Inland.
MELANIE
Santa Rosa?
MITCH
Maybe.
CLOSE SHOT - MELANIE
watching the birds. A look of utter sadness crosses her face.
It is clear that she is thinking the birds will reach Santa
Rosa, and eventually San Francisco as well.
MITCH (O.S.)
(gently)
Come on. Let's get this wood in.
Melanie nods. But the look of sadness stays on her face, and
her eyes remain on the sky.
DISSOLVE
FULL SHOT - THE LIVING ROOM
Lydia is pouring coffee into cups. In the dining room, we
can HEAR the CHATTER of the lovebirds. As Lydia pours the
sound distracts her. Cathy is sorting candles at the couch.
There is evidence of preparation everywhere: flashlights,
kerosene lamps, a butane burner. Mitch is at the fireplace
putting more wood on the fire. Melanie comes into the room
and dumps another load.
MELANIE
That's the last of it.
LYDIA
Did you close the door?
MELANIE
And locked it.
CATHY
Mitch, can I bring the lovebirds in
here?
LYDIA
(snapping it)
No!
CATHY
Mom, they're in a cage!
LYDIA
They're birds!
CLOSE SHOT - MITCH
studying his mother, realizing how close she is to breaking.
MITCH
(softly)
Let them stay in the other room.
CLOSE SHOT - LYDIA
her hand trembling as she pours the coffee.
FULL SHOT - THE ROOM
as they all sit and accept their coffee. The room is silent
except for the CRACKLE of the fire. Mitch rises to put more
wood on the fire. In the dining room, the lovebirds still
are CHATTERING wildly. Their chirping is the only sound in
the house.
CATHY
Mitch? Why are they doing this? The
birds.
MITCH
(putting wood on fire)
I don't know, honey.
CATHY
Why are they trying to kill people?
MITCH
I wish I could say. But if I could
answer that, I could also tell you
why people are trying to kill people.
The room is silent again except for the TWEETING of the
lovebirds offscreen. And then, suddenly, the lovebirds fall
silent.
CLOSE SHOT - CATHY
turning to look toward the other room, her face going white,
her eyes widening.
CLOSE SHOT - MELANIE
waiting.
CLOSE SHOT - LYDIA
waiting.
CLOSE SHOT - MITCH
waiting.
FULL SHOT - THE ROOM
dead silent now. Each of them is sitting on the edges of
their chairs, waiting. There is the SUDDEN SOUND of
splintering glass.
LYDIA
Mitch...
MITCH
Shhh. Shhh.
Silence. Into the silence, another pane of glass, SHATTERING,
the THUD of a bird against the boards. Silence. More panes
of glass SHATTERING. The SOUND of birds striking the boards
and the outside of the house begins building, almost like
muffled drumbeats. THUD, THUD, with an irregularity of rhythm.
Interspersed, like the counterpoint in an alien orchestration,
is the FLUTTER of wings. And then, like another section
entering, we begin to hear the SCRATCHING and CLAWING at the
roof.
CLOSE SHOT - LYDIA
looking up toward the roof, the SOUND getting louder. She
squeezes her eyes shut.
TWO SHOT - CATHY AND MELANIE
as the child cuddles up into her arms. Over the other sounds,
there comes a NEW SOUND, the unmistakable rat-tat-tat-tattat
of a woodpecker. It stops. It begins again. Rat-tat-tat tattat-
tat. Tat-
CATHY
(in terror)
I'm... I'm sick, Melanie. I want.. I
want to throw...
Her face pale, she rises suddenly and starts for the bathroom.
MELANIE
I'll go with you.
They leave the room. Mitch and Lydia sit in silence. We HEAR
Cathy retching offscreen, almost drowned out by the shuffling
of wings and the rasping of claws, the incessant thudding of
birds striking the house.
FULL SHOT - THE ROOM
Mitch rises and puts more wood on the fire. The SOUND of the
birds is still everywhere around the house. He looks at his
watch. He rises, walks into the kitchen to check the back
door. It seems all right. The CAMERA FOLLOWS him into the
dining room. He stops at the cage with the lovebirds.
CLOSE SHOT - THE LOVEBIRDS
watching him. Is there menace or innocence in their eyes?
He cannot tell.
CLOSE SHOT - MITCH
looking at the lovebirds in puzzlement. There is suddenly a
NEW SOUND offscreen, the splintering of wood, the tearing
sound of bigger beaks. Alarmed, he turns.
MED. SHOT - MITCH
coming into the entry hall.
CLOSE SHOT - THE FRONT DOOR
The wood is beginning to splinter as the bigger birds outside
assail the door.
FULL SHOT - MITCH
turning quickly, the CAMERA FOLLOWING him into the dining
room. He pulls the cloth off the table, begins moving it
toward the door. In the entry, he lifts the table on end and
piles it against the door. He goes into the kitchen again,
CAMERA FOLLOWING. He upends the enamel-topped table, drags
it to the back door. He is piling chairs against the table
when Melanie COMES IN. She looks at what he is doing with
alarm. Mitch looks in the direction of where his mother is
and then back to Melanie, with an expression almost of
desperation. Both turn back to the barricaded door. The
CLAWING and the PECKING fills the void. The noise is a din
now, insidious and increasingly more frightening.
MELANIE
When will they stop?
MITCH
I thought they'd have stopped by
now.
MELANIE
What time is it?
MITCH
Almost two a.m.
MELANIE
You must be exhausted.
MITCH
How about you?
She shakes her head. They both move into the dining room,
the CAMERA FOLLOWING THEM. The lovebirds are sitting in their
cage, close together, silent. Mitch picks up a chair, ready
to carry it to the front door. He hesitates, puts down the
chair, goes to the cage.
CLOSE SHOT - MITCH
looking at the birds, wondering.
CLOSE SHOT - THE BIRDS
looking back at him. Again, it is impossible to read their
expressions. Malice or benevolence?
MED. SHOT - MITCH
He raises his hand, brings it toward the bars of the cage.
CLOSE SHOT - THE BIRDS
watching, unmoving.
CLOSE SHOT - MITCH'S FINGER
as he thrusts it through the bars. The birds sit unmoving.
One of them tweets.
TWO SHOT - MELANIE AND MITCH
MITCH
I wonder if Cathy fed them.
He turns away from her, goes to the cupboard, opens the door,
takes out a small box of bird feed.
CLOSE SHOT - THE CAGE
as his hand approaches the door. The birds are watching him.
His hand hesitates. Then his thumb and forefinger lift the
small catch on the cage door. His fingers open the door.
Cautiously, in TIGHT CLOSEUP, his hand goes into the cage.
The birds sit and watch. One of them tweets. He removes the
small feeding tray, puts the bird seed into it, replaces it
in the cage. The birds hesitate another moment. Then,
tweeting, they begin to eat.
FULL SHOT - THE DINING ROOM
as Mitch closes the door to the cage. Melanie is slumped
against the wall. He goes to her and takes her in his arms.
Wearily, she raises her head. The SOUND of the shuffling,
pecking, clawing birds is everywhere around them.
MITCH
(holding her)
You should have left when you wanted
to.
She shakes her head.
MITCH
You'd have been safe in San Francisco.
MELANIE
I don't want to be safe. I want to
be with you.
There is something pathetically comic about her voice, like
a small child's, confused but defiant. Holding her close,
Mitch laughs, and she laughs with him. Exhausted, they stand
in each other's arms, laughing in that weary, silly, dead of
night sort of way. And suddenly... The lights go out.
MITCH
(in the darkness)
The power.
MELANIE
Mitch...
MITCH
Wait here. Don't move.
The screen is totally black for perhaps five seconds. In the
blackness, we HEAR the birds clawing and ripping, and the
SOUND is enormously MAGNIFIED. A flashlight suddenly goes
on.
TWO SHOT - MELANIE AND MITCH
as he comes to her with the flash. We see them only dimly as
he directs the beam upwards.
MITCH
We'd better light some of those lamps.
MELANIE
No... wait.
(pause)
Hold me.
In the near darkness, we see them embrace and kiss. It is
almost black in the room except for the strange effect of
the flashlight as he holds it behind her.
MITCH
I think they're easing off.
DISSOLVE
