Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri Read online

  WILLOUGHBY

  This month you are. How about when …

  Willoughby suddenly lets out a short sharp cough which spurts a spray of blood that hits Mildred in the face, wholly by accident. Horrified, shaking, Willoughby tries to wipe her face with a handkerchief, Mildred almost in tears at his embarrassment.

  WILLOUGHBY

  I didn’t mean to …

  MILDRED

  I know …

  WILLOUGHBY

  It was an accident …

  MILDRED

  I know, baby.

  WILLOUGHBY

  It’s blood.

  They’re both in tears, and there’s a desperation in his eyes, as he sits there shaking.

  MILDRED

  I’ll go get somebody …

  She rushes out the door.

  EXT. POLICE STATION – DAY

  Willoughby is gurneyed into an ambulance past townspeople, Dixon beside him.

  WILLOUGHBY

  Just let her go.

  Dixon rolls his eyes.

  Just let her go!

  Dixon nods as the ambulance doors close.

  INT. CAR – DUSK

  Mildred driving Robbie home from school.

  ROBBIE

  Do birds get cancer?

  MILDRED

  Huh?

  ROBBIE

  Birds. Do they get cancer?

  MILDRED

  I don’t know. Dogs do.

  ROBBIE

  Yeah, well, I wasn’t talking about dogs, was I?

  The car turns on to the billboard road.

  Great, the good ole ‘Raped While Dying’ route home. Cos if there was two seconds in a day when I didn’t think about her, and wasn’t thinking about how she died, ‘There ya go, Robbie, think about it some more, why don’t ya?’ It’s good, too, that as much as a person might’ve tried to avoid the details of what happened, cos he didn’t think it’d do any good, and he didn’t think he could bear it, it’s also good to be informed in twenty-foot-high lettering, and a real nice font, the precise details of her last moments, y’know? That it wasn’t enough that she was raped, and it wasn’t enough that she died, no. ‘Raped While Dying’. Thank you, Mom.

  MILDRED

  I gave you the police reports …

  ROBBIE

  I didn’t read ’em! I’m depressed enough as it fucking is!

  INT. MILDRED’S HOUSE – NIGHT

  Robbie slams into his room, leaving Mildred alone and quiet. She goes into Angela’s room, sits on the bed a while.

  ANGELA

  (off screen)

  Mom?

  MILDRED

  (off screen)

  Yeah?

  INT. MILDRED’S HOUSE, KITCHEN – DAY

  Flashback. It’s ten months ago. Mildred washing dishes. Robbie drawing, Angela dressed to go out.

  ANGELA

  You ain’t going out again tonight, are ya?

  MILDRED

  Denise said we might get us a coupla drinks later, yeah. angela

  Denise gonna be driving ya?

  MILDRED

  Angela, why don’t you just ask me if you can borrow the car?

  ANGELA

  Can I borrow the car?

  MILDRED

  No.

  ANGELA

  Bitch!

  MILDRED

  But I’ll give you money for a taxi if you ask me nice and don’t call me a bitch.

  ANGELA

  Why did you make me ask you borrow it if you was never gonna let me borrow it?

  MILDRED

  Cos it was funny. And cos you’ve been smoking pot all day.

  ANGELA

  You are such a hypocrite!

  MILDRED

  ‘Hypocrite’, how?

  ANGELA

  You drove drunk with us in the car when we was kids.

  MILDRED

  What are you talking about?

  ANGELA

  Daddy told me.

  MILDRED

  (pause)

  When did you see him?

  ANGELA

  I see him all the time, don’t change the subject. Did you or did you not drive drunk with us in the car when we was kids?

  MILDRED

  Once, maybe …

  ANGELA

  Oh, ‘once’, okay …

  MILDRED

  When he was in the middle of beating the shit out of me …

  ANGELA

  Which we’ve only got your word about, right?

  ROBBIE

  For Christ’s sake, Angela …

  ANGELA

  Oh, why are you never on my side, Robbie?

  ROBBIE

  I’m always on your side when you’re not being a cunt.

  ANGELA

  Hey!

  MILDRED

  (same time)

  Hey …! There’ll be no more ‘cunts’ in this house, you got that, mister?

  ROBBIE

  What, are you moving out?

  Both women glare at him.

  It was a gag!

  ANGELA

  So are ya gonna let me borrow the car or what?

  MILDRED

  Why don’t you just walk, Angela? Why don’t you just walk?

  ANGELA

  You know what, I will walk, I will walk. And y’know what?

  I hope I get raped on the way.

  Angela storms out …

  MILDRED

  Yeah? Well I hope you get raped on the way too!

  Door slams, flashback over.

  INT. HOSPITAL ROOM – NIGHT

  Willoughby in a bed, Anne nearby, Doctor checking him.

  DOCTOR

  We’re gonna need to keep you in a few days, Bill. You shouldn’t be coughing up blood.

  WILLOUGHBY

  Yeah, I kinda guessed that, Doc.

  DOCTOR

  I’ll swing by in the morning, Anne.

  Doctor departs, and we listen to his echoing footsteps as they look at each other.

  ANNE

  Guess I’ll go get your coat, huh?

  WILLOUGHBY

  Well you know I ain’t staying …

  ANNE

  And you know I ain’t arguing.

  She smiles and goes out, footsteps echo away, leaving him alone there, in the sterile quiet. Scared.

  EXT. MILDRED’S HOUSE – DAWN

  A pretty pink sunrise over the hills behind the house.

  INT. MILDRED’S HOUSE, KITCHEN – DAY

  Mildred and Robbie getting their breakfasts in silence, Robbie more moody than she is. She tries to make him laugh, he ignores her. Finally, she takes a big spoonful of milk and cereal and slings it straight in his face and hair.

  MILDRED

  Slipped. Oops.

  She stares at him, deadpan, as milk and cereal drip down his face and hair.

  ROBBIE

  You … old … cunt.

  MILDRED

  (suppressing laughter)

  I ain’t old, Robbie.

  Robbie can’t help but smile, then hears the sound of a car pulling up on the gravel outside.

  ROBBIE

  That’s Dad.

  He wipes his face, rushes to the door, Mildred apprehensive.

  EXT. MILDRED’S HOUSE – CONTINUOUS

  Her ex, Charlie, slams his car door shut and approaches the front door as Robbie opens it. Charlie’s nineteen-year-old girlfriend, Penelope, remains in the passenger seat.

  ROBBIE

  Hey, Dad! How you doing?

  CHARLIE

  Where’s the crazy lady …?

  Robbie gestures inside and Charlie breezes in. Robbie waves to Penelope, who smiles and gives an embarrassed wave back.

  INT. MILDRED’S HOUSE, KITCHEN – CONTINUOUS

  Robbie, Charlie and Mildred, who’s still finishing breakfast.

  CHARLIE

  The kid’s got Rice fucking Krispies in his fucking hair! What’s going on around here? And what the fuck’s going on with these fucking billboards, Mildred?


  MILDRED

  Kinda self-explanatory, ain’t it?

  CHARLIE

  Well, why don’t you just explain it to me?

  MILDRED

  Guess it ain’t self-explanatory then. Well, y’know, I guess I wanted certain people’s minds kept on certain people’s jobs, is all. I hadn’t heard a word from ’em in seven goddam months, but I tell ya this, I heard an awful lot from ’em since I put those billboards up …

  CHARLIE

  You think this has focused their minds? I’ll tell you what it’s focused their minds on. It’s focused their minds on how exactly are they gonna fuck you up.

  MILDRED

  The more you keep a case in the public eye, the better your chances of getting it solved, it’s in all the guidebooks, Charlie.

  CHARLIE

  How much those billboards cost?

  MILDRED

  ’Bout the same as a tractor-trailer.

  Robbie sniggers.

  CHARLIE

  What the fuck are you laughing at?

  ROBBIE

  Nothing.

  CHARLIE

  Laughed at by a guy with fucking cereal in his hair!

  ROBBIE

  How’s Penelope?

  CHARLIE

  Huh? She’s alright.

  ROBBIE

  Why don’t you invite her in, save leaving her sitting there?

  MILDRED

  She’s here?

  CHARLIE

  She’s out in the car.

  MILDRED

  Oh. That explains it.

  CHARLIE

  That explains what?

  MILDRED

  I knew I could smell something.

  Charlie overturns the table violently and, as Mildred backs away, grabs her by the neck and pins her against the wall. Just as suddenly, a knife is placed against Charlie’s throat by Robbie, deadly serious.

  ROBBIE

  Let her go.

  Just then, the sound of a screen door creaking is heard, and Penelope is standing there, startled by the scene.

  PENELOPE

  Oh, um, I kinda needed to use the bathroom, but if it’s inconvenient, actually it is inconvenient, isn’t it, I can see it’s inconvenient, I can hold it, it’s alright …

  Charlie lets go of Mildred and Robbie lowers the knife.

  ROBBIE

  It’s the first door, down the hall.

  PENELOPE

  Are you sure? I feel like I’m intruding …

  CHARLIE

  Just go pee!

  Penelope quickly heads down the hall to the toilet, leaving the three of them staring at each other. Robbie sets right the upturned table.

  MILDRED

  Look, you’ve said what you came to say. Okay? Why don’t ya just go get zoo girl and get the hell out of my house? Alright?

  Penelope comes out of the toilet.

  PENELOPE

  Um, actually, zoo-wise, they were letting people go at the zoo, unfortunately, and it was a case of ‘last in, first out’, so, yeah, unfortunately the zoo had to let me go. But they were looking for people down at the horse-rides for the disableds, to look after the horses down there, so I’m working down there now, looking after the disableds’ horses …

  Pause. Charlie nods for her to go. She exits.

  CHARLIE

  Don’t say a word.

  MILDRED

  I wasn’t gonna say a word.

  CHARLIE

  Don’t you think I don’t wish it had never happened?! Don’t you think I don’t wish she was here still?!

  MILDRED

  I know you do. I know you do.

  CHARLIE

  Billboards ain’t gonna bring her back, Mildred.

  MILDRED

  Neither is fucking nineteen-year-olds, Charlie.

  CHARLIE

  Yeah. But I know that.

  MILDRED

  (pause)

  Just go.

  CHARLIE

  Yeah, alright, I’m such a shitty dad and you’re such a great mom. Alright. So how come a week before she died she comes around asking if she can move in with me at my place, cos she couldn’t stand the two of yous bitching at each other no more, and fighting with each other no more?

  MILDRED

  I don’t believe you …

  CHARLIE

  And I said ‘No, stay at home, your mom loves you.’ And now I wish I hadn’t, cos if I hadn’t she’d still fucking be here!

  MILDRED

  I don’t believe you!

  CHARLIE

  Don’t believe me. Ask Fruit Loop boy.

  Charlie leaves. Sound of his car pulling away.

  MILDRED

  Is it true?

  ROBBIE

  I don’t know, Mom.

  MILDRED

  Yeah, you do.

  INT. DIXON’S HOUSE – DAY

  Dixon beside his momma on couch. He’s got his tortoise on his lap, she pours a margarita from a ready-made plastic pack. They’re watching on TV the start of Don’t Look Now.

  DIXON

  Oh, not Donald Sutherland again! What is this, a freaking Donald Sutherland season?!

  MOMMA

  I like him. I like his hair.

  DIXON

  Hair!

  MOMMA

  This is the one where his little girl dies.

  DIXON

  Always a plus in a movie! (Pause.) It any good?

  MOMMA

  It’s got a great sex scene.

  Dixon gives her an uncomfortable glance.

  MOMMA

  Talking of dead kids, what’s happening with the billboard lady?

  DIXON

  Oh, that cooze won’t listen to reason. She’s as tough as an old boot!

  MOMMA

  Oh. Why don’t you just fuck her over through her friends then?

  DIXON

  Huh?

  MOMMA

  Y’know, why don’t you fuck her friends over? Make her come around that way. Has she got some friends you could fuck over?

  Dixon thinks about it, nods.

  EXT. GIFT SHOP – DAY

  Mildred finds the shop shut. A handwritten note on it reads ‘I got arrested! Denise!’ With an unsmiley face.

  INT. POLICE STATION, MAIN ROOM – DAY

  Desk Sergeant sighs as Mildred enters. Dixon is some desks away across the crowded station.

  MILDRED

  (shouted at Dixon)

  Hey, fuckhead?!

  Every cop turns to look at her, the audacity of it …

  DIXON

  What?

  DESK SERGEANT

  Don’t say ‘What?’, Dixon, when she comes in calling you a fuckhead, and don’t you come in here …

  MILDRED

  Shut up! (To Dixon.) You! Get over here.

  DIXON

  No. You get over here.

  MILDRED

  Alright …

  She heads over to Dixon.

  DESK SERGEANT

  What?! Don’t … Dixon!

  DIXON

  What?! I’m taking care of this!

  DESK SERGEANT

  You do not allow a member of the public to call you a fuckhead in the station house!

  DIXON

  That’s what I’m doing, I’m taking care of it! In my own way. Actually. Now get out of my ass!

  Desk Sergeant sighs and goes back to work.

  DIXON

  Mrs Hayes. What is it I can do for you today?

  MILDRED

  Where’s Denise Watson?

  DIXON

  Denise Watson’s in the clank.

  MILDRED

  On what charge?

  DIXON

  Possession.

  MILDRED

  Of what?

  DIXON

  Two marijuana cigarettes. Big ones.

  MILDRED

  When’s the bail hearing?

  DIXON

  I asked the judge not to give her bail on account of her previous marijuana violatio
ns and the judge said sure.

  MILDRED

  You fucking prick.

  DIXON

  You do not call an officer of the law a fucking prick in his own station house, Mrs Hayes. Or anywhere, actually.

  MILDRED

  (leaving)

  What’s with the new hard-boiled attitude, Dixon? Your momma been coaching ya?

  DIXON

  No. My momma doesn’t do that.

  Mildred passes Desk Sergeant on the way out.

  Take ’em down, Hayes!

  She’s gone.

  DESK SERGEANT

  You did good, Dixon.

  DIXON

  Yeah, I know I did.

  Desk Sergeant just sighs.

  EXT. BEAUTIFUL MEADOW BESIDE LAKE – DAY

  Anne is looking confused, glass of wine in hand. The kids in the middle of a blanket on the grass, holding a child’s magnetic fishing rod each. Willoughby tosses teddy bears and dolls two metres away from the circumference of the blanket.

  WILLOUGHBY

  Now, the rules here are twofold; no kid can leave this goddam blanket at any goddam time, and every single one of these dolls and these teddy bears has gotta be hooked up. Now, your momma and I, although it won’t look like it, we’ll be watching every goddam move you make and the most important thing while we’re watching you is you do not leave this blanket. The next most important thing is you do not at any stage allow the fishing rods to stick into you or your sister’s eyeballs, as this would be counter-productive to the entire operation. What would this be?

  BOTH GIRLS

  (stumbling)

  ‘Counter-productive to the entire operation.’

  WILLOUGHBY

  Good. Then troops … start fishing.

  They do so, as Willoughby grabs a blanket, a bottle of wine, takes Anne by the hand and leads her uphill to the treeline.

  ANNE

  We. Are. Not.

  WILLOUGHBY

  We are.

  She looks back at the kids, safe within the confines of the blanket, and lets herself be led.

  EXT. BILLBOARD ROAD – DAY

  Mildred fixing flowers in pots at the billboards, making them look nice. It’s a beautiful, blue-skied day; pretty birds mooch around, and out of nowhere a fawn suddenly appears.

  Mildred stays dead still, breathless at the beauty of it, watching as it almost appears to look up at AND STILL NO ARRESTS and cock its head at the question. It spots Mildred suddenly and is startled slightly, but stands its ground.