SUNDAY

FADE IN:

EXT. LAKE - PICNIC AREA - DAY

Tree branches, full of green leaves, sway within a gentle breeze. ROCK AND ROLL MUSIC plays somewhere in the distance, but is muddled by children's intermittent explosions of LAUGHTER, and SHREAKS of glee. 

LISA HIGGONS, 8, sits at a tree-shaded picnic table. Water drips from the ends of her semi-dry hair, to the towel wrapped around her shoulders. Lisa lifts a potato chip from her plate, leaving the plate empty, and crams the chip into her mouth.  

CHARLIE HIGGONS, 43, sits opposite Lisa. He wipes his mouth with a paper napkin, then let's out a SIGH that signals he's full. 

Charlie is dressed in a white t-shirt, and trousers. A pair of crutches lay at his side, and lean on the edge of his seat.

                      CHARLIE
          There's nothin' more relaxing
          than a bar-be-que on a Sunday
          afternoon...

                      LISA
          Can I go smimmin' now?

Charlie chuckles under his breath. He rolls his eyes over to...

MIDGE, a wholesome forty year old, who sits at his side, and looks for an answer from her.

Midge ignores Lisa. She reaches across the table, and collects an empty  paper plate.

The plate is in front of ART, a round faced, eleven year old boy. Art has a shaved head, and is bare chested. He rises from his seat, and pulls the waistband of his swimming trunks up about an inch.

Midge reaches in front of LARRY 16, and takes his plate. Larry, a skinny kid, and shirtless kid with black-framed glasses. 

Larry raises his elbows to the table, and props his chin on top of his fists.  

Lisa cocks her head to one side, and gapes at Midge.

                      LISA
          Mom?

JEAN, 19, sits next to Lisa. She rises from her seat. Jean is wearing a black one-piece swimming suit. She lifts her empty plate from the table, and hands it to Midge. 

Charlie watches Lisa bounce around in her seat, anticipating a reply from Midge.

                      LISA
          Mommy!

Charlie blinks off into the distance, seperating himself from his family. 

Midge keeps about her business, clearing the table.

                      MIDGE
          Not yet. You have to wait
          thirty minutes before you
          can go in or you could get
          a cramp.

Midge looks up, and off into the distance.

Art stands on the beach. He snaps his towel open, and spreads it down across the sand, then sits down on top of it. 

Midge turns to Lisa.

                      MIDGE
          Go sit with your brother for
          a little bit, and I'll let you
          know when it's safe to go in.

Lisa springs up from her seat, turns, and bolts away.

EXT. BEACH - DAY

Lisa stands next to her brother. She spreads her towel out next to him.

                      ART
          Hey coodie breath. What are
          you doin'?

Lisa sits down on her towel.

                      LISA
          Mommy said I gotta' sit with
          you so I don't get a crab.

Art's face screws up with confusion.

                      ART
          What?

Art turns his head, and looks into the distance behind him.

Midge stands next to the picnic table with her hands on her hips. She nods at Art.

                      MIDGE
                (yells)
          Thirty minutes.   

Art turns back around.

                      ART
          Why do I gotta' watch you?

Art rises to his feet, and trudges toward the lake.

A lifeguard sits perched on top of his stand, soaking up the sun.

Art steps into the water up to his ankles. He turns and kicks up water as he steps down the shoreline. Lisa runs up to him.

                      LISA
          Mommy said...

Art bends down, and reaches into the water. He pulls out a small clump of seaweed, and shakes it in front of Lisa's face.

                      ART
          Go back! You wanna' get
          crabs?

Lisa SCREAMS in fright, and runs away.

                      MIDGE (OS)
          Arthur!

Art turns his head, and coyly looks toward the picnic table. His face screws up into a scowl. 

Art, still scowling, looks over to the beach.

Lisa sits on her towel, and brushes loose sand from her feet. 

EXT. BEACH - LATER

Art and Lisa sit side-by-side. He watches her build a small mountain of sand. 

                      ART
          You can't come with me in 
          the water. I'm going in the
          deep part... You can't swim.
          
Lisa shrugs her shoulders, and continues to build her sandcastle. 

EXT. LAKE - DAY

Lisa steps into the water. She continues on until the water is thigh-high.

                      ART (OS)
          Watch out!

Lisa looks toward the shore.

Art runs through the sand, heading toward the water.

Lisa cringes, and hides her face.

Art's steps send SPLASH after SPLASH of water into the air.

She positions herself on guard, and catches sight of Art. He makes it to her, then flips over into a backward dive. Lisa turns just in time to avoid the big SPLASH of water.

Art swims further out. Lisa wades further into the lake until she is waist-high, then stops. 

Larry trudges just past Lisa and stops. He jumps up, and dives underwater.

Jean meets Lisa.

                      JEAN
          Are you having fun?

Lisa nods, and bobs up and down in the water happily.

                      JEAN
          Good. Don't go any deeper 
          now. Okay?

Lisa nods again.

Jean moves past Lisa, wading deeper into the lake.

EXT. LAKE - PICNIC AREA - DAY

Midge sits next to Charlie on the picnic bench. She leans in closer to him, and rests her head on his shoulder.

                      MIDGE
          The kids are all having such
          a good time... What about you,
          Charlie? Are you having a 
          good time?   

Midge looks to Charlie for an answer, and finds his smiling eyes locked on her. 

                      CHARLIE
          Time of my life, baby doll...

The two move closer together, and kiss.

                      WOMAN (OS)
          Billy!... Billy! 

Midge and Charlie seperate abruptly, and look toward the beach.

A young WOMAN in a bikini, and large sunhat, strides across the sand. She looks around frantically in every direction.

                      WOMAN
          Billy! 

Charlie and Midge watch the woman on the beach.

The woman stops at a couple sharing a blanket. They have some kind of conversation. The woman motions to her side waist-high. The couple on the blanket shake their heads, "no". The woman quickly turns away, and continues down the beach. 

Midge jaw drops.

                      MIDGE
          Oh, my... She's lost a small
          child... 

Midge covers her open mouth with her hand, and continues to watch the woman.

Charlie lifts his crutches from his side. He braces himself with the crutches, then rises from his seat. He looks around the beach, then all around the picnic area.

The woman moves a few yards down the beach, and stops at another group of people. They also have a quick conversation. Everyone in the group shakes their head, "no".

The woman stands at the base of the lifeguards stand, and looks up to the man perched on top of it.

EXT. LAKE - DAY

Lisa bobs up and down in the water.

                      LIFEGUARD (OS)
                (through a bullhorn)
          Everyone out of the water! 
          Everyone out of the water
          now!

The lifeguard stands on the shore with the frantic woman at his side. He lowers the bullhorn from his face.

Art wades up to Lisa.

                      ART
          Come on...

Lisa follows behind Art toward the shore.

EXT. LAKE - LATER

The lake is empty of people. Everyone stands on the sand. The lifeguard talks to everyone through a bullhorn.

	                  LIFEGUARD
          We have a missing boy. He's 
          six years old. Wearing red
          swimming trunks. Short blonde
          hair... And about this tall.

The lifeguard motions to his thigh.

                      LIFEGUARD
          Has anyone seen him?

People in the crowd look either straight at the lifeguard or around at others in the crowd, but everyone shakes their head, "no".  

EXT. LAKE - BEACH - LATER

Lisa stands side-by-side with Art, and clings to his arm.

                      LISA
          I'm scared...

Art looks down to Lisa.

                      ART
          It'll be okay... Go sit with
          Mom.

With a bit of reluctance, Lisa lets go of her brother's arm. She walks away with her head hung low. She stops to glance back at Art.

He joins the crowd on the shore.

EXT. LAKE - PICNIC AREA - DAY

Midge and Lisa stand together by the table. Midge wraps her arm around Lisa's shoulder, and tucks her closely to her side. Lisa looks up to her mother. 

                      LISA
          What's going on?

Midge focuses on the lake.

                      MIDGE
          They think a little boy
          has drowned... 

Lisa focuses on the lake. She pulls a strand of her wet hair to her mouth, and chews nervously on it.

Charlie stands at the opposite side of the picnic table, braced upon his crutches, and focused on the lake.

The crowd of people stretch side-by-side across the width of the shore.

Art stands in between Larry, and Jean. He takes hold of Larry's hand, then takes hold of Jean's hand.

Everyone on the shore has joined hands, forming a human chain. They step together in unison, and enter into the water.

Lisa looks up to her mother. 

Her mother instictively feels Lisa's glare, and looks down into her eyes. Midge shakes her head from side-to-side with worry.

Towels and blankets litter across the beach. The lifeguard's bullhorn lays on it's side by the shore. Billy's mother paces nervously about on the shore. She looks from the lake, to the beach, as if she can't make up her mind where to focus.

The human chain moves further into the water. Some of the people turn to look into other's faces, some stare straight ahead, yet all move together in silence. They continue to walk deeper into the water until they are neck-deep, then stop...

Lisa looks up at her mother. Her mother stares straight ahead to the lake.

The human chain moves slowly back toward the shore with their hands locked, and floating on top of the water.  

They step up on the shore, and silently look around at each other. The  lifeguard stands in the center of the chain.

                      LIFEGUARD
          Again...

Everyone steps back into the water, and joins hands. 

Lisa stares straight ahead, and watches. 

The group step deeper, and deeper into the water until they are neck-high again. They drop arms, and turn around, then lift their joined hands to surface level, and head back to shore.

Billy's mother paces frantically on the shore.

The human chain makes it to knee-high water, and begin to drop neighboring hands. Expressions on faces vary from worry, to frightened, to some expressionless... 

A thirty year old MAN in the group glances to the right. His eyes open wide in amazement.

                       MAN
          Hey! Is that him!

Everyone turns to look in the same direction.

A beach ball bounces out from a wooded area. A little blonde BOY in red swimming trunks runs after the ball.

The mother runs up to the boy, and squats down to him. She wraps her arms around the boy in a tight hug.

The crowd of people begin to wander away from the water. Some of the people look relieved, others look puzzled or just pissed off. 

The 30 year old man looks pissed...

                      MAN
          I think you should spank
          him! Pull his pants down
          and spank him in front of
          everyone!

The woman lifts the boy into her arms. She carries him away without bothering to look back at the crowd on the beach.

The 30 year old man stares at the woman in disbelief.

                      MAN
          Bring him here and I'll
          spank his ass! 

Some people on the beach nod in agreement.

                      MAN
          We all want to spank him! 
          Everyone here deserves to give
          that little shit a good whack!

The woman continues to walk away.

Jean, Larry, and Art reach the picnic table.

Lisa takes ahold of Art's arm with both hands, and looks up to him.

                      LISA
          Were you scared?

Art shakes his head, "yes".

                      ART
          Are you okay?

Lisa shakes her head, "yes".

Art glances back at the beach.

People begin to enjoy their day again. Some people sunbathe, others return to the water, and begin to swim.

Art looks down to Lisa. 

                      ART
          Still want to build a
          sandcastle?

Lisa shakes her head, "yes" again.

                      ART
          Let's go then. I'll help you...

Art and Lisa walk hand-in-hand toward the beach.

                                                           FADE OUT.