PAGE ONE

PANEL ONE:

Meet JULIE WILDING, pride n' joy of the Wilding clan, America's Perfect Nuclear Family. She's a precocious (but not too crazily good-looking) child, about six years old, she's playing “house” with dolls on the living-room floor, close to the coffee table, not so close to the door (there'll be a wicked foreshortening shot on page 2). Julie uses a “Mommy Voice” and a “Daddy Voice” to dialogue between the dolls, which might be best accomplished with some clever fontology.

JULIE: (Daddy voice) Hello mommy!

JULIE: (Mommy voice) Hello daddy!

PANEL TWO:

Julie continues to play, manipulating the Daddy doll to slump a little.

JULIE: (Mommy voice) Are you sick, Daddy?

PANEL THREE:

We hear the voice of JOHN WILDING, the clan patriarch, coming in from off-panel. Julie is ignoring it very willfully. The Daddy doll is being laid down.

JOHN: (off) Angel?

JULIE: (Daddy voice) I don't feel good, Mommy.

JULIE: (Mommy voice) What's wrong? Why are you lying down?

PANEL FOUR:

John's voice is more insistent from off-panel as Julie continues to play, biting her lower lip. There's obviously something wrong.

JOHN: (off) Angel? Julie? Where are you?

JULIE: (Mommy voice): Get up, Daddy. You keep sleeping and sleeping.

PANEL FIVE:

More or less the same jazz as panel four, but with a tighter look at Julie's face...there's fear there, but also shame.

JOHN: (off) Julie? I have something for you, sweetie!

JULIE: (Mommy voice, whisper balloon) Daddy won't wake up. But I won't tell Julie. It's a secret. We won't tell her.

PANEL SIX:

Julie is turning in response to John's voice behind her, letting the dolls fall, fear written all over her face.

JOHN: (off-panel) There you are!

JULIE: (whisper, Mommy voice) There's something wrong with Daddy.

PAGE TWO

PANEL ONE:

SPLASHORAMA! Have a hoot here: we're aiming for disturbing. Norman Rockwell after doing peyote in Calcutta for a week. My idea (but feel free to improve this) is a reverse angle of 1.6 above... a shot looking up, from the perspective of a mouse standing behind Julie looking up towards the door – an upward angle will really accent how monstrous John looks. So we have the dolls in the foreground, Julie (facing away from us, facing John at the door) in the midground, and John, in the doorway, further back. Julie is flinching. John is holding a gaily-wrapped present down towards Julie and smiling broadly. This is where the genius comes in: it's very important to show that John is dead, but not CRAZY HOLY-SHIT-IT'S-A-HIDEOUS-ZOMBIE dead. It has to be conceivable that John can (barely) pass for living at work, and that Jane (Mommy, coming later) could convince herself that John is still alive, even though he's, uh, rotting. Hmm. Maybe a shirt open at the collar to show a hideous scar disappearing under his shirt (autopsy scar, which would be hidden at work by a shirt and tie) and truly fucking GHASTLY colouring. Glassy eyes, stiff posture. Hell, you're the artist.

JOHN: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ANGEL!

John's text is also serving as our title.

PAGE THREE:

PANEL ONE:

The family is gathered around the kitchen table for breakfast. The aforementioned gaily-wrapped gift is sitting next to Julie (seated at the right end), untouched. JANET WILDING, an attractive blonde in her late thirties, wholesome and pretty without being TOO June Cleaver, sits at the middle of the table, John at the left end. The atmosphere is very tense. Julie, especially, is very tense. Wide panel across the top? Page note: While Julie and Janet are eating cereal, John is just eating a grey cube of ... something ... with a fork.

JOHN: Aren't you going to open...

JULIE: NO.

PANEL TWO:

C utaway to John and Janet. John's hurt that Julie isn't opening her gift, Janet is trying to console him. The obvious subtext: Julie's on to John being dead, John is worried that she'll hate him now, Janet is telling him not to be silly.

JOHN: Oh. Okay.

JULIE: She probably wants to open it at her sleepover tonight.

PANEL THREE:

Another twofer – sliding down the tables, so Janet is now on the left of the panel with Julie on the right.

JANET: Isn't that right, honey?

JULIE: I don't wanna sleepover.

PANEL FOUR:

Closer on Julie: she's young but not stupid, and she's trying like hell to get her sleepover cancelled before her friends see her freaky undead father.

JULIE: Sleepovers are for babies.

PANEL FIVE:

Longer shot again, as John implores with Julie and Janet intervenes. Like the way I used all sorts of J's in their names? Hah? PAIN IN THE ASS to keep track of, isn't it?

JOHN: But sweetie...

JULIE: I'm not a baby.

JANET: Now John...

PANEL SIX:

Julie is leaving the kitchen as John and Janet talk behind her. She really, really, really wanted a sleepover, but now she refused her own birthday sleepover. Crying, maybe, or maybe just all scrunched up in the face.

JOHN (off): I think we should talk to...

JANET (off): Shh. She's just outside. We'll talk about it later.

PAGE FOUR:

PANEL ONE:

Julie is walking to the bus stop with her mother, both of them moving towards the left side of the panel as a fat little girl runs in from the right.

JANET: Julie, I don't see why your father couldn't...

JULIE: Wanna walk with you today.

LUCILLE: Julie! Wait for me!

PANEL TWO:

Julie and Lucille get off the bus; there's another boy standing near them - KENNY. He has those arm-brace things that kids with bad legs use to walk, a brace between his legs, and metal splint-braces on his arm. (Invisible Backstory: Kenny's got exceptionally bad osteogenesis imperfecta, and needs the braces to keep his bones from breaking and whatnot if he falls). If you can do this without making him look too goofy, I'll buy you a drink. Kenny doesn't respond to the taunts or talk, just looks at the ground and waits for the bell to ring.

LUCILLE: Ewww! Watch out for the FREAK, Julie!

JULIE: Hi, Kenny.

PANEL THREE:

Lucille drags Julie away from Kenny, chiding her. Kenny keeps looking at the ground.

LUCILLE: You're gonna give us freak germs! Get away!

KENNY: Sorry.

LUCILLE: We've gotta get away, Julie! FREAK GERMS!

PANEL FOUR:

Julie looks back at Kenny – not anguished, but feeling bad – while Kenny keeps staring. Lucille is whispering, but it's a stage whisper.

LUCILLE: I hate him SO MUCH.

JULIE: Shh! He can hear you!

LUCILLE: Who cares?

PANEL FIVE:

Julie and Lucille keep talking as they enter the school. Julie is being bullied into agreeing/warming up to the nasty chitchat.

LUCILLE: He's so CREEPY.

JULIE: Yeah...

LUCILLE: Have you seen him WALK?

PAGE FIVE:

PANEL ONE:

Lucille splays her legs out and stiffens her arms as though she had the braces on. Julie stifles laughter.

LUCILLE: Look at meee....I'm a freeeaaak...

HOWARD (off): GIRLS!

PANEL TWO:

The girls have run afoul of their teacher, HOWARD GRUNDIG, a decent-looking man with a bit of a belly and a moustache.

HOWARD: This isn't about Kenny, is it?

LUCILLE: No sir.

JULIE: No sir.

PANEL THREE:

Kenny clacks past the girls as Lucille whispers.

LUCILLE: Frreeeaaakkk....

JULIE: Shhh!

PANEL FOUR:

Lucille and Julie getting back on the bus. It's raining heavily. Julie's agreeing with Lucille, but only because disagreeing would be too much effort.

LUCILLE: My dad says he shouldn't even be in our class. School should be for NORMAL people.

JULIE: ...yeah...

PANEL FIVE:

Lucille points out something through the window; again, rain is pounding down outside. Julie is horrified.

LUCILLE: Hey, your dad is waiting.

JULIE: (whisper) Oh NO...

PANEL SIX:

Julie is pretty much shoving John home. John is dressed in a rain poncho with a hood, not very visible.

JOHN: I'm hurrying! Do you want my poncho, sweetie?

JULIE: NO! Let's GO!

LUCILLE: Hey! Julie! Wait for me!

PAGE SIX:

PANEL ONE:

Kind of a mirror of the earlier breakfast scene. The gift still sits next to Julie's place. Julie and Janet have roast beef and potatoes – the roast is half-carved on the table – and John still has a nondescript grey blob in front of him.

JOHN: Are you going to open your gift, angel?

JANET: Open it up, hon.

PANEL TWO:

Julie unwraps the gift.

PANEL THREE:

Julie holds up a nice dress.

JANET (off): It's a dress for you, sweetie! Isn't it beautiful?

PANEL FOUR:

Back to Panel One configuration. Uncomfortable silence.

PANEL FIVE:

Panel One again. John breaks the silence.

JOHN: ...do you want to try it on?

JULIE: Daddy?

PANEL SIX:

Close on Julie, who is torn between love for her father and fear of, well, zombies.

JULIE: Are you going to eat my brains?

PAGE SEVEN:

PANEL ONE:

Close on Janet and John.

JOHN: Oh boy.

JANET: Julie...sweetie...nobody's going to eat your brains.

PANEL TWO:

Julie points (long shot again? It'd be nice to get around this, but I don't know how) at her father's plate.

JULIE: What's that?

PANEL THREE:

John and Janet look down at John's plate.

JOHN: Tofu.

JANET: Your father eats...uh...

JOHN: Pretty much anything organic with a high protein yield.

PANEL FOUR:

Janet reaches out to Julie, who shrinks away, clutching her dress.

JANET: Your father can't really taste any more, so all foods are...

JULIE: HE'S A FREAK!

PANEL FIVE:

John, who has been approaching (he's at Julie's half of the table now) is really hurt by this. Janet backs him up.

JOHN: Aw, ANGEL. I don't know what... last week, something... I'm still your daddy, sweetie!

JANET: Your father was very, very sick and then ... I still love him, Julie.

PANEL SIX:

John and Janet hold each other.

JOHN: We're going through some changes right now, angel, but we can make it.

JANET: We're a FAMILY.

PAGE EIGHT:

PANEL ONE:

John tucks Julie into bed.

JOHN: Good night, sweet angel. See you in the morning.

JULIE: Daddy?

PANEL TWO:

Julie looks up, worried, at her father.

JULIE: Why are you different now?

JOHN: I don't know, sweetie. I FEEL the same.

PANEL THREE:

John states the probably-obvious.

JOHN: But I think we should keep this a secret. Okay? Just us?

JULIE: Okay, daddy.

JOHN: It's important.

JULIE: DADD-DY....

JOHN: Okay, okay.

PANEL FOUR:

John in the bedroom door, silhouetted by the light.

JOHN: Love you, angel.

JULIE: I love you too, Daddy.

PANEL FIVE:

The next day, at school...Lucille and Julie are getting off the bus. Kenny is there. Is this too jarring without a page divide? Let me know and I can tinker a bit with the script...maybe cut some of the earlier school scene and move it here. My main concern is that it will be god-damned weird to go from "lights-out" to "off the schoolbus" in one shot.

LUCILLE: Julie! Come ON! Freak germs!

JULIE: Just a sec.

PANEL SIX:

Julie approaches Kenny, who looks nervous and shifty.

JULIE: Kenny? Can I talk to you?

KENNY: Huh?

PANEL SEVEN:

Julie's in real close to Kenny, practically whispering in his ear. Now, the intent of this panel is the following: Julie, pitying Kenny and freaked out by the situation at home, is confiding in him in hopes that he'll understand, feel better, and maybe shed a little light on all of this. Kenny's the only person Julie can think of that could even BEGIN to sympathize. Kenny, however, is being given leverage. He's got brittle bones, but that doesn't make him a nice kid. He's being given a tool that he can use to make himself not-the-freak, because if he unveils this, JULIE will be the freak. So Julie, in confusion and a sort of sympathy, is screwing both herself and her dad. This is the moment that Julie blows it.

JULIE (whisper): There's something wrong with Daddy.