Chappaquiddick Page #3

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Ted’s car rolls off the ferry with great caution. There islittle sign of civilization, except back across the bay.

Until -

EXT. LAWRENCE COTTAGE - DAY

TED’S DRIVER, 63, opens the rear passenger door. He unloads

the luggage and a case of beer. Ted, ever the man of thepeople, grabs his own box of assorted hard liquor.

INT. LAWRENCE COTTAGE - DAY

Hands place bottles (and more bottles) on an entryway table.

This must be a party for dozens of people, or at least onehell of a rager for any fewer.

INT. LAWRENCE COTTAGE - BEDROOM - DAY

Ted catches a glimpse of himself in the mirror as he changesinto a bathing suit. He turns around more fully revealing aBACK BRACE. A damaged man.

EXT. DIKE BRIDGE - DAY

The car bounces along an unpaved road, jostling the two meninside.

8.

It drives towards the beach across a rickety, single-lanebridge with no guardrail. DIKE BRIDGE.

Ted opens his door and takes his first step into the sand.

EXT. BEACH - DAY

Scattered tourists line the narrow beach.

ESTHER NEWBERG, 26, wears a fashionable bikini and rubstanning lotion on the back of her more modest, but more eye-

catching, blonde friend, MARY JO KOPECHNE, 28.

Mary Jo lays on her stomach looking over her shoulder atEsther. Behind her, Gargan and another man, RAY LAROSA, 41,

cavort with FOUR YOUNG WOMEN in the water. Wearing a diversmask and snorkel, the fit LaRosa dives back under the surface.

ESTHER:

I still can’t believe you stayed upall night by yourself working onBobby’s Vietnam speech.

MARY JO:

I had company.

Esther raises an eyebrow.

ESTHER:

I hadn’t heard this part.

MARY JO:

Not the whole night, of course.

Mary Jo turns back and looks out over the ocean.

MARY JO (CONT’D)

I was just trying to make sense ofall of Sorensen and Burke’s notes.

So finally, I just call Burke andsee if he can’t explain himself.

And that’s when he tells me, “All

that stuff comes straight from Ted.

Why don’t you go ask him yourself?”

Ted spots the girls from afar, starts to stroll up behind them.

MARY JO (CONT’D)

And would you believe it? It’s pasttwo in the morning, and there’sTeddy...in his office...answeringletters from mothers, wives, and

widows begging him to put an end tothe war.

9.

Ted steps lightly, trying not to intrude on the girls'conversation. He can't help but eavesdrop.

MARY JO (CONT’D)

So I ask him, “Senator. What did

you mean when you said this warmade you think, ‘What has happenedto America?’”

(beat)

And then he looks up at me...with a

lump in his throat...and he says -

TED:

Revealing state secrets is an actof treason, you know.

Mary Jo spins around. She’s caught off guard by Ted butquickly recovers.

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