The Patriot Page #2

MARION:

Your children.

He heads down the hill toward the house, now glowing from

the lights of candles and oil lamps.

INT. MARION'S HOUSE - EVENING

Pre-dinner chaos. Everyone talking at once. Marion's

seven children and his two family servants, ABIGAIL and

AARON, a middle-aged black couple, prepare dinner. Susan

silently watches from the stairs. Marion walks in.

MARION:

I smell turnips...

WILLIAM:

Father, Samuel broke the blue

plate...

SAMUEL:

I did not...

MARGARET:

Dinner...

Marion hands the apples to Abigail and steps over to open

his mail and dispatches.

GABRIEL:

News of Boston, father?

NATHAN:

I hate turnips...

SAMUEL:

William knocked it right out of my

hands...

GABRIEL:

Father...?

MARION:

Samuel, William, both of you clean

it up...

Marion hands a packet of pamphlets to Gabriel and opens a

letter.

MARION:

The Assembly has been reconvened,

I've been called to...

Marion's children go wild.

MARGARET:

Charleston!

NATHAN:

We're going to Charleston!

SAMUEL:

When, father, when?

MARION:

We'll leave tomorrow...

The children ERUPT INTO CHEERS and THUNDER into the dining

room.

THE CHILDREN:

Charleston! We're going to

Charleston!

Marion and Gabriel exchange a stone-faced look. Then

Marion puts on a smile and inhales deeply.

MARION:

I love turnips...

Marion follows his children into the dining room.

EXT. MARION'S HOUSE - NIGHT

Quiet. The only sounds are the soft calls of a few

NIGHTBIRDS and the DRONE OF CICADAS. A faint light moves

through the downstairs, passing windows in the otherwise

dark house.

INT. MARION'S HOUSE - NIGHT

Marion, holding a candle, does a father's bedtime check.

The CAMERA FOLLOWS him as he makes his rounds into:

THE KITCHEN. Everything is clean and put away in its

proper place.

THE MAIN HALLWAY. Marion checks that the doors are closed

and bolted. He heads up the stairs.

INT. BOYS' BEDROOM - NIGHT

Marion enters, finding William asleep on the floor and

Nathan and Samuel in bed. He lifts William into bed,

takes a slingshot from Nathan's hand, tucks in Samuel and

walks out.

INT. GIRLS' BEDROOM - NIGHT

Marion steps to the doorway, finding Margaret and Susan at

the window, looking up at the night sky.

MARGARET:

... now count five finger lengths up

from the front two stars of the Big

Dipper, and that's the North Star,

that's her.

Susan gazes up at the North Star. The girls notice Marion

and climb into bed. He puts a chair against Susan's bed

and kisses her. He pulls a blanket up around Margaret,

who whispers:

MARGARET:

It helps her to know Mother's there.

Marion nods with a thin smile, kisses Margaret and walks

out.

INT. MARION'S STUDY - NIGHT

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