The Scent of Rain & Lightning

---

[mysterious, low

string music]

[buzzer sounds]

[chains clinking]

[music building]

[slow, pulsing percussion]

- Pretty girl.

- Sweaty girl.

[gravel crunching distantly]

Sh*t.

Where'd you park?

Walked up from the co-op.

Something wrong?

Senior's here.

Chase and Meryl too.

[car doors slamming]

You think I'm

scared of Senior?

- [knocking on door]

- Jody?

She's, uh, coming.

Maybe it's time we tell him

about us and get it over with.

Us?

There is no us

to tell him about.

Red, that's not what I meant.

I just... you know,

he wouldn't...

he wouldn't understand this.

Yeah, well, that makes

two of us now.

[sighs] Let's really not

make this a thing.

Apparently it ain't

a thing at all.

[knocking at door]

Red, we've talked about this.

Yeah, we have.

[pounding on door]

Jody?

I'm coming.

[footsteps approaching]

Come in.

What's going on?

We need to talk to you.

Why are you back?

Did something happen to Mimi?

No, no, Annabelle's fine.

Uh...

we, uh, had a meeting

with the governor today...

and, uh... Billy Croyle's

getting released.

[soft, stirring music]

- So the governor pardoned him?

- No, not quite, not pardoned.

His sentence has been commuted.

It's, like, reduced.

Yeah, he was pardoned

on account of his kid, Collin.

It's not pardoned.

It's commuted.

The governor's not saying

he's innocent,

just the trial's smelly.

Look, the county attorney

said the more Collin pushed,

the more he got

to feeling guilty...

said he felt like Don and him

hadn't done due diligence.

[quietly] I don't know.

[louder] Really, the problem

here is Billy's hat.

I mean, an eyewitness says

that she saw

Laurie take it out of Baileys'

that night...

It doesn't matter

whether she did

or didn't pick up the damn hat.

- It does matter.

- I'm not about to debate this.

There's no point.

Now, listen, I know

what I'm about to say

is gonna sting a little bit,

but we need you to pack a bag

and come on back out

to the ranch

till we can figure out

how to deal with this.

No, I most

certainly will not.

Billy Croyle hates

this entire family.

He hates us with a vengeance,

and the only way

I can protect you

is by having you on the ranch.

I know you think

you're all grown up

and ready for the world,

but you're still

a child, sweetheart.

I, against my better judgment,

let you move down here

in the first place.

It's not a good place

for you to be, this house.

- Hey, Pop... Pop!

- Listen, I know Belle and you

- had some kind of idea...

- Pop, Pop!

I think you made your point.

Hey, just look at it like this.

We can spend some time

catching up.

Kay?

[quietly] Okay.

Okay, fine.

Yeah, I'll come back.

[sniffs]

I'll be back before dinner.

Okay.

[somber music]

[door clicks shut]

Jody?

- You've got to be kidding me.

- Hey, hey, hey... wait, wait,

no, no, just...

just let me speak.

- No, I don't want to hear it.

- Okay... no, no,

I-I had to do it, okay?

I...

- No, you didn't.

- No, please, will you just...

will you just

try to listen to me?

What?

What do you want to say to me?

I didn't exactly want

to get him out either.

You and your dad

are exactly the same.

You don't take responsibility

for what you did.

- [stammering] I didn't...

- Don't f***ing touch me.

Hey! Look, just...

just listen to me, okay?

Okay, so-so... the night...

that everything happened,

the police asked me

if he left the house.

And I said that I didn't know.

But I did.

I lied.

I mean, he didn't move

a muscle that night.

I watched him until dawn.

I-I could have told

the sheriff what happened

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes