Still Valley At 20,000 Feet - Mike Burns (good ebook reader .TXT) 📗

Seminole prisoners are carrying that eagle’s voice to you. You’ve broken faith with God, so you hardly dwell in heaven. You dwell on the earth, sir. And I will also reiterate, I note that your days of walking in the sunlight have come to an end, Mr. Paradine--spiritually as well as literally. Your new-found master may give you great strength and great abilities, but he will also give you a life that will be lived increasingly behind that mask of yours, as befitting a creature of darkness. And it will be a long life of misery, too, no doubt, spent in worry about the one who will overthrow you coming out of the west.

PARADINE (almost inaudible)
I think you’re puttin’ on airs, Mr...Lincoln. You...you think you can pose as some kinda prophet. Bein’ a lawyer has got y’ thinkin’ you’re all kindsa highfalutin things.

PRESIDENT DAVIS(pronounced drawl coming out now)
And might ah remind yew, Mistuh Lincoln, that you ah no longuh president now? I dew think you’d benefit from a drop o’ this St. Martinville chablis! It might take some of the edge offa yore bad mood!

ABRAHAM LINCOLN
No thank you, Mr. Davis. One man acting the fool in his cups is more than enough, thank you. May I return to my cell now, sir?

Lighting a cheroot, Jefferson Davis waves a hand dismissively.


PRESIDENT DAVIS
Yes. Get him outta my sight, Paradine. I’ve nevuh seen such atrocious mannuhs!

Lincoln deliberately makes a pun out of what Davis has just mispronounced.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN
Manna comes from heaven, sir, but I doubt it falls for you or your cause. You can probably count on frogs, locusts, burning hail, and water-turned-to-blood, though.

Davis ignores this parting shot. Lincoln and Paradine head back toward the door to the long corridor.
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
INT. LONG CORRIDOR, PARADINE AND LINCOLN HEADING BACK, TOGETHER WITH GUARDS.

PARADINE
Sir, I think that it’d be better for you if you were to apologize to the President the next time we come to see y’. Mr. Davis is a proud man, and he cain’t take insults too well. Keep in mind, sir, you ARE a guest in the Confederate States of America.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN
No, Mr. Paradine, I will NOT! I am NOT a GUEST! I am a PRISONER! And one does not apologize for speaking truth to usurping TYRANTS! Only the fair-weather believers hold their tongues in the face of danger!

PARADINE
Mr. Lincoln, please don’t go quotin’ scripture again! I got my fill o’ that as a child.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN
There! You see? It’s obvious who YOUR master is, Mr. Paradine. I suspect that any words of reproof or correction are like scalding water to your ears now, AND to those of your leader, Mr. Davis. HE is perhaps in worse straits than you, Mr. Paradine, because HE won’t even touch that briefcase you carry--a man of lukewarm moral manifestation.


The rest of the walk back to Lincoln’s cell is made in silence.

Paradine wordlessly, angrily gestures to a guard to open the cell. Mr. Lincoln disappears inside. The stout oak door slams heavily shut, and the guard’s key scrapes with a rusty sound inside the lock.

(FADEOUT)

(FADE-IN)

EXT. TIME-LAPSE FOOTAGE OF SUN RISING AND SETTING OVER A SIGNIFICANT BUT INDETERMINATE PERIOD OF TIME, PRISON WALLS AND TOWERS IN FOREGROUND. TIME-LAPSE STOPS.

EXT. TIME-LAPSE FOOTAGE ENDS, SUN RISES OVER PRISON
MORNING

President Davis and the robed, hooded Paradine are seen from behind passing through prison’s main entrance again.

(CUT TO)

INT. ABRAHAM LINCOLN’S CELL DOOR. GUARD IS USING KEY TO OPEN IT, AS PARADINE AND PRESIDENT DAVIS WATCH, SEEN FROM BEHIND.

PRESIDENT DAVIS
Well, good mornng, Mistuh Lincoln! I trust we are in a cheerier mood today? I certainly don’t begrudge a man havin’ a bad day, ‘specially under these circumstances.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN
You may trust in anything you like, Mr. Davis. Like as not, it won’t be the same thing that I trust in.
(CONTINUED)
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
PRESIDENT DAVIS (indefatigable in his cheerfulness)
Aw, fiddlesticks, Mistuh Lincoln! I’m sure another “breakfast al fresco” in the fresh mornin’ air will fix ye right up!

ABRAHAM LINCOLN
As you wish, Mr. Davis. I will just have my usual portion of your extravagance--enough to keep body and soul together, nothing more.

The guard locks the door as Lincoln exits, and the four of them head down the long corridor.

Paradine is robed and hooded as usual, but now also has a large, plain cross, of brass or bronze, dangling from his neck on a thick silk cord. He troops silently along beside the other three men, saying nothing.

(CUT TO)

EXT. THE PRISON COURTYARD AGAIN, WHICH NOW HAS A SQUARISH HOLE CUT IN WALL, TO WHICH A HINGED DOOR HAS BEEN ATTACHED, ALLOWING A VIEW DOWN INTO THE NEARBY RIVER VALLEY.
MORNING, AFTER DAWN, OVERCAST

(CUT TO)

FOCUS ON DINING TABLE (from above), with the four men standing on its four sides. At a gesture from Davis, Lincoln and Paradine sit. The guard withdraws to a discreet distance. Empty plates, platters of food, silverware, and steaming mugs of coffee are already sitting, waiting for the three of them. A household slave appears now, and begins serving the three. Paradine hitches up the lower part of his hood, folding it upward to allow him to eat.

(FADEOUT)

(FADE-IN)

The meal is finished, Davis enjoying a glass of Napoleon brandy, Lincoln and Paradine sitting silently.


PRESIDENT DAVIS
I know these affairs are not to your likin’, Mr. Lincoln, but I think we can spice up these proceedings a bit, and make it a mite more entertainin’, even for the likes o’ you. I believe Mistuh--oh my, the brandy is hittin’ hard an’ early today--Mr. Paradine has somethin’ he’d like to show you, sir.

Lincoln sits stock-still, evincing an utter lack of enthusiasm for anything his captors might stir up for him. He sits up and re-buttons his suit coat, but his expression remains utterly stony. Davis nods to Paradine.

Paradine speaks for the first time on this oddly dark, gloomy day.