SUGARBUSH – DAY
BETSY is skipping uphill in a spanking white pinafore. Her rear-end has a bulky, diaper-like bandage which pushes the back of her skirt out. She carries a quart-sized tin bucket. She is heading in a beeline for ISAAC’S Big Tree.
She stops. She listens. She hears the sap dripping into the buckets.
She takes another step. She hears something else. A weaker version of the sound we heard earlier – like the forlorn complaint of tree branches iced-up after a winter storm.
Slowly, squinting at the spigot, she zeros in on the Big Tree. What she begins to realize is that oozing out of the tap, one-by-one, are thick drops of blood.
She drops the bucket and touches the blood drops with her forefinger. The flow increases. It fills the bucket quickly and overflows.
She tries to scream. Short puffs of raspy air come out of her throat.
The Big Tree ‘groans’. A gigantic ‘jugular vein’ shoots up the side of the tree trunk, bulging at the tap, which explodes with blood.
The bucket pops off its hook and hits the ground. The Big Tree buckles, as if punched in the stomach.
BETSY runs backwards. There’s blood all over her dress, hands and face. The other trees in the Sugarbush crumple and groan as buckets of blood snap off their hooks and hit the ground.
She falls, scrambles to her feet, turns and races out of the woods.

SCENE 2

SUGARHOUSE – DAY
A one-story, swaybacked shack stands in a field of tall yellow grass. A gas tank, recently installed, is set up near the door. A brand new, heavy-duty padlock sparkles next to a freshly painted sign:
“NO TRESSPASSING – DANGER!”
TUBBS, in a drunken rage, is trying to break in. He hacks at the lock with a crowbar. No luck. He throws the crowbar over his head.
TUBBS
Sit on my face.
He hoists a big rock, cradling it in his arms like a battering ram and runs at the door. The hinges give.
He backs up again, takes aim, scuffs the dirt like a bull, farts and runs at the door with all his strength.
TUBBS
Baaaahhhhhhhh!!!
The door crashes open.
INT. SUGARHOUSE (CUT AWAY)
TUBBS blasts into the room. He trips and falls.
The interior is piled high with crates and boxes. He overturns one, looking for booze. Stencilled on the side:
“DANGER – EXPLOSIVES!”
He dusts off another.
“U.S.S.R.”
TUBBS
Walk tall…
He yanks at the plunger of a detonator.
TUBBS
…carry a big dick.
At last he spots a bottle of Wild Turkey up in the rafters, covered with dust. He drops the detonator, cracks open the bottle and slurps it down gratefully.
ENTER
ISAAC, out of breath, leaning in the door.
ISAAC
Pssst! Hey, Mr Tubbs!
TUBBS (wiping his mouth on his sleeve)
Say what?
ISAAC (out of breath)
It’s me…Isaac…I gotta…
TUBBS
Mais oui mon petit conspirator. Come out, come out wherever you are.
ISAAC
I ain’t supposed to go in there.
TUBBS
Well no, in fact you ain’t. In fact I shall come out to see you.
Avec playzir.
TUBBS emerges, squinting against the glare of the hot sun.
TUBBS
What seems to be the trouble?
ISAAC (so out of breath he has to take in huge gulps of air between phrases)
Ya gotta come quick ‘fore it’s too late I was running around in circles trying to sneak away and all I could think of was you. You Mr. Tubbs sir? I mean it’s like emergency serious. I get scared half t’ death but I figure you’d know what t’ do. You always get an idea. Looks like Brian’s in for it life or death and I ain’t kidding so please Mr. Tubbs, sir, ya gotta come quick up the Sugarbush ASAP!
TUBBS
Could you run that one by me again, my little apricot?
MUSIC: “BLOW MYSELF UP”   (song)
ISAAC
Ya gotta haul ass Mr. Tubbs, sir cuz if you think about it there ain’t nobody else from here to China that can fix things better than you so ya gotta git with it cuz Brian messed with the trees up Sugarbush and Old Man Flint‘s on the warpath. He gonna be hunting for somebody to punish n’ I figure, after me?, it’s Brian.
TUBBS
Brian’s in the soup you say?
ISAAC (BIG breath)
Ya gotta come quick cuz Old Man Flint…
TUBBS clamps his paw over ISAAC’S mouth.
TUBBS
That will do, my little rodent. Enough…
(swig)
…is enough.
ISAAC wriggles free.
TUBBS
I tell you, boy, that man is Evil.
ISAAC
Well what ya gonna do about it?
TUBBS drags him inside the Sugarhouse.
TUBBS
That’s the question I ask myself…all the time. ‘What I gonna do about it?’
ISAAC
DO DO DO DO OOOO…

TUBBS
WHAT WE GONNA DO ABOUT IT? OH OH…

ISAAC eyeballs the crates.
ISAAC
Uh oh.
He tries to back out. TUBBS grabs him by the collar, grabs again the detonator and pulls the two together like a couple of old friends.
TUBBS
Not so fast, my little sugar beet.
IF I WAS HIM
I’D BLOW MYSELF UP
IF I WAS HIM I’D DIE
IF I WAS HIM
I’D BLOW MYSELF UP
IF I WAS HIM I’D CRY

Don’t you git it? KaBOOM!
They high five.
TUBBS & ISAAC
IF I WAS HIM
I’D BLOW MYSELF UP
IF I WAS HIM I’D CRY
IF I WAS HIM
I’D BLOW MYSELF UP
IF I WAS HIM I’D DIE

TUBBS
LOOK AT ALL THEM CRAZY PEOPLE
TAKING HIM TO HEART

ISAAC
OO OO OO…

TUBBS
ACTING LIKE HE’S GOD OR SOMETHING
STABBING IN THE DARK

ISAAC
OO OO OO…

TUBBS picks up a pair of hand grenades.
TUBBS & ISAAC (dancing)
IF I WAS HIM
I’D BLOW MYSELF UP
IF I WAS HIM I’D CRY
IF I WAS HIM
I’D BLOW MYSELF UP
IF I WAS HIM I’D DIE

TUBBS
TOOK MY TREES AND
TOOK MY SUGAR

ISAAC
OO OO OO…

TUBBS
AND I DRINK IT ALL AWAY
Takes a self-pitying swig.
TUBBS
OH THAT BASTARD’LL BITE THE BULLET
HE WILL HAVE TO PAY

ISAAC
OO OO OO…

ISAAC
Yup you’re right Mr. Tubbs absolutely right and I mean it’s okay to chill out with you an’ the singin’ an’ the dancin’ is cool but in the meantime our friend Brian’s gonna fry!
TUBBS clamps another thick paw over ISAAC’S mouth, lifts him up and carries him outside.
TUBBS (speaking into his ear)
Hush up my little string bean. Everything gonna go perfect. We got the plan, we got the goods, we got the brains, we got the personnel we got…
(eyeballing the detonator again)
…the technology.
He tilts the boy’s head and tries to pour booze down his throat.
ISAAC (spitting it out)
Yuck!
TUBBS
Try like this.
He sets ISAAC down and begins a soft-shoe. ISAAC joins in. They are terrific together. ISAAC vamps on his harp. They dance their way up the path leading into the woods.
ISAAC
IF I WAS HIM
I’D BLOW MYSELF UP
IF I WAS HIM I’D DIE

TUBBS
That megaholic, two-faced, slickey-boy, piss-fed, manipulatin’…
He coughs and then joins in.
TUBBS & ISAAC
IF I WAS HIM
I’D BLOW MYSELF UP
IF I WAS HIM I’D CRY…

EXIT
TUBBS and ISAAC, dancing into the woods.

SCENE 3

SUGARBUSH – DAY
MUSIC: “BROKEN HEART” BOLERO ONLY 
The trees are in bad shape. Blood flows weakly from the taps. All the buckets have fallen on the ground, spilling over with blood.
The congas throb. The MEMBERS huddle around the Big Tree, heads bowed in prayer. FLINT stands before them, high and mighty. REBECCA sits apart. She is not praying.
The spirit is building in FLINT – a volcano about to blow.
ISAAC and TUBBS creep up and hide behind the trees. No one notices. ISAAC darts over to REBECCA’S side and takes her hand. She barely acknowledges him.
MEMBERS (incantation in octaves)
THE PATH TO THE LIGHT IS PAVED WITH PAIN. BEAT THE PATH HARSHLY, THUNDER AND RAIN. CRACK THROUGH THE DARKNESS AGAIN AND AGAIN.
FLINT
What Evil is at work? Whose power destroys? I cannot appeal more devoutly to Thee, Lord. Hear my prayers. Stop the horror. Return the trees!
His body shakes. He’s in orbit. His eyes shut tight.
The MEMBERS have varying reactions. Some are moved. Others sneak looks of bewilderment and alarm.
FLINT
Make well these trees. Make the woods sing again, dear God in Heaven.
His face sags, his voice cracks.
FLINT
Bring forth the sun; bring forth the clear sky, the beating of angel’s wings like the white skirts of young girls swinging in the city on a hot summer night!
MEMBERS
AMEN.
FLINT has still not opened his eyes. In the fever of his vision he cannot unlock himself.
FLINT
Brothers and sisters, it is done. A miracle! Praise Jesus Christ our Lord God in Heaven.
MEMBERS
AMEN. PRAISE JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD GOD IN HEAVEN.
An unearthly trembling interrupts him. The blood from the trees quickens. FLINT opens his eyes at last.
FLINT
What? God delivers a miracle and you do not rejoice? Are you mad?
EMMANUEL
The trees, Judge…they’re worse.
MARIE
I’m scared.
BETSY
It’s all the same like before, Judge. The trees are still screwed up.
FLINT
This cannot be!
He stands, waving his arms furiously and lashes out. The wilder he gets, the more the MEMBERS are appalled.
FLINT
Don’t you see? The Devil is at work. An odious, befouling force.
ISAAC (to REBECCA)
I think this might be a good time to go.
FLINT throws himself against the Big Tree, like Captain Ahab on the body of the Great White Whale.
FLINT
I say out with you!
He strikes the tree with the butt end of his cane.
REBECCA
Father, please! I beg you, just go home. Go back down the mountain. I’ll go with you. I’ll look after you.
He can’t hear her. He can’t hear anything. His seizure of violence is brutal and overwhelming.
He strikes a vein in the Big Tree. A tremendous, pulsating jet of blood spurts out, as if the tree’s jugular had been cut.
The MEMBERS gasp, en masse. The wounded tree is spurting blood all over FLINT.
THE MUSIC STOPS ABRUPTLY
BETSY (shrilly)
Let’s get him!
No one pays any attention to her.
BETSY
It’s that witchboy in that stupid shack! He’s a Devilboy! I seen it! He’s the one who’s responsible for this mess!
ISAAC tackles her. She is stronger than he is. She flips him over easily, twisting his arm behind his back.
BETSY
Brian did this you little twerp. You’re just defending him. He did stuff to me and now he’s done this.
(to everyone)
Get him and kill him and you get the trees back. It’s so obvious!
FLINT looks dazed. Blood is all over the place.
BETSY releases ISAAC, runs to FLINT and shakes his big bloody coat.
BETSY
Wake up, Judge. Do something about that kid. You know he done it. You said so.
FLINT
Did I?
REBECCA
You’ve lost your minds. Both of you.
ISAAC
Leave Brian outa this.
BESTY
It’s the truth. He’s a Devilboy and he’s got you under his spell.
TUBBS jumps out of his hiding place.
TUBBS
You make me puke, all o’ ya! You know who done this to my trees? You did! You and your disgusting religion. Get outa my woods!
FLINT (recovering)
Bring him down.
TWO MEMBER ‘THUGS’ move in. TUBBS puts up his dukes. His distraction allows ISAAC and REBECCA to make their getaway.
TUBBS
Just try it, you Jonestown choirboys. You ain’t got the sack!
He knocks his assailants down and darts behind a tree as another member trips and falls. They are exhausted.
FLINT and BETSY watch, stupefied, as different MEMBERS chase TUBBS all over the Sugarbush.
TUBBS
Yoo hoo! Catch me if you can, jizbags.
With this, his final verbal assault, he runs headlong into a tree and knocks himself unconscious. The THUGS tie him up.
FLINT
Take him downhill. Return to Meeting. Tonight we hunt the boy.
BETSY
Nuh uh! Get him now. Don’t wait!
FLINT
He won’t go anywhere.
BETSY
He will. He ain’t stupid.
FLINT (back in charge)
I know my adversary. I know him very well in fact. We have a common interest. We will hunt tonight.