Coati

“Courageous Coati Loves You”

   A Short Film by Teresa Troutman

FADE IN:

INT. BOY’S BEDROOM – NIGHT

The small blue room is decorated with dinosaurs and rocket ships.  The bed is covered by a stars and planets bedspread.  On the walls are bookshelves with picture books and stuffed animals.  Large wood block letters hanging on the wall announce MARK in bright, primary colors.

MARK comes running into his room and jumps into his bed and under the covers.  Mark’s MOM follows in after him.  Mom is a young woman who could use both a makeover and a full night’s sleep, or maybe some anti-depressants.

Mark struggles to get under the covers, Mom goes to the bookshelf and pulls out an oversized picture book with the cartoon drawing of a black and white Coatimundi on the cover.  The title, in big block letters reads, “Courageous Coati.”

MARK

Courageous Coati!  Courageous Coati!

MOM

Shhh. Shhh.  Courageous Coati.

Mom looks nervous as she reads, looking over her shoulder.  She gets up to close the door to the room.  As she moves back to the bed, a man in a furry black and white cartoon character suit, COURAGEOUS COATI, appears in the corner of the room, his appearance just about matches the cover of the children’s book. 

Courageous Coati looks like he’s been waiting in the room all along.  Mom does not see him despite her nervous appearance at something lurking in the shadows.

MARK

Let me read!

MOM

Can you read?

MARK

You read.

MOM

(reading)

Courageous Coati was born in Brazil, a long time ago and far away.

MARK

(reading along)

Courageous Coati lived a long life, a long time ago and far away.

Courageous Coati had a fine wife and two twin children, Ferris and Fay,

A long time ago and far away.

The Coati-man dances in the corner to the cadence of the doggerel.  He stops dancing suddenly when a bang sounds on the other side of the door.  Mom jumps, startled.  A man’s voice, UNCLE, is heard through the door, yelling.

UNCLE (O.S.)

…the hell…where…shit!

Coati growls at the voice coming closer to the door.

MOM

Courageous Coati had furry friends...

UNCLE (O.S.)

What do you think you’re doing!?

Mark pulls up the covers as he pulls himself up to the corner of the bed.  Mom stands up and goes to the door and speaks in whispers to the unseen Uncle.  Suddenly she disappears into the hallway.  There is more SHOUTING and the sound of Mom stifling cries.

Mark pulls the book up to his chest and continues to try to read as Coati sits on the foot of the bed and growls at the door.

MARK

(pretending to read)

Courageous Coati had teeth and claws and would bite anyone who came into his house and kill them and eat them and bury their bones in the yard…

COURAGEOUS COATI

A long time ago and far away.

MARK

Read it again.  Read it again!

The noise in the hallway fades away as the sound of a TRAIN APPROACHING close-by drowns out the argument.

INT. BOYS ROOM – DAY

Mark enters his room with his school books and dumps them on the floor.  He goes to his window and looks outside where Uncle is standing out by a beat up old truck, drinking beer. There is a fence beyond where Uncle is working where train tracks run parallel to the backyard.

Mark pulls down his favorite book and begins to read.  Coati appears on the bed as Mark begins to read.

MARK

Courageous Coati was born in Brazil.

COURAGEOUS COATI

A long time ago and far away.

MARK

I can read by myself.

 Coati puts his paws up in a defensive gesture.

MARK

A long time ago and far away.  Courageous Coati lived a long life.

 Mark pauses a beat while Coati is held in suspense.  Mark takes out a crayon and begins writing.

MARK

Coati lived right now and he is Mark’s friend right now and he eats up everyone who yells and hits and can’t hit back…

Uncle’s voice is heard approaching O.S.  Mark stops writing but continues his revisionist story of his cartoon hero.

MARK

And Courageous Coati loves his friend Mark and won’t let anybody hurt him.

Courageous Coati hugs Mark close.

INT. BOYS ROOM – DAY (FROM UNCLE’S P.O.V.)

Uncle sees the boy standing by his bed, just as he had been a beat before, only the boy stands alone now.  The scene is distorted as the Uncle approaches Mark from a high, monstrous angle. 

Mark backs up onto the bed, crawling toward the wall, hands come up over his face in a defensive posture.  A TRAIN HORN BLASTS from the distance, the commuter train approaching.

INT. BOYS ROOM – NIGHT

Mark enters the room and turns on the light.  His own left eye holds a shining black bruise.  Mark sits on his bed and sees the Courageous Coati book on the floor.  O.S. The TRAIN APPROACHES AND PASSES BY TO SILENCE.  Mark picks up the book and stares at it.

MARK

Why can’t you help me?

 The Coati stands in the corner, not moving.

MARK

You’re a coward.  A big, fat coward.

 The Coati hangs his head low.

In the b.g., from beyond the hallway, more SCREAMING and BANGING is heard as kitchen items are thrown.  Uncle and his Mom have entered the domestic battlefield once more.  Mark climbs into bed and pulls the covers up over his head. 

INT. BOYS ROOM – DAY

Mark enters the room, angry with an agenda, and takes the Courageous Coati book off the shelf and puts it on the bed.  Mark then sets his school backpack on the desk and pulls out another book.  This book is darker and the title reads, “Masters of Doom.”

MARK

Courageous Coati was born in Brazil!

Coati appears, picking up the ‘Courageous Coati’ children’s book and cradling it in his arms, against his chest.

Mark turns his new book, opens the ‘Masters of Doom’ and begins to read.

MARK

Masters of Doom, four warriors of darkness with power and weapons to bring the weak to their knees…

 Four MASKED WARRIORS in dark superhero costumes suddenly appear from behind Mark.  Coati looks confused.

COURAGEOUS COATI

Courageous Coati loves Mark.

MARK

Masters of Doom bring the weak to their knees!  The Masters of Doom kill the Coward Coati!

The four dark warriors approach Coati.  They pull out their oversized swords and begin slashing and hacking poor Coati to bits of fluff and fabric.

Mark closes the book, satisfied.  The satisfaction is temporary as a few beats later, he hears Uncle yelling again.  The Masters of Doom stand, unmoving, behind Mark.

Uncle’s silhouette appears from the doorway, Mark stands alone.

INT. WRITER’S OFFICE – DAY

The room has the same dimensions and window placement as Mark’s childhood bedroom but it has taken on a more adult theme.  Posters of book jackets hang matted and framed on the wall.  All of the books advertised are dark horror genre with titles like “Blood Train,” and “Scream Now, Die in Agony.”  The author of these books is printed in large, red letters: Mark Lazarus.

Mark is a grown man, sitting behind a word processor, typing furiously.  He likes to type with a red font and is impatient that the words aren’t flowing from his fingers fast enough.   A cigarette burns down in an ashtray beside him and his coffee cup has been drained down to a few grounds at the bottom.

He turns to the coffee pot for a refill but the pot is empty.

MARK

Joanne!  Dammit!  Joanne!

Mark gets impatient as the computer locks up on him, giving him lazy server messages.

MARK

Joanne!

An older woman, JOANNE, appears in the doorway but does not cross the threshold.

MARK

What the hell?!  What do you think you’re doing?  What is so difficult about keeping a coffee pot full of coffee!

JOANNE

I’ll take care of it.

MARK

Don’t bother.  I don’t know what I’m paying you for.

 Mark stands, grabs his coat off of a coathook.

MARK

The server’s shit a load.  Again.  I can’t get any research done here.  I’m going to the library.  Have the coffee hot before I get back.

JOANNE

How long do you think you’ll be?

MARK

How the fuck should I know?  As long as it takes.

Mark walks out the door into cooler air.  Joanne watches him go.  She picks up one of the papers he’s thrown on the floor and reads it to herself.  Her eyes bug out of her head at the violence of the fiction Mark writes.

JOANNE

Oh, my.

She crumples the paper, throws it in the trash.  She then picks up the trash can, walks it over to the fireplace and empties the can into the fire.

INT. LIBRARY – DAY (DUSK)

Mark enters the library and barely glances at the librarian behind the desk.  She recognizes the famous horror writer immediately.

LIBRARIAN

Good evening, Mister Lazarus!  We’re closing in a half-hour, so if I can help you…

MARK

I don’t need any help.

The Librarian is taken aback by Mark’s rudeness but says nothing.  Mark continues in past the book stacks.

A couple of mothers with their children approach the desk as Mark pushes past them.

INT. LIBRARY – MAIN STACKS – DAY (DUSK)

Mark moves through the stacks, knowing which books he’s looking for and where to find them.  He begins pulling books off the shelves.  After tucking three books under his arm, he walks out of an aisle between shelves toward a reading table next to the Children’s Library.

Mark sits at the table and begins look through the books.

INT. LIBRARY – CHILDREN’S LIBRARY – NIGHT

A pair of black and white fluffy ears moves across the top of a short shelf of books.  On the wall, a learn-to-read poster of Courageous Coati looks out over the shadowy shelves.

INT. LIBRARY – CHECKOUT DESK – NIGHT

The Librarian goes through a stack of books, running their barcode through a scanner and tossing them in a bin to be re-shelved.  She stops when she hears SCITTERING FOOTSTEPS OF AN ANIMAL approach.  She looks up and over her desk toward the book stacks but sees nothing.

She settles back to scanning her books when a paw suddenly comes down on top of her hand.  The librarian looks up and is about to scream when another paw covers her mouth from behind.

INT. LIBRARY – MAIN FLOOR – NIGHT

Mark sits reading his books, wearing reading glasses.  Behind him, the ringed tail of a coatimundi passes by over the top of the reading tables and bookshelves.  The SCITTERING SOUND goes with the tail.

MARK

Damn rats.

INT. LIBRARY – CHILDREN’S SECTION – NIGHT

A furry paw passes over a shelf of children’s picture books and begins pulling the spines out and onto the floor.  Titles such as “Teddy Bear Birthday Party” and “The Ten Little Pigs” fall open.

Images of adult-sized pigs and teddy bears move like shadows through the books.

Mark looks up from his reading table when he hears more BOOKS FALLING TO THE FLOOR.

MARK

Just give me a few damn minutes!

(under his breath)

Don’t get your damn panties in a wedge.

Mark continues flipping through pages of his books, making notes.

From behind the stacks, cartoon figures from children’s books come to life and move out from their pages and into reality.  There’s a PIRATE from ‘Treasure Island’ and a TEDDY BEAR, a DUCK wearing a funny hat, and a DRAGON.

More figures come to life: a CAT and a couple of SUPERHERO characters join the party of stalkers moving slowly toward Mark’s position at the reading table.

Mark hears FOOTSTEPS, ignores them, at first.  The FOOTSTEPS approach and stop.  He looks up and sees Courageous Coati, a Teddy Bear, a Duck (wearing a funny hat), a Dragon, a Cat and a couple of Superhero characters standing in formation in front of the reading table across from him.

MARK

Ahhhhhhh!

Mark stands up, the chair falling over backward behind him.  He turns and runs down an aisle of books.

He looks behind him, at the table, and the characters are all gone.

A black-and-white Coati tale goes across the shelves of books behind him.  SCAMPERING SCRATCHES come from multiple directions.

INT. LIBRARY – COOKBOOK SECTION

Mark moves through aisles of cookbooks.  Suddenly, a CHEF from Hell comes out from around a corner.

CHEF

What do you think you’re doing?  You have no idea on how to braise the beef tips!  Get out of my kitchen!

Another WOMAN COOK comes around the opposite corner.

WOMAN COOK

You need lumpy batter!   You can’t make scones without lumpy batter!  Let me turn up your oven!

CHEF

Preheat!  Preheat!  Broiling comes later!

 Mark pushes some books off the shelves in order to put a barrier between himself and the cookbook characters pursuing him.

INT. LIBRARY – ROMANCE SECTION – NIGHT

Mark runs into rows of steamy novels of intrigue and romance.  Women’s arms reach out from the books and grab at Mark’s head. 

From around the corner, a FABIO-like man steps out from the Romance stacks, fan blowing his long brown hair off his muscular shoulders, his white shirt unbuttoned down the front, showing a smooth, tan chest.

FABIO

You think you have been betrayed by love.  You don’t even know the nature of the beast within you.

 Mark turns, confused, sees the storybook characters approaching, looking for him.

MARK

Help me!  Help me!

 INT. LIBRARY – SCIENCE FICTION

Mark escapes into a new section of books, marked with posters of flying saucers and planets.  He immediately comes running back out again as an ALIEN MONSTER and a cheesy 1950’s styled ROBOT chase after him.

 INT. LIBRARY – HORROR

Mark sees the Horror stacks and purposefully runs into the stacks.  GROANING, SCREAMING and MOANING sounds from within the books.  Gruesome hands begin to reach out from the shelves.

Mark, undaunted, begins to search through the titles, alphabetically searching the authors until he comes to his own name.  He pulls out one of his titles: “The Predator Attacks!” and opens the book and starts reading.

MARK

The creature was carnivorous with red eyes glowing, knowing exactly the weakness of its prey.

Two pairs of red eyes glow from the far end of the horror section.  A PREDATOR appears and stalks down the aisle, past Mark and towards the Duck.

MARK

The beast attacks!

The Predator launches itself at the Duck and books go flying as a frenzied QUACKING sounds out of sight.  Feathers fly and settle as a CRUNCHING, CHEWING, GRINDING noise is heard O.S.

FABIO

He’s over here!

Fabio, all the children’s book characters, the Chefs and Cooks and all manner of fictional beings brought to life appear and try to subdue the Beast until a melee of flying fur and blood pushes over shelves and books.  The sounds of battle are incredible.

Mark crawls on his hands and knees away from the fray until he reaches an oversized picture book lying open on the floor.  He pulls it up close and sees it is the ‘Courageous Coati’ book.

He pages through to the last page, which shows the Coati walking hand-in-hand with a young boy off into the sunset.  Mark reads the print: “And the Brave Little Boy and Courageous Coati were friends forever, not so long ago.”

Mark closes his eyes and reads the page out loud.

MARK

And the Brave Little Boy and the Courageous Coati were friends forever, not so long ago.  The End.

Suddenly, the battle goes silent.  Feathers and fur settle.  From behind the piles of books, Courageous Coati emerges, stepping over the mess.

Courageous Coati approaches Mark as Mark makes his way to his feet.  They look at each other for a beat and then embrace each other in forgiveness.

MARK

The Brave Little Boy and the Courageous Coati were friends forever.

Without warning, the Coati grabs Mark in a chokehold and drags him off toward the children’s book section.  There is a doorway within an endcap and the Coati pulls Mark through the door into darkness.

INT. CHILDRENS’ BEDROOM – NIGHT

The youngster’s bedroom is freakishly cartoonish in nature with a South American flair.  There are construction paper palm trees and stuffed animal macaws and the sound of Samba coming from outside the window.

Two Coati-Costumed youngsters, FERRIS AND FAY, tumble over each other and jump into bed.  Courageous Coati comes in and pulls an oversized book off the bookshelf as he comes in the bedroom door.

FERRIS

Read ‘The Brave Little Boy’!

FAY

‘Brave Little Boy’!

COURAGEOUS COATI

Settle down.  I will read you the tale of ‘The Brave Little Boy’

The Courageous Coati opens the book and pauses for a beat.  Mark appears in a corner of the room, as if he’s always been there.

Courageous Coati sits down in a rocking chair and begins to read as Mark stands behind the seated figure.

COURAGEOUS COATI

(reading)

There once was a Brave Little Boy born in Buffalo, long ago and far away…

Mark smiles, the anger gone from his face.

FERRIS

The Brave Little Boy lived a long life…

FAY

Long ago and far away…

Mark, as an adult, moves around from the back of the chair, briefly moves O.S. and then, coming around the front of the chair, reappears as the young Mark and leans against the Coati in a peaceful hug.

FADE OUT.

MARK (V.O.)

(as boy)

Read it again!  Read it again!

THE END.