Have Blonde, Will Travel

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In Chapter 8 of RIDGEWAY, Cate says goodbye to the beach with her dog Bobby, and then heads off onto the freeway to start the long drive to the Ozark Mountains, but when she makes a pit stop in the scorching heat of the desert, she wonders if she's made a mistake ...


EXT. MARINA DEL REY JETTY - EARLY MORNING
Gorgeous sunrise over the ocean.
Seagulls and pelicans
fly the beautiful skies.

A hundred-yard cement walkway
with a chrome railing juts past
the shoreline out into the sea.

Cate stands at the end with Bobby.
Looks at the coastline,
deep in thought.

This is the last time she’ll
this view in a long time.
Almost surprised she feels nothing.

CATE
Ready?

Bobby looks at her. Pants happily.
They start walking back.

INT. CATE’S GARAGE - EARLY MORNING
Cate walks to her car.
We see the back seat
is filled to the brim.

She opens the passenger-side door.
Bobby jumps in.

INT. CATE’S CAR - MOVING - CONTINUOUS
Out the window, we see the canal,
lined with airbrushed McMansions.
Cate shoves a cassette into the stereo.

ANNOUNCER (V.O.)
(electronic)
Regent Audio Books presents
‘Have Blonde, Will Travel,’
by Carrie Love, read by Friday Foster.

Cate smiles. Cracks the window.
Grabs a smoke. Fires it up.

FRIDAY FOSTER (V.O.)
The body was lying on the
bathroom floor in a pool of blood,
a pair of scissors
sticking out of it’s neck --

EXT. WASHINGTON BOULEVARD - DAY
One of LA’s patented traffic clusterfucks.
Cate’s car is stuck in a motionless sea
of SUV’s, Beamers and Benzes.

IN THE CAR
Cate sighs. She was anxious
to get the hell out of Dodge,
but now has to wait for
the wagons to start moving.

IN MONTAGE:
Cate’s red Toyota on the
Ten Freeway heading east.

Passing downtown LA. Then East LA.
Then scrub brush in the desert.

EXT. REST STOP - DAY
A cement block in
the middle of nowhere.

Hundred-degree heat
shimmers off the pavement.

Cate pulls in and parks.
Gets out.

The scorching blast
punches her in the gut.

CATE
Holy shit.

She lets Bobby out.
Takes him to a nearby spigot.

Fills his bowl with water.
Watches him hungrily lap it up.

Looks around at the desolate landscape.
Miles and miles of nothing.
She could be on Mars.

CATE
What the fuck have I done?