Paradise Found

Happy Thursday, crime slicksters. It's time once again to take a trip to the dark side, where the girls are hot, the drinks are cold, and the hardboiled-pulp-noir action is non-stop, right here, at the coolest crime joint in cyberspace ... at That Killing Feeling.

In Chapter 4 of RIDGEWAY, Cate starts packing up her belongings after being evicted from her home in Los Angeles. Meanwhile, Kalya trudges home to her Victorian-era Ozark mountain home, exhausted after a long day at work ...

EXT. APARTMENT BUILDING - DAY
An old, run-down,
baby vomit-colored shithole.

A wide, beautiful canal
runs by it on the left.

To the right, across the street,
is the beach.

Straight ahead in the distance
a sailboat glides by.
Water on three sides.

Welcome to the Marina Del Rey peninsula,
an oasis on the outskirts
of the city of devils.
Paradise found. Then lost.

INT. CATE’S APARTMENT - DAY
It’s borderline hoarder time
in what once was a light, airy room
with a wall of windows,
now stuffed with crap.

Boxes filled with movies, books,
CD’s and clothes dot the joint.

Portrait of the writer
as being evicted.

Cate picks up a giant garbage bag.
Takes it outside.

IN THE DRIVEWAY
She carries it to the trash.

It suddenly BREAKS OPEN,
spilling several dozen
shoes onto the pavement.

CATE
Goddamn cheap fucking
Dollar Store bags.

Gets down on her knees.
Starts stuffing them
into the ripped bag.

Then slowly, carefully
carries it to the dumpster.

A platform shoe falls out.
Hits the pavement with a CLUNK.

EXT. VICTORIAN HOUSE - NIGHT
A faded Victorian home
on a cracked mountain top road.

Cheerfully painted orange
with red and yellow trim.

A BLACK CAT stares ominously
out the window.
Watches a FOX trot by.

Then a faux vintage
TROLLEY on wheels.

A BLUE BIRD lands
in the bird bath.

This is your brain on rustic.

A CHUBBY RETARDED GIRL (20)
wearing thick glasses
and a tiara stands in
the gravel driveway.

Slowly spins in a circle,
arms outstretched, smiling like
some demented Eraserhead outtake.

Kayla trudges up the front walk.
Goes to the door.

Looks at Chubby Retarded.
Winces. Goes inside --