| THE ZORRO NEWSPAPER STRIP | DEAD BODY RISING DAILIES WEEK TWENTY FOUR |
McGregor 47-49 |
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MONDAY PANEL ONE (LONG SHOT ON THE SCENE, AS MONASTERIO STANDS, HIS RISING FIGURE BLOTTING OUT THE SETTING SUN SO THAT BEAMS RADIATE PAST HIM. HE LOOKS INDIGNANT, ALMOST AS IF HE HAS TAKEN SOME KIND OF PERSONAL OFFENSE AT WHAT DIEGO HAS SAID. DIEGO'S HEAD IS TILTED UP TO SQUINT INTO THE SUN RAYS TO VIEW MONASTERIO, AND HE IS HAVING TROUBLE KEEPING HIS FACE BLAND.) MONASTERIO 1: What do you mena, this woman isn't one of ours? DIEGO 2: Ours, Commandante? That's an ignorant thing to say. More than that...meaningless. PANEL TWO (TIGHT IN ON DIEGO AND THE DEAD WOMAN, AS DIEGO LOOKS BACK DOWN AT HER, WITH QUIET SADNESS ON HIS FACE, AS HE GENTLY BRUSHES HER MATTED HAIR OUT OF HER FACE, LIGHT RAYS STREAMING DOWN AROUND THEM IN THIS SOLEMN MOMENT. AND IT IS A PANEL THAT STRIKES AN EMOTIONAL CHORD, DEEP AND STRONG IN ITS QUIET HUMANITY. IT IS WHAT MAKES DIEGO AND ZORRO SO EXCEPTIONAL, THE SINCERE FEELING FOR HUMAN LIFE, FOR ALL VICTIMS, ESPECIALLY THOSE WITHOUT ANY VOICE.) DIEGO 3: I know your intent. You imply because she is not Spanish, she is not worth your concern. DIEGO 4: Is that why you make no comment that I also said she was murdered? TUESDAY (THIS IS ONE LONG PANEL. WE SEE, FULL FIGURE, DIEGO, THE DEAD WOMAN, AND MONASTERIO, ALMOST IN SILHOUETTE, ONLY STARK LIGHTING EFFECTS LIMNING THEIR FACES. AGAINST THIS WE HAVE AN IMAGE, DONE WITH ZIP-A-TONE, TO IMMEDIATELY SHOW THAT THIS IS WHAT MONASTERIO AND DIEGO ARE TALKING ABOUT. THE IMAGE SURROUNDING THEM IS OF AN INDIAN BURIAL GROUND BESIDE ONE OF THE MISSSIONS. SEE REFERENCE INCLUDED WITH SCRIPT, "THE CALIFORNIA MISSIONS," PG.35, FOR WHERE THE BURIAL GROUND WOULD BE LOCATED. ALSO INCLUDED IS "THE CALIFORNIA MISSIONS," PG.28, WHICH DISCUSSES THE CHICKENPOX AND VENEREAL DISEASE THAT SWEPT LIKE AN EPIDEMIC, KILLING MANY INDIANS. WE SEE A PADRE OBSERVING AS INDIANS, WHO HAVE DUG A LARGE GRAVE, TOSS SEVERAL BODIES INTO IT. THE PADRE IS READING A BIBLE OVER THE BURIAL.) MONASTERIO 1: I have more to do than look into the death of every Indian. Have you ever seen the number of graves near the Mission where they bury them? And that's with many bodies in a single hole! DIEGO 2: How could I miss them? No one who values life can. DIEGO 3: To see it, is to view immense tragedy...Life taken by chickenpox and venereal disease epidemics. DIEGO 4: It is a loss to the soul and heart. WEDNESDAY PANEL ONE (JUST MONASTERIO, LOOK DISDAINFULLY DOWNWARD. BEHIND HIM, FILLING THE PANEL, IS AN IMAGE OF A DEAD HEART, DRIED AND WITHERED.) MONASTERIO 1: I have never understood why people romanticize the heart! The heart, the heart, the poet's idealize. MONASTERIO 2: I have seen an exposed heart, and it is an ugly thing, and yet people go on all the time about how it is where love is, and hurt and compassion. PANEL TWO (JUST DIEGO AND THE WOMAN, LIT BY THE LAST RAYS OF THE SUN. AND DIEGO IS LOOKING UPWARD, HIS EYES JUST A LITTLE TAUNTING, HIS FACE SHOWING A LITTLE OF THE PASSION THAT HE FEELS, PASSION HE CANNOT TOTALLY SUPPRESS. BEHIND DIEGO, WE SEE A LIVE HEART, PULSING, VITAL, AND SWEEPING BLOOD ALONG!) DIEGO 3: Is the heart ugly, when it beats in your breast, pumping blood, keeping you alive? DIEGO 4: Feel for the pulse of the heart, and it's not there, and then what would you understand, Commandante? Would the heart be pretty lovely to you, then? THURSDAY PANEL ONE (THERE ARE FOUR SMALL PANELS TODAY, CONTRASTING WITH MUCH OF WHAT WE HAVE DONE WITH THE BEGINNING OF THE WEEK IN THE DAILIES. WE SEE MONASTERIO POINTING DOWN AT DIEGO, A LITTLE SURPRISED BY HIM AGAIN. MONASTERIO HAS A SMILE ON HIS FACE; AMUSED THAT DIEGO HAS SHOWN SOME BACKBONE.) MONASTERIO 1: What's that I hear from you, Don Diego? Criticism? MONASTERIO 2: You got spunk today, did you? PANEL TWO (DIEGO SHRUGGING INNOCENTLY, PULLING BACK SOME OF HIS FEELINGS, ACTING MORE THE TRADITIONAL ROLE.) Diego 3: I don't even know what spunk is. PANEL THREE (MONASTERIO SWEEPING AN ARM WIDE, ALMOST AS AN ORATOR, MAKING A PASSIONATE POINT.) MONASTERIO 4: Since you shy from the topic, let me tell you, there are thousands of Indians buried at the Missions. Of disease, as we said. PANEL FOUR (JUST DIEGO'S FINGERS TENDERLY ON THE DEAD WOMAN'S FACE, ALMOST GENTLY STROKING SOME OF THE STREAKS OF TAR FROM IT.) DIEGO 5: Diseases uncommon to these shores before the explorers and Padres and soldados came here, which we did not say. DIEGO 6: And don't forget, some died of barbaric treatment. Some of us might like to forget that, but it doesn't make it any less true. |
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