The 10-year old Clarice sits up abruptly in her bed, fright-
ened. She is in a Montana ranch house; it al almost dawn.
Strange, fearful shadows on her ceiling and walls... a win-
dow, partly fogged by the cold; eerie brightness outside.
CLARICE (V.O.)
I heard a strange sound...
DR. QUINN (V.O.)
What was it?
THE CHILD RISES -
crosses to the window in her nightgown, rubs the glass.
CLARICE (V.O.)
I didn't know. I went to look...
HIGH ANGLES (2nd STORY) - THE CHILD'S POV -
Shadowy men, ranch hands, are moving in and out of a nearby
barn, carrying mysterious bundles. The mens' breath is
steaming... A refrigerated truck idles nearby, its engine
adding more steam. A strange, almost surrealistic scene...
CLARICE (contd., V.O.)
Screaming! Some kind of - screaming.
Like a child's voice...
THE LITTLE GIRL
is terrified; she covers her ears.
DR. QUINN (V.O.)
What did you do?
CLARICE (V.O.)
Got dressed without turning on the
light. I went downstairs... outside...
THE LITTLE GIRL
in her winter coat, slips noiselessly towards the open barn
door. She ducks into the shadows to avoid a ranch hand, who
passes her with a squirming bundle of some kind. He goes into
the barn, and she edges after him reluctantly.
CLARICE (contd., V.O.)
I crept up to the barn... I was so
scared to look inside - but I had to...
THE LITTLE GIRL'S POV -
as the open doorway LOOMS CLOSER... Bright lights inside, straw
bales, the edges of stalls, then moving figures...
DR. QUINN (V.O.)
And what did you see, Clarice?
A SQUIRMING LAMB -
is held down on a table by two ranch hands.
CLARICE (V.O.)
Lambs. The lambs were screaming...
A third cowboy stretches out the lamb's neck, raises a bloody
knife. Just as he's about to slice its throat -
BACK TO THE ADULT CLARICE -
staring into the distance, shaken, still trembling from the
child's shock. We see Dr. Quinn, over her shoulder, studying
her intently.
DR. QUINN
They were slaughtering the spring lambs?
CLARICE
Yes...! They were screaming.
DR. QUINN
So you ran away...
CLARICE
No. First I tried to free them... I
opened the gate of their pen - but
they wouldn't run. They just stood
there, confused. They wouldn't run...
DR. QUINN
But you could. You did.
CLARICE
I took one lamb. And I ran away, as
fast as I could...
IN FLASHBACK -
a vast Montana plain, and crossing this, a tiny figure - the
little Clarice, holding a lamb in her arms.
DR. QUINN (V.O.)
Where were you going?
CLARICE (V.O.)
I don't know. I had no food or water.
It was very cold. I thought - if I can
even save just one... but he got so
heavy. So heavy...
The tiny figure stops, and after a few moments sinks to the
ground, hunched over in dispair.
CLARICE (contd., V.O.)
I didn't get more than a few miles
before the sheriff's car found me.
The rancher was so angry he sent me to
live at the Lutheran orphanage in
Bozeman. I never saw the ranch again...