The Digest Vignette #1
Copyright 1999 by (name withheld but known to page owner)
The following is a screenplay script based on a brief vignette that appeared in the December 1965 issue of Reader's Digest in an article titled "Quicksand: Nature's
Terrifying Death Trap." The original article was by Gunther.

Scene 1

        The location is a pull-out on a lonely country road. With a happy-go-lucky tune playing as background music, we see a distance shot of a car driving up, and pulling
        into the   pull-out. The doors open and Fred and Charles get out. Quickly the open the trunk, then pull out and don large, heavy-looking backpacks. The
        background music shifts gradually into a tune with a slightly disturbed resonance as they head off onto a forest trail.

Scenees 2 - 5

        A series of panning shots of the two hikers passing by on a rough trail. The trail is barely visible. In each successive scene the two get slightly further apart until
        Charles is eight to ten seconds behind. The background music gets more and more disturbed.

Scene 6

        Fred passes by the camera (as in previous scenes), the walks straight into a quicksand bog. His foot sinks in past the ankle. He hesitates (not yet recognizing what
        is happening).

        Fred: "Oh! Its soft here!"

        Fred now takes a stumbling step forward. His foot sinks in past the knee and he then falls forward onto his chest. He arches his back in order to lift hgis face.

        Fred: "Oh! Stay back! Help!  Oh!  No!  No!"

Scene 7

        Shot from the opposite side of the bog. Charles arrives on the scene and almost runs into the bog himself. Fred is flat on his stomach and being pressed downward by
        the weight of his pack.

        Charles: "Fred. Get your pack off."

        Fred: "I'm trying. Its stuck. I can't get. I can't..."

        By now Fred's face is mostly under the surface. He thrashes about but sinks even deeper so only the top of the pack is showing.

Scene 8

        Charles backs away and looks around frantically.

        Charles: "Hang on."

        Charles spots and picks up a branch. He breaks off some side branches to make a rough pole. Then he returns to the edge of the bog. He probes for Fred, then
        tries to use the pole as a lever to pry Fred up to the surface. It does not work.

        Charles: "Fred! Fred!"

        Finally the branch breaks.

Scene 9

        Charles backs away from the bog a few feet and collapses onto a fallen log. He buries his face in his hands in shock.

        END