Harper Thorne: Curse of Sallowe Manor (The Script)
written by J. Timothy Quirk (c) 2023
The following is a work of fiction. Any similarities between any parties or situations are completely coincidental.
Curse of Sallowe Manor By J. Timothy Quirk
Directed by AJ Lin
Harper Thorne: Devon Richtmeyer
Mister Silas Sallowe: Dave Walker
Sound: wind in the night. An owl hoots. A Coyote howls.
Harper (VO)
Is a curse the call of destiny, a sorrowful promise inevitably fulfilled? Is it merely a cautionary tale told to warn of future harm? If one unfortunate event is the consequence of a poor choice or simply bad luck, do we consider a chain of ill-fated calamities a curse when no other explanation fits? Beware the stranger who arrives in the night, for our secrets and our curses shine the brightest under a full moon.
Sound; The wind howls until eclipsed by the music
Sound: Theme music
Sound: knock on the door to Silas Sallow’s house
Sallowe
Who is it?
Harper
My name is Harper Thorne. I sent my card ahead.
Sound: door opens
Sallowe
Your card is hardly a worthy emissary, Miss Thorne. The printed words provide little justice when introducing your great beauty.
Harper
Your reputation for charm precedes you, Mister Sallowe, as does your reputation for gallantry. May I enter?
Sallowe
Please. (sound: Harper walks in. Door closes behind her) Although I do not know the reason why a lovely unaccompanied young lady has come to my door at this late an hour, I look forward to uncovering… the purpose. May I offer you some tea?
Harper
I do not prefer to drink tea so late in the evening.
Sallowe
Neither do I. The men in my family do not prefer tea at all, but I keep some in the house for special occasions. Now then, to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit, Miss Thorne? Do you simply enjoy walks beneath a full moon?
Harper
I do, but that is not why I’m here. I would like to hear from you directly on the occurrence at Sallowe Manor?
Sallowe
(angrily) Are you here on behalf of my sister? My brother?
Harper
Neither. I am interested in stories of the macabre. I am told you have a unique tale to tell in this vein.
Sallowe
There are enough tales in books to satisfy your appetite.
Harper
I am a voracious reader, Mister Sallowe, but my interest in this subject is quite insatiable. Will you indulge me?
Sallowe
I suppose I see no harm in it. What would you like to know, Miss Thorne?
Harper
If it were my story to tell, I would begin with the house itself.
Sallowe
Interesting, yes. Well, it seems you must already know that Sallowe Manor is the largest estate in the region, sitting atop Mystic Hill. Travelers can see the three conical spires from any road entering the village and at the peak of the tallest tower, an arrow points ever eastward. I learned as a boy it was not a weathervane; like my father, the arrow never wavered. In every weather, no matter the wind, it only pointed to the land of my ancestors. How was I to know it pointed to the origin of our family’s darkest secret…the curse of Sallowe Manor?
Harper
The Manor safeguards many mysteries, undoubtedly.
Sallowe
Generations of Sallowes lived in the Manor. It is a symbol of our family’s legacy. You must understand that every child born into our lineage must safeguard and forward this legacy. I used to love the house. I knew every inch of it, every door and window, every stair, every floor. I could walk through it in the dark. I suppose every boy’s childhood home is like that. But as much as I thought I loved the Manor, my siblings loved it more. You see my brother and sister, Julius and Rose, were born in the Manor as this was the Sallowe tradition; but mother was visiting her family in the old country when I unexpectedly arrived. Father was furious that the custom had been broken; she bore his anger in silence with dignity and grace which only fueled his fury further, a fury I thought he wished to visit upon me. She most certainly shielded me, for she wished her youngest to be her mother’s son. Do you know what they say about a mother’s son?
Harper
It depends entirely upon the mother.
Sallowe
Are you your mother’s daughter?
Harper
I have never sought to discover the answer to that question.
Sallowe
Julius and Rose saw my favor in her eyes, and they hated me for it. When we were alone, they claimed mother was a witch and that the horrors of the damned would fall upon us both. What a thing to tell a child. She was nothing but kind and peaceful. I knew it. Father knew it. They knew it too. They said it all the same as if speaking it aloud willed it to be so. In time, the air chilled when my father and I shared the same room. When I was old enough to make my mark in life, I sought warmer surroundings while Julius and Rose remained. My departure dealt a crushing blow to my mother or, as might be more accurately stated, I believe after my departure, she was dealt a crushing blow. They say she fell by accident and not by any hand, but I have my doubts.
Harper
You suspected your father.
Sallowe
I suspected death is the ultimate curse of the Sallowe Manor.
Death comes to us all, but for the Sallowes, it never arrives kindly. Father never remarried. Julius and Rose kept father busy until he was old and decrepit and then they left him to languish in his memories, in his guilt… He had only one visitor in his remaining years.
Harper
That was you, Mister Sallowe?
Sallowe
It was a lawyer named Grimes. I was told, in the eleventh hour, father altered his will. When he died, the Manor and all its contents were bequeathed to me. I know not why.
Harper
How did your father…. meet his creator?
Sallowe
My father died from a fall. He was by himself; I doubt very highly he met his creator.
Harper
Was his fall in the same location as his wife’s?
Sallowe
Strangely enough it was. The grand stairway leading to the towers. How did you know?
Harper
If your tale was simply just a tale, it would be the most likely location. Why did your siblings not prevent the fall? Were they not there?
Sallowe
They were both called away.
Harper
What called them away?
Sallowe
Business of some sort. They received letters calling them away and each left the house. When they returned, the lights were out and they found him at the foot of the stairs. He must have fallen in the dark.
Harper
That would be unusual for a man who lived in Sallowe Manor for his entire life.
Sallowe
But whether he died of a fall or any other means, it was long past his time. If it was not a fall it would have been something else. As it was, I found myself as the sole owner of the Manor and all its contents save for the two occupants who called it their home, my former tormentors, the demons of Sallowe Manor: Julius and Rose.
Harper
Tormentors? Demons?
Sallowe
Children lack the measuring cup of experience to temper their cocktail of cruelty. They were demons in the most extreme. I suffered injuries none could see or believe.
Harper
How did you repay them for those injuries?
Sallowe
I? I did nothing, my dear. I merely wrote to Julius and Rose individually and advised them I did not want the Manor and I would consider giving it to one sibling but not the other and as I could not choose between the two, in a year’s time, I would sell it to a stranger. Then all I had to do was wait! Ha! They did not know what Grimes had told me: that the will stipulated it would not be fully owned by me for a full year anyway, but neither Julius nor Rose knew that. Word came that Rose fell ill. She recovered, weak, but alive. My brother fell victim to a two-wheeler striking him in town. They say the horse was possessed by an uncontrollable force but perhaps the rider was simply well paid. Julius favored his right leg after that. I am told his pain endured as did the pain festering in Rose’s stomach. Yet both refused to leave the house, lest the other lock the other out. Can you imagine a year in that house? The agony, oh, the delicious agony.
Harper
You smile as you say that, Mister Sallowe.
Sallowe
Of course, I do. Two siblings, thick as thieves, now at each other’s throat! Alone in the Manor, the two must have plotted countless acts against the other, each too gruesome to be believed and yet so subtle that no word was brought to my attention since Julius’s accident. So now the year is nearly upon us.
Harper
And should the year pass and it falls into your possession, will you sell the Manor?
Sallowe
Once it is truly mine, I shall do with it as I please. I may consider waiting six more months. Who knows what may occur between Julius and Rose before then? Or I may sell it at once. Whichever will have the greatest impact, that will set my course. So…now that you know my story, are you satisfied, knowing the curse of Sallowe Manor, Miss Thorne?
Harper
It appears the true curse of Sallowe Manor is the inheritance of a cruel heart that followed from father to son. You have become vengeful and vicious. You are your father’s son as you knew him, Mister Sallowe.
Sallowe
I knew it! You are here on behalf of Julius and Rose!
Harper
I am not, sir.
Sallowe
You are a liar! Get out of my presence at once!
Harper
I tell the truth. I am not here on behalf of your brother or sister! I am here at the direction of Mister Grimes!
Sallowe
What? But I…I don’t understand…
Harper
In your father’s last days, he saw how his children neglected him and that ultimately the legacy he built was neglect and suffering. He prayed his youngest would be his mother’s son, the peaceful and kind woman he married and the woman he harangued until her death. Mister Grimes does not believe your father’s hand caused her fall, but the guilt of her passing did not feel any different to him. All you had to prove in a year’s time was that you were not like him. You have failed.
Sallowe
I have done nothing wrong! Nothing!
Harper
You attempted to play one sibling against the other in hopes of pain and suffering for your own pleasure. How were you to know your gambit would not succeed? Anyone can hire a two-wheeler and anyone can replace tea in a jar, especially one with knowledge of every door and window. The men in your family would not drink it, would they?
Sallowe
Wicked woman!
Harper
You sought cruelty, not forgiveness. Is that not like your father?
Sallowe
Begone from the house! You have no proof!
Harper
Does it not concern you that the letters your siblings received calling them away from the house on the day of your father’s death was in the same hand and that they would talk to each other and discover it?
Sallowe
The letters were sent via wire. There was no handwriting to compare.
Harper
An interesting detail. How did you come by that information?
Sallowe
I…am quite certain it was mentioned.
Harper
That may be your defense and it may be successful. But I have my word. My own tale to tell of the Curse of Sallowe Manor. This is the work assigned to me by Mister Grimes and I have now completed that task.
Sallowe
Do not think because you are a woman, that no harm will come to you here.
Harper
Do not think because I am a woman, I would not strike first and strike harder. Besides, there are those of my company at your door waiting for my safe exit or my call to enter by any means necessary. But it will not come to that, will it, Mister Sallowe?
Sallowe
What will become of the Manor? Will Julius have it?
Harper
If the year ends without a worthy heir, travelers will see the spires burning from every road into the village.
Sallowe
You leave me with nothing.
Harper
That may not be necessarily so. Should the courts find you guilty, you will meet justice. Should your defense succeed, then you have time to build a legacy of your own. You can be your father’s son or your mother’s son or, you can be your own man entirely and leave your mark. There is no curse commanding your decision, the choice is yours to make. The choice has always been yours. Good evening, Mister Sallowe.
Sound: the door opens. The wind blows, an owl hoots, and music fades.
