Background:
Jared, a teenage boy, delivers his ancestors' Spirit Basket to a museum, and tells the stories it holds. He tells how his ancestors over 270 years have their ways changed when strangers come to Alaska.



EXT. FADE IN TOWARD UNIVERSITY OFFICE

INT. DR. LEE'S OFFICE - AFTERNOON

JARED reaches into the basket and pulls out a tiny piece of ivory.

JARED
The sharp point on this comes from a gift to TUMGAX. About 25 years later. He was son to ANGAYUK and MACHXISA.

EXT: FADE IN Over an isolated island

INT. SMALL ROOM IN SOD HUT. BOY ASLEEP - MORNING

Teenage boy's eyes open as he hears pounding on outside wall, voices of Russian guards. Aleut boy wears an ivory labret inserted below his lip.

MACHXISA
We must not be late. Be quick.

EXT. OUTSIDE ON VILLAGE PATH IN EARLY MORNING LIGHT

Their bare feet pound over muddy path. Harsh wind blowing. Machxisa hands her son a strip of dried fish.

MACHXISA
You eat this. Stand by me at the skinning table.

INT. SHELTERED UNDER ROOF AND WALLS ON TWO SIDES - MORNING

Table is loaded with bodies of fur seals.

TUMGAX
Many seals killed. Won't all seals in the sea be gone someday soon?

MACHXISA
That day may come. Then traders will leave.

TUMGAX
I hope Father's ship brings in last load of seals this summer.

MACHXISA
(eyes dart quickly around workroom)
Don't let them hear you speak. Put the skinning knife to work now.

A Russian seaman enters with an armload of sea otters. Six other workers follow him and take up spots along the long table.

RUSSIAN SEAMAN
Workers, get every last one skinned out before anybody leaves. And clean those furs till they real pretty.

Jared pulls carcasses onto the table. The surface becomes bloody and, as workers swing knives, animal parts are discarded in a smelly ditch beneath their feet. Huge stack begins to dwindle.

EXT. SEA-FRONT AFTER WORK DAY - EVENING

Tumgax's fingers work the sand, digging clams and pulling snails from rocks. He bundles his catch in a cloth and starts moving away from the beach.

EXT. PATHWAY UP A KNOLL TO A SOD HUT - EVENING

Tumgax stops where a red-eyed otter mask is before a hut.

INT. HE ENTERS. PUTS A SQUIRMING CRAB ON DIRT FLOOR. - EVENING

An ailing old man struggles to his feet and puts his bony hand on the boy's head.

SHAMAN
Tumgax, your named is for walrus. A stubborn and mighty soul lives in you.

Shaman's voice rasps and he waves a stick topped with eagle feathers.

SHAMAN
I command you go far across the waters away from killers who bring death to our sea.

TUMGAX
Oh wise spirit, please tell me the secret place where a bidarka hides.

Tumgax leans close to hear the old man whisper.

SHAMAN
Close your eyes to see days long ago. Find the moon-rock. It sparkles very soon under full bright light.

With feathered stick Shaman draws a circle above them.

TUMGAX
I saw moon-rock once but what is the right path there?

Shaman strokes a long feather across Tumgax's forehead.

SHAMAN
Wood drifts. One night it will point the way.

The old man coughs repeatedly taking away his strength. Tumgax helps him lie down on dried grass and covers him with a blanket of seal skin.

SHAMAN
Eyes of evil ones are everywhere. Await your strong father to return.

TUMGAX
Men with strange words say the Nicholas sails here soon. The time to escape will come.

Weary eyes brighten in light burning from a saucer of seal oil.

SHAMAN
Have great patience, boy. Do not hesitate when danger strikes.

Tumgax seems confused, but turns his attention to food. Arranges seafood on hot coals. The old man is well asleep when Tumgax leaves.

EXT. OFF TOWARD THE BEACH - EVENING

Tumgax runs against an autumn wind, spots a ship anchored nearby. He stops short of a Russian seaman who works at repairing a wooden skiff.

TUMGAX
(in broken Russian words)
Is boat Nicholas?

RUSSIAN SEAMAN
That be the Seamaid coming for pelts. Taking them to the Orient. Course a boy like you never heard of places like Irkutsk or Canton. Right?

The man grins with yellow, decaying teeth. Tumgax gives him a shy nod.

RUSSIAN SEAMAN
Our blasted supply ship is overdue. Not a drop of drink left so it better get here real soon.

Tumgax's eyes search endless ocean. He shouts into wind.

TUMGAX
One day real soon!

INT. INSIDE SKINNING ROOM SHACK - MORNING

TUMGAX
I hear shouting voices.


MANY VOICES
Ship is here! It's party time tonight.

Machxisa and Tumgax slap down their tools in the cutting shack.

EXT. OUTSIDE ON THE BEACH - MORNING

All workers, guards and traders rush to the beach. Skiffs with crewmen aboard paddle to shore. In the last boat one oarsman is not a Russian. He pulls strongly against choppy water, back straight, no smile above the ivory labret on his lip.

MACHXISA
It is he.
(bends close, singing in Tumgax's ear)
It is Angayuk.

Excited, Tumgax swallows hard to resist shouting out the Shaman's secret.

Skiff's bottom scrapes on sand. Men jump into knee deep water to pull boat ashore. Amid others who handshake and laugh, Angayuk soberly reaches for Machxisa's hands, they look quietly into each other's eyes.

TUMGAX
Father. They take you away so many months.

A smile lights up Angayuk. He grasps his son's shoulders.

ANGAYUK
My son, you grow strong.

RUSSIAN GUARD
Back to work all you skinners. Not getting dark yet. There's plenty to get done.
(pushes Machxisa toward the cutting shack then turns to Angayuk)
You're stronger than the others. Make sure the wine gets up here with no damage to the kegs.

FADE OUT

INT. SMALL ROOM IN SOD HUT - EVENING

MACHXISA
This is what I made for you.
(hands Angayuk a hand-stitched gut parka)
Winter rain won't harm you.

ANGAYUK
(holds garment near light burning in dish of seal oil)
Yes, it is weather tight. Trimmed with sea lion hair and Auklet feathers.
(rubs fingers over decorations)
This is my good fortune.

Machxisa wipes at tears. She moves rocks from the fire to water in a cooking basket.

ANGAYUK
I brought something for my son.
(takes a steel knife from a hide bundle)

TUMGAX
I will treasure this.
(caresses bone handle and sharp blade, hesitates to speak)
Long time I save a secret for you.

Angayuk puts an arm around his son, squeezes him.

ANGAYUK
Be quick then, tell me your secret.

Tumgax speaks softly so he can't be heard beyond sod walls.

TUMGAX
Shaman told me where a kayak hides and I followed the path one day. It can sail us away.

Angayuk smiles broadly. Machxisa gasps.

MACHXISA
Escape is too dangerous. They are sure to kill our son. Living here will keep our son alive.

TUMGAX
(with a moan)
All the days of my life to work for the traders? That is not for me.

ANGAYUK
The boy is right. We owe him a try for another life.

TUMGAX
Shaman promises spirits will be with us.

ANGAYUK
(puts his arm around Machxisa)
Tonight liquor will pour from barrels. A better night cannot come.

Tumgax hurriedly places his new knife in a large woven grass basket. Machxisa nervously stows sewing and cooking items in it.

TUMGAX
Grandmother's spirit will go with us in her basket from Attu.

ANGAYUK
We will trust her spirit and the Shaman on this dark, cloud-covered night.

They pulled on their seal-gut garments.

EXT. CAMP IN DARKNESS - NIGHT

Tumgax boldly walks out into windless night veiled in low fog.

RUSSIAN GUARD
It's night, foolish boy. Get off to bed.
(Not hesitating, guard strides toward a lighted building)

When the guard is gone, Tumgax waves to Father and Mother. Together they move beside sailors quarters, stooping low under the window.

Door opens. Voices bellow.

SAILORS
(singing a Russian folk song.)

Tumgax, Angayuk and Machxisa flatten themselves in tall moist grass as sailors stagger to next wood-frame building. When door slams and voices are muffled, they rise and run until their bare feet are on cold rocks at the outside beach.

They hurry up a grassy knoll and onto a path to the Shaman's hut with a red-eyed otter mask over the entrance.

ANGAYUK
Why are you stopping, Son?
(he whispers)
What is this place?

SHAMAN
(weak, trembling voice comes from inside hut)
Boy named for mighty walrus? What do you bring me?

INT. SHAMAN'S HUT - NIGHT

Dim light from burning seal oil.

TUMGAX
(whispering close to old man's ear)
This is the night of our escape.

Mother and Father enter and bow their heads.

SHAMAN
Seabird feather will keep you safe.

Shaman pulls open tattered basket and removes three long eagle feathers. Mumbles strangely and strokes each feather with trembling fingers.

Machxisa takes the feathers. She pulls strips of dried fish from her basket and places them before Shaman.

ANGAYUK
We go with gratitude for spirit of good fortune.

SHAMAN
Be gone.

Shaman thumps wall with feathered stick and waves them out into the night.

EXT. PATH ABOVE BEACH - NIGHT

They huddle behind low bushes and speak in whispers.

TUMGAX
Shaman's moon rock is on far side of island. Shortest way is up the hill above rookery.

ANGAYUK
That is above the cover of fog.
(cautiously looked about)
Go. Lead the way.

Tumgax gropes uncertainly along the dark path heading uphill.

TUMGAX
See, there is the Shaman finger that points the way. A branch floated from the sea and he brought it to point. This is the way.

At the top of the hill, they stop, breathe hard. Machxisa set down the basket. In fog moving beneath them, fires cast a light over the camp.

PAN AREA BELOW where camp is seen.

MACHXISA
Five unhappy winters there.

TUMGAX
What we find ahead will be better. Our lives will be our own.

ANGAYUK
Hurry. We must now go down to the beach.

They reach the beach.

TUMGAX
The rocks look so much the same. I must search for the moon rock in darkness.

Tumgax slips on moist rocks, twisting this way and that.

Boiling clouds part. A beam of moonlight illuminates the shore. One rock stands out like glass.

TUMGAX
There it is. The moon rock that protects the hiding place.

Tumgax scrambles behind the translucent rock. Pushes back thick bushes. There lays a skin boat with ribs of sturdy driftwood.

ANGAYUK
Bidarka with paddles. Machxisa sit in middle. Tumgax to the front.

Machxisa slips in. Places the basket between her legs. Tumgax takes the bow. Angayuk pushes them off.

PAN WATER and ROCKY BLUFF

ON THE WATER the bidarka glides out into a choppy sea. Moonlight gleams silvery on the rocky bluff above them.

TUMGAX
Is that a spirit?
(pointing at lighted cliff)
Like an otter. See the waves are long fingers splashing out to us.

ANGAYUK
It sends us on a safe journey.

EXT. FADE IN TOWARD UNIVERSITY OFFICE

INT. DR. LEE'S OFFICE - AFTERNOON

JARED
The family paddled north into the wind and waves to a new, free life.
(replaces ivory chip in basket and pulls outs a silk ribbon)