genre: comedy
location: pawn shop
object: bulletproof vest

A Lesson Before Dying

EXT. CITY STREET - NIGHT

Police cars and SWAT vans haphazardly parked in the middle of
the street, a crowd of gawkers held back by yellow tape.
Policemen evacuate stores as SWAT members in full gear--helmets,
bulletproof vests, automatic rifles--move into
position. The center of attention appears to be MAURY’S PAWN
SHOP, a tiny glass-front affair sandwiched between an A-OK
BAIL BONDS and a LAUNDROMAT.

INT. MAURY’S PAWN SHOP - NIGHT

INSERT TITLE: ONE HOUR EARLIER

The bells above the door jingle as a haggard-looking MAN
steps through the door. Old man MAURY is behind the counter.

MAURY
Back so soon, Mr. Tolberg? How’s
your wife?

MAN
I’d like to see your guns...

INT. MANAGER’S OFFICE/QUICKIE CAR WASH - DAY

INSERT TITLE: ONE DAY EARLIER

The phone on a cluttered desk rings incessantly. A flustered
middle-aged man with his arms full of dirty rags bursts
though the door, lunging towards the phone. This is the same
guy from the pawn shop--TOM TOLBERG.

TOM
Quickie Car Wash, manager speaking.

INT. MINIVAN - DAY

The woman on the phone is CAROL, Tom’s frazzled wife. She’s
driving and talking on the phone while two 7 year-old
identical twins battle each other noisily in the backseat.

CROSSCUT between Tom and Carol.

CAROL
Your sons’ principal called to say
they’ve been suspended for putting
a “kick me” sign on a classmate.
(to kids)
Stop hitting your brother, Eric! A
stapler is not a toy!

TOM
Sounds harsh for just a prank.

CAROL
They attached the sign with a tack.

TOM
Oh.

CAROL
They’re terrorists, Tom. Devil
spawn.
(to kids)
Do you want me to turn this car
around? Because I will. I’ll turn
this car around and drop you two
right off a cliff you don’t start
behaving.

A shoe comes flying from the back, hitting her on the head.

CAROL
WHO THREW THAT SHOE?

They each point to each other.

TOM
Calm down, Carol. They just need a
lesson in respecting authority.
Kick ‘em out of the car and tell
them to walk home. Pick them up in
half an hour. That should scare
some sense into them.

CAROL
No way. That’s abusive.

TOM
It worked on me. A kid only has to
walk 6 miles home in a blizzard
once to know where the line is.

Another shoe bounces off the windshield followed by giggles.

CAROL
Fine. But anything goes wrong, I’m
holding you responsible.

EXT. RESIDENTIAL STREET - DAY

Carol is struggling to forcibly pull the boys out of the
minivan.

CAROL
This is for your own good.
Having...parents...is a privilege.

She slides the door closed, gets in the driver’s seat and
takes off, the boys running behind the car, wailing.

Half a block away hidden in the bushes, a MOTORCYCLE COP
watches, arms crossed. He’s quite unamused.

EXT. QUICKIE CAR WASH - DAY

Tom is drying off a black Mercedes as the OWNER points out
spots he’s missed. A FEMALE EMPLOYEE hurries up.

FEMALE EMPLOYEE
Tom, your wife’s on the phone.

TOM
Tell her I’ll call her back.

FEMALE EMPLOYEE
She says she’s calling from...jail.

Tom looks up as the customer eyes him, totally judging.

INT. BAIL BONDS OFFICE - NIGHT

A blubbery bondsman with a combover reviews the paperwork.

BONDSMAN
Reckless endangerment of minors.
Problem is, she pulled a new judge
who wants to make an example of
her. Bail’s set at $20,000. I’ll
get her out for 10%.

TOM
We’re barely scraping by! I don’t
have that kind of money.

BONDSMAN
As they say in my trade, be in jail
til dawn or you’ve got to pawn.

INT. MAURY’S PAWN SHOP - DAY

The bells above the door jingle and Tom enters with a
cardboard box, placing it on the counter in front of Maury.

TOM
I need $2000 or my wife’s gonna
kill me.

Maury looks him over kindly, a man who’s heard it all.

MAURY
Cup of tea?

INT. VISITING ROOM/JAIL - DAY

Tom sits at a table as Carol, wearing an orange prison
jumpsuit, is led into the room by a GUARD. Her hair is in
thuggish cornrows and she's got FISH written across her
forehead in lipstick.

CAROL
(brink of tears)
You need to get me out of here. I’m
not strong enough for this.

TOM
Bail is being processed and they
said you should be out by tonight.

CAROL
Oh thank God!

TOM
But you should probably know, I had
to pawn some things.

CAROL
What things?

TOM
Like...the good china.

CAROL
Okay.

TOM
Some jewelry. Actually, all of it.

CAROL
What else?

TOM
Um...your Coach purses, laptop,
breadmaker, and that ugly
collection of porcelain clowns you
never liked anyway.

CAROL
You mean that antique collection of
porcelain collectibles my dead
mother left me that you never
liked? Didn’t you pawn any of your
own stuff?

TOM
Sure...uh, my wedding band.

Carol looks at him like she could kill him. Instead, she
gives him a terrifyingly cold smile, pats him on the hand.

CAROL
We’ll talk about this when I get
home.

Tom is terrorized. Every married man knows what this means.

INT. MAURY’S PAWN SHOP - NIGHT

Same scene as earlier--Tom, looking haggard, walks in.

MAURY
Back so soon, Mr. Tolberg? How’s
your wife?

TOM
I’d like to see your guns...

MAURY
Oh? Anything in particular?

TOM
Doesn’t matter.

Maury takes out a small snub-nosed revolver and puts it on
the counter. Tom immediately picks it up and points it at
Maury.

MAURY
Mr. Tolberg, it’s not even loaded.

TOM
I’m really sorry about this but
please...call the police and tell
them you’re being held up. My wife
is angrier than I’ve ever seen her
and I’m too scared to go home. I’m
just hoping that maybe in 10 to 12
years, she’ll have cooled off by
then.

dude, this is small stuff. you're letting it worm into you. let people be wrong, or think whatever they want to think, or do whatever they want to do. your realm only extends as far as you and your own reactions. drop it. if you want to shoot every time you touch the ball, do it if it feels right. but you're not going to sit here and look over your shoulder wondering what other people are up to. not when you have work to do on things that are more important and have more potential towards your own life. this is about letting go. the lesson has been about letting go for a month now. if people believe they're right, let them. even if you think they're wrong, let them. everyone is as much entitled to their wrong opinion as their right one. if people misunderstand you, let them. if people don't like you, let them. if people want to compete with you, let them. not important. work only on the things and people that matter between where you are now and where you're trying to go.

everything else is distraction.

Competition rules--48 hours to write a 5 page script with the following parameters:

Genre: Romance / Location: Wax Museum / Object: Bag of Potato Chips

I dedicate my story to my father.

(non-screenwriter's key: INT = Interior, EXT = Exterior, VO = Voice Over, OS = Off Side)

Sleepwalker
by (thanks, Mercury) BC Chillum

INT. WAX MUSEUM - NIGHT

ALVIN (V.O.)
In 1979, while in college, I worked
as a night guard at a wax museum.

Ghostly shadows in pockets of dark and light. James Bond.
Genghis Khan. Cleopatra. Elvis. Frozen wax statues. The
silence is so alive it breathes. A wall clock strikes 3am.
And then suddenly, echoing between the walls...

VOICE (O.S.)
Hullo?

A young, scrawny GUARD hurries down the hall, bobbing
flashlight in one hand, open bag of potato chips clutched in
the other. His name tag reads: Alvin.

VOICE (O.S.)
Is anyone here?

Alvin runs past the Greatest Presidents exhibit, rounding the
corner and shining his light on...JOHN WAYNE. The great cowboy. John is standing in front of an eerie tableaux of the Last Supper. He uses a stiff hand to shield his eyes from the light.

JOHN WAYNE
Are you God?

Alvin stares in shock at John's waxy face and lifeless eyes.
The bag of chips falls to the ground. John examines his own
waxy hands, palms up, palms down, flexes his fingers.

JOHN WAYNE
Am I dead?

John Wayne--frightened and confused, a lost wax golem.

ALVIN (V.O.)
My mother was a sleepwalker. There
were nights when I was a little boy
and I would wake up to the front door opening.

EXT. TRAILER HOME - NIGHT

A WOMAN, barefoot and in a nightgown, long curly hair wild,
hurries out the door into the night, stars shining. Eyes open
but blank. She lifts her head up towards the moon as though
taking communion.

ALVIN (V.O.)
I would run after her and lead her
back to bed.

An 8 YEAR-OLD ALVIN gently leads her back inside. She cranes
her body back towards the treeline and moon, as if
magnetized.

YOUNG ALVIN
C'mon, mom. You're sleepwalking.

ALVIN (V.O.)
It wasn't so different.

BACK TO SCENE

Alvin has John gently by the elbow and is leading him back to
his spot between a wax ALFRED HITCHCOCK and a wax JIMMY
STEWART. John steps up behind the display reading, JOHN
WAYNE, his hands drop into his familiar pose and he freezes.

ALVIN (V.O.)
Over the next few weeks, it
happened two more times.

Alvin walking through the Prehistoric Man exhibit.

JOHN WAYNE (O.S.)
Hullo? Is anyone there?

Alvin breaks into a run.

Alvin leads John down a dark hall, passing the Exhibit of the
Pope.

JOHN WAYNE
Is this heaven?

ALVIN
Shhh...you're just sleepwalking.

ALVIN (V.O.)
I never told anyone. No way people
would ever believe me.

INT. BREAKROOM/MUSEUM - NIGHT

Alvin is starting his shift, putting his car keys and a
bagged lunch into his locker. Another guard, CARL, a paunchy
man with a red beard, washes out his thermos at the sink.

ALVIN
How long have you been working here?

CARL
Me? About...3 years.

ALVIN
Ever work the graveyard shift?

CARL
On and off, but not since my wife had the twins. Why?

ALVIN
It's just...strange things at night.

Carl examines him with the weary eyes of a new father. He
shakes water from his thermos and throws it into a backpack.

CARL
It's just nerves, kid. Bring a
radio or something. Nothing good
ever happens when you let your
imagination run wild. They're just
statues.

INT. CHAMBER OF HORRORS - NIGHT

Alvin stares at an evil SPANISH INQUISITOR standing over a
man being pulled apart on a rack. He pokes the statue in the
eye. The thing is creepy.

ALVIN (V.O.)
I hoped Carl was right. There were
some evil characters in that
museum. John Wayne was harmless if
not a bit quirky. But some of these
other guys...

Alvin is having a staring contest with evil Hitler when...

JOHN WAYNE (O.S.)
Hullo?

He nearly jumps out of his skin.

ALVIN (V.O.)
Then one morning, I read in the
paper that John Wayne died.
Stomach cancer. That night, I spent
most of my shift looking at his
statue.

ALVIN sits on the floor, flashlight beamed at John Wayne's
face, staring with vigilant hope in his eyes. Checks his
watch. 3:06am. Silence.

ALVIN (V.O.)
He never woke up again.

INT. CHILD'S BEDROOM - NIGHT

A middle-aged Alvin holding his INFANT DAUGHTER, her tiny
hand around his pinkie. She stares into his face like he's
her entire universe. You couldn't imagine a greater love.

ALVIN
I met your mother a few years
later. I took her to the museum on
our first date.

INT. WAX MUSEUM - DAY

Alvin, dressed clean, nervous, hair carefully slicked, and a
slim young woman with bright eyes. His future wife, CLAIRE.

They enter the Room of Entertainers. Claire walks slowly,
examining the figures -- Marilyn Monroe, Elvis, Alfred, Jimmy
-- then stops in front of John Wayne.

CLAIRE
My dad loved John Wayne.

ALVIN
He's actually my favorite.

Claire looks at him.

ALVIN
He, uh...he means a lot to me.

ALVIN (V.O.)
One day, I got really sick with the
flu, and she came over, surprising
me with soup and a stack of John
Wayne movies. She stayed and
watched all of them with me even
though I knew she didn't care for
westerns. Truthfully, I don't
really like them either.

INT. LIVING ROOM - NIGHT

The sounds of gunfighting as Alvin and Claire sit on the
couch, wrapped together in a blanket, Alvin looking slightly
under the weather. He looks at Claire, their faces dancing by
the glow of the TV, but it can not hide the love in his eyes
for this woman.

ALVIN (V.O.)
That was the night I knew without a
doubt who she was to me...

INT. CHILD'S BEDROOM - NIGHT

Alvin tenderly smooths his daughter's wisps of hair, looks
into those big bright eyes, her mother's eyes.

ALVIN
But I never told her this story. I
always wondered if, those nights I
would hear that voice call out and
find John's statue wandering the
museum, if somewhere, the real John
Wayne was dreaming of waking up in
a wax museum. I thought about
writing him a letter...but it
seemed crazy, and then he died.

Alvin reminisces. Through the open window, crickets chirp.
Behind him, the hands of the clock shift. It's 3am.

ALVIN
And now, sweet girl, you're the
only one who knows daddy's secret.
These eyes...just waiting for the
world to show itself to you. This
world has so much mystery and
magic. Things you can barely
believe, even as you look right at
them. Like you being here, in my
arms. Maybe someday, when you
figure out the secrets of this
life, you'll explain it to your old
man so he can rest in peace. And if
you ever meet a ghost wandering in
the middle of the night, don't be
afraid. Maybe he just needs a
little help finding his way home.

The baby in his arms closes her eyes with a faint smile,
sighing a wisdom beyond human years.