Short from the Done Deal 2006 Halloween Challenge
"The Forty Year Itch"
FADE IN:
EXT. 1800S MANSION HOUSE - NIGHT
Lightning splits the stormy sky as a carriage approaches.
EXT. MANSION HOUSE ENTRANCE - NIGHT
The carriage stops, a grim MANSERVANT steps forward, pulls
down the steps, opens the door.
LADY BARBARA WAKEFIELD, 17, a refined beauty, climbs out.
LADY BARBARA
See that the child is brought
inside.
She enters the house.
INT. ENTRANCE HALL - NIGHT
GRENVILLE WAKEFIELD, 40s, silver hair at his temples, blocks
Barbara's path.
GRENVILLE
Did you bring it? Is the thing
here?
LADY BARBARA
Yes, Grenville. The... thing...
is here.
Grenville grins with delight as the Manservant carries a
sleeping peasant BOY, 7, into the house.
GRENVILLE
Splendid.
INT. SITTING ROOM - NIGHT
Barbara stands at the fireplace staring into the flames.
The Manservant carries the sleeping Boy in and places him
on a couch. Grenville shoos the Manservant out and closes
the door.
GRENVILLE
I see no reason why we cannot
proceed immediately.
Grenville lifts the lid off a varnished wooden box. Inside,
some kind of early scientific instrument, looped copper
tubes feed into an empty glass bottle.
LADY BARBARA
Listen to me Grenville. What you're
doing... what WE have been doing...
is wrong.
GRENVILLE
Too late now, duckling. Our souls
are already doomed to burn in Hell
for eternity. All we can hope for
is to amuse the Horned One enough
that we sit at his table.
LADY BARBARA
You're sick, Grenville. You need
help.
GRENVILLE
I'm doing this in the name of
science. What's your excuse?
LADY BARBARA
Don't dare speak to me like that.
Grenville picks up a metal syringe with a huge needle.
GRENVILLE
The question is, do you wish to
retain your beauty and youth, or
would you rather turn into a
wrinkled old hag with no teeth?
Take a moment, duckling. Think it
over. Let me know what you decide.
Barbara turns away and closes her eyes, tormented.
Grenville is just about to stick the needle into the boy's
head when a KNOCK at the door stops him.
GRENVILLE
Nothing must interrupt my work!
See to it.
Barbara opens the door, the Manservant mutters into her
ear.
GRENVILLE
What's that, what's he saying?
LADY BARBARA
We have visitors. People from the
village. I'll speak to them.
Grenville... it would be best if
you kept quiet. If the boy were
to wake up and panic--
GRENVILLE
Oh very well. But science cannot
wait forever. Neither can you.
Be swift, duckling.
EXT. MANSION HOUSE ENTRANCE - NIGHT
A crowd of ANGRY PEASANTS awaits Barbara at the door.
LADY BARBARA
We have already made a donation to
the poorhouse.
PEASANT MAN
Begging your pardon, your ladyship,
but we ain't here for hand-outs.
PEASANT WOMAN
Never mind begging no pardons, I
wants me Jinty back.
LADY BARBARA
What on earth is a "jinty?
PEASANT WOMAN
Jinty's me boy, and you took him.
Angry MURMERS from the crowd.
PEASANT MAN
Steady now! Mind your manners!
Ain't nothing proved. Not yet.
LADY BARBARA
Am I to believe you are here because
of some child?
PEASANT WOMAN
We got witnesses saw your carriage.
And now Jinty's gone a-missing.
LADY BARBARA
Good heavens. Did you check the
roadside ditches on your way here?
PEASANT MAN
Ditches?
LADY BARBARA
If the poor boy hitched a ride on
the back of my carriage, then
perhaps he fell off? You know
what children are like. An exciting
adventure, a jolly jape. But quite
dangerous. One slip and... The
very thought makes me shudder.
The Peasants look at each other in surprise.
PEASANT MAN
Mayhap we should go back and look
for the boy.
PEASANT WOMAN
We would have seen him!
LADY BARBARA
He could be lying in the mud,
perhaps with a broken leg, mewling
pitifully for his mother. Only
you didn't hear him. You passed
him by, intent upon coming to my
house to accuse me of, of, I don't
know what.
The Peasant Woman bursts into tears.
PEASANT WOMAN
I wants me Jinty back!
PEASANT MAN
We'll find him. Come on!
The Peasant Man tugs his forelock to Barbara in embarrassed
apology. The Peasants leave. Lady Barbara smiles, but
this quickly fades as her conscience torments her again.
INT. SITTING ROOM - NIGHT
Yellow liquid drips from the copper tubing into the glass
bottle. Grenville watches, delighted.
Barbara sits staring at the empty couch, the Boy is gone.
GRENVILLE
What these creatures don't
understand is that they exist to
serve the upper classes. They
really shouldn't complain just
because one of their pups goes
missing. Before you know it that
woman will give birth to another
litter. It's all they do. Breed,
breed, breed.
LADY BARBARA
You seek to distance yourself from
your crimes.
GRENVILLE
Never! I take full responsibility
for my actions. When I share my
discoveries with the world my fellow
scientists will laud me. After
all, I have at my fingertips the
secret of eternal youth. And you,
my love, are living proof. Here
you are in full bloom, with not a
wrinkle blemishing your alabaster
complexion. Such sweet beauty.
And today is your... let me see
now... oh, your fifty-seventh
birthday, is it not? Yet you never
say thank you Grenville, thank you
for sparing me the agonies of
growing old so that the simple
people hereabouts think I'm your
daughter and not your older sister.
LADY BARBARA
You have not discovered anything,
save how to take essence from one
body and gift it to another. And
I, I am... I am your experiment.
She gets up and exits, slamming the door.
INT. ENTRANCE HALL - NIGHT
Barbara meets the Manservant, who's wet and muddy as if
he's just come in. She gives him a quizzical look. He
nods. She sighs, and goes upstairs.
INT. BEDROOM - NIGHT
Barbara sits at her dressing table brushing her long hair.
A KNOCK, Grenville enters. He places the glass bottle,
filled with yellow liquid, on the dressing table. He exits
without speaking. Barbara stares at the bottle.
She looks in the mirror again, and starts in surprise.
Behind her stand dozens of pale-faced, dark-eyed PEASANT
CHILDREN. But when she turns round there's no one there.
She buries her face in her hands and sobs.
EXT. 1800S MANSION HOUSE - DAY
The storm has passed, it's a beautiful morning.
INT. HALLWAY OUTSIDE BEDROOM - DAY
Grenville raps gently on the door. No answer. How odd.
INT. BEDROOM - DAY
Grenville enters. He stares in horror when he sees--
Barbara, still sitting at her dressing table. Her head is
bowed. Her long hair is now pure white. Her clothing
hangs loose on her as if her body has shrunk.
Grenville snatches up the glass bottle. The yellow liquid
is untouched.
GRENVILLE
What have you done, duckling?
She slowly raises her head, stares at her wrinkled old
woman face in the mirror.
LADY BARBARA
I have done... what one of us...
had to do.
Grenville goes down on one knee and takes her hand.
GRENVILLE
And what of me, duckling? What
shall I do without you?
Barbara touches the gray hair at his temple.
LADY BARBARA
Perhaps... you are old enough now?
Grenville jumps up, taken by this thought.
GRENVILLE
Yes. Perhaps I am. It's my turn!
He drains the glass bottle. He pants with excitement.
GRENVILLE
I feel it working. I feel it!
The gray at his temples vanishes. He becomes visibly
younger. He examines his face in the mirror, thinks it's
wonderful. He smiles at Barbara. When he looks in the
mirror again he's even younger, 20s, late teens...
GRENVILLE
Duckling...
In moments he's a wild-haired boy in his early teens, his
shirt is like a tent.
GRENVILLE
Won't you tell it to stop?
LADY BARBARA
I don't think I can, Grenville.
Grenville becomes a boy of 10. Younger, he's 7 now.
Younger still, a wide-eyed 5-year-old. He's 3. He's 2.
He's a toddler, lost in a sea of adult clothes. He falls
down. His baby eyes stare up at Barbara in horror.
She closes her eyes and looks away. A BABY CRIES briefly.
Grenville is gone. Barbara bows her head. Her hairbrush
slips from her hand, lands beside the pile of clothes.
THE END
11/2006
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