ScriptFrenzy 2011: "Dead and Breakfast", pages 91-95

by Diane Duane

Dead and Breakfast poster

 

(back to pp 83-90)

[scrippet]INT. COMPUTER SHOW — DAY

The sales stand. Harry looks frazzled, scribbles in a notebook: a POCKET P.A. sits nearby. Boyce stops by.

BOYCE
You okay, Harry? Looking stressed.

HARRY
Nothing worth mentioning. How’re we doing today?

BOYCE
Three hundred so far.

HARRY
Good. You see what’s his face around here this morning? Carlyle?

BOYCE
No, I think he went back up country.

HARRY
Okay. Just curious.

Boyce pats him on the shoulder and goes off.

POCKET P.A. “VOICE”
I’ve got a message for you.

HARRY
(sotto: uneasy)
Yeah. I know.
[/scrippet]

[scrippet]INT. ORMONDE HOTEL — AFTERNOON

Our guerrilla group lays its plans in the lounge. Joy, Doris, Gunter, Pario, five or six more new DEAD PEOPLE are there. On the table is the manual that Gunter stole.

Elizabeth ENTERS dressed in Joy’s clothes: dark jeans, an oversized black “I (heart) NY” t-shirt. She’s lost the elaborate hairstyle; her long red hair is pulled back tight and braided into a crown.

ELIZABETH I
This garb chafes where it ought not.

JOY
I don’t fit those jeans the way I used to either. Sorry about that.

ELIZABETH I
Needs must when the devil drives. Now show us our enemy’s stronghold.

Joy spreads her tourist map of London on the table.

JOY
Okay. Here’s Erickson. Here’s the front door. There’s a guard post there. Employees’ entrance, here.

GUNTER
And here is the layout of the great room downstairs.

He produces a large sketch of the “clean room”. The others examine this. Gunter turns his attention back to the manual.

Joy’s Erickson cellphone rings. Everyone STARES at it with pity and horror. Joy picks it up.

JOY
(to the phone)
I’m so sorry. Please forgive me.
(Hits the “answer” button)
Hello?

INT. COMPUTER SHOW — DAY

Harry is off to one side, talking fast.

HARRY
(sotto)
Hon, all the reps are buzzing about some kind of break-in at the plant last night. No one’s being specific. But the word is that new security’s being put in place to deal with some folks we know.

JOY
Okay, honey. Anything else about, you know, what we should do?

HARRY
Uh, no. Listen, gotta go.
(hangs up)

INT. ORMONDE HOTEL — AFTERNOON

Joy turns to the others.

ELIZABETH I
Well? What news?

JOY
Only that they know we’re coming, and they’re getting ready for us.

Joy looks at Gunter. He’s absorbed in the manual, frowning.

ELIZABETH I
Whether or not they’ve made their lair secure, we must do what we can. Our tactic’s plain enough. We must come at them from many sides at once. Our folk will wall-walk here and there in the building, frighting the inmates, making them think an attack comes where it does not. When their forces are drawn away…

Gunter is staring at one page, shaking his head.

JOY
(to Gunter)
What? What’s the matter?

GUNTER
I had it last night. Right in my hand. And did not use it!

JOY
What?

GUNTER
The answer. Steel!

He turns pages in the manual again, shows it to Joy.

GUNTER
See here. And here. Repeated strong warnings about “ferrous material.”

JOY
“Ferrous?”

She grabs the manual.

GUNTER
Iron, or steel. They are conductors. Drop conductive material in the middle of sensitive circuitry, and of course things will short out.

ELIZABETH I
And more than that! Cold iron was ever the great weapon against magic, black or white.

GUNTER
If I had dropped the wrench I could have blown the master pentagram. They would be free — George, all of them — if I had only known.

JOY
Give yourself a break. You did the best you could! Better than I would have, probably.

GUNTER
I doubt that. But I did better than I have done for a long time. As I told you, we can do nothing new… usually.

They exchange a look. Joy breaks it first.

JOY
So you’re telling me all we have to do is dump some steel in the middle of this thing?

GUNTER
Enough to make it short out. And we must destroy the pentagram so it cannot be used again.

ND DEAD MAN
So we all need something made of iron or steel.

DORIS
All our flatware is stainless steel.

GUNTER
Then let us arm ourselves.

ELIZABETH I
And attack today. Surprise has won many a fight. And why give them a chance to become better prepared?

JOY
Let’s go.

INT. COMPUTER SHOW — DAY

Harry is off to one side of the sales area, ostensibly having a coffee break. He’s about to change a pocket calculator’s batteries. On the table nearby is a STEEL BALLPOINT pen.

Harry looks unhappily at the calculator as he pulls the battery cover off, replaces the batteries, checks the front: the calculator’s running. Then he lifts the rest of the back off the calculator, gazes at the revealed Erickson chip. The other salesman, Nigel, passes by on his way to doing something else.

HARRY
Nigel? You ever have one of these chips short out?

NIGEL
Occasionally. You lose a screw down them, that’ll do it. Get it out, the chip comes right back up.

HARRY
Right. Thanks.

Nigel goes off.

POCKET P.A. “VOICE”
I have a message for you.

Harry looks at it, then at the calculator. He picks up the pen, retracts its point, lays it ACROSS THE CHIP.

A tiny FIZZ, a few sparks. Harry turns the calculator over: the display’s blank… then comes up again. One word: PLEASE.

Then that’s gone too. The calculator resets itself to zero. Harry picks it up, shakes it gently. Nothing.

POCKET P.A. “VOICE”
I have a message for you.

HARRY
Show it.

The secretary displays it on its little screen. JOY CALLED AT ELEVEN THIRTY ONE. MESSAGE: WE’RE MOVING. LOVE YOU. B.

Harry sits. A long moment of decision. He gets up, EXITS.

EXT. STREET OUTSIDE ORMONDE HOTEL — DAY

Little GROUPS of three and four, some very oddly dressed, come out of it and hail cabs, get into them and LEAVE. The last to leave together are Joy, Elizabeth, Gunter and Doris.
[/scrippet]

(to be continued…)

You may also like

2 comments

ScriptFrenzy 2011: “Dead and Breakfast”, pages 83-90 | Out of Ambit April 19, 2011 - 8:16 am

[…] (to pages 91-95) […]

ScriptFrenzy 2011: “Dead and Breakfast”, pages 96-102 | Out of Ambit April 20, 2011 - 7:45 am

[…] (back to pp 90-95) […]

Comments are closed.

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt out if you wish. Accept Read More