Date: Sat, 1 Feb 1997 08:44:00 -0800 Subject: SUB: Valentine's Day Contest: "The Lake Trip": One Act Play Sorry, the contest is closed to further entries. Watch http://web.mit.edu/mbarker/www/val97/val.html for the winners. Please reserve all critiques on contest entries until after Valentine's Day! <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> `THE LAKE TRIP' - A Television Play In One Act OPENING SCENE: A car pulls up outside a suburban home, POV above and in front, close enough to show faces clearly. It is a bright spring day. ALICE, a pretty young woman of about 19, runs down to the car. PAN slightly ahead of her to JIM, a serious-looking man in his middle twenties, getting out of the car and walking around to the passenger side to open the door for her. They are both dressed casually but neatly, Jim in grey slacks and a white turtleneck sweater, Alice in jeans and a yellow silk blouse; both are clean- cut and their clothes look new. ALICE: Hi Jim!!! ZOOM IN on Alice wrapping her arms around him and kissing him enthusiastically. He responds tenderly but reservedly; he enjoys kissing her but will not 'take liberties.' JIM: (After disengaging): Hello Alice. Ready for the lake? (He opens the car door.) ALICE: Oh yes... you romantic devil you!! Jim blushes (if possible!) and clears his throat. Without replying he carefully closes the door and walks around to the drivers side, gets in and drives off. CUT TO: Interior of Jim's car, windshield POV. Alice is burbling happily. Jim is frowning slightly as he concentrates on his driving. ALICE: ...so of course I 'm curious. What's the occasion darling? JIM: (distractedly): What? Oh, it, uh, just looked like too good a day to waste. That's all, really. ZOOM IN SLOWLY on Alice's face. A tiny knowing smile tugs at the corners of her lips, and a dreamy expression melts into her features. As her entire head fills the screen in CU, FADE IN SUPERIMPOSED a filmy white bridal veil. As the veil reaches half visibility (2 sec. approx), her head is thrown sideways by a sudden turn of the car and the smile and veil vanish. ZOOM OUT QUICKLY TO the outside of the car; Jim has just stopped for gas. ALICE: (regaining a smile, a little more forced than the prior one): I'll just pop off to powder my nose while you're doing that darling. JIM: (fueling): Yeah, sure. Meet you back here. Okay? CAMERA FOLLOWS Jim as he finishes fuelling and walks into the station. He walks up to the counter with his money, then hesitates looking at a display of plastic-wrapped roses. Looking nervously over his shoulder he grabs one and pays quickly. He puts the rose under his sweater; the plastic crackles loudly. Swearing under his breath, he rips the plastic off and stuffs it under his sweater again before heading back out to the car, where Alice is sitting looking miffed. CUT TO: The car in motion along wooded roads, POV slightly ahead of the driver's side window, slowly being overtaken. Alice is talking furiously. Jim has a pained expression on his face. ALICE: (this dialogue covers the transition as the window passes by): .. completely clogged with used tampons, and the third was just filthy. I don't know why they can't just... As the window passes POV, Jim surreptitiosly pulls his sweater and seat belt away from his chest where the seat belt is crossing his chest, gritting his teeth slightly as he does so. EXTREMELY BRIEF CUT to inside Jim's sweater, where the thorns on the rose are sticking painfully into his bare chest, then CUT back to the car pulling ahead of POV down a lovely wooded road, obviously well out of the city at this point. FADE OUT FADE IN to another POV from the windshield. Alice is asleep. Jim looks over at her and mutters, JIM: Almost there, darling... He half-grimaces and half-smiles, and tries to pull the rose out from under his sweater. It snags. He struggles with it. CUT TO a raccoon in the road, seen through the windshield. JIM: *SHIT!!!!* Jim jerks the wheel over, running the car off the road into a drainage ditch. Alice awakes with an inarticulate scream. CUT TO the car on its side in the ditch. VOICEOVER JIM AND ALICE: Oh hell... FADE OUT FADE IN to Jim sitting disconsolately by the wrecked car with a smooshed rose in his hand. Alice is bending over him with a small posy of daisies. ALICE: Don't be sad, darling... we still have a beautiful day while we wait for the tow truck. Oh, look! A butterfly! Jim looks up to watch the butterfly. A large tow truck barrels around the corner and whacks it for a loop, then continues on down the road without pausing for an instant. CUT TO CU of Jim and Alice with identical wide-mouthed shocked stares... Slowly and simultaneously their faces close like sleepy clams, then begin to quirk and spasm. It is Jim who first begins giggling, but soon they are both in hysterics. JIM: Oh, look... hahahaha... oh, darling, a butt-t-t-t-ter-f-f-fly!!!! ALICE: Oh, how p-p-pretty!!! Oh, and our... heehee... our tow truck, dear!!! CAMERA CIRCLES AROUND the pair as they laugh maniacally. Finallyas they are slowing down it should come to stop POV behind Alice, looking over her shoulder at Jim. Suddenly Jim stops laughing and his mouth opens again. He is looking behind alice, and he points. JIM: Look... Alice, look! Alice turns and CAMERA PANS to follow her gaze. Behind her the butterfly has just taken wing again... ALICE:(in an awed voice): Oh, Jim... it's all right, it's all right! JIM: Yes, it is, my love... (A new determination enters his voice): And if it's not giving up on this day, neither am I. Alice... Alice turns to face him. Again, CAMERA PANS to follow her gaze. Jim is on one knee and is proffering a ring. JIM: Will you marry me? ALICE: Oh, JIM!!! YES, Yes, yes I will!!! She rushes to him. FADE TO BLACK. The End ------------------------------------------- "Yesterday they said today was tomorrow, but today they know better." --Poul Anderson, _The Visitor_ Michelle winebird@inreach.com