Three Little Words
Third place winner Short Scene Contest #1 EXT: A small corner pub during the afternoon. Two cars are parked in front of the bar while the rest of the street is nearly empty. The following words appear in the lower left-hand corner of the pub.MacGee’s Pub and Grill
Boston
2:46 P.M.
INT: MacGee’s Pub and GrillAlex, wearing a leather jacket as usual, opens the front door and scrutinizes the empty bar. Confident that no one is there except Marita; he closes the door and enters. He sees Marita at the bar wiping the counter.
MARITA: (looks up and stops wiping the counter) Well, well, well, look what the cat dragged in.
ALEX: (scanning the empty bar again) I have returned. (sits down at the bar.) This yours?
MARITA: No, a friend’s. Want a drink? (He nods yes. She goes behind the counter and turns her back toward him.)
ALEX: Make it my usual. (Alex turns around and admires the large screen TV in the corner of the room.)
He hears Marita pour whiskey into a shot glass and hears the clinking of the ice as she mixes it. Smiling, she turns around and places it on top of a napkin in front of Alex.
ALEX: Cheers. (lifts up his glass and downs it quickly. Smiling, he places the glass back on the napkin.)
Marita goes around the counter and sits next to Alex. This was the time for the talk.
MARITA: (holding his hands.) I love you, Alex. I always have and I’ve even forgiven you for leaving me the last time. Please tell me that you feel the same way. (She squeezes his hands tightly.)
ALEX: (He angrily removes Marita’s hands from his and stands up.) Marita, there is no US. There never was. I used you just as you used me. I bet you liked it as much as I did. (He smiles at her.)
MARITA: (stands up) You bastard! (Marita slaps him hard on the right cheek. She tries again, but he stops her and holds both of her arms next to her.)
ALEX: (Smiling) I never knew you liked it like that. (He kisses her roughly on the lips while she struggles.) Well, thanks for the drink I … (grabbing the glass, he sees a white residue at the bottom. He falls to the floor unconscious, shattering the glass.)
One hour later, a groggy Alex finds his prosthetic arm handcuffed at the wrist to the gold railing circling the bottom edge of the bar. He sits up and sees Marita carrying a dark-haired toddler. She sees that he's awake and kneels down next to Alex, the toddler in her arms.
MARITA: Look, Alex Jr., your daddy’s awake. (She puts the boy, who’s holding an alarm clock, on the floor next to Alex.)
ALEX: (shocked) What, he’s mine? (Marita nods yes. Alex pulls the boy toward him and he sees his own reflection. Alex is overjoyed and hugs him with his free arm.) Hello, little guy. (Alex kisses him on the forehead and AJ whacks Alex in the face with the clock. Alex just smiles.)
MARITA: Come on, AJ, we got to go. (Alex tries to hold him, but Marita pulls AJ away. Alex frowns.) Give daddy the alarm clock. (AJ gives the clock to Alex.)
Alex notices the time - 3:55 P.M. He puts the clock on the floor. Marita stands up and Alex sees little AJ smiling at him.
AJ: (smiling and pointing toward Alex) Dada, Dada.
ALEX: (pleading and jiggling his handcuffed arm) See, he knows I’m his daddy. Uncuff me, Marita. We’ll be a family, I promise. I’ll never leave again. Please, I’ll do anything just let me hold him again.
Marita, holding AJ, opens the front door and looks back at Alex.
MARITA: Daddy, didn’t say the magic words – I love you. Say bye-bye to daddy. (She holds AJ’s hand and waves bye. AJ is still smiling and saying dada again.). You have a 4:00 P.M. meeting with Deep Throat. (She smiles at the terror in Alex’s face and slams the door close.)
ALEX: (screaming) No, Marita, I LOVE YOU! Come back!
Alex checks the clock across the room and the alarm clock and they show the same time. He had one minute left to get of there. Using his free arm and both his legs he’s able to pull six bar stools toward him. He places them on the floor horizontally to use as a barricade against the explosion. He carefully takes the alarm clock off the floor and throws it with all his might toward the front window. There’s thirty seconds left according to the bar clock. He ducks behind his makeshift barrier and braces himself for the impact. A self-satisfied smile appears on his face as he hears the window shatter. No explosion. Absolute terror instantly replaces his smile as Alex realizes the bomb isn’t in the alarm clock. Terrified, he looks at the bar clock and there’s only twenty seconds left. He quickly reaches inside his jacket to remove his prosthetic arm.
Int: Inside Marita’s car
Marita’s radio is playing Sting’s "Brand New Day" as she drives down the nearly deserted street. They are half a block away when the bar explodes destroying all buildings within 100 feet of it. Marita stops the car and admires the fiery sight in the rearview mirror and sees AJ, in his car seat, happily playing with his daddy’s prosthetic arm.THE END
Cloneme
Keeper of Mulder's stiletto weapon
Keeper of Scully’s black and white suit
Keeper of Mulder’s hypno-regression tapes
Keeper of the "Ice" worm
©1999 by Missing Slider Ryan
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