Written by Joe Janes
8/28/09
222 of 365
Cast:
Nora, 30s
Julia, teens
Bill, 60s
Erik, 20s
(Lights up on Nora, a casually dressed woman in her late 30s, walking and carrying a large bag of groceries. Her cell phone is ringing and she has fist full of keys she’s fumbling with. The keychain is overloaded with stuff like a poker chip, bottle opener, light, pepper spray, etc.)
NORA
God dammit, God dammit, God dammit….Hold on, hold on… Oh, fuck…
(She grabs her cell phone from her purse. While fumbling around, Nora twists her foot and begins to fall in slow motion. The groceries fly out of her hands, perhaps aided by an actor dressed in all black. Her keys, similarly aided, fly in a different direction. Same with the purse. She manages to cling to her cell phone. She is falling down a short flight of stairs. She freezes. Julia, dressed like a punky teen from the 80s appears.)
JULIA
Looks like you’re going to die.
NORA
This is weird. Go away.
JULIA
You should have stayed with me in high school.
NORA
I’m not gay, Julia.
JULIA
You were in high school, Nora.
NORA
I don’t know what I was in high school, but I wasn’t gay.
JULIA
You loved me.
NORA
Maybe.
JULIA
You loved me. Why else would you be thinking of me now?
(Nora, moving in slow motion, reaches out to Julia who walks off. Nora twists and freezes, again. Bill, 60s, appears.)
BILL
Hey, Pumpkin.
NORA
Daddy! Help me.
BILL
You never come visit me.
NORA
You’re dead.
BILL
I have a gravesite, you know.
NORA
I hate cemeteries.
BILL
Well, you’ll have plenty of time to get used to them.
NORA
Daddy! I’m sorry!
(She reaches for him in slow motion and he walks off. She twists again and holds out her arms to block her fall. Erik, the Angel of Death, appears, playing a game on his iPhone. He is dressed all in white.)
NORA
Who are you?
ERIK
Erik, the easily distracted angel of death.
NORA (pointing)
Look! The Oscar Mayer Weiner Mobile!
ERIK (squeals)
I love that thing!
(Erik quickly walks off. Nora and all her flying-through-the-air items fall hit the floor in real time. She has hurt a few things. We hear a voice on her cell phone…)
NORA
Ow.
JULIE (on phone)
Hello? Nora? Nora, are you all right?
NORA (picking up phone)
Hello?... Julia? Julia! I can’t believe it. I was just thinking of you…Oh, I just tripped down some stupid stairs. I’m all right…You’re in town!... Hell, yes, I’d love to get together… Right now is perfect. Come on over. Do you mind if we swing by the emergency room first?
(Nora passes out.)
JULIE (on phone)
Hello?…Nora?
(Lights fade.)
