I had something to present, my final script based on the last activity. It may be a lot to read, but I put a lot of time into this. Used Celtx, a screenplay formatting program, to compose every bit in. It looked so professional. I hoped for good results from this one.
EXT. HOSPITAL ENTRANCE - DAY
A heavy rain showers a big hospital building on a cold, gray morning, in October 2011. The name of the hospital is not apparent. There is the sound of ambulance emergency sirens. An ambulance vehicle arrives at the hospital.
INT. HOSPITAL WAITING ROOM - DAY
Hospital waiting room is slightly crowded. Room is small, located by the Emergency Department Ward. Five rows of wooden benches fill the room. People form a cluster in the front seating rows. Sound of pagers beeping alert the people in front, they turn their heads to the door opening. Doctors race pass the waiting room, in hospital white clothes. PEARL stares straight ahead, eyes wide open. She sits at the back of the cluster on the right, squeezing an old damp jacket tightly. The back bench is completely empty. The Public Address (PA) System, pages for a doctor over the intercom. Pearl looks up with anxiety; she is familiar with the doctor’s name.
A clock is mounted near the door of the room reading 11:00am. A woman two rows in front of Pearl begins coughing incessantly and a man moans to the far left of the woman. Pearl stares hopelessly at the clock. Sound of the clock is tuned in Pearl’s head as she cancels out the other noises in the room. A doctor enters the waiting room calling a name that snaps Pearl out from her trance. Pearl looks at him with impatience and stands up briskly. She wipes some stained tears off of her face and walks closer toward the doctor. Her impatience turns to hope and she squeezes the jacket in her hand again. The doctor shakes his head. Pearl’s eyes fill with tears and drips on the jacket.
doctor
Does she have family?
INT. PETER BRAThWAITE’S BEDROOM - SUNSET
Dusk. Sound of soft rain. Fully dressed, PETER lies on bed, gazing up at the ceiling. After a moment Peter gets up slowly and crosses the dresser against the opposite wall. The rain is continuous. Peter closes his eyes and listens to the sound of the rain. Peter’s age is more apparent. He is in his late forties and is brown skin. His expression is solemn. His palms are dried and his hair uncombed. He carries a peaceful expression on his face. He is more relaxed. He looks at a light of the soft sun’s rays pressing against his window. Peter stares at the ray and squints his eyes slightly. He is then distracted by the ringing of his house phone and takes a moment to respond. He answers the phone, his peaceful expression turns into worry. He changes his clothes and runs out of his home.
Cut to:
INT. HOSPITAL MEDICAL SURGICAL UNIT - ROOM E4 – NIGHT
Pearl bends over an OLD WOMAN in a hospital bed in a quiet room. The woman is off life support. A radio positioned by the window of the room is on a gospel station. Music is soft and Pearl could hear her own thoughts. The old woman is wrinkled. Her hands are tucked in, interlocked by her stomach. Her hair is combed neatly in two, revealing her completely grayed hair. Her nails were recently done in pink. Pearl places her hand on the old woman’s chest and gently pats her. She places the jacket on the bed. Pearl covers her mouth and gasps.
Then Peter runs into the room. Door reveals Room E4, the hospital room number. Peter stands still at one quarter inch into the room and observes. Some old paintings are hung over the old woman’s bedside. Blue curtains are partially draped by the window. Pearl rises up and embraces Peter with care. Peter observes Pearl dressed in a draped white cotton dress uniform, with an imprint of her agency caregiver symbol on the top left pocket. Her hair is set in a low Afro. Her hands are wrinkled and her shoes are flat white. She looks heavy and worn. Her tears remain stained on her face.
peter
She passed on your watch?
Pearl
At the hospital, bout ah half hour ago.
Peter holds the chair alongside the bedside and sits down, covering his face. Pearl touches his shoulder from behind grabbing Peter’s attention. She shows him an envelope she removes, and unfolds from her right lower pocket. Peter holds the envelop with his trembling left hand.
INSERT – THE ENVELOPE FRONT
“My dearest son Peter”
BACK TO SCENE
Pearl then removes the jacket she placed on the bed. It is still damp. She places it on the bed head.
pearl
(murmurs under her breathe)
She said she was cold.
Pearl leaves the room.
Peter maintains a great distance from the bedside, but observes the old woman. He rubs his chin, feeling his unshaved beard. His finger nails are cleaned but jagged. His overworked muscles are fierce. He shakes his hand with the letter. Peter rocks back on the chair. He holds the envelope in front of him. He then opens the envelope, still trying to keep it in tact. He removes the letter from the envelope. Sound of Peter opening the envelope.
INSERT – THE LETTER
“I thought of you today my only son, but you live so far away. Yesterday you told me that you would pass by, but your job is keeping you away. I just want you to know that I love you and I have grown to love Pearl like family. I am sorry I gave you trouble when she first came, because I know now it gave you the chance to follow your dreams. I…”
BACK TO SCENE
Peter stops reading after a nurse enters the room. He stands up suddenly and leaves.
cut to:
INT. HOSPITAL CHAPEL – NIGHT
Peter is alone, kneeling. His hands are clasped together, looking up at the ceiling. The room is dimly lit. Candles at the front of the altar provide the main source of light. He mumbles some unrecognizable words to himself. He closes his eyes that hold guilt. He shapes his hands into a cup, closely, longing for forgiveness. The chapel holds two separate rows of seating. Peter is on the left and the letter from his mother is on the right of him on the bench. His mind begins to wonder on a vague memory. A place he went with his mother at an early age in his life.
DAYDREAM – PETER AT UNCLE FREDRICK’S MARACAS BEACH HOUSE
An old building perched at the back of a dead end street, near the beach. The colors were washed out and the house made of wood, with the upstairs centrally built and the downstairs used for parking. Peter and his mother arrived by bus, to spend the night with UNCLE FREDRICK and family. He had just caught some fish by the sea and was frying some pieces to share with the family. Peter’s eyes lit up with excitement and his taste buds melted with greediness motivating his stomach. He stood the closest by the stove to get the first share; even if he was the last to arrive he wanted ‘first dibs’. Peter was twelve years and it was his first trip to that side of Maracas, and his uncle’s fish made him want to go back every year. That was his first and only trip, and the last time he tasted Uncle Fredrick's fish. It was fresh; the oil heated the surface and encircled the aroma of the fish that would soon be in Peter’s stomach.
Peter remembered being impatient and having his mom hold him by the hand and give him a stinging lash. The house seemed big at the time, as though it fitted forty relatives, but all he heard was laughter. The beach house was always sandy. Peter’s mother told him that Uncle Fredrick went to the beach every day and would just sit in his trousers when he got back and never clean the place. So everywhere smelt like the fresh beach on an early morning. That day was sunny, and that was as much of what Peter remembered about that visit. When he got his share of fish with bake, his eyes rolled in his head. His hands and mouth were dirty from tearing the fish apart while it melted in his mouth. He never tasted fish so delicious before in his life, so crispy and well cooked. Peter must have spent a week at the beach house and he spent that time running away from his mother to play with cousins.
BACK TO PRESENT DAY
He realized how much he missed his mother then. Peter rose up from his kneeling position and sat on the bench while he continued reading the letter from his mother. He thought about when she may have written it and touched the ink on the paper, hoping to be closer to her.
INT. HOSPITAL MEDICAL SURGICAL UNIT - ROOM E4 – NIGHT
A group of nurses gather in room E4 seeing after Peter’s mother. Pearl assists in wrapping her in a white sheet and laying her on the bed. Peter watches by the door. His mother’s words from the letter resided in his head. She wants him to be happy, to have success and to find love. His grief ridden expression becomes hope as he sees a light over his mother.
Pearl makes the sign of the cross in the corner of the room. Peter’s attention is turned to a smile that consumes his mother’s lips. The nurses cover her face, but Peter is at peace. Pearl approaches Peter and smiles, touching him on the shoulder.
PEARL
This is my last job son. I’m going to retire. MISS BRAITHWAITE would be proud of you.
THE END
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