20 of 30, 2015

Previously On...

Medium shot. Two women, late 20s. face each other
in a booth at a Tex-Mex chain. "I can't believe you
still feel that way." "I can't believe you don't." Cut to
a boardroom, corporate types around a table. The eldest:
"What you're proposing is we keep the Nazi gold."
Cut to an old woman, pallid, loose-jawed, cannula
in her nose. Pull out to the doorway. A nurse in scrubs
whispers to a well-dressed man: "She's been like this
since Jim Nabors died." Cut to a close-up track of glowing
dots. With familiar SFX Pac-Man enters the shot and camera
tracks as he navigates the maze. Quickly ghosts surround him
and he dies. Quick cut to the woman playing in a convenience
store. She is dressed for an opera or charity gala. With a betrayed
look she stalks away a step, then turns and kicks the arcade
machine. Cut to a crowded rush-hour subway car. A man
in a scuba suit is the only one not laughing shamelessly. Cut
to two preppy young men, driving a beater Volvo up
a sunny parkway. The driver speaks first: "Pelicans, Jim? Pelicans?"
"Pelicans." The passenger smiles with a kind of glowing faith. Cut to
a child's birthday party, exterior. A father, wobbling drunk,
makes a heroic effort to pin the tail on the donkey. Tight closeup
as he lifts the blindfold and his face turns suddenly grave.
Cut to an unkempt teenage boy on his bed, rapt in a well-worn
Dungeons & Dragons rulebook. SFX of an incoming text.
He fumbles for his phone. Nervous reaction and then the shot
moves to show the exchange on the display: "You called?"
Beat, then he keys the reply: "Friday?" We see the ellipses
indicating typing on the other end for much too long. Blackout,
cue theme, roll opening credits.