12 and holding Page #9

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JACOB:

What happened to him?

KENNY:

He pissed off the wrong guy off.

Jeff is totally f***ed right now.

JACOB:

Good.

KENNY:

Don’t come back here ever again.

JACOB:

Free country. I’ll come if I want.

KENNY:

Don’t expect me to show up.

Kenny slams down the phone and exits. Jacob smiles, having

shaken him.

53.

INT. LEONARD’S HOME - FRONT DOOR - THAT NIGHT

Grace hands out candy to a few trick or treaters at her door.

GRACE:

Be careful now. Have a good night.

INT. KITCHEN - CONTINUOUS

Grace crosses to the kitchen table where Pat is doing a

crossword puzzle.

GRACE:

Kids keep coming later every year.

SFX:
FRONT DOOR, opening and closing.

Haley and Sara storm into the kitchen in tears. Haley is

dressed as a MARBLE, and Sara is dressed as a WITCH.

HALEY:

I hate him! I hate him!

GRACE:

Who? What happened?

HALEY:

Leonard! He threw away all our

Halloween candy.

GRACE/PATRICK

What?

SARA:

He grabbed our bags and just threw

them down a gutter.

Leonard enters. Haley and Sara run out of the kitchen.

PATRICK:

What the hell is going on? Why did

you throw away their candy?

LEONARD:

Because their sugar intake is

completely unhealthy. Besides,

Halloween is supposed to be a

celebration of evil. How did candy

get wrapped into it?

(CONTINUED)

54.

CONTINUED:

GRACE:

I am going to ask you this once,

and I want a straight answer. Are

you in a cult?

PATRICK:

Grace!

GRACE:

This is what happens when kids join

cults. The first thing they change

is their diets.

LEONARD:

I’m not in a cult. This is all

information you can find in books.

GRACE:

The issue here is that you have

stolen one of the most exciting

nights of the year from your

sisters.

PATRICK:

If anybody had done this to you

when you were a child, we never

would have heard the end of it.

LEONARD:

I wish somebody had done it to me.

I wish either one of you had given

a sh*t about my weight.

Leonard storms out of the kitchen. Patrick and Grace are

speechless.

INT. LEONARD’S ROOM - MOMENTS LATER

Leonard lies on the floor, doing sit-ups. He can actually do

a few now. Patrick bursts into the room.

PATRICK:

I do not care for your language.

LEONARD:

I’m only trying to help you guys.

Leonard stops exercising.

LEONARD (cont’d)

You’re fat dad. Mom is fat. Us

kids are fat.

(CONTINUED)

55.

CONTINUED:

PATRICK:

What’s your point?

LEONARD:

Dad, you and mom are going to die

young if you keep eating as poorly

as you do.

PATRICK:

What is this obsession you have

with weight?

LEONARD:

The coach for Jefferson High is

also my gym teacher. He told me

that if I got into shape, I could

start as center for the Freshman

team when I get to high school.

PATRICK:

Center is a great position.

Toughest guy on the field. A good

center can make or break a team.

LEONARD:

I know. That’s why I’m trying so

hard to get into shape. You guys

should to. At the rate you’re

going, you won’t make it to your

60’s.

PATRICK:

Look, Leonard. Your mom, to her, a

tasty meal is just a way of showing

she cares.

LEONARD:

She doesn’t! Tonight she served

spaghetti and meatballs from a can.

The amount of sodium alone can

wreck havoc on a person’s blood

pressure. Not to mention...

PATRICK:

Leonard, people just don’t drop

dead from eating meatballs.

Off Leonard’s look

EXT. CONSTRUCTION SITE - DAYS LATER - AFTERNOON

Malee hands Gus her bag of Halloween Candy.

(CONTINUED)

56.

CONTINUED:

GUS:

I can’t take your Halloween candy.

MALEE:

You’ll be doing me a favor.

Chocolate gives you zits. Besides,

if I want to keep this firm ass as

an adult, I gotta develop good

eating habits now.

GUS:

(uncomfortable)

Maybe just a snickers.

Gus opens a snickers bar and starts eating.

MALEE:

So work is good?

GUS:

To be honest, I can’t wait till

this job is finished. This place

is creepy. You know, a boy died

here like right before we started

working.

MALEE:

Rudy. His name was Rudy.

GUS:

You knew him?

MALEE:

He was one of my best friends.

Remember that funeral I went to?

GUS:

That was him?

MALEE:

I thought you knew. Two boys threw

a flaming cocktail at him. Can you

imagine killing someone like that?

How evil can you get?

Gus eyes Malee, completely unsettled.

INT. APARTMENT BUILDING - NIGHT

Obviously drunk, Gus stumbles to his front door. He fumbles

for his keys and enters.

57.

INT. GUS’S APARTMENT - BEDROOM - LATER

Gus lies in bed with a bottle of whiskey in one hand and a

GUN in the other. Distraught and at the point of tears, Gus

opens the chamber and loads the gun with a single bullet.

Then he spins the chamber and locks it. Gus puts the gun to

his head and fires. NOTHING. He throws the gun across the

room, grabs the bottle of whiskey and drinks it till it’s

gone.

INT. JACOB’S HOME - KITCHEN - NEXT MORNING

Ashley stands with a big smile on her face.

ASHLEY:

Jeff Laskey is dead.

Jim and Jacob look up, stunned.

JIM:

What?

ASHLEY:

He committed suicide in his jail

cell last night. Sally Yngve

called just now to tell me.

Jim and Jacob sit, stunned. Their shock turns to intrigue as

Ashley, appearing unaffected by the news, crosses to the

kitchen table, opens a nearby box of donuts and begins

eating. She is smiling.

JACOB:

Why are you smiling? A boy died.

ASHLEY:

No, a monster that murdered my son

died. Justice is served; end of

story.

Ashley crosses to the kitchen sink. She rolls up her sleeves

and begins cleaning. Jim crosses over to her and they kiss

as if nothing happened. Jacob is baffled by their behavior.

INT. JUVY HALL - COMMUNICATION BOOTH - LATER THAT NIGHT

Jacob and Kenny are on the phone together. Kenny looks gaunt

and tired. Jeff’s death has obviously affected him.

(CONTINUED)

58.

CONTINUED:

KENNY:

He used his bed sheet, waited until

lights out and then jumped.

JACOB:

That’s terrible.

KENNY:

His cell mate let him hang there

the entire night.

JACOB:

I’m sorry, Kenny.

KENNY:

Like you even give a sh*t. I bet

when you heard, you started

dancing.

JACOB:

No.

KENNY:

I knew he wouldn’t make it. It’s

my fault too. Jeff wasn’t a saint

when I met him, but he sure as hell

wasn’t headed here.

(tearing up)

That f***ing a**hole!

Kenny drops the phone and begins crying in his arms. Jacob

watches through the glass, touched by Kenny’s reaction.

MUSIC OVER SHOT:
UPBEAT CHRISTMAS MUSIC

INT. JACOB’S HOME - LIVING ROOM - CHRISTMAS MORNING

Jacob sits on the floor, surrounded by boxes and wrapping

paper. Santa has obviously been good to him.

Jim sits on the couch, drifting in and out of sleep.

Ashley, dressed in her finest Christmas sweater, peruses the

fireplace mantel and all of the decorations that line it.

She is a drastically different woman than the last time we

saw her. She looks upbeat and pretty.

JACOB:

An IPOD! Sweet!

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