Room Page #2

arm delve into the earth, / No

excavator so loves to munch dirt.

7 INT. ROOM - DAY 7

Later, Jack blows the second of two small eggs, keeping the

shell intact. Beating butter and sugar, Ma keeps up their

Rhyme game.

MA:

Our friend Table... just isn't

able.

Jack pours the eggs into her bowl of butter and sugar.

JACK:

Our friend Spoon, sings to the

moon.

Ma beats the eggs in.

MA:

Our friend Knife runs for his life.

She winces in pain, and shakes out her right wrist. Jack

notices and takes over, beating the batter for her.

(CONTINUED)

7 CONTINUED:
7

Later:
Ma strings the shells onto the needle tongue of their

Eggsnake, made of eggshells crayoned, given paper clothes,

foil crowns, colored wool for hair... Eggsnake is hundreds

of eggs long.

8 INT. ROOM - DUSK 8

A little later. The birthday cake is small, brown, plain.

Ma makes a 5 with thin white icing.

MA:

Abracadabra!

JACK:

Now the candles.

Reading her face, his crumples.

JACK (CONT’D)

You said a birthday cake for real.

That means candles on fire.

MA:

Jack -

JACK:

You should ask for candles for

Sunday Treat, not dumb jeans.

MA:

Sorry. I have to ask for stuff we

really need that he can get easily.

JACK:

But Old Nick gets anything, by

magic.

MA:

Try your cake, I bet it's

delicioso.

But Jack is sulking. She hugs him, quietly soothing him.

JACK:

Next week when I'm six you better

ask for real candles.

MA:

Next year, you mean.

Later:
Half the cake is eaten.

(CONTINUED)

8 CONTINUED:
8

Jack is kneeling at the bath. There’s a bucket with dishes in

front of him. He’s washing up as expertly as an adult.

9 INT. ROOM - NIGHT 9

Later. Steam makes Room mysterious. Jack lies on Ma in the

bath, both with bubble moustaches. End of the Selkie story:

MA:

But one day the mermaid finds where

the fisherman hid her comb.

JACK:

Ha ha.

MA:

So she runs home to the sea.

She lets her head and face sink under the water.

Jack sits up on her, upset.

Ma emerges and opens her eyes. Realizes what's wrong.

MA (CONT’D)

Of course she takes her Baby Jack

with her.

JACK:

Does he drown?

MA:

No, he's half-merman. He can

breathe air or water, whichever.

Satisfied, Jack leans over to scoop up the pile of clothes.

JACK:

Laundry Time.

With relish, he plunges them under the water.

10 INT. ROOM - NIGHT 10

Laundry is hung up to dry everywhere. Ma and Jack are in

their sleep t-shirts and underwear. She sits breastfeeding

him and telling him a story.

(CONTINUED)

10 CONTINUED:
10

MA:

... and Edmond swims and swims to

the island of Monte Cristo and digs

up all the treasure, and ...

11 INT. ROOM - NIGHT 11

A little later Jack watches as Ma places blankets and a

pillow on the floor of the wardrobe.

JACK:

Can we have more birthday cake?

MA:

Tomorrow.

JACK:

Just a bite.

MA:

We've brushed our teeth already.

JACK:

One more story?

She checks her watch nervously: getting close to nine.

MA:

Jack, it’s late. Come on.

Jack jumps in and snuggles down. Pictures of Dora and her

monkey Boots are glued on the back wall; this is a tiny room

within Room. Ma covers him up for the night.

She begins to sing ‘The Big Rock Candy Mountain’.

12 INT. ROOM - WARDROBE - NIGHT 12

A little later. Dim light comes through the slats. Jack lies

stroking the dangling clothes, the pictures glued to the

wardrobe. He freezes at the sound of the beeps that mean the

outside door is about to open.

He lies absolutely still, listening for Old Nick's entrance.

He savors the scent of fresh air, but shivers: winter.

Boom:
now the door's shut again.

OLD NICK (O.S.)

Hey.

(CONTINUED)

12 CONTINUED:
12

MA (O.S.)

Hey.

Jack goes up on his elbow to squint through the slats but

only sees a bit of the man's down jacket as he takes it off.

OLD NICK (O.S.)

Here's the jeans.

MA (O.S.)

Thanks.

OLD NICK (O.S.)

The grapes were way too much, so I

got canned pears.

Jack can see Ma as she puts groceries away.

MA:

OK.

Now OLD NICK moves into view too. Forties, solidly built,

blue-collar:
a ordinary monster.

OLD NICK:

What's that? A birthday cake?

He cuts himself a piece and eats it in a few bites.

Ma starts getting undressed.

OLD NICK (CONT'D)

Shoulda told me, I'd have brought

him a present.

Jack twitches at this thrilling possibility.

Old Nick starts undressing too: like some dull marriage.

OLD NICK (CONT’D)

What's he now, four?

Jack, in the wardrobe, is all agog for Ma to correct him.

JACK:

(too low to be heard)

Five.

Sounds of the adults getting into bed. The lamp clicking off.

Then the familiar creaks of the bed. Jack doesn't know what

they mean but is troubled. He counts them under his breath.

(CONTINUED)

12 CONTINUED:
(2) 12

JACK (CONT’D)

One, two, three, four...

JACK (V.O.)

There's Room, then Outer Space,

then Heaven. Plant is real but not

trees. Spiders are real and one

time the mosquito that was sucking

my blood. But squirrels and dogs

are just TV, except Lucky my dog

that might be some day. Mountains

are too big to be real and the sea.

In the dark of the wardrobe, Jack is still counting.

JACK:

One twenty-eight, one twenty-

nine...

JACK (V.O.)

TV persons are flat and made of

colors with red mouths and clothes

instead of skin but me and you are

real. Old Nick I don't know if

he's real, maybe half? Green beans

are real and chocolate but not ice

cream.

The bedsprings are speeding up.

JACK:

Three hundred six, seven, eight -

A primal grunt from Old Nick. The creaking is done. Jack is

asleep at the bottom of the wardrobe.

Old Nick goes over to the TV and switches on sports.

MA:

Shh.

He turns down the volume. The sound of the sports broadcast

overlaps with the thud of the door closing. The wardrobe door

opens admitting the faint light of the L.E.D on the keypad.

We cut to a shot of Ma putting a sleeping Jack into the bed.

As she starts to climb in beside we pull back and crane up.

13 INT. ROOM - DAY 13

Next morning. Jack watches a nature programme on TV: time-

lapse photography of one glorious tree.

(CONTINUED)

13 CONTINUED:
13

Ma is using a needle and thread to take in Jack’s new, much-

too-big jeans. Jack finds a trodden cigarette butt under the

corner of the rug. Old Nick must have brought it in on his

shoe. Jack studies it.

TV NARRATOR (V.O.)

Fallen leaves decompose and return

nutrients to the soil.

MA:

(to herself, referring to

the jeans)

Cheap piece of ...

Jack looks at the sad African violet on the bedside table.

JACK:

Why Plant doesn't make flowers

anymore?

MA:

Maybe she's tired.

14 INT. ROOM - DAY 14

Jack, on the bed: he squirms, twists, bounces with intense

boyish energy.

Beside the bed now, he runs on the spot at maximum speed. In

the background we see Ma cooking.

(CONTINUED)

14 CONTINUED:
14

15 OMITTED 15

16 INT. ROOM - DAY 16

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