Room Page #3

Later the same day. Ma is napping. Jack is playing on the

floor. Counting things. Tracing the patterns of rug with his

finger.

What was that? He stares at the floor by the stove; glimpses

something.

Jack tiptoes over, but the moving thing is gone. He looks

furtively at Ma then takes out the cake. He crumbles some and

sets the plate on the floor. He squats and waits.

A mouse puts its nose out, sniffs and takes a crumb.

Something smashes into the stove: one of Ma’s heavy books.

Jack cries out in shock and distress.

JACK:

You made him gone!

Ma starts to sweep up the crumbs.

JACK (CONT’D)

He was an alive thing, he was real!

MA:

They'd steal our food.

She crawls under the counter, finds the hole. Tears aluminum

foil from the roll. Scrunches it.

JACK:

Mouse can have my food, I'm not

hungry.

MA:

They'd bring in germs, bite us in

the night.

(CONTINUED)

16 CONTINUED:
16

JACK:

Mouse is my friend and you splatted

him dead.

MA:

No I didn't, he's hunky-dory.

She stops blocking up the hole to hug Jack.

JACK:

Are you just tricking me?

MA:

I swear, he's safe at home with his

Ma in the backyard.

JACK:

What backyard?

Ma, realizing her slip, tidies up instead of answering.

JACK (CONT'D)

Mouse lives in a yard in TV?

Ma holds up the aluminum foil to distract him.

MA:

Hey, let's make a UFO with this.

Jack brings out the other grudge he's been nursing.

JACK:

Why you didn't tell Old Nick it was

my birthday?

MA:

Because he's not our friend.

JACK:

He said he'd brung me a present.

MA:

You shouldn't hear what he - You're

meant to be asleep.

JACK:

I never had a present.

MA:

He didn't mean it.

JACK:

It might be Lucky my dog.

(CONTINUED)

16 CONTINUED:
(2) 16

MA:

Jack. We can't have a dog. We

don't have room -

(sees him misunderstand)

-space, enough space - cooped up

in here with the barking, the

scratching...

JACK:

Lucky won't scratch, he promises.

MA:

There is no Lucky!

JACK:

Yeah there is.

MA:

He's just made-up, in your head,

he's not real.

Devastated, Jack bursts into tears.

Ma sits down beside him and strokes him.

17 INT. ROOM - NIGHT 17

That evening. Jack sits in Ma's lap, watching a TALK-SHOW

hostess interview a one-armed war veteran. Ma is threading

eggshells onto a string, hundreds of shells long. Jack gently

supports the unraveled part.

Ma lets out a big yawn and discreetly rubs her aching jaw.

HOSTESS:

...most poignant aspect, I can

speak for all our viewers, so, so

deeply moved by what you endured.

JACK:

Ma. Where are we when we're asleep?

MA:

Right here in Room.

JACK:

But dreams. Do we go into TV for

dreaming?

MA:

We're never anywhere but here.

(CONTINUED)

17 CONTINUED:
17

JACK:

I want some.

They put down Eggsnake and Ma turns to him so he can

breastfeed.

17A INT. ROOM - NIGHT 17A

Ma lies on the bed. Jack is nowhere to be seen. Eventually

his voice comes from the wardrobe.

JACK:

Ma! I think Old Nick lives in TV,

like Mouse. That's where he goes

when he's not here in Room.

MA:

Jack. Go to sleep.

18 INT. ROOM - DAY 18

The third morning. Jack wakes up in the bed, where Ma always

carries him once Old Nick has gone.

Ma is up already, sitting at the table, staring at a shiny

red truck and remote in a hard pack. The snake is in Eden.

Jack can hardly believe what’s in front of him. He looks at

it for a while.

MA:

You can open it.

We watch as Jack opens the box. Ma tries to help him when he

finds the packaging difficult.

JACK:

(pulling it away from her)

I can do it.

Later, Jack is playing with his new toy. Ma watches him

uneasily. We hear a faint echo of screaming ...

CHAPTER TITLE:
UNLYING The screaming get’s louder.

Later, Ma is standing on a chair screaming and howling at the

Skylight. Jack stands in the bath screaming into the small

air vent above the shelf. He holds his truck up to the vent

so it can join in.

Then they hush and listen.

JACK (CONT’D)

Why the aliens never scream back?

MA:

I guess they still can't hear us.

JACK:

Tomorrow we'll do even louderer.

Later, Ma, preoccupied, trims mold off cheese she slices very

thin and lays on brown bread. Puts it in the toaster oven.

Jack zigzags his truck around chair and table legs. Ma checks

to see if the frozen peas are boiling yet. Jack drives the

truck at the door: clang.

MA:

Jack!

(CONTINUED)

18 CONTINUED:
18

JACK:

What smells bad?

Ma belatedly realizes the grilled cheese is smoking.

She burns her hand slightly on the oven, wrenching it open.

19 INT. ROOM - WARDROBE - NIGHT 19

That evening. Jack, in the wardrobe, is meant to be asleep

but he’s still playing with his truck.

The door beeps; he kneels up for a glimpse as it booms shut.

OLD NICK (O.S.)

Hey. What's the smell?

He puts down groceries, unzips his jacket.

MA (O.S.)

Sorry, I burned some cheese.

OLD NICK (O.S.)

You need to take more care.

MA (O.S.)

I will. I wasn’t thinking.

OLD NICK:

Yeah, well, thinking's not your

strong suit.

MA (O.S.)

I know. I'm really sorry.

Ma is unpacking the groceries.

OLD NICK:

So did he like his truck?

He laughs at her speechless discomfort.

OLD NICK (CONT'D)

I know boys, I was one once.

Ma looks at the empty bag.

MA:

The vitamins?

OLD NICK:

Waste of money.

MA:

If we had a better diet, maybe...

(CONTINUED)

19 CONTINUED:
19

OLD NICK (OVERLAPPING)

Here we go again. You know instead

of complaining maybe you should

thank your lucky stars you’ve got a

place like this. Cosy, safe,

specially with the kid - no drunk

drivers, drug-pushers, perverts...

MA:

I’m sorry.

OLD NICK:

Like pulling teeth sometimes.

Ma waits for him to calm down.

OLD NICK (CONT’D)

Your problem is you have no idea

about the world of today.

MA:

No.

OLD NICK:

Who pays the power bills? Who pays

for everything?

She gives the required answer.

MA:

You.

OLD NICK:

And where do you think the money's

going to keep coming from?

MA:

What do you mean?

OLD NICK:

Nothing.

MA:

No, but -

OLD NICK (OVERLAPPING)

Six months I've been laid off, have

you had to worry your little head?

Pause as Ma takes in the implications of this. She proceeds

cautiously.

(CONTINUED)

19 CONTINUED:
(2) 19

MA:

What are you going to do?

He doesn't answer.

MA (CONT’D)

Are you... looking for another job?

OLD NICK (OVERLAPPING)

What job? There are no damn jobs,

Jesus Christ!

Jack, frightened, shrinks back in the wardrobe knocking into

the back panel. Old Nick turns his attention to the wardrobe.

OLD NICK (CONT’D)

Hey in there.

MA:

He's asleep.

OLD NICK:

Don't think so. You keep him in the

closet all day as well as all

night? Poor little freak has two

heads or something?

He roots in his jacket pockets and produces an already opened

tube of hard candy.

OLD NICK (CONT'D)

Hey Jack. You like candy? Wanna

come out and have some candy?

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