Room Page #5

JACK:

(interrupting)

Where's all the stuff you said?

Trees and dogs and -

MA (OVERLAPPING)

Well, we can't see them from here

because the skylight looks upwards

instead of sideways.

Jack suddenly struggles to get down, nearly toppling them.

JACK (OVERLAPPING)

You're just tricking me.

MA:

No I'm not.

JACK:

Liar liar pants on fire!

MA:

Jack. I couldn't explain before,

you were too small to understand,

so.. I had to make up a story.

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

25 CONTINUED:
(5) 25

MA (CONT'D)

But now - it's the opposite of

lying, I'm unlying, because now

you're five I think you can

understand about the world, you

have to understand.

Jack shakes his head, not in bewilderment but in resistance.

MA (CONT’D)

Jack -

JACK:

I want to be four again.

They face each other, standing with the table between them.

Ma musters the energy to try again, telling him her own story

this time. She picks up Jack’s copy of ALICE IN WONDERLAND.

MA:

You know how Alice wasn't always in

Wonderland?

JACK:

She fell down down down the hole.

MA:

Well, I'm like Alice. I wasn't

always in Room.

A heavy silence, as Jack absorbs this.

MA (CONT’D)

I used to be a little girl called

Joy. I lived-

JACK (OVERLAPPING)

Nah!

MA:

I lived in a house out in the world

(taps on the wall)

-with my mom and dad. You'd call

them Grandma and Grandpa.

JACK:

What house?

MA:

The house where we lived, with a

hammock in the back yard. We used

to swing in the hammock and eat ice

cream.

(CONTINUED)

25 CONTINUED:
(6) 25

JACK:

A TV house?

MA:

It's not TV, Jack. Are you

listening?

No answer from him.

MA (CONT’D)

And then I was nearly grown up, I

was seventeen, I was walking to

school and -

JACK:

Where was I?

MA:

Still up in heaven. So this guy ran

up to me, saying his -

JACK (OVERLAPPING)

What guy?

MA:

We call him Old Nick, but I don't

know his real name. He pretended

his dog was sick, he seemed really -

JACK (OVERLAPPING)

What's the dog's name?

MA:

There was no dog. It was just a

trick to get me into his truck. Old

Nick stole me.

JACK:

I want a different story.

MA:

You need to hear this one. He put

me in his garden shed.

JACK:

Where?

MA:

Here. Room's the shed. He's the

only one with the code - secret

numbers to open the door. I've been

locked in here for seven years. Do

you understand?

(CONTINUED)

25 CONTINUED:
(7) 25

Jack's had enough.

JACK:

This story's boring.

Beat.

MA:

Jack, the world. You wouldn't

believe how big it is. Room's only

a tiny stinky piece of it.

JACK:

Room's not stinky. Only when you

do a fart.

Ma sit’s down. She doesn’t look at Jack.

MA:

OK.

JACK:

I don't believe in your stinky

world.

MA:

(bitter, still not looking

at him)

Fine. That’s fine Jack.

Another long miserable pause. Jack, angry and upset, watches

her for a while then sits down on the floor and takes out his

toys from under the TV. He plays quietly.

Ma looks up at the skylight. As she watches a gust of wind

blow the leaf away.

LATER - dusk

Ma and Jack are in bed, under the duvet in their clothes,

shuddering with cold. Jack tries the lamp. Nothing. He fixes

the dents in the shade then lies back down. A terrible

flatness in the air. Ma is turned away from Jack. She has

been crying.

26 OMITTED 26

(CONTINUED)

26 CONTINUED:
26

27 INT. ROOM - DAY 27

Next morning, a sunny day. Jack wakes up beside Ma.

JACK:

It's warm again.

But she pulls the pillow over her head.

He knows it's one of her rare catatonic Gone days.

(CONTINUED)

27 CONTINUED:
27

Later. Jack eats cereal and watches DORA (sound on very low).

DORA AND BOOTS:

Where do we go next? River, Bridge,

Highest Hill. Will you check my

backpack for something to help us?

Later. TV off. Jack creeps up to Ma and studies what he can

see of her bruises, which are more purple-black today.

He tries to read Ma's watch but the angle makes it hard.

He plays at switching Ma on with the remote.

Later. Jack plays chess (with their homemade papier m.ch.

set) against his truck.

Later. Kicks a shrivelled red balloon to keep it in the air.

Later. It's turned cloudy. Jack nibbles a bagel at the table.

Later. He makes a tour of his domain, his friends.

JACK (V.O.)

Eggsnake's our longest friend and

fanciest. Meltedy Spoon's the best

to eat with because he's more

blobbier. Labyrinth is the

twistiest and she hides things so I

don't know where. Toilet's the best

at disappearing poo. Lamp's the

brightest except when the powercut.

(glances at Ma)

You're the best at reading and

songs and lots except if you're

having a Gone Day. I'm the best at

drawing and jumping and growing and

nearly everything.

He examines the truck's broken axle. Yanks on another wheel

until it snaps off. Then the last two. He twists the doors

off. Stuffs the truck, its parts and remote in the trash.

Later, light fading. Jack lies beside Ma, longing to

breastfeed. Lifts the edge of her t-shirt, but doesn't dare.

He sits up, rests his hand on the bump of Ma's foot.

28 INT. ROOM - DAY 28

Next day. Ma (apparently normal again) and Jack finish their

cereal.

(CONTINUED)

28 CONTINUED:
28

MA:

Apple?

He takes a big bite and hands it back to her.

Ma bites in, winces. She reaches into her mouth and pulls out

a tooth.

MA (CONT’D)

About time.

JACK:

Bad Tooth? Can I have it?

MA:

Sure, if you want it.

29 INT. ROOM - DAY 29

A little later. Jack is watching wildlife while Ma cleans up

from breakfast:
baby turtles emerging from shells and heading

down the beach.

Tying up the trash bag, she finds the truck, and realizes

that Jack has destroyed it because it came from Old Nick.

JACK:

Are turtles real?

Ma's head shoots up: this is the first sign that he's

starting to believe her about the world.

MA:

Totally real. I had a pet turtle.

DAVID ATTENBOROUGH

Crocodiles, sharks, and hungry fish

are all waiting in the shallows.

JACK:

Crocodiles and sharks -

MA:

They're all real.

(CONTINUED)

29 CONTINUED:
29

Curious, Jack switches channels: a 1970 BBC mini-series, THE

SIX WIVES OF HENRY VIII.

ANNE:

Oh, my lord...

HENRY:

(eyeing the child)

Not while he plays here...

ANNE:

(smiling)

I'll send him away

JACK (OVERLAPPING)

Real?

MA:

Ah, they're real people playing

dress-up, pretending to be people

from hundreds of years ago.

Jack is puzzled by that.

He switches channels: TOM AND JERRY.

JACK:

Just TV?

MA:

You're getting it!

He watches the slapstick violence with relish.

JACK:

When Old Nick comes back, I'm going

to kick him in the butt.

This suddenly punctures her mood.

MA:

Jack.

Ma marches over and turns off the TV, startling him.

MA (CONT’D)

One night I stood behind the door

with the lid of the toilet tank

Jack looks towards it, confused: what lid?

(CONTINUED)

29 CONTINUED:
(2) 29

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