RENDEVOUS AND ENCOUNTERS.....Episode 3

                  ENCOUNTER IN A BOOKSTORE

			A Short Film Script by Stan Blumenthal

CAST:
BRENDON HOLLIWAY (60)
LINDA PURNELL (32)
ANN HOLLIWAY (58)
ERIC TELFORT (35)
FEMALE ATTENDANT
TRANSIET WORKER

ENCOUNTER IN A BOOKSTORE                                2.

CREDIT SEQUENCE

Run credits over sequence.

SOUND: Gate alarm sounds as we---

FADE IN FROM BLACK

BLINKING RED LIGHT ON CLOSEUP

INT. LATE MODEL CAR  -  NIGHT  - RAILROAD CROSSING
SUPER: MARCH 9, 2011-WEDNESDAY
TWO PEOPLE IN A CAR....BRENDON HOLLIWAY AND HIS WIFE ANN WITH BRENDON BEHIND THE WHEEL.

BRENDON: Don't worry hun...we'll be home in ten minutes.

ANN (coughing some): 'Scuse me...take your time Brendon. I     won't die on you...not yet anyway.

BRENDON (quietly): Okay...Okay. What—What did the doctor say at the ER?

ANN: I have a viral infection. The tests he took won't confirm anything until Thursday.

BRENDON: Hell! That—is over three days from now!

ANN: Why all the concern? (coughs)

BRENDON: You scared the bejeezus out of me.  Coughing so uncontrollably---then---then you passed out and fell to the floor. We had chicken gravy all over the damn place!

ANN POPS THE LID ON A COUGH SYRUP AND TAKES A SWIG. SHE COUGHS A LITTLE...THEN SCREWS THE LID BACK ON.

                                                        3.

A COMMUTER TRAIN RUNS PAST THE CROSSING; THE RED LIGHTS STOP FLASHING AND THE GUARD ARMS GO UP....BRENDON PUTS THE CAR IN GEAR AND CROSSES THE TRACKS AND HEADS ON DOWN THE STREET.

BRENDON: You okay now?

ANN (combined cough and laugh): Yeh! Oh shit! I think I peed myself---what the hell—we will be home soon. Anyone wipe up the mess?

BRENDON (chuckles): Toby had a meal of gravy---I think he cleaned it all up.

ANN (clears her throat): That is a good dog.

											CUT TO:

EXT. HOLLIWAY HOUSE  -  NIGHT
THE GARAGE DOOR OPENS  -  INSIDE LIGHT IS ON

THE CAR DRIVES INTO THE GARAGE...THE DOOR CLOSES.

BRENDON: We're home.

ANN: (coughs a little): Brendon? Are you—-uh---happy?

BRENDON: What---uh---well, yeh!

ANN: I am not so sure.  You---You've been distant---rather aloof at times.

THEY EXIT THE CAR AND GO INTO THE HOUSE
INT.  KITCHEN AREA

Both take seats at the dining table...across from each other.

                                                         4.

BRENDON (nervously): You—uh--You're right. I have been distant, and I am unhappy—very unhappy.

ANN (tearing up): Is it me? Are you unhappy with me?

BRENDON: No...not just you---it's the situation.

ANN: Situation? What situation?

BRENDON: You gotta admit...our life together these past few years has not been—uh--exactly happy. My work...and you sick all the time. 

ANN: (coughing and crying) I—I can't help being sick ever since Julie died – -I just went into meltdown.

BRENDON: Hmmm...yeh...meltdown. Started with Prozac. Hell,
Ann...when was the last time we made love?  Do you even remember?

Ann: (crying) Is that my fault too!

BRENDON: No---It's the pills—the work—hell--maybe it's the times we live in. (angerly) Who the hell knows!

AMY: (sniffling) Please! Don't be angry.

SHE GETS UP AND GOES TO THE COUNTER TO FIX SOME COFFEE.

BRENDON: I—I'm sorry, Ann. It has been a long time—this is the most we've talked about anything in over two years.

ANN: (quietly) I—I know.

SHE POURS HIM A CUP OF COFFEE...THEN HANDS IT TO HIM.

CUT TO:

                                                         
                                                         5.

INT. BOOKSTORE  -  TWO WEEKS LATER - DAY
SUPER: MARCH 22, 2011-TUESDAY
BRENDON STANDS BEFORE A SHELF OF MYSTERY BOOKS. HE REACHES UP AND TAKES A RAYMOND CHANDLER BOOK OFF THE SHELF...AT THE SAME TIME A WOMAN HAS TAKEN BOOK DOWN FROM THE OPPOSITE SIDE....THEY LOOK AT EACH OTHER...THEN SHE SMILES AT HIM.

THE WOMAN IS LINDA PURNELL, ABOUT THIRTY OR SO...DARK HAIR AND DEEP BLUE EYES.

BRENDON: Hello...you into mysteries?

LINDA (looking away;embarrassed)Uh---No.  This is the romance section. I like reading Harlequins. You like--

BRENDON: Mysteries...detective stories. Chandler---Hammett
you know---the oldies. Into westerns, too.

LINDA: Oh! I like westerns too.

THEY WALK TO THE OTHER END OF THE AISLE AND FACE EACH OTHER. LINDA EXTENDS HER HAND...BRENDON TAKES AND SHAKES HER HAND.

LINDA: Linda—Linda Purnell.

BRENDON: Brendon---Brendon Holliway.

LINDA: You look like a man with a lot of time on his hands.

BRENDON: I do have a lot of time---I am retired.

LINDA: Well---I'm not. I am a thirty-two year old law clerk
and I am on my lunch break.

BRENDON: Oh! I must be keeping you from a good meal.

LINDA (chuckles) Oh no! I have plenty of time. 

                                                         6.

THEY WALK TO THE COUNTER—FEMALE ATTENDANT COMES UP AND BEGINS TO LOOK AT THE PRICES INSIDE THE COVERS.

BRENDON: Yep! Retired and a little lonely too.

LINDA LOOKS AT HIM NOT SMILING. THEY EXIT THE STORE.

EXT.  PARKING AREA OUTSIDE THE STORE – SAME DAY

BRENDON HAS HER PACKAGES OF BOOKS AND WALKS WITH HER TO HER LATE MODEL CAR. SHE UNLOCKS THE CAR AND BRENDON OPENS THE BACK DOOR AND PUTS THE PACKAGES IN THE BACK SEAT.

LINDA: You mentioned—uh--being lonely in there. Aren't you married?

BRENDON: Yes---and not in the biblical sense. Forty years and for the last ten years we have more a platonic relationship...than a real marital relationship.

LINDA GETS IN THE CAR. WINDS THE WINDOW DOWN, AS BRENDON COMES OVER TO THE DRIVER'S SIDE.

LINDA: That's kind of sad. 

SHE PUTS HER HAND ON HIS WHERE HE PUT THEM ON THE DOOR WINDOW OPENING. BRENDON SLOWLY REMOVES THEM FROM THE DOOR.

BRENDON (smiling): I am an old man, Linda. Old enough to be your father. I am lonely...I may have snow on the roof but there is a smouldering ember in the basement.

LINDA: Bren? Can I call you---Bren? HE KNODS YES.
Bren, most of the men I have known since becoming a woman, have been less than superior in attitude...feelings and knowing how to treat a woman.  Eventually that will come with age...when they become your age. (PAUSES) I can tell you the truth---the only men I have ever been with, were just boys in men's clothing. I am no virgin.

                                                        7.

BRENDON: I pretty much guessed that. Strange---I am very attracted to you. Yet---I know I must not.

LINDA: (nervous) Why—uh---not?

BRENDON: I am old enough to be your father.

HE LEANS BACK ON THE DOOR AND LEANS FORWARD..SHE RESPONDS AND MOVES HER HEAD TOWARD HIS. 

LINDA: (whispering) My father died when I was twelve years old...my mom died just a few years ago...and I am well over twenty-one years and if you don't—-kiss---me----

BRENDON PLANTS A LONG WET KISS ON HER LIPS.

BRENDON: (softly) When can you get off work...for a day?

LINDA: Take the transit train all the way to the west end...I'll pick you up there.  Tomorrow okay?

BRENDON: Yeh...all day. Wife goes to doctor at eight.

LINDA: (smiling) Take the train at seven...I'll meet you at around nine. If I'm not there by nine fifteen...well...I  couldn't make it...go home then. I will see you here at the bookstore on Saturday afternoon...if we don't meet up, okay?

BRENDON: Okay...see ya tomorrow.

LINDA STARTS THE CAR AND TAKES OFF FROM THE PARKING LOT TO THE HIGHWAY AND DISAPPEARS GOING WEST.

SLOW FADE OUT:

SLOW FADE IN:

                                                        8.

INT. BRENDON'S HOME  - THAT NIGHT

We are in the living room area...Ann sits in a recliner in her robe...sniffling and coughing. Brendon walks in from the garage and puts his coat in the closet then goes to living room.

ANN: (coughs) How was the bookstore...see any books you want to get?

BRENDON: Oh there were a lot that I would like to get...but...it can wait.

ANN: (coughs, laughs) Yeh! Wait until I die!

BRENDON: So much melodrama. I don't wish you dead. 

ANN GLARES AT HIM AND FOLDS HER ARMS.
 
ANN: (Grits her teeth) Who is she?

BRENDON: What?

ANN: Who the hell is the woman you're having an affair with?

BRENDON: You must be out of your mind! There is no woman!

ANN: (Coughs and spits in Kleenex) Oh—Come on! You spend a hell of a lot of time either at the library or at a bookstore somewhere. Women inhabit those places...women who have the same interest in literature as you!

BRENDON: A good many of those women are either old enough to be my daughter---and/or granddaughters...and the other half of them are as homely as a mud fence!  

                                                         9.
ANN: (coughing violently) Pathetic! I am absolutely pathetic looking---always sick---getting sicker. (a pause)
Homely as a mud fence---you make---a terrible liar.

BRENDON: (gravely) I won't lie to you---I have been tempted. But I have yet to yield to that temptation.
Maybe twenty or thirty years ago...yeh...I would have
yielded, but I am fast approaching my seventies.  Those urges I had back then are no longer with me.

ANN: (wiping her nose) Any regrets then Brendon?

BRENDON: Regrets? We all have our regrets. I am only human and I do have some regrets.

ANN: About us?

BRENDON: Over the years---yes---but I haven't stayed with you this long, without relinquishing something. I do love you Ann---but in the past year or so—it has been hard.

ANN: (tears welling up) I—I love you too. But there is something you must know.  I—I had an affair.  When you went into the Army---I---had a month long affair with JACK FENWICK!

BRENDON: Fenwick! You had a love affair with Jumpin Jack!

ANN KNODS A YES.

BRENDON:  The child born to us in 1969...the one that died a week later because she was premature...that was Jack's baby wasn't it?

ANN: (quietly crying and knodding a yes)

BRENDON: Jack joined the Marine Corp...did he ever know?

ANN: I wrote him a month after he joined...he never wrote.

                                                        10.

BRENDON: That's why you made such a crying scene when they brought his casket back from 'Nam...in 73. I had only been out two months...I should have realized it then.

ANN: (half-whispered) Do—-Do you hate me?

BRENDON: No...hell...that was nearly forty years ago.

ANN: Because it was not an easy birth---it ruined any chance of us ever having any children of our own. They had no choice but to give me a hysterectomy.  I—I am sorry Brendon...I am so sorry.

BRENDON WALKS OVER AND BENDS DOWN KISSES ANN ON THE CHEEK.

BRENDON: It's all right, Ann. Just another situation...it happened...it's over...the past is gone so why not concentrate on the present...and don't worry about the future.

MEMORY MONTAGE AS SCENE SLOWLY FADES.

SLOW FADE IN:

EXT.  WEST END TRANSIT DEPOT  -  MORNING (9:14 am)

PEOPLE EXIT THE TRAIN...LINDA BEING ONE OF THE LAST...SHE LOOKS UP AND DOWN THE DOCK...THERE IS NO BRENDON IN SIGHT.
A TRANSIET WORKER COMES UP AND HANDS HER A NOTE...SHE OPENS IT.

BRENDON: (voice over) Linda...I'm sorry I could not make it to West End...you see...my wife Ann died last night in her sleep...I probably won't see you Saturday either...funeral arrangements and all. Maybe we can see each other again at the bookstore...in a week or two...okay? Brendon

LINDA FOLDS THE NOTE AND SLOWLY WALKS TO WAIT FOR A TRAIN.

FADE OUT:                                               11.

FADE IN:

INT.  COFFEE SHOP DOWNTOWN  - AFTERNOON

Linda sits at a small table...her laptop open as she drinks her latte...into the shop comes...ERIC TELFORT, 35 her collegue and another clerk at the law firm they work at. He orders a coffee and then makes his way to her table.

ERIC: May I sit at your table?

LINDA: Of course you can.

ERIC: You know Linda...a lot of the guys, including the lawyers in the firm have been salivating over you.

LINDA: (chuckles) And you---Eric?

ERIC: (smiles) No chance honey...I am gay—oh--maybe I bend toward bi-sexual once in a while.

LINDA: Bi huh? Maybe I should be worried.

ERIC: Naw! This year I am totally gay. That waiter at the Bijou Restaurant---oh---how I would love to----!

LINDA: (interrupts) I get it! I get it!

ERIC TAKES A DRINK AND SITS BACK IN THE CHAIR.

ERIC: Now! You...my fine pretty friend. Are you seeing
anyone?

LINDA: Not at the moment...maybe...soon.

                                                        

                                                       12.

ERIC: (getting up from the table) You have the look..girl.

LINDA: What—look?

ERIC: (smiling) That look of a love. Who is he?

LINDA: Nobody you would know...and...it isn't anybody in the office either.

ERIC: Take care...honeybear. This guy is a lucky fellow. Just take care because relationships like the one you are venturing into...well..they can be fragile.

LINDA: (quietly) I know...I really do know.

CUT TO:

EXT. A CEMETARY -  SAME AFTERNOON

Brendon stands over the filled in grave looking at the marker. From his POV we read her marker....ANN HOLLIWAY
Born September 7, 1952...Died March 23, 2011...Loving Wife.
...He takes a single flower from the bunch around the tombstone and lays it on the grave next to hers...a small grave with a small headstone marked BABY HOLLIWAY Born November 15, 1969-Died...November 21, 1969.

BRENDON: (to himself) Now...both of you can rest in peace.

CUT TO:

INT. THE BOOKSTORE   - JUNE 15, 2011 (Wednesday)-AFTERNOON

Brendon is slowly checking the books in the mystery aisle..he goes to the end of it and turns to go down the
romance aisle and sees Linda at the other end.  He starts walking toward her as she does the same to him...they meet and embrace in a long passionate kiss. 

                                                        13.

BRENDON: (whispering)I missed you...very much.

LINDA: (whispering also) I know....I missed you too.

BRENDON: What are we going to---uh---do now?

SHE KISSES HIM AGAIN.

LINDA: Depends...your place...or mine?

BRENDON SMILES AND TAKES HER BY THE HAND AS THEY LEAVE THE BOOKSTORE...WE STAY ON THE DOOR AS THE CLERK REACHES OVER AND TURNS OVER THE OPEN/CLOSE SIGN WHICH READS:

                         T H E   E N D