Death Knell
Mother’s Day
EXT. SUBURBAN STREET - DAY
Jack’s car pulls up in front of a small suburban home.
EXT. FRONT DOOR
Jack, holding a bouquet of flowers, rings the doorbell. There is no answer. He tries the knob. The door is unlocked.
INT. LIVING ROOM
The front door cracks open. Jack pokes his head in.
JACK
(calling out)
Mom?
There is no answer. He steps inside.
JACK (CONT’D)
Mom? It’s Jack!
He draws his gun. He skulks across the living room with his revolver in one hand and the bouquet in the other.
DINING ROOM
A cat MEOWS as it leaps off the dining room table when Jack enters.
JACK (CONT’D)
You home, ma?
He sets the bouquet on the table. He hears a faint voice.
JACK’S MOTHER (O.S.)
Jack!
JACK
Where are you, ma?
JACK’S MOTHER (O.S.)
I’m in the bathroom. I need help.
BATHROOM DOOR
Jack gathers his courage to enter.
JACK
I’m coming in, ma. Make yourself decent.
BATHROOM
Jack pushes the door open. He finds his aged MOTHER in a bathtub filled with ice water.
JACK (CONT’D)
Oh dear god.
JACK’S MOTHER
He said he was from the phone company. I thought I could trust him, Jack.
JACK
Don’t get up mom, whatever you do. I’m calling 911.
He takes his cell phone from his pocket and dials.
JACK’S MOTHER
I’m cold, Jack.
JACK
I know you are, ma. Just hold tight, okay?
JACK’S MOTHER
What happened, Jack?
JACK
He took your kidneys, ma.
JACK’S MOTHER
Phone companies these days. Their service gets worse and worse but the rates keep going up, up, up.
JACK
He wasn’t from the phone comany.
JACK’S MOTHER
I’m going to look over my next bill real close, just in case. You should do that too, Jack. You should always do that.
JACK
They took my land line when I shot the repairman. You know that.
JACK’S MOTHER
Well, if you think the cell phone companies are any different, I guess I just didn’t raise you right. That’s how they get you. They slip in hidden charges. What would a phone company want with my kidneys, anyway?
JACK
For the last time, ma. He wasn’t from the telephone company. It was someone, dressed up, pretending to be from the phone company.
JACK’S MOTHER
I’m going to die, aren’t I?
JACK
No. I won’t let that happen. There are only two things I know in this world. Jack Bell doesn’t die and Jack Bell’s mother doesn’t die. I’m going to get you some brand new kidneys before you can say urea.
(into phone)
This is detective Jack Bell. I need an ambulance sent to my mother’s house stat.
(beat)
You better bring a dialysis machine.
JACK’S MOTHER
The mirror.
JACK
Save your strength, ma.
JACK’S MOTHER
He wrote something on the mirror. I think it’s in blood.
Jack gets up and looks at the mirror.
INSERT – MIRROR
We see Jack’s reflection as he reads the words written in red on the mirror: “R.I.P. Joey Caliche. Payback’s a bitch. No kidney-ing.”
JACK
(groaning)
Oh, god.
(beat)
What a lousy pun.
JACK’S MOTHER
I just cleaned that mirror.
JACK
A little vinegar and newspaper will do the trick. But be sure you apply the vinegar to the newspaper first. If you put directly it on the glass, you’re booking yourself a one-way ticket to Streak City.
