Trnsito

written by
Dharmesh Patel

Fade In:
EXT. CITY SIDEWALK - MID-MORNING
ELIDA, a 36-year-old Mexican female walks along the sidewalk
of a busy street lined with many businesses. She is dressed in
a hotel housekeeping uniform and carries with her a small tote
bag.
CHRIS (O.S.)
Look I just don t understand why
you re so late all the time.
INT. CHRIS S OFFICE - MID-MORNING
CHRIS is a 28-year-old white male and the manager of the hotel
at which Elida works. He is rude and not willing to take the
time to understand his employees on a personal level.
CHRIS
What do you have to say for
yourself?
ELIDA
(in broken English)
I sorry Mr. Chris. I take 4
autobses en morning. I sorry I
try more on time. Please Mr.
Chris I sorry.
EXT. CITY SIDEWALK - MID-MORNING
Elida continues to walk along the sidewalk.
ELIDA (V.O.)
(in Spanish)
Life does not give everyone an
equal hand but we have to make
the most of what is allotted to
us. Oftentimes the little things
you take for granted are the same
things that hold others back.
INT. CHRIS S OFFICE - MID-MORNING

CHRIS
Wait what did you say? Do you
even speak English? Do you even
understand what I m saying?

2.
Elida stares at Chris with a blank expression and is at a loss
for words. She cannot explain herself through her broken
English.
CHRIS (CONT D)
Whatever. It even doesn t matter.
You clearly don t care about your
job here. In fact, this isn t
working out.
INT. ELIDA S BEDROOM - BEFORE DAWN
An ALARM GOES OFF on the night stand in a small bedroom. The
clock face reads 5:30 A.M. Elida reaches her hand out to turn
the alarm off. She gets out of bed and heads towards the
bathroom door. Elida is dressed in an oversized and T-shirt
and baggy pajama bottoms.
INT. ELIDA S BATHROOM - BEFORE DAWN
Elida turns on the lights in the bathroom and sits on the
toilet to urinate. She looks at herself in the mirror and ties
her hair up in a bun. She then brushes her teeth and washes
her face. She leaves the bathroom but leaves the lights and
heads back into her bedroom.
INT. ELIDA S BEDROOM - BEFORE DAWN
With only the light from the bathroom, Elida heads over to her
dresser and pulls out a housekeeping uniform. She changes her
clothes and then heads out of the bedroom.
INT. ELIDA S KITCHEN - BEFORE DAWN
Elida turns on only one light in the kitchen and opens the
fridge. She pulls out some food and prepares a lunch including
a sandwich, some fruit and other various snacks. All the foods
are off brand and the fruit is very ripe. Elida packs the food
in a reusable lunch kit. She cleans up the kitchen area.
Elida puts on her shoes, grabs a small tote bag into which she
places her lunch kit, a sweater and heads out of the front
door.
EXT. ELIDA S HOUSE - DAWN

Elida walks away from her house and down the street.

3.
EXT. ELIDA S NEIGHBORHOOD - DAWN
Elida walks away from her house passing other homes in her
neighborhood. You can tell that she is from a neighborhood of
lower socioeconomic status. The sky is just beginning to
lighten as the sun begins to rise.
EXT. BUS STOP - DAWN
Elida comes to a stop on the side of a street and waits for
the bus. A city bus finally comes and she gets on.
INT. CITY BUS, EXT. BUS STOP - MORNING
There is a montage scene of Elida riding the bus and at
different bus stops.
EXT. CITY BUS STOP & SIDEWALK - MORNING
Elida exits the bus at her final stop and makes her way to the
hotel at which she is employed walking along the sidewalk.
INT. HOTEL LOBBY - MORNING
She comes into the hotel and quickly walks through the lobby
to the laundry room.
INT. HOTEL LAUNDRY ROOM - MORNING
Elida clocks in for her shift and checks the time stamp. She
quickly puts her stuff away including her lunch in the fridge,
her coat and tote on the coat rack and gets her cleaning cart
ready to make rooms.
Another housekeeper named REYNA is also in the laundry room.
Reyna is a 30-years-old Mexican female and Elida s friend. She
is also gathering cleaning items.
REYNA
You re late again. You better
hurry up before the boss sees
you.
ELIDA

I know I even tried to wake up

earlier today but the busses
aren t always reliable.

4.
REYNA
I know girl. I understand but you
better hope that Mr. Chris
doesn t find out.
INT. HOTEL CORRIDOR - MORNING
Elida takes her cart and gets on the elevator.
INT. HOTEL ROOM - MORNING
Montage scene of Elida cleaning various hotel rooms. She
cleans bathrooms and picks up the trash. She strips the beds
and makes them back up. She dusts the furniture and vacuums.
INT. HOTEL LAUNDRY ROOM - AFTERNOON
Elida eats the lunch she packed earlier that day and listens
to her CD player and practices her English. Reyna walks up to
her to ask what she is listening to.
REYNA
Hey girl what are you listening
to.
Elida removes her headphones.
ELIDA
Oh just trying to learn this
white man s language.
REYNA
Is it working?
ELIDA
I don t know. I listen and
practice everyday but its just so
hard you know?
REYNA
Yeah I know what you mean. Just
keep trying.
Reyna walks away and Elida puts hers headphones back on and
continues to listen.

5.
INT. HOTEL LAUNDRY ROOM - AFTERNOON
Another montage of Elida folding towels and sheets. She loads
the washers and dryers with dirty and clean laundry
respectively.
EXT. BUS STOP - LATE AFTERNOON
The bus pulls away behind Elida as she walks down the sidewalk
and towards her house. She has on her sweater and carries her
tote bag.
INT. ELIDA S HOUSE - LATE AFTERNOON
Elida opens her front door and walks directly to her bedroom.
INT. ELIDA S BEDROOM - LATE AFTERNOON
She gets clean clothes out of her hamper and heads to the
bathrooms.
INT. ELIDA S BATHROOM - LATE AFTERNOON
Elida showers and changes into her everyday clothes. With her
hair still wet, she heads to the kitchen.
INT. ELIDA S KITCHEN - EARLY EVENING
Elida cooks dinner for her family.
INT. ELIDA S DINING ROOM - EVENING
MARIA along with her family eat the food she prepared earlier.
INT. ELIDA S LIVING ROOMS - LATE EVENING
The kids have gone to bed and Elida and her husband MARCO (age
31) talk about the hardships of immigrant life in America.
Both speak in Spanish.
MARCO
I thought coming to this country

was going to be better for all of

us. Back home in Mexico I was a
business owner and I was proud.
Here I am no one.

6.
ELIDA
Ay Marco don t say that. You know
that our children will get a
better education here and can get
real jobs and build a life that
they couldn t even dream of in
Mexico.
MARCO
I m just fed up. I can t find a
job anywhere. And if you don t
speak English no one wants to
hire you. I m just tired.
ELIDA
All we can do is pray and it will
get better. But until then we
gave to thank God that I have my
job. Without it we would be lost.
INT. LIVING ROOM - LATE NIGHT
Everyone is in bed and the house is dark. Elida sits at a
small table and listens to a cassette player and practices her
English.
MARIA
(with thick Mexican accent)
Hi my name is...
Nice to meet you...
Where are you from?
Hi my name is...
Nice to meet you...
Where are you from?
The clock shows a time of 12:34 A.M.
A time lapse of the clock moves the time to 5:30 A.M. An ALARM
GOES OFF.
EXT. BUS STOP - MORNING
Elida sits at the bus stop and anxiously waits for the bus
that is running extremely late.
INT. HOTEL LOBBY - MID-MORNING

As MARIA walks into the hotel, her boss Chris is standing

behind the front desk. He waves for her to come back to his
office.

7.
INT. CHRIS S OFFICE - MID-MORNING
It is the same scene from the beginning.
The phone rings and Chris answers it.
CHRIS
Hello...Oh hey Cheryl no I m not
busy. Hang on one sencond.
Chris holds the phone away and turns to Elida.
CHRIS (CONT D)
Is there anything else I can help
you with?
EXT. CITY SIDEWALK - MID-MORNING
Elida walks until she gets to a bus stop and has a seat.
ELIDA (V.O.)
(in Spanish)
The world doesn t stop moving
just because something bad
happens to one person. In fact
the world does t even skip a beat
if millions of people are
affected. We have no choice but

to take what we are given and

keep moving forward.
FADE OUT.