BIRTHDAY WISH

Written by

Deborah Lee Williams

Based on an original idea

By Deborah Lee Williams

Address: deborah.williams22@hotmail.com
Phone Number: 0421 836 852
INT. SHABBY ROOM IN A DERELICT HOUSE. SUNRISE
The room is almost in total darkness with only shapes and
forms to indicate the contents - a bed with a form to suggest
a person asleep, a bedside table with ornaments placed
neatly. To one side a curtain gently moves in a slight breeze
as the room begins to brighten.

INT. SHABBY ROOM IN A DERELICT HOUSE - MOMENTS LATER. DAY

A sudden shaft of light pierces the room through a rip in the
curtain and falls upon an old and slightly worn greeting card
on the upturned wooden box.
Items on the box neatly displayed are a chipped fine china
ornament of a dog, an old sepia-hued photo of a child in a
tarnished silver frame, an ornately-carved small timber
jewelry box and an exquisitely designed perfume bottle -
empty. A shapeless form moves near the wooden box.
From the mattress on the floor a tattered blanket is pulled
aside and a tired and weary woman, DOROTHEA ‘DOT’ (72)
manoeuvres her legs into position to stand. She pauses to
look at the card on the box illuminated by the shaft of
sunlight.
Dot’s tired and sad eyes lighten and her face brightens into
a smile. She remembers.

EXT. ALLEYWAY OUTSIDE THE DERELICT BUILDING. DAY

A hoarding board moves aside and Dot squeezes through onto a
back alley in the rundown quarter of the city.
Dot is unsure of which way to move towards. The left. The
right. She begins to the right when she notices something on
the ground a few feet to her left.
The coin is picked up, scrutinised in her hand and dropped
into an ancient fabric money purse. She snaps the purse clasp
shut and moves off to the left.

EXT. MAIN STREET - RUNDOWN QUARTER OF BIG CITY. DAY

Dot rummages through a kerb-side rubbish bin. She peers in
and rummages some more. A door slams shut nearby and a very
well-dressed and immaculate WOMAN IN A HURRY (32) hurries
away from the doorway of the building, sign-posted as THE
GOOD SAMARITAN’S HOSPICE. As she rushes for the nearby
waiting taxi she stuffs notes back into her wallet.
 2.

One note flutters free to the cracked cement pavement.

Woman in a Hurry continues on unaware, to the taxi.
Dot observes the note, then the woman and then the note. She
scoops it up and goes to give it back to the woman.
The woman looks back out of the taxi and straight through Dot
as if she wasn’t there and then up at the building she had
just left. The Woman indicates impatiently for the driver to
take off. And, it spurts off.
Dot remains on the sidewalk with the paper money in her
raised hand. Unsure, Dot folds the note into her purse and
snaps the clasp shut. There is some guilt, then she shrugs
her shoulders and walks on.

EXT. YE OLDE WORLD TEA SHOPPE - A BACK STREET. DAY

Dot stands in front of the handwritten sign on the blackboard
outside of the tea room.
The Special of the Day is cake with Earl Grey Tea - 7.50
Dot checks the contents of her purse. Her shoulders slump.
She walks past the shop window where the TEA ROOM PROPRIETOR
(50s) stands inside with arms crossed to watch her pass by.

EXT. 50 METRES AWAY - A BACK STREET. MOMENTS LATER. DAY

Dot ambles down the street. Ahead of her, a business-suited
ARROGANT YOUNG MAN (38) is on his mobile phone while he takes
slurps from his fizzy drink bottle. He agitatedly paces in
front of a rundown apartment building and continues to look
up at the FOR SALE sign on the building. He listens to his
phone then places it in his pocket with a swift angry
movement. He then kicks a nearby discarded cardboard box in
fury and takes one last angry slurp from his drink bottle.
As he contemplates his next move, he distractedly replaces
the lid of the bottle and then looks for somewhere to dump
the bottle. As he swings round Dot stands in front of him.
She looks at the bottle in his hand. He looks past her. He is
annoyed as Dot stands her ground in front of him. He looks at
his bottle, the WIN BIG message can be seen, then back at
Dot. He turns and strides away and throws the bottle amongst
the rubbish piled up in front of the apartment building.
Dot picks up the bottle from the rubbish and wipes it clean.
 3.

INT. SECONDHAND SHOP - ON THE CORNER OF THE BACK STREET. DAY

The door bell tingles as Dot enters the dimly-lit room and
peers about into the gloom. She approaches the counter ...
From the darkness a hand appears and points to the sign on
the counter NO REFUNDS.
Dot places the bottle on the counter. SECONDHAND MAN (58)
moves into the light and smiles a nasty smile that shows
teeth with gold-fillings. He points again to the sign and
drum roll finger-taps on the counter. Dot pushes the bottle
toward his face. The smile disappears. His eyes roll
slightly. The face and hand disappear. Then the hand
reappears to push a coin toward Dot. The bottle is snatched
away.
Dot leaves through the shuttered front door. The door bell
tingles.
Secondhand Man checks the bottle in the dim light and is
about to toss it under the counter. Stops. Unscrews the lid
and checks it with the available light. The whites of his
eyes appear large and round. His nasty gold-specked smile
returns.

EXT. THE BACK STREET. MOMENTS LATER.

Dot walks away from the Secondhand shop and checks the
contents of her money purse as two black vehicles pull up out
front of the Secondhand Shop and dark-suited MEN storm the
shop. Moments later Secondhand Man is dragged out and thrown
into the boot compartment of one vehicle. The two vehicles
speed away.

EXT. YE OLDE WORLD TEA SHOPPE . DAY

Dot sits at an outside table and is ceremoniously served cake
and tea by Tea Room Proprietor and refuses her payment offer.
Dot is delighted.
Then the proprietor places a used candle in the middle of
Dot’s cake and lights its. Dot’s face beams even more.
From the Proprietor’s apron pocket a small bag is produced
and handed to Dot. She nods in thanks, peeks inside, then
takes a small handful and scatters the bread crumbs on the
pavement. The sparrows hop about at her feet. Dot takes a
contented sip of Earl Grey.
END.
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