50% -- Excerpts from:
EUTHANASIA DAY AT THE CHILDREN'S SHELTER
Original story by Linda J. Dunn (c) 2003
Adapted for stage by Jeannette R. Jaquish
(c) 2016 Linda J. Dunn, Jeannette R. Jaquish
This play script may not be performed without a performance license from Jeannette Jaquish at www.theaterfunscripts.com
CAST
Mary, 40’s to healthy 60’s
Travis, 17
Harvey, 40-50’s healthy / Catcher 2/ Installer / Fireman
Husband, 30’s handsome, wealthy /Catcher 3/Policeman
Wife, 20-30’s beautiful, wealthy /Catcher 4/Body Double / EMT
Emerson- young boy, also in dream, last scene
Kaitlyn- young girl, also in dream, last scene
Bridge-teen boy
Feral Teen 2/ William /Fireman
Feral Teen 1/ Catcher 1/Fireman
---- Narrator - assign offstage actors or a techie, or record and playback.
SETTING
Kitchen center upstage, bedroom at side thru doorway and bedroom door, reception area (or reception “drive thru” window) with ramp for the wagon on the other side, yard downstage. Kitchen refrigerator faces audience, also phone, stove, sink- either water flow or sound effect and hidden bowl of water to wet hands in. Metal operating table in middle of kitchen with folded tablecloth and chairs put away at side, showing that the table serves for eating meals as well. Ordinary lower income homespun kitchen accessories in the time frame you choose. Her medical license is displayed in the kitchen and a business license in the reception area.
In this time, perhaps the future or an alternate time, technology has focused on age regression for the wealthy-powerful, rather than high tech solutions or social systems of equal rights for all. With enough wealth and replacement organs, people can live hundreds of years and even achieve immortality, resulting in overpopulation that has exceeded the neglected agricultural and housing technologies and obviously they do not have colonies in space. Perhaps technology has bypassed making the worker more productive and instead technology does the work entirely, making few human workers necessary. A low educated person would be lucky to have a job. Those with the power have decreed that excess humans and any person under age 18 are non-citizens with no rights, and used how the powerful need them. Under a system where exploitation of the powerless brings wealth and advantage and more power, often the powerless will take jobs in that system just to survive, even when they know it is wrong, and perpetuating the enslaving infrastructure. Such as bounty hunters, organ collectors and Mary, the home operator of the local Children’s Shelter, where children, rejected by their parents or excess children from outside the civilized areas have 6 months to be adopted, or they are “put down” not for naps, but to be processed for organs for adult rejuvenation.]
SUGGESTED BASIC SET. Please see Tech Notes.
Kitchen center. Open doorway Exit to hall, then door to bedroom at side but the room is hidden now by a hinged downstage wall. Metal table has hand towel on it. On other side of kitchen an open doorway to either reception room or outside reception area, both with a counter for signing in. Downstage yard has a cheap but cute seating, a jump rope, ball, and a wagon-cage.
Excerpts from "EUTHANASIA DAY AT THE CHILDREN’S SHELTER"
SCENE 1- -[HAVE A COOKIE] - -
[Just prior to the show, bake actual cookie batter in the set’s toaster oven so the theater fills with cookie smell.
Mary enters wearing an apron with some blood on it, carrying a little box of trash bags, talking on phone. ]
MARY - Hello, Harvey? On your way? Well, how far away are you? What?? . . . Well, make it a quick stop -- I just put ‘em in the fridge. OK, See you.
NARRATOR: The scent of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies still lingered in the air when Mary wiped the kitchen's operating table clean of blood and urine.
[Spritzs kitchen cleaner or vinegar spray onto metal operating table center and wipes. Wipe towel then has slight amount of blood on it. She tosses it into laundry hamper. Ties and lifts a full heavy bag from trash can and set in recycle type bin with similar bags, puts the last trash bag into empty trash can. Looks up, imaginary conversation.]
I can't save them all. No one can. [turns and walks away, explaining] I can only make their short lives a little easier and their passing as painless as possible.
*DING!
[Mary slightly jerks back to reality. Pulls cookies out of oven. Opens fridge revealing 4 neat stacks of 5 labeled clear Tupperware containers; each stack is one size of container for the 4 sizes of organs inside them, and pulls out a jug of milk. Pours a glass. Deep breath and relax, kicks off her shoes. Closes her eyes and bites into a cookie as TRAVIS Enters from yard. She smiles fondly at him. Travis wears a Shelter t-shirt.]
TRAVIS - Hi, Mom. I sprayed out the cages and disinfected them. I put the bedding in the washer.
MARY - Thank you, Travis. Would you carry out the dirty laundry, please? And check and see if we have another box of garbage bags in the pantry.
TRAVIS - Industrial?
MARY - Yes.
TRAVIS - OK. [He grabs the laundry basket -- MARY drops her apron in it as he passes - and EXITS back.]
[MARY quickly puts away flour, sugar, chocolate chips, baking soda on shelf, accidentally bumping a gallon jug labeled “Intramuscular Sedative”. She gives it a shake, it is nearly empty.]
MARY - Travis! Bring another jug of intramuscular sedative with the trash bags!
[MARY closes the cupboard and notices the special basket of cookies and is about to discard, but reconsiders.]
MARY - Those should last a week.
[MARY sets the basket on the table and gets out a large Tupperware and puts a label on it. Gets a marker but it won’t write past “Do Not”. Exasperated, she tries scribbling on a notepad by the phone, then hollers:]
MARY - Travis, sweetie! Bring me a marker from the children’s art supplies.
[Again she zones out, looking at and smelling the marker. Puts it down and picks up and sucks on her cookie.]
MARY: Like the cookies. I could give them an injection, and it would make my job easier but it seems kinder to put it in a cookie. Sort of a last treat for the condemned prisoner.
TRAVIS [ENTERS bringing empty laundry basket , markers, a small packet of pills, and trash bags] - Here’s (marker colors). But we’re out of intramuscular sedative, except for expired free samples. Do you hear a car?
[EXITS Front thru reception area. He will look offstage and pull wagon-cage off stage toward unseen parked car.]
MARY - I didn’t hear a car. [Tries to finish writing on label, this marker won’t write either. ]
*CAR HONK
- - [THE DROP-OFF]- -
MARY - Oh, that car. [Sigh. Quickly washes her hands as she speaks.]
Please let it be someone who wants to adopt a child, [cue: brushes her hair.] and not another --
EMERSON [offstage screaming] - No! No! No! I wanna go home!
MARY - (sad sigh) ... drop off. [She brushes her hair until buzzer, then goes to reception area.]
[Wife ENTERS yard up to reception counter and presses buzzer. HUSBAND follows. Both are in bad mood and the man’s hand is bleeding, wrapped in a handkerchief.
TRAVIS follows pulling the wagon-cage containing a tied up crying boy, EMERSON. ]
MARY [loudly] - Good day. Welcome to the Harmony County Northwest Children’s Shelter. Is this a drop off?
EMERSON - I'll be good. I really will this time. I promise! [cries]
FATHER [holding out bleeding hand] : Yeah? Look here where you bit me! The hand that fed you!
WIFE [to Mary] - Yes, it is.
MARY - I’ll get you some antiseptic and bandages. [opens the first aid kit on the back of the wagon]
MARY (aside to Travis): Only four empty cages now.
[MARY hands antiseptic spray, tissues, and bandages to the wife, who treats her restless husband.]
I'll need to verify title and you'll need to sign these forms before leaving.
HUSBAND - Title? That's outrageous! Why should we have to prove ownership? Do you think we’re turning in someone else’s kid? Ow!
WIFE - I have his notarized genetic design and birth title in my purse. I’ll get it out in a moment.
EMERSON [sweetly] - Mommy, mommy, I love you. [continues]
MARY - What is his name?
WIFE - You may need stitches, honey, and a shot. Human bites are full of germs.
EMERSON: Emerson! You named me Emerson! I’m your son!
HUSBAND: Shut up! Maybe you should have acted like one!
[EMERSON tries to kick his way out]
MARY [kneels to photograph Emerson, says to Travis]: Typical Generation A types. They think they're exempt from everything.
[returns to counter, says to Husband and Wife:]
"I'm sorry for the inconvenience, [lays out forms and a pen] but regulations require you complete these forms, and this one as well, verifying that you understand..."
She paused and looked [sadly] at the little boy in the cage [trying to kick his way out].
MARY - Travis, take him out to the annex, will you please? You know the routine. [raises an eyebrow]
[Travis nods , pulls the wagon into yard , then kneels to comfort EMERSON who gives up, and lies limp & sobbing.
While PARENTS fill out forms. MARY looks fondly after Travis.]
MARY: Such a good, strong boy. One of the best I’ve ever fostered. Maybe the best. [to audience] Usually, I euthanize them the night before their 18th birthday so they don't become legal and my financial responsibility.
[MARY goes to stand attentively as parents fill out forms.]
[During narration: TRAVIS puts hands on cage and gets boy to put hands against. He moves hands to other spots and the boy tries to follow, laughing. Travis pulls the wagon in tight circles and EMERSON laughs. THEY EXIT choo-choo style to offstage “cage area”. TRAVIS returns with KAITLYN, tying the sash of her dress and quickly brushing her hair. She skips to sit prettily in the yard reading a book. MARY observes from the corner of her eye.]
NARRATOR - Travis was the first one she'd raised that might actually be worth a license and training. He was just a stray -- a Heinz 57 offspring of feral humans born not long before they started closing the sanctuaries and rounding up the last of them -- but his tests were as good as some of the more expensive discards of these rich "Generation A" immortals.
MARY [sincerely] - You do realize there's little chance he'll be adopted? Ninety-nine percent of the children we receive are euthanized after six months. If you should change your mind --"
WIFE - Never! [staring at the form] He's so... demanding."
MARY [aside] - Oh course he's demanding. He's a child.
[to parents] There are other alternatives. Perhaps professional parents or --
WIFE - No! [signs her name with a flourish then pushes it to her husband]
Why throw good money after bad? We'll try again later.
MARY - As you wish. Have you considered a previously owned child? One a little older and quieter? The little girl in the playground is a vivacious reader and seldom says a word.
[KAITLYN pretends she does not notice the couple and in a moment jump-ropes or does gymnastics.]
She's genetically perfect and very intelligent.
[HUSBAND & WIFE glance at one another. ]
MARY [silently mouths a prayer to God above] - Oh, please! Let them take Kaitlin.
[to them] She really is a darling child. So quiet and helpful.
[KAITLYN notices and smiles sweetly at them, a little wave that they do not return.]
WIFE: Genetically perfect? No modifications needed?
MARY - Anomaly free, with gene selection for calm temperament, creativity, spatial learning and loyalty. I can show you her test scores.
HUSBAND: Is her education up to date?
MARY: She’s a year and a half ahead of curriculum. She whizzes thru the tutorials. 95th percentile for her age.
WIFE - She’s not exceptionally pretty.
HUSBAND - I know it’s cheaper, but do people DO the rescue kid thing anymore?
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HARVEY [mimicking]- “Don’t upset the childerens!” Hey, Mary, can you take some of those?
[points to his truck offstage] All the other shelters are full, but you have 5 empty cages.”
MARY - Small cages. Because I just processed five little ones this morning. And one cage is already filled again. [sigh] Let me put my shoes on.
HARVEY - Don’t bother. You’re sexy in your bare feet. I’ll bring ‘em over. They’re on a hub.
[to Travis] Hey, would it kill you to bring me that wagon, huh?
[During Travis and Mary’s lines: HARVEY enters the house, opens refrigerator, carefully puts the small containers into the small cooler. Eats a cookie from the plate and looks out kitchen window.]
TRAVIS - Sure. Be glad to. [brings the wagon over and opens up the cage door. Starts to follow into the house.]
MARY - Don’t, Travis. That’s his job. Let him do it. Believe me, he is well paid for it. [looks at offstage teens]
[HARVEY lifts up large cooler and yells out the window at unseen children caged in the backyard]
HARVEY - Hey, kids! I’m comin’ out to put you in here!
*DISTANT CHILDREN’S VOICES SCREAMING
MARY [grimly] - That man. He’s at least 140 years old but he can’t let go of the old culture of bravado and domination. His liver and kidneys are 4 years old, his skin is unwrinkled; but inside his personality is crusty and ancient. If only life extension improved psychology, not just biology.
[During Mary’s line, HARVEY puts large heavy trash bags into large cooler. Stacks small cooler on large cooler, sticks cookie in his mouth and lifts.]
MARY [looking at offstage teens]- Look at them. They’ll never adopt out. They’re ugly and unruly. A lab might buy them for medical experiments, but I gotta live in this county and the residents frown upon using humans -- even unlicensed minors -- for laboratory purposes. Hey! Stop peeing on my flowers!
HARVEY [coming out of house with cookie in mouth and arms full] - Sorry, Mary. Usually they pee on passing cars.
MARY - Where’d you get that cookie!!! Spit it out!
[HARVEY spits out cookie and stumbles comically, dropping the large cooler and fumbling the small.
TRAVIS reaches out and rescues the small in mid-air, holding it firmly, and with a growing disturbed look on his face as he realizes what is clutched to his chest.]
OFFSTAGE FERAL TEENS - [Hootin’ and hollerin’]
-#1 - Hey don’t drop the organs, you enhanced goriller!
#2 - There goes your job, dumbflop!
BRIDGE - And it’s a score of 10 for the Dolt Roll!
HARVEY - What’s wrong with the cookies? I already ate one!
MARY - From the plate on the table or the basket on the counter?!!
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MARY - I don't think so. . . [MARY walks around them. ] They all look dangerous and I'd have to keep them for six months unless they proved sick, or injured someone.
HARVEY - Every place is full. Some of them have little ones over the six months limit.
MARY - Sentimental idiots!
HARVEY - Rotate!
[TEENS groan and slowly rotate so Mary can see them without walking around.]
I hate to see good ones put down for the likes of these. Makes me want to open the cage and turn 'em loose off the nearest cliff.
MARY - Everyone's entitled to six months.
[BRIDGE perks up at these kind words, changes his face to look tearful and innocent, while the others glare. He makes the rotation stop so he can smile hopefully at Mary.]
HARVEY - Ain't gonna do none of them no good. [ HARVEY turns and spits into her petunias.] Bad seed. Won't nobody want 'em. They've lived wild too long.
#1 TEEN - We lived free! And we weren’t hurting anyone!
[MARY turns to audience while HARVEY zaps #1, causing him to crumple and the whole hub of teens struggle to not fall on top of him.]
MARY - Travis will be leaving for the education centers when I license him and I'll need another helper. None of the ones I've tried have worked out.
[to Harvey] I'll take the young one you zapped before.
HARVEY - You know he ain’t 12.
MARY - I know. What's your name?"
BRIDGE - Bridge.
MARY - If you say, you'll wear a collar and you'll help me with the younger children. You'll clean the cages, ensure the children are all well-fed, and read to them in the evening. . . . You can read, can't you?"
[BRIDGE shrugs.]
We'll take care of that. You look like an intelligent lad. You can use Travis's old tutor system. Do you want to stay here and work for me?
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HARVEY [Remote releases lock. To Travis] - Take off his leash and cuffs.
[TRAVIS disconnects BRIDGE’s collar from the hub, and opens the cuffs. Bridge still wears the collar. He stumbles out looking pretty ragged in too-tight blue jeans and a badly faded T-shirt whose wording is no longer legible.]
#1 - Scab sucker!
#2 - You family gonna spitcher name forever!
#1 - Getcher happies suckin’ enemy milk, Dead Puppy!
[HARVEY zaps them. They fall, spasming, including BRIDGE. ]
MARY - Harvey!!!!
HARVEY - Sorry, sorry, shouldn’t have hit the ALL button. Here, transfer control.
[HARVEY and MARY press their controllers together. MARY sound checks and BRIDGE’S collar chirps.]
HARVEY - Get back to the truck, you losers. [HARVEY and TEENS EXIT.]
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MARY - I plan to license Travis. He's a good boy.
HARVEY - Hell! They're all good when they want to live! Once they're legal, they show their true colors. Just like my daughter. Always making me little pictures and poems and kissing my cheek. All that money I sunk in to her education and medical enhancements. Then once she turned 18 -- BAM! She left and never looked back.
HARVEY & MARY - Can’t even send a birthday card!
MARY - I’ll go get your collar. [ She heads across the yard, but TRAVIS comes out and grins an apology and hands her the collar. He has to drop it into her hand to avoid his own collar shocking him. MARY takes it over to Harvey.]
HARVEY - Had enough of my yammering, huh? You’ll find out. Yikes, I’m wasting time! I best get those cryo units over to the hospital. I only got 18 minutes to collect top dollar.
MARY - Yeah, deliver me a pizza on your way back!
HARVEY - Ah, shut up. [turns back] And watch that boy. He’s dangerous. [EXITS]
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TRAVIS - [chuckle] Listen, Bridge. Tone down the attitude. You’ve got to charm her soon and maintain it.
[MARY freezes.]
Nobody leaves here alive except the little ones. The longest you can live is to just before your eighteenth birthday and then you have to run away and hide to survive. The last one before me almost made it. If the catchers hadn't found him...
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CATCHER #1 - Hey Lady, Wake up! Is this your runaway?
[ENTER Kitchen - MARY in a housecoat & TRAVIS in pajamas and a t-shirt but NO shocking collar, ]
*LIGHTS UP IN KITCHEN - as Mary passes thru.
[Travis does silently react un-noticed by Mary. Described lines need not be heard under narration and FX noise.]
WILLIAM - Don’t let her cut me open! Kill me! Let me die in one piece.
CATCHER #1 - Now, Sonny, we wouldn’t be gettin’ paid now, would we?
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TRAVIS - And during the fire drills, the cages unlock and we have to herd the kids out here and count them. You especially have to keep track of the toddlers. The older ones know their collars will zap them if they cross the property line, but the toddlers want to go running all over, and fifteen 2-year olds flopping around getting zapped all at once is not a pretty sight, especially if you or I have to risk a shock to pull them back. [THEY EXIT]
MARY [ to herself] - The security system is not what I would have explained to anyone on his first day here, but maybe Travis has different priorities. The building is old and half the fail-safe devices have already failed. Not the collars, though. I paid for the best.
*FADE to SPOTLIGHT
INSTALLER [ENTERS spotlight holding collars and wearing tool apron] - These chip sensitive shocking collars are worth every penny. Nothing short of full destruction of the monitoring system will let anyone wearing these step off the property. And the property line is as far as they need to go to be safe in case of fire, flood or chemical spill. And these collars calibrate perfectly with your existing alarm system, so in an emergency, when your alarm system automatically opens all the cages and sounds an alarm so your, um, inmates . . .
MARY [ENTERING SPOTLIGHT] - Children.
INSTALLER- Children can reach safety, these collars will keep them on the property. Your alarm system also summons police and fire departments. The odds of any child escaping, especially with those ID chips buried under their skin, is non-existent. No reason for concern. None at all.
MARY - I’ll take the package. You mentioned a bulk discount?
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TRAVIS [embarrassed] - I'm sorry, Mom. I forgot the DNA sample.
MARY - That's all right, Travis. I'm sure you would have remembered before dinner. Why don't you do that now while I turn the toddlers loose to run for a little bit? The exercise will be good for them.
[Travis nods, still embarrassed and Bridge fixes her with an innocent smile. She matches the smile.
BRIDGE & TRAVIS EXIT.
MARY turns to the audience and her frozen smile turns to fear. ]
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NARRATOR - Travis took his usual seat and Bridge settled in beside him, looking for all the world like Travis's younger brother in Travis's too-large clothing.
MARY - Let us pray.
[Bridge imitates them closing eyes, folding hands, and bowing head.]
Dear Father in Heaven, We thank thee for this food and ask you to bless and sanctify it to nourish our bodies. Thank you for sending Bridge to our home.
[BRIDGE’s eyes pop open in surprise at hearing his name, he closes them again.]
Please bless him as he learns our ways.
[MARY opens her eyes and looks directly at Bridge to see if he is respecting the prayer.]
Help him to learn obedience and to use good judgment and kindness.
Help us always to follow in thy footsteps, Dear God, Amen.
BRIDGE & TRAVIS - Amen.
[BRIDGE pauses to see if the others reach for food, they do, he pauses again,
Mary nods and he digs in, piling his plate with one hand and shoveling it in his mouth with the other.]
MARY - So what do you think of our place, Bridge?
BRIDGE - Well, it’s the first place I heard my name said in a prayer.
[MARY & TRAVIS laugh uproariously, and BRIDGE looks at them pleased with his effect.]
MARY - You probably haven’t heard many prayers.
BRIDGE [looks up surprised] - Oh, no! Outskirters, lot of ‘em got religion. Mostly singing, and mostly old people and little-uns. We middlers is too busy -- we’re out scratchin’ day an’ night.
MARY - Well, I’m glad you’ve retained something of civilization. And that you are speaking more clearly.
BRIDGE - Oh, thanks, ma’am, I can speak both ways, I just don’t get much practice talkin’ your way.
MARY - So, I repeat, what do you think of our place?
BRIDGE - The food is REALLY GOOD!
[MARY & TRAVIS laugh again.]
MARY - The operations, Bridge. What do you think of our work here?
BRIDGE [carefully or curiously] - Well, I’m kinda bothered... You seem so nice and everyone here loves you. I have to wonder why you're doing this. Doesn't it bother you to eat with us one day and kill us the next?
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MARY - There’s no room left. We need our national parks and farmland and private reserves.
BRIDGE - Didn’t there used to be . . . astronauts, with telescopes, looking for planets to go to? And I saw drawings in a really old magazine of floating cities on the ocean. But no photographs, they never built ‘em. But I did see old photos, of gardens on top of buildings, and inside buildings using lights instead of sunshine when it was winter outside. Don’t those make more food and room for people? Why’d they stop doing all that?
MARY - It was a national commitment to life extension. If people didn’t die, they would accumulate knowledge over generations, and be able to solve every problem plaguing mankind.
[THE BOYS stare. And then politely start to eat again.]
TRAVIS - Tomorrow, can we fill up the wading pools, Mom?
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BRIDGE - I just can’t help but think that if everyone refused these killin’ jobs, then there would be no one to kill us and those Live Forever guys would hafta figure out a different solution.
MARY - That’s a big “IF”! “Everyone” isn’t going to refuse this job. There will always be someone to do it, someone less kind. Like Harvey, for instance.
BRIDGE - I guess you’re right, Miss Mary.
MARY - Our work may seem disturbing to you at first, Bridge. We are in effect, weeding the garden of civilization which is a new concept for you.
BRIDGE - Us Edgers aren’t uncivilized. We maybe don’t thank God for the road kill we cook on a trash fire, but we got claims on each other. Claims on the heart. And I feel that claim right now, but I’m fighting it , Miss Mary. I gave up that claim when I walked away from my friends. Probably the smartest thing I ever done cause my brothers are probably dog food now or going into that mash you feed the kids out back - they take ‘em in the back door, you know. The FDA ain’t waiting at the back door and your friend Harvey just coasts his truck in with the lights off and trades the likes of me and my friends for cash.
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MARY - Rights? Wherever did you pick up such bizarre ideas? Children don't have any rights.
BRIDGE - Did you have rights when you were a child?
MARY - Yes, but that was over a century ago. Today, rights are for those Value, with skills, not like you. Raised by feral parents. You can’t even read. You are like a wild animal. Who besides me would invest in you?
TRAVIS [softly] - I don't want to die.
[MARY quickly glares at Bridge, and reaches to pat Travis’s hand, but pulls back remembering the collar.]
MARY - You won't die. I'm licensing you, remember?"
BRIDGE - License him? Is that what you told him? Why lie? So he won't suspect anything and struggle when you kill him?
MARY - Take your food out front, please, Travis. I need to speak to Bridge alone. It's his first night and he's confused.
TRAVIS - I’m thru eating. Call me when you want the dishes washed.
[TRAVIS EXITS]
Mary - Travis is a good boy and I don't want you frightening him.
BRIDGE - You're not really going to license him.
MARY - Yes, I am.
[ Bridge's eyes widened and his mouth dropped open. ]
MARY - I'm growing old and I'm not one of the fortunate ones who will live for hundreds of years in perfect health. I have to think of my future. Travis will be a good son. What will you be, Bridge?
BRIDGE - Anything you want me to be if it keeps me alive.
NARRATOR - His words were perfect and his eyes looked sincere. If she were a little less experienced, she might fall for that trick.
MARY [to audience ] - Too bright. Too wild. Too old. I should never have taken him.
[to BRIDGE] I'm happy to hear that, Bridge.
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MARY: Fire! Fire! [Cough cough ]
CALM FEMALE VOICE OF THE AUTOMATIC FIRE ALARM -
Warning. Warning. Your structure is on fire. Evacuate in a calm manner. Do not stop to take anything.
Doors and windows have automatically unlocked. Uh-oh.
Alert. Alert. There has been a non-warranty malfunction due to tampering.
Repeat, this is a non-warranty malfunction.
Doors and windows have not automatically unlocked.
Please find another exit and refer to your system manual.
Warning. Warning. Your structure is on fire. Evacuate in # % ## manner #^#&# take anything.
^ # ^ Alert. Alert.
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[MARY ignores him but follows his point to find Travis. FIREMEN Taser BRIDGE and drag him away. POLICE grabs TRAVIS , rolls him onto his stomach, and handcuffs his hands behind his back... what was left of his hands. Ugly, charred skin, burnt black like the slabs of meat they'd had at the last fund-raising drive.]
MARY [pulling the oxygen mask off] - Take your--" Cough! "damn hands--" Cough! Cough! "off him. He saved my life!
FIREMAN - [pushes the mask back against her face] - Take it easy. Everything will be all right.
POLICE - Sorry, Didn't realize he rescued you. Thought he was another one we needed to lock up.
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Please contact J. Jaquish to get a perusal script.