Scratchin’ on the Eight Ball
Fade in:
EXT. YARD OF THE PARTY HOUSE. NIGHT.
The flashing red light of a police cruiser illuminates DETECTIVE SHEPHERD’S face.
Shepherd gestures to two OFFICERS trailing him with a battering ram.
The two officers RAM the door.
Stairway to Heaven begins to play:
REASON (Voice Over)
The party ended when some kid shouted,
“It’s a bust.”
INT. PARTY HOUSE. ESTABLISHING.
SHEPHERD rushes through the shattered door.
Several long-haired kids wreathed in smoke run from cops and slam into a liquor cabinet.
REASON (Voice over)
Some kids were so wasted they simply stared at
flashlight beams shimmering through pot smoke drifting in the air.
Several boys plowed into a liquor cabinet and glass shards
crunched beneath their feet, sounding like gunshots.
I thought the cops were shooting at us.
INT. PARTY HOUSE.
REASON NELSON snatches up his BLACK LEATHER JACKET and flees toward the kitchen. Reason kicks over a case of beer, spilling HISSING CANS across the floor.
SHEPHERD pursues BROOKS across the room.
REASON steps into their path, and when they all go down, Reason’s leather jacket goes flying.
Scooping up A LEATHER JACKET Reason scrambles back to his feet.
Holding the jacket like a shield, he hurls himself through a screen door.
EXT. BACKYARD. NIGHT. ESTABLISHING.
Reason crashes through the door, tumbles off the porch and lands in front of a ROTTWEILER.
Chained to a doghouse, the dog continues to gnaw on his bone.
Reason latches onto the jacket and scrambles into the doghouse.
Brooks leaps off the back porch and the Rott lunges at him.
Brooks leaps back, pulling his pistol from his waistband. He takes aim on the snarling dog.
INT. DOGHOUSE. ESTABLISHING.
Reason latches onto the dog’s chain and pulls him back into the doghouse.
The dog slams into Reason and bullets plow into the wood directly above his head.
Reason then promptly passes out.
EXT. BACKYARD. ESTABLISHING.
Shepherd tackles Brooks and they fall in front of the doghouse.
Brooks comes to his feet, gun in hand.
Brooks pokes Shepherd hard in the gut with the barrel of his gun, dropping him to his knees. Brooks then vanishes into the night.
INT. DOGHOUSE. NIGHT. ESTABLISHING.
As GOLDEN LIGHT streams through the BULLET HOLES in the wall of the doghouse, Reason slowly wakes up from his unconscious stupor.
VINCE (Off screen)
Reason? You in there? Damn, I’ve been looking
all over for you! Reason, you all right?
EXT. BACKYARD NIGHT. ESTABLISHING.
Pushing the dog out of his way, Reason crawls through the door, dragging the jacket with him. Reason pats the growling dog.
REASON
Not so loud, Vince. Don’t rile the dog.
VINCE skids to a stop ten feet away, looking warily at the large Rott.
VINCE
You need to get home, Reason!
The party here at Walker’s got busted tonight!
Everyone got arrested, except you!
Now Walker thinks you narced!
Reason slips on the black leather jacket (BROOK’s JACKET).
REASON
Me? A narc? Get real!
VINCE
Just get on my bike and ride like hell for your house!
Vince scoops up his BIKE laying in the nearby lawn. He attempts to hand the bike to Reason.
REASON
Just chill. Take some Ritalin or something, and settle down, Vince.
Don’t get so whipped out of shape.
EXT. STREET. NIGHT.
Vince and Reason walking down a street, bathed in a HALO OF BLUE LIGHT.
As the Voice Over begins, Vince looks nervously in all directions.
REASON (Voice over)
Vince and I lived in a small suburb called Havelock.
It had once been notorious for its
rowdy Irish railroaders and their drunken brawls.
In our time, the area housed a lot of rowdy
stoners who hung out at Havelock Park.
It was there one hot summer night
that we’d been introduced to our first joint.
It was all downhill from there.
Vince and I ended our last month of
seventh grade being arrested for
breaking into the Emerald Pub to steal pop,
and since we tested positive for THC,
we were sentenced to probation.
EXT. HAVELOCK PARK. NIGHT.
Reason suddenly notices the LEATHER JACKET he is wearing is not his.
REASON
Damn it! I lost my jacket! Hell, this one ain’t mine!
Reason slips out of the large black leather, searches the pockets, and discovers a BLUE KEY.
REASON
Whoa! A key? Wonder what this opens?
VINCE
Let me see that.
Instinctively, Reason withdraws his hand and fumbles and drops the key.
The key bounces in the street and vanishes into the mouth of a DRAIN SEWER.
REASON
Damn! Vince, you klutz!
Focusing on the MANHOLE situated next to the street, Reason drops the jacket and kneels.
REASON
Help me lift this, Vince. It weighs a ton!
Vince glances back at the green THUNDERBIRD speeding toward them.
VINCE
Oh, hell! It’s Wolfe! Get out of here, Reason!
Blue Oyster Cult’s Don’t Fear the Reaper begins:
Reason quickly rises to his feet, a look of fear on his face as Vince hands him his bike.
Reason furiously pedals away, ditching the Thunderbird in an alley.
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