Family Matters - E48

INT. FAMILY HOME KITCHEN – LATE EVENING

The kitchen is spotless again, with no dishes in the sink. All the room's lights are on. Son stands beside the kitchen table, he writes occasionally on a double-size piece of graph paper which looks to be a plan. Son looks up as Daughter and Bad enter from the hallway.

- Son
Is the game over? How was it?

Bad gives a disgusted look as she walks to the fridge to put away a half-empty bottle of soda. Daughter places a large, empty chip bowl in the sink, then begins to wash it as an afterthought.

- Daughter
Do you really want to know?

- Bad (overly dramatic)
My team! It turned into a massacre!

- Daughter (drily)
And now you know.

- Bad (animated)
A sudden and dramatic underdog turnaround in the last half! For the team no one would want to like!

Daughter finishes with the bowl and walks over to the kitchen table to look at the graph paper.

- Daughter
What are you doing?

- Son (grins)
Do you really want to know?

- Bad
Nothing makes sense any more! Up is down, dogs rule and cats drool!

Daughter tries to comprehend the charts and squiggles on the paper, as Son tries surreptitiously to block her.

- Daughter
Is this all for the night of the Holidays dance? … Whoa there, no.

Daughter steps back to glare at Son, who looks guilty.

- Daughter
You are not using the Retribution Society as your personal bodyguards. It's just a dance, you don't need bodyguards.

- Son
But … the last dance I went to was attacked by ninjas, out to get me!

- Bad
Son's going to the dance? Who with?

- Daughter (patiently)
Look, Son, I can promise those "ninja" won't attack you again.

- Son
How?

- Daughter (under her breath)
Because Brother doesn't care any more and Sub wouldn't do that to you.

- Son
Huh?

- Daughter (to Bad)
Son's going with Cousin. He asked her and everything, and now he should be worrying about tux rentals and a corsage, not ninjas.

- Bad
Cousin?

Bad thinks for a moment, then walks close to pat Son on the back.

- Bad (serious)
Hit that.

- Daughter
Bad, maybe you should get to sleep.

- Bad
I can't go home! Dad's having a date night in and they're disgusting at it! I don't get it, why does he get to marry some lady without my say so? I'm not ready to have a mom again!

- Daughter (patiently)
All good reasons why you're sleeping here. You know how to get to my room, I'll be right behind you.

Bad sighs, nods sadly and leaves the room. Daughter stays for a moment to explain to Son.

- Daughter
She's really upset about her team losing, she's usually -

- Son
Was that alcohol on her breath? And … smoke?

- Daughter (guilty)
Uh … no?

Daughter leaves the room before Son can ask more questions. Son scowls, then turns the piece of graph paper over to write a list on the empty back side.

- Son (slowly, to himself)
Suit rental. Corsage … call Guy?

---

EXT. FAMILY HOME BACK YARD – EVENING

The sun is down and there is frost on the ground. Son's car sits in its normal spot, covered by the tarp. Son walks around the house in a nice suit, he carries a small box in one hand and the car keys in the other. He looks wary but determined. Son removes the tarp and folds it into the back, but when he closes the hatch a loud CAR ALARM starts to blare.

- Son
Really? Since when do you even have a car alarm?

The alarm stops when he puts the key in, but now the lock causes him some trouble. He twists the key a few times, but each time the door remains locked.

- Son
Come on, come on … it's really cold out here!

Finally the lock stays open. Son opens the door quickly and practically dives inside.

---

INT. SON'S YELLOW CAR – EVENING

Son places the small box in the passenger seat and takes a moment to rub his hands together for warmth, then sighs and puts the key in to the ignition. He turns it a few times; each time, the engine turns over. Frustrated, he nearly slams the steering wheel with his hands, but stops himself at the last moment.

- Son
I'm not even going to give you the excuse to release the airbag.

Son leans back in his seat and crosses his arms.

- Son
Why do you have to make this so difficult? I'm just trying to go to a dance, is that so wrong? … You know I could get a new car, right? I don't have a lot but I could get a nice used car that didn't hate me, one that just works when it's supposed to. And what do you think will happen to you, huh? You'll be sold if I can find a buyer, or worst case scenario, junked. Do you want to be junked? … Please Sonny, just work!

A loud fake YAWN comes from the passenger seat and Sonny is there when Son looks over, dressed in pajamas and with a sleepy look. He holds the small box and peers at it.

- Sonny
Hey dude, did you call me? I was catching up on my sleep but I thought I heard my name.

- Son (disbelief)
You were sleeping?

- Sonny
Well yeah dude! Look how late it is! And I don't know about you, but when it gets cold I get sleepy.

- Son
Sonny … you're a car.

- Sonny
Not to disagree with you or anything dude but I'm a shade.

- Son
Fine. But right now I need Sonny the car to work.

- Sonny (apologetic)
Oh, dude, yeah Sonny the car would like to work but Sonny the car is cold and tired. Sorry?

- Son (determined)
Sonny the car doesn't get tired. And Sonny the car will warm up when we start driving.

- Sonny
Well that may be true dude, but to tell you the truth Sonny the car really isn't feeling it tonight.

- Son
Sonny the car is a car and doesn't have feelings.

- Sonny
Says you, dude. Cars feel a lot.

- Son
Do cars feel jealousy? Because right now Sonny the car seems jealous that I'm going to a dance with Cousin.

- Sonny (eye roll)
Sonny the car couldn't care less that you're going with Cousin.

- Son
Is that so? Sonny the car wishes it was going to the dance with me instead of Cousin?

- Sonny
Dude, that's not what I said.

- Son
No, that's okay Sonny, I've got this.

Son leans down and puts an ear against the steering wheel.

- Son
Yeah, I can hear Sonny the car pretty well now. Sonny the car says it feels jealous because it wanted to go to the dance. Unfortunately I can't go with Sonny the car because I'm going with Cousin, but I bet that if Sonny the car went to the dance on its own it would have a lot of fun anyway.

- Sonny (frustrated)
Dude, I'm not jealous!

- Son
Please be quiet Sonny, I'm listening to Sonny the car. Sonny the car says it didn't think of going to the dance by itself, and agrees that it might have fun doing that. Sonny the car still feels sad that I'm not going with it but understands that I want to spend time with Cousin.

- Sonny
Whatever dude, I don't want to go to some boring dance.

- Son
That's all right Sonny, if you're too tired you don't have to go. But Sonny the car wants to go.

- Sonny
Sonny the car is just a car!

- Son (grins)
Okay, I agree. So are you jealous? What's the real problem here?

- Sonny (grumbles)
I'm not jealous dude. We had this cool thing but suddenly she's more important? Because she's human?

- Son
Sonny, no, it's because she's a girl! I told you back then, I needed to kiss her to know who I am.

- Sonny (hopeful)
Is that all you need? One kiss?

- Son
Well … at first I thought that, but the more time I spent with her the more I liked her. Cousin and I have something good just the same as how you and I do, but I need more time with her to compare. Remember, you did kind of take me away when we first met, and we were together a lot after that. Now I need to go out with Cousin so I know which I like best, guys or girls.

- Sonny
You don't care that I'm a shade?

Son takes Sonny's hand. The small box falls down and disappears.

- Son
I don't care. You're real to me because you feel warm … although right now, you feel a bit cold.

Son drops Sonny's hand and shivers. Sonny seems to understand.

- Sonny
Sorry dude, it is kind of cold in here. I guess you should turn the car on to warm us up?

- Son
Now there's an idea! I'm glad I -

Son looks over but the passenger seat is now empty except for the small box, which hasn't moved. Son sighs thankfully and starts the car with one turn of the key. A montage of picture-moment events: Son waits nervously in the Girl mansion foyer with the small box. Cousin walks down the stairs in a pretty formal dress, all attention on her. Son pins the corsage to Cousin, as Rich glares from the top of the stairs, Party clasps her hands together joyfully and Brother looks jealous. Son and Cousin wait in line outside the school with many fellow Students. Sonny waves to get Son's attention from just past the ticket booth. Son chats with Sonny inside the dim school gymnasium, as Cousin tries to pull him away. Son and Cousin dance happily, while in the background Sonny dances raucously with a few other Students. Son, Cousin, Sonny and a few other Students sit together at a table to rest and chat. Son and Cousin spin together for a slow dance. Son and Cousin wave goodbye to Sonny as they leave. Son and Cousin gaze into each others eyes under the large harvest moon outside. Son and Cousin kiss. Son and Cousin in another kiss, but now they sit close together in the backseat of Son's yellow car with the Girl mansion outside behind them. Son and Cousin break apart from the kiss and Cousin rests her head on his shoulder with a sigh of regret.

- Cousin
I should probably go inside. Aunt Party is probably thinking something really … uh, thinking things I don't want her to think.

- Son
Okay. One more minute?

- Cousin
Another two, at least. But only because its cold out there.

They laugh to themselves and sit closer together.

- Cousin
I wish we could stay like this forever. If we could.

- Son
You have my permission.

- Cousin
I mean it! Wouldn't it be nice if time could stand still when you wanted it to?

- Son
That's how I feel right now. There's no clock unless I get my phone, no sense that time is going by. We could wait here until the sun rose and then we'd know, but we might freeze first.

- Cousin
… I can't tell if that idea is strange or romantic.

- Son
Freezing here?

- Cousin
While watching the sun rise.

- Son
If we froze as a solid block of ice and people could look inside and see us, that might be romantic.

- Cousin
Still, let's not do that.

- Son
Definitely.

- Cousin (cautious)
… Did you have fun tonight?

- Son
Yeah! Didn't you?

- Cousin
Yeah, but I was a little worried when your friend Sonny showed up.

- Son
Worried that he might steal me away?

- Cousin
I was worried you couldn't have fun with him there! It seemed like you two had been fighting and I thought … I thought a lot of stupid things.

- Son
Will you tell me them? I promise not to call them stupid.

- Cousin
But they are stupid!

- Son
Okay, then I promise to agree that they're stupid.

- Cousin (slowly)
I thought maybe you asked me to the dance to get back at him for something he did.

- Son
Cousin, I wouldn't do that to you, or to him. Yes, Sonny and I have been at odds recently, but we talked it out.

- Cousin
You did? That's great! You two get along really well, I always hoped things would work out. Will you promise not to tell him something else I thought if I tell you?

- Son
I can't promise he won't find out, but I won't be the one to tell him.

- Cousin
I thought maybe that he liked you. And you two were so close that I didn't think I could ever have a chance to compete, so I was a little bit happy that you two were fighting. But now I feel really bad about that.

- Son
Now I don't want to sound like I think this highly of myself, but isn't it human to be jealous?