How the Time Doth Fly
By
Me
INT. LIVING ROOM
Party. Guests mingle in the background. Carla, Sue and Jack stand center, by the snacks table (Pretzel Crisps, Crazy Go Nuts, Krave Jerky, perhaps). Carla has her arm around Jack.
CARLA 10 years? Wow, Jack, that’s a long time!
JACK Yeah, Sue and I had a class- oh... no- Same dorm. That was it. Saw her in the cafeteria a lot. Carla, I saw Sue at the grocery store last week, you know, one of those happenstance things, I thought. Before that, probably in the dorm cafeteria 10 years ago. Always surrounded by food-
He gestures to the snacks and chuckles.
JACK (CONT) But here she is again! Double happenstance! It’s like magic.
SUE It is magic.
All chuckle. Sue is dead serious.
JACK Sue was such a stitch in the old days. She played these little magic tricks - quarters behind ears, it had us all in stitches.
SUE They bankrupted my depths.
Carla mouths to Jack, "How many quarters?" He tries to conceal a snigger, but Sue has been staring intently at him. She notices.
SUE Magic takes a heavy toll. For each titter I wrenched from the college boys’ dessicated souls, the demons pricked precious moments from my allotted time, and the doctors plundered what remained.
(CONTINUED)
CONTINUED: 2.
Jack and Carla looks around at the other guests, clearly a little nervous.
JACK Oh no! Thank goodness for Obamacare now, right? Gonna save us all a pretty penny.
SUE Beneath your cheery facade sneers malevolence and mockery. "Little tricks" you spat and snickered me grave-ward, but death cheats and I caught him: half a worm in the apple awaits a jest.
CARLA (with relief) Oh! You do stand up in Silicon Valley! Lovely! I’m sure you hobnob with all the bigwigs. What’s Tim Cook got up his sleeves?
SUE Precognizance weighs me weary.
JACK So... Sue, what have you been up to the past 10 years?
CARLA Stalking you, clearly!
Jack and Carla chuckle awkwardly. Sue stares intently.
SUE I scrutinize the arcana. I reach for earthly bowels and fly through aether-bond star-things. I keep your obscene visage secure. Floating there, it mocks me. But no longer.
JACK What- I-
As he stammers, Jack turns to Carla for safety, then looks back at Sue fearfully, and she locks his eyes on hers. She mouths something, and Jack’s words come out smoothly.
JACK We gotta pee.
Jack guides Carla towards the bathroom. Looking over her shoulder at the party they’re leaving behind, Sue cackles and follows.