Short from the Done Deal 2006 Halloween Challenge "The Forty Year Itch" FADE IN: EXT. 1800S MANSION HOUSE - NIGHT Lightning splits the stormy sky as a carriage approaches. EXT. MANSION HOUSE ENTRANCE - NIGHT The carriage stops, a grim MANSERVANT steps forward, pulls down the steps, opens the door. LADY BARBARA WAKEFIELD, 17, a refined beauty, climbs out. LADY BARBARA See that the child is brought inside. She enters the house. INT. ENTRANCE HALL - NIGHT GRENVILLE WAKEFIELD, 40s, silver hair at his temples, blocks Barbara's path. GRENVILLE Did you bring it? Is the thing here? LADY BARBARA Yes, Grenville. The... thing... is here. Grenville grins with delight as the Manservant carries a sleeping peasant BOY, 7, into the house. GRENVILLE Splendid. INT. SITTING ROOM - NIGHT Barbara stands at the fireplace staring into the flames. The Manservant carries the sleeping Boy in and places him on a couch. Grenville shoos the Manservant out and closes the door. GRENVILLE I see no reason why we cannot proceed immediately. Grenville lifts the lid off a varnished wooden box. Inside, some kind of early scientific instrument, looped copper tubes feed into an empty glass bottle. LADY BARBARA Listen to me Grenville. What you're doing... what WE have been doing... is wrong. GRENVILLE Too late now, duckling. Our souls are already doomed to burn in Hell for eternity. All we can hope for is to amuse the Horned One enough that we sit at his table. LADY BARBARA You're sick, Grenville. You need help. GRENVILLE I'm doing this in the name of science. What's your excuse? LADY BARBARA Don't dare speak to me like that. Grenville picks up a metal syringe with a huge needle. GRENVILLE The question is, do you wish to retain your beauty and youth, or would you rather turn into a wrinkled old hag with no teeth? Take a moment, duckling. Think it over. Let me know what you decide. Barbara turns away and closes her eyes, tormented. Grenville is just about to stick the needle into the boy's head when a KNOCK at the door stops him. GRENVILLE Nothing must interrupt my work! See to it. Barbara opens the door, the Manservant mutters into her ear. GRENVILLE What's that, what's he saying? LADY BARBARA We have visitors. People from the village. I'll speak to them. Grenville... it would be best if you kept quiet. If the boy were to wake up and panic-- GRENVILLE Oh very well. But science cannot wait forever. Neither can you. Be swift, duckling. EXT. MANSION HOUSE ENTRANCE - NIGHT A crowd of ANGRY PEASANTS awaits Barbara at the door. LADY BARBARA We have already made a donation to the poorhouse. PEASANT MAN Begging your pardon, your ladyship, but we ain't here for hand-outs. PEASANT WOMAN Never mind begging no pardons, I wants me Jinty back. LADY BARBARA What on earth is a "jinty? PEASANT WOMAN Jinty's me boy, and you took him. Angry MURMERS from the crowd. PEASANT MAN Steady now! Mind your manners! Ain't nothing proved. Not yet. LADY BARBARA Am I to believe you are here because of some child? PEASANT WOMAN We got witnesses saw your carriage. And now Jinty's gone a-missing. LADY BARBARA Good heavens. Did you check the roadside ditches on your way here? PEASANT MAN Ditches? LADY BARBARA If the poor boy hitched a ride on the back of my carriage, then perhaps he fell off? You know what children are like. An exciting adventure, a jolly jape. But quite dangerous. One slip and... The very thought makes me shudder. The Peasants look at each other in surprise. PEASANT MAN Mayhap we should go back and look for the boy. PEASANT WOMAN We would have seen him! LADY BARBARA He could be lying in the mud, perhaps with a broken leg, mewling pitifully for his mother. Only you didn't hear him. You passed him by, intent upon coming to my house to accuse me of, of, I don't know what. The Peasant Woman bursts into tears. PEASANT WOMAN I wants me Jinty back! PEASANT MAN We'll find him. Come on! The Peasant Man tugs his forelock to Barbara in embarrassed apology. The Peasants leave. Lady Barbara smiles, but this quickly fades as her conscience torments her again. INT. SITTING ROOM - NIGHT Yellow liquid drips from the copper tubing into the glass bottle. Grenville watches, delighted. Barbara sits staring at the empty couch, the Boy is gone. GRENVILLE What these creatures don't understand is that they exist to serve the upper classes. They really shouldn't complain just because one of their pups goes missing. Before you know it that woman will give birth to another litter. It's all they do. Breed, breed, breed. LADY BARBARA You seek to distance yourself from your crimes. GRENVILLE Never! I take full responsibility for my actions. When I share my discoveries with the world my fellow scientists will laud me. After all, I have at my fingertips the secret of eternal youth. And you, my love, are living proof. Here you are in full bloom, with not a wrinkle blemishing your alabaster complexion. Such sweet beauty. And today is your... let me see now... oh, your fifty-seventh birthday, is it not? Yet you never say thank you Grenville, thank you for sparing me the agonies of growing old so that the simple people hereabouts think I'm your daughter and not your older sister. LADY BARBARA You have not discovered anything, save how to take essence from one body and gift it to another. And I, I am... I am your experiment. She gets up and exits, slamming the door. INT. ENTRANCE HALL - NIGHT Barbara meets the Manservant, who's wet and muddy as if he's just come in. She gives him a quizzical look. He nods. She sighs, and goes upstairs. INT. BEDROOM - NIGHT Barbara sits at her dressing table brushing her long hair. A KNOCK, Grenville enters. He places the glass bottle, filled with yellow liquid, on the dressing table. He exits without speaking. Barbara stares at the bottle. She looks in the mirror again, and starts in surprise. Behind her stand dozens of pale-faced, dark-eyed PEASANT CHILDREN. But when she turns round there's no one there. She buries her face in her hands and sobs. EXT. 1800S MANSION HOUSE - DAY The storm has passed, it's a beautiful morning. INT. HALLWAY OUTSIDE BEDROOM - DAY Grenville raps gently on the door. No answer. How odd. INT. BEDROOM - DAY Grenville enters. He stares in horror when he sees-- Barbara, still sitting at her dressing table. Her head is bowed. Her long hair is now pure white. Her clothing hangs loose on her as if her body has shrunk. Grenville snatches up the glass bottle. The yellow liquid is untouched. GRENVILLE What have you done, duckling? She slowly raises her head, stares at her wrinkled old woman face in the mirror. LADY BARBARA I have done... what one of us... had to do. Grenville goes down on one knee and takes her hand. GRENVILLE And what of me, duckling? What shall I do without you? Barbara touches the gray hair at his temple. LADY BARBARA Perhaps... you are old enough now? Grenville jumps up, taken by this thought. GRENVILLE Yes. Perhaps I am. It's my turn! He drains the glass bottle. He pants with excitement. GRENVILLE I feel it working. I feel it! The gray at his temples vanishes. He becomes visibly younger. He examines his face in the mirror, thinks it's wonderful. He smiles at Barbara. When he looks in the mirror again he's even younger, 20s, late teens... GRENVILLE Duckling... In moments he's a wild-haired boy in his early teens, his shirt is like a tent. GRENVILLE Won't you tell it to stop? LADY BARBARA I don't think I can, Grenville. Grenville becomes a boy of 10. Younger, he's 7 now. Younger still, a wide-eyed 5-year-old. He's 3. He's 2. He's a toddler, lost in a sea of adult clothes. He falls down. His baby eyes stare up at Barbara in horror. She closes her eyes and looks away. A BABY CRIES briefly. Grenville is gone. Barbara bows her head. Her hairbrush slips from her hand, lands beside the pile of clothes. THE END 11/2006