• Benita Cullingford

    Member
    December 18, 2022 at 2:13 pm

    MONTAGE

    PIT. Tracy at safe, wanting to work alone. No Luck. Jim

    above on his phone doing puzzles.

    JIM’s BEDSIT. Tracy is on Jim’s computer googling old safes.

    INT. MARTY’S LOCK UP – DAY

    Tracy and Jim are done in the pit.

    TRACY

    Right, let’s have another go.

    Jim faces away from her.

    TRACY

    Jim, come on, time to leave me to

    it for a bit. Okay?

    JIM

    Have you looked at this board?

    Jim moves closer to the board they’d swung open as a

    door.

    Dusty and dirty with oil stains. Faint markings of things

    written on it.

    JIM

    Look, he’s written things like a

    reminder to buy milk. Guess he

    remembered there’s a big tick. Oh,

    I like this one.

    Writing on board: LOCKSMITHS ARE KEY WORKERS and KNOWING

    HOW TO PICK LOCKS HAS OPENED UP A LOT OD DOORS FOR ME.

    TRACY

    Yeah, okay enough for a small

    smile, I suppose, but it’s not as

    interesting as what may be inside

    this safe. Come on, I should get

    going.

    JIM

    Not yet. Just a sec. There’s

    something else quite low

    down(beat). Tell me about

    combinations. If you now a

    combination how many numbers would

    it be?

    Tracy flashes him a look.

    TRACY

    We don’t know the number. That’s

    the whole point, Dumbo!

    JIM

    But if we did, what –

    TRACY (INTERRUPTING)

    I don’t know. Well I might I

    suppose. Yes, I think what was

    needed would be six two digit

    numbers, but why…Just let me get

    on. I think I learnt where to

    position the drill last night.

    Jim beams at her.

    TRACY

    What?

    JIM

    Six numbers. You know I think

    Marty may have left us the

    combination. I think he wrote it

    down many years ago as a reminder,

    you Know… have a look here.

    Tracy joins him and bends down to read low on the board,

    inside a circle –

    282

    930

    ___

    ___

    JIM

    What are you on about? That’s two

    three-digit numbers, not… Well

    no help at all. Come on –

    JIM

    Look at it as a series. The lines

    indicate additional numbers to

    follow. What are the next two

    numbers?

    Tracy puffs her cheeks, looking annoyed.

    JIM

    It’s an old trick, add 313 and

    233, see?,,, You’ll kick yourself

    when you see what –

    Tracy punches him on the arm.

    TRACY

    You… Oh, for heaven’s sake,

    bloody tell me!

    JIM

    Okay. Read the numbers in sequence

    two at a time. We have 28,29,30,

    then add on 313 and 233, that’s

    31,32,33. That makes six two-digit

    numbers… D ’you think that looks

    like Marty’s writing?

    TRACY

    It’s messy enough, I suppose. But

    how did you evcn do that?

    JIM

    I’ve seen it before. At school

    maybe. Once remembered never

    forgot. Also, I’ve just thought –

    Marty’s message, the last bit

    about figuring it out. Numbers

    figures. Surely worth a try?

    Tracy, eyes gleeful, positions herself in front of the

    safe. She spins the combination dials to and fro as Jim

    reads out the numbers.

    A CLICK. The door releases.

    Tracy lets her breath out on a huge sigh. She looks at

    Jim and holds his gaze, then pulls the door back.

    INTERIOR OF SAFE

    Shelves stacked with neat piles of bank notes.

    CONTINUED: (3)

    33.

    TRACY

    Look, look. Oh, my god, this is

    more money than I’ve ever seen in

    my whole life.

    Tracy turns. She flings her arms around Jim in a tight

    hug.

    TRACY

    You did it, you bloody well did

    it!

    JIM

    No. Marty did. It was a clever

    message, he reckoned it would

    work, and it did.

    Another hug and moment of babbling excitement and they

    calmed down. They did a rough count of the notes, some

    were in Euros. Then Tracy found.

    A VELVET BAG with a drawstring at the top. She weights it

    in her hand, and peeped inside.

    TRACY

    Wow! Jewellery, quite a lot!

    Tracy glanced at her watch.

    TRACY

    It’s getting late. We’re supposed

    to be at Mary’s place soon. I’ll

    take the bag, but we’ll lock the

    money in the safe for the moment.

    Tracy turns to Jim with shining eyes.

    TRACY

    This promises to be an interesting

    lunch.

    Tracey fastens the safe door with a new padlock from her

    tool kit and they move away to the ladder

  • Douglas Booth

    Member
    December 26, 2022 at 2:35 am

    Doug Booth – I have a lot of work yet to do, to fill in all the blanks for Act 3. However, that’s not something I have the available brainpower to do just now. On the other hand, I did keep going, so I will be posting my first crack at Act 4 in Lesson 21.

  • michelle patnett

    Member
    February 17, 2023 at 8:45 pm

    MONIQUE

    I want.. I want.. the old me back.

    MARK

    Well, it won’t be long now til she’s back.

    MONIQUE

    Ha. I wonder…

    MARK

    You should be aware: we’re gonna need to prep you in case there’s a trial. Start gathering any paperwork, proof, etc.

    MONIQUE

    The only proof I have is in my head. All I have is my intuition. My brains. My willpower.

    MARK

    Right. Well, a judge is gonna need a bit more than that.

    MONIQUE

    All I have is me…

    MARK

    Well, that’s fine for now but be ready to haul out the big guns. By the way, how did you figure it all out.

    MONIQUE

    Well, I knew for sure the house belonged to me. That was the foundation for everything that followed. I knew I had the law on my side – well, at first.

    MARK

    You said the guy stole your house. How does one steal a house?

    MONIQUE

    He did his homework. Basically, he stalked me. Knew I was alone and moved in when I was gone for the day. Changed the locks, threw out all my paperwork. Plus he had help.

    MARK

    Right, the chick from the Hall of Records.

    MONIQUE

    Right. I knew something was up with her when I asked her to look up the address. See, my superpower is I can read people.

    Mark sits back, clearly unconvinced.

    MONIQUE

    I know exactly how people see me – just a dumb Mexican. So I usually sit back and evaluate the situation, then when the time’s right I pounce. That’s how I ended up as the VP of Regional Sales.

    MARK

    Quite impressive.

    MONIQUE

    You have no idea. People constantly putting you down, belittling you. Treating you like the help; ignoring you otherwise. Misjudging you.

    MARK

    You know, Monique. I say this with all respect to your situation – do you think that maybe if you’d approached this a little differently

    MONIQUE

    I can’t change the past. I wish I could, believe me! As God is my witness there are so many things I would have done differently. But it’s too late now. I need to move forward.

    MARK

    Well, like I said, it’s gonna take some time for this case to work its way through the system. Non-violent cases are low priority.

    MONIQUE

    Right. Just gotta have faith in the system. Right.

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