SANDALS
EXTERIOR. A SIDEWALK IN A RESIDENTIAL AREA, MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT.
A WOMAN (40s, red shoulder length hair, prim) wearing earmuffs and winter clothes walks alone at a quick pace. The camera sees her from behind and slowly closes in on her as she walks. As the camera zooms inward an ARM holding a metal pipe enters the frame. The ARM swings and brutally strikes the WOMAN in the back of the head with the pipe. She falls. The ARM investigates the WOMAN’s purse and takes her phone, wallet, and a watch off her right wrist. The WOMAN lay limp on the ground, chest down, with her head turned to the right.
WOMAN (VOICEOVER)
What the fuck?
The WOMAN tries to call for help but cannot make a sound.
WOMAN (VOICEOVER)
...
The WOMAN tries to move her head but cannot.
WOMAN (VOICEOVER)
...
The WOMAN tries to blink her eyes but cannot. She sits in silence.
WOMAN (VOICEOVER)
Well I guess I’m... dead? (Voice breaking) I guess... I guess I’m... dead. And this is how I go? Bleeding out in the street. Walking home alone at night... and for what?
The WOMAN lay in silence, her head bleeding.
WOMAN (VOICEOVER)
(Tearfully) And I didn’t even get to see the son of a bitch that did it... but I guess maybe that’s for the best. Not much good that would’ve done. And I guess it could’ve been worse.
The WOMAN lay in silence, her head bleeding.
WOMAN (VOICEOVER)
(Finding strength) I’m dead, I guess. And I guess that’s that. Well... no use getting caught up on it, I suppose. I don’t want my last thought to be “I’m dying” and then I die.
The WOMAN lay in silence, her head bleeding.
WOMAN (VOICEOVER)
Wait. That could have been my last thought, and I would’ve been thinking about what I want to think about instead of actually thinking about anything at all. I don’t want my last thought to be the thought of a thought. This could be my last thought! Agh, God, it gets worse!
The WOMAN lay in silence, her head bleeding. A SQUIRREL chatters nearby.
WOMAN (VOICEOVER)
I want my final thought to be something I want to think about, not something I don’t want to think about, or worse: something I don’t want to think about not thinking about. And since I don’t know how much longer I have until I can’t think anymore, I should just commit. (A pause) I wish I could smell my son’s hair.
The WOMAN lay in silence, her head bleeding. The SQUIRREL approaches.
WOMAN (VOICEOVER)
I love my son. Loved? I guess I do still love him, for now, at least. He’s such a good boy, and such a talented ball player! And so handsome. He reminds me so much of his father.
The WOMAN lay in silence, her head bleeding. The SQUIRREL carefully walks up to the WOMAN’s outstretched arm and begins to sniff her hand.
WOMAN (VOICEOVER)
There was that day at the beach that made me realize how similar those two were. JAMIE was only seven, MARCUS was... 32? 33? Um... 31? Damn it! Why can’t I remember?
The WOMAN lay in silence, her head bleeding. The SQUIRREL paws at the fatty bottom of the WOMAN’s thumb, then quickly backs away to gauge her response.
WOMAN (VOICEOVER)
If I was 29 at the time then MARCUS would’ve been thirty... three. MARCUS is four years older than I am. But he might’ve been 32 depending on what time of the summer we went and, my God, what am I doing? This doesn’t matter! None of what I am thinking about matters!
The WOMAN lay in silence, her head bleeding. The SQUIRREL scurries away.
WOMAN (VOICEOVER)
(Gloomily) Although, I guess, what’s the point. Nobody will ever know what I was thinking, so why bother trying to make it matter? Maybe I can just think about a time I felt nice. Or looked good... like the time I bought that denim jumpsuit and I couldn’t stop posing in the fitting room mirror for so long that the store workers asked me if I needed them to call for help.
The WOMAN lay in silence, her head bleeding.
WOMAN (VOICEOVER)
Was I a vain person? Was I cruel?
A pause. The WOMAN lay in silence, her head bleeding.
WOMAN (VOICEOVER)
(Shouting) God, I can’t do this. I’m ready to go. There’s too much pressure in dying.
The WOMAN lay in silence, her head bleeding. The SQUIRREL returns, carrying an ACORN, and approaches the WOMAN.
WOMAN (VOICEOVER)
(Sadly) I’m cold. (Pause) None of this made any sense to me. (Pause) None of this life made any sense to me.
The WOMAN lay in silence, her head bleeding. The SQUIRREL carefully walks up to the WOMAN’s hand.
WOMAN (VOICEOVER)
...
The WOMAN lay in silence, her head bleeding. The SQUIRREL carefully places its acorn in the palm of the WOMAN’s hand and eases her fingers shut around it before scurrying off.
WOMAN (VOICEOVER)
Except when I was a little girl... I had a birthday party and my whole family was there, in the back yard, singing to me. Everyone I loved on this Earth was there, and they loved me back. When I blew out the candles they told me I could wish for anything at all—anything in the world—and the pressure was too much for me. I didn’t know what to wish for so I wished for the first thing I could think of, which happened to be shoes. I didn’t think it mattered. And when I opened my first present, what did I find? Sandals. That... that made sense to me.
The WOMAN lay in silence, her head bleeding.