Magnolia Page #4

DETECTIVE:

-- and you didn't load the gun?

ARTHUR BARRINGER

Why would I load the gun?

CUT TO:

INT. APARTMENT/HALLWAY - THAT MOMENT

CAMERA moves through as OFFICERS are talking to and getting

statements from VARIOUS NEIGHBORS...CAMERA closes in on

an EIGHT YEAR OLD BOY, speaking with a DETECTIVE.

NARRATOR:

A young boy who lived in the building,

sometimes a vistor and friend to Sydney

Barringer said that he had seen,

six days prior the loading of the shotgun --

The DETECTIVE turns his head and calls to another --

DETECTIVE:

C'mere a minute --

CUT TO:

INT. APARTMENT - DAY - FLASHBACK.

CAMERA moves into a bedroom area where we see a FIGURE from

the back sitting on the bed --

NARRATOR:

It seems that the arguing and the

fighting and all of the violence was far

too much for Sydney Barringer and knowing

his mother and father's tendency to fight,

he decided to do something --

CAMERA reveals that it is Sydney Barringer who is loading

the shotgun. The YOUNG BOY is sitting nearby, watching Sydney

mumble to himself as he loads shells into the shotgun.

CUT TO:

INT. APARTMENT/HALLWAY - PRESENT

CAMERA moves in on the YOUNG BOY, who looks INTO CAMERA.

YOUNG BOY:

He said he wanted them to kill

each other, that all they wanted to

do was kill each other and he would

help them if that's what they wanted to do --

CUT TO:

EXT. BUILDING/ROOFTOP - DAY - FLASHBACK

This is a WIDE ANGLE REPLAY of the whole event. We see the whole

bui1ding...Sydney starts to jump and the film suddenly slows down...

A diagram is made to reflect the narration...this is done like NFL

coverage where the x's and o's and arrows and lines are drawn to

indicate placement and moves, etc.)

An x appears on the top of the building over Sydney.

NARRATOR:

Sydney Barringer jumps from the ninth floor rooftop --

His parents argue three stories below --

An o is marked to indicate their position. Image goes into MOTION

with Sydney jumping...an ARROW is drawn that displays the PATH of

his fall --

NARRATOR:

Her accidental shotgun blast hits Sydney

in the stomach as he passes the arguing

sixth floor window --

Freeze Frame shows Sydney, hanging mid-air -- the glass shattering and

starting to fall to the ground -- an X marks the spot where he is hit.

NARRATOR:

He is killed instantly but continues

to fall -- only to find, three stories

below -- a safety net installed

three days prior for a set of window washers

that would have broken his fall and saved

his life if not for the hole in his stomach.

A squiggly line with an arrow is drawn from Sydney to the net to

indicate the path -- UNFREEZE frame and watch Sydney fall into the net

CUT TO:

INT. APARTMENT - DAY

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