Life as a House

FADE IN:

A clock alarm SOUNDS over TITLES on BLACK. We HEAR someone

clearing congested lungs, coughing up phlegm; a slight crash

STOPS both the cough and the alarm.

EXT. GEORGE'S BEACH SHACK - MORNING

The cottage is a tiny, peeling paint rat-trap set dead center

on a small ocean front cul-de-sac, surrounded by four massive

post-modern mansions.

INT. GEORGE'S BEACH SHACK BEDROOM - MORNING

GEORGE NELSON, 42, squints and shivers as the spotty morning

light and ocean breeze enter through an open window. Bold

waves crash against the cliffs outside the room. A five-foot

wide stack of hand hewed beams are piled pyramid style,

making movement in the room next to impossible. George

stands shirtless in underwear and coughs again. He steps

over a pile of tools and stands at the window, facing the

sea. A happy sounding tune by Guster, "WHAT YOU WISH FOR,"

begins with the lyrics: 'Woke up today, to everything gray

and all that I saw just keeps going on and on...'

EXT. WEBBER'S HOUSE - MORNING

The post-modern house is three-levels of concrete and glass.

INT. SAM WEBBER'S BEDROOM - MORNING

SAM is sixteen with spiky black hair, a nose ring, two

earrings and painted black nails. The song continues with:

'...sweep all the pieces under the bed, close all the

curtains and cover my head.' Sam looks wasted as he climbs

out of bed and rummages through his dresser, retrieving an

empty bottle of prescription drugs; he tosses the bottle. He

walks to a desk where a half-built model of a house sits

unfinished and squeezes glue into a plastic bag and sniffs

it. Sam enters the closet and digs into a pile of dirty

clothes, pulling out the tie to a robe; he knots it around

the closet pole and then twists it once to form a noose. He

slips his neck through the noose and lowers his body; though

we don't see exactly what he's doing below his neck, it's

evident through his jerking arm that he's masturbating.

EXT. BECK'S OCEAN FRONT MANSION - MORNING

COLLEEN BECK, George's next-door neighbor, is a well

maintained blonde in her late thirties. She walks out of the

angular concrete mansion, grabs the paper and walks back in.

INT. BECK'S KITCHEN - MORNING

This is a minimalist kitchen, with pored concrete walls and

stainless steel cabinets.

Colleen drops the paper on the table and walks to the sink to

wash her hands. The SONG CONTINUES: '...If this serenade is

not what you want, it's just how it is...' Colleen appears

distracted for a moment. She walks outside onto the terrace

with wet hands, then bolts back in, breezing through the

kitchen with purpose.

INT. ALYSSA BECK'S BATHROOM - MORNING

ALYSSA is sixteen and perfect with strawberry blonde hair and

white teeth; her head is partially out the bathroom window.

Colleen bursts in, eases Alyssa aside and with effort, sticks

her head out of the same high open window.

COLLEEN:

This is ridiculous!

We must not see exactly what they see, but out the window and

almost beyond view, a stream of urine arks out from George

Nelson's beach house bedroom, into the pacific ocean some

twenty-feet below. The piss stops. Colleen bangs her head

trying to get it back inside the house.

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