One Chance
INT. ST. CATHERINE’S CHURCH - DAY
Where a CHURCH CHOIR comprised of ordinary Welsh faces,
begins a medley of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen”... The
chirpy rendition continues over the following scenes...
INT. PRINCESS OF WALES HOSPITAL, EMERGENCY ROOM - DAY
The doors fly open as a team of EMS WORKERS wheels in a
YOUNG PAUL POTTS (9) lying on a gurney. His parents ROLAND
DR. THORPE (29) a new intern meets the team along with a
NURSE...
FEMALE EMS:
Male, nine years old, possible ruptured
eardrum.
YVONNE:
His name’s Paul.
DR. THORPE
Right. Room three, please.
He follows the gurney into a triage room, while the nurse
waylays Roland and Yvonne with her clipboard.
NURSE:
You’re his parents?
YVONNE:
That’s right.
NURSE:
I’ll just need to get some basic
information from you.
ROLAND:
(to his anxious wife)
He’ll be alright.
NURSE:
(filling in a form)
Right, so it’s Paul...last name please?
ROLAND:
Potts. P, O, double-T, S.
2.
NURSE:
Paul Potts. Like the Cambodian dictator
who massacred all the--?
YVONNE:
(for the millionth time...)
Not at all like the Cambodian dictator.
NURSE:
Right.
INT. ST. CATHERINE’S CHURCH - DAY (FLASHBACK)
Shots of the choir... Four rows deep... First and third
rows leading the song; rows two and four following several
bars behind... All eyes on the peripatetic CHOIRMASTER...
Several rows behind the fourth row, Paul stands alone,
singing with gale-force might...
YOUNG PAUL:
O tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and
joy. O tidings of comfort and joy.
Several members of the fourth row wince at the decibel
level as-
The gurney is locked into position as the medical team
takes over. Yvonne wrings her hands in the doorway.
DR. THORPE
How long since it occurred?
YVONNE:
About an bour. They said he just
collapsed after his solo.
ROLAND:
Miracle he hasn’t ruptured our eardrums
from all his hooting and hollering.
YVONNE:
(elbowing her husband)
He’s a passionate singer.
INT. ST. CATHERINE’S CHURCH - DAY (FLASHBACK)
Where Paul sways as he solos with eyes fervently shut,
hands clenched, voice like a wind throughout the
cathedral...
3.
YOUNG PAUL:
Fear not then said the angel, let nothing
you affright. This day is born a Savoir
of a pure Virgin bright. To free all
those who trust in Him-
CHOIR:
--from Satan’s power and might. O tidings
of comfort and joy.
A distinct THUMP is heard... The members of the fourth row
look over their shoulders to find Paul is vanished from
sight.
CHOIR (CONT’D)
Comfort and joy. O tidings of comfort and
joy.
As Paul is wheeled into surgery. Young Dr. Thorpe, now in
gown and gloves, meets his parents at the door...
DR. THORPE
--got some fluid build-up in the middle
ear. Not to worry, we’ll have him right
as rain in no time.
YVONNE:
So you’ve done this sort of thing before?
DR. THORPE
Of course. Well, not with anyone still
breathing...
(realizes the faux pas)
I’m still new, but rest assured, live or
dead, the bits are all the same once you
(now they’re freaked)
Cafe’s just down the hall.
He heads into surgery... As the doors swing shut-
ROLAND:
(arm around his wife)
He’ll be just fine.
MATCH CUT TO:
EXT. POTTS HOUSE - DAY (SEVERAL DAYS LATER)
A two-story row house adjoined on either side and
identical to the sixty other homes on the block.
4.
The door slams behind Paul, who stands on the landing,
carrying his school bag.
He pats the large bandage mummifying his repaired ear,
then looks both ways before descending the steps to the
sidewalk.
He checks his surroundings again before venturing out the
gate and turning down the road.
MATTHEW:
There he is! Get ‘im!
Paul runs as a flock of screaming YOUNG BOYS crosses the
road, hot on his heels... Their screams blend into the
continuing choral medley as we return to...
INT. ST. CATHERINE’S CHURCH - DAY
Where the same Welsh choir-faces, several years older now,
continue the song with undiminished fervor over-
Establishing shots of this gray, industrial steel-town
huddled on the edge of the Celtic Sea.
From above the city, we see Paul, a lone figure running
down the center of a road...a moment later the group of
boys appears in close pursuit until they catch him and
start punching...
INT. ST. CATHERINE’S CHURCH - DAY
Reveal that the rows behind the choir are empty... And
yet, Paul’s voice rises above the rest, though it sounds
impossibly far away...
Paul tears around a corner, the lead pursuers close behind
him... He’s slightly older now, closer to thirteen or
fourteen with a few extra pounds...
He cuts across a busy intersection, narrowly avoiding a
lorry which momentarily cuts off his pursuers...
Paul weaves through pedestrians. He’s aged again, nearing
eighteen, and puffing even harder with the extra weight.
The boys chasing him appear older, larger, and there are
more of them than before and they’re gaining on him.
5.
EXT. ALLEY - DAY
Paul turns down the empty alley, losing his schoolbag to
the clutching hand of the closest pursuer...
Near the alley’s end, Paul veers wide to the left in
anticipation, then cuts right, barely fitting his belly
through a narrow pedestrian opening...
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"One Chance" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 26 Apr. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/one_chance_619>.
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