claviature

Written for the screen by

Elyon John Gonzales

Aug. 2019
 ....SOUND OF A PIERCING RING/PIANO NOTE, THEN OUT....

CUT IN:

1 INT. OFFICE - WAREHOUSE - MORNING 1

SIMON, 30’s, is seated at the corner of his desk, face down,

with his head sunk between his arms, softly sobbing. The
PHONE in the office rings - shooting him up. He quickly
picks up the phone to a woman with a British accent on the
other end of the line.

SIMON
Good morning, this is Ryman.

FEMALE VOICE (V.O.)

Good morning. I was hoping to
speak with Simon?

SIMON
Yes, this is Simon.

FEMALE VOICE (V.O.)

Oh. Hello. How are you?

SIMON
Fine. How are you?

FEMALE VOICE (V.O.)

Just fine, thanks.
(BEAT)
Listen... I don’t know if you
recall who I am, but I came into
your warehouse and spoke with you
regarding a washing machine--

CUT TO:

2 EXT. WAREHOUSE GATE - DAY - (FLASHBACK) 2

Simon is with MARY, 30’s, standing opposite him at a

profile. She twiddles with the idea of asking him something.
He smokes from a JOINT, passing it back and forth with her.

MARY
--Does the machine come with a one-
year warranty?

SIMON
Two-year.
 2.

MARY
Oh, that’s better.

SIMON
Not really.

MARY
How so?

Simon leans in, as if whispering a secret.

SIMON
...Say the washing machine
malfunctions, then you return it to
us with the warranty expecting to
replace it for a new one...

MARY
Right.

SIMON
What we do then is take the machine
and replace it with another one but
charge you a service fee of $37
dollars.

MARY
That’s nice.

SIMON
No, but, the machine you buy from
us is initially sold to you at a
$127 mark-up. So no matter what
we make back ninety dollars.
And the machines’ that come to us
are refurbished increasing the
odds of a malfunction, but we sell
them as new to the customers. So
you’re paying ninety dollars on a
meaningless warranty and faulty
product.

MARY
That’s awful.

SIMON
Yes, it is.

MARY
Does that not make your job
immensely more stressful.
(MORE)
 3.

MARY (CONT'D)
Having to lie to people all the
time without them even realizing
it?

CUT TO:

3 INT. OFFICE - WAREHOUSE - MORNING 3

Back with Simon, on the phone;

SIMON
(BEAT)
Are you still interested in buying
one of the machines?

MARY (V.O.)
(BEAT)
No. I was wondering, actually...
If you would perhaps like to have
dinner with me at my apartment
Saturday night?

SIMON
Saturday.

MARY (V.O.)
Yes.

SIMON
Well sure, make you very much.

Mary politely laughs at the sound of ‘make’.

MARY (V.O.)
Sure.

SIMON
Thank you.

MARY (V.O.)
How’s eleven?

SIMON
Great, sure. Thank you.

MARY (V.O.)
Good-day.

SIMON
Good-bye.
 4.

Simon hangs up the phone. BEAT. He suddenly shoots up

out of his chair and silently fists the air in the face.
He soon settles, stares down at the floor, thinking....

SIMON (CONT’D)
(to himself)
That’s funny.

CUT TO:

4 EXT/INT. WAREHOUSE/PARKING LOT - DAY 4

Later that day, Simon is at a desk that is isolated in a

corner of the warehouse. Simon’s co-worker’s, PEDRO and
TITO, (40’s), are seated on the opposite side. The
warehouse is mostly vacant. The 3 men drink COFFEE.
His co-worker’s smoke CIGARETTES.

PEDRO
(Spanish)
The shipment was due Friday so I
don’t know what happened.

TITO
(Spanish)
Maybe you made a mistake with the
shipping address.

PEDRO
(Spanish)
I’m not an idiot, I know the
address to our own goddamn
building.

SIMON
(to Pedro)
When did you contact them last,
Greg-o?

PEDRO
(broken English)
I am Pedro.

SIMON
Right, I’m sorry, when did you
contact them last Pedro?

PEDRO
(broken English)
Tuesday. But they say the
shipment would be here Friday.
 5.

TITO
(Spanish, to Pedro)
But today is Saturday, and the
machines aren’t here yet.

PEDRO
(Spanish)
I know the day asshole.

SIMON
(to Pedro)
Have you called the supplier to
find out why the machines aren’t
here yet?

PEDRO
(Spanish, to Simon)
I’m telling you, I spoke with them
on Tuesday, they said the shipment
would be here on Friday. And come
to find today we have nothing in
the warehouse. I don’t know what
happened!

SIMON
What’s that?

Suddenly, multiple loud BANGS are heard coming from

outside the warehouse gate. Startled, Simon and the men
look toward that direction at the same time.

PEDRO
(Spanish)
It could be the machines.

Simon walks away from the desk towards the man at the gate.

TITO (O.S.)
(Spanish)
Why do they keep knocking so loud?

PEDRO (O.S.)
(Spanish)
How the hell am I supposed to
know, asshole.

The moment he reaches the gate nothing is heard. BEAT.

Simon opens the gate, pouring in a wash of light.

No one is there. Simon looks around. He looks back at
the men seated at the desk. They are just as confused as
he is.
 6.

5 EXT. PARKING LOT/ALLEYWAY - DAY 5

Simon takes a step outside on to the lot to take a look

around. He walks over toward the fence and looks down
the alleyway. Completely vacant.

CUT TO:

6 EXT. STREET CORNERS - DAY 6

Simon walks forward towards the street and looks around

both directions. It is eerily quiet and still. Seeing
nothing, he returns back to the gate & parking lot
connected to the warehouse.

CUT TO:

7 EXT. PARKING LOT/WAREHOUSE GATE - DAY 7

Simon enters back inside the lot on his way back to the
warehouse, when out of NOWHERE a foreign object smashes
down behind him on the floor.

Immediately, this unleashes a very, very loud RING that

forces Simon to his knees. Some moments pass when sound
resumes to normal.

Simon takes a BEAT. He turns to look at what crashed

down behind him. Upon closer examination he sees it:
A SPLINTERED MESS OF WHAT ONCE WAS A MINI PIANO.

He takes a moment before doing anything. Then, slowly,

he turns and returns to the warehouse.

CUT TO:

8 INT. WAREHOUSE - DAY 8

Simon steps into the space - immediately hearing someone

play the piano in the background.

Simon walks past Pedro and Tito who have their heads
turned toward the woman at the piano. Simon stops to see
Mary, with her back to him continuing play....

CUT TO:
 7.

9 INT. OFFICE DOORWAY - WAREHOUSE - DAY (MOMENTS LATER) 9

Simon and Mary stand at the doorway to the office. They

stand close, speaking into one another. Pedro and Tito
can be seen talking in the background, smoking CIGS,
drinking BEER.

MARY
I’m sorry. I hope I didn’t startle
you. I cam in through the front
entrance. I also thought...
perhaps it would be nice to
surprise you at work.

SIMON
Don’t apologize. That’s really
nice, thank you.

MARY
Do you always do that, say thank
you when you’re nervous?

SIMON
Yes, I’m sorry.

MARY
Don’t apologize. It’s quite lovely.

SIMON
Thank you.

Mary leans in a bit closer, on the verge of whispering a secret.

MARY
I have to be honest with you.
I didn’t just happen here on
accident.

SIMON
What do you mean?

CUT TO:

10 INT. WAREHOUSE, PIANO - NIGHT (FLASHBACK) 10

Simon is seated at the piano. It is late. The warehouse

gate left wide-open. Mary slowly moves closer towards
the sound of the man playing the piano.

MARY (V.O.)
Well... I’ve stepped in a few
times on my way home from work and
heard you on the piano.
(MORE)
 8.

MARY (V.O.) (CONT'D)

And there, I saw you. Sitting
there. You were alone. And I
thought, “he’s rather lonely,
isn’t he.” And I thought... it
was the most beautiful thing I had
ever seen.

CUT TO:

11 INT. OFFICE DOORWAY - WAREHOUSE - DAY 11

Back with Simon and Mary;

SIMON
(BEAT)
I think you are the kindest person
I have ever met.

MARY
Thank you.

CUT TO:

12 INT. OFFICE - COUCH - DAY, MOMENTS LATER 12

Simon and Mary gently make-out on the couch.

CUT TO:

13 INT. OFFICE - COUCH - NIGHT 13

Simon and Mary hold onto one another on the couch, lovingly.

CUT TO:

14 EXT. PARKING LOT - NIGHT 14

Arm over waist, Simon walks Mary back to her car. The two
stop for a moment and share a loving kiss good-night.

WHEN THE SAME RING STRIKES. ABRUPTLY. RANDOMLY.

Simon and Mary both immediately drop to their knees to

cover their ears. The ring sounding....

Simon leans for Mary and grabs a hold of her. The two
stagger their way back inside the warehouse.

CUT TO:
 9.

15 INT. WAREHOUSE - PIANO - NIGHT 15

Simon looses his hold on Mary as she suddenly falls,

holding her head. Blood streams down her ears.

Simon holds his ears shut, bleeding just the same. He

struggles over to the piano. The direction in which the
stinging ring came from.

Then, suddenly, all SOUND IS MUTED.

Simon can not hear a thing. He looks to Mary, on the

floor, crying. Her mouth moving, as she struggles to
find the sound of her own voice.

He cries out to her. Unable to hear him, she focuses her

attention with her newly found problem.

Simon struggles to his feet, plopping down on the bench

in front of the piano. He plays with his ears, terrified
with the realization that he’s gone deaf.

Mary senses his pain. She looks to him, seated at the

piano. She struggles to her feet - making her way to him.

At the piano, Mary clinches on to his hand. This gets his

attention. Now realizing they are together again, they hold
onto one another. Shock and fear stricken. BEAT.

Simon quite accidently strikes a few key’s on the piano.

The moment this happens, ALL AUDIO RETURNS TO NORMAL.

Socked, surprised... confused.... Mary and Simon look to

each other for answers. Not finding any in their eyes,
they share a moment of relieve with laughter.

MARY
What just happened?

SIMON
I don’t know. Are you OK?

MARY
(settling down)
...Yeah, are you...?

SIMON
(settled)
Yeah.

MARY
(BEAT, smiling)
Can you hear me alright?
 10.

SIMON
(smiling)
...Loud and clear.
(BEAT)

CUT TO BLACK.

TITLES, OVER VISUALS OF SIMON & MARY PLAYING THE PIANO.

THE END.