A Wind-Up

By

D Caudle

Based on a scene in Luis Bunuel’s The Phantom of Liberty

1st draft

June 22, 2013

INT. CLASSROOM - DAY

A little wooden pig and a little wooden cow figurine rotate

around a mirrored, square shaped platform. Lullaby music

accompanies the dancing figurines.

MR CANDLE (40), his face dominated by a scruffy beard and

large black glasses, sits at his desk wistfully watching the

wooden music box before him.

KNOCK KNOCK. Mr Candle looks toward the door. He opens a

drawer and shoves the music box inside, then shuts the

drawer, the lullaby still dimly audible.

He opens an exercise book, taken from a nearby stack, and

begins ticking furiously with a red pen.

CANDLE

(clears throat, calls out)

Come in.

MISS TENUCCHI (mid 20s), smart professional dress style,

enters. She keeps one arm behind her back, as if she is

hiding something.

TENUCCHI

Are you busy?

Mr Candle gestures to the stack of exercise books and shrugs

his shoulders.

CANDLE

It never slows down, does it?

Miss Tenucchi draws near.

TENUCCHI

This won’t take a minute.

(then)

It’s just I’m still sort of new at

this job, and I thought . . . Well,

I thought you might know what to

do.

Mr Candle puts down his pen.

CANDLE

(intrigued)

What is it?

TENUCCHI

I’ve had to confiscate some

pictures I caught Sara Kelly

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: 2.

TENUCCHI (cont’d)passing around in the Year 10

playground.

(then)

They weren’t nice pictures. In fact

I’d call them rather disturbing.

CANDLE

Do you still have the pictures?

TENUCCHI

Yes.

CANDLE

Can I see them?

Miss Tenucchi, taking her arm out from behind her, holds up

a collection of four or five 4x6 prints.

She hands them to Mr Candle and takes a seat next to him.

Inching together they inspect the photos one by one. Mr

Candle’s eyes widen in alarm in reaction to the 1st photo.

The second one causes him to grimace in worry.

He turns to Miss Tenucchi.

CANDLE

Did she say where she got these?

TENUCCHI

(shaking her head)

She’s in my room now and she won’t

say a word.

CANDLE

Tch tch tch.

He shakes his head and continues shuffling through the

pictures.

ANGLE ON PHOTOS

They are all pictures of different happy families. Each

family, despite whatever differences in setting or activity,

are stereotypically perfect looking. Perfect teeth, fair

skin, and fixed grins.

ANGLE ON MISS TENUCCHI’S HAND

as she points at a picture of a happy family building a sand

castle on the beach.

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: 3.

TENUCCHI (O.S.)

That’s really sick, you know.

BACK TO SCENE

Mr Candle places the pictures face down on the desk and

shivers slightly.

TENUCCHI

What should I do?

CANDLE

Look this goes beyond anything you

and I can do. We’ll have to refer

Sara to the Head, and they’ll

obviously have to bring her parents

in for an urgent meeting.

TENUCCHI

Do you think they’ll have to call

in the school psychologist?

CANDLE

Well the girl is clearly disturbed.

Where do you think she got this

stuff?

TENUCCHI

You can get anything on the

internet these days.

Miss Tenucchi stands taking the pictures from the desk.

TENUCCHI (CONT’D)

Well thanks for the advice. I

better go get Sara and escort her

down to Mrs. Rickshaw’s office.

She heads for the door.

CANDLE

Want me to go with you?

TENUCCHI

No please I’ve bothered you enough.

Thanks.

Candle smiles and nods as she leaves the room. As soon as

the door is closed, he immediately opens his desk drawer and

extracts his music box. He winds it eagerly. The lullaby

music commences and he places the toy in front of him. He

goes back to his reverie.

FADE OUT