GREEN EYES & A LOVE FOR MORE

(A silent film screenplay)

By Laila Freeman

[BLACK AND WHITE, 1920s]

INT. PARLOR ROOM – NIGHT

A woman sits on a velvet chair and faces the door. Only her shoulder and manicured hand holding a cigarette are in view. The cigarette smoke slowly rises in the air.

A man wearing a pinstripe suit and fedora walks in, closing the door behind him.

He turns around and slightly smiles at the woman, curling up the ends of his mustache. She hasn’t moved. He continues to stare at her, and his smile fades. His eyes widen.

His gaze darts to a small vault in the back corner of the parlor. The vault is next to the woman’s chair and in front of the flickering fireplace. It is wide open. There is a messy pile of papers scattered inside and around it.

The man runs over and kneels down. He rummages through all the papers.

He slowly looks up, holding crumpled papers. He sees the woman in her silk robe standing over him, cigarette still in hand.

The man’s gaze slowly follows the woman’s body up to her cold face. Her jaw is clenched. The corners of her mouth slightly droop. She has straight, thin eyebrows and squinted eyes. Her hair is a dark wavy bob.

He furrows his eyebrows and flares his nostrils at her, still kneeling down. His gaze moves down to the necklace on her chest.

She’s wearing a glistening string of emeralds. The green gems are the only pop of color.

The man bares his teeth and grips the papers harder, slowly rising up.

The man and woman are now face-to-face, and she sheds a tear. He continues to scowl and begins reaching for the emeralds. She pushes him back. His jaw drops, and he flails his arms as he tries to regain his balance.

She rips the necklace off and holds it up next to the fireplace.

The man holds up his hand to her, keeping his distance.

She shakes her head. Her breathing quickens, and she scowls at him. Another tear falls from her cheek. In his desperation, he falls to his knees and makes a begging motion.

She slowly bends down near his face and points to the open vault. The slit between her eyebrows deepens.

They look at the vault in unison. The scattered papers are revealed to be foreclosure documents. The man quickly looks back at the woman’s face.

She puts her cigarette out on his forehead. He falls over, his fedora flying off. His gelled hair sticks out in all directions. He holds his forehead as he rocks back and forth, mouth agape.

The woman watches him as more tears well in her eyes. Her bottom lip quivers.

He looks up at her with his teeth bared once again. As he scrambles to get up in his fit of rage, she lifts the necklace up in the air. She opens her mouth and scrunches her nose.

The man reaches for her as she throws down the necklace. He watches the necklace hit the wooden floor in front of him. Emerald shards go flying and pierce his face.

The woman resumes her stoic expression, this time, her face wet with tears. Her body shakes.

The man writhes in pain on the floor. He looks up into the cold eyes of the woman. He frowns with his mouth open wide, and the veins in his neck protrude. Two bright green emerald shards are in both of his eyes, taking up the spaces his irises once did. The emeralds reflect the flames dancing in the fireplace.

FADE TO BLACK.