BLANKETS

          

          I. CUBBY HOLE. SCENE 1

                              CRAIG
                    When we were young, my little brother
                    Phil and I shared the same bed.

                              CRAIG
                    'Shared' is the sugar-coated way of
                    saying we were trapped in the same bed,
                    as we were children and had no say in
                    the matter.

                              PHIL
                    "Hey, Craig."

                              CRAIG
                    "I'm trying to sleep."

                              PHIL
                    "There are sharks nibbing on the edge of
                    the boat."

                              CRAIG
                    "It's not a boat, stupid. It's a bed. Go
                    to sleep."

                              PHIL
                    "I could float on a life raft and go get
                    our friends."

          Shows stuffed animals on dresser.

                              CRAIG
                    "'SNORE'"

                              PHIL
                    "Stupid, you're faking."

                              CRAIG
                    "I'm not faking. 'SNORE'"

                              PHIL
                    "Hey you're hogging all the blankets."
                    "You're taking up more space than me,
                    too!"

                              CRAIG
                    "'SNORE!'"
 
                              PHIL
                    "Give me some blankets!"

                              CRAIG
                    "'snore'"

                              PHIL
                    "FINE!"

          Phil shoves Craig, tangled in blankets, off the
          bed.

                              CRAIG
                    "WALP!"

          Evil grin spreads across Phil's face as Craig hits
          the floor.

                              CRAIG
                    "YOU STUPID!"

          Phil tears the blanket off Craig and bundles up in
          it.

          THUMP, THUMP, THUMP.

                              PHIL
                    "'Gasp' It's Dad-"

                              CRAIG
                    -Coming up the stairs!

                              MR. THOMPSON
                    "WHAT'S GOING ON UP HERE?!"

                              CRAIG
                    "Phil pushed me off the bed!"

                              PHIL
                    "But Craig was hogging all the
                    blankets!"

                              CRAIG
                    "But Phil wouldn't let me sleep!"

                              MR. THOMPSON
                    "Why can't you two sleep in peace? I
                    sounds like thunder downstairs!"

                              CRAIG
                    "Why do we have to sleep together in the
                    first place?"

                              PHIL
                    "Yeah. Why?"

                              MR. THOMPSON
                    "DON'T QUESTION YOUR PARENTS AUTHORITY!"
 
          Craig and Phil cringe in fear.

                              CRAIG
                    "But he's so annoying. Never lets me
                    sleep, talks and pinches me and wets the
                    bed."

                              PHIL
                    "And he's always mean!"

                              MR. THOMPSON
                    "Alright. You boys don't want to sleep
                    together tonight?"
                    "You can sleep here"

          Mr. Thompson tucks Craig into the bed.

                              MR. THOMPSON
                    "And you can sleep..."

          Mr. Thompson drags Phil off the bed.

                              MR. THOMPSON
                    "...In the Cubby hole."

                              PHIL
                    "'Gasp'"

                              CRAIG
                    The cubby hole was the forgotten room of
                    our house.
                    Hidden behind the removable wood
                    paneling in the playroom, lurked this
                    strip of space with splintery, rotting
                    floorboards...

          Mr. Thompson takes off the wood paneling.

                              CRAIG
                    ...and its own barely breathable
                    atmosphere of suspended dust.

          Shows a room full of cobwebs and old boxes.

                              CRAIG
                    Uninsulated, unlit, and uninhabited -
                    except by spiders and vermin (we heard
                    skittering within the walls at night)
                    and a few dust-filled cardboard boxes,

          Mr. Thompson wrangles an alligator by the mouth
 
                              CRAIG
                    the cubby hole was best left forgotten.

          The alligator turns into a mattress as it snaps
          open.

                              MR. THOMPSON
                    "You'd better make yourself
                    comfortable!"

                              PHIL
                    "NO 'gasp' NO!"

          Mr. Thompson starts to close the opening.

                              PHIL
                    "NO DADDY, NO!"

          The door shuts. It is pitch black.

                              PHIL
                    "NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!..."
                    "Please. No..."

          Phil scratches at the door helplessly.