Short Screenplay- Game of Chance

Game of Chance

Sc1  INT BOSS’S LIBRARY

Adam (19), is sitting nervously in a big library in an old house he once played in as a child. He is sitting with his brother Joe (15). A tall skinny man with a moustache and cane (Ray) walks in. A short fat balding man (Alfonso) scuttles in after him carrying a tray of glasses. Ray sits authoritatively behind his desk, whilst Alfonso is left to perch on an uncomfortable chaise-longue. 

RAY ‘RAZORS’ AGOSTINO: So Adam, you want to make a deal with me I hear.

ALFONSO (sniggering): Yeah right.

ADAM (Gesturing to the boy beside him): My brother, Joe…

(Joe nods)

ADAM: Is very sick. I need your help.

RAY ‘RAZORS’ AGOSTINO: And what exactly do you need my help with?

ADAM: I need money.

RAY ‘RAZORS AGNOSTINO (Grinning, he opens a bottle of gin and pours some into a glass): How much money?

ADAM: 15000 dollars Sir.

RAY ‘RAZORS’ AGOSTINO (Raising an eyebrow and spluttering into his gin): You understand that is a lot of money. What on earth do you want that for, kid? What’s your brother got then?

ADAM (glancing at Joe’s skeletal face): A brain tumour.

RAY ‘RAZORS’ AGOSTINO (smiling like a shark who has seen his prey): You’ll have to work for me for a long time to raise that sort of cash boy. I’m not sure you have got the courage for it. So I will have to think of a little errand for you to run to test your metal.

ADAM (wiping sweat off his top lip): Anything ,sir.

RAY ‘RAZORS’ AGNOSTINO: I need you to take this package. (He takes a small box out of his pocket). Here you go (He passes it to him carefully, watching Adam’s reaction as he does so).

ADAM: Where do I take it?

RAY ‘RAZORS’ AGNOSTINO:  Go to platform 10; catch the 9.45 train to Atlanta tomorrow and on arrival you will see a well-dressed man, standing at the cigarette booth, smoking a Cuban cigar with a red band. Drop the package in the trash can next to him and walk away. That is all you have to do. Do not open the package; do not speak to the man; in fact, do not even make eye contact.

ADAM (sighing with relief): Okay, I can do that. Thank-you sir.  

ALFONSO (leaning menacingly close to Adam, so that the boy wrinkles his nose at the stench of mingled sweat, expensive aftershave and booze): Listen boy! You fuck this up and we are screwed with the Atlanta mob! That package doesn’t reach its destination, and the trust between us and those Irish scum goes out the window. I don’t care that you love your brother, I reckon you won’t have the polpettas to do it. If I was ever listened to….

RAY ‘RAZORS’ AGNOSTINO (smashing his fist onto the desk and for a second there is a horrified silence): Don’t question me Al! The boy will do it. Can’t you see that he loves his brother just as much as I care for you? (Alfonso stays silent as a look passes between him and his brother, the irony not lost on either of them). In fact, I am counting on that love to ensure that the job gets done. Joe stays with me.

Adam and Joe cling to one another, so Ray walks around the desk and lays his hands firmly on Joe’s shoulders, keeping him on the seat as Alfonso grabs Adam’s arm roughly and hustles him out of the door.

Sc2 EXT TRAIN STATION

Adam is jostled through the gate and onto the platform, dropping his ticket and having to push against the busy crowd as he tries to reach down and pick it up. As he fumbles nervously to put it back in his breast pocket, he notices the guard eying him suspiciously. He hurries down the platform, looking for his carriage, holding his package tightly. He is shaking with nerves and looking around to check his surroundings and see whether the guard is still following him. He realises with relief that he is helping an elderly lady load her luggage onto the train. He sighs and wipes his sweaty palms on his trousers, trying to calm his nerves.

TRAIN ANNOUNCER (voiceover): Platform 10 for the 9.45 Atlanta train.

The train appears and he scrambles on. As he does so, a large man rushes for the same door and pushes him out of the way, just as the whistle blows. Adam staggers back unbalanced, grabs for the rail as the train moves off, and loses hold of the package in his other hand. It bounces off his leg and ricochets off the edge of the platform and under the train. As the train gathers speed, Adam looks back desperately out of the door, tears streaming down his cheeks. He can see a white splash of powder staining the tracks.

Sc3 INT RAY’S HOUSE

Joe is tied up on a chair. He looks terrified. His eye is swollen and his lip is cut. This, combined with the blinding headache which has come back, means that it is only the ropes which are holding him upright. He seems completely spent and bewildered.

A tapping noise causes him to try to raise his head. Alfonso is sitting at a table opposite him, spot lit in the light of an old desk lamp, playing five finger fillet with a vicious looking stiletto.  

ALFONSO: What’s wrong ragazzino? Can’t take a bit of pain? You better get used to it. How many jobs do you think your brother will have to do for Ray to earn enough to pay for your treatment, hey? He will be at it for years. We Agostinos are not known for charitable works. Your brother is a fool.

JOE: My brother is no fool! The whole town knows what you are famous for. (spits in Alfonso’s direction).

ALFONSO: You got  a smart mouth boy. I have a better use for it.

He sneers unpleasantly, stabs the knife into the table, and waddles over to untie Joe and lead him to the dirty mattress in the corner of the room.

As the ropes loosen around his wrists, Joe eases out the fork that he concealed up his sleeve after dinner. Alfonso grabs his shoulder, and as he does so, Joe lunges up at his neck with the tines of the fork. By complete luck he has managed to hit Alfonso’s carotid artery. Alfonso falls to the floor in a pool of his own blood. Realisation dawns on Joe’s face. He starts to cry, understanding that he is a murderer, and that Ray will soon begin to wonder what has happened to his brother and there is no way out. Suddenly there is a scraping noise from behind him. Joe shuts his eyes and squeezes them shut knowing that his end has come.

Instead of the cellar door opening, Adam emerges from behind the wine rack revealing a tunnel behind him.

ADAM: Joe, Joe where are you? Are you in here? (he stumbles forward, sightless in the gloom of the cellar, and catches his toe on Alfonso’s prone body. He gasps in shock, but realises that he does not have time to ask questions.) Joe lets go!  Come on quickly!

JOE: How did you get in?

ADAM: When old Mamma Agnostino was alive, she used to let us play out back. This was a confederate household: there are tunnels and hideouts everywhere. Can you stand? We need to move fast. (He braves the blood surrounding Alfonso, rifles through his pockets to find his keys and then slides quietly to the door to the cellar, locking it to give them more time to escape. Considering the keys, he decides not to drop them, but pockets them for later.)

Sc4 EXT GARDEN/STREET

The two boys run out of the tunnel, only to realise that Ray’s gang are patrolling the grounds, so they are not safe yet. Adam signals to his brother to stay quiet and keep low as they skirt the lawn, heading for the tunnel under the wall that Adam came in by. A gang member up on the terrace strains to see what he glimpsed moving in the dark, before turning and heading back towards the library doors. The boys squeeze out from under the wall and head down the street until they reach the train tracks.

JOE (looking white as a sheet): My legs are tired Adam

ADAM: It really isn’t far now and I know we are going to make it.

JOE: You know what? You really are the best brother in the world. I knew you would save me.

They continue running. It is not long before they are in sight of the bridge that divides the states and offers possible safety. At that moment, all hell breaks out back at the house, and Ray and his gang pour out onto the street, shouting and waving automatic rifles. A shot rings out and bullet ricochets off the bridge as the boys run onto it. Headlights shine into their eyes from the other end of the bridge, and panic spreads across the boys’ faces. They hear sirens and realise that cop lights are flashing. Adam turns to look at Joe who is covered in blood. Joe’s big brown eyes well up. He looks down to the floor.

ADAM: Jesus Christ!

Ray emerges from the house and walks towards them with a look of hatred on his face. He has a gun in his right hand and is swinging it. He glares and spits on the floor as he walks, clearly unphased by the presence of the cops, many of whom are in his pay. Adam looks at him, at the cops, and over the bridge and turns to look at Joe.

ADAM: Jump!

The two boys leap over the edge.

BLACKOUT