LEARNING TO LAUGH
by
Becky Allenby
(1) EXT. PARK - DAY.
Soundtrack: ‘Prangin out’ by The Streets.
Faded colours, a dull and lifeless environment. A worn grass area surrounded by rows of identical terraced houses, stretching as far back as the eye can see, blending into mist. There are no trees, a swing frame with only one remaining swing, and a stump where a roundabout used to be. This is a predominantly white housing estate in mid-1990s Britain; racist graffiti abounds. Pale, skinny white women stand in doorways in dressing gowns, talking to each other. Rats scurry about.
Three seven-year-olds chop off remaining swing chains with anvil loppers, while four ten-year-olds ride double on mopeds across centre of park. Other KIDS watch and shout. In a side road two ten-year olds hot-wire a car, and six more kids of similar age pile in. They drive (wheel-spinning, skidding; out of control in low gear) across the park.
These estate scenes are spliced with pictures of a small, suited, stern man in his late seventies, looking out of the window from his SITTING ROOM. This is STAN; a hard past is written in his eyes, and resentment in his demeanour. He’s imagining the estate as it used to be in the 1940s.
FX: Contemporary estate scenes blend into Stan’s vision (in sepia) of how things were, at least in his memory: no rubbish or graffiti, two push-bikes the only vehicles, well-kept houses and front yards, a park filled with flowers and trees, children playing playground games, and adults conversing in ‘community’.
(2) INT. SITTING ROOM - NIGHT.
Soundtrack: ‘Among my souvenirs’ by Vera Lynn.
Front room of Stan’s terraced house, looking onto park. Mustard-coloured furniture and dark patterned carpet. Net curtains. Mantelpiece with framed black-and-white photograph of beautiful woman in her thirties (ELLA); two further frames lean facing the wall. Stan is polishing his grandfather clock. It chimes 6pm, and on last chime there is a terrific crashing sound. Music stops abruptly. Walking to the window, Stan pulls curtain back to reveal a car, crashed into the front of the house; it has flattened his little wooden fence. In the car, kids’ laughing faces become surreal (FX), with the exception of SPECIAL KID (small - age 8); he is not laughing and looks scared. Car screams into reverse and zooms backwards onto park.
Soundtrack: ‘Brown Paper Bag’ by Roni Size.
Camera follows Stan out into his dark hallway. He leaves chain on but opens door enough to shout at the kids and wave his walking stick through the gap.
STAN
I’ll ‘ave you! Bloody parasites!
Stan walks down hallway and picks up telephone receiver.
CUT.
(3) EXT. STREETS - NIGHT.
Soundtrack continues (Roni Size).
Sound of police SIRENS as three cars arrive; police officers get out and bang on the doors of several houses. Officers talk to the women as kids stare out of windows above. Stan is looking out of his window on opposite side of park. His POV zooms in on the kids’ eyes staring back into his. After a moment he shakes his head, as though to rid it of something, and turns away from window.
(4) INT. SITTING ROOM - NIGHT.
No music; quiet. Grandfather clock shows 8.05pm. Stan sits at table, looking at black-and-white photos: himself as a young man in uniform, with wife ELLA and two small children, caravanning. His face softens. He opens a folded card which reads ‘Daddy, thank you for a wonderful holiday. I love you! from Lily xx’.
CUT to memory of hearse outside house, coffin, flowers, and Stan's black-clothed family moving about. He hears LILY’s shrill, distressed voice over the scene.
LILY
I hate you! Like you were ever a
father to us – let alone a husband!
Just piss right off you old man!
Just piss off and leave us alone!
This last line echoes as the woman in memory scene turns to face camera. Image switches to her face as a child, then back to adult face. Her words become increasingly loud and terrifying:
LILY
(screaming; repeating)
JUST PISS OFF AND LEAVE US ALONE!
Image CUTS back to Stan looking down at card. He rips it up, screws up pieces tight in hands, then lets them fall; picks up portrait photo of wife Ella and holds to chest as his head slowly falls into his hands on the table.
(5) INT. SITTING ROOM - DAY.
Soundtrack: ‘We’ll meet again’ by Vera Lynn (fades in from quiet at end of Scene 4).
Stan eats breakfast (boiled egg and soldiers) at table. Reads The Daily Mail. Door bell RINGS. Music lowers as Stan turns down volume on stereo. Taking stick, he walks to doorway, removes chain and opens door. Half a dozen kids run away, laughing and shouting insults at him.
KID
Nasty old fucker!
OLDER KID
Decrepit bastard! Get back to the
war, will ya!
The kids flee across park. They’ve smashed milk bottles on Stan’s doorstep, and placed there a sad face made from elastic-bands (see picture in commentary appendices). As Stan looks at it, it laughs viciously. Sound of SURREAL LAUGHTER: crescendo to end of scene. Stan picks the face up and hurls it after the kids. He kicks a couple of syringes and needles out of his yard, looks to boarded-up house next door, and turns back to notice special kid crouched down holding bleeding hand, cut by glass. Special kid looks up at Stan with large pleading eyes. FX: Special kid’s eyes start to bleed and picture blends into sepia memory of Stan left looking at near-dead friend on front-line in World War 2 as other soldiers run away. CUT back to reality: Stan kicks grit towards special kid.
STAN
(screaming)
Ruddy sewer rats!
He returns inside, slamming door.
(6) EXT. STREETS - DAY.
Soundtrack: ‘If you got the money’ by Jamie T.
Stan walks down road with carrier bag, newspaper, and a very grumpy expression. Two kids (aged 11 and 8) across road throw bricks at each other from a fallen-down wall of an abandoned building. Stan starts to open his mouth but then sees in their eyes a look of hopelessness; they stare through him again as before in scene 3. He faces away and keeps walking.
Kids whisper to each other. They take the bricks and hurl them at Stan, who trips, drops his shopping, and lands hard onto his shins, cutting himself on a broken ‘elderly people crossing’ sign. Older of two kids scoops up dog shit in his hands and smacks it in Stan’s face.
OLDER KID
You’re fulla shit, old man!
Both kids laugh and run away, still shouting.
PENSIONER watches Stan from behind curtain while calling for ambulance on mobile phone. Stan clutches his leg and screams out in pain for help but no-one comes. FX: Camera follows a trail of blood oozing out from his leg, down the road towards the park. It becomes a river in which his shopping: brown bread, milk, eggs, cheese, tomatoes, Horlicks and The Daily Mail float along. The paper’s headline reads: ‘Terrorizing the streets: Police powerless to prevent joyriding gangs as young as 9’.
Camera zooms out to view park and surrounding streets. Ambulance crosses the river of blood and carries Stan off to hospital.
(7) INT. SITTING ROOM - DAY.
RADIO news - reports of violent attacks on OAPS. Stan in wheelchair, gazing out of window. Door bell RINGS; STAN does not move. It sounds again, then the door is knocked several times.
SANDRA
(calling)
Mr Harris? It Sandra Graham,
your home-based carer. Social
Services will’ve notified...
STAN
(shouting, looking away)
No thank you, Lady! I ain’t
needing no help, thanks.
Through the window Stan watches SANDRA - a slim, Caribbean nurse in her 50s - eventually walk away across the park. Kids storm her and hang around, clearly tormenting her. They throw discarded metal swing links at her and laugh. Stan pulls curtain across briskly and turns away.
FADE to darkness.
(8) EXT. STREETS - DAY.
Soundtrack: ‘Bullet proof soul’ by Sade.
Sandra walks through the estate, hassled by kids but somehow oblivious, lost in thoughts. They drop away, disappointed by her lack of reaction, but in huddled groups point back at her. Sandra reaches for a locket on a chain under her uniform; she opens it to reveal a picture of an attractive black woman in her twenties. Holding it to her chest, she looks up at the sky and walks on.
(9) INT. SITTING ROOM - DAY.
Clock TICKS loudly over soundtrack: ‘Bullet proof soul’ by Sade.
Stan in wheelchair at table, looking through photos again. Through the net curtain he sees Sandra. Door bell RINGS, but he doesn’t move. Sandra takes out a mobile phone from her shoulder bag and dials a number. Stan’s telephone RINGS. He reluctantly wheels himself to telephone in hall way and picks up the receiver, saying nothing.
SANDRA
Please, Mr Harris. I know you
there.
(becoming more desperate as
kids nudge each other and
start walking towards her...)
I’m here to help you! Now please
let me in!
Stan hesitates, but hears the kids shouting racist and sexist comments, throwing things against the house. Putting the receiver down, he wheels himself to the door, takes off the chain and opens it. Sandra enters and closes door quickly behind her, the abuse about her and Stan continuing.
Turning away with a grunt, Stan returns to the sitting room. With shaking hands he hurriedly packs away his photos.
Sandra glances at Stan and the photographs, around the room, and out onto the park.
SANDRA
Thank you.
Stan looks around at her awkwardly and she smiles a beautiful smile. He stares at her, drinking it in.
FADE.
(10) INT. SITTING ROOM – DAY.
No music. FADE IN to same setting, but the day is brighter - sunlight streaks through the net curtains. Stan sits again with his photographs. Outside the kids are JEERING. Stan looks out the window just as Sandra starts to sing to them, from ‘She’s gone’ by Bob Marley:
SANDRA
Oh, my children, if you see me
cryin’: my woman is gone. If you
see me - if you see me – if you
see me -if you see me cryin’...
The kids stop their taunting, confused. As Stan opens the door, a little bewildered himself, they run away whispering to one another. Stan stares at Sandra, impressed.
Soundtrack: ‘Among my souvenirs’ instrumental.
SANDRA
(beaming)
So. How are you Stan?
STAN
Nought a cuppa won’t fix, Miss
Graham. You?
Sandra smiles.
FADE to Sandra bringing in tea. She sits down at table with Stan and his photos; he makes no attempt to pack them away, instead handing her a picture of Ella, himself and small children on a beach.
SANDRA
(taking photograph)
My! What a lady! Your wife,
Stan?
STAN
(nodding)
My Ella.
SANDRA
(sincerely)
She’s beautiful!
Stan smiles. FX: Photograph becomes colourful. Stan is amazed, looks to Sandra and back to the photo, before shaking his head again. FADE.
(11) INT. SITTING ROOM – DAY.
Sounds of BIRDS SINGING; sounds of SPRING. Another day, even brighter and sunnier. The net curtains are open. Stan sits at table reading paper while Sandra brings in tea and biscuits on a tray. Behind her we see the dusty piano, on top of which sits a picture of Ella playing.
SANDRA
(uncharacteristically
cautious)
Stan? I mean, you’d not mind,
would you?
STAN
You play?
SANDRA
My Nanna taught me when I was a
girl. Not been near piano in years.
If you...
STAN
(interrupting, briskly)
Go ahead. Ain’t been played in ions
mind.
(more reluctantly; turns away)
Go ahead.
Sandra negotiates the stool with the awe of a small child, and sits for a while before beginning to play. Growing gradually in confidence, she plays Nina Simone’s ‘I wish I knew how it would feel to be free’.
Stan turns back in recognition of the song. Flash back in sepia shows Lily smiling dropping the needle onto a new record. He wheels over to behind Sandra and starts to cry, tears of joy and sadness at once; Sandra is unaware, lost in her playing. FX: Stan looks up at the old photo of Ella to see her beam at him in radiant colour. He glances at Sandra. Her eyes are closed and she has a few tears escaping as well.
CUT.
Soundtrack: ‘I wish I knew how it would feel to be free’ by Nina Simone.
FADE IN to Stan and Sandra, now sat on the sofa together, sharing other photos from a box and talking. FX: The pictures are all colourful now, and the characters move around continuously to the music.
Shuffling several photos, Stan picks one out of himself as a young man in uniform, holding a baby awkwardly. Music FADES.
STAN
Me and our Lily. Never saw her
next til she were walking and
talking...
He gently places the photograph down in front of him, before selecting another: a beach scene featuring YOUNG STAN in bathing suit, posing with a child under each arm.
STAN
Oh and this were after the war.
Jubilant ain’t we? Family holiday.
Never catch me in bathers neither
before nor since, but I guess
after all that fighting, dying...
Stan stops because the picture starts to move. FX: The young Stan places children down, runs to the water, and faces back to the camera, tripping over a sandcastle. Sandra smiles and Stan, though reluctantly at first, is able to laugh at himself. His eyes SHINE younger and stronger as he picks up one more photo.
STAN
And this be me and Ella dancing.
Loved dancing, did Ella.
Ella smiles out at him from the photo, and blows him a kiss.
STAN
(looking down at his feet)
Done made her give all that up,
course. Wasn’t proper for a
married woman.
Sandra takes the photo and looks at it meditatively. She eventually smiles and looks at Stan, who is visibly remorseful.
SANDRA
Stan, you not the only one
wishin’ to ‘right’ the past,
you know.
STAN
(looking up at her)
I’m not saying...
SANDRA
We all got regrets. Things we’d
’ve done different.
Stan moves away from Sandra to look out of the window.
SANDRA
I’m trying to ‘make difference’
round here, Stan. Meanwhile you
busy shutting yourself off.
Sandra looks again at the photograph of Ella and young Stan dancing. Young Stan is still, holding Ella’s hand tightly, a determined expression on his face. FX: Ella struggles to get away.
SANDRA
(to herself as much as Stan)
I think what we sometime
need to do, you know, is let go.
(12) INT. BEDROOM - NIGHT.
Cruel, condemning LAUGHTER comes and goes continuously. Stan lies in bed, tossing and turning, dreaming. Images of next-door neighbour injecting; a skinny woman with dark eyes getting slapped in the face; two suited men hiding suitcases under floorboards. These are spliced with scenes from the war: bombings, and Stan bending over friends shot dead. Their eyes are bleeding.
Laughing stops. Clock TICKS. Waking with a start, Stan looks around room and out of the window: there’s nothing, except rats scuttling around in the yard. He squirts them with fluid container by his bed, shuts window, and settles back down again.
Images of kids laughing. FX: Kids’ faces become distorted and the LAUGHTER becomes psychotic - louder and louder, unrelenting. Stan opens eyes: stillness and silence except for clock ticking. He closes them and the same happens again. He picks up telephone by bed and phones police.
STAN
Police.
(pause)
Drug-dealings up Rider Road...
FADE to end of call; Stan replaces handset. As he settles back down to sleep he sees Ella in his mind’s eye. He cries out to her:
STAN
Ella! Princess!
But Ella is shaking her head sadly.
(13) EXT. STREETS – NIGHT.
Soundtrack: ‘Prangin Out’ by The Streets.
Police arrive. Drugs seizures and women taken away screaming from three different houses.
Across the park Stan can see the kids standing on their doorsteps, looking out at nothing. He turns around and attempts to settle into bed. FX: The kids are all he sees in his mind: larger than life, surreal, vulnerable. They stare blankly at Stan, then bullets fire from their eyes and slowly reach his own. He covers his eyes and screams.
STAN
STOP!
CUT.
(14) INT. BEDROOM - DAY.
No music. Curtains closed on bright day outside. Stan sits up in bed, staring into nothingness. Door bell RINGS a few times, then there’s the sound of keys turning in a lock. Sandra calls out to Stan and eventually knocks and enters bedroom. Stan still hasn’t spoken and remains motionless.
SANDRA
Stan? What happened? You alright?
(she sits on the bed next to
him and takes his hand)
Stan?
STAN
(after long pause)
I done terrible things, Sandra. So
many terrible things. My Ella, she
were better than me, with not a
selfish bone in that lovely body. I
kept her caged up like. Else I
feared she could’ve flied for
miles... Why didn’t she, Sandra?
SANDRA
Stan, what you done?
STAN
I’ve gone snitched again ain’t I.
Just feeling scared I was. Scares
me all these evil goings on. But
it’s the kids... When I does these
things. They look at me. And I
feels dirty.
SANDRA
(distantly)
We all dirty.
STAN
No! Not you. You ain’t. You the
princess breed like my Ella.
Different. Me, I’m so dirty, ain’t
never gonna wipe clean.
Sandra looks at Stan for a moment. She gets up and walks to the window.
SANDRA
Stan, you no idea, not really.
They kids make you feel dirty
‘cause deep in your heart you know it:
you just like them.
(pause)
And so am I. We want some purpose
in life and sometime we get lost
finding it.
Sandra opens curtains and gazes outside.
SANDRA
You think I this guardian angel,
showed up to make you smile? Ever
wondered how I got here? Well I’ll
tell you - my mum kill herself
when I nine years old. I could’ve
helped her, stopped her, done
something, but I too busy out
robbin’ someone else’s kitchen.
(pause; turns to face Stan)
Always blamed myself.
(pause)
Only now I see your hang-ups too
Stan, and I wonder what the hell
good our guilt do anyone?
Sandra returns to sit on bed. Stan stares at her, transfixed.
STAN
I...
SANDRA
All I’m saying is, sometimes it
too late - like with your Ella
and my mum - too late, you know?
But what about things it not too
late to fix?
CUT.
(15) INT. SITTING ROOM - DAY.
Soundtrack: ‘Brown Paper Bag’ by Roni Size.
Angry kids smash Stan’s windows and leap into his front room. One picks up a picture of Lily that was facing away on mantelpiece and smashes it against the wall. Stan wheels in as he hears the noise. Kids go off jeering and shouting:
KIDS
That’s for our ma!
Special kid is trapped under fallen table, with cut hand. After a frozen moment Stan experiences flash back to soldier lying for dead calling out to him, ‘Stan, Stan’ as he turns and walks away. Image CUTS back to special kid.
STAN
(soldierly, efficient)
Hey now. Let’s get you cleaned up.
Stan helps him up and, opening military first-aid tin from dresser, begins to care for his injury.
(16) EXT. PARK - DAY.
BIRDS SINGING, over Sandra’s piano playing (‘I wish I knew how it would feel to be free’) softly in background. Sandra pushes Stan back from shops, and through the park.
STAN
You know, I ain’t set foot on this
fer years. Nor wheel you mind!
SANDRA
Why that Stan?
STAN
Young ‘uns’ territory ain’t it.
Wherever Stan and Sandra go, the colour becomes brighter; flowers grow and bloom. Stan laughs more.
VARIOUS KIDS
(shouting)
Git yerself outa our ‘hood!
Oi, dead man! Piss off and die!
Go back to hell you sad bastard!
Stan and Sandra ignore them and smile, and as they do, the colour spreads.
Special kid (with bandaged arm) is smoking a cigarette with a FRIEND, both sat on the broken roundabout. He and Stan share look of acknowledgment; Stan takes off his hat to them both. Friend, shocked, looks around at special kid, who smiles. He becomes brightly coloured, and as friend smiles too, so does he.
The colour touches the tips of other kids, elsewhere in the park. They stare at it, confused, stunned. In the end they shrug and walk away, leaving Sandra and Stan in the increasingly vibrant park, laughing.
(17) INT. SITTING ROOM - DAY.
Soundtrack: ‘Bullet Proof Soul’ by Sade.
Stan wears a jumper in place of shirt and tie, and his hair is combed differently. He sits at the table and writes a letter beginning, ‘Dear Lily’. On the mantelpiece behind we see the photographs have been replaced and turned around to face us: his family, now including SON, with stern expression, dressed in air-force uniform, and Lily.
Excited voices are heard outside and the door bell RINGS. Stan looks briefly out of the window and grins.
STAN
Come in!
CUT to front door in hallway. The chain is not on and Sandra and a group of kids (including special kid) burst in.
SANDRA
We’re ‘bout to have a sing-song!
Sandra and the kids all pause when they reach the piano. They all look at Stan pleadingly.
SANDRA
May we?
Stan looks confused but agrees and follows the group as they push the piano outside and onto the park.
(18) EXT. PARK - DAY.
Sandra plays chords over which the kids rap in turn, a line or so each about themselves and their lives. Gradually mothers emerge from houses and view Stan suspiciously. They stand around and listen. Kids look to Stan.
OLDER KID
Hey mate. It’s your turn.
STAN
OK, boy. But I ain’t rappin’! I
got one thing to say, and I
ain’t got no clever way of
saying it neither. Truth is I
ain’t ‘ad way of saying it these
ten years gone by.
(pauses, visibly struggling
to get his words out)
I’m sorry.
Stunned pause all round. Then special kid starts clapping and all join in one at a time. Stan is gazing tearfully at Sandra; he moves towards her.
STAN
And you, Princess... thanks for
learnin’ us to laugh.
Stan winks at Sandra and she smiles, looking around at everyone gathered on the streets and in the park. She starts to play ‘I wish I knew how it would feel to be free’ and the mothers’ guarded looks gradually soften. They smile, shake Stan and Sandra’s hands, pat Stan’s back, and join in.
Stan whispers to a kid, who runs into the house and returns with a letter, stamped and addressed to Lily. Beckoning special kid to push him, Stan heads across the park to the post-box, as the singing continues. He closes his eyes as he posts the letter, then turns to special kid and gives him a ‘high-five’.
FADE OUT.
‘I wish I knew how it would feel to be free’ mixes with drum and bass backing, and the kids rap over it to credits.
