Participants:
| Scene Title | Not My Beautiful House/Not My Beautiful Wife |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Once in a Lifetime. |
| Date | January 18, 2012 |
A clock radio alarm beside his bed reads 3:33 am. It's a sign of good luck. Kain Zarek does not make a wish.
And you may find yourself
Living in a shotgun shack
At 5:23 am the first lights start coming on, flooding the upstairs first, then the downstairs. Tiredly, Matthew Parkman hauls himself out of bed, slouched and slumped, shuffling his way to the bathroom to shower and wash up. By the time he's had his morning coffee and become human again the house is alight with life as the sun is coming up. Kaydence-Lee Parkman winds her way downstairs, hair still wet and tied up in a bun, clipping her badge on her belt and swiftly stealing the last cup of coffee before Matt can get it. Molly and Colene aren't up yet, but they will be soon, and it's Matt's turn to take them to school.
And you may find yourself
In another part of the world
Sometime after 8:00 am Kain Zarek is seated on a park bench, jacket buttoned up and a breakfast sandwich from Burger King clutched in one hand with coffee served in a recycled paper cup. This world is wild about recycling. He bites into the sandwich, watching people coming and going from the subway station, pigeons circling at his feat for any offerings he might leave behind. The electronic billboard over the subway station changes from an advertisement for RISING PHOENIX, a new drama starting this fall, to a billboard showing Kain's face staring back at him, cradling a bottle of whiskey with one brow raised. Are you living your best life? The advertisement asks him. Kain throws his sandwich to the pigeons.
And you may find yourself
Behind the wheel of a large automobile
The school bell rings at 2:00 pm sharp at the Rudolph Steiner private school and Kaydence is waiting outside in her SUV. Children are flooding from the building, and there is a Pinehearst security detail discretely following Molly and Colene as they make their way from the front of the school. The two step-sisters converse happily with one-another in spite of their age difference, blissfully unaware or uncaring of the black-suited men that follow them most of the way to Kaydence's car. They're welcomed inside with a smile and a hug each, making sure each of the girls is fast in their seat and buckled in before starting off down the road.
And you may find yourself in a beautiful house
With a beautiful wife
Sometime near 6:00 pm, Kain Zarek stands out front of the Speakeasy Hotel and Casino, finishing the last nub of a cigarette. Cars are gridlocked in rush hour traffic and the noise of the city is a comforting backdrop to the thunder in his head that refuses to quiet. Shoulders hunched forward, Kain exhales a ring of smoke as he looks up to where the sky is darkest in the east, where familiar stars are just starting to glitter, shining down on a woefully unfamiliar world. He throws the cigarette to the ground, grinding it with his heel, and steps toward the curb, signaling for an approaching cab.
And you may ask yourself, well
How did I get here?
Dinner is served at 6:56 pm. Boxes of chinese food are spread out across the table, and Kaydence is mindful to split one of the boxes of teriyaki evenly between Molly and Colene so as to not have them fight over it. Especially not with sharp sticks. Matt sits corner-wise to Kaydence, phone on the table next to him, occasionally checking it as he picks his way through a pile of chicken wings. He laughs, occasionally, having to cover his mouth. Doubling over with tears in his eyes at one particular story or anecdote. Kaydence is radiant, confident, and vivacious with life. Colene is small, terrible, and ever-much the brat to Molly, but the two are nothing if not siblings, even if not by blood.
Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down
7:22 pm, the family settles in to watch Finding Nemo.
Letting the days go by, water flowing underground
7:43 pm, Matt falls asleep during Finding Nemo, his head slouched on Kaydence's shoulder.
Into the blue again after the money's gone
8:19 pm, Colene drifts off with her head on Matt's legs. Molly and Kaydence stay up to finish the movie together.
Once in a lifetime, water flowing underground
Everyone is asleep by 10:00 pm.
And you may ask yourself
How do I work this?
It's 11:17 pm when Kain insinuates himself into the downstairs of the Speakeasy, moving through the casino floor. He's mindful to wear a ballcap and tuck his hair up under it. He's taken to wearing a grimy hoodie, looking more like a homeless man than the heir apparent of the Linderman Group. He settles in at the bar, and the bartender jokes how much he looks like Kain Zarek. He says he gets that all the time, and wonders aloud if that might get him a discount. Kain laughs, the bartender laughs. He gets no discount.
And you may ask yourself
Where is that large automobile?
It's hard to say how far past midnight it is, because Kain is curled up at the base of a toilet, head nearly all the way in the bowl. There's a drizzled trail of brown vomit leading from the bathroom door to the edge of the toilet that he didn't quite hit properly. His stomach aches, thin tendrils of saliva extend from his nose and mouth, and tears are welled up in his eyes. Fumbling away from the toilet, Kain wipes a few dark chunks of vomit out of his graying beard with his sleeve, and crawls on his hands and knees to where his jacket lays on the floor.
And you may tell yourself
This is not my beautiful house!
The alarm clock reads 2:17 am in the distance of the hotel room where Kain sits on the floor beside the bed, fumbling with a Glock 9mm. He's trying to put the clip in backwards and it isn't working, and he's losing consciousness between each attempt, both from fatigue and from what is presumably mild alcohol poisoning. Once he finally gets the clip loaded, he's lost interest in the firearm and its discarded on the floor at his side. Instead, he stays hunched forward sobbing into his forearms, sometimes slurring that he's sorry into the air, sometimes shouting it incoherently.
And you may tell yourself
This is not my beautiful wife!
The clock by the bed reads 3:08 am when Kain is scrolling through photos on his phone. There's a brownstone apartment under the lambent glow of a street light. There's the same house, but with lights on upstairs. Another shot with lights on downstairs. A photograph, grainy and zoomed in, of Matthew Parkman shaving in a bathroom window. Another grainy photo of Kaydence leaning over to kiss him on the top of his head where he sits at the kitchen table. There's a photo of Colene and Molly leaving school, taken from across the street. A blurry photo of Kaydence in the driver's seat of an SUV. Photos of Chinese takeout dinner viewed through partly drawn blinds. Photos of a room lit only by the glow of a television.
Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down
3:10 am, Kain finds the gun on the floor again.
Letting the days go by, water flowing underground
3:16 am, Kain remembers how the safety works, flicking it into a position so that the gun may be fired.
Into the blue again after the money's gone
3:27 am, Kain has the gun placed to the side of his head, eyes wrenched shut as he repeatedly says how sorry he is, over and over to himself.
Once in a lifetime, water flowing underground
3:33 am, Kain Zarek pulls the trigger.
Same as it ever was
3:34 am.
Same as it ever was
3:35 am.
Same as it ever was
3:36 am.
Same as it ever was
3:37 am.
Same as it ever was
3:38 am.
Same as it ever was
3:39 am.
Same as it ever was
Kain slowly opens one eye.
Same as it ever was
It was a dud.