featherxquill

A young girl stands in a suburban backyard. We see her, almost in profile, through the gaps of clothes - all men's businesswear - hanging on a line. Wind toys with her hair. She doesn't move.

Blur and darkness. Flashes of light. Blue, red, white, pulling back to see her face bathed in the flicker of television light, dwarfed by a loungechair. The sound of a door opening. She turns, a smile spreads across her face. A woman sits down on a different lounge against one wall. Television light across her skin, too, but paler. She offers a tight smile and beckons. The girl and a boy (a few years younger) climb up onto the lounge with her. One on each knee. Her hand goes around the boy's shoulders, strokes the girl's hair. She says: "Your father and I have decided we don't love each other anymore".

Darkness. Tap, tap, tap - not rhythmic. Fade in to feet in black school shoes and white frilly socks swinging against the bottom bar of a kitchen stool. Something scrapes and clicks; focus moves to the woman who has just put something in a box that stands on the table beside her. Apart from the table and patterned brown linoleum on the floor, the room is unremarkable. Focus shifts higher. We see the top of the woman's head, the bare wall, cornice and ceiling behind her. The foot tapping resumes. The girl, face not seen, says: "Can we have a party when you and Dad get back together?"

--Angela Nicholl
Tutor: Alex Munt
Tutorial Time: Wed 4pm