April 14, 2013

EXT. SUBURBAN BACKYARD PATIO – FOURTH OF JULY – EVENING

Firecrackers can be heard in the neighborhood. MARC is taking hamburgers and hotdogs off a charcoal barbeque and putting them onto a serving plate. His wife LIZ and their seven-year-old daughter NATALIE anxiously take the plate from him. Other guests can be heard inside and there is a small party atmosphere. There is a fair amount of empty beer bottles around the patio. There is another older man in his 60’s seated away from Marc. He is DAVID, Marc’s dad.

LIZ
Babe, this looks so good!

NATALIE
(laughing)
Yeah Babe!

With her free hand, Liz playfully pinches Natalie’s elbow. Marc smiles and snaps BBQ tongs at her like an alligator. David gets up from his seat and takes a hotdog from the plate in Liz’s hand.

LIZ
Are you two going to come in and eat with us?

DAVID
I’m gonna take mine outside if you don’t mind. Thank you very much Liz.

MARC
I’ll be right in after I put the fire out.

NATALIE
Daddy, can we light sparklers?

MARC
(to Natalie)
After dinner sweetheart.
(to Liz)
I’ll be there in a minute. I’m going to stay out here with dad.

Liz and Natalie exit into the house. Party guests can be heard as she pushes open the sliding glass door. The crowd swells with excitement when they see the plate of food.

David takes his seat again opposite Marc. Marc has his back to him and is scraping the hot grill clean.

DAVID
Thank you for having me over. I was a little surprised to hear from you guys.

MARC
(without looking)
Liz didn’t think you should be alone on your birthday.

DAVID
My birthday was last week. It’s in June.

MARC
I know. But I mentioned how we used to celebrate it on the Fourth. I guess she thought it was a good idea.

DAVID
I’m glad she did. I wasn’t going to celebrate.

MARC
The Fourth?

DAVID
Ha, I meant my birthday but I don’t do much for the Fourth these days either. I can’t remember the last time I went out for my birthday.

David takes his first bite of his hotdog and nearly finishes the entire thing at once.

MARC
(turning to face David)
I’ll tell you the last time I remember when you went out. It was the summer I cut my foot on broken glass in the yard and couldn’t play baseball until after school started. We ate the cake early so we could light sparklers when it got dark. But you and mom got into a fight and I stood on the porch watching the neighbors and their families. After you left, mom cried her eyes out. She knew you’d be driving drunk and didn’t know if she’d have to pick you up again or if you’d come home at all. I hoped every car I saw was yours, but you didn’t come home until the next morning.

David puts the last piece of hotdog on a table and stands up.

DAVID
Look. I didn’t have to come here. Maybe I shouldn’t have. Your wife invited me and I didn’t want to upset both of you by saying no. Maybe I should go.

MARC
(raising his voice)
Sure, go. I’m used to it.

DAVID
(raising his voice to competing volume)
What do you want from me Marc?

Liz opens the sliding glass door and pops her head out into the yard.

LIZ
Is everything okay out here? I thought I heard shouting.

DAVID
(walking toward the door)
Everything’s fine sweetheart. Thank you so much for the wonderful food, I had a great time. I should get going now though. It’s getting late for the old man.

Natalie runs up to the door and pushes Liz out of the way to shout at her father.

NATALIE
Daddy, are you and grandpa leaving?

MARC
No honey, I’m not going anywhere.

NATALIE
Is grandpa leaving?

David starts speaking but is quickly interrupted by Marc.

MARC
No sweetie, he doesn’t have to go if he doesn’t want to.

NATALIE
(full of excitement)
Can we catch fireflies!?

MARC
Maybe in a little while. It has to get dark out. I haven’t seen any yet.

NATALIE
(whining)
But I saw one already!

LIZ
(to Natalie)
Natalie! Go inside! Daddy will help you catch fireflies.

Natalie stubbornly leaves the door-frame and disappears into the house, displeased.

LIZ
(to Marc and David)
Are you going to be alright out here?

DAVID
(slightly embarrassed, but smiling)
We’re fine. We’re just talking.

Liz smiles and goes back inside, closing the glass door. Marc turns his back and continues scraping the grill clean. By now it is almost dark and the fire is out.

MARC
Where did you go?

DAVID
What?

MARC
When you left me and mom. Where did you go?

DAVID
I went out for a couple of drinks. A few more than I should’ve…

David walks back towards Marc at a moderate pace. He is a little embarrassed and ashamed.

MARC
With who?

DAVID
(indignant)
Now listen, if you are insinuating that I was having an affair, you’ve got a hell of a lot of nerve buddy.

MARC
(realizing he’s overstepped his boundary)
I wasn’t insinuating.

DAVID
(aggressive and confrontational)
No. You listen to me. I loved your mother. I loved her until she died. She put up with me when no one should have. I may not remember every birthday party from twenty-five years ago but I’ll tell you what I do remember. I remember busting my ass at the grocery store 60 hours a week because I had a wife and kid. I remember cutting my own hand wide open with a butcher’s blade and going back to work the next day because you wanted a bicycle. I’m sorry the only way I knew how to relax was to go out drinking. I’m sorry I wasn’t around the house more.

MARC
(very quietly)
I never knew that’s how you cut your hand. It was for my bike.

DAVID
(still aggravated)
Yeah, well how the hell could you know? You were a little kid. Little kids don’t need to know everything. No use in growing up faster than you’re supposed to. Do you know what me and you’re mother were fighting about?

MARC
(lost in thought)
No.

DAVID
Money. Simple as that. We were fighting about money. How was I supposed work to support my family and give you everything you wanted and still have time and energy enough to enjoy spending time with you both? How do you figure that? I loved you and your mother. I still love you even when you don’t return my calls. Even when you don’t send me Christmas postcards. I’d cut my whole arm off to get you whatever you wanted, and you never realized it.

There is a long pause. People can be heard inside the house having a good time. There are sporadic pops from firecrackers and an occasional pop overhead from a whistling bottle rocket. Marc puts down the grill utensils and closes the lid. He turns to David.

MARC
All I wanted was you dad. I just wanted to spend time with you. Mom just wanted you to come home.

DAVID
(beginning to well up, speaking at a staggered pace)
Do you think I like how things turned out? I was younger than you are now and all of a sudden people depended on me. Your mother died married, without a husband. You were already grown and I had missed everything. By then it was too late. I wasn’t ready for the responsibility. I did my best. Life doesn’t come with an instruction manual. You do your best to take its cues. I’m sorry I missed mine.

The sliding door flings open and Natalie bounds out of the house. Liz can be heard calling after her from inside.

NATALIE
(exuberant)
Daddy it’s dark out! Can we light sparklers now!?

It is dark now. Before Marc can respond, the sky over the backyard erupts in simultaneous multicolored mortar bursts in sync as if the neighbors planned a fireworks display. The flashes illuminate the entire scene with changing bright colors for an extended moment.

LIZ
(chasing after Natalie)
Natalie! Get back here!

Natalie grabs her father’s and grandfather’s hand and starts pulling them out into the yard, breaking the tension. Marc and David are now focused on Natalie, smiling.

NATALIE
Daddy, come on!

MARC
(swept away in her excitement)
Nat, you don’t even have sparklers with you!

NATALIE
Mommy has them!

All three, Marc, David, and Natalie look to see Liz approaching with a box of long sparklers. A small group of party guests are watching behind her framed in the doorway. Liz hands a sparkler each to Natalie, Marc, and David last. She lights Marc’s first and he lights Natalie’s and David’s with his. They spread out and Natalie waves hers around while Marc and David stand on either side of her, holding their sparklers as the colors hiss and change colors.

The two men look at each other for a moment, then David looks at Natalie who is spinning and swinging her sparkler around, leaving light contrails in the darkness. David laughs a little, just as Natalie’s sparkler burns to the end.

NATALIE
Mommy, can I have another?

LIZ
As long as daddy says it’s okay.

Marc’s sparkler has gone out as well. David’s is nearly finished.

MARC
Sure babe. Here give them to me.

Marc takes out four more sparklers and lights all three off of David’s right before it goes out. Marc hands one each to Liz, Natalie, David, and keeps one for himself.

DAVID
(to Natalie)
I bet you can’t spell “Natalie” with your sparkler!

NATALIE
(laughing)
Yes I can!

Natalie waves her sparkler in the dark, making long curly light-trails. Marc and Liz laugh and encourage her. Right before the scene ends, hundreds of fireflies suddenly appear around the cast, tiny yellow floating orbs, as if they had been there the whole time unnoticed.

FADE TO WHITE.