The Blind
M.S. Dirnberger
05-11-09
FADE IN INTERIOR HOUSE.
Early evening
Camera pans through house, details of textures of grain on wood, texture of the walls, and other surfaces that have their own visual interpretations. As well as descriptive items detailing the household’s comfort and happiness.
INTERIOR BEDROOM
MAN sits on his bed in rumpled clothing with a frumpy look about him. There is a knock at the front door and the man turns to regard its direction.
INTERIOR DININGROOM
A WOMAN sits at her dinning room table with tea sets placed and stirs from examining her cup looking up at the sound. She gets up and we are left looking at the table with cups sitting vacant at place settings.
Woman
(V.O.)
Oh, Bertie, how are you?
Bertie
(V.O.)
I’m just fine, thank you Isabel (woman). How are you and Maurice?
Isabel
(V.O.)
That's the reason why I called you over here. Please, please, come in and join me for a cup of tea. I was just setting the evening table.
INTERIOR BEDROOM IN HOUSE
As we hear Isabel and Bertie moving towards the dining hall, the man stands and camera follows him as he walks over to his dresser. Atop the dresser we see the camera pan as the man leads his hand over metals and ribbons sitting on top. He moves his hand over a pair of boots that sit dusty, the polish starting to lose its luster. The walls muffle the sound of Isabel and Bertie talking. The man strains his ear to hear the voices as he carries through his actions. Isabel ‘s laughter comes into focus.
INTERIOR DINING ROOM
Isabel laughs heartily at unknown joke and smiles warm heartily. Bertie smiles back with friendly affection watching Isabel’s body move with bubbly mirth.
Isabel
That was wonderful. You really should stop practicing law and become a comedian. I always loved your dry Humor. I wish that Maurice could have heard that one.
Bertie fiddles his thumbs in a self-conscious manner.
Bertie
True, but I don't like standing and talking in front of people.
Isabel suppresses a smile with a quivering lip and then looses her composure.
Isabel
Goodness, you really are too much. Here, two sugars right?
Bertie
Yes please, of course. By the way, where is Maurice?
Isabel clears her throat and starts off in a more serious tone.
Isabel
He’s upstairs taking his afternoon rest. He hasn’t been the same since his last tour.
INTERIOR BEDROOM IN HOUSE
Man Dresses slowly and methodically. He reaches for a brush on the end of a dresser and his hand stops short of the brushes handle, he clenches his hand and lets it fall back to his side limply.
INTERIOR HALL TO BATHROO TO HALL
He leaves the room and walks down the hall to a bathroom and washes his face and hands. He towels off and slowly heads back down the hall towards the stairs, a wraith in the evening night, silent as a whisper.
Isabel
(V.O.)
To tell you the truth I don’t know why he acts so morbidly depressed. We have everything here. He never complains, he never yells, he just…is (she looks off at a window). It’s as if the loss of his vision has taken his heart with it. And I feel that emptiness every time I look at him.
Bertie
(V.O.)
Please, be patient and kind to him. He’s a good person, and has been through a lot.
Isabel
(V.O.)
What about me? What about my suffering? Am I not allowed to be racked with grief?
Bertie
(V.O.)
Now, now, you know I mean no harm. You are right to have grief. I am not trying to make your feelings any less substantial. But try to think about his pain. He lost a child too.
Isabel
(V.O.)
Yes, but he has only lost the baby. I have lost them both.
INTERIOR DINING ROOM
Bertie
Isabel !
Isabel
What? Oh, I didn’t mean he’s dead. It’s just that when he talks to me, his voice just seems, so, dead. As if I am not there, that I am just another obstacle he has to maneuver blindly around.
Bertie
You’re not just an object to him. I can tell you that much on his behalf. You both have suffered a lot, and I’m sure he thinks that you are a great supportive person. Especially with the way you’ve been taking care of him. It’s only natural that you should feel slighted in emotions. He is in the dark in more ways then one now when it comes to how to help you. What is it that you really want from him?
Isabel
What could I want? I want to know my husband (Voice softens). I want him to love me.
Isabel starts to cry and Bertie pulls his chair closer to her. Consoling her.
Bertie
All these years, you two have been my closest friends. Time can only heal the wounds of past. The two of you are both right; there is no wrong side to be had. All I can hope is that you can see the truth of his love in the little things he does.
There is a noise and Isabel and Bertie look towards the door to see what it is. The camera pans to show Maurice (man) standing in the doorway. He rubs the tips of his fingers together on his left hand feeling his existence while his left hand rests on the wall feeling the existence of the rest of the world. Slowly he steps into the room and out of the evening's deepening shadows to stand across the table from the other two. The sounds of the room come into crisp awareness. A tree branch taps at the glass of one of the windows lazily. The Grandmother clocks ticking echoes heavily in the air.
Isabel
(Wiping tears from her eyes)
Oh, it’s you my love. I was wondering when you would wake up. I apologize. Did I wake you?
Marcel shakes his head in a slow fashion taking in the sound the air makes as it passes through his ears.
Maurice
(Softly)
No my love. You did not wake me. I have been up for a time, and thought it right that I should join you for tea and company.
Isabel
(Rustling her hands and her napkin.)
Take no worry of what has been said here. I was only Venting frustrations nothing more.
Marcel puts up a hand in a gentle gesture silencing Isabel.
Maurice
No. You have all the right in the world to feel as you do. Thank you Bertie for being such a good friend to us both.
Bertie mumbles to himself and gets up saying something about needing to use the bathroom.
Isabel sits impatient looking up at Maurice waiting for the agonizing time alone with him to pass. The tick of the Grandmother clock seemingly laughs about the passage of each moment.
Maurice
Isabel...
Isabel
Yes my love?
Maurice
I know that I have not always been the best of husbands by any means. I do wish to share my life and all of my love with you.
Isabel begins to cry again.
Maurice
Don't cry...ok, do cry let it all out.
Maurice walks over to sit in the empty chair by her side, gingerly feeling for its top. He then places his hands on Isabel 's shoulders. She looks at his hands and reaches to hold them. When she wraps her fingers around his, she notices his hands trembling.
Maurice
I know how badly you wish for us to be bonded together like we used to be. I miss those times too. I wish for us to get to know each other again.
Isabel
Maurice your hands! Is something wrong? Why are you shaking so badly?
Maurice
Just hear me out love, please. Before I begin to lose my resolve.
Maurice returns Isabel’s hand holding and lightly as a feather begins to take in every smooth plane and contour of her hands through his fingers. He gazes deep into her eyes and closes his lids.
Maurice
Close your eyes my love.
Isabel
What’s this about Maurice?! You’re scaring me.
Maurice
Shh....just close your eyes.
Isabel
(In a feathery voice)
No, what do you mean close my eyes? This is not like you at all. What are you doing?
Maurice
Please Isabel. Just indulge me one more time. I promise that I will not do anything bad. Just, trust me.
Isabel gives him a cross look and bites her lower lip chewing in thought. She looks into his Maurice’s blank waiting face and shrugs her shoulders.
Maurice
Now. Just let your arms relax. Good. Now let me guide your hands.
Maurice takes her hands and guides them up to his face and places her fingertips lightly over his forehead. He then takes his fingers and slides them up over her hands, down her arms, up her neck and onto her face. He begins to trace over her face like he did her hands. Isabel shivers as she moves her hands over his face in a similar pattern. Their breath comes in sharp labored bursts. Carrying the wait of all the words that could and could not be said.
FADE OUT TO BLACK.
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