Ice Box Episode 7.05 “Hard At Work or Hardly Working” 04/14/2009

The phone conference has concluded and Bradley Fulton leaves the Kane Manor angered. Edward Crawford remains at home unaware that Bradley was upset. He goes back to his bedroom to begin the quick planning project for the Winter Festival. He begins to think about what he should do first.

“I should probably meet with the mayor and see if this is possible,” Edward thinks aloud.

He grabs his laptop and various lists of ideas for the festival. He leaves heading to the mayor’s house. While in the car he listens to the Kane radio station.

“Can you believe it? Some lucky camper could get a lot of money for selling the video, I’m sure. I never thought that Bi—“ the radio says before Edward turns on his CD player.

He arrives to the mayor’s house and hopes that he is home. Edward knocks on the door. A woman in her fifties answers the door, “Hello, is the mayor home?”

The woman looks Edward over, fully aware of whom he is. “Yes, he is. Please come in,” she says politely.

Edward walks inside the house, into the living room, and finds a seat on the couch. “I’ll go get him for you,” the kind woman says.

He waits patiently on the couch for the mayor. Within a few minutes he arrives. “What do I owe the honor of having Edward Crawford in my home?” the mayor asks.

“Before we get to that, I want to make sure you’re not busy. If you have plans we can reschedule. I feel terrible dropping by unannounced, I’m sorry.”

“Nonsense, I was only reading. So what’s going on?”

Edward pulls out his laptop and goes to the historical site that explains the Winter Festival. He has the mayor look it over.

The mayor smiles, “I remember those days. I was only 5 years old at the last one I attended. It was fun for the whole town.”

“I’m glad you enjoyed yourself. This is the reason for my visit today. I really want to try and put something like this together again,” Edward explains.

“Ah, you’ll have a lot of work ahead of you.”

Edward glances at his laptop then back at the mayor, “I was also hoping to get the help of the local officials. Would you be able to help in any way?”

“That depends on what kind of help you’re looking for. I won’t be able to do a lot of physical activity, but I could help with some of the legal mumbo-jumbo. If that’s what you need,” the mayor offers his help.

“Right now this is what I need to do,” Edward hands a list over to the mayor.

The mayor looks it over and explains to the best of his knowledge as to what Edward should do, “The request to close a street down; for that you should meet with the police department. Talk to Elizabeth, she’ll be able to help you out. You’re best friends with her right?”

“Yeah, I shouldn’t have a problem there. I’ll stop by after we’re done here,” Edward tells him.

“A request to gather snow using borough trucks might be tricky. I’ll look into this one. You’ll have to get approval from the council at their meeting, which is in a few days. Make plans to attend so we can bring up the idea,” he advises Edward, “As for getting the information out, it would be ideal to go to the radio station and Kane Republican offices and ask them to put an announcement out there. That’s pretty much what’s on the list.”

“Well, thank you so much. You’ve been a big help,” Edward says as he packs up his laptop and papers. “I’m going to be busy it seems. I better get a move on,” Edward says as he stands up along with the mayor.

Elizabeth Blair is kneeling on the floor cleaning up tomato juice from the floor with a towel. She mumbles to herself in an angry tone.

Edward walks into the police station with papers in a vanilla folder. He doesn’t see Elizabeth who is behind the tall counter. Edward walks up to the counter and waits to see someone who can help him. He turns around and leans an elbow on top of the counter while looking out the window. Elizabeth rises from the kneeling position.

“Can I help you?” Elizabeth asks unknowing that it is Edward.

Edward puts a hand on his chest, “Holy, sweet Jesus! I know you’re good at this police business, but you don’t have to scare the crap out of the citizens. You appeared like a ghost.”

“Sorry,” she apologizes, “I guess that’s how I am able to do a great job catching those criminals.”

“That’s okay, just let me catch my breath now,” he tells her. After a minute or so he continues, “The mayor told me I needed to see you about something. Can we talk in your office?”

“Yeah, it’s right in there,” she says as she points to a room off to Edward’s right. He starts walking into the room as Elizabeth follows him.

Edward finds a seat, as does Elizabeth at her desk. She pours herself a glass of water, “Would you like some?”

Edward nods his head, “No, thank you. The reason I’m here is—“

Elizabeth cuts him off, “You’re in trouble?”

“No, I—“

“Forgot to pay your parking tickets?” she interrupts again.

“No, I just need,” he tries to continue.

She becomes anxious, “You need my help, because someone stole your identity and now your credit is shot. You don’t know what to do now, because you’re broke?”

“Um, has someone stolen my identity?” he asks confused.

“I don’t know, George,” Elizabeth jokes.

“You seem bored, Elizabeth. Have you been getting enough sleep?” he asks her.

“I haven’t been sleeping a whole lot lately. To be honest, yes, I’m bored,” she states.

“You want something to do?” he asks.

“Anything, please,” she begs.

“I need the forms for requesting a street to be closed.”

“That’s it?” she says as she looks disappointed.

“I’m afraid so,” he tries to make her feel better, “But if someone does steal my identity, you’ll be the first one I call.”

By late afternoon Jamie Crawford comes home from a long day at school. He quickly goes to his room, drops his book bag down on his bed, and then opens his laptop. In the address bar on his internet program he types www.collegeboard.com. He glares at the upcoming date for the SATs that he’s been pressuring himself to register for.

“It’s now or never, I have to get the registration in on time. I can’t afford a late fee,” he says to himself aloud.

While passing his bedroom, his mother, Susan Crawford, over hears Jamie talking to himself, “Honey, who are you talking to?”

Jamie becomes startled by his mother, “I was talking to myself. I’m going to register for the SATs. I have to do extremely well on the tests or I can kiss college goodbye.”

Susan comes over to her son and puts a loving hand on his shoulder. “Listen, the SATs are not a defining moment in your life. You may think they are, but it’s just a test. Register for the darn thing and get it over with. Don’t worry about it,” she tells him.

“I’m not so sure I want to take these tests lightly. My college career depends on them,” he explains to her.

“You still have that dream of going to Harvard or some ivy league school, don’t you?” she asks him while putting a hand to her hip.

Jamie nods his head and looks deep into her eyes, “It’s not a dream, mom. I’m serious.”

“Well, I’m serious, too. You can try your hardest and get a perfect on that test; I just don’t see you going to Harvard. You are bright as hell, but I’m not going to send you to some ivy league school where the students think their shit doesn’t stink,” she becomes energized as if her body has just released loads of adrenaline.

“Mom, settle down before you give yourself an aneurism. I’m not saying I want to go to Harvard right away. I want to make sure I get into a great college. It’s bad enough when I have tons of homework every school night. I don’t want to have to worry about you getting upset with me going to a college you don’t approve of,” he tells her.

She puts her hand to her forehead as if she has a headache, “You have two years till you go to college.”

“I have 639 days left to find a college. I wish it was a leap year; I’d have one more day. That’s only a year and three-fourths to figure out what I want to do with the rest of my life. If you’re going to get upset with me because I want to lay my life’s path out in front of me with plenty of time to see where I’m going, then get upset in private. This is my life and I want to have control,” he says as he becomes angry.

She brings her hand down from her forehead, “You are only seventeen years old. You are still a minor and you are lucky I’m not like some parents. I actually care about my son and what he’s going to be able to do when I’m gone. You’ve been doing great, growing up becoming a wonderful young man. I just want to leave this earth knowing that you’ll be able to take care of yourself. I won’t be around forever.”

“All I’m saying is that I don’t want you to get upset at me for trying to take care of myself. I’m the one that won’t be around forever,” Jamie raises his voice.

Susan becomes teary eyed, and then a tear falls across her cheek. “Mom, stop crying. I’m not going away anytime soon,” he tries to comfort her.

“It’s not you leaving that’s the problem. I can get to whatever college you go to and whoop your ass if I want to,” she grabs a tissue from his desk and blows her nose.

A puzzled Jamie asks, “Then, what is the problem and why are you crying?”

Bradley Fulton sits in his motel room with Derek Bedford on the bed. The two have been relaxing all day without a care in the world. “Let’s go out for another dinner,” Derek suggests.

Bradley looks at him as he sticks out his stomach, “With all this eating out we’re doing, I’m going to be as big as a house.”

“Nonsense, I think you look just fine. Besides it’s not like we could fix something here,” Derek comments.

“I’m glad you mentioned that, because for that reason, I wanted to ask you something important,” Bradley sits up on the bed while Derek looks up at him.

“Go on,” Derek tells him.

“I sorta want to rent a house or maybe just an apartment for a little while. Before you say anything, hear me out, please,” Bradley puts his pointer finger softly against Derek’s lips. “If we were to get a house or apartment we would have room to move around. We wouldn’t have to live out of our suitcases. We could use our kitchen to make meals, and eat them at a dining room table. Most importantly we could be a little louder without fear of someone over hearing us… doing something that would cause us to be loud,” he continues as he smiles towards the end of his vocalizations thinking about when one instance being in a house would feel like a godsend.

Derek lets a smile show on his face. Just as he is about to say something Bradley’s cell phone rings.

“Hello,” Bradley answers. “I suppose… yeah… okay. I’ll be over in ten minutes,” he tells the other person on the phone.

“Tell me that was not Edward Crawford on the phone,” he tells Bradley.

Bradley smiles sympathetically knowing all too well that Derek is upset because he has to leave, “Fine, it was Edward Cullen. I have to meet him at his house to work on some things. I’m really sorry.”

Derek raises one eye brow and says, “I wish it was Edward Cullen. Listen, I’ll be in bed by the time you come home because I’ll be bored to tears. Do you want to do something tomorrow night, just the two of us? I’ll think of something special we can do. What do you say?”

“As long as Mr. Cullen isn’t invited, sure, I’d love to spend an evening with you,” Bradley tells him, “I have to go now. I’m sure tomorrow night will be great. I’ll try and be home as soon as possible. Love you.”

While Bradley is at Edward’s house, he listens to the details of the Winter Festival. However, they are not the only ones listening to the details. Myles Montgomery and Irwin Armstrong sit in front of a computer watching Edward’s computer screen move. More impressively they are able to hear them speak.

“I’m so glad you were able to figure something out to bug Edward’s computer,” Myles says to Irwin.

Irwin looks at Myles and replies, “I’m super excited that the microphone on his computer is sending us their entire conversation. This is so hilarious.”