INT PHAT AND JUICY CONVENIENCE - EVENING MR. JONES, in his late 30s and the manager of Phat and Juicy Convenience is tabulating the books and counting money at the desk with a cigar in his mouth. SCOTT, in his late teens, is cleaning up as they work together to close the store up for the day. Dusting off various products, SCOTT lifts up a travel bottle of shampoo which is stuck to the shelf with bubble gum. SCOTT I found another one, boss. MR JONES The gum, again? SCOTT I hope that's what it is. SCOTT smells the unidentified gummy substance. MR JONES God dammit those kids are gonna pay. SCOTT Boys will be boys. MR JONES Boys will be beat down if I catch them in here. Scott removes as much of the gum as he can before placing the bottle it back in its place. SCOTT You know, I've been thinking, maybe we should hook up that video camera to a VCR or something. CLOSE UP on camera A sign underneath reads "Smile, you're on the 6 o'clock news if you try anything." MR JONES That camera does its job, as long as people see the red light they think its working. SCOTT (to himself) 'cept for when we get robbed. MR JONES What? SCOTT Huh?... Nothing. MR JONES (to himself) Punk ass little... Sound of bottle breaking outside. MR JONES (CONT'D) I bet you're the one putting all that gum down there, huh? "I found another one, boss. I found another one boss." All by yourself in here all day and half the shampoo got gum under it when I come back. You ain't got but a $100 in the register. How many people is that? 7? 9? SCOTT rolls his eyes. MR JONES (O.S.) (CONT'D) I heard that! MR JONES (CONT'D) Boy if you weren't my wife's son I'd-... SCOTT Yeah, yeah. KEVIN, another employee a his early 20's bangs on the door and cuts off the argument. KEVIN Mr. Jones, Scott. What's up? MR JONES We're just about to head home. If Scotty could beam himself a brain here. MR JONES laughs at his lame joke. KEVIN Yeah, I hear that. KEVIN never heard that and mouths the words "beam himself a brain" as he makes a disagreeable face while MR JONES walks away with a butter knife to help SCOTT get the rest of the gum. MR JONES (O.S.) You hear that, Scott? He thinks you're stupid too. SCOTT (O.S.) Aahh go to hell you silly bastard. KEVIN looks down at the desk and shuffles a few envelopes. KEVIN Are these for this week? MR JONES works a piece of gum off the shelf. MR JONES Yeah, you might as well take them now. KEVIN Scott, heads up. KEVIN throws SCOTT's envelope to him. SCOTT Put it in my jacket, will ya? SCOTT throws it back and KEVIN nods and proceeds. KEVIN Hey Jonsey, can you drop me off at my girlfriends on your way out? MR JONES Where she live? KEVIN About 4 blocks away, its on the way back to your place. MR JONES Yeah, alright. MR JONES and SCOTT head back up to the desk where SCOTT kisses his paycheck. MR JONES gathers up a few things. SCOTT Speaking of liquid assets... SCOTT flicks KEVIN's paycheck. ...you owe a 10 dollars. KEVIN No I don't. SCOTT Yes you do. KEVIN No I don't. SCOTT Yes you do. KEVIN No I don't. SCOTT Yes you do. MR JONES Oh good god. SCOTT locks his eyes on MR JONES as he goes into his speech. MR JONES (CONT'D) (mocking the kids) "Kevin can I barrow ten dollars?" "I don't know Scott what are you gonna buy with it?" "What's it matter? I'll pay you back." "Well, right now its my ten dollars, and I wanna know what its gonna be used for." "Just give me the 10 dollars." "I don't want to give you the 10 dollars." "Its only 10 dollars." "So why do you want it so bad." "Holy Lord, I could have robbed somebody by now and it would have been easier." "Fine, take it, just promise me you'll shut up." MR JONES looks at the boys without patience to see if the boys remember. KEVIN Oh, right, those 10 dollars. KEVIN hands SCOTT the money, while SCOTT's still looking at his dad. SCOTT And you can't remember your pin number. SCOTT grabs a rack of scratch tickets SCOTT (CONT'D) Hey pop, pick one. SCOTT holds up the rack of scratch tickets and MR JONES picks one up and gives it to SCOTT who pockets it. KEVIN Oh fuck, you could at least throw my money away when I'm not here. MR JONES finishes gathering his things and the three walk out the door. EXT OUTSIDE PHAT AND JUICY CONVENIENCE - EVENING Continuing towards the car, MR JONES notices they have a flat. MR JONES Awwwww ssshhh... KEVIN You gotta spare? I'll can change it. MR JONES opens the truck for the jack and spare. SCOTT Yeah, you two change it. Lemme have the keys, boss. MR JONES throws him the keys. MR JONES Don't start it up. SCOTT sits at shotgun, turns on the radio and chills after a hard days work. We see the other two through a window behind SCOTT who remains in the frame. KEVIN No that's alright. Lemme do it. MR JONES Its my car, I'll take care of it. KEVIN No, that's alright. Let me see. MR JONES I got it. Ok? KEVIN C'mon, just let me hold your nuts or something. SCOTT suppresses a laugh. KEVIN (CONT'D) I....I didn't mean it like that. MR JONES You're god damn right you didn't mean it like that. Just let me... KEVIN grabs the jack, still in MR JONES' hands. MR JONES (CONT'D) Let go. KEVIN C'mon I can do it. MR JONES W-...Why do you want to change my damn tire...did you...Did you have something to do with this?? KEVIN What?... No. SUBTITLE: Yes MR JONES Kevin?? KEVIN No, why would you even think something like that? SUBTITLE: I threw a bottle at it before I came in. MR JONES points the tire iron to KEVIN'S face and remains suspicious knowing he probably did it but realizes he has no proof and lets it go. They go to fix the tire as SCOTT looks around in the glove box. Mr JONES puts the jack in place. MR JONES Here, jack that up. SCOTT locates a penny and sits back down, he reaches in his pocket and pulls out the ticket. He studies it as the car starts to raise and he's jerked around a little before scratching one of the spaces on the ticket. KEVIN Alright, that's good enough. Here, I'll take the old one off, you can put the new one on. SCOTT takes his time and thinks about this one before he scratches and is pleased with the results. He looks back at the two as they work on the tire. As MR JONES puts the new tire back on KEVIN gets in the car behind SCOTT. SCOTT scratches the ticket again. SCOTT Hey, check that out, I won. KEVIN Get the fuck out. No you didn't. SCOTT (laughing) Yeah I did. KEVIN How much? SCOTT I don't know, turn that light on. KEVIN turns on the dome lamp. SCOTT (CONT'D) A...ten thousand. MR JONES (O.S.) What?! SCOTT hehe, I won ten thousand dollars. MR JONES (O.S.) Well, shit, give it here. SCOTT Yeah and never see it again? MR JONES (O.S.) You can see my ticket any time you want to. SCOTT I'm not gonna give my ticket to you. KEVIN You're damn right, that tickets mine. You bought it with my money. MR JONES (O.S.) No way in hell, I picked the ticket out. I got bills I need to pay. MR JONES finishes putting the tire back and lets the car fall back to the ground. SCOTT Its my ticket, I didn't see either of you scratching it. KEVIN C'mon man, you know you wouldn't even have that ticket if it weren't for my ten dollars. MR JONES And you wouldn't even have his ten dollars if it weren't for me. What the hell you need ten thousand dollars for anyway? SCOTT Oh jee, I don't know, I think I'll blow it all in Europe with a few friends. MR JONES Oh good lord no. KEVIN Can I come? SCOTT I'll think about it. KEVIN Think about it?! Man you know as well as I do half that ticket is mine! MR JONES Hold on, hold on, hold on, I'm sorry, what was I thinking. I don't need the whole ticket, I'll just take half. KEVIN What about my half? MR JONES You aint getting my half. SCOTT And you aint getting my ticket. MR JONES Ok hold on, we're just a little excited here. Now I know we can agree that you now have a scratch ticket, a winning ticket, mind you, that's worth ten thousand dollars. Now the events leading up to you owning that ticket are not completely without our help. SCOTT Oh hell no. MR JONES Hear me out, now, hear me out. Let's be reasonable, lets be fair, and lets split it three ways. KEVIN What about my half? MR JONES A third is better than nothing, which is more than your ass deserves. SCOTT No...I don't think... MR JONES Ok $1,000 SCOTT What? MR JONES $500 SCOTT Five hun?... MR JONES $200 SCOTT You want... MR JONES You don't do shit around the house. You owe me at least $100 dollars. Why don't you take the garbage out? SCOTT We're not-.... MR JONES Why don't you take the garbage out? SCOTT Listen-... MR JONES Why don't you take the garbage out? SCOTT This isn't... MR JONES Why don't you take the garbage out? SCOTT You think just-... MR JONES Are you gonna take the garbage out? SCOTT What garbage?! MR JONES Are you gonna take the garbage out? SCOTT Yes! I'll take the garbage out. MR JONES Are you gonna give me your ticket? SCOTT No! This ticket was just another piece of paper until I came along and scratched it right. KEVIN You know you aint smart enough to scratch anything right. SCOTT (sarcastically very serious and monotonous) Stop kissing my ass, flattery won't get you the ticket. KEVIN I'll kiss your ass later. SCOTT Promises promises. Its still my ticket. KEVIN And you wouldn't have that ticket without my ten dollars. MR JONES Or if I didn't pick it out... We see a close up of each person as they eye the other occupants of the car. As they keep their eyes on one another the music builds and crescendos to silence when some kids put their chewed gum on the window and run away. MR JONES (CONT'D) Hey! That's them! Get'em! MR JONES opens the door and KEVIN follows quickly behind. MR JONES (CONT'D) Get back here you little punk! When I catch you I'm gonna staple your ass to your face! MR JONES and KEVIN run off in hot pursuit while SCOTT starts the car up and leisurely pursues as he too leaves. After they're gone a few more kids open the unlocked door to the store run in and quickly run out with some chips and candy before spray painting something on the window. THE END (c) 2002 Josh Anderson