Animal Magnetism

An original short piece

by

Anonymous

FADE IN:

THE FACE OF A DOG

Tense. Focused. Oblivious to the muzzle binding its jaws.

INT. A DARK, CRAMPED SPACE

The animal is lean and taught. A greyhound. A banner

draped over its back proclaims her to be “#6”.

The tip of the dog’s tail has been snipped off -- crudely,
and the wound is poorly healed.

The dog jolts at the blare of a BUZZER.

EXT. DOGTRACK – NIGHT

Illuminated by massive floodlights. The CLATTER of metal

hatchways flung open.

The crowd CHEERS as the dogs burst from their gates.

A heavy man, with a poorly kept beard and long, tangled

hair, perks up as the race begins. Seen from behind, the
back of his blue uniform reads “ORLANDO KENNEL CLUB.”

THE TRACK

A mechanical bunny BUZZES its way along a metal track like a

fuzzy monorail with ears.

The dogs trail close behind, chasing it.

Our friend #6 is doing well, leading the pack with long,

smooth, machine-like strides.
 2.

But another dog bumps her, and her timing is thrown.

She tumbles, and her momentum somersaults her down the track
in a dusty heap.

The rest of the herd thunders past.

THE BEARDED MAN

He frowns, then crumples a paper ticket in his wadded,

white-knuckle fist. SAM LIPSCOMB is not pleased.

INT. KENNEL - NIGHT

Sam enters the chain-link doorway of the kennel, latching it

closed behind him.

He flicks on the lights. The dogs blink awake.

The center aisle of the kennel is flanked on either side by

chain-link cages. Recognizing Sam, the dogs in these cages
begin to pace nervously and whimper.

SAM
Pipe down you mange-ridden
wastes of fur.

He walks between the cages. The dogs shrink to the rear of

their pens as he passes.

At the end of the walkway is a locker. Sam opens the locker

and pulls out a black leather jacket with a large Harley-
Davidson logo on the back.

He wrinkles his nose as he slips the jacket on over his

uniform. He sniffs the sleeve. Then shouts at the cages.

SAM
Smells like dogs! My Harley-Davidson
jacket smells like stinky damn dogs!

Sensing his anger, the dogs whimper louder.

Sam reaches into his jacket and pulls out a pair of tin-
snips. He SNICKS them in the air.
 3.

The dogs grow quiet.

Sam walks past the cages, smiling and snipping at the

occupants as he passes. The dogs cower.

He stops at a cage and addresses the dog within it.

SAM
There you are. I lost 100 bucks
tonight, you bowlegged mongrel!

He opens the cage. The dog retreats.

Sam drags the dog from its cage, then maneuvers the dog so
that he’s got it by the tail.

The dog squirms and howls as Sam moves the tin-snips towards
its tail.

JENNY (O.S.)
Sam...are you almost done...
Sam! Have you lost your mind?

JENNY is outside the caged enclosure. She gapes at Sam

through the chain-link. Sam looks up to meet her gaze.

SAM
Hey, look guys...it’s Jenny!

The dogs go mad at the sight of her.

The kennel suddenly erupts with the sounds of SNARLING AND

HOWLING from every pen.

Every cage RATTLES as the dogs fling themselves against the

cage doors. They chew at the wires that confine them, every
canine eye fixed on Jenny.

Even #6. The dog breaks free of Sam’s grip and charges at
Jenny. The fence bows outward as #6 slams into it.

The dog’s jaws work furiously, and foaming spittle flies as

she gnaws at the wires.

Jenny draws back from the fence with a start, falling to the
ground.
 4.

Sam just shakes his head and laughs at the spectacle.

Then he turns to a cattle prod hanging from a post -- a

thick, silver cylinder sporting two metal prongs.

Sam takes the prod and steps over to the crazed animal.

He ZAPS number six between the shoulder blades. The dog

lets out a YELP and collapses, panting heavy.

Sam grins at Jenny through the fence. He holds up the prod

and now he ZAPS the gate with an electric sizzle.

Jenny isn’t impressed. She gets up brusquely. She glares

at Sam as she dusts herself off.

JENNY
I’ll be in the car.

INT. CAR - NIGHT

Sam is driving. Jenny crouches in the passenger seat.

JENNY is slight and pale, but somehow cute in a cheap

sundress that is much too big for her. But then, most
dresses are too big for her.

JENNY
I hate going there. It’s cruel.
The way you’ve trained them to
hate me like that.

SAM
To you or to them? Hell, I’m
just havin’ a little fun.

Jenny does not respond.

SAM
And why should I care either way?
Huh? I bust my ass down there
for them stupid dogs, and for what?
Another whiny bitch session from you?
(an afterthought)
And besides...I dropped a hundred
bucks on that stupid dog.
 5.

This shocks Jenny into a response.

JENNY
A hundred dollars! How the hell
are we supposed to...?

SAM
(interrupting)
Shut-up!

Jenny grits her teeth.

JENNY
You’re not even supposed to
bet...you work there.

Without even taking his eyes off the road, Sam backhands her
with a SMACK.

SAM
SHUT-UP!

Jenny quiets down. She turns to the window as tears stream

down her reddened cheek.

Sam looks over at her. He nods, satisfied, and returns his

eyes to the road.

SAM
Do what I want.

INT. THE LIPSCOMB HOUSE – BEDROOM - NIGHT

It’s the cramped bedroom of a mobile home. But it has the

look of a place that someone is trying to make look nice
despite modest means.

Jenny exits the bathroom in a robe, but Sam has changed out
of his uniform and is buttoning up a fresh shirt.

JENNY
You’re not going out again are
you? Not tonight.

SAM
What if I am?
 6.

JENNY
But you promised. We’ve got
“Kill Bill.”
(pleading)
That was even your pick...

Sam finishes with the shirt.

SAM
Seen it. The baby is still
alive.
(looks around)
Where’s my jacket?

JENNY
Won’t you even try to make
things nice for once? Even
pretend, for God’s sake? It
used to be good. Didn’t it?

Sam looks to the bed. There’s his jacket.

He picks up the jacket to reveal a large souvenir pillow

beneath it. From one of those beachside shops that can take
your picture and put it on stuff.

It bears a large, smiling photo of a younger Jenny, and

below that, the words “Spring Break 1990”.

Sam pauses at the sight of this pillow. He tosses his

jacket back on the bed.

He snatches up the pillow in one hand. He grabs the back of

Jenny’s head with the other.

He lifts the pillow to her face.

SAM
Yeah, baby. It used to be real
good. You see that? This is
what was good 15 years ago.

Then he twists her head towards a mirror on the wall and

pushes her face up to it.
 7.

SAM
This is what I see today.

JENNY
I don’t think they’re so
different.

She’s right. The intervening years have been kind, and

she’s changed very little.

SAM
Of course you don’t.

He pushes her to the ground then tosses the pillow at her.

He snatches up his jacket. Jenny looks up to him.

JENNY
Sam, please...

Sam fixes her with a look of disgust. He slips into his

jacket, then turns and stomps out the door.

Jenny sobs, clutching the pillow as Sam’s heavy footfalls

echo down the hall.

EXT. A TREE LIMB - SUNRISE

A bird chirps on the limb.

THE TREE ITSELF

A car is awkwardly parked at the base of this tree, a good

five feet off the driveway, with its fender dented from a
mild collision with the trunk of this tree.

Moving across the yard, and now to the porch of a mobile

home. A smashed Budweiser bottle litters the steps.

The front door is wide open, so we continue on inside.

 8.

INT. LIVING ROOM - MORNING

Sam is sprawled on the couch, passed out in his underwear.

His clothes have been tossed in random directions.

He snores very loudly.

Jenny enters in her robe. She stares at Sam. Then

dutifully begins gathering his clothes.

She picks up his jacket. Looks at it in disgust. Then she

puts her finger through a rip on the sleeve.

She looks from the jacket over to Sam, thoughtfully, as if

considering something.

MONTAGE:

- Jenny digs through the closet and pulls out her sewing
kit.

- Sam is passed out on the couch.

- Jenny in the kitchen, working with scissors, and cutting

something that remains unseen.

- Sam is passed out on the couch. Same position.

- Jenny in the kitchen, with a needle and thread, sewing

Sam’s jacket.

- Sam is passed out on the couch. Wait. Signs of life. He

scratches his scrotum.

END MONTAGE.

INT. LIVING ROOM - DAY

Jenny shakes Sam awake. He speaks with his face still in

the pillow.

SAM
What the hell do you want?
 9.

JENNY
The alarm has gone off down at
the track. Somebody is trying
to break in.

Sam jerks alert at this.

SAM
What? Not again.

JENNY
The alarm service just called.
They said the police should
already be on the way.

SAM
Well...shit. I guess I better
get down there then.

Sam looks around.

SAM
So what happened to my clothes?

INT. KITCHEN - DAY

Jenny is pouring coffee into a thermos. Sam enters.

Dressed now. She hands him the thermos.

JENNY
You’ll have to take the bike.
I tried the car this morning
but it wouldn’t start.

Sam frowns at this, then grins, and then begins giggling.

He slaps his head.

SAM
Oh fuck! I remember that now.
Yeah...I’ll take a look at it
when I get back.
(looks around)
Where the hell is my jacket?

Jenny picks it up, folded on the counter behind her.

 10.

JENNY
Oh. It’s right here.

She moves behind Sam, then unfolds the jacket and helps him
slip it on.

JENNY
There was a tear in it. I sewed
it back up for you.

Sam checks out the sleeve.

SAM
Well, alright! Maybe you aren’t
completely worthless after all.

Jenny gives him a weak smile, responding to the most praise

she has received from him in years.

Sam smacks Jenny on the ass and heads towards the door.

JENNY

From a distance, she watches Sam leave on his belching

chopper. He turns the corner and rumbles from view.

EXT. CAR - DAY

Jenny was watching Sam from inside the dented car.

She keys it, and it starts just fine.

She throws it into reverse and PEELS into the street.

Then she flings it into drive and tears off, SCREECHING down
the road in the opposite direction.

INT. KENNEL - DAY

Sam enters cautiously, looking for intruders. It is dark.

Sam flicks on the lights.

All the cages are open. All of the dogs are wandering along
the walkway, freed from the pens.
 11.

SAM
What the...?

They cluster together, cowering when they see Sam. But a

few tentative growls rise up from the group.

SAM
Who the fuck is growling?

He reaches into his jacket and pulls out the tin-snips. He

SNICKS them at the group.

SAM
So who’s growling now, huh?

The dogs cower anew, and now there is no growling.

SAM
That’s more like it. Now
let’s get you sorry mutts
back were you belong.

He turns to retrieve the cattle prod from its spot on the

post, turning his back on the dogs, just for a moment --

-- revealing that the Harley-Davidson patch on the back of

his jacket has been replaced -- with a picture of Jenny.

Her smiling Spring Break photo from the pillow.

Now sewn onto the back of Sam’s beloved jacket.

Fresh GROWLS from the dogs, all the dogs this time, quickly
raising to a fever pitch.

Sam looks back over his shoulder.

SAM
Huh?

And the dogs go berserk.

Dozens of hounds leap onto Sam, each with its powerful jaws
seeking meaty purchase on his neck, arms, legs, or ample
love handles.

Sam CRIES OUT as one dog rips off his ear.

 12.

He tumbles to the ground, buried beneath an avalanche of

snarling dogs intent on tearing him limb from limb.

But despite his pain and horror, Sam’s eyes can grow still
wider with shock. And they do when he spies --

SAM’S P.O.V.

There is Jenny, smiling, watching him through the gate.

He then sees a pair of jaws, approaching fast.

They clamp onto his face.

Then, just black. And Sam screaming.

FADE OUT.