GIANT JOSEPHINE By David Ruzicka Draft 1 Copyright Orlando, FL 2013 PROPERTY OF: DAVID RUZICKA 10501 DEMILO PLACE #308 ORLANDO, FL 32836
1 Characters JOSEPHINE Location s secondhand clothing store. Halloween night.
2 GIANT JOSEPHINE (Lights come up on three mannequins in store display upstage. They are facing away, to the sidewalk on the other side of the window. They are in wigs and dresses. enters the light and rips their wigs and dresses off one by one, which looks somewhat violent and strange. He puts Halloween masks on the mannequins: monsters and jack-olanterns. He places some decorations at their feet. To SR of the mannequins is the front door, which he props open. He pokes his head out and looks around in the darkness. It is quiet. He sits at a downstage desk and opens his laptop. He sits facing upstage. He turns on a Halloween radio station, which plays the usual mockcreepy Halloween tunes. Next to the laptop are a few big bags of candy. He waits. After a beat, a disheveled, tall s outline becomes suddenly visible at the door. The stands there, motionless. does not notice him; he is busy on the internet.) Are you open? ( is startled. He gasps.) Jesus!...we re only open for the kiddies. For candy. If kiddies want candy. If kiddies want candy, they dress up in costumes. That s who the candy s for. ( does not move or respond.) If you don t have on a costume, you should leave. I don t have candy for you. ( does not move or respond. stands.) Please kindly leave. Normal business hours are...
3 ( takes a few steps in and takes a dress off of an upstage rolling clothing rack. He has a crumpled look, as if cast aside on a dusty shelf.) With all the costumes you ve got here, I could throw something together. Something great. Then could I have some candy, too? No. Reserved for little bumps in the night only, not big bumps like me? That s right. You catch on fast, mister. Anyway, we don t sell COSTUMES. We sell good quality secondhand merchandise here. Refined ensembles. Oh, made the place fancy, did you? Really fixed it up? Bet you think you improved it. Bet you think you re better. Bet you Josephine isn t pleased. Is that right? It is. She told me. She doesn t like you. What you do. She s the lady who lived here before me, isn t that right? What do you know about her? What do you know? I asked you first. ( doesn t respond.) Big lady. There was a photo, got left behind upstairs. Pretty kooky looking. Wild eyes....we talking about the same woman?
4 Josephine kept crows in a cage. Did you see any feathers? Feathers? No. She sat upstairs and watched the neighborhood children. She threatened to chop them up and feed them to her crows when they made too much noise. Well she sounds like a real pleasant character. Children making noise, they ve got their place. That s what your youth is for. The children have a purity. It s so beautiful. I wish I could have it for myself! Trying to recapture your youth, playing with children? Sometimes I think children are all we have left that s good in the world. Seems enticing them with something sweet s the only way they ll pay me and my wife any mind. Did you ever hear what the local kids would say about the lady upstairs? They would whisper: An autumn gust blows From the world in between Hide beneath your bed From Giant Josephine Kept everybody in line, somehow. Giant is right. I was wondering how the upstairs toilet bowl got cracked in two. ( stares at him.) Thank you for the information. Cute little joke you ve got here. Now have a good evening.
5 You ll be sorry. You may be right. ( stands and stares.) I am a good man. I ve done nothing wrong. I m just trying to show this neighborhood who I am. Leave me be. You ll scare them away, and they re flighty. (After a moment, the slowly moves to go, holding the dress.) Please return the merchandise to its rightful place. Thank you. ( puts the dress back.) ( disappears into the darkness. The only sound is the radio station. looks around the room, clearly unsettled. He walks to the front door and closes it. He goes off SR and flips the switches that turn off the lights over the mannequins. Very little light, just his computer and a low glow from the sides.) There s no damn neighborhood kids in this part of town at night! Hell was I thinking? ( s phone loudly rings from the desk. He waits a beat, then goes to answer it. He sees that it s his wife.) Hey, honey bunny. [ ] It s my music, hold on a sec. ( turns the radio down. He moves items around in his displays while he talks with her.) [ ] Yes, yes, Happy Halloween to you, too. [ ] Yeah, I ll be home shortly. Well, I was going to hold out for another hour or so, but I m giving up the ghost. No pun intended! [ ] There s nobody out there. It ll
6 (CONT) have to be another time. Just trying to bring some pleasure and surprises to the kiddies. We both could use a pleasant surprise after this back-breaker of a year, you know what I m saying? Grab something sweet out of this silly old life of mine! ( s glasses fall off. He stumbles around trying to find them on the ground.) Hold on, hold on, lost my glasses. Shoot! I m useless without them. (He finds them, wipes off the lenses and puts them on.) [ ] Mm hm. No, nobody really yet, but it s not the peak time, that s what I m thinking. Worth waiting a little longer, maybe. Yes, a little longer. (In a change of heart, walks over and flips the lights back on. He is facing downstage, so he doesn t notice that all three mannequins are now facing him, without their Halloween masks.) [ ] Just some fool making up some junk to get a rise out of me, this Giant Josephine business. [ ] Josephine Wells. [ ] Right, old witch that lived here before they put the house on the market. She is a real darling from the sound of it....was. [ ] Just told me this rhyme the children supposedly had for her. I don t buy it. Crazy old bat, a recluse, probably had some queer-leaning beliefs, but died alone and no one missed her and I m pretty certain there s no legend or rhyme that kids whisper at night about her. Hey, it s Halloween. I m not bothered by it. In fact, I almost appreciate it in a strange way. One day I ll look back at tonight and chuckle about the trick he played. Yes, ma am. ( turns and sees the mannequins, with a start.) Look right back and laugh... At the trick that keeps on giving. Anyway, I ll be home before long. [ ] Yes, yes. [ ] Yeah. [ ] I love you, too. Now, stay out of trouble! Bye bye.
7 (CONT) Fool, messing with my dioramas! ( goes upstage and turns the mannequins back around. He puts a mask on the one at SL and decides that s good enough. He straightens up the displays. When he moves downstage towards his computer, a few girl dolls with long hair have populated the downstage space, at the edge of the stage or on his desk. laughs uneasily. He keeps his eyes on them. He turns the volume up on the radio, but it doesn t seem to work. After a moment, the sound comes back. At first it seems like static, but it s crows. The sound of crows. He turns it off completely. He slowly reaches out to touch one of the dolls. He picks it up, and nothing seems to happen. He turns it over in his hands. He is relieved. Not for long. The thud of footsteps becomes audible from upstairs. The sound grows from unsteady to a deliberate, heavy thumping across the space above him. He watches its invisible movement, from SL to SR. When it gets to the end of the room, there is a loud banging on the front door. jumps. A pause.) Hello? (CONT) Trick or treat? (Another series of loud, heavy knocks.) (No sound. He puts the doll down. He moves slowly, slowly to the front door to see who s there.) Hello? Are you still there? (No sound. He opens the door, slowly, slowly. Just pitch darkness outside. He leans out into the black. Suddenly, the clothing rack with the metal hangers clangs to life. spins around. The clothing on it shakes, then swings slowly to a stop. Nobody else is visible.)
8 Who s in here? (CONT) You got some more stories about Giant Josephine, mister creepmeister? Well it won t work. Not on me! (The thudding becomes audible again, upstairs. He hurries offstage to go upstairs, but it sounds like the door is locked.) Hey! HEY! Who s up there on my property? HEY! If you know what s sensible you ll come down here right NOW. If you want to. (On NOW, the thudding abruptly stops.) (All the lights cut out. The radio starts up at full volume, playing the last few seconds of a Halloween song. This transitions to the DJ.) DJ (VO) This is Mikey J, your resident werewolf, hoping you re having an evening of thrills and chills. We re gonna keep it rolling in just a bit with some more spooktacular All Hallows Eve hits, but first we at K101.9 want to give you this brief personalized message: An autumn gust blows From the world in between Hide beneath your bed From Giant Josephine! (The DJ s voice transitions into the loud breathing of what sounds like an old woman, which transitions into the sound of crows again. Then silence. After a few moments, the lights come on. The mannequin bodies are facing forward again, but their heads are gone. The space is also populated with more girl dolls. looks around and doesn t know what to do. A pale eye pops up on his computer screen. He goes to the laptop and tries to close the image, but it won t go away. Finally, he slams the laptop shut. Crow-like static has started to hiss forth
9 from the radio again. walks towards the mannequins and stumbles over one of their heads on the ground. He loses his glasses. He moves towards the clothing rack, feeling around on the ground for them. As he searches, a tall figure in a dress with long black hair unfolds herself from the clothing rack and looms over, swaying. The figure stands there, saying nothing. Before he gets his glasses back on, the figure slides back into the clothing rack and disappears. He puts his glasses on, and just sees the clothing on the rack swinging slightly. While it was dark, the front door was also closed. He tries to open it, but it s locked, too.) Help, HELP! If you re around, please, somebody, anybody, come in here and help me! Little brats. (There is no reaction. He creeps over to the phone on the desk, carefully avoiding the dolls. He calls his wife, but gets no answer.) Come on, come on, come on... (Finally, she picks up.) Hello? Listen to me, there is somebody else in here. (The lights cut out again. hears the jangling of the clothing rack.) An intruder. I m in real danger here, so here s what I need you to do [ ] No, you do not call the police. [ ] Because they only ever see what they want to see, understand? (He hears creaking steps, and breathing. He stops talking, and holds his glowing phone out in front of him.) (to his wife) The sound s coming from over here... (He wanders in the darkness, using his phone
10 light. He doesn t find anything. Suddenly, he comes upon one of the mannequins with a jolt. It has a head again. He pushes it aside and keeps moving towards SR. He comes upon another mannequin, wearing one of the Halloween masks. He comes upon the third mannequin, and moves it to the side. Behind it is the tall figure with the long hair, swaying. turns on the store light, which works, and grabs the figure by the neck. He struggles with it viciously, and it s clear he s trying to kill it. He pulls a knife from his pocket.) THE FIGURE Please, please, please! (THE FIGURE pulls off the wig and is revealed as the. is standing, and the is crumpled on the ground, breathing heavily. They are framed by the blackness of the reopened front door.) You re disgusting. You stay right here, so help you God or else. I need to figure out what to do with you. It was the adults. What did you say? Josephine would never hurt a child. She was a protector. It was the adults she wanted to chop up for her crows. The rhyme was meant for them. That s why she s after you. You shut your MOUTH! An autumn gust blows From the world in between The man who hurts children dies At the hands of Giant Josephine
11 (Thudding is heard again, upstairs. Both men track it above them. JOSEPHINE appears at the front door with huge hands and pale eyes, and pulls into the blackness with a scream like a crow.) END