Day 19 - Racing Hearts

INT. JACK’s BEDROOM – AUTUMN, PRESENT DAY, EARLY MORNING

Light shines through the window. JACK’s bedroom is messy, and filled with all manner of racing posters, toys and duvet covers. There is a large poster of AYRTON SENNA above his bed. JACK is standing in front of a full-length mirror. His mother, CAROL, is brushing down the white shirt he’s wearing. They both look in the mirror. JACK smiles; CAROL is close to tears.

FLASHBACK: SIX DAYS EARLIER
INT. HALLWAY – NIGHT

CAROL is sitting on the stairs, caught in the faint light of the TV, casting shadows of the banisters over her face. She’s been crying for an hour and can’t shed tears any more.

The kitchen light along the corridor is bright. There’s a man’s coat hanging off the back of one of the chairs, and a baby’s bottle of milk on the counter.

FLASHBACK: ELEVEN DAYS EARLIER
INT. HALLWAY – EVENING

JACK is standing in his pyjamas at the top of the stairs. A glass smashes, but he doesn’t flinch. He watches down the staircase to the shadows being cast from the kitchen. CAROL and JACK’s father, JONATHAN, are shouting, but their words aren’t as important as their anger. JACK puts his hands over his ears, muffling their words.

JONATHAN’s face isn’t seen as the pulls on a coat, walks along the corridor into JACK’s sight, slams the front door and disappears into the night. JACK’s 18-month-old sister, ELLA, begins to cry. CAROL stirs in the kitchen. It’s only then JACK runs back to his room.

EXT. DRIVEWAY – PRESENT DAY, EARLY MORNING

JACK, now wearing a suit jacket over his shirt and a badly fastened black tie, is ushered out of the door, holding ELLA’s hand. CAROL turns to shut the door of their semi-detached house, but struggles to find the right key. She drops them.

JACK and ELLA walk down the tarmacked driveway towards a black limousine. JEAN and BILLY, CAROL’s parents, help the children and their mother into the car. JACK looks out of the window, as the door shuts, to watch the wind blow several leaves off an oak tree in their front garden.

FLASHBACK: FOURTEEN MONTHS EARLIER
EXT. LAKESIDE – LATE AFTERNOON

JONATHAN, CAROL, JACK and ELLA are having a picnic beneath some trees in a large park. JONATHAN is drinking a bottle of Stella, from a crate of around ten others. The day is bright, but the air seems a little cold. There is a playground with a few other children in it, and a stream off from the bank where they’re sitting.

JACK is playing with a blue, remote-controlled car. It moves quickly over the short grass on the field behind them. JONATHAN is helping him steer. ELLA is in a basket, sucking a dummy, on the picnic blanket with CAROL, who is eating a cucumber sandwich. ELLA drops the dummy and JONATHAN turns back when she starts crying. JACK quickly loses control of the remote control car and it veers into a bush.

He looks over to the picnic and watches JONATHAN try and sooth crying ELLA. He can’t and he passes her to CAROL. He walks away. JACK shields his eyes from the sun.

INT. FUNCTION ROOM – PRESENT DAY, LATE MORNING

JACK looks up to a large group of people, all standing around the room, dressed all in black. They’re standing in small groups around small card tables, and lined against the bar and the buffet table on the other sides of the room. He glances over at CAROL, she is holding JEAN’s hand and crying.

FLASHBACK: TWELVE DAYS EARLIER
INT. SCHOOL CLASSROOM – AFTERNOON

JACK is sitting at his table in the classroom, drawing a race car on a piece of paper during wet-play. He tries to ignore two other children, RYAN and JOURDAN, laughing, who are throwing balls of paper at him. But when one of them knocks over a bottle of water, which spills over his paper, he storms over to them and pushes RYAN backwards off his chair. RYAN starts crying. MS. ATHERTON hears and marches over.

EXT. CHURCH YARD – PRESENT DAY, EARLY MORNING

The Limousine pulls up outside a church. More autumn leaves fall and swirl around the courtyard.

FLASHBACK: TWELVE DAYS EARLIER
INT. JACK’s BEDROOM – LATE EVENING

JACK is sitting on the edge of his bed, playing with his fingers. His mood hasn’t changed since being told off at school. There is a half eaten sandwich on a plate on the bed and a packet of uneaten crisps.

JONATHAN enters and tries to smile. He walks slightly unsteady, drunken feet, but he goes to sit down next to his son. They sit in silence.

JONATHAN looks up at the poster of AYRTON SENNA and then down to the plate of food on the bed. He opens the crisps and eats one. He offers one to JACK, but he doesn’t look up. JONATHAN wipes is fingers on his trousers and gets up. He moves to the other side of the room and finds the remote for the blue, remote-controlled car. He drives the car along the floor, hitting JACK’s foot. He does this again and again. JACK smiles.

INT. CHURCH – PRESENT DAY, EARLY MORNING

A series of different RELATIVES take turns to stand at a lectern beside a coffin. Their words are silent. All that JACK can hear is the crying and sobbing of the others.

FLASHBACK: ONE MONTH EARLIER
INT. KITCHEN – AFTERNOON, DARK

JONATHAN is sitting at the kitchen table, surrounded by scraps of paper, receipts and a calculator. He peers up at a bottle of whiskey. Back to his receipts. Whiskey. He turns away and adds some numbers on the calculator. He looks up at the total and squeezes his eyes to try and wake himself up.

He looks down at JACK’s blue race car that has driven into his foot. JONATHAN looks up and smiles at his son, standing in the doorway. He puts down his pen, grabs the bottle of whiskey and heads out of the backdoor into his garden with JACK.

INT. JACK’s BEDROOM – SAME, NIGHT

JACK is sitting on the floor, hugging his duvet. There is a sliver of light coming in through his door from the hallway. CAROL and JONATHAN are downstairs, fighting, as before. Glass smashes, and pans clatter. ELLA starts crying, but it goes unnoticed. JACK looks over to his race car.

INT. CHURCH – PRESENT DAY, EARLY MORNING

JACK looks either side of where he is sitting on the church pews. Some of his RELATIVES are crying, holding hands. Others are smiling with fond memories, or looking away. He looks up at the coffin and stares at it.

INT. FUCTION ROOM – SAME, AFTERNOON

JACK is sitting alone. The buffet is being eaten by all. Various RELATIVES attempt to talk to him but he doesn’t listen or hear them speaking. CAROL offers him some food: a sandwich and a packet of crisps. She leaves them on the table next to him, but they go untouched.

FLASHBACK: TEN DAYS EARLIER
INT. KITCHEN – EVENING

JACK is racing his blue race car around the floor. ELLA is playing with building blocks over the other side of the room. The radio plays “Love me Tender” by ELVIS PRESLEY. CAROL is washing up after dinner, ignoring the plate of food still left on the table.

The front door opens with a slam, CAROL turns to see JONATHAN, drunk, walking into the Kitchen. Swinging a nearly empty bottle of whiskey, he goes over to Ella. She starts crying. CAROL tries to pull him away from her, but he pushes her backwards. She falls against the sink, hitting her head.

JACK’s race car drives up against JONATHAN’s feet. He scoops it up and throws it against the wall. He stares between JACK and ELLA for a second, and then turns to leave. The sound of the engine in his car is loud as he squeals out of the driveway again.

JACK looks over to his race car, completely smashed.

INT. FUNCTION ROOM – PRESENT DAY, LATE AFTERNOON

The room is emptying out – only ELLA, CAROL, JEAN and BILLY remain. BILLY thanks the staff for their service. JACK follows on after CAROL, who has ELLA in her arms, and out of the room.

INT. HALLWAY – SAME, EVENING

JEAN and BILLY hug CAROL goodbye. JACK watches from the kitchen table. CAROL shuts the door behind her parents, and immediately goes through into the living room.

INT. JACK’s BEDROOM – SAME, NIGHT

JACK wakes up and can hear CAROL faintly crying downstairs.

INT. LIVING ROOM – SAME

CAROL is sitting on the sofa, covered in a blanket. She is bathed in a blue glow from the TV. JACK enters and gets under the blanket with her. They fall asleep.

INT. JACK’s BEDROOM – SAME

A single lamp on JACK’s desk is on. It is shining on, the blue, remote controlled race car, which has been glued back together by JACK. It isn’t perfect, but it will race again.

The lamp is turned off.