RUNNING DOGS

Long shot, twenty to fifteen feet from deck, slowly closing in. A casually dressed man is standing on a deck attached to the back of a house, about fifteen feet off the ground. We see him from the outside, the camera looking toward the house. We can look right in the sliding door to the house.

The man is staring out at us, deep in thought. He does not see the other man, also casually dressed but balding, entering the front door of the house. The door can be seen because it is directly opposite the sliding entrance-way. That man is wearing khakis, a golf shirt and sandals.

The visitor walks straight to the deck door, slides it open and steps out. We view from ten feet beyond the edge of deck.

HOWARD
(Friendly, joking)
“Bobby. Bobby? Come out of your fog. Howie boy is here.”

Bobby turns toward his visitor. Camera shifts to behind Howard’s shoulder.

BOBBY
(Agitated)
"Run, dog, run" or 'Go, dog, go?' What was the phrase from the children's book I would read to my daughter, Howard? I can't remember now and we don't have the book anymore. So embarrassing to forget!"

From Bobby’s eyes. Camera view will now alternate to speaker, two men never in same picture, but views of Bobby becoming closer and closer to his face.

HOWARD
(Still friendly)
"Surely it must be somewhere on the Internet. Everything is on the Internet if you look hard enough".

BOBBY
(Impatient)
"Oh, I know that, but I am in a dudgeon and when I'm in a dudgeon and have moral principles to uphold, there isn't enough time to get all the facts!"

HOWARD
(laughing lightly)
"Dudgeon, huh. What's a dudgeon. Sure you don't mean dungeon?"


Pull back camera revealing the two near each other. Bobby is grabbing Howard’s gold shirt

BOBBY
(Voice rising as he spits out the words)
"Stop trying to change the subject, Howie, this evil has gone on far too long".

Pushing Bobby’s hand from his shirt and sitting down in the white rosin chair on the deck.

HOWARD
(Calmly)
"Evil? What evil? Willya tell me?"

Full length of Bobby from profile. He is waving his hands as he talks.

BOBBY
"Poor helpless dogs, out with their masters and mistresses and having their legs run off them while the people jog and run. We saw them this morning again.

(Voice rising)

"Three times! Down near the post office, on the road near the orchard, and up on Route 9 by the high school. Smug, satisfied people in sweats and shiny running outfits, tugging their dogs along behind them."

Howard sitting in chair, legs spread, leaning back and putting his hands up to deflect any blow.

HOWARD
(Smiling as he speaks)
"Pardon me for laughing, but I thinks you are a bit jealous because your dog prefers to be chauffeured for her morning walk. Her exercise consists of bouncing up and down on your back seat while she barks at those active dogs. Then she jumps out of your car, poops on the ground, rides home and runs to the water bowl."

Half shot of Bobby from waist up, slapping his hand to his head

BOBBY
(Voice getting louder and more hysterical)
"Constant running is hard on the dogs' feet. I read that! Dogs run in spurts, not long stretches. Self-centered scum! I’d stop and yell at them except that they wouldn't hear me over Bingo's barking."

Focus back to the sitting Howard, shaking his head.

HOWARD
(Still calm but getting a little weary of hearing the nonsense)
"Oh, come on. Get a life."

Camera pulls back and shoots from ten feet, catching Bobby and incidentally showing Howard, in focus or not, as Bobby later begins to move. Bobby drops to his hands and knees on the deck.

BOBBY
(Quieter now, but talker much faster)
"Imagine you’re a dog, all set for this nice walk, getting a lot of good sniffs”

He crawls about the deck, sniffing the railings and the floor.

“marking your territory, stopping to poop when it feels good. And this fool’s out in front of you, tugging you along on your leash, not walking but running.

He speeds up the crawling motion, his head distended forward.

“You want to stop and smell the roses, but he or she wants to work up a sweat. I can hear the poor dog now.”

Close up of Bobby from in front on him, on knees. He raises his head and practically yips the next words.

“Hey, Hey Mack, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop! I think that was Cody's pee back there. If Cody was here I got to show him I've been here too.

Back off to show all of Bobby from side. He attempts to lift one leg against a railing as he crawls.

"Hey can you hear me up there. Take them damn earphones out of your ears and listen to me for a change. I'm sick of hearing your hits of the 80's. I can hear them with my ears, you just don't think I can.

Close up of head. Panting now

"Hey, I need a break. Gotta stop and go, like now, hey stop pulling me, I'll go all over my leg.

Pull back. Howard is sitting, mouth open, staring. Bobby stops suddenly and stares in front of him.

"Ohhhhhh, here's my chance, here comes Bear with his dictator running in front of him. I'll just stop and say hello."

Jumping to his feet. Practically screaming.

"And that is the only way it will end, the dogs getting into a mock fight and getting their owners mad at them. But it stops the running."

Head shot of Howard. His mouth is closed now.

HOWARD
(Head shaking, but calmly)
"You are such a maudlin sentimentalist. I'm sorry I stopped in this morning."

Close up of Bobby’s head and shoulders.

BOBBY
(Forehead and cheeks red, eyes glazed, voice loud)
“Maudlin, huh? Come into the garden, Maude, we have work to do!

Pull back to full length view of Bobby, stamping a foot down hard.

“Stamp out these people running their dogs to exhaustion or worse! It's time to become an avenging angel, to smite some of these people. We should build stocks in the village and put these people in them and let the dogs lick their faces all day."

Camera pulls back, Howard gets up, goes to the door and slides it open and steps into doorway, turning back to Bobby.

HOWARD
(Quiet but firm)
"I came over to borrow your post-hole digger, but I am leaving, I think you have lost it, my friend. When you find your way out of this dungeon, call and I will come back."

Bobby is seen on deck from inside the house through the sliding screen door.

BOBBY
(Screaming and shaking his fist)
"Dudgeon, man, not dungeon, Dudgeon!"

Camera shifts to looking back at house toward the deck. Howard goes out the front door. Bobby steps inside and disappears in a doorway. The camera does not follow; the deck is empty. As the credits begin to roll, the sound of a panting dog is heard.