Chatterbox
Teleplay Script
Characters:
CHLOE GORDON: A thirty-year-old fat lady who despises and condemns everyone else.
MARISSA WELLS: A woman in her late twenties who speaks politely to everyone and is a neighbor and friend of Chloe Gordon.
MRS. SINCLAIR: A mid-20s widow whose husband perished in battle, she resides in a little street with her daughter. She is slender and pretty, but she is also arrogant and illiterate.
ANNA: Seven-year-old Amaya Sinclair’s daughter, an aspirational child who endures her mother’s unfair actions.
ACT NO 1
EXT. CHLOE AND MARISSA HOUSES — AFTERNOON
CHLOE:
Please peek at this one, strolling along the street like she owns it.
(Chloe Gordon was standing on the bottom step of her two-story house, talking to her neighbor Marissa Wells, when she observed a familiar figure come onto the street.)
CHLOE (in an overbearing, arrogant tone):
Miss hoity-toity… She irritates me to no end.
MARISSA:
Come on, Chloe, she doesn’t hurt us. I’m not sure why you have such strong feelings for her; she can’t help but be downhearted. She doesn’t have much money to rub together, just like the rest of us.
CHLOE (pulling a face and putting her arms beneath her bosom):
(To say she was well-endowed in that department is an understatement; she was gigantic.)
True, but don’t we all go down the street with our noses pressed to the pavement? Stuck-up lady! She desires to be taken down a peg or two. And if she ever gives me a sidelong glance, I’ll give her one right back.
ACT NO 2
EXT. STREET — AFTERNOON
(Marissa turned around to see a thin, gorgeous young woman walking with a straight back and a sense of confidence. She had been living across the street from Marissa and Chloe for a few years, but she had never made any friends. The majority of the neighbors called the mother a stuck-up cow because they believed their seven-year-old daughter Anna was too good for the likes of them. Anna was also prohibited from playing with the other kids on the street.)
MARISSA:
If she wants to keep to herself, Chloe, that’s OK; she’s not causing any harm. I feel terrible for the small kid since she doesn’t have any friends on the street. She’s also a sweet little creature!
CHLOE:
How can you know that when her bleeding mother believes we’re all flea-ridden and she’s forbidden from speaking to anyone?
(Chloe shook her head, her several chins twitching.)
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CHLOE (smugly):
You are so stupid, Marissa Wells; you never see the worst in people.
MARISSA (with a gentle sigh):
Chloe Gordon, you’re never content unless you have someone to tear apart. You haven’t talked with Mrs. Sinclair, but you can’t bear the sight of her. I’m happy we can be pals. I would sincerely detest having you as an enemy.
ACT NO 3
EXT. STREET — EVENING
(Chloe tossed her chin in all directions as her head shook back and forth.)
CHLOE:
And why, Ladyship, haven’t I said more than five words to her? Because every time I see her, she stares through the bridge of her nose at me as if I’m a terrible odor.
MARISSA (disappointed):
She undoubtedly knows you are constantly tearing her to bits, which is why. Chloe, you ought to be used to directing traffic through tunnels when there is fog. Your voice is like a foghorn.
Unless Mrs. Sinclair is deaf, she must have heard you say things fit to burn and wondered why. The unfortunate woman lost her husband in the war, therefore you should feel sorry for her because she has to raise her daughter alone. For heaven’s sake, leave the lady alone and pick on someone who can stand up for herself, since she has never done you or me any harm.
MARISSA (laughing):
Me, for example, since I could strike you back.
CHLOE (loudly giggling):
You! With only one finger, I could knock you into the middle of next week.
ACT NO 4
EXT. MRS. SINCLAIR HOUSE — EVENING
(At that point, the woman who was the subject of Chloe’s criticism turned her head before inserting her key into the lock. She gave Marissa a quick nod of her head, opened the door, and went inside.)
ACT NO 5
INT. MRS. SINCLAIR HOUSE — EVENING
(The camera emerges when the door is closed behind her. With a sigh, AMAYA SINCLAIR reclined against it.)
FADE OUT
THE END
This script uncovers the reality of neighborhoods where women gossip around and judge other people without knowing the truth of their lives and makes them an object of their laugh.
