Scene 9: [We come back from commercials at the gate of Gaz's house. Tak, Red and Purple have just gotten off their carriage and are walking down the path through the front yard to the garden.]
[Cut to the inside of the house, as Gaz opens the door and the three walk in. Gaz has no shoes on (just FYI), just her stocking-things.]
Tak: What a night!! What a perfectly wonderful night! [tosses her purse to Gaz]
Purple: Like a dream! [tosses his bouquet (which has long since lost all it's flowers) to Gaz.]
Red: Couldn't have been better. [tosses his bouquet to Gaz]
Gaz: [trying to hide her grin as she puts their things away] Did you get to dance with the Prince?
Purple: Only about an hour. [sits down on a couch in the living room]
Red: [sitting next to him] An hour??
Purple: Didn't you?
Red: Well…if you did…then I did.
Tak: [sits across from them] I certainly wouldn't be surprised if the Prince chose one of you girls for his bride!
Gaz: [snickers] Did you know everybody there?
Tak: Of course… [frowns] Except some Princess Something-or-other…I never did catch her name.
Gaz: A Princess, huh? Did she dance with the Prince? Did he like her?
Tak: Ha!! Not that I noticed. Now tell me…Gazella [frowns suspiciously] …what have you been doing all evening?
Gaz: Oh… [shrugs] Not much. Mostly I spent imagining what it was like at the ball.
Purple: There's no way you could know unless you were there.
Red: You just can't imagine.
Gaz: Well…I would think the Prince would be in the middle of a huge room. There'd be people dancing all around him and a long line of girls waiting to dance with him. The King and Queen would be sitting off to one side, and the Queen would have a giant spear in one hand, just incase anybody wasn't following her script.
[Red and Purple look at each other, wide-eyed. The music starts.]
"A Horrid Night"
Purple: It was that way…
Red: Just like you say…
Tak: She talks like she was there.
Gaz: I wouldn't know if that were so. I really couldn't care…
[The music picks up and she begins walking around the room as she sings, her stepsisters following her with their eyes. Tak is pretending not to be interested.]
I would guess that when you come into the grand hall –
And the hall itself is spinning round and round –
If you're not swept up in all the stupid dancing,
You come face-to-face with the Prince on the ground.
You can't help but feel the crowd is staring at you,
And you wish you hadn't dared to take this chance.
You are thinking how a getaway would please you,
When the Queen shows up and forces you to dance…
[Gaz holds a hand out towards her sisters. Purple clambers around the couch and scoops Gaz into his arms, twirling her around the room.]
Gaz: [speaking] And when you dance, you always have to take the lead, because he doesn't know a thing about dancing.
Purple: [speaking] That's exactly right! [he hands Gaz over to Red, who continues the spinning]
Gaz: [speaking] And you wish the orchestra would slow it down, because you feel sea-sick during the whole thing!
Red: [speaking] That's so true! [He sets Gaz down on the ground and Purple, still swept up in the moment, takes her place.]
Gaz: [spins around a few times on the floor, trying to get her balance. She puts a hand on the couch to steady herself, and then says] And then the world turns into a blur and you feel like you're the only two people left in the room…
[The singing begins again. Red and Purple stop their clumsy waltzing to listen to Gaz.]
Gaz: A horrid night.
A doomy night.
More wretched night you know you'll never see.
You meet the Prince,
A spoiled Prince.
More jerky than you thought he'd ever be.
The hems of a hundred ball gowns,
Swirling around you,
While he's signaling,
"Speed up the tempo."
You say, "Get lost."
Out the door you're tossed.
But on the steps you leave one shoe.
You wonder what good will it do?
Horrid, doomy night.
[The tempo picks up again as Red and Purple start dancing around each other]
Purple: A horrid night. (Red: How horrid!)
A doomy night. (Red: How doomy!)
More wretched night you know you'll never see. (Red: How horrid.)
You meet –
Red: - the Prince.
Purple: A spoi –
Red: - led Prince.
Tak: [stepping in between them. They begin spinning around her]
More jerky than you thought he'd ever be.
The hems of a hundred ball gowns,
Red: Swirling around you,
Tak: While he's signaling,
Purple: "Speed up the tempo."
Gaz: [who's climbed on top of the dining room table]
You say, "Get lost."
Out the door you're tossed.
Red & Purple: [rushing to her side]
But on the steps you leave one shoe.
Tak: [eyes narrowing]
You wonder what good will it do?
Gaz, Red & Purple: Horrid, doomy night!!
[As they hold the last note, the camera cuts back quickly between them and Tak over and over.]
Tak: STOP THIS!! [The music halts. Gaz, Red & Purple look up, surprised] Most ridiculous nonsense I've ever heard. All of it, garbage and idiocy!
Purple: But Mother –
Tak: [eyes burning] And you two! Listening to her – hanging on her words!!
Red: Yeah but –
Tak: Go to your rooms this instant!
[Red and Purple hurry upstairs nervously. Gaz climbs off the table, and Tak walks over to her.]
Tak: And as for you…I don't know where you get the nerve to go traipsing around here like you own the place. After your father died I swore I'd put an end to it.
Gaz: My father –
Tak: Your father was a fool. He spoiled you rotten and filled your head with childish fantasies that will never come true. It's high time you learned your place in life. You're nothing. Your mother was nothing and so are you. And you never will be anything. So just get used to it.
[Tak turns and walks off screen. Gaz looks as if she's been slapped. She turns and walks back into the kitchen numbly. She slides the doors to the kitchen shut, once inside…and just loses it.]
[She smashes chair legs. She breaks dishes. She literally tears the room to shreds. And when she's finished, she looks around at the mess before her, breathing heavily. Then she falls to her knees. Tears are streaming down her cheeks and making tiny wet-marks on the floor.]
[The camera backs up to show the whole room.] [Cut to Commercials.]