[George walks in the front door, still in her reaper costume. She stops in her tracks and her mouth drops open at the sight. Mason is standing next to Daisy, flirting with her. That in itself isn't weird, but the costume choice is. Mason is decked out in a police officer uniform, and Daisy is dressed as an angel. As George looks on, Mason takes the handcuffs from his costume and waves them in front of Daisy, who pushes them away, rolling her eyes.]
GEORGE (VO): And I thought the costumes at Happy Time were strange...
[Mason looks up from his pursuit of Daisy and notices George standing in the door.]
MASON: Georgie! (He walks over to her, stopping in front of her, smiling.) I'm afraid I'm gonna have to frisk you...
[George rolls her eyes at him, and walks over to Daisy. Daisy is busy putting snacks on a tray. The whole table is filled with food.]
GEORGE: Daisy, don't you think it's a bit much? I mean, you said it would just be us and a couple others.
DAISY: (smiling) Correction, Georgia. It's four of us, a couple others...and Rube.
[George can't help but smile at the comment. She begins to help Daisy when the doorbell rings.]
DAISY: Be a dear and go get that, would you, Georgia?
[George walks over to the door and opens it. In storms Roxy, dressed to the nines in a can-can dancer costume. Everyone's mouth falls open. Mason walks over to Roxy, dangling the handcuffs.]
MASON: Well, Miss Roxy, I'm afraid I'm gonna have to-
[Roxy interrupts him by shoving him away.]
ROXY: Fuck off, loverboy. [She walks over to the table and begins eating the chips from the bowl in the middle of the table.] Those fucking gravelings are in a good mood tonight. Two of them were fucking with me the whole way over here.
[Roxy shakes her head and continues eating. The doorbell rings. George answers it, and steps back, suppressing laughter. Rube walks in, dressed as a hobo clown. The whole group stares at him, smothering their giggles. Rube looks confused, as though he has no clue what the problem is.]
RUBE: (confused) What?
[Some time later, party's booming. There's people everywhere. There's a general sense of fun going around. People dancing, people eating and drinking, talking... George and Daisy are standing to one side of the room, taking in the scene with a smile.]
DAISY: So, what do you think?
GEORGE: I think we'll be cleaning up after this mess for a year.
DAISY: Come on, Georgia, live a little! (George gives her a look) Well you know what I mean. I used to throw the best parties, I'd say I haven't lost my touch.
GEORGE: (sincere, nods) I agree.
[The doorbell rings.]
GEORGE: I know, I know, my turn.
[She goes off, and Daisy quietly follows, stopping a short distance behind her. George picks up a bowl of candy and opens the door.]
KIDS: TRICK OR TREAT!
GEORGE: Hey guys, great costumes! Here you go!
[She puts candy in each of their bags.]
KIDS: Thank you!
[They run off back to the street and, looking after them she sees a small group approach the house and gasps.]
GEORGE: Daisy... I think you should take this one...
[She starts to back away, but Daisy comes and puts the hood up on George's head.]
DAISY: You take it, Georgia. Think of it as my Halloween present to you.
[Daisy pushes George forward and stands back to watch. George stands at the door, walks out slowly with the candy to meet them at the bottom of the stairs. Them being, of course, Clancy, Joy, Reggie, and JD.]
REGGIE: Trick or treat!
[George sort of steels herself silently, forges on.]
GEORGE: Great costume. That gets you... (fishes through bowl, pulls out a handful of candy) ... all this!
[Reggie holds open her bag and George drops the candy in.]
REGGIE: Thank you.
GEORGE: You're very welcome. That's a beautiful dog. What's its name?
REGGIE: JD.
GEORGE: And what does it stand for?
REGGIE: Just Dog.
GEORGE: That's very good.
REGGIE: Thanks.
CLANCY: We better get going, more houses to visit.
GEORGE: Alright, well have fun.
JOY: We will. Thanks.
[George nods.]
REGGIE: Bye.
[From the basket, JD appears to be agitated, staring at the robed figure.]
REGGIE: JD, relax!
[She pets him as they walk off. George watches them go, and once they're far enough, she pulls down the hood. She's crying, but happy at the same time.]
GEORGE: Bye.
[She turns back toward the house, where Daisy waits, smiling. She ushers George back in, putting one arm over her shoulders as she closes the door.]
GEORGE (VO): I couldn't explain it really, but... seeing them, being able to talk to them however brief it was, made me feel like I would be alright now.
[Later, still at the party. The reapers and guests are continuing their party, drinking, talking, eating, basically having a good time, when suddenly a crash is heard in the kitchen. Roxy looks up, angrily.]
ROXY: You've gotta be shittin' me.
[She storms into the kitchen, returning a second later, and makes a motion to the reapers, motions across her neck with a finger, then waves said finger in a circle in the air. They nod.]
RUBE: Alright, party's over, everybody out! (disagreement noise from the guests, as the lights flicker. Rube looks around.) Something wrong with your ears? Get the fuck out of here, now!
[The guests grudgingly oblige as the reapers see them out, hoping the gravelings don't make a move just yet. They get the last of the guests out. Suddenly, three gravelings come running from the kitchen. They immediately being to terrorize the reapers. One graveling jumps in the punch bowl and begins bathing and drinking from it, another runs over to Mason and begins hitting him with his own nightstick, and the last one latches onto Daisy and begins humping her leg like a puppy dog. Daisy screams.
DAISY: (panicked) Oh my God! Get him off! GET HIM OFF!
[Rube runs over to the punch bowl, grabs the graveling, walks over to the door and kicks the graveling out the door. Mason finally gets his nightstick from the graveling and chases him out with it. George runs over to Daisy, and pries the graveling from her leg, throwing him out the door. Rube slams the door shut. They stand around for a moment, panting and disheveled.]
RUBE: Fuckin' gravelings...
[Lass home, Reggie's room. She sleeps in her bed, JD staying close to her. Her cheeks are still rosy from the cold. Pull back to reveal Clancy and Joy watching her from the doorway.]
CLANCY: I haven't seen her like this in aa long time... too long.
JOY: Yeah, I know.
CLANCY: What about you? Did you have fun?
[She looks away, then walks off toward their room. Clancy follows.]
CLANCY: Joy?
JOY: (sits on bed) I'm alright.
CLANCY: (sits next to her) I wasn't asking, but since you brought it up...
[She lets out a choked laugh.]
CLANCY: It wasn't the same. I know. But we have to accept this. It's hard, it hurts, but it's the only way.
JOY: (swallows a cry) You know what I think of your going psychological on me.
CLANCY: Sorry.
[Joy shakes her head, takes his hand.]
JOY: It's alright. Had to hear it again.
[They share a smile and we leave them, lingering on a picture on Joy's nightstand, of the four of them at that Halloween.]
[George and Daisy's home. The reapers are cleaning up what requires immediate attention.]
ROXY: Leave it to those little gray-assed monkeys to come and ruin everything.
MASON: I dunno. I liked seeing you in something other than your meter-maid uniform. You should do it more often.
ROXY: Yeah, we'll see.
GEORGE: You guys cna go, we'll take care of the rest ourselves.
[Mason and Roxy put down their brooms and head out.]
MASON: Night Georgie, night Angel.
[He leaves with a wave and a wink.]
RUBE: Call me in the morning if you need more cleaning help.
GEORGE: Alright. Thank you. I really like your costume.
RUBE: (beat; smile) Like yours too. Goodnight peanut.
[He nods to Daisy and leaves.]
DAISY: I'm going to go change, you should do the same.
[A few minutes later, George (nods in PJs) knocks on Daisy's door.]
DAISY (OS): Come in!
[George walks in. Daisy is in her PJs as well. She sits on her bed, brushing her hair.]
GEORGE: Can I talk to you for a minute?
DAISY: Of course. Have a seat.
GEORGE: (sits) I guess... I wanted to thank you.
DAISY: You don't have to.
GEORGE: No... I do.
DAISY: (puts brush down) Alright.
GEORGE: But why?
DAISY: Remember when I told you that your freezing up in the restaurant was normal?
GEORGE: Yeah.
DAISY: It happens to all of us reapers, at one time or another. There's always going to be that one thing which hurts to have lost more than any other, no matter how... trivial... it may seem to others.
GEORGE: What was yours? If you don't mind...
DAISY: I had a dog. (smiles weakly) Never left my side. When I died, I really didn't handle losing her. Ever since then, I try to distance myself from being too near to a dog for too long. It's the only way I know to be okay.
GEORGE: Is that why... with JD?
[Daisy nods. George decides to leave the sore-looking subject to address another point.]
GEORGE: You knew about my family coming.
[Flash to Reggie walking down a road. Daisy follows her. She ends up at the toilet tree. Once Reggie leaves, Daisy sticks a note to a book she forgot and leaves. Reggie returns for the book and finds the note.]
[Back to the room. George is shaking a bit.]
DAISY: I couldn't tell her straight out to come, but there were more discreet ways. I had a feeling it would help.
[George smiles up at her.]
GEORGE: It did. [Beat] I should go to bed. Early work tomorrow.
DAISY: Alright. Happy Halloween, Georgia.
GEORGE: Happy Halloween, Daisy.
END
GEORGE (VO): And I thought the costumes at Happy Time were strange...
[Mason looks up from his pursuit of Daisy and notices George standing in the door.]
MASON: Georgie! (He walks over to her, stopping in front of her, smiling.) I'm afraid I'm gonna have to frisk you...
[George rolls her eyes at him, and walks over to Daisy. Daisy is busy putting snacks on a tray. The whole table is filled with food.]
GEORGE: Daisy, don't you think it's a bit much? I mean, you said it would just be us and a couple others.
DAISY: (smiling) Correction, Georgia. It's four of us, a couple others...and Rube.
[George can't help but smile at the comment. She begins to help Daisy when the doorbell rings.]
DAISY: Be a dear and go get that, would you, Georgia?
[George walks over to the door and opens it. In storms Roxy, dressed to the nines in a can-can dancer costume. Everyone's mouth falls open. Mason walks over to Roxy, dangling the handcuffs.]
MASON: Well, Miss Roxy, I'm afraid I'm gonna have to-
[Roxy interrupts him by shoving him away.]
ROXY: Fuck off, loverboy. [She walks over to the table and begins eating the chips from the bowl in the middle of the table.] Those fucking gravelings are in a good mood tonight. Two of them were fucking with me the whole way over here.
[Roxy shakes her head and continues eating. The doorbell rings. George answers it, and steps back, suppressing laughter. Rube walks in, dressed as a hobo clown. The whole group stares at him, smothering their giggles. Rube looks confused, as though he has no clue what the problem is.]
RUBE: (confused) What?
[Some time later, party's booming. There's people everywhere. There's a general sense of fun going around. People dancing, people eating and drinking, talking... George and Daisy are standing to one side of the room, taking in the scene with a smile.]
DAISY: So, what do you think?
GEORGE: I think we'll be cleaning up after this mess for a year.
DAISY: Come on, Georgia, live a little! (George gives her a look) Well you know what I mean. I used to throw the best parties, I'd say I haven't lost my touch.
GEORGE: (sincere, nods) I agree.
[The doorbell rings.]
GEORGE: I know, I know, my turn.
[She goes off, and Daisy quietly follows, stopping a short distance behind her. George picks up a bowl of candy and opens the door.]
KIDS: TRICK OR TREAT!
GEORGE: Hey guys, great costumes! Here you go!
[She puts candy in each of their bags.]
KIDS: Thank you!
[They run off back to the street and, looking after them she sees a small group approach the house and gasps.]
GEORGE: Daisy... I think you should take this one...
[She starts to back away, but Daisy comes and puts the hood up on George's head.]
DAISY: You take it, Georgia. Think of it as my Halloween present to you.
[Daisy pushes George forward and stands back to watch. George stands at the door, walks out slowly with the candy to meet them at the bottom of the stairs. Them being, of course, Clancy, Joy, Reggie, and JD.]
REGGIE: Trick or treat!
[George sort of steels herself silently, forges on.]
GEORGE: Great costume. That gets you... (fishes through bowl, pulls out a handful of candy) ... all this!
[Reggie holds open her bag and George drops the candy in.]
REGGIE: Thank you.
GEORGE: You're very welcome. That's a beautiful dog. What's its name?
REGGIE: JD.
GEORGE: And what does it stand for?
REGGIE: Just Dog.
GEORGE: That's very good.
REGGIE: Thanks.
CLANCY: We better get going, more houses to visit.
GEORGE: Alright, well have fun.
JOY: We will. Thanks.
[George nods.]
REGGIE: Bye.
[From the basket, JD appears to be agitated, staring at the robed figure.]
REGGIE: JD, relax!
[She pets him as they walk off. George watches them go, and once they're far enough, she pulls down the hood. She's crying, but happy at the same time.]
GEORGE: Bye.
[She turns back toward the house, where Daisy waits, smiling. She ushers George back in, putting one arm over her shoulders as she closes the door.]
GEORGE (VO): I couldn't explain it really, but... seeing them, being able to talk to them however brief it was, made me feel like I would be alright now.
[Later, still at the party. The reapers and guests are continuing their party, drinking, talking, eating, basically having a good time, when suddenly a crash is heard in the kitchen. Roxy looks up, angrily.]
ROXY: You've gotta be shittin' me.
[She storms into the kitchen, returning a second later, and makes a motion to the reapers, motions across her neck with a finger, then waves said finger in a circle in the air. They nod.]
RUBE: Alright, party's over, everybody out! (disagreement noise from the guests, as the lights flicker. Rube looks around.) Something wrong with your ears? Get the fuck out of here, now!
[The guests grudgingly oblige as the reapers see them out, hoping the gravelings don't make a move just yet. They get the last of the guests out. Suddenly, three gravelings come running from the kitchen. They immediately being to terrorize the reapers. One graveling jumps in the punch bowl and begins bathing and drinking from it, another runs over to Mason and begins hitting him with his own nightstick, and the last one latches onto Daisy and begins humping her leg like a puppy dog. Daisy screams.
DAISY: (panicked) Oh my God! Get him off! GET HIM OFF!
[Rube runs over to the punch bowl, grabs the graveling, walks over to the door and kicks the graveling out the door. Mason finally gets his nightstick from the graveling and chases him out with it. George runs over to Daisy, and pries the graveling from her leg, throwing him out the door. Rube slams the door shut. They stand around for a moment, panting and disheveled.]
RUBE: Fuckin' gravelings...
[Lass home, Reggie's room. She sleeps in her bed, JD staying close to her. Her cheeks are still rosy from the cold. Pull back to reveal Clancy and Joy watching her from the doorway.]
CLANCY: I haven't seen her like this in aa long time... too long.
JOY: Yeah, I know.
CLANCY: What about you? Did you have fun?
[She looks away, then walks off toward their room. Clancy follows.]
CLANCY: Joy?
JOY: (sits on bed) I'm alright.
CLANCY: (sits next to her) I wasn't asking, but since you brought it up...
[She lets out a choked laugh.]
CLANCY: It wasn't the same. I know. But we have to accept this. It's hard, it hurts, but it's the only way.
JOY: (swallows a cry) You know what I think of your going psychological on me.
CLANCY: Sorry.
[Joy shakes her head, takes his hand.]
JOY: It's alright. Had to hear it again.
[They share a smile and we leave them, lingering on a picture on Joy's nightstand, of the four of them at that Halloween.]
[George and Daisy's home. The reapers are cleaning up what requires immediate attention.]
ROXY: Leave it to those little gray-assed monkeys to come and ruin everything.
MASON: I dunno. I liked seeing you in something other than your meter-maid uniform. You should do it more often.
ROXY: Yeah, we'll see.
GEORGE: You guys cna go, we'll take care of the rest ourselves.
[Mason and Roxy put down their brooms and head out.]
MASON: Night Georgie, night Angel.
[He leaves with a wave and a wink.]
RUBE: Call me in the morning if you need more cleaning help.
GEORGE: Alright. Thank you. I really like your costume.
RUBE: (beat; smile) Like yours too. Goodnight peanut.
[He nods to Daisy and leaves.]
DAISY: I'm going to go change, you should do the same.
[A few minutes later, George (nods in PJs) knocks on Daisy's door.]
DAISY (OS): Come in!
[George walks in. Daisy is in her PJs as well. She sits on her bed, brushing her hair.]
GEORGE: Can I talk to you for a minute?
DAISY: Of course. Have a seat.
GEORGE: (sits) I guess... I wanted to thank you.
DAISY: You don't have to.
GEORGE: No... I do.
DAISY: (puts brush down) Alright.
GEORGE: But why?
DAISY: Remember when I told you that your freezing up in the restaurant was normal?
GEORGE: Yeah.
DAISY: It happens to all of us reapers, at one time or another. There's always going to be that one thing which hurts to have lost more than any other, no matter how... trivial... it may seem to others.
GEORGE: What was yours? If you don't mind...
DAISY: I had a dog. (smiles weakly) Never left my side. When I died, I really didn't handle losing her. Ever since then, I try to distance myself from being too near to a dog for too long. It's the only way I know to be okay.
GEORGE: Is that why... with JD?
[Daisy nods. George decides to leave the sore-looking subject to address another point.]
GEORGE: You knew about my family coming.
[Flash to Reggie walking down a road. Daisy follows her. She ends up at the toilet tree. Once Reggie leaves, Daisy sticks a note to a book she forgot and leaves. Reggie returns for the book and finds the note.]
[Back to the room. George is shaking a bit.]
DAISY: I couldn't tell her straight out to come, but there were more discreet ways. I had a feeling it would help.
[George smiles up at her.]
GEORGE: It did. [Beat] I should go to bed. Early work tomorrow.
DAISY: Alright. Happy Halloween, Georgia.
GEORGE: Happy Halloween, Daisy.
END