Al's Story

Al Moves In With His Mom

Chapter 3: Al Moves In With His Mom

INT. AL'S APARTMENT

Al sits down on the couch, exhausted, in the spot that has a permanent mark from him sitting there so much. He pulls out some letters he got in the mail and begins to sift through them.

AL

Junk...

Al throws a paycheck into his incinerator.

AL

Junk...

Al throws a letter from his mom into his incinerator. 

AL

Bill...*gulp* 

Al rips the whole envelope in half and pulls out the two halves of the letter. He reads in terror. 

AL (shocked)

I'm never gonna be able to pay this!!

Al looks around at his apartment. It's pretty much a dump now; there's junk all over the floor. After a moment, he pulls out his cell phone and speedily dials.

AL (into phone)

Mom? Clean out the basement, I'm coming back.

EXT. AL'S APARTMENT - SOMETIME LATER AT NIGHT

Al walks out of the front of the apartment complex, clumsily carrying a few suitcases. He talks to himself.

AL (confidently)

I'll live with my mom for now, but when I find a job, I can pay the bills and everything will be okay!

Al, unable to see past the suticases in his face, barely opens the trunk of his car with his foot. He lazily throws the suitcases in, and then looks forward.

His entire car was apparently crushed by a wrecking ball. 

AL (significantly less confidently)

Oh, for the love of Stinky Pete!! I'M A FAILURE!

Al weakly drops to the ground in tears. He curls up into a ball, depressed.

FADE:

EXT. AL'S MOM'S HOUSE

Al pathetically crawls down the street with his bags, and finally arrives at his mom's home. It's a pretty small, old and beat up brick house. The grass is about 2 feet tall. Bricks are missing from the structure of the house. Al steps up to the front door and knocks.

Alla McWhiggin, Al's mom, opens the door. She's even shorter than Al, and has similar proportions. Her face droops in front of her hunched back. 

ALLA (cliche grandma quivering voice)

Sweetie pie?

AL (baby voice)

MAMA!!

They hug and enter the house. 

INT. AL'S MOM'S HOUSE

Al steps over a bunch of junk.

ALLA

Now, cupcake, you get yourself comfortable in the basement. If you happen to see any of my kitties down there, bring them back up, okay?

INT. AL'S MOM'S BASEMENT

Al throws his suitcases from the top of the stairs into the basement, barely missing a cat. Al gazes at the basement for a moment, disgusted by the mess. There is a computer, an TV, and assortment of not-quite-expired cheese-themed snacks, though, which makes Al happy.

A bell starts ringing behind Al. He looks back. 

ALLA

Dinner time, sweetums!

AL (gleefully)

Oh, boy!

INT. AL'S MOM'S KITCHEN 

Alla sits on the ground with a paper plate, eating some bread crust (that's all there is on the plate). Another plate lies next to her. Alla gives Al a weird look.

ALLA

Well, siddown and eat, sonny!

Al collapses to the ground (a recurring theme). He dumps everything on the plate into his mouth in 2 seconds.

AL (mouth full)

Couldn't you have done a super special dinner to welcome your super special sonny?

ALLA

Just shut up and eat. I can't spend all this money on me and my guests. I have 52 cats to feed!

AL

Well, alright. 

ALLA

So, are you still collecting those stupid toys? N'wonder you had to move in here!!

AL (ready to start bawling at any possible second)

I don't want to talk about it.

ALLA (increasingly annoyed)

N'wonder you don't have a girlfriend! You never wanna talk about anything! Just throw all of those stupid toys away, they're a waste of money!

AL (angry)

Mom, I'm not a kid anymore! Do you have to boss my life around?

ALLA

If you're not a kid then why are you still living with your mom?! 

AL

MOM!! I don't want relationship issues between me and you! Things are bad enough already. 

ALLA

Look, I'll let you live in the basement, but until you get a job, I don't wanna see you or your facial hair upstairs at all.

AL

Yes, mom...

INT. AL'S MOM'S BASEMENT

Al angrily stomps downstairs into the pitch-black basement. He sits down on a random pillow and begins to think.

AL (V.O.)

But when I find a job, I can pay the bills and everything will be okay!

AL (V.O.)

My life is falling apart!

ALLA (V.O.)

...N'wonder you don't have a girlfriend!

Al quickly realizes he needs to take control of his own life. He confidently logs onto the basement computer and goes to eHarmony.com. The computer is an iMac G3 and the operating system is Mac OS 9.