First Place: Green Eyes by Kylie Tillman

First Place: Ten-Minute Play/Screenplay Green Eyes Kylie Tillman

ACT ONE

INT. SULLIVAN HOME LIVING ROOM - NIGHT

A disheveled, dark living room, lit by the glow of the TV and desktop computer monitor. Old plates and trash litter the coffee table. Tom, 41, balding, lounges in his recliner, absentmindedly watching TV and drinking beer. Tom’s wife, Nancy, 37, squat and unkempt, sits hunched at the computer scrolling through social media and drinking whiskey straight from the bottle.

NANCY: (hollers over her shoulder) Look Tom, the Smiths from down the street got a new dog.

TOM: (mumbles) Huh... How ‘bout that?

NANCY: (still scrolling) They couldn’t even take care of the one they had. Now two? Geez Louise!

Nancy suddenly stops scrolling, we can see from her expression that she is immediately indignant. On the monitor we see a woman about the same age as Nancy, grinning with her arms around a young girl. The caption reads: MY BABY WON THE SPELLING BEE!

NANCY: (CONT’D) This bitch...Rubbing in yet another thing our Maggie never got the opportunity to grow up and do. Another thing we will miss...

TOM: Nancy get off that computer. All it does is piss you off and I have to hear about it.

NANCY: So, because it’s been 11 years, I should just let it go? Is that what you think?!

TOM: I can’t talk to you when you get like this.

NANCY: We were supposed to bring home a baby that day, Tom. Instead we brought home heartache and medical bills.

TOM: It’s not Mindy’s fault that her kid lived and ours didn’t.

NANCY: (looking through Mindy’s online profile) We were supposed to be friends. Our daughters were supposed to be friends. But she got to take her baby home that day. Look at her now, full of herself...

Nancy chokes and coughs on her whiskey, eyes frozen on the computer monitor that now has an up-close image of the girl from before.

NANCY: (CONT’D) (her anger dissipating) Tom, her eyes...

TOM: What are you talking about? Why are you even looking at Mindy’s page? I thought you weren’t friends.

NANCY: We aren’t... but look at this girl. Look at her eyes...they practically glow green...like yours do.

TOM: What are you getting at?

NANCY: She doesn’t look anything like the Fosters! Either one of one of ‘em!

Tom is finally pulled away from his recliner. He leans over Nancy’s shoulder to view the computer screen.

NANCY: See! You see it too!

TOM: All I’m saying is that is the Sullivan nose.. right there front and center. Poor girl.

NANCY: This is our Maggie, Tom. I just know it.

END OF ACT ONE

ACT TWO

EXT. SUBURBAN NEIGHBORHOOD - NIGHT.

Pan over a row of cookie cutter houses. Cut to a garden gnome fall and shatter on the front lawn. We pan to Tom and Nancy in camouflage and dark clothing on the edge of the porch.

NANCY: (whispering) Damn it!

TOM: (whispering back) We have to go, I can hear someone coming...

NANCY: I’m not leaving!

Nancy takes off running around the side of the house. Tom follows.

END OF ACT TWO

ACT THREE

EXT. FOSTER HOME. BACKYARD. - NIGHT

Tom and Nancy are hiding in the backyard, perched in a tree house with binoculars.

NANCY: (distracted, staring into the binoculars) I just needed to see her.

TOM: It’s just not possible that she’s our girl.

NANCY: (turning to Tom) You said it yourself that she looks like us! Just come over here and look at her!

Tom peers into the binoculars and sees Mindy, 36, in a plush robe, as she crushes a pill.

NANCY: What is she...?

Mindy serves the drink to Jane, 11, with bright green eyes and a big nose, wearing pajamas.

TOM: She’s drugging her?

NANCY: (stealing the binoculars and peering) What the...? We have to do something!

TOM: We shouldn’t even be here! We can call the police after we leave.

NANCY: That is my baby and she’s living with some lunatic! We have to take her.

TOM: Take her?? We don’t even know what that pill is for. She’s not our kid!

NANCY: What if we could prove that she is?

TOM: Nancy, please. If we leave right now I will let you make half-baked plans to steal kids all night if that’s what you want.

NANCY: I’m serious! If we just take her we could swab her cheek or get some of her hair...

TOM: Is that even how it works...?

NANCY: ...then we can take that to the doctor. Once they hear our story they will have to run tests, and once they run tests they will have to let us keep her.

TOM: Listen, I put up with a lot, and I know you’re hurting...But, we’re up in a damn tree right now looking into our old friends’ windows while you fantasize about stealing their little girl to keep as your own our own daughter...

We pan over to Nancy who is already making her way down the ladder of the tree house. Tom rolls his eyes, defeated.

END OF ACT THREE