A Locomotive For Murder

Trains on the Brain

EXT. MENTAL INSTITUTION - DAY

Birds sing on a pleasant day.  The green lawns roll.  Fluffy clouds populate the blue sky.

INT. MENTAL INSTITUTION

A NURSE leads CINDY down the hall.  Cindy is a woman in her mid twenties.  Her hair is greasy and unkempt.  She wears a bathrobe and pajamas.

NURSE

We mustn’t break our appointments, Cindy.  It’s not polite.

CINDY

Not polite.

NURSE

We don’t want to keep Doctor Bluerichard waiting.

INT. DOCTOR BLUERICHARD’S OFFICE

Cindy sits across DOCTOR BLUERICHARD, a doctor in his forties.  He wears glasses and is tall and tan.  A pointy award sits on the coffee table between them.

DOCTOR BLUERICHARD

I think we’re going to try a new approach to your therapy, Cindy.  I’m going to show you--

Cindy picks at the award.

CINDY

What’s this?

DOCTOR BLUERICHARD

That’s not important Cindy. What is important is the time we spend here together.

CINDY

(brattily)

Tell me about it.  Tell me about it.  I want to hear about the award.

DOCTOR BLUERICHARD

(momentarily succumbing to pride)

Very well.  That’s a Psychie! It was given to me by the American Psychological Association.

CINDY

Because of the song?

DOCTOR BLUERICHARD

(puzzled)

Song?

CINDY

The one you sing on the radio.  The one about the train.

DOCTOR BLUERICHARD

I’ve never had a song on the radio, Cindy.  That award was given to me because of the work I did with--

CINDY

You know the song.

(singing)

Got a big black train bearing down on me.  Got a big black train so that I can’t see.  Squirting my eyeballs out of my head.  Killing my parents and making them dead.

DOCTOR BLUERICHARD

I can assure you that I am not a musician.

CINDY

But it’s on right now.  Listen.

They sit for a moment in complete silence.  Cindy subtly bops her head to an imaginary beat.

DOCTOR BLUERICHARD

(chuckling)

Trust me, Cindy, you don’t want to hear my singing voice.  Ask my wife.

(beat)

Now if you could take a look at this picture and tell me what you see.

He holds up an inkblot on a piece of paper.  The inkblot looks suspiciously like a train.

CINDY

I see a train.

DOCTOR BLUERICHARD

Okay.

He holds up the next card.  The inkblot looks like a dolphin.

DOCTOR BLUERICHARD (CONT’D)

And now?

CINDY

Train.

He holds up another inkblot that looks like a fire hydrant.

DOCTOR BLUERICHARD

What about now?

CINDY

Train.

DOCTOR BLUERICHARD

You’re allowed to give different answers, you know.

He holds up an actual photograph of a kitten.

CINDY

Train!  Train!

DOCTOR BLUERICHARD

Please get a hold of yourself, Cindy.

She picks up the pointy award and stands up.  Doctor Bluerichard stands up to take the award from her grasp.

CINDY

Look out!  Look out for the train!

She lifts the award over her head and, bringing it down, sticks the award in Doctor Bluerichard’s eye.

DOCTOR BLUERICHARD

Aargghh!

He clutches at the award and falls back.

EXT. DOCTOR BLUERICHARD’S OFFICE

The nurse KNOCKS on the office door.

NURSE

Doctor Bluerichard?

She KNOCKS again.

NURSE (CONT’D)

Doctor Bluerichard?  The hour is up.  It’s time for me to give Cindy her meds.

She pushes open the door.  Doctor Bluerichard leans back dead in his chair.  Blood runs down his face from the award sticking out of his eye.  Cindy is nowhere to be seen.  A breeze ripples through the curtains of the open window.

NURSE (CONT’D)

(to herself)

Oh my god.