"THE VIOLIN" SHORT STORY

THE VIOLIN
By Michael J. Dowswell


NOVEMBER 14TH: 1920s / 1930s (or modern day) (or the future) - SATURDAY MORNING

WE SEE leaves everywhere...it’s a city street, big houses and trees in the streets...one house has a dog kennel outside, the garden is very messy, its neglected (the owner doesn’t like to throw things away...and never gets around to doing any sorting / gardening)...the dog inside the kennel is fierce….there is also a elevated train track that goes very near to the back of the house.

WE SEE two suspicious, scruffy looking men park their van at the other side of the street. One is tall and thin the other is much, much shorter and nervous. They both step out and look at the house with the dog kennel. One man has a hip flask and takes a drink. He looks at the house and long-ish front garden…we hear a organ being played from inside, the two men stop for a moment and stare up at the window...all we see is the very top of a mans bald head behind the organ in front of the window…

Suddenly the dog leaps out of its kennel and barks at the two men. One of the men is scared and hides behind the other...the other is very cool and calm...he looks at the dog with a smile on his face.

FADE OUT:

FADE IN:

MONDAY MORNING

WE SEE a large bald man leave the house and get into a car and drive off down the road...the two men are in their van viewing this then step out of their van...a piece of meat that’s been drugged is thrown to the dog.

-The man that lives in the house is a organ collector and his front room is stuffed with organs...he’s into playing Valvaldi, Handel and Rameau and is a huge colossus of a man...he smokes and there are lots of books and ash trays around the sitting room. He also has large numbers of boxes in the centre of the room filled with papers and magazines...the place has not been cleaned in a long time. He has musical friends who visit the house and they play duets. He also has a cat.

The two break into the house round the back door which is a old conservatory. They know that upstairs in the house is a very valuable violin in a glass cabinet. They go in (it’s a beautiful old wooden conservatory and inside are lots of dead plants and a untidiness) they break in through a second door which leads to the kitchen and into the downstairs hall (which is quite dark)...they move fairly quickly and go up the stairs. Lots of beautiful old paintings are on the walls and a old clock on the first floor landing.

They find themselves on the third floor landing and hear the front door opening. The man has returned (he’s not meant to be back home but seems to have got himself a bad cold)...he goes into his front room and begins to play his favourite organ (very loudly)

The two are now in a upstairs spare bedroom that is extremely cluttered...there’s a old bed with a cat asleep on it...the curtains are closed and the light doesn’t work...the thieves have to switch on their torches. There’s lots of boxes stuffed with paper everywhere and a cloth covering a glass cabinet...the two pull the cloth off and inside is a very old violin...Yehudi Menuhin’s violin.

The thief in charge opens the door and takes the violin out...he inspects it and then puts it into a box (not violin shaped on the outside) (but violin shaped on the inside)

A huge thunder storm starts up and it goes very dark outside...there is a power cut and the mans organ stops working….he then here’s a sound from the attic….and gets up to investigate. He gets a torch as its quite dark now and starts to climb the stairs.

The two men are now out on the landing and see the light coming up the stair...they go back into the room they came from and go out the window onto the ledge.

WE SEE them at the top of a long sloping section of ledge...a woman across in opposite flat screams. They can see that its not far to jump from the ledge to the train track and do so.

A train soon appears and they have to get off the track and hang down the side...its not possible to bring the case with them and it gets left on the track. Its perched just on the edge and the train knocks it off and it falls all the way down into the naghbours swimming pool.

The police arrive and arrest the thieves.