PAGE ONE

Five PANELS. Six panel grid. First 4 panels the same size. Last panel is twice as wide, goes across page.

Panel One:

Medium shot of a couple sitting together on a couch, talking. The setting is subtly futuristic, with the couch and its accompanying coffee table in a Jetsons Moderne style. The WOMAN sits to the left. She is in her early thirties, not unattractive, yet not ravishing, either, her hair and clothes are slightly conservative in style, though casual in fashion. The MAN, who seems to be around the same age, looks like a moderately refined man about town, well groomed, yet perhaps slightly tasteless in his dress. They are talking, though there are no word balloons in the panel. He is holding his hands out, one on top of the other, palms facing each other at a half-foot distance, as if to use them as a visual prop in his anecdote.

CAPTION (NARRATOR-- NOT IN QUOTES ON FIRST PAGE): IT'S NOT HARD TO RECOGNIZE TWO PEOPLE IN LOVE.

Panel Two:

Move in for a closer shot from same angle. Woman and man's faces and shoulders can be seen. The woman is laughing, holding up one hand toward the man as if to say, "Oh, stop it, you." Though she is not fully facing the man, her squinting eyes are turned to look into his face. The man is grinning, and there's something ever so slightly actor-like about his demeanor, as if he had practiced this look of sly geniality in a mirror and has used it on other women in the past. He looks into her eyes. His slightly askew eyebrows are subtle signifiers of an underlying romantic tension.

CAPTION: IT'S IN THEIR EYES, HOW THEY LOOK AT EACH OTHER.

Panel Three:

The shot moves back again. The woman is now turned away from the man, her hand covering her mouth as if to stifle a laugh. Though she actually couldn't see him, her eyes are turned as if to look back at him. (A classic effect in romance comics!) He has turned his entire body to face her on the couch. His hand reaches toward her, palm up, as if offering her an invisible object or pleading to her to take his hand. He smiles, mouth closed. His head is slightly tilted, as if asking a question with the gesture.

CAPTION: IT'S IN THEIR GESTURES AND MOVEMENTS.

Panel Four:

Similar to last panel in composition. The woman is now turned toward the man. She reaches her own arm toward him, her hand almost touching his. He is in a similar position as the last panel. His head is tilted slightly forward, mouth in a tight grin, eyes locked on hers. Though there are dialogue balloons, they are at the edge of the panel and cut off, so the reader can't see the whole of what the characters are saying.

CAPTION: YOU CAN HEAR IT IN THEIR VOICES.

WOMAN (SEE NOTE ABOVE): CHARM, I MUST ADMIT.

MAN (SEE NOTE ABOVE): AS IF ADMITTING THIS

Panel Five:

Large panel. Couple still on couch. The woman's body is now stiff, facing the "camera", her hands knitted together on her lap. She is looking at the floor. The man's face is blank, staring at the reader with no sign of emotion at all. While the woman has become stiff, his body is more relaxed, leaning back into the couch away from the woman.

CAPTION: IN THE WAY THEY CARRY ON, AS IF I WASN'T EVEN THERE, IN MY OWN LIVING ROOM.

NARRATOR (OFF-PANEL): WOULD YOU CARE FOR SOME COFFEE?

WOMAN: YES.

WOMAN: PLEASE.

MAN: SURE.

PAGE TWO

FIVE PANELS

Panel One:

Medium shot of woman. She is still in the self-conscious position of the last panel. We can see the coffee table in front of her and a cup and saucer set out. Coffee is being poured from a coffeepot, though there seem to be cybernetics embedded within the chrome. We cannot see the hand of the person pouring it.

CAPTION: "AND AFTER HOW LONG SHE'S BEEN WITH ME, I JUST..."

WOMAN: HALF A CUP IS FINE.

Panel Two:

Medium shot of man, very similar to the layout of the last panel. He has his own cup and saucer, and even though the coffee is being poured (though we still can't see the pourer's hand!); the man is reaching out toward the cup. He's looking toward the "camera", at the narrator, a self-conscious half-smile on his face.

Caption: "OH, I KNOW I'M NOT PASSIONATE. I'M NOT BUILT THAT WAY. I REALIZE THAT."

MAN: AH, NICE AND HOT.

Panel Three:

We now see a kitchen, again slightly futuristic, yet in a somewhat dated manner. At one side of the panel, there is a refrigerator with what seems to be a radar antenna on top. Next to it is a counter with a number of electronic gadgets which look more like weapons in a mad scientist's lab than kitchen appliances. The taps of the sink are preposterously shaped space-aged contrivances.

CAPTION: "BUT I GIVE HER SECURITY. I'M ALWAYS THERE TO GIVE WARMTH AND PROTECTION."

Panel Four:

The coffeepot is sitting on the counter. It's as if the narrator, our eyes, is just standing there, staring at it, thinking.

CAPTION: "OLD RELIABLE, THAT'S ME. THERE TO FALL BACK ON."

Panel Five:

Medium shot. We are looking out the doorway from the kitchen into the living room. The edge of the refrigerator can be seen on one side of the portal. The doorway is framing the couple on the couch. We are too far away to see them in any detail, but it is obvious that they have returned to their previous conversation.

CAPTION: "AND THAT'S EVIDENTLY NOT ENOUGH."

PAGE THREE

FIVE PANELS.

Panel One:

A man's hand, holding a key.

CAPTION: "THAT WAS WHEN I DECIDED, THAT NIGHT, WHEN I SAW HER SLIP HIM THE KEY."

CAPTION: "THE KEY TO MY BACK DOOR."

Panel Two:

The man is opening a door, which leads from the outside into the kitchen. One hand is on the doorknob; the other holds a single rose.

MAN: YOU HOME, DARLING?

Panel Three:

Close-up on man's face. He is open-mouthed, obviously a little taken aback.

NARRATOR (OFF-PANEL): NO, SHE'S NOT HOME.

CAPTION (NARRATOR): "HE ACTS ALMOST SURPRISED TO HEAR ME VOICE."

Panel Four:

Medium shot of man. The hand with the rose is now behind his back. He looks embarrassed.

MAN: UH, HI.

MAN: MAYBE I SHOULD BE OFF, HUH?

Panel Five:

Medium-long shot of the man, we can see his whole body. He looks confused. His hands are in front of him, maybe in defense, maybe to try to gesture, to explain something. The rose is on the floor at his feet. In the foreground of the panel, a gleaming knife blade, obviously a kitchen utensil, juts up from the bottom of the panel. (Oh, what would Mr. Wertham say?)

CAPTION (NARRATOR): "AND HE IS MOST DEFINITELY SURPRISED WHEN I PULLED OUT THE KNIFE."

NARRATOR (OFF-PANEL): NO.

NARRATOR (OFF-PANEL): DON'T GO.

PAGE FOUR

6 PANEL Grid, each panel the same size.

Panel One:

Close-up of man's face. His features have gone slack, mouth open, and eyes wide.

CAPTION (NARRATOR): "THE FIRST THRUST CUTS CLEAN."

Panel Two:

Again a close-up. The man is obviously screaming, screaming with every ounce of energy in his body. His eyes bulging, mouth stretched to its limit. Veins bulge in his forehead.

CAPTION (NARRATOR): "AND I WONDER TO MYSELF IF I SHOULD PROLONG HIS DEATH."

Panel Three:

The "camera" is in the same position, but the man has fallen backwards. He is stumbling, his arms are wrapped around his chest, presumably where the knife wound is. His eye's are clenched shut and his mouth still screams.

CAPTION (NARRATOR): "DO I WANT HIM TO SUFFER, AS HE MADE ME SUFFER?"

Panel Four:

Medium shot. We are looking down at the man, from the narrator's point of view. (Not that the whole story isn't told from that perspective.) The man is face down on the floor, head turned to one side. We see his back. Arms at his side.

CAPTION (NARRATOR): "COULD HE REALLY UNDERSTAND MY PAIN?"

Panel Five:

We are now at floor level, looking at a close up of the man's face, mouth and eyes open in a horrible, fishy kind of way. The panel is reminiscent of that famous shot of poor, dead Janet Leigh in "Psycho".

CAPTION (NARRATOR): "BUT THE KNIFE SEEMS TO DECIDE FOR ME."

Panel Six:

The shot is the same as the last panel but we've pulled back a little. The man remains the same, but in the foreground is the single rose he brought. A petal has fallen off.

CAPTION (NARRATOR): "AND THE END COMES SWIFTLY ENOUGH."

 

PAGE FIVE

FOUR PANELS.

Panel One:

Shot much like the first panel of the story, except it is only the woman on the couch, the man is conspicuously absent. She seems reserved, tired. There is a cup and saucer on the coffee table before her.

CAPTION: MY GARBAGE DISPOSAL DID QUICK WORK OF HIM. AND BY THE TIME SHE CAME HOME THAT EVENING, THERE WASN'T A TRACE LEFT OF HIM IN MY KITCHEN."

Panel Two:

Move in for a close-up of woman. She is holding saucer and taking a sip of coffee. There is no emotion in her face.

CAPTION: AT FIRST SHE WAS ANGRY WITH HIM FOR NOT RETURNING HER CALLS.

CAPTION: BUT HE WILL EVENTUALLY BE FORGOTTEN.

Panel Three:

We pull back again to see the whole couch. The woman sets the cup and saucer back on the coffee table. She stares off into the middle distance.

CAPTION: AND SHE WILL STAY IN AT NIGHT AND ACCEPT MY WARMTH, SECURITY AND PROTECTION.

Panel Four:

We pull back even further to see the whole living room, which we never actually saw before. In the middle of the room is a box with a speaker on a pole, and it is talking. A robotic arm comes out of the wall, and it is holding the coffeepot seen earlier in the story. Small cameras, the house's eyes are in the corners of the room. Another robot arm is dusting a painting on the wall.

CAPTION: THE SORT OF THINGS A HOUSE PROVIDES.

NARRATOR (ACTUALLY A BOX ON A POST IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROOM): WOULD YOU CARE FOR MORE COFFEE?

WOMAN: NO, THANK YOU.

CAPTION: THE END