Story - The Final Edit

It’s New Year’s Eve in Manhattan, New York City and Linda is stuck at work. Her place of work is a diner, which is located a few blocks away from Times Square. The celebrations have started and all her friends are partying in the apartment building next door without her.

Luckily for Linda, the diner is empty and there are no customers in sight. She turns to look at the clock, which reads 10:30. It is closing time! Linda jumps with joy and dashes for the front door. She pulls the blind down, puts her coat on and goes to reach for the door handle. Suddenly the door bursts open from the outside and Linda is thrown across the diner and lands on the floor.

A tall handsome man in a long coat enters, looks at the waitress he has pushed to the floor by accident and smiles. He then shakes his head and begins to take his coat off. Linda is in shock and soon turns angry with the man. He has stopped her from partying with her friends! Her attitude soon changes after he finishes taking off his coat and notices how rich the man looks from his tailored suit, full head of hair and good looks. Linda decides to get one up on the man for making her late by trying to score a huge tip from him. She begins to imagine all the shoes, clothes, and wine and chocolate she can treat herself to with the tip …

Linda stands up, fixes her uniform and hair and rolls over to the man on her roller skates. The man is now sat at a booth in the corner of the diner. Linda pulls out her notepad and pen from her pinny. She wears a huge smile and begins to take the man’s order. He requests a hamburger with a Coke. Linda skates off to the kitchen and begins to prepare his meal. She looks at the clock and sees it is 10:40. She then looks out of the window and sees her friends in the apartment building next door dancing, laughing and drinking away. She feels really confident that she can finish the man’s order and leave for the party before midnight.

After serving the man his meal, she begins to write the check until he coughs and points to his plate, interrupting her. The waitress looks at the plate and sees he has finished his meal! This guy is very hungry! She smiles and continues to write the check. The man then pushes a menu on top of her notepad and points to a pie and coffee.

Linda is dumbstruck. Surely he can’t still be hungry after that huge meal? Instead of wondering the matter, she smiles and begins to roll over to the kitchen to begin preparing the man’s second round of food. As she prepares and the meal, Linda takes a quick look at the clock again. The time reads 10:50. She still feels confident that she can leave in time for the party.

Linda leaves the kitchen and skates over to give the man his food. As she places the plate down, the man shoves the menu in her hands again and points to a whole range of items. Linda freezes with horror. Why does he want all this food? Will the tip be worth the effort she’s made for this man? Linda forces a smile and begins to turn around.

Linda prepares and cooks all the man’s food and drink and skates back and forth to the man in between cooking each food item. This goes on for some time …

The time is now 11:30. Linda is standing next to the man at his table. Her uniform is ripped and covered in stains and her hair is a mess. The man is a little larger and more round than when he first came in. Linda is also panting and looks exhausted. She goes to reach for her notepad and is waiting for the man to order his next thing. Instead, he simply holds his wallet in the air. Linda is relieved, as she is about to get her tip and can finally go home.

The man smiles, reaches for his wallet in his pocket and pulls it out. He opens it and looks at the waitress. He pulls a cheeky smile and shows Linda the inside of his wallet. It is empty.

A moth flies out of the man’s wallet, flies upwards and is attracted to one of the neon signs above the window. It fries to a crisp and falls on the table in between the two characters.  Linda freezes and her eyes twitch. She looks at the man, retrieves a frying pan from behind her back and hits him over the head in one smooth move.

A little while later, we see a party is taking place at the diner. There are music, laughing and champagne corks popping. Linda’s friends have moved the party to the diner so they can celebrate with her. We hear a countdown and then the sound of party whistles, party poppers, and glasses clinking and cheering. We then see Linda come from behind a crowd. She is dressed up nicely with makeup and her hair is all done nicely.  She whistles to something or someone off screen. The camera pans to the kitchen door where we see a pair of roller skates and hairy legs come from behind the door. The camera zooms out to reveal it is the man in a pink and white uniform holding a tray with drinks and food on it. The party guests all laugh and point at the large man in a waitresses’ uniform.

Close with a pan up from diner exterior to New York City skyline and fireworks exploding in the background.