The phonecall
Thursday - 10 am.
(The scene opens up outside of Lancaster California on a 20-acre piece of land, this place used to be the residence of Dion Carpenter, the late father of Jenn and Madison Carpenter. This house was given to the girls in a will that he wrote out to them but the girls didn’t want the house or the land that went with it so they gave it to Gracie instead. That’s why they’re out here, they’re checking out the piece of land and the house. The house is 4 bedrooms, a large wrap-around front porch. A fire pit for a fire a few feet away from the house, and a large empty land for anything, really. We see Jenn walking out of the house and then she leans on the front porch railing. Soon comes Gracie, she’s wearing a beanie, sunglasses, and a sweatshirt…as it’s a little chilly.)
Gracie: When you described this place to me, I imagined a rundown shack somewhere in the Mojave desert, but this place is huge, and it has huge possibilities for more development as too. Makes me wonder why you don’t want it?
Jenn: Neither one of us wanted it. We just didn’t want anything to do with him and that includes this house. I mean I get it, madison’s dad means well and everything but we don’t want to deal with the trash he left behind…
Gracie: I get it. There’s something of his still left in this house though that we need to take care of but I can do it. I’ll just trash the stuff that’s in there and start over.
Jenn: It’s your place, you can do whatever you want with it! I know you have some projects in your mind and you needed some land for.
(While Gracie is excited about the land she got from Jenn and Madison, her attention shifted towards Jenn, whose mind is on something else that happened. Something MAJOR that could change the lives of everyone involved.)
Gracie: Enough about me and my new house, what about you? You clearly have something else on your mind….
Jenn: You can tell, can’t you?
Gracie: Yeah…. You had the same look while we were in Texas.
(Just like Alexis finding out about the news, Gracie was the same way although a bit different. Jenn and Gracie were talking about the land and doing some other paperwork with it before a piece of paper that Jenn was trying to hide so nobody else would find out about it, slipped from the envelope from the folder she had, Gracie went to pick it up and as she started to read the paper, a confused look grew across her face. Since then Jenn has been on her mind since that day, Gracie just wants Jenn to be happy and not have to deal with bullshit anymore.)
Jenn: Yeah, You had the same look on your face that Lexi did. You guys weren’t helping me then, I didn’t how to react to it and I still don’t.
(Gracie took off her sunglasses before she looks towards Jenn.)
Gracie: I think you do know, but you’re trying to avoid it. Did you talk to them at least?
Jenn: I haven’t had the time, and how would I bring it up?
Gracie: You have time right now……
Jenn: It’s 4 am over there!
Gracie: Sounds like someone is making excusessssss.
(As Gracie finished that sentence, she reached into her sweater pocket and pulled out her phone, she starts playing with it for a moment before pressing a button and putting it on speaker. We can hear the phone ringing.)
Jenn: You’re so stubborn….
Gracie: I’m stubborn!?
(Gracie gave Jenn the side-eye look before someone answers the phone.)
Mrs. M: Hello?
Gracie: Morning! I didn’t mean to wake you guys up, but Jenn and I have an issue that we’re talking about…and she wanted to ask you about it, and she’s scared to at the moment.
Mrs. M: You guys can talk to us about anything at any time, you know this! What’s the problem hon?
(Jenn lets out a heavy sigh, almost like she didn’t want to talk to them about it but she has to. Deep down, she knows she wants answers and she deserves answers as well.)
Jenn: Well, I found some papers that I wanted to tell you about and I wanted to know if you knew anything about them?
Mrs M: Is there a way for you to send a picture of them and send them to me?
(Gracie works her magic on the phone, while Jenn gets the papers from her coat pocket. Just like before, we have no idea what’s on them and we still don’t since Gracie is in the way. Silence fell for a second but then we hear chatter in the background between Mr. and Mrs. M.)
Mr. M. I can’t see it good enough but if they’re what I think they are, this isn’t a convo for the phone, it needs to be done in person.
Jenn: So that means you guys are coming here then?
Mr. M: Yeah. Besides, we wanted to come to the states anyway, we need a little vacation time. Since the borders are back open, it’s our chance. Hey! Don’t tell Lexi, we want this to be a surprise for her too. We haven’t seen you guys in forever.
Jenn: I’ll see you guys in a few days!
(Jenn hangs up the phone before looking at Gracie. Gracie is leaning against the porch rail playing with her sunglasses. Gracie has a big smile face on her face. While Jenn has been nervous about the entire thing, Gracie has been level-headed, a calm presence as well, something Jenn needed.)
Gracie: I told you they wouldn’t be angry… and you guys can talk over this finally. Whatever happens, we do it as a family. It’s always been that way, and whatever happens with this, I’m here for you no matter what.
Jenn: Thanks. Let’s head back to LA, I wanna spend some time with my granddaughter!
Gracie: And get prepared for your upcoming match too, first match you’ve had in a while huh?
Jenn: Tell me about it, it’s almost like they forgot you and I exist…..
Gracie: Not me, I’m requested this time off. I’ll be back soonish.
Jenn: Well, good. I could use this match to unleash some anger but that won’t accomplish much. So, I’m just going to go in with a positive attitude and tear the house down, like I’ve always done.
First match in…a while.
The next day - 2 pm.
(The scene opens up back in the mountains, we can see a beautiful view of the skyline of LA, and it’s another sun-splashed warm day, the wind is slightly breezy enough to move the air around but not overly aggressive. We see Jenn and Madison walking along the trails after they did a 3-mile run. They found a bench along the pathway and decided to take a seat and take a breather before they start running the trails again.)
Madison: How did your meeting with Gracie go with the new property?
Jenn: We spent an hour there looking over things, but overall she said she’ll take it. Which is is a breath of fresh air, because if she didn’t I don’t know what I would do.
Madison: Same here. Still have no idea why he would put you on that will.
Jenn: He probably thought that giving that house to me would solve all the issues that we had, but it didn’t. It made things worse. He probably that through that twisted brain of his that I was still his kid. I’m not, I’ve moved on. I’ve been living on my own since I’ve was 16, and I thought i was an orphan until….
(Madison raises an eyebrow.)
Madison: Until what?
Jenn: Nothing. I know Mr. and Mrs. M took me in but it still. After all of the bullshit I’ve been through in life, it’s amazing how I turned out to be a decent person.
(Madison glances towards her sister, she knows something is bothering her. She had the same feeling last week when she was talking to Gracie in private. She knows something is wrong but she doesn’t want to stick her nose into it, but for how long though? She’s going to have to ask them sometime before shit hits the fan.)
Madison: I mean, yeah. You have 2 great kids, a granddaughter who adores you, a career that is hall of fame worthy and you know what else you have? A sister who looks up to you for advice and guidance as well.
(Jenn nods her head and playfully shoves her sister, and Madison smiles about it.)
Jenn: I got lucky there! You turned out pretty good too after living with that piece of shit…
(She has never had anything good to say about him anyway, it’s always been that way and almost 20 years later, even though he’s gone done it doesn’t change and it won’t. Hate is a strong word, but it’s safe to say that she hates that man. However, her luck might just be turning around and she won’t have to worry about the past skeletons catching up with her.)
Madison: With all of the distractions that you have right now, you think you can focus on your upcoming match?
Jenn: It’s not like I asked for this shit to fall on my lap, but it’s something I have to deal with and it’s going to resolve itself soon…I hope. As far as the match goes, I’ll be focused no matter what. Sure it’s the first match I’ve had in a while and I kinda just…disappeared for a bit there. Which isn’t my fault by the way, kinda hard to do anything when management keeps telling me “We have nothing for you, take a vacation”...
(Jenn shrugs her head, she’s a little annoyed by that..but she has her mind turning to make an impact one way or another. She HATES being told “we have nothing for you”..)
Jenn: I mean it’s cool that I can heal up and take care of nagging injuries that I’ve collected over the years, but I don’t like sitting around and not doing anything productive. Hell, there was a time when Jorge used to yell at me for sitting around during training not doing anything productive and it kinda feels like that in a way. I could sit here and make excuses or whatever but I won’t or I can sit here and bitch and moan, which I have a reason too but again, I won’t.
(Jenn starts to shift her attention towards her opponent of the match.)
Jenn: I’m happy to have a match against Lyons in all honestly. I’ve seen how talented the guy is and I get to see it first hand now, but if he thinks that he can just have an easy victory over me, then he’s stupid. Before he gets his underwear twisted up and have his balls pinched, I’m not here to call names. I’m sure he will, good for him. I won’t lose any sleep by it, in fact, it’ll fall on deaf ears. Why? Because I’ve been doing this long enough not to pay attention to empty threats or “insults”.
Jenn: See Lyons, I’m not a rookie who’s looking to make a name for themselves or I’m not some slob from a backyard indy promotion whose claim to fame is jumping off a roof and breaking their neck. You’re about to face an 11-time champion, someone who is not afraid to knock your teeth down your throat for no reason whatsoever and take enjoyment from it. Lyons, if you haven’t noticed by now, I’m not scared of you dude. Sure, you may be impressive and you win tonight, that’s cool. Does it look like I care? Not really, no.
(Jenn shrugs her shoulders.)
Jenn: All I care about is getting back into that ring and showing the people the passion I still have for this business and the determination as well. I’ve been loyal to this company before you were even were around. I’ve faced the legends here, I’ve faced the hall of famers, and I’ve faced people you couldn’t even imagine and I’ve faced people who fell off the face of the earth. I’m telling you this because you’re NOT going to face some broken-down “grandma”. You’re about to face someone who still has life left in this business and someone who is still at the top of their game. With that being said, I expect a good match between us, and I’m looking forward to it. So, I’ll see you soon….
(Jenn elbows Madison with her shoulder and motions her to move. Both of them start resuming running down the trail, as they’re not done just yet. They still have a few miles left to go and then they have to come back as well. The scene starts to fade)