little slips: an introduction

black screen. the sound of a door opening, bells chime slightly, footsteps.

fade to:

int. convenience store - night

an out of focus convenience store interior slowly comes to focus as a woman, mia - seen below - roughly 28 years old, wanders down the central aisle half asleep. the camera follows her shakily.

mia (mumbling)
snacks...snackeroos...munchin' muncheroos...

another woman crosses mia's path as she reaches the end of the aisle. mia abruptly stops in a black circle painted on the floor of the store. the camera gets closer to her as she stands still, until it is at her shoulders. her head slowly follows the other woman.

cut to:

ext. convenience store - night

a wide shot of the dimly lit pavement. mia's feet, clad in oversized flip-flops, rush across the parking lot. they stop, pivot, and eventually point back toward the convenience store. her toes rise toward the air, standing only on her heels, then plop back down on the ground. there is a moment of hesitance, and then they turn around and walk calmly in the same direction as before, away from the store.

cut to:

int. car - night

a medium shot of the passenger, james, relatively the same age as mia, with shoulder-length hair and relatively giant in his physique. he is looking down at a tiny magazine, which only magnifies his grotesque size. he looks scrunched in the small two-door sedan. his head follows the pages and doesn't look at mia as she, unseen but heard, gets into the driver's seat and sighs loudly and quickly.

james
they didn't have any, did they?

mia
tato skins, right. yeah, probably.

james looks up from his magazine and raises his eyebrows very calmly, but still not making eye contact with mia.

mia
i know, they're delicious. maybe you could go get them.

james
sure, i'll go in, then i'll come back without having purchased anything and act really weird toward you. cool?

mia
okay okay okay. but seriously, you go. you'll understand once you get in there.

james closes his magazine and gets out of the car with the copy of "tv guide" still in hand. as he puts his arm on the top of the car door, he looks across the vehicle at the store. before he can close the door, all lights in the store and parking lot go dark.