Recap: If you’re too drained to read yesterday’s post, which I totally relate to and respect, Husbandrinka and I discussed turning one of my posts into a sitcom. Based on his guidance, I prepared this script!
Motherhood in NYC: The Sitcom.
“She Ain’t Misbehavin’, She’s Brain Damaged!”
Exterior shots of NYC to let viewers know that the show is set in NYC. In case “Motherhood in NYC” is too subtle.
Interior. Apartment in Manhattan. Like Different Strokes, but more recession-friendly.
A 10 year old girl comes skipping into the kitchen, where Husbandrinka, the patriarch, is reading The New York Times.
Girlchild: Daddy?
Patriarch: Yes, honey?
Girlchild: Daddy, I would really like to have a kitten. They are cute and cuddly!
Patriarch:
Girlchild: Please, daddy!
7 year old boychild runs in, carrying a baseball bat and maybe a football.
Boychild: I would like to have a kitten, too. They are very cuddly and cute!
Patriarch: (throws up hands) I give up. Children, you may get a kitten. Your Russian grandmother, babushka, will take you to adopt one. Against my better judgment.
Kids: Yay!
Opening credits.
Daniel Craig as Husbandrinka!
Adorable Unknown (female) as Girlchild
Adorable Unknown (male) as Boychild
and special guest star: Linda Hunt as Marinka
Interior Pet store.
Mama (dressed in Russian national clothes, or maybe a fur hat): Here we are, kids, ready to adopt a kitten! Although we are at a pet store, they do not sell kittens. They are for adoption. Let us wait in line. Like I used to wait in line for bread in Russia in the coldest of winters.
Boychild: waiting in line is boring! I think I’ll jump around!
Mama: Well, this is a pet store, you little monkey! Go right ahead! Na zdorovye!
Boychild jumps up and lands on some woman’s foot.
Cranky Hag: Ow! In my day, kids were seen and not heard!
Girlchild: In your day, kids were not heard because of the roar of the dinosaurs!
Adoption agent: Well, what a multigenerational and international family you are! Have you selected a kitten?
Kids, in unison: THAT ONE!
Adoption agent: Aww, that’s little Sundance. She’s adorable and completely sane! Congratulations.
Kids: Yay!
Mama: I’m sure that Sundance will be a perfect addition to your family! Nothing can possibly go wrong!
COMMERICAL.
Angelina Jolie walks into a war-torn refugee camp.
Hi, I’m Angelina Jolie, an Oscar winning actress, a UN goodwill ambassador, and most of all, a mother. Whether I’m on location to shoot a film or on location to expand my family, I always have my HP Vivienne Tam mini computer with me. Because I never know when the inspiration to write a letter to the editor will strike, or when I’ll need to leak some news about Jen still being single and childless to the tabloids. The Vivienne Tam mini is portable and fashionable. And it beautiful. Like me. And Shiloh. I love the Vivienne Tam HP mini so much, I named my youngest daughter Vivienne!
Interior: Family living room.
Marinka is on hands and knees washing the floor. The kitten, Sundance, keeps trying to grab at the rag that she is using.
Marinka: Sundance, you silly puss! Stop that.
Girlchild: She is just playing!
Boychild: Leave her alone, MOM! And you missed a spot.
Marinka: Oy, children, how you talk to me (writer’s notes: explore possiblity of Marinka breaking into a Fiddle On the Roof-type song)
Children: Whatever. Oh my god! Sundance is now biting the bottoms of our Levi’s stonewashed jeans!
EVERYONE IN UNISON: SUNDANCE!
Interior: Bedroom.
Patriarch: Marinka, have you seen my wallet?
Marinka: No, not since you gave me my weekly grocery allowance earlier in the week.
Patricarch: I left it on the dresser, and then Sundance was jumping around here–
Patriarch and Marinka in unison: SUNDANCE!
Interior: Living Room. Doorbell rings.
Patriarch: Who could that be?
Door opens, John comes in. He is wearing a bright pink scarf and a tophat
John: Hi ho, everyone! I was just in this turkeyneck of the woods and thought I’d pop tart in to check in on you!
Kids: YAY! John!
Patriarch: Marinka is not here today.
John: Where is she, shopping? Mani-pedi? Women! I don’t know how you put up with her, Husbandrinka!
SUNDANCE runs in and jumps on top of John’s head.
Everyone in unison: SUNDANCE!
John: WOMEN!
Interior: Dining room;
Patriarch: You know, call me crazy-
Kids: Hi, CRAZY!!
Patriarch: as I was saying, call me crazy, but I think there’s something wrong with our Sundance.
Girlchild: What do you mean? She’s cute!
Boychild: And cuddly!
Patriarch: Well, she hid my wallet. Girl child saw her drinking from the toilet, She bit everyone’s jeans. This isn’t normal kitten behavior. Now, your mother had to go on an emergency trip and won’t be back for a few episodes, I mean, weeks, but I think we should go back to the place from whence Sundance came and have a conversation.
Intrerior pet store. Kids and Mama are back, with sad faces.
Mama: Sundance seems to be, excuse me, how to say, like Krushchev at UN assembly in early 1960s.
Adoption agent: I don’t understand, Sundance has been banging on the table with her shoe?
Mama: Darn these cultural misunderstandings. I feel like I need vodka and caviar. No, I mean, Sundance seems like a crazy.
Adoption agent: This is a very serious allegation.
Boychild: She poops outside the box!
Mama: Hush, boychild!
Girlchild: Mommy says poop is natural.
Mama: Oh, you Americans!
Adoption agent: Oh dear! I’ve checked the adoption records and it looks like we forgot to tell you that Sundance has brain damage! So sorry!
Mama: Well, now at least we understand why she acts like that!
Kids: Brain damage! Yay!
Ending credits…
Next week on Husbandrinkahood in NYC: With Marinka away, Husbandrinka will play! Who will steal his heart? We can’t tell you, but she is younger and thinner than Marinka! (But then, who isn’t?)