Kaji: The Quiet Hunger

1. FADE IN

3. Act 1

5. INT. HOME - MORNING

6. 
   

7. Sunlight streams through a gap in the curtains in the bedroom. KAJI is curled in bed. Her ears twitch.

8. 
   

9. KAJI (V.O.): It's breakfast time.

10. 
    

11. She lifts her head. Sniffs the air.

12. 
    

13. KAJI (V.O.) (Cont'd): The scent is wrong. There's the familiar smell of the Pack Leader and Peter, but the most important aroma is missing.

14. 
    

15. She stretches, a long, deliberate extension of her front legs, then her back. She observes PETER and the PACK LEADER.

16. 
    

17. KAJI (V.O.) (Cont'd): Peter is a lump under covers, breathing slowly. The Pack Leader is a similar, more deeply buried lump. They're uselessly asleep.

18. 
    

19. Kaji gets out of bed and trots to the living room and then the kitchen.

20. 
    

21. KAJI (V.O.) (Cont'd): Where's our maid? She's absent. The silence is incorrect.

22. 
    

23. She returns to the bedroom. She hops up onto the bed, steps on Peter's chest and gives his nose several, deliberate, wet licks.

24. 
    

25. KAJI (V.O.) (Cont'd): The Pack Leader is a creature of the night. To wake her is to get a disoriented response, followed by a return to sleep. But she prepares my lunch, my afternoon walk and my dinner.

26. 
    

27. Act 2

28. 
    

29. MONTAGE

30. 
    

31. A. INT. HOME - EARLY MORNING (About a month ago)

32. 
    

33. The Pack Leader and Peter, laden with suitcases. They kneel to ruffle Kaji's ears. Their faces are a mix of excitement and apology.

34. 
    

35. PACKLEADER & PETER: Be a good girl while we're away.

36. 
    

37. The main door closes. The sound of the lock clicking is loud in a sudden silence.

38. 
    

39. B. INT. HOME - DAY (About three weeks ago)

40. 
    

41. Days pass. The MAID is a quiet presence.

42. 
    

43. KAJI (V.O.): She provides just my lunch and dinner. No breakfast and no walk.

44. 
    

45. Pausing.

46. 
    

47. KAJI (V.O.) (Cont'd): The scent of the Pack Leader and Peter begins to fade. The daily rhythm becomes a single two-beat: me and the maid.

48. 
    

49. C. INT. HOME - NIGHT (About a fortnight ago)

50. 
    

51. The main door opens. The Pack Leader and Peter are back. But they're not alone. Behind them are a COUPLE. Kaji welcomes them with uncontainable joy.

52. 
    

53. KAJI (V.O.): The couple comes home very occasionally.

54. 
    

55. The reunion is a whirlwind of noise and movement. The moon outside is nearly full.

56. 
    

57. KAJI (V.O.) (Cont'd): They return with a piece of the world I don't know.

58. 
    

59. Days later when the moon is less full, they all leave agan.

60. 
    

61. D. INT. HOME - NIGHT (About a week ago)

62. 
    

63. Very quiet. Just Kaji and the maid.

64. 
    

65. KAJI (V.O.): This time, the quiet is different. It's not the anxiety of the unknown, but the heavy blanket of lonliness.

67. END MONTAGE

68. 
    

69. KAJI (V.O.) (Cont'd): The Pack Leader and Peter have been back for a few days. The couple doesn't return with them. The routine is fragile.

70. 
    

71. Pausing.

72. 
    

73. KAJI (V.O.) (Cont'd): There are two kinds of hunger. The one in the belly which is loud and demanding. And the one in the soul, which is silent and patient. The quiet hunger is more dangerous of the two.

74. 
    

75. Kaji stares at Peter and the Pack Leader.

76. 
    

77. KAJI (V.O.) (Cont'd): Peter is still sleeping. The Pack Leader is in her unwakable slumber.

78. 
    

79. MONTAGE OF HEARING THE PACK LEADER'S ALARMS

80. 
    

81. A. Beep-Beep-Beep-Beep (The Pack Leader's alarm). The one she sleeps through every day.

82. 
    

83. B. The Pack Leader doesn't even stir in the bed. The beeping continues, and so, her sleep.

84. 
    

85. END MONTAGE

86. 
    

87. KAJI (V.O.) (Cont'd): The prospect is now a probability. There will be no timely breakfast: Which leads to a terrifying question: will there be a timely lunch?

88. 
    

89. Pausing.

90. 
    

91. KAJI (V.O.) (Cont'd): I don't ask for much. Food. Shelter. The occasional scratch behind the ears. But I ask for these things on time. Is that so unreasonable?

92. 
    

93. Pausing.

94. 
    

95. KAJI (V.O.) (Cont'd): The Pack Leader doesn't hear the clock's alarms. The stake of the possibility of an indeterminate hunger is simple, but the solution is not.

96. 
    

97. Pausing.

98. 
    

99. KAJI (V.O.) (Cont'd): I can wait. I'm a dog. Waiting is my primary skill. But the human element is unpredictable.

100. 
     

101. Act 3

102. 
     

103. INT. BEDROOM - LATER

104. 
     

105. Kaji rejoins the Pack Leader and Peter in bed.

106. 
     

107. KAJI (V.O.)(Cont'd): I have one job: to love them. And I do it well. But even love requires fuel. Even devotion requires breakfast. Peter has done that a moment ago.

108. 
     

109. Beep-Beep-Beep-Beep. Kaji takes a look of the Pack Leader.

110. 
     

111. KAJI (V.O.)(Cont'd): The alarm rang. She slept through it. As foreseen. Peter didn't wake her. As expected. The world continues to run. As it always does.

112. 
     

113. Kaji glances at Peter.

114. 
     

115. KAJI (V.O.)(Cont'd): The loudest hunger is the easiest to satifsfy. The quiet hunger - the one for certainty, for presence, for the simple promise of tomorrow - is the one that follows me all my days. That's why I'm the wisest creature in the room.

116. 
     

117.  FADE OUT

119. THE END