Movie Junior: Miss Fixed

(JUDY emerges, defeated. Her sophisticated smile has collapsed into a guilty grin.)

(JUDY shoves Fluffy toward the door, then hides behind the Christmas tree. Fluffy opens the door. MRS. GRAVES enters—warm, harried, holding shopping bags. She wears a coat with a fur collar and the quiet exhaustion of a woman who has not had a silent cup of coffee in twelve years.) movie junior miss

(to her reflection) No. Too much teeth. That’s not “knowing”—that’s sugar . Try again. (She softens her mouth, raises one eyebrow.) There. That’s the face of a woman who has seen things . (JUDY emerges, defeated

So—three lonely people. One dinner party. One strategically spilled glass of water. One “accidental” seating arrangement. (She flips the notebook pages, revealing a diagram with arrows and X’s.) By Friday, Uncle Kingsley and Aunt Grace will be holding hands under the table. And Mr. Pringle will be so jealous he finally proposes to Mrs. Pringle. Too much teeth

(ignoring her) Listen. Uncle Kingsley is lonely. Mother says so. Aunt Grace is lonely. Father says she talks too much about her canaries. And Mr. Pringle from downstairs—the one with the mustache—he keeps coming up to “borrow sugar” even though we all know he has a whole cabinet full.

The living room of the Graves family apartment, Manhattan. A Christmas tree stands half-decorated. Tinsel droops from a lampshade. JUDY GRAVES (13, sharp-eyed, impulsive, and convinced she understands adults better than they understand themselves) stands before a full-length mirror, practicing a “sophisticated” smile.