Dinner By The Fireplace
Sean Wang
EXT. HOME – STORMY NIGHT
Amidst heavy rain, SEAN approaches the front door of a suburban home. Wearing a windbreaker, hood up, he taps the doorbell. Ring after ring, until the door opens to GRANDMA (60-70ish). She quickly ushers the young man into her home.
INT. HOME – DINING ROOM
Sean sits by the table while Grandma cooks in the background. Cracking oil, fried vegetables, and the stirring of a spatula and a wok can all be heard. Finally, Grandma comes to the table and presents a dish of stir fried noodles. Grandma sit in an adjacent seat, tea in hand.
GRANDMA
It was very dangerous for you to come out here all by yourself, Ching Ai De
Grandma tugs at Sean’s ear.
GRANDMA (CONT)
It’s thundering outside, you could’ve been struck by lightning! But I don’t regret your decision to stop by. Better late than never!
Sean slurps down a forkful of noodles. From beneath the table, he pulls out a thick, stapled-together collection of paper. He hands it over to Grandma.
GRANDMA
What is this? “Warrior in The Mist”. Was this one of your college papers?
SEAN
Technically, yes. I wrote while studying abroad in England a couple of summers ago.
GRANDMA
(scrolling the pages) It’s a poem!
SEAN
The prompt was to imagine a distinct memory that you always visit. A time and place that sticks out to you. I thought about the time I visited Dad’s childhood home
12 years ago. When we got there, someone else had taken refuged, but the thing I remembered so vividly was the steam. There was an open window with clouds of steam pouring out into the hot, July air. It was like someone was taking both a hot shower and boiling hot oil in a
(MORE)
SEAN (cont’d)
heavy iron wok. Dad took me there because he wanted me to know where our family first began.
GRANDMA
It was better than most. We at least had a toilet but it was pretty far from the hospital I used to work. Can’t say that I miss it all too much, after all of these years.
SEAN
That house had me thinking about my heritage. Not only of Dad’s upbringing, but also of his father and mother who sacrificed so much for what we can have today. And yet I barely even knew you at all.
GRANDMA
You never asked too much about me in the first place. You didn’t even know my name until after your junior year of college. What is this poem about anyway?
SEAN
It’s about you. Or my imagination of you. Dad only knew so much about you before you passed away. I kind of had to fill in some of the blanks myself.
Grandma flips through each page until reaching the end. She looks despondent. Sean continues to eat away at the stir fry dish. Grandma then gets up from her chair and reaches into a cabinet. She pulls out containers of vitmains and dietery supplements. She also reachs for something in the drawer beneath.
GRANDMA
(smiling)
It’s a very crazy story that you wrote about me. I’m flattered that you made me into some warrior princess and your grandfather into this ‘Arabian Nights’ hoodlum. You have alot of creativity. Want one?
Sean acknowledges the pill in her hand. He takes it and swallows. In her other hand, she hands over a Starburst.
GRANDMA (CONT)
It’s a fun story, if completely fabricated.
SEAN
I knew so little about you to begin with. And it was such an odd impulse too! A dumb prompt! I don’t even write poetry, let alone an epic poem. I felt like I was telling a lie. And sooner or later, someone who knew more about Chinese history would call me out for the fraud I was. At one point, I thought about never scrapping the whole thing. I felt like it was better to bury it all because there was no way this poem could ever possibly turn out well!
GRANDMA
But you did finish it and I’m proud that you did. Who cares if it’s historically inaccurate. It’s just fantasy.
SEAN
But I didn’t want to tell lies about you. It was about you, but it wasn’t really about you. The protagonist was cooler and more interesting than you really were.
Maybe I secretly wanted a more badass grandmother, deep down.
GRANDMA
You didn’t think of me too highly?
SEAN
You died before I was even born. It’s unfair, given the cause was liver cancer, but I secretly resented you because of that. What could I say about you other than you were already buried in the ground? Deep down, I wanted to think of you as someone remarkable, who lived a more interesting life.
Grandma grabs and tugs Sean’s ear. He yelps at the pain
GRANDMA
Xiao mao! You didn’t think I was that amazing?! Every winter, all I did was swim in the coldest river like I was moving through the English Channel! How is that not amazing?!
Grandma lets go of Sean’s ear.
GRANDMA (CONT)
It’s your fault that you thought I was so boring! I bet if you told any of your friend about that, they would’ve been impressed. A woman in her forties swimming in subzero temperatures! I ought to earn some credit at least. You haven’t had your Starburst yet.
Sean unwraps the candy and chews on the lemon flavored square. Meanwhile, Grandma takes a slow sips from her warm tea.
SEAN
I didn’t mean to lie so much about you. Besides incomplete information, it was a matter of your story ending so tragically. I can’t imagine what you felt the day of your death. Maybe you felt nothing at all as you departed your loved ones for the very last time. It must’ve been so sad, but as much as I want to, I feel nothing of it other than this emptiness to be filled by fantasy. I’m sorry for treating your memory with such disregard.
GRANDMA
You act like this is all something to be ashamed of! Ching Ai Da, I don’t care about what you write or say about me. I’m dead. None of this is real to begin with and the fact you’re so hung up in this self-pity is what’s holding you back creatively.
Beat. Rain continues patter outside.
GRANDMA (CONT)
We’re family. There’s nothing you did that I will ever feel less than proud of. I’m just happy that you’re here, in this moment, and remembering all that you’ve accomplished. Sometimes, you seem so ready to give up on your dreams. I would’ve never let you quit so easily on something you’re so cleary passionate about!!
SEAN
(tearing up)
I’ll never quit. But I do wish I was more fair and authentic about
(MORE)
SEAN (cont’d)
your person and your legacy. You mean alot to me and I respect you so much.
GRANDMA
And I’ll always be your biggest fan. Just remember how far you’ve come from where you first started.
Outside, the rain begins to slow. Grandma looks out and stares intently as each drop grows larger in distance between each patter. Until the sound turns into silence.
GRANDMA
Are you done yet?
Grandma points at the stir fry that’s gone cold.
SEAN
Yes, I think I’m finished.
Grandma takes the dish away. Sean stands up from the table and makes way to the front door. As he’s getting his boots back on, Grandma reappears on screen.
GRANDMA
Leaving so soon?
SEAN
It’s a school night. I should’ve been home by now.
GRANDMA
Wow, it seems like you never spend enough time with your loved ones. But I really enjoyed the wonderful visit regardless.
SEAN
It’s great to see you for the first time too. What did you think of the ending?
GRANDMA
The ending?
SEAN
Instead of dying from cancer, I wrote it so that you ran away into exile instead. At the time, I thought you deserved a better ending for your story.
GRANDMA
(giggles)
Oh, that ending! Well to be honest,
I thought it was a deserved ending
(MORE)
GRANDMA (cont’d) too. But out of everything you fantasized, I thought it was the
most unfaithful to who I actually was.
How so?
SEAN
Grandma suddenly pets the top of Sean’s hair.
GRANDMA
Well, Xiao Mao, whether in life or in death; in reality or in fiction, I would NEVER leave behind the people that meant the most to me.
But I do understand the sentiment.
Grandma gently pecks the side of Sean’s cheek.
GRANDMA (CONT)
There’s nowhere out there, where I’m still waiting for you to find me.
Beat. Sean then falls into an embrace with his grandmother, holding her tightly, almost too afraid to let go. Finally, his grip loosens. He stands up straight. Then, he and his grandma share a final exchange of glances.
SEAN
I’ll always love you.
GRANDMA
I love you even now.
Sean then opens the door out into the evening. The rain has stopped. He walks out without reservation into the darkness.
Sean Wang is a Digital Filmmaking/English double major (class of 2024) from Belle Mead, NJ (which he jokingly describes as an irrelevant town shoved between Hillsborough and Princeton). Sean is also an avid fan of horror literature, listing Blackwood’s “The Willows,” The Evil Dead, and the manga of Junji Ito as some of his favorite works.