From Brooklyn with Love

It is an overcast summer afternoon in Brooklyn, New York in 1964. The clouds overhead are white but black clouds are on the horizon and approaching. Alice is a 26 year old housewife. She is feeding her 14 month old daughter, Mary, who is seated in a highchair. Her 4 year old son, Anthony, is playing in the back yard. She hears a thunderclap in the distance. She turns to the screen door and yells, “Anthony, come inside!” She resumes feeding Mary. Alice hears the sound of a heavy downpour. She feeds Mary another spoonful of baby food then steps to the screen door. “Anthony! Anthony! Get inside now!” Anthony takes his time walking to the door and Mary cries and bangs on her highchair. Alice rushes back to Mary. Anthony steps inside. He is wet and muddy and has tracked mud onto the kitchen floor. She gives Anthony a bath. He splashes water all over the bathroom floor.

Across town Alice’s older sister Molly sits expressionless at her desk. She is wearing a black, knee length skirt with a plain white blouse. Mildred, a woman about 60 and dressed the same as Molly walks into the office. She has a bunch of folders in her arms. They exchange expressionless greetings as Mildred plops the folders onto Molly’s inbox. Molly wonders if Mildred is a vision of herself in 30 years.

Alice has finished cleaning the children, bathroom, and kitchen. Anthony is playing on the floor in the living room and Mary is sitting in her play pen. It is a rare moment of relative calm. Soon she will have to begin cooking dinner. She sits in the kitchen and lights a cigarette. Her mind drifts back to when she was in grammar school. She wrote a make believe biography of a woman. The woman graduated high school at 18, married at 21, and had two children, one boy and one girl. Then she died at age 70. So far that has been her life. Alice wonders if her next significant life event will be her funeral.

Molly makes her commute home. To get home she takes a train and two busses. During her commute there is a steady rain and glimpses of older women who remind Molly of how she might look in 30 years. Will she be working in the same office in the same dead end job until she retires?

When Molly gets home she quickly prepares dinner. She puts it in the oven and calls Alice. Alice has a cigarette in her mouth and is holding Mary when she answers the phone.

“Hello.”

“Hello Alice, this is Molly I just got in.”

“Yea, Donald hasn’t come home yet. I’ll give you a call when I’m ready.”

“If it’s too difficult we can go out some other night.”

“No, tonight I have to get out of the house.”

Alice drives to Molly’s house and picks her up. There is a steady rain. Neither sister had checked the newspaper to see what movies were playing. As they drive the sky gets steadily darker and the rain gets heavier. They drive by a number of theaters but every theater has a movie one of them had already seen or one they aren’t interesting in seeing. With the dark skies, thunder and lightning, and driving rain they reach an agreement. Molly points out, “If we don’t get into a movie soon we’re not going to see anything.”

“We stop at the next theater we come to and see whatever movie is playing okay?”

“Yea, okay.”

They approach a movie theater. The marquee reads, “The Bulgarian Connection.” Molly complains, “I don’t want to see a movie about Bulgaria.” Alice shoots back, “I don’t care. I’m not driving another block.”

Alice and Molly are drenched. They sit in the theater and light up cigarettes. There they anticipate watching a boring documentary or a dreary story about a dreary country. They dejectedly feel it was a fitting and disappointing end of the day.

The movie opens and the title sequence has a belly dancer dancing to up tempo music. Alice and Molly smile and turn to each other. They know this movie is not what they expected.

In a scene a woman smooches with a handsome man in a hotel room. Alice sees herself as the woman. She squeezes a large opal ring she’s wearing. A needle pops out and she sticks the needle in the man’s neck. The man collapses to the floor and dies. Alice giggles as she leisurely walks out of the hotel room.

An elderly man tells a woman in an office she has to tell Bruce Gold, Secret Agent 707 his holiday has been cut short. Molly sympathizes with the woman. Molly sees herself as the woman. She wears clothes fit for the office as she walks along a marina and steps into a boat. Molly strips down to a bikini as she drives the boat along the French Riviera. She stops near a luxurious sailing yacht. She takes a pouch and dives into the water.

On the yacht Bruce Gold is sitting on a chair and holding a fishing pole. He is wearing a black bathing suit and a captain’s hat. He is a tall man, medium weight with a muscular build, and a handsome face. Bruce reels in a pouch just as Molly climbs onto the yacht. Bruce looks at the bottle.

“Dom Perignon 1953, finally something worth catching.”

“Guess where your instructions are?”

Bruce turns his head towards Molly. “You know it is customary to ask for permission before climbing aboard a vessel.”

“Considering who actually owns the vessel I’d say permission has already been granted.”

Alice climbs up from the cabin. She is wearing a black bikini and a blue, knee length, wrap around. She has a fruity drink in each hand.

She chides, “It seems I can’t leave you alone for one minute.”

Molly turns and quips, “I figured as much, that’s why I booked you on a morning flight instead of a red eye.” Molly dives into the water.

Bruce walks into a hotel room with Alice. Bruce gently pulls her close. He gives her a long kiss. Alice squeezes her ring and the needle pops out. She moves to stick the needle into Bruce’s neck. Molly shoots Alice in the back. Alice collapses in Bruce’s arms. Molly warns, “Watch her hands. That butterfly has a deadly sting.” Bruce grabs Alice’s wrists as she falls to the floor. Molly pulls the loose fitting ring from Alice’s finger. She looks at the ring then at Alice, “Curare?” Alice nods her head, moans and dies.

Molly and a man are in native dress. Molly and the man are carrying spears and perform what appears to be a native dance. The man knocks Molly’s spear to the ground and he steps on it. He trips her with his spear and Molly falls back. He readies his spear to strike. Molly reaches behind her back, pulls out a knife then stabs the man in the chest. He drops his spear, gives a surprised look, then slowly drops to the floor and dies. Molly springs to her feet. The Chairman calls out, “Come here Mrs. Smith.” Molly makes a slow bouncing run next to Heinz Toten, a thin man with thick glasses. The Chairman says, “Let me introduce you to our newest operative, Mrs. Smith.” Molly smiles at Toten. Toten asks, “And where is Mr. Smith?” Molly smiles and glances back at the man she just killed. The Chairman explains, “Yes, SHRIKE is a firm believer in till death do us part.” He firmly states, “I trust we will have no more setbacks in our operation.”

Alice walks down a lively street on a Caribbean Island at night. She turns into a deserted side street. A man lurks behind her. She glances behind her as she walks down the street. The man closes the distance between them. Alice casually reaches into her handbag. The man takes out a throw knife and cocks back his throwing arm. Alice spins around as she pulls out a revolver. She fires one round and kills the man. Alice walks quickly down the street. She rounds a corner and 2 men armed with handguns follow her. She spins around and shoots them both. She comes to the end of the street. Two more men with handguns appear behind her. She spins around and fires 2 round. A third man comes out from behind a corner. Alice spins around again and shoots him dead. Alice dashes into an alley. She finds there is no way out of the alley except where she came in. She turns and sees a large man blocking her way. She pulls her gun’s trigger, it is empty. She throws the gun at the man but it falls short. Alice defiantly stands at attention. A shot rings out. The man falls forward dead. Bruce Gold was behind the man.

Alice smiles, “Bruce Gold, Agent 707, British Secret Service.”

“Miss American CIA.”

“This reminds me of Cairo.”

“Actually I think it’s more like Bombay.”

They walk to each other and kiss. Alice whispers, “Now it reminds me of Oslo.” Bruce retorts, “I’d like it to be like Rio.” They have a long kiss.

Molly chases Alice through a high tech complex. There is a large scale gun battle in the complex. Alice reaches the end of a gantry. She climbs onto the railing and makes a jack knife dive into the pool. Molly reaches the end of the gantry. She looks at Alice swimming in the pool. She vaults onto the railing and swan dives into the pool.

Alice swims to a metal island in the pool. The ladder on the floor above is retracted. She pulls a lever. She presses a button and the ladder slowly extends. Molly reaches the island. She climbs out of the pool and is colored gold. Molly gives a menacing smile. “There is nowhere else to run little rabbit.” Alice’s expression chances from scared to curious. She walks over to Molly and give Molly’s body two light taps. Molly is gold plated. Bruce Gold shouts from the floor above. “What are you doing down there?” Alice cheerfully shouts, “I’m just checking out the golden girl.”

Bruce and Alice watch from a cliff as a rocket crashes into the ocean and explodes. Alice quips, “There goes The Chairman.” Bruce retorts, “That’ll be us if we don’t get out of here.” He looks to the edge of the cliff.

“Oh well, women and children first.”

“You’re always the typical English gentleman.”

She runs to the edge of the cliff and makes a somersault dive into the ocean. Bruce walks to the edge of the cliff and swan dives into the water. They look back at the island as they are treading water. They dive into the water. There is a series of large explosions on the island. Some debris falls into the water. Bruce and Alice surface. Bruce waves to a boat in the distance. Bruce and Alice backstroke towards the boat and they have a view of the setting sun.

Alice and Molly step out of the theater. They have broad smiles. The front of the theater is well lit. The rain has stopped and the street has a clean appearance. It is a clear night with a full moon. The street lights and neon signs give the area a lively look. Alice and Molly look at each other with broad smiles.

In the last 127 minutes they have visited 4 countries and have been many characters. These characters included innocents, partners, and villainesses. Alice and Molly came away realizing there are many places to go and things to see and imagination can make anything more exciting.

THE END