The shoe-repairers in the main concourse. Shoe repairs and key-cutting. See the owner, ONE-EYED CARLOS, in the back. He's in his 50s and wears thick, Harry Palmer glasses. His left eye, however, is covered with a black patch. Occasionally, he looks up from his work, cutting a key, looks at a small portable televisionset in the corner. It's a wonder he can see anything at all.
At the counter is his daughter MARIA, who is in her early thirties. MARIA might be quite attractive if it wasn't for a rather pronounced moustache.
At the side, glimpse a public information poster asking everyone to join together to fight the war on terrorism. "It's up to all of us."
TELEVISION
Police were searching last night for a
man who shot dead a builder with
an arrow in a crowded shopping centre.
A customer, RAY (late twenties) is talking to MARIA, a pair of boots on the counter.
RAY
I bought them in to be mended a couple
of weeks ago.
Maria takes the boots. She inspects one of them carefully. She turns it over, looks at the sole, and then the heel.
RAY
When I first brought them in, it took
well over a week for them to be sorted.
I was told it was only going to be a
couple of days.
MARIA
(Putting the boot that she has been inspecting
down on the counter) That's okay. Nothing
wrong with that.
RAY
That's not the one causing the problem.
(MARIA picks up the other boot)
If I'd known then what I know now,
I think I would've done things a bit differently.
MARIA is looking at the other boot. She turns it over, and all looks fine. Then she pulls slightly on the heel, and it comes away. It's completely broken.
RAY
See what I mean?
MARIA
One moment please.
MARIA goes into the back with the boot and talks to her father, who interrupts his work. CARLOS lifts his glasses to peer into the empty well of the broken heel's interior. After a while, MARIA returns to the counter.
MARIA
Yes, these are very difficult to repair.
RAY
(Pointing to CARLOS) That's what he told
me before. When I came to pick them up,
I asked why they'd taken so long. He said
that he'd had to send them away. 'Send
them away?' I said. 'Where to?' 'The
workshop,' he says, 'I can't do them here.'
MARIA
(Showing RAY the broken heel) If you look,
you can see. Because they are made of
plastic, they are very difficult to mend.
RAY
(Pointing again at CARLOS) That's exactly
what he said. Exactly.
MARIA
He is my father.
RAY
That explains it then. 'All the boots now
are coming from Taiwan and China,' he
says. To be honest, I don't care if they're
coming from Timbuktu, I just want them
fixed. I can't be the first person with a
broken heel.
MARIA
We can send them to the workshop again
but .. I do not think that it will work.
RAY
So you're not really .. You don't repair.
It's not what you do at all.
MARIA studiously ignores the bait and smiles at RAY.
MARIA
Look. (She leans over the counter and shows
RAY the inside of the heel) Try to see, really
see what I am saying, and you will understand.
There is nothing to work with to recreate the
heel, because it is made of plastic. This boot
.. is cheap. My father should never have agreed
to mend it. He can never say no. And now you
are angry because it is broken again.
RAY looks at the boot, and then at MARIA. They are close. He is being affected both by her cutting remark and their closeness. A moment.
RAY
Right. So. (Another moment) What should I do?
RAY is attracted to MARIA now, moustache and all. He looks at her again, seeing her in a completely different way from before.
MARIA
(Soft) I will try one more time. Yes?
One more time we give it a go. And
if it is not possible to mend them, I
will give you your money back.
RAY
Okay.
MARIA writes out a ticket receipt and hands it to RAY. RAY takes it, looks at it. For him, it is a token of hope, a promise of possibility. The moment is broken as Security Officer CONNOR comes up to the counter.
CONNOR
(To MARIA, showing her a photograph)
Excuse me, Madam, have you seen this
man?
MARIA
(A moment as she looks at the photograph)
No. Sorry. Why? Who is it?
RAY
It's the Longbow Killer. Isn't it?
CONNOR looks at RAY suspiciously before walking off.
2. INT. SUNNYSIDE SHOPPING CENTRE. DAY.
The shoe-repairers. As RAY is going, a MAN comes up to the counter. He has a key in his hand.
MAN
(To MARIA) This door-key doesn't work
and now I can't get in.
