I don't necessarily think that's true but, well, I tried.
Exterior shot of a largeish house. Not opulent, but with more square footage than a suburban home, and with a large lot. There is a main part of the house and then an extension that was obviously added on later, being of a slightly different architectural style. The driveway has about a dozen cars parked in it, and there are more cars on the road.
A family pulls up to a kerb in an early ‘90s Honda Accord. The car is in good condition, the family neatly dressed. Mom, IRENE, is in her early 40s and looks tired. Dad, STANLEY, is a bit doughy and pasty, but smiling genuinely. As he comes onto the sidewalk, two of his kids emerge on that side, on on the other side. The kid on the other side of the car is CALEB, a tall, muscular young man, perhaps 18 or 19. He’s in a high school jacket. He rounds the car confidently.
The first out of the car on the other side is a teenage girl, perhaps 14 or 15. Her hair is straight and falls over her face. TAMAR is slender and attractive, but moves hesitantly and is a bit coltish and uncertain of her limbs. The third child is a boy of 10 or so, but he moves with the gait of a younger child. In particular, his hands move almost as though he’s wearing mittens - fingers together and thumbs dangling - while his walk is a sort of shuffle. He is the first to speak. When he does speak, it is without affect.
Benjamin: How long are we going to be here?
Irene: Oh, a few hours. We’re staying for dinner.
(She moves over by his side and hunches over so her face is level with his. His gaze drops.)
Benjamin: Will there be hot dogs? I’ll only eat if there are hot dogs.
Caleb (walking by, swatting his brother on the shoulder in play, speaking too loudly): They’ll have dogs. That’s all Uncle Kevin can cook without burning it, anyway.
Irene: Caleb!
(A voice calls out from the front door. Kevin is a middle-aged man perhaps a few years older than Stanley. The two are fairly obviously brothers.)
(Caleb crosses into the house, to the sound of someone shouting his name out. He raises a hand in greeting and is gone.)
Kevin: Nah, he’s right, that old grill I had burnt anything you put on it. Got a new rig now, though. Hey, Stan-o, want to check it out?
(Stan looks at his wife for a second, gets a nod of assent)
Stan: Love to? What’d’ya get this time?
(Stanley strides up into the house, their chatter continuing.)
Irene (to her daughter): Tamar, I can you …
Tamar (her body language already defensive, she redoubles her defenses): Mom, Tami. Please.
Irene: Fine, Tami. Can you … can you just have a good time? Try?
(Tamar just snorts and walks in.)
Irene (sighs) (looks down at Ben): Well, at least you’ll come in with me.
Ben: I really don’t want to, but, yes, I will. (He takes her hand and begins walking up to the house) (he holds up a finger, admonishing) So long as there really are hot dogs.
Irene: I don’t know why you’re like this. This is your family, and you love them and they love you.
Ben: Well, I wish they wouldn’t. Especially Uncle Kevin.
Irene: Uncle Kevin loves you …
Ben: He grabs me, and his beard is scratchy, and he smells. I don’t love him.
(Irene stops, whirls Ben sideways. He yelps as she gets down in his face.)
Irene: Uncle Kevin is a good man, and he has never hurt a hair on your head. You will be polite and you will be friendly today, you understand. No (she pauses, trying to find the words) being you in there. No being the way you get.
Ben: I understand. (He doesn’t. The cadence of his words is off, almost stuttering.)
Irene: I’m sorry, Ben, I know that it’s hard for you to be around people some times. I know that, but, today, please? For me?
(Ben nods jerkily. Irene strokes his cheek and Ben consciously chooses not to recoil.)
(They near the door when Kevin’s wife, Amanda, appears. If Irene is beaten down by life, Amanda is exploding with life - her clothes, demeanour and speech are just bursting with enthusiasm. Near the door, we can hear music playing - Lisa Loeb’s, “Stay.”)
(Amanda and Irene are talking amiably as they walk into the house. Ben is still holding onto his mother’s hand as they are about to enter. He drops her hand with a gasp.)
Ben: Mom! My duck! It’s in the car!
Irene: Go get it, then. I’ll be just inside.
(Ben hesitates)
Irene: Just inside, Ben, honey. I promise, I won’t go any further than the front room.
(Ben runs to the car.)
Amanda: It’s good to push his limits, you know.
Irene: Yeah, I know, it’s just … I never know if I’m doing it the right way with him.
(Ben is in the back seat. He snatches up a small rubber duck and turns around. His mother’s gone, inside the house.)
(He moves up the walk at a quick shuffle. In one hand, he holds the duck in his palm, rubbing it vigorously with his thumb. He repeatedly “throws” his other hand, whipping his forearm and leaving his hand to flap at its extent.)
(We see the interior of a large, open room. A half dozen or so grown-ups are here, all with plenty of space between them. There are trays of food scattered around, and the music is playing at a sensible volume. No one is shouting, although conversation is animated.)
Ben (he’s obviously saying something he’s heard before):: You can do anything you set your mind to. You can do anything you set your mind to. You can do anything you set your mind to.
(We are looking right at his face as he closes his eyes. The camera pans around behind him and we’re behind his head. The camera pushes through, telling us we’re looking at things through his eyes.)
(The song’s light bass line now sounds fuzzy and muffled. The acoustic guitar sounds tinny out of pitch. The vocals are in tune, but sound much brighter and louder, with an uncomfortable amount of vibrato. The adult’s faces are all a little blurred and indistinct. Their speech overlaps as before, but is now flattened out - it’s impossible to tell what they’re saying. Every bit of bright green in the room glows painfully. Ben takes a step into the house, and the thick pile of carpet makes a loud crunching sound, like glass being crushed while the shards rub against each other noisily. He closes his eyes again, and we get a shot of his hand working that worry duck. He opens his eyes again, and takes a few more steps, his shuffling gait more pronounced as he works hard to crush as little of the carpet as possible, just brushing it aside. He sees his mother at a counter that adjoins a large kitchen and heads toward her.
He’s then grabbed by a pair of giant arms made of ropy, tree-like muscle and lifted bodily off the ground. As this happens, we hear the sound of a wood rasp at work and his vision fills with stars and bolts of light, growing a bit indistinct. He cries out.)
(The scene bolts back to being from everyone else’s perspective as Uncle Kevin has grabbed his nephew across the chest - gently, not actually holding him in place, but just kind of a backwards hug. He’s rubbing his chin stubble in Ben’s scalp. Ben’s feet are on the ground.)
(Ben pushes back against him hard, and yells again, wordlessly, and then runs off down a nearby set of stairs.)
Kevin (to Irene and Amanda at the snack bar): Huh. Kind of an odd duck, isn’t he?
Irene: Yes, I suppose so.
(Title for the show comes up: “Odd Duck.”)
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