SCENE OPENS on a teen, Kimberly, as she unlocks the door to her house and lets in her companion, a handsome young man, Jamal, only a few years older than her. They are both wearing gym clothes with gym bags slung over their shoulders, and are sipping on smoothies as they engage in lively small talk. They seem to have great chemistry together. Jamal remarks that Kimberly has a really nice place, and she replies that her family is pretty well off so when it came time that she wanted to move out on her own when she turned 18, her parents paid for everything. She jokes that she always gets what she wants, and Jamal suavely asks her what it is she wants right now. 'You'll see,' Kimberly says teasingly. She leads him in to the living room and invites him to get comfortable....

SCENE opens on an 18-year-old girl, Beth Coleman, rushing to answer the door - 'coming!' she shouts asthe doorbell chimes a second time. She opens the door to find a meek man in glasses and a somewhatnerdy-looking suit, holding a leather messenger bag under his arm. He greets her nervously andintroduces himself as Milton James, and holding up an ID on a lanyard across his neck he explains thathe's a census taker - her parents failed to fill out the latest census and so by law he's required to come inperson to interview someone from the household. Beth looks wary - her parents aren't home for theday and she doesn't know anything about this census stuff. He says it's quite alright, anybody over theage of 15 can be interviewed for the household. He looks her up and down - she is over 15, right? Bethanswers yes, she just turned 18 a couple of months ago. Milton adjusts his glasses and says perfect, thenhe can interview her in her parents' stead, it should only take about fifteen minutes or so. Beth is stillreluctant, now's really not the best time and she'd rather he come back sometime when her parents arehome. She apologizes and goes to close the door but it doesn't close all the way - Milton has put hisshoe in between the door and the frame. 'I'm afraid I must insist,' he says in a nervous attempt tosound menacing. 'Answering the United States census is required by law. To put it simply, Miss Coleman,you don't really have a choice in this matter.'...

MOM'S NOT COMING BACK, SWEETHEART...

A wealthy man (Charles Dera) comes down the stairs of his house and turns the corner into the living room. He is distracted by his phone, and without looking, he accidentally bumps into a woman (Valentina Nappi), a housemaid who was cleaning in the room. He apologizes, and remarks that she must be the new maid the cleaning company sent over. She responds yes, with a noticeable accent but her english is otherwise quite good. He welcomes her to the payroll, and she replies 'Thank you, Mr. Bradley' in a polite and respectful tone. He tells her there's no need to be so formal, please call him Trent. He asks her for her name -- he's clearly into her. She introduces herself as Rosa. As he listens he notices her accent more, and asks her where she's from. She replies that she's Italian. 'Ah, Italian!' he exclaims, and boasts that he speaks a little Italian himself. He recites a small phrase in French, and Rosa nervously responds that she doesn't know French. Trent dismisses his blunder, then boasts that he travels a lot for work and he's been all over the world. He asks if she likes to travel and she says that she'd never been out of Italy until she moved here a few months ago, her family didn't have much money growing up and since coming to the States she's been cleaning houses for a living and sending some of her wages back to them when she can afford to. Trent misses the point, and tells her that she's missing out if she's never traveled for fun, getting uncomfortably close to Rosa. It's clear that she's unhappy with his close proximity, but he either doesn't notice or doesn't care. Trent seems emboldened by what he mistakes as Rosa being friendly instead of just polite. He asks her if she's ever been to one of the local Italian restaurants, a fancy-sounding one. Rosa gives a strained smile at his tone-deaf question and says no, she hasn't. Trent was clearly expecting this answer, and says that's perfect, he can take her there sometime! There's no better five-star restaurant in the area, he knows the head chef personally. Rosa interrupts him and tells him she's flattered, but she makes it a policy not to date clients. Trent's smile wavers, and he starts chuckling to himself out of embarrassment. 'Oh what, you thought I was asking you out on a date?' he laughs, and then in a bit of a more petty tone, he says 'You must think I'm some kind of fucking loser to pay my maid to go on a date with me.' Rosa starts to apologize, she thought- 'Yeah, I know what you thought,' Trent interrupts, and his rude tone gradually gets worse as he starts to rant at her. 'Let me tell you, I do just fine. I've dated supermodels, I've dated fucking pop stars, trust me, I don't need to be hitting on my fucking maid, OK?' As her boss gets more and more riled up, Rosa tries to calm him down. Finally she admits he's right, she's so sorry, and to make him feel better about himself she lies and says she must have misunderstood, english isn't her first language after all, she sometimes misunderstands things. The fact she acted like he was right seems to cool Trent down, and he starts to treat her nicely again, patronizing her even. Oh, of course, how silly of him, apology accepted. Sometimes he forgets who he's talking to, but he didn't mean to be so insensitive. He'll try to speak a bit slower from now on so she can understand better. Reluctantly, Rosa says thank you, and he says he'll leave her to her work then. He walks past her and gives her a pat on the shoulder, not noticing that she flinches slightly at his touch. He keeps walking away from the camera and out of focus, as Rosa stands there looking shaken....

BACK TO BITE YOU...

SCENE OPENS on a professor's lush, old-fashioned-looking university office. Professor Claremont (Mick Blue) stands at an ornate window, looking out lost in thought onto the university campus. On the visitors couch across the room, his teacher's assistant Annabelle (Adriana Chechik) sits, waiting and fidgeting in the awkward silence. The ticking decorative clock on his desk is the only sound for several seconds. Finally, Annabelle breaks the silence -- 'umm, you were saying, professor?' Professor Claremont snaps out of his reverie and turns to face her. Ah, yes, sorry, he apologizes. His thoughts had whisked him away to unknown places, he says playfully. The professor appears eccentric but charming, like a man from another era. Annabelle seems used to his odd behavior, even a bit enamored by it. He says that they've done enough for the day and dismisses her. But as she's leaving, he calls her back to get her thoughts on a new biology project he's working on. He trusts her like he trusted her sister, who he taught years ago. Annabelle is flattered, but tries to act nonchalant about it. He continues, saying that the project would be controversial but of great interest to him on both a professional and personal level. She asks him to go on, but before he does, he moves to sit beside her on the couch and switches to a very serious tone. He insists that she swears she not tell anybody what he's about to tell her. He repeats that it's quite controversial, and it could jeopardize his career if anybody were to find out about his interest in the subject. Annabelle looks a bit taken aback, but promises that she won't tell anybody. 'Marvellous!' he says, switching back to a lighthearted tone. He pats her knee with his hand innocently. 'Now then, tell me - what do you know about 'gaping'?'...

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