Z&B Episode 3: Convent Handyman Part 1

[Aerial view passing over convent on beautiful countryside. Camera pans to a utility truck pulling into the otherwise empty parking place for just a few cars.]

[Head and shoulders at car door] Driver door opens and Buff gets out donning a hard hat with a headlamp strapped to the forehead.

[Waist up view of Buff, dolly camera follows him.] Buff goes to the back of the truck and pulls out a set of overalls (They have a mechanic's symbol patch over the heart the same as Buff's tattoo.) and dons them as Zoot's convertible drives up behind him and parks. He also pulls out and dons rubber work boots and thick gloves. Last, he pulls out a closed toolbox.

[Intersperse where needed to make donning process look realistic with views of the Zoot twins in the convertible looking at him as they park. Female Zoot has a tourist camera on a strap around her neck.]

[Side view convertible in foreground truck in back, parked parallel.] Female Zoot leaps out of passenger seat landing facing back of car just as Buff walks from back of truck. Suddenly they are only an inch apart face to face. [As Male Zoot opens driver side door and steps out, oblivious, camera zooms in to faces of Z&B.] They are both happily surprised. [Zoom out slightly] She gives him a hug and he returns it.

[View from front of vehicles.] Male Zoot stops walking, in front of car waiting for them. Z&B are walking toward him, talking. FZ indicates her camera to B.

[Sweeping view of convent on beautiful lands. Pan down to back view of Z&Z&B head to toe] They are walking away from the camera toward the entrance to the convent.

[Dolly right side view head to knees following them] MZ reaches into a pocket as they are walking. They walk past a wishing well labeled, "Donations", and MZ drops some coins into it. Meanwhile FZ takes pictures of the campus as they walk.

[Front entrance door to Convent] A nun greets them and begins to speak, gesturing to the architecture. FZ takes a photo. Buff waves his free hand to interrupt. The nun stops and gives him her attention, inquisitively.

[Face and chest view] Buff points to his patch.

[Front entrance view again zoomed in closer on nun] The nun reaches up into the air and a small drone helicopter lands on her palm. She speaks into it and waits. Another female voice responds and she is pleased to hear it. She releases the drone and it flies up off screen again.

[Zoom out to original view of entrance] Nun steps back in and waves for them to follow. They do.

[Interior of Sacre Coure cathedral in France right side view heads to knees] They proceed in. Buff in foreground recognizes a younger nun entering stage right. Young nun stops and waves to Buff. He nods twice. He follows her off screen stage right. [Pan to follow others] The others tour the cathedral slowly.

[Camera descends stairs backward to basement and pulls back head to toe front view.] Nun leads the way down the stairs then sidesteps and stops, letting him continue a few more steps. Down in basement, Handyman proceeds down dark stairs with Nun1 behind him. (The nun is followed by a few hovering drones off camera above which shed a gentle light on the area around her. We will later find that this is how they minimize their utility bills.) He stops at the bottom step, sets down his tool box on the step behind him, and scans the room.

[Pan around room] The water covering the floor an inch deep is gently rippling. Two large water heaters are in the room. A confusing mess of pipes cross the room at knee level with pressure gauges and tees jutting out in all directions. Cabinets on the walls and pipes penetrating the walls all over add to the cluttered look.

[Return to view of them on stairs] He steps into the water and carefully steps into the mess of pipes. She squats down on the steps, patiently watching him. She says something to him matter-of-factly. ("I shut off the main water.line here as well as at the street.") He turns to look quizzically. She picks up a large monkey wrench from a large valve and shows it to him before returning it to the valve where it acts as a handle. ("Thank you for that, Ma'am,") he bows thankfully then follows the water line with his eyes.

[camera follows quickly, following pipes back and forth while he ponders the function of each pipe quickly.]

[Panning around room as before] He bends over to look under a piece of equipment where the pipes disappear into darkness.

[Panning camera stops and zooms in on a leaking connection barely visible under a large piece of equipment.]

[closeup Buff] The handyman's face shows consternation, thinking. ("I'll have to repair it from below. I hate welding overhead.")

[closeup nun] The nun sympathizes and shrugs.

[Closeup Buff] He speaks, indicating his overalls. ("Do you mind if I leave my clothes up there?")

[Closeup nun] She speaks and gestures open palms up looking upward to heaven then nods to him. ("You can work as God made you,") she chuckles happily.

[Return to view of stairs] He returns to the last dry step. He removes his boots (no socks) and sets them on a dry step close to her, stepping his bare feet on the last dry step. [Intersperse with closeups to conceal any animation difficulties in doffing clothing.] He removes his overalls, stepping his bare feet into the water. He shivers. "Ooh! Cold!" He rolls up the overalls and sets them on a stair, but they try to roll down the stair into the water, but both reflexively reach out their hands to stop them before they get wet.

[Closeup nun] She speaks and indicates upstairs behind her. ("Perhaps I'll take them upstairs," she offers).

[Closeup Buff] He nods in thanks and hands her the bundle of clothing. ("Thank you, Sister. I owe you a favor for that," he says).

[Head to waist view] He removes his hard hat with one hand, removes the headlamp on a stretch band with the other hand, and sets the hat on the clothing in her arms. He straps the headlamp to his forehead.

[Return to view of stairs] She walks up the stairs with the bundle and most of the light in the room leaves with her.

[Closeup view waist to nose] He sits down beside his toolbox, opens it, and takes out a small table with a tiny robot arm (3D printer) and sets it on another higher step. He pulls a bag of copper powder from the toolkit and plugs it into the printer.

[closeup] Little lights start to flash on it. He ignores the printer and takes a metal ring out of the toolbox about the size of the pipes. He snaps it open like a bracelet, looks inside, and snaps it shut, satisfied that it is in good working order.

[Low view of wet location he must crawl to perform repair.] He walks into the water with only the ring and his headlamp, squats down, looks around and decides his best route, then rolls down with his back to the floor and crawls under the pipes, barely able to fit. He slides himself under the pipes slowly, irritated by the cold water, and squinting, barely able to see.

[View from his knees to the stairway] The nun returns when he is half way to his destination and sits down on the stairs as before. She glances at the printer and open tool box, then looks at him.

[Side face view] From inside the tangle of pipes he notices her, signals thumbs up, and shouts, ("Almost there.")

[Head to chest] she flashes the ok symbol, ("No hurry. Take the time to fix it the first try.") she says casually with a wave of her hand.

[Side face view again] He nods, "Yes, Ma'am" He continues crawling to his destination, the leak.

[New side view chest to head, slowly zooming in on the pipe] He positions himself under the leaking tee and the water continues to leak, now onto his chest. He opens the ring device and closes it.with a snap onto the left arm of the cracked elbow. It starts to vibrate and spin on the pipe. With one hand, he touches his headlamp, and it shines a series of light patterns on the tee.

[Stairway view of nun sitting by printer, then zoom in on printer.] The nun is slightly startled when the printer suddenly starts moving. The printer quickly prints two other tiny robot arms which then begin to print a copy of the elbow.

[Closeup of the pipe repair, then zoom out] The ring vibrates roughly and stops. it has cut through the pipe. Another leak pours from the cut pipe into the man's eyes and onto his chest. He shakes his head to clear the water from his eyes. A distant large piece of equipment with yellow and black stripes is illuminated by the flashes of his shaking headlamp. He disconnects the ring with a snap, then he attaches it to the opposite arm of the elbow and snaps it on. It starts up like before. The man looking at the ring suddenly looks off in the distance pondering something. <suspenseful music> He slowly turns his head to look in the distance at the yellow and black striped equipment.

[Zooming in to equipment, suspense music] It is an electrical power box, and it's bottom is just at the level of the slowly rising water.

[Closeup eyes] Panic flashes on the man's face. <Trumpet blast>

[side view again ] <Chase music> He tries to crawl backwards out of his predicament.

[Stair view again] The young nun is surprised at his reaction; she wonders what the problem is.

[Side view again] He continues to crawl through the tangle of pipes feet first (without enough room to turn face down and belly crawl.)

[Stair view] She stands and looks around for something to use to help.

[Low view from stairs. Camera spin following] He gets free and leaps out of the water to the steps in a crouch.

[closeup] The nun asks a question.

[closeup]He speaks and gestures to the corner of the room.

[thought bubble]An image appears of a high voltage power box with lightning sparks shooting out of it.

<Tense background music starts soft and continues through the next scenes until the danger is over.>

[Closeup] She understands and is afraid.

[stair view] He looks at his boots there. (they are rubber and waterproof. ) He dons his boots. He steps into the water.

[Camera follows behind him] He walks around to the left to look at the box. He opens the box.

[closeup] He is disappointed and stressed to find...

[pan across wires, zoom in on main breaker] ...a disorganized mess of wires in the box. His eyes lock on one valuable item. It is a large circuit breaker labeled, "MAIN".

[Back in the room], he plops his foot down just far enough to see the nun. He asks a question, gesturing at the box off screen behind him. ("May I shut off the main power?")

[head to chest view] The now serious nun says, "Get ready!", signals with one finger to wait one moment, and touches her ear with one hand and looks into the distance and starts talking to nobody visible.

[Back in the narrow walkway,] he returns to the power box and touches the main shutoff switch with one hand and...

[closeup face] ...turns his ear toward the nun and waits.

[Return to Nun view] She is talking, ("Mother Superior, I need to shut off the main power to protect my new handyman."). Pause. She looks his direction excitedly, "Yes! Shut it off!"

[closeup] His hand clicks the stitch to Off.

[closeup] At the bottom of the box, water just starts to enter.

[closeup] He is relieved.

[closeup] She is still worried.

[head to toe] He walks around the corner, wiping sweat from his brow in a signal of relief.

[closeup] She is relieved.

[Tense background music stops.]

[tracking] He walks more calmly, smiling, around to the nun and removes his boots, again placing them on the step. "Crisis averted?" she asks. "Back to situation normal," he says as he sits down in the water and lays back to begin crawling under the pipes again. The nun crosses herself in a silent prayer of thanks.

[side view medium close] He gets back to the cracked leaking tee. The ring has finished cutting the second horizontal leg of the tee. He snaps it off and then snaps it onto the top leg of the tee. it starts up as before and cuts the leg. The Tee falls on his chest. He takes it with one hand and removes the ring with the other. even more water is pouring on his chest now.

[dolly tracking, different angle] He clumsily crawls out again but with both hands full now and more water leaking onto his face. As he rolls from supine on the ground to a crouch, the nun speaks to him, ("Your print is finished.") He stands and turns to her.

[medium close] He sits with her and the toolbox. ("Just in time,") he says, holding up the cracked Tee. Her hand holds the printed Tee next to it. "Perfect replacement," he says. He drops the cracked part and the ring into the tool kit. She plops the replacement part into his hand. He takes out a different-colored ring from the toolkit, with a short piece of wire hanging out of it. ("With any luck, this will be my last crawl down in there,") he says hopefully. ("Be sure to smell the roses,") she jokes.

[low floor view] He smiles while sitting down in the water again. He lays back again in the water and crawls to the spot, again with both hands full. The nun patiently waits and watches him.

[close side view] He arrives at the repair spot to find the leak from the top pipe has slowed to a drip. [slowly zoom in closer] He places the replacement part and snaps the new ring-shaped device onto the top branch of the Tee. It starts to spin around the pipe slowly, making a noise, and the thing wire grows slightly but noticeably shorter as it spins.

[head to knees] Meanwhile, the nun is interrupted from watching him by some activity and buzzing from the printer.

[closeup]The little robot arms seal the bag of copper powder and toss it into the tool kit.

[return to nun] The nun is amused to see the little printer stand on its robot arms and leap into the tool kit.

[Closeup] the handyman's hand unsnaps the ring from the top leg of the Tee and attaches it to one of the horizontal legs. The vertical leg can be seen to be welded together.

[different angle] He watches the device again and starts to extricate himself from the location while waiting. Then the he sets it to weld the third leg.

[two quick cuts] He exchanges glances with the nun, both happy.

[closeup] When the ring is done with the third leg, the wire is almost completely gone. He takes off the ring and the tee is completely welded into place.

[close to ground, tracking] He climbs out again slowly, but this time he only has one item in hand. It can be seen that the nun is missing as he again rolls to a crouch and stands. He glances around the room alone as he puts the ring into his toolkit and closes it. The nun walks down the stairs carrying a white bath towel. Suddenly he turns to her.

[reverse view] He is a little startled to see her, then he recognizes the towel is for him. He thanks her. ("Thank you, Sister," he says, "You read my mind.")

[head to waist] she points to everything in the room inquisitively. ("Are we ready for the test?")

[head to chest] He nods, then speaks, a thought bubble of the main power breaker in the Off position appears then fades. ("Certainly! But I recommend leaving the power off until I make sure the power box is dry.")

[head to thigh] She turns the valve with the monkey wrench, nodding to him. ("of course")

[side view head to waist] <Noises of rushing water surround them.> Both follow the water with their eyes. Unworried, he leaps offscreen.

[close to ground] He leaps over to the problem area and peeks around looking for any drips. He sees something. He looks over his shoulder to the nun and nods happily. ("The welds are holding.")

[closeup] She indicates the towel then the upstairs. ("Then why don't you dry off and I will introduce you to Mother Superior.")

[View over Nun's shoulder, slight down view] He turns fully to her, excited by the opportunity, and nods enthusiastically. ("Really? Yes, Ma'am!") He leaps to the stairs and quickly dries himself and each foot, slipping into his dry boot as he goes. She proceeds up the stairs. He picks up the toolkit and follows with the towel over his shoulder.

[Remaining loose ends: a sump pump is needed to s drain the basement. The power box must be dried. Find out what facilities are without power. They save power by having everyone use personal tech instead of facility utilities whenever possible. ]

Plot type

Episode

Parent Plot

The Adventures of Zoot and Buff