Man of the House

(Wednesday night. Spotlight opens on LUKE who is sitting in his recliner in the living room watching TV. The television program is paused as he waits for his wife VALERIE to finish a telephone conversation. An image of the actor making an unpleasant face is frozen on the TV and LUKE cannot decide whether to stare at it or look away.

After staying idle for too long, the TV goes into power save mode and now just shows a blank screen. VALERIE, still talking on the phone, ignores a bell ringing in the kitchen. WALTER, a spry looking beagle, patiently waits by the back door to be let outside after ringing his bell. LUKE looks at VALERIE motioning for her to let the dog out. VALERIE ignores LUKE. Exasperated, LUKE gets up to let WALTER out. As LUKE is getting out of the recliner, he hears a loud popping sound coming from the bottom of the chair. LUKE gets on the floor in order to look for an obstruction beneath the chair. Meanwhile, the bell rings again and WALTER lets out a pitiful moan.

LUKE lets WALTER out and retrieves a flashlight to further investigate the recliner. He immediately hears WALTER barking at what he can only assume is a neighborhood cat and shakes his head in disgust. Back in the living room, LUKE directs VALERIE, still on the phone, into the chair so he can check for the popping source with someone in it. VALERIE rocks back and forth while LUKE presses his head against the carpet shining the flashlight underneath the recliner.

LUKE notices a spring rubbing against the wood in the inner workings of the recliner. LUKE flips the chair over on order to see if the problem can be easily remedied. LUKE sweeps away the collection of dust and pet hair with his hands only to find that the metal bracket holding the spring to the chair has broken. He points at his discovery in order to show VALERIE, still on the phone, who gives him an "I told you so" look for letting the kids play on the chair.

Defeated, LUKE flips the chair upright and goes to let the barking WALTER back into the house. WALTER darts ahead of him as LUKE walks back to the living room. Entering the room, LUKE sees that WALTER is now in his recliner and VALERIE, off the phone, has the remote and is now watching one of those pregnancy shows on Discovery Health. LUKE goes to bed.)