First, over BLACK, we hear the faint sounds of a laundromat.

Then:

AADID (V.O. ARABIC, SUBTITLED)
A seven minute film about my life.

INT. LAUNDROMAT - DAY

AADID (V.O. ARABIC, SUBTITLED)
From sun down to sun up, I work. By my side, Adela.
(a pause)
You learn to like night shifts.

INT. LAUNDROMAT - NIGHT

Aadid and Adela, stone still statues in front of the laundromat. They're sitting in CHEAP WHITE PATIO CHAIRS playing a game of chess. Behind them, through the glass, we see...

LAUNDROMAT PATRONS moving at lighting speed, excited electrons loading machines and folding clothes.

AADID (V.O. ARABIC, SUBTITLED)
It's funny how...there are no streets...or buildings...or monuments named after Napoleon Bonaparte in Paris...or any city.

They cycle through washing, drying, and folding frenetically. We observe them until they all disappear.

AADID (V.O. ARABIC, SUBTITLED)
Most people know little about Napoleon. They know he was a conqueror, a tyrant.
(pause)
Few people know that Napoleon had two wives. Josephine, his first, he married as general. And Mary-Louise, his second, he married as emperor.

CUT TO:

INT. LAUNDROMAT - NIGHT

AADID'S P.O.V.

Of ADELA, talking to a MIDDLE-AGED MAN. An American flag is in a wad under his arm.

AADID (V.O. ARABIC, SUBTITLED)
Mary-Louise, for an heir. Josephine... for love.

Adela reaches out and takes the flag from the man. She unfurls it and folds it neatly.

AADID (V.O. ARABIC, SUBTITLED)
Adela. My Josephine.

CUT TO:

EXT. LAUNDROMAT - LATER NIGHT

A NEON SIGN on the Laundromat front reading: American Flags Cleaned Free.

AADID (V.O. ARABIC, SUBTITLED)
We've cleaned flags free for five months. It works.

CUT TO:

INT. LAUNDROMAT - NIGHT

Adela dumps a bundle of AMERICAN FLAGS on the counter and sorts through them.

AADID (V.O. ARABIC, SUBTITLED)
There's never very many...six, seven, eight. We get them every day, clean them every night.

She clamps NUMBERED CLIPS to each one and reloads the cart.

AADID (V.O. ARABIC, SUBTITLED)
They aren't hard to clean. People run them up in the morning, take them down at night.

Adela pushes the cart of flags through the laundromat, Aadid at her side.

AADID (V.O. ARABIC, SUBTITLED)
Something that never touches the ground shouldn't be dirty.

INT. EMPTY LAUNDROMAT ROOM - CONTINUOUS

AADID (V.O. ARABIC, SUBTITLED)
It's a delicate thing.

Aadid and Adela stand beside each other at a large sink. They each have both hands submerged. Soapy foam wraps their wrists.

AADID (V.O. ARABIC, SUBTITLED)
The colors mustn't bleed. The white stars must be kept from the blue field, the red stripes from the white.

Aadid and Adela's hands wave softly beneath the water. The flags swell and swim around them. There's a play to it all.

AADID (V.O. ARABIC, SUBTITLED)
You don't scrub them... you barely touch them. You're always gentle.

Aadid and Adela continue their work.

INT. LAUNDROMAT - NIGHT

Adela wandering the laundromat. She stops at a row of top-loader washers and wiggles her key into one of the machines, opens the coin box and grabs a handful of change.

EXT. LAUNDROMAT - CONTINUOUS

INT. LAUNDROMAT - NIGHT

AADID (ARABIC, SUBTITLED)
What were you talking about?

ADELA
Talking about when?

AADID (ARABIC, SUBTITLED)
With the homeless man?

Adela focuses her eyes on the counter below.

ADELA
About love.

AADID (ARABIC, SUBTITLED)
In Arabic.

ADELA (ARABIC, SUBTITLED)
About love.
(in English)
What's wrong with English?

AADID (ARABIC, SUBTITLED)
Nothing.

CUT TO BLACK.

OVER BLACK

AADID (V.O. ARABIC, SUBTITLED)
Adela is a woman who is very good.

INT. LAUNDROMAT - NIGHT

A MONTAGE OF:

A) INT. LAUNDROMAT - NIGHT

Adela standing in the center aisle, staring at us. Slowly, at odd intervals, she takes steps towards us.

B) INT. LAUNDROMAT - NIGHT

Adela, sitting behind a register reading by warm lamplight.

C) INT. LAUNDROMAT - NIGHT

Adela's feet, one before the other, floating down an aisle.

ACCOMPANIED BY:

AADID (V.O. ARABIC, SUBTITLED)
She's simple. She's not complicated. She's not someone who makes up schemes. She's very gracious. Lovely.

D) INT. LAUNDROMAT - NIGHT

Aadid and Adela together in the laundromat. They're embraced, hip to hip, hand in hand, performing a waltz. Neither is very good at it. The smiles on their faces suggest they're aware of this.

E) INT. LAUNDROMAT - NIGHT

Aadid and Adela on opposite sides of the tiny storeroom checking INVENTORY. They both have a CLIPBOARD AND PEN.

Aadid is on one side of the room and Adela another. He counts a stack of cartons and marks his sheet. Adela does the same.

As they both turn to move, they meet under the light.

They embrace. They sway. Their lips meet. They kiss.

FADE TO BLACK

INT. LAUNDROMAT - NIGHT

A LAUNDRY CART floating down the aisle of the laundromat. We are in this cart, propped atop the folds of DAMP AMERICAN FLAGS.

A wall of dryers approaches us. We observe as a flag is lifted from the cart and hoisted into the dryer.

INT. LAUNDROMAT - MOMENTS LATER

Adela and Aadid facing the dryers, leaning against washers on opposite aisles. They pull change from their pockets.

Working their way down the row, they each load change and start a dryer.

They stand back to watch the American Flags tumble and spin, each one in its own space in this sea of dryers.

DRYER'S P.O.V.

Aadid and Adela, staring at us, seemingly unaware of our watching as we twist in the dryer's rotation. The laundromat revolves around them. There's an air to this we've not experienced before. Neither speaks, but we hear:

AADID (V.O. ARABIC, SUBTITLED)
Every flag, its own dryer. A delicate tumble. Low heat.
(a pause)
Sometimes, you can't help but stare at them.
(another pause)
It makes you feel like...
(pause)
...like you should be in love with something.

INT. LAUNDROMAT - DAWN

The laundromat, dim against the day lit exterior. Light creeps along the floor and fades away down the aisles.

It's serene; no patrons, no piles of clothes, only empty washers and freshly swept floors. In the farthest aisle, Aadid and Adela.

Silhouetted, they stretch a crisply folded AMERICAN FLAG between them. Adela releases it to Aadid and drifts toward the front door. She stands there in its threshold.

Aadid folds the flag into its final shape and lowers it gingerly to the counter. His face, though somewhat tired, reflects a calm the freshly folded flags suggest.

Aadid turns from the counter to take in Adela standing in the morning light. He watches her as though touched by something ethereal. She's beautiful.

He drifts towards Adela, crossing the threshold to stand beside her. Their backs to us...slowly, nearly imperceptibly, they each float a hand across the threshold until...

Their hands meet.

FADE OUT