PLUCKY PENNYWHISTLE'S MAGICAL MENAGERIE
Dean, Elena and Sam, wearing casual clothes, arrive in the car Dean's has been driving. Two police cars and an ambulance are outside the building. EMTs wheel the Janitor's body, covered with a sheet, out of the building on a stretcher. Dean holds up his FBI badge.
"Hold on one second there, guys." Dean Says
Sam and Elena is talking to Jean in the background.
"Keep in touch." Elena Says As Dean looks under the sheet.
"Uh, thank you." Sam Says As He and Elena walks over to Dean.
"So?" Dean Says
"The manager found the body in the ball pit. Blood everywhere." Elena Says
"Cops have a theory?" Dean Asks
"Yeah, they think the ball washer did it." Sam Says
"The what?" Dean Says
"The... ball washer." Sam Says
"The what?" Dean Says Smiling
"The ball –" Sam holds up his hands in frustration.
"Look at this." He lifts the sheet covering the body. Sam and Elena raises their eyebrows and inhales.
"Thank you, gentlemen." Dean Says
The EMTs wheel the body away. "That's a shark bite." Elena Says
"Yeah." Sam Says
"And, uh, judging from the radius, I'd say a 20-footer, at least." Sam looks skeptical.
"Shark Week," man. How do you not watch that?" Dean Says
Elena rolls her eyes and She and Sam walks away.
"Whole week of sharks." Dean Says
_________________________________
Sam, Elena and Dean are looking at the wall of placemats, using flashlights, Elena removes a name tag from the wall.
"Omar Cooper. How much you want to bet little Omar here was scared of sharks?" Elena Says
"Saul the janitor is connected how? I mean, he's not related to Omar." Dean Says
"No. But Saul had something he wanted to tell me." Sam Says
"So this isn't about ganking some dickweed parent." Dean Says
"More like, uh, silencing a whistle-blower." Elena Says
"Great, so whatever we're looking for can literally fire off childhood fears at will. Wow. Watch out for evil lunch ladies." Dean Says
Sam is holding an EMF reader. "All right. Let's comb this place."
Sam walks off, Elena goes in a different direction as Dean takes an EMF reader out of his jacket pocket.
"Seriously. Dractopus. Seabiscuit the impaler. Land shark – what's next?" Dean Says
Outside the building, Libby is driving The young boy is drawing in the passenger seat.
"Okay, Tyler, that's it. You got to take the bus from here." Libby Says
"But I thought –" Tyler Says
"I can't. I'm sorry. I'm late." She takes some coins from her purse and gives them to Tyler. "Here."
Tyler gets out of the car. "Stay out of trouble."
Libby gets out of the car, In the car there's Tyler's drawing on the passenger seat. It is of a giant robot with red beams coming from its eyes standing in front of a city backdrop. Two people are fleeing and a car is upside down.
GARAGE
Timestamp: Now
Sam goes flying through the air and lands on a large pickup, breaking the windshield. The clowns whoop and cackle. One clown pulls Sam off the hood of the pickup. The other kicks him in the stomach. The first clown catches him, turns him around and kicks him back towards the second clown. Sam grabs a tire iron from the pickup in his right hand and raises his left arm to deliver a backwards hit to the second clown. It falls down. Sam hits the first clown with the tire iron. The clown takes a step back, but then points with a flourish behind him to the second clown. The second clown is juggling some stakes, It lunges at Sam with one of them.
MOTEL ROOM
Sam is on his laptop, Dean is turning pages of John's journal at the table as Elena is on her laptop as well.
He glances over at Elena then looks back at the journal.
"Maybe a... Tulpa?" Elena Says
"No, killings are too spread out." Dean Says
"True." Elena Says
"What about Um... angel?" Sam Says
"It's a little imaginative for the God squad, don't you think." Dean Says
Sam and Elena sighs. "All right. So... what?"
"Yeah, I don't know. I'm tapped out." Dean Says
Sam and Dean are both drinking coffee, Elena taps her fingers on the table.
"Well, whatever it is, at least we know where it is." Sam Says
"Plucky's!" Elena Says
"That's where the victims are getting picked up." Sam Says
"Yeah, but we swept the place last night, and nada." Dean Says
"I can go back. Go to the employees, maybe dig up some dirt." Sam Says
"What good's that gonna do? They think you're a Fed. The one guy who was gonna rat, he got Bruce'd. If anybody knows anything, they're not gonna tell you." Dean Says
"All right." He claps his hands once. "Yep. That's the plan. "I'll go back, play bad cop Elena you play good cop to really lean into them." Sam Says walking towards the bathroom.
"Got it." Elena Says
"And...?" Dean Says
"And... when I'm done, then you watch them." Sam Says
"So if somebody freaks out, then that's our creep." Dean Says
"Or he'll lead us closer, and you can track him." Sam Says
"Well, if Elena is playing good cop then what's my cover?" Dean Asks
"I don't know. Just hang back. Act normal." Sam Says then goes into the bathroom and closes the door.
Dean looks at Elena who shrugs smiling, he rolls his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Guy in his thirties hanging out at Plucky's alone – that's normal. That's not pervy at all."
_________________________________
PLUCKY PENNYWHISTLE'S MAGICAL MENAGERIE
Jean is talking to another employee. "So, it doesn't matter what people say. We've roped it off. I've notified the powers that be. Everyone's aware."
Sam and Elena walks up and Sam clears his throat loudly.
"Just no one goes in the..." Jean Says
"Hi." Sam Says
"Agents, I bet I know why you're here." Jean Says
"How's business?" Sam Asks
"Turns out not even grim flippin' death can slow down the birthday fun." Jean Says
"Oh." Elena Says
"We roped off the ball pit, though, until corporate can get here. I just can't believe the machine fritzed and did Saul in like that." Jean Says
"Yeah, that makes two of us. Look we're gonna need to talk to some of your employees." Sam Says
"Like who?" Jean Says
"Like you." Sam Says
Elena looks at him, Then Jean leads the way to the back. Dean is sitting at a table in the restaurant area watching. A girl walks past him carrying a large rainbow-colored slinky he looks around and gets up.
Howard is behind a counter. Behind him are shelves stocked with novelty items, including the giant slinky. Below it is a sign that reads "1000".
"Howdy, friend." Howard Says
Dean raises a hand towards the giant slinky. "Giant slinky, would have killed for one of those when I was a kid. How much?"
"1,000 tickets." Howard Says
"American dinero. How much?" Dean Asks
"Oh, we don't take cash here at Plucky Pennywhistle's. Only tickets won through hard work and determination." Howard Says
"You mainlined the kool-aid, huh?" Dean Says
Howard laughs as Dean looks unamused.
"It's double-ticket Tuesday if you play skeeball."
A boy walks up to the counter holding up a string of tickets. "Howdy, friend!"
STAFF BREAK ROOM
Jean is seated at a table, Sam stays on his feet as Elena leans on the wall crossing her arms.
"So, where were you last night?" Elena Asks
"Well, here. Obviously. I found him. But I was by the cash register the whole time. There's a security camera pointed right at the counter. The cops already looked at it." Jean Says
"Uh-huh. And you heard nothing?" Sam Says
"I heard the ball blaster. I didn't hear him. If I did, I would have run in, of course." Jean Says
"Yeah, right, right. So that's your excuse." Sam Says
"My what? Look, I know I'm new to this job, but I'm-" Jean Says
"What? How new?" Sam Asks
"Couple weeks. I just got promoted." Jean Says
"Hmm. So, uh, was there a lot of competition for the gig?" Elena Asks
"I guess. It comes with benefits. The bosses had us all write essays about how we would do our best for the kids, and they picked me. Don't be shocked, but I actually did two semesters at college, so... I'm not in any kind of trouble, am I?" Jean Says
"I don't know. Why don't you tell us?" Sam Says
"Look, I know I'm not perfect, but I'm trying. And, I mean, it's not as if I'd ever do anything illegal." Jean Says
Sam slams a hand on the table and leans over close to Jean, She and Elena jumps a little.
"Sure you wouldn't." Sam Says
GAMES AREA
A ball hits the "30" ring of the skeeball machine. Dean beams. He tears off the three tickets that come out of the machine and looks less pleased. Jean comes out of the break room. Dean tosses another ball, which goes into a "100" ring, but doesn't wait to collect the tickets. He follows Jean as she grabs a jacket and goes outside through an "Employees Only" door. He watches as she lights a joint.
STAFF BREAK ROOM
Elena receives a text from "Dean Cell": "High Times not our gal." Howard is reading Sam's FBI business card.
"Special Agent? Wow!, I want you to know, sir, that I really appreciate what you do, and –" Howard Says
"Quiet." Sam Says
GAMES AREA
A chubby boy is kneeling on the skeeball machine putting the balls directly into the rings.
"Hey! Stop cheating!" Tyler Says
The boy looks at Tyler and goes back to what he was doing.
"You heard him. Knock it off!" Dean Says As The boy gets off the machine and runs away.
"Jackass." Dean & Tyler Says
Tyler and Dean looks at each other, Dean smiles.
Libby walks towards Tyler carrying a piece of pizza on a plate.
"Tyler, soup's on." Libby Says
Tyler walks over to a child-sized table and sits down. Libby has put the plate down in front of his seat. Dean takes the tickets from the skeeball machine left by the boy who was cheating.
"But, Mom, I don't want –" Tyler Says
"Just eat it." Libby Says
"But it sucks!" Tyler Says
Libby sighs and walks away, Tyler moves the plate to one side, pulls a placemat on which he is drawing a picture closer to him, and picks up a pencil.
"Hey, why don't you cut her some slack?" Dean Says
"What do you care?" Tyler Asks
"Because I've been where you are." Dean Says
"Your mom made you camp at a stupid Plucky's after school?" Tyler Says
"Y– no. No, but my dad, he... hauled me places. Besides, she's working a tough gig." He nods towards Libby, who is cleaning up a spill in the restaurant area. "You know? She's exhausted. You should take pity on the old. And, hey, free grub." Dean Says
"That stuff tastes like butt." Tyler Says
"What? Come on, it can't be that bad." He picks up Tyler's plate. "Let's see here." He takes a bit of the pizza and chews. "Ah..." Then spits the pizza out.
"That is butt." Dean Says
He puts the plate down as Tyler smiles. Dean looks at Tyler's drawing, which is of a robot with red beams coming from its eyes.
"You scared of robots?" Dean Asks
"They have laser eyes." Tyler Says
"Yes." Dean Says
Howard walks past from the break room, A Child tugs on his vest from behind.
"Excuse me." He Says
"Howdy, friend! What's your name?" Howard and the Child shake hands as Dean takes out his phone.
STAFF BREAK ROOM
Sam receives a text from "Dean Cell": "Nope." Someone is a lion costume is seated at the table. Sam and Elena is standing.
"Okay Uh..Lose the head." Elena Says As A Young Man lifts off the head of the costume.
"Why'd you do it?" Sam Asks
"Do... what?" He Says
"I think you know." Sam Says
"I... I got rights. You can't –" He Says
Sam shoves the chair on the other side of the table out of the way and leans over with his hands on the table, Elena rises her brows at him.
"I'm the federal government, pal. I can do whatever I want." Sam Says
The young man holds up his hands. "Okay. I'll talk."
"Good now spill." Elena Says
Sam takes a step back from the table then the young man throws the lion head at him and runs for the door.
"Dean!" Sam Says
The Young man runs past Dean, He and Elena follows as Sam comes to a halt for a moment when his path is blocked by a clown.
The young man runs out the Employees Only door, followed by Dean and then Elena & Sam. Cliff rounds a corner as Dean gets closer.
"Hey! Hey! Come here!" He grabs the tail of the lion costume. It comes off in his hand and he throws it away. "Hey!"
Dean tackles the young man into a pile of tires. He rolls the man over onto his back and holds him down.
"If this is about the meth lab that fireballed up in Butte, it wasn't me. Okay, it was my brother, but, um, we got the same fingerprints, and... Please. This is the best job I ever had." He Says
"All right, look, uh..." Dean Says
"Cliff." He Says
"Cliff. You're not using kids' nightmares to smoke people, are you, Cliff?" Dean Says
"I don't...think so." He Says As Dean looks up at Sam & Elena.
"Get up." Dean Says As he hauls Cliff to his feet.
"What's going on?" Cliff Asks
"All right, cards up. Yeah, we don't care that you, you know, broke bad or whatever. But there is some seriously weird going on in there." Dean Says
"You mean the sub-basement." Cliff Says
"This place has a sub-basement?" Elena Says
"Sure. Door's out back. Easy to miss if you don't know." Cliff Says
"What's in there?" Sam Asks
"Alls I know is... Me and Saul used to come in after hours sometimes and..."He Laughs "You ever shroom in a ball pit?" Cliff Says
He still laughing, turns to look at Sam then He wipes the smile off his face.
"Not that I...would, agents. It was Saul. Just Saul. All alone. Anyway... Sometimes we'd hear, like, spooky stuff, through the vents... Coming up from the boiler room." Cliff Says
_________________________________
GAMES AREA
Libby, carrying a bag, walks towards Tyler's table. She puts an arm around his shoulders and they walk together.
"Okay, kiddo. Let's go." Libby Says
"But somebody stole it!" Tyler Says
She stops and takes Tyler's face in her hands. Sam, Elena and Dean are watching.
"So, draw another one! Okay? We gotta go." Libby Says
She takes Tyler's hand, He sees Dean, who gives Tyler a look.
"Okay. I'm sorry." Tyler Says
"Thank you." Libby Says
"That place mat sucked anyway." Tyler Says
Libby and Tyler walk off, Dean walks over to Tyler's table and looks at the blank placemats on it.
"Dean. What? What is it?" Sam Asks
"While you were out being Dirty Harry, uh, Tyler's mom got pissy with him, and now his place mat's missing." Dean Says
"So, what do you think?" Elena Asks
"I think the bitchy mom plus, uh, sad kid plus place mat with something nuts written on it... equals wacky corpse." Dean Says
"So you think she's next on the list? All right, I'll tail them just to be safe. You and Elena—" Sam Says
"Check the boiler room. I know." Dean Says
"Right." He walks off, then turns back. "Oh. Oh. Uh, Dean, hey, uh, any idea what he drew?" Sam Says
"Robot." Dean Says
"A Robot?" Elena Says
"Yeah, about the size of a house. Shoots destructo beams out of its eyes." Dean Says
"At least I'll see it coming." Sam Says
"Yeah." Elena & Dean Says
BOILER ROOM
Dean and Elena enters and looks around using a flashlight. There is a large pot with a flame burning in the center of the room.
"Now, that's perfectly normal." Elena Says
They continues to look around and sees children's drawings on the wall. One is of a boy under water. Next to it is a photograph of two young boys with a birthday cake. The decorations read "Happy Birthday Howard." Three dolls are on a table next to an open spell book. Dean closes the book. Under it is Tyler's placemat with the drawing of the robot.
"Drop it." Dean and Elena turns and sees Howard holding a gun. "Drop it!" Dean and Elena sets their guns on the floor. "Mm-hmm. Now kick it over." Howard Says
Dean slides the guns towards Howard with his foot.
"Some pretty heavy hoodoo you got here. I gotta say, as far as I know, none of these things, uh, can poop out a Unicorn." Dean Says
Howard walks closer, He Elena and Dean are on opposite sides of the pot with the flames.
"There's power in fear. And when a child draws what he's afraid of, a little of that mojo ends up on the page." Howard Says
"So, what, you toss it in the fire, and some bed-wetter's horror show comes to life?" Elena Asks
"I got to get something off the parent, too. Something they own. That bit gets tricky." Howard Says
"Well, it hasn't seemed to slow you down." Dean Says
"I'm just doing what I need to!" Howard Says
"Okay. Okay we get it. Okay?" Dean Says
Dean throws the book from the table at Howard. He spins out of the way, but doesn't drop his gun. Elena rips the placemat with the drawing of the robot in half.
"No drawing... No Iron Giant!" Elena Says
She crumples the two halves of the drawing and burns them away.
"Oh, that b-word is still on the list! But not tonight. Bigger fish." Howard Says
"What, are you gonna shoot us, Howard? You really want a body on your hands? Blood everywhere?" Dean Asks
"I'd shut up! 'Cause I got lots of ways to take care of bullies. Don't you worry. Like that FBI guy. He's your pal, right? I saw you guys chase Cliff down. Five minutes ago, his business card was torched. Along with something from my... personal collection." He picks up several placemats with children's drawings.
"I – I – I picked it out real special for him, too." Howard Says
Libby gets out of her car, Sam is watching from the Jeep nearby.
"Soon as I saw him, I noticed. He was staring at every little Plucky like it was gonna stab him or something." Howard Says
Sam gets out of the Jeep then clown appears in front of him. Sam gasps in horror.
"Guy's got a real thing about clowns." Howard Says
The clown steps towards Sam, laughing.
GARAGE
Sam bursts in the door.
Timestamp: RIGHT FRIGGIN' NOW
Sam slams the door behind him and moves the metal objects in front of it. He hears a crash and turns to see that the clown has followed him in. It laughs maniacally. Sam starts to walk away from the clown, but the second clown, which is also laughing, has appeared in front of him. He stops and the second clown zooms closer. Sam shoots the second clown and glitter flies. The second clown punches Sam twice.
BOILER ROOM
"Well, hey, these are, uh, really nice dolls. Did you..." He picks up a clown doll."...paint them yourself?" Elena Asks
Howard doesn't respond, Dean and Elena sighs.
"Oh. Uh, friggin' Plucky." Dean Says
"Plucky helps kids. It's all I ever wanted to do. And when the management slot opened up, I... but they passed me over." Howard Says
"Shocker." Dean Says
"No, I told them, "No one cares more than me." Dean sets the clown doll back on the table.
"But suits never listen." He slips the doll into the back pocket of his jeans. "So, I'm doing it my way." Howard Says
"So let me get this straight. You didn't get the good parking space, so you start dropping bodies?" Dean Says
"Those parents were horrible. They deserved what they got." Howard Says
"What about Saul?" Elena Asks
"Saul had a big mouth!" Howard Says
GARAGE
The second clown is holding Sam from behind. He headbutts it. The first clown sprays Sam with seltzer from a flower on its jacket.
BOILER ROOM
"Some guy hits on the babysitter, all of a sudden he's the world's worst dad?" Dean Asks
"A good parent puts his kids first." Howard Says
"And having a little girl watch her pop get ganked by the closet monster – that's putting her first?" Elena Says
"In the long run, they'll all be better off." Howard Says
"You think so? Really?" Dean Asks
"I would have been." Howard Says
Dean turns to look at the pictures on the wall. In the first, a stick figure is below the surface of the water, while a second stick figure swims on the surface. In the second, a person is well below the surface and is surrounded by fish. The camera then pans in on the photograph of the two little boys with the birthday cake.
"So, your brother. What happened to him?" Elena Asks
"It's not my fault! It's theirs!" Howard Says
GARAGE
Sam hits the windshield of the pickup. One clown pulls Sam off the hood of the pickup. The other kicks him in the stomach. Sam raises his left arm to deliver a backwards hit to the second clown and He hits the first clown with the tire iron.
BOILER ROOM
The camera pans in on the stick figure swimming on the surface of the water in the first drawing, then on the stick figure under the water.
"Looks to me like he drowned." Dean Says
"I was screaming... But my folks... They didn't listen. They never listened." Howard Says
"It was an accident." Dean Says
"They let him die!" Howard Says
GARAGE
Sam ducks as the second clown takes a swing at him, then hits that clown with the tire iron. The second clown tosses the wrench it is holding to the first clown and the first clown hits Sam with it. He goes down, but gets back to his feet and hits the first clown in the groin with the tire iron. He turns and hits the second clown across the face with the tire iron. A large tooth flies from its mouth with a sprinkling of glitter.
________________________________
BOILER ROOM
Elena takes the picture of the person under water with fish off the wall and holds it up to Howard.
"I'll bet you still have nightmares. In fact, I'll bet you haven't been in the water since." Dean Says
"Shut up!" Howard Says
"It's Because you're afraid." Elena Says
Dean takes the clown doll out of the back pocket of his jeans, then puts both the drawing and the doll in the fire.
"No!!" Howard Says
He moves towards the fire, but the flames leap up and both he, Elena and Dean lean back. Howard shoots three times as Dean and Elena drops to the floor, they draws their guns. He, Elena and Howard both freeze. A young boy with three bullet holes in his shirt has appeared. The bullet holes close up and the young boy moves towards Howard.
"It wasn't my fault."The young boy continues to walk towards him. "I'm sorry." Howard Says As Dean gets to his feet he helps up Elena.
The young boy reaches for Howard's right hand, which is holding his gun. He falls to his knees and makes choking sounds. We see the paper and doll in the fire. Howard begins to splutter water. We again see the paper and doll in the fire. Water continues to come from his mouth and the paper and doll continue to burn.
GARAGE
The first clown runs at Sam brandishing a large metal bar. He raises a wrench to defend himself. The second clown moves towards Sam from behind. As the clowns reach Sam, they vanish in an explosion of glitter. He looks around and spits glitter out of his mouth.
PLUCKY PENNYWHISTLE'S MAGICAL MENAGERIE
Dean is leaning against his car as Elena walks over to him.
"First hunt back and this happens, one for the record books." Elena Says
"Yeah I've had enough crazy this week." Dean Says
"I bet you did." Elena Says
"Look Lena I-" Dean Says
"No Dean its fine, I was just mad earlier...you did what you needed to do because you were getting over me." Elena Says
"Yea bu-" Dean Says
"And I understand, your single and you can do whatever it is you want....it's fine." Elena Says
"You sure." Dean Says
"Yes, plus I don't want it to be awkward between us I mean we have to work together and stuff..." Elena says
"Yeah I understand." Dean Says
"Good." Elena Says
"It did feel good having you back though." Dean Says
Elena smiles a little at him, then Sam pulls up in the Jeep and gets out. He is still covered in glitter. Dean and Elena walks a few steps towards him. Sam raises an arm and makes a circular motion with a finger.
"Let's roll.Go ahead. Say it." Sam Says
Dean and Elena laughs as Sam rolls his eyes.
"I'm sorry." Sam starts to smile. "You look like you got attacked by some PCP-crazed strippers." Dean Says
Sam smiles wider, Elena laughs hysterically.
"Oh Oh I really needed that, Oh Sammy." Elena Says
"Guys, one of them sprayed me with seltzer from his flower." Sam Says
Dean and Elena laughs even louder, Sam looks surprised at their reaction.
"I'm s– whew. What?" Elena Says
"Nothing. Carry on." Sam Says
"Ohh. That's... Sam... I'm sorry for... psychologically scarring you." Dean Says
"Which time?" Sam Asks
"Shut up. Seriously. You know, me – me ditching you when we were kids, that was a dick move. You know, the whole clown thing–" Dean Says
"You know what, man? Honestly... getting my ass kicked by those juggalos tonight was, uh... it was therapeutic." Sam Says
"Wow You faced your fear." Elena Says
"Exactly. And now what else could a clown possibly ever do to me? I feel good." Sam Says
"Well, congrats." Dean Says
"By the way, to celebrate..." Sam Says
"What?" Dean Says
Sam takes a giant slinky out of the Jeep and walks towards Dean.
"No!" Dean Says
"Yes." Sam Says
Elena looks on happy, Sam gives the giant slinky to Dean and Elena walks to the passenger door of the car.
"Did you win this?" Dean Asks
"We earned that." Sam Says
"Hey can I see?" Elena Asks
"Uh Uh get your own Ha ha!" He walks to the driver's side of the car. "Hey. I got you a little something, too, actually." He puts the giant slinky on the roof of the car, and reaches into the car for a clown doll, which he tosses to Sam and he shudders and holds it up.
"What? You said you were over it. You can think of it as a... clown phobia sobriety chip." Dean Says
The car drives away. The clown doll is lying on the road with the head broken away from the body. It winks and we hear the sound of a clown laughing quietly.