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P.S. 118[]
Rhonda
- (Heard inside) So my father said, "Cost is no object, and you'll need a scarf when we go to Aspen anyway." And he bought me the most expensive one, right on the spot.
Cafeteria[]
(Rhonda has a scarf on and Stinky is stroking and feeling it)
Stinky
- Garsh, this scarf feels soft as a lop-eared bunny rabbit.
Rhonda
- (Snatches the scarf) That's because it is rabbit. It's from a very exclusive uptown salon. (Puts it around her neck) Almost as exclusively as where I vacation in Aspen, right, Peapod Kid?
Peapod Kid
- (agrees) Oh , yes, Aspen is very exclusive.
Helga
- Yeah, exclusively yuppies and snobs.
Rhonda
- (retorts) That's exactly the kind of comment I'd expect from a common brown-bagger.
(The gang at the table looks at each other)
Girls' Restroom[]
Rhonda
- (walks up to a stall) Nadine, is that you?
Nadine
- I'll be out in a second, Rhonda.
Rhonda
- I don't need to use the toilet. I need to call the fashion police. (Nadine comes out of the stall) Didn't you wear those shoes yesterday?
Nadine
- I guess so.
Rhonda
- Well, if you're going to be seen hanging out with me, you need at least a three-day rotation for your footwear.
(Nadine looks annoyed)
City Bus[]
Rhonda
- (to Stinky, impatiently) Come on, poky, you're holding up the line. Some of us have places to go.
Stinky
- (facepalms as he looks at the coin deposit) 55 Cents?! Aw, they raised the bus fare another nickel.
Rhonda
- What a tightwad.
Gerald
- Well, we're not all made of money like you.
Rhonda
- (passes them) I know.
Rhonda's residence[]
Rhonda
- (comes in) I'm home! (notices repo men taking the couch out the door) I thought we had that couch reupholstered last month.
(Rhonda walks up in the living room and notices all repo men taking all furniture out of the house)
Buckley
- Rhonda, you're home. Darling, we have terrible news. Maybe you should sit down. (Rhonda does so, but falls on the floor as a repo man takes away the chair) Or stand if your prefer. (She does so now) I don't know how to break it to you, so I'm just going to tell you: The Lloyds... are broke.
Rhonda
- (flabbergasted)' Broke?
Buckley
- Completely broke. Our stock account has dried up. We had to sell the house, the cars, everything.
Rhonda
- (shocked) No! This isn't happening! What will people say?
Brooke
- (with tears in her eyes) It won't be so bad, princess. When your father and I first got married, he had to sell one of his yachts to finance our multi-continent honeymoon. We made it through that crisis and we'll weather this one, too. (sobs on her husband's shoulder)
(Buckley sadly groans at this while Brooke was talking)
Rhonda
- But where will we live?!
Sunset Arms Boarding House[]
(The scene cuts to the boarding house where Rhonda and her parents are dropped off from the bus)
Rhonda
- (surprised) Arnold's house?
Brooke
- It does have a sort of... bohemian charm.
Rhonda
- Please, Daddy, tell me we're not moving here.
(The scene cuts to Grandpa Phil talking to the Lloyds in the lobby)
Phil
- So you're moving here! (strokes Rhonda's hair) Oh, you're gonna love this place. It has all the amenities you'll ever need, like this phone, for instance.
(Mr. Hyunh is seen in just a robe with a running nose and he is on the phone)
Mr. Hyunh
- Goodbye. (coughs and talks to Rhonda) I have a very bad chest cold. Very contagious. Need to make a call?
Phil
- And of course, you'll all enjoy the use of the community bathroom.
(The door opens with steam coming out and it shows Ernie wearing a towel wrapped around his waist)
Ernie Potts
- Ah... I always look forward to my weekly shower. I left a little back hair in the drain, sorry. Might want to clean it out before you rubba-dub-dub. HAHAHA!!!!
(Rhonda moans and faints after seeing Ernie)
Phil
- (opens the door to a room and turns on the light) And this sentimental charmer is your room. Not only is it bright and air, but it also includes your very own private... (back-kicks the wall and the closet releases what Phil is going to say) Murphy bed!
(Oskar is wearing blue pajamas and a nightcap and is revealed to be sleeping in the Murphy bed)
Oskar
- (laughs nervously) Good morning!
Phil
- (annoyed) Oskar! I thought I told you not to sleep in here! (snatches what Oskar was holding) And give me that salami! It's tomorrow's dinner.
(Phil chases Oskar out with the bitten salami like a club as he nervously laughs again)
Phil
- (back to the Lloyds) So welcome to the Sunset Arms. If you need any help, just ask Pookie. She's the brains of the operation. (sees Gertie in a conquistador's outfit chasing Abner) Pookie, don't run! Remember your hip! (hears something break) Too late.
(Phil closes the door)
Brooke
- (walks up to the curtains) Let's get some sunlight into the room now, shall we? (opens the curtains but realizes there is a brick wall)
Buckley
- (makes a suggestion) Why don't we step outside for a little fresh air, darling?
(Rhonda sighs and puts her head on the bed as her parents leave the room. A rat is seen grabbing a pocket watch out of a case, which frightens ghastly scares Rhonda and it runs away with the watch. Arnold comes in with a laundry basket)
Arnold
- Hi, Rhonda.
Rhonda
- (gets caught in the attention) Arnold!
Arnold
- I heard you were moving in.
Rhonda
- Don't be ridiculous. We're simply... remodeling our house, and this is the only place we could find on such short notice. Frankly, I'd appreciate it if you kept it under wraps. If people knew I was living here, well, they might get the wrong idea. I mean, it is a dump.
Arnold
- Rhonda, I live here.
Rhonda
- Yes... well... this is fine for an artistic type like you, but I have an image to maintain. (stands up from the bed) I lead by example.
Arnold
- (sets down the laundry basket) Rhonda, my grandpa told me your family's in financial trouble.
Rhonda
- (scoffs) Your grandpa's such a joker. That'd be a sad day when Rhonda Wellington Lloyd goes completely broke (looks at Arnold's serious expression and breaks down) Oh... Arnold, I'm completely broke! (gets down on her knees) Arnold, please, please, I beg you. Don't tell anyone that I'm p... p...
Arnold
- (guesses) Poor? (Rhonda cries) Rhonda, no one cares if you're poor.
Rhonda
- (stops crying) Arnold, if so much as a peep gets out, I'll be ruined! (grabs his shoulders) Promise me you won't tell.
Arnold
- Well, I--
Rhonda
- (shakes him repeatedly) Promise me! Promise me! Promise me! PROMISE ME!!!
Arnold
- Okay... okay, I promise.
Rhonda
- (calmly) Thank you, Arnold. I'm sorry I shook you. Now all I have to do is keep up appearances and no one will have to know that I'm p... p...
Arnold
- (guesses again) Poor?
Rhonda
- (puts her finger on his lips and whispers) Please, not out loud.
Street[]
(The next day, Rhonda is running to her former house with a book in her hand and suddenly, the heel broke off on her shoe)
Rhonda
- Ow!
(She jumps up to the stoop and stops right at the front door where it has the "For sale" sign on it. She removes the sign and throws it away, and once she hears the bus pulling up, she adjusts her hair and walks casually to the city bus)
City Bus[]
Helga
- (noticing her appearance) Hey, princess, what are you so sweaty and out of breath about?
Rhonda
- (lies) Not that it's... (fixes her hair) any of your business, but I just... finished my morning aerobics. I need to be in top shape for my skiing trip... in Aspen.
(Arnold rolls his eyes)
P.S. 118[]
(Rhonda almost trips and falls on Stinky)
Stinky
- 'Scuse me, ma'am. There's the problem; (points to her feet) Your shoe's got a busted heel.
Rhonda
- (lies) My heel's not busted. These shoes are brand new. They're called... single heel striders. (walks away) They're featured on the cover of this month's Outrageous Miss. Arnold knows... He's style-savvy.
Arnold
- (sarcastically) Yeah. It's... all the rage.
Mr. Simmons' classroom[]
Nadine
- (walks up to Rhonda) Rhonda, what's going on to your house?
Rhonda
- (stunned) Whatever are you talking about?
Nadine
- I kept getting a message that your phone's been disconnected.
(Curly and Iggy look on and are confused)
Rhonda
- (pretends to lie) Well, that makes sense... my father is having a new satellite... (extends her thumb and pinky like a telephone) cyber phone installed. It's the latest... cyber phone technology. Arnold's getting it at his house, too.
Arnold
- (sarcastically) Cyber phone... right.
Sunset Arms Boarding House[]
Phil
- (serves the half-bitten salami) Don't be shy, dig right in. There's plenty of grub for everyone. (offers it to Rhonda) Salami?
(Oskar, feeling guilty for having eaten the salami, chuckles nervously)
Rhonda
- (refuses) Uh, no, thank you.
Ernie
- So, Buckwald, what business you say you were in again?
Buckley
- Uh, I don't really have a job per se. I dabble in international finance.
Ernie
- Well, I don't know nothin' about that, but if you can tote a 12-pound sledge, I can put you to work.
Buckley
- (disinterested) I'll think about it.
Gertie
- (enters, still in her conquistador outfit) I claim this dining room in the name of Spain! (sets down a bowl) Olé!
Ernie
- (lifts a green sock out of the bowl) Hey, that's my sock. (shows it to Brooke) Well, at least she cooked the stain out of it.
Brooke
- (laughs nervously) So I see.
(All of a sudden, Rhonda hears snorting and it's coming from Abner who is sniffing her behind, so she is disgusted by him)
Rhonda
- (exclaims) Get it away from me!
Arnold
- (comes down to the table and demandingly scolds him) Abner, bad boy, go away.
(He absolutely runs out of the dining room)
Mr. Hyunh
- (talks to Rhonda, still sick) Excuse me, miss. Could you hand me a...? (sneezes right at her)
- Rhonda
- (running out of the room and up the stairs) I can't take it anymore! (runs back into her family's department and hides her head under a pillow on the murphy bed. Her parents then appear at the door) I want to go home now.
- Buckley
- I'm afraid that won't happen any time soon, pumpkin. We're already down to our last few dollars.
- Rhonda
- (sits up) That's just great! How do I afford lunch?
- Brooke
- I heard somewhere that you collect empty bottles and cans and exchange them for money. (turns to her husband) What's that called, dear?
- Buckley
- I believe that is called um... recycling, yes. That's what they call it. (to Rhonda) Perhaps you can do that to get your lunch money.
- Rhonda
- Listen! You may have lost all your dignity, but I have certainly not lost mine. There is no way I'm going to recycle bottles and cans to pay for my lunch!
P.S. 118 Playground[]
(Rhonda is rummaging in the dumpster as Sid wonders over and peeks in)
- Sid
- Rhonda, what are you doing in the dumpster?
- Rhonda
- Dumpster! What dumpster?
- Sid
- The one you're digging in.
- Rhonda
- (lies) Oh! This dumpster, well. There is a good reason why I am in this dumpster. I am busy looking for me... contact lenses, yes. They must have fallen in while I was throwing away my very expensive mineral water. But no biggy, my parents will have to get me new contact lenses. (She clambers out of the dumpster where all the kids are. She removes a lolly stuck to her shirt, only to cause a tear) Looks like I will have to get a new shirt for Aspen, too.
- Peapod Kid
- (walking over) I'm surprised you're still going to Aspen, Rhonda.
- Rhonda
- Why's that?
- Peapod Kid
- Because the resort has informed that the Lloyd family are broke. My father is planning of buying your home and turn it into low income accommodation units.
- Rhonda
- (The students are surprised in which made Rhonda very upset) Fine, I admit it. I'm poor, P-O-O-R! POOR!!! I don't have nice new clothes anymore, I can't afford lunch or bus fare and now my family has to live well below our acceptable comfort level in that dumpy old boarding house, AHHHHH!!!!! (runs off crying)
- Stinky
- (in sympathy) I never thought I'd seen the day. Rhonda Lloyd is broker than me.
- Helga
- (in glee) Oh, how the mighty had fallen, ha ha ha ha.
Sunset Arms Boarding House[]
Rhonda
- (sniffles) Please mommy, can we go home and be rich again?
Brooke
- I'm sorry princess, that part of our life is over.
Buckley
- Now Rhonda dear, you much buck up! (Arnold overhears from the other side of the door) You mother and I are doing well why just yesterday we played tennis at a public court.
Rhonda
- OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Arnold leaves, then later passes by the door) Why? Why? Why? Why?
(Later, Arnold opens the door whilst Rhonda sadly lays on the bed peeling at a loose wallpaper)
Arnold
- Rhonda, come on. Dinner's ready.
Rhonda
- What's the point of eating when you're poor? After all, I'm only going to die of misery anyway.
Arnold
- Come on, get up! Anything is better than just lying on the bed peeling wallpaper.
Rhonda
- (sitting up) Well, maybe I don't know what else to do. When I was rich, I could go to the movies or shop for shoes and any other activities. Now that I'm poor, there's nothing for me to do. What's the fun in life? Where's the excitement I crave? (She hits the mattress that causes her to be flung by the Murphy Bed into stored position) AHHHH!!!!! (Arnold pulls the bed back down, seeing her in a tantrum) I HATE THIS BED!!! I HATE THIS STUPID PLACE!!!! AND I HATE BEING POOR!!!!! I only know how to be rich. Being rich is the one thing I'm really good at!
Arnold
- Listen to yourself. Pathetic. I mean just because you're not rich anymore, doesn't mean you're a different person. (Rhonda wipes the tears from her eyes as Arnold speaks) You were Rhonda when you had money and you can still be the same Rhonda now that you don't. Unless being rich is all you're about. (he leaves the room, shutting the door to leave Rhonda to think about this)