Mayflower

Small engines mechanic RICHARD MAYFLOWER, SR., dying from a two-pack-a-day habit, is grief-stricken. A year ago, he buried his wife of forty years. Today also marks one month since his only child, Junior, while deployed in Afghanistan, was killed by an ISIS car bomb blast. Junior's makeshift shrine is in Mayflower's living room and his battlefield cross memorial sits in his yard.Mayflower is not alone in his grief. He and his wife have cared for Junior's eight-year-old daughter, Ricki, since her mother abandoned her six years ago. Since her grandmother's passing, Ricki has endearingly taken to mirroring her grandfather (she calls him "Pap"), even smoking his discarded cigarette butts. After his son's death, Pap has destructively focused his grief, despair, and rage on a secret, deadly plan. And this day he will finally see it through.Today, he will drop Ricki off with her estranged aunt, and avenge his beloved son by truck bombing the front of a nearby mosque, as Friday afternoon prayer lets out.After his farewell to Ricki, Pap arrives at Masjid Ibrahim with his haphazard explosives hidden under a weathered tarp in his truck bed. He tries to park, nearly running over a young Muslim girl, but finds the perfect spot right in front. Mayflower grabs a crude remote detonator and manually enables the ignitor switch under the tarp. But his plans are interrupted when he finds Ricki hiding in the flatbed, oblivious of her grandfather's plan and the dangerous explosives surrounding her. In his frustration, he admonishes her and pulls her across the street, away from his intended crime scene, to the back of an alley. He plants her there. As Pap returns to the front of the alley to station himself for the blast, Ricki spots a woman down the back alley who she thinks is her long-estranged mother. Without hesitation, she sprints in the direction of the female stranger.Pap notices she's gone, returns to the spot he left her and sees her, in the distance, engaged with the stranger. She's definitely safe from the blast. Though his nerves and palpable frailty nearly topple him, he returns to his mission just as prayer is coming to an end.Quite soon, Ricki discovers the woman is not her mother but a mentally ill woman who lunges at Ricki and scares her away. Frightened and heartbroken with the fresh reminder of her deep yearning for a mother, Ricki, unbeknownst to Pap, finds her way back to his truck. She crumbles in wrenching distress in the cab. At the same time, Pap slides to the ground at his station just inside the alley. He prepares to complete his mission.Just a moment from pressing the remote detonator, the Muslim girl reappears in front of him. They lock eyes. Her look is not profound, not intense, not accusatory, but innocent, ignorant of Pap's intent.His hand hovers over the button that could change their lives forever.