The Pickaninny

In the sun‑bleached outskirts of a Midwestern town, a weary couple embarks on a seemingly tranquil fishing expedition, only to be thrust into a kaleidoscope of farcical misadventures. Their modest boat drifts toward a bustling grocery store where the aisles become a stage for a parade of eccentric patrons: a loquacious clerk whose chatter rivals a carnival barker, a lanky clerk with a penchant for slapstick pratfalls, and a mysterious figure slipping moonshine beneath the counter. A well‑meaning but bumbling constable arrives, his badge heavy with incompetence, while a clandestine bootlegger slips through the shadows, his sack of illicit spirits rattling like a nervous drum. Amid the chaos, a man garbed in a shaggy bear costume waddles into the fray, his exaggerated growls echoing the absurdity, only to be upstaged by an actual bear that bursts through the back door, its massive paws scattering crates and customers alike. The couple, caught between the absurdity of the faux‑bear and the raw ferocity of the real one, scramble to restore order, their simple fishing trip transformed into a riotous tableau of slapstick, social satire, and silent‑era visual poetry. As the dust settles, the duo finds themselves drenched not just in lake water but in a cascade of comedic revelation, their bond tested and tempered by the pandemonium that surrounds them.