The Six Finger Kid

Approaching thirty, Evan Deeter has lost his girlfriend and his way in life – and reluctantly takes on the management of his father’s rarely visited used bookstore in the city. He spends most of his hours handling the occasional customer and reading out loud to his trusty and lackluster dog, Barnaby.

But all that changes the day he hears a rustling in the attic that - upon investigation – proves to be Maria, a young Hispanic mother and her year old child, Daisy, who had entered an unlocked window through the fire escape. She doesn’t tell Evan that the father of the child, Cray, has been killed for threatening to become state’s witness against a powerful drug lord named Mojo – and that she is now being hunted by Cray’s killer – one of Mojo’s soldiers named Nick. Maria apologetically promises to spend only a day in hiding and then leave – but has nowhere to go. Big hearted Evan finally allows them to stay until it is safe, sets them up in the little attic apartment and buys them food.

In the meantime, he conducts his usual business – such as it is - downstairs, which includes dealing with Alton Marchand, a persistent teenage author and whiz kid scientist who wants Evan to sell his self published book called “Unheard of Stuff That Could Really Help You Out in Life.” Evan finally relents and accepts a box of the books, which features chapters on such things as “How to make an air conditioner with dry ice and a vacuum cleaner” and “How to teach your dog to drive.”

Elsewhere – Maria’s nemesis, drug kingpin Mojo is setting up a meeting place with a visiting European mob boss named Trondheim at an old abandoned warehouse on the edge of town. It will be a small gathering between the two men but will make Mojo a major coast-to-coast player in the USA. He also wants to eliminate all potential enemies and witnesses who could deep six the whole operation, like Maria. And that job goes to his soldier Nick, who let her escape in the first place - after killing Cray.

The walls are starting to close in on Maria and Daisy as Nick scours the immediate neighborhood where she was last seen. He probes the alley near the bookstore and climbs the same fire escape she used to get into the attic, nearly discovering her as the alarmed Maria hides from his view at the last possible second.

After a week in the attic, Maria is in a near panic knowing she has to leave her hiding place. She has enough money for a plane ticket out of town but going to the airport is a huge risk. She finally tells the full truth about her situation to Evan who is by now in complete sympathy – and growing interested in her personally. Evan offers to take her to his parents place out in the suburbs – explaining to them that she is a single mother who is being stalked by a crazy boyfriend and needs time for it to blow over. The parents accept Maria - and fall in love with the little Daisy.

Later Maria tells Evan the full truth about her situation - including that she has a small fortune in the bank from Cray’s business dealings and needs it to start a new life across the country. She stays in hiding but gives Evan authority to withdraw all $150 Thousand. But Mojo also gets updates on the online account and tracks down the bank security camera showing Evan at the counter making the withdrawal. Mojo doesn’t know Evan’s identity – but he can clearly see his face on camera. Nick hasn’t seen the tape, but at about the same time he makes another visit to the bookstore and directly questions Evan about the missing mother and child. Evan senses what is going on and denies ever seeing her. Nick is satisfied and leaves again.

When Maria hears that Nick has been questioning Evan, she realizes it’s only a matter of time and she must act. She’s been casually reading Alton’s book – especially the chapter on “How to render a whole room of people safely unconscious” - using a few small remote fans and Alton’s unique knock out mist. Thanks to her late boyfriend Cray - she already knows the warehouse location where Mojo and Trondheim will meet in a few days. She sells Evan on the idea of breaking into the place and setting up Alton’s invention the day before the meeting- and then knocking everyone out with the remote control. Then they can call the police to come in and make the arrests. (She’s afraid of telling the police in advance because Mojo might have spies in the department).

Evan and Maria visit Alton - who hands out gas masks and then knocks out his entire family after forgetting to close the vents from the basement while demonstrating the apparatus. Unpredictable fallout from his experimentation is typical in the household - but the demonstration is quite convincing.

The three of them get into the warehouse before Mojo’s meeting and set everything up but – unbeknownst to any of them – the remote that will launch the entire operation falls out of Alton’s pocket while they are climbing a ladder to a rooftop exit - and into a shallow crawl space between the floor and the wall.

Meanwhile - a furious Mojo shows the Nick the CCTV tape of Evan withdrawing the 150 K from the bank. Nick is flabbergasted but doesn’t tell Mojo he already knows Evan from the bookstore. He’s going to settle it himself and pay Evan another visit – with a gun. But Evan is ready. He manages to trap Nick in the bookstore behind locked security gates – while making an escape and heading off to do the knock out job on Mojo and Trondheim. Nick finds a bottle of Tequila on a shelf and proceeds to get drunk and depressed over his crimes. Later we see a flash of light and a gun report emitting from the store. Suicide? Or is something else afoot?

Meanwhile, the parents of Evan and Alton are worried about what the kids are getting into and have put a tracer (invented by Alton) on Evan’s car. They lock Alton, who is grounded and working unaware, in his basement laboratory. The parents head out to find Evan and Maria, but they are pulled over by one of Mojo’s soldiers who has been staking them out.

In the end – everyone – the parents, Maria and Evan - are prisoners of Mojo at the warehouse in the middle of his Trondheim meeting. To make matters worse – Evan’s dog Barnaby gets into the place and sniffs out a rat who is gnawing on the remote, setting it off and knocking everyone out for an hour – after which they all wake up again and resume exactly where they left off. It looks like a complete failure for the good guys.

It’s all up to young Alton to save the day with his latest backup invention – and has to break out of the basement and get to the warehouse in time to debut his marvelous crime-stopping weapon based on a vintage 1960’s toy gun – The Six Finger.