The Kidnapper story
Danny Skeggs, a simple-minded and delusional pawn shop owner, meets Teresa, a heavily pregnant homeless woman whom he takes in. Over time, the two begin developing a bond, but whereas Teresa only sees Danny as a friend, Danny falls in love with her. Danny becomes insanely envious when Teresa's child is born, so he sets out to get rid of the child in the hopes that Teresa will love him. When Teresa becomes too overwhelmed with emotion to respond to his advances, Danny races to find the baby and return it to her. Directed by: James H. Spencer. Story by: John Harrison.
14 total · 1 choice · 5 major · 8 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| child abduction | choice | The point of the story was that Danny orchestrated the abduction and selling of Teresa's baby so that Teresa would be his. In the denouement he tried to snatch a random other baby to give back to her. Alas, the baby he went for turned out to be Teresa's. |
| boyfriend and girlfriend | major | Danny and Teresa cohabited as a couple. |
| caring for a baby | major | Teresa was seen taking care of her newborn. |
| coping with a loved one being missing | major | Teresa fell to pieces in the wake of her infant getting abducted. |
| obsessive love | major | Danny fell so obsessively in love with Teresa that he orchestrated the abduction of her baby, thinking she'd turn to him for comfort. |
| romantic jealousy | major | Danny fell so obsessively in love with Teresa that he grew dangerously jealous when her affection turned to her newborn child. |
| domestic violence | minor | Though not spelled out in detail, one must imagine that Teresa had somehow been abused by her former partner and the father of her unborn child since she ran away despite being heavily pregnant and having hardly a penny to her name. |
| expecting parents | minor | For a while Danny and Teresa were both like expecting parents, although technically only Teresa was. |
| human empathy for babies | minor | Danny mused at some length about the effect babies have on people. |
| law enforcement | minor | A police detective warned Danny that Teresa may never get her baby back. |