Six Shooter

A doctor informs Donnelly that his wife died at 3 o'clock that morning. He is brought to her bedside as the hospital is unusually busy due to cot deaths and a case of a boy who shot his mother. Before leaving, Donnelly gives his wife a photo of David, their pet rabbit.

On the train home, Donnelly sits opposite a foul-mouthed, chain-smoking young man. He tolerates the kid and engages in a bland, banal conversation, while a couple across the aisle are less forgiving of the boy's abrasive manner. The stares and tension hint at the darker events to come.

Donnelly learns that the couple's son is one of the infants who died. Donnelly's conversation with the boy turns heavy as the tragedy of infant death is referenced, casting a pall over the journey.

The boy returns with tea but refuses Donnelly's money. Donnelly tells the kid about the couple's loss, and the boy responds with a cruel theory about how parents kill their children.

The couple reappears and the tension nearly erupts into a fight between the boy and the husband. Donnelly steps in to mediate, trying to keep the peace as the atmosphere becomes threatening.

The wife looks at a picture of her baby; the boy quips it resembles a Bronski Beat member. The woman steps on a table to escape, tears the photo, and leaves the car; later, the torn picture is found on the floor near an open exterior door.

Returning to the passenger car, the boy casually tells the husband that his wife has jumped off the train. The husband initially laughs it off as a sick joke, but Donnelly notices blood on the window and triggers the emergency stop.

A policeman questions Donnelly and the boy and suspects the boy's involvement. As the train departs, the officer sees the boy waving goodbye and orders the train to be stopped and guns drawn.

On the return leg, the boy boasts that his mother was murdered last night and says he is not mourning. Donnelly tells the boy his own wife has died and breaks down, admitting he has lost faith in God.

The boy offers a bizarre 'true' story about a cow with trapped wind, which makes Donnelly cannot help but laugh. The mood shifts as the boy's menace becomes undeniable.

Noting armed police everywhere, Donnelly realizes the boy orchestrated the matricide. The boy draws two revolvers and opens fire on the police, mortally wounding himself in the exchange.

Donnelly crawls to the boy and hears his last words, expressing regrets that he did not hit any policemen. He takes one of the six shooters and hides it in his coat as a grim keepsake.

Back home, Donnelly examines the gun and finds it contains two bullets. He contemplates shooting himself, but a scratching sound leads him to David the rabbit, a brief moment before he returns to the gun.

He blows the rabbit's head off and, then, with the last bullet fired from the weapon, he sits with the smoking gun, the dead rabbit, and his wife's photo. He sighs, looking skyward, and mutters, Oh Jesus. What a fuckin' day!