Half a Stop

In a closet in a Brooklyn brownstone, Eloisa, 12 takes photos of her little sister, Maeve, 6, for a school project. What makes the photos unique is that Maeve is dressed up in fake blood, illustrating the final stages of the Bubonic Plague. She also happens to be topless.

The girls' productivity is interrupted by Cheryl, their photographer mom, who is downstairs furiously working towards the deadline of her next big show. On Maeve's behalf, Eloisa asks Cheryl if they can go to the zoo this weekend. Cheryl tells her she's far too swamped. Admiring the remnants of fake blood on Eloisa's face, Cheryl insists Eloisa lets her take a few pictures.

Cheryl takes more images of Eloisa and Maeve in the backyard. Cheryl's assistant and lover, Sisyphus, looks on. Eloisa asks Sisyphus if she can print the images for Maeve's school project, and Sisyphus assures her that she'll do it by morning.

In the morning, it becomes clear Sisyphus has not printed the images, but placed them on a disc. Eloisa furiously takes the disc to the computer lab at her hippie dippy school. When the librarian helps Eloisa with the unruly printer, she spies some of the images.

In Sex Ed class, Eloisa flirts with a boy who is excited about her mom's show. The headmaster calls Eloisa out of class. Cheryl is waiting for them in his office, exasperated to be taken away from her important work.

The headmaster explains the term 'sexting' to Cheryl, and produces the images from the computer lab. He says that if Eloisa had sent them to anyone she could be charged with child pornography.

Cheryl examines the images, stunned at how good they are. Eloisa is flattered by her mother's sudden interest in her work. Cheryl dismisses the headmaster's concern in a flurry. Eloisa remembers her sister and the intended reason for the images: Maeve's project on the Bubonic Plague. Eloisa finds Maeve lying on the floor of her classroom, sure Eloisa had forgotten her.

As the two girls walk home from school Cheryl pulls up alongside them and says she has a surprise.

At her gallery, she has already hung four of the images Eloisa took of Maeve. Eloisa sees that her mom has entitled them with her own name. Sisyphus suggests that Eloisa bargain with her mother for the images. If Eloisa could buy her own equipment, she wouldn't have to borrow Cheryl's. Instead, Eloisa approaches Cheryl and Maeve, telling Maeve that Cheryl has promised to let them skip school tomorrow so she can take them to the zoo. Aware that this is the bargaining chip Eloisa is offering in exchange for Cheryl's being able to call the photographs her own, Cheryl agrees.