19 Nocturne Boulevard

A new 8 part series!

Chapter 1 - Gavin Murdock gets himself a berth on a venusian slaver ship with a unique spacedrive. But what is his secret motivation?

[transcript below]

Reissue episode of the week!

Jack. In the Box.

Shortly after WWII, a crate full of parts appears on a young divorcee's doorstep. Can she and her young son figure out what it is and what it's for? ...And how will this affect the fate of the world?.

Cast List

Jack/Unit X-14 - Greg Porter Trudy Garfunkel - Julie Hoverson Timmy Garfunkel - Reynaud LeBoeuf Mrs. MacGruder - Marge Lutton Susan - Melinda Mains Col. Chutney - Richard Haviland Mockam - Cole Hornaday Pockam - Kim Turner Additional voices on the radio - Diana Haviland, Joy Jackson, Pat McNally

Music: Kevin MacLeod (Incompetech.com) and Jonathon Roberts (jmtr.com) Recorded in conjunction with ART (American Radio Theater) Editing and Sound: Julie Hoverson Cover Photo: Kalyana Sundaram (courtesy of Stock Xchange.com)

"What kind of a place is it? Why it's an aging bungalow court apartment, can't you tell?"

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This was an early comedy romance episode I wrote specifically with A-R-T - American Radio Theater - in mind. This was recorded with A-R-T in Marge's dining room. I would like to point out that the title is not "jack-in-the-box" but Jack[period] in the box [period]. It's a subtle distinction, but it does make it mean something a bit different.

I also want to point out right away that the whole Chinese suspicion subplot was meant to be silly and a clue to how disconnected from reality Mrs. McGruder is, not serious. Keep in mind this was written ten years ago and set in the 1940s. I have nothing but disgust for any frickinh racists who are currently, in real life, harassing people of Asian descent, particularly the elderly.

The transcript is on the page here, and you will note that the first couple of "radio shows" heard in the background in this episode are in the main script, but after that, they got too complicated to write in between lines and I moved them to the end so they could be recorded "of a piece". The shows are clear parodies of The Shadow, I love a Mystery, and Flash Gordon. This also marks the first appearance of Tunis the Unstoppable, whom I later used in Bingo the Birthday Clown.

I realized recently that I haven't yet included the full text of the opening sequence of 19 Nocturne Boulevard in any of my transcripts. My apologies, and it will follow. It originally started out much longer, but I whittled it down until it was just the right length.

Platinum Death Ray Forever!

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19 Nocturne Boulevard Opening

VOICE: 19 Nocturne Boulevard

CABBIE: Nocturne Boulevard? Not far. When you hit Howard, hang a right. Howard meets Philip at a weird kind of angle, then you cross James and Poe. You can't miss Nocturne, it's just past the Automat.

VOICE: 19 Nocturne Boulevard, your address for suspenseful stories of the speculative, strange, and supernatural.

[VOICE, or OLIVIA] Tonight's story is [title]

[also might include warning about violence or language here]

OLIVIA: Yes. This is 19 Nocturne Boulevard, won't you step inside? What do you mean, what kind of a place is it? Why it's a [episode specific location]

*****************************************************

JACK. IN THE BOX.

Cast:

• Trudy Garfunkel (F/30ish), divorcee, single mom
• Timmy Garfunkel (M/10), her son
• MacGruder (F/50ish), landlady
• Colonel Chutney (M/70), retired WWI colonel
• Susan (F/20ish), Trudy's co-worker
• Jack (M), a robot
• Mockam (any), an alien
• Pockam (any), another alien

• ON THE RADIO:
• Announcer
• Horse voice
• Ralph
• The Spook
• Thug 1
• Thug 2
• Jake
• Mack
• Frenchy
• Snap Harper
• Amanda Cool
• Tunis the unstoppable

OLIVIA Did you have any trouble finding it? What do you mean, what kind of a place is it? Why, it's a run-down bungalow apartment court, can't you tell?

SCENE 1.

MUSIC CREEPY SCI FI

AMBIANCE VERY ALIEN

POCKAM The interview will be conducted in the unit's assimilated language.

MOCKAM Report, unit X-14.

JACK [very robotic in all scenes with aliens] Report. Earth viability as target for invasion--

MUSIC BREAK

OLIVIA Oops. My mistake. Here's that bungalow court...

SCENE 2.

MUSIC A BIT OF MELODRAMA - VERY 40s

AMBIANCE OUTSIDE. TRAFFIC NEARBY

SOUND FOOTSTEPS ON GRAVEL. DOOR OPENS SLIGHTLY OFF.

MACGRUDER [slightly off] Trudy? Trudy!

SOUND FOOTSTEPS STOP

TRUDY [sigh] Mrs. MacGruder.

SOUND FOOTSTEPS SWIVEL IN GRAVEL

TRUDY I'll have the rent on--

MACGRUDER [slightly off] Oh, no this is ... When?

TRUDY Friday. Um, what, then?

MACGRUDER [coming on] You got a package!

TRUDY What? I didn't--

MACGRUDER I was thinking just that. What's Trudy Garfunkel doing ordering stuff--?

TRUDY I didn't!

MACGRUDER On her little government salary, and I knew she-- I mean, you-- wouldn't, so then I wondered if maybe it wasn't that deadbeat man of yours--

TRUDY He's not mine- he hasn't been for a long time--

MACGRUDER --Might have sent something for the boy, so I figured no harm in letting the movers into your place - I hope you don't mind - but I wanted to let you know before you walk in and trip over it or anything.

TRUDY Thank you for the warning.

SOUND FOOTSTEPS - BOTH OF THEM

TRUDY You don't have to--

MACGRUDER I better go come along and make sure, since if I let it into your place and it turned out to be something dangerous, well I'd never forgive myself. On the other hand, I was just thinking it might just be a vacuum cleaner, so I was just thinking if it was a vacuum cleaner, then I would knock a whole dollar off your rent - each week - if you just let me use it. [gasps]

TRUDY The box is that big? I mean big enough for a vacuum?

SOUND FOOTSTEPS STOP

MACGRUDER Lands sakes! You just have to get a gander at it! [beat] Well? Open it.

SOUND A COUPLE OF ALMOST HESITANT STEPS ON STONE, THEN KEY IN LOCK

TRUDY Did the movers say anything when they--?

MACGRUDER Say anything? Well, I expect they did, but they didn't really seem to speak much English. Didn't worry me much though - they were big Italian looking fellers, not Chinese at all.

SOUND KNOB TURNS

TRUDY Chinese? Why Chinese?

MACGRUDER Oh, I heard it on the radio just the other day, about the Chinese. Not sure what they said, but I'll tell you, you better check your laundry reaaal good.

TRUDY [dubious] All right.

SOUND DOOR OPENS. A COUPLE FOOTSTEPS, THEN PULLED UP SHORT

TRUDY [gasps]

MACGRUDER Didn't I tell you?

TRUDY You said a box - I didn't expect a crate! How'd they get it through the door?

MACGRUDER Crate. Box. I said it was big enough for a vacuum.

TRUDY [joking] Or some Chinese.

MACGRUDER You think so, too? Well, you better open it now - maybe this is how they plan to invade or do whatever it was the radio was saying about them. I'll stay with you while you do it, so that I can run back and call the army if they come popping out of there.

TRUDY I really doubt it's a box of Chinese people.

MACGRUDER You better check!

SOUND SCRABBLING AT WOOD. TAPPING - SOUNDS PRETTY SOLID.

TRUDY I don't know how to open it.

MACGRUDER Here, I'll go and get a hammer. We'd better get this done quickly!

TRUDY Yes, I'd rather have this sorted out before Timmy gets home.

MACGRUDER [going off] Oh, well, that too - I was thinking that "Love of a Generation" will be coming on the radio real soon.

TRUDY The radio. Tsch. [almost chuckling] Chinese.

SCENE 3.

MUSIC SPACE

AMBIANCE SPACE SHIP

MOCKAM Status of Earth readiness to hold off an invasion fleet?

JACK The earth is fully prepared to repel all invaders.

POCKAM What? We have seen no evidence--!

MOCKAM Explain.

SCENE 4.

MUSIC 40s MELODRAMA

SOUND SQUEAK OF NAILS AS CRATE LID IS PRIED OFF

MACGRUDER What is it?

TRUDY Let me get the lid off before you go jumping in - you don't want the nails to get you.

MACGRUDER [sniffs] Well, it doesn't smell Chinese.

TRUDY [takes breath as if to say something, then sighs] No.

SOUND HEAVY LID FALLS TO FLOOR

MACGRUDER Well, someone sent you a box of excelsior - sure it wasn't your ex husband? He seems the type to be making a big deal out of nothing.

SOUND ROOTING AROUND IN PAPER SHREDS

TRUDY Every belonging he ever had wouldn't fill this darn thing. No, the only time he remembers to send us anything is the occasional model airplane for Timmy's birthday - and they're always late.

MACGRUDER You're better off without him. Just like Ermintrude on Romances of the Great White Way. She dumped a crumb who would--

TRUDY I found something!

SOUND METAL CLANG AS SOMETHING IS PULLED OUT OF PAPER SHREDS

MACGRUDER Well... It could still be a vacuum cleaner.

TRUDY Here - set this down somewhere.

MACGRUDER Hmph. Well, I can't be standing around here all day, and if there's nothing more in there but scrap metal--

TRUDY Aha! Papers!

MACGRUDER Instructions?

SOUND RIFFLE OF MANY PAGES

TRUDY Um... Maybe. I don't think it's in English.

MACGRUDER Lessee. I knew it! Chinese!

SOUND TAPS PAPER

SCENE 5.

MUSIC SPACE

AMBIANCE SPACE SHIP

MOCKAM Which country or continent has the largest potential resistance force?

POCKAM Who do we capture first, in other words?

JACK [strange stuttering noise] Uh, uh, The main army is not that of any surface nation, but a hidden underground force--

POCKAM Explain! Underground?

JACK The minions of Tunis the Unstoppable are counted in the millions.

SCENE 6.

MUSIC 40s MELODRAMA

SOUND [off] DOOR SLAMS OPEN, FEET RUNNING IN

TIMMY Hey mom! I'm starvin--

TRUDY [absently] Close the door.

SOUND PAGES TURN

TIMMY Whoa! What in Hi-ho Silver is that?

TRUDY Huh? [coming out of it] Oh! Young man, I should make you march right back outside and come back in like a civilized human being, and not like a-- a--

TIMMY Bucking bronco?

TRUDY No, that was last week. Um, a--

TIMMY Crazy apeman?

TRUDY Fine. Like a crazy apeman. But I happen to be busy.

TIMMY If--

TRUDY Ask like a--

TOGETHER --civilized human being.

TRUDY [swallows a chuckle]

TIMMY What is it, then, mom? It looks -- well--?

TRUDY Honestly, I'm not sure. Grab yourself an apple in the kitchen, and come and help me find a part that looks like this--

SCENE 7.

MUSIC SPACE

AMBIANCE SPACE SHIP

POCKAM [worried] Of what nation is this Tunis the unstoppable? Has he no enemies on Earth?

JACK [sounding slightly human] He is the secret master of the world. His armies are legion.

SCENE 8.

MUSIC 40s MELODRAMA

SOUND SQUEAKY. METAL PIECES BEING PUT TOGETHER. FINALLY SNAPS IN

TRUDY There! [pause, sigh, gasp] Goodness! Look at the time! It's nearly dinner!

TIMMY Ah, bananas! I missed the start of Ralph Richardson, Thug Breaker!

SOUND SCRAMBLE ACROSS THE FLOOR. RADIO TUNING IN

TRUDY Don't wanna keep me company in here while I get set to feed you?

SOUND RADIO CRACKLE, WARMING UP

TIMMY Oh, c'mon mom! Ralph just found the smuggler's lakeside warehouse, and then they caught him and tied him to a piling and the tide's coming in!

SOUND RADIO MUSIC

ANNOUNCER [very tinny] ...that's why Alfalfa-bet is your best bet for breakfast. Ask any horse what he likes and he'll say--

HORSE VOICE Alfalfa-Bet!

ANNOUNCER And now, hear the creaking of the piling?

SOUND PILINGS CREAK

ANNOUNCER Hear the lapping of the incoming tide?

SOUND TIDE LAPS

ANNOUNCER But can we still hear Ralph?

RALPH [A couple of manly grunts]

TIMMY C'mon Ralph! You can get loose!

SCENE 9.

MUSIC SPACE

AMBIANCE SPACE SHIP

MOCKAM [suspicious] We have seen no evidence of this Tunis the unstoppable.

JACK He is said to be an ancient sorcerer, who is capable of hiding his every movement.

POCKAM That's ludicrous! Explain this title of Sorcerer!

JACK One who manipulates the ether and the world around him through mental abilities, rather than the use of devices or scientific artifices.

MOCKAM AND POCKAM [gasp]

SCENE 10.

MUSIC 40s MELODRAMA

SOUND RADIO BACKGROUND

The SPOOK Of course you could not see me, for I have the cloak of ancient darkness to protect myself!

THUG 1 Oh no!

THUG 2 You said it. He's got us. There ain't no way out.

SOUND MUSIC SWELLS

SOUND CLICK. RADIO OFF

TIMMY Well, that's a fine how d'you do!

TRUDY It's time for bed, and we've nearly finished putting this... thing... together.

TIMMY I still say it's a robot! Look, arms, legs - everything.

TRUDY A robot would look as silly as anyone else without a head. Up, up!

TIMMY [moving slowly off] You'll look through the shavings again, won't you? See if there's anything else in the box?

TRUDY Aye, Aye, captain. Now scoot!

SCENE 11.

MUSIC SPACE

AMBIANCE SPACE SHIP

MOCKAM Is this planet Earth very populated with these... sorcerers?

JACK From my research, they are few but very powerful.

POCKAM Bah! Even such as these cannot withstand our platinum death ray!

SCENE 12.

MUSIC 40s MELODRAMA

SOUND [off] DOOR SLAMS OPEN, FEET RUNNING DOWN STAIRS

TIMMY [off] Mom?

SOUND FEET STOP FOR A SECOND, THEN COME ON RAPIDLY

TIMMY [panicky, coming on quickly] Mom! Where'd it go?

SOUND FEET SLIDE ONTO KITCHEN TILES, THEN SKID TO A STOP

TIMMY I- I'm -- Whoops!

TRUDY [very amused] Timmy, you should join us for breakfast. I would like you to meet... [considers] Jack. Jack [searching for a name] Box- Bocscome - Boscome. Jack Boscome.

TIMMY Sorry to break in like this, sir. Mom. Um, pleased... to meet you?

TRUDY [almost laughing] Well, shake his hand!

TIMMY [whispered] He's not moving - is he OK?

TRUDY [finally breaks down and laughs] Jack here? Why he's just peachy.

SOUND SLAP ON THE BACK.

SFX WEIRD MECHANICAL NOISES BEGIN. VERY LOW

TIMMY What'd you do?

TRUDY I just - I must have pushed his switch or something.

TIMMY Oh! He's-- Oh! He sure looks ... real with a head and all.

SFX WHIRRING, ETC., GETS LOUDER, THEN OUT

JACK [very mechanical sounding] I am unit X-14. I am at your service.

TRUDY Well, he looks real, but he don't sound it.

SOUND [off] KNOCKING AT FRONT DOOR

TRUDY [sigh] That will be Mrs. MacGruder, about the vacuum cleaner. Or the Chinese.

TIMMY What vacuum cleaner? Huh?

JACK Explain. What is Chinese.

SOUND RAPID FOOTSTEPS

TIMMY [fading out under] Oh, Chinese are folks who come from across the ocean and don't talk like us, and they cook good food...

TRUDY [calling back] Timmy, make sure and keep Jack in the kitchen. I don't know WHAT Mrs. MacGruder would make of him.

SOUND DOOR. UNLOCKING CHAIN AND BOLT. DOOR OPENS

MACGRUDER So? Did you -uh - manage to ... uh?

TRUDY It's just... Well, apparently it's Ken's idea of a joke.

MACGRUDER I thought you said he wouldn't--

TRUDY It was all filled with random pieces of metal, and when I got to the bottom, there was a note from him. Tsch. He said it was supposed to be some sort of .... um, furnace... but it didn't even have all the pieces.

MACGRUDER [suspicious] Why would he send such a darn fool thing? Your furnace here is fine, isn't it? I can always get Bob in to--

TRUDY No, no! Um, it was just that... the last time he bothered to stop by, we--we were living in a place with a dicey furnace.

MACGRUDER [after a long moment] Man like that, you're better rid of him.

TRUDY I'll see about selling the bits for scrap or something.

MACGRUDER Take your time - you can always burn the crate and the shavings. [joking, going off] Save on your furnace worries...

TRUDY [agreeing noise]

SOUND DOOR SHUTS QUICKLY BUT NOT QUITE SLAMMED

TRUDY Whew.

SOUND HEAVY FOOTSTEPS APPROACH

JACK Explain. What is a "Ken".

SCENE 13.

MUSIC SPACE

AMBIANCE SPACE SHIP

MOCKAM [sotto] We may need to reconsider the invasion plans.

POCKAM [sotto] I do not agree-

MOCKAM If these sorcerers can withstand our invasion--

POCKAM I think the information unit is faulty.

MOCKAM That is impossible - the unit must tell the truth. That is its function.

POCKAM It may not know the truth. I say we wait until the other units have been retrieved.

SCENE 14.

MUSIC 40s MELODRAMA

SOUND CLICK - MUSIC CUTS OUT

SFX TUNING IN RADIO

JACK Explain. What is--?

TIMMY Shh. Now this is a really good show. Jake, Mack, and Frenchy are the B-9 detective agency. And they're about to go head to head with the crime syndicate.

SFX MUSIC IN BACKGROUND - PARODY OF I LOVE A MYSTERY OPENER - SEE SCRIPT AT END

SOUND KNOCK ON DOOR

TIMMY Mom! The door!

JACK Mom!

SOUND FOOTSTEPS ON LINO, THEN WOOD. TRUDY BRUSHES HER HANDS TOGETHER

TRUDY You two. You should be doing your homework. I let you put it off all weekend--

TIMMY But the show! Besides, Jack here'll help me with it, won't you Jack old boy?

JACK Explain. What is homework.

SOUND KNOCK ON DOOR AGAIN

TRUDY Yeah. A big help.

SOUND KNOB, DOOR OPENS A BIT

TRUDY Yes? Oh! Susan!

SUSAN Aha! [chiding] You remember my name!

TRUDY [realizing] Oh, no... Last night...!

SUSAN Are you going to just keep me out here on the doorstep while I read you the riot act for standing me up? You left me high and dry on a Saturday night, with two sailors and only one pair of feet!

TRUDY I-- [thinks] Let me take you to the corner coffee shop - to make it up.

SUSAN What? Why?

TRUDY Um, Timmy isn't feeling well, so I really don't want to wake him.

TIMMY [off, sickly sounding] Mommy?

SUSAN [mollified] So that's it. [sigh] You better stay.

TIMMY [off, coughing]

SUSAN Kids. I love em, but I'm not sure I could keep em. You gonna be in to work tomorrow?

TRUDY He's much better than he was. Just needs rest.

SUSAN OK. But next time - you could at least call! See ya manyana!

TRUDY Bye! [pause, whew]

SOUND DOOR SHUTS, QUICK FOOTSTEPS

SFX RADIO COMES ON - SCENE PLAYS IN THE B/G

TRUDY Thank you honey! [hug noise]

TIMMY [boy hug reaction] Moooom! The shooow.

JACK Explain. What is sick.

TIMMY Ssh!

TRUDY C'mon Jack, and I'll explain.

SOUND FOOTSTEPS

SFX RADIO RECEDES AGAIN

SOUND FEET ON LINO

TRUDY Have a seat?

JACK As you instruct.

SOUND SQUEAK OF CHAIR

TRUDY [chuckles] You look so darned human, I keep forgetting you're a machine.

JACK I am X-14, designated Jack Boscome.

TRUDY Glad you like the name.

JACK Explain. What is Like.

TRUDY First sick. Hmm. Well, that's a toughee. Humans, like machines, have lots of parts that all work together - and when one of the parts doesn't work right - like instead of breathing, you start coughing - that's what it means to be sick.

JACK Repair seems the obvious answer. Explain.

TRUDY Well, see you might be repairable - like if you broke a spring or something, you could just go in, take out the spring and put in a new one, but it doesn't work that way for living things - If one of our parts starts to break, it has to fix itself.

JACK Processing. Corollary - Timmy is sick. Which part is broken?

TRUDY [ashamed] Well, he's not really sick. That was a lie. My friend Susan keeps trying to fix me up with guys, and I -- well, I really just forgot, we were so caught up with having you working and all.

JACK Explain. What is lie.

TRUDY [rueful] Oh, boy...

SCENE 15.

MUSIC SPACE

AMBIANCE SPACE SHIP

MOCKAM Three more units!

POCKAM Three? Nonfunctional?

MOCKAM Worse - three more we could not retrieve effectively, so destruct function was activated.

POCKAM Only five still functional! When is retrieval?

MOCKAM It is being done.

SCENE 16.

MUSIC 40s MELODRAMA

SOUND POUNDING ON DOOR, FOOTSTEPS, DOOR OPENED QUICKLY

TRUDY [breathless] Yes? Mrs. Mac--

MACGRUDER [furious] Don't you Mrs. MacGruder me with that innocent look on your face, young lady!

TRUDY But--! I--!

MACGRUDER I know you have a man in here. I've seen him through the window. What kind of a place do you think I'm running here? And you with a child in the house!

TRUDY Oh, but he's--

JACK [slightly off, sounding less robotic] Trudy? Is there a problem?

TRUDY [thinking fast] Mrs. MacGruder, this is Jack Boscome. He's a-- a [moving closer, whispering] He's a vet. Battle fatigued. Our office sent a memo around, asking for people willing to open their homes to these boys. How could I say no?

MACGRUDER [much softened] But it's--

TRUDY He stays in the living room. On the couch. He's really good with Timmy.

TIMMY [off] Jack? Hey, ask me that question again. On my homework.

TRUDY See?

JACK [off] What is the capitol of Idaho?

MACGRUDER [resigned] You should have told me.

TRUDY I wanted to wait and see if it was going to work out first. I didn't want anyone to make a fuss right away - he's still pretty nervous, you know?

MACGRUDER That's why he never leaves the house, eh?

TRUDY Yup.

MACGRUDER All right. All right. No monkey shines, now!

TRUDY Cross my heart.

SOUND DOOR SHUTS

TRUDY Whew.

JACK [coming on, sounding just like a robot] Explain? What is battle fatigue? [then softening] I should probably know.

SCENE 17.

MUSIC SPACE

AMBIANCE SPACE SHIP

MOCKAM They are all disabled. All but the X-14 unit.

POCKAM All? But we landed thirty--

MOCKAM Apparently we both overestimated and underestimated the humans. Twelve were rendered nonfunctional in assembly, six were completed and placed in government hands and had to be destructed, and eight were never even opened.

POCKAM Records show these beings are much more curious and greedy than that. Wait. What of the other three?

MOCKAM [almost reluctant] They tried to resist retrieval and were destroyed.

SCENE 18.

MUSIC 40s MELODRAMA

SFX SCENE 2 PLAYS ON RADIO IN B/G

[following line about Death-O-tron]

TIMMY Man, I wish we had a Death-o-tron landship. I wouldn't have to walk to school any more.

JACK But you are not afraid? What if Tunis comes here. His landship will crush this house.

TIMMY [exasperated sigh] Jack. Tunis is just a story. Did you really think all this stuff on the radio was true?

JACK Why would it not be true? Explain.

TIMMY It's ... fun. Like make believe. Everyone makes stuff up - you mean you don't have stories where you come from?

JACK I don't know where I come from. My memories begin when you assembled me.

TIMMY Oh, hold on [listen to the final part of the scene, then as the announcer comes on]. That's kind of sad. You're sort of just a kid, too. [pause] But you learn real fast.

SCENE 19.

MUSIC SPACE

AMBIANCE SPACE SHIP

MOCKAM We must assume this data is correct.

POCKAM I would prefer a second opinion.

MOCKAM Of course, but we cannot take chances. There is another planet in the Gargon Nebula whose dominant life form hasn't yet left the ground. They should be easy to conquer and enslave.

POCKAM The Gargon Nebula is light years from here! We should--

MOCKAM We are under orders. No unnecessary chances.

SCENE 20.

MUSIC 40s MELODRAMA

AMBIANCE PARTY - SMALL CROWD. RADIO MUSIC PLAYS IN THE B/G

TRUDY [whispered] Just stick to the plan. They all want to meet you. You remember?

JACK I am unable to forget. The plan is if the answer to a question is awkward, I ask them what they like on the radio and let them talk.

TRUDY Right. Everybody here practically lives for one show or another. You thought Timmy was stuck on his shows- wait until Mrs. MacGruder starts regaling you with the plot from "my fifth husband." Just don't go thinking anything they say is real.

JACK Timmy explained--

SOUND DOOR OPENS

MACGRUDER [coming on] Trudy! You look lovely. And this must be--

JACK Jack Boscome.

MACGRUDER I hear you were in the army?

JACK I-- [uncomfortable beat, error noise] uh, uh, would rather talk about you. Do you listen to the radio?

MACGRUDER [fading out] Oh, just occasionally...

BRIEF MUSIC - TIME PASSES - SAME SCENE

SUSAN Oh-ho!

TRUDY What?

SUSAN Nothing. Just Oh-ho. Can't a girl Oh-ho a friend without someone thinking maybe she just put all the pieces together and realized why said friend is no longer interested in coming out on Saturday nights?

TRUDY Jack? Oh, he's just--

SUSAN Living in your house. Where do I sign up?

TRUDY Oh, that reminds me - I told Mrs. MacGruder he was a vet, and the office set it up. Don't let on, OK?

SUSAN Oh-ho!

BRIEF MUSIC - TIME PASSES - SAME SCENE

CHUTNEY [coming on] You, boy!

JACK Me? I am Jack--

CHUTNEY We met earlier, remember?

JACK [almost mechanical sounding] You are Colonel Chutney. 12th mobile. Great War. Medal of--

CHUTNEY It isn't a test, my boy. Don't try so hard. [pause] I wanted you to know that there is someone here who understands your condition and what you've been through.

JACK Explain?

CHUTNEY I've seen a number of cases - of course, we called it shell shock - but it's all the same thing. If you ever need to talk to anyone, and don't want to disturb the ladies. I'm just across the court.

JACK [more and more lost and confused] Talk?

CHUTNEY About your experiences in the war. Battle fatigue is nothing to sneeze at--

JACK Oh! Yes. Yes, sir.

CHUTNEY [chuckles, then insinuating] What sort of action did you see?

JACK Sir? Do you listen to the radio, sir?

CHUTNEY Oh, you can't trust the radio for intelligence. Everything on it is either so covert no one would recognize it or outright fiction. Were you with infantry?

JACK [almost panicking, getting more robotic] Sir? I cannot answer that.

CHUTNEY You can't shock me, son.

JACK [error noise, very bad] uh, uh, uh, I was slugged, and tortured. Tied up while the water came in. Flooded with gas. [drawing from a radio episode from earlier]

CHUTNEY [shocked] P-O-W? I am so sorry, my boy. No wonder. I won't ask you any more. Just know that I'm always ready to listen.

SCENE 21.

MUSIC SPACE

AMBIANCE SPACE SHIP

MOCKAM What shall we do with this unit?

POCKAM X-14? The only logical choice is to vaporize it. Its memory cells are congested with data from this planet. It is easier to assemble a new unit than to refresh this one.

SCENE 22.

MUSIC 40s MELODRAMA

AMBIANCE OUTSIDE, NIGHT

SFX SOMEWHERE A RADIO PLAYS ROMANTIC MUSIC

SOUND FOOTSTEPS ON GRAVEL

TRUDY You were marvelous. I was so worried when Colonel Chutney buttonholed you like that.

JACK [almost teasing] Explain. What is buttonholed?

TRUDY [chuckles fondly] Only three weeks, and you sound like any other guy. And you look so real. I-- It's nice having a man around the house, you know. Timmy loves you, and the way you fixed the furnace!

JACK Machines make sense. Humans are confusing.

TRUDY Don't I know it! I- I confuse myself sometimes.

JACK Explain?

TRUDY I can't. Some things are just inexplicable. Like ... love.

JACK Explain?

TRUDY I- well... Love is a lot like "like". Just stronger.

JACK A feeling of attachment and a desire to be near the object of the feeling?

TRUDY More or less.

JACK As an example, you love Timmy?

TRUDY Yes!

JACK And Timmy loves-- Jake, Mack and Frenchy.

TRUDY [chuckling] Yes.

JACK Do you think love can be learned?

TRUDY I-- Well, I really don't know.

JACK If this is a topic you do not wish to discuss, we can talk about radio shows.

TRUDY [laughing] No. It's just a topic that no one finds easy to discuss.

JACK I would like to learn more.

MOCKAM [on filter] Unit X-14! Unit X-14! Prepare for imminent retrieval.

JACK Did you hear that?

TRUDY What?

JACK [sigh, starting to sound more and more robotic] I am a robot.

TRUDY I know, but somehow it doesn't matter.

JACK I may come to understand feelings such as love, but I cannot feel them.

TRUDY You once said you could never lie, and look how that turned out.

JACK I have completed my time with you. [error noise] uh, uh, uh, uh, I have no feelings for this world or its inhabitants. Uh, uh, I will fulfill my mission.

TRUDY Jack, what's wrong?

SOUND FOOTSTEPS ON GRAVEL, AWAY

TRUDY Jack!

SCENE 23.

MUSIC SPACE

AMBIANCE SPACE SHIP

JACK [very robotic] I am capable of further use.

POCKAM What? Did you speak out of turn, X-14?

JACK Destroying me-- this unit would be a waste of resources. Logic dictates utilizing all capabilities.

POCKAM What did they teach this thing down there? no wonder three units had the self-motivation to destruct themselves.

MOCKAM The unit cites logic. Let it continue.

JACK This unit has assimilated enough to remain out of the hands of government entities, and to blend into society on the planet below.

MOCKAM True.

JACK Continued data gathering is always of use.

MOCKAM One unit is not enough to gather all the data we would need for a full scale attack - not in our projected time frame.

JACK If you go to the Gargon Nebula, this unit can continue to gather information for your return.

MOCKAM It might work, at that.

POCKAM But it will be forty of this planet's years before we would return from the Gargon Nebula!

SCENE 24.

MUSIC 40s MELODRAMA

TRUDY [sigh] No, Colonel. He had a -- a bad relapse and had to -- go back to the hospital.

CHUTNEY [on phone] Too bad. Good boy, that. When he comes back... well, a divorcee like yourself could do a lot worse.

TRUDY [trying not to cry] I-- I know. I have to go, Colonel, there's someone at the door.

SOUND AS IF ON CUE, KNOCK ON DOOR

SOUND PHONE HANGS UP

SOUND RUNNING FEET, DOOR FLUNG OPEN

TIMMY [off, yelling, happy and excited] Hey mom! It's a big wooden box!

TRUDY [excited gasp] Huh?

END

****************************************************

RADIO SCENE 1

ANNOUNCER --in the underground caves beneath the tiny mining town.

MUSIC STING

JAKE Look, Mack! It's Frenchy!

FRENCHY Ooooh.

MAC Well, dip me in honey and roll me in a haystack! He's been slugged!

FRENCHY [bad french accent] Jake? They took the scrimshaw! I couldn't stop them!

JAKE I know, Frenchy. Mack, Check that door - see if it's clear. We'll have to leave Frenchy someplace safe while we go after the Syndicate boys. If they find him, he'll be tortured, or worse.

SOUND SHAKING LOCKED DOOR

MACK Well boil me fer a rutabaga sandwich, the door won't open!

JAKE What's that noise?

MACK Sounds like someone went and left a faucet running.

FRENCHY Jake! The floor! It is water!

JAKE So that's the plan, is it - they'll drown us here like rats!

MUSIC STING

****************************************************

RADIO SCENE 2

SNAP HARPER As long as we have breath, he won't rule the world. Are you with me Amanda?

AMANDA COOL Anything you say, Snap!

SNAP HARPER If we can just get to the central coolant chamber of his death-o-tron landship, Amanda, I think we might be able to--

TUNIS [on filter] To -- what? Go on Snap Harper, I am -- powerfully interested.

AMANDA COOL Tunis the Unstoppable! Snap! He's found us, but how?

SNAP HARPER He must have listening devices planted in these service crawlspaces. Blast Tunis's cleverness!

TUNIS I would return the compliment, Snap Harper, but it would be pointless.

AMANDA COOL Oh, Snap!

TUNIS For you are about to die! Flood the room with gas!

MUSIC STING

ANNOUNCER After just a short word from our sponsor, Tunis the Unstopppable will outline his cunning plan for doing in Snap Harper. But first--

--END--

In a future ravaged by atomic war, a girl growing up on a farm realizes she has something special.

TW: tense scenes that could (but don't) turn into sexual assault.

[Transcript below]

Adapted by Julie Hoverson from the short story by H.P. Lovecraft and Kenneth Sterling

When Kenton Stanfield takes a job on Venus hunting for power crystals, he finds the hazards of the job too much to handle.

Cast List

• Kenton Stanfield - Reynaud LeBoeuf
• Frederick Dwight - Cole Hornaday
• Marshall Miller - Pat McNally
• Dana Manners - Julie Hoverson
• Supply Clerk - Marge Lutton
• Recorder - Beverly Poole

Music: Kevin MacLeod (Incompetech.com) Recorded in Conjunction with ART (American Radio Theater) Editing and Sound: Julie Hoverson Cover Photo: Julie Hoverson

"What kind of a place is it? Would you believe it's a mining colony on the steamy jungle planet we call Venus?"

___________________________________________________________________

Within the walls of Eryx

Adapted by Julie Hoverson from the original story by H.P. Lovecraft and Kenneth Sterling.

This was the second story I ever tried to adapt - the first one I did as an audio drama. I had previously adapted The Thing on the Doorstep into a short film script - which I much later rewrote into an audio drama, and that will come up when it comes up. This one was also one of the original ten episodes I put together for the series.

You can see, I was starting with an easy writer to adapt.... H.P. Lovecraft. HAH!

Since then, I have actually adapted a LOT of Lovecraft, and one of the reasons his writing is so hard to translate into other mediums is that much of his genius is in his actual use of words, and unless you quote his long descriptive passages word for word, you lose that. And if you do quote large chunks of it, you might as well just make an audio book. I try and walk a fine line.

As an aside - I know the title of the story is actually "IN the Walls of Eryx", but that always bothered me as being incorrect - the RATS are IN the walls (in the story The Rats in the Walls). These guys are WITHIN the walls - between the actual walls, you know?

In the Walls of Eryx was one of HPL's many collaborations and rewrites. Little is known of Kenneth Sterling, the high school student and aspiring writer who sought Lovecraft's help, but he was clearly a sci fi fan - Eryx is unusual among Lovecraft's works as being a pure scifi story, with very little horror or mythos or mythical background to it, even if Lovecraft is generally credited with a complete rewrite and expansion of Kenneth's original idea.

In the 1930s, when this was written, a common sci fi trope was that Venus was a steamy jungle planet, often populated by some lizardy species, and it appears as such in this story. The other details are fairly unique to Eryx.

Since the original story was all one man's report, technically written out, I had to pull scenes from his story and create them, and the characters in them, from whole cloth. Not to mention adding somebody - "Miss Manners" - he could report in to throughout the story, to add some audio texture when Kenton was technically out on his own, as well as the voice for his "recorder" unit, which also functions as a sort of encyclopedia, and helps break up the heavy data dump of "this is how Venus works".

Perhaps the weirdest thing to try and portray in audio is the very "visual" presence - or absence - of the walls themselves. A maze of invisible walls. Or the native Venusians - whose weird cries were originally geese, if I remember correctly. I think I slowed them down and ran them backward, or something like that.

I also chose to tell this story vastly out of order, to give a sense of foreboding from the very start, as the audience hears how bad Kenton is doing, winding down, but still without giving away how it will ultimately end. To make the time shifts clear, since they happen throughout the story, I created three different background ambiances for his log entries - since they have no other point of reference - each with his breather machinery getting a bit clunkier and running down.

Beyond that, everything rested heavily on Reynaud LeBeouf, the actor playing Kenton, to create the stages of the character's downward spiral. We did record each set of scenes separately, out of order, essentially, so all the chatty beginnings were all at once and the weak and wearied end at the end. Rey is one of my core group of go-to actors, and you'll hear him a lot in 19 Nocturne Boulevard.

This was also recorded with the help of A-R-T - American Radio Theater - and many of the actors in it were part of that group. A-R-T is a group of old time radio enthusiasts who focused on re-creating old episodes and working on the occasional newer play. Having been part of the group for years before I began 19 Nocturne Boulevard, I featured various actors from A-R-T in a number of my episodes.

_______________________________________________________________

WITHIN THE WALLS OF ERYX

Cast:

Kenton J. Stanfield (M/25), space prospector

Frederick N. Dwight (M/30), space prospector

Marshall Miller (M/40), commander

Dana Manners (F/30), contact at control

Supply Clerk (any)

Recorder, mechanical voice (any)

OLIVIA Did you have any trouble finding it? What do you mean, what kind of a place is it? Would you believe, it's a mining camp on the steamy jungle planet we call Venus?

NOTE: "AMBIANCE" CUES ARE FOR BACKGROUND SOUNDS THAT CONTINUE THROUGHOUT EACH SCENE. THEY ARE DETAILED AT THE END OF THE SCRIPT

MUSIC

SCENE 1. KENTON'S LOG

AMBIANCE LOG 5

KENTON [filter, weak] Venus month 6, day 14, nighttime. Kenton J. Stanfield. Perhaps my final report. [rasping bark of almost laughter] My fifth whole day. Canteen went dry at noon. Food tablets not dangerously low... yet. Chlorate cubes are my real worry. I feel...weak from my forced economy in oxygen, and from my constantly mounting thirst.

MUSIC

SCENE 2. MINING BASE

SOUND TWO MEN WALK IN A FACILITY

KENTON [hale & hearty] You're still using Carter oxygen units? But they're so darn heavy!

MILLER Budget's god around here, kid. You'll see. We're not funded like the government.

KENTON A Dubois mask isn't that much more, and does the job at half the weight. Saves on chlorate cubes, too.

MILLER Just figure how much "not much more" IS when multiplied by over a hundred prospectors. If you last up here, you can always get yourself a Dubois. [chuckles] Once you start making the big bucks.

KENTON The way you say that...

MILLER Oh, it happens. Just not that often.

MUSIC

SCENE 3. KENTON'S LOG

AMBIANCE LOG 5

KENTON [filter, weak] I do not know the time. It is dark. There is something damnable... something uncanny... about this labyrinth. I could swear that I had eliminated certain turns through charting, and yet each new trial belies some assumption I had thought established. Never before did I realize how lost we are without visual landmarks.

MUSIC

SCENE 4. JUNGLE

SOUND SLIGHT, RHYTHMIC BEEPING CONTINUES UNDER ENTIRE SCENE [crystal detector]

SOUND [FILTER] CRACKLE OF RADIO INTERFERENCE INTERMITTENT THROUGHOUT.

DANA [filter] Hey greenhorn! This is your contact, Dana Manners, speaking. [chuckle] That's Miss Manners, to you. You got me for a glorious half hour.

KENTON What? Why only--?

DANA [filter] Don't none of you boys ever crack a manual? [quoting] "The company's only rebroadcast orbiter is a" - well, it's a dang fast critter - so it "provides a window for one half hour approximately every six hours for each sector." And that's your first five minutes. Care to waste some more, or you plan to make some kinda report?

KENTON [chuckling] Sorry! OK, my coordinates--

SOUND different beeping [pocket recorder]

DANA [filter] Good-Ness. Did you bring your blankie, too? All that boring info is sent up automatic-like.

KENTON [worried] But... my log, too?

DANA [filter] [pause, prolonging the agony] Nah, takes too much juice. This way, you get to edit out all your little personal comments and naughty little secrets before handing it over for archiving.

KENTON [relieved] Oh. Good.

DANA [filter] So you one of those boys who grew up just panting to work on Venus?

KENTON Actually, I wanted to be a writer. Venus just pays better. Now it seems like I--

DANA [filter] --got hustled out of the base the minute your feet touched the sweet soggy ground? Y'ain't the first. "Here's your mask, grab your suit, what's yer hurry?"

KENTON Pretty much.

MUSIC

SCENE 5. KENTON'S LOG

AMBIANCE LOG 5

KENTON [filter, weak] ...Continued. The effect of all these fr-fruitless wanderings is one of profound discouragement. I can understand how poor Dwight must have felt. His corpse is now just a skeleton, and the sificlighs and farnoth-flies are gone.

MUSIC

SCENE 6. MINING BASE

AMB CANTEEN, EATING

MILLER It's all about the crystals, kid. You read the manual?

KENTON Well...

MILLER You had an entire rocket trip and--?

KENTON [sheepish] Well... There was this poker game--

MILLER [oh lord!] Save me from greenhorns with less sense than kittens! That book could have saved your life, you know.

KENTON Well, I figured there'd be time--

MILLER There's never enough time. Men who can withstand the strains of crystal hunting here on Venus are few and far between. Most - like yourself - last no more than three trips.

KENTON What makes you think--?

MILLER Prove me wrong.

DWIGHT [off mike] Hey! Miller!

MILLER See that? Now there's a guy who knows his beans.

DWIGHT [coming closer, gloating] Miller! Read it and weep!

SOUND paper FLOURISH.

DWIGHT Twenty-three carats!

MILLER Twenty-three? That's--

DWIGHT Right there in black and white. Beat that!

MILLER [to Kenton] Kenton, this is Dwight - Fred Dwight, one of the brightest stars of the Terra Nova Corp.

DWIGHT The brightest star. Ken, is it? Well, Ken, there ain't no one else out there's netted as many total lifetime karats as me. Over seven hundred.

KENTON Oh. Um, I don't--

MILLER Kid skipped the manual.

DWIGHT Pfah. OK, it takes about 20 karats to power, say the entire city of Chicago for a year. Shoot, by my calculations, I've kept the entire eastern seaboard lit for the last five!

MUSIC

SCENE 7. KENTON'S LOG

AMBIANCE LOG 4

KENTON [filter, tired] Nightfall. There is nothing to do but persevere. Dwight would have got out if he had kept on a minute longer. It is just possible that somebody from Terra Nova will come looking for me before long, although this is only my fourth day out.

MUSIC

SCENE 8. SUPPLY OFFICE

SOUND OBJECTS BEING BROUGHT OUT AND SET DOWN

SUPPLY CLERK Suit fit OK? Last chance.

KENTON Feels fine.

MILLER With the tropical atmosphere out there, you better be sure - five days is a long damn time to chafe.

KENTON [chuckles] I understand. I'm sure. So my tour is five days?

MILLER To start with. You remember Dwight? Now there's a long-hauler. Does about 2 months - earth months, 60 days - on most trips.

SUPPLY CLERK Food tablets. One week.

SOUND BOX being set down.

MILLER But then, he's been Cytherean for over a decade.

KENTON Cytherean?

MILLER Means "of Venus" to us long-timers. We feel "Venusian" sounds too damn silly after all the crummy movies.

SUPPLY CLERK Breathing unit.

SOUND larger box

KENTON Cytherean. Got it.

MILLER Dwight's practically one of the locals. You seen them yet?

SUPPLY CLERK Chlorate cubes. One week.

SOUND another box

KENTON Only pictures - now THAT part of the manual I did look over. [shudder] Creepy little buggers, aren't they?

MILLER Little? Ken, Ken, Ken. [sigh] You didn't look hard enough - on average, the lizard-men run seven feet tall!

KENTON Holy--!

SUPPLY CLERK Recording unit.

SOUND box

MILLER Don't worry too much. They're-- well, they're not harmless, not by a long chalk, but they're... manageable.

KENTON So those...tentacles they've got for arms...?

SUPPLY CLERK Crystal detector.

SOUND box.

MILLER Arms, legs, tongue, who knows what they are - Yup, four or five feet long on some of them. We call them lizard-men, what with the greenish, scaly skin and all, but they're not really like anything back home.

KENTON [awe] Seven feet tall...

SUPPLY CLERK Flame pistol. Fully charged.

SOUND box.

MUSIC

SCENE 9. KENTON'S LOG

AMBIANCE LOG 4

KENTON [filter, tired] Four days out. I think. I am resolved not to hasten matters as Dwight did. His grinning skull has just turned toward me, shifting by the groping of one of the scavengers that are picking him over. The ghoulish stare of its empty eye-sockets is worse than the tentacled onlookers that stand gloating around the invisible barrier laughing at me. Another day and I shall go mad, if I do not drop dead from exhaustion.

MUSIC

SCENE 10. JUNGLE

SOUND strong, rhythmic beeping THROUGHOUT SCENE [crystal detector]

KENTON You still there, Miss Manners?

DANA [filter, very crackly throughout] Just another coupla minutes. What's your beef?

KENTON I've got a reading on my crystal detector - looks like a big one.

DANA [filter] Them things ain't reliable for size, just direction. Could be just an itty bitty one, real nearby.

KENTON Well, what's the terrain like due, um...

SOUND beeping gets slower, then picks up again AS HE TURNS

KENTON North, I think, of my current position?

DANA [filter] North? [prolonged crackle] --Erycinian highlands-- [crackle] --last known position of--

SOUND crackling. CLICK - radio turned off.

KENTON Great. On my own again. Recorder?

RECORDER [filter, mechanical voice] Ready.

KENTON Erycinian highlands?

RECORDER [filter] A plateau mapped by Matsugawa from the air fifty years ago. Designated 'Eryx' One of the few areas of any size on Venus noted for a lack of vegetation--

KENTON Off. Lack of vegetation? That'll be a relief. Anything to get out of those rubbery creepers and overhanging fronds.

MUSIC

SCENE 11. KENTON'S LOG

AMBIANCE LOG 3

KENTON [filter, normal] Month 6, Day 12, my third day out. Afternoon. In less than an hour, I saw that the jungle growths were thinning out, and by five o'clock - after passing through a belt of tree-ferns with very little underbrush - I emerged on a broad plateau. My progress now became rapid, and I saw by the wavering of my detector-needle that I was getting closer to the crystal I sought.

MUSIC

SCENE 12. KENTON'S LOG

AMBIANCE BAR - MAINLY MALE VOICES

MILLER Some brainy types insist they're intelligent.

DWIGHT The lizzies? [dismissive] Screwballs.

KENTON Well, they build cities--

DWIGHT Anthills. Beehives. And we don't try to make treaties with bugs, do we? Hmm?

KENTON But they talk... don't they?

MILLER That's been debated for years. There seems to be some pattern to the tentacle movements--

DWIGHT Yeah, and bees dance. I've been out there longer than just about anyone, and they're nothing but a damn nuisance.

MILLER A religious nuisance.

DWIGHT So they worship the crystals. Big deal. They can't use 'em - don't even know they do anything more'n glow. If we wanna change things, we got about two real choices--

MILLER [ironic] Try and civilize them, like we did with everyone back home?

DWIGHT Nah - they're way too primitive for that. I say we either gotta cage 'em up like the animals they are--

MILLER We've tried THAT one before, too.

DWIGHT Or we can just blow em all away. Why not? They're not decorative, useful, or even edible. They don't do ANYTHING worth keeping 'em around.

MUSIC

SCENE 13. KENTON'S LOG

AMBIANCE LOG 4

KENTON [filter, tired] Note to self. Um, day - fourth. Fourth day. I racked my brains with speculations regarding the material, origin, and purpose of the strange edifice. That the hands of men might have reared it, I could not for a moment believe. Human knowledge does not include any perfectly transparent, non-reflective solid such as the substance of this building. Did a forgotten race of highly-evolved beings precede the man-lizards as masters of Venus? The strange and seemingly non-practical building and its material suggests a religious purpose.

MUSIC

SCENE 14. PLATEAU

SOUND RADIO STATIC

KENTON Contact? You back yet? Manners? Damn.

SOUND crackling static. radio CLICKS off

KENTON This is just... nuts!

SOUND two thunks - pounding on stone wall

KENTON What the heck is this stuff?

SOUND pounding, hand groping along wall

KENTON Hmm. Smooth. Cool to the--

SOUND RADIO STATIC

DANA [filter] Contact here. Report?

KENTON Have I got a report for you! I found an invisible wall!

MUSIC

SCENE 15. KENTON'S LOG

AMBIANCE LOG 5

KENTON [filter, weak] Fifth day out, and I doubt I will see a sixth. Very weak. Did not sleep much till daylight. Must save chlorate cubes, so I'm nearly suffocating for lack of oxygen. Can't walk much of the time, but ma-manage a crawl. Those damnable green things keep staring and laughing with their tentacles, and sometimes they gesticulate in a way that makes me think they share some terrible joke, just beyond my perception.

MUSIC

SCENE 16. PLATEAU

DANA [filter] Listen to me real careful now, Ken. You need to close your eyes and start backing up. Right this minute.

KENTON What? My recorder unit lists nothing about invisible walls--

DANA [filter] You backing up yet? Ignore anything you see or hear--

KENTON Why, for crying out loud?

DANA [filter] Get yourself clear first, then check your recorder's entry for mirage-plants. Move your backside! Them things're deadly.

KENTON Wait. No... Wait a minute. I'm in the middle of the plains of Eryx. No plants within a half mile. Nothing to see but mud, and-- [cuts himself off]

SOUND BEEPING [crystal detector]

DANA [filter] [beat] Yeah? Mud and ...?

KENTON [evasive] Hmm? Oh, the walls. But you can't SEE them because they're invisible.

MUSIC

SCENE 17. KENTON'S LOG

AMBIANCE LOG 3

KENTON [filter] Third day, supplemental. What made my heart leap was a smaller detail, whose position could not have been far from the plain's exact centre. It was a single point of light, blazing through the mist and seeming to draw a piercing, concentrated luminescence from the yellowish, vapor-dulled sunbeams. This, without doubt, was the crystal I sought. I could hardly wonder, as I glimpsed the distant glow, that those miserable man-lizards worship them.

MUSIC

SCENE 18. PLATEAU

SOUND squishy footsteps, intermittent throughout

KENTON --maybe 20 feet tall - I managed to throw a handful of mud about that high, and it went over.

DANA [filter] I ain't got any maps or archives with specifics for that locale. Not a popular spot, seeing as there's none of the streams them crystals show up in.

KENTON No streams, but plenty of damp - the whole plateau is-- [slight shudder] --like a solid sheet of slimy mud, with a light frosting of ground mist.

DANA [filter] Could this wall thing be some kinda natural phenomena?

KENTON Too smooth. Very regular. Slightly curved, too, I think. Ovoid.

DANA [filter] You writers and your big ole words... Been all the way round yet?

KENTON I don't think so, but I can't really tell--

DANA [filter] [condescending] Well, did you hit your own dainty little footsteps again?

KENTON Not a chance. The mud is so liquid, it just doesn't take - not even for a minute. It's like I haven't been here before.

DANA [filter] I need you to mark your position and come back to base, Ken. This is way outside standard procedure. You hear me?

KENTON Got it. I'll get out of here pretty soon. I just wanted to--

SOUND BEEPING [crystal detector] SPEEDS UP SLIGHTLY. THEN IS MUFFLED.

KENTON --to get all the way round, just once.

DANA [filter] Honey, I'll be flat out of range in two shakes. I don't want to worry you none, but if anything happens out there, it could be days before help'll arrive.

KENTON Days? But a lander would only‑‑

DANA [filter] Manpower and money, old son. Base only has a dozen resident staff, and none of us is jungle-worthy. We gotta wait for some of you roughnecks to wander on home, THEN the company has to pay fer their time fer a rescue. Why d'you think they load you up with plenty of ammo? Much cheaper.

KENTON It's a wonder they bother.

DANA [filter] [serious] And death benefits.

KENTON What?

DANA [filter] They're cheaper, too.

MUSIC

SCENE 19. KENTON'S LOG

AMBIANCE LOG 5

KENTON [filter, weak] Horror and despair. Baffled again! I had been deceived once more, and was apparently back where I had been on my first futile attempt to leave the labyrinth. Whether I screamed aloud I do not know - perhaps I was too weak to utter a sound. I merely lay dazed in the mud for a long period, while the greenish things outside leaped and laughed and gestured.

MUSIC

SCENE 20. MINING BASE

KENTON Isn't this a lot of ammo? I mean, seven clips--

DWIGHT One a day - that's pretty average. Save 'em for the trip home. The lizzies don't usually try much right away - that is, until you got one of their precious crystals. The worst you can expect before you make a find is pot-shots with blow-gun darts.

KENTON Blow-guns? That's it?

DWIGHT Don't scoff. One of those darts'll slice through your suit like butter. All it needs to do is nick you and the local germs do the rest - if the insects don't get you first. [beat] If you don't get back to base in time... Well, you noticed the bartender's hand?

KENTON [gulps] The hook?

DWIGHT Um-hmm.

MUSIC

SCENE 21. KENTON'S LOG

AMBIANCE LOG 3

KENTON [filter, normal] Late afternoon, third day. I have said that even from a great distance the shining object's position seems indefinably queer - a slight mound rising from the slime and mist. Now - at about a hundred yards - I could see plainly just what that mound was. It was the body of a man in one of the Company's protective suits, lying on his back, with his oxygen mask half buried in the mud a few inches away. In his right hand, crushed convulsively against his chest, was the crystal which had led me here - a spheroid of incredible size, so large that the dead fingers could scarcely close over it. I wondered who the man was.

MUSIC

SCENE 22. PLATEAU

KENTON Holy cow!

SOUND THUMP ON WALL

KENTON Dwight?

SOUND THUMPING ON WALL, HURRIED SPLISHING FOOTSTEPS

KENTON Oh, jeez. [SOUND: THUMP] But the walls-- [SOUND: THUMP] How could he-- [gasps] Woah!

SOUND splash in the watery mud as he finds a gap.

MUSIC

SCENE 23. KENTON'S LOG

AMBIANCE LOG 3

KENTON [filter, normal] There was an opening about three feet wide. Without a moment's hesitation I stepped through and advanced two paces to the prostrate body - which lay in what seemed to be an intersecting doorless corridor. It gave me a fresh curiosity to find that the interior of this vast enclosure was divided by partitions...

MUSIC

SCENE 24. BAR

SOUND TIN CUP SET DOWN

DWIGHT [a bit drunk] I hope I die out there.

SOUND LIQUID POURS

KENTON You want to die?

DWIGHT No - don't WANT to, just that when I do, I hope it's out there. In the jungle. The scavengers'll strip me clean in a coupla hours and no one'll ever know what happened.

MILLER Just make sure you're dead first. Some of them bugs don't wait.

KENTON Will they really--?

MILLER That's why the suits are made the way they are - like cellophane, but thicker. No weave, no tiny holes for bugs to get in through.

KENTON But the suit doesn't cover everything--?

DWIGHT Ah, they don't like the breather. Smells bad or something. So your head is pretty safe... as long as you don't take it off.

MUSIC

SCENE 25. KENTON'S LOG

AMBIANCE LOG 3

KENTON [filter, normal] Looking about for some possible cause of death, my eyes lit upon the oxygen mask lying close to the body's feet. Probably carelessly buckled, so the weight of the tubes worked the straps loose - wouldn't've happened with a Dubois sponge-reservoir mask.

MUSIC

SCENE 26. PLATEAU

KENTON Well, Dwight, old buddy, you got your wish. At least this baby won't go to waste. [grunts] Let go! [grunts again] Aha!

SOUND a couple of squish-steps

KENTON Waitaminute. Wait... Rigor mortis, it... it doesn't last... Manners, you there?

SOUND crackle of radio

KENTON Recorder?

RECORDER Ready.

KENTON Rigor mortis.

RECORDER A condition of deceased flesh. A spasming of muscles--

KENTON How long does it last?

SOUND rustling, slapping noises far in background

RECORDER Rigor begins 3-7 hours after termination of life, and lasts approximately 12 hours.

KENTON Off. Holy--! Dwight...

SOUND rustling, slapping noises build

KENTON What in sam hill--? [what the heck?]

MUSIC

SCENE 27. KENTON'S LOG

AMBIANCE LOG 3

KENTON [filter, normal] It was a group of a dozen or so of those detestable man-lizards emerging from the forest far off across the plain. When they drew nearer they seemed less truly reptilian - only the flat head and the green, slimy, frog-like skin carrying out the idea. They walked erect on odd, thick stumps, which made curious noises in the mud. The motions of their tentacles - if the theories are right - indicated that the things were in animated conversation.

MUSIC

SCENE 28. PLATEAU

DANA [filter] You asleep?

KENTON [bummed] Would it matter?

DANA [filter] You sound real down. Tell mama Manners all about it. You may not have a lot of time, though, there's some sunspot activity predicted for tonight, so I may have to miss a date or two-- but you can forgive a girl for that, can't you?

KENTON I-- I'm lost.

DANA [filter] Nonsense. You're nowhere near uncharted territory. Just punch into the recorder--

KENTON Oh, I know exactly where I am. But I'm still lost.

DANA [filter, half joking] Is this where I start telling you to back away quickly?

KENTON The invisible wall? Well, it's more like--

DANA [filter] Like what? An invisible barn?

KENTON --An invisible ...maze. I can see the entire plain from here, the trees are at the edges, the sky above, but I can't... get... out.

DANA [filter] Have you tried taking every left fork? That usually--

KENTON There's something else. I-- There's a crowd of the lizard-men just waiting at the entrance - ready to jump me if I manage to escape.

DANA [filter] Two things--

KENTON I need some help--

DANA [filter, sadly] Ain't gonna happen. [crackle] Not for a couple days. Sunspots play havoc with landing vehicles, same as communications.

KENTON So I just--

DANA [filter] Listen to me Ken. You've never tried shooting one of them things, have ya? The flame guns are particularly nasty. Them critters go up like oily rags. Once you get one or two of 'em, the others'll head for the hills. They don't really wanna fight--

DWIGHT [filter, distant and echoey] That is, until you got one of the precious crystals.

KENTON Oh. [resolved] No.

DANA [filter] No? No what?

KENTON I'm not giving it up.

DANA [filter] That's the spirit, Ken. Long as you're in a safe place, just sit tight, and we'll get a rescue party in, soon as possible.

KENTON [considering] You mean other prospectors, right?

DANA [filter] Yep.

KENTON Maybe I will be out of here by then...

MUSIC

SCENE 29. KENTON'S LOG

AMBIANCE LOG 4

KENTON [filter, tired] Fourth day. Shortly after dawn. The alluring crystal, the body of the man who seized it before me - these have acquired a dark and threatening meaning. Dwight was a victim, too. He must have been trapped some time ago, and failed to find his way out. His mask probably didn't slip accidentally. Rather than face a lingering death he solved the issue by letting the lethal atmosphere do its work. The horrible irony of his fate lay in his position - only a few feet from the exit he failed to find. And now I'm as trapped as he'd been.

MUSIC

SCENE 30. plateau

KENTON [tired, but not quite exhausted - yet] Recorder.

RECORDER [filter] Ready.

KENTON Location - central chamber. Describe?

RECORDER [filter] Round chamber. Six irregularly spaced egresses.

KENTON Progress?

RECORDER [filter] You have 27 times attempted the exit you designated "door in line with corpse and tree".

KENTON Yeah, well... Then I realized three of the doors all line up that way. There's just not enough difference in perspective.

RECORDER [filter] You have recorded 43 trips out of the central chamber.

KENTON I know. With no way to mark anything, I can't tell which door is which.

RECORDER [filter] You have attempted to score the wall with your knife, and with your flame pistol. You have tried to make a mark in ink, and smear it with mud. You have reported no success.

KENTON Picking a damn door at random would do me more good.

RECORDER [filter] Correlating the turns you have thus far recorded, a random choice would give you odds of 1 in--

KENTON Off.

MUSIC

SCENE 31. KENTON'S LOG

AMBIANCE LOG 5

KENTON [filter, weak] This, then, is the end. Three days, taking me nowhere. My strength is gone. It was no common series of mischances which made me lose my way in this roofless, unseen tangle of corridors. Far from it. Beyond doubt, the place is a genuine maze - a labyrinth - a trap set to catch humans.

MUSIC

SCENE 32. PLATEAU

KENTON [weak, not on filter] Hiya Dwight. Hey, buddy.

SOUND weak pounding on wall, splishes of vague movement in the mud.

KENTON You got it all over me. You almost made it, old pal. Almost...

SOUND RUSTLING AND SPLISHING [Kenton takes out his recorder]

KENTON Recorder on.

RECORDER [filter] Ready.

SOUND ALIEN NOISES GET LOUDER.

KENTON [weak] I have just taken the great crystal out of my pouch to look at in my last moments. It shines fiercely and menacingly in the red rays of the dying day. The leaping horde have noticed it, and their g-gestures have changed in a way I cannot understand. I am ... growing ... numb.

SOUND ONE LAST LABORED EXHALE, MACHINE SLOWS, THEN A MOMENT OF SILENCE.

MUSIC

SCENE 33. GENERAL QUARTERS

[NOTE: Miller is dictating, not playing back, so he is NOT on a filter]

MILLER Operative A-49, Kenton J. Stanfield left Terra Nova early on six-twelve, for a short-term trip. Due back 13th or 14th. Did not appear by evening of 15th. Followed last reported location to Erycinian Highland. Brought plane down nearby and corner of the wing crashed on unseen obstruction. Approaching on foot, we came up short against a smooth, invisible barrier. Located skeleton of Operative B-9, Frederick N. Dwight of Koenig's division, and aforementioned deceased, Stanfield. We had great difficulty in getting to Stanfield, but finally succeeded. We shall bury Dwight and Stanfield in the company graveyard, and ship the crystal on the next--

SOUND beep [phone].

MILLER Off.

SOUND phone picked up.

MILLER Miller.

DANA [filter] I heard--

MILLER Yeah.

DANA [filter] And I'm real sorry. Boy seemed real nice--

MILLER He was. Keep it under your hat, but I think this is the last straw.

DANA [filter] Last straw?

MILLER [sigh] I have been warned. The next rocket'll be carrying marines.

DANA [filter] [shocked] Oh. Well. I AM sorry.

MILLER Yeah.

SOUND HANGS up PHONE.

MILLER Recorder on.

SOUND CLICK.

RECORDER [filter] Ready.

MILLER [sigh] Personal note. I am impressed not only with the irony of Dwight's fate, but with that of Stanfield as well. We found a doorway some fifteen feet past Dwight. Beyond this was a hall and ... oh, hell... Stanfield could have reached the outside by walking twenty-two feet if he had just found the opening directly behind him.

MUSIC

END

In a future ravaged by atomic war, a girl growing up on a farm realizes she has something special.

TW: tense scenes that could (but don't) turn into sexual assault.

Reissue of one of 19 Nocturne's earliest episodes (from October 2008). Includes notes from Julie about the history and making of 19 Nocturne Boulevard. (transcript below cast list)

THE THRICE TOLLED BELL (TW: Insensitive archaic references and representations of people who might be in a "sanitarium".)

An homage to classic Hammer films.

Cast List Dracula - Bryan Hendrickson Van Helsing - Rick Lewis Wallace - Gene Thorkildsen Dr. Pettigrew - Michael Faigenblum Miranda Locksley - Rhys Torres-Miller Dr. Trevalian - Mathias Rebne-Morgan Mrs. Farge - Molly Tollefson Gorvi - Joel Harvey Britt - Julie Hoverson Nurse - Krystal Baker

MUSIC All works composed by Harlan Glotzer (© 2008) [BMI] {[email protected]}

• Concertina - Harlan Glotzer
• Violoncello - Rachael Beaver & Tracy Hagen
• Toy Piano - Dana Wen & Roger Nelson
• Clavichord - Dana Wen

Toy-Box Trio (http://www.myspace.cpm/toyboxtrio) [email protected]

Voices recorded with the assistance of Ryan Hirst of Neohoodoo Studio Editing and Sound: Julie Hoverson Assistant Director: Reynaud LeBoeuf 19 Nocturne Theme Music: Kevin MacLeod (Incompetech.com) Cover Photo: Vickie Mathews (courtesy of Stock Xchange.com)

"What kind of a place is it? Why it's an Edwardian insane asylum, can't you tell?"

__________________________________________________

THE THRICE TOLLED BELL intro

This was one of the first ten episodes of 19 Nocturne Boulevard that I made and put out, back in late 2008. I can't recall, specifically, what order I made them in.

I've mentioned previously that Brokensea audio hosted a new spooky episode every day in October for a big spooky month event, and several of my first batch of episodes debuted during that event.

But this episode, in particular, is literally attributable to Bill Hollweg, the master of disaster of Brokensea, he who will ever be missed. In the couple of months leading up to the October event, he posted a challenge to all comers, to write him a script with the following parameters:

• It must be in the style of a Hammer Studios Dracula film (the 1960s-70s classics that starred the mesmerizing Christopher Lee);
• It may only include Dracula and Van Helsing (no other Hammer standard characters or monsters); and
• It must include a broken bell, a wooden leg, and use the line "It's never done that before!"

...To the best of my memory, anyway.

So I sat down and wrote The Thrice Tolled Bell, but then didn't want to give the script up to anyone else! I don't recall if he had any other entries, but Bill took it all with a roaring laugh and loved what I made.

I loved including the stock types of characters - the lunkheaded servant; the straight-laced housekeeper; and the sexy chick played by (in this case) my best Britt Eckland voice. I even snuck in an obviously semi-nude scene, just because I could, and it fit the genre.

This was also my first attempt at commissioning music, since for once I couldn't find *quite* what I wanted among the massive catalog (even back then) of Kevin MacLeod of Incompetech.com, who I can never thank enough for what he makes available for beginning and not for profit storytellers of all kinds. I don't recall much of the process, but I got one piece of music that I used bits of throughout and it was quite effective.

When I was casting this piece, I still had a limited pool to draw from, since I was trying to stay local and work mainly with people I could actually direct in the studio. One of my actors, Beverly Poole, was still in high school, and the doctors in this piece were some of her classmates. But I needed the right voice for Mrs. Farge, the irascible housekeeper.

I was still seeking when I went to Beverly's school play Twelfth Night (which did a lot of gender cross casting, and Beverly played Malvolio to extreme hilarity), and the voice of Fabian (pretty sure that was the role) struck me and after the play I caught up with Beverly and shouted (well, not shouted, but it was excited and urgent) "Bring me that voice!" and Molly Tollefson was recruited, accent and all.

I've never cared much for auditions. Either doing them or holding them. It's just me. I'd always rather grab an actor I've heard, or recruit someone from a show I like than have to evaluate from a bunch of recorded voices. Plus, I hate being "mean" and having to turn everyone else down.

____________________________________________________

SCRIPT

THE THRICE TOLLED BELL

(an homage to Hammer Studio horror films)

TW: disrespectful references to sanitarium patients and a "halfwit" character, in keeping with the time the script is set as well as the general character types of the Hammer Films franchise.

...also nudity.

Cast (All various British accents except Dracula):

• Dracula (M), immortal vampire
• Van Helsing (M), Vampire Hunter
• Dr. Michael Pettigrew (20s/M), new head of the asylum
• Miranda Locksley(20s/F), Pettigrew's nurse/fiancée
• Mrs. Farge (30s/F), housekeeper
• Gorvi (30s/M), trustee
• Wallace (40s/M), cheery orderly
• Dr. Trevalien (40s/M), rival
• Britt Mecklin (20s/F), hapless blonde
• Nurse (F any)

OLIVIA What do you mean, what kind of a place is it? Why, it's an Edwardian asylum, can't you tell?

MUSIC

SOUND HEAVY DOOR CRASHES SHUT

SOUND FOOTSTEPS - ONE SET LIMPS ODDLY

WALLACE Right through here - sir, miss. Now this is one of the saddest cases we have, sir, truth be told. Once he was the finest psychiatric mind in Europe - perhaps even the world.

MICHAEL Always tragic when a good mind snaps. The same fire that feeds genius also devours and leaves madness in its wake.

WALLACE Yessir.

MIRANDA What sort of madness does he suffer from?

WALLACE Miss? I dunno that I should--

MICHAEL Go ahead, Wallace. Miss Locksley is not merely my fiancée, but a very competent and highly trained psychiatric nurse. We will be working in tandem to try and bring my late father's asylum into the 20th century.

MIRANDA [sadly] From what I've seen, it will take quite some doing.

WALLACE [stiff] Sir, I dunno 'bout that, but your father was a very good and brilliant man - though the last ten years or so, since your mother died, begging your pardon, sir, he seemed to lose interest in everything.

MICHAEL Did he - not even treat the patients?

WALLACE He left much of that in the hands of Dr. Trevalian.

MICHAEL Why did he not send for me? I could have spent my residency here instead of in Budapest. I could certainly have learned as much from father as I did from Dr. Bulovic!

WALLACE Sir, if you don't mind me speaking above me place, I think your father - well, he didn't want you to see him... like that.

MICHAEL But I might have been able to help him!

WALLACE I don't think naught could have helped him - not at the end, there.

MICHAEL [British agony] He should have sent for me.

MIRANDA Dearest. He did what he thought was best. I'm sure your father thought very highly of you - otherwise, why should he have left this institution under your care?

MICHAEL Of course, you're right. [condescending] Always the practical one.

MIRANDA One of us needs to be, and you must save your energy for the needs of the patients.

MICHAEL Well, show us this paragon, Wallace.

WALLACE Sir?

MICHAEL The doctor you say was so sadly struck down.

WALLACE Oh, yes sir - sad it is to see great men crumble.

SOUND KNOCK ON HUGE IRON BOUND DOOR

WALLACE Herr Doktor? Young Doctor Pettigrew wishes to speak with you.

VAN HELSING [muffled, behind the door] Enter.

WALLACE Ah. Here we go, then.

SOUND OPENING LOCKS AND BARS ON DOOR

WALLACE Dr. Pettigrew, Miss Locksley-- [ta-da!] Doctor Van Helsing.

MUSIC

GORVI Gorvi done mopping. Gorvi eat now?

MRS. FARGE Tis not dinner time yet, ye pillock. Yer s'posed to muck out the barn t'make room for that motorcar the new head brought wi' 'im.

GORVI Mo-to-cah? What is mo-to-cah?

MRS. FARGE An engine of Satan. If god had wanted us to speed about in great smoking heaps of metal, he wouldn'a made horses.

GORVI [wail] Gorvi hungry!

MRS. FARGE Off wi' ye! I've no time for this today - must have everything ready for inspection by the new head. And here's hoping he doesna choose to sack us all. Shoo!

SOUND GORVI LEAVES - HEAVY FOOTSTEPS, RICKETY DOOR OPENS, CLOSES

AMBIANCE OUTSIDE

BRITT [off, barely audible, singing] When that I was and a little tiny boy--

GORVI [leering chuckle]

SOUND FOOTSTEPS ON GRASS SPEED UP

GORVI Pretty pretty britty. Pretty... golden...

BRITT With a hey-ho, the wind and the rain--

SOUND FINGERS SQUEAK ACROSS GLASS, TINY WINDOW SLIDES OPEN - SINGING IS NOW CLEAR, WITH SLOSHING OF WATER, BATHING

GORVI Oh-ho!

BRITT A foolish thing was but a toy, for the rain it raineth every day...

GORVI [smothering his delighted chuckles]

SOUND DRIPPING AS A LEG IS RAISED OUT THE WATER. BRUSH SCRUBS

BRITT Hey-ho, the wind and the rain, for the rain it raineth every day...

GORVI [Bursts out with a shriek of delight]

BRITT What? [gasps] Oh no!

SOUND HEAVY FOOTSTEPS RUNNING ON GRAVEL

GORVI [breathing heavily] No scream, no scream. Gorvi not bad. No scream, pretty Britty.

SOUND SHIFT TO INSIDE

BRITT [screams piercingly]

SOUND [INSIDE] DOOR OPENS, FEET RUSH IN

NURSE What is it miss?

BRITT Someone was looking at me! A man!

NURSE [condescending, fading out] Of course. Don't you worry. We'll sort it all out...

SOUND SHIFT TO OUTSIDE

SOUND GORVI RUNNING

GORVI [panting with exertion]

SOUND OPENS HUGE OLD DOOR, RUNS IN

MUSIC

MICHAEL After Wallace's admonitions, this is hardly what I expected.

VAN HELSING I am quite aware of my condition, my dear doctor Pettigrew. You're fortunate enough to catch me on a good day.

MICHAEL Perhaps you would indulge me with your own diagnosis?

VAN HELSING Simple, really. Bouts of severe depression, which, I am ashamed to admit, I... treat... unsuccessfully... with over-use of alcohol.

MICHAEL Dipsomania?

VAN HELSING I would consider it more a symptom than a core disease, but you understand how difficult it is to be objective.

MICHAEL I appreciate your frankness.

MIRANDA I trust you are comfortable here, doctor - this is hardly a typical cell. More like a suite in an expensive hotel.

VAN HELSING Dr. Pettigrew - the elder - was very kind, and understood that reading... helps me to ...moderate... my humors.

MICHAEL If only more patients could respond to such simple, constructive therapies. [chuckles]

VAN HELSING [slight chuckle, indulgent]

MIRANDA The human mind is a fabulous, complex organ.

VAN HELSING It is amazing.

MUSIC

AMBIANCE ECHOEY ROOM - ABANDONED CHURCH

GORVI [muttering] Pretty pretty. Gorvi likes pretty golden Britt. [heavy sigh] Britty no like Gorvi. Gorvi only look.

DRACULA [creepy echoey voice] Do you want her?

GORVI Who... is there? Please?

DRACULA [creepy echoey voice] Help me, and I shall help you in return.

GORVI Where are you? Gorvi is alone?

DRACULA [creepy echoey voice] Return later and bring a shovel. I shall show myself.

GORVI You - new doctor?

DRACULA [creepy echoey voice] Do you want this pretty Britt you long for?

GORVI Oh, want! [licks his lips] Yes.

MUSIC

AMBIANCE DINNER NOISES

SOUND LARGE PLATTER SET DOWN

MIRANDA [cold] Thank you, Mrs. Farge.

SOUND FOOTSTEPS TAP AWAY

MIRANDA [anxious] Are you certain you want to do this, Michael? I realize your father--

TREVALIAN They expect it, even look forward to it. Besides, they should be given the chance to meet the two of you. You needn't worry, it is only the most stable of the inmates.

SOUND FEET RETURN

MRS. FARGE [announcing] Miss Mecklin.

TREVALIAN Miss Locksley, Dr. Pettigrew, may I present Miss Britt Mecklin.

BRITT Pleased to meet you, Doctor. Miss Locksley.

MICHAEL Charmed.

MIRANDA Lovely.

TREVALIAN Will you have a seat?

SOUND CHAIRS SHIFT AS HE SEATS HER, THEN THEY SIT

MIRANDA It would be somewhat indelicate to discuss cases during dinner. There will be time tomorrow to familiarize ourselves--

MICHAEL Of course.

BRITT I have nothing to hide. I have come to realize that it is only in my subconscious that people watch me. Understanding it is all in my head does not stop it from frightening me, but makes it more bearable.

MICHAEL [reassuring] We shall work on that.

MUSIC

AMBIANCE STORMY NIGHT OUTSIDE ECHOEY STONE ROOM

SOUND SQUEAKY DOOR OPENS, GORVI'S FOOTSTEPS

GORVI Gorvi brings shovel!

DRACULA [creepy echoey voice] Have you light?

GORVI Gorvi have a candle.

DRACULA Do you see the bell?

GORVI Bell?

DRACULA The bell. You must move the bell.

GORVI No bell. Gorvi see no bell.

DRACULA It is metal. It is large. Move it, or I shall unleash the fires of hell upon you!

GORVI Ahhhhh!

SOUND SHOVEL CLATTERS TO FLOOR, FEET RUN, SLAM

MUSIC

SOUND WATER INTO METAL TUB. DISHES BEING WASHED

SOUND DOOR SLAMS OPEN

MRS. FARGE Don't you dare--! [surprised] Oh! Lucas!

TREVALIAN Lena. I simply couldn't take it any more. Having to kow-tow to that ... boy doctor and his miserable cold fiancée.

MRS. FARGE Lucas. You shoulda been put in charge!

TREVALIAN I know. [snarl] Blood runs thick.

MRS. FARGE Dr. Pettigrew shouldna've looked over yuir years o'loyalty - Yuir unstinting devotion!

TREVALIAN There's no time for that now. We must bide and see what they decide to alter --

SOUND BACK DOOR SLAMS OPEN, GORVI RUNS IN

MRS. FARGE What the divvil is wrong with ye, y'idiot? Running about in the rain like a madman!

TREVALIAN Calm yourself, Lena.

MRS. FARGE Tis easy for ye to be charitable. Ye dinna haveta squeeze work outta him like blood from a turnip. Turnip! That's what y'are!

GORVI Gorvi not turnip. Gorvi scared.

TREVALIAN What frightened you?

MRS. FARGE [over her shoulder] Perhaps a slight breeze.

TREVALIAN Shh. Gorvi, tell me everything.

MUSIC

SOUND VAN HELSING'S DOOR UNLOCKS, OPENS

VAN HELSING Right on time.

WALLACE 'Ave I ever missed?

SOUND DOOR SHUTS, WOODEN LEG FOOTSTEPS

WALLACE Were it a good idea, d'yer think, to tell them you was an alcoholic?

VAN HELSING I needed a reason for my presence here that wouldn't require overmuch explanation. Speaking of spirits, have you--?

WALLACE [chuckling] 'Course. Would I let yer down?

SOUND SITS. ODD, HEAVY UNSCREWING NOISE

VAN HELSING Your thoughts on the new administrators?

WALLACE Well, 'e'll never 'ave an 'appy life, not wit' that one. She's cold, and no mistake.

VAN HELSING Truer words were never said.

WALLACE 'Ee seems... well-intentioned... but I don't see 'ow you'll be able to tell 'im much. Not wi'out proof.

SOUND BOTTLE PULLED OUT OF WOODEN SHELL

WALLACE And there y'are. Better use for me wooden leg, I'll never know. [hinting] 'Cept the one...

SOUND BOTTLE OPENS

VAN HELSING Care to stay for a game of chess before you strap it back on?

WALLACE Don't mind if I do.

MUSIC

AMBIANCE STORMY NIGHT

GORVI There door. Gorvi no go in again.

TREVALIAN In the old chapel? Dr. Pettigrew always insisted it was on the verge of falling in. [sigh, to Gorvi] Not safe. No go in.

GORVI He say Gorvi move bell. He yell at Gorvi.

TREVALIAN Poor halfwit.

TREVALIAN Run along back to the kitchen, Gorvi. No need to wait out here in the wet.

GORVI Doctor be careful!

TREVALIAN Of course. Go on.

SOUND GORVI RUNS OFF

SOUND SQUEAKY OLD DOOR OPENS TENTATIVELY

TREVALIAN Hmm. Sounder than I expected.

SOUND DOOR SHUTS, MUFFLES SOUND OF RAIN

SOUND TAP ON WALL

TREVALIAN Here's the shovel--

SOUND PICKS UP SHOVEL

TREVALIAN And that must be the bell...

SOUND SLOW FOOTSTEPS

TREVALIAN That explains a lot - who's ever seen a huge bell sitting on the floor? Hardly even recognizable under all those cobwebs. Must have fallen...

DRACULA [creepy distant whisper, piteous] Help me.

TREVALIAN Hello?

DRACULA Help. Please. The bell. It came down and trapped me.

TREVALIAN I see. Hmm. [thinking] Wait, the cracks in the flags below it are... covered in dust - that bell fell ages ago!

DRACULA Please. Help.

TREVALIAN Where could that voice be coming from?

DRACULA [closer whisper, becomes command] Move the bell. Anything you want - it will be yours.

TREVALIAN I doubt you could give me what I truly want.

DRACULA Oh, yes. I can give you such things.... Come, close to the crack in the bell, and tell me what it is you... crave.

MUSIC

MICHAEL Darling?

MIRANDA Yes, Michael?

MICHAEL Do you think you can stick it here?

MIRANDA Of course. You know I'm fully prepared to take on anything you need me to do.

MICHAEL I know, but - well, you won't hate it or anything, living in the country like this?

MIRANDA I shall immerse myself in work. Just as you will. Side by side.

MICHAEL Should I-- May I-- sit next to you there on the settee, then?

MIRANDA Michael! We are to be wed in the spring. I just want to make certain - living here without a proper chaperone, and all--

MICHAEL Of course, darling. I - I think I shall turn in. Get an early start in the morning.

MIRANDA That sounds very wise.

SOUND TAP ON DOOR

MIRANDA Yes?

SOUND DOOR OPENS, MRS. FARGE ENTERS, PICKS UP TRAY

MRS. FARGE Did ye need anything further tonight?

MIRANDA No, we were---

SOUND IN THE DISTANCE, A BELL TOLLS

SOUND TRAY CLATTERS TO FLOOR

MRS. FARGE [gasp!]

MICHAEL Why Mrs. Farge, whatever is the matter?

MRS. FARGE [haunted] That be the bell up t'old kirk.

MICHAEL Come, now, it's never done that before?

MRS. FARGE [ominous] Nay - I've been here nigh on 15 years, and that bell has nivver rung.

SOUND FOOTSTEPS AWAY

MRS. FARGE [slightly off] But I wouldna go seeking it - not even if m'very life depended on it.

MUSIC

VAN HELSING [considering] Mmm. Check.

SOUND BELL TOLLS IN THE DISTANCE

WALLACE Wazzat?

VAN HELSING What?

WALLACE [worried] The bell - don't you hear it?

VAN HELSING Nonsense. Hmm.... Go and check it. If it is, we might have a problem on our hands.

SOUND BELL TOLLS IN THE DISTANCE

WALLACE I'll get going--

SOUND QUICKLY STRAPPING LEG BACK ON

VAN HELSING Wait! Just in case.

SOUND BOTTLE SLOSHES

WALLACE Is it--?

VAN HELSING It should help.

WALLACE Every bit does. Leave the door open, shall I?

MUSIC

BRITT [waking] Eyes! Someone at the window? [muttered] I will not go look. I will not--

SOUND TAPPING AT THE WINDOW

DRACULA [creepy voice] Open the window that I may bask in your radiance.

BRITT [breathing heavily, bosom heaving] It is not real. I must take my solace in the lord.

SOUND OPENS DRAWER, TAKES OUT BIBLE

BRITT God, please give me strength!

SOUND SOMETHING FLAPS AWAY INTO THE NIGHT, ANNOYED

MUSIC

MICHAEL Are you certain you'll be all right? I could bring in a cot - there's a couch in my dressing room--?

MIRANDA No, Michael, I will be fine. Kiss me quickly and go to bed.

SOUND QUICK KISS

MIRANDA Sleep well.

SOUND DOOR SHUTS

MIRANDA [sighs] Men. [chuckles]

SOUND RAP AT THE WINDOW, BUT SHE DOESN'T NOTICE

DRACULA [distant, creepy, heavy breathing] Yessss.

SOUND LETS HER HAIR DOWN, BEGINS TO REMOVE CLOTHES

MIRANDA [humming to herself]

SOUND HEAVY GOWN LAID ON THE BACK OF A CHAIR

SOUND STEPS APPROACH THE WINDOW

SOUND TAPPING SOUNDS ON THE GLASS

DRACULA [creepy whisper] Open the window.

MIRANDA Hmm?

MIRANDA How vexing. Tree branch? We'll see about that--!

SOUND LATCH TURNS

MUSIC

MIRANDA [Off, scream!]

MICHAEL Good god!

SOUND FLINGS OFF BEDCLOTHES, FOOTSTEPS

MICHAEL [calling] Miranda! Darling! I'll be right there!

SOUND DOOR FLINGS OPEN, A FEW STEPS. DOORKNOB RATTLES, POUNDING ON THE DOOR

MICHAEL [frantic] Miranda! Open the door!

SOUND KNOCKING

MICHAEL I'm coming in!

SOUND HEAVY THUMP

MIRANDA [calling from behind the door, spooky sounding] Michael? Whatever are you doing?

MICHAEL Are - are you - all right?

SOUND DOORKNOB RATTLES

MIRANDA [close now] Of course, darling. I woke from a... strange dream. Nothing to fret over.

MICHAEL [off] If... you're... quite certain.

MIRANDA When am I not?

MICHAEL [off] Well. Sorry. I--

MIRANDA Go back to bed, dear. We'll talk tomorrow.

SOUND [off] MICHAEL'S FOOTSTEPS RECEDE

MIRANDA [long sigh] Well...?

DRACULA [husky] Very good, my most delectable one...

SOUND SEXY NECK NIBBLING

MIRANDA [ecstatic gasp]

MUSIC

SOUND WOODEN LEG STEPS

SOUND BRISK KNOCK ON A DOOR

WALLACE Doctor, sir? It's morning, it is.

MICHAEL Come on in, Wallace. I'm up.

SOUND DOOR OPENS, STEPS APPROACH

MICHAEL Is Miranda-- Miss Locksley up?

WALLACE Feeling poorly, she says. Wooden even 'ave the drapes open. Travel don't suit 'er?

MICHAEL Hmm. I suppose I might breakfast with Dr. Trevalian, then.

WALLACE I ain't sure where 'e can be found, sir. Went out last night and ain't come back.

MICHAEL Does he do that often?

WALLACE Can't say, sir.

MICHAEL [sigh] I hate to breakfast alone.

WALLACE Ahem, sir. Doctor Van Helsing would be glad of your company.

MUSIC

MRS. FARGE Gorvi! Gorvi! Where is that bloody idiot?

SOUND DOOR OPENS

GORVI [whimper]

MRS. FARGE What the divvil is wrong wit' ye, ye mongrel? Get out here!

GORVI [whimpering] Gorvi no like!

MRS. FARGE Gorvi like breakfast?

GORVI Yes. Please.

MRS. FARGE Gorvi will get up and work, then!

GORVI Aye, Mrs. Farge.

MRS. FARGE Go fetch some water from the well, ye brute - and while you're out, you might look where you last left Lucas-- Dr. Trevalien, that is - and see wha' he's been up to all night.

GORVI No! No go to old door! No!

MRS. FARGE I'll get the whip!

GORVI [whimper]

SOUND SCUTTLES OUT THE DOOR

MUSIC

SOUND VAN HELSING'S DOOR OPENS

VAN HELSING Come in, dear fellow! Wallace?

WALLACE [leans in] Yessir?

VAN HELSING [muttered] The chapel?

WALLACE [muttered] Never made it, sir, the inmates was restless last night.

VAN HELSING Today then?

WALLACE Better anyway. [significant] Better light.

VAN HELSING I hope so.

SOUND MICHAEL ENTERS

MICHAEL Sorry? Do you mind if I sit down with you?

VAN HELSING Never meant to exclude you, dear boy. Simply thought I'd heard something last night that couldn't have been.

MICHAEL The bell?

VAN HELSING You heard it as well?

MICHAEL Of course. Why?

VAN HELSING Would you do me an enormous favor?

MICHAEL If I can - I have a busy day ahead of me, and Miranda's - a bit under the weather.

VAN HELSING Soon as we finish here, then, go along with Wallace to the old chapel. Take a look at the bell. Would you?

MICHAEL Why?

VAN HELSING [considers] Hmm. That's a tale for after you've looked. [changing tone, chatty] Do you, by any chance, play chess?

MUSIC

SOUND KNOCK ON THE DOOR

MIRANDA [dead tired] Go away!

MRS. FARGE Dinna want to start organizing everything?

MIRANDA Oh, blast.

SOUND STUMBLING FEET, DOOR OPENS

MIRANDA Can you help me? I feel weak as a kitten.

MRS. FARGE You do look a wee bit pale. I'll fetch something hearty to drink.

MIRANDA [shudder] I couldn't face anything heavy.

MUSIC

AMBIANCE OUTSIDE

SOUND WALLACE AND MICHAEL WALKING OUT TO CHAPEL

MICHAEL Humoring a delusion is not the right answer - in most cases.

WALLACE You 'eard the bell, too, sir.

MICHAEL But why go look at a bloody bell?

SOUND DOOR CREAKS OPEN

WALLACE Come along, then.

SOUND FOOTSTEPS GO IN, SLOW, THEN STOP

SOUND DOOR SHUTS

WALLACE [quiet but fervent] Oh, my gracious lord.

MICHAEL What is it? Oh! That must have been--

SOUND DASHING FORWARD

MICHAEL [urgent] Help me move it!

WALLACE I fear it's too late for Dr. Trevalian.

MICHAEL Help me!

BOTH [grunting and heaving]

SOUND BELL ROLLS, BUMPS, AND THUMPS INTO A WALL

MICHAEL Good god!

WALLACE Sir?

MICHAEL You're right. He's gone. That thing must have fallen and crushed him.

WALLACE Shouldn't there be more blood, sir?

MICHAEL Not necessarily. We'll get him back to the infirmary and take a look.

WALLACE I'll go for a stretcher, then, shall I?

MICHAEL Just a moment! Is this the bell we heard?

WALLACE Yes, sir.

MICHAEL [echoey - inside the bell] But there's not even a clapper!

WALLACE 'asn't been rung in decades, sir.

MICHAEL What are all these markings on the inside?

WALLACE Wouldn't know, sir. Though I don't doubt Doctor Van Helsing could 'elp you.

MICHAEL [coming out] Really - why would he--?

WALLACE I think 'e was 'ere when the bell fell, sir.

MICHAEL It must have been sitting here - the clear circle on the ground - but this is odd--

MUSIC

SOUND DOOR BURSTS OPEN, MICHAEL STORMS IN

MICHAEL I demand an explanation. Who, precisely, was trapped under that bell?

VAN HELSING [calm] What?

MICHAEL I saw the marks of fingernails! Trying to scratch a way out! Wallace said you were there, along with my father. I want to know what you did.

VAN HELSING Sit. [up] Wallace?

WALLACE Yes, Sir?

VAN HELSING Please check on the residents, particularly any comely females.

SOUND WALLACE GOES OUT, SHUTS DOOR CAREFULLY

VAN HELSING Now, my boy...

MICHAEL You're not "mad" at all, are you? You've lived here all this time--

VAN HELSING Shh. Shh. You need to hear this. 15 years ago, your father called upon my services to help him with a rather difficult problem - a rash of unusual deaths and nightmares among the female inmates. Having had a great deal of experience with such obsessions and delusions, I was able to spot the problem immediately - a vampire.

MICHAEL [incredulous] A vampire? One who believes he must steal life from the living?

VAN HELSING No delusion - a true creature of the night.

MICHAEL Preposterous!

VAN HELSING Humor an old man. This was not just any vampire, but Dracula - the lord of all vampires, whom I have sworn to destroy.

MICHAEL But the bell?

VAN HELSING We trapped him. Blessings etched on the inside - some from when it called the faithful, others we added - kept him penned. Simply putting a stake through his heart, as would do for most vampires, is not sufficient for Dracula. Far too simple for those who follow the dark arts to summon him back across the dark divide!

MICHAEL But there must be a way--

VAN HELSING What do you think I have been researching all these years? I believe I have the answer, but first we must locate him.

MICHAEL Why should I believe any of this?

VAN HELSING Ask your fiancée.

MUSIC

MRS. FARGE Let me fetch the doctor.

BRITT Yes. You can't be too careful!

MIRANDA [trying to be strong] Nonsense. I'm just tired. I'm... not used to the country.

BRITT Someone was looking into my room last night.

MRS. FARGE Nonsense. You know that's all in your mind.

BRITT No, it was real! Eyes. At the window.

MIRANDA Red eyes?

BRITT You saw them too?

MIRANDA [evasive] Don't be silly. How could it be?

SOUND DOOR BURSTS OPEN, FEET DASH IN, THEN STOP

MIRANDA [gasp]

MICHAEL Oh, goodness. I'm sorry, but darling, there's something I must ask--

VAN HELSING [coming on, commanding] Remove that scarf and show us your neck, if you please.

MIRANDA [gasps and faints noisily]

SOUND BODY DROP

MUSIC

VAN HELSING --resting normally. Despite the slight anemia, she should recover. We must watch her very closely, though, my young friend.

MICHAEL How could this have happened? Miranda is the most sensible of women--

VAN HELSING Does it take a fanciful mind to be attacked by a rabid dog? No! In fact, a more fanciful mind is often better prepared to ward off such evil. Witness Miss Mecklin.

BRITT Me?

VAN HELSING What did he say to you, at your window?

BRITT It was just noises - scratching.

VAN HELSING Come now, there were words - if not in your ears, then in your mind, were there not?

BRITT [sniffling] It's my subconscious. Not real.

VAN HELSING This time, I'm afraid, is much different. You must help us.

BRITT He just said "open the window".

VAN HELSING But it was definitely a "he?"

BRITT It is always men who are watching me.

VAN HELSING Did he say where he might hide by day?

BRITT No. I am so sorry!

VAN HELSING Never mind. You did well. Keep your bible close tonight.

BRITT Oh, yes!

MUSIC

GORVI [muttering] No more for Gorvi. He will sleep now. No more work. Gorvi will--

SOUND DOOR OPENS, QUICK STRUGGLE

DRACULA [hissing whisper] Silence!

GORVI [hand over his mouth] Mmm!

DRACULA Shut the door.

SOUND DOOR SHUTS

DRACULA You did not release me, but I can overlook that, if you will serve me now.

GORVI [muffled] Mm-hm! [yes]

DRACULA Good. I still know what you want. The oh-so-lovely miss Britt.

GORVI [muffled] Mm-hm! [eager yes]

DRACULA Then this is what you must do...

MUSIC

SOUND DOORS BEING LOCKED, WINDOW SHUTTERS SECURED

VAN HELSING I appreciate your humoring me, Michael.

MICHAEL Of course.

VAN HELSING Bringing everyone here to my rooms.

MICHAEL I assume you think we may be safe here?

VAN HELSING As safe as anywhere else.

MIRANDA How can we all sleep?

VAN HELSING You may lie on the couch, if you need to. Michael and I will remain awake. On guard.

BRITT I can help guard as well.

VAN HELSING Did you bring your bible?

BRITT I could not find it!

VAN HELSING Never mind, I think we have whatever we may need. Wallace?

WALLACE [grim] Absolutely, sir.

MICHAEL What if he doesn't come here?

VAN HELSING He must. I circled the patient rooms and staff quarters with poppy seeds and salt. He will never get across that.

MICHAEL So he will have to come here, or--?

VAN HELSING --or starve.

MUSIC TIME PASSES

VAN HELSING We can slow him with spells, or stake him through his heart, but to truly banish his soul to the purgatory he so richly deserves, only holy water will suffice - and not a mere sprinkling, a veritable dousing.

MUSIC TIME PASSES

VAN HELSING Vampires are irredeemably evil. The only way to save miss Locksley from this hellish fate is to destroy this monster before she loses the last spark of humanity. As long as her soul does not depart her body, she can be saved.

MUSIC TIME PASSES

SOUND MOST ARE SLEEPING

VAN HELSING This will be it. Are you ready?

WALLACE Can't wait to see how it turns out, sir.

VAN HELSING Good man.

SOUND KNOCK AT THE DOOR

VAN HELSING Ah... It begins.

GORVI [muffled] Gorvi is alone? Let Gorvi in!

WALLACE Bloody idiot.

VAN HELSING You may be more correct than you know. Wait for my signal. Michael, wake up, get the ladies into the dressing room, back there. Whatever you do, do not open the door until you are certain it is morning - you may have to restrain miss Locksley, if Dracula has enough of a hold over her. Can you?

MICHAEL Yes, I think so.

VAN HELSING Move, then. There's a good lad.

VAN HELSING Take this--

SOUND RATTLE OF NECKLACE CHAIN

VAN HELSING It offers some protection.

SOUND CROWD GOES OUT, DOOR SHUTS

VAN HELSING Now.

WALLACE Right. Gorvi? Is there anyone with you?

GORVI [muffled, but clearly lying] No. Who would be with Gorvi?

VAN HELSING [laugh] No one alive. Throw open the gate.

WALLACE A'right. Just a moment.

SOUND DOOR THUMPS

VAN HELSING [hissed] Stay back.

SOUND DOOR SLAMS OPEN, HITS WALLACE

WALLACE Uhh!

SOUND BODY DROPS AND SLIDES ACROSS FLOOR

VAN HELSING Wallace!

WALLACE uhh...[out cold]

SOUND HEAVY BOOTS STRIDE CONFIDENTLY INTO ROOM

VAN HELSING Dracula!

DRACULA You stand between me and destiny, old man. Step aside and I shall kill you quickly.

VAN HELSING Never. Back, foul fiend!

DRACULA [hisses] You believe you can tame me? I have seared my flesh on your so-clever prison walls so many times, I have scars.

VAN HELSING And yet, you do not approach.

DRACULA Only a fool uses his hands to dig when he has a shovel... Gorvi!

GORVI [flying leap] Master!

SOUND BODY DROP - CROSS DROPS

VAN HELSING Unh!

DRACULA [evil laugh] And now, my most precious enemy, prepare to meet your well-deserved fate!

SOUND DOOR SLAMS OPEN

MICHAEL No!

SOUND MICHAEL STORMS IN

VAN HELSING Dammit, boy! You've ruined it! Do what you want with me--

DRACULA Of course, herr doktor! You have always cared more for others than for yourself. [commanding, hot] Come to me, my darling!

MIRANDA [breathless] I must go--!

MICHAEL No! Get back!

BRITT Miss Miranda, you can't!

GORVI Britt!

MIRANDA [snarling] Let me pass, strumpet!

SOUND SHORT CATFIGHT

MIRANDA Ugh! [hurling Britt]

SOUND BRITT ENDS UP IN DRAC'S ARMS

GORVI [upset] Britt!

DRACULA A gift? For me? You are too kind.

MIRANDA My love! You don't want her!

DRACULA She is merely the aperitif, my dearest darling - [hot] you alone can satisfy me.

MIRANDA [ecstatic sigh]

DRACULA Now, my pale blonde flower..

BRITT [struggles for a moment, then goes limp with a sigh, breathing hard]

SOUND FANGY NOISE

GORVI No! Gorvi wants Britt!

VAN HELSING Wallace! Ready!

DRACULA Imbecile!

SOUND THUMP AS GORVI HITS DRACULA

SOUND HEAVY THROW, BODY HITS WALL, NECK CRUNCH

GORVI [dying noises]

DRACULA Miranda, show your devotion - come and hold this delectable morsel for me.

SOUND RUNNING FEET

WALLACE Yaaaah!

VAN HELSING Kick him!

DRACULA [very slight] Oof.

WALLACE [struggling]

DRACULA [chuckles nastily] And now what do you do? I have your leg.

WALLACE [triumphant] Yes!

SOUND CLICK, SMALL EXPLOSION

SOUND MUCH WATER SPLASHES, HISSING BURNING NOISE

DRACULA What? No! [shrieking in agony] Ahhh!

MICHAEL Good God!

VAN HELSING Holy water!.

DRACULA But how? I would have seen a bottle. Ahh!

VAN HELSING Wooden leg.

WALLACE And a small blasting cap.

DRACULA Ahh! [receding]

SOUND LIQUIDY HORRIBLE PUDDLY NOISE

WALLACE Uh, Sir? Can I get a hand?

VAN HELSING Certainly. I'll even give you a leg up.

MUSIC

END

Tough question - keep drinking and writing, if your muse is little green men?

Reissue of one of 19 Nocturne's earliest episodes (from October 2008). Includes notes from Julie about the history and making of 19 Nocturne Boulevard.

MAKING BOOK

[warning - mature language and violence]

Retired safecracker Fay James has to do one last job, to save her brother Rusty from leg-breakers - but what they steal turns out to be dynamite!

Cast List

Fay James - Julie Hoverson Rusty James - Reynaud LeBoeuf Mr. Broadstreet - Cole Hornaday Jimmy - Jake Stratton Jordan - Greg Porter Gertie - Jody Montague Bank phone voice - Beverly Poole

Music: Kevin MacLeod (Incompetech.com) Recorded with the assistance of Ryan Hirst of Neohoodoo Studio Editing and Sound: Julie Hoverson Cover Photo: Konrado Fedorczyko (courtesy of Stock Xchange.com)

"What kind of a place is it? Why it's a rich man's study - where else would you find...burglars?"

TRANSCRIPTS

Intro material then the full script

MAKING BOOK with intro

This was one of the first ten episodes of 19 Nocturne Boulevard that I made and put out, back in late 2008. I can't recall, specifically, what order I made them in, which may seem odd, but I was determined to have a bunch ready to go when I debuted the series - in October, naturally - to make sure they would come out on time, which would help me establish the series and its credibility. Even back then, shows came and went with the wind.

By the time I was prepping to start, the wonderful and always missed Bill Hollweg of Brokensea audio announced that Brokensea was going to put out or host a new episode every day in October for a big spooky month event, so I volunteered 4 episodes to debut there (I think I actually ended up sharing 6 with them, but again - it was a while ago). BrokenSea was a big part of most audio drama fandom at the time, and it was a great way to quickly get 19 Nocturne Boulevard out to the audience they already reached.

So these episodes first debuted in Brokensea's feed, then when I put them up myself, I was still piggybacking on the feed of The Unspeakable and Inhuman, which I will talk about in another intro. That's why my own libsyn listing doesn't have a full list, in order, for me to consult to recall precise dates.

I warn that Making Book has "foul language", but the language in this episode is incredibly tame, compared to several other of my stories. This is because when I wrote it, I was still working with an old time radio mentality, and the language in this would be considered unbroadcastable, for the 1940s.

While we recorded this - we were still working in Ryan's basement studio, with his excellent help, back in those early days - and the hardest thing to record was the screaming.

Screaming is one way to quickly overpower a microphone, so it has to be carefully placed, gained, and modulated. I amazed everyone with the length and breadth of the screams I was able to produce.

The main monster fx were mainly me making mouth noises, then playing with various ways to tweak the sound. I'm quite pleased with what I came up with in all that. This was very early days in my learning how to sound edit, and yet I managed some really good stuff. The hardest sound to find was the sound of the lights turning off in the bar. Go figure.

The music in this episode is all from the amazing Kevin MacLeod of incompetech.com, including "Netherworld Shanty", the piece I adopted as the 19 Nocturne Boulevard theme song.

Mike Flowers helped me with doing a bit of sound tuning and will be helping me with episodes for as long as he can put up with me!

If you want to listen to this story without all this intro jibjab, the original is still available through the episodes page on my website at 19nocturneboulevard.com, or do a quick search on our libsyn page at nineteennocturne.libsyn.com

The script of the episode follows.

MAKING BOOK

"This episode has some foul language and excessive violence and may not be suitable for all listeners. Please listen responsibly."

Cast:

• Olivia [host, intro]
• Fay James (F/26), reformed safecracker and strip club dancer
• Rusty James (M/23), unreformed gambler
• Simeon Broadstreet (M/40s), spooky client
• Jimmy (M/40s), sleazy bartender/boss
• Jordan (M/30s), mysterious stranger
• Gertie (F/40), another dancer
• John (M/any)
• Bank Phone voice (any)
• Teacher (any)

OLIVIA Did you have any trouble finding it? What do you mean, what kind of a place is it? Why, it's a rich man's study, can't you tell? Where else would you find... a safecracker?

SCENE 1. THE HEIST

MUSIC MISSION IMPOSSIBLE STYLE CAPER MUSIC

SOUND SILENCE. A COUPLE OF QUIET CLICKS

[NOTE THEY WHISPER THROUGHOUT THIS SCENE.]

RUSTY Fay!

FAY [startled] Huh? Crap! Rusty, shut your pie-hole! You'll make me lose the damn--

RUSTY Don't swear, Fay.

[note: while Fay is relatively foul-mouthed, I kept it low-key in this because I set the story in the 1940s, as a classic-style radio story.]

FAY Rusty...!

RUSTY A car just turned in!

FAY Then cork it and let me finish this damn thing, or we can get the hell out right now.

RUSTY [annoyed and disappointed] Fay!

FAY Watch the damn window and freaking shut up!

RUSTY Ok.

SOUND CLICKS

MUSIC

SCENE 2. THE GETAWAY

SOUND IN A CAR, DRIVING

RUSTY [annoyed sigh]

FAY [breaking an uncomfortable silence] Sorry. I get so tense when I'm working.

RUSTY [sullen] I know.

FAY I said I'm sorry. I should ... I should be more careful what I say.

RUSTY You're never gonna do anything with your life if you don't start talking more nicer.

[note: they both speak with the poor grammar of the "stereotypical gangster" and thus this is ironic]

FAY [chuckles] Hey, who's the older sister here?

RUSTY Not me - I don't got the parts. But seriously, sis - You always looked out for me, I'm just trying to return some. Besides, I get all clenched up inside when you start spouting off like that.

FAY I'll work on it. Speaking of who's looking out for who - if this all comes off, you're clear, right?

RUSTY [sheepish] Yeah.

FAY You know I don't wanna do this again - I've mended my ways and all that bullsh-- all that ... bull.

RUSTY Mr. Broadstreet's paying ten Gs. That should get me clear.

FAY And then you stop.

RUSTY Stop?

FAY You know.

RUSTY It's usually not that big a--

FAY Rusty. You need to stop. Just cut it out. Cold turkey. Don't you watch Dr. Phil? Gambling is an addiction - there are support groups and everything.

RUSTY I guess.

FAY Tell you what, maybe we both see if we can quit - me with the bad words, you with the bets. Just for a month. Whatya say?

RUSTY [long sigh] Let me deal with this first, OK?

FAY [sigh] Yeah.

SOUND RATTLE OF PAPER WRAPPED PARCEL BEING TURNED OVER IN RUSTY'S HANDS

RUSTY What do you think it is?

SOUND SHAKES IT [no rattle]

FAY Ten thousand dollars.

RUSTY Really?

SOUND TAPPING ON THE PARCEL - sounds like a book

RUSTY Maybe we should open it?

FAY Jeez, Rusty, sometimes I really think you're too stupid to live.

RUSTY Fay!

FAY I meant I think it's worth the ten thousand your wack job employer is going to pay for it. Undamaged. He said that. Undamaged.

RUSTY But it won't hurt if I unwrap it, will it?

SOUND PAPER TEARING

FAY Do I haveta pull this car over?

RUSTY A book?

FAY What?

RUSTY It's just a big old book. [sniffs, coughs] Gah, even smells old. Look, it's got a lock, like a diary.

FAY What is it?

RUSTY [slowly, "duh"] A book.

FAY I mean the title.

RUSTY Um... It's ain't in English. If that's even writing....

SOUND SCRATCHING ON BOOK LEATHER

FAY So don't--

SOUND CREAK OF LEATHER

FAY OK, that's it!

SOUND JAMMING ON THE BRAKES

RUSTY Gahh...

FAY Give me that!

RUSTY I was just seeing if it was really locked.

FAY Did you not get the part about he wants it undamaged? You think prying open the lock or trying to snap the leather somehow don't count?

RUSTY I was, I was just thinking, Fay, that why would someone pay a bunch of dough for a book? Maybe it just looks like a book, and it's really a box full of jewels or something.

FAY You're willing to throw away a sure thing--

RUSTY You could probably pick that lock in a heartbeat, couldn't you, Fay?

FAY Look, Rusty-- [softening, worried] This ain't the double down, li'l bear [little bear and sissy/sister bear are their childhood nicknames for each other] - the odds are - oh, I dunno, but it's pointless. This book, as is, will get you out of hock to the bad men. This time. You were damned lucky to find someone with that kind of dough to sling around - why screw it up?

RUSTY But if there's any chance--

FAY No goddam way. This is the end. I'll drop you off on my way to Jimmy's, but I'm keeping this bad boy with me.

RUSTY It'll get stolen!

FAY By who? Crackheads don't read.

RUSTY But, 10 grand'll just get me out, what'll I do for a stake?

SOUND CAR GETS MOVING AGAIN

FAY [said a million times] You could get a job.

RUSTY You know I ain't no good at anything. Not like you. You just touch a lock and it--

FAY There are zillions of jobs that don't need you to be any good. You just gotta do what people tell you.

RUSTY How can I go work for peanuts when I know I can win a fortune?

FAY But you don't win, Rusty. Peanuts is better than a hole in the head.

RUSTY [sullen] Is that what you tell yourself when you're dancing for sweaty old men?

FAY [warning] Rusty. [deep breath, calms] So I'm doing whatever the hell it takes to get MY stake - to get some school and maybe a business of my own. I'm 100 percent legit. Finally. That's what counts.

RUSTY But you could get what you need real easy-like. Just pull another job or two ... then go legit.

FAY ...and just one more and just one more and just one more, right? No, Rusty. Cuz then I'd be you.

SOUND CAR STOPS

FAY [tight control] I'll call your guy and make all the arrangements for us to meet tomorrow.

sound car door opens, shuts

RUSTY Fay, I--

FAY Rusty. Next time you dig yourself in deep, you know what I'm gonna do?

RUSTY What?

FAY I'm gonna buy you some goddamn crutches. [because the guys he owes money to would break his legs]

SOUND Car slams into gear, roars off.

FAY "Just this one more time, Fay." "It's gonna change, Fay." Jeez, I'm such a shit-fer-brains.

MUSIC FOR FLASHBACK

SCENE 3. HOME, COOKING

SOUND COOKING NOISES. Mixing, rinsing dishes, sizzling

RUSTY Just this one more time, Fay.

FAY No.

RUSTY It'll be easy.

FAY I'm done, Rusty.

RUSTY But, but they'll-- [teary sniff]

SOUND pause in the movement

FAY [long beat, long sigh, then quietly] They'll what.

RUSTY Nothing. [making a big deal out of sniffing] That sure smells good. I love your cooking, sissy bear.

FAY [under her breath] ...bastard.

RUSTY Hmm?

FAY What will they do, Rusty?

RUSTY Oh. Well, this is Mr. Capelli, and his guys - well, they don't kid around.

FAY [tight] --and?

RUSTY They'll hurt me real bad.

FAY How much do you need?

RUSTY Nothing!

FAY Nothing?

RUSTY That's the best part - I found this guy who is willing to cover everything--

FAY How much?

RUSTY Ten large.

FAY Ten?

SOUND CLATTER LIKE DROPPED LID

FAY How did you get in that far?

RUSTY But this guy, see, he just wants us to get something, and I told him I might, you know, know someone.

FAY Get something?

RUSTY A package.

MUSIC ends flashback.

SCENE 4. IN CAR, STILL DRIVING

FAY Yep. Shit. Fer. Brains.

music transition fades into pounding hard rock, vastly distorted, then fades into background

SCENE 5. STRIP CLUB

sound on filter, phone rings

FAY [to self] Come on, come on.

sound on filter, phone picks up

FAY [jumping in] Mr. Broadstreet?

BROADSTREET Hello? What? Yes, this is--

FAY We got your package. I mean Rusty and me - I helped him. We've got it.

BROADSTREET Unopened?

FAY [gasp] Oh, yeah. It's fine. Look, we need to get the cash soonest. When can we meet?

BROADSTREET It is vital that the ...package... remain closed. Can you guarantee that?

FAY Yeah. I got it all safe and sound. You got the cash or not?

BROADSTREET I have the cash. Come to my house---

FAY I'd really rather we do this somewhere a bit more neutral. You know.

BROADSTREET [thinks a moment] There's a courtyard at the library downtown. You have to go through the rare books section to get there, so it's usually quite deserted. Can you find it?

FAY Sure.

BROADSTREET I expect to see you - both of you - with the package, tomorrow at noon.

sound on filter, phone hangs up

FAY Hey!!

sound fay slams down receiver

FAY You arrogant sonofab--

JIMMY [coming on] Fay! I don't pay you to gab on the phone all night!

FAY [through gritted teeth] I'm on my break.

JIMMY Well, I hope you made it to the can, too, since that was your last break before closing - now get out there and shake it. There's an old fart at table 5 who still got some green left.

FAY Right, Jimmy.

MUSIC rock music, for time PASSES, THEN cutS off or winds down - SOUND system IS SHUT OFF.

SCENE 6. STRIP CLUB, CLOSING TIME

sound light SWITCHES being thrown.

GERTIE Hey, Fay, coming out for some grub?

JOHN [in background] Hey babe, come on.

FAY Nah, you go on - I'm waiting on a call.

GERTIE Your brother.

FAY Yeah.

sound quick steps, jingle of bell on door.

GERTIE [off] That deadbeat. [beat, remembering] Oh, crap!

JOHN [still off] What's the deal, sweetheart?

SOUND STEPS RETURN

GERTIE Here's that catalog.

FAY [down] Thanks. I don't think I --

GERTIE Take it. Read it. It's not too late.

FAY I'm kinda in the middle of something.

GERTIE You got a week to register for Fall. [waits, then] Winter, maybe?

FAY Maybe.

SOUND FOOTSTEPS RETREAT AGAIN

GERTIE [moving away] You really don't want--

JOHN [off] Let's skip the food, babe and get right to the motel.

GERTIE [off] --to end up like me.

sound door closes behind gertie

sound FAY's footsteps echo slightly, empty room.

sound phone rings

FAY Huh?

sound walks quickly over, phone picked up

FAY You're early.

JORDAN [on filter, ominous voice] You have the book.

FAY Broadstreet? Wait, no--

JORDAN Broadstreet must not get the book.

FAY How'd you get this--?

JORDAN Bring the book to me tomorrow at 2 pm. At the corner of central and 12th.

FAY What the hell--?

sound dial tone.

FAY Great.

sound hangs up phone

sound fay's footsteps as she walks into changing room

no music for scene

SCENE 7. CHANGING ROOM

sound door opens.

sound serrated knife cutting leather - continues until noted

FAY Jimmy! You bastard! What the-- No!

JIMMY Back off babe. I'm just seeing what you got in your little diary, here--

sound knife ends, finishes the cut

FAY You scumbag!!!

sound book creaks open, pages flip.

sound tentacles pop out of the book and grab jimmy

JIMMY [screaming in fear and agony]

FAY [screaming at the top of her lungs in terror]

sound horrid ripping noise as Jimmy is torn asunder

JIMMY [stops screaming suddenly]

sound slurping noise as tentacles go back into the book. book slams shut.

sound trickles of blood running down the walls.

FAY [screaming winds down to gasps and sobs]

sound phone rings and keep ringing

FAY [shrieks once, then starts to almost laugh]

sound hesitating footsteps. One slightly wet sounding one.

FAY Ew!

sound rubbing foot on floor, then running for phone

sound phone picks up

RUSTY [on filter] Hey. Sorry about earlier.

FAY [laughs almost soundlessly, almost hysterical]

RUSTY Fay? Wait, is this Fay?

FAY Yeah, Rusty, it's -- it's me. [breathing, trying to calm down]

RUSTY What's so funny?

FAY Nothing. Oh, shit. L'il bear, I need your help with something.

RUSTY Anything, sissy bear. You know it.

FAY Come down to the club, and bring me some old clothes. Bring some for you too.

music

SCENE 8. CHANGING ROOM, LATER

SOUND FAY SCRUBBING

SOUND RUSTY ENTERS

RUSTY Yikes! Was it a holdup?

FAY Sure. A holdup. A really, really messy holdup. Go in the back there and fill this bucket - really hot water - about halfway.

RUSTY Good thing the book didn't get all bloody. Then Broadstreet would never pay for it.

FAY [almost a sob] Yeah.

sound scrubbing fades into

music

SCENE 9. CHANGING ROOM, EVEN LATER

RUSTY Fay! The book

sound her reaction is very frightened, until she turns and sees nothing

FAY What? What!!

RUSTY The strap's been cut!

FAY Yeah. Uh, I'm gonna see if I can fix that-- Don't touch it!!!

RUSTY Why not?

FAY Here, I'll... [gulps] move it.

sound a couple of wet slappy steps.

FAY [deep breath, then an effort] There!

sound Book dropped quickly onto table

RUSTY Fay, you gotta tell me what's up - you're totally acting nutso.

FAY You gotta trust me l'il bear, don't touch it.

RUSTY I hate it when you treat me like a kid, Fay! I can take it! [sudden idea] Did you kill Jimmy?

FAY [hollow] What makes you so sure this was Jimmy? It's just ... chunks.

RUSTY Who else would it be? Level with me Fay, or... or--

FAY or what?

RUSTY [sharp breath]

sound quick squishy steps

RUSTY Or I'll... I'll open it!

FAY No! No! Don't screw around, Rusty! This is way more serious than you know!

RUSTY Tell me, Fay.

FAY Not here. I'll tell you when we're done and home. Please, it's - it's just too much.

MUSIC

SCENE 10. IN THE CAR

FAY [begging] Give me the book, please?

RUSTY No, Fay. I gotta know what went down.

FAY [still breathing hard, almost sobbing, subdued, reliving the event] Jimmy, being the nosy bast-- busybody that he is, got into my locker. He saw the book looked like something, and he ... cut through ... the ...strap... [sobs]

RUSTY [not willing to budge] --And then?

FAY It killed him. Rusty, the book did it. Don't open it, it was horrible.

RUSTY [ghoulishly interested] Tell me! Sissy bear, tell me!

FAY You don't need to know!

RUSTY [wheedling] Sissy bear!

FAY [beat] Things came out, like squids--

RUSTY Tentacles?

FAY [breaking] Yeah. Yeah. They grabbed him and just pulled him into pieces, then pulled the pieces ... most of them ... in and shut the book behind it.

RUSTY [excited] It must be some kind of a door to another reality. I read about those things all the time.

FAY A door to h-e-- double hockey-sticks!

music

music

SCENE 11. PHONE BANK

sound BEEPS, MECHANICAL VOICE

AUTOTELLER --[a balance of] two thousand, one hundred thirty two dollars and seventy four cents. To repeat this, press 6--

SOUND RECEIVER HANGS UP

SOUND RECEIVER PICKED UP, PHONE DIALS

FAY Hey Beans, Wally around? No! What's he in for? Again? Shoot, I was hoping he could use-- oh, never mind.

SOUND DOOR OPENS, RUSTY ENTERS

RUSTY You up already?

FAY Like I could sleep.

RUSTY You doing ok?

FAY Yeah. Ain't no goddamn love lost between me and Jimmy. But I gotta feeling this means I'm out of a job.

RUSTY But, seeing all that blood and stuff--?

FAY [muttered] Why you think I ain't sleeping? [louder] But there ain't jack shi--

RUSTY [warning noise]

FAY There ain't nothing I can do about it now. I just ain't got time for a freakout.

RUSTY Should I rustle us up some breakfast?

FAY [slightly teasing] Sure. You get started, I'll unplug the smoke detector.

RUSTY [mock annoyed] Hey! Besides, even I can't mess up corn flakes.

FAY I'll get something started in a minute, l'il bear. [a moment] Thanks for staying. I really didn't wanna--

RUSTY Are you kidding? And miss out on my chance to do something for you? [pause] Some day Fay, I'm gonna - I dunno, strike it rich, and then we'll see who's taking care of who.

FAY [rueful] Yeah.

RUSTY I was thinking. Maybe we shouldn't give this guy the book.

FAY Huh? Why not?

RUSTY He's not gonna want to pay for it, damaged and all, and, well, if it's all you say, sounds like it's pretty dangerous.

FAY Yeah, like I wanna keep it around!

RUSTY We could sink it in the river. Maybe seal it in a block of concrete. We don't know this guy. Who knows what he plans to do - or who he plans to do, with it? [sure] I'll handle it.

FAY I-I don't really care what this guy has up his sleeve. I'm just hoping he'll pay something, damaged or not, and that maybe Mr. Capelli will take half down. Pass me that, wouldya?

SOUND WRAPPING PAPER

RUSTY Isn't this--?

FAY I want to get this thing re-wrapped.

RUSTY You think maybe it'll fool him?

FAY [snort] Nah. I'm just hoping it will give us time to be out of reach when he opens it.

MUSIC

SCENE 11. LIBRARY RENDEZVOUS

sound daytime noises, footsteps echo slightly on stone

FAY I'm glad you were willing to see reason. I don't know who your buyer is, but he must have some tough mojo to think he can control something awful like this.

RUSTY Yeah.

BROADSTREET [coming on] Ah, good to see you. You have my package?

FAY Right here. There was a ---

RUSTY It's just fine. You got the money?

BROADSTREET Here. Shall we trade?

RUSTY How 'bout you put down the briefcase, and I bring you the book? Then, when you're happy, I'll take the money.

FAY [surprised, side of mouth] Good going, L.B. [lil bear]

BROADSTREET An eminently sensible plan. I'll have to check and make sure the book has not been tampered with.

RUSTY Be my guest, here, I'll get it out for you.

sound rustle of paper being unwrapped

BROADSTREET Just hand it over-- aaaugh!

[note rusty opens the book, facing toward Broadstreet]

Sound Same sounds as before slurp, squish, crunch

BROADSTREET [screams]

FAY [screaming]

BROADSTREET [stops in mid-scream]

sound all sounds end with a slurp and the book slamming shut.

FAY [screaming, ending with] Rusty! Ohmigod, Rusty what the hell do you think you're doing?

SOUND DRIPPING NOISES

RUSTY I was right!! For once, I GOT it!

FAY Rusty, what the hell--

RUSTY Look, Fay. Don't you see, this is our ticket? My ticket, anyway, if you're too chicken. We may have a mess, but we also have ten thousand dollars AND the book.

FAY And what pray tell do you plan to do with the sonofabitch goddamn book?

RUSTY [dark, serious] Don't swear, Fay. [almost chuckling] It's so perfect - no way to trace it, so there's no way to catch me! All I gotta do is walk up to someone, open the book at 'em, just like now, and whammo!

FAY You're gonna go around killing people? Once they're eaten, it's not like you can take their wallets!

RUSTY I thought of that. I'm not gonna ROB no one. Just hire myself out.

FAY How could you? Mom would never have--

RUSTY [bitter, accusing] Yeah, well, I never knew mom, sissy bear. Any problems with my upbringing? They're all on you!

FAY But--

RUSTY I knew it. You just want me to be a wimp, so you can push me around. Just your little bear. You never want me to win big, because if I was ever a success, you wouldn't have anyone to gloat over and preach to! Well, it's too late - it's my turn, Fay. This is my chance to be the man!

FAY Rusty, you stop this. Right now.

RUSTY What're you gonna do, put me over your knee? I got the book, and while I'd hate to have to use it again right away...

FAY You wouldn't!

RUSTY [steely] Try me. [beat, hollow] Just let me go, Fay.

music

SCENE 12. LEAVING THE LIBRARY

sound busy street noises

JORDAN [startlingly close] You didn't bring it.

FAY [jumps] Oh! You're‑‑

JORDAN I'm Jordan.

FAY Jordan something or something Jordan?

JORDAN [almost a chuckle] Something. Where's the book?

FAY Tell me what it is first. I can't just hand it over without knowing more about it.

JORDAN We can't talk here.

FAY Oh sure we can - a busy street is as anonymous as you can get. Spill.

JORDAN [beat] It is... a gateway.

FAY Hah. We figured that.

JORDAN [upset] You opened it? How many? How many has it devoured?

FAY Keep your voice down. We may be anonymous, here, but there is a limit. Why's it matter who got et?

JORDAN The book is a Demonilatrium Triskadecorum, one of thirteen gates disguised as ancient grimoires. They were put into this world to trap those who seek the deepest levels of occult knowledge.

[note: totally made up name. Triskedec is a root meaning "13", and demon is self-explanatory]

JORDAN Each book will take thirteen souls and then - pfft! Go back from whence it came. This one has already eaten 7 that I've been able to verify.

FAY [hopeful] But then it'll just go away?

JORDAN Taking the last wielder with it.

FAY [weakly, hopeful] Wielder, like the one facing the book?

JORDAN The one holding it.

SOUND ODD BIRD CALL

FAY Oh, shi--

JORDAN Did you hear that?

FAY What? The car horn?

SOUND ODD BIRD CALL

JORDAN That. Damn, they found us. We need to find some place less public - now!

FAY Why? Aren't we sort of safe out here on the street?

JORDAN Doubtful. They're after the book.

FAY But Rusty has-- I mean-- Shit!

JORDAN They're tracking me, not the book. We need to get away from them.

SOUND RAPID FOOTSTEPS

FAY Not part of your club, eh?

JORDAN There are many factions seeking to control the Triskadecora. This way...!

SOUND STREET NOISES RECEDE

FAY Being alone with a bunch of freaks sounds like a dumbass plan, Jordan Something.

JORDAN I can't cloak us if there are any observers.

FAY Like being able to be invisible, but only if there's no one watching you?

JORDAN Shh. In here.

SOUND SLIGHT SCUFFLE, FOOTSTEPS STOP

AMB IN A TUNNEL OR UNDER A BRIDGE

SOUND WEIRD LOW BUZZING NOISE

JORDAN [whispered] Now stay quiet.

FAY [whispered] You have to grope me like this?

JORDAN [whispered] The range is limited, we have to stay very close.

FAY [whispered] I'm not bitching, I just wanted to know.

JORDAN Shh!

SOUND WEIRD BIRD CALL, STRANGE NOISES MOVE SLOWLY PAST.

SILENCE FOR A MOMENT

FAY [whispered] Are they gone?

JORDAN [whispered] Just another moment. [slightly husky] For safety.

FAY [whispered] Oh... [beat, chuckle] Well, what do you do when you're not hiding from demons and chasing old carnivorous books, Mr. Jordan?

music

SCENE 13. VISITING THE VICTIMS

sound night ambiance. nightclub noises in the near distance

FAY I just hope we got here first. Last I checked, nobody'd seen him yet - they're kind of used to me calling around looking for him.

JORDAN And you're quite sure--

FAY Oh, yeah - first people he'd go after are his bookies. Lucky thing they weren't in town this afternoon or they'd be squid bait long since.

JORDAN Squid?

FAY You know-- [making a squooshing tentacle noise] They come out of the book.

JORDAN I've never actually seen one opened. We're working to get them all into safekeeping. It sounds like your brother is a prime example why.

FAY He's weak. It's all my fault. Our mom died when he was born, then dad went a dozen years later. After that, it was just me and him. I guess I ... I didn't do it right.

JORDAN [matter of fact] Probably not.

FAY Hey! Not helping!

sound [over at the building] knock on door, door squeaks open.

FAY Oh, crap. That ain't good.

JORDAN Stay behind me.

FAY As if.

sound running footsteps

FAY Rusty? Rusty? Rusty?

sound footsteps slow, then stop

FAY Aw, jeez, Rusty.

RUSTY Stay out of it, Fay.

FAY That's a lot of blood, Rusty. How... how many were there?

RUSTY Just Mr. Capelli and his bodyguard. I'm still waiting for the other guys to get back. You gonna help or just mess me up - like always?

FAY Like always? Who's the one always comes when you start screaming about guys being after you? This whole goddamn thing started because you can't keep your hands off an inside flush. [a bad gamble in poker].

RUSTY Fay, you better leave.

FAY Look Rusty... there's this guy and he - he knows about the book. I mean he can tell you, he - you gotta listen to him, Rusty - this isn't a joke, l'il bear! He really - It's worse than you think!

RUSTY Fay, you better leave. It's gonna get messy real soon. I don't wanna haveta kill you.

FAY Oh, li'l b--.

JORDAN Ah-hah! [attack noise, not so silly]

SOUND BEGIN STRUGGLE

RUSTY Hey, what? [grunting with exertion]

SOUND FABRIC RIPS, BODY SLAMS INTO SOMETHING HARD.

JORDAN [grunting with exertion] Give me the--

SOUND FINGERS SKID ACROSS LEATHER. BOOK DROPS TO THE FLOOR.

FAY No!

SOUND SCRAMBLING, SLAPPING AS THE MEN FIGHT FOR THE BOOK

FAY No! Get back!

SOUND PAGES FLIP

FAY [Screams in anguish]

JORDAN [screams in agony, but not too clear which man this is]

sound blahlalalalalalalala monster eats Jordan

moment of silence

FAY I can't believe you did that. My own brother. What kind of a goddam monster are you?

RUSTY [breathing hard, triumphant] I'm alive Fay. That's what counts. I'm the one holding the book.

FAY Rusty, that was the one guy who knew what this stupid freaking thing really is. And your dumbass book just ate him!

RUSTY STOP SWEARING! You know I hate it when you do that!

FAY Rusty - I think this has gone waaay beyond my potty mouth. Give me the book now, or put your goddamned money where your mouth is and feed me to it.

RUSTY [snapped back to reality] What? Sissy--?

FAY [under her breath] Seven... eight nine...

RUSTY I don't wanna haveta kill you, Fay.

FAY [under her breath] Ten and eleven, oh shit, twelve.

RUSTY Talk to me sissy bear - why can't you see this is good for me? You got locks, I finally got something!

FAY [under her breath] Oh, hell. [loud] Bite me you whining little piece of shit. I am so sick of your weakling ass dragging around behind me.

RUSTY [shocked] Fay!

FAY Yeah, if it weren't for you and the gigantic hole in your stupid ass pocket, I woulda been free and clear years ago. Do you know how much goddamn sonofabitch money I have pissed down the freaking drain for you?

RUSTY [getting angry] Fay, stop it!

FAY I am so goddamn sick to the teeth of feeling guilty over you, you puling little ass-wipe, worrying over you and having to run around changing your dirty diapers every time you freaking crap yourself!

RUSTY [almost crying] If -- if I'm all -- all you say, it's your fault, you made me this way!

FAY [hissing] I might have made you weak, but I never made you a murderer - there, you're self-made.

RUSTY I'll make you stop!

SOUND PAGES FLIP

FAY [Gasps, braced]

sound again. monster.

RUSTY Hey, what? No! Noooo! I'm the master! I'm the master---[trails into agonized screams]

SOUND Rusty dies in screaming agony.

moment of silence

FAY [sobbing] Goodnight, ...l'il bear.

SOUND SHE WALKS AWAY

music

SCENE 14. college classroom.

sound people shuffle into seats. papers move.

TEACHER [utterly bored] Jackson? good. Fay James?

FAY Here.

TEACHER Good.

MUSIC STING

end

The return of the first manned capsule from space might be a tragedy - but what about the first dogged one?

Earthlings need to adapt to survive in the universe. But we assume adaptation means moving up the evolutionary chain....