Upsidedown
Behind the Legislature II
NOELLE
Do you see those three stars up there sort of clustered together? Just to the right of the dipper tip.
SAM
Below the blinking one?
NOELLE
That’s a satellite, not a star. But yeah. Below that.
SAM
I see them.
JUSTIN
I don’t.
NOELLE (points over his shoulder)
There. The end of my finger.
JUSTIN
Okay, yeah. I see ‘em.
NOELLE
They make me happy.
SAM
Because there’s three of them?
NOELLE
And they’re so close together.
JUSTIN
They’re probably billions of miles apart.
NOELLE
Still.
SAM
Do you see the really bright star below the three?
JUSTIN
I think so.
SAM
And then the two stars side-by-side way to the right?
NOELLE
Oh, there. (points for JUSTIN)
SAM
All of them together kind of look like a kid on a tricycle.
JUSTIN/NOELLE
What?
SAM
Don’t you see it? The three stars are the kid and then the two are the back wheels and the bright one is the front wheel.
JUSTIN
I don’t know. I see a tree next to a little bush.
SAM
Dude. There is no way that’s a tree. Where’s the trunk?
JUSTIN
It doesn’t need a trunk. You fill it in with your imagination.
NOELLE
What kind of tree is it? Like an Oak or an Elm or something?
JUSTIN
No. Like a fruit tree. With a really skinny trunk.
SAM
Like a tangerine tree?
JUSTIN
Yeah, totally. A tangerine tree.
NOELLE
Are there marmalade skies?
JUSTIN
No. Just a tangerine tree.
SAM
And rocking horse people eating marshmallow pies?
JUSTIN
What the hell are you guys talking about? It’s just a tree. Next to a bush.
NOELLE (singing)
And a girl with kaleidoscope eyes…
SAM
(sings the drum part)
JUSTIN
Oh!
JUSTIN/NOELLE/SAM
(all singing and laughing) Lucy in the sky with diamonds….!
JUSTIN
Oh man. You guys are totally nuts.
NOELLE
And you totally love us for it.
SAM
Especially me. (SAM puckers up for JUSTIN).
JUSTIN
You better watch it. I just might kiss you.
SAM
Yeah right.
NOELLE
Do it! I dare you. A big sloppy one!
SAM
Don’t you even think about it!
JUSTIN grabs SAM’s cheeks and the two wrestle until they end up in a funny position with JUSTIN straddling SAM and NOELLE sort of lying across both of them.
ORION enters. He probably thinks he’s interrupting some weird threesome.
ORION
Whoa. Sorry to interrupt.
SAM
What?
JUSTIN
Hey. Oh we’re not…
NOELLE
Yeah, this isn’t what it— we’re just laying here.
ORION
Whatever. Get off, get drunk – the whole world does it. Hope it was worth it in the end... cheers.
JUSTIN
Dude. We really weren’t…
NOELLE
We were just looking at the stars.
JUSTIN
And drinking hot chocolate.
SAM
And talking about my dead brother.
Silence.
ORION
Oh.
SAM
I’m guessing the whole world isn’t doing that.
ORION
No, probably not. Unless his name was Jesus… sorry. You don’t know me but I’m always doing that. It’s a nervous tic. When things are uncomfortable, make a bad joke at a really inappropriate time so they can get even more uncomfortable.
SAM
And then keep talking so they get even worse?
ORION
Something like that. Sorry I interrupted your little… I’m just going to leave now. Sorry about... Just sorry. In general.
ORION exits. SAM stands and yells after him.
SAM
His name was Elliot!
NOELLE
Freak.
JUSTIN
Oh man. Why’d he have to walk up right then?
NOELLE
You’re not worried what he thinks of you are you?
JUSTIN
No. Just…
ORION reenters.
ORION (to SAM)
Do you come here much?
SAM
Why?
ORION
I want to show you something. Something way better than anything I could say even if I didn’t get all tongue twisted.
JUSTIN
And that doesn’t sound sketchy…
NOELLE
I know, right?
ORION
It’s over here. In the pool.
SAM studies ORION for a moment. ORION walks to the pool.
JUSTIN
Dude, you’re getting all the action tonight.
NOELLE
Don’t get too freaky with him. We don’t know where’s he been.
SAM follows ORION to the pool.
ORION
I come here a lot. When I can’t stop thinking about things like all those people in New Orleans who still don’t have homes or the couple next door who continuously scream at each other. Or that baby who was found in the dumpster. I have a hard time sleeping and so I end up here. Stand right here. Good. Now look down. What do you see?
SAM
The water in the pool.
ORION
And nothing else?
SAM
Nope. Just the water.
ORION
What’s in the water?
SAM
Nothing but reflections.
ORION
What I see are hundreds of stars shining in darkness. An entire slice of sky right there in that pool.
SAM
I see a reflection of the sky.
ORION
But how do you know it’s just a reflection? For all we know the stars could be above us and below us. They could be all around us but we just refuse to see them because we’re all stuck on this idea that they’re up there. But really, they’re so far away that we can see them at all is already a mystery. I don’t know. Maybe you don’t find that impressive, but me, I need that. I need to come here and look down and get my perspective back so I can get some sleep and face the next day. I just had this idea that maybe it’d do something similar for you.
SAM
Who are you?
ORION
Nobody.
SAM
For real. What’s your name?
ORION
You won’t believe it.
SAM
What is it?
ORION
Orion.
SAM
Shut up.
ORION
Told you. My parents did a lot of LSD before I was born. Or something.
SAM
That’s fucked up. And also pretty sweet.
ORION
It’s a name.
SAM
Mine’s Sam. Pretty white-bread next to yours.
ORION
I like white bread. Specially on a PB&J.
SAM
You remind me a little of my brother.
ORION
Is it the trench coat? Or the wandering the city at night thing? Or just the overall weirdo vibe?
SAM
No, he just thought a lot about things. Too much, probably. I think the world was just too much for him. Too heartbreaking.
ORION
So he…?
SAM
Yeah.
ORION
I’ve never had anyone super close to me die, but I’ve lost lots of people. I think I lose them everyday. Maybe we’re all losing everyone everyday… I mean, aren’t we all either waiting for our lives to begin or waiting for death? Me personally, I’d rather wait for my life to begin over and over again but it’s not always that easy. Sometimes you don’t want to let go of what you’ve had. But are we ever really able to hold onto anything? We can’t hold onto those (pointing to the stars), we can’t even touch them, but we still know they’re there.
SAM (pointing to the pool)
And there?
ORION
Course.
SAM
No offense, but do you smoke a lot of dope?
ORION
No.
SAM
You just talk like… like people I know who’ve been high a lot.
ORION
My name’s Orion. It’s entirely possible I was born high.
SAM
You want some hot chocolate? Apparently my friends made the best hot chocolate known to man.
ORION
No. I’ve got to get home and hopefully catch some zs.
SAM
Well. Thanks. For showing me this.
ORION
If you keep looking you might see the whole universe in there.
SAM
Right.
ORION
But only if you really want to.
ORION shrugs and exits.
SAM continues staring into the pool. After a while, ELLIOT appears in the pool (at the edge of the stage?).
SAM
Elliot? No way. Elliot? Is that you?
ELLIOT
Yeah. In some form or another.
SAM
How can you… How am I… you’re really there. Right there…
ELLIOT
You wanted to see me again.
SAM
More than anything.
ELLIOT
Well, now you’re seeing me.
SAM
It’s really that easy?
ELLIOT
Why not?
A long pause.
SAM
This is ridiculous, but I don’t know what to say. There were so many things that have been going through my mind since you… left… things I wished I would have said to you or things that would just pop into my mind and I’d want to tell you. Or ask you… lots of things I wanted to ask you. But now, now that I’m actually looking at you, none of it seems important. I’m just so glad to see your face again.
ELLIOT
It’s cool and all, I mean, I’m happy to see you too. But would you mind not staring? It’s kind of creeping me out.
SAM
Oh. Sorry.
ELLIOT
You’re still doing it.
SAM
Uh…
ELLIOT
Whatever. I guess it’s okay. I’d probably be staring to.
SAM
Can I hug you?
ELLIOT
Hug, as in put your arms around me?
SAM
Yeah…
ELLIOT
Now you’re really being weird.
SAM
I miss you.
ELLIOT
I’m right here.
SAM
Then, past tense. I missed you. So much. And I feel this overwhelming need to hug you right now. Please?
ELLIOT
You never did it when I was alive.
SAM
I don’t think I knew how.
ELLIOT
Were you retarded or something?
SAM
Emotionally, yeah. I didn’t know how to hug you. It just wasn’t something we did. And I didn’t know how to start.
ELLIOT
But you want to start now. Now that I’m not even real?
SAM
Better late than never.
ELLIOT
You can’t hug me now. I’m like pure energy. Kind of hard to put your arms around. Besides, you’d burn up instantly the second you touched me. Not exactly a warm and fuzzy experience
SAM
Not that I don’t believe you or anything, but you don’t exactly look like pure energy. You look just like you did before.
ELLIOT
Because you wanted to see me. And even though you were looking right at me before, you didn’t recognize me. So I had to dress up for you. Like Halloween only I get to be myself.
SAM
I was looking right at you?
ELLIOT
From a serious distance, but yeah.
SAM
Weird.
ELLIOT
You know what’s really weird? Meteor showers. Everyone thinks they’re these balls of dust falling down to Earth from space, but really they’re rockets that shoot energy away from the Earth into the sky.
SAM
That is weird. And random.
ELLIOT
That’s how stars are born.
ELLIOT exits.
SAM
Elliot? Wait… Who cares about stars! We didn’t even… Elliot!
posted by Joy @ 2:07 PM
8 Comments:
uhm.
just a question.
are those three still in the play?.
because i totally thoguht they werent.
so..
a bit confused.
yep. they've been here. i just haven't posted anything for them in a while. and now there are two new characters in this scene too.
right now, my appraoch is just to tidy up as many bits and pieces as i can so you all can read them. many of them, i'm unsure of how they fit with the other bits except that all the characters see the same meteor shower. maybe that's enough, maybe it's not. but i'm hoping we can figure out more together once you have all of the bits and they're not just floating around on my computer.
That's a really very great scene.
i love it!
it's so beautiful.
I love how you brought Elliot back into the script.
wow
good questions elizabeth. many of them i'm asking myself now too. especially -- is orion real? i don't know. i wrote one version of the scene where he's not and noelle and justin just think sam wandered off by the pool. and i wrote another version where orion is actually anthony. they sound a lot alike to me. but then i wasn't sure i wanted the story to be connected like that. so for now, it's somewhere in between. what do you think? everyone? what are your feelings on orion?
And, you're right. it's totally lion king. not exactly what i was going for... hopefully it's not over the head lion king. i'm pretty sure that seeing dead people in pools of water is an ancient myth. way before lion king. damn disney.
maybe sam should fall into the pool... wonder what would happen then... maybe he'd become a star and would be a part of all the other scenes... but they just couldn't see him. or maybe that's too quantum leap.
ideas? ideas, ideas, ideas.
No that could be really cool. Sam falls into the pool. Black out. One by one, tiny hanging light bulbs come on and Sam is suspended in the middle of them all. And there's a really bright one right next to him and he reaches into his pocket and finds an equally bright one and he smiles. And then all the lights fade and the bulbs go up towards the ceiling and Sam exits in the dark. The stars come up again on Beth and Kaiya in their scene. And then a dinosaur comes.... Hmmm. Maybe not.
i think i really want orion to be real.
and perhaps be connected to the girl in the hostipal somehow?.
and i definitely think that sam should try to hug elliot and just fall into the pool.
and yepp.
i am in love with this scene. i know i say that about all of them, but i really do love this. especially when elliot returns. and how orion's name is orion. pure awesome. i think he should be real. for sure.
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