Heart of Clouds
by Adrienne Wilson
*screenplay adaptation of my novel, Heart of Clouds for kids
*Chapter “Lost Worlds” p. 119
EXT. BEACH. MORNING.
Devlin makes his way down the beach crying at all the plastic waste, while Tut watches.
INT. TEENIES APT. BLUE DIM LIGHT.
Christina lies on the couch in a ball surrounded by her prescriptions, watching the news of The Wave. Newscasters show images of all the plastic inside the stomachs of birds and fish eating microplastics. She cries feeling powerless, looks at all her bottles.
CHRISTINA
(whispers to ceiling)
I don’t want to really be on all of these pills
EXT. BEACH. MORNING.
Devlin kicks at the mound of plastic bottles.
Why is everyone so lost? Why is everyone taking all of these pills anyway?
FLASHBACK
Devlin and his father at the doctor’s office, as the doctor wants to prescribe something for him after his mother’s death.
DEVLIN
I don’t need those. I can get through this alone Dad
(Devlin skateboarding, wipes away tears)
TEENIE
(watching Devlin through the cracks in the driftwood hut)
Devlin parts the seaweed curtain, and stands in doorway
It’s you isn’t it?
DEVLIN
It’s me.
TEENIE
Hi
DEVLIN
(grinning)
So do want to go for a walk?
TEENIE
Okay
DEVLIN
(they step out into the sun)
Wow.
TEENIE
What?
DEVLIN
Your hair
TEENIE
Is it okay?
DEVLIN
It’s so beautiful
TEENIE
It is?
DEVLIN
I wish you could see it the way I can, backlit against the sun like that
TEENIE
(smiles shyly)
DEVLIN
(reaches to hold her hand, close in on fingers curling)
Come on. I want to show yout he place i found the abalone. All the best shells wash up there.
OCEAN CREATURES
(a cacophony as they say)
He found her Tut!
DOLPHINS
He found her Tut!
VOICEOVER BLUE WHALE
(whale sounding, tail flapping)
The whales began to sound all over the world and all the penguins were dancing too, they spread the message to the polar bears, who spread the message to the eagles, who spread the message to the wolves, who carried the message to the deer, who carried the message to the cattle, who carried the message across the prairies, who sent it to the swallows, who flew it to the tadpoles, who carried it to a trout, who told the butterflies.
(we see all the animals resound with happiness that Devlin and Teenie have met)
FLYING FISH
(lands on Tut’s shell)
He found her Tut. He’ll save us.
TUT
And so will she, for she carries the language of the heart, and the whole world would go dark without it
FLYING FISH
The world almost forgot that language, didn’t it?
BLUE WHALE
(near to Tut, eye to eye, Tut brushes him with his flipper)
It almost did, my friend
TUT
They speak our language now
Tut and the oceanic squadron watch Teenie and Devlin running down the beach hand in hand
*to page 125, in the novel of mine – adaptation is for FILM
Adrienne Wilson 