I've been blogging at WP since 2007 as Valentine Bonnaire, but that was a nom de plume. I'm a writer. June is Santa Barbara Writers Conference. You can find me here and in Facebook. That was an old gravatar from my WP blog Valentine Bonnaire - and this is my new one. Really loving the new version of WordPress as Premium. Learning this one first before I move to the Business version. Nice to meet you! Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/adrienne.d.wilson
Row 11 – Into center of 4 SC’s previous round, work 4 DC’s in same stitch, then around spoke Petal, as for beginning flower, YO 4 times, chain one to close. Repeat around 16 petals, 16 groups of 4 DC’s
Row 12 – Picot edge – join in any single crochet after petal, SC, in next stitch 2 HDCS, next stitch 3 DCs, picot at center DC, in same stitch. 2 HDC’s 1 SC, FPSC around petal. Repeat around. 16 times.
Designing a new block, for Bam Cal 2023 in Ravelry – for testing purposes in my group. The Final pattern will be a downloadable PDF. Copyright by Adrienne Wilson
tester code for Rav – TEST-AW-9ELMSF Summer Garden
Summer Garden is a textured square with a raised flower. Round by round images follow each row. The square can be made as a 6″‘ or larger. I used a 4″ hook, and primarily yarn from Stylecraft on these first samples, but, I loved the color ranges in Wool of the Andes as well.
Summer Garden Flower Crochet Square
Design by Adrienne Wilson – copyright Adrienne Wilson – all rights reserved.
Row 1 – chain 6 and join with slip stitch to close.
Row 2 – chain 5 (acts as first DC, chain 2) 7 more DC chain 2’s in ring, gives you 8 spokes. Slip stitch to close.
Row 3 – around each DC, yarn over and pull up a loop 4 times, chain one to close, chain one. Repeat until each spoke has a petal top. Slip stitch to close. (8 petals, 8 chain one spaces)
Row 4 – add new color, in any SC space, two SC’s, FPSC around each flower petal. Repeat 7 times. Slip stitch into first SC to close. (16 SC’s 8 FPSC)
Row 5 – SC in all SC’s. Slip stitch to close (25 SC’s)
Row 6 – In any SC, with new color join with an SC. Chain 3, skip one, SC. Repeat around circle. 12 or 13 chain 3 spaces. Slip stitch into first SC to join – Keep yarn same for round 7. (Use 13 if making larger square)
Row 7 – 3 DC’s into each chain three space from previous round, chain one between each group. (12 or 13 groups of 3 DC’s)
Row 8 – In first DC of a 3 DC group, SC in next three DC’s. FPTC and catch SC from round 6, SC in next three DC’s. Repeat around (13 FPTC – 13 3 SC)
Row 9 – Join new color at top of FPSC, Chain 3 as first DC, 3 DC’s in same space,skip to middle stitch and repeat 4 DC groups around. (12 DC groups) or 13 for larger square.
Row 10 – Join new color in any SC row 9 between two DC Clusters — chain three (as DC) chain 2, SC in space between the two DC’s chain two and make FPDC around spoke, repeat around. (12 DC’s total). (or 13 for larger square)
Row 11 — Join new color, SC around any DC spoke, proceed to make petals, as you did in round three –yarn over 4 times, close with chain 1, in next SC space atop DC clusters, make DC chain one DC. Repeat around — 12 petals, 12 V stitches.
Row 12 – Join new color, in any 2 DC cluster, in one chain space between with a SC. Chain 5 and skip to next chain one space – repeat around. Slip stitch into first SC, do not change yarn for next round.
Row 13 – Chain one, in next chain space, one SC, two HDC, two DC, two HDC, one SC – repeat around. (12 Petals) Join to first SC with slip stitch to close round.
Row 14 — Flip work, you are working on wrong side. SC around and SC from previous round. Chain 5, continue around anchoring stitches with an SC, and chain 5 all around.
Next rows will begin to build the square, behind the circle, and create our corners.
Row 16 — working with wrong side facing, slip stitch into the first chain five space. In each space make 6 DC’s around. (12 DC groups) (13 for larger) You will be crocheting looking at the right side, but don’t worry! The row is well hidden, when we flip work back.
Row 17 – First corners.
For small square – use strips of yarn to mark for corners, each group of three 6 DC’s. 2 DCs 1 SC, 2 DC’s – FPHDC in all stiches until next corner. Repeat around.
This pattern will give you the 6 inch block. For the larger block, which has a fancy new edge and embroidery, that will be going into the PDF. The small square is for testing purposes.
ROW 10 — PETAL — V stitch — PETAL – no spaces (18 petals) V stitch between, no spaces except chain one in V stitch between DC’s.
Writing to, Little Eva – “Locomotion” and song “Born to be Alive”
Natalie waved goodbye to the Cafe, and decided to go shopping. A little retail therapy never hurts anyone, now does it?
If life opens up new doors on a daily basis, sometimes a person just has to walk on through. She was staying in a hotel room, because Leo had moved Priscilla into their old homeplace. That’s how mean he was. The more Natalie thought about it, the angrier she got. But it was anger that was going to move her forward.
She doubted that she would ever marry again. She was free, but what does freedom actually mean. There is no freedom when you live in a small town like she did. Why the whole Outer Banks was just a gossip realm, if you understand things like that. The Blue Ribbon Sisters had even ejected her, so baking was going to out of the picture. Besides, without a kitchen how was she going to?
The Jolly Pirate was just up the road.
I think I’ll go in, she thought. Why not?
The bar was packed with people, body to body, and all of them were quaffing the cocktails so quickly that one by one, they managed to get the liquid courage up to climb up on the stage and sing a song karaoke style.
Some of Natalie’s oldest friends were in there. Including the handsome guy on the stage. In fact, he was singing to old Rod Stewart songs, as she ordered her drink from the bartender. The little tables were almost all taken but she found one in the corner, letting her eyes slide around the room slowly, to see who was there. It wasn’t long before a man asked her to dance.
“Want to?” he asked, extending his hand.
“Maybe later”
“Okay”
It was not going to be possible to think about men yet, Natalie had been so burned by what Leo had done. Even dancing with another man was not something she cared to do. But the Jolly Pirate was full of warmth and enough loudness to drown out whatever feelings she had been holding. She’d gone for the biggest tiki cocktail ever.
Benjamin
Benjamin snuggled into the covers as the early dawn light swept over the sea, the winds had made him wake time and time again in the night, but he was warm, even with the storm like a gale. Coffee sounded good. He looked at the pretty flowers he had gotten at Super Tigers. Just coffee, half and half and sugar, he thought. Then a really long hot bath. The wooden walls of the cottage gleamed in Autumnal hues. The bathtub was a giant claw foot, so old fashioned and large, two people could have fit in it. Pearly pink light over the Sound.
Speck was outside waiting.
Benjamin sighed, a long sigh, a sigh that was releasing everything trapped inside.
For the first time in a long time he felt better. He didn’t have to do anything. Just be in the silence.
Do you know what it’s like to finally find a totally comfortable atmosphere? That’s what Benjamin had found. No rules, no phones, no constancy. He was adrift with nothing but a fishing pole. Life sets people on courses and we never know where those will lead or take us.
“I can’t believe we were here, Dad,” he whispered. “I wish you could have met Beth.”
Natalie awoke in the giant lonely King sized bed she had in the hotel. A little fire glimmered in the corner of her room. She sighed.
Her world had cracked apart, but she felt stronger.
Okracoke Island seemed like she could live there. Get away from Kitty Hawk and all the people she had always known. The thoughts began to jell in her mind, moving around slowly like wisps of thought. She had picked the hotel that was closest to the wild ponies. They reminded her of childhood, and herself as a little girl with her own parents, the pony she had had then. Winky had the best mane, riding bareback along the dunes.
I think I’ll get a horse, she thought. Leo never gave a damn about anything I wanted exactly, it was always about him.
(for Walter Halsey Davis, of the Santa Barbara Writers Conference)
Book is registered at WGA, and I will reformat this script for the WGA as well. I’m at page 154.
INT. CHRISTINA BEDROOM. PINK LIGHT.
Teenie sits holding her mothers hand, glad she is awake and alive. She describes Mr. Honeygarten and Claire in childhood.
TEENIE
Mom I met a boy on the beach. His name is Devlin Underwood and he moved here because his mom died last year. He lives with his grandparents now. He wants to be friends Mom.
CHRISTINA
Oh honey, I’m so glad you met a friend like that, Teenie
TEENIE
He’s really nice Mom
CHRISTINA
Tell me something about him
TEENIE
Well he left me this shell
CHRISTINA
He did?
TEENIE
He built a total castle on the beach, Mom
CHRISTINA
A castle?
TEENIE
It is Mom
He took all these pieces of driftwood and just stacked them all together into a structure – I found it the other day
CHRISTINA
Wow
TEENIE
Mom I think he saw me crying and it’s like totally embarrassing
CHRISTINA
What were you crying about?
TEENIE
Dad. Sometimes I really miss him Mom
CHRISTINA
I know you do honey
TEENIE
I really wish he would call Mom
CHRISTINA
Tell me about the castle again
TEENIE
Well that first day I saw him he ran away. I saw him up on the dunes and I called out to him but he ran away
CHRISTINA
(smiles)
Your father ran away from me like that
Teenie I never told you about Delos did I?
TEENIE
(looking at her Mom with wonder)
Who was Delos?
CHRISTINA
(nodding and smiling)
He was the first boy who ever held my hand Teenie
TEENIE
How old were you
CHRISTINA
I was fourteen and so was he
TEENIE
Mom you never told me
CHRISTINA
Maybe I was saving it for today
Delos. Puppy Love
TEENIE
What’s puppy love Mom?
CHRISTINA
Well it’s kind of hard to explain, but sometimes it happens when you are about fourteen or so
TEENIE
It does?
CHRISTINA
Once he took me up to some caves by a creek, and he held my hand as we climbed over the rocks. It was the first time a boy held my hand
TEENIE
You were my age Mom
CHRISTINA
A little bit older
TEENIE
What was he like?
CHRISTINA
He was the nicest boy, he really was
There was another boy too, Teenie
TEENIE
(raises eyebrows, close in on surprised look)
Another boy?
CHRISTINA
His name was Charles
TEENIE
Mom you never told me any of this
CHRISTINA
I guess I didn’t did I?
TEENIE
Mom!
CHRISTINA
Well I guess you weren’t going to turn fourteen before
TEENIE
Mom!
CHRISTINA
Now that you’re going on fourteen I guess it’s time we had a talk about boys
TEENIE
(very surprised that she and her mother are talking this way)
Mom!
CHRISTINA
Charles made a ring for me once
TEENIE
He did?
CHRISTINA
We better have some breakfast. I want to hear all about Devlin and his castle
INT. CHRISTINA KITCHEN. PINK LIGHT
Christina making two bowls of cereal with bananas, and Teenie’s first cup of coffee.
CHRISTINA
I put a lot of cream and sugar in this
TEENIE
(amazed, her first cup of what adults drink)
CHRISTINA
Teenie Alexander I think my little girl is growing up
TEENIE
I am Mom
CHRISTINA
Tell me about Devlin
TEENIE
Only if you tell me about Delos and Charles
CHRISTINA
You go first
TEENIE
First he left me a shell, and then I left him a note. I hid it Mom. Then he left me a note back.
Mom was Delos your friend?
CHRISTINA
He was honey, that summer
Now that I think of it Teenie, he asked me to kiss him but I didn’t
TEENIE
He did?
CHRISTINA
He told me our friends, Susie and Paul had kissed, and he wanted to do what Paul did, but I didn’t want to so I didn’t
TEENIE
Did you kiss Charles?
CHRISTINA
Yes, honey I did
TEENIE
Was it when he gave you that ring?
CHRISTINA
It might have been – he designed the ring himself because we were both taking a jewelry class together
TEENIE
Did he like you?
CHRISTINA
I think he did. We were reading a book called The Hobbit when we took that class and he designed the ring that looked like it came right out of the book
TEENIE
Did you wear it?
CHRISTINA
Well it seemed like if I wore it it would mean something so I kept it in my jewelry box instead. I wasn’t sure why he gave it to me, to be honest
TEENIE
What did it look like?
CHRISTINA
It was silver with a dragon swirling all around it
TEENIE
Mom what was kissing like?
CHRISTINA
When I was fourteen I didn’t kiss boys often Teenie – Charles and I might have just kissed each other on the cheek when he gave me that ring
(pauses)
I didn’t want to give him the wrong idea about me
TEENIE
(thinking of invisible kiss she left for Devlin)
Mom can a boy and girl be friends without kissing?
CHRISTINA
(smiles warmly at her daughter)
A kiss is a really special thing Teenie. A boy and a girl should be really good friends
(for Walter Halsey Davis, of the SB Writers Conference)
*note on sound for Christina, scene in bath with too many pills –
INT. CHRISTINA BATHROOM. TUB. Ghastly Brittle White Light
Christina slumps in the tub, she has swallowed so many pills, she is senseless. Memories of Jax and she, happy, at work, the absence of Jax. She does not know how to go on. She manages to get up, and stumbles to her bedroom. Looks at her wedding dress. Camera lingers on her hands smoothing the fabric, symbolism of the lace. She holds it up to the mirror, studies her face, fallen, all hope gone. Everything gone.
FLASHBACK
Christina and Jax eloping, her mother’s face a mask of cruelty.
CHRISTINA MOTHER
Don’t expect any help from us, Christina
You made your bed and now you have to lie in it
one of mine, an image of Christina, mood as she is at lowest ebb.
Christina manages to fold the wedding dress, replaces it in layers of tissue paper, before she collapses on the bed. She swallows the last of the pills.
TEENIE
Finds her mother passed out, in bed. Teenie is scared, when she cannot rouse her.
Mom wake up.
(in tears)
Mom
(whispers in her mother’s ear)
Mom wake up.
Takes her mother’s hand and notices a tiny freckle. Christina’s hand is ice cold.
Mom wake up, please
Please Mom
(close in on Teenie’s tears falling on her mother’s hand)
Please mommy don’t leave me alone
Teenie places on of her hands on her own heart, and another on her mother’s heart, barely beating under the thin bathrobe.
TEENIE
Heart I need you to speak to Mommy
I need your heart to talk to my heart, Mom
Please talk to my heart Mom
CHRISTINA
(eyes fluttering)
TEENIE
Mom I was so worried
CHRISTINA
(tears, seeing her daughter, blurred as through gauze)
Oh honey
TEENIE
I love you so much Mom
CHRISTINA
I love you too
You’re my little girl
You’ll always be my little girl Teenie
Always and forever
You mean everything in the world to me
TEENIE
(wraps her arms around her mother)
The two of them lie quietly in the brilliant white light, no longer garish, we pull back until two small figures, in the light
INT. GRANDPA/GRANDMA JESS. KITCHEN. WARM GOLDEN LIGHT.
Grandma Jess, bustles in her old fashioned kitchen cracking eggs for omlettes. She is making three different kinds, their favorites. She’s been so worried about Devlin, and so glad to see the pup and effect it has had on the boy.
GRANDMA JESS
He has such a sweet soul Jess. The dearest boy in all the world.
GRANDPA JESS
(reading the paper)
How’s that pup doing this morning, son?
DEVLIN
(smiling and laughing, cuddles pup)
He’s great. I think he’s going to chew up everything I own though. All my shirts.
GRANDPA JESS
(bursts out laughing at the antics of pup squiggling)
DEVLIN
Guess what I named him?
GRANDPA JESS
I knew you’d figure out a name pretty soon Dev
DEVLIN
Brownie
GRANDPA JESS
Well son, I don’t think I could have come up with a better one myself. He does resemble a brownie doesn’t he?
DEVLIN
(hands the pup to his grandfather)
GRANDPA JESS
(pup squiggling and licking his face, chews his shirt collar)
A pup is a pup is a pup. And this pup has all the energy in the world
DEVLIN
Today is going to be his first day at the beach. Grandpa
GRANDPA JESS
Guess you have to get him used to it, son
GRANDMA JESS
(brings out a little red collar and leash for Brownie)
I thought red would make a good contrast to his fur. Think he’ll like it?
DEVLIN
It looks great Grandma. Your first little collar Brownie
(Devlin tries it on him, while Grandma Jess finds two dishes for water and the pup’s food)
GRANDMA JESS
He’s such a little dear isn’t he?
GRANDMA JESS
All right my dears, what sort of omlette would you like this morning. We have spinach and cheese or mushrooms and cheese or just plain cheese, or nothing at all except egg. What shall it be?
DEVLIN
Cheese for me
GRANDPA JESS
Spinach and cheese
GRANDMA JESS
(secretly teaching Devlin how to cook)
Devlin will you help me with the spinach?
(uplift, happy music, as the two of them make the omlettes, a golden sizzle)
DEVLIN
(begins to tell his grandparents about Teenie)
I met a girl on the beach the other day
A really special girl
(hugs Brownie on his lap)
I can’t wait to show Brownie to her because I think she might love him too
GRANDMA JESS
Why Devlin, that’s wonderful
What is she like son?
DEVLIN
I think she might be an artist. Or a writer. She was crying the first day I saw her
GRANDMA JESS
Do you know why?
DEVLIN
Sort of. She sort of told me how sad she was since her dad had been gone
GRANDMA JESS
Where did he go?
DEVLIN
She said he had to leave the village to search for a job
He used to be a reporter for the paper, Grandpa
GRANDPA JESS
(loud sigh)
I’m surprised that industry is still in business in America, after what they have done to all those poor people. I’m sorry to hear that son.
(shakes his head back and forth)
Making a little girl cry because her father had to leave town to look for another job
GRANDMA JESS
I’m glad you met a new friend Devlin. What else have you found out about her?
DEVLIN
Not too many things so far, she has beautiful hair, though
You should see the way it looks when the sun shines on it
GRANDPA JESS
(smiling ear to ear looking at Grandma Jess, twinkling)
It sounds like the day I first saw your grandmother, Devlin. I had my harmonica with me that day, though. I thought she had the prettiest smile I had ever seen.
GRANDMA JESS
Oh Jess, let the boy finish his breakfast now
She sounds like a very nice girl, Devlin. I’d love to get the chance to meet her.
GRANDPA JESS
(winks at Devlin)
GRANDMA JESS
When you get to know her a little better maybe she’d like to come for dinner?
DEVLIN
Okay Grandma. One of these days maybe I’ll ask her. I want her to meet the two of you, too. But first I just want her to meet Brownie.
GRANDPA JESS
(smiling)
You go on then son
DEVLIN
(cradling the squiggling pup, pulling on Dev’s collar)
(for Walter Halsey Davis, of the SB Writers Conference)
INT. DEVLIN DREAMING. NIGHT
Devlin cuddles his new puppy, sleeping peacefully, not fitfully as other nights. A quiet and beautiful dream of Tut and Teenie on the beach, montage clear blue sky, hawk circling, exquisite ocean waves, clean beauty of the sea
GRANDMA JESS
Stands watching him at the door to his bedroom, her face soft, she has been concerned, tonight different, she is grateful for the pup calming his sleep, no nightmares
INT. CHRISTINA BEDROOM. DIM BLUE LIGHT
CHRISTINA
(to the ceiling)
Jax why did you have to leave me?
(runs a bath, swallows the first of what will be many pills)
(looks at self in mirror, as if she can’t recognize herself, close in, pasty white face, lost eyes)
Why is life so hard?
Jax, why did you leave?
FLASHBACK
Christina in her male Doctors Office, he sits listening to her.
CHRISTINA
My nerves are like glass
DOCTOR
(pulling out many random samples, writing prescriptions, no care to take a proper history)
Let me give you some of these, and these
(close in on pill bottle after pill bottle)
CHRISTINA
Sometimes I feel like a window that has shattered into a million tiny pieces and no one will ever be able to put me back together again.
DOCTOR
Take these, you’ll feel better in a day or two
INT. PRESENT. BATH. GHASTLY WHITE LIGHT
CHRISTINA
(in the bath, memories)
Montage of Jax asking her to marry him, slipping ring on her finger, her wedding dress
JAX
Christina, I will love you forever and ever
CHRISTINA
(effects of pills taking hold, she slips under the water several times)
If something happens to me who will take care of Teenie?
Who will take care of my little girl?
(she swallows more pills)
INT. DEVLIN BEDROOM. MORNING. HAPPY LIGHT
GRANDMA JESS
Wake up sleepyhead
DEVLIN
(smiling, to puppy, cuddling him, laughing)
Hey little guy are you okay?
(puppy licking his chin, pulling collar of his pajamas)
Hey quit that
Hey cut that out
(puppy barking and lunging, full of life)
What am I going to do with you?
You nut
GRANDMA JESS
(smiling at the antics)
Come on downstairs, Devlin. I’ll get breakfast ready. Have you decided what to name him yet?
DEVLIN
I’m working on it, Grandma.
You little monster
Brownie. i think I’ll name you after my favorite dessert because that’s what you look like that to me.
DEVLIN
(yelling and happy)
He’s Brownie, Grandma!
(Devlin hugging puppy, heads downstairs to breakfast)
Teenie at Honeygarten’s gate, Melloman wagging his tail, happy to see her again.
TEENIE
(softly to Melloman)
Wait til I tell Mr. Honeygarten about Devlin
Look what he gave me, Melloman
(pulls Devlin’s rose out of her pocket)
I met a boy Melloman. I met the cutest boy.
INT. HONEYGARTEN PARLOR. GOLDEN LIGHT
(Teenie knocking on his door, entering)
HONEYGARTEN
Would you like a cup of tea, my dear
I’m afraid I haven’t got any of those special teacakes but I might have some cookies about
(catches sight of the rose in Teenie’s hand)
Oh my what a lovely rosebud that is
TEENIE
A boy gave it to me
HONEYGARTEN
He did?
TEENIE
(shyly hands the rose to Mr. Honeygarten)
His name is Devlin
It’s a little like your roses
HONEYGARTEN
(thinking of Claire, but present)
That it is, Teenie.
TEENIE
(at china cabinet, getting the tea things for the two of them)
These are so beautiful Mr. Honeygarten
Which spoon would you like?
HONEYGARTEN
I’ll let you choose, dear
Would you like to tell me about Devlin, my dear?
TEENIE
I think so Mr. Honeygarten. He’s the nicest boy I ever met
HONEYGARTEN
Why, that’s wonderful
Where dd you meet him?
TEENIE
He built a castle out of driftwood
HONEYGARTEN
He did?
TEENIE
It’s magical
HONEYGARTEN
It is? What was magical Teenie, dear?
TEENIE
Everything I guess. Mostly the shell though.
HONEYGARTEN
The shell?
TEENIE
The beautiful abalone shell he left for me that very first day
HONEYGARTEN
Oh my, that sounds very intriguing
TEENIE
I left him a little note
HONEYGARTEN
I see
TEENIE
He left me a note too
HONEYGARTEN
He did?
TEENIE
It was a feather
HONEYGARTEN
How extraordinary
My dear I once gave Claire a feather
She used to wear it in her hat
TEENIE
She did?
HONEYGARTEN
Let me show you something dear
(on the table beside him, a stack of ancient journals and letters, he reaches for one and puts on his spectacles)
This my dear is the first poem I ever wrote to Claire
TEENIE
You wrote poems to her?
HONEYGARTEN
(smiling, wistfully, dearly)
I did but I was only a lad and I don’t suppose they were terribly good Teenie
She seemed to like them though, my dear
TEENIE
(reaches to take a letter, petals fly out)
You wrote poems to her
HONEYGARTEN
I did. Sometimes it was the only way I knew how to speak to her. I was quite in awe of her, actually
TEENIE
(quietly sipping the tea, lost in thought, close in on her face)
(sounds of an old grandfather clock ticking)
HONEYGARTEN
She was the most beautiful girl I have ever seen, Teenie. I was a bit afraid of her, I expect. Because of that.
TEENIE
How was she beautiful?
HONEYGARTEN
Her hair, my dear
TEENIE
(thinking of what Devlin had said)
Her hair?
HONEYGARTEN
That was only one thing. I felt that everything about Claire was beautiful
HONEYGARTEN
(takes a locket from his pocket)
Look my dear
TEENIE
(looks at the perfect curl inside)
HONEYGARTEN
I’ve carried it always
TEENIE
She gave that to you?
HONEYGARTEN
I asked for it my dear
(smiles, laughs a bit)
Of course that was many poems later, you see?
In the days that Claire and I were young, that was the sort of thing people did. I expect it might seem quite strange to you, but for us it was a love token
TEENIE
(puzzles at concept of love tokens, intrigued)
Mr. Honeygarten? Would you read me one of your poems for Claire?
HONEYGARTEN
I thought you would never ask
(recites a love poem)
I worked on that for quite some time before I dared to give it to her, my dear. I wanted it to be just perfect
TEENIE
Is a poem like a love token Mr. Honeygarten?
HONEYGARTEN
(nods)
(the two of them begin to look in all his old sketchbooks of his drawings of Claire, and all her hats)
(smiling)
She had so many of those. One hat for each day it seemed
TEENIE
Can a love token be a rose?
HONEYGARTEN
Yes Teenie. I was especially thinking of this poem.
TEENIE
(watching as he unfolds a poem with a rose petal inside)
HONEYGARTEN
She once put a rose in my lapel. I have saved this petal all these long years
TEENIE
I’m going to save my rose like that too
(puts Devlin’s rose in her pocket)
Do you think it might be a love token?
HONEYGARTEN
I daresay it was my dear. And I expect the feather he left for you was as well
(for Walter Halsey Davis of the Santa Barbara Writers Conference)
*adaptation of my novel to screenplay p. 125, Chapter “Lost Worlds”
INT. HONEYGARTEN HOUSE. AFTERNOON LIGHT
Mr. Honeygarten climbs the stairs to his attic where an old trunk resides. It’s full of all his earliest sketchbooks, and letters from Claire. He intends to explain feelings to Teenie, by showing her some of the love letters. Stairs creak, as he moves slowly up to the top. He sits on an old chair and opens the trunk full of memories.
HONEYGARTEN
(tears, looking at her picture)
My dearest Claire
(shudders with emotion)
My dearest, dearest Claire
(his hands tremble as he opens a poem he wrote to her, and an ancient dried rose petal falls to the floor)
FLASHBACK
Images of Claire and Mr. Honeygarten very young, walking by a rose bower, and she places a rose in his lapel
VOICEOVER
A love letter is the most important letter any person can ever receive because they are the most beautiful sorts of letters in the world. A love letter can never, ever die. Not ever. Once you open a love letter that has been written in handwriting it will live forever just as it was penned, by the person who wrote it.
HONEYGARTEN
(slowly looking at all their teenage letters, lost in memories, speaking to Claire’s ghost)
What do you think Teenie will say, Claire?
I was so shy as a boy I could barely ask you to take my hand
EXT. BEACH. AFTERNOON
Teenie and Devlin sit cross legged on the sand, talking, Teenie listening to every word Devlin says, while holding hands. Devlin speaks about all the plastic in the sea, and that he is concerned with what girls seem to be doing, injecting themselves with plastic.
DEVLIN
I can’t figure out why they keep trying to change themselves. They looked fine to me just the way they were.
TEENIE
(looks away shyly, but likes the warmth of his hand holding hers)
DEVLIN
(walking her home, hand in hand)
When can I see you again?
TEENIE
(shyly)
Tomorrow?
DEVLIN
(walking backward down the street, not wanting to say goodbye)
TEENIE
Bye
DEVLIN
See you tomorrow
INT. TEENIE APT. DIM LIGHT
Teenie passes Christina asleep on the couch, to the endless drone of the newscasters, decides to go back to Mr. Honeygartens, he is alive to her, not the dim silence of her mother
EXT. AFTERNOON. GRANDPA JESS TRUCK.
Grandpa Jess has gone to town and come back with a surprise for Devlin, a tiny Chocolate lab puppy, curled in a cardboard box.
GRANDMA JESS
(beaming and smiling at her husband)
Oh Jess, what are we going to name him?
GRANDPA JESS
That’s Devlin’s job sweetheart
GRANDMA JESS
Oh Jess, look at him
GRANDPA JESS
Isn’t he cute?
GRANDMA JESS
He looks like a chocolate malt ball
GRANDPA JESS
He does doesn’t he. He’ll be good for the boy. I think he really needs a companion to help him get through this time, sweetheart.
GRANDMA JESS
I’ve been so worried about him Jess
GRANDPA JESS
(enfolds her in a hug)
I know sweetheart, he doesn’t say much
DEVLIN
(comes into kitchen where his grandparents are smiling and giggling)
GRANDPA JESS
Got something for you son
GRANDMA JESS
(beaming with mirth)
Devlin why don’t you go out to the truck and take a look
DEVLIN
What is it?
GRANDPA JESS
You’ll see son
GRANDMA JESS
Oh Devlin, wait til you
GRANDPA JESS
(takes her hand)
Shush….
Go on now Devlin. Go see
DEVLIN
(races out to truck, and finds the pup curled up in an old towel in the cardboard box)
Look at you
(cuddles squiggling pup in his arms)
GRANDPA JESS
(the two of them stand watching, eyes twinkling)
Well son, you’d best be thinking up a name for that little fellow, don’t you think?
DEVLIN
Oh thank you, thank you. I could never have a puppy in the city
GRANDPA JESS
Well you can now. Labradors love the beach
GRANDMA JESS
You can teach him to swim with you, Dev
PUPPY
(chewing on the plaid shirt collar of Devlin’s)
You little devil
GRANDPA JESS
He’s going to be a handful, son
The best kind of handful
DEVLIN
(embracing the puppy)
I love him already, Grandpa
I don’t even know what to call him
GRANDPA JESS
(smiling)
It’ll come to you Devlin
Did I ever tell you about my first dog?
DEVLIN
No, grandpa I don’t think you ever did
GRANDPA JESS
I don’t think there was ever a better friend than old Tobias. My dad got him for me when I was about your age. Old Toby.
*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 