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
(for Walter Halsey Davis, of the Santa Barbara Writers Conference)
*adaptation of of my Novel Heart of Clouds, to go to film – page 101, chapter is “Hearts”
INT. TEENIE BEDROOM. EARLY MORNING.
Teenie wakes up to the scent of Mr. Honeygarten’s roses nodding in a vase next to her bed. Switches on a nightlight, and takes Devlin’s note from her pillowcase, reading it over and over again. In her pajamas, goes to her window, watching the clouds. She exhales, warm breath against the glass and draws a heart, with the letter D inside it.
(for Walter Halsey Davis, of the Santa Barbara Writers Conference)
*page 94, in my novel Heart of Clouds
EXT. VILLAGE. SUNSET
Teenie leaves Mr. Honeygartens, walking her bike home, watching the sunset. Sad at what Mr. Honeygarten told her, about Claire.
VOICEOVER as Teenie looks out to the island, Honeygarten
HONEYGARTEN
She is with me every single day, Teenie. Every single day. And you see my dear, this is why I use her spoons as I do. I feel that when I stir the tea, it’s almost like she is here with me.
*establishing, love lives forever, even after loss
INT. TEENIE APT. COLD DIM LIGHT.
Teenie wants to talk to her mother, but she is passed out, rolled into a ball on the couch. Teenie spends a long time looking at her mother’s face, which is relaxed and beautiful in sleep.
TEENIE
(whispers)
It’s been so long since I have seen you smile, Mom.
INT. DEVLIN BEDROOM. NIGHT.
Devlin kisses her note to him as he falls asleep with it tucked safely in his breast pocket, against his heart.
Devlin tosses and turns in sleep, dreaming of a squadron of sea turtles who have come to take him to the sea kingdom. Tut, the largest of these, is weeping. Devlin sees the tears in his eyes.
You will ride me, Devlin. I shall take you to the source of the Wave.
Tut moves so that Devlin can climb aboard his giant ancient shell, as the other turtles in the squadron watch. Devlin hold’s Tut’s ancient flippers as the other turtles form a giant flotilla that the whales and dolphins also join.
BLUE WHALE
One of the blue whales swims up close to TUT, with Devlin aboard. He communicates with his eyes, to Devlin, Devlin can understand through the looks in their eyes to each other.
BLUE WHALE VOICEOVER
The sea gods are angry Devlin because people have not shown them respect.
INT. DEVLIN BEDROOM. MORNING. DREAM SEQUENCE.
Devlin awakes again with a start from his dream. He thinks he sees Tut in the tree limbs outside his window, he’s tired and wants to go back to sleep again, but he is back in the seadream. Tut awaits him, beckoning with a flipper. They press on through the sea, and the Orcas have joined them. The sea turns a sickening color of green, purple yellow and magenta. Devlin sees hundreds of the plastic shoes floating in a vortex. Tut halts the other sea animals with his flipper, as Devlin sits up, astride him. The Orcas swim away in disgust as the sea turned blackish green.
(Devlin wakes up and feels for Teenies note. Sigh of relief. Rubs his chest at his heart.)
VOICEOVER TUT
Devlin you are the last boy on earth who can understand the sea gods wrath, because you know the language of the air
DEVLIN
Does Teenie know how to speak my language?
TUT
You could teach her Devlin Underwood. She knows how to speak the language of the heart Devlin.
TUT VOICEOVER continues
The language of the heart is a very, very old language Devlin. Some people said that the trees taught it to the human race, or the clouds, or the sun and moon. Some say it comes from walking alone for miles in the mountains and others say it comes from gazing into a flower, or sometimes the eyes of another human being.
DEVLIN
Tut why didn’t the Orcas speak?
TUT
Their hearts are broken
INT. GRANDMA JESS KITCHEN. MORNING GOLDEN LIGHT
Grandma Jess bustles in the kitchen cooking breakfast for Devlin, Oatmeal with raisins and brown sugar.
GRANDMA JESS
Did you sleep well Devlin?
DEVLIN
Not exactly Grandma
I had a very strange dream about the Wave
GRANDMA JESS
Your grandfather is still asleep, Devlin, but I’m sure he’d like to hear about it when he wakes up.
DEVLIN
(eating the oatmeal)
I’m going to the beach today, right after I finish this. I want to work on the seahut some more.
(for Walter Halsey Davis, of the Santa Barbara Writers Conference)
*chapter FIRST KISS p. 89 in my novel
EXT. DEVLIN’S CASTLES. LOON POINT. SUNNY
Devlin watches Teenie walking by the sea, she is the first girl he has ever thought of as pretty.
*establishing first feelings for a girl
Shakes his head, to and fro. He runs down the beach like a race horse to get back to the driftwood hut, finds her note hidden in the abalone shell.
FLASHBACK
Teenie kissing her note to him with an invisible kiss. Then pocketing his note to her.
*establishing first feelings for a boy
Devlin has paper and pen in his uke case. Scribbles a next note, in all CAPS.
MEET ME HERE TOMORROW AT TEN O’CLOCK
Love, Devlin
Photo by Yelena Odintsova on Pexels.comDigital Camera
EXT. HONEYGARTEN HOUSE. GARDEN GATE. MELLOWMAN
Teenie rides her bike to Mr. Honeygartens, and Melloman has been waiting for her at the gate. Her feelings for Devlin make her want to ask Mr. Honeygarten about Claire. She stops to inhale one of his exquisite old red rambler roses along the picket fence.
old house in Carp, with look for Honeygarten houseimage for look of Honeygarten fence, this is next door to the yellow house above in Carp.
TEENIE
(calls up to his upper windows)
Mr. Honeygarten are you home?
HONEYGARTEN
(his face appears smiling down at her, from the high window)
Hello, my dear
Would you like some tea?
TEENIE
Yes I would Mr. Honeygarten
HONEYGARTEN
Why don’t you go and get the shears and bring some of those roses in, my dear. Take Mellowman along with you.
(Mellowman leaping and clowning around, tail wagging, garden scenes, tangled English garden look)
(Teenie moving along the fence picking the lush red roses)
INT. HONEYGARTEN HOUSE. PARLOR
Mr. Honeygarten has made tea and is arranging his delicate cups and saucers for the two of them, as well as petits fours.
HONEYGARTEN
Aren’t they the loveliest?
TEENIE
(arranging roses in a vase)
They are, Mr. Honeygarten
HONEYGARTEN
Sit down my dear. Tell me how you have been?
TEENIE
Fine
HONEYGARTEN
Any wild adventures?
TEENIE
(looks away shyly thinking of Devlin)
Well….
Mr. Honeygarten?
HONEYGARTEN
Yes my dear
TEENIE
Who was Claire?
HONEYGARTEN
Ah, Claire. Why Claire was the most beautiful girl I have ever seen
TEENIE
She was?
HONEYGARTEN
Yes my dear. She was.
TEENIE
When did you know her?
HONEYGARTEN
When I was fifteen
TEENIE
Really?
HONEYGARTEN
Yes my dear, and I have never, ever forgotten her. Not once in all these years.
*image of Mary Pickford in Stella Maris — Mr. Honeygarten’s “Claire”
HONEYGARTEN
(eyes, dreamily remembering Claire, he takes a sip of tea and reaches for a petits four)
TEENIE
She must have been very special Mr. Honeygarten
HONEYGARTEN
She was my dear. In fact she stole my heart.
TEENIE
(puzzling over what Mr. Honeygarten has just said)
HONEYGARTEN
(sighs deeply)
Claire was the love of my life, my dear
TEENIE
She was?
HONEYGARTEN
Yes, Teenie she was
TEENIE
Well how did she. I mean
HONEYGARTEN
How did I fall in love with her?
TEENIE
(smiling at Mr. Honeygarten, while secretly thinking of Devlin)
HONEYGARTEN
Oh my dear, where shall I begin?
(pauses, close in on kind eyes smiling at Teenie)
I suppose my dear, she was a bit like you
TEENIE
She was?
HONEYGARTEN
Yes, she was. I suppose I shall just have to tell you that story, won’t I?
I don’t suppose you might bake another apple pie for me once I finish?
TEENIE
Mr. Honeygarten if you tell me about Claire, I’ll make you an entire pie. Just for you.
(Fire crackling in the hearth, Mr. Honeygarten and Teenie savor the petits fours and cakes, while sipping tea, as Teenie pours, watching the little elf on the teaspoon, it seems to smile at her)
Where did you get these little teaspoons, Mr. Honeygarten
HONEYGARTEN
Claire gave them to me, my dear. I’ve had them all these years.
TEENIE
She did?
HONEYGARTEN
Yes, in fact we had tea together almost every day as children
TEENIE
You did?
HONEYGARTEN
(nods, solemnly)
All these little spoons were given to me by her. I have four. For the four birthdays we shared together.
TEENIE
You saved them all these years?
HONEYGARTEN
Nothing in the world would ever make me part from these spoons
TEENIE
You must have loved her very much Mr. Honeygarten
HONEYGARTEN
I did my dear. More than anything in the whole world.
(for Walter Halsey Davis, of the Santa Barbara Writers Conference)
*chapter “Seadreams” p. 81
EXT. DRIFTWOOD HUT. MORNING. SUNNY.
Teenie is amazed to see that there is a seaweed curtain like a door. She parts the curtains and enters, captivated. Finds Devlin’s note in the abalone shell after shaking it to and fro. She hugs the note to her heart, rocking back and forth, listening to the sounds of the ocean.
TEENIE
(speaking softly to horizon, out to sea, to islands)
Dad I think you would like this boy
FLASHBACK
(Jax and Teenie the day he told her about writers and hats and they had shopped for one)
JAX
Every writer needs a hat Teenie
PRESENT
Teenie pulls the hat down, smiling and remembering her father. Unfolds Devlin’s note carefully, sees his signature, marvels at how much he said on paper. Close in on her face, reading intently, absorbing each word.
TEENIE
Pulls her journal and pen from pocket and begins to write back to him
*establishing EMPATHY
Teenie answers each line he has written we close in on his words, then hers.
Hi, Teenie
I’m really glad you left me this letter, because I really wanted to meet you
Hi Devlin,
thank you for writing this really long letter back to me. I really wanted to meet you too from the minute I saw you that day on the dunes, but it was like you ran away before I could say hi.
That day I saw you on the beach you were crying and so I didn’t want to bother you, even though you were in my secret driftwood castle.
I totally wondered if you built this sea hut, ever since I saw you. Nobody here ever built one of those like you did. I didn’t realize it was a castle though, until today when you added the door!
I’ve been really missing my old friends and that’s how come I wanted to be friends with you. I’ve only been here about two months and school is going to start pretty soon. I’m going to be in eighth.
I’m going to be in eighth, too! Maybe we’ll be in the same classes and stuff. I’m sorry that you miss your friends from back home. Do you like living with your grandparents? It must have been really hard at first, Devlin. It must have been really hard to move here and then have to start all over and make new friends. Right before school starts too.
I was like thinking you were my age too – but I wasn’t sure. It looks like you really miss your Dad a lot.
I do really miss my Dad, Devlin. He’s been gone for a really long time now and that day you saw me crying it was about him. I just missed him so much and it seems like nothing is any fun without him. He and my mom lost their jobs and he used to be a reporter for the newspaper in the Village. He worked there my whole life. He’s gone because he had to go south and try and find a new job. We had to sell our house too, and move. Sometimes I look up at my old house and I just get so sad walking by it. It’s that big white one on the hill. That pretty house.
Your mom sounds kind of cool – like she cares about the ocean a lot. It’s my favorite place too.
My Mom totally cares about the ocean, Devlin. She keeps on watching the news though and she is so worried about The Wave coming that she just sits there most of the time all day long in front of the TV. The doctor told me she had something called a “depression” and they gave her a whole bunch of pills to take. She doesn’t even seem like my Mom anymore, sometimes.
I hope we can meet again sometime
I hope we can really meet each other, too.
Sometimes it’s really hard to talk to anyone about how I really feel. Do you ever feel like that?
Devlin Underwood
Sometimes I do feel like it is pretty hard to explain my feelings to people, Devlin. It was like this summer when it got the hardest. My Dad was the one I talked to most. I could tell him anything and it was like he just understood me. It’s totally easy to talk to you though in a letter and I don’t know why, even. It just is.
Love, Teenie Alexander
TEENIE
(sits looking at what she has written to Devlin for a long time, exhales softly)
Dad you told me writers were always outsiders. Remember when you got me this hat?
EXT. DEVLIN’S CASTLES. LOON POINT. SUNNY.
Digital Camera
*Images from location at Loon in magic hour light
EXT. DEVLINS CASTLES. GOLDEN LIGHT. ATOP BLUFFS AT LOON.
Devlin has been watching Teenie from above, sitting crosslegged atop the bluffs, in his castle, unbeknownst to her, watching. He has his uke and harmonica with him.
*core musical theme plays, sweeping sound
Devlin watches Teenie leave the driftwood hut, and walk in the waves with her pant legs rolled, until she rounds the bend out of sight.
DEVLIN
(softly out to sea)
Maybe we can really meet each other soon, Teenie
Close in on his hand drawing a heart in the sandy blufftop. He draws the letter T inside it.
(picks up his uke and plays a song his grandfather taught him)
(hawks circling, images of dolphins out to sea, seals)
(cockily teases him by running down the beach carrying note in its beak)
Two red tails arrive and scare the gulls away. Devlin reaches to grab it before the wave washes in
INT. DRIFTWOOD HUT. MORNING. SUNNY.
Devlin carefully unfolds her note and marvels at her handwriting.
DEVLIN
I know her name now. Teenie.
Teenie Alexander. Wow.
(he cannot believe how much attention she put into her note back to him, begins to read in her handwriting)
Dear Devlin,
I think you have a really cool name. I don’t think I’ve met anyone with that name before.
You said I was a sad girl, but I’m not all the time. You know how you said your Mom died? Well that day you saw me crying it was because of my Dad. He’s gone away and I really really miss him. So, I guess like, I can understand a bit about how you feel. Sometimes I just feel really alone since he has been gone and most of the time it is really hard to talk to my Mom.
She is just always watching TV and she always talks about the Wave and the extinctions and about the tuna fish sandwiches she used to eat when she was little and stuff and about how people have ruined the planet and there aren’t going to be any more fish in the sea and stuff like that.
Anyway I just wanted to thank you for that feather and for this beautiful shell because that was a totally bad day for me. Remember that day I saw you running up the beach dunes? I wanted to say Hi but then you were just gone.
Bye,
Teenie Alexander
DEVLIN
Wow, she said she liked my name, and it was a cool name, and she wanted to talk to me too, that day she saw me on the dunes.
Devlin races back home, while a giant flock of gulls watch him.
INT. DEVLINS HOUSE. GOLDEN LIGHT, FIRE CRACKLING
GRANDPA JESS
(sitting with Grandma Jess before a crackling warm fire full of the pine cones they had collected)
You look you are in quite a hurry, son
(Devlin nods, and takes the stairs two at a time, to his room)
INT. DEVLINS ROOM. GOLDEN LIGHT.
*establishing first feelings for a girl
Devlin locks his door, and puts all her notes on the floor before him. He feels like he can say anything to Teenie, and takes pen and paper to compose an answer. He practices signing his name, over and over and over, until he feels it looks perfect.
He begins to write back to Teenie.
Hi Teenie,
I’m really glad you left me this letter because I really wanted to meet you. That day I saw you on the beach you were crying and so I didn’t want to bother you even though you were in my secret driftwood castle. I’ve been really missing my old friends and that’s how come I wanted to be friends with you. I’ve only been here about two months and school is going to start soon. I’m going to be in 8th grade. I was thinking you were my age too, but I wasn’t sure. It looks like you really miss your Dad a lot. Your Mom sounds kind of cool, like she cares about the ocean a lot. It’s my favorite place too. I hope we can meet again sometime. Sometimes it’s really hard to talk to anyone about how I really feel. Do you ever feel like that?
Devlin Underwood
Devlin signs his note with his signature in a fantastic flourish, then carries the note back down to the beach to the driftwood hut.
EXT. BEACH. DRIFTWOOD HUT. SUNNY, GOLDEN LIGHT
Devlin scans the beach, and decides to make a seaweed curtain for the hut, just in case that gull might come back and steal his note to Teenie.
*to page 79 in novel Heart of Clouds
*establishing how two teens can be friends, in letters
*establishing first crush between teens
this is from a great location at Butterfly Beach, where there is a set of stone seats, surrounded by this plant the Tamarisk.
image of the hills Dev and Grandpa Jess drive up, location for Big Rock mountain was Figueroa Mountain, so area is Paradise Road. This is up by Vedanta Temple here in town.
EXT. RED TRUCK. BACKCOUNTRY DRIVE. SUNNY.
GRANDPA JESS
(gestures at driver’s seat)
You take the wheel son. It’s high time you learned to drive
DEVLIN
(face lights up in sheer shock at this offer, smiles broadly at his grandfather, can’t believe it, moves into driver’s seat)
I get to drive?
Really?
GRANDPA JESS
(laughing as Devlin grinds the gears a little, til he manages, they take off up the road)
You’ll get the hang of it son. Why I wouldn’t be surprised if by the end of the day
DEVLIN
(braking suddenly at the wonder of seeing a Bobcat with huge golden eyes in the road)
I had this over in pinterest, location is Figueroa Mountain where Dev and his Grandfather go for the cones, picnic spot
EXT. PICNIC. BIG ROCK MOUNTAIN. DAY, SUNNY
Devlin and Grandpa Jess sit at Big Rock Mountain and open the picnic basket which overflows with all the things packed inside.
GRANDPA JESS
Your grandmother sure loves herself a nice fire, Dev
DEVLIN
She told me it warms her spirit
(the two of them enjoy the lunch, while we pan on the wildlife and flowers of location)
*sound quiet winds on the mountain
Devlin and Grandpa Jess collect the cones all day in burlap sacks, as evening falls, dusk light. Thoughts of Teenie at the beach float through his mind like butterflies, he realizes they won’t be home before dark, so he will miss being able to get to the driftwood hut.
INT. CHRISTINA’S KITCHEN. DISMAL BLUE LIGHT. MORNING.
Christina in her kitchen, opening the cabinets, frustrated by the lack of food, missing her husband Jax, She can hardly cope. Nothing in cabinets except for a jar of peanut butter and macaroni and cheese, boxed. She closes cabinets, rests her head against them. Realizes she has to find the strength to go shopping. Decides to make Teenie soup they can share.
CHRISTINA
(says to ceiling)
All the fun has gone out of my life. All the fun is gone.
TEENIE
(comes from the beach)
CHRISTINA
Honey where were you. I was worried, you didn’t leave a note. I got up and the house was just empty this morning.
TEENIE
I just went down to the beach Mom
CHRISTINA
Do you want some lunch
TEENIE
I’m starved
CHRISTINA
I made you some soup
TEENIE
You did?
CHRISTINA
It’s on the stove. Want to sit down together?
TEENIE
That would be nice Mom. You weren’t watching TV today?
CHRISTINA
No honey. I wanted a day off from it.
TEENIE
Mom how come the news is always so bad
CHRISTINA
It’s just how the world is now, Teenie
TEENIE
What was it like when you were a girl?
CHRISTINA
Well, it was the same world, just different. People had problems then too, Teenie, but it didn’t seem quite as hard as it is now.
(Teenie watches her mother at the stove stirring the soup. She is happy they will be sitting together, even if her father isn’t with them.)
CHRISTINA
I missed Jax a lot today, Teenie
(she ladles two bowls of the fragrant soup, and we close in on the colors she is putting into the bowls. Sudden life in the dismal blue light.)
*Teenie and Jax fave soup, Christina has made it, scratch
I really missed him Teenie
TEENIE
I miss him too, Mom
(smiles, as she takes her first spoonful, warmth filling her)
*image for the style of old fashioned picnic basket Grandpa Jess and Devlin take up into the mountains
Grandpa Jess and Devlin drive the windy roads down to the village, then head up to Big Rock Mountain to collect pine cones for the fireplace together
EXT. TRUCK RIDE. SUNNY DAY
GRANDPA JESS
Steer for me a minute will you Dev?
DEVLIN
(smiling, shock of surprise, taking the wheel for the first time)
GRANDPA JESS
Son, I’ve been meaning to have a talk with you for quite some time
Grandpa Jess takes the wheel back, serious, but smiling, holding all the weight of the moment, and his own son in his mind, careful to be the best strongest grandfather he can be
DEVLIN
(looking out window at scenery of the mountains)
GRANDPA JESS
I know how hard it has been for you to lose your mother
(pauses)
Grandma Jess doesn’t like to bring it up, so I thought we could have a man-to-man about it
DEVLIN
I don’t really feel like talking Grandpa
(Devlin fidgets in his seat, uncomfortable having to discuss feelings)
GRANDPA JESS
All right then, we’ll let it go for now son, but I want you to know you can always come to me, if you want to talk
DEVLIN
(close in on his serious eyes, looking at his grandfather)
GRANDPA JESS
Always, Dev. Any time okay?
Panning through the landscape scenes of the hills, hawks, stones, roads, as they drive up out of the fog into the sun.
FLASHBACK
INT. GRANDMA JESS KITCHEN. NIGHT. GOLDEN LIGHT.
(worried over the boy, Grandpa and Grandma Jess, cooking up a big picnic for the next day)
GRANDMA JESS
Jess do you think he will like these cookies?
GRANDPA JESS
nodding as he packs the picnic basket with care
GRANDMA JESS
(close in on her hands wrapping cookies in wax paper)
GRANDPA JESS
(broadly smiling at her)
Think we need all those?
GRANDMA JESS
(close in on the two of them hugging in the kitchen)
Just in case, Jess.
INT. TRUCK. DAY. COUNTRY ROAD, BIG ROCK MOUNTAIN
(Grandpa Jess pulls over on the dusty dirt road high in the mountains)
GRANDPA JESS
Are you looking forward to school son?
It’s hard to believe you are going to be in the 8th grade
DEVLIN
I know. I just wish I knew a few people before it starts, though, Grandpa
(sighs, looks out window)
I knew a lot of people back home in the city
GRANDPA JESS
Small towns are different, Devlin
It takes a while
(they both look at the puffy white cumulus clouds banking up against the hills)
GRANDPA JESS
Want something to eat or do you want to wait a bit?
DEVLIN
Grandpa, those were a lot of pancakes this morning
GRANDPA JESS
(laughing heartily, pushes his old straw hat back and wipes his forehead with a red bandana)
Yes, son, I guess we did do justice to those little pancakes didn’t we?
(Grandpa Jess exits his seat, and makes hand gesture at the driver’s seat)
INT. TEENIE’S APARTMENT. FOGGY MORNING, BLUE GREY SAD LIGHT
(Close in on Christina as she wakes up, in bed, sad, and reaches for one of her many pill bottles on the nightstand, swallows the one for depression she has been precribed, dozens of bottles)
CHRISTINA
(moving as if underwater, to the door of Teenie’s room)
(whispers)
Maybe she’s down at Mr. Honeygarten’s again. It’s good for her to be able to play with Melloman.
(Christina sees a pile of clean laundry on Teenie’s little twin bed. She begins to fold it, tenderly, smoothing out the little shirts and jeans.)
(She speaks to the ceiling)
You monster. How could you have ruined our lives like you have. My little girl’s life.
FLASHBACK
In a montage, scenes of her marriage to JAX, when they are working, buying the white Victorian high on the hill where Teenie was conceived, happiness. The Village Crier, where they had worked until the firings. Rocking Teenie to sleep as a baby, smiling at JAX.
image for look of Honeygarten house (location is Carp)
*image Teenie’s old house, that white Victorian high on hill at Summerland
CHRISTINA
What kind of a world will my daughter grow up in?
What kind of a world will our kids be inheriting?
Image look for Mr. Honeygartens picket fence and roses, next door to yellow house in Summerland
*image of the old church in Summerland
atmospheres in “The Village”
house that was where this author llived in the Summer of ’71, Summerland. She was a friend of Mother’s and the kitchen was trompe l’oiel with blue sky and clouds. Raised around artists! ❤
(for Walter Halsey Davis, of the Santa Barbara Writers Conference)
*page 55 – Chapter “Fog Banks”
EXT. MORNING, CREEKBED/BEACH. FOGGY LIGHT
Teenie wanders down the creek edges, a secret path to the beach, plucking Nasturtiums, that she tucks into the breast pocket of her jacket, like bright suns. Excited to see what Devlin has done, but shy. The fog is so thick she worries she won’t be able to find the driftwood hut.
TEENIE
(softly, into the mist)
I wonder what he did after he read my note. What if I can’t find it? What if it got washed away?
Teenie makes her way down the beach over the rocks, keeping to the edges of the cliffs, high tide. Excited she finds the hut, climbs inside, sees the two feathers Devlin left, and his note peeking out from under the stacked stones. She pauses staring at it, before opening. Unfolds, marveling at his handwriting.
TEENIE
This is his handwriting, so different from mine
His name is Devlin
(whispers)
Devlin your Mom died
*establishing sound for Devlin
TEENIE
(pondering how difficult life must be for him, having lost his mother)
(lets out a long sigh)
Devlin your Mom died. You must be so sad. Maybe that’s why you didn’t say anything the other day. Maybe you were too sad to talk or something. I can’t believe you are my age
(embarrassed he had seen her crying)
A gull lands on the top of the seahut, screeching loudly
*gull and wave sounds
TEENIE
I’m totally embarrassed you saw me crying Devlin
(rubs her hands together and blows on them to warm up)
You left me a magic feather
Teenie lies down on the sand in the hut, cups her face, thinks about what she will write next.
INT. DEVLIN. BEDROOM. MORNING. Foggy light.
Devlin wakes to the sound of a crow’s harsh calling, just outside his window.
DEVLIN
Hello crow, what are you up to?
CROW
(tips head and looks at Devlin seeming to say)
Nothing. Nothing at all.
Devlin remembers Teenie’s notes in his pillowcase, and decides to move them to a box he keeps talismans in. He hides the box in the back of his dresser.
GRANDPA JESS
(his voice floats up the stairs)
Devlin are you awake son? Come on down we’ve got pancakes this morning
DEVLIN
Here I come. Just give me maybe five minutes
GRANDPA JESS
I’m filling in for Grandma. She’s going to town with some of those Ladies Society friends of hers. I’m never sure what they have in mind on their jaunts but more than likely she’ll be gone all day, so it’s just you and me Dev.
INT. KITCHEN. GRANDPA JESS HOUSE (Warm golden light)
Grandpa Jess is cooking stacks of pancakes in the golden light and close in on drizzle of maple syrup and butter on stacks of them. He flourishes the spatula, grinning to himself about the day he has planned for Devlin and himself.
GRANDPA JESS
Isn’t this a swell little spatula?
DEVLIN
(nodding, watching)
GRANDPA JESS
Breakfasts for pioneers, my boy
DEVLIN
(secretly thinking about seeing Teenie again)
Grandpa do you mind if I go to the beach today?
GRANDPA JESS
(carries two mountainous plates of steaming pancakes to dining room table)
Eat up now
DEVLIN
(fiddles with his pancakes)
GRANDPA JESS
Well Devlin, I thought we could spend the day together what with your Grandma gone and all
DEVLIN
(lost in thoughts about what he would rather do, head to beach)
GRANDPA JESS
It seems like you spend every minute down on that beach, son. I thought we might take the truck up into the hills, get out of this fog. It’s warm in the backcountry and besides I wanted to show you something special
DEVLIN
(heart not really in it)
Okay Grandpa. When are we going?
GRANDPA JESS
Right after you finish those pancakes, son
*establishing Devlin as a young teen, in a warm Family System who will do anything to try and help him – but expressing true feelings not okay, Devlin feels he can’t really talk, as with Teenie he can, in the little letters they have left for each other – (not okay for boys to cry)
INT. DRIFTWOOD HUT. BEACH (sun, breaking through fog)
Teenie has been in the hut, trying to think of a way to answer Devlin. She begins to write to him, close in on her hand writing this long letter:
Dear Devlin,
I really think you have a cool name. I don’t think I ever met anyone with that name before.
You said I was a sad girl, but I’m not all the time. You know how you said your mom died? Well that day you saw me crying it was because of my dad.
He’s gone away and I really, really miss him.
So I guess, like, I can understand a little bit about how you feel.
Sometimes, I just feel really alone since he’s been gone and most of the time it’s really hard to talk to my mom. She is just always watching TV and she always talks about the Wave and the extinctions and about tuna fish sandwiches she used to eat when she was little and stuff and about how people have ruined the planet and there aren’t going to be any more fish in the sea and stuff like that.
Anyway, I just wanted to thank you for that feather and for this beautiful shell because that was like a totally bad day for me.
Remember that day I saw you running up the dunes? I wanted to say “hi” but then you were just gone.
Bye, Teenie Alexander
Teenie sighs at the close of the writing, feeling as if the words just poured out of her. She hunts down the beach until she finds a turret shell, to weight the note down. As she leaves, she whispers on the wind, close in on her face
TEENIE
Bye, Devlin. I’m glad I met you.
*to page 61, in the novel Heart of Clouds
*establishing the kids can communicate through written word and by hand, also teen years of breakaway into puberty, innocence.
(adaptation from my novel, for the screen, for Walter Halsey Davis, my teacher at the SB Writers Conference)
*page 50 – chapter “Touchstone”
INT. DEVLIN’S BEDROOM. NIGHT, WARM LIGHT
Devlin climbs into bed, but is restless. Hard to fall asleep, he tosses and turns. First thoughts of “a girl” that he has seen in Teenie, and excitement over wondering what will happen next. He wants to ask her why she is sad, feels like he said to much about himself already. His mind races, boyish nervousness.
DEVLIN
(fingering the notes she left him)
(whispers)
Maybe we are connected for a reason, by our hearts
(looks to ceiling, pulls his mother’s face up like a vision, she appears like a mirage on the ceiling, giant, beautiful, smiling down at him, blurry edges, watery illusion)
DEVLIN
Mom, I saw this girl on the beach. She’s totally cool too.
(he pauses watching his mother’s expressions)
I don’t know what her name is yet, but I left her this note and I told her what mine was. She wanted to know. You should have seen the little note she left me the first day
(unfolds the note with the heart and the clouds, so his mother can see)
(his mother beams and nods down at him in joyous watery mirage fashion)
DEVLIN
(slowly unfolds her note with the heart and the clouds, presents it to ceiling where his mother’s face hovers, we see her beaming down at him)
Check it out, Mom. I think she might be an artist. She did this one too.
Devlin glides the paper airplane through the air, then unfolds.
DEVLIN
Look what she wrote inside
FLASHBACK. GRANDMA JESS. NIGHT OF FUNERAL, (tucking Devlin in)
GRANDMA JESS
Devlin, all you have to do is think of her face and she’ll be here for you. That’s what I did after my mother was gone. Try it and see.
Grandma Jess smoothes the blankets, kisses Devlin on forehead.
GRANDMA JESS
(nodding at the doorway)
See you in the morning
Close in on Devlin’s face, blurry with tears.
DEVLIN’S MOTHER SAYS (from cieling mirage)
Put those someplace special, Devlin
Devlin tucks the notes inside his pillowcase. We hear the sound of an owl softly hooting, as he drifts off to sleep.
Teenie wakes up with a start. She’s had a strange dream. The apartment is quiet, as Christina is still asleep, stayed up all night watching the news. Teenie makes herself a hot chocolate and piece of raisin toast. She plans to slip away before her mother wakes up and go back down to the beach. She makes gestures of being freezing cold, chooses a warm plaid jacket.
sparrows, November light, WilcoxFog, November light, Bluffs in CarpinteriaNasturtiums, Summerland, park area May
Adrienne Wilson 