|
|||||||
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
|||||||
JOHN IS THE ONLY HUMAN ON EARTH TO BE BORN THERE (YEAR 204 P.B.) AND TO NEVER LEAVE. HIS PARENTS MADE THIS HARD CHOICE VERY QUICKLY, IN ORDER TO ESCAPE FROM THE OVERCROWDING AND TO BEGIN A NEW LIFE FAR AWAY FROM THEIR HOME. THEY ONLY HAD ENOUGH MONEY FOR THE TWO OF THEM TO MAKE THE JOURNEY AND THEN BE ABLE TO SUPPORT THEMSELVES UNTIL ARRANGEMENTS FOR JOBS AND HOUSING COULD BE MADE, AND SO JOHN WAS PUT INTO AN ORPHANAGE AT ONLY ONE MONTH OLD. SINCE THEN, JOHN HAS GROWN UP IN THE BAD PART OF TOWN. HE IS A VERY GOOD CHILD AT HEART, MUCH MORE THAN CAN BE SAID FOR HIS NON HUMAN CLASSMATES. NOW GOING ON EIGHT YEARS OLD, HIS ATTITUDE OF LIFE HAS GONE DOWNHILL, BUT HE CHOOSES TO HIDE IT WITH SILENCE AND SOLITUDE, EXCEPT WITH CERTAIN ADULTS WHO TAKE CARE OF HIM AT THE ORPHANAGE.
JOHN SITS ON THE FRONT STAIRS OF THE PARTON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. HE HAS PLACED HIS HEAD ON HIS KNEES, AND HE IS HUDDLED ON THE CONCRETE. A TEAR ROLLS ACROSS HIS FACE, DOWN TO A BRUISED CHIN. HE WIPES IT AWAY, WINCING AT THE MERE TOUCH OF HIS HAND TO THE WOUND.
YOUNG JOHN: Stupid bullies...
A SHADOW IS CAST OVER JOHN, AND HE LOOKS TEARFULLY UP AT THREE ROUGH CHILDREN, ALL ABOUT THREE YEARS OLDER THAN HIM, EACH HAVING THEIR OWN ALIEN FEATURES. ONE, THE LEADER OF THE CLIQUE, LEANDER, HAS HANDS COVERED IN SCALES. ANOTHER, ARBOA, HAS NO NECK AND CANNOT TURN HIS HEAD. THE LAST, ENVEL, HAS CAT-LIKE EYES THAT GLINT EVEN IN THE DARKEST SHADOWS.
LEANDER: Stupid?
YOUNG JOHN: Please, just leave me alone.
LEANDER: Oh, I don't think we can let you get away with that
, or any of your mean words for that matter. Come on, boys. (HIS
SCALED HANDS CLAP TOGETHER TWICE, SIGNALING HIS TWO HENCHMEN TO START THEIR
WORK.) Have fun, you two. I've played this game far too much
today.
JOHN: (A MUDDLED VOICE, BENEATH PUNCHES.) Please, just
leave me alone!
LEANDER: Why should we? There's no other human here to
protect you.
YOUNG JOHN: But why do you keep beating me when I can't fight
back?
ARBOA: Oh, we're just trying to give you your present.
ENVEL: Yeah! Happy eighth birthday, pip-squeak!
LEANDER: That's enough. (THE PUMMELING COMES TO A SCREECHING
HALT.) That spoiled little brat doesn't deserve so many gifts!
JOHN IS HORRIBLY BEATEN. FOUR MORE BRUISES JOIN THE ONE ON HIS CHIN, ALONG WITH A SEVERLY CUT LIP.
YOUNG JOHN: Thanks.
LEANDER: Think nothing of it, Leftover. You know what,
guys?
ENVEL: What's that, boss?
LEANDER: I think that this Leftover is getting a little stale.
How 'bout we go toss him?
ARBOA: Great idea, boss!
YOUNG JOHN: No, Leander! Don't!
LEANDER: I hate it when friendships go sour.
ENVEL AND ARBOA PICK JOHN UP BY HIS HANDS AND FEET, AND USING THEIR UNCANNY STRENGTH, LAUNCH JOHN ACROSS THE PLAYGROUND AND INTO A DUMPSTER. THEY LAUGH AS HE HITS, GARBAGE FLOWING OVER THE SIDES OF THE CONTAINER.
ARBOA: Great throw, man!
ENVEL: You weren't so bad yourself!
LEANDER: You could have gone for the gold and thrown him into
the one over the fence.
ARBOA: You are so right, boss!
ENVEL: Very right! We're so lazy, we just didn't realize
it, boss!
LEANDER LEADS HIS TWO GOONS AWAY FROM THE SCENE AS JOHN SLOWLY CLIMBS FROM HIS SMELLY PRISON. A VOICEOVER OF THE GROWN-UP JOHN PLAYS.
JOHN (V.O.): Eight years old, and my life had hit bottom. The thing is, I couldn't find my way back up. I had hit rock bottom, and I could not go anywhere but lower. (YOUNG JOHN TRIES TO GET OUT OF THE DUMPSTER AND ENDS UP LANDING ON HIS FACE ON THE WAY DOWN TO THE PAVED SIDEWALK.) There was no way out of it. I was nothing to everyone. (A YOUNG GIRL RUNS UP TO JOHN. SHE LOOKS VERY HUMAN, EXCEPT FOR HER TINY, POINTED EARS AND DARK GREEN HAIR, ALMOST ELVIN.) Leona. She was in most of my classes, but we didn't talk too much. I was quiet, and until then, she never really approached me.
LEONA: John, you okay?
YOUNG JOHN: Yeah, good enough.
LEONA: I saw what happened. Why do they pick on you like
that?
YOUNG JOHN: Because I'm human.
LEONA: That's not true!
YOUNG JOHN: I can prove I'm human!
LEONA: No, they've just got to have a better reason to pick
on you.
YOUNG JOHN: I don't think they do.
LEONA: Well, either way, nobody needs to be treated like that.
YOUNG JOHN: How's life?
LEONA: Oh, you didn't hear?
YOUNG JOHN: Hear what?
LEONA: I'm moving to another planet!
YOUNG JOHN: You're moving?
LEONA: Yeah. It's a long way from here. I think
it's called Neptune.
YOUNG JOHN: Hope you have a safe trip.
JOHN STANDS AND BEGINS TO WALK AWAY.
LEONA: John, where are you going?
YOUNG JOHN: Nowhere. I'm staying right here.
JOHN CONTINUES WALKING DOWN THE STREET AS LEONA LOOKS ON WITH A SIGH.
JOHN (V.O.): I didn't go anywhere. But over time, everyone
else did. So my parents left me here. What should I have cared?
I never got to know them. The way I saw it, I took care of myself.
There were people around there who truly cared for me, but they were all
much older than me. I didn't have any peers that wouldn't look at me
without snickering, whispering to each other about how "that kid's so poor
his parents left him behind" and "this kid couldn't be more strange."
So I'm human. So I'm strange.
SCENE 2:
228 P.B. JOHN IS NOW 24 YEARS OLD, AND IS SITTING IN BAR, DESCRIBING
HIS SITUATION TO AN ALIEN LEANED OVER A BOWL OF SALTY SNACK FOODS.
THE PAST SIXTEEN YEARS HAVE PROVEN TO BE ONES THAT HAVE GREATLY CHANGED THE
WAY THAT EARTH'S INHABITANTS LOOK, AS CAN BE SEEN FROM THE WAY THE ALIEN
LOOKS, A MUCH LONGER FACE THAN HUMANS LOOK ALONG WITH A DIFFERENT SKIN TONE,
PURPLISH, AND HIS FINGERS ARE ABOUT TWICE THE LENGTH OF A HUMAN'S.
JOHN: But who am I to talk? I'm still here, and I've
made what I can out of my life.
ALIEN: Yeah? Well, it looks like you're doing well enough,
for a human.
JOHN: Thanks. Where are you from, by the way?
ALIEN: Oh... Let's see here... (HE MOTIONS THE BARTENDER
FOR ANOTHER DRINK.) Karma knows I've gone from place to place...
(HE TAKES A SHOT OF HIS DRINK.) Ah, yes. Neptune.
JOHN: Geez. Poor Leona.
ALIEN: What about it?
JOHN: Leona was moving there. Does everyone on Neptune
look like you?
ALIEN: All of the original residents do. Why?
JOHN: As I said. Poor Leona.
ALIEN: Buddy, if these drinks didn't act like a tranqulizer on
me, you'd be nothing but a splatter on the wall. (A FLY GOES BY AND
THE ALIEN SLAPS IT AGAINST THE WALL.) Just like that.
BARTENDER: Yeah. If the companies didn't stop making them
the way they did, I'd have plenty a fight on my hands. Too many risks
with so many species of people running around the galaxy.
JOHN: I heard that one shuttle company is expanding to the next
galaxy as well, for those who want to go.
ALIEN: That must be a pretty penny.
JOHN: Tell me about it. Just going to Mars when I was
little cost my family all it had.
ALIEN: You went to Mars? How was it?
JOHN: Never saw it.
ALIEN: Don't tell me... Wow! You're the guy--
JOHN: Who was left behind.
ALIEN: Didn't know I was threatening a celebrity over here.
BARTENDER: This one's been a regular since he turned fourteen.
ALIEN: I thought that was illegal.
BARTENDER: He told me he was Altarian.
ALIEN: Smooth one, John.
JOHN: Thank you.
BARTENDER: I should have known he didn't disguise himself day
after day to fit in.
JOHN: I've heard that Soldarians weren't too bright.
BARTENDER: Let's not go into that again. I might remind
you that you've been drinking much more than I have. I doubt you can
stand.
JOHN: Again, you don't remember I've been doing this for ten
years now. (HE STANDS AND WALKS ALONG A CRACK IN THE FLOOR.) I
challenge anyone else in here who's even had one drink to do that.
A FEW PEOPLE IN THE BAR LOOK UP AT JOHN, THEN SHAMEFULLY LOOK BACK DOWN AT THEIR DRINKS. THE BARTENDER CHUCKLES.
BARTENDER: And to think, all this time most of us in here
thought your kind was inferior. I guess there is one good thing that
you humans can do. After a while, you can hold your liquor really well.
JOHN: Consider the rest of you guys lucky. Humans can
hold back the effects if they're used to it, but in the morning most of them
wake up with the biggest headache they've ever experienced. (AN ALIEN
IN THE ROOM WITH ABOUT A DOZEN DIFFERENT HEADS LOOKS UP.) Yeah.
Feel very lucky.
ALIEN: You heard from that girl since then, buddy?
JOHN: Nah.
ALIEN: She must have liked the Neptunes a lot more than the
humans, then.
JOHN: Take it back.
ALIEN: Take back your comment about my kind you made earlier
first.
JOHN: Who am I kidding. You're probably right.
ALIEN: That's what I thought. You humans were never the
ones to give up a fight.
JOHN: I may have been in that war. It doesn't mean that
I was ever against you guys. All I wanted was for Earth to win.
ALIEN: Good to know that one human's still for us.
JOHN: Think nothing of it. (HE TAKES A SHOT OF A DRINK
AND LOOKS BACK AT THE BARTENDER.) That's enough for me. I'll
be seeing you. (HE PATS HIS ALIEN FRIEND ON THE BACK, THEN WALKS TOWARD
THE DOOR.) Same time, next week.