Rickstate

I said I’d put some of my fiction on here, so here goes.   I’m still new to this WordPress thing, so I haven’t quite figured out everything.   My lack of blogger know-how is why this excerpt of a screenplay is not formatted correctly, but you’ll get the gist.

enjoy.

INT. BEER AISLE OF GROCERY STORE – DAY

We see the pair peruse the beer from a distance.   Conversation and flirtation takes place but the audience doesn’t get any audio of the exchange, just body language. They select a six-pack of tall boys.

FADE TO:

INT. A CANTINA – DAY

Two tall-boys are cracked open. Jack and Jessica are sitting opposite one another.

JESSICA
Okay, we’re here, we have beer,
we’re seated, there’s no danger of
oncoming traffic, so let’s hear it.
Hater-

JACK
Whoa, okay, you are really hot in
the biscuit to hear why our big
cities suck.

JESSICA
Hot in the biscuit? Ha. Well,
whatever, like just explain.

JACK
Okay, well…

JESSICA
(cuts him off)
I mean, so far, it still seems full
of shit but…

JACK
Easy. I’m just gonna go ahead and
do my thing and hopefully you’ll
have an open mind and not come down
on me too hard. Sound good?

JESSICA
Sounds great.

JACK
Great. Now, without romanticizing
other cities outside our great
state, I’ll just try to explain why
at minimum Houston and Dallas suck.

JESSICA
(excitedly defending and
cutefully open mouthed)
Okay- I just don’t…
(big hand gestures)

JACK
Hold on, we’ll get there. Just bear
with me. So, Dallas and Houston
have been along for a good while,
BUT neither cities became the huge
metropolises, metropoli?,
(makes a “movin on” or
“whatever” gesture)
they are today until relatively
recently. Both cities’ populations
and economy, you know, boomed after
the 1950s. Technological industry
in “Big-D” and in Houston, the oil
“slash” (/) energy industry shifted
from shipping, receiving, refining,
and drilling to a kind of condensed
corporate headquarters.

Jessica drinks her beer, maintaining eye-contact with Jack.

JACK (CONT’D)
Important to note here, in both
cities, the economic base of the
towns switched from blue-collar to
white.

JESSICA
So, these towns changed and grew a
little…

JACK
(rhetorically)
So- these towns are late bloomers,
so what?

Jessica drinks her beer while looking a little intrigued at the same time of looking a little bored.

JACK (CONT’D)
Well, what I’m trying to say is
that because these towns are extraordinary
cases of “late bloomerdom”
compounded with the sudden
surge of people with white-collar
“slash” (/) upper middle-class
paychecks, it was amazingly easy
for housing and community
developers to sweep in and clear
everything out to suit their needs.
(looking at Jessica to
feel if she’s
reciprocating his energy)
Both open spaces and the old,
weathered neighborhoods were
bulldozed down.
Basically, it’s hard to find
evidence of life in Houston or
Dallas before 1950… unless you go
to what has been labeled “the
ghetto.” It’s weird.
(shrugs)
Driving through those cities feels
a lot like walking through a brand
new shopping mall where everything
is loud, flashy, and over-priced.

JESSICA
Oh.

JACK
Also, their baseball teams can’t
win, the Cowboys are obnoxious, the
Oilers are a memory, the Spurs
found a way to make basketball
boring, the Mavericks are prettyboy
choke-artists, and the “clutch
city” Rockets are long gone.

JESSICA
You’ve given this speech before
haven’t you?
(no shot of Jack’s
reaction)
Well, I happen to like these
towns… sports teams, superficiality and all!

FADE TO WHITE.

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 12th, 2009 at 8:34 pm and is filed under words. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.