Dino and his Dad

A couple of pages out of a script written for a US kids animation

EXT. NEW

DINO (pronounced Deeno) the young dinosaur is watching his

father (his hero), FRANKIE brushing his hair in the mirror.

Dad likes what he sees.

Next to the mirror is a photo of a dinosaur who resembles

Dean Martin.

FRANKIE

Did I ever tell you how your mom

and I came to name you, Dino?

DINO

(to himself)

Yes, dad it ...

FRANKIE

It was after that great dinosaur

singer, Dean Martinsaurus.

FRANKIE gives the photo a polish while he starts to SING.

DINO covers his ears.

FRANKIE (CONT’D)

“When the moon hits the sky like

a Jurassic sky, that’s

Dinosauria”

With the singing over, DINO takes his paws away from his

ears.

FRANKIE (CONT’D)

Ain’t you excited? Heck! I know I

am. Me and my son in our first

trek into...

(Frankie sings this bit)

“ta..ta. ta.ta..the Unknown

Forest”

FRANKIE looks at DINO.

FRANKIE (CONT’D)

Ain’t you even the slightest bit

excited?

DINO

Sure, dad but why do they call it

the Unknown Forest?

FRANKIE

It’s not the (Frankie uses rabbit

ears quotation marks with his

fingers) “Unknown Forest”. It’s

the

(Frankie starts to sing

this bit again)

“ta..ta. ta.ta..the Unknown

Forest”

DINO

But why, dad?

FRANKIE

Because, it’s unknown and it’s a

forest.

DINO

But fathers and sons go there

every year. Don’t they know it

even a little bit by now?

FRANKIE

Dino, it’s not good to ask too

many questions.

DINO

That’s not what my teacher says.

FRANKIE

She’s doesn’t know what she’s

talking about, she’s just a

Microraptor.

DINO

She’s smart.

FRANKIE

She’s small. Small raptor, small

brain.

DINO

She says you’re the smartest man

in Dinosauria.

FRANKIE

She said that?

DINO

Sure did, dad.

FRANKIE

You must introduce me next time.

FRANKIE looks back at the mirror and GROWLS at what he

sees.

FRANKIE (CONT’D)

You monster!

FRANKIE winks at his reflection.

EXT.ON THE WAY TO THE UNKNOWN FOREST

DINO and FRANKIE are trudging along a path.

DINO

Are we there yet?

FRANKIE

We’ve only just left.

DINO

So we’re not there yet?

FRANKIE

No. Patience, my son.

DINO

Are we there yet?

FRANKIE

Can’t you do something? What about Eye-Spy?

DINO

Dad, that is so last ice age.

FRANKIE

Well what about that thing you’re carrying?

DINO

Oh, okay dad.

DINO takes a large shell he’s been carrying and puts it to his ear. DINO seems pleased.

FRANKIE

So what is that thing?

DINO

It’s a SyPod, dad. You can hear the sea. All the kids have got one.

FRANKIE walks on totally amazed.

FRANKIE

What will they think of next? Jeez...

bobby stevenson 2012

Me and Buzz and the Roadsmen

Buzz kind-a discovered money late in life and I don’t mean as some type of granddaddy who found a box of cash in the back yard.

I mean that as a kid he’d never really had the need for money, ‘cause - as he was always tellin’ people - Buzz lived off his God-given personality and his killer good looks.

As far as I can remember, Buzz’s first real job was running errands for Mrs Trudy Spencer who ran a little haven from life’s troubles. It was called The House and it sat comfortably at the bottom of Ferdinand Street.

Everyone called it The House but the whole town knew what went on there. If you needed it, Mrs Trudy Spencer would sell it to you.

Buzz was probably about fourteen years old at the time but he looked way older. No one would ask him how old he was, as it was always assumed he was eighteen. Under the cover of darkness Buzz would carry packages to and from The House.

I remember the first time Buzz took me along on a trip. He got to the kitchen door at the back of The House, then knocked in a series of complicated codes. No one knocked back but as I found out later, that was because Buzz had made the knocking codes up himself and of course inside they knew it was him and didn’t bother answering the door.

I asked Buzz what was in the packages and you know what he told me? He said it was ‘hooch’.

“Good old hooch made up on the hills by the Roadsmen,” Buzz told me.

No one ever really knew or met the Roadsmen. They were those people who did all the things that other people should have got blamed for. Even the bad weather was blamed on them.

“That rain was caused by the Roadsmen and their fires,” my uncle once told me when it ruined his daughter’s wedding.

To be honest I thought the package was a bit on the small side for hooch, so when Buzz went in to talk to Mrs Spencer, I had a peek into the package and it was just plain sarsaparilla for the high rollin’ customers who called The House , a home.
I wasn’t gonna tell my pal, I just let him think he was someone that the Feds would be interested in talking to.

Buzz would get paid in goods for his troubles. Tonight he had received chocolates and two pairs of nylon stockings.

“Give them to yer Ma,” Mrs Trudy Spencer had told Buzz “I hear she could do with a good man in her life.”

I can just imagine that Buzz would have looked hurt at that point as he was the man in his Ma’s life, the man of the house. I don’t think that was what Mrs Trudy Spencer was really talking about.

That night we lay on the hill overlooking town and ate the chocolates. We both wore the stockings over our faces and decided that maybe we would keep them for the day when we needed to rob a bank.

“Why would we rob a bank?” I asked Buzz.
“In case we needed the money,” he told me.
“We ain’t got money and we’re happy.”
“I know, but maybe.....” then he stopped and I could hear his brain working....”yeh but maybe...one day we’ll get money and then we’ll lose it and then we’ll want to get some more.”

Buzz lay back real pleased with himself about that explanation and then pulled his nylon stocking disguise back over his chocolate covered face. He did have a point, one day we would have money and I’m sure we’d miss it if it went away.

The rest of the summer Buzz delivered the ‘illicit goods’ to The House (by that I mean, the sarsaparilla I’ve already mentioned, empty bottles, old newspapers, table cloths – you get what I’m saying?) The cops didn’t want to talk to Buzz, no matter what he thought.

To save on time and expense, at the start of each week Buzz would pick up some of the packages and store them in a hidey-hole in his back yard. Then each night he’d take some of the stuff over to Mrs Spencer’s.
One night he comes screaming around to my place.
“They’re gone,” he shouted. “Gone!”
“What’s gone?”
“The hooch,” said Buzz. “Someone’s stolen Mrs Trudy Spencer’s property.”

I rubbed my chin, as you do in these circumstances, then we both looked at each other and at the same time we said:

“The Roadsmen!”

The Roadsmen were known to steal everything and anything, even kids. I remember my Ma saying to me that if I didn’t behave (or Beeee-have was how she said it) I would be given away to the Roadsmen.

No one really knew what the Roadsmen did with you when they got you – some kid in class said they made you dress as a midget and work in circuses. Me and Buzz didn’t think that would be such a bad way to spend your time.

“I’m going up to the top of Driftward Plains and getting my hooch back,“ shouted Buzz. Boy, was he in a grumpy mood.
I said I’d go with him, I couldn’t let my best pal face the Roadsmen on his own. And anyway I was real curious about what they looked like.

Right after Buzz made his Tuesday night delivery, we headed up to Driftward Plains on a bicycle that he borrowed from the rear of The House. I’m sure I had seen the bike before and that it belonged to the Sheriff, but I couldn’t be certain.

We pushed, or it might be more correct to say, I pushed the bicycle most of the way up Deadman’s Gully. Buzz kept reminding me that he owed it to folks to look his best and that pushing a bike really didn’t help.

“Shh,” he whispered at the lip of the hill. We both crawled to the edge and looked over.
“See the lights?” asked Buzz. “That’s them.”
“How do you know?” I said.
“’Cause who else would be up here?” asked my pal.
“Us,” I said, but I was ignored.

They were all sitting around a big roaring fire when we jumped out on them or rather Buzz did.
“Woooo!” he shouted but it just sounded real lame like.

The six of the Roadsmen that were sitting around the fire just looked up and then back at the fire. I don’t think they were too impressed.
“I want my hooch back,” Buzz shouted and then he did a funny dance. Not funny as in comic, funny as in he should get locked up.
“Sit and join us,” said one of the guys who must have been over a hundred years old, maybe two hundred.

They seemed a nice bunch of guys and long, long ago when they were our age they’d come up to meet the Roadsmen but they never had.

“We just kept missing them,” said the two hundred year old man.”Then we just kept coming up here. Now some of us are alone, some of us are in homes and some of us ain’t got long. We just drive up here is Ken’s old jalopy and watch the sun going down and up again.”

“So you didn’t take my hooch?” said Buzz.
“Nope.”

We sat there with those guys until dawn just flappin’ our gums and talking about life. Me and Buzz decided that when we got older, we’d meet up on the top of Driftward Plains.
When Buzz got back home he found his Ma had taken his packages in to the house ‘cause next door’s dog kept trying to pee on them.

As for Buzz discovering about money, well I’m kind-a sleepy right this minute. I guess it would be all right if I tell you that story another time.

Keep a watch out for the Roadsmen, unless you like getting shot outta cannon in a circus.

bobby stevenson 2012

Last Letter On A Rainy Day & The Wire Dancers

Last Letter On A Rainy Day

And I have laid thee down my love,

In a bed of silk and lace,

And a garland for your hair my love,

And a warm wind for your face,

And I would give you ships my love,

And stars to guide you by,

But will not watch you growing old,

And you will not watch me die.

The Wire Dancers

The tune you hear is from another place that causes you to dance and sway in the darkness. 

So when the bright lights dull and the gun-driven music plays no more, I will cut you down my friend and let you rest. Your job here is done. 

Sleep well.

bobby stevenson 2012