The Unfinished Fairy Tale by james Bezerra

The Unfinished Fairy Tale
by james Bezerra

Scene 1. EXT. DAY. The Desert.
The wide high desert sprawls empty and desolate. A patchwork of brown brush and barrenness all the way to a distant range of ominous, unforgiving mountains.

Across the bottom of the shot the tussled black hair of a small boy enters. This is LITTLE MAN, trailing behind his head is a bright red balloon. It seems so big and it blocks out the desert beyond.

Little Man and his tussled hair and balloon pause here for a moment, then walk on, out of the shot.

CUT TO:
An expansively and desperately wide shot of Little Man walking along the side of the road, his balloon trailing after him.

CLOSE UP:
His forehead is sweaty, but his little face, soft and pretty, like a girl's, is undaunted.

LITTLE MAN walks and walks and walks.

A car speeds by on the road and a plastic bag of trash is tossed from the window. The bag flies open and a flutter of colorful trash explodes in the air in front of him.

He pauses and surveys the litter as it settles to the ground. There is a dirty red towel which he picks up, shakes out and drapes over him like a cape. He searches some more. In amongst all of it he sees a 2-liter bottle that has been cut in half, as if for a gravity bong. He considers it. He picks it up and places it on his head proudly like a knight's helmet. He smiles. He walks on.

SCENE 2. EXT. DAY. The Outcropping. (Continuous)
Little Man stands at the edge of a rocky outcropping overlooking the vast desert below. He gazes out over the openness and a single, giant wind turbine. It spins and spins and he makes faces at it as thought it is his adversary.

Swiftly he raises a gnarled stick at it as if the stick is his sword and he is to be feared.

Scene 3. EXT. Day. The Desert House.
The house is old and long past its prime but might once have been beautiful. There is a small and messy yard littered with children's toys. There is no fence. At a plastic table sits a small red-headed girl. Her name is DULCINEA. She is wearing a pointed dunce cap with the words: TIME OUT hand written on it. She is bored and not happy at all, her precociousness clearly bottled up. She is clearly in time out.
Little Man can be seen approaching along the side of the road with his balloon. He cuts purposefully into the yard and approaches to inspect Dulcinea.

LITTLE MAN
I like your hat.

DULCINEA
Ssssssssh! I'm in time out.

LITTLE MAN
What's time out?

DULCINEA
It means your life is over. Don't talk to me.

LITTLE MAN
Why not?

DULCINEA
Because I'm in time out. I can't talk when I'm in time out.

LITTLE MAN
Oh... But I'm not in time out.

DULCINEA
So?

LITTLE MAN
So I can talk.

DULCINEA
Uuuuuugh. Fine.

LITTLE MAN
What's your name?

DULCINEA
Dulcinea.

LITTLE MAN
I like your hat.

DULCINEA
Well I think yours it pretty dumb.

The front door of the house flies open and out comes FRANK. He is clearly a grown-up, with his Keystone and cigarette and his sleeveless shirt emblazon with a dragon.

FRANK
Hey! Hey little man. Don't talk to her.

LITTLE MAN
Why?

FRANK
Because she's in time out.

LITTLE MAN
Why?

FRANK
Well that's none of your business. I don't have to tell you.

Little Man draws his gnarled stick sword and brandishes it at Frank.

LITTLE MAN
You better!

FRANK
YOU better watch it little man or I will put you in time out too.

LITTLE MAN
YOU can't put me in time out!

SCENE 4. DAY. EXT. The Desert House. (CONTINUOUS)
Little Man is sitting at the table with Dulcinea. His cape and helmet and stick have been taken away and he is also wearing a pointy time out cap. He is holding his red balloon in his lap.

Little Man glowers.

Dulcinea is giggling at him.

Little Man glowers more. At her.

Dulcinea only giggles more.

Little Man looks to the house, where Frank is sitting on the porch chuckling and yelling into a cell phone, empty Keystones spread out around him. At his feet are Little Man's cape, helmet and sword.

After a moment Little Man rises and marches defiantly at Frank, who looks down at him distractedly. Frank speaks into his phone.

FRANK
Yeah, yeah. Hold on just s second okay . . . Yes little man, you're in time out right now.

LITTLE MAN
It isn't fair that your so much bigger than me.

With that, Little Man stalks purposefully back to the table and sits.

Scene 5. Late Afternoon. EXT. The Desert House.
Frank his fallen asleep on the porch. An empty can of Keystone dangles from his hand. Little Man watches it. Finally Frank coughs a snore and the can falls to the ground, he doesn't wake.

Little Man is up and scurrying toward the porch. He carefully gathers his cape, puts it on with a flourish. He dons his helmet and grabs his stick sword. He races back to Dulcinea and grabs her hand.

LITTLE MAN
The dragon sleeps!

They run off along the empty road, the red balloon trailing after them.

Scene 6. Later Afternoon. EXT. The Outcropping.
Dulcinea and Little Man sit at the edge and look out across the distance at the wind turbine. They are sharing a crumbled pack of fruit snacks. The balloon hangs in the air next to them.

LITTLE MAN
So I rescued you.

DULCINEA
You didn't rescue me!

LITTLE MAN
Yes I did. I'm your prince.

DULCINEA
No!

LITTLE MAN
Yes! So now you have to be in love with me.

DULCINEA
That's dumb.

LITTLE MAN
Is not.

DULCINEA
Is too!

They eat fruit snacks for a moment, but finally she comes around.

DULCINEA
Fine.

Dulcinea leans in and gives him a peck on the cheek. They both immediately freak out at how gross this is and giggle.

A black pick-up growls up behind them and comes to a quick dusty stop. Frank hops out of it and rushes up to them.

FRANK
There you are! What the hell is wrong with you?

Little Man draws his stick sword, but Frank easily grabs it, snaps it in half and tosses it to the ground. Little Man is shocked that such a thing is possible.

Frank scoops up Dulcinea and starts carrying her back to the truck.

FRANK
You know I never wanted a kid in the first place ...

LITTLE MAN
Hey! Come back here!

DULCINEA
I love you my prince!

Frank tosses her into the truck and they speed off, throwing a thick cloud of dust into the air.

PUSH in through the cloud of dirt to little man on the other side, shoulders slumped, but defiant.

LITTLE MAN
They never learn.

He walks to where his stick lies broken and picks up both pieces. He marches out to the road. He presses the two halves of the stick together and raises it above his head like Excalibur itself. He howls:

LITTLE MAN
Looooooove!

Finally, he lowers his sword and shakes his head.

LITTLE MAN
It's going to be a really long walk though.

Little Men starts dutifully walking up the road as Frank's truck disappears into the distance.

The balloon bobbles along above him as he pursues them.



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that very cool picture was respectfully borrowed form corbis images