Author’s Note: I see the scenes flowing together, no blackouts. Dialogue runs over scene changes, linking them together. Set in winter. This is work of fiction, all of the normal fiction rules apply. This is my first screenplay, treat it well.
-Forrest (Hiroshima, Japan; 24 September 1999)
The Other Side
a short film by M. Forrest D. Oliphant
Characters:
NARR, JIMMIE – Jimmie Tyson, Narrator, 14 yr. old boy, junior in high school. Convinced he was born into the wrong family.
DAD – Dayle Tyson, Jimmie’s father. Works hard for his money. “Can’t get no respect from nobody.” Mother died of food poisoning in Guam, while serving in the military as a nurse. Dayle never knew his father.
MOM – Jeanine Levy-Tyson. In her 3rd marriage, it seems she is sticking with Dayle. She did have his son… However, she will never get rid of her maiden name. Abuses alcohol and marijuana. Won’t touch a cigarette, though—absolutely despises them. Father died of lung cancer, mother slowly dying of emphysema. Slightly psychotic.
GOOB – Goober Levy. Jeanine’s brother.
JOCK – Mike Badger. Football and track are Mike’s life. Never seen without his purple and gold letterman jacket.
GIRL – Katie Johnson. Mike Badger’s girlfriend. “The hottest girl in school.”
Scene 1
Dinner table of the Tyson’s trailer
NARR
Sometimes I wish that I was born into a normal family.DAD Drink your damn porkchops, boy! Your mother didn’t blend them for her own entertainment!
JIMMIE I don’t like blender meat.
DAD Drink.
JIMMIE I’m thinking about becoming vegetarian… I have been reading about--
DAD
No goddamn son of mine will ever be no goddamn fairy veg-head twat! Now drink up you bastard!JIMMIE
I don’t understand why we can’t just blend grandma’s, and leave the rest of ours solid, like normal people eat it.DAD You have a choice: “a” You will consume it. “b” You will wear it. That’s final.
JIMMIE in shower, washing off meat
NARR And so within a few minutes I would be “wearing” the liquified meat.
MOM in kitchen, preparing food,
chopping vegetables, somewhat violently.
Mom got the recipe from grandma’s doctor. Actually, it’s not really a recipe, just an instruction book of how long to blend different kinds of food. Dad tried some blender meat about two months ago and said he liked it.
DAD dipping finger in meat, taste, yum.
Since then mom has yet to leave any of our meat solid.
DAD watching MOM in kitchen, more chopping.
See, she has psychological problems, and dad’s real scared of her, so he wouldn’t ever ask her to change her cooking. Actually, he never asks her to do anything. He’s even figured out how to iron his own shirts.
Scene 2
Trailer’s bedroom
DAD ironing a white button-up shirt
Not that he wears them too often; there’s Easter and Christmas at church, weddings, and funerals…
Dad putting on the shirt, clip-on bowtie, and tux jacket.
DAD Hey Goob… Are you sure you’re s’pos to wear a tuxedo for funerals?
GOOB Hey, if that is what Jeanine wants, then we shouldn’t be the one to change it, right? I mean, it wasn’t that much to rent them. Besides, sis is a little—
MOM appears out of nowhere
MOM Goober, I did not hear you come in.
GOOB Jesus Jeanine—
MOM Just call me Jeanine.
GOOB Where did you come from? You scared the shit out of me.
MOM (ignoring him) I understand my mother’s death may not be that important to you boys, but all I wanted was for you to get dressed up, send her off right… (loosing composure, might cry)
DAD Honey, it’s OK, I want to wear it, I want to send her off right.
MOM (completely regaining composure) Good. (Walks out of room)
Scene 3
Various shots of funeral
Very sunny day, only 8-10 people there, some in jeans, some in tuxedos.
Scene 4.1
JIMMIE’s bedroom
JIMMIE laying on bed, headphones on. Ben Folds Five’s “Underground.” We can hear the music, too.
NARR And so the granny’s been gone for 2 weeks now. Mom still makes blender meat, but I have been able to talk mom into accepting my newfound vegetarianism. My mother and I have always had a deep understanding of the order of things in the family. She has incredible power over my father, and my father pretends like he has some kind of power over me. If I ever want to do anything I ask her. If she gives me permission, then my father will not question it. If she says no, then I forget about it. Mom is crazy, but I love her. Well, at least it is the closest thing I’ve ever had to love.
Scene 4.2
Schoolyard
YOUNG JIMMIE sitting by school playground fence, reading an “Encyclopedia Brown” book. Kids around him are playing; JIMMIE obviously has excluded himself. A football rolls against the fence next to him. BRAT (a typical bratty elementary school kid) comes to retrieve the ball...
BRAT My mom says you’re mom is crazy.
BRAT tosses the football into the air, it morphs into an American football, then a baseball, then he throws the baseball at YOUNG JIMMIE, it splashes in his face. The baseball has changed into red Kool-Aid. (This will all make sense soon enough, I promise.) YOUNG JIMMIE, defiant “bring it on” look in his eyes, places his book in the grass (where it turns into ice), and slowly stands up.
YOUNG JIMMIE (cool tone) She is not.
The KID MOB has been growing since BRAT threw the Kool-Aid. BRAT and YOUNG JIMMIE are now locked between the MOB and the fence.
KID MOB Crazy Mom! Crazy Mom! Crazy Mom! Crazy Mom! Crazy Mom! …
YOUNG JIMMIE begins to make monkey and dog noises. The MOB and BRAT begin to back away. YOUNG JIMMIE keeps barking as he morphs into JIMMIE. Now the KID MOB is surrounding a teenage boy, who keeps making strange noises. JIMMIE lunges forward, and KID MOB and BRAT all run away, screaming. JIMMIE picks up his ice book, and walks away. He trips on a stick and…
Scene 4.3
JIMMIE’s bedroom
JIMMIE jumps up from bed. His headphones are still on, so he yanks the small stereo from the shelf. The music (that has been on for all of Scene 4 so far) abruptly stops when the stereo hits the floor.
JIMMIE I have got to stop falling asleep listening to music.
JIMMIE turns on a bedside lamp and takes a small
notebook from under his mattress.
NARR
JIMMIE scribbles something in the notebook and puts it back.
I wonder if stupid jocks have dreams as fucked up as mine.
Scene 5
Chite County High School
JOCK slams JIMMIE against the locker.
NARR
My school is your typical southeastern US amalgam of cliques. Jocks here, rednecks there, then the freaks, then my own special place in this world… The Losers. With a capital “L.” We like Star Wars, Chess, and Computers… The most likely candidates for bombing the school or something like that.GIRL walks by the crowd, we see various Magic Cards and
Star Wars books fall to the pavement. Jaws dropping open.
Our most favorite pastime, though, has to do with the eternally impossible: looking at Katie Johnson, the hottest girl in school.
Full facial of JOCK, saying in slo-mo “Hell no,” he begins to walk over to JIMMIE. JOCK is questioning JIMMIE… JIMMIE is evasive. Jimmie’s clique is no help, they just watch. JOCK punches JIMMIE in the stomach, with little reaction. Frustrated, JOCK shoves JIMMIE to the pavement. JOCK walks away.
JIMMIE
(on back on the sidewalk, to clique) Yeah, well, that’s what friends are for. Thanks a lot for sticking up for me guys… Thanks for nuthin’. Damn.MAGIC PLAYER (helping JIMMIE to his feet) So you gonna tell us how you took that punch or what?
JIMMIE Lots of sit-ups. 400 every night. To tell you the truth, I have been waiting for a long time for somebody to punch me in the stomach like that.
NARR Sit-ups were not really on my mind, though…
Scene 6
JIMMIE walking down the road from school, kicking a can.
I was thinking about how my group did not stand up for me in the least. And I figured it out… We are not really friends. We’re the group of mixed up puzzle pieces. We don’t fit anywhere else, so we eat lunch together. We take up the hobbies of the other people in the group to occupy ourselves, not because it is what we enjoy.
Scene 7
JIMMIE opening trailer door.
Then we go home, and try to sort out our “real” lives. Whatever that means.
JIMMIE (to himself) I’m home, did you miss me? Oh, look, cookies and milk. (shouting) Mom, you shouldn’t have.
*toilet flush,* DAD staggers out of the bathroom, obviously a bit drunk
DAD Your mom ain’t here. And what the hell are you doin’ eatin’ my cookies?
JIMMIE I thought—
DAD I don’t give a damn what you—
JIMMIE I thought you had work today.
DAD Why the hell you have to go and meddle in other… other… (losing composure, wants to cry, but will not) When it’s none of… (quietly) damnit.
JIMMIE The factory is closing.
(DAD looks up from his shoes)
I heard about it from my friend a couple of weeks ago.
DAD (infuriated) What?! I only heard about it today and you—you little bastard! Why didn’t you tell me?
JIMMIE I thought you knew. Besides I knew you would take it out on me, like you are right now.
DAD Oh, you knew. (smacks JIMMIE) You just read the future. (again) Well I know something that you don’t know, and you won’t like it one bit…
JIMMIE (cool, intense) You’re not my father. (pause) Is that what you wanted to tell me? How long have you wanted to spill those beans? You know, you aren’t that great at keeping secrets. Every time you get pissed of you call me a bastard.
DAD huffs and storms out of trailer, grabbing coat.
JIMMIE walks to his room.
JIMMIE lying in bed, headphones on, reading Encyclopedia Brown. David Bowie playing. Dusk light comes in through the window and falls on him in a strange pattern.
NARR And life goes on. At least, that’s what I think will happen.
fade to black
fin