Wormholes and MacBooks: Meeting Vincent.
CHARACTERS:
NATHAN: A boy in his late teens, who loves exploring strange things. He is interested in gaming, time travel, aliens, other galaxies and strange events. He has a blog, the “NomadManiac” where he discusses strange events and supernatural phenomenon.
HEATHER: Nathan's younger sister who loves listening to Nathan's stories and reading his blog.
ELIZABETH: A young woman in her late thirties who is responsible for taking care of Nathan and Heather while their parents are away.
VINCENT: A young man who has lost his way, trying to run away from the flagellants. Flagellants are people who pursued and try to kill anyone who belonged to a different religion. At the time, they thought that God was punishing them because of people of a different religion. So they decided to kill them. Vincent has an accent where his T's and D's become Zs and W's become V's. Vincent also speaks some German.
ADRIAN: Vincent's son. He is the same age as Nathan.
ACT 1 SCENE 1
(Nathan and Heather enter the house through a big French door. The room is big and quiet. Elizabeth, the housekeeper is busy preparing their lunch. They place their bags on the sofa and walk towards Elizabeth)
HEATHER: (tiredly) Hey Liza. (pauses) Really had a fun day today.
NATHAN: Sure did.
ELIZABETH: (turns towards them) Did you really have a fun day? What’s the problem? Tell me.
NATHAN: (sits down and rests his head on the armrest) We're just really tired. Today was a very long day---and I don't feel like talking about it.
HEATHER: I could use a break. A good long big mega freaking break! (pauses) Hey, I have an idea. (turns to Nathan) What if we visit that park---the one you were talking about last week?
NATHAN: (raises his head) Which one? Is it the one where we found those really expensive stones?
HEATHER: (excited) Yeah. What do you think?
ELIZABETH: (grinning) I see you have plans. You know you can't go anywhere without telling me. (pauses) Remember that you’ve been grounded, after getting in trouble in Jasper’s backyard.
HEATHER: (scowling) That was different Liza! (Nathan nods in agreement and they both make cute faces to persuade her) Besides, Mom’s not here. Please Lizaaa!
ELIZABETH: (thoughtfully) Hmmm.
HEATHER & NATHAN: Please!!
(They follow Elizabeth throughout in the kitchen till she finally agrees to their request. They both celebrate their victory by doing a little dance.)
ACT 2 SCENE 1
(Elizabeth, Nathan and Heather are at Nothinghier park. It’s an abandoned park with overgrown bushes and small animals. The wooden benches have undergone series of termite infestation and many small animals like squirrels, cats and rodents now live there. Heather tries searching for stones that they can sell. Nathan is busy scampering the area for any unusual objects while Elizabeth looks around for dangerous people.)
NATHAN: (crouching) Heather! Come and take a look at this! (Heather heads towards Nathan)What do you think?(holds up a shiny object to her face)
HEATHER: (frowns) I think it’s aluminum. You can do better than this, Nate! (stands up and moves towards the opposite end of the field where she’s been arranging a set of stones)
(Nathan goes over to see what she’s been doing. She shows him her miniature wormhole. He takes a look at it and laughs loudly.)
HEATHER: (frowns) What did I do wrong?
NATHAN: (grins) Do you even know what a wormhole is?
HEATHER: Isn’t that…. stuff that connects blackholes? Oh, I mean---(thinks) umm, galaxies, I think parallel worlds or so? (gives up) But it looks like two funnels placed together, right?
NATHAN: (scoffs) Yeah, it’s a tunnel. It looks like two funnels interconnected. And it’s said that it connects different spacetimes. It can help navigate from one spacetime to another without taking a longer route.
HEATHER: (confused) What’s a spacetime?
NATHAN: You know the way we get derived quantities from fundamental quantities in physics? (Pauses. Heather nods in agreement) Spacetime is like a fourth dimension, where we have three quantities representing space and the fourth dimension’s time. It was formed from Einstein's theory of relativity. Wormholes can connect two different galaxies together, making it faster and easier to navigate galaxies. They're just like black holes but don't have a singularity.
HEATHER: (confused) okay?
*(Elizabeth looks towards them from one of the broken wooden benches she’s sitting on. She wonders if they’re arguing and tells them to calm down. Nathan and Heather insist that they’re only discussing. While Nathan tries to explain what a wormhole is, a man and a teenage boy, dressed in dirty and torn clothes suddenly barge in front of Nathan and Heather from a bush. They all scream at the same time.
Nathan swiftly pulls Heather behind him with a terrified look. Elizabeth runs towards them with a stick, unsure whether it’s a viable weapon)*
ELIZABETH: (catching her breath) Wh…who…. who are you?
VINCENT: (looking around) Vhere are vee?
ADRIAN: (panting and holding his knees) Papa, did we make it?
(The man’s beards are neatly cut but there are strands of little branches and tiny seeds buried in it. They are both wearing dirty whiter linen shirts and black hoses. The teenage boy had a wristband on his left hand, with a poorly written text that read: “Adrian”. They both look tired and hungry. The soles of their worn-out shoes are almost gone and they smelt very bad.)
HEATHER: (smirks) Why do they look like they just jumped out of the Elizabethan era?
NATHAN: You’re not serious. They might just be circus performers or maybe for a play or maybe they just ran off after stealing something. (pauses) My O my, they look---so bad.
ADRIAN: (straightens up) We need help. Can you help us?
ELIZABETH: (cross) Who are you?! (Looks at Vincent and Adrian)
VINCENT: (confused) Haven’t you heard of za buboes disease? Iz everywhere! (looks around) Vonder vhy nobody’s not running around hier.
NATHAN: (scoffs) Like the bubonic plague of the 16th century? (moves back to avoid the smell and then whispers something into Heather’s right ear)
VINCENT: Ja, zhat.
ADRIAN: (serious) We need to get out of here, unless those flagellants would come after us again!
VINCENT: You look like one of us Jews, they might want zu kill you too. (pauses) And, vhat are you wearing?
NATHAN: I should be asking you that question, you look like a joker. (Nathan and Heather laugh) Why would anyone want to kill me?
VINCENT: (angrily) Me a shoker? Nein! Zey zhink vee Jews are responsible for bringing zhe plague hier anz now, vee need zu run away. Vee need zu get away from here, come on. (He drags both Nathan and Heather but Elizabeth stops him)
ELIZABETH: (angrily) Who are you and what do you want? (looks at Heather, notices that she’s become sad) I told you that you guys were grounded! We are leaving now!
VINCENT: (confused) zz, grounded? Why? Did zey become za ground? (looks at their faces) How zu you become za ground? Uhh, zell me quickly. Zo I can, you know, try zu help my family, zey are reallly suffering back zhere. And zey really need help. (pauses) Uhhm, you know, my lizl baby, ahh, may she rest well, she got za buboes and she had zhese really big boils on za back of za head and zhen just zied like five zays after. You look like magicians, maybe, you would help us. Please. My English, not very good. Wir brauchen ihre helfen.
(Nathan, Heather and Elizabeth look at each other in surprise. They were really in front of people from the 16th century. Elizabeth also wondered if they were con artists, trying to money from them. Vincent and Adrian are equally confused)
HEATHER: (excited) The hoses, the linen shirts and the rounded shoes! It just said Elizabeth the First! This is so unimaginable!
NATHAN: (excited) Does that mean time travel actually exists? (turns towards Vincent and Adrian) so Did you guys enter any portal or secret room of a time traveler or just casted some spells? How did you get here? (pauses and looks at Heather) Or could it be what I’m thinking?
HEATHER: (gawks) A wormhole? (smiles awkwardly and jumps in surprise) No way!
ADRIAN: Nein. No wormwhole. We didn’t enter any worm. No portal. We just ran here. (looks at his Dad)
VINCENT: Zo you are from za future? Does zhat mean we stayed alive?! (turns to Adrian) Vee are alive!
ADRIAN: (happily) This is my Papa. His name is Vincent. And my name is Adrian. Nice to meet all of you.
NATHAN: (happily) I’m Nathan. This is Heather, my sister (points to Heather). And Elizabeth, our glorified babysitter (turns to Elizabeth, she knocks him on his head and they laugh).
HEATHER: You guys look like you just came from a sewer. And there are blood stains on this side. (points to Adrian’s clothes then looks at Elizabeth) Lizzie, is it okay if we take them home, like just give them something? They look pretty tired and hungry.
ELIZABETH: (grinning) They could use the help from somewhere else. We are going home now. We’ve had enough drama for one day.
NATHAN: (sulking) But Aunt Lizzie, it would help for my blog now, wouldn’t it?
ELIZABETH: (scoffs) You mean the one that almost got you in trouble after sneaking into Jasper’s backyard.
NATHAN: (whining) But Aunt, I’m not doing anything wrong, am I? its just for the blog, plus God tells us to feed the hungry, doesn’t he? And, my blog would become more popular with this kind of story (he widens his eyes and pouts his mouth). Just let me do it my sweet-honey-bunny-sugar-of-the-sweetest-rose-cupcakes-favorite housekeeper in the world?
(Elizabeth and Heather laugh)
ELIZABETH: But you know your parents would never approve of this?
HEATHER: (laughs) You mean the ones currently in a party? (rolls her eyes) Or the ones we have not set our dainty eyes on for over six months. (Nathan nods in agreement, then goes back to pouting)
ELIZABETH: Okay, fine.
(They all exit the park, heading back to the house.)
ACT 2 SCENE 2
(Vincent and Adrian are done with their appetizers. They were assisted in getting freshened up---getting familiar with the tap and dressing into their parents’ old clothes. Heather and Elizabeth are preparing dinner in the kitchen. Adrian is totally exhausted and falls asleep on the large sofa. Vincent notices Nathan working on a MacBook and approaches him)
VINCENT: (sits beside Nathan) What kind of sorcery is zis? (touches his laptop with fingertips)
NATHAN: (laughs) Sorcery? It’s not sorcery.
VINCENT: (serious) You could get executed for zoing zomething like zis in my zime.
NATHAN: (scoffs) Thankfully, were not in that era anymore.
VINCENT: If zis is not zome sorcery? Vot is zis?
NATHAN: It’s a computer.
VINCENT: zz, computer? What is zis for?
NATHAN: So, it uses electricity, gotten from there, (he points to the wall socket) to power up. Then we can use it to perform various tasks which I’ll show you here.
VINCENT: (interested) Ouu. Show me! Zen maybe I can, uhh, juzt use it and help people zat are dying.
NATHAN: So, this is called a laptop. Lap- top. You see, its small and can fit fine on my lap. It’s a type of computer that is portable and can be used anywhere. It has batteries too. You’re wondering what its used for. So, I guess you guys had methods of recording day to day activities that happened in your businesses?
VINCENT: Ja, absolutely.
NATHAN: So, a computer can basically tabulate and calculate your expenses, profits and savings, making it less strenuous for humans to calculate and thereby saving time and energy. Take a look at this (opens and excel file, types in some numbers and then adds them up)
VINCENT: (amazed) Zat was zo fast Sohn!
NATHAN: (pleased) We can use it for other tasks like typing documents, just as you saw me type those numbers, we can write documents. We just need to use some different program to do that.
VINCENT: (confused) Like zu you need zu attend any program?
NATHAN: Nein, computer programs are different. Just the way we used that program we saw now for calculating stuff, other programs can be used for other specific programs. There are programs for drawing, programs for playing games, programs for writing documents and many more. They are called application programs, or short form---apps. Scientists can use it to make programs that can help solve medical problems, such as the bubonic plague you experienced--the Black Death.
VINCENT: (happily) Zat is zo nice. What else can we do with zis? Can I use it zu read?
NATHAN: Of course. But you just need to learn how to use it first.
VINCENT: Hmm, what can I zu with zis lapzop zhing? (stands up)
NATHAN: We can watch a movie?
VINCENT: (sits again) A movie? Vvot iz zat?
NATHAN: Yeah, I’ll show you.
(Nathan opens a movie on Netflix. In the beginning, there’s a scene where people’s houses are burning and everywhere is in pandemonium. Immediately, Vincent gets up and rushes to get a bowl of water from the kitchen and rushes to pour water on Nathan’s laptop. Nathan screams and drops the laptop accidentally as he gets up in panic. Heather and Elizabeth rush out.)
NATHAN: (screaming) What the heck did you do?!
VINCENT: (frightened) I zidn’t want za fire zu spread zu your legs, so I poured water on it inshtead.
HEATHER & ELIZABETH: (frightened) Fire? Where?
HEATHER: (moves towards them) Are you okay, Nate?
NATHAN: (shouting) This dude just poured water… on my life’s work! (looks at the ceiling and covers his mouth) All for one stupid damned story!
(He looks down again and Vincent is not there. Heather and Elizabeth are also confused. Adrian is no longer on the sofa. And his laptop is still broken on the floor.
Adrian and Vincent were nowhere to be found.)
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What do you think about this? And how can I improve this?
I tried to copy an accent by using z's instead of t's. I don't mean to offend anyone.
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