“The Not So Puppet Show: Season One, Episode Four” by Thomas Typewriter – a new script

scripts, The Not So Puppet Show

———–<.thom.>———–

THE NOT SO PUPPET SHOW

Season One, Episode Four

“The Broken Book of Beasties: Book 1, Part 2”

By Thomas Typewriter

———–<:type:>———–

FADE IN

Title sequence plays

FADE OUT
FADE IN

INT. BORDERTOWNE MIDDLE SCHOOL LUNCHROOM, MID-DAY
A long cafeteria table spreads across the stage. Behind the table are tall frosted windows in utilitarian frames. Shapes of trees and a general daylight illumination can be seen through the frosted glass. In the upper portions are small round dents and circling cracks from various kids in the neighborhood next to the school shooting the windows with BB guns. Even though there is some daylight coming through the windows, the Lunchroom is bathed in strong fluorescent lighting. CHADWELL BAGPIPES, ANTWELL CONCRETE, MIKEWELL LETTERS, and ARROWELL RAILROAD are sitting at the table eating their school lunches.

LS OF THE GROUP

THOMAS TYPEWRITER enters from stage-left. He is carrying his metal lunchbox, decorated in characters from the “Peanuts” comic strip, and the latest issue of The Not So Zine. He sits down next to Chadwell. All four of the boys are friends and exchange hellos. Thomas opens his lunchbox and pulls out a bag of chips. He quickly eats all the chips. He then folds the bag flat and places it in front of him on the table. Chadwell, Antwell, Mikewell, and Aaywell all notice this and turn their heads to watch what Thomas is doing. From stage-left enters GREG RASHES. Greg is a tall, lean, blonde teen with acne in the grade above Thomas. He walks over to the area in front of Thomas, avoiding blocking Thomas from view.

CUT TO MS OF THOMAS AND GREG

GREG RASHES
“Hey, nerd.”

THOMAS TOPHAT
“I am not a nerd Greg. You will find my grades preclude me from qualifying as a nerd.”

GREG RASHES
“Whatever. Let me have your chips. I’m hungry.”

THOMAS TOPHAT
“Sorry, Greg. I already ate them.”

GREG RASHES
“What? But you did that yesterday and I asked you to not do that. How can I eat your chips if you eat them first.”

THOMAS TOPHAT
“I don’t know what to tell you, Greg. (flatly) I just can’t control myself when it comes to chips.”

GREG RASHES
“Me either. Okay. But tomorrow save them so I can take them.”

Greg exits stage-right.

CUT BACK TO LS OF TABLE

ANTWELL CONCRETE
“Thomas, what was that about.”

THOMAS TOPHAT
“It is just Greg trying to bully me into giving him my chips.”

MIKEWELL LETTERS
“And he just accepts that you ate them before he got there.”

THOMAS TOPHAT
“Yeah, he’s not a very good bully.”

ARROWELL RAILROAD
“I’d say so.”

CHADWELL BAGPIPES
“Well, if he tries anything we’re with you.”

MIKEWELL LETTERS
“Yes.”

ANTWELL CONCRETE
“Yes.”

ARROWELL RAILROAD
“Maybe. Anyways, what does everyone think of using my map for Zonepoints today?”

Arrowell pulls out a notebook and flips it open. Chadwell and Antwell lean in and start discussing it with him. Thomas lets out a gentle and soft sigh to himself. Mikewell notices and looks at Thomas. Pulling a sandwich out from his lunch, Thomas starts to read the Not So zine. Mikewell is unsure of Thomas’ mood but ultimately joins the others in looking at Arrowell’s notes.

CUT TO MS OF THOMAS EATING HIS SANDWICH AND READING THE NOT SO.

CUT TO CS OF THE NOT SO ZINE

TRANSITION FROM THE BORDERTOWNE MIDDLE SCHOOL TO THE BOOK OF BROKEN BEASTS
FADE INTO THE NEXT

———–<.thom.>———–

THE BROKEN BOOK OF BEASTIES

“Book I: A Book by Any Other Cover”

Part Two of Three

By Thomas Typewriter and Primo Operahouse-Typewriter & Secondo Operahouse-Typewriter

————-<:type:>———–

FADE IN

TITLE SEQUENCE

The title “The Broken Book of Beasties” appears far off in the dark screen, written in bright red flowing script. The word Beasties, unlike the rest of the title, is written in a thick slashing font. The title flies towards the camera and past the edge of the frame. The dark screen is filled with a shimmer as the following text appears in white block letters: “Book I: A Book by Any Other Cover”. It fades away in a shimmer. In the absence appears the following test: “Part Two.”

PAN DOWN

The dark screen fades to light grey as the “Part Two” slides off the top of the screen from the camera panning

TRANSITION FROM TITLE TO THE TRILIBRIS

INT. THE ALCOVE AT THE BACK OF THE TRILIBRIS’ MAIN ROOM, DAYTIME

The Alcove is a dark wood wall decorated with gold and brass metal in long blocky snaking patterns illuminated by two torches. In the center of the alcove is a podium holding THE CODEXIAN. The Codexian is a thick book, with covers of a purple stone and thick leather binding. The front cover has a vertical row of three circles made from gold wire on the binding side. The other side is a snaking angular pattern similar to the patterns on the alcove walls. The pattern snakes down to two horizontal lines across the bottom portion of the front cover. It is currently open to the middle of its binding with THE GREY MOUSE off to the corner looking in at the illustrations on the page.

MS OF THE CODEXIAN

CUT TO CS OF THE CODEXIAN

Golden scroll-work forms a border around a central image across the two pages. Inside the border is an image of THE BAKER leaning on her counter looking forlorn. The image is done in a style combining woodblock prints and illuminated manuscripts. Small hands of THE GREY MOUSE enter the bottom of the frame followed by the head and body. The Grey Mouse is leaning over the page.

THE GREY MOUSE
“Squeak”

THE CODEXIAN
(voice-over) “That is funny. It almost sounded as if you asked why she was sad.”

THE GREY MOUSE
“Squeak.”

THE CODEXIAN
(voice-over) “Oh, you did. I’ll unpack that later. Back to the story and your question, maybe the Baker was sad because they had spent so much time fleeing and surviving that they had forgotten how to live. Or maybe something simpler. While she was a good baker and well respected in the community, baking was something she never considered very glamorous.”

THE GREY MOUSE
“Squeak.”

THE CODEXIAN
(voice-over) “I understand that makes no sense to you and how amazing bread is, but if you could lean off the page I can continue the story.”

The Grey Mouse moves out of the frame.

THE CODEXIAN
(voice-over) “Thank you.”

The page turns. The illustration shifts between a series of images of The Baker mixing dough and baking bread.

THE CODEXIAN
(voice-over) “The Baker would find her mind wandering to certain thoughts repeatedly. I used to be someone who mattered. I used to be the best bookbinder in the city. Now I bake bread. Now I don’t know my value. Anyone can bake bread. Where is the specialness in that.”

The page turns. The illustration shows The Baker at her counter. At this point, the illustrations start to show some basic animation. Where before they would fade from one static drawing to another, each picture now has a little bit of animation in each sequence. The Baker leans on her counters and sighs. The sigh appears as a written sound effect on the page. The Baker then starts to think, with her thoughts written out in thought bubbles over her head. The Codexian narrates her thoughts as they write across her thought balloon.

THE CODEXIAN
(Voice-over) “I used to be one of the best. Now I just make bread. Bread. Ugh. People used to come from all over the city to buy one of my spell books. I was respected. I was important. I was a true artist. Now, what am I? I make bread. Ugh. So common. So pedestrian. What is the value of a common thing? More importantly, what is the value in those who make common things?”

The thought bubbles fade away and the Baker leaves her counter. The empty counter fills the page momentarily before the Codexian continues the story.

THE CODEXIAN
(voice-over) “And so she would have continued self-flagellating if not for a simple moment.”

It changes to The Baker at her counter. A MOTHER and YOUNG DAUGHTER enter the shop. The Baker waves hello. The Mother approaches the counter and purchases one loaf of bread. She breaks off a bit of the heel of the loaf, steam rises from it, and hands it to her daughter. The image shifts to the daughter eating the bread, closing her eyes, and smiling. The illustration shifts to the Mother shocked at the smile quickly shifting to smiling and turning to speak to The Baker.

THE CODEXIAN
(voice-over) “The mother said something so simple it cut through all the Baker’s doubts and disappointments. She said this is the first time she’s smiled since the fleeing. Thank you. You have no idea how much that is worth to me. How much better that makes my day.”

The Mother and her daughter leave the bakery. The illustration shifts to the Baker at her counter visibly moved and affected by the Mother’s words.

THE CODEXIAN
(voice-over) “The Baker, as the mother and her daughter left the bakery, realized that maybe there is something worthwhile in baking bread. She also realized that as great as she felt about her current situation now, she was still dwelling on the past. It was a poison and she needed to let go.”

The page turns. The new page shows an illustration of The Baker at the front window of her bakery. She rotates the open sign to close. She then locks the door before walking to a table in the back room. The table is laid out with bookbinding tools and supplies.

THE CODEXIAN
(voice-over) “The Baker decided she would make one last book and then move on, putting that part of her life behind her.”

In a series of vignettes, the Baker makes a book. Note that the Baker incorporates some extra steps not usually included in bookbinding. The prestigious bookbinding career she has been remembering was binding spell-books. She rubs each page with various herbs. Once all the pages are rubbed, she places the remaining herbs in a pan and burns them. The ashes she mixes with oil into a paste. She then messages some of the paste into the leather cover and binding strings. She then continues building the book. At the end, she pulls back the oil and ash mix. She dips a small brand into it and then heats it over a flame. The oil flares with streaks of red, blue, yellow, orange, and green. Then she presses the hot brand onto the cover of the book. Smoke rises from where the brand touches the leather. When she removes the brand, the Baker sees that five colors are leaking from the brand into the leather: red, blue, yellow, orange, and green. She sees the bleeding colors and is surprised. She runs her fingers over the colors and the book starts to shimmer. The Baker disappears from the room in a flash of light.

THE CODEXIAN
(voice-over) “The Baker soon discovered that the world has a way of surprising you.”

The page turns. The Beastlands fill the new page. A landscape of orange grass and prairie fills the foreground while in the background blue mountains, green forests, red forests, and yellow sand dunes spread out. In the bottom corner of the illustration, a sparkle appears fading out becoming an image of the Baker. She looks around, confused as to what just happened.

CUT TO CS OF THE BAKER

THE BAKER
“Well, this is a surprise.”

CUT BACK

Hold a moment as The Baker stands in the vast new realm. The page turns to reveal a closer image of the Baker standing with the orange grassland behind her. She is looking around with a face of pure joy. In the grass behind her comes a “rustle” sound effect. The Baker turns to look for the source of the noise. From the grass emerges a Furocerous. It is a large rhino-like creature covered in very thick fur. The fur is longer on the head and shoulders than the rest of the body. It charges towards the Baker. The fur on its head stiffens into a kind of plate armor. The Baker screams in surprise and fear with the words of her scream drifting out across the page. The illustration cuts to a close-shot of the Furocerous running. It then cuts to a medium-shot of the Baker backing up then falling down and scrambling backward. She pulls up the spellbook in a feeble attempt to shield herself. The illustration then changes to the Furocerous colliding with the Baker and her spellbook in a bright flash of orange light.

The page turns and now the illustration is of a long shot of the outside of the Bakery. There is a flash of orange light. The illustration shifts to the inside of the Bakery. The Baker materializes in the air in a flash of orange light and flies backwards against the display. Her spellbook goes flying in another direction. The Baker shakes her head and slowly gets up. She checks her body for injury and does not find any. She starts to laugh to herself.

THE BAKER
“Did that just really happen? That is too wild.”

She walks over to the spellbook and retrieves it from under a table. The spellbook looks different. She examines the changes. The front cover branding now has a line of orange in it. She then opens the book and sees an image of the Furocerous surrounded by a circle of runic patterns and scroll-work.

THE BAKER
“Wow.”

She runs her fingers over the image. The illustration changes to a close-shot of the spellbook’s page. She then runs her fingers in a circle along the scroll-work and runes. The image shifts to a very close-shot of her fingers moving over the ink. The SCAPING OF HER FINGER OVER THE PAGE follows. Thee ink starts to softly glow orange. The orange light starts running up her fingers, creating a brighter and brighter glow. The illustration shifts back to the bakery. As the Baker runs her fingers over the page a spectral glowing version of the Furocerous explodes out and into the bakery display pushing it back. The spectral disappears. The Baker looks back and forth between the spellbook and the display case. A large smile spreads across her lips. She starts to run her fingers over the page again. The illustration cuts back to the longer shot of the Bakery from outside. A bright orange light flashes out and then the entire bakery shakes.

FADE OUT
TRANSITION FROM THE STORY INSIDE THE NOT SO TO THE CAFETERIA
FADE IN

INT. BORDERTOWNE MIDDLE SCHOOL CAFETERIA, MID-DAY
A long cafeteria table spreads across the stage. Behind the table are tall frosted windows in utilitarian frames. Shapes of trees and a general daylight illumination can be seen through the frosted glass. In the upper portions are small round dents and circling cracks from various kids in the neighborhood next to the school shooting the windows with BB guns. Even though some daylight is coming through the windows, the Lunchroom is bathed in strong fluorescent lighting. CHADWELL BAGPIPES, ANTWELL CONCRETE, MIKEWELL LETTERS, and ARROWELL RAILROAD are sitting at the table leaning in to look at a notebook Arrowell is holding. THOMAS TOPHAT sits to the side of them reading the Not So zine.

CS OF THE SCRIPT IN THE NOT SO ZINE

CUT TO LS OF THE GROUP AT THE TABLE

Chadwell and Antwell are writing some notes on Arrowell’s Zonepoints map. A TEACHER’S WHISTLE blows from off-screen. Everyone except Thomas gathers up their lunches and belongings. Antwell, Mikewell, and Arrowell exit stage-left. Chadwell stands and walks over to Thomas, tapping Thomas on the shoulder. Thomas looks up and Chadwell points off-stage stage-left.

CHADWELL BAGPIPE
“Lunch is over. If you would rather read than play Zonepoints, that is okay. You can keep score instead of playing.”

Thomas nods yes. He gathers up his belongings and exits stage-left with Chadwell.

FADE OUT

The Not So Puppet Show: Season One, Episode Three by Thomas Typewriter

scripts, The Not So Puppet Show

———–<.thom.>———–

THE NOT SO PUPPET SHOW

Season One, Episode Three

“The Broken Book of Beasties: Book 1, Part 1”

By Thomas Typewriter

———–<:type:>———–

FADE IN

Title sequence plays

FADE OUT
FADE IN

INT. BORDERTOWN MIDDLE SCHOOL LIBRARY, AFTERNOON
The curtains open and the stage-lights turn on. A floor-to-ceiling bookcase spreads across the back of the stage. Off to the stage-right side extends a short wall with a double set of doors for entrance and a single door for the librarian’s office. The door to the librarian’s office is open. The door has a plaque with the following text: “Ms. Weaver”. On the stage-left side of the stage sits a short wall containing a spinner rack filled with various young adult novels next to a metallic magazine rack. In front of the floor-to-ceiling bookcase sits two round tables with chairs. THOMAS TOPHAT enters the room through the wooden doors and throws his backpack into a chair at the nearest table.

THOMAS TOPHAT
“I’m back again.”

MS. WEAVER
(off camera) “Thought I’d see you again. I’ve just put out the newest issue of that magazine you liked. It is on the bottom shelf. Go ahead and get started and I’ll come out in a moment to sign your paper.”

Thomas looks over at the magazine rack. He walks over to it and leans down. Looking through the titles in the lower shelves, he spys the Not So Puppet Show zine Issue #3 behind a copy of Highlights and Newsweek. He picks it up and walks over to the table he threw his backpack onto. He sets down the zine and pulls his backpack over to the closest chair. Thomas sits down. From his backpack he removes a spiral notebook and pen. He then opens up the zine.

CUT TO OVER SHOULDER SHOT OF LOOKING DOWN AT THOMAS OPENING AND READING THE ZINE.

Thomas opens the zine, turning past the cover and first page with its publishing info. The cover is decorated with cut-out photocopied photographs. These would be photos so old as to be copyright-free and most likely sourced from discarded books. The first page looks as follows:

“
———–<.thom.>———–
THE BROKEN BOOK OF BEASTIES
“Book I: A Book by Any Other Cover”
Part One
By Thomas Typewriter and Primo Operahouse-Typewriter & Secondo Operahouse-Typewriter
(c) 2025 jason arcand
———–<:type:>———–

FADE IN

TITLE SEQUENCE
The title “The Broken Book of Beasties” appears far off in the dark screen, written in bright red flowing script. The word Beasties, unlike the rest of the title, is written in a thick slashing font. The title flies towards the camera and past the edge of the frame. The dark screen is filled with a shimmer as the following text appears in white block letters: “Book I: A Book by Any Other Cover”.”

ZOOM IN ON THE LINES “TITLE SEQUENCE PLAYS”

TRANSITION FROM THE BORDERTOWN MIDDLE SCHOOL LIBRARY TO THE BROKEN BOOK OF BEASTIES

FADE OUT

———–<.thom.>———–
THE BROKEN BOOK OF BEASTIES
“Book I: A Book by Any Other Cover”
Part One
By Thomas Typewriter and Primo Operahouse-Typewriter & Secondo Operahouse-Typewriter
(c) 2025 jason arcand
———–<:type:>———–

FADE IN

PAN DOWN

The dark screen fades to light grey as the “Part One” slides off the top of the screen from the camera panning

TRANSITION FROM TITLE TO THE OVERLAP

The dark grey shifts in tone changing to dark clouds.

CONTINUE PAN DOWN

EXT. THE OVERLAP HILLS, DAYTIME
A series of forested hills in front of a forested snow-capped mountain slides into view. This is the Overlap Hills, one of the many realms used by the great wizard Orgle. They are named as such because they are areas of multiple different dimensions folded over each other by Orgle’s vast and great magicks until they create a pocket dimension. The Overlap Hills are not as well known as Orgle’s other overlaps such as the Overlap Hotel, the Overlap Waves, or the Overlap Trail. Yet, they do contain one of his greatest treasures. In the distance stands the Trilibris, Orgle’s special library. It appears as three different columns that seem to fuse with each other but also separate creating a kind of hyper-dimensional hourglass shape.

SHIFT TO XLS OF THE TRILIBRIS

CUT TO LS OF THE TRILIBRIS

CUT TO MS OF THE TRILIBRIS

CUT TO CS OF THE TRILIBRIS DOORS

TRANSITION FROM THE OVERLAP HILLS TO THE TRILIBRIS

ENTER THE BUILDING AND MOVE TO THE MAIN ROOM THROUGH A SERIES OF QUICK CUTS AND FADES

INT. THE TRILIBRIS MAIN ROOM, DAYTIME
The Main Room is a teardrop-shaped dome. The walls are covered in bookcases. Spiral staircases are scattered around the circumference. The bookcases are designed in a way that the books are stacked horizontally and vertically giving the impression of the folds in a human brain. The center of the room is a large open space filled with thick tables and chairs. The top of the dome is glass, stained a light blue, allowing natural light to illuminate the space. The bookshelves are illuminated by pendant lights within the rows. Each desk has a bulbous table lamp to illuminate in case the dome is not allowing enough light. Across from the entryway the bookcases stop. A large alcove is built into the wall. A dark wood wall decorated with gold and brass metal in long blocky snaking patterns illuminated by two torches. In the center of the alcove is a podium holding THE CODEXIAN. A very special book, it is separated from the rest of the main room by golden chains and small golden pedestals. A “Do Not Disturb” sign hangs off the chains.

CUT TO LS OF THE CODEXIAN’S ALCOVE

CUT TO MS OF THE CODEXIAN’S ALCOVE

CUT TO MS OF THE CODEXIAN

The Codexian is a thick book, with covers of a purple stone and thick leather binding. The front cover has a vertical row of three circles made from gold wire on the binding side. The other side is a snaking angular pattern similar to the patterns on the alcove walls. The pattern snakes down to two horizontal lines across the bottom portion of the front cover.

CUT TO CS OF THE CODEXIAN

A TRIUMPHANT MYSTICAL MUSICAL SCORE plays. The score plays for a few moments and then it stops with A RECORD NEEDLE SCRATCH.

PAN TO LEFT OF THE CODEXIAN.

A GREY MOUSE crawls up onto the podium. It tentatively approaches the Codexian.

CUT TO MS OF THE GREY MOUSE

The Grey Mouse sniffs along the Codexian, moving to the top corner. It starts to nibble on the edges of the pages.

THE CODEXIAN
“OWWWW!”

CUT TO MS OF THE CODEXIAN

The Round circles on the left of the cover open revealing non-organic golden eyes. The two golden lines along the bottom of the cover move as if lips or a mouth. The Grey Mouse stops chewing.

THE CODEXIAN
“Who did that?”

The Grey Mouse steps away from the Codexian

THE CODEXIAN
“Come on, I know you are there. Who is biting me!”

The Codexian’s eyes scan around the room. Ultimately they settle on the Grey Mouse.

THE CODEXIAN
“Oh, hello there. Were you the one chewing on my corners?”

The Grey Mouse blankly looks at the Codexian. It sneezes. A golden shimmer flickers in the air.

THE CODEXIAN
“Bless you.”

The Grey Mouse stands upright and nods at the Codexian.

THE CODEXIAN
(to self) “Well that’s new.” (to the Grey Mouse) “Let’s try this. Maybe what you’re truly hungry for is a story. If I tell you a story will you stop chewing on me.”

The Grey Mouse nods and then sits down.

THE CODEXIAN
(to self) “Definitely new.” (to the Grey Mouse) “I will need to open up to tell the story, so you may want to adjust your position.”

The Codexian opens and the Grey Mouse moves to the bottom of the podium top. The pages start to move, quickly moving to the middle of the book in a blur.

THE CODEXIAN
“Ahhh, here we go.”

The Codexian is open to a set of pages bordered in golden illumination but the actual area inside the border is blank.

THE CODEXIAN
“The Broken Book of Beasties.

From somewhere in the Trilibris A CHIMING TONE rings out. The blank page starts to fill with an illustration in a style that is a mix of woodcut block print and medieval illuminated scripts. A vast city fills the page.

TRANSITION FROM THE LIBRARY TO AN ILLUSTRATED STORYBOOK STORY

PAN IN ON ILLUSTRATION TO FILL THE FRAME

THE CODEXIAN
(voice-over) “Once there was a vast city filled with magic, wonder and charm.”

The illustration changes to the city in ruins with a giant burst of light exploding from the center of the city. Prismatic storm clouds fill the sky, raining storms down on the city.

THE CODEXIAN
(voice-over) “The city of magic became a city of too much magic, as the Great Rupture ravaged the city. Magic rained down like storms melting what was known and unknown equally.”

The illustration changes to people on hills outside the city fleeing. The city gripped in storms can be seen in the distance.

THE CODEXIAN
(voice-over) “Those who were able fled the city. The Great Rupture lasted decades driving one group further and further from the city.”

The illustration changes to a long stretch of landscape. Hills on the right give way to grasslands, then forests, and then mountains to the right. A group of refugees appears in the hill section. Fade to the group in the grasslands section and prismatic storms in the hills. The illustration changes more with a fade to the refugees in the forests The prismatic storms now fill the hill and grassland sections. The illustration shifts again. The refugees are now in the mountains section. The prismatic storms fill the hills, grassland, and forest sections. The illustration changes one last time. The refugees are gone and the prismatic storms fill the entire page. A THUNDER BOLT CRACKS. The Codexian turns the page.

THE CODEXIAN
(voice-over) “Past landscapes that ate lives, the refugees found a place of safety, or at least which they hope offered peace.”

The illustration area is filled with many tree branches. Colorful flowers grow along the base of the trees while animals can be seen peeking their faces out of the upper branches. The illustration changes with the trees sliding. They part in the center moving left and right. In the center of the screen sits a valley made from five rivers feeding into a lake in the center. There is a large island in the center of the lake along with a few small islands in sandbars scattered around the lake. The illustration changes again with the sun emerging in the clouds above the valley. Bright sunlight beams across the page. The illustration changes one last time with the illustrations of the refugees moving in from the left and right side of the frame and walking down to the valley. The Codexian turns the page.

THE CODEXIAN
“Having found sanctuary, the people set about building a new home for themselves.”

The illustration is blank but then small illustrations of people enter from the left and right sides. They break off into five groups, with the fifth group in the center made from the remaining few from each group. Each group then disappears into a cloud of construction dust. CONSTRUCTION SOUNDS can be heard. Slowly simple houses emerge from the construction dust. Once a house is finished the construction dust cloud disappears and the group looks at their work. Once all five houses are completed, the people CHEER.

THE CODEXIAN
“And grow they did. It was as if some creative spirit had been unleashed.”

The small people in the illustration then go to the area behind the houses and start constructing again. Rows of houses emerge from the dust. Once a house is finished, each group builds another behind it. Soon the houses recede into the distance. The construction dust finishes and the houses sit. The sun sets and the people go into their homes. The stars come out and then dawn breaks. Small people exit their houses and do daily chores. The sun rises and sets. Everyone goes back to bed. The day/night cycle speeds up to a blur until sixty days have passed. Time returns to its regular speed on the sixtieth day. The illustration shifts zooming in on a house in the background. A lady leaves at sunrise and walks two houses down to a bakery. She enters the shop and starts baking. Smoke starts to emerge from the bakery’s chimney. As the sun rises to mid-morning, the sign in the window changes from closed to open. The illustration changes to looking in through the window of the bakery. The Baker stands at the counter.

THE CODEXIAN
“And while everyone else was moving forward, one person was stuck looking back. Little did anyone realize she would change the direction of everyone’s life.”

The illustration changes to the baker at the counter. She has a sad far away look in her eyes.

ZOOM IN ON THE BAKER’S FORLORN EXPRESSION

TRANSITION FROM WITHIN THE STORY TO THE BORDERTOWNE MIDDLE SCHOOL LIBRARY.

FADE OUT

FADE IN

INT. THE BORDERTOWNE MIDDLE SCHOOL LIBRARY
A floor-to-ceiling bookcase spreads across the back of the stage. Off to the stage-right side extends a short wall with a double set of doors for entrance and a single door for the librarian’s office. The door to the librarian’s office is open. The door has a plaque over it with the following text: “Ms. Weaver”. On stage-left side of the stage sits a short wall containing a spinner rack filled with various young adult novels next to a metallic magazine rack. In front of the floor-to-ceiling bookcase sits two round tables with chairs.

MS OF THE OPEN ZINE

Thomas has the zine open on the table. He is writing down notes in his notebook. As he writes a note about the grey mouse he trails off and starts scribbling doodles of the mouse. His watch BEEPS.

CUT TO MS OF THOMAS

Thomas looks at his watch and realizes it is time to leave.

THOMAS TOPHAT
“Ms. Weaver?”

MS. WEAVER
(off-camera) “Yes?”

THOMAS TOPHAT
“Can I take this with me? I am only partway through.”

MS. WEAVER
(off-camera) “No. Magazines are not allowed to be removed from the library by students. You know that is the policy.”

Thomas stands and walks out of the frame.

THOMAS TOPHAT
(off-camera and softer tone) “Please Ms. Weaver. I’ll take real good care of it.”

MS. WEAVER
(off-camera) “Now, Thomas you know…”

THOMAS TOPHAT
(off-camera) “It’s just I’ve never found anything before that I wanted to read. Everything I read is just because a teacher or my parents tell me to. This is the first thing that I want to read. I really just want to know what happens next.”

There is a short pause.

MS. WEAVER
(off-camera) “Okay. But you must promise to be careful with it. Take good care of it.”

THOMAS TOPHAT
(off-camera) “I will. I will take great care of it. Thank you.”

MS. WEAVER
(off-camera) “You’re going to be late for your next class.”

Thomas reenters the frame and packs up his bag. He slides the zine in last, needing to adjust a few items for everything to fit properly. He then slings his backpack on and starts to exit.

MS. WEAVER
(off-camera) “Take care of it.”

THOMAS TOPHAT
“I will.”

Thomas exits stage-right.

FADE OUT