| Inflating a Dog Screenplay
Chapter 16: No Harm Done, Most Likely (in which Peter takes the wheel) |
by Eric
Kraft
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The screen rights are available.
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INT. PETER’S UPSTAIRS BEDROOM.
Peter is lying in bed awake, trying to compose a song about Patti, based
on “Tutti-Frutti.”
Got a gal, named Patti . . .PETER(singing, badly) CUT TO:
EXT. VERY EARLY THE NEXT MORNING. Ella
and Peter drive to Patti’s, pick her up, and drive on to Captain Mac’s.
The town is quiet, but it holds the thrill of possibility.
CUT TO:
EXT. THE CREEK WHERE ARCINELLA IS DOCKED.
Ella, Peter, and Patti step aboard Arcinella. Captain Mac greets
them.
CUT TO:
EXT. BOLOTOMY BAY. It’s a pleasant
trip. Arcinella purrs. The captain guides her with a steady
hand. The bay is calm and flat. Picturesque ducks swim beside
the boat, then . . .
He throttles down, steps away from the wheel, and lets Arcinella drift. Ella recognizes her cue. She hands him a check for the balance due, and the boat is hers.Well, old girl, time to say goodbye.CAPTAIN MAC(addressing Arcinella) He turns a questioning look toward Ella, who turns it toward Peter, who looks to Patti.Who’s going to take her in?CAPTAIN MAC(pocketing the check) He nudges it a bit, and Arcinella begins to move forward.Would you like to take her in, Patti?PETER(hoping to get out of it)I wouldn’t have any idea what I was doing. I’d probably wreck everything.PATTIHere we go, lad. Take the wheel.CAPTAIN MAC(grips Peter’s shoulder)Aye, Cap’.PETER(muttering)This here’s the throttle.CAPTAIN MAC Peter does, and he finds it easy. Nothing to it.Well, steer her toward town, lad.CAPTAIN MAC (CONT’D.) Peter reaches for the throttle.This lever is your gearshift handle.CAPTAIN MAC (CONT’D.)(confidentially)The old gal’s got a few peculiarities, and this here’s one of them.(pointing to a pedal)That’s another. That’s her clutch.Ah-ha.PETERWhen my father put the Studebaker engine in her, he put the transmission in, too, so she drives her prop through first and reverse. When you bring her into the slip you’re going to need to set your throttle down so she’s just kind of chugging along . . .CAPTAIN MAC He turns away for a moment, hiding a grin.You probably don’t want to do that now.CAPTAIN MAC (CONT’D.)I was just, um, checking the setting.PETERWhen the time comes, you’re going to want to have her just chugging along, but you won’t want her to stall.CAPTAIN MACNo. Of course not.PETER(chuckling, the old hand)Then when you’re at the slip, you’ll want to shift into reverse.CAPTAIN MACReverse?PETERTo retard her forward motion.CAPTAIN MACOh, sure. Of course.PETERYou want to slow her down enough so she glides on into the slip sweet and easy and just kisses the bulkhead.CAPTAIN MAC When Peter judges that he is near enough to the slip to throttle down, he does, until the engine seems just this side of stalling. So far, so good.Treat her gentle, boy.CAPTAIN MAC (CONT’D.) But he realizes that Arcinella is moving toward the bulkhead with reckless haste. Time to shift into reverse. The clutch is a pedal projecting through the floorboards. Peter puts his foot on it and presses. It doesn’t move at all. He stands on it. With the clutch in, he shifts into reverse. Arcinella races on toward the bulkhead. Peter knows that he has to release the clutch in a smooth manner, but, as the sweat begins to run into his eyes, he realizes that he can’t do that, since he’s standing on the pedal. Better to do something than nothing, he thinks, and steps off the clutch pedal. Arcinella shudders, seems to hesitate for a moment, then with a sound like a sigh she stalls, and in the silence glides smack into the bulkhead. When she hits it, all hands grab for something to keep themselves from going overboard, then she shudders and rebounds toward the opposite bank. CUT TO:
EXT. ARCINELLA. A FEW MINUTES LATER. With
Peter standing glum and mute in the bow, ready to take a line ashore when
they are close enough, Captain Mac brings her in sweet and easy.
CUT TO:
EXT. THE DOCK. A FEW MINUTES LATER.
All are safely ashore.
There’s been no harm done, most likely. . . . Of course, I can’t say for sure that there hasn’t, and I can’t take responsibility if there has.CAPTAIN MAC(while Peter squirms) CUT TO:
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THIRTY SECONDS OF "TUTTI-FRUTTI" LITTLE RICHARD |
|
 |
 Here
are a couple of swell ideas from Eric Kraft's vivacious publicist, Candi
Lee Manning.
You'll find more swell ideas from Candi Lee here. |
Tip the author. You can toss a little something Kraft's way through the Amazon.com Honor System or PayPal.
Copyright © 2001 by Eric
Kraft
The screenplay for Inflating a Dog is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, dialogues, settings, and businesses portrayed in it are products of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this teleplay may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author. The illustration at the top of the page is an adaptation of an illustration by Stewart Rouse that first appeared on the cover of the August 1931 issue of Modern Mechanics and Inventions. The boy at the controls of the aerocycle doesn’t particularly resemble Peter Leroy—except, perhaps, for the smile. |
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