***CHAPTER 4***
(MELANIE'S SCREAMING BRINGS TOM BACK INTO THE PRESENT. THE CHILDREN'S BEDROOM IS TURNING INTO A TROPICAL JUNGLE AND THERE ARE THE NOISES OF EXOTIC BIRDS AND ANIMALS. ROWAN HAS WRIGGLED FREE FROM HER FATHER'S ARMS AND OPENED THE BEDROOM DOOR - TO A FIERCELY ROARING TIGER. CALMLY, THE CHILD CLIMBS ON THE ANIMAL'S BACK.)
ROWAN (excited): Look a me, Mummy! Daddy, look at me!
SOPHIE (smiling to reassure): It's okay, Mummy, don't be scared. We're only playing lions and tigers.
(MELANIE REMAINS FROZEN IN TERROR, WATCHING ROWAN RIDE AROUND THE ROOM. A LION BREAKS THROUGH THE TANGLED THICKET. SOPHIE PATS ITS MANE)
TOM (shouts): It's alright, Mel, it's alright!
(TOM REACHES FOR HIS WIFE'S HAND AND SHE CLINGS ON. SOPHIE AND ROWAN PLAY)
TOM (still needs to shout): Hang on, trust me, it's going to change...I know...
(THE BEDROOM CHANGES VERY QUICKLY, SCENES BLENDING INTO EACH OTHER. THE FAMILY IS TRANSPORTED INTO EACH SCENE:
SHIP ON OCEAN, PASSENGERS ON DECK IN FORMAL EVENING WEAR, SQUEALING GULLS SKIMMING WAVES, STRONG SEA BREEZES, CLOUDS SCUDDING ACROSS BLUE SKIES...
TOBOGGAN RIDES, KIDS HAVING SNOWBALL FIGHTS, SNOWMEN, SHOUTING AND EXCITED CONVERSATION IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE...
AN OLD-FASHIONED ARMY FIGHTING ITS WAY THROUGH HARSH LANDSCAPE, BEATING OF DRUMS, BLASTS OF GUNFIRE AND SOLDIERS SCREAMING, RED OF UNIFORMS, HORSES REARING...
LULLABY MUSIC, PLEASANT WELL-KEPT GARDEN BURSTING WITH BRIGHTLY COLOURED FLOWERS, SMALL CHILDREN PLAYING, BLUE, BLUE SKY AND BLAZING SUN...
WILD THUNDERSTORM, GRAVESTONES BEING TOPPLED OVER, THE DEAD CLAWING THEIR WAY THROUGH THE WET EARTH, WAILING, CRASHING THUNDER...
COLOURED RAIN FROM A LIGHT GREEN SKY, PEOPLE, DRESSED IN VERY BRIGHTLY COLOURED CLOTHES THAT ARE THE STYLES OF THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY, ARE RUNNING TO GET OUT OF THE RAIN. GENTLE RHYTHM OF RAIN, SWISH OF VETERAN CARS, THE NOISE AND LAUGHTER OF A FUNFAIR, IN THE DISTANCE, NEAR A STATUE, A YOUNG COUPLE, OBLIVIOUS TO THE RAIN, ARE KISSING...THE SKY TURNS A LUMINOUS GREEN AND HE RAIN STOPS FALLING LEAVING BEHIND RAINBOW PUDDLES...
...THE GIRL TURNS FROM HER SWEETHEART...
...IT IS KATHERINE, LOOKING PRETTY AND HAPPY. SHE WEARS AN EMERALD GREEN DRESS AND A GREEN RIBBON TIES BACK HER RAVEN HAIR. AS SHE WALKS TOWARDS TOM, THE CROWDS AND NOISE FADE. THERE IS NO JUNGLE, NOTHING OUT OF THE ORDINARY, ALL THAT IS LEFT IS THE CHILDREN'S BEDROOM AS IT USUALLY IS. SLOWLY KATHERINE COMES CLOSER AND TOM WALKS TOWARDS HER. MELANIE GATHERS THE CHILDREN - WHO ARE MERELY CURIOUS - IN HER ARMS)
MELANIE (slowly, in shock): Omigod, omigod, omigod...
TOM (emotionally): Katherine!
(TOM AND KATHERINE EMBRACE BRIEFLY. THEY BREAK FREE, STILL HOLDING ON TO EACH OTHER'S HANDS)
TOM: I remember! I was nine years old and at a sleepover with friends. It was Hallowe'en so we were all telling each other ghost stories, trying to scare the hell out of each other...
KATHERINE: I was the first proper story you ever told, the first proper character you ever created...
TOM: But you were so real...
KATHERINE: ...I gave you nightmares so you had to make me less frightening so you...
TOM: ...invented the Greenight people and a fairground and multi-coloured rain and a Katherine who made Greenight chocolate, which was a taste of every chocolate in the world all at once!
KATHERINE: Then you moved on to other stories and forgot about me - but I live still. All of us do, every character, every story ever created! Sometimes we're not so strong, sometimes we stay as fleeting grey shadows...other times we breathe your air, share your sunlight, you cry our tears, laugh with us, know our pain and our joy...Tom, you can be anyone, go anywhere in imagination! Be a child again. Don't question, it is, keep reaching and reaching into those dreams, reaching and reaching into imagination...
(KATHERINE FADES AWAY INTO A WORLD OF MISTY GREY SHAPES OF MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN. THEN THE MIST LIFTS, THE SHAPES BECOME PEOPLE AND THE WINTRY TREES BECOME COVERED IN LEAVES AND BLOSSOM.
TOM AND MELANIE ARE BOTH CRYING. SOPHIE LOOKS CURIOUS AS HER PARENTS HUG. ROWAN HAS LOST INTEREST AND IS TALKING AWAY TO HERSELF IN A GAME WITH SOME DOLLS AND THE BELOVED PLASTIC SPIDER)
SOPHIE: Why are you crying? What's wrong? Katherine was nice.
MELANIE (wiping away a tear): Nothing. It's getting late. Maybe it's time for you two to have your supper and get ready for bed.
ROWAN (turning): Daddy, if I'm good an' drink ALL my hot milk will you tell me a story?
****
ON THE LANDING, THROUGH THE OPEN DOOR, ROD STERLING TURNS TO THE VIEWER, SMILING.
ROD STERLING: Tell me a story! Who knows what imagination is? Who knows what becomes of those imaginary people once the author has finished with the story? (HE UNWRAPS A BAR OF GREENIGHT CHOCOLATE) Leaving them to live on forever - in the Twilight Zone!
*****************************************************************************
Hope you enjoyed reading! I was picturing it all as I would see it on TV and don't think it transferred on to paper very well. I just put a floppy disk in my PC and re-read those lines that were mysteriously added to the (definitely non-twilight-zoney) story that gave me this idea in the first place - and it still baffles me tho it no longer freaks me out like it did for some time afterwards. Where did those words come from? I hadn't been drinking, don't do drugs, wasn't exceptionally tired...so the only logical answer has to be...my imagination...
(MELANIE'S SCREAMING BRINGS TOM BACK INTO THE PRESENT. THE CHILDREN'S BEDROOM IS TURNING INTO A TROPICAL JUNGLE AND THERE ARE THE NOISES OF EXOTIC BIRDS AND ANIMALS. ROWAN HAS WRIGGLED FREE FROM HER FATHER'S ARMS AND OPENED THE BEDROOM DOOR - TO A FIERCELY ROARING TIGER. CALMLY, THE CHILD CLIMBS ON THE ANIMAL'S BACK.)
ROWAN (excited): Look a me, Mummy! Daddy, look at me!
SOPHIE (smiling to reassure): It's okay, Mummy, don't be scared. We're only playing lions and tigers.
(MELANIE REMAINS FROZEN IN TERROR, WATCHING ROWAN RIDE AROUND THE ROOM. A LION BREAKS THROUGH THE TANGLED THICKET. SOPHIE PATS ITS MANE)
TOM (shouts): It's alright, Mel, it's alright!
(TOM REACHES FOR HIS WIFE'S HAND AND SHE CLINGS ON. SOPHIE AND ROWAN PLAY)
TOM (still needs to shout): Hang on, trust me, it's going to change...I know...
(THE BEDROOM CHANGES VERY QUICKLY, SCENES BLENDING INTO EACH OTHER. THE FAMILY IS TRANSPORTED INTO EACH SCENE:
SHIP ON OCEAN, PASSENGERS ON DECK IN FORMAL EVENING WEAR, SQUEALING GULLS SKIMMING WAVES, STRONG SEA BREEZES, CLOUDS SCUDDING ACROSS BLUE SKIES...
TOBOGGAN RIDES, KIDS HAVING SNOWBALL FIGHTS, SNOWMEN, SHOUTING AND EXCITED CONVERSATION IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE...
AN OLD-FASHIONED ARMY FIGHTING ITS WAY THROUGH HARSH LANDSCAPE, BEATING OF DRUMS, BLASTS OF GUNFIRE AND SOLDIERS SCREAMING, RED OF UNIFORMS, HORSES REARING...
LULLABY MUSIC, PLEASANT WELL-KEPT GARDEN BURSTING WITH BRIGHTLY COLOURED FLOWERS, SMALL CHILDREN PLAYING, BLUE, BLUE SKY AND BLAZING SUN...
WILD THUNDERSTORM, GRAVESTONES BEING TOPPLED OVER, THE DEAD CLAWING THEIR WAY THROUGH THE WET EARTH, WAILING, CRASHING THUNDER...
COLOURED RAIN FROM A LIGHT GREEN SKY, PEOPLE, DRESSED IN VERY BRIGHTLY COLOURED CLOTHES THAT ARE THE STYLES OF THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY, ARE RUNNING TO GET OUT OF THE RAIN. GENTLE RHYTHM OF RAIN, SWISH OF VETERAN CARS, THE NOISE AND LAUGHTER OF A FUNFAIR, IN THE DISTANCE, NEAR A STATUE, A YOUNG COUPLE, OBLIVIOUS TO THE RAIN, ARE KISSING...THE SKY TURNS A LUMINOUS GREEN AND HE RAIN STOPS FALLING LEAVING BEHIND RAINBOW PUDDLES...
...THE GIRL TURNS FROM HER SWEETHEART...
...IT IS KATHERINE, LOOKING PRETTY AND HAPPY. SHE WEARS AN EMERALD GREEN DRESS AND A GREEN RIBBON TIES BACK HER RAVEN HAIR. AS SHE WALKS TOWARDS TOM, THE CROWDS AND NOISE FADE. THERE IS NO JUNGLE, NOTHING OUT OF THE ORDINARY, ALL THAT IS LEFT IS THE CHILDREN'S BEDROOM AS IT USUALLY IS. SLOWLY KATHERINE COMES CLOSER AND TOM WALKS TOWARDS HER. MELANIE GATHERS THE CHILDREN - WHO ARE MERELY CURIOUS - IN HER ARMS)
MELANIE (slowly, in shock): Omigod, omigod, omigod...
TOM (emotionally): Katherine!
(TOM AND KATHERINE EMBRACE BRIEFLY. THEY BREAK FREE, STILL HOLDING ON TO EACH OTHER'S HANDS)
TOM: I remember! I was nine years old and at a sleepover with friends. It was Hallowe'en so we were all telling each other ghost stories, trying to scare the hell out of each other...
KATHERINE: I was the first proper story you ever told, the first proper character you ever created...
TOM: But you were so real...
KATHERINE: ...I gave you nightmares so you had to make me less frightening so you...
TOM: ...invented the Greenight people and a fairground and multi-coloured rain and a Katherine who made Greenight chocolate, which was a taste of every chocolate in the world all at once!
KATHERINE: Then you moved on to other stories and forgot about me - but I live still. All of us do, every character, every story ever created! Sometimes we're not so strong, sometimes we stay as fleeting grey shadows...other times we breathe your air, share your sunlight, you cry our tears, laugh with us, know our pain and our joy...Tom, you can be anyone, go anywhere in imagination! Be a child again. Don't question, it is, keep reaching and reaching into those dreams, reaching and reaching into imagination...
(KATHERINE FADES AWAY INTO A WORLD OF MISTY GREY SHAPES OF MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN. THEN THE MIST LIFTS, THE SHAPES BECOME PEOPLE AND THE WINTRY TREES BECOME COVERED IN LEAVES AND BLOSSOM.
TOM AND MELANIE ARE BOTH CRYING. SOPHIE LOOKS CURIOUS AS HER PARENTS HUG. ROWAN HAS LOST INTEREST AND IS TALKING AWAY TO HERSELF IN A GAME WITH SOME DOLLS AND THE BELOVED PLASTIC SPIDER)
SOPHIE: Why are you crying? What's wrong? Katherine was nice.
MELANIE (wiping away a tear): Nothing. It's getting late. Maybe it's time for you two to have your supper and get ready for bed.
ROWAN (turning): Daddy, if I'm good an' drink ALL my hot milk will you tell me a story?
****
ON THE LANDING, THROUGH THE OPEN DOOR, ROD STERLING TURNS TO THE VIEWER, SMILING.
ROD STERLING: Tell me a story! Who knows what imagination is? Who knows what becomes of those imaginary people once the author has finished with the story? (HE UNWRAPS A BAR OF GREENIGHT CHOCOLATE) Leaving them to live on forever - in the Twilight Zone!
*****************************************************************************
Hope you enjoyed reading! I was picturing it all as I would see it on TV and don't think it transferred on to paper very well. I just put a floppy disk in my PC and re-read those lines that were mysteriously added to the (definitely non-twilight-zoney) story that gave me this idea in the first place - and it still baffles me tho it no longer freaks me out like it did for some time afterwards. Where did those words come from? I hadn't been drinking, don't do drugs, wasn't exceptionally tired...so the only logical answer has to be...my imagination...