Chapter 6: Hollywood comes to Birdwell Island
(We see a familiar Amtrak train crossing a long bridge entering Birdwell Island, than we fly over the train to the other side and we go down a window to see Andy Jones and a couple other boys around his age and as Andy looks out the window, a flash of red jumps over the train as seen in the window's reflection)
Andy: Huh?
Josh: Andy?
Matt: You okay, dude?
Andy: I thought I just saw-Never mind.
Train Conductor: (Over P.A. system) Ladies and Gentlemen, in a few seconds, Birdwell Island will be our next stop. I repeat, Birdwell Island is our next stop. All passengers getting off here at Birdwell Island, we'd like to thank you for choosing Amtrak and hope to see you again in the near future. (Cuts to the station platform as the stationmaster speaks into her P.A. system from the ticket office with the train pulling into the station in the background)
Birdwell Island Stationmaster: Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention, please? Amtrak train #41, the Broadway Limited to Chicago, is pulling in right on time on track 2. Please wait near the waiting area until an additional announcement is made once the passengers enter the station building. (Andy and his friends disembark from the train along with the other passengers)
Josh: So this is Birdwell Island.
Andy: Yep. My mom was born here as she mentioned before we left, but we haven't been here for a couple years. My grandparents usually came up to the mainland to visit us. (A limo pulls into the station parking lot and a familiar mid-60s Englishman wearing a chauffer's hat climbs out of the driver's side) Chatsworth!
Chatsworth: Master Andrew! (Walks over to shake Andy's hand) My boy, how smashing to see you. I must say, you've grown since I saw you last.
Andy: Yes, and it's good to be back. These are my friends, Matt and Josh. Guys, this is Chatsworth, my grandparents' valet and chauffer.
Chatsworth: (Tips his chauffer's hat) How do you do, young gentlemen?
Andy: Where are Grandma and Grandpa?
Chatsworth: Your grandfather's working on a case at the courthouse and your grandmother's out visiting friends. I was asked to come meet you here at the station and take you onto the mansion. (He then grabs the bags as Andy and his friends climb into the limo and the limo drives away from the station, cuts to a ferry with an RV among the vehicles on its deck, then the inside of the RV as we see a young early-20s man sitting at the wheel who then looks back to the couch to see a red-haired pregnant woman about the same age wearing a red sleeveless shirt and light brown shorts laying across it stroking her belly where it's peaking under her shirt with her left hand)
Tom: You feeling okay, Heather?
Heather: Aside from feeling real fat, I'm doing okay.
Tom: Fat? You don't look fat to me.
Heather: Tom, what do you call a girl like me with a belly as big and heavy as mine?
Tom: (Stands up and comes over to his wife) Hey, I still love you no matter what.
Heather: I know. I'm just so ready to hold these twins in my arms instead of having them in my tummy.
Tom: (Strokes his wife's belly as she puts her hands near her chest) Somehow, I still can't resist telling our families that instead of 1 baby, there's actually 2 in there. To think that's what happened when my parents were visiting us before we left L.A. Same thing when we visited your great-grandparents on the Crow Reservation in Montana on our way here.
Heather: I feel the same way, but we both agreed to save it as a surprise. (The RV's vestibule opens and a dark-skinned man wearing glasses and dressed in a dark-grey shirt and blue jeans climbs in)
Stanley: Hey, you 2. How y'all doin'?
Heather: We're doing just fine, Stanley.
Tom: Yeah. (Walks back to the driver's seat of the RV with Stanley sitting next to him) Did you talk with the Captain?
Stanley: Yep. He says we'll be comin' into the docks in 5 minutes. (Turns back to Heather) Still, you sure you could be able to do a movie in your, uh, condition?
Heather: Tom was worried about that, too, but we were able to get the okay from our doctor, even though he warned us to prepare ourselves in case I go into labor. Also, Tom and I had been talking the last few days. How would you like to be our baby's godfather?
Stanley: Me, godfather? I-I don't know what to say.
Tom: Look, Stanley, you got Heather and me into this business and gave us our first big break, we owe you plenty. That's why we thought you'd be a great godfather for our first child.
Stanley: Well, I consider that a high honor. Still, I wonder how we'll be doin' on this Birdwell Island. I remember how your parents talked about it before, but we're supposed to be goin' across the country.
Heather: Stanley, I can assure you, Birdwell Island's a wonderful place. Besides, my grandparents live there. Grandpa also happens to be the local Judge. (The ferry soon pulls into the dock area and the RV drives forward and later pulls into the Birdwell Hotel, cuts to them in the lobby waiting their turn to check in with Heather wearing a hooded jacket the same color as her shirt covering her belly, she looks and notices Mr. Sumner at the check-in desk)
Heather: Mr. Sumner?
Mr. Sumner: (Turns around upon hearing his name) Hmm?
Heather: Mr. Sumner, is that you?
Mr. Sumner: It can't be. Heather? (They hug and laugh) Let me look at you. What are you doing here?
Heather: I was gonna ask you the same thing.
Tom: You know this man, Heather?
Heather: Yes, he's an old friend of my grandfather. My husband and I are working for Stanley Thompson.
Mr. Clayton: Wait, the Stanley Thompson? The movie director? (Excitedly comes up to shake Stanley's head) Oh, I'm a fan, sir. Big, huge fan! (His superior sternly clears his throat)
Mr. Sumner: I have to say it's a real pleasure, Mr. Thompson. Even I've seen a few of your movies over the years.
Stanley: Thank you, Mr. Sumner.
Mr. Sumner: By the way, how were you able to hire my friend's granddaughter?
Stanley: Heather's parents and I were friends in College, and when I heard about her wanting to be a writer, I asked her and Tom if they'd like to work on the script for my latest picture.
Mr. Sumner: Well, the best of luck to all 3 of you. (He and his agents walk up to an elevator) Hope to see you sometime soon.
Heather: Hope so, too. (The elevator closes, cuts to Heather and Tom in their room as Tom comes out of the restroom after taking a shower)
Tom: Man, that was a refreshing shower. I'm gonna go take a look around here and see if I can come up with anything for a scene. It's something my uncle does when he writes for his local newspaper.
Heather: Be careful and hurry back, okay?
Tom: Okay. Be back soon. (Kisses his wife's lips and playfully tickles her belly) And you 2 behave yourselves in there. (Heather giggles with her belly bouncing as Tom heads out the door, cuts to him walking down a street) Ah, it's so peaceful around here. (Notices several posters for President Howard's campaign for reelection) It seems there's quite a bit of support for President Howard around here. So glad I voted for him 4 years ago. I obviously plan to do it again since everybody's rating him as the best since Ronald Reagan. (Walks along and passes a mail box with the name "Bleakman" painted on it, then hears the voices of a familiar elderly man and his wife, turns and notices them cleaning up piles of dirt in their yard)
Mr. Bleakman: Oh, that Clifford! Why do I have to put up with that king-sized canine?
Mrs. Bleakman: Now, Horace, Clifford never meant any harm. He's always well-behaved.
Mr. Bleakman: Not when it comes to my yard, Violet.
Mrs. Bleakman: But remember when you wanted a law about dogs in the park, and everyone ended up not coming because of it? (Her husband pops his head up in surprise)
Mr. Bleakman: Well, I, uh-I, uh-
Mrs. Bleakman: And what about the time when Clifford was trying to stop those kittens, Billy and Betty, when they kept wondering into the yard and you blamed him for it without knowing what really happened?
Mr. Bleakman: (Stammers) That was different!
Mrs. Bleakman: (Notices Tom standing nearby) Oh. Is there something we can help you with, young man?
Tom: (Walks over) Excuse me, folks. I couldn't help overhearing, but who's this Clifford character you're talking about?
Mrs. Bleakman: He's our neighbors' dog.
Tom: (Looks at the mess around the Bleakmans' yard) A dog did all that?
Mr. Bleakman: No ordinary dog would do that while burying his bone.
Mrs. Bleakman: (Sternly) Horace. You must excuse my husband, he can be a bit moody.
Tom: What kind of dog is he? Doberman, Great Dane, St. Bernard?
Mr. Bleakman: (Shakes his head) Neither. He's a red Labrador Retriever. Or should I say, big red Labrador Retriever. He's about 25 feet tall and weighs at least a ton.
Tom: Well, uh, that seems interesting. Have a nice day. (Waves and walks off as the Bleakmans wave back and as he walks by the Howard's yard, he begins muttering to himself) Dog as big as a house. That old coot's crazy. (Turns his head and sees Emily Elizabeth playing with Clifford) Yikes! (Ducks and hides under the fence, hyperventilating, unaware that Clifford and Emily Elizabeth are walking over) Can't be. They don't come that big!
Emily Elizabeth: Hello!
Tom: Huh? Huh? Who said that?
Emily Elizabeth: I did. (Tom nervously turns and slowly peaks over the fence) Are you okay?
Tom: Yes, I-I'm fine. I just thought that-(Clifford looks down at him) Ooooh, oooh, ooh! (Blubbering, stepping back in fright, stammering with Clifford barking at him) Yaaa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! (Runs down the street, Clifford whimpers)
Emily Elizabeth: It's okay, Clifford. I'm sure you didn't mean to frighten him. (Cuts back to the Birdwell Hotel with Tom, Heather, and Stanley)
Stanley: A dog?
Heather: A big red dog?
Tom: I know a dog when I see one, but that red Labrador Retriever may be the biggest I've ever seen! I'm talking as big as a 3-story house, 2,000 pounds at least! And you should have seen its doghouse. I can't imagine how much it cost to build that thing.
Heather: Tom, honey, you must have imagined it.
Tom: Imagined it? Heather, I saw him with my own eyes! As he looked down at me, I swear he was at least 25 feet tall! He's-he's huge! I don't know how long we'll be on the Island, but if I see that giant pooch again, I'll point him out to you 2! (We see a familiar elderly gentleman in a dark room at the Birdwell hotel, with a light shining on him with a Velcro billboard behind him)
Mr. Sumner: This is our target. (Clips a picture of Clifford onto the cork board) He answers to Clifford. (Mr. Colfax, one of Sumner's agents who's sitting next to Mr. Clayton, raises his hand) Yes?
Mr. Colfax: Good color.
Mr. Sumner: Shut up, Mr. Colfax. Now as I was saying, Gentlemen, as you can tell, he's big, and as Mr. Colfax has pointed out, he's red, and he's a big as a 3-story house.
Mr. Clayton: (Raises his hand) What if the President interferes like he did 3 years ago?
Mr. Sumner: Well, this time, the President won't interfere. I may have served with him in Vietnam, but he just doesn't understand how much of a threat that big red beast really is. A dog as big as a house is something that people should be aware of.
Mr. Clayton: But, sir, the people around this island seem to be peaceful despite that dog. I mean, I heard a guy and gal talking about that huge pooch in the lobby as we were checking in. It's as though he's loveable.
Mr. Sumner: "Loveable?" "Loveable?!" I'll show you loveable! (Rips the picture of Clifford off the billboard, stomps onto it and rips it in half in his feet grunting in frustration, calms down as he walks offscreen as the other agents leave for their perspective rooms at the hotel) That'll be all, everyone. We'll discuss it a little more. See you in the morning. (Cuts to James and Frank Roberts as they look at each other)
Agent James: (Whispering) Is he crazy? (His brother shrugs)
A/N: Happy Thanksgiving, Everybody! The part where Tom gets that fright from seeing Clifford was inspired from the Flintstones when Fred first saw the Rubbles' pet, Hoppy the Hopparoo, and thought he was a giant mouse. The other part of him and Heather wanting to save the fact of them expecting twins as a surprise was inspired from the Bill Cosby show, where Cliff's daughter, Sondra, and her husband, Elvin, also did the same thing. Also hope you noticed the references Mr. Bleakman's wife made to a couple episodes of the TV series.