A Man Arrives in Town

Setting: Small western town (similar to the town in the movie “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly).

Scene 1 - Overview

A man wakes up on a bed inside a cramped, dimly lit old room. He’s dazed and groggy, but otherwise healthy. As he opens his eyes, he squints because a ray of sun streams in through a tiny, old window. He slowly gets out of bed, walks toward the window and sees a dusty, red road littered with tumbleweeds and hears the dull murmur of people walking around outside.

Main Character: (talking to himself) Where am I?

(There’s a knock on the door of his room)

Main Character: (he says in a groggy voice) uh, yeah?

Inn Keeper: (female voice) I heard you movin’ around up here and thought I’d come check on ya. If you feel up to it, we got food downstairs.

Main Character: Oh, uh yeah…ok thanks.

(Inn Keeper walks away. The sound of her heals clang loudly against the old wooden floor)

Main Character: (talking to himself) Who was that? Where am I?

(He slowly moves away from the window and toward the bed where he notices a wash basin and towel have been set out on the nightstand. He washes his face. He grabs a pair of tattered pants and worn boots that were neatly folded and placed in a small chair. He throws them on and opens the door)

Inn Keeper: Glad you’re feelin’ up to joinin’ us. Come on down stranger…make yourself comfortable.

(The main character finds himself standing on a balcony, looking down at a bar. The room has 4-5 other tables with chairs situated throughout. The inn keeper is standing behind the bar and in front of her are 3 people…all starring up at him from plates of food. He turns to slowly walk down a short flight of steps to find himself sitting at the bar with the rest of the group).

Inn Keeper (handing the main chapter a plate of food with a smile): Well now, it’s nice of ya to join us. I’m Annie.

(She motions to the other 3 people…)

Inn Keeper: And this here is Shotgun, Slim and Sammie.

(All 3 men look over and nod at our main character. They then continue eating)

Inn Keeper: (looking back at the main character) They’re brothers and happen to be the best bounty hunters on 352. Good people. And uh, what can we call you my friend?

(Main character looks down and then back up again at the Inn Keeper)

Main Character: Well, I’m…I’m not quite sure. Uh…I don’t think I can remember my name.

Inn Keeper: Don’t you worry ‘bout it none honey. How ‘bout for now, we’ll just call ya Blue? On account of your eyes. I mean no offense but ain’t every day you see a black fella with blue eyes…specially one’s so bright.

Blue: Um, yeah…I uh…I guess so.

Inn Keeper: (wiping down the bar and refilling drinks) Well Blue, you made quite an entrance yesterday. Shotgun, Slim and Sammie found ya in you. They was outside town trackin’ down a bounty when they heard a boom, louder than thunder. Said it sounded like a war cannon. Bout scared their horses half to death. They rode about half a mile to find out what the commotion was all about. That’s when they found you.

Main Character: Found me?

(Inn Keeper pauses and looks over at Slim)

Slim (the oldest brother): Yeah, when we found you…it was uh, well can’t quite explain it.

(Sammie, the youngest brother, eagerly interrupts): Like Ms. Annie says…we heard a loud boom and rode toward it. The closer we got to the sound, seemed to get cloudy and lots of dust started kickin’ up on us. We had to cover our faces it was so dusty and windy. Didn’t take long for the dust to settle though, that’s how we knew it wasn’t like a regular dust storm. By the time everything cleared, there you were…on the ground, naked as the day you was born. Scared the daylights outta us.

Slim: To keep some dignity about ya, we threw one of our horse covers over ya before carryin’ ya back to town. We brought ya straightaway to Ms. Annie. She’s got trainin’ as a nurse and well, we thought she’d be able to fix ya up.

Shotgun (looking at Annie, with a slight grin wide enough to show his gold tooth): Not to mention, Ms. Annie’s got the kindest heart on 352.

(Blue looks up from a plate of cold food at all 4 people and quickly looks back down again. He’s in total shock and is trying to process everything he’s just been told)

(Annie see’s Blue is having a hard time taking this all in)

Annie: Well now sir, I’d say that’s a way to make an entrance. (She says with a nervous laugh, trying to lighten the mood).

(Shotgun and Sammie chuckle a bit)

Annie: Thankfully when I took at look at you yesterday, you seemed fit as a fiddle. Hey…let’s say we finish up breakfast and I can show you around town a bit.

Blue: Yeah, um thanks. That sounds good.

Scene 2 - Overview

Annie and Blue are standing outside the doors to the Inn. From their vantage point they can see a bustling, small town. People are walking around going from shop to shop taking care of daily errands. A newsboy stands nearby loudly selling penny papers, while red dust and tumbleweeds swirl around the town’s main street.

Annie: Welcome to 352 Blue. I’ve lived here my whole life. For the most part, most folk are decent and hard working. Everyone here just wants to live in peace and make a way for themselves. You got a few troublemakers here and there but around our parts, Slim, Shotgun and Sammie usually make quick work of those terrible few.

Blue (looks up at the sky): What’s that?

(Annie looks up)

Annie: What? Ain’t you never seen the sky before?

Blue: Not sure what I’ve seen before. I can’t remember anything past waking up this morning. But what are those 3 circles in the sky?

Annie: Well, one of ‘em is the sun and the other 2 are 351 and 353. They’re what we call our sister planets. Well...moons. Same difference if ya ask me. We all orbit the sun.

Blue: Are the people on those planets like the one’s here?

Annie: Well, kinda. I’d say were more different than alike but we all pretty much keep to ourselves on account of the treaty.

(Blue looks confused)

Annie: Hmmm, lets see now. How can I make sense of this? You see, centuries ago during the great war…the leaders of our 3 worlds decided to end the war by signing the accords peace treaty.

(Annie briefly pauses and looks down and away from Blue)

Annie: Stories have been passed down from generation to generation about how many lives were lost on all 3 worlds during them dark times. The things my mama used to tell me, that her grandmama told her…I mean terrible things.

(Annie looks back up at Blue and then back out again at the town)

Annie: But thankfully that was a long, long time ago. Since then…we’ve lived in peace. See Blue…our world is an agricultural plant. We’ve got all kinds of plants, crops and different types of animals. 351, they’re the miners. Gold, diamonds, oil, minerals…you name it they can mine it. 353, now they’re the coders. We call ‘em that cause they’re all about technology. Anything dealin’ with computers, software, code, they got it covered. Smart as a whip they are. All 3 of us share resources. That was a part of the treaty. We help each other. 353 helps us find ways to sustainably farm and mine. We help 353 by sharing food, animals, gold, minerals and other things.

(Annie looks at Blue. He’s not afraid but very quiet...very alert, taking in everything for the first time).

Annie (says this with a nervous laugh and a warm smile, reaching out to touch Blue's hand): Sorry about all that. Think I went a bit too fast there. Let’s say we take things one step at a time. How ‘bout we start with that tour around town I promised you?

End Scene.