CHAPTER 193. CHiCO YEARS: OTHER THINGS, OTHER PLACES AND ON THE ROAD 2006
I had left Chico’s, now what? I am not totally certain when we began it or finished it, but Stuart and I did the play “Election” in 2006. This was a bit of a departure for us for it wasn’t a musical. It was a straight drama it looked at a church torn aport by schism and it asks questions concerning Biblical interpretation, pastoral authority and abortion. Originally written by us as a stage play, we changed it later to a screenplay. Stuart’s strong leading had been toward our play, “State U”, while I was more into “Election”
INT: TYNERS’S LIVINGROOM – A LITTLE WHILE LATER
The front door opens and Kayla enters her living room. She is dressed as she was at Sarah's. She pulls off her winter coat and tosses it over a nearby chair. She stands in the center of the room looking around. Her face is blank. She stares at the dough table. She goes to the table and lifts the lid.
INSERT – INTERIOR DOUGH TABLE
We see balls of wool inside and a baby sweater with knitting needles.
BACK TO SCENE
She reaches in and pulls out the baby sweater she has been knitting. She holds it up and looks at it. It is almost complete. She begins unraveling the yarn, letting it fall to the floor. Finally she pulls one of the long knitting needles loose. She drops the remains of the sweater and walks away carrying the needle. We follow her. She goes in the bedroom and stands, stares at the bed. Looks about briefly and leaves the bedroom. She goes into the bathroom and looks at the tub. She sets the needle down and undresses, her back toward us. She strips naked and then climbs into the tub and sits. She shivers as her flesh hits the cold porcelain. She reaches over and picks up the needle again. She looks up toward the ceiling, her lips move, but we don't hear her prayer. She slides down in the tub, resting her head against the back and raising her legs up, placing a foot on each side of the tub with her legs spread. We see this from the side with only her head, arms and legs above the tub sides. She is in a position much like a woman on a stirrup table. She moves her hands holding the needle in both, pointing back toward herself. She leans forward some and her hands disappear below the side. We see her maneuvering the needle. Suddenly she cries out in pain and falls back. Her hands come up to grip the tub sides; the needle falls out of her hand and bounces off the tub edge to the floor. We see some blood spots on the tub where it fell. She lies back, panting. There is a bathrobe hanging on a hook near the bath. She reaches back and yanks the robe down. The hook pulls free and clatters across the floor. She pulls the robe on her arms and then stands pulling it around her and tying it. She steps from the tub and our view moves up.
INSERT _INSIDE TUB
We see blood running down the bottom of the tub and down the drain.
BACK TO SCENE
Kayla has a stricken look. She stands there. She reaches over and grasps the sink to brace herself. She takes a wobbly step, then another.
INSERT – BATHROOM FLOOR
There is a trail of blood behind her.
BACK TO SCENE
She walks toward the bathroom door and collapses in the doorway. We watch her a few moments and then hear the front door of the house being opened. We hear rain briefly before the door shuts again.
DYLAN TYNER
(angrily)
Kayla, where are you. You were supposed to meet me. We're late.
We hear him cross the living room, enter the hallway. His steps come, then stop. Kayla moans. The footsteps hurry. We come in tight on Kayla's upper body. Dylan's hands appear. He lifts her slightly and looks into the bathroom. We follow his gaze down the length of Kayla's body and see a pool of blood.
DISSOLVE:
INT: CHURCH GYMNASIUM – MONDAY EVENING (6:50 PM)
It is close to 7:00 on Monday evening and the church gymnasium is empty, except for a couple of people setting up the folding chairs. A technician is adjusting some lights on poles behind the chairs that will act as spots. Sven and Miles stand near the lectern going over some notes. The only sound is the rain blowing against the high gymnasium windows. Suddenly the side doors of the gym crash open with a bang. Sven, Miles, and the other three people stare in the direction of the door. ANGLE ON Dylan entering and carrying Kayla in his arms. He is wet and bedraggled. She is limp in his arms. Her eyes are open. He slowly walks across the gym floor toward where Miles stands. Water mixed with blood drips off his burden as he comes. The gym doors, caught in the wind, bang back and forth against the wall, like a funeral drum. Rain is blowing in through the open doorway. Dylan crosses the vast and empty floor slowly. His footfalls and the banging door echo in the large empty room. He walks down a center aisle between the chairs to just short of the preacher. Sven steps slightly to one side. ANGLE ON slightly above and behind Miles and Sven looking down at Dylan holding his wife. From this angle it is as if they tower above him. He stops close to Miles and one of Kayla’s arms slips from beneath the cover he has tossed about her and dangles loosely, water and blood splash down to the floor. The lights that were setup illuminate the tableau in a bright circle. Dylan and Kayla are the focus of all. A shadow flickers across the group. Another flickers, then a couple close together. As they continue, the shadows grow greater until Sven, Miles and Dylan stand in solid shadow.
DYLAN TYNER
(pleading)
Heal her.
MILES CLAYTON
What?
Dylan holds Kayla out, like a sacrificial offering. As he does the bloodied knitting needle falls from his hand to the floor.
INSERT – KNITTING NEEDLE
ANGLE ON the knitting needle rolling to a stop against Miles’s feet.
BACK TO SCENE
DYLAN TYNER
(pleading)
Please, heal her, Reverend.
MILES CLAYTON
(sternly)
Heal her? This is a church, not a sideshow. (Miles looks down at the knitting needle) This is the wages of sin. Take this out of the house of God.
Excerpt from “Election”.
One must remember that in 2006 I was working five hours a day at Chico’s, Monday through Friday. But there were some other evens happening in my life and that of my immediate family. Here are some of the highlights.
It was only one bedroom, but seemed plenty spacious for a single guy with no pets. He had a convert-a-bed, a computer and a disc player. He didn’t need much more.
herself in some credit problems because she found the car too expensive and it was repossessed. If only she had come to me and told me of her financial problems I could have helped until she was back on her feet and she would have kept the car, but live and learn. She built her credit back up and has a very excelled credit score these days.
It wasn’t long after Laurel got her car that I got my first vacation from Chico’s. Lois and I took off on an extended trip to New England. I no longer wanted to do a lot of driving as I use to do in our younger years. I wanted definite destinations. I also didn’t want long drives between our destinations. I thus made reservations at the Sturbridge Host Resort in Massachusetts for September 9, The Sebasco Resort in Maine from 9/10 through 9/12, Salem, Massachusetts for 9/13, Providence, Rhode Island on 9.14 and 15 and finally East Haven, Connecticut for our last night of 9/16.
We made two stops in Connecticut on our first day out, one in Elmwood for lunch at a restaurant called the Corner Pug (not pub, but pug). The theme of the eatery was the Pug Dog.
man, I am getting very hundred over again just looking at my photo of lunch, mushroom gravy topped Salisbury Steak with waffle fries.
Cute Pug dogs were pictured everywhere in the place, even in pictures at our table and the others, on the walls and all over.
His close neighbor and friend’s house on the same grounds, but now quite as opulent was the home of Harriet Beecher Stow, 1811 - 1896. She came from a prominent family from Connecticut, the Beechers, the sixth of eleven children. She was an author and abolitionist, a campaigner for women’s rights and deeply religious. She is probably best remember for her Novel, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”.
penning “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” over again and laboring on every day believing it was the first time she was creating it, writing it word for word until exhausted. In her last years she liked to enter her neighbors home, seek up behind them and let out a loud whoop, scaring them half- to death.
Here is Lois going down a path to Mark Twain’s hime. As usual I get a picture of her walking away from. She had no patience for my picture taking.
Village Resort. We had visited the village back in 1961 on our honeymoon. I don’t recall what room we were in back then. It was probably one with a single bed; after all, that was our honeymoon. These days we prefer a bit more elbow room at bedtime,
We ate in the Oxhead Tavern which is historic itself.
It is also charmingly romantic inside.
This is one of my favorite photos I took, the ducks swimming across the moonbeam at twilight,
We crossed the border into Maine and came to our next stop, The Desert of Maine. Like many people, I didn’t know Maine had a desert, but there it was, a long expanse of barren san
dune with a guide, who pointed out the featured around you.
Things had been interesting already and we hadn’t even reached our main Maine destination.
We crossed the desert and headed toward our northern destination. The day was getting late, toward the evening, and the sky was darkening. We went through Bath, Maine and out into marsh country. I didn’t see any signs to Sebasco or the road it was supposed to be on. We kept going, and to our left the ground was getting marshy and ahead were but trees and brush. And the sky was getting dimmer.
I went around a bin on this backwoods road we were now on and to the right ahead was a golf course. Some men were playing a hole near the road. I pulled over, had Lois roll down her window, and asked if they knew were the resort was. They all pointed with their clubs straight ahead and so I went straight ahead. Around another bend an by golly there was the office for the place.
I pulled around a circle in the road and off to my right was a long lane.
Down that lane was the main entrance to the resort along a nice paved road I had missed. Oh well, I peaked and went in and registered. Someone came out and led us to our quarters for the next few days.
I had booked us. Room in the lighthouse. We were on the first floor, with a wide window overlooking the docks to Casco Bay. There were group of men on the pier filming a movie.
The room was quite nice. Two full beds, a couple of easy chairs
turned road th window, a large credenza and a TV of course. There was an expansive bathroom off on the right and directly out our front door were stairs that not only lied to the other floors, but all the way up to the observation room upon the roof.
In this round observation room was lounge and a telescope and terrific view of the sounding area. Right next to our Lighthouse rooms was the main restaurant on site called The Pilot House. It was an easy walk from our room and we ate there often during our stay.
On then 11th we took a little side trip from Sebasco to a town called
Boothbay. The AAA directions led us into a loop before we got there, just taking us around in a circle. Somehow I dropped the directions and found any way. I spotted some sales ahead and it turned out to be where we were trying to get. I had made reservations over the internet before we left Delaware reserving
a seat on a whale watching boat. Despite getting lost we still are it in time to board. It was like the theme song of Gilligan’s Island, a three hour trip.
It was quite windy on that boat and Lois’s hair went crazy in the cross
breeze. This is not a picture Lois cares much for, but it is full of action, more than we can say about the whales, none of which showed up during our cruise.
We did see a few Harbor Seals and a lot of Seagulls, but no whales.
Back at Sebasco on an other day we took another boat ride around the Casco Bay. No whale here either, but it was an interesting and fun adventure. On the bay we met a lobster fisherman and had a long talk with him and his mate.
gave our boats skipper a couple fine lobsters from his catch.
On the 12th we took another side trip to Farmnworth two visit the Art Museum there. We had an interest because the famous artist Andrew Wyeth and his family had a summer home near by and a lot of their work was on display at Farnsworth.
We bought a print of Jamie Wyeth’s “Homer” while there and it hangs
over our living room fireplace. To this day.
We left Sebasco on September 13 and traveled down to Salem, Massachusetts. We stayed at the historic Hawthorne Hotel. We like historic hotels and have stayed in several.
Nathaniel Hawthorne statue in the center of Salem,
The other was connected from a bank. It still had the vault as a centerpiece. This one was called "Rockefeller's".
We had dinners in the hotel dining room.
Mostly Salem focuses on the witch trails that occurred there in 1692 when some young girl accused several people of witchcraft. More than 20 people were accused. Nineteen -- 14 women and five men -
were hung and one man was pressed to death. When you go to Salem you see several museums
Besides he Salem Witch Museum, there is the Witch’s Dungeon,
The Witch’s Village and the Witch House.
We made a couple more stops after Salem. We spent the 14th and 15th in Rhode Island, staying at the Biltmore Hotel, where you could look across at the Providence skyline,
I called this snapshot, “Eyes.”
We spent the 16th at Connecticut’s Mystic Harbor, taking several boat rides.
I did not what to drive from Mystic all the way back to our home in Delaware, so I reserved a motel room in a Quality Inn in East Haven. That proved a mistake. It was a tired looking motel in a tired looking area. There was no sign of any restaurants in the immediate neighbor, no fast-food joints. We had to take a long drive to find any kind of place to eat.
I am not positive but I think we came across Aniello” Pizza and Restaurant, sitting kind of by its lonesome along the highway.
Anyway, we pulled into the parking lot and went into the place. The picture looks like where we took a booth.
There is no one in this photo, but I took a look about at the other patrons and they assembled the cast of The Sopranos. Well, I thought, if the mob guys eat here it probably isn’t too bad.
The chef/owner actually took our order. He was a very jolly, likable sort. I asked about the soup of the day and he, with an apologetic look in his eye, said it was Tomato-Florentine.
I passed, although normally I would have gotten it. He shrugged and we ordered other things and he went to place our order. He was then weaving through the tables basically begging people to get his soup, saying it was very good. There were no takers. When a table finished and felt he suggested they take some of the soup with them. “We have plenty,” he called as they went out.
Here was the problem. We were in the middle of a broad salmonella scare and the source had been identified as spinach, a large ingredient in Tomato-Florentine. It was a pity because the food there was very good and this man was very endearing.
Back in the motel we climbed into bed. I feel asleep, which is one purpose of a motel in the night. Sometime after 1:00 AM Lois woke me up.
“I want to leave,” she said, “I scared.”
“Why?”
“Because there is a gang on bikes in the parking lot slamming grocery carts into cars.”
I listened, but heard nothing.
“C’mon Larry, let’s leave. Put our stuff in the car.”
“What? You say there is a vicious gang out in the parking lot and you want me to go out there?”
Yes she did. I got up and cautiously opened the motel door. I peered out, but saw nothing or no one.
“There’s no gang,” I said.
“I don’t care. I’m scarped, I want to leave.”
So I took our luggage out and we left. It was nearing 2:00 in the morning and was pitch dark. We drove off, but I couldn’t find the entrance to I-95. 2:00 in the morning and we are lost in East Haven, Connecticut. We had to find I-95. We couldn’t go back to the motel, I left the keys on a table in our room and there ws no one at the office to let us enter.
I drove around and thankfully saw the ramp onto I-95 South. We took it and at sometime after two o’clock were driving through Spanish Harlem in New York. Everything we saw was in Spanish. Then we heading down a deserted I-95. The only other drivers on the road were drunks.
We got home sometime after four and half scared Laurel to death. She hadn’t expected us back so early and though someone was breaking into the house.
Noelle was still deployed in the Horn of Africa when Christmas came. She decorated her tent for the holidays.
We thought the combat boots hung on the fake fireplace was a nice touch.
Noelle sent home one of her usual home made card:
Noelle did receive a Joint Service Achievement metal (not for her card or Christmas decorations — for other stuff.)
