(we see Clips of Jackson A. Douglas’s life- starting with his humble funeral- then to the amputation of his second foot- then we jump back into the 1920’s to the amputation of the first- taking place in a modest 19th century home parlor. Focus on a boy at the bedside holding a bed pan with arms stretched out full- as the doctors saw touches skin we pan to the boy who turns his head away, closing his eyes end cringing- close up of face and shoulders- his arms drop a little as the doctor places the severed foot in the pan. The boy opens one eye hesitantly to look, then cringes even more. Now we see the whole room as a woman takes the bedpan from the boy- who runs out of the room. We follow him out of the house and down the road a bit.)
(voice over scene) Douglas
It was back in- oh, ‘73 when he died. Lost his foot the year before- his second foot! Lost the othern in ‘24. Wouldn’t have nothin’ to do with a hospital- wouldn’t have it! I was just a boy then. 14. What did I know?
Voice in the near trees
Johnny!
(the boy stops and vomits in the grass)
Voice
Johnny!?
(a man emerges from a path in the trees with those same large flat soled boots as before- only looking newer)
Voice/John
Dammit son.
Johnny
Sorry. I’m sorry.
John
You gonna be alright?
Johnny
Yeah. . .I. . .
John
Your grad-dad need us now. So get cleaned up.
Johnny
I don’t want to go back in there.
John
It’s just a. . . (foot son.)
Johnny
They made me. . . They cut it off!
John
(laughing) well what did you think they were gonna do son? You asked. . . (to assist the doctor.)
Johnny
I didn’t think. . .
John
Son. . . (sigh) well. . . I said amputate son. I just don’t understand. . .
Johnny
I thought you meant like the fishes.
John
What? (baffled) Well come on. Grand- dad needs us.
(he holds out his arm to usher the boy- who begins back to the house. They walk with John’s hand on Johnny’s shoulder.)
Johnny
Where have you been?
John
Oh I had a last minute call from the Mayor- I had to go. After all the town is named after us.
Johnny
Seems like they should be coming to us instead.
John
Don’t be proud son. It’s a great honor we have here. We should be grateful for every opportunity to live up to it. When you’re granddaddy came to this town. . .
(Voice over/ Douglas)
‘. . .there was no way past the snow- people just sit inside waiting for the sun to come along to melt it away.’ Waiting for a miracle I’d say. Waiting for a deity. Well they got one alright! Yeah yeah, and all that bullshit. I didn’t really care to hear all that stuff- when my granddad this and that. I just couldn’t stop thinking about that foot. I was fourteen- who lets a fourteen year old see a severed foot?! Let alone make him hold it. Fourteen. (Humph!) Fishes. I still think he lied to me about the fishes. And when I was 17 he. . .(told me that envelopes had-)
Voice over/ Cal
Excuse me sir, but what happened to his foot?
(we go back to the modern scene in Douglas’s kitchen were the two men sit at a modest\poor table from the sixties or seventies)
Douglas
I suppose they buried it.
Cal
Well I suppose. But why did they have to cut. . .
Douglas
AMPUTATE! The word’s amputate!
Cal
Yes.
Douglas
You’re a grown man. Seems like you should have the right word eh. Amputate? Amphibious. . . (lost in thought)
Cal
Frostbite?
Douglas
Huh? What?
Cal
Was it frostbite? That took his leg?
Douglas
Pay attention boy! The doctor took his foot. -that’s it, just a foot.
Cal
Yes. . .
Douglas
The way people are today. . . It’s a wonder anything gets done- what gets done anyway. What gets done anyway?
Cal
Sir?
Douglas
Nothin’! that’s what. A whole lot of nothin’.
Cal
Well I suppose.
Douglas
What?
Cal
Uh. . . You were saying?
Douglas
Frostbite. Yes, it was frostbite. Seems like the snow was colder in those days.
(Scene goes back to the old days to young Douglas Stomping down the snow of an old ladies walk in front of her huge Victorian home in town. She comes out the front door and stands on the porch with money in hand stretched out to pay him. Young Douglas quickly takes the few coins and runs his way)
Old Lady
That’ll do son. Now go on before you catch your death.
Johnny
Thank you ma’am.
Old Lady
I’ll see you next week?
Johnny (as he’s running)
Yes ma’am!
(we follow Johnny as he runs)
(Johnny runs down the street rounding the corner of Main St. towards the town center- he crossed from the corner to the middle of the next block in such a hurry that he doesn’t notice the traffic that nearly clips his heals. And around the corner again this time to the left making a reversed S as he spots some boys his age standing outside the new General store- right next door to the tinker shop where Johnny is heading.)
Johnny
Hey! Hey! I got it! I got enough mon. . .
(He catches up to the boys. They are crowded around the window of the closed General store.)
Boy 1
I wonder what it is?
Boy 2
Maybe it’s a toy.
Boy 3
You ditz. They don’t sell toys at a General store.
Boy 4
Yeah.
Boy 2
Sure they do! My daddy always brings me a toy when he buys feed or salt.
Boy 1
That’s cuz the tinker’s shop is right next dooor.
Boy 4
Yeah
Boy 2
(pushing boy 4)
Yeah-
(boy 3 slaps boy 2’s hat from his head and the three begin to wrestle.)
Boy 1
(still looking in the window)
Johnny’s coming
(the others look out to notice him, and great him.)
Boy 2
Hey Johnny
Johnny
Hey Bo
Boy 3
Johnny? Look at this- does that look like a toy to you?
Johnny
No. . .
Bo
I never said it WAS a TOY!
Boy 4
Yes you did! You said it looks like a toy and your daddy always brings you toys from the feed store. . .
Boy 1
(Pushing boy 4)
Yeah!
Boy 4
Hey! I’m just telling what he said.
Boy 3
We know what he said we were all right here.
Johnny
I wasn’t here.
Boy 4
Yeah!
(Johnny puts his hand out on the boys face pushing him away.)
Johnny
Well it’s not like any toy I’ve seen.
Boy 1
How would you play with it?
Bo
I don’t think it’s a toy.
(they all look at him)
I just said it looked like one.
Boy 3
What toy does that look like?!
Bo
Uh…stick horse?
Boy 1
It’s got no eyes for a stick horse.
Johnny
I don’t think it’s a toy.
Boy 3
Yeah…
Boy 4
Yeah.
(they all reach out and push him away as they crowd the window more)
Boy 3
So what is it?
(now we see inside the window as the boys let #4 back into the huddle. There is a small wooden shovel leaning in the corner of the display window with an unassuming metal strip across its tip.)
Boy 4
Hey Johnny?
Johnny
Yeah?
Boy 4
What do you have enough money for?
Johnny
That train in the Tinker shop I’ve been saving for.
Boy 4
I think you should buy this instead.
(Johnny just looks at the boy, as do the others- boy 1 breaks into laughter. The others follow suit)
What?
Boy 1
Come on Johnny, lets see if old man Myers still has that train.
(Camera shot from across the street as the boys walk just a little ways to the shop next-door. They run into Bill coming out the Tinkers shop as they reach the door. They stand blocking his way for a moment giving him the chance to introduce himself. Bill is carrying a Shovel in one hand using it as a cane. He speaks with a mixed accent of Native New York and Irish, with a slight tickle in his throat.)
Bill
Well, good afternoon boys.
(The boys just stand there for a moment, taken back by the presence of the man before them- he is tall and well dressed, yet scraggly looking in demeanor- he wears a long wool coat which is ever so slightly dusted by undoubtedly many journeys . )
Bill
I said good afternoon?
(boy 4 sticks his finger out, finding what is undoubtedly the only hole in Bill’s coat, and places his finger confidently inside it.)
Bill
(coughs) ahem…?
Johnny
(grabbing boy 4, the other’s assist him, pushing #4 back into the street clearing a hole for Bill to pass through.)
Bill
Stay out of trouble now.
(he walks past the boys putting the shovel up over one should- he begins to whistle an Irish tune as he sticks his finger through the newly discovered hole in his coat. The boys watch in silence as he continues next door, turns to unlock door, and disappears from there sights into the general store. They wait to hear the door close and lock before speaking.)
Boy 3
I think it’s a weapon.
Boy 4
(as he steps up the curb and onto the sidewalk)
Yeah…
( they all look at him, then collectively charge him- #4 hurries back loosing his balance and falling off into the street. The others laugh at his blunder.)
Boy 1
I think you’re right. And he’s gonna use it on you for putting a hole in his coat.
(the four start inside the Tinker Shop)
Johnny
Maybe old man Myers will know what it is.
Bo
Hey Yeah! If it’s a toy. . .
Johnny/Boys 1 2 3
It’s not a toy!
(Johnny opens the door and the scene moves in the shop from there. Myers is out of frame as the shot is from the back of the shop looking towards the front. The boys enter and begin to wander around the shop touching various items as they speak. By the time Myers enters the scene our view has gone 180° from it‘s original position.)
Bo
I just mean if it is he’ll know.
Boy 3
Well if it was? But it AINT a TOY it’s a WEAPON.
Boy 1
(as boy 4 is entering)
It’s not a weapon.
Boy 4
You just said it was!
Boy 1
No I didn’t. I said. . .
Johnny
Yes you did. But you’re both wrong. It’s not a toy. And it’s not a weapon.
Boy 4
Then what is it?
Boy 3
Why don’t you and Bo go on next door and ask him yourselves if you want to know so bad?
Bo
I’d rather see the train.
Boy 4
Me too.
Old Man Myers
Me too! Good afternoon boys. Johnny.
Johnny/Boys all together
Good afternoon Mr. Myers
Myers
As for that other matter, don’t bother even asking me because I don’t know what it is. I just know he’s gonna tell everybody tomorrow afternoon at three O’clock, right outside here in the town square, and it will change all our lives. At least that’s what Mr. Sketcher says. Hopefully for the better. I think life is just fine as it is. I don’t see why it’s gotta change any. It’s all you youngster’s fault you know, always thinking things need to be better than they are. Can’t the younger generations just accept thing how they are? How they work now, and always have?
Boy 4
(sincerely)
Mr. Myer? I don’t want things to change.
Bo
Me neither.
Myers
No?
(he takes a glance at #4 the looks at him again.)
You should.
(his comment only confuses #4)
Myers (continues)
Now. . .(reaching under the counter) I believe this is what you’ve come for?
(He sets upon the counter a box about the size of a shoe box- takes off its top and pulls out a toy train made of tin, with wooden wheels. The boys gasp and ooh and ahh as young boys do when presented with such things.)
Johnny
I have fifty cents.
(Johnny sets some change on the counter and slowly takes up the train in his hand.)
Myers
Then it’s yours.
(Johnny smiles and rushes out of the shop. The other boy follow.)
Johnny
Thank you Mr. Myers.
(cut to the boys rushing out the door onto the main street.)
Boy 4
Yeah, thanks Mr. Myers.
Boy 1
Can I play with it?
Bo
Yeah, let me try.
Johnny
(as he begins running down the street.)
I gotta go home! I quit the old widow’s place early so I could get it today- but I promised grand-dad I would be home early today.
Boy 3
We’ll come with you!
Boy 4
Yeah!
(he slips on the ice and falls)
Johnny
Well come on then.
(He stops to roll the train down the street, while the other boys catch up. Talking to himself)
It’s the trans continental rail road. Delivering guns and supplies to the Indian fighters of the west.
(He picks up the train as he steps up on the side walk and begins to push the toy along the brick wall of town hall.)
Johnny (continues)
We’re under attack by engines!
Boy 1
Look out! It’s the Comanche!
Johnny
We’ll have to take the old track! We’ll lose ‘em for sure.
(across the brick wall Johnny drags the toy into a nose dive strait down forcing all the wooden wheels off one side. He quickly crashes it into the ground. The other boys have now all caught up to Johnny and are stunned at seeing the broken toy. Johnny seems heart broken at first but then quickly stands up, tossing the train to Bo.)
Johnny
It’s a flying train! They’ll never catch us now.
(He grabs the toy from Bo and tosses it into the air and continues running. Boy 1 catches the train and follows Johnny- the others follow as well and the five of them toss the train between them, each time making a different sound. Scene fades as they run off.)
