Captain Fantastic Page #2

schedule for the test you need to be

finished in 8 days. Vesp?

Vespyr holds "The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the

Texture of Reality" by Brian Greene.

VESPYR:

Just finished Chapter 12, "The World

on a String."

Ben looks up at her.

(CONTINUED)

GREEN (9.2.2014) 6.

6 CONTINUED:
6

VESPYR (CONT’D)

What.

BEN:

Are you having trouble with quantumentanglement?

VESPYR:

No.

BEN:

Planck length vs. Planck time?

VESPYR:

I'm fine.

BEN:

Good, then tomorrow you can give alittle presentation on M-Theory,

argue counter-points with Bo andRell vis-a-vis Witten and Dirac.

Vespyr makes a face at Kielyr. Neither sees that Ben catchesthe look.

Ben puts down his notebook. He watches the children readingfor a moment.

Then he picks up his guitar. Improvises a rhythmic strum.

Punctuates it with little, abrupt vocalizations. So funky onecan't help but be drawn in.

The kids ignore him, but gradually, one at a time, each ofthem pick up a different musical instrument - a flute, drums,

a trombone, a violin - and joins him.

Soon, everyone is up on their feet. Dancing and singing andplaying their instruments - illuminated by the light of thefire - grooving to their improvised song and having a blast.

7 EXT. FOREST. MORNING.

Leaping over stumps, ducking under branches, Ben and the kidsrace through the forest.

7

8 EXT. SHED. DAY.

From out of his workshop shed, Ben carries some handmadewooden birdhouses, helped by Bo and Vespyr.

8

GREEN (9.2.2014) 7.

A8 EXT./INT. FOREST/STEVE. DAY. A8

Ben and the kids walk toward a a beat-up, 36-foot long blue1989 Thomas Saf-T-Liner school bus, parked on a forest path.

BEN:

Try not to kill each other before weget back.

KIELYR:

If training is over today, can wetake Steve somewhere for class time

later?

NAI:

Why don't we have a Mommy?

This catches the attention of all the kids. They all stop andlook at Ben.

BEN:

You do have a Mommy.

VESPYR:

You said she would only be gone fora week.

BEN:

It hasn't been very long.

KIELYR:

It's been three months, two weeks,

six days, and eleven hours.

BODEVAN:

Mom is very ill.

KIELYR:

Don't talk to us like we're yourinferiors.

BODEVAN:

Who knew there were so many geniusesin the world.

VESPYR:

Dad, Bo is being sarcastic.

BEN:

That was sardonic. Sarcastic would

be...

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

GREEN (9.2.2014) 8.

A8 CONTINUED:
A8

BEN (CONT'D)

"Your genius is blinding." They'reboth mocking, but sarcastic isdirected at a person and meant tohurt. Sardonic is less direct and is

said more for laughs or for wit. Grabthe end.

VESPYR:

We DO know about Mom.

BODEVAN:

You think you do, but you have noconcept of the scope or the depth ofher illness.

KIELYR:

Dad, Bo is being condescending.

BEN:

Bo's right. Mom has to be in ahospital now.

VESPYR:

But you said hospitals are only agreat place to go to if you're ahealthy person and you want to die.

ZAJA:

You said Americans are undereducated

and overmedicated.

KIELYR:

You said that the AMA are avaricious

whores only too willing to spreadtheir fat legs for Big Pharma.

BEN:

Not enough of the neurotransmitterserotonin to conduct electrical

signals in Mom's brain. A lack ofreceptor sites. Acute tryptophandepletion. We don't know exactly whatit is. Selective Serotonin ReuptakeInhibitors - Celexa, Lexapro, Paxil,

Zoloft - or Selective Norepinephrine

Reuptake Inhibitors - Cymbalta,

Effexor, Pristiq - it's simply the

most effective way to manage it.

RELLIAN:

Exactly when is Mom coming back?

(CONTINUED)

GREEN (9.2.2014) 9.

A8 CONTINUED:
A8

BEN:

That's what I'm going to find out.

Ben, Bo, Vespyr, and Kielyr climb on the bus and we see thatthe interior has been customized, the rows of seats removed

and replaced with a full library, a closet full of clothes,

desks, maps on the walls, loft beds in the back. Ben closesthe doors and, on the outside of the glass door panels is aspray-painted, stenciled word: “Steve.”

9 EXT. COUNTRY ROAD. DAY.

Steve the Bus winds down through the mountains.

9

10 INT. DENTIST'S WAITING ROOM. DAY.

Bo, Vespyr, and Kielyr sit in a dentist’s waiting room,

marvelling at the synthetic, brightly-colored office. PeppyMUZAK plays as Ben approaches the desk.

BEN:

We have an appointment. Vespyr andKielyr Cash. My daughters. They’re15. It’s time they see a dentist.

The RECEPTIONIST stares at him. She checks the appointmentbook.

10

11 EXT. SMALL TOWN STORE. DAY.

Bo and Ben are unloading their handmade wooden birdhouses infront of a store. A group of TEENAGE GIRLS walk out and oneof them smiles at Bo.

TEENAGE GIRL:

You comin' in?

Bo shrugs, avoiding her eyes.

TEENAGE GIRL (CONT’D)

Yes? No? Okay. 'Bye.

Bo turns red and just nods.

As the girls walk away, the one who held the door for Bolooks back at him, then says something to her friends, whoall check Bo out and giggle.

BEN:

Go talk to her.

11

(CONTINUED)

GREEN (9.2.2014) 10.

11 CONTINUED:
11

BODEVAN:

Ask her what she thinks about the

working people creating an armedrevolution against the exploitingclasses and their state structures?

BEN:

Marxists can be just as genocidalas.... No. Just... I don't know.

Talk about

BODEVAN:

Whether or not she's a Dialectical

Materialist and accords primacy tothe class struggle?

BEN:

Avoid... Marxism. Or telling heryou're a Trotskyite.

BODEVAN:

"Trotskyist." Only a Stalinist wouldcall a Trotskyist a "Trotskyite." AndI'm not a Trotskyist anymore. I'm aMaoist.

Ben nods. He hands Bo a key and Bo walks away.

The STORE OWNER comes out and hands Ben a wad of cash.

STORE OWNER:

Sold all the stuff from last time.

You said you’d be back months ago.

12 INT. POST OFFICE. DAY. 12

Bo opens a large post office box. Inside, the box is packedwith mail. There are the new issues of "Scientific American,"

"National Geographic," "The New Yorker," and "The Economist."

And then a stack of large envelopes.

Bo looks at the first one. It's marked, "PRINCETON

UNIVERSITY."

13 INT. POST OFFICE. DAY. 13

In another corner of the post office, Bo holds up a piece of

paper.

(CONTINUED)

GREEN (9.2.2014) 11.

13 CONTINUED:
13

It reads, "We are pleased to welcome you to Harvard

University, the class of 2015."

He looks at the other envelopes, all now opened, spread onthe counter before him. They are from Dartmouth, Brown,

M.I.T., Yale, and Stanford.

On top of the opened envelopes are welcome letters from every

university.

14 EXT. SMALL TOWN BAR. DAY. 14

In the front of the bar, Ben dials a number on the house

phone. We don't see who he's talking to (but will come to

realize that it's HARPER, his sister).

HARPER (O.S.)

Ben?

Immediately, from the tone of Harper's voice, Ben can tell

something is very wrong.

BEN:

What is it?

Silence.

BEN (CONT’D)

Harper.

Ben hears a sharp, irregular exhalation of breath. Whatever

is wrong is serious enough to be very difficult to say.

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