Wonderstruck Page #3

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(whimpers)

(no audio)

(street chatter)

("My Blue Heaven"

by Gene Austin plays)

I turn to the right

(bell jingles)

A little white light

Will lead you to my...

Blue heaven.

-MAN:
I'll be right with you.

-Hello?

(inaudible sound)

(muffled dog barking)

(muffled dog growling)

-(sounds cut back)

-MAN:
I'm sorry,

she's a little high-strung

first thing in the morning.

(chuckles)

-You're scaring off

the customers! -(dog barks)

(exhales)

("Also Sprach Zarathustra"

by Deodato playing)

(phone rings)

Hello, Kincaid's.

Yes, of course.

We have lots of Dickens.

Oh, yes, we have four or five

copies, I believe.

Yup.

Um, yeah.

We're open till 5:00.

Ask for me. Walter.

(hangs up phone)

(dog barks)

(gasps)

WALTER:
Hello.

I-I didn't see you there.

Are you...

Did-did I wake you?

You can't hear?

I don't know sign language.

-You can hear?

-Yes.

But she's deaf?

Yes.

I had an accident.

Recently.

That's why I can't hear.

You s-s... you scared us.

Are you okay?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

Thanks.

I, uh, I just fell asleep

for a second.

(gasps softly)

How do you know my name?

Did you know her?

(whimpers softly)

I came here

trying to find my father.

(quietly):

He's looking for his father.

Who are you?

How do you know my name?

I saw you

at-at the wolf diorama

in the museum.

What is going on?

Tell me!

(sniffles)

Where?

Come.

(bell jingles)

(indistinct conversations)

(thunder)

(gasping lightly)

BEN (whispering):

Whoa.

Wow.

What is this?

Where are we?

(Ben chuckles lightly)

"I need you to be patient with

this story and read it slowly.

"I've worked in the Queens

Museum of Art for 15 years now,

"but the story

I need to tell you

"begins a long time

before that.

"When I was

a little girl in 1927,

"I came to New York

for the very first time.

"It was my brother, Walter,

who finally rescued me.

"I found him at

the Museum of Natural History,

"where he was working.

"I begged him to help me,

"to get me away

from my mother and father.

"I wanted to stay in New York.

I, I wanted to learn things."

"The first thing Walter did

"was help me find a school

for deaf children.

I didn't even know

such a school existed."

"My parents divorced

when I was young.

It was a big scandal back then

because my mother was famous."

"It was there at school

I met my Bill,

"who was training

to be a printer.

"We married and, before

we knew it, had a baby boy.

"Times as they were,

"everyone worried about us

raising a hearing child,

"but our boy managed to handle

his lack of deafness

just fine."

"Soon after I'd married,

Walter helped me get a job

at the museum

in the Exhibitions Department."

"I'd always loved making

models, so it suited me well."

"I worked there for many years

alongside my son."

"But soon

planning began

for the 1964 World's Fair."

MAN (on television):

The Unisphere

would have to withstand

the ever-changing forces

of nature,

as well as its own

enormous weight.

BEN:

"One of the attractions

"was going to be the panorama,

"a scale model of the

entire city of New York,

"the largest architectural

model ever built.

"It was an opportunity

I couldn't pass up,

"so I left the Museum

of Natural History

"to work on the panorama

in Queens.

"Sadly, my Bill had

passed away by then,

"so it was just my son and me.

"When the world's fair ended,

the panorama was so popular,

"they decided to keep it open.

"But they needed someone

to maintain the model,

so they hired me for the job."

"Around that time,

our son was appointed

"the lead designer

for a new diorama

"at the Museum

of Natural History,

"the youngest person

ever to have that honor.

"But you already

know this part.

The job would send him up

to Gunflint Lake."

Your son...

is Danny?

You're my grandmother.

Where is he?

I came all the way

from Minnesota to find him.

Where is he?

"The librarian he'd contacted

to help him with his research

"happened to own a small cabin,

and he rented it from her."

DANNY:

Miss Wilson, is that you?

Am I in the right place?

ELAINE:

You are indeed, Mr. Lobel.

The cabin is right over there.

DANNY (chuckles):

It's Danny.

-Whoa!

-(Elaine laughs)

DANNY:
I don't like the ice.

I don't trust it.

ELAINE:
Come on, Danny,

it's not gonna break.

-It's two feet thick.

-(Danny laughs)

-Don't you trust me?

-I'm not sure right now.

DANNY:
"Dear Mom,

the research is going well.

Very helpful staff,

especially this librarian."

BEN:

"Eventually, he completed

"the diorama of the wolves.

"I still go to visit it

whenever I can.

It's the only one

he got to make."

"Your dad was ill, Ben.

"He had a heart condition,

the same one his father had.

"It kept him out of the war,

"but a few years after

he returned from Gunflint Lake,

his heart..."

(sighs)

(Ben crying)

(sniffles)

"This panorama is not just

a model of New York City.

It's also the story

of your father's life."

"When I took the job,

"I thought it would be fun

to secretly personalize

the panorama."

"I hid little mementos

from your father's life

inside the buildings."

(gasps)

MAN:

We're gonna miss him.

There's nobody like him.

So, to Danny.

-MAN 2:
To Danny.

-MAN 3:
Hear, hear.

BEN:
"I knew everyone

at Danny's funeral

"except for two people,

"a woman and a little boy.

"She introduced herself,

"and I recognized her name

from Danny's letters.

"She told me she'd

brought her son earlier

and showed him the diorama

Danny had made."

(wolves howling)

(sighs)

I don't remember any of this.

That's why I dreamed of them.

The wolves.

I saw them.

(rising rumble)

(massive thunderclap)

(electricity fizzles)

(pen drops)

What happened?

-Help.

-Come.

(camera flash pops)

(camera flash pops)

(camera flash pops)

(camera flash pops)

(Polaroid camera whirring)

(Jamie chuckles)

Jamie?

Wait, how did you get here?

I followed you.

Wait.

I don't understand.

-What?

-She's the lady from...

Oh, she...

(siren wailing)

NEWSMAN:
This special

radio red alert news report.

A major power blackout

has hit New York City

and surrounding communities.

NEWSMAN 2:
Well, George,

there are individuals

directing traffic

at the intersection.

Uh, I-I assume many of them

are policemen.

Uh, some of them...

(distant voices and unrest)

(sirens wailing, voices fading)

(sirens wailing)

(indistinct chatter)

(distant shouting)

(distant sirens)

(fire truck honking)

Oh.

My...

Friend.

("Also Sprach Zarathustra"

by Deodato playing)

(song ends)

("Space Oddity" by The Langley

Schools Music Project playing)

Ground Control to Major Tom

Ground Control to Major Tom

Take your protein pills

And put your helmet on

-Ten, nine, eight

-Ground Control to Major Tom

Seven, six

-Commencing countdown,

engines on -Five, four

Three, two

-Check ignition

-One

-And may God's love go

with you -Liftoff

Ground Control to Major Tom

You've really made the grade

And the papers want to know

Whose shirts you wear

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