1. INT. – MUSEUM (MORRILL
HALL, UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA STATE MUSEUM)
Screen virtually dark, with only a hint of light. A
date appears on the screen: November, 2080. Close up of hand pushing a bank of
light switches. We are in a gigantic, cavernous, dimly-lighted, room—Elephant
Hall. Around the sides of the room are fossil skeletons of mastodonts,
mammoths, and a few, much smaller, modern elephant skeletons for comparison.
One end of the hall is a life-sized mural of a herd of woolly mammoths crossing
a frozen stream bed, their breath fogging in the Ice Age air. Two people enter
the hall, an older, dignified, gentleman and a beautiful, precocious,
bright-eyed, highly intelligent, three-year old girl holding the man’s hand.
Setting is mystic, girl’s conversation is filled with wonder, man’s voice is
resigned but very patient. Young girl is Suzie Alexander; gentleman is her
Grandpa.
SUZIE
Grandpa,
they’re so beautiful!
GRANDPA
I’m
sure they were beautiful. They’ve been dead for millions of years.
Suzie slips her hand out of Grandpa’s, walks toward
the largest skeleton, a towering woolly mammoth, looking up at his skull. She
gets down on her knees to examine the labels, mammoth tooth fossils for kids to
touch. Grandpa joins her, kneeling down, reading labels.
SUZIE
What
does it say, Grandpa? (Suzie touches the
numbers.)
GRANDPA
It
says I was wrong about the millions. These have been gone only for a few
thousand years. Suzie’s gaze turns to the
mural. Her eyes widen.
SUZIE
I
want one, Grandpa. Can I have one?
GRANDPA
Sorry,
kid. About the only way you’re going to get something that big is to marry a
football player.
SUZIE
Then
I’ll marry a football player. (She stands
up, smiles; big, satisfied, smile.)
Grandpa?
GRANDPA
Yes,
Suzie?
SUZIE
What’s
a football player?
Grandpa stands up, takes her hand,
follows her gaze toward the mural.
GRANDPA
I
guess maybe your Mom and Dad haven’t taught you everything about Nebraska, have
they?
SUZIE
They
teach me Mozart. (She pretends to be
playing the piano.)
GRANDPA
Sorry,
kid. Not good enough. (Puts his hand over
his heart, smiles.)
CUT TO:
BEGIN CREDIT SEQUENCE
TUSKERS
2. EXT. – MEMORIAL STADIUM
College football game in progress. Violent clash of
bodies and equipment, cursing, taunting, coaches screaming, players bloody. The
Nebraska Cornhuskers are obliterating their opponents; score is 56-0 near the
end of the second quarter. Stands are filled with fans wearing red; it’s a
violent belligerent psycho-mob out of control.
3. INT. – ELEPHANT HALL
GRANDPA
(Kneels down, starts drawing plays on
the museum carpet). Come over here,
kid. Look. Players try to carry a ball over a goal line. Lots of other football
players knock you down, try to keep you from crossing the line. That’s why the
men who play it are big. (Pan Elephant Hall.)
SUZIE
Doesn’t
sound very hard. (Turns back to the
mammoth fossil label.) What does it
say, Grandpa? Is this his name? (Runs her
fingers over the name plate, closes her eyes, feels the Braille and raised
letters.)
GRANDPA
(Still in his reverie.) We haven’t
lost a game in ten years. We’re never going to lose, Suzie. Just think of it.
NEVER!
SUZIE
Grandpa,
is this his name?
GRANDPA
Too
bad you’ll never get tickets, kid. It’s the one thing your grandmother and I
were never able to give your mom. (He wipes
a tear.)
SUZIE
Grandpa,
is this his name?
GRANDPA
Why,
yes . . . yes; I guess so. Archidiskidon
imperator maibeni. (He struggles with the pronunciation.)
SUZIE
Archidiskidon imperator maibeni. Archidiskidon
imperator maibeni. Archidiskidon imperator maibeni. (Suzie
pronounces the name perfectly several times, obviously enjoying the taste of
the words.)
GRANDPA
It’s
a beautiful name, isn’t it? (To himself,
wistfully, filled with amazement at Suzie’s abilities.)
SUZIE
I’ll
call him ‘ARCHIE’ for short.
GRANDPA
Then
I’ll call him ARCHIE, too! (Patient,
smiling.) I am so sorry about the
tickets, my child.
SUZIE
(Takes Grandpa’s hand, looks up at him.
Suzie pulls at his arm.) Tickets, Grandpa? I don’t want tickets. (She turns back to ARCHIE, watching him as
they leave.)
The entire screenplay is available on smashwords.com; the book is available on smashwords, kindle, nook, and as a paperback on createspace.com/3462041
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