Full Narrative

Scene 01. – 'Touched' :: Marcello, male aged 8 – 10 & Marcello’s Mother, female aged 20 – 30

Scene 02. – Shunned :: Sadie, female aged 13 – 20

Scene 03. – Aspires :: Marsden, male aged 20 -30 & Sandra, female aged 20 – 30

Scene 04. – Creates with Failure :: Mercer, male aged 20 – 30 & Scarlett, female aged 20 – 30

Scene 05. – Creates with Research :: Stephanie, female aged 30 – 40

Scene 06. – Success :: Morris, male aged 40 – 50 & Delivery Person, male or female aged 20 -30

1. ‘Touched’

Marcello, a young boy of 8 years is experiencing exaltation! Sitting at the kitchen table, the smell of Elmer’s glue, the sound of the scissors as he’d cut the paper, but most of all, the feeling of the paper at once both rough and smooth in his hands, created a sensation that needed to be shared. He wondered. Wondered what it would look like flying through the air. Wondered for a split second what his mother would think.

He gathered the small pile of scraps and up and away they went! Whirling about the room, they formed a kaleidoscope in motion.

His mother could not shake the feeling she’d been having recently. Three more weeks and Marcello would be attending third grade. Her son, this little soul with big ideas and an even bigger heart was about to find out that some kids wouldn’t understand what he had to offer. This was the age that children began to run in packs and made fun of those who didn’t quite fit in. As she opened the kitchen window, she remembered her own bittersweet school days.

2. Shunned

The ceiling in Sadie’s teenage bedroom was textured in stucco. She looked for shapes in the random pattern as she lay on the bed. She looked for shapes that she’d found long ago, like last month she was certain that the profile of her father was near the window, but maybe the light was playing tricks. Maybe if she waited an hour or so the light would be right again.

The plaid umbrella her aunt had given her, rested open and upside down on her belly; the handle swaying slightly in the air as she breathed. She liked the way the short, blunt metal point poked just under her rib-cage in a faintly dangerous way. 5:00 pm.

5:25 pm and the sunlight was waning. Day had turned to daydreams and the stucco was now falling from the ceiling like fat snow-flakes. Or was it like confetti? She raised the upturned umbrella to catch and collect the yield.

3. Aspires

Marsden wondered if by holding the roll of toilet paper by the tail, just how many floors it would take to unravel the whole roll. His arm extended out the bathroom window, roll in hand. In his mind, there was only one way to find out.

Sandra was interested but had more important things to do. A quiz in 6th period Science tomorrow and she hadn’t memorized the Table of Elements. She read them aloud, but it all seemed hopeless; so many combinations of letters. She placed the xeroxed page against the bathroom wall at eye-level and promptly pressed her forehead against it. Maybe osmosis?

4. Creation with Failure

He saw it on t.v. once; Brad Pitt sitting up in bed, throwing cards into a hat at his feet. Maybe “Thelma and Louise”? Or was it “True Romance”? All the movies Mercer had watched late at night in his little dorm room seemed to blur together. Either way it was no matter. In lieu of a deck of cards, he’d cut up some paper and was desperately trying his hand at ‘cool’. Not one made it to the hat.

As she watched her boyfriend with abject pity from across the room, Scarlett had a different idea of ‘cool’. Three days overdue and Mercer had yet to complete the research paper for his Psychology class. Scarlett tore out a page from her notebook, quickly wrote something on it and began to fold it into an airplane. Special delivery.

5. Creation with Research

These days, daydreaming was a luxury, but it was part of what had gotten Stephanie this far. Besides, the presentation wasn’t due until Thursday. All she needed to do today was finalize the concept and return the research books to the library. The breeze floating through the open window in her studio felt crisp and full of energy. Just like the well defined shadows on this sunny, late-spring morning. 10:05 am.

10:20 am. As she leaned back in her chair and contemplated the ceiling, a paper airplane gently flew in from the outside and landed on her lap. As she unfolded and read the message inside, a simple sigh and smile. With the blink of an eye, the room filled with several paper airplanes, each en route to its destination as she began to fold her own.

The spring air sang as the paper plane Stephanie sailed, whistled through the air.

6. Success

This was the moment he’d waited for, the first copies of his published memoir had arrived. His fellow professors at the college had chided him good naturedly, though he knew they all expected signed copies by tomorrow morning.

He met the delivery person in the lobby of his building. The signature was quickly given, the box opened with as much care as he could muster in haste and finally, he held the book in his hands. “A Life Well Lived” by Morris. Never, he thought, had paper ever felt so good in his hands.