Good day, friends. It’s fourteen days until the release of Sunnyville Stories Volume 2. On March 1, 2014, the book officially hits the streets!
At present, I’m working on Sunnyville Stories episode 10. I’m trying to work out the layouts for the pages and it isn’t easy. (I did talk about the importance of thumbnails and layouts before.) I also have been in contact with Steven Martin; he’ll be doing a guest cover for this comic just as he did for Sunnyville #5. I’ll have more information in the future about the story itself and the new characters in it.
But today, I thought I’d share a script excerpt. This isn’t from the final script; it was an early draft that went out to a handful of people for review. Enjoy!
SUNNYVILLE STORIES
EPISODE 10: Listen to the Music
By Max West
Copyright 2013 – Different Mousetrap Press LLC
All Rights Reserved
The forests surrounding the hamlet of Sunnyville thinned out as you got closer to the edge of town. But it was still quiet. The rustling of leaves and the chirping of crickets were soon pierced though by the light singing voice of a teenage boy.
Rusty Duncan, a silver tabby cat, sat alone in the forest under a tree as he sang to himself. He sang “the Rainbow Connection”, best known from the Muppets.
“Someday we’ll find it, the Rainbow Connection,” his voice crooned, “The lovers, the dreamers, and me!”
As his voice faded, Rusty realized he wasn’t alone. The cat looked over and spotted two figures looking at him.
“Excuse me, we’re lost,” said the first figure.
“Have you tried Hare Krishna?” Rusty replied in his usual witty tone.
The second figure shook his head.
“Look, kid,” the other one started, annoyed by Rusty’s wisecrack, “We’re trying to get to Sunnyville. How do we get there?”
“That’s where I live,” Rusty answered, “I’ll show you the way.”
Meanwhile, at the Sunnyville general store, Matthew Talbot was busy checking through the shelves in the upper storeroom while reviewing papers on a clipboard.
After making the check and grunting with satisfaction, he climbed down the ladder to the ground floor.
“Frieda,” Matthew spoke up, calling out to his wife.
“Yes, Matthew?” she answered.
“Did our order of rice arrive yet?” he asked.
“I’m afraid not,” she replied, sighing.
Just then, their son Alexander appeared from the back room.
“Papa, phone call!” he blurted, “It’s Mr. Carotel! He says he can’t make it today with the order!”
Matthew growled in digust, but being British, kept a proper attitude.
“Crumbs!” he complained, “That rice has been on order for two weeks!”
Without as much as a glance at his wife, Matthew stormed out of the store and into the backroom to talk to their supplier.
Frieda sighed again and sadly stood behind the counter. Her eldest daughter, Magnolia, just finished stacking canned vegetables on a display and moved towards the counter herself. It was then she noticed her mom’s sad face.
“Mom, what’s wrong?” she asked.
“Oh, Magnolia,” Frieda explained, “It’s your father. He doesn’t seem to pay much attention to me anymore.”
“Mother, it can’t be that bad. He has been busy lately.”
“It’s just that before and just after we were married, your father never took his eyes from me. He was always telling me how beautiful I looked and I was the most beautiful woman in the world.”
Magnolia said nothing.
“Now, he barely even notices me,” Frieda sighed.
“Mom, don’t say that. You know that Papa loves you very much.”
Frieda said nothing. Her thoughts were interrupted as the front door opened. Samantha Macgregor, a buttercream girl cat, entered the store and spotted Magnolia.
“Hello, Mrs. Talbot. Hello, Magnolia,” she said, beaming.
“Welcome, Samantha,” Mrs. Talbot answered, trying her best to sound cheerful.
“Mrs. Talbot, my mom wanted to know about that new fabric she ordered,” Sam asked, “Did it arrive?”
“Hold on, Samantha,” Frieda said as she disappeared into the back room, “I’ll check.”
When she was gone, Sam turned here attention to Magnolia.
“Say, Mags, I can’t find Rusty anywhere. He might be lost,” Sam asked her.
“Has he tried Hare Krishna?” Magnolia retorted, a playful grin on her face.
“Hey, I’ll make the jokes around here,” Rusty said as he stepped inside the general store.
“Rusty!” Sam snapped, “Where have you been?”
“Helping these guys find Sunnyville,” Rusty replied as he pointed to the four figures who stepped into the general store.
Matthew had just materialized from the back room when he saw the new arrivals.
They were all brown tree squirrels. The first wore an eight-quarter hat and a bell around his neck. The second wore a striped sleeveless shirt. The third had bushy eyebrows and was thicker than the others. The fourth was a female. She had a very nice figure, wearing a dress that exposed both her knees and cleavage. Matthew checked himself to make sure his eyes didn’t go where they shouldn’t.
I don’t get the Hare Krishna joke.
It’s a shout out to the 1979 flick, the Muppet Movie. It’s a running gag throughout the movie where a character mentions being lost and another asks if they’ve tried Hare Krishna.
It’s a joke that’ll come up a few times in the story and Rusty will lampshade it later on.
Okay, that explains where you got it from, but I still don’t get why it’s funny.
That’s because it’s a terrible joke.
Wrong! You don’t win the new car or the trip to Hawaii, but thanks for playing anyway.
I must agree with the two commenters above, I don’t get the Hare Krishna joke. Maybe it is funny if you have seen that movie. No offense but I think a joke from a movie made in 1979 is very dated, especially if you are trying to target kids born decades after the film’s release as your audience.