In today’s blog post, I thought I’d share an excerpt from the script to the sixth episode of Sunnyville Stories which is still in development. My goal is to finish the scripts for episodes 6 and 7 by November 4th. I also hope to set up a schedule for putting out the first Sunnyville trade paperback for sometime next year.
I have already written story treatments for both of those stories as well as for episode 8. So how about that sneak preview?
SUNNYVILLE STORIES
EPISODE 6 – SQUEEZE PLAY
By Max West
“Hurry up! We’ll be late!”
Samantha Macgregor, a teenage feline in a pink jumper, rolled her eyes at Rusty as he ran behind, still munching on a piece of toast.
“Hey, Sam, you know I can’t start off the way without a rousing breakfast,” Rusty said, gobbling up the last of his toast as he followed Sam and her older sister, Margaret, into the building that was Sunnyville High School.
Within moments, the three teenage cats made their way through the small, two-floor building that was the high school. They made their way to the auditorium.
Standing right there, looking annoyed, was Donna Mason, a light brown squirrel with a white blouse and purple dress. Rusty nodded to her as he took a seat along with several of the other teenagers of Sunnyville gathered there.
“Now that we are ALL here,” Ms. Mason started, her attention on Rusty, Sam, and Margaret, “I call this meeting of the Sunnyville Junior Theater Club to order.”
Many of the town’s youngsters were gathered there. In addition to Rusty, Sam, and Margaret, there were Ragnar and Olaf Eftirmatur, the sons of the town bakers; Rose and Konrad Von Straussen, representing the richest family in all of Sunnyville; Magnolia and Alexander Talbot, the older children of the town shopkeepers; Rei and Hachiman Tanuki, whose parents ran the local restaurant; and some new faces that Rusty had never seen before, the Escavatores.
Rusty looked over at the three of them, a trio of gophers. A short and fat one sat on the ground, wearing shorts and a t-shirt with squinty eyes. A bigger and even fatter gopher was on his left and on the right was a tall and skinny gopher. Neither of them had squinty eyes like the smallest gopher.
“It’s that time of year again, children,” Ms. Mason explained, “Each year, in honor of Sunnyville’s birthday, we of the Sunnyville Junior Theater Club put on a play.”
“Towns have birthdays?” Rusty interrupted bewilderedly.
“Yes, Rusty, they do,” Ms. Mason said with a stony glare etched on her face.
“Ms. Mason,” said the bigger, fatter gopher, raising his hand.
“Yes, Gasparo Escavatore?”
“What play will we do this year?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?” repeated the skinny gopher.
“I haven’t decided yet, Ludovigo Escavatore,” Ms. Mason answered.
She picked up a box full of scripts and set it down on a nearby, worn-out desk.
“Come on now. Help me search through these scripts and pick out something.”
Rusty, Sam, and many of the others grabbed scripts from out of the box. They scanned through them all, reading over lines and suggesting them to Ms. Mason. Nothing was found to be suitable.
“How about this one?” Rusty said, holding up a script labeled Grease, “I think this was about those 300 guys who fought the Persians. I could play King Leonidas.”
Rusty struck a fighting stance, holding up a broom and garbage can lid.
“Spartans! Tonight we dine in hell!” he bellowed.
Sam and many of the girls giggled. Ms. Mason though shook her head.
“Rusty, Grease is about teenagers in the 1950s, not the Spartans. And we did that last year!”
“Yeah,” Konrad added, “I played Danny Zucco.”
The shorter and fat gopher started to read from a script he found.
“How about this one, Ms. Mason? Springtime for Hitler…and Germany…” he started to sing.
Ms. Mason snatched the script from his hand.
“Absolutely not, Joey Escavatore!”
All that was left was one script in the box. Ms. Mason picked it up.
“This is the last one left…let’s see, it’s Cinderella. Yes…we could do this one!” she exclaimed.
“I’ll be right back,” she told them, “I’m going to make some photocopies.”
“Cinderella? That sounds like fun,” Rei Tanuki said.
“Maybe I could be Cinderella,” Rose Von Straussen added, taking an elegant pose.
“Maybe I could be one of the heralds,” Olaf Eftirmatur said, taking up a prop trumpet laying on a nearby shelf.
He blew it right through Rusty’s ear.
“Hey, Harry James!” Rusty angrily snarled, grabbing away the trumpet from the fat mouse.
“I’m not that good,” Olaf answered.
“You said it!” Rusty angrily retorted as he struck Olaf on the head with the trumpet.
