Day 2: CLUNK in the Night

CLUNK in the Night

by Matt Zurbo

 

(Cover: Boogi and Bonnie, opposite each other on bed. Boogi waving his arms in exasperation, Bonnie, kneeling, watching him. Framing them is the big bedroom window, which has a bearded Viking giant’s face in it, staring at them, and two owls peeking around edge of frame.)

Boogi had been wrestling, Bonnie daydreaming. It had been a big day.
(Boogi and Bonnie in soapy bath. Bobby is roaring, arms out, like a dinosaur mouth, Bonnie, facing him, is just smiling.)

“Let’s stay up all night, and pillow fight!” Boogi said, but their Mum had other ideas!
(Boogi standing on bed, pillow ready above his head, Bonnie smiling, kneeling on bed if front of him, hands on pillow in front of her, not saying no.)
Click.
(Mum’s hand reaching through the door, light on the other side, turning off light switch, for now dark kid’s room)

Boogi, as always, listed all the things he had done that day, to put himself to sleep.
“I made aeroplanes,” he bragged. “Paper of course! I played with the dog, and threw rock and…. Zzzzz.”

Then, deep in the night…
CLUNK!
A sound woke Boogi and Bonnie with a start.
(Boogi bolt upright, Bonnie still lifting herself, sleepily from pillow.)

“Thieves!” Boogi whispered. “Wah! They’re here to kidnap us!”
Bonnie looked around. The window and door were still shut.
“It wasn’t a-” she started.
(Boogi, eyes popping, animated, Bonnie, half smile of sleep-pouted lips and puffy eyes, just watching him.)

“PIRATES!” Boogi shouted, then covered his mouth. “It’s pirates, they want slaves,” he whispered again.
(Boogi, standing in bed, hands in air, teeth clenched in horror, looking down to Bonnie, who is looking up at him, a bit perplexed.)

“I know, I know…!” Boogi whispered. “Don’t make a sound! There are MONSTERS under our beds!”
“Why would monsters be under ou-” Bonnie started to say.
“Shh! Shh! They want to eat my head!”
(Boogi, head strained like a turtle, trying to climb the wall. Bonnie hasn’t moved from bed)

“Relax,” Bonnie sighed. “Why do you always think the worst? Maybe it was a giant, building a tower to the sky! A plank of wood fell off it is all.”
“A giant!?” Boogi shouted and whispered at the same time.
(Bonnie facing viewer, eyes lost in sleepy hair, but smiling. Boogi standing over her, arms out in total exasperation.)

(Wordless page of Viking giant, being circled by two owls, as it builds ramshackle tower made of bits of wood, trunk, wagon wheels, park benches, etc… framed by the night sky. Trees and power lines beneath it give it scale as a giant.)

“Maybe the tower it’s building goes to the moon, and it wants us to come along.”
“So it can eat our heads!” Boogi wailed.
(Boogi, eyes popping, teeth gnashing, clawing at his own head. Bonnie looking out of window.)

(Wordless page of giant’s palm held through open window, Bonnie and Boogi staring at it from their bed. Bonnie still kneeling, Bobby still standing)

Bonnie watched the moon. “No, she smiled. Maybe the giant wants company, and knows no adult will believe.”
“As if!” Boogi squealed. “Get away from that window! Hide under the bed!”
“But you said that’s where the monsters are,” Bonnie said.
(Boogi trying to drag Bonnie under the bed, while pulling a face of fright at the same time, as he realises what Bonnie just said)

(Wordless page of Giant climbing/building ramshackle tower in the night sky, complete with pulley with more wood and pieces of scaffolding, occasional ramshackle hut with witch in it, Bonnie and Boogi on giant’s shoulders, two owls circling.)

“Maybe, the giant just wants to share the amazing things he sees on the moon,” Bonnie said, dreamily.
“Like our bones in a stew!” Boogi huffed.
“Like silver dragons swimming through moon dust…”
(Boogi in bedroom, looking blankly at Bonnie, who is talking to him)

(Wordless page of Giant, kids and owls back to us, standing on the moon, watching silver dragons swim through silver moondust.)

“And ALL sorts of stuff…”
(Dragon, standing erect, talking to Man on the Moon (just as tall), who is silver, has a crescent moon head and is wearing janitor’s clothes, while holding a bucket of moon dust and a broom. Both of them talking to the Giant, who has Bonnie and Boogi on its shoulders and circling owls.)

(Man on the Moon holding out open, welcoming hand for Giant, Boogi and Bonnie towards moon village, everything and everybody silver…)

(Man in the Moon, Giant, Boogi, Bonnie and Dragons all heading towards viewer, with miner’s helmets on, exploring down a cave, the occasional silver dinosaur bone in the dust.)

(Giant, sitting in a crater, legs out like a kid, smiling, Bonnie sitting in front of him, arms out, interacting with silver moon butterflies, Boogi launching, on skateboard, off lip of crater as if it were a skate ramp)

(Double page spread. Bonnie and Boogi both sitting in moon dust/moonscape, as giant walks away. They are looking up at the vast, star-filled sky/Milky Way)

Boogi finally spoke. “Yeah, well, I still say that sound was-”
CLUNK!
(Close-up of Bonnie and Boogi’s faces as they look out the window at the stars. CLUNK sound effect behind them.)

“Wah! It’s the monsters!” Boogi shrieked. “They’re in the roof!”
“Sorry. Did I wake you?” Dad whispered. “I keep tripping every time I go to pee.”
(Boogi is mostly under the bed, bum poking out, Bonnie is kneeling on the bed, looking at open door, light coming in, with silhouette of Dad’s profile leaning in.)

(Bonnie, smiling, looking down at Boogi, who is awkwardly looking up, messy hair, bags under eyes, pjs ruffled, even covered in dust and cobwebs.)

“But what if it WAS a giant building a tower to the moon…” Bonnie whispered, in the dark.
(Black page, but for text)

The End