Day 155: The Girl Who Lived in a Sandcastle

The Girl Who Lived In a Sandcastle
by
Matt Zurbo

 

There once was girl who lived in a sandcastle.
(Girl standing in front of her basic, maybe six foot sandcastle.)

The view was amazing.
(From behind girl and castle, we see mother and baby humpback whales breaching a flat ocean)

(Girl watching low, woolly clouds blanketing the sky. A rich yellow sun is setting between clouds and sea, making everything rich yellow.)

(Castle under sky with stars and moon cutting streaks through clouds, lighting patches of silver ocean.)

The beach was always close, too.
(Girl, hair, arms, legs everywhere, tube around waist, jumping off castle wall, into water.)

But no sooner had she put up all her pictures, than a king tide started coming in.
(Girl, in front of castle, arms out at ocean, trying to stop it, but it is around her ankles, lapping at castle.)

Fortunately, around about then, a boy who couldn’t say no was walking by.
(Boy, hands in pockets, turning head to watch.)

He came to the beach to get away from people. Everybody taking advantage of him, telling him what to do.
Their chores,
(Washing never-ending pile of dishes.)

homework…

Some would make him eat a can of worms.
He just couldn’t say “No!”

“Will you help defend my home?” the girl who lived in the sand castle asked.
(She is knee deep in water-ocean, with a mop.)
“Yes,” said the boy who couldn’t say no.

The boy tried to stop the tide with sand walls. On no!
(Boy is on little ladder, building a sand wall, trying to stop the tide but a wave is overpowering him, breaking on collapsing sand wall.)

(Boy straining, carrying rock to add to the base of a rock-based, driftwood wall, with driftwood water pump in background, being operated by girl. Water on other side is clearly higher.)

(Huge crabs climbing over sandcastle wall, boy capturing them in jam jars, butterfly nets, and wooden boxes held up by a stick and string.)

(Back of boy as he is standing, facing about 6 beach bullies.)

The bullies were the worst.
“Think of the fun you could be having now!”
“Can’t say ‘No’! What a loser!”
“You’re her slave!”
“Help me. Yes! Defend me. Yes!”
(Laughing, pointing, mocking.)

(Boy, without saying anything, releasing his captured crabs on the bullies, who are running everywhere.)

And still the challenges came.
“Can you protect me from the weather?” asked the girl who lived in a sand castle.
“Yes.”
(Brilliant, black storm blowing. Boy fighting to not get blown away, holding an umbrella into the wind.)

(Boy in sandcastle, which is humble, with girl helping him, fighting octopus tentacles coming through window.)

(Boy using bamboo frame and sand, making a small tower for girl)

The girl watched the boy who couldn’t say no hunting her dinner. It made her feel impossibly bad! She was using him, like everybody else.
(Watching him spearfish.)

It was wrong.

She knew without him, sooner or later, another king tide would come, her home would be gone. But some things were more important. Bracing to face waves and bad weather and bullies on her own, she said: “I want you to stop helping me.”

Much to her surprise, he replied; “Why?”
(Boy stopped, ankle deep in water, looking at girl in castle window.)
“Because it’s not fair,” she said. “Because you can’t say ‘No’.”

The boy who can’t say no laughed! “A girl who lives in a sandcastle? That’s amazing! I’d do anything to help.”

The girl who lived in a sandcastle was stunned. That night, under the stars, she thought about it a lot.
(Sandcastle under Milky Way. Light on in ‘window’. Boy standing by small fire out front, guarding castle.)

The next day, as always, the boy was there.
“So you can’t say no?” she asked.
“”Yes,” he said.”I can’t.”
“And you love the beach?”
“Oh, very, very much!”
“Then, will you let me help you build a driftwood shack, so we can help each other?”

The boy who can’t say no, said; “N…. N…. N…. Absolutely.”

And that was that.
(Sandcastle next to tin and driftwood shack. Boy and girl in background having fun flying a kite.)

The End.
(Night. Castle and shack next to each other, light on in each one’s sole ‘window’/hole in wall.)