Urban Rural

By the time Hurrican Irene hit Vermont it was a cold heavy rainstorm that had peaks of high winds. Vermont has a lot of roads and towns that are along the river and it swelled up well past its banks, posting damage in a lot rural areas. In Randolph we lost power for two and half days and I got to say the utility company CV came in and fixed things that were well gone.

 

So much road construction right now with needed but hard to get through long paving projects on 89 South between Randolph and Sharon and other off highway paving. It's hard to get through and around.

The Book or The Keys to the Library or From the Library of Arnold Townsend

                  

 

          Fade In:     

 

 

To downtown of a medium size town.  It is a small, country library in a two story building in the downtown of a medium sized town.

 

Int: A shot inside the library.  

 

 JULIE signs off from her desk, opens the door and does out to the library front steps to bring in the “Open” flag from the front. STEVE is sitting on a leather sofa. She walks back in from the foyer and grabs her handbag.

 

          Julie

I got a hair appointment. I'm closing down for the day.

 

 Steve sitting on the couch  looks up from the Time Magazine he was reading, there is a coffee table and a stack of George and Sports Illustrated.>

         

          Steve- Ok, thanks Julie.

 

          Scene 2

 

          Steve still had to read the back issues of George Magazine and Sports Illustrated. < Steve stretches out on the leather couch underneath the new eaves of the addition.  

 

Scene 2

 

Camera shot- On Steve

 

<Steve reading>

 

 Narrator-It was a pleasant day and once again Steve enjoyed the library, the rows of books and the new windows of the addition. He spent hours in it after school and weekends; checking out magazines, reading the encyclopedia and looking up new words in the dictionary.  

 

<Steve reading magazines and leafing through the encyclopedia and then puts down the encyclopedia and gets up opens the front door and screen door and looks out on the town.>

 

Narrator: After a while he gets up and looked out the screen door to take in a warm wind and watched the slow motion of Adletown: a few cars cruising around the downtown, some people walking around, the smell of the pizza place two doors down.

 

<Steve looking>

 

 Narrator: Was that Natasha Stebbens? He thought he saw her walk to the laundry. He checked the clock and decided to do laundry at the same time she was next week. Steve walks back to the couch and finished reading about Alabama in Sports Illustrated; he wondered if they go to the SEC Championship game.

 

<Steve reads for a little while then puts the magazine down then follows dialogue>

 

Narrator: He got up to look for a new book. He walked down the aisles and the rows of books. Would he read a new biography or something? He was in the "J" author section. In the middle was a small leather bound red book. It had gold lettering on the spine that read “Arrowsmith by Henry James” He pulled it out and it felt good in his hands.

<Steve stands there for a while looking at the book.>

Narrator: There weren’t that many pages. The text was a clear, inviting one and it had no glossy cover jacket. On the inside cover there was a stamp that read "From the library of Arnold Townsend”.

<Steve sits back down on the couch>

Narrator: He sat down to read it. He enjoyed reading about Martin; his trials in med school and the great prose that made Henry James so great. He read and read and the afternoon became the eve. He liked James’ clear sentence structure and he was compelled by the ideals of the story.

 

<Steve reads the book. A camera shot of a window with lettering Martin Arrowsmith Public Health Inspector and a shot of Martin at his desk writing a letter. Steve then puts the book down and gets up and goes outside on the library steps.>

Narrator: Throughout the warm fall Saturday the trees had changed color, slowly the greens were changing to orange. The day's sunny, blue sky began to set in the eve: the pinks, oranges and red, then magenta and finally the deep blue hues over the ridge line.

He wondered about it all- the natural changes in a day. It struck him that the sun's hours taught us to preserve what we had because the sun and Earth are all that we have and in the night the sky changes to reveal the moon and the stars and the notion that we are part of a larger fabric. As wonderful as one day and night are, there was the reassurance that there would be a chance to do it all again in the renewal of a new day and night. The grace of time in beautiful motion. He went back to the book and when he picked it up again a piece of wax paper fell out- folded neatly in half. There were words written on it. He picked it up on the outside- he read the signature. “Arnold Townsend.” He flipped the book back and read a stamp on the inside that read the same name “From the Library of Arnold Townsend."

He unfolded the letter. <shot of a farm and Arnold Townsand going through a series of barn chores, have him sitting at his desk with the Arrowsmith book writing the note.

 

 It read: "To whoever may read this: I hope you enjoy the book Arrowsmith by Henry James - as it was my favorite book- and if you have read this far you, too, must like the story. My name is Arnold Townsend and I lived here in Adletown on Smith Hill on my family farm. I am the last of my family to live and operate this small farm. On the eve of this note I have sold all my beef cows, the tractor and the plow. After 109 years working, these fields with alpine views and quiet I'm selling off my livestock and equipment and will live out my last days walking around the fields and forest- refilling my bird feeders and reading my favorite books. With no heir I'm leaving my fortune to somebody who shares the truths and ideals of the great many books that make American Literature. So friend- I have left this map for you to reap the rewards of riches both literal and in meaning. It was signed in cursive “Arnold Townsend, August 4, 1974.”

<Steve reading, there is a shot of him and a close shots of the book pages and the treasure map>

Narrator: On the back of the letter was a treasure map.  Steve couldn't believe it. He checked the back cover and the book hadn't been stamped out since 1974. For over 30 years the book went unread until now.

 

          Camera transition shot of the buildings on the map to a shot of Steve driving by them in his truck on a country road.

 

Scene 3

Narrator: <as Steve drives up to the farm> He read the instructions on the map and the next night he drove up Smith Hill past the McIntyre Farm and past Floyd Tanner's apple orchard to the old Townsend farm. It was owned by the State now, part of a historical preservation land fund. The house was still there and on the lawn read a "For Rent" sign and he looked for the hay barn.  

 

<Steve slowly drives past the barn on a clear, starry night evening near dark.>

 

Narrator: He drove past the house and on the other side of the road - he found the hay barn.

 

Narrator: It was a big, two-story building with roll back doors. He checked the map and looked up to find the big harvest moon.

 

<Steve hides the truck>

         

Narrator: He hid his truck behind a bush and walked to the hay barn. It faced the west and over head the big harvest moon lit up the night.

         

<Nice country night shot of him walking to the barn.>  

 

Narrator: The wind whistled through the maples trees and he slipped in through the doors to the hayloft. A few birds flew up and the he stood on the loose hay.  <Shot of him walking through the sliding barn doors and have them closed behind him.  He stands in the quiet barn take a camera shot over his shoulder looking at the back wall>

 

Narrator: The dry hay smelled sweet and he clicked on his flash light and read the map.

 

<Steve checks out the map>

 

Narrator: On any given night in October, on or just before the harvest moon, the moon's rays will beam through a notch on top of the back wall above the last beam of the building. The ray will shine to a place on the front wall on the left side of the doors and there behind a false wall is a suitcase.

He looked up and there it was- the moon beam- and it led him to the place. He took out a crow bar and hammer and to the boards of the wall and he found the suitcase. Inside it was loaded with treasury notes and US bonds. There was another note.

"Friend: Enjoy the rewards of this gift and may all your days be filled with the wisdom of knowledge. Sincerely, Arnold Townsend."

Steve quietly slipped out and heard the crow calls as he drove away. The large birds knew that Arnold's money was given to the one who treasured things the most.

--

<Steve driving away. Camera shot with a scene of Henry Miller at a typewriter in the process of writing Martin Arrowsmith,  a shot of Martin Arrowsmith in his office typing a letter, a shot of Arnold Townsand reading and writing and a shot of the copy the book Martin Arrowsmith glowing a gold color on the shelves of the library.>