Acoustic

Acoustic

A small girl descends into a small dark room from a ladder. One of the rungs of the ladder creaks noisily. She has a small face and small features. Her hair is tied up in the back of her head in a messy knot. She’s wearing dirty jeans and a pale blue shirt.

The room she is in is lit by a small lamp in a corner and sunlight entering from a small, dingy window close to the ceiling of the room. The floor is made of dirt and there is only a few pieces of furniture. There is a couch that has a very 70’s-esque pattern and an old wooden chair that looks as though it had at one time belonged to a grand table and chair set that had sat aristocrats, but had long been forgotten and moved from garage sale to garage sale. Laying on the couch is a big black object that is indiscernible. In the corner by the lamp is a cd player. Simon and Garfunkel’s “Wednesday Morning, 3am” is playing softly in the background.

The girl looks around the room with a small contented smile on her face and sits on the couch, moving the black object over a bit. She sits back and closes her eyes while very slowly moving her hands in a strange pattern. As the song ends and another begins she gets up and goes to the cd player and lowers the volume just as “Bleeker Street” starts. She sits in the old wooden chair and grabs the black object. It’s a guitar case. She unzips the case and pulls out an old guitar that we can see has the name “William” on it. She strums a bit with her fingers. She takes the guitar by one hand and digs in her pocket with the other, finally producing a pick. She plucks each string, making sure its in tune and then begins to slowly strum, one chord at a time. She hums to herself and then starts to pick up a bit more speed. Just as she’s really doing well, a foot is seen descending the ladder. It turns out to be a young man, close to the same age as the girl. He reaches the noisy rung and she stops strumming and turns around quickly. The two stare at each other for a few moments before she turns back to the guitar which she stares at strongly with an indistinguishable look on her face. The boy does not move, but just watches her. He finally moves to sit on the couch. She looks up at him and he nods sagely. She plays a few chords for him. He gives her a tired smile and holds his hand out. She carefully places the guitar into his hand and he holds it reverently. He pulls out a pick from his pocket and tests a few chords very carefully. She stares at him quietly as he becomes more and more confident with his strums. Finally he begins to play very confidently. He is much better than she is and he plays “The Boxer” with ease and expertise.

He finishes the song and looks up to see her watching him with tears in her eyes. He realizes that he has tears in his eyes to and they both swipe the tears away a little embarrassed. He sighs and she offers him a bright smile. They look at each other with relief.

He hands the guitar back to her and she takes it gingerly. She slowly strums a G up and down. She looks up to see him staring at her proudly. She switches to another chord and he shakes his head and repositions her fingers. They laugh and he sits beside her nodding and shaking his head. The laughter finally gets so loud it drowns out “Leaves that are Green” playing on the cd player.

End scene.