The Lasting
The Lasting
EXT. BRIDGE – DAY
This is the original Bay Bridge, standing as the elevated skyway between Oakland and San Francisco. It is alone, with no sign of the shiny new bridge that now exists in its place. This is because:
SUPER: 1989.
FOLLOW a small, non-descript sedan across the bridge, just past the toll takers and into the City. ZIG-ZAG movement, as if the CAMERA is flying erratically, until it touches the roof of the car before going INSIDE IT.
INT. CAR – CONTINUOUS
PHILLIP CARLYLE (shaggy-haired, odd facial hair, late 20s) drives, RAMONA CARLYLE (well-dressed, coiffed-hair, early 30s) in the passenger seat, and their TODDLER (boy, 3 yrs. old, sucking a pacifier) strapped into a car seat in back.
RADIO ANNOUNCER
(from car radio)
And we’re ready to start Game 3 of the World Series, here in San Francisco on a beautiful October afternoon.
PHILLIP
I told you we should have left earlier. There goes the first pitch. And probably a couple of innings, too. Dammit.
RAMONA
Jesus, Phillip, you should be grateful, not bitching. They were free. Behind home plate! We’ll get there when we get there.
PHILLIP
It’s his first game.
(peeks back at him)
I wanted it to be special.
RAMONA
We’ll take pictures. He’s too young to remember it any other way.
PHILLIP
I thought I was the pragmatist and you were the romantic. What hap--
The car SHAKES violently. A side-to-side motion. Phillip holds tight to the steering wheel, but the car has a mind of its own.
A SOUND like THE END OF THE WORLD fills the car. Ahead of them, the upper deck of the bridge COLLAPSES onto the lower deck. Two cars in front of the sedan DROP from sight.
Ramona grasps the dashboard. Phillip shoves his foot onto the brake.
The car DESCENDS, nose-first, onto the platform below. It LANDS. Jarring. But they all seem to be unharmed.
RAMONA
(cries in shock, not pain)
Baby, sweetie, are you okay?
The Toddler cries, confused and shaken. She reaches back to him, runs her finger along his leg.
PHILLIP
Ramona... Ramona.
She turns back to her husband. She follows his gaze THROUGH THE WINDSHIELD, to a point above them.
A HUGE CHUNK OF BRIDGE trembles, then lands on the car’s roof and front end. Ramona and Phillip are CRUSHED beneath it.
The Toddler, protected by a small bubble of the interior of the car, cries louder. Cries become screams as --
EXT. CAR - CONTINUOUS
The FLYING POV ascends, through the roof and UP, UP, UP. The dust from the fallen bridge obscures physical details. A big CLOUD OF GRAY AIR. It slowly transforms into
FOG
Rolling in from across the Bay until it enters
INT. APT. – BEDROOM - MORNING
LUCY HAVERT, 21, with bedhead, blankets covering her, leans over ALEX PRYCE, 20, who stirs in his sleep.
SUPER: 2007.
She watches him, unconsciously plays with the GOLD CHAIN around her neck. The PENDANT is heart-shaped, with a cursive “L” at its center. She wears this throughout the episode, and it is visible in all of her scenes.
Lucy presses her lips on his slightly moist brow. He emerges into wakefulness, slowly.
ALEX
(out of sorts)
Hey.
LUCY
Hey. Bad dream?
ALEX
You weren’t there, so... yeah.
He kisses her shoulder.
ALEX (CONT’D)
I wasn’t even there. It was a car, these people, and a baby... crossing the Bay Bridge? And then an earthquake, total chaos with everything crumbling, and --
LUCY
(kidding)
Should I be writing this down?
ALEX
No. Another crazy dream. Add it to the pile.
He slowly emerges from bed, moves to a dresser.
LUCY
If I was a psych major – which fortunately I am not – I would think you were projecting your anxiety about us living together onto this earthquake-shattered-world thing. Any truth?
ALEX
I’m not even moving in until the semester’s done.
(cups her face)
No truth.
LUCY
Okay. If you say so.
OFF his face, unsure...
INT. HOUSE - KITCHEN - DAY
KAREN POWELL, 34, dressed in conservative lawyer garb, rushes through the kitchen. CAMELLIA BOWEN, 9, in her school uniform, eats cereal at the TABLE.
Karen re-enters, a briefcase in hand.
CAMELLIA
Another big case today?
KAREN
They’re all big cases, sweetie.
She bends down, nuzzles against Camellia’s face.
KAREN (CONT’D)
But not one of them will ever be as important to me as you are. And you can take that to the bank.
She bops her nose playfully.
CAMELLIA
And cash it!
(spoon in mouth)
I love you, Mommy.
Karen catches her breath. Something she’s never heard before.
KAREN
Really? Really... mommy?
Camellia nods, focused on her cereal.
KAREN (CONT’D)
(intense; staring)
I love you, Camellia. More than you’ll ever know.
OFF the TEARS starting to well up...
EXT. CAMPUS – UC BERKELEY - MORNING
CLOSE-ON: HIPPIE GRANDMOTHER
Full of confidence and grit, wearing a tie-dyed scarf and faded “No Nukes” T-shirt, she shoves a piece of paper outward.
HIPPIE GRANDMOTHER
Do your part!
WIDER
Alex grunts in surprise as the LEAFLET collides with his chest. He is in Sproul Plaza, where a large group of PEOPLE – STUDENTS, LOCALS and A FEW SMALL CHILDREN – hold signs and CHANT loudly. The Banners read: “Stop the Madness” and “War is NOT the Solution” among other Pro-Peace/Anti-War declarations.
Another day, another Berkeley protest.
Alex collects himself. Crumples up the flyer, tosses it into a trash bin, then walks off to class.
INT. CLASSROOM - DAY
At the front of the lecture hall stands AVRID NEILANDER (late 60s, full head of gray hair). Behind him, projected on a screen, is a MAP of Europe. Alex is seated with a hundred-plus other STUDENTS, in rapt attention.
NEILANDER
The economies of the Europeans were in a tailspin, nationalism was forming as a reaction to the proximity of the conflicts, and the entire continent was on the brink of war.
INTERCUT CLASSROOM/BOAT
EXT. SAN FRANCISCO BAY - DAY
A WHITE SAILBOAT is on the water, alone as it moves through the currents under the GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE and towards shore. The SAILS on the empty DECK are ramrod-straight, not moving despite the wind. There’s definitely something eerie and not-quite-right about this boat.
NEILANDER (CONT’D)
A single inciting incident, one false move by any of these countries, and everything would erupt.
The Boat is still headed toward the shore of BAKER BEACH.
NEILANDER (CONT’D)
Can someone tell me what that spark was?
A hand goes up. He nods to it.
FEMALE STUDENT
The assassination of the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand by Serbian Gavrilo Princip in 1914.
(smug)
Professor.
The Boat has slowed and is TWISTING in the water, REVERSING itself and edging closer to the beach. A name -- written on the stern in thick, black lettering -- is visible: Lasting
NIELANDER
Exactly. The powder keg was lit and World War I was ushered in. Once it began, it took almost four years for it to end. A lifetime.
(a pause)
To us, this seems like ancient history, almost a hundred years in the past.
The Boat BACKS itself onto the sand, propelled by nothing that can be seen or heard - it moves on its own POWER.
NEILANDER
But it’s an instructive war, with lessons in that first event, which serves to inform our very own present. The small wars currently waging around the globe, the tiny land mines set out as a warning of the future battles there on the horizon... possible threats to us all.
The Boat is still moving onto the beach, its FIN KEEL cutting through the wet sand. No one is on the beach to witness this.
NEILANDER (CONT’D)
There are precedents for every conflict, for each generation on the brink of total destruction. We must recognize them when they present themselves. And then, we must prepare for what is coming.
The Boat comes to a rest in the dry sand. It has ARRIVED.