Scene 1. Summer’s here

The camera pans over a small, suburban cul de sac on a warm, sunny, summer’s day – it appears to be late morning. Our view then drops to the entrance of the area where we pass slowly through a narrow street lined by fully blossomed trees and the occasional car. We see that the street is the home to quaint, two-floor terraced houses with white gravel walls, and gleaming windows looking into living rooms and upstairs bedrooms.  Birds and insects pass by our view – you can almost feel the warmth radiating from the pavement and roads.

The camera then dips closer to the street where we pass some charming features such as an old, red phone box with fading, cracked paint….
a small convenience store with its advertising board inviting onlookers onto the entrance path….
a narrow lane where garage doors, back garden gates, and patches of unkempt grass and spring flowers are in full bloom.

We soon reach the end of the straight part of the street where a final set of houses sit in front of a wall – maybe 7 foot in height. Beyond this wall, we catch a glimpse of some trees and what appears to be a hospital building with flower bed arrangements and well-maintained shrubbery patches leading down from its front path.

Finally, the camera moves towards the left where the curve of the road has come to its end – a car park of maybe 10 spaces in a row provides convenience for the residents whose back gardens lead onto this area. This car park is aligned with an unfenced, grass play area, and a final line of houses. There is no path for traffic to pass any further, but we can see a tiny lane that must lead through to the pavement of another street

Two teenage children come into view – they are scampering through the car park whilst kicking a football to each other. Their sense of freedom and excitement is apparent as they kick the ball from the kerb and continue running towards the grass play area:

Jacob: “So, what are we doing tonight? Are Jonny and Clinton coming round to your place?”

Dominic: “I don’t know – Summer is coming to stay for a few weeks, so Mum will probably want me to spend time with her”

Jacob: “Why does she have to visit this time every year?  You always have to look after her, and she doesn’t really like the things we do!”

Dominic: “Well, I don’t mind too much – she doesn’t have any parents, so Mum says we should try our hardest to be like a family to her when she visits.”

Jacob: “I know why you don’t mind her, but you’re never going to have the guts to do anything about it!”

Dominic: “I don’t fancy her! Plus weird things always happen when she’s around – it makes me nervous!”

Jacob: “You’ve never told me about what happens when she visits – do you start having dreams about her, and waking up in a sweat?!”

Dominic: “Shut up! I told you about what happened last year– I think she’s jinxed or something.”

Jacob: “That’s not very fair!  What if it’s YOU who’s jinxed?!  …… I reckon you make things happen so that she comes running into your big, strong arms!”

Dominic: “I’m telling you – even though I don’t mind her visiting, something weird or bad will happen over the next few weeks. I bet you!”

Jacob: “So, when is she arriving?   Have we got time to go to the shop and see Jonny for a while?”

Dominic: “Well, her bus should have dropped her off in town this morning, so probably in the next hour or so.”

Jacob: “Great – so that’s the Summer over, then?!”

Dominic: “No!   I’ll just be busy helping Mum for a while during the day, and then she can spend the evening catching up with Summer.  I’ll come out and see you guys shortly after dinner.”

Jacob: “Okay… well I’m going to the shop to annoy Mr Towsey, and then I’ll see if Jonny can put-up with meeting Summer again.”

Dominic: “Yeah…I don’t know why they fell out last year, but he needs to get over it – she doesn’t interfere THAT much with what we do!”

Suddenly a voice comes from the end of the street:

Sarah: “Dominic! That’s Summer on her way – she’ll be at the end of the street in a few minutes. Can you and Jacob give her a hand with her bags?!”

Dominic (looking unimpressed): “Yes Mum!” He shouts.

Jacob: “Haha! You’re going to be one of the girls for the rest of the holidays!”

Dominic: “I wouldn’t laugh – my Mum always manages to rope you into doing stuff!”

Jacob: “What can I say – I’m just a nice person!”

Dominic and Jacob walk towards the main part of the street. As they do so, we can see that Sarah is watching from the house that sits at the very end of the street – the 7 foot wall stands over the garden and the lower part of the house. We notice that the house number is 32 Elm Place.

Sarah smiles at the boys as they begin their short walk down the street. The sun is shining even brighter now, and a shimmer of heat is emanating from the unsheltered parts of the road.

Just as they reach halfway down the street, a figure comes into their view from behind one of the trees – it’s Summer.  She has a thin jacket raised above her head and her luggage laid down next to her in the shade of the tree.  Dominic looks confused…

Dominic: “Hey Summer – you okay!?”

Summer: “Yeah, sort of…I think it’s about to rain!”

Jacob looks at Dominic with a confused expression on his face.

Jacob: “I doubt it! Look how blue the sky is!”

As Jacob finishes uttering his words, a dark rain cloud passes over the sky just in front of them. Summer screams playfully as drops can be heard hitting the leaves and branches nearby…the spots of rain above her quickly turn to a heavy downpour. Summer’s screams become more excited as she stamps on the wetting ground.

Dominic and Jacob look shocked but amazed… the cloud covers the sky above them and the drops of rain begin to soak into their clothes…

Jacob: “Shit! Where did that come from?!”

Dominic: “Wow!  Look at the steam coming off the road!”

Dominic and Jacob look over to the uncovered road, as the sun starts to rip through the tail-end of the rain cloud. The rain drops react with the heat of the road, and steam begins to rise – creating an almost tropical wet climate for a spell of around thirty seconds…

Jacob: “Aww – that is so cool!”

Jacob and Dominic check the road for traffic and then walk through the light mist rising from the ground.  For a brief moment, it looks as if the rain is rising in the same droplet form as it fell from the sky – almost as if in slow motion, Jacob and Dominic watch the particles move past them. 

As the mist clears, we begin to see more clearly that Summer is shaking her jacket dry. Collecting her belongings from the ground, and coming closer to the boys with her luggage in hand.

Dominic: “How did you know that was coming!?”

Summer: “It’s been following me since I got on the bus…. not LITERALLY following me, but I’d been keeping an eye on it.

Summer looks to the sky, sighs, and then looks towards the boys:

Summer:  “So what’s the plan for the rest of the day? We need to have some fun! ”

Summer smiles a beautiful grin as the boys check their soaked clothing before approaching her to help with the baggage.

Scene 2: Boys will be Boys

The scene changes to the kitchen of 32 Elm Place – the sun is shining brightly through two large windows. Jacob is sitting at a small dining table, Dominic is standing near his mother as she is preparing various soft drinks – these are clearly for the 2 boys as well as Summer.  Dominic and Jacob are sharing a towel to dry their hair after the downpour from earlier on.

Sarah: “Did you boys play a trick on Summer? She was soaking when she got in!”

Jacob: “No Mrs Milne – Dominic didn’t get Summer wet.”

Dominic shuffles over to the dining table – he scowls at Jacob before landing a quick kick to his shin.  Jacob stifles a groan of pain and continues to dry his hair… A noise of light footsteps can be heard from just outside the kitchen door. Sarah is alert to the noise, and shouts towards the doorway.

Sarah: “Summer! Is that you!?”

Summer walks into the room clutching a towel – she has been for a shower.  Her face is slightly flustered from the heat of the shower and the temperature of the house.  She has changed her clothes to a pair of blue jeans and a small white, short-sleeved top that flatters her figure. Summer then uses the towel to dry the different sections of her long brunette hair. The boys’ attention is drawn to her… Sarah smiles – she is happy to see Summer acting comfortable within the house.

Sarah: “Are you feeling better after the shower?”

Summer: “Yes Mrs Milne, thanks for letting me use it without notice”.

Sarah: “You’re welcome Summer – remember that this is your house too over the next few weeks….. How was your journey?”

Summer: “It was good! I got speaking to someone who’s going to be working in one of the hospitals in the area – he didn’t say which one, but I think it must be nearby. We were talking about all sorts of things, so the time passed a little quicker than I expected.”

Sarah: “That’s good! So did you get his number, or…?”

Summer smiles as she realises Sarah is looking for a bit of romantic gossip.

Summer: “No, I thought it would be a bit too forward to ask – plus I think he was a bit older than me!”

Sarah: “Okay, so a Summer romance isn’t totally out of the question if you meet someone nice over here?”

Summer: “I’m not really bothered to be honest – I’m sort of focussing on my studies at the moment”

Jacob decides to tease Dominic about Summer’s availability by raising his eyebrows and gesturing with a nod of his head towards her. Dominic looks unimpressed.

Sarah: “Well, you’ve done your exams for this year, so make sure you relax – you can have lots of time to yourself, but Dominic and I would like to arrange a few things with you if that’s okay!?”

Summer: “Of course it’s okay!  I’ve already asked Dominic what we’re going to do for the rest of the day, and I’m looking forward to it!”.

Summer smiles again, and Dominic looks slightly uncomfortable at that prospect of keeping her amused whilst trying to spend time with his friends.

Sarah: “That’s good to hear. So what have you got planned Dominic?”

Dominic: “Well, we were going to take Summer to see the new coffee shop on Berryden road, then we could maybe play a bit of football. Summer was saying she’s just started playing at her school.”

Jacob: “That’ll keep Jonny happy – he doesn’t do much else these days.”

Sarah: “Sounds like fun!…  Summer, you should take your time to get settled and unpacked, and then we’ll talk about what we’ll have for dinner.”

Summer: “Thank you Mrs Milne – which room am I in this time?”

Sarah: “You’ll need you to share with Dominic just for tonight – I’m afraid his brother has left the other bedroom in a little bit of a mess”.

Summer: “Oh, okay! How is Richard anyway? Has he forgiven me for making him sleep on the couch last year?”

Sarah laughs.

Sarah: “Yes, all is forgiven!  He’s going to be away for at least the next couple of weeks, so once I’ve finished tidying his room, you can sleep guilt free for a while!” “Dominic, if you could make sure your room is presentable for Summer tonight, that’d be great, I’ve already changed both sets of sheets so it shouldn’t take you too long.”

It seems that Dominic knew Summer would be sharing his room overnight, but that he was trying not to tell Jacob – or any of his friends… He doesn’t look very happy that his Mum has revealed the arrangement.

Dominic: “Yes Mum – I’ve put everything away like you asked me to.”

Summer: “Thanks Dominic – I’ll make sure the room doesn’t smell to girly when you come upstairs.”

Dominic blushes slightly, as the thought of sharing the room with Summer is exciting but embarrassing at the same time.

Jacob: “Dominic wears girly perfume anyway, so he’ll be fine – maybe you can share fragrances!”

Dominic: “Would you shut up!”

Jacob: “What?” It’s true – your room always smells like flowers and incense sticks!”

Dominic: “Right – I think we should go Jacob!”

Summer smiles at the boys’ behaviour, and watches as they leave the dining table and head to the door.

Sarah: “Jacob – are you eating with us tonight?”

Jacob: “No Mrs Milne – I’d like to, but Mum wants me to try her new Spanish tapas dish tonight.”

Sarah: “No problem Jacob – I’m sure we’ll see you later.”

Jacob: “Definitely Mrs Milne – thanks for the fruit juice!”

Sarah: “You’re welcome! Dominic, if you can be back for dinner at 6pm please.”

Dominic: “Yes Mum – I’ll be back in time.”

Summer: “See you later guys!”

The scene changes to outside the front door of the house – Dominic is playfully pushing Jacob down the short garden path as punishment for embarrassing him in front of Summer.

Dominic: “You are such a dick!”

Jacob: “What did I do!? … If anything, I’ve helped set you up for a steamy night of perfume swapping with Summer!  She was actually looking pretty hot back there – are you going to be able to control yourself tonight!?”

Dominic: “Are you jealous or something?”

Jacob: “No, but are you not going to lose your cool if she’s wandering around in a lacy nightgown and you’re wearing your Spiderman pyjama bottoms?”

Dominic: “I don’t think she’ll care, Jacob!”

Jacob: “Well, it sounds like you should make some in-roads with her tonight – especially since you’re going to be sleeping together!”

Dominic: “Yes, we’re sleeping in the same room – not the same bed!”

Jacob: “But it doesn’t have to be that way!”

Dominic is clearly done with Jacob’s teasing – he pushes him into the hedge of the neighbour’s garden, and Jacob just manages to keep his balance.  All of a sudden we hear Summer shouting from behind them.

Summer: “Dominic!”

The boys turn around to see Summer sticking her head through the fully-opened window of the upstairs bedroom – the room that Dominic will share with her tonight.

Dominic: “Yeah!”

Summer: “Do you still have your telescope up here!?”

Jacob whispers to Dominic…

Jacob: “This is your chance buddy – you can make ANYTHING look big using a telescope!”

Dominic: “Would you shut the fuck up!?”

Summer can hear parts of the conversation below her, but she looks slightly confused…

Summer: “What did you say?!”

Dominic: “Eh, yeah! It’s in the big cupboard at the foot of our bed.”

Summer: “Our bed?”

Jacob cannot contain his amusement at Dominic’s slip of the tongue, and covers his mouth to mute his laughter…

Dominic: “Sorry, I meant YOUR bed!”

Dominic turns away embarrassed – shaking his head ever so slightly at his mistaken words.

Summer: “Thanks Dominic! We need to use this tonight for people watching!”

Dominic: “Yeah sure!”

Summer: “See you later!”

The boys continue to walk down the street. Jacob stops his immature behaviour for a moment to quiz Dominic on the “people watching” Summer mentioned.

Jacob: “What sort of people watching does she mean? Have you done this with her before?”

Dominic: “Yeah – it’s completely innocent – she likes scouting the hospital grounds, and spying a little on some of the houses at the bottom of the play area. We never see anything that interesting, but it’s good fun I suppose!”

Jacob: “That’s very sweet to be doing that sort of thing together – sounds like she’s looking forward to it too….  You’re a bit of a dark horse!”

Dominic smiles at Jacob’s reaction to his secret voyeurism.

Dominic: “I wouldn’t go that far, but we get on quite well…”

Jacob: “Despite the fact that she makes weird things happen?”

Dominic: “Yeah, hopefully that rainfall earlier on was her only trick for this Summer! I don’t know what it is about her – I can’t make-up my mind if I like her or not.”

Jacob: “Well, she plays football now, and she looks hotter than last year – so definite improvements!” ….. Right, I’m going to drop in by the shop and catch-up with you later!”

Dominic: “Okay, I’ll see you after dinner!”

Jacob crosses the road and heads towards the shop near the end of the street. Dominic looks back towards his bedroom window to check if Summer is still there – he notices the head of the telescope protruding from the window. He smiles as he realises that Summer is adjusting its position in preparation for tonight.

Scene 3: Barbecue

It is now later in the day, and we have a view from the top of 32 Elm Place – despite the sun beginning to fall, it is still comfortably warm, and there is a small cloud of smoke flowing over the rooftop – it appears there may be a barbeque nearby. We catch another glimpse over the 7 foot wall that divides the road and 32 Elm Place from the grounds of the hospital.

We see that a small makeshift road is immediately over the wall, and that a line of trees maybe 5 or 6 in depth divides this worn ground from the fresh grass of the hospital’s front garden area.  A gentle breeze shakes the trees, and we hear the rustle of the leaves. 

The camera pans around to show the sun hanging in the background of the hospital grounds – we can now deduce that there are possibly a few hours before the sun falls for the day…

The camera then swoops into the back garden of 32 Elm Place where we can see that Dominic, Summer and Sarah have decided to enjoy a barbeque. Summer is sitting on a sun lounger with a colourful drink in hand – she is wearing shades and sipping at the drink with a straw.  Her slightly crossed legs are a sign that she is relaxed in the company of the others.

Dominic is standing to the right of the barbeque grill… Sarah can be seen rearranging some food on the cooking surface – she appears to be enjoying the responsibility of cooking for the children.  Dominic takes a bite from a burger, glances at the food in his hand, and then turns to his mother.

Dominic: “Mum, are we allowed to stay out a bit longer tonight given that the holidays have started?”

Sarah: “Well, I woudn’t stay out too long – Summer will need her rest.  Plus I think we’re going out early in the morning to pick-up a few things from the shops and then have lunch.”

Dominic: “Okay, well is half 9 or 10 okay?  We’re just going to have a coffee or milkshake, then hang out at Jonny’s.”

Sarah: “I’m happy as long as you’re back before dark…. Could you ask Summer if she wants another burger?”

Dominic: “Yeah, will do.”

Dominic steps across the concrete slabs and onto the garden lawn.  The view then changes to Summer – she looks towards Dominic with a smile on her face. Because of the shades she is wearing, Dominic can’t be sure of where Summer’s eyes are looking, but after a brief pause, he smiles too and speaks-up.

Dominic: “Would you like another burger?”

Summer takes a long draw on her drinking straw, and playfully responds to Dominic’s question.

Summer: “I would love another burger – thank you kind sir!  Are we going to the coffee shop after this?”

Dominic: “Yeah – I think Jonny and Clinton are going to join us. We’ll maybe stay out until around half 9?”

Summer: “That sounds fine by me!  When we get back, I want to spend a little time on the telescope – I see some of the families in the neighbourhood have changed! There was a really cute puppy playing in one of the gardens across the road when I checked earlier.”

Dominic: “Was it a little brown puppy retriever?”

Summer: “Yeah, it was so sweet! Do you know whose it is?”

Dominic: “Well, if it was just across the road it must have been Clinton’s!”

Summer: “Oh wow!  He needs to bring it around some time!”

Dominic: “You could ask him tonight – I’m sure he wouldn’t mind letting you babysit sometime.”

Summer: “He won’t have a choice!…. So how is Jonny, these days?  I think I freaked him out last time when all those drink cans blew-up at the shop down the road! I promised him it wasn’t anything I did, but I don’t think he was convinced!”

Dominic’s face looks thoughtful.

Dominic: “We better not mention the rainstorm we got caught in, then!…Thing is, Jacob’s probably mentioned it to him already.”

Summer: “That was just a coincidence – I haven’t seen any other rain clouds since I got here!”

Dominic: “That’s true – make sure it doesn’t rain tonight if your plan is to spy on people with the telescope!”

Summer: “Very funny! It’s not spying if it’s not done in private. And anyway, if we catch a glimpse of anything suspicious, we can go and investigate!”

Dominic’s facial expression goes from a friendly smile to a slight quizitive look…

Dominic: “What do you mean by suspicious?”

Summer: “Well, there’s always something interesting going on in every household – you just have to look closer, or be around at the right time.”

Dominic’s face expresses an even greater sense of confusion at Summer’s explanation.

Dominic: “I don’t think we need to go looking for trouble! Most of the time it comes to us anyway!”

Summer: “Well then – spotting the trouble before it hits us is a perfect idea!”

Summer looks smug as she delivers her answer.  Dominic playfully makes a face of unconvincing shock, and begins to turn towards the barbeque.  He takes a couple of steps before turning back towards Summer…

Dominic: “How would you like your burger?”…

Summer raises her head slightly to indicate she is giving thought to the question…

Summer: “Hmmm… surprise me!   I promise not to watch you making it… Wouldn’t want you to think I was spying on you or anything!”

Summer grins at Dominic and takes another sip from her straw.  Dominic doesn’t seem to mind her cheekiness, and walks away with a smile on his face too.

The camera pans upwards to reveal more of the area beyond the back garden – we can see the back gardens of another line of houses. The layout of gardens is split by a network of narrow and slightly overgrown pathways – they appear underused and poorly maintained.  We can see that the 7 foot wall continues beyond the next line of houses and out of sight. As the camera swivels round, we see that Sarah is extinguishing the lit barbeque – Summer has joined her and Dominic to finish eating and discuss tidying up.

The camera then skims over the roof of 32 Elm Place to show us part of the hospital grounds and a row of back gardens from across the street – we can see what appears to be a young man picking up a small brown puppy retriever, and moving into their house…..

Time begins to pass as speed… the sun lowers further, and we see Summer and Dominic appear from 32 Elm Place.  They wave goodbye to Sarah, and head towards the house where we saw the puppy just seconds ago…

The sun lowers even further as parts of the street and its houses begin to darken – we see Summer and Dominic return to the street with another person.  By process of deduction we realise that the third person is Dominic’s friend, Clinton.  The trio walk towards the end of the main street, and then out of view.