(Printed with the demonstration version of Fade In)

Unconscious Melody

Written by

Ben Adolph
(Printed with the demonstration version of Fade In)

Act 1: The Dark side of the Moon

INT. MIKE'S BEDROOM

A fourteen year old boy named Mike Jones is sitting at his

desk in his room. The room is dark with only a small lamp
lighting the journal he +is writing in. He is wearing
headphones which is plugged into a Walkman cassette player.
He is listening to (Don't Fear) The Reaper by Blue Oyster
Club. In his journal he is scribbling out a list of things
that make him feel happy, orders from his psychologist. He
seems to be getting angry as he is struggling to complete
the list. Instead, Mike draws a picture of his cat, Pebbles,
and shades it using a cross hatching technique. His
headphones are on full blast.

MRS. JONES
(Knocking on the door)
Mike? Are you awake?

Mike can't hear the knocking. His pencil is following the

rhythm of the tune.

Mike's mom opens the door. Mike jumps out of his chair, his
headphones fall giving an abrupt ending to the song. His mom
is standing at the doorway.

MIKE
Hey.

MRS. JONES
Hey honey, how's Dr. Carl's list
coming?

Mike quickly closes his notebook.

MIKE
(Enthusiastically)
It's going really good. I think it
was a good idea.

MRS. JONES
Aw that's great, I'm so happy to hear
that.

Mrs. Jones smiles showing her cigarette stained teeth.

MRS. JONES (cont'd)

I'm going to go to bed now so I just
wanted to say goodnight, okay?
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2.

MIKE
Okay, thanks mom. Goodnight, I love
you.

Mike hugs his mom.

MRS. JONES
I love you so much Mikey, don't stay
up too late.

Mike walks back to his desk.

MIKE
I know mom. Goodnight.

MRS. JONES
Goodnight.

Mrs. Jones closes the door.

Mike grabs his headphones off the ground and flips the mix
tape in his Walkman to Side B.

Before he hits play there is yet another knock on his door.

Mike gets up, angrily, and opens the door. His eighteen year
old brother is standing in the hallway, holding some dark
object.

MARK
Dude, check it out.

Mike's brother reveals what the dark object is; a twelve

inch LP of The Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd.

MIKE
(Excited)
No way man! Where did you get that?

MARK
My friend Jason from work gave to me.
Check it.

Mark hands Mike the record. Mike holds it so delicately, as

if it was made of gold.

MARK (cont'd)
Come to my room, lets spin it.

MIKE
Sure man, just one sec.

Mike grabs his Walkman and throws it into his dresser.

(Printed with the demonstration version of Fade In)
3.

INT. MARK'S BEDROOM

The two brothers stumble into Mark's room, a room with red
walls covered by a cornucopia of 60s and 70s bands such as
The Doors, Pink Floyd and Black Sabbath. Mark places the
record on his player and places the needle into the first
groove of the LP. A low crackle floods the room. Mike stands
still.

As the intro to the album plays, Mark lays on the floor.

MIKE
What are you doing?

Mark says nothing and reaches his arm under the bed, only to
pull out a small joint followed by a lighter.

MIKE (cont'd)
(Whisper yells)
Is that weed?

MARK
Dude shut up.

MIKE
Mom's going to kill you, you know
that right?

MARK
Yeah, yeah totally dude.

MIKE
How did you get that?

MARK
None of your business man. Are you
going to be cool?

MIKE
I don't know Mark, I heard that stuff
can-

MARK
Dude. Do you want to hang out or not?

MIKE
Fine.

Mike sits on the floor.

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4.

Mark ignites the joint, and puts it to his mouth. He leans

back as he inhales. Mike can't believe his eyes as he thinks
of all the things his mom would be saying if she saw this.

After a quick exhale, Mark extends the joint from his hand
to Mike.

MIKE (cont'd)
No!

MARK
(Giggling)
Dude why not?

Mike makes a very angry face.

MARK (cont'd)
You know all the shit they say about
this is fake right.

MIKE
What are you talking about?

The bass line to Money creeps in through their conversation.

Mike looks to the speakers and smiles.

MIKE (cont'd)
Mark?

MARK
Yeah?

Mike still looks angry.

MARK (cont'd)
(Laughing)
Oh right. Yeah man, they just made it
illegal because the hippies smoked it
during the anti-war movement, like,
during Vietnam.

MIKE
Okay?

The song is in full swing now.

MARK
You don't get it, here.

Mark points to a picture of Richard Nixon holding up the

peace sign as he boards a plane. The picture is taped in
between a poster of Marilyn Monroe and Ozzy Osborne.
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5.

MARK (cont'd)
Okay so Richard Nixon wanted money
right? So the best way he could get
some is through the Vietnam war.

MIKE
How?

MARK
Don't worry about it man. That's
besides the point. Okay so anyway,
there was two groups messing this up
for him. Two groups that hated the
war. The blacks and the hippies,
right?

MIKE
Right.

MARK
So how do you get rid of them?

MIKE
(Determined)
You kill them.

MARK
Dude what? No you make them look
terrible in the public eye.

MIKE
Okay?

MARK
So Nixon couldn't make it illegal to
be black or to hate the war. So
instead, he created the war on drugs.
By getting the public to associate
the hippies with pot and the blacks
with heroin, and then criminalizing
both heavily, he could disrupt their
communities. The war on drugs was
completely and utterly politically
motivated.

MIKE
No that was the president, he
couldn't do that. Isn't that racist?

MARK
Mike, c'mon man, do you really trust
the president? Of course he can do
that. And he did do that.
(MORE)
(Printed with the demonstration version of Fade In)
6.
MARK (cont'd)
And it worked, beautifully. The
entire country watched it happen and
didn't bat an eye.

Mark looked back at the Nixon poster, took another hit and
flipped him off.

MARK (cont'd)
Now I'm going to ask you again, do
you want a hit?

MIKE
Uh.

MARK
Dude c'mon.

After five seconds of contemplation, Mike raised his index

finger to the ceiling.

MIKE
One hit.

Mark smiles and hands him the joint. Mike sucks on the end
of it and instantly starts violently coughing.

Cuts to black.

END OF ACT 1

Act 2: Eclipse

INT. MIKE'S VOLKSWAGEN

The two brothers, now twenty-three and twenty-seven are

driving back from their mom's funeral, both wearing black
dress shirts. They are going 70 miles per hour down the
freeway.

MARK
We're not keeping it Mike. Stop being
an idiot.
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7.

MIKE
I'm not going sell Mom's house, you
how much it meant to her.

MARK
Then what's your plan smart ass?
You're just going to live at Mommy's
forever? You got to be kidding me.

MIKE
(Annoyed)
I don't know! But we're not selling
it, I don't care Mark. I really don't
care, no way.

MARK
You don't what you're talking about.

Mike grips the steering wheel and stares ahead at the sun
setting over the horizon.

MARK (cont'd)
It's time you actually grew up don't
you think? For Christ's sake Mark
you've done nothing.

MIKE
Shut up.

MARK
(Mockingly)
You really think Mom would like that
huh? Holding down the fort for her.
You finally get to be the man of the
house right?

Mark stares ahead.

MARK (cont'd)
I bet you wanted her to get cancer.
All you ever wanted was the house to
yourself.

MIKE
(Yells)
SHUT UP MARK! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE
YOURSELF? NOTHING! NOTHING! NOTHING!

MARK
(Yells)
MORE THEN YOU EVER WILL!
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8.

MIKE
At least I actually cared about her.
I was with her every goddamn minute
before she died. But oh no, wait.
Wait hold on. Oh yes, I remember you
showed up that one time. What was it
for? For money right?

Now Mark is staring at the sunset. Both of their faces are

scrunched up and angry.

MIKE (cont'd)
I'm not selling the house.

Mike hits the button to turn on the radio.

RADIO ANNOUNCER
We're looking at some showers
overnight. Seems to be a real down
pour so if you're out and a bout,
don't forget an umbrella! And it
looks we got some thunder too.

They are both still staring ahead.

RADIO ANNOUNCER (cont'd)

Hey for anyone listening I got a
question for you. What does a rain
cloud wear under its clothes?

A couple seconds of silence go by.

RADIO ANNOUNCER (cont'd)

(Laughing)
Thunder-wear!

The brothers don't break their concentration.

RADIO ANNOUNCER (cont'd)

Alright now lets get back to it. We
got some real classics coming up so
stay tuned. This is Brian of CKUW
109.4, have a good evening everyone!

The car continues driving down the freeway. All that can be
heard is the wind. Only the wind until, the bass line to
Money by Pink Floyd begins to play.

Their faces begin to relax and their eyes move away from the
sun. Mark and Mike haven't listened to this song together in
nearly a decade. A decade of baggage, a decade of weight, a
decade of pain, lifted from them in just two bars of the
song.
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9.

Mike looks at Mark, who looks way more sad than angry now.

MIKE
Hey.

Mark slowly raises his eyes to Mike. Mike cracks half a

smile.

MIKE (cont'd)
F**k Richard Nixon.

THE END