Fragment 1

Fragment One
An living room, decorated in a suburban American style circa 1950. FATHER and SON are seated in conversation, FATHER in an armchair smoking a pipe, SON seated on the carpet.

FATHER: And that’s where babies come from. SON: A store? FATHER: Where else? Girls are strange and gross, don’t you remember? ''A pause, SON in thoughtful contemplation, FATHER in the glow of vital knowledge imparted. FATHER takes a draw for his pipe'' FATHER: In fact, when your mother and I bought… SON(Cutting him off): What’s an internet? FATHER: Oh…umm…err He runs his hands though his hair, spilling ash on his trousers FATHER: The internet is a global community of people who all communicate and engage with one another everyday. On the internet, information is the key. That’s why they call it the Information Superhighway. You’re connected to all the information in all the world. The entire cultural and intellectual outpouring of the human race, right there at your fingertips, 24 hours a day. SON: How can a telephone line be a highway? How do they fit the cars? FATHER: It very easy: you see… ''CORNBALL appears upon a giant soapbox. SON approaches, awestruck'' CORNBALL (Booming, Darth Vader-style): I SEE! SON: Who are you? CORNBALL: I am cornballunderscoreninetynine. SON: That’s not a name. CORNBALL: It’s a handle. If you were as great as I am, you'd need one too. Check me out! The SON climbs on to the soapbox. FATHER: Be back before dinner. The living room disappears.

Author's Notes
This is the beginning of A Brief History. The Son is the protagonist, I think. I imagined Father as a sort of self-proclaimed fountain of knowledge, who really isn't that smart at all. I wanted him to be the sort of blind optimist that you used to get in the 90's, with a "the Way of the Future"-type attitude. The kind of guy who spouts "Technology will save us!" whenever something remotely challenging comes along. Cornball is kind of bombastic and egotistical.

Links
A Brief History:Dramatis Personae (Characters) A Brief History:Set