[The year 2000..]
(Young Jester finds himself on his little red step stool peering at a stove top with a ceramic iron pot ferociously steaming the inside of the glass lid. The mist screeching from the sides. Jester then peers into the oven below where a turkey seems to have parching hot liquid running down into the bottom of the oven as it creates smoke that elevates and masses the inside of the oven as the smoke starts to steam from the lips of the oven.)
HOLLERING WOMAN: ESTHER! DID YOU CHECK ON THAT FOOD DOWN THERE LIKE I ASKED YOU TO!?
ESTHER: I'LL CHECK IN A MINUTE, MA'!
JESTER'S MUM: NO! GO CHECK NOW! I HEAR IT DOWN THERE STEAMIN' UP A STORM!
ESTHER: YES, MA'!
(Jester did not see Esther walk in the room even though he waited up to two minutes after hearing his mother's suggestions to Esther from upstairs. He peered back up top on the stove where the lid of the pot began to rock ferociously. The steam from the oven blowing piping hot into Jester's shirt, but Jester did not feel it even though he was as slim as thin tree branch. Jester eyes the pot in fear before suddenly, the lid pops high and across the air, the pot also then pops high into the air as Jester falls back off of the stool onto his back side. He looks up in fear at the pot flying with the hot liquid and veggies from inside separate from the pot in mid air above him. Jester looks to the oven in fear. The door of the oven flies off of the hinges past the top Jester's head as the inside of the oven combusts. All of the firing hot foods go flying at and upon Jester before his sister Esther finally goes running in for the rescue. It was too late. Jester was completely soaked in the family's dinner.)
ESTHER: ... What the hell, Jester!?
(Jester hops to two feet as the piping hot contents steam from his body, but he seemed completely unaffected as the smoke rises from all over him. He and Esther look eye to eye before Esther goes running in to grab Jester.)
ESTHER: OH MY GOD! Jester are you okay!?
(She tries to grab a hold of him, but his body was as hot as the inside of the running oven that popped open. And the ground where the food and liquids lay was too hot under her heavy socks that possibly protected her feet from severe burns as she hops back away from the danger; away from Jester. Staring in amazement and confusion.)
ARIANA: WHAT IS GOING ON DOWN THERE!?
[Current Time...]
(Jester used a travel pillow to secure his neck on the plane. The silence of the comforting flight as a majority of the passengers slept through the night of the dimmed lighting above the seats. 5 hours pass before Davidson awakens from his slumber peering to his right where Jester slept.)
DAVIDSON: Jester. Jester. Wake up.
(Jester's eyes peel open with his head rolling forward. The two talk in lower tones that fit the atmosphere.)
JESTER: What?
DAVIDSON: We need to talk more.
JESTER: What? I told you everything when we got on the plane. Now let me sleep.
[When Jester and Davidson got to their seats on the airplane earlier that morning...]
DAVIDSON: How did you do that shit?
JESTER: How am I suppose to know? I've told ya' on the way over-- plenty times, "I don't fucking know." I only knew about the compulsion.
DAVIDSON: ... You had ta' know --
JESTER: Shhh. People can here you!
DAVIDSON: ... Fuck these people!
[Back in current plane time...]
JESTER: I told ya', I don't know. What do you want from me? We're going in circles over and over.
DAVIDSON: Well, if we can't figure out "how" or "why", we gonna have ta' run some more test when we land. How long do we have?
JESTER: Let's see, it's been about 5 or 6 hours, so we've got about another 5 or 6 hours. I would go back to sleep.
(Jester lays his head back to get back to sleeping.)
[Meanwhile on Pinaii Island...]
(Tako picks up the bounty of a smaller, older caramel man wearing a cheap polka-dot tuxedo. They travel down a dark alley only lit by street lights. The smell of garbage lingering in the air mixing with the moderate amount of rainfall. Tako had an umbrella to cover his head from the pouring. Leaving the bounty more susceptible to getting extremely wet.)
BOUNTY: Hey! Come on, man... can you at least let me under the umbrella with you?
TAKO: Sorry, Mr. Kalawai'a, but you not getting wet isn't necessarily a priority for of mine right now.
MR. KALAWAI'A: This is bullshit! I was in the middle of a great hand!
[Earlier that night at Mr. Kalawai'a's apartment in Pinaii City...]
MR. KALAWAI'A: Oh, come on! This is it! My best hand yet tonight! I'm going all in on these suckers!
(Mr. Kalawai'a was a horrible gambler for a 51 year old man. He also had a horrible habit for smoking too many cigars, and wearing cheap suits. He lives in a less than appealing apartment on the Northwest side of the city. The prototypical old geezer. Currently playing a game on an online poker table. Tako found himself outside of Mr. Kalawai'a's apartment door hearing Mr. Kalawai'a hollering past midnight. Tako shakes his head.)
*KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK*
(No answer. Mr. Kalawai'a still hollering.)
TAKO: Mr. Kalawai'a!
*KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK*
MR. KALAWAI'A: WHO IS IT!? I PAID YOU ENOUGH TO KEEP QUIET!
(Mr. Kalawai'a paid off his neighbors to keep them from reporting him for noise complaints during any of his wild night extravaganzas. Behind Mr. Kalawai'a that night was a stripper wearing a green bra and panties. Nothing more. Well, a silver necklace Mr. Kalawai'a purchased from a pawn shop the night before to put on whatever strippers he purchased the following night.)
TAKO: Mr. Kalawai'a.
(Tako growing more impatient outside of the room. No answer from Mr. Kalawai'a. So Tako simply kicks the door in as the wood splits from the frame.)
MR. KALAWAI'A: What the hell!? Who the fuck is this guy!?
TAKO: It's your time Mr. Kalawai'a.
(Tako standing in the doorway with his hands pocketed. The stripper behind Mr. Kalawai'a was of course afraid. Holding her hands clasped together in her breasts.)
MR. KALAWAI'A: Time for what, asshole!? You just busted my goddamn door!
TAKO: Think back maybe 10 years ago or so?
(Mr. Kalawai'a thinking back and now becoming pale and intimidated. Mr. Kalawai'a quickly attempts to reach under his old brown fabric sofa for a silver pistol he kept hidden underneath. Tako jolts over even quicker before Mr. Kalawai'a could aim the gun at him. As soon as the stripper caught sight of the pistol, she ran back into Mr. Kalawai'a's kitchen behind the counter where old takeout sat. Every surface in that kitchen was covered with old food, pots and pans, you name it. Tako grabs Mr. Kalawai'a's trigger hand with his left from atop of the gun, and quickly bends Mr. Kalawai'a's wrist backwards with his right hand.)
MR. KALAWAI'A: AAAAHHHH! LET ME GOOO!!!
(Tako looks into the kitchen at the stripper, and motions for her to leave.)
TAKO: Leave.
(The stripper hesitates at first, but runs for the front door exit. Tako looks down back at Mr. Kalawai'a, and bends over to meet him eye to eye.)
TAKO: Times up, Mr. Kalawai'a.
[Back to the alley later that night with Tako and Mr. Kalawai'a...]
(Tako meets two taller bullish men in the alley waiting side by side in black suits. Both having haircuts fit for a police officer. Both wearing shades with metal thin frames. One, dark skin, the other, white skin.)
DARK SKINNED GUY: Tako, right?
(They would have to speak louder to not be drowned out by the ran.)
DARK SKINNED GUY: Is this the bounty?
TAKO: Yes.
(The dark guy motions for his counter part to grab hold of Mr. Kalawai'a. He walks over and takes Mr. Kalawai'a's arm. There wasn't much a fight from the old man. He knew this was a battle he would not win. The White skinned guy puts Mr. Kalawai'a in the back of their black car, and then he preps to get in on the driver's side.)
WHITE SKINNED GUY: Hey, Pokey!..
(The Dark Skinned Guy's name was "Pokey". He turned over his shoulder at his partner.)
WHITE SKINNED GUY: I'm driving.
(Pokey nods, then turns back to Tako.)
POKEY: What the hell do you think you're doin'?
TAKO: What?
POKEY: Don't play dumb with me. I've been around these parks since before you were born, kid. Where is he? Jester?
TAKO: How do you--
POKEY: Answer... the question.
TAKO: ... No offence, "Pokey," but I don't answer to you. I don't work for you.
POKEY: You don't work for "him" either, but he's cutting checks, and I just don't want to see a kid dead. I'm just tryin' to help you out.
(Tako doesn't respond. Pokey turns to get into the car on the passenger side. Pokey still visible because the car's lights were using high beams making Pokey visible even though he was not in the brights themselves. Before entering the car, he looks up to Tako, and gives his final words of advice.)
POKEY: Get Jester.
(Tako thinks of Pokey's final suggestion before he turns around and heads away down the alley away from the high beams of the car.)
(Tako makes it back to his home. Finally. Down to the end of the stretch of the way is a long slate of water. The stretch is layered with sand with palm trees along the sides. It was a beautiful tropical neighborhood by any stretch of the word "beautiful". There were 4 homes placed like a cul-de-sac around Tako's home. These homes had ceramic like roofs. Tako's was of a red orange color. The primary color, cream. Tako parks his car into the drive way and makes his way through the front door. Tako figures his way to his closet to the left of his front door, and grabs a change of clothes. He changes and then figures his way into his bedroom where he unwinds lifelessly onto his mattress. Barely a minute passes before he dozes off.)
[Back on the plane 5 hours later...]
DAVIDSON: Jester, are we close?
(Jester peers from his second nap of the trip at his watch on his left wrist.)
JESTER: We'll be landing soon. We've got about 35 minutes.
(There is a slight moment of silence for Jester and Davidson, but around them, passengers begin to awaken from their sleeps prepping to land soon. The plane's lights are now up.)
JESTER: There was a time. When I was a kid. I've been thinking about you askin' me if I knew. I caused an explosion in the kitchen. The oven popped open. The door of the oven... popped off of the hinges and flew across the room. The door missed me, but the heat... just swallowed me up. The pot on top of the stove flew into the air, and everything in it came down on me. I mean, it was all piping hot. I didn't feel a thing. None of it. I remember just peering at the food cooking on the stove and in the oven, and it was like... I could feel the heat inside me, ya' know? Burning like the food, and feeling connected with the flame under that pot. The steam coming from the pot, and the heat in the oven. I just kept lookin' at it. And then, *CLAP!* pop. So I knew. I've known.
DAVIDSON: ... we can work with that.
JESTER: Okay. Okay. Good.
[Back on Pinaii as Tako sleeps...]
(Tako lays on his back stretched out in an unorganized manner. The light of the Pinaii Island Sun shrouds the land as it braces. Tako's blinds do a good job of streaming light beams into his home while keeping the heavy rays out. As Tako lays there, he is suddenly swallowed up and snatched down through a black pit in the heart of his mattress. Or, black hole of his mattress.)
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