What's in a Balloon- Introduction Scene

LIBBY

(Narrating while clips play of the action) 

This is me.

 (holds up orange balloon with smiley face drawn on it) 

My name is Libby Caldwater. You'd never believe what has happened to me by seeing me, but it's true. Every moment of it. But, after all, no one ever knows someone's true story without taking a walk in their shoes. 

I was born on September 3rd, 2000 to proud parent Renee Caldwater. I was called Libby. Just Libby Caldwater. Because that was the last word Mamma spoke before she let go. Libby. 

I didn't know the life I had in front of me. The drama, the terror, the romance. Everything. Because at that moment, I was Libby. Libby Caldwater. 

And I want to talk about balloons. Balloons are just pieces of rubber filled with hot air. Just the same as I am Libby Caldwater. Yet, over the years, Balloons have been a way for me to vent my anger, happiness. A way to de-stress, a way to ponder. You see, my father ran off, not able to go through legal matters at the time. I've never met him, but every night, I dream of him. He hands me a purple satchel, and when I reach my hand in, it's full of balloons. Red balloons, green balloons, purple balloons, yellow balloons. But then he melts into a pile of jumbled up rubber. I will wake up in a cold sweat. 

I live with my grandmother. She has a small apartment that always smells like cookies and library books. My room smells like lotion and file cabinets. 

I have one friend. His name is Maxwell Eldershade. His apartment smells like warm fires and paint. His room smells like overpowering air freshener that is trying to override the stinky socks. It fails. 

Every morning, I'll leave the apartment, step out to the busy street, and walk a block to Maxwell's apartment, and we'll walk to school together. 

MUSIC PLAYS AS THE SCENE FADES TO BUSY STREET IN A BIG CITY, PERHAPS NEW YORK OR CHICAGO. LIBBY IS WALKING DOWN THE STREET WITH A CLEAR PURPOSE. SHE ARRIVES TO A CORNER, WHERE MAXWELL WAITS, A BLUE BACKPACK HANGING FROM HIS FINGERTIP. CARS HONK AND A SIREN BLARES IN THE DISTANCE. LIBBY AND MAXWELL MAKE SMALL TALK THAT IS NOT AUDIBLY DURING CLIPS OF THE WALK TO SCHOOL . THE FINALLY REACH A TALL, BRICK BUILDING AND CLIMB UP THE STAIRS. SCENE FADES INTO A CLASSROOM. BACKPACKS PILE UP ON DESKS. 

KIDS IN THE BACK PASS NOTES TO AND FRO, TEACHER MS. CARSON DOESN'T NOTICE. SHOT OF LIBBY BENDING OVER PAPER, MAXWELL DOODLING IN THE MARGINS. MS. CARSON WRITES ON THE CHALKBOARD. 

FADE TO LIBBY AND MAXWELL WALKING HOME. 

MAXWELL

(bounds up stairs to apartment complex) 

LIBBY

Bye! 

MAXWELL

(muttering) 

'bye

FADE TO LIBBY ENTERING APARTMENT, WHERE GRANDMOTHER AND MAN SIT AT THE KITCHEN TABLE. THE DOOR SLAMS BEHIND HER.  

LIBBY

(drops book bag) 

Gram? Who is this? 

JACKSON CALDWATER

I'm Jackson Caldwater. I'm your father, Libby. 

GRANDMOTHER

He's come to take you away. 

LIBBY (AS NARRATOR) 

I didn't want to go with him. This man was not the one in my dreams. This man wore a shirt with no sleeves, torn pants, and had tattoos covering both arms of a snake wrapped around a pole. 

JACKSON CALDWATER

I haven't got all day, girl.

(Grandmother pushes Libby towards her room) 

LIBBY QUICKLY GRABS A TRUNK FROM UNDER HER BED AND THROWS IN EVERYTHING- CLOTHES, BOOKS, PICTURES, BLANKETS. A RED-BOUND BOOK GOES HER HAND AS SHE TURNS BACK TO THE SMALL ROOM AND FLIPS THE LIGHT SWITCH.