Fill Of 'it'

HEAT

INTERMEZZO 2

Saint John, New Brunswick July 1954

A young boy plays on the veranda of a three story house that has been converted to apartments. The veranda on the third floor looks out over a small ravine. The back of the house faces Saint John harbour 150 feet below.

The front of the house faces an open area that is bordered by hard rock on one side and drops precipitously to the level of the next house. These houses have been built on a promontory that is high above the main street leading to the centre of Saint John proper.

The young boy is, and has been, hard to handle. Fifty years later he would be labeled ADHD - his young mother, who has her own issues, can`t cope. She lets the young boy play on the veranda while she tries to hold it together.

The veranda has a fence but the spaces between the horizontal members will not contain a young boy.

The young boy runs back and forth - it is a sunny day and he has boundless energy. He is alone - in ways he doesn't even contemplate yet - but ultimately alone.

He is aware of music - his mother plays it on the radio - `Too Old To Cut The Mustard Anymore' is one he will remember years later - right now he is vocalizing Bingo - Bingo, Bingo, where you going to go-ee-o - he is running with reckless abandon on the veranda - he is lost in the moment - he stumbles over his own feet and rolls - and simply, easily and unluckily - slips between the veranda rails and begins a free-fall to the hard rock 50 feet below.

The boy is thrilled by the sensation of falling - but just as he clears the veranda one level below - he feels a jolt - more than that, a physical push, and he falls inward and hits the first veranda floor - hitting his head and suffering a concussion.

He wakes in the hospital alone and tied down to his bed - he whimpers and wets the bed because he cannot escape the restraints. He will remember that moment as long as he lives.

So will 'it' - who saved the boy so that he could fulfill his destiny - Fill and 'it' have a date in the future - and 'it' doesn't know this, but Fill will return the favour ...