DUSTY AND THE BOOKA MONSTER  (comedy) (top 10% Nicholl Fellowship)

Logline: “The town drunk appears instantly healed by a special beer but complications begin when a blocked out tragedy begins to haunt him and his changing image makes his ex wife’s boyfriend jealous as hell.”
Theme: “The power for change dwells deep inside even for those not likely to use it.”

     RONNIE BEACOR had already hit bottom long before the three neighborhood boys found him dead on the beach. Well, they thought he was dead when they poked him with a stick but then he woke and yelled out “ Blow his head off, Lonny”. The boys ran off scared into the woods. Ronnie, the town drunk of seven years and ex navy seal, wobbled his way home and barely missed getting hit by a car driven by his ex wife, KELLLY BEACOR.  “That was stupid, Ronnie” she yelled before she drove off to her Kingston, Washington Quilt Shop.  Ronnie kept on walking without a word as he rarely spoke much to anyone. Kelly had a date that night with STANLEY, the nerdy town mayor, and was about to make a big step in firming up that relationship. She claimed to him and other friends that Ronnie was history though she privately felt she really needed to move to Seattle in order to start a new life.
       The three boys that poked Ronnie on the beach found themselves next hiding in the bushes behind the Kingston Tavern watching WILLIE and his brother LJ making a new brew of beer in an open caldron. The brew had already turned bad when the boys snuck up and added weeds, flowers and more into the brew. Yet they didn’t fool Willie who laughed off their folly. He was going fun with the brew though he couldn’t sell it.
        As Ronnie approached his house the next -door-dog, DUSTY, barked at him all the way down the fence line as usual.  His neighbor and mentor, GINGER, kept Dusty safe from the local dogcatcher, her son FRED, but wouldn’t claim Dusty as her own as he was a free spirit. Ginger was a free spirit herself. Dusty and Ronnie were soon to bond in a very special way. It all began that night when Ronnie, drunk, entered Willie’s tavern. Kelly and Stanley were having a congenial dinner in the dining area when Ronnie flopped down at the bar and asked for a beer. Willie was tired of floating Ronnie from disability check to disability check and refused service. Earlier that night he had offered ten bucks to any of the locals who might down some of his NEW BREW but they couldn’t do it. Out of spite, Willie gave Ronnie some of the brew. He shot it down then passed out to the floor.  This prompted a scene that led Kelley to leave Stanley and tavern. Stanley was disappointed as he felt he “had gotten that close.”
         The next day was different for Ronnie. Instead of being his withdrawn self, he tried to actually visit with some of his neighbors.  Each evening Ronnie went to the tavern for his special brew and as a result, Ronnie began to change. He went running, jogging, bike riding and his desire to drink vanished. Dusty was now his running buddy. In just a few days, Ronnie was the talk of the town and Kelley was noticing. Stanley, afraid of where this might go, began a campaign to put Ronnie back the way he was. He bought up the brew and destroyed the keg. He also told lies but it all backfired on Stanley, as Ronnie finally remembers the sad events that stole his memory and his dignity. In the end, Ronnie returns to being the man he once was. Was it the Booka Brew? No one knows.

Robert T. Roe                                503-998-2479                               rjroe72@msn.ocm