1、1SCENE 1BRYCE: All I ever wanted was for Juli Baker to leave me alone. It all began in the summer of 1957, before the start of second grade.STEVEN: Here we are.PATSY: Ha, ha. What do you guys think?LYNETTA: I like this place.BRYCE: Its cool.LYNETTA: Uh, what color is my room?PATSY: Just you wait.BRY
2、CE: Lets see whats inside.STEVEN: Hey, come on, buddy Bryce. Why dont, uh, you and I go help unload the van and the womenfolk here can get in the kitchen and start setting up.BRYCE: Okay, Dad.BRYCE: For me, it was the beginning of what would be more than half a decade of strategic avoidance and soci
3、al discomfort.JULI: Hi, Im Juli Baker.STEVEN: Hey, hey, what are you doing?JULI: Dont you want some help?STEVEN: No. Theres some valuable things in there.JULI: - How about this one?STEVEN: No, no, no. Run home. Your mothers probably wondering where you are.JULI: Oh, no, my mom knows where I am. She
4、said its fine.BRYCE: It didnt take long to realize this girl could not take a hint.STEVEN: Its crowded in here with three people.JULI: I dont mind.BRYCE: Of any kind.JULI: You wanna push this one together?STEVEN: Bryce, isnt it time for you to go help your mother?BRYCE: Huh? Oh, yeah.BRYCE: I mean,
5、nothing would stop her. I was about to tell her to get lost when the weirdest thing happened. I couldnt believe it. There I was holding hands with this strange girl. How did I get into this mess?PATSY: Well, hello. I see youve met my son.JULI: Uh-huh.BRYCE: Finally, I did the only manly thing availa
6、ble when youre 7 years old.BELL RINGINGBRYCE: However, my troubles were far from over. The minute I walked into Miss Yelsons classroom.JULI: Bryce? Youre here.BRYCE: .it was clear: School would not be a sanctuary.CHILDREN LAUGHINGKID 1: Hey, Bryce, wheres your girlfriend?BRYCE: I was branded for lif
7、e.KID 2: Hey, Bryce, why dont you ask her to marry you?GIRLS SINGING: Bryce and Juli sitting in a tree, K-l-S-S-l-N-G.BRYCE: My first year in town was a disaster. And the next three werent much better. But finally, in the sixth grade, I took action. I hatched the plan.BRYCE: Sherry. Sherry, wait up.
8、SHERRY: Hi, Bryce. Heh.BRYCE: I asked out Sherry Stalls.BRYCE: I was wondering if you wanted to go.BRYCE: To full appreciate the brilliance of this plan, you have to understand that Juli hated Sherry Stalls, though I never understood why. Sherry was nice, friendly and she had a lot of hair.SHERRY: A
9、t first, my mother wouldnt let me get my ears pierced, but I begged.BRYCE: The idea was that Sherry would eat with me. maybe wed walk around together, and hopefully Juli would lose interest.SHERRY: But I still cant get the hoops till Im 16.BRYCE: Oh, thats a shame.SHERRY: So Melanie wanted to get he
10、r ears pierced, but of course her mother said no. So she threw a fit and smashed her Johnny Mathis Greatest Hits album. LAUGHS.and she got grounded, so now she cant come to my pajama sleepover party.BRYCE: Things were unfolding quite nicely.GARRETT: What are you doing for your science project?BRYCE:
11、 That is, until my supposed best friend, Garrett Einbinder took an interest in Sherry himself.SHERRY: I was thinking of showing how split ends react with different hair conditioners.GARRETT: Thats fascinating.BRYCE: Loyalty gave way to desire and Garrett, the turncoat. told Sherry what I was up to.S
12、HERRY: Jerk.BRYCE: She didnt take it well. Word got back to Juli, and pretty soon she started up with the goo-goo eyes again. Only this time it was worse. She started sniffing me. Thats right, sniffing me. What was that all about? My only consolation was that next year would be different. Junior hig
13、h, bigger school. Maybe wed be in different classes and it would finally, finally be over.SCENE 2JULI: The first day I met Bryce Loski, I flipped. It was those eyes, something in those dazzling eyes.JULI: You wanna push this one together?JULI: His family had just moved into the neighborhood. and Id
14、gone over to help them. Id been in the van all of two minutes when his dad sent him off to help his mom. I could see he didnt wanna go. So I chased after him to see if we could play a little before he got trapped inside. The next thing I know, hes holding my hand. and looking right into my eyes. My
15、heart stopped. Was this it? Would this be 2my first kiss? - But then his mother came out.PATSY: - Well, hello.JULI: And he was so embarrassed, his cheeks turned completely red. I went to bed that night thinking of the kiss that might have been. I mean, it was clear he had feelings for me, but he was
16、 just too shy to show them. My mother said boys were like that. So I decided to help him out.JULI: - Bryce? Youre here.CHILDREN GIGGLINGJULI: I would give him plenty of opportunity to get over his shyness. By the sixth grade, Id learned to control myself. Then Sherry Stalls entered the picture. Sher
17、ry Stalls was nothing but a whiny, gossipy, backstabbing flirt. All hair and no substance. And there she was. holding hands with Bryce. My Bryce. The one who was walking around with my first kiss. My solution was to ignore her. I knew a boy of Bryces caliber. would eventually see through a shallow c
18、onniver like Sherry Stalls. It took all of a week. They broke up at recess. She didnt take it well. Now that Bryce was out of Sherrys evil clutches, he started being nicer to me.BRYCE: - Hi, Juli.JULI: - Hi, Bryce.JULI: He was so shy and so cute. and his hair, it smelled like watermelon. I couldnt g
19、et enough of it. I spent the whole year secretly sniffing watermelon. and wondering if I was ever going to get my kiss.SCENE 3BRYCE: Seventh grade brought changes, all right. But the biggest one didnt happen at school. It happened at home. My grandfather came to live with us. Mom said he stared like
20、 that because he missed Grandma. That was not something Grandpa would ever talk about with me. As a matter of fact, he never talked about much of anything with me. That is, until Juli appeared in the local newspaper.CHET: Oh, Bryce. May I speak with you?BRYCE: What?CHET: Have a seat, son. Tell me ab
21、out your friend Juli Baker.BRYCE: Juli. Shes not exactly my friend.CHET: Oh. Whys that?BRYCE: Why do you wanna know?BRYCE: Now, Juli Baker did not wind up in The Mayfield Times for being an eighth-grade Einstein. No, she got front- page coverage because she refused to climb out of a sycamore tree. J
22、uli Baker and that stupid sycamore tree. She always thought it was Gods gift to our little corner of the universe.JULI: Hey, Bryce. Wanna come climb the tree with me and my brothers?BRYCE: No, thanks.JULI: Bryce. Come up here. Its fun. You can see everything.BRYCE: I cant. My dad needs me to help hi
23、m fix. a thing.BRYCE: Thats all I needed. Climb up a tree with Juli Baker. Id be dragged right back into the second grade. Bryce and Juli sitting in a tree. Why dont you just make me eat lima beans for the rest of my life.JULI: Its three blocks away. Two blocks. One block away.BRYCE: Like thats valu
24、able information.GARRETT: I hate it when she does that.I like to think theres at least a chance the bus wont show.JULI: I think the tree looks particularly beautiful in this light. Dont you?BRYCE: If by “beautiful“ you mean “unbelievably ugly,“ then, yes, I would agree.JULI: Youre just visually chal
25、lenged. I feel sorry for you.BRYCE: “Visually challenged“? “Visually challenged“? This from the girl who lived in a house that was the joke of the neighborhood? They had bushes growing over windows and weeds all over the place. It bugged my dad bigtime.STEVEN: Oh, there he is. The bricklayer who thi
26、nks hes a painter. That trucks not ugly enough in real life? Hes gotta make a painting of it?LYNETTA: No, he does landscapes. Sells them at the county fair. People say theyre beautiful.STEVEN: Landscapes? Let me tell you something. The world would have more beauty in it if hed do a little landscapin
27、g on that piece of crap he calls a yard.PATSY: I feel bad for his wife. She married a dreamer. Because of that, one of the two of them will always be unhappy.STEVEN: Yeah, fine. But why do we have to be unhappy?BRYCE: As annoying as the yard was to my dad. it was nothing compared to how annoying Jul
28、i Baker was in that tree.JULI: Three blocks away.BRYCE: Every morning we had to listen to the sound .of her blow-by-blow traffic report.JULI: Two blocks.WOMAN: There you go.GARRETT: Why do they call it The Three Stooges? I mean, theres five of them.BRYCE: What?GARRETT: Well, yeah, theres Moe, Larry,
29、 Curly, Shemp and Curly Joe.BRYCE: Yeah, but they only have three at a time.GARRETT: Yeah. You know, I hate Curly Joe. I mean, he shouldnt even be a Stooge.MAN: Listen, girl, Im this close to calling the police. You are trespassing and obstructing progress on a contracted job.GARRETT: Whats going on
30、?MAN: Either you come down. or were gonna cut you down.JULI: You guys, come up here with 3me.They wont cut it down if were all up here.GARRETT: Bus, bus, bus.BRYCE: Juli was frantic. They wanted to cut down her tree. I couldnt understand why that mutant tangle of gnarly branches meant so much to her
31、.JULI: Bryce, please.BRYCE: I felt bad for her.GARRETT: Leave her.BRYCE: But I wasnt about to cut school over it.GARRETT: Come on, bro.CHET: Why isnt she your friend, Bryce?BRYCE: Youd have to know Juli.CHET: Well, Id like to.BRYCE: Why?CHET: That girl has an iron backbone. Why dont you invite her o
32、ver sometime?BRYCE: An iron backbone? Shes just stubborn. and shes pushy beyond belief.CHET: Is that so?BRYCE: And shes been stalking me since the second grade.CHET: Well, a girl like that doesnt live next door to everyone.BRYCE: Lucky them.CHET: Read this. Without prejudice.BRYCE: Like I needed to
33、know anything more about Juli Baker. BRYCE: Juli wasnt at the bus stop the next morning. Or the morning after that. She was at school, but youd never know it.GARRETT: Little Joe? Hes got so much makeup on.BRYCE: He doesnt age.BRYCE: I told myself I should be glad about it. I mean, isnt that what Id
34、always wanted? But still, I felt bad for her. I was gonna tell her I was sorry, but then I thought, hey, no. thats the last thing I needed: Juli Baker thinking I missed her.SCENE 4JULI: I see why you like to come out here.RICHARD: Would you mind explaining it to your mother?JULI: I loved to watch my
35、 father paint. Or really, I loved to hear him talk while he painted. I learned a lot about my dad that way. He told me all sorts of things. like how he got his first job delivering hay and how hed wished hed finished college. Then one day he surprised me.RICHARD: Whats going on with you and, uh, Bry
36、ce Loski?JULI: What do you mean? Nothing.RICHARD: Oh, okay. My mistake.JULI: Why would you even think that?RICHARD: No reason. Just that you. talk about him all the time.JULI: I do?RICHARD: Mm-hm.JULI: I dont know. I guess its something about his eyes. Or maybe his smile.RICHARD: But what about him?
37、JULI: What?RICHARD: You have to look at the whole landscape.JULI: What does that mean?RICHARD: A painting is more than the sum of its parts. A cow by itself is just a cow. A meadow by itself is just grass, flowers.And the sun peeking through the trees is just a beam of light. But you put them all to
38、gether.and it can be magic.JULI: I didnt really understand what he was saying until one afternoon.when I was up in the sycamore tree. I was rescuing a kite. It was a long way up, higher than Id ever been. And the higher I got, the more amazed I was by the view. I began to noticehow wonderful the bre
39、eze smelled. Like sunshine and wild grass. I couldnt stop breathing it in.filling my lungs with the sweetest smell Id ever known.BRYCE: Hey, you found my kite.JULI: Bryce, you should come up here. Its so beautiful.BRYCE: I cant. I sprained my, um. I have a rash.JULI: From that moment on, that became
40、 my spot. I could sit there for hours, just looking out at the world. Some days the sunsets would be purple and pink. And some days they were a blazing orange setting fire to the clouds on the horizon. It was during one of those sunsets that my fathers idea of the whole being greater than the sum of
41、 its parts moved from my head to my heart. Some days I would get there extra early to watch the sunrise. One morning I was making mental notes of how the streaks of light were cutting through the clouds so I could tell my dad when I heard a noise below.JULI: Excuse me. Excuse me. Im sorry, but you c
42、ant park there. Thats a bus stop.MAN 1: Hey, what are you doing up there?MAN 2: You cant be up there, were gonna take this thing down.JULI: The tree?MAN 2: Yeah. Now come on down.JULI: But who told you, you could cut it down?MAN 1: The owner.JULI: Why?MAN 1: Hes gonna build a house, and this trees i
43、n the way. So come on, girl, we got work to do.JULI: You cant cut it down. You just cant.MAN 1: Listen, girl. Im this close to calling the police. You are trespassing and obstructing progress on a contracted job. Now either you come down, or were gonna cut you down.JULI: Go ahead. Cut me down. Im no
44、t coming down. Im never coming down. Bryce. You guys, come up here with me. They wont cut it down if were all up here. Bryce, please dont let them do this. Come on, you guys. Bryce, please. You dont have tocome up this high. Just a little ways. Bryce, please. Please.4JULI: What happened after that w
45、as a blur. It seemed like the whole town was there. But still I wouldnt move. Then my father showed up. He talked a fireman into letting him come up to where I was.RICHARD: Sweetie, its time to come down.JULI: Daddy, please dont let them do this.RICHARD: Sweetie.JULI: Daddy, look. You can see everyt
46、hing. You can see the whole world from here.RICHARD: No view is worth my daughters safety. Now, come on.JULI: I cant.RICHARD: Julianna, its time to come down now.JULI: Please, Daddy.RICHARD: Its time.JULI: And that was it. I mustve cried for two weeks straight. Oh, sure, I went to school and did the
47、 best I could. but nothing seemed to matter.TEACHER: Juli?JULI: Huh?TEACHER: Do you know the answer?JULI: Uh, the Peloponnesian War?TEACHER: Im sure thats the answer to something. but I was looking for the area of a rhomboid.CHILDREN LAUGHJULI: Somehow, rhomboids and isosceles right triangles. didnt
48、 seem so important. I rode my bike so I wouldnt have to pass by the stump. that used to be the earths most magnificent sycamore tree. But no matter what I did, I couldnt stop thinking about it.KNOCKING ON DOORRICHARD: Are you okay?JULI: It was just a tree.RICHARD: No, it wasnt just a tree. I never w
49、ant you to forget how you felt when you were up there.JULI: Thanks, Dad.JULI: It was the first thing I saw every morning. and the last thing I saw before I went to sleep. And once I could look at it without crying. I saw more than the tree and what being up there meant to me. I saw the day that my view of things around me started changing. And I wondered, did I still feel the same things about Bryce?SCENE 5BRYCE: Ive never been a huge fan of eggs. I
