This may have sounded funnier in my head than it turned out…I had a hard time coming up with a time travel sketch…and now I’m way behind, so…here is what I have. I will let you be the judges.
\n<\/p>\n
INT. LABORATORY – MORNING<\/p>\n
BRADLEY JARVIS, thin, early thirties with long stringy hair and glasses, leans very close to a large, complex control panel. He adjusts knobs, checks readouts, and finally, flips a chrome switch. When he does, a bank of lights shifts from clear to yellow and finally to green.<\/p>\n
BRADLEY<\/p>\n
Yes!<\/p>\n
From behind him, SID WHEELER, short, late thirties, portly with freckles steps up beside BRADLEY.<\/p>\n
SID<\/p>\n
What?<\/p>\n
BRADLEY<\/p>\n
(annoyed)<\/p>\n
What do you think? What have I been trying to do here for, what about ten years?<\/p>\n
SID<\/p>\n
Something about a baseball game.<\/p>\n
BRADLEY<\/p>\n
At times like this, I wonder why I let you in here at all.<\/p>\n
SID<\/p>\n
(helpfully)<\/p>\n
I brought coffee...<\/p>\n
BRADLEY turns back to his machine and makes some last minute adjustments. Satisfied, he whirls, crosses the room, and sits in a strange chair half encased in a glass tube. He carefully attaches sensors to his arms and legs. Next he pulls a helmet over his head. On the very front a sequence of LED’s forms a circular logo, like a baseball.<\/p>\n
BRADLEY<\/p>\n
Make yourself useful. Bring me my glove.<\/p>\n
SID<\/p>\n
(confused)<\/p>\n
Your glove?<\/p>\n
BRADLEY<\/p>\n
Christ, you are an idiot. The baseball glove, over there on the table. The only glove in sight, and the one that I’ve been telling you about for years.<\/p>\n
SID<\/p>\n
Oh.<\/p>\n
SID grabs the glove and carries it over.<\/p>\n
SID<\/p>\n
Here you go.<\/p>\n
BRADLEY<\/p>\n
Now, close the door on the tube, and step over to the control panel. You only get one chance to get this right.<\/p>\n
SID carefully fastens the other half of the glass tube in place around BRADLEY. He fumbles a bit with the fasteners, but finally gets it snugged.<\/p>\n
SID<\/p>\n
Okay. Now what.<\/p>\n
BRADLEY<\/p>\n
The control panel. Go. To. The. Control. Panel. Stupid.<\/p>\n
SID<\/p>\n
(shuffling)<\/p>\n
Okay. You don’t have to be a jerk.<\/p>\n
(beat)<\/p>\n
Tell me again where you’re going?<\/p>\n
BRADLEY<\/p>\n
1970 – May 12th. Halfway between the pitcher and the batter at Wrigley Field. My calculations say I have exactly one minute there before my molecules say adios and send me back. Pat Jarvis is faced off against Ernie Banks. At precisely the moment I arrive between them, the homerun ball – the 500th homerun from Ernie Banks – will head for home plate. I’m going to catch it, and then I’ll come back.<\/p>\n
SID<\/p>\n
(staring dumbly)<\/p>\n
Why?<\/p>\n
BRADLEY<\/p>\n
Why will I come back?<\/p>\n
SID<\/p>\n
Why do you want that ball?<\/p>\n
BRADLEY<\/p>\n
(incredulous)<\/p>\n
What’s my name, Sid?<\/p>\n
SID<\/p>\n
Bradley<\/p>\n
BRADLEY<\/p>\n
Bradley what...?<\/p>\n
SID<\/p>\n
Jarvis.<\/p>\n
When it becomes obvious that SID is never going to figure it out, Bradley sighs.<\/p>\n
BRADLEY<\/p>\n
He was my dad, Sid. My dad threw that pitch. If I go back, catch the ball, and bring it here...it’s like that pitch never happened. It’s one of the only two things he’s famous for. The other was allowing the 500th homerun of Willie Mays...I’m going for that one next.<\/p>\n
Light dawns. SID smiles.<\/p>\n
SID<\/p>\n
Why didn’t you say so?<\/p>\n
BRADLEY<\/p>\n
Let’s just do this, shall we? See that big red light? There’s a chrome switch next to it that says, ‘Engage’.<\/p>\n
SID<\/p>\n
I see it.<\/p>\n
BRADLEY<\/p>\n
I’m going to count down from 3. When I get to 1, throw the switch.<\/p>\n
SID<\/p>\n
Do I have to flip it again to bring you back?<\/p>\n
BRADLEY<\/p>\n
Nope. Didn’t trust that to anyone. I’ll come back on my own.<\/p>\n
SID<\/p>\n
Ready.<\/p>\n
BRADLEY<\/p>\n
3, 2, 1...<\/p>\n
SID<\/p>\n
(counting along silently)<\/p>\n
Zero...blastoff!<\/p>\n
SID flipped the switch. Lights whirl and smoke fills the glass tube. Indicators blink all over the control panel, and the lights in the room go dim for just a second. When it all clears, BRADLEY is gone. After about forty-five seconds, the lights flicker again – the mist returns...and clears. BRADLEY is seated in the chair. His eyes are glassy. SID rushes over and opens the glass tube. BRADLEY slumps out onto the floor. SID kneels down...slaps him lightly.<\/p>\n
SID<\/p>\n
Bradley! Bradley, talk to me.<\/p>\n
A baseball rolls out of the glass tube onto the floor.<\/p>\n
BRADLEY<\/p>\n
(blinks)<\/p>\n
What the hell?<\/p>\n
He sits up groggily. Then it all comes back, and he lunges for SID’s throat.<\/p>\n
BRADLEY<\/p>\n
Three, two one, FLIP you idiot. Not Three, two, one, zero, blastoff!<\/p>\n
SID pulls back, narrowly avoiding Bradley’s clutching fingers. The circle of lights on the front of BRADLEY’s helmet are crushed and broken.<\/p>\n
SID<\/p>\n
What happened?<\/p>\n
BRADLEY slumps, bringing his hand to a huge knot on his forehead.<\/p>\n
BRADLEY<\/p>\n
I stopped it. Ernie Banks hit that ball...and I stopped it.<\/p>\n
SID stands. He blinks. He looks confused, and then, very slowly...he smiles.<\/p>\n
BRADLEY<\/p>\n
What the hell are you smiling at?<\/p>\n
SID<\/p>\n
Just thinking...<\/p>\n
BRADLEY<\/p>\n
Unlikely as that sounds...what about?<\/p>\n
SID<\/p>\n
You really used your head...<\/p>\n
SID runs, and BRADLEY lunges after. The cables still trailing from his body stop him. As the door closes behind SID, BRADLEY flings the baseball. It bounces off the already closed door and rolls slowly back.<\/p>\n
BRADLEY<\/p>\n
Christ.<\/p>\n
Then he turns back to his machine and grins.<\/p>\n
BRADLEY (CONT’D)<\/p>\n
Okay, Mr. Mays, I’m coming for you. And this time...I’m wearing a helmet.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This may have sounded funnier in my head than it turned out…I had a hard time coming up with a time travel sketch…and now I’m way behind, so…here is what I have. I will let you be the judges.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[215],"class_list":["post-682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sketches","tag-time-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/682\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}