Two people at different stages in life, heading in opposite directions intersect at a crosswalk in the big city. Their encounter leaves a lasting impact on each character. Sometimes we're not so different after all...

EXT. Early September, Mid-Afternoon.

The hustle and bustle of a mid-week day in the city have both sidewalks and roadways ablaze with all kinds of traffic. So many places to be and not enough time to reach them.

*Car horns honking*

*People shouting from balconies above*

*Dogs barking at one another across the neighborhood*

A man in his dark grey business suit (Person 1) (mid-30’s) stands impatiently on the northwest corner of the intersection waiting for the street sign to turn white. He checks his watch a few times. Breaking eye contact with it to wipe a light sweat from his forehead. Looks around to eat up the time perhaps waiting for a magical alternate to his route to speed up his delay. The man is stressing to put it mildly.

Opposite the stressed man stands a small girl (Person 2) (10) clutching her book bag on the southwest corner. Her senses are amplified by the sensory overload of the busy streets and faceless black suits towering over her and the skyscrapers towering much further above even them. She’s not from around here. She’s not accustomed to this.

Nobody has a face on the streets of a city with a singular mid-week focus; especially when you’re not only small, but unfamiliar with what might as well be a different world to a young girl born and raised on the countryside. Never in her life had she seen a business suit let alone a skyscraper or an intersection of more than 1 lane.

[V.O.]

[Person 2}
“How can some many people be in one place? I miss home…”

*CLICK* (crosswalk turns)

[Person 1]
Eyebrows rise sharply as eyes widen. The race is on, dozens race across 8 lanes that make up this major intersection. Person 1 trying to break ahead of the pack. He has somewhere to be. He is late.

[Person 2]
Already overloaded, things have graduated into a frenzy as business men and women with places to be and not enough time charge across the intersection and past our young girl (10). She is frozen. How long has she been here? Feet are melted into the concrete underfoot. Eyes cinched shut. She covers her ears to mute out some of the noise. Perhaps to escape her paralysis, her reality.

[Person 1]
Feeling a sense of success and relief as he approaches the southwest side of the intersection. Where he will be able to continue pacing onto his destination. He continues seeking out gaps between others in the race to get ahead. In the quick eye attacks around that lead his movements, we spot the young girl (person 2). Momentum carries him past her. Over the next handful of strides his brain digests the data of what he saw. Unusual. Young. Uncomfortable. In need of help? STOPS. *looks back* Confirms the sight. Looks at his watch 17 minutes past four. Glances ahead at the tall building. *his destination* Closes his eyes. Releases a big exhale. He knows what he should/needs to do, the right thing to do. What he was raised to do.

[Person 2]
Feeling the sensation of hundreds of horses stampeding around her. The Earth may as well be shaking around her. She tightens more as the vibrations rage on intensifying her anxiety. *she feels a gentle hand on the shoulder* eyes dart open wide *its warm*

[Person 1]
“It’s okay. We’ll take it one step at a time.”

*He recognized she wasn’t from around here. After all, neither was he sometime ago.*

[Person 1]
“Are you ready?”

[Person 2]
*looking up shaking the fear, hope growing in her eyes* She nods to confirm she is ready to attempt the crossing.

[Person 1]
“Quick, before the sign changes. In life we take big things one step at a time. Now, left foot first.”

*He smiles warmly* Leading the crossing

-characters walk side by side across the 8 lanes-

[Person 1]
“You Know, I didn’t always live in this big city.”

*She looks up at him feeling less alone and more at ease.*

[Person 1]
“In fact, I was about your age when my family was forced to leave our small town on the countryside. Where are you from?”

[Person 2]
“We just moved from (insert countryside town) and it’s my first day of school. I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

[Person 1]
“You’re brave to take on the walk home. Believe it or not, I was too scared to leave the school campus when I first got here.”

Person 2 continues looking up at Person 1 in awe. Disbelief at how this tall confident man was once also small and out of place in this grand cityscape.

Person 1 notices Person 2 staring up at him eye soft and mouth gaped.

[Person 1]
*chuckles, shows a little smirk*

They arrive to the northwest side of the intersection

Person 1 takes a knee. Pats Person 2 on the shoulder reassuringly.

[Person 1]
“Everything gets better kid. Just remember, take it one step at a time.”

*winkles*

-Full circle reference to their start of the crosswalk-

Voice shouting from a balcony above clarifies, to be Person 2’s name, Eli.

*Mom has been shouting down to her for a while to get her to cross the street*
(same voice Person 1 heard in the background during intro)

[Person 1]
“Eli, huh?”

[Eli]
“It short for Elysian.”

*pauses to reflect on his greek studies during his time at university*

[Person 1]
“Beautiful or creative, divinely inspired; peaceful and perfect.”

[Elysian]
“That’s what Poppa always used to say..”

*Eli briefly glances up to the right taking in the clear blue sky recalling what now seems like a distant memory. In that same moment Person 1 takes in the implications of what Eli has shared.

[Person 1]
“Go on kid, your Mother is calling for you.”

Eli takes a moment to communicate through her eyes what the words of a child cannot yet say.
*smiles softly*
Eli flings an attack of a hug on Person 1 before running off

[Elysian]
“COMING MOMMA!!”

[Person 3]
“Thank You Sir!”

*waving from the balcony* bouncing a toddler in her arms with a spatula in the other hand

Person 1 reciprocates the wave as he stands up fulfilled

*CLICK*

The crosswalk sign halts all traffic and people once again begin to pile in around him.

He notices a few people glancing at their watches as they impatiently wait. He chuckles to himself and removes his watch and stuffs it into his coats chest pocket. With a continued smile on his face he stands tall and exhales freely dropping his shoulders. He is at peace and relaxed.

Over his shoulder above on the balcony we see Eli jump into her Mother’s arms. They have a joyful embrace. We vaguely hear murmurs of,

[Eli]
“… in life we have to take things one step at a time.”

*CLICK*

Crosswalk turns white

Person 1 leads out of frame with the left foot
*dust still on his knee from his encounter with Eli*

Christopher Brock

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