The Jupe

By Lee A. Matthias

A Movie Length Tale™ from Aisle Seat Books™.

A family hiding from killers in a small town a thousand miles from home re-opens an old movie palace. As their pursuers close in, their fear awakens something worse within the theater itself.978-1-935655-92-3

• Language: English
• Publisher: Aisle Seat Books
• Release date: Dec 6, 2013
• ISBN: 9781935655923

Book preview

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A Movie Length

Horror Tale

For Readers

13 and up.

Written by

Lee A. Matthias.

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Lyme, New Hampshire

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Copyright © 2013 Lee A. Matthias

All rights reserved.

ISBN-13: 978-1-935655-92-3

ISBN-10: 1-935655-92-2

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013956277

Published by Aisle Seat Books, an imprint of

GrayBooks LLC

1 Main Street

Lyme, New Hampshire 03768

www.Tales2Film.com

www.AisleSeatBooks.com

Electronic Edition

About Tales2Film™ and Aisle Seat Books™

Read a good movie lately?

Every good movie starts with a script, and every good script tells a riveting story. Long before the actors are chosen and the filming starts, a writer sits down, crafts that story, and submits it for consideration by the producers, directors, and other creative talents in the film industry. It can take a long time. A script may spend years making the rounds before getting the elusive Hollywood green light. If it ever does. Some of the greatest movies ever written are ones that none of us will ever see on the screen.

Tales2Film finds the best of those not-yet-produced tales and brings them to you as Movie Length Tales™ just as the writer envisaged them. Each of the tales in this series has been converted by the script’s writer from the technical shorthand of screenplay format into the familiar prose format you see here, a process called novelization.

These little books are not novels, or even novellas. Think of them as written movies. Like the screenplays they come from, each is presented in real time, written in the present tense to allow you to see the movie’s scenes in your mind’s eye as if they were unfolding on a theater’s screen before you.

So. Here’s a movie. Take your favorite aisle seat and enjoy it.

And when it’s over, take a look at out Featured Previews in the back of this book. Your next Movie Length Tale™ is already here...

Now Showing:

TheJupeDrpout.psd

Horror

Ages 13 and up

Theater lights dim.

Fade in:

Jason Ballard, drives his family’s minivan down a Kansas highway. He’s trim, good looking, and about 35. His wife, Lauren, is attractive, age 32, and rides shotgun. Their kids, Christian (11, athletic), and C.C. (9, cute), ride behind.

Dad, where’s Kansas? Christian asks.

Over the next hill, his dad replies.

You said that last time! C.C. complains.

It’s a big hill, Jason answers.

He tosses a map back to Chris.

C’mon, Ensign, plot us a course to Amenity, Kansas, warp factor 12.

C’mon yourself, Dad, grow up!

Fuhgeddaboudit! Jason answers.

The minivan moves off the interstate and heads down a rural State highway.

Do they have school in Kansas? C.C. asks her mother.

Chris rolls his eyes.

Sure, Ceese. Lauren replies. Summer vacation ended this week.

Winter? C.C. asks.

Three times a year, says her father.

Jace! Lauren interrupts, Only once a year, honey.

Chris studies the map. Suddenly he brightens.

I found it! Boy, it looks small! Hey, it’s near Dodge City! Is this out west?

Sort of, says Lauren. No cowboys, though. Not real ones anyway.

C.C. cranes to look at the map. Let me see.

This is gonna be good for us, Lauren says to her husband. They’re happier than I’ve seen them in months.

You, too.

They look at one another and smile.

Jason notices something ahead, then eyes a passing Exit sign and flips on his turn signal.

Hey, a Dairy Queen! Who wants Strawberry Au Gratin?

>>

They drive past a truck stop and a sign listing Amenity, 4 Miles.

>>

They drive into the town. A few stores are closed and boarded up, the sidewalks are mostly empty, typical end-of-summer small-town malaise.

>>

They drive about town, checking it out.

>>

They pass the elementary school. Kids are everywhere, their day over.

>>

Later, driving through downtown, they gawk at the large (too-large, it would seem) Jupiter Theater.

>>

They arrive at their new house, an old Victorian on a tree-lined street.

LATER:

That evening, in their new master bedroom, Lauren stocks their closet, as Jason carries in a night stand and sets it beside the bed.

Tomorrow we’ll go over and meet that old codger they hired to help us re-open the theater, he says.

Jace… Do you… Do you think they’ll be able to find us?

"Agent Franco said our file isn’t accessible from the web. It’s not even on segregated internal networks. Witness Protection has successfully hidden over 18,000 people. Their record is spotless. The Fragonards’ll never find us. The whole crime family has been taken down, New York and Montreal."

But what about that ‘footprint’ he said was found on the system? she asks.

"Their online public side, Lauren. Not the secure offline stand-alone server. The Bradley-Ross family has disappeared. And us, the Ballards? We never heard of ’em."

She’s still uneasy.

Like you said, he continues, This’ll be good for us. I’ve been working non-stop for years, first my job, then the trial. We… we were falling apart! The kids’ll jump right into the new school year… We’ll pull back together. You can work with Ceese on her Suzuki training, maybe even get back to playing yourself. See? It’s all ahead for us now.

She starts to brighten.

Hey, he continues, how about after we talk to the school, let’s take the kids to that park we saw before we go over to the Jupiter. With school already started, I’ll bet that ball diamond will be free. What do you say we give it a workout?

LATER:

At the ball diamond, Jason and C.C. vs. Lauren and Christian: Jason strikes out against Lauren’s good pitching.

Nearby is a small pavilion building.

Chris calls time, and goes into the pavilion to get a drink from the only working fountain.

>>

Inside the pavilion, two older men play checkers.

Chris moves to the old-fashioned porcelain water fountain along a wall.

One of the men, a crafty-looking old guy motions to his opponent to watch.

Chris turns the spigot, and it squirts him in the face.

The crafty guy and his pal howl with laughter.

Chris looks over at them, then back at the fountain, and discovers how they fixed it to squirt. He adjusts the spigot, gets his drink, and goes over to them.

You fixed it to do that, Chris says, putting up a bold front for an 11 year old.

Gavin grins and nods.

Ain’t so funny, Chris tells him.

The crafty guy winks at his companion, and says, Is if you’re watchin’.

Chris gets a look in his eye, goes to the door and calls to his dad:

Hey dad, c’mere…

He runs over to the fountain, and drinks just as his father comes inside, out of breath. Chris looks over, wipes his