S01 E03 “Aesop and Frank” Santa Teresa, California Sunny “Why’d you bring these?” Alix asks, holding up a crayon. “Just as a reference,” Hana responds, in full seriousness. It had only taken a few hours for Alix and Hana to make the Airbnb their own. At first, Hana had made an attempt to neatly store their belongings in the cabinets, but after Alix’s arrival everyone’s stuff ended up all over the place. Most of it is spilled across the bed, along with Alix and Hana. “Why’d you bring so many crystals?” Hana asks, eying six or seven colorful stones lined up on the windowsill. “They’re for protecting us from the spirits.” Hana pauses to process this information. “You know,” Alix continues, now fully in Hana’s spotlight, “like the spirits that could potentially be locked on this property. C’mon. You can’t tell me you know for sure what is and isn’t lurking underneath all this.” Hana finally responds, “Soil, dirt, probably some rocks. Worms.” “Hey, I’m just looking out for both of us…” Alix says, unearthing a massive citrine and pyrite crystal from their luggage. Hana’s eyes widen. “They let you fly with that?” “Yeah. Spiritual safety is important business.” Hana reaches into Alix’s pile of stuff and pulls out a bag of marshmallows and a flimsy volume of scary stories written for children, featuring grotesque black and white illustrations of decaying horses and an emaciated woman with spiders crawling out of a hole in her cheek. You know what we’re talking about. A packet of hot sauce falls out from between the book’s pages. They both stare at the hot sauce packet, now lying suspiciously still on the bed sheets in front of them. “Was that a bookmark?” Hana asks. “That’s just some hot sauce.” Hana laughs. Alix sighs, picking up the hot sauce packet and fishing a bottle of damascan rose facial serum out of Hana’s toiletry case. Holding one in each hand, Alix puppets the hot sauce packet and serum bottle, giving each a toy soldier-like swagger. Hana opens their mouth to say something clever, but Alix interrupts in a lower voice than usual, pretending to be the hot sauce packet. “Oh. Hey, Aesop.” Alix switches to another voice, goofier and airier, meant to come from the facial serum bottle. “Hey, Frank. What’s up?” “Just wondering what’s over that mountain,” Frank says, motioning towards a nearby pillow. “Are you asking me on a hike?” Aesop asks. Alix looks up from the puppets, making eye contact with Hana. “Why’d you stop?” Hana asks. “You’re the screenwriter,” Alix says. “Help me out.” Hana takes a deep breath. “Okay,” they start. “So, it’s definitely not a hike.” “Oh yeah?” Alix asks, getting excited. “They’re stranded in a desert. They have been for days. And that’s not a mountain. It’s a sand dune. Maybe the last sand dune they’ll ever cross, if they even make it that far.” Alix turns serious and walks the hot sauce packet and serum bottle closer to the pillow/sand dune. “Aesop sees a well at the top of the sand dune,” Hana continues. “C’mon,” Alix makes Aesop say. “I think I can see a well up there. We just have to go a little further.” “Okay,” Alix says in Frank’s voice. Alix walks Frank and Aesop to the top of the pillow, and then looks to Hana for the next plot point. Hana closes their eyes. “It was a mirage, wasn’t it?” Alix asks. “Yeah,” Hana confirms, sadly. Alix looks down at Frank and Aesop, letting Hana’s sadness wash over them. “Wait, no, it can’t be a mirage,” Hana blurts, anticipating Alix’s disappointment. “One of them would’ve known it wasn’t there already. They wouldn’t have — ” “No,” Alix cuts Hana off. “Frank knew it wasn’t there. They just went along with Aesop because they love them.” “Oh. Well… I guess this is where it ends.” Hana says. “For Aesop at least. Frank the hot sauce packet can survive the heat, obviously. They’ve been hot all their life. But the facial serum was never tested in such extreme environmental conditions.” They’re both quiet. “Sorry,” Hana concludes. Alix thinks for a second. “I know what to do,” they say in Frank’s voice. Alix tears open the bag of marshmallows and spills them onto the bed. They move the hot sauce packet towards the pile of marshmallows. Frank picks up the marshmallows, one by one, and begins to stack them in a circle. Hana watches in silence, masking their excitement. After a couple minutes of watching the hot sauce packet stack marshmallows, Hana realizes what Frank is building: an igloo, just big enough for one 0.9 ounce facial serum bottle. Frank finishes stacking the marshmallows, turns to Aesop, and says, “Okay. Go cool off before it melts. I’ll look for water.” Alix and Hana are quiet, digesting the happy ending. “Wow,” Hana smiles. Alix’s face lights up. “You’re so romantic that you forgot that when ice melts it turns into water.” “Oh yeah,” Alix laughs. “Oh well.” They’re both quiet again, and calm, gazing at each other. Hana’s eyes start to wander around the room. “Look,” Hana gasps, pointing to the window. “You can see the sheep from here.” Alix saw the sheep earlier. Their eyes are still locked on Hana. “Cute, right?” “Yeah.” “Alix’s Reply” “They Usually Come Back” © 2020 Samara, Inc. Privacy