Ellie Elmore A Life Touched by Gods & Men

Episode 1 … First Encounter First Impression-1

EPISODE ONE

His first encounter is a disaster, but his first impression?

On a chance encounter, a man sees his dream. And after all these years he can’t believe his eyes because it’s now in front of him.

He wants to grab it; so, he reaches out to touch it.

~ And bang! ~

His dream is gone!

Is his dream lost forever?

This man wants to see his dream again. He wants to hold it tight and not let go until he makes his dream come true.

~ If only he could see his dream again! ~

June ninth already. Man, time flies! thinks Eddie, driving into town past the old closed-down car factory where his dad used to work.

Eddie Ellis is a clean-cut, casually dressed, middle-aged record company executive heading for 88, Wheeler Drive, his mother’s address, on a quiet yet slightly ageing housing estate directly opposite the old car factory on the outskirts of town.

Today is glorious. The kind of day fuelled by the fragrance of summer, and only the sun can be seen in the sunny blue sky. Plus, there’s a warm breeze, which quickens every now and then, leaving that happy holiday feeling on everything it touches, including our record company executive.

Eddie drives slowly along the main road running parallel between the old car factory on his left, and his mother’s housing estate on his right. He busily flicks his gaze back and forth from the road ahead to the abandoned car factory, before turning off the road and stopping his car in an unmarked lay-by next to the factory’s rusty and broken boundary fence. Eddie turns off his engine and sits listening for a moment as music from one of the latest boy bands streams from his car stereo.

‘Not bad,’ mutters Eddie quietly as he takes a single stick of chewing gum from the top pocket of his white cotton shirt, unwraps it, and puts it into his mouth as he gets out of his car and walks around to the passenger-side door.

He leans against the door as he enjoys the warm breeze after his long drive from London, where he works for Raggy Rock Records, the biggest music label in the United Kingdom.

Eddie starts to unwind as his gaze settles on the main factory building in front of him, then he slowly stretches his arms above his head, arches his back, and lets out a satisfying sigh as he takes in all that is good about this glorious day, especially the satisfying breeze.

He continues to unwind as he leans his head back and closes his eyes before pushing his arms out to his sides, gently bouncing them backwards as he inhales deeply. Then he slowly exhales as his mind starts to fill with memories of the good old days. Those days when he and his mother, Margaret Ellis (Madge to her friends), used to walk to meet his dad, Steve Ellis, after he’d finished working his shifts at the then busy and buzzing car factory.

Madge is starting to look her age now, thinks Eddie, opening his eyes and scanning the run-down building.

Madge is actually in her sixties, but she has the vigour and vitality of someone ten years her junior, and she has a mature yet distinguished look with her silky shoulder-length, silvery-blond hair.

Then, without warning, Eddie catches a wisp of music floating on the gentle breeze. This music is playing slightly louder than the music already playing on his in-car stereo. Eddie reaches inside his car through the open passenger door window and turns off his stereo. Outside again, he catches another wisp of music, making him turn quickly, as if expecting to see someone standing there, but there’s not another living soul in sight.

Strange? thinks Eddie, returning his gaze towards the old car factory after hearing a third, slightly louder, wisp of music.

‘That’s got to be coming from in—!’ says Eddie out loud, as his pulse starts to quicken.

Curiosity grabs Eddie as he takes his chewing gum out of his mouth, wraps it in the wrapper he’s kept in his shirt top pocket, and throws it into his car through the open window. All without taking his eyes off the abandoned car factory.

He continues to stare at the old building for a few seconds longer as he rubs his forehead with his thumb and three fingers of his right hand. Then he spots a gap in the broken boundary fence in front of him and squeezes through it to walk towards the main factory building. As Eddie gets nearer the once proud factory, the music gets louder on the breeze.

Eddie’s feet start to move faster!

With his mind now racing faster than a thoroughbred stallion on race day, Eddie can’t get to the old factory quick enough. So, he runs at full speed towards the looming building, which he reaches with a thud as he bangs his forehead on a high outer wall while trying to stop quickly after leaping over a pile of rubble, small bushes, and a knee-high, crumbling wooden fence.

‘Damn!’ shouts Eddie breathing heavily and holding the side of his head, which hurts.

He quickly regains his senses and hurries along the factory wall where he finds a side door that’s half open, while barely attached to the outer wall. With the hairs on the back of his neck now standing on end, and not knowing what he’ll find inside, he squeezes into what turns out to be the old car engine assembly plant.

Eddie stumbles around quietly in the semi-dark before noting the sun’s rays up ahead as the music continues to play. He moves forward slowly, gently bumping into disused rusty machinery and rubbish left behind when the factory closed down. Eddie continues to head for the shafts of sunlight and the loud music as his eyes start to get used to the lack of daylight. Then he senses a heavy feeling in the pit of his stomach as he stops dead in his tracks.

On a raised platform, not too far away in the middle of the old car engine assembly plant are two teenagers performing their music without a care in the world? The teenagers are playing like seasoned rock stars entertaining a packed arena of thousands.

Everything else inside this old engine plant is perfectly still, except for the sun’s rays which stream endlessly through the dirty, broken, transparent roof panels. The rays cascade down like a slow-moving river bathing the two entertainers in a warm amber-orange sunlight as they play their music.

What a fantastic sight. What a fantastic sound, thinks Eddie, rubbing his eyes before doing a retake on the sight before him.

From where Eddie is standing, he’s unable to make out the teenagers faces, but he can work out they are young, mainly by the clothes they’re wearing. Plus, their music is alive with a passion that vibrates every single molecule of stale, musty air inside this old car factory.

The two teenagers – a boy, playing his guitar like a rock veteran and a girl singing as if her world depended on it – are a rush of pure energy to Eddie. But right now, he can’t believe his eyes; he can’t speak, he can’t move. In fact, he doesn’t want to because he’s just staring in disbelief at these two wannabe rock stars with his mouth slightly open, and trying hard to take on board the image before him.

What the—? flashes through Eddie’s mind as he watches guitar boy tear up the air with every chord he plays as the young girl sings her vocals with pure passion.

The music bounces around inside Eddie’s head, spreading like a mutating virus into every cell of his brain and then accelerates around his entire body like a Formula One car on the winning lap.

The teenagers continue to perform to their imaginary arena of thousands. The singer’s crowd is singing along with each and every word she sings, while the guitarist’s eager audience bounce to every strum of his guitar as their fresh new sounds smash into every single atom inside this old engine plant, making it tingle with passion as it comes to life.

Eddie’s lost in the music, lost in the lyrics, lost in his dream. He continues to watch with a single raised eyebrow as feelings of enormous emotion are squeezed into every lyric the girl sings, along with relentless energy crammed into every guitar chord the boy plays.

Raw genius fills Eddie’s ears. And right now, he can’t believe his eyes, because after all these years here is his dream, and all he wants to do is grab it. Eddie’s gripped like a vice by this song that he’s never even heard before, yet feels he knows so well. A song full of raw talent, a song that’s making a cold tingle spread across his back as if a thousand tiny daggers are repeatedly stabbing him, yet the sensation feels good, exceptionally good.

This song is touching the very core of Eddie’s inner being, and that’s what he’s been searching for all these years. He doesn’t know it yet, but this song and these two young teenagers are now lodged deep inside his subconscious.

The teenagers continue to play as if they were born to do so, and as if they have nothing to lose or hold them back, as Eddie stands immersed in his dream.

Then, suddenly, two pigeons directly above the teenagers are spooked and fly out from under a rafter to make good their escape into the sunny blue sky through one of several broken and twisted roof panels. The pigeon’s sudden movement scatters years of dust which floats down through the sun’s rays towards the teenagers, but they’re unaware of the commotion above because they’re lost in their music, and they continue to pump out raw passion as if they have plenty to spare, and is their given right.

Then, with one last strum of a guitar string and the last lyrics sung, the music fades, leaving the two teenagers standing looking at each other in the semi-dark with massive smiles etched across their faces as they gently nod.

Eddie blinks several times as if waking from a heavenly trance, and without thinking, he begins to clap as anyone would on hearing such a performance. The sound of Eddie clapping startles another pigeon, and it too escapes through a broken transparent roof panel.

The commotion makes the teenagers spin around and focus their eyes on Eddie, like laser beams locked onto a target. The teenagers pause for a second, like lions ready to pounce, because their whole world has just been shattered by this strange, spooky man in the semi-dark, standing starring at them.

‘Run!’ shouts the girl suddenly, making Eddie jump, jolting him back into reality.

The teenagers drop their gear and run like athletes reacting to a starter’s gun.

‘Wait!’ shouts Eddie, stretching out his right arm as if trying to grab the teenagers.

They ignore Eddie’s plea and run like sprinters towards the dark administration block at the back of the factory. Eddie gives chase but he’s hindered by the semi-light, the rusty machinery and old tins, which he kicks out of his way.

Two rows of offices, separated by a fire escape door line the back wall of the admin block. Each office has a glass front and what was once a white dividing wall. Eddie scans the area quickly, but there’s no sign of the teenagers.

Then he spots a door ajar on the outer wall of an office, so he runs in and kicks it open, only to find it leading out into an old, overgrown office car park. Eddie scans the grounds and spots the two wannabe rock stars jumping a small wall and making good their escape towards the local housing estate.

‘Damn!’ snarls Eddie as he grits his teeth, and his nostrils flare because he thinks he’s lost his dream forever.

The two teenagers are gone, but they’re certainly not forgotten because Eddie has a perfect image of them playing their music fixed firmly in his subconscious, and their song is still bouncing around inside his brain.

Youth was against Eddie today because the two youngsters were just too damn quick in their getaway. So, he turns in disappointment and heads back to where they’d dropped their gear in their haste to get away.

Nice little set-up. Cost a bit too, thinks Eddie, picking up the guitar. ‘I’ve got to find those guys.’ He mumbles out loud as he gathers up the rest of the gear before strapping it onto an old sack truck, set to one side.