Matt Nielson
Aug 31, 2018 · 3 min read

Scene #10

INT. LUMBERJACK’S CABIN — DAY.

Inside a small, wooden hut, a few old chairs are sprawled around a timber table. Polaroids of men standing with axes around large fallen trees are pinned on the walls next to centrefolds from porn magazines adorn the walls. A coffee pot, some mugs and some plates of donuts sit on the bench top. Through the window in one of the walls, we see a great view of a thick timber forest being logged, and hear the occasional hollering of the lumberjacks as they work.

CHASE, a grizzled old man in a flannel shirt, thick work jeans and heavy boots, is sitting across from EARL, a balding man in a suit and glasses. They are facing each other intsensely, mid-conversation, EARL with his legs crossed.

CHASE: I just can’t see why you folks are so uptight bout it, is all.

EARL: Chase, it’s a clear breach of our workplace behaviour guidelines.

CHASE: I ain’t ever hear no workplace behaviour guidelines. We ain’t got them out here.

EARL: You do have them. Every Fortacon employee is subject to the guidelines.

CHASE: See, there ya go again. I don’t know what Fortacon is. Ain’t never heard of Fortacon, fore you came in here this morning, saying I gotta be disciplin… disciplin

EARL: Saying you needed to undergo disciplinary discussion, yes.

CHASE gets up in frustration and walks to the window. He stares out of it, at the lumberjacks cutting and hauling timber on the work site.

CHASE: So who is Fortacon, wants to pull me outta work, get me in trouble? That just you?

EARL: (a bit startled) Well, yes, I guess I work for Fortacon. But everyone here works for Fortacon. Including you.

CHASE: I work for my daddy.

EARL: What?

CHASE: I work for my daddy. Or I did. He always worked here, least, ever since I could remember. And we always knew I would too. Then, one day, I was old enough. He told me, said, “boy, you ain’t no boy no more”. He laughed, too. Hell, I laughed. It was funny. But I was proud, too. And then he took me in to the yard with him, that morning. And all the old guys from around town, they were there. Some of my friends older brothers. And he took me up to Red, and he said, “Red, my little boy here done become a man without me even noticing. And there’s only one thing for a man to do in this town, and that’s cut down timber. You give him an axe, and a spot on your line, and that’s what he’ll do for you”. And that’s what he did. I been working here ever since. Seventeen years now, Christ.

CHASE pauses, and turns away from the window to make a pot of coffee.

CHASE: Now I think about it, its been the same guys that whole time. Course, some folk leave, retire. Like my dad. And we get some new kids too. Not so many, but some. But on that first day, I met Vince. Patrick, Frederick. Hans. And we’re still together out there. Just us. The trees. Few trucks. Hell, a lot of booze too.

He grins, to himself.

CHASE: That’s us. But you gotta stay warm, I guess. Always worked for us.

EARL: Well, Chase, that’s the problem. You can’t be drinking when you’re operating machinery like that on a Fortacon worksite, it’s a clear -

CHASE wheels around in anger, shouting at EARL.

CHASE: Who the hell is Fortacon? I don’t know Fortacon! I know Red, and Vince, and Hans. I know my dad. My brothers. That’s who I know.

EARL: (losing his temper too) Well, Chase, Fortacon was awarded the tender for this county’s logging eighteen months ago, and took operation of all its mills and lumber yards at the same time. So, Red, and Vince, and your dad, and you, you all work for Fortacon now.

CHASE hurls his coffee mug at the wall, breaking it.

CHASE: Like HELL I do!

He grabs EARL by the collar and thrusts him into the wall, enraged. EARL shirks away in fear. It seems like CHASE is about to strike, but he regains composure, remembers who he is and where he is. He lowers EARL to his feet, and turns away in shame and frustration.

EARL smirks.

EARL: Chase, you’re fired.

CHASE swings back around and clocks EARL with a hard right hook to the face, knocking him to the ground. He immediately stomps out of the cabin, spitting as he goes. EARL quivers on the floor, his sleazy bravado shattered in one punch. He touches his temple and feels the wound as blood drips down his face.

END SCENE

    Matt Nielson

    Written by

    Big words guy, I mean, HUGE. Hire me: mattjnielson at gmail dot com