The Last of Weakness by Robert Cole

THE LAST OF WEAKNESS

Scene 1

[ Open meadow at dawn. Father’s legs mow down yards of rye. There is a clearing and father makes the guns ready. Father and son walk together into the brush. The boy seems happy, the father is happy. ]

Scene 2

[ Forested area, daddy kneels down slow, camera does not show upper portion of body throughout feature. ]

[ Slowing down, father heard something and points to a rabbit. All the practice comes down to this. ]

Scene 3

[ Camera cuts off at fathers upper lip. His proud smile quickly changes as he sees his son’s sense of regret. The child killed something, the rabbit, and the child feels sad about it. This displeases the father. The initially supportive hand on the child’s back begins to grip the boy’s collar. The boy launches away to the base of the tree where the rabbit lay in a puddle of gray. ]

Scene 4

[ Ground level shot with son in background, child crying at base of tree with father’s lower body in foreground. Rain on lens, obscuring shot. Then the axe is made visible in his hands as father approaches his son. ]

Scene 5

[ Father brings the axe up, his face still obscured. ]

[ He brings down the axe once, adjusts, lifts, and brings it down again. ]

Scene 6

[ A few moments later the man exits the forest into another clearing. Camera angle is behind father as he approaches a line of women in Victorian dresses facing the camera. Their clothing and doilies are blowing in the wind. Once he greets the women without a word, the group begins walking back away from the camera into another wooded area. Another boy is ready to hunt, following close behind them. ]

About the Author

Robert Cole has writing featured in Connotation Press, Cicatrix, Sein und Werden and other journals or magazines. He currently lives in Valley View, Texas.