Mini-Episode: The Blue Box

[A doorbell rings. Outside we hear the sounds of the street. After a moment, the door opens up.]

Autumn West–Beth Eyre

Phillip, isn’t this a pleasant surprise? I can’t say we were expecting you.

Philip West–Michael Melia [earnest]

Who would I be if I didn’t make time for my favorite aunt?

Ada West–Julian Danner

And what about your favorite cousin?

Phil

My favorite cousin too, of course! My gosh, look how big you’re getting. We’re going to have to do something about this, Aunt Autumn, or pretty soon he’ll be taller than both of us.

Autumn [smiling]

I think we’ve got a few years before we have to worry about that.

Ada

I don’t know, Mom, I’ve been eating my Wheaties every day.

Phil

Speaking of eating, I’ve got something for you.

Ada

Oh, yeah?

Phil

It’s from your dad. He gave it to me the last time I saw him.

Ada

You’ve seen him?!

Phil
I have. He misses you so much, and asked me to bring it for you. A box of your favorite macaroni and cheese. The blue one.

[Phil rustles in his bag and pulls out a rattling box of macaroni.]

Ada

He remembered!

Autumn [knowing]

He did, did he?

Phil [half-heartedly]

He did.

[Ada takes the box and shakes it, jumping up and down a little.]

Ada
Are you hungry, Phil? Do you want some?

Phil

I could go for a bowl, if that’s okay with your mom.

Ada [happily]

Can I make it for us now, please, please, please? 

Autumn

I suppose, but don’t you go telling me later that you’re too full for supper.

Ada

I won’t!

Autumn

And be careful with the stovetop!

Ada[further away]

I will!

[Ada crunks off into the other room, where we hear a sink filling up a big pot of water.]

Autumn

You didn’t have to do that, you know.

Phil

Do what?

Autumn

C’mon, Philip. We both know that Oliver had nothing to do with that.

Phil

I just thought…

Autumn

I know what you thought, and while your intentions were admirable, they may do more harm than good.

Phil[chuckling]

I know it’s got a lot of sodium— 

Autumn

That isn’t what I meant and you know it.

Phil

He misses you both. Even if he doesn’t know how to show it.

Autumn

It wouldn’t hurt for you to take credit for the good you do every once in a while. Ada isn’t going to be any more hurt by his father’s absence than he’s already been just because he knows you’re the one that remembered his favorite lunch.

Phil

Understood.

Autumn

Alright, now that that unpleasantness is out of the way: please, come in. Sit down. Make yourself comfortable. Can I get you anything to drink? 

[Autumn closes the door behind Phil, and they cross the room to the dining room table.]

Phil

I’m alright, no. I just wanted to stop in and say hello.

Autumn

Hello indeed.

[There’s a clanging of pots and pans in the distance.]

Autumn

Ada?

Ada

Everything’s okay, Mom! I was just looking for the strainer!

Autumn

Are the noodles ready?

Ada

They are!

Autumn

Then why didn’t you call me in to come help you? [Beat.] Just give me one minute.

Ada

Because I’ve got it, Mom!

[Autumn leaves the room for a moment. Phil whistles as his aunt and cousin busy themselves in the kitchen. After a moment, they come back into the room together and set a bowl before him.]

Ada[proudly]

I made it just like you like it.

Phil

With a teaspoon of hot sauce?

Ada

Yep! Not for me, though. I still think you’re crazy. It’s good just like it is.

Phil

We can’t all be perfect like you, Ade.

Autumn[smiling]

Why don’t you go eat yours in the den with your cartoons, honey–Mommy and Phil have some catching up to do.

Ada

Grown-up talk?

Phil

Grown-up talk.

Ada[grumbling]

Fine, but you better come play Xbox with me before you leave.

Phil

I will, pinky promise. 

[Ada dances away and Phil plays with his food.]

Autumn

You don’t actually have to eat that. I can bin it while he isn’t looking.

Phil

Are you crazy? This is the good stuff!

Autumn

Some things don’t change, do they?

Phil[mouth full]

Guess not.

Autumn

So, Mr. Big Man on Campus, I’m surprised you found time in your busy schedule for a trip out to Providence.

Phil

I get to make my own schedule. One of the perks of being the boss.

Autumn

Is that what you are, then? How is your precious Red Line?

Phil
Oh, you know. I’ve got the fantastic role of trying to keep tabs on everybody that was evicted from the city, and making sure they don’t come back in, which, if I’m being honest, is a lot like trying to fix a crumbling dam by plugging every leak with just my fingers. It’s… more responsibility that I was expecting. You know what I mean?

Autumn

I suppose. Be honest with me, though, really. Why did you take this job?

Phil

I didn’t really have a whole lot of choice in the matter.

Autumn

That’s what I thought. So he had something to do with it?

Phil

No, I haven’t seen him since…

Autumn

Since he kidnapped that poor man? Locked him up in that ridiculous bachelor pad he was keeping for himself?

Phil

You know about all that?

Autumn
I watch the news, yes. Promise me you didn’t have anything to do with that, too? I just don’t want to see you go down a path that you’ll regret. Your uncle, he’s made a lot of choices in his life to become the man he is. I’m sure there’s a part of him that’s proud of it, but he’s lost so much of himself along the way, you know? I miss the man I fell in love with. 

Phil

I’ve never pretended that Uncle Ollie is perfect, but… he’s my Uncle Ollie… And he’s always taken care of us, both me and Ada. That has to count for something, doesn’t it?

Autumn

No, Phil. At a certain point, it doesn’t. Because being a father doesn’t just mean writing the check that always clears and washing your hands of the situation. It means showing up, for the good times and the bad. It means remembering your son’s tenth birthday party is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle-themed, and that he hasn’t cared about the Minions in years. It’s heating up a can of chicken soup when his throat hurts or teaching him how to tie his shoes. It’s showing up to your divorce hearing, to even attempt to fight for visitation rights. It’s remembering that little boy loves the blue box of mac and cheese, damn it. But Oliver couldn’t be bothered with any of those things now, could he?

Phil
It’s more complicated than that. Uncle Ollie’s gotten in bed with some pretty powerful people who are keeping him away. If he could be here right now with me, he would.

Autumn

Hah! That’s rich. And who’s the one who decided to align themselves with those kinds of people in the first place, Phil?

Phil

Aunt Autumn, I can’t really get into that. 

Autumn

Oh, c’mon. Who am I going to tell? All the way out here in Rhode Island? It’s not like I can do anything to jeopardize his little empire. [She laughs.] Empire. You know he called ThirdSight that to me once? His empire? 

Phil

He has a lot to be proud of. Thanks to all the work he’s published over the years, people listen to him. Laws are passed, cities are created.

Autumn

Fat lot of good that did for him, now that he’s thrown it all away. What’s he doing with all of his time now then? 

Phil

The office may have changed, but the work hasn’t stopped.

Autumn

Why, that’s deliciously vague, isn’t it?

Phil [troubled]

C’mon, Aunt Autumn. What do you want me to say? You’re putting me in an impossible position, and you know it. I love you both, so much. And I want you in my life, but I can’t be some kind of messenger boy.

Autumn

Fair enough… for now.

Phil [awkward, changing the subject]

So, tell me: what’s new with you?

Autumn

I’ve been keeping myself busy. You’ll probably think it’s silly, but one of the neighbor’s kids was trying to sell some of his old stuff in a tag sale before going away to college. Most of it was pretty useless: vinyl records, dog-eared sci-fi novels, concert t-shirts that were more holes than anything else, but… but then in the back of his garage, tucked away under an old tarp, I saw it. He had this mini bike he’d built years before with a few of his friends, and I remembered how free he looked, any time he rode it.

Phil

No!

Autumn
It was in bad shape. Needed a new engine and a few other parts, and it took some convincing to get him to part with it, but I spent the summer putting some elbow grease in, and now I drive it every single chance I get.

Phil [laughing]

Hah! I never would have guessed, but that sounds incredible.

Autumn

There’s nothing like feeling the salty air against your skin, shooting down the open road. [She laughs.] I have to admit, I’ve been considering graduating to something with a bit more horsepower to it, but I’m not sure if I’m quite ready yet. You should see Ada whenever I take it out, though. His eyes? He just beams over this thing that I brought back to life, all by myself. He keeps begging me to let him drive it, but he’s too young.

Phil
Gosh, could you imagine him ripping down the block in one of those things? Wouldn’t that be a sight—I love that little guy so much.

Autumn

He loves you too, Phil. That’s why I’m so glad that we still have you around like this. It does Ada so much good to have a positive male influence in his life every once in a while. Lord knows I’m doing my best to fill that void, but frankly, it’s hard. It’s hard to keep track of the kinds of toys he likes to play with and what bugs he’s currently collecting. Not to mention keep the house and cook the meals and go to all of his parent-teacher conferences. It’s a lot. And I do it happily, of course I do; I love that boy more than anything in this universe. But I appreciate whatever help I can get, because I’m not so proud as to say I don’t need it. 

[There’s an awkward beat of silence as Phil pokes at his cold bowl of macaroni again.]

Just do me a favor, and promise me you won’t do that again, the thing with the macaroni? I’ve had to work so hard being both a mother and a father to Ada. To make him understand that showing someone you love them comes from more than the things you’re able to buy for them. But by being there, and telling them, as loudly and as often as humanly possible, just how much they really mean to you. Oliver, whatever his reasons may be, can’t do that for him right now. But you can. Hell, you already have. Both Ada and I see it every time you make the trip out here to see us. Maybe it’s time that you see it, too.

Phil

I promise.

Autumn

Good.

[A phone begins to ring. Phil pulls it out of his pocket and silences it.]

Someone important?

Phil[annoyed]
Just Mayor Bespin, wondering why my desk is currently manned by a cheese robot instead of myself.

Autumn

Well, don’t let me hold you up any longer. Go and play a few rounds of Minecraft with Ada before you have to rush back. 

Ada [close by]

Mom! It’s Fortnite, not Minecraft!

Autumn [laughing]

I can’t keep track of whatever it is you’re up there shooting these days.

Phil [standing]

You ready to get stomped, little buddy?

Ada

In your dreams.

Phil

Somebody doesn’t remember how my last visit went, now, do they?

Autumn

I hope you weren’t on those stairs eavesdropping, young man.

Ada [sternly]

I would never! I just came to bring down my dirty dishes.

[Autumn grabs the clanging bowl from him and kisses him on the head.]

Autumn

That’s a good boy. I’ll take it from here. You two have fun.

[Phil and Ada run up the stairs, laughing, as the end-credits music begins to play.]

CREDITS

Greater Boston…is written and produced by Alexander Danner and Jeff Van Dreason, with additional support from T.H. Ponders, Bob Raymonda, and Jordan Stillman. Recording and technical assistance from Marck Harmon.

This episode was written by Bob Raymonda and produced by Jeff Van Dreason.

CAST

This mini-episode featured:

• Beth Eyre as Autumn West. 
• Michael Melia as Philip West.
• and Julian Danner as Ada West

MUSIC

Charlie on the MTA performed by Emily Petersen and Dirk Tiede. 

Transcripts available at GreaterBostonShow.com

Our indiegogo campaign is shooting for stretch goals, so if the idea of a musical episode, a crossover with the Amelia Project, or a big launch part for season 4 sounds good to you, hit up our campaign at igg.me/gbs4

COOKIE

Alexander

With acting, it’s not always about saying the exact words.

Julian

Sometimes you make a mistake and you realize you like it better.