Chapter 1 A for apple… B for bahh!!!

INT. MICKEY’s ROOM – MORNING

MICHAEL aka MICKEY aka DANGER MIKE aka MICHAEL ANGELLO is a 14-year-old boy with down syndrome. He is sleeping on his bed while the alarm – Space Oddity by David Bowie from his cellphone is ringing for the third time. The walls of his room are covered with movie posters and cut outs of cartoon characters. There is a 2 feet tall action figure of Michael Angello ‘Mike’ from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on the shelf where he has kept his books. The windows have butterflies painted on it, with the sunlight reflecting the colors on Mickey’s face.

With a wide smile, Mickey opens his eyes and stares at the window. He starts singing the song ‘Can you hear me Major Tom! Can you hear me Major Tom!’ while still curled up in his hulk printed blanket.

JENNY, Mickey’s step mother is standing on the other side of the door. She is knocking at the door and calling Mickey.

JENNY

“MICKEY! Get up.”

JENNY cont’d

“Mickey!! You’ll be late for school.”

Mickey throws his blanket away and stands over the bed. His hands placed on his waist and doing a superhero pose.

MICKEY

“Mike…is awake.”

Mickey ties the blanket around him like a cape. He stands in front of the mirror and adjusts his hair by licking his palm and rubbing it over his hair. He opens the door after winking at himself in the mirror.

Jenny grabs Mickey by his cape while he was running away.

JENNY

“How many times do I have to tell you, not to lock your door.”

MICKEY

(smiles)

“What if you throw my toys away?”

JENNY

“I won’t.”

JENNY cont’d

“It was one time I accidentally threw your paper dog in dustbin.”

MICKEY

“And…And Leo?”

JENNY

“It was your dad.”

MICKEY

“No…It was you.”

Mickey shoves off Jenny’s hand and runs into the kitchen.

PETER, Mickey’s father grabs Mickey by his ear and brings him to the bathroom.

PETER

“Brush your teeth.”

Peter forcefully removes the blanket and tosses it to Jenny. He grabs Mickey’s toothbrush, applies toothpaste over it and hands it to Mickey. Mickey brushes his teeth by looking at the mirror. He has a distinct style of brushing. He brushes each tooth individually.

After he finished brushing his teeth, Mickey comes and sits on the dining table by wearing the swimming goggles. Jenny keeps a plate in front of him.

MICKEY

“Scrambled eggs.”

Jenny nods. She transfers the scrambled eggs from the pan to his plate.

MICKEY

“Fork and sauce.”

Jenny hands him his favorite Giraffe designed fork. The fork has its tale designed as a giraffe’s neck. She keeps the ketchup bottle in from of Mickey.

Peter is sitting next to Mickey. Mickey grabs the ketchup bottle and struggles to push the ketchup out of it.

PETER

“Don’t spill it on your shirt.”

Mickey nods and squeezes the ketchup bottle. Ketchup spills all over the eggs. He uses his fork and eats the eggs.

EXT. MICKEY’s HOUSE

After finishing his breakfast, Mickey and Jenny are waiting outside their house for the school bus to arrive. Driver John, as usual arrives at sharp 10 in front of the gate.

He opens the bus door.

DRIVER JOHN

“Make way for Capt. Michael Angello.”

Mickey salutes Driver John. Driver John salutes Mickey. Mickey enters the bus and walks to his favorite seat, the third last seat from the left.

DRIVER JOHN

“Good morning, Mrs. Peter.”

JENNY

“Good morning, John.”

Jenny points out the mustard sauce that was stick to the thick moustache of Driver John. He uses his baseball cap; he was wearing and wipes off the mustard.

INT. BUS – DRIVING

Driving towards the ‘Little Flower School for Specially abled’, the students along with Mickey and Driver John are singing their usual song.

Here comes our Driver John

Making turns and honking horn,

Here comes our Driver John,

Always making the spellings wrong.

Let us kids now teach him how

Spell it all like we do in school.

Apple?

A-P-P-L-E

Ball?

B-A-L-L