Developed Idea : Story Telling Unit

"The Meeting”

Set: 1987
Location: In the 'social room' of the care home. 

All 16 year old Rylee is interested in is playing football. His goal for a future career is to become a professional football player but he has been forced to do a work experience placement at a residential home for the elderly. Rylee’s attitude when working at the care home aggravates the residents as he shows no effort to interact with them or show a smile. One morning while working at the home, Rylee fetches a black coffee for the oldest resident in the care home, Jimmy. Jimmy tells Rylee to sit with him while he drinks his coffee so that he has some company. He kicks out the foot stool from under his feet and gestures with a nod for Rylee to sit. Rylee begrudgingly sits but says nothing in the hope that the man will soon get bored of the silence and excuse him. This scenario happens on three occasions. When Rylee sits with Jimmy on the fourth occasion, he is surprised when Jimmy says;

“Tell me, what exactly do you want from life?”

Rylee sighs and replies “football. I wanna be a professional footballer.” 

“Ahhh. I see. You footballers are above sitting with the likes of us old folk. I understand. Alright, you can go.”

This caused Rylee to feel unsettled and therefore remained rooted to his seat. Jimmy sips his coffee and raises his eyebrow at the boy and smiles. 

“Boy this is the first time you’ve stayed in your seat after being excused from it. What’s the matter, legs won’t work?” Rylee didn’t know how to respond so just shuffled his feet awkwardly on the rough carpet. Jimmy stared expectantly at Rylee, as Rylee stared expectantly back. Suddenly, Jimmy bursts out laughing, breaking Rylee’s sense of awkwardness. 

“Boy you’re so focused on not being here that you don’t even know what your company means to people.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“Take a look around here. Have you ever asked anyone in this room what they did with their lives? Some of these folk go months or even years without seeing a friendly face who wants to listen to them. And you come in here in your jeans and fancy trainers, thinking you’re the best of the best and I bet you don’t even know half of these people’s names.” The boy sits staring at the man slightly stunned before finally saying, “so… You like football?” 

Jimmy chortles a hearty laugh having finally gotten a conversation starter out of him. 

“Boy you have no idea. I once played for England against the Germans on Christmas Day 1914! Was the best day of my life.”

“Seriously? You? Played for England?”

“Oh now your’e interested?” Jimmy pulled one eyebrow up into a smug looking expression, allowing Rylee to shrug and admit defeat. 

“I was a soldier in World War 1 Rylee. There weren’t no fancy trainers back in them days, I tell ya now.” 

Rylee sighed a laugh and leaned on his elbows to hear more of the story.

“It was Christmas Day 1914 and over the trenches us troops could hear what sounded like singing. At first we prepared for an attack however we were dumbfounded to find that the Germans were placing tiny little Christmas Trees along their trench line singing German Christmas Songs. Well us Brits always did like a bit of competition so naturally, we sang our own. After a while a miniature ceasefire was called and both sides climbed out of the trenches. UNARMED I might add. It was at that point i realised, these Germans weren’t savage beasts like they were made out to be back home. They were just doing their duty, same as us. Eventually the troops were making friends and a big game of football engulfed no man’s land. It was the best Christmas I have ever had, and trust me Rylee, being 87 years of age, I’ve had my fair share!” 

Rylee laughed and expressed with interest “It sounds amazing, what an experience.”

“Yeah. But it weren’t al good Son. Lots of good men died out there. From both trenches.” Jimmy looked off into the distance as if to be remembering a series of tragic and painful events.

It went on like that for the next 5 weeks. Rylee bringing a coffee and a pack of cards and Jimmy relaying stories of his time in the war both before, during and after. The more Jimmy talked, the more Rylee became interested and exhilarated by Jimmy’s personal account of his life. It made him wonder how much one person really could encounter in a lifetime. 

Two weeks later Rylee came back to the care home, with a book in his hand. It was a written account of all Jimmy’s stories rolled into one big catalogue of events. Ever since Jimmy’s first story about football at Christmas, Rylee had been writing them down later that evening. He couldn’t wait to show him to see if he’d missed anything important out or if something should need tweaking here or there. When he reached Jimmy’s armchair he was confused to see that he was not sitting there with his feet up on the stool. He wasn’t sitting there at all. Rylee stopped a carer as she passed and questioned as to where he was. Maybe he was just in the bathroom or something. The carer avoided all eye contact but placed a single hand upon Rylee’s shoulder and shook her head dismally. 

“I’m sorry” she said quietly, “he passed on late last night.” She patted his arm sympathetically and walked on solemnly. Rylee stumbled dazed over to Jimmy’s chair and slumped down onto the foot stool where he had sat for so many weeks. With shaky hands he looked down at the book in his hands and felt hot tears creeping to the corners of his eyes. A frail hand came down on his shoulder. An elderly lady, Doris her name was, expressed how much Rylee had meant to Jimmy these past few weeks. 

“He always had a smile on his face once you had left. ‘I told you I could do it’ he’d say, ‘I told you I’d get him talking to me’ he really was a bit of a show-off you know, but he made this place much more entertaining.” Doris walked away and out of the room mopping a tear from her eye with a handkerchief. 

Rylee drank in Doris’s words and clutched the book of Jimmy’s history in his hands. It was in that moment Rylee decided what exactly he wanted from life. For Jimmy’s story to be told. 

THE END 

Character Profiles               

Protagonist - Rylee

AGE:  16

GOAL: To become a professional footballer.

CONFLICT: He is made to do work experience by his father in a care home where a pushy old man makes him sit with him while he drinks his coffee and play cards.

PERSONALITY: His main interest is becoming a professional footballer, he cares about his appearance, he's a show-off, often places himself on a higher level than the people around him (AKA: he's a snob), he's confident and cocky, has no time for school studies, spends all the time he can on the pitch, he isn't much of a team player, quite selfish, is an only child.

BACKSTORY: Rylee is an only child with a rich background. His father is the owner of a big company in sales and therefore receives a large income. His mother is a stay at home mum who regularly holds book meetings in the living room which prevents him from watching football. His parents don't approve of him wanting to be a footballer as they want him to follow in the footsteps of his father and become an apprentice for the family business. Rylee's love of football causes his relationship with his parents to be strenuous and at times tested when they are using their efforts to influence his career path. Rylee often rebells against his parents, which they allow him to because they don't often give Rylee a lot of attention due to the busy lives they lead. When Rylee is not watching football at home or playing football, he is at school. Rylee detests the school uniform as it doesn't make him stand out from the other school students where he believes he should. If Rylee doesn't get his own way at school, he often threatens the teachers that his father will sue the school for child neglect. One day a teacher calls Rylee's parents and tell them of the disgusting behaviour Rylee gets up to on a day to day basis and suggest that some proper work experience would be a good way to ground him. His father, horrified at the thought of Rylee being considered a rude and arrogant teenager sends him to work in the local care home for 1 month as he could not get him access to work in his family business.    

THE MEETING: When working at the care home, Rylee reluctantly makes an old man coffee and is requested to sit with him while he drinks it and play a game of cards to keep him entertained. This happens three days in a row. On the fourth day, Rylee is forced into conversation with the old man who asks "What is it you want from life?" This question is the key theme throughout the entirety of the film and is asked to make both the characters and the audience question what exactly they want from life. As Rylee learns, what he thought he originally wanted (to be a footballer) changes and he gains a more moral goal from the experiences the old man gives him. He finds this through the old man (Jimmy) gaining a common ground in conversation through football. Jimmy was a soldier in WW1 and told Rylee of when he played football in no mans land 1914. This sparked the interest in Rylee and began his idea to write all of Jimmy's war stories in a book for him. 

THE CHANGE: Rylee's perspective of people changes and his goal of becoming a footballer to taking up a degree in World War One after he returns to the care home three months later to the news that Jimmy has passed away. His death triggers the change in Rylee and signifies to the audience how the change in Rylee has been building up since the start of the work experience placement. Rylee completes the biography and is determined to present Jimmy's tales to the world. 

Main Character - Jimmy

AGE: 87

GOAL: To change Rylee's perception of people and to find out what he wants from his life by making him realise the opportunities out there. 

PERSONALITY: He doesn't take any bad attitude, he is calm, can be a bit of a conceit at times towards the other residents living in the care home, optimistic, determined, confident, old and frail but strong in character, enjoys discussions and company, drinks black coffee and always plays cards when drinking it. He blames himself for the death of his fiancé in WW1. He feels guilty and angry towards the war and feels the only way he can forgive himself is to help others that need it.

BACKSTORY: Jimmy joined the Army in World War 1 when he was just 19 years old. He survived the process through using his knowledge of mechanics which was his chosen career before joining the war. After Christmas 1914, Jimmy suggested to his commanding officer that he work in the warehouses and fix the ambulance and medic cars as they broke down often when riding in the rough terrain of no man's land. This got him out of battles as he had received a minor injury to his knee when attacking the opposing trench. After having to be admitted to the hospital to get his knee treated, he fell in love with a nurse working there and they arranged to get married when the war was over. In taking up the job of the mechanic, he was able to visit the hospital often to see her. 3 weeks before the war had ended his love was called out to no man's land to help fetch the injured British soldiers when she was wounded by shrapnel from German gunshots. She made it back to the hospital but unfortunately died from bloodless. Her death caused Jimmy heartbreak but influenced him in helping to shape as many lives as he could, no matter the background. She had opened his eyes to a world away from War and pain by asking him "what do you want from life?" and he felt determined to do the same for others. When the war ended Jimmy became a doctor helping soldiers with shell shock. He retired age 56 because his knee injury prevented him from carrying out further practice. He stayed at his bungalow for 17 more years before moving into the residential care home where he meets Rylee. He died of natural causes.  

OPENING LINE: "What is it that you want from life?"