| Scene number: 1 | Scrivener number: 1A1 |
| Title: Shownews number 10 | Save the Cat beat: Opening Image |
| Date: Wednesday 2 March 2020 | Location: School |
| Satus: First draft | Storiesonline story codes: slow |
| Created: 18-10-2023 | Modified: |
| Word count: 1017 | Total word count: 1017 |
| Target word count scene: 1000 |
1. Show News #10
The gorgeous nude woman on the cover of the tabloid was my mother holding another naked man, but that guy wasn’t my father. My father claimed page 10 for his own five seconds of glory in Show News magazine.
To see my parents in the tabloids is nothing new. From the moment my mother was running for Miss Holland 1999 all the trashy newspapers and magazines loved to have her. When she married the rising star of politics she was nicknamed ‘the Dutch Eva Peron’. She was beautiful then, she is still one of the prettiest women on television today.
There she was standing in the sea, could feel the force of the wave approaching, like an omen? The dampness clung to her long brown hair, making it appear darker than usual. Her body was beautifully tanned, with the exception of a small, untanned spot where her bikini bottom had shielded her skin from the sun. That white spot was an eye magnet impossible to ignore. Even if that guy next to her had a whiter bum, male eyes, and perhaps even a few females, just had to look at my mothers’ ass. Holding her left hand extended above her head, my mother’s right hand becomes the center of attention. It suggests that she’s holding the guy’s dick in her hand.
The man, seen on his back, like my mother, is far too young to be my father. An excessive number of conniving political dinners made him fat. It’s clear this guy has put in some serious hours at the gym. ‘Exclusive pictures from exotic holiday’. The exotic place was Positano in Italy. I have no idea where that is. She told me before she left that she’d attend a seminar in London.
I turned my phone off. All day long people sent me photos of Show News. Upon entering the locker room at the gym in school, I discovered that someone had decided to play a joke on me by placing the magazine in my usual spot. It was impossible to ignore the girls openly gossiping with each other.
“Hey Ryker, man, show me your ass so I can take a picture. Who knows I might make some money with it!”, shouted William. He makes stupid jokes all the time. I’m fine with brushing off his comments any day except today. With a loud thud, I let my schoolbag fall to the floor and made a beeline for William through the crowded hall. He slowly inched backward, trying to put some distance between himself and the situation. I grabbed him by his shirt.
“Compare tonight your mother’s butt with mine and jerk off afterward. Be careful you don’t come all over the magazine, so you’ll have to buy a new one. Do with the pic whatever you like, just keep your mouth shut for once in your life.”
William went a little pale. It was common knowledge at school I didn’t get pissed off easily, but if I did people might get hurt. He made a defensive gesture, and I turned around. For a moment, there was complete silence, but then the noise came rushing back.
The intensity of my anger made me crave the destruction of something or someone. Instead, I went to Ms. Berents’ classroom. My English teacher’s classroom had been my refuge many times.
“Sanctuary?” I asked like Quasimodo did.
“I was expecting you”, Ms. Berents said with a smile on her face. She carried herself with an air of nobility, despite her old age, always maintaining a prim and proper appearance.
“I want to hit someone real bad.”
“Anyone in mind?”
“Willam?”
“Bad choice. William has a lot of bulky friends and an influential father as well.”
“True”, I admitted. “How about Hidde? I can break his legs?”
“Even worse choice. He’s in the Dutch national soccer team under 18”.
“Can I at least throw your furniture out of the window?”
“Better sit down, and tell me what is happening”, ms. Berents said calmly. “Take very deep breaths, close your eyes, and spill it. What made you so upset?”
“I’m not mad at anyone here. They are just being immature and their own adolescent self. I’m mad at my mom for being so stupid to swim naked with some stranger. She knows she’s being watched by the paparazzi. I’m angry with my dad because he fails to recognize mom’s importance and neglects her, leaving her feeling the need to seek affection elsewhere.”
Ms. Berents just looked at me.
“I know they’re not faithful for a long time. After my dad got the last nanny pregnant, my mother insisted the next nanny would be a man or a couple. It’s because of that reason that Joost and Rosalie are now keeping an eye on me.”
“But it’s different when you see your mother with another lover?”
“Yes. I don’t know why.”
“It’s because you are a man. Men feel themselves responsible for protecting the female, even if that woman is your mother. You want to protect her from a man that exploits her, just because she’s famous. It’s just a male thing to do.”
“That feels sexist.”
“It is”, Ms. Berents acknowledged. “Don’t feel bad about it though, it’s ingrained in your body, cultivated over thousands of years of civilization. What do you think: can I set you free in this school without hearing sirens outside in the next ten minutes?”
“Can I stay here until the next scandal steals the spotlight?”
“No way, I have a class here in three minutes and I have to prepare something before that. Off you go, and stay out of trouble.”
Several girls came to me that afternoon and claimed to understand how I felt. I knew they lied. I don’t know how I feel. Yet I had a bad feeling about this. Dad may have had lovers in the past – and present for all I know – but he’s discreet about it. Being on the cover of Show News isn’t discrete, to put it mildly.
Was it my mother’s turn to settle the score with Dad?