A sunny southern California morning. A quiet neighborhood with narrow streets, fences and sidewalks. A boy, 10 years old, is seen quietly closing the front door and pauses while he pulls on his Keds high tops. He quickly sneaks across the street and through the neighbor’s gate.
Two tennis shoes land softly then two hands touch the ground, balancing the boy as he lands from his jump off the concrete wall. He stands and brushes off the dirt and looks about. There are 4 rail cars, tracks and a supply shed. Plastic tarps are held up against the wall giving shelter to whomever chooses to stop and rest. The boy has supplied these make shift tents with candy, cookies and bottles of coke. They are all gone.
The boy then moves to the nearest rail car and climbs the ladder to the top. From here he can survey the yard and plan out his next adventure. Sitting, he imagines traveling in these boxcars to far away towns. Somewhere far away where maybe they don’t even speak English or eat hamburgers.
The scene darkens as noise mounts. We see black leather shoes walking briskly across a terrazzo floor. The image of a busy airport emerges and we see the boy, now 50 years later. He easily navigates between people heading to airline gates dragging multiple suitcases while their children run about. He has returned from yet another business trip that sent him to three cities and four airports. He’s tired of all this travel and can’t wait to have a glass of wine seated on the back of his 34′ sailboat.
The sounds of lapping water can be heard. Four feet are shown partially buried in the warm sand on an isolated Maui beach. The waves roll in and the gulls bellow above. The boy now 70 asks, what next? After 5 boats, an Airstream trailer and trips through the Caribbean, Europe, and across the US, he and his wife are seen talking of future plans…..