Prunella's Special Edition/Transcript

Introduction

Prunella comes up a stone staircase wearing wizard’s robes and carrying a torch and a piece of parchment.

Prunella: ...97, 98, 99, 100. “One hundred steps to begin your quest.” Now what?    She sees lots of bookshelves and walks up to one.   Wow! “The Raven” by Poe, “The Seagull” by Chekov, “The Wild Duck” by Ibsen. Hey. All these titles have something in common!    The books come to life. They fly up squawking and attack Prunella.   Aaah! Get off!   Prunella draws a wand.    Snickety snappety sugary smore, magic wand, show me the door!    A door appears out of thin air.    Hh!    She runs through the door.     Whoa, that was close.    She steps on a trapdoor and falls down a long tunnel.   A-a-a-a-h!    She grabs hold of a ledge. Her wand keeps falling.   Hng...must...reach rug.   She takes a rolled-up rug out of her robes and loosens the string with her teeth. The rug unrolls, she jumps on it and flies along a tunnel past eyes looking out of holes. She ends up in a richly furnished room. On a lectern is a book with a large “P”.    The book! I found it! And it's all mine!   She opens it.   But the pages are blank! They’re all blank.    Arthur, Francine, Brain, Buster and Muffy look down from a painting.

Kids: (laughs)

Prunella: No-o-o-o!

Title Card: Fortune Teller

A long line has formed outside of a bookstore at midnight. Arthur, Buster and Brain are near the beginning.

Arthur: Only three more minutes till midnight. I wish they'd open already.

Brain: Me too. I'm so excited, I’ll probably read “Henry Skreever and The Cabbage Of Mayhem” in one day.

Arthur: Why isn’t Prunella here? She's been first in line ever since book two came out.

Buster: Maybe an ice-cream truck crashed in front of her house.

Arthur: Maybe she already got the book!   The clock strikes twelve.   Oh, tell me she didn't already get the book. I wanted to finish it first this time.    The door of the store opens. The children start walking in, except Brain.

Brain: The chances that Prunella has acquired an advance copy of the…   Wait for me!

#

Prunella stands in front of a mirror in her room wearing wizard’s robes. She paints a green key on her forehead. She hangs up stars on her ceiling and nails something to the staircase. Rubella hears the noise in her room.

Rubella: What's going on up there?   She comes up the stairs. Prunella is hiding inside a “Fat Lady” costume. OK, Pruny, what's the deal?

Prunella: What's the password?

Rubella: Let me guess. "Whatever"?

Prunella: Wrong. (chuckles) I am so ready. Only one more day.

#

Prunella imagines Lakewood Elementary as “Pigblisters School of Charms, Tricks & Spells”. Mr. Ratburn’s car gets caught by a tree.

Mr. Ratburn: Mr. Morris! The Mangling Maple needs trimming again. It’s getting wild.

#

Prunella: Everybody knows what’s going on but me. I’m as lost as Perse-PHONE in “The Tweezers of Woe”.

Mr. Ratburn: I believe it’s pronounced Per-SE-pho-nee.

Prunella: Huh?

Mr. Ratburn: Persephone. Taken from Greek Mythology. She was the daughter of Demeter, the goddess of the harvest.

#

Prunella gets an E-Mail from Arthur.

Prunella: (reads:) “Prunella, I just finished reading chapter twelve, Arthur. P.S.: Henry turns himself into a kumquat.”       Aughh!!

Buster: I thought you were on chapter six.

Arthur: Actually I haven’t even finished chapter three yet.

Buster: Wow. I gotta go!

Arthur: Why?

Buster: I’m on chapter four. I wanna keep my lead.

#

Prunella has tried without success to learn Braille.

Prunella: I guess I could use it as a paperweight.    

She bumps into Marina. Both girls fall down.

Marina: Oh.

Prunella: Oh.     Marina feels for her cane.

Marina: In bowling I think that’s called a strike.   They get up.     My name’s Marina.

Prunella: Oh, hello. I’m Prunella.    Marina picks up Henry Skreever.

Marina: Is this one mine?   Whoa, this is the new Henry Skreever.

Prunella: You read Braille?

Marina: Ya, don’t you?

Prunella: Oh, er… no. I’m not, um…

Marina: Blind? (chuckles) It’s all right to say it. How did you get your hands on a Braille copy of “The Cabbage of Mayhem”? I’ve been trying to get one for weeks.

Prunella: So you haven’t read it yet either?

Marina: Nope.   She feels the first page.    Oh, gosh, this is really cool.  Hey, Prunella, I know we just met and all, but since Braille’s not you thing, can I borrow it?

Prunella: You can have it.

Marina: Oh, I couldn’t take it for good. This one has your name on it.

Prunella: It does?

Marina: Here, give me your hand. It says:   Marina moves Prunella’s hand over the book cover.    "This book belongs to Prunella". If you want it I could read it to you.

Prunella: Oh, um, I kind of wanted to read it myself. I do all the voices out loud. But you can still borrow it.

Marina: Great. I’ll meet you’re here next Saturday to give it back.    She sits down at a table. Prunella walks away.    Oh, so soon, too. Henry Skreever, you don’t waste a second.    Prunella comes back.

Prunella: Wait, wait! What happened? Tell me!     She sits down at the table.

Marina: Okay then. From the top. “Henry awoke to the sound of a creaking, croaking voice. His enchanted dresser was talking again, and it had a strange tale to tell."

#

Marina reads to Prunella at Prunella’s home.

Marina: (reads:) "Chapter twelve: Henry and the Kumquat."

Prunella: Hey, Marina. You know, you do Persephone’s voice perfectly.

Marina: Without you I’d still be saying Perse-PHONE.   Both laugh.   Would you pass the pumpkin juice please.