In a Bottle
April 23rd, 2021
Starring: Greer (female, 30-50), Manny (male, 30-50)
A smallish office. Morning, a little before official opening hours. No one’s in yet except Manny, who sits at his desk in his cubicle. It’s his first day back, and he’s just spread out his little desk valuables, office items, booted up his desktop computer. The default screen saver is of a Saharan sand dune. Manny clicks into settings, looking at the other options. He scrolls down until he finds a shot of a picture-perfect tropical island. He selects that one.
The office door opens. Manny stands up, slipping on his mask. Greer enters, also masked. They see each other and stop. It’s been over a year.
GREER
Hey.
MANNY
Hello.
GREER
It’s you.
MANNY
It’s me. In the flesh.
Greer walks closer, but still not too close.
GREER
Hard to believe
MANNY
Yeah
Didn’t think it would ever
…
GREER
Lemme see your face
Can I see your face?
…
‘Cause you’ve been—
MANNY
Yeah I have.
And you—?
GREER
Me too.
So
Greer takes off her mask. Manny takes off his mask. They look at each other’s faces:
GREER
Wow
You really grew out the
MANNY
What…?
GREER
The
MANNY
Oh, the...
Yeah this is my furlough beard. Sort of became a thing.
GREER
Ha
But not anymore
Right?
If you’re not
MANNY
Right
Guess it’s just a beard now
Kind of thinking of keeping it
GREER
It’s nice
I mean
If you like it
…
…
How was it?
Furlough, not—
MANNY
Oh, heh
um
It was long. Strange.
Everyone says it but it was like the strangest
Not losing the job but
not having it
...
I drove for GrubHub for a bit
Like four months
I stopped because I was spending more money than making
Found a lot of good food spots though
GREER
Oh yeah? That’s...that’s cool.
…
…
…
Did you do anything else?
Like for fun?
MANNY
Um
I’ve spent a lot of time on Google Earth?
Like a lot a lot
GREER
Really?
Just ‘cause, or—?
MANNY
Yeah. At first.
Every night I would generate some random coordinates and scroll around a few hours
Just to get that feeling of getting out, seeing the world
...
Then in July I got these coordinates out somewhere in the Pacific. It was just water. But in the corner, I noticed there was this speck. So I zoomed in, and there was this island. Maybe a quarter mile long and wide. Some coconut trees, a little sandy beach around the edge. No name, no inhabitants.
GREER
Sounds ideal.
MANNY
It was sort of exciting
Like here was this place out there nobody knew about, but I did.
...
But then I zoomed in even closer—like as close as I could go
And there was another speck. On the beach.
GREER
What, like...an animal?
MANNY
Or a person. I couldn’t tell.
But it left me wondering. Kept me up at night.
GREER
Did you find out?
MANNY
Well
I didn’t know if I would.
The Google Earth satellites don’t update much. Sometimes it’s months. Years.
But I waited. Kept refreshing the page, in case.
And like a month later...boom!
Manny pulls up his phone, showing her a screenshot, pointing:
MANNY
See that one little patch? Where there’s no trees?
GREER
Uh
Uh-huh
MANNY
That wasn’t in the first image.
GREER
And so…?
MANNY
An animal can’t cut down a coconut grove.
That proved someone was out there. A human.
GREER
Oh
You think
MANNY
And it didn’t end there.
He shows her his phone again, swiping to a new screenshot as he mentions:
MANNY
This is the refresh from October. More cleared brush.
Then December...doesn’t that area look like a little garden??
Now here’s February. There’s your wooden foundation…
Which brings me to March, where that foundation’s turned into—wait for it...a hut!
They built a frickin’ house!!! On an island!! Alone!
Like...that’s bananas.
GREER
Completely coconuts.
…
And…?
MANNY
And...that’s it.
GREER
There’s no April?
MANNY
It hasn’t refreshed yet. Not sure if it will.
...
I’m not worried, I just...I care. To see someone out there, way out there, against all odds, surviving. Not just surviving, living! Thriving!
If they can make it, I can. That’s what’s gotten me through.
…
GREER
Wow
It’s
MANNY
Strange
GREER
Sure but
It all is
Nothing surprises me anymore.
…
I guess my only thing...
MANNY
...what?
GREER
Nevermind
MANNY
No what—?
GREER
I guess
If you really cared for them
Wouldn’t you try to save them?
…
MANNY
I...yeah.
But maybe
Maybe they don’t want to be
Maybe there’s a better way to appreciate than rescuing
GREER
What would you want?
MANNY
I don’t know
Just thank them
Tell them how I feel
GREER
So do that.
MANNY
How?
GREER
In a note.
MANNY
Yeah but like
How?
GREER
A message in a bottle.
…
What?
MANNY
Come on.
GREER
Why not?
MANNY
It’s a fairy tale ending. There’s no way it’ll work.
GREER
Probably not.
But still. Never know.
Greer’s desk phone rings. She looks at the clock, which reads a minutes before official opening.
MANNY
Shouldn’t you—?
GREER
Unfortunately.
…
Oh—!
Greer jogs to the office fridge. She takes out a glass bottle of mineral water, handing it to Manny.
GREER
Just in case.
Manny takes the bottle from her. Greer walks to her phone (still ringing), but turns:
GREER
Nice having you back, Manny.
MANNY
Yeah.
Good to be here.
Greer disappears behind her cubicle and starts talking on the phone. Manny turns back to his cubicle, Greer’s voice trailing off. He puts the bottle on his desk, next to his computer. He shakes his mouse to awaken the screen, revealing the tropical desktop. He then pulls up Google Earth, typing in specific coordinates. The globe zooms to the island, still showing the March image. He clicks the refresh button. Nothing new.
Manny frowns, then takes the bottle in his hands and twists off the top, taking a first big swig. From his desk, Manny pulls out a blank piece of printer paper and a pen. Another big swig. He clicks his pen and starts to write: “Dear kind survivor....”