by Von Kambro
Amelia replies with a curt tone. Her voice is clear even-though she is stressed from the ongoing questions and implication from Roger.
Amelia: “No. he was my partner. Husbands are for women who want to be told what to do and how to think.”
Roger backs away from his questions and pursuit of George’s role in Amelia’s life.
Roger: “Okay. Got it.”
Amelia and Roger’s friendly rapport has hit a snag, and Amelia remains silent for awhile. Roger doesn’t want to risk being tossed into the Ocean from the large, protective native woman so he excuses himself and walks down to the shoreline and walks along the beach while re-thinking his current situation
Roger: “G.P. bad. Neta, good. Canary, good, and sad.”
Amelia stares in his direction while speaking softly.
Amelia: “G.P. business partner…and husband.”
Roger continues walking down the beach and periodically picks up a stone and looks at it then tosses it out into the water. Amelia watches him as he strolls along the beach.
Eventually Roger returns and Amelia is allowed to sit with him down by the shore, but the native women don’t leave her out of their sight. Amelia begins to explain to Roger another faded, but revisited memory from her life.
Amelia: “Now remember, you said you wanted to know my story.”
Roger: “That’s right, missy.”
Roger glances behind him and sees a brutish looking woman stand up as she folds her arms and snarls at him.
Roger: “You better make it quick.”
G.P.
The warm, salty waves brush over Amelia’s feet as she continues to tell Roger the bits of faded memory that cling to mind. She rubs the side of her cheek and sighs.
Amelia: “G.P. George. Mr. Putnam to most, but I always called him G.P.”
Roger: George Putnam? The publisher? Well now, you were in some high dollar circles weren’t you?”
Amelia digs her feet deeper into the soft, damp sand and leans forward and scoops up some frothy sea foam and brushes along one of her legs.
Amelia: “He was. I just happened to be there. I didn’t care much for the parties and such. We had a partnership, and it suited both of our business needs.”
Roger: “I see.”
Roger doesn’t press the husband issue. He learned from earlier that is the one subject to leave well enough alone.
Roger: “So, what was the partnership? I mean, was it about you being famous, or was it about him publishing your books and such?”
Amelia is silent. She leans forward once more and scoops more of the white, bubbly surf and rubs it on both of her legs as she steadily looks forward as she speaks.
Amelia: “It was both actually. He built my identity and was able to use it to promote my books and create an image as a timid, but swashbuckling aviator.”
Roger looks at Amelia as she rubs her scarred legs.
Roger: “Was it worth it?”
Amelia caresses her legs and stops. She looks at Roger with a discerning glint.
Amelia: “To him. Not me.”
Amelia leans back and rests on her elbows and tosses her head back and looks skyward and then at roger and smiles.
Amelia: “It wasn’t all bad. I mean, I did get to meet the President, the Queen and was treated with great admiration everywhere I went.”
Amelia’s life with George Putnam was a mutual alliance that created, built and perpetuated her image as a celebrity.
Her life became more hectic because of her growing notoriety and everywhere she went, the cameras followed.
Amelia: “It seemed every time I turned around I was being blinded by a cameraman. Being a celebrity isn’t easy, and I often became very weary from it.”
Roger now leans back on his elbows and rests in the sand as he and Amelia remain silent as they watch children run down to the shoreline and then carefully wade into the turquoise waters and splash water at one another before running back out.
Amelia: “They’re lucky.”
Roger: “How’s that?”
Amelia glances at Roger then at the children.
Amelia: “Nobody can find them here.”
Roger looks at Amelia as she looks at him with an unannounced implication while the laughter of children rings between the beating rhythms of the surf.
Ireland, Hawaii and Miami
Roger and Amelia lie on the beach and close their eyes and listen to the waves and the children’s laughter intermingles and slowly fades away.
A distant, but constant buzzing sound is heard. As it becomes louder it easily more identifiable as a plane.
Amelia sits up and places her arms around her knees and looks out at the horizon. Roger’s hat is pulled over his face as he continues to lie in the sand, but he answers Amelia’s thoughts before she says a word.
Roger: “Yep. Probably looking for you.”
Amelia watches a black speck in a perfectly clear, light blue sky as it buzzes along the Ocean’s glimmering surface.
Amelia: “I’m fine.”
Roger lifts his hat and looks at Amelia.
Roger: “I bet you miss flying though.”
Amelia: “I miss some of the people I met because of flying. The places I went were many, but I can recall only a few.”
Roger leans back and pulls his hat over his face.
Roger: “Like who mate?”
Amelia leans back on gently rests her elbows on the sparkling grains of dampened white, powder soft sand. She closes her eyes as she speaks.
Amelia: “I met this charming gentleman when I landed in a field in Ireland. He was so kind. He marked the spot where my plane landed and then asked me if I had flown far.”
Roger laughs after Amelia recalls the moment, and then asks a question that makes Amelia re-think her celebrity status.
Roger: “He didn’t know who you were?”
Amelia: “I guess he didn’t follow the news.”
As Amelia and Roger share her bits and pieces of memories, she touches on the two moments before she made her last flight from the United States.
Amelia: “I don’t why I can recall certain moments with such clarity, and then other wisp by like a speeding bird. I can barely catch a glimpse.”
Roger: “It must the important moments and people in your life that stick in your mind, otherwise, why remember them, right?”
Amelia: “Yes. I suppose your right, although when I flew to Hawaii and Miami there were many people I met, and recall their faces, but not their names.”
Roger: “Well in that case, it must be the moments that were special, but I’m sure there must’ve been someone who stood out. There always is.”
Amelia leans back further in the sand and lay down with one arm over her face to protect her eyes from a blinding, boisterous Sun that casts waves of light from its prominent place within the solar system. Amelia talks in a soft, thoughtful tone
Amelia: “Fred. He was with me all the way from Hawaii-“
Sensing something is wrong, Roger removes his hat and sits up and looks at Amelia as she exhales heavily a few times before continuing.
Amelia: “He was funny. Charming, He made the trip bearable. The others departed after we departed Miami. If they hadn’t, they would be here.”
Amelia’s recollection of flying from Hawaii and Miami are assembled in loose bits and pieces.
They are tied to her fame and mysterious disappearance from the capturing eyes of people and cameras.
Lost…and found
Amelia and Roger have spent the day seaside.
Breathing the warm tropical air, touching the sand and feeling the bubbling water on her has left Amelia rejuvenated, but ready for more rest.
They walk back to her hut and stand for a moment and look at each other.
Roger: “I can still get you out of here.”
/>
Amelia quickly nods her head back and forth.
Amelia: “No. It’d be worse if I went back; it would be much, much worse.”
Roger slowly nods his head up and down.
Roger: “You know, they think you’re lost.”
Amelia turns and looks at the Ocean. Its waves roll onto an empty, sandy white shoreline. Without saying a word, she walks limpidly toward the water.
Roger follows close behind as she walks down to the water’s edge. He stands behind her and watches as she bends her head downward and looks at her feet as the warm, salty water gently rushes over her scarred feet.
She looks back at Roger and slowly, purposefully moves her head back and forth as she begins to walk along the shoreline.
Amelia: “I don’t want to be found.”
Roger watches Amelia as she walks away from him. In between him and Amelia, seagulls land and begin to follow her from a few feet behind.
Roger: “I won’t tell a soul.”
Amelia stops and turns to look back at Roger. As she does, the seagulls stop their silent parade. She looks down at the curious birds, then back up at Roger before as she walks into her future while leaving her past in the wake of the salted, Pacific Ocean.
The End.
About the Author:
Von Kambro has written seven feature length screenplays, all of which have earned recognition in North America, South America, Europe and Australia
He has written two other books based on his Award-Winning screenplays while living near the shores of Lake Michigan.
Finding Amelia.
A short story based on the Award-Winning screenplay.
This short story uses two characters to tell a story of Amelia Earhart and key events in her life that made her the person the public loved, and have missed since she went missing from the mysterious flight that would’ve culminated in her crowning achievement as an aviator.
In “Finding Amelia” Amelia Earhart recalls scattered moments left in her memory to an Australian bush pilot -Roger Danvill- that meets her while making a delivery to the remote island she’s been on since her plane crashed into its rocky shoreline.
Bittersweet passages combined with thoughtful summaries highlight this story is told from Amelia to the one person that could take her back to her fame and former lifestyle, but instead promises to keep her disappearance a mystery for all time.
