Thunderstorm

[Gothic organ version of opening theme music plays]

ALEXANDER DANNER

You are listening to Exercises in Sound, an exploration of narrative sound design. 

[Gothic organ continues through episode.]

[TV plays in background. Heavy rain. Thunder.]

[Character A wakes up.]

CHARACTER A - JORDAN STILLMAN

Oh, what? I guess. I guess I fell asleep. God. Hey, you let me fall asleep!

[She turns off the television and returns the remote to the coffee table.]

CHARACTER A

Hello?!

[No response. Character A gets up and crosses to the right. She closes a window, muffling the sound of the rain.]

CHARACTER A

Where’d you go?

[Keys in a lock. The front door opens. Character B enters, with the rustle of a paper bag. Their footsteps squeak because they are wet.]

CHARACTER A

There you are.

[Character B sets the paper bag down.]

CHARACTER B - JORDAN HIGGS

Hey, you’re up. Have a good nap?

[Character B shakes out and closes an umbrella, then removes a jacket. He kicks off his wet shoes. Character B picks up the paper bag and walks to the kitchen, through a swinging door, followed by Character A.]

CHARACTER A

You were here when I fell asleep, but then I woke up and couldn’t find you. You left me all alone.

CHARACTER B

Well, I just ran to the store, and I haven’t been gone long.

[Character B unpacks items and puts them away. Some into cabinets, some into the refrigerator.]

CHARACTER A

Well, I wish you’d left a note.

CHARACTER B
Would it make you feel better if I got you some ice cream?

CHARACTER A

What kind?

CHARACTER B

So, there was some kind of wild rush for ice cream before I got there. You wouldn’t even believe how emptied out they were.

CHARACTER A

So…?

[B pulls a carton from the paper bag and puts it on the counter.]

CHARACTER B

It's rum raisin.

[Ominous crack of thunder.]

CHARACTE B

It's, it’s all they had.

CHARACTER A

Oh.

[Gothic organ theme fades.]

[Closing theme music]

CREDITS

ALEXANDER DANNER

Exercises in Sound is created, written, and sound designed by Alexander Danner and directed by James Oliva, featuring performances by Jordan Higgs and Jordan Stillman. 

Theme music by Catherine Seaton, tile art by Sam Twardy. 

Exercises in Sound is inspired by Raymond Queneau's Exercises in Style and Matt Madden's 99 Ways to Tell a Story, which conducted similar experiments in the forms of prose fiction and comics respectively.

Funded in part by grants from HeartLife NFP and Emerson College. 

Find episode transcripts online at exercisessinsound.com. 

For access to an ad-free feed for exercises in sound, you can support the show at thirdSight.memberful.com. 

For news and updates, sign up for the Third Sight Media newsletter, link in the show notes. 

Exercises and Sound is a ThirdSight media production.