Page One
Panel One: Looking from behind the girl, she stands on rocks on the bank of a trickling, bubbling stream next to weeded over bushes and branches. Across from her is the opposite bank, and beyond that bank are tall green trees and thick clouds above the trees. She is wearing tan pants and a red/pink jacket that comes down to her knees. Her shoes are black with white stripes. She is looking down. Strands of her long hair lie, messy and unkempt, on her jacket.
Panel Two: Looking from the opposite bank toward the girl. Her red/pink jacket is buttoned up all the way to her neck and her sleeves cover her hands. Her hands are cupped together, one hand on top of the clear plastic bag, one holding it from underneath. A goldfish floats inside. He is pointed down and looking at the rocks below him, confused but content. Behind her, through the few rows of trees, big, tall pines, a road runs horizontal across the panel. On the left edge of the panel is a car’s hood pulled over on the side of the road. Just the front bumper and tire show. Behind the road is a small run of green grass that drops into a lake. The wakes in the water move in a rhythmic lull.
Panel one of a series of inserts: she opens the bag and looks at the goldfish swimming inside.
Panel two: She grabs the bag by the bottom edges and flips it over.
Panel three: The fish falls into the trickling stream.
Panel four: She crushes the bag.
Panel five (last insert): She stuffs the bag into her pocket.
Panel Six: Looking from underneath the water, our fish friend plops into the water that is partially greened from the reflection of the trees.
Panel Seven: Our fish friend swims immediately up to the surface. His head breaks the surface. His scales glisten in the sun. In the reflection of his eyes, she is turned away, walking back toward the road.
Page Two
Panel One: From above the water. He dives quickly underneath and swims along the rocks of bank, trying to track her (takes place over three panels).
Panel Two: From above the water, cont’d swimming along the bank.
Panel Three: From above the water, cont’d swimming along the bank.
Panel Four: From underneath the water. He turns away from the bank and swims upstream. Behind him, other fish are also swimming toward, (unseen), the lake in the distance. The sun shines through the water in sections between the trees. In the darker sections where no light hits, soda-can tabs and other small pieces of trash, and cigarette butts sit on the rocky and sandy bottom.
Panel Five: Our fish friend swims toward the other fish ahead of him. They are all swimming toward blue open water.
Panel Six: He pulls close into the group of bunched up fish.
Panel Seven: The group of fish change positions. Some of the fish swim over the top of others. Some swim under.
Panel Eight: Our fish friend looks to his left, to the bank, and veers off from the group toward the side of the bank and swims to the surface. The bank wall is muddy, and both sharp and dull rocks stick out.
Panel Nine: Looking from above, on the bank’s edges, toward the water. Small tufts of grass stick up from the edge in front of the water. Bubbles of air appear on top of the water. From the bank, our fish friend is visible underneath the water.
Panel Ten: The same view, from the shore’s edge, but flipped to look back into the tree line. A brown and tan bird is in one of the tree. He is picking the darker feathers of his wings.
Page Three
Panel One: The bird, mid swoop, comes down from the tree to land on the bank near the bubbles.
Panel Two: Looking from in the tree where the bird was sitting at the back of the bird as he looks at the water. The fish’s face is above the water, mouth open. He is looking at the bird.
Panel Three: Looking from the side view next to the bird and fish, the bird is bent down over the water so the fish’s mouth and his beak almost touch. The bird’s feathers are ruffled from where he was pecking at himself. A white feather pokes out from underneath. Clumped leaves and debris fill the side of the bank below the bird and in front of the fish.
Panel Four: Our fish friend is disappeared underneath the water. Our new bird friend watches the water ripples in the water and his own reflection.
Panel Five: Our bird friend is in flight back between the trees where he sat before, his wings outstretched.
Panel Six (first): A series of two panels in a side-view close up of the bird flying between the trees.
Panel Seven (second): In the second panel he is passing a tree trunk on the left side, and the right side of the panel is open grassy area with a patch of flowering plants inside a grove of trees.
Page Four
Panel One: Looking from between the trees at the back of our bird friend descending onto the dirt next to the flower patches buzzing with bees. Many of the bees sit on the flowers, sucking pollen from them. Others buzz around the flowers and plants.
Panel Two: The bird, landed, thrusts its head into the dirt next to the flowers in search of worms.
Panel Three: The bird hops closer to the flowers in his search. As he does this, one of the bees leaves his flower to protect it and flies toward the bird.
Panel Four: The bee buzzes close to the bird and hits the bird’s tan puffed chest.
Panel Five: The bird immediately hops up into flight and flies away while the bee floats back to the flower. From here we follow our new bee friend.
Panel Six: Close-up of the bee sitting on the flower, returning to sucking the pollen from it. Bees float around him and the plant. Other bees float off into the distance toward other plants and away toward their hive.
Page Five
Panel One: Creating a large swarm, the bees all congregate over the flowers.
Panel Two: The bees rise from their flowers and begin to fly above the trees.
Panel Three: From the ground in front of the flowers, the bees look like a large black cloud rising above the trees.
Page Six
Panel One: A blue sky with thin trails of slivered clouds. The sun is up and shines across the sky, but is hidden behind a mist of clouds. The sun’s shine is a light blue glow across the panel. The wind pushes several leaves across the panel. They float in large, looping circles.
Panel Two: Looking toward the shore, from behind the leaves in the sky. We see the water rocking toward the shore, below them. They swoop and curve in the sky. Two leaves are at the left of the panel and the other two are near the center and slightly overlapping, turned so the points of the leaves face the right side of the panel.
Panel Three: From above the leaves, looking down on them and the rocking water. They line up in a row, their tips pointed in different directions. Below, the water moves in small waves that grow larger and arc toward the right side of the panel.
Panel Four: Looking from behind the leaves and toward the shore. The leaves are as they are falling closer to the shore. On the shore, tan bark fills the cracks between the dark rocks being bathed in white foamy water from the crashing wave. Behind the rocks, further inland, thick and thin pieces of bark mix and mingle together, creating rows of lines and patterns.
Page Seven
Panel One: The leaves land softly on the bank behind the shore. One of them catches more wind as it falls and angles its stem upwards toward the sky and tumbles further toward the trees and open grove beyond the bark.
Panel Two: Close-up. A bee lands next to one of the leaves on the shore. His black and yellow body is furry and ruffled, partially matted down.
Panel Three: The bee nudges the leaf.
Panel Four: The leaf doesn’t budge, so he flies away.
Panel Five: He flies through the trees towards a lush green open pasture where flowers sprout in patches.
Page Eight
Panel One: Zoomed out, looking at the grove and at the cloud of bees as it is descending. A small group of bees, five or six, break off from the group and move toward the bottom left of the panel, toward the flower patch.
Panel Two: From the top left, connecting with the above panel, the bees drop down into the left side of the panel and float over the patch of colorful flowers. In the flower patch, in the left/middle of the panel, are lumps of brown, squirrels jumping through and around the flowers. In this grove the trees open up, on the right side of the panel, into a rolling plain of dirt and weeds and grass. The grassy and weeded clearing leads into a big lake, and mountains sit beyond the lake.
Panel Three: The bees hover over the flowers. A few of the squirrels stick their noses between the leaves and petals. A few of their bushy tails stick out over the tops of the plants.
Panel Four: Close up. One of the bees comes to rest on a flower. In the background, behind the flower, the leaves of the plants and petals of the flowers are broken and curved and twisted. Some of them are wiggling.
Page Nine
Panel One: One of the squirrels erupts over the tops of the flowers.
Panel Two: The bee dodges him, drops off the flower, and the squirrel lands behind him and turns back around to go through, or over, the plant again.
Panel Three: The bee flies into the squirrel, pushing against him, but only parts the squirrel’s soft fur.
Panel Four: The bees, all together, swarm and fly away, leaving the squirrel standing on his hind leg next to the now broken flowers. Behind the squirrel, the remnants of trees, the broken stumps of branches and split trunks, stand tall and look like swans with their beaks out. From here we follow our squirrel friend.
Page Ten
Panel One: A group of squirrels sprint across the grass, past our squirrel friend, in front of the drooping and hanging flowers.
Panel Two: Some of the running squirrels playfully fight with each other in front of our squirrel friend who is now running toward the trees. Some of the surrounding trees are rotting. Branches and leaves are scattered along the ground. The swan-like trunks and branches are still visible behind the rotting trees.
Panel Three: From in front of the flower patch, our squirrel friend scurries up the front of a tree, flicking bark with his feet. The flowers in the patch are still slightly moving from the bees that flew away. Some of the slower and stagnant bees trail behind the group in a lazy line.
Panel Four: Same panel as the previous but zoomed much closer on our squirrel friend who is now higher up and wrapped around a different place on the tree. Other squirrels sit on the tree branches above him. Some of them are blocked, only a foot or tail or nose showing, by branches and leaves. Some hold onto acorns or skitter across the branches.
Panel Five: Our squirrel friend reaches the rows of branches on the tree and moves towards a knot in the base of the tree. Acorns sit piled in this knot. Some of the acorns are starting to fall out of it because they are too tightly packed.
Panel Six: Our squirrel friend picks up one of the acorns with his mouth.
Panel Seven: Halfway down the tree, he drops the acorn to the ground.
Page Eleven
Panel One: The acorn bounces off the roots at the base of the tree and narrowly misses the bushy tail of one of our squirrel friend’s squirrel friends quickly running past.
Panel Two: As our squirrel friend jumps off the tree, his friend jumps up and begins climbing the tree.
Panel Three: Our squirrel friend sits a few paces away from the branch above where other squirrels sit, facing him, eating their acorns. They fill the woods with clicking noises as they eat.
Panel Four: Same exact panel, but now a deer stands behind the tree our squirrel friend is looking at. The deer is partially hidden by the branches and leaves and foliage deeper in the woods.
Panel Five: In a series of sliver-sized panels that make up one panel, the images transition back and forth between a leaf falling from one of the branches, and a zooming close-up of the deer in the background as she walks closer.
Panel Six: The deer steps forward over the broken branches and leaves surrounding the base of the tree as one of the squirrels above discards its acorn.
Panel Seven: The acorn lands at the feet of our squirrel friend who is busy eating his own acorn. The deer is even closer to our squirrel friend.
Page Twelve
Panel One: Looking from the side, with the squirrel, acorn, and deer in the frame. The deer drops her head forward toward the acorn and squirrel. She stands with one hoof forward.
Panel Two: The squirrel acknowledges the deer and stands still as the deer hovers over the acorn in front of him.
Panel Three: They touch noses over the acorn in front of the squirrel and the squirrel drops his acorn and opens his mouth in fright.
Panel Four: Our squirrel friend scurries away into the bushes next to him.
Page Thirteen
Panel One: A full-page panel of green leaves and thin, twiggy branches and open gaps where the colorful flowers, weeds, and leaves behind are visible. In the center of the panel, the back of our squirrel friend’s bushy tail can be seen as he disappears. From here we follow our deer friend.
Page Fourteen
Panel One: The deer pushes the acorn over with her nose toward the half eaten acorn the squirrel dropped.
Panel Two: The deer looks to her left into the trees and raises her head while shifting her feet. In the background, the squirrels on the branches above scatter.
Panel Three: Close-up. The deer’s eyes open wide.
Panel Four: In the clearing our deer friend is looking toward, birds fly away toward the lake in a clump, quick and scared.
Page Fifteen
Panel One: The deer bounds through the forest, running over roots, shaking leaves as she passes them, even ripping some from the plants. Some leaves stick to her fur from their wetness.
Panel Two: She continues to run through the forest and the trees. The light shines through certain sections of the canopy. Some animals, birds, are on the branches of the trees. Some of these branches are crisscrossed and bent and curved around each other.
Panel Three: She runs along a bank and a small patch of grass. A fox lies on the grass, his white belly showing. From here we follow our fox friend.
Page Sixteen
Panel One -Three: Three panels across the top of the page show the fox rubbing his back as his body sways left (in panels one and three) and right (in panel two), and smiling. A raccoon and its cubs’ eyes peek from the bushes behind him.
Panel Four: The sounds don’t startle the fox. He stands and walks toward the bank. The water lightly presses against the rocks of the bank in a line of waves ceaselessly moving inward.
Panel Five: The fox looks at his reflection in the coming waves.
Panel Six: He swipes at the clear blue water.
Panel Seven: He swipes again, and the ripple pushes out farther into the lake. From here we follow the water.
Page Seventeen
Panel One: Following the waves, backwards, out into the lake as they move, forward, toward the shore.
Panel Two: This is the first of a series of panels of the water from different angles and at different stages of crashing or swaying. Some of the waves coming in are large swells, and some are small ripples. Some of the waves are white capped. On some of the waves, leaves sit clumped on the surface, and on some algae grow. Some of the waves are simple, clear, deep, deep blue water.
Panel Three: Water from a different angle.
Panel Four: Water from a different angle.
Panel Five: Water from a different angle.
Page Eighteen
Panel One: We grow closer and closer in each of these following panels to a small fishing vessel sitting quietly in the water. Fishing poles are cast out from it.
Panel Two: Continued zooming in to the fishing vessel.
Panel Three: Continued zooming in to the fishing vessel.
Page Nineteen
Panel One: The boat, water, mountains behind the water, and sky fill the entire panel. The sky sits clear above it. The ocean rocks in small waves around it. The boat’s long nets hang up against the cabin and across cabin windows. Fishing poles are standing along the edge of the boat, cast out into the water. The wooden side panels of the boat are scratched and slightly pulled apart. In some sections, the panels hang on by screwed on wood pieces screwed on. White paint flakes of what was once a name remain on the boat, but the name is unclear.
Across the top of the entire panel is one long speech bubble of a man snoring.
“Hhhhnnnkkkkkkkkkhhhhhhnnnnnnhhhnnnnnkkkkkhhnnnn”
Toy Skeleton 