Jungle Gym: The Long Way Home

Photos captured this morning in the misty beauty of the Hollywood Hills, California, stand apart from today’s episode. After two hearty family vacations, the boys return to the iconic hills that hold a charm all their own. “The Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.” – Psalm 121:8

Episode: "The Long Way Home"

COLD OPEN

EXT. WESTBROOK ELEMENTARY PLAYGROUND — MORNING

The bell rings. A big, colorful jungle gym sits center stage — monkey bars, a slide, a little tower with a lookout. TRAVIS (11) hangs upside down from the top bar, backpack still on. His pal CODY (11) climbs up beside him, out of breath.

CODY: Travis! You're back! I texted you like forty times last week.

TRAVIS: (swinging) Couldn't answer. Grounded. Phone locked in the glovebox of Dad's truck.

CODY: The whole vacation?

TRAVIS: (flips down, lands) The whole vacation and this week. It's a two-part sentence, Cody. Like a movie nobody asked for.

CODY winces in sympathy.

CODY: What'd you even do?

TRAVIS: (dramatic) I opened my mouth.

SMASH CUT TO TITLE CARD:

JUNGLE GYM

ACT ONE

EXT. PLAYGROUND — CONTINUOUS

WADE (11), Travis's more easygoing counterpart, trudges up carrying two backpacks — his and Travis's. He drops them with a groan.

WADE: I'm not your pack mule.

TRAVIS: You lost the coin flip.

WADE: You didn't flip a coin. You just said "I win" and walked off.

TRAVIS: Same energy.

BOBBY (11), Cody's buddy, slides down the slide and rolls to a stop at their feet, grinning.

BOBBY: So. Are we talkin' about it, or are we pretending you two didn't get grounded on a beach trip?

WADE: It wasn't even a beach. We visited family. In the country.

BOBBY: (gasps, mock horror) The country! With the... trees? And the... quiet?

CODY: (to Bobby) Be nice.

BOBBY: I'm always nice. I'm nice and nosy. That's my brand.

TRAVIS climbs up onto the lookout tower and folds his arms like a general.

TRAVIS: Fine. Here's what happened. Before we left, Dad sat us down. Real serious. Says, "We're stayin' with Aunt Ruth. Her house is small. The street's a little rough around the edges. If either of you says one word about it, you're grounded a week."

WADE: And Travis said—

TRAVIS: (interrupting) I didn't say much!

WADE: He said, and I quote, "Wow, we're stayin' in the ghetto?"

BOBBY and CODY both suck air through their teeth.

BOBBY: (low whistle) Ohhh, you kicked the hornet's nest.

CODY: In front of your dad?

WADE: In front of Dad, Aunt Ruth, and the neighbor waterin' her tomatoes.

TRAVIS: (throwing hands up) The house was tiny! You could touch two walls at once! The whole neighborhood was like—

WADE: (warning) Travis.

TRAVIS: (deflating) ...I'm still mad at him, is what I'm sayin'.

ACT TWO

EXT. PLAYGROUND — MONKEY BARS

The four boys have migrated to the bars. CODY hangs by his knees. BOBBY sits on top eating an entire sleeve of crackers he pulled from nowhere.

CODY: Okay, but real question. Was Aunt Ruth mad?

TRAVIS: (quieter) ...No. That's the weird part. She just smiled and made us lemonade.

WADE: And cornbread. And she gave up her own room so we'd have the bed with the good fan.

BOBBY: (mouth full) The good fan is important. That's premium hospitality.

CODY: So her house is small but she gave you the best of everything she had.

A beat. TRAVIS doesn't answer right away.

WADE: (sitting down on the mat) You wanna know what actually got Dad? It wasn't even the "ghetto" thing. Not really.

TRAVIS: (defensive) Then what?

WADE: It's that Aunt Ruth heard you. And she still hugged you goodbye. And you still asked in the car why she "didn't just move somewhere nicer."

Silence. BOBBY stops chewing.

BOBBY: (softly) Oof. Cracker's not even good anymore.

CODY: (gently, swinging down) Travis, my grandpa's got a house about that size. Everybody in the neighborhood knows him. He fixes their fences. He sits on the porch and waves at every single car.

TRAVIS: So?

CODY: So last summer a guy in a giant house down the road wouldn't even wave back at his own mailman. Two houses. Two very different sizes. Guess which man I'd rather be like?

TRAVIS chews on that. He hops off the bars.

TRAVIS: ...The porch guy.

CODY: The porch guy.

BOBBY: (hopping down, suddenly wise) See, that's the thing nobody teaches you. Money buys a big roof. It don't buy a big heart. Those are sold in different stores.

WADE: (smirking) Bobby, that was almost deep.

BOBBY: I have layers. Like the crackers.

ACT THREE

EXT. PLAYGROUND — THE LOOKOUT TOWER

All four boys pile into the little tower, squished together. Golden morning light. The mood has softened.

TRAVIS: (reluctant) Aunt Ruth carries herself, like... I dunno. Fancy? Not fancy-fancy. She's just put together. Says "please" and "thank you." Never has a mean word.

WADE: She's got more class than half the folks in mansions.

CODY: That's the whole point, man. Class isn't the price of your house. It's how you treat people when nobody's makin' you.

BOBBY: (nodding sagely) Anybody can be nice at a party. Try bein' nice while you're waterin' tomatoes and some kid calls your street the ghetto.

TRAVIS winces — that one landed.

TRAVIS: (quietly) ...I should call her.

WADE: (deadpan) Can't. Phone's in the glovebox.

TRAVIS: (groaning) Right. The sentence.

CODY: Write her a letter, then. Old-school.

BOBBY: With a stamp and everything! Girls at the post office love a kid with a stamp. Instant respect.

WADE: (to Travis) You know Dad's not actually mad anymore. He's just waitin' for you to figure it out on your own.

TRAVIS: Well, I figured it out. Can I have my phone now?

WADE: (patting his shoulder) You've got six more days, buddy.

TRAVIS: (throwing head back) SIX?!

BOBBY offers him the sleeve of crackers.

BOBBY: Crackers help. Layers, remember?

TRAVIS sighs, takes one.

TRAVIS: (chewing) ...These are pretty good.

BOBBY: (beaming) Premium hospitality.

TAG SCENE

EXT. PLAYGROUND — LATER

The bell rings. The boys climb down and grab their backpacks. WADE hands Travis his.

WADE: Carry your own bag. Sentence includes labor.

TRAVIS: (slinging it on) You know what? Fine. Aunt Ruth carried a whole guest room for us. I can carry a backpack.

CODY and BOBBY exchange an impressed look.

CODY: (quietly) Character development.

BOBBY: In one recess? This kid's efficient.

They start walking. TRAVIS stops, calls back.

TRAVIS: Hey. Anybody got a stamp?

BOBBY dramatically pulls a single stamp from his pocket and holds it up like treasure.

BOBBY: (grinning) I told y'all. Layers.

The boys laugh and head off toward class.

FREEZE FRAME on the jungle gym, empty and glowing in the morning sun.

FADE OUT.

END OF EPISODE.