The Sick Man of Europe
Extracted from Scrivener backup: The Sick Man of Europe.bak2018-11-20T23-51
Draft
Scene 1
My last drink was at a gas station outside Venice. After I went on to Trieste. From there, a night bus to Ljubljana, arriving in time to greet the cusp of a cloud-choked sun. Eight days dry.
The smell upon entering the hostel dorm was akin to a trench on the western front circa 1918. Most of the other rooms must’ve been vacant, owing to it being December. I deduced the staff wanted to keep the housekeeping to a minimum in the low revenue months. Even this one was scarcely populated, as I scanned to identify the offending bunk. The only one looking occupied was a bottom with a towel draped over the side for privacy. On the floor in front lay 2 bottles of water (one clear and the other muddled with a soluble powder), a half eaten packet of tea biscuits and damp sneakers with a colourful, rolled-up sock blooming out of each.
I picked up on the heavy sleep-breathing of a male behind the curtain, a whistle in his nostrils threatening to become a snore. I came abeam my assigned top and ruffled the sheets enough to indicate to other it was taken. After a pause, I dripped the railing of the bunk and dipped my forehead to hold my head against it. I kidded myself by closing my eyes.
There was darkness, but not stillness, as usual.
There was a Balkan guidebook in my bag, five years old, overdue in a library somewhere. It was suitable equipment as parks and churches did not disappear as often in the post-Ottoman era.
I was in no immediate rush to see the city as it would be quite derivative. However, the smell which I know guessed to be of sickness, was close to concentrating and congealing on the walls.
Before leaving the hostel I put on my sunglasses back on and capped my head with my sweatshirt hood. The sunlight stung my eyes hard these last few days.
Tivoli park sprawled out westward from the old city. Milk Balkan winters combined with Slovene mini-alps to make all the trees and brush appear on the ledge between life and death. I went early to avoid what would constitute a crowd in Ljubljana. When the sun pokes out at it’s apex, it tended to draw people trying to make the most out of winter. It brought children with their parents. I avoided children. I avoided people in general these days.
People made me want to drink. Who would’ve thought?
When you’ve travelled this much, every city tends to blend in with the next, especially in the old world where I’d spent most of my time. Each one had a river running through it, a catholic church of prominence, a promenade of debauchery, and a curated park on it’s outskirts. People say travel brings the best out of people. For me, it keeps me from being idle, when I’m at my worst.
I got to the National Gallery just before 11. I planned to stay until after 3. The sun would be waning by then.
Perusing the Slovene Classical Masters section, \
Plot Map
Dorm Room 1:
Vamp puts his things down and lies down for a moment as he looks at his itinerary. He closes his eyes. There is darkness, but not stillness. He hears the man coughing up a fit in the bunk across the room. He has a towel up over the cot for privacy. On the floor sittings 2 bottles of water, a half full packet of tea cookies and sneakers with a rolled-up colourful sock still out of each like blossoms. There weren’t many other residents in the hostel. It was November.
Vamp goes out. He arrived on an overnight bus. He goes to Tivoli park and enjoys the park before too many people come out in the better weather. He liked being alone.
From 11-1 he goes to the Gallery to see some art. Mention some piece of art that sets the grim mood of the story even further.
When he gets back to the hostel he is tired of people and wants to relax. The man is still coughing and his towel is up. He says hello to the vamp and tries his best to make conversation through his coughing fits. He assures him he is not contagious. The man offers to go for a drink once he is better but Vamp mentions that he has a problem. The man confides that he is muslim and would only go to appease him, so he is happy.
The vamp leaves, annoyed that he couldn’t get away for piece. He goes to the common room and picks up a book from the shelf. Think about what he is reading. The sick man comes out into the living room and people do their best to give him his space. The vamp takes pity on him and chats with him a bit, turning on a part of himself he had previously not. Who said an old one like him didn’t have some heart deep down in there.
The man asks him to get a particular type of pill for him from the corner store. The vamp goes to get the pills and the lady doesn’t speak English. He takes a deep breath and summons the Russian he knows. He hadn’t spoken it in quite some time but it worked. It must have sounded archaic to the lady. Russian was connected to Serbian which was to Slovene. The branches through time had enough fruit on them to make the transaction happen.
After he dropped off the drugs (make it be a very brief encounter. Have him acknowledge the front desk clerk, how has changed from the lady in the afternoon. This clerk will be the same one who works later in the night.), he goes for a walk around the old town. There are people out, but when you’re a young man in a hood walking alone not many will come and try to bother you past sundown. That’s around the world.
META
A tourist visits a European city and stays at a hostel. He goes about his day and observes a resident in his hostel getting progressively more sick until he decides to help him… and regrets it.
Set in Ljubliana.
Is the sick man a super-natural being?
Is our hero a super-natural being? Should we subvert it?
To go super-natural or not?
If supernatural: The man has been travelling for a while trying not to “drink.” He is tempted all around him, but has stayed restrained until this point. To stop him from drinking he travels and sees sights. These sights don’t do as much for him as he hoped. When he comes back to the hostel he sees a dying man and takes pity on him.
At first he ignores him like he does most people he encounters, for their sake more than his. He walks around with a hood on, and sunglasses to stop from the sun. He likes winter in Slovenia as it sits well with him. The castle on the hill “Dracula’s castle,” appeals to him, but reminds him of an era that is too romanticized today. “It’s almost as if people didn’t need to work hard for their meals back then.” For every Count tucked away on a hilltop, there were a hundred peasants toiling for the scraps.
Slyly mention how he is weaker during the day but the night appeals to him as that’s when he used to be at his best in his drinking days.
The man is arguing with the receptionist and is getting kicked out. He asked the hero to help him get to a pharmacy. They get to one and are told to go to a hospital for treatment. They call a cab for the man and are going to the hospital when the man faints and loses vitals. He tells the cabbie to gun it but he freezes and doesn’t want to go any further. The cabbie pulls over and calls cops/ambulance as he doesn’t want to be liable.
The hero calmly feels the man’s chest and sense his life leaving him. The vampire uses his increased sense of hearing and can’t hear any sirens within 3 miles. They will be too late when they get to him. He is close to death so he’ll only have to take a small sip to turn him (THIS IS THE REVEAL LINE). The vampire takes a bite and feels his pit fill with the fire he’s been missing. He wants to hang on longer but stops himself, the man is not healthy so his blood didn’t taste good either. The man falls cometose. He will rise again in a few moments, turned to one of the Djinn his mother would have told him tales about.
The vampire would be there for him. He wouldn’t be a father who walked out. (Have him mention his own father walked out on him.) He is waiting and turns to notice the cabbie, the fire in his pit hadn’t died yet.
The Vamp has a never-ending tourist itinerary. We find out this is due to the fact that he never sleeps.
Sights:
Triple Bridge
Dragon Bridge
Castle Hill
Metelkova City
National Gallery - He goes in from 11-1 at the sun’s peak. It’ll sting otherwise.
Could the kid scene tell us anything other than in retrospect? He helps the man so he is a good guy. He is awkward at communicating because he is not human. Not tru - he is a vampire who would be such a charmer when he wanted to be. Leave this scene out. Have him seem meek and uninterested in contact. That will make approaching the sick man seem more extraordinary.
So then, what is the initial conflict before sick man is introduced. The hostel room smells really bad, and his nose is extra sensitive.
Have him be a jaded tourist who has travelled enough to have seen everything in some vain everywhere.