Episode 25: El Yunque

Transcript

Episode 25: El Yunque

NARRATOR
Previously, on Timestorm:

BENI
Faro, Tibes, torre más alta.

***
JANELLY
I think maybe I should take a break from being research captain.

JOSIE
You know where to find us if you change your mind. Okay, Janelly?

***

HORACIO
What’s this? They’ve lost the artifact?

KAYLEE
Whoopsie.

JOSIE
Sorry about that. I swept earlier today—

KAYLEE
Oh no. I just...dropped my key. Nice to meet you, Josie.

JOSIE
A pleasure, Kelly.

KAYLEE
Kaylee.

KAYLEE walks out of the store and onto the sidewalk.

KAYLEE
An arrowhead. Wonder what this is worth.

MUSIC: THEME SONG - "IN THE TIMESTORM"

Witness. Find. Remember.
The hidden past seeks its dawn, showing us that we all belong.
Horacio, Alexa, and Beni take back time, find history in the timestorm.
Witness. Find. Remember.

2018. TAÍNO COMICS AND GAMES - SAN JUAN.

MUSIC: TAÍNO COMICS AND GAMES - SAN JUAN TRANSITION.

LALO opens the front door. he walks into the store and shakes his umbrella.

JOSIE | BENI | ALEXA
Hola, Lalo. | Hey, Lalo. | Hey.

LALO
Uy. The energy inside this store is very low.

BENI
It’s my fault.

ALEXA
Would you stop blaming yourself?

JOSIE
Beni misplaced something.

LALO
Ay, pobrecito. I can come back on my lunch break to help you look. What is it?

BENI
I can’t really talk about it.

LALO
I respect your privacy.

JOSIE hands LALO a bag of flyers.

JOSIE
Here’s a new batch of flyers, Lalo.

LALO
Oh, gracias. And what are you studying in today’s pile of old books? Faros? Tibes?

ALEXA
Torres.

LALO
¿Oh sí? Like the ones in El Yunque?

JOSIE
Oof. I haven’t been to El Yunque since Hurricane Maria.

LALO
Things are starting to grow back. Oscar and I went a couple of weeks ago. They just re-opened the towers and some trails. I don’t know—might be a good time to go.

JOSIE
Maybe.

BENI
We went to that rainforest with our parents. We drove past a tower.

ALEXA
Yeah, but it was too crowded so we didn’t climb up.

JOSIE
How’s the new job, Lalo?

LALO
It’s fine. My boss has lots of big plans for the building.

JOSIE
Yes. Kaylee stopped by yesterday. Said she’s starting a community center.

LALO
The space will be packed with state-of-the-art technology.

BENI | ALEXA
Sounds cool. | Ooh.

LALO
You two have to check it out when it’s ready. Speaking of work—gotta go, me voy.

LALO throws them a kiss and then walks toward the doors and grabs his umbrella.

ALEXA
Whoa. What happened to your umbrella?

LALO
It’s fine. It just got a little bent.

BENI
You could poke someone’s eye out.

LALO
I’m not throwing away a good umbrella. Y mira, I put un cantito de tape aquí y voila! See?

JOSIE
Hard to miss that neon green.

LALO
And glows in the dark, so you can always see it coming. Bye!

JOSIE
Adios, Lalo. | Bye. | See you.

LALO opens the door and exits the store. A rumble of thunder.

BENI
What if the arrowhead fell out of my pocket while I was teleporting from here to the Newark store?

ALEXA
I don’t know, Beni. We’ve never lost anything during our trips through the tapestry.

JOSIE
I bet the arrowhead will show up once you stop looking for it.

BENI
You’re sure it isn’t under a seat in your car, Josie?

JOSIE
I searched three times.

The barometer stands.

BENI
Oh, man. Horacio and Atabey are not gonna be happy that I lost the—

A thunderclap.

THE TIMESTORM. ANOTHER DIMENSION.

MUSIC: TIMESTORM TRANSITION.

ALEXA and BENI laugh as they land in the timestorm.

BENI
We don’t have the artifact!

ATABEY
We’re aware of the situation.

HORACIO
Unfortunately, the timestorm can’t locate it.

BENI
Ugh! If I had just been more careful.

ALEXA
Stop blaming yourself already.

BENI
You’re not the one who messed up.

ALEXA
It could’ve been me. But I wouldn’t go on and on about it.

BENI
What if Janelly was right and the artifact wasn’t ours to take? Maybe if you’d left it in the stone—

ALEXA
Oh, now it’s my fault?

ATABEY
Humans.

ALEXA/BENI
What?

ATABEY
Another quest awaits.

BENI
Wait a minute. What about the arrowhead?

HORACIO
You’ll revisit it once it’s been located. But now, you’re headed to the rainforest!

ALEXA
No way! We were just talking about El Yunque!

HORACIO
Clothing!

A whoosh indicates a clothing change.

ALEXA
Okay, then. I’m hiking through a rainforest in a skirt.

BENI
Too bad we don’t get sneakers this time.

A whoosh indicates a clothing change. A zap. The barometer buzzes.

ATABEY
Mil novecientos treinta y ohco / nineteen thirty-eight / El Yunque / rainforest / torre / tower / Civilian Conservation Corps / Britton / Nathaniel / Elizabeth. Find the hiding spot of the guanín container en El Yunque in Rio Grande in nineteen thirty-eight.

1938. BRITTON TOWER CONSTRUCTION SITE. EL YUNQUE, RIO GRANDE, PR.

MUSIC: EL YUNQUE TRANSITION.

The twins laugh as they land in the rainforest. Light rain falls on the trees above them. ALEXA takes a deep breath.

ALEXA
These wildflowers smell amazing—

Men pass by, yards away.

BENI
(whispering) Can you see who’s there?

ALEXA
A bunch of guys headed down the mountain.

MAN
(sing-songy) ¡Vamos a almorzar! ¡Vamos a almorzar!

BENI
He must be hungry.

The footsteps fade.

ALEXA
Sounds like they’ve all passed by.

BENI
If those guys are going down to lunch, we should walk in the opposite direction.

ALEXA
Yep. Up the mountain it is.

BENI and ALEXA walk through the woods.

ALEXA
The rain’s light. If we stay under the trees, we won’t get too wet.

MUSIC: SHORT TRANSITION TO INDICATE PASSAGE OF TIME.

ALEXA
Would you rather...build a tower or design it?

BENI
Design.

ALEXA
Me too. I’d want to decide what the building looks like.

BENI
Would you rather...ooh--, be an archeologist or a teacher?

ALEXA
Teacher.

BENI
Archeologist for me.

ALEXA
Would you rather...

RAIN hits the top of the canvas canopy.

BENI
(whispering) Shh. Someone’s under that canopy.

ALEXA
(whispering) Quick. Behind this tree trunk.

ALEXA and BENI step behind a tree.

GAEL
Aren’t you heading down to the comedor for lunch, Nico?

NICO
It gets too crowded down there. Sometimes I like to eat in peace.

GAEL
Ahora, where’s a good spot? ¿Al frente? No, right in the front seems too obvious.

GAEL circles the foundation of the tower.

ALEXA
(whispers) Those stones look like a foundation.

BENI
(whispers) For a round building.

GAEL
Maybe around this side?

NICO
You don’t want to eat under the canopy, Gael?

GAEL
I’ve got something I have to take care of. Don’t pay me any mind, Nico.

BENI
(whispering) I bet one of them has the artifact.

ALEXA
(whispering) Maybe.

NICO
You heard what the forest supervisor said they’re naming this?

GAEL walks back under the canopy.

GAEL
Naming what? ¿El torre?

BENI
(whipsers) Torre.

NICO
The tower and the trail. Both are being named after Nathanial Britton.

GAEL
Un Yankee?

NICO
Un Yankee botánico. He worked with plants.

GAEL
I know what a botanist is, Nico.

NICO
He and his wife, Elizabeth. The two of them named a bunch of plants here en El Yunque. New species even.

GAEL
Who were they new to? Not the people living in the mountains.

NICO
You’re missing the point, Gael.

GAEL
Nah. I get it. I’m adding another point.

ALEXA
(whispering) Does Gael kind of look like—

BENI
(whispering) Horacio.

NICO
Way the supervisor tells it, they fought to protect this rainforest.

GAEL
I’ve got nothing against the Brittons.

NICO
Good. Because without them, this land might’ve been cleared of trees and we wouldn’t have this job.

GAEL
I’m grateful for the work, the meals, and a place to sleep. But I’d give anything to work on my family’s coffee farm again.

NICO
Then why don’t you go back home?

GAEL
You know of a family on this island able to keep their coffee farm going?

NICO
Nah. That’s why I’m grateful for the job.

GAEL
I am too. I can be grateful, and miss my family’s coffee farm at the same time.

NICO
All I know is, this beats working on a sugar plantation.

GAEL
That’s for sure.

GAEL crosses back to the foundation of the tower.

GAEL
Aquí. This is the spot.

NICO
For what?

GAEL
This time capsule.

GAEL taps the container with his finger.

BENI
(whispering) It’s a tin. Looks like the one we found in nineteen ninety-nine.

NICO
Hey, that cement between the stones isn’t even dry, Gael.

GAEL
Makes for a good hiding spot.

NICO
Where’d you come up with this idea?

GAEL
My father’s been hiding tins since I was little. Now that I’m eighteen, it’s my turn to hide some treasure.

NICO
What’s inside there, anyway?

GAEL walks back to the canopy and opens the tin. NICO laughs.

NICO
Uh...you call that treasure?

GAEL
Finish your lunch already, Nico.

GAEL closes the tin. He places the tin in the cement.

NICO
Who’s supposed to find that, Méndez?

ALEXA
(whispers) Méndez.

GAEL
Who knows? Maybe someday, I’ll have a son and he’ll find it.

Distant thunder.

ALEXA
(whispers) Could he be...

BENI
(whispers) Horacio’s father?

GAEL
Do you hear...voices?

BENI gasps.

BENI
(whispering, but urgent) Let’s get out of here!

ALEXA and BENI run away. GAEL takes a couple of steps, listening.

NICO
Just the rain and the animals, Gael.

GAEL
Could’ve sworn I heard children’s voices.

NICO
You’re hearing things. Probably because you’re starving to death.

GAEL
(chuckles) I’m going to eat. Calma.

NICO
Oh. I am relaxed. My belly’s full and I’ve heard zero ghost children.

GAEL
I didn’t say anything about ghosts.

GAEL walks to the canopy and sits on a stool.

NICO
(yawns) So, this future son you might have someday—what would you want to name him?

GAEL
I don’t know. Maybe...Horacio.

NICO
Horacio Méndez.

THE TIMESTORM. ANOTHER DIMENSION.

MUSIC: TIMESTORM TRANSITION.

HORACIO
The metal tin is the artifact.

ALEXA/BENI
Oh.

BENI
The container’s made of guanín.

HORACIO
Made by mí Abuelo. He made dozens of them for me. And for my father.

ALEXA
Gael.

HORACIO
Papi used to brag about how helped build the Mount Britton tower from the bottom up as part of the Civilian Conservation Corps.

ALEXA
I wish you could have been there. AT least to be near him.

HORACIO
Me too. But it was impossible. Right, Atabey?

ATABEY
Affirmative, Lieutenant.

HORACIO
Affirmative.

BENI
He seemed like a really great guy.

HORACIO
He was. Bueno, I guess it’s time for—clothing!

A whoosh indicates a clothing change.

ATABEY
Quest: Find a guanín container in Rio Grande in two thousand eighteen.

A thunderclap.

2018. KAYLEE’S PROPERTY. SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO.

MUSIC: KAYLEE’S JOINT TRANSITION.

LALO unlocks the front, shakes his umbrella, and sets it down.

LALO
Good morning! Kaylee? Kaylee?

LALO takes a few steps.

LALO
Ooh. Let me peek in this back room.

LALO walks toward the back. He opens the door to a room and enters it.

LALO
Let me see here. Mm? Pictures up on the walls. Dad’s map? Hmm. That’s a lot of pushpins. Table and a chair. Una laptop y...una punta de flecha?

LALO picks up the arrowhead inside a plastic baggie.

KAYLEE
Lalo?

LALO
Ay, qué susto! I didn’t hear you there, Kaylee.

LALO walks into the hallway. KAYLEE closes the door.

KAYLEE
I think the arrowhead in the Ziplock bag—it’s mine.

LALO
Here you go. Where did you find that?

KAYLEE
Funny thing. I stepped on it while I was in the shop next store.

LALO
You took it from Josie?

KAYLEE
You ask a lot of questions, Lalo.

LALO
Just wondering what you want with an old arrowhead.

KAYLEE
I believe this arrowhead is quite valuable. I can find a buyer who will pay top dollar for it.

LALO
And where does that money go?

KAYLEE
Back into the center.

LALO
But...is it yours to sell?

A clap of thunder. ALEXA and BENI laugh in the next building.

LALO
¿Qué es eso? Laughter?

LALO walk toward the wall.

LALO
Sounds…like the twins.

JOSIE
(muffled) How’d it go?

LALO
That vent in the wall leads to the building next door. You’ve been spying on Josie.

MUSIC: THEME SONG IN THE TIMESTORM (INSTRUMENTAL)

NARRATION
This episode was written and directed by me, Dania Ramos. Sound design and original music were by Michael Aquino.

The role of Alexa Ventura was played by Leilany Figueroa. Beni Ventura was played by Claudio Venancio. Josie was played by Angelica Ubiera. Horacio Méndez was played by Orlando Segarra. Atabey was played by Alicia Rivas. Lalo was played by Kelmi Bermúdez. Gael was played by Robert Asencio. Nico was played by Chris Kent. Kaylee was played by Kate Hernandez. Additional voices by Michael Aquino, Kelmi Bermúdez, Carlos Ponton, and Walter F. Rodriguez.

Timestorm is produced by Cocotazo Media and is a proud member of TRAX from PRX. Support for TRAX comes from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Learn more about TRAX at t-r-a-x-dot fm.

All episodes of Timestorm are available at TimestormSeries dot com and on all podcast apps. If you enjoy the show, please share it with two friends.

Timestorm is produced in Essex County, New Jersey, which is situated on the traditional territory of the Leni Lenape people.

As always, thanks for listening.

ATABEY
Witness. Find. Remember.