Many thanks to the 43 readers who [added reviews](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0029ZAPRW) at Amazon. Here’s the scene I [promised yesterday](http://johnaugust.com/archives/2009/40-reviews-in-24-hours).
This comes from Greeks, a comedy I never finished — and barely started, honestly. It’s set in ancient times, and would have retold several of the great myths in significantly less epic ways. I set it aside to write The Nines and never went back to it.
Most writers will have a few dozen folders with these kinds of half-conceived projects. Both The Nines and [The Variant](http://johnaugust.com/variant) lived in those folders for years. In fact, the working title for The Variant was The Nines. Vincent Lewis kept seeing the number nine everywhere, which was one reason he started wondering if something was off with this world.
But back to Greeks.
EXT. CYPRESS GROVE – DAY
Lunch. Sacriticides’ class has broken into distinct cliques: wrestlers, poets, the drama club. Being his first day, Perseus isn’t sure where he belongs, so he keeps on the periphery.
He finds a suitable sitting rock and unwraps his bread, grapes and olives. He notices Abbas is not seated with any particular group as he rips into lunch -- a single pomegranate, its bloody juices dripping everywhere.
Perseus decides to risk conversation...
PERSEUS
Pomegranate, huh?
ABBAS
Yeah.
PERSEUS
Grapes.
(shows fingers)
Less evidence.
ABBAS
Yeah.
And that’s that, apparently. Perseus goes back to his lunch.
But then Abbas suddenly restarts the conversation.
ABBAS
(introducing himself)
I’m Abbas.
PERSEUS
Perseus.
ABBAS
Anyone call you Percy?
PERSEUS
No. So how long have you been studying with Sacriticides?
ABBAS
Since my dad died.
PERSEUS
Oh. Sorry.
ABBAS
Yeah, well. Philosophy is sort of the family business. My dad invented logic.
PERSEUS
That’s pretty major.
ABBAS
He got eaten by a lion. He was trying to teach it ethics.
(beat)
So, after class, a bunch of us are going down to the beach. New school of mermaids are coming through.
PERSEUS
Oh.
ABBAS
If you wanna...
PERSEUS
I’ll pass.
ABBAS
There’ll be mer-dudes too, if you’re...
PERSEUS
No, I like girls. But with legs.
ABBAS
That’s cool.
PERSEUS
I’ve got a strange thing about the sea. My step-father’s a fisherman and I can’t even eat fish.
ABBAS
Wow. What do think that’s from?
Perseus shrugs it off. Then reconsiders...
PERSEUS
When I was little, my grandfather locked me and my mother in a chest and threw us in the ocean, because he was convinced I was going to kill him. Prophecy and stuff. So we were in this box, and we floated around for three weeks and sort of went mad from dehydration. We washed up on this island, and I’ve never gone back in the water since.
A beat.
ABBAS
Man, I love the ocean. Fish and chicks, it’s all good.
PERSEUS
Definitely. Except for, it’s not. Because of the trauma of my childhood.
ABBAS
(not listening; re: pomegranate)
Perspehone? She ate just one of these seeds. Now she has to spend winter in Hades.
PERSEUS
Actually, she’s my half-sister. We don’t see her much. Big family.
A CHEER in the background. Two of the WRESTLERS are throwing down, Greco-Roman style. Abbas joins in the excitement, running over to them.
PERSEUS
Good talking with...okay.