PART ONE

P A R T O N E

Written by

Jesse Brewer

Kendo-Man created by

Jesse Brewer

Story By

Jesse Brewer

K E N D O M A N

A clear blue sky shows on the screen with a branch floating weightlessly in the wind

OLD REIDS'S MONOLOG

Sight as a concept we learn to take for granted.

Parents walk their child down a sidewalk while smiling with the radiance of the sun

OLD REIDS'S MONOLOG CONT-

It is something most are born with. As a gift of life that almost none of us deserve. It gives us life within our souls that cannot be found anywhere else in the world.

A man picks up a box moving it to the other side of the front of a shop while another man moves those other boxes into a truck

OLD REIDS'S MONOLOG CONT-

We use it all the time in our daily lives. It is something that almost none of us could live without. One of the things that gives us all a meaning to live.

The screen turns black

OLD REIDS'S MONOLOG

Until it is taken away from us.

OLD REIDS'S MONOLOG CONT-

But, it is not taken away from everyone. Only the select few.

A newly born baby with one arm is being held by his loving mother while the father looks over his son with a smile so bright it could rival the sun

The doctor looks at the mother with a saddened look

The mother and father look up at the doctor

DOCTOR

I'm sorry.

The mother covers her mouth in disbelief

The father punches the wall in anger

DAD

I knew it. Damn it! I knew it!

The screen turns black

OLD REIDS'S MONOLOG

Macular degeneration. The slow cellular deterioration of the iris of the eye. Causing a slow eventual blindness. There were ways to prevent such a disease.

A picture of a doctor holding a needle getting ready for injection

OLD REIDS'S MONOLOG

You could get a shot in your eye. It would usually work, for a normal case.

A doctor picks up a shining golden pill

OLD REIDS'S MONOLOG CONT-

Pills, for a normal case.

A doctor picks up a scalpel

OLD REIDS'S MONOLOG CONT-

Even surgery.

The screen turns black

OLD REIDS'S MONOLOG

But not my case.

A doctor pulls up a picture of an iris that is has a golden chip in the diagram

The Doctor looks forward at Reids's parents sitting in the doctor's office holding Baby Reids as the mother pays attention intently and the father stares intently at the ground

DOCTOR

This is a special kind of macular degeneration.

Reids's father looks up at the doctor

DAD

It's a special kind that runs in my side of the family.

Hearing those words catches the Doctor's attention immediately

Reids's mother looks up at her husband

Reids's father starts to pace back and forth

DAD CONT-

My mother had it but it skipped a generation with me. I hoped that it was gone forever. But I guess it was too strong of a gene.

The dad looks at the Doctor

DAD

But technology has developed so much since then. There has to be a way to fix this.

The Doctor hesitates to speak

DAD CONT-

Please! There has to be.

The Doctor hangs his head with shame

DOCTOR

I'm sorry Mr. Anderson but there is not.

Reids turns around with urgency

DAD

Then we'll have to find one.

Reids's dad walks back in forth in his home in front of his house phone impatiently

Toddler Reids stroll into the room struggling to walk and falls

Toddler Reids starts to cry

Reids's mother enters the room

Reids's mother notices Reids and kneels over helping Reids up from the ground

Reids continues to cry nonstop

Reids's mother gives Reids a warm loving hug that could even rival an angel's touch

Reids ceases his crying as he leaves out a little sniffle

MOM

Don't worry Reids. Everything is going to be okay. I promise.

Reids's mother looks down at her son seeing him smiling

Reids's mother looks up at her husband

MOM

Richard, he has your smile.

Reids's mom looks at his wife

DAD

They won't return my calls or anything. Damn it! What are we supposed to do.

Reids's dad falls to his knees as tears stream down his face

Reid's father starts to hang his head with shame

DAD

I am so sorry Reids. I am a failure as a father.

Reids's mother takes a few steps toward her husband

Reids's mother kneels in front of her husband

Reids's father looks at his wife with eyes filled with nothing but stress and despair. But with a hint of curiosity in his stair

Reids's mother wraps her arms around her husband

MOM

Everything is going to be okay. I promise you. You are not a failure of a father. By trying this hard for your son, it shows that you are a damn good one. Please don't beat yourself up.

Reids's mother turns around releasing Reids's father pointing at Toddler Reids

MOM CONT-

It doesn't matter if we find a way to cure the disease or not. He is our son and we'll love him either way.

Reids's mother then wraps her arms around her husband once more

MOM CONT-

It's okay Richard. It's okay.

Reids's father begins to hang onto his wife

Reids's father begins to cry into his wife's shoulder

DAD

Damn it. You're right, I know you're right. Damn it.

Reids's father begins to cry into his wife's shoulder profusely

Toddler Reids walk up to his father and tug on his father's coat gathering his father's attention

Reids's father raises his arm hugging his son, starting a warm wholesome group hug

Everything goes black

The background of the doctor's office starts to change into a montage as it changes from one doctor's office to the other eight different times

Reids's mother and father wait outside of all the different surgery rooms impatiently

OLD REIDS'S MONOLOG

They tried everything. I went from one surgery to another, any surgery they could afford. Slowly losing hope. Thinking maybe this will be it? Maybe this will give me the sight they thought I needed to live? But were met with the same painful result.

As the montage continues Reids's parent's faces started to go from hopeful to disheartened even more as they cycle through all the different surgeries

The montage pauses to one last doctor's office

A doctor exits the surgery room

Reids's mother and father look at the doctor with a hopeful gleam in their eyes

The doctor looks at Reids's parents and looks at the ground with shame

The doctor starts to shake his head

Disheartening the parents

OLD REIDS'S MONOLOG

After that surgery They lost hope and so did I.

Causing the father to turn around and punch the wall

The scene transitions to a pre-teen Reids trying to make sense of the blurry words on the TV

Reids reaches his one hand out to the screen seeing only but blurs

Reids's father paces impatiently back and forth in his living room waiting for the house phone

Reids's father decides he has enough and reaches for the phone

Reids's mother blocks her husband from touching the phone

Reids's father looks up at his wife

Reids's mother shakes her head

Reids's father lowers his head in shame

Reids's father relents his hand submitting to his wife

OLD REIDS'S MONOLOG

My father wanted me to see the light of day so bad. But God had other plans.

The screen turns black

Pre-teen Reids sits alone in his room looking out the window only seeing blurs of cars that drive by

OLD REIDS'S MONOLOG

As I grew up I did not have many friends. I only did one of three things. I studied brail as I was learning to read, looked out the window at the blurs passing by on the street, or tried to watch TV.

Pre-teen Reids watches TV with nothing but a blank stare looking at nothing but blurs as he is surrounded by a bleak atmosphere with no emotion but grim

OLD REIDS'S MONOLOGUE

But the day before I lost my sight completely, it happened. I saw.

The television changes from the news to a kendo match

Pre-teen Reids's eyes widen

Pre-teen Reids scoots himself over to the tv to see more of what was on

The two men on the tv clashed bokkens

Their sweat glistens onto the matt in slow motion to set the atmosphere that it was like they were fighting for their lives

Then the man in black lunges his bokken at the opposite of the man's neck

The opposite man in white flinches for a second

Causing the man in black to stomp his foot and changes the direction of his blade in an instant hitting the side of his opponent

MAN IN BLACK YELLING

Kiai!

The referee of the match runs up to the Man in Black and holds the man's right arm up to the air claiming him as Champion

OLD REIDS'S MONOLOG

It may have been a blur but I was exhilarated. My first introduction to kendo! I could feel the rush of the battle. I could feel everything! I could see everything. That was the moment I realized what I wanted, no needed to do with my life. I decided, even though I was born with only one arm, even though I was about to lose my eyesight, I was going to become a kendo champion.

The boy turned around and looked at his parents

PRE-TEEN REIDS

Mom, dad I wanna learn kendo.

Pre-teen Reids turns his whole body around kneeling his head to his parents, begging

PRE-TEEN REIDS

Please allow me to learn kendo!

Reids's parents look at their son with a surprised look

Reids's father stands up and looks down at his son

DAD

Are you sure son? Is this what you really want.

Pre-teen Reids looks up at his dad having a huge smile he never had his entire life until that point

Reids's mother starts to cry with joy in the background

PRE-TEEN REIDS

Yes, with everything in the world!

A bird flies across a valley into a small town

OLD REIDS'S MONOLOG

The reason I am writing this book about my life is not to for money or fame. It is to show people that there is another way. That there is a way for everyone to become great, no matter what.

The bird as it flies into the small town lands in the window sill of an old man

The old man sits at an computer typing the first chapter of his book

The old man smiles

The old man turns to the direction of his old bokken

The old man stands up and touches his bokken

OLD MAN REIDS'S

This is a book about how I became the world kendo champion.

THE END