Free Lulu in Honolulu by Elisabeth Wolf

chance.
    MAXWELL
    She’s gonna stay for a while. I’ll keep her busy.
    Lulu rolls her eyes and heads across the sound stage to join her friends when SUDDENLY—
    ACTRESS
    Call an ambulance!!
    The Actress clutches her stomach and doubles over in pain. Linc rushes to her side. Alexis, always fast with her phone, punches in 911.
    Key Grip stands but then slumps back down. His crew of grips, brawny guys who do the hauling, hanging, and repairing on the set, kneel over their boss.
    KEY GRIP
    (mumbling)
    I’m so dizzy. I can’t stand.
    MAXWELL
    (in a raspy voice)
    My insides are squirming like venomous snakes.
    Fiona staggers in from the parking lot. The Sound Engineer races to help her.
    FIONA
    I’m not sure if I’m seasick from filming boat scenes or if I’m going to die.
    SOUND ENGINEER
    (to Fiona)
    Sorry, darling.
    Sound Engineer lets go of Fiona, who crumples to the ground. The Sound Engineer retches a few feet away.
    Linc crawls over to Fiona but stops every few inches to squeeze his arms across his stomach as if he’s holding his guts in place.
    LULU
    (frantic)
    Mom! Dad! Are you going to live?!
    ALEXIS
    (tossing her long, skinny arm around Lulu’s neck)
    They’ll probably live but then they’ll kill you.
    MOANING and GAGGING echo around the vast sound stage. SCREAMS of sirens become louder and louder.
SCENE 7: PICKING UP
    INT. NOELANI’S SIMPLE, SQUARE-SHAPED ONE-STORY HOUSE—LIVING ROOM MONDAY AFTERNOON

    Framed pictures of a young, uniformed woman are propped up around the room. A faded green couch and wood coffee table fill the small, bright room. Half-filled plastic bins sit along a sun-splashed wall.
    Lulu sprawls on the couch while Noelani stands in the middle of the living room. They play a game of charades with Hawaiian words. Noelani taps her heart and airily raises her hands towards the sky.
    LULU
    Birds?
    Noelani shakes her head. She repeats her motions slowly and gracefully.
    LULU
    Heart attack?
    Noelani shakes head again.
    NOELANI
    You’re just totally guessing.
    LULU
    That’s because I don’t know at all.
    Both girls GIGGLE. They don’t notice Noelani’s grandmother, TUTU, enter. She’s carrying armfuls of old clothes.
    TUTU
    What was the word?
    NOELANI
    Akua .
    (stares at Lulu)
    It means “spirit.”
    TUTU
    Well, that’s a hard one.
    Lulu springs from the couch. She takes the heavy pile of clothes from Tutu.
    TUTU
    Mahalo , Lulu. I was hunting for Noelani’s baby clothes and found old uniforms belonging to Noelani’s mom.
    She holds up a blue coat.
    LULU
    (touches the coat)
    Geez peas! It’s heavy.
    NOELANI
    (small voice)
    That’s a dress uniform jacket.
    TUTU
    This isn’t just any dress uniform jacket. This is the jacket your mom wore when she received her first medal.
    LULU
    She has more than one?!
    TUTU
    My daughter, Lieutenant Colonel Nui, has eight medals so far.
    LULU
    (to Noelani)
    Your mom’s a real hero! My dad just plays one in the movies!
    NOELANI
    My mom’s really good at vanishing.
    SILENCE.
    Noelani scrunches into a ball on the floor. Lulu sits down near her friend
    LULU
    There’s no one who’d like to disappear more right now than me. Maybe you can get me into the Marines?
    Noelani smiles.
    Tutu sits behind the girls on the couch and rests a hand on each of their heads.
    TUTU
    So, Lulu, you learned yesterday that when you make laulau , you have to keep the ti leaves and the taro leaves separate. Ti leaf makes you sick if you eat it.
    LULU
    I also learned that my parents want to launch me into the ocean in an outrigger canoe without a paddle.
    Tutu laughs.
    TUTU
    Actually, I talked to your mother a little while ago. She wants you to know that everyone’s fine.
    LULU
    No one’s in the hospital?
    TUTU
    Well, not anymore.
    Lulu, bug-eyed, looks at Noelani.
    TUTU
    She’d like you to come home.
    NOELANI
    See, Lulu? You were terrified that your parents never wanted