NATIONAL TREASURE: DRABBLES OF THE IPOD
. Thursday, June 26, 2008 . 1. ‘Reflections of Elijah’ by James Newton Howard (Unbreakable Soundtrack) Riley pulled the car up to the front of the high school as Ben leaned out the passenger window frantically. To their relief, the spotted her there on the front stairs; her hair was falling out of its lovely style, her lavender prom gown bunched up around her. She looked up, quickly running towards the car. “Hey, what’s wrong?” Ben asked quickly. “Why’d you call? Where’s your date?” “He left me.” The girl cried silently before her father, and Ben reached out and touched her arm soothingly. “Come on,” he said, opening the back door for her. “Let’s go get pancakes.” “Now?” she questioned uncertainly. “Yeah,” Ben said. “IHOP. You, me, Riley. That’s ten times better than prom.” At the restaurant, she smiled as a plate of pancakes was set in front of her with a whipped cream smiley face. She realized then what it really meant when someone loved you. x x x 2. ‘Loved Ones and Leaving’ by Nicholas Hooper (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Soundtrack) “Mom, it’s college,” Riley sighed from the sidewalk in front of his new dorm. “Calm down.” Riley’s mother gave him a watery smile and tight hug regardless. He’d lived at home eighteen years, and now he was staying in some strange building with a bunch of hooligans out to taint her son. “Got everything?” “Yeah, Mom.” “Books?” “Yes.” “All your clothes?” “Yeees…” “Oh! Here!” She ran back to the car and came back with a pumpkin pie and handed it to him. His expression went from annoyed to happily surprised. His face softened as he hugged his mother back. “Thanks, Mom.” “You’re welcome, honey.” “I’ll call in a few days.” “Okay. And be careful going up the stairs! Your shoelace is untied!” x x x 3. ‘Iron Man’ by Ramin Djawadi (Iron Man Soundtrack) Ian backed up to the edge of the roof, Riley limp with a gun to his temple. Ben watched with anger coursing through his blood at Ian’s sickening laughter, that laughter that only made him want to tear his throat out. “How is it,” Ian asked, “that you always end up on this side of the gun?” “I’m not assertive enough,” Ben said. “But it’s time I should be.” Ben walked right up to Ian and punched him square in the face. The gun fell into Ben’s hand as Riley dropped to the cement immobile. Ian ran his sleeve under his bloody nose and looked up the barrel at his own gun, never more terrified of Gates in his life. “Ben…” “I’m not you, Ian,” he said. He pitched the gun off the roof, pulling Ian to his feet roughly. “Let’s go.” x x x 4. ‘High School Never Ends’ by Bowling For Soup Abigail stopped in her tracks in front of the Jefferson Memorial and stared at a face descending the stairs. Unfortunately, she stared too long and attracted the very eye of the person she was trying to avoid. “Hey! Hey, wait! Abigail!” She sighed as the man bounded down to her in the same thick glasses he had worn the day he asked her to the football games week after week. “Hello, Willie.” “Hey, Abigail! Wow, you look great! But you always did.” She smiled at his compliment she received day after day from him. “Hmm. Thanks. You haven’t changed a bit, either.” “So, I was here for a conference,” he said quickly, “but I’m free for the next few hours. You wanna get lunch?” “Actually-“ “Hey.” Ben came up behind her and gave her a kiss, seeming not to notice Willie Kingsford at all. Abigail gave him a sympathetic smile as Ben pulled her away to go eat. The man in the thick glasses smiled grimly, heading as far away as possible. x x x 5. ‘Tinkerbell’ by James Newton Howard (Peter Pan Soundtrack) Riley wandered away from the campfire and his loud, rowdy friends he had somehow agreed to spend five days with in the Rockies. He walked up to one of the girls that had come with them who was examining something in her cupped hands. “Hey,” he said gently as he approached. She smiled. “Oh, hey.” “What’cha looking at?” She laughed. “Oh, fireflies.” She let the little bug fly away as many more seemed to dot the landscape before their eyes. “I used to have contests with the kids on my street as to who could catch the most in one night. I usually won.” “Fireflies, huh?” Riley asked. “Hardly had any in the city.” He let one of the glowing bugs crawl on his index finger, touched it to hers, and it crawled across the bridge they had made. They smiled at one another shyly. “So how many can you catch?” x x x 6. ‘Bailamos’ by Enrique Iglesias “Come on,” Ben said, heading back towards the main market street. “We have to get to Madrid in two hours.” Riley and Abigail followed faithfully, but Riley stopped on a dime at the sight of the girl tending a spice tent. He smiled in her direction, surprised to see that she returned it. It only encouraged him. “This way,” he heard Ben say faintly. He stepped up to the front of the tent still staring openly. Suddenly, a large burlesque man broke his beam of eye contact. “Can I help you?” he growled. Riley smiled. “Yeah, do you know her?” he asked, pointing to the girl around him. “What her name is?” “That’s my daughter.” Riley’s face fell, and he backed into the street. “Erm… right.” He broke into a run without a look back. “Guys! Wait up!” x x x 7. ‘A Faithful Meeting’ by James Newton Howard (King Kong Soundtrack) “Where is he?” Ian asked impatiently, checking his watch for the fourth time. Ben squinted into the midday sun across the Washington reflection pool, not so worried. “He’ll be here. The guy might seem like some kind of undergraduate, but I’m telling you he knows his stuff.” “Yes,” Ian droned, “telling time aside.” “Hi, Mr. Gates, I- Oomph!” Ian turned around right into this funny little mop of hair in a suit, jumping back as a hot swatch of coffee dowsed the front of him. Riley Poole stared at it horrified. Baaaaaaad first impression. x x x 8. ‘Better’ by Regina Spektor Ben remembered once that his mother always wanted him to learn to play the piano, saying it would enhance his learning abilities. He never practiced, though. Never. Until one day, Emily was sick and spent the day on the couch. Thinking it would make her feel better, Ben sat at the piano beside the couch and tried to play the only song he knew. So most beginners knew ‘The Entertainer,’ but it was a huge feat just to remember the opening for Ben. His mother looked up as he stumbled over the notes and chords slowly, picking up pace until he got the tempo going. With a flourish, he finished the song, looking over at his smiling mother timidly. “Ben! That was great, darling!” she said. “I wanted you to feel better,” the boy said. Emily smiled tenderly. “I feel ten times better,” she assured him. x x x 9. ‘Ain’t No Easy Way’ by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club “Ever ridden a horse?” Riley laughed. “No. It’s not something I typically did after school o had the aspiration to do.” Ben climbed on a brown mare, waiting for Riley to mount his own horse while keeping his hat from falling off his head. Ben stared at him, unable to see how it was that difficult to get on a horse. “Riley, one leg over the horse,” he said. “That’s it.” He still managed to find trouble even in that. Ben sighed and was ready to get off and help him when Riley shouted triumphantly. “Yeah! Hi ho, Silver! WHOA!” The horse started galloping away from the fence. Ben raised an eyebrow, kicking his horse in the side. “Well that’s one way to do it. Yaa!” x x x 10. ‘Fog Bound’ by Klaus Badelt (Pirates of the Caribbean Soundtrack) “Dad, pirates exist, right?” Patrick looked up at his son’s question. The boy stared back expectantly over his plate of spaghetti. “Not anymore,” Patrick replied. “They used to.” “Yeah, because they hid treasure and their ship sunk that people find now, right?” Patrick swiveled spaghetti on his fork. “Eat your food.” “But they still exist? People find their gold?” “Ben, no more talk about treasure. It’s absurd,” Patrick said. “Now finish or we aren’t going to see your grandpa tonight.”
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