Timestorm Episode 18 Transcript

NARRATION
Previously, on Timestorm:

ALEXA
Written and created by L. J. Ortega. 

BENI
She's super mysterious. No one knows what she looks like. There's a new post! Greetings Take Back Time fans, I found a short clip of audio with the voice of the mysterious L. J. Ortega. / Some anonymous person on the Comic Kids Orbit dot com message board claimed it's secret audio of L. J. Ortega.

JANELLY
When did you two hear that recording? 

BENI
Must have been October. 

JANELLY
Why didn’t you tell me, Beni? /

POLITE GAMER
Hello? Janelly?

FOCUSED GAMER
You just roll the dice now.

HYPERBOLIC GAMER
My fate lies in your hands, Janelly!

JANELLY
I’m sorry, what did you say?

POLITE GAMER
It’s your turn.

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. THE VENTURA HOME - BENI’S ROOM. NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

MUSIC: TRANSITION MUSIC - "HOME"

ALEXA
Hey, Beni. Look at what I—

BENI
Uh...what is that?

ALEXA
Elba’s knit pocket watch carrying case got me thinking. We might need something to keep the barometer safe.

BENI
You knitted a barometer holder?

ALEXA
One-of-a-kind.

SFX: TWO PHONE CHIMES.

BENI
It’s Janelly.

ALEXA
You sure she’s not still mad about you keeping that mysterious audio a secret?

BENI
She accepted my apology. 

ALEXA
Meet me in the upstairs room of the comic bookstore as soon as you can.

BENI
Sonia’s on her way with—

BENI/ALEXA
—special equipment?

2018. THE VENTURA HOME - DINING ROOM. NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

CLARA hums “De Colores” as she enters the dining room.

RAMIRO
Is that “De Colores,” Clara? 

CLARA
The Cherry Blossoms in Branch Brook Park always get that song stuck in my head. 

RAMIRO
The festival was a hit. I’m so proud of you.

CLARA
Gracias, Rami. I’m not gonna lie, I’m glad I’ve got nothing scheduled today. 

RAMIRO
Por favor, hold this balsa wood, así?

CLARA
You do seem to enjoy this model plane, even on your own.

RAMIRO
My whole plan was to build this to bond with Beni. But that didn’t pan out. Hey, I was thinking maybe we could take the twins to an air show?

CLARA
An air show?

RAMIRO
They’re entertaining.

CLARA
When was the last time you went to an air show?

RAMIRO
It’s what I used to do when I was the twins’ age. Brings me back.

CLARA
Things were different for us. Simpler. 

RAMIRO
What are they up to?

CLARA
Probably sleeping in.

ALEXA and BENI rush into the room. RAMIRO laughs.

ALEXA
Hey!

BENI
Can we go to Taino’s? 

CLARA
Sure, that’s fine.

RAMIRO
Just be back for dinner. I’m gonna make chocolate chip pancakes.

BENI
Yes. 

ALEXA
Oh, we’ll be back for that. Later! 

BENI
Bye!

ALEXA and BENI leave.

RAMIRO
Well, they weren’t sleeping.

CLARA
Ay, those two. I can barely keep track of them.

RAMIRO
Tell me about it. 

CLARA
Is that why you want to take them to the air show?

RAMIRO
That festival in the park was so much fun. I want more days like that.

CLARA
Rami, maybe we just got to go with the flow.

RAMIRO
Maybe go with the flow at an air show?

CLARA
Ay, pero, you and your air show.

RAMIRO and CLARA laugh.

2018. TAINO COMICS AND GAMES. NEWAK, NEW JERSEY.

MUSIC: “TAÍNO COMICS AND GAMES” TRANSITION.
SFX: DOOR OPENS/LASER BELL/CITY STREET SOUNDS.

ALEXA and BENI rush into the store.

BENI/ALEXA
Hey, Lydia! 

LYDIA
Hey! What’s the rush?

ALEXA
Important meeting upstairs!

FOCUSED GAMER
I need this roll to go my way!

SFX: DICE ROLL.

POLITE GAMER
Nice!

HYPERBOLIC GAMER
I’m doomed for all eternity.

ALEXA and BENI race up the stairs.

ALEXA
Hey, Janelly.

BENI
We’re here.

JANELLY
Finally! Look!

JANELLY hands BENI a cassette tape.

BENI
A cassette tape?

JANELLY
I found it in a box downstairs on a shelf behind all the drawing books. 

BENI
Drawing books? You never look at the drawing books. 

JANELLY
Forget about that. Read what the cassette label says.

ALEXA
L...J...O?

BENI
L...J...

ALEXA/BENI
O. Ohh! L. J. Ortega!

JANELLY
Do you think this could be the secret audio?

ALEXA
Maybe, but—

SONIA enters the upstairs room.

ALEXA
Hey, Sonia.

JANELLY
Finally!

SONIA
Sorry it took so long! I had to look through a stack of old boxes in the garage. I told my parents this was for an extra credit project. It was all the way down at the bottom. Ugh. But…I found it! My dad’s old cassette player.

ALEXA
Very retro.

JANELLY
Nice find, Sonia. Let’s find out what’s on this cassette.

BENI
Wait a minute! Excuse us a second.

JANELLY
Again? 

ALEXA
Uh...we’ll be right back.

ALEXA and BENI cross into the stairwell.

BENI
What if Janelly’s right and that’s the secret audio?

ALEXA
Then maybe we can finally find out who L. J. Ortega is and how she came up with the idea for Take Back Time.

BENI
So, we can tell Janelly and Sonia the truth about the timestorm?

ALEXA
Of course not. We play along like it’s just a story and Horacio’s just a character in a comic book.

THE TIMESTORM. ANOTHER DIMENSION.

MUSIC: "TIMESTORM" TRANSITION.

ATABEY
The four friends are closing in on why the cassette tape is hidden inside the comic book store. A fun mystery for Janelly and Sonia. But for the twins, there’s so much more to uncover. 

HORACIO
Of course, Atabey.

ATABEY
They’ve completed all of the stages of the three motherlands quest. Now, they can truly understand where they fit. The personal connection they have.

HORACIO
That we have. We are cousins, after all.

ATABEY
Sí, tus primos. But first, we’ll let them enjoy discovering answers about the cassette tape.

2018. TAINO COMICS AND GAMES - UPSTAIRS READING ROOM. NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

ALEXA and BENI walk back into the room.

BENI
Let’s hear the tape.

SONIA
Here goes...

SONIA loads the cassette into the cassette player and presses play.

MYSTERIOUS VOICE 1
—mo— —unos—

SONIA
(Overlapping) Janelly, you were right!

MYSTERIOUS VOICE 2
—jo—

MYSTERIOUS VOICE 3
—ho— —so—

MYSTERIOUS VOICE 1
—no— —ro— —ay, no —ra—

MYSTERIOUS VOICE 3
—ou—

JANELLY
(Overlapping) Can you believe we actually found it?

MYSTERIOUS VOICE 1
—pa—

A SCREAM (YOUNG FEMALE).

BENI
That was it. 

ALEXA 
The secret audio.

JANELLY
But what’s this cassette doing in this store? 

SONIA
Yeah. It can’t just be a coincidence.

JANELLY
I think we’ve got another mystery to solve. A case of identity! We need to interrogate people - see what they know about the cassette...and L. J. Ortega.

SONIA
Interrogate? You mean, interview people?

ALEXA
Investigate!

BENI
Yes! Detectives!

JANELLY
Exactly! 

SONIA
I wish I had a hat.

BENI
A hat?

SONIA
A detective hat?

BENI
Oh. Right.

ALEXA
Aw. If I’d known I could have knitted one—

JANELLY
Sorry to interrupt all the fashion talk, but we’re gonna have an investigation without hats, okay?

BENI | ALEXA | SONIA
Got it. | Fine. | We’re hatless.

JANELLY
But first, we have to put this cassette tape back.

JANELLY opens the player and removes the cassette tape.

SONIA
Why?

JANELLY
Because whoever put it there can’t know it’s been discovered.

ALEXA/BENI/SONIA
Oh, right! | So smart. | Of course.

JANELLY
And then it’s onto the investigation. We’ll start with gamers downstairs. Gather them up here. We’ll find out what they know.

2018. TAINO COMICS AND GAMES. NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

LYDIA closes the cover to a digital tablet.

LYDIA
Inventory for the entire front section is updated.  

JOSIE
Great. Thanks, Lydia. Datu and I were just saying how we might want to order more trading card booster packs. 

LYDIA
Okay. Sure. Good idea. It looks like there’s been more interest lately.

DATU
Maybe we can host a video game tournament if people are interested.

JOSIE
Yeah. It’s been a while since our last one. 

LYDIA
Hey, I was thinking we could start a drawing club upstairs. 

JOSIE
Oh, I love that idea. I’ve been wanting to make better use of that space.

DATU
Well, it’s certainly being used today. Janelly, Sonia, and the twins were all headed up for an important meeting. 

LYDIA
I saw Janelly looking at the illustration books.

DATU
Huh. Interesting.

SFX PHONE NOTIFICATION.

JOSIE
Oh! I almost forgot, I have a virtual meeting. I’ll be back in about an hour. 

DATU
Sounds good! 

LYDIA
Later.

2018. TAINO COMICS AND GAMES - UPSTAIRS READING ROOM. NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

SFX: LAW AND ORDER FX INTO DICE ROLL.

ALEXA
We’ve invited you all to the upstairs reading room for a few questions.

BENI
Please, take a beanbag chair of your choice.

The GAMERS sit in bean bag chairs.

SONIA
Let us know if you aren’t comfortable.

JANELLY
So. We’ve all been coming to Taino Comics and Games for a while now. Some of us—like, me and Beni. You could say we’re the seniors around here. Top of the food chain.

SONIA
Anyway, we just wanted to know how long you’ve been coming to the store?

FOCUSED GAMER
I’ve been coming to Taino’s since the store opened.

POLITE GAMER
I started coming here in the new year.

HYPERBOLIC GAMER
First time I arrived here was last summer—on the hottest day of the year. No, decade. No. Century! 

SFX: LAW AND ORDER FX INTO DICE ROLL.

ALEXA
They’ve been coming here for a while.

JANELLY
Yes, but...we don’t know how long the tape has been here.

BENI
That’s true. It could’ve been here since the store opened. Or just since last week.

ALEXA
Let’s ask them about Take Back Time. 

SONIA
Good plan. 

SFX: LAW AND ORDER FX INTO DICE ROLL.

JANELLY
Being one of the top dogs around here, I do a lot of reading in this room. A lot of comic book reading. But not all comics are alike. Some are special.

SONIA
Have any of you read Take Back Time?

FOCUSED GAMER
I come here for the tabletop games. I’m not big on comic reading. 

POLITE GAMER
I’ve never read it. 

HYPERBOLIC GAMER
I read everything in the entire store. Twice.

JANELLY
Please wait for further instructions.

SFX: LAW & ORDER INTO DICE ROLL.

SONIA
So what else should we ask them about?

JANELLY
Let’s grill them about L. J. Ortega. 

ALEXA
Grill?

SFX: LAW AND ORDER FX INTO DICE ROLL.

JANELLY
You know, sometimes I’m willing to do some crazy things for people. Like someone famous. Say an elusive comic book artist and writer.

SONIA
What she’s asking is: Do any of you know L. J. Ortega?

FOCUSED GAMER
Who is L. J. Ortega?

JANELLY
An elusive comic book artist and writer.

POLITE GAMER
L. J. Organa?

JANELLY
No, no. L. J. Or-te-ga.

HYPERBOLIC GAMER
Isn’t L. J. Ortega amazing? Wait! Have you found her!

JANELLY
Not quite. Please wait for further instructions.

SFX: LAW AND ORDER FX INTO DICE ROLL.

ALEXA
I don’t think any of them know anything.

JANELLY
I really thought we’d be able to crack this case.

SONIA
Crack the case? You’re really into all this detective stuff, Janelly.

JANELLY
You’re the one who wanted a costume.

SONIA
Just a hat.

SFX: LAW & ORDER INTO DICE ROLL.

JANELLY 
Okay. I think we’re done here.

SONIA
Thank you all for your time!

The GAMERS stand and leave.

JANELLY
Well, that went nowhere.

BENI
Maybe interviews aren’t the right strategy. 

SONIA
Do we have any other clues to go off of?

ALEXA 
Was there anything else in the box, Janelly?

JANELLY
I’ll go downstairs and double check.

2018. THE VENTURA HOME - LIVING ROOM. NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

MUSIC: ”HOME” TRANSITION.

RAMIRO
And that was the last piece. Acabamos!

CLARA
Really? We finished it all?

RAMIRO
(Chuckles) Oh, look who’s now into this model plane. 

CLARA
I mean, I just helped a little.

RAMIRO
Pretty fun, no?

CLARA
Yeah.

RAMIRO
Ay, now to clean the mess on this table.

CLARA
Does anything go back in this box?

RAMIRO
The left over decals and the glue. That pile is recyclable and I’ve got this trash bag for the rest.

CLARA
You know, I was thinking we should visit our family in Puerto Rico this summer.

RAMIRO
Yeah. We can stay a couple of weeks. A few days in Loiza, a few days in Ponce. 

CLARA
Maybe volunteer a bit. And then take some time just the four of us.

RAMIRO
Yeah. That’d be nice.

SFX: PHONE NOTIFICATION.

CLARA
Ugh. Another storm’s about to come through Newark. I should go pick up the twins at the comic book store.

RAMIRO
And I’ll get started on those chocolate chip pancakes I promised.

CLARA grabs her purse and keys.

CLARA
You know. I’m really proud of this little model plane.

RAMIRO
Me too, Clarita.

SFX: DISTANT THUNDER.

2018. TAINO COMICS AND GAMES - UPSTAIRS READING ROOM. NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

MUSIC: "TAÍNO COMICS AND GAMES” TRANSITION.
SFX: DISTANT THUNDER.

DATU climbs the steps.

DATU
Hello, there.

ALEXA, BENI, and SONIA gasp.

ALEXA/BENI/SONIA
Hey, Datu.

DATU
I heard a rumor that you all are conducting interviews for some kind of job up here?

ALEXA laughs nervously.

ALEXA
We were just playing a game.

SONIA
Yeah, a mystery game!

DATU
Like Deception? Professor Herbert’s Mystery Mansion?

BENI
No, you don’t have this game here. 

SONIA
A Case of Identity!

BENI
It’s new. And you need to play in a quiet space.

DATU
If it’s too noisy in the gaming area, the patio’s pretty quiet right now.

ALEXA
An indoor quiet space.

DATU
Oh! And you need a cassette player to play this game? 

SONIA
Yep. That’s right. It’s my dad’s. 

JANELLY races up the steps and enters, panting.

JANELLY
You’re never gonna believe— Oh, hey, Datu.

DATU
Is everything okay, Janelly?

JANELLY
I was just looking for something, but it seems to have disappeared.

DATU
What was it?

JANELLY
Oh, it was nothing important.

DATU
If something of yours went missing in the store, you should let me know. 

JANELLY
It wasn’t actually mine. We were trying to figure out who it belonged to. 

DATU
Okay. What’s really going on up here?

BENI
Janelly found a hidden cassette tape and we wanted to know who hid it.

ALEXA
We were interviewing some of the regulars that were here today.

DATU
I knew you all were up to something. Well, since you’re interviewing people...

DATU pulls out the cassette tape.

DATU
Do you have any questions for me?

JANELLY
The cassette tape. It’s yours, Datu?

DATU
No. Not at all. But it’s been in the store for about a year now. 

DATU places the tape on the counter.

SONIA
Do you know how it ended up on that message board?

DATU
You mean Comic Kids Orbit dot com?

ALEXA
Did you post the audio online?

DATU
I did. But only because the person who gave me the cassette asked me to.

BENI
Wait a minute...the person who gave it to you?

They all gasp.

ALEXA/BENI/JANELLY/SONIA
L. J. Ortega!

BENI
You know L. J. Ortega?!

DATU
I do.

JOSIE climbs up the steps to the reading area.

JOSIE
Hey there, everyone. Datu, I’m back from my virtual meeting. Lydia’s about to leave for the day. Said they’d be back tomorrow morning.  

JANELLY/BENI/ALEXA/SONIA
Lydia!

DATU
Great. I’ll head down to the counter.

DATU walks down the steps.

BENI
Josie! Josie!

JANELLY
Is Lydia L. J. Ortega?

JOSIE
What?

ALEXA grabs the cassette from the table.

SONIA
L. J. Ortega. ‘L’ could stand for Lydia.

ALEXA
They could be L. J. Ortega!

JOSIE
Lydia isn’t L. J. Ortega.

JANELLY
Hold on. Do you know L. J. Ortega?

JOSIE
Yes. 

BENI
Why didn’t you or Datu tell us?

JOSIE
It wasn’t the right time, Beni.

BENI
Time?

ALEXA
And you know about the secret cassette?

JOSIE
I do know about it. I gave it to him.

BENI | ALEXA | SONIA
No way! | Whoa! | Really!

JOSIE
I’m L. J. Ortega.

CREDITS

MUSIC: THEME SONG "IN THE TIMESTORM" (INSTRUMENTAL).

NARRATION
This episode was written by Andrew Siañez-De La O with story and direction by, me, by Dania Ramos with audio engineering, sound design, and original music by Michael Aquino. 

The role of Alexa Ventura was played by Leilany Figueroa. Beni Ventura was played by Claudio Venancio. Ramiro Ventura was played by Walter F. Rodriguez. Clara Ventura was played by Jennica Carmona. Janelly was played by Frances Ramos. Sonia was played by Jessica Bracken. Datu Ancheta was played by Joel Arandia. Josie was played by Angelica Ubiera. Lydia was played by Ariana Martinez. Atabey was played by Alicia Rivas. Horacio Méndez was played by Orlando Segarra. This episode also featured Trevor Brown, Florence Faison, and Daniela Palacios.

Timestorm is produced by Cocotazo Media and is a proud member of TRAX from PRX. If you enjoy the show, ask your parents to subscribe to Timestorm on Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, or the Kids Listen App. 

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.

END OF TIMESTORM - EPISODE 18: MISTAKEN IDENTITY