Super early first draft of the first conversation in Kentucky Route Zero

equus_oils_joseph_first_draft.txt

[intro]
JOSEPH: It ain't dark yet, but it ain't light, my friend! I heard a truck full of cans - I dunno - soup cans? Beer? I dunno, but I heard that truck bounce off a possum or something and spill juice and metal all over the sixty-five just a hundred-fifty yards out, maybe thirty, thirty-five minutes ago! Did you hit that on the way along?

*CONWAY: I thought it was oil.(intro-oil)
*CONWAY: I thought it was rain.(intro-rain)

[intro-oil]
JOSEPH: Sure, sure. You're a driver! Oil on your mind. Well, mine too, as you can imagine.[intro-camefrom]

[intro-rain]
JOSEPH: It's a real rain out in Bowling Green; I heard it on the radio. I bet they had to halt construction.[intro-camefrom]

[intro-camefrom]
JOSEPH: Where are you coming from?

*CONWAY: Drove up from Lexington and my eyes are tired.(intro-from-lexington)
*CONWAY: Drove down from Louisville and my legs are stiff.(intro-from-louisville)

[intro-from-lexington]
JOSEPH: Ain't it the truth. Ha! My eyes don't do a thing, but they're still tired.(intro-blind)

[intro-from-louisville]
JOSEPH: Ain't it the truth. I've been working days and nights this week! I got this stick, for the blindness, but it ain't much to lean on, you know.(intro-blind)

[intro-blind]
JOSEPH: I got a wristwatch that beeps on the hour, and it beeped about fifteen minutes ago for the fifteenth time since I got out of bed. So I'm thinking the sun is just a few feet off the horizon now. Did you ever know a blind man could be so fascinated by the position of the sun? Ha!

JOSEPH: Well, we all have fascinations. A couple years ago, some trucker layed it out for me real clear: the human mind is "polymorphously perverse." That means it can be fascinated by anything. Even something stupid, like a sunset I can't see.

JOSEPH: What do you find fascinating?

*CONWAY: The smell of the road.(intro-smell-of-the-road-fascinating)
*CONWAY: A cold beer after a day's work.(intro-cold-beer-fascinating)
*CONWAY: I find you pretty fascinating.(intro-you-fascinating)

[intro-smell-of-the-road-fascinating]
JOSEPH: Hm, very poetic. I guess it's lucky for you; you're some kind of driver, right? Yeah I heard your truck pull up; that's commercial. So you're out hauling something old and precious and lyrical; something like ... antiques, I bet. Yeah, a driver for little antique shop. This part of the state is lousy with them.

JOSEPH: And while you're out on a delivery, you let your eyes wander out to the tree-line and you just breathe road, hoarding smells and sights and sounds. A real poet!(intro-sleep-in-truck)

[intro-cold-beer-fascinating]
JOSEPH: And who doesn't? Ha! We work all day. Hell, they got me working days and nights this week. Feels good to cap it off with something simple and cold, and then hit the bedroll. Rest up and get ready to do it all again tomorrow. 

JOSEPH: There's a valor in that rhythm, friend. A bravery. You show up for work when you know it ain't going nowhere anyway. That's your dream - do the thing itself, get the job done, take it easy for a bit. A real stoic.(intro-sleep-in-truck)

[intro-you-fascinating]
JOSEPH: You like people! Lucky for you, this world is lousy with them. I bet you could meet a hundred new people in a day. Or even in a night - plenty of stops along the sixty-five! You could tell them secrets, or just listen.

JOSEPH: Just like you're standing here now listening to me, while the sun wastes away and the headlights come on rumbling. A real good listener.(intro-sleep-in-truck)

[intro-sleep-in-truck]
JOSEPH: I bet you sleep in your truck.

*CONWAY: Only on long hauls.(intro-parents-television)
*CONWAY: Only on slow days.(intro-parents-television)

[intro-television]
JOSEPH: Yeah. Which one of your parents was it that didn't allow you to watch television?

*CONWAY: Ma thought she heard ghosts in the static.(intro-mom-ghosts)
*CONWAY: Dad thought it was radioactive.(intro-dad-radioactive)

[intro-ma-ghosts]
JOSEPH: Huh. I've heard of truckers picking up weird voices on the CB. Weird, weird voices - just repeating numbers or the names of colors. Or just sort of mumbling.

JOSEPH: Spooky.(intro-joseph-television)

[dad-radioactive]
JOSEPH: Yeah my dad was like that too. No pasteurized milk, no fluoridated city tap water, no electric light ...

JOSEPH: Without the lights buzzing, it's so damned quiet - I can't stand the dark.(intro-joseph-television)

[intro-joseph-television]
JOSEPH: I like television, though. On the radio, they know you can't see it so they think they have got to explain every little thing; drop a sound effect or bend over backwards to describe it. But I go every day without seeing, and I get along just fine. The TV talks to me like I'm smart enough to figure it out.(intro-summary)

[intro-summary]
JOSEPH: So. {oblique summary of conversation}.

JOSEPH: So. Now that I've shrunk your head, or read your palm, or however you want to talk about it - what can I really do for you? Need directions? Need to gas up? We're pumping at ${gas_price} a gallon, which is a damned shame, but there you have it.

*CONWAY: I'm trying to find my way to "303 Old Hill Road."(intro-address)
*CONWAY: I'm low on gas.(intro-low-gas)

[intro-address]
JOSEPH: Oh, ok. Huh. Yeah you'd have been driving up and down the sixty-five all night. Old Hill Road is on the other side of ... well, to get there you'll need to take the Zero.

*CONWAY: What's the "Zero"?(intro-what-is-the-zero)
*CONWAY: How do I get there from here?(intro-how-do-i-get-there)

[intro-low-gas]
JOSEPH: Fair enough. Guess you ain't headed home just yet, are you? More work to do ... more deliveries to make? Maybe you've been driving up and down the sixty-five all evening, just looking for your last dropoff. I bet it's somewhere on the other side of ... I bet you need to take the Zero.

*CONWAY: What's the "Zero"?(intro-what-is-the-zero)
*CONWAY: How do I get there from here?(intro-how-do-i-get-there)

[intro-what-is-the-zero]
JOSEPH: It's a road, but it's not on your map. Not that kind of road.(intro-how-do-i-get-there)

[intro-how-do-i-get-there]
JOSEPH: Tell you what: I know someone who can get you there, and I got her information on my computer. But we blew a fuse earlier, I don't know how, and I'm no good for it. If you head down into the basement and flip the circuit breaker, I can get you her address. Also, we can get these lights on before sunset, so we aren't just sitting out here in the dark. Not that I mind the dark, makes no difference to me, but I like to sit out at night and just listen to the lights whine and the traffic rumble. It's like the cars are my heartbeat, and the lights are my nerves ... that's a kind of silence you just can't get in the woods.

JOSEPH: The basement door is straight back in the office there. Appreciate your help, friend.