The Dummy Chucker
by Arthur Somers RocheGenre: Comedy
Setting:
Format of Original Source: Short Story
Recommended Adaptation Length: 90 Minutes
Candidate for Adaptation? Promising
EXCERPT:
You see, he figured that in the wilds of Brazil there wouldn’t be any chance for drunkenness.”
“A game guy,” commented the dummy-chucker. “Well, what happened?”
“He died of jungle-fever two months ago,” was the answer. “The news just reached Rio Janeiro yesterday.”
The dummy-chucker lifted his glass of Scotch.
“To a regular feller,” he said, and drank. He set his glass down gently. “And the girl? I suppose she’s all shot to pieces?”
“She doesn’t know,” said the host quietly.
The dummy-chucker’s eyebrows lifted again.
“I begin to get you,” he said. “I’m the messenger from Brazil who breaks the sad news to her, eh?”
The young man shook his head.
“The news isn’t to be broken to her–not yet.
COMMENTS:
(Note from NMI: A dummy chucker is a person who fakes epileptic seizures in order to gain sympathy or charity.)
This one has some potential. The con man learns there are limits to what he’ll do for money. (He is unable to “murder the faith in a woman’s heart.”) Funny anti-hero wouldn’t “get the girl” in the end, which would be refreshing. The fact that the woman’s intended is actually dead is a bit of a downer; not sure how to fix that part.
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