Podcast Script

Short Story Title: I-95

Episode 1
By Zander Lyvers
Script
What happens when a and a disgruntled
passenger exchange words on a runaway
bus? Youll find out on this weeks Radio
Noir.
The fading yellow lines of the highway
tripped1 the 18 ton behemoth as it was
hurling at a speed of 95 miles per hour. The
Chinatown bus swerved left, narrowly
avoiding the orange cones spaced like
dominoes on the perimeter of the highway.
Yawns quickly turned into frightened gasps
as the 84 passengers awoke from their
uneasy slumber. The near disaster was
simply the busdrivers nightly reminder to
take another swig of day old 7/11 coffee.
The brown swill coated his yellow canines as
he swished the medicine around the back of
his mouth before swallowing2. He gave
himself a benign slap on the face to at least
pretend he was trying to stay awake. He
wasnt going to give up now, even if he was
getting paid peanuts for this night shift.
Clocking in at 20 hours, or just 19 if he
avoids D.C. traffic, New York to Florida is
quite a haul. Never the less, the bus
continued to barrel down I-95 like a bat out
of Hell3. The faint red lights trailing behind
him might as well been the fires of perdition.
What did it matter to him? Surely there
cant be any angels aboard this dump on
wheels4.
Stop the bus! he hears from above.
He didnt flinch at the command. God
himself could have made the request but
the driver had no intention of stopping
unless another round of 7/11 java was part
1
2
3
4

personification
Imagery
simile
metaphor

Audio
Host

Narrator: Mr. Lyvers

While Taxi Driver Theme
plays in the background
Sound of gasps by 702
students

Deepened voice using

Deeper Vocals

Sound effects made by

hitting desk

of the deal.
It sounded like an elephant was
stampeding down the front staircase5, with
each junction of the foot onto staircase
following a clumsy cadence.
You almost killed us back there! The
driver spit into his 7/11 cup. This is the
closest hes ever come to recycling. The
trailing red and blue lights moved closer in
the rear-view mirror.
Hey, Im talking at you! yelled the 7
foot tall 40-something. The rest of the bus
had been lulled back to sleep by the
whirring of the engine, granting the giant
and the driver complete candor.
Back staircase, instructed the driver.
Whatd you say!?
Cant use front staircase when in
motion. The driver spit a second time.
You almost killed all of the
passengers including yourself back there,
and youre telling me to use the back
staircase!
Cant use front staircase when in
motion.
STOP THIS BUS RIGHT NOW!
The tires began shrieking as the
command to go from 95 mph to 0 was
executed. A cacophony of confused
screams and mechanical contortions filled
the space as the giant crashed through the
windshield. It was as if a time machine
traveling at full speed into the future made
an about-face and set the coordinates to the
stone-age. People say that you see your life
flash before you as you die, but apparently
there was no time to write, direct and
produce 85 different biopics in the span of
this paradocially never-ending and abrupt
instant.
The moment was past. There were no
more screams. Three police vehicles had
piled into the back of the bus. Red, white
and blue lights were flashing, illuminating
the debris and the carnage, and adding an
extra layer of irony over this Fourth of July
weekend.
5 simile

Deepened Voice

My regular voice

Car crash sound,

downloaded from youtube

Police sirens sound,

downloaded from youtube
Story concludes with Jimi
Hendrixs Star Spangled
Banner overlayered with
police sirens