The Issue with Elvis (2022) Movie Script
Even lost souls have a place.
Phellinus linteus.
That's the species.
Grows on mulberry trees.
Tastes like cow
manure, cures cancer.
Well, that's not entirely true.
Some evidence suggests that
polysaccharides isolated
from the mushrooms
inhibit the tumor growth by
stimulating proliferation
of the t lymphocytes
and immune function.
If you tell me what you
want with these things
I could probably give you
some more information.
Hey, you up for a trade?
I got some...
Trail mix.
I've been looking for
those mushrooms all day,
but now I know why I haven't
been able to find them.
Here.
Eileen.
I brought you a new friend,
Rocco.
Rocco, meet Eileen.
Hello Eileen,
you're looking good.
All right, I'll leave you two.
Get to know each
other a little bit.
Huh.
Hmm.
You're mad at me Eileen.
I get it.
I haven't been
giving you much love.
No love at all.
I've been spending a
little too much time
in my own little world,
while you've been drying up.
Withering away in some dark
corner of the universe.
Cold, alone and mute.
I'm sorry.
I'm gonna make it up
to you, I promise.
Hello.
Dr. Mercer.
- Yes.
- It's Alicia Freedman.
How are you doing?
Dr. Freedman.
It's nice to hear from
you, it's been too long.
How's your post-doc going?
Not bad, all things considered.
Cornell is not a rough
place to do a post-doc
from what I hear.
My latest study
got accepted into nature.
So that's something at least.
Something?
That's absolutely fantastic.
What was the study?
I looked at the impact
of arbuscular mycorrhizal
fungi on nitrogen cycling
in various ecosystems.
Wow, you're gonna be
the lab's golden child.
I'm sure Richard will get his
ro1 renewed a few times over
with a nature publication.
Thank you.
Well, send me your
paper, I'd love to read it.
Hot off the press, will do.
Following in your footsteps.
Ha! I wish.
You're leaving me in the dust.
No way.
You're a brilliant scientist.
What can I do for you, Alicia?
I know you
prefer to avoid academia
and all of its pretentious
trappings these days,
can you write me a letter of
recommendation for the k award?
Well, normally i'd,
I'd avoid any remnants of
that whole grotesque world,
but you were a fantastic student
and you definitely deserve
a k award more than anyone.
So for you,
this once, yes.
I would be so grateful.
- Yes I'll do it.
- Thank you so much.
When's the deadline?
In two weeks,
I'll send you the form.
Perfect.
Send it over.
Listen, have a great
day and congratulations.
- Have a great day-
- it's all right.
Thanks again.
Hey, who's there?
Hey.
What are you doing here, kid?
I don't mean any harm.
I'm not arguing with you,
what are you doing here?
I brought you back
your bowl, your fork too.
Well, couldn't
this wait 'till daylight?
Probably.
I, I was wondering if you
had any more of that food.
Don't you have a home?
All right, come on in.
What's your name?
Elvis.
After Elvis Presley?
No,
after Elvis costello.
Your mama name
you after Elvis costello?
Mm-mm.
Nope, she died the
day I was born.
I'm sorry to hear that.
I never knew her.
Well, why did you
get named after Elvis costello?
My daddy, the night mama died,
he held me in his
arms in the hospital
and he played an Elvis
costello song over and over
while his tears fell
down my baby face.
What was the song?
It was called "I want you"
from the album "blood
and chocolate".
That's a really sad story.
My daddy says the snow was
falling outside the window,
and when the clock
struck midnight
he knew that my name was Elvis.
Is your daddy still alive?
Yes, but why do you wanna know?
Well, he must be
wondering where you are.
I'm not going home
if that's what
you're getting at,
for a whole series of reasons.
You can't live in
the woods, you know.
Says who?
Well, I got a spare bedroom,
you can stay there tonight.
But we gotta get you to
a real home tomorrow.
What does real home even mean?
I haven't been around children
or family for a long time.
It's been about 40 or 50 years
since I was even part of one.
So you're not really the
best one to ask, are you?
You got a lot of weird
stuff in your kitchen,
I mean, compared to other
people's kitchens, no offense.
I have no idea what other
people have in their kitchen.
So what do you do
with all these mushrooms
I saw you hunting?
I use them for my old man aches.
Are you like a
wizard or something?
Exactly.
Or more specifically
a retired botanist
with rheumatoid arthritis.
Sounds spooky.
I studied fungi in
my lab for many years,
extracting various
components to treat diseases.
What kinds of diseases?
Viruses, cancer,
diabetes, for starters.
So you put the
mushrooms in a cauldron
and then you don't get cancer?
I study medicinal
chemistry methods,
extracting certain molecules
that reduce the
inflammation in my joints.
Does it work?
It helps, but my
methods are rudimentary.
I mean, I think I
was a lot better off
when I had all that fancy
machinery back at my lab.
I think it's reducing
the swell, but over time.
Hmm, why don't you
just go to the doctor?
I do when I have to,
but I hate modern medicine.
Every time they give me advice,
my rheumatoid
arthritis gets better,
but then I get 20
other problems.
You sound like my dad.
What's wrong with your dad?
He becomes one with
the alien sometimes.
One with the alien?
Well,
it's like an alien takes
over his earthly body
to alert the world of impending
doom, something like that.
Sounds like he's
got schizophrenia.
That's what the doctors call it.
They say the alien isn't real,
and that my daddy needs
a lot of medicine.
Hmm.
Well, maybe they're just
trying to protect him and you.
Or maybe they're worried
that the alien is gonna
make him do something-
- crazy?
Can I come mushroom
hunting with you?
Today?
Well, aren't you going?
Yeah, I'm going.
You wanna come?
You can come along.
Here,
come around here.
Yeah, I can see it.
- Right there.
- Mm-hm.
Hey, see this.
Looks like charcoal, right?
It's called inonotus obliquus,
otherwise known as chaga.
It looks ugly, but it's
been used for hundreds,
maybe even thousands of
years by different cultures.
They say it has
medicinal qualities,
that it can heal a sick
birch tree where it lives.
Take a look at the inside of it.
It's almost orange.
Yeah.
I mean, you could
use it as a dye,
but I think that's wasteful.
You know, when you
harvest these things,
you have to make sure that
you only take half of it
off the tree,
otherwise you can hurt the tree,
and you can come back for
more in a couple of years.
The earth has all these
amazing organisms,
if we take care of them,
they'll take care of us.
How does this one
take care of us?
Well,
might fight certain
kinds of cancer.
There's plenty of evidence
that what chaga actually does
is up-regulate the expression
of pro-apoptotic proteins
in cancer cells.
Basically it stops
the growth of tumors.
Russians have known
this for years
and other therapeutic
reasons as well.
I care about it because of it's
anti-inflammatory medicine.
My joints, they swell up
and after a while
they can get damaged
so my immune system is a piece
of crap, pardon my Latin.
So do you eat it like an apple?
I don't, others might.
I use a double extraction
tincture method.
What I do is I grind up
the chaga into a powder,
I add some alcohol,
and I shake it up a
couple of times a day
for a couple of months,
and then I do a
bunch of other steps,
but I'm not gonna
bore you with those.
Plants are pretty cool, huh?
Ah, fungi actually
aren't plants, they're...
They were classified that
way because they didn't move.
And back in the late
'60s, early 70s,
a guy named Robert whittaker,
he proposed they get
their own kingdom.
They're actually more like us
than they are plants by the way.
They don't look much like us.
Yeah, nothing much
looks like me.
You know, when I was your age,
I used to gather up mushrooms
and bring them to the
back porch for my mother.
I used to think they
were the most bizarre,
beautiful structures
I'd ever seen.
She would cook 'em up
and serve 'em to my dad
after he came home
from working long hours
in the coal mines.
One of his favorites was
laetiporus sulphureus,
better known as
chicken of the woods.
If you eat it, so it
tastes like chicken?
Yeah, kind of.
But there's also
hen of the woods,
that tastes a lot better.
Mushrooms are bad-ass little
organisms, if you ask me.
I knew you had some
cool backstory to you.
When you left me that lunch
on the rock a few days ago,
I knew that you were solid.
I don't know how solid I am,
but I try to follow
my internal compass.
What's that?
You know, just try
to do the right thing.
Thought you might
need some help.
What do you normally
eat at your house?
It depends.
If my dad's home he'll make me
one of those dinners
from the freezer.
TV dinner?
Hm.
Like Salisbury steak with
potatoes on the side.
What does your
dad do for a living?
He works in a factory
stacking lumber,
but that's not his passion.
What's his passion?
Music, he plays the guitar
and he's good at it too,
but every time he doesn't
take his medicine,
he, he can't go to work
or play the guitar.
I always end up in
some foster home
and the last one I
was in was real bad.
Do you have any aunts or uncles?
Yeah, but they're in jail.
What for?
I don't know, drugs, maybe.
That's really sad.
Sounds like you had
a rough go of it.
Well, I'm having a picnic
with a retired botanists,
and I'm learning new things.
So I can't complain
at this very second.
Don't you think your
school will be missing you
and come looking for you?
I don't know, maybe.
Missing school is not
a great idea, Elvis,
I'm just saying.
Education is the key.
To what?
You know, a lot of
people drop out of school
because they don't
have a choice.
They struggle to
pay their bills,
they ended up taking jobs
that endanger their lives,
or they turn to crime
and end up in jail.
I mean,
I'm not trying to sound like
a public service announcement,
but that's the way it happens.
It's a cycle, you know.
Then their kids have
nothing to look up to
and they have no hope.
You have to be the one
to break the cycle.
Did you break the cycle?
My dad died of lung disease
from working in the
mines for many years.
My mom and I stood over
his grave when I was 17.
She told me, "you can't
die like your daddy did.
You're all I got left."
So you have a phd
and that's why you're
not dead right now?
No, it's not that simple.
Yeah, I got a phd in botany,
and, you know, I ran a
good lab for many years.
But you still have
some weird disease.
Your phd can't do
anything about that.
True, but my disease is
not based on my life choices,
at least not that I know of.
You can't live in an abandoned
school bus, you know,
that's, that's not
a great solution.
What do you know about that bus?
I saw you run into
it a couple of days ago
when you were following
me through the woods.
You know the history
of that park?
Of what park?
Lake shawnee.
You know the history
of lake shawnee?
Well, it's an abandoned
amusement park
that was built in the 1920s
over what they think is native
American burial grounds.
A little girl was playing
on the swings and she died
in the '60s,
so they shut the
whole place down.
Why would they take that
land from the native Americans
in the first place?
The English settlers,
they took it from
the native Americans.
And lore has it that there
was a turf war in that area
in the 1700s.
Ah, they shouldn't have
fought over that land.
They should've come up
with something peaceful.
Agreed.
Violence in and of itself is
not the answer to anything.
That's my whole point.
Two wrongs don't make a right.
Well.
How do you like the picnic?
- Yes.
- Jack?
Who's this?
Ah this is Michael Mercer.
- How are you?
- Dr. Mercer, how are things?
Long time, no speak.
All is going well.
Are you still working at that
same lab you told me about
the last time we spoke?
New lab, c. Elegans.
Yes, pretty good model organism.
Well, i'm
pouring plates every day,
so nothing too exciting.
Smelly yellow jello, I call it.
Well, that's something
to be proud of.
The scientists like me though.
I have a question for you.
Shoot.
Is your brother still working
at the police department?
Yep, he's still a cop.
Can you ask him to look
into something for me?
Sure, what is it?
A runaway kid has been living
in the woods near my house.
He needed food and
he need shelter,
so I took him in and
I gave him some food,
but he refused to go home
and he wouldn't give
me his last name.
Tough one.
Apparently he keeps
ending up in foster care.
His dad is ill.
Look, I wanna help him,
but I don't want
him missing school
and I definitely don't want
his father being worried
about him.
And on the other hand,
I don't wanna turn him
in to the police station
because it sounds like he's
been through hell and back.
I don't know
what I would do either.
But can you,
can you ask your brother if
there's been a missing kid
with the first name
Elvis in morgantown?
I'll call my
brother and buzz you back.
You know, maybe give him
a little of his back story.
No problem, will do.
Terrific, thanks Jack.
Rise and shine.
What time is it?
Time for school.
Is that a joke?
Kinda.
Go brush your teeth,
we're taking a drive.
Come on.
When you think of west
Virginia, what do you think of?
Mountains, drugs and blue skies.
What else?
"Mountaineers are always
free," that's the motto.
Yep, montani semper liberi.
Did you learn that at school?
Yeah, but don't ask me which,
'cause I ain't going
back there right now.
If you could learn anything,
what would you wanna learn?
How to build bubble houses.
Bubble houses?
You know those igloo looking
houses without windows?
They're the safest
places you can live.
If a hurricane or tornado
hits you in your bubble house
you'll be fine.
I didn't know that.
Doesn't really make sense
why people live in
other kinds of houses.
Well, maybe they like
windows or sunshine.
Maybe they don't like the
way those things look.
Well, I think that's shallow.
Why would people choose
looks over safety?
Hmm.
That's really a good point.
People are really into
what things look like.
That's just gross,
if you ask me.
What are we doing here?
You need some clothes.
You can't wear the
same thing every day.
Who says?
I don't know,
the clothes police, who cares?
Here's the deal.
I don't know anything about
kids much less kids' clothes.
So I'm gonna let you
figure out what you want
and then I'm gonna pay for it.
What if I just want some candy,
can I keep the
rest of the money?
No, this is your big
moment to be responsible.
Sounds stressful.
I'll be waiting right here.
Don't worry, i'm
not going anywhere.
What did you get?
Huh,
some shoes, shorts,
socks, pants, pajamas.
That was fast.
I was scared you
were gonna drive away.
Well, I'm still here.
Put on your seatbelt.
My father died 40
years ago today.
Do you think he's
with god right now?
I don't really know.
I never much believed in god.
Believing in god
doesn't have anything to
do with god, you know.
What do you mean?
Believing in god helps us.
If you don't have
anyone to pray to
how can you have any hope?
I believe in science.
Science won't comfort
you in the night
when you're cold and alone.
Hmm.
Maybe you're right.
My father was a good man.
He worked hard,
helped people.
You'll see him again.
You a fan of ice cream?
Yeah.
Do you always eat ice cream
after you go to the graveyard?
No, but I might start.
You know,
death doesn't scare me.
Oh, really?
What does scare you?
Hm, going crazy.
Yeah, that would be a lot worse.
Your body just
sees what it wants to see
and hears what it wants to hear
and does what it wants to do.
It's not fair.
Well, illness isn't fair.
Are you a fan
of strawberry ice cream?
Not really.
Ms. Davis brought it to
me from down the road.
She had some extra
frozen strawberries
she needed to do something with.
Chocolate is way better.
I'll let her know.
Have you read "the hobbit"?
Never even heard of it.
Oh, you should give it a shot.
I have another book as well,
it's pretty good.
It's more of a kid's book.
It's about a guy who
lives in a mushroom house.
My grad students gave it
to me for a birthday gift.
Hey, did you,
did you brush your teeth?
Mm-hm, yeah.
Two minutes?
Five minutes.
Really?
All right, well, good night.
Mr. Mercer.
Yes, Elvis.
I can't read very well.
It's okay.
It's not a requirement.
You can just leave
'em on the nightstand
and I'll put 'em back tomorrow.
Can you read to me?
Can't sleep.
Sure.
You might not like "the hobbit",
it was written a long time ago.
I'm gonna read you
the one about the guy who
lives in the mushroom house.
My students thought
it was hilarious
when they gave it to me.
"Jasper Jenkins was
a small, slim man,
with big feet and
long skinny fingers.
He was jolly most of the
time and had a wide grin
that brightened up the neighborhood
whenever he would smile.
Jasper was the only man in town
who lived inside a mushroom.
It had tiny windows
and he would sit beside
them on rainy days
and watch the drops fall
from the sky and hit the mud.
Ping, ping, ping.
The mushroom house on
the outskirts of town
had everything Jasper needed.
He liked to bake cookies
in the big, round oven,
and pass them out to the city
kids on Saturday evenings.
He was everyone's favorite guy.
"He..."
Michael Mercer here.
Hi, Dr. Mercer, it's Jack.
Jack, hi.
Did you find out anything?
Are you sure his name's Elvis?
I guess I'm not that sure.
Any kids reported missing
in the last couple of weeks?
Unfortunately not, no kids, doc.
That's helpful, thanks Jack.
Yeah, no, I have to think
about what to do next.
Maybe you can get
him to tell you his last name.
Yeah, I'll give it a shot
and I'll give you a call back.
My brother says
you can call him directly
- next time.
- Thanks, Jack.
I'll text you his number.
You like the book?
Yeah, I like what parts
of it I can understand.
Oh, the more you read,
the easier it gets.
I'm also not
that good at school.
You know you're very smart.
Maybe you're just not
applying yourself.
It also helps if you go.
I gotta write a recommendation
letter for a friend
so you can either
keep reading that book
or I can put you to work
doing some chores for me.
What kinds of chores?
You can either
do some mushrooming
or you can rake the leaves.
Raking leaves isn't my thing,
I'd rather go mushrooming.
Okay.
I'll give you $5 for every
chaga chunk you bring to me.
But no cheating.
You can't take the whole
batch from the tree.
Deal?
Deal?
- Sure.
- Okay.
So what you're gonna look for,
remember, like the last
time, is the charcoal.
It looks like charcoal,
it'll be on the side
of the tree, okay.
So you can look up and you
can look around the tree,
sometimes it will be at
the roots as well, okay.
Good luck.
Hello.
Officer Bradley,
it's Michael Mercer,
Jack's old employer.
I, I ran the lab where,
where he worked.
Ah, hi, Dr. Mercer.
I've heard great
things about you.
Yeah, same to you.
Um, listen, thank you so much
for looking into the
situation with the child.
I, I just found a math test
with the boy's name on it.
Ah, his name is Jacob faulkner.
F-a-u-l-k-n-e-r.
Jacob faulkner?
I don't know if he
made up the name Elvis
or if he just doesn't wanna
go by any other name, but-
- Jacob faulkner.
Yeah, or he just doesn't
wanna go home, yeah.
I can look into it.
Give me a day or two.
Yes, um, can you look into this?
I, I don't wanna...
I wanna help the boy,
but I also don't want his
family to be worried about him
and i'm,
I'm just, I'm not
sure what to do here.
Is the situation
stable with the boy right now?
Yes, no, no,
he seems to be doing well,
all things considered.
Yeah, I can look into it.
Well, thank you for
your help, officer,
I really appreciate it.
Happy to help out.
I'll be in touch.
Have a great day.
Hey.
Hey, I left you those
mushrooms on the front porch,
you can check them out later.
Oh, great, yeah, I will.
And maybe you can
make a career of this.
Yeah, it's relaxing
roaming the woods alone.
Did you come across
any black bears?
No, and I sure hope I don't.
Have you ever come across any?
I have.
You just have to back away
slowly, they won't bother you.
So this is what I want
from those mushrooms.
It's ergosterol peroxide.
It's a steroid derivative
that you can isolate.
It keeps your immune system
from getting too active.
You see.
It looks like
hieroglyphics actually.
Well, if you ever
take organic chemistry
you'll have fun working problems
where you move different
functional groups around
depending on various conditions
like heat or pressure.
If you're anything like I was.
I used to throw my chemistry
books around on Saturday nights
and I'd scream.
Well, that doesn't sound
like a good time at all.
Hm.
I used to have dreams about
reactions and wake up sweating.
Then one day it just clicked.
So why did you retire?
You don't seem old enough.
Couldn't get any grants anymore.
I mean, the university
expected you
to find these funding sources
from all these different places.
And you know what?
If your grants expire and you
don't get others, that's it.
You know, you have
to sell yourself out
and study topics that
don't interest you.
It's what the entities are
funding at any given time.
You know, I ended up feeling
like a used car salesman.
And science shouldn't
be like that.
That's not why I got into it.
Do you miss it?
I miss it all the
time, I miss my students.
Well, you do have lab
up there in the mountains.
I mean, you're not that old,
you could always just go back.
Yeah, who knows?
Anyway, I'm gonna turn in
a little early tonight,
my old man bone aches are
heating up a little bit.
Hey, wait.
You still owe me 20 bucks.
For what?
For those four chaga
chunks that I brought you.
They look nasty, but they
sure make me a little bit.
Okay.
A deal is a deal,
yeah, 20 bucks it is.
Hmm, thanks.
- Mr. Mercer?
- Yeah.
I mean it, thank you.
You're welcome.
I'm just gonna lay down and
take a little rest for a bit.
- I'll feel better.
- Mm-hm.
Huh.
Elvis?
Elvis?
Elvis?
I trusted you.
I trusted you.
You stole my father's rings.
You called the police on me.
I'm trying to help you.
I heard you talking to
that officer on the phone.
You told him my
name and everything.
I trusted you.
I trusted you.
I don't care about the money,
give me the goddamn
rings back kid.
Good luck.
Please, come on.
I don't wanna go back
to another foster home.
You were gonna have
them take me away.
You lied to me about your name.
No, I didn't lie.
- Yes you did.
- My name is Jacob,
my dad just calls me Elvis.
If you're not gonna
take care of me,
then at least
bring me to my dad.
He may be crazy,
but he loves me.
Come on.
Come on.
Is this your house?
It was.
I'm sorry, Elvis.
I wonder if daddy is dead.
We're gonna find out.
What are we doing here?
We need to do something drastic.
What do you mean drastic?
We're gonna buy some
chocolate ice cream.
A lot of it.
We're gonna take that ice cream,
I'm gonna drive to
the top of a mountain.
And as we look down at
the world beneath us
and we see those tiny dots
of rocks, creeks and trees,
we're gonna eat that ice cream.
We're gonna eat it
until we can't move
and they will have
to send a helicopter
to airlift us out with our
big bellies out of the forest.
We will hear the sounds
of the chopper blades
as they fly through the
sky with god's breath
on our chocolate covered faces.
I thought you
didn't believe in god.
I believe in god's breath
and chocolate ice cream.
I hope my dad is okay.
I hope so too.
We'll find out.
I'm sorry I took your
money and your rings.
I don't care about the
money, the rings are important.
Will you forgive me?
Yep.
If my dad is dead will
you take care of me?
Let's see if we
can find your daddy first.
If we can't, will
you take care of me?
I don't even know
if I'm qualified.
What does that mean?
Well, I told you before,
I mean, I don't know
anything about kids.
I had some college students,
but that's been a while.
I probably wouldn't
be all that hard.
I mean, if you know how to
make meals and don't do drugs,
you're probably a better
guardian than I've ever had.
Let's see if we
can find your daddy first.
My daddy was going
crazy when I ran away.
He said the house was
filled with rival aliens
who wanted to capture him and
take him back to some planet.
I tried to hand
him his medicine,
but he knocked it out of my
hand and said I was one of them.
I got real scared and
ran into the woods.
No kid should
have to deal with that.
Hmm.
Psst.
It's like my daddy isn't
my daddy sometimes,
like he's a monster in a bad
dream and I can't wake up.
Bad dreams are no
fun, that's for sure,
especially when you can't
wake up or change anything.
What kind of dreams do you have?
I dream about chemical reactions
and old girlfriends
from decades ago,
you know, boring stuff.
What kind of dreams do you have
about things you wanna
do with your life?
You mean daydreams,
like aspirations?
Yeah, that kind.
I don't know.
I've done everything
I had in mind.
I presented scientific
findings around the world,
I took my mom to easter
island before she died,
I spent my life
moving science forward
and now I guess I just wanna
feel less physical pain.
That's not a dream.
What do you daydream?
I told you, I wanna
build a bubble house
like Wallace neff, but better.
His bubble houses got
torn down after a while,
so I want mine to
be indestructible.
Bubble houses won't even
be able to go through them.
I also wanna plant a garden
with lots of potatoes,
black-eyed Susans,
everything you would need
if things go horribly
wrong in the world.
What do you think is gonna
go horribly wrong in the world?
I don't know, but I wanna
be ready, whatever it is.
I like your idea of a
bubble house to protect you
when things go
wrong in the world.
You know, you could
come live there with me,
you could be old and
need some shelter.
I appreciate the invitation.
You...
We could have a laboratory to
make your mushroom medicine.
I'd have to teach
you how to make everything.
That's fine, I don't
mind learning how.
We could have...
We could be two
mushroom scientists
living in a bubble house.
Or a mushroom house.
Like that book
you're reading me?
Yeah, that you swiped.
I'll give it back.
You know, if my daddy
is dead, I will be sad,
but I'll also be
a little relieved
because then I
could live with you
and I wouldn't be so worried
all the time about everything.
I will love him, I
will always love him,
but being worried all
the time is not much fun.
I used to worry about
my dad all the time too.
He used to cough all
night most nights.
Can we go home?
Yeah.
I think I had too much.
Well, you can have some more.
No, done.
Just give me a minute.
Hello.
Dr. Mercer.
Yes.
This is officer Bradley.
Hi officer.
So I have
some information for you
on Jacob faulkner.
Please go ahead.
Jacob faulkner
is the son of Davis faulkner,
originally from
wheeling, West Virginia.
The father is a 34 year old man
and he's been in and out
of mental institutions
for the last 15 years.
He's now in the west
Virginia state hospital
after burning down their house
on west sycamore two weeks ago.
Jacob was presumed to be dead.
So I'm relieved to find
out that's not the case.
He's safe at the moment.
I'm so glad to hear it.
You can bring the
boy into custody
and we'll work with child
services to find him a home.
The child's mother died
during his childbirth
and there are no relatives that
don't have criminal records.
Is there any way I could
foster the boy for now?
That's awful kind of you
to wanna help that child.
Sounds like it's been
a hard life for him.
I'll need to send an
officer there as well.
I understand.
Can we start that process?
Is the boy close by
so that I could speak with
him to put it in my report?
Yes, he's a...
He's right next to me.
Elvis?
Hello.
Jacob?
Yes, sir.
So your father is okay,
but he's in the
hospital right now.
He's sick.
He's sick a lot.
We're glad you're okay.
Do you wanna stay with
Dr. Mercer right now?
I would like that.
We will need to
send someone to speak with you
and visit Dr. Mercer's home.
We will need to fill
out some paperwork
while we sort things
out, there is a process.
Yeah, I understand.
Okay.
What school do you go to?
Lincoln heights elementary,
I haven't been in
for a while though.
Okay.
Thank you for
sharing that with me.
We'll figure out
what to do next.
Go get some ice cream.
I already did.
Thank you for your help officer.
Anytime.
We will be reaching out shortly.
Let's go.
What's that you're drinking?
Phellinus linteus
and inonotus obliquus.
Is that doing anything for you?
Be honest.
Hm, I don't know.
My knee is feeling
a little better
but my eyes are acting up.
What do you mean?
My immune system attacks
whatever it wants sometimes
and I get this thing
called uveitis,
when parts of your
eyes get blurred and
inflamed.
You know, sunlight
gives me a headache,
and I can't read.
It's a lot of fun.
Sorry I've caused you
so much stress, you know.
It's not your fault kid.
I used to get stressed out
when I had a Grant due.
You know what?
Coping with stress
is probably one of the
hardest things to do in life.
Some people, they
go right through it,
but not me.
My body has a huge tantrum.
I'm just not that good at it.
But I'm gonna take a little rest
then I'm gonna
feel a lot better.
Help yourself to
whatever you want, okay.
Mr. Mercer,
here's some water.
I'm not feeling good, Elvis,
could you get the juice
from the refrigerator?
That stuff's not helping you.
You need real medicine.
Come on, take.
Your mushroom juice
isn't helping you.
See, it wasn't that hard.
Gonna feel a lot better now.
You're a good kid,
you know that, Elvis?
Yeah, someone's gotta
keep you in shape.
Okay kid.
All right, rest up a little
and that should
kick in in a bit.
See, this is the third day
you've been taking your medicine
and you're already
looking a lot better.
Hmm, thanks for taking
care of me, Elvis.
Well, someone has to
keep you in check, anyway.
Listen, you need to
go to the doctor.
There we can get you
a real prescription.
Mm-mm.
Okay, if you go to the
doctor, I'll go to school.
Really?
Yeah, but you have to go.
Okay,
deal.
All right.
Have a nice dinner.
You know, I'm no expert,
but you need to try new things.
You're a walking contradiction.
What do you mean?
You say you believe in science,
but you don't like doctors.
Doctors believe in science.
You say that you're not good
with kids, but as it turns out,
you're actually
pretty good with kids.
Well, n of 1.
Fine, n of 1.
But listen to me,
there's sun over your head,
that sun is gonna go past your
face, past your messy hair,
and enter deep into your bones.
It's gonna warm you up
and stop you to be
such a stubborn troll.
You're the worst wizard in
the state of West Virginia.
Maybe that sun can warm you up
and get you to stop stealing.
Quiet.
Listen, sun over your head.
Now lie down.
It's gonna give you the
strength to go to the doctor.
It's a beautiful day outside.
Birds are singing and
flowers are blooming.
You know, it's okay to be
afraid to go in to the doctor.
I guess I'm just afraid
of what they might tell me.
Well, what I try to
do is make myself okay
with the worst thing
that can possibly happen,
then the thing that's going
to happen doesn't seem as bad,
like my dad being dead.
If I can be okay with that,
then the worst thing
doesn't seem as bad.
What's the worst thing
that they can tell you?
I guess that I'm gonna die.
If anything, the doctor's
going to stop you from dying
so quickly.
We're all going
to die, you know.
So what's the verdict?
That you're gonna
die anytime soon?
Nope.
Hm, did they tell you
anything ground-breaking?
Just told me to take my
meds and gave me a checkup.
See, I told you it
wouldn't be so bad.
Aren't you glad you went?
I think so.
Well, since a deal's a deal,
I wanna start going
back to school.
Do you think you can
get me there every day?
Absolutely, I'd be happy to
take you to school every day.
I was glad you wouldn't mind.
Anyway, since my dad
burned down our house,
I don't have...
I don't think I'll be
seeing him for a while.
You might be right about that.
Well, do you wanna go fishing?
When?
Right now.
You don't seem beat up
like you did before.
Sure, we just,
we just have to grab
the Poles from home.
I'm fine with that.
You got anywhere else to be?
Nope.
I have absolutely nowhere else
to be except being with you.
Perfect, that makes two of us.
Mr. Mercer, come
get your prescription.
Okay, that's enough.
Elvis, that's enough.
And reel it in a little bit.
Hook.
I will.
- I'm bad at this.
- Okay, you take this one.
This one's already set.
It's already in the water.
- Just hold it.
- Hold it? Okay.
Put your finger here like this
and then put it back like that.
That's it, good.
Just hold it.
The castle goes on the ends,
- like this, okay.
- Mm-hm.
So you put your
castle on the ends.
That's it, okay.
And the knight, your
knight, the horse, okay,
goes on the next square.
And then you have your bishop
that goes on the next square,
okay.
And then you do queen
on own color, okay.
- This is the queen-
- okay.
And the king, okay.
So this is the queen?
That's the queen, that's right.
The king is the tallest piece.
Technically they're
almost the same size.
And these are called pawns,
and you just put
those in front, okay.
Dear daddy,
I know that you are
still in the hospital.
The nice policeman told me
that you burned down our
house on west sycamore.
I actually drove by it and
saw it with my own two eyes.
It was burned to the ground,
but I know you must've
had a real good reason,
like those creatures
coming for us.
You must've been so scared
and I feel bad for having
left you alone with them.
I hope you can
forgive me one day.
They said that they don't think
that you will be getting out
of there for a long time.
I do think that they will take
real good care of you though,
and that's what you deserve.
As for me, I'm doing pretty well
considering how much has
happened in the last year.
I ended up finding this retired
botanist in the mountains,
and he was nice
enough to take me in.
He studies mushrooms,
isn't that funny?
He gathers them from the forest
and then brings them
back to his house.
He used to do lots of
his experiments with them
and that's what he's
teaching me about now.
I'm learning all about science.
At school, they even put me
in gifted and talented class,
isn't that hard to believe?
Remember how I was
always so slow before?
I couldn't even read
very well back then.
I'm getting a lot better
though, daddy, a lot better.
Anyway, Mr. Mercer takes
me to school every day
and picks me up afterwards.
He says, he's going to
get me a volunteering job
at a science laboratory
when I get a little older.
Maybe I will even go
to college one day.
Mr. Mercer is also working
on the papers to adopt me.
He's almost finished
with the process,
but I just want you to know
nobody could ever
take your place.
You may be sick, but you're
my one and only daddy
and I will always love
you no matter what.
I just want you to know that.
Oh, also, by the
way, guess what?
We are building a
bubble house, daddy.
Remember how you and I talked
about that a few times?
Those houses that
would keep us safe
from hurricanes and aliens?
Well, Mr. Mercer and I are
actually making one ourselves.
He calls it a mushroom house
but I call it a bubble house.
When it's all done, we
are going to move into it
and live there forever.
It'll even be big enough
for you to come stay
if you ever get out
of the hospital.
I also want you to
know, daddy, I am okay.
Everything's going to be
just fine for you and me.
Hope they are letting you play
your guitar in the hospital.
I'm sure the other people
they would like it.
Also, both me and mama are
there with you in spirit.
Much love, Elvis.
Do you think they will let us
bring a cake into the hospital?
Not sure, but
it can't hurt to try.
Phellinus linteus.
That's the species.
Grows on mulberry trees.
Tastes like cow
manure, cures cancer.
Well, that's not entirely true.
Some evidence suggests that
polysaccharides isolated
from the mushrooms
inhibit the tumor growth by
stimulating proliferation
of the t lymphocytes
and immune function.
If you tell me what you
want with these things
I could probably give you
some more information.
Hey, you up for a trade?
I got some...
Trail mix.
I've been looking for
those mushrooms all day,
but now I know why I haven't
been able to find them.
Here.
Eileen.
I brought you a new friend,
Rocco.
Rocco, meet Eileen.
Hello Eileen,
you're looking good.
All right, I'll leave you two.
Get to know each
other a little bit.
Huh.
Hmm.
You're mad at me Eileen.
I get it.
I haven't been
giving you much love.
No love at all.
I've been spending a
little too much time
in my own little world,
while you've been drying up.
Withering away in some dark
corner of the universe.
Cold, alone and mute.
I'm sorry.
I'm gonna make it up
to you, I promise.
Hello.
Dr. Mercer.
- Yes.
- It's Alicia Freedman.
How are you doing?
Dr. Freedman.
It's nice to hear from
you, it's been too long.
How's your post-doc going?
Not bad, all things considered.
Cornell is not a rough
place to do a post-doc
from what I hear.
My latest study
got accepted into nature.
So that's something at least.
Something?
That's absolutely fantastic.
What was the study?
I looked at the impact
of arbuscular mycorrhizal
fungi on nitrogen cycling
in various ecosystems.
Wow, you're gonna be
the lab's golden child.
I'm sure Richard will get his
ro1 renewed a few times over
with a nature publication.
Thank you.
Well, send me your
paper, I'd love to read it.
Hot off the press, will do.
Following in your footsteps.
Ha! I wish.
You're leaving me in the dust.
No way.
You're a brilliant scientist.
What can I do for you, Alicia?
I know you
prefer to avoid academia
and all of its pretentious
trappings these days,
can you write me a letter of
recommendation for the k award?
Well, normally i'd,
I'd avoid any remnants of
that whole grotesque world,
but you were a fantastic student
and you definitely deserve
a k award more than anyone.
So for you,
this once, yes.
I would be so grateful.
- Yes I'll do it.
- Thank you so much.
When's the deadline?
In two weeks,
I'll send you the form.
Perfect.
Send it over.
Listen, have a great
day and congratulations.
- Have a great day-
- it's all right.
Thanks again.
Hey, who's there?
Hey.
What are you doing here, kid?
I don't mean any harm.
I'm not arguing with you,
what are you doing here?
I brought you back
your bowl, your fork too.
Well, couldn't
this wait 'till daylight?
Probably.
I, I was wondering if you
had any more of that food.
Don't you have a home?
All right, come on in.
What's your name?
Elvis.
After Elvis Presley?
No,
after Elvis costello.
Your mama name
you after Elvis costello?
Mm-mm.
Nope, she died the
day I was born.
I'm sorry to hear that.
I never knew her.
Well, why did you
get named after Elvis costello?
My daddy, the night mama died,
he held me in his
arms in the hospital
and he played an Elvis
costello song over and over
while his tears fell
down my baby face.
What was the song?
It was called "I want you"
from the album "blood
and chocolate".
That's a really sad story.
My daddy says the snow was
falling outside the window,
and when the clock
struck midnight
he knew that my name was Elvis.
Is your daddy still alive?
Yes, but why do you wanna know?
Well, he must be
wondering where you are.
I'm not going home
if that's what
you're getting at,
for a whole series of reasons.
You can't live in
the woods, you know.
Says who?
Well, I got a spare bedroom,
you can stay there tonight.
But we gotta get you to
a real home tomorrow.
What does real home even mean?
I haven't been around children
or family for a long time.
It's been about 40 or 50 years
since I was even part of one.
So you're not really the
best one to ask, are you?
You got a lot of weird
stuff in your kitchen,
I mean, compared to other
people's kitchens, no offense.
I have no idea what other
people have in their kitchen.
So what do you do
with all these mushrooms
I saw you hunting?
I use them for my old man aches.
Are you like a
wizard or something?
Exactly.
Or more specifically
a retired botanist
with rheumatoid arthritis.
Sounds spooky.
I studied fungi in
my lab for many years,
extracting various
components to treat diseases.
What kinds of diseases?
Viruses, cancer,
diabetes, for starters.
So you put the
mushrooms in a cauldron
and then you don't get cancer?
I study medicinal
chemistry methods,
extracting certain molecules
that reduce the
inflammation in my joints.
Does it work?
It helps, but my
methods are rudimentary.
I mean, I think I
was a lot better off
when I had all that fancy
machinery back at my lab.
I think it's reducing
the swell, but over time.
Hmm, why don't you
just go to the doctor?
I do when I have to,
but I hate modern medicine.
Every time they give me advice,
my rheumatoid
arthritis gets better,
but then I get 20
other problems.
You sound like my dad.
What's wrong with your dad?
He becomes one with
the alien sometimes.
One with the alien?
Well,
it's like an alien takes
over his earthly body
to alert the world of impending
doom, something like that.
Sounds like he's
got schizophrenia.
That's what the doctors call it.
They say the alien isn't real,
and that my daddy needs
a lot of medicine.
Hmm.
Well, maybe they're just
trying to protect him and you.
Or maybe they're worried
that the alien is gonna
make him do something-
- crazy?
Can I come mushroom
hunting with you?
Today?
Well, aren't you going?
Yeah, I'm going.
You wanna come?
You can come along.
Here,
come around here.
Yeah, I can see it.
- Right there.
- Mm-hm.
Hey, see this.
Looks like charcoal, right?
It's called inonotus obliquus,
otherwise known as chaga.
It looks ugly, but it's
been used for hundreds,
maybe even thousands of
years by different cultures.
They say it has
medicinal qualities,
that it can heal a sick
birch tree where it lives.
Take a look at the inside of it.
It's almost orange.
Yeah.
I mean, you could
use it as a dye,
but I think that's wasteful.
You know, when you
harvest these things,
you have to make sure that
you only take half of it
off the tree,
otherwise you can hurt the tree,
and you can come back for
more in a couple of years.
The earth has all these
amazing organisms,
if we take care of them,
they'll take care of us.
How does this one
take care of us?
Well,
might fight certain
kinds of cancer.
There's plenty of evidence
that what chaga actually does
is up-regulate the expression
of pro-apoptotic proteins
in cancer cells.
Basically it stops
the growth of tumors.
Russians have known
this for years
and other therapeutic
reasons as well.
I care about it because of it's
anti-inflammatory medicine.
My joints, they swell up
and after a while
they can get damaged
so my immune system is a piece
of crap, pardon my Latin.
So do you eat it like an apple?
I don't, others might.
I use a double extraction
tincture method.
What I do is I grind up
the chaga into a powder,
I add some alcohol,
and I shake it up a
couple of times a day
for a couple of months,
and then I do a
bunch of other steps,
but I'm not gonna
bore you with those.
Plants are pretty cool, huh?
Ah, fungi actually
aren't plants, they're...
They were classified that
way because they didn't move.
And back in the late
'60s, early 70s,
a guy named Robert whittaker,
he proposed they get
their own kingdom.
They're actually more like us
than they are plants by the way.
They don't look much like us.
Yeah, nothing much
looks like me.
You know, when I was your age,
I used to gather up mushrooms
and bring them to the
back porch for my mother.
I used to think they
were the most bizarre,
beautiful structures
I'd ever seen.
She would cook 'em up
and serve 'em to my dad
after he came home
from working long hours
in the coal mines.
One of his favorites was
laetiporus sulphureus,
better known as
chicken of the woods.
If you eat it, so it
tastes like chicken?
Yeah, kind of.
But there's also
hen of the woods,
that tastes a lot better.
Mushrooms are bad-ass little
organisms, if you ask me.
I knew you had some
cool backstory to you.
When you left me that lunch
on the rock a few days ago,
I knew that you were solid.
I don't know how solid I am,
but I try to follow
my internal compass.
What's that?
You know, just try
to do the right thing.
Thought you might
need some help.
What do you normally
eat at your house?
It depends.
If my dad's home he'll make me
one of those dinners
from the freezer.
TV dinner?
Hm.
Like Salisbury steak with
potatoes on the side.
What does your
dad do for a living?
He works in a factory
stacking lumber,
but that's not his passion.
What's his passion?
Music, he plays the guitar
and he's good at it too,
but every time he doesn't
take his medicine,
he, he can't go to work
or play the guitar.
I always end up in
some foster home
and the last one I
was in was real bad.
Do you have any aunts or uncles?
Yeah, but they're in jail.
What for?
I don't know, drugs, maybe.
That's really sad.
Sounds like you had
a rough go of it.
Well, I'm having a picnic
with a retired botanists,
and I'm learning new things.
So I can't complain
at this very second.
Don't you think your
school will be missing you
and come looking for you?
I don't know, maybe.
Missing school is not
a great idea, Elvis,
I'm just saying.
Education is the key.
To what?
You know, a lot of
people drop out of school
because they don't
have a choice.
They struggle to
pay their bills,
they ended up taking jobs
that endanger their lives,
or they turn to crime
and end up in jail.
I mean,
I'm not trying to sound like
a public service announcement,
but that's the way it happens.
It's a cycle, you know.
Then their kids have
nothing to look up to
and they have no hope.
You have to be the one
to break the cycle.
Did you break the cycle?
My dad died of lung disease
from working in the
mines for many years.
My mom and I stood over
his grave when I was 17.
She told me, "you can't
die like your daddy did.
You're all I got left."
So you have a phd
and that's why you're
not dead right now?
No, it's not that simple.
Yeah, I got a phd in botany,
and, you know, I ran a
good lab for many years.
But you still have
some weird disease.
Your phd can't do
anything about that.
True, but my disease is
not based on my life choices,
at least not that I know of.
You can't live in an abandoned
school bus, you know,
that's, that's not
a great solution.
What do you know about that bus?
I saw you run into
it a couple of days ago
when you were following
me through the woods.
You know the history
of that park?
Of what park?
Lake shawnee.
You know the history
of lake shawnee?
Well, it's an abandoned
amusement park
that was built in the 1920s
over what they think is native
American burial grounds.
A little girl was playing
on the swings and she died
in the '60s,
so they shut the
whole place down.
Why would they take that
land from the native Americans
in the first place?
The English settlers,
they took it from
the native Americans.
And lore has it that there
was a turf war in that area
in the 1700s.
Ah, they shouldn't have
fought over that land.
They should've come up
with something peaceful.
Agreed.
Violence in and of itself is
not the answer to anything.
That's my whole point.
Two wrongs don't make a right.
Well.
How do you like the picnic?
- Yes.
- Jack?
Who's this?
Ah this is Michael Mercer.
- How are you?
- Dr. Mercer, how are things?
Long time, no speak.
All is going well.
Are you still working at that
same lab you told me about
the last time we spoke?
New lab, c. Elegans.
Yes, pretty good model organism.
Well, i'm
pouring plates every day,
so nothing too exciting.
Smelly yellow jello, I call it.
Well, that's something
to be proud of.
The scientists like me though.
I have a question for you.
Shoot.
Is your brother still working
at the police department?
Yep, he's still a cop.
Can you ask him to look
into something for me?
Sure, what is it?
A runaway kid has been living
in the woods near my house.
He needed food and
he need shelter,
so I took him in and
I gave him some food,
but he refused to go home
and he wouldn't give
me his last name.
Tough one.
Apparently he keeps
ending up in foster care.
His dad is ill.
Look, I wanna help him,
but I don't want
him missing school
and I definitely don't want
his father being worried
about him.
And on the other hand,
I don't wanna turn him
in to the police station
because it sounds like he's
been through hell and back.
I don't know
what I would do either.
But can you,
can you ask your brother if
there's been a missing kid
with the first name
Elvis in morgantown?
I'll call my
brother and buzz you back.
You know, maybe give him
a little of his back story.
No problem, will do.
Terrific, thanks Jack.
Rise and shine.
What time is it?
Time for school.
Is that a joke?
Kinda.
Go brush your teeth,
we're taking a drive.
Come on.
When you think of west
Virginia, what do you think of?
Mountains, drugs and blue skies.
What else?
"Mountaineers are always
free," that's the motto.
Yep, montani semper liberi.
Did you learn that at school?
Yeah, but don't ask me which,
'cause I ain't going
back there right now.
If you could learn anything,
what would you wanna learn?
How to build bubble houses.
Bubble houses?
You know those igloo looking
houses without windows?
They're the safest
places you can live.
If a hurricane or tornado
hits you in your bubble house
you'll be fine.
I didn't know that.
Doesn't really make sense
why people live in
other kinds of houses.
Well, maybe they like
windows or sunshine.
Maybe they don't like the
way those things look.
Well, I think that's shallow.
Why would people choose
looks over safety?
Hmm.
That's really a good point.
People are really into
what things look like.
That's just gross,
if you ask me.
What are we doing here?
You need some clothes.
You can't wear the
same thing every day.
Who says?
I don't know,
the clothes police, who cares?
Here's the deal.
I don't know anything about
kids much less kids' clothes.
So I'm gonna let you
figure out what you want
and then I'm gonna pay for it.
What if I just want some candy,
can I keep the
rest of the money?
No, this is your big
moment to be responsible.
Sounds stressful.
I'll be waiting right here.
Don't worry, i'm
not going anywhere.
What did you get?
Huh,
some shoes, shorts,
socks, pants, pajamas.
That was fast.
I was scared you
were gonna drive away.
Well, I'm still here.
Put on your seatbelt.
My father died 40
years ago today.
Do you think he's
with god right now?
I don't really know.
I never much believed in god.
Believing in god
doesn't have anything to
do with god, you know.
What do you mean?
Believing in god helps us.
If you don't have
anyone to pray to
how can you have any hope?
I believe in science.
Science won't comfort
you in the night
when you're cold and alone.
Hmm.
Maybe you're right.
My father was a good man.
He worked hard,
helped people.
You'll see him again.
You a fan of ice cream?
Yeah.
Do you always eat ice cream
after you go to the graveyard?
No, but I might start.
You know,
death doesn't scare me.
Oh, really?
What does scare you?
Hm, going crazy.
Yeah, that would be a lot worse.
Your body just
sees what it wants to see
and hears what it wants to hear
and does what it wants to do.
It's not fair.
Well, illness isn't fair.
Are you a fan
of strawberry ice cream?
Not really.
Ms. Davis brought it to
me from down the road.
She had some extra
frozen strawberries
she needed to do something with.
Chocolate is way better.
I'll let her know.
Have you read "the hobbit"?
Never even heard of it.
Oh, you should give it a shot.
I have another book as well,
it's pretty good.
It's more of a kid's book.
It's about a guy who
lives in a mushroom house.
My grad students gave it
to me for a birthday gift.
Hey, did you,
did you brush your teeth?
Mm-hm, yeah.
Two minutes?
Five minutes.
Really?
All right, well, good night.
Mr. Mercer.
Yes, Elvis.
I can't read very well.
It's okay.
It's not a requirement.
You can just leave
'em on the nightstand
and I'll put 'em back tomorrow.
Can you read to me?
Can't sleep.
Sure.
You might not like "the hobbit",
it was written a long time ago.
I'm gonna read you
the one about the guy who
lives in the mushroom house.
My students thought
it was hilarious
when they gave it to me.
"Jasper Jenkins was
a small, slim man,
with big feet and
long skinny fingers.
He was jolly most of the
time and had a wide grin
that brightened up the neighborhood
whenever he would smile.
Jasper was the only man in town
who lived inside a mushroom.
It had tiny windows
and he would sit beside
them on rainy days
and watch the drops fall
from the sky and hit the mud.
Ping, ping, ping.
The mushroom house on
the outskirts of town
had everything Jasper needed.
He liked to bake cookies
in the big, round oven,
and pass them out to the city
kids on Saturday evenings.
He was everyone's favorite guy.
"He..."
Michael Mercer here.
Hi, Dr. Mercer, it's Jack.
Jack, hi.
Did you find out anything?
Are you sure his name's Elvis?
I guess I'm not that sure.
Any kids reported missing
in the last couple of weeks?
Unfortunately not, no kids, doc.
That's helpful, thanks Jack.
Yeah, no, I have to think
about what to do next.
Maybe you can get
him to tell you his last name.
Yeah, I'll give it a shot
and I'll give you a call back.
My brother says
you can call him directly
- next time.
- Thanks, Jack.
I'll text you his number.
You like the book?
Yeah, I like what parts
of it I can understand.
Oh, the more you read,
the easier it gets.
I'm also not
that good at school.
You know you're very smart.
Maybe you're just not
applying yourself.
It also helps if you go.
I gotta write a recommendation
letter for a friend
so you can either
keep reading that book
or I can put you to work
doing some chores for me.
What kinds of chores?
You can either
do some mushrooming
or you can rake the leaves.
Raking leaves isn't my thing,
I'd rather go mushrooming.
Okay.
I'll give you $5 for every
chaga chunk you bring to me.
But no cheating.
You can't take the whole
batch from the tree.
Deal?
Deal?
- Sure.
- Okay.
So what you're gonna look for,
remember, like the last
time, is the charcoal.
It looks like charcoal,
it'll be on the side
of the tree, okay.
So you can look up and you
can look around the tree,
sometimes it will be at
the roots as well, okay.
Good luck.
Hello.
Officer Bradley,
it's Michael Mercer,
Jack's old employer.
I, I ran the lab where,
where he worked.
Ah, hi, Dr. Mercer.
I've heard great
things about you.
Yeah, same to you.
Um, listen, thank you so much
for looking into the
situation with the child.
I, I just found a math test
with the boy's name on it.
Ah, his name is Jacob faulkner.
F-a-u-l-k-n-e-r.
Jacob faulkner?
I don't know if he
made up the name Elvis
or if he just doesn't wanna
go by any other name, but-
- Jacob faulkner.
Yeah, or he just doesn't
wanna go home, yeah.
I can look into it.
Give me a day or two.
Yes, um, can you look into this?
I, I don't wanna...
I wanna help the boy,
but I also don't want his
family to be worried about him
and i'm,
I'm just, I'm not
sure what to do here.
Is the situation
stable with the boy right now?
Yes, no, no,
he seems to be doing well,
all things considered.
Yeah, I can look into it.
Well, thank you for
your help, officer,
I really appreciate it.
Happy to help out.
I'll be in touch.
Have a great day.
Hey.
Hey, I left you those
mushrooms on the front porch,
you can check them out later.
Oh, great, yeah, I will.
And maybe you can
make a career of this.
Yeah, it's relaxing
roaming the woods alone.
Did you come across
any black bears?
No, and I sure hope I don't.
Have you ever come across any?
I have.
You just have to back away
slowly, they won't bother you.
So this is what I want
from those mushrooms.
It's ergosterol peroxide.
It's a steroid derivative
that you can isolate.
It keeps your immune system
from getting too active.
You see.
It looks like
hieroglyphics actually.
Well, if you ever
take organic chemistry
you'll have fun working problems
where you move different
functional groups around
depending on various conditions
like heat or pressure.
If you're anything like I was.
I used to throw my chemistry
books around on Saturday nights
and I'd scream.
Well, that doesn't sound
like a good time at all.
Hm.
I used to have dreams about
reactions and wake up sweating.
Then one day it just clicked.
So why did you retire?
You don't seem old enough.
Couldn't get any grants anymore.
I mean, the university
expected you
to find these funding sources
from all these different places.
And you know what?
If your grants expire and you
don't get others, that's it.
You know, you have
to sell yourself out
and study topics that
don't interest you.
It's what the entities are
funding at any given time.
You know, I ended up feeling
like a used car salesman.
And science shouldn't
be like that.
That's not why I got into it.
Do you miss it?
I miss it all the
time, I miss my students.
Well, you do have lab
up there in the mountains.
I mean, you're not that old,
you could always just go back.
Yeah, who knows?
Anyway, I'm gonna turn in
a little early tonight,
my old man bone aches are
heating up a little bit.
Hey, wait.
You still owe me 20 bucks.
For what?
For those four chaga
chunks that I brought you.
They look nasty, but they
sure make me a little bit.
Okay.
A deal is a deal,
yeah, 20 bucks it is.
Hmm, thanks.
- Mr. Mercer?
- Yeah.
I mean it, thank you.
You're welcome.
I'm just gonna lay down and
take a little rest for a bit.
- I'll feel better.
- Mm-hm.
Huh.
Elvis?
Elvis?
Elvis?
I trusted you.
I trusted you.
You stole my father's rings.
You called the police on me.
I'm trying to help you.
I heard you talking to
that officer on the phone.
You told him my
name and everything.
I trusted you.
I trusted you.
I don't care about the money,
give me the goddamn
rings back kid.
Good luck.
Please, come on.
I don't wanna go back
to another foster home.
You were gonna have
them take me away.
You lied to me about your name.
No, I didn't lie.
- Yes you did.
- My name is Jacob,
my dad just calls me Elvis.
If you're not gonna
take care of me,
then at least
bring me to my dad.
He may be crazy,
but he loves me.
Come on.
Come on.
Is this your house?
It was.
I'm sorry, Elvis.
I wonder if daddy is dead.
We're gonna find out.
What are we doing here?
We need to do something drastic.
What do you mean drastic?
We're gonna buy some
chocolate ice cream.
A lot of it.
We're gonna take that ice cream,
I'm gonna drive to
the top of a mountain.
And as we look down at
the world beneath us
and we see those tiny dots
of rocks, creeks and trees,
we're gonna eat that ice cream.
We're gonna eat it
until we can't move
and they will have
to send a helicopter
to airlift us out with our
big bellies out of the forest.
We will hear the sounds
of the chopper blades
as they fly through the
sky with god's breath
on our chocolate covered faces.
I thought you
didn't believe in god.
I believe in god's breath
and chocolate ice cream.
I hope my dad is okay.
I hope so too.
We'll find out.
I'm sorry I took your
money and your rings.
I don't care about the
money, the rings are important.
Will you forgive me?
Yep.
If my dad is dead will
you take care of me?
Let's see if we
can find your daddy first.
If we can't, will
you take care of me?
I don't even know
if I'm qualified.
What does that mean?
Well, I told you before,
I mean, I don't know
anything about kids.
I had some college students,
but that's been a while.
I probably wouldn't
be all that hard.
I mean, if you know how to
make meals and don't do drugs,
you're probably a better
guardian than I've ever had.
Let's see if we
can find your daddy first.
My daddy was going
crazy when I ran away.
He said the house was
filled with rival aliens
who wanted to capture him and
take him back to some planet.
I tried to hand
him his medicine,
but he knocked it out of my
hand and said I was one of them.
I got real scared and
ran into the woods.
No kid should
have to deal with that.
Hmm.
Psst.
It's like my daddy isn't
my daddy sometimes,
like he's a monster in a bad
dream and I can't wake up.
Bad dreams are no
fun, that's for sure,
especially when you can't
wake up or change anything.
What kind of dreams do you have?
I dream about chemical reactions
and old girlfriends
from decades ago,
you know, boring stuff.
What kind of dreams do you have
about things you wanna
do with your life?
You mean daydreams,
like aspirations?
Yeah, that kind.
I don't know.
I've done everything
I had in mind.
I presented scientific
findings around the world,
I took my mom to easter
island before she died,
I spent my life
moving science forward
and now I guess I just wanna
feel less physical pain.
That's not a dream.
What do you daydream?
I told you, I wanna
build a bubble house
like Wallace neff, but better.
His bubble houses got
torn down after a while,
so I want mine to
be indestructible.
Bubble houses won't even
be able to go through them.
I also wanna plant a garden
with lots of potatoes,
black-eyed Susans,
everything you would need
if things go horribly
wrong in the world.
What do you think is gonna
go horribly wrong in the world?
I don't know, but I wanna
be ready, whatever it is.
I like your idea of a
bubble house to protect you
when things go
wrong in the world.
You know, you could
come live there with me,
you could be old and
need some shelter.
I appreciate the invitation.
You...
We could have a laboratory to
make your mushroom medicine.
I'd have to teach
you how to make everything.
That's fine, I don't
mind learning how.
We could have...
We could be two
mushroom scientists
living in a bubble house.
Or a mushroom house.
Like that book
you're reading me?
Yeah, that you swiped.
I'll give it back.
You know, if my daddy
is dead, I will be sad,
but I'll also be
a little relieved
because then I
could live with you
and I wouldn't be so worried
all the time about everything.
I will love him, I
will always love him,
but being worried all
the time is not much fun.
I used to worry about
my dad all the time too.
He used to cough all
night most nights.
Can we go home?
Yeah.
I think I had too much.
Well, you can have some more.
No, done.
Just give me a minute.
Hello.
Dr. Mercer.
Yes.
This is officer Bradley.
Hi officer.
So I have
some information for you
on Jacob faulkner.
Please go ahead.
Jacob faulkner
is the son of Davis faulkner,
originally from
wheeling, West Virginia.
The father is a 34 year old man
and he's been in and out
of mental institutions
for the last 15 years.
He's now in the west
Virginia state hospital
after burning down their house
on west sycamore two weeks ago.
Jacob was presumed to be dead.
So I'm relieved to find
out that's not the case.
He's safe at the moment.
I'm so glad to hear it.
You can bring the
boy into custody
and we'll work with child
services to find him a home.
The child's mother died
during his childbirth
and there are no relatives that
don't have criminal records.
Is there any way I could
foster the boy for now?
That's awful kind of you
to wanna help that child.
Sounds like it's been
a hard life for him.
I'll need to send an
officer there as well.
I understand.
Can we start that process?
Is the boy close by
so that I could speak with
him to put it in my report?
Yes, he's a...
He's right next to me.
Elvis?
Hello.
Jacob?
Yes, sir.
So your father is okay,
but he's in the
hospital right now.
He's sick.
He's sick a lot.
We're glad you're okay.
Do you wanna stay with
Dr. Mercer right now?
I would like that.
We will need to
send someone to speak with you
and visit Dr. Mercer's home.
We will need to fill
out some paperwork
while we sort things
out, there is a process.
Yeah, I understand.
Okay.
What school do you go to?
Lincoln heights elementary,
I haven't been in
for a while though.
Okay.
Thank you for
sharing that with me.
We'll figure out
what to do next.
Go get some ice cream.
I already did.
Thank you for your help officer.
Anytime.
We will be reaching out shortly.
Let's go.
What's that you're drinking?
Phellinus linteus
and inonotus obliquus.
Is that doing anything for you?
Be honest.
Hm, I don't know.
My knee is feeling
a little better
but my eyes are acting up.
What do you mean?
My immune system attacks
whatever it wants sometimes
and I get this thing
called uveitis,
when parts of your
eyes get blurred and
inflamed.
You know, sunlight
gives me a headache,
and I can't read.
It's a lot of fun.
Sorry I've caused you
so much stress, you know.
It's not your fault kid.
I used to get stressed out
when I had a Grant due.
You know what?
Coping with stress
is probably one of the
hardest things to do in life.
Some people, they
go right through it,
but not me.
My body has a huge tantrum.
I'm just not that good at it.
But I'm gonna take a little rest
then I'm gonna
feel a lot better.
Help yourself to
whatever you want, okay.
Mr. Mercer,
here's some water.
I'm not feeling good, Elvis,
could you get the juice
from the refrigerator?
That stuff's not helping you.
You need real medicine.
Come on, take.
Your mushroom juice
isn't helping you.
See, it wasn't that hard.
Gonna feel a lot better now.
You're a good kid,
you know that, Elvis?
Yeah, someone's gotta
keep you in shape.
Okay kid.
All right, rest up a little
and that should
kick in in a bit.
See, this is the third day
you've been taking your medicine
and you're already
looking a lot better.
Hmm, thanks for taking
care of me, Elvis.
Well, someone has to
keep you in check, anyway.
Listen, you need to
go to the doctor.
There we can get you
a real prescription.
Mm-mm.
Okay, if you go to the
doctor, I'll go to school.
Really?
Yeah, but you have to go.
Okay,
deal.
All right.
Have a nice dinner.
You know, I'm no expert,
but you need to try new things.
You're a walking contradiction.
What do you mean?
You say you believe in science,
but you don't like doctors.
Doctors believe in science.
You say that you're not good
with kids, but as it turns out,
you're actually
pretty good with kids.
Well, n of 1.
Fine, n of 1.
But listen to me,
there's sun over your head,
that sun is gonna go past your
face, past your messy hair,
and enter deep into your bones.
It's gonna warm you up
and stop you to be
such a stubborn troll.
You're the worst wizard in
the state of West Virginia.
Maybe that sun can warm you up
and get you to stop stealing.
Quiet.
Listen, sun over your head.
Now lie down.
It's gonna give you the
strength to go to the doctor.
It's a beautiful day outside.
Birds are singing and
flowers are blooming.
You know, it's okay to be
afraid to go in to the doctor.
I guess I'm just afraid
of what they might tell me.
Well, what I try to
do is make myself okay
with the worst thing
that can possibly happen,
then the thing that's going
to happen doesn't seem as bad,
like my dad being dead.
If I can be okay with that,
then the worst thing
doesn't seem as bad.
What's the worst thing
that they can tell you?
I guess that I'm gonna die.
If anything, the doctor's
going to stop you from dying
so quickly.
We're all going
to die, you know.
So what's the verdict?
That you're gonna
die anytime soon?
Nope.
Hm, did they tell you
anything ground-breaking?
Just told me to take my
meds and gave me a checkup.
See, I told you it
wouldn't be so bad.
Aren't you glad you went?
I think so.
Well, since a deal's a deal,
I wanna start going
back to school.
Do you think you can
get me there every day?
Absolutely, I'd be happy to
take you to school every day.
I was glad you wouldn't mind.
Anyway, since my dad
burned down our house,
I don't have...
I don't think I'll be
seeing him for a while.
You might be right about that.
Well, do you wanna go fishing?
When?
Right now.
You don't seem beat up
like you did before.
Sure, we just,
we just have to grab
the Poles from home.
I'm fine with that.
You got anywhere else to be?
Nope.
I have absolutely nowhere else
to be except being with you.
Perfect, that makes two of us.
Mr. Mercer, come
get your prescription.
Okay, that's enough.
Elvis, that's enough.
And reel it in a little bit.
Hook.
I will.
- I'm bad at this.
- Okay, you take this one.
This one's already set.
It's already in the water.
- Just hold it.
- Hold it? Okay.
Put your finger here like this
and then put it back like that.
That's it, good.
Just hold it.
The castle goes on the ends,
- like this, okay.
- Mm-hm.
So you put your
castle on the ends.
That's it, okay.
And the knight, your
knight, the horse, okay,
goes on the next square.
And then you have your bishop
that goes on the next square,
okay.
And then you do queen
on own color, okay.
- This is the queen-
- okay.
And the king, okay.
So this is the queen?
That's the queen, that's right.
The king is the tallest piece.
Technically they're
almost the same size.
And these are called pawns,
and you just put
those in front, okay.
Dear daddy,
I know that you are
still in the hospital.
The nice policeman told me
that you burned down our
house on west sycamore.
I actually drove by it and
saw it with my own two eyes.
It was burned to the ground,
but I know you must've
had a real good reason,
like those creatures
coming for us.
You must've been so scared
and I feel bad for having
left you alone with them.
I hope you can
forgive me one day.
They said that they don't think
that you will be getting out
of there for a long time.
I do think that they will take
real good care of you though,
and that's what you deserve.
As for me, I'm doing pretty well
considering how much has
happened in the last year.
I ended up finding this retired
botanist in the mountains,
and he was nice
enough to take me in.
He studies mushrooms,
isn't that funny?
He gathers them from the forest
and then brings them
back to his house.
He used to do lots of
his experiments with them
and that's what he's
teaching me about now.
I'm learning all about science.
At school, they even put me
in gifted and talented class,
isn't that hard to believe?
Remember how I was
always so slow before?
I couldn't even read
very well back then.
I'm getting a lot better
though, daddy, a lot better.
Anyway, Mr. Mercer takes
me to school every day
and picks me up afterwards.
He says, he's going to
get me a volunteering job
at a science laboratory
when I get a little older.
Maybe I will even go
to college one day.
Mr. Mercer is also working
on the papers to adopt me.
He's almost finished
with the process,
but I just want you to know
nobody could ever
take your place.
You may be sick, but you're
my one and only daddy
and I will always love
you no matter what.
I just want you to know that.
Oh, also, by the
way, guess what?
We are building a
bubble house, daddy.
Remember how you and I talked
about that a few times?
Those houses that
would keep us safe
from hurricanes and aliens?
Well, Mr. Mercer and I are
actually making one ourselves.
He calls it a mushroom house
but I call it a bubble house.
When it's all done, we
are going to move into it
and live there forever.
It'll even be big enough
for you to come stay
if you ever get out
of the hospital.
I also want you to
know, daddy, I am okay.
Everything's going to be
just fine for you and me.
Hope they are letting you play
your guitar in the hospital.
I'm sure the other people
they would like it.
Also, both me and mama are
there with you in spirit.
Much love, Elvis.
Do you think they will let us
bring a cake into the hospital?
Not sure, but
it can't hurt to try.