Dolby & Stereo // 2019.
A transmission from 2019. Celestial administration. Failed parenting strategies. A universe that runs on rules nobody fully understands.
I wrote Dolby & Stereo a few years after Concrete Jungle and Hair of the Joe.
This time, we follow Stereo, a bright, well-meaning celestial being who becomes stranded on Earth after leaving her post in the night sky. Earth is also home to her brother Dolby: a designer-clad assassin with a fridge full of severed heads and a codependent relationship with Siri.
Here’s one of my favorite scenes:
TODDLER DOLBY sits alone at a corner of the room, where a small colony of ants once lived.
As we see them now, most have been turned into curious pile of black lifeless dots, surrounded by the survivors, which scurry away desperately.
Eve and Scott sit some distance away, across a desk from —
DR. JUANITA SCHLEMMER, an experienced child psychologist, who has seen much better days.
He points at his arm, where we see there is toddler-bite sized chunk missing.
Eve looks over at Scott, and sighs. Then–
Dr. Schlemmer fishes through the M&Ms bowl on her desk for only the green ones.
After a moment, she sets down the ones she’s selected on a small plate near by.
She pauses.
While some of the slang has come and gone by now, I’ve left Dolby & Stereo pretty much alone.