TREATMENT

TREATMENT: The Fountain

The world is populated by people that would otherwise be ordinary except for the fact that their fingers are made of crayons, chalk, pencils, and other drawing implements. The children have the longest fingers, as they have not had much time to use them yet. Our story centers on a young girl, Penny. We meet her at school, surrounded by children running, laughing, playing, and drawing all over everything. She sits, dejected, as her fingers appear to be fountain pen nibs. It becomes apparent that Penny cannot draw, as she has no ink. The other children laugh at her.

This continues on through high school. She tries to draw using paint from a boy with brush-fingers, Arthur, but it only dries up. One day, Penny returns home to mope in her room. She sits on the bed hugging her knees to her chest. She squeezes her arms trying to get a hold of herself and scratches them in the process. Inky blood seeps from the fingermarks on her arms. Shocked, Penny is frozen for a minute, then begins to write on the wall. It works.

A number of years have passed. We see her walking around downtown and everything in grey, muted, and expressionless. By the time Penny is an adult, her classmates’ fingers have all worn down to artless nubs. They are now drudging businessmen drones, lacking any semblance of individuality. Penny tries to be a part of the workforce, but all of the employers judge her for her pen-fingers. They have not worn down at all. In fact, they are sharper than ever. She wears long sleeves, too, that occasionally seep ink from inside. Workless, she returns home. This time, though, her house is full of etchings, cartoons, and wall upon wall of words: essays, poetry, and everything in between.

One day she finds Arthur milling around downtown mindlessly. She tries to snap him out of it, but it is difficult. It isn’t until she leads him to her house that he sees her art and becomes like his old self. His fingers, though, are still woefully bare. He convinces Penny to share her art with the world. She is uneasy, but agrees.

They gather some pieces of art and take it downtown to show it to people on the street. As soon as a piece of art is thrust into someone’s face, they seem to awaken as if from a trance and once again become animated, smiling and sharing it as they turn to others.

Penny’s art is a hit. We see it quickly gain popularity. People start coming to her house to admire the walls. When it gets too full, art shows start springing up around town. Everyone flocks to her exhibitions and upon leaving they each seem livelier and less of a drone. Arthur is overjoyed and Penny could even be described as confident and optimistic.

After a few weeks, however, things grow out of hand. People become obsessed with Penny’s ability to create art while the rest of the adult world can no longer do so. What starts as a few people requesting commissioned artwork quickly escalates to demanding more and bigger things. They hunt her down, begging her to create. Art consumes her life: she sits at home all day and night, bleeding out her work.

Penny becomes overwhelmed by the demands put on her. She turns inward and lets fame carry her away. Arthur recognizes that Penny cannot take the pressures of the world and tries to reason with her to stop, but it is too late. She has grown weak and eventually ‘runs out of ink’ and dies. The world realizes the sacrifices Penny had made for them and mourns the loss of a great artist. They return to work, though not quite as dull and emotionless as before: Penny’s art stays displayed, reminding them that they still have the potential to be individuals.