Synopsis - Treadmill

ACT I

At birth, Dr. Cleveland Issuefour, like everyone else in the civilized world of the future, receives Electro-Neural Stimulation or ENS. It is the perfect solution for a world that has been overrun by hostility and violence. After ENS, people become docile and emotionally barren, enabling them to live in peace and harmony – no more conflict, no more anxiety, no more unfulfilled desires. When Cleveland backs out of his garage every morning, he synchronizes perfectly with four others, who then drive off in perfect harmony. Every day Cleveland listens to the same radio station at the same time with the same announcements. Tonight there's another football game when the teams play without passion or reason.

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He works at Golden Years Geriatric Hospital, where he treats elderly patients with ST or Stress Therapy, which further numbs them to the unbelievable pains and depression they feel with aging. After the electric charge courses through their brains, Mrs. Corgy and others no longer care about the cancers that cause them pain, or the unfulfilled desires that cause them to worry. His wife Mazy and a friend exercise regularly on treadmills. The friend believes the more pain she feels the better she is and speaks with pride about running until her legs seize up. She talks about needing a goal as we watch the treadmill go round and round.

But Cleveland’s safe little world changes radically one day. To test a broken electrode cable, he attaches the sensors to his own head so he can see a trace on a scope. But he presses the wrong buttons, and the resulting voltage discharge knocks him out cold.

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ACT II

After getting his bearings, he stands and checks himself over. Physically, he’s fine, but his mental state has undergone a major transformation. As he sits on a picnic bench trying to get his mind under control, Mazy calls. He can barely maintain his composure and hangs up before he explodes. He experiences feelings he’s never had in his life – fear, sadness, wonder. He also realizes he can lie. His entire outlook has expanded and continues to blossom unchecked. After talking to a coworker, he concludes that he has been unblocked, which is both scary and illegal. The ENS he received at birth has been undone and he is as vulnerable as an infant before therapy. At dinner, Mazy wonders why he has changed, but he dares not tell her.

 

Next day, a patient he performs ST on rambles after treatment. Normally, Cleveland ignores this common side effect, but this time the patient Mr. Chiron talks about how the mind cannot be blocked for long and how the real human inside will always find a way to regain control and revolt against tyrants. “Kristol must be stopped.” Cleveland becomes abnormally curious about Kristol.

 

Midpoint

Next morning, Cleveland goes to Kristol to get more information about Chiron’s ramblings. He hits a roadblock when an administrator refuses to give him next-of-kin information. But as he leaves, his curiosity takes him down a hall to a large room labeled: Terminal Care. He explores the area and discovers Mr. Chiron, who tells Cleveland, “People have become mindless cattle that produce and consume and make the corporations wealthy beyond imagination – Kristol is the government.”

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Cleveland exhibits more strange behavior during an angry meltdown, and it finally dawns on him that he is the one who’s normal, and his real fight is with ENS and ST. He opens up to Mazy and his son Jonny, but they’re incapable of understanding. Mazy calls Homeland Security for help. Jonny wants to be just like his dad, but he doesn’t know what it means to be normal.  When Chiron dies, Cleveland tracks down his sister and finds out that neither of them received ENS at birth. She tells Cleveland, “We are witnessing the extinction of the human race.” At work, Cleveland is confronted by FBI agent Toledo, who tries to nail him but is ultimately unable to prove anything.

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ACT III

As Cleveland tucks Jonny in one night, they talk more about Cleveland’s new life. Jonny tells him he doesn’t care what happens, he wants to be like his dad. Cleveland is torn between unblocking his son and exposing him to the many unknown dangers of the procedure. Mazy buys a fishing kit for them and Cleveland gets an idea. He tells Jonny they’re going fishing right now!

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Their first stop is the hospital. Cleveland attempts the procedure on Jonny, but things go very wrong. Jonny is rendered unconscious into what appears to be a permanent sleep state.  Cleveland is all at once devastated and on his own. He ends up taking Jonny to Ms. Chiron’s house. She tells him, in the real world there are no simple answers and to have faith. Cleveland doesn’t understand how faith can help. She tells him he’ll figure it out.

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Next morning, he opens his eyes to find that Jonny has awakened and is looking around quizzically. When he asks Jonny what he feels, Jonny says, “I feel everything.” All is good. They spend the rest of the weekend learning how to fish in a little peddle boat and together, they figure it out.