The Maxx

Most of us inhabit at least two worlds.

The real world, where we're at the mercy of circumstance,

and the world within the unconscious,

a safe place where we can escape.

The max shifts between these worlds against his will.

Here, only us, he lives in a box in an alley.

The only one who really cares for him is Julie Winters,

a freelance social worker.

But in Pangaea, the other world, he rules the Outback,

and is the protector of Julie, his jungle queen.

There, he cares for her, but he always ends up back in the real world.

And me, all Mr. Gorn, only I can see that the secret

which unites them could destroy them.

I could be helpful.

Scrooge, I think I'll have some fun with them first.

No!

No!

Are you keeping all these hockey sticks?

Yes, that was really weird.

How that white thingy burst in here and grabbed my dad's head and vanished.

Huh.

Yeah, that was weird.

But after hanging out with Max for so long, I just can't tell anymore.

I hate my dad, pretending to be dead.

When all the time he was that stupid, rapist murderer, Mr. Gorn.

Or do you hate him because he left you?

And you cut his head off!

That's the bravest thing I ever heard of.

No, Sarah.

The bravest thing would have been to listen to him.

Very good, Doctor.

Make sure those braces are nice and tight.

Got to keep the old spinal cord in place, eh?

Oh, and Doc.

Don't go all tense at me just because there's a small army of his' is waiting behind that door.

It's not like they're going to devour you once you finish sewing my head back on.

Let me entertain you, Doctor.

We have a little fairy tale.

My name back then was Artemis Peek-Own.

I was about ten pounds lighter and I was a pretty dapper fellow.

This is the story of a little girl I still know.

Hi, you remember me.

There's our house.

Mommy and daddy, my room.

I love the old elm outside my window.

I sit under it sometimes and pretend I'm a jungle queen.

And have adventures.

Then I come back inside and cuddle in bed and I'm safe.

My daddy draws buildings.

He draws the insides of office buildings downtown.

This is the lobby of the Dexter Basko, something building.

It will be beautiful if it ever gets built.

If I was going to work in a building, this is where I'd work.

Daddy wanted to paint covers for paperbacks, but he didn't.

Cos publishers are dumb, Mommy says.

Sometimes when he thinks I'm asleep, daddy stabs his drawings with a pencil over and over and says bad things.

Daddy always smells like a closet, with a lot of polished shoes and hats in it.

Mommy is pretty, but she always says she's just a dither-brang.

Oh, hello, Mr. Walters.

No, John isn't home.

You can't give him the raise?

Yes, I totally understand, but John will be devastated.

He'll hate leaving you.

Leave? Oh, yes.

That nice Mr. Tate has been calling every day, twice some days.

But John keeps saying how he'd rather stay with you if he had even a little more.

You can. You will.

Very generous of you, Mr. Walters.

Guess what? Old man Walters came through.

Please don't talk business. You know it makes my head spin.

Pizza for both my girls.

Daddy and I have a lot in common. Bugs, for instance.

Ech, a bug.

Ech, a bug. Maybe it'll just walk out of here on its own.

Uh-oh. Time for dinner, everybody.

Mommy always does what has to be done.

I think it's nothing in our shits off, and she pretends it didn't happen.

I guess that's what being a mommy is all about.

One day, I found a bunny in the road, squashed like a piece of clay.

Like the clay I make my pretend houses out of.

It's hurt. Screaming.

I didn't know by this good scream.

But maybe I can make it better.

Like I fix my houses after I smash them with a hammer.

I take it home so it can be my friend.

It's not screaming anymore.

But now all it does is look at me and wait.

My stomach hurts.

Uncle already came to visit one day.

I thought mom said he moved.

He just went to Australia.

But now he's back.

He stays down the hall for me.

Sometimes he whistles.

I guess I like him okay.

Y'all back is unbelievable.

It's like nothing you've ever seen before.

Airwales, the size of the hood you're...

Except when he makes too much noise to her Colonel Kangaroo.

Sometimes I think he looks just like my doll.

Daddy likes to talk to him for hours to laugh with him.

Then he leaves.

Just drives away.

And then I'm alone.

Alone with my little friend.

The bunny is under my bed all the time now.

He doesn't get better.

It just makes this little scraping noise but it's good leg.

I can hear it all the time now.