103. Hydrophilia - Leslie

• FADE IN:


• INT. WATER DISTILLATION PLANT - DAY


• JAMES FORREST III walks purposefully past large tanks and machinery that towers above him.


• A PLANT EMPLOYEE leads him to a tank and draws a small amount of water from it, pouring it carefully into a small cup.


• He hands the cup to James, who carefully smells the water, swirling it in the cup before he takes a sip.


• He swishes it around his mouth, then spits it out into the cup


• He nods to the employee, who discards the cup.


• INT. JAMES FORREST III'S HOME - DAY


• James is seated on the couch in his living room, an elegantly-decorated space.


• He nods at the camera.


• JAMES
• A lot of people don't understand what I do, or why I do it, but I think we're living in an era when people will become more receptive to the concept.


• He reaches down and pulls up an old daguerreotype photograph of a man in a bowler hat carefully sniffing a large decanter filled with water.


• JAMES
• My grandfather, James Forrest, brought the practice out of the shadows in the early part of the 20th century. Most believed he was wasting his time and he was mocked to the day he died, but he never gave up. My father chose to be an undertaker because of the shame, but I vowed to continue my grandfather's legacy.


• INT. HYDRO-TASTING CONFERENCE - DAY


• James speaks animatedly with a few other Tasters.


• They swirl several glasses of water from a sample table, sipping, then carefully spitting into a large barrel.


• JAMES
• This is one of the best tap waters I've had in a while. There's this wonderful whisper of airiness and then the full body of it hits gently with hint of nothing.


• The Tasters around him nod in admiration.


• INT. JAMES FORREST III'S HOME - DAY


• JAMES
• We look for several things when we are tasting. Absorption, how fast the liquid dissolves on the tongue; several hints and chords of flavor, and the depth of the body. There are a few other obscure factors, but, we really don't talk much about those.


• He fidgets.


• JAMES
• Some people like their waters with a bit of a stronger flavor. I hear the Michigan 28 series had a distinct oaky-nuttiness that some were quite fond of. Some even appreciated the mineral under-chords of the New Jersey 587. I really can't deal with those. When I taste, I look for the liquids with the strongest notes of emptiness. There's something fairly divine about nothingness.


• INT. WATER DISTILLATION PLANT - DAY


• James selects two large water bottles and an employee carts them off.


• JAMES
• For the personal cellar.


• An employee behind him shakes his head in disbelief.


• INT. JAMES FORREST III'S HOME - DAY


• JAMES
• I'm James Forrest III, and I'm a hydro-taster.


• FADE TO BLACK.