Night Bird

Night Bird is the story of a young man and his stolen innocence. Joey, a 21 year-old short-order cook, spends his nights working in a tiny, 24-hour New Jersey diner counting down to his impending induction into the bloodbath that was the Vietnam War. Although Joey has taken no position on that war, the regular nightly visitors to The Castle Diner impact his conscience and budding morality from a wide diversity of opinions. Caught between the extreme views of Old Jake, a WWI veteran who feels that every young man must leap obediently into the service of his country, and a young radical couple named Aimee and Jon, who preach resistance, Joey ponders his choices. Having not taken a stand on the legitimacy of this war, Joey is torn between the issues of the day as presented to him by The Castle Diner's customers, daily newspapers and other media ranging from the network news to a pirate radio station afloat off the Jersey Shore. Though being drafted would mean his terminally ill mother would be left with no means of support, the needle of Joey's moral compass never truly sets until the news of Robert F. Kennedy's assassination penetrates the walls of The Castle. After placing a discarded Kennedy campaign button on his shirt, Joey allows its ever-exposed pin-point to serve as a constant reminder of one who gave his life in the quest for truth. Viewing world events through a newly awakened social conscience, Joey questions the morality and motives of a government that placed a generation in harm's way. Stepping into the unknown, he realizes that the door that opened his mind to enlightenment is the same one that seals its innocence. From that threshold, Joey sees the light of day and his choice between a life in the greater cage and a chance at flying free.