Against his editor’s advice, Elkin undertook his first serious attempt at screenwriting shortly after his second novel, A Bad Man, was published. It is the story of six-year-old Paul, who finds himself trapped in the body of a 35-year-old man. After frightening his babysitter, he sets off on a quest to find his parents. Failing to find a studio to produce it, Elkin allowed a heavily truncated version to be published in Esquire. Nineteen years later, Bamberger Books published the full text and Elkin wrote the introduction, also published in Pieces of Soap.