FADE IN.
EXT. VILLAGE –
BUSH PATH – EVENING
Funsho sings along
as he approaches his home with a rabbit in his hand.
INT. VILLAGE
HOUSE - BACKYARD – EVENING
Gbemisola prepares
supper on a pot with firewood. She sits to fan the embers and covers her eyes
from the rising smoke it emanates.
She rests and
reminisces.
EXT. VILLAGE
HOUSE – AFTERNOON
FLASHBACK – EIGHT
YEARS EARLIER.
Elderly men and
women sit on a bench in front of the house. Funsho sits while his father
admonishes him.
Gbemisola stands
within earshot and eavesdrop on the conversation.
FUNSHO’S FATHER
If your wife cannot produce children
for you, what are you still doing
with her. If you don’t want to let
her go, then marry another wife.
This is the third miscarriage.
FUNSHO
Gods time is the best. At his own
time she will give birth.
FUNSHO’S FATHER
If you want to remain recalcitrant.
I suggest you take your wife and
leave. I cannot have a son whose
wife cannot give me grandchildren.
FUNSHO
So be it father.
Funsho angrily
gets up and walks out on the elders.
BACK TO PRESENT
Gbemisola opens
the pot to check on the food.
She is pleased
with its progress.
She sits down and
looks around her.
Durojaiye her little
son sits on the floor.
She stares at him
and continues to reminisce.
EXT. ON A FARM
- AFTERNOON
FLASH BACK – TWO WEEKS
EARLIER
Gbemisola gathers
firewood. Her son Durojaiye sits comfortably on the wrapper she spread on the
ground.
She would bend
down and pick wherever she sees. Sometimes she has to break small dried up trees
with her hands.
She comes to a
particular spot.
She is about to
use her hand to pry apart a shrub to bend and pick a firewood, Durojaiye
suddenly screams
She abruptly stops
her task and turns to find out why he screamed. As she moves away from where
she stands to go and pacify him, a snake suddenly crawls away.
The rustling sound
it makes as it glides away on the dried up leaves on the ground attracts her attention.
She instantly turns
her face backwards to where the sound emanates and sees it glide away.
Immediately, she throws
the firewood she has been garnering on the ground, carries her son and runs off.
EXT. ON A FOOT
PATH – MORNING
FLASHBACK – FIVE
DAYS EARLIER
Gbemisola carries
her wares on her head in company of other women on their way to a village
market.
Durajaiye
accompanies her.
Durojaiye asks his
mother to stop. He wants to defecate.
She scolds him for
not defecating earlier at home.
The other women
are unwilling to wait for her so they continue their journey.
Grudgingly she stops,
puts down her load by the way side, takes him nearby, removes his knickers and
waits for him to finish up.
LATER
He is yet to
defecate. She annoyingly jerks him up for playing pranks on her.
Hurriedly, she puts
his knickers back on him, puts her load back on her head and briskly moves on.
LATER
She meets the
advanced party in a ditch with minor injuries crying in agony
The pedestrian bridge
has overturned.
BACK TO PRESENT
Gbemisola
continues to cook the meal.
EXT. VILLAGE
ENVIRONMENT - EVENING
Funsho walks
excitedly and meanders his way home whistling towards his home.
EXT. FUNSHO’S
HOME – EVENING
Funsho arrives
home.
Durojaiye sits and
plays in front of the house.
Durojaiye stands
and runs towards his father who spreads his arm and receives him in a warm
embrace.
DUROJAIYE
(Calls joyfully)
Daddy, daddy.
FUNSHO (O.S)
Where is mummy?
Durojaiye points
inwards.
INT. FUNSHO’S
HOME – BACKYARD - CONTINUOUS
Gbemisola
hurriedly fans the firewood.
GBEMISOLA (V.O)
Oh! Funsho is back.
SITTING ROOM
Funsho hands the
dead rabbit to Durojaiye and enters the house. He drops the farm tools.
BACKYARD
Gbemisola
frantically prepares meal.
SITTING ROOM
Durojaiye leaves
him with the dead rabbit in hand and goes towards the backyard.
BACKYARD
Durojaiye carries
the dead rabbit towards Gbemisola and drops it beside her. She looks at it
admiringly.
FUNSHO (O.S)
Gbemi, I am home.
GBEMISOLA
Welcome my husband. I will be with
you shortly; I am trying to finish
preparing your meal.
FUNSHO (O.S)
It is all right. Collect the meat
from Duro and prepare it so we can
have a sumptuous meal this evening.
Funsho comes into
the courtyard with a towel wrapped around his waist to meet his wife.
FUNSHO
How was your day dear?
GBEMISOLA
Welcome, my husband. Today was not
bad. I made good business. I am
sorry your meal is not yet ready; I
did not come back on time. How was
the farm today?
FUNSHO
Today was fine. I supplied the
required kegs of palm-wine requested
by the palm-wine seller. Two of my
traps caught something. I sold the
hare on my way and decided to bring
the rabbit home for consumption
instead of selling it. The crops are
growing fine; it is just that the
rains have made weeding cumbersome
and almost a daily affair.
(Pause)
Let me go and take my bath. As
regards the meal not been ready yet,
I am ready to wait for as long as I
can as long as the meal eventually
gets into my mouth, my dearest one.
Funsho moves away
towards the corner of the courtyard where a makeshift, open-air bathroom is
constructed with old roofing zinc sheets.
It has no door. He
uses his cloth as screen.
EXT. MOTOR PARK
– AFTERNOON
THREE YEARS LATER
Buses park all
over. Commuters boarding and disembarking. Conductors shouting destinations.
Durojaiye and
Gbemisola arrive at a motor park.
Gbemisola is heavy
with pregnancy. They board a bus, sit and wait as the conductor calls
passengers to fill it up.
The bus is almost
full.
DUROJAYE
Mama, I am hungry. I want to eat
Biscuit.
GBEMISOLA
Duro you know the bus is nearly full.
Please take this money and hurry to
buy it before the bus gets filled so
that we would not delay.
DUROJAIYE
Yes Mama
Durojaiye collects
the money and dashes off.
Pause.
The bus is full.
Passengers and conductor impatiently wait for Durojaiye to return.
The bus conductor angrily
asks her to get down and take the next bus while someone else takes her place.
She is furious.
She annoyingly
gets down and goes in search of Durojaiye.
She sees Durojaiye
where he sits and patiently eats.
She is angry and
scolds him.
He calmly
apologizes and follows her back to board another bus.
Long pause
The bus eventually
moves.
ON THE ROAD – IN
THE BUS
The driver and
passengers sight a road block ahead.
They drive by
Bodies scattered all over the road side.
Gbemisola muffles
a scream with her hands as she sights the lifeless body of the conductor of the
previous bus.
She stares at her
son who sits unwearyingly and watches the scene as the bus moves on.
INT. FUNSHO’S
HOME – BEDROOM – NIGHT
Gbemisola and
Funsho lie on the bed and converse.
FUNSHO
Don’t you think these incidents are
mere coincidences?
GBEMISOLA
Ah! My husband, if they are
coincidences, are they not too much?
It is three times now.
FUNSHO
Okay, I suggest we watch him
carefully.
GBEMISOLA
The amazing thing is that he seems
not to understand what he prevents.
FUNSHO
Don’t you think you are being
superstitious? Anyway, how is my
baby kicking inside.
EXT. FARM –
EVENING
SIX YEARS LATER
Funsho is on the farm
with his son and daughter.
FUNSHO
Duro, it is getting dark, I suggest
you start going home with your
sister. I will finish up here and
meet you later.
DUROJAIYE
Yes Papa.
(To Ayomide)
Let us go home.
Durojaiye takes
hold of Ayomide and they meander there way out of the farm towards home.
BUSH PATH
Durojaiye and his
sister walk towards home.
He approaches a
spot and suddenly freezes.
He looks at his
younger sister beside him and grabs her.
He puts his hands
on her mouth to muffle a scream and runs into a close by dense thicket to hide.
Ayomide tries to
pry his hands off her mouth but he resists.
Some men walk by.
Durojaiye listens
silently to hear voices.
He removes his
hands from his sister’s mouth.
They come out of
the thicket.
His sister stares
at him.
He grabs her hands
and pulls her violently as they run the remaining distance home.
EXT. FUNSHO’S
HOME – EVENING
Durojaiye and
Ayomide arrive at home breathing profusely.
Gbemisola sits
outside the house peeling Egusi seeds.
She frantically
gets up as she sees her children run towards her.
GBEMISOLA
Duro, what is it? Why are you
breathing like this? Where is your
father? What happened?
DUROJAIYE
Nothing Mama
Gbemisola looks at
her daughter.
GBEMISOLA
Have you been playing on the way?
(To Ayomide)
What happened?
DUROJAIYE
No Mama.
Ayomide stares
stupefied at her mother.
She is as well
confused.
Ayomide explains
what Durojaiye did on the way.
Gbemisola
reprimands Durojaiye for playing dirty pranks with his sister.
Durojaiye calmly
receives her rebuke and apologizes.
DUROJAIYE
I am sorry Mama.
GBEMISOLA
Both of you go inside and take your
bath.
DUROJAIYE/AYOMIDE
(Simultaneously)
Yes Mama
The two children
go inside.
GBEMISOLA (V.O)
Why did Duro behave that way? He
loves his sister. He could never
mean any harm to her.
She continues with
her task.
INT. FUNSHO’S
HOME – BEDROOM – DAWN
Funsho and
Gbemisola lie on bed sleeping.
A bell sounds and
wakes them up.
TOWN CRIER (O.S)
Two children have gone missing.
Anyone who has any information about
this should please inform the king
Immediately.
Gbemisola and
Funsho instantly run towards their children’s room and meets them sleeping on
their foams.
They go back to
their room.
Gbemisola informs
her husband what Ayomide said Durojaiye did to her the previous day on their
way back from the farm.
GBEMISOLA
I
feel Durojaiye has mystical powers.
Remember the previous incidents. Now
look at this again. He probably might
have done that to protect his sister
from danger.
FUNSHO
You are right my dear.
Funsho muses.
GBEMISOLA
And do you know what I think, my
husband. I think he probably is not
aware of it himself, because when I
was scolding him yesterday he just
kept quiet, not able to explain why
he acted that way.
FUNSHO
I suggest we ask him what really
happened yesterday when he wakes up.
GBEMISOLA
Yes, my husband.
Gbemisola and
Funsho lie down in deep thought.
LIVING ROOM –
LATER
Funsho and Gbemisola
sit Durojaiye to chat with him.
FUNSHO
Duro,
my son. Ayomide said you
forcibly dragged her into the bush
and covered her mouth while you hid
for no reason. Why did you behave
like that?
DUROJAIYE
Papa, I don’t know oh. As we were
coming back from the farm, I
suddenly felt cold. On impulse, I
carried Ayomide and we hid. I
covered her mouth so that she would
not scream. A few minutes later,
some men passed. After waiting for
some minutes, I did not hear theirP
voices, we came out and ran home.
