PHYSCHIC (SCREEN PLAY EXCERPTS)

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.