Episode 02: Dust in Memory Author: Muvunyi S. Cruz EXT. MAIN ROAD- DAYTIME The car is moving down at a normal speed on a sloppy road when suddenly a policeman stands in the middle of the lane and makes a sign that Keza’s father translates as “slow down and pull over.” The car pulls over by the bus stop where a couple of mini buses are fighting for passengers with conductors screaming all the directions of the city. The dark short policeman gets his sweaty face close to the driver’s window. Scans the inside of the car with his red eyes. His right hand holds the heavy French made rifle to keep it steady. Inside the car, Keza’s dad conceals his fright behind a cool but uncertain smile. Gatesi looks terrified. Keza holds his hand firmly. POLICEMAN (Imperatively) Driving license and yellow card! Keza’s father reaches out to the space between the car roof and the mirror and pulls a few papers then leans towards the wheel to withdraw his wallet from the back pocket of his trousers. He hands over the documents to the policeman. The policeman looks at them for a second then… POLICEMAN (Clears throat) Show me your Identity card. The expression on the face of Keza’s father seems to worry the rest of his family. He struggles to keep his cool. He gives his old ID to the policeman with both hands and a closed smile. The policeman’s face changes. Sweat drips his cheeks as his little reddish eyes focus on Keza’s father. He heavily spits on the ground as if he’s been holding it for a while. POLICEMAN Where are you from? KEZA’S FATHER From church, sir. The policeman looks one more time at the ID then at Keza’s father POLICEMAN Open the boot and everybody out! Out! Keza’s father and the rest of the family step out of the car in a rush. Keza holds her brother as they both get close to their mom. Behind the car, the policeman searches the boot then inside the car. After searching every spot of the car, he walks to Keza’s father near the front door on the driving side and without a word smacks the car documents on Dad’s chest. They scatter around and eventually fall on the ground. Keza’s father squats to pick them up all around the policeman’s dusty boots. All the time, mini-bus passengers are watching the scenes from the mini-buses’ windows. Some pedestrians stop to watch with a careless look. POLICEMAN Get out of my sight before I smash your head, cockroach! The family returns in the car. Keza’s father starts the car’s engine and drives away. INT. CAR – SAME TIME Everyone is silent in the car. Few minutes later, we see the Airport through the car’s windshield at about 3 kilometers miles away. EXT. CAR – SAME TIME We see the car’s left indicator blinking and soon the car turns left getting away from the main road and disappearing through the dusty road in the middle of shops bearing sign posts, most of which read ‘Amata na Fanta bikonje’ with drawings of breads and eggs on them. EXT. KEZA’S HOUSE, COMPOUND- DAY A young man wearing a kaki old shirt and a blue BMW surfing short with red slippers opens a blue gate. It’s the HOUSEBOY. The car drives in slowly and soon stops on the corner of the small green garden. The family gets out of the car. The houseboy closes the gate and quickly disappears through a corridor between the house and the fence of red bricks to get to the back of the house. INT. KEZA’S HOUSE, SITTING ROOM – SAME TIME Gatesi is the first to get inside the house. Keza enters after him. She is sad. She pushes the door between the rooms and the sitting room and disappears in the corridor. Gatesi starts to jump around and turns, opens the two small doors of the cupboard to reveal the TV. He switches it on then continuously presses one button till the screen turns to black with an green AV on the top right corner. He picks up a VHS tape at the bottom of the cupboard and introduces it in the video deck. Soon we hear smashing sounds and cartoon music. When he seats on the floor about 50 centimeters from the TV above him, we Tom chasing Jerry on the screen. Then Keza’s parents get inside the house. The mother enters first then the father who closes the door behind him looking at Gatesi. Gatesi smiles at him. KEZA’S FATHER Gatesi, sit on the couch! Don’t stay close to the TV screen. It’s bad for your eyes. Gatesi looks straight at his mom but her look and the index finger pointed at the couch get him to move to the couch and sits down. Keza’s parents leave the sitting room and walk towards their bedroom at the end of the dark right corridor. INT. KEZA’S HOUSE, HER BEDROOM Keza lies on her stomach crying. She pulls a drawer on the right side of her bed. She puts her hand inside the drawer without looking and begins to search for something. Her hand shuffles through till she draws a white envelop. She rolls on her back, holds the envelope with her slim long fingers. She opens it smoothly then pulls a folded paper. She unfolds the letter then starts reading. From the top of her head, we see a stamp the top of the letter. It portrays a man in the middle of royal ornaments and clearly Royaume de Belgique. Right below it, we read: MANZI Christian Tel. +32480097130 Anderlecht Boite Postale 1088 Bruxelles, Belgique Lundi 18 janvier 1994 Soon a smile appears at the corner of her lips while a few tears flow towards her ears. Her eyes move slowly left to right following every line of the letter. MAN’S VOICE (V.O) My sweet Keza, I hope this finds you well. I miss you so much. So much that sometimes I think I’m going crazy. I just want you to know that I am doing Well. I actually graduated last year from Medical science. It was a long way but I made it. It wasn’t easy waking up every day at 4 o’clock to spend the day and go to bed without seeing your pretty face or hear your sweet voice. That was harder than school. Before I forget, do you remember the picture you gave me before I left… A tear rolls from the corner of Keza’s left eye. She wipes it with the hand holding the letter then carries on with the reading. MAN’S VOICE (V.O) …I can’t sleep without looking at it, caressing it or kissing it good night. I know this may sound crazy but I hear your voice whispering my name. I hear you saying ‘I love you’. Keza stiffens up her lips with her eyes closed. After few seconds, she opens her eyes to read again. MAN’S VOICE (V.O) At this very moment, I am sitting at the balcony of my apartment gazing at the sky. It’s full of shining stars; it’s beautiful just like you are. I miss you and I can’t wait to see you. I’m trying all possible arrangements to be there most probably by the last week of April. Pray for me. It will happen. I love you. Chris. She grabs a pillow and holds it very tight. She looks at the letter one more time and kisses it while tears roll on her cheeks. KEZA (Gasping) I love you too Chris. She puts her left hand in the air as if looking at her hand, we see a shiny copper bracelet on her smooth wrist. >???
Posted on: Thu, 11 Jul 2013 04:13:03 +0000
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