Nicole
Screenplay
Written by
Nathan Ross Freeman
Based on the Novel
Corporate Defiance
Written by
Anthony Ford
FIRST DRAFT WGA
Contact:
Anthony Ford: ALFOE9494@aol.com
Nathan Ross Freeman: nfreeman@msn.com
1
Nicole
FADE IN:
EXT. MISSISSIPPI RIVER.
NIGHT.
INSERT: Mississippi River.
NICOLE WALKER(Black (27)) organizes volunteers to sand
bag flood line. As she stacks bags she types notes on
her laptop.
EXT. WEST AFRICA. DAY.
INSERT: West Africa
Nicole and several other information technologist
stand on the periphery of a locust storm with
electronic equipment, take measurements. For whatever
reason Nicole begins to walk, alone, into the midst of
the swarm. She raises her arms as locusts’ stinging
splats cover her body. Nicole then joins the
villagers, grabs torn fabric, flails at the swarm and
beats the brush.
EXT. BOTSWANA. DAY.
INSERT: Botswana.
Nicole plows with FARMER in his field. When they are
finished she leads him to a tent, shows him how to log
the work he has done on a computer and calculate the
weight of his crops against market prices around the
region.
When they come out the tent the farmer’s family and
villagers surround Nicole. Food is brought out. They
eat and dance. A range rover pulls up. They all
shake her hand and embrace her. A SANGOMA WOMAN looks
at Nicole suspiciously. Nicole mounts the range rover
and waves as she leaves the village.
2
EXT. DESERT. DAY.
Nicole, disheveled, dressed in torn rags, breathless,
struggles to walk along a dune. She searches frantic
for something or someone. The sand whirlpools and
sucks her down into a sink hole.
INT. DESERT CAVERN. NIGHT.
Nicole falls
torches. She
Arab descent
bloodied. He
to the floor of a desert cavern lit with
hears SCREAMS. Suddenly a man’s face of
appears before her face. His face is
screams in her face. Nicole screams.
INT. NICOLE’S APARTMENT BEDROOM. NIGHT.
Nicole wakes with a start.
body is wet with sweat.
She breathes hard. Her
NICOLE
(To face in dream)
What are you doing there?
are you?
Who
SARAH WALKER (Black, 52), Nicole’s mother, opens
Nicole’s door.
SARAH
At it again? Every time you
traipse around the damn
world.
Same one?
(No response)
Big day tomorrow. Don’t sit
up with it.
Sarah leaves, closes the door.
NICOLE
Somebody’s there. There was
never anybody there.
3
EXT. UNIVERSITY GRADUATION GROUNDS. DAY.
INSERT: MAY, 1990
Sarah and KOBIE WALKER (Black, 55), Nicole’s father
and Nicole’s best friend, FELECIA SHARP (White, 27),
sit amidst the family and friends of Nicole’s
graduating PhD Classmates.
Nicole’s aisle of classmates rise and proceed to the
stage to receive their diplomas. Each classmate stands
at the bottom of the steps to the stage till their
name is ANNOUNCED by the CHANCELLOR to cross the stage
to receive their diplomas.
On the stage Department Deans and Professors, all
dressed in cap and gown, are seated along either side
the Chancellor’s podium. Sarah watches Nicole get
closer to the stage.
SARAH
(To Kobie)
Look at her. Even the way she
stands. So direct, yet elusive.
At once an introvert and
extrovert. The consummate Only
Child.
Felecia laughs heartily at Sarah.
INT. LITTLE NICOLE’S BEDROOM. NIGHT. FLASHBACK.
LITTLE NICOLE (6) and her friend, LITTLE FELECIA (6),
walk to the window with their dolls. Nicole suddenly
stops, stares at the moon. She is in a trance.
Felecia shrugs.
FELECIA
Oh brother. I’ll wait.
4
Felecia sits on the floor.
inaudibly in her trance.
Nicole begins to mumble
NICOLE
(mumbles)
Crawl bellies hurt hungry
thirsty hide hide big men
fire shoot shoot ugly dog
all the same all the same
the same … Felecia!
dry
chase
float
all
Felecia startles, jumps to her feet.
attention next to Little Nicole.
Stands at
LITTLE NICOLE
Felicia, We have to stop it. We
have to save them.
Little Nicole takes her doll and places it on the
window sill. Little Felecia does the same.
The sun
bad men
the sky
protect
LITTLE NICOLE
is killing them because
tore up the earth and
has no eyelids to
us from God’s hot eyes.
LITTLE FELECIA
I know. So at night we have to
catch as much of the dark as we
can …
LITTLE NICOLE
So we can live through the day.
And save their lives.
FELECIA
Amen.
EXT. UNIVERSITY GRADUATION GROUNDS. CONTINUOUS.
Nicole reaches the top step on the stage, the next to
be called.
KOBIE
Why is she taking that trip to
the Sahara by herself.
5
SARAH
She’s no tourist. She always
goes alone. She irrigates
Africa, measure famines. How
she stirs poverty and
infrastructure together is
beyond me.
KOBIE
Then, Felicia, why aren’t you
going?
FELECIA
FEMA is sending me to
Florida. The only reason she
keeps me around is because an
only child must have an
invisible friend. An it’s
usually the kid next door.
INT. LITTLE NICOLE’S BEDROOM. DAY.
Sarah sticks her head in the room.
SARAH
Nicole, time to work.
LITTLE NICOLE
Okay, now, we gotta figure out
how to put together my new
puzzle. It’s the Sahara.
Little Felecia marvels at the floor that is entirely
strewn with a hundred puzzle pieces to a Sahara
Caravan.
LITTLE FELECIA
It would be easier just to go
there.
LITTLE NICOLE
Stuck in the desert with no
water, all alone. God’s eyes
burning me to death.
6
Nicole takes a boy doll and girl doll and puts them
back to back.
LITTLE NICOLE
Mommy said my ass is too young
to have a boy friend.
LITTLE FELECIA
Yuck.
LITTLE NICOLE
Too young for love.
EXT. UNIVERSITY GRADUATION GROUNDS. CONTINUOUS.
FELECIA
But that’s not why. For this
trip she has to go alone. Like
in her dreams.
SARAH
Her visions.
FELECIA
God, she was always so smarter
too.
SARAH
Invisible friends are often
wiser. Stay close as she’ll
let you.
CHANCELLOR
(Announces)
Nicole Walker, Doctor of
Philosophy, Global Management
Information Systems. Nicole
Walker has become noted as a
global information and
communication specialist and
consultant pioneering
Information Technology as a tool
for disaster relief and
infrastructure infusion for
Developing Countries.
7
Sarah, Kobie and Felecia stand, yell and applaud.
Nicole glides over to receive her diploma.
KOBIE
Should be a boyfriend here.
Never a boyfriend, not one.
SARAH
She’s still young.
KOBIE
She’s 27.
SARAH
She’s had lots of dates.
She’s a both prodigy and a
child born for true love.
Double whammy. We’re a tough
act to follow, don’t you
think?
Kobie gloats.
Sarah notes.
SARAH
Right answer.
Nicole receives her diploma.
KOBIE
(Shouts to Nicole)
That’s my baby!
(Whispers to Sarah)
Do you think she’s gay?
Nicole drops her diploma at the feet of, MAJOR ROBERT
GERSHOM (Black 35), Department of Naval Science.
Cool, Nicole stoops to pick the diploma up. Robert
beats her to it.
Their eyes meet.
moments. Then …
They hold each other’s glance for
ROBERT
Are your parents here?
NICOLE
Why?
8
ROBERT
My name is Robert. I think it
would be proper to meet them.
He hands Nicole her diploma. Expressionless, Nicole
glides off the stage. She looks back at Robert as she
descends the steps.
The sky is full of caps and tassels. Classmates,
families, etc. fill the grounds, share congratulations
and shoot photos.
Nicole glides over to Sarah, Kobie and Felecia.
FELECIA
It’s time too …
Felecia and Nicole do a very well crafted STEP DANCE
to their chant.
NICOLE & FELECIA
(Chant)
No time to fool around
We bettah get movin’ ‘round
Dah world, girl.
Do the books, buy a hook
Grab a hold to all the crooks
put it all back
We know what they took
Save dah world, girl, Save dah
world.
Sarah hugs Nicole. Nicole suddenly snatches a glance
at the sun. She smiles.
SARAH
You feel okay.
NICOLE
I am fine, mom.
SARAH
You sure. It’s very busy out
here.
NICOLE
Mom, I am fine. Mind over mud.
9
KOBIE
Oh, let your mother nag while
she still can. At least get
your share. Come show me some
love
Kobie embraces Nicole.
KOBIE
You are fine wine, daughter, way
before its time. You know the
rule. Faith is more than a wish
it must needs be an activity.
Fermented minds that waste away
in the wine cellar fair no more
than the taste buds of drunken …
NICOLE
Dad, dad. Tomorrow. Tomorrow
is the first day of the rest of
my life, not today.
Robert approaches.
ROBERT
Wonderful philosophy, Ms. Nicole
Walker.
Nicole is startled. Felecia smiles and blushes.
Kobie looks confused. Sarah acts guarded. Robert
extends his hand, Kobie shakes it.
ROBERT
Mr. Walker I presume.
KOBIE
And you are?
Robert.
ROBERT
Major Robert Gershom.
FELECIA
Major?
10
Robert pulls up his gown and flashes his uniform.
ROBERT
Yep. Honest to God Major
America at your service.
SARAH
(sarcastic)
Oh, Lord.
Nicole looks embarrassed at this corny humor. Felecia
giggles with obvious genuine appreciation. Kobie just
stares at him quizzically. Robert takes Sarah’s hand,
kisses it.
ROBERT
Mrs. Walker, I am honored. I
found your daughter on the floor
of the stage …
SARAH
I saw you.
ROBERT
And right then and there I
thought we should not continue
our relationship …
KOBIE
Relationship?
SARAH
He’s being …
ROBERT
Not glib, mam. Overwhelmed.
(To Felecia)
Mam, you look like a friend
whose help I may need at times
like these.
FELECIA
Everybody does when it comes to
Nicole. I charge.
11
Robert suddenly turns to Nicole.
ROBERT
I am sorry, Nicole. Gershom.
My last name is Gershom.
KOBIE
You told us. Major Gershom.
ROBERT
Department of Naval Science. I
mean I teach it. Here.
(To Nicole)
Are you hungry?
SARAH
Well, I sure am. You
treatin’?
Robert keeps his eyes locked on Nicole.
ROBERT
Well I sure am.
FELECIA
I gotta get a picture of this.
Major, find a way to fit in.
Robert Poses with Nicole and her parents. He stands at
attention and just before Felecia clicks the camera he
puts his arm around Nicole’s waste.
ROBERT
For posterity.
Felecia clicks the camera. Kobie takes the camera.
KOBIE
Nicole and, ah, Major, the two
of you, please. Just in case
this is a One Day Stand.
In the photo Robert looks adoringly at Nicole. Nicole
looks straight ahead, perplexed.
12
On Kobie’s second snap, Robert has the same adoring
glance while Nicole tries to keep from busting out
laughing.
SARAH
Give me that camera, Kobie.
Major, come get this camera
and give your tax payers some
service.
Robert takes the camera and shoots the four of them.
Another photo shows Robert with his head bowed as
Sarah looks up at him in reprimand.
Another photo shows Kobie with a cigar in one hand and
his other arm around Robert as Robert looks at Nicole
with a “Your Daddy likes me” expression.
Another shows Felecia with her arms through Roberts.
She looks at him like he is so hot.
Another shows Felecia as she takes a picture of Robert
on bended knee taking a picture of Nicole alone.
Nicole stares off in a distance, expressionless.
They each take turns with the camera and shoot tableau
after tableau the way folk do at graduations.
INT. RESTAURANT. DAY.
The party of five chow down at a seafood restaurant.
Platters and buckets of lobster, crabs, shrimp,
oysters and clams crowd the table. They all crack,
suck and shuck like veterans. Kobie and Robert smack,
finger lick and their bibs are generously spotted, and
occasionally grin and grunt at one another. Sarah
scolds them with her looks. Felecia giggles. Nicole
and Robert occasionally exchange glances.
13
EXT. RESTAURANT.
DAY.
Nicole and Robert walk together alone.
and Felecia walk some distance ahead.
Sarah, Kobie
ROBERT
I come from a long line of black
men who fought for this country
and sent me on point to make
sure it all counts for
something. I am clumsy,
diligent, and know how to match
my clothes. I am 35 years of
age, heterosexual, yet,
suspiciously, have never been
married, no children, lots of
dates, I can get affidavits. Do
you believe in soul mates?
NICOLE
When did you retire from
military intelligence?
ROBERT
What makes you think …
NICOLE
We geeks here at the university
run wild in our imaginations
about how those who can’t,
teach. In your case Naval
Science? Then, I imagine you a
moth balled special ops warrior
awaiting your last hurrah. Plus,
your eyes. They take so much in.
The eyes of a spy.
Robert stands at mock attention
ROBERT
My name, Evolution of Warfare.
My rank, Evolution of Amphibious
Warfare, My serial number,
Senior Naval Science Seminar
Facilitator. I’m no spy. I am
a school teacher. I have no
recollection …
14
NICOLE
I build infrastructure for those
unfortunately not in power.
Things outside National Security
interests. We work different
turf. My enemies are disease and
Poverty. Mostly caused by war.
ROBERT
How do I get you … I mean how do
I get to know you?
NICOLE
Soulmates. A misnomer. My soul
is my self. I am my soul mate.
However, I do believe two people
can have lives as strangers in
dreams. Entwined. I meet
people in my dreams I don’t know
and only see them in my dreams.
But I don’t recollect you.
ROBERT
Then dream that I know you.
Plus, your eyes take so much in.
You saw that I have always known
you. Now tell me how I can find
out more about what I know.
NICOLE
Thanks for lunch. I have to go.
Nicole walks to catch up with her parents and Felecia.
Robert watches her walk away. He turns and walks the
other way.
NICOLE
Hey?
15
Robert turns around and Nicole is literally in his
face.
NICOLE
I am taking a summer trip I have
been planning since birth. You
like Puzzles? Of course you do.
I will leave a message on your
voice mail. I will hang up if I
hear your voice. I will leave
some clues. Come find me.
We’ll have dinner. Be on time.
What’s your number?
Robert, clumsy, frantic, finds pen and paper, writes
down his number. Nicole takes the number and takes
off running like a little girl to catch up with the
others.
EXT. HOTEL LA FIBULE DU DRAA, ZAGORA, MOROCCO. DAY.
Nicole argues with a Camel Trek Guide, ANIQ.
NICOLE
I want to go alone.
tourist.
I am not a
ANIQ
But, Madame, the rules. It at
least must be 2. 2 guides, 2
people … or more. My name is
Aniq.
Nicole stares in the direction of the desert. She
walks in that direction. An Englishman complete with
accent, AARON SHARPNER (White (30), appears.
AARON
I come here to meditate. Find
the punch line theories. The
dreams in the chips. If you are
not a tourist, and if we can
both guarantee our mutual
solitude, then we can buddy up.
Do you meditate or levitate?
Nicole surveys this stranger.
16
EXT. SAHARA DESERT. DAY.
Nicole and Aaron ride a camel each, lead by Aniq and
his fellow trek guide on a camel each that carry the
tents and supplies.
EXT. SAHARA DESERT CAMP. NIGHT.
It’s sunset. Nicole, Aaron and the guides set up
camp, build fire, fix dinner. Occasionally Nicole
stares out at the dunes, expectantly.
AARON
(To Nicole)
Plan to discover anything devout
on the mound?
NICOLE
I didn’t come here to believe in
something.
AARON
I found in certain
constellations, that you can
only see in a desert night,
certain patterns, connections.
Have you ever thought one day
computers would be made of our
own neurons, synapses instead
of silicon chips and wires. A
million times, faster, much,
much cheaper, eternal memory.
The most illiterate,
impoverished of us could know
anything we want to in the blink
of an eye. Literally. I am
here to dream of that day and be
one of the pioneers in it.
NICOLE
Oh, God, don’t tell me I am out
here stranded with another IT
geek. What are the odds?
17
Aaron extends his hand.
AARON
Systems Development.
Nicole shakes his hand.
NICOLE
Global Information.
AARON
Global? Did you say global.
What are the odds indeed. You
see I came here not to pray to
the God of zero and one. To be
here in Africa, the final
frontier, free range country
where the final battle over
everything will have it out.
Nicole stares out at the dunes. Aaron moves quick,
quirky about the camp, fixes coffee, throws wood into
the fire. The two guides chew food drink coffee, look
at Aaron as if he is loose in an asylum.
AARON
Global information systems, not
arms, will be the force that
will exalt or defeat.
NICOLE
Africa. Garden of Eden and the
horses of Apocalypse. You better
make sure this organic computer
has a soul if it’s going to be
cousin to a species that kills
in the name of God. And right
now, Africa is the killing
field. Time out.
AARON
Pardon me.
NICOLE
Timeout.
18
Oh.
AARON
Sorry. We promised. Quiet.
He puts his finger to his lips.
AARON
Shhh.
NICOLE
I am here to solve a riddle that
does not begin but ends a dream.
Aaron heads out for the dunes and climbs the highest
one. He lies on his back, meditates on the stars.
INT. SAHARA DESERT CAMP. NIGHT.
Nicole tosses, turns, sweats in her tent.
EXT. DESERT. DAY.
Nicole shades her eyes from the sun. The sun blinks
its eye lid. Night falls. Nicole is pulled down
through the sand sink hole.
INT. DESERT CAVERN. NIGHT.
Torches, align the cavern wall. Nicole hears SCREAMS.
The Arab’s face appears very close to hers again and
screams.
INT. SAHARA DESERT CAMP. CONTINUOUS.
Nicole awakes with a start, breathes heavily.
EXT. SAHARA DESERT CAMP.
DAY.
It’s barely dawn. Aaron and the guides prepare
breakfast. Nicole bursts out of her tent and heads
for the dunes. She walks for nearly a mile before she
selects one. She climbs the dune. She sits. She
waits.
After some time she stands abruptly. She goes into a
trance. She flails her arms, screams at the top of
her lungs. Frantically she digs, digs, digs, till,
exhausted, she falls over.
19
TIME PASSES:
Nicole awakes with a start. She looks around, dazed.
The sun is a dull red. She begins to chuckle, then
laugh, then cackle.
NICOLE
It’s gone. You are gone. You
are nothing. Nothing. Nothing
at all.
Nicole rolls around on the dune like it’s a soft bed
that cares only for her.
EXT. EDGE OF ZAGORA. DAY.
It’s around sunset.
arrive at Zagora.
Nicole, Aaron and the guides
AARON
Thank you for being a stranger
in need.
NICOLE
You are welcome.
AARON
I will leave my information at
the desk just in case we find
some common fortune to network
our craft.
NICOLE
Battleground Africa.
AARON
Yes.
NICOLE
I think I can do that. But for
just now, for awhile, I think I
am going to piddle around in a
world all mine.
20
AARON
From the sound of your voice he
is a very lucky man.
INT. NICOLE’S HOTEL ROOM.
NIGHT.
Nicole sits on the edge of her bed, stares at the
phone. She has a hand written note in her hand.
Hesitantly she picks up the phone, dials.
INT. ROBERT GERSHOM’ S APARTMENT. NIGHT.
Robert’s phone rings.
He picks it up.
ROBERT
Hello.
He hears a click. He slams the phone down, furious.
He gets a drink of something, positions the chair just
so, sits and watches the phone intently.
INT. NICOLE’S HOTEL ROOM. CONTINUOUS.
Nicole still has her hand on the phone. She looks at
the phone, fiddles with the note. Nicole dials the
phone.
INT. ROBERT GERSHOM’S STUDY. CONTINUOUS.
Robert stares at the phone. The phone rings. Robert
reflexively reaches for it, then snatches his hand
back. The ANSWERING MACHINE picks up.
ANSWERING MACHINE
I have been waiting. Talk slow.
NICOLE V.O.
It’s 2100 my time. I will be
kind and give you the latitude
instead of the longitude.
21
Robert snatches a pen and pad.
NICOLE V.O.
Latitude 30 22 N. I sit now on
the back porch at the end of the
line of a long hypnotizing
valley.
Robert puts down the pen and pad without writing.
ROBERT
Morocco. Interesting.
NICOLE V.O.
Tomorrow at 1800 I have dinner
reserved for two at the nomad’s
tent, a cool spot where you may
think you are entering through
the Paris Arch of Triumph, and,
yet, dwell in a courtyard lined
with Cuban palms.
ROBERT
Nomad’s tent. Ah, La Fibule Du
Draa.
NICOLE V.O.
Please be prompt.
Robert makes a call.
ROBERT
Georgiou. I need a hop. Roger
that. I know, I know. Stow me,
man. Classified. Morocco.
Close enough. When is the next
out? What else can I get? Full
tank of gas? See you in a few.
22
INT. MILITARY TRANSPORT JET. NIGHT.
Robert in a suit and tie climbs aboard a marine
transport jet, sits among MARINES dressed for combat.
He has a bouquet of flowers. The marines try not to
note or react.
MARINES ON PLANE
(Greet Robert)
Huuuaaah!
ROBERT
Huuuaaah.
EXT. HOTEL LA FIBULE DU DRAA. DAY.
It is almost dusk, but light enough to show the
splendor of the courtyard of La Fibule. Nicole sits
at a table. It is 5 PM. Robert appears at the
entrance to the courtyard with bouquet. Nicole rises.
She is still. Robert does not move. They just take
each other in.
INT. HOTEL LA FIBULE RESTAURANT. NIGHT.
Nicole and Robert dine.
NICOLE
And what about war?
ROBERT
I have been in it. Please don’t
ask me if I have ever killed
someone. Every child born knows
war is wrong. Period.
NICOLE
Would you go to it again.
ROBERT
If someone I fought side by side
with came and got me.
NICOLE
And what about jealousy,
possession?
23
ROBERT
It has eluded me. I think,
though, I may have found what
all the fuss is about. Yes, I
could want to possess your every
moment and I am jealous as hell
right now of that chair you sit
on.
NICOLE
What would you do to the chair?
ROBERT
When you go to the ladies room I
will sit on it before it cools.
When you get back I will get up
and offer you my warmth. My
chair.
NICOLE
I think you are clairvoyant.
Please excuse me.
Nicole leaves the table for the ladies room. Robert
sits in her chair. The CONCIERGE appears at the
entrance. Robert nods to him. The concierge nods
back and disappears.
Nicole returns. She stands very close to Robert. Her
eyes search his. He gently palms her face, offers
her, her seat. She sits. He returns to his seat.
ROBERT
Now tell me about the desert.
NICOLE
It’s been quite a playmate. All
my life. I came all the way
here to find out that I don’t
know who or why. We said goodbye today. The desert has a
face that only laughs and
screams. Nothing in between.
Do you believe in …
24
ROBERT
Yes. I don’t know how many lives
I have lived, that I might be
living. Parallel universes,
sixth sense. Hell, seventh,
eighth sense. I believe in
everything.
The WAITER comes, offers wine to taste.
chooses it. The waiter serves, leaves.
Robert
ROBERT
Falling in Love.
NICOLE
It happens really only once.
When you are born. And you
decide to live with yourself.
What’s incredible to me is that
two wee ones would become adult
and promise to be together till
one dies. That’s what true love
means. A vow to live long enough
to bury your lover. Would you?
ROBERT
Bury my lover?
NICOLE
Promise to bury me.
ROBERT
Why would I even want to think
about the end of you?
NICOLE
Answer me.
Robert sloshes down his glass of wine, glares at
Nicole intently.
ROBERT
Yes. I promise you, now, here,
tonight that I will not die on
you.
25
NICOLE
I am a virgin.
ROBERT
I know.
They search each other’s eyes for moments. The waiter
whispers in Robert’s ear. Robert finishes his wine.
ROBERT
It’s time to go.
NICOLE
Where?
ROBERT
Come with me.
Robert leaves money on the table, offers Nicole his
arm. Nicole takes his arm.
EXT. HOTEL FIBULE DU DRAA.
NIGHT.
Robert escorts Nicole to the courtyard. At the same
spot Nicole met with her Trek guide. She sees the same
Trek guide now, with one camel.
NICOLE
There’s only one camel.
ROBERT
His name is Jeb. I am so glad
he can still work.
NICOLE
I know that guide. The name he
gave me was more complicated
than Jeb.
ROBERT
The camel’s name is Jeb.
NICOLE
How do you know?
ROBERT
He’s an old friend.
26
They reach the guide.
NICOLE
I thought you said we had to
have two camels. Aniq, right?
Aniq bows to Nicole.
There
stand
sort.
hands
ANIQ
is just one camel, but you
before two guides, of a
I will leave you in the
of this trusty one.
The guide hands the reigns to Robert, smiles, winks
and leaves. Nicole looks totally confused. She
stares at Robert.
NICOLE
Who are you?
ROBERT
Who are you? You have me track
you down to find you in my old
stomping grounds. You’ve been
following me.
Robert checks the straps and supplies.
ROBERT
The military used to have me tap
dancing up and down the borders
of Algeria, Libya, Niger.
Robert pauses, stares out towards the desert.
ROBERT
I don’t believe I am doing this.
How you tourists walk out there,
strut so easily on sand …
NICOLE
I am no tourist.
ROBERT
And I am not a peeping tom. Not
anymore. So, let’s be … let’s …
27
NICOLE
What.
Robert mounts the camel, extends his hand to Nicole.
ROBERT
Show me what makes the desert
laugh. I’ve only heard it
scream.
NICOLE
How loud?
Nicole takes his hand.
desert.
Both mounted they head for the
EXT. DESERT. NIGHT.
Nicole and Robert climb a dune. The night is moonlit.
Robert carries a blanket. Nicole carries a torch.
She searches. She sees the same spot on the same dune
she visited the day before.
Here.
NICOLE
This will do.
They plant the torch, spread the blanket, sit some
distance apart, take in the sky.
NICOLE
I’m an only child.
ROBERT
That is so very obvious.
NICOLE
How?
ROBERT
Takes one to know one.
NICOLE
Then what of children, then?
28
ROBERT
If there are going to be more
than two we better get started
real soon.
NICOLE
My virginity has nothing to do
with sex. It has nothing to do
with the first time. It has to
do with finding the man who will
stay until he buries me.
Understand me?
Their eyes search intently.
ROBERT
Come here.
Nicole slides over to Robert, trembles. Robert takes
off her shoes, takes off his shoes, digs his feet in
the sand. Nicole digs her feet in the sand. They do
stupid playful things with their feet. On cue they
awkwardly pick at each others clothes till they are
nude.
In their lovemaking their eyes are glued to the
other’s. They bend and clutch, laugh and … both cry.
INT. HOTEL FIBULE – NICOLE’S SUITE.
NIGHT.
Nicole swoons in the shower.
INT. HOTEL FIBULE - ROBERT’S SUITE.
NIGHT.
Robert swoons while he undresses.
INT. HOTEL FIBULE - COURTYARD. DAY.
It’s early the next morning. Nicole and Robert meet
in the Courtyard from separate entrances.
NICOLE
Time to go.
ROBERT
Me too. I can’t miss my hop.
29
NICOLE
I can’t go back without
souvenirs.
ROBERT
Thought you weren’t a tourist.
NICOLE
Touché.
What about you? No
family obligations?
ROBERT
Gone. All dead except an
obnoxious uncle who takes the
Greyhound bus from one asylum to
another.
(Several Beats)
But I do owe buddy favors for
the ride here. If I bring you
something will you stay a few
hours longer?
NICOLE
Only if you will allow this
tourist to bring you at least
one memento.
ROBERT
We two pumpkins will meet back
here 1200 sharp or, better
still, let’s go together?
NICOLE
No.
EXT. ZAGORA MARKET. DAY.
Nicole shops for fabric, mosaics, sculptures.
At a more clandestine area of the market Robert knocks
on several certain doors and shops for desert gear,
men’s toiletries, military opticals, travel snack
condiments, tobacco, liquor, girlie magazines.
Nicole finds an outdoor jewelry concession. She
stares at all the jewelry. Robert approaches, sees
Nicole and ducks behind a wall and watches. Nicole
30
just gets a glimpse of Robert before he can duck away.
Nicole urgently cloaks her actions so he cannot see
her purchase. Nicole finds what she wants, stuffs it
in her bag, rushes away.
Robert sees Nicole leave. When she is out of sight he
approaches the jewelry concession. Selects an item,
pays and stuffs it in his pocket, leaves.
EXT. HOTEL FIBULE. DAY.
It is 1200 PM. Nicole and Robert meet in the
courtyard with packages in hand and suitcases.
eye each the other with suspicion.
They
NICOLE
I saw you today.
ROBERT
Then me first.
NICOLE
No.
Me.
ROBERT
You know.
NICOLE
I know.
Nicole clumsily fumbles through one of her bags. She
pulls out a ring. She kneels on both knees. She
places the ring on his right ring finger. She pulls
him down to his knees, looks him in the eyes.
NICOLE
Understand me?
Nicole extends her left hand, expectant. Robert takes
a ring out of his pocket, places it on her left ring
finger, reaches into one of his bags, brings out a
Military Tri-fold shovel, unfolds it, holds it up like
a flag.
ROBERT
Yes.
31
They both look so serious for several moments. Then,
Nicole looks at Robert holding the shovel and bursts
out with laughter. She rolls around on the ground with
laughter. Robert looks indignant.
ROBERT
Do I look that stupid.
NICOLE
Yes. Yes you do. So stupid our
grandchildren are rolling around
giggling right here, right now,
right along with me. Oh, wait
till I tell them.
ROBERT
I love you.
Nicole is quiet.
She strokes his face.
NICOLE
That’s not fair.
to go first.
I was supposed
ROBERT
I’m waiting.
NICOLE
I love you, Robert.
They kiss.
NICOLE
The desert laughs.
EXT. SARAH & KOBIE’S GROUNDS.
DAY.
INSERT: AUGUST, 1990
Sarah and Kobie’s grounds are luxuriously decorated
for Nicole and Robert’s wedding. Everybody awaits the
Bride.
32
On Nicole’s side of the aisle we have the typical
generations of family and friends of all persuasions.
On Robert’s side we have students, navy buddies, some
off-beat, off-shore mercenary, clandestine folk and on
the front row all by himself his lone family member,
the OBNOXIOUS UNCLE, who occasionally mumbles to
himself and snaps looks at everyone with his paranoia.
INT. SARAH & KOBIE’S PANTRY. DAY.
Sarah puts on the finishing touches on Nicole before
she walks outside and down the aisle.
SARAH
I don’t mean to bring it up
again, but this is your last
chance. Has he seen it?
NICOLE
No. The desert is gone.
SARAH
Is it? You treat them like
they are seizures.
NICOLE
That’s what the book says.
SARAH
I am your book. Read me and
do your exercises. They don’t
know a damn thing. I love
you.
NICOLE
I love you.
SARAH
Now, go jump the broom.
33
EXT. SARAH & KOBIE’S GROUNDS. CONTINUOUS.
ON WEDDING:
It’s a typical American wedding. Nicole glides down
the aisle. Kobie steps out to await her. She puts
her arm through his. He walks her to the altar, gives
her away.
What’s atypical is that there is a Catholic Priest, a
Baptist Minister, an Imam, and Rabbi who administer
the vows. They all deliver a short relevant prayer as
Nicole and Robert approach for vows.
Nicole ends her vows …
NICOLE
Till death do I part.
They jump over a broom.
ON RECEPTION:
Glimpses of the reception. Robert and Nicole dance,
guests join. Felecia cuts in on Robert and dances with
Nicole. Kobie talks with Robert.
KOBIE
Iraq invades Kuwait. What
happens next, soldier?
ROBERT
Hell just opened another
franchise.
KOBIE
What can we expect?
ROBERT
Does your vehicle have good gas
mileage?
Kobie notes a STRANGE MAN by the punch bowl.
KOBIE
Who is that fellow?
yours?
One of
34
ROBERT
Never seen him. Should I ask?
KOBIE
No, no. Plenty of cake for
everybody.
Nicole joins Robert to cut the cake.
NICOLE
(Whispers to Robert)
I found us a house on the edge
of a forest, on the bank of a
lake at the foot of the
mountains.
ROBERT
Sounds like a major fault line.
NICOLE
A sanctuary. Let’s go home.
Finally Nicole throws the bouquet over her shoulder.
All the women try to catch it, except Felecia.
Felecia ducks.
The Guests throw rice on Nicole and Robert as they
head for the antique Roadster. Robert opens the door
for Nicole. Nicole stops, stares straight up in the
sky in a trance. Sarah looks expectant, Kobie and
Felecia look guarded. The guests all look at her
bewildered. The Strange Man takes note of her
behavior.
NICOLE
Quick.
Felecia.
Felecia runs to Nicole.
Nicole pulls her aside.
They embrace for dear life.
NICOLE
It’s back.
35
FELECIA
No more puzzles, Nicole. No
more wonder. Go do some far out
living. Stare down the damn sky.
Don’t let it claim you.
NICOLE
There’s someone else in the
desert.
Sarah walks towards Nicole. Felecia sees Sarah’s
approach. Felecia firmly ushers Nicole to car.
FELECIA
Go love that man. I got your
back. I will come from around
the world to slap your ass into
happy when you need it.
Felecia hurries Nicole in the car, closes the door
just as Sarah gets to the car. Nicole throws Sarah a
melancholic kiss. Robert jovially waves goodbye.
Kobie stands at the top of the steps, stoic,
concerned. The roadster pulls off. The Strange Man
walks alone down the street.
INT. NICOLE & ROBERT’S/DEN.
NIGHT.
INSERT: September, 1990
ON TV: CNN UPDATE OF 82 BRITONS HELD HOSTAGE IN IRAQ.
Unbeknownst to Him, Nicole reverently watches Robert
grade papers. Robert talks to the paper he grades.
ROBERT
(To himself)
Tech is wonderful. Punch card
artillery. Numb fingers instead
of numb nuts. Night vision.
What happens when everybody can
see everybody in the dark?
Never lose touch with the stars,
son. Sometimes the night is
just a welcome a blanket to pull
over your head.
36
INT. NICOLE & ROBERT’S HOME/HALL. NIGHT.
Unbeknownst to her Robert Lovingly watches Nicole
bathe.
INT. NICOLE & ROBERT’S HOME/GARAGE. DAY.
Unbeknownst to him, Nicole lovingly watches Robert
work on his bike with delicate precision in the
garage.
EXT.
NICOLE & ROBERT’S HOME/PORCH. DAY.
Robert approaches the porch dressed in uniform,
carries back pack. He startles as Nicole bursts out
the front door, sweat shirt and shorts, jogs past him
with a brief wave. Robert watches her till she is out
of sight.
INT. NICOLE & ROBERT’S HOME/HALL. DAY.
Unbeknownst to him, Nicole watches with great
curiosity as Robert whispers, argues over the phone
with someone.
ROBERT
Yes, I know. But that’s when I
didn’t have a life. I know.
Please, please. For God’s sake,
I have a home now. What the
hell are you laughing at …
Nicole tries to choke down a laugh.
to an expression of solemn wonder.
The giggle turns
NICOLE
(Whispers to herself
What the hell am I laughing at?
37
INT. NICOLE & ROBERT’S HOME/KITCHEN. DAY.
INSERT: October, 1990
ON TV: NEWS REPORT ON EFFECT OF SANCTIONS AGAINST IRAQ
FOR HOSTAGES AND KUWAIT INVASION.
Robert serves lunch while Nicole reads letters from
corporations inviting her to select them for
application for executive positions.
Wow.
NICOLE
I should be honored.
Nicole throws them all in the trash. Robert stands
with platters in hand, watches her. Nicole stares at
him.
NICOLE
Is it too early for a cocktail?
ROBERT
Not for me. You want one too?
INT. NICOLE & ROBERT’S HOME/OFFICE. NIGHT.
Nicole notices a sealed classified envelope on
Robert’s desk. She flops down in his desk chair.
Robert appears at the door. She searches his eyes.
He walks over, picks up the envelope, puts it in a
drawer, locks the drawer.
ROBERT
I ain’t goin’ nowhere.
Nicole notes the locked drawer.
NICOLE
I use the trash can.
INT. NICOLE & ROBERT’S HOME. DAY.
Robert notices a stack of unopened corporate
application mail for Nicole on the foyer table.
38
INT. NICOLE & ROBERT’S HOME/BEDROOM. DAY.
Nicole and Robert awake entangled after having fallen
asleep kissing. They awake, pull their lips apart.
They both cover their morning breath mouths and
quickly exit on opposite sides of the bed.
NICOLE
(Mouth covered)
How do we do that?
Smacks his lips.
ROBERT
Definitely your morning breath.
How does mine taste? Nevermind.
INT. UNIVERSITY/ROBERTS OFFICE.
DAY.
Nicole comes to Robert’s office with a picnic basket.
He is not there. She looks out the window. He gets in
his car. She runs.
EXT. UNIVERSITY. DAY.
Nicole tries to catch Robert. She runs to the corner.
She notes that he turns and drives down the street
that leads to his old apartment. He enters his
apartment. She watches him turn on the light. She
walks away.
INT. NICOLE & ROBERT’S HOME/KITCHEN. NIGHT.
Nicole slams kitchen utensils and cabinet doors to fix
a sandwich while she talks with Felecia on the phone.
NICOLE
Felecia, he still has his
apartment. No, he didn’t.
Well, no, I didn’t ask, but …
Felecia. I don’t care. He
still lives somewhere else.
39
NICOLE (Cont’d)
I watched him go in and out
several … Yes, and I am not
ashamed of it. Well, he doesn’t
stay long. No, and I never even
thought that. I am not mad, I’m
scared.
INT. ROBERT’S APARTMENT. NIGHT.
Robert turns the key, enters the apartment, turns on a
light, jumps with a fright. Nicole sits at his desk
in a very slight dress.
ROBERT
How’d you get in here?
NICOLE
It’s a secret.
ROBERT
It’s nothing. Really.
NICOLE
Right here, right now you will
fix me a candle light dinner,
make sordid love to me and I
will sleep in your bed tonight
with you till morning. I will
fix you breakfast, then, I will
leave here, alone. And I will
never return.
The candles are melted down. Wine glasses half filled
on the night table. Nicole and Robert make … sordid …
love.
40
INT. ROBERT’S APARTMENT.
DAY.
The next morning Robert, finishes his eggs and stares
out the window at Nicole as she walks to her car.
Nicole stops along the way, turns and hollers up to
Robert.
NICOLE
Last night. I’m pregnant. I
know it. Mixed feelings about
it happening here. Bastard. Now
go home to your wife.
EXT. PARK.
DAY.
INSERT: November, 1990
Robert rides his bike beside Nicole who jogs.
travel for some distance in silence.
ROBERT
What beastie corporation has to
kiss your PhD behind to get you
to open the mail.
NICOLE
Wow. How did you know I had a
life?
ROBERT
I know you have a degree. What
about this Maywell corporation?
NICOLE
Sad little poor corrupt sugar
daddy countries subcontracted by
big merge monsters while the
headless horse UN turns the
other cheek. We are about to
globalize sweat shops and these
corporations want us, geeks, me,
to help turn hell hole countries
into telemarketers. Have you
ever done telemarketing? I
have.
They
41
ROBERT
I was scared.
NICOLE
Scared?
ROBERT
Scared to know too much. About
you. Never ask too much.
People die. Family dies. Too
soon. Soldiers. Classified
deaths. That’s my portfolio. I
have to ease my way into …
NICOLE
Getting to know what you know
about me.
ROBERT
Thanks for giving me another
momma and daddy. That’s where
courage comes from, you know.
NICOLE
I don’t want to know too much
about you. You want a boy or
girl. Which one would scare you?
ROBERT
Walls. I hate walls. There is
something always inside
crawling. Closing in. So, can I
cremate you instead?
They ride in silence for some distance.
ROBERT
I hope it’s a girl.
scared of no girl.
I ain’t
Nicole snarls at him. Robert startles, falls off his
bike. Nicole playfully kicks at him. Robert gets on
his bike, flees. Nicole chases him. The chase is
fast. Fast.
42
INT. ROBERT’S APARTMENT HALLWAY. NIGHT.
Two malevolent Arab men completely wrapped from head
to tow in black cloth drag Robert down the hall. He
kicks and screams to the top of his lungs. He
snatches away from them and uses all his military
hand-to-hand combat techniques to fight and keep them
from taking him away.
INT. NICOLE AND ROBERT’S BEDROOM.
NIGHT.
Nicole awakes with a start in a sweat. Robert does
not awake. Calm, Nicole stands up in the bed in a
trance. She sees the Arabs drag Robert. She swings
her hands to mirror Robert’s combat. Robert awakes.
Nicole continues to fight.
NICOLE
Leave me be. I have a home. I
have a home. Leave me be. I
have a home. I have a home.
Leave me be. I have a home. I
have a home …
An on and on she fights and chants. Robert sits,
calm, watches her with concerned curiosity. He
marvels at how she is so correct in her combat
techniques.
At some point Robert lightly touches her feet. Nicole
immediately stops everything, awakes from her trance,
looks down at Robert, continues to stand up in the
bed. She breathes hard.
NICOLE
My arms ache. What was I doing?
Are you okay?
(several beats)
I didn’t keep this from you. I
knew this was the way you had to
find out.
ROBERT
It’s the second time I saw it.
First time was at the wedding.
At the car.
43
NICOLE
You never said anything.
ROBERT
I knew this was the way you had
to know I knew. Together, alone.
I looked it up. Dissociative
Trance Disorder.
NICOLE
Sorta.
ROBERT
Demons?
NICOLE
No.
ROBERT
Voices?
NICOLE
No.
ROBERT
Personalities …
NICOLE
No, schizophrenia, no
depression, no. don’t worry. No
exorcism for me, bro. I got a
rare one and only version.
ROBERT
When were you diagnosed?
NICOLE
My mother is an experimental and
behavioral psychologist. She
caught me baying at the moon
when I was two. She is very
protective of my future. Health
and wellness are private family
matters.
44
ROBERT
Are there meds?
Nicole kneels, looks intently at Robert.
NICOLE
It’s more like Astro traveling,
clairvoyance and meditation in a
single dose. I would be
worshipped in India. Monks and
mendicants consider my
condition the cure. A magic
carpet. Growing up I used see
the beauty of the human spirit
in colors beyond the spectrum of
light. It freezes me till my
sensations are raw. Chills up
and down my spine.
Nicole takes Robert’s hands and pulls him out of the
bed to the window.
NICOLE
Now mostly I see pain, danger.
Nicole points out the window in a direction.
NICOLE
Your apartment is right over
there. Not the address. I see
its reach. It pulls. You push.
Tonight I saw you. Somebody is
coming to get you. You have to
fight. Harder.
They stand at the window and hold each other.
Occasionally Robert rubs Nicole’s stomach. They stand
at the window together till dawn.
45
EXT. WALKER PHYSICAL THERAPY AND WELLNESS CENTER. DAY.
INSERT: December, 1990
Nicole sits outside her father’s wellness center. She
watches toddlers of every ethnicity play in a gated
playground area of the center. All of the toddlers are
in therapy for some injury or defect.
INT. WALKER PHYSICAL THERAPY AND WELLNESS CENTER. DAY.
ON TV: NEWS REPORT: IRAQIS FREE BRITISH HOSTAGES
Nicole enters Kobie’s office door.
KOBIE
Here comes my bourgeoisie
daughter using her nepotistic
privileges at her father’s
healistic joint to get in the
pool, no doubt, and no doubt I
gotta cradle you and that child
you carry in my arms and swing
you round and round for all my
therapists to shake their heads
and proclaim, “Mmm, mmm, mmm, I
don’t know who them Walkers
think they are.” This ain’t no
Spa, Nic!
INT. WELLNESS CENTER POOL.
DAY.
Kobie hums a lullaby to Nicole, who he swings around
and around, slowly, gently, in the pool.
NICOLE
It’s a boy.
KOBIE
And?
NICOLE
He’s afraid of boys. He had to
follow in the footsteps of a
hole history full of boys.
Black boys who had to prove
themselves. Soldiers.
46
KOBIE
Black boys will always have to
prove themselves.
NICOLE
Almost as much as Black women.
KOBIE
Yeah, but, when black boys have
to prove themselves there is
usually fist-to-cuffs involved
somewhere along the way.
Fightin’ with them or against
them. Battleground or prison
yard.
NICOLE
Keep it to yourself, daddy. I’m
going to try keep him guessing.
KOBIE
Well, don’t keep your mother
guessing. She says it’s time
for a session.
NICOLE
Do you know what we do in those
sessions, daddy?
KOBIE
Capture fate. Whup its ass.
Kobie hums another lullaby.
EXT. SARAH AND KOBIE’S BACK YARD.
DAY. FLASHBACK.
Kobie hums the same lullabye, swings Little Nicole
around and around with his hands under her waist.
Little Nicole looks up at the sky that whirls in a
circle around her father’s head. She giggles.
INT. WELLNESS CENTER POOL. CONTINUOUS.
Nicole looks up at her father. He switches lullabies.
It so soothes Nicole, she reclines fully, gives her
swirling relaxed maternity over to her father’s arms
to float, swing, nurture in soft water.
47
And, yes, somewhere in the background, therapists
shake their heads and smile at their director playing
with his daughter and concepted grandson.
INT. NICOLE & ROBERT’S HOUSE. DAY.
Nicole, in sparse exercise outfit, meditates while she
reads yet another piece of mail from Maywell
Technologies. She notes Aaron Sharpner’s signature.
The phone rings. She answers it. She SQUEALS with
delight.
INT. CLUB. NIGHT.
Nicole, Felecia and her huge, muscular Iranian friend,
AKBAR (25-30), enter a funky dance club. The club is
loud with hip hop funk and jumping.
AKBAR
(To Nicole)
My home is Iran.
FELECIA
Akbar’s name means big. I
thought Robert was coming.
NICOLE
He said he would. He better.
He had to do something.
They mix in the crowd and all three begin to dance.
INT. ROBERT’S APARTMENT.
NIGHT.
Robert sits in a chair, prominently set to face the
door to his apartment, with a drink in his hand. He
waits.
There is a knock at the door.
ROBERT
Enter and sign in please.
48
Two men dressed in Naval uniforms enter. Robert
stands, faces them. They hand him an envelope. They
wait for him to open it. He opens the envelope,
reads, tears off a receipt, gives it to them.
ROBERT
Let’s get wet.
The navy men salute and leave. Robert set’s fire to
the orders in the kitchen sink, pours a generous
amount of liquor in his glass, drinks it down, watches
the fire, pours another, downs it. He watches the
ashes burn.
INT. CLUB. CONTINUOUS.
Nicole, Felecia and Akbar dance on the raucous dance
floor. There is commotion by the entrance, the crowd
parts at some disturbance. They hear a man HUM THE
BEAT at the top of his lungs. Its Robert. Robert is
drunk. He stumbles through the crowd, finds them. He
does his best to dance with them.
ROBERT
(To Akbar)
Yo, sir. Are you a foreign
student, medical intern,
corporate spy, prince ...
NICOLE
Robert!
FELECIA
Get the hell off him!
ROBERT
Iranian. Means big.
(several beats)
You know, seems we always wind
up fighting our friends and
making friends with our enemies.
Time to dance, Mr. big. Time to
dance.
49
Nicole drags Robert over to a table.
NICOLE
I have never seen you drunk.
Robert looks long and hard at Nicole. He gently
strokes her face. One tear falls from his eyes.
Nicole grabs his hand.
NICOLE
What is it, baby?
home?
Wanna go
ROBERT
Hmmm. Home. Mittens. Is it
time for mittens? Kittens. We
are having kittens. Three you
said. Hurry. We gotta really
hurry.
Felecia and Akbar approach and sit at the table.
ROBERT
Sorry, Akbar.
AKBAR
I understand you teach military
science.
ROBERT
Shhh!
AKBAR
I feel for all men.
East men. All men.
we are about to do.
West and
For what
Robert is in Black Out. He gets up as if he and Akbar
are the only two in the room. He pushes away the
table, Akbar Stands. Robert pushes him back down in
the chair. Puts a choke hold on him. Begins to
interrogate him.
ROBERT
Do you know anything?
50
FELECIA
Robert, what are you doing, for
God’s sake?
ROBERT
Huh?
FELECIA
He’s a friend, a colleague.
ROBERT
(To Akbar)
What do you know?
FELECIA
Major, you have your hands
around a UN Peace Keeper.
ROBERT
What?
FELECIA
Nicole!
Nicole, frozen, stares at Robert.
ROBERT
(To Akbar)
What! What’s going happen?!
What?!
Felecia jumps on Robert’s back.
FELECIA
Nicole, get your man. He’s
blacked out.
(To Robert)
You got gum on your back.
ROBERT
(To Akbar)
What is going to happen?
The music stops, the crowd stares at Robert with
Felecia on his back and Akbar expressionless offering
no resistance to the headlock.
51
Security guards approach. From out of nowhere Nicole
slaps Robert. Robert calms. Felecia slides off his
back.
Robert stares at Nicole, gently strokes her face.
Nicole steps in front of the security guards. Felecia
tends to Akbar. Robert goes over to Felecia. Kisses
her on the cheek.
ROBERT
Told you I would need you,
friend. Not like this, though.
(several beats)
Akbar, sir, you owe me an ass
whupping.
Nicole leads a hapless, limp Robert through the crowd,
across the dance floor and out the front entrance.
Felecia and Akbar watch them leave, bewildered,
frightened.
INT. NICOLE & ROBERT’S HOUSE/LIVING ROOM. NIGHT.
Nicole sits on the floor beneath Robert who snores
stretched out on the couch. There is a knock on the
door. Nicole cautiously peeps out, then opens the
door. Felecia steps in. Nicole walks listless back
to the couch, sits on the floor. Felecia stares at
them, turns to leave, hesitates, turns back to Nicole.
FELECIA
I have to go back tomorrow.
Just in case I don’t … Well,
make sure I am the God Mother.
Nicole does not respond.
the door behind her.
Felecia exits, gently closes
52
INT. NICOLE & ROBERT’S HOUSE/BEDROOM.
NIGHT.
INSERT: December, 1990
Nicole tosses and turns.
INT. DESERT CAVERN. NIGHT.
Nicole is crouched in a corner in the torch lit
cavern. She hears SCREAMS. She looks up.
NICOLE
No. No. No. No …
INT. NICOLE & ROBERT’S HOUSE/BEDROOM.
CONTINUOUS.
Nicole wakes with a start, breathes hard. She reaches
for Robert. He is not there.
INT. NICOLE & ROBERT’S HOUSE/FOYER. DAY.
Nicole sits in the foyer, faces the front door. She
waits. There is a knock at the door. She does not
answer it. Robert unlocks and opens the door. Robert
is dressed in Naval uniform with two suitcases.
NICOLE
You didn’t sleep with me last
night.
ROBERT
No mam.
NICOLE
Where do you think you are
going?
Can’t say.
ROBERT
Couldn’t say.
NICOLE
Are you leaving now?
ROBERT
Yes, mam.
53
Right now?
NICOLE
This minute?
ROBERT
Yes, mam.
NICOLE
You Judas.
ROBERT
Yes, mam.
NICOLE
I will not ask when you get
back.
ROBERT
Yes, mam.
NICOLE
Stop that shit. Stop it right
now.
Robert places the suitcases down gently. He slowly
approaches Nicole. Nicole stops him with a gesture.
NICOLE
I had the wrong damn desert.
All my life, the wrong puzzle.
Last night, I saw you. I saw
you and the desert screams. You
scream.
(several beats)
Stay!
Robert stoops to hold her. She fights him off. He
forcibly grabs her and holds on for dear life. She
continues to flail at him until she is subdued.
ROBERT
(Whispers)
I will be back.
Robert releases Nicole. She falls limp. He picks up
his suitcases, walks out the door. He leaves the door
open. Nicole watches him till he disappears.
54
INT. NICOLE & ROBERT’S HOUSE. DAY.
INSERT: January 10, 1991
Nicole sits in bed, watches the news.
ON TV:
LAST DITCH EFFORTS TO AVOID GULF WAR.
Nicole jumps around on bed.
Yes! Yes!
can do it.
NICOLE
Come on, Bush, you
INT. SARAH AND KOBIE’S HOUSE/DEN. DAY.
INSERT January 16, 1991
Nicole sits cuddled between Sarah and Kobie in the
den. They watch the news.
ON TV: OPERATION DESERT STORM
SARAH
Have you heard anything?
Anything at all from Robert.
NICOLE
Dad, I can’t anymore.
Tell her.
KOBIE
He’s classified, Sarah.
SARAH
You mean we actually will not
hear from him till …
NICOLE
He’s back.
Nicole goes to her old bedroom, takes on of her dolls,
sets it on the window sill, peers out the window.
Nicole MUMBLES UNINTELLIGIBLY.
55
INT. DOCTORS OFFICE. DAY.
INSERT: January 30, 1991
Nicole sits in the waiting room of the doctors office.
Reads newspaper.
ON NEWSPAPER: MARINES KILLED AL KHAFJI.
EXAMINE ROOM:
Nicole is examined. The DOCTOR indicates with a smile
all is well with the pregnancy.
INT. KUWAIT, GREEN BERET BRIEF BACK ROOM. DAY.
INSERT: February 22, 1991
INSERT: NEWSPAPER HEADLINE: BUSH THREATENS IRAQ WITH
LAND WAR.
Teams of Green Beret pack for Iraqi insertion.
EXT. IRAQ, HIGHWAY 8. NIGHT.
INSERT: February 23, 1991, Highway 8 between Basra and
Baghdad.
Helicopter inserts two teams of three Green Beret
along Highway 8. The teams split up. Each member of
the teams carries 175 pounds of equipment. One team
runs with struggle for 100 yards to a certain point.
REGGIE pulls out a map and indicates to the other two
Berets that this is the rendezvous point.
They rapidly dig a 3’ by 5’ hide hole 6’5” deep for
the three to stand hunched together to conduct
surveillance. Once dug in and hatched they peek,
search, wait.
TIME PASSES:
56
They hear someone WHISTLE.
Reggie WHISTLES back.
Robert, dressed in Arab garb and his Iraqi guide,
HAFEZ, crawl to the team.
ROBERT
What took you so long?
REGGIE
What took you so long?
HAFEZ
(Smiles broadly)
What took you so long?
Robert pulls a map from his pocket, shows it to
Reggie.
ROBERT
(To Reggie)
You have a village two clicks
from here that has refugee’d
out. You will communicate any
troop movement coming from the
North on Highway 8. We cut all
power in and out of the
vicinity. They are looking for
me. So, let’s make this quick.
They hear someone call out in the distance.
what sounds to be a guns firing.
They hear
ROBERT
This place is crawling with
shepherd locals looking for
bounty and that would be you.
If you are spotted word will get
to the enemy faster than you can
run. You will be evac-ed at
your insertion point in five
days at 0500.
They hear SHOUTS. Robert closes the hatch, sees IRAQI
SHEPHERDS in a pack. They search in another
direction. They turn and begin to meander in the
Berets’ directions. Robert stealthily lifts the
hatch.
57
ROBERT
Soldier no matter what do not
attempt to blow your cover. No
matter what. I do not exist.
Do you read me. I do not exist
Go to sleep. Now. That is an
order.
Reluctantly Reggie closes the hatch. Beret 2 and 3,
lock and load. They hear the shouts drift away.
Hafez and Robert are at some distance in the midst of
the Shepherds. Hafez points in a direction away from
the Beret’s position. The Shepherds begin to travel
in that direction. One shepherd stays behind and looks
at Robert suspiciously. The Shepherd SHOUTS at Robert
and Hafez and CALLS to his comrades.
Robert and Hafez walk away fast. The Shepherd SHOOTS
A GUN in the air. Robert and Hafez begin to run.
A
grenade lands near them. They dive between two
furrows.
ROBERT
Our business is over, Hadi. Get
to your family. I will be okay
from here.
HAFEZ
My name is not Hadi. I give you
that name for it is name for
guide. My name is Hafez. It
means protector. I protect my
family by fighting. So I am not
through. We will die together.
ROBERT
Stop that martyr shit and keep
up. As of this moment I am on
my way home. You need to go to
yours.
They jump up and run. The shouts seem to surround
them. Bullets whiz all around them. A grenade
launcher launches. Hafez screams at the flash in his
eyes.
58
INT. DESERT CAVERN.
NIGHT.
An Arab face screams at Nicole’s face. It is Hafez’s
face. His is the face she has dreamt all these years.
Nicole screams. She backs into a corner. She looks
up in horror. Nicole sees Robert in the Cavern
covered in blood.
NICOLE
No. No. No. No
EXT. IRAQ, HIGHWAY 8. CONTINUOUS.
Robert and Hafez are blown into the air and disappear
within the blast.
INT. DESERT CAVERN. CONTINUOUS.
Robert falls to his knees, stares at her, reaches,
strokes her face, leaves a blood trail on her face.
Robert falls forward flat on his face before her, lays
silent and dies.
EXT. IRAQ, HIGHWAY 8. CONTINUOUS
The Berets struggle to stay put. Beret 2 goes to lift
the hatch. Reggie restrains him. Reggie peeps out of
the hatch. All is clear.
INT. NICOLE & ROBERT’S HOUSE.
CONTINUOUS.
Nicole wakes from her trance, opens her eyes,
furiously, stares at the ceiling.
INT. NICOLE & ROBERTS HOUSE. DAY.
Nicole opens the front door. A uniformed NAVY WOMAN
is at the door. All Nicole hears is …
NAVY WOMAN
… missing in action and presumed
dead. By all accounts he is a
hero mam … Is there anything I
can …
59
Nicole waves her away, slowly closes the door.
wanders in a daze.
Nicole
ON TV: BUSH DECLARES GULF WAR OVER.
Nicole see news flash on TV.
NICOLE
Uh, uh.
INT. ROBERT’S APARTMENT. DAY.
Nicole stands in the middle of Robert’s apartment with
an incredulous look on her face. The place has been
gutted. No furniture, no dust, nothing.
INT. NICOLE & ROBERT’S HOUSE. NIGHT.
Nicole talks on the phone to an MIA ADVOCATE.
MIA ADVOCATE V.O.
We survivors of MIA’s are only
versed in regular military.
Your husband disappeared the
moment he got his assignment.
NICOLE
I know it’s classified. I saw
his apartment. I’m not
classified. What is the first
step?
MIA ADVOCATE V.O.
This is not the first step, but
in your case, Nicole, it’s the
only one. You must find someone
who witnessed his last moments.
60
EXT. PARK. NIGHT.
Nicole sits alone on a bench by a pond in a park.
REGGIE approaches.
REGGIE
I am Reggie. Let’s walk.
He offers his hand to help her up.
declines. They walk.
NICOLE
You were there. Where?
Nicole politely
How?.
REGGIE
Mam, your husband was a ghost.
Excuse the notation. What I
mean is …
I know.
NICOLE
Classified.
REGGIE
We’re all classified but some
soldiers are absolute secret. We
fight behind enemy lines, but
your husband has to be the
enemy, climb right inside their
gun barrels. No one can know
where he came from, where he
goes or where he went till it’s
all over. And in his situation
… well, look at it this way …
When it comes to possible living
MIA’s Korea, Viet Nam still
ain’t all over.
NICOLE
They found clothes, blood, but
no body. Just torn bloody
clothes.
61
REGGIE
Wow, they found something? I
don’t mean to be ungracious,
mam, but from what we heard and
saw it’s amazing they found …
He was surrounded by a bunch of
shepherds. Shepherds! I saw a
grenade flash and your Husband
disappeared in the blast.
Reggie hears something.
nothing.
He looks around.
He sees
REGGIE
Our Commander-In-Chief has
closed the store and closed the
door. We are officially out. I
say officially. If the major is
POW more than likely he is in a
very special place. Could be
there is a chance they will keep
him alive. US intelligence
officer. He is money. But they
will hide him good. Good chance
he will not be with population.
Harder to find though.
He stops suddenly.
Reflects.
REGGIE
That’s it except he had an Iraqi
guide with him.
INT. DESERT CAVERN. NIGHT. FLASHBACK.
The Arab’s face screams at Nicole’s face.
EXT. PARK. CONTINUOUS.
Nicole goes into a semi trance.
the sky for something.
REGGIE
Mam, are you okay?
She looks around in
62
She begins to laugh and laugh and cry. Reggie looks
apprehensive, uncomfortable. Nicole jumps up and down
and twirls around and around.
NICOLE
He’s alive!
Nicole takes in a deep breath and throws herself into
a trance.
REGGIE
Mam, I am going to step over
here for a moment. Let me know
if you need …
Reggie sits by a tree faces away from Nicole. Nicole
stands in her trance stance, smiles up at the sky.
Her smile slowly turns down into a frown of terror.
NICOLE
(To Robert)
Oh, baby.
INT. UNDERGROUND IRAQI PRISON.
DAY.
Robert and Hafez are being beaten all over their
bodies with sticks and bats by a congregation of Iraqi
soldiers. They scream until they are unconscious.
EXT. PARK. CONTINUOUS.
REGGIE
They won’t stop lookin’ for him,
mam, unless he’s verified KIA or
…
NICOLE
Or what?
REGGIE
He’s still working. And until
it’s all over. I mean all over.
In the distance Strange Man stands inconspicuous.
watches for a moment, walks away.
He
63
INT. SARAH’S PSYCHOLOGIST OFFICE.
DAY.
It pours rain outside. Nicole sits literally directly
across the room from her mother. They face each other
so perpendicular.
SARAH
My God, it’s raining.
to it.
Listen
NICOLE
No.
SARAH
Suppose he is dead.
NICOLE
He’s not.
SARAH
Then what will you do?
NICOLE
He’s not.
SARAH
It’s raining very hard.
Concentrate. The way you
control it is give in, then
learn to bring it on. You
know how. You have not
exercised. That’s why the
sky takes you by surprise.
NICOLE
I don’t feel like it.
SARAH
You are afraid you might see
him dead.
NICOLE
If you say so.
SARAH
Well, it’s your life.
64
NICOLE
You home schooled me, home spun
me, groomed me for some
championship but hid me like a
cripple. Till now. Why all of a
sudden you are hell bent on
kicking me out of the nest?
(No response)
I have been getting a lot of fan
mail from corporations.
SARAH
Yes, I have been interceding.
I have been. I am your
mother. I intercede. I do
not interfere. Have you
heard from Maywell
Technologies.
NICOLE
Yes, several times. It’s run by
a man who wants to pirate
computers, sell them like dope,
create sweat shop telemarketers
overseas. Danner. His name is
Danner. Why would you even
think …
SARAH
Aaron. Aaron Sharpner.
sound familiar
Name
NICOLE
He works for Danner. I met him
in the desert. The night before
…
Nicole begins to breathe hard. She turns to the
window, stares at the rain, closes her eyes, forcibly
turns away, stares at her mother.
SARAH
Go ahead. You are right
there, damn it. Why did you
stop it. Do it. Do it.
65
NICOLE
I am not fighting it. I just
won’t fight for it.
SARAH
If he is dead you have to see
it.
NICOLE
Enough!
SARAH
Aaron Sharpner. He is
Maywell’s Vice President of
technology or something that
has to do with …
NICOLE
Making computers organic.
SARAH
He wants to bring you aboard.
Sarah pulls a note off her desk, reads it.
SARAH
He, says, “It’s almost time
for Africa. We need a queen
on board to get there.”
NICOLE
What about Danner?
SARAH
Suppose Robert is Alive.
Wouldn’t you want to see
that? See him?
NICOLE
Someone is trying to kill him.
Sarah looks out the window.
SARAH
Oh, shit. It’s stopped
raining. What about the
child? You need a damn job.
66
Nicole laughs at Sarah.
NICOLE
My mother. The cussing
psychologist. On that note I
think I need to get the hell out
of here.
The child.
SARAH
Show me the child.
They sit for moments in silence, very still, glaring
at one another. It begins to rain. Nicole stands,
goes to the window, takes a deep breath, strokes her
stomach, goes into a trance. She mumbles
unintelligibly in an abnormal, animated soothing
octave what she see in her trance.
She sees sections of limbs, head, eyes, movement of
her baby in her womb.
Sarah gets up, jumps around in a joyful rain dance.
SARAH
That’s my girl.
Go baby.
NICOLE
Sexypahpah …
INT. UNDERGROUND IRAQI PRISON.
DAY.
Robert and Hafez scream in excruciating pain as they
have their genitals and feet electrocuted.
INT. SARAH’S PSYCHOLOGIST OFFICE. CONTINUOUS.
Nicole snaps out of the trance, turns to her mother in
a rage.
NICOLE
See what you made me do!
Sarah freezes as Nicole approaches her menacingly.
67
NICOLE
When he drops to his knees at my
feet, strokes my face, falls
flat on his face he will be dead
then! That’s the way he dies.
SARAH
What did you see just now?
What?
Nicole runs to the restroom, vomits.
the office, slumps in a chair.
She returns to
NICOLE
Woman, I am the desert. I am the
desert he has to cross to keep
from dropping dead at my feet.
Nicole slumps in a chair.
NICOLE
I made him …
(To Robert)
Oh, God! I am so sorry, baby.
No, baby, you do not have to
live through that. I am so
sorry. I didn’t know. Die if
you want baby. Don’t do that
for me.
SARAH
Just now, what did you see?
NICOLE
He’s Alive!
Nicole storms to the door, opens it leaves and slams
it. Hard. Sarah stares at the door.
INT. NICOLE & ROBERT’S HOUSE/FOYER. DAY.
Nicole enters her home.
the stairs.
Felecia appears at the top of
68
FELECIA
You just lost your guest room.
I’ll stay to midwife the baby.
Time to cry.
Nicole begins to well up, then sobs a helpless childcry. Felecia descends a few stairs. Nicole gestures
for her to stay where she is. Felecia goes back to
the very spot she stood at the top of the stairs.
Nicole cries long and hard. It is the very first time
Nicole has cried since she was told Robert was
missing.
INT. NICOLE & ROBERT’S HOUSE/GUEST ROOM. DAY.
Nicole is in the guest room, now turned maternity
ward. Her legs are propped. She is in the midst of
delivery.
INT. UNDERGROUND IRAQI PRISON. DAY.
Two IRAQI GUARDS approach a room size freezer. They
open the double doors. Robert and Hafez are chained
naked and frozen to the back wall of the freezer.
IRAQI GUARD 1 takes Roberts trembling hand, eases off
his wedding ring. He taps Robert’s face. A warm tear
carves its way down Robert’s frosted face.
INT. NICOLE & ROBERT’S HOUSE/GUESTROOM. CONTINUOUS.
Nicole feels her wedding ring. There is a NURSE
ATTENDANT and Felecia. She screams in the last agony.
Felecia pulls the baby out. There is no sound.
Felecia cuts the umbilical, cleans the infant. Still
no sound.
NICOLE
What’s wrong?
FELECIA
Whoa!
NICOLE
What!
69
FELECIA
Nothing. Nothing. Gosh what
eyes you have Robert Junior.
ROBERT JUNIOR utters a quiet gentle joyous coo.
NICOLE
You better give me my baby,
girl!
Felecia lays Junior on Nicole’s chest.
him. Nicole sleeps.
Nicole cuddles
INT. SARAH & KOBIE’S HOUSE. DAY.
Robert Junior in his bassinet is surrounded by Sarah,
Kobie, Felecia, Nicole, many guests and gifts.
Nicole is silent, melancholic.
INT. NICOLE & ROBERT’S HOUSE/LIVING ROOM. DAY.
ROBERT JUNIOR is three months old. Nicole nurses him
on the sofa. She stops. She postures him to look at
family pictures of Kobie, Sarah, Felecia. He looks at
them oblivious. Finally she shows him a picture of
Robert. Junior suddenly perks up, reaches for the
picture, grabs hold to it and coos.
NICOLE
Oh, my God. I thinks you’ve got
it. Too.
INT. NICOLE & ROBERT’S HOUSE. DAY.
Junior is a toddler. Nicole stands at the window in
the nursery. She is in a trance. Junior plays with
toys, looks at Nicole, walks over, stands beside her,
imitates her trance posture.
Junior enters his first trance.
Nicole wakes from her trance, looks at Junior in his.
Nicole swats him.
NICOLE
Stop that!
70
Junior swats her back. He returns to his toys.
Nicole stares at Junior with an expression of intrigue
and fear.
EXT. BOTSWANA. DAY.
INSERT: THREE YEARS LATER.
Nicole revisits the farmer’s village with Robert
Junior. The village greets her with food and
celebration. The village flourishes.
The farmer shows Nicole how he has upgraded to ecommerce and how it manages his crop. They laugh. The
farmer bounces and plays with Junior. The Sangoma
Woman watches from a distance. She whispers to a
villager.
EXT. HOTEL LA FIBULE DU DRAA. DAY.
The entire Hotel staff of Hotel La Fibule comes to
greet Nicole. Robert Junior (6) now walks with his
own gait, assured brisk.
The same Trek Guide, ANIQ, smiles at the end of the
court yard. He has one camel. Nicole nods to Aniq.
Aniq.
NICOLE
So good to see you.
Nicole walks up to the camel.
ANIQ
This is Jeb Junior.
NICOLE
(To Camel)
Hi, Jeb Junior.
(To Camel and Aniq)
This is Robert. Robert the
Second.
Aniq bows to Junior. Junior imitates and bows to
Aniq. Jeb Junior grunts.
71
EXT. EDGE OF ZAGORA. DAY.
Nicole and Junior ride the camel.
Aniq walks.
EXT. SAHARA DESERT. DAY.
Nicole and Junior are at the exact same place she and
Robert made theirs. Nicole points to a dune.
NICOLE
Robert, you go over to that one.
I am going to do my exercises
on this one. Just for a short
while.
Nicole climbs her dune. Junior climbs his. Junior
skips and plays in the sand. Nicole goes into a soft
trance. She twirls and behaves in this trance as if
it is a dance of plea. She mumbles gibberish. She
reaches a pitch. She flops to the ground, exhausted.
Junior, still skips and plays. He shouts to her.
JUNIOR
Did you see Daddy?
NICOLE
(Stunned)
What?!
JUNIOR
I know where he is.
They both stand in utter silence for moments.
Suddenly Nicole marches in a quick step down her dune
towards Junior. She reaches him, snatches his hand,
without missing a beat marches him back toward camp.
EXT. DESERT CAMP. NIGHT.
Aniq has built a fire and prepares food. He over
hears the conversation between Nicole and Junior.
Junior goes into his trance.
72
JUNIOR
Daddy’s in somebody’s basement.
Somewhere. In jail.
NICOLE
Is he in pain?
INT. UNDERGROUND IRAQI PRISON. NIGHT.
Hafez laughs. Hafez and Robert tend each others
wounds, stretch each others muscles. Without Sound
(MOS) Robert suddenly hollers at Hafez. Hafez fusses
back at Robert. They both shove at each other.
Gradually they deliver playful slaps. Laugh.
EXT. DESERT CAMP. CONTINUOUS.
JUNIOR
They’re laughing.
INT. UNDERGROUND IRAQI PRISON. CONTINUOUS.
Robert and Hafez exhausted by laughter, grimace from
the pain of their play. Robert, furious, pounds the
wall. Robert gets up, looks to see the coast is
clear.
EXT. DESERT CAMP. CONTINUOUS.
JUNIOR
He is not happy.
it’s very hard.
He walks like
INT. UNDERGROUND IRAQI PRISON. CONTINUOUS.
Robert carves “1997” on the wall.
He takes out a stone from some hidden place. He
stands, gestures for Hafez to watch the door. He
stands on Hafez’s back squints out the small window at
the top of the cell, makes a frame with his fingers,
looks at the stars in the sky, jumps off Hafez’s back,
scribbles encrypted math figures on the wall.
He brings Hafez over to look at the figures. They
both sit side by side and mumble silently over and
over to memorize the figures. They fall asleep.
73
EXT. DESERT CAMP. CONTINUOUS.
JUNIOR
(Hollers at Robert)
He sleeps a lot.
INT. UNDERGROUND IRAQI PRISON. CONTINUOUS.
Robert startles awake, looks around like he heard
something. Roberts slumps. He begins to make signals
in the air of hearts and kisses. He writes Nicole’s
name in the air.
EXT. DESERT CAMP. CONTINUOUS.
JUNIOR
He makes signs in the air.
you, mommy.
To
Some feeling passes through Junior.
Ooo.
ROBERT JUNIOR
That tickled.
NICOLE
Robert, honey, are you actually
there? With daddy? You are
there, aren’t you?
Junior imitates the signals of hearts with his hands
and kisses with his mouth.
JUNIOR
Do you ever feel them, mommy?
The kisses.
NICOLE
No, Robert. I don’t.
JUNIOR
How come?
NICOLE
Mommy’s too mixed up.
too angry.
Mommy’s
74
JUNIOR
I’ll send a kiss to daddy for
you.
Junior postures, puckers, sends a kiss to the sky.
INT. UNDERGROUND IRAQI PRISON. CONTINUOUS.
Robert jumps up, acts like he hears something, feels
something pass through him. Robert trembles with joy.
EXT. DESERT CAMP. CONTINUOUS.
Junior comes out of his trance.
NICOLE
What does he say?
JUNIOR
I can’t hear words, mommy, you
know that. I just know what he
knows. I think he knows me.
It’s like a dream. It is a
dream. Are dreams real?
NICOLE
Yes. They are the most real
thing ever.
ROBERT JUNIOR
Why does daddy stay in that
place? How’d he get there?
NICOLE
I told you the story about
daddy.
ROBERT JUNIOR
I know. Tell me again. Maybe
we can get him if you tell me
more.
Nicole grabs Junior. They embrace. Aniq stares hard
at Junior while he talks speaks to Nicole.
75
ANIQ
Madam, tell Robert, Jeb misses
him as do I and all he makes
safe.
He bows slow and deep Junior.
Junior does the same.
INT. SARAH’S PSYCHOLOGIST OFFICE. DAY.
Nicole enters Sarah’s office. Sarah stands there with
Aaron Sharpner. Nicole looks at the two
incredulously. Three statues.
NICOLE
Dr. Walker, come with me please.
SARAH
Nicole …
NICOLE
Now, mother … please.
Nicole opens the door.
hall.
She and Sarah exit to the
NICOLE
What do you think you are doing.
SARAH
Aaron tells me the CEO of
Maywell, Danner, has been
demoted. Aaron, my dear, is
now the CEO. He has come for
you. Something about a pact …
NICOLE
A pact?
SARAH
You made in Africa. Plus,
baby, it’s really time you …
NICOLE
Not one cliché out of your
mouth. Not one.
76
SARAH
You’re ass is not going to
baby sit that child and make
him the victim you have
become. You are gonna get
your ass some daylight and I
don’t care if you Info
Global, tie dye, clam dig,
shuffle cards, wash windows,
dig graves! Yeah, I said it.
Dig graves. Dig the man a
grave …
NICOLE
Right now I would bury him alive
if you could. I see it, momma,
every time they throw him in a
tub of dung, feed him worms,
stretch his skin, cut his eye
lids. The screams.
SARAH
Nicole, if Robert is in some
torture, no matter how much
he loves you it will kill him
if he is to die. The will to
live goes up against anyone,
anything unless you just want
to die. If Robert is alive
it’s because he is alive. I
am sure you are his reason to
live. You keep him sane.
But you do not keep him
alive. His life does not
belong to you or him. His
life belongs to life.
Sarah primps Nicole.
SARAH
Now get your ass in there.
You are being rude. I going
to get a pastrami. You want
one.
77
Nicole stands there, a child spanked for pouting.
Sarah glides over, holds her with some small bit of
affection.
SARAH
If Robert is alive we have to
go get him. Simple. No
mustard, right? I don’t know
how you have a pastrami with
no mustard. What shall I
bring Aaron?
NICOLE
Tea.
Nicole steps back into Sarah’s office.
stand for a silent awkward moment.
She and Aaron
AARON
Do we meditate or levitate?
INT. HELICOPTER. NIGHT.
Nicole and Aaron take in the skyline of New York City.
AARON
Ty Danner and I have been at it
since they hired me as VP of
Maywell Systems Development. He
is among the majority of CEO’s
in this new world order who
would use outsourcing to neocolonialize countries with cheap
labor under the guise of help
the poor.
INT. LUXURIOUS HOTEL SUITE. NIGHT.
TY DANNER (60ish), big thick cigar toting egg shaped
man in his briefs and undershirt, lollygags with bighair, but shapely CAROL MULDANE(40ish) his mistress,
dressed burlesque. They roll and tumble, drink, laugh
and cabaret all over the suite.
78
AARON V.O.
But the man is a veritable
marketing genius and has entire
countries in his hip pocket.
Danner staggers around the room, slumps on the bed.
He SINGS some Irish tune while Carol massages his
shoulders.
AARON V.O.
But the dinosaur that he is, his
answer to the new world order
and internet marketing was to
rush product to market, quality
control took a dive, and no
amount of tech support could
handle damage control.
Danner and Carol make midriff love.
AARON V.O.
Then like some caricature in a
bad Bogart movie he skims funds,
no doubt to keep his, obsession,
his concubine, Carol Muldane, in
silks and Maywell in the
tabloids.
The phone rings. Danner picks it up. He throws the
phone to the floor. Carol tries to comfort him. He
lays his head in her lap and weeps.
AARON V.O.
The ship springs a leak and like
a well bred rat he dumps his
stock a bit early for the SEC to
ignore. But he dodges the
bullet, blackmails Maywell to
keep him on.
79
INT. MAYWELL BOARD ROOM.
DAY.
Danner stands, humble, at the head of the table. All
the board members are there.
DANNER
I have been with this company
for 30 years, hand picked by
Francis Maywell himself. Boy,
could I tell you all some
stories.
He begins to arrogantly walk over to the huge
boardroom window.
DANNER
Hell, I could tell you a lot of
stories about each one of you.
We all know a lot about each
other. I am not going to mince
words, ‘cause we all do know
each other. Intimately. So
with measured authority I
appreciate your welcoming me
back and I congratulate you,
Aaron.
Aaron sits at the other head of the table.
AARON V.O.
I would just as soon hold his
head under water and rake sewage
for a living. The board begged
me to take the helm and steer us
into the new world of micro chip
and nanotech and retrieve old
man Maywell’s integrity for his
company.
Danner sits in his chair at the head of the table.
DANNER
Marketing Consultant for
Overseas Development, am I?
Sounds like ambassador to the
cow pasture. But what you do
is send Bre’r Rabbit to the
80
DANNER (Cont’d)
briar patch. I mean, the USA …
is … overseas. And the pasture
is wild for gleaning. So,
Aaron, I am honored we are
still engaged. Friendly,
friendly. Globalize me.
INT. HELICOPTER. CONTINUOUS.
AARON
It was surreal. Like watching a
movie classic, him parading
about like Citizen Cane. At
that moment I said I need an
ally among these hostages.
NICOLE
Why me?
AARON
Well, the work you’ve pioneered,
IT infrastructures, roving solo
around the globe, forecasting
locust storms, taking farmers by
the hand, slinging them into
cyberspace.
Nicole coldly looks at Aaron.
NICOLE
There are so many more, more
able and dedicated who invent
everyday, all day. I sit at
their feet, so again, why me?
AARON
I will never forget this one day
in Morocco I met this woman who
wanted to go out in an African
desert alone. Unarmed. In the
dark. For a solution.
Nicole and Aaron land on the roof of Maywell
Technologies skyscraper.
81
INT. MAYWELL MEDIA CENTER.
NIGHT.
Nicole and Aaron enter a very, very high tech media
room. Aaron goes to a console pushes buttons and
walls slide. Wall to wall monitors come alive with
blue screens. They sit in a quaint, veritable living
room lounge area with fire place in the midst of this
wall to wall communications dream suite. Aaron plays
with the remote, and a bar appears out of nowhere.
NICOLE
Tonight I better hydrate.
AARON
In that case I better double my
scotch.
He hands Nicole a tumbler of water and fixes his
scotch. He toasts to Nicole.
AARON
Long live the Queen.
NICOLE
Do you live in England.
AARON
When I can. I have a lovely
wife and two wee ones. And with
Danner out for me I am a true
Stagger Lee harmony. And young
Robert is now …
NICOLE
Six.
Aaron dims the lights. The TV monitors come alive with
separate streams of media footage from different parts
of Africa.
AARON
World War Three will be between
the haves and the have-nots.
There is precious little time to
mediate this showdown.
82
Aaron flips channels to show the protests around the
world against globalization, devastation of AIDS,
white slavery.
AARON
Information is the new currency,
the new diplomacy, the new
weapon, and if we are lucky, the
new grace. There are two sides
in this war. Those who will
kill and plunder the village
against those who will love and
strengthen the villager.
Technology will be the hatchet
and the dove.
Aaron shows global footage of cheap labor sweat shops,
telemarketers around the world.
AARON
Maywell like every corporation
worships the god of profit. My
commitment is to earn Maywell’s
profits from the salt of the
earth. Danner’s commitment is
to plunder. Simple.
Aaron shows footage of all the despotic governments in
Africa.
Africa. Both mother lode and
final frontier, still a virgin
queen of untapped resources
despite the imperialism of
strangers and home grown
despots. For as goes Africa, so
goes condemns or redeems the
world. Alpha Omega.
Aaron turns off the monitors.
Nicole stands to leave.
NICOLE
One last time. Why me?
AARON
It was no accident we met that
fateful day in Zagora.
83
NICOLE
My mother sent you there!
AARON
Yes.
NICOLE
Why you?
AARON
She reads the papers and your
applications. We had an internal
war the I won against Danner.
Your mother wanted the proper
corporate home for her daughter
since you reign above all of use
in ethics and ingenuity. But,
Nicole, I had to be sold on you
too. So, again, I will never
forget this woman …
NICOLE
She figured her only child could
use another invisible friend.
Nicole is about to leave.
AARON
You will set up Maywell’s
throughout sub-Saharan Africa
owned and run by villagers.
Nicole looks at Aaron incredulously.
NICOLE
How do I get past puppet
regimes. I will have to have
diplomatic powers beyond G7
heads of state.
84
AARON
It will take years, decades to
make a dint. It will take
thankless hopeless deeds to win
the war of the dove. While you
set up the globe I will be
working on molecular Technology.
Let the chips fall where they
may.
NICOLE
Who else is on the team?
AARON
Just me and you. Well, the
board has given me carte blanche
…
NICOLE
As long as you clean up the
image, expand the market and
still turn profit, which means …
AARON
We have a quorum.
NICOLE
Danner.
AARON
We will offer VP of Marketing
and Global Systems Development.
As a consultant Danner only
answers to the board. Whoever
sides with him or me gets the
board. Simple.
NICOLE
What’s he look like?
AARON
Serious middle age midriff.
Good.
weak.
NICOLE
That means his knees are
85
AARON
We meet Monday to vote you in.
They will go over every inch of
your life. Do you have anything
to hide?
Nicole looks at Aaron to see if she can notice from
his expression whether or not he knows about her
condition. Aaron keeps a poker face.
NICOLE
I have nothing to reveal.
AARON
I hear that. Then shall we have
a go at it?
NICOLE
I am sort of focused right now.
AARON
Your mother has kept me apprised
of your determination to find
Robert, Senior.
NICOLE
Damn, that woman has been in my
business since way before I was
born.
AARON
Like I said, I have two wee ones
and a wife I worship and adore.
So I understand your focus. Tell
me all about Robert and Junior.
NICOLE
We begin in Rwanda.
AARON
Rwanda? Every nation on this
earth has stuck its head in the
sand when is comes to Rwanda and
countries of the like.
86
NICOLE
Have you ever stood in a swarm
of locust.
AARON
No.
NICOLE
Whelps. Like being slashed with
a catty nine. Then, after you
tear ligaments waving them off,
beating the brush, you find one
plant uneaten, one child still
alive, you know that is the most
you will ever accomplish in
life. Nothing will mean more.
AARON
Yes, but there are countries
where we can get an immediate
foothold, viable enough to …
NICOLE
I dare you. To make a dint we
are going to have to step in
countries where your capitalists
left off, left folk to die.
NICOLE
I dare you. If it’s going to be
grace then let’s back ourselves
against the wall and do work in
hell holes that will only allow
grace. Epidemic villages. Lost
cause refugees. That’s my deal.
I dare you.
INT. MAYWELL RECEPTION ROOM.
DAY.
Nicole sits alone in a very ornate reception room
adjacent to the Boardroom. She waits.
Danner enters the reception room.
DANNER
Ah, Ms. Gershom.
Big day.
87
Nicole merely nods.
Nicole. He HUMS.
Danner takes a seat opposite
INT. MAYWELL BOARDROOM.
DAY.
The entire board is assembled.
head.
Aaron sits at the
AARON
We have exhausted our perusal of
Nicole Gershom’s life,
portfolio, vitae. We agree she
will be an impeccable addendum
to the Maywell family. Let’s
vote.
BOARD MEMBER
Danner has petitioned our
audience before we take a vote.
It’s been motioned and agreed.
The Board Member opens the door to the reception room.
Danner goes into the board room. The Board Member
closes the door. Nicole stares suspiciously at the
door.
TIME PASSES:
Aaron enters the reception room.
Nicole’s hands.
He takes both
AARON
Danner has some questions.
Seems, your first task will be
to survive corporate espionage.
INT. MAYWELL BOARDROOM.
DAY.
Nicole enters the boardroom. Aaron gestures for her
to stand at the head of the conference table. Aaron
sits.
DANNER
Please don’t think us snoops.
AARON
This was your undertaking alone,
Danner. Claim it.
88
DANNER
Dissociated Trance Disorder.
Are you acquainted with that
term Ms. Gershom?
NICOLE
Go on.
DANNER
On two occasions you were
witnessed, in public, having
what appeared to be a seizure.
The first time was at your
wedding when your friend,
Felecia, had to calm you. The
second was in a park where you
rendezvoused with a handsome
young man, not too long after
your husband was missed in
action I might add.
NICOLE
Don’t mention my husband’s name,
please.
DANNER
It was reported that you were
jabbering and twirling about
with such dementia the poor lad
crouched beside a tree in
obvious confusion. Maybe fear.
The question the board must
entertain is what are the
prospects of such attacks in the
midst of some, open,
transaction with our clients?
God forbid a Maywell picnic.
NICOLE
I was never diagnosed.
DANNER
Yes, but …
89
NICOLE
I was never diagnosed for
anything. I have never tendered
an application to be here. I
was recruited. Now, if you will
excuse me, it seems a mistake
has been made.
AARON
Nicole, please stay a moment.
Please. Danner, thank you for
your input you may be excused.
DANNER
But …
AARON
Thank you.
Danner leaves the boardroom. Aaron goes to the door
to the reception room, closes it behind Danner.
He goes to another door that leads to another room.
He opens it. Sarah walks in. She carries a brief
case.
AARON
Nicole, please forgive the
debilitation. A formality our
charter would not allow us to
avoid.
Aaron escorts Sarah to a seat, pulls it out for her.
Sarah indicates she wants to stand.
AARON
I would like to introduce the
board to Sarah Walker, Nicole’s
mother, and a noted and
formidable experimental and
behavioral psychologist and
parapsychologist. I invited her
here in anticipation of a ploy
served by Mr. Danner. For,
indeed, we snoop.
90
Sarah opens the brief case. She puts two separate
stacks of folders on the table. One stack is pink,
the other is blue.
SARAH
(Points to the pink stack)
This stack explores her
rearing, education,
achievements and social
behavior from conception to
high school.
(Points to the blue stack)
And this stack explores her
diagnosis, and exercise history
over the same period. From
conception to adulthood.
Sarah speaks to the board but looks at and walks
towards Nicole.
SARAH
You will find no pathology in
either stack. Quite the
contrary. You will find a
strength of psychology our
Western science knows well of
but cannot endorse except in
X-Files and applications
practiced in hidden Para
psychological schools for the
specially gifted.
Sarah takes Nicole’s hand, searches her eyes.
SARAH
I was not about to put my
child in a rats cage to do a
dance for the military
industrial complex. So I
studied to be a psychologist
to prepare myself to prepare
Nicole to engage the world on
her terms.
Sarah leads Nicole by the hand out of the board room.
91
SARAH
(To the Board)
Now hurry the hell up. Yawl
have a lot of reading to do.
We will give you two days
before we take our damn
business else where.
INT. NICOLE & ROBERT’S HOUSE.
NIGHT.
Nicole are in the middle of an argument. They whisper
loud to keep from waking Junior.
Junior lies awake upstairs in his bedroom.
every word they say.
NICOLE
Oh, mother what’s the
difference. A cage is a cage.
Your cage, their cage, and, oh,
speaking of the military.
Robert. Did you recruit him?
What is going on? Is every
minute of my life predestined?
SARAH
Everybody’s life is. You
think I planned all this?
NICOLE
It all started when you gave me
that puzzle of the Sahara.
SARAH
From a dream you had of the
desert.
NICOLE
It was the wrong desert.
SARAH
Forecasting Destiny is like
forecasting the weather. You
know it’s going to rain. But
you don’t know quite how much
or exactly where.
He hears
92
SARAH
I followed your dreams,
vision by vision, and you are
more potent than the rest of
us. But your looking glass is
smeared with fear of loss. A
worrier.
NICOLE
How did I get this thing.
SARAH
You are a Seer, daughter.
And so was my mother and her
mother, etc. We don’t see the
future, or throw bones. We
sense a life’s destiny and
bits of that life come to us
in puzzle pieces.
NICOLE
And Robert Junior.
SARAH
The first boy in the family
to get it. But he is more.
He actually goes there.
NICOLE
How did you know?
SARAH
He told me. We talk. He
wants to know why you are so
frail.
NICOLE
He sees joy.
SARAH
Thank God and don’t spoil it
for him.
NICOLE
I want my husband.
damn about …
I give a
93
SARAH
Rwanda?
NICOLE
Danner gave me an out.
SARAH
You still may have it. We
gave them two days.
NICOLE
Oh, I know you, mother. When we
left that room I felt sorry for
the lot of them. They have
little idea who they are buying
into. They think it’s me.
SARAH
You really don’t get it. If you
did your damn exercises more you
wouldn’t be so confused. What
makes you think that anything at
all in life isn’t vitally,
vitally connected.
NICOLE
Robert is not in Rwanda. Maywell
has nothing to do with Iraq.
SARAH
Oh yes he is and yes it does.
NICOLE
What do you mean?
SARAH
You tell me. I don’t know.
But you better figure it out.
‘Cause he is going to need
your worrisome ass and my
grandson’s joy to get him
out.
NICOLE
I will not bring little Robert
near any of this.
94
Sarah laughs sardonically.
SARAH
Whew, you are thick. All your
life has prepared you for the
first day of the rest of it.
Don’t oversleep.
Sarah gathers her things to leave. She stops at the
door.
SARAH
Anyway. Tomorrow night we
are having an affair to
celebrate your Maywell thing.
NICOLE
The board won’t decide till the
day after tomorrow.
SARAH
I thought you said it was in
the bag. Seven o’clock,
sharp. At my house. Bring
the boy.
NICOLE
Mom, I said …
SARAH
(Scolds)
Bring the boy!
(Calms)
Do not invite anybody else.
And don’t worry. This will
be my last party in your
destiny.
Sarah walks down the drive to her car.
SARAH
Tomorrow I will be out of the
cage to finish my own
destiny. My looking glass
has the look of love. Ask
your father. Sometimes when
we are right there I let him
95
SARAH
look at what I see, just
before he lets go. You and
Robert don’t know what you’re
missing. You damn children.
All the same.
INT. NICOLE & ROBERT’S HOUSE/BEDROOM. NIGHT.
Nicole tosses and turns in her bed.
INT. DESERT CAVERN. NIGHT.
Nicole is in a corner. She has the blood on her face
from Robert. Robert kneels before her. The tunnel of
the cavern is consumed by a flood of water. Hafez is
pushed by the water till his face is before Nicole’s.
Hafez screams, Nicole screams. Robert falls flat on
his face and is washed away by the water.
INT. NICOLE & ROBERT’S HOUSE/BEDROOM. CONTINUOUS.
Nicole wakes from her trance.
NICOLE
Vitally connected.
EXT. BOTSWANA. DAY. FLASHBACK.
Nicole plows with the Farmer.
EXT. IRAQ, HIGHWAY 8. NIGHT.
FLASHBACK.
The shepherds surround Robert and Hafez with their
guns.
INT. DESERT CAVERN. NIGHT.
Robert reaches for Nicole’s face.
INT. UNDERGROUND IRAQI PRISON. NIGHT
Robert write Nicole’s name in the air.
96
EXT. MISSISSIPPI RIVER.
NIGHT. FLASHBACK.
Nicole stacks bags on the flood line of the
Mississippi.
INT. DESERT CAVERN. NIGHT.
Water floods the cavern and drowns Robert.
INT. NICOLE & ROBERT’S HOUSE. CONTINUOUS.
Nicole jumps out of bed, goes over to window, looks up
at the sky.
NICOLE
Africa. “Alpha Omega”, he said.
Felecia, …”the midwife,” she
says. Technology, then, the
midwife of Alpha, destiny,
outcomes, choices. Soulmates.
My farmer frees, his shepherds
capture, my desert his prison,
my locust his war. I fix the
flood but he drowns … It’s not
worries, mother. It’s warnings.
The water. Of course. The final
solution. I have to stop the
water. Where? How?
Nicole heads towards Junior’s room.
NICOLE
Our child, Robert, who sees joy
entwines us. Omega.
ROBERT JUNIOR’S BEDROOM:
Nicole enters Junior’s bedroom.
She wakes Junior.
NICOLE
Baby, mommy is sorry. I need
you to go to daddy right now.
ROBERT JUNIOR
I’m sleepy, mommy.
97
NICOLE
I need to know if you see any
water, baby, please.
Junior goes into a trance.
INT. UNDERGROUND IRAQI PRISON. DAY.
Robert has a fever. Hafez nurses him with a cup of
water and a wet rag.
INT. NICOLE & ROBERT’S HOUSE. CONTINUOUS.
ROBERT JUNIOR
Yes, mommy, there’s water.
NICOLE
Oh, God. Is your daddy under it.
Under the water.
ROBERT JUNIOR
No. Daddy doesn’t feel good.
His friend is giving him water
from a cup and wiping him.
Daddy doesn’t feel good.
Nicole relaxes.
NICOLE
Keep an eye on him, baby boy.
He’ll get better.
Nicole tucks Junior in, walks to the door.
NICOLE
(To herself)
We’re running out of time.
ROBERT JUNIOR
What, mommy?
NICOLE
Do you know where he is? Whisper
to daddy the word latitude.
ROBERT JUNIOR
What is latitude, mommy.
98
NICOLE
Just do it baby. He will know
mommy is trying to reach him.
INT. UNDERGROUND IRAQI PRISON. DAY. FLASHBACK.
Junior recalls Robert who looks up at the day light
coming through the ceiling grate. He acts as though he
sees someone. Hafez looks up at the grate as if to
wonder who Robert sees. Robert keeps his attention on
the grate as he stealthily walks over to a corner,
stoops and scratches numbers on the wall. He looks up
at the grate nods and taps his finger on his head.
INT. NICOLE & ROBERT’S HOUSE. CONTINUOUS.
ROBERT JUNIOR
354015.
Nicole approaches Junior.
NICOLE
What did you say?
ROBERT JUNIOR
354015.
NICOLE
Did you just get that?
ROBERT JUNIOR
No. I told grandma way before
now. She said she would tell
you.
NICOLE
Wow.
INT. SARAH & KOBIE’S HOUSE. DAY.
Sarah, opens the door. Nicole and Junior enter.
Nicole stops when she passes the foyer and enters the
living room. Seated are Aaron, Reggie, Felecia, Aniq
and Kobie. Sarah takes Nicole and Junior by the hand
and lead them to a sofa. Aaron stands.
99
AARON
Nicole, exercising clandestine
powers awarded my position, I
have been able to gain audience
that stretches to the E-Ring of
the Pentagon. We have been
campaigning for months. When
Junior brought us the
coordinates validated by
intelligence we got
authorization to scout the area.
It gave us the green light to
access a volunteer team to
extract Robert. They sent us
Reggie. You know him, of
course.
Reggie stands.
REGGIE
It is a pleasure and duty to
serve you, mam. Latitude 35 N,
Longitude 40.15 E is a very
remote town in Iraq in the
Syrian desert, very near the
Syrian and Jordanian Border. Ar
Rutbah.
ANIQ
We have verification from border
intelligence that your husband
and an Iraqi named Hafez are
being held in an isolated
underground detention cell.
REGGIE
Many of Saddam’s special prisons
are booby trapped.
INT. DESERT CAVERN. NIGHT. FLASHBACK.
Nicole sees Robert float in water, dead.
100
INT. NICOLE & ROBERT’S HOUSE. CONTINUOUS
Oh, know.
water.
NICOLE
water.
It will be
INT. SARAH & KOBIE’S HOUSE. CONTINUOUS.
ANIQ
Ar Rutbah is a wet spot. A
rarity for Iraq. Plus it lies
on the Haifa pipeline. Both a
water and oil depot. Well
guarded. Robert is in a pit. A
square pit. Saddam is known to
booby trap his prisons so that
any attempt to free prisoners
will kill them.
REGGIE
The only way to get him out is
to pop the ceiling grate.
FELECIA
My Iranian friend, the UN guy
you met at the club, has help
arrange for Reggie to infiltrate
the area wearing UN uniforms.
Two UN vehicles will also be
made available.
NICOLE
Daddy.
KOBIE
My job is to bathe you and my
grandson in my thermal pools
till Robert’s daddy gets home.
NICOLE
Mom.
SARAH
I finally get to faint.
101
KOBIE
This is your team, daughter. I
insisted you give the go ahead.
REGGIE
We must all make a pact here,
now. The world and History must
not every know what we are about
to do. Success or not. As the
major would say, we are ghosts.
Nicole takes Junior aside.
NICOLE
Baby boy, you want to join? I
need you.
ROBERT JUNIOR
What are you talking about. I
am joined. You gotta follow me
in there to get daddy ready for
the water.
NICOLE
How?
ROBERT JUNIOR
You gotta smile, or he won’t
see us.
They rejoin the team.
NICOLE
I need more details.
REGGIE
Nicole we will set your post in
an abandoned apartment not too
far from here.
NICOLE
Bet I know the address.
102
INT. WALKER PHYSICAL THERAPY AND WELLNESS CENTER. DAY.
Kobie twirls Nicole and Robert around and around in a
thermal pool.
EXT. EUPHRATES RIVER, IRAQ. NIGHT.
INSERT: Iraq, Ar Ramädī
Navy Seal team crawls out of Euphrates River at Ar
Ramädī, ditch their wet suits to reveal UN uniforms.
They go to a rendezvous, get two UN Vehicles, Drive to
Ar Rutbah.
EXT. SYRIAN DESERT. NIGHT.
INSERT: Syrian Desert Outside Ar Ruţbah
Reggie’s same Green Beret team, plus three new younger
commandos, are dropped by helicopter in the Syrian
Desert just outside Ar Rutbah.
EXT. AR RUTBAH. NIGHT.
The Berets converge on water pipelines that affect the
area around the prison.
EXT. UNDERGROUND IRAQI PRISON. NIGHT.
The Seals grab weapons from and ditch the UN vehicles,
approach the underground prison. The take out the
guards quietly by slitting their throats and snapping
their necks.
EXT. AR RUTBAH. CONTINUOUS.
Just as the Berets get to the pipeline valves Iraqi
guards detect and fire on the Berets. The Berets are
force evac the pipe and set up a perimeter.
EXT. UNDERGROUND IRAQI PRISON. CONTINUOUS.
Suddenly the Seals hear weapons fire near the Berets’
positions.
103
EXT. ROBERT’S APARTMENT. NIGHT.
Nicole and Junior hold hands, together in trance.
Nicole smiles. Junior puckers his mouth, holds his
breath.
INT. UNDERGROUND IRAQI PRISON. CONTINUOUS.
Robert acts as though he listens to some voice.
Robert reaches to touch something unseen.
The Seals approach the cell on the double. Seal 1
calls down to Robert.
SEAL 1
Major Robert Gershom, sir we are
here to evacuate you, sir.
Please take cover, we are going
to blow the gate.
ROBERT
Wait! Wait!
Robert runs around, looks at the floor, sees the
drain, tears his shirt off and covers the drain, sees
cracks along the base of the floor, strips his pants
and tries to cover them.
Weapons fire above increases.
SEAL 1
Major we have blow the gate.
Take cover.
Robert sits on the drain. He pulls Hafez down on top
of him to put weight on the drain.
The Seals set a charge on the grate and blow it.
Water trickles in from the seams of the floor. The
water tries to geyser up from the drain. Robert and
Hafez’ weight hold it down for precious second.
The drain collapses and the force of the water tosses
them. Robert takes a deep breath, holds it. The water
surges very, very quickly. Robert snatches Hafez,
gestures for Hafez to hold his breath.
104
But Hafez is too panicked. The water quickly surges
over their heads. Hafez quickly takes in too much
water. He stops breathing.
Robert holds on to Hafez, attempts to pull him to the
surface. Seal 1 Jumps in, grabs Robert. Hafez gets
separated from Robert. Seals pull Robert out of the
cell, Seal 1 Climbs out after they pull him up.
The Berets have now formed a collapsible perimeter
around the cell. The Iraqi guards have been joined by
regular soldiers. Bullets flail.
Robert looks around dazed, bullets whiz by him. He
notes Hafez is not there. Robert jumps back in the
cell.
SEAL 1
He is gone, sir, we must evac
now.
Robert pushes Hafez up. The Seals grab Hafez.
sinks to the bottom, out of air.
Robert
SEAL 1
Damn it to hell.
Reggie turns, watches Seal 1 jump into the cell again.
Reggie runs, jumps in the cell too.
swim him to the top of the cell.
Reggie and Seal 1
Hafez has been revived and is mobile. Reggie and Seal
1 carry Robert, the teams fight their way toward the
UN Vehicles.
One Beret takes a hit. A Seal grabs him. The Seal
takes a hit. Both teams now drag and fight their way
to the two vehicles. Seal 1 Reaches into one vehicle,
pulls six machine guns and a bunch of grenades, throws
them to the others, they spray and throw grenades at
the approaching Iraqi’s. The Iraqis are forced to take
cover. The teams mount the vehicles and take off.
Reggie performs CPR on Robert.
105
EXT. DESERT CAMP. NIGHT. FLASHBACK.
JUNIOR
(Hollers at Robert)
He sleeps a lot.
INT. UNDERGROUND IRAQI PRISON. FLASHBACK.
Robert startles awake, looks around like he heard
something. Roberts slumps. He begins to make signals
in the air of hearts and kisses. He writes Nicole’s
name in the air.
EXT. AR RUTBAH. CONTINUOUS.
Robert gasps for breath, looks up at Reggie, looks
around at the Berets and Seals who all CHEER.
REGGIE
Time to go home sir.
Robert recognizes Reggie.
difficulty.
Robert speaks with
ROBERT
I thought I ordered you not to
blow your cover, soldier. You
are in trouble.
Robert passes out.
Reggie listens to Robert’s heart.
REGGIE
Damn it. Come on, Major.
Reggie Pounds Robert’s heart once and resumes CPR.
INT. ROBERT’S APARTMENT. NIGHT.
Nicole and Junior sit in Robert’s empty apartment, on
the bare floor. They face and door and wait. Nicole
hears someone WALK UP STEPS. Someone knocks on the
door. Junior looks at Nicole. Nicole nods to Junior.
Junior tentatively walks to the door, opens it. In
steps a MAN IN BLACK who looks up and down the hall
before he closes the door.
106
Nicole stands.
The Man in Black takes of his hat.
MAN IN BLACK
Mrs. Gershom, Major Robert
Gershom expects you for dinner.
He said he would go easy on you
and give the Latitude instead of
the longitude. Latitude 49.45.
He said you would locate him
under your own recon. The party
is over. Everyone got home just
fine. Permission to be
dismissed, Mam.
Nicole glides over to the Man in Black, embraces him,
stands before him.
NICOLE
Yes, you may.
The Man in Black exits, closes the door. Nicole and
Junior twirl about in the dark empty apartment.
INT. LANDSTUHL MEDICAL CENTER, GERMANY. DAY.
INSERT: LANDSTUHL Medical Center, Lundstuhl, Germany.
Nicole and Junior stand at the end of a hall and wait.
From around the corner, at the other end of the hall
appears Reggie and a uniformed orderly on either side
of an emaciated Robert attached to an IV stand. Robert
sees Nicole and Junior, snatches away from the
orderlies, limps down the hall towards them, drags the
IV stand with him.
Robert reaches Nicole and Junior. He grabs Nicole in
his weak arms. They collapse to the floor.
ROBERT
Nicole, Nicole. I take back my
promise. Let’s both live
forever. How about it. We can
do it. I know we can.
Robert turns to Junior.
other’s eyes.
Robert and Junior search each
107
ROBERT
I know you. I know you very
well.
ROBERT JUNIOR
We grew up together. You’re my
daddy. My invisible friend.
They are a pile of hugs, smiles and tears.
EXT.
BOTSWANA.
DAY.
MUSIC: INDIGENOUS.
INSERT: Botswana:
ON HEADLINES:
2000
DEVASTATING FLOODS: MORE THAN 60,000
ARE MADE HOMELESS.
Nicole, Robert Junior step out of the Rover in the
village of the Farmer. The village surround and greet
them.
INT. FARMER’S HUT. DAY.
It is dawn. Nicole sits with the Farmer in the dimly
lit hut. The FARMER’S WIFE pours the three of them
some tea.
She shows the farmer’s wife three
pictures. Nicole speaks in Setswana.
NICOLE
This one is Serwaa, who is
almost 4. And this one is
Soyini who is just 2. This one
is my husband, Robert. I have
given back to the earth what it
has asked of me. And I am
thankful for the gift it made of
me. And now we, you and I in
the coming years will have much
to do to fight the worms of
disease and ignorance.
108
EXT. VILLAGE.
CONTINUOUS.
There is much commotion out side. Nicole and the
Farmer exit the tent to see what it is. Junior runs,
excited, to Nicole. The villagers look up in the sky
at two huge C 130’s that prepare to land at the
distant airport.
NICOLE
(To Farmer. Indicates the
planes)
I brought gifts from Maywell.
There are so many more where
that came from. Now, let’s get
back what the flood has taken. I
have been laboring in Rwanda.
It’s turning around.
FARMER
Take care, sister.
EXT. AIRPORT.
DAY.
Nicole, company employees, villagers, military unload,
stack, pass out food, clothing, tools, load fabricated
housing and, of course, computers onto truck.
All throughout the day Sangoma Woman takes note of
Nicole and Junior. She whispers to other villagers
and they begin to give special attention to Nicole and
Junior. They all work until dusk.
EXT. VILLAGE.
NIGHT.
The Farmer’s village is festive with food, drums and
dance. Sangoma women approach Nicole. They feel her
forehead. Their voices shrill. They feel Junior’s
forehead. Their voices shrill.
They pull Nicole and
Junior to the center of the space. The villagers,
become their chorus and instigators and form a circle
around them.
The drums become very disciplined yet free, erratic in
their rhythms. The Sangoma women lead Nicole and
Robert in the dance of Bingela. A Trance dance.
109
Nicole and Junior dance until crazed. They dance in
trance until dawn among those who would be kin to
their consciousness.
FADE OUT: