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"The Winds of Fate" By Josh Becker
FADE IN: EXT. A SMALL HOUSE - MORNING Smoke rises from the chimney of a small house into the gray sky. A strong winter winds whips up the snow covered residential street sending snowflakes into swirls and eddies. A superimposed title reads: "FERNDALE, MICHIGAN - U.S.A." INT. BASEMENT - MORNING MIKE KELSY, a stocky, tall, well-built kid of nineteen with brown hair, is awakened by the cacophony of his brothers and sisters and Mother and Father all yelling at one another upstairs. He opens one eye and sees that it is 7:50 a.m. He looks up to the creaking ceiling above. MIKE Mike draws his covers tighter around his body and pulls himself into a ball. The minutes pass and suddenly there is sweet silence. Mike sighs and begins sliding back into the warm comfort of sleep . . . FATHER Mike's eyes snap open. It is 7:59. MIKE FATHER MIKE FATHER Mike sighs and shakes his head. MIKE As he gets out of bed we see that he is a big dude-6'2", 190 pounds and muscular. He puts his bathrobe on over his sweat pants and shirt, dashes across the freezing basement and up the stairs.
His FATHER sits at the kitchen table drinking coffee and smoking a Pall Mall. The TV is on with a news report about the escalating violence in Togo is mentioned. Mike's MOTHER stands at the sink doing dishes. Mike walks past them to the bathroom door, however before he can get inside his Father stops him. FATHER MIKE FATHER Mike rolls his eyes. MIKE FATHER MIKE FATHER MIKE MIKE Mike's Father tucks the morning newspaper under his arm and moves out of the room without looking up. Mike looks down and sees that his hands are shaking. He turns to his Mother at the sink.
MOTHER MIKE MOTHER MIKE There is an uncomfortable silence. MOTHER She sees an envelope on the counter and hands it to Mike anything to change the subject. MOTHER Mike glances into the living room at his Father who is scowling at the newspaper. He shakes his head. MIKE Mike goes into the bathroom. Mike's mother turns back to the sink, sniffles and shakes her head. DISSOLVE: A MAP OF AFRICA: We move slowly toward the map and into the western portion of the country. Between Ivory Coast and Nigeria are three thin little countries: Ghana, Togo and Benin. We move toward Togo, then into the city of Lome. DISSOLVE TO: EXT. DIRT ROAD - DAY A superimposed title reads: "LOME, TOGO, WESTERN AFRICA." Rows of cardboard and tin huts bake in the blistering African sun. A dry, hot wind blows dust along a one lane dirt road. Black women wearing flowered shifts carry bundles on their heads and carry babies. Flies swarm everywhere. A number of cooking fires in this squalid area send wispy streams of smoke into the air. A Land Rover comes driving through the little settlement and kicks up a cloud of dust. INT. LAND ROVER - DAY Behind the wheel is JULIUS THORNSBY. He is a tall, thin man wearing round, wire-rimmed glasses. His face is tan and he is dressed in khaki pants and a white shirt. He is listening to the car radio. The broadcast is in Togolese, a very foreign sounding guttural language, but Julius' reactions indicate that he understands what he's hearing. On the seat next to him is a well read copy of "The London Times" newspaper, slightly yellowed by the sun and a year-end financial report of a company called Commonwealth Mineral. EXT. LOME HARBOR - DAY Thornsby's Land Rover passes a small harbor with little wooden fishing boats and a crumbling dock.C It turns right, away from the ocean, heading into town. EXT. LOME - DAY Downtown Lome is eight blocks long and entirely located on one street - Koronga Boulevard, although it's not a boulevard. No building in Lome is taller than three stories. The Land Rover he is forced to stop at a traffic jam. THORNSBY As he inches forward, along with a number of ox carts and push wagons, he finally sees the problem. EXT. KORONGA BLVD. - DAY GOVERNMENT SOLDIERS, dressed in camouflage fatigues with UZI submachine guns, have A LINE OF MEN up against a wall and are frisking them. INT. LAND ROVER - DAY Julius doesn't take the incident too seriously. He picks Up The London Times and begins reading it. EXT. KORONGA BLVD. - DAY Suddenly, ONE OF THE REBELS grabs one of the soldier's guns and begins spraying automatic weapon fire indiscriminately in all directions. Several soldiers drop with bullet wounds, as does an ox in front of Julius' car. INT. LAND ROVER - DAY SMASH!! - A bullet slams into his windshield and goes out through the roof. Julius dives to the floor of his car. From this vantage point he hears a deafening volley of automatic weapon fire, and then silence.
When Thornsby is finally able to drive past, he sees the dead bodies of the rebels being dragged off. EXT. COMMONWEALTH MINERAL OFFICE/LOME - DAY Julius' Land Rover pulls up in front of a one-story office building. A sign out front reads "Commonwealth Mineral -Togo Headquarters." INT. COMMONWEALTH MINERAL - DAY Julius unlocks the door to the office and tosses his things on the desk. A name plate on the desk reads "Julius Thornsby - District Manager." He immediately picks up the telephone and dials. THORNSBY CUT
TO: A superimposed title reads, "LONDON, ENGLAND." A tall, modern sky scraper looms above a number of the other tall buildings along the Thames River. EXT. COMMONWEALTH MINERAL OFFICE/ LONDON - DAY At the entrance of the building is a highly polished marble sign that reads: "Commonwealth Mineral - World Headquarters." INT. COMMONWEALTH MINERAL/ LONDON - DAY SIR ROBERT DENSMORE is the president of Commonwealth Mineral and his office is on the 30th floor. He is forty-five, is handsome with sharp features, and has streaks of gray at his temples. He punches a button on his phone and picks up the receiver. DENSMORE
DENSMORE THORNSBY DENSMORE THORNSBY DENSMORE THORNSBY DENSMORE THORNSBY
THORNSBY Julius hangs up feeling quite good with himself. As soon as Sir Robert hangs up with Julius, he immediately pushes the intercom button on his phone. DENSMORE SECRETARY CUT TO: EXT. BRITISH EMBASSY/ LOME - DAY The British Embassy is located at the northern end of Koronga Blvd. in downtown Lome. It is entirely surrounded by a ten foot plaster and stone wall topped by barbed wire. At the wrought iron gates stand two short black soldiers in khaki uniforms holding M-1 carbines. INT. BRITISH EMBASSY - WOLFITT'S OFFICE - DAY Undersecretary DONALD WOLFITT sits at his desk doing paperwork. He is a blond, mustached man of fifty wearing a conservative three-piece suit. His phone rings and he answers it. WOLFITT DENSMORE
DENSMORE WOLFITT DENSMORE WOLFITT DENSMORE WOLFITT DENSMORE WOLFITT INT. DENSMORE'S OFFICE - DAY Sir Robert disconnects. He glances out at the heavy gray clouds hanging ominously over the Thames. DENSMORE He pushes the intercom button and gets his secretary.
DENSMORE CUT
TO: Commercial jets stream in and out of
Heathrow Airport. At the back of the airport, behind the INT. COMMONWEALTH MINERAL HANGER - DAY In the hanger is a 20 passenger twin-engine jet with "Commonwealth Mineral" painted on the side in blue. At a desk near the door sit two men in white jump suits with "Commonwealth Mineral" printed on the back. They are both drinking mugs of steaming tea and playing cards. One of the man wears a pilot's hat, smokes a long thin cigar and has bushy red hair and eyebrows. He is CAPTAIN KRASKER. The phone on the desk rings and he answers it, his eyes stay on his cards. KRASKER SECRETARY Krasker puts his hand of cards face down on the desk and pays attention. Densmore comes on the line. DENSMORE KRASKER DENSMORE KRASKER DENSMORE KRASKER DENSMORE KRASKER DENSMORE KRASKER DENSMORE KRASKER INT. DENSMORE'S OFFICE - DAY Sir Robert disconnects the phone, sits back and lights a cigarette. He looks out his window at the Misty Thames River and sighs. He blows a stream of smoke against the window where it strikes the glass and curls back on itself. DISSOLVE: EXT. MIKE'S HOUSE - DAY Mike sits in his car in front of the house letting the engine warm up. It's an enormous gold, 1974 Chrysler New Yorker. A total rust-bucket. Mike wears a green and white Ferndale High Letter jacket. INT. MIKE'S CAR - DAY Mike blows on his frozen hands. It's probably zero degrees and all the car's windows are covered with two inches of snow making the interior of the car seem like a dark cave. The blasting defroster and heater begin to warm and Mike stops shaking. EXT. MIKE'S CAR - DAY He gets out and hastily brushes the icy snow off his windows by hand - he hasn't got a scraper. INT. MIKE'S CAR - DAY He hops back in and puts it in gear. It stalls. It starts right up then stalls again. MIKE It starts right up again. Mike revs it hard and shifts into drive. EXT. MIKE'S CAR - DAY The New Yorker jerks forward onto the
icy street, fishtailing out of control. He hits the brakes and
slides to a stop on the other side of the street. MIKE EXT. TEL TWELVE MALL - DAY Tel Twelve Mall is the standardest of shopping malls. There is a K-Mart on the left side and a Montgomery Ward on the right. The mall is in the middle. Lobby Hobby camera store is located in the very front of the mall and it faces out to the parking lot. Mike's New Yorker pulls into the lot and parks. INT. LOBBY HOBBY CAMERA STORE - DAY Mike steps into the warm store shivering and shaking his head. MIKE The three men sitting behind the counter all laugh at him. This is their running joke. They are: ART, the manager, a short, bald-headed, bespectacled man of sixty; KEVIN, an ugly kid of twenty with bad skin, crooked yellow teeth, uncombed hair, wearing a dirty tan polyester suit, and; JAKE, a handsome, well-groomed young man of twenty-five with a short beard. He looks very yuppie in his V-neck sweater. He looks up from reading a book. JAKE Mike takes off his coat and goes for the coffee machine. MIKE Kevin steps up next to him at the Mr. Coffee. Mike winces at Kevin's pungent aroma. To his deep consternation Kevin moves even closer to confide in him. KEVIN MIKE Mike steps over to Jake and sits on the stool beside him, behind the counter with the processed slides and prints in their yellow bags. Mike takes a letter out of his pocket, but doesn't open it. Jake sees it. JAKE MIKE Mike still doesn't open the letter. JAKE Mike nods and opens the letter. It's a short note wrapped around a single color photograph. MIKE
& JAKE The photograph is of Stan, a blond, square-jawed guy in a sharp looking Air Force uniform. His has his arm around a really beautiful dark-haired girl. They're both smiling and holding beers. Coronas. And they're standing out in the sun. Mike wraps the letter back around the picture and puts it back in the envelope. This he puts in his pocket. He looks out the window at the snow-covered parking lot. JAKE MIKE JAKE Mike shakes his head. MIKE JAKE They both laugh. Art cuts in. ART Art goes into the back room. Kevin goes over and starts taking little boxes out of a display case. Mike and Jake remain where they are. Mike sighs. MIKE With that they both go over and help Kevin. DISSOLVE: INT. LOBBY HOBBY CAMRA STORE - DAY Later that day, Jake and Kevin watch as Art tries to bully a LADY into buying the Nikon in his hand. ART Jake and Kevin laugh behind their hands. LADY JAKE ART He takes off the 50mm lens and begins screwing in a telephoto - the wrong way. Kevin and Jake snicker. Art keeps putting it in the wrong way and of course it won't stay in place. He grows infuriated, but still won't twist the other way. The lady is losing interest quickly. Mike steps out of the back room, watches Art for one second and immediately sees the problem. MIKE Art twists it the wrong way again, lets go of the telephoto lens and it drops off the camera to the floor. The sound it -makes hitting the floor makes everyone's spine straighten. Art gets furious. ART Mike can't believe what he's just heard. MIKE ART Jake and Kevin watch with rapt interest. Mike's mouth opens with no sound coming out. His face grows quickly hot and red. He begins to shake. MIKE
MIKE ART Mike looks momentarily deadly. MIKE Art is shaking with rage. ART MIKE Jake and Kevin burst out laughing. Mike turns and takes a bow. Art stomps into his office and slams the door. Jake and Kevin step over and and shake Mike's hand and slap him on the back. JAKE As Mike lights one of Jake's cigarettes he sees that his hand is trembling. He smiles and nods.
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