The Power of One Page #2

6.

and dream to Africa, I was bound

by heritage and language to the

birthplace of my grandparents -England

-- a country I had never

seen, but one that was to cause

me eminently more problems than

bedwetting ever did.

CUT TO:

9 EXT. ROAD TO SCHOOL 9

A motorcar driving along the road to the school.

YOUNG MAN (V.O.)

The school I was sent to was

attended and staffed entirely by

Afrikaaners, the oldest of the two

white tribes of Africa.

CUT TO:

10 INT. SCHOOL 10

The six-year-old walks timorously through the halls,

filled with bigger boys -- brash, noisy, hostile. They

only speak the "Taal" -- Afrikaans. Over and over they

jostle or verbally deride the six-year-old, knocking his

books down so that when he bends to pick them up he is

kicked in the butt. Or pulling his shirt out from under

his jacket and making it hard to move.

YOUNG MAN (V.O.)

I spoke only English. The hated

tongue. The language of the enemy

who had usurped power and stolen

the country through political

chicanery and military brutality.

A mob of boys, led by a big bully, JAAPIE BOTHA, runs

the six-year-old through the bathroom and into the

showers, fully clothed. He tries to run out. Jaapie

Botha grabs him and throws him back in, holding him with

one ham-fisted hand under the shower head and turning the

shower on with the other. The six-year-old stands

miserable as the stinging water pelts him.

YOUNG MAN (V.O.)

During the Boer War of 1896,

26,000 Boer women and children

were herded into detainment camps

by the British, where they died

like flies from dysentery,

7.

malaria and black water fever.

And it seemed I was destined to

shoulder the responsibility foreach and every one of thosedeaths.

The six-year-old in his first soccer game receives theball. He tries to move upfield, but he is kicked andpushed, the ball taken from him. He gets up gamely tofollow the chase, only to be flattened, blindsided byJaapie Botha.

YOUNG MAN (V.O.)

And no one made this more evident

to me than Jaapie Botha, a wheatfarmer's son from the Transvaal.

CUT TO:

11 INT. DORMITORY 11

The six-year-old, asleep, his chicken perched alertlyatop the bed.

YOUNG MAN (V.O.)

The only time I was at peace waswhen I slept. Inkosi Inkosikazi's

chicken proved to be, like hisprevious owner, a salvation.

CUT TO:

12 EXT. REAR OF DORMITORY - DAY 12

The Boy builds a small shelter for the CHICKEN, whoCLUCKS and forages contentedly.

YOUNG MAN (V.O.)

During the day he would liveoutside the dorm, happily scarfingdown bugs and grubs, secure in alittle house I built for him.

CUT TO:

13 INT. DORM - NIGHT 13

YOUNG MAN (V.O.)

And at night he would hop throughthe window and, perching over mybed, squawking if any intruders

came near.

Rate this script:3.7 / 3 votes