₦airaland Forum

WILDFIRE (Dramedy)

By SHOLAY                                  

FADE IN:

INT. DUPLEX/MASTER BEDROOM- DAY
We see the hand of VERO (38) HOLD unto the feet of her HUSBAND (50), who lies on the bed. Vero BURSTS into irrepressible tears and SCREAMS.

INT. FLAT/SITTING ROOM- DAY
MRS OBONG (55), dressed in shirt and wrapper, SITS on the sofa and READS from a newspaper in her hand.

VERO (VOICEOVER CRY THAT EMANATES FROM THE NEARBY DUPLEX)
Ah-ah-ah-ah! My husband! Ah-ah-ah! Oh no!

Mrs Obong instantly stops reading while the loud cry catches her attention.

MRS OBONG (mutters)
Oh my God.

She DROPS the newspaper on the centre table. Her cell phone lying on the table RINGS. She picks the call.

MRS OBONG (Pauses briefly)
Afternoon. Shey the cloth don ready ni?

INT. TAILORING SHOP- DAY
BOLANLE (32) is seated with a dress in her hand and a threaded needle held with her mouth. A tape rule is worn on her neck like a long, unending chain. She HOLDS her phone between her bent head and right shoulder.

BOLANLE
Not really ma, but I will drop it at your place when I’m done. I just wanted to ask…

INTERCUT BETWEEN MRS OBONG’S FLAT AND BOLANLE’S SHOP

MRS OBONG
-You can’t believe it…

BOLANLE
Believe what?

MRS OBONG
It’s like Chief Ikechukwu don die o.

BOLANLE
Jesu!

Bolanle DROPS the dress in her hand on a table and firmly HOLDS the phone to her ear with her hand.

MRS OBONG
I just heard the wife shouting…

BOLANLE
-So he didn’t survive that illness…

MRS OBONG
At all…

BOLANLE
Na wa; the rich indeed also cry. And they keep acting as if they are not human beings. Will he now carry all his wealth to heaven with him? Ah, it’s his wife I pity sha.

MRS OBONG
Pity as how? (Hisses) A woman I suspect has a hand in his death.

BOLANLE
Ehn-ehn-ehn?

MRS OBONG
Isn’t it obvious? What does a young woman like her want with a very rich man that’s fifteen years older than her? I know gold diggers when I see them.

BOLANLE
This is serious. Let’s just pray that God continues to protect us.

MRS OBONG
Amen o. And we should keep doing good. Let me quickly check on her.

BOLANLE
Okay ma.

Mrs Obong ends the call and RETIES her wrapper.

Bolanle SIGHS and picks up the dress on the table.

BOLANLE (To one of her apprentices)
Chisom, drop whatever you’re doing and pick up that Mrs Obong’s material. I don’t want her to skin me alive.

CHISOM (O.S)
Yes ma.

INT. FLAT/SITTING ROOM- DAY
Mrs Obong takes the newspaper on the centre table along with her cell phone and leaves for the bedroom quickly.

INT. TAILORING SHOP- DAY
Bolanle REMOVES the tape rule from her neck and takes some measurements on some yards of Ankara.
FUNMI (31), dressed in expensive traditional regalia, emerges with car keys in her hand.

The conversation between Bolanle and Funmi is in Yoruba language.

BOLANLE
Ah...ah, my dear friend...

FUNMI
How are you?

BOLANLE
You showed up here today.

FUNMI
I just decided to branch at your shop.

BOLANLE
Chisom, get my friend a good chair.

CHISOM (O.S)
Yes ma.

BOLANLE
Funmi, the big madam. Your skin is really glowing oh.

FUNMI
See who’s talking.

A blue plastic chair enters frame (with the help of Chisom) and Funmi SITS comfortably.

FUNMI
How is work?

BOLANLE
Fine jare. I just heard that Chief Ikechukwu is dead o.

FUNMI
He is dead?!

BOLANLE
He is dead o. He died this afternoon.

FUNMI
Ah, at last. When he would be involved in occult stuffs, why won’t the illness kill him? There’s no gain in such things.

BOLANLE
You mean the man is involved in fetish things?

FUNMI
Aren’t you aware? A man is that rich without any child to call his own, don’t you know he used his manhood?

BOLANLE
I don’t believe oh. The man was a 'sound' Christian naa.

FUNMI
Na u sabi. I don talk my own.

BOLANLE
-But I’m sure his wife has a hand in his death. Such a young, beautiful woman didn’t see the single men out there but rather a man that’s twenty years older…pfft!

FUNMI
That’s true. I didn’t even think towards that side.

BOLANLE
It’s quite obvious. Human beings are terrible. That woman is not innocent I tell you.

Funmi SHAKES her head and CHECKS her wristwatch.

FUNMI
Ah, it’s getting late. My customers will be waiting for me. Let me be going.

BOLANLE
I’m grateful that you even came.

INT. FLAT/SITTING ROOM- DAY
Mrs Obong emerges from the bedroom, HOLDS a mirror while she COMBS her partly grey hair. She is dressed differently now.

INT. CAR- DAY
Funmi DRIVES in her car while she SCROLLS down the call list on her phone. She MAKES a call.

FUNMI
Hello dear…

INT. CAR- DAY
CHIBUZOR (34), dressed in shirt and slackened tie, while his suit lies beside the driver’s seat, DRIVES in his car too.

CHIBUZOR
How far, baby?  

INTERCUT BETWEEN FUNMI AND CHIBUZOR

FUNMI
Fine. I just felt like checking on you. How is work?

CHIBUZOR
Work is fine. I’m having this serious headache; I’m heading home now.

FUNMI
Sorry. There is a packet of paracetamol on the dressing mirror.

CHIBUZOR
Okay.

FUNMI
Ehn-ehn, I just heard that Chief Ike is dead.

CHIBUZOR
Chief Ikechukwu?

FUNMI
Ehn naa. He is dead o. His wife killed him from what I’m hearing.

CHIBUZOR
Are you serious?

FUNMI
Hm-hm.
(Beat)
I’ve always known that lady didn’t marry him for nothing.

CHIBUZOR
Na wa. Maybe I will branch at Chief’s place to see things for myself.

FUNMI
Okay.

CHIBUZOR
You’re in shop abi?

FUNMI
Yes.

CHIBUZOR
Okay. ‘Will call you when I get home.

FUNMI
Okay. Bye.

Funmi ENDS the call.

EXT. FLAT- DAY
Mrs Obong emerges from her flat and LOCKS the door.

EXT. ROADSIDE- DAY
Mrs Obong WALKS the tarred road, towards the duplex. We see TAYO (29), cleaning a car parked by the road in a vest and ‘three-quarter’. He cleans with a damp cloth.

TAYO (O.S)
Good afternoon, ma.

MRS OBONG
Afternoon, Tayo. You no go work?

TAYO
I’m on leave.

MRS OBONG
I see. You’ve heard that Vero just lost her husband?

TAYO
Chief Ikechukwu is dead?

MRS OBONG (nods)
It’s really unfortunate.

TAYO
God. Is that where you’re going?

MRS OBONG
Hm-hm.

Tayo SQUEEZES out the little moisture left in the damp cloth.
MRS. OBONG’S POV- Chibuzor’s car arrives and STOPS in front of his fenced house, which is a stone throw from the duplex.
Mrs Obong and Tayo amble towards the house. Chibuzor marches towards them. They soon meet and continue strolling towards the duplex.

CHIBUZOR
Afternoon, ma.

MRS OBONG
Afternoon, my brother.

CHIBUZOR
Is it true Chief is dead?

TAYO
He is o.  

CHIBUZOR
What could have made his wife kill him?

MRS OBONG
 Who told you that?

CHIBUZOR
Has the police taken up the case?

MRS OBONG
Hun?

We see a longshot of five people MARCH towards the gate of the duplex.
The gate suddenly FLIES open and we see Vero come out of the house, amidst tears and CARRIES two travelling bags and a hand bag. She is shocked and confused to find five people standing outside. She gently CLOSES the gate and CLEANS her face.

VERO
What’s…what’s happening?

CHIBUZOR
Where are you running to?

VERO
Excuse me?

MRS OBONG (Interrupts)
-Don’t mind him. Vero, we are very sorry about what happened. Man proposes, but God disposes. Just know we are here for you if…

VERO
What are you talking about?

MRS OBONG
I heard you when you screamed.
(Beat)
We all know Chief is dead.

VERO
W-What rubbish?! My husband is alive on his sick bed. In fact, he is getting better. Where did all this come from? And what are you people doing here?!

CHIBUZOR
If he is getting better, where are you running to, without taking any of your cars?

VERO (Scoffs)
You must be kidding me. (Voice cracks) I just discovered my husband of eleven years has a three year old boy with one stupid-looking girl and you expect me not to scream?!
(Beat)
He was okay when I met him, but all the wealth he amassed today is not without my effort. Yes, I married him for love, not his money. And I tried my best having a child for him…God knows I tried but…but it has been futile. Is…is this how he should pay me back?

MRS OBONG
Sorry ehn. Man proposes, God disposes…

TAYO (whispers to her)
I think you already said that once.

VERO (CONT’D)
To cap it all, my name is not in his will…not even a mention. Oh yes, his ‘son’ is his next of kin and beneficiary of everything I’ve laboured for. But you know what, I will not give up without fighting back. I’m not taking a dime from this house; I’m calling my lawyer.
(Beat)
So, are you all happy now?

There is an awkward silence.

MRS OBONG
It’s obvious there has been a misconception here. We are sincerely sorry.

Vero eyes her.

MRS OBONG (To others)
Oya, make we go our house now…

VERO
-Please do! And I wonder how such nonsense spreads like wildfire. If it’s good news, none of you will be here. Please, leave for your homes! Life would be better if everyone minds their own business.

Mrs Obong and her ‘cohorts’ quickly DISPERSE amidst low-key chats.  A cab arrives and stops in front of Vero.

FADE OUT

tobbie247:
Would you like to see the 2 different pics?

Of course.

Please let me see.

I love this.

tobbie247:
It's quite simple. I took two shots and made it one. First shot with my right hand placing my left on the morror and vice versa. The rest is just playful manipulation. was a little tricky sha.

Nice one!

TochiPhotos:
"I love playing tennis, I'm a big fan of Serena Williams. I take my Children to the court when I'm playing and my daughter is slowly picking up interest in the sports. I came to buy her a racket." www.thehumansoflagos.com

Cool!

I'm so glad a fellow Nigerian loves tennis like I do. It's my favourite sport.

Nice one.

slimzypink:
am finer i swear

Stop swearing. ..

Show us...prove with pics

bb4522:
My take on the first stage is the timing. I think if you take more than 7min to finsh the test you are likely to fail even if u score all. Dats my thinking o base on my analysis.......any1 with diffrnt idea

Please elaborate on your analysis and how you arrived at 7 minutes as the 'cut off time'.

Thanks.

pretydiva:
If dem like mk dem disunite, I don't care

Na wa oo...una wicked for this thread oo..

Beverly and Melvin don suffer.

tunapa2009:
how far? I have travelled as planned.. Loooool..

Loool...nice one.

Na wa for una oo..

"I just wrote mine"..."I have written it"...o jebi...who asked you

"I have answered my 20 questions"...the questions are for all who got the mail abegi!

Na wetin go full next 3 pages be dat if I no para...

barcanista:
Mama Peace is busy campaigning and mobilising for votes, APC apologists are taking to keyboard to insult the woman. Let me state that she may be deficient in the use of words but she's communicating her message. It's GEJ all the way still

Are you for real?

What's her message? That she doesn't want to be serving her husband food in prison, so APC should not be voted in?

It's well.

I like the concept...at least. ..it's a deviation from the two inseparable lovers or royal nonsense movies I see all over the place.

But I'm curious if it won't be a rehash of the average Hollywood 'haunted mansion' movies.

I hope the movie has its own VOICE. And I'm not that sold on the husband-wife chemistry between Omoni and Mike (might be too early to judge...this is just a trailer).

I am not savvy with camera and sound issues but all looks fine to me judging from the trailer.

And I love me some Omoni Oboli. Looking forward to it.

Rapmoney:
Read about the 'Rap' part again and see why you missed the point

What of country music

Wow! This is amazing.

You even show face for 'Moments with Mo' sef. Hope it was fun with Bolanle and Dolapo?

Hbd sir.

An2elect2:
God is more concerned about what we need, not what we want.

I love this answer.

Lol

^^^^
Art is subjective.

And there are some movies that they're so deeply rooted in their 'themes/backdrops' (for example wrestling for Foxcatcher, baseball for Money ball, stageplay behind-the-scenes for Birdman) that if you're not connected with it, you either don't 'get' the film or you find it 'uninteresting'. Just like I didn't find 'The Imitation game' that interesting because I didn't get the backdrop of the movie and wasn't ready to connect with it.

Birdman is easily my favourite of 2014. I'm surprised such a crazy film won best picture at the Oscars. And it's the most rewatchable for me out of all I saw. You keep finding new things as you watch again and again. This is my personal ranking:

*Birdman
*Whiplash
*American Sniper
*Gone Girl
*Snowpiercer
*Foxcatcher
*Xmen: DOFP
*Guardians of the galaxy

I haven't watched 'Boyhood'.

Nice one.

I enjoyed 'The Meeting'. 'Will be looking forward to this.

I hope she does a good job sha oh...'cos I'm finding it difficult imagining Rita in a convincing, three-dimensional 'Christian Sister' role.

I believe shez up to the task.

Wow!!!

Oh boy. ..

mayorde:
Fast forward 4years and some months. Will be rounding up NYSC by July. Graduated best in Department and Faculty. Was it worth quitting the job? Only time can tell

Congrats! The sky is your beginning.

It would be worth it in Jesus name.

It's really nice that you gave a feedback.

I'm not sure.


But she stands a chance for the title.

I have watched these in last couple of days:

Birdman, Whiplash, Foxcatcher, Mockingjay Part 1, Top Five, Imitation Game.

My favourite was 'Birdman', the Best Picture winner. I love this movie and I've rewatched it at least 4 times already. It's a unique dark comedy and plays like a filmed stage drama. The performances are top notch and the ensemble work is admirable.

'Whiplash' is a close second. Very interesting movie...full of tension as the story of a young man that wants to be the best at drumming is pushed into the extremes by a psychopathic music director unfolds.

Foxcatcher is the 'darkest' of the movies. Feeling of tension and unease throughout the movie...and Steve Carrell did a solid job as the psychopathic Du Pont.

Forgive my ITK op...


You are at a "juncture", not a "junction".

Let me pave way for the career experts to come and advise accordingly.

ebdib:
I think you should have emailed the department about funding opportunities for international students BEFORE APPLYING
Ask them How competitive are these awards and how many students are granted in a given term

Many schools have these non thesis option to milk money off rich international studentrs (Even Harvard does this)
Anyway no point crying over spilled milk. If youre financially well off you can go for it but if not then i dont think its a wise option for your career.
Discuss with your parents and know what the best option is for you.
However from a professional standpoint a non thesis MS isnt the way forward especially if you're going to spend a lot of money on it.

Okay bro. Thanks.

ebdib:
I'm sorry but from what you've described here you simply didn't do your homework prior to applying!
How didn't you figure out you were being admitted into a non thesis program? I'm very sure if you checked the department page that info would be there. It has to be.

Obviously you also didn't mail the departmental contact about funding prior to applying as well because if you did you'd also be informed.

Funding is usually figured out during the admission process and its a competitive process.
Needless to say, telling a departmental advisor you can serve as an assistant sounds like childsplay. This isn't Nigeria where people can take unilateral decisions without consulting the faculty board and this is done in conjunction with the graduate school.
My wording may sound harsh but you're making it seem like Purdue is at fault here but the only person i can fault is you for not doing adequate research.

A non thesis MS program is a no-no.. Unless you plan to return back to Nigeria after your studies. No point doing an MS program in a science based field where you can't progress to a PhD unless under dire circumstances.

No offence intended by this post.

Thanks for the post. And I didn't take offence.

I know what I applied for (MSc in Agricultural economics, which is a thesis programme), not this. This non-thesis programme is a recently established track in my Department.

And I just got my admission three days ago, and that's why I'm just raising dust. Or how do I figure out what I'm being admitted for without an admission letter? I ensured I applied (to the thesis programme) before the deadline for students that are interested in funding. You mean I should have been bombarding them with mails after I applied? Please enlighten me.

While I am not playing a blame game but want to seek for advice as regards my case, it was Purdue that decided to give me admission into this other aspect of my course and not that I ignorantly stated I wanted it. Maybe they had a lot of qualified applicants and had to 'push' some of us into the 'non-thesis programme', because that was what I could infer from previous mails from my advisor. It's now my choice to accept it or not. And this non-thesis programme automatically doesn't get funding.

So, what is my fault? And what homework should I have done? When I didn't even envisage this?

I appreciate your advice, thanks.

streetMic:
Nope you dont have to. In a week or two you should get a mail to that effect. Most schools are currently making decisions on that. God will grant you one....Say AMEN!

Na wa for this Purdue ppl o. My advisor talk say there is no funding for what I was admitted for.

I actually got admission for Professional Master of Science in International Agribusiness (in Agricultural Economics). I later checked my admission letter and saw that it's a self-funded program and students there aren't eligible for tuition waivers and etc within the dept...imagine.

I still dey disturb the woman (advisor) that she should please look into my case and dat I can serve as her assistant in any capacity.

Also, for what I was admitted for...though my advisor said the students write papers, it's a non-thesis programme.
I just dey confuse now...wen me I don dey imagine how research go be like...and it isn't the best programme for someone dat wants to advance to PhD since the 'traditional' (na so dem cal am) Agricultural Economics programme where students write thesis, are funded etc. dey dia.

This is the last mail my advisor sent me:
"This degree is primarily for students who plan to work in the industry, especially multinational firms. Purdue’s own PHD program does not admit professional MS students. However, you are required to take  the same Microeconomic theory, Macroeconomic theory, Econometrics, Programming, courses together with research track (all funded) MS students. You can take any MS courses offered in our department. You don’t write a thesis, but write a none-thesis paper.  It is up to the students how good a research paper can be. I once advised a non-thesis international student who is now a PHD student in the US fully funded as an RA, partly because we turned her non-thesis paper into a journal publication, while most research track MS students do not have.    Please consider all carefully before you make this big decision involving a lot of $$.  We truly welcome you to our program but will understand whatever your decision."

Please, what do y'all think? Should I just focus on hopefully getting admission into the other schools I applied to? Thanks.

streetMic:
Nope you dont have to. In a week or two you should get a mail to that effect. Most schools are currently making decisions on that. God will grant you one....Say AMEN!

AMEN!!!!!

Thanks bro.