Rough story (unedited)
The first few frames are in order to establish chiku’s room. Posters on the wall. Guitar, drum kit on the floor. Bottles of beer closeby, clothes thrown around. A big mess everywhere. Chiku is lying on a bed in a very awkward position.
He wakes up late and looks at his phone to notice the seven missed calls from his elder brother. He looks at the clock next to him. It’s six am. He starts to panic and cry without knowing what to do. He seems very disoriented and is crying for his mother like a child calls for his mother. the phone rings and he picks it up. His brother is screaming over the phone, “where are you? Why aren’t you picking up your phone…”
“I don’t know…it was on silent somehow…i overslept…I missed my flight…” he can barely manage in between his tears
“listen to me now…she passed away last night…she’s gone…”
“No…No….”
“come on, pull yourself together right now...what are you going to do now? I’ll try and book another flight for you… how could you miss the flight? Were you drinking last night?”
“no no…please…I was working till late last night…I’m sorry…no…I’ll figure a way out..i’ll be there”
“ok…chiku…she’s no more….”
he cuts the call and he is greeted by the sound of his ticking clock and the silence in the room. He falls on his floor and breaks down.
Gray sky. Panels of him at the airport waiting for his flight. Sitting in a crowd. Of him in the flight looking outside at the sky. The sky becomes a frame for transition from him looking at it in the flight to the next frame of him standing in front of a door and looking at the sky above him. the door opens and a middle aged woman opens the door. She has red eyes and she looks at him and she starts crying. He goes in and hugs her. she looks at him and holds his face in her hands and says “ he is in her room with her. we will go in a while to cremate her. he hasn’t cried a single bit or spoken a single word since last night.Your brother and sister in law have gone to get the car fixed.” He doesn’t say anything, just Walks into a room past a big aquariam, photo frames, a mirror, flowers , a tv “ walks into a room where a man is sitting with his back facing him with a bed in front of him.
“baba”
The man turns around and gets up and walks towards him and past him away from him. the boy looks down and his mother walks towards him from behind him, closer to him and puts her hand in hers “you need to see her”. he walk towards the bed to see a black dog lying on the bed. Still. Calm. He puts one hand over her head and gets down on the floor and starts to cry holding her tight. “she was in so much pain since the past few days…she wouldn’t let anyone touch her. I’ve never heard her howl so much. right after you left…” and she covers her mouth and a teardrop falls from her eyes. He gets up and looks at the body of the dog and wipes the tears from his eyes.
“ he turns around to see his brother standing outside the door staring at him. he smiles at him “ hi” “hi” “we need to go now”
Father and two sons are sitting in the car the elder son is driving the car and the younger one and the father are sitting at the back. There is no conversation between them. The dog is wrapped in a bed sheet and kept on the father and son’s lap. The son looks at the father but the father is staring outside the window.
After a long while of silence, the brother says “ so…how did you manage to get here “? “ they didn’t charge me a lot because I had missed the previous flight”. “ok…that’s cool”
Did you see the thing dad made for the pigeons?
No
Oh wow..you should go back and check it out…the pigeons come and eat whenever they want and they have a warm place to sleep in. he made it all by himself.
Do you still want me to get the plastic sheets you wanted baba?
No, it’s fine. I used something else.
Silence again and the boy looks at his father who is looking at the rain pouring outside on the window. The scene shifts to a flashback where the father and son are screaming at each other. The mother is sitting in a corner, on a bed on the floor with the dog next to her and she is petting the dog. “please don’t scream so loudly…mimmi is not well…it affects her”. the son looks at her and scream “ shut up ma” “ you guys can scream as much as you want and when it’s my turn, I’m not even allowed to speak” i’m sick and tired of this. I can’t live in this house anymore” “so don’t! Go, get out…” “yeah I think that’s what I do” “ yes..no one is stopping you…that’s what you want anyway…you’ve alwys wanted to leave..so just leave…”
Amidst his mother’s pleas and his father’s silence, he left the house with his bags hoping to start a new life, away from all of them.
“ I gave her the last injection”
He looks at his father in the car. He is looking outside. He looks at the rearview at his brother looking at his father then he looks ahead.
“ she was in so much pain last night, that I gave her the pain injection. I think I gave a little too much…maybe because of that….”
“it’s not your fault baba…she’s happy wherever she is now” says the elder son while driving.
“we’re there” and he stops the car outside a big gate. “Chiku, go tell them we are here for the burial and tell them I called them in the morning”
Two men come with a stretcher and put mimmi on it and they walk through some tombstones to a freshly dug grave. They slowly lower the body into the damp earth as the rain continues to fall. The father and elder son look away but the younger one goes into the grave and pats the dirt and salt in place while they put it. Adjusts the body. He comes out to see the father and brother looking at different locations, but visibly upset. The brother wipes his eyes under his glasses and they stand in the rain, around the grave . “ they are back in the car and this time the younger son is sitting in front. All of a sudden, he says “ stop the car” you see his face through the window and he is smiling.
The doorbell rings and the mother opens the door to see the father and elder son with the younger son hiding behind them. They move to show that he has a little puppy in his arms and he stretches his arms in front of her and says “ see ma…mimmi found her way back..” the mother holds on to the pup and starts crying. The elder son goes and starts playing with the fidgety pup and says “mimmi” and instantly the pup barks and all of them start laughing. The father walks out to the balcony past the mother and son holding the pup. The younger son follows the father and stands behind him.
“baba…” the father doesn’t turn around so the boy walks in front and stands next to him to see him standing and staring at the pigeons. “how are you…?
“baba…i…I want to come back home baba. I’m sorry. Can I come back?”
The father slowly puts his head down and breaks down and the son holds on to his father. “ I’ve missed you son. Don’t ever leave us again.”
“I won’t baba…I’m sorry”
The elder son is playing with the puppy and calling out to her while the mother is sitting in a corner, looking happily at the father and younger son. “ Mimmi gave this one a new life. Maybe this is how fate is supposed to be.” The son picks up the pup and says “ yeah. Maybe”
The last frame is of the younger son and father standing in the balcony staring at the pigeons.
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