Eyes open to view a ceiling in black and white. Then we see the character lying on his back. Cole is lying in bed next to his wife. She sleeps, facing him. He turns towards her as she slowly wakes. They exchange morning greetings, then she turns to back him and returns to her sleep. He gets up, puts on his glasses, and looks across the room at the wall where we see a pinboard full of colorful fun pictures of the happy couple. Then his focus shifts to his side table to a letter. We don’t see the full letter. What is visible is the letterhead of a hospital and then the word “appointment” in the subject of the letter. He gets up and slowly walks to the bathroom.
The scene cuts to him brushing his teeth. The wife walks in still groggy and reaches for her toothbrush. We then move to a scene of the couple hand in hand in prayer. In the next scene the man makes ready for work and his wife is getting his lunch bag ready. He comes into the kitchen to say goodbye. She kisses him as she hands him the lunch bag, and as they share another quick kiss goodbye, she tells him to stay safe.
Next scene we see him settle into his office work space, and then our vision is turned to his work board displaying pictures of him and his wife and colorful post-its containing bible quotes on faith pinned on it. Cole is a data analyst working in an IT company with a number of staff on his floor and with an open office space structure.
In the next scene he takes his time as he slowly rounds-up from work. In the background, you can hear colleagues laughingly shutting down as well. He hears someone leaving and making an obvious exit to the team, but doesn’t pay much attention to it. The scene cuts to him saying goodbye in slang – “e go be” as he cautiously steps out of a pub (bar). He is sober. As he is walking out another is hurriedly walking in, and as the door shuts behind him, he hears people in jubilation. He gets into his car and drives off, and then the scene cuts to him walking into his apartment. The wife has made meal for him and laid it on the dinner table. There is a note on the table “hi hon! not feeling so good and already in bed. please have something to eat okay. Love, love!”
The scene changes again to him walking into his bedroom. His wife is lying asleep in bed, facing his side of the bed and with her bible wrapped in her arms. He leans over to give her a kiss on her cheek. The scene cuts to him in his pyjamas and brushing his teeth. He then gets into bed, takes off his glasses, and lays on his back once again, we see him face the ceiling. He shuts his eyes and the scene fades to black.
The scene slowly opens as the apartment door opens and the wife walks in dragging in light luggage. He follows even slower and with an unsure demeanour. She asks him if he would like to eat. He says he is not hungry. The scene changes to a hospital scene, the doctor is talking to his wife. “temporary amnesia is not uncommon after such procedures Mrs. Cole, just give him time… Patience is key.
The scene cuts to them getting ready for bed. He is in his pyjamas and quickly lays in bed. His discomfort is obvious as he turns to his side, backing his wife. She walks out of the bathroom from cleaning her teeth. She asks for them to pray, and he responds “I’m not in the mood.” She goes ahead to kneel and pray while he sleeps, and the scene slowly fades.
The next scene opens up with the man walking into a pub hailing some men by the bar. They retaliate, and as he walks over, they give him a welcome “guy” hug. Then we see them gyrate and drink. As the night progresses, there’s talks and jokes. The scene becomes more focused, and then we hear one of the guys joke about Cole’s choice of drinks… Guys, which one wey come our level?, na wa o! Cole in turn laughingly responds “ I be pastor?” he then make jokes of how even his wife is always trying to get him to pray these days. Then in the same vein, one of the friends asks why he is now acting as though he is not the crew’s “ordained”. “Speaking of which, did you hear about ….?”. The room gets loud as a hoard of new customers enter the bar. He does not catch the last statement, and they are soon distracted by the new faces. The night goes on in fun and drink as the scene fades.
In the next scene, tipsy, he is trying to get into his car in the park, and the scene shifts to the friends saying bye in the bar, and the man confirming that he will be resuming at the office on Monday. Scene reverts back as the car speeds off.
The next scene, he walks into the bedroom pretty tipsy. His wife is lying backing him. Eyes open and with tears running down her face, she prays silently. He slumps next to her, and as her eyes shut, the scene slowly fades.
The next scene, he hurriedly gets his things and is rushing out for his resumption at the office. His wife stops him gently in his track and asks if he will take his lunch bag. He has also forgotten his glasses. He takes them reluctantly with a word of thanks. She then asks if she can pray for him as he resumes work. Once again he is reluctant, but says yes. They hold hands, and then she begins by thanking God for the blessings of life and then goes on to pray for his first day back since the whole experience. They share a Christian brother and sister hug, and then he leaves.
Scene cuts to him getting in the car, and in the car, he pauses for a few seconds in thought. The glasses sit uncomfortably on his face. He then starts the car and starts to reverse. Scene cuts to him walking into a story building. He clocks into the building, and the security guard offers a welcome. He smiles in thanks.
Then we have a scene of him in the elevator with a look of anticipation. Holding his glasses in hand along with his bag pack he then walks out and buzzes into the office. Stepping in, he is given a surprise welcome by the team. A welcome back banner hangs across the wall and float ing balloons hit the ceiling. Smiling, he looks up at the colorful sight. Colleagues circle round him, and then slowly allow him move to his desk. As he walks, he unconsciously takes a different direction from his workspace, but is quickly corrected by a teammate who jokingly says “ahn ahn, guy! Time done pass like dat?”. They laugh as he finds his actual seat by locating the work board holding his pictures and bible quotes. Taking a seat he admires his workspace and work board. It’s got pretty pictures of the Mrs and love. He then settles down to resume work.
In the next scene, the man is packing up along with his colleague. Friendly banter ensues, including how he feels about his first-day return to the 9 to 5 life. He puts on his bag pack, and as he starts to walk away from his desk, he returns suddenly to pick up the glasses. He walks towards the exit and pauses to look at the announcement board when he notices a smiling face. A feeling of recognition comes over him. He knows that face! “Gone but not forgotten” is written beneath the picture. “Who is that?” He asks a colleague who’s walking past him and towards the elevator. The colleague stops and turns. It’s one of the men at the bar and specifically, the one that asked him the question he never got to hear or answer. The scene goes back to that night. In all the jubilant commotion, we zoom into the colleague as he completes his question. in all the noise his mouth takes the shape of his words, unheard … “Tobi Oguns” and the picture immediately cuts back to the picture on the board, and you see the name below the picture, “Tobi Oguns”
A look of terror floods his face, he staggers a few steps back and then turns back to walk toward the direction he had actually wanted to go earlier that day. He finds himself at Tobi’s desk and then it dawns on him. Memories flood back in disjointed flashes – moments of laughter, shared projects, and both Cole and Tobi in the same social gatherings but never really fraternising. In one of the flashes we are back at the previous office scene where Cole is shutting down and we hear that anonymous person exit the office. Our view shifts to boisterous Tobi saluting his office people as he leaves. In a final memory, we are back at the setting where Cole is leaving the bar, and the person hurriedly walks past, shutting the door. In the bar, we see Tobi raise his hands to hail his colleagues/buddies and in return, we hear a roar of salutation. Rushing out as though he has encountered a ghost, he heads home.
In the next scene Mrs. Cole is seated in the parlor, busy on her laptop. She hears the jingle of keys, the lock clicks and her husband slowly makes his way into the house. Dragging his feet he stands before her. She looks up from the couch where she is seated lazily and yet hard at work. There is silence for a moment, and then Cole, shedding a tear asks with a husky but soft voice, “why?”.
The scene moves to both of them seated side by side on the couch. Cole slouching, head in hand. Mrs. Cole talks about the surgery and how it had been a success but had come with its ordeals. The memory loss, the stranger he had become… we then see flashbacks of him after his operation in the hospital. Hysteria due to amnesia during recovery; We return to the scene where the Doctor tells his wife that this reaction was not unheard of after such a procedure, and how it would be temporary. We hear “patience is key” as we cut back to the present. Back in the present they are silent, both looking to the ground. Cole stuttering then tries to mutters “ I’m, I’m not…. At least I think I am not…”, but she cuts in with an “I know” as she looks ahead of her.
Scene cuts to his wife on a call from the hospital. A donor had been found and Cole’s operation had been scheduled for that night. Her prayers had been answered. Cole would be getting a real heart, instead of a pacemaker, of which the procedure had been planned for that same day. She falls to the floor with the phone still in her hand and kneels to thank her Maker.
In the same hospital, a stretcher is being pushed into the emergency room. As they speedily cruise toward emergency the patient’s bloodied hand falls to the side, and on his wrist, we catch a glimpse of the bloodied wrist band and on a part not covered in blood is spelt Tobi. We come back to the present scene and with tears running down her face, she completes her sentence. “you are not my Cole, you are not my husband”. The mystery seems to comes full circle.… “Well, you are physically,” she continues, “but not as the one who speaks to me”. She reminds him about the surgery and all that ensued. He then remembers waking up from the operation. Scene turns dark, and eyes open to see the ceiling, in color. He looks around and doesn’t recognize anything or anyone. He feels like he is somewhere else, but where or as who, he cannot tell. They then turn to look at each other in the present. Staring into his eyes, she then says “Is he still in there? Is he with you?”. Taken aback by this statement, he stands and storms out of the house.
We cut to him in the usual bar that turns out to be the in the same building as his office. He is drinking away his sorrow when he feels a hand on his shoulder. It’s his colleague from the other night. Ol’boy watin dey? Guy how far na! You done dey drink like dis now?! This Tobi’s demise really hit you hard o! I mean I honestly thought you knew! I even asked you that night we were here if you heard about it.
Scene cuts back to the bar once again when he says the name. This time his shouting voice filters through the noise …. “Tobi Oguns”, but of course Cole does not catch it. We come back to the present, and Cole/Tobi is still at a loss. His friend then tells him to snap out of it! Abi you sad say as an “ordained” wey done dey come this bar you no save the guy soul? I beg leave that matter o! Tobi may have been a “guy” man, or “not saved or born again” as you would put it, but he had a heart of Gold. I even heard that he gave up his organs to be donated. Cut to the scene of the bloodied hand band, signifying he was an organ donor. We hear his friends say, “You sef fit do am… Accepting your mortality like dat? “. The scene of the bloodied band quickly fades to black.
Jump to the next scene, we find Cole back at that moment when they pass each other at the bar door, but this time there is a pause and they both turn to look at each other. He wakes suddenly and finds he has slept off at the bar. Now a bit sober he picks up his keys and we see him leave the bar to head home.
Scene cuts to the Cole/Tobi slowly walking into the bedroom to find his wife kneeling in prayer. He walks sloppy into the bathroom and toward the sink. The sound of running water hit the air and we see him staring at himself through the fogging Mirror. He then proceeds to splash the heated water on his face as a last effort to wake from the dream he thinks he is in. Nothing! And just as he is about to drown once again in confusion and despair, he sights his partner from the Sink mirror on her knees. We see his eyes and face muscles soften like that of a Child’s as he turns around and walks towards this praying woman. He then asks softly, “can I join you… can you please teach me how to pray?” She looks up at him from her position of prayer. She then reaches up to take his hands and brings him slowly to his knees and next to her. There they assume the position of prayer.
The scene fades and moves to a stream of scenes of days going by. From scenes of the couple praying, to a scene of Cole at his daily job and there he pays tribute to Tobi by signing in his condolence book; Cole at the bar with his friends, a soft in hand and looking happy and sober. They chat and gesticulate and soon they all share a hearty laugh.
We cut back one final time to the scene at the bar door and this time the pause between the two is long enough for Tobi to look Cole in the eyes and mutely say “Thank you”. Cole gives a smiles of understanding. They both turn and walk their different paths. The scene fades to black.
The final scene opens with Cole lying on his back in bed with his wife lying back turned to him. Morning slowly creeps in. We see his eyes open and we quickly switch to his view of the ceiling. The world appears once again in monochrome. We see his hand reach for the glasses, and as they fall to his face we witness as his world is turned to colour.
The scene slowly fades to black.
SHADED PERCEPTIONS
By
Upe Amoniya Otaru 😉
Festival King 