PICKING UP By Kafui Mortty

INT. MO’S HOUSE - LIVING ROOM--DAY A broad, open living room with a large table in the center. Surrounding it, lounging on beanbags and a tired-looking sofa, are a group of friends in their early twenties: three young men and two women: ANDRE: Black, well dressed. QUINN: Tall, Mediterranean, scruffy. SULLY: White, chubby with his left leg in a flamboyant pink cast. MOSS: Chinese, tattooed. JACKIE: Petite with large, frizzy hair. They room is hazy with smoke and dark despite the fact it is only noon. The five friends are watching television absentmindedly when the living room door opens and two young men stroll in. One is a tall, disheveled Indian man around 22 wearing loose-fitting jeans and a tie-dye t-shirt, this is MO. The other, also Indian but only about 18 is slim and short carrying a duffel bag; Mo’s brother: ROHAN. MO Hey guys. After a few seconds of silence, Mo walks over to the window and wrenches the curtains open, flooding the room with light. The group howl, hiss and collectively cover their eyes. MO As I was saying. This is my little brother Rohan. He’s got an interview in town so he’s gonna stay here tonight. ROHAN Hey. MO Are you guys gonna introduce yourselves? (beat) Seriously? One by one, the group sits up and introduces themselves halfheartedly. QUINN I’m Quinn. ANDRE Andre.

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2.

JACKIE Jack. SULLY Sully. How’s it going. MOSS I’m Moss, nice to meet you. MO Was that so hard? ANDRE (Condescending) Piece of cake, can you close the fucking curtains now? Mo shuts the curtains. MO As I was saying, Rohan’s gonna be staying here tonight-QUINN We heard you, man. MO (Irritated) Let me finish. He’s gonna be staying here: which means everyone on their best behaviour. SULLY, a slim white guy with shoulder-length hair and his leg in a flamboyant pink cast pipes up at this. SULLY What are you trying to say? MO I’m not trying to say anything, what I’m saying is you guys are idiots and I don’t want you killing my brother. SULLY Ouch man, that hurts. MO You sure it’s not your ankle? SULLY ...Touche.

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3. MOSS So, Rohan, what do you do? ROHAN I go to school. Well, college. MOSS What do you study? QUINN More importantly, do you smoke weed? ROHAN (Nervous) I do geography and-MO (Firm) No. He doesn’t smoke. He’s asthmatic. QUINN Shame. ANDRE Now you mentioned it...we’re out. SULLY Like out, out? ANDRE Like out, out. SULLY Ah shit. ANDRE Yeah. MO (To Rohan) I’m gonna take your bags to my room. Try find somewhere clean...ish to sit. Don’t let them scare you. ROHAN Right.

Mo picks up Rohan’s bags and leaves. After scanning the room for a few moments, Rohan walks to sit awkwardly on the arm of the sofa and the room goes quiet.

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4. SULLY So...are we gonna pick up or what? QUINN Yes! But I’m not going anywhere. SULLY Lazy bastard, nobody even mentioned you getting up yet. ANDRE I’m with Quinn. I’m not moving. SULLY (Points to his leg) Perfect. Well I’d love to but...Y’know. MOSS (Irritated) Is there nobody driving? Why do we even have to go... ANDRE It’s Sunday. SULLY (Incredulous) Fuck me, even drug dealers don’t work Sundays now? ANDRE They work, they just do it from home. SULLY Jesus...Jackie? Moss? JACKIE You’re not honestly gonna make two girls go are you? ANDRE Feminism hard at work. SULLY Well I just text Kelly, the deed is done. Somebody needs to walk to the bus stop.

The room goes quiet and tense as Sully, Moss, Andre, Jackie and Quinn shift awkwardly. After a few moments, Rohan clears his throat politely causing the others to turn sharply.

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5.

ROHAN (Shy) Erm, I don’t mind walking to the bus stop. SULLY You don’t? MOSS (To Sully:) We can’t make him go! ANDRE (To Moss:) Shhh! Let’s see where this goes. ROHAN I honestly don’t mind. SULLY Well there it is! My kind of guy. MOSS I dunno about this guys. QUINN He said he doesn’t mind! JACKIE He did say he didn’t mind. ROHAN It’s true. I did say that. SULLY So it’s settled. Cash everyone. The group dig in their pockets and purses to withdraw a number of crumpled notes. They pass they to Sully who arranges them slightly before handing them to Rohan. ROHAN Right. So where’s the bus stop? ANDRE Literally five minutes straight when you come out of here and go left. Steer Street. It’s on the opposite side of the road. No turns or anything, just houses, houses, houses, houses: Bus stop.

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6.

JACKIE I think he’s got it. (To Rohan:) You’ve got it right kid? ROHAN I’ve got it. JACKIE Sweet. Kelly should already be there by the time you get there. Rohan stands up, dusts himself off and heads towards the door. As he opens it to leave, he turn back to the group. ROHAN Erm guys, silly question, but: what does Kelly look like? The room had gone silent, Quinn, Andre, Jackie and Moss once again in a near-catatonic state. Rohan sighs and leaves, closing the door gently behind him. QUINN (Dazed) Huh? Mo enters the living room with an armful of snacks. MO I’ve got you set up in my room Ro--Where’s my brother? FADE OUT EXT. STEER STREET - DAY Rohan is walking alone along a quiet, empty residential street. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out the wad of cash he was handed. After a minute or so of walking, Rohan sees a bus parked around 50ft in front of him. Rohan smiles. The bus pulls slowly away, revealing one by one, standing at the bus stop: A boy of around ten years old wearing shorts and a bright t-shirt, an elderly woman with a set of aluminium crutches, a young-looking Priest and a small, slim, Asian monk dressed in Harekrishna garm.

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7.

Rohan slows down and starts to look apprehensive as he scans the bus stop. CUT TO: INT. MO’S LIVING ROOM - DAY Rohan briefly flashes back to himself sitting on the arm of the sofa in the living room. JACKIE Sweet. Kelly should already be there by the time you get there. CUT TO: EXT. STEER STREET - DAY Rohan stops walking and scowls. ROHAN Fuck! As he says this, a woman walks briskly past him from behind, clearly apprehensive and clutches her purse closely to her chest. Rohan calls out to her as she scurries away. ROHAN (Apologetic) Sorry! The boy, priest and monk go to sit down as rohan approaches slowly from a distance. The priest stands to offer his seat to the old woman who gladly accepts. Rohan shakes his head in disbelief. He stables himself as he walks, taking a deep breath and shaking his hands. As he walks he begins to falter once more. Rohan has stopped completely and is swaying indecisively from side to side when another bus approaches. At first he does not see it but before long it has obscured his view of the bus stop and its occupants. As Rohan waits patiently for the bus to finish loading and unloading he perks up optimistically. (CONTINUED)

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8.

Rohan taps his foot impatiently for a few moments before making a move towards the bus. He approaches the bus just as it closes its doors and begins to depart. The bus pulls away. The priest, young boy and the monk are gone, in their place now stand: a professor in a tweed jacket holding a briefcase, a heavily pregnant woman with another baby tucked against her chest and a clearly blind man with a cane and dark glasses. ROHAN ...seriously? Rohan freezes in his tracks and lowers his head. ROHAN Fuck me... He crosses back across the road and stands opposite the bus stop. The pregnant woman sits next to the elderly woman and smiles, the professor leads the blind man gently to his seat, the blind man shakes his hand gratefully. Rohan reaches into his pocket and pulls out his phone. Shaking his head a muttering darkly he dials a few numbers and puts the phone to his ear. CUT TO: INT. MO’S HOUSE--LIVING ROOM - DAY The entire group are lounging casually in their living room. Mo is on a bean bag mere inches from the television, playing Mariokart obsessively with Quinn and Jackie. His phone, across the room on a table and buried under snack wrappers and other debris, vibrates softly. The sound of the television coupled with music playing from a set of speakers behind the sofa obscures the noise of Mo’s phone entirely and the call goes unnoticed. CUT TO: EXT. STEER STREET - DAY Rohan hangs up his phone impatiently and stuffs it back in his pocket. ROHAN Damn you mo! Fucks sake! Think, Rohan, Think! (CONTINUED)

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9.

Rohan crosses the road cautiously and walks to the bus stop, he smiles briefly at each of the waiting passengers, carefully studying their faces before standing a few yards away from them. ROHAN (Whispering) Kelly...Kelly? Rohan clears his throat and speaks louder. ROHAN Kelly? The elderly woman turns to look at Rohan. ELDERLY WOMAN Did you say something dear? ROHAN (Nervous) Are you...Kelly? ELDERLY WOMAN Oh no dear. My name’s Esther. ROHAN (Abashed) Sorry, my bad. ESTHER Quite alright. CUT TO: INT. MO’S HOUSE LIVING ROOM - DAY Quinn, Mo and Jackie are still playing Mariokart. Nobody is speaking over the ambient music in the room. MOSS What if he did get lost somehow? ANDRE Jesus Moss, there’s no way he could’ve gotten lost! Nobody gets lost when I give ’em directions. Besides a blind goat could find that bus stop.

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10.

MOSS Well then why isn’t he back yet? ANDRE God, I dunno. Maybe Kelly’s late. SULLY (Interested) Kelly? Who said anything about Kelly? MOSS What are you talking about? He’s going to meet Kelly now. SULLY Erm, no he’s not. Kelly’s in Dubai til Tuesday. ANDRE Well then who have we sent this kid out to meet? SULLY Marmaduke. MOSS Marmaduke! You told us Kelly! SULLY I think it was Jackie who said ’Kelly will be at the bus stop’. ANDRE Yeah, she did. After you told us you’d text Kelly! SULLY (Apologetic) Ah shit man, my bad. ANDRE (Incredulous) Your bad? MOSS Fucks sake, poor kid is probably so confused. CUT TO:

11.

EXT. STEER STREET--DAY Rohan stares at the occupants of the bus top in disdain for a few moments before shaking his head in defeat heading back in the direction of the house. As he walks, Rohan bumps into a tall, bespectacled young man in a long dark trench coat. The man apologises. As the two go their separate ways, Rohan turns around optimistically. ROHAN ’scuse me, but, your name isn’t Kelly by any chance is it? The man chuckles lightly and shakes his head. MAN Sorry mate, my names Marmaduke. ROHAN Worth a shot. Have a good one. MARMADUKE You too. FADE OUT.