Special Correspondents Page #4

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- [Domingo] Right this way.

Must be great,

living right above the restaurant.

- Never late for work.

- [Brigida] Oh, we are.

- Really?

- Oh, yeah, all the time.

- Sure.

- [Brigida] Come in, up the stairs.

More stairs.

Excellent.

Okay.

Give me half an hour.

Cheers, guys. All right.

[Finch mutters indistinctly]

[Frank]

We meant to go to Ecuador.

We got as far as an apartment

on top of a restaurant

across the road from the radio station.

- You don't like it?

- Oh, no, it's lovely.

[stammers]

That's not what I meant. I...

[sighs]

No, it's fine. It's just... you know.

You know Kim and Kanye?

No. No, I don't.

Beyonc? Jay Z? They are your friends?

Friends? No. Not friends.

[Brigida & Domingo speaking in Spanish]

- The Jonas Brothers?

- Jonas Brothers.

I don't know the Jonas Brothers.

You want to read about

Honey Boo Boo child?

- I don't know what he wants.

- Okay, come on up, guys.

- [door opens]

- [approaching footsteps]

Okay, close your eyes. Ready?

[insects chirping over speakers]

[birds chirping]

Beautiful rain forest.

Birds.

[bird sounds increase]

- There's monkeys. Parrots.

- [animal noises]

- Hold on. Here comes a tank.

- [tracks rumbling]

Oh. Machine-gun fire.

[gunfire]

Airplanes.

A helicopter hovers overhead.

Oh. Explosions.

[gunfire and explosions]

Hand grenades.

- [explosions continue]

- [aircraft whirring]

[sounds cease]

Welcome to Ecuador.

[indistinct chattering]

The government's just closed the borders.

The information just came from

the Secretary of State's office.

There may have been

a sarin gas warning.

[Virginia]

Yeah, the dispatch just came in.

Okay. I'm gonna call in,

if you're ready.

So, guys, shout out some stuff

in the background, add to the atmosphere.

- What should we say?

- Anything. Spanish.

- [phone rings]

- It's Frank.

- Frank, where are you now?

- I'm in Quito.

- You managed to get through?

- Yeah. Why?

They've closed the borders.

There was a sarin gas warning.

You know what? Stay on the line.

Let me put you through to the studio.

I want you to sell Bonneville

as an exclusive. Hold on.

- [upbeat intro music plays]

- [announcer] Q365.

Our reporter, Frank Bonneville,

who managed to get into Ecuador

before the borders were closed,

has an exclusive for Q365 News.

Live from Ecuador, he will now give us the

first account of this latest development.

- Frank.

- [Frank] In Quito,

the man on the street doesn't know

that tomorrow, in addition to the gunfire

- and indiscriminate attacks...

- [gunfire]

...the threat of chemical war

looms over the city.

However,

the sudden closure of the border

confirms the seriousness

of the situation.

Real Madrid!

- [Domingo shouts indistinctly]

- [war sounds continue]

And this is a new threat the government

could really have done without, Frank?

[Frank] My thoughts exactly.

For the last three days,

they've been fighting an enemy

that no bomb can possibly destroy.

- Sand.

- Julio Iglesias!

- [gasps]

- [muffled noise]

Raised in squalls by the shrieking,

violent wind,

the desert sand

has brought the city to a standstill.

The men and their targeting

instruments are blind.

The air force is grounded.

The sky has changed color.

The temperature has dropped.

The sun has all but disappeared,

leaving the locals,

the innocent victims

in this bloody infighting, to wonder:

what has happened

to the world they once knew?

This is Frank Bonneville,

live from Quito.

Okay, good.

But I think we need more information.

Because I'm pretty sure sand

isn't a big problem in Ecuador.

I think it's quite lush

and rain-foresty and...

- banana plants and things.

- Okay.

And also, guys,

imagine you're in your village.

Aah! What might you shout?

[speaks in Spanish]

- What does that mean?

- Uncle Miguel!

- Why would you shout "Uncle Miguel"?

- Because he's almost deaf.

Be scared.

Shout something about your children.

[speaking in Spanish]

- What does that mean?

- My baby is getting fat!

- What's that got to do with anything?

- Because you say:

"Say something about children,"

and I love fat babies

- because it means they're eating well.

- [Finch] Yeah.

- It's true.

- I know, I like fat babies.

Mm.

What happened to the TV?

The fact of the matter is that the face

of poverty, no matter where you are,

- is always the same.

- Look at this guy, Baker.

There's a guy that can fake something.

He's got a bulletproof vest on,

- he's 50 feet from the hotel.

- How do you know where he is?

Because of that fountain. I saw it

from my room last time I was there.

No one knows. I think we're so much better

off here... Thank you... than Ecuador.

We've got wine, snacks.

We're not being shot at.

You two make a good team.

First time

we've worked together, officially.

On something big, like this. Yeah.

- His forte is sports.

- Yeah.

- How many Tours de France have you done?

- Twenty-five.

- In France?

- Nah, didn't go there.

I sort of ran it from here,

to make sure it all went smoothly.

And the Olympics?

You've done a few of those, too, right?

Just four. But they are

only every four years, so, not bad.

- Where did you go? Beijing?

- I didn't get to Beijing, no.

- No, you did those from here, too, right?

- Yes. Yeah.

- So, have you actually been anywhere?

- Yeah.

- England.

- No, you're from England.

- That doesn't count.

- Yeah. Okay.

- Here, then.

- Anywhere other than here.

- England.

- Wow.

[Finch] Yeah.

Every two-bit hack in New York got into

Ecuador before they closed the border.

- I need something special.

- We got some great stuff.

- We got some exclusive stuff.

- You still in Quito?

Are we still in Quito? No, we're in...

We're in the south,

we're in a place called... Machala.

We thought it'd be good to get in

amongst the people.

Good. Yeah, yeah,

give them something personal.

That always gets them.

All right, you're on in five.

And now, we go live to our special

correspondent in Quito, Frank Bonneville.

The villagers could've left

Sergeant Miguel to die.

But they chose to save the man.

A man, who, minutes earlier

with his fellow troops,

had been showering the area

with fire and steel.

This place might be a rebel stronghold,

but these are kind people.

It's simply not in their nature

to let a man die on their land.

- Whoever they are.

- Oh, sh*t! Ooh. I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

Earlier today, I watched

as a woman from the village

desperately tried to save her own child,

feverishly wiping the blood

off the pavement

as if that would somehow bring him back.

A peasant, a fat, sweaty peasant,

looked on,

useless, hopeless, worthless even,

knowing that nothing he ever did

could possibly do any good.

This is Frank Bonneville,

live from Machala.

[sounds cease]

- Good work.

- You're on again at 7:00, call back.

- That's why he's the best.

- I hope they're being careful.

[Finch]

Well, we got away with it again.

Looks like we made quite an impact.

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