Wadjda Page #2

FATHER (CONT’D)

It's volcanic, from the Empty

Quarter. It has a great velocity.

It'll help your aim. Now get going.

She takes it, beaming. He taps her on her head and she runs

off to school.

6.

WAJDA:

We left the door unlocked.

Mom's been waiting for you all

week!

The father’s eyes flicker at the mention of the mother. He

passes his hand over his untidy black hair feeling uneasy.

9 EXT. FRONT OF THE CONVENIENCE STORE - DAY 9

ABDULLAH, (11), a skinny, bright-eyed boy, stands near the

entryway, setting up a billboard. He peeks inside at Wajda as

she enters and heads for the candy bars, picking out

chocolate. She sees him and smiles. Abdullah immediately

looks away.

He busies himself with the billboard, attaching a large

election poster of an overweight, mustached man on a chair

that looks like a throne. The poster reads: "Vote for me for

Municipal Council. Your glorious representation."

Abdullah's bicycle stands next to the board with his books

clamped onto a rack on the back.

Out of the corner of his eye he watches Wajda approach,

munching on a breakfast sandwich. He quickly brushes his hair

into place and acts busy and important.

WAJDA:

(laughing)

Huh, what is this, an advertisement

for mustache products?!

Abdullah smiles, composes himself and faces her with an

annoyed look.

ABDULLAH:

Smart-ass, it's a mustache so

strong a falcon could stand on it!

WAJDA:

A falcon? An airplane could land on

that thing!

Abdullah smiles but then sees a group of boys approaching. He

quickly snatches the sandwich out of her hands and runs off.

ABDULLAH:

Thanks for buying me breakfast!

WAJDA:

Hey! If it's a race you're after

don't blame it on the sandwich!

7.

She breaks into a run after him. They race through the

streets, away from the boys, switching positions in the race.

She overtakes him, snatches the sandwich and looks back,

pumping her arms in the air, relishing the victory.

Away from the other boys, Abdullah now smiles at her. He then

runs back to the billboard.

10 EXT. THE NEIGHBORHOOD STREETS - DAY 10

Wajda walks on to school eating her sandwich happily. She

continues the target practice with her beloved new rock,

aiming at several objects as she goes.

Suddenly out of nowhere, Abdullah snatches her veil as he

zips past her on his bicycle. Wajda falls hard to the ground,

her sandwich now covered in dirt. Her hair is exposed. It’s

covered in curls and colored hair clips like her Mother's,

but sloppier. Abdullah points.

ABDULLAH:

(laughing)

What is all this?

She puts her hands over her head, embarrassed.

WAJDA:

(indignantly)

It's so in fashion now.

Abdullah continues laughing. She runs furiously after him. He

dangles the veil mockingly behind him as he rides ahead.

Pitying her, Abdullah finally slows down. Wajda reaches out

and rips the veil from his hands but falls hard to the

ground, into a puddle of mud.

Abdullah stops. Wajda angrily gets up and screams at him.

WAJDA (CONT’D)

Stupid! How can I go to school like

this?

He’s about to get off his bicycle and help her when several

boys come out of a nearby store. Abdullah thinly disguises

his guilty look with a mocking smile.

ABDULLAH:

Did you really think you could

catch me?

8.

WAJDA:

(confused)

I did catch you! You and your

stupid bicycle.

ABDULLAH:

Yeah right. Now you’re late and

covered in mud. If you had a

“stupid” bicycle you could go home

and change. But you don’t, so you

can’t.

Wajda, hurt, looks up as he slowly pedals away with the other

boys, all on bikes as well, talking and laughing. They ride

in circles, challenging each other and showing off.

Wajda clutches her soaking veil, watching them all ride away

together, happy and free.

WAJDA:

(to herself)

I’ll get one and show you.

As she smooths out her veil, now too dirty to put back on,

she doesn’t see Abdullah glancing back with a pained, sorry

look.

11 EXT. INSIDE THE FRONT GATE OF THE SCHOOL - DAY 11

Wajda tries to blend in with the other girls and sneak in.

MS. HUSSA, (35), the pretty but stoic principal, stands

inside the wall that protects the privacy of the school

entrance.

A loud LAUGH comes from the gate as Fatin and Fatima enter.

Ms. Hussa moves towards them.

MS. HUSSA

All right girls, you are just

behind the gate, don't laugh so

loudly. Women's voices shouldn't

carry outside the door!

Fatin smiles and nudges Fatima. They giggle but act polite.

FATIMA:

Sorry, Ms. Hussa.

FATIN:

It won’t happen again.

Wajda seizes the opportunity to try to sneak past but-

9.

MS. HUSSA

Wajda!

Caught! Wajda stops, turns to face her.

MS. HUSSA (CONT’D)

(with malicious enjoyment)

Where is your head cover? Are you

coming to school unveiled?! And who

put those awful clips in your hair?

The girls all stop talking and giggle at her, except for

Fatin and Fatima who watch sympathetically.

Wajda looks down in frustration at her wet veil.

12 INT. SCHOOL INTERIOR COURTYARD - DAY 12

The midday sun burns directly above Wajda as she stands in

the corner of the schoolyard, punished.

13 EXT. THE NEIGHBORHOOD STREETS - DAY 13

Wajda's sneakers stand out from all the other girls in plain

black shoes, leaving school. Her eyes then catch colorful

majestic feet as a group of boys pedal by on their bicycles.

They kick up dust and laugh, gliding past. Wajda watches them

forlornly as they disappear around the corner.

Wajda continues walking, throwing the stone her Father gave

her at various targets. She misses a few times and then

finally hears a “Ping” as it hits its first mark: A SHINY

GREEN BICYCLE:

Somehow perched above the other side of a fence.

She stares at it, intrigued, for several seconds, as it seems

to float on the other side of the fence. She picks up her

black stone and entranced, her eyes follow this vision.

Suddenly it begins to move across the top of the fence, until

it comes to the end, where Wajda sees that it’s resting on

the top of a moving truck. Her heart locks on it and without

even thinking, she runs after the bicycle as it disappears

down the next block.

14 EXT. STREET IN FRONT OF THE TOY SHOP - DAY 14

Wajda’s feet race, her eyes like steel and she finally

catches up to the truck now parked in front of a toy shop.

10.

Men unload boxes and bicycles wrapped in plastic bags. She

cranes her neck. Where is the green one?

As Wajda moves forward she hears a SPLASH! She looks down.

She’s standing in a stream of water. She moves to the side.

As the truck pulls away the TOY SHOP OWNER goes into the shop

and brings out THE BICYCLE. He puts it on display in the

front, out in the sun. He takes a sign from his clipboard,

writes, "Only 500 Riyals," and places it on the handlebars.

He goes back inside the store and puts an "Talal Maddah"

record on an old record player, glancing at this strange

little girl still standing outside his door.

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