Ik ben begonnen mijn boek ‘Jera en het tijdperkenlabyrint’ te bewerken tot een script voor een film of televisieserie. Het is in het Engels, zodat ook geïnteresseerden die geen Nederlands spreken kennis kunnen nemen van het verhaal. Ik ben er nog niet helemaal uit wat de Engelse titel van de film zou moeten zijn, maar voorlopig noem ik hem: The Time Labyrinth. Bij wijze van voorproefje (het is nog niet de definitieve versie) publiceer ik hierbij de eerste twee scènes.
1. INT. CLASSROOM – DAY
Twelve CHILDREN of about twelve years old are sitting in a late nineteenth century classroom with brick walls and high windows, through which they can only see mountaintops and the sky above.They sit in wooden school benches, bent over their work. One boy, JERA, dressed in a green jumper, dark brown trousers just over the knees, black knee stockings and wooden shoes, pulls at his jumper and wipes his brown hair from his face. He isn’t able to concentrate on his work, puts down his slate pencil and looks around. A girl, ANNA, in the bench before him, wearing a yellow dress with a white collar, white knee stockings and yellow wooden shoes, raises her hand. The teacher, who is wearing a brown suit, nods at her.
ANNA
Why don’t you ever teach us History,
mister Baker?
MISTER BAKER
Why would you ask that?
ANNA
My grandfather told me that he got
History lessons at school when he
was young. The lessons were about
what happened in the past, he said.
MISTER BAKER
And does your grandfather remember
anything from his History classes?
ANNA
No, he doesn’t. He had forgotten all
about it, until he found some old
school reports.
MISTER BAKER
Anna, you inquire about something
really very strange. I’ve heard
about this subject of History too,
but it seems like no-one remembers
anything they were taught during
these classes. It’s very mysterious.
Some schoolchildren murmur questions. One boy, THOMAS, dressed much like Jera but in the colours blue and grey, raises his hand.
THOMAS
How did the teacher teach History?
Did he use maps, like geography? Or
do sums on the blackboard, like math?
MISTER BAKER
I don’t know exactly. The subject of
History dealt with the past… so
maybe the teacher told stories about
what people did in the past… like
when your grandfather tells about
his youth or something… But then
older stories from far earlier.
ANNA
My grandfather told me the teacher
read from a book.
MISTER BAKER
A book with stories from the past?
ANNA
I guess so.
MISTER BAKER
Somehow we seem to have lost all the
old books about the past.
ANNA
How is that possible?
MISTER BAKER
Nobody knows, it is inexplicable. We
only have our own memories, which we
can share with each other, but all
the rest is lost. That’s why History
is no subject anymore. So I’m afraid
you have to concentrate on your math
again.
ANNA
(stubbornly)
My grandfather said that we used to
count years too…
MISTER BAKER
Maybe you’re right, but…
ANNA
… and that we lost count.
MISTER BAKER
Yes… we seem to have lost our past…
and we lost count of the years. But…
well… if you are counting the years,
you must have started at some point,
right? Maybe at an important event…
but what event? And how long ago?
Nobody knows.
All the schoolchildren are silent, with puzzled faces. Jera has a deep frown on his forehead. The teacher gestures that the children should get back to work.
MISTER BAKER
(continued)
I can’t tell you anymore about it. So
finish your exercises before school’s
out today. No more questions.
2. EXT. VILLAGE OF KIRKLEY – LATER THAT DAY
Jera and his classmate PETER are walking home from school through the calm village of Kirkley. The boys are wearing short jackets over their clothes. Jera is wearing a grey cap and Peter is wearing a checkered hat. Kirkley is situated in a fertile valley surrounded by mountains. People live in little brick houses with red-tiled roofs. It’s autumn. The fruit trees in the gardens have already dropped part of their red and yellow leaves on the green lawns. The streets are paved with cobblestones. Jera is silently staring in the distance.
PETER
What are you thinking?
JERA
About this story of a lost past…
PETER
You seem quite impressed by it.
JERA
Yes, aren’t you?
PETER
Why would anyone bother?
JERA
I always like listening to the
stories of my grandparents and I
suddenly wonder what stories their
grandparents told them when they were
young. Maybe life was very different
then.
PETER
Yeah, could be.
JERA
Do you believe our grandparents had
books about the past…? How could
everybody have forgotten everything?
PETER
Sounds incredible to me.
JERA
Yes, if that is true, then it’s a
real mystery.
Jera and Peter pass the old graveyard. The crooked tombstones are scattered among a green field. Jera stops and looks at the graves.
JERA
(continued)
Over there is where my family are
buried.
Jera walks to the place.
JERA
(continued)
Some names I know, but most of them…
PETER
What is it?
JERA
I never noticed these blank spaces
before. You see? Below the names.
PETER
What about them?
JERA
Could it be that these blank spaces
contained some information about the
past? Which now has gone, in some
mysterious way?
PETER
Don’t get carried away, Jera. I don’t
believe a word of this history-thing.
It’s all made up, just like that
rumour about this wizard living in
the mountains.
JERA
A wizard?
PETER
You never heard about him?
JERA
No.
PETER
Well, never mind, it can’t be true.
JERA
Where in the mountains?
PETER
(Smiling ironically)
Somewhere near the Hawk’s Pass, they
say. In a big castle.
The boys arrive at Peter’s house. They greet and part. Jera walks on alone.
