1. THE PREACHER’S BRACELET
WRITTEN BY
CHRISTOPHER K. EMMANUEL
Chris Emmanuel
Kampala, Uganda
preachersbracelet@yahoo.com.

2. 1
FADE IN:
INT. JONATHAN’S HOME (LIVING ROOM) – DAY
Bright sunny rays permeate through the large windows into a
middle-class living room.
YOUNG JONATHAN, 12, lean dark boy with a scruffy afro,
dressed only in boxer shorts, stands facing a life-size
PORTRAIT OF A WOMAN DRESSED IN A CASSOCK set on a wall
overlooking the DINNING SET, with his back to us.
From the upper floor, MARK SEMPA, 40s, stocky balding man
in pajamas, lazily starts his way down the staircase
directly behind Young Jonathan.
Then -- he freezes abruptly, snapping out of drowsiness by
what he sees below: Young Jonathan standing in front of the
portrait, touching the hand in the picture – engrossed.
Young Jonathan runs the tips of his fingers slowly over the
wrist of the woman making very slow circular motions around
the BRACELET.
Mark shakes his head, astonished. Then he retracts slowly
back and away with a pained look.
INT. JONATHAN HOME (MARK’S BEDROOM) – DAY
Mark drags his feet into the room. The chorus of JAMES
BROWN’S, “I FEEL GOOD” plays on the STEREO SYSTEM. He moves
over and snappily turns it off. Then he sits heavily on his
bed.
INTERCUT LIVING ROOM / MARKS BEDROOM – DAY (CONTINUOUS)
Young Jonathan looks intensely at the face in the picture.
Mark sat on his bed, chin squashed on his clenched fists.
INT. JONATHAN’S HOME (LIVING ROOM) – DAY (CONTINUOUS)
INTO FRAME: A hand with a clenched fist is folded behind
the back of a MAN. This is Mark as we shall see later.

3. 2
Mark coughs. Startled, Young Jonathan turns his head over
his shoulder away from the portrait - a gorgeous but sad
face. Mark holds a cold and unblinking glare at him.
Young Jonathan runs his confused gaze downwards towards
Mark's stretched out hand. The bracelet sits in his open
palm! His eyes squint, gravely surprised.
Then he turns slowly to face Mark while holding the gaze at
his blank face. When he is fully turned, he shifts his gaze
back to the bracelet in Mark’s palm.
He slowly lifts his hand then places it over the bracelet,
covering it with his palm. Tears quickly fill his eyes as
he folds his fingers over it.
We FREEZE FRAME on Young Jonathan’s hand over the bracelet.
TITLE: “THE PREACHERS BRACELET”
BEGIN CREDITS.
Establishing shot of JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA.
EXT. HIGH SCHOOL (PATHWAY) – DAY
Hundreds of college-age kids frolic during break time.
JONATHAN, the older version of Young Jonathan, 17, gorgeous
and quite tall for his age; stands chatting with TIMOTHY,
19, and another BOB, 18. TIMOTHY is poking his chest:
TIMOTHY
... I will bet you Jonathan, Kate
will pay a fortune to be my prom
date.
Jonathan looks away SMILING thoughtfully at the remark his
eyes landing on DAVID, 17, a young version of SNOOPY DOG.
David approaches behind Timothy and Bob with a fixed stare
at Jonathan’s face. Their eye lines meet. Jonathan's smile
quickly fades.

4. 3
He turns his head to follow through as David passes still
holding his gaze. He sees David bumping into the rear of a
sloppy OBESE SCHOOL GIRL, half stumbling to the ground.
David gathers himself and Obese School Girl angrily
admonishes him. David apologizes and Obese School Girl
walks on.
BOB
Jeez, that dude must be a pervert!
TIMOTHY
(laughing, cynical)
Am sure it was nice while the
“bumping” lasted!
(turning to Jonathan)
Jonathan, who is going—-
Timothy cuts off on seeing Jonathan lost in thought, eyes
fixed on Fat School Girl - or so he thinks.
TIMOTHY
(to Bob)
Miss Fatso?!
(coughs at Jonathan)
Ahem! Jonathan!
JONATHAN
(turning absentmindedly)
Uhm...
TIMOTHY
Hmmm, I can see fat mama has made
a number on you!
JONATHAN
Uhmm...
Jonathan trails off, while turning to look back -- David is
also turning to look back! Caught, David quickly faces away
to continue as Jonathan smiles naughtily to himself.
END CREDITS.