Epitaph

If anyone reads this blog, they know I’m kind of obsessed with Sienkiewicz’s novel ‘In Desert and In Wilderness’. I first read the tome when I was seventeen and have recently read it again in the original. I found the humor of the novel to be appealing.

 The main characters - ages 14 and 8 – perform tasks that would be unbelievable for most adults. They start their own adventure after being kidnapped from their families. The boy and girl free themselves from captivity. Avoid plagues and sickness. Acquire state-of-the-art arms. Convert modern-day Kenya to Christianity.  Raise an army, and return home despite their fathers’ fears.  The protagonists do so with hilariously awesome naivety.  They try to act like adults while not getting it quite right.

I was shocked to find that this novel was originally penned as a tale for youth.  I could see that it might be appealing to a younger person to ride atop an elephant, and be followed by a faithful dog that seems to understand spoken language. But, it’s hard to believe that any child would imagine himself giving the Last Rites to a hoard of 60 dying Africans.  The 2001 film of the work was made 90 years after the book’s publication. It isn’t faithful to the original.

Still, the novel sticks with me.  It says something about the audacity of youth. The belief in endless possibilities. I tend to be rather cynical. Yet, this fantastic story hits close to home.

Today I had a revelation. When I was 13 I wrote a full length screen play called ‘Budgie Goes to New York’. In it, a trumpet playing teenager and his talking female yorkie take off for New York.  The two thwart a kidnapping by a blue-collar crook. They win the Westminster dog show and become the talk of New York’s jazz clubs. The duo returns home with thousands of dollars. Looking back, my characters talk as if attempting to be grown-ups.  This story sounds somewhat familiar.

I’ve had the idea to take a second look at Sienkiewicz’s characters. To update their story.  The Polish nationalist protagonists would have fought in the resistance during World War II. They most likely would have lost their grandchildren. Only to have Poland placed under Soviet rule. His Kenyan disciples would likely be reviled for collaborating with the occupiers during the era of decolonization. Their still-alive grandchildren would find them, after a similarly unbelievable adventure. And restore their hope for the future.

The screenplay has sat in a drawer for a decade.  My life has moved on. No one returns to restore thoughts of its revival. I haven’t  even thought of ‘Budgie’ for a long time. Ten years ago, I might have sat down and put my newest vision into words. But the audacity of youth has left me. I’m a business student.  I can only marvel at the character of my past.

 There was a real Budgie. She died two years ago. Her makeshift tombstone stands in my grandmother’s backyard.

The future still lies ahead of me. The possibilities are uncertain. 

Budgie is dead.