by KM Cory
BOYO [melancholy]
And now, CASANOVA is out there being their ideal follower.
OBAN [feeling bereft]
I just hope they do find him before the fortnight ends, nwa!
LIHANDA
I hope so too.
BENJIE
They will find him, nwa. I know them too, just like CASANOVA. Although he came to know them better after introducing them to us.
OBAN
I think you deserve a round of applause!
BOYO
I will have that when we get to find out where CASANOVA is currently stationed, and I don’t mind if it involves escaping to do so!
LIHANDA [smiling]
I like that attitude, nwa!
BOYO [feeling better]
We’re in this together, nwa. I only needed a real work-out.
OBAN
I will let BENJIE and SMARTER know about this!
[He jumps off the desk]
OBAN
I will see you later.
LIHANDA
Where to, nwa?
OBAN
I have to see MODERN, nwa.
BOYO
The girl is alive in you indeed.
OBAN
I hope you feel the same way too, someday, nwa!
[And he runs off and away from their presence]
ACT SIX
SCENE 1
[AT CLUB SEVENTY]
The scene is set in such a way that it is a real night disco going on already.
There is a handful of dancers already, and the song playing from the jukebox amid the colored lights on the dance floor is Whigfield’s pop song ‘Saturday Night.’ The persons enjoying the beats already are decked in light-up clubwear glowing under black lights, which makes the entertainment so innovative that it cannot be desired to get stopped. However, once the climax of the song is felt, the glowing disappears at once into thick darkness together with the music being played, not forever but for the shortest while before a singular light illuminates CASANOVA and KELLY, in unison and completely lost in each other’s arms and eyes. They are perfectly blending in this quietness that is now soothed into a slow instrumental version of James Ingram’s beautiful ballad, ‘It’s Your Night.’
[Then]
KELLY [softly]
Are you ready for the world, Nova?
CASANOVA [amorously]
I feel I am ready, KELLY!
[She rests her head onto his shoulders]
KELLY
It is not that easy. I should warn you!
CASANOVA [attentive]
I am sure you’ll help me to go over the uneasiness, bibi!
KELLY [now gazing into CASANOVA’s eyes]
If you only promise me –
CASANOVA
I do promise you on anything!
[KELLY laughs lightly]
KELLY
I get it. I can see the fire already in your eyes that shows me how ready you’re for the world more than I can offer to help you, Nova!
CASANOVA
I am glad you can see that!
KELLY
It is your night then!
[CASANOVA smiles]
CASANOVA
And I’m going to make it what you won’t forget!
[And the lyrics to the song come through from the instrumental version to the real vocal sound of the song as CASANOVA and KELLY choose to embrace forever…]
SCENE 2
[CLASSROOM]
[A FEW DAYS LATER]
It is being occupied by a couple of students, and amongst them is OBAN.
The class undergoing is one of prose and poetry, and a certain female student is busy rehearsing the lines together with another male student in front of their classmates from the works of Toni Morrison known as Song of Solomon.
The class is being supervised by a male INSTRUCTOR, wearing a traditional English suit and a pair of trousers and brown shoes. He is holding a fashionable stick in his hands, and as he walks around to ensure that everyone is attentive at the moment, someone appears at the entrance of the classroom and
INSTRUCTOR
What can I help you with, Sir?
LIHANDA [warmly]
I would like to speak with OBAN, Sir!
INSTRUCTOR [serious]
Don’t you think you’re denying him a chance to listen to poetry?
LIHANDA
I’m not going to delay with him, Sir!
INSTRUCTOR
I hope so.
LIHANDA
Thank you, Sir!
INSTRUCTOR [to OBAN]
You can meet your visitor, Sir.
[OBAN appreciates and excuses himself from the classroom]
[And once he is outside with LIHANDA]
OBAN [eagerly]
What is the matter, nwa?
LIHANDA [a bit puzzled]
You won’t believe it, nwa!
OBAN
Then why have you excused me from class, yet you are aware that exams are just by the corner?
LIHANDA
It is all about CASANOVA!
OBAN [excited]
What? Tell me, is he found or?
LIHANDA
He is already on the road with the Karaoke Girls to Las Town, nwa!
OBAN [exhilarated]
What?
[He seems to have shouted enough that LIHANDA decides to pull him aside.]
LIHANDA
It seems you are not good at expressing your happiness!
[And once they are a few yards away from the classroom]
OBAN
It is because I am hearing news to my ears, and I cannot believe it!
LIHANDA
Me too, nwa. Just imagine being in Las Town, where everyone with a passion for art and music would love to go! And look, our very own CASANOVA is already there!
OBAN
I also cannot believe it, nwa. Wait, so, how did you get to know all about this?
LIHANDA
Blamed on the internet, nwa! I checked on and –
OBAN [interrupting]
Since when did you start to believe and trust the internet, nwa? Everything on it is a hoax!
LIHANDA [perturbed]
And so?
OBAN
Don’t ever believe everything from the internet, nwa! CASANOVA and the Karaoke Girls can’t be made part of the Internet, not at all!
LIHANDA
I can’t believe it is coming out of your mouth, nwa!
OBAN
I am a computer student, and our teacher always tells us that everything on the Internet is ninety-nine percent made of fiction! And he got that perception from his professor at university, and you know how much professors are reliable as sources of information.
LIHANDA
I just can’t understand you now! Go back to your boring poetry class!
[And he storms out of sight from OBAN]
OBAN [to himself]
Indeed, it is a boring class! But I am sorry if I didn’t believe your story, Lin!
[He retreats to the classroom]
However, as soon as he enters the classroom, with the INSTRUCTOR now in control, MODERN presents herself at the entrance with a lot of humidity engaging her.
INSTRUCTOR
Should I assume that you are not here to seek for the attention of one of my students, madam?
MODERN
Not really, Teacher!
INSTRUCTOR [facing MODERN]
By the power vested in me from the head of subject, I hereby dismiss you, madam!
MODERN
Okay, Teacher!
OBAN [as MODERN departs]
I am right here, MODERN!
[The whole class flames into laughter]
MODERN [turning back at the entrance]
Make sure you see me after class!
OBAN [amidst class reception]
Alright, madam!
INSTRUCTOR [as the class laughs]
Madam –
MODERN
&
nbsp; Yes, Teacher –
INSTRUCTOR
Thank you for making my class laugh! It is almost like a dream come true for me and the class at large since I rarely see my class’s teeth out of their mouths!
[MODERN and the rest of the students in the class laugh harder]
MODERN
I take the pleasure as mine, Teacher!
INSTRUCTOR
You may now take leave, madam!
[MODERN does not hesitate to do so as laughter continues]
SCENE 3
[SCIENCE LAB]
[MEANWHILE]
It is not busy with studies or any class scheduled at the moment. It is occupied by a few students engaged in reading and others sharing a conversation. Amongst the students is BENJIE and SMARTER in the company of BOYO and they are sharing the same seat next to and opposite a huge window while having a triple conversation in between
BENJIE
I am sure the loser might have to summon us in a few from now!
SMARTER
I have no doubt about it either.
BOYO
I guess we might have to craft a plan for him before he calls usone by one.
SMARTER
If all fails then, I can deal with him accordingly –
Just in case he summons me, nwa.
BOYO
I hope you’re not making us to feel comfortable and that all will be well.
SMARTER
I am serious, nwa. I shall deal with the loser accordingly! And you know me, I am a person who holds true to my words.
BENJIE
I think BOYO you know what to do now –
Isn’t it?
BOYO [unsure]
Well, not really, nwa. I don’t know infact!
SMARTER
Tell him, BENJIE!
BENJIE
No matter what, you and your pals have to leave and find CASANOVA!
BOYO
What –
You cannot do that to us!
SMARTER
There is no other way apart from doing so, nwa. Otherwise, the loser will not stop until he shows us that he is the one running the school since the heads are not available.
BENJIE
And I can drive you to that town where CASANOVA is situate as we have got to know so that you can get to meet him, nwa!
BOYO
I cannot believe all this!
[He looks to nowhere]
BENJIE
I get it, nwa!
BOYO
You ought to know that the town is even far away and you cannot ride the three of us there!
SMARTER
He can do so, nwa! You don’t need to doubt him either.
BENJIE
I think you can also ride them there too, nwa!
SMARTER
I cannot do so, nwa! You know very well that I currently don’t have a driving permit. And I wouldn’t want to be caught on the other side of the law, nwa!
BENJIE
I see, you are now becoming a good citizen who obeys the law!
[He and BOYO laugh it off]
SMARTER
I cannot deny that, nwa. But you are also a bad citizen!
[And the duologue falls into laughter]
BENJIE
That’s what we are, never to change even if we try to, nwa!
[Again, there follows a moment of laughter]
SMARTER
I hope what we have talked about remains a secret amongst us, nwa!
BENJIE
I guess none of us will leak it all –
BOYO
And none of my peers will, nwa!
[And at this very moment, we hear the school bell ring and the students inside the science room begin to flee it as we see other students joining in from the outside]
BOYO [as he departs with his colleagues]
I’m going to first go take something as I think of how to tell my peers about your suggestion!
BENJIE
We’ll be waiting for the feedback, nwa!
[And the dialogue is out of the scene]
SCENE 4
[LATER ON - IN THE PRACTICE ROOM]
The entire place is devoid of any activity.
[It only has one huge light falling on the heads of the three buddies, BOYO, LIHANDA, and OBAN]
[They are really engaged both in mind and body]
[They are arranged in such a way that BOYO is standing up on his feet with LIHANDA and OBAN sharing a small bench, and they are assembled on the stage]
[Then, in a dynamite of meditation]
OBAN
And if we’re to go to Las Town, how are we to survive while searching for CASANOVA? He just might not be into us ever since he hasn’t written to us for all this long like he had promised us, nwa!
BOYO
Neither have we ever bothered to write to him back, yet we could!
OBAN [standing]
But we knew not where he was until one of us saw the internet article about him and the Karaoke Girls posing with the celebrities. Otherwise, nothing would have come to our attention now to make us act like this!
LIHANDA
Both of you seem to be at crossroads, and yet I am not, nwa.
OBAN
How are we at cross-roads, nwa?
LIHANDA
At first, it was BOYO who expressed demerit in CASANOVA’s scheme of willing to bet with success, and now it is you, OBAN, busy trying to doubt the same scheme. And yet, I myself, I don’t have any fault with CASANOVA’s desire to follow his dreams and not the crowd like us! And perhaps, him not writing back to us is because we never showed how grateful we were with his presence at the time until he posed us a question, just like MASTER PATEL did, and we all failed to answer it! So, we duly exhibited cowardice before him. And the same is with us after he wrote a letter of departure to us which by the way, I have never gone a day without reading and even now I have it in my back-pack for I walk with it every day, nwa!
OBAN [coyly]
Do you, really?
LIHANDA [pushing a hand in his backpack]
Of course, I do, nwa!
[And he fishes out the solemn letter]
LIHANDA [holding it out for seeing]
This is the solution to the crossroad between you!
[BOYO and OBAN wear looks of being guilty somehow]
LIHANDA
It is now or never to answer the question of whether we are willing or not to bet with success, nwa! We shouldn’t be concerned about what the world at large will think about us, be it the People who fed us and brought us here! We need to take a step and follow our passion with or without education, just like CASANOVA did, and he is now out there already chasing his passion out of him into the world!
OBAN
Sometimes I miss him! And sometimes I ask myself why I really decided to take his only crush away from him at this college, for I knew how much he admired MODERN! And I will never know what sort of energy he held within himself to accept my decision without putting up a war or a fight for love! And yet he still loved us both!
LIHANDA
I will never know that kind of energy either!
BOYO
I do know that kind of energy, though! It is that energy that made him decide to bet with success, nwa! He is just a better kind than us!
OBAN [stronger]
Just as it was then, so, it is now, and CASANOVA’s absence is a mirror of our unison, which is very demanding; and I think I am eager as now than before to use the same energy he used to walk away and do join him wherever he may be, nwa!
LIHANDA
Oh, wow! You are leaving me speechless, nwa!
OBAN [laughing]
I shouldn’t have said that, then!
BOYO
So, what is your point now, OBAN?
OBAN
I am ready and willing to bet with success, just like CASANOVA did, nwa! And for the sake of friendship and commitment I made to his guardians when we came far away from our
hometown, Soraya! I feel I would be cheating myself if I don’t look out for him and join him in the life of being what we want to be and doing what we feel like doing, anytime, anywhere, and everywhere, nwa!
LIHANDA [feeling joyful]
Yes, nwa!
[And he doesn’t hesitate to hug OBAN so tightly that he might never let go]
BOYO
Another best moment of my life with you, boys!
LIHANDA [enlivened]
Does that mean you’re in, nwa?
BOYO [onto his feet now]
Not at all, nwa!
OBAN
What –
Really?
LIHANDA [frustrated]
That is not you who has just made such an ill statement, nwa! I cannot take it at all from you even. Not at all!
BOYO
You just have to believe me, nwa! I just need to stay focused on what brought us all the way here from the local suburbs of our hometown, Soraya, nwa! Music just found us here and not before when we were eager to attain an education freely without our guardians struggling. And I feel I cannot let down the trust that paid for us to come and study by getting involved in the beauties and luxuries of Lantana, be it Las Town where we are all eager to go one day, nwa!
[He looks at his friends, feeling sunk by his betraying-like words]
BOYO [cowering]
I am sorry, nwa!
And with that, he heads for the door without looking back again and exits the practice room, thereby leaving behind a looming silence of explicit discouragement and feelings of being let down by a person so desired to be part of every ordeal.
OBAN [steps from the bench]
I knew it!
I knew how he would be the judas!
I knew how he would be a chicken to coward out!
Shame upon you, a big boy, BOYO!
[And he punches the thin air where BOYO has passed before exiting]
LIHANDA
He isn’t like that, nwa!
OBAN [angry]
Then what is he, huh? A loyal friend or a person of infidelity?
LIHANDA [calm]
He isn’t an infidel, but a loyal friend, and what he’s just said to us is an opinion of his choice. He probably needs time to reflect on his own about all this idea and –
OBAN [interfering]
He should never –
LIHANDA
Not another blasphemy, nwa! Please, not another!
OBAN
Whether he is in or not, I am going to find CASANOVA, nwa! And I wouldn’t care how much I shall lose along the way when trying to find him, neither will I mind about this education here! I’ve decided and no turning back, nwa!
