USA / 2024 / 17mins / Drama / English

As DEBORAH’s (mid 20s, Nigerian-American) friends double dutch in the Atlanta summer street heat, Deborah and her sister ESTHER (late 20s-Nigerian-American) pluck flower petals nearby. Esther correctly guesses that Deborah’s friends will beg Deborah to use her magic powers and disappear them to another realm in the double dutch ropes. Deborah and her friend’s vanish in the double dutch ropes. Upon their return, a small crowd of Deborah’s friends ask for a turn being disappeared to other realms in the ropes too. MIRIAM (50s) Deborah’s mother calls her to pluck garden greens, PASTOR (60s) is coming over for dinner and believes that he has found Deborah a suitable husband. In the family garden, Deborah and Esther talk about their ideal heaven. For Esther it is painting everyday in the boonies. For Deborah, it is escaping her father’s home. Deborah begrudgingly plucks greens and ruminates on yet another undesired marriage proposition as Esther consoles. Esther reminds Deborah that in their culture, daughters are expected to leave their fathers home for their husbands home. Deborah wants her own house. Esther proposes an ultimatum, if she plucks the last petal on a flower than Deborah will vanish Esther to heaven. Just as the sister’s finish plucking, Miriam discovers Deborah “talking to herself” and douses her in holy water, imploring that Deborah’s sister has passed and that Deborah needs to move on. Miriam implores Deborah to get dressed for supper. As Deborah get dressed in an outfit selected by her mother, Miriam reveals that Pastor is setting Deborah up with his nephew ELIJAH (mid 20s) who has recently gotten out of jail. Miriam reveals that Deborah’s father gambling problem has returned and they need to collect her dowry money to pay off her father’s debts and save their family home. Miriam admits that she dreamed of being an artist and having children who had better options. WINSTON (50s) demands that MIRIAM prepare the garden greens Deborah’s plucked and prepare a salad for supper. At supper, Deborah quietly spirals contemplating the stakes of the evening. Elijah makes friendly conversation with Deborah. Esther, unseen to all save Deborah, encourages her to open herself to him. Deborah asks why Elijah was incarcerated. Elijah reveals he stole money from the church to cover his late father’s hospital bills. Elijah asks how Esther passed away, Deborah reveals that her sister committed suicide after their father forced her into a marriage and made her rescind her admission to a painting program. Pastor denied both Esther and Elijah’s father plots in the church cemetery. Tension mounts at the supper table. WINSTON (50s) Deborah’s father expresses that Esther’s suicide and Deborah’s magic powers are the reasons he was asked to step down as Deacon. Miriam and Pastor name that it was not any sinful folly of his daughters, rather it was his gambling problem. Post supper, Elijah and Deborah discuss their future. Elijah is set to inherit his father’s home but only if he gets married. Elijah devises a plan. He and Deborah will go through with the wedding but Deborah must sign Esther’s name on the license. It’ll void in the eye’s of the state but by then Deborah and Elijah will live in Elijah’s father’s home, not as man and wife but as joint tenants. Deborah has dreams of freeing Esther and learning pottery. Elijah wishes to hike the entire Appalachian Trail. The wedding takes place. Deborah keeps her promise and vanishes Esther to heaven, her parents witness this and experience remorse at having not believed their late eldest daughter’s spirit was still lingering and stuck at their home.
SIX MONTHS LATER
Deborah works on her pottery at home with friends. Elijah leaves for a hike at Blood Mountain. Deborah’s mother and father arrive at Deborah and Elijah’s home. Miriam goes inside to change. Winston reads an apology note to Deborah as a part of his gambling addiction recovery. Miriam and Deborah jump rope together and visit Esther in heaven. Miriam and Esther paint Deborah who poses holding salad greens.

Adesola Thomas

Adesola Thomas is an Atlanta-raised, queer Nigerian-American writer-director and 1st AD. She makes films about Southern subcultures and the Black diaspora to examine care and interdependence as essential practices for a livable world. Adesola's work has screened at Diversity at Cannes in France, Deeper Than Movies in London, Cinema Souterrain and Artists Forum in Atlanta. She is a 2024: Georgia Film Impact Grant Winner, Bleecker Street BIPOC Mentorship Fellow, 2x Sundance Press Inclusion Fellow, and Resisting Narratives of Erasure Directing Fellow at the Visionary Justice Lab in Atlanta where she recently completed her dramatic magical realist short, Sister Salad Days. Her forthcoming punk rave film, Marigold Leaves Her Body won the Best Narrative Short Script Award at Atlanta's 2024 Out on Film Festival and was a finalist for the South Pitch Narrative competition at the 2024 New Orleans Film Festival. Adesola is an East Coast Reporter for Letterboxd (LB) and a Producer’s Assistant at Kashif Incubator where she supports Veronica Nickels (Moonlight), Chanelle Elaine and Kristie Lutz (First Match). Learn More