AAllen836

Assignment Part III -- Opening Scene: Introduces a setting and the secondary characters, the protagonists' daughters, who have been shielded from the abuse their mother is suffering. 

Annie hurried down the steep, Saltillo-tiled steps across the yard and through the Iron Gate. Her pigtails flying, she was in a rush to begin her favorite activity. With her red sandals tightly fastened, she carefully negotiated each step as she began her descent down the steep, grassy embankment.

The island sun had not yet taken its place directly overhead, and with the morning dew still on the ground, one slip would send her six year old body tumbling down the well-worn path toward the pen where her grandmother kept her prized hogs and sows.

Today, Annie was hoping for more than a glance at the sow’s newborn piglets.  She eased herself down the embankment ever so slowly, arching her back so she could use her hands for support. When she reached the bottom of the little hill, she stood on her toes, but at 3 feet 4 inches tall, Annie could not see over the enclosure. So she climbed onto a cement block to get a better view. And there they were. The most adorable little things she had ever seen. Their mother was preoccupied, off to the side, eating some sort of mush the helpers brought, so all six piglets were in plain sight.

Annie swung one leg over, straddled the concrete wall and jumped down into the pen, all while keeping a watchful eye on the mother sow. She tiptoed toward the little pink piglets and when she finally got close, she leaned forward to touch them. “Wow!” she thought. Their skin was as soft and fuzzy as she had imagined. Just like the velvet dress she wore last Christmas.  

But Annie had no time to linger and enjoy her tactile moment. Sensing an intruder, the sow lifted her head and snorted twice when she saw Annie. The warning sent her scurrying toward the wall, which unfortunately, she was too short to scale. Glancing around, she zeroed in on a couple of makeshift steps the helper’s son made to get out of the pen after he fed the pigs. The sow was coming, so Annie made a beeline toward them. In a flash, she stepped up, hoisted herself over the wall and seconds later, she was up and out.   

She sat on a grassy area a few feet from the pigpen to catch her breath and relish her feat. Giggling with delight, all she could think about was that she had actually done what she had been dreaming about. She’d watched the piglets from a distance for several days, wondering how it would feel to touch them. And now here she was, taking it all in. It was exhilarating.

Annie could sit on the grass all day, lost in her thoughts and no one would miss her. At six years old, she was the youngest and smallest of the lot visiting their grandparents in the quiet, picturesque village of James Hill on the island of St. Michael. She often bore the brunt of the teasing, but Annie didn’t care. She had a round, button nose and they had taken to chanting “Annie button, good for nothin.”  Her sister, Marge, who was four years older, would often hang about with the older cousins. That was just fine with Annie. She loved exploring on her own, doing her own thing.   

Annie stood up, stretched her legs, and brushed the copper-colored dirt off her floral short pants. There were smudges on her t-shirt too, but she would worry about that later. Following a path through the banana trees, she set off toward the stream. As she moseyed along, a drumming noise drew her attention. There in the distance, a red headed bird was pecking away on the bark of a coconut tree.  She stopped to observe, then continued on until she heard the sound of trickling water from the stream nearby.

Annie sat on a large, smooth rock on the edge of the stream, leaned over and peered in. She could see tadpoles and crawfish, red things with hard shells and claws, swimming about.  When she gazed at her reflection, her brown eyes stared back, noticing a white barrette was missing from the end of one pigtail. Her grandmother, who was always busy, wouldn’t notice, but maybe one of her tattletale cousins would. In the reflection, she could see black and yellow butterflies dancing above her head, enjoying the morning sun. Annie dipped her hand in, and flicked the cool water on her face. The sun was getting hotter and the water felt good. A few minutes more, then she would head toward the house to see what the others were doing.   

On the trek back, Annie neared the pigpens and as she passed by, she decided to take one last look. But the piglets were nursing. There was no chance she could get as close as she had earlier so she climbed up the hill and through the gate toward the house. She paused for moment to catch her breath, sweat glistening on her caramel-colored skin. After a short respite, Annie trudged to the side of the house toward the chicken coop.    

When she was finally reached, she peered through the silver wire to see if she could spot the baby chicks that looked like fuzzy yellow balls. Grandma was in there collecting fresh eggs and her sister Marge was hanging at her frock as she often did. Annie pushed the door open and went in. The chicks weren’t as interesting as the piglets, but checking in on them was part of her daily routine.

Marge turned toward her as soon as Annie entered the coop.

“Annie, where have you been and how did your clothes get soiled?” she asked.

“I went to see the baby pigs, then I went down by the stream,” Annie said.

“You shouldn’t go down there by yourself,” Marge said.  “You’re too little and something might happen to you. Then what would we tell mum?”

“Well, nothing happened to me, so there,” Annie said.   

“This time,” Marge said. “It’s almost lunchtime so go in the house and get washed up.” 

Assignment #1 – Story Statement

In Island Escape, the mission of the protagonist, is to escape her alcoholic and abusive husband, reunite with her children permanently and create a safe and protective environment for them to live and thrive.

Assignment #2 –Sketch the antagonist

Phillip Anderson, a devastatingly handsome police officer, meets Hillary McIntosh at a dance hall in Gordon City, a small town on the island of St. Michael, where Hillary is a first-year teacher. After a few months, Hillary McIntosh discovers she is pregnant.

Phillip is ambivalent about fatherhood. Marriage is hardly discussed and Hillary resigns herself to being a single parent. When she is seven months pregnant, Phillip turns up with sapphire ring and off they go to the justice of the peace. After the marriage, Phillip Anderson disappears. When he finally moves in several months later, he is often gone for weeks at a time.

Phillip provides no financial support to his wife and newborn, so when Hillary learns of an opportunity to earn better pay on a nearby island, she jumps at the chance. Phillip joins her and Marjorie after they settle. A second child is born. Now living together full time, Hillary discovers Phillip is an alcoholic who is verbally and physically abusive. He is often absent, spending his free time at the local rum bar with his work mates. When Hillary has had enough, she hatches a plan to escape. With the help of Hillary’s brother, Phillip learns of the plan and sabotages her effort to leave.

Assignment #3 – Create a breakout title

Island Escape

Island Escape Route

Island Run

Assignment #4 –Genre: Literary Fiction

Comparable: The three of Us – Ore Agbaje Williams

Long-standing tensions between a husband, his wife, and her best friend finally come to a breaking point in this sharp domestic comedy of manners, told brilliantly over the course of one day. Similarly, tensions between Hillary and Phillip simmer over time and Hillary realizes she must escape her abusive marriage and leave her life of sadness.

Assignment #5—Create your hook line

After a Caribbean mother ships her children to another island to shield them from their father, her alcoholic, abusive husband, she realizes she must flee and create a new life for herself and her children.

Assignment #6—Sketch the inner conflict

Hillary Anderson feels guilt and helplessness, trapped in circumstances she chose; a loveless marriage to an alcoholic, abusive husband. She survives a life-threatening illness and while she’s grateful to be alive, she feels like a caged animal. This reality produces a hollow sadness which has left her on the brink of a deep depression. She longs for her soul to be at peace, but her husband is a dark cloud hanging over her head. She lives a double life, protecting her children on the one hand, while fearful he will hunt her down and kill her if she leaves. Hastening her desire to leave, are premonitions from her 10-year old daughter, who predicts a series of events with startling accuracy. 

Secondary conflict (does it involve family, friends, associates)

Hillary’s brother, whom she hasn’t seen in many years, shows up on her doorstep unannounced. He is a spoiled, self-centered chauvinist, recently divorced, and wants to start a new life. He assumes his sister will take him, and his three boys when they come to live with him. Before long, he becomes best buddies with Hillary’s bar-hopping husband. Hillary’s brother uncovers her plot to leave her husband and in an effort to protect his self-interests, he tells him of her plans. This leads to a physical confrontation between Hillary and her husband. But she is undeterred. Wiser and smarter, she enlists the help of her trusted friend Rosa, and plots to escape a second time.  

Assignment #7—The Setting

Island Escape begins in St. Michael, where Hillary was born and raised and where she has shipped her children off to school. St. Michael is a lush Caribbean island where children run around barefoot for hours on end, climb fruit trees for a morning snack, and tropical birds sharpening their beaks on coconut tree barks are a common sight. The landscape in the countryside is dotted with colorful wooden houses and people live off vegetable gardens and farm their own animals.

The children also spend time with their uncle and cousins in the capital city of St. Michael; a densely populated town with the island’s only major hospital where Hillary arrives, battling a life-threatening illness. Hillary recuperates, then takes the children home to The Abacos where she is a fourth grade teacher, to spend the rest of the summer holiday. The small island with pristine beaches boasts Poinciana and tamarind trees, cultural festivals, endless sunshine and exotic delicacies like souse and Johnny cakes. 

When Hillary finally escapes her abusive husband, she and the children land on Grand Greenleaf Island, a tiny island, where every house has a cistern and goats and chickens meander aimlessly around their hillside home. Flora fauna are plentiful; yellow and white flowers grow out of trees and a patchwork of wild purple flowers decorate footpaths. Native people represent every shade of white and brown and everyone knows everyone else’s business.