PAGE ONE
Panel One: Wide-angle view of Ania, now dressed in a better-fitting, simple gown, changing the sheets of a bed. She’s in a simple room without any decoration, and the bed is low to the ground—it’s just a mattress on a wooden platform. Ania looks toward the door, her face clearly showing annoyance.
BORIC (OP): Ewelina, the dishes!
PAGE TWO
Panel One: Medium-length view of Ania standing at the water buckets, washing dishes, her brow furled.
BORIC (OP): Ewelina!
BORIC (OP): The floor needs scrubbing!
Panel Two: Close-up view of Ania on her hands and knees with a bucket and a rag, scrubbing the dining room floor. She’s exhaling strongly, as if trying to relieve her stress: her cheeks are puffed and her mouth is frowning.
BORIC (OP): The tables!
Panel Three: Medium-length view of Ania scrubbing one of the long tables. Her lips are pursed.
BORIC (OP): Go sweep Room 4!
Panel Four: Full-length view of Ania sweeping another plain bedroom. Her head is bowed with exhaustion.
BORIC (OP): You call this clean!? Get back here!
PAGE THREE
Panel One: Medium-length profile view of Ania walking through a plain hallway.
CAPTION: It’s been months…
Panel Two: Pure black.
CAPTION: …and every day is worse.
Panel Three: Angled view of Ania reporting to Boric behind the bar. Boric is holding a clean plate in one hand, and with his other hand he motions toward the dining area.
BORIC: This isn’t good enough. You’ll have to wash these again.
CAPTION: Do it yourself, I wanted to say.
BORIC: But first, get these gentlemen some food. They’ve been waiting too long.
CAPTION: But there’s no way I could.
Panel Four: Medium-length view of Ania serving a full plate and two steaming bowls to two old men sitting at one of the tables in the dining room. One of them looks up to shout a thank-you to Ania, but the other keeps his head low.
OLD MEN: [Incomprehensible, hushed speech]
OLD MAN WITH HEAD RAISED: Thank you, miss!
PAGE FOUR
Panel One: Medium-length profile view of Ania, her back to the old men and a step away from their table. She’s returning to the bar to wash the dishes, but she’s stopped to listen in on what they’re saying.
OLD MEN: [Incomprehensible speech, though the text is a bit more defined than it was before.]
Panel Two: Closer view of Ania out of context. She’s concentrating hard, almost squinting.
OLD MEN (OP): …really gotten run down. The quality is just awful… and the service… Only reason he’s still in business… Convenient stop… Horrible host…
Panel Three: Pure black.
ANIA (OP): Tell me something I don’t know.
Panel Four: Frontal, close-up view of Ania washing the dishes, still concentrating on what the old men behind her are saying. The old men are partially visible in the background, their heads low.
YOU ARE READING
Heaven
Historical FictionLook for a new part every Tuesday and Thursday! Adam is a 10th-century Slavic painter who lives peacefully with his daughter Ania. Until, that is, their town is ransacked by Vikings. Adam is killed and soon finds himself in heaven, leaving Ania to f...
