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“A Hedge of Bitter Almond”

Central Africa, late last year. A young, burned-out American Agent falls for a damaged ex-Peace Corps worker that doesn’t want to be found.

WGA/West Registered # 2201734

Synopsis

Central Africa, late last year. The end of a small, but brutal

civil-war. When his cargo plane is damaged, Avery, a young

burned-out American Agent, must ride-out the rest of the war at

a remote jungle airstrip just across the border.

His tours in Iraq and Afghanistan and a half-dozen other wars

have taken their toll, Avery is done. He just doesn’t know it

yet. But when he stumbles upon Mary, another young American,

he’s surprised and intrigued. He tries to befriend her in the

short time that he has there but each time she rebukes him,

retreating to safety of her small, secluded hut, which is

surrounded by a massive thorny hedge of bitter almond bushes.

Mary is damaged too. She has a painful past she won’t confront

and her hedge is a living metaphor for keeping people out. But

eventually he wins her over, and even though they come from two

totally different worlds, (Politically and Socially), they

slowly begin to fall for each other.

But when the bloody civil-war takes a turn north, Avery must

convince Mary to leave with him. Now she must come to terms

with an ugly part of her past, and leave the only place she’s

ever really felt at home. In the end, in the mud and the jungle,

they both learn two valuable lessons: That it’s never too late

to love again, and it’s never too late to go home.

Published inScreenplays