Songs & Stories

10 Dollar – M.I.A

TITLE: Lost & Found

BRIEF STORYLINE: An anonymous young girl living a life of poverty in the warfare-stricken country of Mexico flees with her younger sister when her mother and brother are shot dead. As they are running through a heavy wooded forest, they are chased by infidels carrying guns and machetes. They run far enough to lose them, but without proper nourishment, they become very weak. The younger girl’s sister dies. The unknown girl keeps going until she eventually sneaks herself into the U.S.A and starts a new life from death. She befriends 4 prostitutes who teach her the life of the streets – drugs, sex, and money. They teach her what a woman is. They even give her a new identity, a new home and a new name – 17 year old Lala from Los Angeles, California. She lives with them out on the streets and does what they do. She becomes a prostitute. Business is slow because she’s a beginner. But once she starts getting more customers than the whole block, she gets more money. More money for her means more clothes, more happiness, and more freedom. Lala gains a new attitude and swagger. She meets a man who becomes a regular customer, a banker named Mr. Ruse. He falls in love with her but she knows better than to put her feelings first thanks to her “girls”. She digs his pockets and drops him. She moves to a new block and onto another man, Mr. Redrum, a banker from Yorkshire. But when she digs his pockets, he digs her grave.

DESCRIPTIVE OPENING:

It was raining. She was lifeless. It was frigid and freezing. Her body was face down on the sidewalk sewer. Rivers of rain slowly slithered into it. Her midnight curls swallowed her long face. The wind howled a somber song. Blood trickled out of her like a leaky pipe. Thunder roared. Her skirt was lifted above her buttocks, exposing her sodden panties. She was topless. Cars drove by, splashing her almost naked body. Some honked, but never stopped. Mr. Redrum came back to her with a smile. He kicked her head, laughed, and walked into the night. The moon was full. The sky was pitch-black.

OPENING LINES OF DIALOGUE:

Brother: (Shouting from afar) we’re coming!
Mother: (Shouting from afar) get the fire and pot ready!
Younger sister: Can you get --
5 gunshots are fired
Young girl and younger sister scream
Young girl covers younger sister’s mouth
Younger sister: (whisper) what’s happening
Young girl: (whispers) Sssh! Quiet!