Obi and Dayo (The Tree House)
Henry
Trees are starting to show some green again after a bleak winter. Somewhere in one of the suburbs of a Dutch city, eight-year-old Henry runs out of his home to see if he can spot some birds—it’s his newfound hobby, and he can already separate several species with the help of his little bird book, where each and every European bird is described.
Henry shouts out, "Dad, come watch birds with me; it’s nice outside!"
In boxer shorts, a well-trained thirty-something appears in the doorway, coffee in his hand, newspaper under his arm: "It is indeed a nice day, son; dad is going to read the paper now; go on, see if Klaus is awake yet."
Henry's best friend, Klaus, lives next door; both are members of Soccer Brothers Forever, but the two also like to ruin the grass in their parents' front and back yards from time to time.
While Henry focuses his energy on the neighbor's house, his father slumps down on the couch.
Henry's mother is up too: "Sam, are you going to do it this weekend?"
A pair of wrinkled eyebrows along with two questioning eyes rise above the newspaper: "What?"
"Building that tree house for Henry!"
"Jesus, Tamara, let sleeping dogs lie; he's long forgotten about that!"
"No, he hasn’t; he was just talking about it yesterday with me."
"Well, you build one then, with him!"
"You can be such a dick sometimes!"
Sam doesn’t know what’s coming, but whatever it is, it’ll not be in his favor, so he decides to give Henry and Tamara their way: "Okay, I'll do it this weekend, dear."
Tamara stands at the coffee machine with her back towards Sam with a big grin on her face—Sam’s so easy to fool.
That Saturday, father and son started working on the tree house. In their spacious garden stands a thick oak, which is perfect for building one. After a few weeks, it’s finished; Klaus and Henry have the time of their lives up there. Henry also often sits alone in it, looking at birds through his binoculars for hours on end.
Here Comes the Cold Winter
In the winter, Henry gets a real bird-watching telescope for Christmas. When he has unwrapped his presents, his eyes sparkle. He can't wait for next spring, when birds will show themselves in great numbers again.
It is a freezing December morning. It’s Boxing Day. Tamara and Sam are lying in bed. Tamara asks Sam to make coffee before they get out, as she turns her back towards him, stealing all the blankets. Sam gets up, but when he’s in the kitchen and raises the blinds, he gets the scare of his life.
Underneath the tree house, Henry is lying in a very unnatural position. In the early morning, he had secretly climbed into the tree house with his telescope to see how far he could see with his new gift. On the way down to tell his parents exactly how far he could see, Henry slipped. He broke his neck and froze to death under the oak tree, the binoculars still clutched tightly in his little hands.
Tamara and Sam are devastated, and three days later, they lay little Henry to rest. When everyone has left for the reception for coffee, they see Klaus kneeling at Henry’s grave: "Dear Henry, my friend, why didn’t you come get me; I could have told you that it was way too dangerous to climb the ladder of our tree house; if only, if only..." Klaus starts crying hysterically, and Tamara and Sam escort him back to his parents.
When Sam and Tamara are home again, they get into an argument: "Sam, stop drinking!"
"Oh, for fuck’s sake, Tamara!"
"......"
"You, with your fucking tree house!"
"That's not fair, Sam; please, stop drinking."
Sam gets up from his chair, spilling beer all over the place: "I had to build that thing so badly, didn't I; now our son is dead; are you happy now?"
Tamara slaps Sam in the face and runs upstairs into their bedroom, where she falls on the bed, broken in two. Sam doesn't have a clue what to do with his grief and drinks until he feels nothing at all; day after day, week after week, month after month.
Tamara comforts herself with weekly church mass and reads a lot in the Bible. Little Klaus doesn’t come around any more and fills his days sitting by his window; he closes his eyes whenever he hears birds singing and pretends he’s with his friend again.
A New Beginning
Tamara and Sam go through hell, eventually meet up in the depths of despair, cling to each other and climb out of the darkness. They enter calmer waters and make an important decision. Out of respect for Henry, they no longer want children of their own, but, since they’re both still young, they decide to adopt. After going through all the procedures, the two newly adopted, overjoyed Somali brothers, Obi and Dayo, are picked up from the orphanage.
Their parents were randomly killed by some group of individuals who claimed to love their African country, and Obi and Dayo barely made it out alive and were picked up by a UN convoy. When Sam parks in the driveway, he looks back at the boys with a wide smile on his face and says, "Just a little longer, boys." Obi and Dayo look at each other—what could he mean? Then Tamara calls out, "Yes, come on out, boys!"
Sam and the boys get out while Tamara films it. The boys are not used to this kind of attention, but feel very loved, wanted, and they neatly bring their suitcases up to their rooms right away while Tamara films everything.
When Sam and Tamara don’t want Obi and Dayo to climb in the tree house, the boys completely understand and ask Sam not to tear it down but to just let it be, in honor of Henry. After a few weeks, everyone feels normal and life goes on as usual, except for the series of burglaries that start to haunt the neighborhood.
Obi and Dayo are good at soccer and want to join the local club. However, this is rejected because butcher Nuiten, who is also the president of the club, decides, out of the blue, to not take in new members anymore.
At school, the two are bullied enormously. It doesn't hurt the boys. The pain of losing their parents and having to leave their homeland makes absorbing all the curse words a walk in the park. They are set on becoming friends with everyone. This happens during gym class, where the boys put in all their energy and emotions. They are chosen first in the team-choosing-ritual every time.
This means that they rarely play together in one team, which in turn results in everyone getting to know and respecting Obi and Dayo. Curse words disappear, and friendships are made. Much to the annoyance of many parents who don't like it and don't trust it, and they suspect that the boys are the cause of the burglary spree. The same goes for butcher Nuiten, who can't stand the boys.
He once gave a piece of sausage to a dog in the store. When his son asked if he could also have some sausage, the butcher replied, "No, son, that's only for the animals." After that, he looked at Obi and Dayo and asked if they might like a piece of sausage. much to the pleasure of the butcher’s son, who fully takes after his father.
We Want Our Neighborhood Back!
In the perception of many local residents, there is nothing left of the innocence of their neighborhood. When the golden watch of Klaus’ father gets stolen, all hell breaks loose. A large group of neighbors gathers around the house of Sam, Tamara, and the boys, with butcher Nuiten in front.
As Sam stands in the doorway talking to concerned neighbors about the burglaries, accusations fly around: "Ever since those boys moved in, things have been going downhill!" and "We're keeping watch, so your boys can't go out stealing tonight!"
Obi and Dayo watch the tumultuous crowd anxiously from their bedroom window through a slit in the curtains. When a large group of children marches into the garden, the adults become silent. Klaus takes the floor: "Dear fathers and mothers, you should all be ashamed. Obi and Dayo are innocent!"
Butcher Nuiten screams, "Oh yeah, well, where were those two criminals yesterday, when your father’s watch was stolen?"
Klaus walks up to the butcher and looks him straight in the eyes: "Obi and Dayo were playing in the tree house yesterday. I saw them from my bedroom window!"
Obi and Dayo hurry down and walk outside.
Dayo talks to Sam: "We’re sorry that we have been climbing into the tree house at night; when we’re up there, we close our eyes as we hum African music, and for a couple of minutes, it’s like we’re home again I know we are home already and we will never see our parents again, but we can always dream. Again, we’re sorry for not listening to you, dad."
Sam, touched by their reasons, wipes away his tears and hugs Obi and Dayo: "It’s okay, boys, I understand; Jesus, you called me dad!"
Cat Out of the Bag
Butcher Nuiten shouts out, "Well, who did steal your father’s watch? Did you steal your father’s watch, Klaus?"
Klaus explodes and shouts at the butcher: "You did; my classmates and I have just broken into your butcher shop!"
All the children confirm this in unison, as they all nod in harmony.
Butcher Nuiten reacts furiously: "Have you gone completely mad, children?"
Sam grabs butcher Nuiten by the collar: "Let the boys finish!"
"In Butcher Nuiten’s house, we grabbed the key to his garage box and took a look inside," Nuiten shifts color, "we've found numerous stolen items there; like your gold watch, Dad!"
Klaus hands the watch to his father, "Good for you, Klaus. I'm so proud of you, son."
The crowd turns to the butcher and his son.
The butcher’s son cracks and cries out: "My dad made me do it, to make Obi and Dayo look bad!"
After the police are called and the butcher, together with his son, is picked up, peace returns to the neighborhood.
A couple of days later, they get a letter from Soccer Brothers Forever. The president has been fired, and the boys are more than welcome to join the club. The boys get a written apology, and they can play soccer without paying a contribution for the first year.
The family is invited to a big neighborhood barbecue tonight to celebrate peace and equality and the end of the burglary spree. Sam is livid and thinks everyone is hypocritical: "We're not going!" he yells.
The boys explain to him that the people mean well and that there are far worse things happening in the world than in this neighborhood. Sam and Tamara are speechless at the wisdom of the boys. They hug each other, and in the evening they walk together to the neighborhood barbecue, where they are all welcomed with open arms.