Finding Bob

By Joe Trivigno

Finding Bob is based on one boy’s journey to find the man behind the legendary lyrics. Having left behind a life of slavery in Africa, Mogli’s adventure leads him to the land of lions, pushing the limits of his personal strength and testing the power of the human race.
 
The story opens with imagery of raw Africa—a young boy’s living nightmare of a war-torn country where genocide, rape, and murder are commonplace. As a witness to the tragedy that took his family from this earth and his life, the young boy is taken captive and forced into performing the unthinkable duties of the murderers. He complies, but counter to the anger and fear building inside his little body, the boy musters the strength to escape the cult’s wrath.
 
After days without sleep, due to the haunting scenes relived in his memory, the boy remains a mere shell. He finds some items left behind— the more fortuitous of the lot being a set of keys marked with an address and a Walkman cassette player. The music player baffles the boy, as he is unsure of the technology, but the sound that emerges stays with him. What he initially heard as an odd mix of tunes soon translates into feelings of love, freedom, and power—the comfort he had been missing in his life. The warmth the young boy feels from the music sets him on a mission to find Bob.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Media
• Release date: Jul 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781497665491

Joe Trivigno

Joseph Trivigno is the CEO of Finding Bob, LLC, and the Musical Circus Media Company. The companies’ mission statements include the intent to create educational films and books about special people and locations through out the world.

Book preview

The Dark Cloud

A steady rain fell on a quiet village in the middle of a hot, steamy summer night. The sound of rolling thunder could be heard off in the distance, providing a continued calmness throughout the hushed village. Peacefully, the village slept, each family tucked away in their warm, safe huts. As the wind blew, the makeshift roofs lifted up ever so slightly and then settled back down. A flash of lighting eerily illuminated the faces of men moving through the bush that surrounded the huts before the darkness of the night recast them in the shadows.

A young father has his arms wrapped around his infant daughter while his three boys lie asleep on the floor of their hut at his feet. The home to the left also has several children, all lying side by side next to each other with the youngest child being held by his mother. The father sat preparing his fishing lines for the next day’s catch, keeping an eye on his sleeping family.

His two sons, Bahotie, age 10, and Mogli, age 12, looked up to him as if he were a great God. He was their teacher, showing them the way of their ancestors. Their people were of the bush, hunter/gatherers that lived off the land and fished from the big lake near by. They moved around as the seasons changed, guided by the light of the sun, by fire and the moon at night.

Out of the corner of his eye, the young father saw a figure moving swiftly through the bush outside his hut. He was startled when he heard a woman scream.

No, please! Please! the woman yelled.

A loud crack reverberated in the man’s ears as the butt end of a gun hit the woman’s skull. A group of rebels was yelling at her to give them money and food. The woman tried to reach for her babies but one of the rebels grabbed her by the throat.

The mother spoke out, I am poor.

In response one of the rebels said to her, If you are so proud of your kids then bring them with you. We like children.

She held all three of her children tightly as they walked outside the hut. Another rebel grabbed a branch and lit it. He looked at the mother and the three children who were crying and laughed. The rebel held the lit branch up to the top of the hut’s roof and their entire home became engulfed in flames.

The father woke up his wife and children, warning them that the rebels were here. The mother gathered her children and moved toward the back of the hut where she comforted them in an embrace. As the father set foot outside of his home, he saw the mother choking her own dog as it scratched her. The dog had been barking and the rebels forced the woman to kill it. Her kids watched in disbelief. They covered their eyes when it became too much to bear, but eventually peered through the gaps between their tiny fingers out of curiosity until it was over. After the dog took its last breath, the rebels ordered the woman to kill her own flesh and blood next. The children were too young for their needs.

How could I do something so horrible, the woman thought to herself. She brought them into this world, she loved them, she tried to provide for them. But what choice was there? Could they live a life after abduction and brutal treatment or should they live in heaven with God, peacefully? She looked at her children. The tears rolling down her cheeks blended in with the rain that continued to fall. The rebels yelled at her again and ordered her children’s murder.

Another neighbor tried to say something, but the mother stopped him.

No, don’t risk your family for mine, she said.

It was too late. A desert eagle was pulled and drawn, the bullet penetrating the man through his chest.

No, Thomas! the woman said, as she saw her neighbor fall to the ground.

One of the rebels gave the mother her weapon and she shot her children, praying under her breath as each one fell to the ground. After her last baby was gone, she let out a loud scream and put the barrel into her mouth and fired. She fell to the ground, landing adjacent to her beloved angels.

Bahotie and Mogli’s father stumbled outside, hysterical and fell on top of the woman and her children and sobbed. The rebels gave him no time to grieve and grabbed him. Bahotie and Mogli tried to intervene but the rebels were too strong. After seeing the boys and their other brother, the rebels focused their attention on recruiting some new soldiers. One of the rebels peered into their hut and said to their brother, This boy isn’t going. He was pointing to the youngest that appeared to be disabled. The rebel grabbed the other two boys. Their mother screamed and pleaded with the rebels but they continued to remove the boys from the hut. She held the girls and the youngest boy tightly. The father tried to fight back but he was outnumbered. One of the rebels took him, his wife, daughters and smallest boy to a tiny mud hut where they were locked in.

The two boys just stood there in disbelief as their hut was set on fire. They were horrified and tried to stop what was happening but the rebels just yelled at them and threatened to kill them if they tried to do anything. Over the noise of their humble home becoming engulfed in flames, the boys heard the cries of their loved ones. As their family member’s lives were ended, tears rolled down the boys’ cheeks. Mogli whispered to his brother to stay close. I will protect you. We must stay together. Both boys were visibly shaken, but Mogli, being older, felt a sense of responsibility toward his brother and had to remain brave for him.

Not even a minute went by and the rebels were on to the next hut, acting as if nothing had happened. The two boys were horrified as they stood and watched their parents and siblings burn to death. The rebels moved the boys from the hut and continued on their mission to abduct more children in the night to fight their war. The brothers were tied up with rubber bands and ropes and as each child was added they were stripped of their clothes and shoes and possessions. Being from a hunter/gatherer tribe, they didn’t have much in the way of material things, but the little they did have with them was very precious. Now all of that was gone.

As each additional child was captured, they were forced to select a group to rally with. They could join the gang that killed people, the one that beat people, or choose to burn down homes