Beloved

FADE IN...

EXT. 124 BLUESTONE ROAD - DAWN.

It is winter in Ohio. A house sits isolated beside a barren

field. The field stretches beyond, until a line of distant

woods stops it. Around the back of the house stands a rundown

STORAGE SHED, a cold house, a privy and a water pump. A porch

with a single door serves as the only entrance.

Camera begins a slow move toward the house as we;

SUPER - OHIO, 1865

WE HEAR SOUNDS from inside the house - BUMPS, A CHAIR FALLING

OVER...and FEET RUNNING on wooden floor boards.

CUT TO:

INT. 124 BLUESTONE ROAD - DAWN.

C.U. - THE HANDS OF TWO BROTHERS HOLDING EACH OTHER AS THEY

RUN DOWN THE STAIRS..

BULGAR (13 yrs. old) and HOWARD (14 yrs. old) run down the

steps from the second floor. They are fully dressed, carrying

a small bag of belongings.

HOWARD:

We gonna need food. Wait here.

Bulgar reluctantly lets go of Howard's hand as the latter

runs into the kitchen. Alone, he edges towards the front

door, when suddenly;

THE DOOR SLOWLY CREAKS OPEN on it's own. Scared, he steps

away slowly.

INT. KITCHEN - DAWN.

Howard is trying to toss some food into a bag. He spots A

CAKE sitting on top the wooden table, with some pieces

already eaten. He finds a knife and approaches the table.

He is about to cut into the cake when he sees TWO TINY HAND

PRINTS appear on the cake's surface. Howard stops cold -

dropping the knife.

INT. FRONT ENTRANCE - DAWN.

Howard exits the kitchen and takes Bulgar's hand;

HOWARD:

Come on!

DENVER (OS)

Bul?

The boys look up the stairs and see their baby sister, nine

year old DENVER.

DENVER:

Where you goin?

The brothers are brokenhearted at the sight of her. They love

their sister. But there are stronger forces here.

A MIRROR on a wall beside Howard cracks down the middle.

HOWARD:

We gotta go!

Bulgar looks up to Denver. They exchange a look of deep

affection and pained longing. He wants to take her.

HOWARD:

Bye, Denver. You take care.

DENVER:

Bye? Bul?

Bulgar is starting to cry. He rushes up the steps and hugs

his sister. He kisses her hard then breaks away. Denver's

outstretched hand misses his shirt and hangs mid-air.

DENVER:

No..Bul...

Bulgar flies down the steps and disappears out of the house

holding Howard's hand once more.

Denver sits alone at the top of the stairs. She sadly looks

up and weeps, as if to the house itself:

DENVER:

Now what you go and do that for?

EXT. ROAD TO THE TRAIN - DAWN.

THE VOICE OF SETHE HUMMING A MELODY carries over the images

of:

The two boys running for their lives towards the train,

holding hands all the way. Howard is the first to reach it.

As it passes by, he throws his bag upon it and jumps in.

Bulgar races beside it as Howard reaches for him.

C.U. - HOWARD'S HAND reaching for BULGAR's...They connect.

WIDE SHOT - The boys are on the train as it leaves town.

On it's route, the train passes a ramshackle GRAVEYARD.

CAMERA MOVES SLOWLY INTO THE GRAVEYARD until it reaches A

HEADSTONE, made with flecked pink stone. Upon the headstone

is only one word:

BELOVED.

EXT. 124 BLUESTONE RD. - CONTINUOUS.

Camera moves slowly towards the side exterior of 124, into a

Close-Up of a WOMAN looking out of a second floor bedroom

window. It is SETHE, mother of the two boys and Denver. She

hums her melody, softly, sadly, with a resigned understanding

of why her boys are running away...and a deep pain that is

too constant to notice.

FADE OUT;

FADE IN:

INT. 124 - BABY SUGGS BEDROOM - LATER THAT DAY.

BABY SUGGS, grandmother and mother-in-law to Sethe, sits in

her bed fondling colored fabric of BRIGHT GREEN..It is the

only vibrant color in an otherwise drab surrounding. Suggs is

bed-ridden, exhausted to her bones - her face a mosaic of

suffering and sacrifice and tested faith.

BABY SUGGS:

Ya know what I'd love to see? I loved to

see me some lavender. You got any

lavender? Or even pink - pink'll do.

Sethe is placing folded laundry into a dresser. She stops and

checks her pockets for rags or swatches...She looks around

the room..

SETHE:

No. Sorry.

BABY SUGGS:

Ah, winter in Ohio is especially rough if

you've got an appetite for color.

Suggs goes back to contemplating her green until;

SETHE (OS)

Oh wait...

Suggs looks up to see Sethe sticking her pink tongue out at

her. Suggs smiles.

BABY SUGGS:

Oh, that's fine. Fine.

Sethe lets out a small laugh. She walks toward the window,

stretching her body. Her expression changes as she thinks of

her boys. Baby Suggs reads her like a book.

BABY SUGGS:

They'll be all right. I'm surprised they

lasted here this long.

SETHE:

I don't know. Maybe we should have moved.

BABY SUGGS:

What'd be the point? Not a house in the

country ain't packed to the rafters with

some dead Negro's grief. We lucky our

ghost is a baby. My husband spirit come

back? Or yours? Don't talk to me! Ha..You

lucky. You got one child left, still

pullin at your skirts. Be thankful. I had

eight. Eight with six fathers. Every one

of them gone from me. Four taken, four

chased and all, I expect, worrying

somebody's house into evil. My first born

- alls I can remember of her now is how

she loved the burned bottom of bread. Her

little hands..I wouldn't know'em if they

slapped me. Can you beat that? Eight

children and that's all I remember.

SETHE:

(returning to her work)

You remember Halle.

BABY SUGGS:

Oh, I remember bits and pieces of all

of'em I guess..Halle, of course..I had

Halle a lifetime. Almost twenty years...

My two girls, sold and gone before I

could even a heard about it, and them

without their grown up teeth yet. My

third child, my son after Halle...I let

that straw boss have me for four months

so's I could keep that boy. Next year, he

had him traded for lumber anyway and me

pregnant with his child. I couldn't love

that child. I wouldn't. Not any of the

rest either. God take what He

would....and He did...

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