Beloved Page #20

They are tears of mud. He looks up and the wooden planked

roof is breaking under the power of the rain..He looks down

and the water is up to his thighs.

Suddenly, the chain linking his feet is pulled and he is

knocked down..He gets up, searches through the mud for the

chain and notices it's slack..He pulls as well....

One by one the men in the boxes realize the chain's end is

being undone by the rain, as camera tracks down towards the

last box to the dirt wall, into which the chain has been

locked...It is giving way within the muddy wall.

THE MEN BREAK THROUGH THE ROTTED WOOD ROOFS TO FREEDOM...

WIDE ANGLE;

AS THE MEN CLIMB OUT OF THE MUDDY COFFINS, GRASPING FOR A

HOLD, CRAWLING WITH EVERY MUSCLE OF THEIR BODIES - TO GET OUT

OF THE TRENCH before mud and water drown them....

Paul climbs with the will of ten men, with every ounce of

strength he has left...

END of MEMORY.

CUT BACK TO:

INT. COLD ROOM - A WINTER NIGHT.

Paul D. is wide awake. The memories won't let him sleep.

Winter has arrived and the night is cold. He lies underneath

a thin blanket in yet another sleeping place, even further

from the house. He adds newspapers under and around his body

to stay warm.

He looks as if he has given up on sleeping altogether. He

hears the door to the cold room open. But he does not turn to

look.

PAUL:

What do you want in here?

Beloved enters the cold room.

BELOVED:

I want you to touch me on the inside part

and call me my name.

She hoists up her skirt and turns her head away.. Paul stares

at a silver lard can so as not to look.

PAUL:

When good people take you in and treat

you good, you ought to try to be good

back. You don't....Sethe loves you. Much

as her own daughter. You know that.

BELOVED:

(drops her skirt)

She don't love me like I love her. I

don't love nobody but her.

PAUL:

Then what you come in here for?

BELOVED:

I want you to touch me on the inside

part.

PAUL:

Ever since you come here - feel like I

got a new devil to face.

BELOVED:

You have to touch me. On the inside part.

And you have to call me my name.

PAUL:

Ain't no chains on me no more. I don't

have to do nothing...Now, go back in that

house and go to bed.

Paul continues to stare at the lard can - like Lot's wife,

he's fearful what turning to look will do.

BELOVED:

Call me my name.

Beloved moves closer, right up behind him, entwining her arms

around his body, like chains..

PAUL:

No. Ain't no chains on me...

BELOVED:

Call me.

PAUL:

...Ain't no chains on me...

BELOVED:

I'll go if you say it.

Tears well up in his eyes. Paul can feel her warmth. He

surrenders.

PAUL:

Beloved.

Beloved presses her body against his. He turns and grabs her,

kissing her with a passion bordering on hatred.

EXT. COLD HOUSE - NIGHT.

Denver sits outside the cold house - and listens to the

sounds of lovemaking. And cries.

INT. KITCHEN - NIGHT.

Sethe, Denver, Paul and Beloved eat dinner...in silence.

INT. COLD HOUSE - ANOTHER NIGHT.

Beloved is wrapping her body with a blanket as Paul lies on

his bed of newspapers - their lovemaking finished. Beloved

gives him a final look - no tenderness or affection or even

friendliness. Just a cold look, void of respect or even

attraction.

She exits the cold house, leaving Paul alone. He is on the

verge of tears.

INT. SETHE'S BEDROOM - NIGHT.

Paul stands above the sleeping Sethe - his guilt driving him

mad. He wants to touch her, to wake her, to ask for

forgiveness and help. But he can not and buries his head in

his hands.

EXT. SAWYER RESTAURANT - LATE AFTERNOON.

Paul waits outside in the cold, cupping his hands and

breathing inside to keep them warm. He is rehearsing:

PAUL:

Look here Sethe..You ain't gonna like

what I got to say but I got to say

it...See, it's not the..a man

can't...what I mean is, it ain't really

me..see, it ain't weakness, the kind of

weakness I can fight, that girl is doing

it. I know you think I never liked her

nohow, still don't, but she is doing it

to me anyway. Fixing me, Sethe, she's

fixed me and I can't break it...

Sethe appears, exiting the back door of the restaurant with a

scrap pan in the crook of her arm. To her surprise. she finds

Paul waiting for her.

SETHE:

Man, you make me feel like a young girl,

you coming by to pick me up after work.

Nobody ever did that before. Better watch

out, I might start looking forward to it.

She tosses the bones and skins from the scrap pan into a heap

before four dogs who wait there as if by appointment.

SETHE:

Got to rinse this out.

She enters the restaurant. Paul watches the dogs eat -

watching them getting what they wanted. Sethe re-appears with

a cloth over her head.

SETHE:

You get off early or what?

PAUL:

I took off early.

SETHE:

Anything the matter?

PAUL:

In a way of speaking.

SETHE:

Not cut back?

PAUL:

No, no. They got plenty of work with them

pigs..More they can handle. I just..

(Sethe waits)

You ain't gonna like what I'm about to

say, Sethe.

Sethe steps forward to hear what Paul came to tell her. There

is no apprehension or anger in her look. Instead, a calm

resolve - as if she were already able to accept whatever he

had to tell her without it being anyone's fault. As if she

already knew he cane to say he was leaving her. She smiles.

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