Beloved Page #22

HALLE:

Don't matter. Loud or soft, what they

say is the same.

SETHE:

Mr. Garner let you buy out your mother.

Found that house for her to live in from

those friends of his in Ohio...

HALLE:

Yep. He did.

SETHE:

Well?

HALLE:

If he hadn't, she would have dropped in

his cooking stove.

SETHE:

Still, he did it. Let you work off her

fee, lending yourself out on Sundays. He

could of said no. He didn't tell you no.

HALLE:

No, he didn't tell me no. She worked here

ten years. If she worked another ten, ya

think she would have made it? I pay him

for her last years and in return he got

you, me and three more coming..

SETHE:

He always treated you fair. Called you

all men - said he never wanted n*ggers on

his farm.

HALLE:

That's just it. We was men because he

said so. We was men because we was on his

land. You think he be calling us men if

we ever walked off his land?

SETHE:

When we walk, don't matter what they call

you. You'll be free.

HALLE:

Sethe..baby girl, that ain't gonna

happen. Not by walking, anyway.

SETHE:

What you mean?

HALLE:

Schoolteacher in there told me to quit

lending myself out.

That phrase "..while the boys is small"..causes Sethe to look

at her sleeping boys..

SETHE:

But..then..how you gonna buy yourself

out? Or them?

(points to the children)

Or me?

Halle raises himself up to face her, to give her the final blow.

HALLE:

Ain't gonna be no buying us out, like I

did with mama. Or them. As far as

Schoolteacher concerned, ain't no other

life ahead for any of us but this one.

Sethe understands, looks to her sleeping children and is

frightened.

SETHE:

Halle....what we going to do?

HALLE:

(whispers)

Sixo, ya know he creeps out at night..he

says the way they took my ma'am..he says

freedom is that way. He and Paul A. got a

plan. They heard of this man, what they

call an underground agent...if we do what

he says, don't need no buy out.

SETHE:

You mean...? But what if we caught?

What'd they do to us? To the children?

HALLE:

Same thing they're doing now, honey -

only quicker.

EXT. SWEET HOME - A DAY REMEMBERED.

Sethe carries a big basket of berries as young Howard and

Bulgar run ahead of her. She turns in the opposite direction

and walks along the side of the house to the back entrance of

the kitchen.

She passes the open window of the classroom and hears;

SCHOOLTEACHER:

(OS)

Which one are you doing?

BOY (OS)

Sethe?

Hearing her name, Sethe stops and peeks through the window.

Schoolteacher is standing over the student, who has been

writing in a notebook. Schoolteacher licks his finger and

thumbs a couple of pages before saying;

SCHOOLTEACHER:

No, no. That's not the way. I told you to

put her human characteristics on the

left; her animal ones on the right. And

don't forget to line them up.

Although Sethe doesn't entirely understand, something about

the words disturb her. She looks to her children.

INT. MRS. GARNER'S BEDROOM - A DAY REMEMBERED.

Mrs. Garner is sick in bed with a goiter. Sethe enters with

some soup.

MRS. GARNER

I don't think I can swallow that.

Too thick. I'm sure it's too thick.

SETHE:

Want me to loosen it up with a little

water?

MRS. GARNER

No. Take it away. Bring me some cool

water, that's all.

SETHE:

Yes ma'am...

Sethe helps her drink a glass of cold water.

MRS. GARNER

Yes, you can have quite a few.

(drinks)

Mmmm. Thank you Sethe. Now tell me, I

know Halle's no trouble but the others,

the Pauls and Sixo - how's my brother-in-

law handling them? All right?

SETHE:

Yes Ma'am. Look like it.

MRS. GARNER

They do what he tells them?

SETHE:

They don't need telling.

MRS. GARNER

Good. That's a mercy. I know he's no Mr.

Garner. But after he died, I had no else

to turn to. I would've had to sell one.

It wasn't even enough selling Paul F. And

in my condition. I needed help. People

said I shouldn't be alone here with

nothing but Negroes. And he is a learned

man being a schoolteacher...

As Sethe fills Mrs. Garner's basin with fresh water, she

looks out the window and sees:

SCHOOLTEACHER outside with his students, we notice HE WEARS A

VERY DISTINCTIVE HAT as Mrs. Garners description continues;

MRS. GARNER

...I know his ways might be a little more

strict but as long as the men do as

they're told I'm sure it'll be fine. All

right, I'm through.. Talking makes me

tired.

SETHE:

Yes ma'am.

INT. BARN - A NIGHT REMEMBERED.

Sethe lies beaten and raped, her clothes torn, her body

aching and sweaty. She struggles to get to her feet and exit

the barn.

INT. HALLE AND SETHE'S LIVING QUARTERS - NIGHT.

Sethe opens the door to find her children asleep. She is

about to wake them when;

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