Beloved Page #26

Sethe continues working until she notices peripherally that

Baby Suggs is standing stock still, staring at something.

Sethe rises and looks in the same direction;

CUT BACK TO:

EXT. BLUESTONE ROAD - DAY.

The Four Horsemen are closer...

CUT BACK TO:

EXT. THE FIELD OF 125 BLUESTONE - DAY.

Sethe's face freezes in terror as ...

Stamp Paid, in between chops, looks up and sees the two

women..then turns his face to see the men.

BUT IT IS SETHE'S FACE WE CONCENTRATE ON - AS WE INTERCUT THE

ONCOMING APPROACH OF THE FOUR HORSEMEN and HEAR HER WORDS:

SETHE (VO)

...There's a Look whitefolks get..a Look

every Negro learns to recognize along

with his ma'am's tit..That righteous Look

that's like a flag going up the pole..the

righteousness that announces the whip,

the fist, the burning, the lie...long

before it happens in the open...

Over the above speech, we see in Sethe's expression a death

of soul - an instantaneous loss of hope for possibilities of

joy and life. And with it, an insane rage.

Sethe grabs Denver out of the basket, then scrambles after

the crawling Little Girl (Beloved), scooping her under her

free arm...

SETHE:

Howard!...Bulgar!

The tone of her voice cause the boys to freeze. She runs

towards them, grabbing one by the hand and ordering the other

to run in front of them. She moves and speaks with efficient

clarity.

SETHE:

The shed!...Get in the shed!...Run!

Baby Suggs and Stamp Paid watch helplessly -

EXT. 124 BLUESTONE -

The Four Horsemen - Schoolteacher, his Nephew, a Slave

Catcher and a Sheriff - arrive at the house and dismount,

tying their horses to the front gate (which is no longer

there).

The Nephew scampers to the front of the house and peers in

the window - he listens. Hearing nothing he motions for them

to go round the side of the house.

Camera follows them as it reveals Baby Suggs and Stamp Paid

standing exactly where we left them...Except;

They are both staring at the shed - out of which strange

noises, thuds and the FRIGHTENED CRIES OF CHILDREN are heard....

Two Black Boys and several Woman are coming up the road. The

Slave Catcher motions with his rifle for them to stop - and

they do.

The men move towards the shed, meeting up with the Nephew as

he runs past Baby Suggs and Stamp Paid...

POV;

Camera moves closer towards the shed, the sounds coning from

within more audible now...

INT. THE SHED -

The Nephew opens the door. The Four Men enter....

Howard and Bulgar are bleeding in the sawdust, unconscious -

a bloody shovel lays near them.

Sethe is holding a blood-soaked Little Girl (Beloved) to her

chest with one hand...and Denver by the heels of the other.

She is swinging Denver toward the wall planks, misses then

tries again...

When out of nowhere, Stamp Paid rushes by the horrified white

men and GRABS DENVER OUT OF SETHE'S HAND before she can swing

her a second time...

Stillness.

Schoolteacher looks at the carnage...a bloody saw lies at

Sethe's feet, the weapon she used on her own child's throat.

The Nephew is paralyzed...horrified.

NEPHEW:

What she go and do that for?...What she

go and do that for?

Baby Suggs walks in. Whatever amount of God's grace she could

imagine and will into being, vanishes with one look into that

shed.

SHERIFF:

You all better go on.

(to Schoolteacher)

Nothing here to claim, I guess.

Look like your business is over. Mine's

started.

Schoolteacher beats his hat against his thigh and spits in

the shed before exiting, followed by the catcher and the

nephew.

The Sheriff speaks to Sethe.

SHERIFF:

I'll have to take you in. No trouble now.

You've done enough to last you....

Sethe doesn't move.

SHERIFF:

You come quiet, here, and I won't have to

tie you up.

Meanwhile, Baby Suggs notices who breathes and who does not

and moves straight to the boys....

Stamp Paid extends his arm to Sethe.

STAMP PAID:

Sethe. You take my arm and gimme yours.

Sethe turns to him, the first time she's looked into anyone's

eyes and sees Denver in his arms...A sound escapes from her

throat as though she'd made a mistake.

SHERIFF:

I'm going out here and send for a wagon.

He exits. Baby Suggs rubs the boys' hands, tries to raise

their eyelids, spits on her dress and wipes away the blood as

they slowly regain a dazed consciousness..She whispers;

BABY SUGGS:

I beg you pardon..I beg your pardon..

EXT. 124 BLUESTONE RD. -

Sethe, clutching the dead baby to her chest, is led out of

the shed by Stamp Paid,

Outside, a throng of black faces have gathered who stop

murmuring the second they see her. Among them are Ella and

Lady Jones. They are shocked and pained.

Sethe is led past them to a waiting cart - in total silence.

Baby Suggs, at the same time, is getting the boys up the

porch into the house. When Denver cries in Stamp Paid's arms,

she stops..lets the boys sit and runs towards the cart.

Sethe is seated in the cart beside the Sheriff. Baby Suggs

takes the crying Denver from Stamp Paid..She tells the

Sheriff.

BABY SUGGS:

Excuse me..but the child needs

nursin..needs the mother's milk..

SHERIFF:

Then she's best come too.

Baby Suggs approaches Sethe who sees Denver crying and

reaches for her without letting the baby go. Baby Suggs

resists;

BABY SUGGS:

One at a time!...And you gotta clean

yourself up!

But Sethe only wants her living child. The two women struggle

as Stamp Paid does what he can..Finally, Sethe wins and takes

Denver with her free hand, undoes her dress and nurse's her

with a bloody breast..

Baby Suggs breaks inside. Breaks right in two, although from

outwards appearances, she looks merely numbed by shock.

A WHITE BOY makes his way through the crowd with a pair of

shoes and hands them to her..

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