Beloved Page #27

WHITE BOY:

Mama says Wednesday. She says you got to

have them fixed by Wednesday.

Baby Suggs looks at him not understanding..

WHITE BOY:

You hear, Baby? She says Wednesday.

BABY SUGGS:

(taking the shoes)

I beg your pardon..Lord, I beg your

pardon..I sure do....

CUT TO:

PRESENT DAY (END OF MEMORY) :

INT. 124 BLUESTONE ROAD - NIGHT.

Paul D. sits at the kitchen table. The story told. Sethe

looks out the window...and waits..

PAUL:

Your love is too thick, Sethe.

SETHE:

Love is or it isn't. Thin love ain't love

at all...I did stop him. I took and put

my babies where they'd be safe...

PAUL:

Didn't work though, did it?

SETHE:

It worked.

PAUL:

How? Your boys gone, you don't know

where. One girl dead, the other can't go

farther than the yard. How did it work?

SETHE:

They ain't at Sweet Home! Schoolteacher

ain't got'em!

PAUL:

Maybe there's worse.

SETHE:

It ain't my job to know what's worse.

It's my job to know what is and keep them

away from what I know is terrible. I did

that.

PAUL:

What you did was wrong, Sethe.

SETHE:

I should have gone back there? Taken my

babies back there?

PAUL:

There could have been a way. Some other

way.

SETHE:

What way?

PAUL:

You got two feet, Sethe. Not four!

That jumped out before he had a chance to choose saying it.

Sethe has no response...The distance between these two people

in this small room is suddenly vast.

Paul rises, playing with his hat...not knowing how to leave.

But desperately needing to. He moves to the exit and stops..

PAUL:

You can set aside supper for me... Might

be late getting back...

Unable to look at her, he turns to exit. When Sethe speaks in

a soft, forgiving tone, he stops to listen;

SETHE:

After all I told you, Paul D. and after

telling me how many feet I have, you

think saying goodbye is gonna break me

into pieces?

Paul turns to look at her and realizes she saw right through

him...

SETHE:

You're a sweet man.

Unable to bear it, Paul turns and leaves...

Sethe stands still, fighting tears, and whispers...

SETHE:

So long, Paul D.

INT. KITCHEN - DAY.

Sethe is scrubbing the floor, with Denver trailing by with

dry rags.

Beloved enters holding a pair of ice skates;

BELOVED:

What do these do?

Sethe and Beloved look up. Sethe smiles;

SETHE:

My Lord...where'd you dig up those?

DENVER:

There for skating on the ice.

We have another pair and half of another,

I think.

BELOVED:

Can we try them?

Sethe takes the skates and looks at them with a curious

lightness:

SETHE:

Go ice skating? Ha...

(beat)

Why not?

DENVER:

You sure mama?

SETHE:

Strikes me that after your man leaves, it

might just be the wrong time to be

scrubbing floors... might just be the

perfect time to go ice skating.

Denver and Beloved register hopefulness in the light of

Sethe's attitude. Sethe speaks to Denver;

SETHE:

Go get the shawls..and find me an old

shoe for that half a pair...

The girls get excited. Sethe tosses the scrub brush into the

pail.

EXT. A FROZEN CREEK - DAY.

A bright, cold winter day. Beloved wears a pair of old

skates. Denver wears the second pair and Sethe has one skate

and one shoe..The two girls giggle and fall as they try to

skate on the ice... helping each other up. Their skirts

whirling...their laughter mingled with screams of delight.

Sethe, wearing only shoes, watches them and laughs.

DENVER:

Come on, ma'am...try!

Sethe steps onto the ice and takes a few strides and promptly

falls on her rear. The girls scream with laughter. Sethe

tries to get up and falls, their laughter infecting her as

well. The girls try to help her and fall over each other in

the trying.

Denver rises and tries an independent glide. The tip of her

skate hits a bump and she falls, flapping her arms wildly.

All three laugh so hard, they start coughing. Beloved goes to

Denver's aid.

Sethe rises up on her hands and knees, her laughter shaking

her chest and causing her eyes to tear in the cold air.

Beloved helps Denver, and falls as well. The two girls see

Sethe laughing and play it up even more, a few more times...

Until, Denver notices something and motions Beloved to stop

and look.

The two glide back to Sethe. Her laughter has stopped, but

her tears have not... They gently, comfortingly, touch her

shoulder.

INT. KITCHEN - NIGHT.

It is a snowy night outside the windows.

Sethe has laid out blankets and quilts in front of the fire

in the stove. She has made sweet milk that she hands to the

girls before taking her place in between them, on the floor,

facing the fire; Denver, on her right, rests her head on her

lap. Beloved sits on her left.

She looks over to Beloved who is staring at the fire. The

illumination highlights her beauty and her profile; the chin,

mouth, forehead - all copied and exaggerated in a huge shadow

the fire threw on the wall. Sethe can't help but stare as

another thought occurs to her;

BABY SUGGS (V.O.)

...All I remember is how she loved the

bottom of burned bread. Her little

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

slapped me".

SETHE (VO)

..."Here. Look here. See this mark? If

you can't tell me by my face, look here."

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