Beloved Page #4

SETHE:

Had to. Couldn't be no waiting.

PAUL:

All by yourself too.

SETHE:

Almost. A white girl helped me.

PAUL:

Then she helped herself, God bless her.

Awkward silence.

SETHE:

We got spare rooms. You could stay the

night, if you had a mind to.

PAUL:

You don't sound too steady in the offer.

SETHE:

Oh it's..it's truly meant. I just hope

you'll pardon my house.

Paul smiles a warm, touched smile that after all that they've

survived, Sethe is worried about what he'll think of her

home.

PAUL:

My house. I like the sound of that.

Sethe smiles, then rises to escort him in.

INT. 124 BLUESTONE ROAD - DAY.

Sethe opens the front door and enters, with Paul behind her,

hanging his shoes by the laces over his shoulder. As he

follows her in;

A POOL OF RED, UNDULATING LIGHT forms around him. It worries

him.

PAUL:

You got company?

SETHE:

On and off.

The light undulates faster and faster, extending all the way

to the kitchen at the end of the hall. Frightened, Paul steps

back out the door.

PAUL:

Good God! What kind of evil you got in

there?

SETHE:

It's not evil..It's just..just sad. Come

on. Just step through.

Sethe reaches out her hand. Paul tentatively takes it and is

lead through the red light of the hallway, through to the

kitchen where it ends.

As he walks through, we can see Paul affected by the light.

It is sad. A sadness that touches him, welling up inside

until tears are brimming in his eyes. He reaches the normal

light of the kitchen and steps out of it.

INT. KITCHEN - DAY.

Paul turns back to find the red light in the hall is gone.

PAUL:

I thought you said she died soft as cream.

SETHE:

(busying herself in kitchen)

Oh that's not Baby Suggs. That's my

daughter. The one I sent ahead with the

boys before I run off.

PAUL:

She didn't live?

SETHE:

No.

PAUL:

The boys too?

SETHE:

No, they alive - they run off before Baby

Suggs died. The one I was carrying when I

left Sweet Home is all I got left.

Still affected by the light, Paul eases himself down at the

table, finding something to say.

PAUL:

Well, probably best..If a Negro boy got

legs he ought to use them. Sit down too

long, somebody figure out a way to tie

them up.......

(the image disturbs Sethe)

You by yourself then?

SETHE:

Me and Denver... my daughter.

PAUL:

No man?

(Sethe shakes head "no")

And that's all right by you?

SETHE:

It's all right by me...I cook at a

restaurant in town. Sew a little on the

sly....

She places a bottle and a glass on the table before him. The

light jarred him. He snatches the bottle to drink and calm

himself down. She jokes.

SETHE:

You look more done in by a walk through

my front hall than all those eighteen

years of walking put together.

PAUL:

Got that right.

INT. SECOND FLOOR OF 124 - MORNING.

Denver, all of eighteen years old now, and beautiful, is

buttoning up her dress when she hears the voice of a man down

in the kitchen. She stops. Her face lights up.

DENVER:

Daddy?

She runs down the white staircase.

INT. KITCHEN - MORNING.

As Denver runs into the kitchen, we hear:

SETHE (OS)

Won't you stay a little while? Can't

nobody catch up on eighteen years in a

day.

Denver appears expectantly, down the white staircase that

leads from the second floor. She looks at Paul wide eyed.

They turn to her with gentle smiles;

SETHE:

Baby, this here's Paul D. Garner...Paul,

this is my Denver...Paul's the last of

the Sweet Home men.

Denver's heart sinks.

PAUL:

Good morning Miss Denver. It's a

pleasure.

DENVER:

Good morning, Mr. D.

PAUL:

Garner, baby. Paul D. Garner.

DENVER:

Yes sir.

PAUL:

Glad to get a look at you. Last time I

saw your mama, you were pushing out the

front of her dress. She's a fine looking

young lady, Sethe. Fine looking. Got her

daddy's sweet face.

DENVER:

You knew my father?

PAUL:

Knew him. Knew him well.

SETHE:

Of course he did. I told you, he's from

Sweet Home. Paul may stay with us a

while. Won't that be nice, having an old

friend stay a spell?

But Denver reacts with surprise and dismay. Paul is not her

friend. Paul, right now, is more of an intruder.

PAUL:

If that's all right with you, that is?

DENVER:

We have a ghost here, you know.

PAUL:

We met. But sad, your mama said. Not

evil.

DENVER:

No sir, not evil. But not sad either.

PAUL:

What then?

DENVER:

Lonely.

SETHE:

I don't see how it could be lonely

spending every minute with us like it

does.

DENVER:

It's my sister. She was just a baby when

she died in this house.

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