Beloved Page #6

Paul listens, half dreading where he thinks this story's going.

PAUL:

We was talking about a tree, Sethe.

Sethe works faster. It is the work, taking an action - any

action - that allows her tell the story numbly, without the

pain of reliving it...without the images attacking

SETHE:

Schoolteacher's boys drag me into the

barn and took my milk...

....yet, the images come anyway.

INTERCUT:
FLASHES OF MEMORY attack as SETHE TELLS HER

STORY...

JUMP CUT TO:

INT. BARN - A NIGHT REMEMBERED.

- Sethe being raped, beaten, held down by SCHOOLTEACHER'S

BOYS in a barn with a loft...

SETHE (IN KITCHEN)

..Held me down in that barn and took it.

JUMP CUT TO:

Sethe screams and is smacked across the face.

SETHE (IN KITCHEN)

They were like boulders on me. Their

hands over my mouth and on my shoulders

and my legs.

JUMP CUT TO:

One of the boys holds her face and mouth and head as the two

others hold down her body and ravage her....

SETHE (IN KITCHEN)

I couldn't move. Alls I could see was the

loft above their heads.

JUMP CUT TO:

Her mouth covered, her head immobile - she stares up at the

loft.

END OF MEMORY IMAGES.

PAUL:

The loft?

INT. KITCHEN - PRESENT DAY.

Sethe squeezes her eyes to erase the image and works harder

on the biscuit dough...The flashes of IMAGES STOP...

SETHE:

I told Mrs. Garner on them. She had that

lump on her neck and couldn't speak but

her eyes rolled out tears, I remember.

Them boys found out I told on 'em and

Schoolteacher made one open up my back,

and when it closed it made a tree.

PAUL:

They used cowhide on you?

SETHE:

And they took my milk.

PAUL:

They beat you and you was pregnant?

SETHE:

And they took my milk!

Sethe has separated the dough into biscuits which she slips

into the stove. As she rises, Paul steps gently behind her.

He slowly caresses her breasts from behind, pressing his

cheek against her back.. He rubs his cheek against it,

feeling the scars beneath the dress. Raising his fingers to

the hooks, as Sethe cries silently, he undoes her dress which

slips down to her hips, exposing the sculpture her back has

become.

PAUL:

Aw Lord, girl.

Grateful to have her body be someone else's responsibility

for the moment, Sethe closes her eyes as Paul touches every

ridge and leaf of her tree with his mouth. The tenderness is

almost unbearable.

Suddenly, PAUL'S LEGS BEGIN TREMBLING. He pauses and looks

down...He realizes it is not his legs that tremble, but

rather;

THE FLOORBOARDS THEMSELVES ARE PITCHING, GRINDING, SHOVING

the house from side to side.

Sethe slides to the floor, struggling with her dress.

On all fours, Denver crawls in from the keeping room as if

trying to keep the house together.

Paul, falling, reaching for an anchor, begins to shout;

PAUL:

GOD DAMN IT! HUSH UP! Leave this place

alone! Get the hell outta here!

A table rushes at him but Paul grabs it's leg. Managing to

stand at an angle as the house continues to pitch, he holds

the table by two legs and bashes it about, wrecking

everything, screaming at the house;

PAUL:

YOU WANT TO FIGHT, COME ON! GOD DAMN IT!

SHE GOT ENOUGH WITHOUT YOU! SHE GOT ENOUGH!

The quaking slows to an occasional lurch but Paul does not

stop whipping the table around until everything it is

absolutely still. He leans against the wall, panting.

Sethe is crouched by the stove. A mixed expression of relief

and guilt - the expression of a mother whose disobedient

child has been sent away. But a child she loves nonetheless.

Denver looks frightened. More alone than ever, now that her

one companion is gone.

All three are breathing together as if to the same beat, like

one tired person.

LAP DISSOLVE:

INT. KITCHEN - LATER THAT DAY..

Denver walks through the broken furniture and dishes. At the

stove, she ashes over the fire and pulls the pan of biscuits

from the oven,

EXT. 124 BLUESTONE RD. - CONTINUOUS.

A shirtless Paul D. is by the water pump washing himself.

INT. KITCHEN - CONTINUOUS.

Denver lifts the fallen jelly cupboard, it's contents laying

in a heap in the corner of the bottom shelf. She takes out a

jar. She looks for a plate and finds half of one by the

broken table. She picks it up as she hears Paul enter through

the front door.

INT. BABY SUGGS BEDROOM - CONTINUOUS.

Sethe prepares a bed for Paul. Baby Suggs quilt is on the

bed. She hesitates whether or not to leave it there.

Paul stands by the door with his shoes in his bands, his

shirt hanging open down the front.

Sethe is surprised to see him there - she feels awkward.

SETHE:

Why don't you...take a rest..I'll call

you when we're ready.

PAUL:

Sure you don't want me to help clean up?

SETHE:

No..you'd just get in my way. Denver and

me'll do it.

They stand in silence, looking at each other for a moment.

The awkwardness they both feel strike them suddenly as funny.

Paul starts smiling. Sethe covers her mouth to conceal it.

And then, just as quickly, the urge to laugh subsides - and

the fear they feel takes it's place.

Paul slowly closes the door and places his shoes on the

floor. Sethe watches him. Paul crosses to her. He moves in to

kiss her. They approach each other's lips like two burn

victims, trying desperately not to hurt the other with their

touch.

EXT. 124 BLUESTONE RD. - CONTINUOUS.

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