Beloved Page #8

SETHE:

All right. It's...it's fine with me.

PAUL:

Your girl Denver. Seems she's of a

different mind.

SETHE:

Don't worry about her. She's a charmed

child. Nothing ever touch her too bad.

From the beginning. Everybody I knew dead

or gone, but not her.

(pause)

You got to know something, though - this

here ain't no better life. It's just not

that other one. What I do here - all I

ever do - is keep Denver from that

other..So if you stay, there's no more

talk about Sweet Home or anything else. I

won't let the past in my yard again.

Getting me and Denver through this here

life is all that matters. You understand?

PAUL:

Dangerous to love anything that much,

Sethe. Best thing is to love everything

just a little bit..that way, when it

breaks or runs off or gets taken, well

maybe you'd have a little love left over

for the next one.

SETHE:

Don't be asking me to choose, Paul D.

There ain't no choice here.

PAUL:

That's the whole point. I'm not asking

you to choose. Just want to know if

there's some space for me. Want to know

if it's more than "you can stay", "it's

fine"..more like, "I want you here Paul".

Beat. Sethe is frightened by the prospect of feeling for him.

SETHE:

Maybe we should leave things the way they

are.

Sethe rises to enter the house when Paul's words stop her:

PAUL:

How are they?

SETHE:

We get along.

PAUL:

What about inside?

SETHE:

I don't go inside.

PAUL:

Sethe, if I'm here with you, with Denver,

you can go anywhere you want. Jump, if

you want to, 'cause I'll catch you. Go as

far inside as you need - I'll hold your

ankles. Make sure you get back out. I'm

not saying this because I need a place to

stay. I told you, I'm a walking man, but

I been heading in this direction for

seven years. When I got here and sat out

there on the porch, waiting for you,

well, I knew it wasn't the place I was

heading toward. It was you. We can make a

life girl. A life.

SETHE:

(scared)

I don't know. I don't know.

PAUL:

Leave it to me. See how it goes. No

promises, if you don't want to make any.

Just see how it goes, all right?

Sethe's heart is twisted. She wants to cry...because she

feels hope...and because she feels fear.

SETHE:

All right. We'll see how it goes.

PAUL:

You willing to leave it to me?

SETHE:

Well..some of it.

PAUL:

(smiles)

Some?...Well okay...some.

Sethe manages a smile.

INT. DENVER'S BEDROOM - NIGHT.

Denver lies curled up in her bed. Alone.

Sethe enters and crawls in unexpectedly. Denver looks up,

surprised to see her.

DENVER:

What is it? What's wrong?

SETHE:

Nothing. Nothing's wrong. Lay back down.

Denver obeys, unsure.

DENVER:

You think baby ghost's really gone?

SETHE:

Don't know.

DENVER:

I miss her.

Sethe lets out a small laugh.

DENVER:

I do. Baby Suggs told me baby ghost would

never hurt me. She was my sister. When I

was little, after the boys left, I used

to think that she and me both were

waiting for daddy to come. And once he

did, she wouldn't be mad no more.

(Sethe listens sadly)

They hear Paul singing out on the porch. Denver grimaces.

DENVER:

Wish he'd shut-up...He's ruined

everything.

SETHE:

No, he hasn't. He won't.

(hesitates)

He..he wants to takes us to the

carnival next Thursday...

Denver's eyes light up with excitement then caution.

DENVER:

You mean, go out where they'll be other

people?

SETHE:

Dress up a little bit. Wear our hats.

What do you think?

DENVER:

(downplaying her excitement)

Maybe....

SETHE:

Maybe...All right...all right.

(difficult for her to say)

Can I ask you something?

(Denver nods, her back to

Sethe)

I was wondrin'..What you think about

us...maybe... maybe thinking we could

start...if we got an idea to, thinking we

could start.. countin' on...

(she stops)

DENVER:

On what mama? Countin' on what?

Sethe can barely bring herself to say. To hope. To imagine.

Paul? But, for Denver, she forces herself and whispers;

SETHE:

Something.

EXT. CARNIVAL - DAY.

Paul and Sethe and Denver walk among the hundreds of black

townspeople gathered for the carnival.

A sign reads COLORED THURSDAY...TWO PENNIES ENTRANCE FEE.

Paul is in high spirits. Saying hello to anyone whose eye he

catches. Willing, eager to get anything for Denver she wants.

Feeling a little more like a normal van in a normal life.

Denver is excited but worried. She doesn't want to like Paul

but can't help the thrill she's feeling. And when one or two

passersby shout out;

VARIOUS PASSERS-

BY:

Hey Denver!...Hi there Denver!

Denver heart almost weeps with joy.

Sethe walks cautiously. Overdressed for the occasion, it is

her first outing among neighborhood folk in many years.

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