Black or White Page #6

You said we were welcome any time

to come swimming, right?

Rowena, are you kidding me?

We came over to have a good time today,

Elliott. What do you say?

- Hey, guys!

- Hey!

Hey, baby.

Eloise, your grandmother's

brought over a pool party.

Are you in the...

Are you in the mood to go swimming?

Yes! Can we? Please, Papa!

Please, Papa!

- Please, Papa?

- Please?

Of course.

- Come on in, everyone.

- Yay!

- Hey, good morning.

- Thank you.

Welcome. Welcome.

Yeah!

Hey, Dondi, y'all get that table set up.

I'll be right back.

Whoo!

Uh...

Elliott, I need to tell you something.

Reggie's outside in the car.

Reggie's here now?

- Don't get upset.

- He's out...

- Don't get upset.

- He's out front?

He told me about last night.

Now, Elliott, you need

to let the past be the past.

He's off all the drugs. He's cleaned up,

he's changing his whole life.

- Oh, please.

- It's true.

Look past that sour hangover attitude

you got wrapped around your face

and listen up for once.

Elliott, he's afraid

you're gonna get all up in his face

and embarrass him in front of Eloise.

You know, you wouldn't know the truth

when it comes to this guy

if it came up behind you,

slapped you on your fanny.

Hey! What happened to you last night?

- Huh? Where were you?

- Man, I wanted to come.

- I just couldn't...

- You know what?

Actually, I don't give a sh*t.

Just get your ass in the house, Reggie.

Go on, Reggie.

You don't have to be afraid of me.

I wouldn't dream of embarrassing you

to make you look bad

in front of your daughter.

Listen, Elliott.

I wanted to be here last night.

I did. You need to know that.

All I need to know

is you broke her heart again.

- You should be ashamed of yourself.

- I am ashamed of myself, man.

All right, but you don't

make it easy, Elliott.

Every time I come around,

you just rain down hate on me, man.

- It makes it hard to come around.

- I'm sorry it's hard on you, Reggie.

You want to blame it all on me now?

That's a load of sh*t.

That's like a mile-high load of sh*t.

Man, I screwed up, OK?

I screwed up last night.

I couldn't come here and I couldn't

face up. All right? But I'm here now.

But you're not here, Reggie.

All right? You're not here.

You're not in the house.

You're out here in the street,

sitting on your car, doing what?

Huh? What, catching some rays?

Shaking off last night's buzz?

You can go to hell, Elliott.

I'm not going in there.

Is that it?

You just gonna walk away now?

I do you the favor,

let you make up with your daughter

and you're just gonna walk?

Is that what you do? You're gonna...

What, are you gonna sulk?

You gonna sulk

all the way back to Compton?

You're unbelievable. You know?

You not only broke

your little girl's heart,

but you're killing your mother.

You can't do any worse than that,

Reggie.

You know what? You need...

You need to quit acting like you're

some kind of little street n*gger.

'Cause you're not.

You come from a good family.

- Morning, Elliott.

- Morning, Andrew, Bill.

My granddaughter's father.

Goddamn crackhead,

inconsiderate a**hole!

Yeah!

- Hey, Uncle Vic.

- Hey, buddy.

When you look in my direction

I can tell you feel it too

You could make a soul connection

- Do you know who that is, Eloise?

- Is it my daddy?

Why don't you get out of the pool

and go say hello, baby?

You got something I need to see

Oh, show me the honey...

It's not fun

unless I have you by my side

'Cause you're beautiful

Babe I like your walk

Now see that girl

like a 747 coming in to land

Watch that baby maneuver

- Uncle Vic, you seen Reggie?

- No, I sure haven't.

- How's the game?

- Oh, it's not good for the bookies.

Oh, my.

This is major.

You drew this?

You swear to me?

'Cause I think your grandfather must've

gone out and bought this somewhere.

- No. He didn't. It was me.

- You're a true talent.

That's good.

This skinny one right here,

is that supposed to be me?

- No.

- Mm.

That's not my favorite.

But it's good.

It's good.

- Dondi, have you seen Reggie?

- No, I haven't.

Twenty-five grand. OK?

Twenty-five grand to go away,

until you can get yourself

cleaned up for real.

Get off the drugs, pay back

whoever it is you need to pay.

Is that gonna do it?

Yeah. Yeah, that'll do it.

You either clean yourself up...

or you stay away from Eloise.

I am clean, Elliott.

This is just to pay some debts,

some trouble that I got myself into.

Just stop, please, all right? Just stop.

I can't take anymore.

Really, I can't take the bullshit.

You couldn't even be bothered

to stay awake out there.

All right? You need to get honest

with yourself, Reggie. All right?

You need...

You need to get your act together.

Turbo powered automobile

I'd really like to have a look

what's under that hood

Black, red, white or yellow

It doesn't matter what's its shade

I just like the way mama

how you work that thing

All right, Reggie,

give it to me straight.

Because the judge

is gonna look you in the eye

and ask you for it even straighter.

How long you been clean?

A while now.

I... I been doing good, man.

I been up in Seattle.

Made a good group of friends,

like I was telling you, Mama.

How you been taking care of yourself?

Ah, man, just doing odd jobs, you know?

Construction, sh*t like that.

I don't think it's a good idea

to bring him into the mix.

The judge will only see him

as a two-bit drug addict, not much more.

Jeremiah, I'm clean, man.

I'm telling you, I'm clean now.

I don't believe you.

And if I don't believe you, the judge

sure as hell won't believe you.

Jeremiah, you need to listen to me.

This isn't about him doing drugs.

He'll admit that he did 'em.

Hell, he'll take a damn drug test.

He's already said that.

He's changed.

And he just wants to be with his baby.

He doesn't want to be with his daughter,

Rowena. That's the problem.

- You do, he doesn't.

- That ain't completely true, Uncle J.

Yes, it is!

You're a goddamn clich.

You're a perfect stereotype.

You don't even realize

the damage you do.

Beyond the damage

you've done to that little girl.

You corroborate everything

the white community thinks.

You're a walking validation stamp

on all their bullshit.

You are a father. Goddamn you, Reggie!

You're a little girl's father!

And there's some broken chromosome

in that thick head of yours

that won't allow you to connect to that!

- I ain't like you, man, OK?

- Right!

- I'm not you!

- You're right!

- I'm not you! All right?

- Reg...

- Reggie, wait! Don't go.

- I'm done!

- Don't go!

- Jeremiah.

Now look,

if you wanna win custody from Elliott,

it won't help bringing him into this.

Now I say we go with my original brief,

you petition for custody.

- He is the father.

- He doesn't want the job!

Will you please tell her, Andrea?

Auntie, you need to listen to him.

- Mm-mm! Mm-mm!

- He's right.

- Don't give me that look.

- I'm not giving you a look.

I don't care how many law degrees

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