Fences Page #13

Lyons listens, completely absorbed.

troy:
Fifteen years was a long time for her to wait.

But that fifteen years cured me of that robbing

stuff.

Fifteen years was a long time for her to wait.

But that fifteen years cured me of that robbing

stuff.

(looking at Rose)

Rose’ll tell you. She asked me when I met her

if I had gotten all that foolishness out of my

system. And I told her, “Baby, it’s you and baseball

all what count with me.” You hear me, Bono?

I meant it too. She say, “Which one comes first?”

I told her, “Baby, ain’t no doubt it’s baseball

. . . but you stick and get old with me and

we’ll both outlive this baseball.” Am I right,

Rose? And it’s true.

rose:
Man, hush your mouth. You ain’t said no such

thing. Talking about, “Baby, you know you’ll always

be number one with me.” That’s what you was

talking.

troy:
You hear that, Bono. That’s why I love her.

bono:
Rose’ll keep you straight. You get off the

track, she’ll straighten you up.

Rose heads to the kitchen.

rose:
Lyons, you better get on up and get Bonnie. She

waiting on you.

lyons:
Hey, Pop, why don’t you come on down to the

Grill and hear me play?

troy:
I ain’t going down there. I’m too old to be sitting

around in them clubs.

bono:
You got to be good to play down at the GrillYou got to be good to play down at the Grill.

lyons:
Come on, Pop . . .

troy:
I got to get up in the morning.

lyons:
You ain’t got to stay long.

troy (standing):
Naw, I’m gonna get my supper and go on

to bed.

lyons:
Well, I gotta go. I’ll see you again.

Lyons heads into the house.

troy:
Don’t you come around my house on my payday.

INT. THE KITCHEN—LATE AFTERNOON

Rose is cooking.

rose:
Pick up the phone and let somebody know you coming.

And bring Bonnie with you. You know I’m always

glad to see her.

Troy and Bono come into the kitchen.

lyons:
Yeah, I’ll do that, Rose. You take care now.

See you, Pop. See you, Mr. Bono.

(calling through the screen door)

See you, Uncle Gabe.

Gabe calls in from outside:

gabriel (o.s.):
Lyons! King of the Jungle!

Lyons grabs his guitar and leaves.

troy (to rose):
Is supper ready, woman? Me and you got

some business to take care of. I’m gonna tear it

up too.

Is supper ready, woman? Me and you got

some business to take care of. I’m gonna tear it

up too.

rose:
Troy, I done told you now!

Troy puts his arm around Bono.

troy:
Aw hell, woman . . . this is Bono. Bono like

family. I done known this n*gger since . . . how

long I done know you?

bono:
It’s been a long time.

troy:
I done known this n*gger since Skippy was a pup.

Me and him done been through some times.

bono:
You sure right about that.

troy:
Hell, I done know him longer than I known you.

And we still standing shoulder to shoulder. Hey,

look here, Bono . . . a man can’t ask for no more

than that. I love you, n*gger.

bono:
Hell, I love you too . . . but I got to get home

see my woman. You got yours in hand. I got to go

get mine.

EXT. MAXSON HOUSE—FRONT PORCH

Bono goes out onto the front porch.

Troy follows. They stop when a helmet

comes flying in Troy’s direction. Cory

standing in the middle of the street,

dressed in his football uniform, he

gives Troy a hard, uncompromising

look.

cory:
What you do that for, Pop?

Rose comes out.

rose:
What’s the matter? Cory . . . what’s the matter?

cory:
Papa done went up to the school and told Coach

Zellman I can’t play football no more. Wouldn’t

even let me play the game. Told him to tell the

recruiter not to come.

rose:
Troy . . .

troy:
What you Troying me for. Yeah, I did it. And the

boy know why I did it.

cory:
Why you wanna do that to me? That was the one

chance I had.

rose:
Ain’t nothing wrong with Cory playing football,

Troy.

troy:
The boy lied to me. I told the n*gger if he

wanna play football . . . to keep up his chores

and hold down that job at the A&P. That was the

conditions. Stopped down there to see Mr. Stawicki

. . .

cory:
I can’t work after school during the football

season, Pop! I tried to tell you that Mr. Stawicki’s

holding my job for me. You don’t never want

to listen to nobody. And then you wanna go and do

this to me!

troy:
I ain’t done nothing to you. You done it to

yourself

I ain’t done nothing to you. You done it to

yourself

Gabriel is standing across the street.

He lifts the trumpet to his lips and

tries to blow. No sound comes out.

cory:
Just ’cause you didn’t have a chance! You just

scared I’m gonna be better than you, that’s all.

Troy comes down onto the street. Cory

backs away a little.

troy:
Come here.

Cory reluctantly goes over to Troy.

rose (coming down the steps): Troy . . .

troy:
All right! See. You done made a mistake.

cory:
I didn’t even do nothing!

troy:
I’m gonna tell you what your mistake was.

The football helmet is on the street

next to Troy. He kicks it with his foot

and sends it tumbling down the hill.

troy:
See . . . you swung at the ball and didn’t hit

it. That’s strike one. See, you in the batter’s box

now. You swung and you missed. That’s strike one.

Troy closes the distance, his face

leering, terrifying. Cory tries not to

flinch. Troy hisses in Cory’s ear:

troy:
Don’t you strike out!

EXT. BACKYARD—THE FOLLOWING

MORNING:

CLOSE UP:
We see a baseball swinging

like a pendulum, in and out of focus.

Cory is at the tree hitting the ball

with the bat. He tries to mimic Troy

but his swing is awkward, less sure.

Rose watches . . . Cory swings again,

misses.

rose:
Cory, I want you to help me with this cupboard.

cory:
I ain’t quitting the team. I don’t care what

Poppa say.

rose:
I’ll talk to him when he gets back. He had to

go see about your Uncle Gabe. The police done arrested

him. Say he was disturbing the peace.

He’ll be back directly. Come on in here and help

me clean out the top of this cupboard.

Cory goes into house. Rose sees Troy

and Bono enter the backyard from the

side yard.

rose:
Troy . . . What they say down there?

troy:
Ain’t said nothing. I give them fifty dollars and

they let him go. I’ll talk to you about it.

Where’s Cory?

rose:
He’s in there helping me clean out these cupboards.

troy:
Tell him to get his butt out here.

Rose goes into the house. Troy and

Bono make their way over to the pile

of wood.

troy:
All they want is the money. That makes six or

seven times I done went down there and got him.

See me coming they stick out their hands.

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