Fences Page #16
rose:
What the hell was I there for? That was my job,not somebody else’s.
troy:
Rose, I done tried all my life to live deRose, I done tried all my life to live decent. . . to live a clean...hard . . . useful
life. I tried to be a good husband to you. In
every way I knew how. Maybe I come into the world
backwards, I don’t know. But . . . You born with
two strikes on you before you come to the plate.
You got to guard it closely . . . always looking
for the curveball on the inside corner. You can’t
afford to let none get past you. You can’t afford
a call strike.
INT. FRONT ROOM—AFTERNOON
Gabriel sits, immobile.
EXT. BACKYARD—CONTINUOUS
troy:
If you going down . . . you going down swinging.Everything lined up against you. What you
gonna do. I fooled them, Rose. I bunted. When I
found you and Cory and a halfway decent job . . .
I was safe. Couldn’t nothing touch me. I wasn’t
gonna strike out no more. I wasn’t going back to
the penitentiary. I wasn’t gonna lay in the
streets with a bottle of wine. I was safe. I had
me a family. A job. I wasn’t gonna get that last
strike. I was on first looking for one of them boys
to knock me in. To get me home.
rose:
You should have stayed in my bed, Troy.troy:
Then when I saw that gal . . . she firmed up mybackbone. And I got to thinking that if I
tried . . . I just might be able to steal second.
Do you understand, after eighteen years I wanted
to steal second.
Then when I saw that gal . . . she firmed up my
backbone. And I got to thinking that if I
tried . . . I just might be able to steal second.
Do you understand, after eighteen years I wanted
to steal second.
rose:
You should have held me tight. You should havegrabbed me and held on.
troy:
I stood on first base for eighteen years and Ithought . . . well, goddamn it . . . go on for
it!
rose:
We’re not talking about baseball! We’re talkingabout you going off to lay in bed with another
woman . . . and then bring it home to me. That’s
what we’re talking about. We ain’t talking about
no baseball.
troy:
Rose, you’re not listening to me. I’m trying thebest I can to explain it to you. It’s not easy for
me to admit that I been standing in the same place
for eighteen years.
rose:
I been standing with you! I been right here withyou, Troy. I got a life too. I gave eighteen years
of my life to stand in the same spot with you.
Don’t you think I ever wanted other things? Don’t
you think I had dreams and hopes? What about my
life? What about me? Don’t you think it ever
crossed my mind to want to know other men? That I
wanted to lay up somewhere and forget about my
responsibilities? That I wanted someone to make
me laugh so I could feel good?
INT. BASEMENT
Cory moves toward the basement window,
trying to hear his mother and father.
EXT. BACKYARD—CONTINUOUS
rose:
You not the only one who’s got wants and needs.But I held on to you, Troy. I took all my feelings,
my wants and needs, my dreams . . . and I
buried them inside you. I planted a seed and
watched and prayed over it. I planted myself inside
you and waited to bloom. And it didn’t take
me no eighteen years to find out the soil was hard
and rocky and it wasn’t never gonna bloom.
Gabriel lifts up his trumpet, holds it
high in trembling hands. His mouth is
wide-open.
EXT. BACKYARD—CONTINUOUS
rose:
But I held on to you, Troy. I held you tighter.You was my husband. I owed you everything I had.
Every part of me I could find to give you. And upstairs
in that room . . . with the darkness falling
in on me . . . I gave everything I had to try
and erase the doubt that you wasn’t the finest man
in the world, and wherever you was going . . . I
wanted to be there with you. ’Cause you was my
husband. ’Cause that’s the only way I was gonna
survive as your wife. You always talking about
what you give . . . and what you don’t have to
give. But you take too. You take . . . and don’t
even know nobody’s giving!
Rose heads toward the house. Troy
grabs her arm.
troy:
You say I take and don’t give!rose:
Troy! You’re hurting me!troy:
You say I take and don’t give.rose:
Troy . . . you’re hurting my arm! Let go.troy:
I done give you everything I got. Don’t you tellthat lie on me.
rose:
Troy!troy:
Don’t you tell that lie on me!Cory rushing out of the house.
cory:
Mama!rose:
Troy. You’re hurting me.troy:
Don’t you tell me about no taking and giving.Cory comes up from behind Troy and
tries to tackle him. Troy, surprised,
is thrown off balance just as Cory
throws a glancing blow that catches
him on the chest and knocks him down.
Troy is stunned, as is Cory.
rose:
Troy. Troy. No!Troy gets to his feet and starts at
Cory.
rose:
Troy . . . no. Please! Troy!Rose pulls on Troy to hold him back.
Troy stops himself.
troy (to cory):
All right. That’s strike two. You stayaway from around me, boy. Don’t you strike out.
You living with a full count. DON’T YOU STRIKE
OUT!
SIX MONTH SEQUENCE
We hear Little Jimmy Scott’s “Day By
Day” . . . Somewhere . . .
Dead leaves falling.
EXT. BACKYARD
Early winter, the first fence posts are
up.
INT. BASEMENT
Cory works out feverishly.
EXT. BACKYARD
Winter, snow. Cross beams connect the
posts, and the first vertical pickets
begin to shut out the abandoned house.
INT. DINING ROOM
An empty room, the table is set.
EXT. BACKYARD—NIGHT
Troy bundled against the lingering
cold, works alone. Rose watches him
from the kitchen window.
INT. TAYLORS’ BAR
Troy drinks heavily in a crowded bar.
EXT. BACKYARD
March:
More pickets, the fence halfdone.
INT. CHURCH
Rose kneeling in prayer.
EXT. CEMETERY
Gabe sits among the tombstones eating
a sandwich.
MORNING:
It’s early April, and the weather’s
cool. Rose, looking tired, wears a
light jacket and scarf over her head.
She locks the front door and starts
down the steps. She stops to pull
weeds from among the daffodils she’s
growing in the planter-cans.
EXT. SANITATION YARD—LATER THAT
AFTERNOON:
Men stream out of the garage, Troy
among them. He sees something that
makes him stop. Rose is across the
street, waiting for him. He crosses
the street slowly. They stand looking
at one another; Then:
rose:
Troy, I want to talk to you.troy:
All of a sudden, after all this time, you wantto talk to me, huh? You ain’t wanted to talk to
me for months. You ain’t wanted to talk to me last
night. You ain’t wanted no part of me then. What
you wanna talk to me about now?
Rose looks around at the men who
glance at her and Troy as they pass
by.
rose:
Tomorrow’s Friday.troy:
I know what day tomorrow is. You think I don’tknow tomorrow’s Friday? My whole life I ain’t
done nothing but look to see Friday coming and
you got to tell me it’s Friday.
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"Fences" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 25 Dec. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/fences_1316>.
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