Fences Page #8

troy (calling):
Cory!! Get your butt out here, boy! Cory!! Get your butt out here, boy!

(with lust in his eyes)

When you coming back?

rose (enjoying this:) I’ll be right back.

troy:
When?

rose:
I’m just going down the street.

As Rose leaves, Troy turns, climbs the

steps.

EXT. THE BACKYARD—DAY

Troy comes out of the house. He goes

to the tarp covering the lumber. Cory

comes out onto the porch.

troy:
You just now coming in here from leaving this

morning?

cory:
Yeah, I had to go to football practice.

troy:
Yeah, what?

cory:
Yessir.

troy:
I ain’t but two seconds off you noway. The garbage

sitting in there overflowing . . . you ain’t

done none of your chores . . . and you come in

here talking about, “Yeah.”

cory:
I was just getting ready to do my chores now,

Pop . . .

troy:
Your first chore is to help me with this fence

on Saturday. Everything else come after that. Now

get that saw and cut them boards.

Your first chore is to help me with this fence

on Saturday. Everything else come after that. Now

get that saw and cut them boards.

Cory takes the saw and begins cutting

the boards. Troy continues working.

There is a long pause.

cory:
Hey, Pop . . . why don’t you buy a TV?

troy:
What I want with a TV? What I want one of them

for?

cory:
Everybody got one. Earl, Ba Bra . . . Jesse!

troy:
I ain’t asked you who had one. I say what I want

with one?

cory:
So you can watch it. They got lots of things on

TV. Baseball games and everything. We could watch

the World Series.

troy:
Yeah . . . And how much this TV cost?

cory:
I don’t know. They got them on sale for around

two hundred dollars.

troy:
Two hundred dollars, huh?

cory:
That ain’t that much, Pop.

troy:
Naw, it’s just two hundred dollars.

(pointing with his pencil)

See that roof you got over your head at night?

Let me tell you something about that roof. It’s

been over ten years since that roof was last

tarred. See now . . . the snow come this winter

and sit up there on that roof like it is . . . and

it’s gonna seep inside. It’s just gonna be a little

bit . . . ain’t gonna hardly notice it. Then

the next thing you know, it’s gonna be leaking all

over the house. Then the wood rot from all that

water and you gonna need a whole new roof. Now,

how much you think it cost to get that roof tarred?

cory (stops sawing): I don’t know.

troy:
Two hundred and sixty-four dollars . . . cash

money. While you thinking about a TV, I got to be

thinking about the roof . . . and whatever else

go wrong around here. Now if you had two hundred

dollars, what would you do . . . fix the roof or

buy a TV?

cory:
I’d buy a TV. Then when the roof started to

leak . . . when it needed fixing . . . I’d fix it.

Cory hurls a finished plank aside and

grabs the next one.

troy:
Where are you gonna get the money from? You done

spent it for a TV. You gonna sit up and watch the

water run all over your brand-new TV.

cory:
Aw, Pop. You got money. I know you do.

troy:
Where I got it at, huh?

cory:
You got it in the bank.

troy:
You wanna see my bankbook? You wanna see that

$73.22 I got sitting up in there?

cory:
You ain’t got to pay for it all at one time. You

can put a down payment on it and carry it home

with you.

You ain’t got to pay for it all at one time. You

can put a down payment on it and carry it home

with you.

troy:
Not me. I ain’t gonna owe nobody nothing if I

can help it. Miss a payment and they come and

snatch it right out your house. Then what you

got? Now, soon as I get two hundred dollars clear,

then I’ll buy a TV. Right now, as soon as I get

two hundred and sixty-four dollars, I’m gonna

have this roof tarred.

cory:
Aw . . . Pop!

troy:
You go on and get you two hundred dollars and

buy one if ya want it. I got better things to do

with my money.

cory:
I can’t get no two hundred dollars. I ain’t

never seen two hundred dollars.

troy:
I’ll tell you what . . . you get you a hundred

dollars and I’ll put the other hundred with it.

cory:
All right, I’m gonna show you.

troy:
You gonna show me how you can cut them boards

right now.

Cory begins to cut the boards. There

is a long pause.

cory:
The Pirates won today. That makes five in a row.

troy:
I ain’t thinking about the Pirates. Got an all-

white team. Got that boy . . . that Puerto Rican

boy . . . Clemente. Don’t even half-play him.

That boy could be something if they give him a

chance. Play him one day and sit him on the bench

the next.

cory:
He gets a lot of chances to play.

troy:
I’m talking about playing regular. Playing every

day so you can get your timing. That’s what

I’m talking about.

cory:
They got some white guys on the team that don’t

play every day. You can’t play everybody at the

same time.

troy:
If they got a white fellow sitting on the

bench . . . you can bet your last dollar he can’t

play! The colored guy got to be twice as good before

he get on the team. That’s why I don’t want

you to get all tied up in them sports. Man on the

team and what it get him? They got colored on the

team and don’t use them. Same as not having them.

All them teams the same.

cory:
The Braves got Hank Aaron and Wes Covington.

Hank Aaron hit two home runs today. That makes

forty-three.

troy:
Hank Aaron ain’t nobody. That’s what you supposed

to do. That’s how you supposed to play the

game. Ain’t nothing to it. It’s just a matter of

timing . . . getting the right follow-through.

Hell, I can hit forty-three home runs right now!

cory:
Not off no major-league pitching, you couldn’t.

troy:
We had better pitching in the Negro leagues. I

hit seven home runs off of Satchel Paige. You

can’t get no better than that!

cory:
Sandy Koufax. He’s leading the league in strikeouts.

troy:
I ain’t thinking of no Sandy Koufax.

cory:
You got Warren Spahn and Lew Burdette. I bet you

couldn’t hit no home runs off of Warren Spahn.

troy:
I’m through with it now. You go on and cut them

boards.

(pause)

Your mama tell me you done got recruited by a

college football team? Is that right?

cory:
Yeah. Coach Zellman say the recruiter gonna be

coming by to talk to you. Get you to sign the

permission papers.

troy:
I thought you supposed to be working down there

at the A&P. Ain’t you supposed to be working down

there after school?

cory:
Mr. Stawicki say he gonna hold my job for me

until after the football season. Say starting

next week I can work weekends.

troy:
I thought we had an understanding about this

football stuff? You suppose to keep up with your

chores and hold that job down at the A&P. Ain’t

been around here all day on a Saturday. Ain’t

none of your chores done . . . and now you telling

me you done quit your job.

cory:
I’m gonna be working weekends. I’m gonna be working weekends.

troy:
You damn right you are! And ain’t no need for

nobody coming around here to talk to me about

signing nothing.

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