Freedomland Page #7

- Yes.

Over here.

What are they doing?

- I can't be here. I...

- Hey. Hey. I don't wanna be here...

...any more than you.

- I'll tell you.

I don't want a lawyer.

Just please, just take me away.

Everything.

Yeah, I swear, but...

...just to you.

All right, come here.

We're gonna go, but I need you

to do one thing for me, okay?

- What?

- Show me how you carried the stones.

I need you to pick me up...

...that one right there.

Here. Just take it from me.

Come on. Take it.

Take it.

You know, Brenda,

when you tell me everything...

...I want you to start by telling me

who dug that grave.

And who carried those stones.

And please, please,

do not tell me it was you.

Because if you start with a lie...

...you will have lost the greatest ally

you've ever had in your life...

...and I won't even bother

to take your statement.

I will charge you and dump your ass

in the system.

You hear what I'm saying?

You hear me?

Please, just... I swear to God,

I'll tell you everything.

Just take me away, please.

- Page me when he's up.

- Right.

- Go.

- Y'all know who this is?

This is me.

This is you, and you, and you.

This is all of us and none of us.

This is the n*gger in the woodpile.

This is, "A black man did it."

The hottest item in the store.

- But you know what?

- What?

We ain't buying it.

- You know what?

- What?

We ain't having it.

Gannon, heads up.

Hey, Dempsy, heads up.

Here's the point that you been missing

Armstrong ain't no locked-down prison

Hey, Gannon, heads up

Hey, Dempsy, heads up

Here's the point that you...

Hey.

- You charge her yet?

- I'm waiting on the body.

She kill him?

- I don't know.

- You gotta go with homicide.

- Okay.

- Otherwise, Armstrong...

- They'll raise the f***ing roof tonight.

- Hey.

I tried to get you

to stop the blockade.

- Circumstances dictated...

- Circumstances?

You wanna talk circumstances?

The circumstances were,

it was Armstrong.

The circumstances were, they were a

bunch of mud-flat animals on welfare...

...that didn't deserve the consideration

or respect you give a dog.

Look, Lorenzo, the prosecutor...

...if he has a press conference

tonight to announce the arrest...

...he wants you by his side.

- Talk to people about keeping cool.

- Oh, he does, does he?

Well, you tell that prosecutor

he can kiss my black ass.

And when he's done,

you can get some too.

- Where is she?

- Interview room.

Does she at least have

a f***ing lawyer?

Danny, wait. You can't...

So, Brenda,

let's talk about those stones.

He didn't wanna have anything

to do with it, but he did it for me.

- Who? Who did?

- I dug that grave with my hands.

I did. I told myself...

...I was making his bed one last time,

and that's how I got through it.

There was no way I could

bring my boy to that place...

...so I begged him to do it for me.

He had to do it, Billy.

I had no one else to turn to.

Billy? Billy who?

I told him he was responsible

for what had happened too...

...but it was all me. It was always me.

But he had to do it.

I had no one else to turn to.

Billy who?

Felicia's Billy.

I have spent all my life trying to

get distance from other people.

- My family, men, other kids...

- Hey, hey, hey, Brenda. Brenda.

Let's stick to what happened

three nights ago, all right?

No, no, you have to let me.

Ever since I met you...

...Ive been trying to think of a way

to really, really tell you this.

And now you just have to let me.

With my family, my brothers, it was

like, "Everybody just leave me be."

But with a child, when you

have a child, it's yours, it's safe.

It's finally safe. And...

And when I got pregnant,

it was an accident.

I mean, it never occurred to me

to have a baby.

I was my own baby.

But then I had this vision...

...of what it could be like.

The companionship,

the secret...

...companionship.

I never told the guy

who knocked me up.

And for four years with Cody,

it's like life is this cliff...

...but we carved out a ledge

together, you know? But...

But it wasn't enough,

just being with my son.

You can't...

You can't live like that.

Did Billy have anything to do

with what happened?

No, he barely even met Cody.

So Billy...

I had this thing that I did

at the Rainbow Club. I...

I brought in professionals,

teachers, lawyers, cops...

...to talk to the kids,

to show them another way to be.

So Billy comes in. I knew he was

unemployed and it was so sad...

...but he talked to the kids

so earnestly...

...about stocks and bonds

and investments...

...and it was way over their head,

but it was so...

So sweet, you know. And I looked over

at Felicia while he was talking...

...and she rolls her eyes

like she's had it with this loser.

But I understood him so well,

so fast, because it's like... Like...

...he was me.

And so after the talk,

I went over and I took his hand...

...and, yeah, he must have jumped

a mile, but it was on, you know.

The whole thing took, like,

After he came over

to my apartment that night...

...I knew I was in trouble...

...because I had finally lain down

with someone who was not a child...

...after all these years. I had...

...over-abstained, you see,

and I was in deep trouble.

Before Billy, I used to love

to lie down with Cody...

...or just watch movies with him

before he went to bed.

And now, it's like

I look at my son's face...

...in the TV light,

and it's like he's...

He's un-precious to me.

And it's, like, videos, you know?

I'm wasting critical minutes.

You know, Billy's downstairs.

I gotta get this kid down.

And you know, Cody takes...

Cody...

Cody took...

...an hour,

sometimes 30 minutes.

And I... I know he can feel my tension,

and it's keeping him awake.

Sometimes I would think

he was asleep...

...and I'd be halfway down the hall,

like tippy-toe, tippy-toe...

...and I'd hear, "Mommy. Mommy."

And I'd be like:

"Get to sleep!"

And how fast would you fall asleep...

...if you have this half-insane giant

hanging over you...

...who doesn't love you

or want you anymore?

Who used to treat you like

the sun, moon and stars...

...but no more, no more.

So I started giving him...

...cough syrup...

...to put him to sleep.

You know, not much.

Just whatever you give a kid

for a stuffed head.

And it worked.

It worked. And I told him it was

night vitamins.

And it became part

of our bedtime routine.

Look, Brenda,

I hear what you're saying...

...but we gotta get back to what

happened three nights ago.

- I need you to start telling me...

- He wouldn't go down, Cody.

You know, I had already dosed him

and he wouldn't go down.

And that night, you know,

I had to talk to Billy because...

...I knew that he was breaking it off

and going back to Felicia.

And the thing of it is,

I was kind of relieved...

...that Billy was dumping me

and putting me out of my misery...

...and it was probably the last night

I'd leave my son alone.

It was probably...

Probably the last,

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