Julieta Page #13

XOAN:

I promise that when you come back

I’ll take you on as a deckhand,

OK?

ANT.A

I’ll hold you to that.

The mother breaks the embrace between Ant.a and Xoan to

take the child away.

JULIETA:

Come on, you old sea dog.

XOAN:

Have fun.

Julieta and Ant.a disappear along the hall.

82. REDES. XOAN’S HOUSE. ENTRANCE HALL. INT. DAY.

1998. SUMMER.

Marian is going grey, she’s fatter, but she is still

full of the same energy. She is vacuuming the dust in

the entrance hall with a noisy vacuum cleaner. When she

sees Ant.a and Julieta coming through the door she

turns off the vacuum and greets the child with open

arms. Ant.a huddles in her arms. Julieta is carrying a

little suitcase and she looks impatiently at the scene.

MARIAN:

Are you leaving already, Ant.a?

You’ll come and visit me at home

when you get back, won’t you?

ANT.A

Won’t you be here?

MARIAN:

No, love. I won’t be here.

Maria looks reproachfully at Julieta. This annoys

Julieta. All these years her dealings with Marian have

been full of these kinds of indirect looks and

resentful silences. Fortunately Marian will be leaving

in a few days.

MARIAN:

But you have to promise you’ll

come and see me.

ANT.A

Yes. I promise.

Ant.a doesn’t break away from Marian who covers her

forehead with tender kisses. Julieta watches the scene

impatiently. And again she has to break Ant.a’s embrace

and pull her, something that obviously annoys her.

JULIETA:

Come on, let’s go.

83. ROAD TO THE MEETING POINT. EXT. DAY.

1998. SUMMER.

Inside the car:

Julieta is driving the girl to an old bus station in a

nearby town. Ant.a is still sulking.

ANT.A

Why is Marian leaving?

JULIETA:

(Surprised) Her husband is sick.

She’s going to look after him.

ANT.A

You’re not throwing her out?

JULIETA:

That’s silly! Of course not!

ANT.A

If you asked her to stay, I bet

she would.

JULIETA:

Ant.a, people have a right to

retire.

The explanation doesn’t convince the girl and annoys

the mother.

Cut.

84. MEETING PLACE. A FORMER BUS STOP. EXT. DAY.

1998. SUMMER.

The meeting place is an unused bus stop. Julieta

doesn’t know the other mothers who are saying goodbye

to their children amidst a great rumpus. There are boys

and girls.

Julieta accompanies Ant.a to the door of the bus. They

hug. Julieta isn’t as firm as she was at home or on the

drive there. The girl realizes how fragile she is and

changes her attitude.

ANT.A

(Affectionately) I’m sorry if I

was being mean.

Julieta smiles at her and shakes her head.

JULIETA:

Don’t worry. Call us as soon as

you get there.

ANT.A

OK.

Ant.a gets into the bus with her little case. Julieta

looks for her at the windows. She says goodbye from

outside. Ant.a is looking out one of the windows and

waving goodbye.

Julieta raises her right hand to her ear, indicating

that she should call her. On the wall in the background

there are several local posters, advertisements for

concerts in discotheques, the announcement of a

demonstration in favor of the “Historical Memory”. “Non

des o esquecemento” says the poster. No to forgetting.

85. REDES. XOAN’S HOUSE. SITTING ROOM. THREE DAYS LATER.

IN THE MORNING.

1998. SUMMER.

Julieta is looking for some books on the top shelves of

the bookcase, text books she used when she was

teaching. It seems that the little sitting room is for

her personal use. As well as the bookcase, there is a

sideboard full of Sargadelos ceramics, two pictures,

one of them with a mythological theme (Orpheus and

Eurydice be Erasmus Quellinus, a disciple of Rubens). A

couch, an armchair and a table with a maritime motif.

Next to the couch there is a telephone and on the wall

opposite a medium sized television of the time.

Marian takes a look around the kitchen. Then she walks

slowly to the door of the little sitting room. It

saddens her to say goodbye to the house. More amiable

than usual:

MARIAN:

Do you want me to fix you

something for dinner before I

leave?

From the exchange of looks when Ant.a said goodbye to

Marian, Julieta is longing for the servant to leave.

She answers her politely but coldly.

JULIETA:

You needn’t bother. In.s should be

here soon.

Marian was expecting a warmer farewell but Julieta

continues with what she’s doing, not paying her much

attention.

MARIAN:

If you can’t find anything, call

me at home.

JULIETA:

Thank you.

Julieta is still absorbed looking for a book that she

can’t find. Marian looks nostalgically along the hall.

As Marian doesn’t move from the door Julieta turns to

her and sees that she’s wearing a black sweatshirt that

belongs to Xoan.

MARIAN:

Well, I’ll be going.

JULIETA:

Are you wearing Xoan’s sweatshirt?

Marian feels insulted and glares at Julieta. Hurt and

categorical:

MARIAN:

Xoan gave it to me a while ago!

I’m not taking anything that isn’t

mine!

Despite her abrasiveness, Julieta doesn’t notice the

change of expression in Marian’s dissimilar eyes.

MARIAN:

Are you serious about giving

private classes?

JULIETA:

Yes.

MARIAN:

I think you’re making a mistake.

Julieta is amazed by the presumptuous comment and is

about to say to her “It’s none of your business”, but

she restrains herself. She doesn’t want to say goodbye

to Marian with the confrontation which both have

managed to avoid for years.

JULIETA:

I don’t want to be just a

housewife, Marian. I have a

profession that I like and I’ve

wanted to go back to it for some

time.

MARIAN:

(Declaring) A woman’s profession

is her family. If you want to keep

it united it’s best to stay at

home.

Marian no longer hides her fury at Julieta, she has

nothing to lose now.

JULIETA:

(Dryly) That’s my business!

MARIAN:

(Murmuring) If you go, the same

old thing will happen.

Julieta glares at her.

JULIETA:

What do you mean? What same old

thing?

Marian looks at her, defiantly, and goes to speak.

Cut.

86. REDES. XOAN’S HOUSE. EXT. MORNING.

1998. SUMMER.

Marian comes out of Xoan and Julieta’s house. There are

some clouds but the sun is shining. On the estuary,

several gamelas are rocking at their moorings. Marian

looks sullenly at the fa.ade of the house.

87. REDES. XOAN’S HOUSE. ANT.A’S ROOM. CONT.

1998. SUMMER.

Xoan is weaving a hexagonal creel for Ant.a. Julieta

comes in, sad and tense.

XOAN:

Has Marian left?

JULIETA:

(Serious) Yes. The new woman is

due to arrive. I hope she’s more

discreet.

XOAN:

Why do you say that?

JULIETA:

When I came thirteen years ago,

Marian told me not to wait for

you, you were spending the night

with Ava. Just now, when she was

saying goodbye, she said something

similar, that when I went with

Ant.a to see my parents, ten years

ago, you spent the nights with Ava

again…

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