Lila and Eve

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God, grant me the serenity to accept

the things that I cannot change...

Nah, man. Back off.

I'm about to be there.

Yo, she's not feeling you

like that, dude.

The courage to change

the things that I can...

Nah, it's Stephon.

You know what I'm saying?

Just tell her I said I'm coming,

and everything's gonna be all good.

And the wisdom to know the difference.

I'm gonna return Ben's dish.

And he said he'll take me to school.

He said he'd take me the rest

of the week so you could rest, okay?

Okay.

Mom.

You should take this. Wear it.

No. No, no, Justin.

You don't have to do that.

- I promise it will help.

- Justin, no. You go to school. It's okay.

It's okay.

Please, help me.

...and before you eat another piece

of cake, open your brother's gift.

- Nice wrapping, Justin.

- Cool, right?

Well, you did use a lot of tape, dude.

A new watch?

What do I need with a new...

It's real nice.

It's real shiny. Mom helped pick it out.

It's kind of from the both of us.

Okay, I get it.

I was late again, so a new watch.

That's not it. Open my gift.

- Okay. Good looking out, ma.

- No. Look again.

Look again.

Oh, man!

The city got new ones, so I got

a really good one second-hand.

Come on, now.

Oh, man. This is great.

It has a little camera, too.

So when you go off to college,

Mom will get us another computer

so we can see you and talk to you.

I thought you might like it.

And we could put it right here.

Here?

I thought you got it just for me.

I did get it for you.

Yeah, but it's like I got to sign for it

before I can use it or something.

Dude, come on now.

All I'm saying is I'm a man now.

I feel good. Well...

Not exactly good, I guess.

I ran into this old picture of Charles

in the back of a drawer.

It felt good, the memory,

instead of painful.

He's a cutie.

If you want the truth,

that is one sweet face.

So I feel like I'm getting there.

I'm getting to accept God's will.

Oh, and I brought y'all some

of my lemon squares for the break.

- They were his favorite.

- Thank you, Patrice.

Go ahead, girl.

So, we're mothers.

Our maternal instinct

is to protect our child.

And when the worst happens,

when that child is murdered,

we feel guilt, depression,

we feel we failed.

We lose our homes, our minds,

and sometimes our lives.

So get a sponsor.

Find someone that you can talk to,

get out, get a hobby,

get to acceptance somehow

so that you can get on to living, right?

Now, I think I see a new face.

I'm Lila Walcott. I'm... here.

I work for the city.

I was a clerk in public records. I...

Now I'm on leave.

My son Stephon was m...

Step back, please, ma'am. Ma'am?

- I need you... you can't be in here.

- Stephon!

- It's all right.

- You don't have to say it.

You take your time.

Stephon? Stephon, are you with us?

- Can you hear me?

- Stephon!

- I'm not gonna say that word.

- You shouldn't say it. It's okay.

I hear y'all, but...

Stephon is dead, and I...

I want to...

You want him back.

Finish, Lila.

You want... what?

To thank y'all for inviting me.

You're welcome.

Did you get a hobby yet?

Your son's dead, and they tell you

to start collecting stamps or something.

Well, they're just trying to help.

Yeah, it's funny how everyone wants

to help when there's nothing they can do.

I keep getting cards, you know?

First from the detective and the reverend.

Just got another one in there.

Maybe that could be your hobby,

collecting cards.

Or getting advice.

Oh, yeah.

I had this interior-design job.

And my boss said to me, real nice...

- "you can have another kid".

- I think I heard that one.

"Well, at least you have another son".

Like I had one to spare.

Telling you, man. Talk is meaningless.

Tell me about yours.

Then I'd be talking.

You know, they said to get a sponsor,

someone to talk to, and...

- if you're interested...

- In being yours?

That's... that's sweet, but not smart.

This is... this whole thing

is not my scene.

Just being here makes me feel

f***ing useless.

Wait a minute. Maybe give it a chance.

I really feel like I can talk to you.

Here's my number,

but it's not me you should be calling.

Well, I've called the police, but...

what about you?

- Did they find the person...

- They barely even looked.

My little girl,

she wasn't real to them.

You know how it is. We think about her

all the time, but nobody else does.

They don't think about us.

Hell, they don't even see us.

I'll keep on it. I'll keep calling.

Yeah. Good luck with that.

- Ma'am?

- You know what? I've had a seat.

I've had enough. I've been waiting for

an hour. Is detective Holliston even here?

Ma'am, I paged him.

Would you like to leave a message?

- Detective Holliston!

- Can I help you?

I called about my son's case,

and no one got back to me,

so I thought I'd come down.

What case is it again?

You don't... you don't remember me?

Sure, I do. It's just I've got

a lot to keep track of.

Tell me again.

- Ms. Walcott.

- Yeah.

- You're here for an update.

- If you wouldn't mind.

We canvassed the neighborhood,

but, sorry to say, nothing yet.

We're just gonna have to keep looking

till we get the break we need, ma'am.

My son was just walking down

the street. I have another son.

- What am I supposed to do?

- If it were me, I'd move.

Ms. Walcott. Ms. Walcott, listen.

There's more. Just...

Can I speak to you for a minute?

Here's what we know. We attained a lot.

Essentially, every corner

is a piece of property.

And every piece of property

has a landlord.

You work the corner, you pay rent.

We see it a lot.

This guy Ray, he was freelancing.

They warned him,

they didn't warn him, we don't know.

What we do know is that somebody

driving by in a black S.U.V. took him out.

- Who did? Who... who are they?

- Nobody will tell us anything.

We see it a lot, too.

We need evidence.

One lead, one name.

- Without that...

- You'll forget all about it.

So, I went to the police.

And they don't know anything,

and they're not trying to know anything.

I can't stop thinking about it,

you know?

I mean, this is something that goes

way past any kind of pain I ever felt

or experienced.

I can't eat. I can't sleep.

I just...

I want to...

We all know what you want.

You want to hold him again.

You want your son back.

You want the ones responsible.

- You want peace.

- You want to hear his voice.

You want a good night's sleep.

You want them to know how it feels.

I mean, we all live here, right?

And we shut it out somehow.

But I can't anymore.

Can you?

God, grant me the serenity to accept

the things that I cannot change,

the courage to change

the things that I can,

and the wisdom to know the difference.

Wisdom to know the difference.

- Age doesn't make a man, Stephon.

- Well, you treat me like I'm 8 years old.

A real man keeps his word

and he is where he's supposed to be

when he's supposed to be.

That's what I know.

Fine.

I'll call next time if you want.

I do want.

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