Poetic Justice Page #4

Chicago walks toward Lucky. E.J. looks a little left out.

CHICAGO:
What's up? Hey you know they put two more Buddha heads on mail carrier.

Still got me waiting, sorting with tha

Mexicans.

We see E.J. in the close background nearby, sorting mail with an open ear.

E.J.:
Hey, Chicago, don't be talking bout Mexicans! I kick your ass. At least we

got a country.

CHICAGO (whispers): I'm on Oaktown Run tomorrow. Getting a truck ready. Wanna

go?

LUCKY:
Yeah.

E.J.:
Y'all going to Oakland?

Lucky cuts him a dry look that reads "Mind your own business."

CHICAGO:
Cool. You gonna bring a yamp?

E.J. (now in the middle): What's a yamp?

LUCKY:
A young tramp. You mind?

E.J. calls Lucky a "Puto" and goes back to sorting mail. Lucky and Chicago walk

away and talk.

LUCKY (O.S.):
And get them ZIP codes right.

ANOTHER ANGLE:
MOVING

LUCKY:
I dunno. Why don't you get that crazy ho' you go wit to hook me up?

CHICAGO:
I'm on it. You call your cousin K-Dog?

LUCKY:
Naw, not yet. I hadda And a way up there this weekend anyway. (with

pride) Gotta work on our music thang. It's cool, we

gettin' paid to go. Gotta go, Loc.

Lucky goes to leave.

CHICAGO:
Where you goin?

Lucky turns.

LUCKY:
Why you need to know? You ain't my b*tch! I'm off!

DISSOLVE TO 26 EXT THA PROJECTS-DAY WIDE As Lucky comes to the curb and gets

ready to exit his car. In the far

background, we see and hear another car coming up.

27 LVT GANGSTA RIDE--DAY From the inside of the car, we roll up on Lucky getting

out of his car. WE get the feeling something

drastic is gonna happen. 36, 48, f.p.s. Time slows down. Lucky turns around just

as the car stops.

ANGLE On Lucky, as he turns and attempts to see who is in the car. It turns out

to be some of his old friends.

LLOYD:
What's up, Lucky?

LUCKY:
What up, nigga? What y'all doing?

LLOYD:
Looking for a nigga to jack.

In his lap we see a gun.

LUCKY:
Ya'll need to jack that cracka Larryl Gates.

BACKSEAT GANGSTA: Who's that?

Everybody just turns and looks at him. Ne shrinks back into the back seat.

LLOYD:
Yeah we gonna jack him too. Goin up to City Hall later today... ...

Remember Lerek?

LUCKY:
Yeah. He live over there. (points)

LLOYD:
Not no more. Got his ass caped out yesterday.... We gonna get tha niggas

that got him.

Lucky nods.

LUCKY:
Well, later.

LLOYD:
All right. Peace.

Lloyd smiles ironically.

LUCKY:
Yeah, peace.

They drive off. Lucky turns and walks into tha projects

28 EXT. J-BONE'SPORCH-DAy Lucky walks up to a porch where we see a tall,

slender, light-brown brother wearing no shirt and

smoking ajoint. This is J-Bone, Lucky's old friend. So close are they that they

have children by the same woman. J-Bone is standing on

his porch enjoying the afternoon sun and a cool Santa Ana breeze. We hear a jet

fly overhead. We hear a fly-ass beat flowing from

someone's apartment window.

J-BONE (Greeting): Mr. Postman! Working muthafucka!

LUCKY:
Don't start! Whatsup, J-Bone.

J-BONE:
Want some Thai bud?

LUCKY:
Naw. Can't f*** wit that.

They pause for a moment. J-Bone's attention has wandered across the way.

ACROSS THE WAY We see an Old Woman toiling in her garden. In the projects older

folk respect their small spaces by making them

as comfortable as possible. Some playing children run through this shot.

BACK TO PORCH:

J-BONE:
Hi, Ms. Jackson. ... She hate my ass.

MS. JACKSON Looks up toward J-Bone. Her face does not register the slightest

hint of a positive response to J-Bone's greeting. In

fact it says, ,,Go to hell. " Ms. Jackson tells one of the kids, a young boy, to

go inside. Upset and reluctant, the boy complies with his

grandmother's wishes.

THE PORCH:

LUCKY:
Heard 'bout Derek.

J-BONE:
Yeah, Derek. D-Dog! Crazy muthafucka, huh? Ain't that about a b*tch?

(reminiscing) ... Anyway, so you here to check on

Keisha, huh?

They start walking.

LUCKY:
Yeah, I'ma give Angel some money to buy her some clothes.

J-BONE:
Awww, muthafucka, you don't need to do that. I'11 get her some clothes.

Take her to the Slauson Swap Meet, Fox Hills

Mall, get her what ever she need.

LUCKY:
Naw, you don't need to do that.

A crack addict walks toward J-Bone. He makes a quick transaction.

J-BONE:
Ain't no thang.... It ain't like I ain't got the money. Besides, she

call me Daddy sometimes anyway.

J-Bone walks on ahead. Lucky seems a little miffed. They walk upstairs to

Angel's apartment.

INT. ANGEL'S PLACE--DAY Where Lucky and J-Bone enter. There are two small

children on the floor watching television. One is a

girl, the other a boy. The girl is six years old, and the boy is four. This is

Keisha and Antonio. On the screen are afternoon cartoons.

LUCKY:
What you mean she call you Daddy?

J-BONE:
Just what I said.

LUCKY (gestures to his child): Hey, little girl!

Keisha runs up into her daddy's arms.

LUCKY:
Who's your daddy?

Keisha timidly points to Lucky, who smiles and looks at J-Bone.

LUCKY:
That's your son, this my daughter. Don't you be forgetting.

J-BONE:
Well, I'm her second daddy, since they came from the same hooka.

As if on cue and "on cue" we see a young woman of about twenty-two enter the

room. Her face looks like that of someone who is

entering the threes of what will be a hard life. Despite this, she retains a

beautiful but very uninnocent look. This is Angel.

ANGEL:
What y'all two fools talking 'bout?

LUCKY:
Talking 'bout your yamp ass. (takes a drink, then takes a second look at

her)

We notice the unusual color of her lipstick and her nervous twitching. Angel

begins rearranging things on her already-cluttered-up

coffee table.

LUCKY:
What you cleaning up for? Place look f***ed up! Normal! ... You ain't

been basing, is you? (to J-Bone) Has she?

J-Bone doesn't say anything.

ANGEL:
No, I ain't, and neither one of y'all is my husband, so y'all can't tell

me sh*t. (darts back toward the bedroom)

ANGEL 5 P.O.V.:
MOVING BACK AWAY FROM LUCKY

LUCKY:
You know what I told ya ass bout that!

The bedroom door is slammed shut. Lucky lets his little girl out of his lap and

loose.

LUCKY:
Told her if she start doing that sh*t, I'm gonna take Keisha to live with

my momma.

J-BONE:
(looking at cartoons) She all right, Lucky. Believe me, I'd know.

LUCKY:
Yeah. (takes a swig, then places his forty on the table) I gotta stop

drinking this sh*t. F***in wit my brain.

From outside someone calls J-Bone. He reluctantly leaves the cartoons to sell

some more crack. Lucky starts to take notice of all the

clutter on the coffee table. Downstairs, J-Bone makes a transaction. We see a

piece of a crack pipe under the hair of a Black baby doll.

This catches Lucky's attention. Lucky picks it up and notices Angel's lipstick

is on its tip. He looks from J-Bone outside toward the

bedroom. Then he gets up and walks in that direction.

29A INII:
ANGELSSLAACE-DAY THE BEDROOM Where we see Lucky opening the door.

Inside Angel is just covering herself up

after being with a gangsta. Lucky closes the door.

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