Poetic Justice Page #5

IDEA. Start shot of Lucky opening the door then PAN OVER to reveal Angel and the

Gangsta surprised then PAN back to Lucky's

reaction and he CLOSES the door.

29B INT. ANGEL'S PLACE--DAY THE HALLWAY As Lucky takes a moment to think. He

walks off.

THE LIVING ROOM Lucky picks up Keisha

LUCKY:
C'mon, we gonna go see Grandma. Your momma tripping.

Suddenly, Angel bursts from the bedroom, cursing and talking sh*t.

ANGEL:
Who the f*** you think you is? You don't tell me what the f*** I can do!

Who the f*** I can see!

29C EXT. ANGEL'S PLACE--DAY OVERHEAD Outside, downstairs, J-Bone begins to take

notice of the storm brewing in the

apartment. He looks up toward the noise.

290 ANOTHER ANGLE: ON CRANE Where J-Bone runs around and up the stairs as we

CRANE UP with him and past the front of

the apartment to see Lucky and Angel, perfectly framed in a window, arguing up a

storm.

INT. ANGELSSPLACE-DAY BACK TO LIVING ROOM As Lucky and Angel go at it. Lucky has

Keisha in hand. J-Bone enters the

apartment and comes in between the two of them.

LUCKY:
F*** you, b*tch! How you gonna be f***ing some nigga while my little girl

around here?! (to the guy) What you looking at

nigga?

GANGSTA #1:
Hey, Bone, you better tell this muthafucka to get outta ma face

before I get my strap!

J-BONE:
Lucky! Lucky, calm down, G!

LUCKY:
Naw, f*** her yamp ass!

GANGSTA #1:
Who is this muthafucka?

Lucky throws the Gangsta a funny look. Then, breaking the first rule of the

street, he turns his back on him to continue arguing with

Angel.

GANGSTA #1:
What you looking at, punk? Mark ass, nigga!

Gangsta #1 sucka-punches Lucky. And they both start a big fight in the middle of

the small apartment. J-Bone joins the fight, on

Lucky's side.

J-BONE:
Hey, hey!

Lucky and J-Bone kick his ass. Tha Gangsta is out cold. From the fire and light

in Lucky's eyes, we can see shades of his previous

life. He and J-Bone stand back to admire their handiwork. Outside we can see a

crowd has gathered from the noise.

LUCKY:
Aw, sh*t! Ijust got offa work. I don't need this sh*t. C'mon, Keisha.

Later, Bone.

Lucky walks off, daughter in hand.

30 EXT. ANGELS PLACE--DAY As Lucky, daughter in hand, quickly emerges. Behind

him Angel throws a verbal arsenal of dirty

insults and threats such as "F*** you, niggs!" "You don't make no money,

anyway!" "How you know she your baby?" etc. As Lucky

walks, we lower Angel's voice and hear another one of Justice's poems. JUSTICE

(V.O.):
"In a time of secret wooing today prepares

tomorrow's ruin. Left knows not what right is doing. My heart is torn asunder.

In a time of furtive sighs. Sweet hellos and sad

goodbyes. Half truths told and entire lies. My conscience echoes thunder."

DISSOLVE TO:

INT. JESSIE'S SALON--LATE AFTERNOON

As we see Justice standing over her notebook reading a poem to lesha while

putting the finishing touches on her head. The salon is

nearly empty. Jessie is sitting at the counter. Heywood is on the phone.

JUSTICE:
"In a time when kingdoms come. Joy is brief as summer's fun. Happiness,

its race has run. Then pain stalks in to plunder."

(closes the notebook) So what you think?

IESHA:
It's pretty. What you call it?

JUSTICE:
"In a Time."

lesha's beeper goes off.

IESHA:
(looking at her beeper) Uh-oh, Chicago paging me.

Iesha gets out of the chair and goes to the receptionist's phone. Heywood is on

the phone. His face is so serious. Jessie quickly points

lesha in the direction of the pay phone on the wall. lesha sighs and walks that

way.

JESSIE:
You need some change?

IESHA (O.S.):
No.

Justice begins cleaning up her station.

THE COUNTER:

Where Heywood gets off the phone. From the look on his face he has heard some

terrible news.

JESSIE:
What'd they say?

Heywood crosses over to the couch, where he sits with his head down. Jessie goes

over to console him.

THE WALL PHONE Where lesha is on the phone with Chicago.

IESHA (with attitude): What you want? Ah, huh. Ah, huh. Yeah, I'm wit it. We got

a hair show to go to up there anyway.

CHICAGO (0.S.):
Bring one'o your friends too. A Ane one.

IESHA:
What you mean, a Ane one? You trying to say I got ugly friends?

Justice and lesha make eye contact. Both smile. Suddenly in the background on

Justice, we see and hear police lights converge on

some brothers across the street. This catches Justice's attention.

BACK TO COUCH Where Jessie is still consoling Heywood. Behind them out the

window are the police.

JESSIE:
What the hell they doing now?! I'm as glad as hell we getting outta here

tomorrow.

JUSTICE (walks up): What's wrong?

Heywood gets up and walks away. Jessie stands. Justice joins Jessie at the

window. Both stand in profile. Red and blue flashes of light

flow across their faces. There are people leaving the shop throughout this

scene.

JESSIE:
You got your styles together for tha Oakland Show?

JUSTICE (demure): Yeah. I'ma play with Lisa and Gena's heads. If they like it,

they like it. If they don't, they don't.

JESSIE:
So you riding with us? You know we got us a little caravan going.

Justice nods. Jessie notices the stress on her face.

JESSIE:
Justice. I know I ain't your momma. Hell, I ain't even old enough to be

that. But we pretty close, and sometimes we talk like

sisters. I just gotta tell ya, baby ... you gotta move on. ... A man ain't

nothin but a tool. You got to know when to take 'em out tha box

and when to put 'em back in. And if ya lose one--well, you just ...go get

another. ... Take a chance, do somethin different for a

change. There's always another man somewheres out here. (looks out the window)

You gotta know sometimes you gonna lose one.

(matter offactly) Like a blow dryer or a good brush. What I gotta do? Play Momma

to everybody in this shop?

Justice thinks, looks down for a moment, then out the window once more. BACK TO

THE STALLS Where we see Dexter, Heywood,

and four other stylists: Marine, Colette, Lisa, and Gena.

DEXTER:
Where's my blow dryer! I'm tired of all my sh*t disappearing alla time!

HEYWOOD (coolly): Calm down. Calm down. Here it is. I borrowed it for a wrap I

had to do this morning.

DEXTER:
Heywood! Why you always borrowing my sh*t without asking?!

HEYWOOD:
I asked you for it this morning, and you said yes. Why are you crying

over it like a b*tch?

DEXTER:
Who you calling a b*tch? If anybody's a b*tch, you a b*tch!

HEYWOOD:
Excuse me? You wan some? Maybe you forget I was Golden Gloves. You

catchin me on tha wrong muthafuckinday.

MAXINE:
All right. All right. Dexter! As much as you talk and you borrow

everybody else's stuff alla time. (looks over his tools) Like

my brush right here.

Maxine walks away. As she does, we notice the round beautiful fullness of her

bootay. Her hair is dyed blood red.

DEXTER:
I was gonna give it to ya, Maxine, I just got distracted. Mmm-mmm.

HEYWOOD:
Sh*t, I was wrestlin champ at Crenshaw High School.

JUSTICES STALL Where she and lesha meet up once more. Iesha begins playing with

her new braids in tha mirror.

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