Songs That Won the War Page #6

---

are finished with this book,

we are gonna be devoting our

time to writing our memoirs.

This is where you will

indicate to me why your life...

Is like a bowl of cherries.

Let's get this class

into some sort of order.

Son, you're a tall boy.

Why don't you swap seats with that

little girl back there in the plaid?

Go on. Pick up your

stuff and move on back.

And you,

with the hearing aid!

Why don't you have

a seat back there?

Just crank up

that little thing of yours.

And, you, sweetheart, why

don't you have a seat up here?

Oh, my, you're a big girl.

I'm sure you'll see just fine

in the rear aisle. Go on.

And you, little girl,

why don't you have a seat

in the back with your friend?

Now, isn't this much better?

N*gger lover.

Shut up!

Colored girl, didn't I

just tell you to hush up?

I wasn't saying nothing.

Well, now, I distinctly

heard you whispering.

Stand up and tell the class

what was so important that

you had to interrupt me again.

I already told you.

I wasn't saying nothing.

I know you did.

And I wanna hear what it was.

We're all waiting.

She already told you.

I think

she can speak for herself.

All right. I'll tell you.

I was saying, "Elvadine,

what you gots to write about?

"Been in the sixth grade your

whole good-for-nothing life.

"Ain't got no daddy.

"Never goes anywhere

but where your feets take you.

"Onliest money ever belonged

to you in the whole world

"was $20 you got yourself

in a birthday card

"from your uncle last year. "

But it really wasn't

for my birthday, really.

It was for

laying over his lap,

letting him spank me

with my underpants down.

Now here you come along, shoving

me in the back of the room

where I's can't even see good,

which means I probably not gonna

graduate this summer neither.

Just 'cause you read

how some white man say life

be like a bowl of cherries,

I gots to come up with

something to fit his saying.

Well, fine. I'll just write

down how happy I'm gonna be

to get 20 more dollars

on my birthday.

Never mind what he got

planned for me this year.

And I'm gonna write how maybe

the new man my mama's seeing

might stop drinking

and treat me nice.

And maybe he gonna adopt me

and take us off the welfare.

And at the end,

I'm gonna be sure and put,

"Life sure is

a bowl full of cherries. "

But to tell you the truth,

Miss Strapford,

I think you and that book

and this whole class

be a bowl full of sh*t!

Go to the principal's office.

Now.

Didn't you hear a damn word

she said?

Excuse me?

She told you the best truth

she knows.

And you don't got no right to put

her out or call her a liar neither.

My mama says

folks who treat people bad

only do it because

they're ignorant.

So I'm gonna help you.

She's gonna sit up front

where she can see from now on.

She ain't gonna go by

"colored girl" no more neither.

You're gonna learn her name.

I don't know about you, but

all my friends have names.

And this just so happens

to be my best friend.

Her name is Elvadine.

My daughter knows the difference

between cruelty and insensitivity.

So I wrote my memoirs

for Miss Strapford.

And the summer

just drifted on by.

Dad got his union card

and a job pumping water

out of an abandoned portion

of the Foothill Marble Mine,

two counties north of us.

It was a good job 'cause there was

three million gallons of water to pump.

I hear they ain't been working

in this section of the mine

for 20 years now.

It's kind of spooky,

really.

Let me get it.

What was that?

I don't know.

Moe!

Help!

I can't move.

All right, let me see.

Stephen?

Am I all right?

All right, this is not

gonna feel too good.

No, no, Stephen.

Stephen, it ain't no use.

Ain't no use. Best go.

Get out of here while you can.

You know I can't do that.

You still owe me $3

for gasoline.

I want you to know,

if I gotta break your leg into 10

pieces, I'm taking you out of here.

Oh, thanks. That makes me

feel a whole lot better.

Third time's

the charmer.

Grit your teeth

and get ready to swim.

All right, don't move

back there. Keep apace.

Move them back,

move them back.

My name is Lois Simmons.

Stephen Simmons is my husband.

Is he all right?

I don't know. I hope so.

Move back!

Get out of the way.

Move over!

Moe. Moe!

Oh, my God! What happened?

Stu?

He saved my life.

Your daddy saved my life.

Hey! Dad!

Dad, what happened?

Let me see him.

Get back. We're in a

hurry. You all right?

Get back, son.

Dad! Dad! No!

Dad!

Dad!

Dad!

Is he gonna live?

I've heard of others like

him that have pulled through,

but I gotta tell you,

what's keeping him alive hasn't

a thing to do with medicine.

He's got massive

thoracic injuries,

one of his lungs

is collapsed,

he's hemorrhaging, his

heart's bruised awful bad.

Dad.

Oh, Dad.

They say

he should've died instantly.

They didn't know my dad.

And he hung on.

Stu never said much

about that day.

He just went straight over to the

tree house and started in on it.

For the rest of that day

and most of the night,

he kept himself busier than a

one-legged man in a butt-kicking contest.

I guess around dawn,

Stu finally passed out.

Meanwhile,

little John D. Rockefeller

just kept on

hoarding his loot,

biding his time till he

seen a chance to spend it.

Do you have a bag?

And spend it he did.

Arliss! Leo! Willard!

Get your good-for-nothing

carcasses over here!

Look at him, every last

one of you, look at him!

He can't even move,

for Christ's sake!

What's the matter with him?

Well, now, you tell me!

I don't know.

Ice cream coma?

He's your goddamned brother!

You're supposed to take care of him!

If your mama could see

how you's treating him,

she'd come down from heaven

and kill every last one of us!

I ought to beat the hell

out of every one of you

for letting him wallow

in the dirt like that!

Now, get him cleaned up

before the ants carry him off!

And from now on, if any of you

leave this yard without him,

it's gonna be on a stretcher!

Get up! I almost got my

ears torn off, stupid idiot!

I wish

we'd never even had you.

Where'd you get that,

anyhow?

Big airplane just dropped

them out of the sky.

You don't honest up, Billy, we're

gonna scrub you down with lipstick

so everyone thinks you got

diaper rash, how about it?

Nuh-uh!

Yes-huh!

After that, we're gonna shave

your head bald as a witch's tit.

I ain't gonna look

like no witch's tit.

You will

if you don't tell us.

You can cut off every hair on

my head, but I ain't telling you

Oh, my God!

The Lipnickis are coming!

Great!

That makes for a perfect day.

What the hell

they doing here?

Hey, did you guys

tell them about this place?

Of course not!

No way, man!

I gots to go home.

My mom gots to do my hair.

See you, Lid.

Stu?

What?

I was gonna tell you.

Tell me what?

What'd you do, Lidia?

I mentioned to the little kid Lipnicki

Billy that we was building a fort.

He ain't even allowed

off his property.

How could

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes