Sounder Page #3

DAVID LEE:

Sausage and hambones!

EARL tries to put his hand in one of the pots but DAVID slaps it away.

DAVID LEE:

Don't do that!

JOSIE MAE:

Where did it come from?

JOSIE MAE is a tall, pretty girl for her nine years -- with a sort of

brooding air about her.

DAVID LEE:

Come on!

DAVID sees SOUNDER through the front-door screen, scratching to get in -- he

hurriedly lets the dog in, and they all dash out the back door.

EXT. THE BACKYARD - DAY

REBECCA is hanging out wash on the clothes line as the children rush toward

her.

DAVID LEE:

Mama, there's hot meat on the stove!

REBECCA:

That's right!

DAVID LEE:

Where did it come from, Mama?

REBECCA:

Where all meat come from -- now git yourself

washed up and be snappy about it -- you got six

miles ahead of you to that school.

She heads for the kitchen while the children proceed to wash up at the well.

INT. THE KITCHEN - DAY

REBECCA enters the kitchen and immediately starts preparing breakfast as

NATHAN is awakened and is standing in the doorway to the kitchen from their

room. She notices him and stops her work for a moment.

REBECCA:

Good mornin', Nathan.

NATHAN LEE:

Mornin'...

REBECCA:

You ready to eat?

NATHAN LEE:

I'll wait till after the children.

She goes back to preparing the food as she moves into the kitchen to put

together some scraps of food for SOUNDER.

NATHAN LEE:

How's the weather out there?

REBECCA:

Little chilly.

NATHAN LEE:

Hope it don't freeze out our baseball game

today!

EXT. THE BACKYARD - DAY

The children meet NATHAN as he is coming out of the house and they are about

to enter.

CHILDREN:

Mornin', Daddy!

NATHAN LEE:

Mornin' back atcha!

They rush on past him into the house as he smiles.

NATHAN LEE:

Don't forget to save me some!

He stops in the center of the yard and looks about.

NATHAN LEE:

Sounder!

SOUNDER comes running toward him from the field in back of the shed. NATHAN

bends to a pan on the ground and puts the scraps of food in it as SOUNDER

arrives and begins to eat. NATHAN rises and looks on, pleasingly.

NATHAN LEE:

That oughta put you in good shape for tonight!

INT. THE KITCHEN - DAY

The children are at the table eating as REBECCA is about to return to her

laundry work in the backyard.

REBECCA:

Don't take all day at that table, David Lee.

JOSIE MAE:

Mama, when kin me and Earl go to school with

David Lee?

REBECCA:

Maybe soon--

She moves out of the door --

EXT. THE BACKYARD - DAY

Out in the backyard, NATHAN is chopping wood with SOUNDER nearby him as

REBECCA returns to hanging out the wash. She starts that nervous hum of hers,

and occasionally glances over to him at the woodpile. He lifts his head for a

moment and calls out to her.

NATHAN LEE:

The one thing we got plenty of is wood!

She stops her work and just looks on him with concern when DAVID, JOSIE and

EARL dash out into the yard, breaking her trend of thought.

DAVID LEE:

Ready to go, Mama!

REBECCA:

Tuck that shirt in, David Lee.

He moves toward her, cramming the shirt down into his pants.

REBECCA:

You got two shirts on?

DAVID LEE:

Yes mam...

REBECCA:

When you get outta that school, you come right

on back home, y'all gon' have to take this

laundry work I done for Miss Boatwright today.

She gives him a quick hug and kiss. He rushes over to his father.

DAVID LEE:

'Bye, Daddy...

They shake hands...

NATHAN LEE:

'Bye, son...

He takes off with JOSIE MAE, EARL and SOUNDER.

REBECCA starts back toward the clothesline, and as if to make a decision, she

stops and turns to NATHAN.

REBECCA:

Where was it you went last night, Nathan?

He rises from his chopping position and faces her directly.

NATHAN LEE:

I went where I had to go, Rebecca. My children

was hungry.

As if to say the conversation is over, he immediately goes back to chopping

wood. She gives him a long but soft look and then finally returns to her work.

EXT. THE ROAD - DAY

DAVID LEE rides in the back of the wagon of a white farmer, who is giving him

a lift part of the way.

DAVID LEE runs a distance of the road -- sits and rests on the side of the

road for a few minutes -- walks at a slow pace for a while.

The boy climbs up into the wagon of a black farmer -- The wagon pulls away.

He makes the final dash up the road.

EXT. SCHOOLYARD - DAY

He speeds around the side of the building, and enters through a back door.

INT. SCHOOL HALLWAY - DAY

He rushes down the short hallway until he comes to a door, and enters.

INT. CLASSROOM OF THE SCHOOL - DAY

This is a Southern White school where they segregate off into a far corner

one or two black children they allow to attend the school.

DAVID LEE enters the room in an exhausted state as he stops just inside the

door.

All eyes are upon him, including a black boy and girl who are segregated off

in the back corner of the room. The teacher picks up his clock from the desk

and looks at it.

DAVID LEE:

I'm sorry, Mr Clay...

MR CLAY:

You are one hour late...

DAVID LEE:

Yessir...

MR CLAY:

Well, take your seat.

DAVID LEE, with all eyes still upon him, moves carefully to a chair in the

far corner -- sits next to the black boy and girl. MR CLAY takes up his book

from the desk, and looks out on the class --

MR CLAY:

Now where were we before we were interrupted--

Oh yeah, Huckleberry Finn, chapter thirty-four!

This chapter is called: WE CHEER UP JIM! Here

we go:
"Tom says: What's the vittles for?

Going to feed the dogs? The colored boy kind of

smiled around gradually over his face, and

says:
Yes, Mars Sid, a dog. Cur'us dog, too.

Does you want to go en look at 'im?"

CLOSE ANGLE - DAVID and other two children. The teacher's words can hardly be

heard as he continues with the reading -- as the CHILDREN'S faces hold mixed

expressions of confusion, pain, and mostly boredom. A head shaking, pathetic

moment --

EXT. FRONT OF MRS. BOATWRIGHT'S HOUSE - DAY

It is a medium size one-family house, painted gray -- trimmed in white around

the edges of the frame -- the yard is surrounded by well-kept hedges -- the

yard is mostly green grass and flower beds -- with walkways leading to the

front and back of the house. The children and the dog move into the yard from

the residential street --

EXT. SIDE OF THE HOUSE - DAY

They walk around the side of the house to a back door. The boys put the

basket down -- DAVID knocks on the door -- after a moment, MRS. BOATWRIGHT, a

tall, attractive white woman in her early forties, opens the screen door.

DAVID LEE:

We brought your laundry, Miss Boatwright.

MRS. BOATWRIGHT

Come in, children.

They enter the house, leaving SOUNDER in the backyard.

INT. MRS. BOATWRIGHT'S KITCHEN - DAY

DAVID and EARL stop in the middle of the floor, holding the basket.

MRS. BOATWRIGHT

Put it right up on this table, boys.

The two boys lift the basket up on the table. She looks through the clothes

for a moment.

MRS. BOATWRIGHT

You tell Rebecca ain't a Chinaman in all this

world can beat her ironing.

She reaches into her pocket and pulls out some change, picks out some and

passes it on to DAVID.

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