Sounder Page #9

MRS. BOATWRIGHT

Charlie, just because a man and his family are

colored, you--

CHARLIE:

Now look, Rita, I don't make the rules -- you

puttin' yourself on a limb, comin' here, askin'

me to do a thing like this. And I be damn if

I'm going to jeopardize my job because you are

in love with a little colored boy!

The phone on his desk rings -- he picks up the receiver to his ear and sits

down --

CHARLIE:

County Clerk's office, Charlie Davis

speaking... Yes, sir... You bet your life,

sir...Yes, sir, I'll be right there.

He puts the receiver down -- jumps up, goes to the rack and gets his coat and

starts to fix his tie --

CHARLIE:

That was Judge Elliot on the phone and when

Judge Elliot calls, I jump! Good day, Rita.

He moves to the door, to the waiting area and opens it to leave -- DAVID LEE

can be seen standing in the background of CHARLIE --

MRS. BOATWRIGHT

But, Charlie --

CHARLIE:

NO! N-O, NO!

Just like that he is gone. MRS. BOATWRIGHT stands in the middle of the floor

in a moment of frustration, with DAVID LEE looking on from the alcove. She

thinks for a moment and then looks to the file cabinets against the wall.

DAVID stands in the doorway as she decides to go to the file cabinets. She

checks the outer notation on each one of the cabinets until she comes to the

one that reads:
PRISONER CASES. She quickly opens the cabinet drawer and

hurriedly fingers through the files until she finds the file with NATHAN LEE

MORGAN's name on it. She goes through it until she has gotten the information

she wants and just as she is about to put it back, CHARLIE DAVIS has returned

and has caught her in his files. She looks cheaply to him, slips the file

back into its place, closes the cabinet drawer and backs away from the file

cabinet. He moves past DAVID LEE into the office on to the file cabinet where

she was, opens it enough for him to tell that she has disturbed the one

single file of NATHAN LEE MORGAN. He slams the file drawer back shut and

turns to her.

CHARLIE:

I see you found what you was lookin' for.

MRS. BOATWRIGHT

I did look, Charlie, but I--

CHARLIE:

No buts, Rita!

MRS. BOATWRIGHT

Charlie, you have no legal right not to let

this boy know where his father is! You hear

that, you and this whole damn court house;

what you are doing is wrong!

CHARLIE:

Don't tell me about what's wrong. You come into

my office as a friend and steal city files! I

could have you arrested for that -- and if you

give out that information to anybody, that's

exactly what I'm going to do -- and I'll tell

everybody in this town how you got the

information and who you got it for! You won't

have a friend left in this county to bring you

a piece of candy!

MRS. BOATWRIGHT

You would do that, wouldn't you?

CHARLIE:

You getting the point, Mrs. Boatwright.

MRS. BOATWRIGHT gives him a hard and long look with the feeling that he means

what he says --

MRS. BOATWRIGHT

Let's get out of here, David Lee.

She turns and moves out of the office, through the door, with DAVID LEE

following --

EXT. COURT HOUSE STEPS - DAY

MRS. BOATWRIGHT and DAVID are slowly descending the Court House steps, and on

towards her automobile, parked about a hundred feet away. She is about to

open the door of the car, when DAVID LEE stops --

DAVID LEE:

You know where my father is, don't you, Miss

Boatwright?

MRS. BOATWRIGHT

(pause)

No, he was wrong, David, I didn't find out.

DAVID LEE:

But I saw you -- you looked in there, and you

found out, Miss Boatwright.

MRS. BOATWRIGHT

If I tell you I didn't, David, that's what I

mean.

DAVID LEE:

But, Miss Boatwright, you--

MRS. BOATWRIGHT

I don't know a damn thing, now stop bothering

me about it!

She gets into the car as he shuffles his feet about on the ground with his

head turned slightly down, remaining in one place --

MRS. BOATWRIGHT

Come, I'll take you home.

DAVID LEE:

I'll walk...

MRS. BOATWRIGHT

Don't pout now, David, it's a long trip.

DAVID LEE:

I'm used to it.

MRS BOATWRIGHT:

Well, you can't say I didn't try.

DAVID LEE watches her drive off and away and then he slowly starts walking

away...

EXT. BACKYARD - DAY

DAVID LEE, at the well, draws up a pail of water and pours it into a

container for SOUNDER who is standing beside him, anxiously waiting for the

water. As SOUNDER drinks the water, DAVID turns around to see MRS. BOATWRIGHT

standing in the middle of the yard.

MRS. BOATWRIGHT

Hello, David...

DAVID LEE:

Hi, Mrs. Boatwright...

(pause)

I'm sorry 'bout the way I acted the other day,

Miss Boatwright.

MRS BOATWRIGHT:

There's nothin' to be sorry about, David --

where's your mother?

REBECCA:

Right here, Miss Boatwright.

REBECCA is standing in the doorway of the shed -- MRS. BOATWRIGHT doesn't

quite know how to begin -- the two women just look to each other for awhile

-- then --

MRS. BOATWRIGHT

The camp Nathan is at is called Wishbone Labor

Camp. It's in Nolan Town!

REBECCA lets the news soak in for a moment -- DAVID LEE has a big smile on

his face. REBECCA moves from the doorway and stands directly before MRS.

BOATWRIGHT.

REBECCA:

Miss Boatwright -- you shore is a crazy actin'

woman sometime!

She bursts out laughing and kicks up her leg -- DAVID picks up the laughing,

then MRS. BOATWRIGHT... EARL and JOSIE MAE arrive and stop at the corner of

the house -- can't quite make out what this crazy laughing is all about but

they move to the center of the yard with them and join in with the laughing.

After a short while the laughter comes to a sudden stop -- sudden, absolute

silence --

JOSIE MAE:

Mama, what was we laughin' for?

REBECCA:

At the way you ask funny questions, Josie Mae!

INT. THE KITCHEN-SITTING ROOM - DAY

In the house, REBECCA and all the children are gathered around MRS.

BOATWRIGHT at the table with a map spread out as she scans it carefully with

a pencil --

MRS. BOATWRIGHT

We go from "A-2" -- now let me see where we go

from here...

REBECCA:

Trouble, Miss Boatwright?

MRS. BOATWRIGHT

Oh no, these maps are easy to read.

But she is having trouble locating the place as her pencil moves about in

several confusing spots on the map -- like having to find a bigger town's

indicating alphabet and number in order to search about at random to locate a

smaller town -- but finally --

MRS. BOATWRIGHT

There it is, right there!

She makes a marker with the pencil and holds it down on the place --

everybody leans over the map as close as possible to see the little area she

has made a circle around -- DAVID straightens up --

DAVID LEE:

How do you get there, Miss Boatwright?

Everybody straightens up to get MRS. BOATWRIGHT's directions. She holds the

map up as they look on.

MRS. BOATWRIGHT

Now they have numbers and letters on here to

tell you where to look on the map, but Nolan

Town is not under a number but we know it's in

Northern Landsdown -- the number for Northern

Landsdown is:
"h7", but since Landsdown is the

largest county, it actually stretches over into

"a2" but "a2" is -- Am I making myself clear?

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