Streetwise Page #5

Lulu (voice over)

I ain't putting on a dress for nobody. I haven't done it since I was

sixteen. I've had my nose broke five times. I've had both sets of my

eye bones broke, top and bottom. I've had my jaw cracked three times.

I'll tell people now, they can beat the sh*t out of me, but they're not

getting me away from down here.

On Pike Street, Dewayne comes on to Kim.

Kim Calvin and Erica been down here?

Dewayne Erica was.

Kim This girl told me they're after my ass. I gotta keep it cool.

Dewayne Man, I wouldn't even worry about them.

Kim There are alot of people after my ass 'cause I'm not working any

more.

Dewayne Well, be with me and you wouldn't have to work.

Kim (laughing) Naw.

Dewayne I'm serious. No mother-f***er's gonna f*** with you.

Kim I'm just not going to come down here any more.

Dewayne Then let me get your phone number, so I can call you, so we can

go out for pizza or somethin'.

Kim I don't have a phone right now.

Dewayne Well, let me give you my number and you can call me.

Kim OK, whatever.

Dewayne Anybody got a pen? I don't got no pen. There's a pen, thank you

sir. Now, anybody got a piece of paper?

Dewayne goes to the Adolescent Free Clinic to find out why he is so

small for his age.

Dr. Deisher Well, you gained about 3 inches in height, since we last

saw you almost a year and a half ago. You haven't gained much weight.

You're about the same weight as you were.

Dewayne I eat all the time, but I don't gain no weight or nothin'. I

think there's a worm inside me or somethin'.

Dr. Deisher Think you got worms, huh?

Dewayne I dunno. I want to get it checked out.

Dr. Deisher Sure. Can you straighten up? (Dewayne uncurls his spine

from its usual slouch.) Do you spend alot of time on the streets?

Dewayne Yup.

Dr. Deisher What do you do down there?

Dewayne Panhandle. Just hang around. Hug all the girls.

Dr. Deisher You got alot of girlfriends?

Dewayne Yup.

Dr. Deisher Hummmm. Let's see those tonsils. (He slips a tongue

depresser into Dewayne's mouth.)

Dewayne Awgh.

Dr. Deisher Take it easy. When did you have tonsillitis last?

Dewayne Awwgh. When I was locked up in Echo Glen, that was maybe two

months ago.

Dr. Deisher Did you go to school last year?

Dewayne Nope. For two years I haven't been to school.

Dr. Deisher So you haven't been to school since you were twelve?

Dewayne No. I'm sixteen.

Dr. Deisher (feeling the glands in Dewayne's neck) Does it hurt when I

do this?

Dewayne Nope. It feels good.

Dr. Deisher What do you think you'd like to do someday?

Dewayne I dunno.

Dr. Deisher Anything interest you at all?

Dewayne Nope.

Dr. Deisher You got lots of big glands in your neck. You got

chronically infected tonsils, which certainly don't help your growth

and your nutrition any.

Dewayne I might join the Navy, if the world lasts that long.

Reagan's sending all them Marines, shootin' everybody. All them Marines

get to shootin', cuttin' out Russia and Russia's probably gonna bomb us

or somethin'. Ow, that hurts right there.

Dr. Deisher That hurts, huh? Does it hurt bad or just a little?

Dewayne Just a little. Ow, right there. Oh, yeah.

Rat, Jack, and Shadow look at knives in a pawn shop window.

Rat You mean you ain't got fifty cents? Why don't you just walk up to

some guy and ask him for fifty cents to catch the bus?

Shadow 'Cause I don't have a face like yours.

Rat Aw, it'll work.

Shadow leaves.

Rat (to Jack) He's the worst one on Pike Street. He'll be your buddy

when you're face to face. As soon as you turn around, you got a knife

in your back. It ain't worth it.

Shadow sits alone on Pike Street.

Shadow (Voice Over)

You learn how to fight, one way or another. Or you disappear. I know

how to fight, but I like disappearing. My mother and father got a

divorce when I was about a year old. My mother decided I should go to a

foster home. About five years ago, my father said, 'I want you to come

over.' So, I spent six months with my father. Six months were up,

nobody could find my mother. A year went up, nobody could find my

mother. My father got tired of me and my sister. He told me to leave. I

left.

Shellie uses a pay telephone on Pike Street to phone home.

Shellie Hi. Is mom there? Howya doin'? ... Nothing, just called to tell

you I'm OK and sh*t ... Where am I? None of your business ... No. Call

me a prostitute. Come on, I dare you to ... No, that's not what I'm

doing but that's what you called me last time I was gone ... Yes you

did ... I called to tell you I'm OK, to see how you were doin' and now

I'm going to hang up ... and I hope you have fun with your stupid-ass

husband. (To Shadow.) Ooooo, she pisses me off.

Shadow and Shellie go to the amusement park together.

Shadow (voice over)

Shellie's a real sweet girl. The streets is nothing for a girl that

young. I mean, fourteen years old and on the streets ... I've taken

care of her a little, made sure she's eaten. She's like a little sister

... I like women for the simple reason they're sweet, they're caring,

they need care.

Shellie One thing I don't do is fall in love in two or three days.

I've made many mistakes ...

Shadow You've never lived on the streets.

Shellie I have so lived on the streets before.

Shadow Not like this. Not like I have.

Shellie I don't want to live on the streets like you have. I'm not

going to either, man.

Shadow Are you going to help me dye my hair?

Shellie Hell, no. I can't dye hair, man.

Shadow I'll do it myself then. I don't know how I'm going to do it, but

I'm going to do it myself.

Shellie Why do you want your hair dyed? To change?

Shadow Not actually to change, to get away from everything.

Shellie That ain't gonna get you away from jack-sh*t, honey.

Shadow It will, considering I'm gonna dye my hair.

Shellie (voice over)

My mom's got seven kids. She's thirty-two. My wishes would be to have a

small family that was happy. Just my older brother, my real dad and me

and my mom. Nobody else.

Shellie at home with her mother.

Shellie's Mother I can't have you livin' out on the streets.

Shellie So, I can't have me living here.

Mother I'm trying to get some input from you Shellie. Anything but

sarcasm.

Shellie That's all I get around here. That's all I ever hear from

Larry.

Mother That's his way of dealing with people.

Shellie Right. He makes me sick ... from when I was little and he was a

pervert and sh*t. Every time I remember what he did to me, when he took

advantage of me and sh*t.

Mother I didn't know and you didn't tell me.

Shellie I DIDN'T KNOW IT. Until you started asking me.

Mother But you wouldn't tell me then.

Shellie When you asked me if he did a certain thing, I said, 'yeah.'

And then you went and told him. Ever since then he's hated me.

Mother Yeah, but he didn't do it any more.

Shellie So. I still hate him for doing it to begin with.

Shellie sitting on a bench on Pike Street eating a pizza with Patti and

Munchkin.

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