The Help Page #2

---

MR. BLACKLY (CONT'D)

That...is a rejection letter.

Skeeter's face flushes hot and quick.

SKEETER:

Not exactly. Missus Stein-

MR. BLACKLY

-STEIN?! Missus who?

Skeeter points toward the letterhead.

SKEETER:

Elaine Stein, Senior Editor at

Harper and Row Publishing. In New

York. I'm going to be a serious

writer, Mr. Blackly. So, when I

applied to Harper and Row, Missus

STEIN WROTE-

MR. BLACKLY

-She told you "no."

SKEETER:

Until I gain some experience, Mr.

Blackly! See, it says it right

there at the end. "Great

potential...Gain some experience

and please apply again."

Mr. Blackly pours the rest of the peanuts in his mouth.

5.

MR. BLACKLY

Oh, Christ...I guess you'll do.

Can you clean?

SKEETER:

Clean?

Mr. Blackly sees cigarette smoke bleeding under his door.

MR. BLACKLY

Clean!

Mr. Blackly pulls up a box filled with letters and

newspapers. He slams it down in front of Skeeter.

MR. BLACKLY (CONT'D)

Miss Myrna's gone sh*t-house crazy

on us, drunk hair spray or

something. Read her past columns

and all these letters. Answer them

just like she did, nobody'll know

the damn difference.

Skeeter forces a smile.

MR. BLACKLY (CONT'D)

You know who Miss Myrna is?

SKEETER:

(COVERING)

I read her articles all the time.

MR. BLACKLY

Articles? Ha! It's a cleaning

advice column, Miss Phelan. Eight

bucks a week. Copy due Thursday.

Mr. Blackly picks up the phone and starts yelling at someone.

Skeeter excitedly grabs the box of letters and leaves.

INT. HOLBROOK HOUSE - BATHROOM - SAME DAY

HILLY HOLBROOK, 22, white and hefty, sits on a closed toilet

seat in a well-appointed bathroom. She's covered in red plaid

and bows and has a round face topped by a perfect beehive.

HILLY:

(SCREAMING UPWARD)

Momma! We're late for bridge!

Hilly carefully rolls toilet paper out from its holder. She

raises a pencil and places the tiniest dot imaginable on the

first and second sheets of paper.

AIBILEEN (V.O.)

Miss Hilly was the first of the

babies to have a baby. And it must

a come out of her like the eleventh

commandment. `Cause once Miss

Hilly had a baby, ever girl at the

bridge table wanted one too.

6.

She carefully rolls the paper back up in the roll.

HILLY:

Minny! Go get Momma!

INT. HOLBROOK HOUSE - ENTRY FOYER STAIRWELL - SAME TIME

MINNY JACKSON, 33, black, plump and in uniform, rolls her

eyes beneath a crystal chandelier. She shouts up the

mahogany stairwell.

MINNY:

Missus Walters?! You need help

coming down?

MISSUS WALTERS, 60, passes quietly behind Minny.

MISSUS WALTERS:

I'm down!

Minny jumps with a yelp, spins around.

MISSUS WALTERS (CONT'D)

Been down.

MINNY:

Gone give me a heart attack!

Missus Walters ambles toward the closet door. Minny quickly

tries to turn her toward the front door. Missus Walters

resists.

MISSUS WALTERS:

Minny, I'm getting my coat.

Missus Walters opens the closet.

MINNY:

It's ninety degrees out there,

Missus Walters.

Missus Walters pulls out a red, wool coat with cheetah print

collar.

The early stages of Alzheimer's have appeared, but Missus

Walters is still quite proud at eighty percent capacity.

AIBILEEN (V.O.)

Once Missus Walters' arteries went

hard, Miss Hilly moved her and

Minny in with her. Fired the maid

she had just to make room. See,

Minny about the best cook in

Mississippi, and Miss Hilly wanted

her.

Hilly's approach is marked by the whishing sound of her

plaid, fat thighs.

7.

She nonchalantly grabs the coat from her mother and carries

it out the door.

Minny and Missus Walters follow. Minny carries a chocolate

pie. Hilly barks over her shoulder.

HILLY:

Minny, William took Billy out for

ice cream. So, hurry back and get

Billy down for his nap. No dilly

dallying.

MINNY:

Yes, ma'am.

Minny raises the pie behind Hilly's beehive, dreaming of

smashing it into her head.

AIBILEEN (V.O.)

Minny my best friend. A old lady

like me lucky to have her.

INT. LEEFOLT HOME - BATHROOM- SAME DAY

Aibileen kneels next to Mae Mobley who sits on a small

children's training toilet.

MAE MOBLEY:

No!

AIBILEEN (V.O.)

It's a tricky thing...you try to

make a baby go in the toilet bowl

before it's time. If theys can't

get the hang of it, theys get to

thinking low a theyselves.

Mae Mobley sticks her lip out.

AIBILEEN (CONT'D)

You drunk up two glasses a grape

juice, I know you got to tee-tee.

MAE MOBLEY:

Nooo.

Mae Mobley shakes her head.

AIBILEEN:

I give you a cookie if you go.

Tee-tee immediately sprinkles into the bowl.

AIBILEEN (CONT'D)

Mae Mobley! You going!

Aibileen and Mae Mobley laugh excitedly as Elizabeth storms

into the bathroom in her finished dress. The hemline now

slants in the other direction.

Rate this script:3.5 / 4 votes