The Joy Luck Club Page #2

---

- Practice piano time.

- People say we monkey around

- I couldn't believe what she

was saying. Like I was...

- But we're too busy singin'

- supposed to go through the

same torture again. Forget it.

- To put anybody down

- What I say? 4:
00.

- We're just tryin' to be friendly

-Come and watch us sing and play

-I'm not going to play any more.

- Why should I?

- We're the young generation

- What did you say?

- And we've got something to say

I'm not your slave.

This isn't China.

You can't make me.

- Get up!

- No! No, I won't.

No!

No! No, I won't.

You want me to be someone I'm not!

I'll never be the kind of daughter

that you want me to be!

There be two kinds of daughter:

obedient or follow own mind.

Only one kind of daughter

could live in this house:

- obedient kind.

- Then I wish I wasn't your daughter!

I wish you weren't my mom!

Too late to change this.

That's when I remembered

what we could never talk about.

Then I wish I were dead...

like them, the babies

that you killed in China!

My mother had once told me

this strange story...

what happened

to her in China.

She said she was going to Chungking

to meet the man who was her husband.

That was the first time I ever heard

she was married before my father.

She barely had time to grab

her babies, twin girls.

That was the first time

I heard she had other babies.

I always try to picture

in my mind what really happened...

but she would never explain.

She would only say by the time

she reached Chungking...

she had lost everything.

And I said,

"Wait, what do you mean 'everything'?

What happened

to those babies?"

There were so many things about

my mother I never understood.

This is the only one

I never forgave.

The babies.

You know?

Two babies?

The babies? We all thought

that the babies had died.

- But last month at a church picnic--

- You know...

two babies your mother leave

on the roadside, in wartime?

It's miracle,

but we find them.

Yes! Can you imagine?

They still alive!

What are you saying?

They're alive?

I think your mother

always want to find them...

her long-cherished wish.

So after she died,

we tried for her;

- writing, writing, writing.

- "My--"

- This is from them, those babies?

- Ah, no baby anymore.

They're alive!

Oh, what does it say?

What does it mean?

It say--

See here?

They are very glad--

No, no, no, no, no.

Overjoyed beyond belief...

at last find you,

their little sister.

And they say--

See here?

How sad, how very sad...

too late to meet their mother...

now she no longer in this world.

Yes, yes.

It says--

See here?

You must come to China

and meet them...

and tell them

all about their mother.

What could I tell them?

I didn't know anything

about her. She was--

- She was my mother.

- What do you mean?

Tell them how smart she was...

- Your mother is your voice.

- how kind she was.

- Everyone love her.

- How sincere, how hard-working she was.

- And the excellent dishes she cooked.

- Even better than mine.

And how beautiful she sang.

Don't you remember?

How can a daughter

not know her own mother?

You're right.

I will tell them.

I-I should.

I want to.

June? June.

What you thinking?

Oh, those babies,

of course. The twins.

I can't believe I'm actually

going to meet them.

How sad they must have been

when you told them Mom died.

That must have been the hardest

letter for you to write.

Oh, peanut bowl empty.

Oh! Oh, I'll get us some.

All this time never

telling her the truth.

- Must tell her today.

- How can you not tell her?

How can I tell her what

the letter really say?

Then she never go to China,

never go to see her sister.

Am I right?

Yes, of course.

Lindo, I still think it's wrong.

It's so sad for those babies.

How could Suyuan

give them up?

To lose a mother so young...

to wonder why.

Even to this day I wonder...

how my own mother

could give me up.

That day...

when I was only

four years old...

I came upon a meeting...

that would change

my life forever.

Come here quick.

Come here.

Huang Tai Tai,

this is my daughter.

Come here, Lindo.

Come over here.

Come to Mama.

Don't keep Huang Tai Tai waiting.

She looks like a brat.

She's usually very obedient.

She's just shy today.

I didn't know it, but that day

my mother made a promise:

- that when I became 1 5, I would

go live in this woman's house...

- She looks so skinny.

Don't go by her looks.

Look at that lucky face.

She'll give you many grandsons.

and fulfill the old matchmaker's

guarantee to have many sons...

- with a husband

I had never met before.

- Come here! Come here!

Have Huang Tai Tai

take a closer look at you.

Stop stuffing yourself!.

No girl should eat so fast.

For the next ten years...

my mother treated me as if

I already belonged to Huang Tai Tai.

Look at those dirty spots!

Who would want such a dirty

daughter-in-law?

Always be careful.

Otherwise when you go

to Huang Tai Tai's...

she will disapprove of you.

My mother did not say these things

because she didn't love me.

She said these things...

so she would not wish

for something...

that was no longer hers.

And then one day...

my mother said our whole family

was moving to the south.

Everyone except me.

Remember...

when you see Huang Tai Tai...

act happy.

Really, you are very lucky.

The marriage ceremony has begun.

Bride and groom,

pay respect to each other.

Pay respect to the ancestors.

Be blessed with prosperity!

Be blessed with many sons!

That night I would meet

my husband for the first time;

the one who would

control my destiny...

decide whether

I was happy or not.

This one moment would decide

for my whole life...

whether fear would rule...

or I would.

I decided

underneath I knew who I was.

I promised myself

never to forget.

I have prayed to the gods

many days for you...

so that you were not too ugly...

or too old.

I must have prayed too hard.

Ha! Scared you to death!

I am the husband.

I make all the decisions.

You sleep on the floor.

Do it! Do it now!

The next few years,

I tried to accept my life...

to act like an obedient wife.

Every night I made

Huang Tai Tai special soup...

good for mother-in-laws.

Still, she was not pleased.

Where are my grandsons?

My son says...

you often refuse...

to sleep with him.

What kind of a wife are you?

You sleep on your side.

After that,

I slept with my husband.

Every night

I slept with him...

just like brother and sister.

Where are my grandsons?

Huh?

My son says he's planted enough

seeds in you to fill a basket.

Plenty for

ten thousand grandsons!

It's all your fault!

Always running around...

letting my son's seeds

spill out.

From now on...

you lie in bed all day.

Lie down!

Lie down!

Until my grandson comes!

Do you hear me?

Disgusting little thing!

Close all the windows!

Feel this.

I'm pregnant.

That's impossible.

It's yours!

What'd I tell you?

She's like this all the time.

What the hell's happening?

Rate this script:2.7 / 42 votes