BLACK BOY

The Autobiography of Richard Wright

Adapted For The Screen

(Web version in nonstandard format)

Copyright © 1998

FADE IN:

 

EXT. MISSISSIPPI - SHARECROPPER SHANTY TOWN - DAWN - 1914

 

This could be a third world country.

 

What was once a forest is now cut clear, mainly stumps and

eroding red soil. Several shacks huddle near a dirt road

going nowhere. Weak trails of smoke drift from tin-pipe

chimneys. Thin steam oozes from a single roadside outhouse.

 

At the nearest shack a very old black man sits on a stump,

the young sunrise dull in his cataract eyes. Near him is an

ancient wagon; broken, rusted, dismembered.

 

At the end of the aimless road is a small, ramshackle shanty.

 

Framed in a single window, a silky white backdrop behind, is

the face of an attractive black boy, about six.

 

 

 

INT. SHANTY - SAME TIME

 

The walls and furniture are made of rough, unpainted wood.

 

In a still dark bedroom, a large black man in his thirties,

NATE WRIGHT, snores loudly amidst shabby linens.

 

In what passes for a kitchen, his wife, ELLA, about 30, toils

at a pot-bellied stove.

 

In a living area, a small space, the faint light of dawn is

piercing porous walls. A blaze smolders in a makeshift

fireplace. A small boy about five, LEON WRIGHT, lays on his

side and watches the fading fire.

 

In this dark interior there is only one bright element.

Flowing with the breeze at the single window, long, white,

silky curtains envelope the six-year-old boy, RICHARD WRIGHT.

He kneels, his arms crossed on the splintered sill, and looks

out the window to the branch of a dying tree a few feet away.

 

Behind him, his younger brother speaks.

 

LEON

It ain't gonna come.

 

Richard ignores him.

 

LEON

(continuing)

It ain't.

 

RICHARD

You shut up.

 

LEON

You shut up.

 

Richard stares at the branch. In a flash of color a cardinal

lands. He is a beautiful, brilliant red bird with full,

lustrous plumage. Richard's eyes and mouth go wide and he

inhales sharply.

 

Leon stirs and joins Richard at the window. The boys just

stare for a long moment.

 

RICHARD

(quiet)

Hello, birdy.

 

The cardinal, as if it heard him, turns to Richard. It peeps.

 

RICHARD

(continuing; gleeful)

Wooooooooooooh!

 

Leon backs away suddenly. Ella rushes into the room, hurries

up to Richard, pulls him from the window and the bird flies.

 

ELLA

(whispering, urgent)

You hush-up! Do you want to wake

your father?!

 

Richard, knowing the threat, shakes his head. Ella releases

her grip and moves back to the kitchen. She stops short and

whispers forcefully.

 

ELLA

(continuing)

And you keep your dirty-self away

from your granny's curtains. I

ain't gonna tell you again.

 

Ella returns to the kitchen.

 

Hereafter, when the boys speak they whisper.

 

LEON

Hah. You got in trouble.

 

Richard looks at his younger brother, but says nothing.

 

LEON

(continuing)

You got in trouble, ya, ya.

 

Now Richard begins to advance slowly towards his brother.

Leon's brow rises and he backs off.

 

LEON

(continuing;

exclaiming whisper)

Don't you start nothin'! You'll

get a whippin'!

 

Richard follows as Leon picks up speed and begins to move

here and there in the small room. He is backed into a

corner. Behind him leans a tattered broom, sparse in straw.

Leon snatches up the broom and holds it like a bat.

 

LEON

(continuing)

I'll hit ya'!

 

Richard readies himself, feints a leap, Leon takes a half-

hearted swing, Richard snatches the broom. Leon makes a

break but Richard cuts him off at the fireplace.

 

Richard holds the broom as if deciding what punishment to

meat out. Then he thrusts it into the fire and the few

remaining straws ignite. Richard looks to an aghast Leon.

 

RICHARD

Yeeeeeaaaah.

 

Richard thrust the weak torch out as if to pin Leon, but

stops short. Wide-eyed, the smaller boy gasps and makes a

break. Richard cuts him off and gives another feint. Leon

breaks again and again Richard heads him off.

 

Leon is backed up to the curtains. The thin fabric floats in

the breeze, as if reaching out. The torch is now just a weak

glow near the bundled base of straw.

 

Richard feints to the left, Leon jumps right. Leon dashes

left, Richard swings the broom fast to follow. The movement

of air ignites the bundled straw, it flares, the curtains

reach and... Fwooooom! The silky shear fabric inflames.

 

Richard drops the broom and both boys back away facing a

billowing sheet of fire. The brothers are open mouthed, wide-

eyed, in shock, but also fascinated.

 

The flames are beautiful; moving with the flowing, consumed

fabric. The fire reaches up and eats into the dry, bare wood

of the ceiling. And still the boys stand. Their eyes rise

with the fire. They watch the flames spread like liquid

across the ceiling above.

 

LEON

(quiet, calm)

Ooh, Richard. You gonna git a

spankin'.

 

Suddenly, they break, frantic, and run in opposite directions.

 

Ella is in the kitchen at the basin when Richard tears in.

She snaps her head up.

 

He stops, turns and runs back into the living room as Leon

runs past into the kitchen.

 

LEON

(continuing)

Mama-Mama-Mama-Mama...

 

Ella stares at the boy. Then her gaze turns up as a finger

of smoke reaches into the kitchen. Her mouth drops.

 

 

 

EXT. SHANTY

 

Smoke is billowing from the roof-line.

 

Richard blasts from the front door. He starts for the road,

stops, turns, starts for the house, stops, turns, starts for

road, stops, turns, runs back to the house and dives

underneath.

 

In perhaps a foot of crawl space, Richard propels himself

back through dirt and debris. A cat hisses and scuttles

away. Richard is frantic. Overhead, his mother screams.

 

ELLA (O.S.)

Fiiiire!! Nate! Fiiiire!!

 

Richard gives a whimper and pushes farther back, nearly to

the back of the house. Footsteps are booming through the

planks above. From out front, shouts are heard down the road.

 

Directly above, footsteps hammer, a creaky screen door slams

open and the legs and feet of Nate, Ella and Leon appear in

the back yard. Others are joining them. The 25 other

residents of the shanty town hurry onto the scene.

 

In the yard, Ella is beginning to turn, spinning, looking

frantically for her son.

 

ELLA

Richard... Richard! Richard!!

 

She runs to the edge of the house and looks underneath. From

under the house, Richard sees her face peering inward. He

buries his head and grips a post. Not seeing him, she rises

and backs into the yard.

 

ELLA

(continuing)

Richard! The house is on fire...

Oh, please, find my child!!

 

Under the house, Richard whimpers. Nate's face suddenly

appears. He continues to stare and his eyes adjust.

 

NATE

There he is!

 

RICHARD

Naw!

 

NATE

Come here, boy!

 

RICHARD

Naw!

 

NATE

The house is on fire!

 

RICHARD

Leave me 'lone!

 

NATE

Git out of there! You gonna burn

up!

 

RICHARD

No! Can't you hear? I told you,

leave me 'lone!

 

NATE

Goddamn your little ass! Git out

here!

 

RICHARD

No!

 

Cursing, Nate jams his big body under the house and grabs

Richard by the leg. Nate pulls, but Richard hugs tight to

the post, desperately fighting back. Nate pulls harder.

 

RICHARD

(continuing)

Leave me 'lone!!

 

Finally, Nate heaves and Richard's grip is broken. The boy

is dragged backward as he grabs at the loose earth and

screams.

 

NATE

Come outta there, you little fool!

 

RICHARD

Turn me loose!

 

Nate yanks Richard from under the house and throws him. The

boy sails through the air for about seven feet and lands

hard. He stays still, flat on the ground, whimpering.

 

The other black sharecroppers are watching the fire,

entranced.

 

Ella grabs Richard hard by the ear and forces him to his

feet. He is beyond crying out.

 

The mother hauls her son to a wooden barrel which lays on its

side underneath a thin weeping willow. She strips off his

shirt and forces him across the barrel.

 

She reaches up to the tree and begins to tear at a bare, low-

hanging branch. The branch is tough and she must pull hard

with both hands. Finally, it peels off; four-feet of hard,

whip-like wood.

 

Two women stand just behind, ignoring the fire, watching

Ella. Ella looks up at the women.

 

ELLA

(strangely calm)

Boy liked to scared us to death.

 

The branch rises high in the smoky, dawn sky and viciously

flashes down... whiiip-slap! Richard screams. The branch

rises again... whiiip-slap! Richard screams... whiiip-slap!

Richard screams... whiiip-slap!

 

The house caves-in on itself with a flurry of sparks.

Already, the old rotted wood a fast-burning fuel, it smolders.

 

The sun is full and fiery. The sharecroppers stand now as if

warming themselves. The branch rises again... whiiip-slap!

Richard no longer screams.

 

 

 

 

 

EXT. SHARECROPPER SHANTY TOWN - DUSK

 

What was once the Wright home is a black spot on the earth.

 

A wagon, pulled by an old mule and its wheels barely

attached, is heading off down the rutted road toward a barren

landscape. Nate is at the reins. Ella and Leon walk

alongside. In the back, Richard is wrapped in an old

blanket. He seems feverish, maybe delirious.

 

A few loitering children watch as the wagon creaks past.

 

NARRATOR

(an adult Richard)

I was lashed so hard and long that

I lost consciousness. I was

beaten out of my senses.

(pause)

For a long time after that day, I

was chastened whenever I

remembered that my mother had come

close to killing me.

 

Beyond the shanty town, the family moves slowly forward.

 

 

 

EXT. MEMPHIS CITY STREETS - EARLY MORNING

 

In the hot humid haze the black section of this urban

Southern city appears almost medieval. Buildings constructed

in the 1800's decay, but there is life on the street.

 

A milk wagon grinds down the pot-holed, earthen avenue

passing only black faces. Some residents linger on stoops

and corners, others make their way to work. Mainly, the

women who trudge along are dressed as maids or cooks; the men

are in overalls and work boots.

 

The wagon rattles to a stop in front of a row of tenement

houses. The driver drops to the street with a basket of

milk, passes one house by and crosses an alley to deliver

next door.

 

Down this garbage-filled, dead-end alley alongside the

neglected house, there is a single window, filthy, barely

transparent. But very close, on the other side of the dirty

glass, a spindly, alien shape moves. A roach, seemingly

magnified, makes its way along the glass.

 

 

 

INT. WRIGHTS' TENEMENT - BOYS' BEDROOM - SAME TIME

 

Seen through the clearing fog of waking eyes, on a dirty

window looking over an alley, a cockroach feels about. It's

huge; a good two inches, moving slow, long feelers extended

out, twitching.

 

It is Richard who watches the roach. It is just above where

his head rests on a ragged pillow. He clears his eyes and

watches as the roach flutters it's membrane wings.

 

At either side of the small, dingy room, the boys, not much

older, are on old, very small mattresses.

 

LEON

Kill it!

 

RICHARD

You shut up.

 

LEON

Kill that thing. It's dirty.

 

RICHARD

You dirty.

 

LEON

Ain't. You dirty.

 

The roach moves toward the crack between window and sill.

 

RICHARD

Shut up.

 

Richard reaches up and shuts the window before the roach can

exit. It stops, then crawls along the sill.

 

LEON

You crazy, Richard.

 

Richard reaches to the floor next him, grabs an empty mason

jar, moves to a kneeling position and slams the jar over the

insect. The roach comes to life, popping about in the jar,

fluttering its wings.

 

Leon gets up and moves closer to examine the trapped bug.

 

LEON

(continuing)

That's a big one.

 

Richard watches the bug for a moment, then, suddenly, he

jerks the jar up and moves to clap his hand over the opening.

But the roach is too fast. It goes airborne, flying. Leon

scrambles back.

 

ROACH'S POV:

 

-- Flying, closing fast on Leon. Leon's eyes go wide, his

mouth opens to scream...

 

Plop. The fat bug lands square on Leon's forehead.

 

LEON

(continuing)

Ahhhhhhhhh!!

 

Leon leaps into the air, swiping furiously at his face, yanks

open the door and runs screaming from the room.

 

 

 

INT. LIVING ROOM

 

Leon tears into the small and dingy space screaming, spinning

about, swiping at his face.

 

LEON

Mama-Mama-Mama-Mama-Mama!!

 

Ella runs from the kitchen and moves to the boy.

 

ELLA

Boy! What is it?

 

LEON

A roach, a roach... Richard threw

a roach on me!

 

NATE (O.S.)

Gooooddammmmmn! What's that

fuuuuuckin' noise out there?!

 

Leon shudders and immediately goes quiet.

 

The door to the parents room slams open. Nate stands there

in old pajama bottoms, his gut hanging out.

 

NATE

I'm sleepin' damn ya'! What're you

makin' that noise for, you little

sonofabitch?!

 

Leon looks to his father. The boy is terrified, speechless.

His mother says nothing.

 

NATE

(continuing)

Boy, I ain't gonna ask you again!

 

LEON

Uh-uh-I-Richard-Richard-I...

 

Nate turns to the boys' room.

 

NATE

Richard! Get your ass out here!

 

Richard appears from around the bedroom doorway. He stays

quiet, but moves determinedly into the room.

 

NATE

(continuing)

Get over here!

 

Ella and Leon stand together, knowing what's coming. Richard

moves closer to his father.

 

NATE

(continuing)

You know I'm sleepin'!

 

RICHARD

Yeah.

 

NATE

Don't you yeah me, boy!

 

RICHARD

Yes, sir.

 

NATE

Turn 'round!

 

Richard turns around. His face shows he's steeling for the

blow. Nate kicks out hard, strikes Richard in the rear. A

squelching gasp escapes the boy as he is catapulted off the

ground. He falls hard into the wall and crumples.

 

NATE

(continuing)

Next time you be makin' a fuss

'round here, you jest think 'bout

that sore ass you gonna have!

 

Nate starts back for his bedroom, stops and turns to his wife.

 

NATE

(continuing)

Get me my breakfast.

 

He enters the room and slams the door.

 

Richard rises from the floor. Behind him, Leon and his

mother watch. Stoic, Richard walks into his room.

 

 

 

INT. WRIGHT HOME - KITCHEN - LATER

 

Leon and Nate are at the table. Nate is dressed in the

uniform of a hotel janitor. Ella is cooking. Four eggs pop-

away sunny-side-up in a cast-iron pan full of bacon grease.

 

Sweating, Ella turns from the old stove, walks to Nate and

ladles the greasy eggs out to join his huge plate of bacon

and grits. She goes to the stove then returns to spoon some

grits to Leon's plate.

 

Nate breaks the eggs into his grits, crumbles the bacon and

begins to chop at the yellow-brown mass with a fork. He

begins to heap great gobs of the slurry into his mouth.

 

 

 

EXT. BACK ALLEY OF WRIGHTS' TENEMENT - SAME TIME

 

Dressed in ragged clothes and cinching his belt, Richard is

nearly to the back door of the home. He wipes his hands on

his shorts.

 

 

 

INT. WRIGHT HOME - KITCHEN

 

Richard does not quite enter the room. He leans against the

door frame and watches his father, hunched over, piling food

into his mouth. Stuffing the last of a biscuit into his face,

Nate glances up at the boy, then goes back to his food.

 

RICHARD

Can I have some milk?

 

ELLA

Sit down, boy.

 

Richard moves to the table and sits across from his father.

Nate reaches for another biscuit.

 

RICHARD

Can I get some milk?

 

ELLA

We ain't got no milk. The man

stopped deliverin'.

 

RICHARD

Why?

 

Ella doesn't respond as she ladles some grits into a bowl.

 

RICHARD

(continuing)

Why the milk man don't come?

 

Through a mouthful of food, Nate speaks.

 

NATE

Never you mind, boy.

 

Ella puts the bowl of grits in front of Richard. Richard

looks up, as if expecting more.

 

RICHARD

Can I have some eggs and bacon?

 

Ella is at the sink, her head turned away. She turns and

gives Richard a stern look before answering.

 

ELLA

(quiet)

Ain't no more.

 

Nate is shoveling hard at the last few bites of his food.

 

NATE

Boy, you want to eat in this

house, you make sure to get your

shufflin' black ass to the table

at meal time. Ain't nobody gonna

come lookin' for you to eat.

 

Richard looks hard at his father for a moment.

 

RICHARD

But I'm hungry.

 

Nate laughs.

 

NATE

Boy, look at the size of you! Now

look at the size of me. You get

to be my size and a workin' man,

you need food.

 

Nate reaches for the last biscuit, tears it in half and

throws a part to the table in front of Richard.

 

NATE

(continuing)

You don't need but a little. You

just a skinny thing, don't need

much of nothin'.

 

RICHARD

But I'm hungry.

 

Nate glares.

 

RICHARD

(continuing)

I'm always hungry.

 

Nate's stern look drops and he laughs; a guffaw.

 

NATE

Well you just best get out and get

yourself a job then, boy. Ain't

no free rides in this world.

 

Richard looks grimly back at his father. The man gobbles a

few last bites, pops the biscuit into his mouth, pushes back

from the table and runs a hand across his bulging gut. He

belches, gets up, takes his hat from the table and starts for

the front room.

 

ELLA

Nate?

 

NATE

Yeah?

 

ELLA

You got bread money?

 

Nate ignores Ella, walks from the room. Ella drops a

dishrag, grabs a hand towel and follows, drying her hands.

 

 

 

INT. LIVING ROOM

 

Nate is almost to the door when Ella catches up to him.

 

ELLA

When you gonna' be home?

 

NATE

I dunno. What business it of

yours?

 

There's a long pause as Ella registers hurt, maybe anger.

 

 

 

INT. KITCHEN

 

Richard and Leon overhear the voices of their parents.

Richard looks disturbed, but also resigned.

 

ELLA (O.S.)

You ain't been home before

midnight for three days. And you

all liquored-up.

 

NATE (O.S.)

Woman, I got me a hard job and I

need me some time.

 

ELLA

What do you do after work?

 

NATE

You know better than to ax me

questions. What gettin' into you,

woman?

 

ELLA

Don't leave when I'm talkin' to

you.

 

NATE

Who you think you talking to? You

don't give me no orders, bitch.

 

ELLA

You... You... You nothin' but a

whorein' 'round drunk!

 

Richard's face registers pain even before the blow comes...

a chair overturns, a body hits the floor. The front door

slams.

 

The boys sit, silent. From the other room, the brothers can

hear their mother sobbing softly.

 

NARRATOR

We did not understand what had

happened between our father and

our mother.

(pause)

Whenever we asked why father had

left, she would tell us that we

were too young to know.

 

 

 

EXT. MEMPHIS - BLACK SECTION - CITY STREET - DAY

 

A group of ten boys, including Richard, are running down the

sidewalk. They weave between pedestrians, leap to the

street, dodge an old truck, startle a horse and leap back on

the walks.

 

They tear through fruit carts and white vendors. Richard is

one of the smaller and younger of the boys by a couple of

years. His face shows some exhilaration at the play, and the

power of numbers.

 

They slow and begin to loiter near a group of about six

carts. The vendors may be Jewish. The gang, including

Richard, sing-out in unison.

 

BOYS

Red, white and blue, your pa was

a Jew! Your ma a dirty Dago, what

the hell is you!

 

The boys laugh. The vendors just stare.

 

The larger of the boys dashes up to a cart, grabs an apple

and runs. The rest of the gang howls and suddenly a line of

screaming vendors is under assault. The boys scramble around

a cart, grab apples and oranges and tear off to the next cart.

 

Richard, still at the curb, has stopped in his tracks. He

watches as the gang pillages, moving in and out like fast

little animals dodging the reeling vendors. A few boys grab

too much and fruit falls to the ground.

 

The gang runs. Richard hesitates, unsure, then he follows.

 

 

 

EXT. ALLEY - LATER

 

The boys sit on crates and cans and lean against the wall

eating their loot. Apples crunch between teeth, orange pulp

oozes from greedy mouths.

 

Richard, not eating, seems apart. He tosses small rocks a

few feet to nowhere and looks down. The larger boy, BOOTH,

gives Richard a long look.

 

BOOTH

Hey!

 

Richard looks up with a start, realizing the older boy is

speaking to him.

 

BOOTH

(continuing)

How come you got nothin'?

 

Richard pauses, not sure how to answer.

 

RICHARD

I dunno.

 

BOOTH

You don't know?! Shit boy, we all

got somethin' to eat, why didn't

you?

 

Richard seems like he might respond, but changes his mind.

 

RICHARD

I dunno.

 

Booth takes the last bite of his apple and stares at Richard.

The larger boy throws the core down the alley.

 

BOOTH

You best talk, boy, you want to be

part of my gang.

 

Richard turns and stares up at Booth about ten feet away.

 

RICHARD

I just didn't want to, that's all.

 

BOOTH

You didn't want to?! What you

problem, nigger, don't you eat?!

That why you such a skinny thang?

 

The gang laughs.

 

GANG BOY

Get on that boy, Booth!

 

RICHARD

I just didn't want to steal.

 

Booth and the gang force a jeering laugh.

 

BOOTH

Oh, you Miss-ippi boys don't like

to steal! Tha's right, you don't

like to steal and you fuck your

grannies, too!

 

Richard springs to his feet, but Booth is already moving for

him. The other boys have come to their feet and are crowding

around. Taller and heavier, Booth leans into Richard.

 

BOOTH

(continuing)

You want to take up against me,

boy, come on!

 

Richard looks up into the boy's mean eyes and knows it is

hopeless. Booth gives a hard push and Richard stumbles

backward. Booth rolls shoulders like a fighter loosening-up.

 

BOOTH

(continuing)

Come on girlie, I'll fix you up

good!

 

Richard looks from Booth to the expectant, excited faces of

the gang. Slowly, he turns and walks to the alley exit.

 

In unison, the boys half taunt and half groan their

disappointment.

 

BOOTH

(continuing)

Yeaaaaa-yeaaaaa! Go on Miss-ippi!

Go on home to your mama!

 

 

 

EXT. MEMPHIS CITY STREETS - NIGHT

 

It may be Saturday night. A good number of pedestrians and

vehicles fill the streets and walks.

 

Richard wanders the sidewalk. Black people, as well as

working-class whites, exit and enter bars and diners.

Richard, a young boy alone, is out of place.

 

He pauses near the open doors of a particularly noisy saloon.

He leans to the wall and peers around the frame to the

inside. The dark, smoky interior is filled with shadowy

figures. They bring glasses to mouths, talk and laugh

loudly. Most are drunk.

 

Richard is wary, but fascinated.

 

Just inside the door, a few feet to the side of Richard's

view, a large round black face turns and stares at the boy.

 

BAR MAN

(drunk)

Heyyyyy, younnngin'!

 

Richard gives a start, sees the man and freezes.

 

BAR MAN

(continuing)

Come on innnn! I got somethin'

for ya'!

 

Richard bolts.

 

He is a block away before he turns and slows to a walk.

 

He nears the bright facade of an ice cream parlour. He looks

into the ornate windows. Inside, a red-haired boy, about

ten, sits in a booth across from his parents. The freckle-

faced boy is devouring an enormous ice cream sunday. He

shovels great spoonfuls into his mouth.

 

As if attempting to eat vicariously, Richard leans against

the building and watches the boy consume. Richard seems

close to drooling. He holds his stomach. After a long

moment he turns and continues, aimlessly, down the street.

 

 

 

INT. WRIGHT TENEMENT - BOYS' ROOM - MORNING

 

Richard is tying up decayed boots. He doesn't look well;

weak, a yellow cast beneath his dark skin. He finishes

lacing his boots, slowly gets to his feet. He pauses. His

stomach grumbles loudly. He heads into the living area.

 

 

 

INT. WRIGHTS' LIVING ROOM

 

Richard walks to where his mother is ironing. Leon is

tinkering at her feet.

 

RICHARD

Mama, I'm hungry.

 

ELLA

(chuckling)

Then you best jump up and grab a

kungry.

 

RICHARD

(pause; puzzled)

What's a kungry?

 

ELLA

It's what little boys eat when

they get hungry.

 

RICHARD

What's it taste like?

 

ELLA

I don't know.

 

RICHARD

Then why you tell me to catch one?

 

ELLA

(smiling)

Because you said that you were

hungry.

 

Richard is dismayed, becoming angry.

 

RICHARD

Mama, I'm hungry! I wanna eat!

 

ELLA

There's nothing to eat.

 

RICHARD

Why?

 

ELLA

Just because there's none.

 

Richards eyes are beginning to well-up.

 

RICHARD

But I wanna' eat!

 

ELLA

You'll just have to wait.

 

RICHARD

For what?

 

ELLA

For God to send some food.

 

RICHARD

(pause)

But I'm hungry!

 

Ella stops her ironing. She turns to Richard. She wipes

tears from her eyes, sighs.

 

ELLA

Where's your father?

 

RICHARD

I dunno.

 

ELLA

Who always brought food into this

house?

 

RICHARD

(pause)

Papa.

 

ELLA

Well, your father isn't here now.

 

RICHARD

Where is he?

 

Ella gives a great heave and stifles a sob.

 

ELLA

I don't know.

 

RICHARD

(whimpers)

But I'm hungry.

 

ELLA

You'll just have to wait for the

Good Lord to provide.

 

Richard stares at his mother.

 

 

 

INT. MEMPHIS COURTROOM - DAY

 

Flags hang from staffs at either side of the bench -- one is

the Stars and Stripes; the other is the Confederate.

 

A smattering of people fill the rows of wooden chairs.

Blacks sit on one side of the room, whites on the other.

This segregation includes some ten or twelve mainly black

defendants.

 

A uniformed bailiff stands at the front of the room near the

bench. A prim, female court stenographer sits a level below

and near the judge.

 

The JUDGE is young, about 30. He is a choir boy; too clean-

cut, baby-faced with his hair slicked and parted. He could

be the mayor's son-in-law.

 

Ella, with her sons clutched at either side, faces the bench

at the front of the room.

 

Nate, slouching, with a stupid grin on his face, stands a few

feet away also facing the Judge. He could be half-drunk.

 

Perhaps idly, the Judge scratches a feather pen across

something on his desk. Seeming bored, he raises his gaze to

Nate, a man several years older.

 

JUDGE

Now see here, son. Your wifey

here says you up 'n left her with

two hungry boys to feed. What you

got to say for yourself?

 

Nate doesn't seem to understand. He shuffles his feet for a

pause. When he speaks, it is fluent Uncle Tom.

 

NATE

Whas' that, Sah?

 

JUDGE

Hey now! You address this here

bench as 'Your Honour', boy!

 

NATE

Yes, sir... you honor.

 

There is a pause as the Judge gives Nate a stern look.

 

JUDGE

Well?

 

NATE

You honor?

 

JUDGE

(losing patience)

This your wife and boys?

 

NATE

Yes 'em, you honor.

 

JUDGE

Well, did you up 'n leave?

 

NATE

Yes 'em, you honor.

 

JUDGE

You got some kind of good reason

why you would desert your wife and

children?

 

NATE

Sah?

 

JUDGE

Why did you leave your wife?

 

NATE

Oh! 'cause you honor, I got me a

new gal!

 

Seeming to stew, the Judge looks like he might let Nate have

it. Then, suddenly, the soft-faced man grins wide, he throws

back his head and guffaws loud and long.

 

The Judge turns to the now grinning bailiff as if to share in

the dirty joke between men. Then the man quiets and again

looks down at Nate, a smiling fool.

 

JUDGE

You get yourself a pretty one?

 

NATE

Oh, yeah, you honor, she's a

good'n!

 

Ella is totally degraded. She looks close to vomiting.

Richard is completely bewildered, perhaps filling with rage.

 

The Judge settles back and resumes business.

 

JUDGE

See here now... you workin'?

 

NATE

Yes, you honor.

 

JUDGE

Doin' what?

 

NATE

You honor?

 

JUDGE

Your job. Where you work, boy?

 

NATE

Oh, at the Carlton Arms, you honor.

 

JUDGE

What do you do there?

 

NATE

I's the day clean-up man... the

head clean-up man.

 

JUDGE

Oh, you the head clean-up man.

 

NATE

Yes 'em.

 

JUDGE

Okay, how much you give the misses

so far to help feed these youngins?

 

Nate shuffles his feet and smiles like an idiot.

 

NATE

Well, I been meanin' to give

somthin', but I had me some e-

spenses.

 

The Judge scribbles a note.

 

JUDGE

Okay, boy, I don't want to see you

back in here again. You see that

you start providing for these

youngins.

 

NATE

Yes, Judge. I'll do all I can.

 

Ella's jaw is dropping. Richard looks confused.

 

JUDGE

Alright, then...

 

The judge hammers his gavel.

 

JUDGE

(continuing)

Next case!

 

Nate turns to leave.

 

ELLA

But my boys are hungry! I ain't

got no money!

 

The Judge turns to the bailiff.

 

JUDGE

Next case.

 

The bailiff moves towards Ella. She turns, gives a start and

shrinks back from the uniformed white man. She pulls her

boys close and starts from the room.

 

The Judge turns to the court stenographer.

 

JUDGE

(continuing; quiet)

There ain't a buck alive who can

keep his gun in one holster for

very long.

 

The woman smiles.

 

 

 

EXT. COURTHOUSE STEPS - DAY

 

Ella walks slowly down the steps with her boys. At the curb,

Nate stands taking a pull from a pint bottle. Ella walks to

within six feet of her husband and calls out.

 

ELLA

How can you do this to your

children?

 

Nate turns to face his family.

 

NATE

You got no call to bring the law

into this.

 

ELLA

What else can I do, you're

starving your children.

 

NATE

Shee-it woman! I ain't doin'

nothin'.

 

Nate turns and walks away down the sidewalk. Ella and the

boys can only watch him leave.

 

 

 

EXT. WRIGHT HOME - MORNING

 

The front door opens and Ella exits. She wears a uniform.

She could be a cook or a maid. She walks down the steps and

trudges off.

 

After a moment, the door opens again. It stays open as

Richard leans against the frame. Leon walks past Richard

holding a small ball. He plops down on the top step.

 

Richard watches him.

 

A group of children walk by with school books under their

arms. Richard watches them pass, then turns back to Leon.

 

 

 

MONTAGE - A WAISTED DAY

 

A) In the living room, nothing is happening... nothing.

Richard sits on the floor, his back to the wall. He is

glum, completely bored. Leon is pacing. He marches back

and forth, pointlessly. He is a small animal in a cage.

 

B) In the kitchen, Richard spreads what looks like lard over

a rough chunk of white bread. Leon sits at the table.

Richard puts two plates on the table, one in front of

Leon. Leon looks up at Richard, like he might complain,

but he seems to understand. He takes a bite and grimaces.

 

C) Richard and Leon sit on the front steps. The earlier

group of children again pass, heading home, books under

their arms, talking. Richard watches them go by.

 

 

 

EXT. WRIGHT HOME - LATER

 

It is getting dark. Richard and Leon still sit. Their heads

are down.

 

Unseen by the boys, Ella walks to the steps. For a moment

she just watches the boys. She could be pitying them,

herself; likely the three of them.

 

Leon looks up.

 

LEON

Mama!

 

Richard jerks his head up. The boys run down the steps to

clutch their mother. She wraps her arms around them.

 

 

 

EXT. STREET FRONTING WRIGHT HOME - DAY

 

Richard exits the house with an empty burlap bag and starts

down the street.

 

 

 

EXT. CITY STREET NEAR STORE - LATER

 

Booth's gang is hanging around on a stoop near a corner. A

few push and jostle each other. An older man, who could be

BOOTH'S FATHER, is at the top of the stoop, near his front

door.

 

The boys spot Richard approaching with the bag. They pile

down the steps and encircle Richard. He's trapped.

 

Booth's Father watches, smiling.

 

BOOTH

Hey Miss-ippi, what ya' doin' with

the potato bag, nigger?

 

Richard hesitates.

 

RICHARD

Goin' shoppin'.

 

They boys burst into laughter.

 

BOOTH

Shoppin?! Boy, that's woman work!

You a woman?

 

Richard's fear is rising.

 

GANG BOY

He ain't no woman, he jest a

little girl.

 

Richard doesn't know how to answer.

 

At the top of the steps, Booth's Father, chuckles approvingly.

 

BOOTH

Say boy, if you's goin' shoppin',

you got some money.

 

Richard is silent.

 

BOOTH

(continuing)

Gimme that money, boy.

 

Richard backs away, but a boy behind pushes him forward.

Booth pushes him back, another boy pushes him forward and

Richard is knocked to the ground.

 

Laughing and jeering, the boys fall upon him. Hands tear at

his pockets. The money is taken. Richard scrambles up and

runs for home.

 

 

 

INT. WRIGHT HOME - LATER

 

Richard is sitting on the floor, distraught.

 

The front door opens and Ella, in a maid's uniform, enters

with Leon. She closes the door and sees Richard.

 

ELLA

What's the matter?

 

Richard hesitates.

 

RICHARD

Some boys took the grocery money.

 

ELLA

What do you mean, boy?

 

RICHARD

The boys that are always down by

the corner. They pushed me down

and took the money.

 

Ella just stares for a moment. Then she marches over to a

table. She removes a small pouch from her handbag and counts

out some money. She walks back to Richard.

 

ELLA

Stand up, boy.

 

Richard gets to his feet. Ella takes his hand and pushes the

money into it.

 

ELLA

(continuing)

You get yourself back down there

and get the shoppin' done.

 

RICHARD

But...

 

ELLA

No buts. Git.

 

Richard scrambles from the room.

 

 

 

EXT. STREET - LATER

 

Wary, Richard is walking toward the grocery again. He slows

and stops. The boys are ahead about a half-block. Richard

starts for the other side of the street. About half-way

across he's spotted.

 

GANG BOY

There he is 'gain!

 

Richard turns for home and runs. The boys pursue. A block

later they catch up with him. Booth throws a punch and pops

Richard in the head. He goes down.

 

The boys laugh as they tear at Richard's pockets. The money

is gone again. Richard is pulled up, slapped and pushed

away. He runs for home.

 

 

 

EXT. WRIGHTS' HOME - LATER

 

Richard starts up the steps. The door opens and his mother

is standing above. Richard stops.

 

RICHARD

They b-beat m-me...

 

He starts up the steps again.

 

ELLA

Don't you come in here.

 

Richard freezes.

 

RICHARD

B-but they b-beat me up.

 

ELLA

(cold)

You stay right where you are.

This night I'm going to teach you

to stand up and fight for yourself!

 

Ella turns and goes into the house. Richard stands, dismayed

and hurt.

 

A moment later, she returns with more money and... a hard-

wood ax handle. She grabs Richard's hand and puts the money

in it.

 

ELLA

(continuing)

You take this money and this

stick...

 

She places the four-foot stick in his hand.

 

ELLA

(continuing)

Now go to the store and buy those

groceries. If those boys bother

you again, fight.

 

RICHARD

But I'm scared.

 

ELLA

Don't you come into this house

until you've gotten those

groceries.

 

RICHARD

But they'll beat me up.

 

ELLA

Then stay in the streets! Don't

come back here!

 

Richard starts up the steps, trying to get by his mother.

She slaps him hard and he freezes; stunned.

 

RICHARD

Please Mama... I don't wanna!

 

ELLA

Go now! If you come back into

this house without those

groceries, I'll whip you!

 

Ella turns, enters the house and slams the door. The lock

turns.

 

Richard wobbles down the steps. He turns, looks once more to

his home, then starts down the now darkening street.

 

 

 

EXT. STREET NEAR STORE - LATER

 

Richard, carrying the ax handle, heads to the corner. He is

afraid, full of energy and loathing.

 

GANG BOY

Here he comes again!

 

The boys shout and whoop and are on him again, encircling

him. They start to grab out, like hyenas at wounded prey.

 

Richard is afraid, but angry and desperate.

 

RICHARD

I'll kill ya!

 

They laugh and close in. Richard closes his eyes and lets

fly with the stick... whoooomph... crack! The wood connects

with a skull and a boy screams.

 

The boys are taken aback, stunned motionless. Richard swings

again... whoooomph... crack! Another boy, Booth, screams and

falls to the ground.

 

Richard is crying, but still swinging. He nails another boy

in the chest, one across the knee. The boys back off, now in

fear of Richard's frenzied state. A few run.

 

Richard lands a blow on a shoulder and the boy screams and

scurries away. Richard stalks after those that remain.

 

RICHARD

(continuing)

Come on, you sum-bitches!! I'll

kill ya'!! I'll kill ya', you try

to touch me again!!

 

Richard jumps forward, swings, cracks a boy in the back as he

turns to run. Now all the boys are in flight, running to

their homes, scrambling around the corner. Richard is a

maniac, pursuing Booth to the steps of his home. The boy

scrambles inside. Richard pants, sweats, looks insane.

 

The front door opens and Booth's Father steps out. He looks

down at Richard ten feet away.

 

FATHER

What did you do to my boy, you

little nigger?!

 

Panting, adrenaline racing, Richard looks to the larger man

at the top of the stoop. He readies the ax handle.

 

RICHARD

Go to hell!! You want to do

somthin' 'bout it, come on!!

 

Booth's Father stares down at this crazy, dangerous boy. He

raises his brow, astonished, even afraid.

 

BOOTH'S FATHER

(under his breath)

That boy's touched.

 

The man turns, muttering to himself, and returns to his house.

(continue)