A piece of metal by Frida Barber original script 1 INT, BEDROOM IN A SOUTHERN FAMILY HOUSE-SUMMER-AFTERNOON Georgia, 1978. A black woman, CARLA (32), is sitting in the window sill of a bedroom facing the melting hot street outside. A fan in the ceiling is moving slowly over an unmade double bed. There are clothes on the floor and several dirty glasses and jugs of water on the nightstand. A worn out, once white nightgown is hugging Carla's small, sweaty frame. (A radio is playing jazz music in another room. Gets louder when the door opens.) A tall, strong looking black man enters the hot, stuffy room. It is Carla's husband JAMES (35) dressed in worn out overalls and a rolled up blue shirt. He sits down in the only armchair in the room and takes off his socks. Carla does not turn around or acknowledge his presence. JAMES Hey Honey. Carla does not seem to hear him. JAMES Carla, did the mailman come already? I I haven't seen any mail all week. James reaches for a glass and a whiskey bottle behind the chairs. The bottle is empty. JAMES (Sighs. talking under his breath to himself) Carla? CARLA I wonder if it will rain today. Maybe I am asking too much. Maybe tomorrow. JAMES Carla? (A doorbell rings)
James looks at Carla. She is not reacting to the doorbell or to him. James gets up and leaves the room. 4. 2 INT. HALLWAY-SOUTHERN FAMILY HOUSE-SUMMER-AFTERNOON James takes a few deep breaths before opening the front door. On the front porch, stands a full figured, black woman, DARLA (55) using oven mittens to hold a hot rhubarb pie. DARLA Hey, baby. How are you two doing? JAMES As well as anyone else would, I suppose. Darla hands him the pie as she tries to get a glimpse of the inside of the house. DARLA Careful, it's still hot. James takes the pie and moves to go back inside. JAMES It smells great. Thank you Darla, but... DARLA It's no trouble. I have been baking since I was a girl. it's as natural as breathing. JAMES it's all very kind but I'm afraid the house might burst if we get any more food delivered. The gifts already take up the whole kitchen table. DARLA Oh please, Honey. Nothing like a home cooked meal to cheer you up. How is Carla? JAMES She has been better. DARLA We haven't seen her since..you know… i've heard you've been doing well, saw you on the way to work this morning… what's she been up to. Is she still……resting? Darla sneaks another shifty glance inside.
JAMES, Darla, thank you. If that's all, then have a good day. DARLA We have all been very worri- James closes the door. 6. 3 INT. KITCHEN-SOUTHERN FAMILY HOUSE-SUMMER-AFTERNOON James brings the pie into the kitchen. Everything in the kitchen is in order except the table that is filled with unopened gifts. JAMES (shouts up to the bedroom on the second floor) Carla, are you hungry? Getting no response from Carla James heads for the trash can when he notices a small German Shepard, MAX, staring at the pie. JAMES (smiling sadly at the dog) James sets the pie on the ground. The dog's tail starts wagging. Max looks at him and gives him a quick bark before he starts eating the pie.
4 INT, BEDROOM IN A SOUTHERN FAMILY HOUSE-SUMMER-AFTERNOON Carla is sitting in the same exact position as before looking out the window. James is sitting on the edge of the chair changing his shirt. JAMES That was Darla dropping off some food again. That woman can be too much sometimes. CARLA Or next week. Maybe it will rain next week. JAMES Carla, not again, my darling. Please. CARLA Cuz I'd wait years sitting here. Many moons waiting for the rain to clear the air. 8. 5 INT. LIVING ROOM-SOUTHERN FAMILY HOUSE-SUMMER-AFTERNOON James and his MOTHER (60) are eating dinner in the tidy living room. Mother is using a fan to cool herself down between the bites in the melting heat. Max is lying on the floor by a fan. JAMES Mamma. You didn't need to come over. MOTHER How can you tolerate this kind of behavior in your own home? It's been two months. JAMES I am sorry but she is not herself. MOTHER I have told you to do something about this situation. Why should she be any different than any other woman? Everyone in her situation has to endure the pain and go on. You must learn to endure. It is a mystery to me why you chose to marry a woman like her. From where I am sitting she is way too weak no matter how tragic the the situation is. JAMES Is that how you see her? Weak? MOTHER She just doesn't have the strength. JAMES She is stronger than you and me. MOTHER She is sick in the head. JAMES She is grieving. It is her way of Grieving. Mother She's blaming you like it was your gun. James She knows very well it wasn't my gun mama, frankly I'm sick of people putting a time limit on how much my wife is allowed to grieve and how she can express it. Mother: *Clicks tongue* you were always too gentle hearted james. James doesn't answer, instead moving to pet max.
6 INT, BEDROOM IN A SOUTHERN FAMILY HOUSE-SUMMER-LATE AFTERNOON James sits in his underwear on the edge of the bed. He is smoking and drinking a can of beer. Sweat is running down the side of his face. Carla is slowly undressing. He is smiling, looking at her. She is not looking at him as the night gown hits the floor. JAMES You are beautiful. CARLA You should pray more. JAMES (laughing quietly) Pray? CARLA God gives and God takes away. You know that. We never said thank you enough. We didn't pray hard enough. Carla moves naked through the room and finds another nightgown in the closet. She slips it over her head and goes back to her spot in the window sill. The sun is setting outside. JAMES You must be terribly tired. You should get some sleep. CARLA You lied to me, James. JAMES Lied? About what? CARLA You lied and said that our love is a mighty power. That our love is enough, that our love would conquer everything. JAMES I wasn't lying.
CARLA If we die it will be because our love cannot keep us alive. Because our love does not hold. James walks over to his wife and stays behind her. His fingers touch her unkempt hair. Carla flinches a bit but does not turn around. JAMES It will hold. If we let it. CARLA One little piece of metal took everything from me. JAMES Nobody is to blame but that godless man. CARLA You are lying again and you don't even know it. I was there, I saw everything. JAMES You figure I didn't see it. You figure I was blinded by the will of God to not see...his face. Oh thank God almighty for SAVING ME from that.. That scared look of a little boy who was my boy. He was my boy, and you think praying on the damn stars to save you, is gonna bring him back? Carla turns around and looks at James. CARLA I sit here praying day in and day out and you go to work, eat, sleep, and sit there like nothing happened. JAMES Nothing happened? I sit here like nothing happened?
CARLA (breath shaky) AND YOU YOU DON'T DO A DAMN THING! JAMES I LOST HIM TOO! I LOST HIM TOO!... AND IF YOU WEREN'T PRAYING FOR SOMETHING THAT AIN'T NEVER COMING YOU WOULD SEE MY PAIN. my greatest pride.. My baby... MY SON! Carla turns around again. Puts her face close to the dusty window. The last bit of a blood red sun is setting behind a row of wooden houses way past their glory. (A dog is barking in the distance) CARLA I wish I have the words, but I have lost them too. I have lost the words. JAMES You seem to have the words, Carla. CARLA You don't understand. JAMES I am trying to keep my head when you are losing yours and blaming me. I am trying to trust myself when you don't. CARLA I do blame you. But not as much as I blame myself. I just really wish it would rain. To wash it all away. I can still see them, the stains… JAMES They are not there any more, Carla. CARLA My boy. My beautiful boy. Who harbors hate like for a child how could anybody hate my son?
JAMES Insanity and misplaced hatred killed Our boy. The devils work. CARLA I pray for the sky and the stars and the rain, but there is no sky, no stars and no rain. Carla kneels in the window sill and puts both hands on the glass. The reflection of her and the moving ceiling fan behind her is showing in the window. CARLA There is only darkness. Like a fist. It holds me. I have been praying every day for a miracle. For him to come running in with his dirty shoes. JAMES I want that too. I want that miracle, too. Carla climbs down from the window sill. She moves slowly through the room and walks into the bathroom.
7 INT, BATHROOM IN A SOUTHERN FAMILY HOUSE-SUMMER-EVENING Carla looks at herself in the bathroom mirror. Her skinny frame and dirty hair, the dark circles under her eyes and her soiled clothes. James has entered the bathroom leaning against the wall behind Carla. James makes a movement towards her but she stops him with a hand movement and looks at him through the mirror. CARLA Even at the funeral it was nothing but high blue sky and burning sunshine. Everybody's eyes was hiding behind their sunglasses, hats, fans. JAMES No one was hiding. Just grieving. Carla turns to James who is sitting on the bed avoiding Carla's gaze. CARLA Did you notice no one spoke? When the men carried that little casket no-one said a word. Nobody even prayed but me...You didn't pray... JAMES Carla, please... CARLA Cowards…… JAMES (bitterly) No Carla, I didn't. Is that a sin? That I didn't think to give thanks while burying my son. Carla It was so hot.. Not even mother earth gives a damn. The day just went on, like nothing even happened…. Everyone moved on like……. Like it didn't matter. 15. 8 INT, BEDROOM IN A SOUTHERN FAMILY HOUSE-SUMMER-MORNING James walked into the bedroom dressed for work. He is carrying a cup of coffee. JAMES Good morning. I'm working a double shift tonight so I might be home late. Carla sits on the windowsill. She has changed her nightgown to a black one with one of the straps missing. She takes the coffee. CARLA Your boys at the bar miss you already? JAMES God Carla, I need you to say it. Carla, please say it. Just once. Please. CARLA You are asking for something that I cannot give. Of course he is your son, but what you are asking for is me to tell you that we are equal that it is the same for the two of us and it is not. I just pray it will rain. Late at night in their bedroom Carla wakes in the dead of night slowly slumbering out of bed as she looks to her peacefully sleeping husband low lidded. She stops halfway through getting out of the bed to stare through the window. She springs to life tugging the blanket away from her husband James, eyes wide, Carla smiles for the first time in 2 months, then dashes hurriedly down the stairs to the kitchen. sliding from cupboard to cupboard swiftly opening the fridge she hurriedly sifts through the numerous beer bottles to find the vodka at the back,swaying while taking long swigs she gleams as she reaches for a cupboard unveiling a locked box, she takes the key hidden in the cupboard above. James wakes up, the blanket cast aside, he looks for Carla, he looks to the window, Beads of rain sliding down it, he hears the slam of the door. James shouts suddenly alarmed. He could hear max barking and scratching at the door downstairs. James ran down stairs separating his dog from the door he opened and turned to shut it. Carla is laughing playfully, a gun loosely gripped in her left hand. Standing out in the street soaked to the bone, Carla dances swaying and swinging her arms, humming softly. James (demanding tone) Carla get back inside. Carla didn't seem to hear. James: Right now. Carla stopped dancing, her face suddenly dropping. Carla: Why are you always angry at me james James faltered as Carla's grip on the pistol tightened. She started to mutter James starts to take careful and slow movements down their porch and into the heavy rain. Carla: Remember when we used to dance?....Dance with me james James (nervously) There's no music darling, come back in and ill turn on the radio and well dance ok? Just like old times Carla smiled again; she looked like she had before it all happened. I'm not going back to rot in their james She raises her left arm James Then we’ll move! Carla: Don't delay it james be happy, it's what we've been praying for James tears in his eyes forward starts running towards her Carla: it's all gonna be washed away Carla takes the safety off with a click. Carla It's raining. James dont- *bang*