ELLEN
I love love so much — love or sex, I don’t know which anymore— that I’ve always told myself that when I’m old I’ll pay to get it. I just didn’t think it would happen so soon. That boy was Satan personified. The Prince of Light. But the kind of light that can kill you. He showed me what hell was like. I’d never been afraid of suffering, but this was too much. I’d given him everything. In return, he’d humiliated me in ways I’d never imagined possible. He dragged me through the mud. I took it all. It makes me laugh, now, the way Brenda goes around acting like the weeping widow. I’m the widow. Brenda couldn’t have known a hundredth part of what I had to put up with just to be near him. The flames of hell. Imagine a young, arrogant kid like he could be, with a woman of my age. Can you even imagine what it would be like with him and his friends? There’s Ellen Graham, the hag. But time heals all wounds. Brenda spends her days in her room, crying. Me, I don’t cry.
SUE
It’s a terrible thing to say, but I’m sure it was either Ellen or Brenda who killed him. He drove them to it, them and others, too, and what was bound to happen one day happened. All because of the contempt that northern men have for women of their own race.
ALBERT
That morning I went to see a friend who works at a small hotel not far from here. When I came back, I walked along the beach. It was dawn. The beach was empty except for someone who looked as though he’d spent the night there. As I got closer I could see it was Legba. He looked like a sleeping angel, curled up on the sand like that. His face in complete repose. When I reached him it seemed to me that the night had been pretty rough on him. But even then all I saw was a frail young man. He even looked like he was smiling. I don’t know why, but I sat down beside him. There was no one else on the beach. There was that strange dawn light. The feeling of being nowhere. I began to stroke his hair. He shivered as though he was cold. I lay down beside him and took him in my arms. I can’t tell you how bizarre it all seems to me now. It was like I was watching my double. I remember that light in my eyes. That music in my head. That young body on the beach, almost naked. And no one else about. “Careful,” I told myself, “beware of the sweetness of this skin.” And I. . kissed him. I kissed Legba. It was the first time I’d ever kissed a man. I kissed him. Everywhere. He responded to my caresses in his sleep, I think it was probably out of habit. I should have got up and run away, but it was too late. I was already caught up in the fiery ring of desire. I hadn’t known that such physical happiness could exist. That morning I ate of the fruit of the tree of good and evil. Strange, isn’t it, that without even asking me any questions you’ve made me bring up all the secrets that I kept hidden in the deepest recesses of my being.
ELLEN
Well, he certainly hid his light, didn’t he, the hypocrite! Every time I went out looking for Legba I’d get this mean look from him. . Because he was a rival. I wanted to go up to him and slap him in the face. I can tolerate anything but bigotry. Always with his nose stuck in the Bible, the little shit-arse! Now that he’s got a taste for it, as he says, he’s not going to switch to another road. I don’t believe a word of what he told you: the dawn, the light, the music of the spheres, the forbidden fruit, it’s all just shit in a silk stocking. Oh sure, once it was over he had to rush off and do his penance. I’d like to have seen him whipping himself. He’s the worst kind of sadist. And let me tell you something: that’s the kind that can kill.
BRENDA
Of course I can’t go home. I don’t have a home anymore, or a husband. I don’t want to have anything more to do with northern men. I’d like to spend time on other Caribbean islands. Cuba, Guadeloupe, Barbados, Martinique, Dominica, Jamaica, Trinidad, the Bahamas. . They all have such pretty names. I want to get to know them all.
The Network (A Screenplay)
INTERIOR BEDROOM. 9:30 AM
Tanya (petite, sexy, brunette) wakes up. She stretches luxuriously in her bed. The telephone rings.
“Hello?” (Tanya’s sleepy voice.) “It doesn’t matter, I was already awake. Who’s this?”
“Guess.”
“Ah, it’s you, Simone. . What’s up?”
“I got home at six o’clock in the morning. .”
“I was so tired last night I thought I’d die of exhaustion. Don’t you ever feel like that?”
“You know how paranoid I am, Tanya. I think I’m dying every five minutes. Sometimes I even see myself lying in a coffin.”
“Well, listen to this: here I was, all dressed, makeup on and everything, and just before going out I pour myself my usual glass of rum, no ice, and, you won’t believe this, but I took one sip, one single, solitary sip, and fell back on the bed like I was stone cold dead. . it was a complete blackout, Simone.”
“When you hadn’t shown up by two in the morning I went looking for you. . Your house was totally dark.”
“Why didn’t you come in? You have a key! I was here!” (She laughs.
) “Because there’s always a light on at your place. Even when you go to bed you leave the television on. But last night, nothing, complete darkness. . I thought maybe you’d gone out with someone.” (Nervous laughter.
) “You mean Fanfan? Don’t be silly! His type doesn’t interest me one bit. You don’t have to believe me if you don’t want to, but I was here, Simone. Dead to the world. A complete blackout, like I said. Nothing. Total vacuum.”
“Well, you missed a good time, Tanya. Tabou outdid themselves last night, a real mess. They had a contract for eight thousand dollars, half at ten o’clock and the other half at midnight. Well, Tabou didn’t start playing until one o’clock in the morning. The owner of the nightclub, you know Freddy, he refused to give them the second half of the money. So Tabou only played until three and then quit. Well, the crowd tore the place apart. They smashed chairs and tables, everything they could get their hands on.”