Baby Doll & Tiger Tail (3 page)

[
Vacarro is looking around again
,
rather defiantly
,
but at no one in particular. Between the knees of his corduroy riding breeches is a whip that he carries habitually, a braided leather riding crop
.]

THE OLD BOY
: But as a whole, the community has reaped a very rich profit.

[
He has said this rather defiantly as if he knew he was bucking a certain tide. . . . A voice from the crowd
.]

VOICE
: Next time you run for office you better run on the Republican ticket. Git the nigger vote, Fatso!

THE OLD BOY
[
answering
]: Just look at the new construction been going on! Contractors, carpenters, lumbermen, not to mention the owner and proprietor of the Brite Spot down the road there! And not to mention—

[
Suddenly somebody throws something at the speaker, something liquid and sticky. Instantly, Rock and Vacarro spring up
. . . .]

ROCK
: Who done that?!?!

SILVA
[
crossing to front of platform
]: If anybody’s got anything more to throw, well, here’s your target, here’s your standing target! The wop! the foreign wop!!

[
Big rhubarb. The Old Boy is wiping his face with a wad of paper napkins
.

[
Suddenly, we see that something in the middle distance is on fire. The wide dark fields begin to light up
.

[
Voices cry alarm. Shouts, cries. Everyone and every thing is lit by the shaking radiance of the fire
.

[
Vacarro races towards the fire. It is in the gin building. The volatile dust explodes. Loaded wagons are being pushed away, by Negro field hands driven by Vacarro
.

[
A fire engine arrives. But it seems lax in its efforts and inefficient. A hose is pulled out, but there is insufficient water to play water on the blaze, and the hose itself falls short. The firemen are not merely ineffectual. Some seem actually indifferent. In fact, some of their faces express an odd pleasure in the flames, which they seem more interested in watching than fighting
.

[
Vacarro rushes among them exhorting, commanding, constantly gesturing with his short riding crop. In his frenzy, he lashes the crop at the man holding the fire hose. The man, resentfully, throws the end of the hose at Vacarro, who seizes the nozzle and walks directly towards and into the flames
.

[
Now men try to stop him. Vacarro turns the hose on them, driving them back and then goes into the flames. He disappears from sight. All we hear is his shouts in a foreign tongue
.

[
A wall collapses
.

[
The hose suddenly leaps about as if it has been freed. The crowd. Horrified. Then they see something
. . . .

[
Vacarro comes out. He holds aloft a small, gallon-size kerosene can. He strikes at his trouser bottoms, which are hot. He is on the point of collapse. Men rush to him and drag him to a safe distance. He clutches the can
.

[
They lay him out, and crouch around him. He is smudged and singed. He eyes open, look around
.

[
His viewpoint. From this distorted angle, lit by the victorious flames are a circle of faces which are either indifferent or downright unfriendly. Some cannot control a faint smile
.

[
Vacarro clutches the can, closes his eyes
.

[
Another wall collapses
.]

DISSOLVE.

31] EXTERIOR. MEIGHAN HOUSE. NIGHT.

Archie Lee’s car turns into the drive. He descends noiselessly as a thief. Camera follows him, and it and he discover Baby Doll on the porch swing. There are several suitcases, packed and ready to go. In a chair near the porch swing, sleeping as mildly as a baby, is Aunt Rose Comfort
.

ARCHIE
: What are you doin’ out here at one o’clock in the morning?

BABY DOLL
: I’m not talking to you.

ARCHIE
: What are you doing out here?

BABY DOLL
: Because in the first place, I didn’t have the money to pay for a hotel room, because you don’t give me any money, because you don’t have any money, and secondly, because if I had the money I couldn’t have no way of getting there because you went off in the Chevy, and leave me no way of getting anywhere, including to the fire which I wanted to see just like everyone else.

ARCHIE
: What fire you talking about?

BABY DOLL
: What fire am I talking about?

ARCHIE
: I don’t know about no fire.

BABY DOLL
: You must be crazy or think I’m crazy. You mean to tell me you don’t know the cotton gin burned down at the Syndicate Plantation right after you left the house.

ARCHIE
[
seizing her arm
]: Hush up. I never left this house.

BABY DOLL
: You certainly did leave this house. OW!!

ARCHIE
: Look here! Listen to what I tell you. I never left this house. . . .

BABY DOLL
: You certainly did and left me here without a coke in the place. OWW!! Cut it out!!

ARCHIE
: Listen to what I tell you. I went up to bed with my bottle after supper—

BABY DOLL
: What bed! OW!

ARCHIE
: And passed out dead to the world. You got that in your haid?? Will you remember that now?

BABY DOLL
: Le’ go my arm!

ARCHIE
: What did I do after supper?

BABY DOLL
: You know what you did, you jumped in the Chevy an’ disappeared after supper and didn’t get back till just—OWWW!!! Will you quit twisting my arm.

ARCHIE
: I’m trying to wake you up. You’re asleep, you’re dreaming! What did I do after supper?

BABY DOLL
: Went to bed! Leggo! Went to bed. Leggo! Leggo!

ARCHIE
: That’s right. Make sure you remember. I went to bed after supper and didn’t wake up until I heard the fire whistle blow and I was too drunk to git up and drive the car. Now come inside and go to bed.

BABY DOLL
: Go to what bed? I got no bed to go to!

ARCHIE
: You will tomorrow. The furniture is coming back tomorrow.

[
Baby Doll whimpers
.]

ARCHIE
[
continuing
]: Did I hurt my little baby’s arm?

BABY DOLL
: Yais.

ARCHIE
: Where I hurt little baby’s arm?

BABY DOLL
: Here. . . .

ARCHIE
[
putting a big wet kiss on her arm
]: Feel better?

BABY DOLL
: No. . . .

ARCHIE
[
another kiss, this travels up her arm
]: My sweet baby doll. My sweet little baby doll.

BABY DOLL
[
sleepily
]: Hurt. . . . MMMmmmmm! Hurt.

ARCHIE
: Hurt?

BABY DOLL
: Mmm!

ARCHIE
: Kiss?

BABY DOLL
: Mmmmmmmmm.

ARCHIE
: Baby sleepy?

BABY DOLL
: MMmmmmm.

ARCHIE
: Kiss good. . .?

BABY DOLL
: Mmmmm. . . .

ARCHIE
: Make little room. . . good. . . .

BABY DOLL
: Too hot.

ARCHIE
: Make a little room, go on. . . .

BABY DOLL
: Mmmm. . . .

ARCHIE
: Whose baby? Big sweet. . . whose baby?

BABY DOLL
: You hurt me. . . . Mmmm. . . .

ARCHIE
: Kiss. . . .

[
He lifts her wrist to his lips and makes a gobbling sound. We get an idea of what their courtship—such as it was—was like. Also how passionately he craves her, willing to take her under any conditions, including fast asleep
.]

BABY DOLL
: Stop it. . . . Silly. . . . Mmmmmm. . . .

ARCHIE
: What would I do if you was a big piece of cake?

BABY DOLL
: Silly.

ARCHIE
: Gobble! Gobble!

BABY DOLL
: Oh you. . . .

ARCHIE
: What would I do if you was angel food cake? Big white piece with lots of nice thick icin’?

BABY DOLL
[
giggling now, in spite of herself, also sleepy
]: Quit.

ARCHIE
[
as close as he’s ever been to having her
]: Gobble! Gobble! Gobble!

BABY DOLL
: Archie!

ARCHIE
: Hmmmmm. . . .

[
He’s working on her arm
.]

Skrunch, gobble, ghrumpt. . . etc.

BABY DOLL
: You tickle. . . .

ARCHIE
: Answer little question. . . .

BABY DOLL
: What?

ARCHIE
[
into her arm
]: Where I been since supper?

BABY DOLL
: Off in the Chevy—

[
Instantly he seizes her wrist again. She shrieks. The romance is over
.]

ARCHIE
: Where I been since supper?

BABY DOLL
: Upstairs. . . .

ARCHIE
: Doing what?

BABY DOLL
: With your bottle. Archie, leggo. . . .

ARCHIE
: And what else. . . .

BABY DOLL
: Asleep. Leggo. . . .

ARCHIE
[
letting go
]: Now you know where I been and what I been doing since supper. In case anybody asks.

BABY DOLL
: Yeah.

ARCHIE
: Now go to sleep. . . .

[
He seizes her suitcases and goes off into the house. Baby Doll follows, and Aunt Rose follows her, asleep on her feet. As they go in, Archie Lee comes out and looks around. Then he listens
.]

ARCHIE
: Nice quiet night. Real nice and quiet.

[
The gin can no longer be heard
.]

CUT TO:

32] BRITE SPOT CAFE. EXTERIOR. NIGHT.

It’s not quiet here at all. The area in front of the entrance is crowded with cars. A holiday mood prevails. It’s as if the fire has satisfied some profound and basic hunger and left the people of that community exhilarated
.

The pickup truck of Silva Vacarro drives up, shoots into a vacant spot. He leaps from the driver’s cab. He has not yet washed, his shirt is torn and blackened and he has a crude bandage around the arm that holds the whip. He stands for a few moments beside his truck, looking around at the cars, trying to find the car of the Marshal, which would indicate that that county official is inside. Then he sees what he’s looking for. He walks over to the car which has the official seal on its side, and not finding the Marshal there, turns and strides into the
. . .

33] INTERIOR. BRITE SPOT. (A JUKE JOINT.)

Everybody is talking about the fire. The juke box is a loud one. There are some dancing couples
.

Silva Vacarro passes by a little knot of men. He is followed by Rock, holding the kerosene can. The camera stays with them. They smile
.

A MAN
: That ole boy is really burning!

[
One of the men detaches himself and moves in the direction that Vacarro took. Then another follows
.]

34] GROUP OF MEN AROUND THE MARSHAL.

MARSHAL
: What makes you think your gin was set fire to?

SILVA
: Look around you. Did you ever see such a crowd of happy faces, looks like a rich man’s funeral with all his relations attending.

MARSHAL
: I’d hate to have to prove it.

SILVA
: I’d hate to have to depend on you to prove it.

[
The man from the other group walks up
.]

MAN
: What are you going to do about ginning out your cotton?

SILVA
: I’ll truck it over to Sunset. Collins’ll gin it out for me.

MAN
: Collins got cotton of his own to gin.

SILVA
: Then I’ll truck it across the river. Ain’t nobody around here’s gonna gin it.

MAN
: I’m all set up to do it for you.

SILVA
: I wouldn’t give you the satisfaction.

[
The men drift back a few steps
.]

MARSHAL
[
speaking a little for the benefit of the men in the room
]: I honestly can’t imagine if it was a case of arson who could of done it since every man jack that you put out of business was standing right there next to the platform when the fire broke out.

ROCK
: One wasn’t. I know one that wasn’t.

MARSHAL
[
wheeling on bar stool to face him, sharply
]: Looky here, boy! Naming names is risky, just on suspicion.

ROCK
: I didn’t name his name. I just said I know it. And the initials are stamped on this here can.

MARSHAL
[
quickly
]: Let’s break it up, break it up, not the time or the place to make accusations, I’ll take charge of this can. I’ll
examine it carefully to see if there’s any basis for thinking it was used to start a fire with.

SILVA
[
cutting in
]: I run through fire to git that can, and I mean to keep it. [
Then to Rock
:] Lock it up in the pickup truck.

[
Rock leaves. Unobtrusively some men follow him
.]

MARSHAL
: Vacarro. Come over here. I want to have a word with you in one of these booths. . . .

35] ROCK.

He enters the men’s room. As he approaches the urinal, the light is switched out and the door is thrown open at the same moment. Hoarse muffled shouts and sounds of struggle and a metallic clatter. Then the light goes on and Rock is lying on the filthy cement floor, dazed. Vacarro enters. He goes to Rock
.