Riot (10 page)

CUT TO:

The older YOUNGSTERS push the CHILDREN forward. The SOLDIERS stand and form a loose line.

STREET TOUGH

They won’t shoot. What do they care about Goodman’s?

CUT TO:

CLOSE-UP: JOSH LANCASTER, biting his lip anxiously. The camera moves from face to face, and we see that the RIOTERS are clearly apprehensive about the SOLDIERS.

CUT TO:

TOMMY ENRIGHT and DENNIS RILEY among the crowd.

TOMMY ENRIGHT

(getting up his nerve)

We get in and we get out quick! Bam! Bam! Bam! Nothing to it.

DENNIS RILEY

You sure we can trust the kid? If he takes the goods down to bleedin’ Mulberry Street…

TOMMY ENRIGHT

(glancing toward the soldiers)

You losing your backbone? You going yellow?

DENNIS RILEY

(nervously)

No. No. I don’t think they’ll open up on us.

TOMMY ENRIGHT

I ain’t scared none.

CUT TO:

LONG SHOT of the opposing groups. The RIOTERS are beginning to start toward the SOLDIERS. The SOLDIERS almost nonchalantly raise their weapons. Among the RIOTERS, we recognize the signature ribbons of the Dead Rabbits. They stop in front of Goodman’s but point toward the SOLDIERS.

Suddenly a brick is produced and thrown through the window of the store. We hear shattering glass, punctuated by the shouts of bravado from the onrushing RIOTERS as the camera assumes their POV. Then there is the deafening noise of a volley from the SOLDIERS.

CUT TO:

A YOUNG MAN has fallen. He looks down at his bloody chest and, childishly, tries to wipe away the hurt. There is a spreading stain on his chest and a look of
incredulity on his face as he realizes he is dying.

CUT TO:

The distraught face of an OLD WOMAN. She shakes her head and clutches her rosary beads tightly.

TOMMY ENRIGHT

Hold it! Move to the sidewalks! Look out for the wounded!

We hear a second deafening volley from the army.

More of the RIOTERS fall, including at least one woman. People are running, bumping into each other. A woman reaches down for the outstretched arm of a child.

We hear very heavy breathing and the sound of a person in pain. The sound is almost a whimper that grows in volume and then fades. Finally we hear the sound of the heavy breathing again, and then that, too, subsides.

CUT TO:

CLOSE-UP of MAEVE kneeling on the ground next to the lying figure of LIAM.

MAEVE

(screaming)

Liam! Liam!

LIAM

(his mouth open, frantically sucking in air)

Oh! Oh!

MAEVE

Oh, please! Speak to me, Liam. Speak to me!

The camera looks over MAEVE’s shoulder to LIAM. He is searching MAEVE’s face, but he is holding his chest. He moves his hand away, and we see an angry red splotch on his shirt and vest.

LIAM

Am I all right, love?

MAEVE

(looking at her blood-splattered hands)

Yes. Yes. You’re going to be just fine, darling. Just fine.

CUT TO:

MEDIUM SHOT from a rooftop: Several people lay wounded in the streets. Those who are not wounded are trying to care for them. We hear the sound of an Irish folk tune. It is far too gay for the grim scene we are visiting.

CUT TO:

CLOSE-UP of an OLD MAN’s face as he looks at the
wounded. He is shocked and somewhat dazed.

CUT TO:

CLOSE-UP of a SOLDIER’s face. The camera moves in, and we see that the SOLDIER is younger than we first thought. His eyes are wide, his breathing shallow. He has not expected to be shooting civilians.

FADE TO BLACK
.
INT. THE PEACOCK INN—SAME EVENING

CLAIRE and PRISCILLA are sitting at a table, both clearly tired and distressed. JOHN is standing, and ELLEN sits and rocks on another chair.

JOHN

Where were you? I was looking…I put you on the boat myself!

CLAIRE

I got off the boat. I am not a child.

JOHN

(sputtering somewhat)

You disobeyed me! I am your father!

ELLEN

Don’t yell at her! I’m here! You’re here! We’re a family!

JOHN

Ellen, it’s my place to see to the safety of my family.

CLAIRE

Aren’t we all just learning our places here? Aren’t we finding them like that poet said? They’re finding them in the fires we’re setting, and we’re finding them, too. I didn’t choose to be black.

ELLEN

Claire!

CLAIRE

I didn’t! I just wanted to be a human being. I just wanted to be whoever I saw in the mirror, without a race or a place in life. What is so wrong with that? What is so
wrong
with it?

JOHN

Claire, there’s nothing wrong with you being you. I love who you are and will until I die. But first, first we need to get through these hard days.

CLAIRE

I know. I know. But what will we be when we come out of them?

ELLEN

Priscilla, are you all right, child?

PRISCILLA

We went to my aunt’s house. She’s dead. I don’t know what happened.

ELLEN

Oh, my God! I’m so sorry.

JOHN

How are you, Priscilla?

PRISCILLA

As well as I can be, I guess.

JOHN

Your father sent a message by a salesman coming into New York. He asks me to let you stay with us if I can find you. Of course you can stay here.

ELLEN

Things will get better. They’re saying that the streets are calming down now.

JOHN

After three days, maybe they’ve done all the damage they can.

CLAIRE

I’m sorry you were worried. But I couldn’t just run away with the little children. I have to find myself. Face up to who I am.

ELLEN

And who can that be, Claire? And who is doing the telling? Is it you or is it those people screaming down the streets?

CLAIRE

It’s me, Mum. It’s me looking at myself and finding a black woman where there was only a girl before.

ELLEN

(goes to CLAIRE)

And who am I, darling? Where have you found me?

CLAIRE

You’re still my own sweet mum. I just have more parts to fit in than I thought.

(the two embrace)

ELLEN

More parts than I ever thought.

CLAIRE

Maybe, when this is all over, when the streets are quiet again, we’ll be able to sit down and sort it all out. Maybe one day we can even forget about the ugliness and not worry about what color we are. We can just be the Johnson family, proud owners of the Peacock, the best place in New York City. And anyone who walks through our front door can just be a human being. Just a human being.

ELLEN

And we’ll steal Priscilla from her parents to supervise the cleaning staff. Which will probably mean me and Claire.

CLAIRE

(as we slowly fade out)

It’ll be a grand place. And I can go back to being Claire again. Is that possible? That I can just be myself again?

FADE OUT

INT. THE PEACOCK INN—LATE THAT NIGHT

We open on a darkened screen with some light bleeding
in from the left. The camera moves slowly to the left, and we see a small votive candle on a corner table.

We hear the sounds of heavy breathing as if someone is carrying a heavy burden. Along with the burden there are sounds of distress as well in the breathing pattern.

We see, dimly, a mouse moving along the floor. It is tentative, stopping now and again, lifting its little snout into the air as if finding its way by scent. The camera moves with the mouse slowly, then quickly as it climbs the leg of a table.

We see the crouching figure of a cat. It moves, its body low to the ground, almost imperceptible in the darkened Peacock.

We hear, again, the sound of labored breathing, then banging against the door.

We see the mouse, alert, scurrying down from the table. We see the cat freeze, one paw in the air, then move silently into the shadows.

We hear more banging against the door, this time more urgent.

CUT TO:

CLAIRE’s bedroom. We see fingers over a dampened oil lamp. The fingers turn up the lamp, and we see CLAIRE’s face, half lit by the lamp. Her eyes are wide. Dressed in her nightclothes, she moves quickly from the bed and to the door. At the door, she stops and turns, and we see PRISCILLA still lying on the bed.

CLAIRE enters her parents’ bedroom. JOHN is already up and is pulling up his trousers.

JOHN

Late-night drunks. I’ll tell them we’re closed.

CLAIRE

It could be black people, looking for shelter.

JOHN

I’ll them we’re closed, honey. The rioting has died down for now. They’ll be safe until morning.

JOHN and CLAIRE go down the stairs to the main floor of the Peacock.

ELLEN

(from the bedroom)

What are you doing?

JOHN

(over his shoulder)

Go back to bed.

ELLEN

(pulling her robe closed as she joins JOHN and CLAIRE on the stairs)

Oh, yes, of course.

JOHN, CLAIRE, and then ELLEN reach the first floor. They all look toward the front door, and again we hear the banging. JOHN crosses to the window and looks out. The camera looks out with him, but we can’t see anything significant. JOHN picks up a poker and hefts it to feel its weight. CLAIRE looks around and picks up a candle.

JOHN

(at the door)

The Peacock is closed. Go home.

MAEVE

(from outside)

It’s Maeve. And Liam. Oh, he’s hurt so bad. We need help.

JOHN

I’m sorry, but…

MAEVE

Please.

ELLEN goes to the door. She starts to unlatch it when JOHN puts a hand on her shoulder and shakes his head no.

MAEVE

Please, he just needs a little water.

ELLEN turns to JOHN, her eyes pleading. JOHN steps back, his muscles taut in case it’s a trick. ELLEN lifts the latch and unlocks the door. MAEVE and JOSEPH, a gang member, half drag, half carry LIAM into the Peacock.

MAEVE

Oh, thank God. The soldiers are rounding everybody up, even the wounded ones. People are dying in the streets, and in the houses, and everywhere you have a mind to look. Oh, my sweet Jesus. Did you say you worked for a doctor? Do you think you could get him to come and look at my Liam?

They bring LIAM, who looks terribly wounded, into the Peacock and lay him down on a table. The camera pans his body, and we see an incredibly large bloodstain on his shirt which also covers the upper half of his pants. We go to his face for an instant and quickly away, as if even the camera cannot stand to see what it must see.

Then the camera moves back to LIAM’s face, and we see a young man minutes from the dying.

JOSEPH

(nervously)

I’ll be on me way.

MAEVE

(to JOSEPH)

Thank you.

(then to JOHN as JOSEPH leaves)

Do you think the doctor will come?

JOHN

Let me get his shirt open.

MAEVE

He’s bleeding so…

CUT TO:

CLOSE-UP of ELLEN’s face as she stares wide-eyed past JOHN.

ELLEN