Baby Doll & Tiger Tail (9 page)

[
Baby Doll utters a little cry and comes out of the attic door. Silence. Putt-putt-putt-putt of the gin. She leans over stair well and looks straight down into the grinning face of Vacarro. He gives her a quick, grinning nod or salute
.]

SILVA
: Okay, you’re “Home free”! And so am I! Bye-bye!

BABY DOLL
: Where are you going??

SILVA
: Back to my little gray Quonset home in the West! For a peaceful siesta. . . .

BABY DOLL
: Wait, please!—I want to—

[
She starts to come running down the stairs, her hair wild, panting, sweating, smeared with attic dust. Then halfway down she stops
. . . .]

BABY DOLL
[
now stealing towards him
]: I want to—

[
But she can’t remember what she “wants to.” He waits quizzically with his cocky grin for her to complete her sentence but she doesn’t. Instead she looks up and down him and her eyelids flutter as if the image could not be quietly contained
.

[
He nods as if in agreement to something stated. He chuckles and then turns on his heels and starts briskly for the porch. She calls after him. . .
]

BABY DOLL
: Was
that
all you wanted. . .?

[
He turns and looks at her
.]

Me to confess that Archie Lee burnt down your gin?

SILVA
: What else did you imagine?

[
She turns away like a shy child, serious-faced; she sits down on the bottom step
.]

SILVA
[
gently
]: You’re a child, Mrs. Meighan. That’s why we played hide-and-seek, a game for children. . . .

BABY DOLL
: You don’t have to go all the way to your place for a nap. You could take a nap here.

SILVA
: But all the furniture’s been removed from the house.

BABY DOLL
: Not the nursery stuff. They’s a small bed in there, a crib, you could curl up and—let the slats down. . . .

[
An effect of two shy children trying to strike up a friendship. He continues to look at her. The windy afternoon has tossed a cloud over the sun, now declining. But it passes and his smile becomes as warm as sunlight. She isn’t looking into his face but down at the scuffed kid slipper. Abruptly he gives a short quick nod and says simply
. . . .]

SILVA
: I’m happy to accept the invitation.

Come up and sing me to sleep.

[
Then he continues on up
.

[
Baby Doll is left alone, bewildered, sitting on the big staircase
.]

BABY DOLL
[
to herself
]: My daddy would
turn
in his
grave
.

[
She starts up the stairs
. . . .]

90] THE NURSERY.

Vacarro is on the crib, with the slats down. He is curled with his thumb in his mouth. She comes to view, stands in the doorway a moment, then goes and crouches beside the bed. Gently, she raises his head and bare throat, crooks an arm under and begins to sing:
“
Rock-a-Bye Baby
.”

He sighs contentedly, removes the signed paper from his shirt pocket and tucks it under his belt for safer keeping
.

Then he appears to fall asleep
.

DISSOLVE.

91] IN A HOSPITAL ROOM.

Aunt Rose Comfort is sitting by a friend who is in her death coma. Aunt Rose eating chocolate cherries
.

DISSOLVE.

92] SUPPLY STORE IN MEMPHIS. MEIGHAN AT COUNTER.

ARCHIE
[
to Clerk
]: Godamighty man, I’m good for it.

[
He reaches for the part he has come for. It’s wrapped and ready to go
.]

CLERK
: We have orders. No credit. Cash basis. Everything.

ARCHIE
: I warn you. I’ll never come in this store again.

CLERK
: Sorry.

ARCHIE
: Look, I just happened to leave the place in my work clothes. My wallet ain’t on me!

CLERK
: Cash only.

[
Mr. Archie Lee Meighan suddenly turns and leaves in complete disgust
.]

93] FRONT. ARCHIE LEE’S GIN.

It is several hours later and he has driven back from Memphis. He baits his motor with an exhausted grunt. He appears to have shrunk in size. He carries a sweat-drenched coat over his arm and the sweaty shirt clings to him. His chest heaves with unhealthy fast respiration, and he fingers the unbuttoned collar, as he takes in the
situation: The gin is running again!!!—and without his O.K
. —
and how did they get the damned thing going again!!??

93A] INTERIOR. GIN.

He walks in and passes Rock
.

ARCHIE
: Hahaha! Looks like we’re back in business.

ROCK
[
offering him only the most fleeting glance
]: Does, doesn’t it.

ARCHIE
: You all must have done some mighty fast repairs.

ROCK
: No repairs—put in a new saw-cylinder.

ARCHIE
: From where? Out of a cloud? Why, I checked every supply outfit between Memphis and Greenville and nobody’s got a new saw-cylinder ready for installation before next Wednesday.

ROCK
[
tersely
]: Boss had one at our place. I put it in.

ARCHIE
: How do you like that? How come I wasn’t let in on this piece of information before I lit out of here on the wild-goose chase that just about killed me? Where is that wop Vacarro? I want to get some explanation of this.

[
At this precise moment the whistle blows, announcing the end of the day and the gin machinery stops work. The Negroes, who have been working as porters and mechanics, line up for pay
.]

ROCK
[
meantime
]: You seen the boss-man, Norm?

[
A Negro shakes his head
.

[
Rock notices Archie looking at the line a little worried
.]

ROCK
[
to Archie
]: Don’t worry. Vacarro is meeting the payroll for tonight.

ARCHIE
: Where is he?

ROCK
[
to another Negro
]: Moose, you seen the boss?

MOOSE
: No time lately, Capt’n.

94] THE GIN. (ANOTHER ANGLE)

Meighan retreats from the gin uncertainly. Camera follows
.

Halfway across the road he hears laughter, evidently directed at him. His back stiffens. Something has happened, he feels, that has somehow made him the patsy of whatever occasion this is
.

95] CLOSE SHOT. MEIGHAN.

Suspicious, angry, something violent and dangerous is growing up in his heart. He mutters to himself. Hears the laughter again. Curses to himself
.

96] MEIGHAN ENTERS THE BIG FRONT YARD AND STARES AT THE HOUSE.

97] THE HOUSE.

Silent. Not a move. Not a sound
.

98] MEIGHAN NOTICES VACARRO’S DISCARDED SHIRT.

He picks it up and lifts his head and calls into the house
.

ARCHIE
: Hey! Anybody living here? Anybody still living in this house?

99] UPSTAIRS. THE NURSERY.

Baby Doll, considerably disarrayed, has heard Archie’s shout from below and is just making her way on hands and knees to the window. Now she crawls on the floor over to the crib
.

BABY DOLL
: It’s Archie Lee.

[
Downstairs screen door slams. Vacarro gurgles, murmurs, whimpers, all of which mean
“
don’t bother me, I want to sleep
.”

[
There is a sudden shout from downstairs as if a cry of pain
.]

100] DOWNSTAIRS.

What Meighan sees is the debris of the ceiling. He looks up at the gaping hole in the roof over his head at the top of the stair well and down the stairs. Baby Doll appears on the staircase in a silken wrapper
.

ARCHIE
:
What happened here?

[
Baby Doll doesn’t answer. She stares at him with blank insolence
.]

ARCHIE
: Hunh? I said what the hell happened here?

BABY DOLL
: You mean that mess in the hall? The plaster broke in the attic.

ARCHIE
: How’d that—how’d that—happen?

BABY DOLL
: How does anything happen? It just happened.

[
She comes on lazily down, avoiding his look
.]

101] INTERIOR. NIGHT. DOWNSTAIRS. FRONT HALL.

ARCHIE
: Ain’t I told you not to slop around here in a slip?

[
She gives a faint indifferent shrug which enrages him; he senses something openly contemptuous, a change in her attitude towards him. He grabs her bare shoulder
.]

What’s the matter with your skin? It looks all broke out.

[
Inspects the inflamed welts
.]

What’s this?

BABY DOLL
: What’s what?

ARCHIE
: These marks on you?

BABY DOLL
: Mosquito bites, I scratched them. . . . Lemme go.

ARCHIE
[
bellowing
]: Ain’t I told you not to slop around here in a slip???!!!

[
Aunt Rose Comfort, alarmed by the shout, appears in door to kitchen, crying out thin and high
.]

AUNT ROSE
: Almost ready, now, folks, almost ready!!

[
She rushes back into the kitchen with her frightened cackle. There is a crash of china from the kitchen
.]

ARCHIE
: The breakage alone in that kitchen would ruin a well-to-do man! Now you go up and git some decent clo’se on yuh an’ come back down. Y’know they got a new bureau in Washington, D.C. It’s called the U.W. Bureau. Y’know what U.W. stands for? It stands fo’ useless women. They’s secret plans on foot to round ’em all up and shoot ’em. Hahahaha!

BABY DOLL
: How about men that’s destructive? Don’t they have secret plans to round up men that’s destructive and shoot them too?

ARCHIE
: What destructive men you talkin’ about?

BABY DOLL
: Men that blow things up and burn things down because they’re too evil and stupid to git along otherwise. Because fair competition is too much for ’em. So they turn criminal. Do things like arson. Willful destruction of property by fire. . . .

[
She steps out on the porch. Night sounds. A cool breeze tosses her damp curls. She sniffs the night air like a young horse. . . .

[
The porch light, a milky globe patterned with dead insects, turns on directly over her head and Archie Lee comes up behind her and grips her bare shoulders, his face anxious, cunning
.]

ARCHIE
: Who said that to you? Where’d you git that from??

BABY DOLL
: Turn that porch light off. There’s men on the road can see me.

ARCHIE
: Who said
arson
to you? Who spoke of willful destruction of. . . YOU never knew them words. Who SAID ’em to yuh?

BABY DOLL
: Sometimes, Big Shot, you don’t seem t’ give me credit for much intelligence! I’ve been to school, in my life, and I’m a—magazine reader!

[
She shakes off his grip and starts down porch steps. There is a group of men on Tiger Tail Road. One of them gives a wolf-whistle. At once, Archie Lee charges down the steps and across the yard towards the road—crying out
—]

ARCHIE
:
Who gave that whistle??
Which of you give a wolf-whistle at my wife?

[
The group ignores him except for a light mocking laugh as they continue down the road. The camera returns to Baby Doll blandly smiling
.

[
We hear the rattle of the cistern pump being vigorously exercised in the side yard. Archie Lee stalks back up to the porch, winded, like an old hound
. . . .]

ARCHIE
: Men from the Syndicate
Plantation! White an’ black
mixed! Headed fo’ Tiger Tail Bayou with frog gigs and rubber boots on! I just hope they turn downstream and trespass across my property! I just hope they dast to! I’ll blast them out of the Bayou with a shotgun!

BABY DOLL
: Small dogs have a loud bark.

ARCHIE
: Nobody’s gonna insult no woman of
mine!!

BABY DOLL
: You take a lot for granted when you say
mine
. This afternoon I come to you for protection. What did I
git? Slapped!
And told to go home. . . . I, for one, have got no sympathy for you, now or ever. An’ the rasslin’ match between us is
over
so let me
go!

ARCHIE
: You’re darn tootin’ it’s over. In just three hours the terms of the agreement will be settled for good.

BABY DOLL
: Don’t count on it. That agreement is canceled. Because it takes two sides to make an agreement, like an argument, and both sides got to live up to it completely. You didn’t live up to yours. Stuck me in a house which is haunted and five complete sets of unpaid-for furniture was removed from it las’ night, OOHH I'm
free
from my side of that bargain!

ARCHIE
:
Sharp at midnight!
We’ll find out about that.

BABY DOLL
: Too much has happened here lately. . . .

[
She descends into yard. Archie Lee eyes her figure, sweating, licking his chops
.]

ARCHIE
: Well. . . my credit’s wide open again!

BABY DOLL
: So is the jailhouse door wide open for you if the truth comes out.

ARCHIE
: You threatenin’ me with—
blackmail??

BABY DOLL
: Somebody’s drawin’ some cool well water from the pump back there.

[
She starts back. He follows. The full frog-gigging moon emerges from a mackerel sky, and we see Vacarro making his ablutions at the cistern pump with the zest and vigor of a man satisfied
.]