Riot (6 page)

(calling from upstairs)

Claire? Did you have anything for breakfast? Claire? Claire!

EXT. MADISON SQUARE PARK—SAME DAY

We see rows of tents, a few small fires, and groups of SOLDIERS in small knots.

CUT TO:

Three privates, KELLY (25), PARKER (24), and
LANCASTER (17). KELLY and PARKER are both unshaven and have the look of men who have been in combat too long. LANCASTER looks (and is) too young to be in the army. His uniform hangs loosely on him. He stands while the other two soldiers sit. We see KELLY searching through his equipment bag, then walk away.

PARKER

He’s got his mad on, but this has got to be better than facing Johnny Reb.

He is poking a small fire they have started, in which he has placed his canteen cup to make hot water for tea.

LANCASTER

I don’t even know what this is about.

PARKER

About the draft. Something about the draft. These people don’t want to enjoy the pleasures of marching in the sun.

LANCASTER

I heard the rebs had to kill a bunch of people to get them to report for duty.

PARKER

Captain said some of these people have
guns. Gotta be careful. A fool can kill you just as quick as a sniper. Gotta be careful.

LANCASTER

You had anything to eat? I’m starving.

PARKER

There’s some eggs in that crate. They say don’t suck them raw, but that’s what I’ve been doing. You can boil them over the fire if you got a mind to. Don’t boil them too long or they’re get hard. I can’t stand no hard eggs.

LANCASTER

Back home I used to suck them raw all the time. Go down to the henhouse and move an old fat biddy off her nest. I never figured out if they really cared or not. My ma didn’t like it none, wanted me to sit around the table with my brother and daddy for breakfast. But my daddy never had nothing to say that wasn’t grinding against the ear. Complainingest man I’ve ever known.

PARKER

That why you joined up? I thought you just liked the pretty brass buttons.

LANCASTER

Look at this one watching us. You figure she’s a spy or something?

The camera moves, and we see CLAIRE standing next to a tree, about twenty feet from the soldiers.

PARKER

(calling to CLAIRE)

Come on over, darling. We won’t bite you.

CUT TO:

CLOSE-UP of CLAIRE, who looks apprehensive, then forces a smile. Return to MAIN SHOT.

PARKER

Lank here thinks you’re a spy.

We see CLAIRE take a step back, then walk slowly toward the soldiers.

PARKER

Morning!

CLAIRE

Morning.

PARKER

We’re just here debating whether or not
Lank is going to die from eating raw eggs. He says he won’t, but I say he might. What do you say?

CLAIRE looks from man to man but doesn’t speak.

LANCASTER

I done ate raw eggs before, and there’s nothing to it.

CLAIRE

If you have a pan, I can cook them for you.

LANCASTER

We got a pan.

PARKER

Lank, you liable to come out this war a man yet.

(taking loose tobacco and cigarette paper out of his pocket)

Got a woman cooking his breakfast! Miss, don’t let his head get too close to your dress or it’ll get all wet. He ain’t got water on the brain; he’s just a little wet behind the ears!

LANCASTER

Parker, you’re a crazy man.

PARKER

(to himself as he heads off)

Ain’t but two months out of his diapers and he’s got a woman cooking his breakfast!

CLAIRE and LANCASTER stand awkwardly, a few feet apart. Then LANCASTER realizes what she is waiting for and rummages through his bag. He produces a small skillet and lays out the eggs, a piece of fatback, and a heel of bread.

CLAIRE looks at the skillet closely, then takes LANCASTER’s canteen, pours water from it into the pan, and wipes it out with the kerchief she takes from her waist. She puts the skillet on the fire. After a few seconds, the remaining water sizzles off.

CLAIRE

You have a knife?

LANCASTER

(a bit cautiously)

Yeah.

He gives her the knife and watches as she cuts off a piece of the fatback and puts it in the pan.

LANCASTER

You got a name?

CLAIRE

(more relaxed)

No, my parents were too poor to give me one.

LANCASTER

Get out of here!

CLAIRE

Claire.

LANCASTER

I’m Josh. Josh Lancaster. They call me Lank, but you can call me Josh. Or Lank. It don’t matter.

We are watching CLAIRE cook the eggs and fatback.

CLAIRE

How old are you?

LANCASTER

Almost eighteen.

CLAIRE looks up at him quickly, realizing that he is only a couple of years older than she is.

CLAIRE

How long have you been in the army?

LANCASTER

(trying to sound older)

Long enough.

CLAIRE

Were you at Gettysburg? I read about the battle there.

LANCASTER

You read? One day, when this war is all over, I’m going back to school. Learn reading and writing. Maybe geography. Been a lot of places, so I got a leg up on geography. I wasn’t at Gettysburg. Met a fellow who was there who read us a paper on it. He said it wasn’t nothing like it happened, though.

CLAIRE

You have a plate?

LANCASTER

No, miss.

He takes the skillet from CLAIRE and attacks the breakfast.

CLAIRE

(stands as LANCASTER kneels)

How was it different?

LANCASTER

(between mouthfuls)

He said it was mostly just sitting around and waiting for something to happen. Then there was a bunch of rebs charging through a cornfield and yelling. That’s what them rebs do best. The rebs charged and got beat back pretty good.

CLAIRE

Have you ever killed anybody?

LANCASTER

Don’t know really. You shoot and you hope for the best.

CLAIRE

Scared?

LANCASTER

Me? No, miss. Maybe…maybe a little. Yes, miss, I was scared some. It wasn’t the dying that scared me. It was the wounded laying out in the field calling out for their mamas. That’s a bad sound. That’s a real bad sound. Goes through you like a cold wind. You can’t relax after you hear a man calling out, knowing he’s…you know…not going to make it.

CLAIRE

We had a man come into our hotel. My family has a hotel. He said he was a nurse. He said he had watched a lot of men die.

LANCASTER

I guess if your number is up…. How good you read and write?

CLAIRE

Real good.
Very good
.

LANCASTER

(looks around)

I got a pencil and paper. You think you can write a letter for me?

CLAIRE

Yeah.

The camera pulls back, and we see LANCASTER give CLAIRE a pencil and paper. He has put the skillet down and stands leaning on his rifle as he dictates the letter to CLAIRE.

We hear LANCASTER’s voice, young and a bit shaky, as he dictates the letter.

LANCASTER

(voice-over)

Dear Mother,

I am doing well and hope this letter finds you and the family safe and sound. Please tell Uncle Phil that I saw a hog in Virginia that was nearly a tall as his mule and was just as mean. They don’t have much for crops in Virginia except tobacco and some measly wheat, which I don’t think they could sell on the fourth of December, let alone the Fourth of July!

I am sorry to say that Michael Hansen, who asked about our cousin Susan, was wounded in the left shoulder. It didn’t look like much and he was in good spirits but died anyway. I suspect his dying surprised him as much as it surprised me.

I certainly miss Wisconsin and being home and with you, Pa, Thomas, and Grandma Ellie. I love you all very much and want you to know that as a fact. This letter is being written by a young woman from New York City, and I will carry it with me for the rest of the war and hope to bring it home to you.

Your loving son,
Joshua

CLAIRE

That’s a nice letter.

LANCASTER

Thank you, miss.

CLAIRE

(looking for something to say)

You…like being in the army?

LANCASTER

I did before I got into fighting. Then there ain’t nothing to like except feeling yourself alive when it’s done.

We see SOLDIERS forming up in the background.

CLAIRE

Why did you join?

LANCASTER

A man has to stand up for what he believes in. I believe in God and my country and in all people being free.

CLAIRE

Even black people?

LANCASTER

Don’t make me no never mind what color they are. I know I wouldn’t want to be no slave.

CLAIRE

(turns to face LANCASTER)

I’m black.

LANCASTER folds the letter and carefully puts it into his vest. He looks up at CLAIRE, who is waiting for a reaction.

LANCASTER

Thank you for the eggs, miss. And for the letter.

PARKER returns.

PARKER

Let’s go, Lank. They’re forming up.

We see LANCASTER and PARKER forming up with their company.

LONG SHOT: The SOLDIERS begin to march, not too smartly, out of Madison Square Park, headed downtown. We see LANCASTER turn and look toward where CLAIRE still stands. She waves. He touches his
chest where the letter is tucked.

CUT TO:

CLOSE-UP of CLAIRE watching the SOLDIERS. Then we see her walk out of the park. She is lost in her thoughts as she, too, heads downtown. Her step is light, almost jaunty. She stops as she passes a store window to look at herself and straighten her blouse before continuing.

EXT. A STREET NEAR THE PEACOCK INN—SAME DAY

A group of very YOUNG WHITE BOYS is taunting a crippled BLACK MAN on one crutch as two STREET TOUGHS watch. The BLACK MAN turns, stumbling, as the TEENAGERS throw rocks at him.

CUT TO:

A plump WHITE WOMAN watching the scene, eyes wide and her hand over her mouth as she wonders what is going to happen.

CUT TO:

A window above the street. A SMALL BLACK BOY looks down onto the street, his fingers anxiously twisting the curtain, which half obscures his face.

CUT TO:

CLAIRE rounding the corner of a building. She sees the
taunting and stops in her tracks. For a moment she frowns. Then she takes a deep breath and starts to move forward.

CUT TO:

From CLAIRE’s POV: The BOYS are beating the MAN up, kicking him when he falls and throwing rocks at him.

CLAIRE

(softly)

Oh, my God. Oh, my God.

Suddenly a hand appears over CLAIRE’s eyes, and she is jerked back violently.

CLAIRE

(in a panic)

Oh! Oh!

CLAIRE is spun around and flattened against the building. She is face-to-face with a smirking MAEVE. BILLY EVANS stands next to her.

MAEVE