Tuesday, October 06, 2009

Dialogue I Love

Tell me about Hosea.

You're too young to understand. But when I was with Hosea, it was like my whole body was burning. I'd come home and I'd have to rub ice on my face and neck to cool down. If Maynard knew he never said a word. And then one night, Hosea showed up at the door. He said, "pack your bags, woman, I've come to take you with me." And God help me... I pushed past my startled husband, I was going upstairs to pack my bags when I heard Maynard say in a tone I'd never heard him say: "I don't care who you are, sir, but if you do not leave my house at once, I will hurt you." And I turned just in time to see Hosea pull the gun out and aim it at Maynard. "I'm in love with your wife and if you try to stop us, I'll kill you..." Maynard walked right up and pushed his chest in the barrel of the gun. And he said, "Well, you'll have to kill me, 'cause my wife ain't going nowhere." Oh, Eve...in that moment, I knew that I loved Maynard! He was so calm and brave, and it was Hosea who was trembling. Maynard said, "Mozelle, tell this man you ain't going nowhere with him--so he can get the hell out of my house." Mama was standing in the doorway of the kitchen and she was holding her heart like this. I walked slowly over ...and I stood next to my husband. I looked at my lover: this man who had lit this great fire in me, and I said, "Please leave our house. I never want to see you again." Hosea's eyes went another color. He stopped trembling. He looked right at me. And he said, "All right then." And he shot Maynard in the chest. And I was alone. For awhile.

Eve's Bayou - screenplay by Kasi Lemmons

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