 |
home | actors | characters | forum | gallery | guestbook | library | links |
|
Dec. 13, 1985: Alex and Beth with Lujack's things (Alex and Beth are in Lujack's room at the boardinghouse. There are various boxes and piles of items strewn about. Beth is standing at the closet, taking out items of clothing and handing them to Alex, who is placing them in a box set up on the bed. There is no dialogue at first. The first item is a shirt, then the black and white jacket that we saw Lujack wearing a lot in '85. The next item is a black, short-sleeved shirt.) Beth: He wore this shirt when he came to see me at the beach. I remember it...because it was the only shirt he had with him. (Smiling and almost laughing) Alex: (Smiling back) He didn't pack. He was in such a hurry to get to you. (The next item Beth pulls out of the closet is Lujack's leather jacket. Beth gently pulls it to her chest.) Alex: Why don't you keep that? (Beth nods, almost imperceptibly, and lays it on the bed) Beth: We're all done here. (Meaning the closet) (Alex walks over to the desk. Lujack's guitar is standing on the floor next to the desk, leaning up against the wall. Alex picks it up and is looking at it.) Alex: I'd like to smash this. Beth: Smash it...why? (Alex is still looking at the guitar) Alex: Music...it it weren't for music, Brandon would be alive today. (Alex finally looks up, as Beth walks toward her) Beth: (Very softly) But music was Lujack's voice. That's how he spoke to me. Alex: (Handing Beth the guitar) You want it, then? Beth: In think...it should go to someone who can love it and use it...make it sing again...sing Lujack's songs. I think that IQ should have it. (She takes the guitar, looks at it almost reverently, and walks over and lays it on the bed) (Alex starts looking through the desk) Alex: Letters...papers...(She picks up a single sheet of folded paper and unfolds it) Oh, my God. Beth: What is it? Alex: It's an application for a marriage license...made out to Brandon Luvonaczek and (looking up from the paper at Beth) Elizabeth Raines. ---Break--- (Alex hands Beth the application) Alex: You should keep that, darling, because in the eyes of God, you two were married. You both spoke those vows in your hearts. Beth: (Nodding her head) Okay. (Beth walks over to the bed, looking at the application, and lays it on the bed) Beth: Is there anything that you want here? (Alex walks over to the bureau and picks up a small photograph of Beth in a frame) Alex: This picture...and that sketch you did of Brandon. Would you mind? Beth: Oh, no. I'd love it. (Smiling) Alex: I'll have it hung over the piano...but not for a while (her voice is breaking). (Alex lays the sketch, which is in a frame, on the desk, and she resumes going through the desk. She picks up a book out of the desk.) Alex: How strange. Beth: What? Alex: My son never stopped amazing me. A book of poetry. It's the last thing I ever expected to find in Brandon's room. ---Break--- (Beth walks over to Alex, smiling) Beth: Sonnets from the Portuguese. (Alex hands her the book) I'd almost forgotten. Alex: Tell me. Beth: Well...you know I taught Lujack how to read. Alex: (Smiling) Yes. Beth: Well, one afternoon, right after I got my sight back, he came to me. He was so shaky about his reading that...that he memorized one of the poems for me. So sweet...so brave...he kept struggling through it, but he never, never gave up. (She starts to read aloud) "I love thee with a love I seemed to lose, with all my lost Saints. I love thee with the breath, smiles, tears of all my life...and if God chose, I shall but love thee better...after death". (Beth looks up and at Alex as she stops reading. There is a look between them, of the common pain that they alone share, and that no one else but the two of them can understand. They hug. Beth's in tears and Alex is almost in tears. She's trying to keep the stiff upper lip. The eye contact between them in these scenes is remarkable.) ---Break--- (Alex is placing something in a box, and Beth is sitting on the bed, looking at the sonnets book) Alex: That's the last of them. I'll send the servants by to pick them up. Beth: What will you do with everything? Alex: (Sighs) Store them for a while, and then give the clothes to charity. (Beth nods and starts looking through the bureau drawers to make sure they're empty. She pulls a long, slim jewelry box out of one of them.) Beth: Look, we missed something. (She opens the box) A watch. Alex: Very expensive watch, with the label still on it. Brandon obviously never wore it. I wonder who gave it... (Beth has picked up the watch and turned it over and is reading the inscription on it) Beth: "To the only brother I'll ever know. Love, India". Alex: India. That's a surprise. Beth: Well, India can be selfish sometimes, and cold, but I guess she really did care for Lujack. Alex: Yes...I sensed that, too, at the memorial service. It's probably the one decent feeling she's had in her life. Beth: Lujack had a way of bringing that out in people. Alex: Perhaps I should return it to India, as a remembrance. Beth: (Smiling) That would be nice. Alex: Well, I have to stop by Phillip's on business now, anyway. I'll drop it off then. (Alex walks to the desk, puts the watch in her bag, and takes her coat in her arms and looks at Beth. Beth is looking around the room, with her back to Alex at first. When Alex starts to speak, Beth turns to her.) Alex: Well, darling, our task is done. Beth: Yeah. Alex: But that's the only thing over between us. I'll always think of you as family...(smiling) as my daughter. If there is anything I can ever do for you, all you have to do is ask. (Again, they are both close to tears, and they hug) Beth: I love you. Alex: And I love you. (They both break the embrace, abruptly, without looking at each other, and they turn away from each other and Alex leaves. It's as though they are both at a breaking point, and they can't even comfort each other.) (Beth sits on the bed, again with the sonnets book in her hand. There's a knock at the door.) Beth: Come in. (The door opens...it's Bea Reardon) Bea: Honey? Beth: (Softly) Hi. Bea: Honey, are you all right? Beth: (Nodding her head yes) Thanks. (Bea sits down next to Beth on the bed and puts her arm around her. She caresses Beth's hair and lifts Beth's chin with her finger.) Bea: Oh, sweetie...oh, I know how hard this has been for you. But, you know something? You did it the right way. This is something that ought to be done by the people that loved him most. (Beth is nodding, smiling, with tears in her eyes.) Bea: (Taking an envelope out of her pocket) Oh, this letter came for you. I wanted to make sure you got it before you left. Beth: (Taking the envelope) A letter for me? Bea: (Looking at the envelope and then pointing at it) It's from Phillip. ---Break--- (Bea has now left the room, and Beth is sitting on the bed, reading the letter. It's voiced over by Phillip (John Bolger), and the camera is looking over Beth's shoulder. You can actually see the words on the page, and read it.) "Dear Beth: I've been thinking about the last time I saw you in the church after the service for Lujack. I wanted so much to reach you, to comfort you, but words are just next to useless at times like that. Nothing to say when the pain is that deep and that close. It drove me crazy knowing what you were going through, and knowing I couldn't help. That's why I jumped at the chance to come to Washington. I thought the distance would distract me for a while. But it didn't, of course. I couldn't stop thinking about you, and worrying. Then, something happened, something strange and wonderful. I'd spent the day in meetings, locked in stuffy offices, and when I finally got out, the air was chilled and snow was starting to fall. I decided to go for a walk. Well, I just wandered around for a while, and ended up walking along the Potomac, under the cherry trees, with the snow piling high and white on the dark, bare branches. All of a sudden, I stopped. The tree directly ahead of me was pink...not white...but pink! It was blossoming! It was covered with flowers, masked with them, right there in the middle of a winter storm. Well, I stared and I laughed. It was so unexpected, and so very beautiful. Then, all at once, I realized I was seeing you. I understood how much you were like that tree...strong and independent, fearless and open to life, ready to share your beauty in the face of all adversity. Well, that's when I stopped worrying, Beth. That's when I knew that nothing will ever get you down for long. Nothing. I am so proud of you, Beth, and I want you to know that if you ever need a friend..." (Beth looks up from the letter, smiling, tears in her eyes) (While she was reading the letter, Beth starts from a sitting position on the bed. She then stands, moves closer to the window and sits on the other side of the bed. Her face runs the gamut of emotions: calm at the start, surprise and wonder when reading about the tree, then laughing when he says the tree is like her---then disbelief when he talks about her strength, and then, finally, smiling through the tears.) ---Break--- (The end credits roll, and Beth is folding up the letter, smiling, holding it close, and then she places it in the sonnets book.) Writer: Pam Long Hammer Director: Irene Pace Transcript by: Bujack84
|
