The Giver

INT.  APARTMENT – NIGHT

FADE IN:
ANDRE puts on a puffy prune coloured bomber jacket and looks at his mother EVELYN who hands him a five dollar bill and adjusts his collar.

EVELYN
Okay, so remember.  I want you to get a loaf of bread.  And not that white crap.  You’re a growing man and you need the nutrients.

ANDRE [annoyed]
Okaaaaay mom.  Anything else?

EVELYN
Hrmmm.  Oh and a carton of milk.  And don’t be going spending the money on any sweets or anything like that.  I’m not a bank.  Are you listening to what I’m saying Andre? Andre?  Don’t forget.

ANDRE
Yep, okay.  See you in a bit.
[Andre exits the apartment]

FADE OUT.

EXT.  SMALL SIDE STREET IN DOWNTOWN CLEVELAND, OHIO – NIGHT

FADE IN :
Andre walks slowly to avoid slipping on the unsalted pavement in front of Easy Milk Convenience walks past JOANNE a small middle aged woman is sitting on a milk crate, holding a paper cup between her rough, blue tinged hands at the entrance of the alley way next to the store.  She is shivering from the frigid winter breeze.

JOANNE
Good evening, son.  Spare some change?

[Andre passes the woman without looking in her direction]

ANDRE [mumbles]
Sorry. Can’t.

[Andre opens the door and a faint bell above jingles, alerting the clerk who was napping on the front counter]

CLERK
Ey, Merry Christmas.  Need any help finding something?

ANDRE
Uh [pauses] that’s okay. I’m good.  I’ll just look around.

[The Clerk then shrugs and nods back off to sleep.  Andre walks to the magazine section and looking around; he picks up Barely Legal issue 23 and flips through it quickly, stopping at the centre fold.

Loud commotion comes from outside and a woman curses.  This wakes up the front clerk, causing Andre to fumble the magazine closed and shove it back in the stand.  Running for the view in the side window, Andre sees the homeless woman and what appears to be an older man trying to wrestle her to the ground.]

ANDRE [annoyed]
Well are you gonna do something?

[The clerk shrugs, uninterested]

CLERK [mumbling]
Damn homeless bothering everybody.  It serves ‘em right.  Rather them than me.

[Andre runs down the magazine isle, grabbing a broom leaning next to the front door and rushes to the commotion, nearly slipping on a patch of ice at the entrance of the alley]

ANDRE [yelling at hooded man]
Ey! What’s going on?  What’re you doing?

[The wrestling abruptly stops as the woman is distracted by the interruption.  The man grabs the paper cup filled with change, shoving it in his coat pocket and runs down the alley.]

ANDRE
Where are you [cuts off]

[Andre pauses, throwing down the broom and sprints down the alleyway after the thief.  By the time Andre reaches the opposite end of the alleyway, the robber is gone.
Andre bends down, holding his knees to catch his breath, wheezing and looks over his shoulder to see the woman sitting on the crate with her head in her hands.]

ANDRE [yelling to Joanne]
Hey, listen
[Andre runs back to the entrance of the alleyway where the woman is sitting]

ANDRE [cont’d]
I’m so sorry ma’am.  I tried to stop him [pause to catch some air] but I didn’t see where he went.

[Joanne sobs softly with her head down.  Andre, unsure as to what he should do now, kicks a pebble and shoves his hands in his pockets.]

JOANNE
You know, [pauses to wipe away tears with tattered brown sleeve] you look a lot like my son.  Name’s Johnny.  He’s my boy.

[Joanne nods towards a concrete parking divider next to where she’s sitting, motioning for him to sit down.
Hesitant, Andre checks his cell phone.  7:40. He still had some time before his mother would start to worry about his whereabouts.
Andre sits down and pulls out a pack of Miller Lights.  He pulls two out, handing one to the woman and lighting them both up.]

JOANNE
That was all the money I had been savin’ up.  Everything [long pause] gone.  I was gonna go get a bus ticket tomorrow.  Away from this shithole.  Out to Memphis.

ANDRE
What for?

JOANNE
Was gonna find my son.  But now [pauses] what’s the use?  Doubt he’ll still be there by the time I save up again.  Christmas will be over and the people’ll go back to their selfish ways, ignoring me again.

ANDRE
I don’t mean to impose on your private life ma’am

JOANNE [interrupts]
Joanne, my name’s Joanne.  Brimley.

ANDRE [cont’d]
Joanne [pauses] but why isn’t your son with you?  What happened to him?

[Joanne puts out the cigarette on the side of the milk crate, dropping the butt into her pocket]

JOANNE
The effin’ government took ‘im from me.  But my life was a mess then and my son’s seen better days.  But that was the past.  I’m a different person now.  I need Johnny back [pauses] I’m lost here without ‘im [long pause] but I had it coming though, was all my fault.  When I was up workin’ at the Daisy Chain, you know that restaurant up at Main and Busser.  I had been drinkin’ more than ever and when I got in for one of my shifts, I was mighty sick.  I guess it was pretty clear to everyone cus my boss Marlene pulled me aside and told me that she had enough with me and that it would be best if I left.  Damned son of a [pauses] didn’t even know half of the shit I’d been goin’ through.

ANDRE
What was that?

JOANNE
Johnny’s father took everything and left us for some young bimbo he’d been seein’ behind my back.  Didn’t think I knew what was going on, but I knew.  I knew.  I loved that man since I was 17 years old.  He was my world and then he was gone.  But what was I gonna do?  I had a son to take care of and bills to pay.  Dead beat never did so much as to lift a finger to help me or his son in the first place [long pause] and once he was gone, my life started fallin’ apart.  Once he left, I started drinkin’.  I didn’t think it was a big thing [pauses] until I lost my job.  And once that was gone, I couldn’t keep up with rent or buy new clothes for Johnny.  That’s when the eviction notice came, taped to my door and that’s when the school found out about our troubles and called up some government service to come take away my son.  Now all I’ve got is what’s on my back and what’s in my head and I’ll be damned if I let my son grow up without his mother.

ANDRE [sighs]
Wow, that’s just

[Andre runs his fingers through his scruffy black hair]

ANDRE [cont’d]
My dad left us when I was five [long pause] and no one ever explained why, no matter how many times I begged and pleaded to know.  I just needed an answer.  I wanted to know [pauses] why. Was I not important enough to stay?  Was my mom not pretty enough?  Were we making him unhappy?  [Long pause]  He taught me everything worth knowing.

JOANNE
Oh [long pause] was it just you and your mom when he left?

ANDRE
My mom and her sister.  Mom couldn’t do it by herself.  We can barely afford to live in our two bedroom apartment.  They’re all I’ve got but sometimes they drive me crazy.

JOANNE
You’re lucky to have ‘em.

ANDRE
Yeah [pauses] I guess you’re right.

JOANNE
Are they gonna worry about where you are now?  It’s gettin’ pretty late.

ANDRE
Probably, yeah.  Shit [pauses] I was supposed to get some groceries.

JOANNE
Ah [long pause] well, you should probably do that now before the store closes.

ANDRE
True [long pause] but I dunno.  I was only supposed to get a few things.  Things we could probably go without ‘til tomorrow.  My mom will be pissed I disobey her instructions but I think I can live with that.

[Andre stands up and pulls a 5 dollar bill out of his back pocket]

ANDRE [cont’d]
Here.

JOANNE [mumbles]
No [pauses] I couldn’t but thank you.

ANDRE
Just take it.  You can’t stay here.  It’s not safe anyways.

[Joanne stands up, smiling]

JOANNE
You’ve got a good soul kid.  Thanks for your kindness.  I hope your momma doesn’t give you too much trouble.

ANDRE
Yeah, no worries.  I hope you find your son.  I think he’d be lucky to have a mother like you.

[Andre nods at Joanne, pulling out his iPod and begins the walk back home, Stairway to Heaven echoing through the alleyway]

FADE OUT.