Their Eyes Were Watching God

'There's two things everybody got to find out for theyselves.

'They got to find out about love,

'and they got to find out about livin'.

'Now, love is like the sea.

'It's a movin' thing,

'and it's different on every shore.

'And livin'...

'Well, I just come back from buryin' the dead.'

Is that Miss Starks?

Sure enough looks like Miss Starks' looksome features.

Yes, 'cept Miss Starks wouldn't be wearin' no coveralls.

That Tea Cake, he probably stole her money.

See, that's what happens when you run off with a young fellow like Tea Cake.

Oh, you just mad cos she ain't run off with you!

Ain't no way in the world that's Mrs Mayor Starks.

-No way in the world.

-Janie?!

Lord, we been worried sick about you!

Go to hell.

-What did you say?

-I said, "Afternoon, ladies."

Jasper, run get Miss Phoeby,

you tell her her friend Miss Janie come back.

Yes, ma'am.

I told you she'd come runnin' back here, crawlin' back, didn't I?

SHE PLAYS MINIMAL PIANO TUNE

What's she doin' with long hair down her back like some young gal?

Where's Tea Cake at, that's what I want to know.

Weren't she a widow woman, almost 40?

That young boy weren't never gonna marry her.

I covered up your furniture an' all.

I thank you.

You sure look good.

Shoot, you look like your own daughter.

Girl, you talkin' like you think I brought you something.

I ain't brought home nothing but myself.

That's a gracious plenty.

Your friends wouldn't want nothing better.

Girl, go on and bring me them rations you've brought in here.

-Thank you.

-Janie...

Here you go.

If that Tea Cake ever shows his behind in Eatonville again, he gonna wish he hadn't.

He knew that you had just lost Joe,

so he took advantage of you and your money.

He ain't wasted none of my money.

And if he was here, he'd tell everybody so too.

But he gone?

Ain't he?

-He dragged you down to his level, and then...

-Y'all think he did me wrong.

Janie, we all know he did you wrong.

Well, I ain't stunned what they think.

You don't care what I think neither, do you?

You left this town,

running off with that no cowt...

Me and Tea Cake had us a real love.

You got the nerve to come back up in here with no shoes on your feet and nothing but overalls on your back,

making everything we believed in just look like dirt!

Me and Tea Cake had us a real love.

-How could you do that?

-Y'all couldn't see that.

-I used to look up to you.

Phoeby...

The only way you, and this whole town, ever seen me

was as Mrs Mayor Starks,

sittin' out there on that porch,

silk dresses on.

All high an' mighty.

Just as ladylike as you please.

That might have been the Janie y'all knew.

But that wasn't the Janie I ever was.

'You see, I ain't never known my poppa, or my ma.

'My grandmomma raised me.

'I was born sorta knowing things,

'like how the trees and the wind talk.

'I told the seeds when they was fallin',

'"I sure hope y'all fall on soft ground."

INSECTS BUZZ

'That year,

'something about me was different.

'It's like my life was starting right at that moment.'

-Hey, Johnny Taylor!

-How you doin', Janie?

I'm all right!

Janie!

How long you been lettin' Johnny Taylor kiss on you?

What is wrong with you?

Ain't nothing wrong with me, Nanny.

-We was...

-I seen what you was doin'.

You was just lettin' that trashy boy, that breath an' britches, wipe his feet on you.

He wasn't wipin' his feet on me.

The woman is the mule of the world.

I didn't mean no harm, Nanny.

You don't even know...

what harm is, girl.

Yeah, you gonna get married right away.

-To Johnny Taylor?

-No, child,

I'd wanted you to school out,

but that ain't your idea, I see.

Why... Why, I ain't ready to get married.

Oh, so you don't want to marry a decent man.

You want to be like your momma was, you want to run wild, break my heart.

Someone good and decent's been asking after you for a while now.

Brother Logan Killicks.

Logan Killicks?

That's what he been hangin' around here for?

He look like...some old skull head in a graveyard.

Brother Killicks got 60 acres and he's good and decent.

I don't care what he got.

'Nanny took the horizon and pinched it into a little bit of a thing.'

Janie? Janie, what in the world are you doing?

I'm watching God.

Now, y'all want to make sure his dinner's always hot when he comes home,

and the floor's swept clean in the morning,

and be welcomin' to him.

Here he comes.

Whoa!

Dry your eyes.

How do,

Miss Janie.

'We got married, just like Nanny wanted.

'It was true, Logan was good and decent.

'I was a proper married woman.

'But I was still waiting for love to begin.'

Girl! Come on, now!

MUSIC: "Beggin' The Blues" by Bessie Jones

I'm goin' over Hamilton County, get us another plough.

-Can I go with you?

-You stay here, help me out some.

That porch need cleanin'.

Cut up them seed potatoes, don't spend all day daydreamin'.

Slaughter that runt and bleed 'im good.

I want chops for dinner.

So that's a no?

Next time.

Move it!

Go!

Go, before you become ham hocks.

-Put my pig down!

-Not if you're givin' him to the foxes.

I'm tryin' to let him go. Put him down!

Go on, go on.

You think you're bein' kind? He'll be dead before morning.

I ain't kind in no kind of way.

Your momma and poppa gonna give you hell for settin' them pigs free.

They dead and I don't care what my husband thinks, neither.

Husband?

Went to get a plough, so I can help in the fields.

Lord, gal, you got no more business behind a plough than a hog got with a holiday.

Pretty lady like you need to be treated like a lady every single day of your life.

My name is Joe Starks, I'm from Georgia.

Where you headin', Mr, Starks?

Down the road a ways, they got some coloured folks got together, made their own town.

All-coloured town?

-You...

-Yeah, they called it Eatonville.

I'm plannin' to get there while the town's still a baby.

Seem like a tall tale to me.

Maybe you need to come with me and see it.

Can't...

Guess you better get goin'.

If you change your mind, tomorrow after the sun come up,

I'm gonna be waitin' on you,

right down that road.

Mr Starks!

Keep it.

What would you do if I was to leave you?

Leave me?

You but 17 years old.

You don't know nothing about the world.

I know enough.

You don't appreciate my good treatment, do you?

No, it ain't that. You treat me good.

Janie...

I got 60 acres,

and I ain't no young man, in no kind of way.

When I pass,

everything I got passes to you.

But what if I was to leave you?

What would you do?

Do what you got to do.

I'm goin' to sleep.

'Joe Starks had spoke about change,

'and chance.

'And even if he wasn't there waiting for me,

'the change was bound to do me good.'

Hey, girl!

'I thought I was gonna have flower dust and springtime sprinkled over everything.

'Joe bought me all kinds of pretty new clothes,

'and I became Mrs Joe Starks.'

Can you fellows tell us how far we at from Eatonville?

We hopin' to get there by nightfall.

Y'all in Eatonville now.

This is it?

This is it.

This don't look like nothing but a raw place in the woods.

Well, we only been in town for about a year.

Place is just getting started, got lots to look forward to.

Amen, she's right.

Y'all got a lot of opportunity here.

Why don't you and your daughter join us for supper?

I'm a really good cook and I'd be really happy to have you.

Amos Hicks is my name and I ain't got no wife as yet.

And I ain't nowhere near old enough to have a daughter, Mr Hicks.

This here's my wife.

If you and your wife is thinkin' about settlin' here,

you're welcome to stay with my family.

Until we build our own house.

We'd be happy to put you up as long as you need. Willy, tie up his horse.

We thank you.

I'm gonna get me a wife just like that.

You ain't got but a fish sandwich to your name.

You can't get the likes of her with no fish sandwich.

How many acres y'all got now?

'Bout 50.

That ain't enough for no town.

Well, we was real fortunate that Captain Eaton gave us the acres to get started.

Captain Eaton own the sawmill we work in.

He's a fairer man than most.

Y'all want this to be a town of significance, don't you?

Sure, but Captain Eaton ain't gonna give us no more land now.

Cap'n Eaton? He's generous, but he ain't stupid.

He might not give you no more, but you can buy more.

Been a town a whole year.

You would think they'd have more happening by now.

They just need you to show 'em what to do.

I pray to God they ain't a bunch of lazy no-counts.

They need a leader, that's all.

Look to me like Joe Starks

would be the perfect man for the job.

Look at this face. Good-lookin' enough to be on a silver dollar.

This chest,

strong and broad,

bet you got a big speech-making voice in there, don't you?

These hands...

Lord knows, these hands are made for counting money.

We'll buy a hundred acres,

and then we'll buy a hundred more.

I'll sell the land we don't need to newcomers,

and we'll put Eatonville right in the middle of the map.

And with the money we make, we'll buy you your very own train guard

and we gonna crisscross this country first class.

Call me Jody like you do sometimes.

Call me Jody.

Jody.

He ain't gonna buy nothing, I'm tellin' you. He all talk.

I been tellin' y'all we needs to buy more land, ain't I?

Lord, I don't know.

< I hope he can.

Now what?

-Joe pullin' out his money.

-He gonna buy more land, I told y'all!

Captain Eaton's signin' the paper!

-What you see?

-Shh!

And Joe done signed the paper too!

CHEERING AND SCREAMING

'The next day, we all voted Joe to be the mayor.

'Wasn't nobody more proud of him than me.'

Hold on!

'He just strolled around, all wrapped up in his new dignity.

'Thinkin', plannin' our future,

'and I was right there with him, ready to help.'

MUSIC: "See Aunt Dinah" by Bessie Jones

'Some folks need thrones and ruling chairs to make their influence felt,

'but not Joe.

'He had a throne in the seat of his pants.

'When the new families came, the land we bought made us a good profit,

'and we reinvested the money back into Eatonville.'

In the kitchen, thank you.

Which way, Mrs Starks?

That goes upstairs.

JOE PLAYS PIANO NOTES

Can't neither one of us play it.

This ain't for playin', this is just for lookin' at.

Shoot, Jody!

This is the life Nanny always dreamed of me havin'.

We did it.

She'd be so happy.

Are you happy?

Yeah.

Mr Starks. Ma'am.

-I got it.

-Steady, steady...

I hope they got my ribbon.

Since I had my three children, I just ain't got the figure I used to.

You know, you look like a young gal in that dress.

Sam says the mayor of Orlando's comin' and someone from the governor's office, too.

-Well, you know what that means, ladies.

-What?

We in the big house now!

-Isn't it gorgeous?

-We should go, see you later!

It's pretty. You think Joe gonna like it?

Course he'll like it.

Janie?

You and Joe changed everythin'.

Just feels like anything's possible now.

Lord, I done... I run over the mayor!

Almost, Phoeby. Almost.

I ordered it from the finest ladies' store in Orlando.

Oh!

Must have cost a lot.

Look at this one, Jody. This is the one the ladies made me, ain't it pretty?

Yeah, but it ain't befittin' of a mayor's wife.

You're the bell cow.

Those other women, they're your gang.

No other wife,

none of them should rank with you.

I'm gonna show you the world.

Remember?

Try as he might, Frank Taylor can't seem to control that wife of his.

Hell, if she was my wife, I'd kill her cemetery dead.

Oh, come here! Where you goin' with them cookies?

Come on, now.

Oh, shoot! Gimme those cookies.

Come here, boy.

I'm tellin' you, in five years' time,

Eatonville is gonna be the county seat.

Well, all right, I hear what you say.

Five years' time, Eatonville is gonna be the county seat right here.

You hear what I say, you mark my words.

Hard work, determination.

-If we expect to move on, we got to stand up and do things right around here.

-You're right about that.

We got to organise...

You see her paradin' round up there?

I reckon the dress we done made ain't good enough for Mrs Mayor Starks.

She up there with the men.

Too good to help us out.

I plan to make Eatonville become the coloured capital of the state of Florida, cos this town...

..is full of union and love.

I plans to put my hands to the plough and strain every nerve

to make our town of Eatonville the metropolis of the state.

And to that effect, let's get started tonight with a little surprise I got for you.

Our incorporation,

Eatonville, is now...

the first coloured incorporated township in all of America.

Let's have a few words of encouragement from Mrs Mayor Starks.

-Come on, say something!

-Mrs Mayor Starks. Come on, come on up!

Thank you for your compliments.

But Mrs Mayor Starks don't know nothing about no speech-makin'!

I didn't marry her for nothing like that.

Brother Pastor.

As we touch this flame to this match wick,

let the light shine into the hearts of all of you gathered here tonight.

-Amen, Amen.

-Let it shine,

let it shine, let it shine!

# This little light of mine I'm gonna let it shine

# This little light of mine I'm gonna let it shine

# This little light of mine I'm gonna let it shine

# Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine... #

How do you like being Mrs Mayor?

It's all right, I reckon.

All right?

You ought to be glad.

I think it keep us in a kinda strain.

I'll be glad when it's over.

Over?

Girl, I ain't even got started good.

I'm gonna be a big voice.

And you ought to be glad.

I'm gonna make a big woman out of you.

-That's your move?

-Oh, I don't know about that.

-What?

That looked like a good move to me.

Yeah, it looked like a good move to me too.

One, two, three.

LAUGHTER

Look like your husband need some new eyeballs for Christmas, Pheoby!

My eyeballs is just fine, OK? You just cheatin', that's all.

Janie!

Janie, get in here,

you got some work to do.

Ma'am.

What do you mean tipping your hat to her? She ain't the queen of England.

Everybody can't be like you, Jody. Folks is bound to laugh and play.

-Who don't want to laugh and have fun?

-You make like you don't.

If they'd laugh less and work more, maybe they'd have themselves something.

But no, they want to work day in and day out like beasts of burden,

and don't end up with nothin' but a full belly and somewhere to lie down afterwards.

Do you expect me to be like that?

No, but I don't wanna be classed off from my friends, and our neighbours.

You don't like me being mayor,

do you?

Joe, we was going places.

I ain't even got started good here yet, and you already wanna run off?

Oh, she gone run off!

Looks like big Mr Mayor and the missus done had a fallin' out.

Here, you put this on.

What, and wrap my head up like an old woman?

How come?

Cos I done told you to!

You are the mayor's wife, remember?

Janie, Janie!

Janie...

Whoo, the devil that got into them.

What the hell you doing?

What the hell you think?

-Janie!

-Can't live with you no more.

Where you gonna go?

Oh now, who the hell? Whatever happened?

You had nothing when I met you, and you'll have less than nothing when you leave me.

Janie, nobody would marry you!

-Not now.

-Get off me!

I'll gonna let you go, but you gonna hear me!

All you'll end up is as somebody's good-time gal,

you know, the kind that men use for they pleasure and then toss in the ditch!

Now, you go.

MUSIC: "Sheep, Sheep, Don't You Know The Road" by Bessie Jones

'Every morning I flung open the window to another day,

'and every day had a store in it.

'I wasn't petal open any more.

'I had an inside and an outside now, and I knew how not to mix 'em.

'Days seemed to just run together.

'We had us a routine.

'Breakfast at dawn,

'lunch at noon,

'and dinner by six.

'20 years passed.

'Eatonville had plenty to be proud of.

'And while I was living a good life,

'it was Joe's life, not mine.'

Now if we can just stop this boy from cheating once in a while...

You done have 20 years, lying about a cheater!

JAR SMASHES

Boy, what is wrong with you? You got a sandbag in your head where your brain should be?

-No, sir.

-Well here's the cut. If you gonna work here, you gonna have to use your brain then.

-You can't mess up all my profit, droppin'...

-Brother Mayor,

-how 'bout cutting me a plug of that fine tobacco you got right there?

-All right.

I'll get that for you, Sam.

Lord have mercy!

Looky here, your wife done gone buck wild with that plug cutting.

And you'll be round this store till you old as Methuselah, you still won't be learning how to do nothing.

Don't be standing there studying me, with your pop eyes rolling and your little narrow behind.

Quit mixing up my doings with my looks, then.

You must be out your mind, talking to me like that. I'm the mayor of this town.

You the one started it, talking underneath my clothes.

Don't be insulted about your looks.

You ain't gimme no children, now you're an old lady.

-Nearly 40, ain't nobody looking at you, old as you is.

-Well, I ain't 40, I'm only 38.

You ways past 50, let's talk about that.

And this big fat belly you got.

You talk a whole lotta brag, Joe, but ain't nothing big about you but your voice.

-Hell, you pull down your britches and it look like you done hit the change of life.

-What you say to me?

You heard her, you ain't blind.

I'd rather be shot dead than hear that about my own self!

Jane, what you say to me?!

Janie!

Joe gived you everything you could want.

You're not happy because you expect too much.

'Something fell off the shelf inside me.

'It was Joe, tumbled down and shattered.'

Doctor say that I'm dying.

I guess you come to watch.

HE WHEEZES

Jody...

Maybe I ain't been such a good wife to you.

But you gave me everything a woman could ever dream of having.

And I thank you.

But Jody, you and me done been together now for 20 years,

and you don't know me half at all.

I know you.

You changed from that Jody I run off down the road with.

I wanted to keep a house with you in a wonderful way,

but you wasn't really satisfied with me the way I was.

I built a whole town for us.

But that ain't good enough for you.

It was just that my own feelings had to be squeezed and crowded out of me to make room for yours in me.

Blame everything on me.

I don't let you show me no feeling, huh?

Janie, that's all I ever wanted.

Ain't nobody trying to blame nothing on you, Joe, but all this bowing down and obedience,

well, it just ain't what I run off down that road with you for.

Shut up! Shut up.

Even now, you've got to die

with me being obedient,

instead of lettin' me love you.

I hope...

that thunder and lightning...

kill you.

Get outta here,

get lost!

HE WHEEZES

Jody?

Poor Jody...

Sitting in that ruling chair was hard for you too.

'Whatever folks thought of Joe while he was living,

'they turned out for his funeral, and cried over him.

'Cos whether they liked him or not, they knew he had been a good man,

'and that his passing was a great loss.

'I felt the sadness too,

'but alongside the sadness,

'I was feeling something else.

'I was feeling free.'

MUSIC: "There's A New World Coming" by Bernice Johnson Reagon

Sun feels so good, don't it?

Joe's been dead almost a year, and Amos Hicks got a pretty good job now.

I ain't thinking about no Amos!

Shoot, I'm enjoying my freedom too much.

Janie, don't let nobody hear you say that.

Folks'll think you ain't sorry Joe's gone.

I don't care what folks think.

And to my thinking,

mourning shouldn't last a second longer than the grief do.

-Afternoon.

-Can I get you something?

Got any smoking tobacco?

Sure do.

Got a little piece of fire over there, lady?

Mm-hm.

So how come you ain't over there at the ball game?

Everybody else in town is there.

Well, not everybody.

Lady just sold me some cigarettes.

I only had train fare for part of the way, so I figured I'd catch me a ride with someone.

Good luck,

cos all the cars in Eatonville is gone.

Guess I'll walk then.

I got pretty good shoe leather.

How about you playing me some checkers?

You look hard to beat.

I am, cos I keep playing late!

You a wild one.

Oh, man, girl!

Wait!

Not my king.

But not my king, no!

Take any one, but not my king!

You gonna be a good player after a while.

You think?

I'll come and teach you some more another time.

You could teach me,

so long as you don't cheat me.

How 'bout a cool drink?

Why, thank you, Mr...

You ain't even told me your name.

My momma named me Vergible Woods, but most everybody call me Tea Cake.

Tea Cake, huh?

You as sweet as all that?

Why don't you try me and see?

You look scared.

I ain't scared.

Night, now.

'You and the whole town had decided that I should get me a new husband,

'and Amos Hicks was thinking he was the fellow with the best chance.

'Shoot, in Amos's mind, me and him was already engaged.'

Sure is hot.

Yeah, I never did like the heat.

I was much more of a cold weather kind of man.

Boy, now I done heard everything.

Yeah, but you know what I'm gonna do?

I'm gonna marry Miss Janie, I'm gonna take her over to Chicago, and we gonna have a honeymoon there.

-You gonna have to get up off our porch first.

-LAUGHTER

How you doing? Y'all mind if I join you?

-What's your name, son?

-They call me Tea Cake.

You look like you need a drink. It's hot and sweaty.

Why, thank you for the soda, and I'll square it with you.

Take some time out, and sit there.

I sure will, I sure will.

Janie! Come on over here play checkers with us.

I'm sorry, but you don't know Miss Mayor Starks, son.

She don't play no checkers.

She do now.

-I ain't that good.

-I'll teach you.

No, no, son, I'm gonna coach her.

Sit right here, Miss Starks.

I appreciate that, Amos.

Now, you gotta picture it like this.

Here you are, you're a general, right?

And this right here, these are your troops.

-Amos, you're probably the best checkers player in the whole state.

-Thanks, Phoeby.

Now what you're trying to do, if you can get your pieces to move to the other side of the board,

if you can get 'em there, you get to become a king, if...

What?

Good night, Hezekiah.

It's late, Miss Starks.

Ill walk you home.

That's OK. I'll walk her.

I'm hungry.

Well, I got some pound cake.

I got some lemonade.

Taste.

I done tasted a lemon before.

SHE LAUGHS

Shh!

I hear a noise.

THEY LAUGH

There ain't nobody out there, Pearl.

-Pearl, Pearl!

-Like laughing.

Laughing? From Mayor Starks' house?

No, that can't be, can't be no laughing, come on.

Guess I'm gonna put these old bones to bed.

You ain't old in no kind of way.

Besides, the night's too pretty for anybody to be sleeping it away.

Wait, where you going?

-Let's us go fishing!

-Fishing?

-Come on, fishing.

-This time of night?

Oh, yeah, best time, best time.

-Come on, girl!

-We can't go fishing!

-Wait, wait...

-You'll make me fall!

HARMONICA PLAYS BLUES MUSIC

-Ah! A fish! I got a fish!

-Hold him now.

Yeah!

-TURNS VOLUME UP ON RADIO

-Oh, yeah!

# I remember one September on one Friday night

# Stagger Lee and Billy Lyons had a great fight

# When you lose your money, learn to lose

# Billy Lyons shot six bits

# Stagger Lee bet he'd pass

# Stagger Lee out with his 45, said, "You done shot your last"

# When you lose your money, learn to lose... #

SHE GIGGLES

Ah!

# Lord, a woman come a-running, fell down on her knees

# Crying "Oh, Mr Stagger Lee, don 't shoot my brother, please"... #

PLAYS PIANO

SHE HITS RANDOM NOTES ON PIANO

-This one here.

-Uh-huh.

Right there. And this one right here, and spread 'em like that.

That's the first one,

all right? And now come this way.

Let me try.

Remember that.

That's good.

You're real pretty.

I'm real old.

Oh, you got the world in a jug, and you don't even know it.

I'm glad to be the one to tell you.

I'll bet you tell plenty of women that.

I tells 'em and I shows 'em.

Young man like you,

I bet you're real popular, ain't you?

Folks like me all right, if that's what you mean.

SHE SIGHS

Sitting here talking to you done made me real tired.

Your heart just left here and went somewhere else.

Where my heart is shouldn't make no difference to you.

I ain't one of your lady friends.

You sure ain't one of my lady friends, cos I don't got but one.

What I'm saying is, well, you sorta got me at your mercy.

I'm nearly 12 years older than you.

I've thought all about that.

Trying to make some kind of sense of it, but the thought

of my youngness just don't...don't satisfy me like your presence do.

Well, it'd make a whole heap of difference to most folks.

Oh, Janie, things like that got everything to do with convenience, don't got nothing to do with love.

Love, you don't know nothing about love.

You're just saying that cos the fish and cornbread tasted real good, ain't you?

Those ain't nothing but your night thoughts.

Night, Miss Janie.

What the hell I need some young fool?

KNOCKING ON DOOR

Did I wake you?

No.

Kinda early.

I want to tell you my daytime thoughts, seeing as how you don't trust my night-time ones.

You sounded like you needed telling and showing,

so that's what I'm doing.

I bet you hungry, ain't you?

Come on, I'll make you some breakfast.

No, I ain't got time now, I got a job over in Maitland.

I got to be there by eight, OK? I'll see you later, tell you straight.

Hey, your jacket.

What a pretty mourning dress.

What shade of black is that?

-Same shade as yours.

-CAR HORN HONKS

Where you get this car?

Won it off this guy.

She said they was going on a picnic.

She looks happy, sashaying off in that pink linen dress.

All the men she can get, and she's stepping out with a guy like Tea Cake.

Fire.

All right, that's good, that's good.

All right now. Get the next one. Ready?

Hey, hey, hey now, hey now.

Old Joe Starks must be turning over in his grave.

Hey, don't pay them no mind, now.

Get it right here in your shoulder.

-Tea Biscuit!

-Cock it, fire!

Whoo!

# There's one thing that thrills me so, I say, "Yes, please, honey"

# Don't you know that I don't think I'll ever get enough... #

Evening, Pearl.

# Oh, it feels so good, so come on give me that stuff

# You know I'm wild for what you got

# However it comes, honey, cold or hot... #

Mrs Mayor Starks and Tea Cake gone fishing.

Fishing, huh?

Miss Janie and Tea Cake gone to Orlando, to the picture show.

Tea Cake walking Miss Janie home at nights, but don't walk hisself home till the mornin'.

CAR HORN HONKS

That tea Cake using her collection-plate money to buy gasoline with.

Yeah, he just dragging her out of the church.

I'm worried about you.

SHE GIGGLES

Don't be.

Tea Cake is dragging you round to places you ain't used to.

-Shooting and fishing and...

-And what's so bad about all that?

And picnics in the middle of the week!

-You acting like it's against the law, Phoeby.

-Janie...

Girl!

He's helping you spend your money, ain't he?

He got you buying him clothes, and hats and whatnots.

What's wrong with that?

You know how it is when a woman runs off with a younger man.

Tea Cake ain't like that.

With him,

I'm gonna utilise myself all over.

He want me to be serious with him.

He asked me to marry him.

Janie!

Don't worry, I said no. I ain't never getting married again, but I am gonna run off with him.

You gonna end up like Annie Tyler!

No, I ain't.

Remember how we all sat on our porches, watching her?

Remember?

After she was a widow,

when she ran off with her no-count good-time fellow, she was laughing and sure, just like you.

RAGTIME MUSIC PLAYS

That young fellow getting ready to snatch all of her money.

Hmm!

SHE CHUCKLES

'But he was only after what he could get.

'Stole her car, stole her money.

'After that, he was gone, like turkey through the corn.'

Well, I love Tea Cake,

and I'm gonna be with him.

He gonna make a fool out of you.

I want to leave out early to get everything ready,

so don't you go missing that bus or nothing, and leave me all high and dry, you hear?

I won't.

You wouldn't go making no false pretence with me, would you?

Can't nobody hold a candle to you, Janie.

You got the keys to the kingdom, girl.

Miss Mayor Starks?

Take care of things, won't you, Hezekiah?

Yes, ma'am.

Where's she off to, you think?

Question ain't where to, it's who with.

Well, you gotta hand it to her, she sure look good.

RAGTIME MUSIC PLAYS

T'ain't right!

She gonna be back here before you know it, you mark my words.

# If I gave you my love

# Baby, I tell you what I would do

# I'd expect a whole lot of love out of you

# You got to be good to me

# I'm gonna be good to you, yeah

# There's a whole lotta things you and I could do

# I can't stand back

# What about the way you love me?

# And the way you squeeze me

# Yeah, simply beautiful

# Yeah, yeah, beautiful, yeah

# When you get right down to it

# Oh, yeah

# Oh! When you need me,

# I was right there beside you, girl

# Oh, beside you, girl

# Yeah, yeah, beside you

# Baby, baby

# Baby, yeah, yeah

# Oh, yeah

# Little girl, sometimes the way you feeling

# No, honey, all you got to do is call me

# Simply beautiful, yeah

# Yeah, simply beautiful

# Yeah, simply beautiful. #

Tea Cake?

Where you at, honey?

Tea Cake?

What you want, honey?

You want some breakfast?

No, I'm fine.

CAR HORN HONKS

# What about the way you love me

# And the way you squeeze me

# Yeah, simply beautiful to me

# Beautiful, simply... #

'That young fellow getting ready to snatch all of her money.'

# What about the way you hold me?

# And the way you squeeze me

# Ooh, ooh, ooh, simply beautiful

# Simply, simply, simply beautiful. #

Where the hell you been?

It's good to see you too, baby.

Good to see me, huh?

Where the hell is my money?

I lost it.

You lost it?

You lost it?! What do you mean, you lost it?

-Listen to me!

-You ain't gonna make no fool outta me!

Listen, you knew I got a way with cards.

Now y'all gonna walk out of here with a few hundred and walk back in here with a few grand.

I was gonna take you to Orlando and buy you lots of pretty stuff!

I must have been nervous or something, cos I couldn't, I couldn't...win a hand, Janie!

You stole my money,

-and you gambled it away?

-Yeah.

My car, too.

Well, you a damn fool.

And I ain't never gonna give you a chance to make no fool out of me.

Never gonna let you leave me in no dirty hotel room.

I made up my mind never,

never let you see no commonness in me.

You're hurt. What happened to you?

I was gonna...

-Why you hurt?

-..go out there and win the world for you...

-You hurt yourself?

-What happened to you?

-..so you can live with pretty things.

I don't wanna drag you down.

I don't wanna to drag you down no kind of way, no kind of way.

You can't drag me down.

All you got to give me is yourself.

That's it.

# Simply beautiful. #

Want to go to the muck?

To the muck?

What's the muck?

It's this place down in the Everglades.

Oh, it's beautiful and wild.

There's plenty of work and fun.

We could make us some money and have a hell of a time, now what you say to that?

No, we don't need no money, cos I got plenty of money in the bank.

-We get us a new car...

-No, no, no, no, see, your money gonna stay there.

It's gonna stay in the bank.

While you and me's together, we gonna eat whatever my money can buy, and wear the same.

Now, if I ain't got nothing, you don't got nothing.

Well, that's all right with me.

Yeah, that's Lake Okeechobee, an awful big water.

40 miles wide and 60 miles long.

Yes, ma'am, that's a whole heap of water.

HE CHUCKLES

'I felt like I had been looking for this place my whole life.'

'They came every spring, truckloads of 'em, from the east, west, north and south.

'Wild people, hoping to change their fortunes with the picking season on the muck.

'Drums, living

three lifetimes in one.

'Blues, made and used right there on the spot.'

CHILDREN SINGING

You watching?

Hey, what's your name?

-Janie. What's yours?

-Nunkie.

Sure look nice in them overalls.

Now, you sure you want to pick these cucumbers?

-Do I want to pick cucumbers?

-Mm-hm.

Yeah, I want to pick cucumbers!

You miss me when you at work and I miss you when I'm at home.

-It's hard work, though.

-I think I can handle it!

The lunch, the lunch!

Yeah, yeah, get that, I'm hungry.

PEOPLE CHATTER

MUSICIANS PLAY TOGETHER

'I felt for the very first time like I was living my life.

'I had love,

'and it was real.

'Tea Cake gave me the whole world

'every day.'

Now, where y'all going?

To high ground.

Sawgrass bloomed, hurricane's coming.

Oh, they all just scared.

Oh, I been in the glade for years,

ain't nothin' comin' but a little blow.

Indians is leaving cos they say a storm coming.

Well, if the Indians knew anything, they'd still own this land, now wouldn't they?

WINDS INTENSIFY

Come on now, we gotta git.

Why don't you hold that fish up and let the wind blow them scales off?

Like that?

-Come on, y'all, hurry up.

-Step up!

How about after the harvest...

..we go and take a look around Chicago?

-Sounds good.

-Mm-hmm.

They crossing the road in broad daylight.

Hey, the crows done flew up. They say that's a bad sign.

I think I'm gonna go up north a few miles, be on the safe side.

It ain't nothing but a little windy.

They say this one here gonna be bad, I got some space in here if y'all two want to come.

We go, we gonna lose two whole days' pay.

Go ahead, we gonna wait it out.

All right, now, suit yourself.

THUNDER RUMBLES

Don't worry, if it do rain, we gonna be safe in the house anyway.

-What you doing, Janie?

-I'm watching God.

THUNDER RUMBLES, WINDS HOWL

CRASHING

-It's gonna be all right.

-I know.

WINDOW BURSTS OPEN, GLASS SHATTERS

I reckon you wish you'd never left the big house and steered clear of these storms and such.

No, this ain't nothing.

-Hmm...

-It ain't.

Just with my man in the middle of a storm, that's all.

Supposing we was to die now?

Well, it don't matter, cos folks don't die till their time come no way.

It's like if you can see the light of day, you really don't care if you die before dusk.

-Mmm.

-I was fumblin' around in the dark.

God opened the door, and there you was.

I never knew you were so satisfied with me like that.

RUMBLING INTENSIFIES

SHE COUGHS

Tea Cake!

Tea Cake!

Tea Cake!

Tea Cake!

DOG BARKS FEROCIOUSLY

Tea Cake!

DOG HOWLS, TEA CAKE CRIES OUT

Tea Cake?

Tea Cake!

Tea Cake!

Tea Cake!

Tea Cake! Tea Cake!

Tea Cake, come on, come on.

Come on, come on!

He woulda torn me to pieces if it wasn't for you, honey.

Come here.

You don't have to say "if it wasn't for me," baby, cos I'm here.

# Simply beautiful. #

'A week later, the water had gone back between its banks, leavin'

'the lake as calm and as peaceful as it was the first time I'd seen it.

'Folks came back and pitched in, trying to make things right again.

'All the while, Tea Cake rested, said he was tired, was all.'

Brought you a whole bucketful of water.

-What's wrong?

-Water got something wrong with it.

-Ain't nothing wrong with the water.

-Why didn't you clean it?

HE COUGHS

Oh, there's nothing wrong with you, just a couple of little bites.

You'll be fine.

Just keep Janie out your bed for a while.

Make sure he takes that medicine, and he's gonna be good as new before you know it.

-I wish I'd gotten to him sooner.

-I'll make sure he takes this medicine.

-We gotta get him to the hospital where they can tie him down and look after him.

-Tie him down?

-It sounds like the dog that bit him gave him rabies.

-I got plenty of money,

-so whatever it'll cost to cure him, I got it.

-He's liable to die.

No, you don't know my Tea Cake. He's a little sick, that's all.

-Some shots right afterwards coulda fixed him up, but he's liable to bite somebody.

-No.

Just tell me what to do, whatever it is, I'm gonna do it.

Janie, it might be too late, but I'll go over to Palm Beach

and I'll get him the medicine he shoulda had a week ago.

-It's gonna take me a day or so to get back to you. That's the best I can do, darling.

-OK.

-All right.

We gonna get you well.

Good, good, cos you and me got things to do.

We sure do.

Since that first time I seen you,

working in your store, I been trying...

I been trying...

I been trying to put my finger on what it is, what it is about you.

I'm just some old gal wouldn't nobody want but you, that's it.

No, no.

You only sound old when you tell people when you was born.

It's like you...

It's like

you spent all your old days first with somebody else,

and you saved up all your young girl days to spend with me, you hear me?

Oh, Janie, you're the kinda woman'd make a man forget to grow old,

forget to die.

Come here.

I'm here.

You really need to hush up all this sweet talk,

just get better.

Every time I see a patch of roses,

over sporting theyselves, makin' out like they pretty.

I say to 'em,

"You ain't seen my Janie."

You keep saying stuff like that,

I just might have to believe you.

What's the matter?

-Something, something got after me...

-You sure was straining with it.

HE COUGHS

This pillow's sopping wet.

Trying to choke me to death.

Here's money for gas. Get Doc Gordon, and tell him to come fast.

Go as fast as you can.

INDISTINCT

What you doin'?

Doc Gordon said you need your rest.

Janie...

How about we have us some lemonade?

-How come you won't sleep with me no more?

-I'll sleep with you.

Come on, lie down, I'll sleep with you.

See?

Doc Gordon gonna be here, everything gonna be OK.

CAR APPROACHES, HORN HONKS

That's Doc Gordon.

MAN LAUGHS

-Where you heading?

-No place.

You's gonna run off with Motor Boat, ain't you? Tell the truth.

You tired of waitin' on me, doin' for me.

You gonna find yourself someone else, ain't you, huh?

-Don't lie to me!

-GUN CLICKS

It's just the sickness, that's all it is.

It's just the sickness, it's got a hold of your mind.

You just can't think straight, that's all.

It's just a sickness, just a sickness.

It's just makin' you think crazy things.

Don't touch me! I seen you with him!

-GUN CLICKS

-Ah!

Fight it, fight.

I know you can fight it.

-GUN CLICKS

-Ah!

Cos if you don't fight it,

they gonna tie you down,

and I ain't gonna let nobody tie you down.

Now put that gun down.

Can you see me? Tea Cake?

You see me?

You see me, don't you? Can you see me?

Can you see me?

Can you see me?

It's Janie,

I know you love me.

GUNSHOTS RING OUT

JANIE SCREAMS AND SOBS

Poor Tea Cake.

Bless his heart.

Tea Cake gonna always be alive,

as long as I'm thinking and breathing and feeling.

Ain't nobody gonna criticise you in my hearing.

-Good.

-All right.

I just,

I feel like I growed ten feet high just listenin' to you.

Girl, all I did

was find out about living

for myself.

I'm gonna get my Sam to take me fishing,

right now.

And I don't care how late it is!

You go, go on, Phoeby.

'Now, love is like the sea.

'It's a moving thing, and it's different on every shore.'

SHE LAUGHS

SHE GASPS

-TEA CAKE:

-'What you doing, Janie?'

I'm watching God.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

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