Chapter 58
THE GUN, PART II
FADE IN:
INT. ST. CLAIR HOME, FOYER - EVENING:
When DORINDA sees JOEL barge out of the house with a revolver, she scrambles out of the kitchen, her blue robe flying open to reveal her satin undershirt, her pink slippers flapping against the floor.
She’s not afraid, simply numb, as she runs after him.
She understands someone must speak some sense into him and that someone has always had to be her.
She can stay inside or she can run. She loses either way.
JOEL collapses into the driver’s seat and stares ahead. It’s clear he has no idea where to go, who he’s supposed to be shooting.
DORI
(Flinging open the passenger’s door)
Come on. Come back inside.
JOEL cradles the gun in his lap like he’s afraid of it.
JOEL
(Frowning)
Who is he?
DORI
We’ll talk inside. We don’t want to scare the neighbors.
JOEL
I can’t go back in there.
DORI puts a firm but loving hand on his shoulder. Because she’s a woman married to a man, because she’s the wife to someone in recovery, because she’s a Black woman who’s been alive this long, she’s a skilled hostage negotiator.
DORI
(Voice smooth and low, like a coo)
Of course you can go back in there.
CAT runs toward the car. DORI raises her hand like a stop sign, eyes clear as glass. Like a spell, CAT freezes. She’s still a child who respects her mother’s commands even if she doesn’t entirely respect her mother.
LISA is dialing 911 beside her, breathing loudly.
CAT
(To Auntie Lisa)
They’ll arrest him—you can’t.
LISA
I don’t care. That’s my sister. If he—
A loud pop breaks the quiet, so quick you could miss it, not at all like the incessant trill of gunshots in gangster movies.
The screams follow a long, confused pause.
Then JOEL trips out of the car and into DORI’s arms.