Sons of Anarchy
Dancing in the Moonlight
SCENE ONE. INT. GEMMA & CLAY'S BEDROOM. 0530 hrs.
The alarm clock goes off. Gemma stirs and Clay reaches out and pounds the clock off. He lays there a moment and then rises. Streches. Scrathes. Gemma half rises and looks at the clock.
GEMMA
Where are you going at this hour?
CLAY
Got a shipment coming in. Parts. Friend of Jury’s opened a chop shop outside of Oakland. We haven't dealt with him before. Want to be there and meet this guy in person, make sure it all goes smooth. Sorry I woke you. Go back to sleep, I'll be quiet.
Clay is moving toward the bathroom, stripping as he goes. Gemma streches out in the bed, watching him.
GEMMA
(provocative)
Hey, you wanna get dirty before you get clean.
CLAY
(tilting his head to the side, half smiling)
Ahh, you know it would be disrespectful being late for a first meeting. How about I come home around lunch time; you could have something ready for me to eat then.
GEMMA
(turning over, away from him)
Nope. April's coming over later. She's going to make one of those scrap books for Abel.
CLAY
April? Hey, If she wants...
GEMMA
(without turning, slightly shaking her head but amused ) Never gonna happen, Clay. (still not turning, she tosses a pillow at him. He catches it, brings it back to the bed and kisses her head, grinning, then turns and heads for the bathroom)
SCENE TWO EXT. THE STREET OUTSIDE TELLER & MORROW AUTOMOTIVE 0625 hrs.
Clay pulls up to the locked gates. Half Sack is there already, just opening the gates, turns and smiles, nods to Clay. Clay nods back, slightly. He rides through the gate as they open for him.
Cut to:
Clay pulling up and dismounting, he looks around. Half Sack pulls up beside him and then Juice. Half Sack walks ahead to the office to open up. Clay looks at his watch and then turns and stares into the street behind them.
CLAY
I made a point of being on time, I hope Jury’s friend does the same.
They enter the building and Half Sack starts putting up a pot of coffee. Clay goes to his desk and pulls out his morning cigar. Juice throws himself into a chair. Half Sack turns and notices a truck backing up into their driveway.
HALF SACK
Hey, they're here.
Clay looks up, putting the cigar between his teeth, nodding, pleased.
SCECE THREE INT. GEMMA & CLAY'S LIVINGROOM. 0948 hrs.
The room is unoccupied. The doorbell rings.
GEMMA
(O/S) Coming. (Gemma enters and answers the door. April comes in carrying a large tote bag.) Sorry, I was putting a load of laundry in. Come on in. (Gemma removes the placemats from the dining room table, clearing a spot for April to put the tote down.
APRIL
Morning, Gemma. (removing items from the bag) Thanks. I didn’t realize how much of this shit I’ve been collecting until I started putting it all in the bag.
GEMMA
We never know how much shit we’ve got til’ it’s all in one place. (moving into the kitchen) Should I put on a fresh pot?”
APRIL
Not for me. (Sorting scrapbooking supplies into separate piles.) Water would be good.
GEMMA
Okay. (gets a bottle from the refrigerator and brings it out and places it on the table, surveying the things April is sorting out. She moves around the table and picks up a round box.) Here's what I’ve got to put in it.
SCENE FOUR. EXT. A COFFEE SHOP IN TOWN. 0958 hrs.
Clay, Half Sack and Juice exit, all three with Paper cups of coffee, Half Sack and Clay scarfing down donuts, talking about the shipment they just stocked. They all start down the block in one direction.
HALF SACK
(Stopping)
Shit, I forgot. I gotta go to the hardware store. We need a new portable drill for the club house.
CLAY
Why? What happened to the old one? Didn’t we just buy a new one about a month ago?
JUICE
(glancing at Half Sack, sheepish)
We were rolling ass on E and there was no candy around anywhere, no gum, nothin’, so we went over to Molly’s and tried to break open the lock on the back door with the drill. We didn't realize the door was made of fucking steel. It wouldn't give. Burned out the shitass motor. So then we....
CLAY
I don't wanna hear the rest. What have I told you about not fucking with the local business owners? You get caught, makes us look like a bunch of juvenile fucking delinquents. Next time you two get an urge to chew on something, use each other's dicks. (a beat) Just go buy another damn drill, and make sure you pay for it out of your own fucking molah.
Half Sack and Juice hang their heads and turn and start the other way. Clay continues walking - stops dead. The clerk from the grocery/five and dime store is setting merchandise displays out front. She places a rack on the sidewalk with a number of hand crafted items hanging from it: brightly colored purses, belts, bracelets, etc. made from string crochet, embroidered cloth, ribbons. Clay stares for a moment and then moves to a garbage can, tossing his half eaten donut and coffee cup in it. He walks over to the display and stares at it. Finally he picks the whole thing up and marches into the store with it.
Two female cashiers are behind the counter, opening the register. Clay shoves the display rack half way behind the counter and addresses the older of the two.
CLAY
(falsely friendly)
Morning, ladies.
JESSIE
Morning, Clay.
(only half paying attention, counting out the drawer)
What can I do you for?
CLAY
(indicating the display rack)
You could tell me who brought these... things in.
JESSIE
(still distracted)
The artist? Nice work, huh? We took it on consignment. Let's see, I wrote her information down somewhere... (searches the counter) Ah, here it is! (picks up a small pad.) She goes by the name Sunshine. Cute. (Jessie pulls a fresh page from the pad and begins copying the address). She's staying out on Route 80 - Jefferson's farm. You know the place? They have a roadside stand.
CLAY I know it.
JESSIE
(ripping the page from the pad) She says she does made-to-order work too, you know, like custom. (handing the paper to Clay) Says she used to live around here once.
CLAY
(dry)
Yeah. I think I remember her.
JESSIE
Were you thinking of having her make something for Gemma? Clay gives her a slightly cross eyed look, as if she has just suggested he light Gemma's hair on fire.
CLAY
Something like that. (he half turns, then turns back holding up the paper) Thanks, Jess. (Jessie nods and the women continue setting up for the day. Clay moves over to the rack and shoves a cardboard display in front of it, then palms a crocheted keying. He smiles at the ladies and quickly leaves the store. He stands for a moment outside, looking at the key ring and then pockets it and looks around him.) Shit! Shaking his head. Shit!
SCENE FIVE INT. G&C’S LIVING ROOM 1010 hrs.
APRIL
(removing items from Gemma’s keepsake box, reading the inscriptions of the backs of old photos) These are John and Clay’s relatives, Gemma, where are the pictures from your side of the family?
GEMMA
There is one or two… (begins shuffleing through the photos) Here it is. (she glances at it quickly and hands it to April.)
APRIL
Gemma, it’s you! (smiles) Who’s the other little girl?
GEMMA
( matter of fact) It’s Tillie… Matilda actually … my sister.
APRIL
I never knew you had a sister.
GEMMA
(a kind of twisted smile, really a grimace) She’s dead.
APRIL
I’m sorry. (gazing at the picture) She’s a beautiful little girl, what happened, if you don’t mind my asking?
GEMMA
(Shrugging) She drowned. (Gemma takes the picture from April’s hand, staring at it, rubbing her finger over her sister’s face). It was a long time ago. She was eleven. Four years younger than me.
APRIL
That’s really shitty.
GEMMA
It was. I was the one who took care of, you know, when she was a baby. My mother… well, they call it post partum depression now, back then it was just crazy. (she and April sort of laugh, exchanging nods). Course the booze didn’t help.
APRIL
But you would have only been four.
GEMMA
I was. I did it all. Diapers, bottles, everything.
APRIL
At four?
GEMMA
Somebody had to. I was the only one there who could do it.
APRIL
What about your dad? He take off?
GEMMA
Shit! No such luck. Where else would he find such convenient victims, but in his own home? He used to come home drunk looking for whoever was available to beat and fuck, or fuck and then beat, or just beat. Whatever he happened to be up for.
APRIL
(horrified, unsure how to react) Gemma, I don’t know what to… I’m sorry…
GEMMA
I knew how to handle myself, even back then - and him. He got over on me once and never again. I got the biggest knife we had from the kitchen and stuck it between my mattress and the box spring, with just the handle sticking out so I could get to it when I needed it. That weak mother fucker learned real fast what he could expect when he tried to mess with me. He was always looking for easy targets, and I was never that.
APRIL
(Low) What about your little sister?
GEMMA
I wouldn’t let him get near her; I’d a cut his throat, and he knew it. We slept in the same room, she and I. I Always kept her close. And then the one day I didn’t - she drown. Went with some neighborhood kids to the local reservoir. She fell in and the other kids got scared, just ran away and left her there.
APRIL
Ah, Gemma.
GEMMA
Oh, I got a hold of the some of the little pussies and beat the shit out of them, believe me. I didn’t get to all of them all though. When the neighbors and the cops came around my asshole mother and father put up a real stink, crying and carrying on, like they’d actually given one shit about her, like they were real parents or something. I had to get the fuck out of there. I grabbed a few things, some photos, whatever money I could get my hands on, and split.
APRIL
And you were fifteen?
GEMMA
I took a bus out of town, rode it til’ I couldn’t afford to go any further. I got a job as a waitress, I looked older than I was. I lived in some cruddy, falling down rooming houses, I’ll tell ya that - the kind full of stumbling old drunks. Those old geezers would steal anything that wasn’t nailed down. They’d piss all over the toilet when they made it that far. One of decrepit old lushes tried to touch me once; I sent him to the hospital. It wasn’t exactly a picnic, but it beat the living shit out home sweet home.
I got along; kept moving west. Even got some singing gigs after my waitressing shifts were over for the day. I finally arrived on the west coast and couldn’t go any further. That’s when I met John.
APRIL
How did that happen?
GEMMA
(Smiling)
Bobby had just gotten out of the army. His brother got his buddies together and took him out for a night on the town. I was singing in some dive. John came up to me after my set and told me I had about the prettiest voice he’d ever heard. So I let him take me home and fuck me. (laughs, remembering) He never left; just stayed on. So we figured we might as well get married.
APRIL
What about Clay? Did you ever consider him when you all first met?
GEMMA
No, not seriously. Clay was engaged back then.
APRIL
I never knew Clay was married before.
GEMMA
He wasn’t. It didn’t work out. It was a high school sweetheart kind a thing, they’d gotten engaged before he even left for Vietnam. He came back and she had turned hippy on him, you know, down with the war, up with peace and love kind of bullshit. She was always complaining about the way Clay had changed. They tried to keep it going, probably a lot longer than they should have. She wasn’t right for him.
APRIL
(Still thinking of Gemma’s sister)
That really stinks, Gemma, what happened to you. You don’t think your sister, you don’t think she drown herself on purpose, do you?
GEMMA No. I thought about that too, but I don’t think so. That would have required a decision on her part. My sister, she just… she just kind of drifted along in life; what ever happened, happened. She never seemed to really understand what was going on around her.
She wasn’t ever going make it anyway. She could never have taken care of herself, just like my mother and the asshole. Some people have no survival instincts, you know, they just can’t cope with all the shit life throws at them. Anyway, after all that, everything else that’s come my way - I know I can handle it.
(April is no stranger to hardship herself, she nods)
SCENE SIX INT. SOA CLUBHOUSE 1020 hrs.
Piney and Chibbs are sitting at the table as Clay enters.
CLAY
Morning, all.
PINEY
Clay.
CLAY
(Turning and glances around at the sound of drilling) What’s that noise?
CHIBBS
The boys are fooling around with a new drill they just bought.
CLAY gives Chibbs a look like he can’t quite believe what he’s just heard. He walks toward one the back rooms and finds Juice drilling a hole in a wall, Half Sack sitting and watching, looking confused.
CLAY
What the fuck are you doing now?
HALF SACK
(Nervous) We were just trying out the new drill, Clay.
CLAY
By drilling holes in the wall? (Peering through the hole Juice was drilling.) That’s the bathroom. Would you mind telling me why you are putting holes in the bathroom wall?
JUICE
Umm.., I, when we have parties… I
CLAY
(Holds up his hand) Don’t. Just don’t. (ominous) I want you to go get some spackle, and fix this wall. (grabbing the drill out of Juice’s hand.) This I’m putting under lock and key. (stalks away mumbling to himself. Juice looks at Half Sack and shrugs. Clay walks back to the outer room shaking his head, looking back and then at Chibbs as if he expects an explanation. Chibbs lifts both hands, twisting them slightly, indicating he has no idea.)
SCENE SEVEN INT. FIVE & DIME/GROCERY STORE 1130 hrs.
GEMMA and APRIL perusing the shelves. APRIL finally finds what they’re looking for.
APRIL
I found the scrapbooking glue, Gemma.
GEMMA
Is it the right kind?
APRIL
(Shows it to Gemma) Yup. See.
GEMMA
(taking the glue from April and putting it the basket she’s carrying.)
Good, I’m done, you?
APRIL nods and she and GEMMA move toward the register, getting on line. Something catches GEMMA’s eye and she turns and stares at it. It’s the display rack with the homemade crafts hanging from it, now standing between the register and the door. She walks toward it.
What’s is this shit? (she turns to the cashier and demands) I asked what this shit is?
(The cashier stares at her in confusion. GEMMA storms over to the shelves and grabs several boxes of hair dye. In a fury she tears back over to the craft display and begins emptying peroxide and dark hair dye on it. She then takes the empty boxes and deposits them on the counter along with the other merchandise she selected and glares at the cashier. The woman just stares at her. She smiles with her lips squeezed together.) You can ring me up now, I’m ready.
SCENE EIGHT INT. SOA CLUBHOUSE 1140 hrs.
CHIBBS, HALF SACK , BOBBY & JUICE are sitting at the table discussing a bike in a magazine, leaning over each other to look at. PINEY gets up and walks over to the bar where CLAY is sitting rolling the keychain between his fingers.
PINEY
What you got there? (Clay holds up the key ring) Isn’t this the kind of shit that girl used to make, the one you used to go with? What was her name?
CLAY
Her real name or the one she made up for herself?
PINEY
Shit, that’s right. She called herself Sunshine. I remember.
JAX
(Entering from the other room)
Who calls herself Sunshine?
PINEY
Clay’s old old lady; Shit, how long ago was that?
JAX
(To Clay, with a shit eating grin) You fucked a girl called herself Sunshine?
PINEY
He did more than fuck her, he almost married her. (They all look up now, caught by the conversation)
JAX
You’re shitting me, right?
CLAY
(Exasperated) It wasn’t like that when I met her. We started going together when we were like, I don’t know, sixteen. She was… (Clay draws in his breath, wags his head), she was a fine looking girl… and… enthusiastic. Plus she waited for me through two tours. (remembering) and she wrote to me every day. Every day. Sent me a ton of shit too. Plenty guys hardly got anything from home. I got the most care packages of any guy in my platoon, probably my whole battalion. She was a good girl back then.
CHIBBS
So what happened?
PINEY
She took up some strange habits while Clay was serving.
CLAY
Yeah, she did. Stopped eating meat, stopped wearing shoes, stopped shaving her legs, started making her own clothes. All sorts of weird shit.
PINEY
Her and her friends used to stand on street corners and pass out leaflets about how we were murdering the Vietnamese people. Oh, and we were murdering pigs too, the kind that oink and roll in the mud - comparing slaughter houses to Auschwtiz.
JAX
(Really enjoying himself) Sounds like a keeper to me.
PINEY
Oh, and you gotta tell them about the dancing, Clay.
JAX
What, she take up gypsy dancing?
CLAY
No, it was some shit about the earth and the moon and the wind all having goddess spirits. So every time the moon was full she’d fine a scared place and take off all her clothes, dance naked in the moonlight.
JUICE
Fuck me! She did not!
CLAY
I’ll pass, and yes, she did. In a field, an orchard, a beach… any where the spirit of the moon goddess was the strongest that night.
CHIBBS
And how did she know where that was? Elvis’ ghost tell her?
BOBBY
Elvis was still alive then, Dick brain.
JAX
How long did you keep seeing her after you got home?
CLAY
A while. (everyone stares at him) Yeah, well, if she hadn’t gotten in the family way as soon as I got back it probably wouldn’t have lasted more than a month.
JAX
(Suddenly serious) She was pregnant?
CLAY
(Sobering himself) That she was. All that celebrating my return. (a beat, Clay begins speaking in a quiet tone, thoughtful) She had a miscarriage a couple of months in. Then… she wanted a baby real bad… she got pregnant again. This time she carried to seven weeks before her due date. They didn’t have the same kind of incubator shit they have now. She lived a couple of hours. ‘Sunshine’ said it was my fault. Said I didn’t love her or the babies enough, that’s why they didn’t want to come into this world.
JAX
Shit.
GEMMA and APRIL enter, causing a commotion. Everyone turns their attention to them but JAX continues watching CLAY and if he’s trying to figure something out. PINEY realizes he still has the key ring in his hand and dumps it into a cup of coffee. APRIL and GEMMA approach CLAY and he extends his arm to GEMMA, puckering up. GEMMA stands back for a moment and then slowly moves toward him.
GEMMA
You know where I just was? (Clay feels a storm coming) Shopping. You know what I got? (Gemma holds up a bracelet which has obviously also been stolen from Sunshine’s stock. She examines it.) It’s got a signature on it. Guess what it says? (a beat) Sunshine.
With the exception of Clay every male in the room looks away and in unison they all mutter, Oh,Shit.
CLAY
(Deciding whether or not to feign ignorance, takes the bracelet and looks it over) Well, look at that.
GEMMA
Yah. Look at that. (she twists up her face) Did you know, Clay, that she was back?
CLAY
(Deciding in favor of the truth) This morning, Gemma, just a little while ago. Same as you, I saw her crap hanging up in the Grocery.
GEMMA
I don’t want her here, Clay. There’s nothing for her here. I want you to tell her that.
CLAY
Me? I don’t even know where she’s staying. She’s got nothing to do with me.
GEMMA
And I want to make sure it stays that way. Find out where she’s crashing and get rid of her, Clay, I mean it. (a beat) Or I will.
GEMMA walks away and APRIL, looking a little forlorn, follows her. JACKSON and CHIBBS are also walking out at the same time. GEMMA heads for her car and the sons walk toward their bikes and begin putting on their helmets.
GEMMA
(To Jax) I want you to find this bitch, Jax, I want to know where she’s staying.
JAX
(Shit eating grin is back, gazing up at the sun over head, his arms extending, palms upward) Where do I even look? You can’t pin down the sunshine, Gemma. (He and Chibbs are laughing now.)
GEMMA
Why don’t the two of you try whipping your heads out of your assholes. That’d be a start. (Gemma strides off and Jax and Chibbs continue chuckling as the mount their bikes and ride off.
Cut to:
CLAY still sitting at the bar and holding the tip of his lit cigar to the piece of paper with Sunshine’s contact information on it.
SCENE NINE EXT. JEFFERSON'S FARM - BLACKBERRY FIELDS 1400 hrs.
CLAY approaches a woman who is bending over a line of berry bushes, filling up a basket. She turns and sees him, then just stands staring at him. She is in her 50s, but still very attractive. She is ethereal looking, dressed in a long, gauzey flowered skirt and a peasant blouse. She is as small and delicate looking as he is large and solid. Her light colored hair is long and flowing, almost to her waist. She waits for him to speak.
CLAY
You’ve hardly changed at all, Agnes.
SUNSHINE
(Smiling) It’s Sunshine now, remember?
CLAY
(He snorts, smiles too) How have you been?
SUNSHINE
I’ve been richer, poorer, better worse. (laughing) I’ve been living, Clarence.
CLAY
It’s been a while since any one has called me that.
SUNSHINE
Me too, with Agnes. I guess a part of us is always who we used to be, however much we move forward and try to leave ourselves behind.
CLAY
It’s been a long time since you’ve been back this way.
SUNSHINE
It has. Almost thirty five years now. Does that have any significance for you?
CLAY
(He looks away, his smile gone.) Morning. She would have been thirty five last…
SUNSHINE
No, I don’t celebrate the day she died, Clarence, I celebrate the day she would have lived, had she been born on the day she was supposed to.
CLAY
(Pushing down emotion) That would have been on… that would be tomorrow.
SUNSHINE
(Pleased he has remembered the day) I’ve made arrangements, to have some words said, tomorrow at dawn, where she rests. I’d like you to be there, Clarence, if you think you can do that.
CLAY
(He swallows, nods slowly) I’m married now, Agnes, to Gemma. Do you remember her?
SUNSHINE
Yes, I heard. Of course she should be there too. (searching his face) You’ll both come?
CLAY
We’ll be there.
SUNSHINE
You remember the place, don’t you?
CLAY opens his mouth but doesn’t say anything, he nods instead. They look at each other for a long moment. They are startled by another person suddenly nearby. Clay turns and notices a woman in overalls, also with long hair, which is flying in the breeze.
Oh, I’m sorry. Do you remember Tabitha Jefferson, Clarence?
TABITHA
(inclining her head)
Clay.
CLAY
I do, it’s been quite a while though. (Clay takes Tabitha’s hand which she has put out for him to shake. Then he just stands there and smiles uneasily.) I’ll see you tomorrow, then, Sunshine.
SUNSHINE
At sunrise. We’re going to meet just inside the gates and walk to Morning’s little piece of earth together. She suddenly steps up to Clay and throws her arms around his neck, hugging him close. Clay is shocked and confounded. He embraces her back, however, with a mixture of pleasure and pain evident on his face and in his bearing - startled, and despite himself, pleased to have her his arms, remembering the familiar feel of her body even after all these years. Finally she lets him go, steps back. Tomorrow. She and Tabitha both move away toward the house. Clay hangs his head and heaves a deep sigh, feeling as if Gemma has been watching his every move.
SCENE TEN INT. G & C’S LIVING ROOM 0420 hrs.
CLAY enters the living room, pauses, hears GEMMA moving around the kitchen. He puts down his keys, removes his cut, tentatively enters the kitchen.
CLAY
Hey, Babe. (He places his hands on her waist, kisses her hair)
GEMMA
(not turning) You’re home early.
CLAY
Been thinking about you all day, couldn’t wait. (pulls her hair aside and starts kissing her neck)
GEMMA
You’re gonna have to.
CLAY
Leave dinner. Remember I promised I’d eat something else. (opens his mouth and pushes aside her blouse, tongue kissing her shoulder.)
GEMMA
No, Clay, you’re not eating anything but what’s sitting on the stove. (Gemma turns to face him) Nothing’s gonna happen with us til’ that loony bitch leaves town.
CLAY
What?
GEMMA
You heard me, Clay. (pulls away from him) My legs are closed. I won’t compete with some adolescent wet dream memory. (softer) You were each other’s first, Clay. And you can’t tell me it didn’t mean anything to you. I remember how hard it was for you to let her go, even though everything had changed between the two of you after you came home.
CLAY
Gemma, you’re making this more than it is.
GEMMA
Bullshit! I remember how the two of you would argue about the club. How she wanted you to come with her to some farm cooperative where they probably fucked cows instead of eating them. I remember how torn you were between going after the life you wanted, and pleasing her. I used to tell her, if you can’t be satisfied with him the way he is, then leave. She couldn’t. She was too attached to your dick - always chasing after it like it was dipped in 24kt gold. Don’t you fucking tell me I’m making more out of this than there is. I was there! Remember? I watched you get torn up when that sanctimonious airhead freak finally left you.
CLAY
(yelling) So I had history with someone forty fucking years ago. And for that you’re cutting me off? Is this for real or are you just fucking with me?
GEMMA
(yelling back) No, Clay! I’m not fucking with you. That’s the point. No pussy. No head. Not so much as a two fingered hand job.
CLAY
A two fingered hand job? (can’t quite figure that one out.)
GEMMA motioning manipulation with her thumb and pointer finger) I want her gone! I want her horny, skinny little ass riding the next moonbeam out of Charming. And until that happens you can jerk it off til’ it falls off, because I’m not coming near it.
GEMMA slams out of the kitchen, leaving CLAY looking like he was just run over by a bus he didn’t see coming.
Cut to:
Their bedroom. GEMMA rubs lotion into her hands and face, then gets into bed. CLAY walks slowly into the room, leans against the dresser, looking down.
CLAY
I spoke with Agnes today, Gemma. (she looks daggers at him) She’s here for a reason. Tomorrow would have been Morning’s 35th birthday. She wants us to come to a memorial service for her in the morning, at dawn. (He gives Gemma a pleading look) I told her we’d come.
GEMMA
(demeanor changing, looking defeated and sad) I’m sorry, Thirty five years… that long ago? Of course we’ll go. I didn’t realize… come to bed. (opens the covers) Go to sleep. (Clay comes and lies down with his back to her, she reaches over and rubs the back of his neck.) Go to sleep now, we’ll figure this whole thing out tomorrow.
SCENE ELEVEN EXT. –THE FOLLOWING DAY GRAVEYARD 0550 hrs
GEMMA and CLAY, both dressed in black, join a small group of mourners. There is a male preacher with long white hair and ragged blue jeans reading from some notes. He is chanting lines regarding the mother goddess bringing her children into her bosom, etc. GEMMA gives CLAY a gimme a break look. They follow the group, SUNSHINE is up in front and doesn’t look back at them. As they crest the hill a small headstone comes into view, there are flowers and butterflies etched into it. The name reads Morning Stuart Morrow with the birth and death printed in one date. CLAY and GEMMA pause. The sarcasm has gone out of GEMMA, she looks at her husband. CLAY is staring straight ahead and his face is immobile. But as GEMMA reaches for his hand it is trembling slightly. Looking at CLAY’S only child’s grave shakes GEMMA up, tears fill her eyes. They stand hand in hand until the preacher finishes and the mourners move toward the grave and place flowers and other small items there, singing a quiet hymn. One by one they start to leave. SUNSHINE approaches them. She quickly hugs GEMMA but only looks at CLAY, their eyes meet briefly, she turns back to GEMMA.
SUNSHINE
Thank you for coming, both of you. I know Morning can feel our presence here today.
GEMMA
I’m glad you can take comfort in that. (She may even mean it.)
SUNSHINE
(nodding)
I do. And I believe her spirit follows us where ever we go, both Clay and me. She is a part of us.
SUNSHINE sighs and turns away, joins the others. CLAY raises his head, looks up at the sky, then looks down and gazes into GEMMA’S face. GEMMA doesn’t speak, but keeps eye contact, taking his arm and leading him away.
SCENE TWELVE INT. C & G’S LIVING ROOM 1900 hrs.
CLAY enters, stands in the middle of the room. GEMMA, on hearing him, has come out from the bedroom and stands by the door frame.
GEMMA
Hi, Baby, you doing okay?
CLAY
(shrugs) I’ll be all right.
GEMMA
I put your dinner away, but I’ll heat it up for you now.
CLAY
(Clay takes both her hands in his own, leans in to kiss her.) No. I want you now.
GEMMA
(pulling away) No, Clay.
CLAY
(gasping out his frustration, he steps back and throws up his hands)
GEMMA
No, Baby, listen to me. (Gemma catches Clay’s hands and leads him over to the sofa. He sits and she goes and stands by the window, looking out, it’s growing dark) Listen. This isn’t a punishment. I don’t want to push you away. But I can’t have her here in Charming. (Clay throws himself back in his seat. Gemma comes back to him and takes his face and makes him look up at her.) She is a danger to us, can’t you see that? She’s a road block. I won’t stand for this, Clay. As long as she’s here, every time you walk out that door I’ll be worried what will happen if you run into her, if she comes and finds you. She still wants you. I could see it in the way she looked at you. (he’s shaking his head) It’s true. You have to be the one to tell her – it has to come from you. (straightening up and standing over him)
CLAY
(CLAY leans forward, struggling, finally nods his head.) Okay, Gemma, if you need this, okay.
GEMMA breathes out, attempting to contain her relief.
SCENE THIRTEEN EXT. JEFFERSON’S FARM 1955 hrs.
CLAY is walking between the rows of berry bushes, he comes to the end of the path and sees a pale figure in the distance. He glances up at the moon, which is full.
CLAY
Shit!
The figure stops, starts moving toward him. As Sunshine approaches he can see she is wearing a simple cotton dress, somewhat sheer, the contours of her anatomy shadow dark and light underneath.
SUNSHINE
You've come back.
CLAY
Agnes…
SUNSHINE
(cutting him off, cognizant of his mood.) What did you want to tell me?
CLAY
(He sighs) A few things. I was glad you invited me to be a part of today. I hadn’t been to Morning’s grave since the day we buried her. It was time I went back.
SUNSHINE
(nods, understanding) Are you happy, Clarence?
CLAY
(snorts at the question coming out of left field) We're both old enough to know that life has a way of kicking you in the balls when your head is turned. But yeah, I'm happy. Are you, Agnes?
SUNSHINE
Sometimes. Not lately. I've been thinking about Morning too much, maybe. It doesn't pay to keep going over the past.
CLAY
No. It doesn’t. (a beat) Gemma has this idea that Morning wasn’t the only reason you came back to Charming, she thinks… you came back here... to see me...
SUNSHINE
Gemma is not a spiritual person, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t understand some things. She's right. I came back here for you. (Clay shakes his head in confusion) I've lived a free life, Clarence, I’ve had many lovers. Yet I never conceived again. (holding her hands to her belly). When I lost Morning, I blamed you.
CLAY
You told me we lost the baby because I didn't love you… anyone, enough.
SUNSHINE
I'm sorry for that, Clarence; I should never have said that. It wasn't true. (they stare at each other) I wanted very much to have the experience of motherhood, the joy of childbirth not accompanied by the pain of loss - but I could never make another baby again. Perhaps it was because I hurt you, didn’t take responsibility for what was in my own heart, or some…
CLAY
You probably have an undiagnosed medical condition, Agnes. You don’t lose babies because you’ve done something wrong, or because the stars didn’t line up right. Look at all the lousy crack whore mothers who’ve got fucking tribes of kids. If you ever went to an actual doctor instead of some wanna be shaman rattling goat bones at the moon, you might have found that out.
SUNSHINE
(quietly regarding him)
You were so different before the war, Clarence. You were a quiet man, humble. I hate to think of what happened to you that changed you so.
CLAY
The war changed a lot of things, changed a lot of people. What happened… happened.
It’s up to us to accept that and forget about the things we can’t change.
SUNSHINE
I understand that, Clarence. But… it was never the same with anyone else. Making love, I mean. Remember how it was? What torture it was to sit in the living room or at the dining room table with other people and look at each other and want each other more than food, more than air. How we would always sneak away, find someplace to be alone, if it was just to touch each other, just to feel our hands on the other’s body, just to touch our lips and tongues together. Even standing in church, sometimes, I could see that you would become excited just looking at me.
CLAY
(looking away) I remember.
SUNSHINE
I wanted to feel that again, Clay, I wanted that back, if only for a brief time. I wanted to know if I was just imagining that now, wanting someone that much, being that satisfied by a man, or if it was just filtered memory. (she moves forward, close to him) When you came back from that God dammed, fucking war, you weren’t the man I fell in love with. You were different… here. (she touches his temple). Me too. I was different too. (she touches her Fingers to her own head). And here. (she lays her first hand over his heart, and then against her own. But here… (she touches his crotch, gently) but here, we were still the same. (touching herself as she did him) We still were attuned to each other - in this place.
CLAY
I can't… Agnes... Gemma.
SUNSHINE
I know, Clay, I've already figured that out. I've leaving tomorrow, before dawn. I didn't see the point in saying goodbye. (Clay looks at her for a long moment, then holds out his hand. She takes it and interlaces her fingers with his, stares into his eyes.) There is no going backward, Clay, I know that. But we loved each other once, and there is no taking that back either. (she squeezes his hand, then lets it go, steps back, walks past him into the dark. Clay remains still, staring at the empty field.)
SCENE. FOURTEEN INT. GEMMA & CLAY’S BEDROOM. 1035 hrs.
GEMMA is in the bathroom, brushing her hair. Clay comes in and starts undressing, calls to her.
CLAY
It’s done, Gemma. She’s going. She’ll be gone by morning.
GEMMA
(Emerges from the bathroom wearing a black laced up bodice and panties, stockings, high heels, long black gloves. She pushes him onto the bed and walks over and switches off the light. The blinds have been left open and moonlight falls across the floor.) Good. I knew you would do it. You know, Moonglow isn’t the only one who can dance. (She slinks over and turns on the stereo, begins peeling off the gloves.
CLAY
Um… that’s Sunshine… her name is Sunshine.
GEMMA
You still remember her name, huh? (Gemma starts easing down her stockings.)
CLAY
(watches, fascinated, shaking his head) Un un.
GEMMA
Good boy! (she starts undoing the stays on her bodice) CLAY watches her for a minute and then finally reaches out and pulls her down onto the bed.) You didn’t like my dance?
CLAY
I loved your dance. (he starts kissing her everywhere, breathing hard.) It was sensational.
GEMMA
Why’d you stop me?
CLAY
Because I want my wife. She’s the only one I want. (getting on top of her) You’re the woman I married, Gemma, you’re the woman I want to dance for me. No one but you. (They kiss)
Fade out.