71. Separate But Equal - Leslie

• FADE IN:


• INT. LA DOLCE AMOR - EVENING


• BRIDGET, LEE, EVELYN, SARAH, and MIA sit around a table in the candle-lit, cozy Italian bistro.


• All the women are in their middle ages, and are from a cross-section of races.


• Bridget, a white woman, is in the middle of a passionate monologue.


• BRIDGET
• My city, it was a small city near Capetown, used to be so beautiful. Now, it's just a hub for thieves, and drug dealers and prostitutes. They say it's one of the worst cities in the world to live. Not as bad as Johannesburg, but bad.


• The women nod sympathetically.


• Mia, a woman with golden-brown skin and graying hair pulled back into a long ponytail eats her salad carefully, listening closely.


• BRIDGET
• They promised all these wonderful things they couldn't actually carry out. And now look; it's a society in ruins. AIDS all over the place. It wasn't like this before. Before, there was cultural pride. Even at my school, a white school, we celebrated all the different cultures around us. It was a cultural paradise, bringing in workers from all over Africa. And everyone, everyone made a good, living wage. Now? Now it's like here in America, no identity...but it's even worse, just criminals.


• She pauses to take a drink.


• BRIDGET
• Apartheid helped keep the cultures distinct, it helped us know and appreciate each other. And now? Now my best friend, she still lives their you know, my best friend tells me that the blacks want to bring the white government back into power. It's the ANC who run things know...they're communists, really.


• Some of them women shift uncomfortably, eying Mia to catch her reaction.


• Bridget notices.


• BRIDGET
• Oh it's fine, this doesn't bother you does it Mia? You're an American, it's different here anyway.


• Mia nods slightly, and some of the women look relieved.


• BRIDGET
• Now I'm upset, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to put a damper on the evening.


• The other women shake their heads, murmuring denials of discomfort.


• BRIDGET
• I've got to visit the little-girls room.


• She arranges her napkin, pushing her chair back.


• Mia looks at her, then back to the table.


• Evelyn glances at her with worried anticipation.


• Mia looks around for a moment, then speaks as Bridget stands.


• MIA
• My father was in the ANC. The whites tortured and killed him for fighting a system he felt was unjust. Back in the good old days.


• The women gape at her.


• She stands, leaving her salad unfinished, and quietly leaves the restaurant.


• FADE TO BLACK.