Eve's Bayou
written by Kasi Lemmons
Eve (Jurnee Smollett): Tell me about Hosea.
Mozelle: You're too young to understand. But when I was with Hozea, it was like my whole body was burning. I'd come home and I'd have to rub ice on my face and neck to cool down. If Maynard knew he never said a word. And then one night, Hosea showed up at the door. He said, "pack your bags, woman, I've come to take with me." And God help me...(she gets off from the sofa) I pushed past my startled husband, I was going upstairs to pack my bags when I heard Maynard say in a tone I'd never heard him say: "I don't care who you are, sir, but if you do not leave my house at once, I will hurt you." (the figures from the past appear in the full-length mirror in the living room as Mozelle looks into it) And I turned just in time to see Hosea pull the gun out and aim it at Maynard. "I'm in love with your wife and if you try to stop us, I'll kill you..." Maynard walked right up and pushed his chest in the barrel of the gun. And he said, "Well, you'll have to kill me, 'cause my wife ain't going nowhere." Oh, Eve...in that moment, I knew that I loved Maynard! He was so calm and brave, and it was Hosea who was trembling. Maynard said, "Mozelle, tell this man you ain't going nowhere with him--so he can get the hell out of my house." Mama was standing in the doorway of the kitchen and she was holding her heart like this. (she holds her hands to her chest) I walked slowly over (she "joins" the memory inside the mirror and there is a long pause)...and I stood next to my husband. I looked at my lover: this man who had lit this great fire in me, and I said, "please leave our house. I never want to see you again." Hosea's eyes went another color. He stopped trembling. He looked right at me. And he said, (very quiet) "all right then." (gunshot) And he shot Maynard in the chest. And I was alone. For awhile.