My New Black Magazine - NYU Black Renaissance Noire BRN-FALL-206 ISSUE RELEASE | Page 157

sara: Be quiet, Roy (a beat) Most wise and generous mother, please bless this holy water strengthened with the sacred plants the earth has so graciously given to me. Clean this man, Roy…What’s your full name, baby? sara: May the good spirits find him beautiful in the light and protect his way in the dark so he can make generations in this world, through his art and talent. (to roy) Stomp on them old clothes, Roy! Harder! roy: You already know it. roy stomps on the old clothes in the basin. sara returns focus to her prayer. sara: Tell it to me again. sara: Divine Mother, help him to do what he is meant to do, and not what folk will him to do! Give him focus. Make him strong, Eternal Mother. And stay with him when he is alone so that he is encouraged by your presence forever and ever! Light! Step out that tub, Roy. roy: Elroy Melvin Peoples! sara: Clean this man, Elroy Melvin Peoples! Rid him of the toxic energies sent to bind him. Eternal mother, cleanse him so that he can do the good work he’s meant to do. Water splashes and roy screams. sara rips roy’s clothes off of his body and puts them in a plastic bag. roy is naked. sara continues pouring the spiritual bath over roy’s body as she prays fervently. 156 screen: Sepia tone with blue paint as water. All of roy’s vices and bills fall into the basin from off his body (panties, lottery tickets, parking tickets, receipts, etc.) roy steps out of the tub. sara retrieves the old clothes from the basin and places them in a plastic bag. sara hands roy white clothes to put on. roy gets dressed in the white clothes. sara: Come on, now. We got to bury your old clothes. We don’t want nothing to come back on you, not after I did all this work for you. roy: Thank you, baby. What time is Khadija getting home? I don’t want her getting all twisted up over us being up and making too much noise… sara: She’s out with Nikki. You know she just got back from her deployment, and they ain’t having no trouble putting things back how they were before she left. They’re probably out at the GoGo, and that’s what they should be doing. Nikki is lucky to be back. roy: Khadija’s been waiting on her for too long. Don’t make me wait like that sweet Sara… roy leans to kiss sara, but she avoids the kiss, walking out of the apartment and grabbing a spade from the corner by the door. the door: Slam! roy follows sara.