The Sectarian Part III: Story of a (Somewhat) Lovable Religigo

BUYING SKIN WHITENER

INT. DRUGSTORE   DAY

LAKE (V.O.)

But it wasn't only her dress and speech that Luzy-Ann strived to conform to local standards, it was her look as well.

Luzy-Ann is browsing around a drugstore.  She picks up a bottle of lotion labeled, "Skin Brightener: Works on all skin types."

CLERK

May I help you? 

LUZY-ANN

Uh, yes. 

I see you've found our new skin-enhancing product.

LUZY-ANN

Yes, I have.  I'm--intrigued.  How does it work?

CLERK

(secretively)

It has black licorice in it.

LUZY-ANN

(grateful for the insight)

Oh--black licorice!  Really!

CLERK

(rubs some on her hand)

See how nice it rubs on.  You only have to use it every time you go out.

LUZY-ANN

Kind of like SPF.

CLERK

Well, yes, as a matter of fact, it has that too.  Lots of it.  Let's see, it says here on the bottle: SPF 25.  That should be enough for you--Oh!

LUZY-ANN

That's all right, I understand.

The Clerk hands the bottle to Luzy-Ann to help another customer.  Luzy-Ann continues reading the bottle.  She decides to purchase it and takes it to the checkout counter.  

CLERK

I'm sure you'll love it.  We've had some colored folks come in and buy it.  Since you're lighter (magnanimously), well of course, it should work even better on you.

LUZY-ANN

One can only hope.

The Clerk smiles and places the whitening lotion in a bag. 

CLERK

Thank you Luzy-Ann and come again now.  Let me know how it works.  I bet I won't even be able to recognize you when you come back.  You know what I mean.

They both laugh.

LAKE (V.O.)

My sister understood so well, that she not only did she take great pains to "whiten" her skin, change her dress and speech, but alter the workings of her natural mind as well.

INT. BEDROOM   DAY

Luzy-Ann dons gloves and hat and preens herself in the mirror.

LAKE (V.O.)

It all coincided so well with her efforts to appear a lady.

SUNDAY SCHOOL

INT.  CLASSROOM   MORNING

LAKE (V.O.)

Therefore, my sister excelled in Sunday school, which I did not.  Subjects about sex were particularly disturbing to my sister.  We were talking about the roles that chastity played in so much of the Catholic dogma one day. 

NUN MARGARITA is standing in front of the class.  She is teaching Sunday school where Luzy-Ann and Lake go. 

A boy named GERALD raises his hand to ask a question. 

GERALD

Why is contraception not allowed?  It's not like it's abortion or anything.  You're not killing anything because there's no conception.

NUN MARGARITA

Because the union between a man and a woman is holy and it is sinful to interfere with God's will.

GERALD

But what if you weren't going to get pregnant anyway?  Where's the interference?

NUN MARGARITA

Since we don't know that ahead of time, it is against the natural will of holy matrimony.

GERALD

I don't buy it.

NUN MARGARITA

Well, it is taught by the Church and the Pope himself. 

GERALD

The Pope!  But if you no play the game, you no make the rules. 

Nun Margarita blushes.  Lake laughs and raises her hand.

NUN MARGARITA

(grateful for the diversion)

Yes, Lake?

LAKE

Why can't girls be priests?

NUN MARGARITA

Well, because the church doesn't allow it. 

LAKE

Why don’t they allow it?

NUN MARGARITA

Because that was the way Saint Peter set up the church. 

LAKE

You mean he wanted only men leading the church?  Why, because they're better?

NUN MARGARITA

One should not assume to be able to divine the purpose of God.

LAKE

Saint Peter did.  Doesn't it strike you as fishy that a man set up a church ruled by men?  If women can vote now, why can't they be priests?  Black men can become priests, can't they?

Nun Margarita looks visibly uncomfortable.

LUZY-ANN

(hisses)

Lake!  Quit it!

LAKE

(not deterred)

Why do some who touch a holy person or saint get well, but some don't?  Why don't they all get well if the person's really holy? 

NUN MARGARITA

Miracles cannot be explained.  We should just be happy that some happen. 

LAKE

But they all believed because they came to be healed.  Don't people who don't come get healed anyway?  So you can not (emphasis) believe and still get healed? 

Gerald laughs audibly as do some other students.

LAKE

(continuing)

Has anyone done a study on whether the believers who touched a holy person got cured a higher percentage than the believers who were lazy and stayed at home?  and did both of those categories of believers heal miraculously at a rate higher than nonbelievers in general?

The class laughs.  LUZY-ANN glares at Lake.  Lake whispers to Gerald.  He raises his hand. 

GERALD

When two countries are going to war, and they both pray against each other, who wins?  The better side or does it depend on god's mysterious ways again?  If that's so, why pray at all? 

INT.  PRESBYTARIAN/EPISCOPALIAN?? CHURCH   DAY

LAKE (V.O.)

Despite Luzy-Ann's obedience, secretly, my sister was yearning to exercise her oldest sibling syndrome.

Luzy-Ann is sitting in a pew, arms on the back of a pew, her chin on her hands.  She watches longingly, a female deacon preaching in the pulpit.

LAKE (V.O.)

But my sister found that this forbidden fruit was just another way to practice her humility.

Luzy-Ann sighs.

WATCHING THE PRIESTS

INT. CHURCH   DAY

LAKE (V.O.)

Not being able to be a priest was not the only forbidden fruit that my sister enjoyed being denied.

While she is walking down a staircase, Luzy-Ann is watching two priests talking together; she has the hots for priests. 

Not paying attention to where she is going, she trips down the stairs.

LUZY-ANN

Whoah!

NO DATES FOR LUZY-ANN, NO DATES FOR ANYONE

EXT. OUTDOOR EATERY   DAY

Luzy-Ann is in the center of a group.  She and some friends are having a snack outside.  They are seated at a table.

LAKE (V.O.)

My sister studied the way the townsfolk talked and wagged their tongues.  Soon, there was no one better than my sister for spreading the news.  She learned well that offense was the only defense. 

GOSSIPER

I heard that she not only snuck out at eleven, but that she didn't come back until four in the morning. 

LUZY-ANN

Four!  Did her parents find out?

GOSSIPER

Not yet, though I don't know how they couldn't.  Everybody knows about it and frankly, I feel sorry for the poor dears.  I mean, if my daughter stayed out all night and got drunk and nobody knows what she did all night except--

(whispers to the girls)

Mary-Ann and Luzy-Ann laugh. 

LAKE (V.O.)

My sister had the loud tittering laugh of so many females who were socially behind, that is to say, unmarried and so did not understand the nature of many jokes that one knows about from being in the know, knowing someone, that is. 

Bobby-Lee and his friend walk by the group of girls.

BOBBY-LEE

Hey, LUZY-ANN, looking good.

Luzy-Ann ignores Bobby-Lee.

BOBBY-LEE

Hey, you still sore about the second grade?  Didn't you know, I picked on you because I liked you?  That's what all the guys did in that grade.  How else we supposed to talk to a girl?

Luzy-Ann looks dubious, but not at him.  

BOBBY-LEE

I mean, you were always the prettiest girl in school.

MARY-ANN

Are you going to the dance Saturday?

BOBBY-LEE

Depends, you going Luzy-Ann?

LUZY-ANN

Maybe.

BOBBY-LEE

Sure to there then.  See you girls.

The boys walk away.

PRAYING FOR A MAN

INT. CHURCH   DAY

Luzy-Ann is kneeling at a pew in church.  She is praying fervently.

LUZY-ANN

Dear lord, I love you and am your humble servant.  Please help me find a loving man, who will do your will and follow your way.

LAKE (V.O.)

It was not that she used praying as a means to try to get what she wanted that was so like her, it was the fact that she didn't recognize that she was getting less particular the older she got, so that her increase in the number of times a man asked her out per annum, was owing to her more flexible standards more so than divine intervention.  Of course, this would be devoutly denied by her and all such old maidens.  Yet, who knew, maybe god did counsel her to be more tolerant? 

INT.  DANCE HALL  EVENING

A geeky guy, GEORGE, talking to Luzy-Ann at a dance.  She is not interested.  Luzy-Ann ignores him and focuses her attention on JANIE. 

LAKE (V.O.)

It was this lack of action that left a void in my sister's life, and even with the superfluous amount of praying that she did, she still found time to inquire into other people's lives.  She had a great authoritative look, that she used to disapprove of people.  I think it was the same one that her teacher, the one who punished her for beating up Bobby-Lee and Billy-Joe, used on her.  This look was always given in the strictest moral situations, or as her look would suggest, in immoral cases where fun was to be strictly prohibited, particularly if my sister could not share in it. 

JANIE

(breathlessly and expansively) 

We're going to the lake tonight.  It's gonna' be so romantic.  He's been talking about buying the old Homer place.  I think he's going to pop the question soon.

(almost squealing)

LUZY-ANN

(manipulatively)

Are you sure you should be going?

JANIE

What do you mean?

LUZY-ANN

(slowly)

I mean, the lake is a make-out spot.  Are you sure you want to be seen there?  Tales run fast in this town.  Before you know it, he won't pop any question if your reputation has been compromised, even when he was the cause of it! 

GEORGE

Uh, huh.  I agree with Luzy-Ann.

Janie looks distressed.  Luzy-Ann spies Father Denton with Nun Margarita and waves enthusiastically.  He comes over to talk to them.  Nun Margarita talks to some other parishioners.

FATHER DENTON

Good evening ladies.  Good evening, George.

LUZY-ANN

Excited

Good evening, Father.

Janie and George greet Father Denton.

FATHER DENTON

I see you're not dancing.  That's what a dance is for.  How about it George?  Why don't you sweep one of these fine ladies off her feet?

GEORGE

(laughing bashfully)

Would you do me the honor, Luzy-Ann?

LUZY-ANN

(unenthusiastically)

Love to, George.

George offers his arm to Luzy-Ann.  She takes it and they walk to the dance floor.

LAKE (V.O.)

Although my sister preached abstinence, somehow, George "I'm saving myself for marriage" didn't quite fit into her idea of a husband she could obey and submit herself to.

On the dance floor, George and Luzy-Ann pass Bobby-Lee and a flashy female he is dancing with.

BOBBY-LEE

Hi, Luzy-Ann!

But he makes not mention of a dance later.  Luzy-Ann despairs of her situation with George.

FATHER DENTON

Now there's a nice young couple.

Janie giggles.

CONFESSION: IMPURE THOUGHTS

The Sectarian: Story of a Somewhat Lovable Religigo - Synopsis (Super-Short Summary)

And here's my synopsis for the SECTARIAN: Story of a Somewhat Lovable Religigo

If you go deep enough into some places in this country, you find a whole different attitude.  Call it a mindset, or a way of life that’s so unbending, it’s almost religious.  That’s how some minorities might feel, traveling from the west coast to the deep south.   That’s how Luzy-Ann felt at first, growing up the only Asian in a small southern town, adopted from Vietnam, or some country from the Orient.  Her parents: flower children, Brent and Violet, were told they could not have children, but after adopting Luzy-Ann, “Luz” for short, Brent and Violet had a biological child, named Lake.

Discriminated against, picked on by the prejudiced children and parents of the neighborhood, frightened, made to feel “yellow”, left out if she would not fit in, morbidly exacerbating her “yellowness”, Luzy-Ann squeezes herself into the southern mold: church-going, god-fearing, clinging to the white ideal, placating the matrons of the local church until she is as sectarian as if she were a real white person. 

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Luzy-Ann and Lake both grew up in a small southern town.  No big deal.  They were the daughters of flower children Brent and Violet, who moved from California to Mississippi to care for Violet’s sick, aging Aunt Tatem.  Luzy-Ann was older and adopted from Vietnam.  Lake was younger and the real, biological child.  The real child because she really was similar to her parents, free spirited and autonomous.  Luzy-Ann, crushingly out-of-place in the Bible-belt mindset of the south, squeezed herself into a white mold that was so pristine, her “yellowness” shone through all the more garishly.  Here is the story of two sisters, whose ties ended with their last name but whose love for each other remained the same. 

When the playground bullies picked on Luzy-Ann and knocked the books out of her hand, she fought back, and was punished by the teacher.  When the church-wives commented on her yellow skin, she donned gloves and wide-brim hats, and even bought some “brightening” lotion (a.k.a. “whitening” lotion).  None of this advanced her much in the eyes of the wicked-tongue matrons of that pious town, until she figured in a vague way that she could only gain acceptance by beating them in their own devotion.  To god.  Values.  And small-town smugness. 

(In short, she becomes so sectarian )

Treatment (Summary): the SECTARIAN; the Story of a Lovable Religious Bigot

I found the treatment summary that I wrote for this screenplay/short story a long time ago. Saves me the trouble of rewriting it:

Luzy-Ann and Lake both grew up in a small southern town.  No big deal.  They were the daughters of flower children Brent and Violet, who moved from California to Mississippi to care for Violet’s sick, aging Aunt Tatem.  Luzy-Ann was older and adopted from Vietnam.  Lake was younger and the real, biological child.  The real child because she really was similar to her parents, free spirited and autonomous.  Luzy-Ann, crushingly out-of-place in the Bible-belt mindset of the south, squeezed herself into a white mold that was so pristine, her “yellowness” shone through all the more garishly.  Here is the story of two sisters, whose ties ended with their last name but whose love for each other remained the same. 

When the playground bullies picked on Luzy-Ann and knocked the books out of her hand, she fought back, and was punished by the teacher.  When the church-wives commented on her yellow skin, she donned gloves and wide-brim hats, and even bought some “brightening” lotion (a.k.a. “whitening” lotion).  None of this advanced her much in the eyes of the wicked-tongue matrons of that pious town, until she figured in a vague way that she could only gain acceptance by beating them in their own devotion.  To god.  Values.  And small-town smugness.

By the time Luzy-Ann and Lake are in high school,  Aunt Tatem is still dying by inches, energized by Luzy-Ann’s remarkable transformation into what she deems is a real southern girl.  But Luzy-Ann did not achieve her remarkable paradigm of church-goer come gossip without a cost.  Learning to ignore the bigoted snips of the townsfolk, she ignores the exhortations of her own family.  When she plans to organize an abortion protest in the same public park as a group of White Supremecists, her parents forbid her to go.  How the skinhead was able to persuade Luzy-Ann to that right-to-lifers were not much different than racists you’ll just have to read the screenplay to find out.  Yet not surprisingly, Luzy-Ann sneaks off and attends the demonstrations at the park.  Demonstration singular, for there wasn’t much of a party representing the pro-lifers, not surprisingly enough. 

When Luzy-Ann’s parents discover she is gone, they race after her.   At the park, Brent demands Luzy-Ann come home with him.  When she refuses, and Brent literally drags Luzy-Ann away, a skinhead steps in to fight for her “rights”.  A riot ensues, and Violet is hurt and killed.  Brent dies soon after.  And Luzy-Ann falls ill with bronchitis that lingers. 

Aunt Tatem dies when Luzy-Ann reaches the age of majority and she takes on the duty of raising Lake.  But with no experience behind her overwhelming sense of religious duty, and because Luzy-Ann had few to asymptotically approaching zero dates of her own, she hung around when Lake got ready for her frequent dates.  Once while Lake is getting ready for a date, Luzy-Ann discovers a tampon wrapper in the wastebasket.  She demands that Lake “take it out”.  Exasperated, incredulous, not really serious or she would have thought about it, Lake tells her goads/dares Luzy-Ann to take it out herself.  For a child who suffered the bigotry of a white small town, this was a nothing challenge to Luzy-Ann.  She tackles Lake just as her date arrives at the front door.  In six and three-quarter hours, the whole/entire town knows about the X sisters girl-on-girl action.  And for once, Luzy-Ann had more calls for dates than she could confess in one session to a Father X.

It does not help that Lake is the normal rebellious teenager, and Luzy-Ann does her best to teach and punish her.  When Lake is arrested for joyriding with a bunch of boys, Luzy-Ann comes to the jail, but decides to leave Lake there and think about what people will say when they find out that she’s been cavorting with boys.  So Lake finds out the non-limit to which Luzy-Ann will sell her out in the name of Christian values, and moves to California because she is afraid that “when they come to take me, you’ll not only let them in, but you’ll open the door in welcome…For the good of my soul, of course.”

Luzy-Ann eventually marries; a few years later her husband Stan, unceremoniously divorces her--even though Luzy-Ann tells him he cannot since they’re Catholic.  Her life in this town all but gone and her lungs deteriorating, Luzy-Ann finds that she has won the lottery, a tradition she plays whenever the pot gets over three million.  Because her cat Butterfly cannot tolerate traveling, she leaves her with a pet store who will find a home for Butterfly.  At the same moment, a boy with his puppy walks by.  The puppy chases Butterfly down and across the street and up a tree, but the puppy gets hit with a car while racing across the street.  Distraught and inconsolable, the boy asks if he will see his dog in heaven.  Luzy-Ann decides to set him straight, informing him that dogs have no souls and therefore cannot go to heaven. 

She sells the house, says good-bye to her handsome priest wistfully, buys a relic for protection on the road (Saint ______ for those of you who are interested), and surprises Lake when she shows up unannounced at Lake’s doorstep. 

Living together once again, nothing is changed except the backdrop.  But Luzy-Ann has passed her formative years and the only thing that the climate of Southern California can do for her is incite her sneering, sectarian ways.  She offers the relic to Lake, who questions its authenticity and demands that any redecorating, i.e., pinning crucifixes to the wall and altars in the living room be removed.  They don’t embarrass Lake, she just doesn’t need it, and neither do her friends, who are fascinated by Luzy-Ann almost like an iridescent insect under a microscope: small but flaming.  On her side, Luzy-Ann develops a crush on one of Lake’s male friends, not ____, the gay one, but ______.  He goes out with Luzy-Ann twice because he is amused and wants to find out if she is the real thing.  She is: with the false eyelashes, the demur puff-sleeved dresses, the matching hat and gloves, the wrap skirt that she wears at the beach on her date with ____. 

At the beach, X finally gets her to relax and even snakes in a kiss.  In her languid, unguarded moment, Luzy-Ann muses/reveries why should could not be a good priest-ess.  She’s read the Bible and has a lot to say about the gospel.  When X brings her to a charismatic church one fine Sunday, Luzy-Ann gets into the spirit but still, she has to attend a Catholic mass for it to count.  X finds out, like her former husband Stan, that she really is the tight-arsed old maid she lets on to be. 

While Luzy-Ann panicked about the few dates with X, she still had time to butt into Lake’s date: yes, he’s practicing, Lake informs Luzy-Ann, he just happens to be a dred-locked Middle-Eastern practicing Buddhist.  Yes, Lake scoured everywhere to bring him home, purpose for Luzy-Ann.  But when Luzy-Ann will not stop harping on him, Lake tells her to move out, with her lottery winnings, she can afford it. 

Lake calls Stan.  He comes to California and see

But the Southern California weather must have seeped skin deep into Luzy-Ann’s unnaturally pale skin.  She went shopping with lake and friends along an outdoor mall.  Part of the road had some construction work going on.  A construction worker was working shirtless in the hot sun.  Lake looked, X looked, and even Luzy-Ann gave a long glance when they dared her to.  A few weeks later, when Luzy-Ann is out shopping, she sees X and a girl.  Jumping out of her conservative self, she invites X over to see her new place.  X declines and when Luzy-Ann realizes that he does not want to go out on a third date, she protests “but you kissed me.”

Stricken, with her cough getting worse, Luzy-Ann attends an abortion protest at the Planned Parenthood where Lake works.  There, she meets Greg, a fanatical Christian who appears, acts overexcited at this particular rally, for some reason.  Luzy-Ann also spots Y walking into the clinic.  Y visits Lake for a consultation and leaves.  Luzy-Ann, busy-bodying in, approaches Y, and offers Y money to keep the child.  That way X can keep writing while helping Y raise their baby.  When Luzy-Ann returns to the fray, Greg is wide-eyed and glassy in anticipation.  From his ranting, Luzy-Ann believes that he has set a bomb in the clinic, but Greg will not tell her anything because he knows her sister is inside.  Torn between her moral fervor and an act of disloyalty to the cause and the safety of her sister and others inside, Luzy-Ann approaches the building with dread and a self-created thinly disbelief.  The security guard grabs her, spurning her into action.  She finds her sister and tells her that she thinks a bomb is inside.  Not wanting to panic their clients, Lake and a nurse rapidly evacuate the clinic, but not before Lake gets caught in the explosion. 

Lake gets better, but Luzy-Ann does not.  Yet she has made leaps and bounds.  When she runs into a little boy whose old dog has died, she does tell him that all good dogs go to heaven.  She also returns to the shopping strip where the construction worker is still shirtless and digging in the hot sun.  Herself, hatless with a skin revealing dress, Luzy-Ann pretends she is lost and asks for directions.  This leads to her inviting him to a drink at the bar.  When she leaves, Luzy-Ann steps backward into some wet cement.  The construction worker laughs and worries over her while he cleans her off; Luzy-Ann says that she can’t help but look up (emphasize this in screenplay). 

Sometime later, Lake wakes her young son for Sunday Mass, in memory of her sister who ___, but never stopped trying.

I'm going to a Swing State!

(Now that the election is over, check out Ssal's Inaugural Poem for the Pres! To be distinguished from A Tale of Two Romneys for Mitt Romney!)

Guess who's going to a swing? I would always wrinkle my nose at politics and remember when I was in high school, and all my friends were running for some position in the Math Club, or the Science Club, or the Honor Society because we were all going to college and had to list at least one leadership position, lol.

They had to make a two-minute speech on why you should vote for them and the idea of that made me queasy. Telling people why you think you are better. So, I never ran for Treasurer of the Math Club or Secretary of the Chess Club (probably because I wasn’t in the Chess Club).

And through the years, I thought I’d never be a political person. Until Gore v. Bush. Sometimes, despite yourself, you gotta’ drag yourself in. I can’t say that I am motivated like some people, whose only purpose is to “make Obama a one-term president” because that’s just the Haters coming out. That type pof negative feeling doesn’t motivate me.

However, defending an innocent person who is being pounded on for no good reason other than the fact that he is not white, well, I go for underdogs. And the fact that B.O. doesn’t play the race card and takes everything so gracefully (I would have long ago called some people out for not liking me if I were Black long ago!), like the Governor from Arizona, the Speaker of the House, that Billionaire Adelson who has already given 100 million and committed 200 million to defeat President Obama. Well, they’re going to see how much more powerful love can be.

After I gave $5 to Obama’s campaign (they ask for at least $5), I got a follow-up email asking me that B.O. needs help. Can I make some phone calls? Yes, I can! I’m playing hooky from work and going to a swing state to make some phone calls to Get Out the Vote! No matter what happens, I can say, I did something and didn’t sit by the wayside.

I do not think that humanity will always win in the end. Sometimes, a species just annihilates itself from greed. I mean, do you think Sandy was the typical hurricane storm that we usually get? Every year, the hurricanes get BIGGER.

So, I’ll tell you how the trip to NEVADA goes. Sin City, here I come!

P.S. It went great, as you all know the outcome to the election. Now you can read my Inaugural Poem for President  Obama! Friend me on Facebook to let others know about the poem!

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MY OTHER WRITINGS

What I Said When I Saw Salvador Dali’s Metamorphosis of Narcissus at the Tate Modern

The Sectarian: the story of a lovable, religious bigot PAGES 20-30ish

Prior posting (Nov. 3) of The Sectarian: the story of a lovable, religious bigot

Luzy-Ann, a very Southern name (hyphenated names usually are), doesn't fit in. Especially in school. As is the case with most bullies, the teachers don't really help at all, even when the bully is a much bigger boy and the kid picked on is a small girl. 

When Lake is born to Luzy-Ann's parents, Luzy-Ann feels even more sharply how different she is from everybody else living in their small town. Even with a little sister, Luzy-Ann feels even lonelier. The thing about Luzy-Ann, though, is that she tries. She tries to make things better, fix her problems, but being her own guide, things become difficult.

FIGHTS AT SCHOOL

EXT.  PLAYGROUND AT GRAMMAR SCHOOL   MORNING

Luzy-Ann is walking through the school playground to get to class.  Two boys walk up to her.  They are the class bullies.

NARRATOR (V.O.)

My sister was the only Asian in town, or as her cruel classmates called her: a "yellow-belly".  This particularly grieved my sister, but not my parents.  They were sorry that my sister was tormented at school, but since they knew my sister was no such thing, they told her wisely to ignore the schoolchildren's taunts.  Of course, if my sister had been wise, she wouldn't have been a seven-year-old in grammar school.  All this of course, my sister could not articulate. 

Each boy is on either side of Luzy-Ann.  They alternate pushing her, trying to make her drop her schoolbooks.

BOBBY LEE

We don't let yellow monkeys go to school with our kind.

(pushes Luzy-Ann again)

NARRATOR (V.O.)

The teachers didn't help either.  Maybe because they believed that's what my sister was, or because they knew it was useless to try to stop the kids.  Every year, there was a class bully.  And every year, there was a poor child who was the bully's target.  My sister's second- grade year was her year to be picked on.

NARRATOR (V.O.)

One day, however, feeling that the world had abandoned her, my sister resorted to self help.  She was sandwiched between two bullies, Bobby-Lee, who was in the fourth grade.  His father made a living killing deer.  And Billy-Joe, whose mother named him so because she often could not remember his name, and two names to guess at made it easier than one.  They were taking turns pushing my sister between them, when--

LUZY-ANN

Stop it, Bobby-Lee, I'm going to tell on you.

BOBBY-LEE

So what?  Nothing's gonna' happen to me, you yellow-belly.  You shouldn't even be here.

Bobby-Lee pushes Luzy-Ann some more.  She stumbles

BILLY-JOE

Yeah, you should be grateful for the food that we give you.  You'd be starving in China if it weren't for us, you dumb Chino girl. 

Bobby-Lee pushes Luzy-Ann and she drops some of her books.

BOBBY-LEE

Why don't you go back home?  My Dad says all Hasians are scared, that's why they always scamper around and bow and say "yes, sir"  Here, pick that up, yellow belly!

Bobby-Lee throws S's books on the ground.

NARRATOR (V.O.)

At the moment that my sister bent to pick up her books,--

Bobby-Lee kicks Luzy-Ann on the rump. 

NARRATOR (V.O.)

(continuing)

Something snapped in her savage little Asian heart. 

Luzy-Ann slams the books in the Bobby-Lee face, kicks both of them, and butts her head in Billy-Joe's abdomen.  They run crying to their teacher.

BOOBY LEE

Teacher, look what she did to us! 

SPIKE

She hit us!

NARRATOR (V.O.)

It was also at that moment that my sister realized that injustice in the world runs down to even the humblest of God's creatures. 

They run into the school building.  A TEACHER, sitting at her desk, gets up when she sees the two boys crying.  She calms the boys down and walks outside to Luzy-Ann.

TEACHER

(sternly, sharp, nasal-voice)

Luzy-Ann, you come here. 

Luzy-Ann looks at the Teacher defiantly.

INT.  PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE  AFTERNOON

Violet and Brent, the principal of Luzy-Ann's school, and the teacher who "caught" Luzy-Ann attacking Bobby-Lee and Billy-Joe are seated.

NARRATOR (V.O.)

She was given detention for a week.  My parents were called to the principal's office.

TEACHER

That's what comes of adopting a foreigner. 

(sniffing)

Who knows where she came from? 

VIOLET

She came from Malaysia. 

TEACHER

(smugly)

That's what they wanted you to think. 

VIOLET

So what if she didn't come from Malaysia, what if she came from China? 

TEACHER

It's important to know where our children come from.  Because if you don't, who knows what they might do?

VIOLET

How can you tell what they might do based on where they come from?

TEACHER

Well, such as Nigeria.

(almost in a whisper)

I heard that they sacrifice animals. 

BRENT

She's Asian.  I guess that rules out animal sacrifice.  Besides, we're raising her vegetarian. 

EXT.  HALLWAY

Luzy-Ann is outside the principal's office listening in.  She is sad. 

LAKE IS BORN

INT.  NURSERY  DAY

Violet is holding her newborn.  Luzy-Ann is eagerly trying to get close to the baby.

NARRATOR (V.O.)

It was about this time that I was born.  Yes, the doctors were wrong, my mother could have children after all.  When my Mom did get pregnant, my Mad always said that if we paid physicians like mechanics, they'd get it right more of the time. 

My sister said that she wanted a brother.  I think this was because she could have someone to pick on, to relive the days when she was bullied and she triumphed. 

LUZY-ANN

She's white. 

VIOLET

(kissing baby)

What, honey?

LUZY-ANN

She doesn't look like me.

VIOLET

Well, honey, she's just the same as you.

LUZY-ANN

I thought she would be yellow like me.  Why am I yellow?

VIOLET

You're not honey, you're tan.

LUZY-ANN

That's because I play outside.  Why isn't anyone else yellow?

VIOLET

They are honey. 

LUZY-ANN

I don't see any.

VIOLET

When you grow up and travel a bit, you'll see a lot of yellow, red, brown, even green people.

Violet kisses Luzy-Ann and kisses the baby again.

NARRATOR (V.O.)

At that moment, which shouldn't happen to anyone so young, my sister felt utterly and completely alone in the world.  It isn't that my parents favored me.  I never even noticed the difference until I was close to my pre-teen years.  And the differences I noticed had nothing to do with skin color.  As a matter of fact, my parents were adamant that my older sister take care of me.  Which meant of course, that I had to listen to her and do as she said when my parents weren't around.  This, my sister liked, and it made her feel not so alone. 

INT.  AUNT TATEM'S HOUSE   DAY

Violet is rushing around the house, getting ready for a dinner date. 

LAKE (V.O.)

My sis was made for kids.  She simply longed for them.  Here, was, another human being, totally helpless and utterly dependant upon the good graces of my sister who must not only obey and listen to her but listen to the reasons why obedience was the only choice given.  Child slavery was more rampant that most people think. 

VIOLET

Now, Lake, listen to your sister.  Don't get into any trouble and don't eat all the pie I put in the refrigerator.  That's for tomorrow when the guests come.  Do you understand? 

LAKE

But she never lets me do anything.  She makes me ask for everything.

VIOLET

Luzy-Ann, don't take advantage of your position.  You're here to take care of your little sister, not beleaguer her with orders.

LUZY-ANN

She never listens to me.

LAKE

You're always wrong.

VIOLET

(excited)

Girls, I have to meet your father.  He's interviewing for a position.  It's a chance to move out of here.

LAKE

Are we going away?  Hooray!

Luzy-Ann looks perturbed.  Violet preens herself in the hallway mirror. 

VIOLET

How do I look?

LAKE

Beautiful, mom. 

Violet leans over and gives both girls a hug and kiss.

VIOLET

You girls be good while I'm gone now. 

She leaves.  Luzy-Ann has a newfound gleam in her eye.

LUZY-ANN

It's time for lessons.

LAKE

Lessons!  It's Saturday.

LUZY-ANN

Exactly.  Aunt Tatem told me to make sure you learn your catechism. 

LAKE

(wearily)

I hope Dad gets that job. 

FITTING IN: A BORN AGAIN CHRISTIAN

INT. CHURCH   MORNING

Sunday mass is being celebrated.  Luzy-Ann is in church, looking bright and devout, and singing loudly.

LAKE (V.O.)

Because my sister was made to feel yellow, so to speak, she began to try to fit in...and become white, so to speak.  She attended church regularly.  Wore the same checked muslin dresses, broad rimmed sun hats, and even outdid the churchgoers of our town.  Only the older ladies dressed so, we figured it was these fearsome matrons Luzy-Ann was trying to placate.

EXT. CHURCH  MORNING

The congregation is milling around outside church after mass.  The young people are dressed in modern dresses, pants and shirts.  The older women are dressed in old-fashioned dresses, as is Luzy-Ann.

LAKE (V.O.)

(continuing)

She was wont to be seen in gloves.  This kept the sun off her hands, and made her "less tan", she explained.  When pressed, she would say the sun was bad for her skin and she wanted to keep as young looking as possible,

A WOMAN is remarking on Luzy-Ann's cover from the sun.

WOMAN

But you look sixteen, how young do you want to be?

LAKE (V.O.)

My sister could have learned any one of several lessons from that experience.  She could have washed her hands of a town that did not accept her.  But that was not my sister's way.  My sister felt that there was always a workable solution.  And her solution in this case was to make them accept her.  This distressed my parents somewhat, but at the same time, how could they keep her from being what she wanted? 

INT.  BATHROOM  EVENING

Luzy-Ann is putting the finishing touches on her makeup.  She is sticking on her false eyelashes.  Because she thinks they make her Asian eyes look bigger, more "Caucasian", she doesn't go anywhere without them.  Well satisfied, she smiles to herself in the mirror.

Luzy-Ann leaves the house, dressed so old-fashioned, Violet and Brent look distressed over their daughter's dress.

LAKE (V.O.)

But what was most unfathomable about my sister, was her great big, horrible accent.  It didn't even sound real, yet it was.  As real as all her other peccadilloes that made you want to look at her twice, like a train wreck that has too many dead bodies to look away. 

EXT. RESTAURANT   DAY

Luzy-Ann is sitting with her friend, MARY-ANN, at a small restaurant. 

LAKE (V.O.)

(continuing)

Here she was, an Asian where few were to be seen.  That in itself caused people to stare.  But as soon as she opened her mouth, out came that twang that sounded like a recent immigrant, who was faking it as a California Valley Girl, and trying to pass off as a Southern Belle.  It was too much.

They order lunch.

MARY-ANN

I'll have the sub sandwich, hold the mustard. 

WAITRESS

And you?

LUZY-ANN

I'd like a bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich, hold the mayo, extra tomatoes, pickles and onions.  And, may I have baby spinach instead of lettuce?  And the bacon extra crispy.  Oh, and instead of sandwich bread, I'd like it on a croissant.

Luzy-Ann's mangles the pronunciation of "croissant".

WAITRESS

A what?

LUZY-ANN

A croissant.

WAITRESS

We don't got none of those here.

LUZY-ANN

Of course you do.  I had one just last week.  You know, their moon-shaped.  And they're soft, but kind of crispy.

WAITRESS

You mean a crescent?

LUZY-ANN

Yes, a croissant.

The waitress looks at Luzy-Ann oddly.  Mary-Ann smiles sheepishly.

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