Lesson 14

[Kenneth Johnson]

Kenneth Johnson – Act 2 Middle Scenes

What I learned from this lesson is how much I enjoy writing when I just let go and stop worrying about quality and getting everything just right. Writing with the knowledge that I will be coming back to adjust is rather liberating.

Beginning: Michael meets with his friend at the bar in the American Legion Post where his friends reveals the bad press that he found on Lee’s unit during the war.

Middle: Lee to come over for dinner and Annette asks Lee to help her with her history report. Lee smells a rat. Lee gives Annette a very perfunctory and superficial overview of his service.

End: Lee tells about the train trip to Georgia and his basic training at Fort Benning

EXT. AMERICAN LEGION POST – ESTABLISHING – DAY

Michael’s car pulls into the driveway of the post.

INT. AMERICAN LEGION POST – BAR – DAY

Kevin is sitting at the bar wearing his Sons of the American Legion cover (a light blue hat).

Michael enters and sits down at the bar.

KEVIN
Hey, Michael. I wasn’t sure if Cheryl would let you get away.

MICAHEL
She let me off the leash while she gets thing ready for my dad.

The bartender sets two martinis in front of them.

MICHAEL
You know I really was not planning on having a drink. Things are a little tight.

KEVIN
I know. I got it.

Kevin throws some cash on the bar for the bartender. He takes off his cover and sips his martini.

KEVIN
You really should become a member here.

MICHAEL
I’m not a veteran.

KEVIN
But your father is. You can join the Sons of the American Legion. Lots of folks are in the film business. Plenty of networking opportunities. We just need to see his DD-214 and we will be happy to induct you into the Sons.

MICHAEL
DD-214, those are his discharge papers, right? I’ve never seen his discharge papers. That’s another thing to ask him about.

Then Kevin leans in and speaks quietly.

KEVIN
Listen. I did a little research on your father’s unit. They got some pretty bad press during the Korean War.

MICHAEL
What sort of bad press?

KEVIN
You name it. Drugs, gambling, prostitutes, but the biggest one was…

A group of Legionnaires walk by. One claps Kevin on the should.

LEGIONNAIRE #1
Come on, Kevin. The business meeting is about to start and we need you for a quorum. Kevin is swept up in a tide of people adjusting their covers while trying not to spill their drinks.

KEVIN
We’ll talk later. I’ll fill you in.

INT. MICHAEL’S HOUSE – DINING ROOM – NIGHT

Michael arrives to find Lee sitting at the dining tables with Cheryl, Annette, and two more of Michael’s daughters. CHRIS and LIZ, both older than Annette.

Cheryl is dishing the plates and Lee is smiling and laughing with his granddaughters.

ANNETTE
And then we started studying a section on modern warfare.

LEE
Modern warfare, huh?

ANNETTE
I’m doing my report on the Korean War.

LEE
That’s not very modern. That was 70 years ago.

Michael sits down at the table and starts to dish his plate.

CHERYL
I was wondering when you might be joining us , especially seeing as this was your idea.

Lee stops and looks over at Michael, a little wary.

MICHAEL
I brought some chocolate cake for dessert.

LEE
I’ll make sure to eat some.

ANNETTE
So, Grandfather, Dad said your regiment was special. Why was it special?

LEE
My regiment was all-Black.

LIZ
Wait a minute. We learned that president Truman desegregated the U.S. armed forces in 1948. The Korean War didn’t start until 1950.

LEE
The 24th Infantry Regiment was created by Congress after the Civil War as an all-Black regiment. It would take an act of Congress and a whole bunch of hateful white people to make it go away.

The room goes quiet. Lee is clearly irritated.

LEE
Like I told your father this morning, nothing good can come from talking about what went on in that war. Just getting there was hard. And getting ready for it was even harder.

FLASHBACK

EXT. POCATELLO TRAIN STATION – DAY

LEE
(VO Narration)
All my friends and relatives saw me off at the Pocatello train station. There were a bunch of other boys who got drafted, too. We all got on the train.

EXT./INT. PASSENGER TRAIN – DAY

Lee and other Black men excitedly watch the countryside roll by outside the window.
LEE
(VO Narration)
The train trip to Fort Benning, Georgia was almost three days but we had our own train car just for coloreds. We all were pretty stirred up seeing as none of us had been much out of Pocatello before. Let alone going halfway across the country.

EXT. FORT BENNING – TRAINING GROUND – DAY

The Black recruits go through all of their training with white recruits in the distance doing the same thing.

LEE
(VO Narration)
When we got to Fort Benning we did our training apart from the rest of the recruits. We trained hard. Calisthenics, running, obstacle courses, weapons training, and lots of marching.

INT. FORT BENNING – BARRACKS – DAY

Lee and other recruits clean their weapons. Shine their shoes. Play cards. Shoot the breeze and do a lot of laughing. White MPs walk by outside, looking sternly into the barracks.

LEE
(VO Narration)
When we had leave we were not allowed to go into town, we had to stay on the base, in our little area. They must have figured we’d just get directly into trouble if we set foot off the base.

INT./EXT. PASSENGER TRAIN – DAY

Lee holds a shelf of yellow pages that are his ORDERS which he folds and puts in the breast pocket of his crisply pressed brown Army uniform. He looks out the window with young Black soldiers.

LEE
(VO Narration)
The day came when we finished our training and got our orders to ship out to Japan from San Francisco.

EXT. POCATELLO BAPTIST CHURCH – DAY

Lee and two other uniformed soldiers proudly pose with their families in front of the local church.

LEE
(VO Narration)
A few of us made a side trip back to Pocatello to say good-bye.

END FLASHBACK

INT. MICHAEL’S HOUSE – DINING ROOM – NIGHT

Everyone around the table is utterly rapt by Lee’s story.

LEE
And that was the easy part. It all goes to hell after that. Cheryl, I’d appreciate it if you save me a piece of that cake.

Lee throws Michael a dark look and leaves.