Original subtitles

This programme contains some strong language

James Baldwin - writer, drinker, thinker, a legend.

Rest his soul.

MUSIC: Hurt So Good by Susan Cadogan

THEY CHUCKLE

♪ Oh, don't you know that it Hurts so good

♪ Don't you know that it Hurts so good

♪ Don't you know that it Hurts so good

♪ It hurts so good... ♪

Hold on now.

Denial - do you know this word?

Do YOU?

It's not I suffering from the affliction known as teetotalism.

I can't deal with this intoxication no more.

My memory's so bad, I think Tuesday is Thursday,

and the bedroom, the bathroom.

You likely got early dementia,

and there's nothing you can do about that except eat more oily fish.

And as for staying sober...

Come on, man!

I is joking, man.

If you was losing your head, I would be the first to tell you.

You're as sane as you always was...

..which ain't saying much.

THEY CHUCKLE

You see? Shut up now, man.

Nobody can stay depressed around me.

We veterans now. We have to adjust.

The glass either half full or half empty.

So let me make it half full.

Deal.

REGGAE PLAYS OVER RADIO

Nightcap?

No chance.

You're on your own tonight.

Coward!

Stand up now, man. Stand up!

Yeah, yeah, yeah! HE SIGHS

Hey, boss... Mm-hm?

..it's that one.

THEY BOTH LAUGH

BARRINGTON NARRATES: Into the lion's den.

NARRATOR: Gwan, Barry!

You is still a saga boy!

NARRATOR: Uh-oh.

It's morning time already, Barrington.

NARRATOR: Statement - not a question.

Well, you know how time does pass, dear.

Does it?

NARRATOR: Threat - not a question.

Why don't you just go back to sleep, dear?

Oh, I'll have plenty of time to sleep

when the good Lord comes for me.

And that won't be long now...

..I am sure.

NARRATOR: And emotional blackmail, pure and simple.

SHE GRUMBLES

Bringing the stink of cigars into my bedroom again.

I'm sorry.

And that rank rum nastiness!

When are you going to mend your ways?

I am... sorry.

I told you to get a mobile phone years ago.

NARRATOR: So the old gyal can track me down day or night? No, sir!

Yes, my dear.

Me go get a mobile phone if it make you happy.

I just heard today my papi's had a second stroke

and is in hospital.

He's nearly 100 years old...

..and I've not seen him for nearly 30 of them.

He's asking for his little girl.

NARRATOR LAUGHING: Why, him go get a mighty shock

when him see you then, my dear!

Listen to me good, Barrington.

I flying home to see my father on Monday.

And when I return, things is going change round here.

I am not putting up with you

putting your thing about with those trampy cows no more!

Hand on heart...

..I swear me have never slept with any other woman but you. Hmm!

You is the only cow I know who...

BARRINGTON GROANS

God will damn you.

You and your nastiness!

MORRIS HUMS

MORRIS SLURPS

Enough with the slurping now, man. Hmm?

What happened to your broughtupsy?

NARRATOR: Morris, ask me what's up now, man.

What's on your mind?

Nuttin'.

Why you ask?

These couple of hours Carmel at church,

you're usually at your happiest.

She give you a hard time last night?

NARRATOR: That's more like it.

Hmm? Or rather, this morning.

She give me a hard time every night.

You give her a hard time too, don't forget.

No, she give me a harder time than I give her.

It's like she don't realise her man is one of the good ones.

All these years, haven't I made sure

that she and the girls were protected,

that them want for nuttin'?

Still she accuse me of nastiness...

..accuse me of being a cheat.

You ARE a cheat, Barry.

But not in the way that she think.

There is honour...

..a loyalty to it that she can never understand.

Me can't either.

Morris, I'm serious.

There comes a time when the mask haffi drop

and the charade haffi stop.

You the one who chose this life, Barry!

I can't take it no more.

All right, all right, me done - no more slurping. Mm?

No... I don't mean...

Look...

..I have decided to leave Carmel.

MORRIS SCOFFS

I decided last night.

Seriously.

What happened?

Something did just shift between us.

And I can't keep on keeping on.

So...

I finally come around to your idea.

Barry.

Yes, my squire?

I've been thinking.

I think we should move in together.

Move in together?

Mm-hm.

You're hearing me correctly.

HE CHUCKLES

My divorce is final.

Your children are older. Place of our own.

Yeah.

Together.

No more sneaking around.

I made the wrong, wrong choice all those years ago.

But I can make the right one now.

You're admitting it finally?

Morris, we nearly 75 years old.

You can't believe that?

What do you say we spend the fourth quarter of our cycle together?

Discreetly. But together.

And we can live wherever we so choose.

How about Miami?

Miami? Mm-hm.

Me hear the place is full of poofters.

Maybe we can live in a luxurious bungalow with sprinklers on the lawn

and naked butlers serving us our evening aperitif.

No, no, no! I'm not having you mess me around!

Not again.

I used to the way my life is.

As soon as Carmel is home from church,

I go sit her down and tell her...

..divorcing her.

Just watch, Morris.

Just watch.

THEY SHOUT HAPPILY

WAVES CRASH

VOICES SING

♪ Since the Lord saved me

♪ I'm as happy as can be

♪ My cup is full and running over

♪ Running over ♪ Running over, running over...

Nice! ♪ Running over

♪ Running over, running over

♪ My cup is full and running over... ♪

DOOR OPENS

VOICEOVER: Behold, the ice queen returneth.

♪ My cup is full and running over... ♪

How many times I tell her not to bring the 5,000 back after...

..after church?

♪ My cup is full and running over

♪ I am happy as can be

♪ My cup is full... ♪

VOICEOVER: Oh, Carmel, you think there's safety in numbers?

But I still leavin' you.

Drinks, ladies?

Water, sarsaparilla, sorrel.

Me love some guinep juice, if you have it.

VOICEOVER: Course you would. Anything to be difficult.

Candaisy? Oh, water's fine for me.

His sermon was powerful today.

His spirit went right through me from the top of my head

to the bottom of my soul. Amen. Powerful vibrations.

♪ My sugar, sugar too sweet

♪ Caught you looking at me

♪ You wanna lick my ice cream

♪ My sugar, sugar too sweet Too sweet

♪ My sugar, sugar too sweet... ♪

There's no way I'm listening to that crap.

What's crap, Mum, is the drink you're currently

sucking into your system.

It's pure sugar, which I'm sure you're well aware has long

been linked to a plethora of ailments such as cancer, diabetes

and obesity, to name but a few.

Not to mention the negative effect it's bound to already

have had on your current emotional state.

Oh, just listen to your damn song!

♪ Fresh out the shower Feels like a debut

PHONE VIBRATES

♪ You don't need to refuel

♪ I like it when you leak I don't like it when you chew

♪ So sticky, you can't move cos you're glued. ♪

That hurricane nearly wipe out the whole of Antigua.

You know that old rum shop that used to be on the corner, Boxes? Boxes?

Yeah. I hear it gone. Boxes blow away.

Do you remember Boxes? Uh-huh.

Yes, I remember Boxes.

Completely.

How you feel about that? Who, me? Yes, you. Yes, you.

I know of it. You don't remember you gone with your girl, then?

Which girl? What are you talking about?

I never went to Boxes. You went to Boxes. How do you mean?

You went to Boxes with your girls dem and your pinafore

that used to drop down by your knee. What is he talking about?

Remember? That is not, Morris... They'd put on one calypso,

you come out with your skirt so short it looked like

the tide just come in.

Morris, you're lying. You used to lime at Boxes... Who, me? ..like nobody lime at Boxes. Who, me?

Yes, you. Thank you, Carmel. I never lime there in my life.

You lime there.

Walk in as Drusilla, walk out as... BOTH: Dru-Dru!

I don't know. You are scandalous.

Scandalous! Dru-Dru! Not true?

Scandalous, Barry!

No, true. Lunch is ready.

Help yourselves. Scandalous!

Dru-Dru!

Ma, look like a bang good...

Thank you. There you go.

One spoon is enough? You want another one? No, I have two. OK.

Carmel, you did a good job here.

You put out a nice spread.

You must be looking forward to some fresh fish waiting

for you back in Antigua, Barry.

And the plantain.

How sweet it going to taste.

So sweet.

You going to Antigua?

You know they have perfectly good fresh fish and plantain

down at Ridley Road, if that's what I want.

Goat?

Please.

And, Morris, no, I am not going to Antigua.

So you're just going to abandon your wife in her time of need

most crucial?

Him no fly well.

Mm-hm. Almost 75 years old, still too scared to facing fear.

DOOR OPENS Dad!

Dear Lord, who is this now?

Oh, it's Donna and Daniel. Mummy!

Donna!

Oh, baby!

Good to see you.

Oh, he's so handsome. Good to see you.

Daniel, get yourself a chair now.

Ah, my darlings.

Good to see you. You too.

Here you go, Mum. The blue stool.

You can get the blue stool, Daniel. Oh, thank you, son.

Thank you. That's nice.

VOICEOVER: I see Carmel must have been on the phone

with Donna first thing.

You all right, Uncle? You good?

Hello, Grandfather.

Oh, it's Grandfather now?

How is school?

Er, OK.

OK?

For what I pay, it better be more than OK, my boy.

OK?

You decided what you're going to study at uni?

Daniel's going to study PPE at Oxford, aren't you, darling?

OTHERS EXCLAIM: Oxford?!

Well done, my darling!

Oh, Daniel!

Thanks, Granny, but I haven't got in yet.

You will get in.

In the name of Jesus, you will. OK, OK.

Daniel, you're going all the way to Oxford to study physical education?

No, P... Thank you, Mum. PPE.

Uncle, it stands for politics, philosophy and economics.

I joking with you.

VOICEOVER: Or, as I like to call it,

poli-trickery, pontification, and e-criminal-omics.

Well, if that doesn't deserve God's praise.

Amen. Amen. Amen.

I'm proud of you.

You know, I went to Oxford once, you know?

When? When? I went to Oxford.

Which Oxford did you go to?

Street!

LAUGHTER

Sorry, Morris!

Oxford Street, that's as far as him go.

Maxine! Et voila! Maxine!

Hi. Hi.

Hello.

Oh, thank you. Hello, sis. Sis.

Mwah!

Auntie Dru.

That is an extraordinary ting, you're wearing, love.

Yes. Well, one's clothes are merely an extension of oneself,

so I have to be extraordinary.

Child, you don't know vanity is a sin?

Yes, but so is envy, Auntie.

Darling. Hello, Daddy!

Good to see you.

Hello, trouble. Nice jumper. Thank you.

Hey, Uncle Morris.

Eat something, Maxine. Mummy!

Here. You're lucky I could find it. Thank you so much.

And whatever you take, I want it back, Maxime.

Yes. Yes? Yes, understood. Thank you.

Oh, life-saver. All right. Go on.

Er, want what back? What are you taking?

Er, none of your business.

So... Ah! ..this is what you're up to, is it?

Jesus shitting Christ, Donna! What?

You thought I was going to allow you just to walk up here and help

yourself to all of Mum's best stuff?

Borrow. I am borrowing a few bits and pieces for a shoot.

SHE CHUCKLES

Whoa, mama!

No! Too late!

Yes, Mumsy!

Put it over your head. No. What are you doing?

Stop it! Stop it!

Silly.

God!

Who knew she had it in her, eh?

I mean, it is probably how you were conceived. Uh!

That's not funny.

OK, love! Bye, everyone! Ciao. I'm off.

FAREWELLS FROM KITCHEN Wait, wait, wait.

You're not staying?

And have lunch with the Bitches of Eastwick?

No, thank you. HE CHUCKLES

Daddy, as much as I love you, life is far too short.

VOICEOVER: Oh, there she a go. DOOR CLOSES

Me own little Plato.

You know Melissa? She got to have a hysterectomy.

Really? She got pickney?

No, Drusilla. She hasn't.

This is superb lunchtime conversation you started up, dear.

Oh, well, once that womb come out, no babies for her.

You can't cheat nature.

Woman should have babies by 25.

That way, they pop out like golf balls.

You full o' noise, Drusilla.

50-year-old women can have children these days. Mm-hm. I know.

I know, Merty, but then the pickney comes out with two head

and ten legs, isn't it?

Yes, ladies. Slug it out!

Anyway, how we don't know that Melissa hasn't had an abortion?

That's how those career women carry on.

Make baby, kill baby, make baby, kill baby.

Yes, but there's one person who knows everything.

Maybe he's punishing her.

I hear from very good authority on the grapevine that Melissa is also

one of those women who lies down with women.

Oh, yes, yes, I think I heard that, too.

Like I always said, if woman was meant to lie down with woman,

then God would have given woman a penis.

Well, that's as good a mantra as any, Drusilla.

It is an abomination.

"First you must clean the inside of the cup and the dish,

"and then the outside will be clean."

Matthew 23:25.

With respect, Auntie,

God also said eating shellfish, such as shrimp and lobster,

is an abomination.

And then there's all that nonsense about not wearing material woven

of two types of cloth, and that slavery is fine.

Mm-hm. Do you see my point?

Amen.

Maybe you're right, Donna.

Maybe it's not Melissa's fault.

After all, some women just can't seem to find or keep hold of a man,

can they? Mm.

Some of us are just too busy trying to raise them, Auntie.

Like loving, responsible parents should.

So, Donna, if Daniel was one of them,

an antiman, you'd be happy with that?

"Mum, I'd like you to meet Giles Smythe, my boyfriend."

Hey!

I don't know if Daniel is one of them, as you put it.

And if he is, it's up to him.

That's not what I asked.

Would you approve?

Look at him.

He could become an antiman.

All his speaky-spokey and private schooling that everyone knows is a

breeding ground for sodomites.

That's it.

Stop talking about me like I'm not here.

Daniel. Mum, I'll be outside.

Wait, Daniel. Daniel!

Daniel. Danny boy.

Merty!

Why you do that?

You should be ashamed, insinuating things.

How you think that make him feel?! HE BANGS TABLE

And you see me daughter,

she don't have to justify herself to anybody in this room.

Like any disease, Mr Walker,

it's best to catch it and cut it out early,

less it spread, or, God forbid, infect others.

Stupidness you saying now?

Cos, you see, your Bible, it's supposed to be all about love,

love and forgiveness.

But all I'm hearing out of your sour mouths is bitterness and damnation.

Why are you defending THEM?

I'm not defending.

The Lord says they must be beaten so they may be better.

Somebody go' give you beats one of these days.

SHE GASPS

Go on.

Go on with your crazy self, man.

What?!

Go on!

I thank God for your life, Mr Walker.

And I bid you... good afternoon.

Drusilla, wait. Don't leave.

The Lord will judge you, Barrington!

I personally think that we should live and let live.

It's not their fault... You're right.

We should pray for their souls to be saved.

Now, what I object to, what boils my blood is the kind of married man

who sticks his business in any old smelly, venereal, baggy pussy that's

had more dingle-dangle stuffed up it than hot dinners!

Those kind of men should be publicly flogged in the town square.

CUTLERY AND CROCKERY CLATTER

CHAIR SCRAPES

Carmel, let me help you with that.

How are you feeling, Barry?

You OK?

Truthfully, Morris...

..I'm feeling a bit woozy.

Maybe some fresh air would help.

Don't worry about them, man.

No.

Barrington Jedidiah Walker!

Hey, tomorrow.

Tomorrow, I go do the ting.

Later. Later.

Carmel. Morris.

Barrington, as well you know, these my friends.

Lifelong friends.

And I don't appreciate you threatening them.

What them say to Daniel, what them say to him... After all this time,

you don't even know them properly.

You treat them like monsters instead of real people who've had a harder

life than you'll ever understand.

Because you lacking in human decency, sensitivity, compassion,

and good manners, besides.

Why, that's some list.

Soon as I get back from seeing my daddy, we going get a new regime.

VOICEOVER: Oh, yes, we're going get a new regime,

so don't worry about that.

You've been walking on the dark side too long, Barrington, and now

I going drag you into the light.

HE GRUNTS

What terminal are you flying from?

South.

Who are you flying with?

Virgin.

VOICEOVER: Go on, Barry.

You know the truth will set you free.

How long are you gone for?

What happened to us, Barry?

Life happened, Carmel.

What if I asked you nicely, if I really needed you to be there

with me...

..for me...

..would you come?