Original subtitles

Get the radio? All right.

Got some nice wheels here.

Hey.

I got something to tell you.

I don't want to hear your sad story.

I grew up on this block.

I know your kind, and I'm through with your kind.

So keep on walking down the block.

All right, then.

You've been moving on since.

Tank secured?

Oh, no.

I got dressing on me.

Oh, Mama won't care.

I don't care.

Dressing or undressing is still good to me. This is our last Thanksgiving,

you're promising.

Hey, there you are.

Hi, Mom.

Hi, Robbie.

Good to see you.

Move on now.

Time for Thanksgiving.

Oh, don't mind Gabe. He's just our own private neighborhood watch.

Somebody ought to be watching him.

Oh, you lost weight. Oh, I wish.

Aren't you feeding him right, Brianna?

Well, we'll fix that. Come on, Robbie.

Happy Thanksgiving, Lavelle.

She says happy, but she doesn't mean happy.

This is such a special holiday season.

Soon it'll be Christmas, the season of joy.

The season when angels lift their trumpets high.

Yes. We've been heralds since that first cold starry night. When shepherds were

stirred awake by angels singing in the sky.

Christmas in East St. Louis.

We're a long way from the realms of glory.

Well, maybe not as far as you think.

Remember, God didn't come to the rich man's home.

He came to the manger.

There you go.

First carol of the season.

Now it's official.

Let the holidays begin.

The traditions come and go.

But you coming down here on Thanksgiving and playing that song does my heart

good. We love coming down.

Not him again.

Get off this porch.

The music drew me.

Pure as a bell.

Well, nobody invited you up here for a free concert.

Well, I will.

And right now, you come on in here, Gabe, and have some dinner with us.

Oh.

Can you help me with this, Tata Robbie?

She doesn't seem too happy to be home for the holidays.

Well, for one thing, it's not her home.

And for another thing, she's worked her whole life trying to get out of this

neighborhood, and she doesn't like to come back for anything, including the

cooking in East St. Louis.

The holidays are odd.

They can bring out the best in a family, or the worst, all at the same time.

The sad thing is, this is the best it's going to be for a while.

The worst is on the way.

When you walk down the road,

heavy burden, heavy load, I

will rise and I will walk with you.

I'll walk with you till the sun don't even shine.

Walk with you every time.

I tell you, I'll walk with you.

Believe me, I'll walk with you.

Honey, the car's fine. Relax.

Why is that car so important to her?

Well, it's not the car so much, baby, as what it represents.

People hang on to a lot of things, not for what the thing is, but for the way

makes them feel.

You know, funny thing about my ending up here for Thanksgiving and all, of

course, I still got something I've been meaning to say to you.

Put that down, please.

Uh -oh, here it comes.

Sweet potato pie.

It's not my best, but it'll do.

Sweet potato pie. It's like a tummy cake.

Oh, man, this is some serious eating.

Hey,

you have a honey tone with that.

Doesn't he, though? You know, his teacher always used to say that he had

the best... What was it, that French word?

Embouchure. Yeah, that you had one of the best, one of those things that he'd

ever heard.

And his daddy saved and saved and bought him this trumpet.

Now, Walter loved to hear him play it.

Oh, hearing his son play like that, I bet he was hitting a hundred.

Oh, Lord have mercy. Yes, indeed.

You know, Robbie once played with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra.

Mom. Yes, he did, too.

I mean, you really could have gone far.

He has gone far.

Well, looks like we're ready to eat.

You know, I figured if these two give me a grandbaby, he'll play that trumpet,

too.

Next Thanksgiving, maybe you'd have dinner with us, LaBelle.

We'd do it upright.

Suck it to me, cake and everything.

Now, why should I leave the neighborhood?

You mean the hood?

The neighborhood.

I mean, I know my neighbor.

That's right.

We know each other down here.

And to take LaBelle out of East St. Louis would be like taking the bubble

Bubble Up.

LaBelle, it's just that I worry about you here all alone.

That's just the point.

She's not alone.

Just real friends.

Home folks.

I know the reality of these home folk.

My daddy owned the pawn shop on the corner, and I used to see the home folk

in and out of there.

Nobody holds onto anything down here. It just comes and goes.

I want something solid, something that's mine that I can hold on to.

And when we have a baby, I want him to be proud of me and our home.

Don't you think Robbie was proud of his home?

I think it's time we say grace.

Dear God.

Is that our car alarm?

Not our alarm.

As I was about to say.

Thank you, Lord.

This is the other neighborhood.

There's grass and chrysanthemums here.

And LaBelle has sweet peas and roses. She tends them herself.

And the car is safe here.

How about that?

You know, I just don't think that it's wrong to want to move up in the world.

No, it's not wrong to want to move up, as long as you don't forget what you

learned in the first grade, that the best things in life are not things.

Yeah. Yeah.

Just waiting for that grandbaby.

Mm -hmm.

Hey,

you better get ready. You've got that appointment with the Hoffmans?

Oh, man.

Whatever made me think I could sell all these water filters?

Well, do it.

Just keep on keeping up.

Sugar, you're so good on the phone. Then they see my face at the door. Your

sweet face.

How could anyone not love this face?

You know, we've got to get some money in the bank before there's a grandbaby in

this house.

Mercury.

You can't stand to see me hug someone else, can you?

You get out there and sell the Hoffmans and Mercury and I'll dig up some leads.

Right, Merc?

You know, if the Hoffmans buy, I'm going to stop and get... Don't say it. Your

mother's cell phone?

Don't say it. I didn't say anything.

Must have been LaBelle's turn to cook.

Gabe, you're turning my head.

And what's wrong with my cooking?

I am. You love that pepper, don't you?

Tess is very generous.

Well, somebody should be grateful and somebody should say thank you.

I'm thankful to God. And I'm grateful every day LaBelle makes her potato soup.

Don't push it, Buster. Who's walking in the door?

Hi, Mom.

Hello, Robbie.

Now, don't say it, okay?

Don't say it.

Oh, no, Robbie. I got it for you, and that's that.

You walk here every day, and every day I worry about you. Now, this way, if

anything happens, I'm right at the other end of the line.

And it's so easy.

You see? Now I'm going to call Brianna. She's right outside in the car.

You just punch in the numbers, and you hit send.

Bree, I wanted to show Mama.

That was the landlord.

He's got somebody ready to move in on the 15th. He's not going to wait this

month.

Oh, no.

What is it, Robbie?

It's nothing, Mama. Let's check this thing out. The thing we can't afford?

I told you, I don't need this. Why don't you take it? He said he doesn't need

it. Take it, Mama.

Have you ever seen such an itty -bitty little thing?

Hello.

You must be Brianna.

I'm Ted.

This is Monica.

Have you ever seen such a tiny thing?

Isn't that expensive?

Will you stop now?

Yeah, I'll stop.

Excuse me.

Looks like we all stopped.

I'm Heletta.

This is my daughter, Denise.

You're Alvin's girl, aren't you?

I was.

He's dead.

I know. I own your dad's pawn shop now. You're welcome to stop by any time you

feel homesick.

Thanks, but I don't get homesick.

Come on, baby, take this. No, Mama, it's yours.

You're going to scratch the floor.

Right. Don't want to blow that damage deposit.

Get ready. Go.

Don't go there. We're going to get the rent money. Nobody's going to take this

place away from us.

Maybe we're trying to make this happen too fast.

I mean, would it really be so bad? No, no.

I know what you're thinking.

We are not going to move in with your mama.

You want to be successful, you've got to look successful.

Screws are getting tighter and tighter, Bree. We are not going back.

I don't care if we have to live in this house with only a mattress on the floor.

That's all I had at my daddy's place.

I don't need a lot, baby.

But I'd rather have one new thing than a hundred pawn shop hand -me -downs

again.

I don't know what else to do.

We'll find a way.

Maybe we'll sell all those water filters to some rich, thirsty millionaire.

Miracles happen, you know.

Hello.

Hey, Mama.

Check out that new cell phone?

Oh, no.

The window in the back by the kitchen door?

Okay.

Okay, I'll be over as soon as I can.

Someone busted into Mama's back window, trying to break in, I suppose.

I'm going to board it up so there's no real trouble.

Robert, can't it wait?

I'll be right back. It shouldn't take me long.

You want your jacket?

No, I'll be fine.

Lock the car.

You call when you're leaving.

Okay, honey.

Oh, I'm not good enough to play with, huh?

Like, gotta be Robin.

Okay, be that way.

Brianna Springbelt?

Yes.

I'm with the Webster Groves Police Department.

Was your husband driving an Insanity SUV?

Yes.

I have some bad news for you.

Your husband's vehicle was carjacked.

Oh, my God.

He could have never have gone into anything loose.

No, ma 'am. It just happened about a mile from here. But during the course of

the crime, your husband was shot and killed.

It was a very moving service.

My baby's gone home. To a home not made by worldly hands.

Until that last trumpet sound that awakens you all.

Is it rest now?

No, Dylan.

No, you've had enough.

You like that soccer to me cake, huh?

That was Robert's favorite, too.

Listen, we have a piano lesson we have to get to. I'm sorry.

Of course.

Thanks for coming.

Well, take a piece of cake with you, because I don't think anybody else here

very hungry.

What do you say?

Thank you.

Thank you.

Nice to meet you, miss.

Oh, Meredith.

Meredith. And I am just right on the corner. So if you need anything, please

don't hesitate.

Thanks. Okay.

At least you have each other.

I remember taking Robbie for trumpet lessons, an hour bus ride over the

Oh, but honey, it was worth it. It was worth it.

Didn't you all have any friends out here?

With the business and all, we were so busy.

I have found that in times of sorrow, friends can turn up when you least

them.

May I come in? Oh, of course.

Any news?

We're working very hard, but, uh, no, there's no lead yet.

Well, maybe you could use the help of the officer that tailed our car.

A black woman can't even drive to her own son's funeral without being followed

by policemen. And I am very, very sorry that it happened, but I'm just here to

offer my condolences.

I appreciate that.

But you just have to understand that when you lose your baby... We

do understand.

And we're praying for you and Brianna.

It's your midnight hour.

And we're here for you.

All of us.

I'm awfully sorry, LaBelle.

Oh, thank you, Gabe.

That's a fine wreath.

Yes, ma 'am.

Hello? Hello?

Mrs. Wedgewell? Yes, how may I help you? I'm calling from Springbelt Water

Filters. Oh, yes, I remember.

Yes. Yes, you spoke to my husband last month.

Yes.

Hello?

Hello?

Don't cut the phone off now.

Give you a dollar for it.

No, five.

Give you three.

Okay.

Okay.

I tried calling, but the phone isn't working.

It's because the phone company turned the phone off.

Car stolen.

Computer repossessed.

Landlord says he's going to call the marshal on me by the 15th. Got to raise

some money somehow.

This... How's this crummy little house?

Oh, it was our castle.

We were going to buy it someday.

I lose this.

I lose everything Robert and I fought for.

I lose Robert all over again. Don't you understand?

This home, Brianna, is made of wood and wire and brick.

Things you can touch. Things that time will wear away.

But you and Robert shared something that nothing can destroy. You had love.

And wherever you are, that love will always find a home in your heart.

No, that's not enough.

Don't you get it?

Nobody's going to ever build a statue to Robert, but this house, this...

crummy little house in Webster Grove.

It's the only memorial he'll ever have.

So if I have to sell everything I've got, every dish, every spoon, every

of furniture in the house, I'll do it.

Sleep on the floor.

As long as it's the floor in the home I had with Robert.

Let me help you.

How'd the sale go, baby?

Well, one, two, three, 300 -something, but the rent's 950.

I'm so sorry.

Well, didn't you save any money?

Didn't you have any insurance?

We're starting a new business. We borrowed against the insurance. We

against everything.

The ironic thing is I think in a year we would have been in the black.

Now the marshal's coming on Friday.

Brianna, this is so beautiful.

Baby, you're not selling that, are you? No, no, no.

Just the box.

Three dollars?

Well, I'd like that trumpet to go back to Robbie's home.

This is Robert's home.

I mean the home he grew up in.

The home he played the trumpet in.

It stays with me.

I'm his wife.

Well, now, how about this, Brianna?

Why don't you come on down and move in with me, and then we'll both have the

trumpet. No, thank you.

I've got some money now. It's not enough, but it'll be all right.

Just get a place to stay.

Just a crummy place in Webster Grove.

You got

a

dog in here? There's no dogs allowed.

What about them in there? They're killing each other in there. They're

every week.

But there's no dogs. Now get them out of here right now.

It's almost morning.

And what could rip up the place by the morning?

Get them out now.

Need a lift?

What are you doing here?

The question is, what are you doing here?

There is somewhere else you can go, Ben.

was my favorite season of them all.

My heart was filled with

childlike praise and the hope there is in knowing

why the Savior came.

So I long to feel that Christmas spirit in

my heart.

Come here. Come on in. I said chill.

This is just temporary.

Just temporary. Well, whatever you say, Brianna. Come on in.

I said Mercury up in the backyard.

The yard?

Mm -hmm. He'll be comfortable out there.

Mercury's got it outside?

Well, I'm sorry, but... No, no.

I'm sorry.

It's my allergies.

Merc will be okay.

You like Jeopardy? I never watch it.

I never miss it.

I always wait till Christmas Eve for the stockings. I mean, that's just my

particular tradition.

Well, tomorrow's Christmas Eve.

I know, but it's not Christmas Eve tonight.

But that's one way to do it, I guess.

Robert always said, Mama's got her ways and a mule is a mule.

He said that?

I don't know. He was always joking.

Robbie joking?

You know how he gets.

Oh, go and put the stockings back for him.

No, LaBelle. You've got to have room for your ways now, too. No, I can't think

that way. This is your house. This is your house now, too.

Now, I know you've gotten used to expensive things.

No, that's not it. Where's that cell phone?

Under these decorations somewhere.

Now, I know what you're thinking.

You're thinking, I got someplace better I want to be. LaBelle.

I tell you this, Brianna, the Lord said, be joyful where you are. Are you happy

here, LaBelle?

What do you mean?

Because you were the one who called Robert in the middle of the night and

him come down. What are you saying?

If you hadn't been scared here, he might still be alive.

Don't you dare.

With a damn cell phone. He might still be alive if he hadn't been driving that

fancy car you had to have.

What? That was your idea of success.

You had to have a fancy car. It had to be new and expensive and worth stealing

and worth killing for.

Oh, God.

Didn't you know that every time that phone rang, I thought it was my Robbie

on the line.

Even now, it rings and

my heart jumps.

Good morning, Brianna. How are things going?

Oh, I'm sorry.

Two women who have so much in common.

Are you crazy?

You both love the same man.

It's funny. It's like LaBelle knew a completely different man than my

She loved a boy.

I love a man.

They're both the same human being.

You're grieving for the husband. LaBelle is grieving for the son.

Remember, she took you in when you had nowhere else to go.

Couldn't you show her a little kindness?

Isn't there some gift that you would like to give her?

Where's the fire?

Morning. Just got some business I gotta attend to.

Couldn't interest you in a little chat, could I?

No.

Just remember, young lady, God don't like ugly.

Hello, Brianna.

Sorry. I know. It's been a long time since you were here.

That used to be me.

I used to dust off the counters, sit in a stool in the corner, watch the people

come and go, come and go.

Taught me a lesson forgotten over the years.

I remember it now.

What's that?

Nothing lasts.

Nothing, sweetheart.

So what have you brought us on Christmas Eve?

Rough night, LaBelle? They're all bad.

Where's Brianna?

I don't know.

We're on different islands with a lot of water in between.

I'm right here, LaBelle.

I felt I... I brought you something for Christmas.

Oh, baby, you don't have the money.

Well, I found some at a pawn shop.

What did you have to pawn?

Oh, no, you didn't. The bell, that trumpet, was just going to sit around

both of us miserable.

You pawned Robert's trumpet for this? Robert wanted you to have that phone,

phones cost money. I was trying to be a friend. I was trying to do the right

thing. You don't know the right thing. Never did. It was always about money for

you, about having fancy new things. You wouldn't ever understand what that

trumpet means to me. My son's lips kissed that trumpet. That was the only

I had left for my son.

Get out!

I'll get it back.

I'll get that chopper for Christmas and then that's it. Come on, it's over. I'm

out of her life forever.

Brianna.

Stop! Mom.

I need to get that chopper back.

Oh, no.

I'm so sorry.

I don't know what to say.

What? I just left it a few hours ago. I went to run an errand and Denise made a

terrible mistake.

She sold it to someone while I was gone.

I'm sorry.

Who is it? Who did she sell it to?

I'm sorry. It's gone.

Merry Christmas.

Go out, dear.

Thank you.

Are you all right?

Well, I have spent a lot of Christmas Eves in this place,

trying to bring some lost and lonely souls, just a little something to hope

But this is the first Christmas Eve that I have ever really understood.

How they feel.

Having a broken heart on Christmas Eve is a terrible thing. But that's what

Christmas Day is for. Because that's when hope arrives in a loving little

package from God.

And when it comes, you have to recognize what a wonderful gift it is. A new

chance, new life.

And what good is a new life if you have to leave everyone you love behind and

the old one? Well, what good is your faith if you leave that behind just when

you need it most?

God has great plans for you.

I know that because he never forgets any of his children. Not you, not these

people, and not Brianna.

And he doesn't want you to forget her either.

Of all of God's creation.

Your son chose Brianna to give his love and his life.

And if you let her leave, you're letting a lot of your son's love leave, too.

Brianna. Go away.

Stand up. Please, get up off the ground.

Why? She's gonna end up down here again anyway.

I know how you must be feeling, but... Really?

Are you homeless?

Are you a black woman who grew up sleeping on a bare mattress in the back

poncho?

Did you pray for a house with warm heat in the winter and fresh food from a real

refrigerator and clothes not bought from a thrift shop?

Did you work for 24 hours a day for 10 years to make your dreams come true only

to see them disappear in a single night?

The only man you ever trusted and respected with all your heart

and soul.

Is he buried in a cheap grave across the town?

Is he?

Is your life overdue, Monica?

Your husband's body is lying in a grave.

But your husband is not.

Robert is in the arms of the Father. He's not gone. He's not lost.

What's happening?

Don't be afraid.

It's Christmas Eve and a very good time to be visited by an angel.

You're an angel?

Yes.

A messenger with good news.

God loves you, Brianna. He does.

He always has.

He loved you when you dreamed little girl dreams in the back of a pawn shop.

He loved you as you tried to fight your way out of your poverty.

And he loves you even now, as you sit in an alley prepared to give up on life

itself.

He wants you to know that you're not alone.

God is with you.

And Robert is with God, so you see, you're not so very far from your husband

all.

I miss him so much.

I can't remember how he sounded or how he smiled, but I always felt to hold his

hand.

I can't remember.

Why not ask LaBelle?

She remembers things that you don't, and...

I'm sure you remember things about Robert that she would love to be

The bell hits me.

Oh, no, she doesn't.

She is grieving, like you are.

But she needs you, and you need her.

For your husband left something precious behind that belongs to both of you.

Not blame to argue over, not a trumpet to fight over, but a memory to

share.

A special memory of a good man who loved his wife and his mother and tried to

make them both happy.

Share the memory.

Share him with LaBelle, and you will hold on to Robert's love forever.

Now that's worth standing up for, don't you think?

Christmas.

Every day.

Now, you know the only thing left to do is to put these chairs on the table.

Go right ahead.

But I'm not taking any hints as long as there's still a sweet potato pie left to

eat.

The bell.

Hi, Brianna.

I tried to get the trumpet back, but I couldn't.

Well, I knew that's what you were trying to do.

But we don't need that trumpet to remember what a wonderful boy he was.

Nobody could play it like he could. I don't know how he did it.

It was that French word that his teacher always told him he did so well.

He told me it was because he listened to Miles Davis.

Maybe that was it.

You combine that with a good...

Umbershire.

That's Robbie.

Robert.

Miles and Umbershire.

We're going to make it, baby.

Together.

We will.

And in the long, long time.

Yes, indeed.

He's always right on time.

And now, he says, it's finally time for me to deliver my message.

What's he doing?

That's the horn.

It's Robert's trumpet.

You thought that horn was gone forever.

But nothing is forever gone from God.

I don't understand. How could he afford that?

Most people pass Gabe and see just another homeless man without purpose,

a future.

But the truth is, the future is his purpose.

His home is heaven.

We call him Gabriel.

Dear Lord in heaven, the realm of glory is right here in East St.

Louis.

Gabriel? Yes, Gabriel.

He delivered great tidings.

Two thousand years ago, he told a poor woman that she would soon give birth on

cold, starry night.

A night when shepherds in the field would be awakened by angels.

Singing in the sky.

A night of hope.

A time just like this.

We're in the presence of an angel.

Baby, you're surrounded by a multitude of angels.

And God has sent the archangel Gabriel himself.

to deliver this annunciation unto you.

Angels have come to rejoice with you this day, Brianna.

Glory be to God.

The Lord is with you and has greatly blessed you.

Blessed me? Yes.

Behold, you have conceived in your womb, and you shall bring forth a son.

The child of your love. The blessing of your marriage. A precious gift

from God.

The baby.

The baby.

Oh.

Oh.

Oh.

It's going to be a beautiful Christmas after all.

Gabe was wonderful, wasn't he?

He always is.

I remember when I was an Annunciation.

Sometimes I wish I could do that again.

Well, baby, when you're an angel, you're always an Annunciation.

Stopping you, it's Christmas.

Glory be to God in the highest.

Glory be to God in the highest.

And on earth.

Peace and goodwill to everybody!