EUGENE: “I love that idea. (Beat) Alma I really am thinking about what I want to do with my life and it doesn’t have to be Georgia Pacific, does it? I can invade this world if I want to.”

ALMA: “There is nothing holding you Gene–INVADE this world!”

EUGENE: “You know, Alma, after our honeymoon, I’m going to take time and really figure out what I want to do. I am not going to let anybody tear me down anymore. I can trust myself, Ama, and I’m not going to let anybody sway me–No more–I AM GOING TO INVADE THIS WORLD.”

ALMA: “We’re riding Gene–We’re FINALLY riding.”

(Beat)

EUGENE: I get a call from Daddy to come home immediately. (ROBERT) “Your grandfather Eugene died.” (EUGENE) I feel my stomach lurch, just lurch. (ROBERT) “I need you to come down there with me–I REALLY need you”–

ALMA: Thelma and Mr. Gaines pick us up at the airport. Bourbon, cologne, perfume come at us. Thelma jumps on Gene as if she were a little girl. (THELMA) “Oh Momma’s baby’s back/Momma loves you/you’re all I have in the world/my daddy’s gone and you’re all I have in the world.” (ALMA) Gene spins her around–

EUGENE: I am about to put my momma–my mother–into the car but Daddy shouts me down. (ROBERT) “I’ll take care of her” (EUGENE) and I say “I can take care of her too, man. I can attend to my own mother”–

ALMA: We drive over to Odelia’s and she runs out of the house when she sees us pulling up. I get out of the car and she kisses and hugs me. (ODELIA) “Lawd, looka dis!–how good ya does look!” (ALMA) The yard–how it’s filthy. There is a stench that is overwhelming and I can’t detect where it’s coming from. I then look at Odelia. Her body has thickened. Her hair is half straightened and half nappy. She’s wearing pink lipstick and some of her teeth are missing which makes her look like a jack-o’-lantern. This garish-looking person standing before me with this jack-o’-lantern smile is my mother and then I realize the stench is coming from her–