7. INT PRECIOUS’ HOUSE NIGHT PRECIOUS IS PACING ABOUT THE HOUSE AGITATEDLY. MOMENTS LATER, WE HEAR THE SOUND OF A CAR DRIVE INTO THE COMPOUND AS SHE LOOKS AT THE FRONT DOOR EXCITEDLY. A SECOND LATER, CAROL KNOCKS ON THE DOOR AND WALKS INTO THE HOUSE TO MEET HER. SHE IS CASUALLY DRESSED… PRECIOUS Thank you for coming, Carol. I am so sorry for asking you to leave my house the way I did earlier today. Please forgive me. CAROL (Sighs) I only came over this night because my husband asked me to come for the sake of our friendship. So what do you want? PRECIOUS You are not going to accept my apology and forgive me? CAROL I wouldn’t be here if I still bore grudges against you. PRECIOUS (Sighs) Thank you. (Sighs). I need your help desperately, Carol. CAROL What is it? PRECIOUS I need to go home with a man I can show to my father as my fiancé. CAROL I don’t understand. How does that have anything to do with me? PRECIOUS (Sighs) Please don’t get angry with me. Just listen to me and hear me out. Please. CAROL SIGHS AND FACES HER WITYH AN ATTENTIVE EXPRESSION ON HER FACE… CAROL Okay. I am all ears. PRECIOUS Thank you. (Sighs). I promised my father I would come home with my husband to be when I go home this week. It is the only way I can make him happy with me. Especially since my step-sister, who is my junior by five years, is already married and with a child. CAROL (Sighs)What exactly do you want me to do for you, Precious? PRECIOUS I need you to help me hire a man I can take to meet my father. Any good looking and decent man would do. CAROL STARES AT HER WITH SHOCK ON HER FACE… CAROL You want to hire a man to take to your father? Why on earth would you want to do such a thing? PRECIOUS (Sighs) Carol, there is something I haven’t told you before now. But I think it is time you know that about me. (Sighs). I had a very messy abortion when I was nineteen. I would have lost my life if my father had not waded into the matter and ensured I received proper medical. Since then, my father has continued to look at me with accusing eyes that make me feel worthless before him. My step-mother has never ceased to make reference to that single incident in my life and use it as a basis to explain off my inability to bring a man home to my father. CAROL SIGHS DEEPLY AS SHE CONTEMPLATES FOR A SECOND OR TWO BEFORE SHE SIGHS AGAIN AND FACES PRECIOUS… CAROL So what kind of man do you want now? PRECIOUS A man I can pay to pretend to be my husband to be. I am prepared to pay him well, too. CAROL SIGHS AND LOOKS AWAY WITH A REFLECTIVE AND THOUGHTFUL EXPRESSION ON HER FACE AS PRECIOUS STARES AT HER EXPECTANTLY… FADE