Setting: Dallas, Texas. 2005. Mavis is a 32-year-old unmarried woman who lives on her own and works at a grocery store. She is white and has thick brown hair pulled back in a ponytail. Her mother named her Mavis after Mavis Staples. When Mavis’s mom was pregnant with her, she went to a concert where The Staple Singers were performing, and unborn Mavis loved the music so much that she couldn’t stop kicking inside her mama’s belly. Mavis’s mom often listened to old Motown and gospel music growing up, and Mavis developed an appreciation for this music at a young age.
Mavis goes into a bar and hears “Heavy Makes You Happy,” a song recorded by The Staple Singers. Mavis closes her eyes and dances freely on the dance floor. She smiles, she feels so free and young. She lets her hair down and lets it whip back and forth. People around her are cheering her on as they dance, too. A young man named Otis, wearing a cowboy hat, approaches her and dances with her.
Otis: Hi!
Mavis: Oh, hi!
Otis: What’s your name, pretty lady?
Mavis: What’s yours?
Otis chuckles. This little lady is so cute, her drunk ass partying on the dance floor.
Otis: Otis!
Mavis turns around in a circle.
Mavis: Nice to meet you, Otis!
Otis: You never told me your name!
Mavis: Just call me the loser drunk single woman!
Otis puts his body around her, but Mavis suddenly feels uncomfortable and steps back.
Otis: Come on now, girl, I ain’t gonna hurt ya. I’mma give you a great time, okay?
Mavis finds it hard to breathe and struggles to breathe. She is having a flashback to when she was fourteen years old and was sexually abused by her 36-year-old uncle, Robert. She was reading in her room during that Thanksgiving dinner on November 25, 1987, when she heard a knock on the door.
Mavis: Come in, Mom!
Inside walks Uncle Robert, a 6 foot tall creepy-looking dude leering at her. Mavis developed breasts before the other girls her age and often got teased about it at school, so she hid them under large shirts.
Robert quietly locks the door.
Robert: Hey, sweet girl, what’cha reading?
Mavis holds up To Kill a Mockingird as he sits on the bed. Robert smiles and snatches the book from Mavis and throws it on the floor. She gets up to grab it, but Uncle Robert grabs her wrist and restrains her. He pushes her onto the bed, pinning her down with his knees and unbuckles his belt. Mavis is scared.
Mavis: Uncle Robert, please!
Uncle Robert is naked from the waist down. He looks at Mavis in a disgusting fucked-up way. He grabs her large T-shirt and pulls it over her head. Mavis whimpers, feeling powerless against this giant of a man. He pulls down her panties and smells them, with a creepy smile on his face. Mavis is struggling to breathe. She screams and Robert clamps her mouth shut with his large hairy hand, which is sweaty and gross. He leans down to her face, and she can smell a foul garbage odor as he breathes down her neck.
Robert: Now don’t you go telling Mommy and Daddy, but Uncle Bobby is gonna give you a great time, okay?
Robert inserts his penis inside Mavis, and Mavis cries in pain, tears streaming down her face. Mavis’s older brother, Mark, goes up to his room to grab some aspirin for Aunt Maybel, who has a headache at the dinner table, and he freezes when he stops in the hallway. He hears blood-curdling screams and realizes it’s coming from Mavis’s bedroom. He runs and tries to open the door, but it is locked. He kicks at the door, but to no avail.
Mark: MAVIS! MAVIS!
And then he realizes that Robert had left the table and didn’t come back for a while, and everything clicks.
Robert collapses on top of Mavis. He struggles to get up and pants heavily. He stumbles around as he puts his pants back on, leaving Mavis on the bed frozen and numb with fear. Blood trickles out of Mavis’s vagina and leaks on her flowered bedsheets. Robert unlocks the door and sees Mark standing there. Mark runs in and pummels Uncle Robert with a baseball bat.
Mark: YOU FUCKING BASTARD!!! What did you do to my sister!!! YOU FUCKING PEDOPHILE!!!
Robert curls up in fetal position with every blow of the baseball bat.
Robert: Hey man, cool out! We were just having fun!
Mark grabs him by the collar of his shirt.
Mark: You call this shit FUN?!? Now my sister can’t have her life back because of YOU, you fucking monster!
Mark drops the baseball bat and yanks the landline phone off the hook in the hall.
Mark: I’m calling the police. Right now.
Robert starts laughing. He’s had a lot of alcohol.
Robert: No one will believe you. Mavis, sweeties, we had fun, didn’t we?
Robert gets up and leaves the room, giving Mark the middle finger as he stumbles off down the stairs. Mark closes the door and locks it. Mavis continues to lie there, silent and paralyzed.
Mark: Mavis? Mavis?
He reaches out to touch her and Mavis recoils. Mark is shocked.
Mark: Mavis it’s me! Mark! Your big brother! I got Robert to leave and I’m—
Mark is shaking. He trails off and collapses in a corner and starts crying, hugging his knees to his chest. He shakes his head over and over.
Mark: No, no, no, no… what did he do? What did he do? Dear Lord, please bring back my baby sister. Please bring her back.
Mavis wants to hug him but she can no longer trust anyone after what happened.
Mark: I have to tell Mom and Dad.
Mavis shakes her head.
Mavis: No, no, no, no…you can’t.
Mark: Mavis…
Mavis: Mark! You cannot tell anyone what happened! Uncle Bobby will go to jail! How will that look for the family?!?
Mark: But Mavis–
Mavis: It’s my fault. I led him on.
Mark: Don’t you say that.
Mavis: It’s my fault.
Mark can only cry and feel pain. He kicks himself for not saving her in time.
INT, present-day, Bar: Mavis cries and walks away from Otis.
Otis: Hey, hey, what’s wrong?
Mavis leaves the bar, with Otis shouting at her to please come back and that he didn’t mean any harm.
Ext, bus stop, 8:00 PM. Mavis is standing outside, waiting for the bus. She gets out her cell phone and calls her brother, Mark.
Mark is at his house, eating dinner with his wife, Joyce, and his two kids, Violet and Sammy. His phone rings.
Mark: Hello?
Mavis: Mark?
Mark: Mavis? Where are you?
Mavis: I’m at the bus stop. Hey, listen, can I…stay with you guys for tonight?
Mark looks around, unsure.
Mark: Um, I guess. I mean, I’m having dinner with my family, but…
Mavis: Sorry, I didn’t want to bug you. It’s just that I don’t know if I can go home alone. Every time I walk alone at night, I see Uncle Bobby grabbing me and doing that horrible thing to me.
Mavis chokes back sobs and covers her mouth.
Mavis: I just think he is going to come back and get me.
Mark is shaking, as he remembers Uncle Robert raping Mavis.
Mark: I’ll come pick you up. Don’t go anywhere.
Mavis breaks down.
Mavis, whispering: Thank you, seriously, I–
Mark: Hey, hey, sis, don’t worry, ok? It’ll be ok, just stay there and I’ll be there in ten minutes.
She hangs up and stands outside. The bus pulls up.
Bus driver: You gettin’ on?
Mavis: I’m good. But thank you.
The bus driver shrugs, and a houseless lady with a grocery cart gets on the bus, along with a college student and his girlfriend. The bus closes the door and meanders on down the road.
End of part 1
The Arts Are Life 