"Goin' South"
Episode 5
"Goin' South" Episode 5
Nov. 1975 – Boca Grande
Grace mentions that she has cancer. “Unlike Charlotte, I have learned to keep death in my line of sight, keep it on cleared ground and away from any brush where it might coil, unnoticed.” We see now that the presentation is taking place in the ballroom at the Hotel Caribe, decorated for the 100th Independence Day -- the same event Charlotte attended when she first arrived. Two years later, it’s more prestigious. Instead of a sparse crowd, the room is packed to capacity with an energized audience. Grace says, “Charlotte did not remember much of what happened in the six months after she left California with Warren. But she knew it started right away, the night they landed in New Orleans.”
The first stop after the airport is to see Warren’s friend Porter, a real Southern gentleman. While Warren is in the other room, making a phone call, Porter tells Charlotte that Warren is the one who is dying. Later, at their hotel, when she tells Warren this, he says, “Porter’s an ass. Don’t you be one too.” He tells her to close the curtains and come to bed.
“SOMEBODY TO LOVE” by JEFFERSON AIRPLANE begins to play as they passionately fuck. The song CONTINUES over the following ROAD TRIP MONTAGE…
Spring, 1973 – U.S. Deep South
Intercut Warren and Charlotte driving, with scenes of them drunkenly fucking their way across the Deep South of the United States: sex, humiliation, decadence and degradation, including threesomes with young college women. Charlotte drives while Warren sleeps. Highway signs: GREENVILLE 38 MILES - DEMOPOLIS 45 MILES - BELLE OF GEORGIA PEACHES ARE HERE - BIRMINGHAM 62 MILES. In a Holiday Inn Parking lot, the manager roughly throws a drunk Warren out of the room as Charlotte apologizes and gathers up their things. At a Gulf Coast beach, Charlotte leaves Warren sleeping in the backseat. She walks toward to shore looking lost. “SOMEBODY TO LOVE” ENDS.
Nov. 1975 – Boca Grande
A photo of Warren Bogart is on the screen. Grace says, “I understand what Warren Bogart could do to Charlotte Douglas because I met him once. It was about five months after Charlotte had come to Boca Grande. I flew to New Orleans to receive cobalt treatment and to renegotiate our coconut oil contracts with a local businessman named Morgan Fayard. He invited me to have dinner at his house that evening with him and his wife, Lucy.”
Apr. 1974 – New Orleans
Grace arrives at the Fayards’ to find they have unexpected guests. A casual acquaintance of theirs, Warren Bogart has shown up drunk and unannounced with a young woman named Chrissie. Grace recognizes Warren’s name but pretends not to. The evening does not go well. Warren is obnoxious, as usual. He humiliates Chrissy, forcing her to stand and recite poetry, making his hosts and their guest extremely uncomfortable. It becomes obvious to Grace that Warren showed up at the Fayards’ because he knew about her relationship with Charlotte and knew she had been invited to dinner. He finally approaches Grace and starts a conversation, trying to catch her off-guard with his knowledge of her background. But she is equal to the challenge. She reminds him about the Mountain Brook Country Club.
Nov. 1975 – Boca Grande
The audience is rapt as Grace recounts her one and only meeting with Warren Bogart -- first husband of Charlotte Douglas, father of Marin Bogart. There are even some reporters in the audience, taking notes. Grace tells them, “The Mountain Brook Country Club in Birmingham, Alabama. That’s where Charlotte left him. She definitely remembered that.”
Jul. 1973 – Birmingham, Alabama
It’s late and the Mountain Brook Country Club is almost empty. The bartender is wiping down bottles, preparing to close. Warren and Charlotte are at the bar with Julia, Warren’s latest college student. Julia doesn’t look well. She says she feels dizzy and her head hurts. Warren says she’s just drunk, but Charlotte is concerned. “Did Warren hurt you?” Warren is outraged. “Nice try, Charlotte. She fell off a horse.” Julia nods, Warren took her riding and she fell. Charlotte tells Warren to take her to a doctor. He says she doesn’t need a doctor, she just needs a sandwich. He calls the waiter, but the kitchen is closed, so Warren hits the waiter and they fall into a wrestling match. And just like that, Charlotte is done. She tells Julia that she really should see a doctor.
Then Charlotte gets down off her bar stool and for the first time we see that she is 8 MONTHS PREGNANT. As she waddles away across the dark golf course.
“TIME IN A BOTTLE” by JIM CROCE PLAYS AS WE…
CUT TO BLACK.
END OF EPISODE.
Photos are intended to represent approximate ages and physical types only.
No actors are involved with, or attached to this project at this time.