IN THE NAME OF LOVE - a finalist in the Houston Film Festival screenwriting competition, this coming-of-age drama is set in rural Georgia in the 1950s. A young boy struggles with his mother’s suicide and in his search for answers he discovers that his father murdered her.
"Mama was troubled. I knew it wasn't easy growing up in an orphanage and all. Then pa started to work nights and left us alone all the time. At 13, I guess I was old enough but I didn't like to watch mama's fits, to watch pa helpless like he couldn't understand her. The screaming and yelling, mama's depression, papa's absence.
Then the gun going off. Didn't hurt no one. Didn't hurt. Her running after the car, yelling for her baby back, calling me. It had to stop so pa committed her to the sanitarium. She seemed tired all the time. That place filled with cries like a swamp late at night. She didn't belong there. One day she begged me to get her out and we planned an escape. I'd run away with her. We'd be together again, just the two of us, no matter what. I figured I'd call pa later when we had some time to work it out.
Then I found her. Pa said she killed herself. He goes off and marries six months later. I couldn't believe it. He married HER, Mama's best friend. ...used to be. The same one what took me places to get away from the fights and mama's sad eyes. The bitch. Pa lied. To the cops on the force. All them lies. I remembered the night he and mama had a party. Private like. That's what they called it. He gave her a pill. She wasn't feeling well, he told me but she looked just fine to me. I wondered what they was celebrating. They were dancing so fine until the fall. That loud crack, like nothing I ever heard. I seen him lighting a cigarette. She was lying there and he saw me looking. Quick-like he ran to her and whispered something. She opened her eyes. I was so happy to see 'em, even if they were big, sad brown eyes and she said, "Honey, I thought you stopped seeing her."
The truth came like a burst cloud. Thunder roaring all around me. I hated more than I ever hated before. Nothing left but to make pa pay....with his life, with mine, if necessary."
Then the gun going off. Didn't hurt no one. Didn't hurt. Her running after the car, yelling for her baby back, calling me. It had to stop so pa committed her to the sanitarium. She seemed tired all the time. That place filled with cries like a swamp late at night. She didn't belong there. One day she begged me to get her out and we planned an escape. I'd run away with her. We'd be together again, just the two of us, no matter what. I figured I'd call pa later when we had some time to work it out.
Then I found her. Pa said she killed herself. He goes off and marries six months later. I couldn't believe it. He married HER, Mama's best friend. ...used to be. The same one what took me places to get away from the fights and mama's sad eyes. The bitch. Pa lied. To the cops on the force. All them lies. I remembered the night he and mama had a party. Private like. That's what they called it. He gave her a pill. She wasn't feeling well, he told me but she looked just fine to me. I wondered what they was celebrating. They were dancing so fine until the fall. That loud crack, like nothing I ever heard. I seen him lighting a cigarette. She was lying there and he saw me looking. Quick-like he ran to her and whispered something. She opened her eyes. I was so happy to see 'em, even if they were big, sad brown eyes and she said, "Honey, I thought you stopped seeing her."
The truth came like a burst cloud. Thunder roaring all around me. I hated more than I ever hated before. Nothing left but to make pa pay....with his life, with mine, if necessary."