The Painter From Wabasha Street Part One Of Two Narrative Or Screen

Writen by Dennis Siluk

Part one of Two Parts

The Painter from Wabasha Street [A Narration written for the screen]

I

Wabasha Street

About 1917, Tony comes to St. Paul, Minnesota by train. He has nothing but the cloths he is wearing, and $19.00 in his pocket, he was a tailor in Russia, and is 24-years old. His first day in the city, he is on the sidewalk on Wabasha Street downtown, not far from the Capitol, by a bar and café, with several city folks who loaf around that area and bar. A young man and girl are looking for work, they are Polish, been in the city for several months, Ella and her brother, Cory. The girl looks a little alarmed at the loafers as they are half drunk, and stumbling, talking loud, and full of spirits. Etc.

A car, all of a sudden beeps its horn by the group of people, and it alarms a horse and buggy, with an elder man, and young lady sitting on the seat. The horse jumps back, the car goes over the curve, and the girl falls out of the buggy, and into Tony's arms, almost, she did fall out, and he caught her before she hit her head on the ground, is more like it. Now everyone is looking at the old man, his buggy, the car that is damaged somewhat, it hit a tree. The horse now is settled, and everyone is catching their breaths.

The proprietor of the bar comes out to see what all the commotion is about. The driver of the car is a little drunk, and defies everyone, and says, "…the buggy is too slow, shouldn't be on the street!" Not sure who he is talking to, he is not looking at anyone in particular, not the old man, more at the crowd and the girl I'd say; the girl Tony is holding. Tony is a foreigner, and so is the lady, Ella and her brother who happen to be there, so they say nothing, and the young man with the roadster, complains to the old man, "Who is going to pay for this car to be fixed." Tony speaks very little English (he is from Gredno, in Russia, a small city on the boarder), and doesn't understand anyway what is going on, and Ella can speak Russian, she is from Warsaw, Poland, thus, they both understand one another, and they briefly speak in Russian, his native tongue on what is going on.

"If all these folks were not out by your bar," the driver tells the proprietor, "I would not have had all this trouble," implying he has some responsibility in this matter, and may take him to court on this to fix his car. The proprietor is not intimidated, and knows who the young man is, he is from up on Summit Street, by the Cathedral, it is where F. Scott Fitzgerald lives, grew up [the rich area of St. Paul]. He knows his father owns a fur shop, and a grocery store, and perhaps some rental property, he is well to do.

[Blend or fade this statement in, and the following paragraph]

Tony looks at Ella, and tells her: "I intend to marry you," she is taken back by this.

A court date is set, and the young man goes to court, calls Ella as a witness for him, and oddly enough, the proprietor calls Tony to be a witness for him. And the old man and his daughter are in the courtroom likewise, they were summoned to court. The suit is brought before the city judge: J. L. Rosenbourm. Not a fair judge at all and a moody one at that. He finds for the defendant, with costs for the plaintiff. Tony is no help at all, and the bar owner is mighty upset that no one can speak English, and Ella is of little use, but Cory, has a liking for her, and this was a way for him to keep tabs on her, so it seems. She even looks prettier sober than drunk he concludes in his youthful mind. The judge knows Cory's father, so it is settled.

Ella's brother, looks down the noses of the judge (you can see that plainly), he is obviously trash, but cannot say anything, only sympathizes with the barkeep. He has had a raw deal. But the kid, Cory is spoiled. The bar owner refuses to pay for the damaged car, and the judge says he will put him to work on the farm, if he does not pay, "Thirty days, I'll put you on the work farm, and if you complain, I'll make it 90-days." He does not complain.

The bar owner goes to the work farm out of protest, and the car remains to be fixed by Cory's father's money.

Cory now asks Ella to go out with him for a ride in his car, to meet his family. The girl is aware of his arrogance too, but nonetheless, she is attracted to him he is good looking, and perhaps his money; at the same time, she had also taken a liking to Tony, and somewhere in Cory's head, he is aware of this.

Why the bar owner did not get a lawyer, is now a matter of anger for him, at the workhouse, hopefully, he can serve his time, and learn from that. He knows people, at least. He gives a job to Tony, to paint his bar, inside and the three apartments upstairs, as he has instructed his wife to do in his absence: perhaps it is a dig on Cory, because he knows they both like Ella. He is an elder man, in his forties, and has boy 23-years old, Henry, who is attending the bar as he serves his 30-days at the workhouse.

Tony now will stay in town, no need to go elsewhere, and so he rents out one of Mr. Nelsons apartments, and gets some work from the local merchants up and own Wabasha Street. The butcher shop has hired him to paint the building inside and upstairs also, in the hallways. And a few of the show houses down the street: such as, the World Theater, and the Lyceum, wants their places painted. Ella's brother, Earnest now is involved, and helping Tony, they've kind of from a two man team.

II

Three months pass

The rich young man, Cory Gunderson, has asked Ella to marry him, and in his mind is engaged to her, yet she has not said yes or no, and the rival, Tony, perhaps by instinct knows something is up, has asked her for the second time to marry him. Determined he is, but he has found out, by talking to Cory, who just happened to stop by his job at the World Theater, where he is working now painting something (anything), that she has accepted his ring. And he leaves. Ella's brother, is dumbfounded, he knows nothing about this (but Tony things he does of course). Tony wants to blame Earnest for not telling him, inside of him, he is enraged, but leaves the scene before he injures anyone, goes back to his apartment, and packs his cloths. Earnest had followed him, and has told him a dozen times, "I knew nothing of this, I swear, I really didn't."

Tony believes this is the end. He is going back to New York City, and perhaps catches a boat back to Russia. I am not sure exactly his intentions but that is a pretty good guess I think; whatever, he is packing everything he owns, and his intentions are to leave the city. Earnest sees this and runs home to talk to his sister, she is there, crying. "I was afraid to say no to Cory," so she tells Earnest, "after he has wined and dined me for over three months…" but after she hears Tony is leaving town, she becomes broken up, panics. It was Earnest's intention to put a fire under her feet, before Tony is gone, to get her moving, and this does it.

Both Earnest and Ella return to Tony's apartment, and they jump into each theirs arms, I mean, jump…they had almost lost one another.

"I have come to tell you, I've called off the wedding," she says, and he responds, "You mean you're going to?" He knows she has not had time to do what she said she had done.

"Should we elope?" says Tony.

She is a ting sky, but nods her head—yes.

See Dennis' web site: http://dennissiluk.tripod.com see Dennis' new book, "Poetic Images out of Peru," at http://www.bn.com