Florence's Prayer
Heads up: Part 2 is called "The Prayers of The Saints."
- Florence sings "Standing in the Need of Prayer" at the church service, to her brother's amazement.
- She's sick, and is praying for healing, but no one knows.
- Florence remembers how her mother used to pray, back when she and Gabriel were young and living with her in the South.
- One night, their mother had prayed hard because a young black neighbor, Deborah, had been gang-raped by a group of white men. The family spends a terrified night, hoping they won't come for Florence, too.
- Their mother had been a slave who had been set free, long before they were born, and Florence, too, wished to escape from her home when she was young.
- Gabriel, on the other hand, lived it up with his mother and sister taking care of him.
- Florence and Deborah become close friends and begin hating men after Deborah's rape.
- In 1900, at age 26, Florence had walked out of their house, leaving her dying mother in Gabriel's care, and headed to New York.
- In the church everybody prays aloud and sings songs like this one and this one.
- John has something on his mind; it isn't clear what it is, but it's pretty serious.
- He watches his Aunt Florence, who is silent, and wonders why she's crying.
- Flashback time: Florence remembers her husband, Frank, who was basically a good-timing but good-for-nothing guy. When he left her twenty years ago, Florence had been so fed up with him that she was totally relieved.
- Frank ended up dead in Europe during World War II, so even though she was annoyed by his lack of money management skills and ambition, Florence feels a little bit guilty about the whole thing.
- Flashback time again! Now Florence thinks about her old friend Deborah, who ended up married to Gabriel. Deborah once wrote Florence a letter saying that Gabriel had fathered a kid with someone else, and that the mother died in childbirth.
- Florence had told Deborah to tell Gabriel that she knew his secret, but she doesn't know whether she ever did. Tonight, in the church in Harlem, she has the letter with her.
- She's so mad that she's dying, mad that her brother will outlive her and that her mother will be waiting for her up in heaven, watching her burn in hell.
- The church ladies encourage Florence to pray, and she cries at the altar.