''Dear Precious,
''I think your first responsibility has to be to yourself.
''If you keep Abdul, you might have nothing.
''You're learning to read and write. That's everything.
''You come back to school when you get out of the hospital.
''You're onIy 1 7. ''
This looks like a big-ass condom.
Use that for Nurse John.
Not looking l ike that. Your hair looks a mess.
-l'm giving you banjee. -Shut up!
l got your journal.
Thank you.
What's wrong?
Nothing.
Are you sure?
Yeah , l'm sure.
All right. l'm bored. l'm about to leave. Bye.
Bye, Ms. Toosie.
You got a nasty-ass mouth.
You got a nasty-ass hat.
That's what's wrong , you hanging out with bitches like that.
Here's your baby.
lt's probably the last time you're gonna ever see him.
Grandmother come and visit and say,
''Only a dog would drop a baby and walk off. ''
Not even a dog.
Say later, '"Not even a dog. "
l'm proud of you . Ain't nothing like you r mother.
''Where was your grandmother when your father was abusIng you?
''Where is IIttle Mongo now?
''What is going to be the best thing for you in this situation ?"
''Ms. Rain, you ask too many questions.
''Sometimes l wish l could stop breathing.
''I just wanna be a good mother. ''
''Being a good mother mIght mean letting Abdul be raised
''by someone who's better abIe than you to meet his needs. "
''Ms. Rain, I is the best to meet my chiId's needs. ''
''Who's gonna heIp you?
''How wIll you support yourself?
''How wiIl you keep learning to read and write?'"
''The weIfare helped Momma. ''
''You look and see how much welfare has helped your mom.
''You could get your GED,
''and go to college. You can do anything, PrecIous. ''
You back?
What's his name?
Can l hold it?
Hey, Precious.
Hey.
You had the baby?
A boy.
Where you been all this ti me?
Let me see him.
Can l hold hi m?
He look like his daddy.
He named Abdul.
put all this shit down and go get me something to drink.
You bitch !
-You fucking bitch ! -You crazy, Mom ma?
Am l crazy? Bitch , if l was to. . .
You ruined my fucking life!
You done took my man , you had those fucking babies,
and you got me put off the welfare
for running your goddamned stupid-ass mouth !
l ain't stupid and l didn't take you r man. Your husband raped me !
Didn't no-fucking-body rape you !
Bitch, don't you put your fucki ng hands on me!
Mary, leave that gi rl alone!
Can l see the baby now?
B. . . C. . . D. . .
E. . . F. . . G . . . H. . .
l . . . J . . . K. . .
l'm tired of shopping.
Yes, because they all trying to take your money.
They don't. . .
l'm cal ling the cops.
Tel l me what you see back there.
l could teII by Ms. Rain 's face l ain 't gonna be homeless no more.
l just don't know where l'm gonna end up, though.
l'll hold.
I feel bad for her.
She just an ABC teacher. She ain 't no social worker.
What's going on?
But she all l couId think of.
Look, when the others get here, tell them to start writing .
And whichever one of you is older is in charge, okay?
Consuelo, l know that's not you. Come here.
Ms. Rai n , l can't stay. l'm serious. l've tried to talk. . .
Consuelo, you're not leaving class and l'm not dealing with this right now.
Take this money. Go get something for Precious to wear.
Quick. And bring back my change.
Sixteen years old . A three-day-old infant.
The baby not bleed ing . l think this is Precious' blood.
Well, why didn't you tell me that before?
We'll find you a place to live.
Joann , you're late.
Rhonda, you ain't the teacher.
Joan n , Ms. Rain is busy with Precious today,
so l am the teacher today.
Okay. Why?
-Where's Preoious? -J ust sit. Pull out your notebook.
Joann , you wanna say one of you r raps to the baby?
What's the baby doing here?
-Joann's gonna rap for you. -Let me see.
She all right. She's doing good.
Why is the baby wrapped u p in a blood-covered blanket?
-Joann, what's so funny? -For real . What happened?
You don't wanna know is how it got on the blanket.
You know what your problem is, Joann?
That you can't take anything serious enough.
-Jermaine, me expect better from you. -Okay, Rhonda.
Joann, stop laughing at this baby.
Queens.
Let me call you back.
J ust tell me what happened !
No, it's not funny.
But Joann, there's nothing funny about a baby with blood on it.
I got a West Ind ian friend who's a Council member.
Let me see what she can do. Hold on a second.
l found a lesson plan in our notebooks. We're gonna. . .
Claireece Jones.
Hey, Ms. Lisa. How you been?
l don't know.
l went to see that movie, Barfly, last night. piece of shit.
-l'm sorry. -It's on my desk. Can you hold?
Something's wrong with you, Precious.
This baby stink.
Well, we don't have a pamper, so have a seat with the baby.
-l am sitting. -l n you r seat, please.
The fi rst thing
is shut the bumba-ros-clot. . .
Ms. Rai n , why did you let Rhonda teach the class?
She don't even know how to speak English.
Let Rhonda take over.
-Shut the bumba-ros-clot up. -What the fuck is a ''ros clot''?
Yeah, Brenda, you there?
The last four of the Social are. . .
2-4-2-1 .
-Rita? -l just wan na know how to spell ''Aquarius.''
-Anybody know how to spell ''Aquarius''? -lt's A-Q-U-A-R-l-U-S.
Can you spell ''boy'' then?
Can you spell ''slut'' then?
Let's explore that.
You wanna spel l ''slut,'' Consuelo, I'l l give you the first letter.
Can you spell ''illegal immigrant,'' then?
Great, thank you.
Can you please use ''slut'' in a sentence?
Consuelo is a slut. . .
-You the one who's the ho up in here. . . -Joann is not a slut.
perfect. You get a gold star.
But you know she likes that.
Well, she's just insecure.
-You think? -Yeah.
-That chicken was good . -Real ly good . Did you have enough?
There ain't more, is there?
-ls there more? -Yeah .
Maybe later. Not now.
l don't want you to thi n k l'm greedy.
You're not greedy. lf you're h u ngry, let's get you some more.
l guess l kind of eat too much sometimes, though.
No, you don't.
-Blu , is that you? -Not always.
What are you doing here?
l live here. Why didn't you tell me?
-Hey, sweetie. -ls this. . . ls this. . .
This is Katherine, Precious.
-Are you okay? -lt's so nice to meet you , finally.
Oh, my God. These straight-up Iesbians.
-This is Abdul. -He's gorgeous. He looks just like you.
Precious, can l hold him?
You know how to?
They stilI nIce enough to let us stay in their home
untiI l get situated, though.
-He's heavy. Oh , my God ! -You wanna hold him?
l guess thIs is how the peoples on TV feel at Chrlstmastime.
-Don't drop him. -Come on. l on ly work with children.
You know how you are. I saw you. . .
When we were putting up the tree, you dropped half the top of it.
They're so nice to me and Abdul.
-Be careful . Hold him with both hands. -please.
Oh, Abdul.
Merry Christmas, Precious.
Thank you.
Why peoples that barely know me
should be nicer to me than my mother and my father?
I felt warm.
-What? -l'm j ust. . .
l'm just concerned about the baby and the cats upstairs.
They're fine.
Grandmother's scared of Momma.
l know that's why she ain 't letting me stay with her.
lf Ronald McDonald were running things. . .
Ms. Rain say don't be afraid of nothing.
I bet she ain't scared of Momma.
Wouldn't you be a little bit suspicious?
J ust write the book.
-Well , who's gon na read it? -Nobody, if you don't write it.
You know, Precious writes every day. You should try it.
ls that right? What do you write about, Precious?
Stuff.
My life. Abdul.
How come y'all don't like McDonald's?
Katherine was just drawing a comparison
so that her point could be more easily understood .
Yes.
They talk like TV channels l don't watch.
My U ncle Clayton.
I'm gIad Abdul here to listen in on them, though, 'cause l know they're smart.
Before he got saved,
he used to smoke like a ch imney and drink like a fish.
l don 't understand a word they're saying.
You u nderstand?
Y'all be watching Oprah?
No. l don't, actually. You know what ti me l get home from work.
-l watch it. -Momma say homos is bad peoples.
But Momma, homos not ones who raped me.
And what do that make you?
Homos not ones who let me sit in cIass alI them years and never Iearn nothing.
The homos not ones who seIl crack to peoples in HarIem.
-. . .that l have ever seen. Tell her! -That doesn't work.
I wonder what Oprah got to say about that.
Ms. Rain is the one who put the chaIk in my hand,
made me queen of the ABC's.
After l settled at the halfway house,
l worked my hardest to memorize letter sounds,
writing in the journal, and reading smaller and fatter books.
Then I found out the Mayor's office give me a literacy award
and a check for progress.
One, two, three.
The party is on.
Go, Joann !
Let me see what you got!
Everybody come. Nurse John, Cornrows, all the staff was out there.
Even Ms. Katherine showed up.
Precious.
What's up?
What's that?
What does it look like?
plastic stupid apple.
A little something for you.
-ls there more money in it? -You're so greedy.
Yo, who's that?
What?
-What? -Come on.
Precious, where are you taki ng me?
What am l su pposed to do, diva? Yeah? Wait a minute. Hold on, girl.
Yeah . . .
My mom called last night.
And we don't really have a relationship.
We don't talk, because she really has a problem with. . .
Some folks got a light around them that shine for other peoples.
l think maybe some of them was in tunnels,
and in that tunnel, maybe the only light they had
was inside of them.
Then l thought about how strong you've had to be.
And then, even Iong after they escaped that tunnel. . .
-l'l l help you clean up. -Okay.
... they stilI be shining for everybody else.
That's Ms. Rain to me.
''Awar d for Outstanding Achievement.''
In a book I read, this Iady escaped to a halfway house.
And when she was there,
she asked the peopIe there what a halfway house was.
They told her it was halfway between her old Iife and where she wanna be.
That's kind of nice.
That also mean l can't stay here forever.
There's still a way to go.
lt'd be something to get my own apartment.
Abdul nine months and aImost walking. He's smart, too.
l've been reading to him since the day he was born.
He 's barely taIking, but he's already counting.
Momma, Daddy,
IS 1 1 1, 4 4 4 Lenox all seem like some old, bad dream.
I wish l couId've just started out here, but still with Abdul.
I'm gonna get Mongo, too. l gotta get Mongo back.
Hey, Miss Cassidy.
Hey, Precious, somebody downstairs for you.
-Who is It? -l didn 't ask who it was.
You want me to watch the baby?
No, l gotta go down and get him anyway.
Your daddy dead.
That's all?
He had that Al DS virus.
There you go, dreaming again.r
Precious, do you hear me taIking to you?
Did you hear what l said?
You got it?
Got what?
-The Al DS virus. -No.
How do you know?
We never did it u p in the ass, so l know.
You better get to a doctor, Mom.
You coming home?
Yo, Preoious!
Rita, what do l mean when l say the author
descri bes her protagonist's circumstances as ''unrelenting''?
l don't k now. l don't know.
lt's l ike, say, like if Rita, she tries to do something,
and she's going and she's going, and me, l try to stop her
and she no stop, she keep on going.
Relentless-un.
l'll see you tonig ht. Bye.
Come with me.
Precious?
Excuse me?
Nurse say l'm H lV positive.
l ain't got nothing to write today.
ls your baby okay?
He all right. l just got to stop breastfeeding him.
Remember, you once told me
you never really got to tell your story.
-Write. -Fuck you !
You know nothing of what l've been through.
l ain't never had no boyfriend.
My daddy said he gonna marry me.
How he gonna do that? lt wou ld fucking be illegal !
Write.
l'm tired , Ms. Rain.
lf not for you rself, then for the people who love you.
Nobody loves me.
people do love you, Precious.
please don't lie to me, Ms. Rain.
Love ain't done nothing for me.
Love beat me, raped me,
called me an animal , make me feel worthless.
Make me sick.
That wasn't love, Precious.
Your baby loves you.
l love you.
Write.
What are you thinking?
You never told me about your relationship with your mother.
l didn't, did l?
Really, l'm here to help you.
You can talk to me. This is a safe environment.
You're right.
We could talk about your daddy instead.
We could talk about my mother, my father,
my aunts or my sister or my brother, but none of it's gonna help you .
You don't even l ike me.
Have we not been in this room together
for, like, a year, discussing your life?
Does that mean we like each other, because we discuss my l ife?
l can't speak for you.
l can only speak for me, and l do like you . l do.
So, are you ltalian, or. . .
What color are you , anyway?
Are you some type of black or Spanish?
What color do you think l am?
No, l'd like to know. What color do you think l am?
My throat is dry.
Your throat is dry?
lt's really hot in here.
lt is kind of hot in here.
l'm gonna go get a soda. What do you want?
Soda sou nds fine.
All right.
Thank you.
No problem.
So, I have to talk to you about your mother,
and l don't know how you're gonna feel about this,
but she says she wants to see you
and she wants to be reu n ited with you and her grandchildren.
She wants to come and have a session here with you.
What did you tell her?
l said l had to speak to you about it.
lt's up to you.
l don't know. l never thought about it before.
Ms. Weiss said in that file l got HIV.
She said l was supposed to die from it.
l ain't worried about dying.
Shit, l gotta worry about how l'm supposed to raise these kids.
l was just writing , like, about. . .
l wanna open up this clinic
about, l ike, mothers and their children.
You know, just, if they're sick or something like that.
l always wanted to do that, give back to the community.
Because I know my mom would be proud of me if l did that,
and my children, too.
l want my children to be proud of their mother, you know?
-That's always what l wanted to do, so. . . -That's good. That's really nice.
l don't really want to read the whole thing, l kind of just wanna say what it's about.
Okay, the counselors at Advanoement House,
they were quizzing me about my mother and my father, right?
But it's not really about them.
They're trying to get me to do workfare.
-They want me to be a home attendant. -How do you know?
Because I stole my file and l read it.
All they want me to do is work.
Now, l do wanna work, but not for no welfare check.
What kind of sense that make,
for somebody like Precious to quit school before she got her G ED
and go work for some old white people somewhere?
She ain't never gonna be nothing if she gets stuck in some shit like that.
Rhonda used to home attend.
She used to have to go all the way out to Brighton Beach.
Yeah , okay, Rhonda wou ld be worki ng there all day and night.
She'd be on call , right?
She made $6 . 3 7 an hour, but for only eight hours.
That eq ual out to $50. 96.
But that's not a whole lot of money,
especially 'cause, for real , she there for 2 4 hours.
So, $50.96 divided by 2 4
is $2. 1 2 an hou r. That's not a lot of money.
She said that old bitch wou ld ring a bell, like, a real-life, actual bell
when she wanted something from her in the middle of the n ight.
-You don't want to do that shit. -Rhonda, is that true? Rhonda!
Them home attendants be working for, like, six days a week.
l'd only see Abdul on Sunday. plus, l'd have to leave class.
Well, that's not an option. You're not leaving class.
plus, I'm gonna start goi ng to insect survivor meeti ngs.
lt's ''incest.''
-That ain't what l said? -No, you said ''insect.''
What's the difference?
Well, one's where your family molests you,
the other's like a roach or bugs.
-So, you a scientist now? -l'm just saying.
No, that's cool. Thank you . Thank you.
lt was hard telling them strangers there what my father did.
Sometimes it felt good.
Last week, Ms. Rain asked us to write down what we wanna be Iike.
l wrote that I be real skinny,
with IIght skin and long hair.
Loretha Holloway?
Go on back there.
She read it and said l'm beautiful like l am.
But, there's no kids back there for me to play with .
J ust shut up and sit there, then.
Gonna talk to this lady before my shit gets cut off.
But somehow,
right now. . . And I don 't know why, but. . .
l think she right.
Here.
Claireece Jones?
l think she right.
Okay, Mrs. Johnston , let's tal k about the abuse.
There were no drugs in my house.
l didn't play that. There weren't no drugs in my house.
Precious knew l wou ld whup her ass
if she gonna bri ng some d rugs up in my house.
You know what l'm talking about.
l'm referring to specific sexual and physical acts
involving Precious.
Why you ain't say that?
Yes, that.
What do you wanna know?
According to Precious' files,
she has now had two ch ildren by your boyfriend,
the late Carl Kenwood Jones, who was also her father.
-Yeah . -This is accurate?
Yes, Ms. Weiss.
l need to know why you're here. You've been calling this office
saying you want to be reunited with Precious and your grandchild.
Now, l really need to know what's gone on in that home.
Ms. Weiss, l understand we need to discuss it,
but l'm just telling you.
You said l've been call ing here and l've been wanting to see
Precious and my grandson.
You're goddamn right I wanna see them. Because they belong to me. Okay?
Now, there was a time Precious had everything,
and l done told her that.
And me and Carl, we loved Precious. And you need to know that.
We loved Precious and we had dreams.
Precious was born around the same time Ms. West's son got kil led .
The su mmertime. She was born in the summertime.
Remember? Remember that?
l was born in November.
November.
Yeah, that's right.
My Scorpio child.
You know. . .
Scorpios, they can be tricky.
And, l'm not sayi ng that they lie. l'm not saying that.
But you just gotta watch them.
Can we talk about the actual acts
of physical and sexual abuse
that occurred in your household?
When it first began,
where it happened and how did you respond?
Precious was a little girl.
Try and remember how old you think she was.
She was three.
And l had been giving her the bottle
and l was g iving Carl the tittie
because my m ilk hadn't d ried u p in my breasts
but not from her, but because Carl was. . .
Because Carl was sucking on them
and that's what kept my milk in my breasts.
And l thought that that was for hygiene.
l did what my mother told me
that l was supposed to do with my child, so that's what l d id .
And you're sitting u p there and you're trying to judge me. . .
l'm not judging you, but you're asking me for money
and you're aski ng me to be reunited with your grandson.
But, Ms. Weiss, l don't like you looking at me like that.
You got this bitch looki ng at me like I'm some kind of fucking monster.
We don't talk like this i n my office, okay?
l didn't want her suoking behind him, because that was nasty.
And th ings that he was. . . lt was just nasty, Ms. Weiss.
l had a man , and l have a ch ild
and l had to take care of both of them. Okay?
Did l want Carl to touch my baby?
Because l would lay my baby.
l would lay her on the side of me, on this pillow
and it was pink
and it had this little white writing on it
and it had her name, because she was Precious.
And l would lay my baby on that pillow
and Carl would be laying on the other side
and then we would . . . We would start doing it
and he reached over
and he touched my baby.
And l asked him,
l said, ''Carl, what are you doing?''
And he told me to shut. . .
To sh ut my fat ass up, and it was good for her.
-And what did you do then? -I sh ut my fat ass up.
And l don't want you to sit there and judge me, Ms. Weiss.
You shut up and you let hi m abuse your daughter?
l did not want him to abuse my daughter.
-l d id not want hi m to hurt her. -But you al lowed hi m
-to hurt her. -I d id not want him to do nothing to her.
l wanted h im to make love to me.
That was my man. That was my fucking man.
That was my man and he wanted my daughter.
And that's why l hated her.
Because my man, who was supposed to be loving me,
who was supposed to be making love to me,
was fucking my baby.
She made him leave. She made him go away.
So, whose fault was it, then?
lt's this bitch's fau lt because she let my man have her
and she d idn't say nothing.
She didn't scream. She didn't do nothing.
So, those things she told you l did to her,
who else was gonna love me?
Since you got your degree and you know every-fucking-thing,
who was gonna love me, who was gonna make me feel good?
Who was gonna touch me and make me feel good late at night?
And she made him go away, so. . .
When you sit there and you write them fucking notes on your pad
about who you th ink l am , and why l did it, all of that.
Because l didn't have nobody.
The people from
Each One Teach One,
they had . . . They called me
and they told me that my baby was writing poems.
ln fact, you know what, l got. . .
Wait a minute.
l'm sorry.
And, Ms. Weiss, l don't want no checks.
l don't need no more money. please. l'm so sorry.
l took that TABE test again.
And what happened?
l scored a 7. 8.
Last time it was 2. 8.
Accordi ng to that test,
l'm reading at a seventh- and eighth-grade level.
Next year, high school. Atter that, college.
Well, l like you, too.
But you can't handle me.
You can't handle none of this.
You know, l never knew what you was until this day.
Not even atter all them things you did.
Maybe l was too stupid , or maybe l just didn't want to.
You ain't gonna see me no more.
Bye!
l didn't want him to h urt my baby.
Please, God , l didn't want him to h urt my baby.
Ms. Weiss, l didn't want him to h urt my baby.
l would say to him , l would say. . .
''Carl, what are you doing? What are you doing? What are you doing?''
Can you go get her back?
You can do that, because that's what you do.
That's what you do.
l need you to go and l need you to get my baby back.
You told me that I could come in here and you cou ld get. . .
You could get Precious to say. . .
Ms. Weiss? Ms. Weiss? Ms. Weiss?