BLACK AND WHITE AND TOUGH ALL OVER Bean wasn’t allowed to watch television Or music videos Bean’s mom said she could watch two movies a week but they had to be movies where everyone was good There couldn’t be any bad words There couldn’t be any mean people There couldn’t be anyone smoking a cigarette or wearing tiny clothes There were only about ten movies that followed all these rules Luckily Bean liked all ten of them She watched them over and over
Bean’s mom said ten movies were plenty She said kids Bean’s age should be using their imaginations instead of watching TV She said fresh air was more important than movies And then what did she do She made Bean watch a movie It was her favorite movie she said Everyone should see it at least once she said The movie was called Seven Falls but it wasn’t about waterfalls or even the leaf-falling kind of fall which is what Bean had guessed It was about a guy named Al Seven Boy was he tough He was so tough he talked without moving his lips and some of it was bad words 8 8
He was also kind of mean Everyone in the movie was kind of mean plus they all smoked cigarettes They didn’t wear tiny clothes but that was the only rule they didn’t break I can’t believe you’re letting me watch this said Bean Seven Falls is a classic said Bean’s mom It’s one of the greatest movies ever made Don’t be a stooge said Al Seven to another movie guy That was pretty mean but Bean pretended not to notice because this was one of the greatest movies ever made Al Seven was also in black and white but Bean knew she was supposed to imagine he was in color What is it about dames asked Al Seven walking slowly down a rainy street They break your heart I guess he answered himself That was the end 9 9
