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04 - Porgy by DuBose Heyward · Porgy

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Denise rang Part three. Porgy drove slowly down King Charles
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Street and appraised the prospects for hitching and settling a
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: while in the narrow strip of shade against the walls
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: of the buildings. The day was sweltering, and both cripple
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: and goat were drooping beneath the steady pressure of the sun.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: A man passed walking briskly. Porgy at once recognized the long,
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: easy stride and the soft felt hat drawn rather low
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: over the eyes. He reached out and gave a slight
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: twist to the tail of his sumbulent animal, which resulted
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: in a shambling trot that brought the vehicle abreast of
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: the pedestrian. But at that moment the gentleman stopped, produced
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: a key, and, opening the door of an office, passed in.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: Without looking around. Porgy eyed the office and its environs
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: with evident satisfaction. The building and stood very near the
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: old Apockecary's shop, and between it and its neighbors to
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: the east was an entrance very several feet in width,
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: which breathed forth an inviting coolness from its deep shade.
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: No one was passing at the moment Porgy turned the
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: head of his beast towards the entrance, gave a sudden
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: twist to the tail, and drove audaciously across the pavement
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: an end to the retreat. Then he hitched his wagon
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: a few feet from the street and seated himself cup
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: in hand at the pavement's inner edge. You'd best get
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: long out of mister Allen's doorway with dead goat before
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: he find you. Ain't you understandin gentlemen, ain't likes to
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: smell goat. Porgy looked up and met the threatening gaze
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: of Simon Fraser. Fraser was a practicing attorney at law.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: He was well past fifty years of age, and his
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: gray wool very white in comparison with his uncompromisingly black skin.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: He had voted the Democratic ticket in the dark period
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: of Reconstruction, when such action on his part took no
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: little courage, and accordingly enjoyed the almost unlimited toleration of
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: the aristocracy without possessing the official sanction of the state
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: for the practice of his profession. He was, by common
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: consent among the lawyers, permitted to represent his own people
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: in the police at madrass courts, and to turn his
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: hand to other small legal matters into which it was
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: thought inadvisable to inquire too deeply. Porgy regarded his accusers stonily.
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: Of course, gentlemen ain't like a smell goat, he replied.
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: The door opened, and Archdale looked out from where Porgy sat.
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: He could have touched him with his hand, yet the
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: cripple's gaze never wavered from the face of the negro,
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: and his expression remained unchanged. For drawing an interruption, he
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: hastened on in a voice that had become mildly incredulous
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: as he continued, But it can't be that attitude. Knowing
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: bookoroo long as you've been knowing him, you ain't no
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: understand him, And better than to tink they could drive away,
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: poor cripple and the heat. Archdale made a movement that
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: actually crossed Porgy's line of vision, but the beggar's face
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: gave no sign of recognition. His voice rose to a
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: pitch of indignation. You might be a lawyer and all that,
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: but I ain't going to have you stand here and
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: tell me that mister Archdale got them poor white trash ways.
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: Of course he doesn't like the smell of goot. Buddy
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: got a habit in the breast for the poor crippled nigger.
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: A wry smile tugged at the corner of Archdale's mouth.
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: All right, Porgy, he said, I got it all, But
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: gentlemen or no gentleman, I can't have a goat on
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: my doorstep. I would not have one client left in
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: a week. At the sound of Archdale's voice, Porgy looked
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: around his entire body seemed to express amazement. Why here's
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: d baars now, he cried. Then he turned triumphantly to
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: the negro and added, what I don't tells you about
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: the real quality? Ain't you done seeing? He said? I
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: can stay. Archdale became desperate. I did not say you could,
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: he cried, with the manner of one who puts his
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: foot in the crack of a closing door. You can
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: wait there to day, as I will be in court
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: or morning, But tomorrow you must find somewhere else. By
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: tomorrow I gonna have this goat. Why till you can't
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: tell him from one of the rosebush into park, Porgi
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: assured him with an ingeniu smile. Y'all's going to be
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: not mighty loving' unto goat at a wild Bull's no goats,
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: don't wash Porgy away. You go after today. But the
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: power of absolute conviction was not in Archdale's voice. His
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: foot was still in the crack, but he knew that
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: the door was closing. All right, Frasier, I'll see you
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: now about your divorce business, he said to the other negro,
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: and showed him into the office. Presently, through an open
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: window behind Porgy came the voice of Archdale's voice. All right, Fraser,
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: out with it. The gentleman who has come down to
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: improve moral conditions among the negroes thinks you are a menace.
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: He's going to have you indicted for granting divorces illegally.
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: In a voice very different from the one in which
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: he had arragned Porgy, Fraser began, I find so much
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: nigger unsatisfied with their marriage. Am I here to tell
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: of a thing they caused divorce? Yes, encouraged his questionnaire.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: So for a long time now I've been separating widow divorce?
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: What I make up for the purpose? And he gone
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: find boss, I don't make too much nigger happy. Have
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: you one of the papers with you? Silence? And then
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: Archdale's voice again, I Simon Fraser hereby divorce Rachel Small's
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: and Columbus Devo for the charge of one dollar, signed
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: Simon Fraser. Well that is simple enough. Where did you
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: get the seal? I don'et by it up from the
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: junk shop? Jew boss, don't you know there is no
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: such thing as divorce in this state? I here tell
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: there ain't no such thing for the white folks. But
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: the nigga need him so bad. I ain't see no
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: reason why I can't make up one would satisfy the nigga.
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: He seemed to work very well too, till that soft
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: mouthed gentleman come round and on settle all my client.
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: A groan floated through the window to Porky's ear, causing
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: him to indulge in a slow, malicious smile. Then, in
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: a pained voice, the Negro lawyer proceeded, he been calling
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: me a lie, boss, and what more? He keep the
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: nigga straight. This gentleman say that the gods to live
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: together anyhow till they're done dead. That's the law, he said.
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: But nigga ain't done that a way. I don't get
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: them all properly. Mora lies. And this same gentleman tell
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: him that my paper, ain't no more than a license
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: to adulterate. So now they just leave each other in
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: And I ain't gotno dollar. And now he said, he
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: gone jail me? What more? There was a moment of silence.
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: Then poor Gy heard Archdale's voice calling a number. Then hello,
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: is that the Solicitor's office, mister Dennis please? Oh this
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: is Archdale Dennis. Yes, another negro. This time it is Frasier.
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: You know the divorce decree case. Yes, I have him
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: here in my office. Look here, you have a terrifically
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: heavy docket this term. There is no use taking the
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: state's money and your valuable time on this case. There
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: followed a pause, then Archdale said hastily, Oh, no, I
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: am not trying anything. But he is perfectly innocent of
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: any deliberate wrongdoing. Yes, of course it would be serious
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: if he were responsible, but you know, no one takes
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: old friend seriously. A no bill from the Grand Jewelry
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: would save no end of time and trouble. Yes, I
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: will guarantee that he will stop. Porgy listened intently, and
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: after a moment he heard archdelle say thank you and
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: turn his chair towards his client. Then he heard him
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: address the negro. We are not going to lock you
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: up this time, simon, but you will have to stop
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: divorcing your people. I have given my word. If you
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: do it again, snap to jail. We both go. Do
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: you understand? A relieved gasp greeted the announcement, followed by
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: God bless you, boss, and a moment later Fraser stood
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: blinking in the white glare of the street. Porgy looked
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: up and, in an exact imitation of Frasier's professional manners,
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: said testily, move on, now, please move on. I got
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: a very polite gold here would object to the smell
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: of the jail bird. A chuckle sounded from Archdale's office. Immediately,
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: the light of victory carefully veiled, but bright shone in
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: Porgy's eyes. He reached behind him and tweaked the goat
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: by the ear. The dejected animal mistook the signal and
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: started forward. No, no, baba, whispered Porgy. Ain't you hear
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: the boss laugh when Nigger made the borgooroo laugh? Did
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: he know he'd done one? This way? We're going to
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: spend we live. You watch the change in Porgy, which
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: Peter had been the first to notice, was now apparent
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: to all who knew him. The defensive barrier of reserve
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: that he had built about his life was down. The
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: long hours when he used to sit fixed and tense,
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: with the look of introspection upon his face were gone.
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: Even the most skeptical of the women were beginning to
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: emit that that best mate was making him a good mate.
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: Not that they mingled freely with the other residence of
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: the court. On the contrary, they seemed strangely sufficient unto
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: themselves in the midst of the intensely gregorious life that
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: was going on about them. Porgy's earnings were adequate to
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: their modest needs, and Bess was always up and out
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: with the first of the women, And among them all
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: there was none who could bargain more shrewdly with the
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: fishermen and hucksters who sold their wares on the wharf.
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: Like Porgy, Bes had undergone a subtle change that became
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: more evident from day to day. Her gaunt figure had
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: rounded out, bringing back a look of youthful comeliness, and
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: her face was losing its haunted expression, the air of
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: pride that had always shown in her bearing, which had
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: amounted almost to disdain that had so infuriated their virtues
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: during her evil days, was frightened, and, in her better condition,
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: forced a resentful respect from her feminine producers. One morning,
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: while she was doing her marketing on the wharf, one
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: of the rivermen who had known her in the past,
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: hailed her too familiarly. He was at that moment stepping
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: from the top round of the ladder on to the wharf.
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: How about to night, he asked, with a leer. She
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: was holding a string of whiting in her left hand
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: and was hanging about upon the final penny of a
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: bargain with the fishermen. She half turned and delivered a
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: resounding slap with her right hand. The man staggered backward,
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: hung for a moment, then vanished. There was a tremendous
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: splash from the shallow water. Twenty cent fort to string,
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: and not one cent more, Best continued coolly to the fisherman.
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: He accepted the price. Best gave him eighteen cents and
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: a hard look. He counted the money, glanced at the
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: hand that now hung innocently against her apron, then laughed,
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: just as you say, sister, I ain't quarrelin none with
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: you dis mornin' Bess gave him one of the faint
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: cryptis smiles that always made men friends and women enemies
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: for her, and departed for catfish Row, as if nothing
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: had happened to break the dull routine of the morning's chores.
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: Saturday night, and the court had flung off his worker
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: day clothes and mood. In the corner by Serena's washbence,
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: a small intimate circle had gathered about a smoking kerosene lamp.
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: Several women sat on the bench with drowsy little negroes
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: in their laps. A man near the light leaned over
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: a guitar with a vague wistfulness in his face, and
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: plucked successive chords with a swift, running vibrant of sound.
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: Then a deep baritone hummed for a second and raised
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: an air. Ain't it har to be a nigger? Ain't
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: it how to be a nigger? Ain't it ha to
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: be a nigger? Cause you can't get your ripes when
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: you do. I was sleeping on a pile a lumber,
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: just as happy as a man can be when a
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: mighte man come wake me from my slummins A. You
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: gots to work now close, you're free. Then they were
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: all on the course, Ain't it har to be a nigger?
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: And the gloom hummed with the low clothes harmonies. In
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: another corner, the crap circle had gathered. Porgy's delight in
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: the game had not waned with his increasing interest, and
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: he sat fondeling the small white cubes and whispering to
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: them in his old confidential manner, Little white babies, he crooned,
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: come sing for this nigger. He cast and won. Gathering
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: the little heap of pennies and nickels, he passed them
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: behind him to Bess, who squatted in the shadows. She
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: took the money in silence, counted it, dropped it into
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: her apron pocket, and continued to watch the game, intently,
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: smiling her a cryptis smile when Forky won, but saying
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: scarcely anything at all. The Negro known as Sporting Life,
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: had come in just as the game was commencing, and
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: had sat in that it was not altogether above suspicion
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: was evidenced by the fact that the little circle of
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: men refused to allow him to use his own dice,
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: and told him so frankly. He scowled at them, dropped
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: the dice back into his pocket, and started to leave,
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: then he seemed to think better of it and the circle.
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: As the game proceeded, it became evident that Porgy's luck
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: was with him. He was the most consistent winner, and
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: sporting Life was bearing most of the burden. But the
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: Latto was too good a gambler to evince any discomfiture.
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: He talked steadily, laughed much, and missed no opportunity to
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: drop a sly word of suspicion. When Porgy drew in
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: a pot. There was nothing that could be taken up
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: and resented. But Porgy was mystified, and Bess's face was
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: dark with anger. More than once. He had a way
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: of leaning over just as Porgy cast, and placing his
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: face almost on the flags, so that he could see
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: under the dice when they struck. Then he would look up,
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: laugh meaningly into Porgy's face, and sometimes clap his hands,
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: as though the cripple had managed something very cleverly. When
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: the game finally broke up, it was clear that he
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: had poisoned the minds of the company, and the Good
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: Knights lacked their usual warmth. Bess reached into her apron
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: pocket and drew out the evening's winnings. The coins made
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: quite a little weight in her hand. A late fragment
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: of moon swung over the wall and poured its diminished
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: light into her open palm. She commenced to count the money.
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: Porgie left her and drew himself into his room. She
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: proceeded to count, absorbed in her task, Poor Gi Lucky,
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: said a low voice beside her. Must be your guts
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: two dollars therefore him sport Life lifted his elegant trousers
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: so that the knees would not bag, and squatted on
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: the flags at her side. He removed his stiff straw
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: hat with its bright band, and butt it between his hands.
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: The moonlight was full upon his face with a sinister,
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: sensuous smile. She looked at him square, then said, in
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: a cold, level voice, I can't remember ever meeting a
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: nigga that I like less than I does. You thank
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: you kindly, he replied, not in the least degree daunted,
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: but just the same. I wants to be friend with
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: you me and you ain't seeing this small town slow ways.
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: We a ben Abub's seeing not life? What is not life?
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: And I just want to talk to you now and
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: then that's all I got nose time for talk, she
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: told him. And what more I true with the kind
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: of nights you was thinking about? No more red eye,
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: none tall, he queried, never gets thirsty, Eh, yes, God
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: knows I does get thirsty now. And then she said impulsively,
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: then added sharply. But I done true. Now I tells
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: you I done true. She arose to go, You kind
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: make me sick, she told him, An I ain't once
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: to have no more talk wit you. He got sprightly
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: to his feet and stood beside her. Oh, come on,
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: let's let by gone be bygone and befriend. Then his
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: voice became low when ingratiating. Come give me your hands, sister,
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: he said, acquiescent, but mystified. She held out her open palm.
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: He poured a little pile of white powder into it.
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: There it lay in the moonlight, very clean and white
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: on her dark skin. Happy dust, she said, And her
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: voice was like a gasp. Take dat ting away, nigger,
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: I threw with him, I tell you. But she did
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: not turn her hand over and let it fall upon
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: the ground. Just a little touch for old time's sake,
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: he whispered, tain't enough to hurt you fly? And it
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: ain't gonna cost you one cent. She stood a moment longer,
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: and her hand trembled, spilling a few grains between her fingers.
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: Then suddenly she clapped her palm over her mouth. When
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: she took it away, it was quite empty. Sport and
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: Life heaved a sigh of relief, turned and leaned against
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: the wall and waited in the corner by Serena's bench.
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: The party was breaking up. Only a few women were left,
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: and instead of the blur of general talk, remarks leaped clear.
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: They were discussing the crap game that had just closed.
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: Debt is sumpter very queer about that way that money
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: always gone to the same place, A voice was saying.
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: The moonlight ebbed from the corner where Bess and Sporting
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: Life stood. Five minutes had passed and she had made
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: her sudden, decisive gesture. She stood oddly, rigid, with her
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: hands clenched at her sides. Abruptly, she spun around, Yer
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: gots more of dad. Her voice was low and taut. Sure,
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: I has came the answer, with a confident laugh. But
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: it don't come cheap. Give me that money you got there. Silently,
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: she held out her hand and poured the coins into
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: his palm. He gave her a small folded paper. I
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: got more of that when YO needs it, he said
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: as he turned away, But she did not hear him.
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: She snatched the paper, opened it, and threw the contents
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: into her mouth. The court was sinking to sleep. One
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: by one, the lighted windows wind blank. The women at
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: the washman got to their feet. One yawned noisily, and
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: another knocked her clay pipe out on the flags in
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: a shower of sparks. Then a voice came, clearly the
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: one that had complained before about the clap game. I
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: ain't saying if it conjure a jest, plain out loaded dice.
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: All I got to say is that nigger Porgy steal
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: my Sam wages off of him now three week. Running
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: out of the shadows and across the moonlit square, a
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: figure flashed, gesturing wildly. The women leaped back. The one
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: who had done the talking screamed. Once the shrill note
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: echoed around the walls. The advancing figure closed convulsive hands
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: upon her shoulders and snatched her body forward. Wide red
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: lit eyes glared into her face. A voice, half sobbed,
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: half screamed, yes, say that about porgy, you say, porgy
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: a thief. The victim was young and strong. She tore
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: the hands from her shoulders and raised her arms before
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: her face. One of the other women reached out to
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: seize the intruder, but was met with a glare so
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: insanely malignant that she retreated, screaming. Above them, windows were
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: leaping to light. Dark bodies strained from sills. Feet sounded
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: running down, clapping to lapidated stairways. A shrill, long, terrifying
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: shriek cut across the groaning noise, and the women clenched
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: and fell Bystanders rushed to intervene and became involved. Always
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: in the center of the storm, A maddening woman whirled
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: like a dervish and called horribly upon her guard, striking
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: and clawing wildly. The babble became terrific. The entire population
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: of the court contributed to the general confusion. In the
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: rooms above, children wailed out a nameless terror. Suddenly over
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: the tumult sounded the gong of the patrol wagon, and
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: through the gateway. Half a dozen policemen advanced, with pistols
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: out and clubs ready. The uproar stopped suddenly at its
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: peak shadows dropped back and were gulped by deeper shadow
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: feet made no sound in retreating. Solid bodies became fluid, sliding,
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: yawning doorways drew them in miraculously. The court was converted
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: into a vacant walled square, in which stood six erect figures,
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: looking a little theatrical and foolish with their revolvers and clubs,
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: and a woman who shook menacing hands at nothing at
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: all and swore huskily at phantoms. No trouble fighting the
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: cause of the disturbance, said an authoritative voice. Get our men,
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: better use bracelets. Can't tell about dope cases. The squad
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: closed quickly. For a moment, a grotesque shadow tumbled and
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: shifted in the center of the court. Then a voice said, steady. Now.
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: The mass broke into individual figures, and under the ebbing moonlight,
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: moved towards the entrance with a manacled woman in their
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: midst Porky had opened his door at the first outcry
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: and sat on the sill, trying to get the import
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: of the disturbance. Now, as the group passed close to him,
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: he looked up. The woman had seized her outcry, was
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: looking about with vague unseeing as they walked past his doorway,
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: so close that he could have touched the nearest officer
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: with his hand. She looked down and her gaze focused
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: upon the sitting figure. Her body stiffened and her head
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: lifted with the old incongruous gesture of disdain. Bess called Porgy, once,
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: very loudly, and again, in a voice that sagged Bess.
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: One of the policemen paused and looked down upon the speaker,
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: but the woman turned deliberately away, and he hastened to
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: rejoin the party. Then the wagon clanged down the darkened
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: street under the gaslight the supplemented a far dusty window.
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: In the recorder's court stood Bess. She swayed and her
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: face twitched occasionally, but her glance was level and her
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: head erect. Behind a high desk sat a man well
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: past middle age. His florid complexion caused his long gray
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: mustache to appear very white. His eyes were far aparted,
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: suggested a kindness that was born of indolence rather than
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: of wide compassion. His hands were slender and beautifully made,
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: and he sat with elbows on desk and finger tips touching.
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: When he spoke. It was in a drawl that suggested weariness.
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: What is the charge, officer, he asked, being under the
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: influence of dope and creating a disturbance of catfish row
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: your honor, replied the policeman, who stood by the prisoner.
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: Anybody heard not, as we was able to see your honor.
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: The judge turned to the prisoner. Have you ever been
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: here before? No, sir, came the reply, in a low,
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: clear tone. The officer of the day thinks she has
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: your honor, put in the policeman, but he can't swear
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: to it. She looks like a hundred others, he says,
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: scar and all. And they changed names so fast you
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: can't get nothing from the records. The judge regarded the
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: prisoner with aimobility. The thermometer on the wall beside him
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: registered ninety. Was asking too much of good nature to
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: require it to subvert itself in such heat. I suppose
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: we'll have to give you the benefit of the doubt,
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: he said. Then he turned to the officer. After all,
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: it's the man who sold her the ploison we want.
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: I was kept here three hours yesterday by dope cases.
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: I want it put a stop to He contracted, his
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: brows in a weak attempt at sternness, and directed a
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: steady gaze at bess who sold you that dope? She
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: met his eyes squarely. I don't think I know him again,
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: she said, in a low even voice. I buy from
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: him in the dog last night, and he gone off
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: right away. It's no use, your honor, put in the policeman.
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: They won't give each other away. The judge fixed the
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: culprit with a long scrutiny. Then he asked, have you
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: any money to pay a fine? No, suh, You'll just
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: have to give me my time. A man entered the room.
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: I beg your pardon, your honor, he said, but there
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: is a cripple outside in a goat cart who says
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: he's prepared to pay the woman's fine. Eh what's that,
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: exclaimed the judge. Is it that black scoundrel, poor gy,
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: the beggar. That's him, your honor, replied the man with
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: a grin. Why the highway man takes a dime from
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: me every time I venture our King Charles Street, and
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: here he has the audacity to come and offer to
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: pay a fine. Don't take his money, boss, The prisoner
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: said the words steadily, then caught her long a lip
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: with her strong white teeth. Address the court as your honor,
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: not boss, ordered the judge. Your honor, amended the culprit.
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: For a long moment, the quters sat his brow contracted.
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: Then he drew a large, cool linen handkerchief from his
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: pocket and mopped his face. Go out, take ten dollars
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: from the beggar, he told the policeman. It's a small
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: fine for the offense. Then, turning to the woman, he said,
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: I am going to lock you up for ten days,
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: but any time you give the name of that dope
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: peddler to the jailer, you can leave. Do you understand.
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: Bess had nothing to say in reply. After a moment,
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: the policeman took her by the arm. This way to
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: the wagon, he directed, and led her from the courtroom.
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: The street was a blaze of early morning sun, and
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: the woman covered her eyes with her hand. The wagon
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: stood stepped to kerb and the officer hurried across the
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: narrow pavement and into the conveyance. The bell clang and
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: the heavy horse flung its weight against the collar. Something
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: impelled best to remove her hand and to look down
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: oh the high side of the patrol, looking rather like
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: a harbor tug beside an ocean liner stood the go cart.
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: For a moment, she looked into Porgy's face. It told
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: her nothing except that he seemed suddenly to have grown older,
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: and that the real Porgy, who had looked out at
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: her from the eyes for a little while, had gone
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: back into his secret places and closed the door. The
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: wagon lunged forward. Then Porgy's folk, how long he called?
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: The incessant clamor of the gong commenced, and the hoofs
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: beat their noisy tattoo upon the stones. Bess raised both
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: hands with fingers extended. The wagon rounded a corner and disappeared.
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: The jail in which Bess was incarcerated was no better
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: and no worse than many others of its period, and
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: the score of Negro women with whom she found herself
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: could not be said to suffer acutely under their imprisonment.
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: When life reaches a certain level of misery, it envelops
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: itself in a protective anesthesia, which deadens the senses to extremes, and,
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: having no task to perform, the prisoners awaited the expiration
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: of their brief sentences with sodden patience, or hastened the
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: passage of time with song. By day they were at
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: liberty to exercise in the jail yard, a square of
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: about half an acre surrounded by a high brick wall
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: containing not so much as a single blade of grass,
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: Like a great basin. The yard caught and held the
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: heat which poured from the august sun until it seemed
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: to overflow the rim and quiver as though the immense
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: vessel had been jarred from without. But the soaring walls
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: gave always a narrow strip of shade to which the
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: prisoners clung, moving around the sides as the day advanced
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: with the accuracy of the hand of a sun dial.
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: Before nightfall, the prisoners were herded into the steaming interior
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: of the building, and Bess and the other women were
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: locked in a steel cage which resembled a large dog
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: pound and stood in the center of a high square
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: room with a passage way around it. A peculiarly offensive
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: moisture clung to the ceiling and streamed in little rivulets
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: down the walls. An almost unbreathable stenched clogged the atmosphere.
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: The jailers were not vindictive, They were not even unkind.
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: Some of them evidenced a mild affection for their charges,
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: and would pause or exchange greetings with them on their rounds.
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: But it would have meant effort to better the living conditions.
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: An effort on the part of a white warden in
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: August was not to be considered. They locked them up,
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: gave them a sufficiency of hominy and white pork to
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: sustain life, allowed them to see their visitors talk as
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: sing to their hearts content. If they were suffering from
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: tuberculosis or one of a hundred nameless and communicable diseases
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: when they entered, it was none of the counties of bear.
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: And if they left showing that ash parlor so unmistakable
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: in a negro, it was as lamorable as it was unavoidable.
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: But when all was said and done, what must one
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: expect if one added to the handicap of a dark
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: skin the indiscretion of swallowing cocaine and indulging in a
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: crap game. Best received but one visitor during her imprisonment.
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: When the callers were emitted on the day following her arrival,
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: Maria loomed in the center of the small, timid group.
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: She went directly to best, where she sat by the
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: wall with her eyes closed against the glare. The big
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: Negress wore an expression of solicitude, and her voice was
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: low as surprisingly gentle as she said, Porgie asked me
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: to bring you a dis blanket for forey le lyon,
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: and this fish and bread. How you was feeling now?
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: Then she bent over and placed a bundle in the
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: prisoner's lap. Bess opened her eyes in surprise. I ain't
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: been expecting no vapors off for none of you folks,
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: she replied, How come you take care of if I
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: live or die? Out of the row I make Maria
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: lowered herself to a seat beside her. I loves that
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: nigger Porgy, like it been my child, she told her.
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: And what more, I think I know what does happen
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: to you? What you know? I been at my door
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: that night, and I seen that skunk sport in life
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: sell you that stuff. And if I had known that
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: what it was, i'd been here a long side of
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: you now for a murder. After a moment, she asked,
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: what make you not? Don't tell the jailer who done em?
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: And come on home. Bess remained silent for a moment.
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: Then she raised her head and looked into the eyes
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: of the older woman eyes a woman groan if i'd
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: take dope at my own business. If I ever gets
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: my hand on that nigga, I'm going to fix him,
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: so we won't. His own mammy ain't known 'em. But
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: I ain't gonna give him away to the white folks.
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: The hard lines about her mouth softened, and it's scarcely
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: more than a whisper, she added, I gots to be
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: decent about something, lest I couldn't go back and look
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: in poorgy face. Maria got heavily to her feet. The
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: other visitors were leaving it. She longed to be free
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: of the high brick walls. She dropped her hand on
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: Bess's shoulder. You do right, sister, But if that yellow
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: nigga come to catfush Row again, leave 'em for me.
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: That's all. Then the big niggers joined the departing group
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: and passed out through the small steel doorway that pierced
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: the massive gait best set for a long while without moving.
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: The sun lifted over the high wall and drove its
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: white hot tide into her lap and upon her folded hands.
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: What make you ain't move into the shade? A neighbor
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: asked curiously. Bess looked up and smiled. I'm just sitting
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: here thinking bout much, friend, She said, you done hear
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: her call me sister? Ain't you very well? Did that
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: mean me? As she is? Friend? Bestly upon the bed
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: in Porgy's room and stared at the ceiling with hard,
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: bright eyes. From time to time she would pluck at
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: the sheet that covered her and uttered hurried, indistinct sentences
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: that bore not the slightest relation to existing circumstances. A
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: week had passed since her release, and its seven intermendable
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: days had been spent in this fashion. Porgy was out
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: upon the day's round. Occasionally the door to the sick
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: room would open, and an awd black face peer in
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: the mystery of delirium frightened and perplexed the Negroes and
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: limited the manifestations of kindness and sympathy that they usually
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: bestowed upon unfortunate friends. Even Maria was not proof against
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: this dread, and the irrelevant observations that greeted her when
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: she went in with the daily lunch sent her harrying
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: wide eyed from the room. Porgi returned early in the evening.
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: His face was deeply marked but the lines were those
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: of anxiety, and his characteristic firmness of mouth and jaw
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: was gone. He closed the door on the curious glances
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: of his neighbors, and lifted himself to a seat upon
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: the bed. How best now, he asked softly. She shifted
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: her gaze from the ceiling to his face. Eighteen miles
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: to kitty walk, she muttered, rattlesnake, palm to bush and such.
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: Her eyes were suddenly fearful as she closed her hand
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: tightly upon his. Porgy cast a hurried glance over his shoulder,
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: then reassured, stroked her brow and comfort her in his deep,
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: gentle voice. You're here with poet Porgy now, and nothing
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: can't hurt you. Soon, the cool weather comin' in chill
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: off these fevers. Ain't you remember how that cool wind
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: come to town with the smell of pine tree, and
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: how the stars all polish up like white folk, Silba.
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: Didn't everybody get well? Ain't you? No? You just keep
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: still and watch what Porgy say. She was silent after that,
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: and closed her eyes presently. To his relief, he saw
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: that she was sleeping. This was the moment which he
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: had been waiting. He went closing the door very gently
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: and joined a group of sympathizers in the court. What
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: we're going to do now, he asked, A week gone,
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: and she ain't none better. Peter knocked out his clay
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: pipe on a flagstone with three staccato little raps, thus
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: gaining the attention of the circle. If he wants to
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: listen to me, he remarked weightedly, I advise you to
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: send her to the Whitefolk hospital. His words were received
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: with a surprise amounting to incredulity. For God's sake, Daddy, Peter,
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: an odd voice said, at last, ain't you knows they
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: lights Nigga doesn't die so they can give them to
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: the student. But the old negro stood his ground. The
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: student ain't gets him till he done dead. Ain't that
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: so Denny can't hurt him? None? Ain't that so too?
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: And I goes to on. One of my white folks
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: is a nurse in the hospital, and that lady is
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: pure angel with the sick digger. If I sick tomorrow,
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: I'm going to she and what she say is good
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: with me. I want this car to take care of
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: while he's alive. When he done that, I ain't care
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: you ain't care whether you is cut up and scattered
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: instead of being buried in god on graveyard. Someone asked
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: a condoquass under this direct attack, the old man weakened. Well,
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: maybe I ain't saying I just as live, he compromised,
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: But I think God understand the circumstances and make allowance.
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: Serena Robbins broke the silence, which followed. How come you
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: ain't asked me pray over her? She inquired, in a
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: slightly offended voice. Must be you as don't forget how
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: God done answered when we last prayer and send to
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: go to save your life. When start the batient done
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: stayed down and look you into eye. Porgy brightened at
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: that and turned eagerly from the dark horror of Peter's suggestion.
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: That's so, my sister, he commenced, but her eyes were
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: already closed, and her body was swaying from side to
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: side as she sat cross legged on the flags. Presently,
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: she began to intone, Oh Jesus, who don't troubled the
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: waters and to see a galilee? A man came the chorus,
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: led by Porgy, and likewise who done cast the devil out?
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: And so the deflicted time and time again. Oh Jesus,
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: what makes you ain't lay your hand on his sister head, Oh,
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: my father, and send the devil out of she down
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: in a steep place into to see like you used
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: to do time and time again, time and time again.
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: Ain't this poor crippled a life up out of the
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: out of dust? But we pray that's the truth. Jesus,
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: Even so, live up a woman and makes she well
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: time and time again, time and time again, Allelujah. After
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: the prayer, the group scattered, each going silently away in
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: the late dusk, until there remained only Porgy, who sat
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: with bowed head, and Maria, massive and inscrutable beside him.
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: When the last retreating footstep died away, the great Negress
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: bent her turbaned head over until almost touched Porgy's face.
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: Listen to me, she whispered. You wants that woman cure up,
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: ain't you You know it does? And already suffering from
• 42:57
  Speaker 1: the reaction from religious enthusiasm, his voice was flat and hopeless.
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: Very well did the river boat leaping for the raft
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: at seven o'clock tomorrow morning? You know that's that that
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: can by a name a mingo? Porgy nodded, assent, his
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: eyes intent upon her face. Well, get on the wharf
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: early and give him two dollars. Tell him when the
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: boat doesn't get to Edwaryna Allen at eight tomorrow night
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: to go right to lordy cabin and tell she make
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: a conjure to cast a devil out a bess. You
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: tink that cure, she asked Porgy, with a glimmer of
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: new hope in his eyes. I ain't tink. I knows
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: came in tones of absolute conviction. Now mind and do
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: what I say. The big niggers shuffled away to her room,
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: leaving Porgy alone in the gloom. The bent, sighed military
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: figure raised his eyes to the square sky with his
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: bewildering profusion of stars that fitted like a lid over
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: the high rim of the court. There were no sounds
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: except a wearied land breeze that fingered the lichens on
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: the south wall, and a whisper from the bay as
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: the tide lifted its row of shells and pebbles a
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: notch further up the littered beach. Now that all human
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: companionship had been withdrawn, the watcher felt strangely alone and
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: smaller than the Father's star or most diminuted to shell
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: like a caged squirrel. His tired mind spun the rounds
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: of his three alternatives. First, the white man's science, gaunt,
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: clean and mysterious, with the complete and awful magistry which
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: it assumed over the luckless bodies that fell into its possession.
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: He knew that it returned some healed in body. He
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: he knew that others had passed into its portals and
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: had been obliterated utterly. Then his second alternative, the white
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: Man's God, vague and abstract as the wind that moved
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: among the lichens with his Jesus, who could stir him
• 45:15
  Speaker 1: suddenly to his most beautiful songs and make his heart expand,
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: until for a moment it embraced all mankind with compassionate love.
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: But who passed as the wind passes, live in him,
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: cold and disillusioned. One of these he must choose, or
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: else turned his face back to the old, blurred trail
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: that receded down, down, down to the beginning of things,
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: to the symbols one might hold tangible and terrifying, to
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: the presciences that shuddered like dawn at the back of
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: the brain and told one what to do without the
• 45:54
  Speaker 1: process of thought, as though bent beneath a great physical weight.
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: Porgy sat without moving until the pattern on his glittering
• 46:03
  Speaker 1: ceiling had changed and shifted. Then he lifted his face, slowly,
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: drew his sleeve acrost his moist forehead, and entered his room.
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: Just before sunrise, Porgy left his room and hitched up
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: his goat. In the upper air over Catfish Row, a
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: single buzzard hung poised slowly a careen to a current
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: of air, and its belly and underwings lit to a
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: ruddy glory from the sun, which was still below the horizon.
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: Porgy saw it and winced, but as he went about
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: his task there was no indecision in his face. He
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: harnessed the goat with steady hands, drove out of the
• 46:45
  Speaker 1: court and to the pier head. He experienced no difficulty
• 46:49
  Speaker 1: in finding his man. Mingle accepted the mission and the
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: handful of pennies and nickels, and Porgy, having closed the bargain,
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: returned at once to the Maria was opening her shop
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: as he entered, and paused with a shudder in her hands.
• 47:06
  Speaker 1: She could scarcely believe her eyes. The beggar's face was bright,
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: and he was humming a tune. What the news, she asked,
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: Best done get well? Not just yet, he replied, But
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: I done had a dream last night, and a dream
• 47:22
  Speaker 1: say to send to the kanjulwoman, and best go on
• 47:26
  Speaker 1: a break, She fevered tonight. That's right, my brother, Maria
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: responded heartily that woman good as well. You watch all
• 47:37
  Speaker 1: day sitting by Archdale's office, for ye, hummed his tune
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: and counted off the hours of the steamboat's voyage. Now
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: she would be passing Kitty War, and in only a
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: few hours more she would be coming to rest for
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: the night at Eddie Wander. Then counting off continued after
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: he went to bed, and he was strangely undisturbed by
• 47:59
  Speaker 1: Bessi's mutterings. Now the boat had arrived, he finally told himself,
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: Maria had said that the cabin was near the landing.
• 48:08
  Speaker 1: Surely it would not take the woman long to brew
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: the spell. His excitement increased to a mood of exultation.
• 48:15
  Speaker 1: He lay with his hand upon Bess's forehead, waiting far away.
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: Saint Christopher struck the hour. The mellow bells threw the
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: quarter hours out like a handful of small gold coins
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: to ring down upon the drowsy streets. Then, very deliberately,
• 48:33
  Speaker 1: they dropped ten round, heavy notes into the silence. This
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: should be the moment. Porgy pressed his hand harder, and
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: sweat broke out upon his brow. For a moment it
• 48:47
  Speaker 1: seemed to him that life hung suspended. Porgy said a weak,
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: flat voice beside him, Porgy, dare you dare? Ain't it
• 48:59
  Speaker 1: why you talk to me? The Cripple's answer was a sudden,
• 49:04
  Speaker 1: high laugh that broke to a sob tank God, he said,
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: and again, thank God. On the evening following, the day
• 49:14
  Speaker 1: upon which Breast had taken her turn for the better,
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: Maria was alone in her shop. The supper hour was
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: over and her patrons had departed. She was busy at
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: her stove and did not turn immediately when someone entered.
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: When she finally looked over her shoulder, her customer had
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: buried his face in his hands, and she failed to
• 49:35
  Speaker 1: recognize him. Of one fact, there could be little doubt
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: the man was drunk, for the close little room was
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: already heavy with the exultations of vile corn whiskey. She
• 49:48
  Speaker 1: crossed the room and touched the man on the shoulder.
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: He lowered his hands and attempted to focus his eyes
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: on her face. Oh it's you, Mingo, she said, said,
• 50:00
  Speaker 1: and even then she did not grasp the significance of
• 50:03
  Speaker 1: his presence in the city at that time. Gimme some supper,
• 50:08
  Speaker 1: he growled, and with an uncertain movement, drew some change
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: from his pocket and spilled it in a small pile
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: on the table. Maria looked at the money. There was
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: about half a dollar in all, but there was only
• 50:20
  Speaker 1: two nichols, and the remainder was in pennies. It looked
• 50:24
  Speaker 1: suspiciously like the currency in which Porgy paid his debts. Then,
• 50:31
  Speaker 1: as she stood looking down at the little heap of copper,
• 50:35
  Speaker 1: the full import of the man's presence dawned upon her.
• 50:38
  Speaker 1: What you doing here now, she demanded of him, in
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: a tense whisper. When the ripper boneid do bag for
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: another day? The question stirred her customer's consciousness to a
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: faint gleam of life, but it did not vitalize it
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: sufficiently for a dwart prevarication. I missed a boat this trip,
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: he managed to articulate. I take a drink with a friend,
• 51:04
  Speaker 1: and when I get to the wharf, the boat done gone.
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: Two powerful hands gripped his shoulders and flung him back
• 51:13
  Speaker 1: against the wall. He opened his eyes wide and looked
• 51:17
  Speaker 1: into a face of such cold furiosity that his loose
• 51:20
  Speaker 1: lips emitted a sudden Oh Jesus, and he became immediately
• 51:25
  Speaker 1: sober and very much afraid. Then Maria poured into his
• 51:29
  Speaker 1: ears words that had the heat and dead weight of
• 51:32
  Speaker 1: molten lead. Now I'm going to lock you up in
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: that closet till the ribber boat is back at the rearf,
• 51:40
  Speaker 1: she concluded. Then I'm gonna let you loose, but all
• 51:46
  Speaker 1: the time gonna beware. I can get my hand on
• 51:49
  Speaker 1: you again. If you ever tell poigies or any living
• 51:54
  Speaker 1: soul that you ain't an lipid that message to Lordie,
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: I'm going to have nick blood on my soul when
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: I stand at the judgment. Now you got that straight
• 52:05
  Speaker 1: in your head, mingled nodded assent. He was beyond the
• 52:10
  Speaker 1: power to speak. The big negress jerked him suddenly to
• 52:14
  Speaker 1: his feet, propelled him across the room and into the
• 52:17
  Speaker 1: stinging recesses of the closet. Then she slammed the door,
• 52:22
  Speaker 1: turned the immense iron key in the lock, and dropped
• 52:24
  Speaker 1: it in her pocket. Well, that's that, she remarked as
• 52:28
  Speaker 1: she wiped a moist mystified face upon a corner of
• 52:32
  Speaker 1: her apron, must have been Jesus done after all. Then,
• 52:36
  Speaker 1: as to dismiss the matter, she added, no, I be
• 52:40
  Speaker 1: damn if he did, he ain't got it in him.
• 52:44
  Speaker 1: End of Section four