Latest / Porgy / 07 - Porgy by DuBose Heyward

Transcript

07 - Porgy by DuBose Heyward · Porgy

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: By Denise Ray, part six October blew down from the north,
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: bracing and frosty clear. It sent a breeze racing like
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: mad over the bay and bouncing into the court to
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: toss the clothes lines like lanyards of signal flags. The
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: torpid city and wide and somblerous marshes were strung to
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: sudden life, and laughed up at it. The far crisp
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: blue of the sky. Out in the harbor mouth, a
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: faint wisp of smoke grew and blackened, and presently beneath it,
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: the rusty hull of a tramp lifted from the Atlantic
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: and thrust its blunt nose into the waters of the bay.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: Summer had gone. Soon the cotton would be coming through.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: It was nine o'clock and still Porgy lingered in the court.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: His blood leaped swiftly in his veins, and he experienced
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: that sweet upsurge of life that the north nosed with
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: the bird of spring, but that comes most keenly to
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: the sultry lands with the strong breath of autumn. Yet
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: when he looked up at the sky, a vague precince
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: of disaster darkened his spirit. He sat beside Bess in
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: the doorway with his eyes upon the child in her lap.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: After a while he took the baby into his arms,
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: and then the foreboding suddenly became pain. He looked up
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: and met the gaze of the woman. It was there
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: in her eyes, also playing for him to see. Out
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: in the silence of the street, a sound commenced to grow,
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: only a faint, far murmur at first. It gathered weight
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: until it became a steady rumble, Only a faint, far
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: murmur at first. It gathered weight until it became a
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: steady rumble with a staccato clip clip clip running through it.
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: There were a few women and children about, and they
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: ran to the entrance to see, but Porgy and Bess
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: Satin looked fixedly at the bay where it lay beyond
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: the gate. Then the drays came, and the bay was
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: blotted out by the procession. The great mules, fat and
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: strong from their summer and pasture, moved swiftly with a
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: sharp click of shoes, and the drivers cracked their whips
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: and laughed down at the crowd. The low platforms of
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: the vehicles seemed almost to brush the ground, and upon
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: them clear to the top of the entrance arch. The
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: bales towered, with the fibers showing in dazzling white patches
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: where the bagging was torn twenty or more in the
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: train they passed. Scarcely had the rumble receded in the distance,
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: than a burst of heavy laughters sounded in the street,
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: and two tall figures strode the entrance and into the
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: group of women and children. There was a bright flash
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: from bandannas and one of the men swung a child
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: to his shoulder. Loud greetings followed, and another burst of laughter, heavy,
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: deep chested and glad. From an upper window. A woman's
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: voice called, come on, sister, let's we go down. The
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: stever door is coming back. Porgy turned toward Bess and
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: moisten his lips with his tongue. Then he spoke in
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: a low, husky voice. I say't talk much sense to
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: picnic Bess, you and me, but I got to talk now.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: I got to know how you and me stand. Bess
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: regarded him dumbly for a moment the look which Sanna
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: had seen when she had tried to take the baby
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: brush her face. Then it passed, leaving it hopeless. Porgy
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: leaned forward, You is wanting to go with Crown when
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: he come. Then, she answered, when I take that dope,
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: I no den that I ain't your kin. And when
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: Crown put his hand on me that day, I run
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: to him like water. Some day Dope coming again, and
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: some day Crown go and put it hand on my throat.
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: It going to be like dying then, But I got
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: to talk the truth to you. When the time come,
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: I'm going to go. If there want no Crown, Porgy whispered.
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: Then before she could answer, he hurried on, if there
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: was only just a baby in Porgy, what did the
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: odd incandescent flared in her face, touching it with something
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: eternal and beautiful, beyond the power of human flesh to convey.
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: She took the child from Porgy with a hungry and
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: folding gesture. Then her composure broke. Oh, for God's sake, Porgy,
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: don't let that man come and handle me. If you
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: was willing to keep me, then let me stay. If
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: he just don't put his hot hand on me, I
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: can be good, I can remember, I can be happy.
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: She broke off abruptly and hid her face against that
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: of the child. Porgy patted her arm. You ain't needs
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: to be afraid. He is an you got's your man?
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: Ain't you got'sporgy? What kind of a niggay tank you got's? Anyway?
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: For a light another nigga could carry here woman, No suh,
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: you got your man? Now you got poigy. From behind
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: a sea island, the full October moon lifted its chilled
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: disk and strewed the bay with cold, white fire. The
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: lights were out in Catfischrou, except for a shaft of
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: firelight that fell across the dark from Serena's room, and
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: a faint flicker in the cook shop, where Maria was
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: getting her fire laid in readiness for the early breakfast.
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: A cry sounded in the court, which was quickly muffled,
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: then followed low, insolent laughter. Maria was at her door.
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: Instantly across the court a man could be seen for
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: one moment seated on Serena's wash bench, then behind him
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: the door closed with a bang, shutting off the shaft
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: of firelight. Rea across the court, and when she had
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: reached the man's side, he looked up. The moonlight fell
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: upon his face. It was crowned. What you doing here,
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: she asked him, Just dropping in on a few old friend,
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: come down to the shop. She commanded, I got to
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: have talk with you. He arose obediently and followed her.
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: Maria turned on the lamp and faced about. As Crown
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: entered the room, he had to bend his head to
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: pass under the lintel, and the shoulders brushed the sides
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: of the opening. The big negress stood for a long
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: moment looking at him. Her gaze took in the straight
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: legs with their springing thighs straining the fabric of the
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: cotton pants, the slender waists, and the almost unbelievable outward
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: flare of the chest, to the high, straight span of
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: the shoulders. A look of deep sadness grew in her
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: somber face. Would a body like that? She said? At last,
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: why you was comin round hunting for a dat? Crown
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: laughed uneasily, stepped into the room and sat at the table.
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: He placed his elbows upon it, hunched his shoulders forward
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: with a withering of muscle beneath the shirt, then dropped
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: his chin in his hands and regarded the woman. I
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: know the dis here niggas, he replied, day is a
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: decent lot. They wouldn't give no nigga away to the
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: white folks. That to God truth. Only there is another
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: way of settling up her debt, Serena, he asked, with
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: a sidelong light look and laugh. That's sister god'st, the
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: fear of God, and she heart I ain't free none
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: of her. After a moment of silence, he asked abruptly,
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: best still living with the cripple? Yes, and she a happy,
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: decent woman. You best leave her? She alone for God's sakes?
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: What you think I come to this damned town for?
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: I ain't just huntin for that. I'm mock woman. Maria
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: placed her hands on the table opposite the man and
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: bent over to look into his face. Amon is all
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: very much the same, she said, in a low persuasive voice.
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: They comes and they goes, one satisfying man quick as another.
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: There is lots of better looking goal than best. She
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: fixed for life now with dabot boy, I ask you
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: go and leave her, give she a chance. It take
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: long time to learn one woman, he said slowly me,
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: and best done fight that all these fiber years gone.
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: You ain't gonna leave. She then then was an unusual
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: note of pleading in the heavy voice, not tell hell freeze.
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: After a moment, he arose and turned to her, I
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: got to go out now. I ain't sure whether I'm
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: going away to night or wait for tomorrow night. I'm
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: going to look around and see how the land lay,
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: but I'll be seeing ye again before I goes. Maria
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: regarded him for a long moment, the look of sadness
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: in her face deep into a heavy melancholy, but she
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: said nothing. Crown started for the street with his long,
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: swaggering stride. The big woman watched him until he turned
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: to the north at the entrance and passed from view.
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: Then she locked the door and with a deep sigh,
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: walked to her own room. Poor Gi opened his eyes
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: suddenly the window, which had been luminous when he went
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: to sleep, was now darkened. He watched it intently. Slowly
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: he realized that parts of the little square still showed
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: the moonlit waters of the bay, and that only the
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: center was blocked out by an intervening mass. Then the
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: mass moved, and Porgy saw that it was the torso
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: and shoulders of a man. The window was three feet
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: in width, yet the shoulders seemed to brush both sides
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: of it. As the form bent forward, the sash was down,
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: and presently there came a sound, as though hands were
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: testing it to see whether it could be forced up.
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: Porgy was lying on his back. He reached his left
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: hand over the covers and let the fingers touch, ever
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: so lightly, the sleeping faces of first the baby, then
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: the woman. His right hand slid beneath his pillow, and
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: his strong, slender fingers closed about the handle of a
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: knife at the window. The slight testing noise continued. It
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: was certainly after midnight when Maria looked from her doorway,
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: for the moon was tottering on the western wall, and
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: while she stood looking slowly, it dropped over and vanished.
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: The vague, foreboldies that she had felt when she talked
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: to Crown earlier in the evening had kept sleep from her.
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: With each passing hour, her fears increased, and with them
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: a sense of eminence that finally forced her to get up,
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: slip on a wrapper, and prepare to make the rounds
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: of the court. But on opening the door she was
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: at once reassured. The square stood before her like a
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: vast cistern, brimmed with misty dark and roofed with a
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: lid of sky. A cure craveled forward on his belly
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: from a nearby nook and licked one of her bare
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: feet with its moist, warm tongue. Above her, in the
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: huge honeycomb of the building, some one was snoring in
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: a slow, steady rhythm. The big negress drew a deep
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: sigh if welieve, and turned back towards her room. A
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: sound of cracking woods snapped the silence. Then like a
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: flurry of small bells, came a shiver of broken glass
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: on the stones. Maria spun around and tried to locate
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: the sound, but no noise followed. Silence flowed back over
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: the court and settled, probably into its recesses. The faint,
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: not unpleasant rhythm of the snoring came instantly forward. Suddenly,
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: Maria turned her face quick with apprehension. She drew her
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: wrapper closely about her and cross to Porgy's door. With
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: only half of the distance traversed, she heard a sound
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: from the room. It was more of a muffled thump
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: than anything else, and with it something very like a gasp.
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: When her hand closed over the knob, all was silent again,
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: except that she could hear a long, slightly shuddering breath.
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: Then came a sound that caused her flesh to prickle
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: with primal terror. It was so unexpected there in the chill,
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: silent night. It was Porgy's laugh, but different. Out of
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: the stillness, it swelled suddenly, deep, aboriginal, lustful. Then it
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: stopped short. Maria heard the baby cry out, then Bessie's voice, sleep, sleepy,
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: and mystified. For God's sake, Porgy, what you laughing about? Dad?
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: All right, honey, came the answer. Don't you be wearing?
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: You got Porgy? Now? He looked out of his woman.
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: Ain't I done? Tells you you got a man? Now?
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: Maria turned the knob, entered the room, and closed the
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: door quickly behind her. Night trailed westward across the city.
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: In the east, out beyond the ocean's rim, essential light
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: trembled upward and seemed to absorb, rather than quench, the
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: morning stars. Out of the sliding planes of mist that
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: hung like spent breath above the city, shapes began to
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: emerge and assume their proper values. Far in the upper air,
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: over Catfish Row, a speck appeared. It took a long
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: descending spiral and became two, then three around a wide circle.
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: The specks swung as though hung by wires. From a
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: lofty pivot, the light brightened perceptibly. The specks dropped to
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: a lower level, increased in size, and miraculously became a dozen.
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: Then some of them dropped in from the circumference of
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: the circle, cutting lines across like the spokes of a wheel,
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: and from time to time flapping indulent wings, dark and menacing.
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: When they flowed to the westward, they would turn easily
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: towards the east, and the sun, still below the horizon,
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: would gild their bodies with ruddy gold as they sailed
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: breast on toward it. Down, down, they drooped, reaching low
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: and yet lower levels, until at last they seemed to
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: brush the water front buildings with their somber wings. Then
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: gradually they narrowed to a small circle that patrolled the
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: air directly over a shape that lay awash in the
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: rising tide across the street from Catfish Row. Suddenly, from
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: the swinging circle, a single bird playing down and lit
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: with an awkward hopping step, directly before the object. For
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: a moment, he regarded it with bleak predatory eyes, then
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: flew back to his fellows. A moment later, the whole
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: flocks swooped down and the shape was hidden by flapping
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: wings and black, awkward bodies that hopped about and fought inward.
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: To the center of the group, a negro who had
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: been sleeping under an overturn but betow awoke and rubbed
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: his eyes. Then he sprang up and, seizing an oar,
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: beat the birds away with savage blows. He bent over
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: the object for a moment, then turned and raced for
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: the street with eyes shining white. For God's sake, folks,
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: he cried, come here, quick, here a crown, and he
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: done dead. A group of three white men stood over
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: the body. One was the plainclothesman with the goat tee
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: and stick who had investigated the Robin's murder. Behind him
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: stood a uniform policeman. The third, a stout, leisurely individual,
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: was stooping over the body in the act of making
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: an examination. What do you make of it, coroner, asked
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: the plainclothesman. Knife between fifth and six ribs must have
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: gone straight through the heart well he had coming to him,
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: The detective observed, They tell me he is the nigger
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: Crown who killed Robin's last April. That give us the
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: widow to work on for a starter. By the way,
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: and Hennessy tells me that he used to run with
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: that dope case we had up last August. She's living
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: in the road too. Let's go over and have a look.
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: The coroner cast an apprehensive glance at the forbidding structure
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: across the way. Can't be so sure, he cautioned, corpse
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: might have been washed up tides on the flood. Well,
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: I'm going to have a look at those two women anyway,
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: The plainclothesman announced that place is alive with crooks. I'd
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: like to get something on it that would just justify
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: closing it up as a public nuisance and throwing the
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: whole lot of them out in the street. One murder
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: and a happy dust ride already this summer, and here
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: we are again. Then, turning to the policeman, he gave
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: his orders, yet the wagon and take the body in.
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: Then you had better come right back. We might have
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: some arrest the coroner, and I'll investigate while you are gone.
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: He turned away towards the row, assuming that he would
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: be followed. All right, cap, what do you say? He called?
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: The coroner shook his ponderous figure down into his clothes,
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: turned with evident reluctance, and joined him. All right, he agreed,
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: but all I need is a couple of witnesses to
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: identify the body at the inquest. Across the street, a
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: small Negro boy detached himself from the base of one
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: of the gate posts and darted through the entrance. A
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: moment later, the white men strode into an absolutely empty square.
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: The heels made a sharp sound on the flags, and
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: the walls threw a clear echo down upon them. A
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: cur that had been left napping in the sun woke
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: with a start, looked about in a bewildered fashion, gave
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: or frightened, yelped, and belted through the doorway. It was
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: all clearly not to the taste of the corner, and
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: he cast an uneasy glance about him. Where do we go,
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: he asked. That's the widow's room over there, if she
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: hasn't moved, we'll give it a look first, said the detective.
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: The door was off the latch, and without knocking, he
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: kicked it open and walked in. The room was small,
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: but immaculately clean. Beneath a patched white quilt could be
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: seen the form of a woman. Two other women were
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: sitting in utter silence beside the bed. The form under
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: the covers, moaned drop that. The detective commanded and answered
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: some questions. The moaning stop, where were you yesterday and
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: last night? The reply came slowly, as though speaking were
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: great pain. I've been sick in this bed now twee
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: day and night. We've been setting with she nursing she
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: all that time, one of the women said, and the
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: other supplement DA to God truth. You would swear to that,
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: asked the coroner. Three voiced voices answered in chorus, Yes, boss,
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: we swear to that. There you are, said the corner
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: to the plainclothesman, an air tight alibi. The detective regarded
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: him for a moment with supreme contempt. Then he stepped
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: forward and jerked the sheet from Serena's face, which lay
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: upon the pillow as immobile as a model dune in
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: brown clay. You know damn well that you were out yesterday,
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: he snapped. I've a good mind to get the wagon
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: and carry you in silence followed. What do you say
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: to that? He demanded, But Serena had nothing to say,
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: and neither had her handmaidens. Then he turned a menacing
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: frowned upon them as they sat motionless with lowered eyes. Well,
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: they jumped slightly, and their eyes showed white around the iris.
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: Suddenly they began to speak, almost in unison. We swear
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: to God we'd done been herew she day? Oh hell,
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: said the exasperated detective. What's the use? You might as
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: well argue with a parrot cage. That woman is just
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: as ill at this moment as you are, he said
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: to his unenthusiastic associate, when they were again in the sunlight.
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: Her little burlesque show proves that, if nothing else, but
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: there is her case, all prepared. I don't believe she
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: killed Crown. She doesn't look like that kind. She either's
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: just plain safe or she has something entirely different on
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: her chest. But there's her story, and you'll never break
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: in without witnesses of your own, and you'll never get em.
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: The corner was not a highly sensitized individual, but as
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: he moved across the empty court, he found it difficult
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: to control his nerves under the scrutiny which he felt
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: leveled upon him from behind a hundred shuttered windows. Twice
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: he caught himself looking convertly over his shoulders, and as
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: he went he bore hopefully away towards the entrance, but
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: the detective was intent upon his task and presently called
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: him back. This is the Cripple's room, he said, he
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: ain't much of a witness. I tried to break him
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: in the Robin's case, but he wouldn't talk. I want
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: to have a look at the woman, though. He kicked
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: the door open. Suddenly, Porgy and Bess were seated by
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: the stove, eating breakfast from tin pans on the bed
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: in the corner of the baby lay. Porgy paused with
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: his spoon half way to his mouth and looked up.
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: Bess kept her eyes on the pan and continued to eat.
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: The coroner stopped in the doorway and made a businesslike
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: show of writing in a note book. What's your name?
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: He asked Porgy. Cripples studied him for a long moment,
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: taking in the ample proportions of the figure and the
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: heavy but not unsympathetic face. Then he smiled one of
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: his fleeting, ingenuous smiles. Just Porgy, he said, you knows me, boss,
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: You is done give me plenty a penny on King
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: Charles Street. Of course you're the goat man. I didn't
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: know you without your wagon, he said amiably, then becoming
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: business like, he asked, this nigger crowned, you knew and
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: by sight didn't you. Porgy debated with himself for a moment,
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: looked again into the coroner's face, was reassured by what
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: he saw there, and replied, yes, boss, I remember um
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: when he seemed to come here long ago. You could
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: identify him. I suppose Porgy looked blank? You know him?
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: If you saw him again? Yes, boss, I know him.
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: The coroner made a note in his book, closed it
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: with an air of finality, had put it in his pocket.
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: During the brief interview, the detective had been making an
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: examination of the room. The floor had been recently scrubbed
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: and was still damp in the corners. He gave the
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: clean pine boards a close scrutiny, then paused before the window.
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: The bottom of the lower slash had been broken and
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: several of the small square planes were missing. So this
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: is where you killed Crown, eh, he announced. The words
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: fell into the silence and were absorbed by it, causing
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: them to seem theatrical and unconvincing. Neither poor Gi nor
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: Best spoke. Their faces were blank and noncommittal. After a
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: full moment, the woman said I I ain't understand, Boss,
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: nobody here ain't killed crowd. My husband he falls through
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: that window yesterday when he led Gabe way here cripple.
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: Any one see him? Do it? Inquired the coroner from
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: the door. Oh yes, boss, replied Bess, turning to him.
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: Three or four of demands was in the street. They
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: will tell you all about him, Yes, the course more witnesses,
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: sneered the detective. Then, turning to the corner, he asked,
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: with a trace of sarcasm in his tone, that satisfies
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: you fully. I suppose the coroner's nerves were becoming edgy.
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: For God's sakes, he retorted, do you expect me to
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: believe that a cripple could kill a two hundred pound buck?
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: Then told him a hundred yards Well, I've got what
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: I need now. Anyway, as far as I'm concerned, I'm through.
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: They were passing the door of Maria's shop when the
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: detective caught sight of something within that held his gaze.
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: You could do as you please, he told his unwilling companion,
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: But I'm going to have a look in here. I've
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: never been able to get anything on this woman, but
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: she is our bad influence in the neighborhood. I trust
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: her just as far as I could throw her. The
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: coroner heaved a sigh of resignation, and they stepped back
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: and entered the shop. Upon the flooring directly before the door,
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: and not from it, was a pool of blood. Standing
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: over the pool was a table, and upon it lay
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: the carcasse. Maria sat on a bench behind the table.
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: As the men entered, she swung an immense cleaver downward.
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: A cross section of the shark detached itself and fell
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: away on a pile of similar slices. A thin stream
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: of blood dribbled from the table, augmenting the pool upon
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: the floor. Maria did not raise her eyes from her
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: task again. The cleaver swung up and whistled downward. From
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: the street, sounded the clatter of the returning patrol. I'll
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: wait for you and the wagon, said the coroner hastily,
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: and stepped back into the sunlight. But he was not
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: long alone. The uninterrupted swinging of the dripping cleaer was depressing,
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: and the enthusiasm of associate waned. The bell clang hoofs
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: struck sparks from the cobbles, and the strong but uncertain
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: arm of the law was withdrawn to attend other and
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: more congenial business. The sound from the retreating wagging dwindled
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: and ceased for a moment. Catfish row held its breath.
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: Then its windows and doors flew open and poured its
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: life out into the incomparable autumn weather. The crisis had passed,
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: There had been no arrest. Serena stepped forth, her arms
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: filled with the mornings washed. Ain't it hard to be
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: a nigger? Someone sang in a loud, clear voice, and
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: everybody laughed. Down the street. Like an approaching freight train
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: came the drays, jarring the building and rattling the windows
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: as the heavy tires rang against the cobbles. Bess and
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: Porgy came out with the others and seated themselves against
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: the wall in the gracious sunlight of the life. Yet
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: apart from it sufficient unto each other, they did not
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: join in the loud talk and bandon notch that was
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: going on about them, Like people who had come on
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: a long, dark journey. They were content to sit and
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: breathe deeply of the sun. The baby was sleeping in
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: Bess's arms, and from time to time she would sing
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: a staff to to it in a soft, husky voice
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: into the court strode a group of Stevadors. Their strong
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: white teeth flashed in the sunshine, and their big panther
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: like bodies moved easily among the women and children that
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: crowded about them. Well, the gals called one in a loud,
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: resonant voice, must be day. Ain't know that this is
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: pay day. Two women were sitting near Porgy and Bess
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: rose and went forward with their arms twined about each
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: other's waist. In a few minutes they were out of
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: the crowd again, each looking up with admiring eyes into
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: the face of one of the men. Men's and U
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: n woman's ain't the same, said Porgy. One moment ago,
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: dim gals been libing with the own men's den de
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: storm take'em now. Day is forget 'em all ready and
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: giving them love to the next. No day is different
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: for true, replied Ress. And you wouldn't never understand all
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: two dim gals got baby for keep alive. She heaved
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: a deep sigh, and then added, they is just woman
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: and nigga add day is doing the best they can.
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: That all. She was looking down at the baby while
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: she spoke, and when she raised her eyes and looked
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: at Porgy. He saw that they were full of tears.
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: But you, Best, you's different from death, he said, with
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: a gently interrogating note in his voice. That cause God
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: ain't make but one Porgy, she told him. And any
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: woman gets to be decent with you, But I gots
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: for to tell you the truth. Without Porgy, I is
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: just like the rest. A shadow drifted across their laps,
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: and they lifted their faces to the sky. A solitary
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: buzzer had left the circle that hung high in the
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: air all morning, and was swinging back and forth over
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: the row, almost brushing the parapet of the roof as
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: it passed. While Porgy and Best looked. It suddenly raised
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: the points of its wings, reached tentative legs downward, spread
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: its feet wide, and lit on the edge of the roof,
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: directly over their room. My God, exclaimed Maria, who was
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: standing near crowned n send his buzzard back for bring trouble.
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: Knock him off, Porgy, for God's sake, knock him off
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: before he settled. The cripple reached out and picked up
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: a brick back. The happiness had left his face and
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: his eyes were filled with fear. With the swing of
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: his long, powerful arm, he sent the missile on its
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: errand it struck the parapet directly beneath the bird. With
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: a spasmodic flap of wings. The black body lifted itself
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: a few feet from the building, then settled suddenly back.
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: For a moment, it hopped awkwardly about as though the
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: roof were red hot beneath his feet, then folded its wings,
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: drew its nude head in upon its breast, and surveyed
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: the court with its aloof maleannt eyes to row again.
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: Maria called, handing Porgy another brick bat, but he seemed
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: not to hear. His face quivered, and he hid it
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: in his hands. Sonny, the big negress called to a
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: small boy who was standing near looking at the bird
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: with his mouth open. Get out on the roof with
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: a stick and run that bird away. But Porgy plucked
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: at her skirt and she looked down. Let him be,
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: he said, in a hopeless voice. It's too late now,
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: ain't you see? He donet settle, and he'd picked my
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: room for light over. It ain't no use, now you
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: know that it ain't no use. The next morning, Porgy
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: sat in his accustomed place by Archdale's door. Autumn had
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: touched the oaks in the park across the way, and
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: they brushed the hard, brighted sky with a slow circling motion,
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: and tossed handfuls of yellow leaves down upon the pedestrians
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: who stepped briskly along. King Charles Street was full of
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: harry and men on their way to the cotton offices
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: and the big wholesale warehouses that fronted on the wharves.
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: Like the artery of a hale old man who was
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: laying long asleep, but who wakened suddenly and springs into
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: a race. The broad thoroughfare seemed to pound and sing
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: with life. The town was in a generous mood. Again
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: and again, the bottom of Porgy's cup gave its forth
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: its sharp, grateful click, as a coin struck it and settled.
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: But the cripple had not even his slow glance of
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: thanks for his benefactress on that flashing autumn morning. Always
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: he kept failed, apprehensive eyes directed either up or down
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: the street, or lifted frightened glances to the sky, as
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: though fearing what he might see there. At noon, a
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: white man stopped before him, but he did not drop
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: a coin and pass on. After a moment, Porgy brought
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: his gaze back and looked up. The white man reached
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: forward and handed him a paper death for me, asked Porgy,
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: in a voice that shook. You needn't mind taking it.
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: The man assured him with a laugh, it's just a summons.
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: As a witness to the coroner's inquest. You knew that
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: nigger crowned, didn't you. He evidently took Porgy's silence for
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: his assent before he went on, Well, all you got
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: to do is to view the body in the presence
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: of the corner, tell him who it is, and he'll
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: take down all you say. Porgy essayed, speech failed, tried again,
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: and finally whispered, I got to go on and look
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: on crown face with all delight folks looking at me.
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: Dad it. His voice was piteous that the constable reassured him, Oh,
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: cheer up, it's not so bad, I reckon, you've seen
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: a dead nigger before this. It will all be over
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: in a few minutes. There ain't going to be no
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: nigger in that room except me. Poor Gi asked, just
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: you and Crown if you still call him one. After
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: a moment, poor g he asked, I couldn't just bring
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: a woman with me. I couldn't even bring Carrie, my
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: my woman. No, said the white man positively. Now I've
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: got to be getting along. I reckon, just come over
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: to the courthouse in half an hour and I'll meet
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: you and take you in. Only be sure to come.
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: If you don't show up, it's jail for you, you know.
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: For a moment after the man had gone porgy, immovable
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: with his eyes on the pavement, then a sudden jane
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: swept over him. He cast one glance up and down
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: the hard, clean street, walled by its uncompromising, many eyed buildings. Then,
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: in a panic, he clambered into his quart, gave a
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: cruel twist to the tail of his astonished goat, and
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: commenced a spasmodic shambling race of up Meeting House Road,
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: in the direction in which he knew that miles away
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: the forest lay. To many, the scene which ensued on
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: the Upper Meeting House Road stands out as an exquisitely
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: humorous episode to be told and retold, with touchings of
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: high lights and artistic embellishments to these in the eyes
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: of whom the negro was wholly humorous per se, there
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: was not the omission of a single conventional and readily
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: recognizable stage property. For after all, what could have been
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: funnier than an entirely serious race between a nigro and
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: a dilapidated goat cart and the municipality's shining new patrol wagon,
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: fully officered and clanging his bell for the crowds to
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: hear it as it came. The finish took place in
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: the vicinity of the railway yards and factories, and the
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: street was filled with workmen who smoked against the walls
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: or ate their lunch sitting at the pavement's edge grand
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: stand seats, as they were quite accurately described in the telling.
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: The street cars ran seldom that far out, and Poorgi
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: had the thoroughfire almost entirely to himself. His face wore
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: a tormented look, and was working pitifully. In his panic,
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: he wrung the tail of his unfortunate beasts without mercy.
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: The lunches along the pavement saw him coming and called
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: to friends further along, so that as he came he
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: was greeted with shouts of laughter and witty sallies from
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: the crowd. Then the wagon appeared a mere speck in
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: the distance, but sending the sound of its bell before
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: it as an advertisement of its present. It grew rapidly
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: until it reached the cheering crowds. Then it seemed that
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: even the sedate officers of the law were not above
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: a sly humor of their own, for the vehicle slackened
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: its pace perceptibly and prolonged the final moment of capture.
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: The big buildings had been left behind, and there lay
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: before Poigy only the scattered, cheap bungalows of the labor
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: waters and beyond, as elusive and desirable as the white
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: man's heaven, glimmered the far line of the woods, misty
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: and beautiful in the pink autumn haze. The patrol forged
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: ahead and came to a clanging stop. The officers leaped
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: out in amidshine, shouts of laughter from the crowd, lifted wagon,
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: goat and man into the vehicle. The driver jerked the
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: horse back into its bresions, swung the wagon with a
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: dramatic snap that was not wasted upon his gallery, and
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: sent it clanging and rocking back in the direction from
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: which it had come. Porky, he fell forward with his
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: arms thrown out upon the back of the goat and
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: buried his face between them and the shaggy, evil smelling hair.
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: The workmen upon the sidewalks cheered and shouted with mirth.
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: Surely it had been a great day. They would not
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: soon have another laugh to match it. When the wagon
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: reached the downtown district, the inquest was over. It had
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: been a simple matter to secure another witness for the
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: identification of the body. The jury had made short work
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: of their task and had found that Crown had come
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: to his death as the result of a chest wound
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: at the hands of person or persons unknown. Porgy was
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: taken at once to the station house, where the charge
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: of a content of court was formerly entered against him
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: on the blotter, and he was locked up to await trial.
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: Early the following morning under the wheezing gas jet, the
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: recorder looked Porgy over with his weary glance, brought the
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: tips of his slender fingers together, gave him five days
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: and his tired drawl, and raised his eyes to the
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: next negro on the morning's list. They hoisted the outfit
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: goat and all into the patrol for the trip to
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: the jail. Thus again brightening a day for a group
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: of light hearted Nordics. Upon the pavement, a large, red
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: faced policeman took his seat at the rear of the wagon.
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: You sure, big doll, he confided to Porgy with a
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: puzzled frown, running away like the devil was after you
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: from being a witness and now going to jail with
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: her face like Sunday morning. In the fresh beauty of
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: an early October morning, Porgy returned home. There were few
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: of his friends about, as work was now plentiful and
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: most of those who could earn a day's wage were
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: up and out. He drove through the entrance, pulled his
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: goat up short, and looked about him. Serena was seated
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: on her bench with a baby in her arms. Porgy
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: gave her a long look, and a question commenced to
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: dawn in his eyes. The child turned in her arms,
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: and his suspicions were confirmed. It was his baby, his
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: and Bess's. Then Serena looked up and saw him. She
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: arose in great confusion, clasped the infant to her ample bosom,
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: and without a word of greeting, stepped through her doorway. Then,
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: as though struck by it, afterthought, she turned, thrust her
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: head back through the opening, and called loudly, Oh Maria, here,
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: Porgy come home. Then she disappeared in the door, slam shut.
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: Mystified and filled with alarm, Porgy turned his vehicle towards
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: the cook shop and arrived at the door just as
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: Maria stepped over the threshold. She seated herself on the
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: sill and brought her face level with his. Then she
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: looked into his eyes. What Porgy saw there caused him
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: to call out, sharply, where's bess? Tell me quick, where's best?
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: The big Nichress did not answer, and after a moment
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: her ponderous face commenced to shake. Porgy beat the side
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: of his wagon with his fists where where he began
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: in a voice that would suddenly shrilled, But Maria placed
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: a steadying hand on his frantic one and held it still.
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: Them dirty dogs got she one day when I going out,
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: she said, in a low, shaken voice, she been missing you.
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: A very low an she mine cause she can't find
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: out how long you lock up for that damn howl
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: she knock off the wharf last summer. Fine she liked
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: that ain't gets she to take a swallow up liquor.
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: Then half a dozen of theming gangs. Ye an makes
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: she drunk? But where she now? Porgy cried, I ain't
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: care if she was drunk. I want she now me.
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: Maria tried to speak, but her refused to do her bidding.
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: She covered her face with her hands, and her throat
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: worked convulsively. Porgy clutched her wrists. Tell me, he commanded,
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: Tell me now, dem men's all carried she away on
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: the Ribba boat. She sobbed. They leave word for me
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: that they're going to take you all the way to
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: Savannah and keep she there. Then Serena, she'd take the child,
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: and she is going to give him a Christian raisin.
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: Deep sobs stopped Maria's voice for a while. She sat there,
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: her face buried in her hands, but Porgy had nothing
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: to say. When she finally raised her head and looked
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: at him, she was surprised at what she saw. The
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: keen autumn sun flooded boldly through the entrance and bathed
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: the drooping form of the goat and the ridiculous wagon
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: and the bent figure of the man in hard satirical radiance.
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: In his revealing light, Maria saw that Porgy was an
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: old man. The early tension that had characterized him, the
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: mellow mood that he had known for one eventful summer,
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: both had gone, and in their place she saw a
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: face that sagged wearily, and the eyes of age, lit
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: only by a faint reminiscent glow from suns and moons
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: that had looked into them and had already drooped down
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: the west. She looked until she could bear the sight
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: no longer. Then she stumbled into her shop and closed
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: the door, leaving Porgy and the goat alone in an
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: irony of morning sunlight. End of section seven. End of
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: Porgy by DeVos Hayward