The Piano Lesson (2024) Movie Script

1
- Hey, son. You remember how to whistle?
- Yes, sir.
You see anybody coming,
I need you to whistle.
- You understand?
- Yes, sir.
All right. All right, son.
- Go round back.
- All right.
All right.
Push your side on three.
- Push it. Ready?
- All right, man. Go.
Hi-ya!
Boy! Come on out here, now!
Burn in hell, Boy Charles!
Come out here, boy, now!
We know you're in there!
Come on out. Come on!
Where he at?
Watch them trees around back.
Burn it down!
All right, Lymon, start it!
Come on. Start it.
Oh, there it is.
- I told you she'd start.
- Start. You a damn liar.
Hearing gunshots in the streets
Every night
Yeah, we're looking
For a way out the problem
Every time I see police, heavy cries
These are, these are
These are scary times
You know
what kind of field this is, son?
I don't know.
This here a sunflower field.
Okay.
Come on.
Hear us screaming out "thief"
You took a life
Another one's gone, a lost soul
That's why we're marching
In the streets every night
These are, these are
These are scary times
These are, these are
These are scary times
These are, these are
These are scary times
It's right there.
- What if they asleep?
- Don't worry about it.
announced an unsettling discovery
that experts claim
could decimate fruit crops
for years to come.
Professor Wilson
is calling it Panama disease.
In a statement released earlier this month
claiming that it has reached
the banana tree
Hey, Doaker!
Doaker!
- Hey, Berniece!
- Who is it?
Open the door, nigger. It's me.
Who?
It's me!
- Boy Willie.
- Open the door.
Uh... I almost shot your ass, boy.
What you doing up here?
I told you, Lymon.
This is Lymon.
You remember Lymon Jackson from down home.
This my Uncle Doaker.
Lymon talking about you might be sleep.
- I thought you down in Mississippi.
- Me and Lymon selling watermelons.
We got a truck out there.
Got a whole truckload of watermelons.
Where's Berniece? Hey, Berniece!
- Berniece up there sleep.
- Let her get up.
Been three years since I seen my sister.
Hey, Berniece!
Where y'all get that truck from?
It's Lymon's. I told him let's get
a load of watermelons and bring 'em here.
Boy Willie say he's going back,
but I'm gonna stay.
- See what it's like.
- Carry me down there first.
As many watermelons
you got stacked up there,
no wonder the truck broke down.
What you doing all that hollering for?
Hey, Berniece. Doaker said you was sleep.
I said at least you can get up and say hi.
It's five o'clock in the morning,
and you come in with all this noise.
Can't come like normal folks.
You got to bring all that noise.
Hell, woman.
I was glad to see Doaker.
I come 1,800 miles to see my sister.
Figure she might wanna get up and say hi.
But now you can go back upstairs.
This is Lymon. You remember
Lymon Jackson from down home.
- Mm.
- How you doing, Berniece?
You look just like I thought you looked.
Why you all got to come in
hollering and carrying on?
- Waking the neighbors with all that noise.
- We fixing to have a party.
Doaker, where your bottle?
Me and Lymon celebrating.
The Ghosts of the Yellow Dog got Sutter.
- Say what?
- Ask Lymon.
They found him the next morning.
Say he drowned in his well.
- When this happen, Boy Willie?
- About three weeks ago.
Me and Lymon was over in Stoner County
when we heard about it.
We laughed. We thought it was funny.
Great big old 340-pound man
gonna fall down his well.
Everybody say
the Ghosts of the Yellow Dog pushed him.
I don't wanna hear that nonsense.
Somebody down there
pushing them people in they wells.
Me and Lymon got
a truckload of watermelons out there.
Where y'all get that truck?
It's Lymon's.
Doaker, where your bottle?
I know you got a bottle
stuck up in your room.
Lymon bought that truck
to have him a place to sleep.
Got the sheriff looking for him.
Got Stovall looking for him too.
He down there sleeping in that truck,
ducking and dodging both of 'em.
I told him, "Come on.
Let's go and see my sister."
Boy Willie, when you and Lymon
planning on going back?
Lymon say he's staying. Soon as we sell
them watermelons, I'm going back.
That's what you need to do,
and you need to do it quick.
I don't want
all that loud carrying-on around here.
I'm surprised you ain't woke Maretha up.
Is that the piano?
Yeah.
Look here, Lymon.
You see all them carvings on it?
See, that's what I was talking about.
You see how it's all carved up real nice
and polished and everything?
- Never find you another piano like that.
- Yeah, that look real nice.
I told you.
Get you a nice price for that piano.
That's all Boy Willie talked about
the whole trip up here.
I got tired of hearing him
talking about the piano.
- Hm.
- Hey, Doaker.
Sutter's brother selling the land.
Say he wanna sell it to me.
- Hmm.
- That's why I come up here.
Now, I got one part.
I sell them watermelons,
that get me another.
Then I get Berniece to sell that piano,
and I'll have the third part.
- Berniece ain't gonna sell that piano.
- I'm gonna talk to her.
When she see I got a chance
to get Sutter's land, she'll come around.
You can get that thought out your mind.
Berniece ain't gonna sell that piano.
I'm gonna talk to her.
How much land Sutter got left?
Got a hundred acres.
Good land.
He done sold it piece by piece.
Kept the good part for himself.
Now he got to give that up.
His brother come down from Chicago
for the funeral.
He up in Chicago. Got some kinda business
with soda-fountain equipment.
He anxious to sell the land, Doaker.
He don't wanna be bothered with it.
He called me to him and said
'cause of how long our families
done known each other
and how we been good friends and all,
say he wanna sell it to me.
Told him to give me two weeks.
He said he'd wait on me.
That's why I come up here.
I sell them watermelons,
get Berniece to sell that piano,
put them two parts together
with the part I done saved,
then walk in there, tip my hat,
lay my money down on the table,
get my deed, and walk on out.
This time, I get to keep all the cotton.
Hire me some men to work it for me. Huh?
Gin my cotton, get my seed,
and I'll see y'all again next year.
Might even plant some tobacco.
Or some oats.
Mm. Hmm.
You gonna have a hard time
convincing Berniece to sell that piano.
Y'all remember Avery Brown
from down there?
He up here now.
Trying to get Berniece to marry him
after Crawley got killed.
Been up here about two years.
Call himself a preacher now.
I know Avery.
I knew him when he used to work up
on the Willshaw place. Lymon knew him too.
Yeah, he after Berniece to marry him.
She keep telling him no,
but he won't give up.
He keep pressing her on it.
Avery think all white men is big shots.
He don't know there's white men
ain't got as much as he got.
He supposed to come past here
this morning.
Berniece going with him down to the bank.
See if he can get a loan
to start his church.
See, that's why I know
Berniece ain't gonna sell that piano.
He tried to get her to sell it
to help him start his church.
Sent the man around and everything.
What man?
Some white fella who going around
to colored people's houses
looking to buy musical instruments.
He'd buy anything.
Drums, guitars, harmonicas, pianos.
Avery sent him past here.
He looked at that piano, got excited.
Offered her a nice price.
She turned him down,
got on Avery for sending him past.
Hm.
It's always something.
Now, what the
Doaker! Doaker!
Doaker!
- Doaker!
- Berniece? Berniece?
Berniece?
Lord, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!
- Hey, what's going on?
- It's all right. I got you.
Come on. Come on. Sit down. Sit down.
Come on. What is it?
- Sutter...
- What's the matter?
Sutter's standing up there in the hall.
- Boy Willie?
- Ain't nobody up here.
Boy Willie!
Hey, Doaker.
What's wrong with her?
Hey, Berniece, what's wrong?
She says she seen Sutter's ghost.
Seen what?
She ain't seen no Sutter.
Boy, he was standing right there.
That's in Berniece's head.
Nobody up there.
- Go on up there, Doaker.
- I take your word for it.
Berniece talking about what she seen,
and she said Sutter's ghost in the hall.
She ain't just made that up.
She up there dreaming.
She ain't seen no ghost.
You want a glass of water?
Get a glass of water, Boy Willie.
She don't need water.
She ain't seen nothing.
Go up there and look.
Ain't nobody up there but Maretha.
- Let Berniece tell it.
- Ain't stopping her.
- Go on.
- I just...
I come out my room to come back down here,
and and Sutter
was standing there in the hall.
What he look like?
He look like Sutter.
Look like he always look.
Sutter couldn't find his way
from Big Sandy to Little Sandy.
How he gonna find his way
all the way up here to Pittsburgh?
Sutter ain't even heard of Pittsburgh.
Let Berniece finish.
I wanna hear what she got to say.
Just just just standing there
with a blue suit on.
Man never left Marlin County
when he was living.
He gonna come all the way up here
now that he's dead?
Now, go on, Berniece.
If Berniece seen him
like she think she seen him,
she'd still be running.
Go on. Don't pay Boy Willie no mind.
Did he have on a hat?
Just had on that blue suit.
He just stood there looking at me,
calling Boy Willie's name.
What he calling my name for?
I believe you pushed him in the well.
Now what kind of sense
that make?
You telling me I'mma go out
and hide in the weeds
with with all them dogs and things
he got around there?
I'mma go out and hide
and wait till I catch him looking down
his well just right,
then I'mma run over and push him in?
A great big old 340-pound man.
Well, what he call your name for?
He was bending over,
looking down his well, woman.
How he know who pushed him?
Could have been anybody.
Where was you
when Sutter fell down his well?
Where was Doaker?
Me and Lymon
was over in Stoner County. Tell her.
The Ghosts of the Yellow Dog got Sutter.
That's what happened to him.
You can talk all that Ghosts
of the Yellow Dog stuff if you want.
I know better.
Ghosts of the Yellow Dog pushed him.
That's what the people say.
- That's him.
- I see him.
There.
They found him in his well,
and all the people say
it must be the Ghosts of the Yellow Dog,
just like all them other men.
Come talking about
he looking for me.
That ain't nothing but in Berniece's head.
Ain't no telling what she's liable
to come up with next.
Boy Willie, I want you and Lymon
to go ahead and leave my house.
Just go on somewhere.
You bring trouble with you
everywhere you go.
If it wasn't for you,
Crawley would still be alive.
Crawley what?
I had nothing to do
with Crawley getting killed.
Crawley three time seven.
He had his own mind.
Just go on and leave. Let Sutter
go somewhere else looking for you.
I'm leaving!
Soon as we sell them watermelons.
Other than that, I ain't going nowhere.
Hell.
I just got here.
Talking about Sutter looking for me.
Sutter was looking for that piano.
That's what Sutter was looking for.
He had to die to find out
where that piano was at.
If I was you, I'd get rid of it.
That's the way
to get rid of Sutter's ghost.
Get rid of that piano.
I want you and Lymon
to take all of this confusion
out of my house.
Tell her, Doaker.
What kind of sense that make?
I told you, Lymon,
soon as Berniece see me,
she was gonna start something.
Didn't I tell you that?
Now she done made up
that story about Sutter
just to tell me to leave her house.
Hell, I ain't going nowhere
till we sell them watermelons.
Well, why don't you go out there
and sell 'em, then?
Sell 'em and go on back.
We waiting till the people get up.
Boy Willie say if you get out too early,
wake the people up,
they get mad at you
and won't buy nothing from you.
Well, you won't be waiting long.
You done let the sun catch up with you.
This the time folk here be getting up.
Come on, Doaker. Walk up there with me.
Let me get Maretha up and get her started.
I gotta get ready myself.
Boy Willie,
just go on out there
and sell them watermelons,
and you and Lymon leave my house.
You see Sutter up there,
you tell him I'm down here waiting on him.
What if she see him again?
That's just all in her head.
Ain't no ghost up there.
Ah!
You too quick for me.
Hey, sugar!
Come on, give me a hug!
Come on, give Uncle Boy Willie a hug.
Don't be shy.
Look at her, Doaker.
She done got bigger. Ain't she got big?
Oh yeah. She getting up there.
- How you doing, sugar?
- Fine.
You remember me, don't you?
It's your Uncle Boy Willie
from down South.
Mm.
You like it up here?
You like the North, hmm?
That there is Lymon. He my friend.
We selling watermelons.
How you doing?
You look just like your mama.
I remember you
when you was wearing diapers.
When you gonna come down South and see me?
Uncle Boy Willie gonna get him a farm.
Gonna get him a great big old farm.
Come down there,
and I'll teach you how to ride a mule.
Teach you how to kill a chicken too.
I seen my mama do that.
Ain't nothing to it.
You just take him by his neck
Twist it!
Get you a real good grip,
then you just wring his neck,
throw him in the pot, cook him up.
You got good eating then.
Uncle Doaker say your mama
your mama got you playing on that piano.
Well, come on. Play something for me.
Go ahead.
There we go.
Uncle Boy Willie will give you a dime.
Show me what you can do.
Don't be bashful.
That dime say you can't be bashful.
There you go.
Take your time.
- What? That's it?
- Yes, that's it.
Here. Let me show you something.
Wait. Hold on. That ain't it.
See that?
See what I'm doing?
That's what you call the boogie-woogie.
See, you can get up and dance to that.
That's how good it sound.
It'll hold you up.
Any dance you wanna do,
you could dance to that.
You see that? You see how it go?
Ain't nothing to it.
Go on. You do it.
I got to read it on the paper.
You don't need to read no paper.
Just do like this here.
Maretha!
You get up here and get ready to go
so you be on time.
I got to go.
Your mama tell you about that piano?
You know how them pictures got on there?
She say it's just always been like that
since she got it.
You hear that, Doaker?
You up here in the house with Berniece.
I ain't got nothing to do with that.
I don't get in the way
of Berniece raising her.
Hmm.
Tell your mama
to tell you about that piano.
Hmm.
You feel that?
That's your family. Your blood.
Now, you ask her
how them pictures got on there.
If she don't tell you, I'll tell you.
Maretha!
I got to get ready to go.
Hey. Psst.
Ah.
That's my girl.
Let us
Pray
Together
Let us pray
- Charlie!
- Hey, Reverend.
- Morning, Miss Rita.
- Yes.
- I'll come back for some of them apples.
- Come back.
Let us pray
- I'll see you on Sunday.
- That's right.
All right. Yes.
Miss Mabel!
- Oh! Hey, Avery. Come on in.
- Hey, Doaker.
- Berniece upstairs.
- All right.
Oh.
Hey, Boy Willie. What you doing?
What you what you doing up here?
Look at him.
Look at him. He don't know what to say.
He wasn't expecting to see me.
That Lymon? Lymon Jackson.
Yeah. Yeah, you know Lymon.
Berniece be ready in a minute.
Doaker say
you a preacher now.
What we supposed to call you?
Reverend?
I remember you as plain old Avery.
When you get to be a preacher, nigger?
Avery say he gonna be a preacher
so he don't have to work.
I remember you was up
on the Wilshaw place planting cotton.
You wasn't thinking about no reverend.
That must be your truck out there.
I saw all them watermelons in that truck.
I was trying to figure out what it was.
Me and Lymon selling watermelons.
That's Lymon's truck.
Berniece say y'all going to the bank.
Yeah, they gave me
a half a day off work.
I got an appointment to talk to the bank
about getting a loan to start my church.
Lymon say preachers ain't got to work.
Where you working at, nigger?
Avery got him a good job. He working
in one of them skyscrapers downtown.
Yeah, I'm working down there
in the Gulf Building, running an elevator.
I got a pension and everything.
They even give you a turkey
on Thanksgiving.
How many of them watermelons
you wanna buy?
I thought you was gonna give me one,
seeing you got a truck full.
I'll give you one.
Get two. I'll give you two for a dollar.
I can't eat but one.
Oh, how how much are they?
Oh, nigger, you know
I'll give you a watermelon.
Go on. Take as many as you want.
Just leave some for me and Lymon to sell.
I don't need but one, now.
Doaker say you sent
some white man past the house
to take a look at that piano.
He going around colored people's houses
looking to buy musical instruments.
Yeah, but Berniece say
she ain't wanna sell that piano.
After she told me about it,
I can see why she ain't wanna sell it.
What's the man's name?
I forgot the man's name.
It was a while back ago now.
I believe he gave Berniece a card
with his name and telephone number on it,
but she throwed it away.
Maretha, run back upstairs
and get my pocketbook.
And wipe the hair grease
off your forehead. Go ahead. Hurry up.
How you doing, Avery?
You done got all dressed up.
You look nice.
Doaker, I'm gonna stop on Logan Street.
Want me to get you anything?
Oh! You can pick me up some ham hocks,
you going down there.
See if you can get 'em smoked.
They ain't got that, get the fresh ones.
We gonna take the streetcar?
Me and Avery gonna drop you
at the settlement house.
You mind them people down there.
Don't you be showing them your color.
- Come, pretty girl.
- Boy Willie.
I expect you and Lyman to be out
selling watermelons.
I'll be seeing you again,
Boy Willie.
Hey, Berniece.
What's the name of that man
Avery sent past here,
say he wanna buy the piano?
I knew it.
I knew it when I first seent you.
I knew you was up to something.
Sutter's brother say
he selling the land to me.
Yeah, he waiting on me now.
Told me he'd give me two weeks.
Now, I got one part.
I sell them watermelons,
get another part.
- We could sell that piano.
- I ain't selling that piano, Boy Willie.
And if that's why you come up here,
then you can forget about it.
Doaker, I'll see you later.
Boy Willie ain't nothing
but a whole lot of mouth.
Don't pay him no mind.
And if he come up here
thinking he gonna sell that piano,
then he done come up here for nothing.
Come on, Lymon.
You ready to go sell these watermelons?
Come on. Pick your feet up.
Hey, Doaker.
Hey, Al.
Lymon.
Sh
It ain't catching!
See you!
Nigger!
Hey!
It caught!
So the Ghosts of the Yellow Dog
got Sutter.
And Berniece say she done seen his ghost.
Come here, brother.
I'll tell you outright,
if I see Sutter's ghost,
I'll be on the first thing I find
that got wheels on it.
Wining Boy.
Where you coming from? Where you been?
I know you want another drink.
You know Cleotha died.
Oh, I heard that
last time I was down there.
- Oh, I was sorry to hear that.
- Yeah.
One of her friends wrote and told me.
I never knew she was sick.
They was nailing her coffin shut
by the time I heard about it.
Cleotha always did have
a nice way about her.
Man, that woman was something.
I used to thank the Lord.
Many a night I sat up
and looked out over my life.
Said, "Well, I had Cleotha."
When it didn't look like there was
nothing else for me, I said, "Thank God."
"At least I had that."
If ever I go anywhere in this life,
I done known a good woman.
Mm-hmm.
And that used to hold me
to the next morning.
You you a fool.
Aw, hell!
Ha ha!
Look here! We was just talking about you.
Doaker say you left out of here
with a whole sack of money.
I told him we wasn't gonna see you
till you got broke.
What you mean "broke"?
I got a whole pocketful of money.
Doaker say Berniece asked you
for three dollars. You got mad and left.
Berniece try to rule over you too much
for me. That's why I left.
It wasn't about no three dollars.
Wining Boy, where you coming from?
Where you been?
I been down in Kansas City.
You remember Lymon? Lymon Jackson.
Yeah, I used to know his daddy.
Where you getting these sacks of money?
Doaker say you left with a sack of money.
Turn some of it loose.
I was just fixing to ask you for $5.
Doaker tell you about Sutter?
The Ghosts of the Yellow Dog got him
about three weeks ago.
Berniece done seen his ghost
and everything. He right upstairs.
Hey, Sutter! Wining Boy here.
Come on and get a drink.
How many that make
the Ghosts of the Yellow Dog done got?
Must be about nine or ten,
eleven or twelve. I don't know.
Mm.
Berniece say she don't believe all that
about the Ghosts of the Yellow Dog.
She ain't gotta believe.
You go ask them white folks
in Sunflower County if they believe.
You go ask Sutter if he believe.
I don't care if Berniece believe or not.
Berniece don't believe in nothing.
She just think she believe.
Let's not get on Berniece now.
Doaker, give me a drink.
I see Wining Boy got his glass.
Wining Boy, what you doing in Kansas City?
What they got down there?
Yeah, I hear they got
some nice-looking women in Kansas City.
I sure like to go down there and find out.
Man, the women down there
is something else.
Uh, you gonna sit up in here
and drink up my whiskey?
Leave a dollar on the table
when you get up.
You showing your hospitality.
I know I ain't got to pay
for your hospitality.
Doaker say they had you and Lymon
down on the Parchman Farm.
Had you on my old stomping grounds.
Me and Lymon was hauling wood
for Jim Miller
and keeping us a little bit to sell.
That's when Crawley got killed.
They ambushed us right there.
Me and Boy Willie got away,
but sheriff got us.
Say we was stealing wood.
They they shot me in my stomach.
They looking for Lymon down there now.
They rounded him up
and threw him in jail for not working.
- Fined me $100.
- Mm-hmm.
Mr. Stovall come and paid my $100,
and the judge say I got to work for him
to pay him back his $100.
Soon as Stovall turned his back,
Lymon was gone.
I told Boy Willie I'm gonna stay up here.
I ain't going back with him.
Ain't nobody twisting your arm
to make you go back. Do what you wanna do.
I'll go back with you.
I'm on my way down there.
You gonna take the train?
I'm gonna take the train.
They treat you better up here.
I ain't worried
about nobody mistreating me.
They treat you
like you let them treat you.
They mistreat me,
I mistreat them right back.
Ain't no difference
in me and the white man.
That's why you gonna end up
back down there on the Parchman Farm.
I ain't thinking about no Parchman Farm.
See, you liable to go back before me.
They work you too hard down there.
All that weeding and hoeing
and chopping down trees.
I ain't like all that.
You ain't got to like your job
on the Parchman.
Tell him, Doaker. The only one
got to like his job is the water boy.
And if he don't like his job,
he need to set that bucket down.
That's what they told Lymon.
They had Lymon on water,
and everybody got mad at him
'cause he was lazy.
That water was heavy.
Had Lymon down there singing.
Talking about talking about
O Lord, Berta
O Lord, gal, oh-ah
O Lord, Berta
O Lord, gal, well
Go ahead and marry
Don't you
Wait on me, oh-ah
Go ahead and marry
Don't you
Wait on me, well
Might not want you when I
I go free, oh-ah
Might not want you when I
I go free, well
Hey, Doaker. Come on, Doaker.
You know this one.
O Lord, gal, oh-ah
O Lord, Berta
O Lord, gal, well
Raise them up higher
Let 'em
Drop on down, oh-ah
Raise them up higher
Let 'em
Drop on down, well
Don't know the difference
When the
Sun go down, oh-ah
Don't know the difference
When the
Sun go down, well
Berta in Meridian
And she's
Living at ease, oh-ah
Berta in Meridian
And she's
Living at ease, well
Berta in Meridian
And she's
Living at ease, oh-ah
And I'm on old Parchman
Got to
Work or leave, well
O Alberta
O Lord, gal, oh-ah
O Lord, Berta
O Lord, gal, well
When you marry
Marry a
Railroad man, oh-ah
When you marry
Marry a
Railroad man, well
When you marry
Marry a
Railroad man, oh-ah
And everyday Sunday
Dollar, put it in your hand, well
Put it in your hand, oh-ah
Put it in your hand
And everyday Sunday
Dollar, put it in your hand, well
O Lord, Berta
O Lord, gal, oh-ah
O Lord, Berta
O Lord, gal, well
Oh, well
Ooh!
Doaker like that part.
He like that railroad part.
Doaker sound like Tangleye.
He can't sing a lick.
Hey, Doaker,
they still talk about you
down there on Parchman.
They ask me, "You Doaker Boy's nephew?"
I say, "Yeah."
"Me and him is family."
They treated me all right as soon as
I told them that. Say, "That's my uncle."
Hmm.
I don't never wanna see
none of them niggers no more.
I don't wanna see 'em either.
Hey, Wining Boy.
Play some piano.
Come on, you a piano player.
Play some piano. Come on.
Lymon wanna hear you.
I give that piano up.
That was the best thing
that ever happened to me,
getting rid of that piano.
That piano got so big,
and I'm carrying it around on my back.
I don't wish that on nobody.
See, you think it's all fun
being a recording star.
Got to carrying that piano around,
and, man, did I get slow.
Got just like molasses.
The world just slipping by me,
and I'm walking around with that piano.
Now, the first three or four years
of that is fun.
You can't get enough whiskey,
and you can't get enough women.
Hell! You don't never get tired
of playing that piano.
But that only lasts so long.
You look up one day,
and you hate the whiskey,
and you hate the women,
and you hate the piano!
But that's all you got.
Can't do nothing else.
All you know how to do is play the piano.
Now who am I?
Am I me, or am I the piano player?
Sometime it seem like the only thing to do
is shoot the piano player
'cause he the cause
of all the trouble I'm having.
What you gonna do
when your troubles get like mine?
If I knew how to play
I'd play.
Ooh, that's a nice piano.
If I had it, I'd sell it.
Unless I knew how to play it
like Wining Boy.
You'd get a nice price
for that piano.
- Mm-hmm.
- Now, I'm gonna tell you something.
See, Lymon don't know this,
but I'm gonna tell you
why me and Wining Boy say
Berniece ain't gonna sell that piano.
Well, she ain't got to sell it.
I'm gonna sell it.
Berniece ain't got no more rights
to that piano than I do.
I'm talking to the man.
Let me talk to the man.
Now, to understand why we say that,
to understand about this piano
you got to go back to slavery time.
See, our family was owned
by a man named Robert Sutter.
That's Sutter's grandfather. All right.
The piano was owned
by a fella named Joel Nolander.
He's one of the Nolander brothers
from down in Georgia.
It was coming up
on Sutter's wedding anniversary,
and he's looking to buy his wife
Miss Ophelia was her name.
He's looking to buy her
an anniversary present.
Only thing with him
is he ain't had no money.
But he had some niggers.
So he asked Mr. Nolander
to see if maybe he could trade off
some of his niggers for that piano.
Told him he would give him
one and a half niggers for it.
That's just how he said it.
Say he could have one full grown
and one half grown.
Mr. Nolander agreed, only he say
he got to be the one to pick 'em.
So Sutter lined his niggers up
and Mr. Nolander looked 'em over.
And out of the whole bunch,
he picked my grandmother.
Her name was Berniece, same like Berniece.
- Come with me, Mama. Bring your boy.
- No!
- Come with me!
- No!
And he picked my daddy
when he wasn't nothing
but a little boy, nine years old.
They made the trade-off,
and Miss Ophelia
was so happy with that piano,
it got to be just about all she would do
was play on that piano.
Just get up in the morning,
get all dressed up,
and sit down and play on that piano.
All right. Time go along.
Time go along.
Miss Ophelia got to missing my grandmother
and how she would cook,
clean the house, talk to her and whatnot,
and she missed having my daddy around
to fetch things for her.
So she asked to see if maybe
she could trade back that piano
and get her niggers back.
Mr. Nolander said, "No!"
Said a deal was a deal.
And him and Sutter
had a big falling out about it.
And Miss Ophelia took sick to the bed.
She wouldn't get up in the morning.
That's when Sutter
called our granddaddy up to the house.
Now, our granddaddy's name
was Boy Willie.
Same like Boy Willie.
That's who he was named after.
Only they called him Willie Boy.
Now, he was a worker of wood.
He could make you
anything you wanted out of wood.
Them white fellas around there
used to get him
to make all kinds of things for them,
and they'd pay Mr. Sutter a nice price.
'Cause everything my granddaddy made,
Mr. Sutter owned
'cause he owned him.
That's why when Mr. Nolander offered
to buy him to keep the family together,
Sutter wouldn't sell him.
Told Mr. Nolander
he ain't have enough money to buy him.
Now, am I telling it right, Wining Boy?
You telling it.
Sutter called my granddaddy
up to the house
and told him to carve a picture
of my grandmother and my daddy
on the piano for Miss Ophelia,
and he took and done this.
You see that?
That's my grandmother, Berniece.
She looked just like that.
And he put a picture of my daddy
when he wasn't nothing but a little boy,
the way he remembered him.
He carved 'em up out of his memory.
Only thing is he ain't stop there.
He took and carved all of this.
He put a picture of his mama, Mama Esther,
and his daddy, Boy Charles.
And on the side here, that's when him
and Mama Berniece got married.
They called that "jumping the broom."
He put all kind of things on the side
what happened to our family.
And when Sutter seen the piano
with all these carvings on it
he got mad!
He didn't ask for all this,
but wasn't nothing he could do about it.
But when Miss Ophelia seen it,
oh, well, she got excited.
Now, she had her piano
and her niggers too.
She took back to playing on it.
Played on it right on up
to the day she died. All right.
Now, our brother Boy Charles,
that's Berniece and Boy Willie's daddy,
he the oldest of us three boys.
He'd have been 57 if he had lived.
Died in 1911 when he was 31 years old.
Boy Charles talked about that piano
all the time.
Couldn't get it off his mind.
Two, three months go by,
he'd be talking about it again.
He'd be talking about
taking it out of Sutter's house.
He said it was the story
of our whole family,
and long as Sutter had it,
he had us.
Said we still in slavery.
Me and Wining Boy tried
to talk him out of it,
but it wouldn't do any good.
Soon as he'd quiet down about it,
he'd start up again.
We seen where he wasn't gonna
get his mind off it,
so on 4th of July, 1911,
while Sutter was at the picnic
what the county give every year
me and Wining Boy
went on down there with him,
and we took this piano
out of Sutter's house.
Boy Willie couldn't have been
no more than six years old.
His daddy had decided
he was gonna stick around
till Sutter got back.
Make it look like business as usual.
I don't know what happened when Sutter
came home and found that piano gone,
but somebody went up to Boy Charles' house
and set it on fire.
He wasn't in there.
He must have seen 'em coming.
'Cause he went down
and caught the 3:57 Yellow Dog.
He ain't know they was gonna
come down there and stop the train.
They stopped the train,
found Boy Charles and three of them hobos
in one of them boxcars.
Must've got mad
when they couldn't find that piano
'cause they set the boxcar on fire.
Killed everybody.
Now, nobody know who done that.
Some folks say it was Sutter
'cause it was his piano.
Some folks say it was Sheriff Carter.
Some people say
it was Ed Saunders or Robert Smith,
but don't nobody know for sure.
It was about two months after that
that Ed Saunders fell down his well.
Just upped and fell down his well
for no reason.
People say it was the ghosts
of them men what died in that boxcar
pushed him in his well.
And they started calling them
the Ghosts of the Yellow Dog.
That's how all that got started.
And that's why me and Wining Boy say
Berniece ain't gonna sell that piano.
'Cause her daddy died over it.
All that's in the past.
If my daddy
had seen where he could have traded
that piano in for some land of his own,
it wouldn't be sitting up here now.
He spent his whole life
farming somebody else's land.
I ain't gonna do that.
See, he couldn't do no better.
When he come along,
he ain't had nothing to build on.
His daddy ain't had nothing to give him.
The only thing my daddy had to give me
was that piano,
and he died giving me that.
I ain't gonna let it sit there and rot
without trying to do something with it.
And if Berniece can't see that,
I'm gonna go and sell my half.
You and Wining Boy know I'm right.
Ain't nobody said nothing
about who's right and who's wrong.
I'm just telling the man about the piano.
I'm telling him why me and Wining Boy say
Berniece ain't gonna sell it.
Can see why you say that now.
I told Boy Willie
he ought to stay up here with me.
You stay.
I'm going back.
That's what I'm gonna do with my life.
Why I got to learn to do something
I don't know how to do
when I already know how to farm?
You stay.
Make your own way
if that's what you wanna do.
I'm going back
to live my life the way I wanna live it.
You know what this is?
I don't know.
What you think it is?
Dirt.
Nah, son.
This ain't no dirt.
This here is land.
- You know the difference?
- No.
See, dirt
dirt'll blow away, be gone with the wind.
But land
land'll last you forever, son.
Go ahead. Feel it now. Crush it.
You feel that?
Feel good, don't it?
One of the beings
walked towards me
slowly but with intent.
My comrades ran away in fear.
Go on and get up them stairs.
- in a tall tree.
- Is that...
Lord! I I know
that ain't Wining Boy sitting there.
Hey, Berniece.
You all had this planned.
You and Boy Willie had this planned.
I didn't know
he was gonna be here.
I'm on my way down home and stopped by
to see you and Doaker first.
Told that nigger,
he left here with that sack of money,
we thought
he wasn't never gonna see him again.
Give your uncle a hug.
Boy Willie, I ain't see that truck.
Thought you was out selling watermelons.
We done sold 'em all. Sold the truck too.
I don't wanna go through your stuff.
I told you. Go back where you belong.
Hell, I was just teasing you, woman.
You can't take no teasing?
Wining Boy, when you get here?
A little while ago.
I took the train from Kansas City.
Let me go change my clothes,
then I'll cook you something to eat.
Hey! I like the sound of that.
Come on, Maretha. Change your clothes
before you get 'em dirty.
Maretha sure getting big.
- Ain't she, Doaker?
- Mm-hmm.
And just as pretty as she wanna be.
I didn't know Crawley had it in him.
Hey, Lymon, get up on the other side
of this piano. Let me see something.
- Boy Willie, what is you doing?
- I wanna see how heavy this piano is.
Get up over there, Lymon.
Go on and leave that piano alone.
You ain't taking it and selling it.
Just as soon as I get them watermelons
off that truck.
I got something to say about that.
This my daddy's piano.
He ain't took it by himself.
Me and Doaker helped him.
He died by himself.
Where was you and Doaker at then?
Don't come telling me nothing
about this piano.
This me and Berniece's piano.
Am I right, Doaker?
Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah, you right.
Come on, Lymon.
Let's see if we can lift it up.
Get you a real good grip
and lift it up on your end. Come on.
- Ready?
- Ready.
Lift.
What you think?
It's heavy, but you can move it.
Only it ain't gonna be easy.
Wasn't that heavy to me.
Okay. Let's put it back.
Boy Willie,
you gonna play around with me
one too many times,
and then God gonna bless you,
and West gonna dress you.
Now set that piano back over there.
- I'm trying to get me some land, woman.
- Mm-hmm.
Wining Boy, you want me
to fry you up some pork chops?
It sound good to me.
See, now, I'm gonna tell you
the way I see it.
Papa Boy Charles brought that piano
into the house.
Now I'm supposed to build on
what they left me.
Can't do nothing with that piano,
letting it sit up there in the house.
That'd be like if I let them watermelons
sit out there and rot. I'd be a fool.
Okay, now, if you say to me,
"Boy Willie, I'm using that piano."
"I give out lessons on it.
That help me pay my rent."
Or whatever,
then that'd be something else.
I'd have to say,
"Well, Berniece using that piano."
"She building on it.
Let her go on and use it."
"I got to find another way
to get Sutter's land."
But Doaker say you ain't touched
that piano the whole time it's been here.
So why you wanna try and stand in my way?
See, you just looking
at the sentimental value.
See, that's good.
That's all right. I take my hat off
whenever somebody say my daddy's name.
But I ain't gonna be no fool
about no sentimental value.
You can sit up there
and look at that piano for 100 years.
It's just gonna be a piano.
You can't make more than that.
Now, I wanna get Sutter's land
with the piano.
I get Sutter's land, go down there
and cash the crop and get my seed.
See, as long as I got the land
and the seed, I'm all right.
I can always get me
a little something else.
The kind of man my daddy was,
he would've understood that.
Now, I'm sorry
you can't see it that way, Berniece,
but that's why I'm taking that piano
out of here and selling it.
Look at this piano.
Look at it.
Mama Ola polished this piano
with her tears
for 17 years.
For 17 years,
she rubbed on it till her hands bled.
Then she rubbed the blood in,
mixed it with the rest of the blood on it.
Every day,
God breathed life into her body.
She rubbed and cleaned
and polished and prayed over it.
"Play something for me, Berniece."
"Play something for me, Berniece."
"Play something for me, Berniece."
Every day.
"I cleaned it up for you.
Play something for me, Berniece."
You always talking about your daddy.
But you don't never stop to look at
what his foolishness cost your mama.
Seventeen years' worth
of cold nights in an empty bed. For what?
For a piano?
For a piece of wood?
To get even with somebody?
I look at you,
and you're all the same.
You, Papa Boy Charles,
Wining Boy, Doaker, Crawley.
Y'all alike.
All this thieving and killing.
Thieving and killing.
What it ever lead to?
More killing and more thieving.
I ain't never seen it come to nothing.
People getting burnt up.
People getting shot.
People falling down their wells.
It don't never stop!
Come on, now, Berniece.
Ain't no sense in getting upset.
I done a little bit of stealing
here and there,
but I ain't never killed nobody.
I can't be speaking for nobody else.
You you all got to speak for yourself.
But I ain't never killed nobody.
You killed Crawley
just as sure as if you pulled the trigger.
See, that's just ignorant.
That's downright foolish
for you to say something like that.
You ain't doing nothing
but showing your ignorance.
If the nigger was here, I'd whoop his ass
for getting me and Lymon shot at.
- Crawley ain't knew about that wood.
- We told the man about the wood!
Ask Lymon. He knew all about the wood.
He seen we was sneaking it.
Why else we gonna go out there at night?
Don't tell me
Crawley ain't knew about the wood.
Them fellas try to run us off it,
and Crawley tried to bully them.
Me and Lymon seen the sheriff with them.
We give in.
No sense getting killed over $50.
- Crawley ain't knew. You stole that wood!
- We ain't stole no wood.
We was hauling wood for Jim Miller
and keeping us a little bit on the side.
We dumped our little bit down by the creek
till we had enough to make a load.
Them fellas seen us. We figured
we better get it before they did.
We got Crawley to help us load it.
We figured we'd cut him in.
Crawley trying to keep the wolf
from his door. We was helping.
Me and Boy Willie
told him about the wood.
We told him some fellas
might be trying to beat us to it.
He said, "Whoa.
Let me go back, get my .38."
That's what caused the trouble.
If Crawley ain't had that gun,
he'd still be alive today.
We had it about half loaded
when they come up on us.
We seen the sheriff with 'em.
We we tried to get away.
We ducked round
near that bend in the creek,
but they was down there too.
Boy Willie say, "Let's give in,"
but Crawley pulled out his gun,
started shooting.
That's when they started shooting back.
Berniece.
All I know is Crawley would still be alive
if you hadn't come up there and got him.
I had nothing to do
with Crawley getting killed.
That was his own fault.
Crawley is dead and in the ground,
and you still walking around here eating.
That's all I know.
He went off to load some wood with you
and ain't never come back.
I told you, woman, I had nothing to do
with Crawley getting killed!
He ain't here, is he?
He ain't here, hmm?
- I told you I ain't responsible...
- I said he ain't here!
- I don't... Doaker, get her outta here.
- He ain't here, is he? Is he?
- He ain't here!
- I done told you
Easy. It's okay. It's okay.
Maretha scared
to sleep upstairs now.
Berniece don't know,
but I seen Sutter 'fore she did.
- Say what?
- Mm-hmm.
About three weeks ago.
I had just come back from down there.
Sutter couldn't have been dead
more than three days.
He was sitting over there at the piano.
I come out to go to work.
He's sitting right there.
He say anything?
He say he was looking for Boy Willie?
I ain't heard him say nothing.
He just sitting there.
I don't believe
Boy Willie pushed him in the well though.
Sutter here 'cause of that piano.
Berniece need to go on and sell it.
Ain't done nothing but cause trouble.
I don't... I agree with Berniece.
Boy Charles ain't took it to give it back.
He took it because he figured
he had more right to it than Sutter did.
If Sutter can't understand that,
that's just the way that go.
Sutter dead and in the ground.
Don't care where his ghost is.
He can hover around
and play on the piano all he want.
I wanna see him carry it out the house.
That's what I wanna see.
Two for a dollar.
Come on. Who wants some watermelon?
I'll take five.
- Two big watermelon coming to you.
- It's a boy. Congratulations.
- You picking the right ones, ain't you?
- We got two more coming. One second.
Watch out. That's heavy now. Be careful.
- There you go. Thank you.
- All right.
See, this is what we call salt.
Put that on that right there.
- Take a bite. What you think?
- Mmm!
One, two, three lovely ladies.
Yo, one lady asked me, "Is they sweet?"
I told her, "Lady,
where we grow these watermelons",
we put the sugar in the ground."
You know she believed me.
Talking about,
"I've never heard that before."
Look here, Lymon.
See this? Look at his eyes getting big.
He ain't never seen a suit like this.
This is 100% silk.
Go ahead. Put it on. See if it fit.
Ha ha!
Look at that. Feel it.
This is nice.
Feel real nice and smooth.
That's a $55 suit.
That's the kind of suit
the big shots wear.
You need a pistol and a pocketful of money
to wear that suit.
I'll let you have it for three dollars.
The women will fall out of their windows
they see you in a suit like that.
Give me three dollars,
and wear it down the street
and get you a woman.
Put the pants on.
Let me see it with the pants.
Look at that. See how it fit you?
Give me three dollars,
and go on and take it.
- Look at that, Doaker. Don't he look nice?
- Mm-hmm. That's a nice suit.
Got a shirt to go with it.
Cost you a dollar.
Four dollars, and you got the whole deal.
How this look, Boy Willie?
That look nice.
If you like that kind of thing.
That's the kind of suit you need
for up here in the North.
Four dollars for everything?
The suit and the shirt?
That's cheap.
- I should be charging you $20.
- Okay.
Oh.
- Here go the four dollars.
- Mm.
You got some shoes? What size you wear?
Size nine.
That's what size I got. Size nine.
I'll let you have 'em for three dollars.
- Where they at? Let me see 'em.
- Whoo! They some real nice shoes too.
They got a nice tip to 'em.
Got pointy toe just like you want.
Come on, Boy Willie. Let's go out tonight.
I wanna see what it look like up here.
Maybe we go to the picture show.
Hey, Doaker.
They got picture shows up here?
Yeah, the Rhumba Theater.
Down there on Fullerton Street.
Got a speaker on the sidewalk.
Can't miss it. Boy Willie know where.
Let's go to the picture show, Boy Willie.
Let's find some women.
Whoo! Size nine.
Cost you three dollars.
That's a Florsheim shoe.
That's the kind Stagger Lee wore.
Mm.
You sure these size nine?
You can look at my feet
and see we wear the same size.
Man, when you put on that suit
and them shoes,
you'll be the king of the walk.
I'll give you a break.
Go on and take 'em for two dollars.
Come on, Boy Willie.
Let's go find some women.
I'm gonna go upstairs and go get ready.
I'll be ready to go in a minute.
That's all Lymon think about is women.
His daddy was the same way.
I used to run around with him.
And I know his mama too.
Two strokes back,
and I would've been his daddy.
My name is Lucille.
Put that away, nigger.
And I'm travelin'
a very, very, very, very, very short way.
Aw, yeah, baby.
Something bubblin' in that pot
Dark-meat turkey, that's all we got
Put a little butter on that cornbread
Did you hear what I said?
Tell your brother get out that bed
Mama ain't raised no gumbo-head
Hey!
Aw, yeah, baby.
That what you want? Go ahead and get it.
No, come on.
Boxcar George in the house.
Hey!
Come on, Vinnie, on this piano.
Hey!
Oh yeah, you know.
We going downtown. Hey!
Why, hello, hello, beautiful.
Come on, let's dance.
Come on.
Yeah.
Hey, now!
Come on. Let's pray.
Now I lay me down to sleep
I pray the Lord my soul to keep
If I should die before I wake
I pray the Lord my soul to take
- God bless Doaker.
- God bless Doaker.
- God bless Avery.
- God bless Avery.
- God bless Wining Boy.
- God bless Wining Boy.
- God bless Boy Willie.
- God bless Boy Willie.
Come on.
- Who is it?
- It's it's me, Avery.
- Avery.
- Hey.
Come on in.
I was just finishing my bath.
Where Boy Willie?
That truck almost empty. They done sold
almost all all them watermelons, huh?
I don't know where they went off to.
They was gone when I come home.
Oh, what Mr. Cohen say
about letting you have the place?
Well, he say he'll let me have it
for $30 a month.
I talked him out of 35.
It's a nice spot,
next to Benny's diamond store.
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Berniece, uh
Just
Come on. You know, I
I be at home, and I I get to thinking.
You up here, and I'm down there,
and I get to thinking how that look
to have a preacher that ain't married.
I mean, it'd make
for a better congregation
if the if the preacher
was settled down and married.
- Avery.
- Hmm?
Not now.
Come on, Berniece.
You you know how I feel about you.
- Now, I done got the place from Mr. Cohen.
- Mm.
I get the money from the bank,
I I can fix it up real nice.
They give me a ten-cents-an-hour raise
down there on the job.
And you know me. I ain't got
I ain't got much in the way of comforts.
I got a hole in my pocket near about
as far as money is concerned.
But I ain't never
found my way through life
to a woman I cares about
like I cares about you, Berniece.
I need that.
Avery,
I ain't ready to get married now.
You too young a woman
to close up, Berniece.
I ain't said nothing about closing up.
I got a lot of woman left in me.
Well, where's it at?
When's the last time you looked at it?
That's a nasty thing to say.
And you call yourself a preacher.
Anytime I get anywhere near you,
it's like you push me away.
I got enough on my hands with Maretha.
I got enough people
to love and take care of.
Okay, well, who you got to love you?
Can't nobody get close enough to ya.
Doaker can't half say nothing to you.
You jump all over Boy Willie.
Who you got to love you, Berniece?
You trying to tell me
a woman can't be nothing without a man?
- Okay.
- But you all right, hmm?
You can just walk out of here without me,
without a woman, and still be a man.
That's all right.
Ain't nobody gonna ask you,
"Avery, who you got to love you?"
That's all right for you.
But everybody gonna be worried
about Berniece.
"How Berniece gonna take care of herself?
How she raise that child without a man?"
"Wonder what she do with herself.
How she gonna live like that?"
Everybody got all kinds of questions
for Berniece.
Telling me I can't be a woman
unless I got a man.
Well, you tell me, Avery. You know.
How much woman am I?
It wasn't me, Berniece.
You can't blame me for nobody else.
I ain't blaming nobody for nothing.
I'm just stating facts.
How long you gonna carry
Crawley with you, Berniece?
It's been over, what, three years?
At some point,
you gonna have to let go and go on.
Life got twists and turns.
That don't mean you stop living.
Crawley been dead three years, Berniece.
Three years!
I know how long Crawley been dead.
You ain't got to tell me.
I I just ain't ready
to get married right now.
Well, what is you ready for, Berniece?
You you just gonna drift along
from day to day?
Life's more than about just making it
from one day to another.
You gonna look up one day,
and it's all gonna be past you.
I'm standing here right now.
But I don't know how much longer
I'm gonna be waiting on you.
Avery, I told you.
When you get your church,
we can sit down and talk about this.
I got too many other things
to deal with right now.
Yeah.
Boy Willie and the piano
and Sutter's ghost.
I thought I might've
just been seeing things, but
Maretha done seen Sutter's ghost too.
When this happen, Berniece?
Right after I came home yesterday.
Maretha scared to sleep up there now.
Maybe if you bless the house,
he'll go away.
Oh, I I don't know, Berniece.
I don't know if I should be fooling around
with something like that now.
I can't have Maretha
scared to sleep up there.
Seem like you bless the house,
he would go away.
You might gotta be
a special kind of preacher
to do something like that.
I keep telling myself
when Boy Willie leave,
he'll go on and leave with him.
I believe Boy Willie
pushed him in the well.
No, that's been going on down there
for a long time.
Ghosts of the Yellow Dog
been pushing people in they wells
long before Boy Willie got grown.
Somebody down there
pushing them people in they wells.
They ain't just upped and fell.
What Doaker say
about Boy Willie selling that piano?
Doaker don't want no part of that piano.
He ain't never wanted no part of it.
He washed his hands of that piano
a long time ago.
He ain't want me to bring it up here,
but I wasn't gonna leave it down there.
When my mama died,
I shut the top on that piano,
and I ain't never opened it since.
I was only playing it for her.
When my daddy died, seem like
all her life went into that piano.
She used to
have me playing on it.
Say when I played it,
she could hear my daddy talking to her.
Berniece,
I cleaned it up for you. Play something.
I used to think them pictures
come alive and walk through the house.
It's time.
Sometimes, late at night,
I could hear my mama talking to 'em.
I said that wasn't gonna happen to me.
I don't play on that piano
'cause I don't wanna wake them spirits.
They never never be walking around
in this house.
You got to put all of that
behind you, Berniece.
It's the same thing like Crawley.
Everybody got stones in their passway.
You could walk in there right now
right now and play that piano.
You could walk over there right now,
and God is gonna walk over there
with you, Berniece.
You could set that sack of stones down
by the side of the road
and walk away from it.
Come on, Berniece.
Come on. Set it down
and walk away from it, Berniece.
Come on. Walk walk over here and claim it
as an instrument of the Lord, Berniece.
You can walk over here right now
and make it into a celebration.
Avery, I done told you
I don't play on that piano.
Now or no other time.
The Bible say,
"The Lord is my refuge and my strength."
With the strength of God,
you can put the past behind you, Berniece.
With the strength of God,
you can do anything.
God don't ask you what you done.
God ask you what you gonna do.
And all you got to do
is walk over here right now and claim it.
Come on, Berniece.
Come on.
That's it.
Avery,
just
go on
and let me finish my bath.
I'll see you tomorrow.
Okay, Berniece.
Okay, I'm gonna go home.
I I'm gonna go home
and I'm gonna read up on my Bible.
And tomorrow
If the good Lord
give me strength tomorrow,
I'm gonna come by here,
and I'm gonna bless this house.
I'm gonna show you the power of the Lord.
Don't you feel my leg
Don't you feel my leg
'Cause if you feel my leg
You'll wanna feel my thigh
And if you feel my thigh
You'll wanna go up high
So don't you feel my leg
We don't need no bed, woman.
My granddaddy used to take women
on the backs of horses.
Oh, you sure is country.
I didn't know you was this country.
by surprise
You're gonna make me
- Lymon?
- Hey, Grace!
- You been a good friend to me.
- Come here.
- Mm-hmm.
- Well, come on.
I need to meet
more people like you.
You know red
my favorite color. Come on.
- Mm. It's empty.
- Mm-hmm.
Thank you.
You don't need to be out there
in them saloons.
Ain't no telling
what you liable to run into.
This one liable to cut you
as quick as this one shoot you.
You start out that fast life,
you can't keep it up.
Make you old quick.
I don't know what them women out there
be thinking about.
Mostly, they be lonely.
Looking for somebody
to spend the night with 'em.
Sometimes it matters who it is.
Sometimes it don't.
I used to be the same way.
Now,
it got to matter.
That's why I'm here now.
I like my women to be with me in a nice
and easy way.
That way, we can both enjoy ourselves.
We we got to see how we fit together.
A woman that don't wanna take the time
to do that, I don't bother with.
Used to.
Used to bother with all of 'em.
Avery's nice.
You ought to go ahead and get married.
You be a preacher's wife,
you won't have to work.
I hate living by myself.
I ain't wanna be no strain on my mama,
so I left home when I was about
Everything I tried seem like
it just didn't work out.
You keep trying.
It'll work out for you.
Mm.
It's getting kinda late.
I don't know where Boy Willie went off to.
I'm gonna take off these shoes.
My feet hurt.
Was you in bed?
I don't mean to be keeping you up.
You ain't keeping me up.
I won't be able to sleep anyway.
You got on that nightgown.
I likes when women wear
them fancy nightclothes and all.
It makes they skin look real pretty.
I got this at the five-and-ten-cent store.
It ain't so fancy.
Well
I'mma sleep here on the couch.
I'm supposed to sleep on the floor, but
I don't reckon Boy Willie's
coming back tonight.
Wining Boy, he sold me this suit.
Told me
it was a magic suit.
Almost forgot I had this.
Some man sold me this for a dollar.
This the same kind of perfume
the queen of France wear.
That's what he told me.
I don't know if it's true or not,
but I smelled it.
Smelled good to me.
Here. Smell it.
See if you like it.
Smells nice.
Go on.
- You take it.
- I can't take it.
Here. You keep it.
You'll find somebody else to give it to.
No, I wanna give it to you.
Make you smell nice.
They tell me you supposed to
put it
right right here.
Behind your ear.
If you put it there
you you smell nice all day.
There. You smell real good now.
You smell real good for Lymon.
Focus. Hey. Eye contact.
Look at your target. There you go. Turn.
There you go.
There you go.
I'll get you another. Come on.
After that,
all them white folks down around there
started falling down they wells.
Now, you ever seen a well?
No.
A well got a wall around it. Do it again.
It's hard to fall down a well.
- Wrist, wrist, wrist.
- That's the wrong one.
That's the wrong one.
This one. Look. There you go.
Couldn't nobody figure out too much
what was making all them fellas
fall down they wells.
So everybody say
Ghosts of the Yellow Dog pushed 'em.
Anybody ever see the ghost?
I told you they like the wind.
- Can you see the wind?
- No.
They like the wind.
You can't see 'em,
but sometimes, you be in trouble,
they might be around to help you.
They say if you go to where
the Southern cross the Yellow Dog
you go down there to where
them two railroads cross each other,
call out their names.
They say they talk back to you!
Now, I don't know.
I ain't never done that.
Maretha, go on and get ready
for me to do your hair. Go on.
Mama,
all the hair grease is gone.
Here. Run across the street
and get another can.
And you come straight back too.
Don't be playing around out there.
Watch the cars.
Be careful when you cross the street.
I done told you to leave my house.
Well, I ain't in your house.
I'm in Doaker's house.
Doaker! Tell him to leave.
Tell him to go on.
Boy Willie ain't done nothing
for me to put him out the house.
Now, I done told y'all,
if you can't get along,
just don't have nothing
to do with one another.
There. Now I'm out your part of the house.
Consider me done left your part.
Soon as Lymon get back with that rope,
I'm carrying that piano out of here.
- I got something to make you leave it.
- Got to come better than this .32-20.
Why don't y'all stop that?
Boy Willie, go on and leave her alone.
Why you got to stand there
and pick with her?
I ain't picking with her.
I told her the truth.
She the one talking about what she got.
I just told her what she better have.
That's why I don't talk to him.
That's the only kind of stuff
that come out his mouth.
You say Avery went home to get his Bible?
What Avery gonna do?
Can't do nothing with me.
I wish Avery would try to tell me
about this piano.
Worrying about me.
Should be worrying about that church.
Come on. Light that stove
and set that comb over there to get hot.
- I will say this for Avery.
- Get something for your shoulders.
He done figured out a path through life.
I don't agree with it, but he fixed it
the way he can go through it real smooth.
He liable to end up with a million dollars
he got from selling bread and wine.
- Ow!
- Be still, Maretha.
If you was a boy,
I wouldn't be going through all this.
- Don't you tell that girl that.
- You got nothing to do with this child.
Telling Maretha you wish she was a boy.
How you think that make her feel?
Boy Willie, go on and leave me alone.
Why don't you leave her alone?
What you got to pick with her for?
Why don't you go on out here
and see what's out here in these streets?
- Have something to tell down home.
- I'm waiting on Lymon to get back.
Why don't you go out there
and see what's in the streets?
You ain't got to work tomorrow.
I gotta stay right here.
Make sure y'all don't kill one another.
You ought to be talking to Berniece.
Telling Maretha she wish she was a boy.
What kind of thing is that
to say to a child?
If you gonna tell her something,
tell her about that piano.
You ain't even told her.
Like that's something to be ashamed of.
Let me take care of my child.
When you get one,
you can teach it what you want.
Why I wanna bring a child into this world?
Why I wanna bring somebody else
into all this for?
I tell you this.
If I was Rockefeller,
I'd have 40 or 50.
I'd make one every day
'cause they gonna start out in life
with all the advantages.
I ain't got no advantages to offer nobody.
Many is the time I looked at my daddy,
seen him staring off at his hands.
I got older, I know what he was thinking.
He was sitting there saying,
"I got these big old hands,
but what I'm gonna do with 'em?"
"Got these big old hands
capable of doing anything."
"I could take and build something
with these hands,
but where's the tools?"
"All I got is these hands."
Now, if he had his own land, Berniece,
he wouldn't have felt that way.
If he had something
If he had something under his feet
that belonged to him,
he could stand up taller.
That's what I'm talking about.
Ain't no mystery to life.
You go out and meet it square on.
If you teach that girl
that she living at the bottom of life,
she gonna hate you.
I'm gonna teach her the truth.
It's just where she living.
Only she ain't got to stay there.
Turn your head over to the other side.
That might be your bottom,
but it ain't mine.
I'm living at the top of life.
I ain't gonna take my life
and throw it away at the bottom.
I'm in the world like everybody else.
The way I see it, everybody else
gotta come up a little to be where I am.
You right at the bottom
with the rest of us.
If you believe that,
you'll act that way.
If you act that way,
that's where you'll be.
Doaker, Berniece say all colored folks
living at the bottom of life.
I tell her she think that,
that's where she gonna be.
You living at the bottom of life?
Is that how you see yourself?
I'm just living the best way I know how.
Ain't thinking about no top or no bottom.
That's what
I tried to tell Berniece.
I don't know where she got that from.
Sound like something Avery would say.
Avery think 'cause the white man
give him a turkey for Thanksgiving,
that make him better than everybody else.
That gonna raise him up
out the bottom of life.
I don't need nobody to give me a turkey.
I can get my own turkey.
All you got to do is get out of my way.
I'll get me two or three turkeys.
You can't even get a chicken,
let alone two or three turkeys.
Talking about get out your way.
Ain't nobody in your way.
Straighten your head up, Maretha.
Don't be bending down like that.
You hold your head up.
All you ever had going for you is talk.
Your whole life,
that's all you ever had going for you.
I'm gonna tell you something about me.
I was born to a time of fire.
The world ain't wanted no part of me,
and I could see that
ever since I was about seven.
The world say it's better off without me.
See, Berniece accept that.
She trying to prove something
to the world.
The world a better place 'cause of me.
I don't see it like Berniece.
I got a heart that beats.
It beats just as loud as the next fella's.
Don't care if he Black or white.
Sometimes it beats louder.
And when it beats louder,
then everybody can hear it.
Some people get scared of that.
Like Berniece.
Some people get scared
to hear a nigger's heart beating.
But my mama ain't birth me for nothing.
So what I got to do?
Gotta make my mark along the road,
like when when you write on a tree.
"Boy Willie was here."
That's all I'm trying to do
with that piano.
Trying to make my mark along the road
like like my daddy done.
Other than that, I ain't thinking
about nothing Berniece got to say.
Where you been, nigger?
Oh, I thought you was Lymon.
- Hey, Berniece, look who's here.
- Come on in, Avery. Have a seat.
Don't pay neither of them no mind.
They been fussing all day.
Here, set that comb back
over on that stove.
Berniece said you was coming by
to bless the house.
Yeah, I done read up on my Bible.
She asked me to see about
getting rid of Sutter's ghost.
Ain't no ghost in this house.
That's all in Berniece's head.
Let her find that out.
If blessing the house gonna make her
feel better, what it got to do with you?
Berniece say Maretha seen him too.
I don't know, but I found
a part in the Bible to bless this house.
If he here,
then that ought to make him go away.
You worse than Berniece
believing that stuff.
Talking about if he here.
Go on up there and find out.
I've been up there, and I ain't seen him.
If you say that Bible will make the man
leave her imagination, you might be right.
- But if...
- Boy Willie, why don't you be quiet?
Getting in the man's business.
This got nothing to do with you.
Let him do what he gonna do.
I ain't stopping him.
Avery ain't got power to do nothing.
I ain't got no power, Boy Willie.
God got the power.
God got power
over everything in his creation.
God can do anything. God say,
"As I commandeth, so shall it be."
God said, "Let there be light,"
and there was light.
He made the world in six days,
and he rested on the seventh.
God's got a wonderful power.
God got power over life and death.
I ain't afraid of him chasing away
no little old ghost.
Where you been? I been waiting on you.
You run off somewhere.
I ran into Grace.
I ain't thinking about
no Grace nothing.
Hi, Berniece.
Lymon, give me that rope,
get on the other side of the piano.
Now, Boy Willie, don't start nothing now.
Leave that piano alone.
Watch that board, Lymon.
Stay out of this, Doaker.
You can't just take the piano.
How you gonna just take the piano?
Berniece ain't said nothing
about selling that piano.
She ain't got to. Come on, Lymon.
We got to lift one end at a time.
- What we gonna do with the rope?
- Just get on the other side.
Boy Willie... Berniece.
Boy Willie,
you sure you wanna do this?
Oh, Berniece, Boy Willie,
y'all ought to sit down and talk this out.
Ain't nothing to talk out.
I'm through talking to Berniece.
Come on, Lymon.
Maretha, get on out the way.
Get her out the way, Doaker!
Come on. Come on.
Go and do like your mama said.
Man, these niggers round here!
I stopped down there at Seefus.
These folks jumping back
and getting off the sidewalk
talking about a Patchneck Red's coming.
Come to find out,
you know who they was talking about?
Old John D. from up around Tyler.
He got everybody scared of him.
Calling him Patchneck Red.
They don't know
I whupped the nigger's head in one time.
Make sure
that board don't slide, Lymon.
Hey, Boy Willie, what you got?
I know you got a pint
stuck up in your coat.
Get out the way, Wining Boy.
Hey, Doaker, what you got?
Give me a drink. I want a drink.
It look like you done had enough
of whatever it was.
Talking about "What you got?"
Find somewhere to lay down.
I ain't worried
about no place to lie down.
I can always find me a place to lay down
in Berniece's house.
Ain't that right, Berniece?
Wining Boy, go sit down somewhere.
You been drinking all day.
Come in here smelling like an old polecat.
You know Berniece don't like
all that drinking.
I ain't disrespecting Berniece.
Berniece, am I disrespecting you?
I'm just trying to be nice.
I been with strangers all day,
and they treated me like family.
I come in here to family,
you treat me like a stranger.
I don't need your whiskey.
I can buy my own.
I wanted your company, not your whiskey.
Go upstairs and lay down.
You don't need nothing else to drink.
I ain't thinking about no laying down!
Me and Boy Willie fixing to party.
Ain't that right, Boy Willie?
Tell 'em.
I'm fixing to play me some piano.
Watch this.
Come on. Me and Lymon
fixing to move the piano.
- No, no. You ain't moving this piano.
- Get out the way, Wining Boy.
You ain't taking this piano
out the house. You got to take me with it!
Get out the way, Wining Boy.
Doaker, get him.
Wait a minute. Wait a minute.
This a song I wrote for Cleotha.
I wrote this song in her memory.
Hey, little woman
What's the matter with you now?
Had a storm last night
Blowed the line all down
Tell me how long
Is I got to wait?
Can I get it now
Or must I hesitate?
It takes a hesitating stocking
In her hesitating shoe
Takes a hesitating woman
Wanna sing the blues
Hey, Doaker, did you feel that?
Hey, Berniece, did you get cold?
- Hey, Doaker...
- What you calling me for?
I believe that's Sutter.
Avery. Go on and bless the house.
You need to bless that piano
if you're gonna bless anything.
It ain't done nothing but cause trouble.
You gonna bless anything,
go on and bless that.
Doaker, if he wanna bless something,
let him bless everything.
The kitchen, the upstairs.
Berniece, put me some water
in this bottle.
Hold this candle.
Whatever you do,
you be sure this don't go out.
Maretha, stay here.
Holy Father
we gather here this evening
in the Holy Name
to cast out the spirit
of one James Sutter.
Yes.
May this vial of water
be empowered with thy spirit, Father God.
May it be a weapon and a shield
against the presence of all evil, Father.
May it be a cleansing and a blessing
upon this humble abode.
Where there is good,
so shall evil be scattered
to the four winds.
Get thee behind me, Satan.
Get thee behind the face of righteousness
as we glorify your Holy Name.
- Yes.
- Oh, yes. Yes, God.
We we feel your presence, Father.
We we honor your presence, God.
- Mm-hmm
- We we thank you, Father.
We we feel your presence
in this space, Father God.
- Yes, we thank you.
- Yes.
And bless this house.
Get thee behind the the hammer of truth
as it breaketh down
the wall of falsehood, Father God.
- We thank you...
- All this old preaching stuff.
Hell, just tell him to leave.
I will sprinkle clean water upon you,
and ye shall be clean
from all your your filthiness.
And from all your idols
will I I cleanse you.
A new heart will I give you.
- I will give you a heart of flesh.
- Come on, Sutter.
- I will put my spirit
- Come on, Sutter.
- and cause you to
- Come on, Sutter!
- walk in my statutes.
- Sutter!
Ye shall keep my judgments
Come get some of this water.
You done already fell down the well.
- Come get some of this water. Baby.
- I will put my spirit within you.
- I will cause you to walk in my statutes.
- Come on, Sutter!
Come on, Sutter! Come on, Sutter!
Come on, Sutter. Come on.
and ye shall be clean
from all of your filthiness.
And from all of your idols
will I cleanse you.
- A new heart will I
- Come get some more of this water.
- Come on, Sutter.
- I will sprinkle clean water upon you.
- Come get some of this water.
- Ye shall be clean.
From all of your filthiness
and from all of your idols
will I cleanse you.
- Come on, Sutter!
- I God above
Oh, Father God. Father God.
Whoa! Whoa, whoa.
I will sprinkle clean water upon you,
and ye shall be clean.
From all your filthiness
and all your idols will I cleanse you.
Boy Willie.
Boy Willie. Boy Willie.
Sutter!
I will I will I will
I will sprinkle clean water upon you,
and I will, uh, cleanse you
from all your idols.
And I will cleanse you.
I will put a new heart
Sutter!
Sutter!
walk in my statutes,
and ye shall keep my judgments,
and ye shall do them.
I will sprinkle clean water clean water
upon you, and ye shall be clean.
From all of your uncleanliness
and all of your idols will I cleanse you.
A new heart will I give you, and a new s...
Oh, Father.
We call on you, Father.
- Yes.
- We call on you!
Sutter!
I I I will
- Mama! Mama!
- I will cause you to walk
walk in my statutes,
and ye shall keep my judgments,
and ye shall do them.
I will sprinkle clean water upon you,
and ye shall be clean.
Sutter!
- From all of your idols, I I
- Yes.
I will take away the stony heart
out of your flesh,
and I will give you a heart of flesh.
I will put my spirit within you,
and I will cause you to walk
walk in my statutes
and ye shall keep my judgments,
and you shall do them.
I will cause you to
Berniece, I
I can't do it, Berniece.
Berniece, I can't do it.
I can't I
I can't I can't.
Go on, Berniece.
Go on, Berniece.
Oh God! We praise you.
Oh, Father God, we praise your name.
We bind you, Satan.
Call on 'em, Berniece.
Call on ' em.
I want you to help me.
I want you to help me.
I want you to help me.
I want you to help me.
I want you to help me, Mama Berniece.
I want you to help me.
I want you to help me, Mama Esther.
I want you to help me.
I want you to help me, Papa Boy Charles.
I want you to help me.
I want you to help me, Mama Ola.
I want you to help me.
I want you to help me.
I want you to help me.
I want you to help me.
I want you to help me.
I want you to help me,
Mama Berniece.
I want you to help me.
I want you to help me, Mama Esther.
I want you to help me.
I want you to help me, Papa Boy Charles.
I want you to help me.
I want you to help me, Mama Ola.
I want you to help me.
I want you to help me.
I want you to help me.
I want you to help me.
I want you to help me.
I want you to help me.
I want you to help me.
Yes.
Ah, yes!
I want you to help me, Mama Berniece.
I want you to help me.
I want you to help me, Mama Esther.
I want you to help me.
I want you to help me, Papa Boy Charles.
I want you to help me.
I want you to help me, Mama Ola.
I want you to help me.
I want you to help me.
I want you to help me.
I want you to help me.
I want you to help me.
I want you to help me.
I want you to help me.
I want you to help me, Mama Berniece.
I want you to help me.
I want you to help me, Mama Esther.
I want you to help me.
I want you to help me, Papa Boy Charles.
I want you to help me.
I want you to help me, Mama Ola.
I want you to help me.
I want you to help me.
I want you to help me.
I want you to help me.
I want you to help me.
I want you to help me!
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Berniece
if you and Maretha
don't keep playing on that piano,
ain't no telling
me and Sutter both liable to come back.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Girl,
stop banging on that piano.
I'm practicing.
- Well, then play it.
- Like this?
Oh.
Well, there you go, baby.
Ooh!
And who taught you how to play that?
Mm-hmm.
Over where the trees burn down
The place where the fields
Went down in flames
We could put a hole in the ground
Throw seeds and dance for rain
It takes a mind to worry
A conscience to feel ashamed
But there's no place to hide out here
These skies are filled with planes
And both our hands are filthy
Pointing up at the moon
All tonight, I hold you close
Close enough to bruise
Hope a garden grows
Where we dance this afternoon
Hope our children walk by spring
When flowers bloom
Hope they'll get to see my color
Know that I've enjoyed sunshine
Pray they'll get to see me
Me wither
See me wither
When I was young
Know that
Me
Enjoyed sunshine
When I was young
You know it happens all
Me
Know that I've enjoyed sunshine
Me
When I was young
Me
All the time
Me
You know it happens all...
Me
All the time
Me
Me
Me
I hear these women ravin'
'Bout they monkey men
About their triflin' husbands
And their no-good friends
These poor women
Sit around all day and moan
Wondering why, they're wondering why
Their wandering papas don't come home
But wild women don't worry
Wild women don't have no blues
I guess.
Now when you've got a man
Don't never be on the square
'Cause if you do
He'll have a woman everywhere
I never was known
To treat no one man right
I keep 'em working hard
Both day and in the night
'Cause wild women don't worry
Wild women don't have no blues
I guess.
Now I'm tired of singing.
Come on, bass.
Now, I'mma go back to the top.
That first verse.
But I just want it to be me
and the piano right now.
I hear these women ravin'
'Bout they monkey men
About their triflin' husbands
And their no-good friends
These poor women
Sit around all day and moan and moan
Wondering why their wandering papas
Do not come home
But wild women don't worry
'Cause wild women don't have no blues
Everybody come on back in.
Now when you've got a man
Don't never be on the square
'Cause if you do
He'll have women everywhere
Wild, wild women don't worry
Wild women don't have no blues
Let's do it the same way.
Let's do that one more time.
Just like that.
'Cause wild women don't worry
Ain't worried 'bout you
I've got a disposition
And a way of my own
When my man starts kicking
I let him find another home
Go
I'm wild, and I don't worry
I ain't got no blues
I say wild women don't worry
Wild women don't got no blues
- I like that cha-cha.
- Say what?