Convicts

Don't let him get away.

Come on.

- Here. Come on now.

- Move it!

Martha.

- Are you awake?

- I am now.

You hear them hounds?

They're running after that

convict that's trying to get away.

Reckon so.

Keep going, fellas!

Move it out, god damn it.

Hold on.

Move!

Come on, y'all.

God damn it! Move it out! I

don't want to lose that thing.

Come on now. Let's get him!

Ben.

- They're shooting.

- I hear them.

- You think they killed him?

- God knows.

It's quiet now. Go back to sleep.

Asa, why aren't those convicts

out in the field working?

God only knows.

We'll head back to town as

soon as we finish up here.

- Give me a drink of that whiskey.

- As soon as I've finished.

Before we go back to town, I have

to stop by my papa's plantation.

What for?

I like to check on things

out there when he's gone.

- Look at that guard over there.

- What's going on around here?

I expect we'll be coming out here

before too long for Uncle Soll's funeral.

Well, the old buzzard can't

last many more Christmases.

Well, you've been saying that

for the last five Christmases.

I'll go see if he's inside.

Don't be long.

Mr. Soll.

Nowhere around.

Goddamn Christmas will

be ruined for sure now.

I'll be right out.

Hurry up now.

- Martha.

- Good morning, Mr. Billy.

- Where is Horace?

- He's gone fishing.

- Where is Mr. Soll?

- He's around someplace.

He sent for the sheriff.

One of them convicts killed

another one and run off.

They got the rest locked

up there in the quarters...

to keep them from fighting

amongst themselves.

Is that why it's so quiet around

here? No one out in the fields.

I thought maybe he gave the convicts

the day off because of Christmas Eve.

You know Mr. Soll don't

give nobody no time off.

He'll work them Christmas

Day, too. Always has.

The only reason that they

ain't out in the fields now...

is so the trouble won't spread.

Oh, my God. I don't know what

Horace's people are thinking about...

letting him work out in

this godforsaken place.

Would you go see if

you could find him?

Yes, sir.

Martha, where the hell are you going?

- Trying to find Horace.

- What?

- You seen Horace?

- Not for a spell.

If you see him, tell him Mr. Billy Vaughn

is looking for him up there at the store.

You all right?

I can't find him. Ben

hasn't seen him either.

- Give me some more whiskey.

- That's all I have.

I'm going up to Uncle

Soll's and get me some more.

Horace, where you been?

I been down to the field where

they found the dead convict.

Well, Mr. Billy wants you to

go into Harrison for Christmas.

I won't leave until

Mr. Soll gets back.

He told me yesterday

that he'd pay me today.

And he told you the day before

that he'd pay you yesterday.

- Did he do it?

- No.

I wouldn't be wasting my breath

waiting on him to pay you today.

I don't want to go

until I get my money.

There's still no tombstone

on my daddy's grave...

and I want to make a

down payment on one.

It worries me to death that there's

still no tombstone on my daddy's grave.

- How much do you think one'd cost me?

- I don't know.

Ain't your folks gonna be angry if

you don't get home for Christmas Day?

- My folks don't care what I do.

- Yes, they do.

- Sure they do.

- No, they don't.

My daddy cared, but he's dead.

I saw the grave they buried

the murdered convict in.

They got no marker on

it. What was his name?

I don't know what his name is. I

don't be studying them convicts.

Horace!

Coming, Ben.

I'm tired of waiting here. Take

the gun and watch him for a spell...

while I go inside. It won't be long.

Stay way over here out

the reach of his chain.

Whatever you do, don't let

him get a hold of that gun.

I won't.

What was the name of the

convict that was killed?

- I don't know.

- Think he knows?

I don't know.

Was there any prayers

said over his grave?

No, now you know Mr. Soll.

He ain't gonna have no prayer

said over no dead convict's grave.

Who'll say them? Mr. Soll?

Ain't no preacher out

here. Nobody but Mr. Soll...

and the Overseer and the guards

and you and me and the convicts.

You been out here a

long time, haven't you?

I was born out here.

Right at the end of slavery time.

My mama and papa are buried out here.

Our cabin used to

be right over yonder.

My mama and papa stayed on to work

for wages after the slavery time.

A lot of the old folks did.

When they commenced to die off...

Mr. Soll brought in the

convicts to work the place.

Can I talk to the convict?

I guess you can. He may

not want to talk to you.

Well, they chain us together

And we started cutting cane

I wish you were here Way back then...

Good morning, convicts.

I said good morning, god damn it.

Did any of you see Nancy?

I been looking all over this

damn plantation. I can't find her.

I wonder where the

hell she's gone to.

I been looking all morning.

Hey, convict...

you want a chew of tobacco?

Convict, you asleep?

If you're asleep, I won't bother you.

I ain't asleep.

It's too cold on this

ground to go to sleep.

- You want a chew of tobacco?

- Pass it along.

Throw me a knife.

I ain't got nothing to cut it with.

You'll have to bite it off.

I can't give you a knife.

My name's Horace. What's yours?

Leroy Kendricks.

A lot of Kendricks down in Kendleton.

Ever been to Kendleton?

No...

I don't even know where it's at.

Everyone that lives there is colored.

I still ain't never been.

Where do you come from?

I come from down round Louisiana.

How'd you get up here?

I got into a fight with a man.

Cut him.

Anyway, they sentenced me to Retrieve

Prison Plantation on the Coast.

That's the worst place

I ever been in my life.

I heard that you could hire off to

work on plantations around here...

you know, to work out your fine.

So I asked them if I

could work out my fine.

And they sent me here.

Well, I hope Mr. Soll pays you.

How much is your fine?

About $500.

They pay me $7 a month or they pay

the State for me to pay off my fine.

- How long you been here?

- About a year.

How long are you gonna have to work

at $7 a month to pay off your fine?

- I don't know. They didn't tell me.

- Didn't you figure it out?

Figure it out?

How am I supposed to figure it out?

- Just figure it out.

- I don't know how.

- Didn't you go to school?

- No.

I ain't never been to no school.

Never?

No.

I'm doing some figuring in my head.

Comes to almost six

years to pay off $500.

- It's gonna be more than that now.

- What do you mean?

I done killed me a man now.

What was his name?

Jesse.

Jesse what?

Jesse Wilkes.

Got a brother here, too.

Brother say that he gonna kill me

if the white sheriff don't kill me.

Are you scared of him?

- No.

- What's his name?

Name is Sherman.

Sherman Edwards.

How can they be brothers if

one's Edwards and one's Wilkes?

They got the same mama, but

they got a different daddy.

- He got a white man for a Daddy.

- Who does?

Sherman Edwards.

See, now that's why he's so

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