Convicts Page #6

- I am.

Jackson, come here.

Sit down there.

What was my mama's name?

Any you all remember?

No, sir.

No, sir.

I think it was Erna.

She died when I was born.

My daddy raised me

and my two brothers.

It was my daddy's

idea to get convicts.

We tried after slavery

to have tenants out here.

We had 300 at one time

living on the place.

But we had a series of bad crop years

and we all nearly starved. So papa said...

"Get rid of the tenants

and hire yourself convicts."

And I did.

Now where is my mama buried?

Is she buried out here?

I don't know, sir.

I don't think she is.

I think one of them

convicts got loose...

and took a club, clubbed her to death

and burned her body up in the house.

The house we used to live

in burned to the ground.

That's why we never had

a picture of my mama.

'Cause all her letters and

pictures were burned in the fire.

Except this one.

Could somebody please tell

me where my mama's buried?

I don't know.

What's the boy's name?

Horace, sir.

Horace, come here to me. Come here.

Sit down here.

When I was your age...

this was all dense forest.

So thick a man or boy couldn't

get through without a cane knife...

to cut his way through, you see.

Besides the forest, there's something

out here I've seen no other place.

Miles of cane.

Cane that grew 10 and 12 feet high.

And so thick, you couldn't make

your way through without a knife.

And a cold spell would come...

kill the cane and it would lie rotting

on the ground until the spring...

and then a new crop would start up.

That's why they call this Cane Land.

- Did you know that?

- No, sir.

- Did you know that, Jackson?

- Yes, sir.

- Do you know any songs, Jackson?

- Yes, sir. I know some.

Do you know Golden Slippers?

- That's what I been humming.

- Get up here and sing it.

Golden slippers, golden slippers

Oh, them golden slippers

Oh, golden slippers Golden slippers

I don't remember the rest

of it. I know some hymns.

Don't sing them around

me. I can't bear.

Yes, sir.

And another thing. If I die, I

don't want any preacher near me.

Yes, sir. But who gonna pray over

you if you don't have a preacher?

I don't want anybody praying over me.

And I don't want my brother

here or any of his children.

Who you want then?

Just you and Ben and Martha.

And this boy here. And Sarah.

- Sarah can't be there.

- Why?

She's dead.

Don't you want any white

people there except Horace?

- Is the Overseer white?

- Yeah.

- And the two guards?

- Yeah.

They can come.

It'll not be much of a funeral.

You won't have a preacher...

you don't like hymns, what

kind of funeral will it be?

It's the kind I want.

Now go see how they getting

along with my coffin. Go on.

Yes, sir.

- That coffin about ready?

- Almost.

Did you know that boy Mr.

Albert Thornton brought out here?

Yes, sir.

- It was me.

- Was it?

- Yes, sir.

- You're the one whose daddy died?

My daddy's dead, too. Stroke.

He got so mad at them

convicts he had a stroke.

Fell over dead.

You think them bastards would

call out and tell us? No.

They went on working, left him lying

dead there in the cotton fields.

My daddy was 84 when he died.

How old was your daddy?

He was just 32.

Well, we all have to go sometime.

Is it daylight yet?

No, sir.

What time is it?

I don't know, sir.

I got a watch. Look and see there.

It says it's 11:
00 p. m.

I think it's later than that, though.

Get out of the damn chair.

You hear something in

that closet in there?

- No, sir.

- I did.

Come out of there,

you son of a b*tch.

You hear me? Give

you one more chance.

- You got a gun?

- No, sir.

What'll protect us now?

I need bullets for my gun.

Got your coffin.

Where do you want it?

Put it down here. Right here.

Jackson says that you worried

about this being mere cypress wood.

Well, it's made of

cypress wood all right.

Grab hold of the top of it, Jackson.

- Let me try it out, see if it fits.

- It's bound to fit.

Let me be the judge of that, Jackson.

My Confederate coat. Hold it.

Help me in there.

- Don't you want your trousers, too?

- No.

- Horace, you got a chew of tobacco?

- Sure.

I learned a long time ago.

Wait for your pillow.

Here. I got a knife.

- So what?

- Thanks.

You know the convict

that died last night?

The one that said he was too sick to

work? I guess he was telling the truth.

Was his name Sherman Edwards?

That's his name. Just

finished burying him.

Mr. Soll gone to

sleep in that coffin.

Maybe he's dead.

No, he just asleep.

He had a lot to drink, you know.

Well, I'm gonna go.

I'm wore out.

- Did you know Sherman Edwards?

- Sure. I know them all.

Ain't you sleepy?

Yes, I am.

Mr. Soll, can the boy

go on to sleep now?

You better come on back up here.

Mr. Soll is dead in his coffin.

He was all alone in

his coffin when he died.

He was. He better get used

to being alone in there.

He gonna be alone in

there for a long time.

- He dead. Old devil is dead.

- Is he?

He sure is. He gone.

I'm gonna have to go

get word to Miss Asa.

But he say he don't

want her at the funeral.

Nor his brother.

And he don't want a

preacher. Give me a hand here.

You gonna be the

one to tell her that?

Not me. I'm scared of her.

- I wonder what will happen to me.

- What do you mean?

I was paroled to him. They can

send me back to the pen now.

- Why don't you take off?

- Where am I gonna go?

I'm too old to run.

He was right and I was wrong.

He said he was gonna die and he did.

What time do you think

we ought to bury him?

I guess as soon as it's daylight.

Can't have much of a funeral cause he

don't want no hymns and no preacher.

I can say the Lord's Prayer.

- He didn't say I couldn't do that.

- No.

And you could testify.

- He didn't say you couldn't do that.

- No.

I could say that he always

worked hard. I can say that.

And I could say he let me be

a trustee. I could say that.

And he drank a lot of whiskey.

- You hear something?

- That was rats, I think.

This old house full of rats.

I heard something...

in that coffin.

Oh, my God. He's risen from the dead.

- We thought you was dead.

- I wasn't dead. I wasn't.

Maybe you thought I

was. I'm not dead yet.

Hand me my gun.

Sherman Edwards is dead.

Who the hell is Sherman Edwards?

Brother of that convict

got his throat cut.

- Somebody kill him?

- No, sir. He just died.

He told you he was too sick to

work, but you wouldn't believe him.

- Who buried him?

- I did. I bury them all.

- You thought you were going to bury me.

- Yes, sir. I did.

You think I was dead? I wasn't dead.

I'm never gonna die.

Tell them to take that

damn coffin out of here.

I changed my mind about

dying. Take it out.

Yes, sir.

I knew he wasn't dead.

I might outlive all of them people.

Asa and my devilish brother.

Ben and Jackson. All the damn

convicts. I might outlive them all.

- How old are you?

- Thirteen.

Maybe I ain't gonna outlive you.

Let me look at you.

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