Convicts Page #7

I never married. I didn't have

no children I know of anyways.

- You got a daddy?

- No, sir.

- What happened to him?

- He died.

- You an orphan?

- No, sir. I have a mama.

Where the hell is she?

She's in Houston.

Be my boy.

A desert born.

One minute I think I'm gonna live.

The next minute, I'm gonna die.

Come closer to me now. Come here.

I got money.

Hidden in the back of

that closet in a suitcase.

Now go get it for me so I

can pay you what I owe you.

Reward you handsomely besides

for your kindness to an old man.

Which one?

The small one.

Bring it here.

- How much money you think I have here?

- I don't know, sir.

More than $10,000 last I

counted and you're to get half.

Now reach in there

and hand me the money.

There's no money in here, sir.

Don't lie to me, boy.

Don't try to fool me.

- I'm not lying to you, sir.

- Hand me that goddamn suitcase.

My God, I've been robbed.

Call Ben. Call Jackson.

Call the goddamn Overseer.

I want all of them

goddamn convicts searched.

Someone's robbed me of my

money. Come here! Boy, come here!

Don't leave me. Don't ever leave me.

I don't care about the goddamn money.

You don't leave me.

Anyway, the money wasn't

in the goddamn suitcase.

I just remembered

I buried that money.

Out there in one of

them convict's graves.

Call Ben.

Ben, do you know which convict's

grave I hid the money in?

I'm gonna pay this

boy what I owe him.

No, sir.

- Do you read?

- Yes, sir.

Get that paper over there.

Read me the news.

This is an old paper.

It's dated 1865.

It says "Texas can't

come back into the Union."

Why?

- Because it was in the Confederacy.

- Oh, yes.

Read it to me.

"Yesterday, Gen. Gordon Granger of

the Union Army took possession...

"of Texas from Confederate

Lt. Gov. Fletcher Stockdale."

Come closer to me.

Don't let them bury

me with my own family.

Because my brother and his daughter

are going to be buried there.

And I don't want to be

buried by them or near them.

I'd rather have convicts near

me than that stinking bunch.

"The General, speaking to a subdued

crowd at Galveston's City Hall said...

"'Texas can't come

back into the Union.'

"Rights of the citizenship are

offered only to those individuals...

"who do not own property

exceeding the value of $20,000...

"or possessing more

than 100 bales of cotton.

"Meanwhile, 52,000 troops under

the command of Gen. Sheridan...

"dispersed throughout the state and along

the border to enforce martial order...

"and to restore the authority of the

United States over the territory of Texas.

"Gen. Granger..."

Mr. Soll.

He dead.

He dead for sure.

There'll be no more hollering

and cussing from him now.

Is that all there is to

dying? Your breath just stops?

Yes. When you go like that.

Do you think Mr. Soll minded dying?

I don't know.

- Do you think my daddy minded dying?

- I don't know.

Ben, he won't let me go.

He minded dying.

I think he minded

it in the worst way.

I think he did, too.

And I think my daddy did.

That's what worries me.

- Go get Jackson.

- No. I think you better go.

I promised Mr. Soll to sit by

him with the gun after he died...

- till we got him in his coffin.

- Don't let that bother you.

Look at all the things he promised

you. He didn't keep one of them.

No. But I'd like to keep

mine. It'd make me feel better.

How much did the devil owe you?

$12.50.

One time he said he'd pay me

$500, then $1,000, then $5,000...

and a tombstone for my daddy's grave.

He said a lot of things.

He was always making promises.

And Miss Asa gonna

get it all. You'll see.

Miss Asa!

They upstairs, sleeping

off their drunk.

- Tell Miss Asa I need to see her.

- Why?

Mr. Soll is dead.

I need to know where

she want him buried at.

I hope we're doing right, burying him

out here instead of with his people.

Well, he said he want

to be buried here.

That's all we have to go on.

He sure has a pretty

day for his funeral.

- Anybody else coming, you think?

- No. This is all there's gonna be.

Miss Asa, she wouldn't want to come.

She don't care what we do

with him. Bury him here...

or throw him in the

creek. She don't care.

Mr. Billy's still drunk.

Overseer don't want to come.

It's just us.

And he don't want no hymns,

no prayers, and no preachers.

And he won't have no tombstone.

Unless she puts one up

and you know she won't.

Martha and I went over to his

family graveyard yesterday evening.

He said his daddy's tombstone had angels

all over it and it came from New Orleans.

- But I couldn't find it.

- He was lying.

There wasn't nothing on it. Just a slab

of marble sticking up with his name on it.

If the convicts didn't

keep it weeded over there...

you wouldn't find it

for the weeds in a week.

I told her that you were still here,

stayed all night with him till he died...

and he still owed you money.

She said that's your hard luck.

She'll pay none of his debts.

I asked her why? How

would you get back to town?

She said "walk."

We'll all be walking, I guess,

cause she's gonna close the store...

and take the convicts

over to her daddy's place.

She said weeds, the trees and

the cane can take this land.

Six months from now you won't even

be able to tell who was buried here.

Not my people. Not the

convicts. Not Mr. Soll.

The weeds, the trees and

the cane take everything.

"Cane Land" it was called once.

Cane Land it will be again.

The house will go, the store

will go, and the graves will go.

Those with tombstones

and those without.

I could sing Golden

Slippers. He liked that.

He asked me to sing it once but I

couldn't remember. But now I can.

Go ahead. Sing it then.

Oh, my golden slippers are laid away

I don't expect to wear

them till my wedding day

and my long-tailed

coat that I love so well

I'll wear it on the

chariot in the morning

And my long white robe

that I bought last June

I'm gonna get it changed

'cause it fit too soon

And the old gray horse that I used to ride

I'll hitch it to the chariot in the morning

Oh, dem golden slippers

Oh, dem golden

slippers Golden slippers

Yes, sir.

The house will go, the store

will go, and the graves will go.

Those with tombstones

and those without.

So it's goodbye children

I will have to go where the rain

don't fall Or the wind don't blow

And the Ulster coats

Why you will not need

When you ride up in the

chariot In the morning

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