Manderlay Page #5

Grace had never been quite sure

which was Jim

and which was Jack...

a blunder that would, in her former

life among her fellow whites,

merely have occasioned

a little laughter.

Thank you, ma'am.

In her life at Manderlay,

it was disastrous.

But like her father, she did not take

long to transform a defeat into anger,

energy and a counterattack.

This... this is what has created

all this resistance.

Even you regard it

as almost sacred, don't you?

I must admit it's played

a right important part in my life.

That will be my next move.

They shall be allowed to see it...

...and understand

that it can't do them any more harm.

I wouldn't advise it, Missy.

Presenting it to them would

be like showing the child the rod

with which it's been beaten.

I agree it must be made public,

but we ain't all ripe for it.

All right.

Then we shall have to see about

ripening you, and quickly.

I'm not talking about the couple

of cozy meetings I've organized

to which hardly anybody turned up.

I mean teaching with a timetable...

old-fashioned,

hands-on schooling.

All right, I've got

something for you to do at last.

It even involves

bossing people about.

At noon tomorrow,

I'm going to give my first lesson

to all of the former slaves of Manderlay.

It'll be your job

to make sure they're there.

No excuse for not showing up.

And the family?

No, they're pretty well

teaching themselves.

Are you listening to me?

It's 'cause Niels

just got a great hand.

What?

Who are you?

My name is Dr. Hector.

Do excuse me a moment.

I'll have to pay my way

out of this round.

God knows, I don't believe you possess

any cards of real significance.

You have a poker player's face.

You can see here

my entire enterprise.

I must say, I've never gained access

to Manderlay before.

So when I drove by today

and saw the gates were open,

I took it as a sign of new times.

What exactly do you do?

I entertain.

Party games, card games,

and the like.

Well, nowadays,

mainly the latter.

You play for money.

But I do more than play.

I cheat.

And you have no objections to revealing

this... business secret of yours?

Oh, to some people,

but not to you.

No, no, you see,

if you and I establish the business

relationship I'm anticipating,

you'll be happy to know

exactly what to expect.

And what can I expect?

Eighty percent.

You certainly know

all the problems that arose

when our beloved New Deal

was imposed in '65.

Plantation owners had plenty

of land, but nobody to work it.

So they contracted

with the former slaves.

But they just didn't have

the same hold on the rascals

that they had in the old days.

Of course they lent them money.

But quite a few

of the nigras actually saved up

and paid off their debts.

So the plantation owners got worried.

- I bet they did.

- Oh, yeah.

That's where my idea came in.

I went from plantation

to plantation

with the full backing

of the plantation owners

to entertain their employees, and

they were sorely in need of diversion,

let me tell ya.

We just had a little game of cards.

If anyone was close

to repaying his debt,

I would take the shirt off their back.

And I am prepared to offer you

that very same service today, ma'am.

You are not convinced.

Let me give you another token

of my profound loyalty.

I have here a letter from

a man by the name of Stanley.

He asked me to smuggle it out.

Thought perhaps you'd like to see it

before it's mailed.

Listen, Mr. Hector...

Let me just say

that I have never met a man

whom I have instantly despised

so wholeheartedly, both for

his personality and his occupation.

Does that mean you're

turning down my offer?

I never want

to see you here again.

All right.

Well, I am disappointed.

I shall nevertheless bestow

upon you my thought for the day.

I indulge in word games.

I like to give my clients something

to laugh or think about when I leave.

The best technique

for a card sharp...

...is dealing from the bottom.

Look as if you're dealing

from the top of the deck...

...but instead you just take

the bottom card... one that you know.

Taking from the bottom

means something else entirely

in social terms.

But it is what I do.

I take from the bottom.

It won't be hard to find me

if you change your mind.

The letter was aimed

at a Mr. Miller,

one of the truckers who

picked up cotton from Manderlay,

and the plantation's only

real contact with the outside world.

It was short and to the point:

"We are being held prisoner by

gangsters and coloreds at Manderlay.

Inform the police and please come

to our aid with all due dispatch."

Indignation

is a rare emotion for a gangster,

but a state of just that was

what Grace's men experienced

while they herded the colored people

in for their lesson that day,

as Grace had reported on Dr. Hector's

cheap trick of taking from the bottom.

It was hardly the sophisticated

ambiguity of the term

that had affected them

so dramatically.

Welcome to our lesson.

Yes, I call it a lesson,

as the term "meeting"

seems to have scared

some people out of attending.

I was comin', but I was late.

Very late.

You hadn't made it

by the time we finished.

In the old days we could hear the bell

from the old clock in the hall.

It was easy to keep up with time,

but we never hear it no more.

Probably because

nobody winds it up.

But now for the topic

of this lesson:
Working together.

Only four people from your wing

helped to prepare the fields,

and only five helped to plant.

I'm not a shareholder

in this enterprise,

but if I had been,

and if I'd also been one of the five,

I would have felt cheated.

Democracy means

government by the people.

But, as it's not practical

for everyone to sit in Congress,

a method by which people may

express their views is required.

This method is called a ballot.

All right?

So, let's try it out.

We should choose a problem.

Anything anyone can't decide on?

If I may suggest a small matter...

Please do.

I reckon the little broken rake is mine,

but Flora reckons it's hers.

- It's my rake!

- That's an excellent suggestion.

It's a great example.

I assume you all know of this dispute

and all feel able to have an opinion on it.

Who does the community think

owns the rake?

It could turn out to belong

to both parties equally.

That would correspond nicely

with the subject of this lesson:

Working together,

sharing together.

All right, so who thinks

it's Elizabeth's rake?

Sammy?

I think...

I think it's Elizabeth's rake.

All right, all right!

Slowly the point of Grace's edifying

discourse dawned on the majority.

Most of them thought

the rake was definitely Elizabeth's.

A few, that it was Flora's,

and nobody, that it could be shared.

I still remain... undecided...

whether the rake

is Elizabeth's or Flora's.

Right. So, not surprisingly,

neither party receives Mark's vote.

From now on, the little broken rake

belongs to Elizabeth.

That's what ballots are like;

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