The Grapes of Wrath Page #77

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DRIVER:

Open up! We hear you got a riot.

CARETAKER:

Riot? I don't see no riot. Who're

you?

DRIVER:

Deputy sheriffs.

CARETAKER:

Got a warrant?

DRIVER:

We don't need a warrant if it's a

riot.

CARETAKER:

Well, I don't know what you gonna do

about it, because I don't hear no

riot an' I don't see no riot, an'

what's more I don't believe they

*is* no riot.

(Waving toward the

dance floor)

Look for yourself.

As the deputies, puzzled and uncertain, look toward the DANCE

FLOOR, we see the music, the dancing, the gaiety continuing

as if nothing had happened.

WITHIN THE JOAD TENT at night, several hours later: the tent

is black, Tom strikes a match. From a piece of wood on the

ground or floor he selects one from several cigarette butts

and lights it. While he is doing so, he lifts his head

suddenly, and listens.

In the CAMP STREET we catch sight of legs walking, the ground

lighted from a flashlight. Two pairs of the legs wear state

policemen's leather leggings. The third pair are the

caretaker's. They stop behind a car. The flashlight plays on

the license plate. One of the state cops leans down to copy

the license number in a booklet. Then they move on.

TOM has lifted the edge of the tent a trifle, enough to see

out by flattening his head on the floor. The LEGS are now

seen at the Joad jalopy. The light is on the license plate.

The cop leans over and copies the number. They move on.

TOM, lowering the edge of the tent, sits up. Quietly he pushes

aside the piece of carpet that covers him. He is wearing his

clothes. We see the policeman's CAR at the caretaker's hut.

The two policemen get into the car.

CARETAKER:

You got no right to arrest anybody

without a warrant, you know.

FIRST COP:

We'll have a warrant--just as soon

as we check with headquarters.

The car drives off, leaving the caretaker looking somberly

after it.

WITHIN THE JOAD TENT, his cap on, fully dressed for travel,

Tom is tieing the ends of the carpet into a shoulder bundle.

Rising, he slings it across his shoulder. As he tiptoes toward

the door:

MA:

Ain't you gonna tell me goodbye,

Tommy?

For a moment he looks into the darkness in her direction.

TOM:

I didn't know, Ma. I didn't know if

I ought.

She has risen, pulling the quilt around her. He takes her by

the hand.

TOM:

Come outside.

They go out. Tom leads Ma around BEHIND THE TENT, to a SECTION

OF WIRE FENCE. There is a bench there. Tom leads Ma to it

and sits her down. He sits beside her.

TOM:

They was some cops here, Ma. They

was takin' down the license numbers.

It looks like somebody knows sump'n.

MA:

(softly)

It had to come, I reckon, soon or

later.

TOM:

I'd like to stay. I'd like to be

with ya--

(smiling)

--an' see your face when you an' Pa

get settled in a nice little place.

I sure wish I could see you then.

But--

(shaking his head)

--I guess I won't never be able to

do that. Not now.

MA:

I could hide you, Tommy.

TOM:

(touching her hand)

I know you would, Ma. But I ain't

gonna let you. You hide somebody

that's kilt a man an'... an' you'd

be in trouble too.

MA:

(touching his face

with her fingers)

Awright, Tommy. What you figger you

gonna do?

TOM:

(thoughtfully)

You know what I been thinkin' about,

Ma? About Casy. About what he said,

what he done, an' about how he died.

An' I remember all of it.

MA:

He was a good man.

TOM:

I been thinkin' about us, too--about

our people livin' like pigs, an'

good rich lan' layin' fallow, or

maybe one fella with a million acres,

while a hundred thousan' farmers is

starvin'. An' I been wonderin' if

all our folks got together an' yelled--

MA:

(frightened)

Tommy, they'll drive you, an' cut

you down like they done to Casy.

TOM:

They gonna drive me anyways. Soon or

later they'll get me, for one thing

if not another. Until then...

MA:

You don't aim to kill nobody, Tom!

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