Wise Blood Page #3

He would die 10 million times...

have his arms and his legs

stretched out on the cross and nailed...

10 million times for just one soul.

Even for that boy there,

he would die 10 million times.

He will chase him

over the waters of sin.

If you doubt that Jesus

walks over the waters of sin...

This boy has been chastened,

and he will be redeemed.

Jesus will never leave him ever.

Jesus will have you in the end.

What are you doin' parked

in the middle of the road, son?

Take your hand off my shoulder.

I'm readin' that sign.

There ain't a person or whoremonger

who wasn't somethin'worse first.

That ain't the sin nor the blasphemy.

The sin came before 'em.

jesus is a trick on n*ggers.

Well, will you get this noddamn outhouse

out of the middle of the road?

I don't have to run away from anything,

'cause I don't believe in anything.

- What direction's the zoo in?

- Back the other way.

That where you escaped from?

You're so ugly, I can't stand it.

Shoot! Shoot, if I had a face like that,

I'd sit on it and never get up.

Hi, Haze. How are you?

Guard said I'd find you here.

Said you liked to talk to the monkeys.

Well, just look at 'im.

He acts like he thinks

he's as good as me or you.

just like some n*ggers I've seen.

Shoot! I had a face like that,

I'd put a paper ban on it.

Look. I'm lookin' for that blind preacher

named Hawks.

Now, do you know where they live?

- Hawks?

- Hawks.

Yeah, him and his girl.

Right. Now, did she tell you

where they live?

Hazel, listen here.

I got to show you somethin'.

Oh, look, I got to see that man.

This thing, Hazel, I got to show it to you.

Now. Here. This afternoon.

What thing?

I don't want to see any thing of yours.

- I want that-that address.

- Come on.

"Muv-se-vum."

Walk easy. I don't wanna

wake the old nuard.

He ain't very friendly with me.

You see that there notice?

It says he was once as tall

as you or me.

Some A-rabs done it to him

in six months.

Took all the blood out of him.

Then they done it to him.

Must've sewed up his mouth to keep him

from yellin' while they was doin' it.

You can count his eyelashes.

- Is this what you wanted to show me?

- Yeah.

Well, I seen it.

Now, where do they live?

Do you know where they live?

Yeah. Yeah, sure.

I know where they live.

All right, where is it?

Which one of them houses is it?

Well, she... - she said it was

on Plum Tree Drive.

Wait. I... - I know where it's at.

I remember the number she give to me.

You're lyin'.

You don't know where they live.

- You're lyin' to me.

- No, I couldn't lie.

It's one of these here houses.

I swear to you.

Wait. I think that's it.

I'm trying to help you find it, Hazel, but...

I can't use none of your help!

You lied to me.

You ain't not any better idea

where they live than I do.

- No, it ain't true. She told me... -

- You lied to me!

You been runnin' up and down this city...

just to show me some kind

of dried-up dead man...

and a cane of monkeys

and a... - and a hoot owl.

And now you can't find 'em because

you don't know where they live.

Uh, if a room's free,

I'd like to rent it.

Room's for rent, all right.

What do you do?

I'm a preacher.

- What church?

- Church ofTruth Without Christ.

Protestant... or-or somethin' foreign?

Oh, no, ma'am. It's Protestant.

You can look at the room.

It's $20 a week, in advance.

Man named Hawks lives here,

don't he?

Downstairs in the front room... -

him and his child.

It used to be a fire escape there,

but I don't know what happened to it.

Well, I'll take the room.

It's that boy, Papa... -

that one that keeps follerin' me.

Get away.

What do you want?

I live here now.

I thought if your girl

give me so much eye back there...

I just might return some of it.

What I give you the other day

was of a look of indignation...

for what I seen you do.

It was you give me the eye.

You should've seen him, Papa.

He looked me up and down.

I started my own church.

I'm gonna be preachin' it

on the streets.

You can't leave me alone,

can you, boy?

I didn't ask you to come here,

and I ain't askin' you to hann around.

What the hell kind of-of a preacher are you

not to see if you can save my soul?

Goddamn Jesus hon.

Well, look what you used to be.

Look what you tried to do.

You got over it.

So will he.

I don't want him around here.

He makes me nervous.

Listen here. You help me to get him.

Then you go away and do what you please,

and I can live with him.

He don't even know you exist.

Even if he don't, that's all right.

That's how come

I can get him easy.

I want him, and you oughta help.

Then you can go off like you want to.

All right, but you better make it work

if you want to eat after I'm gone.

I'll get him.

That might be just fine.

Might be the oil on Aaron's beard.

Listen here. It would be the nuts.

I'm just crazy about him.

I never seen a boy

I liked the looks of any better.

Don't run him off.

Tell him how you blinded yourself for Jesus

and show him that clipping you not.

The clipping.

My church is the Church Without Christ.

I am a member

and a preacher to that church...

where the blind don't see

and the lame don't walk...

and what's dead stays that way.

What church you belonn to?

You, boy. There.

- I said, what church you belong to?

- Church of Christ.

Well, ask me about my church,

and I'll tell you...

it's the church that the blood of Jesus

don't foul with redemption.

Listen here. I'm gonna take the truth

with me wherever I go.

I'm gonna preach it

to whoever will listen.

I'm gonna preach

that there was no fall...

'cause there was nothin'

to fall from.

No redemption

'cause there was no Fall...

and noJudgment

because there wasn't the first two.

Nothin' matters

but that Jesus Christ was a liar!

- Hazel? Listen here, Hazel. I found it.

- What do you want?

I found it... - the house where they live.

You shouldn't have oughta hit me, Hazel.

It weren't nothin'I done

that you should've hit me.

I only thought it was a three. But I found

it, and I'll take you there if you want.

I know where they live.

- I live there now, see?

- You know where they live?

But if you didn't know and I told you,

then you'd know now.

Oh, get outta here.

All he can do is hang around

and make a fool out of himself.

He don't know whether

he's comin'or goin'.

He-He ain't nothin'

but a shiftless, crazy boy.

If Jesus Christ had redeemed you,

what difference would it make to you?

What difference would it make

to that crazy boy?

There's no peace for the redeemed.

If there was three crosses there...

and Jesus Christ

hunn on the middle one...

that wouldn't mean no more

to you or me than the other two.

What you need is somethin'

to take the place of Jesus...

somethin'that would speak plain.

Now, the Church Without Christ

don't have a Jesus.

But it needs one.

It needs a new Jesus...

one that's all man,

without blood to waste...

that don't look like any other man,

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes