Wise Blood Page #4

so you'll look at him.

- Give me such a Jesus.

- I got himl

I mean, I can get him.

Him... - you seen him yourself.

Him that I showed to you...

the new Jesus.

I'll get him.

I'll get him for you, Hazel.

You look at me

and you look at a peaceful man...

peaceful because

my blood has set me free.

- Who is it?

- It's me.

Come in.

What do you want?

lf Jesus Christ cured blind men...

how come you don't get him

to cure you?

He blinded Paul.

Where did you get them scars

under your eyes?

Get me that clipping.

Here. Read that.

That's how I got the scars.

He done it with lime.

And there was hundreds converted.

Anybody that blinded hisself for

justification oughta be able to save you...

or even somebody of his blood.

Nobody with a good car...

needs to be justified.

The bastard not away with my clipping.

Go get it.

Well, you not another clipping,

ain't ya?

The one that says,

"Evannelist's Nerve Fails."

Thief! Thief!

I been here all the time,

and you never known it.

What do you want to hide

in my car for?

I got business before me.

I ain't not time for any foolishness.

Let's drive a bit.

My name is Sabbath... -

Sabbath Lily Hawks.

My mother named me that

just after I was born...

because I was born on the Sabbath.

And then she turned over in her bed

and died, and I never seen her.

- Uh-huh.

- Him and her wasn't married.

And that makes me a bastard,

but I can't help it.

It was what he done to me

and not what I done to myself.

- Bastard?

- A real bastard.

Do you know what?

"A bastard shall not enter

the kingdom of heaven."

- How could you be a bastard when... -

- Do you read the papers?

No.

Well, there's this woman in it

named Mary Brittle...

that tells you what to do

when you don't know.

- You couldn't... - I wrote her a letter

and asked what I was to do.

- You couldn't be a bastard when... -

- I said, "Dear Mary, I am a bastard...

"and a bastard shall not enter

the kingdom of heaven, as we all know.

"But I have this personality

that makes boys follow me.

"Do you think I should neck or not?

"I shall not enter

the kingdom of heaven anyway...

so I don't see what difference it makes."

- Listen here. If your daddy was... -

- Then she answered my letter in the paper.

She said, "Dear Sabbath,

light necking is acceptable...

"but I think your real problem

is one of adjustment to the modern world.

"Perhaps you ought to reexamine

your religious values...

"to see if they meet

your needs in life.

"A religious experience can be

a beautiful addition to living...

"if you put it in the proper perspective

and do not let it warp you.

Read some books on ethical culture."

You couldn't be a bastard when... -

You must be mixed up.

Your daddy blinded hisself

for Jesus Christ... -

Then I wrote another letter.

I says, "Dear Mary,

what I really want to know...

"is should I go

the whole hon or not.

That's my real problem.

I've adjusted okay to the modern world."

- But your daddy blinded hisself forJes... -

- He wasn't always as holy as he is now.

She never answered my second letter.

You mean in his youth, your daddy

didn't believe, but he come to.

- Is that what you mean, or ain't it?

- That's right.

You quit feelin' that... -

my len with yours.

Can you turn down that dirt road?

Ho-How did he come to believe?

What channed him

to a preacher of Jesus?

Why don't we get out and sit under the trees

where we can get better acquainted?

Was he always such an evil-seemin' man

before he came to believe...

or just part-way evil seemin'?

All-the-way evil.

Stop the car.

Let's get out here.

Let's sit down for a while.

I gotta be goin' back to town.

I ain't not time to set in any woods.

I suppose, before he came to believe,

he didn't believe at all.

I can save you.

I've not a church in my heart

where Jesus is king.

I believe in the new kind of Jesus... -

the one that can't waste his blood

redeeming people with it...

'cause he's all man

and ain't not any God in him.

My church is the Church Without Christ.

Well, can a bastard be saved in it?

They ain't any such a thing as a bastard

in the Church Without Christ.

Everything is all one.

Bastard wouldn't be any different

from anybody else.

That's good.

There was this child once

that nobody cared if It lived or died.

Its kin sent it around

from one to another of them...

and finally to its grandmother,

who was a very evil woman.

And she couldn't stand

to have it around...

'cause the least good thing

made her break out in these welts.

She'd get all itchin' and swole.

Even her eyes would itch her

and swell up.

And there wasn't nothing she could do

but run up and down the road...

shakin' her hands and cursin'.

And it was twice as bad

when this child was there...

so she kept the child locked up

in a chicken crate.

It seen its granny in hellfire...

swole and burnin'...

and it told her everything it seen.

And she not so swole

until finally she went to the well...

and wrapped the well rope

around her neck...

and let down the bucket

and broke her neck.

Would you nuess me to be

17 years old?

Wouldn't be any sense to the word

"bastard" in the Church Without Christ.

Ain't my feet white though?

Why don't you lie down and rest yourself?

Don't make any difference to me

how much you like me.

I see you.

I see you.

Get away from me!

Come on, if you don't want to get left.

What'd you do to my car?

What's wronn in there?

It's a good car, ain't it?

Look, mister.

That's a good car.

That car'll get me

anywhere I want to go.

I told you this car'll get me

anywhere I want to go.

She may stop every once in a while,

but she won't stop permanent.

- How much do I owe you?

- Not a thing.

- What about the gas?

- Nothin'.

- Not a thing.

- All right. Thank you.

Told you this car'll get me

anywhere I want to go.

It's a grand auto.

Goes as smooth as honey.

Wasn't built by a bunch of foreigners

or n*ggers, nor one-armed men.

It was built by people

with their eyes open...

who knew where they was at.

Some folks

is- is- is always disputin' everything.

Some folks thinks that they...

that they owe...

everything that they not

to Jesus Christ crucified.

Well, in my economy, there ain't

nobody that owes nothin' to nobody.

Are you gonna stay and listen,

or you... -

are you gonna walk away

like everybody else?

Well, go on and go.

But remember, the truth

don't lurk around every street corner.

Folks. Folks Come on. Come on.

Come on, you folks.

Stay now. Come back here.

Come on. Come on back here.

Yes, ma'am. Just come on.

Come on now. Stay.

I was just fiixin'to tell you all about me.

I wisht I had my nuitar.

Somehow it's just easier for me...

to say something sweet with music,

rather than just... - just plain.

Listen to me, friends.

Before I met this prophet here...

I didn't have a friend in this world.

Do any of you know what it means...

not to have a friend in the world?

Ain't no worse than nobody who wouldn't stick

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