"In accordance with the regulations of the state of Mississippi, we gather today to lay to rest the remains of inmates R. Gibson, number 4316, and C. Banks, number 4317." "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust." "May God have mercy on their souls." "Amen." "You can go ahead, fellas." "Look like you finally free now, boys." "Finally free." "Friends of yours, old-timer?" "Well, let's just say we spent some time together." "Now, why do I get the feeling when you say "some time," you mean "some time"?" "I'd been here a good while when they come." "They come here, must've been 1932." "Ah, man!" "Shit, that's like..." "Wait a minute." "That's 65 years, son." "Shit." "Didn't they burn up in that fire yesterday?" "Listen, man, I seen them niggers before they put them in the box." "And when I tell you, them niggers, they was bacon burnt, shit, it was like some shit from the X Files, man." "What you got in that bottle anyway there, old-timer?" "This is Rayford's special recipe." "See, he had what we call" ""exacting standards" when it come to the hooch." "So, what were they, bootleggers?" "Something like that." "Hank, my man, how you doing?" "Oh, no." "Not tonight, Ray." "Spanky's not happy with you." "Is Span Ky here?" "Do yourself a favor and find another place where they let you in the front door." "Whoa, whoa, wait, wait." "What about that time I bought your girl them alligator shoes, man?" "What's the problem?" "Did I come through for you?" "Yeah, yeah." "Bitch was wearing pigskin when I met her." "I got her out of the swine." "She's wearing alligator." "Let me in." "Help a nigger out." "There you go." "That's how it goes, brother." "That's how it goes." "Thank you, man." "I appreciate it." "Appreciate it, man." "How does this tie look?" "Looking sharp." "Looking sharp." "Yeah, I feel lucky tonight, too." "Yeah!" "Here's to your new job down at the bank." "Thank you." "I always knew you'd make something of yourself." "You know what I'm gonna buy with my first paycheck?" "What, baby?" "Season tickets to the Yankees, right there, on the first base line." "What's wrong, baby?" "I was hoping you were gonna say an engagement ring, Claude." "Engagement ring?" "That's what respectable folks do." "Get a job, get married, start having babies." "That's what you want, isn't it?" "Baby, I just don't see no reason to rush into things, that's all." "Look, I got to clean this." "I'll be right back, baby." "All right?" "Good evening, sir." "Hello." "Can I have a towel, please?" "Of course." "Oh." "Look at this." "Hey, now, there ain't no reason to get violent." "Look, I tried to call." "Sit your ass down." "Congratulations, Claude." "We understand you finally got yourself a job." "Yeah." "Now you can pay Mr. Riley that 50 bucks you owe him." "Look, fellas, I got a bill to pay out there." "Lookie here, $22." "Not bad for a start." "Not bad." "That's two weeks' pay, man." "I'm here with my girl." "You gotta leave me something." "How about your legs?" "My legs?" "Oh, those are good." "Oh, yeah." "Hey, yeah, that's good." "I'll keep the legs, you know." "Oh, excuse me." "Sorry." "How'd he get in here?" "Evening." "Evening." "Always messing with me." "Um, you got any of that French shit?" "Yeah, bro." "Here." "Yeah, that's the one." "That's the one there." "Yeah." "Thanks, man." "All right." "I smell French?" "Yeah, that's it." "Yeah." "Here, you keep the change." "Thank you." "Yeah." "Hey, don't I know you?" "I don't think so." "Yes, I do." "I know you." "What is your name?" "Claude Banks." "Claude Banks!" "Claude Banks, hey, it's me, Ray Gibson." "We went to high school together." "How you doing, man?" "You went to Monroe?" "Monroe." "Yes, definitely." "How you doing, man?" "Look at you, looking all sharp." "Make me feel good to see colored folks doing good for themselves." "Yeah, well, I went to Jefferson, so you must have a different Claude Banks in mind." "Excuse me." "I'm sorry, man." "My mistake." "Yeah." "Hey, you wearing that dress!" "Whoo!" "Hey, Isaac, what's going on, man?" "This is about my tab, huh?" "Don't worry about it, I got it covered." "Man, it's hot in here tonight." "Hot." "This ain't about your tab, Ray." "You got bigger problems than that." "Hold up one second." "I had..." "You should've never ran numbers on Spanky's side of Broadway." "Let's go." "But I really think we gotta get out of here." "Excuse me, sir, your bill." "The bill?" "Oh, yeah, yeah, of course, the bill." "How can I forget the bill?" "Such an incredibly large bill." "Just tell me where you want me to go." "Get over here." "Get over there." "You done took my ankle." "All right, that's not nice." "Yeah, right." "What do you think they're gonna do to us?" "I don't know." "What'd you do, dine and ditch?" "Over 10 bucks?" "Yeah." "Probably just looking at a thumb or something." "Who is he, Ray?" "Friend of yours?" "I never met this man before tonight." "Okay?" "He's a lowlife that hangs around in bathrooms pickpocketing people." "Me?" "I'm a professional man." "Now, I got a job that starts on Monday." "I'll pay you back with my first paycheck, with interest." "I don't wanna tell you how to run your business here, but if you cut off my fingers, you won't get nothing." "Working on adding machines, I got to be whole." "Ching-ching." "You know, you can understand that." "I need these for praying." "Drop him." "Wait, what does "drop him" mean?" "Time for a little dip." "What do you mean, "Drop him"?" "Now this ain't the way you treat somebody." "Hey, Spanky, you know, you ain't got to do that to that guy." "You don't have to drown him." "He's a square." "He didn't know who he was fucking with." "Oh, no!" "Man, it's filthy down there." "Oh!" "Damn, there's a rat." "Man, I hate rats." "But you do." "What does that say about you, Ray?" "What does that say about me, Ray?" "Spank, look, I'm just trying to get by." "Man, you remember what it was like when you first started out, Spank." "Come on now." "Nigger, please." "Hey, Spank, wait a second." "Hold on." "Hold on." "Wait a second." "Look." "Look." "I want you to see this." "Look at this." "Check this out." "I got access to that." "What is that, Ray?" "Some more of your bathtub brew?" "Hell, no, Spanks, this come up from the Mississippi, man." "I can get a lot more of that, too." "I was thinking about going into business for myself." "Under present circumstances, I think I may take on a partner." "What you say?" "I was supposed to wear this suit on Monday!" "Spank?" "Oh!" "If you give me the front money and a truck..." "Listen to me now." "I think I can get down there in two or three days, as long as I have somebody to help me do the driving." "Come on, now!" "All right, now I'm really getting angry." "Come on, Spank." "I'm gonna tell you something, Ray." "You fuck me on this, I'll spare no expense on your ass." "I understand." "I understand." "Do you hear me?" "I hear you, Spank." "You got a deal." "All right, okay." "Pick a man and get the fuck out of here." "Spank, with all due respect to you gentlemen," "I think I'm gonna just take the choirboy down there, Spank." "You got to be crazy." "If I'm gonna pick somebody, at least I'm gonna pick somebody who gonna be able to watch my back in a tight squeeze." "I just wanna be with somebody that ain't gonna put a bullet in my head once the truck is full." "Lift him." "But not that you would do something like that..." "Lift him!" "You know what I mean, Spank." "Okay." "There you go." "Sure he ain't dead, Spank?" "Sure hope you can drive." "I'll tell you what though, this little rum run we're doing is gonna really improve my relationship with Spanky, I'll tell you that." "He's a good man to have on your side." "He got the capital connections." "That's what you got to have in this business, capital connections." "I'm gonna get me the connections." "I ain't got no capital yet, but I'm gonna get some." "I'm gonna get the connections, then I'm gonna have my own place." "Don't get me wrong, I like Spanky's, but I'm gonna have my own place." "Yeah." "Get this." "I'm gonna call my place, check this out, Ray's Boom-Boom Room." "Don't that sound like something?" "Don't that sound like a place where it's fun?" "Sounds exciting." "Ray's Boom-Boom Room." "Yeah, I like that." "Hey, man, if you heard there was a place called the Boom-Boom Room, wouldn't you wanna check it out?" "Hell, yeah!" "Hell, yeah, you'd want to." "Shit, yeah, you'd want to." "Whoo!" "The Boom-Boom Room." "What you think?" "Hey, you ain't said nothing since we left." "I think the least you can do is give me a little friendly conversation, boy." "I don't want a friendly conversation." "I don't want to be your friend." "I just want to do this thing and get back to New York in time to start my job." "And what the hell kind of job you got?" "Well, if you must know, bank teller at First Federal of Manhattan." "What's so funny?" "Oh, I was laughing at myself, man." "Excuse me." "No, you found something very amusing." "What's so funny?" "I don't know, it's just, bank teller just sound like ladies' work to me." "It's something I always pictured a woman doing." "Maybe I should dig around in other people's pockets for money." "It's obviously been highly successful for you." "Hey, you'd be surprised what you find in other people's pockets." "Besides, I ain't never heard of no man setting out to be no bank teller." "That's for damn shame." "This time next year, I'll be a loan officer." "If I want to get some frog skins and come down to the bank to get a loan," "I gotta come down and deal with a tight-ass son of a bitch like you?" "That's right." "Well, how do I get a loan?" "You?" "Yes, me." "What's, "You?"" "What is that shit?" "Why can't it be?" "I can't get no money?" "You need collateral." "What, you think I ain't got collateral?" "I have..." "Look at this." "What about this here?" "Look at that." "Huh?" "That thing?" "Who'd you steal it from?" "I ain't steal that." "My daddy give me that watch." "Look at that." "Yeah, well, who'd he steal it from?" "Hey, you watch your mouth what you say about my daddy." "My daddy's dead." "You say whatever you want to say about me, but you can't drag my daddy into it." "This watch is sterling silver." "It's top-shelf, top of the line, and it's very near and dear to my heart, so no wisecracks about it, or I'll whup your ass." "Looks like a fake to me." "Loan denied." "Hey, you know something, Claude?" "Fuck you." "I'm gonna take my business elsewhere." "And for future references, you will not be welcome at Ray's Boom-Boom Room." "There's no Boom-Boom Room." "When there is one." "When there is a Boom-Boom Room, don't come down to the motherfucker, 'cause you ain't getting in." "Smell that?" "Yeah, I smell something." "Smells good, right?" "Yeah, you know, I think maybe we should go to another place." "The ambiance ain't really very welcoming." "Are you kidding?" "Tell me you don't want one of these pies right here, Ray." "Right over here." "Them pies look good, Claude, but I kind of lost my appetite." "When I came in here, my appetite just left me." "Good afternoon, Billy." "Uh, we'd like some coffee and a couple slices of pie." "How do you know my name is Billy?" "Well, it says it right there on your shirt." "If you boys can read so good, how come you missed that sign on the door over there?" "Oh, that sign on the door that we just..." "How come we didn't see that sign that say "No Coloreds Allowed," Claude?" "We just rushed in." "We was really hungry, so we kind of missed that." "But we see it now, so bye." "Come on, man." "Look, ma'am, we've been traveling all day." "Yeah, let's go." "All we want is some coffee and a couple slices of pie." "Is that all right?" "No." "These are whites-only pies." "Well, do you have any Negro pies?" "Hey, Claude, come on, now." "This woman ain't got the recipe to no Negro pie." "Where would she get that recipe?" "At another establishment we can get us some pies." "How far to the next town?" "Thirty-five miles." "Hey, come on, let's get out of here." "I'm not driving no 35 miles to get no pie." "Lady!" "Ma'am!" "Okay?" "Now we want some pie, okay?" "We are hungry." "Okay?" "Billy, we want some pie." "Let me take care of this." "Why does somebody got to die 'cause we want some pie?" "Let me take care of them." "Look here." "Look, we're from New York." "My name Ray Gibson, okay?" "Let's talk turkey." "How much it gonna cost to turn one of them white-only pies into nigger pie?" "How about I turn y'all into nigger pie?" "So you said about 35..." "Thirty-five miles." "Maybe we find another establishment down the road, where we won't have a problem." "Yeah, I didn't know white folks so serious about pie down here." "Hey, we're looking for Slim." "You found him." "That's it, fellas. 36 cases of Mississippi's finest." "Five bucks a case." "That's $180." "All right." "What do we got?" "Come on." "Pay the man." "Man, that music's hot." "What goes on down there, Slim?" "That there's Natchez-Under-The-Hill." "Really?" "Colored folks welcome down there?" "Green's the only color that matters under the hill." "That right?" "They got gambling, girls." "You boys ought to check it out." "Maybe we will." "Nice doing business with you, Slim." "Let's go down there, have ourselves a little reward, see what's shaking." "Reward?" "Yes, a reward." "There's people down there having a good time, man." "I wanna be one of them." "Hey, man, I want you to be one of them." "Let me tell you something." "Listen to me." "Listen, listen." "Monday, you can go be a bank teller." "But tonight you are a bootlegger with a truckload of Mississippi's finest and a fistful of cash." "That's gas money, Ray." "Come on." "Think." "Man, you are incredible." "Tell you what." "Here's two dollars." "You stay here and watch the truck." "I'm gonna go have myself a good time." "And I got the keys with me, in case you want to leave a nigger down here in the woods." "I know how you think, you motherfucker you." "All right." "Yeah." "This look like something here." "I can work it here." "Hey, Ray." "Keep an eye on you." "Make sure you don't do nothing stupid." "Oh, really?" "Yeah." "All right." "Well, put a little something on your step." "I don't want these farmers to think I'm from around here." "They know the way I walk, I ain't from around here." "Yeah, 'cause I'm from New York City." "How y'all doing?" "What's up, country boy?" "Cock-a-doodle-doo, nigger!" "Tens over nines." "Oh!" "I ain't never seen you in here before." "That's 'cause I ain't never been in here before." "My name's Sylvia." "What's your name?" "Can't you remember your own name?" "I know it begins with a" "Well, Mr. C." "How about buying a gal a drink?" "Two bourbons." "I really shouldn't." "I gotta keep an eye on my friend over there." "He look like he can take care of hisself." "Claude." "That's my name, Claude." "You know that's never happened to me before." "You're cute." "Thank you." "You got any money, Claude?" "Yeah, two dollars, but I need that to get home." "What's wrong?" "What you wanna go home for?" "It's so early." "I'll take one." "One for New York." "Thank you." "Me's want one." "Can I get that for you, sir?" "Thank you, baby." "Give me a deuce." "Here you go, honey." "Thank you." "All right." "You all want to pick up this country pace?" "Bet's to you, sir." "Bet a dollar." "I sees that." "You "sees" that?" "Well, I sees that dollar, and I raise you two dollars." "Is "sees" a word?" "All right now." "I'm out." "What?" "You going back to the farm now?" "Pick your tomatoes?" "I'll see the two." "And I raise you $10." "Damn." "Out." "Well, Mr. Hancock, I don't think I have any more money." "Big city boy." "Well, that's too bad." "Now, hold on, now." "Just give me two seconds." "Top-shelf." "It look good to me." "I think that'll cover it." "Call." "I got a full boat with the ladies doing the paddling." "Mmm-mmm!" " Whoo!" "I don't think they come in much stronger than that, sir." "Four threes." "What the fuck?" "Goddamn." "Broke again." "New York, New York." "Don't take it too hard, New York." "Here, have a round on me." "Can I get you something, sir?" "No, I'm all right." "Hey." "Hey!" "What the fuck is this?" "You're hurting my arm." "Where you going?" "Where you going?" "Where you going?" "Come here." "Okay." "No, no, no." "Hell, no." "Hell, no!" "Hey, Hancock!" "Hey. hey!" "Oh, shit." "My goodness." "If it isn't my old friend, Winston Hancock." "I thought we agreed that you was gonna leave town." "Well," "I was gonna leave, Sheriff Pike, but your wife, she begged me to stay." "You just committed suicide, boy." "Hey, Ray, I've been looking for you." "Guess we better get going, huh?" "Yeah." "You still got that two dollars?" "Uh." "Not exactly." "You see, I met this girl." "Real nice girl, Ray." "A God-fearing girl." "The same girl I seen you over here with?" "Yeah, she looked religious." "Yeah, well..." "Yeah." "So you gave her the two dollars?" "Yeah, well she was in a tight spot." "Her mama needs this operation." "She ain't have the money for it, and so, hey, she tell me the church took up a collection, but they still were short, so I..." "Two dollars short?" "Yeah." "Yeah, so I gave it to her." "You know, when the spirit moves me..." "I guess we both got fucked." "While you was upstairs doing God's work," "I was over there getting jack-legged by one of these fucking farmers and one of these goddamn waitresses." "I know the bitch is in here somewhere." "They beat me down to my goddamn socks." "You lost all our money in a card game, Ray?" "Fuck the money." "It's not even about the money." "Fuck the money." "I lost my daddy's watch." "Man, fuck that cheap-ass watch, man." "Oh, I apologize." "It gotta stop some..." "You right." "One more again, one more again, see that I take all your fronts out, I swear." "See how you go back to New York." "That's how you gonna be back in the car, all the way back there." "I'm sorry." "Fuck that." "Say something about the watch, Claude." "Bring up the watch." "In fact, just bring up watch." "Ray..." "Look like you was fixing to make your mouth up to say "watch."" "If I see you..." "I'm gonna whup your ass." "Ray, Ray..." "In fact, don't even say "watch" no more." "You can't say "watch" around me." "Say "little clock" or some shit." "You say watch, I'm gonna just dive on you." "How are we supposed to get home without any money?" "We got 36 cases of booze." "That's better than money." "Oh, okay." "So we gonna drive home drunk." "Is that it?" "Come on!" "Let me pay and get out of here." "Hey, where's that girl that was working over here?" "What girl?" ""What girl?"" "Next time I come back in here, whichever bitch I start choking, that's what girl." "Come on, man." "Big-time hustler, came and got girked by a couple of farmers." "I'm gonna tell you something, Claude." "Can that twitter." "I'm all shot, and I just wanna get back to New York." "What makes you think..." "Ray, Ray." "Oh, shit." "I think he's hurt pretty bad, man." "Hey, man, this guy's dead." "I ain't never seen no dead body before, Ray." "What are you doing?" "The man's been dead two seconds, and you're in his pocket?" "Don't you have any respect?" "It ain't here." "What ain't there?" "My daddy's watch." "This is the guy that took my watch from me." "You motherfucker, you fucked around with the wrong person, didn't you?" "Didn't you?" " Now look at your ass out here bleeding." " Hey!" "What you boys doing out here?" "Hey, how y'all doing?" "Hi." "We're just taking care of our friend here." "What's wrong with this one?" "Drink..." "Yeah, he's just a little drunk." "Nothing at all." "He's just a little drunk." "Nobody drink like old..." "Winston." "Winston, Winston, yeah." "Winston." "Yeah, he's always drinking." "Old drunk-ass Winston always drinking." "This fella look like he's dead." "Oh, no." "No, no, not..." "He's not dead." "He's drunk." "He is too drunk." "He likes to drink until he pass out." "You know what'd serve him right?" "Just let him lay here and sleep the shit off." "We gonna go." "I'm gonna tell his wife that we left him." "Let's go back to the car." "We gonna go..." "I think you boys better come with us." "That's right." "I think that..." "We're gonna go to your car then." "Yeah, let's go." "Excuse me, Winston." "We're gonna go with this gentleman here." "You know what, Ray?" "You're responsible for this whole situation." "Yeah, yeah." "I blame you for everything, Ray." "Okay?" "If it wasn't for you, man, I'd be home right now about to have a hot meal." "If it wasn't for me, your black ass would be floating up on a beach at Coney Island, right now." "You forgot all that shit?" ""I need all my finger and thumbs for adding and..." You remember that shit?" "I saved your life, nigger." "They think we killed somebody, Ray." "This is blood, okay?" "Just shut up." "Listen." "Just sit your ass down." "Let me work some shit out with this..." "I got a job that starts Monday." "You're gonna be late Monday, 'cause I got to work this out, this whole thing." "Evening, boys." "Evening there, Sheriff." "Well, well, now." "What do we have here?" "Billy Bob and the boys found them down under the hill with Winston Hancock." "That's right." "He was dead." "Looks like murder." "Yeah." "Yep, it does." "Is that right?" "Looks like they was running hooch." "Got 36 cases of evidence." "How about a little reward, Billy Bob?" "Well, thank you, sir." "Why bother with bootlegging when we got us a clear-cut case of murder?" "Hey, Sheriff Pike, like I told your associate over there, we didn't kill nobody." "The man was like that when we found him." "He was out there dead." "He was already dead." "Now as far as bootlegging goes, well, I happen to work for a very important man back east." "Yeah, yeah, does the name Spanky Johnson mean anything to you?" "Spanky Johnson?" "No, I'm afraid not." "Hey, hey, Sheriff Pike." "Sheriff Pike, listen." "Listen." "This guy, Spanky Johnson, is very well-connected." "Ooh!" "Very well-connected." "And if you were to give us a break," "I can guarantee you, he would do something to show his appreciation." "Now I'm sure." "Mr. Pike." "I don't doubt that you can buy your way out of trouble up in New York City, but down here, we take murder very seriously." "We didn't kill nobody." "I keep telling you, the man was dead when we found him." "He was already dead." "He's telling the honest truth." "Now the liquor was ours." "That's our liquor." "There was no breath in him." "We're being truthful." "But that man's being honest." "That was our liquor." "But the man was dead." "If that's the truth, you boys don't have anything to worry about then, do you?" "I guarantee it." "I'll see y'all in the morning." "You believe us, right?" "What time you gonna be here in the morning?" "Boys, don't drink all that stuff tonight, you hear?" "All right, Sheriff." "See you in the morning." "Wait a minute." "He sounded like he believed us, right, man?" "The man's got a point." "We didn't kill nobody, Ray." "Hey, Claude, what about the truckload of booze, man?" "Man, that's Spanky's booze!" "You know what?" "Tomorrow, I'm gonna tell that judge," ""Judge, we didn't murder nobody." ""That was Spanky's booze."" "What's the worst that can happen to us, Ray?" "Huh?" "Life!" "What do you mean, "life"?" "Hell, no, I ain't doing no life." "This is a mistrial!" "I didn't even kill nobody." "The man was dead when I got there." "Welcome to Mississippi." "Here, you will be provided with ample opportunity to repay your debt to society through the rigors of hard labor." "We got fields need clearing, roads need building, and ditches need digging." "You will eat only what you can grow." "Your crop don't come in, you go hungry." "This here is Camp 8." "Camp 8 is for incorrigibles." "But whatever you done to get here, believe me, I'm not impressed." "I've seen it all before." "We ain't got no fences here at Camp 8." "We don't need no fences." "We got us the gun line." "Tell them about the gun line, boss." "This is the gun line." "It runs from shack to shack clear around the yard." "You are now inside the gun line." "You step outside the gun line without my permission, you will be shot." "You trip and fall over the gun line, you will be shot." "You spit, you pee, you so much as stick your Johnson out over the gun line, you will be shot." "And you, Slick, don't try to run, don't try to escape." "One of my trustees will put a bullet in your head." "You prisoners are now the property of the state of Mississippi, which is to say I own your ass." "And in case you haven't met this handsome young fella, this is Hoppin' Bob." "You run afoul of Bob, you run afoul of me." "Everybody, shut up!" "Right now." "I don't wanna hear a sound." "Got some fresh meat for you." "Right down there." "Take yourself right down there, find your ass a bunk." "Move it." "Acting all scared." "We ain't got no wallflowers here in Camp 8." "Don't y'all worry none." "Ain't nobody gonna mess with you tonight." "That'd take all the fun out of the courtship." "You hear me, boy?" "I didn't see nothing special the first time Ray and Claude walked into the cage." "To me, they were just a couple of fools whose luck had run out." "Course, I was wrong about that." "I don't believe this "before Abe" shit." "I didn't go to night school to dig no ditch." "What the hell you doing?" "Don't do that." "I wouldn't do that shit." "Oh, man, shut up." "What do you know anyway?" "Okay?" "It's too damn hot." "Why ain't that boy's pick swinging?" "Why ain't that pick swinging?" "Why ain't that pick swinging, nigger?" "It's too hot." "I'm tired, boss." "He said he's too hot, boss." "He's tired." "Too hot?" "He's tired?" "Uh-huh." "You tell that lazy jigaboo the state of Mississippi ain't interested in his meteorological assessments!" "Listen up, jigaboo!" "The state of Mississippi ain't interested in your..." "Your, uh, "metacalogical" assessments!" "You tell him the state of Mississippi is only interested in getting this here ditch cleared by sundown." "State of Mississippi wants this here ditch cleared by sundown." "You got that, boy?" "Got it, boss." "He don't sound like he from around here." "He from New York City, boss." "That one there, too." "They'll find we do things different down here." "Yeah, we noticed." "Don't smart me, boy." "You just shut your mouth and do your work." "You got that?" "Looks like we got a couple of live ones." "How long these boys in for?" "The judge gave them the long ride, boss." "Life, huh?" "Mmm-hmm." "Well, they step out of line again, we'll shorten up that sentence real fast." "Get them picks a-swinging!" "You heard me, New York Cities." "You don't want me to come down there." "I ain't nice like Boss." "I'll slap the black off your ass." "Get to work!" "Either one of you new fellas know how to read?" "I know how to read." "Why?" "I've been carrying this letter for four months now." "You mean to tell me, none of y'all can read?" "Last fella what could read made parole, what, around Christmas." "I don't even know who this come from." "Give me that." "You can't read?" "Almost 60 years old, motherfucker can't read." "Here." "Look, it's from your mama's neighbor, Mrs. Tadwell." "You know who that is, Mrs. Tadwell?" "She thought you ought to know that your second cousin Bo died." "Bo died." "And your other cousin, Sally, on your daddy's side, she died." "And apparently your sister died, too." "Jenny?" "No, it say Marleen here." "Marleen died." "Oh, no, no, no." "Marleen..." "Jenny died, too." "Jenny and Marleen both dead." "Then it goes on for a while about how the crop didn't come in on the account of the frost." "She finished up with..." "There's been a big tornado, in which your mama and your daddy were both killed." "Well, don't worry, 'cause she gonna take care of the dog." "That is, if he gets over the worms." "Dog had worms." "Appreciate it." "Yeah, you know, anytime I can help out." "Anybody else got something they want read?" "No." "No." "Can't blame y'all." "Hey, hey. hey, how you doing?" "I'm fine, thanks." "Good." "First time in?" "Nah, not at all." "I've been in and out of prison, mostly in." "So you won't have no problem adjusting?" "Shouldn't have a problem, no." "If you need anything of any kind, give me a holler." "My name's Jangle Leg, Jangle Leg." "I appreciate it." "Jangle Leg, you said?" "Jangle Leg, Jangle Leg." "I'm Claude." "Claude." "Yeah, Claude." "Your hand nice and supple, like a lady." "Jangle Leg!" "What the hell I tell you about pitching woo on the job, boy?" "Sorry, Captain." "Story time is over." "All you sissies get back to work right now." "Let's move it!" "Now!" "What the fuck?" "Y'all heard the man, get on line!" "Let's go, boys!" "He made a pass at me." "Yeah, I see." "Why do you think they call him Jangle Leg?" "You're gonna find out before me." "Eyes front, mister." "Ain't nobody doing nothing." "I'm hungry." "What..." "See how you get that off?" "Fuck that." "You better eat, and stop aggravating people." "I ain't aggravating nobody." "You got nerve, scraping toast and shit, making excess noise." "Come on, Ray." "You're making a lot of noise down there." "Look at this spoon, man, it's filthy." "Filthy, ain't it?" "Fuck that spoon, and just eat." "Be cool." "My name's Ray Gibson, and this is Claude Banks." "Willie Long." "Willie Long." "Willie, huh?" "Mmm." "Pretty sensible man." "What you up in here for?" "It's a long story." "He killed son of a bitch with a claw hammer when he was 13-year-old." "So they say." "A lot of people say it, though." "Wait a second." "You been in here since you were 13?" "That's right." "How about you, boy?" "How long you been in here?" "What'd you do?" "Son of a bitch chopped his sister in the head with an ax." "She was my half-sister, so I cuts her ass in half." "At least I ain't the one who poisoned my own ma and pa." "Now tell that." "Tell that." "They deserved it, Radio." "What you talking about, Biscuit?" "You're the one that skinned your landlady alive and made a jacket out of her." "Well, at least he didn't kill Santa Claus." "Santa Claus?" "Which one of you niggers killed Santa Claus?" "It wasn't the Santa Claus." "He was just wearing the suit and ringing a bell." " Damn, that's true." " He had presents." "I ain't get nothing." "You killed one of them Salvation men, them dudes be out there on the street with a bell?" "Something like that." "That's what he did." "Anybody try to escape from here?" "They run, but they never get too far." "Cookie there made it clear to Greenville a couple of years back." "Take a mighty cagey country boy to navigate his way through them wood and bayous." "Gotta know what you're doing." "Mmm-hmm." "Hey, what y'all did?" "Oh." "Uh..." "What the fuck y'all do?" "Uh..." "Well, we went on a..." "Yeah, a violent killing spree." "The most violent, you know." "All around the country, we've been killing people." "All this month." "All month, man." "If y'all was out and was reading the papers..." "You ain't heard about it?" "Claude and Ray?" "Claude and Ray?" "Fuck it." "You know, sometimes you got to do certain shit." "It's just enough that people know that" "I go where I need to go to get it done." "If you push my button, there's no telling what I may do." "Stab you, choke you, bite you." "Yeah, don't give a fuck." "I mean, whatever it take to make a motherfucker stop existing." "I will do that." "I wish this spoon was sharp, I'd stab a nigger right now." "I bit one motherfucker to death." "You don't wanna fuck with us." "No, you don't really wanna fuck with us." "Press the wrong button, nigger pop." "Hey, girl." "You gonna eat your corn bread?" "Oh, trouble." "Don't say nothing to him." "You talking to me?" "Yeah, I think he's talking to you." "Uh." "No, not at all." "I want you to have it." "Willie, you mind passing this down to..." "Hey, no." "Don't pass your corn bread to him." "That's your corn bread." "Ray, I'm a grown man." "Okay?" "I'm not gonna eat this corn bread." "If he wants the corn bread, damn it, have the corn bread." "If he wants some corn bread, let him up to the front and get his own portion of corn bread." "That's your corn bread." "Fuck him." "Hey, man, he gonna eat his corn bread, all right?" "Fuck you." "Ray, look, I don't need you to take up for me." "I'm all right." "I'm a grown man." "I can handle that." "If you let him have your corn bread, you're gonna be ironing his drawers and clipping his toenails." "I ain't gonna be ironing." "Maybe I ought to eat your corn bread." "Motherfucker, you can't have my corn bread, that's for damn sure." "'Cause if you try to take my corn bread, part two of my killing spree gonna begin up in here on your ass right now." "If you're thinking about my corn bread, better get the taste out of your mouth." "That's for damn sure." "No, fuck him, fuck that." "'Cause I'm from New York City, God damn it." "Nobody take no corn bread from me." "That go for you and any other of you motherfucking farmers wanna try some shit." "You fuck around with me, there's gonna be consequences and repercussions." "Oh!" "Get up!" "Come on, New York!" "Show that big son of a bitch how y'all does it up in Harlem now, boy." "Come on!" "Come on, New York." "Come on, New York." "I appreciate you going through all the trouble over my corn bread." "You don't get a lot of compliments around here." "Get up!" "Get up!" "Ray, I think you made your point, whatever that is." "Now's a good time to throw in the towel, you know what I'm saying?" "Not over no corn bread, man." "Goldmouth, I know a bitch named Della hit harder than you." "That's it." "The man's taken enough of a beating." "Goldmouth, pick him up and carry him on inside." "He ain't getting my corn bread, Claude." "You were scared, huh?" "Don't be scared." "Uh-uh." "Don't be scared." "Papa!" "That's my boy." "Request permission to go to the tonk, boss." "Conjugal visits are for married prisoners only, and I don't see no wedding ring." "Can't you make an exception, just this once?" "I could issue a temporary marriage license, for a nominal fee." "Here you go." "Sure is pretty." "I now pronounce you man and wife." "You go have a good time." "Claude Banks going to the tonk!" "Claude Banks heading for the tonk!" "Mmm, mmm, mmm!" "Lordy, Lordy, Lordy." "Come on, now." "Five cents." " That's right." "That's a nickel apiece." " Want my money back..." "Hey, New York." "You ever been to that there Cotton Club?" "The Cotton Club in Manhattan?" "Many times." "Man, I damn near lived in the Cotton Club." "I tell you, Cotton Club is all right, but they ain't got nothing on the Boom-Boom Room." "You ever go to New York, go to Ray's Boom-Boom Room." "Hey, there, Ray, what is that you talking about the Boom-Boom Room?" "That's my spot." "Ray's Boom-Boom Room." "Most happening space in all of Manhattan." "So you got your own nightclub?" "Right now it's kind of in the development stages, but I'm working on it." "I'm gonna get it." "So it don't exist?" "It exists in my mind, Goldmouth." "That's where it start." "It start your brain first." "You know, it got to exist up here first." "As a man thinketh, so shall he get." "Some shit like that." "You know, you read the Bible." "Did you go see my cousin Melvin like I asked you to in my letter?" "Of course I did." "He said he'd file an appeal right away." "Listen, Claude, Melvin wanted to know if he should file an appeal on behalf of your friend, too." "Ray Gibson?" "No." "No." "No." "No." "No, Daisy." "He's the reason I'm in here." "For all I know, he's got a record a mile long." "I got a better shot of getting out of here on my own." "You tell Melvin to think about me, all right?" "Just concentrate on me." "Claude." "Cookie made me a map to Greenville." "So?" "So, nigger, you know what I'm saying." "Yeah, I know what you're saying." "And guess what I'm saying." "If you made it that far, they'd be checking every train that pulls out of that station." "We ain't taking the train." "There's a farm on the map." "Cookie told me there's a boat on the farm." "What do you know about boats?" "You probably don't even know how to swim." "I know a boat can help sail our ass away from here." "Come on, nigger, we can do this shit." "Stop bullshitting." "Why are you always talking about "we"?" "Say what?" "There's no "we," Ray, okay?" "There's a me, there's a you." "Why are you talking so loud?" "There ain't no "we" between us." "Hey, Ray!" "Ray!" "Yeah?" "What's the name of that there nightclub of yours again?" "You talking about the Boom-Boom Room?" "Yeah, the Boom-Boom Room." "That's it." "Boy, I'd sure like to see that place when you get it all up and running and pretty-looking." "Yeah, me, too, Ray." "Me, too." "I'd like to see that room, too." "Yeah, I'll tell you what, though, Radio." "You should've been by there last night." "You'd have had yourself some big fun." "What you talking about, "There last night"?" "Just like I said, last night." "Satchmo was up in there and nearly blew the roof off the place." "Ray, who that?" "Satchmo." "You mean Louis..." "Louis Armstrong?" "Yeah, Satchmo, that's what I call him." "I know him personally." "Whenever he come by my spot, I call him Satchmo, and he come by whenever he in town." "Hey, ain't nobody trying to hear that bullshit, man." "Shut the fuck up, man!" "Just shut up." "You always trying to say something at the wrong time." "Let him finish, and do whatever you got to do." "Go to sleep." "Let us have our fun." "Go ahead there, Ray." "Finish telling us about that Satchmo." "Go on." "Tell me some more." "Go ahead, Ray." "Continue, Ray." "Damn!" "As I was saying, last night y'all should've come by, man." "Big fun." "But y'all will never guess who gonna be there tonight." "Who gonna be there, Ray?" "Who that there?" "Who?" "Who that, Ray?" "Just guess." "You go, Biscuit." "Sing, girl." "That's right, fellas." "Catch any cab heading uptown because all the drivers know about Ray's Boom-Boom Room." "Hey, Ray!" "Where am I?" "Oh, come on, Goldmouth, somebody's gotta watch the door." "Hey, Ray!" "Now I could get used to this." "Ladies." "Mmm!" "Ray, this steak tastes like butter." "Made it just for you, Cookie." "You got some steak sauce?" "Boy, get us some Worcestershire sauce." "And clean off that damn table, or I'll whup your ass." "Is something wrong with your ears?" "Move it!" "Hey, Ray!" "I know your club got gambling." "Poker." "Wouldn't be a club without some dice." "Lucky seven!" "My man!" "Let it ride!" "All right, Poker, letting it ride." "Yes!" "Raid!" "Don't move!" "Oh, shit!" "Party's over." "Son of a bitch!" "Goddamn!" "Party over." "Get the back door!" "Put all the women in my car!" "Gibson!" "You about ready to spend the night in the hole, boy." "Now shut up and go to sleep." "You got that, boy?" "Huh?" "That goes for the rest of you girls, too." "Now I don't wanna hear another peep about no fucking Boom-Boom Room." "Sorry, Captain." "Shut your mouth and your fat ass, boy." "Don't be playing with yourselves." "You gotta work in the morning." "Come on, come on." "Mail call!" "That's mine." "You know, I hate this part." "I'm gonna get back to that game in a little while." "Craddock." "Craddock." " All right." " Williams!" " Williams!" " Williams!" "Banks." "Banks." "Right here." ""Melvin Banks, Esquire, Attorney at Law"?" "What's going on?" "This don't concern you." " Excuse me." " M. Bay." "Oh, yeah, obviously not." " Yeah." " M. Bay." "Slow up, slow up." "You see me counting." "Go on." "Come on." "This here is Biscuit." "This is New York City One." "All right, let's get a move on!" "New York City Two." "Only 15 hours of daylight left." "Got all my rocks here, boss." "Phew!" "Sure is hot." "Think it's gonna rain later?" "Now what you want?" "What I want?" "What makes you think I want something?" "My daddy told me when motherfuckers start talking about the weather, keep your hand on your wallet." "Now what you want?" "Your daddy must have been a wise man." "A hell of a man." "Cut the shit and tell me what you want, Claude." "You still got that map?" "Yeah, I still got it." "Why?" "Well, if you thinking about booking it, I want in." "I think we can make it." "We?" "Ain't you the one told me wasn't no we?" "Now you wanna be we again?" "What happened?" "We get some bad news in that letter back there, nigger?" "Look, my cousin Melvin is a lawyer and he filed an appeal on my behalf." "On your behalf?" "What happened to "we," Claude?" "What happened to "we."" "Ray, the appeal was denied." "Well, I'm glad." "Then Daisy went and fell for Melvin." "Now they're engaged to be married." "Can you believe that?" "That's hard to believe." "He a big, successful New York lawyer, and you down here with a bright future in the cotton industry." "Let me figure it out for you." "Eenie, meenie, miney, Melvin!" "Come on, Ray." "Look, I'm serious." "Don't shut me out." "You, me, the map, we can go places." "You know something, Claude?" "The whole time we been down here, you don't do nothing but blame this whole shit on me." "That's all you did." "And you don't do nothing but think about yourself." "Your little scheme that you had." "Was I part of that?" "No." "All right." "You're gonna be honest now 'cause you wanna be my friend." "Wanna be my friend now, huh?" "Let me tell you something Claude "Mr. My Shit Don't Stink" Banks, you got to learn a whole lot more about friendship." "A lot more." "Lot more!" "Hey, boss, he ain't working!" "Does this mean I'm in?" "Nah, you'd probably just slow me down." "You're gonna be out there worrying about your silverware being clean and all that shit." "You one of them soft motherfuckers." "What you say?" "I said you soft." "So what?" "What you gonna do?" "Don't no man call me soft." "I hate that, all right?" "Let me slow you down 'cause I'm a man, and I called you soft, first of all." "And I don't like you swelling all up and all." "What's all this swell-up shit?" "What's that about?" "What you taking in all this air for, Claude?" "What you feeling, huh?" "What's on your mind, huh?" "What, you gonna put your chin up, huh?" "That mean something to me?" "'Cause I said "soft"?" "So what?" "I say it, I spell it." "S-O-F-capital-T!" "Soft!" "Huh?" "How you like that?" "What you gonna do, Claude?" "What you gonna do, huh?" "Hell, no." "You must be crazy, nigger." "I'll kill you." "Oh, this is good." "Break it up!" "Break it up!" "God damn it!" "Shit!" "I'm getting ready to shoot somebody here, God damn it!" "I'm gonna shoot a motherfucker today." "Okay, okay." "Ain't gonna forget this shit, you New York Cities." "He started it." "Don't go to sleep, nigger." "I don't mess with nobody around here!" "Knocking me down." "You knew that..." "Fucking knock me down in the dirt for." "You know what "back to work" means, boy?" "It means back to work!" "This ain't over, nigger." "I don't give a fuck what he say." "I'm gonna shoot your ass." "That's right." "Don't go to sleep!" "Don't you go to sleep." "We'll see who go to sleep." "Come on, come on!" "Two running!" "I know these trees all look alike, but this one is awful familiar." "Let me see that map." "You call this a map?" "What was Cookie smoking when he drew this?" "Cookie didn't draw it." "I drew it up." "You drew this?" "Ray, we out here in the middle of nowhere." "Don't tell me you don't know where we're going." "I drew it up 'cause I knew your ass wouldn't come unless I had a map." "Now come on." "Come on, Claude!" "Wait up." "Wait up!" "Come on!" "Take the dogs around the house!" "Y'all bring the dogs with me!" "Come on!" "Keep moving!" "Come on." "Come on!" "Come on!" "Come on!" "Here they are, Superintendent." "Tracked them all the way to the Tallahatchie." "Well, that's quite a ways, isn't it?" "Well, I'm glad you New York boys got to see some of our beautiful countryside while we got you down here." "Mae Rose!" "Honey, what you think we ought to do with these two to teach them a lesson, huh?" "Um..." "A night in the hole?" "A night in the hole?" "Better make it a week." "I told you, I don't move so fast in this shit." "Fuck y'all!" "Hey, Claude!" "What?" "You got a toilet in yours?" "That was the first time that Ray and Claude ran, but it sure wasn't the last." "Japan suffers its most crushing defeat of the war." " General Douglas MacArthur. .." " Years passed, and the world went to war for a second time." "While they was fighting for freedom on the outside, why, we were dreaming about it on the inside." "Camp 8 is for incorrigibles." "So whatever you done to get here, believe me, I'm not impressed." "I've seen it all before." "You probably noticed that we ain't got no fences here at Camp 8." "We don't need no fences 'cause we got this here gun line." "It runs from..." "What the hell you doing, boy?" "What is your problem?" "Excuse me, boss, but the boy can't talk." "Something wrong with his head." "Just can't get right, boss." ""Can't get right."" "All right." "We'll see how long he lasts." "Now, where was I?" "We don't need no fences at Camp 8, boss." "Oh, no." "What?" "We don't need no fences here at Camp 8, boss." "The gun line, boss." "Yes." "Yes." "You prisoners are now inside the gun line..." "When Dillard found out that Claude was a baseball man, he put him in charge of the team." "That way, when we lost, he could blame it on somebody else." "No, no, that's not it." "You know, try to teach them the finer points of the game, share my wisdom, but do they listen?" "They damn sure don't learn." "I tell you what." "What you're dealing with is a total lack of talent." "Ain't nobody got no talent." "Come on, here." "Every year Camp 12 wins the championship." "Every year they get to roast a victory pig." "This year, I want that pig." "Jangle Leg, put it right to him, man." "Yeah, that's what I'm talking about." "Radio, yes!" "Who wants to hit next?" "Find the card." "Don't nobody wanna hit?" "What, do you wanna hit?" "Hey, man, let Can't Get Right have a swing." "Him?" "Come on, now." "He can't be no worse than the rest of them boys." "Ray, I..." "Come on." "Let the boy have a swing." "Go on." "Take a swing at that." "All right." "Come on." "Go on there." "Have a swing at the ball." "Let's see what you can do." "All right, put that bat in your hand, hold it real tight, and take a nice swing." "You gonna be all right." "Jangle Leg, a little easy on him." "He's new, so we don't wanna..." "Yeah, don't try to hurt the man, you know." "Take it easy on him." "Even swing, there, Can't Get Right." "Swing it now." "Don't be scared of the ball." "Whoo!" "Shit." "That wasn't bad." "Put that on it." "That..." "Yeah." "That might have been one of them, you know, retard mistakes." "Ha!" "Let's try it." "Put it right here." "Yeah, give him that tricky one." "Yeah, Can't Get Right." "That motherfucker can hit, yeah." "Damn." "Hey, boy." "Daddy!" "That's just like fresh water." "Hey, my little girl." "Look like little Mae Rose done growed up." "And out." "That girl got gams." "How was the honeymoon?" "Tom, now, you are gonna stay for supper, aren't you?" "Afraid not, I'm shipping out this afternoon." "Hey, boy, you looking just a little bit too hard." "My ass." "You better just, you know, take some of that glare off your stare." "Turn around to the left." "We have a little problem." "It all right to glance occasionally, but you staring like you want to go up and jam your..." "Start fucking." "Turn around." "Turn around." "I'm keeping you out of some trouble." "Paint the fence." "Banks!" "Get over here." "I'll be right back." "All right." "Yeah?" "This is Stan Blocker, a scout for the nigger leagues." "Negro leagues, actually." "Right." "Pittsburgh Crawfords." "Ever hear of us?" "We get the games on the radio sometimes." "We played down in Jackson yesterday, heard a rumor you got a boy up here who can hit the ball a ton." "You must mean Can't Get Right." "That's him, right over there." "Get your ass back here, boy." ""Can't Get Right"?" "That's the kid's name?" "Yep." "Well, can I talk to him?" "Well, you could try, but you won't get too far." "Why you interested?" "Crawfords are always looking for new talent." "Maybe you haven't noticed, Mr. Blocker, but this here is a prison." "There are ways around that." "Right, Sergeant?" "Oh." "One never know." "Nice-looking squad." "Look at the way she glows." "Oh, she is pretty, isn't she?" "Thanks, Mom." "And we're gonna have a baby." "Oh, my goodness." "Can't Get Right, no, you can't do that." "No, don't..." "No!" "Can't Get Right, no, you can't do that." "No!" "Let's keep what mind you got focused on the game." "If you hit that ball like I know you can hit it, you just might be our ticket off this farm." "Come on." "Think victory." "The ball!" "Keep your..." "The ball!" "Eye on the ball." "Down there." "The ball." "Get up underneath that motherfucker and do your thing!" "Put some of that dumb-dumb strength on it!" "Come on do that thing now!" "Come on, boy." "Come on, boy." "I'm right here with you." "We gonna knock that shit right over the trees!" "Let's go!" "That's right." "Yeah, that's what I'm talking about!" "Oh, shit!" "Don't stand there!" "Run!" "Run!" "Go!" "Just haul ass!" "Run, nigger, run!" "Oh, that's our ticket, baby." "That's our ticket off this farm." "You mark my words." "In five years, there's gonna be a colored man playing in the majors." "You think?" "I don't think the world will change that much." "Maybe not yet, but it will." "I'll be out of a job." "Damn, that's some tasty hooch." "It's amazing what Ray here can do with a couple of pounds of potato skins and some molasses." "Tell me, Mr. Blocker, what you think about our boy?" "You think he got something?" "I think that boy could be the next Josh Gibson." "Is that right?" "Mmm-hmm." "Well, it's getting late, boys." "We got a game in Memphis tomorrow." "What about us?" "Don't forget to mention us." "Yeah, you know, 'cause we kind of like his handlers." "We take care of everything for him." "Yeah, I'll put in a good word for you boys." "All right." "He can't function without us." "Okay." "You've done a good job with that boy." "Thanks a lot." "We hands-on with him, you know." "Okay." "All right." "Take care." "Okay." "Have a nice day." "Yeah." "Walked off smooth with my drink, didn't he?" "He sure did." "I ain't gonna say nothing." "Have a good day!" "Take care now." "Enjoy, man!" "All right." "Y'all come on over here!" "Y'all got something to drink over there?" "Look what we got!" "Some of your stuff, Ray!" "Can't Get Right, this one's for you, baby!" "What in the world?" "What?" "Is Mae Rose all right?" "She's doing just fine." "What about the baby?" "He's a big'un." ""He"?" "It's a boy?" "Honey, it's a boy!" "Yeah, buddy!" "Let me see that boy!" "Where is that boy?" "Show me that grand-boy!" "Sergeant Dillard, I want every man in this camp on the line right now!" "Right now!" "I mean right now!" "Bring them out here!" "Let me see them!" "Ugh!" "Hope not." "It was somebody in this camp." "I can feel it in my bones." "Daddy, give me my baby back." "What you laughing at, boy?" "You laughing at me?" "You know who the daddy of that chocolated baby is?" "Huh?" "You do?" "Well, who is it?" "Speak up!" "It's my baby, boss." "He's lying." "I'm the father of that baby, boss." "Boss, I'm that baby's daddy." "Any fool can see that baby belongs to me." "I wanna differ." "That little rascal belong to me." "Proud to say, boss, I'm that baby's daddy." "I be the pa, boss." "I'm the pa of that there young 'un, boss." "I the pappy" "That was the last we ever saw of Superintendent Abernathy and little Mae Rose." "To celebrate his departure, Camp 8 threw ourselves a little party." "Ray provided the moonshine, and Claude managed to scare up some girls." "It wasn't quite the Boom-Boom Room, but it was close enough." "Come on, now." "Forget that, man." "She don't mean nothing to him." "Don't pay that no mind." "To hell with him." "It ain't that." "What's your problem, sitting around looking all sad and shit?" "It's almost all right in here today." "Almost." "What's this?" "This is a release form." "Man, you getting out this month." "What you sitting around looking all sad for?" "What am I gonna do out there, Ray?" "I can't go home to my mama like this." "Man, that shit you talking is crazy." "Your mama gonna be happy to see you when you get home." "But not like this, Ray." "Hey, look." "The world done changed a lot." "It's 1945, boy." "Not for me, it ain't." "Look." "You can't stay here." "That's for damn sure." "I tell you what else, anybody else in the whole place would give his right arm to be in your shoes right now." "I know I would." "Shit." "Fucking release papers, sitting over here looking sad." "I ain't gonna sit here with your ass looking all sad." "You got the best news of the day, you sitting here looking sad." "I'm gonna go over here and slow grind with the sheep." "You cheer up." "You're going home, all right?" "Hey, man, that's good news." "Now, come on, now." "You're going home." "You gonna smile or something?" "There you go." "All right, nigger." "I'll see you in a minute." "Where you going, Biscuit?" "Oh!" "Where you going, boy?" "Don't do that!" "Don't do it!" "Hold it right there!" "Hold it!" "Biscuit!" "Man over the line!" "Hey!" "Hey!" "Hey, come on, now!" "Shit!" "Come on, J. Come on, now." "I got Chicago!" "Goldmouth, I got Chicago!" "Yeah?" "Come on, fellas." "Where you going?" "Why you all dressed up?" "What's this?" "What the fuck is going on?" "Blocker!" "What's going on here?" "The kid's getting out." "I got him a pardon." "What about me and Ray?" "I didn't see our names on that pardon." "You said you'd put in a good word for us." "I did." "I mentioned you." "I mentioned both of you." "But the fact is, pardons don't come cheap." "That kid can hit." "What can you guys do?" "We're the ones who worked with him night and day on that game." "Forget it, man." "Let it go." "I'm not gonna let it go, Ray." "No, I'm not, okay?" "The man said he was gonna put in a good word." "Explain yourself." "At least the kid's getting out." "That's what you wanted, right?" "Yeah." "Of course." "Okay." "You show them Crawfords how to play ball." "Make them throw you strikes." "Go." "You're a free man." "It's all right." "Come on, son." "We love you, boy." "Hit that ball, boy." "You hit one out the park for me." "Gonna miss you, Can't Get Right." "Play hard, Can't Get Right!" "We'll catch you on the radio!" "All right." "So that's that." "Look, one of the new boys told me they're farming that land up there by the swamp." "He said he seen a crop duster..." "I'm not in the mood right now, Ray." "They keep the crop duster behind the barn." "It can't be that hard to fly a plane." "Lots of people do it, Claude." "They're called pilots, Ray." "I'm serious, I'm not in the mood for one of your fucked-up plans right now." "I don't hear you coming up with no plan, nigger!" "My plan is on his way to Pittsburgh right now, Ray." "Can't Get Right just got himself a pardon signed by the governor, thanks to us." "But we can't seem to do nothing for ourselves." "Don't you feel a little frustrated right now, Ray?" "Crop duster." "I'm not getting in no airplane with you." "You know, I'm finally wrapping my mind around this whole concept." "Oh, really?" "What concept is that?" "They threw us in this shithole for life, Ray." "Don't you get it?" "We gonna die here." "We might as well head up to the cemetery, pick a plot, and start digging." "Now let me tell you something, my daddy died in a place like this because of that shit you're talking." "He gave up hope and hung hisself." "I ain't going out like that, Claude." "Maybe you're fooling yourself, Ray." "Maybe you just a chip off the old block." "Now, you're gonna take that back, or we ain't friends no more." "News flash, Ray." "We ain't never been friends." "We just been stuck together for 12 years." "It's been nothing but pure hell since the moment I ran into you, Ray." "Every time I look at you, I get sick to my stomach thinking what my life could've been if I never, ever bumped into Ray Gibson." "All right, you better slow down, 'cause you fixing to say something you gonna regret." "You better quiet down, nigger." "Only thing I regret is the day I met you, Ray." "That's the way it is, huh?" "Yeah, that's the way it is." "I ain't got nothing else to say to your ass then." "Thank you!" "Now if you ask me, when Can't Get Right left Camp 8, a piece of Claude left with him." "And with Ray and Claude not talking, the place felt a little harder, a little colder." "I have a dream." "...be the greatest!" "I'm the king of the world." "And it is time for you and me to fight for ourselves." "I'll see y'all in New York City!" "Oh, shit!" "Round about 1972," "I got transferred to the infirmary, and those two fools were still at it." "But no matter how tough a man is, he spends enough time on this farm, he'll find his breaking point." "It could be triggered by any little thing." "A face." "A voice." "Even a smell." "White-only pies." "Man over the line!" "That boy went crazy." "You comfortable?" "As a pair of fur-lined bedroom slippers." "That's very amusing." "We'll see how them slippers feel after, let's say, about 24 hours." "I need a volunteer!" "Gibson, stand up." "I'll make you trustee right now." "If that pie-eating son of a bitch step off them bottles, if so much as one toe hit that dirt," "I want you to shoot him right in his ass." "I want you to kill him." "I want you to shoot him dead." "You do that, I swear to God, you're a free man." "Hell, I'll walk you out the gate myself." "What do you say?" "I got to be honest with you, boss." "You don't wanna give me that gun, 'cause I'd probably shoot you with it." "That was the wrong answer, boy." "You a fool." "I'd have taken that deal." "I beg your pardon?" "You say something to me?" "I'd have knocked you off the bottles, put a bullet in your ass, and be halfway to New York right now." "Well, my goodness." "After all these years of blissful silence," "I forgot how annoying the sound of your voice is." "Ray, I hope you don't think I owe you anything, 'cause I don't owe you a damn thing." "I ain't do nothing for you to owe me nothing." "What you got I ain't got?" "I did it for me." "I'm a man, God damn it." "I ain't no motherfucking, bootlicking trustee." "You gonna make me fall off this shit, talking to your ass." "It's about being poised, Ray." "Just poise yourself." "Poise, my ass." "Look here, Ray," "I'm sorry to hear about your mama passing." "Yeah, that was about five years ago." "Thank you." "I know, but since we're talking, I thought I'd mention it." "We not talking, you talking." "And doing a little bit too much of it." "Every time you start talking, I almost fall..." "Would you stop..." "Don't say nothing else to me!" "You about to make me fall, Ray." "Hold still and don't say nothing." "Oh!" "Damn, one of my toes in the bottle." "Damn it, Ray, shit." "What you laughing about, Ray?" "What's so funny?" "Thinking about you running with them bullets flying all over the top of your head." "That's something to see there." "That was a sight to see, nigger." "Bullets weren't the problem, Ray." "That pie was too hot." "Burned my damn tongue." "It sure is good talking to you again." "Good talking to you, too." "Come on!" "Let's move!" "We got 14 acres of land to clear today!" "Let's go!" "Gibson, Banks, get your sorry asses over here." "Every morning I wake up praying that Ray Gibson and Claude Banks have died in their sleep." "And every morning you disappoint me." "Sorry, boss." "Sorry, boss." "You two got 15 minutes to clear out your lockers." "The both of you have been transferred to the superintendent's mansion." "And I, for one, won't miss you." "Here's your medicine, Mr. Wilkins." "My pills." "Thank you, Claude." "Oh, you're welcome." "Oh, yard boy." "This myrtle could use some attention." "Perhaps some fertilizer would restore its exuberance." "Get your ass to work." "Claude." "Tell me what you think of this place." "It's one of these new retirement communities they built down on the Gulf." "I figure I ought to try to enjoy myself what few years I got left." "Let's take a look at this." "Eyesight ain't what it once was." "Oh, this is nice here." ""Ocean views, palm trees." ""Two heated swimming pools."" "Sounds a damn sight better than that infirmary across the way where I'm gonna end up, I'll tell you that." "Claude." "I must apologize, Claude." "That was rude of me." "That's all right, boss." "Takes more than some colorful brochure to hurt my feelings." "You've been on the farm for quite a spell, haven't you?" "Over 40 years now." "Me and Ray Gibson out there." "Forty years." "That's a long time for any crime, even murder." "It's a hell of a lot longer when you're innocent." "Half the men in this prison swear they're innocent, Claude." "Don't you think that's kind of funny?" "You have to forgive me if I don't laugh." "Excuse me." "What you looking at, Ray?" "Just what the fuck you looking at, Ray?" "I noticed that..." "I noticed you and Mr. Wilkins been mighty friendly lately." "Y'all wanna be a new couple or something?" "Kiss my ass, Ray." "Okay?" "Mr. Wilkins just an old man that like to talk." "That's all that is, Ray." "That's all that is." "Y'all like to talk." "I'm lonely, and I like to talk, too." "What you wanna talk about, Ray?" "Huh?" "What you wanna talk about?" "Nigger, I wanna talk about the plan you've been working on." "I ain't working on no plan, Ray!" "I know you." "And I know when you got something brewing." "I know it!" "What I got brewing, Ray?" "You tell me!" "You done lost your damn mind, Ray." "I don't care what you believe." "I don't care what you believe 'cause I know you got something up your sleeve." "Think I'm gonna stay up arguing with you all night?" "You cutting into my sleeping time, okay?" "Kiss my ass and good night." "Go to sleep, nigger." "I hope it's the long one." "Why you talking instead of sleeping?" "Good night." "I'm going to sleep." "Why don't you go to sleep?" "Why can't I just sit here and look at your ass?" "And wonder what you got up your sleeve." "I got something brewing." "I got an ass-whupping brewing for you, Ray, if you don't stop fucking with me." "Is that right?" "That's right, Ray." "All right." "Sleep tight, nigger." "Fuck you." "Yeah, fuck you, too." "I hope your ass piss the bed with that weak-ass bladder of yours." "If I do, then I'll put the sheets on you." "How you like that?" "Now just where the hell you think you going?" "Mr. Wilkins' driver got the flu, and he asked me to fill in for him." "How the hell you gonna fill in for somebody?" "You can't drive." "You ain't got no driver license, you ain't drove in 40 years." "He know he's taking his life in his own hands, letting you drive?" "Shut up, Ray." "I'm not gonna shut up." "Where the hell you supposed to be going?" "If you must know..." "Then I must know." "I got to know, nigger." "What's up?" "Greenville." "Pick up the new superintendent at the bus station." "What's with the old pretty suit?" "Who you supposed to be, Harry Belafonte?" "I look very dapper, very debonair, don't I?" "Now don't touch this car." "I piss on the motherfucker." "Ain't gonna touch it, I'll piss on it." "Why you got to say nasty shit, Ray?" "'Cause I'm a nasty motherfucker." "You know I trust you, Claude." "I hope so." "Be right back." "What the fuck?" "Naturally, I had to get set down next to your proverbial hypochondriac, middle-aged fat lady with a goddamn wart on her nose, hair growing out of it, for Christ's sakes." "I tell you, I got to know her goddamn gallbladder like the back of my goddamn hand." "Claude?" "Mr. Pike, Claude." "There you go, boy." "Come on, Claude." "It's time to go." "Let me get that door for you." "You just stretch out." "Now you're sure it was him." "Some faces you just don't forget." "Warren Pike is one of them." "All right." "Got a bird!" "That's quite a haul, huh, Claude?" "What do you say, Mr. Pike?" "You about ready to call it a day?" "Yeah, it's getting late, and I sure as hell could use a nice, hot bath." "That's a mighty fine timepiece you got there, Mr. Pike." "Even play a fancy tune, huh?" "Yeah, it's special." "They don't make them like that anymore." "I'll bet they don't." "You wouldn't mind if I asked you where you got that from, would you?" "My wife gave it to me on our anniversary some years back." "Uh-huh." "About 40 years back?" "Forty years." "Yeah, something like that." "She give you that scar on your face, too?" "I ought to kill you for that remark, boy." "What's going on here?" "I think I might just have to teach this uppity nigger a lesson in manners." "Ray, be cool." "You gonna get us in a lot of trouble now." "He's right, Gibson." "You put that gun down, or I'm gonna have to shoot you." "Then we about to be some shot-up motherfuckers." "Now, wait a minute." "Don't nobody shoot nobody." "Ray, I wanna see this son of a bitch dead just like you." "I don't wanna see you go down with him." "Ray, give me the gun." "Come on, now." "Give me the gun." "Claude, he got my daddy's watch!" "He killed Winston Hancock!" "Don't listen to him, Wilkins." "He's crazy." "Gibson, I want you to stop now." "Think about what you're saying." "I know just what I'm saying!" "That's the only thing my daddy ever give me, and he's got it." "Tell them what you did." "Is there any truth in what this man is saying?" "What the hell difference does it make?" "At least the state of Mississippi got 40 years of cheap labor out of the deal." "Motherfucker, you done took our lives away from us." "Give me the gun, Ray." "I'm gonna kill this motherfucker myself." "No!" "Put it down, Pike!" "I believe this belongs to me." "My daddy's watch." "We were walking back." "A bird came out low on our left." "I swung on it." "Mr. Pike walked directly in my line of fire." "Where were the two convicts when the shot was fired?" "They were loading up the truck, I believe." "They'd gone on ahead." "Why don't he just tell him the truth?" "He know nobody wanna hear the truth." "He gonna tell them what they wanna hear." "I don't know, Ray." "We'll talk, okay?" "Thank you." "Here he comes." "I think they bought it." "One of the deputies is a member of my church." "Gibson, I don't think there's any way that" "I could..." "Claude..." "There's no way to make up for 40 years." "I'll get Charlie to draw up your pardon papers in the morning." "Would you mind helping me upstairs?" "Sure, boss." "I'm not your boss." "I'm not your boss." "Not anymore." "So Ray and Claude get their pardons, right?" "No, ain't get their pardons, man." "If they got their pardons way back then, we wouldn't be burying them here today, would we?" "That's right." "Damn." "What happened is Old Man Wilkins never come out of the bathroom." "Sat right there and died on the shitter." "That must've been pretty messed up for them, man." "What happened to them after that, old-timer?" "Let's see." "What happened after that?" "Oh, yeah!" "They got old." "Shit." "We all got old." "And getting out took on a whole new meaning." "Looks like Jonesy got his walking papers." "Yeah, there he go." "Over to the morgue, up the hill to the cemetery." "Phew!" "I'll tell you what, Claude, you were right when you said what you said." "You said we wasn't never gonna get out of this place." "And you were right." "You said the only way we gonna get outta here is through the morgue and the cemetery." "And you're right, 'cause we right here." "Right here, right now." "Yeah, I remember saying that." "We next." "Let's be real." "We next." "You like baseball?" "We on deck." "On deck for what?" "For what?" "That upper room, nigger." "The upper room" "When Jesus..." "Know where that is, the upper room the motherfuckers be singing about?" "The upper room" "Yeah, I'll tell you what." "You die first, I'm gonna sing at your funeral." "I'm gonna just bust up in the motherfucker and go..." "The upper room" "Let them shoot me." "I don't give a fuck if they take me out singing that motherfucker." "You crazy, Ray." "Hell, yeah." "Friend." "Yeah." "We next." "I wanna be at the game." "I'm on a roll." "Mama and my daddy don't know how" "Two Percodan, baby." "There you go." "Give me what you got." "I'll raise you." "Yo, what the fuck are those?" "It helps keep the cholesterol down." "Old man, do I look like I give a damn about my cholesterol right now?" "Come on, now." "You want a bump, G?" "No, I don't want none of that shit." "That's right." "I wouldn't put that in my nose if I were you." "You know how they get it in here, don't you?" "Tell him how they get in here." "People smuggle it in, in their ass." "Say What?" "I know the motherfucker that bring it in here." "That come out of somebody's asshole, so go on, enjoy." "Whatever." "I know if I got to get high," "I got to smell some shit, I ain't gonna have none." "That ain't high." "That's low." "That cocaine, heroin, marijuana, all that shit, bring it all in here, in their ass." "That's right." "Look like it's up to you, ass-sniffer." "Okay, boys, come and get it!" "Jell-O!" "Jell-O pudding!" "Play one more hand." "I'm gonna get my Jell-O." "Come on." "Y'all gonna take all my money and go run off 'cause nurse said, "Jell-O."" "Ray." "I don't want no Jell-O, God damn it." "No, I ain't said nothing about the Jell-O." "I was thinking about what we talked about this afternoon." "I think I got a plan." "You got a plan?" "Yeah." "I'm a visionary on this one." "You got it all worked out, huh?" "I think I really do." "Listen here." "Any plan you got" "I don't even wanna hear 'cause I know it's fucked up." "All fucked up." "If you don't wanna believe me, you don't wanna believe me then, Ray." "I'm too old." "I ain't got time for no plan." "I'm 90 years old, Claude." "I never thought I'd see the day that old Ray Gibson give up hope." "Never thought..." "Say what now?" "I said I never thought I'd hear the day that old Ray Gibson give up hope." "Nigger, I ain't given up no motherfucking hope." "I'm keeping it real, like them niggers in here keep it real." "Ain't nobody give up nothing." "But you know what?" "You'd probably slow me down anyway." "Said which?" "You'd only slow me down." "You must be high if you think I'm gonna slow your slow ass down." "I got a plan." "I tell you what." "Fuck your plan." "Come on, Lou." "Cover that up." "Don't nobody wanna see that shit." "Put your drawers on or something." "Lou, cover it up." "Don't touch it." "Put your hand away." "That turn my stomach." "I don't want no Jell-O after I seen them old-ass balls." "Who gonna enjoy Jell-O after I seen what I've seen?" "I don't even want Jell-O." "Lou ruin my stomach." "Anybody seen Claude?" "I been sitting here the whole time." "He ain't come out." "Claude ain't out!" "Claude has died, God!" "No, Ray, don't go!" "Claude!" "Ray, you can't go in there!" "Ray, come back!" "Claude!" "Claude!" "How did it start?" "Probably old wires." "Place was a tinderbox just waiting to go." "I guess we should've torn this old building down a long time ago." "Gibson made it this far before he was probably overcome by smoke." "From the looks of things, Banks didn't even make it out of bed." "You really bummed me out." "That's a terrible story." "Nigger. you crying?" "No, I got allergies." "I'm cool." "Oh, my God, man." "Ain't nothing wrong with a man crying every now and again." "Listen, man." "What was Claude's plan, anyway?" "Claude figured he could steal a couple of bodies from the morgue, right?" "That way, when he set the infirmary on fire, in all the commotion, him and Ray could just slip right onto them fire engines, see?" "Hide out, wait until the morning, and roll right on out with them, you see?" "That way, when they find the two bodies, they think it was them." "What makes you think that ain't work?" "Mmm." "I never said it didn't work." "Wait." "You mean to tell me that this is not Ray and Claude in these two boxes?" "Is it, old man?" "Hey, old-timer, is it?" "I like that." "See?" "You feel part of this baseball game, don't you?" "They only get one out of me today." "Now, we were arguing about something, okay?" "I didn't appreciate when you said something about..." "You had just said I was..." "You said that..." "You know what?" "Hell with it." "It's a hell of a day for a ball game." "Yankees on fire." "Motherfuckers kicking ass." "Which ones the Yankees?" "Well, the ones up at the mound." "Go, go, you!" "Run!" "That's the Yankees right there." "Which ones there?" "That's the Yankees right there." "It's a perfect plan." "We're out." "What's so perfect?" "Took 65 years to come up with it." "Why can't you just say thank you?" "You want me to say thank you?" "You can kiss my ass, too." "I'm ready to go back right now." "Then let's go, Ray." "Hold my frank." "Come on." "Help a nigger out, man." "Don't make me stand out in this cold." "Your bitch would be standing..." "I'm sorry." "You fuck around with me, it's gonna be consequences and repercussions." "What's repercussions?" "Uh-oh." "Let me get that." "Yeah, I know it's 1932." "I'm the first one to have this." "Hey, mud head." "Hey, watch..." "Shit." "I almost got stung by a bee." "You were scared, huh?" "Don't be scared." "Uh-uh." "Don't be scared, and don't laugh either." "'Cause it ain't funny." "That boy got God-given talent." "God made his..." "What's wrong?" "The mustache too big?" "He give up hope and hung himself because of the airplane that's coming over." "Make me have to loop all this shit." "I ain't looping shit!" "We either get it now, or not at all!" "My name Jangle Leg, Jangle Leg." "You think that's funny?" "That's probably the last time." "Sorry." "My bad." "This ain't my daddy's watch."