"Damn it!" "Oh!" "Ah!" "Jes...!" "I can't stand it, help me!" "Help me!" "God damn!" "God... damn!" "It's wanting out, now darn it, push, so we can see what's coming out on the couch." "Head's out almost." "God damn!" "Oh, God!" "Oh..." "Shh." "Come on." "Oh, baby, come on." "Oh!" "Don't worry, baby, I'll get somebody." "Mama had the baby!" "Come on, Josephine, he wants two of us." "I can't." "I'm busy." "Get Agnes." "Mama had the baby!" "It's a boy!" "A boy?" "God damn." "I lost my bet." "Listen, I've already paid for two," "I'm ready now." "Sure you are, sweetie, and we're going to get someone nice." "Violet!" "'Cause we're going to have ourselves a time!" "Go and fetch Agnes yonder, will you, baby?" "Tell her to haul it up to the Blue Room." "We're going to have ourselves a time." "It's a boy." "It's a boy." "Well, Violet, old girl, is it all over upstairs?" "Uh-huh." "A boy." "A boy?" "Does it really hurt to have a baby?" "Violet, you asking the wrongest person, the very wrongest person in the world." "Come on and play that thing, Professor." "Well, I certainly will do that." "I'll play something for that pretty baby your mama just had." "Brung into the cruel, cruel world on a night like this, against his will." "And today, I have attained my 75th birthday, and I intend to celebrate!" "I haven't had a woman in longer than I care to say." "You know, she doesn't have to be beautiful, just patient." "Well, how about Frieda?" "How are you, Admiral?" "Well, hello, Nell." "You've been to the North Sea." "I sure have, and now" "I'm on an extended leave of absence." " Well, I'm..." " Going to be here a long time." "Ooh, you're my kind of man." "I like the way you move." "All I want to hear from you is that I'm handsome, virile, generous, and kind." "Waffle man, waffle man..." "Put your money in your hand for the waffle man" "For the waffle man" "The waffle man is here, the waffle man is there" "The waffle man is everywhere" "Waffle man, waffle man..." "What's the matter, Will?" "Shh, come on, hush up." "You don't want to wake everybody up." "Shh!" "Be quiet now." "Violet!" "What if you had woke him up?" "He paid for all night, and you know what he's like." "Well, Will woke me up." "You're not supposed to wake me up." "I don't get to sleep late anymore." "Where'd you get those earrings?" "They're awful pretty." "Never mind where I got 'em." "He gave 'em to me." "He won 'em in a card game or something." "Then I won them from him." "Don't!" "Just pierced them for me last night, that's how I won 'em." "It's a lucky thing I was drunk." "Will you give them to me when I grow up?" "Are you out of your mind?" "These are real emeralds." "Otherwise," "I never would have let him punch those ugly holes in my ears." "Get my coffee." "I feel awful." "Ooka, dooka, soda cracker, does your father chew tobacco?" " Ooka..." " Violet!" "Give me my cane." "Oh, my absinthe." "Where the hell is that black bitch with my coffee?" "!" "Yes, you handle that with care, Joe." "And you ought to leave off suckling that boy." "You're going to turn him spoiled, just like you did with Violet." "Oh, I think she likes it, having big tits." "Hey, 'Tonia, Violet, get off that pony." "I got something to tell you." "I went to see Mama Mosebery last night." "I paid her two dollars, and she gave me some uncooked turtle heart to bring me luck for the lottery, and I swallowed it whole!" "Where you going?" "I ain't here, you know, to entertain you." "I gots deliveries upstairs." "Well, how'd it taste like?" "What taste like?" "Raw turtle's heart!" "What do you think it tasted like?" "Aw, come on, please, tell me!" "Well, I am the child of a snapping turtle." "Raised by alligators on panther's milk." "I'm a poisoned wolf from Bitter Creek, and tonight's my night to howl!" "Peddlers use the back door." "...four, five, six..." "A peddler." "Violet, go sit down and finish your okra." "I'm not raising you so's your teeth will rot, you know." "What is this sheet doing here?" "It doesn't belong to the house." "Six, seven, eight, nine..." "Look what's coming." "...eleven." "Aw, hush up now, come on, baby, shh, shh, shh." "Hi, I'm Bellocq." "I'm looking for Madame Livingston." "Is she receiving callers?" "Harry, get down here." "You may come in, Monsieur Bellocq." "Well, come in then." "Good God, you're in the wrong place, Monsieur." "We're not in the business of buying." "Madame, um, perhaps you know my name." "I have... photographed in the district many times." "Am I addressing Madame Livingston?" "Yes, you are," "Monsieur." "And you are too early." "My girls are all asleep." "They work late, you know." "It's 10:00 in the morning, Monsieur." "I require the light from the sun." "Now is the best time for me." "This young lady there, she would be fine." "I run a good, old-fashioned whorehouse, Monsieur." "And you seem a little rabbity to me." "Photographs?" "What the hell kind of thing is that?" "I don't cater to the inverts." "If you're looking for something different," "I can assure you, you can find it right down here in New Orleans." "Madame, please, don't tell me about New Orleans, I've lived here all my life." "I apologize, Monsieur." "You realize I'm willing to pay for her time." "Violet, child, go get me that package that Red brought." "Would you care for an absinthe?" "Madame, the light." "I beg your pardon." "Oh, the light." "I had quite forgotten." "Well, go and take our Hattie." "She's very good, you know." "She will do whatever you want." "Thank you, ma'am." "And go take care of that child for her." "Want me to take my clothes off now?" "No, no, I'm liking you just as you are." "You want me like this?" "Uncombed, I'm not even washed." "Yes, yes." "I don't like that face." "It ain't a pleasant face." "Now this is a pleasant face." "Quiet!" "I must have quiet now." "Go away, Violet." "No, it's only she musn't talk to you." "She's very beautiful." "She looks very like you." "Yes, everybody notices it." "She's my sister." "Ma, I ain't!" "My face is very like my mother's, but I got a fat stomach, just like all my fathers." "Where the hell is that god damn whore's ass?" "Hattie!" "Maybe he's a voodoo man, 'cause he gots them bottles and stuff." "Nah, he's just another dumb john." "Jesus God, woman, get up and get me something." "My head is killing me." "I need something..." "laudanum, something." "Jesus Christ!" "My mama's having her likeness made, and it's all paid for, so there." "Why, hell, man." "She's only good for one thing." "Why would anybody want to take a picture of a piece of ass?" "Excuse me, I will have to ask you to move away." "She must remain absolutely still." "Come on, Honey Pie, now, go along, now." "You're still just a little bit drunk." "Where the hell did you get those earrings?" "What?" "Give me those emeralds." "You skull-cracking, cotton-brained whore!" "You gave them to me last night!" "Well, why would I give real emeralds to a whore?" "God damn you, you bet me I wouldn't let you put those holes in my ears, and I did, so those are mine!" "I won them!" "Them's mine!" "Oh, my sweet little piece of ass!" "I remember now, Hattie, I remember." "Go to the bed and take off your stockings, child." "Mama Mosebery, I've got this hair growing... round my nipples, and I'm tired of plucking it." "Oh..." "You must pluck 'em on Good Friday." "Bound that same day, and they'll never grow back." "Another new frock from Paris?" "It's too early for a piece of tail." "It must be the bill collector." "Violet, you're going to be a lucky little one." "You're going to have so many men, you won't know what to do with them." "No, no, please, if-if she's busy," "I'll come back later." " Come on." " No, no, please." " I'd rather wait downstairs." " Come on, come on." "Look who I found skulking in the hallway." "He say he's a photographic." "Hey, voodoo man," "I just got my fortune told, see?" "No, no, no, no, no." "He says he got something for Hattie, but he won't show it to me." "Hattie, you got a gentleman friend!" "Oh, excuse me, I..." "I didn't mean to disturb you ladies." "I..." "I have something for Miss Hattie." "She's in the bathtub." "She's always in the bathtub." "Oh, she is in-in-indisposed." "L-I... would rather..." " What's that?" " No, no, no." "L-I'd rather leave this off for Miss Hattie." "Don't give me that." "You is a sport." "Hey..." "let me see your camera." "Don't do that." "Don't do that." "Stop, please." "Careful." "Oh, she's so pretty." "Christ be, she looks like an angel." "Everybody knows that ain't so." "Sure wish I had a picture like that of myself." "Yeah, I could send one home to my folks." "How'd you do that?" "Nice." "I want one." "Magic." "And I only need one second." "Well, my pretty baby" "Won't you come on over here" "Let your sweet papa whisper in your ear" "Well, I'm wild about the jelly roll" "Sweet jelly roll of mine..." "Cheating is right." "You cheated me." "Well, there's my cards..." "queens and aces." "Let's see yours." "What the hell is it?" "Let me go!" "I got three aces." "I don't know what you've got there." "You're drunk, man." "Get out of my place!" "Your place?" "!" "To hell with you and your kind!" "And don't you know, madame, that you are as common as whale piss." "Oh!" "Oh, Highpockets, oh, what have you done to...?" " Oh, God..." " Oh..." "Where the hell is that bum, Harry?" "My God, you killed him." "Well, I hope so." "Hattie, you must take the bitters with the sweets." "Lon, go back to your piano." "Violet, go make me a pipe." "I can't take all this emotionalizing." "Harry, get in here and throw him out." "You can't throw him out." "He'll come back and kill me." "Well, look what that goddamn, son of a bitch did to my place." "Well, you just can't leave him to die." "Well, you just watch me." "Harry, go through his pockets and take everything he's got." "He only has about a hundred." "Take it all." "Drop him on Emma Johnson's doorstep." "Oh, no!" "Go on then." "Pack up your bags and go with him." "And get rid of that hammer that accidentally dropped on him." "We don't do no carpentry work in here, so we don't need no hammers." "Hattie, you know Nell didn't mean that." "Something must've went wrong when your ma was carrying you in her pouch." "Oh, yeah, something went wrong." "My mama was a whore." "She had me in a house just like this." "Now I'm a whore, and I don't know anything except a man lying on top of me, scared to death I'm going to get the little casino." "Oh, here we go again." "You think you're the only whore in New Orleans scared of getting sick?" "Oh, you just go ahead and laugh." "You're going to end up peddling gas for a thumbnail of cocaine." "I'll send for my trunk." "Everybody has a right to do what they want." "I want to be a respectable person." "With a gambler?" "It's those respectable people who are lying on top of you every night, Hattie." "You'll be back." "No, I won't!" "I'm here for one purpose and that's to live my life to the hilt and enjoy it the same way." "Come on, Violet." "Why aren't you packed?" "I don't want to go." "Violet, I am your mother." "No, you're not." "You even say so all the time." "Violet, why are you acting this way?" "What ails you?" "Violet?" "Violet, I'm talking to you!" "God, I have a splitting headache." "I'm going to stay here." "I hate you." "Lf... if it weren't for you," "I would've been out of here a long time ago." "Oh, you're so selfish!" "This isn't fair!" "I... why does everybody else get to do everything they want to do around here except me just when I get a... a chance to do something..." "for myself." "Sometimes I wish I'd never been born." "The winding' boy, don't deny my name..." "The winding' boy, don't deny my name" "Pick it up and shake it" "Like a staving' chain" "This is Josephine who just loves universities." " Hi, darlin'." " Don't deny my name" "Every time..." "Actually, my real name is Hildegarde." "My friends all call me Hildegarde." "You from Tulane?" " Oh, yeah." " I say, now, every time" "Changing of that doggone moon" "That old moon" "That's very brave." "Every time, the changing of the moon" "Mmm, mmm, mmm-mmm-mmm" "The winding' boy, don't deny my name." "You two ladies are going to change my luck." "Do you think I'm pretty?" "Yes, I certainly do." "And the other girls, do you like them?" "Well, yes." "Then why do you sit here night after night?" "Why don't you go upstairs with any of them?" "That is for me to know and for you to find out." "You're very old, aren't you?" "Yes, very old." "Very, very old?" "Yes, very, very old." "Do you think you'll be dead soon?" "No, I don't think so." "Well, why don't you think so?" "Well, I don't feel like being dead yet." "I'm too young." "You said you're old, so how can you be too young?" "Got to wet my whistle." "Well, I think you'll be dead soon." "Oh, why?" "'Cause Madame Nell said so." "She said you'd be better off dead." "Oh, better off dead?" "Uh-huh." "Madame says there's something wrong with you." "That you're some kind of cream puff, or something." "She thinks that you're pathetic, missing all the fun in life." "Perhaps Madame Nell is imagining she knows more than she does." "You think she's having fun?" "She's as happy as anybody." "Are you afraid you'll get little casino?" "The clap?" "Oh." "No." "Well, why then?" "Do I ask you questions?" "I don't have to explain myself to a child." "I'm not a child." "Excuse me, that is your opinion." "Leave me alone." "You hate me." "I have no time for hate or love." "Dear child, you're so full of life." "You don't have to take mine, do you?" "Ah-hah." "Well, what have we here?" "Are you selling little girls now, Madame Nell?" "White slavery, huh?" "Hey, do you know how to kiss?" "Of course I do." "Everybody does." "Well, you watch out for him, Violet." "He's got a heart like an artichoke... a leaf for every girl and a prick on the end of each one of them." "Now tell me where'd you get those pretty pearly teeth and that beautiful brown hair?" "My mama puts my teeth in every morning with a crocheter, and I chose brown hair 'cause it don't show the dirt." "Mmm." "No." "No, no." "No, no, that's-that's-that's not my style, you know." "I was just kidding around." "What will you give me for a message?" "I'll give you the back of my hand is what I'll give you." "Is there someone down there for me?" "Mm-hmm." "It's that horrible old coot again." "Ugh." "Do not be so snotty about him." "That old fool's idea that he likes me, is my ticket out of this place." "And besides, he is rich." "I know because I looked him up in the phone book, and he lives on St. Charles." "And he could have whatever he wants in the world... and he wants me who doesn't give a damn for him." "Me... who doesn't give a damn for him." "This is my little girl, Violet." "And how old are you, Violet?" "I don't know." "Do you like her?" "She is very pretty." "Like Nell says, she's only for friends, so she's still a virgin." "Well, I have it now." "You may relax." "I feel like I'm going to croak." "Violet, honey, go get us a drink." "Before the war, we used to close down in the summertime, but since the naval base came, we're busy all year round now." "Can I buy you a drink?" "No, thank you." "Perhaps we could make another one now." "Would you like to?" "Yeah, why not?" "My breasts are very nice." "They're nicer than any of the other girls'." "Do you think maybe I should just show 'em a little bit?" "Yes, that would be better." "Let me..." "let me see." "Well?" "You have fine skin." "Do you have any white powder?" "Sure, surely... right over there." "Put it on your shoulders here." "Yes, and-and on your breast." "I love the one you made of Fanny naked." "She sure is fat." "Fanny's beautiful... but I wasn't pleased with the light." "So, you're all ready for me now?" "Are you content?" "Child, I'm afraid you'll have to go now." "Me?" "Lie back against... put you head here." "Yes, uh..." "Can you lay on-on your side?" "That's it." "And put-put your hand behind your head." "That's it." "That's perfect." "Don't move." "Don't move at all." "You look very beautiful." "Just beautiful." "I'm very happy just now." "Just a few seconds, and it will all be there perfectly." "Now, don't move." "That one should be very nice." "Now, don't move." "Never, never do that!" "You have no idea what you might have done!" "I only wanted to see the picture." "I didn't do anything!" "Violet... you have to wait." "This is only a negative." "It has to be developed, and printed, and... and then..." "You love her." "Don't tell me how I feel." "Now, Violet..." "I'm very sorry... but you might've ruined a whole day's work for me, so you should be sorry, too." "Don't tell me how I feel." "I know about you." "You love her." "Leave her be." "She's just showing off." "Come on, let's go down and eat." "I like that one better." "Trying to rob a poor working girl." "I'll give you 25 cents and no more." "I am... three each." " Sell it to you for a dollar." " A dollar?" "I saw the same blouse on Canal Street for 50 cents." "Ah." "Course, uh..." "I likes my women with a little more on the top and bottom." "Stop being so cheeky with me, or I'll get my voodoo woman to put gris gris all over your piano." "Violet, come on down here, and let me see the front of that dress." "Oh, Violet, that ain't much of a dress." "When you're going to bust your cherry, you best wear red satin." "That's why you're a dumb nigger... 'cause you think like that." "She's a virgin." "Do you want her to be dressed like a Picayune whore?" "My God, Frieda, you're as green as a goose turd." "What's this?" "Open it and see." "It's the ninth bone from the tail of a black cat... guaranteed to bring you luck tonight." "Red Top!" "Do not forget that this guy's buying a virgin, so she's got to act it right." "You've got to give him the idea that you don't know nothing." "Should be like a rape." "You don't know." "Could be a different kind of guy... someone that wants you to act like she wants it." "The main thing is to whimper and cry at first when he starts, but then you've got to act like it feels good." "I know what to do." "Leave me alone." "Well, don't act like you know it all." "You won't even get a tip that way." "Violet, you should touch him... there... you know..." "like it's accidental." "I know..." "I know all that." "Violet, you is a beautiful girl." "Now, all you need is that handsome dress and plenty diamonds to elaborate the condition." "That was good." "You better enjoy it." "It's the last fine dinner you'll get on me." " Oh, hell, no." " No, no, no." "Isn't that so, Senator?" "The Navy's going to close the district down." "Well, I can't fight the United States Navy." "We tried that already, and we lost." "Sit down, Violet, it's easier." "Honey, you want me to help you put your powder on, or anything?" "No, I can do it myself." "All right." "God, I could remember when she was born, and now she's busting her cherry." "Jesus, Fanny, you were only six years old when she was born." "My, my, aren't you handsome?" "Why haven't you been here before?" "You're just my kind of man." "Oh, look at that." "Where you been hiding that thing?" "How long has it been for you, Cherie?" "Lie down right here." "Give it to me, baby." "A virgin, bona fide." "How old is she?" "Do you want to put me in jail?" "She's just old enough." "The finest delicacy New Orleans has to offer, and it's her wish that one of you gentlemen be the first." "If you'll all join me in the parlor, you'll get your opportunity." "Come on, quick." "Give me the ribbon, child." "Come on." "What am I bid, gentlemen?" "Don't we get a look before we buy?" "Kent, you can look all you want." "Just don't break the merchandise." "Hey, how do we know she is a virgin?" "Have I ever lied to you before?" "Satisfaction guaranteed." "Well, gentlemen, I'm getting impatient." "I'll bid a hundred dollars." "Yeah!" "I'm bidding $120." "$150." "Oh, well, now." "$50!" "Beautiful, Senator, just beautiful." "Remember, gentlemen, she's as fresh as a baby's lips." "$160." "$165." "$175." "$180." "Getting out of my reach." "$200." "Gentlemen, gentlemen... $210." "I'll top that with $225." "Well, I'll bid $230." "All right, $240." "$250." "$275, madame." "$280." "$300." "Will you take a check?" "What would I do with a check?" "Cash." "I got cash. $400." "Jesus Christ, who is he, Rockefeller?" "Hey, this is kind of out of our league." "We don't have that kind of money." "Look, this is our night." "You weren't invited here." "Who do you think you are?" "Hey, watch what you're doing!" "Watch out, fellas." "Sold to the man with 400 cash." "Do not give him any argument." "You want some whiskey?" "Well, Jesus, I didn't mean the whole damn thing." "I'm glad it's you." "Why are you glad it's me?" "Well... you look nice, and..." "you have a nice chest." "I can feel the steam inside me right through my dress." "Let him have his young peach." "I like my fruit ripe, eh?" "Gives me queasy innards to see a thing like that." "Isn't there a lock?" "Madame Nell don't allow no locks." "God damn, for $400," "I'd like to have that door locked." "I hope you're going to be real gentle on me, being my first time." "Want a whiskey?" "Please..." "You want to go for a little roll in the kip?" "Are you sure you don't want to go for a little roll in the kip?" "It smells bad in here." "You're feeling badly?" "Oh, I feel fine." "I feel all right." "I'm happy." "I feel fine, and I could probably accommodate personally every man of the house if I decided to." "Violet?" "Jesus." "Madame?" "!" "Violet?" "Get a doctor!" "She's been murdered!" "Violet?" "Oh, my baby!" "Violet?" "Baby?" "Well, I'd like to know where the hell y'all been?" "I been lying here forever." "Oh..." "You don't care about me at all." "Oh, Violet, that really wasn't funny." "I know it's not funny." "Am I laughing?" "So, you had a live one, huh?" "Come on, that's what it's all about." "Maybe now you'll let us sleep in the morning when we feel bad." "The war, father got killed, mother forced to go to work." "You know, she's a virgin." "Oh, I ain't too particular about the virgin part, but I hear tell there's disease." "I got no sick girls here, monsieur." "Who told you about my place, a friend?" "Yes'm." "Well, if you can't trust a friend..." "Now, how about it?" "Pure as the driven snow." "Can I have a little bit of wine?" "Thank you." "You spoil me." "Oh, my gosh." "That took my breath away." "There are only two things to do on rainy days, and I don't like to play cards." "I propose a toast." "Oh." "To a quick end of the war." "Yeah." "To the end of the war." "A bird." "Catch it." " Get it!" " Oh!" "Oh, wow." "It's bad luck." "It means death." "Open the damn windows." "It'll fly out." "No." "It has to go out the same way it came in." "Oh, I better get that little bird." "Come down here!" "Come down... you..." "Ain't it pretty?" "It's so tiny." "Love" "Oh, love" "Oh, careless love" "Come on, honey." "Don't be shy." "Please?" "Won't you see what careless love will do?" "Now." "Tell 'em for me now, please." "Shh!" "Shh!" "Shh!" "Well, uh..." "I've asked Hattie to be my wife, and she has personally agreed, so we're going to be married." "Oh, that's great." "We're going to have a wedding." "When?" "'Cause we are ready." "Well, actually, we're-we're going to get married in his hometown." "Yeah, you see, I, um..." "I got me this little house in St. Louis, Missouri, so, uh..." "I kind of thought we'd be married there." "Well, Hattie, you finally nailed one, huh?" "Aren't you going to answer me, Violet?" "I had to do it this way." "I wasn't even sure he really meant it until he come today." "But he's got the ring and everything." "It's going to be really big things for us." "I told him that you was my sister." "He don't know any different." "As soon as the right time comes," "I'm going to tell him." "It's lucky he doesn't even mind about Little Will." "Want some?" "Hattie, our-our train leaves in a half an hour." "All right, honey." "I'm coming." "Auf Wiedersehen." "Honey, I'll send for you." "I promise you that." "Oh." "Do I look all right?" "One card." "One card, Al." "Don't you fellows want to do something?" "It's our day off." "Well, we are doing something." "I tell you, you put men in a room with a bunch of whores, and all they want to do is play poker." "Never understand men." "Yeah, really." "Well, we still have Papa." "Shall I take you all to the burlesque?" "Or we could go to the picture show." "I know." "Let's play Sardines." " Yeah." " Yeah." "And Papa..." "Papa can be it." "I don't know this game, Sardines." "I never heard of it." " You'll learn." " You'll find out." "We made it up." "It's really a lot of fun." "Well, how do you play?" "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten!" "Look under the bed." "Okay." "He's not in Agnes' room." "Papa!" "Goddamn it." "Did you find him?" "Papa?" "I know you're in here." "We'll just have to fly south." "See?" "I didn't look in Gussie's room." "Damn it!" "You're easy." "I heard you breathing." "Oh!" "Did you like that?" "Come on." "Hey." "He's been real bad." "It's been hard to keep him quiet." "Get in, get in." "Sardine." "Uh-uh." "Caught your sardine!" "What's under there?" "Bet they're ain't no cream puffs!" "All right." "Whoo!" "It's just a trick." "She hates to be losing a game." "God, there sure was a fall." "Funny, I think I broke something." "You broke something, all right." "I love you once," "I love you twice." "I love you more than beans and rice." "What did he say?" "Come on." "Mademoiselle from Armentieres" "Parlez-vous" "Mademoiselle from Armentieres" "Parlez-vous" "The officers get all the take" "And all I get is a bellyache" "Inky-dinky parlez-vous." "How about a little something for the professor?" "What will become of her now?" "What's going on with you?" "You don't have to worry about her." "She's made a lot of money." "She can do as she likes." "She's-she's only 12." "She's completely alone." "Bellocq, you're in love with her." "Don't be absurd." "I've seen it a hundred times." "I am old." "And life is so long." "Oh, yeah, I love you, little woman" "She's my baby" "My joy and little woman" "I love her..." "She's crazy little..." "Stop that goo-gooing." "Thank you, thank you." "I..." "You're quite welcome." "I knew you needed it." "Five." "What did I roll?" " Eight." " Eight." "Thank you." "You're welcome." "I got an eight." "Yeah, you got an eight." "I'm winning." "Very good." "Five." "Nine." "Go ahead." "I'm standing here thinking I'm ready to get my picture took." "Violet, please go away." "Go away, Violet." "I got a five." "I won." "You're stupid and old." "Red Top when you grow up, and you have a beard and a mustache," "I'm going to think you're very handsome." "And I'm going to love you up hard and long." "Well, especially me, 'cause I am the lover boy." "I bet neither of you never done nothing." "Huh?" "I had me a piece of tail yesterday." "All the girls in the district give me free lovin'." "Yeah." "Nonny, you never did it, did you?" "Of course I have." "Lots of times." "Then tell me what it feels like." "Well, it feels good." "For God sakes, what else?" "Tell me exactly how it feels." "I knows how it feels, but-but I just don't know how to describe it." "It's like you get this tingling feeling along on your back, and this funny feeling starts creeping up your toes." "Do it, Nonny." "What?" "You must be crazy." "Do it to me right now." "Prove you can." "I'm big, you're little, huh?" "Get off me." "I'm going to make you my lover man, Nonny." "I'm going to love you up real hard and long." "Let me up!" "Let me up!" "What you gonna say, boy?" "Nothing." "He ain't gonna say nothing." "Violet, baby..." "you is very bold, and the way you been raised, you don't know nothing about real world." "White and colored..." "they can't be together, as far as that's concerned." "I can do what I want." "Everybody does that with everybody." "And colored?" "Did you see colored men upstairs for that?" "No, you don't, Violet." "I'm a church-going woman that was married by a preacher, and what I can say is you've gots to leave my Nonny alone." "You pushing far, Violet." "She certainly is." "Harry!" "Oh!" "Let me... go!" "Let me go!" "No!" "I want..." "Oh, let me go!" "No!" "Ow!" "You can't beat a child." "It only teaches her to beat others." "I'll run my business, and you tend to yours, Papa." "It didn't hurt." "Hard headed and hard-assed." "Hey, Papa, you sure you won't stay for dinner?" "No, no, thank you." "And how did you find me?" "I looked you up in a telephone book." "Anybody can think of that." "I don't have a telephone, Violet." "Well, I followed you here... lots of times." "Have you had your supper?" "What's all this?" "I've been working." "You mean, this is your work..." "photographing?" "Yes." "This is how I earn my living." "God, that's so easy." "Well, easier than working in a house." "You've decided to run away." "Where do you sleep?" "Upstairs." "I want to see it." "Why do you lock it?" "I don't know... habit." "Sometimes children break into my house." "Why?" "I imagine they're curious about me and my camera." "The neighborhood has turned bad." "Why?" "Why, why, why." "I don't know why." "'Cause of the whorehouses." "How come you ain't got no electricity?" "Well, I like this room." "Ooka, dooka..." "Well, you certainly did it, didn't you?" "Violet?" "Can I stay here?" "Yes, you may, if you want to." "I do!" "Will you sleep with me and take care of me?" "No." "And why not?" "Because... 'cause I'm not sure why, exactly." "Uh-huh." "You're afraid of me." " Perhaps." " I want you to be my lover, and buy me stockings, and clothes, and..." "You don't know what you're saying, Violet." "I won't even charge you anything at all, and you can visit me at my house and be my fancy man." "I thought you were running away from the house." "Oh, yes." "They can't beat me like that... well, not me." "I agree absolutely." "You do?" "Otherwise I should already have beaten you for breaking my bed." "You hit me once." "Yes, and I'm sorry." "You love my mother more than me." "I know about those things better than you." "You always know those things about men when you're a woman." "Some men are different." "I'm different." "Well maybe not after all, because..." "I'm all yours, Violet." "All mine?" "Yes." "I love you once, I love you twice," "I love you more than beans and rice." "I'm going to make you so happy." "You're just my kind of man." "You really are." "I'm really good, you know, Cherie." "Don't talk to me like that, please." "Don't talk like a whore." "And what do you want me to say?" "I feel something inside me, so I say it, and when you go away, it hurts me... right here." "You're only hungry, perhaps." "And what's wrong with whores anyhow?" "I thought you liked us." "Everybody says I'm pretty." "I'm getting to be filled out soon... and all the other men like me." "Don't you like me?" "You left me all alone." "I left you a note." "Well, I can't read yet." "I brought you a present." "A present?" "Where?" "Ugh!" "Where is it?" "She's beautiful." "Why did you buy me a doll?" "Every child should have a doll." "I'm a child to you?" "Violet." "Come out and play with me." "Violet!" "Violet?" "Oh." "Violet, what ails you?" "What's the matter, Violet?" "Violet, I'm talking to you." "I've got such a splitting' headache." "You're so selfish, Violet." "It's just not fair." "People get to do what they want except me." "Violet, did you take those bottles that I left on the table in the front room?" "The ones with the glass stoppers?" "Yes." "Yes." "I was playing with them." "Well, what did you do with what was inside of them?" "Well, I poured it out." "My God, Violet, that's silver nitrate." "I use it for my photographs." "Whatever made you do such a thing?" "Well, it smelled so bad." "Because of your thoughtlessness," "I have to go all the way uptown to replace those chemicals." "And they're very expensive." "Why are you crying?" "For joy." "And to amuse myself." "You want to come with me?" "No!" "What are those?" "What are what?" "Those clothes." "Oh, these?" "These are pajamas." "You aren't going to tell me you've never in your life seen pajamas?" "No john I ever saw wore anything like that." "I'm tired of lying here." "If you would have stayed quiet for one second more," "I would have had it." "It's always one second more with you, and why do you want to take my picture again and again and again?" "I'm tired of having to deal with a child." "I don't have to stay here and listen to you yell at me." "Well, I'm leaving." "And you won't have anyone to photograph anymore." "So this is how you would repay me?" "Repay you for what?" "For what?" "I don't owe you anything at all." "Get out!" "Get out, Violet, before I kill you." "If you destroy any more of my pictures." "Who cares about your pictures?" "Who buys them?" "No one." "Repent, sinners." "Sinners!" "Pray!" "Pray!" "These freaking pest holes are inhabited by 1,500 angels of death and damnation." "Four hags in palatial palaces of guilt imperil the virtue of every innocent girl." "And what, dearly beloved, can we do about the weakness of lusting men and soft women?" "Corrupting..." "Violet, where you been?" "We better get out of here." "If they catch us, we'll go to the Home for Good Shepherds." "Brothers and sisters, unite!" "Stupid puritans." "Nell says it's just horny men who come around to snoop." "Well, this time, they're really going to do it." "Mama Mosebery says everything will be closed down." "So what if they do?" "I don't know." "What'll become of me?" "You can be my fancy man." "She's gone mad." "I told you." "Even Madame Nell." "The evil eye is on us all." "Look." "Circles of salt." "Somebody put a spell on you." "Ola Mae, take this holy water and wash the kitchen and Miss Nell's room." "In Rome... times like these... barbarians came." "Oh, did they." "It goes on and on." "I heard the doorbell." "Where is everybody?" "Death is keeping them away." "There are reasons for death." "Good reasons." "Oh, stop talking." "Would you... stop it?" "Excuse me." "Dirty roughnecks with their rotten manners." "Dirty roughnecks with their rotten manners." "We'll be at the station for an hour, if you change your mind." "Bye." "Come on, Joanie, let's go." "Terrible piano anyhow." "Oh, you look so fine." "Violet, old gal, we'll go to Chicago." "Chicago is the money town." "Oh, we'll have ourselves a time there." "Take the northbound New Orleans Central." "Hey." "Careful now." "These are delicate things." "Where are you going, Violet?" "Where's that no-good mother of yours?" "I gots a postcard from her, and a letter." "With no return address, huh?" "Don't talk about her." "Aw, you're breakin' my heart." "Papa, what are you doing here?" "I'm going to marry you." "Can I ask all the girls?" "But Antonia and Justine have gone, and-and Odette and Josephine." "Can we go get them?" "Of course." "Well, what'll I wear?" "You can wear whatever your heart desires, just as long as you do it with me." "Her father unknown, and the mother deserted the child." "My mama's name was Hildegarde," "Hildegarde Marr..." "M-A-R-R." "And she was Caucasian or other?" "She was a whore, Father." "Those whom God has united, let no man put asunder." "In nomine patri et filii et spritus sanctus." "You may kiss the bride." "Oh, where have you been, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?" "Oh, where have you been, charming Billy?" "Oh, I've been to see my wife, she's the darling of my life" "She's a young thing and cannot leave her mother" "Can she bake a cherry pie, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?" "Can she bake a cherry pie, charming Billy?" "She can bake a cherry pie quick as you can wink your eye" "She's a young thing and cannot leave her mother." "Papa, there's a good spot over there... pull over." "Hell, no, turn around, Papa." "The other place was better." "No!" "Come on... over here!" "Sit down!" "Well..." "We'll just have to get out and push." "But I am wearing my new dress for Chicago." "We're all wearing our new dresses, you damn fool." "Well, let's get our damn clothes off and celebrate this thing." "Pass me some more oysters." "Anyone want some of this sauce?" "Oh, yeah." "Try this, Odette." "Papa, come eat." "Yes, I'm coming." "Ooh, look at that one!" "Papa, you didn't eat anything before." "Now, eat." "How come one man got so many women?" "He just got married today." "And guess who he married?" "Guess?" "Well, it doesn't matter, 'cause he's the luckiest son of a bitch" "I ever seen on a wedding day." "Why are you ringing?" "You have everything you need." "I want some hot chocolate with brandy in it." "I feel poorly today." "Oh, I'm sorry." "What is it this time?" "Oh, you know." "Oh, yes, of course." "I forgot." "I'm going to sleep all day today." "Well, how is that any different from the last two weeks?" "Get me some cocoa." "And the bottle of brandy." "Do you..." "I mean, did the girls teach you... how to prevent yourself from... becoming with child?" "I mean, did you know you can...?" "Don't tell me about that." "Don't tell me about the things I know." "Hard-headed bird don't make good soup." "That's what Ola Mae used to say about me." "I know." "Violet?" "Mama?" "Yes, it's Mama!" "Oh, Violet, my baby, my darling!" "Look at the way you've grown." "We have been looking everywhere for you." "Here we go." "I told him all about you, Violet, and he insisted that we come and get you." "You smell good, Mama." "We've got a big, beautiful house in St. Louis." "Mr. Fuller, he's a pavement contractor." "You know, he's paved almost every street in St. Louis." "And he wants you to come home with us." "But I live here." "I and Papa, Papa and I are married now." "Mrs. Fuller, I'm so glad to see you are doing so well." "And little Will." "Mr. Fuller and I want nothing to do with you, Mr. Bellocq." "We had to go to some-some awful places to find out about you and my daughter." "Hattie, we're married now, so stop this." "It is not legal without my consent." "Mr. Fuller has already seen to that." "You deserted the child." "I don't mean to be cruel, but..." " How dare you say that?" "!" " Now, Mr. Bellocq, be sensible." "Now, I want to send Violet to school, and she has to be..." "raised right." "Now, I know that in a lot of ways we've got no right to get up on a high horse." "But now, Mrs. Fuller has overcome her past, and she wants the same for Violet." "Well, you cannot take her!" "I can't live without her..." "that's all." "Papa, you can come with us." "Come on, Violet." "You don't need to pack." "We'll get you whatever you need on Canal Street while we're waiting for the train." "Can't we all go?" "You ready?" "Uh-huh." "Just a minute." "There, now, that's better." "Now we're ready." "Come on, look at Papa." "Okay, move in closer." "Good." "Now let's get one more." "Okay." "What's the matter, honey?" "Is he okay?" "No, he's fine." "Do you wanna take any more?"