"My 10th summer on earth, 1935 will leave my mind... because of how Shadrach brightened and... darkened my life then and thereafter." "Get your hands outta there, Paul!" "Go wash up for dinner." "It's time." " Hello, son." " Hi." "Get dressed for dinner." "We thank thee, oh Lord, for these and all blessings." "Amen." "I ran into Norma Delancey at the pharmacy." "She said, "Tell Mrs. Whitehurst we need her... soprano for the Handel this Christmas." "Christmas?" "May be a little to soon for me." "It's the middle of summer." "You're certain to be well by then." "Maybe by Easter." "May I go to the Dabney's after dinner?" " Paul, not again." " Why not?" "The Dabney's are so..." "They've fallen on hard times." "Who hasn't?" "Vernon Dabney provides for his family." "So I hear." "How I loved the Dabneys!" "I was too young to know then... that they were victims of countless misfortunes... the foremost being the Great Depression." "Instead, I envied the whole teeming... tribe, seven children... which made my status as an only child seem... so spoiled and lonesome." "Middle Mole, get on in here!" "All 3 Dabney boys were called "Mole"." "Little..." "Middle and Big Mole." "I think I never knew their real manes." "None had ever been required to bathe... and their phenomenal odor... was known in that squeamish decade as B. O." "Hey, Paul." "By contrast, the four Dabney girls... were fair and fragrant as could be." "I was specially smitten with... the youngest daughter, Edmonia." " Hey, Paul." " Hey, Little Mole." "Got 'yer marbles?" "Right here." "Edmonia's brother, Little Mole was the stinkiest member of the family... and my best friend." "I can't find my tiger eye." "Paul, how're you?" "Fine." "Thank you, ma'am." "Hot enough for you?" "Yes, ma'am." "Josephine, that laundry done?" " Is there another beer?" " No, it's the last one." "Edmonia come help me with dinner." " Hey, Paul." " Paul, come on." "Your Daddy'll be home soon." "Where is it?" " 20 bucks for the load." " 20 bucks!" "It's worth 40 if it's worth a dime." "Then it ain't worth a dime." "Wait!" "Alright. 30." "25?" "Son of a goddamn bitch!" "Alright... 20!" "Get your boys to unload." "I gotta get home." "You unload." "It's part of the service for 20 bucks." "Your family owns that place?" "My daddy inherited it, like all Dabney men." "We used to be one of the biggest tobacco plantations... in Kind and Queen County." "Used to be?" "Papa says the tobacco sucked the... goddamn soil dry." "We grown corn there now." "Why don't you live there?" "We go there on vacation in July." "Papa goes more on business." "Piss poor to do around there." "It must be great having your own farm." "I bet I left my tiger eye there." "Don't you get tired of playing with those marbles?" "Papa's home!" "Jesus Christ!" "Thank you, Sugar." "Goddamn pisspot of a car ain't worth batshit." "Now, Shoog." "Ya'll get in the house!" "Goddamn son of a bitch!" "You know how much I paid?" "$2 at Tom McAn!" "I only wore them once!" "Do you have to eat every goddamned thing in sight?" "Finish it then." "Christ have mercy!" "I'll tell you whose fault it is!" "Franklin D. For Disaster..." "Roosevelt." "Son of a bitch!" "His New Deal ain't worth a jug of warm piss!" " Give our money to a whorehouse." " Shoog!" "I'll check on the kids." "You boys okay in here?" "You boys gonna go blind, you know." "Such sweet boys." "Son of a bitch whorehouse, pisspot, asshole!" "We don't want to be late for church." "Charity never faileth." "But whether there be prophesies... they shall fail." "Whether there be tongues, they shall cease." "Whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish." "For we know... and prophesize in part." "What is in part shall be done away." "When I was a child..." "I understood as a child." "But when I became a man, I put away childish things." "For now, we see through a glass darkly." "In these painful times... we may see through a glass darkly but, my friends... when we look back, we shall not see the pain... but the joy of extending a hand to those less fortunate." "Hello, Paul." "Thanks for coming this Sunday." " Thanks for bringing him, Bill." " Thank you, Edgar." " How are you, Pauline?" " Fine." "I appreciated your reading." "We become so consumed with out troubles... we need to be reminded of the less fortunate." " It's true." "Take care." " Thank you." "Hi, you fellow." "How are you?" "Son?" "Go forth and sin no more." "Mornin', Bill" " Miz Whitehurst." " Vernon." " Lovely day to get wet." " Yes, it is." "Hey there, Paul." " We're fond of your boy." " Thank you." "Excuse us, we need to pack for a trip." "Where y'all going?" "My brother's mother-in-law passed away in Baltimore." "The funeral's tomorrow." "Sorry to hear that." "I bet you're gonna miss her." "I never met her." "We weren't close but, for my brother's sake." "Families got to stick together in hard times." "Goddamn right." "That's a long trip for... such a young boy." "Paul's staying with our housekeeper." "He's welcome to stay with us, if you like." "We'd love to have him." "No, I couldn't impose." "Please, Mother?" "Bye, Virginia." "I mad you some cookies." "And don't get into trouble with that filthy Dabney boy." "You hear?" " Hey, Paul." " Hey, Little Mole." "Son!" "Say bye to your mother." " Good-bye, Mother." " Have a good time." " Wash your hands before you eat." " Yes, ma'am." "You've got clean clothes for every day." " And brush your teeth." " Yes, ma'am!" "Son." "Take your friends to the movies." "Yes, sir!" "Hey, Paul." "Good-bye." "We'll take good care of him." "Have fun." "Momma, he smells." "This one is for the final... all-time, chief king, forever world championship." "Okay." "Me first." "Alright." "Paul, jes' shoot the goddamn thing." "Praise the Lord!" "Praise His sweet name!" "I'se arrived in OI' Virginny!" "Come on." "Come on, climb up on ol' Shad's knee." "Come on, climb up." "You's a sweetie-pie." "Is you a Dabney?" "That's a Dabney." "Come on." "You's just a sweetie too." "Praise the Lord!" "I'se arrived in OI' Virginny!" "Water!" " Water!" " Hurry!" "He's goddamn dying!" " He's got heat stroke!" " No, he's havin' a heart attack!" "No ice!" "He had a heart attack!" "That'll kill him!" "I thought it was a heat stroke, so I put ice!" "I know!" "What are you doing?" "Saltwater's good for ya!" "There ya go, ol' uncle." "Well, kiss my ass!" "Just kiss my ass!" "Who in the hell are you?" "Who in the goddamn hell are you?" "He says his name is Shadrach." "What's he want?" "He said he wants to die on Dabney ground." "I'll be goddamned." "What's he talkin' about now?" "He wants you to bury him." "Bury him!" "He ain't even dead yet!" "Ask him how old he is." "He says he's 99 years old." "99!" "Well, kiss my ass." "Just kiss my ass!" "What's goin' on, Shoog?" "This Negro says he's 99 and he wants to... die on Dabney ground!" "And wants me to bury him!" "Imagine that." "Kiss my ass!" "Praise the Lord!" "You're hungry, Shadrach?" " He does eat." " I bet he's hungry?" "Want some more?" "Hey, Shad." "He's awake!" "Shad, you alright?" "He says he walked from Alabama." "Alabama!" "That near 'bout 600 miles!" "Started out early spring." "He can't read a map or a road sign." "Slowly, we began to discover... this was Shadrach's return trip to Ole Virginny... 3% 4 of a century after his departure... from the land out of which he had sprung." "Born a slave on the Dabney plantation... in King and Queen County..." "Shadrach had labored in the tobacco fields... from an early age." "He was between 15 and 25 when is master..." "Vernon's great-grandfather... tore him from the bosom of his family... selling him to an Alabama slave trader... prowling the worn-out Virginia soil... of that stricken bygone era." "After the Civil War..." "Shadrach became a sharecropper eeking out a living for his family... from a few acres of peanut fields." "He married 3 time and had many children." "Once he said 12, another time 15." "He had outlived all... wives and offspring." "So, sensing mortality in his own flesh and bones..." "Shadrach departed Alabama on foot... as he had come there... to find the Virginia of his youth." "I'se a Dabney." "Shad, how come you knew who to look for?" "Ya'll go to bed." " Okay." " Alright." "It's okay to leave him here?" "He seems peaceful." "We're the only ones who can understand him." "I guess." "I s'pose he mumbles like that cuz of his teeth." "He ain't got many left." "Think of the nights Shadrach went to bed and woke up." "More nights than stars up there." "'Night, Paul." "'Night, Shadrach." "A dead Negro on the back porch in this heat!" "Goddamn butt-ache!" "He ain't dead yet." "Trixie, goddamn it!" "Jesus Christ!" " Am I bleeding'?" " Hold still." "'Sides..." "I think he'll hang on 'till he gets to the farm." "He shoulda kept on walkin'." "That's no way to be talkin' about your kinfolk." "Ain't funny." "Goddamn it!" "The kids are so sweet with him." "You want to go to bed, Shoog... or to eat some more chicken?" "It ain't funny... and we ain't taking' him." "Jesus Christ Almighty!" "Goddamn sonofabitch glider." "Piece of shit." "Papa, he's bleeding." "It's just a little cut." "Poor sweetie." "Pick him up, boys." "Damn way to start the day." "There you go." "Well... if old age don't kill me, that goddamn glider will." "What's all that for?" "Shoog... get out the car if we're goin' to the farm." "He ain't got much longer." "I already told you I ain't taking'... no dying' nigra to the goddamn farm!" " Goddamn it, Mama!" " I forgot the beer." "Take good care of her." "Love ya!" "Y'all shut up back there!" "We got a long trip ahead of us." "Goddamn, pisspot, sonofabitch... wreck of a car." "Honey, get your mama another beer, okay?" "I got it." "Three pair." "Shoog... what kind of birds you reckon those are?" "Sea gulls." "Ain't you never recognized sea gulls before?" "I can't believe such a question." "Sea gulls." "Dumb, greedy bastards." "Beautiful, all big and white." "Can you eat one?" "So tough you'd choke to death." "Mama, Papa!" "Shadrach's made a horrible mess in his pants!" "Oh, Lord." "99 years old!" "Christ Almighty!" "He ain't nothin' but a 99 years old baby!" "It smells awful." "Why in hell didn't he go before we left?" "Ain't it bad enough we got to drive all the way..." "Shush, he can't help it." "You see how you manage your bowels 50 years from now." "I ain't gonna shit in my pants." "Shad, everything's gonna be alright." "Everything's gonna be alright." "C'mon, Shad." "It's gonna be alright." "Take a goddamn photograph, why don't you?" "Be careful, now." "Sonofabitch!" "Where in the goddamn?" "Shush, Shoog." "I mean it." "I'm gonna take care of you." "Get me a pail of water and rags." "There now, Shad." "Everybody does this one time or another." "Ain't nothin' to be ashamed of." "You'll be just fine." "Gimme 30 cents worth." "Get busy." "You kids, clean out the car." "There, that's better." "There he is." "Hey, Shad." "How you doin', Shad?" " He smells better." " You all right now, Shad?" "Praise the Lord!" "Praise the Lord." "Look, Paul, there it is." "Kids, we're here." "About goddamn time." "You're home, Shad." "Come on, lemme show you!" "Let's get him inside." "Can I try?" "Little Mole!" "Boys!" "Eat lunch first!" "After lunch, you'll help me put Shad to bed." "I'll watch him." "Me too!" "We're all gonna take turns." "I don't want you gettin' too attached now." "We got work to do, Middle Mole." "Let's get out to..." "Let's go." "I'll be goddamned if I can tell..." "Shoog." "Little Mole!" "You and Paul come out, you might wake Shad." "I'm looking for my tiger eye." "I don't care." "Come out right now." "Where we goin'?" "You'll see." "Last one in's a rotten egg." "It's pisspot freezing in here!" "You get used to it fast." "What happened to that ol' big house in the picture?" "That's been gone for a long time." "The Yankees burned it in the war." "Sure is quiet around here." "Where is everybody?" "Mama and Edmonia are with Shadrach." "Lucinda's fishin', and Papa and Middle are workin'." " Farmin'?" " No." "Then what?" "It's a secret." "Why?" "5 to 10 years in Atlanta penitentiary is why." " What?" " Daddy's business." "He says... the revenuers could terminate our livelihood if they knew." "Knew what?" "Where the still is." "Wanna see?" "Little Mole?" "Get the hell in here and help Middle shuck." "Come on, damn it." "99!" "If I live that long, I'd kill myself." "He's almost dead and I gotta goddamn bury him." "What's an old coon comin' back here for?" "Hell if I know." "Maybe life was easier being a slave." "He was taken care of." "If you think about it... times got even harder for 'em after they was freed." "Went to hell in a handbasket for the Dabneys." "I'll tell you I think that Alabama Klan... burned a cross on his ass and he came back to... the Massah'." "I guess that'd be me." "We can sell that." "Little pitchers have big ears, boy." "Paul, Joe Thornton doesn't trust you." "Thinks you'll spill the beans about our operation." "I told 'im, Pa." "Paul's a Presbyterian, Joe." "If you can't trust a goddamn Presbyterian, who can you?" "I can trust you?" "That's okay." "Mama." "Good night, baby." "Mornin'." "Mornin'." "Your Daddy around?" "He and Momma are gone." "Reckon they didn't go far." "I'll wait." "More Dabneys dead than alive." "We should bring geraniums next time we come." "They'd shrivel and die, like everything around here." " Pa, the Sheriff's here!" " Is it about the still?" "He's waitin' on you." "Let 'im wait." "Here's where Shad wants to go." "I'll be goddamned if there's an inch of space left." "They crowded all the old dead uncles they could here." "They must be shoulder to shoulder." "Christ Almighty!" "I hate to think of diggin' half a ton of dirt!" "Why don't you put off digging' until this evenin'?" "It's hot enough to kill a mule." "I s'pose we should go see what Tazewell wants." "Mornin' Trixie." "Vern." "Mornin'." "Want some iced tea?" "No, thank you." "Vern, I'd like a word with you." "What's wrong?" "I hear you're fixin' to bury an elderly colored man... on your property." "Joe Thornton said you told him." "You ain't buried him already?" "He ain't dead yet." "And Joe is a goddamn incurable blabbermouth." "But he's right." "What's wrong with that?" "You can't." "Why not?" "It's against the law." "It's against the law?" "It's against the law to bury anybody on private property." "Why is it against the law?" "I don't know, Vern." "It just is." "Down in that field, Tazewell... people have been buried for nearabout 200 years." "I got an old senile man on my hands." "He was a slave and... was born on this place." "I've got to bury him here." "And I am." "Go on, kids." "Vern, you will not be permitted to do... any such thing." "So, please, don't give me this argument." "He has to be buried where it's legally... permitted, like the colored churchyards around here... and be attended to by a licensed colored undertaker." "That's the law, Commonwealth of Virginia." "There ain't no wherefores about it." "Bat shit!" "Calm yourself, Shoog." "It's an outrage!" "Since when did a taxpaying citizen have to answer to the government to bury a sick old colored man on his own property?" "It goes against every bill of rights I ever heard of!" " Shoog, please." " Vern." "We've been acquainted a long time." "I know... you and Joe weren't cutting' hay yesterday." "So don't give me no trouble!" "For the last time." "You have to arrange to get that old man... buried at a colored church... and have him taken care of by a licensed undertaker." "You can have your choice." "There's a colored undertaker in Tappahannock... and also one over in Middlesex." "If you want..." "I'll give them a call from the courthouse." "Alright then." "Alright." "How much you reckon it'll cost?" "I don't know." "There was a washer woman... worked for me, died not long ago." "I heard they buried her for $35." "$35!" "Christ have mercy." "Amen to that." "So, he really 99?" "What in hell do you care?" "Just curious, Vern." "Would you like to see him?" "You boys help me with lunch." " I hate beans." " Too damn bad." " Is Papa comin' for lunch?" " When he's good and ready." "When d'ya s'pose Shadrach's gonna die?" " We'll be here a couple of days." " Ain't gonna be much longer." "You a friend of Mrs. McDonald's sir?" "I'm not from around here." "I'm looking for an undertaker for an old Negro." "When did he pass away?" "Any day now." "I want to find out how much you charge." "Get it all lined up." "The man has no family?" "He ain't got no family." "I'm all he got." "I'm destined to bury him, and I'm told by law..." "I need a colored undertaker." "Are you that?" "My name is Earvin Williams and I'm the funeral director, yes." "What kind of service?" "Whatever you folks do." "If his death is imminent, I have to secure a down payment." " Look, Irving..." " Earvin." "Williams." "There must be a way we can figure out how... to give this old bastard a proper, legal Negro burial." "Certainly, once we settle on the terms." "Follow me, I'll show you what I have available for Mr..." "Shadrach." "His name's Shadrach." "He could be 100 years old by now." "Depends on when his birthday is." "We should find out his birthday for his gravemarker." "100?" "You can't even count that far." "Can too!" "Come here, real quick!" " Is he dead?" " He's wide awake and talkin'." "He's so hungry he started eatin' this!" "Oh, Lord." "He kept talking about going to the millpond." "What did he mean?" "It could be he just wants to see the millpond." "Shad, is that what you want?" "To see the millpond?" "Yes, ma'am, I want to see the millpond." "How come?" "I want to see the millpond." "In my memory I still see..." "Shadrach atop the wheelbarrow with a look of composure... as we moved him gently down the path." "A serene African potentate... being borne in the fullness of his many years... to some longed-for, inevitable reward." "Middle Mole, I'll race you." "Lot cooler in here." "Come on in!" "Paul, watch!" " Isn't this heavenly?" " There he goes." "You goin' in?" "I'll watch him." "I peered into Shadrach's ancient face... and watched his clouded eyes gazing at the Dabneys... swimming in the millpond." "In a bright gleam, I was... certain Shadrach had once swum here too... some sweltering August nearly 100 years before." "I knew Mr. Dabney had been wrong about Shadrach." "His return to Virginia was... out of no longing for his life as a slave... but to find an earlier innocence." "That afternoon, Shadrach... had recaptured the one pure, untroubled moment... of his life." "Did you swim in there too?" "The plain truth..." "Seddon, is it's the fault of your Franklin..." "D. For Disaster Roosevelt." "His New Deal ain't worth diddly squat." "You know how much I made last year, legal?" "How much?" "I can't tell you." "It would shame me." "Those colored folks selling' on the streets made more 'n me." "Things are bound to get better." "They can't get no worse." "I can't get a job." "I'm only qualified for makin' whiskey." "Daddy." "I think Shadrach has passed away." "Daddy, did you hear me?" "I heard." "I was sitting next to him, holding his hand... when all of a sudden... his head... sort of rolled over." "He was still and not breathing." "And his hand... just got limp." "I mean cold." "And he never made a sound." "Daddy, I'm afraid." " What about?" " I don't know." "Dying." "It scares me." "Death ain't nothing to be afraid about." "It's life that's fearsome." "Life!" "Shoog." "Life is where you've got to be terrified." "Sometimes I understand why men commit suicide." "How in hell can I afford to put him in the ground?" "Niggers have always been the biggest problem!" "Goddamn it!" "I was brought up to say "colored" not "niggers"." "But they're always a problem, these niggers!" "They will drag you down!" "I ain't got $35!" "I ain't got $25!" "I ain't got $5!" "You gonna get a stroke." "And Franklin D. Roosevelt is the worst... nigger lover of them all!" "I know." "Poor old man." "He didn't do nothin'." "He was a decent, pitiful old thing." "Never done anybody the slightest harm." "I ain't got a thing against Shadrach." "He'll get a decent burial." "He got to die on Dabney ground... even if he's buried in some strange graveyard." "But we promised!" "He won't know." "When you're dead, nobody knows." "Death ain't much." "Wash and hang these, they'll dry by mornin'." "Hey, sweetie." "Come on in." "Shadrach would want you to have this." "Son of a bitch." "You believe in Heaven?" "You think Shadrach's gone there?" "I guess so." "He's never done nobody no harm." "He had a good life." "Why do you say that?" "Father always says that when somebody dies." "Think he'll know he ain't buried on Dabney ground?" "Your Pa says he won't." "Think they go the same place as us?" "You mean Negroes?" "I think so." "How do you know?" "There's colored churches and toilets." "I think there's only one Heaven." "My mother's very religious... and says God loves all His children." "Damn fool kids." "Cryin' over somebody they hardly know." "Kids get attached." "They'll get over it." "Imagine... he came all that way to be buried with his people." "Is it nice, the graveyard in Tappahannock?" "A piece of ground, like any other." "You did all you could." "Maybe." "Kids, come on, into bed." "You heard your mama." "I ain't sleeping' in there." "And why the hell not?" "There's a dead man in there!" "He ain't gonna bite you if he's dead, is he?" "Come on." "Everybody in your beds, now." "We got a burial tomorrow." "We'd better start early if we don't want to stink up..." "King and Queen County." "Come on, Shad." "The food's ready." "Come on, Shad." "It's time." "Momma!" "Right by your heart." "Little Mole?" "Did you hear that?" "Goddamn sonofabitch!" "We'll put it here for now." "Come on." "What the?" "Hi, Sheriff." "Your ma and pa inside?" " Don't let him see Shad's dead." " I guess so." " It's Tazewell!" " They're asleep." "I got some important business to discuss... with Mr. Dabney." "What the hell is it now, Tazewell?" "There you are." "Vern, Trixie." "You're up early." "Been doin' $35 worth of work." "How's your elderly colored gentleman?" "Fine." "Seddon Washington said... he died last night while playing dominoes." "Shadrach was too sick to play dominoes." "No, you and Seddon was playin' dominoes." "Is that true?" "That we was playin' dominoes?" "That the old nigger died!" "Is it true or not?" "Nobody knows how to keep their mouths shut around this... sonofabitch place." "That's for goddamn sure!" "Yes, he did die." "And doin' fine for a dead man." "Go back to more useful work than troubling' people about... who's dead and who ain't!" "I'd like to take a look at him." "He ain't in there." "I told you it's against the law... in Virginia to bury a man on private property." "He's in there." "Yesterday, after you informed me of my rights and privileges... as a landowner, I contacted a... a colored undertaker in Tappahannock and made arrangements." "Tappahannock, huh?" "It was your suggestion." "Make yourself useful and... call Mr. Earvin Williams and tell him Shadrach is dead... and he can come get 'im." "The sooner the better in this heat." "I'll call him." "You did the right thing, Vern." "Times have changed." "Law changes too." "Where do you think I'm gonna be buried... you sonofabitch?" "I hope that's not for a long time, Vernon." "Let us bow our heads... and pray for our brother Shadrach... father, grandfather... one of the last of us to be born in bondage." "God has delivered him." "After nearly 100 years of searching..." "God has delivered our brother Shadrach." "100 years of wandering in the desert." "100 years as a sojourner... in a land that was not his." "God has delivered him." "The scriptures tell us God shall pass judgement." "Shadrach shall walk in the promised land." "He shall come out with great possessions." "He shall possess greatness... go to his Father in peace." "He shall be buried in a good old age." "And shall be young again." "We gotta get goin'." "Thank you, Reverend." "You takin' off from here?" "We'll wait 'til the sun goes down." "Won't see ya for a while." "Unless another slave tracks me down and dies on me." "Have a safe trip home." "Alright." "Everybody down to the still." "We got some loading' to do." "This is Dabney ground!" "Sheriff Tazewell Lewis of King and Queen County... can kiss my ass." "Thank you, Daddy." "Give me a hand, Middle Mole." "Wait!" "There." "Right by your heart." "I had never really thought about death... before that summer and the coming of Shadrach." "I believed I had learned all there was to learn... about time and its finality." "Home sweet home, Paul." "And yet, Shadrach's peaceful exit did not... prepare me for the death of my mother 2 years later... after her prolonged battle against pain and suffering." "Still, sensing her agony, and watching desperately... for her to be free of it..." "I thought of Shadrach and... the suffering he had endured for nearly a century." "I heard in my mind Mr. Dabney's words... certainly the most profound he ever uttered" ""Death ain't much.""