WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:11.930 align:middle line:90% 00:00:11.930 --> 00:00:14.730 align:middle line:84% People have been asking me about the results of the Poetry 00:00:14.730 --> 00:00:16.070 align:middle line:90% Center Contest. 00:00:16.070 --> 00:00:20.760 align:middle line:84% I don't know yet and I'm not sure how soon I will know. 00:00:20.760 --> 00:00:21.703 align:middle line:90% So don't ask. 00:00:21.703 --> 00:00:27.270 align:middle line:90% 00:00:27.270 --> 00:00:31.500 align:middle line:84% Readers and listeners are invited to La Boca Coffee 00:00:31.500 --> 00:00:35.640 align:middle line:84% House for an open reading every third Sunday 00:00:35.640 --> 00:00:37.200 align:middle line:90% of the month at 8 o'clock. 00:00:37.200 --> 00:00:40.562 align:middle line:90% 00:00:40.562 --> 00:00:42.770 align:middle line:84% We've got refreshments here at the auditorium tonight 00:00:42.770 --> 00:00:44.900 align:middle line:84% and tables have been set up right out in the hall. 00:00:44.900 --> 00:00:52.978 align:middle line:90% 00:00:52.978 --> 00:00:55.270 align:middle line:84% Robert Houston has been with us in the Creative Writing 00:00:55.270 --> 00:00:59.570 align:middle line:90% Department since 1973. 00:00:59.570 --> 00:01:04.650 align:middle line:84% His novels are A Drive with Ossie, Monday, Tuesday, 00:01:04.650 --> 00:01:11.550 align:middle line:84% Wednesday!, Bisbee '17, and most recently, Cholo. 00:01:11.550 --> 00:01:13.710 align:middle line:84% He's the editor of and contributor 00:01:13.710 --> 00:01:20.360 align:middle line:84% to translations of Leon Felipe called The Last Troubadour. 00:01:20.360 --> 00:01:22.040 align:middle line:84% He's written articles and reviews 00:01:22.040 --> 00:01:27.170 align:middle line:84% for Mother Jones, The New York Times, The Nation, Southern 00:01:27.170 --> 00:01:29.870 align:middle line:90% Exposure and other magazines. 00:01:29.870 --> 00:01:32.120 align:middle line:84% We're very happy to have him read for us tonight. 00:01:32.120 --> 00:01:33.334 align:middle line:90% Robert Houston. 00:01:33.334 --> 00:01:35.310 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:01:35.310 --> 00:02:03.290 align:middle line:90% 00:02:03.290 --> 00:02:04.532 align:middle line:90% How about [INAUDIBLE]. 00:02:04.532 --> 00:02:07.870 align:middle line:90% 00:02:07.870 --> 00:02:08.649 align:middle line:90% Oh, wow. 00:02:08.649 --> 00:02:13.470 align:middle line:90% 00:02:13.470 --> 00:02:13.970 align:middle line:90% What? 00:02:13.970 --> 00:02:18.430 align:middle line:90% 00:02:18.430 --> 00:02:20.953 align:middle line:90% I ain't ashamed. 00:02:20.953 --> 00:02:21.620 align:middle line:90% Thank you, Lois. 00:02:21.620 --> 00:02:25.800 align:middle line:84% It's always a little more difficult, a little more 00:02:25.800 --> 00:02:31.530 align:middle line:84% nerve-wracking to read before home audience 00:02:31.530 --> 00:02:33.500 align:middle line:90% and especially for free. 00:02:33.500 --> 00:02:34.500 align:middle line:90% Why? 00:02:34.500 --> 00:02:35.000 align:middle line:90% Why? 00:02:35.000 --> 00:02:37.797 align:middle line:90% 00:02:37.797 --> 00:02:39.630 align:middle line:84% There's always somebody like that out there. 00:02:39.630 --> 00:02:42.860 align:middle line:90% 00:02:42.860 --> 00:02:44.600 align:middle line:84% But we'll see if we can get through it. 00:02:44.600 --> 00:02:48.184 align:middle line:90% 00:02:48.184 --> 00:02:52.610 align:middle line:84% I just want to lay my Pima College Memorial air gauge down 00:02:52.610 --> 00:02:53.110 align:middle line:90% first. 00:02:53.110 --> 00:02:55.730 align:middle line:90% 00:02:55.730 --> 00:03:02.450 align:middle line:84% Now I think what I will do this evening is read, first of all, 00:03:02.450 --> 00:03:07.730 align:middle line:84% from a novel that I wrote a few years ago that I'm seriously 00:03:07.730 --> 00:03:09.650 align:middle line:84% considering going back to and doing 00:03:09.650 --> 00:03:12.020 align:middle line:84% a little tinkering with and seeing if anything 00:03:12.020 --> 00:03:13.160 align:middle line:90% can be made out of it. 00:03:13.160 --> 00:03:16.140 align:middle line:90% 00:03:16.140 --> 00:03:20.030 align:middle line:90% It's called Beating Old Saul. 00:03:20.030 --> 00:03:22.920 align:middle line:84% And I really haven't read much from it. 00:03:22.920 --> 00:03:24.335 align:middle line:90% We'll see how it goes. 00:03:24.335 --> 00:03:27.740 align:middle line:84% I'll tell you a little bit about the people first. 00:03:27.740 --> 00:03:29.780 align:middle line:84% I always feel as if I should be doing stand up 00:03:29.780 --> 00:03:32.148 align:middle line:90% jokes up here to start off with. 00:03:32.148 --> 00:03:34.390 align:middle line:90% Why? 00:03:34.390 --> 00:03:37.660 align:middle line:84% There's one in the audience, except he's sitting down. 00:03:37.660 --> 00:03:40.390 align:middle line:90% 00:03:40.390 --> 00:03:43.010 align:middle line:90% But I won't do that. 00:03:43.010 --> 00:03:44.843 align:middle line:84% Instead, I will read a little bit 00:03:44.843 --> 00:03:47.260 align:middle line:84% from the beginning of the novel to give you an idea of who 00:03:47.260 --> 00:03:49.710 align:middle line:90% the characters are. 00:03:49.710 --> 00:03:52.530 align:middle line:84% And then I'll read a wedding scene. 00:03:52.530 --> 00:03:54.990 align:middle line:90% Weddings are always nice. 00:03:54.990 --> 00:03:56.490 align:middle line:90% I like weddings. 00:03:56.490 --> 00:04:02.310 align:middle line:90% So first of all, Levy. 00:04:02.310 --> 00:04:07.240 align:middle line:84% "Levy finally got in bed and stayed there in 1943, 00:04:07.240 --> 00:04:10.720 align:middle line:84% listening to telephone talk shows on the radio at night 00:04:10.720 --> 00:04:14.110 align:middle line:84% and to Gabby Bell call Birmingham Baron baseball games 00:04:14.110 --> 00:04:15.640 align:middle line:90% in the afternoon. 00:04:15.640 --> 00:04:17.920 align:middle line:84% Mornings, she wrote letters to congressmen, 00:04:17.920 --> 00:04:21.279 align:middle line:84% played solitaire, and watched old lady Woods next door 00:04:21.279 --> 00:04:23.830 align:middle line:84% yell at her dead husband, poor [? Eiry ?],, 00:04:23.830 --> 00:04:25.900 align:middle line:90% across an ironing board. 00:04:25.900 --> 00:04:28.810 align:middle line:84% She stayed in bed, she said, because of her nerves. 00:04:28.810 --> 00:04:31.717 align:middle line:84% Around 43, things had gotten to be so much for her 00:04:31.717 --> 00:04:33.550 align:middle line:84% that her nerves just wouldn't take it if she 00:04:33.550 --> 00:04:35.780 align:middle line:90% had to stand up and cope. 00:04:35.780 --> 00:04:37.810 align:middle line:84% So when the union sent her husband Reuben 00:04:37.810 --> 00:04:40.930 align:middle line:84% to organize new locals, they moved her bed from house 00:04:40.930 --> 00:04:44.890 align:middle line:84% to house intact with the sheets and the ragged patchwork quilt 00:04:44.890 --> 00:04:46.510 align:middle line:90% still on it. 00:04:46.510 --> 00:04:48.250 align:middle line:84% Only that way, she said, could she 00:04:48.250 --> 00:04:50.680 align:middle line:84% survive the moving in dither, spitting 00:04:50.680 --> 00:04:55.890 align:middle line:84% her snuff into the radio and saving her nerves. 00:04:55.890 --> 00:04:58.860 align:middle line:84% Levy traced her nerves back a long way, 00:04:58.860 --> 00:05:01.830 align:middle line:84% though, she kept them bundled up like old love letters, 00:05:01.830 --> 00:05:04.170 align:middle line:84% all through the time she was raising her children 00:05:04.170 --> 00:05:06.960 align:middle line:84% and following Reuben around from pipe shop 00:05:06.960 --> 00:05:10.230 align:middle line:84% to pipe shop in the long years before the union discovered 00:05:10.230 --> 00:05:11.280 align:middle line:90% him. 00:05:11.280 --> 00:05:14.160 align:middle line:84% She guess her nerves were her father's fault. 00:05:14.160 --> 00:05:17.280 align:middle line:84% Her father was a mustachioed Atlanta carpenter who 00:05:17.280 --> 00:05:19.980 align:middle line:84% spent most of his time sitting on the front porch with a jar 00:05:19.980 --> 00:05:22.560 align:middle line:84% of whiskey singing songs like, oh, 00:05:22.560 --> 00:05:25.890 align:middle line:84% Jeff Davis is getting mighty grand, sitting down to coffee 00:05:25.890 --> 00:05:28.290 align:middle line:84% with a coffee pot of bran, and giving 00:05:28.290 --> 00:05:31.510 align:middle line:90% rebel yells to trolley cars. 00:05:31.510 --> 00:05:33.830 align:middle line:84% Levy was his only daughter and his whiskey runner, 00:05:33.830 --> 00:05:36.710 align:middle line:84% back and forth between the house and her uncle's saloon 00:05:36.710 --> 00:05:38.420 align:middle line:90% with the whiskey jar. 00:05:38.420 --> 00:05:41.090 align:middle line:84% She had her first attack of nerves on a whiskey run, 00:05:41.090 --> 00:05:43.400 align:middle line:90% in fact, when she was 11. 00:05:43.400 --> 00:05:45.020 align:middle line:84% On the way home from the saloon, she 00:05:45.020 --> 00:05:46.820 align:middle line:84% wandered into a Carrie Nation lecture 00:05:46.820 --> 00:05:48.890 align:middle line:84% thinking it was a vaudeville show. 00:05:48.890 --> 00:05:50.760 align:middle line:84% When she found out what it was all about, 00:05:50.760 --> 00:05:53.420 align:middle line:84% she was so shocked that she dropped the jar of whiskey. 00:05:53.420 --> 00:05:55.970 align:middle line:84% And as the fumes shot like a cloud of sin 00:05:55.970 --> 00:05:58.490 align:middle line:84% around her and the starched audience, 00:05:58.490 --> 00:05:59.825 align:middle line:90% she discovered her nerves. 00:05:59.825 --> 00:06:02.660 align:middle line:90% 00:06:02.660 --> 00:06:05.570 align:middle line:84% Not long after the police brought her home from that, 00:06:05.570 --> 00:06:07.790 align:middle line:84% her papa sent her out for another jar in the middle 00:06:07.790 --> 00:06:10.040 align:middle line:90% of the Great Atlanta Race Riot. 00:06:10.040 --> 00:06:11.660 align:middle line:84% She had her second attack of nerves 00:06:11.660 --> 00:06:13.790 align:middle line:84% when somebody threw a Black man off a bridge 00:06:13.790 --> 00:06:15.590 align:middle line:84% so that he splattered on the sidewalk 00:06:15.590 --> 00:06:19.560 align:middle line:84% just in front of her new patent leather boots. 00:06:19.560 --> 00:06:21.740 align:middle line:84% Her third attack was the one that knocked her nerves 00:06:21.740 --> 00:06:23.660 align:middle line:90% permanently out of whack. 00:06:23.660 --> 00:06:26.150 align:middle line:84% The July she was 14, her father stood up 00:06:26.150 --> 00:06:28.010 align:middle line:84% to give a rebel yell to the postman 00:06:28.010 --> 00:06:30.470 align:middle line:90% and fell over the porch rail. 00:06:30.470 --> 00:06:33.260 align:middle line:84% He broke his neck on the birdbath. 00:06:33.260 --> 00:06:36.020 align:middle line:84% The postman, who knew him well, thought 00:06:36.020 --> 00:06:39.080 align:middle line:84% he was simply drunk again and passed on by. 00:06:39.080 --> 00:06:41.900 align:middle line:84% It wasn't until Levy investigated the vacant whiskey 00:06:41.900 --> 00:06:44.480 align:middle line:84% jar and topped over birdbath before supper 00:06:44.480 --> 00:06:48.740 align:middle line:84% that evening that she found him dead among the pig wort bushes. 00:06:48.740 --> 00:06:52.580 align:middle line:84% When she felt how cold he was, she pitched a two-day hissy 00:06:52.580 --> 00:06:55.580 align:middle line:84% and then went into a major nerve attack and fainting fit that 00:06:55.580 --> 00:06:57.830 align:middle line:90% took her six weeks to come out. 00:06:57.830 --> 00:06:59.810 align:middle line:84% Her mother was a first cousin once removed 00:06:59.810 --> 00:07:01.910 align:middle line:84% of Jefferson Davis on the Moore side 00:07:01.910 --> 00:07:04.550 align:middle line:84% and so had no idea what to do with Levy except 00:07:04.550 --> 00:07:07.660 align:middle line:84% keep her out of sight and hope she would get married. 00:07:07.660 --> 00:07:11.260 align:middle line:84% Levy learned quickly and well to be lonely 00:07:11.260 --> 00:07:13.770 align:middle line:90% and took up solitaire." 00:07:13.770 --> 00:07:20.890 align:middle line:84% Well, Levy has two daughters and here they are. 00:07:20.890 --> 00:07:25.420 align:middle line:84% "Violet was Levy's youngest, pretty in a less spectacular 00:07:25.420 --> 00:07:27.580 align:middle line:90% way than her sister, Victoria. 00:07:27.580 --> 00:07:30.460 align:middle line:90% Not frail, but fragile. 00:07:30.460 --> 00:07:34.900 align:middle line:84% Violet's face was molded, Victoria's was chiseled. 00:07:34.900 --> 00:07:38.760 align:middle line:84% Violet flowed, Victoria crackled. 00:07:38.760 --> 00:07:42.550 align:middle line:84% Violet studied God and Victoria, men. 00:07:42.550 --> 00:07:48.730 align:middle line:84% Violet was curves and willows, Victoria angles and pines. 00:07:48.730 --> 00:07:53.110 align:middle line:84% Violet believed explicitly in everything-- love, propriety, 00:07:53.110 --> 00:07:57.490 align:middle line:84% charity, and good work, private property, Levy's wisdom, 00:07:57.490 --> 00:07:59.680 align:middle line:84% her father Reuben's intellect, the superiority 00:07:59.680 --> 00:08:04.430 align:middle line:84% of Victoria's beauty, and, most passionately, in salvation. 00:08:04.430 --> 00:08:06.680 align:middle line:90% Victoria believed in herself. 00:08:06.680 --> 00:08:10.640 align:middle line:84% And as if on purpose, all her vital powers 00:08:10.640 --> 00:08:14.210 align:middle line:84% had gone into growing a pair of such large, erect, and 00:08:14.210 --> 00:08:17.480 align:middle line:84% perfectly conical breasts that there was nothing left over 00:08:17.480 --> 00:08:20.150 align:middle line:84% to give her any waist or hips at all or any 00:08:20.150 --> 00:08:23.180 align:middle line:84% need to believe in anything more. 00:08:23.180 --> 00:08:28.550 align:middle line:84% Violet was thus clearly the only one 00:08:28.550 --> 00:08:30.740 align:middle line:84% who could have made her first husband Leland sit up 00:08:30.740 --> 00:08:33.890 align:middle line:84% all night holding a gun on her or who 00:08:33.890 --> 00:08:37.280 align:middle line:84% could have made a September marriage to Wick the frog just 00:08:37.280 --> 00:08:39.860 align:middle line:84% before he and the broomstick wound up 00:08:39.860 --> 00:08:44.490 align:middle line:84% among the coffee grounds under Levy's rotting back porch." 00:08:44.490 --> 00:08:49.090 align:middle line:84% Well, that's the wedding that I'm going to tell you about. 00:08:49.090 --> 00:08:53.120 align:middle line:84% "Violet married Wick the frog when she was a little over 40 00:08:53.120 --> 00:08:54.860 align:middle line:84% and they had to run off to Georgia 00:08:54.860 --> 00:08:58.022 align:middle line:84% to do it to avoid her mother Levy. 00:08:58.022 --> 00:09:01.090 align:middle line:84% Wick showed up one day selling alphabetical bibles." 00:09:01.090 --> 00:09:03.660 align:middle line:90% 00:09:03.660 --> 00:09:06.660 align:middle line:84% And Wick does this, he sells alphabetical bibles 00:09:06.660 --> 00:09:10.080 align:middle line:84% and if someone buys an alphabetical bible for him, 00:09:10.080 --> 00:09:11.940 align:middle line:84% he figures they must be a good Christian. 00:09:11.940 --> 00:09:15.030 align:middle line:84% So after he goes out and buys his fifth of Old Mr. Boston 00:09:15.030 --> 00:09:18.990 align:middle line:84% and drinks it, he comes back and sleeps under their back porch 00:09:18.990 --> 00:09:23.380 align:middle line:84% or on their back porch, figuring that they 00:09:23.380 --> 00:09:24.625 align:middle line:90% were extending that charity. 00:09:24.625 --> 00:09:27.640 align:middle line:90% 00:09:27.640 --> 00:09:30.760 align:middle line:84% He's called Wick the frog, because Violet's daughters 00:09:30.760 --> 00:09:33.390 align:middle line:90% think he looks like a frog. 00:09:33.390 --> 00:09:37.890 align:middle line:84% Wick is a man who drinks a considerable. 00:09:37.890 --> 00:09:39.390 align:middle line:84% The only other name in this section 00:09:39.390 --> 00:09:41.820 align:middle line:90% is Reuben, Levy's husband. 00:09:41.820 --> 00:09:45.210 align:middle line:84% Reuben is a labor organizer who loves peace and working 00:09:45.210 --> 00:09:47.670 align:middle line:84% man above all other things and never sees 00:09:47.670 --> 00:09:50.750 align:middle line:84% that there's a contradiction involved in that. 00:09:50.750 --> 00:09:53.780 align:middle line:84% His only real wish is to be as famous as his father who 00:09:53.780 --> 00:09:57.140 align:middle line:84% founded eight different churches, because, each time he 00:09:57.140 --> 00:10:00.740 align:middle line:84% got one going, they tried to slap dogma on him. 00:10:00.740 --> 00:10:04.550 align:middle line:84% And eventually, he gave up and founded his own three-man bible 00:10:04.550 --> 00:10:08.000 align:middle line:84% college, Montezuma College, on a hill beside a steel mill 00:10:08.000 --> 00:10:11.330 align:middle line:84% to make his own dogma, but he never got any pupils. 00:10:11.330 --> 00:10:13.130 align:middle line:84% He did get famous, though, and Reuben's 00:10:13.130 --> 00:10:16.770 align:middle line:84% been trying to live up to that since. 00:10:16.770 --> 00:10:19.650 align:middle line:84% Anyway, Violet decided to marry Wick. 00:10:19.650 --> 00:10:24.720 align:middle line:84% Now what they do is go to motels together, Violet and Wick. 00:10:24.720 --> 00:10:27.510 align:middle line:84% But what they do in the motels is play checkers, 00:10:27.510 --> 00:10:30.480 align:middle line:84% because Violet has decided that's the only way 00:10:30.480 --> 00:10:31.410 align:middle line:90% to keep Wick sober. 00:10:31.410 --> 00:10:33.940 align:middle line:90% 00:10:33.940 --> 00:10:36.370 align:middle line:84% And this thing starts the morning 00:10:36.370 --> 00:10:39.640 align:middle line:90% after a night in a motel. 00:10:39.640 --> 00:10:42.160 align:middle line:84% But Wick sneaks off to the bathroom a lot 00:10:42.160 --> 00:10:45.400 align:middle line:84% where he keeps his bottle of Old Mr. Boston hidden. 00:10:45.400 --> 00:10:47.710 align:middle line:84% So Violet is less than successful. 00:10:47.710 --> 00:10:52.240 align:middle line:84% She's going to marry Wick, because the Lord wants her to, 00:10:52.240 --> 00:10:53.350 align:middle line:90% she's concluded. 00:10:53.350 --> 00:10:55.690 align:middle line:84% She hasn't been with a man in eight years 00:10:55.690 --> 00:10:57.955 align:middle line:84% and the Lord wants her to sacrifice herself. 00:10:57.955 --> 00:11:01.810 align:middle line:90% 00:11:01.810 --> 00:11:04.180 align:middle line:84% "Violet got some breakfast down Wick 00:11:04.180 --> 00:11:06.460 align:middle line:90% in Irondale just out of town. 00:11:06.460 --> 00:11:08.740 align:middle line:84% But by the time they got 15 miles, 00:11:08.740 --> 00:11:12.010 align:middle line:84% he lost it all over the back seat of the cab." 00:11:12.010 --> 00:11:14.920 align:middle line:84% I should say that she's decided to take a cab to Georgia. 00:11:14.920 --> 00:11:18.118 align:middle line:84% It's 150 miles, but she's never been any place. 00:11:18.118 --> 00:11:19.660 align:middle line:84% And the simplest thing to do, to her, 00:11:19.660 --> 00:11:23.046 align:middle line:90% seemed to maybe call a cab. 00:11:23.046 --> 00:11:26.810 align:middle line:84% "He lost it all over the back seat of the cab. 00:11:26.810 --> 00:11:29.150 align:middle line:84% The only way she kept the cab driver from turning back 00:11:29.150 --> 00:11:31.040 align:middle line:84% was to get him to stop at a gas station 00:11:31.040 --> 00:11:33.770 align:middle line:84% so she could scrub his cab out for him. 00:11:33.770 --> 00:11:36.140 align:middle line:84% In Anniston, halfway to the state line, 00:11:36.140 --> 00:11:38.720 align:middle line:84% she got Wick to eat a hot dog at a Dairy Queen. 00:11:38.720 --> 00:11:41.330 align:middle line:84% But by Tallapoosa, just outside Georgia, 00:11:41.330 --> 00:11:44.630 align:middle line:84% he spewed it on the back of the cab driver's neck. 00:11:44.630 --> 00:11:46.630 align:middle line:84% The cab driver swore that if they hadn't already 00:11:46.630 --> 00:11:48.970 align:middle line:84% been in Georgia, he would have dumped them and gone back 00:11:48.970 --> 00:11:49.780 align:middle line:90% alone. 00:11:49.780 --> 00:11:51.880 align:middle line:84% But Violet scrubbed his cab out again 00:11:51.880 --> 00:11:55.390 align:middle line:84% and gave him a track and $2 to get his uniform cleaned. 00:11:55.390 --> 00:11:57.910 align:middle line:84% So he agreed to go through the rest of the trip 00:11:57.910 --> 00:12:00.760 align:middle line:84% if she promised not to feed Wick again. 00:12:00.760 --> 00:12:02.640 align:middle line:90% She promised. 00:12:02.640 --> 00:12:04.320 align:middle line:84% In Bremen, they got their blood test 00:12:04.320 --> 00:12:06.540 align:middle line:84% in the County Health Office just across the street 00:12:06.540 --> 00:12:09.150 align:middle line:84% from the Trojan prophylactic plant. 00:12:09.150 --> 00:12:10.980 align:middle line:84% The nurse had a bad time with Wick 00:12:10.980 --> 00:12:12.600 align:middle line:84% who kept scratching the ticks he said 00:12:12.600 --> 00:12:14.520 align:middle line:90% were crawling all over him. 00:12:14.520 --> 00:12:16.710 align:middle line:84% Violet sat and held both his hands 00:12:16.710 --> 00:12:19.500 align:middle line:84% and talked to him until he was able to sit still long enough 00:12:19.500 --> 00:12:21.450 align:middle line:90% for the needle to go in. 00:12:21.450 --> 00:12:23.790 align:middle line:84% They were compatible, the blood test showed. 00:12:23.790 --> 00:12:25.710 align:middle line:84% And the nurse gave them the souvenir card 00:12:25.710 --> 00:12:29.250 align:middle line:84% that said, get married in Buchanan County, Georgia. 00:12:29.250 --> 00:12:31.430 align:middle line:90% No waiting. 00:12:31.430 --> 00:12:34.190 align:middle line:84% From Bremen, it was nine miles to the County Courthouse 00:12:34.190 --> 00:12:35.570 align:middle line:90% in Buchanan. 00:12:35.570 --> 00:12:38.720 align:middle line:84% Violet knew what they had to do in Georgia from her 00:12:38.720 --> 00:12:41.000 align:middle line:84% and Leland's battle schemes before." 00:12:41.000 --> 00:12:42.440 align:middle line:90% That was her first husband. 00:12:42.440 --> 00:12:44.750 align:middle line:84% "In Buchanan, they had to find a judge who, 00:12:44.750 --> 00:12:47.450 align:middle line:84% with luck, might be in his office in the courthouse. 00:12:47.450 --> 00:12:48.740 align:middle line:90% Violet hoped so. 00:12:48.740 --> 00:12:52.310 align:middle line:84% She hated to bother people at home with business things. 00:12:52.310 --> 00:12:56.420 align:middle line:84% The courthouse was the only real business building in town, 00:12:56.420 --> 00:12:59.840 align:middle line:84% a two story Gothic stone cube with a steeple and handless 00:12:59.840 --> 00:13:01.130 align:middle line:90% clock. 00:13:01.130 --> 00:13:03.440 align:middle line:84% A Confederate soldier at the foot of an obelisk 00:13:03.440 --> 00:13:07.680 align:middle line:84% guarded the bandstand and little square in front of the door. 00:13:07.680 --> 00:13:09.440 align:middle line:84% The road around the courthouse and square 00:13:09.440 --> 00:13:13.010 align:middle line:84% was dirt and half a dozen gingerbread houses and two feed 00:13:13.010 --> 00:13:16.440 align:middle line:90% and mercantile spaces onto it. 00:13:16.440 --> 00:13:19.950 align:middle line:84% Mud seethed around the courthouse like quicksand. 00:13:19.950 --> 00:13:22.860 align:middle line:84% And as Violent crawled out of the cab 00:13:22.860 --> 00:13:26.280 align:middle line:84% by the wide, cracked steps, she had a flash of fear 00:13:26.280 --> 00:13:29.340 align:middle line:84% that she would sink into it and never be found. 00:13:29.340 --> 00:13:31.980 align:middle line:84% The cab driver had to help Wick get out of the cab 00:13:31.980 --> 00:13:33.930 align:middle line:84% and pretended to pick ticks off of him 00:13:33.930 --> 00:13:36.240 align:middle line:84% to keep him calm as they went into the courthouse 00:13:36.240 --> 00:13:38.460 align:middle line:90% behind Violent. 00:13:38.460 --> 00:13:42.720 align:middle line:84% Violet led the way, her face still without expression, 00:13:42.720 --> 00:13:45.660 align:middle line:84% down the long dim hallway that ran 00:13:45.660 --> 00:13:47.760 align:middle line:90% the length of the courthouse. 00:13:47.760 --> 00:13:50.700 align:middle line:84% The wide boards of the unvarnished floor, 00:13:50.700 --> 00:13:54.300 align:middle line:84% the olive wainscoting that rose halfway up the walls, 00:13:54.300 --> 00:13:57.540 align:middle line:84% and the cracked green plaster above swallowed the light 00:13:57.540 --> 00:14:00.510 align:middle line:84% from three naked bulbs dangling at intervals 00:14:00.510 --> 00:14:03.820 align:middle line:84% from the high and cobwebby ceiling. 00:14:03.820 --> 00:14:06.760 align:middle line:84% Gray light from the door at the other end of the hallway 00:14:06.760 --> 00:14:08.680 align:middle line:84% faded toward her into the dimness 00:14:08.680 --> 00:14:10.360 align:middle line:84% and made Violet feel as if she were 00:14:10.360 --> 00:14:13.420 align:middle line:90% in a tunnel on a mineshaft. 00:14:13.420 --> 00:14:15.700 align:middle line:84% Their footsteps thudded and echoed 00:14:15.700 --> 00:14:18.400 align:middle line:84% on the dust of the [INAUDIBLE] boards. 00:14:18.400 --> 00:14:21.910 align:middle line:84% Along the walls, like souls in purgatory-- note, 00:14:21.910 --> 00:14:24.220 align:middle line:84% Violet didn't believe in purgatory-- 00:14:24.220 --> 00:14:27.520 align:middle line:84% sat a handful of old men in overalls and old women 00:14:27.520 --> 00:14:31.360 align:middle line:84% in bonnets staring blankly from wooden benches at the walls 00:14:31.360 --> 00:14:34.390 align:middle line:84% opposite them as if they were all waiting for something 00:14:34.390 --> 00:14:36.760 align:middle line:90% with incredible patience. 00:14:36.760 --> 00:14:39.490 align:middle line:84% Even as Violet stepped over a muddy dog asleep 00:14:39.490 --> 00:14:42.610 align:middle line:84% at the door labeled Judge Cecil Bledsoe, 00:14:42.610 --> 00:14:44.170 align:middle line:84% she couldn't get rid of the feeling 00:14:44.170 --> 00:14:46.000 align:middle line:84% that she was underground, that she 00:14:46.000 --> 00:14:47.350 align:middle line:90% was about to run out of air. 00:14:47.350 --> 00:14:49.980 align:middle line:90% 00:14:49.980 --> 00:14:52.740 align:middle line:84% Judge Bledsoe was in, sitting before a roll 00:14:52.740 --> 00:14:56.010 align:middle line:84% top desk in a room far too large for an office, 00:14:56.010 --> 00:14:58.950 align:middle line:84% trying to catch enough light from the tall leaded windows 00:14:58.950 --> 00:15:01.770 align:middle line:84% to read a sheaf of yellow legal papers. 00:15:01.770 --> 00:15:04.770 align:middle line:84% He didn't look up when Violet came in. 00:15:04.770 --> 00:15:07.440 align:middle line:84% Only when Wick groaned did he raise his eyes 00:15:07.440 --> 00:15:09.420 align:middle line:90% over his glasses at them. 00:15:09.420 --> 00:15:13.140 align:middle line:84% His heavy eyebrows that hung like awnings over a tiny face 00:15:13.140 --> 00:15:16.410 align:middle line:84% with no chin rose slightly when he saw Violet 00:15:16.410 --> 00:15:17.550 align:middle line:90% clutching the door frame"-- 00:15:17.550 --> 00:15:18.300 align:middle line:90% I mean, I'm sorry. 00:15:18.300 --> 00:15:20.910 align:middle line:84% "Rose slightly when he saw Wick in the door frame, 00:15:20.910 --> 00:15:22.680 align:middle line:84% groaning and trying to show the cab 00:15:22.680 --> 00:15:24.030 align:middle line:90% driver where to find the ticks. 00:15:24.030 --> 00:15:26.880 align:middle line:90% 00:15:26.880 --> 00:15:30.610 align:middle line:90% 'He all right?' he asked Violet. 00:15:30.610 --> 00:15:35.090 align:middle line:84% Violet was standing alone in the center of a huge room. 00:15:35.090 --> 00:15:37.875 align:middle line:84% 'We want to get married,' she said. 00:15:37.875 --> 00:15:39.790 align:middle line:90% 'Figured that. 00:15:39.790 --> 00:15:41.230 align:middle line:84% Is he going to live long enough?' 00:15:41.230 --> 00:15:44.280 align:middle line:90% 00:15:44.280 --> 00:15:46.470 align:middle line:90% He has a fever. 00:15:46.470 --> 00:15:49.896 align:middle line:84% Violet's knees kept trying to come unlocked. 00:15:49.896 --> 00:15:53.350 align:middle line:84% 'Blood test,' Judge Bledsoe asked. 00:15:53.350 --> 00:15:55.540 align:middle line:84% Violet crossed the room and handed him the form 00:15:55.540 --> 00:15:57.320 align:middle line:90% the nurse had given her. 00:15:57.320 --> 00:15:59.530 align:middle line:84% The judge put it down without looking at it. 00:15:59.530 --> 00:16:01.910 align:middle line:90% 'Got a witness,' he said. 00:16:01.910 --> 00:16:03.670 align:middle line:90% Violet looked blank. 00:16:03.670 --> 00:16:06.370 align:middle line:84% The judge nodded toward the cab driver. 00:16:06.370 --> 00:16:08.610 align:middle line:90% 'He going to be your witness?' 00:16:08.610 --> 00:16:11.010 align:middle line:84% Violet looked over a shoulder at the cab driver. 00:16:11.010 --> 00:16:12.420 align:middle line:90% He shrugged. 00:16:12.420 --> 00:16:15.450 align:middle line:84% With a sigh, the judge heaved himself out of his swivel chair 00:16:15.450 --> 00:16:17.550 align:middle line:84% and walked past Violet to the door. 00:16:17.550 --> 00:16:20.250 align:middle line:84% He was shorter than she was, almost as short as Wick. 00:16:20.250 --> 00:16:21.945 align:middle line:84% And at the door, he stood patiently 00:16:21.945 --> 00:16:23.820 align:middle line:84% while the [INAUDIBLE] led Wick out of the way 00:16:23.820 --> 00:16:26.820 align:middle line:84% to a cane bottom chair and deposited him in it. 00:16:26.820 --> 00:16:28.710 align:middle line:90% Wick whimpered. 00:16:28.710 --> 00:16:32.890 align:middle line:84% Lord, Violet thought, if you've ever helped me carry it. 00:16:32.890 --> 00:16:35.265 align:middle line:84% The judge buttoned his coat and shouted down the hallway, 00:16:35.265 --> 00:16:38.070 align:middle line:90% 'wedding, everybody.' 00:16:38.070 --> 00:16:41.040 align:middle line:84% The sound of slow bustling and shuffling feet 00:16:41.040 --> 00:16:44.400 align:middle line:84% started up from the hall as the judge stalked back to his desk 00:16:44.400 --> 00:16:46.200 align:middle line:84% and began asking Violet questions 00:16:46.200 --> 00:16:49.440 align:middle line:84% for form he filled out with an old black fountain pen. 00:16:49.440 --> 00:16:52.590 align:middle line:84% Violet felt the bow string began to tighten again 00:16:52.590 --> 00:16:56.460 align:middle line:90% since the dark hole yawned. 00:16:56.460 --> 00:16:58.140 align:middle line:84% The judge finished the form and Violet 00:16:58.140 --> 00:17:00.450 align:middle line:84% turned to see a room full of old men and women 00:17:00.450 --> 00:17:02.340 align:middle line:90% from the benches in the hall. 00:17:02.340 --> 00:17:04.920 align:middle line:84% One of the women, faceless beneath her bonnet 00:17:04.920 --> 00:17:07.020 align:middle line:84% and shapeless under her feed sack dress, 00:17:07.020 --> 00:17:09.960 align:middle line:84% handed Violet a small bunch of winter wildflowers 00:17:09.960 --> 00:17:11.310 align:middle line:90% and patted her arm. 00:17:11.310 --> 00:17:14.400 align:middle line:84% The men were solemnly shaking Wick's and the cab driver's 00:17:14.400 --> 00:17:15.540 align:middle line:90% hands. 00:17:15.540 --> 00:17:18.660 align:middle line:84% Three or four dogs milled around in the crowd and one of them 00:17:18.660 --> 00:17:21.690 align:middle line:90% hiked his leg on Wick's chair. 00:17:21.690 --> 00:17:24.940 align:middle line:84% Huzzah! one of the men said and kicked it. 00:17:24.940 --> 00:17:26.940 align:middle line:84% Violet [INAUDIBLE] old woman until the old woman 00:17:26.940 --> 00:17:29.160 align:middle line:90% had to push her away. 00:17:29.160 --> 00:17:31.830 align:middle line:84% The dark hole retreated a little bit. 00:17:31.830 --> 00:17:35.490 align:middle line:84% Violet stood as straight as she could and let a film of tears 00:17:35.490 --> 00:17:38.190 align:middle line:90% well up in her eyes. 00:17:38.190 --> 00:17:40.963 align:middle line:90% 'Ready,' Judge Bledsoe said. 00:17:40.963 --> 00:17:44.400 align:middle line:84% 'Well, let's get the bride and groom over by the door. 00:17:44.400 --> 00:17:46.020 align:middle line:90% Everybody else in place now. 00:17:46.020 --> 00:17:48.430 align:middle line:84% Who's going to give the bride away?' 00:17:48.430 --> 00:17:51.861 align:middle line:84% 'My turn,' one of the old men said. 00:17:51.861 --> 00:17:56.850 align:middle line:84% 'I reckon so, Riley,' the judge said. 'Best man?' 00:17:56.850 --> 00:17:59.950 align:middle line:90% 'Me,' another old man said. 00:17:59.950 --> 00:18:01.920 align:middle line:90% 'Ain't your time, Thurlow. 00:18:01.920 --> 00:18:04.706 align:middle line:90% It's Winston's, ain't it?" 00:18:04.706 --> 00:18:08.530 align:middle line:84% "Thurlow can do it,' the old man who must have been Winston 00:18:08.530 --> 00:18:11.030 align:middle line:90% said, glowering at Wick. 00:18:11.030 --> 00:18:14.150 align:middle line:84% Wick was pulling up his pants leg, looked for a tick. 00:18:14.150 --> 00:18:15.830 align:middle line:84% Thurlow stepped out of the crowd, 00:18:15.830 --> 00:18:18.740 align:middle line:84% lifting him up for his chair and steered him to the door. 00:18:18.740 --> 00:18:21.440 align:middle line:84% The old lady with the flowers walked with Violet to the door, 00:18:21.440 --> 00:18:23.450 align:middle line:90% patting her all the way. 00:18:23.450 --> 00:18:26.300 align:middle line:84% Violet's lips were moving, saying the 23rd Psalm 00:18:26.300 --> 00:18:27.680 align:middle line:90% over and over. 00:18:27.680 --> 00:18:30.170 align:middle line:84% The rest of the men and women stood in two ragged lines 00:18:30.170 --> 00:18:32.900 align:middle line:84% on either side of an imaginary aisle. 00:18:32.900 --> 00:18:35.240 align:middle line:84% Riley shuffled up, took Violet's arm, 00:18:35.240 --> 00:18:39.746 align:middle line:84% and smiled at her from a round, toothless mouth. 00:18:39.746 --> 00:18:41.900 align:middle line:90% 'Now,' the judge said. 00:18:41.900 --> 00:18:43.430 align:middle line:84% One of the old men along the aisle 00:18:43.430 --> 00:18:44.960 align:middle line:84% began to sing something that sounded 00:18:44.960 --> 00:18:47.085 align:middle line:84% to Violet like (SINGING) hear Nora hitting ner ner, 00:18:47.085 --> 00:18:49.810 align:middle line:84% hear Nora hitting ner ner over and over again, 00:18:49.810 --> 00:18:52.310 align:middle line:84% while the woman who had given her the flowers hummed "Heaven 00:18:52.310 --> 00:18:54.860 align:middle line:84% is Nearer Now That Mama is There." 00:18:54.860 --> 00:18:58.790 align:middle line:84% Riley marched Violet, lips still moving, toward the judge. 00:18:58.790 --> 00:19:02.390 align:middle line:84% He watched Violet's lips as they walked. 00:19:02.390 --> 00:19:04.970 align:middle line:84% "Beg pardon ma'am," he said as they reached the judge, 00:19:04.970 --> 00:19:07.000 align:middle line:90% "you talking to me?" 00:19:07.000 --> 00:19:09.800 align:middle line:84% "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, 00:19:09.800 --> 00:19:10.630 align:middle line:90% thou art with me. 00:19:10.630 --> 00:19:12.910 align:middle line:84% Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me," 00:19:12.910 --> 00:19:15.010 align:middle line:90% Violet said audibly. 00:19:15.010 --> 00:19:17.500 align:middle line:84% "Yes ma'am, praise Jesus," Riley said 00:19:17.500 --> 00:19:19.510 align:middle line:90% and quit watching her lips. 00:19:19.510 --> 00:19:21.760 align:middle line:84% When they got to the judge, Thurlow started down 00:19:21.760 --> 00:19:23.500 align:middle line:90% the aisle with Wick. 00:19:23.500 --> 00:19:25.990 align:middle line:84% "Oh, Lord, they've got it backwards," Violet thought, 00:19:25.990 --> 00:19:28.180 align:middle line:84% "I'm not supposed to be here first." 00:19:28.180 --> 00:19:30.670 align:middle line:84% She looked to the judge to tell him how horrible it was, 00:19:30.670 --> 00:19:32.440 align:middle line:84% when one of them darted across the aisle, 00:19:32.440 --> 00:19:35.110 align:middle line:84% and Wick tripped and fell down on top of it. 00:19:35.110 --> 00:19:36.250 align:middle line:90% The dog yelped. 00:19:36.250 --> 00:19:38.650 align:middle line:84% The same old man as before stepped out of line, 00:19:38.650 --> 00:19:40.390 align:middle line:84% said "Huzzah," kicked it, and Wick 00:19:40.390 --> 00:19:43.720 align:middle line:84% crawled off into the line of old women with his eyes closed. 00:19:43.720 --> 00:19:46.840 align:middle line:84% One of the old women screamed, and two or three old men 00:19:46.840 --> 00:19:48.820 align:middle line:90% dove for Wick. 00:19:48.820 --> 00:19:50.860 align:middle line:90% Violet could stand no more. 00:19:50.860 --> 00:19:53.800 align:middle line:84% She let herself sink down into the dark hole 00:19:53.800 --> 00:19:56.770 align:middle line:84% and began to fill its muddy bottom with tears. 00:19:56.770 --> 00:19:59.380 align:middle line:84% The next thing she knew, Riley was holding her arm 00:19:59.380 --> 00:20:01.840 align:middle line:84% while the judge was asking Wick if he took this woman 00:20:01.840 --> 00:20:04.120 align:middle line:90% to be his lawfully wedded wife. 00:20:04.120 --> 00:20:06.250 align:middle line:84% Wick's eyes were focused somewhere 00:20:06.250 --> 00:20:08.590 align:middle line:84% beyond the judge outside the window 00:20:08.590 --> 00:20:11.050 align:middle line:84% where it had started to rain again. 00:20:11.050 --> 00:20:12.820 align:middle line:90% He didn't answer. 00:20:12.820 --> 00:20:17.600 align:middle line:84% The judge reached out and shook him and repeated the question. 00:20:17.600 --> 00:20:22.180 align:middle line:90% "Hot damn," Wick said softly. 00:20:22.180 --> 00:20:23.290 align:middle line:90% "What? 00:20:23.290 --> 00:20:24.340 align:middle line:90% What's that?" 00:20:24.340 --> 00:20:27.130 align:middle line:84% the judge said looking toward Violet. 00:20:27.130 --> 00:20:28.990 align:middle line:90% Violet closed her eyes again. 00:20:28.990 --> 00:20:32.990 align:middle line:84% She treaded water in the black hole as hard as she could. 00:20:32.990 --> 00:20:35.840 align:middle line:90% "He says, I do," she said. 00:20:35.840 --> 00:20:37.550 align:middle line:90% Her voice didn't break. 00:20:37.550 --> 00:20:39.650 align:middle line:90% It didn't even quiver. 00:20:39.650 --> 00:20:42.650 align:middle line:84% When she opened her eyes again, Riley's toothless face 00:20:42.650 --> 00:20:45.050 align:middle line:84% was poking a three-day beard at her. 00:20:45.050 --> 00:20:47.750 align:middle line:84% "Get to kiss the bride," he said. 00:20:47.750 --> 00:20:50.360 align:middle line:84% He shifted his chewing tobacco further back in his cheek 00:20:50.360 --> 00:20:52.280 align:middle line:90% and took Violet's shoulders. 00:20:52.280 --> 00:20:54.230 align:middle line:90% Violet was abhorred. 00:20:54.230 --> 00:20:57.080 align:middle line:84% He kissed her full on the mouth and she gagged. 00:20:57.080 --> 00:21:00.020 align:middle line:84% "It's done, Lord," she said to herself. 00:21:00.020 --> 00:21:02.570 align:middle line:84% Wick was taking a long drink of corn whiskey 00:21:02.570 --> 00:21:05.300 align:middle line:84% from a Mason jar Thurlow held up for him. 00:21:05.300 --> 00:21:07.490 align:middle line:90% "It's done, Lord." 00:21:07.490 --> 00:21:10.990 align:middle line:84% Victoria and Levy peered down over the edge of the dark hole 00:21:10.990 --> 00:21:11.600 align:middle line:90% at her. 00:21:11.600 --> 00:21:13.850 align:middle line:84% Reuben stood behind them, staring off 00:21:13.850 --> 00:21:16.220 align:middle line:90% at some far point in space. 00:21:16.220 --> 00:21:18.530 align:middle line:84% "I've got me a man again, Victoria," 00:21:18.530 --> 00:21:23.500 align:middle line:84% Violet said, "a man, mama, just like you do." 00:21:23.500 --> 00:21:26.320 align:middle line:84% "Fee's $10, Mrs. Makewater," the judge 00:21:26.320 --> 00:21:29.380 align:middle line:84% said, "two more if you want the engraved certificate. 00:21:29.380 --> 00:21:31.090 align:middle line:84% Most folks give a little something 00:21:31.090 --> 00:21:32.060 align:middle line:90% to these good people." 00:21:32.060 --> 00:21:34.750 align:middle line:84% He waves his hand toward the old men and women. 00:21:34.750 --> 00:21:36.250 align:middle line:90% "And congratulations. 00:21:36.250 --> 00:21:39.880 align:middle line:84% Need you two and the witness to sign my book now." 00:21:39.880 --> 00:21:41.440 align:middle line:84% When they left the judge's office, 00:21:41.440 --> 00:21:43.270 align:middle line:84% Violet walked in front again, her 00:21:43.270 --> 00:21:45.760 align:middle line:84% face a mask, clutching the rolled up, 00:21:45.760 --> 00:21:48.490 align:middle line:90% engraved certificate. 00:21:48.490 --> 00:21:52.090 align:middle line:84% Wick came behind with Thurlow, the cab driver, and the Mason 00:21:52.090 --> 00:21:53.470 align:middle line:90% jar. 00:21:53.470 --> 00:21:56.680 align:middle line:84% On the steps, Violet felt that she'd come up above ground 00:21:56.680 --> 00:21:58.450 align:middle line:90% again from the dark courthouse. 00:21:58.450 --> 00:22:01.810 align:middle line:84% And in the dim, wet dusk, she gave quarters and dimes 00:22:01.810 --> 00:22:04.780 align:middle line:84% to the old men and women until she ran out. 00:22:04.780 --> 00:22:06.880 align:middle line:84% Thurlow helped stuff Wick into the cab 00:22:06.880 --> 00:22:09.550 align:middle line:84% and took back the empty Mason jar. 00:22:09.550 --> 00:22:12.280 align:middle line:84% Two teenagers in a hot rod with Alabama plates 00:22:12.280 --> 00:22:14.320 align:middle line:84% pulled up to the steps behind them. 00:22:14.320 --> 00:22:18.460 align:middle line:84% The girl huddled wide-eyed under the skinny boy's arm. 00:22:18.460 --> 00:22:21.910 align:middle line:84% As the cab slid away through the mud, one of the old women 00:22:21.910 --> 00:22:24.340 align:middle line:90% threw a handful of rice. 00:22:24.340 --> 00:22:26.230 align:middle line:84% The last thing Violet could make out 00:22:26.230 --> 00:22:30.370 align:middle line:84% was Riley's toothless face as he waved a goodbye kiss, 00:22:30.370 --> 00:22:34.780 align:middle line:84% and turned away to follow the teenagers into the courthouse. 00:22:34.780 --> 00:22:36.850 align:middle line:90% "It's done, Lord. 00:22:36.850 --> 00:22:39.230 align:middle line:90% Thy will be done." 00:22:39.230 --> 00:22:42.590 align:middle line:84% The tree limbs against the sky were what Levy had told her 00:22:42.590 --> 00:22:44.870 align:middle line:84% they were when she was a little girl-- 00:22:44.870 --> 00:22:47.850 align:middle line:90% witch's fingers. 00:22:47.850 --> 00:22:50.370 align:middle line:84% The white whiskey seemed to have taken care of Wick's ticks 00:22:50.370 --> 00:22:52.110 align:middle line:90% for the time being. 00:22:52.110 --> 00:22:54.660 align:middle line:84% As they turned onto the main highway out of Buchanan, 00:22:54.660 --> 00:22:57.600 align:middle line:84% he tried to lean over to Violet and wound up sliding down 00:22:57.600 --> 00:23:00.560 align:middle line:90% in the seat beside her. 00:23:00.560 --> 00:23:04.036 align:middle line:84% "Hon," he said without trying to get up. 00:23:04.036 --> 00:23:07.810 align:middle line:90% "Yes, Wick, I'm here." 00:23:07.810 --> 00:23:11.770 align:middle line:84% "This supposed to mean we in love, don't it?" 00:23:11.770 --> 00:23:14.270 align:middle line:90% "Yes." 00:23:14.270 --> 00:23:15.990 align:middle line:90% "Good. 00:23:15.990 --> 00:23:19.630 align:middle line:84% I've always wondered what that felt like." 00:23:19.630 --> 00:23:23.620 align:middle line:84% he reached an arm for Violet's knees but missed. 00:23:23.620 --> 00:23:26.560 align:middle line:84% By the time they reached Bremen, he was asleep. 00:23:26.560 --> 00:23:30.311 align:middle line:90% 00:23:30.311 --> 00:23:33.762 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:23:33.762 --> 00:23:39.190 align:middle line:90% 00:23:39.190 --> 00:23:42.790 align:middle line:84% Clapping is always good in the middle of reading-- 00:23:42.790 --> 00:23:45.508 align:middle line:90% wakes people up. 00:23:45.508 --> 00:23:49.990 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHS] Well, let me see. 00:23:49.990 --> 00:23:53.500 align:middle line:84% What I'm going to try to do is read a short section now. 00:23:53.500 --> 00:23:56.170 align:middle line:84% I've been told by Lois that I've got to stop after 52 minutes 00:23:56.170 --> 00:23:58.430 align:middle line:90% because the machine goes off. 00:23:58.430 --> 00:24:02.990 align:middle line:84% So this one shouldn't run that far. 00:24:02.990 --> 00:24:03.780 align:middle line:90% No. 00:24:03.780 --> 00:24:05.140 align:middle line:90% No, it won't run 52 minutes. 00:24:05.140 --> 00:24:07.300 align:middle line:84% We're already halfway through the 52 minutes-- even 00:24:07.300 --> 00:24:09.560 align:middle line:90% more than halfway. 00:24:09.560 --> 00:24:12.755 align:middle line:84% So if you want to stand up and do some calisthenics or slap 00:24:12.755 --> 00:24:13.880 align:middle line:90% yourself, that's all right. 00:24:13.880 --> 00:24:14.611 align:middle line:90% I don't mind. 00:24:14.611 --> 00:24:17.380 align:middle line:90% 00:24:17.380 --> 00:24:20.080 align:middle line:84% See what I mean about reading at home? 00:24:20.080 --> 00:24:22.540 align:middle line:84% This is a section from Bisbee '17. 00:24:22.540 --> 00:24:27.040 align:middle line:84% It's told from the point of view of a man named Jim Brew. 00:24:27.040 --> 00:24:30.430 align:middle line:84% What happened in Bisbee in 1917 is the subject 00:24:30.430 --> 00:24:33.040 align:middle line:90% of this book called Bisbee '17. 00:24:33.040 --> 00:24:37.070 align:middle line:84% The IWW, the notorious Wobblies, called a general strike 00:24:37.070 --> 00:24:37.570 align:middle line:90% in Bisbee-- 00:24:37.570 --> 00:24:40.690 align:middle line:90% 00:24:40.690 --> 00:24:44.405 align:middle line:84% in his last life, he was Wobbly-- 00:24:44.405 --> 00:24:48.170 align:middle line:84% a strike that shut down the mines during World War I. 00:24:48.170 --> 00:24:50.840 align:middle line:84% The Wobblies were perhaps the most romantic union 00:24:50.840 --> 00:24:52.770 align:middle line:90% this country has ever seen. 00:24:52.770 --> 00:24:56.765 align:middle line:84% They were our last genuinely native radical movement. 00:24:56.765 --> 00:24:59.280 align:middle line:90% 00:24:59.280 --> 00:25:02.130 align:middle line:84% To settle that strike, Sheriff Harry Wheeler, the Sheriff 00:25:02.130 --> 00:25:06.620 align:middle line:84% of Cochise County, the last of the two-gun sheriffs, 00:25:06.620 --> 00:25:11.490 align:middle line:84% organized a 2000-man army, which is, in fact, the largest 00:25:11.490 --> 00:25:13.470 align:middle line:84% posse in the history of the West, far as I 00:25:13.470 --> 00:25:19.350 align:middle line:84% know, and pulled a midnight raid, rifle butts on the door, 00:25:19.350 --> 00:25:21.030 align:middle line:84% that sort of thing, dragged a couple 00:25:21.030 --> 00:25:23.100 align:middle line:84% of thousand strikers out, and the next day 00:25:23.100 --> 00:25:27.525 align:middle line:84% shipped 1,200 of them out in cattle cars into the desert. 00:25:27.525 --> 00:25:30.060 align:middle line:84% This was the largest mass kidnapping 00:25:30.060 --> 00:25:32.610 align:middle line:84% that I know of up until that time. 00:25:32.610 --> 00:25:35.040 align:middle line:84% Well, this is near the beginning of the book, 00:25:35.040 --> 00:25:37.110 align:middle line:90% and the Wobblies are in town. 00:25:37.110 --> 00:25:38.085 align:middle line:90% Jim Brew is a miner. 00:25:38.085 --> 00:25:40.352 align:middle line:90% 00:25:40.352 --> 00:25:42.810 align:middle line:84% Some other names that come up in here, although they're not 00:25:42.810 --> 00:25:45.570 align:middle line:90% really vital-- 00:25:45.570 --> 00:25:50.760 align:middle line:84% Bo Whitley will come up, the young IWW organizer 00:25:50.760 --> 00:25:58.120 align:middle line:84% who's in town, Jim's cousin, who is 00:25:58.120 --> 00:26:00.910 align:middle line:84% sort of the romantic lead of the novel, if you will. 00:26:00.910 --> 00:26:03.760 align:middle line:90% 00:26:03.760 --> 00:26:06.280 align:middle line:84% Harry Wheeler, I've already mentioned-- 00:26:06.280 --> 00:26:08.740 align:middle line:84% the last of the two-gun sheriffs-- little guy, about 5' 00:26:08.740 --> 00:26:08.920 align:middle line:90% 2". 00:26:08.920 --> 00:26:10.420 align:middle line:84% He was too short to get in the Army, 00:26:10.420 --> 00:26:13.310 align:middle line:90% and never could live that down. 00:26:13.310 --> 00:26:16.390 align:middle line:90% And Shotgun Johnson, his deputy. 00:26:16.390 --> 00:26:18.890 align:middle line:84% Big Bill Haywood-- everybody knows Big Bill Haywood, 00:26:18.890 --> 00:26:19.390 align:middle line:90% I think. 00:26:19.390 --> 00:26:22.000 align:middle line:84% Everybody ought to know Big Bill Haywood, who 00:26:22.000 --> 00:26:25.000 align:middle line:90% was the leader of the Wobblies. 00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:27.970 align:middle line:84% Captain Greenway and Grant Dowell and Tom Matthews 00:26:27.970 --> 00:26:29.380 align:middle line:90% are all company officials. 00:26:29.380 --> 00:26:32.140 align:middle line:84% Captain Greenway became-- after he 00:26:32.140 --> 00:26:34.900 align:middle line:84% got through deporting Wobblies-- a regent of the University 00:26:34.900 --> 00:26:39.370 align:middle line:90% of Arizona among other things. 00:26:39.370 --> 00:26:40.300 align:middle line:90% OK. 00:26:40.300 --> 00:26:45.310 align:middle line:90% Jim Brew, July 1, 7:00 AM. 00:26:45.310 --> 00:26:47.470 align:middle line:84% "Too old," Jim Brew tells himself 00:26:47.470 --> 00:26:50.170 align:middle line:84% as he drags himself up the haulage tunnel of the Copper 00:26:50.170 --> 00:26:54.130 align:middle line:84% Queen west, wore out and too blessed old for the graveyard 00:26:54.130 --> 00:26:57.190 align:middle line:84% shift, timbering all night in the hot spot drift 00:26:57.190 --> 00:26:59.290 align:middle line:84% where the heat is so high the water in the air 00:26:59.290 --> 00:27:02.590 align:middle line:84% turns into underground rain, then coming out here 00:27:02.590 --> 00:27:04.630 align:middle line:84% where the air gets sucked in through the cracks 00:27:04.630 --> 00:27:07.900 align:middle line:84% in the mountain so hard the wind blows forever. 00:27:07.900 --> 00:27:10.180 align:middle line:90% And it's always 40 degrees. 00:27:10.180 --> 00:27:12.220 align:middle line:84% If the miner's consumption don't get him, 00:27:12.220 --> 00:27:15.610 align:middle line:84% the God almighty winds in this shaft will. 00:27:15.610 --> 00:27:17.500 align:middle line:84% Bo Whitley once said that Jim Brew 00:27:17.500 --> 00:27:21.460 align:middle line:84% looks like a sly bear, hunkered over when he walks, with arms 00:27:21.460 --> 00:27:24.100 align:middle line:84% that swing down nearly to his knees, 00:27:24.100 --> 00:27:27.010 align:middle line:84% eyes just a little oriental, inherited from a Cherokee 00:27:27.010 --> 00:27:29.020 align:middle line:90% grandmamma on his daddy's side. 00:27:29.020 --> 00:27:32.800 align:middle line:84% His hair is cut too short on the sides and too long on top. 00:27:32.800 --> 00:27:34.630 align:middle line:84% His ears are as flat as if they had 00:27:34.630 --> 00:27:37.240 align:middle line:90% been pasted back to his head. 00:27:37.240 --> 00:27:39.370 align:middle line:84% For the most part, he's reconciled himself 00:27:39.370 --> 00:27:42.730 align:middle line:84% to being too old and broke nosed and stumble-footed ever 00:27:42.730 --> 00:27:43.570 align:middle line:90% to have a wife. 00:27:43.570 --> 00:27:48.430 align:middle line:84% But every now and again, alone at night in his room at Mrs. 00:27:48.430 --> 00:27:50.950 align:middle line:84% Stodgell's boarding house down in Jiggerville, 00:27:50.950 --> 00:27:52.900 align:middle line:90% he thinks maybe not. 00:27:52.900 --> 00:27:54.700 align:middle line:84% Someday, a little ahead, he'll marry 00:27:54.700 --> 00:27:57.190 align:middle line:90% him a cantina girl from Naco. 00:27:57.190 --> 00:27:59.420 align:middle line:84% He's already sending money to two of them. 00:27:59.420 --> 00:28:00.970 align:middle line:84% One of them even gave him a present-- 00:28:00.970 --> 00:28:05.230 align:middle line:84% a good cavalry sword she snitched from the Mex officer. 00:28:05.230 --> 00:28:07.240 align:middle line:84% But the thing Jim Brew would appreciate 00:28:07.240 --> 00:28:10.660 align:middle line:84% more than anything else is a change room, a bathhouse. 00:28:10.660 --> 00:28:13.180 align:middle line:84% He comes up all sweaty and stinking like this, 00:28:13.180 --> 00:28:15.760 align:middle line:84% and has to walk home through the early morning mountain 00:28:15.760 --> 00:28:19.845 align:middle line:84% chill in the same dirty long johns he's worked in all night. 00:28:19.845 --> 00:28:22.360 align:middle line:84% If he had a wife to keep a hot bath for him at home 00:28:22.360 --> 00:28:23.680 align:middle line:90% it wouldn't be so bad. 00:28:23.680 --> 00:28:25.180 align:middle line:84% At the Union meeting the other night 00:28:25.180 --> 00:28:27.820 align:middle line:84% Bo Whitley said that if St. Peter was a company man 00:28:27.820 --> 00:28:29.500 align:middle line:84% he'd send you through the pearly gates 00:28:29.500 --> 00:28:32.500 align:middle line:84% in your sweaty long johns, same as here. 00:28:32.500 --> 00:28:34.450 align:middle line:84% Jim Brew thought that was pretty rich. 00:28:34.450 --> 00:28:37.990 align:middle line:84% He told it to all the boys on the graveyard shift. 00:28:37.990 --> 00:28:42.620 align:middle line:84% Bo Whitley's smart-- got a schoolhouse in his head. 00:28:42.620 --> 00:28:45.740 align:middle line:84% Everybody else thinks so, too, which pleases Jim Brew. 00:28:45.740 --> 00:28:48.860 align:middle line:84% He practically raised Bo Whitley after Bo run off 00:28:48.860 --> 00:28:50.300 align:middle line:90% from his family. 00:28:50.300 --> 00:28:51.470 align:middle line:90% He's his cousin, too. 00:28:51.470 --> 00:28:54.320 align:middle line:84% And now that Bo has come back a big man with the Wobblies, 00:28:54.320 --> 00:28:56.503 align:middle line:90% he still stays with Jim. 00:28:56.503 --> 00:28:58.420 align:middle line:84% Most of the other stiffs in the boarding house 00:28:58.420 --> 00:29:00.337 align:middle line:84% always thought he was a little queer, probably 00:29:00.337 --> 00:29:02.270 align:middle line:84% from the time a chink hit him in the head 00:29:02.270 --> 00:29:05.150 align:middle line:84% with a rock in a fight up in Tombstone, 00:29:05.150 --> 00:29:07.070 align:middle line:90% but they respect him now. 00:29:07.070 --> 00:29:08.840 align:middle line:84% If the Union's going through with a strike 00:29:08.840 --> 00:29:12.260 align:middle line:84% like Bo says they're going to, they might get a change room. 00:29:12.260 --> 00:29:15.560 align:middle line:84% Jim should know if they're on strike as soon as he comes out 00:29:15.560 --> 00:29:16.250 align:middle line:90% of the tunnel. 00:29:16.250 --> 00:29:19.430 align:middle line:84% Bo said the strike was already-- had already been decided on, 00:29:19.430 --> 00:29:23.120 align:middle line:84% and the final meeting last night was more or less a formality. 00:29:23.120 --> 00:29:26.240 align:middle line:84% Bo says the IWW are syndicalists. 00:29:26.240 --> 00:29:29.810 align:middle line:84% Jim doesn't know what that is, but it sounds all right. 00:29:29.810 --> 00:29:32.330 align:middle line:84% Bo says that means the Union will take the mines away 00:29:32.330 --> 00:29:34.240 align:middle line:90% from the bosses. 00:29:34.240 --> 00:29:36.070 align:middle line:84% Jim guesses he'd rather have the Union pay 00:29:36.070 --> 00:29:38.290 align:middle line:90% his wages than the company. 00:29:38.290 --> 00:29:39.800 align:middle line:84% He can see the end of the tunnel, 00:29:39.800 --> 00:29:41.680 align:middle line:84% and he opens his carbide lantern to get 00:29:41.680 --> 00:29:43.870 align:middle line:84% ready to shake the burned carbide out of it 00:29:43.870 --> 00:29:45.190 align:middle line:90% at the mouth of the mine. 00:29:45.190 --> 00:29:49.410 align:middle line:84% He knows the number of bare light bulbs above by heart. 00:29:49.410 --> 00:29:52.183 align:middle line:84% There are three more before the collar of the tunnel. 00:29:52.183 --> 00:29:53.850 align:middle line:84% If they can get a change room out of it, 00:29:53.850 --> 00:29:56.310 align:middle line:84% Jim guesses he'll go on strike all right. 00:29:56.310 --> 00:30:00.180 align:middle line:84% Nobody should be able to say that Jim Brew was a damn scab. 00:30:00.180 --> 00:30:03.180 align:middle line:84% And if they get $6 a day like the Wobblies want, 00:30:03.180 --> 00:30:06.930 align:middle line:84% he could get a little ahead and marry a cantina girl from Naco. 00:30:06.930 --> 00:30:09.240 align:middle line:84% They make good wives if you treat them right. 00:30:09.240 --> 00:30:11.740 align:middle line:90% Everybody says so. 00:30:11.740 --> 00:30:13.990 align:middle line:84% He'd like to stay in Bisbee, maybe get a pension 00:30:13.990 --> 00:30:14.980 align:middle line:90% if they win the strike. 00:30:14.980 --> 00:30:16.960 align:middle line:84% Hell, he's looking 60 in the face now. 00:30:16.960 --> 00:30:20.860 align:middle line:84% He's too old to be a tramp miner or a 10-day boomer 00:30:20.860 --> 00:30:24.880 align:middle line:84% anymore, two old to hop freights and sleep in Mulligan camps 00:30:24.880 --> 00:30:27.130 align:middle line:84% by the side of the railroad track. 00:30:27.130 --> 00:30:28.600 align:middle line:84% Leave that to the younger stiffs. 00:30:28.600 --> 00:30:30.190 align:middle line:90% They like it. 00:30:30.190 --> 00:30:32.080 align:middle line:84% Jim Brew's seen a little bit of it all. 00:30:32.080 --> 00:30:35.470 align:middle line:84% He remembers he was seven years old when the Yankees came 00:30:35.470 --> 00:30:38.230 align:middle line:84% and his daddy and mama had to leave Alabama. 00:30:38.230 --> 00:30:40.240 align:middle line:84% He remembers San Angelo, Texas, and how 00:30:40.240 --> 00:30:42.940 align:middle line:84% his mama cried when her good rocking chair got burned up 00:30:42.940 --> 00:30:44.440 align:middle line:90% in the range war. 00:30:44.440 --> 00:30:46.570 align:middle line:84% He remembers Bisbee, when Heath and his men 00:30:46.570 --> 00:30:48.340 align:middle line:90% shot up Mr. Goldwater's store. 00:30:48.340 --> 00:30:51.040 align:middle line:84% And the boys got mad and busted through Mule Pass 00:30:51.040 --> 00:30:53.500 align:middle line:90% to Tombstone and lynched Heath. 00:30:53.500 --> 00:30:56.890 align:middle line:84% He seen a man get killed with a hammer in Tombstone Canyon, 00:30:56.890 --> 00:31:00.220 align:middle line:84% with an ax in Brewery Gulch, with a gun in Naco. 00:31:00.220 --> 00:31:03.010 align:middle line:84% He's worked everywhere, from the orphan line in Nevada 00:31:03.010 --> 00:31:04.970 align:middle line:90% to the sunshine in Idaho. 00:31:04.970 --> 00:31:07.480 align:middle line:84% He's double and single-jack drilled, mucked, 00:31:07.480 --> 00:31:10.270 align:middle line:84% trimmed, and skinned in every kind of hard rock mine 00:31:10.270 --> 00:31:11.710 align:middle line:90% on God's green earth. 00:31:11.710 --> 00:31:14.320 align:middle line:84% He's seen Geronimo and fought his braves. 00:31:14.320 --> 00:31:17.410 align:middle line:84% He's dealt Faro in Sonora, California, and Blackjack 00:31:17.410 --> 00:31:20.080 align:middle line:84% in Goldfield, Nevada during the gold boom. 00:31:20.080 --> 00:31:21.910 align:middle line:84% Once he got so well thought of they 00:31:21.910 --> 00:31:24.310 align:middle line:84% even made him payroll banker in Butte, 00:31:24.310 --> 00:31:26.530 align:middle line:84% which was the best job he ever had. 00:31:26.530 --> 00:31:29.140 align:middle line:84% He's plaster mined in Oregon, and prospected 00:31:29.140 --> 00:31:32.840 align:middle line:84% from the dragoons to the superstitions. 00:31:32.840 --> 00:31:35.870 align:middle line:84% What he's really wanted to do most was be a peddler. 00:31:35.870 --> 00:31:38.000 align:middle line:84% But there's always been a woman that needed money, 00:31:38.000 --> 00:31:40.400 align:middle line:84% or a Panguingue or a Coon Can grande 00:31:40.400 --> 00:31:43.160 align:middle line:90% game that needed sitting in on. 00:31:43.160 --> 00:31:44.990 align:middle line:90% Oh, he'd love it, though. 00:31:44.990 --> 00:31:46.790 align:middle line:84% Get something that people wanted to buy 00:31:46.790 --> 00:31:49.370 align:middle line:84% and set up a stall somewhere-- souvenir rocks, 00:31:49.370 --> 00:31:51.770 align:middle line:84% maybe, for the people who come through on the Drummer's 00:31:51.770 --> 00:31:53.570 align:middle line:90% Special from the east. 00:31:53.570 --> 00:31:56.990 align:middle line:84% When they win the strike, he'll do that maybe. 00:31:56.990 --> 00:31:58.430 align:middle line:84% He knows the strike is on as soon 00:31:58.430 --> 00:32:00.830 align:middle line:90% as he steps out into the yard. 00:32:00.830 --> 00:32:03.230 align:middle line:84% Over the quiet pulse of the steam hoist 00:32:03.230 --> 00:32:05.000 align:middle line:84% he can hear the singing and hollering. 00:32:05.000 --> 00:32:07.310 align:middle line:84% And the mounted company bulls are all around 00:32:07.310 --> 00:32:09.080 align:middle line:84% the collar of the shaft to search him 00:32:09.080 --> 00:32:13.700 align:middle line:84% and the other boys, looking for swiped dynamite they say. 00:32:13.700 --> 00:32:16.370 align:middle line:84% Then Miles Merrill, the chief company bull, 00:32:16.370 --> 00:32:18.380 align:middle line:84% makes a little speech about the Wobblies being 00:32:18.380 --> 00:32:20.570 align:middle line:84% German agitators, and how he's sure 00:32:20.570 --> 00:32:23.360 align:middle line:84% every patriotic miner will ignore them down at the gate 00:32:23.360 --> 00:32:25.543 align:middle line:90% and show up for work tomorrow. 00:32:25.543 --> 00:32:26.960 align:middle line:84% He doesn't get finished before one 00:32:26.960 --> 00:32:29.660 align:middle line:84% of the stiffs with a Swedish accent tells him to go screw 00:32:29.660 --> 00:32:30.620 align:middle line:90% himself. 00:32:30.620 --> 00:32:32.870 align:middle line:84% Merrill gets huffy and asks him why he doesn't go back 00:32:32.870 --> 00:32:34.250 align:middle line:90% where he came from. 00:32:34.250 --> 00:32:36.620 align:middle line:84% The guy says he can't because he's an Indian, and most 00:32:36.620 --> 00:32:38.990 align:middle line:90% of the other miners laugh. 00:32:38.990 --> 00:32:40.760 align:middle line:84% One of the company scissorbills makes 00:32:40.760 --> 00:32:44.350 align:middle line:84% a remark about German spies and the Swede hits him. 00:32:44.350 --> 00:32:47.060 align:middle line:90% The company bulls break it up. 00:32:47.060 --> 00:32:51.590 align:middle line:84% The world has cracks in it, like the mountain above the mine. 00:32:51.590 --> 00:32:54.890 align:middle line:90% All month Jim Brew has felt it. 00:32:54.890 --> 00:32:58.460 align:middle line:84% You don't know who's a union man and who's a company fink. 00:32:58.460 --> 00:33:00.980 align:middle line:84% The Mexes all might be Villistas, 00:33:00.980 --> 00:33:03.140 align:middle line:84% to hear the company union men tell it. 00:33:03.140 --> 00:33:06.170 align:middle line:84% You don't know who to speak to on the street anymore. 00:33:06.170 --> 00:33:08.870 align:middle line:84% The distrust is like a fog, creeping up 00:33:08.870 --> 00:33:14.240 align:middle line:84% Tombstone Canyon and Moon Canyon and all the canyons of Bisbee. 00:33:14.240 --> 00:33:16.280 align:middle line:90% Who the hell do you turn to? 00:33:16.280 --> 00:33:18.080 align:middle line:90% Who's a German spy? 00:33:18.080 --> 00:33:19.910 align:middle line:90% Who's a company spy? 00:33:19.910 --> 00:33:23.450 align:middle line:84% For his money, Jim Brew will stick by Bo Whitley. 00:33:23.450 --> 00:33:25.580 align:middle line:84% If there's anything Jim Brew has learned 00:33:25.580 --> 00:33:27.860 align:middle line:84% is that you got to go by the people in an outfit 00:33:27.860 --> 00:33:31.220 align:middle line:84% to know whether the outfit is any good. 00:33:31.220 --> 00:33:33.410 align:middle line:84% At the gate, the company bulls make 00:33:33.410 --> 00:33:35.750 align:middle line:90% sure everybody keeps moving. 00:33:35.750 --> 00:33:38.390 align:middle line:84% Just outside on the railroad right-of-way, 00:33:38.390 --> 00:33:40.580 align:middle line:84% a half a dozen deputies with car beams 00:33:40.580 --> 00:33:42.500 align:middle line:90% are keeping the way clear. 00:33:42.500 --> 00:33:44.420 align:middle line:84% Jim looks around for Sheriff Harry Wheeler, 00:33:44.420 --> 00:33:45.920 align:middle line:90% but doesn't see him. 00:33:45.920 --> 00:33:49.100 align:middle line:84% The deputies are being bossed by Wheeler's deputy, Shotgun 00:33:49.100 --> 00:33:53.058 align:middle line:84% Johnson, strutting with his sawed-off 12-gauge. 00:33:53.058 --> 00:33:55.100 align:middle line:84% Some of the day shift people are trying to get in 00:33:55.100 --> 00:33:56.210 align:middle line:90% through the picket lines. 00:33:56.210 --> 00:33:58.940 align:middle line:84% And Lord, there are a lot of boys on that line, 00:33:58.940 --> 00:34:01.190 align:middle line:90% like a company picnic. 00:34:01.190 --> 00:34:04.160 align:middle line:84% The day shift scabs aren't having too good a time of it. 00:34:04.160 --> 00:34:06.560 align:middle line:84% Neither are Shotgun Johnson and the deputies. 00:34:06.560 --> 00:34:09.710 align:middle line:84% Jim Brew would sure as hell hate to run that picket line. 00:34:09.710 --> 00:34:13.350 align:middle line:84% When the Wobs strike, they call it good one. 00:34:13.350 --> 00:34:15.570 align:middle line:84% He gets to the gate, and the boys on the picket line 00:34:15.570 --> 00:34:17.130 align:middle line:84% are hollering for him to join them. 00:34:17.130 --> 00:34:19.179 align:middle line:84% Most of the other men going out the gate join, 00:34:19.179 --> 00:34:21.630 align:middle line:84% but who knows how many do it for fear of getting their ass 00:34:21.630 --> 00:34:23.183 align:middle line:90% busted if they don't? 00:34:23.183 --> 00:34:25.350 align:middle line:84% Just up ahead, three or four of the boys on the line 00:34:25.350 --> 00:34:28.260 align:middle line:84% have got hold of a scab, who Jim heard yell "traitor" 00:34:28.260 --> 00:34:29.790 align:middle line:90% at one of the Wobs before. 00:34:29.790 --> 00:34:31.560 align:middle line:84% Now he's down on the ground, and the boys 00:34:31.560 --> 00:34:33.870 align:middle line:84% are kicking hell out of him with their miner's boots. 00:34:33.870 --> 00:34:36.630 align:middle line:84% Shotgun Johnson breaks it up and shoots off one barrel 00:34:36.630 --> 00:34:39.120 align:middle line:90% of his 12-gauge into the air. 00:34:39.120 --> 00:34:42.540 align:middle line:84% Boys calm down a little bit, but the scabs still 00:34:42.540 --> 00:34:45.090 align:middle line:84% have to dodge rocks to get through. 00:34:45.090 --> 00:34:46.650 align:middle line:90% They're looking worried. 00:34:46.650 --> 00:34:48.480 align:middle line:84% Jim guesses it's because they know 00:34:48.480 --> 00:34:50.130 align:middle line:84% they got to get back through that line 00:34:50.130 --> 00:34:51.989 align:middle line:90% after they make their shift. 00:34:51.989 --> 00:34:53.909 align:middle line:84% And there's more than one thing can happen 00:34:53.909 --> 00:34:55.949 align:middle line:90% to a stiff underground, too. 00:34:55.949 --> 00:34:58.290 align:middle line:84% Jim would hate like hell to get in a cage, 00:34:58.290 --> 00:35:00.930 align:middle line:84% to go underground thinking that the hoistman with his hand 00:35:00.930 --> 00:35:03.630 align:middle line:90% on the brake might be a Wob. 00:35:03.630 --> 00:35:05.670 align:middle line:90% Jim feels a tap on his arm. 00:35:05.670 --> 00:35:08.060 align:middle line:84% Bo Whitley's motioning him onto the line. 00:35:08.060 --> 00:35:10.380 align:middle line:84% Bo is grinning that grin he has sometimes 00:35:10.380 --> 00:35:12.940 align:middle line:84% that makes him look like a kid with a devil in mind. 00:35:12.940 --> 00:35:15.570 align:middle line:84% Jim [INAUDIBLE] from when Bo was a boy. 00:35:15.570 --> 00:35:17.400 align:middle line:84% If they weren't men out on a picket line, 00:35:17.400 --> 00:35:19.380 align:middle line:90% he'd like to hug him. 00:35:19.380 --> 00:35:22.320 align:middle line:84% Instead, he takes a kick at a deputy. 00:35:22.320 --> 00:35:24.000 align:middle line:84% Bo slaps him on the back for that. 00:35:24.000 --> 00:35:25.950 align:middle line:84% Hell, Jim's been in strikes before. 00:35:25.950 --> 00:35:29.700 align:middle line:84% He even carried a Wobbly card once back in '07 in Goldfield. 00:35:29.700 --> 00:35:33.360 align:middle line:84% Everybody carried one then, from the mayor to the newsboys. 00:35:33.360 --> 00:35:35.460 align:middle line:84% Big Bill Hayward got so carried away in that one 00:35:35.460 --> 00:35:38.580 align:middle line:84% he even tried to organize a Bronco Busters Union Local over 00:35:38.580 --> 00:35:41.210 align:middle line:90% in Salt Lake. 00:35:41.210 --> 00:35:42.680 align:middle line:90% But Jim's a little worried, too. 00:35:42.680 --> 00:35:44.810 align:middle line:84% He ought to be studying about a pension. 00:35:44.810 --> 00:35:47.900 align:middle line:84% What the hell kind of life is it for a man without a pension? 00:35:47.900 --> 00:35:51.800 align:middle line:84% Soup kitchens and missions and the poor house. 00:35:51.800 --> 00:35:53.360 align:middle line:90% But he can't let Bo down. 00:35:53.360 --> 00:35:55.040 align:middle line:84% So when the deputy whirls around, 00:35:55.040 --> 00:35:57.660 align:middle line:84% Jim brings his lunch pail down on him. 00:35:57.660 --> 00:36:00.230 align:middle line:84% Deputy ducks, and Bo pulls Jim out of the way 00:36:00.230 --> 00:36:02.150 align:middle line:90% back into the crowd. 00:36:02.150 --> 00:36:04.685 align:middle line:84% All the scabs are going in or passed now. 00:36:04.685 --> 00:36:07.520 align:middle line:84% A good half of them gave up and went home. 00:36:07.520 --> 00:36:10.070 align:middle line:84% A dozen or so even got on the picket line. 00:36:10.070 --> 00:36:11.330 align:middle line:90% Bo jumps up-- 00:36:11.330 --> 00:36:11.900 align:middle line:90% I'm sorry. 00:36:11.900 --> 00:36:14.690 align:middle line:84% Bo jumps up on a 50-gallon oil drum that nigger John 00:36:14.690 --> 00:36:15.860 align:middle line:90% Brown is holding for him. 00:36:15.860 --> 00:36:17.870 align:middle line:84% He tries to say something, but most of the boys 00:36:17.870 --> 00:36:20.720 align:middle line:84% are still worked up and yelling cuss words at the deputies 00:36:20.720 --> 00:36:21.890 align:middle line:90% and company bulls. 00:36:21.890 --> 00:36:24.740 align:middle line:84% So Bo and a fat fellow, who seems to be Bo's assistant, 00:36:24.740 --> 00:36:27.110 align:middle line:84% start a song to get everybody's attention. 00:36:27.110 --> 00:36:29.630 align:middle line:84% Jim remembers it from Goldfield and joins. 00:36:29.630 --> 00:36:31.430 align:middle line:90% "Hallelujah, I'm a bum. 00:36:31.430 --> 00:36:33.620 align:middle line:90% Hallelujah, bum again. 00:36:33.620 --> 00:36:38.420 align:middle line:84% Hallelujah, give us a handout to revive us again." 00:36:38.420 --> 00:36:40.580 align:middle line:84% it's a good one to get the boys in a better mood. 00:36:40.580 --> 00:36:42.710 align:middle line:84% And by the time they get to the last chorus, 00:36:42.710 --> 00:36:45.380 align:middle line:84% everybody is singing it at the top of his lungs, even 00:36:45.380 --> 00:36:50.260 align:middle line:84% the Bohunks and Dagos who don't know what it means. 00:36:50.260 --> 00:36:53.920 align:middle line:90% Lordy, Jim feels good now. 00:36:53.920 --> 00:36:55.840 align:middle line:84% He had forgotten how fine a strike could 00:36:55.840 --> 00:37:00.920 align:middle line:84% be, like a tent meeting except the preaching makes more sense. 00:37:00.920 --> 00:37:03.190 align:middle line:84% The deputies stand back now that they see there is not 00:37:03.190 --> 00:37:04.840 align:middle line:90% going to be any trouble. 00:37:04.840 --> 00:37:07.720 align:middle line:84% Shotgun Johnson tries to make sure that the pickets stay off 00:37:07.720 --> 00:37:10.120 align:middle line:84% company property, but can't so he gives up. 00:37:10.120 --> 00:37:12.550 align:middle line:84% And then the speechmaking begins. 00:37:12.550 --> 00:37:14.710 align:middle line:84% Jim can't understand a lot of it because it's 00:37:14.710 --> 00:37:17.170 align:middle line:90% in Finn and Bohunk and Mex. 00:37:17.170 --> 00:37:18.940 align:middle line:84% But he and the other stiffs hollering just 00:37:18.940 --> 00:37:22.150 align:middle line:84% like the Finns and Bohunks and Mexes do. 00:37:22.150 --> 00:37:24.460 align:middle line:84% That's the Wobs for you, Jim thinks. 00:37:24.460 --> 00:37:27.130 align:middle line:84% The FFL won't even look at you unless you're a citizen. 00:37:27.130 --> 00:37:30.460 align:middle line:84% The Wobs take anybody, even niggers. 00:37:30.460 --> 00:37:32.740 align:middle line:90% Then Bo Whitley speaks. 00:37:32.740 --> 00:37:33.580 align:middle line:90% Jim's proud. 00:37:33.580 --> 00:37:37.780 align:middle line:84% Bo's good, uses his hands a lot, and makes his voice sing like 00:37:37.780 --> 00:37:39.990 align:middle line:90% a revival preacher's. 00:37:39.990 --> 00:37:42.180 align:middle line:90% Crowd gets quiet now. 00:37:42.180 --> 00:37:46.110 align:middle line:84% Bo tells about the girls in the shops, and the dark mills, 00:37:46.110 --> 00:37:48.180 align:middle line:84% and the children with their legs cut off 00:37:48.180 --> 00:37:52.200 align:middle line:84% so that capitalists can sail on big boats to Europe. 00:37:52.200 --> 00:37:54.720 align:middle line:84% He says that capitalists are fat and live off 00:37:54.720 --> 00:37:56.700 align:middle line:90% the blood of the working stiff. 00:37:56.700 --> 00:38:01.140 align:middle line:84% He tells about the widows and orphans from the unsafe mines. 00:38:01.140 --> 00:38:04.260 align:middle line:84% Some of the boys are crying before he gets done. 00:38:04.260 --> 00:38:06.780 align:middle line:84% Then he tells what the Wobs want-- 00:38:06.780 --> 00:38:10.020 align:middle line:84% $6.00 and 8 hours a day, collar to collar; 00:38:10.020 --> 00:38:13.440 align:middle line:84% water hoses on the pneumatic drills to keep down the dust 00:38:13.440 --> 00:38:15.900 align:middle line:84% that gives you the miner's consumption and can kill you 00:38:15.900 --> 00:38:17.620 align:middle line:90% in less than a year. 00:38:17.620 --> 00:38:20.130 align:middle line:84% No blasting during work shifts so the mines 00:38:20.130 --> 00:38:22.740 align:middle line:90% don't cave in and choke you. 00:38:22.740 --> 00:38:25.320 align:middle line:84% Two men on all machines underground so 00:38:25.320 --> 00:38:27.090 align:middle line:84% if one gets hurt, he's got somebody 00:38:27.090 --> 00:38:30.330 align:middle line:84% to go for help before he lays there and dies. 00:38:30.330 --> 00:38:32.280 align:middle line:84% The boys cheer him after every demand. 00:38:32.280 --> 00:38:37.500 align:middle line:90% 00:38:37.500 --> 00:38:40.110 align:middle line:84% "How many of you boys ever had a physical examination?" 00:38:40.110 --> 00:38:41.820 align:middle line:90% Bo asks. 00:38:41.820 --> 00:38:45.340 align:middle line:84% Some of the men laugh, but most of them make faces and groan. 00:38:45.340 --> 00:38:48.150 align:middle line:84% "Now, ain't that funny," he says. 00:38:48.150 --> 00:38:52.260 align:middle line:84% "I had me one when I went to wrestle me a job last week. 00:38:52.260 --> 00:38:53.880 align:middle line:84% Fellow asked me if I want to see-- 00:38:53.880 --> 00:38:56.160 align:middle line:84% if I want to join the company's union before I 00:38:56.160 --> 00:38:57.480 align:middle line:90% go in to see the doctor. 00:38:57.480 --> 00:39:01.320 align:middle line:84% "No thanks," I tell him, and pull out my little red IWW 00:39:01.320 --> 00:39:01.860 align:middle line:90% card. 00:39:01.860 --> 00:39:04.290 align:middle line:90% "I got me a real union," I says. 00:39:04.290 --> 00:39:06.270 align:middle line:90% The boys whistle and clap. 00:39:06.270 --> 00:39:09.060 align:middle line:84% "Then he sends me in to see old Doc Bledsoe." 00:39:09.060 --> 00:39:13.670 align:middle line:84% Somebody hoots, and a couple of boys make raspberry noises. 00:39:13.670 --> 00:39:17.150 align:middle line:84% Old Doc Bledsoe, he pulls on my earlobe and looks at my tongue 00:39:17.150 --> 00:39:18.810 align:middle line:90% and tells me to wait outside. 00:39:18.810 --> 00:39:21.920 align:middle line:84% A few minutes later, the fellow that asked me about the Union 00:39:21.920 --> 00:39:23.420 align:middle line:90% comes out. 00:39:23.420 --> 00:39:24.650 align:middle line:90% Sorry, he tells. 00:39:24.650 --> 00:39:27.810 align:middle line:84% Doctor's report says you got two flat feet, polio, 00:39:27.810 --> 00:39:31.940 align:middle line:84% one arm, apoplexy, consumption, and three balls. 00:39:31.940 --> 00:39:34.580 align:middle line:90% The crowd breaks up laughing. 00:39:34.580 --> 00:39:37.010 align:middle line:84% Jim looks around him and sees that even the deputies 00:39:37.010 --> 00:39:37.670 align:middle line:90% are smiling. 00:39:37.670 --> 00:39:38.670 align:middle line:90% Bo goes on. 00:39:38.670 --> 00:39:41.270 align:middle line:84% "So," I says to him, "does that mean I ain't healthy enough 00:39:41.270 --> 00:39:43.880 align:middle line:90% to work for Captain Greenway?" 00:39:43.880 --> 00:39:45.690 align:middle line:90% Afraid so, the fellow tells me. 00:39:45.690 --> 00:39:48.080 align:middle line:84% But one thing I want you to know for sure, 00:39:48.080 --> 00:39:49.670 align:middle line:84% the fact you're a union man ain't 00:39:49.670 --> 00:39:51.893 align:middle line:90% got a thing to do with it. 00:39:51.893 --> 00:39:53.810 align:middle line:84% Well, one of the boys has brought up a washtub 00:39:53.810 --> 00:39:55.970 align:middle line:84% from somewhere and beats out a tattoo on it 00:39:55.970 --> 00:39:57.586 align:middle line:90% with a pair of sticks. 00:39:57.586 --> 00:40:00.380 align:middle line:90% [COUGHS] Excuse me. 00:40:00.380 --> 00:40:02.800 align:middle line:90% Striking's hard work. 00:40:02.800 --> 00:40:05.410 align:middle line:84% The rest of the men slap one another on the back and clap 00:40:05.410 --> 00:40:05.920 align:middle line:90% and whistle. 00:40:05.920 --> 00:40:09.250 align:middle line:84% Jim is so proud of Bo he thinks he'll split open. 00:40:09.250 --> 00:40:11.230 align:middle line:90% Bo holds up his hands for quiet. 00:40:11.230 --> 00:40:15.760 align:middle line:90% 00:40:15.760 --> 00:40:20.740 align:middle line:84% "Are you boys as sick of that horseshit as I am," he shouts. 00:40:20.740 --> 00:40:23.560 align:middle line:90% The men roar back at him, "Yes. 00:40:23.560 --> 00:40:25.930 align:middle line:90% Hell, yes." 00:40:25.930 --> 00:40:27.550 align:middle line:84% "You ready for a [INAUDIBLE] that 00:40:27.550 --> 00:40:31.000 align:middle line:84% ain't afraid to take on Captain Greenway and Grant Dowell, 00:40:31.000 --> 00:40:33.250 align:middle line:84% and even old Walter Douglas himself 00:40:33.250 --> 00:40:36.670 align:middle line:84% up in his company president's chair in New York?" 00:40:36.670 --> 00:40:37.900 align:middle line:90% "Yes. 00:40:37.900 --> 00:40:39.760 align:middle line:90% Hell, yes." 00:40:39.760 --> 00:40:42.790 align:middle line:90% "You ready for one big union?" 00:40:42.790 --> 00:40:44.110 align:middle line:90% "Yes. 00:40:44.110 --> 00:40:46.000 align:middle line:90% Hell, yes." 00:40:46.000 --> 00:40:49.210 align:middle line:84% "You ready to give the mines and mills and factories 00:40:49.210 --> 00:40:51.910 align:middle line:84% to the people they belong to, to the great working 00:40:51.910 --> 00:40:53.860 align:middle line:90% people of this country?" 00:40:53.860 --> 00:40:55.000 align:middle line:90% "Yes. 00:40:55.000 --> 00:40:57.820 align:middle line:90% Hell, yes." 00:40:57.820 --> 00:41:00.880 align:middle line:84% Bo jumps down off the oil drum and the fellas crowd around 00:41:00.880 --> 00:41:02.020 align:middle line:90% him to shake his hand. 00:41:02.020 --> 00:41:04.270 align:middle line:84% Then the fat man, who seemed to be Bo's helpers, 00:41:04.270 --> 00:41:06.160 align:middle line:84% struggles up on the drum and announces 00:41:06.160 --> 00:41:08.500 align:middle line:84% his name is fellow worker Hamer, and that there'll 00:41:08.500 --> 00:41:11.740 align:middle line:84% be a big rally this evening up in City Park on the gulch, 00:41:11.740 --> 00:41:14.380 align:middle line:84% and that there will be some surprise speakers. 00:41:14.380 --> 00:41:16.570 align:middle line:84% He says he has some IWW membership 00:41:16.570 --> 00:41:19.300 align:middle line:84% cards for the men who don't have one yet, and they can-- 00:41:19.300 --> 00:41:21.460 align:middle line:90% he can sign them up on the spot. 00:41:21.460 --> 00:41:26.740 align:middle line:84% Dues are $2 to join, and $0.35 a month for everybody. 00:41:26.740 --> 00:41:28.500 align:middle line:84% Bo sort of fades into the background, 00:41:28.500 --> 00:41:32.370 align:middle line:84% and Jim sees him keeping his eye train station off to the left. 00:41:32.370 --> 00:41:35.160 align:middle line:84% A crowd's gathering on the station platform. 00:41:35.160 --> 00:41:38.130 align:middle line:84% Jim makes out Captain Greenway in his riding boots 00:41:38.130 --> 00:41:40.080 align:middle line:90% and campaign hat. 00:41:40.080 --> 00:41:42.270 align:middle line:84% He thinks he sees Sheriff Wheeler standing 00:41:42.270 --> 00:41:45.000 align:middle line:84% on the other side of Greenway, but can't be sure 00:41:45.000 --> 00:41:48.690 align:middle line:84% since Wheeler is such a runt and Greenway is so tall. 00:41:48.690 --> 00:41:51.570 align:middle line:84% He's sure he sees Grant Dowell, though, and Tom Matthews. 00:41:51.570 --> 00:41:53.490 align:middle line:84% A few of the boys from the Copper Queen Band 00:41:53.490 --> 00:41:55.320 align:middle line:90% are forming up behind them. 00:41:55.320 --> 00:41:59.860 align:middle line:84% For the first time, he realizes he should be afraid. 00:41:59.860 --> 00:42:03.920 align:middle line:84% Wheeler and Greenway and Dowell and that bunch, 00:42:03.920 --> 00:42:06.670 align:middle line:90% they don't forget things. 00:42:06.670 --> 00:42:09.190 align:middle line:84% Jim takes his Ingersoll out of his watch pocket 00:42:09.190 --> 00:42:11.380 align:middle line:90% in his Levi's and checks it. 00:42:11.380 --> 00:42:13.300 align:middle line:90% Getting on towards 7:30. 00:42:13.300 --> 00:42:17.050 align:middle line:84% Time for the Drummer's Special from El Paso. 00:42:17.050 --> 00:42:18.430 align:middle line:84% With that collection of big wigs, 00:42:18.430 --> 00:42:20.730 align:middle line:84% must be somebody important coming in. 00:42:20.730 --> 00:42:23.650 align:middle line:84% A Wob taps Jim on the shoulder and says to him, 00:42:23.650 --> 00:42:25.973 align:middle line:84% you signed up yet, fellow worker? 00:42:25.973 --> 00:42:28.390 align:middle line:84% Jim is indignant that the stiff doesn't know he's a friend 00:42:28.390 --> 00:42:29.230 align:middle line:90% of Bo Whitley's. 00:42:29.230 --> 00:42:30.400 align:middle line:90% Of course, he's signed up. 00:42:30.400 --> 00:42:32.320 align:middle line:84% Then the fat man, who said his name was Hamer, 00:42:32.320 --> 00:42:34.570 align:middle line:84% works [INAUDIBLE] selling cards with songs on them 00:42:34.570 --> 00:42:36.040 align:middle line:90% for a nickel apiece. 00:42:36.040 --> 00:42:38.800 align:middle line:84% Jim looks through them for one of Bo's songs 00:42:38.800 --> 00:42:41.710 align:middle line:84% and doesn't find one, but he buys three anyway. 00:42:41.710 --> 00:42:43.720 align:middle line:84% Then Bo jumps back on the oil drum 00:42:43.720 --> 00:42:45.610 align:middle line:84% and asks the boys if they'd like to serenade 00:42:45.610 --> 00:42:47.520 align:middle line:90% some friends of theirs. 00:42:47.520 --> 00:42:49.320 align:middle line:84% He points to the station platform 00:42:49.320 --> 00:42:52.110 align:middle line:84% where Captain Greenway and Sheriff Wheeler and the others 00:42:52.110 --> 00:42:52.980 align:middle line:90% are. 00:42:52.980 --> 00:42:56.130 align:middle line:84% The boys clap and hoot some more. 00:42:56.130 --> 00:42:59.280 align:middle line:84% Bo tells them to make it loud and asks the stiffs who 00:42:59.280 --> 00:43:01.800 align:middle line:90% have song cards to share them. 00:43:01.800 --> 00:43:04.470 align:middle line:84% Bo shares with the Jew jitney driver he knows 00:43:04.470 --> 00:43:06.630 align:middle line:90% named Bronstein. 00:43:06.630 --> 00:43:09.240 align:middle line:84% Bo plays the tune first on a harmonica, 00:43:09.240 --> 00:43:12.180 align:middle line:84% then tells everybody to turn toward the station platform 00:43:12.180 --> 00:43:13.590 align:middle line:90% and sing with him. 00:43:13.590 --> 00:43:16.530 align:middle line:84% He makes a mock bow to the ladies on the platform 00:43:16.530 --> 00:43:18.510 align:middle line:90% with their parasols. 00:43:18.510 --> 00:43:20.220 align:middle line:90% Then he leads the singing. 00:43:20.220 --> 00:43:22.680 align:middle line:84% And Jim imagines the music echoing off 00:43:22.680 --> 00:43:27.690 align:middle line:84% the canyons for miles and miles, even as far as Mexico. 00:43:27.690 --> 00:43:30.290 align:middle line:90% 00:43:30.290 --> 00:43:33.440 align:middle line:84% We have fed you all for 1,000 years, 00:43:33.440 --> 00:43:36.710 align:middle line:84% and you hail us still [INAUDIBLE].. 00:43:36.710 --> 00:43:39.260 align:middle line:84% Though there's never dollar of oil your wealth, 00:43:39.260 --> 00:43:41.900 align:middle line:90% but marks the workers dead. 00:43:41.900 --> 00:43:44.870 align:middle line:84% We have yielded our best to give you rest 00:43:44.870 --> 00:43:47.780 align:middle line:90% and you lie on crimson wool. 00:43:47.780 --> 00:43:53.330 align:middle line:84% Then if blood be the price of all your wealth, good God, 00:43:53.330 --> 00:43:55.800 align:middle line:90% we have paid it in full. 00:43:55.800 --> 00:43:56.450 align:middle line:90% Thank you. 00:43:56.450 --> 00:43:59.800 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:43:59.800 --> 00:44:20.000 align:middle line:90%