Blues for Mister Charlie Read Online Free Page B

around my mother,
always
around her—because she was pretty and
black!
    MOTHER HENRY : Richard, you can’t start walking around believing that all the suffering in the world is caused by white folks!
    RICHARD : I can’t? Don’t tell me I can’t. I’m going to treat everyone of them as though they were responsible for all the crimes that ever happened in the history of the world—oh, yes! They’re responsible for all the misery
I’ve
ever seen, and that’s good enough for me. It’s because my Daddy’s got no power that my Mama’s dead. And he ain’t got no power because he’s
black.
And the only way the black man’s going to
get
any power is to drive all the white men into the sea.
    MOTHER HENRY : You’re going to make yourself sick. You’re going to make yourself sick with hatred.
    RICHARD : No, I’m not. I’m going to make myself well. I’m going to make myself
well
with hatred—what do you think of that?
    MOTHER HENRY : It can’t be done. It can never be done. Hatred is a poison, Richard.
    RICHARD : Not for me. I’m going to learn how to drink it—a little every day in the morning, and then a booster shot late at night. I’m going to remember everything. I’m going to keep it right here, at the very top of my mind. I’m going to remember Mama, and Daddy’s face that day, and Aunt Edna and all her sad little deals and all those boys and girls in Harlem and all them pimps and whores and gangsters and all them cops. And I’m going to remember all the dope that’s flowed through my veins. I’m going to remember everything—the jails I been in and the cops that beat me and how long a time I spent screaming and stinking in my own dirt, trying to break my habit. I’m going to remember all that, and I’ll get well. I’ll get well.
    MOTHER HENRY : Oh, Richard. Richard. Richard.
    RICHARD : Don’t Richard
me.
I tell you, I’m going to get
well.
    (He takes a small, sawed-off pistol from his pocket.)
    MOTHER HENRY : Richard, what are you doing with that gun?
    RICHARD : I’m carrying it around with me, that’s what I’m doing with it. This gun goes everywhere I go.
    MOTHER HENRY : How long have you had it?
    RICHARD : I’ve had it a long, long time.
    MOTHER HENRY : Richard—you never—?
    RICHARD : No. Not yet. But I will when I have to. I’ll sure as hell take one of the bastards with me.
    MOTHER HENRY : Hand me that gun. Please.
    RICHARD : I can’t. This is all that the man understands. He don’t understand nothing else.
Nothing else!
    MOTHER HENRY : Richard—your father—think of your father—
    RICHARD : Don’t tell him! You hear me?
(A pause)
Don’t tell him!
    MOTHER HENRY : Richard. Please.
    RICHARD : Take the tray away, old lady. I ain’t hungry no more.
    (After a moment, Mother Henry takes the tray and exits. Richard stretches out on the bed.)
    JUANITA
(Off)
: Meridian? Mother Henry? Anybody home in this house?
(Enters)
Oh! Excuse me.
    RICHARD : I think they might be over at the church. I reckon Grandmama went over there to pray for my soul.
    JUANITA : Grandmama?
    RICHARD : Who are you? Don’t I know you?
    JUANITA : Yes. I think you might.
    RICHARD : Is your name Juanita?
    JUANITA : If your name is Richard.
    RICHARD : I’ll be damned.
    JUANITA : Ain’t you a mess? So you finally decided to come back here—come here, let me hug you! Why, you ain’t hardly changed at all—you just a little taller but you sure didn’t gain much weight.
    RICHARD : And I bet you the same old tomboy. You sure got the same loud voice—used to be able to hear you clear across this town.
    JUANITA : Well, it’s a mighty small town, Richard, that’s what you always said—and the reason my voice got so loud so early, was that I started screaming for help right quick.
    (Pete enters.)
    Do you know Pete Spivey? He’s someone come on the scene since you been gone. He’s going to school down here, you should pardon the expression.
    RICHARD : How do you do, man? Where you from?
    PETE : I’m from a