Read Soul of a Whore and Purvis Online
Authors: Denis Johnson
JOHN
:â¦Then what?â¦
What then?
HT
: Then we stood still. And then she moved. And then
She passed into the rest of things.
And him, he's gone like he weren't never there,
White man in the public library,
And I felt very confused. I said, I said,
“I
can
-not stop being confused by this.
I stand here in my slick new suit, so cleanâ¦
A white man shows me a black, beautiful woman⦔
JOHN
: The same suit you have on.
HT
: Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â This very suit.
JOHN
: There's not much left of it.
HT
: Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Why, no, not much.
It's done been eat to bits in all the confusion,
The ongoing saga of my continuing
Confusion, which has not stopped, from then till now,
You see, because I continue to feel confused.
They'll never let me out, I don't suppose.
BILL JENKS
: Nope. Calendars and clocks, my man.
And bars and walls and years, et cetera.
HT
: Do you understand a little better now?
Now do you understand why I killed those people?
JOHN
: I know who understands: God understands.
HT
: God is just a little jumped-up white man.
That was God in the Houston library.
White man in the public library.
â¦I can't stop the thoughts,
I'm cookin' too hot!
[
Leaving
]
My
suit?â¦Take a look at yours!
BILL JENKS
: Give you a sign? Here's a signâ¦He goneâ
Into the sea of Spam and Wonder breadâ¦
Sidney. Sidney. I ain't Tony Curtis.
I'm strictly Looney Tunes! I'm Daffy Duck!
Woo-woo! Woo-woo.
Sirens; train whistle.
JOHN
:               â¦Give me something of yours.
BILL JENKS
: Something? My what. My shoe? What something? What?
JOHN
: Something that's lucky or important or that means
Something.
BILL JENKS
: Â Â Â Â Â Lucky.
JOHN
: Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Like your Derringer.
BILL JENKS
: I'm not sure I'm in favor of gun control.
JOHN
: We glue it to the cross, and you'll be healed.
BILL JENKS
: I'm not sure I'm in favor of being healed.
JOHN
: This is how the Mexicans cure their troubles.
BILL JENKS
: By gluing items on the cross. With Jesus.
JOHN
: Trinkets, yeah, things that have touched them, tokens,
Things to represent their scars and glories.
To sacrifice. To crucify their sorrows.
Train whistle.
BILL JENKS
:â¦It's always the most relentlessly simple things
That tear at you and break your heart. Like trains.
[
Sirens
]
SO LONG, SIDNEY!
JOHN
: Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Maybe he can't be helped.
But did you really have to be a shit?
JOHN
exits into the house.
BILL JENKS
:â¦Where on earth did you get that silly notion?
Don't you know what the emblems are about?
They don't stick pagan symbols on the cross.
Them Catholics have the whole thing codified,
Everything's got a meaningâall this stuff:
These crossbones are the bones of Adam,
Said to be buried at the foot of the true cross.
These are the hammers and these the nails that banged
The Savior to the tree in agony.
These aren't lucky diceâexcept for the guy
Who won his garmentsâthey cast lots, remember?
The Roman soldiers gambled for his clothes.
They stripped Christ bare, and one went home a winner.
Where do you get this stuff? Here is the sun
Whose face the storm obscured when Christ was killed,
And here is the moon that bled. Where do you get
Your silly notions, John?â¦The moon that bled.
BILL JENKS
raises his Derringer, takes aim: CLICK.
BLACKOUT
Twenty days later.
Corner of Tenth and J Streets in front of Walls Unit, Huntsville, Texas.
JOHN CASSANDRA
,
costumed as a clown, poses on his cross.
Â
Hubbub, voices
O.S.
[fading out]:
Shoot her full of poison,
Throw her in a grave!
Shoot her full of poison,
Throw her in a grave!
[
others:
] Two! Four! Six! Eight!
There's no rhyme or reason
To capital punishment!
Two! Four! Six! Eight!
There's no rhyme or reason
To capital punishment!
[
others:
] Justice for the innocent!
Killing for the killers!
Justice for the innocent!
Killing for the killers!
Lights up on Public Information Office across the street from the Walls:
JERRY
and
STEVIE.
JERRY
at the window.
JERRY
: Stevie, has Texas gone and joined the circus?
Or is it the universe, or just my life
That's grown a populace of runts and freaks?
STEVIE
: Jerry, should I toss this coffee out?
JERRY
: I have a daughter, Stevie: you touch my daughter,
I'm gonna jump straight up somebody's ass.
Is that a concept of too wide a girth
To fit inside our brains?
STEVIE
:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Well, I don't know.
JERRY
: You
kill
someone, someone kills
you
. Come on.
Has justice run away and joined the circus?
STEVIE
: I couldn't say. I don't know. Maybe so.
JERRY
: Do you call life in prison “punishment”?
STEVIE
: I'd never actually touch your daughter, Jerry.
JERRY
: You'd better kill 'em: Send 'em all to Hell,
If Hell awaits them, and be done with it.
â¦Here come the preacher man. O, looky here.
I'd like to thump this guy. If I was bigger,
Man, I'd grab his legs and bounce him on
His head until his children's crying stopped me.
Good afternoon, goodâHuh-uh, man. No way
I let you in with liquor on your breath.
BILL JENKS
[
having entered
]:
You
have liquor on your breath, I think.
JERRY
: A lunchtime margarita don't equate
To waltzing in here zigzag stinkin', partner.
You'd like a little coffee.
STEVIE
:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â I tossed the coffee.
JERRY
: She tossed the coffee. Bubble us up some more.
STEVIE
: Maybe for later, you mean?âRight now it's almostâ
JERRY
:âHaven't got the time. The hour is nigh.
You've made the acquaintance of the son?âI think
The word I'm looking for is “colorful.”
You'll pale beside him, pardner. Alley-oop.
This way. We're at our maximum
Or we'd have half Ukiah, California,
Squooching their butts down in the seats.
Ukiah.
That'd be Indian for “cracker.” Maybe “Okie.”
My people generate from Tennessee,
Just like Elvis Presley and Davy Crockett.
BILL JENKS
: Elvis generates from Mississippi.
JERRY
: Elvis came from Memphis, Tennessee.
BILL JENKS
: He was born in Tupelo, Mississippi.
JERRY
: Jesus Christ was born in Israel,
But that don't mean he ain't American.
STEVIE
: I'm not sure we have the time for this.
JERRY
: Stevie, how long is the woman going to be dead?
â¦Go on and round 'em up. We'll be along.
[
STEVIE
exits.
]
âEnough. Will you at least concede that Elvis
Presley was a
son
of Tennessee?
BILL JENKS
: I so concede.
JERRY
:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â All right, enough dispute,
All rightâmy daughter gave me this, no sense
Offending her bounty. Silver-plated. Cheers!
Go on, raise you a toast to Mississippi.
BILL JENKS
: Mostly I've lived my life in California.
JERRY
[
as they move
]: O, well, I've never been to California.
Right this wayâlook down, these sonabitchin'
Paparazzi will fill your eyes with moonsâ
I mean, I might get out there, maybe for
A ball game on the order of the Series
Or a playoff, if Texas could field a decent team,
But all we have is the Rangers and the Astros.
[
They enter the Witness Room, joining
JOHN
(still costumed as a clown) and
STEVIE
.]
What are you supposed to be? A clown?
JOHN
: We're here to raise my mother from the dead.
JERRY
:
Ukiah
, that'd be Indian for “Him
Who Picks His Nose and Eats It.”
JOHN
:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Who's this guy?
JERRY
: The PIO.
STEVIE
:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â A son, here: this is John.
JOHN
: The PIO?
STEVIE
:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â You know the Reverend.
JOHN
: The PIO?
JERRY
: Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â I think we need this man
Struck from the list.
JOHN
:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â The pee-eye-eeh-eye-oh?
STEVIE
: The Texas Department of Criminal Justice's public information officer.
JERRY
[
to
JOHN
]: You're the one who parked his big old cross
Down there out front. I'm gonna have it towed.
JERRY
has pushed a buzzer. The curtain opens on the death chamber.
BESS CASSANDRA
lies tied down on the gurney, the head of which cranks up to make her visible;
WILL BLAINE
in attendance.
BESS
: Who put me here? I didn't do anything!
Jesus God! I didn't do anything!
WHY DO I HAVE TO DIE? WHAT DID I DO?
JERRY
: Willânow, haven't we got her tranked?
WILL
:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â She's tranked.
BESS
: They said I'd die, and then come back to life.
BILL JENKS
: Who told you that? Who told you, Ms. Cassandra?
BESS
: I don't know. I heard it in a dream.
I don't know who was talking in that dream.
BILL JENKS
: I'm Reverendâ
BESS
:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Shit. I have no need of Jesus.
I'm paying for my own goddamn sins.
BILL JENKS
: Ms. Cassandra? May I call you Bess?
BESS
: Sure, please do. Who else is in the room?
JOHN
: Hi, MomâHi, Momâremember me?
BESS
:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â O, sure.
You kind of look familiar. Is that John?
JOHN
: Hi, Mom.
BESS
:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â You got real big.
JOHN
:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â I know.
Mom, we're here to raise you from the dead.
JERRY
: Cut the mic, pleaseâ¦Fellas, listen up:
Reverend, how did you get on the list?
This woman doesn't know you.
JOHN
:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â She's my mom,
And he's the family's spiritual counselor.
JERRY
: Across that chamber in the other room
I've got the Reuters, UPI, AP, the Huntsville
Courier
; down in that baking street
I've got the TV news and video from France
And Germany and every goddamn place,
And I'm not gonna have an incident
For these assholes to be reporting. Clear?
â¦Go on now, give us back the audio.
BESS
: Hello? Hello? That was a little scary.
â¦John, are you the only of my children
To make the trip?
JOHN
:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â I guess I am.
BESS
:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â OK.
I wasn't expecting trumpets and a crowd.
JOHN
: I think they harbor some resentment due
To certain things that ruined their childhood, Mom.
BESS
: John, I always thought you were retarded.
JOHN
: I'm not retarded. I just had big teeth.
They made me talk real slow. But now I'm grownâ
Grown upâand soâ¦
BESS
:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â You've grown into your teeth.
â¦Where'd the Reverend Preacher go?
JOHN
: He's praying in the corner, Ma. We've come
To raise you up when they pronounce you dead,
Because we know you didn't hurt Jane Doe.
We know you're innocent.
BESS
:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â I'm not so sure.
I know I'm guilty of vehicular
Infanticide, because I do remember
Squashing little Amy with the car.
â¦Amy. What do you think she'd look like now?
JOHN
: Amy? Amy would resemble rotten bones.
JERRY
: Folks, we're looking at just a couple minutes.
BESS
: You children bothered me, I don't know why.
I'd start off every morning with the notes
Of music in my heart, and I was young,
But minute by minute my mind would get all red,
And photographs in magazines would make me cry,
Until my life was squeezing all my bloodâ
Now, isn't that peculiar, don't you think?
And here the little children all around.
I should have killed you all while you were sleeping.
I guess I didn't really think things through.
I don't know why I thought I had to use
The car. Do you believe in demons? Well,
Nothing in this world can take away
The deeds I've done. They don't belong to demons.
I won't give my crimes to Satan.
I'm keeping my crimes for me.
JERRY
: It's six p.m.
STEVIE
:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â May God have mercy on you.
JERRY
: I'll just read the order of execution.
BILL JENKS
: The order? Isn't that the warden's function?
JERRY
: The warden's water-skiing off Honduras.
Or else he's scuba diving off Belize.
Vacationing, in other words. It falls to me
To read the order of execution. Stevie,
Will you please read the order of execution?
STEVIE
: Isabel Cassandra, formerly
Residing in Odessa, Texas:
Having been convicted of the charge
Of murder perpetrated in the course
Of aggravated sexual assault
Upon Jane Doe (name and address unknown),
Be informed that the Sovereign State of Texas
Undertakes to execute the sentence
Imposed July 19, 2001; to wit:
That you shall be confined until this day,
Maintained in health, granted communication
With family, legal counsel, and the press,
And then, upon this day, at such an hour
As suits the warden, you shall be called forth
And taken to a place prepared for such
Administrations as shall have the swift
Result of death to you; and therein put to death.
JERRY
: May God have mercy on you, Bess Cassandra.
WILL
lowers the head of the gurney;
BESS
lies prone.
JOHN
: Mom, are you prepared?
BESS
:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â What part of me
Can be prepared? I can't talk to this part
Or that part, I can't say, “Get ready, arms
And legs, get ready, guts and lungs and liverâ”
Can't even cross my hands over my chest.
â¦Well, thanks for coming by to say goodbye.