Read Soul of a Whore and Purvis Online
Authors: Denis Johnson
They had you on with Ron the Levitator
And that frog-voice freak transvestite with a lisp
Driving his spangled automatic wheelchair,
Jimmyâ
NURSE
: Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Boggs! “The Singer of the South”!
You oughta heal his
singing
!
BILL JENKS
: Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â There are limits.
WILL
: I have to say, he does look like he's healed.
Healed by whom, by use of which powers,
I couldn't guess. Or even healed of what.
But, anyway, he's acting different now.
BILL JENKS
: That's right. He ran a marathon last month.
WILL
: That's right. He came in way behind the pack.
BILL JENKS
: That's right, and running on two legs. His spangled
Wheelchair graces our museum now.
WILL
: They mentioned thatâYou have your own museum!
BILL JENKS
: Most of one. Construction's under way.
WILL
: Construction's stalled, according to
Sixty Minutes
,
Stalled while the IRS and FTC
Shine a light on your money.
BILL JENKS
: Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Let it shine,
There ain't a lot to see.
WILL
: Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â You claim you're clean.
BILL JENKS
: Nope. I just claim there isn't any money.
SIMON
: THERE'S NEVER BEEN A SWEETER RIDE TO HELL
BILL JENKS
: This one's getting agitated now.
STACY
: I take it you're a husband-and-wife team?
BILL JENKS
: We are as siblings.
WILL
: Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Ooh, you two are
juicy.
SIMON
: I'll climb back up your cunt and suck your mind
The way we used to do when we were lovers
JAN
: Simon! Shame on you!
STACY
: Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Well, talk about a mouth!
BILL JENKS
: You recognize him, don't you? Yes. You do.
MASHA
: It's him. It's him.
STACY
: Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Do you
eat
with that mouth?
DOC
: Actually, he's nourished through this tube.
MASHA
: I'm free of you! You hear? Leave me alone!
WILL
: Just grab his scrotum there to shut him up.
Just reach on outâgo onâand shake the hand
Of the old banana, with a manly grip.
NURSE
: Doctor Nasum, please, this doesn't seemâ
WILL
: Take hold! There can't be any harm in it,
Right? Big deal, as far as he's concernedâ¦
I used to get him down and drool a strandâ
Now this'll git 'im, if he's there a-tallâ
And slurp it backâ
NURSE
: Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Now, what on
earth
!â
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 Aha!
STACY
: You can't spit in a coma person's face!
WILL
: You get a pain response? Huh, buddy? There!
NURSE
: For goodness' sakes alive, he's
hurting
him!
They restrain him,
DOC
and
NURSE
taking either arm.
WILL
: The point is that I'm
not.
He doesn't hurt.
But everybody elseâthis family,
Our parents, this man's wife, his wife's relationsâ
Het up by this fireball of faith,
Yinked and yanked by hope in God like gobs
Of spit he dangles from his fat, red mouthâ
His doctor shouldn't let them play these games.
I want this sucker ceremony canceled!
Who is actually in attendance here?
NURSE
: It's Dr. Cassady. He makes his rounds
Just after lunch on weekdays, Sir.
WILL
: Then page old Hopalong immediately.
Come on!âHe doesn't want to see his patient
Used like bait to fish for dollars, does he?
SIMON
: LET IT THUNDER FARTS AND RAIN DOWN VOMIT
JAN
: STACY!
STACY
[
grabbing
SIMON
'
s crotch
]: Hon, it's simple courtesy.
MASHA
: He's wild for me. The demon's wild for me.
WILL
: Jesus Christ, Morticiaâlighten up!
BILL JENKS
: I'd like to be alone with Simon now.
WILL
: Go right ahead. Rememberâmanly grip!
DOC
and
NURSE
begin dragging
WILL
out.
BILL JENKS
: NoâLet him stay. I want him here. Let go.
DOC
: If
I
were Simon's primary physicianâ
BILL JENKS
: Go on, the rest of you. Leave us alone.
[
To
MASHA
] You especially. We can't have you here.
All exit.
BJ
alone with
WILL
and
SIMON
.
WILL
collects himself, goes to window.
WILL
: What's he saying?â¦(Jesus. What a morningâ¦)
Sightsâ¦heightsâ¦Keep your eyesâthe prizeâ
BILL JENKS
: Keep your sights
On the heights
Keep your eyes
WILL
: Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â On the prize. The guy's a public nuisance.
BILL JENKS
: He's with me.
WILL
: Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â He would be, wouldn't he?
â¦I'm calmer now.
BILL JENKS
: Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â No need to apologize.
WILL
: I feel no need. I'm not apologizing.
My position hasn't altered; I'm just calmer.
Simon, too.
BILL JENKS
: Â Â Â Â Â Â I don't expect you like this
Invasion of your realmâ
WILL
: Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â It ain't my realm.
I'm not a doctor. I'm just Simon's brother.
BILL JENKS
: I thought you were a medical man.
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 I am.
BILL JENKS
: Then please don't be so hostile. I don't go
So far as to suggest you look on us
As colleagues, but I think we share a goal.
WILL
: I'm a technician of a very special kind.
I don't fix people. Quite the opposite.
I supervise the termination teams.
BILL JENKS
: Sounds like you're in the personnel division.
WILL
: No.âThe tie-down team, the I-V teamâ¦
BILL JENKS
: 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 see.
WILL
: Next to me, boys, Lucifer never fell.
BILL JENKS
: You execute the folks.
WILL
: Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â That's not quite true.
We execute the sentence, not the person.
BILL JENKS
: And who, exactly, executes the person?
WILL
: “To execute” means “to carry out.”
Well, I guess in the end we carry them out.
â¦So you do the opposite of what I do.
BILL JENKS
: I've never raised the dead.
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 Butâin a sense.
BILL JENKS
: I've never raised the dead.
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 Why don't you try?
Go where the dead go. Haunt the mortuaries.
Give 'em the razzle-dazzle of your gift
And see if anybody cheats the graveâ¦
âWhat's the matter with him now? My God!
BILL JENKS
: The demon's agitated. SETTLE DOWN!
â¦I wonder where you know my assistant from?
WILL
: Morticia? Man, I've seen that honey shake
Her titties! You a preacher, or a pimp?
BILL JENKS
: The line between the two is faint. I think
It moves. I've found myself on either side.
WILL
: You didn't move yourself?
BILL JENKS
:                 Not to my knowledgeâ¦
Maybeâ¦If I moved, I didn't feel itâ¦
Well, I just had to ask. Not my affair,
But I was curious. Now you can leave.
WILL
: You think you're safe alone? I mean, he's strongâ
He may be out of it, butâ
BILL JENKS
: Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â I'll be fine.
WILL
: The Lord protects you.
BILL JENKS
: Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â I believe he does.
WILL
: You trust in the Lord.
BILL JENKS
:              I find him predictableâ¦
We've got three this week. Uh. Tuesday, Wednesday,
I think Thursdayâ¦Thursday?
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 So do we.
BILL JENKS
: Yes, threeâ¦Three executions in three days?
WILL
: Hey, I don't make the reservations, boys.
I just fly the plane.
BILL JENKS
: Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Here and yonder,
Even in prison, I've met up with good
And decent people. Butâ¦How do you say this?â¦
I've never met one in the mirror.
WILL
:                          â¦Yeahâ¦
O well, that's life, huh?
BILL JENKS
: Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â That's life on Death Row.
WILL
: I don't get you. Do you believe, or not?
Do you really heal? And cleanse these souls
Of maladies and spirits? Do you care?
BILL JENKS
: The gift is real, but I just turn a buck.
I turn a buck, he executes his vague
Intentions on a baffled universe:
Win-winâ¦Of course, he screws with me.
That's his styleâthe gift, and then the gag.
And in return I fail to reverence him,
Fail in gratitude. I fail to love him.
WILL
: Wow! You
are
an existentialist.
It's a little hard to see that message landing
Anywhere. It's no surprise you're bankrupt.
BILL JENKS
: Aah, they're just watching television, man.
I tell it like I see it, but I doubt
There's anybody listening. Faith is scary.
Faith affords its consolations, sureâ
By opening the maw to the dark depths
Where going blind and getting lost and hurt
Seem understandable and natural,
And all night long two graces fall like rain:
A tragic sense of life, and hope of Heaven.
WILL
: Are grace and Heaven all you've got to offer?
Man, I've watched one hundred twenty people
Die because I killed them with a button.
I've seen them breathe their lastâthe air
Goes out, and out, and then they kind of shiver
And there's this second where you know it's over
And it ain't never gonna start again.
â¦On summer evenings I sit on my porch
And listen to this train that comes along.
I listen to the wheels bang on the tracks,
I listen to the whistle drag the air
And fill the world, and fade, and leave it empty,
And I am gonna tell you: Heaven never
Dreamt of anything as sweet as that:
To listen to a train and not be dead.
VOICE ON RADIO:
Insects are often the only witnesses
To a crime.
BILL JENKS
[
to
SIMON
]: Did you turn that thing on?
WILL
: It wasn't me.
BILL JENKS
: Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Well turn the damn thing off.
VOICE ON RADIO
: The president's order has been disobeyed.
Soft music on radioâ¦
BILL JENKS
: All right. It's time you left us, please.
WILL
: Don't
heal
, or even
touch
, or even
think