The Gardener's Son (8 page)

M
C
E
VOY
I aint never played.

F
IRST
M
AN
Lord, dont let em hear that. They’ll be over here a courtin ye.

S
ECOND
M
AN
Had his throat cut, they said. Reckoned it to of been the niggers.

Second man spits against the stove.

F
IRST
M
AN
Where’d that jug get to?

The third man, who has not spoken, reaches down alongside the crate where he is sitting and fetches up the jar and holds it to the light and passes it on. They drink. Pinky takes the potato with the knife stuck in it and cuts the remaining piece in two and passes one slice to McEvoy and eats the other and takes a new potato from the bib of his overalls and falls to peeling it. He shakes his head slowly.

P
INKY
Lord dont they hate whiskey over to that mill.

F
IRST
M
AN
They hate for
you
to drink it. That aint sayin they wont take a drink their own selves.

P
INKY
The old man would by god not take one.

F
IRST
M
AN
No. You right about that.

P
INKY
I guarangoddamntee ye.

F
IRST
M
AN
What about James?

P
INKY
That son of a bitch will take a drink.

The jar comes around to the second man. He takes it and shakes his head.

S
ECOND
M
AN
Never thought I’d live to see the day. Niggers runnin crazy killin folks. Right in ye own county.

He drinks.

P
INKY
Dont get him started on the niggers, for God’s sake.

Second man slices potato and eats and passes the jar on to the third man. Third man takes jar.

T
HIRD
M
AN
Thing about James. He never did want to put the jam on the lower shelf where the little man could get some.

F
IRST
M
AN
Get ye a little old drink there, Housecat.

T
HIRD
M
AN
Theys plenty of rhubarb all around the farm. And another little drink wont do us any harm.

Exterior. Night. Robert McEvoy drunk staggering through a field.

McEvoy on a narrow country road, reeling along on his crutch. He pauses to rest, leaning against a barn. He listens to the silence. A few dogs bark in the distance. He goes on. There is a horse leaning over a fence and he and the horse look at each other and McEvoy moves on.

McEvoy hobbling up the road to Graniteville. He has passed a few houses and now several dogs have come into the road behind him and circle to pick up his scent and howl. They are seen by the light of a lamp in the window and their hackles are up and they howl after McEvoy who wobbles on into the darkness.

Exterior. Dawn, sound of the mill bell. People shuffling through the semi-darkness toward the mill. The mill coming to life.

Dawn, light coming in an old abandoned shed. McEvoy waking. Sound of the second mill bell. McEvoy standing disheveled in the light from the window while the bell tolls. When it is done he puts his cap on and takes up his crutch.

Exterior. Mill. The stockholders arriving at the mill.

Interior. Mill. Patrick McEvoy comes down the aisle and takes his place at his machine. The other workers watch him. He looks haggard and somewhat grim. The overseer comes to him and puts his hand on his shoulder.

O
VERSEER
Pat, we didnt need for you to come in today.
McEvoy is doggedly setting up his machine.

O
VERSEER
Did you know your boy was back?

O
VERSEER
He was up at the cemetery yesterday where they was preparin your missus’ restin place and he come up there and run the ... run the niggers off with a pistol. Told em not to dig no more that she wasnt to be buried there.

Patrick looks up at the man and goes back to his work.

O
VERSEER
I just wanted to tell ye. I wish you could see him and talk to him fore he gets hisself in trouble.

M
R
M
C
E
VOY
I dont know where to hunt him at. He went to the house they said and he run everbody off up there. I dont know what to tell ye.

Robert McEvoy on the road toward the mill. The mill against the sky in the background. McEvoy pauses, then he goes on again.

Interior. Mill office boardroom. The boardroom is laid out for a banquet with long tables and china. James Gregg looks over the boardroom. He checks the watch in his waistcoat and he takes a cigar from his pocket and bites off the end and lights it.

Interior. Mill. Bobby clumping down the aisle past the machinery and the workers. They watch him but he doesnt watch back.

Interior. Mill office. James Gregg entering his office and looking through papers at his desk. The sound of the mill machinery is muted in these office scenes and very loud in the mill scenes.

Robert McEvoy enters the mill office. There is no one about. He goes across the office and enters the boardroom. The room is empty, the long tables set for a ghost banquet. There is a keg of beer tapped and he takes a glass from the sideboard and fills it and wanders on into James Gregg's office and sits at the desk and sips the beer. A door opens in an outer room and there are voices. McEvoy rises from the desk and James Gregg enters the room. McEvoy is standing in front of the desk. Gregg goes past him to his place behind the desk. The grips of the revolver in McEvoy's belt are visible.

G
REGG
Did you want to see me?

M
C
E
VOY
I was huntin my father.

G
REGG
Your father.

M
C
E
VOY
He was the gardener.

G
REGG
I know who he was.

M
C
E
VOY
No you dont.

G
REGG
What do you mean I dont?

M
C
E
VOY
You might know his name is all.

G
REGG
You didnt come in here looking for him.

M
C
E
VOY
Where’ve you got him workin at?

G
REGG
He works in the mill. This company is in the textile business. We have stockholders to answer to. We’re not in the flower business.

M
C
E
VOY
Shit.

G
REGG
What did you say?

M
C
E
VOY
You heard me.

G
REGG
What do you want, McEvoy?

M
C
E
VOY
I dont want a damn thing from you.

G
REGG
You better clear out. We dont need your kind here.

M
C
E
VOY
What do you mean my kind?

G
REGG
You better leave.

M
C
E
VOY
What do you mean my kind?

G
REGG
People who dont want to work. You had your chance here.

M
C
E
VOY
Chance’s ass.

G
REG
Why did Mr Giles let you go?

M
C
E
VOY
Mr Giles didnt let me go. I left my own damn self. He says different he’s a liar.

G
REGG
My recollection is that you were turned off for stealing.

M
C
E
VOY
That’s a damned lie.

Interior. Mill. Patrick McEvoy standing in the aisle watching the side of spindles he is doffing. Another worker comes by and they stop to talk.

W
ORKER
I thought that boy of yourn swore he’d never set foot in this mill again.

M
R
M
C
E
VOY
He did.

W
ORKER
Well he just now went down through there.

Patrick looks toward where the man is pointing. The blank look on his face is gradually replaced by a dawning sense of impending doom. He turns and goes down the aisle.

Interior. Mill office.

G
REGG
You better get out McEvoy.

M
C
E
VOY
I aint done yet. You think you can say anything you want about people and they just have to put up with it.

G
REGG
I think you’re crazy is what I think. What did you come here for? What were you doing in my office?

M
C
E
VOY
You think people dont know what you are?

G
REGG
By god I believe you were in here looking for something to steal.

G
REGG
You call me a liar?

M
C
E
VOY
I didnt stutter.

Gregg pushes back his chair and rises from it. He looks at McEvoy standing there, disheveled and ragged, on crutches, and he gives him a cynical smile.

G
REGG
What do you want? Money?

M
C
E
VOY
I dont want a damned thing from you.

Gregg reaches into his coat pocket and brings forth some coins. He selects a ten dollar gold piece and flips it onto the desk in front of McEvoy.

G
REGG
Take it and get out.

McEvoy stares at the gold piece. When he looks up his eyes are filled with hatred. Gregg looks at McEvoy and then he looks at the coin and then he looks at McEvoy again. Then his face drains. He jerks suddenly at the top drawer of his desk. McEvoy snatches the pistol from his belt.

M
C
E
VOY
Dont.

Gregg scrabbles in the desk drawer for his pistol and McEvoy fires. Gregg is knocked back sitting in his chair. He reaches again for the drawer and McEvoy fires again. Gregg reels in the chair. He puts a hand to his side and rises.

G
REGG
You raggedyassed crippled son of a bitch.

Gregg lurches toward the safe in the comer of the room.

Interior. Office outside James Greggs door. Mr Giles running to see what has occurred. McEvoy swings past him on his crutch and makes for the outside door.

M
R
G
ILES
You wretched boy, what have you done?

Gregg lurches from his office bleeding at the mouth and holding a small derringer pistol.

M
R
G
ILES
Captain Gregg. Good god, captain.

Gregg pauses, his eyes swimming.

G
REGG
Mr Giles, he’s murdered me.

Gregg stumbles on a few steps until he can see out the door and there he raises the pistol in both hands and fires at McEvoy in the street. McEvoy turns. He is standing in the street holding the pistol in one hand. Gregg is standing in the doorway, swaying, holding his pistol at his waist in both hands and looking down at McEvoy. There is a frozen moment and then McEvoy's face turns anguished and he raises the pistol and cocks it and levels it at Gregg. It hesitates for just a moment. Then it fires. Gregg collapses in the doorway. McEvoy's father has stopped a few yards down the street from where his son is holding the pistol. The clatter of machinery in the background suddenly comes to a halt. There is an immense silence. Figures appear at the door of the mill. They are all watching Mr McEvoy as he approaches his son. He is walking very straight and dignified and he is crying. He holds out his hand for the pistol. McEvoy is breathing hard. His face changes from hatred to anguish. The father holds out his hand for the pistol. McEvoy turns the pistol on his father for a moment. The older man takes yet another step toward his son. He is almost close enough now to put his arm around his son. He is crying quietly. McEvoy lowers his head. He hands the pistol to his father. They stand there, the boy looking down at the ground and the father looking at the boy, holding the revolver clumsily by the barrel.