MAN
(after long pause)
I’ve been waiting. I’ve been standing here.
WOMAN
Are you flirting with me?
MAN
Standing here.
WOMAN
You are, aren’t you? Being flirtatious with me?
MAN
Just standing. Like this.
WOMAN
Well, sit down, for heaven’s sake. Sit down.
MAN
Thank you, maam.
WOMAN
Take the weight off your feet.
MAN
Thank you, maam.
WOMAN
Waiting for someone in particular?
Blonde? Auburn? Curls? Men do like curls.
MAN
I was told that Mrs. Dickinson….
WOMAN
Suzanna? You waiting for Suzanna?
MAN
That she would be right down but I have…
WOMAN
Suzanna is not one of our girls.
MAN
….been waiting for quite some time, maam.
WOMAN
She lives here. But she is not one of our girls.
MAN
I must speak to her.
WOMAN
She needs her rest. She has been pulled. This way. And that.
MAN
I won’t. I promise. Take up too much of her time.
WOMAN
The way they pulled at her. She is a young un. My lord,
she is practically. A child. A child bride she was. Pulled
at her. This way. And that. It’d be a kindness to just leave her be.
MAN
I understand, maam.
WOMAN
A kindness to yourself. And to that poor child.
MAN
I will not take up….
WOMAN
Just leave her be.
MAN
Yes, maam.
WOMAN
Had her recruitin’ they did. Recruitin’ mind you. After
what she went through. Recruitin’ honey. You know what
I am talking about.
(SUZANNA enters)
WOMAN
Why, here she is now. Sweet child. Sweet little thing.
MAN
(standing)
Mrs. Dickinson.
WOMAN
See what I mean? A child.
MAN
I come here about my boy.
(after a pause, introducing himself)
Jefferson Bull.
SUZANNA
(to WOMAN)
Could you bring us some tea? And some of those
nice biscuits.
WOMAN
I sure will, honey. Be right back.
(WOMAN leaves)
SUZANNA
Sit down, sir. Ain’t no sense
standin’ on ceremony. We don’t stand on no ceremony here.
(MAN sits down)
MAN
(after a long pause)
Maam.
SUZANNA
I don’t know no Jefferson Bull.
MAN
That is my name. I come here account of my son.
Harrison. Harrison Bull.
SUZANNA
I don’t know no Jefferson Bull. I don’t know no Harrison Bull.
MAN
He was there.
SUZANNA
Where?
Oh, yes. Well, I never knew no one by their names.
But if he were there, he must have crossed over the line.
Them that was there, they crossed over the line. There wasn’t
nobody didn’t cross the line. Ceptin’ maybe one. I think there
was one didn’t cross the line. So… if he crossed the line…. he
were there….. Cept I didn’t know no one by their names.
MAN
He was just a boy. Fair haired. Tall. For his age.
SUZANNA
They was all just boys. They was so many of them.
Fair haired. Tall. For their age.
MAN
If you could just tell me what you saw.
SUZANNA
I didn’t see nothing.
MAN
Anything.
(Pause)
I come a long ways.
SUZANNA
I didn’t see nothing from where I was hidin’
I was hidin’ in the church. From where I was,,,,,,
I….I didn’t see nothing. I was too scared to look.
I was looking for my little girl. I couldn’t find my
little girl.
(WOMAN returns with tea and biscuits)
SUZANNA
Oh, there you are. Have some tea, Mr…..
MAN
Bull. Jefferson Bull
SUZANNA
Please…..Mr. Bull.
And a biscuit, Mr. Bull.
MAN
I’m not hungry.
SUZANNA
They’s scrumptious…..Mr. Bull.
WOMAN
Have a biscuit.
MAN
Thank you. No.
WOMAN
Have it your own way. I’ll have one.
Man doesn’t know what’s good for him.
Now don‘t tire yourself out, honey.
(WOMAN leaves, after taking a long hard look at the MAN)
SUZANNA
You won’t taste a biscuit good as that. Take my word.
(PAUSE)
SUZANNA
No…..I didn’t see nothin’ I told them I seen things,,,,
they seemed to want to know…..but I didn’t see nothing
…not from where I was crouchin’……I told them what
they wanted to hear…..I told them I ain’t never seen nothin’
like what I seen that day….I told them I never know’d men could do
such horrible things to each other….I told them…what I…..
what I… imagined ….yes, that were it. What I. Imagined.
Told them I ain’t never seen so much blood.
(Pause)
But I didn’t see nothin’ Like I said. I didn’t see nothin’
(Pause)
Well, that ain’t exactly the whole truth. I did see the Colonel
prayin. Real quiet like. From where I was crouchin’
….in the church…I could see…the Colonel…..prayin.
(Pause)
And when they led me out of there,,,,when it was over,,,,,
and they took me out of there…. I saw him lyin’ there
right outside the church…. The Colonel….like he prayed and walked out of
the church…into the sunlight…and got killed right then…and
there.
(Pause)
That’s what I seen. Dead men everywhere.
MAN
I’m sorry, maam.
SUZANNA
I didn’t want to look. But I was lookin for my little girl.
MAN
Maam.
SUZANNA
And they took me to the fort and there was the General….
And you know what he was doin? He had these fat fingers. Soft fat fingers.
And he was bouncin’ my little girl on his lap and he said….he spoke real
good English….better than I’d ever heared….and he said my little girl was the
prettiest little girl….the smartest little girl…he’d ever seen and if I wanted he’d take
her back to Mexico and see to it she had the best education…that she’d be treated
like a little princess…only the best…for her…only….
(Pause)
Up and down. On his lap.
(Pause)
Named for a saint. Twere a lady saint, it were. Santa Anita?
Up and down.
MAN
You’re sure.
Harrison Bull.
The name means nothing?
SUZANNA
Sometimes I think….
(PAUSE)
Maybe we shouldn’t have been there in the first place.
Please.
Half a biscuit?
