The Haitian Trilogy: Plays: Henri Christophe, Drums and Colours, and The Haytian Earth (29 page)

(
BOUKMANN
folds his arms and shakes his head.
)

Moise. Relieve General Boukmann of his sword.

The rest of you, get up on your feet,

Form fours, get your belongs together,

And prepare to march out of here.

(
Silence.
MOISE
moves towards
BOUKMANN
,
who keeps slicing the air around his head, and
MOISE
stops.
TOUSSAINT
goes over to
BOUKMANN
.)

Look here, Boukmann. That is my nephew.

Now, don’t waste my time. Come on, give me.

(
BOUKMANN
turns to
DESSALINES. DESSALINES
rises and moves among the
SOLDIERS
.)

BOUKMANN

I don’t need you all. I can fight alone.

I will start another army and you will see.

(
He exits.
)

DESSALINES

Come on, come on, get off your black arses now, niggers,

All that foolishness is finished. You heard what the

Old man said. You going to be an army. You’ll have

Nice uniforms, you coward goat fuckers, maybe even horses,

But right now you have to form fours and march. Come on.

(
He moves among the
GUERRILLAS
kicking and slapping and drenching them with the hot water.
)

That is the way you want it, Uncle, right?

Attention!

Forward, march!

(
Desultorily, then more confidently, the
GUERRILLAS
march out of the grove.
TOUSSAINT
puts his arm around
DESSALINES
.
They follow.
)

Scene 18

Exterior. Noon, Sunday. A patch of arable land behind
YETTE
’s shack beyond the fields of Belle Maison. Church bells strike the noon Angelus.
POMPEY
,
in a large straw hat, sweating, cursing as he ploughs.
YETTE
is in the shade of a single tree. She shouts, but he cannot hear.

YETTE

Don’t work so hard, is not your land,

And today is Sunday.

Come and drink something! Come!

(
She pours him some lemonade from a carafe.
)

POMPEY

Look at you. You stay in the sun so long

And you will get black.

YETTE

I glad. The white part of me is the town,

The black part of me is the country.

But the place coming well, and I thank you.

I thank you with all my heart, Pompey,

I don’t think I was ever so happy.

Lie down, and I’ll fan you with my hat.

(
She fans his body.
)

POMPEY

I must finish, I have to bring back the plough,

I have to …

YETTE

                     Lie down, Oh God.

Rest,
non?

POMPEY

Somebody have to plant for people to eat.

Not everybody can be a soldier.

And they burning down this country …

All the estates … One day they could come here …

(
YETTE
and
POMPEY
are in the shade. The wind cools them, rustling the leaves …
)

YETTE

Is so nice here. I will never go back.

I can’t believe that over on these hills

Niggers killing each other, people dying …

Is so quiet and happy here, I feel guilty.

And since you come on Sundays to help me with the land …

What I can tell you?…

POMPEY

Tell me you will never go. Say it again …

YETTE

You want all your women to be jealous …

POMPEY

Say it again. I finish with all of them …

YETTE

I am happy here. I am happy on this land.

I will never go anywhere again …

POMPEY

We will see …

YETTE

                          I swear on my cross.

(
She kisses her crucifix.
)

That poor mule in the sun …

POMPEY

You don’t find the mule looking like Toussaint?

(
POMPEY
juts out his lower lip,
YETTE
laughs. Silence. Peace.
)

All Mr. Calixte do is sit around his room,

Praying that Monsieur Anton will come back …

But that old man Toussaint, victory after victory,

Battle after battle, and at his age.

(
He takes out a bamboo fife and begins to play.
)

Thank God for this peace.

And for you, too, my Yette.

Come in the house, I have something to show you.

(
He pulls her to him in the shade.
)

Scene 19

Exterior. Sunset. A long country road fenced with stakes.
TOUSSAINT, BIASSOU, DESSALINES, MOISE
walking. A severed head with a tricorn, with this sign nailed under it:

FRENCHMEN AND FREE-COLOUREDS

THIS NEGRO’S HEAD WAS BOUKMANN
.

HERE IS THE FUTURE OF ALL

ENEMIES OF THE REPUBLIC
.

DESSALINES

Read it, somebody! Biassou!

BIASSOU
(
Reading.
)

Frenchmen and free coloureds,

This Negro’s head was Boukmann.

Here is the future of all

Enemies of the Republic.

(
DESSALINES
kisses the lips of the severed head, then hurls it away.
)

DESSALINES

Adieu,
Boukmann! Long live Dessalines.

Vive
Jean Jacques Dessalines!

(
The troop moves on into the dusk.
)

Scene 20

Belle Maison.
CALIXTE-BREDA
reading a letter.

CALIXTE-BREDA

Pompey! Pompey! I heard from Monsieur Anton.

(
POMPEY
runs in.
)

Listen. He has joined the mulatto army!

(
He reads.
)

If you love me, as you have always said, like your own son, then I ask you to help our cause against those who betrayed you, those who are now butchering those who have mixed blood, like your son, by sending us money to buy arms and ammunition to defend ourselves. After they have destroyed the whites, they will butcher the mulattos. Do not trust a single black. Toussaint, whom you treated like a younger brother, has shown you this. I am one of General Rigaud’s trusted aides. This map will show you how to reach us. I do not expect to see you ever again, but if you should find it in your heart to see me again, you could be proud of me; I am, you see, Papa, no longer a weakling. I love you and forgive you because I have become a man, and it is as a man that I would like to face you again.

Come, Pompey, we will go to him. Come! Now!

(
He paces the living room, pauses.
)

Pompey. You and I, we will find him.

You will help me find him, Pompey.

You know this country like your own hand.

(
They exit.
)

Scene 21

Exterior. Day. A guerrilla camp in the mountains. A tent, a
SERGEANT
propped against a rock, eating. A shadow covers him. He looks up, eating.
CHRISTOPHE
.

SERGEANT

You are a major, I see.

(
Pause.
)

What army?

(
CHRISTOPHE
turns away, bewildered. Then, back to the
SERGEANT
.)

These days I can’t tell one army from another.

CHRISTOPHE

Where is General Toussaint L’Ouverture?

(
Exasperated, he explodes.
)

Attention! Salute.

(
The
SERGEANT
rises, spits.
)

SERGEANT
(
Leisurely
)

… You in the wrong army, friend. You want Toussaint?

He gone to fight for the Spanish in San Domingo.

CHRISTOPHE

The Spanish?

SERGEANT

Dee Spaneesh. You know. Spaneesh.
Sí.

CHRISTOPHE

                                                             Against his own country?

Why?

(
There is a howl of laughter.
DESSALINES
emerges from the rear of the tent tying his trousers with a cord.
)

DESSALINES

Why? Ask Moise, his nephew. They went together.

Sonthonax offered him “the protection of the Republic”

If he will bring his army to his side.

(
He laughs.
)

CHRISTOPHE

Dessalines? You don’t remember?

In the Place des Armes … years ago …

DESSALINES

The waiter. Yes. You’re a soldier now.

A major.

CHRISTOPHE

I thought the time had come to fight together.

DESSALINES

                                                                                  You can read?

CHRISTOPHE

No.

DESSALINES

       This sergeant can.

Listen to this from our esteemed commander.

Read. I admire that old bald-headed son of a bitch!

SERGEANT
(
Reading.
)

The blacks want a king, and they will stop fighting

Only when that king is recognized.

DESSALINES

                                                             A king!

He is a royalist. All of this was for nothing.

(
He gestures.
)

He has printed another message for the armies.

CHRISTOPHE

                                                                                     A king?

SERGEANT
(
Reading.
)

Brothers and friends. I am Toussaint L’Ouverture, my name is perhaps known to you. I have undertaken vengeance. I want liberty and equality to reign in San Domingo. I work to bring them into existence. Unite yourselves to us, brothers, and fight with us for the same cause …

(
DESSALINES
looks out at the deserted camp.
)

DESSALINES

I turned to have a piss and they were gone.

Signed Toussaint L’Ouverture.

You know something?

We are going to join him.

(
He walks over to the
SERGEANT
,
whose eyes are closed with exhaustion. He strips away his chevrons. The
SERGEANT
looks up, startled. A sword point slashes his cheek. He remains still.
)

This …

(
He holds up the chevrons.
)

Was when you served that coachman.

(
He throws it away.
)

That is when you serve me …

(
He points with his sword to the bleeding scar.
)

(
Fade-out.
)

Scene 22

Exterior. Day. Smoke. Noises far. A camp. Dark, overcast sky.
SOLDIERS
,
some wounded, returning from battle.
DESSALINES
emerges from a tent, an empty bottle in his hand, drunk.

DESSALINES

There must be one hundred thousand yellow niggers slaughtered there.

Burn, burn! There’s no more Les Cayes.

We have destroyed Rigaud!

(
Passes the bottle, hugs the
SERGEANT
.
He dances a drunken dance, then stops, tottering as …
CHRISTOPHE
arrives, muddy, tired. They watch the inferno.
)

CHRISTOPHE

This is not war.

DESSALINES

                            It will do for now.

(
TOUSSAINT
enters,
MOISE
with him.
)

Some rum?

TOUSSAINT
(
Washing his hands.
)

                      I hate excess.

DESSALINES

Ho, ha! He kills ten thousand mulatto citizens

And shrugs his shoulders and says he hates excess!

I love this hypocrite!

(
He drunkenly embraces
TOUSSAINT
.)

TOUSSAINT

Enough!

(
He paces angrily.
)

               I come from an exhausting fight and find

My two best generals getting drunk like sergeants.

Collect your troops. We’re marching out of here.

You too, General Moise.

(
CHRISTOPHE, DESSALINES, MOISE
exit.
)

O God, to find in the centre of this whirlwind

Some core of quiet.

(
Enter two
SOLDIERS
with
CALIXTE-BREDA
.)

SOLDIER

We found this one.

TOUSSAINT

Calixte? Monsieur Calixte?…

(
To the
SOLDIERS
)

Leave us alone … Monsieur Calixte …

CALIXTE-BREDA