The Sunset Limited: A Novel in Dramatic Form (7 page)

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Authors: Cormac McCarthy

BOOK: The Sunset Limited: A Novel in Dramatic Form
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Black
   
You ride that subway ever day, Professor?
White
   
Yes.
Black
   
What do you think about them people?
White
   
On the subway?
Black
   
On the subway.
White
   
I try not to think about them at all.
Black
   
You ever speak to any of em?
White
   
Speak to them?
Black
   
Yeah.
White
   
About what?
Black
   
About anything.
White
   
No. God no.
Black
   
God no?
White
   
Yes. God no.
Black
   
You ever curse em?
White
   
Curse them?
Black
   
Yeah.
White
   
Why would I do that?
Black
   
I dont know. Do you?
White
   
No. Of course not.
Black
   
I mean where they cant hear it.
White
   
What do you mean?
Black
   
Maybe just under your breath. In your heart. To yourself.
White
   
Because?
Black
   
I dont know. Maybe they just in your way. Or you dont like the way they look. The way they smell. What they doin.
White
   
And I would mutter something ugly under my breath.
Black
   
Yeah.
White
   
I suppose.
Black
   
And how often do you reckon you might do that?
White
   
You really dont get to interrogate me, you know.
Black
   
I know. How often?
White
   
I dont know. With some frequency. Probably.
Black
   
Give me a number.
White
   
A number?
Black
   
Yeah. Say just on a average day.
White
   
I’ve no idea.
Black
   
Sure you do.
White
   
A number.
Black
   
I’m a number man.
White
   
Two or three times a day, I would guess. Something like that. Maybe.
Black
   
Could be more.
White
   
Oh yes.
Black
   
Could be five?
White
   
Probably.
Black
   
Ten?
White
   
That might be a bit high.
Black
   
But we can go with five. That’s safe.
White
   
Yes.
Black
   
That’s eighteen twenty-five. Can we round that off to two grand?
White
   
What’s that, per year?
Black
   
Yeah.
White
   
Two thousand? That’s a lot.
Black
   
Yes it is. But is it accurate?
White
   
I suppose. So?
Black
   
So. I aint goin to guess your age but let me put you on the low side and say times twenty years of commutin and now we got forty thousand curses heaped on the heads of folks you dont even know.
White
   
So where is this going?
Black
   
I just wondered if you ever thought about that. If it might have anything to do with the shape you has managed to get yourself in.
White
   
It’s just symptomatic of the larger issues. I dont like people.
Black
   
But you wouldnt hurt them people.
White
   
No. Of course not.
Black
   
You sure.
White
   
Of course I’m sure. Why would I hurt them?
Black
   
I dont know. Why would you hurt yourself?
White
   
It’s not the same thing.
Black
   
You sure about that?
White
   
I’m not them and they’re not me. I think I know the difference.
Black
   
Mm.
White
   
More mm’s.
Black
   
You sure you aint hungry?
White
   
No.
Black
   
You aint eat nothin.
White
   
That’s all right.
Black
   
I see you eyein the door. I got to strategize, you know.
White
   
I’m really not hungry.
Black
   
Active morning like you had you aint worked up no appetite?
White
   
No.
Black
   
I see you lookin around. Everthing in here is clean. No, dont say nothin. It’s all right.
The black pushes back his chair and rises.
Black
   
I could eat a bite and I think you could too.
The black goes to the refrigerator and takes out some pots. He turns on the stove. He washes his hands and dries them with a towel.
Black
   
You break bread with a man you have moved on to another level of friendship. I heard somewheres that that’s true the world over.
White
   
Probably.
Black
   
I like probably. Probably from you is worth a couple of damn rights anywheres else.
White
   
Why? Because I dont believe in anything?
The black has put the pots on the stove to warm and he brings napkins and silverware to the table and sets them out. He sits down.
Black
   
Well. I dont think that’s the problem. I think it’s what you do believe that is carryin you off, not what you dont. Let me ask you this.
White
   
Go ahead.
Black
   
You ever think about Jesus?
White
   
Here we go.
Black
   
Do you?
White
   
What makes you think I’m not Jewish?
Black
   
What, jews aint allowed to think about Jesus?
White
   
No, but they might think about him differently.
Black
   
Is you Jewish?
White
   
No. As it happens. I’m not.
Black
   
Whew. You had me worried there for a minute.
White
   
What, you dont like jews?
Black
   
(Shaking his head, almost laughing)
Pullin your chain, Professor. Pullin your chain. I dont know why I love to mess with you. But I do. You need to listen. Or you need to believe what you hearin. The whole point of where this is goin—which you wanted to know—is that they aint no jews. Aint no whites. Aint no
niggers. People of color. Aint none of that. At the deep bottom of the mine where the gold is at there aint none of that. There’s just the pure ore. That forever thing. That you dont think is there. That thing that helps to keep folks nailed down to the platform when the Sunset Limited comes through. Even when they think they might want to get aboard. That thing that makes it possible to ladle out benediction upon the heads of strangers instead of curses. It’s all the same thing. And it aint but one thing. Just one.
White
   
And that would be Jesus.
Black
   
Got to think about how to answer that. Maybe one more heresy wont hurt you. You pretty loaded up on em already. Here’s what I would say. I would say that the thing we are talkin about is Jesus, but it is Jesus understood as that gold at the bottom of the mine. He couldnt come down here and take the form of a man if that form was not done shaped to accommodate him. And if I said that there aint no way for Jesus to be ever man without ever man bein Jesus then I believe that might be a pretty big heresy. But that’s all right. It aint as big a heresy as sayin that a man aint all that much different from a rock. Which is how your view looks to me.
White
   
It’s not my view. I believe in the primacy of the intellect.
Black
   
What is that word.
White
   
Primacy? It means first. It means what you put first.
Black
   
And that would be intellect.
White
   
Yes.
Black
   
What about the primacy of the Sunset Limited?
White
   
Yes. That too.
Black
   
But not the primacy of all them folks waitin on a later train.
White
   
No. No primacy there.
Black
   
Mm.
White
   
Mm what.
Black
   
You tough, Professor. You tough.
The black rises and goes to the stove. He reaches down plates and stirs the pots and ladles out the dinner. He takes down a
loaf of white bread and puts four slices on a plate and brings the plate of bread to the table and sets it down.
Black
   
Yeah you tough.
The black brings the two plates to the table and sets them out and takes his seat. He looks at the professor.
Black
   
You see yourself as a questioner, Professor. But about that I got my doubts. Even so, the quest of your life is
your
quest. You on a road that you laid. And that fact alone might be all the reason you need for keepin to it. As long as you on that road you cant be lost.
White
   
I’m not sure I understand what you’re saying.
Black
   
Well, Professor. I have got some very serious doubts about you not understandin anything I say. Now I’m goin to say Grace.
The black puts his hands on the table at either side of his plate and bows his head.
Black
   
Lord we thank you for this food and we ask that you keep us ever mindful of the many
blessins we have received from your hand. We thank you today for the life of the professor that you have returned to us and we ask that you continue to look after him because we need him.
(Pause)
I aint sure why we need him. I just know we do. Amen.
The black looks up. He smiles at the professor.
Black
   
All right. You tell me if you like this.
White
   
It looks good.
They begin to eat.
White
   
This is good.
They eat.
White
   
This is very good.
Black
   
Supposed to be good. This is soul food, my man.
White
   
It’s got what in it? Molasses?
Black
   
Mm. You a chef, Professor?
White
   
Not really.
Black
   
But some.
White
   
Some, yes. Bananas, of course. Mangos?
Black
   
Got a mango or two in there. Rutabagas.
White
   
Rutabagas?
Black
   
Rutabagas.
Them
aint easy to find.
White
   
It’s very good.
Black
   
It gets better after a day or two. I just fixed this last night. You need to warm it up a few times to get the flavors right.
White
   
Like chile.
Black
   
Like chile. That’s right. You know where I learned to fix this?
White
   
In Louisana?
Black
   
Right here in the ghettos of New York City. They’s a lot of influences in a dish like this. You got many parts of the world in that pot yonder. Different countries. Different people.
White
   
Any white people?
Black
   
Not if you can help it.
White
   
Really?
Black
   
Messin with you, Professor. Messin with you. You know these French chefs in these uptown restaurants?
White
   
Not personally.
Black
   
You know what they like to cook?
White
   
No.
Black
   
Sweetbreads. Tripe. Brains. All that shit they dont nobody eat. You know why that is?
White
   
Because it’s a challenge? You have to innovate?
Black
   
You pretty smart for a cracker. A challenge. That’s right. The stuff they cook is dead cheap. Most folks throws it out. Give it to the cat. But poor folks dont throw nothin out.
White
   
I guess that’s right.
Black
   
It dont take a lot of skill to make a porterhouse steak taste good. But what if you cant buy no porterhouse steak? You still wants to eat somethin that tastes good. What you do then?
White
   
Innovate.
Black
   
Innovate. That’s right, Professor. And when do you innovate?
White
   
When you dont have something that you want.
Black
   
You fixin to get a A plus. So who would that be? That aint got what they want?
White
   
Poor people.
Black
   
I love this man. So how you like this?
White
   
It’s very good.
Black
   
Well let me have your plate.
White
   
Just a small portion.
Black
   
That’s all right, Professor. You need to eat. You done had yourself a pretty busy day.
The black puts more of the dish on the professors plate and comes to the table and sets it in front of him.

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