Blues for Mister Charlie by James Baldwin

with one of them crazy young ones—the real pretty nigger girl—what’s her name?
    PARNELL : Juanita.
    LYLE : That’s the one.
(Juke box music, soft. Voices. Laughter)
Yeah. He looked at me like he wanted to kill me. And he insulted my wife. And I hadn’t never done him no harm.
(As above, a little stronger)
But I been thinking about it. And you know what I think? Hey! You gone to sleep?
    PARNELL : No. I’m thinking.
    LYLE : What you thinking about?
    PARNELL : Us. You and me.
    LYLE : And what do you think about us—you and me? What’s the point of thinking about us, anyway? We’ve been buddies all our lives—we can’t stop being buddies now.
    PARNELL : That’s right, buddy. What were you about to say?
    LYLE : Oh. I think a lot of the niggers in this town, especially the young ones, is turned bad. And I believe they was egging him on.
    (A pause. The music stops.)
    He come in here one Monday afternoon. Everybody heard about it, it was all over this town quicker’n a jack-rabbit gets his nuts off. You just missed it. You’d just walked out of here.
    (Lyle rises, walks to the doors and opens them. Sunlight fills the room. He slams the screen doors shut; we see the road.)
    JO
(Off)
: Lyle, you want to help me bring this baby carriage inside? It’s getting kind of hot out here now.
    PARNELL : Let
me.
    (Lyle and Parnell bring in the baby carriage. Jo enters.)
    JO : My, it’s hot! Wish we’d gone for a ride or something. Declare to goodness, we ain’t got no reason to be sitting around this store. Ain’t nobody coming in here—not to
buy
anything, anyway.
    PARNELL : I’ll buy some bubble gum.
    JO : You know you don’t chew bubble gum.
    PARNELL : Well, then, I’ll buy some cigarettes.
    JO : Two cartons, or three? It’s all right, Parnell, the Britten family’s going to make it somehow.
    LYLE : Couple of niggers coming down the road. Maybe they’ll drop in for a Coke.
    (Exits, into back of store.)
    JO : Why, no, they won’t. Our Cokes is
poisoned.
I get up every morning before daybreak and drop the arsenic in myself.
    PARNELL : Well, then, I won’t have a Coke. See you, Jo. So long, Lyle!
    LYLE
(Off)
: Be seeing you!
    (Parnell exits. Silence for a few seconds. Then we hear Lyle hammering in the back. Jo picks up a magazine, begins to read. Voices. Richard and Lorenzo appear in the road.)
    RICHARD : Hey, you want a Coke? I’m thirsty.
    LORENZO : Let’s go on a little further.
    RICHARD : Man, we been walking for
days
, my mouth is as dry as that damn dusty road. Come on, have a Coke with me, won’t take but a minute.
    LORENZO : We don’t trade in there. Come on—
    RICHARD : Oh! Is this the place? Hell, I’d like to get another look at the peckerwood, ain’t going to give him but a dime. I want to get his face fixed in my
mind
, so there won’t be no time wasted when the time comes, you dig?
(Enters the store)
Hey, Mrs. Ofay Ednolbay Ydalay! you got any Coca Cola for sale?
    JO : What?
    RICHARD : Coke! Me and my man been toting barges and lifting bales, that’s right, we been slaving, and we need a little cool. Liquid. Refreshment. Yeah, and you can take that hammer, too.
    JO : Boy, what do you want?
    RICHARD : A Coca Cola, ma’am. Please ma’am.
    JO : They right in the box there.
    RICHARD : Thank you kindly.
(Takes two Cokes, opens them)
Oh, this is fine,
fine.
Did you put them in this box with your own little dainty dish-pan hands? Sure makes them taste
sweet.
    JO : Are you talking to me?
    RICHARD : No ma’am, just feel like talking to myself from time to time, makes the time pass faster.
(At screen door)
Hey, Lorenz, I got you a Coke.
    LORENZO : I don’t want it. Come on out of there.
    JO : That will be twenty cents.
    RICHARD :
Twenty
cents? All right. Don’t you know how to say please? All the women I know say please—of course, they ain’t as pretty as you. I ain’t got twenty cents, ma’am. All I got is—twenty dollars!
    JO : You ain’t got nothing smaller?
    RICHARD : No ma’am. You