The Sunset Limited(14)
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.