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♪ I don't want ♪

♪ No sugar in my coffee ♪

♪ It makes me mean ♪

♪ Lord, it makes me mean ♪

♪ I don't want ♪

♪ No sugar in my coffee ♪

♪ It makes me mean ♪

♪Lord, it makes me mean ♪

♪ I got a bulldog ♪

♪ He weigh 500 ♪

♪ In my backyard ♪

♪ Lord, in my backyard ♪

♪ I got a bulldog ♪

♪ He weigh 500 ♪

♪ In my backyard ♪

♪ Lord, in my backyard. ♪

♪ Oh, when he bark ♪

♪ He roll like thunder ♪

♪ Up in the cloud ♪

♪ Lord, up in the cloud ♪

♪ Oh, when he bark ♪

♪He roll like thunder, up... ♪

Hit them brakes! Man, what's up...

Watch it...!

Lymon, watch it!

You think that's funny, huh?

You really think that's funny?

Whoo!

Hey!

Whoa!

Hmm, hmm, hmm.

Maretha, when you finish your lesson,

I want you to see if your Uncle Doaker

need anything from the store.

Then you get upstairs and change your clothes.

Yes, ma'am.

We got to go get some water.

I ain't going nowhere.

You go.

I ain't going by myself.

Well, then, we can stay here then.

If you took care of your truck,

we wouldn't be here!

We'd be in Pittsburgh!

At my sister's house!

Eating fried chicken and cornbread.

Hey, Lymon!

Wait up!

You don't know how to find no water!

When you and Avery gonna get married?

I ain't said nothing about getting married.

Well, that's what the matter is.

Maybe you ought to be saying something about it.

♪ Who broke the lock? ♪

♪ On the hen house door ♪

♪ Who broke the lock? ♪

♪ On the hen house door ♪

♪ Who broke the lock? ♪

♪ Somebody tell me... ♪

You watch, Lymon,

as soon as Berniece see me,

she gonna try and start something.

You watch.

Yeah, yeah, yeah-- this is it!

Hey, Doaker!

Hey, Berniece!

Boy Willie, what if they 'sleep?

They ain't 'sleep.

Hey, Doaker!

Hey, Doaker!

Hey, Doaker!

Who is it?

Open the door--

it's me, Boy Willie!

Who?

Boy Willie! Open the door!

Whaa!

What you doing up here?

I thought you was in Sunflower, Mississippi.

I told you, Lymon.

Lymon talking about you might be 'sleep.

You remember Lymon Jackson from down home?

Sure... This my Uncle Doaker.

What you doing up here?

Me and Lymon selling watermelon.

That's Lymon's truck.

Where Berniece?

Berniece up there asleep.

Well, let her get up.

She can go back to bed.

Me and Lymon been riding two days in that truck.

Least she can do is get up and say hi.

Hey, Berniece!

She got to go to work in the morning!

Hey, well, she can get up and say hi.

It's been three years since I seen her.

I told you they was 'sleep.

I ain't thinking about no nothing.

You two need to be quiet.

What you doing making all that noise?

Hey, Berniece!

It's 5:00 in the morning.

You can't come in like normal folk?

Oh, I ain't done nothing.

You start all that noise 'fore you hit the door.

Oh, woman, I was glad to see Doaker.

You didn't have to come down

if you didn't want to.

I come 1,800 miles to see my sister.

I figure she might want to get up and say hi.

Other than that, you can go back upstairs!

Hey, you remember Lymon Jackson?

How you doing, Berniece?

You look just like I thought you'd look.

Hey, me and Lymon selling watermelons.

We got a truck out there.

Hey, Doaker,

where your bottle?

Me and Lymon celebrating--

the ghosts's of the Yellow Dog got Sutter.

Say he drowned in his well.

When this happen, Boy Willie?

Oh, about three weeks ago.

Me and Lymon was over in Stone County

when we heard about it.

We laughed,

we thought it was funny.

A great big old 340-pound man

gonna fall down his well!

Reminded me of Humpty Dumpty.

Everybody say

the ghosts's of the Yellow Dog pushed him.

I don't want to hear that nonsense.

Somebody down there pushing them people

in they wells.

The only thing I want to know is when you and Lymon

plan on going back.

Lymon say he's staying.

As soon as we sell them watermelons,

I'm going on back.

That's what you need to do.

And you need to do it quick.

Coming here disrupting this house.

I'm surprised you ain't woke Maretha up!

Well, you going up there, wake her up and tell her

her uncle's here. I ain't waking that child up.

You and Lymon need to sell them watermelons and go on back.

I see Berniece still act stuck up.

You hear from Wining Boy?

That's my uncle.

Oh, he come through here about a year ago.

Had a whole sack of money,

ain't offered nothing.

Berniece asked him for $3.00,

and he got mad and left.

He still making them records?

Oh, he made one or two records a long time ago.

That's the only ones I ever known him to make.

If you let him tell it,

he a big recording star.

Is that that piano?

Yeah... that's it, Lymon.

You see how it got all them carvings on it?

Mm-hmm.

That's what I was talking about.

You never find you another piano like that.

Yeah, that looks real nice.

I told you.

Mm-hmm.

You see how it's polished?

My mama used to polish it every day.

Yeah, that's real nice.

I told you.

Mm-hmm.

Hey, Doaker?

Sutter's brother selling the land.

Say he gonna sell it to me.

Say he wanna see me with it.

Ask Lymon. ! Mm-hmm.

How much land Sutter got left?

Got a hundred acres.

Good land.

His brother don't wanna be bothered with it.

Told me he'd let me have it for $2,000 cash money.

Told him to give me two weeks.

That's why I come up here.

Sell all them watermelons.

Get Berniece to sell that piano.

Put them two parts

with the part I done saved.

Ah, Doaker...

I walk in there...

tip my hat,

lay my money down on the table,

get my deed,

and walk on out.

This time...

I get to keep all the cotton.

Hmm.

Berniece ain't gonna sell that piano.

Oh, no, I'm... I'm gonna talk to her, now.

She been playing on it?

Now, you know she won't touch that piano.

I ain't never known her to touch it

since your mama died,

that's over seven years now.

She say it's got blood on it.

She got Maretha playing on it, though.

Oh, Maretha don't need to be playing

on no piano.

She can play on the guitar.

Well, you gonna have a hard time

trying to get Berniece to sell that piano.

You know Avery Brown.

He followed Berniece up here,

trying to get her to marry him

after Crawley got killed.

Call himself a preacher now.

Oh, I know Avery.

Lymon know him, too.

Hey, Avery think all white men is big shots.

He don't know that some white men

ain't got as much as he got.

Mm, that's why I know Berniece

ain't gonna sell that piano.

He tried to get her to sell it

to help him start his church.

Sent a man around and everything.

What man?

Oh, some white fellow was going around

all the colored people's houses

looking to buy up musical instruments.

How much he offer her for it?

Now, you know me.

She didn't say, and I didn't ask.

I just know it was a nice price.

Doaker!

Berniece!

Oh, Berniece!

What's the matter?

You all right?

Sutter.

Sutter is standing at the top of the steps.

Boy Willie!

What's wrong with her, Doaker?!

She says she seen Sutter's ghost

standing at the top of the stairs!

Seen what?

Sutter?

She ain't seen no Sutter!

You want a glass of water, Berniece?

Get her a glass of water, Boy Willie.

She don't need no water.

She ain't seen nothing.

Oh, let Berniece tell it.

What happened, Berniece? I ain't stopping

her from telling it.

I come out of my room to come back down here.

And Sutter was standing in the hall.

What he look like?

He looked like Sutter.

Looked like he always look.

Oh, Sutter couldn't find his way from Big Sandy to Little Sandy.

How he gonna find his way all the way up here to Pittsburgh?

Sutter ain't never even heard of Pittsburgh.

Go on, Berniece.

The man ain't never left Sunflower County

when he was living.

And he gonna come all the way up here

now that he's dead?!

Oh, go on, Berniece.

Don't pay Boy Willie no mind.

Oh.

He was standing there.

He had his hand on top of his head.

Look like he might've thought if he took his hand down,

his head might've fallen off.

Did he have on a hat?

He just had on that blue suit.

Standing there, holding onto

the top of his head.

Calling Boy Willie's name.

What-What he calling my name for?

I believe you pushed him down that well.

Now, what kind of sense that make?

Oh, you telling me I'm gonna go out there and hide in the weeds,

with all them dogs and things he got 'round there,

I'm gonna hide and wait till I catch him

looking down his well just right.

Then, I'm gonna run over and push him in,

a great, big old 340-pound man?

Well, what he call your name for?

He bending over looking down his well, woman.

How he know who pushed him?

Could've been anybody.

Oh, where was you when Sutter fell in his well?

Where was Doaker?

The ghost of the Yellow Dog pushed him.

That's what the people say.

Just like all them other men.

Come talking 'bout he looking for me.

That ain't nothing but in Berniece head.

Ain't no telling what she liable to come up with next.

You don't do nothing but bring trouble with you,

everywhere you go.

If it wasn't for you, my husband would still be alive.

I ain't have nothing to do

with Crawley getting killed.

That was his own fault.

Just go on and leave

and let Sutter go looking somewhere else for you.

Sutter looking for that piano.

That's what he looking for.

He had to die to find out

where that piano was at.

If I was you, I'd get rid of it.

That's the way to get rid of Sutter's ghost.

Get rid of that piano.

I want you and Lymon to go on

and take all this confusion out of my house.

I ain't going nowhere till we sell them watermelons!

Well, why don't you go on out there and sell them?!

We waiting till the people get up.

Come on, Doaker.

Come walk up here with me.

Let me get Maretha started.

I got to get ready myself.

BOY WILLIE If you see Sutter up there,

tell him I'm down here waiting on him.

I wish I could see Sutter.

Then I'd put a whomping on him.

Hey, Sugar.

Come on, give Uncle Boy Willie a hug.

Don't be shy.

Oh, Doaker, look at her.

She done got bigger. Ain't she got big?

Yeah, she getting up there.

How you doing, Sugar?

Fine.

This your Uncle Boy Willie from down south.

Hey, that there Lymon. He my friend.

Hi.

How you doing?

You look just like your mama.

I remember you was wearing diapers.

Hey, you gonna come down south and see me?

Uncle Boy Willie gonna get him a farm.

You come down there, I'll teach you how to ride a mule.

I'll teach you how to kill a chicken, too.

I seen my mama do that.

Oh, it ain't nothing to it.

You just grab him by his neck and twist it.

You get a real good grip.

You just wring his neck, throw him in that pot.

Hey, your mama got you playing on that piano?

You like that?

You like playing on the piano.

It's all right. You just got to read the notes off the paper.

And they be hard to see.

Hey, well, then Uncle Boy Willie gonna buy you a guitar.

Let Uncle Doaker teach you how to play on that.

You don't need to read no paper to play on the guitar.

Maretha.

I got to get ready to go.

You get up here and get ready to go, so you'll be on time.

Whoa.

All right, Doaker.

This smells good.

What you barking at?

Here come Avery now.

I see you out there, messing 'round my tomatoes.

Hey, Doaker. Hey, how you doing?

Look at him, Lymon. Look at him.

He don't know what to say!

How you doing, Avery?!

Great, Boy Willie!

Is that Lymon?

Lymon Jackson!

Yeah, you know Lymon.

Yeah.

What y'all doing up here?

That must be your truck full of watermelons

sitting in front of the house.

Yeah, that's Lymon's truck.

Hey, hey, hey.

Doaker say you a preacher now.

Well.

What?

We supposed to call you Reverend Avery?

I remember you were

down on the Wilshire place planting cotton.

You wasn't thinking 'bout no reverend then.

Avery said he gonna be

a preacher so he don't have to work.

Oh, Avery working.

Avery got him one of them good jobs.

He down there working in one of them skyscrapers.

Yeah, I'm running an elevator.

Got a pension and everything.

They even give you a turkey on Thanksgiving.

Berniece be down in a minute.

She say y'all going down to the bank.

Yeah, I'm going down there.

See if I can get me a loan to expand my church.

How you get to be a preacher, Avery?

It come to me in a dream.

God called me.

Told me he wanted me to be a shepherd for his flock.

And that's what I call my church--

The Good Shepherd Church of God in Christ.

Tell them what you told me.

Tell them about the three hobos.

Well, I was sitting out in this railroad yard,

just watching trains go by.

The train stopped, and these three hobos got off.

Told me to come go along with them.

They give me a candle, told me to light it,

but to make sure it didn't go out.

Then, they took me to this place

that was filled with all kinds of different people,

only they all had sheep heads

and was making noise like sheep make.

And then, they showed me these three doors

and told me to pick one.

Well, I went through one of them doors.

That flame leapt off that candle.

Seemed like my whole head caught fire.

I looks around, there are four or five other fellows

standing now, and then we heard a voice tell us to...

♪ Look out across this valley... ♪

We looked, and we seen the valley was full of wolves.

The voice told us that the sheep people

had to go over to the other side of this valley,

and somebody had to take them.

And then, I heard another voice say,

"Who shall I send?"

And next thing I knew, I said, "Here I am! Send me!"

And that's when I met Jesus.

He said, "If you go, I'll go with you."

Then something told me to say,

"Well, come on, let's go!"

That's when I woke up.

I knew right then I'd been filled with the Holy Ghost,

called to be a servant of the Lord.

Is we gonna take the streetcar?

Ain't no "we."

Me and Avery dropping you off at the Settlement House.

And don't you go down there showing your color, you hear?

How you doing, Avery?

Well, you look nice.

Thank you.

Doaker, I'll see you later.

Hey, Berniece.

What's the name of that man Avery sent past the house?

Say he wants to buy the piano.

I knew it.

I knew it when I first seen't you.

I knew you was up to something.

Berniece, Sutter's brother selling the land.

Say he gonna sell it to me.

Now I need to sell the piano

to get me the money to buy Sutter's land.

I ain't selling that piano, Boy Willie,

and that's all there is to it.

And if that's what you come up here for,

you done come up here for nothing.

Well, all right.

Hey, Doaker.

Mm-hmm.

If Berniece don't want to sell that piano,

I'm 'a go ahead and cut it in half and sell my half.

That's your generator.

You need a new generator.

Can't fix that.

Got to put a new one in there.

Just leave it sit here.

I'll have it ready for you tomorrow.

No, no, we got to have it fixed today.

Well, can't fix it without the part,

and can't get the part till tomorrow.

And that'll cost you $10.

Lymon. Hmm?

Give the man $10. What?

Why I always got to pay?

Here you go.

Come on, let's go see Avery.

We were just talking about you, Wining Boy.

When you left out of here with that sack of money, we thought

we wasn't never gonna see you no more.

Boy Willie said we wasn't gonna see you till you got broke.

Broke?

What you mean broke?

I got a whole pocket full of money.

You wait till he come in here. I'm gonna tell him

about hisself.

They been around here three days trying to sell them watermelons,

but the truck keep breaking down.

Yeah. He say as soon as

he can get that truck empty to where he can

sit that piano up in there, he gonna take it out of here

and go sell it.

Oh, shoot, Berniece ain't gonna sell that piano.

And I can't understand

how he don't know that.

Well, it ain't done nothing but cause trouble.

She need to go ahead and get rid of it.

How long you been in Kansas City?

Oh, since I left here.

Yeah.

Got tied up with some old gal down there.

Oh...

You know Cleotha passed.

Yeah, I heard that.

I was sorry to hear that.

One of her friends wrote and told me

by the name of Willa Dean Purda. Mm-hmm.

I was down there in Kansas City.

She say she know Cousin Rutha, too.

Uh-huh.

It says, "Dear Wining Boy,

"I am writing this letter to let you know

"Miss Cleotha Holman passed on Saturday the first of May.

"She departed this world in the loving arms of her sister,

"Miss Alberta Samuels.

"I know you would want to know this

"and am writing as a friend of Cleotha.

"There have been many hardships since last you seen her,

"but she survived them all and to the end was a good woman

"whom I hope have God's grace and is in His paradise.

"I pray this reaches you about Cleotha.

"Miss Willa Dean Purda,

a friend."

Man, that hit me so.

They was nailing her coffin shut by the time I got the letter.

And that just bust me all up inside.

So I said, "Well, let me go see family,"

so I stopped by here

to see you and Berniece.

Cleotha always did have a nice way about her.

Oh, man, that woman was something!

I used to thank the Lord.

Yeah.

I looked out over my life.

I said, "Well, I had Cleotha."

When it didn't look like there was nothing else

for me, I said, "Well, thank God, at least I had that."

And if ever I go anywhere in this life,

I done known a good woman.

Mm.

Boy Willie,

how high do you think that is?

There go Avery.

Look at him. He wasn't expecting to see us.

Boy Willie, what you doing down here?

Just stopped by to see you.

Come on, take us for a ride.

I can't have no company on my job.

You gonna get me fired.

Oh, you ain't gonna get fired. Come on, Lymon.

Oh, no. That-That rope might break.

A-Avery, ain't you scared that rope gonna break?

Morning, sir.

Morning.

Morning, sir.

Look, I'll be back. Wait for me.

Mm-hmm. Morning, sir.

Morning to you, Avery.

Yeah.

This is nice, Avery.

I can see how they give you

a turkey on Thanksgiving.

Woo-hoo.

Ooh, it run fast, too.

I ain't know it run this fast.

Yeah, it's gonna be all right.

Boy Willie, come back here.

Don't worry, I'll be back.

Hey, Lymon.

Boy Willie, I'm not allowed no company on my job.

I'm working. I ain't got time to talk.

Well, I just stopped by to find out the name of that man

who say he wants to buy the piano.

Doaker say you sent him by the house.

I forgot his name.

He give Berniece a card with his name and number on it,

but I believe she throwed it away.

That's a while back.

I can't recall his name.

See you later, Avery.

Come on, Lymon.

Oh, look it here.

Wining Boy.

What you doing here?

Where you coming from? Where you been?

I've been down in Kansas City.

Hey, you remember Lymon-- Lymon Jackson?

Yeah, yeah.

This my Uncle Wining Boy.

I used to know his daddy.

Hey, Doaker say Berniece asked you

for three dollars,

and you got mad and left.

Oh, shoot.

Berniece try to rule over you too much with me.

Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. That's why I left.

Oh, no, no, no, no.

That wasn't about no three dollars.

Hey, hey, Doaker tell you about Sutter?

The ghosts's of the Yellow Dog got him

about three weeks ago.

Berniece done seen his ghost and everything.

Now, how many that make that the ghost of the Yellow Dog

done got?

I don't know. Must be about nine or ten.

Hey, Berniece say she don't believe in all that

about the ghosts's of the Yellow Dog.

Berniece ain't got to believe it.

You go down there in Sunflower County and ask

them white folks, see if they believe it.

I don't care if Berniece believe it or not.

I done been to where

the tracks of the southern railroad crossed the tracks

of the Yellow Dog.

And called out the names

of the ghosts.

And they talk back to you, too.

Whoa.

You done been there for real,

Wining Boy?

1930.

July 19 and 30.

I stood right there on that spot.

Didn't seem like nothing was going right in my life,

so I said, "Well, let me godown near the ghosts of Yellow Dog,

call on them and see if they can help me."

I went down there, and I stood right there on that spot

and called out their names.

Called out the names of the ghosts.

I didn't want to leave.

And it seemed like

the longer I stood there, the bigger I got.

I seen the train coming,

and it seemed like I got bigger than the train.

Started not to move.

Something told me to go ahead on and get out of the way.

When I walked away from there, I was feeling like a king.

Had a stroke of luck that lasted

for three years, so see, I don't care

if Berniece believe it or not.

I know, because I've been there.

Oh, Berniece don't believe in nothing.

She just thinks she believes.

Oh, now let's not get on Berniece now.

Hey, Doaker tell me that you're gonna buy Sutter's land.

Mm-hmm.

How you know Sutter's brother

ain't sold that land already?

Uh-uh, he say he waiting on me.

Now you know he gonna sell that land

to the first one walk up there and hand him the money.

That's just who I'm gonna be.

Look, you ain't got to know he waiting on me.

I know. I know what the man told me.

The man say he waiting on me, he waiting on me.

Uh-uh, Doaker.

Come on, give me a drink.

I see Wining Boy got his glass.

Wining Boy.

Hey, Doaker tells me

they had you and Lymon down there in the penitentiary

on Parchment Farm.

Had you all down there on my old stomping ground.

Yeah, they looking for Lymon down there now.

Rounded him up, put him in jail for not working.

Mm-hmm. Fined me $100.

Mr. Stovall come and paid my $100.

Mm-hmm.

And the judge say I got to work for him

to pay him back his $100.

I told them I'd rather take my 30 days,

but they wouldn't let me do that.

Uh-uh.

As soon as Stovall turned his back, Lymon was gone.

I told Boy Willie I'm staying up here.

I ain't going back with him.

They treat you better up here.

I ain't worried about nobody mistreating me.

They treat you like you let them treat you.

They mistreat me, I mistreat 'em right back.

Ain't no difference in me and the white man.

Well, now, I'll tell you the difference

between the colored man and the white man.

The colored man can't fix nothing with the law.

Now that's the difference between the colored man

and the white man. Mm.

Oh, I don't... It don't matter to me what the law say.

The law liable to say anything. Mm-hmm.

I take a look at it for myself.

Mm-hmm, and that's why you gonna end up back down there

on the Parchment Farm.

I ain't thinking about no Parchment Farm.

You liable to go back before I do.

No, I ain't.

They had Lymon down there singing "Berta, Berta."

No, they didn't. Why you go telling a lie, Boy Willie?

Yeah, they did. Yeah, they did.

Hey sing, he sing. Never been in no Parchment

penitentiary. He sing.

♪ Oh, Lord ♪

♪ Berta ♪

♪ Oh, now, gal ♪

♪ Well, uh... ♪

♪ Go ahead and marry ♪

♪ Don't ya ♪

♪ Wait on me, oh, huh ♪

♪ Go ahead and marry ♪

♪ Don't ya ♪

♪ Wait on me ♪

♪ Well, now ♪

♪ Might not want ya when I ♪

♪ I go free, oh I ♪

♪ Might not want ya when I ♪

♪ I go free ♪

♪ Well, now... ♪

Come on, Doaker. Doaker know this one.

♪ Whoa, now gal, oh, I ♪

♪ Oh, Lord, Berta, Berta ♪

♪ Oh Lord, gal, well now ♪

♪ Raise 'em up! ♪

♪ Raise 'em up higher, let 'em ♪

♪ Drop on down, oh I ♪

♪ Raise 'em up higher, let 'em ♪

♪ Drop on down, well now ♪

♪ I'm on ol' Parchment, got to ♪

♪ Work hard... ♪

♪ Oh, I, I'm on ol' Parchment ♪

♪ Got to work hard, well now ♪

♪ Oh, Alberta, Berta ♪

♪ Oh, Lord, gal, oh I ♪

♪ Oh, Alberta, Berta ♪

♪ Oh, Lord gal, well now ♪

♪ When you marry, don't you marry a farming man ♪

♪ Oh I ♪

♪ Every day, Monday hoe and a ha ♪

♪ In your hand, well now ♪

♪ When you marry, marry a railroad man ♪

♪ Oh, ah ♪

♪ Every day Sunday, now, now ♪

♪ In your hand, well now ♪

♪ Oh, Alberta, Berta ♪

♪ Oh, Lord gal, oh I ♪

♪ Oh, Alberta, Berta... ♪

Hey, Wining Boy.

Come on, play some piano.

You play the piano. Come on, play.

Lymon want to hear you play. Mm-hmm.

Oh, shoot. I give that piano up.

That's a nice piano.

If I knew how to play it,

I would play it.

Otherwise, I would sell it.

'Cause you can get a nice price for that piano.

That's right. Mm-hmm.

Now, I'm gonna tell you something.

Now, Lymon don't know this.

But I'm 'a tell you why me and Wining Boy say

Berniece ain't gonna sell that piano.

She...

ain't got to sell it.

I'm gonna sell it.

Now, Berniece ain't got no more rights

to that piano than I do.

I'm talking to the man.

Now let me talk to the man.

See now, to understand why we say that,

to understand about that piano...

Mm-hmm.

...well, you got to go back to slavery time.

See, our family was owned

by a fellow named Robert Sutter.

Now that was Sutter's grandfather.

All right.

The piano was owned by a fellow named Joel Nolander.

Now he was one of the Nolander brothers

from down in Georgia.

Now Miss Ophelia--

that was Sutter's wife's name--

she fancied herself a player of the piano,

having taking it up when she was a little girl.

Now it was coming up on their wedding anniversary,

and Sutter figured he'd get her this piano for a present.

The only thing with him,

Sutter ain't had no money.

But he had some slaves.

Told Mr. Nolander he'd give him one and a half slaves

for that piano.

Mr. Nolander told him, say, "Okay."

But he wanted to have the pick of the litter.

He didn't want Sutter to give him just any old body.

So Sutter lined up his slaves,

and out the whole bunch,

Mr. Nolander picked my grandmother, Berniece.

Now, that's who Berniece is named after.

And he picked my daddy

when he wasn't nothing but a little boy.

Nine years old.

So Sutter traded Mama Berniece and my daddy for that piano,

and Mr. Nolander carried them down to his place in Georgia.

Papa Willie Boy stayed on there at Sutter's.

And he never did see his family again.

Miss Ophelia was as happy as she could be

playing on that piano.

She would get up in the morning,

get all dressed up, sit down and play on that piano.

All right...

time go along.

Time go along.

Miss Ophelia got to missing my grandmother.

The way she would cook and clean the house,

and talk with her and whatnot.

And she missed having my daddy around the house

to fetch things for her.

So, she asked to see if maybe

she trade the piano back and get her slaves back.

Well, Mr. Nolander said no.

A deal was a deal.

Well, him and Sutter had a big falling out about it,

and Miss Ophelia took sick to the bed.

That's when Sutter called my granddaddy up to the house.

Now, our granddaddy's name

was Boy Willie.

Now that's who Boy Willie is named after.

He was a worker of wood.

Uh-huh.

Ah, he could make you anything you wanted out of wood.

Yeah.

So, Sutter called my grandfather up to the house

and told him to carve a picture of my grandmamma,

and my daddy's picture on the piano for Miss Ophelia.

And he took and carved this.

See that right there?

Mm-hmm.

That's my grandmother, Berniece.

And here he put a picture of my daddy.

Now he made them up out of his memory.

The only thing, he didn't stop there.

He carved all this.

He got a picture of his mama, Mama Esther,

and his daddy, Boy Charles.

Now that was

the first Boy Charles.

Then he put here on this side

all kinds of things.

Mm-hmm.

That's when him and Mama Berniece got married.

They called it "Jumping the broom."

And here he got when my daddy was born.

And he got here Mama Esther's funeral.

And here he got Mr. Nolander taking Mama Berniece

and my daddy away to his place down in Georgia.

Now he got all kinds of things

that what happened with our family.

When Sutter seen the piano with all them carvings on it,

he got mad.

He didn't ask for all that.

When Miss Ophelia seen it, she got excited.

Now she had her piano, and her slaves, too.

She took back to playing on it,

and played on it right up to the day she died.

All right.

Now...

our brother, Boy Charles--

that's Boy Willie and Berniece's daddy--

now I'll tell you what kinda man he was.

He was the oldest of us three boys.

He dead now, but he would've been 57 if he lived.

He died in 1911 when he was 31 years old.

Boy Charles used to talk about that piano all the time.

He never could get it off his mind.

Even years later, he was still talking about it.

He'd be talking about taking it out of Sutter's house.

Say it was the story of our whole family,

and as long as the Sutters had it,

they had us.

Say we were still in slavery.

Well, me and Wining Boy would try to talk him out of it,

but it wouldn't do any good.

So, on the Fourth of July in 1911,

when the Sutter family was at the picnic

that the county give every year,

we went on in there with him

and took that piano out of Sutter's house.

Me and Wining Boy carried it over into the next county

to Boy Willie's mama--

Mama Ola and her people.

Now, I don't know what happened

when Sutter came home and found the piano gone,

but somebody went up to Boy Charles' house

and set it afire.

But he wasn't in there.

He must've seen it coming, 'cause he went down

and caught the 3:57 Yellow Dog.

Now he ain't know they was gonna come down and stop the train.

They stopped the train and found Boy Charles in the boxcar

with four of them hobos.

They must've got mad when they couldn't find the piano,

'cause they set the boxcar afire.

They killed... everybody.

Now nobody know who done that.

Some people say it was Sutter, because it was his piano.

Some people say it was Sheriff Carter,

but don't nobody know for sure.

It's about two months after that Ed Saunders fell down his well.

Just up and fell down his well for no reason.

People say it was the ghosts of those men

who burnt up in the boxcar

that pushed him in his well.

They started calling them the "ghosts of the Yellow Dog."

Now that's how all that got started.

And that's why we say Berniece ain't gonna sell that piano.

'Cause her daddy died over it.

Yeah, well...

that's all in the past.

If my daddy had seen

where he could've traded that piano in

for some land of his own,

it wouldn't be sitting up here now.

He spent his whole life farming on somebody else's land.

Doaker, I ain't gonna do that.

And the only thing my daddy had to give me

was that piano,

and he died over giving me that,

and I ain't gonna let it sit up there and rot

without trying to do something with it.

And, Doaker, you know I'm right.

I ain't said nothing about

who's right or who's wrong.

I was just telling the man about the piano.

I was telling him why we say Berniece ain't gonna sell it.

I told Boy Willie he ought to stay up here with me.

You stay, Lymon. All right? You stay!

Stay up here and make it your own way, if that's what you want to do!

I'm going back and live my life the way I wanna live it!

Hey, let's see what we got here.

You know, I ain't played this thing for a while.

You was playing on it

the last time you come through here.

We couldn't get you off of it.

Go on, play something.

♪ I'm a rambling, gambling man ♪

♪ I gambled in many towns ♪

♪ I rambled this wide world over ♪

♪ And I rambled this world around ♪

♪ I've had my ups and downs through life ♪

♪ Lord, bitter times I saw ♪

♪ I never knew what measly was ♪

♪ Till I land on Arkansas ♪

♪ Well, I work six months for a rascal ♪

♪ Joe Harry was his name ♪

♪ Well, he fed me old corn dodgers ♪

♪ That was a-hard as any rock ♪

♪ Well, my tooths is all got looser ♪

♪ And my knees began to knock ♪

♪ Well, that was the kind of hash I got ♪

♪ In the state of Arkansas ♪

Come on, Boy Willie!

♪ Travelin' man ♪

♪ Yes, I travel all around the world ♪

♪ Yes, I'm a travelin' man ♪

♪ Yes, I traveled from the land of man ♪

Whoo! ♪Yes, I'm a ♪

♪ Travelin' man ♪ ♪

♪ Yes, I traveled all around the world ♪

♪ Well, now, it ain't no use ♪

♪ Sweatin' no news ♪

♪ I'm a travelin' man! ♪

I know that ain't Wining Boy sitting there.

Berniece!

You all had this planned!

You and Boy Willie had this planned!

Oh, Berniece,

I didn't know he was gonna be here.

No, no.

Maretha, go on upstairs and change your clothes.

Uncle Wining Boy!

Maretha, yeah!

Oh! Wining Boy, let me get ready.

I'm gonna fix you something to eat. All right.

Yeah...

Hey, Lymon? Hmm?

Get up on this side of the piano and let me see something.

Boy Willie, what you doing? I'm seeing how heavy this piano is.

Get up over there, Lymon.

Go one and leave that piano alone.

You ain't taking that piano out here and selling it.

One, two, three.

You gonna play around with me

one too many times, Boy Willie.

And then God gonna bless you and rest's gonna dress you.

Now set that piano back over there.

I need this piano to get me some money to buy Sutter's land.

Money can't buy what that piano cost.

You can't sell your soul for money.

I ain't talking about selling my soul.

I'm talking about trading

that piece of wood for some land.

Land is the only thing God ain't making no more of.

You can always get you another piano.

Wining Boy, you want me to fry you some pork chops?

Yeah.

Now I'm gonna tell you the way I see it now.

The only thing make that piano worth something is them

carvings Papa Willie Boy put on there.

That was my

great-granddaddy.

Now Papa Boy Charles brought that piano into the house.

I'm supposed to build on what they left me.

All right.

If you say to me, "Boy Willie, I'm using the piano.

I give out lessons on it, and that help me make my rent,"

or whatever, then that'd be something else.

But Doaker say you ain't touched the piano the whole time

it's been up here, so why you want to stand in my way?

Now I want to get Sutter's land with that piano, Berniece.

Now the kind of man my daddy was,

he would've understood that.

And Berniece,

I'm sorry if you can't see it that way.

But that's why I'm gonna take that piano out of here,

and I'm gonna sell it.

You ain't taking that piano out of my house.

Look at that piano.

Look at it!

Mama Ola polished this piano

with her tears for 17 years.

For 17 years, she rubbed on it

till her hands bled.

Then she rubbed the blood

and mixed it up with the rest of the blood on it.

Every day that God breathed life into her body,

she rubbed and cleaned

and polished and prayed over it.

"Play something for me, Berniece."

"Play something for me, Berniece."

Every day.

"I cleaned it up for you."

"Play something for me, Berniece."

You always talking about your daddy,

but you ain't never stopped

to look at what his foolishness cost your mama.

17 years worth of cold nights in her empty bed.

And for what?

For a piano?

For a piece of wood?

To get even with somebody.

I look at you, and you're all the same.

You, Papa Boy Charles,

Wining Boy, Doaker, Crawley!

You all alike!

All this thieving and killing.

And thieving and killing.

And what it ever lead to?

More killing, more thieving.

I ain't never seen it come to nothing.

People getting burnt up.

People getting shot.

People falling down their wells.

It don't never stop.

I ain't never killed nobody.

Now, I can't speak for nobody else,

but I ain't never killed nobody.

You killed Crawley

just as sure as you pulled the trigger.

Now you see, that's ignorant.

That's downright foolish for you to say

something like that, Berniece.

Crawley tried to be a big man

and bully them fellas, and they cut

him down.

That was his own fault.

It's the smart man that lives

to fight another day.

Crawley ain't know you stole that wood.

Oh, we ain't stole no wood, Berniece.

Me and Lymon was hauling wood

for Jim Miller, keeping us a little bit on the side.

We dumped that little bit off

down there by the creek until we had enough to make a load.

Me and Boy Willie told him

about the wood.

We told him some fellas might be trying

to beat us to it.

He say, "Let me go back and get my .38."

Now that's what caused all the trouble.

If Crawley ain't had that gun,

he'd be alive today.

He'd liked to got me and Lymon killed.

They shot Lymon in his stomach.

We had it about halfway loaded when they come up on us.

We seen the sheriff was with them, and we tried

to get away.

We ducked around near that bend in the creek,

but they was down there, too.

Boy Willie say, "Let's give in."

But Crawley pulled out his gun and started shooting,

and that's when they started

shooting back.

All I know is, Crawley would be alive

if you hadn't come up there and got him.

My husband is dead and in the ground,

and you still walking around here eating.

That's all I know.

He went off to load some wood with you,

and he ain't never come back.

Berniece, I ain't have nothing to do

with Crawley getting killed.

It was his own fault. He ain't here, is he?

I said, he ain't

here, he ain't here!

Come on, come on, Berniece. Is he?

Don't do this, Berniece, come on. He ain't here.

He ain't here, is he? He ain't here!

Come on.

He ain't here! Come on now.

Berniece, let it go. It ain't his fault.

He ain't here, is he? Now, stop it. I ain't had nothing...

He ain't... he ain't... I told you I ain't responsible for Crawley...

He ain't here, is he? Is he?

♪ I'm gonna leave Jackson, Mississippi ♪

♪ Go to Memphis ♪

♪ Double on back to Jackson ♪

♪ Come on down to Hattiesburg ♪

♪Change cars on the Yellow Dog... ♪

Watermelons!

♪Red to the ripe ♪ ♪Red... red ♪

Watermelons! Hey people, we got watermelons!

Watermelons!

Watermelons, sweet and green.

We got watermelons.

♪ Best watermelon you ever seen. ♪

♪ Can a highball pass on through? ♪

Highball on through, sir.

Grand Carson, 31st Street Depot,

Fourth Street Depot...

♪ I'm on my way to Memphis...♪

Are your watermelons sweet?

Is they sweet?

Lady, where we grow

these watermelons, we put sugar in the ground.

I never heard

of such a thing.

Oh, yeah, we put it right in the ground with the seed.

Taste it.

Mmm! Mmm.

It's sweet.

Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

I'll take two of them. Oh, you want two.

Hey, two watermelons for the lady.

Two watermelons coming up.

♪ One watermelon's awful sweet ♪

♪ Two watermelons can't be beat ♪

♪ Three is better, and four is best ♪

♪ Somebody come up here and buy the rest... ♪

All right, give this lady a watermelon here.

Give this lady a watermelon here.

Here you go, lady.

All right, lady.

All right, give me that money first, ma'am.

Here we go, James.

Yeah.

♪ ...And she's a beauty ♪

♪ I bet you five dollars she can't do this ♪

♪ A lady on one foot ♪

♪ One foot, one foot ♪

♪ A lady... ♪

Hey, mister.

I thought you took that suit to the pawn shop.

I went down there,

and the man say the suit is too old.

Now look at this suit.

This is 100% genuine silk.

Now how is a silk suit gonna get too old?

Well, they got another pawn shop up on Wylie.

Mm-hmm, I carried it up there.

He didn't want it, either.

He don't take no clothes.

The only thing he take is guns,

radios and maybe a guitar or two.

Well, Maretha's scared to sleep up there now.

Hmm.

Berniece figure if Boy Willie leave,

Sutter's ghost will follow.

She don't know,

I seen Sutter's ghost before Boy Willie come.

Say what?!

Yeah, I was in

my room, and I heard that piano playing.

I thought it was Berniece,

but then she don't play that kind of music.

I come out,

and I didn't see nobody, but them piano keys

was moving a mile a minute.

Well, I tell you outright.

If I see Sutter's ghost,

I'll be on the first thing that got wheels on it.

How we do?

Charge them a quarter more. All right.

Watermelons! Fresh, ripe, red!

We got watermelons out here!

What time Berniece get home?

I don't see how I let her get away from me this morning.

What kind of business you got with Berniece?

My business.

I ain't ask you what kind of business you got.

Now Berniece ain't got no money,

if that's why you was trying to catch her.

She having a hard enough time trying to get by as it is.

Well, let me have $5.

I just give you a dollar 'fore you left out of here.

You ain't gonna take my $5 out there

and gamble and drink it up.

Oh, let me have $5.

I'll give it back to you.

Make it seven? You take this $5, and you bring

my money back here, too. We almost sold

all of them, Boy Willie!

Oh, boy!

Boy, they was lining up for them, boy.

Me and Boy Willie couldn't sell them fast enough.

Oh, I got something for Lymon.

I ain't never seen nobody snatch a dollar fast as Boy Willie.

Hey, Lymon. Hmm?

Look at this.

Whoa...

This is 100% genuine silk!

Come on, put it on, see how it fit you.

Yeah.

I got that in Chicago.

See, you can't get clothes like this

nowhere but in New York or Chicago.

See, you can't get clothes like that here in Pittsburgh.

See, these folks here in Pittsburgh,

they ain't never seen no clothes like this.

Yeah, this is nice.

This feel real nice and smooth.

Yeah.

Woo...

That's a $55 suit. Oh.

Yeah, that's the kind of suit

the big shots wear.

Oh, you need you a pistol and a pocketful of money

to wear a suit like that.

No, no, no.

Now, I'll let you have it... for $3.

All the women will fall out their windows,

they see you in a suit like that.

Ow.

Yeah, go on, give me $3.

Go on down the street, get dressed and get you a woman.

Oh, that look nice, Lymon.

Put on the pants.

Let me see it with the pants.

Yeah.

Yeah, now don't that look nice?

Yeah, see, now go on and give me $3.

Go on and take it.

Look, I got a shirt to go with it.

Cost you a dollar extra.

Four dollars, you got the whole deal.

Four dollars for everything?

The suit and the shirt?

Now that's cheap.

All right.

Now, you got some shoes? Uh-uh.

What size shoes you wear? Size nine.

That's what size I got, size nine.

Look, I'll let you have them for $3.

Where they at? Let me see them.

They nice shoes, too.

They got a nice tip to them.

They got a pointed toe just like you want.

Come on, Boy Willie,

let's go out tonight.

We can go to a picture show and find some women!

Hey, Doaker, I got the name of that man

say he want to buy the piano.

The man was fixing the truck gave me his name.

I got his name and number.

It ain't gonna do you no good.

All right.

Here you go, size nine.

All right, put them on.

Eh... that's the kind Stagger Lee wore.

Yeah, now that'll cost you $3.

Woo.

You sure this size nine?

Well, now, you can

look at my feet and see we wear the same size.

Look, go on and take them.

Two dollars.

Come on, Boy Willie.

Let's go find some women.

Hey, look like you ready to railroad some, boy.

Yeah, I got to make that run overnight to Philadelphia.

How I look?

Whoa! Whoa, boy!

You look like a million dollars! Whoo!

Don't he look good, Doaker?

Yeah.

Ah, boy, yeah.

Hey, you want to play some cards?

Come on, let's play some cards.

Oh, no, no, no.

We ain't gonna play no cards with you.

Lymon, don't you play no cards with Wining Boy.

He'll take all your money.

Oh, you got a magic suit there.

Oh, now, you'll get you a woman easy with a suit like that.

But you got to know the magic words.

You know the magic words to get you a woman?

Uh-uh.

I just talk to them, see if I like them and they like me.

Oh, that man don't need you to tell him nothing about no women.

These women these days ain't gonna fall

for that kind of stuff you talking.

You got to buy them a present.

That's what they're looking for these days.

Come on, I'm ready.

You ready, Lymon?

Uh-huh.

Let's go find some women.

I'm gonna walk out with you.

I want to see them women

fall out their windows when they see Lymon.

No, no. Now don't mess with that man's shoes.

Oh, you looking good.

Hey, there you go, Doaker.

All right, I got to go this way. All right. See you later.

Y'all stay out of trouble. All right.

Like I told you now, they gonna fall out their windows.

All right, boy. All right.

Boy Willie... whoo!

You get the tickets, Lymon.

Come on, Boy Willie.

Come on.

Oh, John, please listen to me.

Please, I can explain everything.

John, I didn't know what they were going to do!

Let me go with you, John!

Please?

Please, let me explain it to you, John!

Please let me go with you!

Please! John!

He wants to see you.

Listen to me, ma'am. I want you to do as I say.

I want them both arrested.

You tell the police department to pick up Trammell.

I've got the girl here.

I don't care what you charge him with.

If you're worried, let him go in the morning,

but keep him in jail overnight.

Sit down there!

Hey, sit down, man.

I've got your father's diary, Ann.

Father's...?

I never knew he had a diary.

There's enough in there for 100 speeches.

Things people ought to hear nowadays...

Hey, Wining Boy back in town.

Hey, Wining Boy, over here, baby.

Hey, Wining Boy, good to see you again.

Wining Boy.

Hey, Wining Boy.

♪ Oh, 'tis thee, oh ♪

♪ Ship of life... ♪

Who is it?

It's me, Avery.

Avery, I was just getting ready to take my bath.

Oh, where Boy Willie?

I see that truck out there almost empty.

They was gone when I got home.

I don't know where they went off to.

Boy Willie around here 'bout to drive me crazy.

Well, they sell them watermelons, he be gone soon.

Berniece, I be sitting at home

and I get to thinking

I'm down there and you up here.

Now, you know how I feel about you, Berniece.

I get to thinking how that look

to have a preacher that ain't married.

Now it make for a better congregation

if the preacher was settled down and married.

Not now, Avery.

I'm fixing to take my bath.

I ain't got much in the way of comfort.

I got a hole in my pocket

near about far as money's concerned,

but I ain't never found my way through life

to a woman I care about like I care about you.

Now, I need that.

I need somebody on my bond side.

Now I need a woman that fits in my hand.

Avery, I'm not ready to get married now.

Now, you too young a woman to close up, Berniece.

I ain't said nothing about closing up.

I got a lot of woman left in me.

So, where's it at?

When the last time you looked at it?

That's a nasty thing to say.

And you call yourself a preacher.

You trying to tell me a woman ain't nothing

unless she got a man?

You can just walk outta here without me,

without a woman, and you still a man.

That's all right for you.

But everybody gonna be worried about Berniece.

"How Berniece gonna take care of herself?

How she gonna raise that kid without a man?"

Everybody telling me I can't be a woman without a man.

Well, you tell me, Avery, you know.

How much woman am I?

It wasn't me, Berniece.

Now you can't blame me for Crawley or nobody else.

I ain't blaming nobody for nothing.

Just stating facts.

This is a big world.

Life's got all kinds of twists and turns,

but that don't mean you stop living.

Now, you can't go through life

carrying Crawley's ghost with you.

Crawley been dead three years.

Three years, Berniece.

I know how long Crawley been dead.

You ain't got to tell me that.

Well I'm standing here now, Berniece.

But I don't know how much longer

I'm gonna be standing here waiting on you.

Avery, it's just that I've got so many other things

on my mind right now.

After I come home yesterday,

me and Boy Willie were arguing

about the piano, and Maretha saw Sutter's ghost

standing at the top of the steps.

She's scared to sleep up there now.

Maybe if you bless the house, he'll go away.

I don't know, Berniece.

Now, I don't know if I should fool around

with something like that.

I keep telling myself that when Boy Willie leaves

Sutter's ghost will leave, too,

but now he talking about selling the piano.

Well, maybe if Boy Willie see you was doing something with it.

If you told him you was gonna

put it down in the church and start a choir.

When my mama died, I closed the lid on that piano

and I ain't opened it since.

She used to have me playing on it.

I used to think them pictures come to life at night

and walk around the house.

Sometimes late at night I could hear my mama talking to them.

I said that wasn't gonna happen to me.

I don't play on that piano

'cause I don't wanna wake them spirits.

Then they'll be walking around this house.

Now you got to put

all that behind you, Berniece.

Everybody got stones in their pathway.

You got to step over them or walk around them.

Now you picking them up and carrying them with you.

You can walk over there right now and play that piano.

You can walk over there right now.

And God'll walk over there with you.

Come on, Berniece.

Play That Old Ship of Zion.

You can walk over here,

claim it as an instrument of the Lord.

You can walk over here right now...

...and make this into a celebration.

Avery...

Bible says, "The Lord is my refuge

and my strength."

With the strength of God, you can put the past behind you.

With the strength of God,

you can do anything.

Avery, just leave.

Let me finish my bath.

I'll see you tomorrow.

Okay, Berniece.

I'm gonna go home and read up on my Bible.

And tomorrow...

good Lord, give me strength.

I'm gonna come by and bless this house.

And show you the power of the Lord.

Now, it's gonna be all right, Berniece.

God said He'll soothe the troubled water.

You crazy.

I'm telling you...

Come on in.

This my sister's house.

My sister live here.

Come on, I ain't gonna bite you.

Shh! ( laughing growslouder )

Shh!

Oh, put some light on.

I can't see. Shh!

All you need to see is me.

If you can't see me, you can feel me in the dark.

How's that, sugar?

Go on, now wait.

Oh, come on. Give me a little kiss.

Boy Willie, what you doing down here?

You know I don't allow that in my house.

You have to take

your "company" somewhere else.

Allow what?

We just sitting here talking.

I'm sorry, Miss, but he know I don't allow that.

Uh, you ain't got to tell me but once.

I don't stay nowhere I ain't wanted.

Now you ain't... you ain't gotta be like that, Berniece.

Embarrassing me in front of my company.

Come on!

Take me home.

Go on, Boy Willie.

Go on with your company.

Boy Will...

How you doing, Berniece?

I thought you'd be 'sleep.

Boy Willie been back here?

He just left out of here just a minute ago.

I was with this woman.

She just wanted to drink up all my money.

So I left there

come back looking for Boy Willie.

You just missed him. He just left out of here.

They got some nice-looking women in this city.

I'm gonna like it up here real good. Mm-hmm.

Boy Willie met a real nice one.

Wish I met her before he did.

He just left out of here with some woman

just a little while ago.

What she look like?

The woman he was with.

Was she a real dark-skinned woman about this high?

Nice and healthy.

Got nice hips on her?

She had on a red dress.

That's her. That's Grace.

She real nice. Mm-hmm.

I seen't her before Boy Willie did, only...

he beat me to her.

Doaker gone, huh?

Say he had to make a trip.

He had to make a trip.

He's still cooking for the Pennsylvania Railroad.

This is usually my time I get some peace and quiet.

Maretha's asleep.

She look just like you.

Got them big eyes.

She sure is pretty.

Boy Willie say you staying.

What you gonna do in the big city?

You thought about that?

They'll never get me back down there.

I figure I'd find me a job.

Try to get set up. See what the year bring.

It's not a bad city, once you get to know your way around.

Wining Boy told me I wear this suit,

I'd find me a woman.

He was almost right.

You don't need to be out there

in them saloons.

Ain't no telling what you're liable to run into out there.

I don't know what them women out there

be thinking about.

Mostly they be lonely.

Looking for somebody to spend the night with them.

Sometime it matter who it is, sometime it don't.

I used to be the same way.

Now it got to matter.

The way I see it,

we the only two people like us in the world.

We got to see how we fit together.

A woman who don't want to take the time to do that,

I don't bother with them.

How come you ain't married?

I get me a job and a little place

and get set up to where I can make a woman comfortable,

I might get married.

Avery nice.

You ought to go on ahead and get married.

You'd be a preacher's wife and not have to work.

I hate living by myself.

I ain't want to be no strain on my mama

so I left home.

I was about 16.

Everything I tried, seem like it just didn't work out.

Now I'm trying this.

You keep on trying.

It'll work out for you.

You ever go down there to the picture show?

I don't go in for all that.

It ain't like gambling or sinning or nothing.

Ain't nothing wrong with it.

I stay at home most of the time and take care of Maretha.

It's getting kinda late.

Was you in bed?

I ain't mean to be keeping you up.

You ain't

keeping me up.

You got on that nightgown.

I likes women who wear them fancy nightclothes and all.

It makes their skin look pretty.

I-I got this at the five-and-ten-cent store.

It ain't so fancy.

I don't too often get to see a woman dressed like that.

Wining Boy told me this was a magic suit.

I'm 'a put it on again tomorrow.

See if it bring me a woman like he say.

I almost forgot I had this.

Some man sold me this for a dollar.

Said it's the same kind of perfume

the Queen of France wear.

Mm-hmm, I smelled it.

It smell good to me.

Here, you smell it.

See if you like it.

I was gonna give it to Dolly,

but I ain't like her too much.

It smells nice.

I wanna give it to you.

Make you smell nice.

They tell me you supposed to put it right here.

Behind your ear.

Say if you put it there, it make you smell nice all day.

There.

You smell real good now.

You smell real good

for Lymon.

Berniece.

Lymon.

Lymon, come on. Get up.

Leave me alone.

Come on. What you want?

Come on, let's go.

I called the man about the piano.

He said to bring it on out.

Why didn't you tell him

to come and pick it up?

I didn't want to have no problem

with Berniece.

This way we can just take it on out there

and it'd be out of the way.

He just say have it to him by 6:00.

Come on, let's go.

All right, look...

Come on, Lymon.

Look. Look.

All you gotta do just move your end out

so we can work it towards the door.

Now you gotta get a real good grip on it now.

I-I got this side. You just get that side.

Wait till I say ready, all right?

Now you got it good? You got a real good grip on it?

Yeah, I got it. Just push that side.

All right. On three.

One,

two,

three.

Wait a minute. Something holding this.

This is gonna take more than me and you to move this piano.

We can do it. Come on.

Hey, Doaker.

How did this piano get in the house?

Boy Willie, what you doing?

I'm carrying this piano out the house.

What it look like I'm doing?

Come on, Lymon. Let's try it again.

Go on let the piano sit

over there till Berniece come home.

You ain't got nothing to do with this, Doaker.

This is my business.

This is my house.

And I ain't gonna let you

or nobody else carry nothing out of it.

This is my piano.

This ain't got nothing to do with you.

I say leave it set over there till Berniece come home.

She got part of it, too.

Leave it set there

till you see what she say.

I don't care

what Berniece say.

Come on, Lymon. I got this side.

All you gotta do is move your end out.

How we gonna get it in the truck?

Leave that piano set over there

till Berniece come back.

I don't care what you do with it then.

But you gonna leave it sit

over there right now.

All right.

I'm gonna tell you this, Doaker.

I'm going out of here.

I'm gonna get me some rope.

Find me a plank and some wheels, then I'm coming back.

When I come back

I'm gonna carry that piano out of here,

sell it and give Berniece half the money.

You see now that's what I'm gonna do

and you or nobody else gonna stop me.

Come on, Lymon.

Let's go get some rope and stuff.

I'll be back, Doaker.

My Lord.

Then after that...

all them white folks down there

started falling down their wells.

Everybody say

the ghosts's of the Yellow Dog pushed them.

Why they wanna call them that?

'Cause the Yazoo Delta Railroad

got yellow boxcars.

Sometimes the way the whistle

blow...

sound like an old dog howling.

So the people call it the Yellow Dog.

Maretha, you go on

and get ready for me to do your hair. Yes, ma'am.

Boy Willie, I done told you

to leave my house.

I ain't playing with Boy Willie.

I got Crawley's gun upstairs.

You don't know it,

but I am through with it.

Where Lymon go?

Boy Willie sent him for some rope

just before you come in.

I ain't standing Boy Willie

or Lymon or the rope.

Maretha, you go run across the street

and get me another can of hair grease.

And you come straight back, too.

Don't be playing around out there.

Be careful crossing the street.

Yes, ma'am.

Boy Willie, I done told you to leave my house.

There, now I'm outta your part of the house.

Consider me to left your part.

Soon Lymon come back with that rope,

I'm gonna take that piano outta here and sell it.

You ain't touching that piano.

I'm gonna carry it out of here just as big and bold

like my daddy would've done come time to get Sutter's land.

Oh, why don't y'all stop that?

Boy Willie, go on and leave her alone.

You know how Berniece get.

I ain't thinking about Berniece.

Did you say Avery gonna stop by?

What Avery gonna do?

Avery can't do nothing with me.

I wish Avery would say something to me about this piano.

Berniece ain't said about that.

Light that stove and set that comb over there to get hot.

And get something to put around your shoulders.

How do you do?

Pastor.

Ow!

Be still, Maretha. If you was a boy, I wouldn't have

to go through this. Oh, don't you tell

that girl that. Why you wanna tell here that? You ain't got nothing

to do with this child. Telling her you wish she was a boy?!

How that's gonna make her feel?

If you wanna tell her something, tell her about that piano.

You ain't even told her about that piano.

I got something to be ashamed of.

You ought to mark down on the calendar

the day Papa Boy Charles brought that piano into the house.

And every year when it come up,

throw a party. Have a celebration.

That way she know where she at in the world.

You got her going out here thinking

she all wrong in the world.

Like there ain't no part of it belong to her.

You let me take care of my child.

When you get one of your own, then you can teach it

what you want to teach it.

Now, what I want to bring a child into this world for now?

Now, look, I ain't got no advantages

to offer nobody.

Many is the time I looked at my daddy

and seen him staring off

at his hands.

I got a little older, I know just what he was thinking.

He's sitting there

saying...

"I got these big old hands, but what I'm 'a do with them?

"I can take and build something with these hands,

"but where's the tools?

All I got is these hands."

See, now, if he had his own land

he wouldn't have felt that way.

If he had something

under his feet that belonged to him

he could stand up taller. That's what I'm talking about.

If you got a piece of land

everything else will fall right into place.

That's all you got going for you is talk.

All your whole life

that's all you had going for you was talk.

Straighten up your head, Maretha.

Don't be bending down like that.

All I'm trying to do is mark my passing

on the road.

Just like you write it on a tree.

"Boy Willie was here!"

That's all I'm trying to do.

My heart say for me

to sell that piano and get me some land

to make a life for myself to live in my own way.

Other than that,

I ain't thinking about nothing Berniece got to say.

Here we go.

Lymon, I been wait...

Oh, I thought you was Lymon.

Lymon?

Hey, Berniece, look who here.

Come on in, Avery.

Don't pay Boy Willie no mind.

Don't pay neither one of them no mind.

They been arguing all day.

Well, how's everybody in here?

Oh, Berniece say you was coming by to bless the house.

Yeah. I done read up on my Bible.

She asked me to come by and see if I could get rid of Sutter's ghost.

There ain't no ghost in this house.

That's all in Berniece head.

Go on up there and see if you see him.

I'll give you $100 if you see him.

That's all in her imagination.

Boy Willie, why don't you just be quiet?

This ain't got nothing to do with you.

Let him go ahead and do what he gonna do.

I ain't stopping him.

Avery ain't got no power to do nothing.

Oh, I ain't got no power?!

Well, God's got the power.

Now God's got power over everything in His creation.

God can do anything.

God's got a wonderful power.

He's got power over life and death.

Now Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead.

They was getting ready to bury him.

And Jesus, He told him, "Sir, rise up and walk."

And he got up and walked.

And the people made great rejoicing

in the power of God.

Now, I ain't worried about Him

chasing away no little old ghost.

Mm-mm-mm!

Hey, where you been?

I been waiting on you,

and you run off somewhere? Give me that rope.

I ran into Grace. I stopped and bought her a dress.

She said she gonna go to a picture show with me.

Hi, Berniece.

I ain't thinking about no Grace nothing.

Get up on this side of the piano.

Boy Willie, don't start nothing now.

Leave the piano alone.

Get that board over there, Lymon.

Stay out of this, Doaker.

You just can't take the piano.

How you gonna take the piano?

Berniece ain't said nothing about selling that piano.

She ain't got to say nothing.

Come on, Lymon. We got to lift one end

at a time on the board.

You got to watch, so that the board don't slide up under there.

What we gonna do with the rope?

Let me worry about the rope.

Just get up on this side

over here with me.

Boy Willie!

Berniece!

Now, why don't y'all sit down

and talk this out now?

Ain't nothing to talk out. I'm through talking to Berniece.

Come on, Lymon. Get upon this side.

Throw that rope over there and tie it on to the leg.

Wait a minute. Berniece?

Did you tell Boy Willie he could take this piano?

Boy Willie ain't taking nothing out of this house but hisself.

Come on, Lymon. Get up on this side over here with me.

Berniece, I got to do this now.

Boy Willie say he gonna

give you half the money.

Go. Just go on, Lymon.

I done told Boy Willie what to do.

Boy Willie, you sure you want to do this?

The way I figure it--

I might be wrong--

but I figure she gonna shoot you first.

Well...

she...

is just gonna have to shoot me.

Mommy, please, don't do it.

Go on, get out of here, Maretha. No, Mommy!

Doaker, get her on out of here!

Mommy, no, no! Mommy!

I stopped at that Seaver place.

These folks are running around here

talking about Pass Deck Red is coming.

Wining Boy, sit down somewhere.

Back away. Back away. Ah...

Been out drinking all day. Come in here smelling

like an old polecat. Sit down out the way. There!

You know Berniece don't like all that drinking.

Oh, I ain't disrespecting Berniece. Berniece,

am I disrespecting you?

I'm just trying to be nice.

Oh, I been out with strangers all day.

And they treat me like family.

I come up in here to family, and you

treat me like I'm a stranger!

Why don't you go somewhere and lay down?

Oh, I ain't thinking about no laying down.

I'm gonna play me some piano!

Come on. No, Wining Boy. Me and Lymon

fixing to move the piano, Wining Boy. No, no...

Wining Boy, come on, now, come on!

Now, wait a minute. Wining...? Oh! Aw, man!

Wait a minute, now.

I wrote this song for Cleotha.

I wrote this

in memory of Cleotha.

♪ Hey, pretty woman ♪

♪ What's the matter ♪

♪ With you now? ♪

♪ Had a storm last night ♪

♪ Drove the line all down ♪

♪ Tell me how ♪

♪ Long ♪

♪ I gotta wait ♪

♪ Can I get it now ♪

♪ Or must I hesitate? ♪

♪ It takes the hesitatin' stockings ♪

♪ And the hesitatin' shoes ♪

♪ Takes a hesitatin' woman ♪

♪ Gonna sing the blues ♪

♪ Tell me, tell me how long ♪

♪ Yeah, I've got to wait ♪

♪ Can I kiss you now ♪

♪ Or must I hesitate? ♪

♪Yeah... ♪ Come on, Wining Boy. Come on now.

Come on, Wining Boy. Me and... me and Lymon fixing to work here.

Wining Boy, me and Lymon fixing to move the piano.

You are not moving this piano.

Come on, Wining Boy! Get out the way, now!

You take this piano out this house,

you got to take me with it.

Get out the way, Wining Boy.

Doaker, get him, I ain't playing with him now.

I'll get him, Doaker.

Come on, Wining Boy. Boy Willie ain't taking this piano.

You got to take me with it.

Get that end, Lymon.

Boy Willie, this thing don't want to move.

Is Lymon here?

Lymon.

I thought you was coming back.

I ain't gonna sit in that truck all day.

I told you I'd be

right back. Lymon?

You have to take your company someplace else.

You told me you was gonna take me to the movies.

I got to help Boy Willie move the piano.

I ain't waiting on you. You told me you was coming right back.

Now you got to move a piano?

I knew I shouldn't have come back here.

You just like all the other men.

Something ain't right here.

I knew

I shouldn't have come back up

in... here!

Wait! I'll be right back, Boy Willie.

Where you going? I got to take Grace home.

Hey, Lymon, no!

Doaker. Uh-huh.

You feel that?

Uh-huh.

Berniece, do you feel cold?

Doaker...

I believe that was Sutter.

Avery, go ahead and bless the house.

You need to bless that piano.

That's what you need to bless. Doaker, if he

gonna bless something, let him bless everything.

Bless upstairs, bless the kitchen. Go on, bless it all.

He need to bless Berniece head.

That's what he need to bless.

Berniece, hold this candle.

And whatever you do,

you make sure it don't go out.

Ain't no ghosts in this house.

Oh, Holy Father...

we gather here this evening in Thy holy name

to cast out the spirit of one

James Sutter.

May this vial of water

be empowered with Thy spirit.

May each drop of it be a weapon and a shield

against the presence of all evil.

And may it be a cleansing and a blessing

of this humble abode.

Where there is good,

so shall it cause evil to scatter

to the four winds.

Get thee behind me, Satan!

Oh, man! Get thee behind the face of righteousness...

Yes, yes... ...as we glorify His holy name.

Get thee behind

the hammer of truth... Yes.

...and breaking down the walls of falsehood.

Father, Father, praise, praise.

All this ol' preaching stuff--

just tell him to leave.

As it is written, I will sprinkle clean water upon ya.

And you shall be clean from all your uncleanliness,

and from all your idols will I cleanse you.

Boy Willie!

A new heart also will I give ya.

And a new spirit will I put... Hey, Sutter!

Hey, Sutter, get out of this house!

Hey, you want some water? I got water for you!

Get out of this house! Hey, Sutter, get out.

Sutter. Sutter!

Boy Willie! Boy Willie, no!

Don't go in there!

Willie!

Come on, Avery, don't stop now.

Berniece, I can't.

Avery, come on! Avery, don't!

Berniece, I can't do this. Avery!

Sutter!

Mama Berniece!

Sutter!

Mama Esther!

Help me!

Papa Boy Charles...

I want you to help me.

I want you to help me!

Mama Ola, I want you to help me!

Help me!

Thank you, Father.

Help me!

Boy Willie?

Papa Boy Charles! Papa!

Mama Berniece! Help me! Help me!

Berniece. It's okay, Berniece. Oh!

Boy Willie's okay. Oh!

He's okay, all right?

Nothing's wrong.

He's all right. Everything's gonna be all right.

Mama Berniece.

Thank you, thank you, Papa Boy Charles.

Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you, Mama Ola.

Thank you. Oh! Oh, thank you.

Thank you. Oh!

Thank you. Oh!

Oh, yes.

Thank you. Thank you. Oh...

Come on, boy.

All right. All right, Berniece.

Take care of him.

Take care this old brother.

Oh, hey, baby... You keep playing that piano, hear?

All right.

All right now, you have a safe trip

and you say hello to all the folks down there for me.

Sooner than you think.

All right, Wining Boy.

Come here, sugar!

Okay, Doak.

All right now. You take care of yourself, hear?

Okay. And write.

Berniece, if you and Maretha don't keep playing

on that piano, ain't no telling.

Me and Sutter both liable to be back.

Mm.

All right, Lymon.

Would someone please help me with my trunk?

Oh, come on, Lymon!