BooksBarbecue
Back The Darker Face of the Earth Save as PDF
Chapters (27)
  1. Front Cover
  2. Half-Title Page
  3. Title Page
  4. Copyright Page
  5. Acknowledgments
  6. Dedication
  7. Cast
  8. Prologue
  9. Act One
  10. Scene 2
  11. Scene 3
  12. Scene 4
  13. Scene 5
  14. Scene 6
  15. Scene 7
  16. Scene 8
  17. Act Two
  18. Scene 2
  19. Scene 3
  20. Scene 4
  21. Scene 5
  22. Scene 6
  23. Scene 7
  24. Scene 8
  25. An Interview with Rita Dove
  26. Biographical Note
  27. Back Cover
AMALIA

Daddy said a master knows his slaves

better than they know themselves.

And he never flogged a slave—

he said it was a poor businessman

who damaged his own merchandise.
AUGUSTUS (Sarcastically.)
An enlightened man, your father.
AMALIA

He let me run wild until

it was time to put on crinolines.

My playmates were sent to the fields,

and I was sent to the parlor with needlework—

a scented, dutiful daughter.
AUGUSTUS

Most men find intelligence troubling

in a woman—even fathers.
AMALIA

Then, off I went to finishing school: Miss Peeters’s

Academy for Elocution and Deportment!

“The art of conversation,” she used to say—

please, sit down!—“is to make

the passing of time agreeable.”

Arranging her dress as she sits on the sofa.

“Suitable subjects are—”

Sit down, I said!

Softer, but with an edge.

One does not conduct conversation while standing.

She indicates a chair, upholstered in champagne-colored tufted damask. AUGUSTUS moves toward it but swiftly and gracefully drops cross-legged to the floor, daringly close to AMALIA’s slippered feet. She starts to pull away—then slowly extends her feet again.

“Suitable subjects for

genteel conversation are:

Ticking them off on her fingers.

“Nature. Travel. History.

And above all, culture—

painting, music, and books.”

Well, we’re done with books!

Tell me, Mr. Newcastle—

was the weather in the Indies

very different from here?
AUGUSTUS Warmer.
AMALIA Is that all?
AUGUSTUS There was always a breeze.
AMALIA

And an abundance of exotic

foods, I’m sure.
AUGUSTUS We had our share of papaya.

The SLAVES start up a new song, more African in rhythm and harmonies.

AMALIA

Imagine that. Subject number two:

Travel. So many ports!

Shaking her head charmingly.

Did Captain Newcastle

allow you to go ashore

at St. Thomas, Tobago, Martinique?
AUGUSTUS (On guard.)
No.
AMALIA Charleston has welcomed a fair share of immigrants to her shores.

Laughs delicately.

There was that Haiti business around the time

I was born. Over five hundred French plantation owners fled here. The whole city was in panic.

Why, my dear husband—hear him pacing up there, wearing out the floorboards?—little Louis showed up in Charleston harbor that year, with his blue blood maman and papa.

Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité!

Looking directly at AUGUSTUS.

It was a brilliant revolution.

I’ve often wondered why our niggers

don’t revolt. I’ve said to myself:

“Amalia, if you had been a slave,

you most certainly would have plotted

an insurrection by now.”

Turns away from AUGUSTUS.

But we say all sorts of things

to ourselves, don’t we?

There’s no telling what we’d do

if the moment were there for the taking.

Lights up on LOUIS, still staring out the window.

LOUIS

You can’t hide forever.

There’s a hole in the heavens,

and you’re throbbing right behind it.

Whispers.