BERNIECE: That’s a nice spot next to Benny Diamond’s store.

AVERY: Berniece . . . I be at home and I get to thinking you up here an’ I’m down there. I get to thinking how that look to have a preacher that ain’t married. It makes for a better congregation if the preacher was settled down and married.

BERNIECE: Avery . . . not now. I was fixing to take my bath.

AVERY: You know how I feel about you, Berniece. Now . . . I done got the place from Mr. Cohen. I get the money from the bank and I can fix it up real nice. They give me a ten cents a hour raise down there on the job . . . now Berniece, I ain’t got much in the way of comforts. I got a hole in my pockets near about as far as money is concerned. I ain’t never found no way through life to a woman I care about like I care about you. I need that. I need somebody on my bond side. I need a woman that fits in my hand.

BERNIECE: Avery, I ain’t ready to get married now.

AVERY: You too young a woman to close up, Berniece.

BERNIECE: I ain’t said nothing about closing up. I got a lot of woman left in me.

AVERY: Where’s it at? When’s the last time you looked at it?

BERNIECE: (Stunned by his remark.) That’s a nasty thing to say. And you call yourself a preacher.

AVERY: Anytime I get anywhere near you . . . you push me away.

BERNIECE: I got enough on my hands with Maretha. I got enough people to love and take care of.

AVERY: Who you got to love you? Can’t nobody get close enough to you. Doaker can’t half say nothing to you. You jump all over Boy Willie. Who you got to love you, Berniece?

BERNIECE: You trying to tell me a woman can’t be nothing without a man. But you alright, huh? You can just walk out of here without me—without a woman—and still be a man. That’s alright. Ain’t nobody gonna ask you, “Avery, who you got to love you?” That’s alright for you. But everybody gonna be worried about Berniece. “How Berniece gonna take care of herself? How she gonna raise that child without a man? Wonder what she do with herself. How she gonna live like that?” Everybody got all kinds of questions for Berniece. Everybody telling me I can’t be a woman unless I got a man. Well, you tell me, Avery—you know—how much woman am I?

AVERY: It wasn’t me, Berniece. You can’t blame me for nobody else. I’ll own up to my own shortcomings. But you can’t blame me for Crawley or nobody else.

BERNIECE: I ain’t blaming nobody for nothing. I’m just stating the facts.

AVERY: How long you gonna carry Crawley with you, Berniece? It’s been over three years. At some point you got to let go and go on. Life’s got all kinds of twists and turns. That don’t mean you stop living. That don’t mean you cut yourself off from life. You can’t go through life carrying Crawley’s ghost with you. Crawley’s been dead three years. Three years, Berniece.