RISA: Most people don’t understand Hambone. That’s cause they don’t take the time. Most people think he can’t understand nothing. But he understand everything what’s going on around him. Most of the time he understand better than they do.

STERLING: I seen Holloway a little while ago. He say he was going downtown to see about his social security. I didn’t know he was that old. He say he was going down there and register.

RISA: He used to paint houses. Sometime he still do that. Going up on people’s roofs. I told him you’d never catch me going up there.

STERLING: I wouldn’t go up lessen it was flat on top. Then I wouldn’t mind none. Where Memphis?

RISA: He gone downtown to take care of his business. They gonna tear the building down.

STERLING: That don’t surprise me. Ain’t nothing hardly around here no more no way. They done tore the orphanage down. I was born an orphan. My mama gave me away to Mrs. Johnson. She died and they put me in an orphanage. Down there at Toner Institute. I been on my own since I was eighteen. That’s twelve years now. I made it pretty good so far. Except when I was in the penitentiary.

RISA: What you go to jail for?

STERLING: I robbed a bank. I was tired of waking up every day with no money. I figure a man supposed to have money sometime. Everybody else seem like they got it. Seem like I’m the only one ain’t got no money. I figure I’d get my money where Mellon get his from. That was after Mr. Lewis at the orphanage died. I never would want him to know I would do something like that. After he died I got kinda desperate. I just kept getting deeper and deeper in a hole. . . . Wolf say you put them scars on your legs yourself. Wasn’t you scared you was gonna bleed to death?

RISA: They didn’t bleed that much.

STERLING: I be scared to do something like that. We had one boy down at the Toner Institute . . .  name of Eddie Langston . . .  I never will forget that. He cut his wrists and bled to death. We was about thirteen. I tried to wake him up in the morning and the whole bed was filled with blood. That stopped me from doing something like that. You wanna go to this rally with me? They having this rally for Malcolm X. You ought to come and go with me. It right down there at the Savoy Ballroom. They might have some dancing. You like to dance?

RISA: If it be with the right person.