STERLING: I can’t dance. I ain’t never danced. I guess I could slow-dance. Seem like anybody can do that. That ain’t but so much grinding. I can’t fast-dance though. It seems kinda stupid to be moving around like that. Like you should know better than to make yourself look silly.

RISA: It ain’t silly. You can’t dance for real?

STERLING: I asked this girl one time and she said no. I ain’t never asked nobody else. I started to one time. Something told me not to. It was down at the workmen’s club. I went in there and seen this woman. She was dancing with some other guys. She was laughing and having her a good time. I started to ask her to dance and changed my mind. Then I just forgot about dancing for good.

RISA: You just didn’t ask the right person.

STERLING: You ought to hang that announcement up there. Somebody might wanna go. It say, “Come one, come all.” You ought to come and go with me.

RISA: I don’t want to go down there with all them people. I stay away from all that kind of stuff. You never see me hanging around a bunch of people.

STERLING: People don’t pay you half as much mind as you think they do. That just be in your head. Most people so busy trying to live their own lives they ain’t got time to pay attention to nobody else. I found that out. I used to think everybody cared what I did. I robbed that bank and thought people would be mad at me. Half of them didn’t even know I was gone. Five years and ain’t nobody missed me. They didn’t even think about me till they saw me again. You can go down there with me and won’t nobody even notice.

RISA: I don’t care if they notice or not. I don’t want to go down there with them niggers. There might be a riot or something.

STERLING: If a fight break out, you just get behind me. I won’t let nobody hurt you. Not when you with me. I don’t care if he was King Kong or Mighty Joe Young. He got to come through me first. Mrs. Johnson taught me that. Told me not to let nobody hurt my sister. Say she’d rather see me hurt than her hurt. That made me kinda important. Made me feel strong. Like when I robbed the bank. That made me feel strong too. Like I had everything under control. I did until they arrested me.

RISA: I still ain’t going down there.

STERLING: I can’t find no job, I got to keep trying to hit the numbers. You play numbers?

RISA: I don’t throw my money away like that.