EUGENE: Granddaddy smiles/whispers (GRANDFATHER) “Look at you–Oh my God/thank God–LOOK AT YOU.” (EUGENE) All I can manage to say is “yessir?” He–Granddaddy–leans over and touches my hair, strokes my face murmuring (GRANDFATHER) “God–thank God–I can’t believe it.” (EUGENE) He keeps staring and I avert my eyes. I look up/down and smile. He–keeps staring like he’s hypnotized. (BEAT) I look at the objects in this room. I can’t get over all the furniture and paintings and glassware. I recognize some of the glassware because Momma has some that matches it. He–Granddaddy–says (GRANDFATHER) “Like what you see, son? (EUGENE) “Yessir I do.” (GRANDFATHER) “How does the world treat you, son?” (EUGENE) “I don’t understand, sir–what do you mean?” He pulls his chair close to me. (Beat) (GRANDFATHER) “The world can be hard on us/people like us.” (EUGENE) “What do you mean people like us? I don’t know what you mean.” (GRANDFATHER) “The white man hates us/dark-skinned niggers hate us. (Pause) NOW do you know what I mean? (Pause) (Softly) YOU DO know what I mean. YOU DO/I can see it/You do know.” (EUGENE) (Confused) “Well I don’t really think about it–I guess maybe sometimes I get razzed but”–(GRANDFATHER) “I hope you fight back. It’s not the crackers you have to worry about–it’s them darkassed Geechies. I hope you don’t let them push you around.” (EUGENE) “Well I deal with it and it’s a little tense sometimes–but I handle it.” (GRANDFATHER) “I’m telling you NOT to let those bastards push you around. Don’t let ANY of the black sons o’ bitches think they can do you all kinds of ways. (Beat) I knew you were catching hell when I saw the picture of you/amazing what a picture can do. Now you’re sitting here confirming it. (Beat) Let me tell you something–listen to me because I know what you’re going through and I’m trying to tell you not to let the bastards do it to you/LISTEN TO ME/LEARN FROM ME/I KNOW WHAT YOU’RE GOING THROUGH/I’VE BEEN THROUGH IT. (Beat) So do you have a girlfriend?” (EUGENE) “Yessir, I do.” (GRANDFATHER) “Is it serious?” (EUGENE) “Well, yessir it is.” (GRANDFATHER) “Don’t you think you’re a little young to be getting serious?” (EUGENE) “Well, no sir, I don’t think so.” (GRANDFATHER) “You should be sowing your oats–Listen sow your oats but do me one favor son.” (EUGENE) He calls me “son.” (GRANDFATHER) “If you wanna mess with something dark that’s fine but DON’T MARRY NOTHIN DARK.” (EUGENE) “Well, sir I don’t really see it that way. Light or dark–it makes no difference to me.” (GRANDFATHER) “Boy you really are silly–Don’t you know them darkassed Geechies think we’re punks–FAGGOTS because we’re light? Nobody, I mean nobody, ever gave me nothing and I do mean nothing. I went to work at Georgia Pacific when I was fourteen, chopping lumber, stackin’ lumber–my hands all cut up and rough. I worked just as hard as anybody else but you couldn’t tell that to them dark-skinned guys–no, they didn’t believe that. It was always, ‘Ole yella nigga soft’ or ‘Hey red nigga, you ain’t so big now’ or Yeah it hot but the sweat jes run through his haid–it don’t git nappy–ain’t you purty.’ (Pause) Always–all my life they did that to me. They thought I didn’t struggle or sweat. They thought I had it so easy. (Beat) One day one of them got in my face because his sister had a thing for me. I didn’t pay her any mind but this nigger was just LOOKIN’ to get in my face. So this one day in the yard, he says to me, ‘Hey look ya, yo momma was suposeta be so fine lookin’ but yo daddy still run off, ain’t it?’ And this bastard began to laugh. The sweat was dripping off of him and he and all of them started lookin’ at me laughin’ and I grabbed a hold of him and just started pounding. Right there in the lumberyard. We were fighting in the yard. The white foreman looked down at us laughing–laughing at the dark and light niggers going at it. (Pause) I guess we gave him one helluva show. (Pause) I threw some sawdust in his eyes and he fell to the ground moaning, screaming holding his eyes, ‘I can’t see, I can’t see.’ (Pause) I blinded him–Oh yeah, he went blind. (Beat) None of the darker men messed with me after that–none–but the hate was in their eyes. Their hate made me work harder–eventually I made it to foreman. I EARNED THAT JOB–GODDAMN, I EARNED IT.” (EUGENE) “I know you did, sir”–(GRANDFATHER) “They never let them pitch-black bastards be foremen in my day–NOT IN MY DAY. As soon as I saw your father that damned Robert coming, grinning up at those crackers, trying to put in for overtime I KNEW he was after my job. I knew what he was doing. I KNEW. Your father–black bastard–tried to take my job but he didn’t take it. I retired–he saw I wasn’t some ‘high/yella’ punk–I retired.” (EUGENE) “Don’t you call my father a black bastard!” (Pause) He looks at me giving me a look I recognize as my own. I walk out. I walk out recognizing the look as my own. I walk out shaking, afraid–realizing how I could hurt someone. I recognized the hate in his eyes and saw my own. I saw my own hate. (Beat)