REBECCA: No.
PATRICK: Get inside the house, Rebecca!
REBECCA: NO!
PATRICK: GET INSIDE THE HOUSE!
Patrick grabs Rebecca by the arm and pushes her into the house. He turns to Star.
Get outta here! I’ll give you till mornin’ and then I’ll come lookin’ for you. If I find you anywhere on my land, I’ll kill you.
Beat.
STAR (quietly): I wish you and your wife long life together. And many sons to comfort you in your old age.
PATRICK: I had a dream last night, Ma. I saw a woman who looked like you crossin’ a muddy river.
She exits. He watches her go and then crosses to the Black Woman.
What’s your name?
SALLIE: Sallie, suh. (She shivers.)
PATRICK: You sick?
SALLIE: No, suh.
PATRICK: You scared?
SALLIE: Yes, suh.
PATRICK: Me, too. (Beat.) He must have him a key, somewheres.
SALLIE: Suh?
PATRICK: For them irons.
SALLIE: Yes, suh. (Beat.) ’Round his neck.
Patrick crosses to his father and finds a piece of twine around his neck with a small key attached. He tears the key off, returns to Sallie, and slowly unlocks her manacles.
PATRICK: You sleep in the barn, for now. There’s a shovel in there. You take it, follow that creek down there about a mile. Stay on the path and you come to a big oak tree. We’ll bury my pa there. (Beat.) I’ll carry him down—be after you directly.
Sallie points to Joe.
SALLIE: What about him?
Beat.
PATRICK: He’s not for buryin’.
Sallie exits slowly. Patrick crosses again to Michael and goes through his clothes. He finds the gold watch. He crosses up to the porch and sits. He opens the watch and listens to the music it plays. He closes the watch.
I’m gettin’ married tonight, Pa. Give me your blessin’.
He starts to cry.
Slow fade to black.
TIES
THAT
BIND
Blest be the tie that binds
Our hearts in Christian love.
—TRADITIONAL HYMN
CHARACTERS
PATRICK ROWEN age forty-three
EZEKIEL (ZEKE) ROWEN age nineteen, his son
ZACHARIAH (ZACH) ROWEN age seventeen, his son
SALLIE BIGGS age forty-nine, a slave
JESSIE BIGGS age twenty-six, Sallie’s son, also a slave
JUDGE GODDARD circuit court judge
DEPUTY GREY court deputy
DEPUTY O’SULLIVAN court deputy (nonspeaking role)
JEREMIAH age forty-five
STAR age fifty-nine
NARRATOR: Ties That Bind.
The year is 1819. The Rowen homestead.
Ties That Bind.
Summer, 1819. Darkness. Then the sound of labored breathing. Finally, a tight spot comes up slowly to reveal two YOUNG MEN, one African American and one white, standing head to head, their arms wrapped around each other’s shoulders. They move in slow motion against each other, muscles straining, each struggling for leverage and position against his opponent. A long beat. Suddenly, the lights come up full and the two wrestlers move against each other at full speed. It’s a friendly match, but neither man is sparing much. The winner, however, is never in doubt: the African American, JESSIE, is considerably bigger and stronger, and he consistently drops and pins his opponent, ZACHARIAH. A second young white man, EZEKIEL, sits on the porch, reading a Bible and trying to ignore his younger brother’s pleas for help.
In the full light we can now recognize where we are: the front “yard” of the Rowen homestead. From the physical additions to the house itself, the new iron pump in the yard, and the tools and hardware stacked neatly on the porch, the Rowens appear to be doing well.
ZACH: Three outta four!
JESSIE: Ain’t gonna make no difference.
ZACH: Come on—three outta four! Or ain’t you got the stomach fur it?!
JESSIE: Don’t you be talking that way.
ZACH: Or what? Come on!
JESSIE: Shoot, you ain’t won one yet.
ZACH: Hell . . .
ZEKE: Don’t you curse, Zach.
ZACH: Mind your own business, Zeke.
JESSIE: Your daddy come back, find us wrestlin’, he ain’t gonna be too happy ’bout that.
ZEKE: Daddy’s little darlin’ . . .
ZACH: Come on, Jessie! I ain’t hardly been tryin’ yet. Just been lettin’ you win.
JESSIE: Oh, you been lettin’ me win!
ZACH: Sure! I just been playin’ with you so’s you’d get to feelin’ confident. Get you all swole up like a lizard on a hot rock, and then let your guard down!
He launches himself at Jessie. Jessie ducks and trips Zach, who hits the ground hard.
JESSIE: Only thing I see down around here regular-like is you, Zach.
ZACH: Hold on, I don’t feel so good. Let me catch my breath a minute, will ya? (He tries to get up and can’t.)
JESSIE: You want me to getcha some water?
ZACH: Nah. Jist got the wind knocked outta me.
ZEKE: Don’t know what you expect, wrestlin’ on the Lord’s day.
ZACH: Now, what’s the Lord got against wrestlin’? Weren’t you just bendin’ my ear the other day about a Jacob or somebody? Didn’t he wrestle him an angel or somethin’?
ZEKE: He didn’t wrestle him no field hand, and he sure didn’t wrestle him on the Sabbath!
ZACH: Ezekiel, that preacher may have saved your soul, but he sure turned your brains to spoonbread.
JESSIE: Praise the Lord!
ZACH: Amen!
ZEKE: You boys laugh all you want now. Ain’t gonna be no singin’ where you headed—
ZACH: Oh, no!
JESSIE: Save me, Jesus!
ZEKE: —and you both gonna be a whole lot thirstier!
ZACH: Hold on there, I think mebbe I broke somethin’.
JESSIE: What?
ZACH: I don’t know what! Somethin’ inside. Oh shit, Jessie, I’m spittin’ blood.
ZEKE: You see!
ZACH: Shut up, Zeke.
JESSIE: I’ll get your daddy.
ZACH: No! Pa hears I hurt myself ’fore we get that second plantin’ done, he’ll nail my hide to the door. Gimme a hand—get me in the house and wrap this side of mine up.
Jessie bends down to lift Zach up. Zach grabs him and flips him over, pinning him to the ground.
ZACH: I told ya! I told you I’d git ya!
JESSIE: You sneaky piece of shit.
ZACH: I got you now, boy!
JESSIE: You got me, huh?
ZACH: Yessir!
JESSIE: You sure of that?
ZACH: Sure as my redeemer liveth!
JESSIE: All right, then.
Jessie flips Zach over and pins him.
ZACH: Ahhh! You’re chokin’ me!
JESSIE: What?
ZACH: You’re chokin’ me!
JESSIE: Cain’t hear you, Zach, you sound all choked up.
ZACH: Chkkkngmmmeee . . .
JESSIE: Did you say “uncle”?
ZACH: Uggghhhh . . .
JESSIE: Sound like “uncle” to you, Zeke?
ZEKE: Sounds like “more” to me.
JESSIE: You think so?
ZEKE: Well, give him a squeeze, let’s find out.
ZACH: UNCLE!
Jessie releases him.
Damn, Zeke! You just gonna sit there while somebody chokes the life outta your little brother? What the hell kinda family feelin’ is that?!
ZEKE: I told you, Zack, you supposed to remember the Sabbath and keep it holy. I
t hurt me somethin’ fierce to watch you suffer like that but I figure if it brings you closer to God, well, that’s just the price I gotta pay.
ZACH: Shoot! You listen to that, Jessie? Man’s just a natural-born coward, hidin’ behind the Scriptures.
JESSIE: No sir, I think Mr. Zeke done got him the Spirit, all right. But it ain’t Jesus got him by the short hairs.
ZACH: You ain’t talkin’ ’bout that mousy little thing live up on the Buckhorn, are ya?
JESSIE: Miss Joleen Johnston?
ZACH: That’s the one!
ZEKE: That’s enough of that.
ZACH: You pullin’ my leg?
JESSIE: No sir! I hear that woman got your brother on a short rope.
ZACH: Well, I’ll be! You mean all this prayin’ and studyin’ . . .
JESSIE: Them clean hands and shiny boots . . .
ZACH: That six-mile walk over and back to meetin’s ever Sunday . . .
JESSIE: Yes sir.
ZACH: That all for some woman? That true, Ezekiel? Ol’ Joleen got you towin’ the line here and that’s why you become this overnight holier-than-thou pain in the butt!
ZEKE: You keep your smart mouth offa Joleen!
JESSIE: Look out, kettle’s boilin’!
ZACH: Well, I reckon I can keep my mouth offa her, but can anybody else?
ZEKE: You gonna eat them words!
JESSIE: Boilin’ over!
ZACH: Way I heard it, ’fore she found Jesus, Joleen get down on her knees for just about anybody!
ZEKE: YOU SON OF A BITCH!
Zeke throws himself off the porch and onto Zach, who is laughing so hard he can hardly defend himself. They roll over and over on the ground, Zeke flailing away at his brother. Patrick Rowen enters.
PATRICK: What’re you boys doin’?!
Jessie snaps to immediately, but the brothers are too involved to hear anything.
You break it up now, you hear me!
He wades into the middle of them, picking them up and apart in his big hands like puppies.
THAT’S ENOUGH!
He pushes Zach away and grabs Zeke with both hands.
What I tell you ’bout scrappin’ with your brother?!
ZACH: I started it, Pa. It was my fault
PATRICK: Shut up, Zach! What you got to say for yourself, boy?! Huh? You the oldest, Zeke. Yo s’pose to look after things. But no, I cain’t turn my back for a second, can I, without you gettin’ everbody into trouble!
He cuffs Zeke and pushes him toward the house.
Now git in there and get changed! We got people comin’! Jessie!
JESSIE: Yessir!
PATRICK: You go clean up and then git back here. Tell your ma I want her up here at the house right now.
JESSIE: Yessir!
Jessie exits. Patrick hangs his gun on the porch.
PATRICK (to Zach): Look like he done bust up your lip good.
ZACH: I tole you, it were my fault.
PATRICK: Get over here, let’s get you cleaned up.
He leads Zach over to the pump and wets an old handkerchief in the water. With a tenderness and a delicacy surprising for a man of his size, he cleans Zach’s face.
Now. What was all that about?
ZACH: I was teasin’ Zeke. It were my fault, Pa. Honest.
PATRICK: That’s good, you stick up for your brother like that. But he knows better’n that.
Patrick stops and stares at Zach.
ZACH: What’s wrong?
PATRICK: Nothin’. Just . . . sometimes I see your mama real strong in you. That’s all. Now get inside and get changed. Hurry up!
Zach starts inside as Zeke comes out.
Zeke! You beg your brother’s forgiveness, you hear?
Zach looks miserable, embarrassed.
ZEKE (coldly): I’m sorry.
ZACH: That’s all right.
Zach escapes inside. Beat.
ZEKE: He started it.
PATRICK: Ain’t no excuse! That boy ain’t half your size—ain’t got his health. You oughta be ashamed. (Beat.) Gotta ’nough on our hands without you two scrappin’.
ZEKE: Didn’t know we were spectin’ company.
PATRICK: This ain’t social.
Beat.
ZEKE: Circuit court?
Patrick nods.
How bad you think this gonna get?
Patrick shrugs.
We ain’t gonna lose any of it, are we?
PATRICK: Not if I can help it. You and your brother, you load your rifles but keep’em just inside the door. We give’em a handshake first, ’fore we show’em a club. Let’s go! Shake a leg!
Zeke goes inside. Jessie runs back on.
JESSIE: My mama’s comin’, Mr. Rowen, it’s just her hip be actin’ up on her today. She be along directly.
PATRICK: Go to the springhouse, Jessie, bring me a jug.
JESSIE: Yessir.
PATRICK: Jessie!
JESSIE: Yessir.
PATRICK: When these folks git up here, I’m gonna send you down to look after their mules. Just like I always do. But if you hear any shootin’, you make sure them mules ain’t too easy to come by.
JESSIE: Shootin’, Mr. Rowen? How’m I s’posed to . . . ?
PATRICK: Whatever that takes. You follow me?
JESSIE: Yes sir.
PATRICK: Go on and get that jug now. Make it a bigun!
Jessie exits the yard. Zeke and Zack reenter from the house.
PATRICK: You boys just smile and don’t say nothin’. If I send you in the house for some reason, you look and see if I scratch my head first. See me do that, you come out with them rifles.
ZACH: What’s goin’ on, Pa?
PATRICK: Just be patient, son, we all gonna find out soon enough.
OFFSTAGE VOICE: Halllooo the house!
They hold while a fat man in a black coat, tie, and hat makes his way slowly onstage. One leg is wooden below the knee, and he leans heavily on the arm of ONE OF HIS DEPUTIES for support. A SECOND DEPUTY follows closely behind. Both DEPUTIES carry rifles and pistols. The FAT MAN stops and tips his hat grandly.
FAT MAN: Good day to you, sirs, one and all. Mr. Patrick Rowen, I presume?
PATRICK: That’s me.
FAT MAN: I’m Judge Jim Goddard—“Razor Jim” to my friends, among whom I hope to count you, sir! I wish I could tell you that I earned that nickname on the bench, for the sharpness of my decisions, or the cut of my clothes—hah, hah! (He coughs loudly, his face growing crimson.) But the sad truth is—and it’s truth, sir, and only truth we jurists care about—the sad truth is I earned both that name and this leg (he thumps his wooden leg impressively) during an unfortunate hunting accident! Hah! Hah!
Patrick and the Boys stand dumbfounded in the face of this rotund, off-kilter whirlwind.
Allow me to introduce my staff—Deputies Grey and O’Sullivan. The rest of our party will be joining us momentarily.
PATRICK: My sons, Zachariah and Ezekiel.
JUDGE: Zachariah and Ezekiel! Great men, learned men, men of judgment and of the law! An auspicious beginning. I always find that a house in which there is respect for God’s laws also respects the laws of this great country of ours. They follow one another as night does follow the day. Would you not agree, sir?
PATRICK: Their mama named’em. Iffen God helps them as much as He helped her, they ain’t got much to look forward to. My oldest there, Zeke, he been baptized. But Zach and me, we ain’t heard no call.
A tall, slender, expensively dressed man, JEREMIAH, enters quietly and joins the JUDGE. He carries a small strongbox under his arm.
JUDGE: So, you’re a Christian, are you, young man? Read your Bible, do ya?
ZEKE: Yessir.
JUDGE: Well, that’s fine.
&nb
sp; ZACH: Hell, he can’t read any more’n I can!
ZEKE: Shut up!
PATRICK: Both of you be quiet.
Jessie and Sallie enter with a jug of whiskey.
JUDGE: Is that a jug your nigger has there?
PATRICK: Thought you might be a bit dry after all your traveling.
JUDGE: Well, sir, you were surely right about that. Justice is a thirsty business.
PATRICK: Give’em the jug, Jessie. Jessie here’d be happy to go on down and look after your mules for you.
JUDGE: Well, that’s kind of you, sir, but we have found it prudent to care for our own livestock, seein’ as how our business is frequently subject to . . . what shall we call it . . . uh, “disagreements,” sometimes of a rather violent nature. Hah! Hah! As you can see, I’m not a man much built for walkin’. I’d rather ride, both comin’ and goin’. My thanks, sir, for your hospitality. (He drinks.)
Let schoolmasters puzzle their brain
With grammar, and nonsense and learning;
Good liquor, I stoutly maintain,
Gives genius a better discerning!
Hah! Hah!
Jeremiah touches the Judge’s sleeve.
Ahh! And now our party is complete and we can get down to the business at hand, perhaps?
PATRICK: Get him a chair, Jessie.
JESSIE: Yessir.
Jessie exits into the house and returns with a chair.
PATRICK: I didn’t catch your name.
JUDGE: My fault! This is . . . uh . . . Mr. . . . ?
JEREMIAH: Jeremiah. You there, boy. Mr. Preacher Man.
ZEKE: Ezekiel.
JEREMIAH: Ezekiel. (He smiles.) Do you know who Jeremiah was in the Bible, boy?
ZEKE: A prophet?
JEREMIAH: A great prophet. He sent the whole Hebrew nation into exile. Tore’em from their homes and sent them wanderin’ in the desert for seventy years!
Beat.
JUDGE: Shall we get started, gentlemen?
JEREMIAH: Of course.
JUDGE: Then by the power vested in me by the great state of Kentucky, I hearby declare this session of the Sixth Circuit Court on July seventeenth, eighteen hundred and nineteen, open! Mr. Grey, will you please do the honors as our bailiff?
GREY: You want me to say that thing?
JUDGE: That’s right.
GREY: The . . . uh . . .
JUDGE: Honorable . . .
GREY: Honorable . . .
JUDGE: Judge Jim Goddard . . .
The Kentucky Cycle Page 6