The Gardener's Son

by Cormac McCarthy

  JAMES GREGG Hey. Wait a minute. Listen.

  Interior. McEvoy kitchen. Evening. Lamplight and supper table. Mrs McEvoy sets bowls of food to the table and the four of them bend their heads.

  MR MCEVOY For what we are about to receive Lord make us truly thankful. Amen.

  All raise their heads save Mrs McEvoy and in a minute she raises hers.

  MR MCEVOY I hope you aint prayin for him to get to supper this evenin. You’ll vex the Lord.

  MRS MCEVOY I was just prayin.

  MR MCEVOY Martha darlin would you be so good as to pass the meat fore the flies blow it.

  Martha passes the bowl.

  MARYELLEN Mama where’s Bobby at tonight?

  MR MCEVOY Gone to run crazy in the woods like an Indian. If you all aint hungry just pass it all up this way.

  MARTHA Is he still goin to work of a morn in?

  MR MCEVOY So they tell me.

  He helps himself to beans, to cornbread. They are at passing the bowls up the table and around. Mr McEvoy pauses and stares off down the table.

  MR MCEVOY I dont understand that boy. Dont understand nothin about him. Some of the things he says. They make sense, but they sound ... I dont know what all goes on in his head.

  MARTHA What things that he says?

  Mr McEvoy is eating now.

  MARTHA Daddy?

  MR MCEVOY Just the things he says.

  MARTHA Like what?

  MR MCEVOY Stuff he says. Like here a few evenins ago little sister piped up, said: I wisht we lived in a better house. And he just looked at her and he said: That wouldnt make you no better from what you are. I dont know what to make of him.

  MARYELLEN When can we go back to our other house, Daddy?

  MR MCEVOY Hush and eat your supper little sister. They aint no other house.

  MARYELLEN Bobby says we used to have a cow.

  MR MCEVOY And it was like pullin teeth to get him to milk it.

  MARTHA Bobby says they’s caves all in under Graniteville. Where Indians has been.

  MR MCEVOY Well maybe he's took to livin down there in em. Maybe there’s still Indians hid out down there. Him and the heathen can rage together.

  MRS MCEVOY Bobby is not no heathen.

  MR MCEVOY Never said he was. He’s just got kindly infidel ways.

  MARTHA What’s infidel ways?

  MRS MCEVOY Bobby is not no infidel.

  MARYELLEN What’s a heathen?

  MARTHA It’s a person that dont go to church.

  MARYELLEN Is Bobby a heathen? Daddy?

  He’s just got a troubled heart and they dont nobody know why.

  Interior. Daytime. Greenhouse. The factory bell rings in the distance. Patrick McEvoy is potting his plants, tending the flowers in the greenhouse. The timekeeper Mr Giles comes to the door and enters. McEvoy turns to look at him as he enters.

  MR MCEVOY Mornin Mr Giles.

  GILES Mornin. Mornin.

  Giles looks about the greenhouse. McEvoy continues at his work.

  GILES You got a good warm place to work in.

  MR MCEVOY When the sun shines.

  GILES I just stopped by on the way to the house. I wanted to ask ye about Bobby.

  McEvoy does not look up.

  GILES Is he quit his job?

  MR MCEVOY I reckon he is.

  GILES Did he give any reason?

  MR MCEVOY No sir. He never explained hisself to me.

  GILES Well, I just wanted to tell ye we got to take on another boy.

  MR MCEVOY If you do you do.

  GILES You know he aint supposed to stay on at company house if he aint employed by the company. Old as he is.

  Silence.

  GILES I mean its company policy.

  MR MCEVOY Yessir.

  GILES He can do what he wants. Aint nobody goin to put a gun to his head to make him work. But them that choose to toil not neither do they spin has got to berth elsewhere.

  MR MCEVOY Well, you dont need to bother yourself about Bobby.

  GILES Well he’s been somethin’ of a bother to us.

  MR MCEVOY I said you dont need to bother yourself about him.

  GILES Why is that?

  MR MCEVOY He's gone is why.

  GILES Where’s he gone to?

  MR MCEVOY He never said.

  Exterior. Two years later. Evening. Train arriving at the outskirts of Graniteville. A solitary figure riding the last boxcar.

  The train slows. Robert McEvoy sits atop the boxcar with his crutch and a tattered carpetbag. He surveys the countryside. He is chewing tobacco and he squints and leans and spits over the edge of the car roof. He is older and harder looking and he wears a scar. As the train grinds to a halt he takes up his bag and moves along the roof to the ladder and lowers himself down to the ground and sets off along a narrow road through the winter woods. In the distance the mill bell tolls.

  At the top of a hill he meets two blacks seated by the side of the road taking their dinner from pails. They are dressed in rags of overalls. McEvoy stands before them and looks down at them. Behind them is a lane leading into the graveyard and the tombstones rise out of the winter grass and weeds. They look up at McEvoy.

  1ST BLACK You wants to take dinner with us you gots to ast. I aint goin to ast you. You liable to shoot me.

  MCEVOY What are you all doin up here?

  2ND BLACK We takin our dinner. When that bell ring down there for folks to quit and take they dinner it ring for us too.

  The first black waits for him to finish, then answers McEvoy's question.

  1ST BLACK We diggin a grave. I dont like to eat my dinner in there. He dont care. But I does.

  2ND BLACK Them folks in there dont care. No more’n you would.

  1ST BLACK Everbody that aint got a say so, dont mean they dont care. In this life or out of it.

  He looks up at McEvoy.

  1ST BLACK Is you new to these parts?

  MCEVOY Whose grave you diggin?

  2ND BLACK Some old woman that died.

  1ST BLACK A lady in the town. Dont know her name. She aint got no kinfolk buried here.

  A wind blows dead leaves over the road. McEvoy raises up and looks past the seated blacks toward the stones.

  2ND BLACK Her husband give us two dollar. We supposed to get paid from Mr Evans but he said not to take his money and he give us two dollar.

  MCEVOY You dont know her name?

  1ST BLACK No suh.

  2ND BLACK He was up here most of the mornin . . .

  1st black looks at the second nervously, and at McEvoy.

  2ND BLACK Went all around takin up the old dead flowers off folks’ graves . . .

  1ST BLACK Odell . ..

  2ND BLACK Said folks ought not to bring flowers if they wasnt fixin to come back.

  McEvoy stares down at the blacks. They look nervous. He hobbles past them down the little lane into the graveyard. They watch him go with wide eyes. In a few minutes he returns. He has their pick and shovel under his arm and he drops these in the road in front of them.

  MCEVOY You all eat your dinner and get back on down to wherever you started from. That woman’s not to be buried up here. She dont belong to the mill.

  2ND BLACK We gots to work to suit the man what pays us. You dont want that grave dug you see him.

  1ST BLACK Hush Odell.

  McEvoy leans toward the second black.

  MCEVOY You get your shit and get gone. I see you up here again diggin I’ll blow a hole in your black ass.

  2ND BLACK Yessuh. I didnt mean nothin by it. I was just doin like I was told . . .

  1ST BLACK Will you hush now, Odell? Will you?

  McEvoy steps back and the two gather up their pails and their half eaten dinners and scrabble up the picks and shovels and start off down the road half sideways, nervously watching McEvoy.

  1ST BLACK I knowed when I seen you you was trouble.

  They turn and go on down the road, arguing among themselves. McEvoy watches them go.

  Interior
. Afternoon. The McEvoy house. The mirrors in the house are covered with cloths and in the front room is a dark wood coffin trestled up on sawhorses wrapped in black crepe. The coffin is open and there is a lighted candle on a table and there are three old ladies in black mourning. Two are sitting in chairs and the third is arranging flowers in a vase. Robert McEvoy appears in the door and they all turn to look at him. He ignores them and comes into the parlor and goes to the coffin and looks down at his dead mother. The woman arranging the flowers has stopped and watches him. The other two turn and whisper and the first one looks at McEvoy with disapproval and rises and goes to the door and shuts it. At the sound of the door shutting McEvoy turns and looks at the old woman.

  MCEVOY Where’s the old man?

  No one answers.

  MCEVOY Where’s Martha?

  They regard him nervously and he turns and goes on through the house, looking in rooms.

  MCEVOY Hey.

  He returns to the front room. He looks at the old women.

  MCEVOY You all get out. I dont know you.

  OLD WOMAN We caint leave. We give word to set up with her.

  MCEVOY I want you out.

  The old women regard each other. The two seated are nervous, are ready to rise and leave. The one standing sets her jaw. When McEvoy sees her he flies into a rage. He hobbles to the door and flings it open and screams at them.

  MCEVOY Get out! Out, damn it!

  The two seated ones rise and scurry past and out the door. The other takes a last look at the coffin and giving McEvoy a hard look she goes past him. Outside she turns as if she'd say something to him but he slams the door in her face. The wind from the door sets the candle guttering. McEvoy goes to the casket and looks down. He takes the coffin lid up from behind the box and fits it over the top of the coffin and then he leans on the coffin and lets his head fall forward onto his clasped fists.

  Interior. The McEvoy parlor. Darkness outside, the only light the candle which is now burned down low. McEvoy is sitting in one of the chairs with his hands folded in his lap. The door opens and Martha enters. She comes forward and kneels in front of him.

  MARTHA Bobby?

  MCEVOY When did she die?

  MARTHA Yesterday. Early of a mornin.

  There is a long moment of silence.

  MARTHA You got the letter?

  McEvoy takes a crumpled letter from his shirt pocket. He smooths it absently and looks at it.

  MARTHA I know you come quick as you could.

  He looks down at her. He looks at the letter.

  MCEVOY I wish you hated this place like I do.

  He shakes his head.

  MCEVOY No. I dont.

  MARTHA Did you want me to fix you some supper?

  He shakes his head no.

  MCEVOY She was supposed to been took back up home.

  MARTHA Its all right.

  MCEVOY No it aint.

  MARTHA Its done been arranged. Bobby. For her here.

  MCEVOY She aint going to be buried here.

  MARTHA What do you aim to do?

  MCEVOY He’s got the money. He could of took her up there on the train.

  MARTHA He cant stand it. Bobby. He’s just tore up . ..

  MARTHA We went up there last year. He and Mama. We seen our old place up at Pickens and we went to Greenville and I seen Captain, Bobby. He was harnessed to a wagon in the street and he knowed me, Bobby. And we was up there three days . . .

  MCEVOY Where's he at?

  MARTHA I dont know. I sent Maryellen up to Clabo’s. He wouldnt have her buried today he said give Aunt Fern and them time to get down here but they aint comin. Bobby. I know they aint. I prayed ever day for you to get my letter. From the time she first took sick .. .

  MCEVOY When trouble once finds a house it stays on. You caint get shed of it.

  MARTHA Dont be that way Bobby.

  MCEVOY What way am I?

  She looks down. She doesnt answer.

  MCEVOY You dont know how I am. You dont know me.

  MARTHA You’re still my brother.

  MCEVOY The good book says all men are brothers but it dont seem to cut no ice, does it?

  Exterior. Early evening. The greenhouse that Patrick McEvoy used to tend. Weeds grow by the greenhouse wall and a number of panes are stoved and broken. Robert McEvoy approaches the greenhouse and pushes in the door. It creaks back on its hinges. Lizards scuttle dryly in the late sun. Inside are withered pottings. He enters and pokes about. While he is there an old man comes to the door and looks in.

  OLD MAN Who’s that?

  Robert turns. The late sun throws shadows of dead weeds across him. The old man is squinting in at the door.

  OLD MAN Who’s there? Come on out.

  Robert McEvoy comes to the door and faces the old man. The old man looks down at his leg and his crutch.

  OLD MAN Ah. It’s you.

  ROBERT I was looking for my father.

  OLD MAN Ye’ll not find him here.

  ROBERT Where would I find him?

  OLD MAN Got to keep these boys out of here. They’ve broke some more of these lights. See them there lights? Busted em out.

  ROBERT What’s it used for?

  OLD MAN How’s that?

  ROBERT What’s it used for. The greenhouse. There’s nothing growing in here.

  OLD MAN Well. Uh. Hmph. Dont have to be used. Aint no sign to tear it up just cause it aint used no more. Rock it plumb out. See here?

  He pokes with one finger at some rocks lying among the dead and wilted boxes.

  OLD MAN Just cause a thing aint used is no need to beat it to death with rocks.

  ROBERT I was looking for my father. He’s the gardener.

  OLD MAN I know who he is. But he aint the gardener. Not no more he aint. You see any gardens?

  ROBERT No.

  OLD MAN Not big on gardens here no more. Gardens is always the first thing to go.

  ROBERT Where you reckon I might find him at?

  OLD MAN I always knowed him for a sober man. Days work done why would he not be home?

  ROBERT He’s not there.

  The old man nods his head reflectively.

  OLD MAN Back years ago of a winter day if it was sunshiny I’d come out here at dinner time and take my dinner here. It would be warm in here and you could smell stuff growin. I’d get a crate and set on it and take my dinner and just set here. It was an awful pleasant place. Your daddy would come by sometimes and see me settin in there but he’d just go on. He never would say nothin. Then here back last fall one evenin I was makin my rounds and I thought I seen a light down here. I come in and held my lannern up and there set your daddy. He was just a settin there in the dark. Smokin his pipe. I ast him was he all right and he said yes. Said he just wanted to get out of the house for a while.

  ROBERT I got to get on.

  OLD MAN You wasnt wrong to of come here. Trouble sends folks back to places where they knowed better times. He might could of gone up to Kalmia to the orchard. It’s dried up and gone too.

  Exterior. The orchard. Night, a wind blowing the old dead trees about and clouds scudding. McEvoy hobbles down the rows among weeds calling out.

  ROBERT Hey! Old man. Hey old man.

  He comes from a distance against the sky and the blowing trees, the barren limbs creaking.

  ROBERT Hey. Its me.

  The black who drives the carriage for Mrs Gregg is standing at the end of the lane with a lantern. McEvoy approaches him through the clashing weeds.

  BLACK Hey, boy.

  ROBERT I’m a huntin my old man.

  BLACK Hush boy. What Miz Gregg hear you out here?

  ROBERT Is he not up here?

  BLACK Aint nobody up here in this old orchard. Why dont you go on home?

  ROBERT He’s not there.

  BLACK He be there after a while. Go on now.

  ROBERT Where would you be?

  BLACK That aint for me to say.

  ROBERT Where would you be?

  BLA
CK Night my Ella died I went to a cardhouse and got drunk. I laid in my own vomit. That’s what I thought of the hand of the Lord. Lay dead drunk in ye own vomit like a dog. I aint proud of it, but I give up lyin same as I done drinkin.

  ROBERT What did it get ye?

  BLACK What get me?

  ROBERT What did it get ye? To quit drinkin and lyin.

  BLACK It aint what it got me. It’s what it got me from.

  ROBERT And what was that?

  BLACK Death. I seen his face. I know where he uses. How he loves the unready.

  ROBERT He loves us all.

  Robert starts off down out of the orchard. The black holds the lantern up.

  BLACK (calling after) I know your heart is full. Dont spend your grief amongst fools. You listen to this old nigger. You hear?

  Interior. Night. Lamplight, an old barn used as a doggery for drinkers and card players. In the background are six or eight men seated about a spread army blanket playing tong. To one side in the background is a circular enclosure nailed up of boards about two feet in height and twenty feet in diameter. There are a number of dead chickens about and a cat is feeding on the head of one of them. In the foreground is a stove glowing red, four men seated about it in old bottomless chairs and on crates. A large man named Pinky is in charge and from time to time he will go to the game to take a house cut. The players bid and talk. The men about the stove pass a jar of white whiskey around and pass after it a peeled raw potato from which they take bites to chase the whiskey.

  Exterior. The barn in the dark with the slats lit and McEvoy hobbling toward it through the windy weeds until he reaches the door and pushes against it. A chain rattles. He raps at the door.

  Interior. Barn. Pinky rising to go to the door. He undoes the chain and opens the door and McEvoy is standing there.

  PINKY Well looky here.

  The men at the stove are looking at the door to see who is here. McEvoy enters. He pauses to wipe his nose on his sleeve and he looks about. Pinky rechains the door behind him.

  PINKY Thought you’d quit these parts, young buddy.

  Pinky is coming back toward the stove. McEvoy is standing somewhat uneasily to one side.

  MCEVOY My mama died.

  PINKY Well honey I didnt know that. Come here and set and get ye a drink. I’m sorry to hear it.

  MCEVOY I thought the old man might of come up here.

  PINKY Pat?

  Pinky shakes his head. McEvoy looks to the other men about the stove but they look down, look dubious.