She left me standing there, in my apartment that always looked as though I was moving. But we both knew: I wasn"t going anywhere.
10.
In a very nice little restaurant-bar on Sunset Boulevard, as evening came in to Hollywood across the rim of the bowl, Valerie Lone sat high on a barstool, eating a hot roast beef sandwich with gravy covering the very crisp french fries. She sipped slowly from a gla.s.s of dark ale. At the far end of the bar a television set was mumbling softly. It was an old movie, circa 1942.
None of the players in the movie had been Valerie Lone. The Universe loved her, but was totally devoid of a sense of irony. It was simply an old movie.
Three seats down from where Valerie Lone sat, a hippie wearing wraparound shades and seven strings of beads looked up at the bartender. "Hey, friend," he said softly.
The bartender came to him, obviously disliking the hairy trade these people represented, but unable to ignore the enormous amounts of money they somehow spent in his establishment. "Uh-huh?"
"Howzabout turning something else on ... or maybe even better turn that d.a.m.n thing off, I"ll put a quarter in the jukebox." The bartender gave him a surly look, then sauntered to the set and turned it off. Valerie Lone continued to eat as the world was turned off.
The hippie put the quarter in the jukebox and pressed out three rock numbers. He returned to his barstool and the music inundated the room.
Outside, night had come, and with it, the night lights. One of the lights illuminated a twenty-three-foot-high billboard for the film Subterfuge starring Robert Mitchum and Gina Lollobrigida; produced by Arthur Crewes; directed by James Kencannon; written by John D. F. Black; music by Lalo Schifrin.
At the end of the supplementary credits there was a boxed line that was very difficult to read: it had been whited-out.
The line had once read: ALSO FEATURING MISS VALERIE LONE as Angela.
Angela had become a walk-on. She no longer existed.
Valerie Lone existed only as a woman in a very nice little restaurant and bar on the Sunset Strip. She was eating. And the long shadow had also begun to feed.
--Hollywood and Montclair, N.J., 1967
DANIEL WHITE FOR THE GREATER GOOD.
Begin with absolute blackness. The sort of absolute blackness that does not exist in reality. A black as deep and profound as the s.p.a.ce directly under a h.e.l.l pressed to the ground; a black as all-encompa.s.sing as blindness from birth; a black that black. The black of a hallway devoid of light, and a black--advancing down that hallway--going away from you. At the end of a hallway as black as this, a square of light painfully white. A doorway through which can be seen a window, pouring dawn sunlight in a torrent into the room, through the doorway, and causing a sunspot of light at the end of the pitch-black hallway.
If this were a motion picture, it would be starkly impressive, the black so deep, and the body moving away from the camera, down the hall toward the square of superhuman white. The body clinging to the right-hand wall, moving down the tunnel of ebony, slowly, painstakingly, almost drunkenly. The body is a form, merely a form, not quite as black as the hallway mouth that contains it, but still without sufficient contrast to break what would be superlative camera work, were this a motion picture. But it is not a motion picture. It is a story of some truth.
It is a story, and for that reason, the effect of superlative cinematography must be shattered as the body pulls itself to the door, lurches through, and stumbles to grasp at the edge of a chest-high wooden counter.The camera angles (were this a motion picture) would suddenly shift and tilt, bringing into immediate focus the soft yet hard face of a police desk sergeant, his collar open and sweat beading his neck and upper lip. We might study the raised bushy eyebrows and the quickly horrified expression just before the lips go rigid. Then the camera would pan rapidly around the squad room; we would see the Georgia sunrise outside that streaming window, and finally our gaze would settle on the face of a girl.
A white girl.
With a smear of blood at the edge of her mouth, with one eye swollen shut and blue-black, with her hair disarrayed and matted with blood, leaves and dirt ... and an expression of pain that says one thing: "Help ... me ..."
The camera would follow that face as it sinks slowly to the floor.
Then, if this were a movie, and not reality, in a town without a name in central Georgia, the camera would cut to black. Sharp cut, and wait for the next scene.
It might have been simpler, had he been a good man. At least underneath; but he wasn"t. He was, very simply, a dirty n.i.g.g.e.r. When he could not cadge a free meal by intimidation, he stole. He smelled bad, he had the morals of a swamp pig, and as if that were not enough to exclude him from practically every stratum of society, he had bad teeth, worse breath and a foul mouth. Fittingly, his name was Daniel White.
They had no difficulty arresting him, and even less difficulty proving he was the man who had raped and beaten Marion Gore. He was found sleeping exhausted in a corner of the hobo jungle at the side of the railroad tracks on the edge of the town. There was blood on his hands and hair under his fingernails. Police lab a.n.a.lysis confirmed that the blood type and follicles of hair matched those of Marion Gore.
Far from circ.u.mstantial, these facts merely verified the confession Daniel White made when arrested. He was not even granted the saving grace of having been drunk. He was surly, obscene and thoroughly pleased with what he had done. The fact that Marion Gore had been sixteen, a virgin, and had gone into a coma after making her way from the field where she had been attacked to the police station, seemed to make no impression on Daniel White.
The local papers tagged him--and they were conservative at best--a conscienceless beast. He was that. At least.
It was not unexpected, then, to find a growing wave of ma.s.s hatred in the town. A hatred that continually emerged in the words, "Lynch the b.a.s.t.a.r.d."
At first, the word black was not even inserted between the and b.a.s.t.a.r.d. It wasn"t needed. It came later, when the concept of lynching gave way to a peculiar itch in the palms of many white hands. An itch that might well be scratched by a length of hemp rope.
It had to happen quickly, or it would not happen at all. The chief of police would call the mayor, the mayor would get in touch with the governor, and in a matter of hours the National Guard would truck in. So it had to happen quickly, or not at all.
And it was bound to happen. There was no doubt of that. There had been seeds planted--the school trouble, darkie rabble-rousers from New Jersey and Illinois down talking to the nigras in Littletown, that business at the Woolworth"s counter--and now the crop was coming in.
Daniel White was safe behind bars, but outside, it was getting bad: ... the big-mouth crowd that hung out in Peerson"s Bowling and Billiard Center caught Phil the clean-up boy, and badgered him into a fight. They took him out back and worked him over with three-foot lengths of bicycle chain; the diagnosis was double concussion and internal hemorrhaging.
... a caravan of heavies from the new development near the furniture factory motored down into Littletown and set fire to The Place, where thirty-five or forty of the town"s more responsible Negro leaders had gathered for a few drinks and a discussion of what their position might be in this matter. Result: fifteen burned, and the bar scorched to the ground.
... Willa Ambrose, who washed and kept house for the Porters, was fired after a slight misunderstanding with Diane Porter; Willa had admitted to once taking in a movie with Daniel White.
... the Jesus Baptist Church was bombed the same night Daniel White made his confession. The remains of the building gave up evidence that the job had been done with homemade Molotov c.o.c.ktails and sticks of dynamite stolen from the road construction shed on the highway. Pastor Neville lost the use of his right eye: a flying spiked shard from the imported stained gla.s.s windows.
So the chief of police called the mayor, and the mayor called the governor, and the governor alerted his staff, and they discussed it, and decided to wait till morning to mobilize the National Guard (which was made up of Georgia boys who didn"t much care for the idea of Daniel White, in any case). At best, ten hours.
A long, hot, dangerous ten hours.
Daniel White slept peacefully. He knew he wasn"t going to be lynched. He also knew he was going to become a cause celebre and might easily get off with a light sentence, this being an election year, and the eyes of the world on his little central Georgia town.
After all, the NAACP hadn"t even made an appearance yet. Daniel White slept peacefully.
He knew he didn"t deserve to die for Marion Gore.
She hadn"t really been a virgin.
The NAACP man"s name was U. J. Peregrin and he was out of the Savannah office. He was tall, and exceedingly slim in his tailored Ivy suit. He was nut-brown and had deep-set eyes that seemed veiled like a cobra"s. He spoke in a soft, cultivated voice totally free of drawl and slur. He had been born in Matawan, New Jersey, had attended college at the University of Chicago and had gone into social work out of a mixture of emotions. This a.s.signment had come to him chiefly because of his native familiarity with the sort of culture that sp.a.w.ned Daniel White--and a lynch mob.
He sat across from Henry Roblee (who had been picked by the terror-stricken Negro residents of that little central Georgia town as their spokesman) and conversed in three A.M. tones. Seven hours until the National Guard might come, seven hours in which anything might happen, seven hours that had forced the inhabitants of Littletown to douse their lights and crouch behind windows with 12-gauges ready.
"We"ve never had anything like this here," Henry Roblee admitted, his square face cut with worry.He rubbed his blocky hands over the moist gla.s.s. A thin film of whiskey colored the bottom of the gla.s.s. A bottle stood between them on the table.
Peregrin drew deeply on his cigarette and stared into Roblee"s frightened eyes. "Mr. Roblee," he said softly, "you may never have had anything like this before, but you"ve certainly got it now, and the question is, "What do we intend to do about it?" " He waited. Not so much for an answer as for a realization on the other man"s part of just what the situation meant.
"It"s not White we"re worried about," Roblee added hastily. "That jail is strong enough, and I don"t suppose the Chief is going to let them come by without doing something to stop them. It"s what"s happening all over town that"s got us frightened. We never seen the people "round here actthis way. Why, they in a killing frame of mind!"
Peregrin nodded slowly.
"How is your pastor?" he asked.
Roblee shrugged. "He"s gone be blind in the one eye, maybe both, but that"s what I mean. That man was respected by everybody "round here. They thought most highly of him. We got to protect ourselves."
"What do you propose?" Peregrin asked.
Roblee looked up from the empty gla.s.s suddenly. "What do we propose? Why, man, that"s why we asked for help from the N-double A-CP. Don"t you understand? Something terrible"s gone happen in this town unless we decide what to do to stop it. Even the sensible folks "round here are crazy mad with wanting to lynch that Daniel White."
"I can only make suggestions, that"s my job. I can"t tell you what to do."
Roblee fondled the gla.s.s, then filled it half full with uneven movements. He tipped it up and drank heavily. "What about if we just all moved on out for a few days?"
Peregrin shook his head.
Roblee looked away, said softly, ironically, "I didn"t think so." He moved his tongue over his thick, moist lips. "Man, I am scared!"
Peregrin said, "Do you think the Chief would let me in to speak to White tonight?"
The other man shrugged. "You can try. Want me to give him a call?"
Peregrin nodded agreement, and added, "Let me speak to him. The organization might carry a little weight."
It was decided, after the call, that Peregrin and Roblee would both go to see Daniel White. The chief of police advised them to come by way of the police emergency alley, where the chance of their being seen and stopped would be less.
In the cell block, Peregrin stood for several minutes watching Daniel White through the bars. He studied the face, the att.i.tude of relaxation, the clothing the man wore.
He mumbled something lightly. Roblee moved up next to him, asked, "What did you say?"
Peregrin repeated the words, only slightly louder, yet distinctly. "Sometimes I wonder if it"s worth it. Sometimes I think there are too many fifth columnists."
Roblee shook his head without understanding what Peregrin had said.
"Should we talk to him?" the Georgia Negro said to the Ivy-tailored visitor.
Peregrin nodded resignedly. "Not much bother, but we might as well. We"re here."
Roblee stepped up to the bars. He called in to Daniel White. The man woke suddenly, but without apprehension. He sat up on the striped tick mattress and looked at his two callers. He smiled, a gap-toothed grin that was at once charming, disarming, frightful and painful. "How there, y"all." He stood up and walked to the bars with a lazy, rolling strut.
"You the man from the N-double A-CP I bet," he ventured, the words twisted Georgia-style. Peregrin nodded.
"Glad t"meetcha. You gone to keep them sonofab.i.t.c.hes from hangin" my black a.s.s?" He continued to grin, a self-a.s.sured, c.o.c.ky grin that rankled Peregrin.
The tall Negro moved his face very close to the bars. "You think I should?"
Daniel White made a wry face. "Why, man, you and me is brothers. We the same, fellah. You can"t let them string up no brother of yours. Got to show that d.a.m.n Mistuh Charlie we as good as him any day."
Peregrin"s face momentarily wrenched with distaste. "Are we the same, White? You and me? You and Mr. Roblee here? Are we all the same?" He paused, and leaned his forehead against the bars.
"Perhaps we are, perhaps we are," he murmured.
Daniel White stared at him for some time, without speaking. But he grinned. Finally, "I gone beat this thing. Mister NAACP, you just wait an" see. I gone get outta this."
Peregrin raised his eyes slowly. "You don"t even feel any remorse, do you?"
White stared at him uncomprehending. "Whatch"ou mean?"
Peregrin"s face raised to the ceiling, helplessly, as though drawn on invisible wires. "You really don"t know, do you?" he said to himself.
Daniel White grunted and bared rotten teeth. "Listen to me, Mister NAACP you. I gone tell you somethin". That little white b.i.t.c.h that Gore child, she a b.u.m from a long way back; Jim, I seen her in the woods with half a dozen boys from time on time. She not such a hot piece, I tell you that."
Peregrin turned to Roblee. "Let"s go," he said, slowly. "We"ve done all we can here."
They moved back down the cell block; the empty cell block from which the three drunks and the vag had been removed when the first rumors of lynch had begun circulating.
Outside, it was not so quiet. There were mutterings from dark corners of the central Georgia town. Murmurings, unrests, fear, and rising voices.
In his cell, Daniel White returned to sleep. He knew what was going to happen. He had it locked. He was a poor darkie who was going to get all the benefits so long overdue his people.
The man from the NAACP would tend to all that ...
... even if he was a fruity-looking cat in a funny suit.
"What the h.e.l.l you mean, for the greater good? Are you crazy or something, Mister? You can"t let that mob take him and lynch him?" Roblee"s face was a mask of horror. "Are you crazy or what?"
Peregrin"s forehead was a crisscross of weaving shadow, caught in the flickering light of the candle. They sat at the table once more, joined by five others, all hidden in the gray and black of the room. The shades were drawn, and behind the shades, curtains had been pulled. And they sat staring at the man from the NAACP, Peregrin, who had just told them, without preamble, that they must not only let the whites lynch Daniel White, but they must do everything in their power to aid the act.
"Say, listen, Mister Peregrin, I think you out of your mind. That"s murder, man!" The speaker was a stout, balding man with coffee-color skin and a wart at the side of his wide nose.
"Just what do you mean "For the greater good"?" Roblee sank a hand heavily on Peregrin"s sleeve. Peregrin continued to sit silently, having said what he felt he must say.
Roblee shook him. "Dammit, fellah, you gone answer me! What"d you mean by that?"
Peregrin looked up at them, then. His eyes caught the candlelight and threw it back in two bright lines. His face was shattered; there was conflict and fear and desperation in it. But a determination. "All right," he said, finally.
They stared at him as he dry-washed his cheekbones and temples with moist hands. "Daniel White is sleeping up in that jail, and he doesn"t care what happens to any of you. He had his fun, and now he wants to capitalize on all the work we"ve done for so long, to escape punishment. He"s banking on everyone making such a hue and cry that no one will dare hurt the poor n.i.g.g.e.r being taken advantage of, down in rotten Georgia."
Roblee continued to watch the tall man, impa.s.sively, waiting. There was confusion in the cant of his head, in the frozen hand on Peregrin"s sleeve.
"Those people out there," Peregrin waved a fist at the shaded window, "they"re stretched as tight as piano wires. They"ve been told that everything they"ve believed for hundreds of years is a lie. They"ve been told the Negro is as good as them, they"ve been told their white sons and daughters are going to have to move over and share five-and-ten-cent store seats with them, and schools with them, and buses with them, and movies with them ..."
His breath came labored. He ground his teeth together and went on with difficulty.
"They"ve had the rug pulled out from under them, and they"re still falling. They"ll be falling for a long time. Done slowly, they could adjust to it. But then Daniel White rapes a sixteen-year-old girl and they"ve got a reason to hate, they"ve got something to focus their hate on. So they start taking out their fear and confusion in any way they can.
"Look what has happened in just the few hours since the girl was found. Your church has been bombed, brothers have been fired and ostracized, some have been beaten up and perhaps that boy they stomped will die. Your homes and that bar have been burned. This isn"t going to stop here. It"s going to get worse. And it"s not even going to stop with your town. It"s going to march like a wave to the beach, washing all the work we"ve done before it.
"If Daniel White goes free."