(On a picnic on an idyllic hillside in the country, COALHOUSE has been polishing his car. SARAH is amused at his fastidiousness, but COALHOUSE explains to her that this car will take them and their son to a better place and time. SARAH tenderly gives the baby to COALHOUSE.)
15. WHEELS OF A DREAM
COALHOUSE
I see his face.
I hear his heartbeat.
I look in those eyes.
How wise they seem.
Well, when he is old enough
I will show him America
And he will ride
On the wheels of a dream.
COALHOUSE We’ll go down South And see your people Won’t they take to him Like cats to cream! |
SARAH Go down South, See my folks. They’ll take to him Mmm… |
COALHOUSE
Then we’ll travel on from there
SARAH
California or who knows where!
BOTH
And we will ride
On the wheels of a dream.
COALHOUSE
Yes, the wheels are turning for us, girl
And the times are starting to roll
Any man can get where he wants to
If he’s got some fire in his soul
We’ll see justice, Sarah,
And plenty of men
Who will stand up and give us our due
Oh, Sarah, it’s more than promises
Sarah, it must be true
A country that lets a man like me
Own a car, raise a child, build a life with you…
With you…
SARAH
With you…
BOTH
Beyond that road,
Beyond this lifetime
That car full of hope
Will always gleam
With the promise of happiness
And the freedom he’ll live to know
He’ll travel with head held high
Just as far as his heart can go
And he will ride —
Our son will ride —
On the wheels of a dream.
(TATEH now labours in a mill. EMMA GOLDMAN enters to speak at a rally in New York.)
16. THE NIGHT THAT GOLDMAN SPOKE AT UNION SQUARE
EMMA GOLDMAN
I have just returned from Lawrence, Massachusetts where, eight weeks ago, the workers there went on strike. They are starving, their children are dying but they are holding firm, and we must support them.
YOUNGER BROTHER
It was winter in New York
As the snow began to fall
And the workmen’s hall had not a seat to spare
When a young man ducked inside
Just to warm himself, was all,
The night that Goldman spoke at Union Square
EMMA
What is happening in Lawrence is happening everything. Let us at last make this the land of opportunity for all people, not just the owners. The land of opportunity for Tateh and his little girl. We cannot rest!
YOUNGER BROTHER
She was speaking loud and fast
Through a haze of noise and heat
And the smell of sweat and anger in the air
The police were standing by
But the crowd was on its feet
The night that Goldman spoke at Union Square.
EMMA (pointing at YOUNGER BROTHER)
You!
YOUNGER BROTHER
He thought he heard her say…
EMMA
What brings you here today?
(The scene becomes surreal as the RALLYERS encircle YOUNGER BROTHER and lift him into the air.)
EMMA, RALLYERS
Poor young rich boy!
EMMA
Masturbates for a vaudeville tart!
What a waste of a feiry heart, dear
YOUNGER BROTHER
He thought she said…
EMMA, RALLYERS
Poor young bourgeois!
EMMA
There are things that you’ve never thought
Come to Emma and you’ll be taught here!
YOUNGER BROTHER
His head was spinning!
EMMA, RALLYERS
People feathered and tarred, my friend
Unions broken, and why for?
Children labouring, women still enslaved!
Leave your little backyard, my friend
There are causes to die for!
RALLYERS
Strike!
YOUNGER BROTHER
In the gutters of the city
I have tried to find some meaning
RALLYERS
Strike!
YOUNGER BROTHER
In the arms of fallen women
In the thought of suicide
RALLYERS
Strike!
YOUNGER BROTHER Like a firework unexploded, Wanting life but never knowing how…
RALLYERS YOUNGER BROTHER |
EMMA
My brother, I’ll show you how! My brother, you are with us now! |
He was calling out her name
Shouting what, he did not know
And he found that he was standing on a chair
With a heart as clean and new
As the freshly fallen snow
The night that Goldman spoke…
EMMA (to YOUNGER BROTHER)
I’ve been waiting for you.
YOUNGER BROTHER
At Union Square.
(EMMA is arrested, and the scene changes to Lawrence, Massachusetts. The militia is assembled as STRIKERS gather to send their children to safety for the duration fo the strike.)
WORKERS
Strike! Strike! Strike! Strike!
ORGANIZER
Put the children on the train! Get them out of here!
(TATEH gives THE LITTLE GIRL to a woman boarding the train for Philadelphia and safety. MILITIAMEN raise their rifles. WOMEN scream. Suddenly, violence is everywhere. A woman near TATEH is struck down by a militiaman and falls to the ground. As TATEH bend to help her…)
TATEH
I hate you, goddamned America!
(…a POLICEMAN cracks him on the head with his nightstick. We hear the sound of the train beginning to move off.)
THE LITTLE GIRL
Tateh! Tateh!
(TATEH begins to run in the direction of the train. As THE LITTLE GIRL’S voice gets fainter, TATEH jumps on to the back of the train. He climbs onto the caboose and holds the LITTLE GIRL.)
17. GLIDING
TATEH
Sshhh. Don’t cry. Don’t be afraid. I’m here.
We’re together. Sshhh. Look! Ssshhh. Look what I’ve made for you.
(He shows her a small handmade “flip book”.)
See the silhouettes.
It’s a little book of silhouettes
When you flip the pages, they move.
Look how nice!
This is you on skates
Turning pretty figure-eights
On the smooth, cool ice…
We are gliding, gliding on a pond.
Close your eyes. Close your eyes.
We are gliding, gliding far beyond
Close your eyes. Close your eyes.
Feel the wind as you pirouette…
Are you happy yet?
Are you happy yet?
Your Mameh would tell you:
“Imagine you’re fearless.
Imagine you’re fearless
And soon, you won’t fear!”
When I am afraid
I imagine your Mameh
She skates just ahead
Can you see her?
She’s here!
And we’re gliding, gliding far away
Pirouettes, figure-eights, silver skates…
Just down the track
Glide with me, little one
Glive with your Tateh
We’ll never look back!
(TATEH and THE LITTLE GIRL get off the train. The conductor notices the flip book.)
CONDUCTOR
My kid would like that. How much?
TATEH
It’s not for…A dollar?
CONDUCTOR
It’s a deal. What do you call it?
TATEH
I…
CONDUCTOR
It’s gotta have a name. I’m not paying this much for something without a name.
TATEH
They move. I call them…movie…books!
(The CONDUCTOR buys the book and exits. TATEH is overjoyed. Their lives are about to change.)
Your father is a smart man! With this money, we’ll get a clean bed and a hot bath, and tomorrow we will make more of these and we will sell them for two dollars. Tateh’s movie book! Everyone will want them. They just don’t know that yet!
We are gliding, gliding far away
Pirouettes, figure-eights, silver skates
Just down the track!
Glide with me, little one
Glide with your Tateh
We’ll never look back!
(COALHOUSE and SARAH and the baby are returning to New Rochelle in the Model T. They find their way barred by WILLIE CONKLIN and the EMERALD ISLE FIREMEN.)
18. THE TRASHING OF THE CAR
CONKLIN
Running away, nigger?
COALHOUSE
I am going to find a policeman. If anyone touches my car before I return, he will answer to Coalhouse.
CONKLIN
Tell him Fire Chief Will Conklin sends his regards!
(The FIREMEN laugh as COALHOUSE walks away.)
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON
We must exhibit patience.
(The FIREMEN descen on the car and destroy it.)
Self-control. Forbearance. And dwell above hatred and acts of cruelty.
SARAH
Come on, Coalhouse. Come on. It doesn’t matter.
19. JUSTICE
COALHOUSE
We’ll see justice, Sarah
And plenty of men
Who will stand up and give us our due!
TOWN HALL BUREAUCRAT
Well, you can sign another complaint, Mr. Walker, but volunteer firemen are not municipal employees, and therefore do not come under the jurisdiction of the city. I’m sorry.
SECOND BUREAUCRAT
I’m still tracing your first complaint, Mr. Walker. Are you sure you filed it with this office. Let me look again.
COALHOUSE
Justice, Sarah.
This is America.
MOTHER
I am ashamed that our community is represented in his mind by that bunch of toughs.
FATHER
Let me talk to my lawyer.
YOUNGER BROTHER
That’s all it will be: talk, talk, talk!
COALHOUSE
The law’s the law.
The law’s been broken
Why should I turn the other cheek?
What about justice!
PEOPLE OF HARLEM
The bureacrats and bunglers
The attorneys who smiled
WHITE ATTORNEY
My advice is recover your car and forget the whole thing.
PEOPLE OF HARLEM
The clerks and the officials
And the forms that were filed
A CLERK
This is to get a place on the court calendar. This for change of venue…
PEOPLE OF HARLEM
So many roads to justice
Around the bend
BLACK LAWYER
I want justice for our people so bad I can taste it. But I won’t waste my time on a mere case of vandalism when I have real injustices to take to the courts.
PEOPLE OF HARLEM
And every road a new dead end!
COALHOUSE
I will not move
From where I’m standing
Till what’s mine is restored to me
I’m not some fool
I’m not their nigger!
I will have what’s fairly owed me!
And till then, I will not marry…
(MOTHER approaches SARAH.)
MOTHER
We understand Mr. Walker’s outrage. We share it. All decent people do.
SARAH
He said, “Wheels are turning for us, girl.”
MOTHER
But I’m sure there’s some way to settle this affair without calling off the wedding.
SARAH
He said, “Times are starting to roll.”
MOTHER
To be so close to the happiness you both deserve and have it come to this!
(SARAH moves away from MOTHER.)
SARAH
Well, I know he’ll get where he wants to
‘Cause he’s got that fire in his soul
Said, “There’s justice, Sarah,
And plenty of men who will stand up and give us our due.”
Well, you’ll have your due, Coalhouse,
Yes, you’ll have your due.
20. PRESIDENT
(The Vice Presidential campaign enters. Posters, banners, a marching band, the incumbent candidate waving. He poses for photographs with J.P. MORGAN on the back of a train.)
YOUNGER BROTHER
The Republican vice-presidential candidate was to be in the city that evening to attend a rally. The Secret Service was at the ready. The recent assassination of President McKinley had been a lesson well learned.
SARAH
I’ll tell him…
President, I am coming to you
On behalf of Coalhouse Walker
He don’t know I’m here…
He’s much too proud!
And I ain’t much of a talker
But President, he needs your help, sir
You’re the only one
‘Cause Coalhouse, he won’t marry me
Till this thing is done
And President, we got a son!
(SARAH breaks through the police barricade and rushes towards him, her arm outstretched to him.)
SARAH
President! President!!
MORGAN
She’s got a gun!
(The police officers club SARAH with their nightsticks. She falls to the ground.)
MORGAN
I saw a gun!
(The CROWD, MORGAN, THE CANDIDATE and POLICEMEN disappear. COALHOUSE enters and rushes to SARAH’S lifeless body.)
COALHOUSE
Noooooo!!!
(People lift SARAH up. The dirge begins.)
21. TILL WE REACH THAT DAY
MOURNERS
Oh…
Oh…
Oh…
(At Sarah’s funeral, to the slow rhythm of a drum, a processional enters bearing SARAH’S coffin.)
SARAH’S FRIEND
There’s a day of hope
May I live to see,
When our hearts are happy
And our souls are free
Let the new day dawn
Oh, Lord, I pray
We’ll never get to heaven
Till we reach that day
OTHER MOURNERS It’s a day of peace. A day of pride A day of justice When a man can live |
SARAH’S FRIEND A day of pride It’s been denied |
COALHOUSE
What they did to her
What they took from her
She had life in her
Lord, she had my baby!
Look what they left of her
Left of her, left of my girl!
EMMA She was nothing to them She was a woman. MOTHER & EMMA Nothing and no one to them |
COALHOUSE My girl. |
EMMA, MOTHER & COALHOUSE
So they beat her
And beat her and beat her and…
MOURNERS A day of peace A day of pride A day of justice We have been denied Let the new day dawn |
COALHOUSE There was blood on the ground COALHOUSE, EMMA, MOTHER COALHOUSE, EMMA, YOUNGER BROTHER, MOTHER, FATHER ABOVE, PLUS IMMIGRANTS, HARLEM |
TATEH
Why does nobody care?
YOUNGER BROTHER, EMMA
There is blood in the air!
WOMEN
We have voices and souls!
COALHOUSE, MOTHER, EMMA, YOUNGER BROTHER
What is wrong with this country?
IMMIGRANTS
She was somebody’s child!
HARLEM MEN
There are Negroes out there!
IMMIGRANTS, BLACKS, WOMEN with EMMA (shouting over)
There are people out there!
ALL
Give the people
A day of peace
A day of pride
A day of justice
We have been denied
Let the new day dawn
Oh, Lord, I pray…
We’ll never get to heaven
Till we reach that day