CLIFF
Naw suh, Judge. I'd be glad to work if I could find a job.
JUDGE
How long you been outa work?
CLIFF
Seventeen years—
JUDGE
Seventeen years?
(to woman)
You been takin' keer of dis man for seventeen years?
WOMAN Naw, but he been so mean to me, it seems lak seventeen years.
JUDGE
Now you tell me just where he hurt you.
WOMAN
Judge, tell you de truth, I'm hurt all over.
(Rubs her buttocks)
Fact is I'm cut.
JUDGE
Did you git cut in de fracas?
WOMAN
(feeling the back of her left thigh
below her buttocks)
Not in de fracas, Judge—just below it.
(She starts to show the JUDGE where
she has been cut. He motions to stop
her.)
JUDGE
Stop!
(to Officer Simpson)
Grab him. Put him in de shade.