Porgy

“ The big buildings had been left behind, and there lay before Porgy only the scattered, cheap bungalows of the labor quarters; and beyond, as elusive and desirable as the white man's heaven, glimmered the far line of the woods, misty and beautiful in the pink autumn haze.
The patrol forged ahead and came to a clanging stop. The officers leapt out and, amid shouts of laughter from the crowd, lifted wagon, goat and man into the vehicle. ”

“ Bess lay upon the bed in Porgy's room and stared at the ceiling with hard, bright eyes. From time to time she would pluck at the sheet that covered her and utter hurried, indistinct sentences that bore not the slightest relation to existing circumstances. A week had passed since her release, and its seven interminable days had been spent in this fashion.
Porgy was out upon the day's rounds. Occasionally the door to the sick-room would open, and an awed, black face peer in. ”

“ Now, as the final shovelful of earth was thrown upon the grave, he came running to Porgy, and lifted him quickly into the road. Behind them broke a sudden earth-shaking burst of sound, as of the stampeding of many cattle, and past them the mourners swept, stumbling, fighting for room; some assisting weaker friends, others fighting savagely to be free of the enclosure. ”

“ For, as the artist is born with the vision of beauty, and the tradesman with an eye for barter, so was Porgy equipped by a beneficent providence for a career of mendicancy. Instead of the sturdy legs that would have predestined him for the life of a stevedore on one of the great cotton wharves, he had, when he entered the world, totally inadequate nether extremities, quick to catch the eye, and touch the ready sympathy of the passer-by. ”

“ The great cotton wharves lay up the river, beyond the Row; and when the cotton season was on, he loved to sit in the dusk and see the drays go by. They would sweep into view with a loud thunder of wheels on the cobbles; and from his low seat they loomed huge and mysterious in the gathering dark. Sometimes there would be twenty of them in a row, with great swiftly-stepping mules, crouched figures of drivers, and bales piled toweringly above them. Always Porgy experienced a vague and not unpleasant fear when the drays swung past. ”

“ The Coroner stopped in the doorway, and made a businesslike show of writing in a notebook.
"What's your name?" he asked Porgy.
The cripple studied him for a long moment, taking in the ample proportions of the figure and the heavy, but not unsympathetic, face. Then he smiled one of his fleeting, ingenuous smiles.
"Jus' Porgy," he said. "Yuh knows me, Boss. Yuh is done gib me plenty ob penny on King Charles Street."
"Of course, you're the goat-man. I didn't know you without your wagon," he said amiably. Then, becoming businesslike, he asked:
"This nigger, Crown. You knew him by sight. ”

“ PORGY lived in the Golden Age. Not the Golden Age of a remote and legendary past; nor yet the chimerical era treasured by every man past middle life, that never existed except in the heart of youth; but an age when men, not yet old, were boys in an ancient, beautiful city that time had forgotten before it destroyed. ”

“ Presently there issued from the shop the loud voice of the proprietor: "Oh, Mary, come quick, and bring the broom. Something has died again." Then followed the sound of boxes being overturned, while dust from a prodigious sweeping bellied in clouds from the door. Then the apothecary, very red in the face, came out for air, and found the goat. The burst of laughter that greeted him increased his irritation. Brandishing the broom, and in no uncertain language, he drove Porgy from his door. ”

“ Rolled loosely, it loomed to the second story windows, and flapped and tore at the buildings as it swept over the cobbles.
When a voice could be heard again, Porgy turned to his companion.
“You an’ me, Bess,” he said with conviction “We sho’ is a little somet’ing attuh all.”
After that, they sat long without exchanging a word. Then Porgy looked out of the window and noticed that the quality of the atmosphere was becoming denser. The spume lifted for a moment, and he could scarcely see the tormented bay. ”

“ Ladies on the deep piazzas would frequently send a servant running out to give him a coin and speed him on his way.
Before the houses and the rose-trellises stretched a broad drive, and beyond its dazzling belt of crushed shell the harbor lay between its tawny islands, like a sapphire upon a sailor’s weathered hand. Sometimes Porgy would steal an hour from the daily rounds, pause there, and watch a great, blunt-nosed steamer heave slowly out of the unknown, to come to rest with a sigh of spent steam, and a dusty thundering of released anchor chains.
“Gawd sho gots a long arm,” he would murmur ”

“ Serena was seated on her bench with a baby in her arms.
Porgy gave her a long look, and a question commenced to dawn in his eyes. The child turned in her arms, and his suspicions were confirmed. It was his baby-his and Bess's.
Then Serena looked up and saw him. She arose in great confusion, clasped the infant to her ample bosom, and, without a word of greeting, stepped through her doorway. Then, as though struck by an afterthought, she turned, thrust her head back through the opening, and called loudly:
"Oh, Maria! hyuh Porgy come home." ”

“ Where others bid eagerly for attention, and burst into voluble thanks and blessings, Porgy sat silent, rapt. There was something{13} Eastern and mystic about the intense introspection of his look. He never smiled, and he acknowledged gifts only by a slow lifting of the eyes that had odd shadows in them. He was black with the almost purple blackness of unadulterated Congo blood. His hands were very large and muscular, and, even when flexed idly in his lap, seemed shockingly formidable in contrast with his frail body. ”

“ The long, hot days, so conducive to indolence, brought a new phase of life to Catfish Row. The loud talk and noisy comings and goings diminished. Men came in earlier in the evenings, and spent more time with their women.
Porgy sat alone in his doorway. In a room overhead a man and his wife were engaged in a friendly quarrel that ended in laughter. From an open window nearby came the sound of drowsy child voices. In the crowded dark about him, Life, with cruel preoccupation, was engrossed with its eternal business. ”

“ Immediately the light of victory, carefully veiled, but bright, shone in Porgy’s eyes. He reached behind him and tweaked the goat by the ear. The dejected animal mistook the signal, and started forward.
“No, no, bubber,” whispered Porgy. “Ain’t yuh hear de Boss laugh? When nigger mek de buckra laugh, den he know he done won. Dis wey we goin’ spen’ we libe. You watch.” ”

“ When the exodus from the Row was completed, Bess helped Porgy out to the boat and established him in an angle of the main-deck cabin, where he could see and enjoy the excursion to the full. Below them on the wharf, Maria, who had the direction of the refreshment committee in hand, moved about among the baskets and boxes, looking rather like a water-front conflagration, in a voluminous costume of scarlet and orange. Bess left Porgy and descended the ladder. ”

“ Bess reached into her apron pocket, and drew out the evening's winnings. The coins made quite a little weight in her hand. A late fragment of moon swung over the wall and poured its diminished light into her open palm. She commenced to count the money. Porgy left her, and drew himself into his room. She proceeded to count, absorbed in her task.
§
"Porgy lucky," said a low voice beside her. "Mus' be yer gots two dollar dere fer um." Sportin' Life lifted his elegant trousers, so that the knees would not bag, and squatted on the flags at her side. ”

“ She was looking down at the baby while she spoke, and when she raised her eyes and looked at Porgy, he saw that they were full of tears.
“But you, Bess; you is diff’rent f’om dat?” he said, with a gently interrogating note in his voice.
“Dat ’cause Gawd ain’t mek but one Porgy!” she told him. “Any ’oman gots tuh be decent wid you. But I gots fuh tell yuh de trut’, widout Porgy I is jus’ like de res’.” ”

“ Porgy turned the head of his beast{70} toward the entrance, gave a sudden twist to the tail, and drove audaciously across the pavement, and into the retreat. Then he hitched his wagon a few feet from the street, and seated himself, cup in hand, at the pavement’s inner edge.
“Yuh bes’ git along out of Mr. Alan’ do’way wid dat goat befo’ he fin’ yuh. Ain’t yuh onduhstan’ gentlemen ain’t likes tuh smell goat?” ”

“ Standing in a circle about the bed, or seated upon the floor, backs to the wall, were a score of negroes, some singing, and others swaying, patting the floor with their large feet. For not a single moment since the body had been laid out had the rhythm slackened. With each hour it gathered weight until it seemed to swing the massive structure.
Porgy had heard that Robbins had left no burial insurance, the customary Saturday night festivities having consumed the slender margin between daily wage and immediate need. Now, at sight of the saucer, he knew that rumor had not erred. ”

“ Slowly he realized that parts of the little square still showed the moonlit waters of the bay, and that only the centre was blocked out by an intervening mass. Then the mass moved, and Porgy saw that it was the torso and shoulders of a man. ”

“ And a beautiful, clean-scaled fish is Porgy,—whose g, by-the-by, as I learned from a funny man in the heterogeneous crowd, is pronounced "hard, as in 'git eowt.'" A lovely fish is he, as he comes dripping up the side of the vessel from his briny pastures. Silver is the pervading gleam of his oval form ”

“ Porgy's earnings were adequate to their modest needs, and Bess was always up and out with the first of the women, and among them all there was none who could bargain more shrewdly with the fishermen and hucksters who sold their wares on the wharf. ”

“ It goin’ be like dyin’ den. But I gots tuh talk de trut’ tuh yuh. W’en dem time come, I goin’ tuh go.{166}”
“Ef dey warn’t no Crown?” Porgy whispered. Then before she could answer, he hurried on: “Ef dey wuz only jes’ de baby an’ Porgy, wut den?”
The odd incandescence flared in her face, touching it with something eternal and beautiful beyond the power of human flesh to convey. She took the child from Porgy with a hungry, enfolding gesture. Then her composure broke.
“Oh, fuh Gawd sake, Porgy, don’t let dat man come an’ handle me! Ef yuh is willin’ tuh keep me, den lemme stay. ”

“ The game started late, and there were few players. Opposite Porgy, sitting upon his haunches, and casting his dice in moody silence, was a negro called Crown. He was a stevedore, had the body of a gladiator, and a bad name. His cotton-hook, hanging from{17} his belt by a thong, gleamed in the lamp-light, and rang a clear note on the flags when he leant forward to throw. Crown had been drinking with Robbins, who sat next to him, and the air was rank with the effluvium of vile corn whisky. ”

“ Porgy's face still wore its mask. "How come yuh tuh care, Boss?" he queried.
"Why, I am the Rutledge's lawyer; and I look after their colored folks for them. I think they must have owned half the slaves in the county. A woman here, Serena Robbins, is the daughter of their old coachman, or something; and she asked them to help her friend out."
"Peter ain't gots no money, yuh know, Boss. An' I jes begs from do' to do'." There was still a shade of suspicion in Porgy's voice. ”

“ The woman raised her head. An ugly scar marked her left cheek, and the acid of utter degradation had etched hard lines about her mouth; but eyes into which human consciousness was returning looked fearlessly into the determined face of the big negress. For a moment she ate wolfishly; then asked suddenly:
“Who lib in dat room ’cross de way?”
“Porgy,” she was informed, “but such as{54} yuh ain’t gots no use fuh he. He a cripple, an’ a beggar.”
“He de man wid goat?”
“Yes, he gots goat.” ”

“ An’ ’side, ef a man is de kin’ wut needs er ’oman, he goin’ be happy regahdless. Him dress she up in he own eye till she look lak de Queen of Sheba tuh um. Porgy t’ink right now dat he gots a she-gawd in he room.”
“He sho’ gots de kin’ wut goin’ gib um hell,” Serena commented cynically. “Dat ’oman ain’t fit tuh ’sociate wid. Much as I like Porgy, I wouldn’t swap t’ree wo’d wid she.{64}”
“Dat’s all so, Sister,” conceded Peter. “But yuh keep yo’ eye on Porgy. He usen tuh hate all dese chillen. Ain’t he? Now watch um. Ebery day w’en he come home he gots candy-ball fuh de crowd. ”

“ He experienced no difficulty in finding his man. Mingo accepted the mission and the handful of pennies and nickels; and Porgy, having closed the bargain, returned at once to the court.
Maria was opening her shop as he entered, and paused with a shutter in her hands. She could scarcely believe her eyes. The beggar’s face was bright, and he was humming a tune.
“Wut de news?” she asked. “Bess done git well?”
“Not jus’ yit,” he replied. “But I done had me a dream las’ night; an’ de dream say tuh sen’ tuh de conjer ’oman; an’ Bess goin’ break she feber tuhnight.” ”

“ During the funeral the sun had disappeared behind clouds that had blown in swiftly from the sea, and now a scurry of large drops swept over the vehicles, and trailed away across the desolate graves.
“Dat’s all right now fer Robbins,” commented Porgy. “Gawd done sen’ he rain already fuh wash he feet-steps offen dis eart’.”
“Oh, yes, Brudder!” contributed a woman’s voice; and, “Amen, my Jedus!” added another.
§
In the early afternoon of the day of the funeral, Porgy sat in his doorway communing with Peter. ”

“ She had put her grief aside, and gone resolutely about her task of earning a living for the three children.
"I can't puzzle dis t'ing out," she said after a while. "De old man ain't done nuttin', an' dey done gots um lock up like a chicken t'ief. Dey say dey gots tuh keep um till dat nigger Crown get ketch; an, Gawd knows when dat debble ob a t'ing goin' tuh happen."
"It sho pay nigger tuh go blin' in dis world," contributed the young woman. "Porgy; ain't gots much leg, but he sho got sense."
After a moment of reflection, Porgy replied: "Sense do berry well; but he can't lift no weight." ”