CONLEY (& MALE CHORUS) Yeah… (Yeah..) Hey yeah… (Hey yeah…)
I hear the thunder rollin’ (Yeah…) It’s behind that wall (Yeah…) We gonna roll like thunder I’m gonna taste the mornin’ And feel the rain fall (Feel the rain fall…) Yeah … (Yeah…) Hey yeah… (Hey yeah…)
I’m gonna rise like sunshine (Yeah…) If I see her turn (Yeah…) I’m gonna rise like sunshine, I’m gonna set down on her, And let the sun burn… (Let the sun burn…) Yeah… (Yeah…) Hey yeah…. (Hey yeah…)
GUARD 1 Got you a visitor, Boy.
SLATON approaches. JIM regards him coolly.
SLATON Hello, Jim.
CONLEY You want some water?
SLATON No thank you.
CONLEY We fixin’ to talk ‘bout that mess with Mr. Frank.
SLATON Yes.
CONLEY (to the chain gang boys) Yeah…
CHAIN GANG BOYS (never looking at him) Yeah…
SLATON When they found the body in the basement, Coroner’s Report says there was sawdust in the mouth and the lungs.
CONLEY (to the boys again) Yeah…
CHAIN GANG BOYS Yeah…
SLATON Got any idea what that means?
CONLEY (looking right at SLATON with crazy eyes) Yeah yeah yeah yeah…
CHAIN GANG BOYS Yeah yeah…
SLATON Means she had to be breathin’ in the basement, because there isn’t any sawdust on the second floor. Means she was alive when you carried her into the basement.
CONLEY Then she musta come back to life, ‘cause she was dead as last Christmas Eve when Mr. Frank showed me the body. (He turns to the boys:) Gonna roll like thunder…
SLATON Coroner’s Report raises questions about your story, wouldn’t you say?
CONLEY That Coroner – he the one that’s blind?
SLATON That’s right.
CONLEY Mm. Plenty o’ lint on the second floor. Might not a been sawdust in that little girl’s mouth – coulda been lint, and how’d he know the difference? I guess lint and sawdust feel the same to a blind man.
SLATON He’s got forty-five years of experience.
CONLEY That so? You can try and prove that in court, I imagine. (sudden and abrupt:) You ever been on the chain gang, Gov’nor?
SLATON (remaining very cool) Not so far.
CONLEY You ever break these rocks on the chain gang? Get yourself thinkin’, Guv’nor – How you wanna have a good time! Yeah…
CHAIN GANG BOYS Yeah…
SLATON (to the GUARDS) I’m through with him.
CONLEY (& CHAIN GANG BOYS) Now Mr. Frank he had a good time! Man knows how to have a good time! Yeah! (Yeah!) Yeah! (Yeah!) I get a high fever! (Yeah…) When I hear her call! (Yeah…) She gonna cool my fever – (Yeah…) I gonna take that woman! (Yeah…) We gonna ride like lightnin’ We gonna roll, roll, roll like thunder And feel the rain fall… (Feel the rain fall…) Yeah… (Yeah…) Hey yeah… (Hey yeah…)