[THE RADIO]
You give in to memories

[THE WASHING MACHINE]
1943
You marry

[CAROLINE]
Handsome boy, a navy man
He go off to fight Japan

[THE WASHING MACHINE]
You stay home

[CAROLINE]
Give birth to Larry
Then three years of lonely waiting
Fearful prayers
Anticipating

[THE WASHING MACHINE]
1945
The Navy
Send you home your handsome man

[THE RADIO]
Life is sunny
Life is gravy
[CAROLINE]
Thank you, Jesus
Thank you, Navy
He is home now, every limb
Is beauty, lovely, like a tree
Falling deep in love with him

[THE RADIO]
The handsome Navy man
Falling deep in love with him
Long and tall and sweet and slim

[CAROLINE and THE RADIO]
Even now your hand can summon
How his neck, his belly feel
Shoulders, what his breath was like
Hands burn then with happy fire
Every inch of you desire
Longing set your skin aflame

[CAROLINE]
Nurse the baby
Sing his name

[THE RADIO]
Sing his name!
Sing his name!
[THE WASHING MACHINE and THE RADIO]
Back in 1947

[CAROLINE]
Ain't no work for Negro men

[THE WASHING MACHINE]
You's both hanging on to heaven

[CAROLINE]
Emmie come

[THE WASHING MACHINE and THE RADIO]
Shipyard close

[CAROLINE]
'Mmonia factory almost hire him

[THE RADIO]
Only white mens in that union

[CAROLINE]
He get drunk, he scared, he angry
Feeling hopeless, I suppose

[THE WASHING MACHINE]
He hit you
[CAROLINE]
Just once

[THE WASHING MACHINE]
He break your nose

[CAROLINE]
Larry is a gentle baby
Emmie fussy, never sleeps
He gets drunk
He broke my nose

[THE RADIO]
Even now your face can summon

[CAROLINE]
What his punch feel like
The pain

[THE RADIO]
Pain is white
Remember pain?
Pain is white
That is its color
Bright as sunshine
Nighttime follow
Bitterness you drink and swallow

[CAROLINE]
God, whose eye is on the sparrow
Please make Emmie go to bed
Folk'll stare tomorrow
Jesus, please fix up my swollen head
Please, a job so he stop drinking
Please, he don't like digging sewers

[THE WASHING MACHINE]
No one likes that
Diggin' sewers

[CAROLINE]
Please give me a mop and bucket
Please, a white folks house to tend
Please, some money
Feed the babies
Choke his throat when he drink liquor
Make my sis help with my babies
Let him see
He mess with me
After I have spent the day
Putting white folks' clothes away
Tell him God, if he ever
Ever
Ever hit me again

[THE RADIO]
Larry, Emmie, Jackie, Joe

[THE WASHING MACHINE]
Other men find work

[CAROLINE]
He don't

[THE RADIO]
Change come fast
And change come slow

[THE WASHING MACHINE]
Other men leave drink

[CAROLINE]
He can't

[THE WASHING MACHINE]
Ahead of time you're getting old
Care beatin down on you
Then one day

[CAROLINE and THE WASHING MACHINE]
Then one day

[CAROLINE]
One bad day
He hit again

[THE WASHING MACHINE]
You beat him black and blue
Then he disappear from view

[THE RADIO]
And even now your hand can summon

[CAROLINE]
What it like to beat his face in
What his back feel like, his kiss

[THE WASHING MACHINE]
Even now, your scar hand miss

[CAROLINE]
The handsome boy, the Navy man

[CAROLINE, THE WASHING MACHINE, and THE RADIO]
Sorrow bleed you

[CAROLINE]
Where is he?
Where is he?
Where is he?

[THE WASHING MACHINE and THE RADIO]
You are sixteen
Sixteen
Sixteen
Sixteen
Sixteen

[ROSE]
Caroline?