Read Soul of a Whore and Purvis for Free Online Page B

blasphemy. The Bible’s clear on that.
    Mark says, “In my name cast out devils.”
    BILL JENKS : Your good ol’ brother Mark?
    JOHN :                                                        Come on!
    BILL JENKS : All right, I will. I’ll call on old JC.
    â€¦Jesus Christ, they crucified you, huh?
    Holy Jesus, they crucified you good.
    Jesus Christ, they threw you in the pit
    And fed you meals of Spam and Wonder bread…
    But the crucifiers never ride the Greyhound.
    Jesus Christ…
    [ He falls to his knees. ]
    It’s Bill Jenks, fresh from prison.
    Been out half a day, and my report
    Says, Lord, it’s still the world they killed you in.
    Says, Lord, the world is desperate and mean.
    Lord, come on now, turn an ear to me.
    Your Catholic priests are pederastic homos.
    Your preachers are sluts. They clutch your Book
    In one hand green from moneybags and poke
    Your Word with fingers reasty from young cunts.
    The sonsabitches crucify
    Occasionally a savior while revering
    Prophets their fathers lynched. The motherfuckers
    Live unchallenged, prosper, die unpunished.
    God, I hate them. Jesus hated them, too.
    Don’t dispute me—Jesus Christ reviled them.
    He saw who held the hammer and the nails.
    He recognized who would and wouldn’t hurt him,
    And so he palled around with dwarfs and whores,
    People everybody hated—tax collectors,
    Lepers, urchins, strangers, widows, dummies…
    Come on now, Jesus, turn an ear to me.
    Jesus Christ, I am a criminal.
    I am a tax collector, whore, and midget:
    You have nothing to fear from the likes of me,
    And nobody else in here is gonna hurt you,
    For the crucifiers never ride the Greyhound.
    Jesus Christ, I beg you for the power.
    I beg you for the power and cry…DEMON!
    [ He lays hands on MASHA; she writhes and screams. ]
    DEMON, I BANISH YOU TO—
    MASHA :                                                      HEAR ME, HEALER!
    â€¦Spare me banishment to the pit of Hell,
    But leave me to the world of things and men,
    And I will grant you prophecies three.
    SYLVESTER :                                                    YOU WHORE!
    JOHN : Bill Jenks: Something good will come of this!
    SYLVESTER : Masha—demon—buddy—talk to me—
    MASHA : Only spare me the pit, and I will flee.
    Spare me the pit, and I will prophesy…
    BILL JENKS :…OK, I’ll take the deal. No pit of Hell.
    MASHA : Hand on the cross.
    BILL JENKS :                          Hand on the cross. No pit.
    Prophesy away, and walk the world
    As long as men and things inhabit here.
    SYLVESTER : He’s got my damn predictions! I’m a pauper!
    MASHA : Hear me, William Jennings Bryan Jenks:
    I prophesy that you shall meet your mirror.
    I prophesy that you shall raise the dead.
    I prophesy one more: That like all men
    William Jennings Bryan Jenks shall die,
    And on his death an innocent shall be killed.
    [ BJ lays his hands on her. ]
    I FLEE!
    JOHN :                  …She’s limp. That thing is gone.
    SYLVESTER : Three predictions? That’s your total score?
    Three predictions worth exactly zero?
    Son of a bitch. She could’ve made you wealthy
    Ten times over. What a rube you are.
    [ A siren; pulsing red and blue light that continues until blackout. ]
    Here comes the ambulance to the whore hospital.
    BILL JENKS : I shall meet my mirror? I keep clear
    Of mirrors. I don’t like their face.
    I guarantee I’ll never raise the dead.
    And naturally I’ll die. But all the rest
    Is nonsense. Let me see your racing form.
    Maybe she’s just handicapping horses.
    CLERK [ holding radio ]: Hey there—John Cassandra—on