Staging the Amistad. Charlie Haffner

estate plantation?

      Ruiz: Sugar estate plantation.

      REIRA: Good. Good man. Go ahead, Pepe. Choose. Choose fifty. It’s all yours. Go on. Choose fifty. Right?

      RUIZ: Right.

      They shake hands and Reira exits. With the help of assistants with practiced hands, Jose Ruiz goes over the slaves—each of the men, skipping the women and children. He opens their mouths, checks their nostrils, examines for venereal diseases and anal problems. He thumps and thwacks them. He picks out forty-nine young men, including Sengbe Pieh. Satisfied, he calls out.

      RUIZ: Senor Reira! . . . forty-nine! . . . Senor Reira! . . . finito!

      REIRA: (Dashing in.) Yaaa!

      RUIZ: Forty-nine, Senor. I have chosen forty-nine.

      REIRA: (Disappointed.) Only forty-nine? What’s the matter, Pepe? At first you said fifty, so I told you to choose fifty. Now, you choose only forty-nine?

      RUIZ: Yes, only forty-nine. How much for each slave?

      REIRA: Six hundred fifty dollars each.

      RUIZ: Six hundred fifty dollars each? Too much, Senor.

      REIRA: Not too much, Senor. See, these slaves have just arrived from Africa, west coast. Direct from the warehouse, my friend Pepe . . .

      RUIZ: I give you three hundred fifty dollars each.

      REIRA: Too small, Pepe. Too small. Pay six hundred dollars.

      RUIZ: Still too much. Take four hundred dollars.

      REIRA: No. Four hundred dollars each—not good for me. I will take five hundred dollars each. You see, Pepe, if you intend to use them in your family estate plantation, as you say, they are worth the price. These are young men—strong black Africans, healthy, not ladinos born in Cuba. You know that young, healthy, black men, just arriving from Africa always cost more on the slave market . . .

      RUIZ: Okay. Four hundred fifty dollars—last I can pay, Senor. The last.

      REIRA: Right. Four hundred fifty dollars each. Pay.

      RUIZ: So, for forty-nine, I give you . . . eh . . .

      REIRA: (Without thinking.) Twenty-two thousand fifty dollars.

      RUIZ: Correct. Good man. Good dealer.