"Maine Tourist Office, how can I help you today?" "Yes, ma'am, I can connect you to the Alagash Hotel." "Between us, it's awful busy that time of year and the Pine Tree in Dawesport it's just a skip up the road for hardly half the price." "Me, ma'am?" "I guess I come up here to stay going on five years now." "I don't believe I could leave Maine even if I wanted to." "No, ma'am, there's nothing else like it nowhere." "When the sugar maples turn scarlet and the hickories go all gold it's like seeing the colors of paradise come back to you even if it don't last but a week." "You're welcome." "It's been real nice talking to you." "Have a nice day." ""Like seeing the colors of paradise come back to you."" "Where you get that shit from, Percy?" "All you seen of Maine is the inside of this prison." "Most people'd rather hear a good lie over the truth any day." "Now, you getting out." "You best watch that lying, girl." "Maine Tourist Office, how can I help you today?" "Don't say I told you, but I was there." "And that's what she said, Sarah." "Now, what's this?" "Shelby?" "I said my blue shirt needed washing." "I did all the white ones, but there wasn't enough for a colored load." "I'm showing the quarry tomorrow, Shel, I told you." "I need the blue shirt." "Warden Minton said he'd call." "He called, all right." "About someone looking to start fresh here." "Truth be told, I didn't take him serious." "Nothing much starts in Gilead these days." "But here you are." "Yes, sir." "Tell me why you chose Gilead." "Something wrong with this place?" "Oh, no, I wouldn't say that." "If you give any account to the Indian legends, it was here...." "Story goes when the gods heard how beautiful the land was, they left heaven to see it." "I mean, it does have more pegmatite rock formations than just about any other county in the country." "Is that right?" "Yes, sir." "Had a caller once wanted to know all about stuff like that." "You lost your last waitress this winter." "With your hip and all...." "Another body in here ain't gonna cure my hip, gar'." "Hannah, it don't have to be permanent, and you've got that empty room upstairs." "And you need the help." "And, Hannah...." "You'd be doing me a big favor." "I don't owe you no favors." "Bathroom's at the end of the hall." "There's hot water enough, but not if you dawdle while you're washing." "There's extra blankets and sheets in the sideboard." "I give you breakfast at 6:00." "Work starts right at 6:30." "Anything else you need to know can wait till then." "Lamp's on the right." "Wood's gotta come in for the stove." "Leave the tending of the fire to me for now." "Water's gotta be set to boil for the cereal." "Greens gotta come up from the root cellar." "If there ain't a gallon of coffee out there in 15 minutes I'll hear about it for the whole day." "You got that, have you?" "Yep." "I don't allow no smoking in the kitchen either." "Will you get that hair out of your face working around food?" "I ain't open yet, Effy." "I know what time you open." "Just come to see if there was something you needed from the store." "Well, I don't." "And her name is Percy." "You happy?" "Don't turn around." "She's coming right to his table." "What can I bring for you?" "Hannah knows what I'm having." "That one's been real popular today." "You want coffee with that?" "She's going to pour his coffee...." "I saw her from the store last night." "What's she doing here anyway?" "Don't know and don't care." "She came in on the bus last night." "I saw her coming" "Say, Hannah...." "Did I forget to mention I been in prison at Windham for the last five years?" "And I only got sent to solitary three times." "Imagine that." "Percy!" "'Evening to you, Hannah." "Brought some supplies back from Bethel." "Got you a box of new scrubbing pads." "New scrubbing pads?" "I had no complaints about the old ones." "Talked to those fellows about the quarry again." "They'll come to look at it anytime now." "Well, you let me know when the rush starts." "Percy." "I'm Nahum Goddard." "Hannah's my aunt." "You'd be?" "Perchance Talbott." "Percy'll do." "I got that real-estate office across the street." "Where you come from?" "Ohio." "Ohio?" "I had some clients from Ohio once." "They didn't sound like you." "I wouldn't mind coming from someplace else if that don't suit you." "I sort of look after Hannah, so you're apt to be seeing a lot of me." "How much do you know about this girl?" "You've met Henry Minton the warden up there at Windham?" "Short and stout, kind of balding?" "He called and asked if I could lend her a hand." "That's all it is." "Just the same I think you should have talked to me about this." "Hannah's a grown woman, she's got a mind of her own." "She's getting on, gar'." "I'm not warm to the prospect of a criminal living with her." "Who do you suppose will keep an eye on this girl?" "Well, if she's working at the Spitfire who won't?" "Did you know we've got more pegmatite formations around here than any other county?" "Pegmatite." "No." "I just know we got about a million ton of granite in that hole." "It ain't gonna dig itself out." "What's that you're reading?" ""Rosy-fingered Dawn..." ""...came upon the sleeping sailors and they woke..." ""...to resume their long journey."" "I don't think I know that one." "It's a pretty old story." "My name is...." "Joe." "I was here when Hannah set you to work." "I'm just guessing, but I bet you already heard mine more than once." "Percy." "I was thinking I might take a ride to Millfield later on." "You're welcome to come along if...." "What they got in Millfield?" "Nothing much, really, just it's someplace besides Gilead." "I don't know." "I gotta finish a letter to someone." "I could talk to Hannah if...." "It's not like she owns me or something." "I know." "I know that." "I guess this place is starting to push in on me some." "All right." "Like I said, it ain't Gilead." "Hey, Joe." "How're you doing?" "I think I want to stay here for a minute." "All right." "That's fine." "I could run in and get something for us." "Okay." "I'll be right back." "Where'd you find her?" "Come on, honey." "Get off of me!" "Come back here." "What're you doing?" "She just wants to be alone." "Go back inside." "Go on." "Here you are. will this kind be okay for you?" "I wouldn't know the difference." "No, I guess...." "You know, you sound like you're from the South." "Your accent." "Things ain't always like they sound." "I know." "Just about every place else is South from here." "Flatlanders." "That's what we call them." "You still got family down there anywhere?" "Make a list of all your damn questions and I'll answer when I got the time." "What's going on?" "Manslaughter, all right?" "That's why I was in Windham." "Now you got something to tell all your friends." "You can take me back." "Can we go?" "Sure." "Don't touch me." "Just go get help." "But don't touch me." "Don't touch me." "I heard you, Hannah." "Joe's bringing the truck 'round back." "We'll get you to the hospital in Lewiston." "Don't touch my leg." "It's the only place that's got a doctor." "Stay away." "You want to fight me, old woman?" "Have at it." "But come hell or high water that's where you're gonna go." "All right." "Don't take a parade just to get me into bed." "Easy, now." "Shoo, both of you, huh?" "We've got it." "Thank you." "All this plaster on my leg, I'm sure I ain't going anywhere." "Now, you care to tell us what happened here, Hannah?" "She didn't push me down the stairs, if that's what you're thinking." "I was climbing up on the chair and my hip spasmed on me." "Just the same, I think it'd be best for Percy to go now." "Go where?" "I guess I should probably get going." "I'm heating some coffee." "No, that's all right." "My father will worry if I don't show up around there pretty soon." "Thanks for helping me get Hannah into the hospital." "You should be getting the thanks." "You done all right for her, Percy." "Look, I won't tell anyone why you were at Windham if that's what you want." "Time will tell." "Yes, it will." "Coffee's hot." "We don't know the first thing about her." "So we just ship her back to Henry Minton at the prison?" "That'll be a fine thank you for her getting me to Lewiston." "I'm going to need someone around here until I'm back on my feet." "Shelby can look after the grill" "Shelby!" "You're always carping on how numb she is so Shelby'll just cure everything I'm sure." "Ever since Eli...." "I'm responsible for you now, Hannah." "Well, that's queer 'cause I don't recall asking you or anyone else to take over my life for me." "So until I forget my name or start drooling at the mouth I'll thank you to allow me to make my own decisions." "I won't be in this bed forever, you know." "Until then Percy can manage things." "Sorry." "Hannah, I was going to head up." "Can I get you anything before I go?" "No, I'm fine." "But glacier and I both are having trouble imagining just who exactly it was taught you how to cook." "I never really had much more than fast food growing up and if any of that was really cooked, you could've fooled me." "I know I'm making a mess of it." "If not for the food, they'd find something else to complain about." "Right." "Good night, then." "Percy?" "Percy?" "There might still be one thing that needs doing." "You'll find a canvas sack in the office." "It needs to have these canned goods put in it and then placed outside near that stump." "Then you can go on to bed and get your rest." "Think you can just do that?" "I'll see to it." "Not to worry." "Percy...." "Make sure that the axe goes in the stump before someone steps on it and gets hurt." "Sure." "'Morning." "'Morning." "This is Molly." "I'm afraid Nahum didn't think of all the details when he asked me in here." "I brought a playpen for her and she shouldn't be any bother." "Is that okay with you?" "Hell, it's gotta be a lot more your place than mine." "Set her wherever you like." "Thanks Percy." "It'll just be a second." "There we go." "There we go." "Bacon." "Damn, this is good." "It's nothing special." "It's a far sight better than when Hannah makes it." "You just don't know any better." "Anything's gotta taste good after eating food...." "I'm sorry." "I shouldn't have said anything." "I didn't exactly make a secret of where I've been." "Not exactly." "You saved my bacon in here today, Shelby." "After things got sorted out..." "...it went pretty good, didn't it?" "Yeah." "You can say that twice and mean it." "I better get going." "Nahum'll be waiting." "Good night." "Good night." "Wait." "Wait!" "I don't mean you no harm." "I thought you might want something different in the bag, that's all." "I know what's it like eating the same thing every day till you can't stand it no more." "Would you like that maybe?" "Something different in the bag next time?" "Okay, then, it's a deal." "We'll try something new." "Maybe next time we won't be so rushed, we'll have a chance to chat." "That'll be okay, right?" "Well, it's late, so I'll be getting back." "Hi, Mom." "Hi, sweetheart." "You're right on time." "Look over that, I'll be right back." "What you got for me today?" "No lack of odd ducks around here." "You can say that twice and mean it." "Put your napkin in your lap." ""For Sale" sign in the window...." "Is Hannah really selling this place?" "Did I say something wrong?" "Meet me on the back porch." "We'll need more potatoes for supper." "Sorry, I shouldn't be so nosy." "No." "It's not that, it's just I don't know if it's right for me to say." "But, I can't see how it's wrong neither." "You see Hannah had a son." "Eli." "And right from the first it was pretty clear he was something special." "Tall, strong sweet." "All-state champ four years running." "Somehow it just seemed like Eli brought out the best in this town like as long as he was here somehow everything would turn out all right." "Then the war in Vietnam came." "Did he get drafted?" "Oh, no." "No." "He enlisted." "His dad, James, was sort of a big hero in world war II." "I guess that's why they named this place the Spitfire." "So, when it came Eli's turn to serve, he was raring to go." "I can still remember walking up the hill to the bus stop with the whole town to see him off." "That was the last time we ever saw Eli." "Hannah never told me what the official story was but after a few years it was pretty clear he wasn't coming back." "His dad, James, took it real hard." "I guess his heart just gave out from it." "Couple years after James died, Hannah put the grill up for sale and asked Nahum to see if he couldn't find a buyer." "That was almost ten years ago." "You know if Hannah still wants to sell this place she might try running one of them essay contests." "Contests?" "When I worked at the Tourist Office, some folks had an inn they couldn't sell." "They ran an essay contest to raffle it off." "They got more than they could have sold that place for." "Sounds crazy, huh?" "Percy!" "What's wrong?" "We must be running short of supplies now." "Supplies?" "From the sound of it, I thought your hair was on fire." "Well, it ain't." "Now, I want you to drive down to the Discount Mart in Bethel." "I got a list all made out for you here." "You can drive, can't you?" "I've driven some, but you want me to go?" "It's warming up a little." "I thought you could use the fresh air." "Besides, the way your cooking's improved, I think it's high time we give Shelby a turn in the kitchen, don't you?" "I'm sure she'd welcome the chance." "Here's the list." "There's $300 here in the drawer." "The key to the truck." "You won't have any trouble finding your way back, will you?" "No, ma'am." "All right." "What do you think, glacier?" "Hey, mister!" "You all right there?" "Hey, what y'all doing?" "Nothing." "Y'all from Ohio?" "'Cause I'm from Ohio." "I'm from Akron." "Is it starting to ache bad again now, Hannah?" "Not as much as trying to figure out what part of me is going to give out next." "Now, Hannah, don't." "Spare me your milksop, Shelby." "It's not a question of "if" anymore it's just a question of "when."" "It's high time that Nahum got on the stick and found me a buyer for this place." "You can tell him I said so too." "I'll tell him, Hannah but with the real-estate market being like it is I don't know." "You might...." "Might what?" "You might want to try one of those essay contest things to raffle it off." "Some folks in Center Lovell did real well with an inn they had." "Essay contest?" "What kind of nonsense is that?" "Nothing." "I was just talking." "So how would one of them essay contest things work anyway?" "You mean like the one in Center Lovell?" "I don't know." "You're the one that brought it up." "The way I heard it first they set a deadline date, like three or four months from the start." "Then they asked people to send $100 with an essay saying why they wanted their inn." "They promised if they got at least 2,500 essays by the time the deadline date rolled around they'd pick the best essay and give the inn to whoever wrote it." "They got that many?" "Even more, I think." "That'd be more than $250,000, wouldn't it?" "This is all legal?" "Must be if they did it already." "Shelby, see to that pot." "It's about to boil over." "Why don't you go on up to bed?" "Shelby and I will finish up here." "Good night, then." "Good night." "Did I do something wrong, Hannah?" "What do you really think of this contest idea?" "I don't know." "Maybe you'd better ask..." "..." "Nahum about it." "When I want Nahum's opinion I'll ask him." "Right now I'm asking you." "You still got a mind, don't you?" "Yes, Hannah, I do." "Well, then?" "Well, then I can't see that you stand to lose anything by trying." "That's what I've been thinking too." "'Course I can't imagine that there's 50 people who'd want this place." "Let alone a thousand or more." "But I suppose anything's possible." "Do you think you could see to all the details for me?" "I don't know." "Well, yes or no, Shelby?" "Yes." "All right then it's settled." "But you make sure they know it's for cash only." "I don't want to fool with out-of-state checks on this." "All right." "All right." ""Small diner that seats about 40 with house attached."" "How's that sound?" "Awful, huh?" "It's okay, I guess." "But if I gambled $100, I'd want it to be for someplace you know, special." "It's not just the Spitfire they'd be getting." "They'd get Gilead too." "There's nothing very special about Gilead that I can see." "Maybe not." "You could say there's enough country around it to lose yourself in but not so many people you'd ever feel lost." "I don't know." "No, no, I like that." "Keep going. what else?" "You could say it's a place with roots so deep, nobody can tear them out from under you." "And customers so loyal they'll keep coming back even if your cooking stinks." "Loyal customers." "You know what else?" "Nahum told me we got more pegmatite rock formations than any other county in the country." "Did he, now?" "But we can't put that." "Oh, I know." "Let's write something about the Indian River." "They've got all kinds of history there." "Maine Tourist Office, can I help you?" "Jolene?" "It's Percy." "Percy?" "I got Percy." "How're you doing, girl?" "I'm all right." "You remember that essay contest thing we had all them calls about a while back?" "Yeah." "The woman who owns the diner she wants to try one." "I hoped you and the girls could help me out by calling some of the papers to help me spread the word." "Tell me how you want it to read and I'll make sure that by next month, the whole damn country's heard about it." "How's that?" "Bless you." "You got a pen?" "I want you to write this down." "I want all the entries to go to Hannah Ferguson, care of the Spitfire grill." "That's in Gilead, Maine...." "Hannah said you was out for a walk." "Getting some peace before the dishes get to rattling in my head." "You like the woods, do you?" "My mama said my people come from the mountains." "Closest I ever been was a city park in Akron." "You are from Ohio." "When the coal mines in Kentucky gave out my people went north looking for work." "Didn't do much good." "We're still just poor white trash there too." "Had us our very own slum and everything." "I talk country, but the only hills I've ever seen were in magazines." "You ought to take a ride out to my land sometime." "We got trees out there as far as the eye can see." "Yeah?" "Oh, yeah." "Percy!" "What?" "Come quick, something's happened." "Where are you pulling me?" "I got something to show you and I wanted someplace extra private." "What, in here?" "Don't worry." "Nobody comes here anymore." "Since the quarry closed we got no money for a minister." "If you want to go to church, you gotta drive at least to Bethel." "I'm the only one that comes now." "Why?" "It's someplace when I need to be by myself where it's quiet." "I've never told anyone about this before but I won't mind if you want to come here sometimes by yourself too." "So what's this good news you got?" "Look." ""Restaurant Raffle. want the Spitfire grill?" ""Cash Only."" "New York." "Chicago." "San Francisco." "We got an article in each one." "Queen Jolene." "You gotta bake her up something real nice we can send her." "You betcha." "Gilead Realty." "County Clerk's Office?" "Oh, yes, yes, I did call." "Yeah." "Perchance Talbott." "Yes." "And what was the conviction for?" "I see." "I see." "Thank you." "You find us all right?" "Yeah." "Good." "Dad, this is this is my friend, Percy Talbott." "Percy, this is my father Aaron." "I'm just going to go grab my jacket." "What you watching?" "I work at the Spitfire." "You should have Joe bring you by sometime." "It's fun." "You all set?" "Sure." "'Bye." "Look at them all." "If that ain't beautiful, I don't know what is." "Yeah." "It's a shame that's all they are." "About 80 years ago, before anyone knew any better they clear-cut through here." "Took down everything." "This is the stuff you get back." "It's no good for lumber." "It's not even good enough to pulp for paper." "It's all just worthless." "I don't now nothing about trees, but if they was mine you couldn't drag me away with a runaway train." "No matter how worthless people said it was." "Just roll it out gentle." "That's right." "You can put some more flour on the pin if you need to." "Cut the butter in, just to pea size, let the milk sit before you start." "Take the eggs out first." "I'll never be able to do this on my own." "Ah, you will too." "The way to a man's heart is still through his stomach." "At least somewhere in that vicinity." "Who said I wanted a man?" "I guess it wasn't you that went over to Joe Sperling's farm." "Well, ain't you the busybody." "You been taking gossip lessons from Effy?" "I don't need Effy to see that Joe's got more than a little thing for you, Miss Talbott." "Right." "That boy's just plain lonely, that's all." "Ever talked to his father?" "Haven't had so many laughs since they locked me up." "Serious." "Well, whatever you say." "It doesn't take an Einstein to picture you and Joe juggling a truckload of kids someday." "What?" "Did I say something wrong?" "What is it, Percy?" "When I was reading up on this state, I come across this story." "There was this Indian squaw and she was rowing a canoe with her baby in it." "Couple sailors who were liquored up caught sight of them on the river." "They'd heard this story that Indian babies knew how to swim from birth." "So they decided to test their theory out." "They capsized the canoe." "The baby went straight to the bottom." "The story didn't say what happened to the mother." "I figure it's probably best if she just drowned too." "Don't you think?" "I forgot, Hannah didn't want me smoking in the kitchen." "Percy." "I guess you got that food all right." "Shelby sure can work magic with flour and butter, can't she?" "My name's Percy Talbott." "Well, Percy, at least." "Talbott ain't my real name, belonged to my stepdaddy." "Don't know who my real daddy was, so I don't know what my name should be." "Maybe it weren't meant for me to have one." "What about you?" "You got a name?" "Maybe you don't have a real name either." "Still, it'd be nice to call you something." "The Indians had a story about a magic giant who lived in the woods." "Called him Gluskap, 'cause he looked out for them." "Would that be a good name for you?" "I can't imagine anyone wanting to be called Gluskap." "How about Johnny B.?" "How'd that be for a name?" "Johnny B. never knew what hit him." "Wouldn't surprise me none if something like that happened to you." "Unless you tell me something different, that's what I'll call you." "Johnny B." "Johnny B., you there?" "Oh, Johnny B." "Effy." "A letter come for you this morning." ""Hannah Ferguson, care of the Spitfire grill."" "Who do you know from Chicago?" "I'm sure I have no idea." "$100." ""Dear Mrs. Ferguson:" ""I saw the article about your contest last night when I couldn't sleep." ""I was sick of watching TV so I picked up the paper." ""The reason I can't sleep..." ""...is because my family is falling apart." ""My wife walked out last year..." ""...and left me with our two high-school boys." ""I don't think her leaving us was all my fault..." ""...but they blame me for it anyway." ""The way they're acting now, if I don't do something soon, they'll leave me too." ""Maybe if I could take us all to a place like yours in Gilead..." ""...that won't happen."" "If they're all going to sound like that, the hell with it." "It's just the first one." "Might work better if you let me do it." "Suppose it might." "Here." "Just don't press too hard." "Still pretty tender in there?" "Sore enough seeing as how the doctor keeps saying how well I'm healing." "You suppose if a wound goes real deep the healing of it can hurt almost as bad as what caused it?" "Might be." "Detroit." "New York." "Kansas City." "Boston." "Memphis." "As postmistress I've got a legal right to know if the mail service is being used for any irregular purpose." "Will you tell me what goes on here or do I have to open these myself?" "Not that it's any of your business, Effy but I'm running a contest to give away the grill." "A contest?" "What kind of contest is that?" "Some kind of essay thing." "You know Hannah, you don't know what she could be up to." "Something about an essay or something." "$100 and a letter." "Why would you even want to try such a thing?" "Because no one else is buying." "Where would my Aunt Hannah get an idea like that?" "From me." "Is that right?" "I just hope this finally makes an old sour apple like you happy, Hannah Ferguson." "Holy Moses." "Holy mackerel." "Holy shit." ""And I believe..." ""...in time, I could expand the Spitfire..." ""...into a national chain of restaurants."" "Wait, now, listen to this one." ""The reason I need to have your diner is because that's where the aliens..." ""...said to wait for them until their ship comes to take me to...."" "I can't even read that word, but I'm guessing it's another planet." "We got to send that one back tomorrow." "You read one, Hannah." "All right, let's see." ""Dear Hannah:" ""I've worked as a cook all my life..." ""...but hard as my husband and I have worked..." ""...we've never had more than two nickels to rub together." ""We talked about having our own little place someday..." ""...but that don't put bread on the table." That's for sure." ""But now my husband's pretty sick." ""The doctors say there's not much more that they can do for him." ""I'm sure there's a lot of deserving people out there..." ""...but it would be a true blessing..." ""...if my husband could spend what's left of his days..." ""...in a place like Gilead." ""And I could have something to sustain me when he's gone."" "Maybe you should hold onto that one." "But I don't know that we should pick someone out of pity." "Well, what sort of person would you want in here?" "I don't know." "I've always thought it should be someone younger." "Someone more your age than mine." "Yeah?" "I figured it'd be somebody like you." "Me too." "Whoever gets it will have their work cut out for them trying to run this place without you two." "Have you thought what you'll do with all this money now?" "I've been thinking about that since the day I first put the grill up for sale." "Almost gave up hope." "But now...." "Where's that jug?" "That applejack ain't doing us any good in the bottle." "Well, maybe half a glass." "More." ""If I were only one inch tall I'd sleep in a slipper in the hall" ""And dream all night of being tall"" "I'm back." "That's beautiful." "And it's bedtime for you, sweets." "You go on upstairs." "I'll be up in a minute." "Okay." "Looks like that contest turned out all right." "You must be real proud." "I'm just glad for Hannah, that's all." "But it was your idea." "You deserve all the credit." "We all worked on it together." ""We" means Percy, don't it?" "Well, she did her share." "If anyone deserves thanking, it's her." "Like mentioning Center Lovell while you rubbed elbows in the kitchen." "Well, what if she did?" "What would be so terrible about that?" "Nothing." "Except I knew this could never have come from you." "Why not?" "Why couldn't it have come from me?" "'Cause you're just plain not smart enough." "That's why." "If you want a clean shirt for yourself for tomorrow, you can wash it yourself." "$100?" "For this place?" "Not from me." "I wouldn't take it for free." "Meeshack, you having the special today?" "Win something if I do?" "You gotta talk real pretty and it'll cost you." "All right." "That's it." "You're all so worked up about this damn contest, be my guest jump right in." "I got more reading here than I can get through in a month of Sundays." "Here, you take those." "Effy, you're always reading everyone's mail anyway." "There." "Meeshack, get back to me with the best of this and then maybe, just maybe I might put up with your smart-ass remarks." "It answers one thing." "What's that?" "What that Percy Talbott really came here for." "Ain't that dog died yet?" "Shelby told me this whole thing was her idea." "Who's to say it's not a scam she cooked up with her prison friends?" "If it'll make you feel any better, I ran her records." "There's no history of fraud or robbery." "She went to prison for manslaughter, didn't she, gar'?" "She paid her debt." "It's all said and done." "There's got to be over $200,000 in Hannah's safe by now." "I hope I'm not the only one to take that seriously." "Bring this meeting to order." "I say it's Hannah's place to do with as she pleases." "It'll ruin this place." "Ruin it?" "From what?" "We got strangers crawling all over us now and more coming every day." "Hey." "Their bark's a lot worse than their bite." "It's not like I came here looking to start trouble." "I know, but they're just not used to change." "It scares them." "They'll shout it all out and that'll be that." "It's not like there's a law that you must stand round and listen, is there?" "No." "No." "You want to get out of here?" "Sure." "Yeah." "What do you want to show me?" "These." "Your worthless trees?" "Maybe not anymore." "I come upon this fellow out here." "Turns out he's a research scientist." "He said he looked all over the north for this medical compound that can only be found in the bark of trees." "He figured it had to be in first-growth trees but he couldn't find it." "Then he saw these." "Turns out this compound only happens in stump growth like this when a tree tries to regenerate itself." "He said he could kick himself for being so stupid." "Hold on." "This scientist fellow." "What's he look like?" "A beard, sort of scrappy looking." "Driving a tan compact car?" "That's him." "I seen that guy!" "Sniffing on trees and chewing on their bark." "Thought he'd gone clear off his rocker." "If he has, I'm going with him." "He works for this drug company." "He wants to set up a project out here, to harvest all the bark and stimulate more stump." "Yeah?" "Yeah." "You know, it's all still in the talking phase, of course but if the numbers they talked about add up by half this could keep Gilead on the map." "I'd call that real good news for y'all." "Real good news." "Yeah, and maybe it could be good news for us." "Us?" "Yeah, now, don't ask me to explain but that first night when you come into town I had this feeling something really good would happen and I'll be damned if it isn't sitting next to me right now." "I don't know what crazy talk" "No, listen." "Listen, there's these trees here and this land." "You're a big part of that now." "What do you mean?" "I don't know." "How about you and me getting married?" "What?" "You don't want to be marrying me, Joe." "I don't care what people think." "It's not that." "Well, what then?" "Will you want kids?" "Well, hell, yes." "Hell, yes." "As many as you want." "I can't have kids no more, Joe." "I...." "We don't need to have" "Please." "There's a woman that's meant to be your wife." "I know it." "It's just not me." "Johnny B.!" "You there?" "This is where you live, ain't it?" "Can I go in?" "You know, you should have told me." "I'd have made you something special." "I can bake a cake now." "Look at all your birds." "You there?" ""There is a balm in Gilead" ""To make the wounded whole" ""There is a balm in Gilead" ""To heal the worried soul" ""There is a balm in Gilead" ""To make the wounded whole"" "Sorry I'm late." "I went out, lost track of time." "Where you been?" "I just went for a walk." "What for?" "Nothing." "You don't go sneaking off at the crack of dawn for nothing." "What were you out there for?" "Went for a walk with Joe." "You liar!" "I just sent Joe off not ten minutes ago." "You were chasing him!" "It's not like that." "Shut up!" "You just shut up!" "I should've known not to trust a piece of lying trash like you." "I've done nothing bad." "You scared away the only hope I had." "Damn you!" "If you choose to live with that hope" "Shush!" "I lost my son!" "You think I chose that?" "You got no idea what that's like." "How the hell would you know?" "You didn't kill your boy, did you?" "You didn't let your baby die!" "You don't know nothing!" "It's time you stopped working at the Grill." "But I like working there." "Anyway, this is really about Percy, isn't it?" "You've had it out for that girl since she got here." "Because she has no business here." "Never did." "She may have pulled the wool over your eyes and Hannah's but others can see what's going on." "You think she helped fill that safe from the goodness of her heart?" "For your information Percy is taking Hannah into Lewiston tomorrow morning to put the money in the bank." "Good god!" "What?" "Good god!" "Will it take finding Hannah dead in a ditch for you to see the truth?" "Don't you know that girl went to prison for murder?" "Her coming here has been a godsend for Hannah." "And for me." "That's the reason you can't stand her." "You best watch your words." "No, I won't watch my words." "Why should I watch my words?" "You have got that same chip on your shoulder now that you did when Eli was alive." "The whole town looked up to him and now that anybody sees that same thing in Percy you hate her for it the same way you hated him." "But she is doing something that you could never do." "You are just plain jealous of that girl." "God." "Gary!" "Okay." "'Morning." "What's wrong?" "It's gone." "I went to get it out of the safe, it's all gone." "Where's Percy?" "No I checked her room." "All around the house." "She's gone too." "No." "I don't believe it." "Something must have happened." "What could have happened?" "Don't matter now what happened." "Just what's left to be done." "What do you mean?" "What are you going to do?" "Where are you going?" "You here or there now?" "I came back to get the car." "What goes on?" "Sorry to barge in so early, but Hannah tells me the safe's been cleaned out and there's no sign of Percy." "What's going on?" "None of your concern." "Go to your store." "I'll go when it suits me." "I don't care what it looks like she didn't take that money." "This is past you." "Stay out of it." "No, not this time." "So help me, Nahum if you condemn that girl without proof, I'll quit you for good I swear." "When I was out walking last night I saw Percy bring a sack out on the back porch then sit there like she was waiting for someone." "This morning the sack was gone and I saw fresh tracks leading into the woods." "Let's go back to the office." "Looks like we need to organize a search." "Effy, will you watch Molly for a minute?" "I'll go find Percy." "Shelby!" "Fred and willy are bringing their dogs and I got Tom coming from Cumberland." "If you could send me a couple of troopers that'd be a great help." "Great." "Thank you." "Percy." "I thought in someplace small like this there might just be a chance, you know?" "But after what I done, it don't matter where I go." "What have you done, Percy?" "Well, I killed somebody." "Mason Talbott." "He was set on having me not a week after he married my mama." "I was nine." "I guess she was too afraid of losing him." "She'd slap me and tell me, "Shut up about it."" "I was 16 when I got pregnant." "And I hated what he'd done to me but I found myself loving that life inside me." "Feeling it grow move, even." "I got to calling it Johnny B for that song, you know?" "Johnny B. Goode." "I figured that'd work for a boy or a girl." "And I swore to god that when that baby came I would protect it from the likes of Mason, no matter what." "I figured since I was pregnant he'd leave me alone." "The more I stayed away from him, the madder he got." "One night he was drunk he come after me again." "I tried to fight him and he took to me with his fist so bad...." "The baby...." "I was in the hospital for two weeks thinking about how I hadn't kept my promise and I knew god would never forgive me for that." "Mason must've been afraid of the police 'cause he took me from the hospital before it was time." "I don't know where we was going seemed I was in the back of that car for days." "We were in some motel somewhere." "He had a bottle, he was into it real good." "He started talking started saying how it was right that my baby died." "It weren't never meant to be." "All he needed was another mouth to feed." "And I don't think I said nothing." "I recall seeing the straight razor he had sitting on that chest of drawers." "And it was still too late." "Turns out that motel was in Maine." "Frank, you heard we had trouble here?" "Sure did." "Shelby's car." "Wait a second, I'll be right back." "Okay." "Oh, Percy." "I knew you didn't take that money." "What money?" "Hannah's money?" "I won't let you arrest her, gar'." "Shelby, calm down." "Nobody's getting arrested." "I just want to talk to Percy alone." "The sooner you let it go, the sooner I find out what's really going on around here." "Would you come with me, please?" "Just go and answer their questions and everything will be all right." "I promise." "She hasn't run off with anything." "She was over there in that church damning herself for a past that would've killed you or me." "You can't turn your back on that girl for no reason." "What happened here?" "We had a fight." "I slapped her." "Why?" "What could she have done to bring on that?" "Stop it!" "Just stop it!" "You've got no right." "You stop it!" "You've got no right." "That's all I'll say about it." "The money is gone." "It's out of my hands." "When Percy told what happened to her, there was a child?" "Yes." "Mr. Boggs, Meeshack." "I got a crazy message from Shelby." "What's going on?" "The Talbott girl gave Hannah's money to a partner in the woods." "We're splitting up to go after them." "Shelby?" "What is all this about, Percy having..." "...some partner in the woods?" "I don't know." "Nahum saw her leaving a sack out for someone last night." "Wait." "That's not who they're running after?" "Yeah, it is." "But no!" "Have they taken Percy somewhere?" "I don't know." "She was at Gary's before, but I don't know where she is now." "Where's Percy?" "I need your help." "I can't help you, woman." "Now just leave me alone." "It's happening again." "I'm trying to save him and I can't." "I tried everything I could to find him but short of taking the food I put out for him, he'd never let me near him." "See, I thought if if I sold the grill that I could use that money to get help." "But you you've seen him, haven't you?" "They think I gave him the money?" "Yes." "They're going after him?" "Yes, and I'm so afraid of what's going to happen." "I know I could find him." "I could." "But they ain't gonna let me go now." "Yes, they will." "Are you on the River Road?" "She's leaving right now unless you shoot me to stop her." "Now, hold on here, Hannah." "Johnny B.!" "Run!" "They're coming after you!" "Run!" "You stop now." "Eli!" "If anyone's got anything to say about Percy, now would be the time to do it." "I never knew Percy Talbott." "I only thought I did." "I thought she was a stranger who could bring no good to my aunt to my family to this town." "And I thought I knew her so well that I took that money out of the safe to keep her from stealing it." "I thought I knew her so well and more than anyone I am responsible for her death." "I thought I knew Percy Talbott but I was wrong as wrong can be." "I never knew Percy Talbott." "You know today was the official end of the contest." "Will you still go through with it?" "Seems only right to let the Spitfire go now." "Are you leaving gilead?" "I don't know about that." "This new tree business coming to town maybe I'll open a hardware store right across the street just to rankle Effy." "Are you sure you don't want me to stay with you?" "Just for a little while?" "I'll be all right." "I'll see you tomorrow." "You go on home to your girls." "Glacier?" "Glacier?" "We're closed." "Eli!" "Let's go see your mom for a second." "Fine." "These beans look good." "How are you?" "Fine." ""Dear Mrs. Ferguson:" ""I never wrote no essay before so I don't know if this even counts." ""I put what I could in the envelope, but it's nowhere near $100." ""I guess I'll just be sending you the rest as I can." ""Did I say my name is Clare yet?" ""Truth be told..." ""..." "I didn't really take it to mind when Mrs. Traynor..." ""...my night-school teacher..." ""...first told me about your contest." ""It's really more for Charlie than me anyway." ""Charlie's asleep now." "That's the only time..." ""..." "I can sit quiet long enough..." ""...to do much 'cause the way he goes when he's awake..." ""...you'd think he came with an extra motor." "He's a real spitfire."" "Welcome to Gilead." "Thank you." "So good to be here." "Everybody, this is Clare." "The winner of the essay contest." "Do you want to see your new grill?" "Yeah." "Shelby, look, it's Clare." "Hi, Clare." ""I don't pretend I'm ever going to amount to much myself..." ""...but even before I held him in my arms..." ""..." "I swore no matter what it took I was going to do right by this child." ""I just got to find someplace to give my boy a chance, Mrs. Ferguson." ""That's all he really needs." "Just a chance." ""And from reading what you wrote..." ""...well..." ""..." "I got to wishing maybe your town could be that place.""