"Listen to me I want you to understand" "As a silver dollar goes" "From hand to hand" "A woman goes from man to man" "Now, listen here, woman" "Listen to me I want you to understand..." "Mr. Valdes?" "Mr. Valdes, I'm locking up." "I put the laundry in your car." "A woman goes from man to man" "Hey!" "Anybody?" "Move." "Move!" "You gonna do the laundry now?" "You don't have to do the laundry for me." "How'd you find me?" "Well, I saw the old Chevy layin' tits-up out there in the dump." "I figured you either died in a car crash... or you settled in for a while." "Wouldn't have made much difference to you, would it?" "What's that?" "If I had died in some car crash." "I knew I should've had 'em burn that damn thing." "Or bury it in wood." "You would've gone right past here... if it hadn't been for that car, right?" "I'd have found you one way or the other." "Eddie." "You want me to take those sheets for you?" "I can do the laundry, you know." "I've been doin' my own laundry for months now." "I'm real good at it." "You just plunk the old quarters in and let 'er rip." "Come on, honey." "Let me do your laundry." "You want to do my laundry?" "Hey, hey, hey!" "Whoa!" "Whoa!" "You want to do my laundry, you son of a bitch?" "You do my laundry!" "You do the laundry!" "God." "You want an aspirin or somethin'?" "Huh?" "You got a headache?" "You want some water?" "May?" "May, come on." "Honey?" "You want me to make you some hot tea or somethin'?" "Want some tea?" "I'll make you some tea, like I used to, OK?" "Lemon?" "You want some ovaltine?" "May?" "May, you gotta let go of me now, OK?" "Honey." "You want me to go?" "Huh?" "Well, what do you want, then?" "You smell." "Your fingers smell." "Horses!" "Pussy." "Oh, come on, May." "They do." "They smell like metal." "I am not gonna start this shit." "Rich pussy." "Very clean pussy." "I came to see if you were all right." "l don't need you." "Oh." "OK." "Good." "Great." "Eddie!" "Hey!" "What the hell are you doin' in that truck?" "Eddie, don't go!" "Get on outta here!" "Goddamn!" "What kind of dump is this?" "You live here?" "What am I gonna do, huh?" "What am I supposed to do now?" "What?" "Ah, shit." "You're gonna erase me." "What are you talkin' about?" "You're gonna erase me." "Watch out!" "You're gonna erase me, or you're gonna have me erased." "Now, why would I want-- Are you crazy?" "'Cause I'm in the way." "Come on, May." "Don't talk like that." "l am." "May, I am tryin' to take care of you, all right?" "Sure you are." "Get back." "Come on back." "You're just guilty." "You're gutless, and you're guilty." "Oh, that's real cute." "That's great. I'm gutless." "Gutless." "What are you doin' with these horses?" "I'm unloading' 'em." "What the hell's it look like?" "Haven't been out of this rig in two hundred miles." "Even my horses have to suffer because of you." "l'm gonna kill her." "Who?" ""Who?"" "Oh, don't talk like that, will ya?" "I am." "I'm gonna kill her, and then I'm gonna kill you." "Oh, you're scarin' me to death!" "Go on, back up." "Back!" "Get back." "Two very sharp knives... two separate knives." "One for you and one for her, so the blood don't mix." "Do you know what I'm gonna do to her first?" "Oh, yeah, that's-- -l'm gonna torture her first." "Do you hear me?" "Uh-huh." "I'm gonna torture her first!" "Oh, great." "But not you." "I'm just gonna let you have it." "Well, thanks." "That's right." "Probably in the midst of a kiss." "Right after you think everything's been healed up." "Like right at the moment... when you think you've buffaloed me again..." "Mm-hmm." "that's right when you die." "You know how many miles I went out of my way... just to come here and see you?" "Have you got any idea" "Nobody asked you to come here!" "2,482!" "Where you been, Katmandu or somethin'?" "2,482 miles!" "So what?" "I missed you, you know." "I did." "I missed you more than anything I ever missed in my whole life." "I kept thinkin' about you the whole time I was drivin'." "I kept seeing' you." "Sometimes just a part of you." "Yeah?" "Like which part?" "Your neck." "My neck?" "Yeah." "You missed my neck?" "Yeah." "Well, I... missed all of you, but... your neck kept comin' up for some reason." "I kept crying' about your neck." "You were cryin'?" "Yeah." "Cryin'?" "Yeah." "So, was this before or after... your little fling with the countess?" "There wa--there wasn't any fling with any countess." "You're a liar!" "l took her out to dinner once." "Oh!" "You're a liar." "God." "OK." "Twice." "You were bumpin' on a regular basis." "Now, don't stand there and give me this shit." "I'm takin' you back, May." "What, you think you're takin' me back to that idiot trailer?" "Oh, no." "No, I'm movin' it." "I got a piece of ground up in Wyoming now." "Wyoming?" "Yeah." "Are you cra-- l'm not going to Wyoming." "What's up there, Marlboro men or somethin'?" "God." "Well, you can't stay here." "Why not?" "Why not?" "I'm a regular citizen now." "And I got me a job." "You got a job?" "That's right." "Why, you think I'm helpless or somethin'?" "That's what you think, right?" "Yeah, it is." "No, I just--it's been a long time since you had a job." "Well, I'm a cook." "A cook?" "You can't even flip an egg, can you?" "I'm not talkin' to you anymore." "Now, May-- -l mean it!" "May." "God damn it." "Quit doin' this, will you?" "I got it all worked out now." "I've been thinking about this for weeks." "I'm gonna build a little pipe corral for the horses." "We can have us a big vegetable garden and some chickens maybe." "I hate chickens." "And I hate horses, and I hate all that other shit, too." "You have me confused with somebody else, don't you?" "Yeah." "Hmm." "Unbelievable!" "I'm not lettin' go of you this time, May." "You never had me to begin with, Eddie." "You--you comin' up with this lame country dream life... in the country with vegetables... and chickens and stuff." "I hate all that stuff." "It makes me puke to even think about it." "What do you think it's like sittin' in a-- in a tin trailer with the wind ripping' through... waitin' for the butane to arrive?" "Then hiking' on down to the laundromat in the rain." "You think that's thrillin' for me or what?" "What?" "Get out of here, Eddie." "Turn off this goddamn thing and get out of here." "Don't touch me." "Get out of here." "Damn it." "Why couldn't you just stay put?" "I told you I was comin' back to get you." "I bought you all them magazines." "I thought you like that--that--those French kind." "Oh, God." "Yeah, you--l did." "You're right." "I especially liked the one with the countess on the cover." "That was real cute." "I liked that one a lot." "All right." "All right what?" "Where are you goin'?" "I'm gonna sleep in the truck." "What do you mean, you gonna spend the night?" "I'll be gone in the morning." "Don't worry about it." "No." "Wait." "Wait." "You can take it." "You're a stunt man." "Right?" "You got any tequila?" "You already drank my tequila!" "Come on, I want to show you something." "Come on over here" "Wait, I'm in the middle of somethin' here." "I'm tryin' to talk to somebody!" "I'll show you somethin' actual." "Look at that." "Remember that?" "Where'd you get this?" "Uh-huh." "Take a look at that picture over there." "You know who that is?" "I'm not sure." "That's Barbara Mandrell." "That's who that is-- Barbara Mandrell." "You heard of her?" "Yeah, sure." "Well, would you believe me if I told you I was married to her?" "No." "Uh-huh." "Yeah, well, you see, now, that's the difference right there." "I'm actually married to Barbara Mandrell in my mind." "Can you understand that?" "Yeah, sure." "Well, good. I'm glad we have an understanding." "I swear to God. I swear to God, I even hate you even more." "It just grows." "Just grows and grows." "If I need to see you anymore... see you anymore." "To see a picture of you." "No, not just you. I see a picture of you and her." "That bitch." "I don't understand how I could hate you so much... after so much time." "I hate you even more." "That's right." "I hate you even more, and all it does is grow." "I don't see you anymore anyway." "I see a picture of you." "You and that bitch." "You and I." "I don't know, but... I don't care." "Just a made-up old picture." "Just some things in my head... but he stays in my head all the time." "Don't you love that one?" "Stays in my head." "His picture stings me more... than actually seeing him with her." "Stings me more." "And he cuts me." "Always cuts me." "Cuts me..." "Cuts me. I don't think I'll ever get rid of him." "Just comes... kind of like you like me-- like, uninvited-like." "Right when I don't expect it, like a little torture." "Like a little torture." "I blame you more. I do." "I blame you more for this torture... than I do for--actually I did for what you did." "I could kill her." "I could kill you." "Well, if I really wanted to, I could." "That's right." "I don't really care that much about you to kill you." "You forgot your sweater." "You better go." "Things are better that you go right now." "May, I wish you'd make up your mind." "I got somebody comin' here to get me." "Here?" "Yeah, here. I don't know where you think they gonna come." "Who you been seein'?" "Don't you come near me!" "Don't you even think about it." "The first time..." "Makes me so sick." "I hate that guy." "You got any glasses?" "They're in the bathroom." "What are they doing in the bathroom?" "'Cause I keep everything in the bathroom." "It's safer." "Where are the damn glasses?" "They're in the medicine cabinet." "What the hell are they doing in the medicine cabinet?" "'Cause there are no germs in the medicine cabinet." "Oh, germs!" "Germs." "Germs." "Germs." "Germs." "That's right." "Hmm." "You want some of this?" "No. I'm on the wagon." "Oh, good. lt's about time." "God, it's good to see you." "I have returned." "Wait a minute, wait a minute." "I'm not that kind of a guy." "Oh, you know you are." "Get on in here." "Not on the first date." "What are you gonna do with that?" "Clean it." "Eddie, this is a very friendly person comin' here." "He's not malicious in any way." "Did you hear what I said?" "About what?" "About the man who's comin' here." "What man?" "Oh, brother." "Well, first off, it can't be very serious." "Oh, really?" "And why is that?" "Well, because you called him a man." "What am I supposed to call him?" "A guy or somethin'." "If you called him a guy, I'd be worried about it... but since you called him a man, you give yourself away." "You're in a dumb situation with this guy by calling him a man." "You put yourself below him." "And what the hell do you know about it?" "Anybody that didn't have to kill themselves... falling off horses and ridin' steers... is a twerp in your book, isn't that right?" "Yeah, that is right." "In what way--what are you supposed to call yourself?" "You supposed to call yourself a--a guy?" "You call yourself a man." "Well, if you ain't a cowboy, you ain't shit." "Why is everything such a big contest with you, Eddie?" "He's not competing' with you." "He doesn't even know you exist." "Well, you can introduce me." "You can't keep messin' me around like this, Eddie." "You have no right to be jealous of me." "Not after all the bullshit I've been through with you!" "You know that!" "We got a pact." "You remember that?" "We haven't got anything, Eddie." "We ain't got anything between us anymore." "ls that right?" "That's right!" "Well, how come you're so excited?" "I'm not excited!" "Yeah, you are." "You're beside yourself." "No, I'm not!" "You're drivin' me crazy, that's why." "You're driving me totally crazy." "You know we're connected, May." "We'll always be connected." "That was decided a long time ago." "Nothin' was decided, Eddie." "You just made all of that up." "You know what happened." "Nothing was decided!" "You promised me that was finished, Eddie!" "You promised you'd never bring that up again!" "Aw, no." "You can't just stop something like that, May." "lt happened." "Nothing happened, Eddie!" "Oh, innocent to the last drop." "Nothin' happened!" "Nothin' happened!" "You're a traitor!" "Eddie!" "Nothing ever happened!" "Eddie!" "Eddie!" "Baby?" "You know somethin', honey?" "There is one thing I'll never forget." "And I'll never forget this as long as I live." "I don't even know why I remember it exactly." "But you and me and your mother... were driving through... southern Utah once, I think it was... in that old Plymouth we had." "You remember that Plymouth?" "It had a white plastic hood ornament on it." "A replica of the Mayflower, I think it was." "Well, it was some kind of ship." "Anyway, we'd been drivin' all night... and you were sound asleep in the back seat... and your mama was sound asleep in the front." "Then all of a sudden, you woke up cryin'... bustin' a gut over somethin'." "I don't know what it was." "A nightmare or somethin'." "Woke your mama right up." "She climbed over the seat there in back with you... trying to get you settled down... but you just kept wailing' away." "You wouldn't shut up for hell nor high water." "So I stopped the Plymouth by the side of the road... in the middle of nowhere." "I can't even remember where it was exactly." "Pitch black." "And I picked you up out of the back seat there... and carried you out into this field." "I thought the cold air might quiet you down a little bit... but you just kept howling' away." "When all of a sudden... I saw somethin' move out there... somethin' bigger than both of us put together." "Then it started to move toward us kinda slow... and then it started to get joined up... by some other things just like it." "Same shape and everything." "But these things started to kind of move in on us." "Animals." "I looked back at the car to see if your mother was all right... and just then, these things started to moo." "They all started mooing away." "The cows?" "Yeah." "Sure enough, there we were... standin' smack in the middle of a goddamned herd of cattle." "Well, you never heard a baby pipe down so fast in your life." "You never made a peep after that... the whole rest of the trip." "Hmm." "Do you got any gin in there?" "Asshole." "Oh, that cow got away?" "Good boy." "So, you've jumped off the wagon, huh?" "What are you doin'?" "Just a little practice." "Gotta stay in practice these days." "There's kids out there ropin' calves in six seconds dead." "You now, they got it down to a science." "Six--there's no chance." "l thought you were leavin'." "Didn't you say you were leavin'?" "Yeah. I was gonna." "But then I got about ten miles down the road there... and it suddenly occurred to me... there probably isn't any man comin' over here at all." "There probably isn't any guy or any man or anybody." "You just made all that up." "And why would I do that, Eddie?" "Just to get even." "So that's how it is." "Mm-hmm." "Gonna get real mean and sloppy, just like old times." "Well..." "Just like old times." "I haven't dropped the range in quite a while, you know, honey." "I really haven't." "I've been real good." "I figure I owe it to myself once a once." "Have you bailed him yet?" "Have you?" "I'm just curious." "You don't have to tell me." "I already know." "I hope this man comes over here." "I really hope he does." "I want to see him walk through that door." "What are you gonna do?" "I'm gonna nail his ass to the floor...directly." "I'm not stickin' around for this, Eddie." "Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait." "Come on." "Now--now, take it easy." "Take" "Honey!" "Look, I'll--l'll back off, OK?" "I'll be real nice." "I'll be just like a little old pussycat, OK?" "You can introduce me to him as your brother, OK?" "Come on." "OK?" "Well, maybe not your brother." "Maybe not." "Your cousin, OK?" "Eddie" "Come on, I just want to meet him." "No!" "Why do you want to meet him?" "He's just a friend." "Just to see where you stand these days." "You can tell a lot about a person... by the company they keep." "No." "Look, I'm just gonna go on in the office" "Come on, come on, come on." "l'm goin' in the office." "I'm gonna try and forget the whole thing." "Oh, good!" "OK!" "Great!" "Uh-oh." "Great." "Why don't you run on out there?" "Go on." "Run on out there... and throw yourself into his arms or somethin'." "What are you gonna do?" "l'm gonna put my hooks on." "I want to look good for this man... give him the right impression." "I'm your cousin, after all." "You hurt him, Eddie--l swear to God, if you hurt him-- l'm not gonna hurt him." "He's just a date, Eddie." "Just an ordinary date." "Well, I'm gonna turn him into a fig." "Shh." "Just this once, Eddie, do me a favor." "Come on." "Just one time." "Just this once, Eddie!" "Anything you want, honey." "Anything you want." "What are you doin'?" "May?" "May?" "What are you doin'?" "May?" "May?" "lt's not him." "lt's not, huh?" "No, it's not." "Aw." "Too bad." "Well, who is it, then?" "Somebody else." "It's a big, huge, extra-long black Mercedes Benz." "Well, this is a motel, isn't it?" "Rich people have to sleep, too." "This ain't a black Mercedes Benz type of motel, Eddie." "Somebody's just standin' out there in front of that car." "Just standin' there lookin' at me." "Well, what are they doin'?" "I don't think it's a "they", Eddie. I think it's a "she."" "May, come on." "Get away from the door!" "Come on!" "You wouldn't happen to know anybody... with a black Mercedes Benz, now, would you, Eddie?" "Just stay down, OK?" "Who the hell is that?" "How should I know?" "Just stay down, OK?" "It's OK." "I don't know who she is." "Just stay down." "What do you mean, you don't know her?" "is that the kind of car the countess drives?" "You tell me you don't know her?" "is that the kind of car the countess drives?" "That's the kind of car l always saw in my head!" "Something so--oh!" "You OK?" "Stay down, now." "Down. I'm down!" "How crazy is this chick?" "She's pretty crazy." "Just stay down." "Have you bailed her yet?" "lt's OK." "What's she" "Shit." "She's blown the goddamn windshield out of my truck!" "She what?" "She blew the windshield out of my goddamn truck!" "You should've thought about that... before you got in her pants!" "Wait a second!" "Now, look-- Keep those lights off." "Don't you tell me what to do!" "She's gonna come back here." "We gotta get out of here." "We gotta get your stuff" "Stop it!" "Don't you-- don't you dare pick me up!" "Don't you" "This is your mess!" "It's not mine!" "Let me down!" "I came here to get you!" "What's the matter with you?" "I came all this way to get you!" "You think I'd do that if I didn't love you?" "That bitch doesn't mean anything to me!" "Set me down!" "Listen to me!" "Amazing thing is, neither one of you... look a bit familiar to me." "We're gettin' out of here." "Can't even figure that one out." "I don't recognize myself in either one of you--never have." "Now get your stuff!" "We're gettin' out of here!" "No, I'm not leavin', but you're leavin' for sure!" "You broke my bed." "Look, I am not leavin' without you, May." "If you're stayin' here, I'm stayin' here." "You'll never get rid of me." "I'll track you down no matter where you go." "I know exactly how your mind works." "I've been right every time." "Every single time." "You've gotta give this up, Eddie." "I don't know what's in your head anymore. I really don't." "Now you desperately need me?" "Now you can't live without me?" "Why should I believe you now?" "'Cause it's true?" "'Cause it was supposed to be true every other time." "Every other time before this, and it's true again?" "You've been jerking' me off for fifteen years." "Fifteen years I've been a yo-yo to you." "You know what?" "I've never been split, either." "I never thought one way or another about it." "I either loved you, or I didn't love you." "And you know what, Eddie?" "Now I just plain don't love you." "You understand?" "Hear me, Eddie?" "You understand?" "I don't love you, I don't need you... and I don't want you." "You get it?" "Get in the bathroom!" "I'm not gettin' in the bathroom!" "I'm gonna go out there... and I'm gonna tear her damn head off!" "I'm gonna wipe her ass!" "That's right!" "Come on in here!" "Bring your dumb gun!" "That's right, bring all your weapons!" "I'll eat you alive!" "Stop!" "No!" "No!" "No!" "No!" "No!" "Oh!" "Oh, no. lt's all right." "It's all right. lt's all right." "We were--we were just having an argument." "It's OK. lt's--it's OK." "It's just a little argument, that's all." "Oh, God!" "I heard you screamin' when I drove up... and then all the lights went out." "I thought someone was tryin' to, well..." "Oh." "No, they weren't." "I'd better turn my truck lights off." "The battery'll run down." "Yeah, you better." "It sure looked like he was gettin', you know..." "No. l--l wasn't..." "That's him?" "l'm gonna get you!" "Oh, Martin, this is... he--this is my cousin." "Ed...dy." "I'm sorry." "She's lying." "Oh, no." "You want to come on in and have a drink?" "l bet you need one after this." "Yeah, sure." "I'm going to have to get you a--a glass." "Get you a glass, OK?" "Yeah." "OK?" "OK." "She keeps the glasses in the bathroom." "Isn't that weird?" "I was startin' to think you weren't gonna come." "I'm sorry." "I had to water the football field down at the high school." "l forgot all about it." "Oh, you did?" "Forgot all about what?" "I mean I forgot about the watering'." "Oh." "I was halfway here when I remembered." "l had to go back." "There you go." "I thought you meant you forgot about her." "Oh, no." "How far away is halfway?" "Excuse me?" "How far was it when you were halfway here?" "Oh, I don't know." "I guess a couple miles or so." "A couple--a couple of miles." "A couple of lousy, stinking miles." "You want to know how many miles I came?" "You want to know, huh?" "Huh?" "Aah!" "Oh, I'm so sorry." "It's OK. lt's OK." "We've been drinkin' a little bit." "She's in deep shit." "I'm gonna kill you." "What's the matter, May?" "What?" "Nothing." "What--how come you had all the lights off?" "Oh." "Yeah, well, we were gonna go out." "You..." "Oh, I mean, we were gonna go out... and we were gonna come back." "No, no, no, no, no, no, no." "That's not what we were gonna do." "That's not what we were gonna do, Marty." "No." "We were actually havin' a big argument about you." "What, about me?" "Uh-huh." "We were in the middle of a big, big argument about you." "It got so heated up we had to turn all the lights off." "He's just joking." "What was it about?" "It was about whether or not you're actually a man or not." "Whether you're a man or just a guy." "See, she says that you're a man." "Did you know that?" "Did you know... that's what she calls you, a man?" "No, I didn't know that." "Martin, I didn't call you a man." "Just don't worry about it." "It's OK. I don't mind." "Didn't we say we were goin' to the movies?" "Yeah, sure. I mean, that's what I thought we were gonna do." "OK, well, drink on up, and we'll go, OK?" "I'll be back." "She's not mad or anything, is she?" "I didn't mean to make her mad." "What are you gonna go see, Marty?" "I can't decide." "What do you mean, you can't decide?" "You're supposed to have all that worked out... ahead of time, aren't you?" "Yeah, but I'm not sure what she likes." "Well, what difference does that make?" "You're takin' her out to the movies, right?" "Yep." "Well, you pick the movie." "The guy is supposed to pick the movie." "The guy always picks the movie." "Yeah, but I don't want to take her to something... she doesn't want to see." "How do you know what she wants to see?" "l don't." "Ah." "That's the reason I can't decide." "Uh-huh." "I mean, what if I take her to something... she's already seen before?" "No, no, no, no, no." "You miss the whole point, Marty." "The reason you're taking her out to the movies... isn't to see something that she hasn't seen before." "No?" "No." "The reason you're taking her out to the movies... is that you just want to be with her, right?" "You just want to... be close to her, right?" "Yeah, I guess." "Yeah." "I mean, you could take her just about anywhere." "You know, after a while... you probably wouldn't even have to take her out at all." "You could probably just hang around here... save yourself a lot of money." "Yep." "Oops." "And what would we do here?" "Well, you could--you could... tell each other stories." "Stories?" "Yeah." "I don't know any stories." "Well, make 'em up." "Well, that'd be lyin', wouldn't it?" "No." "No, no." "No, no, no." "It's only lyin' if you believe it's true." "If you already know it's a lie, then it's not lyin'." "You want a hand up off the floor?" "No." "I kind of like it down there." "There's a lot less tension." "Do you notice how, when you're standin' up... there's a lot more tension?" "Yeah, I noticed that." "A lot of times when I'm workin', you know... I'm down on my hands and knees." "Well, what line of work do you follow, Martin?" "Yard work, mostly." "Ha." "Oh." "You mean, like-- you mean lawns and stuff?" "Yeah, maintenance." "You do lawns on your hands and knees?" "Well, edging." "You know, trimming around the edges and..." "Oh, yeah." "Weeding around the sprinkler heads, stuff like that." "Yeah, I get you." "But, yeah, I always notice how much more relaxed I get... when I'm down on my hands and knees-- you know, close to the ground." "Well, you can get down on your hands and knees... right now if you want to, Martin. I don't mind." "No, I'll stand, thanks." "Suit yourself." "You're just gonna get more and more tense!" "So, uh, you're May's cousin, huh?" "Yeah." "See that?" "See that right there?" "That's the result of tension, asking' me that." "What?" "Askin' me if I'm her cousin or not." "You already know I'm not her cousin." "How would I know that?" "Do I look like her cousin?" "Well, she said that you were." "Well, she's lyin'." "Well, what are you, then?" "See?" "Now you're really gettin' tense." "Maybe I'd just better go on or something." "No, no, wait." "No, no, don't walk." "No, Martin, Martin." "Martin, don't go." "Don't go, Marty." "Don't go." "It is, oh, blue and lonely out there in the black night." "I'll tell you what." "Let's us go over to the bar and have us a little drink." "What do you say?" "OK?" "is she gonna be OK?" "Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah." "She's OK." "She's always OK." "She's just takin' her time." "How does she know where we went?" "Oh, she knows." "She's got a sixth sense." "Come on, Marty." "Come on, boy." "Here we go." "Come on." "There we go." "Here we go." "What--what exactly is the matter with May, anyway?" "She's in a state of shock." "Shock?" "Well, how come?" "Well... we haven't seen each other in a long time, you see." "I mean, me and her, we go back quite a ways--high school." "Oh, really?" "Oh." "l didn't know that." "Yeah." "A lot of miles." "So, you're not really cousins, then?" "No." "Not really, no." "You're her husband?" "No." "No." "She's my sister." "Oh." "Your sister?" "Yeah." "Oh." "So, you knew each other even before high school, then." "No, no. I never even knew I had a sister... until it was too late." "How do you mean?" "By the time we found out, we'd already... you know... fooled around." "You fooled around?" "Yeah." "Well..." "Well, that--that's illegal, isn't it?" "Well, only if you get caught." "Hey, who is this guy?" "I mean, is that true?" "I mean, she's really your sister?" "Half, half." "Only half." "Yeah?" "Which half?" "The top half. ln horses, we call that the top side." "And where's what?" "The mare is distaff." "Isn't that the bottom half?" "Distaff." "It's funny I should remember that." "And you fooled around in high school together?" "Yeah, sure." "Everybody fooled around in high school." "Didn't you, Marty?" "No, I never did." "Well, maybe you should have." "Not with my sister, anyway." "I know." "I wouldn't recommend that." "Well, how could that happen?" "I mean..." "Well, see... our daddy fell in love twice." "That's basically how it happened." "Once with my mom and once with her mom." "Yeah, well, see, it was the same love." "It just got split in two, that's all." "How come you didn't know each other until high school, then?" "He lived two separate lives, see?" "Two completely separate lives." "He'd live with me and my mom for a while... and then he'd go off and he'd live with her and her mom." "Well, now, don't be too hard on me, boy." "I mean, it's happened to the best of us." "You know what I mean?" "And you never knew what was goin' on?" "No." "Never did." "Neither did my mother." "She knew." "She never knew." "She must've suspected something was goin' on." "Well... if she did, she never let on to me about it." "Maybe she was afraid of finding out." "Or maybe she just... loved him, I don't know." "He'd disappear." "For months at a time, he'd disappear." "She never once asked where he went." "She was always glad to see him, though." "I remember me and her... we used to go runnin' out of the house to meet him... as soon as we saw him comin' up... in the old Studebaker, drivin' across the fields." "It was a Willis." "I never owned a goddamned Studebaker." "It was a Willis Knight." "How'd you finally find out that she was your sister?" "Well, this went on for years, see?" "Honey." "He kept disappearing and reappearing." "Then... then one day, it stopped." "He just stayed home for a while." "Just stayed in the house." "He never went outside." "He just sat in his chair... staring'." "Then he started goin' on these walks." "He'd go on these long walks." "He'd walk all day, he'd walk all night." "Belinda." "He'd just... disappear in the dark." "I remember watchin' him from my bedroom window." "He'd just disappear in the dark with his overcoat on." "Where was he goin'?" "Just walkin'." "I was making a decision." "Then one night... I asked him if I could go with him." "And he took me." "We walked straight out across the fields together." "And I remember it was just ploughed." "My feet sank down in the powder." "And the dirt came up over the tops of my shoes... and weighed me down." "And I wanted to stop and empty my shoes out... but he wouldn't stop." "He kept walkin' straight ahead." "There's got to be some loyalty involved." "I was afraid of losing him in the dark... so I just kept up as best I could." "I mean, there's no... I don't know." "And we were completely silent the whole time." "We never said a word to each other." "We could barely see a foot in front of us." "And these white owls kept swooping down and over... hunting for jack rabbits... diving right past our heads and disappearing." "We just kept walking silent like that for miles... until we got to town." "And I remember seein' the old man... through the glass door of the liquor store... as he paid for the bottle." "3.00 what?" "3.1 2?" "No, no. 3.33." "3.33." "Have a good evening." "And then he came outside... with the bottle wrapped in a brown paper sack." "Wait a minute, wait a minute." "What are you doing?" "What, are you attacking me or something?" "And he opened the bottle up and offered it to me." "Before he even took a drink, he offered it to me first." "Then I took it and drank it and handed it back to him." "We just kept passing it back and forth like that... as we walked until we drank the whole thing dry." "...help each other out." "Then finally we reached this little white house... with a red awning on the far side of town." "Aw, listen to me, woman, listen to me I want you to understand" "He walked right up to the front porch... and he rang the bell." "I want you to understand" "The silver dollar goes hand to hand" "A woman goes from man to man" "And I remember gettin' real nervous... because I wasn't expectin' to visit anybody." "And then this... woman comes to the door." "This real pretty woman with red hair." "And she throws herself into his arms." "I'm not that kind of a guy." "He starts cryin'." "He just breaks down right there in front of me." "I'll show you what kind of guy you are." "She's kissin' him all over the face." "He's just cryin' like a little baby." "And then... through the doorway, behind them both, I see this girl." "She just appears." "She's just standin' there starin' at me." "So I'm starin' back at her." "We can't take our eyes off of each other." "It was like... we knew each other from somewhere... but we couldn't place where." "But the second we saw each other, that very second... we knew we'd never stop being in love." "Boy." "Boy, you're incredible." "You know that?" "You're just unbelievable." "Martin comes all the way over here... doesn't know you from Adam." "You start telling him a story like that." "Are you crazy?" "Are you?" "None of it's true, Martin." "He's had this weird, sick idea for years." "It's totally made up. I don't know where he got it from." "He's--he's kind of nuts." "I don't know where he got it from... but he's completely nuts." "She's a little embarrassed about the whole thing." "You see, Marty?" "You can't blame her, really." "Hand me a glass, please." "That's pathetic." "You heard that, huh?" "Oh, yeah, I heard it." "I heard it, every word of it... and I followed it very carefully." "He's told me the same story a thousand times... and it always changes--always." "I never ever repeat myself." "You do nothing but repeat yourself." "That's all you do." "You just go around in one big circle... round and round and round." "Do you think that was a story, Martin, huh?" "Did you think I made that whole thing up, huh?" "Well, no." "At the time you were telling it, it seemed real." "Oh, but now you're doubting' it, because she says it's a lie?" "Huh?" "Well, uh..." "She suggests it's a lie, and all of a sudden" "Don't do that." "You change your mind?" "You go from true to false like that in a second?" "Huh?" "Come on, let's just go to the movies." "Nobody is goin' to the movies." "Heh." "There's not a movie within a hundred miles... that can match the story I'm gonna tell." "I'm gonna finish this story, OK?" "Eddie" "You want to hear the rest of the story, don't you, Marty?" "Sure." "Yeah, OK, good." "I'm dying to hear it myself." "What do you think this is gonna do?" "You think this is gonna change something?" "No." "Then what's the point?" "lt's absolutely pointless." "Then why put everybody through all this?" "Martin don't want to hear this bullshit... and neither do I want to hear it." "Look, I know you don't want to hear it." "Don't try and pass it off on me, Eddie." "You got it turned around." "You got it all turned around." "You don't even know which end is up anymore." "I don't need either of y'all." "I don't need any of it." "Because I know the rest of the story." "I know the whole rest of the story." "I know exactly how it happened... without adding any little tricks on to it, Eddie." "What does she know?" "She's lyin'." "Want me to finish it for you, Eddie?" "Huh?" "Want me to finish the story for you, Eddie?" "See, my--my mother..." "May!" "My mama, the--the pretty red-haired lady... she was--she was... she was desperately in love with the old man." "Wasn't she, Eddie?" "You could see it in her eyes." "She was so obsessed with him that... she couldn't stand to be without him... even for a second." "So she kept hunting' for him from town to town-- following little clues, you know, he'd leave behind... like a postcard or a motel matchbook." "Didn't ever leave anything simple behind ever... like a telephone number... or an address." "Because, see, my mama was his little secret." "And she hounded him." "Hounded him for years and years." "But he just kept tryin' to keep her at a distance." "Because, see, the closer these two separate lives..." "Hold on, hold on!" "I'm going home!" "these two separate kids... these two separate women got together... the more nervous he got... and the more filled with terror... that these two lives would find out about each other... and his little secret would devour him whole." "Just take him by the throat." "She finally caught up with him." "She just dogged him down." "I remember that day." "I remember that day." "We--we got to that town... and she kept sayin'-- she was on fire." "She was crazy." "She kept sayin', "This is it." ""This is the place, May." "This is the place."" "And her whole body was, like--like, trembling... like this as we were walkin' through the streets... lookin' for this house, you know?" "And I remember she was... she was holdin' my hand so tight." "God, I thought she was gonna crush them bones in my fingers." "She was so terrified." "She was so terrified she was gonna run into him... by accident, you know?" "Because she knew she was trespassing." "She knew she was crossing... crossing into the forbidden zone." "But she couldn't help herself." "So we walked all day in that stupid hick town." "All day... goin' up and down every street... and all these neighborhoods... lookin' in on every dumb family... peering' through all these open windows." "Yeah, I remember, it was-- it was exactly supper time... because everybody was sittin' around the table... and they were havin' fried chicken." "See, that's how close we were to the window." "We could even see what they were eatin'." "And we could hear the voices, but we couldn't-- we couldn't make out what they were sayin'." "But Eddie and his mama were talkin'." "And the old man, he just... he just sat there and didn't say nothing." "Did he, Eddie?" "He just--he just sat there in silence... eatin' his fried chicken." "is she ever off the wall with this one." "You got to do something about this." "The funny thing was... almost as soon as we found him, he disappeared." "She wasn't with him but a couple of weeks." "He just--he just vanished." "Nobody ever saw him after that--ever." "And, mama, she just turned herself inside out." "And I couldn't understand that, because, I mean, she grieved... like somebody had died or something, you know?" "I just couldn't understand that... because I was feelin' just the opposite." "See, I... l--l was in love." "I remember... I'd come home from school after bein' with Eddie... and I was filled with this joy that..." "And there--there'd she be." "She'd be standin' in the kitchen... just starin' at the sink." "And her eyes looked like a funeral." "And I didn't know what to say to her, you know?" "I didn't even feel sorry for her... because all I could think of was him... and all he could think about was me." "Isn't that right, Eddie?" "And we couldn't take a breath without thinkin' of each other." "We couldn't eat, couldn't sleep unless we were together." "And Eddie's mama didn't know what was wrong with him... but my mama... my mama knew exactly... right down to her bones." "Then she went to Eddie, and she begged him not to see me." "Then she went to Eddie's mom and begged her." "But Eddie's mother..." "Eddie's mother blew her brains out, didn't she, Eddie?" "She blew her brains right out." "Now, wait a second." "Wait a second." "Just a goddamned second here." "This story doesn't hold water." "You ain't gonna let her off the hook with that one, are you?" "That's the dumbest version I ever heard in my whole life." "She never blew her brains out." "Nobody ever told me that." "Where the hell did that come from?" "Well?" "Well, stand up." "Get on your feet now, God damn it!" "I want to hear the male side of this thing!" "You got to represent me now." "You got to speak on my behalf." "There's nobody to speak for me now." "Get up!" "Well, tell her, then!" "Tell her what really happened." "It was your shotgun." "The same one we used to duck hunt with." "Browning." "She never fired a gun in her whole life." "That was her first time." "Well, nobody ever told me that." "I was left completely in the dark on that one." "You were gone." "Yeah, I was gone, but somebody could've found me." "Somebody could've hunted me down." "l wasn't impossible to find." "You were gone." "Gone?" "I know I was gone, goddamn you!" "I was gone!" "But--but I wasn't disconnected." "There was nothing cut off in me." "Don't you forget that." "And then everything went on just the same... as it did before I left." "Nothing changed." "But your mother... your mother wouldn't give it up, would she?" "She drew me to her." "She went out of her way to draw me in." "She was a force." "I told her I'd never come across for her." "I told her that right from the very beginning... but she kept opening up to me." "She kept" "See, she--she... she--she kept opening up her heart to me, see?" "You know, I mean, how could I turn her down... when--when she loved me like that?" "You know?" "I mean, how could I turn away from her?" "We were completely whole." "What are you doin'?" "Speak to her!" "Bring her around to our side!" "Make her see this thing in a clear light!" "Stay away from her, now." "What the hell are you doin'?" "Keep away from her!" "You--you two can't come together." "You got to hold up my end of this deal!" "I got nobody now!" "You can't betray me now." "You're--you're my son." "Well, I ain't staying." "I ain't." "May?" "Hey, May!" "The whole place is burnin' down, May!" "Hey, wait a minute, May!" "May?" "Do you need some help or anything?" "I got a truck. I can drive you anywhere you want to go." "Where you goin'?" "May?" "You're not goin' with him, are you?" "He's gone." "May?" "May!"