"Lord, ain't it warm." "I almost fried standing out on that highway waiting for the bus." "And when it did come, I thought for sure it didn't see me." "I'm Mrs. T.V., like in "television," Smith." "That sweet little girl yours?" "Yes, ma'am." "Either the bus was late or I was early." "I been standing out there for an hour." "I've been visiting friends." "Now I'm going to see my daughter that lives the other side of Houston." "You been riding the bus long?" "Oh, about two hours." "Where are you going?" "We're going to Columbus." "Well, where's that?" "I've never heard of it." "It's between Houston and Corpus." "We're going there to meet my daddy." "I have never seen him before." "Where's he been?" "In the Army?" "No." "No, he's been away on a trip." "It must have been a pretty far trip." "Yes'm, it was." "Well, excuse us." "I'm gonna get my little girl to take a nap." "Why, certainly." "They ought to nickname you "Miss Wiggle-Tail," honey." "You all, look out the window to your right." "That's the start of the Salado Prison Farm." "There are some of them convicts working away." "Mama, what's a prison farm?" "Well" "It's where convicts are put to pay for their sins, honey." "What's a convict?" "A convict is somebody who's broken the law and has to be punished." "A friend I used to visit lives near the farm." "And she says she never draws a peaceful breath, summer or winter for fear of one of them convicts will escape some night and cut her throat." "Is that a convict?" "No, honey." "How do you know?" "I just know." "Mama, I'm hungry." "I have a sandwich right here in my bag." "If it was a convict, would he try to kill us?" "No, darling." "There you are." "Miss Kate still say she don't want to see you." "Did you tell her I was here twice yesterday?" "Yes, sir." "Well, Catherine, you go upstairs right now and you tell her I'm here." "And you tell her I wanna know if I've done anything wrong." "Because if I have, I'd like to know what it is that I've done wrong." "She said you never would have got drunk stabbed that man and wound up in the pen if you hadn't been playing in a honky-tonk." "Just a minute!" "Catherine." "Will you give her this letter?" "No, sir." "That ain't gonna do any good." "You listen to me." "This letter's important." "I want you to try to get her to read it." "If there was anybody else...." "Nobody else in the world can get to her except you." "Now, will you please give it to her?" "Well, all right." "I'll try, but I ain't gonna guarantee nothing." "Coming!" "Coming!" "How you like that singing, boy?" "Fine." "I could sing all night." "Man, I feel good." "Buy you a drink?" "Come on." "I ain't gonna tell Judge Ewing on you." "I can't." "I'm on duty." "When you get off duty, I got a little friend sitting over here." "And she's got a lonesome friend at home." "Why don't you let me fix up a date with you and we could have a very good time." "No, thanks." "When are you gonna start having some fun?" "You know, I'm beginning to worry about you." "Thanks, Henry, but I'm all right." "He's a good old boy." "If it had been him instead of his wife that died she'd be in here the next night trying to pick up some man." "Could you tell me where I could look for a place to rent, please?" "No, ma'am, I sure can't." "Slim, can you help this lady find a place to rent?" "What are you looking for?" "A house, a room, apartment?" "Oh, a room." "Excuse me, I gotta sit down." "Can I have a piece of chewing gum?" "Sure you can, honey." "I'd think your jaws would be tired." "She chewed up two packages since we left Tyler." "Oh, honey, the gum's all gone." "Come on, we'll buy some." "Will you come with me?" "Yes, ma'am." ""Sir," Margaret Rose." "You "ma'am" your mama and you "sir" this gentleman." "Yes, sir." "Take a nickel, Margaret Rose." "The treat's on me." "No, no." "I have it right here." "Thank you." "There you go." "What kind do you want?" "Juicy Fruit." "It's a real nice little girl you got there." "Thank you." "She's just the sunshine of my life." "Do you want a room by the week or the month?" "By the week." "You see, I'm meeting my husband here." "I don't rightly know just when." "I mean, not down to the exact minute." "But I look for him early part of next week." "Don't you and your little girl want something to eat first, Mrs...?" "Thomas." "No, thank you, not for me." "What about you, Margaret Rose?" "I guess we're both just too excited to eat." "You see, I just decided yesterday." "I was working in Tyler and I got laid off because things were slow at the drive-in." "So I just wrote to Henry and I said, "I'm sick unto death of Tyler."" "What'd you say your husband's first name was?" "Henry." "Henry Thomas." "He was born and raised here." "Do you know him?" "We grew up together." "Well, my goodness." "He's here now, Mrs. Thomas." "He's here?" "Yes, ma'am." "Did you hear that, Margaret Rose?" "Your daddy's here already." "Do you know where he's living, so my little girl and I can go over there?" "I'll take you myself." "It's just down the street." "Oh, thank you." "Come on, honey." "Mrs. Tillman." "Mrs. Till" "Slim, you almost scared me out of my wits." "Sorry." "Is Henry up yet?" "No." "What's wrong?" "Well, a woman and a little girl came into the bus station a little while ago." "She said she's married to him." "They're out in the yard." "My goodness!" "He never mentioned he had a wife to me." "Did he to you?" "No, ma'am." "Well, I think we'd just better wake him up." "Henry?" "Do you know where he could be?" "No." "There's been a couple of nights he hasn't been here." "He hasn't been drinking though, Slim, except for one night." "He was so mortified the next day." "He begged me not to tell Miss Kate, which I didn't." "Miss Kate told him in front of me that if he took another drop of whiskey she was through with him forever and would ask the sheriff to send him back to the pen, which she might." "Yes, ma'am." "Well, we see every day where whiskey leads." "I told Mr. Tillman when he was drinking:" ""You might as well blow your brains out as to keep on this way."" "Yes, ma'am." "He was one of those with character enough to stop." "One morning he said, "Mrs. Tillman, I'm quitting."" "And he did." "He took the whiskey bottles and threw them in the yard and busted them against a tree." "Yes, ma'am." "I'm gonna take Mrs. Thomas, see if I can find Henry." "Yes, Slim." "Hello, Georgette." "How'd you--?" "How'd you get here?" "Well, I just came in on the bus." "I just heard you were here." "I met Mr. Slim, and he told us." "You're looking good, Georgette." "Thank you, Henry." "You're looking just fine too." "I guess you're surprised to see me here in town." "Yes, I am." "I wrote you a letter yesterday." "Let you know I got out a bit early." "Did you get it?" "No." "Yeah, well, it probably went on ahead to Tyler today." "Excuse me." "Margaret Rose." "Henry, this is Margaret Rose." "She's just tired from that long bus ride." "Yeah, well, come on and meet the people I work for." "Mr. and Mrs. Tillman, I'd like you to meet my wife and my little girl." "How do you do?" "How are you?" "I'll have to take the day off, find them someplace to live." "I'll make it up tomorrow, if that's all right." "All right." "May I see you a minute, Henry?" "Yes, ma'am." "Excuse me." "Pleased to meet you, Mrs. Thomas." "Sir." "Does Miss Kate know you've got a wife and a child?" "No, ma'am." "Why didn't you tell her?" "I didn't say anything when we first got married because I wasn't sure how she would take it." "Then after I got sent to prison, I didn't say anything because I wasn't sure my wife would forgive me for being sent to the pen." "I wrote to her and I begged her to take me back, and she didn't reply." "Then she just showed up right here, without any warning whatsoever." "I told Miss Kate I'd give you work and help you straighten out, and I want to." "But it's very hard if you're gonna have secrets." "I don't have any secrets from you." "Not anymore." "I swear to you." "I hope so." "Well, I guess we'd better get going." "Well, there's my Cadillac car." "We'll see you all." "Bye, y'all." "Bye." "I'll get that." "Thank you, Mr. Slim." "That's all right." "Won't Miss Kate be surprised." "She's a funny woman, Miss Kate Dawson." "To meet her and to talk with her, you'd think she was the gentlest soul alive." "Never raised her voice above a whisper." "Well, maybe she was most of the time." "But the way she beat that Thomas boy...." "She beat him till all the neighbors complained." "She said she had to whip him." "She had to break his spirit." "Not open yet." "Mama, can I get out of the car?" "Sure, honey." "She know about me being in the penitentiary?" "Oh, no." "No." "Listen, Georgette, I want to thank you for all you've done." "All the hard work, taking care of the baby paying that lawyer the money to get my parole." "I'll make it up to you." "I know you will." "Anyway, the time's gone by, and we're together again." "Sometimes I didn't think it ever would." "Everybody's trying to talk me into going to San Antonio, Nashville or Hollywood." "Try and sell my songs to a recording company." "Oh, now wouldn't that be nice." "Yeah." "That's another reason I didn't want you to come for a while." "I was trying to get as much money as I could ahead and then go to Tennessee or California and try and sell my songs." "I still think you should go." "I don't want us to stop you from doing anything." "Yeah, well, that's a lot easier said than done." "It costs money." "Of course, the way things are right now I get my room and board at Mrs. Tillman's free, plus my salary." "And now, of course, gonna have to worry about our food and our rent." "I'm sorry, I" "I guess I shouldn't have just come on this way." "But I wrote to you saying if I didn't hear any different, I'd just come on." "I didn't, so naturally...." "It'll all work out." "Oh, I'm sure it will." "Yes, ma'am." "Margaret Rose." "I know that when we left Tyler I told you I hoped I'd never have to go to work again and leave you." "But" " Well, your daddy's written some beautiful songs." "If he can get to Nashville or Hollywood to sell them, it might make him famous." "I was wondering if you'd take it too hard if I went back to work for a while." "Helped him earn the money to get to California." "I haven't said anything to him about it, till I talked to you first." "How long you going to work?" "Not too long." "How long?" "A month." "Two months." "I won't do it at all if I can't find some nice lady to stay with you while I work." "All right." "Tell me about when you met Daddy." "Oh, honey, you've heard that story a hundred million times." "Please?" "All right." "It was a Saturday back in my hometown of Lovelady and he was riding through town with a bunch of boys." "And one of the boys knew the girl I was with so they stopped the car, and we were introduced." "And then the next night, I went to a dance and there he was." "He was singing with a string band." "He asked me to dance, so I said I would." "And we'd dance a while, and then he'd sing a while." "It was love at first sight, I guess." "He had a girl called Sis Roberts." "She was just crazy about him." "Her papa offered to set him up in a grocery store to get him to marry her." "They say Sis took to her bed and cried for a week when she heard I had him." "Bet she's still crying too." "I was just telling the baby about how we met." "She loves to hear about it." "I like to hear about it too." "And here's the dance posters." "Kind of good-looking there, ain't I?" "Margaret Rose, come look." "Isn't that something?" "Hey, Georgette remember that?" "Why, sure." "Why, that looks as good as it did when you had it back in Lovelady." "Henry, she wants to know if you'd play and sing something for her." "Sure, I will." "See?" "Okay, now, everybody sit down." "Well, how'd you like that?" "Just fine." "How'd you like it?" "Oh, just fine." "Henry, Margaret Rose and I have been talking it over and I've decided I'm gonna get a job at a drive-in here and help you get the money to go to California." "No, I don't think so." "But I want to." "I don't think so, Georgette." "Henry, I want to do it." "After all, it'd help us too if you went to Hollywood and was a big success." "Wouldn't it, honey?" "Yes, ma'am." "Okay." "And I appreciate that." "And I'm gonna be a success." "You'll see." "People are gonna hear about Henry Thomas." "I know that." "I knew that the first time I heard you sing." "Honey this is a song I wrote for you and your mama." "This is the song that's gonna make me famous." "Someday, after it's recorded and I'm rich maybe I'll be a big movie star like Elvis Presley and you, me and your mama, we're gonna live in Hollywood and we're gonna go to all the opening of my pictures in a big white Cadillac car." "We're not gonna have a care in this world." "Just writing songs and singing songs and making moving pictures." "Mama's crying." "Hush, Margaret Rose." "I'm happy." "I'm just crying because I'm so happy." "Why are you so happy?" "Oh, well, because everybody's been so good to us and your daddy's home." "Henry, what's the matter?" "I dreamt I was back in the pen." "They told me I could leave but I'd have to let myself out." "Every time I got that door halfway open it'd slam shut in my face." "Them guards all laughing at me and I was cursing back at them." "I'm just gonna go check on the baby." "Hello, Slim." "What are you doing here so late?" "Well, I'm just about done." "I'm not going to answer it." "Miss Kate Dawson." "She's been calling me night and day ever since Henry's come home as if I was responsible for her having him." "Someone ought to go over there and talk to her." "She's all stirred up threatening to call the sheriff get him to take Henry back to the penitentiary." "That's where I found Henry Thomas that first night." "Sitting right there." "I was on my way home about this same time of night." "I looked over and saw this little boy sitting there crying." "How did Miss Kate ever come to get him?" "The sheriff thought he'd have to send him on to an orphanage but Miss Kate heard about him, and we gave him to her." "Seemed like the best thing to do at the time." "I sometimes wish I never heard of Miss Kate Dawson." "Or Henry Thomas either." "Hi." "Hello." "Good morning." "Good morning." "And how you doing, policeman?" "Fine." "Henry, I think sometime today you'd better stop in and see Miss Kate." "Sure." "Say, listen, are you going on home now?" "Well, would you mind--?" "Want me to take your little girl?" "I sure would appreciate it." "Save us a trip, honey." "Okay?" "Honey, you know Miss Clara that's gonna look after you?" "Mr." "Slim's her brother." "What's that around his waist?" "Oh, that's a gun." "Does he shoot people with it?" "No, honey." "Is he a convict?" "No, he's a deputy." "Will you come with me, young lady?" "All right." "Give me a kiss." "Bye-bye." "Guess I'd better get ready for work." "Hey, Slim." "Hey." "Hey, let me ask you something." "Did Miss Kate--?" "She tell you she wanted to see me herself?" "I just think you'd better get over there." "The judge talked to her last night." "She's all worked up threatening to call the sheriff." "Okay." "Thanks, man." "Are you Georgette Thomas?" "Yes." "I'm Ruth May Oliver." "Hi." "We're gonna work together." "I came on earlier so I could show you the ropes." "Have you ever worked in a drive-in before?" "Oh, yes, ma'am." "Five years, back in Tyler." "You won't have any trouble here." "They're all the same." "You can leave your pocketbook or anything personal in here." "We keep it locked." "Thank you." "Here you are." "There's a mirror in here, if you want to comb your hair." "Did you have to wear a uniform in the drive-in?" "Oh, well, the first place I worked we did." "The second place, just our own clothes." "One place wanted me to wear a costume." "I said I wouldn't do that." "Said I was there to work, not put on a show." "Did you and your husband own a house back in Tyler or did you rent?" "Well, my husband wasn't with us in Tyler." "We hadn't seen him for a while, until we came here." "But we were all planning on being together for a long time and now we're just as happy as we can be." "Me and my husband and my little girl." "I was" "I was saying to him just last night that it was worth waiting a long time to be this happy." "And he agreed." "He said...." "He said nothing can ever separate us from him again." "That's nice." "Yeah." "See that tree?" "Your daddy and I once built a tree house up in the top of that tree." "How'd you do it?" "I don't know." "Just climbed up there and built it." "Do you climb up there now?" "No." "Not now." "Your daddy used to love to eat supper with us over here, Margaret Rose." "The lady he stayed with wasn't very much of a cook so they lived out of cans most of the time." "Every night when I was fixing supper, he'd come in and say:" ""Something sure smells good."" "And I'd ask him if he'd like to stay to supper, and he'd say:" ""Oh, I don't mind."" "And I'd tell him to go call Miss Kate." "And sometimes she'd let him stay and sometimes she wouldn't." "What's Mr. Slim going in the graveyard for, Miss Breedlove?" "To take some flowers to his wife's grave." "There are dead people in there." "They won't hurt you." "How do you know?" "Because I've lived next door to it all these years, and they never hurt me." "Still, I'd be scared to go in there." "Catherine, Slim said that Miss Kate's still all upset." "Did you give her that letter?" "Yeah." "And she read your letter, and she says she is mad because you started up that string band again and playing for dances." "She say, when she agreed to have you come back here on your parole you promised her that you was going back to night school." "Yeah, I know I did." "She gonna tell the sheriff, to see if he can't make you keep your promises." "Hey, Catherine, she know about my wife and my little girl?" "She does." "Well, now, you go up and you tell her that I can't go to night school." "That I've gotta work day and night at anything I can to support my wife and my little girl." "If you ain't quit that band by tomorrow, she gonna get the sheriff to see if he can't straighten you out." "You quit that band, because she gonna see to it that you go to the pen." "I'm not gonna quit, and you can tell her that." "You tell her yourself." "All right, I will." "I'm not gonna quit my music." "You hear that, old lady?" "I'm not gonna quit my music!" "Morning, Henry." "Morning, Mrs. Tillman." "I was expecting you this morning." "Aren't you gonna scrub my kitchen for me?" "It's so dirty." "Yes, ma'am." "I was just coming over to do it right now." "All right." "I've some soup here for Miss Kate." "We'll be back in a little." "I'm not gonna be able to have supper with you." "I gotta get to Cotton, set up." "All right." "Do you know what time you'll be home?" "Come on over here." "I climbed the chinaberry tree at Miss Clara's today." "I wish we had one in our yard to climb." "Well, we're gonna get one." "Miss Clara's gonna send over some plants for us and maybe some of them will be trees." "I'd like to have all kinds of trees." "A chinaberry tree and a sycamore and an oak tree and a fig tree." "And flowers everywhere." "I was just telling Margaret Rose about all the trees and flowers we're gonna put in the yard." "You hungry, honey?" "Do you think you can catch me?" "Bet you can't." "Bet I can." "Ready?" "One, two, three!" "Quiet." "Quiet." "Come on." "Come on." "Hey, baby." "Where you going?" "Come on, I'll buy you a drink." "Hey, partner." "Just a minute." "Henry?" "I was singing, this guy started howling, and I went for him." "I'm quitting the string band." "Miss Kate didn't think I ought to take up music again." "I ought to go to night school and learn a trade." "Well, maybe she's right." "I'll write my songs on the side, but that's all." "No more singing." "No more string band and no more guitar." "I'll play tomorrow night at the Wagon Wheel because I promised." "But after that, no more." "I can't go back to that pen." "You're not going back to the pen." "Hi." "Hello, Mr. Slim." "These are the plants that my sister asked me to bring to you." "They're all marked." "Why, thank you so much." "We're going to my daddy's dance tonight." "I told Henry that I haven't danced in so long, I'm sure I've forgotten how." "My daddy didn't approve of dancing, but I went anyhow." "Do you like to dance?" "Well, I used to." "Don't you go anymore either?" "No, ma'am." "I haven't gone in about two years." "Not to dance anyway." "Can you sing songs?" "No." "My daddy can." "I know that." "Oh, look at them birds." "I wonder what kind they are." "It's hard to say." "Too small for geese." "I wonder where they're going." "Winter's coming on." "They're probably flying down further south to Mexico." "Get away from the cold weather." "Does it get cold here?" "Yes, ma'am." "Sometimes it freezes." "Of course, not all the birds fly away and some new ones come down from the north to spend the winter." "Think our little house is gonna be warm enough, don't you?" "I think so." "Hi." "Hi." "You're a pretty sight." "He ran into a door in the dark." "Yeah, that's right." "I'm not gonna be playing with dance bands anymore." "I'm going to night school." "Write my songs in my spare time." "I brought you some tools in case you needed something to plant with." "Be sure you keep those plants good and wet until you're ready to plant." "I will." "Thank you." "See you tomorrow." "Tell Miss Clara I said thank you." "I will." "Can we plant them now, Mama?" "We'll do it first thing in the morning." "Can't we plant one now?" "Sure, we can." "What kind do you want?" "What kinds are there?" "Well, we got a chinaberry tree and a peach tree." "I want the chinaberry tree." "Mama, tell me a story." "All right, honey." "What do you want to hear, a fairy story or a real one?" "A real one." "All right." "Once upon a time on a cotton farm outside of Lovelady there lived a little girl with her mother and daddy." "What was her name?" "Who, honey?" "The little girl." "Oh." "Georgette Price." "That was you, wasn't it?" "Yes, ma'am." "I'll get it." "When it gets dry we're gonna have to remember to water those every day." "You won't let me forget it, will you?" "Will the peach tree have peaches?" "It sure will." "And in the spring, that chinaberry tree is gonna have blossoms and on warm spring nights we're gonna sit here and we're gonna smell the perfume from the chinaberry tree." "Miss Kate's dying." "I gotta get over there right away." "Howdy, Mrs. Thomas." "How do?" "Won't you come in and sit down?" "Thank you." "You're no good, Henry." "You never have been." "You're not worth killing." "I remember the first time I saw Miss Kate." "The judge brought me up here to the house." "She was standing right here in this doorway, watching." "We came up the walk." "She said, "Well, how do you do, boy?"" "And I couldn't say nothing." "I just kind of hung my head." "Then she laughed and the judge laughed and then he walked out and he got in his car, and he just drove away." "She took me by the hand and brought me in here." "I hope you don't mind but I asked the Tillmans if they'd take you on to work." "All right." "Hey, listen" "Henry, I just wanted to tell you about Miss Kate's affairs." "She had no money left." "The house will have to be sold to pay her debts." "She requested in her will that her family silver be left to Mrs. Tillman but I'm sure whatever other personal things of hers you want Miss Kate would like you to have." "Thank you, sir." "I hope you'll go through her things as soon as possible because we have to put the house on the market right away." "Yes, sir, I will." "I hear you're going back to school." "Well, I've been considering it." "I've been discussing with some of the boys in the string band." "Of course, they're trying to talk me out of it." "They argue that I got no right to give up my singing and my playing and that I got a real talent and I ought not turn my back on it." "Of course, I know Miss Kate didn't want me to play in the orchestra and I promised her I wouldn't." "But" " Well, I'd kind of like to try it now, judge." "You'll save yourself a lot of trouble if you'll just go on and go to school." "The sheriff will make you anyway." "He promised Miss Kate he would before she died." "Well, he can't make me." "You're on parole, Henry." "Yeah, but I feel strong inside of myself now." "Strong enough to just stand up to any kind of temptation." "Now, you take my advice." "Stay out of these places and go on to school." "No, sir, I'm not gonna do it." "Now, you listen." "Time's moving fast and I gotta get ahead." "I'm not giving up my string band." "And I'll tell the sheriff that!" "Mama!" "Honey, I'm sorry I'm late." "Your daddy didn't come for me at work so I just started walking, and then I got lost and...." "He hasn't been here, has he?" "No, ma'am." "You all right?" "Yes, ma'am." "Well, we'd better get on home." "I gotta get my doll." "Go get it." "Tell Miss Clara and Mr. Slim we're leaving." "I wanted to tell you they have Henry in jail, and he's quieted down now." "Yes, sir." "Well I'll be going now." "Thank you for coming by." "Good night." "What gets into me, Georgette?" "Why do I do these things?" "I swear I'd rather be dead than be locked up again." "And what's gonna happen to you and the baby?" "Well, don't worry about that." "I have enough money left to get me started." "Georgette do you think the sheriff would let me out so I could go say goodbye to the baby?" "If you'd let me see her." "There would be no need for any kind of handcuffs or just anything like that." "Where's Margaret Rose?" "Out yonder." "Hello, Miss Clara." "Hello, Henry." "Margaret Rose." "I didn't have a chance to tell her you were coming." "Kind of took you by surprise, didn't we, sugar?" "You best come and kiss me goodbye now." "I have to go." "Henry, she...." "She wants you to sing the song you wrote for her." "I don't think your daddy's gonna be able to sing for you right now, honey." "He'll do it some other time." "He has to go now." "You just go and say goodbye to him." "Henry!" "Is your mommy inside?" "Yes, sir." "Sure would hate to go around the world with that old suitcase." "I don't think it would hold up, do you?" "It's a good day for traveling." "Yes, it is." "Mama?" "Where are we going again?" "We're going to the Valley, honey." "Does it ever get cold there in the winter?" "No." "No, it's warm." "Is it far from Tyler?" "Yes, it's very far." "From Lovelady to Tyler." "From Tyler to Columbus." "And from Columbus to the Valley." "Oh, Margaret Rose, we sure do get around."