"Okay, thanks for the lift." "Where you going to look for him?" "I don't know, but if I find a pink Cadillac, he'll be around somewhere." "So long." "Who's that?" "It's Lon." "Hi, Lonnie." "I'm making chili." "But if you want breakfast, I'll come out." "No, thanks." "Daisy, you seen my Uncle Hud?" "I chicken-fried him a steak last night, about 7:00." "Haven't seen him since." "All right." "Daisy, I'm taking two doughnuts." "Okay, honey." "Just leave a dime on the counter." "All right." "It's 26 after 6:00 on a Thursday, and 7 1 degrees in the good ol' summertime." "On the Bobby Don Brewer Show." "Must have had quite a brawl in here last night." "I had Hud in here last night is what I had." "Sure looks it." "Mr. Larker!" "Hey, there, Mr. Larker!" "Hey, there, Lon!" "You gonna rodeo this year, Lon?" "Not me. I ain't looking to get my stomach stepped on." "What you doing in town this early?" "Trying to run down Hud." "Hud?" "Didn't I see that big Cadillac car of his parked right down the street?" "Pretty sure I did." "I don't know if I'd go disturbing him, if I was you." "Well, I ain't dying to, but I've been told to get him." "Hud?" "Hud?" "Honcho... I just hope for your sake that this house is on fire." "Well, I'm sorry to roust you out, Hud, but we got trouble at the ranch." "Well, you've got trouble right here, bub." "I was just getting nicely tucked in." "You come tiptoeing through the tulips." "Granddad wants you, and he said right now." "Oh, he said, "right now"?" "Well, do you think maybe it would be all right with my old daddy if I stopped to button up my shirt?" "Oh, come on, will you, Hud?" "You got me out of the wrong side of bed this morning." "Don't go snapping at my heels." "Just liable to turn around and bite you." "Hud?" "Thank you, honey." "Hey." "Hi, Joe." "Which one of you two is coming out of my house at 6:00 in the morning?" "I asked you a question." "Which one, damn it?" "Well, I hate to have to tell you, seeing it's my own nephew, but it's this snot-nosed kid here." "Been lookin' for him all night." "Just flushed him out a couple of minutes ago." "l'll kill the little punk." "Oh, now, Joe..." "Just let me at that kid." "Wait a minute." "l'll kill him, I'll kill him." "Now Joe, you know you got sugar diabetes." "Just take it easy." "I'll handle this thing for you." "I don't need any help from you." "I can do it myself." "Now, you get out of my way." "Now, Joe, you can't afford to get worked-up, buddy boy." "I ain't gonna let that kid get away... I'll lower his temperature some, I promise you." "All right, hotshot." "You and I are gonna finish this little discussion behind the woodshed." "Thank you." "Thanks a whole lot." "Relax." "Be able to charge a stud fee by the time that story gets around town." "Yeah, if I'm still alive." "I could have gotten hurt back there, you know that?" "So could I." "Ain't it lucky you were handy?" "Well, maybe you ought to take me along as a regular thing." "The pace would kill you, sonny." "And now that the dust has settled, what's so red-hot important that my daddy has to drag me back on my day off?" "Wants to ask your advice about something." "Ask me?" "He hasn't asked me about anything in 15 years." "Just work out there from the shoulders down, myself." "You gonna be able to make it all day, after a night like you put in?" "At a hundred years old like him, I don't need a week's sleep to be fresh." "He can't help being an old man, Hud." "Boy, you sure do drive this thing, don't you?" "That'll be Hud." "He's parked right in my flower bed." "Good morning, Hud." "Morning." "I'm sorry to cut into your time off." "Lonnie, close that screen door." "We're getting a lot of flies in here." "Well, I see the house is still standing, and you're pouring coffee in your saucer, as usual." "How come you pushed the panic button on me?" "We come up with a dead heifer in the night." "is that what you dragged me back here for?" "A dead cow?" "I'm kinda worried about this one." "She wasn't cut or crippled-looking." "No swelling' on her." "Was there any Johnson grass or milkweed around?" "Nothing." "This may be something I ought to know about." "Jose and Jesse are out there now, keeping off the buzzards." "Lon, stay out of those berries." "They're going in the pie." "Well, let's not stand around here till dinnertime." "I got other things to do today." "Watch that cigarette ash." "It's going in the pot." "I'll go bring the pickup around." "How come you're always running your car over my zinnias?" "I've been trying to get those things to come up for two weeks." "Don't plant 'em where l park." "You're cheerful this morning." "Missy, your job is to keep house, not worry about my disposition." "Frying pan's still on." "Want a couple of eggs?" "Or did you have breakfast in bed?" "Nope. I didn't quite get around to breakfast." "Morning, boys." "Mr. Bannon." "Morning, Mr. Bannon." "Pretty hard to keep them birds away." "Had to use a flashlight most of the night." "Ah, look at them buzzards." "They'll be back." "You couldn't scare 'em off with artillery." "I wish you wouldn't do that, Hud." "They keep the country clean." "Besides, there's a law against killing buzzards." "Well, I always say the law was meant to be interpreted in a lenient manner." "And that's what I try to do." "Sometimes I lean to one side of it." "Sometimes I lean to the other." "I don't like to break the law on my place, Hud." "Well, she ain't gonna sit up and tell us herself." "Well, what do you think, Hud?" "I don't know." "She looks clean to me." "Well, something killed her." "I think I'll call up the state vet." "He might know." "Well, what for?" "This is our land." "I don't want any government men on it-- any time, any place, anywhere." "This ain't nothing." "Just leave her lay." "Let the buzzards have her." "No, I don't believe I will." "Before I go to bed, I'll call the government man and ask him to come out and take a look at her." "Yeah, that's the stuff." "Bring some jellybean in here to tell you how to run your own business." "Only don't ask me what I think from now on." "I'd like for you and Lon to stay out here for a while." "I'll take these boys back with me so they can snooze a little." "Lon, you take that water bag so you won't parch." "Honcho, why don't you sit up with our sick friend here?" "I got a healthy one in town that won't wait." "Hyah!" "Come on, hyah." "Hey!" "Hey!" "Hey!" "Boy, it's a good thing you showed up." "We blew a tire on the pickup, and I got to get this stuff back for dinner." "Need any help, there, Jesse?" "I'm all right, Hud." "Thanks." "You think your hand would fall off if you opened the door?" "You pick up my beer?" "Two six-packs." "That ought to see you till tomorrow." "Keeping count on me?" "I keep tripping over those empties, I know that." "Boy, somebody in this car smells of Chanel No. 5, and it isn't me-- l can't afford it." "Well, you sure weren't riding the range this afternoon, were you?" "I sure wasn't." "No." "I just wish I knew where some gals get the time during the day." "I don't know-- by the time I get through scrubbing the kitchen floor, cleaning out the bathtub and hanging up the clothes..." "They just drop everything, honey." "I suppose it does beat housework." "Want an orange?" "No." "I'll peel it for you." "No, thanks." "H-Hey, look, it says "Florida" on it." "We grow 'em right here in Texas, and then they send 'em in all the way from Florida." "That makes sense, doesn't it?" "Yeah." "Oh, uh, the checker at the AP market, he said it's Truman Peters' wife you're seeing." "is that what he says?" "Mm-hmm." "Uh, he says she's got a bad temper." "He says her maid quit her 'cause she hollers so much." "Well, our maid's gonna get canned 'cause she's talking too much." "Hey, you want a Fig Newton?" "Nope." "Just leave a little something for dinner, will ya?" "I don't believe it." "You're still eating bread?" "After I gave you steak and flour gravy and hominy and fried okra and onions and hot rolls?" "Well, it looked like a lot when we set down, but it sure melted away." "Hud didn't want any dinner?" "He's prettying up." "Said he'd eat later." "What's for dessert?" "You think a big freezer full of peach ice cream would hold you?" "Boy, I've been waiting all winter long for those locker-plaid Alberta peaches." "Oh, is that what you've been waiting all winter for, sugar?" "How 'bout those peachy pinups you keep hidden in with your shorts and socks?" "That's my private drawer." "You stay out of there, Alma." "I'm a girl, honey." "They don't do a thing for me." "I'll dish up the ice cream, Mr. Bannon." "You have it on the front porch. lt's cooler." "That'll be fine, Alma." "Go on, before you wet your didie." "Alma!" "Alma." "Yeah?" "Alma!" "Yeah!" "Give me a clean, white shirt." "Boy, you're real big with the "please" and "thank you," aren't you?" "Please get up off your lazy butt and get me a clean, white shirt." "Thank you." "Had a little trouble getting the lipstick out of this one." "Just try the brand you're wearing." "Maybe it'll wash out easier." "Let's not." "Look, you ain't getting any younger." "What are you saving it for?" "The tabs are in the collar." "Hear the whippoorwill?" "I think there's two of them." "You know, I've never seen one of those birds in my whole life." "All I do is hear them calling across the flat." "What are you thinking about, Lon?" "Oh, I don't know." "Just looking up ahead, I guess." "You know, to what's coming." "Thinking about your worries and your ambitions, are you?" "Yeah, that, having a car of my own to tear around in, and girls." "Well, I expect you'll get your share of what's good, and a boy like you deserves it." "Hey, it's getting late." "Boy, my daddy sure looks like his collar was choking him." "Those were his Sunday best." "I don't remember him any." "I do." "You don't carry a picture of Hud around with you, do you?" "No, I don't." "But he's your son, same as my dad was." "Yep, he is." "What are you holding against him, Granddad?" "He knows, and you don't need to." "Here you go." "Ah." "Thanks." "Ain't you having any?" "A little too many calories." "I'm trying to lose a couple of pounds." "Listen, Mr. Bannon, if you don't mind, I'm gonna leave those dishes till later." "I just gotta get off these feet." "The kitchen's your department, Alma." "Yeah, I've seen enough of it for today." "Hud, are you planning on going back to town tonight?" "Well, I didn't get washed up to sit on the front porch and listen to the frogs mate." "I'd like for you to make it back here before morning." "The vet'll be here early." "All right." "It's pretty good." "Peachy." "Oh, you can't get much air through this nylon." "Well, you ought to go around in a sarong, Alma, like they do in the South Seas." "Oh, yeah, that'd be a lot of laughs." "You're half native already." "I haven't seen you in a pair of shoes since you come to work here." "Oh, I wore 'em once." "I've things to get married in-- black satin pumps." "I don't have 'em anymore or the man either." "I'm going to get to town." "Alma, you want to blow some foam off of some beer?" "No, thanks." "I'm going to get up out of this swing." "Set some biscuits, go to bed." "I'll settle for half that action." "I'll go with you, Hud." "Well, what big deal you got lined up, sport?" "A snow cone or something?" "No, I just thought I'd catch a ride with you, that's all." "All right, come on, let's make tracks." "You didn't need me for anything, did you, Granddad?" "No." "No, you go on, if you like." "Just be careful." "You drive, sport." "What was that all about?" "It's a story I'll tell you someday when I'm drunk." "Come on, gig this thing a little, will you?" "Eh, it's a lonesome old night, isn't it?" "Ain't they all." "Boy, I love that sound." "Goes right through me." "It scares the hell out of the cattle." "Know what trains always make me think about?" "No, but I got a strong feeling you're going to tell me." "I guess I just like 'em, that's all." "Keys." "Well, golly." "Boy, just look at that Las Vegas saddle." "You couldn't lift that hunk of junk on a horse with a crane." "Yeah, it is pretty noisy." "Where you think you're going?" "l'm just tagging along." "Not with me, you ain't." "You go tie on a couple of Dr Peppers." "I'll see ya." "Hey, come up here and have a drink with us!" "Come on, now!" "Hi, Mr. Kirby." "Hi." "Read that one?" "Yeah, twice." "It's about the best book you ever had on your paperback stand." "Pretty steamy, ain't it?" "Oh, I don't know." "People in it seem a lot like the ones I see." "Did you read the part where the sergeant gets her for the first time?" "Yeah, I read that part." "Hi." "I sure have seen an awful lot of you for one night." "I'm just headed for the square, is all." "Where are you headed?" "Well, just to keep you up-to-date, I am making my way to Mrs. Reuben Fletcher's house." "I don't think that's a house you're likely to have heard very much about." "Well, I've heard some." "I am out of my three- cornered pants, you know." "I have been for some time." "How old are you?" "Fantan-- a fast 1 7." "Boy, when I..." "When I was your age, I couldn't get enough of anything." "That was the summer you were born." "Your ma died... and your daddy was feeling a little wild about things." "He bought us a '27 Chevy." "Kept it tied together with baling wire, hit every honky-tonk in the country." "I don't know which we run the hardest-- that car or them country girls who came to them dances." "Boy!" "We do-si-do'd and chased a lot of girlish butts around that summer." "Now, I wouldn't mind going that route myself." "Come on along." "No, I don't think so." "All right." "Hey, wake up." "Come on, Lonnie." "Open your eyes." "You going to stay here till dinnertime?" "What do you want?" "I want you to get up." "I can't stay here rasslin' around with you all morning." "Why not?" "I kind of like it." "Yeah, I bet you do." "That's enough out of you." "Now, come on, get up." "Can't do that, Alma." "Are you sleeping in the raw again?" "Mm-hmm." "Listen, I got two pair of nice, ironed cotton pajamas in there." "How come you're not using them?" "I don't know, they strangle me." "Mm-hmm." "Come on." "What do you sleep in?" "In my own room, with the door locked." "You ever wear any of those little, uh, shorty things?" "What kind of question is that?" "Just wonder." "Does your mind usually run in that direction?" "Yeah, it seems to." "Boys with impure thoughts come out in acne." "Did you know that?" "Oh, that's all bull, Alma." "Keep it up, you'll see." "Hurry up." "The vet's coming this morning." "Well, let's get away from this stink." "I got all I need here." "Mr. Bannon... I'm going to ask you to get your cattle together, all of them." "I'm going to have to make an inspection." "An inspection for what?" "Well, for what killed that heifer." "I hope I'm wrong, but I'm very much afraid you got the worst kind of trouble a cattle man can have." "I think that cow died of foot-and-mouth disease." "Oh, me." "I never thought it'd be anything like that." "Well, let's have it." "What are we in for?" "Well, y'all get your herds together." "We're going to have to take some samples." "Bring in a few healthy calves and a couple of horses from outside, infect them artificially, and then... just wait and see what happens." "I'll tell you what'll happen-- they turn up sick, you kill them." "That's right, isn't it, mister?" "If the calves turn up sick and the horses don't, it's foot-and-mouth-- you got to." "The last bad outbreak in the United States, the government had to kill over 77,000 head of cattle, plus that many sheep and goats." "Even 20,000 deer." "It's a terrible thing." "I just bought me 20 head of Mexican cows down South." "Could they be the bad ones?" "Uh, could be." "If there were, you're going to have to get rid of every cow that's been in contact with them." "Well, you're talking about all the animals I own." "I know I am." "I hope I'm wrong." "I hope it turns out to be something else, so we won't ever have to talk about it again." "Looks like I landed in the wrong place again." "Uh, you guys get on." "There's some fence to fix." "Yeah, how 'bout that?" "You going to let them shoot your cows out from underneath you on account of a schoolbook disease?" "You getting that old, Homer?" "I wonder if a long quarantine wouldn't satisfy him." "You think they'd agree to that?" "Yeah, they don't have to agree to nothing-- they're the law." "You can agree with them till hell freezes over for all the good it'll do you." "Yeah, but that Mr. Burris seemed like a reasonable man." "You think they'd come in here and liquidate?" "Hell, yeah, they'll liquidate, you got what they say you got." "Now, you look a-here." "You've had 24 of my 34 years working for you on this ranch, and, Daddy, you have had top-grade cheap labor." "I shoveled manure out of barns for you." "You got my calluses, for what?" "Your blessings the day you die?" "Now, damn it, I want out of this spread what I put into it." "Well, you got a proposal to make to me, Hud?" "You get on the telephone tonight and sell every breed cow you own." "They haven't got a chain on you yet." "Would that be your way to getting out of a tight?" "Well, I can ship the whole herd out before they begin the test." "You mean, try and pass bad stuff off on my neighbors, who wouldn't even know what they was getting?" "Eh, you don't know it's bad stuff." "Aw, ship them out of state, unload them up north before the news gets out." "And take a chance on starting an epidemic in the entire country." "Why, this whole country is run on epidemics!" "Where you been?" "Epidemics are big business-- price-fixing, crooked TV shows, income tax finagling, souped up expense accounts." "How many honest men you know?" "You take the sinners away from the saints, you're lucky to end up with Abraham Lincoln." "So I say, let's us put our bread in some of that gravy while it is still hot." "You're an unprincipled man, Hud." "Well, don't let that fuss you." "I mean, you've got enough for both of us." "This afternoon's been a regular bitch." "You out of poop?" "I'm just having a breather." "Well, why don't you go back to the ranch and grab yourself a nap?" "No, I'll hold up my end of it." "Yeah, I guess you would." "Granddad!" "Found your longhorns out near ldia Ridge." "Government's going to have a hard time trying to inspect 'em." "Those big horns'll never go through a chute." "There ain't many left in the country, are there, Granddad?" "No, they're dying out." "I just keep 'em for old time's sake." "Keep 'em to remind me of how things was." "Everything we had come from their hides-- our furniture, our ropes, our-our clothes, our hats." "Granddad..." "let's turn 'em loose." "No, Lon, that wouldn't be the thing to do." "They got to go along with the rest." "Granddad." "Why, thank you, Lon." "I shouldn't have brought you out here tonight, not after the day you put in." "Oh, if the picture's any good, I'll wake up, don't you worry." "Looks like you're the only one around here who ain't got somebody whose knee you can pinch." "Oh, I think I can stand it." "You wouldn't think they'd pay 65 cents to come here and do it." "They can go up in the hayloft for nothing." "Come on, you miners 49ers." "Let's all join in and sing that old favorite, "Clementine."" "Just follow the bouncing ball." "Oh, my darling, oh, my darling..." "Oh, my darling Clementine" "Thou are lost and gone forever" "Dreadful sorry, Clementine ln the cavern, in the canyon" "Excavating for a mine" "Dwelt a miner 49er" "And his daughter, Clementine" "Oh, my darling, oh, my darling" "Oh, my darling, Clementine" "Thou art lost and gone forever" "Dreadful sorry, Clementine." "You going to get your mouth around all that?" "Going to try." "Hi, Hud." "How are you, sport?" "is that Truman Peters' wife with Hud?" "I think so." "Want me to call him over?" "No, no, just leave him to his own business." "Got a half a buck?" "Okay, come on on back." "Aren't you going to give me the change?" "Hey, hey." "Well, let's make a party out of this." "Daddy, this not too natural blonde here is Mrs. Truman Peters." "How do you do?" "How do you do, Mr. Bannon?" ""Wild Horse" Homer Bannon, Lily." "That's what he used to be known as." "And this kind of gangly youth over there is my nephew Lon." "You may have just noticed, but my daddy hasn't asked us to sit down." "That's 'cause he doesn't want to socialize with me." "He's a little fussy about the company he keeps." "Yeah, you're a married woman, Lily." "That doesn't go down very well with him." "He's a man of high principals and what have you." "He doesn't believe in any loose living at all." "Isn't that right, Homer?" "Granddad." "Hey, Homer, you okay?" "Get me..." "get me home, boy." "Roll down that window a little, will you, Hud?" "Ah, that's good." "The place back there seemed a little short of air." "Maybe you just got a little too much sun today." "Well, whatever." "No need to pose such a long face about it." "I feel better now." "When we get home, I'm going to fix you some salipadicha." "Yeah, yeah, that'll settle me right down." "He dropped right off." "He's beginning to look kind of worn out, isn't he?" "Sometimes I forget how old he is." "I guess I just don't want to think about it." "Time you started." "Well, I know he's gonna die someday." "I know that much." "He is." "Makes me feel like somebody dumped me into a cold river." "Happens to everybody." "Horses, dogs, men." "Nobody gets out of life alive." "I'll give you a hand upstairs." "Lon'll take care of me." "Suit yourself." "Good night, Hud." "Thanks for the game, boys." "You can have another shot at me next payday." "You got a cigarette?" "Yeah." "Then I wish you wouldn't keep me hanging around on the front porch." "Makes me feel like I'm selling something." "All right, come on in." "They're a little squashed." "It's all right, they'll do." "Well, I see you got things fixed up some." "I try." "Looks pretty good." "Except your sweet potato plant over here has got the blight." "I can't seem to get one started." "Well, they need a lot of tender loving care, honey." "Same as the rest of us." "I'll keep it in mind." "Could I have a match?" "Well, what do we got here?" ""Jiffy... portable hair dyer."" ""...triple screen."" "Hmm." "Automatic toaster." "What have you been doing?" "A little rustling down at the five and dime?" "I go in for those prize contests." ""How Shiny Shampoo changed my life, in 20 words or less."" "You know, they give free two-week trips to Europe." "But I end up with the fountain pens and the Japanese binoculars." "Yeah, won me a turkey raffle once, but it was fixed." "I got to be pretty friendly with one of 'em gals picking the numbers." "It figures." "How much you take the boys for tonight?" "20 dollars and some change." "You're a dangerous woman to have around." "I'm a good poker player." "You're a good housekeeper." "You're a good cook, you're a good laundress." "What else you good at?" "At taking care of myself." "You shouldn't have to, a woman looks like you do." "Oh, that's what my ex-husband used to tell me... before he took my wallet and my gasoline credit card and left me stranded in a downtown motel in Albuquerque, New Mexico." "What'd you do to make him take to the hills?" "You wear your curlers to bed or something?" "Ed's a gambler." "He's probably up at Vegas or Reno right now, dealing at night, losing it all back in the daytime." "Oh, well, a man like that sounds no better than a heel." "Aren't you all?" "Honey, don't go shooting all the dogs 'cause one of them's got fleas." "I was married to Ed for six years." "Only thing he was ever good for was to scratch my back where l couldn't reach it." "You still got that itch?" "Off and on." "Well, let me know when it gets to bothering' you." "Hep, hep, hep, hep, hep!" "Hep, hep, hep, hep, hep!" "Ya!" "Giddy!" "Ya!" "Ya!" "Ya!" "Giddy!" "Ya!" "Ya!" "Hep, hep, hep, hep!" "Hep, hep!" "Ho!" "Now, what we're doing, Mr. Bannon, is injecting these cows and horses with specimens that are taken from your herd." "In three to six days, we should know what we want to know." "Ya!" "Move on in there!" "Get in that chute!" "Move on in there!" "Ah-ha-ha-ha!" "Hey!" "Ho!" "Go over there!" "Ya!" "You all right, Lon?" "She... she kicked you into the fence." "You skinned your head a little." "Boy, you caught a lick!" "Better get back to work." "Boys'll be on you for a week, you quit 'cause you dented your head a little." "No need to rush him." "You all right, Lon?" "Mm..." "Whoa!" "Oh, you've had it, fantan." "Now, get him to bed." "All right, Jack, back to work." "You know, all this time, I thought you were skinny!" "You weigh a ton." "Can't seem to get my head on straight." "Get in there, cow." "Hud, I think I'm going to lose my breakfast." "Not over me, you ain't." "You hold your fire till we get to the house." "Sugar, you're white as a sheet." "Alma, you're getting flour all over me." "What happened?" "Ah, one of the cows cuddled up to him." "Ow!" "Shouldn't a doctor look at him?" "Pay five bucks and some iodine and aspirin, he'll mend." "Well, that's about as far as I go." "I draw the line at bedpans." "Thanks, Hud." "You can goldbrick for the rest of the day." "Just don't try to stretch it into two." "Here, let's get those boots off." "Cold lemonade." "Here." "Oh, come on." "They're only lemon seeds." "Mmm." "That better?" "You ought to doze off now." "Gee, Alma, you're cool." "You smell of lemon." "Alma?" "What is it, sugar?" "You're really beautiful." "Oh, sure I am." "You're one of the best people there ever was." "You're good to me, Alma." "In fact, you're good, period." "You be good, too." "Get some sleep." "Morning, Granddad." "Well, how are you today, Lonnie?" "Good, real good." "Boy, have I been sawing wood up there." "Looks like I slept 'round the clock." "You know, I feel almost like working, for a change!" "Well, what do you got for me?" "Patch a little fence?" "Pull up some weeds?" "Work a few calves?" "Well, I don't guess we'll do anything much." "I don't see any sense in wasting work until I find out about my cattle." "You bet." "Yeah, we're just gonna roll over and play dead and let 'em shovel dirt in our faces." "If I don't get a clean bill of health on my cattle, we are just about dead." "Dead broke." "We've been breeding and crossbreeding this beef all our lives to get us the best stock in the country." "We're going to end up with the government paying us four bits on the dollar for 'em." "Poor but honest." "That's us." "Well, we ain't sure of anything yet." "We're just gonna have to sit and wait it out." "Don't get sores on your butt doing it." "I can do without that noise, Lon." "Now, go stretch your legs a little, will ya?" "Well, where's that bottle?" "Had myself a bottle of Jack Daniel's stashed in that cupboard in there." "You drank it." "When?" "Instead of dinner, Wednesday night." "Don't remember." "If you think I've been nipping at it, I don't drink anything but Tokay wine." "Yeah, I bet you keep your little finger crooked while you're doing it." "Well, why don't you go stick your head in the water trough and sober up for lunch?" "Now don't you find me in control of myself?" "Hate to see you walk a straight line." "That's easy." "I don't like setting passes." "We'll ease into it, then." "There's another one coming up on your right." "Don't you ever ask?" "Well, the only question I ever ask any woman is, "What time is your husband coming home?"" "What's keeping you?" "You're over the age of consent, ain't you?" "Way over." "Let's get our shoelaces untied, what do you say?" "I'd say I've been asked with a little more finesse in my time." "Yeah..." "Hmm?" "I wouldn't want to come on crude." "No, ma'am." "I'll bring you a two-pound box of candy, maybe a bottle of perfume, from the drugstore." "How 'bout some colored beads and wampum?" "Whatever it takes to make you trade 'em." "No, thanks." "I've done my time with one cold-blooded bastard." "I'm not looking for another." "It's too late, honey, you already found him." "You hardly touched your plate, Mr. Bannon." "Nothing to do with your cooking, Alma." "I just ain't very hungry." "Hear anything from the vets?" "No." "They're taking their own sweet time about it." "Well, I ain't going to sit around here and stew." "Kiwanis are waiting for me." "You gonna be in that pig scramble tonight, Hud?" "Yup, see if I can make the Bannons look good for a change." "You honchos want to come on in, there's plenty of room in the cheering section." "They're letting ladies in free tonight, Alma." "You just might qualify." "Hey, you know, that's the first time" "Hud ever asked me to go anyplace in his whole life." "I wonder why he did that." "Lonesome, I imagine." "Just trying to scare up a little company." "Hud, lonesome?" "He can get more women comin' than anybody else around." "Well, that ain't necessarily much." "They ain't necessarily company, neither." "Women just like to be around something dangerous part of the time." "Even Hud can get lonesome once in a while." "Well, I wouldn't mind watching him chase those squealers." "Well, then, we'll go on in." "I'll stay home." "I don't like pigs." "Now let's give these kids a hand." "Now, applaud for the kid that you like the best." "That's it, ladies and gentlemen." "Looks like number ten won it." "All right, now you've all seen one kind of twisting'." "You're about to see another kind." "We've got ten able-bodied men going to tie themselves in knots trying to catch ten of the fastest greased pigs you've ever seen in your life." "Now the first man that catches his pig and brings it back to this little square here in front of the judges stand is going to be the winner." "Now if you boys'll come on in, we'll get this started, come on." "You guys got the pigs ready down there, Marlon?" "You bet!" "Okay." "Let's go then." "Come on, let's go there." "Arnold, you're outside there." "Step in, will ya?" "Hey, Wag, pull your hat off, will ya?" "Let's go." "All right, boys, now when I say "three," we'll go." "One, two, three-- go!" "Off they go." "Look at them go." "Well, it looks like we got a winner" " Hud Bannon." "Hud, that pig looks about as dirty as you do." "Towel back there?" "Folks, we sure do thank you for turning out tonight, and we hope you enjoyed yourself." "Whew!" "We look forward to seeing you next year at the annual cotton festival." "Nice goin'." "Wish I could still get around the way you do, Hud." "Boy, you sure do churn up that dust." "Well, I'm going to kick up a little more dust before the night's over." "Anybody interested?" "Well, that's enough excitement for me, I guess." "I'll be getting back." "Lon?" "Oh, I don't know." "It's still kind of early." "I might just stick around with Hud for a while." "Well, I'll leave the door open for you." "Yeah." "Hitch up your pants, fantan." "I'm going to get cleaned up, then I'll buy you a drink." "You want to put a little kick in that?" "Sure, okay." "Come on, I can handle it." "Whoa, whoa." "Kind of pretty girl." "Don't let me cramp you." "Oh, I wouldn't make any kind of move at her." "Why not?" "You ain't nailed down, are you?" "Well, that's what I call a woman and a half." "You're a pretty good-looking kid." "You dab down that cowlick and button your collar up over your Adam's apple, you... you might just make out." "I wouldn't mind driving her the long way home." "Well, you ought to take a crack at that." "Get all the good you can out of 1 7, 'cause it sure wears out in one hell of a hurry." "Ah, my trouble is I got to like a girl a lot before I can work up to anything." "I mean, like her as a person." "Honcho, you're a regular idealist." "And what's wrong with that?" "I don't know, I just ain't never tried it." "Well... suppose you think I'm a jerk." "What do you care what I think?" "Ah, this is probably going to hand you a big laugh but I do." "You have another little drink, and I'll have another little drink, and then maybe we can work up some real family feeling here." "Well, I think I'll... shove some change in that juke." "Hi." "What are you gawking at?" "Well, I ain't gawking." "I don't like fresh kids." "Nobody's getting fresh, mister, that I know about." "I think I'll take you out in the alley and jar some of your teeth loose." "Are you having words with this youngster about something?" "I'm about to put him into the hospital." "is that so?" "Why, has he been bothering you?" "No." "No, he ain't bothering me." "It's her he's bothering." "Well, you didn't, uh, offer him any encouragement by any chance, did you there, young lady?" "No." "That's funny." "I was sitting way over on the other side of the room, and I got a little bit encouraged." "Maybe it's the way you move around inside that dress." "All right, smart guy, I'll take you instead." "Oh, I don't want to be hoggish." "Lon, you want a piece of him?" "Ah." "Whoo!" "Whoo!" "Whoo!" "Boy, that is what I call one hell of a night." "I can do that about six times a week." "Well, you don't win 'em all, you know." "Well, I would if you were backing me all the time." "Hey, that'd make quite a combination, wouldn't it?" "Nobody'd ever mess with the Bannons, that's for sure." "Yeah, felt like old times there for a little while." "Your daddy and I used to take them all on a Saturday night." "Yeah, he must have been a pretty good old boy." "What, Norman?" "Yeah." "He was the kind of guy-- he used to leave his loose change just lying out on the bureau when I was a kid so I could swipe some of it." "Let me take a girl away from him once in a while like I done it on my own." "He was bigger than you, all right." "He had a bigger wallet, but I'll tell you something." "When you ain't being a pain in the tail, you remind me a lot of him." "l do?" "Yeah, you sure do." "Well, then how come you and me don't hit it off so good?" "I got short arms." "Hell, there ain't never been anybody like old Norman, never will be." "He was one-way-out boy." "Claimed he could hear the grass grow." "He got me to go down to this pasture one night to listen." "After three or four hours of just nipping away at that bottle to keep the dew off of us, I swore I could hear it, too." "That's the night I wracked up the car." "Piled up on Sampson Creek Bridge." "He died in a half an hour." "I didn't even have a mark on me." "Yeah, I wonder if your daddy's hearing the grass now, growing up over his grave." "That story ought to cool you off some." "It doesn't." "Fantan, either you're softhearted, or softheaded." "I don't know which." "Oh, it was sad, dear Lord lt was sad, dear Lord lt was sad when the great ship went down" "To the bottom of the" "Husbands and wives" "Little children lost their lives lt was sad when the great ship went down" "Oh, it was sad, dear Lord lt was sad, dear Lord lt was sad when the great ship went down..." "Shh, shh, shh, shh." "Oh, it was shh, dear Lord lt was shh, dear Lord lt was shh..." "Hey, Granddad." "All right, he's got you drunk." "What else has he given you a taste for?" "All we had was a couple of drinks is all." "I don't remember you being a teetotaler." "I drank. I don't object to his having whiskey." "Well, something seems to be eating away at your liver." "You, Hud." "Like always." "Hey, what are you climbing on Hud for?" "You think a lot of Hud, do you?" "You think he's a real man." "Well, you're being took in." "You listen to him, honcho." "He's my daddy, and he knows." "I know you." "You're smart." "You got your share of guts." "You can talk a man into trusting you and a woman into wanting you." "Well, then, I got it made, ain't I?" "To hear you tell it." "Oh, why don't you get it off your chest?" "You've been griping at me all this time as what I done to Norman." "You were drunk and careless of your brother." "You had 15 years to get over it." "That's half of my life." "That's not our quarrel and never has been." "Oh, the hell it isn't." "No, boy." "I was sick of you a long time before that." "Well... isn't life full of surprises?" "And all along I thought it was... 'cause of what I'd done to my big brother." "I took that hard, but I buried it." "Well, all right, I'll bite." "What turned you sour on me?" "Not that I give a damn." "Just that, Hud." "You don't give a damn." "That's all." "That's the whole of it." "You still don't get it, do you?" "You don't care about people, Hud." "You don't give a damn about 'em." "Granddad..." "Oh, you got all that charm going for you, and it makes the youngsters want to be like you." "That's the shame of it." "'Cause you don't value nothing." "You don't respect nothing." "You keep no check on your appetites at all." "You live just for yourself, and that makes you not fit to live with." "My mama loved me, but she died." "Why pick on Hud, Granddad?" "He ain't the only one." "Just about everybody around here is like him, one way or another." "Well, that's no cause for rejoicing, is it?" "Lonnie, little by little, the look of the country changes because of the men we admire." "I still think you nailed him pretty hard." "Did I?" "Maybe." "Old people get as hard as their arteries sometimes." "You're just going to have to make up your own mind one day about what's right and what's wrong." "Where's that cotton-picking housekeeper of ours?" "I want something to eat, and I don't want any hesitating about it." "It's late, Hud." "She's asleep." "Well, ain't that just keen?" "Paying her good money to sleep, and I'm starving to death." "Well, maybe I can fry you up an egg sandwich." "Forget it." "Oh, get your butt out of here." "I can't think with you standing around." "Knock some people on their tails around here." "You just might be one of 'em." "Go on, get out of here!" "Whoa, there." "Boy, they mean trouble." "Kind of wish I'd have stayed out of bull riding." "Well, from the look of them, you ain't gonna be riding very far." "Well, thanks, buddy." "I better go check my gear." "Never mind your gear." "You ought to go check your head." "That bull's gonna eat you up." "How are you, hotrod?" "Hi, Hud." "Got a good seat for the show this afternoon?" "They're getting two bucks for those bleachers over there." "Be my guest." "Well, this is ten dollars, Hud." "It's good." "I didn't print it." "Well, thank you." "Stick with me, honcho." "Your jeans will be full of change." "How come?" "Well, I'll tell you." "I put on a clean, white shirt this morning, and I saw me a lawyer." "There's a law that says when old folks can't cut the mustard anymore, you can make 'em let go, whether they like it or not." "What are you pulling on Granddad now?" "Something pretty raw, kid." "Yeah. lt sounds like it." "You take your dough." "I don't want it." "Hey, hey, hey, hey." "Don't look down your nose at me, sonny boy." "I'm gonna get old, too." "And I don't aim to end up on county relief with a bowl of soup and two cigarettes a day, if I behave myself." "I want what I worked for." "I got a right to it." "You know something, honcho?" "You don't look out for yourself, and the only helping hand you'll ever get is when they lower the box." "Now you have fun, you hear?" "Hud." "You're up awful late." "I got a lot on my mind." "Come on in." "Take a load off your feet." "Talked to the vets today?" "I talked to 'em, but I didn't get a whole lot of information out of 'em." "Yeah, you didn't expect to, did you?" "The government man wants you to know something, he'll call you or send you a telegram." "They said they was watching the test animals pretty close, but they had nothing showed up yet." "Hud?" "Yes, sir." "What's this tricky deal you're up to?" "Lon tells me you're gonna pull the rug out from under me." "That's right." "I haven't got all the rough edges ironed out yet, but I can give you an idea." "The main thing is you, old man." "You're getting too old to make the grade." "Whether they liquidate us or not when this thing is over, you just better get yourself a rocking chair and get out of my way." "What in the hell do you mean?" "When an old man goes off and buys himself a bunch of sick Mexican cows, it means he's over the hill." "You got the incompetence, Daddy, and the hotrod's too young to take things over." "Just might get the court to appoint me guardian of your property." "I don't know." "If I don't get it one way, I'm gonna get it another." "Well, you're badly mistaken about all this." "I'll be the only one to run this ranch while I'm above ground." "After that, you may get part of it." "I don't know." "But you can't get control of this place." "No way in the world." "Don't go making any bets on that." "Maybe I treated you too hard." "I don't doubt I made some mistakes." "A man don't always do what's right." "Ah, Daddy, you ain't never been wrong." "Been handing out the ten tablets of law from whatever little hill you could find to climb up on since I was a kid." "Shape up or ship out." "That's the way you runs things around here." "Wild-eyed Homer Bannon passing out scripture and verse like you wrote it yourself." "So I just naturally had to go bad in the face of so much good." "Hud, how did a man like you come to be a son to me?" "Well, that's easy." "I wasn't no bundle left on your doorstep." "Wasn't found in no bulrushes." "You've got the same feelings below your belt as any other man." "That's how you got stuck with me for a son, whether you like it or not." "He was just so drunk, Alma." "Did he hurt you?" "Should I take you to town, get you a doctor?" "Go on out of here." "Well, what are you looking at?" "I'm looking at you, Hud." "Oh, climb off it." "You've been wanting to do pretty much the same thing." "And wanting to wallow her from the day she got here." "Yeah, I been wanting to do it." "But not mean like you." "Here comes Mr. Burris." "Good morning." "Good morning." "Your timing's off." "You missed breakfast." "Thanks, but I've eaten." "I guess you got something to tell us, or you wouldn't be here." "I guess the tests are done." "Yes, sir, they're done." "You got the worst thing you could have." "And there's no cure at all?" "None we know of." "It's like a bolt of lightning-- it won't hurt you till it hits, then it hurts a lot." "Your cows are public enemies now." "You gotta handle this thing fast before it spreads." "Well, what do I do?" "Just drive them into a pit and shoot 'em?" "I can't abide that." "I know it's a terrible thing even to think about." "I've seen it during the Depression." "It's a sight worse to see than it is to think about." "Look here, Mr. Bannon, you're getting up in years." "You can afford to slow down." "The rest won't hurt your grass any." "You might even sell a few oil leases." "My daddy thinks that oil is something you stick in your salad dressing." "If there's oil down there, you can get it sucked up after I'm under there with it." "But I don't like it, and I don't aim to have it." "There'll be no holes punched in this land while I'm here." "They ain't going to come in and grade no road so the wind can blow me away." "That's all to me." "What can I do with a bunch of rotten oil wells?" "I can't ride out every day and prowl amongst them, like I can my cattle." "I can't breed them or tend them or rope them or chase them or nothing." "I can't feel a smidgen of pride in them." "'Cause they ain't none of my doing." "There's money in it." "I don't want that kind of money." "I want mine to come from something that keeps a man doing for himself." "We're much obliged to you for coming out in person to tell us." "Start shooting'." "Didn't take long." "It don't take long to kill things." "Not like it does to grow." "Well, there's a couple we missed." "I'll get 'em." "Where do you think you're going, mister?" "To finish this job." "Somebody needs to." "Well, you just close that gate." "I'll kill them two myself, seeing as how I raised 'em." "Something wrong with you, mister?" "There's no guarantee you'll do it." "He just said he would." "You get in the car." "We're going down and finish buying those carcasses, and then we're leaving." "Mr. Bannon can handle the rest of this without us bothering him." "You just get along, Mr. Burris." "I know none of this here ain't your doing." "You see about the burying, and then get that fellow there off'n my ranch." "All I can say is I'm sorry." "I'm sure sorry." "He ain't such a bad fella." "Just got a cruddy job." "Boys... I don't plan to have any work around here for some time." "I can't afford to keep you on till things get better, so I'll just have to let you go." "Give me the rifle." "Lord, but I've chased 'em longhorns many a mile." "I don't know if I can kill 'em." "But I guess I can." "Guess this is the worst thing that ever happened to you." "Oh, I'll get over it, if my health don't go to failing me." "Lon, you go away someplace." "Well, them old bulls are hard to kill." "Drag 'em away and bury 'em!" "Bury 'em quick!" "Go on!" "Did you call about the bus for me?" "Yeah, it leaves at 10:26." "And can I buy my ticket on it?" "Yeah." "They said that'd be okay." "Alma?" "I got $200 calf money," "if you're short." "You just keep it." "Well, I'm ready." "Wish you weren't going off and leaving us, Alma." "You look after your grandpa." "He's getting old and feeble." "He's your job now." "We need you around here." "I sure do." "You'll get along just fine." "I wish you'd stay." "Well... I been all over this cow country, looking for the exact right place and the exact right people, so once I got stopped, I wouldn't have to be movin' again." "And it just hasn't worked out." "Good-bye, honey." "You take care of yourself." "Don't you be lazy, now." "How are you, Peewee?" "Looks like we're losing a good cook." "Maybe we should, uh... boosted your salary a little." "You ain't letting that little ruckus we had run you off, are you?" "As far as I can get on a bus ticket." "You saying that I'm the first guy that ever stuck his foot in your door?" "Oh, no." "The first one that ever got rough, huh?" "Well, I'm sorry." "It ain't my style." "I don't usually get rough with my women." "Generally don't have to." "You're rough on everybody." "So they tell me." "You want to know something funny?" "It would have happened eventually, without the roughhousing'." "You look pretty good without your shirt on, you know." "Sight of that through the kitchen window made me put down my dish towel more than once." "Well, why didn't you speak up sooner?" "I'll remember you, honey." "You're the one that got away." "Come on, there, boy, git!" "Stupid knucklehead, what'd you hit the brakes for?" "You got your life's work in front of you paying for this car." "Granddad's out here." "He's crawling in the road!" "Grandad, what happened?" "Are you hurt?" "I wanted to..." "take a look around the place." "I fell off my horse." "This old man's hurt pretty bad." "Let me up." "A man ain't to crawl." "Take it easy." "Lonnie, take my car, get to the ranch, call an ambulance, tell 'em to get here quick." "And tell 'em we got an awful sick man here." "It won't start!" "All right, forget it." "Forget it!" "There's a bottle of whisky in the dash." "Bring it over." "Come on, easy, easy, old man." "Don't make me drink that stuff." "Lonnie, go on down to the main road, try to flag a car down, get some help up here." "Go on, move." "Don't send him away, Hud." "I'm right here, Grandad, don't you worry." "I feel kind of cold." "Everything's going to be all right." "I don't know if I want it to be." "Don't talk like that." "You're going to be just fine." "I feel like... throwing in the sponge." "Like giving up." "You've never quit on anything in your whole life." "Hud there is waiting on me... and he ain't a patient man." "He isn't gone, is he?" "Yeah." "I meant to buy him a brand-new, blanket-lined jacket... and give it to him sometime or other." "Lonnie..." "Hey." "It was the best thing." "Man, he was wore out, and he knew it." "He didn't seem so bad." "He didn't seem so bad off at all." "Well, he was." "Trying to get up, hurting himself." "He couldn't have made it." "Lonnie, any way in this world, he couldn't have made it another hour." "He could if he had wanted to." "You fixed it so he didn't want to anymore." "You don't know the whole story." "Yeah, him and me fought many and many a round together." "But I guess you could say that I helped him about as much as he ever helped me." "How did you help him, Hud?" "By trying to sell him out?" "By taking the heart out of him?" "By making him give up and quit?" "is that how you helped him?" "He ain't in any loaf-around eternal life." "He's the way he always was-- enjoying his good horses, looking after the land, trying to figure out ways to beat the dry weather and wind." "You better settle down, boy." "You still got the graveyard in front of you." "I know what you're feeling, my boy, but look at it this way-- he's gone to a better place." "I don't think so." "Not unless dirt is a better place than air." "Well, we took him to the graveyard and put him down." "It's all over with now." "What have you got there?" "My gear." "You going someplace?" "Yeah." "Traveling kind of light, ain't ya?" "Got everything I need." "Planning to go for good?" "That's right." "What about your half of the spread here?" "Well, you can put my share in the bank." "I'm going somewhere else and work for a while, if I can happen onto a job." "Ain't you a little bit green to go cutting loose on your own?" "Well, we'll see." "I was about your age when I went in the army." "Granddaddy had bought me a Mars candy bar down at the station, and he said to me, "Character's the only thing I got to give you to be a man."" "Well, I guess he was kind of worried." "You're trying so hard to get out of the draft and all." "Honcho!" "I just wanted you to know that... if you don't make your million, you can always come back here and work for me." "I won't be back this way." "Well, I guess you've come to be of your granddaddy's opinion that I ain't fit to live with." "That's too bad." "Yeah, we might have whooped it up some, you and me." "That's the way you used to want it." "I used to." "So long, Hud." "You know something, fantan?" "This world is so full of crap, a man's going to get into it sooner or later whether he's careful or not."