"I just feel bound fast, like I..." "Like I couldn't break free," "I couldn't be different." "I couldn't change." "What in the world would you want to change, Livie?" "John?" "The children?" "Myself, mostly." "Corabeth, go over that part again, the part where that awful smell washes out." "You know, that burns." "The years brought many changes to us on Walton's Mountain, but when change did not come often enough to suit my mother, it was her way to seek it." "She would search for change, reach out to it, and welcome it when it came." "See you later." "See you later." "Get in the car." "Mom, are you burning something?" "Of course not." "What are you looking at?" "Well, I don't know." "Well then, you must have something better to do." "Well, that's funny." "I thought you'd smell it, too, because it's..." "Well, it's a burning smell, like..." "Well, you know, when you singe a chicken." " Erin." " Am I bothering you?" "I like it better without the curl." "I'm gonna run this in to the Reverend, all right?" "Okay." "Who's that playing the organ?" "Grandma's at home." "I know, and it ain't Jason, either." "He's in Westham." "Listen, you run this stuff over to Ike's and come back and get me, all right?" "Yeah, sure." "Just let me know who it is." "I'd hate to be that person when Grandma finds out." " See you later." " See you later." "Reverend, I brought you this, all right?" "It's got the announcement for the church supper." "Wonderful." "Thank you." "You know, Grandma's not gonna cotton to the idea of Zelda Maynard playing the church organ." "I know." "More than likely, she'll come after you with a stick." "John-Boy, can I talk to you about this later?" "Well, that was splendid, Mrs. Maynard, genuinely inspiring." "Well, thank you, Reverend Fordwick." "Now, you know that you have an accomplished organist in your congregation." " John-Boy." "Well, my goodness." " Mrs. Maynard." "Well, how is that charming grandfather of yours?" "Very well, thank you." "I'll bet he is." "Well, you played beautifully, Mrs. Maynard, and thank you for sharing your blessed gift with me." "Yes, well, he's such a courtly gentleman, always a twinkle in his eye." "Well, he does enjoy life." "That's for sure." "As best he can." "How is your grandmother?" "Well, she's working very hard on the church supper, as always." "Yes." "Yes, I'm sure she is." "Once again, many thanks." "Well, I'll expect to hear from you, Reverend, favorably." "Our cup runneth over, John-Boy." "Now we now have two talented organists." "I'm not so sure that's a blessing." "You mean Esther and Zelda." "Well, I'm sure they can take turns." "One Sunday, Esther can play, and then the following Sunday, Zelda." "Sharing is a very Christian thing, John-Boy." "I know it is, and I can assure you of one thing." "When Grandma finds out about it, she's gonna go right through the roof." "Well, I'm certain you can find the right way to tell her." "No, no, no, not me." "I'm not gonna tell her anything." " You're the logical one to tell her." " No, I'm not." "I just came here to deliver the newspaper..." "You're very close to your grandma." "She'll take it very well, coming from you." "And you have a wonderful way with words, John-Boy." "Where's your mama?" "I think she's still upstairs." "She know I'm waiting for her?" "She's trying on clothes." "For a picnic?" "Seems like I've been taking stuff out to cars all morning." "You'd be getting used to it by now." "I was hoping maybe you'd say, "I'm proud of you, son." "Here's a quarter."" "I'd wear that one." "Then you wear it." "Honey, everyone is waiting for you." "Everything I put on makes me look like a flour sack." "Maybe I am a flour sack." "Pretty bad off, huh?" "Yes, I am, but I don't intend to stay that way." "I don't know how, but I'm gonna change something right soon now." "Livie, you seen the apple butter?" "No, but I know it's here." "You'll have to take those off once we get home." "I don't remember packing it, but if you do..." "I didn't say that, Grandma." "I know it's here because not once in 20 years have we ever forgotten to bring the apple butter." "I thought you liked my apple butter." "I do." "Good Heavens." "I do!" "What I don't like is the "always"!" "That don't make much sense to me." "Grandma, will you get one of the girls to help you, please?" "Erin!" " Almost." " Yep." "There it is." "No." "Hey, John, you got a feeling for the best place to go?" "All right, then, let's go, John-Boy." "I got a little bit of thinking to do, Curt, all right?" " You gotta do some thinking?" " Yeah." "Well, I guess you don't wanna go fishing, then, huh?" " All right, well, maybe later." " See you later." "Where's he going?" "Didn't he say that he had a feeling for the best place to go?" "Yeah, he does." "Right over there with Mama." "I guess he doesn't want me with him, then." "Maybe later." "May, maybe a little bit later, all right?" "Okay." "Mary Ellen, is being married as wonderful as you thought it would be?" "Yeah, it is." "Don't you miss us?" "Well, I still love you an awful lot, but I'd rather live with Curt." "Why?" "Don't tell me, it's one of those "someday" things." ""Someday"?" ""Don't worry, Elizabeth." "You'll understand it someday, when you're older."" "Well, it's true." "Rats." "You want me to go fishing with you?" "No." "See, we promised never to lie to each other." "Sometimes I wonder why." "Why don't I get you an inner tube?" "You could float all the way to the ocean." "Then what would I do?" "You'd have to walk back, but at least it'd be a change." "Why couldn't you catch a salmon?" "Salmon?" "Why does it always have to be carp or perch or catfish?" "Why couldn't it just once be a salmon?" "Or why couldn't Amelia Earhart come wandering through the thicket, all fine and healthy and asking for Jim-Bob?" "I'll tell you what, you get me Amelia Earhart and a salmon, and I'll get you an inner tube with oars." "I thought I heard voices." " Hello, Verdie." " Verdie." "Good day to you." "I'm kind of relieved it's you." "I thought maybe it was Amelia Earhart." "Don't pay any attention to him." "I don't believe I will." "Those ferns are lovely." "They're all fresh and green." "Aren't they?" "You know, I tell myself I'm thinning them out along the bank so that they can have breathing room, but some might say different." "Gotta get some of those for Ma." "And please carry a message to her for me." "Tell her I heard her playing this morning when I passed your church, and I have never heard better." "Good day to you." "Bye-bye." "Bye, Verdie." "Ma'll be pleased to hear that." "I wonder." "She hasn't played the church organ since Sunday." " I like these sweet gum..." " Those taste great." "They grow in the swamps, and the leaves turn real red." "Look at your grandma." "God's in His heaven, all's right with the world." "Contented she can be if she has a mind to." "It's true." "On the other hand, I'd just as soon be off in a cave somewhere in Iceland when she got her dander up." "Grandma doesn't know it yet, but she's gonna have to share playing the church organ with Zelda Maynard on Sunday." " Who got a fool idea like that?" " The Reverend Fordwick said that somebody ought to tell her that sharing is a very Christian thing." "I think that someone ought to be you." "You know, Grandpa?" "She plays right well." "No." "Her own dearly beloved grandson can tell her." "Her dearly beloved grandson is leaving for Westham as soon as the picnic is over." "He's gonna be gone for the whole weekend, so you ought to tell her." " No, you tell her, tell her right now." " Grandpa," "I would love to tell her, but I can't tell her." "I wouldn't think of depriving you of this beautiful" "Christian experience, all right?" "John-Boy, you tell her while she's in a good mood." "Sorry, Grandpa." "Come on, everybody, let's eat." " Good." "We were waiting for you." " Come on, food is ready!" "Look at that chicken." "I want a leg." "Right there." "That's what I got." " Smell it right there?" " This looks good." " Help yourself." " A piece of chicken, that's what I want." "How about some potato salad?" "This chicken tastes awful." "Awful?" "Why, this chicken tastes real good, Livie." " Your chicken's always good, Mama." " Tastes just the same to me." "That's exactly it." "Much as I love all of them, it's just kind of restful walking along here, the two of us." "There was nothing wrong with that chicken, Livie." "I don't know how I must seem to the family." "The way they looked at me, I don't know how I seem to myself." "Not very pleased, that's for sure." "I just feel bound fast, like I..." "Like I couldn't break free," "I couldn't be different, I couldn't change." "What in the world would you want to change, Livie?" "John?" "The children?" "Myself, mostly." "But anything, Grandma." "I wonder." "I've heard sometimes it can bring the oddest feelings." "A friend of Mama's was supposed to have been driven clean out of her mind by it." "By what?" "I always thought that time of life was down the road a ways for me." " No, Livie." "No." " Honest?" "It's a long ways off yet." "It's kind of a relief." "Well, life has its funny ways, Livie." "Here you are so restless for change, and I just can't abide the thought of it." "You didn't sneak out of the house and go down to the church this morning, did you?" "I don't sneak." "You didn't go down to the church this morning, did you?" "No, never left the house." "I didn't think it could be you." "How what could be me?" "Verdie Foster said she heard someone playing the organ this morning." "Well, Verdie's wrong." "Wasn't me." "And it wasn't Jason." "He came straight to the picnic from Westham." "And only Jason and me play that organ." "Well, if it was curlier down at the ends, it would be sort of Irene Dunne." " Are you sure?" " Didn't you see The A wful Truth?" "When do I ever get a chance to go to Charlottesville?" "Do you like it, Mama?" "Well, it's different." "I don't know." "Well, Irene Dunne got Cary Grant at the end of the movie." "Well, then, it might be worth a try." "Well, how about if we tried something like this?" " Do you recognize that style?" " Freddie Bartholomew?" "No, silly." "Claudette Colbert." " How did you know?" " I'm smart." "Well, you got it short, and that's what I like." " You'd cut your hair?" " I sure would." " Daddy would just..." " Break your neck." "Well, she'd look like Claudette Colbert." "Don't cut your hair." "John Walton, I'll cut my hair if I want to." "Don't!" "Don't you two encourage her." "Don't cut your hair." "He means it, Mama." "Well, so do I." "Dang." "Yeah." "Well, I just don't see how it could be." "Verdie claims she heard it." "That's what she told Livie." "I don't see how she could hear it when it wasn't Jason or me." "Well, you know that church organ just don't play itself." "Esther, there's something I think I had ought to tell you." "Yeah." "What about?" "Well, you know, it is possible that someone else could play the organ aside from you." "Well, who else is there?" "Zelda Maynard." "Jason was over in Westham." "Jason..." "Zelda Maynard?" "John-Boy says she plays the organ real good." "John-Boy?" "Reverend Fordwick seems to think that you could divide up the job." "Reverend..." "I was playing that organ long before Reverend Fordwick ever came here." "I only gave it to Jason because of his music." "And when he can't play, like last Sunday, then I take over." "It's mine!" "You mean it's Walton property?" "Zelda Maynard!" "Now, Esther, you just simmer down." "You're the one that's always talking about Christian charity." "Yeah, well, charity begins at home." "Yes, it also begins in the church." "Considerably well thought of there." "And that organ is part of the church and has been so for over 60 years." "Yeah, well, we've been part of it for 50 years!" "And you know as well as I do that when it comes to giving or to helping out or sharing with others," "I don't even think about it twice." "I just do it." "Then what the Sam Hill are you getting so upset about?" "Don't you use swear words to me." "Sam Hill is not a swear word." "Yeah, well, when you say it, it sounds like one, so it's all the same thing." "You get me so mixed up I don't know what I'm talking about, galldang it!" "You're doing it again." "No." "Charity, that's what I was talking about." "Galldang it, what in the blue blazes..." " Zeb!" " I am not swearing!" "I don't intend to." "But if you're so all fired forgiving and generous, what do you get so upset about Zelda playing on the organ for?" "Yeah, well, it was the way I heard about the playing." "She could have come to me." "She could have talked to me before she ever talked to the Reverend." "Yeah." "That'd be something like a little old rabbit come calling on the fox." "So now she's the dear little rabbit, and I'm the mean old fox." "Nothing of the sort, now, now, now." "You just calm down, now." "You must admit that you and Zelda are not exactly what you would call bosom friends." "There's been a certain dislike, especially on your part, I must say." "You can't expect her to come waltzing over here just to get your approval of her playing the organ." "Well, it was the way I heard about it." "Livie and John-Boy and the Reverend and then you and heaven knows how many others knew about it." "Seems like everybody knew about it before I did." "Why did I have to be the last one to hear about it?" "Well, I must say, there's a certain tendency on the part" " of some people to..." " To go behind my back?" "Yeah, well, it's dishonest." "It's robbery." "It's just downright robbery, taking what's been mine all these years, and in church." "Forgiveness." "What about forgiveness?" "Isn't there something in your Good Book about forgiveness?" "I'll pray on it." "What you making?" "It's getting late for you, Elizabeth." "Are you making fudge?" "Fudge." "Isn't it kind of late for fudge?" "It's late for you." "Do you think I'll get some in my lunchbox?" "I wouldn't count on it." "Daddy," "Mama's making a huge batch of fudge, and she's gonna eat it all." "Well, good for her." "Does he really mean that?" " No, he doesn't." " Yes, I do." "Your mama has it in mind to be something different." "Maybe if she eats a whole bunch of fudge, she'll get fat." "I don't think I'll like that." "But it'll be different." "I don't understand, and I really don't think I want to." "The last place I boarded, they had a man who'd come and hose down the porch and then sweep it, just so." "Well, if you know where he is, and he works for nothing, I'll hire him." "Well, it's just another way things are better when there's a man around." "Good morning, ladies." "Good morning, Zeb." "Well, Mr. Walton, how very nice to see you." " All alone, are you, Zeb?" " Yes." "As a matter of fact, I am on somewhat of a secret mission." "I wonder if it'd be possible to speak to this glorious creature." "Well, I..." "If you please, Flossie." "If you must." "You are reading my mind, Mr. Walton." "I wouldn't dare do that, my dear lady." "No." "Well, I..." "I'd be mortified if you could." " I beg your pardon?" " Read my mind." "No, no, I wouldn't do a thing like that." "No, I wouldn't mortify you for the whole wide world." "You said something about a secret mission." "Yes, the secret is for your little ears alone." "Really?" "Yes." "I want to appeal to the better side of your nature." "Mr. Walton." "You know you can." "I understand that you play the organ beautifully." "Now, now." " Well, I've studied ever since I was a..." " What lovely..." "Well!" "I consider that an insult!" "A what?" "What's that?" "I believe, Mr. Walton, that that was your wife come spying on us." "Yes, that's Esther, all right." "She'd barge by, but she wouldn't spy on us." "No, she knows better than to do a thing like that." "Better than what?" "To think there'd be anything between the two of us..." "I just come here to try to tell you..." "To persuade you that..." "About the organ in the church." "Esther has played on that organ for such a long time." "Yes." "Yes, I know." "Too long." "Well, Reverend Fordwick says that sharing is a very Christian thing to do." "Well, a very Christian, very gracious, very unselfish thing to do would be for that prying old woman to retire." "Esther!" "Esther!" "Esther, would you hold your horses?" "Just slow down, now." "Esther, I want to talk to you." "Esther!" "Esther, if you're thinking what I think you're thinking, you're mistaken." "I know what I saw with my own eyes, and I don't need anything explained to me." "Well, maybe you better explain it to me." "I am not the only Baptist that can walk by Flossie Brimmer's, you know?" "I fail to see what you're driving at." "There sits Zebulon Walton, big as life, with the woman who plans to take his wife's place at the church organ." "Now, that can only mean that you prefer her playing over mine." "Nothing of the sort." "Esther, would you listen to me?" "Esther, just listen here!" "Esther, that's your trouble." "You'll never listen to anything!" "Hello, Esther." "It's so nice to see you." "I'll be with you in just three shakes of a lamb's tail." "I hear that Zelda Maynard's gonna be playing the organ at church this Sunday." "You..." "You don't seem too pleased." "Well, I don't know." "I've never heard her play." "I don't know if she has the feeling for a church." "I hear she plays real good." "Well, I would've heard her if somebody had let me know." "People are keeping a lot of things to themselves around here lately." "Well, I thought everybody knew that Zelda played the organ." "Everybody but me." "Hello, Esther." "Forgive me for not pausing to converse with you, but busy, busy, busy." "Well, what have you lost now?" "Have you seen that little petite bottle of fixer?" "Corabeth, you're burning something." "I'm sorry, Esther." "I just cannot chat with you now." "It's a bottle about this big, and it has green liquid in it." "Can't you smell that?" "That bottle!" "Yeah, that's over there right behind the soap chips." "You used that the last time that..." "Eureka!" "See?" "I knew where it was all the time." "What's she doing back there?" "She's just putting the finishing touches on the beauty parlor." "I thought that was finished weeks ago." "Well, you know..." "A lot of little details." "Who was that?" "It's not Olivia." "Corabeth!" "Well, it sure sounds like Olivia." "Well, what would Olivia be doing back there?" "Well, that's what I'd like to find out." "Esther, I wouldn't go back there if I were you." "Well, then, you stay right here, Ike." "Livie!" "Livie!" "Liv..." "It was meant to be a surprise." "Good Lord." "Grandma, this isn't the best time." "You just let it smoke like that?" "Corabeth says it's supposed to." "It's working." "That's what we call it." "Working its wonders." "Smells awful." "I understand all that washes out." "Well, it better." "Nobody could stand to be near you." "Tell her, Corabeth." "Now is a very critical time." "Tell her what?" "How all that awful smell washes out." "Well, it'll be on your pillow slips and your clothes." "Just being in the same room, why, John would have a fit." "Grandma." "Go someplace, please." "Well, that's why I came in here." "I guess I'll go to church." "Wonderful." "Yes, our quarters are very cramped." "I have to stay with her every moment now, to the very end." "You make it sound like childbirth." "Grandma!" "Don't worry, Livie." "It just may all work out." "Corabeth, go over that part again, the part where that awful smell washes out." "You know, that burns." "Reverend Fordwick?" "Why, Esther Walton, how often have I thought of you lately." "Well, John-Boy's right." "She plays well." "He told Zeb, and Zeb told me." "Our church is blessed, Esther, at having not one, but two organists right in its own congregation." "Don't forget Jason." "Of course, three." "Yeah." "He's a Walton." "And, well, I don't deny having prayed on this some." "Longer than anything else I can remember." "And, well, next to my family, of course, the church and the church organ have been mighty close to me, and I..." "I..." "What is it, Esther?" "No." "No, I'm cannot share with that woman!" "And if you want her, you don't want me." "You don't want a Walton, and that's the straight of it!" "No, now that is not the way it is at all." "I will not resign my organ playing to just anyone." "And if you toady to that Zelda Maynard, then I will resign from this church, Reverend Fordwick." "Esther!" "I will turn Methodist!" "There." "Now, come along." "Wait, Corabeth." "Hiding from me, you little rascal!" "It's going to be just beautiful." "I hope so." "I'm kind of nervous." "No, it'll be perfect." "Come along." "Oh, no!" "Oh, my goodness, no!" "Haven't we got a good do?" "I look like I've got springs all over my head!" "Honestly, Olivia, the way you express yourself." "Kinky little bed springs, smelly little bed springs." "Now we give it a good rinsing." "Now, bring them over here." "Them?" "The little bed springs." "Corabeth, you did say the smell would rinse right out?" "Well, water tends to make a permanent curlier, so we must exert caution on how wet we get the hair." "Now, we'll rinse it, and then we'll give it a good soaping." "We don't wanna make it any curlier." "Well, brushing is good for the hair, but in its way, it tends to deepen the wave, and bringing up the natural oils the way it does tends to make us wash oftener." "Which tends to make our hair curlier." "Well, styling is everything." "I do believe that the solution lies in the loving bosom of her family." "I think you will agree." "You think we'll agree, Pa?" "I do believe the Reverend thinks we had ought to agree." "You didn't hear her." "You didn't see it, either, when she said," ""I will turn Methodist!"" "Well, I felt the earth shake a little while ago." "That was Esther all right." "She were shakin' things up." "I do wish I could share the levity that you gentlemen see in this situation." "I really envy your ability to take this so lightly." "What's that?" "There is someone behind that tree." "Can that be Olivia?" "I do believe it is." "She's gaining on the house." "Mama, the door won't open." "It's locked." "Go along, Elizabeth." "I didn't even know it locked." "Well, she usually likes it open." "Mama, are you all right?" "Mama?" "Mama, are you sick?" "Go along, girls, I'll be down in a minute." "Ma, do you think there's something wrong with Olivia?" "Well, when I finish with what ails me, I'll give her some thought." "Ma, are you sick?" "No, I'm thinking about it." "Daddy." "Mama's up in her room." "The door's locked." "I wish I knew what was going on with her." "Well, I did it." "You look like Shirley Temple." "What'd you do to yourself, Mama?" "Good old Reckless, you still love me, don't you?" "Mama, I was just coming to see you." " I was just coming to find you." " Why?" "Because you daddy and your brothers and sisters and your grandma and your grandpa are all laughing at me." "Why are they laughing?" "Mama, I'm sorry." "Mama?" "Would you take a look at this tomato?" "That's a beaut." "That is a whopper!" "It's a ponderosa." "Where'd you find it?" " Out back of the shed." " That explains it." "You're the only two going to church this morning?" "Don't ask me." "Mama's upstairs." "I guess Grandma's in her room." "She's in a foul mood, too, and Livie isn't much better." "Liv!" "They come from seeds." "Somebody threw it out there, landed in the cow manure." "Don't say it." "Well, it's about time somebody did." "What came over you?" "Grown, sensible woman." "I wanted something different." "I wanted a change." "Couldn't you change your dress or your shoes?" "Did it have to be your hair?" "I was tired of it." "It was drab and dull, and I've been wearing it the same way since I was a young girl." "And that's supposed to be an improvement?" "I'd like to shave my head and lock myself in my room until it grows out right." "You did the one thing I asked you not to do, Liv." "I liked your hair the way it was." "I always liked it." "Do you just love me for my hair?" "Where are you going?" "To climb in a hole." "I'm gonna pull the hole in after me, and I just want everybody to leave me alone!" "Aimee, if you don't hurry yourself along, we'll be late for church." " What is keeping that child?" " She's dressing." "Hello, Erin." "We're not open for business." "We're just leaving for church." "Have you seen my mama?" "Well, honey, I haven't laid eyes on her since yesterday." "What do you all think of that special permanent wave I gave your mama?" "Doesn't it give her a totally new and exciting personality?" "Well, it's a little unusual for Mama." "Are you sure you didn't see her pass by outside?" "I know we haven't been standing outside watching for people." "Well, I want to know what John and the family thought of your mama's new appearance." "We were surprised." "And your mama's enjoying it?" "Well, I'm not so sure." "She ran out of the house." "I better go." "The rest of them are leaving for church." "Well, I do declare." "Aimee!" "I do." "I thought it looked quite swanky." "Esther, stop whatever you're doing." "We're gonna be late for church." "I am not going." "I am not going to any church." "Esther." "Esther, you'll be sorely missed." "I am not going." "Church won't be the same without you, Grandma." "They'll get along without me just fine." "Well, it seems to me, Grandma, that, you'd want to hear Mrs. Maynard play the organ." "I wouldn't miss it." "Jason, I have heard her play." "She should have taken your job at the Dew Drop Inn, not at the church organ." "I'll try to explain that to Reverend Fordwick." "There is nothing to explain." "Now, will you please go?" "Esther, will you let me explain it to you?" "That's the trouble." "You just never listen." "Esther, I went to see that woman because I thought I could persuade her to go to another church or share the organ-playing with you." "All right, children." "Let's go to church, then." " Nah." " Bye, Daddy." " Bye, honey." " Come on, young ones." " Simmer down, Pa." " Bye, Daddy." "Bye, Grandma." "Bye, Grandma." "It's nice having you home, Ma." "I was getting tired of being the only backslider in this family." "I am not a backslider." "I just can't tolerate that woman." "I don't blame you." "I don't care much for Zelda, either." "What she ever do to you?" "Nothing." "She just kind of rubs me the wrong way." "Want some of this paper, Ma?" "Come on, sit down." "No, thank you." "No." "Well, they say nothing stays the same." "What's that supposed to mean?" "Well, that's just a saying, Ma." ""Things never stay the same."" "Like you, you know, going to church every Sunday all your life." "Now you decide you don't wanna go to church." "Might be nice for a change." "Change?" "I'm not giving up my religion." "Well, guess I..." "Guess I misunderstood, Ma." "What's so funny?" "No, I was, I was just thinking about the Reverend, you know, looking out over that congregation and not seeing you for the first time in all these years, it's gonna give him quite a start." "And also, see, that Zelda woman all sitting there, smiling away." "I suppose I am being selfish." "I shouldn't let one bad apple wreck the whole barrel." "Now, come on, Mama." "I was counting on you staying home with me." "I've decided to go." "My church means more to me than my pride." "Want me to give you a ride over, Ma?" "No, thank you." "I've got a lot of thinking to do." "Okay, Ma." " Verdie?" " Olivia." " I need your help." " What can I do?" " I don't know how to ask." " Asking ought to be the least of it." "You're not ill?" "Not in any usual way but I am kind of sick about something I've done and if I could just find the right words without in the least offending you..." "Friends can't offend each other." "I was sort of, of a mind to change things." "And you did." "And I heard that your people have some secret way..." "Of straightening hair, you mean?" "I have always heard that, too." "Olivia!" "Go ahead and laugh." "I'm getting used to it." "But if you could just manage to get a grip on yourself?" "Well, the art of hair-straightening was never handed down to me because none in our family ever straightened our hair." "We left it natural." "I'm sorry." "Thanks, Verdie." "Olivia, you can't change it right away, but you can cover it sort of pretty." "Why, I was saving this for quilting pieces but I think we can put it to better use." "Come in the house, where there's a mirror." "Will the congregation please rise and join me in singing hymn number 344?" "Esther?" "Women." "Huh." "The congregation may be seated." "Goodbye, Reverend." "I truly enjoyed the sermon." "Thank you very much." " Bye." " Ben." "Bless you." "Hello, how are you?" " I'm fine." " Have a good day." " Good service." "We'll see you next week." " Thank you very much." " You're a great diplomat." " Thank you." "Esther, I was so pleased that you decided to join us today." "Thank you, Reverend." "And, Esther, be sure to bring me the hymns you'll be playing at next Sunday's services." " I'll do that." " All right." "Lovely service, Reverend." "Sharing is a very Christian thing to do, Esther." "Well, there's one thing I won't share with her." " What's that?" " You." "Olivia, come on up." "Just for a minute." "I love your turban." "It's beautiful!" "Its beauty is only on the surface, Flossie." "Flossie, you're drinking!" "I am not." "It's just purely medicinal." "My feet are killing me." " You wouldn't want me to fix you one?" " Flossie, you know I don't drink." "Well, you never had fallen arches." "No one, no one has ever had such a day as I've had." "I wouldn't count on it." "At least you live with your loved ones." "I live with "Who needs a room?" "I need the money."" "I guess it's not easy." "It's a lonely life, Olivia." "Why are you wearing that turban?" "You bump into a door?" "What a nice couple." "I thought maybe you were tired of running off alone." "I am." "Excuse us, Mrs. Brimmer." "Liv, it seems to me when a man and woman have been married 22 years, they have a right to spend the night together." " I agree." " Alone." " I agree." " In a hotel." "I agree." " I got a suitcase packed." " Let's go!" " Bye." " Bye, Flossie!" "Nice talking to you!" "It was fun." "And for a time after that, peace reigned in our valley." "No one again challenged Grandma's right to play the church organ." "My mother?" "Well, this was surely not her last rebellion." "But most certainly, it was her last permanent wave." " Mama?" " Yes, Elizabeth." "John-Boy says your hair grows every single second." "That's enough of that." " There are four kinds of human hair." " John-Boy." " There's short and crisp, straight, lank..." " John-Boy." "Long and coarse, wavy and curly, and a special fourth kind of hair called frizzy." "Mama?" "Mama?" "Your mama can't hear you." "She's got her head under the pillow." "Good night, Mama!" "Frizzy says good night." "English"