"My name is Tom Sims." "I'm a newspaper columnist." "Several years ago I covered firsthand the incredible story you are about to see re-created in this motion picture." "It is a human horror story of ghastly proportions and... profound reverberations." "But because it is human, perhaps we can learn something from it." "Something of ourselves... of our own fears and needs." "But please, let me warn you..." "The events have been re-created in detail." "Nothing has been left to the imagination." "It is not a story for the squeamish or the faint-hearted." "Now that you stand warned, we can proceed with our story." "It is the story of Ezra Cobb:" "murderer, grave robber, necrophiliac perhaps, or, as you may remember him from those stories of long ago, the Butcher of Woodside." "'When Ez was 10, his father died." "'For the next 15 years," "'Ez and his mother worked the farm by themselves, 'growing more dependent on each other with the passage of time." "'Then Amanda Cobb suffered a paralysing stroke 'which crippled her body from the waist down 'and left her bedridden." "'Ez brought her downstairs, 'sealing off the upstairs room, so he could be closer to her." "'For 12 years, he slept outside her door, 'waiting on her, feeding her, bathing her, 'reading to her, comforting her." "'To his neighbours, he was a devoted son." "'But that devotion masked a growing psychosis 'which came to the surface when his mother died.'" "Mama?" "Brought you some soup, Mama." "It's good and hot today." "Ez?" "Take my hand." "Are you holding my hand?" "Yes." "I can't feel you." "Cold." "Must be... draughts." "Just got to get the circulation going again, that's all." "So it's to be now, then, is it?" "I can't see you too clearly, Ez." "You look blurred." "You're... you're tired, Mama, is all." " Here, I brought you some soup." " No." " Good and hot." " No." "I'm not tired, and I don't want no soup." " I'm dying." " No, Mama." "I'm dying, and that's all there is to it." "No'm." "You just need some rest is all." "Now, you be quiet and listen to me." "If I go into a coma, don't take me to no hospital." "I want to die in my own bed, my own room, with you here." "If you need any help later, after I'm gone, call Maureen Selby." "Say it now, Ez." "Maureen Selby." "Mau..." "Maureen..." "Selby." "Maureen's the only woman I ever did trust." "She's fat, that's why." "A big heifer." "But she's the only good-hearted woman I ever knew." "As for the rest of them, they're a lot of filthy, black-souled sluts with pus-filled sores that..." "Ez?" "Ez!" "L." "I..." "I c-can't br-breathe." "You're gonna be all right." "You just need..." "something to eat, that's all." "Honest!" "I know I'm..." "I'm leaving you now." "And that's for certain." "I don't want to leave worrying about you." "Oh, you're such a babe in the woods, a child." "I sheltered you too much, I guess." "But I just know some money-stealing bitch is gonna come along and try to take advantage of you." "Remember what I've always told you." "The wages of sin is gonorrhoea, syphilis and death!" "They'll use their bodies to..." "to steal from you." "They'll steal your life and your soul." "Leave 'em alone." "Most of 'em are filled with diseases that tick." "God will wash them away... like he did in the time of Noah." "God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth." "Then God said unto Noah," ""The end of all flesh is come before me."" "Do you know what God did then, Ez?" "Yes'm." "The flood." "Yes, sir... the flood." "Oh, I wish I could be here to see it." "You're still a handsome young man, Ez." "You'll have great attraction for the opposite sex." "That's why you gotta be so careful." "Oh, Ez... it hurts." "Hurts." "Eat." "You'll be all right, honest." "No, you won't die, honest." "Please, Mama." "Please, Mama, don't leave me." "Mama, no, please." "No, please." "No." "Mama, Mama." "Mama..." "How you holding up, Ez?" "We're so sorry, Ez." "She was a great lady, Ez." "Real..." "Real demure." "Real religious." "The boys wanted to come, Ez, but..." "Well, I didn't think they should." "But they do send their condolences, though." "She looks nice, Ez." "Real natural." "You'd think she was just sleeping." "She is." "That's all it is." "Just sleep." "Shh." "A month passed." "Six months." "A year." "Still Ezra refused to accept the death of his mother." "He visited her grave as often as four or five times a week." "And at home..." "'At home he continued as though she were only away on a trip." "'He kept her room neat and clean 'and made sure the stove was always going, 'so it would be warm when she returned to him." "'He dreamed about her, 'and in his despair even wrote letters to her." "'To the outside world, Ez was, oh, a little eccentric maybe, 'but basically a normal, decent guy." "'He quit farming altogether 'and hired on as a general handyman for his neighbours 'and especially his good friend Harlan Kootz.'" "Bobby, come on." "It's time to go." "OK, Mum." "Bye." "'But the loneliness within him had grown to a vast abyss, 'and the pain of his loss at last pushed him over the precipice 'and into madness.'" "Mama." "When you comin' home again?" "I'm real lonesome, Mama." "There's nothing but snow and snow and snow." "And the wind blowing and blowing and blowing." "And it's so cold." "And I miss you with all my heart." "Amen." "'If you miss me so much, why don't you come and bring me home?" "'" "Mama?" "'You should be ashamed of yourself, 'leaving me here more than a year now." "'I'm all alone here in the dark." "'Shame, Ez!" "'" "Mama, I wrote to you." "'Don't get no letters here." "'Now, why don't you come and bring me home?" "'Bring me home..." "I'm comin', Mama!" "'And so he went to bring her home." "'Perhaps, in his twisted mind 'he imagined she would look the way she had in life.'" "Mama." "Mama." "Oh." "I'm takin' you home, Mama." "Home." "I She's the girl of my dreams" "I And her fair face beams" "I She's the sweetheart of Sigma Chi I" "What in the hell do you think you're doing, Ez?" "N-nothin', sir." "What do you mean?" "Oh, come on." "You know what I mean." "Well, she wanted to come home, Sheriff." " She told me she did." "Otherwise I..." " Now, look, look, look." "This is a 35-mile-an-hour zone, and you were going 50 if you were going anything." "Now, let me smell your breath." "Good God!" "What in the hell is that?" "What have you been drinkin', Ez?" "Goddamn!" "Nothin', sir, er..." "It's just a hog I butchered is all." "Er..." "I forgot to take it out of the truck." "It kind of got to smelling'." "Jesus Christ, you ain't kiddin'!" "I'm gonna let you go this time, Ez, but don't let it happen again, you hear?" "And for Christ's sake, bury that, will you?" "Yes, sir." "I sure will... er, first thing." "No more speeding, you hear?" "Yes, sir." "I mean, no, sir." "All right." "I apologise for calling you a hog, Mama." "Get you in bed." "You need to lie back down." "Fix you UP" "You won't even know yourself, honest." "See your room?" "Just like it used to be." "Oh, Mama." "You're in terrible shape." "Gonna have to put you back together like that old egg in the fairy story." "I'm glad you're home." "Here's your Bible." "Your bell." "So he brought her home." "And what now?" "Now he intended to restore her." "And to that purpose he began reading everything he could about embalming... taxidermy." "But it wasn't an easy job." "His mother had been buried for over a year now." "There were lots of repairs to make." "He tried to patch her with fish skin, with wax, with any substance which he thought resembled human flesh." "It wasn't until later that the idea of using real flesh occurred to him." "'Ironically enough, it was his friend and neighbour 'who accidentally gave him the inspiration.'" "God is great, God is good, let us thank him for this food." "Amen." "Oh, and please take good care of old Miss Johnson." "Pass the bread to Ezra, will you, Brad?" "What's the matter with old Miss Johnson?" "She kicked the bucket." "She didn't kick the bucket." "She passed away." "My Miss Johnson?" "My old Sunday School teacher?" " The very same one." " I don't believe that." "It's right here in today's paper." "Here it is." "The funeral was this afternoon." "That lady taught me all through Sunday School and in the sixth grade." "Taught Ez, too." "Remember that, Ez, back in sixth grade?" "Used to call her "old flannel face"." " Remember that, Ez?" " No, sir." "Yeah, that's her, all right." "Here." "Remember her, Ez?" "Oh, that's..." "that's old Miss Johnson there." "What's she doing in the newspaper?" "Dang it, Ez, I just told you she's dead." "You mean they put her in the paper just 'cause she's dead?" "What's the matter with you, Ez?" "That's her danged obituary." "Her what?" "Don't tell me you don't know what's an obituary." "If that don't beat all." "Well, look, when a body dies, they take all the information and they put it in the newspaper in the obituary section." "It tells when the funeral is and where they're being buried and all that kind of stuff." "You mean I can find out where and when somebody's been buried on the very same day?" "Light at the end of the tunnel, all right, yes, siree." "You're right, Ez." "Well, I'm gonna look into that." "I'd rather read the sports section, myself." "Not me." "This here could be real valuable information." "Why?" "What are you planning to do?" "Dig 'em up or something?" "No, sir." "Wouldn't have to dig it all up." "Well, I'm sure glad to hear that." "Sure." "Why dig it all up when you can take the parts you need?" "Sure, maybe like... like if you needed the head for repairs or something, well, then, just take the head." "Oh, Ez, you're a crazy S.O.B." "Hi, Miss Johnson." "Remember me?" "I used to be in your Sunday School class." "There she comes now, real easy." "Next thing to do is get this hair off." "See, Mama?" "All I got to do is stitch it on you." "Look, Mama." "I brought you a visitor." "Shh." "Don't stay too long, now." "Bet you two ladies have a lot to talk about." "After that, Ezra made many visits to the graveyard, bringing home bodies, or parts of bodies," "to keep his mother and himself company." "He was a ghoul, a necromaniac, a defiler of the dead, but he had not yet turned his sickness on a living victim." "It was only a matter of time until he did." "We're gonna have to take those plugs out, and take 'em into town - either get 'em cleaned or get new ones." " Ez?" " Sir?" "Er, me and Mother, we've been talking and, er..." "Well, we've been thinking that..." "Sir?" "Well, dang it all, first off, stop callin' me "sir"." "You're as old as I am." "And secondly, stop callin' Jenny "ma'am"." "You're a growed man, Ez." "That's what I wanted..." "to talk to you about." "I wanted to talk to you man to man." "See, we're... well, Jenny and me, we're worried about you, living up in that old house there all by yourself, and, er, we just thought that..." "well, we..." "Dang it, Jennifer says you should be married, and that's what she says and that's that, so..." "Ezra, what my husband means is that..." "Well, we're just kind of worried about you, that's all, and, well, we thought it would be nice if you could meet someone, and I'd be glad to introduce you if you wanted," "you know, someone nice who could be a companion for you, that's all." "Nope." "No'm." "I don't trust 'em." "You don't trust who, Ez?" "You know... girls and stuff." "Damn right." "Don't you know any girls you could trust, Ezra?" "No'm." "Except my mother and Maureen Selby." "Say, I can trust her." "I know I can trust her." "Why do you think you can trust her, Ez?" "Aw, 'cause... she's fat." "I know I can trust her." "She's fat." "Well then, why don't you give her a call?" " Think I should?" " Sure." "Go ahead, Ez, why don't you?" "Maybe it'll help her lose some weight." "Yes?" " Miss Selby?" " Yes?" "I'm Ezra Cobb." "Yes?" "Amanda Cobb's boy." "Amanda Cobb's boy?" "Oh, come in, do." "Oh, my!" "Yes, Amanda Cobb." "I was so sorry to hear about her passing." "Do you know that she and I were once as close as two webbed fingers?" "And then..." "something happened." "I don't know." "She took on a grudge or something." "She always had a grudge going against somebody." "Do sit down." "I don't know what it was, I don't like to cast aspersions on the dead, but Amanda did take on a grudge like a steel trap to a rabbit's foot." "So then whenever I tried to see her she wouldn't even let me in." "Oh, come and sit over here." "It's more comfortable, the big cushion." "So, er..." "So then I didn't see her again for oh..." "many, many years." "And, er..." "Would you like something to drink?" "No'm." "I'm sorry I can't offer you hard liquor, but I have never taken a drink in my life, and I never will." "How about some Whitman's Sampler?" "They're my one vice, damn it." "Well, Mr Cobb, what do you do?" "Ma'am?" " Well, what do you do?" " Oh." "Just, er, take care of Mama and keep the house in order, I guess." "Take care of Mama?" "Y-y-you mean, your mother?" "Yes'm." " Today at lunch, she said that..." " Mr Cobb." "You talk to your mother?" "Yes'm." "Mr Cobb, are you making fun of me?" "No'm." "You sure?" "Yes'm." "Cross my heart." "I thought you were making fun of me." "A lot of people around here do, you know." "They make fun of me because..." "Because"." "I talk to Herbert." "Herbert?" "My late husband." "I talk to him all the time." "This is his picture, see?" "He was killed four years ago." "Burned up in an automobile accident on Route 7." "We were very happy" "We still are." "At least, he tells me he is." "I spoke to him last night." "Say, Ezra, you know what we ought to do?" " Is it all right if I call you Ezra?" " Yes'm." "Well, Ezra, why don't we all get together some night and hold a four-way séance - you, me, Herbert, and Amanda?" "That is, if Amanda's speaking to me nowadays." "What do you say?" "Er, you mean all get together and talk?" "Oh, yes." "Oh, it'll be such fun." "Herbert's never met Amanda." "Please?" "Um, I don't know." "Well, um..." "I'll ask her." "Make it Thursday night." "Shake on it?" "She is fat, Mama, just like you said." "But I like that fat." "Big ol' arms, flesh just hanging down." "I like that." "The legs, too." "Big and round like big ol' drumsticks." "She's got a cute little belly." "Cute as can be." "Of course, I'd hate to get stuck in all of that fat." "Might not be able to get out." "So naturally, I'll take some protection along just in case." "You know the only thing that bothers me?" "I don't think she's, er... you know, er..." "all there in the upstairs." "Know what I mean?" "Herbert wants to talk to me tonight." "I can feel it." "All we have to do..." "is concentrate." "Can you concentrate, Ez?" "Yes'm." "Close your eyes, then, and concentrate." "Herbert." "Herbert." "Herbert, enter me." "Oh, enter me, Herbert, enter me." "Enter me!" "Enter me!" "Oh!" "Oh, yes." "Oh, Herbert, I hear you." "Yes." "Can you hear me?" "You can?" "Oh, good." "Then listen, Herbert." "I have a new friend here tonight." "His name is Ezra Cobb, and he's..." "he's very nice-looking, Herbert." "He's tall and straight and strong, and he's..." "he's the right age." "What, Herbert?" "Oh!" "Oh..." "Herbert, I can't ask him that." "What?" "Ask him what?" "Oh, Herbert, that is so sweet and unselfish of you." "What does he want?" "Oh, well, Ez..." "He says he misses the carnal aspect of our marriage." "Carnival?" "Er, no, no." "The..." "You know, our sex life." "Well, yes, it was beautiful, Herbert." "What kind of...?" "What favour does he want?" "Oh, Ez, Herbert says... he's going to talk to you..." "himself." "Ezra..." "Ezra Cobb?" "Yeah... yes, sir?" "Er... yes, ma'am?" "Ezra, this is Herbert." "Will you do me a favour, Ezra?" "If I... if I can, sir." "Make my wife..." "a woman again." "H-how do you mean, sir?" "She needs love, Ezra." "Physical love." "The kind I can no longer give her." "Oh, touch her, Ezra." "Feel how soft she is." "It's been so long." "Oh, come, Ezra." "Go with her." "Do her that favour." "Make love to her." "It's been so long." "She needs it, Ezra." "Ezra, she needs it!" "She needs it, Ezra." "Come into the bedroom." "Oh, come." "Oh, come." "Come on." "Come..." "Oh, yes, come." "Oh, yes, yes." "Make love to me, darling." "The wages of sin is gonorrhoea, syphilis and death!" "It's been so long, darling, so long." "You know what God done then, don't you, boy?" "Yes, Mama." "The flood." "Take off your pants, darling." "Vermin." "There you are, darling." "There you are." "Scum." "Death!" "Death!" "Death!" "Ezra... what's that?" "Ezra?" "'The death of Maureen Selby did not seem to affect Ez unduly." "'He went on as if nothing had happened, 'except for one thing." "'Now he began to seek the companionship of women." "'He started in strange places, none stranger than Goldie's Tavern.'" "Her name was Mary Ransom." "She was 34 years old and, if truth were told, a little over the hill." "But Ezra had never seen a woman like her before." "Beautiful, promiscuous, with a constant promise of being available, even, perhaps, to him." "Hi." "What can I do for you tonight?" "Just a... a glass of milk." "Well, this is a bar, babe, not a nursery." "We don't serve milk here." "We serve hard liquor." "I..." "I don't drink." "Oh, I see." "You came in for the fresh air." "I came to see you." "Oh." "Why don't you be a nice guy?" "There's still a minimum, huh?" "Order a drink." "All right, if you tell me what kind to get." "Well, um, how about a whisky sour?" "It's got a cherry in it." "Er... you like 'em with cherries?" "OK, then, that's one, er..." "whisky sour." "That'll be 75." "This is for you." "Oh." "Look, um..." "Well, look, are you sure you can afford this?" "Well, thanks." "I'll just put it in here..." "for safekeeping." " What's your name?" " Mary." "Hey, how'd you like to tear off a piece of that, eh?" "Boy, if I had a chance, I'd bang her brains out." "Look at that ass." "And look at them tits." "Both of them." "I've seen tits and I've seen tits from Portugal to Yokohama." "And let me tell you, those are tits with a capital" "Ah, if I wasn't an old man, goddamn it," "I'd be into her pants so fast it'd make your head swim." "That's the trouble." "You get old." "Can't get it up anymore." "Just sit there looking at it hanging limp as a turkey neck." "Oh, hell With it." "Life's a pain, and God's a sadist." "Here she comes." "Here you go, babes." "Good evening, my dear." "Shove it." "Come on, try it, tell me how you like it." "Yes'm." "Real good." "Go on, now." "Drink it up." "Mary, Mary" "♪ Mary ♪" "Mary?" "Closing." "Be on your way." "Come on, let me help you up." "Come on." "Come on." "Alley-cop." "Attaboy." "All right, this way." "I... never drink." "I'd never guess that, Ez." "OK, hold on." "All right." "And then up." "OK." "OK, that's it." "Just a second." "Now, you need your hat on." "All right." "Yeah, come on." "Mary, could I ask you something?" "Mm-hmm." "Yeah, sure." "I'll get that." "W-would you..." "kiss me good night, please?" " Kiss me good night." " Come here." "All right now?" "OK." "'Night after night, Ezra stood watch at the bar, 'waiting for the opportunity to be alone with Mary." "'Then, one night...'" "Hello there." " What seems to be the trouble?" " Oh, hello, Ez." "Some goddamn putz slashed my goddamn tyres!" "That's the trouble." "Can you believe it?" "Oh, boy." "They sure do a job on 'em, don't they?" "Yes, sir." "You know, kids are like that today." "Just as dirty as they can be." "Always doing dirty things like that and carrying on." "Just plain dirty, no other word for it." "Look, Ez, could you just give me a lift down the filling station or something?" " Why, sure..." " OK, thanks a lot." "I really appreciate it." "Sure, any little thing, Mary, anything I can do." "Hey, hey." "You just took a wrong turn." "That's the way to town." "Yes'm, it was." "Well, just turn around and go back." " How come?" " How come?" "Because that's where I have to go, that's how come." "Look, where do you think you're going, anyway?" " My place." " Oh, the hell you are!" "Just... just turn this thing around and stop this truck." "I was just going to get a couple of spares I got." "I'll put 'em on your car for nothing." "Now, why would you want to go to a mechanic when I'll go do it for nothing?" "He'll charge you an arm and a leg and I won't charge you nothing." "OK, but, er..." "look." "You're a nice guy, and I like you, but just er..." "don't get any ideas." "Just keep your hands to yourself, OK?" "Yes'm." "Cross my heart." "Would you like to come in?" "How long do you plan to be?" "Oh, just a minute or two." "I'll wait here." "Would you just hurry it up?" "Yes'm." "Oh, Christ, what a pain in the ass." "Come on." "Oh, shit." "Ezra?" "Ez?" "Hey, hey, look, Ezra, I really gotta be going home." "It's..." "Ezra, are you down there?" "Ezra?" "Ezra?" "Ez, is that you?" "Oh!" "Mary!" "Mary!" "Mary?" "Mary." "Mary, are you awake now?" "I'm sorry I had to lock you in the closet, Mary." "I'm fixing the place up a bit." "Getting everybody ready to meet you." "They're real happy." "They think you're a fine girl." "And they think you'll make me a real fine wife." "Mary?" "They want to meet you now." "I'm sorry I had to, you know, take your clothes off... but I..." "I didn't want you to try and... run off." "Can you..." "Can you get up, or do you want me to help you?" "Don't be afraid." "Come on." "I'm not gonna hurt you, honest." "Here we go now." "Come on, this way." "They all want to meet you, have a little something to eat." "My mama says you can tell a lot about someone by the way they eat." "Here we are now." "Go on." "Go on." "It's all set up for you." "That's your place there at the end." "Go on." "Go on." "Won't you sit down, please, ma'am?" "Mama, this is Mary Ransom." "I think she likes you." "Ain't nothing to be afraid of, Mary." "Shoot, we do all the things we used to do." "Why, the ladies here, they play bridge out on the porch." "We laugh and eat." "There's practical considerations, too." "They help me make things." "See this?" "That ain't catgut." "This part comes from right down here." "See the drum?" "That's a belly drum." "I'm just trying to show you I got talents, too." "I may not be handsome like some of them other fellows you meet up there, but..." "You know, 10:1 says you'll feel a lot better if you eat something." "I would eat, but I can't." " How come?" " My hands." "Oh." "That's true, ain't it?" "But... but if I untie you, you'll... you'll try something." "No, I won't." "I promise." "Well..." "Ez, that's not a very nice way to treat your bride, is it?" "EZ, is it?" "Gosh." "No, it sure ain't." "I really love you, Mary." "I love you, too, Ez." "I knew you did." "I knew deep down you did." "I'll do everything." "You just... just rest." "Just sleep." "Call me when you want something." "You'll always... be protected." "I'll put you on a pedestal." "Hurry, Ez." "Ez, untie my hands, so I can touch you, too." "Mary." "No." "No!" "No!" "Mama!" "Mama!" "'The only clue left to the police 'in the disappearance of Mary Ransom 'was her parked car with the two rear tyres slashed." "'Hardly astonishing, then, that no one ever thought of Ezra Cobb 'as a suspect in the barmaid's disappearance." "'If only they had.'" "Well, well, well, well, well, well, well." "Guess they ain't never gonna stop talking about that." "Talking about what?" "That... that dang fool barmaid, that Mary what's-her-name." "Don't they know they ain't never gonna find that girl now?" "Missing like that for that long, they ought to know better." " She ain't missing." " You got a theory, too." "She ain't missing." " I got her." " You got her?" "I got her." "Ez, what do you mean, you got her?" "Out at my place." "Mama, Miss Johnson, a lot of others, too." "Ez, you cut out that kind of talk!" "I just didn't want you to worry about her, that's all." "I ain't worried about her." "Besides that, there wouldn't be nothing to worry about anyway if you had her, that's for dang sure." "You wouldn't know what to do with her if she sat right down in your lap." "Now, Ez, you cut out that crazy talk." " I was only joking." " It ain't very funny." "You're gonna get yourself locked up in the poky." "Hello, Dad." "I'm home." " Hi there, son." "Afternoon, Sally." " Hi, Mr Kootz." "Hello, Ezra." "Do you know Sally?" "No, sir, sure don't." "Hello, Sally." " Hi." " Listen, I'll be back in a minute." "Sally here works down at Anderson's hardware store." "Gonna slip us a few free shells, ain't you, Sally, huh?" "No, sir." "I can't do that." "You can sure give us a little discount, can't you?" " Sorry, I can't do that, either." " Well, what am I gonna do?" "I mean, hunting season starts next week." "Ez, what am I gonna do?" "I gotta buy myself some shells, I gotta get some traps, gotta get a whole bunch of gear." "Actually, I wish they didn't sell that stuff down there." "I really don't like it." "How come you don't like it?" "Well, you know, I just don't like the idea of shooting animals and trapping them and..." "Aw, Sally's soft-hearted." " Aw, so is Ezra." "Ain't you, Ez, huh?" " Yes, sir." "You know, honey, if we didn't shoot 'em, they'd just starve to death." "Got to keep that balance, you know?" "Don't you worry about them deer, Sally." "They don't feel nothing." "I'll never believe that." "Come on, Sal." "Let's get going." " OK, Mr Kootz." " Bye, Sal." "See you later, son." " See you, Dad." " Bye." " Good day, Ezra." " Hello, Ezra." "Coming hunting with us today, Ez?" "Oh, no, I'm..." "I'm just gonna get some antifreeze." "We'll all need some if we keep standing around out here." " Morning, Sally." " Oh, good morning." "Do I get my change, or do I have to pay for that, too?" "I'm sorry." "Thank you." "Why did you do that, Brad?" "That is a beauty." "Hey, Ez, come over here." "Have a look." "Is that a beauty or is that a beauty?" "POW!" "Oh, Ez." "You feel that." "You just snuggle up to that, Ez." "A fella could hit just about anything that moves with that, wouldn't he?" "Yep." "It's nice, all right." "That's sure got to be an understatement, I guess." "The only thing wrong with you is you don't know nothing about guns." "'Cause if you did, you'd sure see what a beautiful piece of work this here thing is." "Yes siree, it sure is that." "Oh, yeah." "Well, me and Brad better get the hell out of here or all them damn deer will be gone to Florida." " OK, will you stick those on the bill, Sal?" " Fine." " You got everything you need, son?" " Yeah." " Hey, Ez?" " Huh?" "You sure you won't come with us now?" " Where you going?" " Up east Old Landridge Road." "Oh." "No, thanks." "Always had good luck up there, Ez." "No, I don't like that stuff." "OK." "So long." "We'll be back later to fill up the thermos." " See you later." " All right." "Bye-bye." "Um, just the antifreeze?" "Would you like anything else, Ezra?" "I was gonna look around." "Oh, that's fine." "Take your time." "What are you doing, Ez?" "Stop." "Brad!" "Brad, help me, please!" "Brad!" "Brad!" "Brad, help me." "Brad." "Brad, help." "No!" "No!" "No!" "No!" "Oh, no." "Please, no." "Please." "Please, no." "Hey, Dad!" "Dad, come in here quick!" "We bought some stuff and then we went out to the Old Landridge Road." "Well, according to the register, you and he were her last customers." " Us?" " Mm-hmm." " Ezra bought some antifreeze." " Yeah!" " Said he was gonna take it out to his..." " Who, Ezra Cobb?" "He was still here when we left." "Daddy, I'll bet he did something." " I'll bet he did." " Who, Ez?" "He wouldn't." " You know Ez wouldn't do nothing like this." " He's crazy enough to do anything." "I've known Ez for 25 years, and I tell you, he could not do a thing..." "Suppose we all go out to his place and take a look?" " Yeah, let's go." " Come on." "Ezra!" "'Ezra!" "'" "The wages of sin is death." "Do you know what God done then, don't you, boy?" "He burned 'em in hell!" "Death!" "Death!" "Death!" "Oh, no!" "I Vengeance within demanding" "I Whose is the voice I hear?" "I Sweetly, the songs are calling" "I Open the door for me I" "'Several nights later, a group of townspeople, 'reportedly led by Harlan Kootz, under cover of night, 'burned the Cobb farm to the ground.'"