"Hi." "Can I help you?" "If you're Franklin Page." "Sherman." "Yes sir." "I, I didn't know if you want to see someone like me again." "Come on in, come on in at least." "I just thought I'd look you up." "Honey this is Sherman Oliver, an old friend." "Sherman this is my wife Irene." "Hi, pleased to meet you Mr. Oliver." "Ma'am." "And this Jacob." "Jacob can you say 'hi' to Sherman?" "He'sshy;" "Don'tworry, he'll be vying for your attention soon enough." "Are you hungry Sherman;" "I was just gonna finish feeding the kids and then make something for Franklin and me?" "I could eat." "So how did you get here Sherman?" "Walked." "Walked?" "I lost my license a while back." "I mean I bused in from the city but I walked from your depot." "You must be tired." "Not especially." "That's quite a trek." "I don't mind walking." "It's how you get to know a place." "I think so too." "So are you from the city originally?" "No ma'am." "So where is it you're from then?" "Oh..." "I guess I'm from all over." "You've let your hair grow;" "Beard." "I guess I never wanted to see a razor again after I got out." "How'd you end up out here anyway?" "I had a hard go of it that first year out." "Fleeing one town to the next." "Eventually I wound up with a mill job around here." "Walked into the office that first day and man oh man, there she was " "Irene." "First time I saw her I knew," "I knew she was the one I wanted to spend everything on." "All the money I'd saved, all the... experience I'd gained, all the love I could never give away... so I did." "Wife and kids." "Just like we used to talk about;" "Dream about." "I don't remember too many dreams of domesticity back then Sherman." "I kind of remember us playing poker with some girls sitting on our laps." "You're right Frank, that's right." "You ever see any of those boys anymore?" "No, actually I..." "I lost touch." "You?" "Not much." "Has it been seven years?" "Mhm." "Man." "You know I heard once that everything takes seven years;" "Serious illness, broken heart, you name it." "Anything bad takes seven years to come to terms with and..." "I don't know, maybe now, right now is your time." "Mm... maybe it is, Frank." "Are you drunk?" "A little bit, yeah." "Nicely done." "Thank you." "Your friend doesn't talk much." "He calls me ma'am." "He loosens up a bit when you get a drink in him." "Well I'll leave that to you." "Did he tell you why he's here?" "No, I just think he's feeling a bit lost, that's all." "Were you guys close or something?" "Not particularly." "We were in the same company." "It's just that one day he, ah... he got pretty banged up," "shot in the head actually and all the other guys said, just leave him." "But I ran out there and picked him up and I carried him back." "Rescued him I guess." "I don't know." "You never told me that." "You don't need to hear about that stuff." "There's nothing I don't want to hear about." "You know that." "Right?" "Yes ma'am." "Sherman Oliver." "Sherman Oliver." "You got my number at the mill if you need anything." "Yes sir." "If you get hungry there's a café just up ahead." "Okay." "Sherman," "I'll be back just after five to pick you up." "Aaaaah..." "Eat your Peas, please, Jacob." "Num, nums?" "Atta boy." "How's the library." "All right." "Yeah;" "What were you reading?" "Books about war." "I like to hear what people have to say on the subject." "Any you enjoy in particular?" "All of 'em." "So you lived here all your life?" "Oh, yeah." "Thirty-seven years now." "I went away to university for a while but, otherwise." "And you work the same place as Frank?" "Well he worked at the same place as me and then he knocked me up to force me out." "He impregnated you to get you to quit?" "No." "No, no, I was just joking." "Oh." "Stupid." "Um..." "Frank, he said when he first saw you there he knew you were the girl he wanted to spend everything on." "All the money he'd saved, all the experience he'd gained and the love he'd never been able to give away." "He said that?" "That'sembarrassing," "Jesus." "Ten cents, ten cents." "Yes, thank you, honey." "I meant to say gosh." "You know almost that whole year." "I was in the hospital" "I thought my name was actually Oliver Sherman." "Some nurse wrote all my information down backwards." "That's army bureaucracy for you, huh?" "For a year;" "I wasn't even me and I didn't know the difference." "How'd you finally find out?" "I got a letter with my real name on it." "I always thought that kinda said something about my life, you know." "Oliver Sherman, almost right, but not quite." "So how'd you get that?" "Lose it, I mean." "Oh... it was that day actually." "When I went to grab you I didn't see your leg was caught up in razor wire and I started running and with each step the wire cuts deeper" "and by the time we get to safety it's just dangling like a teabag from a string." "I'm sorry." "Oh..." "It's just a finger;" "Really half a one." "I'm probably not even worth that." "Sherman don't say that." "It's not true." "Mm..." "Hell half a finger for all the drinks you bought me here tonight," "I figure I'm coming out ahead." "You still got the citation for bravery?" "It's buried somewhere." "You shouldn't bury it." "Maybe not." "You think I could see it when we go back?" "I'd like to see it." "I guess so." "Franklin what are you doing?" "I'm just looking for something." "I'm not dealing with those kids if they wake up." "I will." "Go back to bed," "I'll be in in a minute." "You found it?" "Yeah." "There she is." "Oh, can I hold it?" "Sure." "You were so brave." "No, I just did what any man would do, or should." "None of the others did." "Well I was probably more twitchy than them." "No." "You know what's funny?" "What's that?" "You still got your medal in there;" "I still got some metal in here." "¶ There's a little black bug floating on the water; ¶" "Is there a card with that?" "Oh, look at that!" "I told you it's a hat." "So what brings you to Klinebrook Sherman?" "I heard Frank was here." "Oh." "How long you staying?" "Well..." "I haven't decided yet." "And you're in all the way from the big city huh?" "I guess." "What is it you do there?" "Nothing much, just a vet." "Oh yeah?" "Oh our cat has an eye infection, maybe we should have brought her." "I don't know anything about no cats." "How you holding up in there?" "Fine, just fine." "That smells good." "You need anything?" "Actually you could take these two plates of dogs in there if you don't mind." "Thanks, Sherman." "I'll be in, in a second." "God damn it!" "Mother fucking, cock sucker!" "¶ Happy birthday to you, ¶" "¶ happy birthday to you, ¶" "¶ happy birthday dear Jacob, ¶" "¶ happy birthday to you. ¶" "You okay?" "I put ten bucks in that jar there;" "I figure those words were... worth at least that." "No, that's too much." "It doesn't matter." "Thank you." "I'll show Jacob in the morning." "It's strange... seeing how you got this whole life now;" "It's like nothing ever happened." "You're all civilized, settled down now." "I've tried to anyway." "Is that what you want;" "To settle down?" "I don't know." "Maybe... if I found a girl that would have me and civilian life, everybody's so smug and laced up, visiting each other, talking to each other, little get-togethers." "You have to keep telling yourself, behave right, if you don't some tired ass son-of-a-bitch is going to... son-of-a-gun - sorry." "It's nice actually, it's calm, you'll see." "Sometimes it's like I'm... leftovers... put back together with scotch tape sent out in the world again." "They say the universe is infinite, right." "Well if it's infinite why is there no room in it for me?" "There's room enough Sherman;" "Believe me there is." "Everything made more sense back then." "I felt like I had someplace I was supposed to be." "The rest of my life if I could just feel the way I felt when I was squeezing that trigger..." "The body of Christ." "Amen." "The body of Christ." "Amen." "The body of Christ." "Amen." "The body of Christ." "The body of Christ." "The body of Christ." "The body of Christ." "Did you see the way they were all looking at him?" "Send your kids over the Pages and they'll send them home saying cocksucker." "He apologized." "He's creepy." "Okay, so he's a bit rough;" "He doesn't know how to behave in polite company, but he's okay." "He's raw, he drinks too much." "He just hasn't gotten over things yet." "Why not?" "You did." "He's just hanging around feeling sorry for himself." "It was a head wound, Irene." "That poor man has no one on his side." "He's got know one to love him." "Just chewed up and spit out." "Have a nice life, try to behave." "You know when he came to our door my heart just sank." "It hurts to look at the guy." "I think, did I really help him or curse him?" "That's the kind of man you are;" "Too modest to admit when you've done a great thing." "What you did, you know, and injured or not, it's up to him what he does with that now." "He won't stay here long," "I promise." "Okay." "Daddy come push me." "We're working on the car right now Jacob." "In a little bit, okay?" "Mind if I run into the bathroom quick?" "Sure, go ahead." "Jacob, what did Mommy say?" "Wash your hands when you pee." "What are you doing?" "Why don't I push you on that swing?" "I was wondering... what I can do to repay your hospitality?" "Relax Sherman, you're a guest." "We don't want anything." "I can't keep sponging off your goodwill." "Stop it." "You hear any complaints?" "No." "Did I ever show you this?" "Same one I was issued when we fought together." "You can't have that out in here;" "You'll get arrested." "Did you keep yours?" "God, no." "You're not even allowed." "Not all of us can have medals for keepsakes." "Give me a break." "And did they ever teach you how to use your bayonet to catch a fox?" "When you're stranded in winter and you need to save bullets?" "I don't think so." "So what you do is you take a piece of jerky, you put it on the tip of the blade then you bury it in the snow, knife point up." "Fox, he smells that from a long way away, he comes running, he starts to lick the meat, and he licks it again and it cuts his tongue." "But its winter and he's half starved so he keeps going despite the pain." "He keeps tasting all this wonderful flesh blood not knowing it's his own." "That's how you catch a fox;" "He bleeds to death." "It's simple no bullets and you can use the knife again." "That's... pretty horrible." "Oh no, no, that's what we're like." "That's the ingenuity of man." "Well I don't remember them teaching us anything like that." "Well maybe I heard it somewhere else;" "I don't remember." "You want another drink." "No, I think I gotta take a break." "And you... can't afford to keep buying." "Disability comp." "Come on, you have to have another." "I can't keep pace with you Sherman." "Well that's one thing I got on you then, isn't it?" "Couple of more beers please." "I gotta sober up in here." "If I go in like this Irene will shoot me." "$5,000 I'd shoot my own mother." "What?" "No." "As god as my judge." "Oh man, that's your problem see, 'cause god said 'thou shalt not kill'." "Not my god." "Shh..." "You'd do that to your own mother?" "She's been dead for ages;" "What's one more bullet?" "Let's go get some sleep." "Hey.." "Hey Irene?" "There's no way." "Did you read anything good today, Sherman?" "Same old." "Maybe you should try something new;" "Branch out a little." "Why?" "I don't know;" "Variety, expanded world view." "Well I like what I like, ma'am." "Never been to a big university like you." "Nothing wrong with that." "You talk to your sister about watching the kids tomorrow night?" "Yeah, I did." "What'd she say?" "She said, 'fine'." "She saw Raymond Saddler in town yesterday." "Did he see her?" "I don't know." "Hm, that could have gotten ugly real quick." "Who's Raymond Saddler?" "He's always been something of a town bully around here, Saddler." "He married Irene  Joan's mom a few years after their dad passed away, treated her terribly." "Kept her from her kids and grand kids and then all of a sudden she was sicker than any of us had been told and after she died we learned that she left everything to Saddler - all the money, property." "He swindled her when she was at her weakest." "Swindled all of us." "And you guys just let him get away with it?" "No, we fought it in the courts for a while." "You know, it just gets to the point where you're spending so much energy on the past you don't have much left for the present." "And you and Frank here know all about that, right?" "How easy it is to waste one's time harping on things that have already happened." "Thank you very much." "Thanks." "Cheers." "Cheers." "Hi." "Hey." "I have to go." "Why?" "I told Sherman I'd pick him up and have a nightcap." "You knew that." "This is the first time we've been alone in more than a week." "Listen to how quiet it is." "He's waiting for me down there." "Well I hope he's a good kisser, 'cause if you get in that car those lips are not touching mine." " Is that right?" " That's right." "You're a piece of work, you know that?" "I do." "Hey, are you Sherman?" "Yeah." "There's a call for you." "Hello?" "Sherman?" "Yeah." "Hey, it's me Franklin." "Hey, you coming now?" "Listen man, I'm really sorry, the baby has a fever and we have to stay with her." "Can you find our own way back?" "I'm sure the bar can call you a cab or something." "But we were supposed to have a drink." "I know, I know, I'm sorry." "But we can do it tomorrow instead." "Sherman?" "Yeah?" "I'll leave the front door unlocked for you okay." "Hey, Canadian club, make it a double." "Sir?" "Sir?" "Your cab's waiting outside." "You don't have no fucking fever." "Sherman?" "You promised me a drink, Frank." "Sherman, it's like two in the morning." "I sat there like an idiot;" "An idiot with no friends drinking by himself." "We'll go back there tomorrow." "What's going on?" "You promised, Frank." "Sherman, go to bed." "You promised me, Frank." "I said go to bed Sherman!" "It's okay, it's okay, I'll get her." "Is that what you want around your children?" "Don't put me in that position." "What position?" "The one where your family comes first?" "That's not fair." "Why do you keep sticking up for him?" "Because I could easily be where he is." "No, you have done hard work;" "He's just looking for excuses not to." "You don't know what it was like." "No, I don't, but you don't know what it was like carrying your two children and giving birth to them, so..." "Please, for the love of..." "No, I am stuck here doing the servant jobs while- while you're out at the bar." "It's not like that." "I looked in his wallet." "Irene!" "He listed our house as his permanent address on his library card." "What address is he supposed to use?" "He's a drifter;" "He just wanted to read, that's all." "No, he's settling in when he should be looking for a way out." "Truth be told I'd be happy if he was moving on," "I just feel sorry for him." "He's down on his luck right now." "He's deeply unhappy and he's looking for someone to pin it on." "Two more." "Great, okay." "Feel like some steak tonight?" "Sure." "Sherman, there he is;" "Raymond Saddler." "I've seen that guy at the library." "I'm surprised he can read." "Oh shit!" "Twenty-five cents." "Yes, it is." "What?" "Well I'm not gonna bring it to you." "How about this;" "You can keep the coin or I can show you something even better?" "I keep trying to stick up for you and you just leave me twisting in the wind." "I told you, he asked me to see it so I showed it to him." "He's four years old." "My father taught me to hunt when I was four." "Hell, earlier." "Jacob's not like you and me." "What's so wrong with you and me?" "Nothing;" "He's just different that's all." "You've forgotten who you are, that's what's wrong." "Tucked it away real nice." "But I'll tell you what;" "That son of yours he's no different either." "Men, women, children, they're all violent." "That's so god damn extreme." "I saw the way you smacked that kid." "I spanked him." "Yeah, and killing in war is different than killing here, I know." "Okay, but Sherman, what I never hear you talk about is the other side, the good." "Why do you always have to see the worst from the outset?" "I know, you're better than me." "God damn it Sherman, that's not what I'm talking about!" "You're a really lucky man, Frank." "I feel like I'm on the outside of everything looking in - at you, your wife and those kids." "Normal house with normal things in it." "Maybe if I went out and got all those things maybe I'd see things different - how you see 'em." "I'm real happy for you though." "Sherman if you wanna smoke do it outside." "He has no respect for our home;" "He has no respect for anything." "Look I'm trying to talk to him about it." "He just flashes those sad eyes at you and you fold." "I said I'm trying." "Well you need to try harder;" "I want to know when he's leaving." "I already have two children to take care of!" "Everything okay?" "She wants to know where you're going next from here;" "What your long-term plans are." "Mm, well, you know;" "I'll try and think of something today." "Sherman, you're back early." "I needed to leave the library." "They're fumigating." "Oh, come on in." "I'm just in the kitchen." "All right if I sit?" "Go ahead." "Where's the kids?" "They're both napping." "I'm just getting lunch ready for when they wake up." "Do you need anything?" "No thank you, ma'am." "Say, you ever play poker?" "Too busy." "We played a lot of cards in the service, mostly poker." "Poker at night, drunk with the girls." "Did a lot of card playing in whore houses." "Now that's something you don't forget." "The smell of that perfume, long dark hair." "You think he's forgot?" "I know I should feel sorry for your troubles..." "Oh you don't have to feel sorry for me;" "I'm doing okay." "You gotta pity a man who isn't right in the head." "I guess I could get away with a lot if I wanted to make that excuse like you do." "I'm a mother, I've given birth;" "I can say and do whatever I please." "Oh you may be crazy but you're not dumb are you?" "I'll tell you something else;" "Frank didn't come for the cards." "He never could play a lick." "Games are for children;" "Franklin is a grown man." "You know, it's taken years for him to get over the war but he did it and he's fine now and you could be too." "But trying to drag a cured man down in your sickness isn't gonna make you well." "Oh is that what I'm doing?" "Oh you hate me don't you?" "I don't hate you." "He's killed you know." "Hasn't changed him." "How do you know;" "You didn't know him before?" "He's a good man." "Yes he is, but he knows how easy it would be to do it again." "Before you do it you think it's impossible." "You probably think that don't you?" "Think what?" "You couldn't kill." "I couldn't." "Really?" "A baby by the wrong man, you wouldn't get rid of it?" "What if one of those kids was in danger?" "Fine I'd kill anybody for that." "Even your husband?" "What?" "If you had to make a choice?" "Why are you trying to intimidate me?" "We're talking." "Why don't you want to talk about things?" "This isn't talking, this is a game of chicken with a drunk." "I am not drunk, ma'am." "Fumes from the fumigation is all." "Speaking of which, it's probably safe for me to go back to the library now." "Hey." "I've been calling you all afternoon." "I was at a meeting offsite." "We have to talk." "Can I talk to you upstairs?" "Sure." "I'll be right back." "Where are the kids?" "At my sisters." "Why?" "He came back here during lunch." "Sherman?" "I just picked him up from the library." "Well I don't know, you know," "I guess he went back to put on a good face for you." "What happened?" "He came here and he was saying things." "What things?" "He was trying to bully me and..." "Tell me what he said?" "He was talking about prostitutes and killing." "He threatened me with our children not twenty feet away." "This is where it ends." "I don't want him in our house;" "I don't want him in our town." "He leaves now or I'm going to my sister's." "Outside." "Sit down." "What's wrong, Frank?" "Did you come here today at lunch?" "I was at the library all day." "You picked me up out there." "Did you threaten my wife?" "I just... we were just talking." "That is my wife!" "I'm trying to raise a family here!" "Monday morning, that's when the next bus leaves town, and you're on it." "Go pack your shit, I'm taking you to a motel." "Uh..." "Frank." "Go." "Go get your stuff." "It's over." "I'm sorry, Frank." "I'll be back Monday 9:00 am to take you to the depot." "That's $6.25, please." "Wait, do you have any of those rubber dishwashing gloves?" "Hello?" "Frank?" "Yeah." "It's Sherman." "Sherman, you really shouldn't be calling here." "I just wanted to make sure you were still coming to get me tomorrow." "Yeah, like I said I'll be there at 9:00." "Good." "Um... so I heard on the radio yesterday something happened to Raymond Saddler?" "Yeah, killed himself." "Fed his dog some pills and shot himself in the head." "I guess maybe he had a conscience after all." "Listen Sherman, Irene's family's here trying to work all this stuff out so I really should be getting back." "I wanted to know if maybe you wanted to have some breakfast tomorrow before I go;" "I have some things I'd like to say if I could." "Sure." "I'll come for 8:00 then." "That's great," "I'll see you in the morning then Frank." "All right, bye." "I'm fine, thank you." "You're happy about it right, what happened to him?" "I don't know if happy's the word." "I'm relieved that Irene and her sister have some peace." "And the land and the money you're all owed." "We hope so." "Well," "I'm real glad." "Listen we should probably get the check and uh.." "I wanted to ask you something." "Okay." "I've been thinking about things;" "Things you said, you know," "With a house like that," "Raymond Saddler's - a man could get a wife real easy," "a man like me even." "My wife, she'd clean it up, make it real pretty and who knows, maybe we could have some kids," "even make 'em bring us our slippers in front of the fireplace." "Maybe I could move in there, since it's empty and start making a life like you got." "Like you said Frank, maybe it takes seven years for everything." "Maybe this is finally my time." "Sherman... if... the estate is settled." "Irene and her sister are selling it and splitting the money." "It's- it's already been decided." "Oh." "Just a little something to help you get started, wherever that might be." "I gotta piss."