"Gosh almighty, Mr. Beasley, I thought you'd never get here!" "No use to run your legs off, Miss Tammy." "Nothing for you." "Advertisement for Professor Brent, and looks like a bill for his missus." "They've gone visiting for a few days." "Are you sure there ain't nothing else?" "Might be there's a post card stuck betwixt two letters or something?" "Better luck next time, Miss Tammy." "I've plumb give up hoping." "Pete ain't writ me once since he went off to that agricultural college." "You know, I could write me a book about the folks along this route, waiting to hear from somebody, some place." "If you did, Mr. Beasley, I reckon it'd be such a book of sadness as would spill over the four corners of the earth." "More than likely Pete's took to comparing me with some of them college-type girls, and he realizes how funny peculiar I am." "Well, there's no sense in arguing about it, Nan." "One thing I learned here for sure, visiting with Pete's folks, and that's that I'm still just an unlearned shanty boat girl come from the river." "But time comes when a body's got to do what's what and hang it up on the wall to dry." "You know what, Nan?" "You and me are going to college." "It's me, Grandma, Tammy." "I come home from out in the world." "I guess I just didn't realize how home-pining I'd been." "Well, I'll be back when I can tarry longer." "Come on, Nan!" "We've got a lot of work to do before we get to college." "Captain Joe!" "Howdy, Tammy!" "Why, I'm pleasured for sure!" "I seen the smoke from the chimney and said to myself," ""Old Dinwoodie must be out of jail and maybe needing some vittles."" "No, Grandpa's still locked up." "Too bad." "My customers up and down the river sure miss his corn liquor." "Well, it was the making and selling of that fine corn liquor that got him into the hands of the revenuers in the first place." "But I guess he's happy." "He's preaching there to the inmates on Sunday and he seems content." "You know, this is one congregation that can't walk out on him." "But how about you, child?" "I ain't a child!" "I'm a woman, fully growed!" "Well, you sure got convincing arguments!" "Captain Joe!" "Such talk ain't seemly!" "Last I heard, you was gonna marry that young fellow you and your grandpa fished out of the river." "Oh, it appeared that way for a spell, but..." "Well, he took off for that agricultural college and..." "Well, that's exactly what I'm aiming to do." "You going to farming school?" "Nope!" "A regular college." "So's when Pete comes home, he'll find me real ladified, and I'll be proper learned and proper spoken!" "But it ain't that easy, Tammy." "You can't go to college until you've had a formal schooling." "But Pete's ma and pa says that the Seminola College takes in special students for one or two classes, and, well, that's all I'm figuring on." "But college costs a heap of money!" "Well, come inside." "Look, Grandpa's emergency fund." "Did you ever see such a sight of greenbacks in your life?" "I mean, must be nigh to $100 here." "Do you think you should be using his emergency fund, Tammy?" "When I was living on the river, Captain Joe, the Bible and a little common sense was enough." "But well, out there in the world there's a sight more to know, if I'm not to go shaming Pete in front of his friends." "Well, Grandpa told me to use it if I needed it, and..." "Well, this is an emergency for sure, ain't it?" "Yeah, I guess it is." "But $100 won't even pay for the teaching, let alone other things like clothes, and..." "Oh, I got plenty of clothes." "Pete's folks bought them for me." "Look." "I been readying some chinaberry beads!" "Now you know there ain't nothing more that fancies up a dress more than chinaberry pits dyed in pokeberry juice." "Yeah, but you'll need a place to live." "Well, when the river rises," "I'll pole the Ellen B. downstream to college and live on her." "Well, what about food?" "Well, I can near live off fish." "You know, I can even sell some and make some money." "Damn, if I don't believe you'll make it." "Of course I'll make it, Captain Joe, and there ain't no need for swearing!" "It ain't swearing when you spell "damn" with three letters." "Like Rotterdam and Amsterdam." "It's the four-letter word that's bad." "Well, I sure hope the good Lord can tell the difference, 'cause I sure can't!" "Tammy, I'm in a trading mood for some of this catfish." "You needn't set around waiting for high tide." "Soon as I sell my load, I'll come back and give you a tow downstream." "Captain Joe, I was fair in a frenzy hoping you'd say that!" "I'll stop over on my way back, Tammy." "See if you need something." "Thank you, Captain Joe!" "You been monstrous kind!" "I reckon the world is just full of monstrous kind people, Nan." "Oh, gosh almighty!" "Oh!" "Looks like you cotched me for fair!" "Well, so I did." "I was after a butterfly, a very unusual specimen." "I can't see much sense in a growed man going around catching butterflies." "I study their colors." "I'm an artist." "But what are you up to, out here alone this hour of the morning?" "Well, I was aiming to get some of this swamp mud off before anybody laid eyes on me." "I better hurry before it dries stiff." "Here, try this." "Now it's all messed up and it's so fine." "It'll wash." "I'll wrench it out, only I know river water will never get it this white again." "Say, where were you coming from through the swamp?" "There's nothing beyond but the river." "That's where I live." "In the river?" "Well, you're not a mermaid, not with those two legs I see before me and very shapely, if I do say so." "Well, you've done said it, so just let it lay." "I thank you for the use of your kerchief, but..." "Well, where shall I return it?" "My studio is just outside the Seminola east gate." "Name's on the door, Buford Woodly." "Well, I sure do thank you, Mr. Woodly." "I better hurry." "I'm registrating at the college today." "Hey, wait a minute!" "You've got time." "It's early." "Tree, I can't rightly believe I'm here." "You must be like the tree of knowledge, just standing here in the midst of all this learning." "Maybe if I hold still long enough, your leaves will whisper words of sweet wisdom." ""And this our life exempt from public haunt," ""finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks," ""sermons in stones, and good in everything." "I would not change it."" "As You Like It." "Well, I like it fine, but you fair took my breath away." "I'm sorry." "I took you for the voice of this here tree speaking to me with words like music." "Did you like what you heard?" "Smooth as molasses pouring out of a jug." "You made the words ring true and fair, just like a fiddle shapes sound." "Your speech, your phrasing, where've you been to school?" "Well, I ain't been yet, but I'm going as soon as they open up them doors." "If they'll take me." "Depends on your preparation." "Well, I haven't had any yet." "I mean, not the kind that comes in books, anyway." "But well, I know about living and I know about dying and I know about begetting and being in love." "Well, I can cook and sew and patch and knit and plant taters by the light of the moon and peas and beans in the dark of the moon." "And I know how to milk my nanny goat and I can tend chickens and..." "Well, did you know that once I even helped out in borning a babe?" "Borning a babe?" "I were eight at the time." "We was living on the river." "I mean, same as now." "And this here woman, she come up to see my grandma." "Well, it was her woman time and I was alone there." "She told me what to do and I done it." "Helped out in borning her babe." "You live on the river?" "I brung my own lodgement." "Like a snail traveling hither and yon in my own snug shell." "Well, you're a little young to be living alone on a boat, aren't you?" "There ain't nothing to fret about." "There's no place safer than the river." "I mean, I've been living on it all my remembering days." "But there's one thing that's got me discombobbled, though." "And that is they tell me I have to find work for my keep." "Don't worry about that." "There are plenty of jobs open to students." "In fact, I know of a possible position as a companion to an elderly woman." "What's your name?" "Tammy." "Tammy Tyree." "Tammy being short for Tambrey." "You know, it come out of a book, it means immortal." "What?" "And what might be your entitlement?" "Your entitlement." "Oh, Thomas Freeman." "Here, give this to Miss Jenks." "She's the dean of women." "Dean of women." "Has a noble sound." ""Mrs. Theodore Call."" "Well, ain't she the one who give this here park to the college?" "Yes, a lonely sad old woman who needs someone to stay with her." "Her son was my best friend." "She was a good friend too, once." "I have a feeling you'll be good for her." "Oh, by the way, if her niece, Suzanne, is there, don't let her put you off." "See Mrs. Call herself." "I will." "And thank you mightily." "Oh, and let me know how you make out." "You'll find me in Room 12, I teach public speaking." "Why, that's just what I come here to learn!" "You see, I wanna talk like other folks." "Oh, more's the pity." "Your manner of speech is delightful." "Straight out of the early 1800s." "Yes, but that ain't the time I'm living in." "I can see your problem." "Maybe I can help you." "That is, if you care to enter my class." "Why, I'd be proud and pleasured so, Mr. Freeman." "And thank you." "You've been monstrous kind." "Mother insisted I go to school in Paris, but Dad wanted me back in New York where he could keep an eye on me." "Hold it, Rita." "Is it my tired blood, or do you see what I see?" "Hi, toots." "I think you mistook me." "My name is Tammy Tyree." "Are you for real?" "No, no." "I'm for Miss Jenks, if you'll kindly tell me where she's to be found." "I'm going that way." "I'd be glad to take you." "Thank you." "You're monstrous kind." "Monstrous kind?" "Hello, Rita." "Welcome back." "Thanks." "Hey, Rita, what's new?" "Hi, Joe." "Rita!" "Rita, doll!" "You look fab!" "rita:" "Ditto, Joanie!" "How's Bob?" "He's a drag." "I've snagged myself a new cat." "Phi Sig?" "Tau Ep." "How great!" "Dig you later." "Bye." "Them foreign languages sure do sound like English, don't they?" "Foreign languages?" "Hide the men and boys." "The Great White Huntress is back." "You don't have to worry, Phil, you're safe." "It must be right companioning to know you got such a power of friends." "Right companioning." "This must be it." "Come with me." "I've got a better idea." "Well, here you are." "I'll be right across the hall in the laboratory." "Laboratory?" "Yes." "I'm taking physics." "I'm sorry." "I hope you feel better." "miss JENKS:" "Come in." "Yes?" "My name is Tambrey Tyree and I come here to be a special student." "Please sit down." "We do accept a limited number of special students to sit in on classes." "What are your qualifications?" "Well, I don't rightly know if I have any." "What courses do you intend to pursue?" "Well, I intend to pursue speaking." "Not so much public speaking as private, although they call it public." "And I'd also like to get cotched up on my reading." "I want to learn what's going on now in the world." "I mean, I already know about Bible times." "Well, have you done much reading?" "Yessum." "Whilst I was living at Brentwood Hall, that was just before I come here," "I took up reading." "Did you know they got a whole roomful of books they call the library?" "Well, we..." "We have courses in both English literature and current events." "No, ma'am." "You see, more than anything else, I want to be able to understand." "Sometimes people in this world are so odd and peculiar." "As a wise man once said, "With all thy getting, get understanding."" "Yes, I know." "And if I do, I will have an ornament of grace for my head and a crown of glory will be delivered to me." "That's one of my grandpa's sermons." "Your grandfather is a preacher?" "On and off, when he gets the call." "That's one thing he learned me for sure before he got took up by them revenuers!" "And that was the Bible." "Got took up by revenuers?" "It was nothing he done wrong!" "I mean, just some fool law regarding the making and selling of corn liquor." "But do you know that Grandpa's best, aged and seasoned, were the talk of the river?" "Well, Miss Tyree," "I think we can find room for one more special student, especially one as sincere as you." "Gosh almighty, Miss Jenks!" "Do you know, you've set me so atremble that I could lie down and die right here of pure pleasure!" "Now then, you'll start classes on Wednesday." "Public Speaking at 9:30 and Current Events at 2:00." "Now where will you be living?" "Oh, well, Professor Freeman, he give me this to give to you." "He said there's a lady who needs someone to companion her." "Oh, dear." "I wouldn't dream of questioning Mr. Freeman's judgment, but acting as companion to Mrs. Call is a very difficult assignment." "I've already sent over several girls." "I don't mind hard work." "I'm real work prickle." "Oh, it isn't the work that..." "All right, there's no harm in trying." "I'll give you a note to Mrs. Call, and I want you to report back to me immediately after the interview." "Oh, and I think maybe we'd better leave the hat here." "Thank you, Miss Jenks." "Just like everyone else here, you've been just monstrous kind." "Thank you." "Morning, ma'am." "I'm from the college." "I come to live with Mrs. Call, if..." "Well, if I suit." "Come in." "Take a chair." "I'll tell Miss Rook." "That's Mrs. Call's niece." "I'd prefer talking to Mrs. Call." "When Miss Rook comes visiting from New Orleans, she takes charge of everything." "Hello." "Hello." "I'm catching a train to New Orleans." "I only have a minute." "Oh, you can sit down." "Well, might as well know my aunt doesn't want anyone here with her." "And she's bound to make it difficult for you." "Frankly, she's..." "Oh, how shall I say..." "Notional, I reckon." "Yes." "Don't worry, ma'am." "I know more about old folks than I do about the young." "I was raised by my grandpa and grandma." "Oh, well, that's splendid." "If I decide to have you then, I'll expect you to write me in New Orleans if she gets any more notional, as you call it." "Yes, ma'am." "Now you tell me about yourself." "Well, there ain't much to tell." "I grew up on the river with my grandpa and grandma that is, until she died, and well, as of late, I've been living with Pete." "That's who I'm thinking of marrying." "You've been living with him?" "Yessum." "That is, until he went away and..." "Well, I decided I should come here and get some schooling." "And your grandfather permitted it?" "He was glad to get me off his hands." "Incredible!" "Well, he couldn't rightly look after me himself whilst he was in jail." "Meantime, I'm living with an old goat..." "That will be all." "And thank you very much for coming, Miss..." "Goodbye." "You mean you don't want me?" "Yes..." "No!" "If it's about my grandpa, I can explain." "No, please don't bother." "I'll have to send someone up from New Orleans." "Howdy, ma'am." "Who are you?" "Why, I'm from the college." "My name is Tammy Tyree." "I thought I'd have at least until tomorrow to enjoy my privacy." "Isn't that how my ever-loving niece arranged it?" "No, ma'am." "She didn't like me so she wouldn't have me." "That's one thing in your favor." "But I figured it was you who should have the real last say, so..." "A novel idea." "My real last say-so is no." "But who listens to that?" "But how can you say no before you even laid your eyes on me?" "I've laid eyes on you and I've made up my mind." "Now I'll let you out." "Don't bother." "I don't stay where I'm not wanted, so I'll just go the way I come, thank you." "You know, it just seems a shame that we can't join up." "I mean, I heard them calling you "that poor lonesome old lady" and..." "Well, you know, ma'am, I get kind of lonesome myself sometimes." "A child like you lonesome?" "Nonsense." "I ain't a child." "I'm a woman fully growed." "Look for yourself, front and back." "Well, that's a matter of opinion." "You know, before I left the river I never had much lonesomeness." "But now, especially on moonlit nights I..." "I get such a sad lost feeling as if..." "As if something not yet here were gathering dark around me." "And sometimes it comes when I hear the whippoorwills calling again and again, and..." "And getting no answer." "You say you lived on the river?" "Yessum." "On the Ellen B. Same as now." "What's the Ellen B.?" "Well, I guess it's what some folks call a shanty boat." "Where is she?" "She's out yonder on the river, upstream." "Wait." "Wait, come down." "Well, what's keeping you?" "Well, my drawers, they're cotched up here on a twig." "Well, uncotch them and come on down here." "Now tell me about the Ellen B. How many rooms has she?" "Two." "One being the kitchen wheres my grandpa slept and the other, well, that's in the back." "That's where I sleep." "Oh, it's real nice." "It has an iron bed right out of a catalog." "An iron bed out of a catalog." "Well, there ain't no need to laugh just 'cause some folks have more than others." "Oh, don't begrudge me a little laughter." "You've just set me to remembering my own shanty boat days." "Your shanty boat?" "No, not mine, really." "My uncle's." "I was 10 years old at the time." "We had five rooms and servant quarters in the stern." "And then there was a carriage and two horses besides." "We stopped at landings all the way from St. Louis to New Orleans." "Took all summer." "Catfish every morning for breakfast." "Fried in corn meal?" "Fried in corn meal." "There ain't nothing tastes so good when you're hunger-bit." "Those..." "Those were the happiest days of my life." "Now I'm practically in prison." "Prison?" "I have two jailors." "Age and my niece." "Since my son is gone, she seems to think she has to manage me, run my life." "Look at this!" "Her idea!" "I hate knitting!" "Well, I'd be proud and pleasured to have you come stay with me on the Ellen B." "Well, why not?" "You mean you'll do it?" "That's exactly what I mean." "Well, are you sure you'd be comfortable?" "Oh, blazes with comfort." "There's no such thing at my age, anyway." "Are you getting cold feet?" "No." "No, ma'am." "No, I'm used to going barefoot." "Well, run along now, child." "I've got things to do." "But remember, not one word of this to anybody." "I'll be there tomorrow." "Well, you know, ma'am, it's through the swamps, so I think I better come back and show you the way." "If the Ellen B. is on the river, I'll find her." "Now stop pestering me." "Well, I guess I'd better leave something to the Lord." "The Lord and me, Tammy." "Two good managers." "Yes, ma'am." "Miss Tyree?" "I'm glad I caught you before you went in." "You know, Mrs. Call's niece phoned, and..." "Well, I'm afraid you didn't make a very good impressión." "I still can't figure out why." "I no sooner told her about me living with Pete whilst Grandpa was in jail, then she went ahead and got herself into a swivet." "You told her you were living..." "Mr. Freeman, you're laughing at me, same's everyone else here." "If I am, it's with pure delight." "Don't you understand?" "Suzanne got the notion that you and this fellow Pete were..." "Well, living in sin." "You mean she took me for a scarlet woman?" "Not exactly scarlet." "Sort of medium red." "I been out in this here world a mighty short time, Mr. Freeman, but I see plain and simple that there be some folk who speak with false tongues." "Well, I'm sure Miss Jenks will understand." "She's a fine woman." "Then I hope she still accepts me here as a student." "So do I, Since one of your classes will be mine." "Thank you, Mr. Freeman." "Ahoy, there, the Ellen B." "Here I am, like a thief in the night." "Don't stand there, lend me a hand." "Well, I make you welcome, ma'am, but I rightly didn't expect you till morning." "Fewer witnesses in the dark." "I packed Della off to Chicago and I wrote my niece a note that I was going on a boat trip for my health." "I wish I could see her face when she reads it." "Ma'am, you brung such a power of food, I..." "Well, I reckon I ought to be paying for some of it." "Oh, nonsense." "Then I'd have to pay you for my room and there'd be no end to the business." "I'd better pay that river pirate his hush money and get rid of him." "Hush money?" "My niece is half bloodhound." "She'll be on my trail before the week is out." "Here you are." "Remember, not one word to anyone." "Compared to me, madame, a corpse talks too much." "And you'll come past every week for a list of supplies." "Yes, madame, every Wednesday." "Now, let's have a look at the Ellen B." "Yes, ma'am." "I sleep in here." "I suppose it ain't much of a muchness after living in that big, elegant house." "It's very much of a muchness, Tammy." "I know I'm going to like it here." "Free for the first time in years." "Well, it pleasures me to hear you say that, ma'am." "As a matter of fact, I feel better already." "What was that?" "My sleeping pills." "You mean they got pills for putting folks asleep?" "And others to wake them up." "Well, I declare." "What is this civilization coming to?" "Well, if you ask me, Tammy, this is civilization, pure and simple." "Without any of the fixings and the trimmings." "Now where do I put this?" "In here." "Ma'am, I hope you brung some everyday clothes." "Of course, I'm not in my dotage yet." "I'm going to love your river, Tammy." "It's real friendly like, ma'am." "Of course, sometimes it gets to boiling over mad, but most of the time it's just real lazy and slow, like now." "You know, the river is forever." "It don't get up and leave you one day like some humans do." "Morning, ma'am." "Morning." "Fine morning, wonderful morning." "But it's hardly after sunup." "Couldn't you sleep?" "Like a top." "But I just couldn't wait to catch me a catfish." "Been here nearly an hour without even so much as a nibble." "Well, maybe you ain't fishing him right." "You know, a catfish is a funny critter." "Nigh onto being human in some ways and being half cat and half fish and three-quarters pure cussedness." "He's gotta be cajoled on that hook." "Cajoled, my foot." "They're just not hungry." "Oh, let me see." "Come on." "Here's a pretty for your mouth." "Come on." "You are gonna be rolled in meal and fried in fat and ate by two fine ladies." "And that's a most honorable end." "Well, I'll be..." "Don't say it unless it's a three letter one," "like Rotterdam or Amsterdam." "Well, I'll be Rotterdammed." "And in conclusión, I can only say that despite the undeniable charm of Paris, and the beauty and grandeur of Rome, and as much as I enjoyed Venice, and the art treasures of Florence, not to mention scaloppini, which I adore," "and even though in some ways I found this trip to the continent even more pleasant than my previous ones," "I wasn't really happy until I returned here to my friends and classmates at dear old Seminola." "And now, as is our custom," "I shall call upon our new students to say a few extemporaneous words." "First, a young lady who has been quite out of contact with the modern world." "Her speech has a flavor of the Elizabethan, as is true of the speech of the mountain folk of Kentucky and Tennessee." "Miss Tammy Tyree." "There don't seem to be nothing coming to my mind." "Don't be nervous, Miss Tyree." "Just forget you're in front of a class." "Pretend you're speaking to me alone." "Well, I reckon then I'll talk about my own travels, too." "Of course I never been to any fancy places like Paris or Rome, or scaloppini, but..." "Well, a few years back, Grandpa and me, we decided to pole our boat, the Ellen B., downstream." "And whilst we were on our way, it come night and being there was a full moon," "Grandpa took a notion to float all night instead of tying up like we usually did." "Well, as we were drifting along with the current, we come upon this big house on the bluff, and it was all lit up with dancing and music and merriment." "And he looked at me and he said, "Tammy, this is sure dancing country."" "And then after another little while, we come upon another house, and the other house was all lit up with dancing and music and lots of merriment, and he looked at me and he said," ""Tammy, this is the dancingest country I ever heard tell of!"" "And then after another while, we come upon the third house and it was lighted up from top to toe to the bottom with dancing and music and merriment and he looked at me and he said," ""Tammy Tyree, this is the out-and-out dancingest country in the whole world."" "Well, then came morning, and we seen that we was caught up in a big whirlpool and then we realized that we were..." "Well, that we were going by the same house over and over and over again." "Miss Tyree!" "Miss Tyree!" "I enjoyed your story, Miss Tyree." "Well, I reckon you're the only one who did." "You've got to expect that the other students may find you..." "Well, a little strange." "Well, that ain't a circumstance as to how I find them." "They'll get over it, as soon as they know you better." "No, Mr. Freeman, I shouldn't have come here." "I know now that even with proper speech, I'll never blend in." "Don't try to blend in." "You're different." "Be true to yourself." "I don't know what for you're being so kind to me, Mr. Freeman, but it makes me feel kind of important having a professor take notice of me." "Why do you always have to think of me as a professor?" "I'm only an instructor, and well, after all, I am human." "I can see you be human." "And I can see you've known trouble." "Why do you say that?" "Well, Grandpa always says that, "Them that were cast into the furnace of affliction" ""either come out burnt to bitterness or refined to gold."" "Sounds like a wise man, your grandpa, I'd like to meet him sometime." "He'd be likewise pleasured, I'm sure." "Oh, by the way, Miss Jenks would like you to drop by." "She wants to talk to you about a babysitter opening." "A what?" "A babysitter opening." "Well, if she figures that's a fit subject for her to be talking about," "I reckon it's a fit subject for me to be listening to." "You do know what a babysitter is?" "Yes, it's what the baby sits on." "This is slightly different." "A babysitter is someone who keeps an eye on other people's children when they're out for the evening." "Oh, you mean like quieten them when they're dauncy and changing their hippens when they're wet." "Well, yeah." "I guess that's what I mean." "Oh, well, thank you very much for telling me, Mr. Freeman." "And I'm muchly beholden." "Not at all, Tammy." "Well, there's the bell for another round." "I'll be calling on you to speak again soon and I don't want you to feel nervous." "I won't for a fact." "Not if you're standing there, like today." "You know, it was pretending that I was talking to you alone that, well, made it easy." "Well, I'm glad." "Tree, I sure wish Pete were more like Mr. Freeman." "He gives me a feeling inside as if the warmth of the sun were soaking into my innards." "I reckon that's how growing things feel when spring sets them stirring and the world comes awake." "218 Cypress Road." "Why, that's just around the corner from my place." "Well, I gotta be there at 7:00 sharp." "The baby's ma and pa, they're going out to a fancy dinner." "They called it a banquet." "I wonder if you'd do me a favor, Tammy." "But you just have to name it, ma'am." "I left my raincoat hanging in the front hall closet." "If you could just stop by and pick it up." "Why, it'll be no trouble at all." "Oh, you'll need the key 'cause there's nobody there." "Thank you, ma'am." "A woman fully growed?" "Well, I ain't that growed." "If he cries, just change him and he'll go right to sleep." "Where'll I find the hippen for him?" "The what?" "What you put on him when he wets the one he's wearing." "In the top drawer." "Can we leave, dear?" "There's a sandwich in the refrigerator in case you get hungry, and you'll find the TV in there." "The what?" "The TV." "Well, it's right handy to know where it is, ma'am, but I ain't never heard it called that before." "Who is it?" "Who's down there?" "Who is it?" "Hello, operator, get me the police quickly." "I knew Suzanne'd come snooping, but I didn't think she'd come up from New Orleans for at least a week." "But, ma'am, it must be right comforting to know there's a body worried about you." "It's not me." "It's my money she's worried about." "She's afraid I'll leave it to some institution." "If I know Suzanne, she'll have detectives checking every steamship company and airline." "We've gotta be doubly careful, Tammy." "There ain't nothing to worry about, ma'am." "With me keeping an eye on you, they ain't no harm gonna come." "You're the nicest thing that ever happened to me, Tammy." "It pleasures me to hear you say that, ma'am, but I don't rightly know why." "Because you're helping me learn myself, that's why." "You mean you been living with yourself all your life without having any knowledge of what you are?" "Not all my life." "But since my son was killed, I've been like a ship stuck on a sandbar." "He and Mr. Freeman were monstrous good friends, weren't they?" "Tom Freeman was driving the car when it crashed." "It wasn't his fault, but I became a bitter old woman, and I've held it against him ever since." "That were a wrong thing, ma'am." "I know that now, Tammy." "Somehow out here on the river, I'm able to think clearly." "Just being here," "listening to the whippoorwills and the frogs at night, the water lapping against the sides." "But above all, listening to you." "It takes me back to the little girl I once was, so long ago." "Coming downriver with my uncle." "I was real then." "Myself." "You're helping me find that old self, Tammy." "That's why I'm grateful." "Ain't nobody kissed me like that since my grandma died." "Mr. Freeman." "I was hoping you'd get here early." "And I'm nigh onto busting to tell you about last night." "I'm nigh onto busting to hear about your first baby-sitting job." "But I seen a wondrous thing last night." "A modern-day contraption called TV." "First time you ever saw a televisión?" "In all born days I never dreamed such a wondrous miracle existed." "I mean, so many stories and, with play acting." "Well, the stories, they weren't so much." "Just a lot of men on horseback chasing one another and shooting and never really hitting anything." "But..." "Well, it was what come between that was real educational." "The commercials?" "Well, I don't know what you call them by." "I never dreamed there could be so much excitement over soap suds." "And then there was this here doctor, he was selling these little white pills." "And showing human innards." "To me that was a mite confusing." "Well, in what way?" "Well, you see, I always thought that human innards were like other animal innards." "I mean, chicken innards and all." "But you know, they're not." "They look just like the pipes to bring water to the kitchen sink." "Mr. Freeman." "Are you laughing at me with pure delight, or otherwise?" "With pure delight, Tammy." "Absolutely." "Please go on." "Well, there was something else that was mite confusing." "What was that?" "Did you know they got a cream for taking the stink off of people without their even bothering to wash theirselves?" "A cream?" "Yes, I guess I did." "Then they got stuff that's supposed to make folks irresistible to folks of the opposite sex." "Now, I mean, that makes a body wonder." "Well, about what?" "Well, how males and females got together in the first place without all them fine inventions." "Tammy, I could listen to you by the hour or forever!" "You know, Mr. Freeman, now I know you're laughing at me with pure delight, so I feel no dismay." "It's like Grandpa says, "The way into one's heart is twofold," ""one by being the way of laughter and the other being the way of tears."" "Laughter and tears." "Your grandpa is a very wise man, Tammy." "Well, I'd better be going in." "I have a lot of papers to mark." "Tree, there goes one monstrous kind man." "He sure makes me feel funny inside." "A womanish kind of funny." "No, sir." "She said she was going on a boat trip but she didn't say where." "That'll be all, Della." "Thank you." "All right, Mr. Welling." "You're my aunt's lawyer." "Now do something." "Well, there's really nothing to do, Suzanne." "I believe your aunt merely decided to get away for a while." "For three weeks?" "Without a word?" "You know what I think?" "I think she's been kidnapped." "Oh, nonsense." "You would've been contacted by now." "Well, what about that prowler that I frightened away a few nights after my aunt disappeared?" "Maybe he was supposed to be the contact." "He left no note." "Nothing was stolen." "Maybe it was your imagination." "In any event, I don't think my aunt should be allowed to wander around by herself in her condition." "What condition?" "Well, I've been trying to keep it a secret, but, you know, she's completely irrational at times." "And as her lawyer, I must demand that you notify the police at once." "Very well." "I'll contact the missing persons bureau." "Well, if it isn't my little woodland nymph." "Gosh almighty." "The butterfly painter." "I plumb forgot to return your kerchief." "There's no hurry." "I could drop over to that river boat of yours some evening and pick it up." "Oh, no need to do that." "No, sir." "I'll return it like I promised." "We could have a little tête-à-tête." "Well, I don't know whether you drink that, sir, or do it, but..." "No, thank you." "I ain't having any." "All right, but if you change your mind, you let me know, huh?" "Yes?" "WOMAN:" "Miss Tammy Tyree to see you." "Send her in." "Sit down, Tammy." "Thank you." "Here's the address." "Why, you've been crying, Miss Jenks." "Tammy, you'll find that this is not an easy job." "Every girl I have sent over there has refused to go back." "Well, what makes it so hard?" "Three boys, five to 11." "Their father is one of our most brilliant instructors in psychology and their mother has a doctor's degree in child training." "The children have been raised on the permissive system." "What's that?" "Well, it's a sort of learn-by-experience method." "They've been permitted to do exactly as they please." "And they've never heard the word no." "In fact, you're forbidden to even use it." "Well, no wonder their pa and ma have to get away for a spell." "Do you figure that's the best way for raising children?" "I wouldn't know." "I don't have any children of my own." "That'll be all, Tammy." "Good luck." "Well, thank you kindly, Miss Jenks." "Gosh almighty, Nan." "Captain Joe's here." "Looks like Mrs. Call's been found out." "Well, I declare, Nan." "If they wasn't so old," "I'd swear they'd be making up to each other for all they was worth." "Howdy, Captain Joe." "Hi, Tammy." "Well, I see you already been made welcome." "Sure have, Tammy." "If I had known Shanty Boat Annie was taking care of you," "I wouldn't have been so worried." "Shanty Boat Annie?" "Well, shucks, gal, they ain't no sense of him calling me by my full entitlement of Annabella Smith, so I'm letting him call me Shanty Boat Annie, same as all the rest of my friends." "Well, I'm baby-sitting tonight, Captain Joe, but we'd be real pleasured if you'd stay for supper." "Mrs..." "Shanty Boat Annie makes the best buttermilk and soda pancakes, and I know how you favor them." "It ain't the only thing I favor around here." "You're sure you'll be all right?" "Yes ma'am." "The skiff's quicker and I'm already late." "There's no call to worry, Annie." "Tammy's been navigating craft like this ever since she were knee-high to a tadpole!" "Oh, and don't fret none if I'm home late." "The baby's folks they said they won't be home till nigh to midnight." "Oh, I forgot." "The river police have notified all boat owners to be on the lookout for the body of an elderly female." "There's a fancy reward." "It's a Mrs. Call." "Mrs. Theodore Call." "What's the matter, Annie?" "Something wrong?" "I must have had too many pancakes." "Come in." "I'm Miss Tyree, the babysitter." "That's Neil, the youngest." "Harold's in the living room, smoking." "Smoking?" "He's satisfying a natural curiosity about tobacco." "When he's through, take the matches away." "Julian's in the dining room absorbed in one of his pet projects." "Miss Jenks undoubtedly explained something of our system." "Yes, ma'am, but she..." "We really must be going, darling." "It's an important faculty meeting and we are late." "There's Neil." "Good night, Neil." "Good night." "Good night." "Good night." "Who are you?" "Well, I'm Tammy, the babysitter." "Then sit." "Now what for did you do that?" "That's my ego striving to be heard." "Why, I reckon you could hear it clear to New Orleans." "Better not interrupt." "Julian's on his aerodynamic project." "Whatever are you trying to do?" "I'm gonna set this little beast into orbit." "Well, I don't reckon this permissive system of bringing up kids is gonna be very popular with cats." "Laws of mercy." "It's a rather curious effect I get from smoking." "Merely a slight reaction from the cigarettes." "But the cigar seems to interfere with my visión." "Everything is blurred." "Is that usual?" "Or a personal idiosyncrasy." "Well, I reckon you'll get over it." "Now, I'll take them matches." "I have not yet completed my experiment." "Little boy, you give me them matches or I'm gonna whop the living daylights out of you." "Daylights?" "Daylights." "I don't know of any such organ in the functioning human body." "I'm giving you these, not because you order me to, but because I find your language picturesque." "Well, if my talk sounds funny to you, it ain't a circumstance as to how your talk sounds to me." "Look at it." "Just look at it!" "My golly, you're apt to have killed it!" "How would you like to be hung up in the air like that?" "I wouldn't mind if it's in the cause of scientific advancement." "Little boy, you touch this kitten again and I declare I'm gonna take a hairbrush to your bottom." "Hear that, Harold?" "Hairbrush to my bottom." "Is that some new method of child training?" "No, I reckon it's been right much used." "Then it couldn't have been very successful." "And why not?" "Otherwise, the world would not be in such a state as it is now." "Well, I reckon we can give the devil some credit for that." "Oh, but we don't believe in the devil." "Nell's bells, are you heathens as well as savages?" "What was that for?" "When he screams in a minor key, it means he's hungry." "Well, show me where the kitchen's to be found." "And that's how come the ángel with the flaming sword had to throw them out of Eden." "And that's how come folks ever after had their knowledge of good and evil." "I like your Bible, Tammy." "It ain't mine." "It's everybody's." "I hope you come again." "You're the most interesting babysitter we ever had." "Yes." "I'd like to hear some more of those religious myths." "Of course, we shan't tell our folks." "But why not?" "Gosh almighty, you'd think the Bible was something nasty so as you had to seek out a creep hole for you dast speak of it." "We're not supposed to hear too much about all that till we're older." "I declare." "The more I stay on in the world, the more I wonder at how many kinds of people there are." "All wrapped up in these strange mixed-up notions." "I reckon humans got more layers to them than an onion." "Here you are, miss." "If we need you again, we'll call Miss Jenks." "I still can't believe all three went to sleep without any trouble." "They have no temperature." "There must be a psychological reason." "Well, I don't know what that is, but I told them if they didn't behave, I was gonna skin them alive and hang their skins up on the wall to dry." "Must have been real psychological." "It worked." "Good night." "Tammy!" "Mr. Freeman, what're you doing traipsing about at this hour?" "I was waiting for you, Tammy." "Miss Jenks mentioned at the faculty meeting that you were babysitting here and, well, I didn't like the idea of you crossing the swamp alone at such a late hour." "Well, that were monstrous kind of you, sir, but I come tonight with a skiff." "I'm as good at rowing people home as I am to walking them." "Well, I'd be pleasured to, sir." "But first, I have to drop off at Mr. Woodly's painting studio and return this handkerchief I borrowed." "Why don't you just give it to Miss Jenks in the morning?" "Well, what's Miss Jenks got to do with Mr. Woodly?" "They're married." "Have been for years." "She just uses her maiden name at the college." "That's a monstrous good woman, Miss Jenks." "It ain't right for her to be so all-fired sad most of the time." "Sad?" "The last time I seen her she was crying." "Most likely on account of old Woodly." "How come you say that?" "Well, when they were first married, they seemed happy enough." "Woodly showed great promise as an artist." "Something went wrong." "He began to change." "Why she even puts up with him now, is beyond me." "When a woman loves a man, I..." "Well, I reckon she'll put up with most anything." "Even waiting for letters that never come." "So, I left Brentwood Hall and I come here." "That's all the telling of it." "But I know now that..." "Well, Pete and his folks are just being kind because Grandpa and me fished him out of the river when his airplane crashed." "Even thought he never writes, you're still in love with him?" "Before I met Pete, I always figured that when a body fell in love, it just naturally filled up every breathing minute of the day and night, but it ain't so." "I mean, there's so many things that gotta be done in this world that..." "Well, sometimes, you just gotta set love back on the stove and let it simmer a while." "You can always bring the pot forward if you're hungry." "It's kind of like shoes." "Shoes?" "If you got shoes, you don't have to be wearing them all the time just to show off that you got them." "Here we are." "You handle a skiff almost as good as my grandpa does." "Well, I use to do a little fishing back home." "And I rowed on the crew here at Seminola." "Where's back home?" "New England." "I came down here 'cause the tuition's low." "Stayed on to become an instructor." "Mrs. Call let me room at her home." "Remember Mrs. Call, don't you?" "Yes." "I do for a fact." "Well, after Bill, that's her son," "Bill was killed in that smash-up, she couldn't stand the sight of me." "Well, I reckon that she was just so forespent with grief that..." "Well, she wasn't thinking straight, that's all." "I'm sure of it." "That's why I'm worried about her safety." "Her safety?" "The police called me in today for questioning..." "Police?" "What for?" "It seems she took off for parts unknown." "Nobody's heard from her." "It seems to me a body should be able to take off when she wants." "He niece doesn't seem to think so." "She insists she met with an accident." "Or is running around non compos." "Non compos?" "What's that?" "Irresponsible." "But that's silly." "She ain't no more notional than most old folks." "I reckon, it's just because she..." "Well, she ain't." "That's all." "You seem to have been very observant in your brief encounter with her." "Are you always so swift to form an opinion?" "Well, take Pete, for instance, I'm beginning to think that I was too swift in forming the opinion that I was in love with him." "Tammy, I think being loved by you would be the most wonderful and exciting thing that could happen to a man." "Do you reckon?" "I reckon." "Is something wrong?" "Well, I feel funny in my innards." "Funny?" "Like I ate an unripe persimmon or something." "It's on account of you give me that womanish kind of feeling, as if..." "As if you was a man and..." "And I was a woman." "Well, aren't we?" "Well, there are some, including Pete, who still think I'm a child." "You're anything but that, Tammy." "I think I'd better be going, I have a lot of papers to mark..." "Well, good night." "Very interesting." "For shame, ma'am." "You was listening." "Couldn't help it." "You two were courting right under my very nose." "Courting?" "Why, Mr. Freeman is just a monstrous good man who's been kind and encouraging." "Kind and encouraging, is he?" "He's in love with you." "Why, that ain't true." "Why, he's a professor and me, well, I don't know nothing compared to him." "You know enough." "Well, ma'am..." "I'm glad I lived to see him in love." "When he was staying with me," "I used to invite the gayest and prettiest girls in college." "I was quite a matchmaker in those days." "But he was my worst failure." "And now here you come along in a shanty boat and he gives up without a struggle?" "I think you're forgetting about Pete." "Pete." "He's something you just made up in your mind." "The sooner you forget him, the better." "But didn't you ever feel that you had to love just one man till the day you die?" "I don't think you ever really loved this Pete." "And I think you're beginning to realize it, too." "Living in isolation with old people, well, you were bound to be fascinated by the first young man that came along." "Do you reckon that's how it is?" "I reckon that's how it is." "Well, that being the case, I'll write Pete just one more letter." "And if he don't answer it right away, he don't have to answer it at all." "Fine." "Good night, dear." "Night, ma'am." "Nan, I don't rightly know what to think." "I'm plain discombobbled." "Please tell me do" "And tell me true" "Is Tammy in love?" "Wish I knew, wish I knew" "Is Tammy in love?" "Oh, evening breeze" "Please ask the trees" "Then whisper to me" "And when you do" "Please tell me true" "Is Tammy in love?" "For Tammy loved, not long ago" "Did Tammy love him true?" "Has Tammy lost her heart once more" "To a love that's new?" "Please tell me do" "And tell me true" "Can this be true love?" "Wish I knew, indeed I do" "Is Tammy in love?" "Please tell me do" "And tell me true" "Can this be true love?" "I wish I knew, indeed I do" "Is Tammy in love?" "Hello there." "Identify yourself!" "Well, this here's the Ellen B. and my name is Tammy Tyree." "I'm known as Shanty Boat Annie." "That's the name I go by in this neck of the woods." "We're asking everyone along the river to keep watch for a body." "An elderly woman." "Wearing a black dress and lots of jewelry." "We'll let you know if we hear anything." "Her kinfolk must be nigh on plumb distracted." "Thank you, ma'am." "Distracted about how soon she can get her hands on my money." "It appears to me, ma'am, that it'd be much simpler if you just told your niece that you was here." "But I can't do that now." "I know what she's up to." "She's going to try and have me clapped into an institution." "She couldn't possibly do that?" "Couldn't she, though." "And then have herself appointed conservator of my estate." "What are you aiming to do?" "Leave it to the Lord." "As I told you before, he and I are both good managers." "Yes, ma'am." "My, my." "All prettied up." "Must be a special occasión." "Yes, ma'am." "Mr. Freeman asked me to speak to the class again today." "Oh, Rotterdamned and Bolderdamned!" "My chinaberry beads." "They're all busted." "Don't get upset." "I've got something prettier." "But, ma'am, there ain't nothing that fancies up this dress like chinaberry beads." "I mean..." "Oh, my." "Oh, that's just the most elegant-looking thing I ever seen!" "It's dazzled many an eye at many a fancy dress ball." "Turn around." "But..." "That's lovely." "And it's yours." "Mine?" "It looks real valuable." "Well, a few weeks ago, I would have agreed." "But now, thanks to you and the Ellen B., my opinion has changed about what's valuable in this world and what isn't." "Oh, ma'am." "Thank you." "Oh, it's just beautiful." "So elegant." "Hello there, mermaid." "Still carrying your shoes, I see." "Well, shoes are harder to clean than feet..." "Nell's bells." "What is that?" "That is a woodland scene." "Well, I reckon that's what it is if you say so, but..." "Well, it looks more like a patchwork quilt to me." "It's neo-impressionistic." "Are you sure you painted it right side up or the other side hindmost?" "Well, now, what for did you do that?" "Because you're right." "It's trash." "But, sir, you shouldn't pay no heed to me." "I know nothing about art." "I do or I did once." "Now, I'm trying to find something I lost." "Well, whatever it is you're looking for, Mr. Woodly, you just keep right on trying." "You'll find it." "How?" "Painting butterflies and trees?" "No, my little mermaid." "It's gone." "Forever." "You mean you want to do something important, but can't?" "That's one way of putting it, yes." "Well, maybe, Mr. Woodly, what you do isn't as important as how you do it." "I mean, that depends on how you yourself are, inside." "Well, that's a rather grown-up philosophy for one so young." "I ain't so young as some folks think." "And I wish some folks would stop saying so." "Now wait." "Hold that expressión." "Now look this way." "There." "That's it." "Something wrong?" "I want you to sit for me." "I ain't tired." "You've got to let me paint you." "I'd be very proud and pleasured to have my face painted, sir, but you see, I am late and I've got to get to class." "But it's early, and this morning light is perfect." "I'll only keep you long enough to get it started." "We can finish it in two or three sittings." "All right." "Well, I reckon I can't say no to a body as stirred up as you be." "Mr. Freeman, fellow students," "I reckon I'm at a loss for words again." "There was a time when all a girl needed to know was how to cook and sew and mind the baby and hold her tongue." "Well, I reckon that's why I'm no good at speechmaking." "Well, Mr. Freeman asked me to talk on such matters as I know best, that being my impressions whilst living on the river, mainly." "Reminds me of a story about a man who seen the great Mississippi for the first time, and his friend asked him what he thought of this here great river." "And he said, "There's only one thing that comes to my mind and that's," ""'Where in heck did all this water come from?"'" "Well, I see you're aiming again not to laugh." "But this time it don't rile me in the least because it ain't my story at all." "It come from a book of yarns by one Mr. Abraham Lincoln." "Of course, I guess you know better than he did what's funny and what ain't." "You know, ever since I come here I've been trying real hard to become one of you." "But I see now that I just been dog paddling to keep afloat." "But I did learn one thing since I'm here, and that's that young folks have such strange notions and cunning devices that..." "Well, while they're saying one thing, underneath they're really meaning another." "And that makes me feel sad and full of pity for them." "I used to look up and when I'd see this one star up in the sky," "I'd think this is the loneliest sight in all the world." "But I know now that it's one person who's different, among many who are the same." "And young folks, especially young folks, they ain't got no tolerance for that." "So, maybe I missed a great many things while living on the river, but I think you missed a sight more things." "And I wouldn't trade them for anything." "And that's all I got to say on the subject." "Thanks, Tammy." "Thanks a lot." "Tammy, you were wonderful." "We deserved every word of that." "So why don't you drop by the Alpha Gamma house?" "Do you think maybe sometime I could come by to visit..." "Miss Tyree." "Pardon me, do you have a moment?" "Yes, sir." "I was only aiming to mail a letter." "Well, may I join your classmates in saying that was a most interesting talk." "You may, sir, and I thank you." "Only, you know, I couldn't have spoke a word without you being right there." "It gave me courage." "I notice you're still having a little trouble with your hands." "Yes, sir." "It seems when I start speeching the good Lord he give me one extra one." "Look, hand gestures should come naturally." "Here, let me show you." "There are three or four basic gestures that cover all contingencies." "For example, the left hand, extended palm upward nearest the heart..." "No, not like that." "No, sir." "No, that ain't the gesture." "It's that funny feeling..." "I think I better mail my letter." "To Pete?" "Yes, sir." "But this is the last one." "I told him if he don't answer this one right away, he don't have to bother at all." "Well, then." "I hope he doesn't bother at all." "You do?" "I do." "I think I better go mark some papers." "Mr. Shakespeare, if that ain't the paper markingest man I ever knowed." "I'd like the fastest stamp you got, please." "Airmail." "We haven't switched to rockets yet." "Thank you kindly." "Well, I reckon sending you to Pete is like calling into the deep of the night." "Won't be so much as an echo in return." "Oh, oh." "Excuse me." "I'm sorry, ma'am." "Aren't you the girl that..." "Where did you get that necklace?" "All right, young lady, you and I are going to the police." "Help!" "Somebody stop that girl." "Help!" "Police!" "What's the trouble?" "That girl." "Stop her." "Okay, girlie." "We're running you in." "If it's all the same with you, Mr. Policeman, would you mind walking me in?" "Good morning, Miss Tyree." "Good morning." "What are they jailing you up for, if it be polite to so inquire?" "I'm Joshua Welling, Mrs. Call's lawyer, at your service, if you so desire." "I do so desire." "How is Mrs. Call?" "Well, she's in the hospital." "Her niece is trying to prove that she's incapable of managing her affairs." "Why, I never heard of such trumped-up nonsense." "Well, I agree but there's a good chance she may succeed." "Are you willing to testify on her behalf?" "Yes, sir." "Can I get out now?" "Yes." "The kidnapping charge was dropped as soon as I got a statement from the boatman who brought Mrs. Call to the Ellen B." "Bail is being arranged for you right now on the larceny charge for stealing the necklace." "But she give it to me of her own free will!" "I know." "But if Mrs. Call is found to be incapable, and you had knowledge of her condition, well, the court may treat it as though you'd taken the necklace without permissión." "The bond's been posted, Mr. Welling." "Your client's free to go." "Thank you." "Thank you very much, Sergeant." "Tammy, are you all right?" "I'm fine, Mr. Freeman." "Well, I might have known it was you who'd come help me out." "But actually, I am fearful worried about Mrs. Call." "Do you think we could go to see her?" "I'm afraid not, Tammy." "She's being held incommunicado." "Well, where's that?" "She's under guard." "This is an awful dark time for me, Mr. Freeman." "I shouldn't never come down the river on the Ellen B." "I brought nothing but trouble to poor Mrs. Call." "Mr. Welling here is going to do everything he can for her, Tammy." "Right now you've got some serious problems of your own, such as possible expulsión from school." "Well, then, I better go see Miss Jenks." "If you'd like, we can see her together." "No, Mr. Freeman." "I'd be poor shucks if I didn't face up to my problems alone." "I suppose you've seen the newspapers?" "Yes, ma'am." "I think it's shameful." "And disgraceful." "Yes, ma'am." "Nothing but a lot of cheap sensationalism." "Tying in the college?" "Mentioning that your grandfather's in jail!" "They ought to be ashamed of themselves!" "You mean you ain't angry at me?" "Only at the newspapers?" "Angry at you?" "Oh, no, Tammy." "No, I'm just very grateful to you." "What for are you grateful, ma'am?" "My husband told me how much you've helped him." "Shucks, I just sat there while he was painting my picture." "I know." "I've seen it." "It's only just started, but already I can tell." "He's painting just the way he used to paint when we first met." "I haven't seen him so excited in years." "You know, I think maybe, at last, he's found what he's been looking for." "No, ma'am." "Only part of what he's looking for." "What do you mean?" "Well, you see, ma'am, whilst he was painting my picture, he started talking, and the words they just kept pouring out just like berries out of a basket, and I just sat there listening." "Well, you see, if Mr. Woodly..." "If sometimes he don't act fine and noble, it's only 'cause he's scared inside." "Scared?" "Scared of what?" "Of becoming less and less of a man." "Tammy, I don't understand." "Well, you see, ma'am, being dean of women, now that's a fine and mighty position, but..." "Well, when such a woman marries a man who's just a beginning painter, who don't make near as much money or have near as much glory, well..." "Well, in time he's gonna feel like he's a failure." "Did..." "Did my husband tell you that?" "Yes, ma'am." "He said that more than anything he wanted you home, taking care of a baby." "Babies." "He knows very well I can't have any children." "But, ma'am, it don't have to be your own seed." "You mean adopt one?" "One or a dozen!" "My grandma always said that a babe in the house is a well spring of pure joy." "Stronger than glue for keeping folks together." "I wonder." "You know, ma'am, it was you who sent me out on my first baby-sitting job." "Well, since then, I ain't been able to tell the adopted ones from the real flesh and blood ones." "I mean, they're all loved and cuddled and cherished the same, and the folks who love them, they all got the same gleam of happiness in their eyes." "I'll do it." "Tammy, I'll do it." "Oh, I should've done it years ago." "Maybe..." "Maybe a baby might bring my husband back to me the way he used to be." "That's for sure, ma'am." "Thank you, Tammy." "Heaven bless you." "And you, too, ma'am." "I can tell by your expressión you didn't do very well with Miss Jenks." "Oh, no, but I did." "No, I mean, she's just the most wonderful there is." "It's poor Mrs. Call I'm thinking about." "I'm full of foreboding about her." "Don't worry, Tammy." "We'll see it through together." "This is a closed, informal hearing to inquire into the legal competency of one Mrs. Annie Rook Call of this city, brought to court at the request of her niece, Miss Suzanne Rook of New Orleans, who, believing her aunt to be of unsound mind," "prays that the said aunt be committed to a suitable institution or confined in her own home in the care of proper attendants." "Furthermore, she prays that she, the said Suzanne Rook, be appointed conservator of the said Annie Rook Call's real and personal property with all rights and remunerations thereto." "First witness, please." "Now, Doctor, will you tell His Honor how you brought Mrs. Call to the hospital?" "Well, when she left the police boat at the dock and approached the ambulance, she suddenly became violent." "It was necessary to administer a hypodermic." "I've been with Mrs. Call six years come Christmas." "Notional and getting more so every day." "Well, I thought it was crazy to give up such a beautiful house to go live on a shanty boat, but she paid me to keep my mouth shut, so I didn't figure it was any of my business if the old lady was..." "Must I answer, Your Honor?" "Yes, you must." "Yes, it's true." "She chased out every girl I ever sent over to act as her companion, all except Miss Tyree." "She needed Tammy." "I know because I can see the wonderful change that's come over her." "Why, Tammy changed her life just as she changed mine." "I didn't ask for any personal opinions, Miss Jenks." "Isn't it a fact that all the other girls were afraid to return to Mrs. Call's home?" "Yes." "I did what I thought was right, Your Honor." "I reported her disappearance and I offered a reward." "Go on, Miss Rook." "And then I got the report that my aunt had been living in squalor on a shanty boat with a river girl of no culture or background and even fewer morals who was taking advantage of her condition." "I object, Your Honor." "Please confine yourself to facts, Miss Rook." "I have nothing more to say, Your Honor." "I merely want to do my duty in this painful matter." "Court will recess one hour for lunch." "Well, looks bad." "Suzanne's managed to make out quite a strong case." "And I reckon Mrs. Call's been mad at the whole world and now it's come back to slap her down." "How about letting me testify, Mr. Welling?" "No." "That wouldn't help." "You haven't been close to her lately." "Is there anything I can do?" "No, you'd have to testify to all that Shanty Boat Annie nonsense, Captain Joe." "That would hurt instead of help." "But if Mrs. Call loses the case, what's going to happen to Tammy and the necklace Mrs. Call gave her?" "Well, there's a strong probability a record of this hearing will be turned over to the district attorney's office for criminal prosecution." "That's ridiculous." "There must be some way to stop it." "There is, only one way." "And only one witness." "Tammy, your welfare, Mrs. Call's welfare, our entire case rests in your hands." "Mine?" "And in the time that you and Mrs. Call lived together on the Ellen B., you had an opportunity to observe her behavior?" "I think so." "Please tell this court in detail everything you observed." "Well, I don't rightly know where to begin." "Something wrong, Miss Tyree?" "No, sir." "I'm just gathering the stillness around me." "My grandpa always said that out of stillness come the proper words." "Your Honor." "Miss Tyree, we can't wait any longer." "But, sir, the proper words just don't seem to come." "Well, I reckon I'm just too scared that..." "Well, that I might say the wrong thing." "Your Honor, this being an informal hearing," "I request permissión for Mr. Thomas Freeman to take over the questioning of this witness." "It's unusual, but granted." "Your Honor." "There's no need to be frightened, Tammy." "Lawyer talk fair gives me the shivers." "But, well, now that you're here, darn if I don't have the courage to speak up and say what's on my mind!" "Please do." "Well, firstly, Your Excellency, this here trial is a mockery of injustice and plumb unfair!" "Tammy!" "I apologize, Your Honor." "I had no idea." "No, no, Mr. Welling," "I'd like to hear the witness' reason for such an astounding statement." "Well, I'd be proud and pleasured to give it to you, Your Excellency." "Firstly, did you ever talk to Mrs. Call?" "Well, no." "Did you ever spend any time with her?" "See here, young lady, I'm not on the witness stand." "Well, did you, Your Excellency?" "Well, no." "Well, then how can you sit there and pass judgment on her?" "And you, Mr. Slade, how can you slanderize a fine, noble lady like Mrs. Call by calling her non compos?" "That means she ain't got all the right parts in the proper places!" "Your Honor, I firmly protest this outrageous conduct!" "And if it was Mrs. Call who hired you first, you'd be just as rambunctious shouting to high heaven on how fine, sane and normal a lady she is." "And I dast you to deny it!" "I'm afraid this is one of the weaknesses in our judicial system, young lady." "But I must ask you to confine yourself to matters before the court." "Tammy, just tell them what you know about Mrs. Call." "Nothing else." "Well, Your Worship, it was my idea to have Mrs. Call come on the Ellen B. in the first place." "I mean, she was all alone in that big, elegant house and..." "Well, I was kind of lonesome myself on the river." "And when she first come to me, she was fat and mean and grumpy as a hog at hog-calling time." "Forgive me, ma'am, but you were." "I mean, when she walked, she wobbled that Jacob's staff in every panimbula." "But look at her now." "Why, she's lost a power of poundage and..." "Well, she's a fine figure of a lady." "But what's most important, Your Honor, is that..." "Well, she's changed inside, too." "I mean, she don't hold a grudge no more." "And she's got a kind, loving spirit." "Why, she gets pleasure out of watching birds sing and the river running and..." "Well, even just to cast a line for fish and the cooking of that fish." "Why, she come to life on the river, sir, and she got her soul back!" "I mean, it was all shriveled up in that big, elegant house." "And she taught me a heap of things, too, sir." "About the real kind of love, the until-l-die kind." "Now, Your Excellency, there can't be anything crazy about a body who does something as sane and sensible as that." "Mrs. Call is a fine, noble lady and..." "Well, I reckon that's all I got to say on the subject." "No more witnesses, Your Honor." "It will not be necessary to take this matter under advisement." "The court has considered the testimony of all the witnesses and finds the defendant of sound mind." "All that gibble-gabble for nothing." "I'm so happy I'm nigh onto busting." "Thank you, dear..." "Mrs. Call, I'm so happy for you!" "...for everything." "I'm glad it's over." "It's wonderful." "Tammy, you were great." "You really are the star of my public speaking class." "Something bothering you?" "Well, it's just them words I spoke to His Majesty, the judge, about Mrs. Call making me realize what the forever-after kind of love is." "Wasn't it the truth?" "Oh, yes, Tom, for a fact, but..." "Well, it was putting it into them words that made me realize that I..." "That I never really loved Pete." "You sure about that, Tammy?" "Oh, yes, Tom." "Real sure." "It can't be the forever-after kind of love if a man don't make a woman feel like a woman, only like a child." "You don't feel that way with me, do you?" "Oh, no, Tom." "When I'm with you, I feel like I am a woman fully growed." "I just remembered!" "Mrs. Call asked me to give you this." "She said it was yours." "Would you put it on for me, Tom?" "Uh-huh." "Oh, I'm sorry." "Oh, Tom!" "I am a woman fully growed!"