"We've gotta be quick!" "Come on!" "Pa!" "Pa, wait up!" "Pa?" "Pa?" " Pretty here, right?" " I guess." "Oh, it won't be so bad." "No rats here." "That's 'cause the wolves eat 'em." "You ain't afraid of no wolves, are you?" "You worried you won't get to see your girlfriend anymore?" "Katie ain't my girlfriend." "I've known her since I was seven." "I've known your pa since I was about that age." "Where are you goin'?" "We're here." "Good." "I can use the help." "Who else is workin'?" "Nobody." "Y'all can get set up in that trailer up the hill." "Hey, Bud..." "I'm sorry about the plant closing." "And I know that you weren't plannin' on comin' back to these parts." "I'm sorry about it, too." "Uh, I saw your pa about five or six years back, just before he died." "And he asked on you." "I told him you were doing good." "I was." "Don't eat that one." "Unless you like eatin' bugs." "I don't like to waste." "Who are you?" "Nobody." "I just moved here." "Who are you?" "I live around here." "I didn't think anybody lived out here." "Some people do." "Eli!" " What you doin' over there?" " Nothin'." "Where'd you get that apple?" "Off the tree." "That ain't your tree and that ain't your apple." "He can have an apple." "We got plenty." "I catch you with an apple, boy, you better bring a branch, too." " Who's this?" " This is Jesse." " Can I pet him?" " He's friendly." "Hey, Bud." "Hiya, buddy." "Hi, Waylon." "Ida!" "Long time." "You look well." "All right." "Let us pray." "Heavenly father, bless us, as we trust not in the works of man, but only in your divine providence." "Lead us not into sin and let us not stray into the darkness which surrounds us." "For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours forever and ever." "Amen." "Do you know who used to live here?" "No." "Didn't take too good a care of it." "We'll fix it up nice." "Why'd he ever sell off all those hogs?" "I don't know." "Guess they cost more than they made." "Guess they run out of money." "Do you know what he's gonna do with all the buildings?" "Let 'em sit, I reckon." "Don't go nosing in there." "It's dangerous." "Somebody make dinner?" "There's no water." "Did you ask Waylon about it?" "He don't want me talkin' to Waylon." "Why not?" "Ask him." "Aah!" "You come back here!" "Uhh!" "You scared the shit out of me, boy." "Come on." "Come on." "Come on, boy." "Come on, come on." "A bull in a China shop." "I..." "I'm sorry." "What are you doin' in here?" "I was using the bathroom." "In my office?" "No, in the bathroom." "I'm really sorry about this." "No harm." "Where'd you get all these?" "From the farm." "I've been digging them up since I was a kid." "They're still sharp." " You want it?" " No." "Take it." "Really?" " Where you been?" " Bathroom." "What's that?" "Waylon gave it to me." "You look like a damn girl." "Come on, help me with this." "Who are you?" "Let me see Waylon." "I asked you who you  are." "Hey, Bud." "Thank you, Bud." "Hey, Waylon." "How's the pig business?" "You mind if we talk in private?" " This shit worth anything?" " To me." "You know what's worth something to me?" "Money." "Then it's a good thing you got so much." "Well, the reason I got so much is, I make sure I got what's owed me." " Know what I mean?" " Yeah, I know what you mean." " So when are you gonna pay me?" " I'll pay you." "Oh, I know you'll pay me." "I said, when?" "When I pay you." "Don't make do something about you, Waylon." "If you don't pay me, I'm gonna take this pretty farm." "Why don't you just sell it?" "Lord knows you ain't actually farming it." "What's keeping you here, anyway?" "History." "History." "You keep living for the past, you ain't gonna have no future." "You got two weeks." "Have a good day." "Why do you hate Waylon so much?" "He ain't trustworthy." " Then why are you workin' for him?" " You got any better ideas?" " Were you two friends as kids?" " We played." "Then what happened?" "Go see if your mother needs help." "Go on, get!" "It's okay, it's okay." "It's okay, boy." " He doesn't like you too much." " I don't like him, either." "Jesse?" "Why not?" "He kills the rabbits." "Bites their legs off." "Oh." "You wouldn't do a thing like that, now, would you?" "Where'd you get that?" "Found it." "It's yours, right?" "Finders keepers." "What's your name?" "Amanda." "Jesse!" "Come here, boy." "What's this fence doing here?" " Do you know what's back there?" " I don't know." "Curious?" "It's private property." " Ain't it Waylon's land?" " No." "Whose is it, then?" "I want to see." "No." "What?" "Leave it alone, all right?" "Why?" "Just promise me." "All right." "Promise." "What?" "Huh?" "What are you lookin' at?" "Nothin'." "Your shirt has a tear in it." "I know." "Why don't you fix it?" "Who am I gonna impress?" "Me." "What do you think of me now you know my shirt's got a hole?" "I don't know." "I like you." "You go swimming in the lake yet?" "No." "Meet me tomorrow?" " Boo!" " Jesus, Katie..." "Eli?" "How'd you get out here?" "I stole the keys after she went to bed." " Where'd you park?" " Down a ways." "Nobody'll see it." "This is crazy." "What are you so worried about?" "You're basically grounded forever just by living out here." "Come on." "I'm glad to see you." "I think I've gone crazy out here." "No, thanks." " It'll loosen you up." " I'm plenty loose." "Yeah, right." "You're about as loose as your mom's asshole." "What have you been doing in my mom's asshole?" "Look, just take a sip." "It makes you happy, farm boy." "When was the last time you could say that?" "I don't like it." "But it likes you." "Come on, now." "What are you... pa's gonna think I got in his." "Why do you do that?" "Don't get up." "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to." "You look cute when you're mad." "You don't look too cute when I'm mad, so..." "Oh!" "What?" "Why don't you kiss me?" "It's not a sin if I'm drunk." "You're just chicken, kid." "You start believing in hell all of a sudden, or something?" "I think I might already be there." "Nice to see you, too." "I don't mean you, okay?" "Morning." "Where were you?" " Pissing." " Where were you?" "The field." "Do you want to go for a walk?" "Don't you have to get the car back, or..." "It's Saturday." "They won't get up till 1:00 or 2:00." "So does anyone else live out here?" "Heh." "Uh, no." "I bet a bunch of inbred rednecks live out here." "What?" "What?" "What do you keep looking around for?" "Um..." "Me?" "Nothin'." " Are there bears out here?" " No." " Do you want to go back?" " No, I'm having fun." "Yeah, you're a riot." " Where are you going?" " Shortcut." "Shortcut to us being lost?" "We cut straight through these woods, we'll hit the farm." "Whoa." " You see this before?" " No." "Hey, what are you doing?" "You chicken?" "No, but what if it's somebody's house?" "Are you kidding me?" "No one lives here." "Aah!" "What are you doing?" " It's fake." " What?" "Yeah, it's straw." "It's fake." "Oh, my God." "Freakin' scarecrow." "Scared you  pretty good, old crow." "Bite me." "Some kids probably put it up as a prank." "Can we get out of here?" "Hey." "You came." "Who else comes here?" "No one." "Never?" "No." "What are you doing?" "I don't want to get my clothes wet." "So you're just gonna take 'em off?" "You never seen a girl out of her clothes before?" "Heh." "Are you religious?" "'Cause I don't have to." "I don't want Jesus mad at me." "Jesus don't stay mad too long." "You can look now." "Aren't you gonna come in?" "I don't know." "You don't have to if it's a sin." "Sinning don't bother me." "Well, what are you waiting for, then?" "Cover your eyes." "Can I look now?" "Yeah." "How's it feel?" "Good." "You swim like this with other boys before?" "Just my brother, when we were kids." "You have a brother?" "I had one." "Aah!" "Are you shy?" "You shouldn't be." "Why not?" "I don't bite." "I don't know if I believe you." "You want to come over and watch a movie sometime or something?" "We don't bite, either." "My pa does a little bit, maybe, but... what does he do?" "Nothin'." "Did he hit you?" "No, no." "No, not really." "He didn't start out that way." "How do you know that?" "Nobody starts out bad." "You mind turning off the shit-mobile for a minute?" " How's things goin'?" " Fine." "You have any idea when that tobacco crop might be ready to sell?" "It'll be a while yet." "We need to turn that into cash as soon as we can." "Can't rush nature." "Where's Eli?" "Shouldn't he be helpin' out?" "You think I'll end up good or bad?" "I don't know." "It depends." "On what?" "Bad things happen." "If you're weak, it'll break you." "I'm not weak." "I'm not." "I don't get you." "You got me if you want me." "Come here, Eli." "You been out in the woods much?" "Yeah." "Seen any trespassers?" "No." "Well, you see any, you let me know." "Okay." "What you doin' in there?" "Nothin'." "Well, as long as you ain't setting' fires and cuttin' up trees." "I got more respect than that." "Come on, now." "Good." "You know, there's a lot of history." "The civil war was fought here." "Pioneers died here." "Underground railroad even came through here." " Really?" " Yeah." "Come here." "Let me show you something." " See these shoes?" " Yeah." "These belonged to a runaway slave by the name of Barnaby." "My great-great-grandfather John tried to help him... let him sleep in a barn." "But then his father... my great-great-great- grandfather Horace... got a hold of old Barnaby and took him out deep, deep into the woods and hung him from a tree." "Told John what he did, but wouldn't tell him where." "Gave him the poor boy's shoes to prove it." "Of course, now they're both a part of the farm." "And so is he." "Of course... heh heh..." "John never did find the body." "Where did you get all the guns?" "Oh, mostly collected by father and my grandfather over the years." "They're worth something." "So don't you be taking them hunting or nothin'." "You ever gonna sell any of this stuff?" "Those I'm taking with me to my grave." "Waylon, did you ever know of anybody named Amanda?" "Why do you ask?" "Oh, I'm just wondering." "Did you see her?" "Yeah." "Where?" "Where did you see her?" " I don't know..." " Did she say anything to you?" "What'd she say?" "Nothin' much." "Who is she?" "Boy..." "You stay away from her." "She's dangerous." "All right." "And if you see her again, you tell me." "Okay?" "Yeah." "Good." " Where'd you go?" " Nowhere." " Who were you with?" " No one." "So you were nowhere with no one..." " I guess doing nothin', huh?" " Yeah." "Know what I was doin'?" "I was workin' my ass off while you were doing nothin'." "You were supposed to spray the tobacco." "I can't trust you with nothin'." "Were you with that city girl..." "Katie?" "Are you drunk?" "You won't be so smart when you're burnin' in hell." "At least I'll have you for some company." "Eli!" "What are you doing out here?" "He's drinking." "Yeah, I know." "What's that?" "What was it?" "A lamp." "Bastard can rot in the dark." "I'm sorry." "Hey, buddy." "Hey, Bud." "You ain't so scary, huh?" "Come on, let's go for a walk, huh?" "Come on." "Come on, buddy." "Must be a lot of rabbits in there, huh, boy?" "Here." "Here, Jesse, boy." "Through here." "You promised." "Liar!" "Liar!" "Liar!" "Liar!" "Jesse!" "Why didn't you listen to me?" "You don't have to work today." " Bud, tell him he doesn't have to work..." " It's okay, ma." "I feel like workin'." "Bud?" "If he wants to work, let him work." "Children" "Children see" "By strength, by will" "By stars" "Amanda?" "I don't care what you are." "Amanda, come out and talk to me." "I'm sorry!" "I shouldn't have hopped over that fence!" "Please just talk to me." "Tell me what happened to you." "Mornin'." "Mornin'." "Pa, did Waylon ever have any siblings growing up?" "No." "What are you lying for?" "Waylon had a sister." " What was her name?" " Amanda." "She and your papa were sweethearts before we got together." "That's enough." "They were set to run off together, but she ran off on her own." "I said that's enough." "I don't think she ran off, pa." "I found her body." "Get your damn hand off me." "Hey." "What are you doing here?" "I snuck out here." "I'm grounded." " What did you do?" " I called Mark a dickwad." "Well, he is a dickwad." "How could you get in trouble for that?" "Right?" "God, I hate them so much." "At least Mark isn't your real dad." "Let's run away." "Where do you want to go?" " Dallas." " Dallas?" "Why?" "Mark hates the cowboys." "I don't know." "I just want to leave this goddamn place, go back to the city." "Where do you want to go?" "Do you have any money?" "You're serious?" "Dead serious." "Come on." "Let's just drive." "We can go to, like, louisville, live in the car until we find an apartment." " I have $257..." " I can't." "Why not?" "Don't you hate it here?" "I can't, Katie." "What the hell am I supposed to do?" "If you have to run..." "Run." "You lookin' for someone?" "Are you following me?" "These are my woods, boy." "I go where I want." "I thought I told you to stay away from her." "She was your sister." "I know who she was." "Well, I'll just stay away from her, then." "She's a murderer." "Bud?" "It's me, ma." "Evening, Bud." "I always thought she run out on me." "But she didn't." "Why don't you put that pitchfork down?" "What kind of demon are you, to do that to a harmless little girl?" " I don't know what you're talkin' about." " You know damn well what I'm talkin' about!" " She was gonna leave me." " So you hung her by the neck?" "Your own sister?" "Did you rape her?" "Did you?" "!" "God!" "I loved her." "I had to protect her." "Protect her?" "I kept her safe." "Aaaah!" "That girl's been haunting me my whole life." "Now she finally took him from me." "He always wanted her over me." "Now he died over her." "What do I got left?" "I'm sorry about your loss." "What was his last words?" "He said he loved you, ma." "Don't you stand beside your father's grave and lie to me." "He said, "kill him."" "Why don't you, uh..." "Go inside and get cleaned up?" "I'm gonna fix us all some dinner." "Thank you, Waylon." "Eli, would you take a walk with me?" "I'm sure that that service wasn't free." "And I know y'all don't have much money." "Believe it or not, I ain't exactly too fat in the hip myself, neither, but..." "I wanted you to have this to help out as I could." "I'll be sure to give it to ma." "Well, you gotta take care of her now." "You're the man." "Ain't nobody gonna protect your family but you." "You know what happened up there with your pa was an accident, right?" "Sure." "He come at me for something he believed I'd done, and I didn't have no choice but to protect myself." " You saying you didn't do it?" " No." "No, sir, I ain't sayin' that." "But maybe I had a good reason." "That man in the hole in the ground, the man she killed..." "that was our father." "I..." "I thought you had gone." "No, I didn't." "Are you cold?" "No." "No." "Sorry." "Everything's going so fast." "And I just feel so left alone." "I need someone to take care of me." "You got Eli..." "And you got me." "You think I'm ugly." "No, I don't." "You think I'm pathetic." "I feel sorry for you." "Well, then..." "Take pity on me." "I am way..." "Way more pathetic than you'll ever be, Ida." "Eli." "Eli?" "Eli?" "Aah!" "Waylon, hurry!" "Joe, Joe, put her down." "Put her down." "Mr. Peterson wants his money, Waylon." "Your time ran out." "He'll get it." "He wants it now." "I don't have it now." " Aaah!" " Ohh!" "Uhh!" "You got three days until we come back and take this farm and you wind up at the bottom of the lake." "Damn!" "Ohh!" "Eli:" "Amanda!" "Amanda, come out and talk to me!" "You're alive." "You're not scared of me?" "Should I be?" "No." "Is Eli here?" "No." "Know when he'll be back?" "I'm sorry." "Can you tell him Katie took off, and if he wants to find me..." "I guess tough shit." "Yeah, I'll tell him." "Who was that?" "It's a friend of Eli's." "Who are those people you owe money to?" "The local bank." "They sure don't act like any bankers I ever seen." "Well, they ain't exactly F.D.I.C." "I have more boxes in the truck." "May I?" "Go ahead." "Holy God." "You know what this is?" "My great-great-granddaddy pulled that off a dead union troop in his cornfield before he burned him." "Of course I know what that is." " Did you find him?" " Waylon showed me." "What'd he do to you?" "Him?" "Nothin'." "Waylon said he was your father and that you killed him." "I didn't kill my father." "He died in a hunting accident when we were kids." "Waylon shot him." "But this isn't him." " Well, who's this?" " This is Barnaby." "He was a runaway slave." "Waylon has his shoes." " I thought he was hung." " He was." "On the same tree where I hang." "And he wandered the woods the same way I do." "Waylon made me watch as he cut Barnaby down." "What happened to him when Waylon cut him down?" "He disappeared..." "Into nothing'." "Are we safe here?" "I don't know." "You good at horse?" "Not really." " Oh!" " Mmm?" " Shit." " Ha ha!" "Did you ever see anybody else out here before me?" "Just hikers, mostly." "Or trespassers." "Did you ever spook anyone?" " Maybe once." " What happened?" "Oh, it was just some kids up to no good." "That car outside..." "I turned it on." "I bet they looked like they'd seen a ghost." "You know what I miss?" "Dancing." "I've always thought I wanted to run away." "Now I want to stay here forever." "Become like you." "You can't." "Why not?" "I need you to protect me." "Do you promise?" "Where is she?" "I don't know." "You were just talkin' to her." "I heard you." "I was talkin' to myself." "I will cut her down if she don't talk to me." "You wouldn't do that." "I will slice you like a pig, you get in my way, boy." "Waylon?" "Can I touch you?" "What do you want?" "I want to tell you I'm sorry." " And I want for you to forgive me." " You did something unforgivable." " I was so young." " I was younger." "But you... you were gonna leave." "How can I protect you if you were gonna leave?" "I wasn't yours to protect." "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." "I'm so sorry." "I'm so sorry." "Oh, no." "No!" "Go." "Go on, go." "Go on, get." "Go, go, go!" "Go!" "Stay here." "You stay here." "Waylon, I can't let you do this." "Uhh!" "God!" "You love her..." "Don't you?" "!" "She love you, too?" "Like father, like son." "He's chasing me." " Where is he?" " Everywhere." "Amanda." "Eli!" "Cut him down!" "I can't." "He's on the same rope." "Shit." "Aah!" "Aaah!" "Cut him down!" "If you love me..." "Kill me." "Please!" "Who knows the things" "Oh, one who knows?" "What are you dreaming of?" "Of opened rest?" "Girl where did you stay so long, girl?" "Where did you stay so long?" "I feel strong" "The answer she gave" "Simply was" "I'll show you" "Where the lilies grow" "At the banks..." "Where's Waylon?" " Gone." " Gone where?" "I don't know." "When'll he be back?" "I don't think he will." "Well, did he happen to leave anything here for me?" "That's for you." "Looks like you been in a scrape." "Am I about to get into another?" "No, sir." "Y'all have a good day." "What'd they want?" "Their money." "They get it?" "What happened to you?" "I fell down the stairs." "What's all this?" "Waylon ran off." "It says he left me the farm." "I mean, why would he just run off?" "People run off all the time." "You don't sound surprised." "I want to" "I want to know..." "I'll be damned if you don't look more and more like your father every day." "As long as I don't act like him." "He wasn't always such a hard man, Eli." "Something bad happened to him, and it changed him." "I won't ever let anything bad happen to you." "I promise." "We love it here, ma'am." "The trailer's real nice." "Please... call me Ida." "Ida, this is Billy... my husband." "And I don't know where Laura ran off to." "The last kind words" "I heard my daddy say" "Lord, the last kind words" "I heard my daddy say" "If I die, if I die" "In the German war" "I want you to send my body" "Send it to my mother, lord" "If I get killed, if I get killed" "Please don't bury my soul" "I prefer just leave me out" "Let the buzzards eat me whole" "When you see me comin'" "Look across the rich man's field" "And if I don't bring you flour" "I'll bring you bolted meal" "I went to the depot" "I looked up at the stars" "Cried, some train don't come" "There'll be some walking 'done" "My mama told me" "Just before she died" "Lord, precious daughter" "Don't you be so wild" "The Mississippi river" "You know, it's deep and wide" "I can stand right here" "See my babe from the other side" "What you do to me, baby" "It never gets out of me" "I may not see you" "After I cross the deep blue sea"