" I haven't been to bed yet." " Stay in there." "Stay." " Hey." " I noticed your car was headed in." " Yes, I'm still in my party dress." "See?" " Let me out." "Ow!" " Come on out, Mr. Dobyne." "Don't let him bully you that way." " Come on out here, Dad." "Fisher wants to see you." " Okay, okay." " Careful, careful." " Good morning." " Miss Willow, you know my father," "Mr. James Dobyne." "He's in charge of your father's commissary." "Held the job nearly two weeks now, and that's a record for him." "That's the longest he's held a job since the Spanish-American War." " Well, here he is bright and early on a Monday." " Yes, ma'am." "This here's my boy, a Mr. James Dobyne V." " I know your son, Mr. Dobyne." " That's good, Dad." "Blow your stinkin' hooch breath in her face so she can give a complete description of your condition at 8:00 this morning to her father, Mr. Alex Willow." "That'll fix everything up real good." " Mr. Dobyne, I think your condition is fine." "I wish my condition this morning was half as good." " Jimmy, get in the car and drive up to the house with me." "I want you to do something for me." "Will you let him go, Mr. Dobyne?" "I'll bring him back in one hour." " Why, sure, sure, Fisher." "Yeah, okay." "What I want tell you is that I think that I found out why small planters in this country don't like your daddy." "It's 'cause last spring, he blown up the south end of his levee so the rest wouldn't break, and consequently, all the planters south of his place were underwater." "Whew." "Your father's not popular with them." "In fact, they hold him personally responsible for the drowning of two white men and one old crippled white lady and five or six negroes." " Mr. Dobyne, my father knows about that, but he didn't dynamite that levee without a telephone warning to every place south of here." "Jimmy, come on." "Get in the car." " Oh, I can't go car riding now, Fisher." " Just up to the house." "Will you, please?" "I've got to ask you something." "Let's stop here." "I can't smoke in the house." "Apparently, my father's selfish action last spring with its... tragic consequences to a number of helpless persons south of here is very well known in Memphis." "I wonder if their moral objections are as strong as mine." "I barely speak to my father anymore." "But they find it convenient to hold it against me, you see." "Oh, I'm sure they also resent other things about me probably even more:" "my foreign education, my tendency to make sharp remarks about things that strike me as stupidly provincial." "I'm considered sarcastic." "I want to escape, but since I have now supposedly completed my education," "Aunt Fisher's determined that I have this... debut, even though I am older than most of the other debutantes, who would never dream of going to college." "And I have to go through with it to please Aunt Fisher so she won't leave $5 million to the Episcopal Church when she dies but to me." " Don't you have enough money already?" " A person of my kind never has enough money." " Well, you don't mean you're greedy, do you?" " No, I just know that I'll have to buy most everything that I want." "Why don't you look at me?" " I don't know what you want." " You." " Me?" " Yes." " Why?" " To take me out in Memphis, to escort me to these agonizing parties." " How can I take you to these agonizing parties and run the commissary and watch out for Dad?" " I just need you nights, two or three nights a week." "The rest of the time, Aunt Fisher's lawyer will do." " Well, surely he's not your only prospect, Fisher." " Auntie Fisher would never permit me to be seriously involved with anyone outside her circle of acquaintances, either direct or by reputation, Jimmy." "I could have married a titled Italian in Venice." "When I intimated my infatuation with him," "Aunt Fisher cabled me, "Come home at once."" "I started not to, but, um... practical considerations seem to run in my blood as well as... sensual." "I hope you've listened to me and understood me." " Oh, yes." "I had a scholarship to Ole Miss." " I know." "Now, drive us up to the house." "Jimmy." "Up here." " Who's gonna measure me?" " I shall, with your assistance." "Hold your arms out for the tape." "Oh, take off that sloppy old shirt." "Of course, you're gonna need shirts, evening shirts." "And, Jimmy, don't hold your arms over your head like this was a holdup." "Hold them straight out to your sides like a cross." "Only don't suffer on it so much." " Fisher, there's one thing I want you to know about my old man." "He's a sincere, honest person, a stinker, yeah, a real stinker, but what he told you about the local attitude towards your father was meant-- it was meant good." " Jimmy, will you please help me measure your legs?" "Hold the end of the tape at the inside top of your thigh while I" " Yeah." "Were you listening to me, Fisher, about my old man?" " Yes." "You said that he was a stinker." " Well, I said he was a stinker, but I said he was a sincere, honest man." "Know what she done?" "Measured me for clothes to take her to Memphis parties." " Garden pilgrims." "Garden pilgrims with dogs not admitted." "No dogs can enter the gardens." " Excuse me." "I am very sorry, madam, but Miss Cornelia Fisher cannot allow dogs to enter her gardens, because last fall, a dog was very, um... destructive." "I'm so sorry." " Susie, will you please take this beast upstairs, and will you please bring me up a steaming-hot glass of milk and a hot water bottle and tell Auntie Fisher I'm gonna sleep for hours and to get Miss Grace to cancel any engagements" "on my list for today?" "Say I'm dead or something else to amuse them." " You've still got your party dress on." " Fisher." "Was that Fisher?" "Fisher." " Hello, Mama." "How are they treating you?" "I need to talk to you." "It's about a girl." "She made this proposition, and I just wanted to know what you would think." "Mama, it's Jimmy." " A young man just arrived in a truck, says he's expected by you." " Fisher." " In here, Jimmy." "I nearly despaired of your arrival." "The party's been on for an hour." "Look, all of your dress clothes are laid out on the bed." "Please, get into them lickety-split." "Jimmy, you look dazed." "Is something wrong?" " I visited mother today." "She didn't know who I was." " Jimmy, she'll soon be out." " Mama was committed." " There are better places." "Arrangements can be made." "It's just a question of time." "Get out of those wet things." "Susie, bring Jimmy a brandy, or would you like champagne?" "You've had a shock." "Make it champagne laced with brandy." " I'm undressing right in front of you as if you weren't a girl." " Propriety is a waste of time." "We don't have time to waste." "Get right into the tuxedo." " This thing looks complicated." " Oh, Susie will help you, or would you accept help from me?" " Susie, please." " I see." "Well, Susie, make sure he comes down to be presented to Aunt Cornelia impeccably dressed in the contents of that box." "This is going to be the first debut party of the season at which I will shine with pride." " Fisher, Mr. Van Hooven's waiting." " What?" "Oh, my goodness." "Did I forget to tell him that my escort tonight is James Dobyne V?" " What?" " What?" " Oh, Van, don't get up." " You're relieved of duty tonight." "I have another escort." "So you and Aunt Cornelia can spend the evening together discussing old times." " I don't understand this at all." " I don't understand." " The explanation is about to enter." "Mr. James Dobyne," "Aunt Cornelia Fisher and her attorney, Craig Van Hooven." "Hmm." "Well..." " Dobyne?" " Dobyne?" " Oh, Aunt Cornelia, surely you remember Governor Dobyne." " Governor Dobyne." " And this young man is" " His grandson." "Good night, Auntie." "We're terribly late." "Have fun together." "Play cards or discuss litigations or consummate the long romance between you." "Aunt Cornelia, may I wear the teardrop diamond earrings tonight?" " Those earrings are worth $10,000, Fisher, and the clasps are getting loose, and you're so careless with things." " It's such a special occasion." "Please, Auntie?" " Oh." "Jimmy, fasten them for me?" "My fingers are shaky tonight, too much black coffee." "d d" "The receiving line's breaking up." " What do I do?" " Wait till the lady extends her hand." "Then just take it and smile." "Why, Caroline." "Why, you've got that band that played so divinely at Jessie Strutt's." "I bet when I walk in, they'll strike up my favorite number." " Which is what?" " One moment." "Let me appear." "Fats!" "Fats, my song." "d d" "Come on, let's dance." "d d" " She tips that band leader $50 for every dance he plays for her." " I wonder what she tips the governor's grandson." " Shall I inquire?" " I dare you." " Accepted." "Mr. Dobyne," "I've been released for the waltz." " I'm sorry, Miss..." " Caroline." " But I'm not employed by you." "d d" "Excuse me." "d d" " Thank you." "Jimmy." "Where on Earth were you?" "What were you doing?" " I promised Dad I'd call him about Mama's condition." " Did you?" " It was a promise." "I said I found her fine." " Your instincts are infallible." "And you're the cynosure of all female eyes at the party." "Let's, uh..." " Yes?" " Cool off on the terrace." " Whatever you say." " Fisher." " Yes?" " What lovely earrings." " Thank you, my teardrop diamonds." " Your ears are weeping diamonds." " Where'd you get them?" " Naturally, from Woolworths." "Will you let us get through?" "This room is suffocating." "d d" "How cool, the river wind." " Mm." " Music is so much nicer from a distance." "d See the boat go round the bend d d Good-bye, my lover, good-bye d" "d All loaded down with boys and men d d Good-bye, my lover, good-bye d d Bye, oh, my baby d d Bye d" "Jimmy?" "d d" " Jimmy!" " Murderer's daughter." " Shut up." "Are you hurt, Fisher?" " Where'd you go?" " If I said, "To pee," would it be embarrassing to you?" "Oh, Lord, Jimmy." "I'm not sure if embarrassment is still an emotion I could feel." "d d" " Let's go." "Come on, Dad." "Let's go." "Come on." " Lead the way." " I got you." " Is this my mail?" " Go through it right after breakfast." " I have to go through this right now." "Another, please." " Fisher, you shouldn't begin the day with two cups of black coffee." " What should I begin it with, Auntie?" "I must have missed it." "This is the latest that it could have arrived if it was ever going to." " What are you referring to, Fisher?" " My invitation to Susie Bracken's party, the most important coming-out party of the season." " Let me go through the mail for you." " You wouldn't find it either." "She ignored me completely last night, so I'm not surprised." " I am." " It's not the end of the world." " Nor the beginning." " Who knows?" "I have an excellent alternative, an invitation to a Halloween party at Julie Fenstermaker's place next month." " Where is her place?" " North of Father's, of course, and so less affected by the incidents surrounding last spring's floods." " Thank you, dears, for coming today to support the Memphis Park Commission." "I have invited a precious group of Memphis youths to my garden to perform one of their darling little pageants." "And this one, I believe, is entitled The End of Summer." " I'm sorry, Mr. Dobyne, but your mother says she does not wish to see you this afternoon." "Come back some other time." "I'm sure she'll be feeling... differently soon." "Oh!" "d d" " Son." " Yeah, Dad?" " If your mother don't recognize you anymore, wouldn't it be better not to visit her anymore?" "Your mother got pride, you know?" "And I think maybe it might be a relief to her if you stopped going out there... like I did." "She don't want to be seen by her son in her present, awful condition." " Somebody's got to check on her present, awful condition to see that it doesn't get worse." " How could it get any worse?" " There are very few conditions in life that can't get worse if nothing's done to at least try to... check 'em." "Dad, you know what I could do?" "I could serve Fisher Willow as more than an escort to parties." "She's hinted repeatedly that she'd like... intimacy with me." " Well..." "I just..." " The intimacy would have to end up in marriage, maybe not soon but eventually." "Here comes the Pierce-Arrow." " Well, I'll just step inside." "I'll just step inside." " Take your bottle, Dad." " Light a cigarette for me, will you, please?" "Am I crowding you?" " No." "No." " What?" "Camels?" " Yeah." " Good." "I'm gonna test your powers of observation." "Describe to me the scene on the package." "Tell me what's all in the picture on the camel package." " A camel, man on a camel, palm tree, pyramid in the background..." "That's all I can remember." " Most people forget the figure behind the camel, the man on foot behind the camel rider." " I hadn't noticed him either." "It's so lovely, so peaceful here." "I almost never feel really peaceful, you know?" "When I accepted Julie's invitation to this Halloween party," "I was killing two birds with one stone." " Which two birds do you mean?" " Julie was really my only good friend at All Saints' College before I went to the Sorbonne in Paris." "The other bird, well..." "I've missed you, Jimmy, my only attractive escort to Memphis parties." "Don't." "Don't go yet." "Why are you so anxious to leave?" " I'm not anxious." " Fisher, you're shivering." "You must be chilly." " People don't always shiver because they're chilly." "And how could I be chilly in my leopard-skin coat?" "Really, you are silly, Jimmy." "Isn't that why I like you?" "d d" " Hey, why'd you do that?" " What?" " Jumped out before the car stopped." "You could have got hurt." "Hurt?" "Me?" "Never, but thanks for your solicitude." "Oh, Lord." "Do you know what's happened?" "One of my teardrop diamonds has fallen off." "I mustn't move." "Oh, I--I think it fell off right here where I'm standing." "Look in the car." "It must have come loose in the car." "I'll stand here where I stopped." "It may be under the gravel that you kicked around." " Who's there?" " It's me." " Fishy." " It's us, I mean." " They seem to be looking for something?" " It might be a good idea to turn the car lights on, don't you think, Jimmy?" " Did you lose something, Fisher?" " Nothing less than a $5,000 teardrop diamond, honey." " My Lord." "Where?" " Somewhere between the car and where I'm standing." " You see it on the drive, Fisher?" " No." "Do you see it in the car?" " Looking, still looking." " Is that Jim Dobyne in the car?" " Yes, but that's scarcely my concern at the moment." " It's nowhere in the front of the car." " I had it on when I got in the car." "And I didn't get out of the car anywhere on the way here, did I?" " You're out of the car now, Fisher." " Well, look around where I'm standing." " Fisher, you walked halfway to the house before you discovered you lost it." " I guess I know how far from the car I walked." "Will you please borrow a flashlight from the house?" "Is that too much to ask of you?" " Fisher, don't get hysterical." "I'll bring you a flashlight." " Who is that common-looking tramp talking to my escort?" " Vinnie, my cousin." "Now, excuse me." "I'll go get you that flashlight." " I've never been to Julie's before." " You look good." "I've never seen you in a suit before." " Fisher, I thought you said you were gonna stay where you thought you dropped it." " I'm retracing my steps to the car." " Never expected to see you again in my life." " God, I'm glad you're here, Vin." " I don't want to interrupt your reunion." "Old friends, are you, Jimmy?" " I'm Julie's cousin, Lavinia McCorkle." " How do you do?" "Julie's gone for a flashlight." "Obviously..." " What?" " The earring dropped off before I got out of the car." " Well, now, just where was that?" "You were out before we stopped like a jumping flea." " A charming simile." "So you are Julie's cousin?" " Didn't I say so?" " Sometimes there's no resemblance between relations." " I'm gonna go back up the car since you did jump out before we stopped." " I did not." " You did." " Don't move the car." "I'll go look for it." " Oh, she's very cross with you, Jimmy." "I hope she doesn't think you're responsible for the loss." " I'm gonna go back up that goddamn car." "She did jump out before it stopped." "Mad at me." "Yeah, mad as hops, and I think I know why." " Flashlight." " I doubt somehow that it's gonna be recovered." "You did back up the car." " You did jump out before I stopped." " Are you calling me a liar?" " I saw her jump out of the car too." " How about you, Julie?" " Oh, it's so terribly dark," "I just saw the car lights as you entered the drive." " This young lady who says she's your cousin must have exceptional vision." " Jimmy, I think I know what happened." "It fell in a pocket of your jacket." " You think I got it on me?" " Jimmy." "Where do you think you're going, Jimmy Dobyne?" " Well, if your accusation is right, to the county jail." " What accusation?" "I made no accusation." " Here's my jacket." "Search the pockets." "I will do no such thing." "You misunderstood me." "I only meant it could have dropped in your pocket by accident." "You know it." "Don't you remember?" "I..." "I leaned my head on your shoulder on the levee." "That's probably when... oh, this is absurd." "I'm ruining my slippers on this gravel drive." " Well, you go back and enjoy the party." "I couldn't go now." " I can't go back without a date." " Well, wouldn't it be better than going back with a suspected thief?" " You've got to go back with me." "Think of the talk if you don't." " Look through the pockets of the jacket." " If you insist." " Of course, I ought to be searched to the skin." "That's what I'll demand if I go back there with you." " You don't understand me yet, Jimmy." " Does anybody?" " Nobody I know of, to tell you the truth." "I'm an only child and the heiress of two fortunes." " Do you always talk so much about your financial prospects depending on death?" " In Memphis, it's not necessary." "It's too well known." " And has it made you popular there?" " With some kinds of people, yes." " The kind of people you like?" " I don't like people, but sometimes I like one person." " And do I have the honor of being the one you liked till you lost your teardrop diamond?" " Why else would I be here with you?" "Come on." "Please." "d d" " Haven't I seen you before?" " Not that I recall." " Oh, I know." "It was just a photo of you as debutante of the season in Memphis." " Julie." " We came out last season, still go to the important parties in Memphis, such as Susie Bracken's." " Yes, her debut's tonight." "We were invited, of course, but we" " Didn't want to disappoint Julie." " You seem to be alone here." "Did you come here alone?" " I don't see how that concerns you." " We just thought if you're here alone, we'd gladly introduce you to some of the" " Guests, yes." " Since I'm a close friend of Julie's," "I'm sure she'll introduce me to anyone present that I care to know." "Excuse me." " Now, you turn these damn pockets out and put everything you find in it on this table." "Come down here from a social debut in Memphis and accuse me of stealing a diamond." "I liked that girl, Fisher Willow." "I really did." " Drink your drink, son." " I tell you, that damn girl thinks I stole a diamond off her, and that's why I got to be searched." "Now, I'm gonna take off all my clothes, and I want you fellows to go through every single pocket, any place on me that I could hide a diamond." " Now, now, son, everybody knows you never stole anything, nobody that knows the Dobynes, and I had the honor of knowing your granddaddy as well as I knew my own father." "Why, nobody with a grain of sense would possibly imagine Mr. Dobyne" " No, Mr. Fenstermaker, you don't understand." "My father was accused by the Hobsons of stealing when he worked for them." " Keep your clothes on, son." "Just set down and have a drink with me, huh?" "You got yourself all worked up over nothing, nothing." " Mr. Fenstermaker, I am asking you to go through the pockets of this tuxedo." "In insist on being searched." " Julie?" "Julie?" " Miss Willow." " What?" " Julie's aunt wants to see you." " Oh, please make some excuse for me." " Fisher, Fisher Willow." " Oh, Lord." " Just for a moment, Miss Willow." "She's determined to see you." " Why?" " I don't know why, Miss Willow, but she positively refuses to go to sleep till she's seen you." " Fisher." " Hello." "How are you, Miss Addie?" " Thank you for coming in." "I know how unpleasant it is to enter this chamber of horrors." " Why do you call it a chamber of horrors, Miss Addie?" " 'Cause that's just what it is." "Would you please close this door?" "Would you please lock it?" "I want to have a completely private talk with you." "Now come over here so I don't have to raise my voice." "I have the use of my voice." "My heart and my lungs and the other internal organs that one can't control remorselessly continue." "As for the rest of me, it's stone dead, Fisher." "Are you in a hurry to get back down to the party?" " No." " We met only once before." "Your Aunt Cornelia and I had had a brief but memorable encounter in Hong Kong." "Two years ago when I was here for a short visit, she brought you along when she paid me a call at my" " Of course, I remember." "You had a little" " Yeah, cottage on Sand Island." " She said you wrote travel books." " My base was Hong Kong." "There's much tolerance there." "And here?" " I would say none at all." " Yes." "So I elected to spend my life in the tolerant Orient." "But things that one elects are often circumvented by others." "I think you know about that." "Yes." "I know about that." " I had a stroke in China." "It was a slight one, but I knew--I was told-- there'd be others." "And unfortunately..." "Fisher?" " Oh, you're being called back downstairs." "I have to get on with this quickly." "I had to stay in China because I'd become addicted to something that I could only have there." " What to?" "To what, Miss Addie?" " To a drug that made it bearable for me to live when living became unbearable for me." "You see, I'd quit my travels and settled down in one place and, needing something so badly to make life bearable," "I found something:" "the poppy, the smoke of the burning poppy." "And then early last summer, the terrible thing that was coming, that the drug made me forget was coming, happened." "I had the strokes that caused my present condition." "My brother Jack was told, and I was brought back here by force, as I am kept living in agony by force." "And then I was... withdrawn from my... my comfort." " Miss Addie, why are you telling me this story?" " Because I remember the last time I saw you, the impression you made on me." "There was something hard and honest about you." "I thought you could do something for me, the only thing that can be done for me now." "You see, I see nobody but people that can't imagine." "You can." "You can imagine, Fisher." "Oh, they give me something, but it's not enough." "You see that bottle over there on the mantel?" "You could get it for me, and I could resume my travels." "Do you know what I mean?" "Have I made myself perfectly clear?" "Nobody could possibly guess that you gave it to me." "They'd think I just had my last stroke... in my sleep." " How many?" " All." "All." "Well, that's not all, Fisher." " Fisher, open this door." " I'll come back later." " You promise?" " Swear on my word of honor." " Fisher." " I'll come back up for this other diamond earring and my leopard-skin coat." " Fisher, Jimmy was searched to the skin before witnesses, and all he had on him was three sticks of peppermint gum, a few cigarettes, $3.47, and..." " "And"?" "And what?" " And something in a small unopened package almost completely flat and the keys to your car." " What is this all about?" " It's all about Fisher Willow's attempt to buy an escort for her debut parties in Memphis, provide him with clothes, and now accuse him of stealing a diamond from her." "Why?" "Not easy to guess." " Oh, have you guessed, Miss McCorkle?" "What have you guessed?" " He hasn't responded to your courtship as you'd expected." " I must be getting drowsy." "I don't understand all of this." "Julie, take your loud-voiced cousin out of here, would you, please, so I can finish my talk with Fisher?" "You know excitement is not allowed in sickrooms." " Fisher, you will say that the earring fell down your dress." " I will say whatever I can without lying." "I'm not a liar, Julie." " Julie, will you please take yourself and this other girl out of here?" "Good night, Miss Addie." " You know, I really did lose the other one of this pair of teardrop diamonds." " Well, I know you lost it, Fisher, but you have handled the situation in a terrible way." "You must have done it in a way that made that boy feel like you were accusing him of stealing it." " How could he think such a thing?" "He's been acting so peculiar ever since we left the levee tonight." "I asked him to drive me up on the levee to see the mist rising off the river." "Because I love to see the river mist rising, because I like nothing better." "Nothing's more beautiful to me." "Of course, that's peculiar of me too, I suppose." " What happened on the levee?" " Nothing at all, to speak of." "We stopped there awhile." "I laid my head on his shoulder for a moment." " He didn't kiss you when you parked on the levee to see the river mist rising?" " Now, Miss Addie." "Do you suppose I have to beg for kisses?" " Of course you're attractive." "That's not the issue, is it?" " Hear that?" "I've made up my mind about something." "I won't go back to Memphis to continue this ridiculous pretense of being interested in the society of that city when it bores me to blazes." "I'm gonna catch the very next boat back to Europe." "And I think that Aunt Cornelia will be glad to see me set sail from these shores." "I disgraced her in Memphis." "Oh, well." "I'm out of my element here." "Yes." "I'm gonna catch the very next boat back to Europe and take an apartment on the Rive Gauche in Paris and establish a salon..." "Like Gertrude Stein's." "I'll commission Pablo Picasso to do a portrait of me all in blue." "I'm not gonna lose my mind, not crack up again." "I'm going to develop my interest in the arts." "I must be with people who do things, paint, write, compose music, and so forth." " Well, you do have character." "Maybe even talent." "But I do shudder for you." " Why do you shudder for me?" " Because you want somebody to love you that you love, and you don't know how to arrange that." "And not all the teardrop diamonds of this world, lost or found, can arrange that for you." "Now, you go on back downstairs and make an announcement." "You say that the teardrop diamond has been found." " Why should I discard my honesty, all that I've got, really?" " Oh, nonsense." "Strong people with character like you, Fisher Willow, don't care about losing a teardrop diamond." "They have more important problems." "Now, go." "Just remember your promise to come back." " Yes." "Soon, Miss Addie." " Are you gonna make the announcement?" " You will make the announcement." "I will not contradict it." " Are your slippers dry now, Fisher?" " Uh, yes, uh, sufficiently, thank you." " Hey, everybody." "Listen." "Isn't it wonderful?" "Fisher found her diamond." " Where'd you find it, Fisher?" " She found it inside her dress." "It had just slipped down the front of her dress." " That dress?" " Must have been one those tiny little chip diamonds." "d d" "Jimmy?" "May I speak to you a minute?" "Will you excuse him, Miss McCorkle?" "Did you really have yourself searched in the kitchen, Jimmy?" "Don't turn your back on me." " Excuse me." " You told them I bought you clothes." "I want to know why you told them I bought clothes for you." " Well, why did you, Fisher?" " Because I..." "I felt sorry for you." " Oh?" " And because you're a gentleman, grandson of a governor of this state." "And you dress like a-- like a field hand." " Well, not so much of a gentleman that you wouldn't suspect me of stealing." "Stand up." "Or are you too drunk too?" " I had some liquor in the kitchen when they were searching my clothes for your teardrop diamond." " Are you gonna drink like your father?" "Jimmy, don't--don't walk away when I'm talking to you." " What do you want, Fisher?" "You say you found your diamond." " I did not say that I found it." "Julie said that I did." "I agreed to let her say it so there'd be no more talk." " Hey!" "Turn off that Victrola!" "I have an important announcement to make, a very important announcement." "Fisher Willow did not find her diamond, never said she found it, had Julie say it for her." "Jimmy, you misunderstood." "I was there when she found it." " Under the circumstances, I think I'd like to go home." "I--I don't feel well." "I--I don't want to stay and spoil the party." " Fisher, stay." "Look, it's all forgotten now." "I'm gonna get Mama to bed so we can play Post Office." " Play what?" " Your mama is guarding that punch bowl like a hawk." "Nobody's had a chance to spike it, so the boys are drinking straight moonshine in the yard." " I'll get Eddie Peacock to dance your mama away from the bowl." " Tommy, will you dance with Fisher?" "She's decorating the wall." " She'll decorate walls all her life." " Not the walls at this party." " Walls in Memphis?" " No, much, much further than Memphis." " Aw." " Oh, Fisher." " I dare you to go up and ask her if she'd like a good lay." " All right." " Pull her back in the bushes." " Mama's gone upstairs." " Oh, well, good for Mama." " Shh." "I'll get the cards." "d d" " Mm." "Are they gonna play some kind of kids' game?" " Haven't you ever played Post Office?" " Why, no." " It's a kissing game." " Oh." "You mean we're all gonna kiss each other like-- like New Year's Eve?" " No, it's more private." " I don't understand this game." " Just watch." "You'll catch on." " Hey." " Julie, I don't know what's going on." " Oh, we're dealing the cards for Post Office." "Here, take this." "And keep it out of sight." "It's the ace of spades." "It's the highest card in the deck, which means that you are the postman and you are gonna send Jimmy a letter." " Julie, really, isn't this sort of silly?" " Well, no more than life is." "Turn that record off." "Mama might catch on." " Whoopsie." " What record was that you broke, Hank Ellis, you fool?" " Eh, it's just some old one." "Blues." " Oh, the Basin Street Blues?" "That is a classic." " Julie, a classic is something by Beethoven or Brahms" " Naturally, I meant a modern classic." "And I do not retract my statement that you are a fool." "Now, has everybody got cards?" " We don't have any cards, Julie." " Take 'em." "Draw a card each." "Whoever turned that lamp off better turn it back on." " d Shine on d d Shine on, harvest moon d d Up in the sky d d I ain't had no lovin' d d Since January, February d d June and July d d Snow time d" "d Ain't no time to stay d" "d d" "d d" ""Warning:" "Contains a small amount of opium" ""and could be habit-forming." "One or two teaspoons at bedtime."" " Almost forgot the costumes." "My heavens, Fisher, what are you doing with that bottle?" " Oh, I--I noticed it in the" "What is it?" " It's one of Aunt Addie's fake remedies with opium in it." " It had rather a nice bitter taste." " Oh, Fisher, you took some of it?" "Let me put some ice on your forehead at once." "You stay right here." "d d" "d d" " Well, Fisher..." "We thought you'd be gone." " I hope you'll all excuse my fit of nerves." "I've spent some time in a mental clinic in Zurich." "And you never completely... return." " Oh, there you are, Fisher." "Mama has finally gone to sleep." "So who has the highest card?" " Jimmy has an ace." " Of what, spades?" " No, hearts." " Well, that can only be beaten by the ace of spades." "Has anybody got the ace of spades?" "Anybody?" "Well, Jimmy, you're the postman." "Go out to the post office on the veranda and deliver someone a letter." "Remember, the time limit is three minutes." "Be smart." "Whoo!" " Will you hush so I can hear who the letter is gonna be delivered to?" " I have a letter for miss Vinnie McCorkle." " For me?" " Remember, three minutes." "That is the strict time limit." "Who's got a watch?" " May I supply the music on the piano?" "d d" " Your eyelashes, I feel them on my cheek." " We've only got three minutes." " According to Julie's kissing game." "Kissing is where I start." "Follow me." "Hurry." "d d d d" "d d d d" "d d" " Many men." "Of course, some were just kids with pimples, but others who were responsible men with positions have said to me, "I love you, Vinnie."" "But only one has ever said, "Will you marry me, Vinnie?"" " And you turned down the proposal from the responsible man?" " Yes." "He had a position, a good one, as an officer of the Delta Planters Bank." " You turned him down?" " It was just" "Well, I couldn't consider marriage with a man I wasn't attracted to... physically, Jimmy." "Like--like back in the car there, it took my breath away." "It did." "Didn't you hear me gasping for breath?" " Yeah, so was I." " Not as loud as me." "I don't want to keep any secrets from you, Jimmy." "None." "I have a" "Mm." "Something happened tonight." "And I want to tell you about it." "I want to show it to you." "Follow me, quick." " Jimmy!" "Vinnie!" " Don't answer those calls." "d d" " What you digging for, Vinnie?" "Oh, my God." "I wonder if it was here." "I counted down five bushes." "This is-- oh, oh, this the fourth." "It's the next one." "Here." "Here it is." " What?" " Release." "Release." "Release." "d d" " God, is that the" " Shh, don't say it." "This is our secret now." " Vinnie, you can't be serious, are you?" " Of course I'm serious." "That's worth $5,000." " And I know where the other one is." "I saw Fisher take it off in Aunt Addie's bedroom and put it beside the clock on the mantel." "I'm going up there and get it too." "$10,000." "It's a fortune." "Why, a pretty girl with a fortune is more than just sexually desirable." "She's someone even a Dobyne V might accept as a wife." " You must have gone crazy." " To love you." "To want you." "To run away with you anywhere for life." " Vinnie." "This is all wrong." "This is a terrible mistake." "You got to think about pride, think about honesty." " A girl who works at the cosmetic counter of Liggett's Drug Store on a side street in Memphis does not think about pride and honesty standing between her and release, to life and-- and to love." " All I can say is... give it back to her." " Not on your life, boy." "Finders are keepers and losers are weepers, if she's human enough to weep." "Go back in the parlor." "I'm gonna go upstairs and get the other one." " Vinnie--no, Vinnie, I'm poor." "You're poor." "And that's hard, especially for a beautiful girl." "But you got a moral decision to make." " Don't talk to me like a preacher." "Why, just a minute ago, you were having me, and we were gasping for breath." " That's not the point." "That's" " Common." "In your opinion." "All right." "I'm common as dirt." "But I'm gonna wash myself clean." " By giving that diamond back." " Oh, no." "This teardrop diamond will wash me clean as the sharecroppers her father drowned last spring when he blasted the south end of his levee." " Vinnie." "Vinnie, is that you and Jimmy out there?" " Yes." " My heavens." "You two have been gone half an hour at least." " Julie, will you call Fisher out here?" " For what?" " Vinnie has something she wants to give her, something she just now accidentally found." " Uh, what are you talking about?" " Fisher!" "Fisher!" " Jimmy, call her." " Fisher!" "Fisher Willow!" "Hey." "Why didn't you answer me?" "Didn't you hear me shouting?" " Call that shouting?" "It sounded to me like a scared little boy in the dark." "Well, what shall we do?" "Go now?" "I'm ready to go if you are." "It's an awfully dull party." " I'd like to stay a little while longer." " Why?" " I like the people at it." " Especially one of the people?" "Julia's little cousin who works in a drugstore?" " Now, what's that against her?" " Nothing." "Not a thing in the world." "You want me to leave you with her." " Now, you know that if you go, I got to go with you, don't you?" "Don't be so conventional." "It doesn't suit you or me." "I swallowed my pride." " Fisher, I don't think you have ever had to swallow your pride." " Oh, no?" "You really don't think so?" " Pride is something that poor people have to swallow." " How naive you are." "I don't think anyone's ever had to swallow their pride or choke on it as often as I have." "For instance... it wasn't easy for me to come back downstairs to that party after you insisted on being searched in the kitchen." " That wasn't easy for me." " Well, that's over." "That's over." "Shall we forget about it?" "Get in the car." " Let's go back to the party." " I'm not going back to the party." "Get in the car." " I'm going back to the party." " Are you?" " Yes." "I have to." " You mean you'd go back to the party when I asked you not to?" " You're coming too." " Are you telling me what I'm gonna do," "Jimmy Dobyne?" " Yep." "Get out of your car." " I believe you're serious." " Come on." "Get out of your car." " Make me." " Come on." "Get out of your car." " Let go of my arm, or you'll get kicked." " Get out of your car." " Fisher." "Fisher." "I, uh--I found your diamond earring." " What did you say?" " I said I found the teardrop diamond that you lost." " Oh?" "Where'd you find it?" " On the veranda." " How could you find it on the veranda when I discovered I'd lost it before I got to the veranda?" " Well, maybe it fell out of your dress or something." "Will you please take it back?" "It's burning my hand like a hot coal." " You won't take a reward?" " I just want to forget it." " That's very... magnanimous of you or something." "I'm not sure what." " Now, will you shut up about it?" "You got it back!" "Get in the car." " Without my coat?" "I--I left it upstairs." " I'll get it for you." " Never mind." "Tell Miss McCorkle good night." " Thank you for doing that, Vinnie." " Did I have any choice?" "Since I'm gonna marry that officer in the bank," "I don't suppose we'll ever see each other again." "Will we?" "Good-bye, Jimmy." " Good-bye, Vinnie." " Miss Addie?" " I knew you'd come back." " I promised I would." " Lock the door, until you've fulfilled the promise completely." "You know what I mean?" " All?" " All." "You are honest and brave." "Put the bottle back where it was." "Collect your things." "Now, go quick, with God." " With Jimmy Dobyne." " Well, isn't he?" " Yes." "The same to me." "d d" " Turn up the road to the levee." " Again?" " It's so lovely up there, with the moon on the river." " Fisher, the moon is not on the river." "The moon is in the sky." " Which is reflected on the river." "d d" "Turn out the lights so we can see the moon better." "Jimmy?" "Did you know that I'm the postman and have a letter for someone?" "The letter is for you." " Fisher, I think you can do better than me." " I don't agree, since it's only you that I want." " But you don't belong here." " I can't keep running away." "I've got to stay here... and somehow make amends for what my... father has done and let this river flow where it wants to." "Jimmy, your mother... could be removed from that dreadful place." "And your father... he could remain in charge of the commissary as long as he lives, no matter how drunk." "And as for me, well... no one will ever love me." "But you could get used to me, Jimmy."