"Buddy." "Hey." "What's with the grin, pal?" "Mr. Castillo said I did a good job." "He even gave me an extra dollar." "Yeah?" "So, that's your first paycheck, pal." "You never forget that." "I told him to make it in three parts." "For you, me, and Jakey." "Smart." "Jakey gets the extra dollar, 'cause he's the youngest." "Well, that he is." "Or I could get him a new violin." "For six bucks?" "I doubt it." "But I'll tell you what." "You give Jakey that six bucks and I'll throw in the fiddle for free." "Jakey'll go bananas." "Bananas!" "Yeah, he will." "Here, you want to take her for a spin?" "Okay." "Those kids that call you slow..." "Yeah." "They should see you shoot, boy." "Get that target there." "Do you think if I keep shooting good, that I could get a star, too?" "Sure, son." "Then we could be partners?" "We are partners." "But then I'd have to shoot people, right?" "You might." "I'm not sure I'd like that." "Well, I don't like it, either, Buddy, but there's a lot of bad people out there." "Somebody's gotta stop 'em." "You know, if everybody said," ""I'm not gonna do that job," then..." "Well, who would stop 'em?" "Man, that is some talent you got there, kid." "Jakey's also talented." "You've got two talented sons." "Well, Mr. Ashman says he saw that talented brother of yours out on his property again yesterday." "With a slingshot." "Jakey never left the house." "He was at home playing checkers with me the whole afternoon." "Buddy, why do you always gotta protect your brother?" "'Cause he always lets me win at checkers." "Pop, we're gonna miss Jakey's recital." "No, we got plenty of time." "Jakey." "They say the kitchen's closed." "I can get you a coffee." "I lost my daddy, too, when I was a boy." "I showed up at work." "Just like you." "To support the family." "But I couldn't get my daddy out of my head." "How did he die?" "Somebody shoot him?" "Yes." "A bad man." "I met that man once, too." "In the drug store." "He stopped and smiled at me." "I did nothing." "Nothing." "And that kills me to this day." "You know?" "Sit down, boy." "Listen." "That man who killed your father, he won't get away." "No, son, he won't." "I want you to read that out." ""Miguel Santion."" "Yes." "You know him?" "Take a good look." "He's the one." "He killed your daddy." "Now, you cannot let him get away." "Kill him." " I can't." " You can't?" "I don't know where he lives." "You don't know where he..." "Why, I can find him for you." "That's not a..." "Look, I want you to take this." "Go ahead, son." "Pick it up." "That's my father's." "Did you earn it like your daddy?" "No, I don't think you did." "I think you got it because he died." "I think your daddy would want you to earn it?" "Earn this." "You earn it and I'll pin it on you myself." "You understand me?" "Yeah." "I understand." "I'm sorry for bothering you so late, ma'am." "But I need to speak to Mr. Santion..." "Who the fuck are you?" "I'm Buddy." "I work at the diner." "Don't move!" "Don't you fucking move, retard!" "What are you doing with my picture, you stupid fuck?" "I was just making sure it was you." " Welcome to the family." " Thank you, Mr. Hench." "Call me Julius, son." " Jakey's had his supper." " Thanks, Ignacio." "Jakey, I ain't coming to school no more." "I got a new job." "So, I can take care of us." "Tell me about the ranch." "Well, it'll be just you and me, and our house on the lake." "Are there horses?" "Are you kidding me?" "What's a ranch without horses, dummy?" "I'll get you a white stallion, with a red tanned saddle." "All your own." " Swear?" " Swear." "You just play your violin, okay?" "Ignacio said, if I play real good," "Pop can hear it." "They said they'd let me know." ""Don't call us, we'll call you."" "I should've played Bach." "But you love Paganini." "I fell in love with you when you played Paganini." "Yeah, well, they didn't." "Why don't you just bring it to the wedding?" "I'll get you a ticket." "Buddy, I can't." "I'm sorry." "I told you, I just can't, okay?" "I will tell her, Buds." "Bye." "Tell her what?" "Buddy wants me to come home." "He got us a present." "He says he can't bring it to the wedding." "That's so cute." "He never asks for anything." " He's your brother." " Yeah, I know that." "It's like a different planet back there, you know?" "And how do you know?" "You haven't been back for ages." "Go." "Yeah, it's been eight years." "You wanna come with me?" "Can you please just go meet your brother so I can finish fixing this place up?" "No." "Not a chance." "Hey." "You look good." " Yeah?" " Yeah." " Yeah..." " No." "Really, you look good." "I got a haircut." "Yeah?" "Yeah, I can see that." "That's Eric." "That's Eric." "He's my bestest friend." "Yeah." "Hey, Jakey." "Like Pop had Joe, I have Eric." "Welcome home, kid." "Well, let's go." " Hey, Jake, will you tell me..." " What?" "Where'd it go?" "Yeah, will you tell me how this sounds real fast?" " Yeah, yeah." "Sure." " Listen." "Ladies and gentlemen, I won't take long." "It's the best day of my life." "What is it?" "It's a speech, dummy." " For your wedding." "It's a wedding speech." " Of course." "Of course, it's a wedding speech, yeah." " Well, is it good?" " Yeah, well, let me hear the rest of it." "That's all I got so far." "It's only seven seconds." "What am I gonna do, Jakey?" "Why don't you tell 'em a story?" "Like, about when we were kids?" "A lot of good stories from when we were kids." "Yeah, you know, I know!" "You know, I'll tell them about the time that I jumped in the pool and I broke your Lincoln Log house" " and you were crying like a little girl." " Yeah!" " You remember that?" " Yeah, right." "Yeah, I remember that, yeah." "You took those logs, I didn't see them for weeks." " Yeah." " You said you were gonna fix that house." "Yeah, I did fix it, though, didn't I?" " You did, yeah." " Didn't I?" "Yeah, Buds." "You did." "Yeah, that's a great story, Jakey." " Yeah." " Yeah." "Yeah, they'll go bananas for that one." "Hey, Jakey, how many kids you planning on having?" "I don't know, Buds." "That's a ways off." "You know, I'm gonna quit my job and look after them kids." "Yeah, sure thing, Buds." " Where are we going?" " It's a surprise." "You got to do me a favor one second." " Yeah, I'll do anything." " You got to close your eyes." " Really?" " Yeah." "Close your eyes." "You want a surprise, or not?" "Close 'em." " All right, all right, all right." " Come on!" "Okay, open 'em!" "Buds, what is this?" "A promise is a promise, Jakey." "Well, how do you like your wedding gift?" "Come on." "Hey, this is my room." "Right in here." "And your room's over here." "Let me show it to you." "Come here." "Buds, where did you get all the money for this?" "I've been working real hard, Jakey." "Real hard." "You know, my boss, he saves my money up good." "When I told him I was quitting my job to look after your kids, you should have seen his face." "He looked..." "You still work at the theater, right?" "Yeah." "Yeah." "Hey, you know what the best part about that is?" "I get to see all the movies for free." "I tell you that before?" "I'm sure gonna miss that." "Come here." "I'm gonna put this in your room." "See, Jakey, you get the best room 'cause you're the youngest." " Hey." " Hey." "Yeah?" " Yeah." " Yeah." " Look at that." " Yeah, my boss got it for me." "You know, for your wedding." "Yeah, you know, he told the tailor..." " Your boss goes with you to the tailor, Buds?" " No, dummy, no." "The tailor comes to him." "Listen." "You know, he told the tailor that if I wasn't the bestest-looking man at your wedding, there'd be a lot of trouble." "A lot of trouble." "He was just kidding." " No, I know." "I know." " That was a joke." "He seems like a really, really nice man." " Yeah." " When do you think I can meet him?" "Tomorrow." "Yeah, you know, he said that after church that he's gonna take us out to dinner at El Cortez, just like Pop used to, remember?" " Yeah." " Yeah." "Great." "Buds, you think I could take your car for a drive?" "Right now?" "Yeah." "Here." " Just don't take long, okay?" "Please." " I won't, I won't." "Ignacio?" "Ignacio?" "Jakey Heckum!" "Jakey!" "Jakey Heckum!" "Why did you come back, Jakey?" "Why did you..." "Go away, Jakey." "What happened?" "What happened to you?" "I saved my hands, Jakey." "I saved my hands so I could still play." "But the music..." "The music's gone, Jakey." "The music just stopped." "The fire's the only thing I hear." "And the animal is scared of fire." "Who is scared of fire?" "Hench is scared of fire." "What's going on here, Ignacio?" "What happened?" "Two legs for two train tickets." "Julius Hench gave me a choice." "Two hands, or two legs." "That's two for two tickets." "Legs!" "Legs!" "God!" "Fuck!" "You just tried to kill me." "Why?" "I had to." "I was told." "Buddy was quitting because of you." "Nobody leaves Hench." "Definitely not Buddy." "Hench loves the kid." "You shouldn't have never have come back." "But it's not too late." "Give me the phone and get away from this town." "I won't say a word." " Hey..." " Give me the phone." "Give it to me!" "Move your fucking feet the fuck over here and give me the phone." "Give it to me or I'll blow your fucking head off." "Toss it!" "Is he dead, or do I have to buy him dinner?" "Don't." "I hear you breathing." "Talk to me, son." "You okay?" "What's going on there?" "Where are you at?" "Don't." "Eric!" "Talk to me, Eric!" "I'll send someone over there!" "Where are you at?" "Miners..." "Eric!" "Eric!" "You okay, son?" " Shit!" " Eric!" "Jacob?" "Take a deep breath." "Ready?" "The Philharmonic wrote!" "You got the job, baby!" "You did it!" "Can you believe it?" "I'm so happy for you!" "So happy!" "Come home quick, okay?" "Buds?" "Vittoria called." "She wants us to..." "They killed Eric!" "What?" "They killed him!" "Who?" "Do they know who did it?" "Yeah." "Who?" "Who, Buds?" "A bad man." "Who, Buds?" "Who?" "Who killed him?" "They killed my brother." "They killed my partner!" "Buddy." "Buds, it'll be okay." " It'll be all right." " No, it won't." " Yeah." " No." " It will, Buds." " I'll get him." "I'll get him, Jakey." "Buds." "Hey, Buds." "Buds, listen to me." "I want you to come with me." " I got a job at the Philharmonic..." " No, I can't go with you now." "I can't go with you now!" "I gotta find that bad man and I gotta crack his skull in!" "Do you understand?" "Buds, the cops will handle it." "No, they won't." "No, they won't." "Do you think they got the guy who shot Pop?" "You think they got him?" "No, Jakey!" "I did!" "I did." "Bud." "There's a lot of bad people out there, Jakey." "And somebody's gotta stop them." "Did Hench tell you that?" "Yeah." "If Hench told you I was a bad man..." "Me." "Would you believe him?" "He would never say that." " He would never say that." " He's not a good man, okay?" " He's not a good man." " Yes, he is!" " You don't understand Julius!" " You don't understand, Buds!" "You don't understand!" "When I was driving, I backed into a fence post, okay?" "So, if anyone asks what we were doing," "I was playing checkers with you all night, okay?" "Buds?" " Hey!" " Don't cry." "I'm with you now." "I'm with you now, son." "Hey, don't cry." "Hey." "Let's have a sit down." "Come on." "Read it out." ""Mario Garza."" "He's the one." "He robbed us in our corridor." "And then he hunted down and he killed Eric." "Your friend, your brother." "You see, he's not one of our kind." "He's a bad man." "And what are we gonna do about him?" "You know where he lives?" "Yeah." "He's across the border." "He's well protected." "We got to get you there and get you back." "No!" "No, just get me to him." "I don't care about getting back." "Son." "God damn!" "That's my boy." "This will be your last job." "After this, you can go live with your brother." "Yeah?" "Okay." "Where is he at?" "He's..." "Hey, Jakey?" "Julius wants to see you." "Jakey!" "Jakey." "Julius." "I didn't think you'd be here." "Yeah, I was just playing checkers with Buds." "Who won that game of checkers, Buddy?" "I did." "I always lick Jakey at checkers." "Well, welcome home, kid." "Thank you, Mr. Hench." "Thank you." "Buddy's gonna die." "They're sending him across." "I have to get him out." "Out?" "Hench's wife tried to get out." "Ran off with their son." "I was his music teacher." "I got her train tickets." "Two train tickets." "What does Hench do?" "He burns 'em both alive." "You want Buddy out?" "There's only one way to do it." "You see that mountain?" "They're gonna take it down to get the silver out." "They're gonna tunnel in, they're gonna blow it up from the inside out." "That's how you get Hench." "From the inside out." "Just like he took down your daddy." "It was an inside job, Jakey." "Your father's partner, Joe, he just looked the other way." "You were performing your first solo, Jakey." "Hench was conducting your daddy's requiem." " I'm gonna go talk to Joe." " Okay." "Thank you for coming by, Joe." "See you, Julius." "Mr. Hench." "You took care of Buddy all these years." "I'm very grateful to you for that." "I want to ask you one more favor." "If you'd let me," "I'd like to take Eric's place." "If you send Buddy across the fence, I wanna go with him." "I wanna be his partner." "What about your life in New York?" "New York made me forget what I promised my father." "Kept me away from home, kept me away from Buddy." "You know, my brother dropped out of school to take care of me." "So I could play the violin." "What did I do?" "Every couple of years, he'd come visit me." "I'd take him to the Central Park Zoo." "And he was so grateful." "All he asked in return is that" "I come see him, I come and spend some time with him." "But I didn't." "I..." "I abandoned him." "I'm back now and I'd like to be a real brother." "Sir, I love Buddy and I wanna take care of him." "We'll talk at the Alamo." "I promised Buddy I'd buy you dinner." "I like vegetarians." "It's humane." "No blood." "Hey!" "He eats fish." "Okay?" "You tell him that you eat fish." "Why don't you make him a plate of fish, Buddy?" "Some cowboy shot Eric with his own gun." "But it's yours now." "After your audition." "You got his audition set up, Franco?" "Yup." "Hey, where's Jakey?" "He went on his audition." "Hey." "Do you think he's gonna pass that test?" "Do you?" "He's gonna fail it." "Hey, light me a cigar." "Come on." "Ignacio?" "Jakey Heckum." "Now, I know why you came back, Jakey." "You came back to set me free." "I can't." "I can't kill you." "You're inside the mountain, Jakey." "Take it down!" "Blow it up, Jakey." "You put that gun to my head and you blow my fucking brains out!" "No." "Do you think I like cursing?" "Pissing on God every single day, Jakey?" "My life is a fucking joke." "This..." "This, Jakey, has meaning." "This." " Pull the trigger, Jakey." " No." "No." " Pull the trigger!" "Jakey, pull it!" " No, no, no!" " No!" " Please!" "I'll show you." "I have hands, Jakey!" "I have hands!" "No!" "You know that night when I jumped in the pool and I broke your ranch?" "And you were so cross with me?" "And Pop talked to you?" "See, I wasn't sleeping." "I heard him." "He said," ""Jakey," ""you came into this world after Buddy," ""but you gotta be the big brother." ""And you can't hold nothing against Buddy" ""'cause he doesn't understand what he's doing."" "You promised him you'd take care of me." "I know you're keeping your promise." "I know." "That's why you joined." "To take care of me." "Jacob, why aren't you picking up?" "The Philharmonic, they won't wait forever." "I don't know how to get a hold of Buddy." "I've called a million times." "My imagination's running wild." "Please, just let me know you're all right." "Just..." "Just call, okay?" "I love you." "Please, just let me know you're all right." "Just call, okay?" "I love you." "Who taught you how to play pool?" "All right?" "Watch and learn, watch and learn." "Mr. Hench." " Hey, Buds." " Hey." " Here." " Thanks." "I'm having lunch with Mario Garza." "Tuesday morning at the Hotel Esperano." "You're having lunch?" "Lunch with Garza?" "I used to edit an NYU journal." "A friend of mine handles it now." "He writes to Garza, requests an interview with a correspondent who just happens to be in the area." "And what makes you think he fell for that?" "Well, New York University, bright young students seeking his opinion on border issues, making him feel important." "It's hard to resist." "Education." "We got a new one going over." "I need you to lead a prayer for him, Father." "I've heard a lot about you from Father Sanchez." "You heard what?" "That your wife was very kind to this chapel." "Jakey, shut the doors." "Dear Lord." "My brother worries for me very much." "Please, make him understand how carefully I've thought this through." "And that everything is going to be okay in Mexico." "And soon, he'll be at my wedding, in his tux, giving his speech," "which I'm dying to hear." "I'm sorry." "So, Mr. Garza, you deny you're the top gun-runner in Mexico?" "I am a thinker." "Not a thug." "Look around." "Do you see any goons in my hotel?" "You consider yourself a social worker." "Welcome to Esperano." "I build schools." "I build hospitals." "I build roads." "Now and then, I even build churches." "Well, they say you've ordered 100 murders." "I ordered an orange juice 20 minutes ago." "If I had that kind of power, you tell me, where is my juice?" "Pablo, my order." "Find my juice." "I'm dying here." "Mr. Jacobs," "I provide schoolbooks for poor children, medicine for those who cannot afford it." "I sponsor orchestras for troubled youth." "People come to me when they are in need." "Why?" "Because the Mexican government has let them down." "So, the rumors are true." "You are running for election?" "You tell me." "Should I?" "Well, if you're thinking of running, why do you..." "Why do you lead a life like this?" "Like what?" "They say you sleep in a different bed every night." "Why would they say that?" "Why?" "Because when they know where I sleep, they dress like fucking tourists and come to kill me." "Sir, I have no idea..." "Hench has a rat in that shitty old theater of his." "I know who you are, you little fuck!" "Pablo!" "My orange juice." "You saved my life." "Julius Hench," "I am sending you your family pictures." "Next time, I will put your fucking face on those pictures." "Show him." "I am sending you your family pictures." "Next time, I will put your fucking face on those pictures." "It was a trap." "They knew we were coming." "You look like shit." "Get some rest." "Buddy, take him." "Yeah." "Come on." "Come on, Jakey." "Are you all right?" "You all right?" " I'm sorry." " It's okay." "It was a good plan." "How'd it go so wrong?" "Hey, Franco, are you talking about Jakey?" "My brother?" "You know he's my brother, right?" "Okay, he went across the fence." "He went and I should've gone!" "We know that." "We know." "He's a good man!" "Okay?" "He's a good man!" "We know that he's a good man!" "We know it!" "All right?" "Hey!" "The Lord answered our prayers, didn't he?" "He's alive, right?" "Where is he?" "Where's he at?" "He's right there." "He's right there." "He's alive, son, safe and sound." "Calm yourself down." "Take care of your brother." "Okay." "All right then, take him home." "Okay." "Go ahead, Franco." "What were you saying?" "Hello?" "Mr. Garza?" "Julius Hench heard the tape." "No names, you fool." "Why'd you call so late?" "Well, I think that Franco's getting suspicious." "I just wanted to..." "I'll call you back tomorrow." "Hench has a rat in that shitty old theater..." "Hench has a rat in that shitty old theater of his." "It's McBradden." "James?" "I thought you should know." "Last night, a call was made to Mario Garza." "From where?" "The cell tower near you." "Real close." "Real fucking' close." "Do you have a name for me?" "No, I do not." "But Garza's gonna call him in five." "That's your rat." "Franco!" "Get everybody in the hall." "Buddy, shut the doors." "I want all you men to put your guns in this bucket." "Let's go!" "That's you, too, Buddy." "Come on, son." "Ace, you know what a rat looks like?" "Yes, sir." "You think most people would know a rat if they saw one?" "Yes, sir." "Well, that's strange." "'Cause it seems like a rat has gone unnoticed in our theater." "And this rat, he set us up." "Killed our brothers." "Any minute now, his phone is gonna ring." "And I'm gonna know who that rat is." "And then I'm gonna take these bullets, and I'm gonna put 'em in his fucking skull." "Sound fair to you, Buddy?" "Yeah." "Yeah." "That's so our conscience is clear, college boy." "We'll just wait." "You put your speakerphone on!" "No, it's bullshit!" "It's bullshit!" "It's a lie!" "I said fuck Garza!" "You understand?" "Garza called." " So, he knows." " Yeah." " He scared?" " Shit-scared." "Every gang that's ever bought a gun from you in Mexico is going after him tonight." "That's a lot of guns." "He wants to meet." " When?" " Tonight at 8:00." "All right." "Well..." "Set it up." "I have." "And, boss?" "Garza says to leave Buddy at home." "I thought you were dead." "Why didn't you answer my calls?" " What's going on?" " Victoria?" "Victoria?" "Vittoria." "Can I call you Vee?" "It's so nice to meet you, Buddy." "You speak Italian?" "No." "Eric taught me." "You are so pretty." "Welcome home, Vee." "I'm really glad you came." "Come on in." "I'll get you..." "Our home is a little messy." "It's fine." "Vee." "Vee, I got a surprise for you." "Okay?" "We're gonna go take a little drive." "Okay?" "I wanna take you somewhere." "Come on." "Grab my jacket." "Come on." "Welcome to your new home." "My home?" "I'm sorry." "You know, when I built it," "I didn't know your name." "I'll cut a new sign tomorrow." "Yeah." "The thing is" "I kind of..." "I kind of don't know how to spell your name." "It's a hard name to spell, Buddy." "Most people can't." "Let me write it down for you." "Yeah, I really like you, Vee." "You know what?" "You should be the first." "The first?" "Yeah, the first to ride Jakey's horse." "I would love to, Buddy." "Do you think I could talk to your brother for a second?" "Yeah, sure." "Why don't you show her inside?" "Show her your room." "All right." "Let's..." "You know, you must be really hungry." "I'll make you baked trout." "I'll make Mama's recipe." "Thank you." "Now, tell me." "What's the problem, Jacob?" "My love, look at me." "Whatever it is, it can't be worse than my imagination." "I'm thinking of 10,000 terrible things right now, so, just tell me." "I want you to leave." "I just want you to leave." "I'm going nowhere." "So, just tell me everything." "I..." "Yeah, baby?" "I killed a man." "Now, let me tell you a story about Vee." "I really like Vee." "I liked her the very second she spelled her name for me." "And when she and my brother Jakey leave the church as a married couple," "I'll go bananas." "Bananas." "And that's all I have to say." "Hey, dinner's ready!" "I'm not gonna go without Buddy." "He won't leave." "I'll talk to Buddy." "It'll all work out, I promise." "There is always another way." "Don't take long!" "No!" "Gotta get it in the glass!" "Here, gimme your glass." "Gimme your glass." "I'll do you first." "Good." "Tell me when." "That's it?" "Okay." "All right." "Now you." " No, no, you go." " No, no, come on, come on." "Remember Mama's china?" "All this, it's so special." "Yeah." "Yeah." "Here, gimme that." "Buddy, are you coming to our wedding?" "Yeah, of course." "I got a speech almost done." "It's five minutes, 47 seconds." "I spoke from the heart." "Here." "We've decided to get married in Verona." "My hometown in Italy." "It's quite far." "Will you still come?" "Yeah, of course." "Sure, Vee." "Some trout, my love?" "Yeah, yeah, please." "Jakey." "But it will be our secret." "We just go, get married, and it will be a big surprise for our friends." "Yeah." "Yeah, they will be very surprised." "But no telling anyone." "Absolutely anyone, okay?" "Okay." "Yeah, cross my heart." "Okay." "I cross my heart." "Try it." "Verona." "So, when do we go?" "We were thinking we'd go tonight." "Mama's recipe is delicious." "Yeah?" "Well, I can't go tonight." "I can't leave Julius now." "I got a job to do." "Yeah." "Garza." "You know that." "What's a job for, Buddy?" "What?" "It's for the family." "Hand me your wallet." "Just give it to me." "Remember this?" "Jakey's share." "From your first job." "He kept it?" "Yeah, Dubby." "I'm sorry, "Dubby"?" "That's what you wrote." "See?" "Yeah." "'B's and 'D's, they used to confuse me." "I know." "I mix them up all the time." "Yeah?" "You kept it?" "All these years?" "Yeah, Buds." "Yeah?" "Why?" "Why?" "It's just six bucks." "It means more to him than anything in the world." "Because when you got your first paycheck, you thought of your little brother." "Your brother needs you to be his best man." "You think this dummy will marry me without your wedding speech?" "Hey, Vee." "Are..." "Are there any movie theaters in Verona?" " Yes, Buddy." " Yeah?" "Seven." "Seven?" "That's a lot." "Well, I need to go get my tuxedo." "I can't leave without my tux." "Okay?" "All right, you guys eat." "Okay?" "Just save that for me." "I'll be right back." "All right?" "I'll be right back!" "I hear we're going to war." "Is Franco calling you from hell?" "Franco wasn't my man." "Well, then, who?" "What will the answer get me?" "My word, no war." "Just tell me who it is." "He's the man who killed Eric." "No, that was your man." "McBradden told me that." "My man, from your side of the fence." "Just tell me the fuckin' name!" "I am sorry, Mr. Hench." "I gave him my word." "I promised the young reporter" "I would not utter his name." "The fucking vegetarian!" "Carry me over the threshold." "Good boy." "Where's college boy at?" "Why, it's a secret, Julius." "It's a surprise." "Well, I got a secret for you, too, Bud." "You see, Garza didn't kill Eric." "But I know who did." "Open that up." "Who is it, Julius?" "Tell me." "I'll put a bullet in his head." "I'll kill him." "And then I'll wake him up." "And I'll kill him again." "Jacob wasn't playing checkers with you that night." "Was he, Bud?" "No." "No." "No, hey." "Hey, hey." "It wasn't Jake's fault." "He..." "Poor Jake, he got sick." "You know?" "Hey, hey." "Light me a cigar." "Light me one of those up, son." "Your first horse." "Remember?" "We went to Marsha's ranch." "What color was that foal you picked?" "It was white." "Right." "For Jake." "Jake never came." "Never." "While you waited, what did we do with that young stallion?" "We broke him." "Yes, we broke him." "Sit down!" "We got him a saddle." "A gorgeous one, tanned leather." " Red." "Remember that?" " Yeah." "Then what happened to that horse?" "A fox bit him." "He got rabies." "That's right, he started kicking and biting, and that broken horse went crazy." "He could've killed us, son." "What did Pop tell you to do?" "That we had to put him to sleep." "And who had to do it?" "Me." "Because I loved him the most." "Anyone else, it would've been too goddamn painful for that horse." "He didn't see that gun in your hand, your finger on that trigger." "All he saw was your eyes, your caring, loving eyes, putting him to sleep." "The last thing that horse felt, Bud." "Your love." "'Cause the horse wasn't bad." "He was just sick." "Yes." "That's what happened with Jake." "The city bit him like a fox." "He went mad, he went insane." "He killed Eric." "He made a deal with Garza to kill me." "Hey, hey, hey." "Hey, no, it ain't his fault." "You see, he got sick." "He just got sick, is all." "You've got to put him to sleep." "At his ranch." "You can visit him there every day." "He will never leave you again." "Never." "This is your final test." "You pass this test, you will have earned it." "Let's see it." "Look at you." "My son." "Come here." "William Heckum." "The brave son of a proud father" "who will put Jake to sleep, 'cause he loves him the most." "You understand, son?" "Yeah." "I understand." "Pop said, "Jakey," ""you came into this world after Buddy." ""But he doesn't understand what he's doing, so you gotta be the big brother."" "The next day, Jakey let me win at checkers and never beat me again." "And once, you know, when kids at school called me a slowpoke behind my back," "Jakey got into a fight with them." "He got beat up pretty bad." "But when Mama asked him who done it, Jakey wouldn't tell." "Pop said, "You know, Jakey's right to keep it a secret." ""If Buddy found out, he'd put those boys in the hospital." ""Buddy'd go nuts if anybody hurt Jakey."" "And then he told Mama, "My heart's at peace today." ""'Cause I know when you and I are no longer on this Earth," ""our boys are gonna look after each other."" "Buds?" "Don't splash." "Okay?" "Don't splash." "Aren't you coming, Buds?" "Yeah, I'm coming." "I gotta talk to Julius first." "I'm not gonna go without you." "You gotta go, Jakey." "You gotta take care of Vee." "I'm coming, I promise." "I'll be there at your wedding." "What's the grin for, Bud?" "I saved the fish." "It swam away." "Jacob's gone." "My pop said that I'll look after my brother." "Never let anyone hurt him." "Put your hands above your head." "I have to go back for my brother." "We'll find Jake before the night is over." "And I'll lay him to rest right next to you." "You'll be together forever." "Just like my wife and son." "Every Sunday I'll put flowers on you." "Red flowers, white flowers." "It'll be perfect." "But right now, I've got to put you to sleep myself." "Because I love you the most." "You understand me, son?" "Yeah, I understand." "I am not your son." "You are not my pop." "You are a bad man." "Now, let me tell you a story about Vee." "I really like Vee." "I liked her the very second she spelled her name for me." "I decided right there and then that I'm gonna be the best man in her wedding." "And when she and Jakey kiss each other, I'll clap the loudest." "And as she gets down the altar," "I'll throw flowers on her." "And when she and my brother Jakey leave the church as a married couple," "I'll go bananas." "Bananas." "And that's all I have to say."