"Yeah." "Morning, sir." "It's a hard life if you can't read." "Pardon?" "Sir, Mr. Wiley Starke has..." "Well, he's passed away, sir." "His funeral is tomorrow, and I thought that you might want to know since..." "What got him?" "Just got old, sir." "Yeah, well." "Yeah." "Well..." "I always thought you'd go first." "Hey." "Don't look so disappointed, huh?" "Buddy?" "What can I do for you, sir?" "That's all right." "Come on in." "Have a seat." "What's on your mind, sir?" "About time for me to get low." " To get what?" " Down to business." "I need a funeral." "For whom?" "Me." "For you?" "You want to buy a funeral for you?" "Am I not talking right?" "I'm sorry, sir." "Are you sick?" " Everybody dies." " All right." "I see." "Well, sir, the church can help you get your affairs in order, and arrange a service for you." "Well, what would you say?" "About what?" "Me." "A eulogy." "I don't know." "What do you want me to say?" "Say what you'd say right now to my face." "Well, Mr. Bush, I don't know much about you." "I've heard stories, but..." "What stories?" "Just stories, you know." "People talking." "What kind of stories?" "I mean, say one." "Well, sir, my mother used to say that gossip is the devil's radio." "What matters is that when you come to the end of your life, that you're ready for the next one." "Now, have you made peace with God, sir?" "I paid." "Well, Mr. Bush, you can't buy forgiveness." "It's free, but you do have to ask for it." "I heard the most awful things about him when I was a kid." "Y'all come on in." "Hey, hey." "That's that old man Bush." "It is." "Hey." "We know about you, old man." "You stay out of this diner, you hear me?" "There's women and children in there, and we don't want you around them." "Hey!" "Look at me when I'm talking to you, old man." "I know you hear me." "You hear me?" "You come around here again, there'll be trouble." "Oh, shit." "Whoa!" "Carl!" "Carl, honey!" "I know." "It's all right." " Frank?" "There was a fight." " Let me guess." " Carl?" " Well, yeah, but it was with that old man Bush." "Old man?" " Is there a body?" " No." "He was the one that was doing the beating." "I ain't never seen nothing like it before in my life." "Social event of the year, and I missed it." "You read the paper today?" "People are dying in bunches." "Everywhere but here." "What are the odds of a funeral home going broke when you have a business that everybody on Earth needs?" "If you can't make that work, it's got to be you, right?" "And, yet, I don't know." "What do you do when people won't die?" " Well, I guess..." " One thing about Chicago, people know how to die." "They drown, get run over, shot." "Whatever it takes." "Well, we get it done around here." "It's just we're not in a hurry about it." "It's them or us." "I might know of someone who's looking for a funeral." "How much did he have?" "It was all wadded up." "Hermit money." "That's good." "There it is." "There's his sign." "What are you doing?" "You've been wanting a shot at sales." "As of right now, you're on commission." "Remember, foot in the door, establish trust and drop the hammer." "I'd rather you go, too." "No doubt." "But if you don't do this by yourself, you'll never know if you're any good." "And you'll never be good if you don't know that you are." "Hello?" "Wanna see inside my house, do you?" "What does it look like?" "Katie." "I see you at the church with your wife and baby?" "Yes, sir." "What the hell you doing here?" "I heard..." "I heard you were after a funeral, sir." " A funeral?" " Yes, sir." "I work at Quinn Funeral Home, sir." "I thought I could help you." "You like rabbit?" "It's how you put things together, see." "Now, some things go, and some things never will." "And the Indians said that everything spoke to them." "That's how they made medicines, and knew what to eat." "I mean, things talked to them, clear as we talk." "You believe that?" " I don't know, sir." " Yeah?" "Well, you don't listen, you don't hear nothing." "All right." "Be ready here directly." "Got forks here." "Here you go." "Did you make this furniture, sir?" "I've never seen anything like it." " Can't tell what's holding it up." " Yeah, well..." "Magic." " Yeah." "Yeah." " All right." "Well, sir, if you do want to plan for your funeral, which I hope will be a long, long time away from now, but we'd treat you with respect, and offer you a real good service for..." "What'd everybody say about what happened in town?" "That crazy son of a bitch tried to kill a man for no reason, is that it?" "There's two sides to every story." "People say that, but they don't believe it, no, sir." "They think what they think, and they don't wanna know anything else." "I also think that people are so scared about what they don't know that they make things up to feel better about it." "Like life after dying, you know." "Heaven." "Well, I hope that part's true, don't you?" "I don't think we know the actual truth about anything." "I know I don't." "I'm just guessing most of the time." "Lord, this is good." "You boys been coming out here to throw rocks at my window for what, 25, 30 years?" " No, I..." " Know lots of stories about me?" "Well, yes, sir." "Tell one." "I'd rather not." "I'd rather you did." "All right?" "Well, when I was a kid, I heard you killed some fellas in a fist fight." "Is that all?" "What's your name again?" "Buddy Robinson, sir." "Well, if I need you," "I know who you are." "Yes, ma'am." "I do respect your wishes." "But, you see, state law requires..." "No, ma'am." "We can't bury him beneath the house." "All right." "Well, just for argument's sake, how would you get the casket under the house?" "No casket." "Well, but you have to have a container of some kind, ma'am, for decency and for sanitation." "Yes, ma'am, but there's lots of things that are natural that aren't decent." "Would you like to come in, sir?" "He did what?" " Good God." " Leave it." "No, ma'am." "I didn't know that about your husband." "Well, yeah, now I understand why you want him under the house." "But, still..." "Hello?" "Frank Quinn." "This is Mr. Bush." "Come on in." "Pleasure." "Coffee?" "It's a pleasure." "She'll call back." "Are you from anywhere?" "Little bit of everywhere, yeah." "Get him a chair, Buddy." "Here you go, sir." "What can we do for you, sir?" "I'm after a funeral." "Boy, are you in luck." "Follow me, please." "Solid pecan." "Steel handles." "Forget the box." "What else?" "Whatever you want." " Flowers." " No, no." "Burial plot." " Got it." " A service." " Party." " A what?" "A party." "What kind of party?" "A funeral party." "We can do that." "And I wannabe there." "You will be, I guarantee it." "I wannabe there now." "You want to be at your funeral party alive?" "Yes, sir." "But you can't have a funeral if you're not, you know, deceased." "Hold on, now." "It's a detail." "We can look at it." "Pretty big detail." "You want to have a funeral party while you're alive, so you can go." "Yes or no?" "Yes!" "Buddy, get some paper." "We need to make a list of who Mr. Bush wants to invite." "Well, sit down there." "I want everybody to come who's got a story to tell about me." "All right, say again?" "Probably covers about four counties." "Then I want four counties worth of people at the party." "Well, sir, the thing is, how do you invite people..." "How do you get people to come tell stories about you, that I'm guessing might get them," "you know, shot?" " Now, sir." " You know what?" "Don't worry about it." "You go on ahead." "Don't worry about it." "We'll come up with something." " Couple of ideas just came to me." " Like what?" "Felix?" "Felix, say hello to me." "Hey, Mattie." "How does she know him?" "I heard you moved off." " I've been back awhile." " Yeah, well..." "How are you?" "You look like you always did." "Do you see the size of that thing?" "What?" "What do you mean, what?" "That goddamn ball of money." "If he wants a party with pink balloons on his ears, we're going to give it to him." "But we can't throw him a party if he's..." "I sold 26 of the ugliest cars ever made one December in Chicago, with the wind blowing so hard up my ass," "I was farting snowflakes in July." "So, don't tell me we can't do this." " But we can't..." " That is going to be the last "but"" "I ever hear from you." "You're a salesman now." "Sell." "A thousand years ago, he was the most interesting man I'd ever met." "Get out of here." "He was." "Are you serious?" "And I don't just mean the way he looked." " Well, I hope not." " Listen." "He was beautiful." "Most people are laid out nice and simple, you know." "You always know what they're thinking." "And he was like this big old cave that just went deeper and deeper and..." "There's still nobody like him." "You hungry?" "Let me help you with that." "Hey." "It's okay." "It's okay." "Hey, are you hungry?" "I might have a little hissy fit coming on soon, too." "Is that right?" "Feeling a little weepy." "You boys." "I can maybe do something really good for us, Katie." " You already have." " Money-wise, I mean." "About Mr. Bush?" "Yeah." "I get half of what we make off of him." "So why aren't you happy about it?" "I didn't know I wasn't." "I guess I was for a minute." "But the whole thing about making a carnival out of someone's death," "I just don't know if it's right." "Well, is it what he wants?" "He says it is." "Then you are not responsible for what other people do, Buddy." "Just you." "We have a plan." "All we need is a little bit of your time." "It moves, don't it?" "This is nothing." "Fancy car, for the dead." "I didn't buy it for them." "I was thinking about your funeral party before I went to sleep last night." "I think I understand it a little now." "When I was a kid, my folks died in a bad car wreck." "And the people at the funeral home, well..." "They did the impossible, as far as I was concerned." "I don't know what I would've done without them." "I remember wishing that my mother and daddy was there so they could see how beautiful they had made it." " Where'd he go?" " I don't know." "Don't leave me naked here." "I wish you wouldn't do that yet." "Mr. Bush, you can cut all the hairs you want after we've taken your picture." "I'll pay for it." "Well, why you want my picture made?" "We're going to run an ad in some papers about your party." "Hang some posters up of you." "And you want me to look like this." " Yes." " Why?" "Why?" "Well, it's how people recognize you, sir." "And you want as many people to come as possible," " so..." " So?" "A crazy old nutter draws more." "Don't you think?" "You ever say what you mean?" "Take it." "Do you want him to smile?" "That is his smile." "Well, all right." "Now, Mr. Bush, on the count of three." "One, two..." "Damn." "You look pretty good." "He pays." " Well, what do you think?" " I wouldn't know you, sir." "Well, maybe the devil won't, either." "This just might work out." "Wait, now where are the shoes?" "Normally, people don't wear shoes in a casket." "What are you, about 1 0-D?" "A suit coat and trousers, that's going to be $13.19." "And the shoes another $6.50." "It'll be $19.69 total." " How are you fixed for underwear?" " I don't wear none." "One question too many." "Well, I don't mean to be nosy, but how do you know Mattie?" "We had a go." "Call." "A funeral party?" "What the hell's a funeral party, Frank?" "You're giving him a party?" "If he wants to come to his own funeral, what am I going to say?" "I wish my ex-wife would come to my funeral so I could tell her to kiss my ass." "What makes you think she'd show up?" "That big wad of money of his you're after." "Felix has money?" "Yeah, he came to me looking for a funeral." "Had a big, old greasy ball of money." "Talked like he thought he could buy his way to heaven with it." "Is he sick, Gus?" "Sick?" "He ain't sick." "Ain't nobody going to go to a funeral for that old son of a bitch." " Language." " They might." "He's invited everyone to come that has a story to tell about him." "You could tell about him kicking your ass, Carl." "Keep it up, Frank." "You all say what you want to, but if somebody hadn't been there the other day, he'd have killed me, and I guarantee it wouldn't have been the first time, either." "So y'all go on." "Have your little party for the devil and his money." "I'm going to dance on his grave some day." "You kind of hate to admit it when it comes to Carl, but he's got a point." "And you don't know what Bush is doing." "What if he just wants to get everybody in one place so he can turn his shotgun on them?" "He wouldn't do that." "I looked in his eyes." "Now, the truth is, nobody knows what he's capable of." "Maybe even he doesn't know." "You still there?" "You better be." "I want you close to me, hear me?" "I want you close to me." "Night, Miss Mattie." " Good night, Gus." " Night, Frank." "I'll walk you home." " No, thank you." " You sure?" "Yeah." "You're never going to play anymore," " are you?" " It's not that." "I just..." "You came because you don't know what to do with yourself." "I slept on the same side of the bed my whole life." "Right after my wife left," "I switched sides, just like that." "And I've never been able to go back." "For heaven's sakes." "Friends, we have a special treat for you today on WCGM." "Our guest is going to tune us into the event that everyone's talking about." "And here he is, Mr. Felix Bush, the mysterious hermit from Caleb County." "How are you today, sir?" "I am." "Now, sir, exactly, how did you come up with the idea of throwing a funeral party before you die?" "I dreamed it." "Really?" "I have to say, sir, you don't look quite like you do on the posters." "I got pruned." "Well, you're a bit of a local legend, sir." "I was a little nervous about our interview." "I've heard some pretty wild stories." "Like what?" "Well, just from what I understand, you want everyone that has a story to come out and tell it, is that right?" " Well, you come and tell yours." " Thank you, sir." "Now, how long you been living out there by yourself?" "Forty-some years." "Forty years with nobody to talk to." "The first 38 are the hardest." "Now, why would you do that, Mr. Bush, shut yourself off like that?" "Why?" "You come to the funeral, maybe you'll find out." "We'll find out the answer to the mystery February 16th." "One more thing, boy." "There's going to be a drawing." "What kind of drawing, sir?" "You buy a ticket for $5." "The day of the funeral, we draw names." "Then when I die, the winner gets my place." "Three-hundred acres of timber that hasn't been touched in 40 years." "Send it to the Quinn Funeral Home." "For $5?" "You heard him say it." "If you want a chance to win three-hundred acres of virgin timber worth thousands and thousands of dollars, please send your name and address along with $5 to Mr. Frank Quinn at Quinn Funeral Home." "I'll take a ticket." "You're betting on a man dying." "I didn't mean it like that." " I was just saying since he..." " No, no, it's his idea." "That's what you want, right?" "Buy a ticket, son." "Tell a story." "Save some for me now." "Don't eat it all." "All right." "Who's this?" "Felix?" "Mattie?" "Look at you." "I wondered if you were still under that beard." "Well, I wouldn't know where else to go." "I heard you on the radio." "Yes, ma'am." "You've gotten downright chatty." "Yeah, reckon so." "Well, this is it." "This is my barn." "Yeah." "This here's my mule, Gracie." "Say hello?" "Well, would you like to feed her?" "Go ahead." "She'll love you for it." "There." "Come on, Gracie." "Come." "This here's Mattie." "Yeah." "Give her some more." "Yeah." "Would you like to see the rest of my place?" "Do you want me to?" "Yes, ma'am, I do." "Yeah." "Yeah." "You always know where you stand with a dog." "Keeper of Charlie and Maude." "Yeah." "I wanna lay here with them someday, if they'll have me." "Yeah." "Well, it really is beautiful." "It probably looked like this everywhere a hundred years ago." "Well, you leave things alone, they know what to do." " Like you?" " No, ma'am." "I don't know what to do about anything much." "Well, you've been alone a long time." "Well, I guess some people are more suited to it than others, I reckon." "Funny, I never thought it would suit you." "No one to talk to." "No one to be with." " How you sleeping these days, girl?" " How am I what?" "Yeah." "You sleep good?" "No, not lately." "How did you know?" "Well, looky here." "Yeah." "Yeah." "This is Valerian." "It'll help you nod off when the nights get long." "Now, you wanna go on aways?" " Yes." " Okay." "Yeah." "Would you stay for supper?" "I don't wannabe any trouble." "Well, a supper guest every 30, 40 years is not much trouble, girl." "All right, then." "Well, you better stay close." "Because some big old wildcat has been eating my chickens." "Or maybe it was me." "Now, you take that root, and you mash it..." "Here we go." "Go on in." " Give me your coat there." " Thank you." "It's a little cold here." "Would you care for tea?" "Oh, I'd love some, thank you." "Okay." "This is a beautiful table." "You were always good with your hands." "Thank you." "Miss Mattie." " You still play the piano?" " I teach a few girls." "I got a good feeling when you played." "Remember that time you was playing, and the lamp burned out, and you went right on in the dark?" "I hear that song sometimes at night." "I do." "Sure is quiet out here." "I said, it sure is..." "I tried to write you a few times, but" "I didn't know what to say." " Well, I heard you married." " Yeah." "To a doctor." "A good man." "We lived in St. Louis for a while." "He died about a year ago." "So I came back here because..." "I've no idea why." "The list of people who are gone is getting longer and longer, and it seems like all I'm doing is just waiting for my name to be called." "You have a tender heart." "You always did, you know." "You can't wait for anything, Mattie." "Close your eyes, hold your breath, stay in one spot your whole life, but you're still moving." "Like the world is, you know, moving under you." "There's no waiting." "And there's no getting over some things, is there?" "Reckon not, Little Bit." "Little Bit." "Oh, my God." "I haven't been called that..." "Jesus, kid." "Yeah, but it's not our money." "Well, yeah, I know, but some of it's going to be." "I mean, we're putting this thing on." "Well, he should be here." "I'm going to go get him." "I'm not exactly sure how much your land is worth." "It looks to me like you could get 10 times that, more." "I mean, it's yours to do with what you want, but it makes me a little nervous." "I never thought I'd see enough money to make me nervous." "We should probably talk about the price of everything." "The clothes, the ads, our price for everything." "We'll be fair about that." "I'm not worried about it." "Well, what do you think, boy?" "Well, money makes people do funny things." "I'd probably put it in the bank, sir." "This bank, here, you can't trust." "That's all I'm going to say." "Can I trust you?" "Every name and every dollar is on this table." "That's not what I asked." "I've done a hell of a job for you." "I don't see why..." " Mr. Bush, I didn't mean to imply." " Hush." "I've sold horses, cars." "I mean, I've sold watches that were pinned to the inside of my coat." "I'm not ashamed of it." "I don't rob banks." "Don't cheat at cards." "I sleep all right, nights I sleep." "Take out for the expenses you already have, and give me the receipts." "When the bills come in for things, you give them to me." "I'll pay them." "You put this money in a box." "The boy and I will take it someplace in the morning." "Whatever new comes in..." "Listen to me." "Whatever new comes in, you keep it in the bottom of one of them ugly caskets in there until I come get it." "When the party's over, you name a fair price for what you've done, and we'll settle up." "A fair price." "Is it just me, or is he extremely articulate when he wants to be?" "I don't know who's selling who to what anymore." "It's not clear, is it?" "Here you go." " Where to, sir?" " North." " How far?" " Till I say, son." "Step on it." "Step on it." "Mr. Quinn." "How much further?" "What?" "How much further you want to go?" " Don't say nothing." " To who?" "You can say "hi." That's it." "Hi." "Hello." "You sure you're in the right place?" "Not expecting a funeral." "Hi." "Hey," "Charlie." "Felix?" "Yeah." "Yeah." "Still standing." "Yeah." " Reverend Charlie Jackson." " Hi." "That's Buddy Robinson." "He don't talk much." "Well, somebody better talk." "A ghost pulls into the driveway in a hearse, you expect a little bit of a story." "Well..." "You know, my hearing's not what it was." "Sounded like you said you want me to preach at your funeral party, with you sitting there." "Yes, sir." "I've talked to God a lot about you over the years." "He said he broke the mold when he made you." "Said you're sure entertaining to watch but way too much trouble." "What would you want me to say at this funeral?" "Say anything you wanna say, Charlie." "Could you give us a minute?" "No, sit still." "What's the matter?" "You scared to be alone with me?" " No, he can hear what's said." " All right." "After you left here, did you do the right thing?" "I felt that I did the right thing, yes." "You confessed?" "Asked forgiveness?" "Did you tell her, Felix?" " You've come a long way for nothing, then." " You self-righteous no..." " Don't you dare." " No, hey." "You listen to me now." "I built my own jail and put myself in it." "And I stayed in it for 40 goddamn years." "No wife." "No kids, no friends, no nothing." "No grandchildren." "I wouldn't even know how to hold a baby." "You hear me?" "Forty years." "Now, that's not enough?" "You know it's not." "Well, why don't you come to say that then, Charlie?" "Hell, tell it all if you wanna." "I don't care." "But just come and say something." "Not on your life." "How much do you know about him?" "Almost nothing." "I just work at the funeral home." "Do you know that he built this church?" "No." "How could a man like that build something like this?" "I mean, I knew he was a good carpenter, but..." " But this is..." " Magic?" "Maybe it's the best of him." "Maybe..." "Maybe he put his soul into it, I don't know." "What y'all were talking about." "What did he do?" "Who was he supposed to tell?" "Between him and God, I guess." "I will say that he showed up here half dead." "Can I ask you something?" "Do you have to?" "Yeah." "What are we doing?" "Ever since the day you came to the funeral home," "I don't think anything has happened that you didn't want to happen." "I just don't know where it's going." "There's a whole lot of things you don't know, like what a dog dreams." "You can make up a story about him chasing rabbits." "But you don't know if there's rabbits in there or not." "And he can't tell you now, can he?" "People don't say what they mean, either, so you don't know anymore about them than you do about that dog's dream." "That day you left my house, I saw you stop and look back." "You wanna know what could make somebody like me." "Well, here you are, son." "Here you are." "I better stop and tell Frank we're back." "He's probably thrown two or three hissy fits by now." "You can stay in the house with me tonight." "I can take you back in the morning." "Well, I haven't stayed with nobody in a long while." " Well, it's fine if you want to." " Yeah." "Wait." "Stop." "Let me out." "Stop the car." " What?" " Stop it." "Let me out." "Let me out!" "Put the money in a casket." "You can't walk." "It's too far." "You might as well get back in." " I'm gonna follow you the whole way." " Get the hell out of here, boy." "Go on!" "They keep talking about forgiveness, ask Jesus for forgiveness." "I never did nothing to him." "Frank, I'm back here." "Frank?" "Frank." "In here." "Here, follow it." "I'm okay." "I was putting the money in, and I heard some glass breaking." "I locked up the casket and then, boom." "You did good." "It didn't feel good." "Please, Ma'am." "Please." "Thank you." "What are you doing here?" "Can I sit down?" "Yes, Ma'am." "Now." "You wanna know why I have your sister's picture on my wall." "I'm not stupid, Felix." "I take that back." "How long was it going on?" "She was already married when I met you." "Were you just making up to me to get to her?" "If you're not gonna talk, leave." "Can you help who you love?" "I've had 40 years to think about it." "I still don't know." "Now, I'd like to tell you how it was." "Now, if you don't want me to, I'll go." " Don't lie to me, Felix." " No, Ma'am." "When did you take up with her?" "I came to see you." "And she was there, hanging clothes on the line with your mama." "She turned around." "I promise you, I did not know that I had a heart until right then." "You was a fine, fine girl." "I didn't know why you wanted anything to do with me." "But I was gonna keep coming to see you till my luck run out." "And then..." " She was married." " Yeah." "And she wasn't just my sister." "She was my best friend." "We told each other everything." "I can't..." "How long did it go on?" "How long?" "It's still going on." "Did you have anything to do with her death?" "Her what?" "Tell me." "Felix." "Felix, get out of my house." "Now!" "You go to hell." "Felix." "Felix." "Take a breath." "You need to see a doctor." "Whoa." "What the hell?" " What?" "They get it?" " Buddy sealed it in a casket." " Took a crack on the head though." " Is he all right?" " Yeah." " You sure." "I was an army medic." "He'll be fine." "But you ought to take those clothes back and get something in your size." "They get the whiskey?" "Well, I've been thinking." "What if we had the party at your place?" "You know, people will wanna see the land they're getting." "I don't know." "Don't know." "Well, it's something to think about." " Yeah, well." "Don't know." " We could..." "Don't know that I'm doing it." "What?" "I'm thinking of calling it off." "No." "You can't." "I can do any damn thing I want." " No." "No." " I say no, you don't say no." "Now, goddamn, you send that money back, all right?" " You're killing me." " Oh, yeah?" "I bought things." "I've hired people." "Promised money." "Everybody in town is hoping to get..." "You know, this thing going." "It's big." "I care about this town as much as they care about me." "It's what you said you wanted." "And I busted my ass for you." "So now, why don't you want it anymore?" "It was the end-of-the-line, tell-it-all, get-out-of-jail party." "But I guess I haven't got the goddamn guts to speak for myself." "And I can't find nobody else to talk for me, so..." "Hell with it." "The hell with me." "Step back." "Thank you." "Can't you see?" "I see that you're mad." "I'm not mad." "I'm concerned." "No, you're mad." "If I could get my hands on whoever did that to you, you could see mad." "Buddy, you up?" "Yeah." "Trouble." "What's the matter?" "Bush is pulling out." " What?" " What happened yesterday?" "Well, I told you." "We went to Illinois to see a preacher." "Yeah, but what happened?" "Well, he wanted the preacher to come to the funeral." "And he said no." "Son of a bitch." "That's gotta be it." "Sorry." "Sorry." " All right, where's the preacher?" " It won't do you any good." "Why not?" "Well, he knows something about Bush, and it's something bad, I think." "Well, if Bush wants him, by God, Bush is gonna get him." "You want eggs, Frank, or will the skillet do?" "What?" "My husband has his head bashed in, and all you care about is this party." "That's not how it is, Katie." "It's not like that." "This is for all of us." "You're like family to me." "Well, this isn't how family acts." "I'm sorry." "I haven't had any practice." "Stay out of her way today, partner." "That's good." "Do it one more time, honey." "Reverend Jackson?" "Frank Quinn." "Quinn Funeral Home." "I was gonna play some dominos this afternoon." "But something told me to stay home." "I should have played dominos." " Is he out there?" " Bush?" "No, sir." "You sure?" "Pretty sure." "Did you check the back?" "You told Bush you wouldn't come to the funeral?" "If he got that, why are you here?" "First off, Bush doesn't know that I'm here." "I wouldn't be so sure about that." "He has a way of making people do what he wants." "Is he really a hermit?" "He came to see me after he'd been here." "Wants to cancel the party." "I don't care." "He said he wanted an end-of-the-line, tell-it-all, get-out-of-jail funeral." "But that he didn't have the guts to open his mouth." "And he couldn't get anybody to talk for him." "At first, he wanted anybody with a story about him to come." "But he didn't wanna hear their bullshit stories." "Pardon my language." "He wants to tell one." "About time." "Whatever he did has been locked up in him for 40 years." "He can't get it out." "I think he told you, and he wants you to tell it for him." "Because he won't." "Or can't." "Or won't." "Or can't." "At least he wants to get the truth out." "Give him that." "I'll think about it." " Is there a boarding house near here?" " I said I'd think." "But if you're not coming, I'm not going back." "I made promises I can't keep to people I care about." "This falls apart, nobody's gonna blame Bush." "Bank will take my business." "If I'm gonna have to start over again, it might as well be from here." "What are you doing, sir?" "Getting me a suntan." "You stuck?" "You have no goddamn idea how right you are, boy." "I'll sit here a minute." "How's your head?" " It's all right." " Yeah?" "Well, we're a pair, ain't we?" "You know who hurt you?" "No, sir." "Sons of bitches." "You sick?" "Just going through the motions." " What does that mean?" " There's alive and there's dead." "And there's a worse place in between them that I hope you never know nothing about." "Listen, Frank went somewhere, and the money's gone." "You figure he took off with it?" "I don't wanna think that." "But the money's not in the casket." "He said he was gonna call, and I ain't heard from him." "Well, what do you wanna do?" "I wanna make you a funeral, if you still want one." "Well, do it if you want to." "I guess, for everyone like me, there's one like you, son." "I 'bout forgot that." "I'm glad you decided to come, sir." "Free will is not all it's cracked up to be." "Did you take the money out of the casket?" "Yeah." "Well, why didn't you tell me?" "I forgot." "You forgot?" "Well, where is it?" "It's in the hearse under the floorboards." "What?" "Nobody steals a hearse." "Now, all we gotta do is get the preacher over to Bush and..." "Yeah, I forgot to tell you, Bush already said he'd do it." "Where can I catch a train?" "You can't leave." "You just got here." "Watch and learn." "You might need two canes." "Where's the train station?" "Sure you wouldn't rather have a drink first?" "I am out of here." "Expecting a crowd?" "You asked for it, you old ornery son of a bitch." "Yeah." "But what are you gonna do now?" "Pretty nice jail." "Why'd you change your mind, Charlie?" "Thank you." "How do you wanna do this?" "I don't." "I'm gonna try and tell it, Charlie." "I really am." "But if I can't get it done, would you do it?" "I want it said, so..." "Please, sir." "Tell them the box is in the barn." "Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen." "I'm Frank Quinn of Quinn Funeral Home." "Welcome to the live funeral party" "of Mr. Felix Bush." "I've done a lot of things in my life, but I've never done this." "I bet none of you have, either." "I bet no one has." "The person that made all this happen for us doesn't like the spotlight." "But Mr. Buddy Robinson is the heart of Quinn Funeral Home, and I'm proud to know him." "Many of you have heard stories about Mr. Bush." "But today, I'm told that we're going to hear another kind of story." "His." "Yeah." "I'm Reverend Charlie Jackson." "We like to imagine that good and bad," "right and wrong are miles apart." "But the truth is, very often, they're all tangled up with each other." "Some 40 years ago," "Felix dropped into my life." "And then he dropped out." "In Between, he built the most beautiful" "sanctuary that I have ever seen." "A lot of wonderful things happened in that church." "That's it, Charlie." "Thank you, Charlie." "Thank you very much." "You're a good man, Charlie." "Thank you." "Yeah." "I had to go clear to Illinois to find somebody who had anything good to say about me." "Hell of a thing." "Yeah." "So." "Now..." "I'm not a smart man or a wise one." "I don't know what kind of man I am." "I was always restless." "Thought I'd see the world." "But I didn't go nowhere on purpose because" "I did something I was ashamed of." "Something I could never fix." "Y'all probably think you know what you'd do, or what you wouldn't, and I wish you good luck with that." "I really do." "When I told Charlie what I'd done, he told me to confess to God and the law..." "You know, somebody else, so I could get forgiveness." "But I didn't want forgiveness." "No." "I needed to hold on to what I did, to be sick from it every day of my life." "So that I never told nobody else, you see." "Nobody." "I fell in love with a married lady, and somehow, she fell in love with me." "The only time that I have been in love." "We made a plan to run off and start a new life, a family." "But somehow, she didn't show up when we said we'd meet." "And I got a funny feeling." "Her husband answered the door." "He had blood on him." "I hit him pretty hard and knocked him down." "I can't remember going upstairs." "I remember there was a hammer on the steps that was covered with blood and hair." "And I found her in the Bedroom, crawling across the floor." "Before I could get to her and help her up, a kerosene lamp hit the wall and exploded." "And then her husband, he jumped on my back." "Boy, I had him." "Boy, I had..." "I had him." "But it's funny what happens, sometimes, when things go wrong." "It's like the clock stops." "And you have all the time in the world to think." "I could see that her husband set the downstairs on fire before he came up, you see." "And as I was slamming his head into the wall, trying to get shed of him, it came to me clear as anything," "that this was all my fault." "If I'd just never spoke to her." "And as I was thinking about that, I could see the lamp that he threw, it set the room we were in on fire, too." "And then I realized that..." "That I was on fire." "Tried to put myself out." "I couldn't." "I dropped him, I turned around, and I was so confused." "And I looked down, and I saw her lying on the floor, and I called out her name." "You know her name, Mattie." "Mary Lee." "Sometimes I called her Mary Lou for fun." "And then I called out her name again and..." "I could see" "that my only love, and your sister," "was on fire." "And..." "I'm so ashamed." "I reached down, and I tried to help her up." "And the next thing I knew," "I was flying, you see." "Yeah." "I was flying." "I don't know how I got out the window." "No matter how many times I play it in my mind, I can't rememberjumping." "I thought I killed him." "But maybe he pushed me." "I don't know, see." "But I swear to you," "if I left her in there, everything I know about myself is a lie." "But that don't matter." "That don't matter." "I didn't get her out, Little Bit, I didn't." "I'm sorry." "And that's my story." "I would like forgiveness now, if possible." "And then," "I don't mind dying for real next time." "But please forgive me." "I wonder" "if her hair would be white." "I wonder." "Yeah." "My funeral, and everybody's in there but me." "Well, Felix, I guess this one's for real." "Now, I didn't see them put you in that box, actually." "So..." "So wherever you are..." "Probably giving someone a hard time, or something wonderful or priceless." "Just to confuse them." "I wish you peace from the burdens of your mind and heart." "I wish it for us all."