"Folks said that he was a rounder, a drunkard, a troubadour." "Some went so far as to claim he was a murderer." "To the boy, he was nothing more than a ghost." "Some unseen specter whose only proof of existence was the damage he left in his wake." "But the boy would not be able to deny the phantom's existence when it showed up in the flesh." "After 40 years, the old man was coming home." "Wait's over, boy." "In order to..." "Manuscripts, all submissions must be typed." "Brownie!" "You better do something about these dogs or I'm gonna..." "Fleming!" "Fleming Bloodworth." "You sure have grown since I saw you last." "I was hoping you'd come back to school this year." "Yeah, I was planning on finishing up." "I just got tied up in other things, you know?" "Two months shy of graduation." "It's always a shame when a young person quits." "So, what did you think of that book I gave you?" "It's a good one, I reckon." "I'll make sure to return it to you if that's what worries you." "No, no, it was a gift." "There's some others you should read." "I think you'd enjoy." "Fleming, I'd like to help you." "I know something about the situation you're in." "The what?" "Your home life." "There ain't any goddamn thing wrong with my home life." "When you get done pushing around with that girl's toy, put that on that engine." "I've done took the tools back." "You know how he gets." "I don't give a shit how he gets." "You tell him we need 'em." "And he knows how I get." "I don't guess you've seen any of your mama?" "Nope." " You got any clean shirts?" " There's that box under your bed." "We got any coffee?" "Fleming?" "Oh, Goddamnit!" "Still batching, I see." "I wasn't expecting no company." "Come to see Boyd." "I had a sense you was around." "I've come about Pa." " He's coming back here." " What?" "He's had a stroke of paralysis." "He ain't got nowhere else to go." "That must be a hell of a stroke for him to come back here." "I was glad I read that letter while Ma was asleep." "Brady, don't you think that after 40 years she might have noticed he's gone?" "Says he's got to walk with a stick." "He thinks he's going to die but he's not." "I read it out in the cards." "Jesus Christ!" "The old man may die at some point, but he ain't gonna die from the stroke." "You seem to like the idea of him suffering, Brady." "You seem to be suffering just a little bit yourself." "Bible says you reap what you sow." "The Bible also says that fortune tellers and soothsayers are an abomination before God." "But you probably just forgot that verse, didn't you, Brady?" "He sent me money to buy him a trailer." "Probably expected an open invitation just to move right back in the house with me and Mama." "If I remember right, Brady, his name is still on the goddamn deed, ain't it?" "There's one more thing." "Warren called about that boy's mama." "He called you?" "You ain't got no phone." " Said he seen her in Nashville." " Bullshit!" "She's never been to Nashville." "She wouldn't even know how to find Warren's fucking place." "She didn't go to Warren's place." "He just spied her out on the sidewalk." "Just walking." "Oh, it was her all right." "Her and her new fella." "Could you get me another shot?" "Hi." " Are you Warren?" " Yes, I am." "Warren Bloodworth?" "Have a seat." "Yes, sir." " Would you like a drink?" " I think I will." "Warren, I'm Hazel and I'm a singer." "I wanna be a singer." "I am going to be a singer." "But I need a job and I hear you could give me a job." " I can give you a job." " Oh, yeah?" "Let me see." "I'll take it." " You're bad." "Beg..." " Come on, just like that." " Give me some of it." "Oh, that's good." " Do you like that?" "Do you like that?" "Do you want more?" "Do you want..." "Well, that is perfect." " That pizza is so good." " Yeah..." " Hey, Warren." "It's Colt." " Hey, hey." "Get your butt on down here." "This fella won't leave." " What?" " Says he's your brother." "I'll just be a minute..." " You better get down here." " Shit." "Hey?" "Get out of here." "I have perfectly..." "Hey!" "No, no, no." "I told him not to bother you, but he's an asshole, so he bothered you." "Daddy's coming home." "I heard that." "I heard some other shit, too." "She ain't here." "You're saying my wife's not here?" "I saw her walking." "She with a guy?" "You know what it is?" "Twin, .50 calibre." "Right there, twin.50s." "My fort." "To defend myself from your asshole bartender, principally, that's why." "You got any place to stay?" "Told asshole I'll just lay on over there on that bandstand and not to bother you." "Well, come on." "Hey." " Come on." " Fort." "Come on!" "Fort." "Sorry to hear about your dog." "I know how much you thought of Brownie." "I doubt that." "They're just dogs to you." "When I seen Brownie's guts twisted like that, I felt something twist inside me." "Where's Boyd?" "Figure him to be hungry, too, what with all that rambling." "Brady told he was back." " He's gone." " What?" "Again?" " Whereabouts this time?" " Nashville, I reckon." "Brady told about Warren calling." "Warren called?" "News to me." "You hear that?" "News to me." "I swear." "The men in this family..." "Harwood did it." "Reckon he thought he's gonna teach me a lesson." "Well, we'll see about that." "Did you see him do it?" "Don't need to see everything to know it to be true." "You know what this is?" " A pill bottle?" " No, look closer." "Cigarette butt?" "It's Harwood's cigarette butt." "It's got his essence on it." "And I am using this essence to put a mighty hurt on Old Harwood." "His insides will petrify and his stool will turn to concrete." "You watch." "Remind me never to leave anything of mine lying around for you to find." "Look, I didn't come here for no witchcraft lesson." "I just..." "I wanna know if I could borrow them tools again." "I have told you, if you don't get a new carburetor, the motor won't even fire." "I got one." "Daddy brought it in." "Bring them wrenches back where you got them." "And don't get them rusted." "Hey." "Hey, hey, Harwood!" "Harwood!" "I need a stamp." "Oversized." "In the glove box." "There must be something going around." "Yeah." " Hey, that son of a bitch here?" " Dad ain't here." "Not your son of a bitch dad." "My dad!" "No." "Son of a bitch!" "Drove all this way." "Hazel!" "Your daddy here?" "Boyd?" "Boyd here?" "No." "He's gone up to Nashville, I reckon." "Brady told about you calling about Mama." "You seen him?" "No, I ain't." "Hey!" "You wanna go for a ride?" "Come on." "I got enough beer." "Who's that?" "She's my accountant." "Your accountant?" "Yeah, on the account that she can suck a... through a..." "She knocked out or passed out?" "A little of both." "No, I don't got a driver's license." "That's all right." "I'll pay for your fine, if you get caught." "You're not drunk, are you?" " No." " All right." "Good." "You provide the sobriety and I'll provide the cash and the car." "Hold on to that." "Put it in your pocket." "The last four days, I've bought and paid for enough friends to hold a Baptist foot washing." "Who the fuck are you?" " Thief!" "Get out!" " Hey!" " Whoa!" "Whoa..." " Get out..." " Hazel!" " But he's trying to steal your car." "No." "No." "Hazel." "That's my young nephew, Fleming." "Hazel, Fleming." "Fleming, Hazel." "There you go." "Here, have one of those." " I don't have anything to wash it down with." " There you go." "Good." "She always like that?" "No, just when she's awake." "Don't worry about Boyd." "He'll turn up one day, when he's old, and broke and ready to die." "I'd piss on him." "Take my advice." "Move on, like I did." "Where we at?" "Piece of heaven, son." "Little piece of heaven." " What about her?" " She'll be fine." "Hey!" "Warren Bloodworth!" "Oh, my God!" "This night's just gotten a whole lot better." "Wow!" "You could have called." "Who's this fine looking young thing?" "This here is my nephew Fleming." "Hi." "Hey, is your daughter around?" "Yeah." "She's floating around here somewhere." "I'm gonna get you some wine." "Glasses are over here." "Let's see a hundred." "A hundred." "Give me a hundred." "This is good wine." "I just love a man who knows what he wants." "Lord, have mercy on our souls!" "You sort of favor Warren." "Are you all kin?" "He's my daddy's brother." "Why aren't you drunk?" "I can't imagine Warren Bloodworth with a sober relative." "I don't really drink that much." "I don't care for that feeling, you know." "It makes you miss things." "You mean it dulls your senses?" "Yeah." "It dulls your senses." "Drinking does." "Why didn't you just say that then?" "I don't know." "I think you've addled me, sort of." "You mean I've vamped you." "Like one of them old silent movie stars with those long black eyelashes?" "What do you think I am?" "One of them high priced call girls?" "No!" "Lord, no." "You think I'm a cheap call girl?" "No, I don't think anything at all." "I was just..." "I was..." "Warren!" "Warren!" "Warren!" "Let's go for a walk." "Come on." " What's your name?" " Fleming Bloodworth." " Yours?" " Raven." "Raven Lee Halfacre." "You know, I said that you favored Warren, but now I ain't so sure." "You know how he's got that smart ass look about him." "Yes, I do." "You don't really have that." "You look nice." "Sweet." "You ain't the talker he is either." "He'd have a girl's blouse talked off by now." "Thanks." "I don't mind buying it for you, but why do you read stuff like that?" " You don't like to read?" " No, I read, just not stuff like that." "You don't like pretty girls wearing pretty things?" "I like pretty girls." "I just don't wanna waste my reading time on them." "Not that I'm wasting my time with you." " I mean..." " I think I know what you mean." "What's this magazine going to cost me?" "Boys are always expecting something in return." "What do you expect?" "Nothing." "I don't expect nothing from you." "Just as long as you understand that I ain't some watered down version of my mama." "I ain't nothing like her." "I had to change my name from Evelyn." "I suspect before long I'll be changing Halfacre, too." "Shit, you're planning on getting married?" "You don't have to get married to change your name." "Anybody can." "Mama thinks that I'm pretty enough to get into some kind of show business." "I think she sees me as her best shot out of Tennessee." "She hates Tennessee." "Says it's full of hillbillies." " Where's she from?" " Tennessee." " Where are you from?" " Tennessee." "You don't really sound like it." "Really?" "You don't either, much." "Well, I watch the television and I practice." "Hollywood don't want no hillbillies." "So you can't sound like that." "How about you?" "You practice on TV?" "No." "I don't really watch TV, much." "I just read." "But how in the world is reading gonna make you sound smart?" "I don't know." "Hey." " Oh, no." " What?" "Move the fuck out of my house when I tell you to get the fuck out of my house!" "You do not tell me what to do, you goddamn whore!" " And you cheating bastard!" " Hey!" "Hey, hey!" "What are you..." "Don't touch me!" " You bitch..." " Mama!" " Okay." "You want..." " Fine." "You fucking bitch, you fucking deserve that." "Where have you been?" " We just walked to town." " What's on your face?" "Did he hit you?" " No." " No!" "No!" " Mrs. Halfacre." " No, Mama." "You're seeing things." "Don't you talk to me, you little shit, you little Bloodworth bastard!" "I'm gonna walk out of this room right now." "When I get back here," "I want that two-timing motherfucker bastard and his fucking girlfriend, cunt, bitch out of my house and I mean it!" "I mean it." "Get him up." "Hey." "Come on, we gotta go." " Hey." " Come on, Warren." "Let's go, let's go." "I'm sorry you had to see that." "I can't imagine what you think about me right now." "Well, why is that?" "It's not you, it's her." "So you just don't need to be apologizing." "Thanks for the magazine." "You ever gonna make this way again?" "I actually, I don't really know where we are." "You're in Fulton." "It's far away I guess." "Hey!" "Well, do you want to go out with me next weekend?" "I'd love to." "Yeah." "I'd like that." " Well, what is there to do around here?" " We'll find something to do." "Hey, Warren!" "What?" "Give me those keys!" "Mighty early for a young fella like yourself to be drinking." "This hour is reserved for professionals." "You know anyone looking to hire?" "Not rightly, but you might look on the board over there, might be something." "Well, I'll be a son of a bitch." "I'd expect old Trigger Lipscomb to walk in here rather than you darkening my door." "Itchy, can you give me a ride up to home?" "I'll pay ya." "Fleming might be able to." "He's looking for work." " Boy, are you looking to make some money?" " Yes, sir." "That I am." "Can you give me a ride?" "I'll pay you 20 bucks." "Where to?" "Grinders Creek." "Grinders Creek, for 20 bucks?" "Sure." "Just pull it around the back, pick me up." "Be quiet about it." "For 20 bucks, I can be real quiet." "I thought you were dead when they delivered that old Gibson here." "I was dreading putting on a suit for your funeral." "Itchy, I ain't got time to explain everything now." "I gotcha." "Your guitar's in the back." "Let's go get it." "Where's your toilets?" "Hey, in there!" "I say, hey in there." "Say, good buddy, where's that old man at?" "Ain't nobody in here but me." "That's, except you." "What old man are you talking about?" " Rutgers." " I don't know nobody by that name." "He was wearing a grey fedora." "He had a walking stick carved like a snake." "He's an old man." "He just..." "He just walked through that door a few minutes ago." "I never seen him." "He's got a son that's a retard." "Got kicked in the head by a mule?" "Preaches to chickens." "Can't be too many people that meets that description." "I don't know nobody like that." "Now, look, me and that old man, we..." "We done some business on the way down here." "I'm gonna buy a herd of Black Angus from him." "I don't know what you're talking about." "I just watched him walk through that door right there." "You were sitting in here on this side of that door." "And now you're telling me you never saw him." "Mister, I ain't got time to argue with you." "I got a business to run." "Yeah, well, how about I haul your ass over that counter and I just mop up the floor with it?" "I'll give you two reasons why not." "One, two." "Now then, you're in my place of business and the law's gonna believe that you came in here to rob me and I didn't care to be robbed!" "You people done fucked with the wrong man." "I did not drive 400 miles out of my way to deliver some old cripple to some beer joint." "That son of a bitch owes me some cattle!" "That might be true, but I'm sick of listening to it." "You tell Rutgers he's gonna regret this for the rest of his days." "I will if I ever meet the man." "Now, you get the hell out of here." "Whereabouts?" "Hell, anywhere along here will do." "Where are you headed?" "My uncle's place." "I just got to drop off some wrenches." "Fleming, honey, you want me to fix you some food?" "No, thanks, I'm fine." " Who you got in the car with you?" " Some old fellow needed a ride." "He's paying me, though, so I better get on." "I was told Boyd had him a son." "You'd be him." "How'd you know that?" "The name's Bloodworth." "E. F. Bloodworth." "You favor me somewhat, at least back when I was a young man." "Well, hell, I know where you're going." "This water ain't fit for drinking." "She runs deep, but it ain't spring fed or nothing like that." "Thought about digging you a well, but that's a lot of digging to do by yourself." "I ain't put off by hardship." "Live in a brush arbor if I have to." "Four thousand sure don't buy what it used to." "Yeah, that's Brady's doing." "I told him it was crooked." "I put this up for shade though, and I put you some privacy for your privy." "Brady just left a hole." "I didn't know how to level out your house, though, especially with no help." "It's sturdy with this though." "I'm obliged." "I would have brought you some food if I'd known you were coming." "If you get too hungry, just do like I do and go back up and see Granny." "She'll fix you something." "She likes to feed people, so..." "I expect I'd better be settled in here before I go see your granny." "Warren and Boyd, they about?" "No." "Daddy's up at Nashville looking for my mama." "Looking for your mama?" "What, did he lose her?" "Yeah, sort of." "Oh, no." "No, no, no." "No, I don't need a hog." "I need money." "Look, your ad didn't say anything about any hog." "But I ain't got no money." "Hog, come on." "Let's go." "Come on." "Come on." "Come on." "We're gonna make it." "Just go on in." "You comfortable back there?" "What the..." "Fuck me!" "Anybody wanna buy a hog?" "I almost gave up on you." "I was working." "Making a living." "I brought these." "They're all on that reading list." "Did you get a chance to look over that literature concerning the GED?" "Some." "Well, they're going to be giving that test at MTSU coming up at the end of the semester." "That study guide is very helpful." "All right." "You can just leave them books on the steps there." "Okay." "Much obliged." " Where are you going, son?" " There's a coyote, Mama." "I just need to run it off before it hurts something." "Are you crazy?" "Don't you know enough to stay put?" "I'm accustomed to putting myself wherever I want to be." "I don't want you around Ma." "So you just head right back through the woods, where you came from." "I ain't hurting nobody." "You think I aim to hurt her?" "You did that a long time ago and I ain't about to let you do it again." "She's old." "Mind's getting feeble." "As far as I know, you've been forgot and I aim to see that it stays that way." "Boy, you got me all wrong." "I don't wanna hurt nobody any more." "You get your sorry ass back to that swamp where you belong." "I think you like the idea of me cramped in that piece of tin." "Piece of tin I paid you $4,000 for, mind you." "No lights, no water." "You wanted to make it hard on me." "Well, I got news for you." "Hard is what I'm used to." "When you let out of here 40 years ago, you never looked back because you didn't care." "You left us standing right there on that porch and you took your guitar with you." "Your new fancy guitar that you had your name painted on." "Well, I had your name first!" "I didn't take off." "I didn't pull a Boyd or a Warren." "I stayed where I belonged." "And I have had to sit here and watch her wither away all these years out of sorrow." "But you didn't see it." "No, you was off in Arkansas or someplace plucking on your guitar." "I never felt I had to explain my actions to any man." "But I'll tell you this, you don't know the whole story, not even half of it." "You stay away from here." "Because if you don't, I will make it hard on you, old man." "Who's there?" "Whisky wasn't my undoing." "It was music." "My bane and my salvation." "That's what Brady says." "Warren, too." "Maybe them boys know me better than I thought." "I used to be pretty good at this." "If I had a player, I could show you how good I was." "Did you get a good piece off of that hog?" "Pretty good." "What put you in the working mood all of a sudden?" "I don't know, just trying to pay my way is all, I guess." "I bet she's a pretty thing, ain't she?" "I could tell you'd been love struck the minute I laid eyes on you." "Yeah, well, I don't know how love struck she still is." "I was supposed to take her out last weekend and I didn't show up." "Had to finish painting that goddamn house." "I'm taking her out this weekend." "Dinner, movie, whatever she wants." "And I don't care what her mama has to say about me." "I felt that way about your granny, too." "Her daddy thought low of me." "Said I was a drunkard, a layabout, patron of whores." "Of course, I was all those things, but I didn't like him saying it." "Yeah." "Granny doesn't really talk about you too much, at least not to me." "I can't say I blame her." "Her daddy swore I was bad for her and I did my best to prove he was wrong." "But I wasn't too successful at it." "Well, actually I do remember her saying one thing about you which is, you used to make your own whisky." "That's what they sent me to the pen for." "Well, she left that part out." "I only served a year or so." "Long enough for them to keep a close eye on me after I got out." "Made it a little harder for me to re-fire my still." "But you started up again after you got out of the pen?" "I always started up again." "I got shot at more than I was hit." "I guess that made me think I was ahead of the game." "I could never quit while I was ahead." "What's her name?" "Raven." "That's a good name." "I got a gal Sweet as she can be" "I got a gal Sweet as she can be" "Raven is her name" "And she thinks the world of me" "Sweet as she can be" "I got a gal Sweet as she can be" "Raven is her name" "And she thinks the world of me" "You gotta start singing that song." "So, is it true you played at the Grand Ole Opry?" "Well, I played the Ryman once back when the Opry was still there." "Just one show, opening for some boys that had a song on the radio." " Hell, you made records." " One." "I cut one." "They didn't play it much." "So I run up against this radio feller once at one of my shows." "I found him insulting and pulled a knife on him." "That kind of put the kibosh on my radio play." "You going to a wedding or a funeral?" "You cash a cheque?" "Well, I think I can handle that." " There you go." " No, I don't take no handouts." "I don't recall ever paying you for that taxi ride I bought from you." "You treat that little girl right." "Lord God." "Are you talking about me or the car?" "If you're talking about the car, don't worry about it." "I thought you forgot all about me." " I can't go anywhere." "Mama..." " Who's out there?" "It's a salesman!" "I didn't come all this way just to get stood up." "Get your ass in here right now!" "Go wait down the road a piece." "Okay?" "Mama!" "Nice car." "What about your mama?" "She got her prescription filled this morning." "She's out." "Will be for a long time." "You smell nice." "Good enough to eat." "Hey!" "What's gotten into you?" "We're sitting right here in the middle of the road." "What's gotten into you?" "You're the one who started it all." "You're right." "I'm sorry." "Sorry." "So, this is, a date sort of?" "What do we do now?" " Have you done this before?" " No." "Here you go, Evelyn." "You know what they say about a man with big feet?" "What?" "It's just a joke." "You know, I think I may have to rethink my whole philosophy on life after going out with you." "How do you mean?" "Well, for one thing you do what you say you're gonna do." "You said you was going to take me out and you did." "I just about decided that men were the worst kind of trash on the planet." "They use you and drop you and slap you around." "Take your Uncle Warren." "You can take that type if you want." "That ain't my style." "If a guy like Warren were to take me out, which he wouldn't, he wouldn't take a girl anywhere except to bed." "But if he drove a car that smelled like yours or run like that, which he wouldn't, because a guy like that always has to drive something new and fancy." "It wouldn't have bothered him one bit, though." "A guy like that would be just like "Tough shit"." "Now I could tell that it bothered you." "I noticed." "You were embarrassed about it." "You're thoughtful." "Come on." "I ain't putting that back on." "It's my phone number in lipstick." "Hey." "You want one of Mama's oxys?" "If we just take half, it'll kind of knock the edge off, you know?" "No, thanks." "I'm pretty addled around you as it is." "Earlier tonight you said that you weren't like the rest of your family." "They can't be much worse than my mama." "In different ways they can." "What's your father like?" "Damned if I know." "I don't think Mama did either." "Probably why she run off." "She must have been like my mama." "No, no, no, she wasn't like that at all." "She was, she was real quiet." "She always seemed kind of sad like she wanted Daddy or somebody to pull her out of it." "When I was a little girl," "I used to ask men around town if they knew my daddy." "Most of what I heard wasn't good." "I guess he took a bunch of folks for their money." "And he was just gone." "I wish I'd kept my mouth shut and not asked." "I probably shouldn't even be telling you this." "I should've just told you he was a Baptist preacher who got killed on a mission or something." "I'm never much on preachers anyhow." "You've never done this before, have you?" "No." "No, I haven't." "It's okay." "I'll show you." "Get the fuck out of my house!" " Mama!" " Hey!" "You sit your ass right back down!" " Don't!" "Mama!" " Sit down." " Mrs. Halfacre, I'm sorry." " Don't you "Mrs" me." " Mama, stop it!" " You shut up!" "You fucker, you stay the fuck out of my house!" "What is wrong with you?" "I can't trust you." "Mama, he's not like all the other men." "What, like most men?" "He's not like most men?" "You don't even know him!" "There ain't but one thing that any of them wants and once they get it, they got no use for you, baby." "No, no, no." " You know the rules." " Those are your rules." "They're our rules." "You wear a condom, you don't give any heart, and no sleepovers." " You don't even know him." " Oh, baby." " You a Bloodworth?" " Who's asking?" "The name's Coble." "I'm looking for an E. F. Bloodworth." "Evening, Mr. Rutgers." "I take it you've been talking to the big cattle man." "Mr. Coble was in my office ranting and raving about you owing him a herd of cattle." "I just wrote him off as a near lunatic." "The next thing I know the county attorney started asking questions about you." "Figured it was Coble who got him stirred up." "I'm much obliged to you for telling me." "I don't suppose you have any recollection about Harold Lipscomb, do you?" "Trigger Lipscomb?" "Of course I remember him." "He put me in the pen." "You never saw him again when you got out?" "Not that I recall." "Why?" "Just wondering." "County attorney." "It seemed Lipscomb just up and disappeared all those years ago, about the same time you did." "The report says that..." "Well, you hear all kind of rumors and stuff." "If you're gonna be chasing down everyone who ever wanted Trigger Lipscomb dead, you got a long road ahead of you." "Have a good day, Mr. Rutgers." "Brady thinks I'm crazy." " Do you?" " No." "I'm hearing music, guitar." "Brady says it's all in my head." "What do you think?" "I think if you thought you heard guitar music, then you heard guitar music." "It's E.F. I'm hearing." "I know those songs." "Ain't no mistaking it." "Do you know how it is I'm hearing E. F?" "Granddaddy bought a trailer or at least he sent money so that Brady could buy him one." "He had a stroke over in Carolina, but he's okay now." "Where is his trailer?" "Across that field over yonder?" "That's where the music's coming from." "It's by that old pond." "At the dump?" "That's the craziest thing I ever heard." "If he had a trailer, why wasn't it set up here where there's power and water?" "Brady." "If sense was gunpowder, every one of you men together wouldn't have enough to load a round of birdshot." "Folks say I'm losing my mind." "Hey..." "Don't tell Brady that I told." "He'll try and put some sort of curse on me." "You know about Harwood?" "Harwood had stomach cancer." "Had it a year or so and never knew it." "Yeah, well, Brady put a curse on him." "Brady and his curses." "I'll put a curse on him if he ain't careful." "What's E.F. Like these days?" "He's pretty easy going." "Age must have slowed him down." "Easy going ain't how people seen him when I known him." "You're here for the GED?" "The name's Elbert Fleming Bloodworth II." "Can I help you?" "I'm Warren." "Your son." "When I was a boy, you said you'd take me fishing." "You never did." "Come on." "How you making it, Pa?" "I'm making it, I reckon." "I better pass." "Been feeling kind of poorly the last couple of days." "Well, I hope you don't mind if I have a snort." "You're past the age where what I think matters." "Itchy says" "Boyd's boy Fleming comes by and you visit with him." "Fleming's a good boy." "You got that right." "Yeah, most boys his age would be out drinking beer and chasing tail." "Not him, though." "I doubt that boy could touch a titty without falling in love." "He's got a good heart." "Yeah, odd though, isn't it?" "It just don't fit in our fam-damn-ily." "Black sheep." "You ever see Brady?" "No." "Look, he's just getting weirder." "He was odd turned by the time he was a baby." "If you wanted to see him odd turned, you should have stuck around and seen him in high school." "Warren!" "This is not Miami!" "Well, I guess I'm gonna go where the palm trees grow." "We'll catch a fish when I get back." " I don't want your money." " I don't want it either." " You be careful." " Too late for that." "You and Warren enjoy your little fishing excursion?" " How'd you know we were fishing?" " I know lots of things." "What I wanna know is why you told all them lies on me." "I don't remember saying anything about you, truth or lies." "That cattleman Coble, he seems to remember word for word about how crazy I am, retarded." "How I go about preaching to stumps, baptizing chickens, marrying cows." " That." " Yeah, that." "I always knew that you was evil and worthless." "I should have counted on being betrayed." "It had nothing to do with you." "Needed a ride to Tennessee." "Coble don't find the humor in it." "Says you made him look like a fool." "Hell, I'll just pay his ride bill and be done with it." "He's hired a lawyer, gonna have you declared incompetent." "The court's gonna appoint somebody to look after your business." "Well, you'd be a fine candidate for that." "You couldn't look after the business a sitting hen could accumulate." "Well, it don't matter." "It don't matter because you are fixing to die." "And worse yet, you are going straight to hell." "I guess God told you that, didn't he?" "Yes, he did." " You talk to God a lot?" " Yes, I do." "Well, then I guess he told you if you don't get your ass on down the road, I'm gonna beat the hell out of both of you." "Well, I don't care if she is at home." "I can't wait any longer." "I just..." "I can't see you right now." "You've made every excuse for the past two months." "Raven..." "I thought..." "I thought you cared for me." "I do, Fleming." "I just need time to think, okay?" "Well, you better get your thinking done with because I'm coming over." "Mama or no Mama." "Look, Mrs. Halfacre, I know you don't care much about my family and I understand that." "I understand that." "I do but..." "She ain't here." "Could you..." "Could you go find her and bring her home, please?" "Storm's coming in." " Bad one." " Yeah?" "You drive all this way to give me a weather report?" "Your mama told me to come get you." "What's the matter with her?" "She's treating me like I'm human." "Desperately searching for a bridegroom." "What is she looking at?" "She's just wondering." "Wondering what?" "If you're the father." "So, what are you gonna do?" "Mama had me when she was 17." "She made it." "I will, too." "Whose is it?" "It's not yours, if that's what's bothering you." "It is a Bloodworth, though." "Warren." "Warren, you sick son of a bitch." "I'm gonna kill him." "He didn't force me..." "I'm gonna..." "I'll fucking kill him." "I was willing." "It happened before I met you." "I was pregnant." "I just didn't know it." "I gotta go." "It's about to be awful outside." "I bet Mama would let you stay on the couch this time." "I can't." "I gotta get back." "The old man's been feeling badly of late." "Will you call me when you get home?" "Why?" "Because I'm afraid I may never see you again." "I don't..." "I don't have a phone." "You should get inside." "I don't suppose you have any recollection about Harold Lipscomb, do you?" "It seemed Lipscomb just up and disappeared about the same time you did." "You left us standing right there on that porch." "You are going straight to hell." "I guess God told you that, didn't he?" "Are you crazy?" "Don't you know enough to stay put?" "You get your sorry ass back to that swamp where you belong." "Hey." "Hey, come on." "Hey." "You should come inside." "She's dead." "The accountant's fucking dead." "Oh, Lord." "It's an accident." "It's an accident..." "We got a problem." "Come on, we gotta get her out of here." " There is no "We"." " We gotta get her out of here." " There is no "We"." "There's only you." " We gotta get her..." "No, no, no." "Keep your hands off me." "Get off me, you!" "Get up!" "Get the fuck out of my fucking life!" "Get in that fucking car!" "Get up!" "Get the fuck out of here!" "And you stay away from Raven!" "Sorry son of a bitch!" "Get the fuck up!" "Go!" "Go!" "Go!" "Get the fuck out of here!" "Hey, man." "Baby?" "Did you forget your keys again or did you just miss me?" "Boyd." "Hey, Patricia." "Boyd, what have you done?" "Oh, my God." "What have you done?" "What have you done?" "What have you done?" "Sorry, I'm bothering you." "I'm supposed to tell you that your daddy..." "Your daddy's got cancer." "Oh, Boyd." " Come here." " Boyd." "No." "Oh, my God." "No!" "Granddaddy?" "No, no." " I'm gonna go get a doctor." " No." "Help me." "Help me." "Please." " No." " Please." "For me." "I can't..." "Please." "For me." "Hey, buddy." "Everything all right?" "Oh, my God!" "Beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves." "Ye shall know them by their fruits." "Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles?" "Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit." "But a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit." "A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit." "Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire." "Back home." "Finally back home." "Our secrets are buried with us, E.F." "Our secrets are buried with us." "Fleming Bloodworth, you've disgraced your whole family." "Not showing up at your own granddaddy's funeral." "What's the matter with you?" "You're sick or something?" "What is..." "This you?" "Somebody's certainly getting above their raising." "How's it feel to be a tool?" "Tool to do my bidding." "How does that feel?" "What?" "There's more holes left in that old bastard than one metal pole was capable of leaving." "I know the truth." "I did it." "And I did it using you as my tool." "You did my bidding." " You're crazy." " I divined it!" "You can't be crazy and divine something." "I used your assets and I turned it on you and used you as my tool..." "Give me my book back!" "Get the hell out of here!" "I'm gonna tell you the same thing that I told Warren." "It's that I don't ever wanna see you again." "I'm done." "I don't wanna be a member of this family no longer." "You don't wanna be a part of this family?" "There's something I can do about that." "I can help you." "I'll burn this whole mess down with you in it." "And then we'll dig another hole and stick you in the ground next to that old bastard, then you won't be a part of this family." "And that is what blood is worth!" "You be sure and have a good night's sleep." "Hey." "E. F?" "E.F., that you?" "You're a good-looking man, E.F." "Good looking." "But if you go away again this time, that's the end of it." "That old music's drove you crazy." "It's hurt me." "Worse yet, it's hurt them children." "Do you think children raise themselves, do you?" "No." "No." "I know they don't." "Them children need you, E.F." "They need you." " Hear me?" " Yeah." "I know." "Most thought the old man had returned to make peace with his family." "The boy knew different." "He knew the old man had made peace with no one." "After a while it occurred to him that the old man was making peace with himself" "and that had probably been a good part of the problem all along." "Thank you, Fleming." "Thank you very much." "Have a nice weekend, everybody." "See you on Monday." "E.F., look who it is." " How's it going?" " Daddy!" "Come on!" " Let's go!" "Let's go." " Okay." "One, two, three, whoa..."