"Ben." "Ben, wake up." " What happened?" " I smell smoke." "No fire." "No smoke." "Nothing." " Are you sure?" " Yeah, I'm sure." "There's nothing." "Maybe it was a dream." "Yeah, maybe." "Probably." "Gabe?" "You're gonna have to start turning some of these people away." "We already went over this, Mr. Dolan." "I went over it with you, now I'm going over it with your brother." " Justin?" " Not a single soul will be turned away." "For Pete's sake." "You know the only reason a lot of them are here is for a hot meal." "Then they will be fed." "It's not just the food." "A lot of these people might be criminals." "There's a lot of money pouring in." "Maybe they're just looking for an angle..." "Damn it!" "They're not all here to be saved, Brother Justin." "They've come because they were called, Mr. Dolan." "I need them all." "Everything seems worse when I'm trying to sleep." "I smelled smoke." "It wasn't a dream." "It wasn't." "Sometimes I wonder if all this ain't the dream." "If it is, I want to wake up." "You should do that more." "I was wondering if you want to do one of those readings with the cards." "It doesn't work without Mama." "We can give it a shot." "I don't do that anymore." "Do me a favor." "Get the cards." "Burn them." "Take them out of my place and burn them." "I don't ever want to see them again." " I take it you'll be needing a truck." " Yeah." "Been in Ingram a week." "Shit burg like this, it ain't worth a day." "What're you saying?" "If we stick around much longer, they're gonna start grousing." "You tell him I'm doing the best I can." " He knows that." " Why are you crawling up my hoop about it?" "I've been all over this place." "I ain't found nothing." "It's not like Kerrigan gave me a road map." "All right, I'm just asking." "There are some ranch roads in the hills." "I'm gonna run them out, see what's what." "I'll tell him." "Kid... watch your back." "Is that coming from you or him?" "It's both of us." "Turn off that damn squawk-o-dyne." "Drink Moxie, the only soft drink with the genuine Moxie taste." "Moxie, the only soft drink you'll ever crave." "And now, ladies and gentlemen, lend a kind ear... as we bring you Brother Justin's Saturday morning..." "Church of the Air." "Good morning, brothers and sisters." "I was just making some notes a few moments ago... and you'll never believe what I was thinking about." "I was thinking about salt." "In many ways, salt might appear to be a curse from above." "The salt from the sweat of our backbreaking labors." "The salt from the tears of a child gone hungry." "The salt rubbed unmercifully into the lash marks left by the whip." "The oceans themselves, great bodies of water that might irrigate... this withered land, but cannot." "And why?" "Because they are poisoned with salt." "And yet... we know that it is not a curse." "It is a blessing." "A mere pinch kills the writhing slug that ravishes our garden." "The leech that sucks our lifeblood." "And let us not forget, brothers and sisters... that salt upon our tables." "Pure and white... that increases our enjoyment of God's simple bounty." " Do you mind?" " What happened?" "They've been skittish." "One of them must have bit the others and they got sick." "Who knows why some things die." "Why you been ducking me, Ben?" "I don't know what you're talking about." "Yeah?" "Then why won't you even look at me?" "If I did something to you, or said something... you stand up like a man, Ben Hawkins, and you tell me." "Don't you hide from me like you hide from everything else." "I ain't hiding from you." "Well, you're doing a pretty good impersonation." "Okay, I don't want to be around you." "Satisfied?" "You're scared of something." "The only thing that scares me is folks using other folks to use me." " You think I want to use you?" "For what?" " Forget it, God damn it." "It ain't even about you." "Just forget everything." "You said it:" "Some things die." "Some things don't." "I can't keep up this pace, Felix." "Oh, hell, this ain't nothing." "You got us putting out from noon till Sunday." "Well, this one here's a special fellow." "Truth be told, he's an alderman." "Could be mayor of Ingram someday." "But I thought it'd make pretty good sense for the future, is what I thought." "You're full of shit, as usual." "Okay, then." "I'll send him on his way." "No matter." "You say the word." "I'm all messed up down there." "Just get out of here." "Get!" "Hey, Sofie!" " Did you do like I asked?" " Yeah, I burned them, except this one." "What's it mean?" " Never seen it before." " It was in there with the others." "Well, I've seen every one a thousand times." "It's not one of mine." " It was in there with the others." " Then burn it." "Welcome home, Norman." "Hey, Jones." "Libby." "Here, I got it." " No, don't." " No, it's all right." "Dirty, there." "There you go." "Hey, Jonesy." "How you doing there, buttercup?" "How come you ain't inside?" "Commerce." "Since when did your mama ply her trade before the crack of noon?" "Ask her squealing johnny." "I could use an extra pair of hands on Colossus." " Hell, you got four guys on there now." " Three guys." "She seems to be holding her own." "It ain't her." "It's the rest of them." "They don't like it." "Since when does that cut ice?" " Plus, she don't know jack." " So?" "Osgood don't know how to find his pecker if the light isn't on." "He manages." "Look, if you're angling to get her ass canned, you're hunting with the wrong dog." " I like her." " Hell, Samson." " It's your show." " And it's your crew!" "You wanna can her, don't even talk to me." "You handle it!" "Watch it up there!" "Sorry." "Little late in the day for breakfast." "Honey pie, I could eat breakfast three times a day." "Give a holler if there's anything else." "One thing." "The night of the fire at the mission, you saw the car." "Damned vulture." "You want a story, talk to the cops." "It's over." "Why don't you give it a rest?" "You know... a young lady came to me the other day." "No older than you, I'm sure." "She was a good Christian who had been in a bad way." "An unwed mother, had to give her baby up a few years back." "She'd gotten her life back on track and told me I could interview her... if I could just find out if her baby was among those... who perished in the Mintern fire." "I had to tell her he was." "Me, not the cops." "Now, what I couldn't tell her... was that the flesh of those children... roasted so black... it fell straight away from their little bones when they tried to move them." ""Let it rest"?" "How do you suppose she rests?" "How do you suppose those kids are resting?" "He was slumped down." "Slumped down, or not very tall?" "I couldn't see him." "You're sure it was a him?" "Could it have been a woman?" "No." "Yeah, it might have been." "Just one more thing." "Toast." "I asked for wheat toast." "Dry." "Howdy, friend." "You know somebody around these parts called the Crone?" "Take this road for a couple of miles, and right up yonder... the road splits." "You bear right... and then you will be on Old Cherry Blossom Road." "You go till you see a house." " How do I know the house?" " Ain't but one." "Hey, hold up a mite, friend." "Here, come on out." "I need to show you something." " What?" " Well, come on out." "I won't hurt you." "Go on." "Show him." "What the hell did you do that for?" "She's abnormal." "A retard, but she don't complain." "Won't tell nobody." "Back of your truck for $2." "She's tight." "I'm sorry." "Don't do that no more." "No, I won't." "Ever again." "Henry Scudder, look at you." "There." "You know, I can remember... sitting at your knee at the pergola... in the cool spring evenings... while you read your Bible." "Open." "Good." "I remember trying to lift it." "It seemed too heavy for one person to hold." "You know the first word I could read in English..." "Open." "...was from your Bible." "It was "garden."" "Remember?" "Oh, it's going to glisten, Norman." "The radio tower alone will be over 200 feet tall." "Did I tell you what Tommy Dolan said?" "He said... in a single coast-to-coast broadcast..." "I will speak to more souls... than our Lord did in his entire lifetime." "It's going to be breathtaking." "That's right, gentlemen, step right up in close... to witness the plush, rich texture of womanhood seldom seen." "Plenty of room, boys." "Step on in." "You ain't gonna like this, Mama." "Come on, boys, come on in tight and get a gander of something... you're not likely to see until your wedding night... and maybe not even then." "Come on out here, little flowers... and demonstrate the meaning of the word..." ""desire"!" "This is not your mother." "This is not your sister." "This is not your Aunt Claudine." "Fret not, gentlemen, where your imagination will take you." "It takes you to a land... where only pleasure resides." " You been swigging wood alcohol again?" " What?" "You're peddling flesh to a goddamn Sunday school outing." "Don't you ever demean what I do." "I do not peddle flesh." "I sell dreams." "This is what comes from doing a show before dusk." "If they don't run us out, they're gonna lock us up." "No, darling." "The little freckly-faced kid out there, he's the Sheriff's son." "See, his old man slipped me a fin, told me to walk them in." "And you know me." "I never argue with law or local custom." "We're doing kiddie shows now?" "It's his birthday." "You better go out there, get on." "Your daughter's dancing lonely." "Hey there, Bud." "Why don't you get on in there?" "Free of charge." "Yeah, Bud." "God, it's gonna be a hell of a blowoff." "I ain't here for no titty show." "Hell, no." "I know that." "Well..." "I'd better get back on in there or the warden will skin me alive." "You know what I mean." "Later, after the show." "Hey." "Anybody?" "I'd like to send a telegram, please." "To Justin Crowe..." "Mintern, California, from..." "Michael." ""Leaving Texas." "Stop."" ""Pushing on to New Mexico." "Stop."" ""Impressive scenery." "Stop."" " Make that collect." " Yes, sir." "Anyone?" "I ain't no trespasser." "What's yours is yours." "I ain't the law!" "I ain't no poacher!" "Come on." "When you were a kid... you thought the seams were veins." "You're something else, honey!" "Come on, give it a kiss!" "Somebody help!" "Kill it." " Yeah, kill it." " Kill it!" "You heard her, kill it!" "Hey, that shitsack monkey is trying to get my shine." "All that monkey does is piss and shit." " What are you doing?" " Ain't it clear?" "That's enough now." "Leave something for the worms." "I said that's goddamn enough!" "Go bury him." "Deep." "Not like the last one." "That's right, Joanne." "You're a pretty little lady, that's what you are." "Yeah, that's what you are." "Inside's shut down!" "I'm sorry it's taken so long, but we have been working... triple time just to make things right." "That's sweet." "Where is it?" "Where's the rest?" "Look, do you want a drink?" " Next week?" " Next week." "Don't make me take measures." " No." "Hell, no." " No." "Bud, I would never make you do that." " No, not ever." " No, of course." " Next week, then?" " Yes, sir." "That's mighty white of you." "Well, hey there, lamb chop." "You remember Bud Everhard." "He's my old partner in crime." "I don't believe so." "Bud and I tried to open that cathouse on the reservation outside Albuquerque." "Once upon a time." "It was..." "I told you that one." "I've told you that one, I'm sure." "I told her that one 50 times." "I have another stop to make, but it was a pleasure meeting you, Mrs. Dreifuss." "Next week." "Best egg in the world, Bud Everhard." "Ran into some hard luck recently with this widow he took up..." "How much are you into him for?" "Now, you see, why do you do that?" "I got a tough hide, but sometimes it's like you aim to hurt me sometimes." "What do you want?" ""I may not return with thee, nor go in with thee by the by."" ""Eat bread with thee nor drink water with thee in this place."" "Oh, dear." "Goodness!" "Yes." "Terribly clumsy of me." "Down there." "Celeste?" "You look as if you're about to pray." "Your mother taught you how to pray, didn't she?" "Oh, my dear, dear Celeste." "I will show you things." "Wonderful, terrible things." "That's it?" "$3.28, a hobo knife, and some goddamn buttons?" "That don't help." "She's holding out." "Hey, come on." "Come on." "Look at that." "I said, you see that?" "It's silver." " Oh, shit." " What?" "Shit." "Hey, Ern!" "Stop!" " What do you mean?" "Damn it!" " Stop!" "Watch his head!" "Come on, set him down." "Go on." "You okay?" "Look at this." "Is this yours?" "Yeah." "She's been waiting for you." "Yes, sir." "Who's there?" "Lodz, where have you been?" "In lush green pastures, the shepherd lies down with his flock." "But he does not sleep." "Forever vigilant against the beast." "The sheep are nothing without the shepherd... but prey to the beasts of the night." "When the sheep gives its life for the shepherd's table... there is no greater honor."