"Sometimes people's lives would become entwined with ours for a brief time, and then, because of change or growth or the passage of time, their lives would take different paths and we would never see or hear of them again." "But there were occasions when people we had known in the past would reappear." "I remember one such occasion, and it took us completely by surprise." "Now, take it right inside, Son." " Over here." " Be careful here." "Why, it's Vera." "Hi." "It's Vera." " Come on." " There she is." "Hello there!" " What are you doing here, child?" " Vera, what a nice surprise." "You took a cab." "We could've come gotten you." "Didn't know I was coming till this morning." "Why on earth didn't Wade fetch you?" "He don't know I'm gone." "Where is he?" "I'd rather not talk about it right now, if it's all the same to you." " Come on in the house." " There you go, Floyd." " We'll find a place for you." " Now you children stay outside." "Come on, Jason, bring that suitcase in the house." "Vera, can we play with Floyd?" "He'll be all right." "You all be careful with him, you hear?" "Can I hold him?" "Maybe after supper we can persuade Vera to let him sit on your lap, okay?" "Got any booties?" " Don't be roughhousing, now." " We won't, Daddy." " Why don't you sit here on the couch?" " Thank you." "You hungry, child?" "Is there anything you want?" "A glass of water would be right welcome." "Thank you, Jason." "I wasn't meant for cities." "I've done what I had to do, moved down to town, tried to learn how to get used to electric lights and plumbing in the house." "I can't get the hang of city living." "Nothing's worked right since we left the mountain." "You don't have much choice, do you, Vera?" "Back yonder on Martha Corinne's place we had us a good life." "Then the government people chased us off our land." "I still say we should've stayed and fought it out." "If you'd stayed and fought, Vera, chance the whole lot of you would've been blown to kingdom come." "I wish now we'd taken that chance." "At least then maybe me and Wade would still be together." "Don't you think you ought to let Wade know where you are?" "Might be worried about you." "I don't suit Wade no more." "Y'all wouldn't know Wade Walton anymore." "Remember up on the mountain, how he always planned that house he was going to build for Floyd and me?" "Well, now we got us a house, and he don't come near it unless it's to sleep." "When he do come home, he's too tired to say more than "Hey, Vera."" "He don't even play with Floyd no more." "Sounds to me like more pressuring you than city life, Vera." "Does Wade have a job?" "Got a good job, but he don't go to it half the time." "He's got money, too." "And I wouldn't want this to go no further, but I'm convinced he's got lady friends." "What do you want to do, Vera?" "I'd be forever in your debt if I could stay here until me and Wade get this thing straightened out." "Lord knows it's all I want." " Livie, let's get Vera settled in." " Come on, Vera." "Here." " Here, boy." " Yeah." "Erin, can I have Floyd now?" "I don't think so, Elizabeth." "I think you're too little." " Here, let me have him." " Okay, there he goes." "Jason, will you get Vera's things, and bring them to the shed, please?" "All right, Mama." "I think you'll be comfortable here." "There's more room for you and the baby." "Be careful, he might throw up on you, Mary Ellen." "Oh, no, he just drools a little bit." "Come here, baby." "John-Boy fixed this up to use as an office." "He hardly uses it anymore, he keeps so busy." "It's real livable." "If you need more drawer space, I think there's a spare chest in the attic." "This one'll suit just fine." "Naturally, we don't want you to spend all your time out here." "This is just for sleeping and when you want to be by yourself." "Come on in." " Where do you want me to put this?" " Just put it on the bed, Jason." "Supper will be in about an hour." "Is there anything you need in the meantime?" "Would you please ask the girls to bring me my baby?" "Sure." " You come back now." " Hey, Ike." "Hey, Ben." " How you been keeping?" " Oh, tolerable, Ike." " That smells great." " Yeah." "There's nothing like the smell of good freshly-ground coffee." "The smell is almost better than sipping it." " Any mail for me today, Ike?" " As a matter of fact, there is." "Oh, good." "Where's Corabeth?" "Well, she's out back." "She's got one of her sick headaches again." "Sorry." "Yeah, I know I got a bill here for your daddy." "Let's see, I got some other mail." "One, two, three, four." "Five letters for you." "Where are you getting them?" "From Winston-Salem, North Carolina and Roanoke, Virginia and Lovingston, West Virginia." "All over the place." " I didn't say where." "I said who." " No you didn't, Ike." "You said where am I getting all these letters from?" " But I meant who." " But you said where." "You aren't going to tell me, are you?" "Do I have to?" "Nobody's business but your own." "As a matter of fact, there's a federal statute which says that, well, you don't have to tell anybody if you don't want to." "Good." "Still and all, Corabeth's curious." "You know how she is." "Oh, I know how she is." "So long, Ike." "Let me see that sandwich." "Rye bread, liver sausage, Bermuda onion, peanut butter, sardines and grape jelly." "What, no whipped cream?" "Livie, don't worry." "She'll come around if she wants to." "...there's only one person in the world who would concoct a sandwich like that." " Hey, Grandpa." " Hey, John-Boy!" " You had your supper?" " Yes, ma'am." "I had some at the five-and-dime." "I..." "Vera!" "How are you?" " John-Boy." " It's good to see you." "When did you get here?" "Hello, Floyd." "You sure are growing up, son." "I bet your daddy's mighty proud of you." "Where is his daddy?" " Hey, Wade, where are you?" " Wade's not here, Son." "We'll talk about it later." "There's no reason to wait till I'm out of earshot." "I've been sitting yonder studying the matter, and it's my opinion that you're as much to blame as anyone." " What happened?" " Wade's not here, Son." "We'll talk about it later." "Well, I'm sorry to hear that." "Maybe it wouldn't be this way if you hadn't put all those fool ideas into Wade's head." "Vera, I don't know what you're talking about." "What ideas?" "You told him about your highfalutin dreams." "How you was going to become a writer and put all your words down on paper for all the world to see." "Then you built him up, said how much you liked his wood carving, how you thought he was a real artist." "That's one reason he came down from the mountain." "Figured he could share his wood carving the same way you want to share your words." "Vera, what I told him was that I thought he had a lot of talent" " and I thought he ought to use it." " Well, he ain't." "He's turned his back on his talent, he's turned his back on Floyd and me, and he's turned his back on the rest of the Christian world." "I saw Wade a couple of weeks ago." "He looked fine to me." "He said things couldn't have been better." "You know, there's more to this than they're saying." "Son, why don't you ride over with me to their house?" "We'll see if we can get to the bottom of this." "Couldn't it wait until morning?" "Sooner we get this thing cleared up, the better, Liv." " Hey, Wade." " Yeah?" "Wanna stop off for a beer?" "No, I got business down the road." "Need a lift?" "My truck's up the street." "Thanks all the same." " See you tomorrow." " Yeah, see you tomorrow." "Evening, Corky." "You looking for me?" "Your granddaddy Boone needs us to pick up the stuff tonight." "And where're we gonna store it?" "Back of your truck, I reckon." "Well, that's right smart of a risk." "Got to take it." "But what am I to do if Vera comes snooping around?" "Throw a tarp over it." "Park it back in the trees just until tomorrow." "We'll mix it in with some sacks of flour, just in case the sheriff comes snooping around your place." "Yeah." "Come on, Son." "We've waited long enough." " Hey, John!" "John-Boy!" " Wade." "What're you doing, standing out here in the dark?" " Don't Vera know you're here?" " As a matter of fact, Wade..." "Sun goes down, she goes to bed." "That woman didn't even leave a light on for me." "Hey, you all, come on in the house." "Want a snort before I wake her up?" "It's prime stuff." "Grandpa Boone made it." "No, thanks, Wade." "Well, if that's how you feel." "Vera!" " Guess who's here?" " She's not here, Wade." "Oh, she's here all right." "Never sets foot out of the place and if somebody comes, she hides like a scared rabbit." "Thinks she still lives on the mountain." "Vera?" " She ain't here." " We tried to tell you, son." "She's over at our place." " How'd she get clear over there?" " Took a taxi." " Vera hired a taxi?" " Yeah." "Whole time we've lived here, she's been saying, "So and so costs too much."" ""How'd you like to take in a picture show?"" ""Costs too much."" ""How'd you like a Victrola?" "Costs too much."" "And here she's gone visiting you all in a taxi." "Why didn't she come back with you all, or is she coming back in a taxi, too?" "She's not exactly visiting us, son." "She asked us to take her in." "Take her in?" "She's got a home right here." "Nice home." "What's the matter with that woman, anyways?" "What's she been telling you all?" "Well, we only heard the one side of it, but..." "I guess she figures you haven't been treating her right." "What kind of foolishness is that?" "Hey, look, if you're wondering about tonight, it's no crime for a man to have a couple of beers with the men he works with." "We're not here to take sides, son." "We've just come over to tell you where she is and see if we can patch things up a little." "I been working myself to death to make that woman happy, and she up and does this to me." "Well, maybe if you come back with us and talk to her, she'll feel a little clearer about things." "She's the one that lit out." "She's the one with the explaining to do." "We'll be getting back." "And you tell her I expect to see her here when I come home from work tomorrow." "If that's your message, that's what we'll tell her." "Hey, John, John-Boy." "It's been a long day." "I'm sorry for barking at you all." "Coming home to this was just one heck of a surprise." "Maybe things'll look better in the morning, Wade." " She's all right, ain't she?" " She's all right." "Well, she's all fired up." "Then she's all right." "It's that silent treatment that drives a man out of the house." " How's Floyd?" " He's fine." "Well, then you just tell her to come on home." "I'll give her your message, Wade." "John, I love my wife." "Floyd, too." "We'll see you." " Good morning, Pa." "How did you sleep?" " Hi, John." "Esther's talking in her sleep." "I guess John-Boy is gonna be in bed a while." " Good morning, Son." " Ma." " Good morning, Daddy." " Hello, honey." "Mama, did you and Daddy fight a lot when you were first married?" " Every other day." " John, that's not true." "Now, Liv, even that first Sunday we were married, we got up and you said..." "Good morning, honey." "And you said to me, "John, let's get ready for church," and I said..." "Mary Ellen, some people have problems, but if you love someone and respect him, even if he is a heathen, you work your problems out." "Making up is the best part." "How do you know about such things, child?" "It's those confession stories she and Mary Ellen are always reading." "Confession stories?" "Good Lord!" "Ben Walton, I have never read a confession story in my life!" "Well, I've seen you and Mary Ellen in your room with that flashlight on." "What were you doing?" "Looking at the pictures?" " Ben, I'm going to clobber you!" " Now, come on." "All right, that's enough, now!" "Come on, it's too early for this kind of thing." "Daddy didn't get much sleep last night." "Daddy, can I have a tattoo like Wade?" " You know that hula dancer he has on..." " Absolutely not!" "I'd kind of like an airplane propeller, you know." "You can do whatever you want, Son, when you're 21 and you're your own man." "Hi, Vera." " Good morning." " Good morning." " Good morning." " Good morning, Vera." " Hi, Floyd." " Hello, Floyd." "Hiya, fella." "I'm sorry for being late." "Floyd's getting to be such a handful on my lap, it's a wonder I'm able to feed him at all." "Needs a highchair." "Wade promised me one, but he just never got around to finishing it." "It's sitting out back with all the rest of the things." "Jason." "Come on, Floyd, hang on there." "Here you go." "Lord, we thank you for the food we're about to receive and for bringing us safely through another night." "We ask your guidance throughout the day ahead." "Amen." " Amen." " Amen." "Let me help you with these pancakes here." "It's nice to have a new baby." "There was a time when Wade and I sat at a Christian table like this." "Excuse me, please." "Well, it just doesn't stop, does it?" " Who knows?" " All right, come on, dig in, everyone." "Hey." "Right over here." "My nursery of transplanted pines." "There's a loblolly and a longleaf pine back there." "Right in here is a real Virginia pine." "Pinus virginiana." "Scrub pine they call it." "Why did you plant the trees so closely together, Grandpa?" "Well, so as they can reach out and grow up tall and straight." "But how come?" "They're all of them fighting for the sunlight." "Grandpa, are you as old as that tree over there?" "That old one?" "Well, not as old as that, no." "You know, about 10 feet up, you can tell the girth of a tree." "One year for each inch." "Right here you can tell the tree by this old dead stump here." "See, it's recorded right here." "You see those dark and light rings all the way around?" "Inside that's all dead tree." "But each year around the outer edge records the year of its growth." "Just like we check it off on our calendars." " It must be over 100 years old." " Well, no, scarcely that." "From the time it was a young sapling, those precious years of the springtime, then the hot summer sun, then the closing-down time of the autumn, then the long, long sleep of the winter." "Well, I think we better be getting on home." "Your dad's got a lot of chores to do, especially got some for me." "Grandpa, you sure have taught me a lot about growing pines." "And, you know, one of these days I may just surprise you." "Well, you plan to start an experimental nursery in our backyard?" "If you do, you be sure you transplant them and keep the roots nice and moist." "Well, not exactly that, Grandpa." "But I've been working on something." "I think I'm gonna stay up here for a while." " You want to stay here?" " Can I?" "Yeah, me, too." "I did count the rings of that tree." "I'd say just about as old as I am." "And, Elizabeth, watch out for the lions, the tigers and the bears and the monkeys up here." "Okay, Grandpa." "Hey, come on." "I have something to show you." "Come on." "Come on." "Here it is!" "Here is what?" "This is Walton's Phenomenal Pines Enterprises." "Sounds like one of your crazy schemes." "Well, these seedlings right here are gonna make me rich and famous." "Well, how?" "There are seedlings all over the mountain." "But I've been shipping mine to folks in the flatlands so they can have shade in the summer." " You sneak!" "When did you plant them?" " Last spring." "I just did what Grandpa did." "Sounds like another one of your stupid ideas." "Well, you may think so, but look at all these orders I got from this ad I took out in Grit magazine." "Some even sent money in advance!" "Maybe it's not such a dumb idea after all." "Yeah." "You need some help?" "I work cheap." "We're all gonna be rich and famous?" "Well, not as rich as me, but you got to promise me something." " What?" " You gotta promise not to tell anybody." " Why?" " So everybody doesn't horn in on it." "Come on." "Let's weed this out." "You take that and I'll take this." "All those little weeds..." "At the rate we're going, we ought to finish this order by next Christmas." " I'm dragging." "How about you?" " Started the day dragging." "Wade, I'd like to see you for a minute." " Shoot." " In the office." "Wade, you know, you're a good worker when you set your mind to it." "But, lately, your job has really been sloppy." "My work's as good as anybody else's." "I've had three complaints on your work in the last couple of weeks." "From who?" "And you've been late nearly every day this week." "Look, Wade, I've been level with you and I'm gonna expect you to be the same by me." "Now, I know all about your little moonlighting job, so there's no need to try and hide it." "What I do in my own time is my business." "Not when it starts affecting your work here." "You saying my work isn't good enough for you?" "Well, who needs this lousy job anyway?" "Do this, do that, giving a man orders like he was in the navy or something." "Wade, don't mess up a good thing." "And that's what you've got going here, boy." "A good thing." "I'll tell you something." "You take your good thing and this whole factory and you shove it in the creek!" "Vera!" "Hey, Vera!" "Vera?" "I told you never to come by the house!" "Boone pushed the run up a couple of hours." "He wants everything delivered right away." "Got nothing better to do." "Looks like there's gonna be a roadblock." "I can get us around it." "Come on." "You handle the directions." "Lord, I don't ask your help too often." "But you gotta help Wade." "He's in some kind of trouble." "I know it." "He ain't never been an easy man to live with, but now something's really wrong." "Please, sir," "I'm begging you to steer him back to the right ways." "Lord Jesus, you and I both know that Floyd will need him bad." "And I need him right bad myself." " Grandma, have you seen Vera anywhere?" " No, not since this morning." "I think I'm gonna take a little walk." "You want me to come along with you?" "Help you find her?" "No, thank you." "Vera." "Vera." "Aren't you a little big for that?" "Just wanted to be by myself." "I remember Grandpa telling when you were a little girl and timid as a baby squirrel, how you used to hide behind a tree when company would come." "Your mom would have to haul you out to say hello and show you off." "I was never much to show off." "I was gonna take a little walk." "You wanna come with me?" "All right." "I'll see you back at the house." " I'm mostly worried about Floyd." " What's that, Vera?" "He's going to need his daddy around." "Floyd loves his daddy." "You ought to see the way his eyes light up whenever Wade takes him on his lap." "Babies know when they're loved." "One day Wade will just glory in holding his own baby on his lap." "Next day, he's a different person, saying nasty things and hurting my feelings." " Got a temper." " It runs in the family." "Maybe I've been bad for Wade." "He'd say, "Come on, Vera, let's go to Dew Drop Inn."" "And I'd say, "Wade, it's no fit place for a woman with a baby."" "Then he'd say, "Oh, Vera, you're no fun," and take off." "Then he'd come back and we'd start fussing, and I reckon I did about as much hollering as he did." "The other night we really had a bad one." "Him hollering, me crying." "Then he hollered out for all the neighbors to hear," ""Go on, leave if you don't like it!"" "That was what hurt." "Maybe he doesn't miss me at all." "Look at me, Livie." "I'm plain." " No, you're not." " I'm plain." "I'm ordinary." "I'm dumb." "We both know better than that." "I been fretting ever since we first moved down to Brightwood." "I seen them city girls with their lip paint and face powder." "Weren't no bother when we was both living in the cabin with Martha Corinne and Grandpa Boone." "Weren't nobody around to try and take my man away from me." "Don't you sell yourself short, Vera." "You're a good woman." "You have deep strengths you don't even know about." "Draw on them now." " You're asking me to change what I am." " No, I'm not." "All I'm asking is for you to try to meet your new life halfway." "There are lots of good things in life, Vera, even away from the mountain." "You need a friend." "Friendship's a very special thing." "Sometimes it takes a little working at, like a marriage." " Why don't you give it a second chance?" " Too late now, Livie." "I'll be leaving you all by and by." "I got kin over near Afton that'll take us in." "Wade'll know where to find us, if he wants us." "If that's what you've decided." "I thank you all kindly for keeping Floyd and me." "Be careful with that, Elizabeth." "How many trees do we have now, Jim-Bob?" " Nine." " Nine at 75 cents each" " comes out to $6.75." " We're rich." "That's only chicken feed compared to what we're gonna be making." "Now be careful the way you wrap that, Jim-Bob." "Make sure you keep all the dirt intact and don't break any of the branches." "I am careful." "At least I don't drop it like Elizabeth." " Elizabeth!" " Well, they're slippery." "Do I have to do everything myself?" "So far, all you've done is yell and give orders." " Well, that's my prerogative." " What's prerogative?" "It means he does the least work and gets the most money." "Get back to work." "Hi, Wade." "What you want here?" "Can I come in?" "You sure seem to have a chip on your shoulder." "No chip on my shoulder." "I feel just fine." "You feel fine, huh?" "Couple of weeks ago you told me that and now your wife is up staying at our house." "My wife walked out of my life, and I'm just gonna enjoy my freedom." "Now, what concern is that of yours?" "Well, if you'd really like to know what concern it is of mine, I'll tell you." "The other night when she got there, she lit into me." "It seemed like she blamed this whole thing on me, put it on my shoulders, just 'cause I was encouraging you for doing your wood carvings." "Now, is that what you think?" "I mean, you think I'm to blame for all of this?" "It's between me and her." "I'll tell you the way it was." "I did my best to stay sweethearts with her." "I tried to get her to go out with me, but she wouldn't go." "I tried to get her to be friendly with the neighbors, but she wouldn't even come to the door, just hid somewheres." "I even bought her a low-cut, shiny black, solid silk shimmy." "You think she'd get into it?" "No, siree." "Claimed it looked sinful." "Maybe she just needs a little more time to get used to living in town, you know." "Why don't you just butt out of my business, John-Boy?" "No, maybe I won't just butt out of your business." "What's the matter with you, Wade?" "A year ago, you and me were up on that mountain standing side by side." "We were ready to fight for your land." "Now you won't even talk to me like blood kin." "What's wrong with you?" "A year ago, I came down from the mountain, and you told me I could sell my wood carvings." "Oh, people liked them well enough, said they were pretty, but nobody bought them!" "Lucky I learned how to work a lathe in the navy." "So I found myself a lathe job and I tied myself down to that, and that's just what I was." "Tied down to a machine, tied down to just enough money to squeak by." "Along comes Grandpa Boone with a proposition, hauling his shine down to Richmond, Norfolk and Newport News." "And that's good money, John-Boy." "Enough so I would never have to hear Vera say, "Costs too much!"" "Wade, are you running moonshine?" "Do you realize that's just as illegal as selling it and making it?" "Well, maybe that's just part of it, John-Boy." "Before a liquor run I get the same feeling I used to get before I went into battle maneuvers." "My throat dry, my heart pounding, my skin tingling and a roaring in my ears like a freight train going 90 miles an hour." "I feel like I'm alive again, John-Boy." "Well, I..." "I don't know what to tell you." "I guess what I came here to say was that Vera's going up to Afton to stay with kin tomorrow." "If that's the way you feel about things, I guess maybe she'll be better off." "Wade!" "Open this door." "Wade!" "John-Boy." "I didn't expect to see you here." "Sheriff." "Wade, we've been tailing you two." "And your friend here has been a little loose with his talk and his money, so you better bring a toothbrush." "Those down at the jailhouse are getting a little worn and frayed." "Come on." "Let's go." "Hey, there, John-Boy!" "Whatever you burning up the road for?" " What's up, Son?" " You're not gonna believe this." " Wade's in jail." " How'd he manage that?" "He got caught with a truckload of moonshine." " Selling it?" " No." "Running it." "It seems Boone has been paying him and some character named Corky a whole lot of money just to run it for him." "Wait till I get my hands on that Boone." "He ought to be ashamed of himself, dragging a fine, upstanding boy like Wade downhill along with him." "Pa, let's hear the rest of the story, all right?" "I was up to Wade's place and Sheriff Bridges came by and arrested him." "Took him up in front of Judge Horsely, and he got himself sentenced." "$50 or 50 days, take your choice." "They've got his truck back there." "They've confiscated it." "They're holding it until they get rid of the moonshine, so he's just sitting there in jail." "I hope he's doing some thinking." "Well, the way I figure it, he got off pretty easy." "Judge said it was his first offense, and he's got family..." "Of course, we could get him out. $50." "$50!" "Now where am I gonna get fifty dollars?" "Well, Wade's got 30, and Boone owes him some money." "If we had $20 we could get him out." "$20!" "I got a mortgage payment, son." "I don't have that kind of money!" "Well, now, John, you're wrong." "After all he's our blood kin." "I've got a nest egg of $20 sitting upstairs there just waiting to be hatched." "No, siree, Pa." "No." "Now, listen, Son, you get in your car." "You go up the mountains, you find Boone, and you tell him to get his nephew out of jail." " You want me to go up there?" " Yeah." "You're right." "You do that." "You go give Boone a good talking to." "He's blood kin after all." "He can't bite you." "Okay." "Come on, Pa." "We got work to do." "That Boone ain't got sense enough..." "Well, good luck to you, Ben." "Whatever you're up to." "Thank you, Ike." "When I branch out, I may just ask you if you want a job." " Branch out into what?" " Branches!" "Branches?" " Hey, look, everybody." " Son?" "My third batch of money orders!" "For Walton's Phenomenal Pines Enterprises." "So that's what you've been up to." "Don't you think you should've checked with us before you got into all this, Son?" "I wanted to do it on my own to show that I was grown-up, too." "How'd all this get started?" "I've been watching Grandpa for the past year now with all his seedlings, and I saw how easy it was, so I decided I could do it myself." "What kind of trees you been selling?" "The same kind that you've been planting last spring, Grandpa." "I've been shipping them to Tidewater, and down to North Carolina and all over the place." "Okay." "Those are mountain pines." "I don't know if they'd grow so good down around the Tidewater sand." "We were real careful, Grandpa, did just like you told us." "You wrapped them up." "You didn't let the roots dry out and wet paper, standing them up." "Hi, Zeb." " Ep." " John." "Sheriff." "I've been doing a lot of business out here with you people." "Now, Ep, I'd like to get right to the point, because I haven't had the best kind of day." "Well, I'd like to talk to old Ben here." "Seems the forestry department has been getting complaints from people who're buying your seedlings." "They feel they're being gypped." "Well, how do they figure that?" "Well, the report I get is the seedlings are either dead by the time they arrive, or soon after they're transplanted." "They're supposed to grow." "I went through all the instructions in this forestry manual." "Also, there's no Ben Walton registered as a commercial grower." "You see, son, you gotta have a license to sell trees and ship them." "I didn't know that." "What kind of trees you been selling?" "Mostly scrub pines or yellow pines, mostly." " When did you plant them?" " Last spring." "Well, there's your answer." "Zeb, you ought to know that a young pine has gotta be at least two years old before you transplant them." "Yes." "Yes, I had ought to know that." "Well, Ben," "I know you had no intention of deceiving people, so I'm gonna see if I can get the charges dropped against you." "Providing you're willing to give back the money you've been taking in." "I can't do that." "What do you mean?" "I've already spent most of the profits on shipping and another little ad I took out." "What should I do, Daddy?" "Let's see." "You killed yourself a bunch of young trees, you spent most of your profits and you're on the wrong side of the law." "I don't know." "You got any ideas?" "You can lend me the money that I owe." "I haven't got that kind of money, Son." " John, I gotta little nest egg I've been..." " Now, just a minute, Pa." "You got some money left from your business and if you do extra chores around here, you can pick up some more money." "I don't know." "See if you can work it out with the sheriff here." "Sheriff, do you think it'd be okay if I paid a little at a time?" "Ben, since you're underage, I think they'll work something out with you." "Yeah." " Sorry to trouble you this late, John." " Come by anytime, Ep." " Next time bring some good news." " Sheriff!" "Do you happen to know how I can get a grower's license to ship and sell trees?" "Ben!" "Better to get to work on those extra chores." " Hitch up the mule and drag in some logs." " Now?" "Right now." "Now I know what a bear feels like in a cage." "I never wanna set foot in that place again." "I'll drop you any place you wanna go." " I wanna see my wife and baby." " All right." " Where's Vera?" " She's been staying in the shed." "Vera!" "Vera, I've come to take you home." "I know what you've been doing at them roadhouses." "I know you've been arrested." "Vera, you get Floyd ready to go back, you hear?" "Back to what?" "Grandpa Boone might stake us till I get another job." "If you run more moonshine for him?" " Vera..." " You want Floyd and me?" "Well, Wade, you prove it." "Vera, you're my wife." "Vera!" "Vera, you come out of there!" "Vera!" "Come out of there!" "Vera!" "What kind of ideas you putting into her head now?" "Now, wait a minute." "I'm tired of hearing that!" "If anybody put any ideas in her head, it's you." "She's been trying to work things out here while you..." " You won't even..." " Butt out of my business!" " You won't even..." " Easy, Son." " Yeah, and you just better..." " What do you mean, I just better?" "Now, Wade, calm down." " Come off your high horse, Son." " I'm tired of that woman." "I'm getting her right now even if I have to knock down that door!" "Now wait a minute." "This is my property here." "You're not gonna knock down any door." "And you can't go treating your wife like that!" "John." "Wade." "Vera loves it up here in the mountains, and I know you do, too." "We got a new mill over there, a lot of fine cabins working." "We sure could use your help on it." "It's a handout." "I don't take charity." "Wait just a minute." "Pa here is right." "We got work here." "We got a roll-top desk could use your talent." "Now, I'll put you to work and I'll pay you well." "And what if I don't?" "Well, it seems to me you got two choices." "Either you can get yourself honest work and take care of your family, or I'm gonna have to thrash you from here to Rockfish." "Thank you for watching over us and keeping us well and strong so that we can be here together at this table." "And, dear Lord, grant us the favor of bringing back to the fold the sheep that is lost, so that he too can be with his family, like they pledged to do on their wedding day." " Amen." " Amen." " Amen." " Amen." "Anybody remember to put the honey on the table?" "Don't need honey." "Here you go, little fellow." "I took a long walk." "And I done some thinking." "And I remembered how it used to be with us up on that mountain." "Maybe..." "Maybe the fault ain't all on your side." "Maybe the fault ain't on either side." "Maybe neither one of us was meant for cities." "I'm gonna find us a little piece of land on the side of some mountain," "and I'm gonna build you that house I promised you." "Wade, you know it's all I ever want." "John-Boy," "I..." "Maybe I just didn't try hard enough on that wood carving." "Wade, won't you sit down and have some supper?" "Yeah." "I'll get started on that desk first thing after supper." "It can wait till morning." "How you been keeping?" "You wanna hold Floyd?" "Come here, Floyd." "How's my little boy?" "Okay, here we go." "How about some meat there?" "This man looks hungry." "In time, Wade earned enough through his wages at the mill to open his own wood-carving shop in the house he had long planned to build." "Now that he was able to follow the work he loved most, he became the husband and the father he had always planned to be on the day he and Vera were married." " Mama?" " Yes, Jim-Bob?" " I can't sleep." " Why not?" "You know that hula dancer Wade's got tattooed on his arm?" " Yeah?" " I got one on my arm now." " You'd better be joking." " I drew it on in indelible ink." "I've been scrubbing and scrubbing, and it won't come off." " Then you just keep on scrubbing." " I will, in the morning." "Right now." " Good night, Mama." " Good night." "English"