"Hey!" "Darce." "Look, you shouldn't be out here either." "Too many people come out at the same time, she's gonna bust us." "And then what?" " Mmm?" "No more gardening at night." "Hey, you know how that cramps your style." "Well, I got these roses on sale at Walmart today." "I get 'em in the ground while the soil's cooled off, else they're gonna wither." "Serves you right if they wither, shopping at Walmart." "You want me to make coffee in the morning or you gonna do it?" "Me." "I'll see you at 7:00." "Get some sleep." "It's too hot." "Agh, it already feels like i switched the blow dryer on "high" and held it up to my face for half an hour." "It doesn't help that you're driving around in a mini sweat lodge." "Hello, folks." "Today we're heading into our 88th consecutive day of no rain here in north Georgia in this, the hottest September on record." "And there's no rain in sight." "Oh, shit, space cowboy." "Don't look, don't look, don't look, don't look." "What?" "He knows your truck." "Don't make eye contact." "Christ." "He's never awake this time of... hey, Clay, how you doing?" "Do you have a second, Darcy?" "I don't want to alarm you, because there is nothing to worry about yet, but the Dean's been discussing budget cuts and layoffs again, and we may have to pare down on administrative assistants." "Uh-huh." "I know you were interested in a tuition option after two years of service." " Right." "Did you get your application in?" "Good, ma in American lit." "Ba." "Ba." "I never got my degree." "Well, good for you for finishing it now." "Oh, also, you may have to pay in more to the health plan." "You don't have any dependents, correct?" "No." "So they need you to get out there and find the money and be all charming, so you're totally safe, and geri, you know everything there is to know about computers." "Plus not to be blunt, but you got race and gender on your side." "Funny how things work out sometimes." " Shut up." "I think it'll be fine, darce." "Don't stress." "You could always ask Clayton for your old job back." "No." "No, no, no." "No, she was the world's worst waitress." "No." " Oh." "I'll see you after work, sweetheart." "Love you." "oh, pardon me." " Sorry." "Oh." "Oh." "Are you... is that Kevin?" "Kevin Jenkins?" "Miss baylor, how you been keeping?" "Fine." "I'm sorry, Kevin." "I..." "I almost didn't recognize you." "You just..." "Look so different." "This here is my wife, Beth." "Oh, excuse me." "I'm Darcy, Darcy baylor." "Kevin was friends with my son Walker." "They had some run together, those two." "Yep." "From kindergarten all the way through to grad school." "They were thick as thieves." "Kevin told me all about it." "Such a loss." "I can't imagine how painful... this your first?" "We've got three boys already." "This is a boy, too." "Aren't you a little young to have that many kids, Kevin?" "I'm almost 32, Ms. baylor." "We're up from Birmingham visiting mama." "I run an accounting firm down there now, so." "Well, you remember me to her." "Yes, ma'am, of course." "here you go, zipper." "Hey." " Hey." "Want to come over?" "I'm fixing a salad." "I can't, working late." "Dean says the funding letter's gotta go out, and I'm up to my eyeballs trying to track down any alum that's got money." "Mm, donations are in short supply, huh?" "Mostly, but I just found one prospect who's loaded, apparently." "Wasn't Walker friends with some guy named mark Wright?" "Mark Wright." "Oh, he's from New Orleans originally?" "The very one." "Yeah." "He and Walker were in business school together." "I never liked that kid." "He had weird-ass energy." "Huh, so, what can you tell me about mark Wright?" "I don't know." "Walker kind of idolized him." "I could never figure out why." "He was from some rich family." "Yeah." "He was dealing coke all over." "Not like he had to." "But nobody ever bothered him about it 'cause he was a legacy." "Did you see that?" "Heat lightning." "It's a big fat tease." "Not like we're getting any actual precipitation out of it." "Anyway, mark was always hiring Walker to do shit jobs like pick up his dry cleaning because he knew he was hard up for cash." "Well, you know what they say." "Money begets money." "Mark Wright's worth something like 5 million bucks now." "What?" " Made it all in this chain of restaurants down in Louisiana." "You shaving your legs or something?" " No." "What kind of restaurant?" " Oh, it's ridiculous." "It's like make your own hot dogs, dogs the way you want them, something like that." "Hot dogs." "Yeah." "Like ones made with all-natural ingredients, and some of them are vegetarian?" "Uh-huh." " Like tofu?" "Uh-huh." " Is it called the dawg house?" "Like d-a-w-g?" "Yeah, d-a-w-g." "How'd you know that?" "Darce?" "Are you still there?" "I gotta go." "Hey." "Last time I saw that look on your face, it was the night that you broke that menu board over some guy's head when he grabbed your ass when you set down his meatloaf." "I was in the stock room minding my own business, and I heard "cr-ack."" "Cleaved it clean in two." "Darcy?" "If you didn't want to see me, what you come in here for?" "It's good to get out of the house sometimes." "Byrd told me you're worried about your job." "Town crier." "Are you going to quit being cryptic or what?" "Remember when you, me, and Walker dug this bed?" "I do." "He's been coming up all day today." "Some days, you know, he just sort of surfaces." "Some days not at all." "When he was real little and I barely had two pennies to rub together, there was one thing we would always do on Saturdays, and that was walk up to Louie's and get hot dogs." "I'd get two everythings." "He'd get a chili dog." "We'd both get lemonades, and then we'd walk home." "It didn't matter what it was like out weather-wise." "Eating our hot dogs, you know, talking about this and that." "Even in the rain." "We considered it good luck to eat a hot dog in the rain." "Once Walker got done with his lemonade, he'd hold my hand up till he was around 10 or so, and then he quit." "Well, the time's gonna come when a boy eventually lets go of his mama's hand." "When he was getting his business plan together for grad school, he wanted to start a chain of family restaurants where you can make your own hot dog, and I thought to myself, i took this child to museums" "and read him good books and paid for cello lessons, and all he's hanging onto is the hot dogs." "Well, he had his own ideas about what he wanted to do." "He worked the whole thing out, real detailed." "I know, 'cause i typed it up for him." "And then his professor handed it back and told him that business plan was never gonna fly." "Was that the professor you stared at real hard when he parked his Honda by the light downtown and then, poof, his engine died?" "Yeah." "He was only 24." "If I could've gotten him over that hump." "If... if I could've just helped him..." "Get a little further." "If he even made it to 30, he would've been okay." "I know." "I know you believe that." "But you just gotta quit blaming yourself eventually, baby." "Mm." "Here." "Oh, that asshole." "Oh, yeah, that guy." "You know, he used to come into the bar and try and order expensive bottles of champagne he knew damn well we didn't carry." "He drove by in his Audi blasting rap music and hollering at Walker when he was cutting your grass." "I forgot all about that." "Watch those crumbs, Clay." "Honey, I mean, even if he stole Walker's idea, you can't prove it." "If I can find a copy of Walker's old business plan, I can." "What are you gonna do?" "You gonna sue him?" "You want his money?" "That's not what I want." "Why not?" "You could use it." "Maybe." "That's not what I'm after." "When byrd called me, it was like something..." "I don't know, I don't know how to describe it." "It was like something filled up this room." "It was pushing at the walls, like they were vibrating or something." "I felt Walker's presence in here so strong." "I hadn't felt that way since the night he died." "Every molecule of me was alive to him." "He was calling to me." "What else can I do except try to answer?" "Darcy baylor." "My, what a surprise." "Hey, sue Anne, your yard's sure looking gorgeous." "Aren't you worried about getting ticketed for the sprinklers?" "Oh, we aren't on water restrictions here in the heights." "What can I help you with, Darcy?" "Well, actually, I'm looking for Kevin." "Well, he and Beth and the boys headed back to Alabama around dawn." "I need to speak with him about something." "Maybe you could just give me his number then." "Um, try "zipper."" "That's not it either." "What about "interpol"?" "Some kind of joke?" "It's the name of his favorite band." "Mm-mm." ""Asimov."" "What?" "What?" " "Asimov."" "Uh-uh." "There's got to be some kind of code you can crack." "It's encrypted, i mean, you gotta figure out the password he would've used, Darcy." "Otherwise nothing I can do." " "Periwinkle."" ""Periwinkle"?" "You sure you don't have a single hard copy of that thing anywhere?" "Those aren't the kinds of things i held onto." "Cinnamon roll." " Yeah." "Look, I'll cut to the chase, Clay." " Okay." "I need that thing you been holding for me." "I'm sorry, what thing?" "That bag." "From the police." "Why do you need that right now?" "I just feel like maybe it's time." "Time to use what's in the bag?" "It's just I'm ready to take it back now." "Yeah?" "I don't think so." "You do know that it's my job to protect you from you." "In fact, I could make it my full-time vocation." "Please." "Just give it to me." "Stop!" "You stop right there!" "I'm calling the cops!" "You're trespassing!" "Sorry, i-i-i..." "Who are you?" "!" "What're you doing here?" "!" "My name's Darcy baylor." "I just..." "I knew somebody who used to live in this house." "Whoa." "Walker's mom?" "So when mark moved out, his dad let me stay on." "Figure they got so much money, forgot they even owned the place, you know?" "Some accountant pays the taxes once a year." "It's all good." "You got some needle and thread, i could mend that for you." "You still talk to mark?" "No, nope, we're not in touch." "Dennis?" "I need you to think back to around the time that..." "that Walker died." "About how he was acting, how mark was acting, what might've been going on between those two." "Dennis." "I don't know." "There weren't any bad vibes or anything." "Uh-huh." "I'd have picked up on it if there was." "Yeah, of course." " You know?" "I mean, Walker was kind of a mess that day, but... wait, what day?" "Well..." "You know, the day he, uh..." "Walker came out here the day he died?" "Yeah." "Well, how come none of you boys ever told me that?" "You never asked." "Why are you asking now?" "It's been, what, six years or something?" "Seven." "Just tell me." "Okay." "Well..." "I remember it was hot, hot and dry like it's been lately." "Walker dragged his ass all the way in from town." "Tried to hitch, but nobody'd pick him up." "That's why he had the blisters." "And when Walker got here, he and mark went back into mark's room." "They were doing lines." "I guess." "Come on, Dennis." "Mark, he always had it, you know?" "But the weird thing was, when Walker came out of mark's room, he had..." "What?" "He had... he had a box of bullets in his hand." "you know, back when I was in business school, my professor told me my plan wasn't going to cut it." "A restaurant that's all about hot dogs?" "Who would go eat there?" "But when I was a boy, my mama and me would get a hot dog at the corner store every Saturday just like clockwork, even if it was raining." "We considered that good luck, eating a hot dog in the rain, and I knew if I just honored that memory, well, sir, everything was gonna be just fine." "Did you ever go all the way through that site to where mark Wright's talking about how he started that business?" "Mm-mm." "He took every little bit of Walker, every last bit, and he is on that thing bragging about it, celebrating it." "That's why I'm headed to New Orleans in the morning." "What?" "No, you're not." " Oh, yes, I am." "Well, then I'm coming with you." "Byrd." "I want you to come." "Geri and I bought tickets for that concert in Atlanta tomorrow." "And you got that big project due for Colin." "Well, I'll stay up tonight and finish it." "Come here." "I mean, what are you gonna do, baby?" "You gonna wave that gun in his face and tell him to apologize?" "Come on." "That's just pure foolishness." "That's the last thing you need to be doing." "You don't know what i need to be doing." "Stop bossing me around." "Jesus Christ." "That's why I broke up with you in the first place." "No." "No, it's not." "No, it's not." "No, it's not why you broke up with me, and you know it." "You couldn't commit to a man who loves you." "You... you couldn't commit to a man who loves you and who asked you to marry him." "And you been avoiding me as of late." "And why is that, Darcy?" "You know why?" "Because, because you're stuck." "You're stuck, and you're so goddamn stubborn, you can't even see it." "look, i get why you're so upset, and why you think you gotta go settle this thing right this second, but think it through." "Ask for the days off." "Don't just take them." "Don't risk your job." "That's what pays the bills, right?" "That's what's gonna get you your degree." "I didn't put in my application." "What?" "It was due last week." "I know that." "I know." "But I didn't put it in." "Okay?" "And I'm not gonna wait, byrd." "I can't." "Oh, darce." "Temperatures are gonna hit 98 by midday, but with that nasty old heat index, it's gonna feel more like 105." "Jesus Christ, we're not crossing the Atlantic." "I like to have options." "Let her bring whatever she damn well feels like." "We're going to be talking to local farmer Roy johnston." "Roy spent $82.000 so far this year..." "Oh, my goodness, stop." "Bye." "I'm gonna miss you." "Now that it's getting on harvest time." "No matter how much water they're throwing at the problem, farmers everywhere are seeing their crops just rot and wither on the vine." "I want you to see if what i figured out makes sense to you." "We can just use Google maps on my phone, Darcy." "You don't need some method of navigation from the mesozoic era." "I like to see the roads laid out in front of me on one piece of paper." "Why are we going so far west of the Mississippi?" "Look, it'd be faster if we just stayed on the interstate all the way down through Alabama into Mississippi and Louisiana." "I hate those goddamn trucks." "You know?" "I want to do back roads." "And I got a friend who lives in meridian." "We can spend the night with her and save on a motel." "Who do you know in meridian?" "Mary Lou Healy, married name Mary Lou Powell." "Got divorced, took back her Healy." "I grew up in meridian." "I didn't know about meridian." "You know what wordsmith's word of the day is?" "Delphian, kinda rhymes with meridian, right?" "It's doesn't kinda rhyme." "Rhymes." "Kind of." "There's a syllabic problem." "Uh-huh." "It means ambiguous, cryptic, incomprehensible, indecipherable, inexplicable." "It always also means goddamn annoying." "look, if we're gonna be stuck in this truck for a couple of days staring at a piece of paper and lacking any kind of proper cooling system, we're gonna have to talk, and I don't just mean about our jobs" "or whether you should or should not get a new car, which in fact you should, or whether I'm an actual lesbian or just a dabbler." "Dabbler." " What the hell?" "I'm teasing, but you know, you slept with men." "Yes, at one time." "I could care less who you do it with, byrd." "It's not about who I do it with." "Don't make light of what I have with geri, 'cause I sure as hell don't." "Is that how you think about Clayton?" " Oh." "My point is y'all lived together once." "I thought you liked having him in your house." "No, no, I did not." "It... it made me crazy." "He never put anything back in the right place." "But you liked waking up with him." "Hmm." "I'm not catching your drift." "Hey, you got any extra sunglasses?" "Oh, look in my bag." "Put that back." "Tell me this is what Clayton keeps behind the bar." "It is not." "Tell me that this isn't the same gun." "It is." "Now you listen to me, Darcy baylor." "I'm the only one who got behind this crazy journey of yours because I do understand why you gotta see it through." "If somebody's wronged you or somebody you love, you're gonna get up in that person's face till they yield to your indomitable will." "That's not the way I tend to do things or even the way I'd want to do things if I could, but I do respect you for it." "All right, so I'm here for moral support." "I haven't any idea what's gonna lie at the end of this, but I'm not accompanying you on some mission of violence." "Who said anything about a mission of violence?" "Jesus Christ, byrd, you're so melodramatic sometimes." "Why do you need to bring a gun if you don't plan on using it?" "I didn't say I don't plan on using it." "I'm asking you about your intentions." "My intention is to make Birmingham by lunchtime." "I'm sorry, Mrs. Baylor," "I did fully intend to get back to you." "There was no need for you to come all the way down here to my place of business." "Just wanted to talk face to face, that's all, Kevin." "I don't know why you've went and drug Ms. ritt along with you." "Right." "So, uh..." "Can you tell me what is it you think I can help you with regarding Walker?" "So this was taken just a little bit before Walker died, right?" "I think so, yeah." "Okay, so obviously, you and Walker, mark Wright," "Dennis, and..." "and who's that?" "Ah, that's buford." "Buford lapierre." "Who?" "He got a full ride to the act school on account of being a cajun." "He was renting out the back room." "We didn't know him so well." "See, Dennis told me that Walker came out there the day he died." "Were you around, too?" "Yes, ma'am, I was." "And Dennis told me that Walker left that house with a box of bullets." "Remember that?" " No." "Dennis says mark gave them to him." "Now why in the world would mark do that?" "So he could take Walker's business plan and run away with it maybe?" " Far as I know, mark's made his money fair and square." "I mean, look, even if Walker came up with an idea, doesn't mean he could've implemented it, right?" "It's not like he copyrighted it." "Are you even serious?" " All I'm saying is it takes a certain drive, a certain vision to take an idea and make it succeed, and while mark... oh, I'd stop right there if I were you." "Kevin Jenkins, i can't believe you came to my house for sleepovers more times than I can count all through high school, and me cooking pancake breakfasts." "You could play guitars real loud." "After you let Walker quit violin." "It was cello." "Point is, it was more of a free atmosphere for you boys." "You could have a little fun, unlike at your mama's house up in the heights." "At least my mama wasn't having parties and dancing around in the garden and refusing to put in a shower." "Walker had to take a bath in a damn tub all the time." "Clawfoot." "Stall showers are ugly." "He wanted things to be normal." "Normal's overrated." " He wanted a normal mom." "We're not here to talk about your idea of normal, Kevin." "Imagine if this happened to one of your boys." "My boys are being raised in a stable, loving, two-parent home." "Yeah, that always works out great." "Try to imagine if something did happen." "Look..." "Buford lapierre was in the room with Walker and mark." "As far as I know, he moved back home after graduation." "Maybe you could find him." "Not beaufort like the city." "Buford, b-u-f-o-r-d." "Yeah, lapierre's the last name, spelled like it sounds." "It should be in the alumni records for that year." "Thanks, baby." "She's looking it up." "Yep." "Nope." "Uh, near Simone city on the atchafalaya river." "Simone city." "Uh-huh, geri says she got a present for you, darce." "Aw, is it Clayton's balls on a platter?" "Quit ragging on him." "You'll be lucky if he ever speaks to you again." "She just needs a snail mail address so she can overnight it." "last time I was in meridian was..." "When my parents died." "Walker was six." "They died a month apart, two funerals, boom boom." "Sold the house and contents, kept the kitchen table." "That was that." "So it was like one of those stories where a married couple loves each other so much, they couldn't bear to be separated in death?" "Nope." "Stop it." "Stop it." "Oh, my lord." "Don't go there." "Don't even go there." "Oh." "You want another glass of wine?" "No, I'm all right." "Oh, byrd's a beer drinker." "Well, I haven't had beer in my fridge since I got ray freaking Powell out of my life." "Mr. social tourette's." "He could not keep from saying inappropriate things at group gatherings in this really loud voice, like he had no idea people were standing inches away from him." ""Hey, so what's the story with Chuck?" "Is he really checking into rehab?"" "And so on and so forth, oh, my." "What an asshole." "I hate that smell on my furniture." "Only out on the balcony, and if you do go out, close the slider." "I like my condo as cold as a popsicle." "It hurts me that you smoke, honey." "It hurts me not to smoke." "Hey, Wes is back in town, you know." "No, I did not know." "Well, I thought Tommy would've told you." "I don't speak to Tommy." "Well, i thought you and Tommy would've patched things up by now." "I don't speak to a single person from that family." "Not one of those sanfords came to Walker's service." "Well, maybe they were looking to gather in a cemetery with a headstone." "Maybe they didn't want to hear you reading some complicated poem out loud at a memorial." "It was keats." "Well, whatever, it was poetry." "Where's Wes at?" "Jesus." "I don't want to run into him." "I might have to kill him." " She's got a gun in her truck." "It's a figure a speech." " Oh, Darcy, really?" "Look..." "Macy brought Wes back to meridian a couple months ago, and he's not doing so hot." "He's over at the oak hill home." "What?" "!" "That's for old people." "Well, he's 14 years older than you, right?" "Do the math." " Math's not her strong suit." "Oh, I know that, sugar." "We went to elementary school together." "Wes is pushing 70." "Goddamn it." " I thought you should know." "I mean, maybe you wish he was dead, but you still share a history." "So, you girls are heading on to New Orleans tomorrow?" "After breakfast, yeah." "Mm." "And then what, Darcy?" "You're just going to walk into this guy's office and tell him that you know he took Walker's concept?" "And what do you suppose he's going to say to that?" "I just need to be in the same room with him, look him in the eye, then I'll figure it out." "I've never been much of a planner." "I understand you want to make things right for Walker, for Walker's sake." "You don't think my blood boils every time I think of someone causing that precious child any pain?" "Remember when he was two and we took him to see the ducks?" "Quack, quack." "Wes was a nasty drunk." "He was beating on her all the time." "Half the time, she walked around looking like a goddamn raccoon." "So one night, Darcy just picked up Walker and some clothes and took off." "Never looked back." "Changed her name back to baylor, got Walker's name changed to baylor, and then just cut the sanford right out her life." "It's not like i had a choice." "Mama and daddy told me point blank" "I couldn't come home, that I had a husband and that was that." "Well, they took up for Wes, it's true." "They just didn't know any better." "Really?" "Didn't know better than to refuse to give their daughter and grandbaby a damn penny?" "You know Wes never paid any child support." "Only time he'd call was when he was all lit up, crying about missing his boy and then crying 'cause that boy was dead." "Well, he felt bad about it." " Says you." "No, Wes is not always a monster." "Is." " So Wes is always a monster, your parents were monsters." "Everybody who ever did you any wrong is a monster." "That's right." " Oh, poor, poor pitiful Darcy." "Shut up, ml." "Hey." "You okay?" "Yeah." "Darcy?" "Darce?" "Oh, my god." "Wes." "Wes." "It's me, Darcy." "Okay with you if I sit down?" "Wes." "I don't know if you can understand a word I'm about to say, but I came here to talk to you about our boy." "You recognize this?" "You said it was part of his legacy." "It's part of his legacy, all right." "Remember?" "You gave it to him on the day he was born." "That was your..." "Idea of a..." "Baby present, i guess." "I was thinking about it" "Standing out on Mary Lou's balcony last night." "I can't even explain to you what it was like watching that baby shoot right out from between my legs when he'd been inside me for so long." "And then he was there." "And when they put him in my arms wrapped up so tight, and..." "and I thought, oh..." "Look at you." "You're a dreamer." "You're my baby boy." "I hope the world doesn't knock that sweetness out of you." "When I walked into the house that night and saw his sneakers sitting by the back door," "I called out his name." "I figured..." "It was too hot in that apartment of his, and he'd come home to cool off." "He'd been so anxious." "So goddamn anxious all the time." "I walked back to check on him and walked into his room." "Oh, oh, oh..." "You hear those birds?" "Do you?" "Do you?" "Do you?" "Do you hear them?" "Good-bye, Wes." "hey." " Hey, you're back." "I just, uh, stepped out for a little cup of coffee." "This came for you." "It's from geri." "But... so Mr. Wright's not available until tomorrow morning." "You're sure there's nothing later today?" "Darce, I gotta get back." "I can't stay away that long." "Shh, shh!" "Uh-huh, yeah, of course." "He's only got one spot free tomorrow." "I can't do that." "Mm-hmm, yeah, well, I'm in meridian, but I have contacts in Jackson and hattiesburg, and we would just love to get a Mississippi franchise going." "Great. 11:30?" "Yes, my name is Addie bundren." "Yes, I will see you then." "Where in the hell did you get that crazy name from?" "Faulkner." " Relax that smart thing, baby." "why are you always asking me to be specific?" "You know that's not how I operate." "Oh, I think you're very specific, Darcy." "You just don't like to admit that you are." "It goes against the image you like to promote." "And what's that?" "Free spirit." "I do consider myself something of a free spirit." "Nothing about your spirit is free." "you just have to trust me that it was pressing." "You know I'm not the type... please insert 25 cents for another three minutes." "You know I'm not the type of person to just... no, of course I understand." "Well, I'll think real hard about what you said." "All right." "See you back in the office." "Want me to wrap that up?" " Oh, yeah." "I'd like to finish my food if you don't mind." "That he was going to have to bring in another assistant to fix it, and that I know full well what the situation is and do I want to hang onto my job or not?" "Well, do you?" " Of course I do." "What about your application?" " What about it?" "I talked to geri." "She says if you finish it up by Friday, she can sneak it in." "You just gotta finish it." "I thought you wanted to make something more of yourself." "That's what you've been saying to me for god knows how many years now." "So don't you sit there and just throw up your hands and let this opportunity pass you by." "You can still fix it." "Just turn around." "And not go find buford lapierre?" "We're only about 25 miles away." "Are you suggesting I skip going to New Orleans altogether?" "What the hell did we come all this way for then?" "Acoupledaysago , the army corps of engineers opened up the spillway to take some of the pressure off the Mississippi." "They divert the excess water right into the atchafalaya river." "Yeah,andthatmeans that the low-lying towns, they just flood out." "Well,ourneighbors in the north, Mississippi," "Georgia, Alabama, and the carolinas and beyond aren't getting a drop of rain, but down here in Louisiana, the low-lying parishes the water's rising real fast, folks." "So I need ask you, what would you take from home if somebody gave you just 30 minutes to evacuate?" "Hey!" "How do I go about getting on that road?" "Where are y'all headed?" " Simone city." "No, you can't go down there, ma'am." "The whole damn parish is flooded out." "But I got somebody i gotta meet." "Well, you got to turn around and go back the way you come." "Take a left down at the end of this road." "Uh-huh." "Then follow it all the way down till it ends again." "Then ask somebody where the Saint Luke church is." "All right." " All right then, yeah?" "Thanks a lot." " Y'all be careful." "Buford lapierre?" "Any of y'all know a buford lapierre?" "Do y'all know when you can get some shelter?" "Church is full up." "They said they're gonna bus us somewhere." "Buford lapierre!" " Who wants him?" "They told me my grandpere was coming on the next bus." "But we ain't seen him." "My baby's hungry." "My wife's trying to get her asthma meds." "What I'm trying to say is that right now," "I can't be bothering about something out of the past." "Ain't no concern of mine." "I-i know, it's just..." "I drove all this way to speak with you." "So I'm just..." "I'm asking you kindly if you'll recollect anything about my boy..." " I recollect what matters to me." "No!" "Please wait." "Try to remember how he happened to walk out of that room with a box of bullets in his hand." "We were partying that night." "What can I say about that?" "I'm straight edge now, though." "I got nothing to do with that stuff." "I don't even like to think about it." "I will say I never liked that guy mark." "Real superior." "I didn't like it that his daddy bought him that house and I had to pay rent on it neither." "It was like that guy mark saw the weakness in your boy, saw he was hurting in some sense." "He had so much money, never could figure out why he wouldn't just lend him some." "Wait, Walker was trying to borrow money?" "Yeah, so he could graduate." "He didn't think he was gonna make it." "He was like a cat playing with a mouse, poking at the bleeding spots, saying stuff like," ""seems like you in a lot of pain, you in pain", and, "sometimes a tunnel is just a tunnel", that kind of shit." "I thought it was just the drugs talking, but later I figured that that guy saw some kind of door opening up, just got Walker out of the way, he could step right through it." "So when he drove Walker back to town later that night... wait." "Mark Wright drove Walker to my house?" "None of the rest of us had cars." "Look, I don't like to say it, but why'd anybody do that to his own mama in her house and all?" "Hey!" "Drought conditions continue all over the south and southwest." "Cleanup is well underway in Saint John the baptist and Jefferson parishes this evening as localized flood waters continue to recede..." "Hey, hey, baby." "Crank that ac up higher, would you, byrd?" "Hang on a sec." "Ohh..." "Okay." "Getting crazier by the minute." "What else is new?" "No, worse." "I can't." "It's one more day..." "I can hear you, goddamn it!" " Hang on." "Why would you elect to sit out here instead of staying inside where it's cool?" "Wanted to give you some privacy." "How's geri?" " Ticked off at you." "I'll take you both out to the chatterbox for dinner when we get back, my treat." "You know, today when I was talking to buford," "I was trying to get him to remember something about Walker, and it put me back into that room that night." "I started..." "Remembering his toes." "They were all curled up, and I was standing at the foot of his bed trying to straighten them out, and they... they would not straighten." "I guess I stood there for a long time, but..." "Maybe it was only a couple of minutes, the way he was laying there and all the blood, and... and me looking for a note, and there wasn't a note." "And..." "One side of his briefs were kind of pulled down, and I could see..." "His birthmark, that weird brown mark." "That was shaped like a smile." " Huh?" "Nothing." " No." "You said his birthmark was shaped like a smile." "That was in a real private area of his body." "How would you know that?" "Well, I saw him changing when we went swimming at the shore." "Uh-huh." "And that's it?" "What else could it be?" "Well, I don't know, birdie byrd." "You tell me." "Nothing to tell." "Okay, okay, okay." "There was this period of time... oh, my god." "Oh, my god." "It wasn't like he was a kid." "He was 23." "So that made you what, how old?" "I don't know, 32, I guess." "Look, I didn't know how to talk to you about it when it happened, and then Walker passed, and now..." "I never wanted to tell you." "I knew you'd blow your stack." "So this is about how I'd react?" "Jesus Christ, byrd!" "You've been in that truck with me for how many hours, and didn't think to..." "oh, now I get it." "Now I get it." "You were just coming along for the ride because you were atoning." "No, no, what the hell would i need to atone for, Darcy?" "Isn't it obvious?" " No, no, it is not." "Here's some news for you..." "other people cared about Walker, too, and they had their own reasons." "Not everything has to do with you." " Excuse me?" "You don't think I had to ask myself some questions when Walker died?" "I didn't even realize how much he was keeping from me." "He talked to me about the stars and the moon and theories of the universe." "For god's sake, do you know how many times I had to ask myself why he didn't come over and see me that night?" "I was right across the street." " No, you were not." "When I called you, you were at your sister's." "That was a whole day later." "So how did it... how'd it get started?" "I don't want to get into that." "I'm sorry." "I gotta know." "Well, not that I think you have any right to this information, but look, I was lonely." "Walker was lonely, too." "He was starting to get those mood swings, and I think maybe at first, he just needed the company." "And you were all caught up with Clay, in case you forgot, and you didn't really want Walker around too much, also in case you forgot." " So I wasn't supposed to have a boyfriend?" "And Walker wasn't supposed to have his own life, his own feelings?" "He wasn't carved out of stone in your mirror image, you know." "We were like two peas in a pod." "That's exactly what I'm talking about, Darcy!" "It's like the way you see the world's the only way to see it." "It's like some cardinal truth." "But that's just the story you've been telling yourself." "That doesn't mean that's how it actually was." "I was there." "Sometimes Walker hated your guts just like any kid does." "Sometimes he tried to make himself as different from you as he could." "Is it any surprise his apartment only had brand-new stuff in it, nothing old or remotely antique?" "Is it any surprise he voted republican twice?" "So what you're telling me is I was a shitty mother." "No." " Just say it then." "Say I was shitty and selfish and I let my son slip through my fingers and that I didn't see a goddamn thing that was going on with him when he was staring me in the face." "Darcy, he was depressed." " I know that." "I know." "What kind of mother doesn't grasp that and doesn't try to fix it?" "You tried." "You couldn't fix it." "But what you're telling me is that I didn't see Walker as he was." "So what was I seeing then?" " You saw the parts of him you wanted to see, just like we all do." "You saw the parts of him that reflected the right way on you." "I'm just trying to figure out some things about my boy and how he died." "Enough time passes, and nobody's even gonna remember Walker anymore." "That's not true." " Well, it sure feels that way." "And I'm sorry if i..." "if I'm not evolving the way you think I should be or Clay thinks I should be or geri thinks I should... does she know about this?" "Great." "Just great." "And she still doesn't think you're a dabbler?" "She loves me as I am." "Do you know why I came on this trip with you, Darcy?" "It's not because i think you need some showdown with mark Wright." "No, I came with you because I want to see you find a way to come back and live in this world again before you let this kill you." "You're one of the most amazing people I know." "You're so tough and so funny and so damn smart." "You show me lots of ways to think about how to be a woman in this world, and most of the time, there's nobody I'd rather talk to, and that's including geri, but you can't ask everybody" "to keep standing by and watch you put yourself through this." "Everybody who loves you deserves better." "I know I do." "I had a really good time with Walker." "I cared for him a whole lot." "He was special." "He was fragile." "He was here, and then he was gone." "All I can say is that the small piece of life that was about him and me really got lived." "And that's a lot." "Sometimes that's all we got." "good luck, darce." "How could it have gone out already?" "It was only a couple of hours ago!" "It was right under my pillow!" "Those papers!" "I need those papers!" "Now what, Darcy?" "What now?" "!" "I'm going to mark's office." "Excuse me, ma'am, may I help you?" "I'm here to see mark Wright." "Addie bundren?" "Um, what is this here at the bottom?" "Oh, that's just a standard clause acknowledging that the dawg house and its franchises are the exclusive property of Mr. Wright." "Oh, okay." "Here we go." "Exactly, look, you gotta hold on right there." "Let them know you mean business." "Uh-huh." "Yeah, you got it." "I gotta fly." "I'll catch you on the flipside, buddy." "I'm so sorry, Ms. bundren." "Come on, please take a seat." "It's been a busy day for us here, but I did want to make time to see you." "I've had my eye on Mississippi for a while now." "So, uh, you already running restaurants down there, or?" "I'm sorry, you want to..." "you want to sit down?" "All right, so why do you want to put" "Mississippi in the dawg house?" "Well..." "It seems like, um, everybody likes a family restaurant, right?" "It's a business you can't go wrong with." "I mean, no matter what the economy is like, parents always want to take their kids out to eat." "That's the truth." "That's the truth." "You could ask my wife all about that." "She says a wife just needs to take a break every so often from putting dinner on the table." "Yeah." " All right, so tell me, what are you picturing, Ms. bundren?" "You wanna start out with the one dawg house and build them up?" "Well, that's the way to a grow business, right?" "I heard you got your start by selling t-shirts at rock shows." "Yeah, somebody's been doing their homework." "Well, you know, it's all there on the website." "I'm just curious, where'd you get that idea from?" "Uh..." "Just seemed like a natural way to generate some capital, get things moving." "What band did you make shirts for?" "Who... who's interviewing who here, huh?" "Oh, sorry." "Um..." "So in terms of setting up a franchise, would you say that parents are looking for a place that's bright and clean for the kids, a place where their needs are taken into account?" "And then you need to make sure the chain gives back into the community to build a brand." "I guess you can find out just about anything on the Internet these days." "That sounds a lot like my business plan." "Except it's not your business plan." "Pardon me?" "It's from a business plan, all right." "But it's not yours." "So I'm not sure what you're getting at, Ms..." "Baylor, actually." "Darcy baylor." "I guess I wasn't important enough for you to remember, but you met me a bunch of times back when you and Walker were friends." "I'm sorry, I did know a Walker baylor back in school but... looks like you're still doing coke." "A whole lot of coke." "Am I right?" "I'm calling the cops." "You really want to mix them up in this?" "I'm sorry, ma'am, not to be rude, but take a look at yourself, and take a look at me." "Who do you think they're gonna believe?" "What the hell?" "I am Darcy baylor, and I am Walker baylor's mother, and you are not to diminish or belittle us, do you understand me?" "How much do you want?" "Come again?" "How much money do you want?" "You think I'm here for your money?" "Don't insult me." "I want you to tell me what happened the day Walker died." "What the hell happened?" "Every damn detail." "I need you to tell me why." "Why what?" "Why he killed himself." "Why he..." "i don't know why." "But you know what his last hours on this planet were like, and that's what you need to tell me about right now." "I mean it." "Now." "This is crazy." "This is crazy." "I guess." "Okay." "Walker was..." "he was so goddamn bummed out." "What was he bummed out about?" "Stuff, just..." "I had a daddy with means." "I couldn't possibly know what he was talking about." "I was probably gonna graduate on time." "He probably wasn't gonna make it." "And then, what kind of job was he gonna be able to get?" "Could he ever get married, have a family of his own?" "Stuff like that." "I was like, "little man, if life is that tough, do us all a favor, all right, and put yourself out of your misery because you're bringing us down."" "Stuff like that." "I was just messing with him." "Shit!" "And then, uh..." "And then we all went upstairs, and I guess I fell asleep, because when I woke up, it was real late." "It was just me and Walker in the room at that point." "And he was sitting over by the window in a rocking chair." "Real quiet just rocking back and forth, looking out the window." "And he asked me if I'd give him a ride back into town." "I was still pretty messed up by then." "But I said all right." "So I did." "I'm curious." "Since you were the last one to see him alive, what did he say to you when you... when you dropped him off at my doorstep?" "It was a long time ago." "Honestly, I don't recall." "It was just a night like any other night for me." "Did you ask him..." "What was on his mind?" "Because I'm guessing it was pretty obvious he was upset." "It was obvious he needed somebody to talk to." "I was at work that night." "I didn't get home till it was nearly dawn." "So did he say anything about me by any chance?" "I don't think so." "I mean, come on, guys that age, we don't talk about our moms, you know what I mean?" "Why'd you give him the bullets?" "What?" " The bullets." "All these years, I've been trying to figure it out, and there was that one missing piece, but now it all makes sense." "Walker says he's given up on his dreams, y'all get all lit up, you go in your room, you give him the bullets." "No, oh, no, no, ma'am." "Then you drove Walker back to my house, let him go in, shoot himself." "And you got to take away his business plan." "Perfect, right?" " No, ma'am." "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, slow it down now." "You stole everything from my child." "I swear, ma'am, I swear, i n... no, don't shoot me!" "I swear on my daughter Bella's life," "I never gave Walker any bullets!" "Dennis." "Remember Dennis?" "Oh, my god, please don't shoot me!" "He told me he saw a box of bullets in Walker's hand when he came out of your room." "I had guns and ammo lying all over the place!" "I didn't..." "I didn't even keep my bullets in a box!" "What about buford?" "Buford said you saw a door open up, and you walked right through it." "You took Walker's plan... my daddy told me i had to come out of school with something to show for it!" "After Walker passed, I guess i figured I'd get something." "I knew daddy could get behind a restaurant chain." "I could make it fly, so..." "So..." "You took Walker's plan..." "To stay out of trouble with your daddy." "Then why'd you go and try and turn yourself into Walker?" "Getting a dog like his, taking his memories, stealing his ideas, why?" "Didn't you have any memories of your own?" "!" "I didn't have any stories that good." "I didn't have what he had back at that time." "I didn't have anything that seemed like it would work." "I remember thinking i wish my mom and me could be like you two were." "It's funny 'cause he thought I had everything." "At the end of the day... no, no, wait!" "Please, please, please." "What did it feel like for him..." "In that moment?" "Stop!" " Cold." "Scary." "And then  Black." "No." "You know, it's funny, sometimes I'll be going down the sidewalk, not thinking about anything in particular, and..." "I'll feel your hand sliding into mine." "Even though i know it's not there." "Even though I know it's never going to be there." "I can't tell you what I would give..." "To hold your hand again." "My baby boy." "Glad to see you made it home okay." "Judging from your shirt, looks like you still got a job." "I do, and you can tell geri she can start working her magic." "You got it in?" "Tell her yourself." "She'll be out here in a sec." "Well, you must be sick of driving." "You could still shock the known world and be practical and change your application to pre-law or something like that." "No, I started out studying literature, and even if I never do a damn thing with it," "I know it's gonna improve me, just the way I see things and think about things, and spend some time with some really good sentences." "It's... well, i think it's expansive." "Why the hell has he changed his patterns?" "Whole world turned upside down when Clayton Watson keeps stepping out on the main street before noon." "Jesus Christ, stop the car." " You don't wanna be late." "Take that." "Won't take long."