"[Dog barking]" "(Thurl) No returns or exchanges." "Company policy." "I wouldn't even consider it." "Best damn dog I ever knew." "Your boy called last evening." "Said you were supposed to go back to the nursing home, but you never went." "Yeah?" "I'd have come and told you last night, but, uh, you got my car, of course, and I'm too lazy to walk all that way." "How come you not to go?" "It's my farm, Thurl." "Can't just let it go like it don't mean nothing to me." "Said he was going to come down here and fetch you back." "That a fact?" "He say when?" "Well, maybe today." "More likely tomorrow." "He don't know." "He's busy with that trial down there." "Busy, huh?" "Kid's got a right to make a living, Abner." "You ought to be glad for him." "He got out of this town, making something of himself." "I am glad for him, Thurl, but there's a difference between leaving home and forgetting the place altogether." "You want some coffee?" "No, thanks... but I..." "I would like to use your phone again." "I gotta call Ma Bell and get one of her boys out here to fix my phone." "Go and help yourself." "It's in the same place." "[Rooster crows]" "(Thurl) Thought I heard shots last night." "(Abner) This is Tennessee, Thurl." "Gunshots are a daily occurrence." "Not a nightly one." "Aw, hell." "Choat was beating on those two girls of his like they was racehorses." "Using a garden hose, for Pete's sake, with a metal tip!" "He must've been drunk." "Seems to me he's always drunk." "Don't know how he ever kept a job." "Choat ain't got no job." "He ain't held a job in, oh, damn near a decade." "I" " I don't follow." "Well, he pays his rent with disability checks, that and the big cash settlement he got, which he probably already squandered." "I thought you knew that." "First I ever heard of it." "Don't you remember when that Tate boy dropped a load of lumber almost on his head?" "They was hauling for Doug Watson at the time." "No." "Well, Choat wandered into that Tate boy's blind spot." "Boy pulled the lever, and 800 pounds of timber rolled up Choat's leg, broke 'em both clean through." "Still getting paid for that ten years after the fact?" "Well, maybe he's decided to fend for himself now." "That's why he wants to buy your farm and get it running again." "I'd rather that place go to pot than see" "Lonzo Choat at the helm." "Well, who else you got in mind to run that place, Abner?" "I gotta run." "Where are you off to?" "Going to get Choat locked up." "[Phones ringing]" "[Abner sighs]" "[Indistinct dispatch radio chatter]" "Hey, Dad." "Mr. Chessor told me I might find you here." "You, uh, you talking to the Sheriff?" "That what you got on that piece of paper?" "Taking care of some business." "Can I buy you lunch?" "(Abner) I was out there eight years after your mama died, Paul." "Eight years." "Sunup to sundown." "Winter, spring, summer, and fall." "I worked the land by myself." "I was plenty capable." "Yes, sir, you were." "And you go and make a big deal out of one little episode." "Well, it wasn't the first episode, and you could've died that night, Dad... and nobody would've known." "You come out here to straighten out this mess, I hope." "I n a way, yes." "I came out here to pick you up and to drive you back to Linden." "Then you wasted gas and a good deal of your very valuable time." "Dad..." "Hell's gonna be ass-deep in snow before you guile me into that place again." "You fooled me, Paul." "Dad, we talked about this..." "I get mad every time I think about it." "Dad, we talked about this." "And it's the best solution." "For who?" "[Cell phone rings]" "Look, it's just until I get this straightened out." "Now, I've signed a lease." "It has to run its course." "But the 90 days are almost up." "Now, let me talk to Lonzo and see if I can get out of the sale, and then you can move back in." "And if we... if we need to get a nurse for you, well, then, we'll get one." "I would think not being able to lie convincingly to a jury would be a considerable handicap in your trade." "You think I don't know you?" "You think I can't see through your skin to every lie you ever told?" "I know how these deals work, Paul." "Your mother loved that farm." "She loved you." "And I loved her too, Dad." "And I always will." "You want to throw all that away for a little bit of money?" "I never taught you to be greedy." "You learned that somewhere else." "This is not about greed." "There's nothing out there for you anymore, Dad." "Things change." "Life goes on, and you gotta go on with it." "There ain't any more to it than that." "Life goes on, huh?" "For those who let it." "I'm an 80-year-old man with a bum hip and a weak heart." "How much life you think I got left to go on with?" "I'm no fool, Paul." "The road ahead, it ain't long and it ain't winding." "It's short and straight as a goddamn poisoned arrow." "But it's all I got, and I deserve to do with it as I please." "And what makes me so angry is that" "I cut and scraped and did without... so that you could go to an expensive school and learn a trade which you now seem intent on using to do me out of what has taken me a lifetime to accumulate!" "This must be God's finest joke." "So you're angry at me for getting an education." "I'm angry at you for not caring about the only thing left that matters to me." "And I don't need a nurse." "Yeah, well, you need something, and it's not gonna be cheap, and I'm the one who has to pay for it." "Then it is about money." "It's about you, Dad." "It's about me trying to help you." "I don't need your help." "You know, goddamn it, why can't you just be easy?" "For once?" "You know, I didn't want this to get ugly." "Ugly?" "What are you gonna do, Paul?" "Drag me off by my ear the way I done you as a boy?" "I told you I'd buy lunch." "I don't want your bribes." "Jesus Christ." "Ah, now there's someone, I bet... who could solve all this nonsense, and quick." "Now, you straighten out this Choat mess and you do it today." "Otherwise, I don't want to see you." "[Mower failing to start]" "(Lonzo) What the shit?" "[Mower starts]" "Hmm." "# Oh, she's long, She's tall #" "# She's six feet From the ground #" "# Ooh!" "#" "# She's long, she's tall #" "# She's six feet From the ground #" "# Yodel-lay-hee Yodel-lo-hoo # [patrol car's doors slam]" "# Eyes like diamonds #" "# But these shine Just the same #" "# Ooh-doodley-hee #" "# Yodel-lay-hee-oh # [chuckles]" "[Mower stops]" "What's going on?" "# She's telling me #" "For what?" "# She ain't No hand-me-down #" "(Lonzo) He shot at me." "# Ooh #" "Bullshit." "This is bullshit." "# She's tailor-made #" "# She ain't No hand-me-down #" "# Oh, she got eyes Like diamonds # [chuckles]" "# And these shine Just the same #" "(Lonzo) This ain't right." "# She got eyes Like diamonds #" "# But these shine Just the same #" "# Yodel-lay-hee Yodel-lay... # [chuckles]" "# Yodel-lay-hee #" "# Yodel-lay-hee Yodel-lay-hee #" "# And, oh, hair Like a horse's mane #" "# Oh, I hate to see #" "# That evening sun go down # [chirping, buzzing]" "# Yes, I hate to see #" "# That evening sun go down #" "# 'Cause it makes me feel #" "# I'm on my last go-round #" "# Yodel-lay-hee Yodel-lo-hoo #" "# Makes me feel #" "# I'm on my last go-round #" "# Yes, it makes me feel #" "He's trying, you know." "Trying to kill you, maybe." "Stop acting like you know anything about us." "I know what I've seen." "I know I'd never treat my wife like that." "Y- you don't know anything." "I love Lonzo." "You don't just run off and leave somebody 'cause they got problems." "So you stick around till he finally lays you out for good?" "Can't you see?" "We finally got a new start." "We finally got a chance to be something more than we've ever been, something better!" "Now, I-I ain't making excuses for him, but he ain't laid a finger on us in a long time." "But even one time is too many." "And then you show up and all hell breaks loose!" "What, you're saying I'm to blame for this?" "I'm saying this ain't a game, Mr. Meecham!" "Now, we don't have money laying around to go and pay a bail man just so you can prove a point." "Well, I ain't got time to waste waiting for folks who never should've been here in the first place to move off my farm." "Well, I wish you had something better to do with your life than sitting around being bitter and lonely." "Surely that must grow old." "Hmm." "[Vehicle starts and drives away]" "[Footsteps, screen door creaks]" "(Abner) Oh, God." "[Sighs]" "[Jimmie Rodgers sings A Drunkard's Child]" "[Yodeling]" "# My father is a drunkard #" "# My mother, She is dead #" "# And I am just An orphan child #" "# No place to lay my head #" "# All through this world I wander #" "# They drive me From their door #" "# Someday I'll find A welcome #" "# On heaven's golden shore #" "# Now if to me You'll listen #" "# I'll tell a story sad #" "# How drinking rum And the gambling hell #" "# Have stole away my dad #" "# My mother is in heaven #" "# Where God And the angels smile #" "# And now I know She's watching #" "# A lonely orphan child # [yodeling]" "# We all were Once so happy #" "# And had a happy home #" "# Till Dad, he went To drinking rum #" "# And then He gambled some # [knocking]" "(male voice) Hello?" "# He left my darling mother #" "Hello?" "# She died Of a broken heart #" "You Mr. Meecham?" "That's me, owner of this house." "Owner of this farm." "Name's Hollis Pemberton." "I'm with the phone company." "I got a work order here says you need some phone lines fixed." "Yeah." "You wanna show me where they're at?" "Come on in." "All right, sir." "# My mother, She is dead #" "# And I am just An orphan child #" "Uh..." "Now, is... is that Jimmie Rodgers?" "Yeah." "Man, I ain't heard that in forever." "My grand-pappy used to play that." "Called it, uh, skirt-chasing music." "Yeah." "Yeah, well, it ain't no Toby Keith, but I reckon you could do worse." "This it here?" "Yeah, just..." "just take a look and tell me how much it's gonna cost." "Yes, sir." "Will do." "# Someday I'll Find a welcome # [clears throat]" "# On heaven's golden shore #" "# Don't weep for me And Mother #" "# Although I know It is sad #" "# But try to get Someone to cheer #" "# And save My poor lonely dad #" "# I'm awful cold And hungry #" "# She closed her eyes And sighed #" "That was quick." "Well, your wiring's fine." "You just need to get your service restored." "I can do that for you tomorrow." "Fine." "Hey, where's the other phone line at?" "Uh, it's in the tenant house here." "Come on, I'll show you." "All right, sir." "[Yodeling]" "(male voice on TV) I just wanna know one thing." "(female voice on TV) You never have to know just one thing." "You have to know it all, and that's the matter with you." "I don't know what you're talking about." "[Dog barking]" "All right, I'm coming." "I'm coming." "Here." "[Growling]" "All right, go on." "[Yipping]" "Ah." "Oh." "Ah!" "[Sighs]" "Ah!" "Hi, little buddy." "Hi, buddy." "Come here." "Yeah, come on." "[Clicks tongue]" "Come here, little buddy." "Come on." "[Clicks tongue]" "Come on." "There you go." "Yeah." "Yeah." "[Footsteps]" "[Door opens, closes]" "[Wood creaking]" "[Sighs]" "[Creaking]" "Nipper?" "Nipper!" "[Creaking]" "[Cocks gun]" "[Creaking continues]" "[Air pump starts]" "[Turns off]" "(Ludie) Hey, wanna come down here and help me hang this?" "It's not you he's angry at." "He's angry at that old man." "He's angry at himself." "I'm tired of it, Mama." "I know." "It's gonna be better now, though." "It is." "You don't think he's coming back here?" "Well, been gone two days, so..." "I guess not." "Maybe he finally just got wise." "Maybe even old hardheaded bastards like him can learn a lesson every now and then." "What'd you do, Lonzo?" "Stood my ground, that's what I did, like I told you I would." "Like a man ought to." "No, what'd you do to him?" "I didn't lay a finger on that man." "I just made things a little clearer to him." "He understood that." "He respected that." "[Vehicle approaching]" "Or maybe not." "(Abner) Ahh, that's a good boy." "I'm gonna take you out, now, see?" "Yeah." "Come on." "Okay?" "There you are, there." "You're okay." "Yeah." "There you go." "I want you to look right up there and keep an eye on them for me." "Will you do that?" "Okay." "Okay." "Don't go down there." "Lonzol" "He's lost his mind." "Can't you see that?" "You watch these things." "Keep watching there, all right?" "Come on." "Fetch, nipper!" "Fetch." "Come on, boy." "Ha ha!" "Come on, come on." "Fetch, Nipper, fetch!" "[Chuckles]" "I wouldn't hold my breath waiting on him to bring that stick back." "Yeah, he's a slow study." "I believe he's got some Choat in his family tree somewhere." "If I could buy you for what you're worth and sell you for what you think you're worth," "I'd retire." "I thought you had retired, taking taxpayers' hard-earned money so you can sit on your lazy ass." "You're one to talk." "How much of your social security did you waste on that piece of shit?" "I bet the little sum-bitch is a light eater, though." "He don't eat much, but he's one hell of a watchdog." "Lays across my feet all night, never shuts an eye." "One of these nights the feller who strung him up is gonna come easing through that door." "I'll make him a date with the undertaker." "Sure is easy to talk when you're old as Adam." "I may be old, but I can whip the piss out of any man I choose." "Come on." "Come on." "My God, if you ain't bat-shit crazy." "I worked too hard and too long." "I ain't going down without a fight!" "You might go down if the wind blows you hard enough, old man." "You want this land?" "You're gonna have to take it!" "Lt'll be the easiest thing I done all day." "[Cocks]" "You son of a bitch!" "Give me that fucking gun." "I'll light this place like a stack of kindling and you with it." "You crazy old man." "Dad." "I was wondering when you'd show up again." "Didn't know you were bringing the law, too." "Well, I gave you every opportunity to leave on your own." "You know where I stand on that." "I called Mr. Chessor's place all day yesterday looking for you." "I had an errand to run down Waynesboro." "Took a little longer than I expected, so I stayed the night." "[Deep sigh]" "This is out of control, Dad." "I never was one to let things slide." "No, sir, you never were that." "I don't suppose you plan to do anything about Choat's disability scam." "What disability scam?" "What business is that of yours, anyway?" "I pay taxes, don't I?" "You're reaching, Dad." "That's a little pathetic even for you." "You're a danger to people, Dad." "Like hell." "Shooting a pistol at a man?" "Having him arrested so that his family has to go and bail him out with money that they don't have?" "What do you call that, Dad?" "And this..." "I" " I don't even want to know what this is about." "For God's sakes, Dad, you need help." "I can't say I didn't do it, but you got the wrong slant on it, Paul, always saying things from the wrong angle." "Now, I ain't..." "I ain't gonna argue with you." "Arguing with you always was a waste of time." "You just... you just lie your way out of it." "You're a mean son of a bitch, you know that?" "You were mean to her." "You were mean to me." "I just want my farm back, Paul." "[Footsteps approaching]" "He said if your dad is gone by morning, he's willing to let things lie." "Well, what's it gonna be, Dad?" "Just give me a second." "You need any help packing your stuff up?" "No." "There are a few things..." "I'd like to keep, though," "Take back with me to the home." "Your mama's things." "I'll go through it all tonight, get it all packed up." "I can drive myself back." "Okay." "Okay, but I want you to get on the road, okay?" "I don't want you driving after dark." "(Abner) You don't think he'd burn a man out, do you?" "(Thurl) Lonzo?" "No, I don't think so." "I've never known him to do anybody any real harm." "There you go." "Of course, he'd steal anything that wasn't tied down or on fire, but, uh, he's a trifling bit lazy." "He won't do nothing if it makes any effort." "You wouldn't have called him lazy if you'd seen him beating those girls with a rubber hose." "Anyway, he said he was gonna burn me out, and I believe he'll try it." "You ought to get the law on it, Abner." "Call the high sheriff." "He wouldn't believe me." "Paul's convinced him I'm crazy." "All I want you to do... is to speak up if anything does happen." "You tell the law that I told you ahead of time that he threatened to do it." "Would you do that?" "I'll do that." "Wouldn't want him to get clean away with it." "[Sighs]" "No, we wouldn't want that." "[Loud chirping]" "[Deep sigh]" "Last time I saw her alive was on a Saturday." "We were getting ready to go into town for a cattle sale." "I was in a hurry, but she kept dragging around, dragging around." "[Sighs] This dress, that dress." "Something, and I can't..." ""I don't know which one to wear. "" "Always frustrated me when she did that." "I..." "I never had very much patience." "I said, "You best be for wearing one of them." "I don't care which."" "I said, "I'm going out to the truck..." ""and if you ain't there in five minutes, I'm gone." ""Then you have the rest of the afternoon to make up your mind. "" "I had said such things a thousand times." "[Breathes in and swallows hard] I got in the truck and... and I-I laid this... pocket watch on the passenger seat." "When the five minutes was up, I cranked the truck." "I looked back at the house, and I saw her hand pull aside the kitchen curtain." "She pressed her face against the glass... and I drove away." "When I come back, she was laying on the kitchen floor." "Her eyes were wide open, staring at the linoleum like there was some secret message... encoded in a tile." "Keep a good lookout for me, friend." "Argh!" "What you doing?" "What?" "Damn!" "[Breathes hard]" "Girl, you... you got some bad timing." "Sorry." "What are you doing with the bag?" "Leavin'." "Leavin' what?" "Here." "Him." "You stealing his truck?" "Taking that old Cutlass." "Mama gave me the keys." "Hurt you pretty good, huh?" "It ain't your fault your dad is a drunk, Pamela." "That's the first time you ever called me by my name." "I'll be all right." "My aunt lives over in Centerville." "Mama's sister." "I'll stay there a while." "I can't blame you for wanting out." "But if you stayed here, he really would be nicer to us." "He'd have to be!" "I'm sure we can work it out." "You can keep on living out here." "No." "I'll help you fix it up." "No, no." "No." "That..." "that's out of the question." "Please, Mr. Meecham..." "No, now, Pamela, I just need for you to get on the road now, Pamela." "Get in that car..." "What's going on, Mr. Meecham?" "Get in the car." "Get on the road." "I don't really feel like it yet." "Just gol Gol Get I" "I've tried to tell you." "Just go on, Pamela." "Go on I" "[glass breaks]" "[Engine idling]" "[Papers rustling]" "[Object shifting]" "[Scraping]" "[Clattering]" "[Strikes match]" "[Crumples paper]" "Dah!" "Aah!" "[Grunts]" "Nol Oh I" "Uhh!" "[Glass shattering]" "Uhh!" "[Indistinct yelling]" "[Heart monitor beeping]" "Hmm." "That nurse lady's hands were so cold... she nearly gave me a seizure when she pulled on my stuff, when she cleaned me." "But I'd be lying if I said" "I didn't like it just a little." "[Chuckles]" "Well, look at that." "He laughs." "Aahh..." "Here, Dad." "Right there, that's... one of the real tender spots." "You just take it easy, Dad." "You got a ways to go yet." "I could leave to... [hiccoughs]" " Morrow." "[Swallows]" "Look, you just do what the doc says." "She knows what's best." "But you... you do look better, though." "Better... better than you did." "Hmm." "What the... what of the house?" "I guess..." "Choats are all settled in there now." "Dad, we don't have to talk about that right now." "We got time." "All right." "I see your mother sometimes... in dreams." "Oh." "Well, what does... what does..." "what does she say?" "She listens mostly." "She is so forgiving." "[Swallows]" "Um, well, Dad, I've, uh..." "I've gotta get on the road." "I've got a, uh, I've got a big meeting" "I gotta get to this morning, but, uh, I'll be back tomorrow to check in on you, okay?" "Um, Dad, I..." "I..." "found a place." "It's, um... it's a retirement community." "And, uh, you would... you'd have your own apartment... and... and... and your own backyard." "You know, I..." "I thought maybe... maybe you could grow some tomatoes." "It's only 20 minutes away from where I live." "I'd prefer to grow corn." "Corn." "Sure, Dad." "I'll, um..." "I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" "[Slow sad piano music]" "[Patterson Hood's Depression Era plays]" "# Cornbread and buttermilk #" "# Better clean your plate #" "# He lived Through the Great War #" "# And came back To his home state #" "# Married his Young sweetheart #" "# Never would complain #" "# The world Keeps on changin' #" "# But he ain't never changed #" "# Depression era #" "# Lived to tell the tale #" "# Depression era #" "# And he don't never fail #" "# The boy Who called him daddy #" "# Has grown I n different ways #" "# The things That made him happy #" "# Have long since gone away #" "# Depression era #" "# Caked in red clay mud #" "# Depression era #" "# Survival's in his blood #" "# Biscuits and gravy #" "# Eggs all the way #" "# Fought in the Navy #" "# And made it back this way #" "# Loved his beautiful wife #" "# Now he's full of hurt #" "# A Methodist all his life #" "# But he didn't go to church #" "# Depression era #" "# Some things never fade #" "# Depression era #" "# I n the modern age #" "# I n the Modern age #" "# He always rose above it #" "# And nothing's as it seems #" "# Anger has its pitfalls #" "# So does living I n your dreams #" "# His dreams They are fading #" "# He'll make a final stand #" "# He'd never hit a lady #" "# But he just Might kill a man #" "# Depression era #" "# Lived to tell the tale #" "# Depression era #" "# He don't never fail #" "# He don't Never fail #" "# He don't never fail #" "# He don't Never fail #"