A Family Thing Page #4

Oh, Earl.

I was looking for you.

I want you to go

to the store with me.

What for?

'Cause I'm blind as a bat.

That's what for.

Need somebody to help me.

Yes, ma'am.

Well, how you doin'

today, Aunt T.?

Well, I guess I'm doing all right.

How about yourself, Tommy?

Well, ain't no need complaining.

Won't do no good, anyway.

Son, grab one of them

plastic baskets there

by the end of the counter.

Let's get to gettin'.

Get a sack of cornmeal,

and get the yellow meal, now,

and right under it,

get gold medal flour.

All-purpose, not self-rising.

Get two bags of cheetos.

Get the red bags,

not that puffed-up kind.

Tommy, you can slice me up

a pound of bologna

and half a pound of liverwurst.

Son, get two loaves of white bread

and a jar of mayonnaise.

Two loaves.

One...

Mayonnaise.

Get two sticks of butter.

Make sure it's salted.

I don't know why anybody would want

to eat unsalted butter.

Might as well eat vaseline.

Don't have no flavor to it.

That's about all I can think of.

You want anything, son?

No, ma'am. I don't need anything.

I'm leaving. Well, bring it on up there,

put it on the counter, now.

Tommy, you go ahead and ring this up.

Two loaves of bread...

one mayonnaise.

Cheetos...

and salted butter, two sticks.

And, Tommy, I want you

to meet my nephew Earl.

He's up here visiting from Arkansas.

He's Ray's brother.

Visiting from Arkansas?

Ray?

How ya doin', Earl?

Pretty good.

You're...

Ray's brother?

Ma'am, how in the world did you

ever come up with something like that?

It's the craziest thing I ever heard of.

You must have been joking around

with your friend or something.

You might as well quit bullshitting me,

Earl Pilcher. I know all

about your half-black ass.

Well, ma'am, I'm not trying to be

funny or nothin', but can't you see,

it don't take no eyes to see.

Now, Ray ain't got

no old white war buddy from Korea

I ever heard about before.

Besides, I heard y'all in there

talking last night. I ain't deaf.

Talkin' about my cooking

and everything else,

hushin' up one another.

And you might as well

stop calling me ma'am

and start calling me Aunt T.

'Cause I'm your Aunt T.

Son, I knew both your mamas,

and they was both good women.

Your mama Carrie had to be

to stay with that man

and put up with his stuff

all them years.

My sister was the sunrise

and the sunset for me.

Now, you can't help

how you was born,

and you can't help

how you was raised.

That's just the way it is,

but I loved my sister,

and you her boy,

and so I love you, too,

and there ain't nothing

you can do about it.

Well, I'd better get back

and call my wife

and get ready to get out of here.

Appreciate y'all's hospitality.

Ooh, I could tell you stories

about your mama that

would-hee hee...

I just wish I could see you

so I could see her in you,

and I know I could.

Well, this has me

all messed up, miss T.

I don't know what to think of it.

I mean, you don't know what

it's like to, you know,

you're right about that.

I don't know what it's like for you.

Nobody ever knows what

it's like for somebody else.

That's always the problem.

Might do you some good

to stay around here

for a while longer.

I'd sure like for you to.

I'd like to know Willa Mae's boy.

See, you ain't fooling me.

I know why you come up here.

I know it probably better than you.

You need to know

your history, son.

Now, let's get on back

before the butter melts

and I get mad, and you don't

want to see me get mad.

Second door to the right.

Bet you never figured you'd

lay eyes on me again.

No, I didn't.

You get robbed again?

No, nothing like that.

I just went down to Western Union,

get some money

my wife sent to me.

Just kind of in the neighborhood,

that's all.

What time your plane leave?

Well, that's the deal.

I got to thinkin' about my truck.

Yeah? What about it?

I got that truck paid off and all,

and I got a lot of

personal stuff in there.

I mean, I got, like,

a damn good rod and reel in there,

so I thought

I'd just stick around

another day or two,

see what the police come up with.

See, if they want me to come in

and identify any suspects or anything.

I mean, if I'm down there in Arkansas,

I just got to turn around

and come right on back up here.

Yeah?

So, you don't think it's a bad idea

for me to stick around

another day or two?

I mean, I don't intend to put y'all out

anymore. I got my own money.

I'll find me a motel

room somewhere.

Maybe you know

of a good one.

What do you say?

I thought you were leaving

town this morning.

I thought I was, too.

Virgil, where are those motels

over on that stripper street?

You're gonna stay in a motel?

Yeah.

Stoney Island Boulevard.

They got a whole bunch of them

over there. Real cheap, too.

No. That's not a good neighborhood.

It's fine. He'll be fine.

Ray, get in here. I need to talk to you.

You, too, Virgil.

I'm going to take a shower.

Want to get out of these clothes.

I said, get in here.

God, what is that?

Ray Murdock, you not

letting that boy go out

to any of them old hooker motels.

He's staying right here like he been doing.

And sleep where,

on the ceiling?

The grandkids are coming over tomorrow.

They'll be here the whole weekend.

It don't matter who's coming.

He can't stay here. I'm tired of him.

Shut up about it.

It ain't none of your business.

Well, I guess it is if he's sleeping,

he's a grown man.

He can take care of himself.

It's not my r- r-responsibility.

It's your responsibility to treat your

own people good. Your own people?

That's your brother in there, Ray,

and you going to treat him like it.

Aunt T., what are

you talking about?

Don't bullshit me, Ray.

I know all about Earl Pilcher

sitting in there on that couch.

That's my sister's boy in there

and your brother and your uncle,

and you're not puttin'

him in the street

with them whoremongers and

head-knockers. How did you know?

That son of a b*tch tell you? Hold on.

Wait a minute. Back up here a minute.

What the hell is going on here?

Now, daddy ain't got a brother.

And he's white, Aunt T. What's wrong

with you? Did he tell you?

He ain't told me nothin'.

I'm not an old fool.

Now, tell what?

Now, god damn it,

somebody tell me

what's going on.

Don't you ever take the

name of the lord in vain

in this house.

Yeah, that's your own flesh

and blood sitting in there,

both of you. Now, don't shame this

family and my sister's sweet soul,

putting her little boy out in the street.

Ray, I think you need to get a backbone

and set your son down

and tell him the truth.

That's your daddy's half brother in there,

and if he looks white,

it's 'cause his daddy's white.

I don't know how he look.

I can't see him like you can

and don't need to.

I don't have the blessing of

being able to separate people

by looking at them anymore.

Daddy, you straighten

this mess out fast.

I'm going to take a shower, and when

I come out, I want that man gone,

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