A Love Song for Bobby Long Page #4

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"has successfully completed

the 11th grade...

"and is recommended to the 12th grade."

"Why stay we on earth except to grow?"

Robert Browning.

He's definitely your run-of-the-mill

senior-year poet.

Is this really your idea of an apology...

or are you just trying to one-up

his GED offer?

Great minds.

Come on, man.

Of course she takes a language.

- You want to speak French, don't you?

- Don't be an ass.

You know that

she can't take French 1 as a senior.

All right.

So we got English Lit, European History,

Geography, Psychology.

We need one more.

- I think Art Appreciation.

- Music.

- I think she'd like music.

- I'm not going.

Well, God damn, it's already set up.

Do you know how much I had to go through

for you for this?

For me? You expect me to...

Come on. What's in it for you?

Firstly, it'll get you out of the house,

for my sanity.

- That's what I thought.

- No, look.

You said something to me recently.

It got me thinking.

You said, "I'm just a girl."

Maybe I've grown too calloused

over the years, but you are just a girl.

Not unlike the students

that flowed through my classes years ago.

And I know that

we must seem horrible to you...

but we still got something to offer. We must.

And besides,

I think we owe it to your mother.

And as hard is it is to believe...

we, too, once were innocent children.

You are such a shameless ham.

What makes you think I could do this?

Because we know God, and God knows us.

And he and Lorraine brought you here

for a reason.

School starts in a month.

You can give us a chance. It might be fun.

"Fun" is a stretch, don't you think?

Listen, sweetheart,

that's one of your mama's songs.

That's beautiful.

She'd be so proud.

What do you think of my face?

See this bone? It's broken.

But you can move it.

How'd that happen?

"Never fight fair with a stranger."

Arthur Miller.

That happened in a fight? You lost?

Well, I lost a lot more than the fight.

Does it take away from my appearance,

in your opinion, miss?

I think you're still handsome.

Well, aren't y'all sweet?

Are you having sexual intercourse

with one another?

- Okay, Dr. Ruth, let's go.

- It's all right if you are.

Sex is nice.

Just remember to be kind to one another.

And stay young as long as you can.

Your youth is fleeting. Be kind.

We should start with memorization.

I think we should stick to

the Socratic method.

You do? Just exactly who is Plato

and who is Socrates...

in this arrangement?

Because I'll just stay out.

You are Socrates, of course.

- You are the Teacher.

- You're goddamn right I am.

I wish y'all would just shut up...

because if it's gonna be like this,

I ain't learning nothing.

Girl, your English is f***ing atrocious.

Purslane Hominy, sit up.

Why can't I study in bed?

It's so hot,

and this chair is so uncomfortable.

It is not supposed to be comfortable.

It'll put your brain to sleep. Sit up.

- It's just bad habits.

- You're talking to me about bad habits?

Don't f*** with the Teacher, okay?

Just tell me what is Nebraska's role

in American Literature? Go.

- Shouldn't I be learning the state capitals?

- Bullshit. You'll learn what matters.

- Don't procrastinate.

- By whatever do you mean?

I don't have a card for procrastinate.

You are just incorrigible.

"Procrastinate.

"To drag one's ass

in such a pathetic manner...

"as to ensure one's place in life as a loser."

Hey, who are you calling a loser?

- F***.

- Go.

All right, Nebraska.

Home state of Willa Cather,

one of our first successful female authors.

Or should I move east to Missouri,

where Mark Twain...

alias Samuel Clemens, was born,

or down south to Kansas...

where William Burroughs

spent his last years?

- Stop!

- Hey, man...

I don't think they'll teach Burroughs

at Catholic school.

Well, they ought to.

Why don't you pour your old buddy a drink?

- We're out of juice.

- Well, what's in that glass?

It doesn't have a smell.

Well, God damn it,

pour some vodka in it then.

- Go ahead.

- We gotta quit.

I promised Pursey if she'd study.

I mean, look at us. We're worthless.

And when was that, that you quit?

Nineteen hours ago, when we were quizzing.

- Did you get some sleep?

- No.

There's no rush for her or for us...

so if you want to quit, take it slow.

Now, trust me on this.

Take away the bottle, take away the genie.

Hey, what are you doing here?

I just thought I'd give Lawson a break.

Let him use the bedroom.

Come on, sit down.

You look very pretty today, Purslane.

No one calls me that

but my dead grandmother, but thanks.

Now, you remember how to get there?

I know where it is all right,

so I guess I should be going.

You nervous?

No.

Yeah.

Want me to take the streetcar with you?

No, I'll be okay.

Well, I know you'll just do fine.

And we'll be right here

when you get back from school...

to help you with your homework.

Christ, you're really living

in some parallel universe.

Me and "homework" in the same sentence.

It's about to become you and "tardy"

in the same sentence, so...

Think she'll come right home?

Where else would a teenage girl go

but straight home...

to her endlessly entertaining

middle-aged roommates?

She's no picnic.

Tortures me with that noise.

That child should know

anything worth listening to is on vinyl.

My kids knew it.

I taught them. I was their father.

You still are.

One day they'll understand,

when you finish that book.

My kids don't even know me.

Sh*t, can we do anything besides this?

- Like what?

- F*** if I know.

- We could go fishing.

- You don't fish.

Maybe I should start...

something.

Maybe you should start working

on your damn book.

I don't know the end of the story yet.

Checkmate. Let's get out of here.

We're depressing me.

You know, I wanna say something...

about life, because an unexamined life...

- is simply a life...

- Not worth living.

Purslane, our prodigy has returned.

Now, tell us everything.

Honey, why did you leave school early?

I didn't belong there.

I appreciate what y'all are doing,

but I'm not going back.

What?

I really need a job.

- You can work here on the weekends, sugar.

- Really?

- Only if you're in school, though.

- Good one, Earl.

Autumn comes slowly in New Orleans.

The grass remains a stubborn green...

but the heat gives way to a gentle warmth.

Pursey did begin to catch on in school.

She was surprised. We weren't.

Winter arrived before we realized

the sunlit hours of summer had waned.

Somehow, the wine began

to outlast the day...

and that was more than

anyone could have asked for.

Someone should have told them Creoles we

got something called winter in Louisiana.

We might have improved

on their oversight...

with this cool new invention called heat.

- Pursey, where'd you put the vodka?

- You told me to hide it.

I did. But where did you hide it?

I'm not supposed to tell you, remember?

You don't do anything else I tell you to do.

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