A Love Song for Bobby Long Page #8

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neither one of you was there.

"To my sweet Bobby.

"I am feeling better and coming home

to sing you a brand-new song.

"Please come. Someone I love will be there

and I want to introduce you."

This was you, darling.

You and Bobby.

I just...

I can't believe it.

Why do you keep drinking that sh*t?

Don't you know it's gonna kill you?

Didn't you watch Lorraine?

God, sometimes you make me

so f***ing sick.

You're living in some fantasy world...

where life's a book

and no one takes responsibility for writing.

Every idiot knows that books are better

than life. That's why they're books!

Pursey, honey,

you go right ahead and be wicked.

We deserve it.

But when you're finished, why don't

we just all sit down and talk like a family?

Like a family.

Would that be like

that family you destroyed?

Are we just gonna be like that family?

'Cause the weird thing is that,

according to Lorraine, I am your family.

Couldn't you count to nine months?

I never understood

why she would want me to live with y'all...

but you're my father.

I just...

Did you love her?

- Did you love her?

- Yes, very much. But I just...

I wish we never knew.

No. Don't go, Pursey.

Don't walk away.

- It's too late.

- No, it's not too late.

You got me now, honey.

You're not alone anymore.

Let me be here.

What can I do? Tell me.

What, honey?

Remember when I told you

I made up memories about her?

Yes.

The really pathetic part was that

I used to make up memories about myself.

Like parents got lots of stories

about their kids.

You know, like, "Wasn't it cute when

Suzie couldn't say supercalifucking..."

Whatever.

I mean, people remember a lot of weird sh*t.

Like you probably got a ton of stories

about your kids, right?

Yes, I do.

Well, I kind of felt that maybe...

I used to do some cute or funny stuff

when I was little.

But the truth is nobody was really there

watching, were they?

Honey, I was there. Sweetheart, I was there.

I saw. It was never very long,

but I was there.

- Will you tell me about her?

- Yes.

- Every tiny thing about her?

- Oh, yes.

And about me, too?

'Cause I think I really need to know now.

Yes.

I don't want to sell our house.

I love our house. I just...

I was so mad at you.

I'm so sorry.

I don't remember how to do this.

I'll do it for you.

Sh*t, man. Your foot's blue.

I've been practicing wearing this shoe.

It's just numb, is all.

I don't want any reason for my daughter

to be ashamed of her daddy.

- Now, how do I look?

- Damn good.

- How do I look?

- Well, pretty good.

Your hair's sticking up.

There you go.

Good Lord, y'all look like regular taxpayers.

- Maybe I ain't dressed appropriate.

- You look fine.

Your fly is down.

Come on, we're gonna be late.

Are you ready

to see our daughter graduate?

Yes, I am, sir.

- It's a day to count our blessings.

- Yes.

Quiet, everybody. Quiet down.

I'd like to propose a toast...

to my very beautiful daughter,

Purslane Hominy...

who is my very own golden girl.

Cecil mentioned earlier that today

was a day we should count our blessings.

And as I look around,

I see that there are many...

that I have not given credence to.

I am thankful for a God

that I had thought had given up on me...

and the love of a child who, God willing...

will be in college this fall.

And not no Vinegar Bend Junior College,

neither. My baby's smart.

Smarter than her old man.

That's for goddamn sure.

Pursey, honey, you have taught

this old fool a thing or two.

And in the glorious words of T.S. Eliot:

"We shall not cease exploration.

"And at the end of all our exploring...

"will be to arrive where we started...

"and know the place for the first time."

And that's what you've given your old man.

And he is forever grateful.

Now, come on up

and give your old man an Alabama shuffle.

Play that slow one that I asked for.

Some people reach a place in time

where they've gone as far as they can...

the place where wives and jobs

collide with desire...

that which is unknowable,

and those who remain out of sight.

"See what is invisible,

and you will see what to write. "

That's how Bobby used to put it.

It was the invisible people

he wanted to live with.

The ones that we walk past every day.

The ones we sometimes become.

The ones in books

who live only in someone's mind's eye.

He was a man who was destined

to go through life and not around it.

A man who was sure the shortest path

to heaven was straight through hell.

But the truth of his handicap...

lay only in a mind both exalted

and crippled by too many stories...

and the path he chose to become one.

Bobby Long's tragic flaw

was his romance with all that he saw.

And I guess if people want to believe

in some form of justice...

then Bobby Long got his for a song.

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