A Single Shot Page #2

---

He's just a little scared

is all.

Yes, you are, baby.

Is that right?

Hey.

I'm gonna tell Jess

what I found here.

Best believe me that.

How's that?

Say "bye-bye, daddy."

You know, the look on your face

makes me think

you do remember me.

I'm wondering why you can't f***

in your own place is all.

Sh*t, you know how it is, John.

My dick's a basset hound.

I'm just the poor

son of a b*tch

holding its chain.

I can't figure out why

you're still here neither.

Well...

Nobody lives here's

asked me to leave.

Yeah, well, most guys

who make a**holes of themselves

don't wait to be.

Well, hell, John,

that was nothin'.

I mean, you should've come

a few minutes earlier,

got the same show

the pizza man did.

Should I put this

in the fridge?

It feels like

maybe it needs it.

You mad at me

for some reason, John?

I don't like guns

being pulled on me.

If a f***ing lunatic madman

breaks into a place,

what would you do? Huh?

I don't like 'em

around my kid, neither.

Oh, come on, now.

A lifelong hunter

like you, John?

I don't believe that.

See, the truth is,

John, is I'm like you.

I am, you see,

a person who makes

good use of what he kills

shouldn't have to worry

what time a year it is

or whose f***in' land he's on.

Right?

Does Jess know you're here?

Why don't you ask her?

I might.

You do that, John.

You do that.

And when you give Jess

her little bag of goodies,

you ask her

if she knows old Obie,

that's short

for "Obadiah," Cornish.

That's like "The Hen."

Well, no sh*t, John.

You know, we might

actually be acquainted.

Yeah? How's that?

Well, seeing's how as,

a number of years back,

old Obie Cornish

spent many a day

busting his ass for peanuts,

up and around that

old mountain you're on.

Yup.

Back in town now,

after a lot of years,

only to find that

not much has changed,

except I understand

that you and yours had

a string of bad luck.

Money must be pretty tight

for you these days, huh, John?

I don't recognize you

from a clump of cow sh*t.

Ain't you gonna

leave the bag, John? Huh?

Do you know me?

I don't think so.

Then what are you looking at?

A face I ain't seen before.

I know this place

ain't upscale enough

to have

a rent-a-cop, so...

You must be

a concerned citizen.

Right?

Well, I just know people

who live on it, is all.

I wonder if we know

the same ones.

Where do the ones

you know live at?

They ain't home.

No?

Yup.

Well, then maybe not.

Shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh.

Pretty bad, huh?

Yeah. Right there.

Hold still.

Ah! Hey. Hey!

Well, I appreciate

your time, John.

Git! Hyah!

You got any work, John?

Yeah. Plenty.

Just not much

of the paying kind.

Grady's off

to college come fall.

Got hisself some smarts

from his mother, I guess.

Yep.

I'm proud as can be

of that boy,

but he ain't never

took to farming

any more than that one has.

Can't hardly blame 'em.

World's pretty exciting

out there these days.

And for sure there

ain't no money in dairying.

I ain't never had use for

a full-time man before,

but once Grady goes,

it ain't right that his mother

should take up his slack.

So...

So if you could

see your way clear

to working for me

on your old home,

I'm offering you

a job, come fall.

Good job. Long-term.

You run this farm better

than my daddy ever did.

That's the truth of it.

Him losing it

is no fault of yours,

and I thank you for your offer,

only I just, uh...

You got an interest

in that piece of junk

before it goes to the dump?

I might. I might.

Well...

Now, ain't that

a persistent son of a b*tch?

That's twice in 24 hours

it's gone by

toward Hollenbach's.

Maybe after six years,

somebody's finally looking

to buy that place.

Got to be

from out the area, though.

Wouldn't ya say, John?

Nobody local's gonna

buy that place,

knowing its history.

Be like walkin' on

Ira and Molly's graves.

You believe in ghosts, John?

As much as I don't.

Yeah, sure.

Me too.

Yeah, as nice a piece

of land as it sits on,

I wouldn't live in that house

for all the gold in the world.

Hey, you remember a foster kid,

worked for Ira

a couple summers

before they was killed?

- Cornish.

- Yeah.

- Obadiah Cornish.

- Yeah, that's him.

Called himself "The Hen."

- Yeah.

- Pecker...

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

'Cause I used to buy

a lot of stone

back in them days,

from Ira and, uh,

that looney-tune kid,

and your buddy,

Simon Breedlove,

would help me load it.

Simon and him worked

for Ira at the same time?

Yup.

Didn't Cornish get fired

for stabbing a goat

or something?

No, it was his heifer,

he stabbed a heifer

in the heart.

He got sh*t-canned for it.

Hey, now I know that one

is like a big brother to you...

Simon?

Yeah, and he can work

the tits off a mule

when he's sober,

but he goes on one of

his drinking jags,

that's a different

man altogether.

Yeah, but he can

take all comers.

Yeah.

You wanna hose off

before you go?

Nah. I'll wash up at mine.

Well, I hope the somebody

you got in mind for that

is gonna... gonna get

some good use out of it.

Ah, it'll need

a little work first.

Well, then the right man

salvaged it.

You'll get back

to me, right, John?

About the job?

You bet.

Yeah.

I want you to stay away

from the house, John.

All right.

You can't just go around

breaking through doors...

...And leaving rancid meat

in people's cars.

John?

Yeah?

What have you been up to?

What?

Did you...

John, for God's sakes,

where did you get that money?

It's for you and Nolan.

There's over $4,000 there.

I didn't trouble countin' it.

What's going on, John?

Are you all right?

Hey, you remember that farm?

Used to talk about

buying that farm.

You remember that?

You used to talk about it.

I-I don't want to live on no farm.

Sure you do.

No. I don't want to

live on a farm.

I love you, baby.

Stop that, John.

What's going on with you,

anyway?

Who was that skeezy

piece of sh*t

f***ing Nolan's babysitter?

About had me callin'...

John? John?

Okay...

You're okay.

I'm right here!

I'm right here!

Yeah?

Dog got in the way.

Who is this?

You know, right?

What?

How things get in the way?

What things?

If what you took

ain't back by tomorrow mornin',

ain't gonna be no dog

that shows up dead next.

I'm gonna find you

and I'm gonna slit your throat.

You hear me?

Do you hear me?

Here he is!

C'mon, y'all.

You taking visitors, Johnno?

The hell are you doin' here?

Oh, yeah.

Hey!

- Hey, man.

- How're you doin'?

That's enough applejack for me.

Sh*t.

You remember big Colette?

No, she ain't familiar.

No. Colette Gans.

Married to Ralph Gans.

You know, he got that

scrap metal yard in Cortland

we hauled a couple

demo wrecks up to

four or five years ago.

You know him.

Oh, come on.

She got a starter on her...

Yeah, why do you think

we call her big Colette?

Soon as you look down there,

you think you're lookin'

at half a man.

Gotta be careful.

That's her cousin, Mincy.

Rate this script:5.0 / 1 vote