A Thousand Acres Page #7

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It isn't that kind of trial.

We're talking about the farm. Your farm.

The one your dad and granddad built.

What happened to it?

It was all underwater. I told them that.

Every last bit of it, underwater.

We laid the tiles. Dug the drainage well.

No machinery, did it all by hand.

My granddad, my dad...

then me.

- Yes, your farm.

- My farm.

What'd you do with it?

- I lost it.

- How?

Larry, listen to me.

What happened to the farm?

- Who'd you give it to?

- Them! Them b*tches!

The whole lot of them.

- Here it comes.

- Mr. Cook? Larry?

- She's dead, you know.

- Who's dead, Mr. Cook?

My daughter.

Which daughter?

All of your daughters

are in this courtroom, sir.

Caroline!

Caroline's dead.

I think they stole the body

and buried it already.

Look, Daddy, I'm right here.

Judge, here's exhibit A,

the contract in question.

I'll introduce that

in lieu of the witness's response.

- Could be...

- Daddy?

...they killed her that day after church.

She didn't show up to get her share.

Then when I went down to Des Moines

to find her, she wasn't there.

- Daddy.

- You're a judge.

I'll swear that maybe they killed her

and buried her.

Daddy, I'm right here.

Now, you help me up, boy.

I can't do like I used to.

Excuse me.

The sweetest, lightest, happiest little bird.

All day long,

she would sing some little song.

Little bitty fingers always dropping

things through the well grate.

Daddy, that was Rose!

It was Rose who dropped things

through the grate.

It was Rose who sang.

It was.

I don't feel I need to take a recess

to decide this matter.

The arguments are fairly clear, and the

plaintiffs have failed to establish...

either abuse of the property

or mismanagement of its assets.

The fact is, in this state,

if you legally sign over your property...

it's very hard to change your mind

and get it back.

I find in favour of the defendants,

Mrs. Lewis, Mrs. Smith and Mr. Smith.

Court is adjourned.

He doesn't even know he lost the farm.

What do you want Rose, blood?

I want him to know.

Daddy?

You lost.

Do you hear me?

Come on.

He doesn't even know.

One thing we could get would be

a new range.

This thing is a menace.

I don't necessarily think

this is the right time for us...

to be getting a new range.

Maybe it'll blow up

and put us out of our misery.

I'll bring the range over

from your father's house tomorrow.

It's pretty new.

Or we could move over there.

I am the oldest.

That house is too big for us.

Well, it was built to be big.

It was built to show off.

Maybe I've inherited my turn to show off.

I think you've shown off plenty

this summer, frankly.

I need $1,000.

I asked for $1,000.

That's all I wanted. A dollar an acre.

- I've given my life to this place.

- Now it's yours.

I didn't know where I was going.

All I knew was that I had to leave.

Going to court had divided us

from each other and from our old lives.

There was nothing here for me any longer.

The hardest part was leaving Rose.

All our lives, we'd looked out

for each other...

in that way that

motherless children tend to do.

I was afraid of leaving her alone

with her anger and her hate.

Rose.

I'd always assumed

we would be together forever...

on this thousand acres.

It took me six months to address

a note to Rose, telling her where I was.

When she wrote back, I was afraid to

read it, so I threw it in a drawer.

A year later, I still

couldn't read her letters.

- More coffee?

- No.

Coffee? Is breakfast okay?

- Can I get you something?

- Hello, Ginny.

- Ty.

- It's from the girls.

Thanks.

I'm going to Texas, Ginny.

I thought I'd get myself a job

in one of those big hog places down there.

Those hog buildings killed me.

The winter after the trial was so bad-

- It was a hearing, nobody was on trial.

- I was.

What about Rose?

Rose. She's moved over

into your father's house.

I've signed everything.

The land, buildings, hogs, the equipment.

I signed the whole lot over to her.

She's sure she's gonna be

some kind of land baroness.

Got it all figured out,

the way she always does.

She goes around like some queen.

Frankly, she's your dad all over.

- Where is he now?

- Caroline took him in.

He's living with her.

I know what Rose says, Ginny,

about your dad.

She told me. She's told everybody by now.

No one believes her.

I think people should keep

private things private.

I hated all that mess.

I hated the way Rose roped you in.

You took Caroline's side.

You talked to Caroline about me.

I took the farm's side. That's all.

I guess we see things differently.

More than you can imagine.

I've gotta get back to work.

- Gotta have the last word?

- You have it, I don't care.

- I don't remember you like this.

- I wasn't like this.

No.

You looked on the good side of things.

You were pretty and funny.

I was a ninny.

I was a simpleton.

Hello, Denny's.

Does Ginny Cook work there?

Yes, she does.

Ginny.

Phone call.

Hello?

Aunt Ginny, Mummy's in the hospital.

She wanted the whole lot, Ginny.

We gave it to her.

A second radical mastectomy,

all the chemo her body could take.

But it's just way too advanced.

God knows, though, she's a fighter.

Yeah.

Come on, I'll take you to her.

Take the girls back with you.

You mean...

- Promise me you'll take them.

- Of course I'll take them.

Tomorrow, we'll talk about when.

Okay.

Go home, make them some dinner.

Make them some fried chicken.

They had no idea

that their mother wasn't coming home.

And I couldn't tell them. Not yet.

I realised I'd had nothing to offer

Pammy and Linda...

on the occasion of their father's death...

since I had learned nothing

on the occasion of my mother's.

Aunt Ginny.

Rose was going to die

and they would know it soon enough.

I've often thought that the death

of a parent is the one misfortune...

for which there is no compensation.

You've grown. Look at you both.

You've grown so much.

What she told me was...

for me to come and make you fried chicken.

We're vegetarians.

- But we eat meat at school sometimes.

- And we go to Kentucky Fried sometimes.

So should I make you

mashed potatoes and gravy?

Yes, please.

Take these, honey.

Is my apron still here?

Hey.

I'm gonna bring the girls by later.

No, it's a long way.

I didn't leave everything unsaid

with the girls...

the way Mummy did with us.

I laid it out for them

when I saw what was happening.

I'm glad about that.

I'm impressed by the way you've

tied up all the loose ends.

Bossy till the end.

Are you looking for a way

to hurt my feelings?

Probably.

Still fighting over a man?

For every one thought I've had about Ty,

I've had 20 about Jess.

Eventually, you'd have gotten fed up.

- Did you?

- Almost.

I would've, but he left when I got sick.

Ginny, I want to tell you some things,

some practical things.

I'm leaving the farm to you and Caroline...

not to the girls.

I want all of this to stop

with our generation.

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