American Fable

1

- Gitty!

Gitty! Come over here.

- Hi, dad.

- Gertrude Marie Jaeger

you know I told you never

to play by that silo.

- Sorry, dad. Come here.

- Come on.

- Just 50 short years ago,

there were

seven million small farms

in this country.

Today, in 1982, there are

less than two million..

- You know, Gitty,

they buy and sell farms

like they're trading

baseball cards.

They have no respect

for what we do

no respect for what we built.

We work our tails off

and this is where we're from

and this is where we're staying.

You remember that, Gitty.

This is the best place on earth.

You know that, right?

- Yeah.

No, dad, stop! Stop, dad, stop!

- You okay?

- Yeah.

- Can't we just let it go?

- What do you want me

to do, Gitty?

The coyotes come down here

and eat her alive.

Wait, wait, hold on, Gitty..

It's just a yearling.

Go to the car and get a blanket.

You're okay, buddy.

You're okay.

Come on.

- Hey, dad shoot a deer?

- He hit her on accident.

- Hey, Gitty, come over here.

Put your hand down on that.

Come on,

what are you afraid of, huh?

- Nothing.

- Trust me.

Okay, it's a game.

You can't move your hand.

No matter what.

Don't close your eyes.

No, look at me.

See, I knew

you'd move your hand.

Mom was lookin' for you.

- Hi, mom .

- Hey, sweet pea.

Hey, ah..

Don't even think

about tracking that mud in here.

- One, two..

The short stop..

- Yes! Yes.

- Gitty, can you

just turn it down?

The baby'll be here by then.

Yeah, I know.

Yeah, I... I know.

- Neither can government

and that means taxpayers..

Bail out every farmer

hopelessly in debt..

- No. That's a bunch

of bullshit, right there.

That.. I'm sorry, kids,

but that is some bullshit.

- Dad!

- Well..

- Mmm.

- Honey, will you grab me

another beer, please?

- Stop it, you'll hurt her!

- Gitty, it's a chicken.

Okay? We eat those things.

- Well, she's

a very special chicken, Martin.

- Okay..

- Hey, enough!

- Are we going to the fair

on Friday?

- We have the funeral.

- It's on Saturday.

- It's the third one this year,

you know that?

- Who died?

- Hansen hanged himself

in his cow barn.

- Hush. That's enough, Martin.

- What? Guys, everybody knows.

- Why did he kill himself?

- Well, you know, I heard

they were taking his farm away.

- What?

- Yeah, I know his wife got

a hell of a lot

of insurance money.

Right, mom?

- That's enough, Martin.

- Are we gonna lose our farm, dad?

- No.

- No, sweetie.

- Maybe.

- What?

- No, absolutely not,

we're not gonna lose our farm.

- Why is everybody so afraid

of telling the truth?

- Because your sister

is 11 years old, Martin.

That's why we don't need

to talk about that.

- Okay, so what?

- Martin!

Clear your plate

and go upstairs.

Sweetie, do you want to see

if you've got a friend

that wants to come to the fair

with us?

- No, Gitty doesn't have

any friends!

Gitty's only friend

is the stupid chicken!

- She's not stupid, Martin!

- Yeah, she is stupid!

- No, she's not.

- That's your only friend. That's why she talks to herself.

You can't be serious.

Stupid chicken.

- Maybe Heidi and Michael

wanna come with us?

- Heidi and Michael?

- Mm-hmm.

- Heidi and Michael

aren't my friends.

They just live next door.

- Well, I'll be your friend.

I'll go to the fair with you.

Do you want to come

to the fair with me?

- I'll go to the fair with you, dad.

- Well, thank you.

I guess you do

have some friends.

I guess Martin doesn't know

what he's talking about.

And I have a friend in my lovely wife..

- Ow, Abe..

- And I am going to enjoy her.

- Let me go. Come on.

- She is kind of beautiful.

- Abe, stop!

- Gross!

- So, let's see,

if I remember correctly..

We were squirrels

in the story, right?

- I don't want to be

a squirrel anymore.

- You don't want to be a..

Okay, why not?

- Martin said they have

babies up their butts.

- Martin said they had babies up their butts, alright.

- Yeah.

Do they have babies

up their butts?

- I don't think that that's

true but if Martin says so

I'll have to check it out.

- Okay.

- What kind of story

do you want then?

- How about..

A really... Scary story?

But make sure

it has a happy ending, okay?

- Scary story..

- Happy ending.

- Hmm.

Have I ever told you

why we have scarecrows?

- To scare away the birds?

- Yeah.

That they're there to scare away

the birds, that's what we

tell people, but have I ever

told you the real reason?

- No.

- Alright,

and you can't tell anyone this

but the truth is,

when a real farmer dies..

And I mean a real farmer, old-timer.

- Real farmer?

- Farmer that's been here Fo...

- What's a fake farmer?

- You know, somebody that comes

from the city and thinks

they know how to farm.

I'm talkin' about a real farmer.

- Mm.

Okay.

- A farmer that grew up here.

Who doesn't know anything

except farmin'.

- Okay.

- When he dies..

He needs to make sure

that his farm, well..

That somebody's there

to look after it.

- Okay.

- So his spirit,

it needs a place to go.

So that's why we have

to build a scarecrow

so his spirit can live there

watch over the farm

watch all the little girls

that run around his farm.

But on windy nights..

Especially on windy nights..

- Yeah?

- Sometimes, well, the spirit

gets a little bit lost.

He can't find the scarecrow,

he doesn't know quite where to

go so, not all the time

but sometimes,

he sneaks into the farmhouse.

- Sometimes?

- Sometimes he sneaks into the farmhouse.

And sometimes he goes upstairs..

And sometimes, he crawls

under the bed of little girls

that are sleepin'.

But when he does that,

he always gives himself away.

And you know how he gives himself away?

- How?

- Because when everything's

quiet and everybody's sleeping..

- Okay..

- And there's not a noise in the house..

- No..

- Sometimes that farmer,

that farmer's spirit..

He farts!

- Dad!

Dad! Dad!

You're so weird.

- Well, I guess

that makes two of us.

- I'm not weird.

You're the weird one.

- You need to go

to sleep now, hon.

- I know.

- You need to say your prayers.

- I will.

- And you need

to tell me you love me.

- I love you, dad.

- I love you too, Gitty.

- Goodnight, dad.

- Sorry, little guy.

I have tried everything.

I cannot refinance,

interest rate's at 16%.

You were the person

that talked me into

getting this property

in the first place.

You were the one that said

we cannot lose.

You are telling me that we

have less than we had before?

- We're on an adventure!

- Wait for me, guys.

- Come on, Heidi.

Wow.

- Look at that!

Wow.

- Gitty!

- What?

- Took you long enough.

- Is it safe?

- Who knows?

- Is it haunted?

- Probably.

- What do you think's

down there?

- He'll tell us.

- It's safe.

- Are you sure?

- Yeah, it'll be fine.

- Is Teddy okay?

- He'll be okay, Heidi.

- How deep is it?

- I don't know, Michael.

"The farm killed me.

Jr, 1933."

- What do you see?

- Someone died down here.

- What? Is there a body?

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