Cold Mountain Page #3

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- Hm?

- To have your eyeballs for ten minutes,

- Ten minutes?

I wouldn't give an Indian head cent,

- Might turn me hateful,

- That's sure what seein's done to me,

No, that's not the way I meant it,

You said ten minutes,

It's havin' a thing and then

the loss of it I'm talking about,

Then we don't agree, There's not much I

wouldn't give for ten minutes of someplace,

Yeah, someplace... or someone,

You watch yourself, now,

They're shootin' men

who take themselves a walk,

By order of Zebulon Vance,

governor of this great state

of North Carolina,

any soldier turned deserter

is guilty of treason,

and should be hunted down like a dog,

Any man who takes in a deserter

is likewise guilty of treason,

The Home Guard is powered to enter any

place it sees fit without notice or constraint,

Captain Teague needs more volunteers,

Any man whose age or infirmity

prevents him from fightin' shall join us

to protect this county from Yankee raiders

and traitors to the cause,

- Is there a letter for me?

- Nothin',

we've been gettin' no post through at all,

The sooner we lose this war the better,

They say not one boy in ten

is comin' home to these mountains,

Teague and his rabble throwin' their weight

around, They're worse than the Yankees,

Might I speak with you, please?

This was the Reverend Monroe's,

I don't know who would want a watch,

who can bear to look at the time?

I've got a little salt pork you can have,

Keep your daddy's watch,

Thank you,

I was talkin' to some of the other womenfolk

about maybe lookin' in on you

at Black Cove, It's hard right now, but...

Oh, no, I manage very well,

whatever the talk is,

I'm very grateful for the pork,

which I intend to pay for, of course,

Is everything all right?

Mm-hmm,

Ada,

Ada,

why, Ada, you are skinny

as a whippet, girl,

- You are comin' indoors with me,

- No, I can't,

I don't...

I can't keep countin' on your kindness,

Now, come on, I'm makin' a stew,

we'd be proud to have you,

Esco's gonna be wantin' his dinner,

I just wanna stop, I tell you, Yeah,

Sit on the porch with Sal,

watch my boys in the fields,

holler Good job every hour or so,

That'll be a good day,

when our boys get home,

what about your people in Charleston?

There are no people,

And there's no money,

My father had some bonds

and investments,

They're worthless now, of course,

The war...

They're not worth anything,

I don't have anywhere else to go,

I don't wanna go,

- You're waiting on a feller,

- Oh!

- look down our well...

- Esco...

She should,

If you look down our well with a mirror,

you'll see the future, It's what they say,

You do it,

She does it,

what kind of mirror?

- we'll hold on to you, Esco, you hold on,

- I got her,

- we got you,

- Mm,

See anything?

- I don't know,

- I tried many a time,

lookin' for a sign

my boys were comin' home,

I never saw a dickey bird,

- Oh!

- Are you all right? Ada?

what? what happened?

what'd you see? what'd you see?

Yesterday,

I saw you walkin' back to me...

or thought I did.

I found myself crouching

over Sally Swanger's well...

...like a madwoman

staring into its secrets.

was it you I saw walking home to me,

or was it your ghost?

After so long, I know I must learn

to survive on my own

and accept you will not return.

And yet I cannot. I cannot.

Them cows wants milkin',

If that letter ain't urgent,

them cows is is what I'm sayin',

I don't know you,

Old lady Swanger says you need help,

Here I am,

I... I need help but... I need...

I do need help, but I need a laborer,

There's... there's plowing and rough work,

I think there's been a misunderstanding,

what's that rake for?

- The rake?

- well, it ain't for gardenin', that's for sure,

Number one, you got a horse?

I can plow all day, I'm a worker,

Number two, ain't no man better'n me,

'cause there ain't no man around

who ain't old or full of mischief,

- I know your plight,

- My plight?

Am I hard to hear?

'Cause you keep repeatin' everything,

I ain't lookin' for money, I never cared for it

and now it ain't worth nothin',

I expect to board and eat,

at the same table,

- I ain't a servant, if you get my meanin',

- You're not a servant,

People's gonna have to empty

their own night jars is my point,

And I don't expect to work

whilst you sit around and watch, neither,

Right,

Right, Is that a yes or a no?

There's a rooster,

He's the devil, I'm sure of it,

I go near him

and he is at me with his spurs,

He's lucifer himself,

- I despise a floggin' rooster,

Oh, no, I wouldn't...

My name's Ruby Thewes,

I know your name,

let's put him in a pot,

Urgh!

You're my angel, my butterfly,

Come fly away,

My love...

God forgive me for doin' this,

I'm so sorry,

I'm sendin' you to a better place,

You go fly away,

Hey!

- Don't do that,

- Don't pull that trigger, I'm a man of God,

- I killed several of them,

- I mean I'm God's minister,

what part of God's business

is throwin' a woman down a gorge?

A slave woman,

Can you see that in this light?

Black as a bucket of tar,

- Is she dead?

- No, I drugged her,

like you would a butterfly,

And I care for her,

That's the heartbreak of it,

She's got my bastard in her belly,

Come on, Back up,

- I'm beggin' you,

- Git,

It's better you blow out my brains

than return me to this place,

You're gonna put her back

where she sleeps,

I do that, the members will lynch me

for sirin' a bastard while servin' as

their preacher, we're a strict congregation,

we've churched men

for pickin' up a fiddle on the Sabbath,

So you reckon to kill her?

what, because she's a slave?

I... um...

There's a back door, Have pity,

Thank you,

I was gonna do a grievous wrong,

I think I should go back up to my wife,

She wakes at the slightest noise,

Agh! Ohh...

where's some paper and a pencil?

- Hey, Ada! You up?

- Yes,

wha...? It's still dark,

Tell that to the cows, It's late,

You all set?

Oh, I-I just have to eat somethin',

well, then, you got to get up earlier,

what's that?

A novel,

You wanna carry a book,

carry one you can write in,

we got our own story,

It's called Black Cove Farm: Catastrophe.

I can spell it, too, learned it the same place

you did, in the schoolhouse,

One of the first words they taught me,

Ruby Thewes,

you are a c-a-t-a-s-t-r-o-p-h-e,

Three years I was in school,

before my daddy...

Sayin' God rest his soul is like

wishin' him what he had in life,

He lived to rest, He was born tired,

He decided... better use for me

than havin' me sat all day

in front of a chalkboard,

Number one, lay out a winter garden

for cool-season crops,

Turnips right there, onions, cabbage,

Collards,

Number two,

patch the shingles on the barn roof,

Have we got a maul and frow?

- Maul?

- Maul, M-a-u-L,

Number three, clear and turn this field,

No harm done lettin' it go,

Now we'll do well,

Number 15...

- Number 16...

- Number 16...

Put up some gourds for a martin colony,

Keep away these crows,

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