Cold Mountain Page #5

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Ada Monroe and Ruby Thewes,

look at you both,

look at us both what?

like a couple of scarecrows

after a thunderstorm,

we need a scarecrow,

Birds done ate up half our winter garden,

For all your kindness, coffee... and a pie,

Yeah, and that's real coffee, It ain't chicory

and dirt, Found a sack hid in the larder,

Mmm,

Thank you both,

Ruby, I look forward to this,

we all do,

Esco and me,

- She made it,

- I made it,

Good God in heaven,

I'm still livin',

well, I know Esco's

gonna be real sorry he missed you,

Yep,

- Strike you as odd?

- what?

- Stood at her front door,

- I know,

Number one, I knowed that woman

all my life, I never stood outside her house,

She'd let a wolf in if it knocked at the door,

Perhaps...

I don't know,

Perhaps she was busy,

Number two, old man Swanger's inside

that house, I could smell his pipe burnin',

- Number three, look at them fields,

- what about them?

we come by here a week ago

and they was waist-high in hay,

You tellin' me

that's work for one old man and his dog?

Yankees! Yankees!

Cavalry! Federal raiders!

Just over that hill,

- Get those sacks of sh*t up that hill,

- Come on!

Get those horses under cover,

If they see us, we're dead,

Make a move, make a noise...

I'm gettin' out of this,

I'm not gettin' shot again

for some cause I don't believe in,

Come on, let's go,

Come on, They can't shoot,

Come on,

Keep goin'! Come on!

Bayonets,

Come on!

Grab their boots

and rifles! let's move on!

let's go!

That scarecrow

ain't gonna frighten off no Yankee,

Or are you tryin'

to make a man for yourself?

No,

I come by... a few days,

- I don't pass by,

- lookin' out for you,

- I know,

I see you,

- And I don't like it,

- where's your little servant girl?

Ruby, She tradin' off

more of your daddy's silver?

- Stop it!

- Her nose is in the butter,

Her nose is right in your butter!

This farm's got my name on it!

You listenin', woman?

You're gonna need more than a scarecrow!

Sal,

Afternoon,

Don't spread out,

why are they spreadin' out?

I never seen a man work a field

with a shotgun before,

There's a war on,

Get off my land,

- Your boys come home?

- Ain't seen my boys in four years,

They're out fightin' other boys,

not old men and women,

So you won't mind if we look around?

'Cause we think they're here,

we think you've got 'em

hid up somewhere,

what I gotta give you?

Chicken? lamb?

Sure,

The thing is, you've only got one barrel,

And there's five of us,

That's not a fair fight,

King of kings!

Hey!

what was that?

Aargh!

You're harboring deserters, I could

confiscate this farm and everything on it,

Every plate, every sheep,

every little pellet of chickenshit,

I could confiscate your old lady's a**hole,

So don't you offer me no bird,

Come on, boys!

Mama's callin'!

Mama!

No!

Mama! Mama!

No!

Buggery and sh*t!

If I'da known you were this heavy,

I'da left you in those chains,

Sally!

No!

No!

Oh, God, Sally?

Ada!

All right, all right!

Darlin', what?

She's sayin' Don't bother! Go!

Get her neck!

- Sally!

- Get her neck,

This world won't stand long,

God won't let it...

stand this way long,

- How long have I been sleepin'?

- Two days, three days, Not long enough,

- I can't stop here,

- Sit down before you fall down,

I'm a deserter,

If they find me here,

things could be bad for you,

what are they gonna do?

Cut short my young life?

I've learned a person

can pretty much survive off of a goat,

A goat gives you company,

and milk,

and cheese,

and, when you need it,

good meat,

That's my beauty,

There's my beauty,

So you been fightin',

I could be at killin'...

for days,

my feet against the feet of my enemy,

And I always killed him,

He never killed me,

I don't know why,

Gave it a try, to look at ya,

Yeah, I guess he did,

See, I think there's a plan,

There's a design

for each and every one of us,

You look at nature,

Bird flies somewhere, picks up a seed,

shits the seed out, plant grows,

Bird's got a job,

sh*t's got a job, seed's got a job,

And you've got a job,

You done good, goat,

You were a real beauty,

Sometimes I think I'm crazy

when I'm just hungry,

Now drink this,

It eases the pain, and you'll sleep,

Is she waitin' for ya,

this Ada Monroe?

She was,

I don't know,

Or even if she knows me,

lie down,

I'm like the boy

who goes for wood in winter

and comes back in spring with a whistle,

like every fool sent off to fight

with a flag and a lie,

That's the laudanum gettin' to ya,

That's good,

Say somethin' more,

She got me a book,

Ada Monroe,

A man by the name of Bartram,

He wrote about his travels,

Sometimes...

just readin' the name of a place...

near home...

Sorell Cove,

Bishop's Creek,

Those places

belonged to people before us,

To the Cherokee,

what did he call Cold Mountain?

How could a name...

not even a real name...

break your heart?

It's her,

She's the place I'm headin',

And I hardly know her,

I hardly know her!

And I just can't seem to get back to her,

To have traveled so far,

from east to west,

a thousand terrible miles.

I have to close my eyes,

My feet treadin' all God's surface -

his ocean, his swamps,

his slopes and ridges -

to find myself, at last,

a mark in the aching snow,

from whence I beheld

through a blue haze

a world of mountains

piled upon mountains,

Ada!

Ada!

- It's a man!

- what is?

Raidin' our corncrib!

Got him in the trap! That's him yelpin'!

- Help!

- Here,

Help! Damn,

listen up!

You got... Aim!

You got a barrel trained on your rear end!

- Get me outta this dang thing!

- You got a weapon?

No, ma'am, I'm...

My fists are about to drop off,

Unbelievable,

- Stobrod Thewes!

- Ruby?

Agh!

That's my daddy,

Just so's you know,

I can eat while she's doin' this,

Just so's you know,

you ain't eatin' inside,

Number one, they hang people round here

for takin' in deserters,

Number two,

even if they was givin' out prizes,

you'd still eat outside,

- You're scarred,

- I'm what?

Your heart, Scarred,

I did wrong to ya,

You'd be scarred, You'd be real scarred if

I hadn't wrapped them trap teeth in sackin',

- which was my idea,

- which was her idea,

- I hurt you,

- Good God,

I made up 50 tunes with you in mind,

Ruby this, Ruby that,

Ruby with the eyes that sparkle,

Hey! let's agree,

You beat me,

you abandoned me, you ignored me,

then you beat me some more,

And all of that is better'n

Ruby with the eyes that sparkle,

I'm changed, People change,

war changes people somethin' terrible,

Ruby's told you, I've no doubt,

I wasn't always the best,

You were an a**hole!

I can't disagree with that,

I was,

- would you get him outta here?

- Music's changed me,

I'm full of music, Ruby,

I wish I'd brung my fiddle,

Hey, Ruby, I got a new fiddle,

Oh, it's a beautiful fiddle, It's full of tunes,

Ruby, I didn't know I had it in me,

- You're all set,

- I...

Bless you both,

All right, then,

Ain't you got a proper coat?

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