Gone with the Wind Page #8

(Ashley puts into Scarlett's hands some soil.)

SCARLETT:

Yes, I...I still have this. You needn't go. I won't

have you all starve simply because I threw myself at

your head. It won't happen again.

Chapter 8 Raising of the Tax

(Wilkenson, Mr. O'Hara's ex-overseer, comes to Tara

with his newly-married wife. They intend to buy Tara,

for they know the "turbulence Tara now is in.)

SCARLETT:

Why, Emmy Sladdly.

EMMY SLADDLY:

Yes'm, it's me.

SCARLETT:

Stop!

WILKENSON:

You haven't forgotten your old overseer, have you?

Huh? Well, Emmy is Mrs. Wilkenson now...

SCARLETT:

Get off those steps, you trashy wench. Get off this

land!

WILKENSON:

You can't speak that way to my wife.

SCARLETT:

Why? High time you made her your wife. Who baptized

your other brats after you killed my mother?

WILKENSON:

We came out here to pay a call. A friendly call, and

talk a little business with old friends.

SCARLETT:

Friends. When were we ever friends with the likes of

you?

WILKENSON:

Still high and mighty ain't you? Well, I

know all about you. I know your father's turned

idiot. You can't pay your taxes. And I come out to

offer to buy the place from you. To make you a right

good offer. Emmy's

got a hankering to live here.

SCARLETT:

Get off this place, you dirty Yankee!

WILKENSON:

You bum-trucking, high-flying Irish will find out

who's running things around here when you get sold

out for taxes. I'll buy this place, lock, stock and

barrel and I'll live in it. But I'll wait for the

sheriff's sale.

SCARLETT:

That's all of Tara you'll ever get.

(Scarlett throws the ball to Wilkenson's face. of

soil which Ashyley put in her hand.)

WILKENSON:

You'll be sorry for that. We'll be back!

(Mr. O'Hara mounts his horse. In a fame of anger, he

tries to cut the way and catch the Wilkensons.)

Mr. O'HARA

I saw you holding on to the carriage!

SCARLETT:

Paw, come back!

Mr. O'HARA

Yankee coward!

SCARLETT:

Paw!

(Mr. O'Hara falls down to the ground. He never rises

again. Days after...)

SCARLETT:

Oh, Mammie, Mammie.

MAMMIE:

You've been brave so long, Miss Scarlett. You just

got to go on being brave. Think about your Paw, like

he used to be.

SCARLETT:

I can't think about Paw. I can't think of anything

but that three hundred dollars.

MAMMIE:

Ain't no good thinking about that. Miss Scarlett.

Ain't nobody got that much money. Nobody but that

Yankee's and the scallow-wags got that much money

now.

SCARLETT:

Rhett!

MAMMIE:

Who that? A Yankee?

SCARLETT:

Oh, Mammie, I'm so thin and pale and...I haven't any

clothes. Go up to the attic Mammie, and get down Ma's

old box of dress patterns.

MAMMIE:

What are you up to in Miss Ellen's fortier?

SCARLETT:

You're going to make me a new dress!

MAMMIE:

Not with Miss Ellen's fortier, not while I got breath

in my body!

SCARLETT:

Great balls of fire, they're my fortiers now. I'm

going to Atlanta for that three hundred dollars, and

I've got to go looking like a queen.

MAMMIE:

Who's going to Atlanta with you?

SCARLETT:

I'm going alone.

MAMMIE:

That's what you think. I'm going to Atlanta with you,

with you and that new dress.

SCARLETT:

Now Mammie darling...

MAMMIE:

No use to try and sweet talk me Miss Scarlett, I

knows you ever since I put the first pair of diapers

on you. I says I was going to Atlanta with you, and

going I is!

(Atlanta prison. Rhett Butler and the prison Major

are playing cards at a table.)

MAN:

Sir, there's a lady to see Captain Butler. Says she's

your sister.

MAJOR:

Another sister? This is a jail, not a harem, Captain

Butler.

MAN:

No, Major, she ain't one of those. This one's got her

mammie with her.

RHETT:

She has? I'd like to see this one, Major, without her

mammie.

MAJOR:

Hmm...

RHETT:

Let's see, my losses for the afternoon come to what?

Hmm... three hundred and fourty. My debts do mount

up, don't they, Major?

MAJOR:

All right, Corporal. Show Captain Butler's sister to

his cell.

RHETT:

Thank you, Major...excuse me, gentlemen. MAJOR

It's hard to be strict with a man who loses money so

pleasantly.

(In the jail. Scarlett appears, dressing in

beautiful green velvet.)

SCARLETT:

Rhett!

RHETT:

Scarlett! My dear little sister.

(to Corporal)

It's all right Corporal, my sister has brought me now

files or saws. Can I really kiss you now?

SCARLETT:

On the forehead like a good brother.

RHETT:

No thanks, I'll wait and hope for better things.

SCARLETT:

Oh, Rhett, I was so distressed when I heard you were

in jail. I simply couldn't sleep for thinking. It's

not true they're going to hang you.

RHETT:

Would you be sorry?

SCARLETT:

Oh, Rhett...

RHETT:

Well, don't worry. Yeah, The Yankees have trumped up

some charge against me but what they're really after

is my money. They seem to think I made off with a

Confederate treasury.

SCARLETT:

Well, did you?

RHETT:

What a leading question. Let's not talk about sordid

things like money. How good of you to come and see

me. And how pretty you look.

SCARLETT:

Oh, Rhett, how you do run on teasing a country girl

like me.

RHETT:

Thank Heaven's you're not in rags, I'm tired of

seeing women in rags. Turn around. You look good

enough to eat. Prosperous, too.

SCARLETT:

Thank you, I've been doing very well. Everybody's

doing well at Tara, only, I got so bored, I just

thought I'd treat myself with to visit to town.

RHETT:

You're a heartless creature but that's part of your

charm. Though you've got more charm than the law

allows.

SCARLETT:

Now I did come here to talk senseless about me,

Rhett. I came because I was so miserable at the

thought of you in trouble. Oh, I know I was mad at

you the night you left me on the road to Tara, and I

still haven't forgiven you.

RHETT:

Oh, Scarlett, don't say that.

SCARLETT:

Well, I must admit I might not be alive now. Only for

you. And when I think of myself with anything I could

possibly hope for, and not a care in the world, and

you where here in this horrid jail. And not even a

human jail, Rhett, a horse jail. But listen to me,

try to make jokes when, when I really want to cry.

And in a minute I shall cry.

RHETT:

Scarlett, can it be possible that...

SCARLETT:

Can what be possible, Rhett?

RHETT:

That you've grown a woman's heart? A real woman's

heart.

SCARLETT:

I have Rhett. I know I have.

RHETT:

You know it's worth being in jail just to hear you

say that.It's well worth it.

(Rhett grasps Scarlett's hands. And suddenly, he

reads the callous skin of her hands. This is a pair

of hard-working hands.)

You can drop the moonlight and 'magnolia, Scarlett.

So things have been going well at tara, have they?

SCARLETT:

Yes...

RHETT:

What have you been doing with your hands? SCARLETT

It's just that, I went riding last week without my

gloves...

RHETT:

These don't belong to a lady, you've been working

with them like a field hand. Why did you lie to me,

and what are you really up to? SCARLETT

Now Rhett...

RHETT:

In another minute, I'd almost believed you'd cared

something.

SCARLETT:

But I do care!

RHETT:

Suppose we get down to the truth. You want something

from me and you want it badly enough to put on quite

a show on your velvets. What is it, money?

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