Moonrise Page #5

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You forgot to say goodbye.

Why didn't you tell me?

I tried to, but I was afraid.

What if I lost you?

What if you wouldn't touch me?

What have I got to lose any more?

Why should I be afraid?

Don't you understand?

From here on, it's all bad.

Dan...

Dan, don't be afraid.

Billy...

I almost killed Billy -

a guy I've helped and protected

all my life.

He didn't even know

what it was all about.

If he'd raised his hand,

I think I would've killed him.

Oh, get out of here!

You should've sent me away

when I might've gone.

It's too late now.

Dan, please don't hurt me any more.

Oh, Gilly! Gilly!

Dan, you've got to go back.

Ain't nobody gonna shake me

out of a tree like a coon.

- Maybe someday.

- Someday won't be soon enough.

Dan, the sheriff knows

you're not a killer,

and I know it without even asking.

Gilly, I don't even know

what happened.

He came at me with a rock and the next thing

I knew he was lying there.

Go back, Dan.

I ain't clear. I gotta get answers.

You won't get them this way.

Maybe not for the rest of your life.

I gotta get answers.

Where will you go?

Maybe Chinnamuk - Grandma's.

Ma and Pa are buried there

on top of the ridge.

After that?

I don't know.

What are you thinking?

Only how it will be tomorrow...

...going into school and

asking a lot of questions about dead history

and you...

- And...

- Shh!

It don't make no sense he'd

stay here. He'd keep going.

Do you think Mose was telling

the truth, that he hasn't seen him?

The boy was up here a lot.

Don't see no windows prised.

I'm going. It may be too late,

but I'm gonna try.

Goodbye, Gilly Johnson.

Ready, Mose?

You're not going to ask me

to hunt my friend, are you sure?

I need you to handle the dogs.

I wish they were dead.

This is no place for a woman.

Why don't you go on back?

Ain't no use going in there.

He's in the swamp.

Come on, fellas, leash up.

We'll have to circle

pick it up where he comes out.

Your Pa never had his picture took

for the trial.

Your Aunt Jessie sent these up

from town.

You're your father's son, Daniel,

especially the eyes and the voice.

What kind of voice?

Low, but not weak.

Funny thing

I never heard Jeb Hawkins raise his voice

except when he was happy.

Then you could hear it

across the mountains.

What's that about Pa?

His voice?

About his being happy?

- When was Pa happy?

- Jeb?

Why, he could kick a floor

like eight horses

if they had a good fiddler

at the dance.

Fine man, Jeb.

Fine man.

Shoulda seen him the night

he came home from his wedding,

back to this cabin he built special.

It was sun-up.

They'd been dancing all the time.

They came in that door,

Jeb looked as if he never needed

sleep again in his life,

so fresh he was.

Like sparks out of a pine log.

He was mighty proud of you, Daniel.

Well, I ain't proud of Pa.

He cursed me!

He cursed me all my life!

You can't hold something

against a dead person, Daniel.

Well, he held it against me.

He held it against me all my life!

All the beatings I took

since I was a kid...

on account of him.

Never could get a job, unless there

was nobody else left to hire.

Girls walking away from me

like I was poison.

"Hello, Hawkins," they'd say.

Simple, ain't it?

Yet every time they said it,

I wanted to change my name.

- Why didn't he think of me?

- He did,

but it was too late.

Some folks think he done wrong.

Some think he done right.

I think he acted like the man he was,

settling a question

Hard and quick.

He loved Betty.

He loved you.

He never did nothin' through hatin'

or fearin'.

Leave me be!

He paid.

He tried to spare you.

He told me to send you away

and change your name.

I sent you away,

but I didn't change your name.

I was proud of his name.

Now I know

why you want to hate your pa.

I wondered why you came back

after so long...

...bleedin', smellin' of swamp

and hatin' your pa.

Take till morning, I reckon, to

pick up your scent past the creek.

Your pa could have gone over the

ridge and down the river on a log.

No dogs can follow you there.

- You telling me to run away?

- No.

A man has to handle himself

his own way.

Good night to you, Daniel.

Good night, Grandma.

Your pa found the answer, Daniel.

The rock-hard answer.

But he found it.

He waited just about

where you're sitting now.

"I think I done right," he told me.

"If I done wrong, I'm gonna square

it. Maybe they'll leave the boy be,

"not make him grow up paying

for what I've done. "

It took a man, Daniel.

A coward blames what he does

on other folks.

They'll follow your trail

past the creek.

Better hit the river

before they break cover

in the meadow.

I ain't proud of what you done, Pa.

All the same, I didn't mean

what I said last night.

You did the best you could

to even things up.

That's what I'm doing now.

Then maybe we'll both

have some peace.

Daisy Belle!

Come here, Daisy Belle!

Hello, Sheriff.

What made you come back?

I changed my mind.

I thought you would

if I held the reins loose.

Only I was afraid you'd got the bit

in your teeth.

Gilly...

You were right

about finding the answers.

Aunt Jessie's got them

and Mose and Grandma...

...and you.

It's wonderful to see your face, Dan...

...to REALLY see it.

Whaddya doing there?

Leave the boy be.

Let him walk back like a man.

Mr Dog,

if a man knows how

to rejoin the human race...

...once he's resigned,

it helps, Mr Dog,

it helps.

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