Mudbound Page #4

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And tell your father

to put water on to boil.

Henry, go!

Go!

[girls coughing]

[thunder rumbling]

[Hap]

"I wish you were all there to see it.

Her dress was so glitty... glittery.

Even the white GI's couldn't

take their eyes off her.

Tell Lilly May

even the great Lena Horne hasn't got

half the voice she does. [chuckles]

Make sure Ruel stays practicing

his fastball. [chuckles]

Tell Marlon

I tried to save him some snow,

but it melted.

So I'll be bringin' him

a glass of water instead." [chuckles]

-All right.

-[all chuckling]

"And..."

[banging on door]

-[Henry] Hap!

-Comin', sir!

Hap, I need your wife. I need Florence.

My girls are comin' down sick

with a whooping cough,

and I can't get to town on account

of the bridge been washed out.

I remember you said she was a midwife.

-My wife ain't no doctor, sir.

-I realize that, Hap,

but my wife needs some help

and I thought--

-When did they start the whooping?

-Isabelle started a couple of days ago

and Amanda Leigh started coughing

a few hours back.

They still catching.

She can get you some remedies to take,

but she can't go with you, sir.

I can pay you.

I won't be able to come home

for about three or four days.

-Who's gonna look after my own family?

-Please.

My wife is afraid.

[Florence] I didn't have the luxury

of only lovin' my own children.

My own mother, I remember being blue.

Blue from the dark of the mornin'.

When the moon would still be up,

she kissin' me and my sisters

on the eyelids,

us pretendin' to be asleep.

She goin' off to work...

to wake and kiss some other woman's

children in the sunlight.

I swore that my own children would have

all of me.

-[Henry] Mind your step.

-[Isabelle coughing]

-This is Florence.

-[Laura] Who's this?

She's a midwife.

-Do you see anybody giving birth here?

-The bridge is washed out.

-She might be able to help.

-The girls need a doctor--

Damn bridge is flooded.

-What do you want me to do?

-Take her.

[Henry sighs]

[wheezing and coughing continues]

I've seen this with my own children.

-We gotta get liquid down 'em.

-[Isabelle crying]

But first we gotta clear out

some of this phlegm.

And that's real good

you makin' that steam for 'em.

Mr. McAllan, would you kindly boil

some more water, sir.

[Isabelle crying] I want Mama!

[Florence] That'll draw the phlegm

right out of them.

I should've taken them to the doctor

as soon as they started coughing.

If anything happens... [sniffles]

[Florence] Now I know

what my mother must've known.

Your girls are gonna be just fine.

Okay.

[Florence] That if something had ever

happened to that other woman's children,

that would have been the end of us.

Now I know that she left us

not just out of duty...

-but out of love.

-[Pappy] I'm thirsty.

Do you hear me, gal? I want some damn--

-You put that knife up to me...

-[Florence] Now I know...

-...I will slap the piss out of you.

-...that love is a kind of survival.

[Jamie] We're taking hits.

What's going on back there?

[gunner] I have visual. I have visual.

Bring it around. Bring it around.

[Roger] They took out the tail gunner!

[guns firing]

[Jamie] Take it down!

[Jamie and Roger grunting]

[gunner] I need some altitude.

[Jamie] Grab a left! Grab a left!

Pull it up!

[gunner] Here we go, Captain!

[gunshots]

[Jamie] Roger! Hey, hey! Roger!

[gunner] We broke formation!

[Jamie] Roger, come on!

Front gunner, are you up there?

[gunner] I'm still with you!

I got him! I got him!

-We got some coming on the left!

-[gunner] I see 'em!

[shouts] Cover me! Cover me!

[panting]

Oh, no!

[echoing] No!

[Amanda] Mama?

[Florence] Mornin'.

Glad to see you feelin' better.

[Florence chattering]

[Laura] Well, we have

some good news for ya.

We'd like to offer you a job.

Workin' here for me.

I'll need help with the girls.

Cookin', cleanin', that sort of thing.

It means extra money

for you and your family.

[Hap] We don't belong to them.

We pay rent, work our crops for us.

That's it.

They can't just pick us up,

set us down like we tools.

You're the one

always talkin' about saving,

how owning our own parcel the only way

to get out from under their foot.

-We right there.

-I don't want you workin' for them.

I won't be workin' for them.

I'd be workin' for us.

I already said yes.

"For the husband is the head of the wife,

even as Christ is the head of the church."

"An excellent wife, who can find?

She's more precious than jewels.

Her husband trust in her,

and he will have no lack of gain."

All those Sundays.

-You really are listenin', huh?

-Yes.

And now you must listen to me.

[sighs]

"In my father's house are many mansions.

I know that to be so.

If it wasn't so, I would've told you.

I go to prepare a place for you.

That where I am, ye may be also."

[all agreeing]

[Hap] I know that brings me comfort.

It brings me comfort to know that...

one day, my getting up gonna be

just a little bit easier

than it was the day before.

[all agreeing]

[Hap] One mornin'...

my children ain't gonna wake up

to this place.

They gonna open their eyes up

on a new sky.

One mornin', we're gonna break this boot

from 'round our neck

and shake these chains

from 'rounds our feets.

-One mornin'.

-[all agreeing]

And I ain't talkin' about the hereafter.

I'm talkin' about the right now.

[woman] Right now!

-One mornin'!

-[all] One mornin'!

I said...

One mornin' soon

[all] Oh, one mornin' soon

One mornin' soon

I heard angels singing

All... all around my head

All around my head

All... all around my head

I heard the angels singing

Oh, just before day

Oh, just before day

Oh, just before day

I heard the angels singing

Oh, down on my knees

Oh, down on my knees

[Ronsel] Fire!

Fire!

[explosion]

-Nice shot, baby! Nice shot!

-[Weeks laughs]

Out of the tank! Out of the tank!

Out, out, out!

Out of the tank! Out of the tank!

[Hap yells and groans]

[Ruel] Dad! Dad!

[groaning]

-I got you!

-[Cleve grunts]

Move! Move! Move! Get down!

I need a medic! I need a medic!

[panting]

[panting and grunting]

[Hap] Lingered along. Lingered along.

[grunts]

Laid in that bed knowing

my wife out doin' my work for me.

Florence's hands all blistered up.

And I seen her rubbin' her back

when she thought I wasn't lookin'.

[thunder rumbling]

[Hap] The rain came that next day.

A big, hard rain that packed the fields

tight as wax.

Nothin' we could do.

Sat there, watchin' and frettin'

for two days till it finally cleared up.

[tractor approaching]

[sighs]

[Henry] Hap, you in there?

Yes, sir.

-How you feelin'?

-Gettin' better by the day, sir.

Well, you look like

you know what you're doing there.

Family tradition.

How much longer you reckon

you're gonna be laid up for?

Oh, well, Doc Turpin says six weeks.

It's already been four.

I bet I'll be out there by Monday.

-Monday, you reckon? Well...

-Yes, sir.

[stammers] I'll come to it. I don't...

I don't think you're gonna get everythin'

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