Mudbound Page #7

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in less than a minute.

It's that cold up there?

Sh*t. I'm talking 20, 30 below.

One time we were on this long haul,

I pissed in my helmet,

I forgot all about it.

We were just over the target.

I put the helmet back on.

We're doing this bombing run,

dodgin' enemy flak,

and all of a sudden, I started feelin'

something runnin' down my face. [laughs]

-Yeah, I thought I was hit.

-[both laughing]

I smelled like a damn latrine.

Yeah, you must've caught hell

back at that officer's club, too.

Boy, my friends never let me hear

the end of it.

The ones that made it back, anyway.

Yeah, I lost some friends, too.

Well, here's to them.

[thunder rumbling]

"I wouldn't get home until..."

[truck approaching]

-Everythin' all right, Mr. Jamie?

-Oh, everything's just fine.

Just gave Ronsel here a little lift

from town.

I'll be heading back to town

next Saturday afternoon.

If you like, I'll stop by here

and see if you want a ride.

That'd be fine.

Well, all right.

Hap.

[vehicle receding]

[congregation]

Don't you see how they done my Lord?

Come on

Don't you see how they done my Lord?

- Do you see how they done my Lord?

- Oh, yeah

He never said a mumblin' word

Oh, Lord...

-[laughing]

-Oh!

-[Henry] Oh, Lord.

-[shushing]

I got you somethin', Mom.

Oh.

This is so much.

I'll save it for your brother and sister.

They'll love it.

No.

-I got it for you.

-Oh, baby, I can't.

I'm gonna watch you eat it.

[Florence] Hmm.

Mm-hmm.

[both chuckling]

Thank you, son.

[Florence chuckling]

Finish it, Mom. Don't save it.

Don't save it, Mom.

I better not see Lilly May or Marlon

with none of that.

All right.

I love you.

I love you, too, sweetie.

Thank you.

[Jamie] I can't...

I tried.

I'm sorry. [coughs]

I can't...

I can't swim.

Oh, God.

Oh, God.

Oh, my God.

[Jamie gasping]

Hey. It's okay. It's okay. Jamie.

It's okay. It's okay.

-It's me. It's me. It's okay. It's okay.

-[gasping]

[Jamie crying]

[Laura] It's okay. Come here, come here.

[Jamie breathing heavily]

[Jamie] No.

No, I can't.

-Jamie.

-I gotta go.

-[truck door closes]

-[engine starts]

[Laura] As usual,

when anything bad happened,

Henry was away.

He and Pappy had gone to see about

some hogs, so I was alone with the girls.

Vera?

You need to take me to town.

I'm gonna kill Carl.

Vera, why don't you come

and sit down and we'll talk--

I don't have time to sit down.

He's with her now.

Started in on Alma, just like with Renie.

Amanda Leigh,

take your sister into the house.

Amanda, go on. Go on 'round the back, go.

-Vera?

-You gotta take me to town now.

[stammering]

-I can't drive.

-I seen you drivin'--

And I got in trouble for it.

My husband took the keys away.

Come on.

[crying]

[Laura] They found Carl's body

laying in the road halfway to town.

[sniffles]

Florence said she'd seen her walking

down Main Street covered in blood.

She said it looked like

she'd bathed in it.

Vera had stabbed him 17 times.

But I didn't find out those details

till later.

I was too lost in my own misery.

[breathing heavily]

[crying]

What's wrong, Mama?

Amanda Leigh, I need you to be a big girl

and go and get Florence.

You remember how to get there?

Good girl, run as fast as you can.

No! [crying]

No!

[Florence]

I lost one of my babies once, too.

His name was Samuel.

[Laura crying]

[crying continues]

I used to come here all the time

when I was a boy.

Just when I needed to be alone

and clear my mind.

Well, I like what you've done

with the place.

Here.

Why are you being so nice to me?

You look like you could use it.

Bullshit.

We were somewhere over Austria. [sighs]

We made contact

with a whole swarm of Messerschmitts.

[sighs] I mean, they was everywhere.

Took out my tail gun, co-pilot...

[yelling indistinctly]

Made a deal with God right there.

Swore if he saved me,

I was gonna do somethin' good.

I don't know what that was, but...

I promised anyway.

[sighs]

Before you know,

whole bunch of P-51s show up...

just like goddamn cavalry.

They cleared those Germans

right out of the sky.

[guns firing]

And I swear, they were angels sent

by the Lord himself.

Those P-51s, their tails was painted red.

One of 'em buzzed me

right after the flight.

I looked over.

I thought I was seeing things.

That fighter pilot...

he was colored.

He saluted me...

I saluted him back.

Men that died that day...

they were husbands, fathers.

They were good men.

A lot better than me.

[chuckles softly]

[sighs]

[sighs]

Oh, well.

[piano playing]

We brought this for you, Mama.

[Isabelle] This is for you, Mama.

[Jamie grunts] Now, you gotta...

You can't have a shower

without the screen up.

Now, where do we put that?

What are you thinkin'?

Maybe here, in the water?

Now you gotta help me figure out

where to put this.

What do you think? In there?

You can smell it.

[Amanda] Mommy,

Uncle Jamie's building you a shower.

[Jamie] You little angel.

You were supposed to tell me

if she was gonna be comin'.

[chuckles]

[Jamie]

Thought you might want a little privacy...

every now and then,

if you were havin' a bath.

[sighs] What you think?

I think it's marvelous.

Thank you.

[Jamie] Well...

I'll fetch some water.

They smell good, baby.

[Florence]

He hardly eats... hardly sleeps.

Can't sit still... can't move.

It's like he's just stewing.

Waiting for somethin'.

Waiting for whatever didn't happen

to happen.

[horn honking]

[Jamie] Come on!

This bottle ain't gonna drink itself.

Whoo-hoo!

Already losing daylight!

-[Ronsel] Hold your horses. How you doin'?

-[laughing]

-[Ronsel] I'd be happy to see me, too.

-[both laughing]

[Hap] Woman, you ain't tired?

-We gotta let him go.

-We ain't holdin' him.

He's staying for us. I know he is.

Well, what if he wants to stay?

It's not always gonna be like this.

Soon as I'm healed...

we'll move out of here.

We'll be okay.

He'll be okay once he has his own place.

We'll be okay?

-I guarantee it.

-[chuckles]

[Hap humming]

Remember that?

-Yes, I do.

-[both chuckle]

You know what? You ain't supposed to be up

on that broke leg all the time, Jackson.

If you don't let it heal,

you ain't never gonna walk.

Why walk if I can't dance?

-[chuckles]

-Lovely woman, you are.

-[chuckles]

-[shushes]

[both humming]

[Ronsel] Silver Star?

-Yeah.

-Damn. [chuckles]

Don't be impressed.

I got it for being stupid.

-What?

-[chuckling]

[chuckles]

You ever miss it sometimes?

Being over there.

I don't mean being shot at,

but sometimes, I actually miss it.

Yeah, me, too.

Over there, I was a liberator.

People lined up in the streets

waiting for us.

Throwing flowers and cheering.

And here,

I'm just another n*gger pushing a plow.

Some of the men, too.

-Yeah, I think about 'em every day.

-Seeing different parts of the world.

Italian girls, English girls...

[chuckling]

Some of those hairy Greek girls

with those big old hairy muffs...

Yeah, it was somethin' else.

It was somethin', man.

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