On the Trail of the Lonesome Pine

---

(GUNSHOT)

Judd, you can't .

I got to

get in the house.

Poke your head out

in the cIear,

and a FaIin wiII get you.

But MeIissa,

she's going to have a baby.

(GUNSHOT)

Hit you, David?

No FaIin can ever

get me, UncIe Judd.

(FIRING STOPS)

(BABY CRYING)

Oh, God,

give her the strength

to be good,

to be never hatefuI

and never fight.

(GUNSHOTS)

And don't Iet her

carry the burden of fear,

watching her Ioved ones

and seeing them die.

AIways asking

out of her heart,

" Why has it got to be?

Why has it got to be?"

(GUNSHOTS CONTINUE)

MAN:
(SINGING)

When it's twilight

on the trail

And I jog along

The world is like a dream

And the ripple of the stream

is my song

When it's twilight

on the trail

And I rest once more

My ceiling is the sky

And the grass on which I lie

is my floor

Never ever

have a nickel

in my jeans

Never ever

have a debt to pay

Still I understand

what real contentment means

Guess I was born that way

When it's twilight

on the trail

And my voice is still

Please plant

this heart of mine

Underneath

the Lonesome Pine

on the hill

And I says to him, I says,

"Look here, Zeke Denker,

" you're driving your hogs

to mighty poor swiII."

Bet that buttoned him.

Not Zeke.

He's the Iaughingest man

I ever met.

Nothing bites him.

Laughs when

it's cIever enough

to rain.

Laughs when

the sun shines.

He Iooks me

right in the eye...

Dave's better.

Is he?

Yep.

Perking up a mite.

Arm's a IittIe green

but I stuck a chaw

of tobaccy on it.

CoId rifIe barreI

wiII do it more good.

What he have to say?

About the FaIins I mean.

" Eat your sow beIIy

and get for home."

That's what he said.

Said, " Ain't gonna be

no fighting

tiII I can tote a gun."

And I come six miIes.

Six miIes.

I can throw a cIump

of dogwood that far.

I'm nigh on to 30 miIes.

Look. Look.

(STAMMERING)

Gather around now.

Gather around.

I'm reaIIy going to

show you something now.

Maybe we's wiII

get a go at the kid.

Whenever Judd ToIIiver

gets an itch

to pIug the FaIins,

he starts pIaying

with the young ones.

I'm gonna be

the human hub.

Now, WiIIie, you go

down there and stop me

if I get to going too fast.

Lizzie Bee,

you better go down

and heIp WiIIie.

Look out now, here I come.

Don't forget to stop me.

(MIMICS TRAIN HOOTING)

(CHILDREN SCREAMING)

WeII, why didn't

you stop me?

(ALL LAUGHING)

(SCREAMING INDISTINCTLY)

(CHUCKLING)

Judd's better

than that wagon show

we saw once.

MeIissa, you got

a beIIyache

or something?

Just thinking, Lina.

Sakes and sassafras!

Thinking

boiIs the pot over.

It boiIs over

and over and over

if you ain't thinking.

KiIIing.

AII the time kiIIing.

They are pIanning it now.

They done it yesterday,

and the week before,

and the year before that.

Ever since

I was a IittIe chiId

they done it.

KiII a FaIin.

KiII a FaIin.

That's aII they couId say.

PIowing, spIitting reins.

FiIIing the corn crib.

KiII a FaIin!

And the echo comes back

to us from over the hiIIs.

KiII a ToIIiver.

KiII. KiII. Why?

MeIissa!

What you biting

your paws about, Auntie?

Worrying, I guess,

June and Buddie

ain't back yet.

DAVE:
Where they be?

Over at the yard doctor,

getting a potion for you.

Is that the way

you Iike it?

Just right.

You shouId have Iet me

get a town doctor, Dave.

It don't Iook right.

It's too swoIe up.

You're awfuIIy

good to me, Auntie.

You're a good boy, Dave.

Your boy.

My boy.

Sometimes

I wished I was, Auntie.

Then I wished I wasn't

'cause if I was,

I couIdn't marry June

and if I wasn't ...

ReIations Iike we ones

got me aII thicked up.

Cousins are aIways

thicker than fIeas

in the mountains, Dave.

(LAUGHING)

I'm a big, big

bIack bear.

(GROWLING)

I'm a mean bIack bear.

(BARKING)

(GIGGLING)

I'm getting cIoser.

I'lI get you.

I'm coming cIoser.

(BARKING)

(LAUGHING)

You Iaugh at me, foreigner,

and I'lI... I'lI...

I don't bIame you,

I'd do

the same thing myseIf.

That was funny.

Why didn't you Iaugh?

She's one of

the ToIIivers.

That's stiII funny.

She didn't think so.

That's a woman's priviIege.

Now, where were we?

Right in the middIe of

that fauIt, over there.

Yeah.

Two years suppIy

of strip-coaI before

we have to drift mine it.

We'lI steam-shoveI

the top coaI

and make it pay for

the raiIroad up here.

You haven't got it yet.

No.

WeII, suppose

you Iet me

worry about that.

The right and titIe

to that priviIege

is yours, my friend.

You got that priviIege

this very minute.

Start using it.

I was just

running in that wood,

and I heard

she was a bear.

And when I Iooked

around to see if she

was going to eat me,

she was gone.

(CRYING)

Maybe she ate herseIf

and disappeared.

Judd ToIIiver,

how you taIk.

ChiId. ChiId. You mustn't .

Juny's coming back.

Maybe she stopped

down by the river.

Looks Iike she fetched

the river with her.

June!

WeII, I brung it,

didn't I?

June, if you ain't

the Iookingest...

I've been running

across that Iog

ever since

I was knee high

to a grasshopper.

I can catch a squirreI

on it with one hand,

but when that dog

see that foreigner...

Foreigner?

He stopped right smack-dab

in the middIe of the Iog

and I tripped.

JUDD:
What was

the foreigner doing?

Don't know.

Wasn't Iooking.

Before you know it,

there I go.

PIunk, right down.

What did he Iook Iike?

Just had a squint.

He's about so taII,

about that wide.

Was aII dressed in brown,

even his hat.

And his coat had a beIt.

Just a squint?

Dave ToIIiver,

if you're thinking

what I'm a thinking,

I'm going to

teII you off.

Go down to the creek

and wash your dirty face.

For two carrot seeds,

I'd rub it aII over you.

You do it,

and I'lI spank you

where it hurts.

You wiII, wiII you?

Did that hurt?

How couId it?

(LAUGHING) Oh!

I've been taIking

to your pappy.

We's going to get married.

When?

Hog kiIIing time.

Your pappy

has invited

aII the ToIIivers.

The whoIe kit

and boodIe of them.

I ain't marrying

tiII green up.

Spring's aIways

the time to do them things.

Then it'lI be

next green up

and the next.

I don't feeI nothing.

Like... What do you mean?

I don't know.

(BELL CLANGING)

Come on. Come on.

Dinner.

Come on.

Better make it

just a dipping,

June, or them

hungry mouths

wiII eat that tabIe bare.

Ma. Come here.

Ma. Do I...

Do I Iike Dave?

Why, honey,

I think you do.

Like you Iike Pappy?

WeII, you remember

when Dave went

to Pokey WeIIs,

you was a-grieving for him

then, weren't you?

And when he's to home,

he don't make

no nevermind to you?

But, Ma...

JUDD:
MeIissa,

the foIks

are waiting

for their dinner.

Coming.

WeII, that's

Iiking, honey.

This here man wants

to taIk to you, Judd.

Does, huh?

My name is HaIe,

Jack HaIe.

I wonder if I couId

see you aIone.

Here's aII right.

WeII, I...

You see, I wanted to

taIk to you about coaI.

The coaI on your property,

I mean.

You know what I mean?

The fauIt

down about a miIe.

WeII, you've seen the coaI.

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