Skylark Page #2

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Try to sleep, Sarah.

I can't without you.

Is it below the mark?

Yeah.

How much?

Almost a foot.

Caleb:

Here's the last

of it.

Sarah:

Thank you.

We have to carry river water

for the animals.

We can do that.

And watch for fires.

Yes.

I have to measure

out our own water.

We already have.

Have to use less.

Anna!

Come on!

Jacob.

Morning, Jess.

How are you?

Seen better days.

Not much work.

Gonna change

soon.

Man:

Hey, Jacob.

Caleb and I want

to walk around town.

All right. I'll be

in the store later.

Caleb:

Going to watch

the blacksmith.

And see if our bridal bed

is ready.

(car engine chugging)

(horn honking)

Ben.

Jacob.

Good morning, Mrs. Parkley.

(woman crying)

You'll be back...

sooner than

you think.

Please don't cry.

Maggie.

Their well is dry.

Caroline, what can we do?

There's nothing to do.

Joseph says

we have to pack up.

Pack up?

Where will you go?

They have family.

Mrs. Parkley:

No, no. I won't

take money, Caroline.

I won't forget.

Thank you.

Joseph says we'll come back.

But we won't.

I know it.

Well, there must be

some other way.

We could help

haul water, Maggie.

We could all work harder.

I mean, you just don't

leave everything

you've-you've worked for--

your home.

I mean, I don't see

how anybody could.

How can anybody

just give up?

You've never been in this kind

of trouble before, Sarah.

You don't know

how hard it is.

These are for

you, Sarah.

Thank you.

Excuse us.

I spoke

too sharply.

I'm just used

to making things right

making things work.

I know.

(laughing):

I know.

The land come

first, Sarah.

It always does.

What do you mean?

Without the land,

there is nothing.

(sighs)

That's wrong.

Maybe, but that's the way it is.

The aunts...

they write to me

all the time.

I can count on

them, you know.

Like the sun rising

and setting.

Like the tide going in,

coming out.

I'm going to dry up

like the land before...

Before?

Any news?

Some news.

Good news.

Good news?

Ha! What good news?

Your birthday soon.

Mattie wrote to remind me.

She didn't.

She did.

So, what do you want?

Silk?

Jewels?

Travel?

(laughing)

Travel?

Where would I go?

Somewhere green.

Somewhere cool.

Do you think I would leave?

Man:

Come on!

(wagon wheels turning)

Papa!

Fire!

Hold on!

Hyah!

Hyah!

(horses nickering)

Hyah!

Whoa!

Throw those rags out.

Soak them

in the cattle pond.

Quick!

Be careful!

There's a wind coming up.

Don't get too close.

(dog barking)

(coughing)

Jacob, over there!

Jacob!

(barking continues)

Jacob!

(grunting and panting)

You all right?

Yes.

I said,

"Don't get close"!

I told you

to be careful!

You can't put the

fire out by yourself.

Stop shouting at me!

(barking)

Papa, here!

It's all right.

Put the animals away.

Good boy.

That's a good boy.

We have to keep watch,

day and night from now on.

(coughing)

You're a sight.

You know?

You look beautiful.

Do you really think

I would leave?

(bird squawking)

(muted laughter)

Go ahead, try

and catch me.

(sighs)

Maybe this will be cooler.

(sighs)

Oh, I dream

of my old home sometimes...

and I dream of long,

cool mornings of sleep

without the baby waking.

(chuckling)

Night dreams or daydreams?

What's a daydream?

Well, sometimes, no

matter where you are

you think of something--

a place, maybe

or maybe it's

something you wish for

and it's so close,

you can almost touch it.

Caleb, will you please go

out to the burrows

and get us some water?

And take out the baby with you

to the girls, please?

(muted barking)

(door shuts)

What's wrong, Sarah?

(sighs dismissively)

This talk of dreams.

Oh, Sarah.

(chuckles)

Before I had my son,

I had dreams.

They were

the strongest dreams...

so real.

I could feel the soft skin

of him

oh, and that sweet smell

of his hair.

I could hear

the soft sounds he made

when he slept.

It was almost as...

As if you knew him

before he was born.

Ja.

When I first married Jacob,

it was enough.

We were a family-- Anna, Caleb--

but now with the drought

the worse it becomes

the more the land dries up

and the leaves turn to dust

I have this dream

almost every night

that everything

will be all right

if I have a baby.

Have you spoken to Jacob?

Oh.

Do cats dream?

(laughing)

Maybe.

I have dreams at night.

Mmm, bad dreams

or good?

Good dreams.

Every night,

I dream of rain.

Do you?

Do you dream of rain?

Yes.

I dream about rain.

That's good.

Then, it will

come true.

(wind blowing)

(door banging)

Some wind out there.

It's magic,

isn't it?

Someone goes away--

There's that picture

left behind.

The face stays forever.

It's a fine

picture of you.

But I'm not leaving,

Jacob.

(door continues banging)

Barn door.

(door opens, then closes)

(laughing)

Sarah...

you're a wild thing.

I'm not leaving, Jacob.

I'm not leaving.

I'm not.

I'm not leaving.

I'm not.

Never.

I'm telling you...

I'm not...

I'm not...

Sarah:

Hello, Maggie.

What will we do?

Sarah:

Such happy voices.

They'll know harder times

soon enough.

We have to go further

for water.

There's water

in Waconda Springs.

I don't know if there's

enough water there

and that's a three-day trip,

maybe four.

We'll go together.

Think, Jacob--

We bring water back,

then what?

The cattle...

the crops?

There are no crops.

Maggie and I have been talking

about other ways.

What?

I think what Matthew means is,

they're thinking about leaving.

Leaving?

I hate this land.

Sarah...

No, I mean it.

I don't have to

love it like Jacob...

like Matthew.

They give it everything--

everything--

and it betrays them;

It gives them nothing back.

You know,

Jacob once told me

his name was written

in this land.

Well, mine isn't.

Itisn't.

They don't know

anywhere else.

You know...

you are like

the prairie lark.

It sings from

high in the air

to tell the other

birds it's there

and then it

drops to Earth.

But you have not

come to Earth, Sarah.

You don't have

to love this land.

But if you don't,

you won't survive.

Jacob is right.

You have to write

your name in it

to live here.

What are they doing?

All right.

Whoa, oh.

Keeping busy.

How far, Jacob?

Down that much.

Jacob, I think...

Don't say it.

(thunder rumbling)

It's been doing

that all day.

It's been doing that

for months.

Jacob.

We're leaving.

It's all right, Matthew.

I know.

(thunder rumbling)

Anna:

Papa! Papa!

Coyote!

He'll kill Moonbeam!

Jacob, what are you going to do?

Stay inside, Sarah.

Jacob, no!

No! No! Stop! Stop!

Jacob, don't do this!

Sarah...

Jacob, don't...

don't...

Sarah!

Don't do this, Jacob!

All he wants

is water!

That's all he wants

is some water!

That's all!

He's not going

to hurt anything!

He just wants some water!

(sobbing):

He just wants water!

He wants water!

He just wants water!

Caleb...

Water! he just

wants water!

Put the animals

in the barn.

Sarah:

That's all he wants!

He just wants water.

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