Sling Blade Page #4

He helped him carry home

the clean laundry.

He's been in the hospital a long time.

Must be something wrong with him.

He's retarded's all.

He's always after a father figure.

Doyle ain't a good one

with his mean ass.

What about me?

I don't think he sees you

as a "guy" guy.

Karl's a "guy" guy?

This is what I call my secret place,

'cause I come out here

when I feel like being by myself.

I used to come here with Karen Cross.

She's kind of like my girlfriend.

Or used to be.

We used to come out here

and hold hands and talk,

and read books to each other

with a flashlight.

She didn't want nothing to do with me

in front of people,

'cause I don't have any money.

Well, momma and me, I mean.

See, her daddy's a dentist,

so they're rich.

Was your folks well off?

No, we didn't have too much. Just barely

enough to scrape by on, I reckon.

They still around, your folks?

My mother's dead. My daddy,

he's supposed to be around still.

He don't wanna have

nothing to do with me.

How do you know?

Well, he never did want to. I figure

he probably ain't changed his mind much.

How did your momma die?

You don't need to hear things like that.

You're just a boy.

Need to think about good thoughts

while you're still a boy.

There's plenty of time

for all the other.

I've had a lot of bad thoughts

since daddy died.

Sometimes I wish I was still real little

and he was still here.

Momma's real good,

but I wish I had both of 'em.

We went to Memphis in the car one time.

It was raining so hard,

we couldn't see the road.

But I wasn't scared,

as long as daddy was driving,

I thought nothing can happen to us.

That's the way I feel about Momma now.

Momma has a boyfriend now.

His name is Doyle Hargraves.

He works construction,

makes a pretty good living.

But he don't help Momma out

with any money, though.

He ain't no good.

He's mean to her.

He don't like me at all.

Momma says it's 'cause he's jealous,

'cause I belong

to my daddy instead of him.

He spends the night over at our house

sometimes, and he's got his own house.

Somebody told me

it's where he can have more girlfriends.

I like the nights he ain't at our house.

I ain't so nervous then.

How come her to still be girlfriends

an' all with him if he mean to her?

She says it's for the times

when he's good to her.

She's lonely since daddy died.

Sometimes she says she don't know why.

He threatened to kill her

if she ever left him.

My daddy would kill him if he was still

here and somebody was mean to Momma.

Vaughan, he's real good to Momma.

Vaughan that you met.

He's not able to do anything to Doyle.

He's funny, you know.

Not funny ha-ha, funny queer.

He likes to go with men

instead of women.

That makes him

not be able to fight too good.

He sure is nice, though.

He's from St. Louis. People who are

queer get along better in a big town.

I wish he liked to go with women.

I'd rather him be Momma's boyfriend

than Doyle.

Karl, you know when I told you

daddy got hit by a train?

Yes, I recollect that.

It ain't the truth. He shot himself

with a shotgun on purpose.

How come he would do that, reckon?

'Cause he didn't have enough money

to take care of us the way he wanted to.

That's what the letter said. He got

laid off and started working odd jobs.

I thought he took care of us just fine.

Karl, did you really kill somebody?

- Yes, sir, I did.

- Who did you kill?

- Two people.

- Were they bad people?

I thought they was.

Well, maybe they needed it.

Well, I growed up and learned

that you ain't supposed to kill nobody.

It's all right

if you're looking out for yourself.

If it's self-defense.

Was it self-defense?

My daddy was good.

I think too many good people die.

That's what I think.

You sure you wanna

go stay with these folks?

You're welcome to keep on staying here.

It's working out real good.

That boy wants me to.

All right, see you bright and early. How

are you coming with that garden tiller?

I fixed it.

It's working pretty good now.

You done fixed it? Well, I'll be damned.

Scooter told me it couldn't be fixed.

Of course, Scooter's about as shiftless

as one poor son of a b*tch can be.

You done fixed it.

Well, I'll just be damned.

- Well, I'll see you tomorrow.

- All right, then.

Don't guess I give a sh*t,

I mean, I ain't here that much anyway.

If you want a retard living

out in the garage, that's your business.

I do got tools out there

and a set of sockets

I'd rather not have stole.

I could take those home with me.

He's real honest. He wouldn't steal.

Now, Frankie,

I wasn't talking to you, was I?

No, sir.

"No, sir" is right.

I was talking to your momma.

This is her decision, not yours.

If I let it go on,

it's 'cause she asked me, not you.

Is this the kind of retard that drools

and rubs sh*t in his hair and all that?

I'm gonna have a hard time

eating around that kind of thing.

Just like I am

about antique furniture and midgets.

I can't drink a glass of water around a

midget or a piece of antique furniture.

You're awful. You shouldn't be that way.

I ain't saying it's right.

It's the damn truth.

Now, he'll make me sick. I know it.

- What was he in the nuthouse for?

- He's just mentally retarded, I guess.

No, no. He had to go nuts

and did something, now.

Come on. A lot of retards

ain't locked up in the nuthouse.

Think about it, Linda.

- You know what he done, Frank?

- I ain't sure.

You might want to find out.

He might have hacked his family

with a hatchet.

Yeah, Frank, you better ask him.

Don't hurt his feelings or

anything, but it'd be good to know.

I'm sure it's nothing.

He seems real sweet.

You're all hung up on people

being sweet, aren't you?

He's sweet, everybody's sweet.

Speaking of sweet, where's your

girlfriend? I thought he's coming over.

He'll be here in a little while.

He's taking me to get an ice cream.

Ain't that sweet.

What am I gonna do about supper,

while you're out with that fag?

You're not crippled.

Get in and make something.

Talking back and everything, aren't you?

That kind of makes me horny, Linda.

Why don't you go off and play in

your room if Doyle's gonna talk nasty?

- I don't wanna go play in my room.

- He don't wanna play, baby.

Just let him sit here.

Let's all just be a family.

Till your mentally retarded friend

and your homosexual friend get here.

Karl?

Yes, sir.

So you're really going to stay here?

That boy, he wants me to.

Have you knocked on the door yet?

- No, sir, I ain't.

- How long have you been standing here?

Quite a spell, I reckon.

Listen, Karl. Before you

get very used to staying here,

I think you and I need to talk about

a few things. Can I take you to lunch?

I done ate just a little bit ago.

No, I mean tomorrow, or the next day.

I reckon I could use a little

something or other to eat at noon time.

Bill Cox, he generally

gets me a box lunch.

But I reckon he can

lay off of doing it tomorrow.

OK. Well, then, I'll come by Mr. Cox's

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