Sling Blade Page #5

and pick you up around noon, all right?

All right, then.

There's your girlfriend.

Y'all come on in.

Come on. Have a seat in here.

- Hey, Vaughan. How are you, Karl?

- Tolerable, I reckon.

Karl, this is Doyle.

Frank, you and Karl go in the garage

and fix him up a place.

- Play a game or something. Ready to go?

- Sure, I guess.

- Honey, don't rush everybody off.

- Maybe you and Karl want to go with us?

I don't want to.

Me and Karl's got things we need to do.

Vaughan, you know what I heard?

Heard you been putting it on

Albert Sellers at the funeral home.

- I know Albert. We're friends.

- No, I heard you's more than friends.

Yeah, I heard Dick Rivers come in

and caught the two of you all bowed up

going at it in the room

with Miss Olgetree,

and her dead as a doornail on a gurney.

That's ridiculous.

That is a total lie.

Let's go. Frank, we'll be back.

I'll bring you back something.

- Your food's in the oven, warming over.

- You fixed him something, didn't you?

Vaughan. I was just going on with you.

- Just joking around, buddy.

- I know that.

You're a real card, all right.

So, Karl, come over here and sit down.

Talk to me.

Come on, Karl, let's go to the garage.

God damn it, I wanna talk to him.

You sit down, Karl.

So what's in your bag?

This and that.

Toothpaste and whatnot.

What's all them books?

Different ones.

One of 'em's the Bible.

You believe in the Bible, do you, Karl?

Yes, sir, a good deal of it.

I can't understand all of it.

Yeah, well, I can't

understand none of it.

This one begat that one, and that one

begat this one, and begat, and begat.

Lo and behold, someone says

some sh*t to someone or another.

- Just how retarded are you?

- Stop it, Doyle.

Frankie, you be quiet.

We're talking. The adults are talking.

So was you in lockup for cutting

someone up with a hatchet or something?

I ain't never used no hatchet

that I remember.

So you're just crazy

in a retard kind of way, then?

It wouldn't matter to me

if you did do violence on somebody.

I ain't scared of sh*t.

You think I'm scared

for you to stay here?

You just a humped-over retard,

it seems to me.

I'm just kidding you.

Welcome to our humble home, buddy.

See, Frank here needs

all the friends he can get.

Frank's a weak little kid.

His daddy taught him how to be a p*ssy.

Stop, Doyle.

Don't talk about my daddy.

"Don't talk about my daddy."

Go on, get outta here.

Go on out to the garage, leave me be.

Go on.

Come on, Karl.

Frankie?

Don't say nothing about

our little spat to your momma, now.

I don't want her

worrying about your ass.

I'd like to kill that son of a b*tch.

I hate him.

You ought not talk thataway.

You're just a boy.

Well, I hate him.

He ought not talk thataway

to you neither.

He ain't no count,

if he's mean to you and your momma.

Your momma and that fella that's

carrying me to get something to eat

going to be back directly.

Will you be here with us

for a long time?

I reckon, if you want me to.

I got some of that potted meat and soda

crackers left over, if you want some.

I don't see how you can eat that stuff,

with them insides it's made out of.

Well, I reckon it tastes

pretty good to me.

I like the way you talk.

Well, I like the way you talk.

You think it's really

got peckers in there, cut up?

You know better than that.

You ought not say that word.

- Well, it smells kinda funny.

- It's a little loud.

Looky there. I believe you're right.

I believe I see one right in there.

Thank you, sir.

Mister, reckon you can hand me

some of that mustard over there?

Thank you.

OK, Karl, the reason

that I brought you here

is to talk to you

about something that's on my mind.

I'm just gonna

put it right out on the table.

Where do I start?

Linda and Frank

are very important to me.

They're like family.

My own family was never like a family.

They're horrible people.

As a matter of fact,

for years I prayed every night

that my father would die,

and finally I realized

through a lot of therapy

that I was wasting

my energy on hating him.

So, now I just don't care.

But, you see, you and I are a lot alike,

as strange as that may seem.

I don't mean physically,

or even mentally, really,

but, well, emotionally.

Actually, the hand

that we've been dealt in life.

We're different.

People see us

as being different, anyway.

You're... well, you've got

your affliction or whatever,

and I...

well, mine's not as easy to see.

I'm just going to say it.

I'm gay.

Does that surprise you?

That I'm gay?

You know what gay is, don't you?

I don't reckon.

Homosexual.

I like men.

Sexually.

Not funny ha-ha, funny queer.

Well, that's a very

offensive way to put it.

You shouldn't say that, Karl.

You were taught that, weren't you?

I've heard it said thataway, yes, sir.

Anyway, it's hard to live gay,

that's the right way to say it,

in a small town like this.

I've wanted to leave many times, but...

because I love Linda, Frank,

and a certain other person,

I...

They've kept me from leaving.

Look, anyway, I'm rambling. The...

If you're going to live

in the Wheatley garage,

you need to know

it's not going to be easy.

Doyle is a monster.

Not just a closed-minded redneck,

but a monster.

A dangerous person.

I've told Linda that one day that man

is going to hurt her and that boy.

Maybe even kill them.

I see it in his eyes. I'm very in tune,

I'm maybe even psychic.

But Doyle is going

to make your life hell.

There's one more thing.

It's none of my business

why you were in the state hospital.

Everybody has something in their past.

Maybe...

you tried suicide,

maybe you did something terrible.

But what I see before me

is a gentle, simple man.

All I want you to promise me...

is that you are capable of being

around Frank and Linda. You know.

You would never hurt either one of them

under any circumstances, would you?

I wouldn't never hurt them.

That's what I thought. OK. Look, I'm

sorry if I've offended you in any way.

You seem like a thinker, you know.

You seem to always be deep in thought.

Tell me something.

What are you thinking right now?

I was thinking

I might wanna take me

some of these potatoes home with me.

How about before that?

Let me think.

Before that I was thinking

I could use me another six or eight cans

of that potted meat,

if you got any extra.

Frankie, get some more salad.

Hold your plate up for me, Frankie.

I'm just gonna reach. So, how come

Karl won't eat in here with us?

I don't know.

He said he'd eat out there.

Here, put some of this dressing on it.

- No, no.

- Yes.

I just feel sorry for the poor thing.

Who could eat with him making

that racket in his throat?

- It's raunchy.

- He does make some funny noises.

Well, I like the way he talks.

It sounds like a racecar motor idling.

Makes me not be nervous.

Well, I'm glad of it, honey.

What have you got to be nervous about?

You're a damn kid.

You ain't got no bills to pay,

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