Sling Blade Page #8

I thought about it too much.

I don't know, Karl.

She just ain't catching fire.

I don't know, Karl.

She just ain't catching fire.

Did you check them points?

No. No, I didn't.

That's probably it.

- Yes, ma'am.

- Is Karl here?

Yeah. Just a minute.

Karl, there's somebody

out here to see you.

Some gal holding a nice bouquet.

Come on, now, she wants to talk to you.

Don't just sit there.

Hi, Karl, I'm on my lunch break.

These were on sale

'cause they're not fresh.

$2.99 a bunch

plus my ten percent employee discount.

Since I didn't bring nothing for you

on our date last night,

I thought you might like to have 'em.

Thank you.

Scooter, let's go over

to the Frostee Cream

- and pick up lunch.

- Well, I can go.

You don't have to.

You don't never go.

Goddamnit Scooter, come on. Let's go.

Pardon my language, ma'am.

Well, I just thought I'd bring you 'em.

I liked walking with you.

I got a blister

the size of a quarter on one heel.

Well...

I'll see you sometime, I guess.

Blister sure can hurt.

Yeah.

Flowers is purdy.

I've always thought that.

Me, too.

Hey, Karl, how did you know

I was in the garage?

I seen that door

cracked open a little bit

and I figured

you was in there fooling around.

- You off of work?

- Yes, sir.

Where'd you get them flowers?

That gal that made employee of the month

at the Dollar Store,

she gave 'em to me

for walking with her.

I was going over to the secret place.

I borrowed one of your books.

You ain't mad, are you?

No, sir. You can look

at any one of my books you want to.

Thank you.

It's name's A Christmas Carol.

That's that 'un on Christmas

I was telling you about.

Well, you wanna go with me?

All right, then.

Yeah. Come on.

All right.

You know why I want you

to play ball with me?

No.

'Cause it's fun.

It don't matter if you ain't no good.

It takes your mind

off everything else.

When you're running fast

trying to score a touchdown,

that's all you're thinking about.

I ain't no count, but daddy

always said he was proud of me

when I threw the ball or ran with it.

Did you have any brothers and sisters,

growing up, to play with?

I had one there for a little bit,

but...

it didn't get old enough

for me to play with it.

Why not? They die?

Yes, sir.

Why?

It got born a little too early.

My mother and father, they made it

come out too early some way or another.

So it died when it come out?

My daddy, he come out there

to the shed and got me

and said,

"Here, take this and throw it away,"

and he handed me a towel

with something or other in it.

I started for that barrel, and I opened

up the towel to see what was in there,

'cause there was a noise

and something moving around in it.

That towel was all bloody-like,

all around it there.

It was a little old baby,

not no bigger than a squirrel.

It was alive?

Yes, sir. Right then it was.

A boy or a girl?

It was a little old boy.

You threw it in the trash barrel?

Well, that didn't seem right to me,

I went in there in the shed

and got a shoe box

and emptied out the screwdrivers and

washers and nuts and things out of it.

I taken the little fella

and put him in the box,

buried him out there

in the corner of the yard.

That seemed more proper to me, I reckon.

It was still alive when you buried it?

I heard it a-cryin' a little

through that box.

That don't seem right. It seems like

you would have took care of him

if he was your brother.

I wasn't but six or eight.

I reckon I didn't know what to do.

I didn't know how to care for no baby.

My mother and father didn't want him.

They learned me to do

what they told me to do.

These days I figure

it was probably best

we just give him right back to

the Good Lord right off the bat anyhow.

That makes me feel real sad.

Couldn't you have

done something, Karl?

I would have.

I wish I'd had him.

He'd still be right here now.

Living.

It makes me sad, too.

I wish there was something

I could have did about it.

I don't think nothing bad

oughta happen to children.

I think all those bad things

ought to be saved up for folks

that done growed up.

That's the way I see it.

I shouldn't have told you about that.

A boy your age

ought not to hear such things.

It just kindly come out.

I didn't mean to say

nothing bad about you.

You're good.

You don't mean no harm.

Did you ever think about killing

yourself on purpose, like daddy did?

I've studied about it some.

The Bible says you ought not to.

Says if you do that,

you go off to Hades.

Some folks call it hell,

I call it Hades.

Bible says the same thing

about killing others, too.

Yes, sir, I reckon it does.

Well, hell, there's the boys.

How you doing, boys?

Glad y'all came back.

I was wanting to talk to y'all, too.

Come over here and sit down.

Come on, sit down.

I was just telling Linda...

We were thinking that

things would be a lot better

if I spent a lot more time over here,

and that we could...

Hell, I'll just start over.

See, I took off work early today,

and your momma was good enough

to do the same so that we could talk.

Really, what I come over here

to do was apologize,

which ain't easy for me,

about how I acted the other night.

Now, I admit it, I was drunk.

I got all worked up,

and one thing led to another.

I care about y'all, though.

I do, really.

And I don't mean to be so damned...

well, a**hole-ish,

I guess would be the word.

Karl, I don't believe I hit you, did I?

So no apology necessary, I guess.

But Frankie, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry I hit your momma.

It's just that I'm jealous of her.

I don't like her life

or how she lives it.

I don't like homosexuals, and she

goes out and buddies up with one,

so now I gotta deal with that.

I don't like little wimpy-ass kids

or mental retards,

and she got

one of each living with her.

I'm just kidding really about that.

I mean, we all gotta get along, I guess,

no matter what our differences are.

See, I work construction.

I build things.

Do you understand how important

that is to the world, Frankie?

I don't know if y'all realize

the pressure a man like me's got on him.

Well, the upshot is, I'm gonna

be spending a lot more time here.

We're gonna all get along

like a family should.

I might even surprise you, honey,

and pop the question.

Well,

I'm gonna get on back

over to the job site,

lock up some stuff over there.

I just wanted to stop by and give y'all

some little piece of happiness today.

Bye-bye, sweetie.

Karl.

Frankie,

you be a good boy, now, you hear me?

Well, at least he's trying.

But who knows for how long?

He's lying, Momma.

He'll never do better.

I know, honey.

Just remember what I said.

We'll bide our time.

You just steer clear of him

as much as you can.

Doyle's had a real hard life.

It's just about run him crazy, I think.

We've had hard lives, too, Momma.

You're a hell of a boy, Frank.

Someday you're gonna get

all the good things you deserve.

Karl here's gonna get some more biscuits

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