Sommersby

[GRUNTING]

This is it. Bye for now.

BOY:

Bye.

Howdy.

Good piece of land.

It was.

- Still is.

TRAVIS:
Hey, buck!

Yeah, yeah.

Travis is calling you.

Do I know you?

Well, ought to.

How did you lose that arm there, boy?

Woke up in Chickamauga

one morning without it.

Somebody deal you

a losing hand there...

Buckaboo?

Jack?

Now tell me,

you found yourself a one-titty woman...

or you just take that one hand there

and whup it back and forth?

Jack!

[BOTH LAUGHING]

TRAVIS:

It's Sommersby!

Oh, my Lord.

Get on down here!

[ALL SHOUTING INDISTINCTLY]

TRAVIS:

The hero has returned!

MAN:

Good to see you, Jack.

[ALL CONTINUE CHATTERING]

Good to see you back!

MAN:
Jack!

- What are you doing here?

- It's me, Brian. Brian Brown.

- Brian, yeah, Brian.

MAN:
You remember Brian.

- You got whiskers now, boy!

CLEMMONS:

Ever think you'd see him again? Ha-ha-ha.

[SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY]

LAUREL:

Whoa there, boy. What's after you, huh?

- Your husband.

- Who? What did you say?

- He's coming, ma'am.

- Who?

Mr. Sommersby.

LAUREL:

Get in the house!

Come on! Come on!

[ALL LAUGHING]

JACK:

Look at you!

You old man, now look!

By God, there's another good man

the damn Yankees didn't get!

Come on over here

and say hello to Will.

Will.

Look here who I got here.

Jack Sommersby.

"They, uh"

They sent him back to me

like that from Vicksburg.

- Will's a hero. Ain't that right?

- Hello, reverend.

Well, well, well.

Welcome home, Jack.

We thank the Lord for bringing you back.

Thank you, sir.

Is Laurel all right?

Well, she's gonna be surprised now,

ain't she?

- Six years is a long time without any word.

- Well.

ESTHER:

Come on, where is he now?

Look at you!

You look like a sack of bones.

[ALL CHUCKLE]

Well, kind of hard to get Esther dumplings

where I've been.

Oh, Lord, Mr. Jack.

You're home, you're home, you're home.

Everybody here is missing somebody.

Both Ezzel boys

and their daddy got killed...

and everybody that

ain't dead is leaving.

This town finished, Mr. Jack.

Ain't nothing left here

but hard ground and nobody to work it.

[PEOPLE CHATTERING]

MAN:

Y'all hush up, now.

Go say hello to your daddy, son.

Go on now.

Hello, Robert.

I'd forgotten how beautiful you were.

[ALL CHEERING]

[DOG BARKING]

JACK:

Jethro!

Hey, boy)'-

[BARKING]

Hey. Hey-

Come on, boy. Come on.

BUCK:

Hey, Jack!

I hear old Tom Clemmons' pig

will be swallowing a stick tonight!

[PEOPLE LAUGHING AND CHATTERING]

JACK:
I was down there

in the weeds, kind of waiting...

for the damn smoke

to get blowed away.

And the next thing I know...

Thank you, darling.

Next thing I know,

there's this, uh, big old rifle butt...

floating down out of the sky there,

just kind of taking its time...

like I had all day

to get away from it.

Hmm.

When I come to, I was on my way

to prison in Elmira.

BUCK:
I heard that was the worst one.

- Yeah, well.

I couldn't even remember

my own name at that point.

MAN:

Hmm.

What'd you do

to your hand there, Jack?

Oh, a guard stomped on it.

Don't hold things too good now.

- You can still hold a straight flush, can't you?

ALL:
Ha, ha.

DICK:
And the other things that are important.

- Ha-ha-ha.

What'd you do in prison?

Starve, froze, like everybody else.

[BAND PLAYING COUNTRY MUSIC]

Evening, folks.

Better take some of this while you can.

I guess you don't remember me, sir.

Joseph.

Joseph!

Yes! Yes, I do remember. Yeah.

My daddy paid $100 for you.

Yes, sir.

Why don't you come on in now?

BUCK:

Jack! Hey, Jack!

Yeah, all right.

No, thank you, sir.

We just come by here

to say welcome home.

JACK:

Thank you.

BUCK:

Hey, Jack!

Quit wasting time! Get yourself over here.

We got a present for you.

JACK:
What do you got?

BUCK:
Panther piss.

- I ain't seen you pass water all night.

JACK:
Can't do it.

One sip, I'm staggering like a new calf.

CLEMMONS:

You're still a rebel, ain't you?

Best not get too friendly

with the n*ggers.

We had to chase a bunch off.

That one has been living on your land.

Next thing you know,

they'll be moving up to the big house.

What?

What's the matter with you, Jack?

Nothing, I don't...

You ain't acting yourself, Jack.

What'd them goddamn Yankees

do to you, boy?

Hit me on my head.

Yeah, well...

It's all right.

- I love you.

- I love you too.

Sit down.

I'm gonna dance with my wife.

Travis, take him.

TRAVIS:

Let him be.

[BAND CONTINUES PLAYING

COUNTRY MUSIC]

[BOTH LAUGHING]

LAUREL:
Orin.

ORIN:
Miss Laurel.

Orin.

Good to see you.

Welcome back!

Thank you. Thank you.

Grab a gal here and shake a leg.

I tend to hop a little bit better

than I shake now.

Dick made me a good foot.

Got everything but toes that wiggle.

DICK:

Ain't got no toes...

ain't gotta worry about stomping them.

Well, uh, be careful you don't

catch a chill, Miss Laurel.

Y'all have a good time.

Shall we?

[MEN SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY]

JACK:

Good night now, Buckaboo.

You know where that

handkerchief is I brought home?

It was filthy. I told her to burn it.

Damn.

Hate to lose that thing.

Carried that nearly six years.

Why?

The last thing you gave me before I left.

What happened here?

Oh, Yankees.

They got the silver, the carpets...

and mostly anything else

that they could carry.

I did save Granny's brooch, though...

by, uh...

By sitting on it, in a manner of speaking.

That's where you were sleeping

before you left.

- Yes. Well.

- Good night.

Good night.

[DOOR CLOSES]

I swore, if I ever made it home...

I'd shave this damn thing off.

Would you do it for me?

Mm.

Are you sure? Hmm?

- Am I home?

- Heh.

All right.

That's the first thing

I remember about you.

Coming back that time

from wherever you'd been...

looking all brown and bearded.

Looking more like some kind

of a wild animal than a man.

Is that what you wanted?

Something wild?

Maybe.

Maybe just something a little...

dangerous.

A little different.

A little rich?

[CHUCKLES]

Make $900 and lose 1000,

you are not rich.

It was never the money.

Couldn't have been love, could it?

It could have been.

If you'd have been the least...

little bit...

kinder.

What do you think?

I'm thinking...

who is this man

sitting in my kitchen?

[CHUCKLES]

Well, good night.

Good night.

I guess we have to get used

to each other again, don't we?

I guess so.

Yeah, well...

Good night.

Good night.

[DOOR CLOSES]

[WHINNIES]

[LITTLE ROB SHOUTING INDISTINCTLY

IN DISTANCE]

- You're getting ahead of me again.

- Heh.

Not quite.

- So where is he?

- He wanted to see the farm.

Hope he doesn't see too much.

Liable to keep on riding.

- He wouldn't do that.

- No.

But I have heard stories of men

who come home after being away...

and finding their wives

married again...

and realizing it wasn't nobody's fault.

And that, uh...

-...she'd just fallen in love with...

- Orin, please. I'm sorry.

I know you're hurting, and I wish

to God that I was not the cause of it.

But we weren't married yet.

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