That Evening Sun Page #4

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some sleep.

Let's get

you inside.

You okay, baby?

God damn.

No returns or exchanges.

Company policy.

I wouldn't even

consider it.

Best damn dog

I ever knew.

Your boy called

last evening.

Said you were

supposed to

go back

to the nursing home,

but you never went.

Yeah?

I'd have come

and told you

last night,

but, uh, you

got my car,

of course,

and I'm too lazy

to walk all that way.

How come you

not to go?

It's my farm, Thurl.

Can't just let it go

like it don't mean

nothing to me.

Said he was going

to come down here

and fetch you back.

That a fact?

He say when?

Well, maybe today.

More likely tomorrow.

He don't know. He's

busy with that trial

down there.

Busy, huh?

Kid's got a

right to make

a living, Abner.

You ought to

be glad for him.

He got out

of this town,

making something

of himself.

I am glad for him, Thurl,

but there's a difference

between leaving home

and forgetting

the place altogether.

You want some coffee?

No, thanks...

but I... I would like

to use your

phone again.

I gotta call Ma Bell

and get one of her boys

out here to fix my phone.

Go and help yourself.

It's in the same place.

Thought I heard

shots last night.

This is

Tennessee, Thurl.

Gunshots are a

daily occurrence.

Not a nightly one.

Aw, hell.

Choat was beating on

those two girls of his

like they

was racehorses.

Using a garden hose,

for Pete's sake,

with a metal tip!

He must've been drunk.

Seems to me

he's always drunk.

Don't know how

he ever kept

a job.

Choat ain't

got no job.

He ain't held a job

in, oh, damn near

a decade.

I- I don't follow.

Well, he pays his rent

with disability checks,

that and the big cash

settlement he got,

which he probably

already squandered.

I thought

you knew that.

First I ever

heard of it.

Don't you remember

when that Tate boy

dropped a

load of lumber

almost on his head?

They was hauling

for Doug Watson

at the time.

No.

Well, Choat wandered

into that Tate boy's

blind spot.

Boy pulled the lever,

and 800 pounds of timber

rolled up Choat's leg,

broke 'em both

clean through.

Still getting paid

for that ten years

after the fact?

Well, maybe he's decided

to fend for himself now.

That's why he wants

to buy your farm

and get it

running again.

I'd rather that place

go to pot than see

Lonzo Choat

at the helm.

Well, who else you got

in mind to run that

place, Abner?

I gotta run.

Where are you off to?

Going to get

Choat locked up.

Hey, Dad.

Mr. Chessor told me

I might find you here.

You, uh, you talking

to the Sheriff?

That what you got

on that piece

of paper?

Taking care of

some business.

Can I buy

you lunch?

I was out there eight years

after your mama died, Paul.

Eight years.

Sunup to sundown.

Winter, spring,

summer, and fall.

I worked the

land by myself.

I was

plenty capable.

Yes, sir, you were.

And you

go and make

a big deal

out of one

little episode.

Well, it wasn't

the first episode,

and you

could've died

that night, Dad...

and nobody

would've known.

You come out here

to straighten out

this mess, I hope.

I n a way, yes.

I came out here

to pick you up

and to drive you

back to Linden.

Then you wasted gas

and a good deal of

your very valuable time.

Dad...

Hell's gonna be

ass-deep in snow

before you guile me

into that place again.

You fooled me, Paul.

Dad, we talked

about this...

I get mad every time

I think about it.

Dad, we talked

about this.

And it's the

best solution.

For who?

Look, it's

just until I get

this straightened out.

Now, I've signed a

lease. It has to

run its course.

But the 90 days

are almost up.

Now, let me

talk to Lonzo

and see if I can

get out of the sale,

and then you can

move back in.

And if we... if

we need to get

a nurse for

you, well, then,

we'll get one.

I would think

not being able to lie

convincingly to a jury

would be a considerable

handicap in your trade.

You think

I don't know you?

You think I can't see

through your skin

to every lie

you ever told?

I know how

these deals

work, Paul.

Your mother

loved that farm.

She loved you.

And I loved

her too, Dad.

And I always will.

You want to throw

all that away

for a little bit

of money?

I never taught you

to be greedy.

You learned that

somewhere else.

This is not

about greed.

There's nothing out

there for you

anymore, Dad.

Things change.

Life goes on,

and you gotta

go on with it.

There ain't

any more to

it than that.

Life goes on, huh?

For those who let it.

I'm an

80-year-old man

with a bum hip

and a weak heart.

How much life you

think I got left

to go on with?

I'm no fool, Paul.

The road ahead,

it ain't long

and it ain't winding.

It's short and straight

as a goddamn poisoned arrow.

But it's all I got,

and I deserve to do

with it as I please.

And what makes me

so angry is that

I cut and scraped

and did without...

so that you could go

to an expensive school

and learn a trade

which you now seem

intent on using

to do me out of

what has taken me

a lifetime

to accumulate!

This must be

God's finest joke.

So you're angry at

me for getting

an education.

I'm angry at you

for not caring

about the

only thing left

that matters to me.

And I don't

need a nurse.

Yeah, well, you

need something,

and it's not

gonna be cheap,

and I'm the one who

has to pay for it.

Then it is

about money.

It's about

you, Dad.

It's about me

trying to help you.

I don't need

your help.

You know,

goddamn it, why

can't you just be easy?

For once?

You know, I didn't

want this to

get ugly.

Ugly? What are you

gonna do, Paul?

Drag me off by my ear

the way I done you

as a boy?

I told you

I'd buy lunch.

I don't want

your bribes.

Jesus Christ.

Ah, now there's

someone, I bet...

who could solve

all this nonsense,

and quick.

Now, you straighten

out this Choat mess

and you do it today.

Otherwise, I don't

want to see you.

What the sh*t?

Hmm.

Oh, she's long,

She's tall

She's six feet

From the ground

Ooh!

She's long, she's tall

She's six feet

From the ground

Yodel-lay-hee

Yodel-lo-hoo

Eyes like diamonds

But these shine

Just the same

Ooh-doodley-hee

Yodel-lay-hee-oh

What's going on?

She's telling me

For what?

She ain't

No hand-me-down

He shot at me.

Ooh

Bullshit.

This is bullshit.

She's tailor-made

She ain't

No hand-me-down

Oh, she got eyes

Like diamonds

And these shine

Just the same

This ain't right.

She got eyes

Like diamonds

But these shine

Just the same

Yodel-lay-hee

Yodel-lay...

Yodel-lay-hee

Yodel-lay-hee

Yodel-lay-hee

And, oh, hair

Like a horse's mane

Oh, I hate to see

That evening sun go down

Yes, I hate to see

That evening sun go down

'Cause it makes me feel

I'm on my last go-round

Yodel-lay-hee

Yodel-lo-hoo

Makes me feel

I'm on my last go-round

Yes, it makes me feel

He's trying,

you know.

Trying to kill

you, maybe.

Stop acting like

you know anything

about us.

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