The Better Angels

1

Wanna know what kind

of boy he was?

Well, I myself, his cousin,

am the only one living

that knowed him that early.

Knowed him the day he was born.

Lived with him most of the time

until he was 21,

and left home for good.

His Pappy didn't drink,

swear,

play cards.

And them were drinking,

cussin', quarrelsome days.

...I was running out

of the woods,

and he's got that paint

all over his face.

He grabs me and he reaches down

and picks me up,

and he lines him up,

nice and steady-like,

'cause it ain't no squirrel.

Shot rings out.

And your Uncle Josiah...

A little slab of bacon

with a hoecake...

A little cornbread

and milk every day...

He said he never had

a prettier target.

...and he was satisfied.

You hoe?

Yes.

Do it right.

What did you read today?

About Noah.

He lived to be 950.

Will you stay with me?

I'm here.

She couldn't read or write none.

Had to make her mark, instead.

Cousin could.

Taught hisself.

She was a believer.

Now you can mark your place

in your book.

She knew so much

of what she believed

was yonder.

Always yonder.

Every day came scrubbing,

washing...

There was so little time to sing

or think about the glory.

Her mind and his

seemed to run together.

Look!

What happens is, the wind comes

and it blows real hard,

and then the seeds rain down

and they land on the earth.

And then they grow up.

We should move to a place

where he can be schooled.

I've prayed on this.

Boy has more to learn here

than any schoolhouse.

He asks questions

I can't answer.

He's got a gift.

Can't turn our backs

on what God has given us.

I know best.

I remember when you were born.

I wrapped you up in a bearskin

and we slept by the fire.

But when you cried...

it was your Papa who got up

and tended to you.

I watched him hold you,

and I knew that no one

would ever care for you more.

A while back, about a mile,

half a mile back that ways.

I don't know nothin' 'bout you.

Trevor says, "What in tarnation

are you doing yelling 'low' for

when a fella's passing?"

Your Uncle says,

"Well, what in tarnation

are you doing passin' 'em

when a fella's yelling 'low'?"

Oh, boy.

Swoop up.

I don't want to hit you.

Go!

Right over your Mama's head.

I was 18.

My folks was dead.

I like it.

I went with the Sparrow family.

Same folks that raised

cousin's Mama.

We let out for Indiana.

Yes, sir.

Kentucky was getting stuck up.

Where we heading?

No place for poor folk, anymore.

It's a frog.

Catch him!

That's my name.

Don't look a thing like you.

He was sharper than me.

He learned Henry Clay's speeches

by heart.

Get him by the arms.

Oh!

He took to writing on the floor.

The bench rail,

the wood and fire shovel.

All with a bit of charcoal.

Betcha can't get him like that.

It pestered his Pappy

a heap to have him

writing all over everything.

He was just wrapped up in it.

Lock your fingers.

Bring 'em around.

Like this, right here.

You ready?

You're getting it!

Might be bad water.

This will pass.

May not want to drink

from the well no more.

All my cows are gone.

All of 'em!

You, too!

Both of ya.

Go on.

It's the plague.

Nothing you can do.

In the last of days.

I prophesy.

Yeah, we'll all be buried

by the end of the week.

All gone!

Gone!

We should pray.

For what?

For ourselves.

Cows ate the poison wheat.

We got the milk sick.

One week...

They were gone.

Will you get it, too?

No.

Don't worry.

Shhh.

Mom...

Shhh!

It's been such a lonely time.

Please, Mom.

Be a good boy.

Take her, Lord,

for she was yours

from the beginning.

Forgive her for her sins,

though she committed none.

Uncle wasn't worth shucks

that winter.

He put the corn in

in the spring.

Left us to tend to it.

He let out for Kentucky.

We can't go on like this.

We knowed what he went for.

Look after yourselves

and don't let the crops

go to waste.

We didn't think

he'd have any luck

bein' as poor as he was.

I can't cook like Mama.

Tastes real good.

Me and him got her a baby coon

and a turtle.

We tried to get a fawn,

but we couldn't catch any.

It makes me think of her.

He wrote a letter to

our Reverend from Kentucky.

There's a world above us

where sorrow is...

Told him that his Mama

went without a proper burial.

A long eternity of love.

Not a sparrow

falls to the ground

without His direction,

much less a person.

For we are of more value

than a sparrow...

...and know

that He is God.

Let us hear...

Be strong.

Can't fall into despair.

Get over and say,

"How do you do?"

Pleased to meet you.

This is Tilda.

Johnny.

Grab a load.

Take it on in.

Come on.

Bless this food, Lord,

and the hands that made it.

We've endured many hard time,

Heavenly Father.

Send good to us now.

Let us live happily.

- Good to see you come up.

- Thank you.

Thanks for all of your help.

She was a widow.

She had been fendin' for herself

for a while now.

I lost my hat!

I snuck out of the house

when she was outside

waterin' the horses.

She went back in the house,

I went in there

and I snuck out on the porch,

and locked the door.

And I scared her

and she got scared.

Do you pray?

At night?

You pray for her every night.

Not too tight.

His sister was always

a say nothing little gal...

A couple times.

...with eyes

like an owl.

She chirped right up

with a new mother.

And a sister for company.

That was my dress, Mama.

Ten steps.

Nine, ten.

I was glad she had

some good times.

Singular number.

Expresses.

Three.

Plural, "We may."

She married pretty young.

Be loved.

Died with her first baby.

I reckon it was like her Mama.

She didn't have no cure.

She asked if

we'd seen her trinket.

Empty your pockets.

It's nothin'.

Didn't mean nothin' by it.

I said empty your pockets.

Come here.

Please, Tom.

I don't want this.

Go wash up.

Go on.

Run off.

No one keeping you here.

If I see you...

...keep your distance.

Burn like hell at suppertime.

Your Mama saw something in you.

She thought you was blessed,

that you was smart.

You see,

I've always known it to be

if a man is smarter,

you don't got to act like it.

He don't have to show

no one he's better than 'em,

he just is.

You're like this corn.

You're all closed up.

You won't break free,

you won't come out.

Seed can't stay in the ground

forever, son.

No, it has to grow and give.

Don't you like

having a Mama here?

Sometimes I forget

what Mama looks like.

That ever happen to you?

Can you do it?

Your eyes closed?

I'll never take

your mother's place.

But I'll love you as she did.

If you choose to love me less...

I'll still love you the same.

He doesn't say much.

He thinks he's better than us.

That's not true.

He talks to himself.

I've seen it.

He's strange.

He's your brother.

Drop it!

Come on.

Come on.

He won't let go

of the stick, guys.

Come on!

Found a dead coon.

Couldn't get it off.

The dog made a beeline

for the woods.

Wild dog scentin' coon.

Tracked the little animal home.

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