The Fugitive Kind Page #3

And then you stop dancing

and you just drink and you drive.

And then...

you stop driving...

and you just drink.

And finally, you stop drinking!

Well, what you do then?

Well, that depends on

who you're juking with.

What's the matter, can't you see he's drunk?

- He can take care of himself.

- He can't take care of anything. Come on.

This country used to be wild,

but now it's just drunk.

Why do you make

such a crazy show of yourself?

'Cause I'm an exhibitionist.

I want people to know I'm alive.

Don't you want people to know you're alive?

I just want to live. I don't care

whether they know I'm alive or not.

Well, I want to be noticed,

and seen, and heard, and felt.

I used to be what they call...

a church-bitten reformer.

You know what that means?

Well, that's a kind of benign exhibitionist.

I used to make stump speeches.

And I wrote letters of protest against...

the gradual massacre

of the colored majority in the county.

And you know, when that

Willie McCoy thing came along...

Poor man got sent to the chair, you know...

for having improper relations

with a white slut.

I made a fuss about that.

I put on a potato sack...

and I set out on foot for the capitol.

And you know how far I got?

Six miles out of town.

I was hooted and jeered at

and even spit on every step of the way.

Then I got arrested.

And you know what for?

Lewd vagrancy.

Oh, me! That was a long time ago.

And I'm not a reformer anymore.

I'm just a lewd vagrant.

And I'm gonna show them.

And show them all

just how lewd, a lewd vagrant can be...

when she puts her whole heart into it,

the way I do mine.

Hey, turn off here.

You live around here?

Nobody lives around here.

This is the local bone orchard.

You hear the dead people talking?

Dead people don't talk.

Sure they do.

They chatter away like birds

here on Wisteria Hill.

But all they can say is one word...

and that word is "live. "

Live. Live. Live. Live. Live.

That's all they know.

That's the only advice they can give.

It's simple.

It's a very simple instruction.

Please. Let me.

Who are you trying to fool,

besides yourself?

What is this?

A human wrist with a bone?

Feels like a twig.

I could snap it with two fingers.

Little girl, a man holding himself

against you...

would break you like a bundle of sticks.

Let's go.

What are we doing here?

I'm gonna see about that job.

You won't drive on with me to New Orleans?

That's where I come from.

It's not where I'm going.

Hello?

Hello. Get me the drugstore, will you?

I know the drugstore's closed.

This is Mrs. Torrance.

My store's closed, too...

but I got a sick man here

just back from the hospital.

Please, wake up Mr. Dubinsky, huh?

Keep ringing till he answers.

Keep ringing till he answers, yes.

I wish I was dead.

Dead.

No, you don't, ma'am.

Who are you? What are you doing here?

- Didn't Mrs. Talbot talk to you about me?

- What?

Mrs. Talbot brought me here

when you got back from Memphis.

- You've been here all this time?

- No. I went out and came back.

- What for?

- Well, you know that girl that was here?

Carol Cutrere. I know her.

Well, she...

She told me that she had something wrong

with her car and could I fix it.

Did you fix it?

- Well, that wasn't her trouble.

- No? What was her trouble?

- She made a mistake about me.

- What kind of mistake?

Well, she thought I had a sign hung on me:

"Male at stud. "

She...

Hello?

Mr. Dubinsky. Yes, this is Mrs. Torrance.

I'm sorry to wake you up,

but I just brought my husband back...

from the Memphis hospital.

I left my box of Luminal tablets in...

Well, I got to have some.

I haven't slept for three nights.

But... Then bring them yourself!

Yes, because I'm going to pieces

right this minute!

Okay. Thank you.

I'm shivering.

It's cold as an ice plant at night

in this store.

What do you want? I got to go up now.

Here, ma'am.

Why don't you just put this on you, ma'am.

How's that?

What is that? Snakeskin?

That's what it is. Snakeskin.

What are you doing with a snakeskin jacket?

It used to be a trademark. I was a...

I used to be an entertainer in New Orleans.

It feels warm, all right.

Probably warmth from my body.

You must be a warm-blooded boy.

- What are you looking for around here?

- Well, some work.

Mrs. Talbot said that

you might have some work for me.

Boys like you don't work.

What do you mean, "boys like me"?

Ones that play the guitar...

and go around talking

about how warm they are.

That happened to be the truth.

You know, my temperature's always

a couple of degrees above normal.

The same as a dog's.

- You don't believe me?

- I have no reason to doubt you. Believe me.

Well, I couldn't hire no stranger...

with a snakeskin jacket and a guitar.

And a temperature as high as a dog's.

- Keep it on, ma'am.

- No, thank you. I got to go up now.

- You better go.

- I got no place to go.

Well, everyone's got a problem.

That's yours.

Ma'am, I do all kinds of electrical repairs.

I do odd jobs and I need the work real bad.

What's the matter with your guitar?

- Are you tired of it?

- No, ma'am.

That's my life's companion...

but I had to hock it once

and I don't want to do that anymore.

I need a steady job.

What's all that writing on it?

Well, that's...

All that's...

All that's autographs

of famous jazz musicians.

See this name here?

Leadbelly.

That was the greatest man that ever lived

on 12-string guitar.

He played that thing so good,

he broke the stone heart...

of a Texas governor

and won himself a pardon out of jail.

His name's written in the stars.

This one here.

Jefferson. Blind Lemon Jefferson.

Is his name written in the stars, too?

Yeah.

His name's written in the stars.

You're a peculiar somebody, all right.

You got any character reference?

Yes, ma'am, I do.

I got this letter here.

- Let's see.

- Right here.

"This boy worked for me three months

in my auto repair shop.

"And he's a real hard worker

and he's honest.

"But...

"he's a peculiar talker...

"and that is the reason I got to let him go.

"But would like to...

"Would like to keep him. Yours truly. "

- Is that what it says?

- Yeah. Some reference.

I guess it ain't.

However, what people say about you

don't mean much.

That's the sandman

with my sleeping tablets.

I'm so sorry.

Waking up people

in the middle of the night...

- No. I'm very sorry to wake you up.

- I'd like to get some sleep, too.

Yes, I know. You're right.

That's a little difficult.

You know, I told you that I haven't slept

for three nights.

What a miserable man.

- You ever have trouble sleeping?

- No.

I can sleep or not sleep

for as long or as short as I want to.

I can sleep on a concrete floor.

Go without sleeping for 48 hours

without even feeling sleepy.

I can hold my breath for three minutes,

not even blacking out.

I made a bet once for $10

that I could do it and I did it.

I see.

I see what that auto repairman

was talking about when he said:

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