The Grapes of Wrath Page #16

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MAE:

This here's a fifteen-cent loaf.

PA:

Would you--could you see your way to

cuttin' off ten cents worth?

BERT:

(a clinched teeth

order)

Give 'im the loaf!

PA:

No, sir, we wanta buy ten cents worth,

thas all.

MAE:

(sighing)

You can have this for ten cents.

PA:

I don't wanta rob you, ma'am.

MAE:

(with resignation)

Go ahead--Bert says take it.

Taking out his pouch, Pa digs into it, feels around with his

fingers for a dime, as he apologizes.

PA:

May soun' funny to be so tight, but

we got a thousan' miles to go, an'

we don't know if we'll make it.

But when he puts the dime down on the counter he has a penny

with it. He is about to drop this back in the pouch when his

eyes fall on the children staring at the candy. Slowly he

moves down to see what they are looking at. Then:

PA:

Is them penny candy, ma'am?

The children look up with a gasp, their big eyes on Mae as

she moves down behind the counter.

MAE:

Which ones?

PA:

There, them stripy ones.

Mae looks from the candy to the children. They have stopped

breathing, their eyes on the candy.

MAE:

Oh, them? Well, no--them's *two* for

a penny.

PA:

Well, give me two then, ma'am.

He places the penny carefully on the counter and Mae holds

the sticks of candy out to the children. They look up at Pa.

PA:

(beaming)

Sure, take 'em, take 'em!

Rigid with embarrassment, they accept the candy, looking

neither at it nor at each other. Pa picks up the loaf of

bread and they scramble for the door. At the door Pa turns

back.

PA:

Thank you, ma'am.

The door slams. Bill turns back from staring after them.

BILL:

Them wasn't two-for-a-cent candy.

MAE:

(belligerently)

What's it to you?

BILL:

Them was nickel apiece candy.

FRED:

We got to get goin'. We're droppin'

time.

Both reach in their pockets, but when Fred sees what Bill

has put down he reaches again and duplicates it. As they go

out of the door...

BILL:

So long.

MAE:

Hey, wait a minute. You got change

comin'.

BILL'S VOICE

(from outside)

What's it to you?

As Mae watches them through the window, her eyes warm, Bert

walks around the counter to the three slot machines, a paper

with figures on it in his hand. The truck roars outside and

moves off. Mae looks down again at the coins.

MAE:

(softly)

Bert.

BERT:

(playing a machine)

What ya want?

MAE:

Look here.

As he looks we see the COINS ON THE COUNTER. They are two

half-dollars.

MAE:

(reverently)

Truck drivers.

There is a rattle of coins as Bert hits the jackpot. In his

left hand on the machine is a paper with three columns of

figures on it. The third column is much the longest. He scoops

out the money.

BERT:

I figgered No. 3 was about ready to

pay off.

The scene fades out.

The ARIZONA BORDER, in daylight, fades in. It is in a gap in

the mountains and beyond can be seen the Painted Desert. A

border guard halts the Joad truck. He is not as tough as his

words indicate, just curt and matter-of-fact.

GUARD:

Where you going?

TOM:

(who is driving)

California.

GUARD:

How long you plan to be in Arizona?

TOM:

No longer'n we can get acrost her.

GUARD:

Got any plants?

TOM:

No plants.

GUARD:

(putting sticker on

windshield)

Okay. Go ahead, but you better keep

movin'.

TOM:

Sure. We aim to.

The truck rattles into movement.

The scene dissolves to a MONTAGE superimposed on the shield

marker of U.S. Highway 66 and the Joad truck. Signs flash

by:
FLAGSTAFF, WATER 5¢ A GAL, WATER 10¢ A GAL, WATER 15¢ A

GAL, and finally, NEEDLES, CALIF.

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