The Harrow

1

- Time don't march, or walk,

or even move in a straight line.

It skips around like a pinball.

Last year, ten years ago,

yesterday, it's all now.

- Listen, that all

was ten years ago.

I don't know what

I can tell you now.

- Just anything at

all would be real helpful.

- Well that sort of thing

never happened around here.

Uriah and the

misses, them bodies,

hell, it was a god damn mess.

I didn't know the,

the wife too well.

I knew Uriah though, he was

a decent man far as I knew.

- What did he do it

for if he was so decent?

I heard he had a sister?

- Next county over, still

there as far as I know.

- What about the farmhands?

- Migrants

mostly, they move on after

the harvest is done, except

for one, and he lives downtown.

- How do I find him?

- Well, I

could get you an address,

but I think you might

be wasting your time.

The man's become

some kind of recluse,

from what I hear,

completely shut himself up.

People bring him things to fix.

- Things to fix?

Hello, misses Taylor.

Uh, my name is Ruth young.

I'd really like to talk to you

about your brother,

um, if you don't mind.

I'm sorry, it's a little hard

to explain over the phone.

Can you call me, please?

I'm lookin' for Miller Lee.

Am I at the right address?

- What do you want?

- Well I was wonderin'

if I could talk to you.

- Well, ain't you?

- Well, it's a little involved.

Um, there somewhere

we could sit down?

I, I tried callin', you

got no phone apparently.

I, I think you

mighta know someone.

Her name was Gale.

You work on the Taylor

farm some years back?

I talked to the

sheriff this mornin'.

- Then you heard all

there is to know.

- All right, but I thought

since you work there, and all...

- It was um, some time ago.

- Yes, sir.

See, I just wanted to...

Wanted to know

what she was like.

- No, I can't help you.

- Well, I coul..., I could leave

you my number in case...

All right. All right.

- Quiet.

- Mister Taylor?

- What do you want?

- I heard you're

hirin' for the season.

You know, a month or two is fine

for me if you got somethin'.

- You ever worked

tobacco before?

- No sir, but I got no

problem with hard work.

Besides that, I can fix most any

mechanical thing

you got around here.

- That so?

Think you can get

that thing runnin'?

- I can take a look at it.

- Why don't you, and

come on back here,

tell me what's wrong with it.

- Yes, sir.

- Hey, put it in your pocket.

Take the damn thing off,

and put it in your pocket.

I told you guys, nothing that

can catch in the machine.

Go home.

- Needs a new starter.

- Mm-hm.

You'll need 'em for

the oil on the leaves.

You can return 'em

when you get your own.

Be here at five

tomorrow mornin',

fix the tractor, put

you out in the fields.

Pay's at the end of the week.

At least I'll get a

few days outta you

before you run off

and drink it all.

- I ain't like that.

- Huh?

- I said I ain't like that, sir.

- You drop that sir

bullshit, you know my name.

- Mine's, Miller.

- I guess you know

what I'm here for.

Owner' got himself pretty

worked up at this point.

Says I bring it to him today,

or he'll come get it himself.

Well hell, let me

see it at least,

I got to tell him somethin'.

Mm-hm.

Well, it's comin' along.

Fine work, like always.

Well, god damn it, how

long do I tell him?

- A week. I think week.

- You're killin' me here.

You do the work, you

keep on livin' here.

You don't, you can

get the hell out.

I ain't runnin' a charity.

- I paid 100 for materials.

Can you cover me?

- Christ all mighty, I

come for the furniture,

I leave empty handed

and $100 lighter?

Huh, ain't that just wonderful?

You keep the place this neat,

gotta have a girl

around somewhere.

- I just like things

a certain way, is all.

- Huh, well, Becky

says you bein' all by yourself

is the worst thing that

can happen for a man.

- I'm all right.

- Says in prison they put a man

in solitary just to torture him.

I mean, go figure that.

A man would rather

spend his days

with killers and psychopaths

than be by himself.

I guess that explains

marriage too, don't it?

- You got that cash on ya?

- All right, yeah.

100, I shouldn't

be givin' you this.

Well, you're in luck.

There it is, $100, don't say

I never did nothin' for ya.

This thing, there's

no reason that...

You've got to pull through

for me, you understand?

I'm a man of my word, I've

given this guy my word.

He's given us a lot of

business, you know he has.

I've already gone back

to him to him twice.

I'm goin' back one

more time and see

if I can buy you two or

three days, but that's it.

After that, you have got to...

- Dance with me.

Don't you know how to dance?

- I was in the neighborhood.

- There ain't but one

neighborhood in this town.

- Right.

Sir, I'm just asking you...

- Look I told you...

- because I seen

it, on your face.

When I said her

name you knew her.

I know what that

man did to here.

I just, I wanna know why.

You worked on that farm,

you gotta have some idea.

- What's it matter to you?

- I'm her daughter.

It's an interesting place.

What was it, a factory?

- Abattoir.

Uh, a slaughter house...

- I know what an abattoir is.

- No, don't touch it.

- Is it valuable?

How'd you come by it?

- A rich family bought a

plantation outside of town.

I'm restoring every piece of it.

- I heard you

don't get out much.

How come you don't

talk to no one?

- What for?

- It's just one.

Ain't he lonely?

- No, he's all right.

They say fish got

no memory, anyhow.

- Now how'd anyone

know if that's true?

What you starin' for?

- I seen that smile before.

- My grandma died a month back.

She raised me like

I was her daughter.

I thought I was 'til now.

I found these letters.

It's my real mama

tryin' to explain

to me why she ran

off after I was born.

I ain't lookin' to

stir nothing' up.

I just wanna know, is all.

- Where you come from?

- Out near Asheville.

Gale never said

nothin' about us?

She sent this in

one of her letters.

She's real beautiful.

Can you just tell me

somethin' about her?

Just any old thing?

- We harvest from the bottom up.

We passed through this

field twice, all ready.

Every pass we pick

from the lowest level.

- It's been empty

since I bought it.

Thought I'd convert

it into apartments,

but the historical

commission got word.

Told me I wasn't

changin' a damn thing.

Place sits abandoned

for 40 years,

and suddenly it's a land mark.

- The water work?

- Yup, just

gotta turn it on for ya?

How long ya thinkin'?

- Well, a few months, I guess.

Where's that go?

- Downstairs.

Back in the day, they

brought the cows down there,

kept them all in the

big room just below us,

killed them in another

room on the other side.

Look, like I said,

I can't do nothin'

to spruce the place up.

So you want it, or don't ya?

- Uriah, hey, how you been?

- I'm doin' fine.

- Mighty nice to see you.

Oh yeah, I haven't seen

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