The Miracle of Morgan's Creek Page #9

and then they can draw lots

for him tomorrow.

Meantime, we'll sit the whole thing down.

It's perfectly ridiculous.

They've got 19 charges against that boy.

But he didn't do

any of those things, Mr. Johnson.

He didn't do any of that?

He did all that in the eyes of the law.

- Will you do that for me, Ed?

- All right.

And what you two ought to have

is good shellacking. Daughters. Phooey.

You're under arrest! Follow me.

- You can't do that!

- Quiet!

One more crack out of you guys

and I'll lock you all up!

- Come on, ox brains!

- Norval!

- Don't worry, Trudy.

- I'll be...

- I'll knit you something.

- You'll have lots of time.

Who asked you something? Put away

that gun before you shoot somebody!

Come on. You get back in the kitchen.

I ain't finished with you.

Shame on you, Norval Jones!

Shame on you! That'll teach you

to besmirch the name of our fair city.

- I'll take one of those.

- Me, too.

Go on home, folks. There you are.

Go on before I pinch some...

Yeah?

I wouldn't want this to go no further, see?

But you and your daughter

are in enough trouble...

without having to annul this marriage

and go through all that rigmarole.

- You get me?

- No. Go on home now!

I could've called the cops in

before the ceremony instead of after.

If I don't write it on the books,

it ain't a marriage, is it?

That's certainly

mighty white of you, brother.

That's all right. I may call on you someday.

Here's your $2. There was no marriage.

She was saved in the nick of time.

That's mighty white of you brother,

mighty white!

And here's the last evidence, the certificate.

Now you see it, now you don't.

- Not a trace.

- Thank you, brother!

Forget it. I might call on you someday.

- I wonder who else you could marry.

- Emmy! How can you be so heartless?

I'll love Norval to my dying day.

How could I even look at another man?

I think he's the most wonderful man

that ever lived.

Yes, but he's going to be in jail,

Trudy, for a long time.

He can't do you any good in stripes, honey.

You can't be so choosy.

Emmy!

Well, you fixed him...

and you certainly give us

a good name in the town.

You spend all your life behaving yourself...

then they find your daughter

in a lovely mess.

Don't take it that way, Papa.

"Don't take it that way, Papa."

Don't take it what way, Papa?

You're just a kid.

You can duck down the alleys.

Me, I gotta stand in the middle

of the street and take it...

from every rat in town.

I'm sorry, Papa.

You told me not to go out that night.

Yeah. I could be wrong, too, you know.

Why don't you come to me

if you're worried about something?

The trouble with kids is they

figure they're smarter than their parents.

Never stop to think if their old man

could get by for 50 years...

and feed them and clothe them,

he had something up here to get by with.

Things that seem like brain twisters to you

might be very simple for him.

Like this, for instance.

There's your $2.

You never got married tonight.

- You got nothing to worry about.

- What?

I got the guy to tear up the certificate.

Just a little politics.

If you'd have come to me in the first place...

You got the guy to tear up the certificate?

- No!

- What's the matter with you?

If nobody knows you're married

to this Katzenjammer...

and it was all by mistake, anyway...

with false names a corpse couldn't dig up...

why do you have to go

around proving things?

Why can't you be practical?

Shall we tell him or let him linger?

- Tell him what?

- I'm going to have a baby.

You're going to have a baby.

What do you mean,

you're going to have a baby?

I told you he'd blab it all over town!

- That's why we wanted the certificate.

- The one you got the guy to tear up.

The one I got the guy to tear up.

Did Norval know about this

when he asked you to marry him?

Yes, Papa.

So he gets charged with abduction,

imitating a soldier...

repairing the morals of a minor,

resisting arrest, perjury!

He'll be lucky if he gets life.

When your little surprise package happens,

he'll probably get some more.

You've got to let him escape.

Sure, and take my pension

right along with him...

that I've been working 17 years for,

and land in the hoosegow besides!

Couldn't you think of some bright way?

You always have bright ideas.

Listen, zipperpuss.

Someday, they're just gonna find

your hair ribbon and an axe someplace.

Nothing else.

The mystery of Morgan's Creek.

Papa, that's really not being very helpful.

Well, what do you want me to do,

learn to knit?

I'm going out for a walk.

Trudy told me what you done for her,

at least, what you tried to do.

- I didn't understand.

- That's all right.

I'd just as soon she hadn't told you, though.

The less people know about it,

the better it will be for her.

- It's too bad it had to turn out like this.

- I'll be all right.

What do you mean, you'll be all right? You

know what they got lined up against you?

What'd you have to take a minor

to a motel for anyway?

That's no place to take a minor.

I'm not even thinking about that.

I'm so worried about Trudy.

- Well, all she's worried about is you.

- Poor Trudy!

To think that I've got to be locked up

in here at the very time she needs me most.

If I could just get out of here for a while,

I bet you I could find that skunk.

I bet you I could.

I couldn't do it, Norval.

It would cost me my job.

- Why, if I conspired in any way to...

- I didn't mean that, Mr. Kockenlocker.

I wouldn't do anything

to get you in trouble...

just when Trudy needs you so much.

If you got out...

it would have to be without any help

from me in any shape or form whatsoever.

You'd have to do it all by yourself.

I wasn't even thinking

about anything like that.

Of course, if turn my back on you...

carelessly like...

and you happened to grab my blackjack...

and conk me over the dome with it...

that would be something else.

As if I'd do anything like that,

Mr. Kockenlocker.

Or if you made a sudden dive for me,

grabbed me around the neck...

spin me, hit me on the jaw.

And while I lie here helplessly, you beat it.

As if I'd do anything like that, either.

- How did you do in school?

- Who, me? Fine.

Is that so?

Kind of stuffy in here, ain't it?

- I hadn't noticed it.

- Yes, you had!

I'll go around the back

and open the window.

- It works from the outside. You get me?

- Yes, sir.

- Way around in the back.

- Thanks very much.

You get me?

Be careful, Mr. Kockenlocker!

It's a good thing you didn't

try to run away just now.

I forgot to lock the doors...

and it would take me five minutes

to get down out of this tree.

You get me?

Don't you worry, Mr. Kockenlocker.

I'll be right here.

Are you hurt, Mr. Kockenlocker?

I'm all right.

It just knocked the wind out of me.

Only, I ain't going to do any running

for the next hour or so...

not if you give me a million dollars.

You get me?

- Yes, sir.

- And my gun is way over there someplace.

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