The Straight Story Page #3

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You're a good man,|Danny Riordan.

And that's why I married you,|despite what my mother said.

I miss you, Dad.

- I love you, Rosie.|- I love you too, Dad.

-Uh, bye, Dad

-Bye...Dad.

- What are you cookin' there, Alvin?|- Oh, I'm makin' my Mexican coffee.

- Ah. Mind if I join you?|- Get you a chair... that iron one there.

You'll be a guest|in your own back yard.

Amm, I talked to the Olsen|twins, and,

ah...they estimate it'll cost around 250 dollars|to get your mower fixed.

Well, that's twice what it oughta be,|I guess it's cos they're twins, huh?

I'd be happy to drive you the|rest of the way to Mount Zion.

Be a nice Sunday drive.

We enjoy crossin' the river,|especially now with the trees in colour.

Well, I appreciate that, but...|I wanna finish this one my own way.

Try this.

Thank you.

Well, you know, Alvin, there's a lotta hills|bigger than Clairmont's between here and Zion.

Even if you get that mower runnin' again,|it may still break down.

Well, you're a kind man|talkin' to a stubborn man.

I still wanna finish this|the way I started.

Hi, Verlyn.

How the heck you doin'?|- Fine.

Wonderful.

Well...they gave you|a plate of her brownies.

How's that for timing?

Janet makes the best brownies...

... in Lafayette county.

She won prizes every year|at the county fair.

Mmm...help yourself.|- Thank you.

Mmm...I've been doin' errands and I'm heading for a beer.|I thought you'd like to join me.

Well, I don't drink any more, but...|I'm always up for a change of scenery.

Well, come on.

Well, I'm ridin' a little higher|and a little faster.

Except when you came down|that hill.

I picked up a mournful taste|for liquor in France.

When I came back,|I couldn't drink enough of it.

I wasn't worth a stick|of stove wood...

I was mean.

A preacher helped me put some distance|between me and the bottle.

And he helped me see... the reason I was drinkin',|I was seein' all them things here,

that I'd seen over there.

Lots of men came back drinkin' hard.

Well...everyone|tryin' to forget.

I can see it|in a man right away.

Yup.

There was one time...

... when we just...

... Were waiting for|the first warm meal in ten days.

We...thought|we'd seen the worst.

We hadn't had|much trouble from the air.

I was on the rise...

... with the quartermaster,|workin' on more coffee for me and my buddies.

A stray Fokker|came over the treetops...

and dropped|an incendiary on the mess tent.

All my buddies...

The Kraut banked right in front|of me on that hill...

and now I can...|see the...Swastika.

That is one thing|that I can't shake loose...

All my buddies faces|are still young.

And the thing is, the more years|I have, the more they've lost.

And it's not always buddies faces that I see,|sometime they're German faces.

Near the end we were shootin'|moon-faced boys.

I was a sniper.

Where I grew up, you learned|how to shoot to hunt food.

They'd post me up front.|Darn near ahead of the lines.

And I'd sit...forever.

It's an amazing thing what you|can see while you're sittin'.

I'd look for the officers, the

radio guys or artillery spotter.

Sometime I'd spot|a gun nest by the smoke

... and I'd fire into it.

Sometime it was just|a movement in the woods.

We had a scout,

a little fella, name of Katz.

He was a Polish boy|from Milwaukee.

He'd always take recon|and he was darn good at it.

We went by his word and he saved|our skin many a time.

He was a little fella...

We'd broken|out of the hedgerows...

We were makin'|a run across the open

and we come upon a woods.

We started drawin' fire.

I took my usual position...

and I saw somethin' movin',|real slow like.

I waited ten minutes,|it moved again and I shot.

The movement stopped.

The next day|we found Katz...head shot.

He'd been workin'|his way back toward our lines.

Everyone in the unit thought|a German sniper had taken him...

Everyone, all these years.

Everyone but me.

See, Harald...brainiac...

Got the mower assembly free with|this here little old wrench...

You said it wouldn't work.|I'd say it worked pretty good.

Wouldn't you?

So help me slide her out.|We can get settled up.

Uh...I got parts and labour|that add up to $247.80.

Well, I'd say that's a little heavy for light work.|Don't you think?

I've got an old man's eyes,|but, ah... I'm noticin' some new tyre here.

Well, now...ah, we got those off a resell,|but the treads are good!

Well, friend, are you chargin'|me for good or for new?

Ahhhh...Thorvald?

Ahh...we can make|an adjustment there.

Well, I think the adjustment|should be about thirty dollars.

Is that what|your pencil's sayin'?

And, ah...about the labour...

I appreciate that you boys have|done some real time on this...

of course, a man's gotta ask|when he's workin' with twins -

especially a bickerin' pair -

-how much workin' was fightin'?|-He got that right.

Shut up, Danny.

If I was to judge by this joyous|affair I saw today,

I would calculate maybe 20|per cent taken off the labour.

Anything else, mister?

Well, I'm not from these parts,|but where I come from,

I would say that that was a|little rich for Iowa oil.

Take the oil, no charge.

Well, that's a splendid offer|and I do appreciate it.

What's the tally?

Ah...ahhh...

Hundred and eighty even?

Done.

Thanks to you boys, I'm gonna|get this rig back on the road.

I've drove it all the way across Iowa|and I'm hopin' it holds on till I get to Wisconsin.

My brother lives there.|I haven't seen him in ten years.

There's no one knows your life better|than a brother that's near your age.

He knows who and what you are|better than anyone on Earth.

My brother and I said some...|unforgivable things the last time we met,

but, I'm tryin' to put that behind me.

And this trip is a hard|swallow... of my pride,

I just hope I'm not too late.

A brother's a brother.

Well,... Guess I'll be turnin' in.

I'll, ah...see you in the|morning, then, before you go.

I'm gonna leave awful early.

I wanna thank you for your|kindness to a stranger.

It's been a genuine pleasure|havin' you here, Alvin.

Write to us, sometime.

I will.

I noticed your campfire.

I brought you some dinner...|Mashed potatoes, meat loaf.

Well, thank you kindly.|I've had my dinner, but...

-...would you join me for a while?|-Sure.

Thank you.

-I hope you don't mind me trespassin'.|-Oh, no, not at all.

Made a fine choice. You're camped next to|one of the oldest cemeteries in the Midwest.

French Catholic trappers.

-The Marquette party?|-Two of his men.

I couldn't help but notice|the rather unusual mode of transport.

Well, you're not the first|person to notice that, Padre.

My eyes are bad. I can't drive.

I don't like someone else drivin' the bus,|and I need to get to my brother's.

Fair enough. Where is he?

Well, he's so close, I can practically feel him.|Mount Zion.

-What's his name?|-Lyle Straight.

Is he that fella that came in|with a stroke some weeks ago?

Thats right. Do you know him?

I work at the hospital in Boscobel.|I remember him comin' in.

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