The Sunset Limited Page #7

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but then you already know

I'm an outlaw.

What is it you would

disagree with?

Probably the notion

of original sin...

you know, when Eve

ate the apple,

turned everybody bad.

I don't see people that way.

I think for the most part

people was good to begin with.

I think evil is something

you bring on your own self,

mostly from wanting things

you ain't supposed to have.

But I ain't gonna stand here and

tell you about me being a heretic

when I'm trying to get you

to quit being one.

Are you a heretic?

Is you trying to put me

in the trick bag, professor?

No, I'm not.

Are you?

No more than

what a man ought to be,

even a man

with a powerful belief.

I ain't a doubter,

but I am a questioner.

What's the difference?

A questioner wants the truth.

A doubter wants to be told

there ain't no such thing.

You don't think you have to believe

everything that's in there

- in order to be saved?

- No, not at all.

I don't even think

you have to read it.

I ain't even for sure

you even got to know

there is such a book.

I think whatever truth is wrote

in the pages of this book

is wrote in the human heart too, and

was wrote there a long time ago,

and will be wrote there

a long time hence,

even if every copy of this book is burned...

every copy of it.

And what Jesus said...

I don't think he made up a word of it.

He just told it.

This book is a guide

for the ignorant

and the sick at heart.

A whole man

wouldn't need it at all.

And if you was

to read this book,

you're gonna find there's more

talk in here about the wrong way

than there is the right way.

Why is that?

I don't know.

Why is it?

Why don't you tell me?

I'll have to think about that.

- Okay.

- Okay what?

Okay, go on and think about it.

It might take me a little longer

than you to think about something.

- That's all right.

- That's all right?

Yeah. I mean, I can take that

statement in one or two ways.

I'm going to take it the good

way 'cause that's my nature.

That way I get to live

in my world and not yours.

What makes you think

mine is so bad?

I don't think it's so bad.

I just know it's brief.

All right.

I think the answer

to your question is

that the dialectic

of the homily

always presupposes

a ground of evil.

- Man.

- How's that?

That's strong as a mare's

breath, professor.

Whoo! Wouldn't I love

to lay some sh*t like that

on the brothers. Whoa.

It's just the two of us sitting

here in private, talking.

What'd you just say?

Your question...

the Bible is full

of cautionary tales...

all of literature,

for that matter...

telling us to be careful.

Careful of what?

Taking the wrong turn,

the wrong path.

How many wrong paths are there?

Their number is legion.

How many right paths?

Just one.

Hence the imbalance

that you spoke of.

Man.

You know, you could go

on TV, professor,

a good-looking man like yourself.

You know that?

- Stop.

- I'm serious.

I wasn't even sure you was a professor

till you laid that sh*t on me.

Now I think you're having

fun at my expense.

- No, I ain't.

- Well, I think you are.

Honey, I swear I ain't.

I couldn't say a thing like

you just got done saying.

I admire that.

And why do you keep

calling me honey?

That's just the old South talking.

It don't mean nothing.

I'll try and stop

if it bothers you.

I'm just not sure

what it means.

It means you're among friends.

It means quit worrying

about everything.

That might be easier said than done.

Yeah, you're right.

It might.

But we're just talking...

talking.

- Tell me something.

- Sure.

Why are you here?

What do you get out of this?

You seem like a smart man.

Me?

I'm just a dumb country n*gger

from Louisiana.

I done told you, I ain't never had

the first thought in my head.

If it ain't in here,

I don't know it.

Sometimes I think

you're having fun with me.

You are an a**hole!

A-s-s-hole! A**hole!

Come on now.

Now what the f*** are you doing

in my motherfucking bed?

I don't see

how you can live here.

I don't know how

you can feel safe.

Well, you got a point, professor,

about being safe anyway.

You ever stopped any of these people

from taking drugs?

Not that I know of.

Then what is the point?

I don't get it.

I mean, it's hopeless.

This places is a moral leper colony.

Damn.

Moral leper colony.

Where's my pencil at?

I ain't never gonna want you to leave.

Put this in my book.

"In the moral

leper colony."

I like the sound of that.

I still don't see

how you can live here.

Why not go someplace where you

can do the world some good?

As opposed to someplace

where good is needed?

Even God gives up

at some point.

There's no ministry in

hell that I ever heard of.

No, there ain't.

And that's well put.

Ministry is for the living.

That's why you're responsible

for your brother.

Once he quit breathing

you can't help him no more.

He's in the hands

of other parties.

So you got to

look after him now.

You might even want to

monitor his train schedule.

You think you are

your brother's keeper?

I don't believe "think"

quite covers it.

And Jesus is part

of this enterprise?

That all right with you?

And he's interested in

coming here to this cesspool

and salvaging what everybody

knows is unsalvageable.

Why would he do that?

You said he didn't have a lot of free time.

Why would he

come here?

What would the difference

be to him

between a building that was

spiritually and morally vacant

and one that was

just plain empty?

Mm, professor, you're a theologian

here and I ain't even know it.

You're being facetious.

I don't know that word.

But don't be afraid

to talk down to me.

You ain't gonna

hurt my feelings.

It means...

I guess it means

you're not being sincere,

that you're being...

You don't mean what you're saying

in a cynical sort of way.

Mm, you don't think

I mean what I say?

I think you say things

for effect sometimes.

Mm, well, let me

say this for effect.

Go ahead.

Suppose I was to tell you

that if you could bring

yourself to unlatch your hands

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