The World Made Straight Page #2

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Pick him up.

Come on.

Sh*t!

- God!

- Get up.

One more thing.

Who did you sell

those plants to?

Leonard Shuler.

- Does he know where you got 'em?

- No, sir.

All right.

Now,

I told you I'd get you here.

I kept my word,

you see that you keep yours.

- Carlton?

- Professor.

What brings you around?

Come on in.

Hubert.

I thought you got called up.

My number

one son here is 4-F.

Draft board didn't say why.

I got my own

suspicions about that.

Well, you're

better off here, anyway.

What can I do for you?

I got some business

to discuss with you.

Okay.

Especially seeing how you

got a new supplier and all.

That boy.

I didn't know you was growing.

To be fair, our crops

are new things. His idea.

Times are changin'.

We gotta give

the people what they want.

Speaking of which,

seven fourteens of

black beauties, even split.

$100 will cover it.

There you go.

Much obliged, sir.

Hey, babe.

Still with you,

I see.

Must cut into

your profits, though.

She been rode hard,

but she's still pretty.

We'll be happy to take her off your

hands if you're ever so inclined.

But listen to

me pontificating.

Time I was on my way.

Carlton, that boy,

what'd you do to him?

Let's just say he's

retired from the drug trade.

I'll see you around,

Professor.

How you doin'?

Not too much pain?

I know you.

Wasn't...

We was in homeroom together.

Right. Travis. Travis Shelton.

Yeah. Lori.

Right. Miss Heywood's class.

- Right.

- Yeah.

Well, you got your leg cut up

pretty good there, Travis Shelton.

How does it feel?

It's okay.

So it hurts like hell, right?

Yeah.

Here.

Let me help you with that.

What you readin'?

Nothing.

Just boring old stuff.

Can I have a look?

Yeah, sure, if you want.

"Both the Union and the Confederate planned

their attack strategically. They... "

We were learnin'

about this in history, right?

Yeah, right.

I was just...

You know about all the stories Sherman...

This whole scorched earth thing he did.

Can I get you anything?

Cigarette would be nice.

I don't smoke.

And neither should you.

- Rubber bands.

- Rubber bands.

I brought you

some books.

Here you go.

To keep you company.

Well, you know, I'm getting out real

soon, how am I gonna get 'em back to you?

Can I call you here?

Sure.

Got a number or...

Um, yeah.

- You got a...

- You want to write on my hand.

Sure.

Here you go.

- Don't forget and wash it off.

- I'll not do that.

Bye.

Does it still hurt?

Doctor says I can be

out day after tomorrow.

Then what are you gonna do?

I don't know.

Shank's got some friends

who own an auto shop.

They said they were

gonna give me some hours.

But what

about a place to live?

I just think that you

shouldn't come home right now.

- Just for a while.

- Is that what he told you to say?

He's angry, Travis.

You dented his pride

saying those things you did.

- You know how he is.

- Yeah. He's an a**hole.

The two of you goin'

at it all the time.

I just want some peace

in my house for once.

What the hell

are you doin' here?

I got no place else to go.

- Jesus Christ.

- Come on. I...

I ain't askin' much.

A sofa, that's all.

All right. So I'm not good enough

for your shitty trailer, is that it?

Lord, you get them

hackles out fast.

Well, you're young.

World's gonna have

its way with you.

Knock some of that strut

out of you, that's for sure.

I ain't afraid of you.

I ain't the one you

ought to be afraid of.

If you're gonna eat my cereal and

read my books, make some coffee.

That's the local regiment.

Met a sorry fate, too.

Sh*t, you seen this one?

Twelve years old,

David Shelton.

Shelton?

There's four of 'em

in this regiment, see?

Father, three boys.

It's your kin.

So, they all died?

Even the boy?

Why kill him?

He was just a kid.

'Cause a nit makes a louse.

At least that's what

one of the soldiers said.

Your daddy never talked to you

about any of this?

No.

Sh*t!

Be right back.

Rednecks and drugs.

One of the worst

hookups of the '60s.

Didn't seem to bother you none

when he took your money.

I suppose not.

I'd like to go there.

- Go where?

- To Shelton Laurel.

I wanna see it for myself.

You can tell

we're getting close.

Look at the mailboxes.

Shelton.

Shelton, Shelton, Shelton.

It's a one-horse town.

Why'd you quit school, anyway?

Because what they taught me

there didn't interest me much.

You like to read.

About things I'm

interested in, sure.

How about taking your GED,

ever think of that?

Give you some qualification.

Help you get a better job.

You don't want to be stockin' shelves

for the rest of your life, do you?

I guess not.

It'll be a lot

of work, though.

Think you're up to it?

Why, do you?

So...

You think I could

stay until I get it done?

All right.

You know a place is haunted when

it feels more real than you are.

It's like time doesn't pass,

it just layers over things.

It's all still happening underneath

the surface of what we see.

You feel that?

Well, you should.

It's your family's

blood that got spilled here.

It's what I told you,

South was never one thing,

history is never

that clear-cut.

Even your kin,

the ones that got killed here,

they weren't

exactly blameless.

Still, it's no reason to

kill a 12-year-old boy.

so, you'd have wanted revenge

if you'd been there?

For killing one of my kin,

sh*t, what do you think?

I think violence

begets violence.

It doesn't stop.

It's like a sickness.

Just gets passed on from

one generation to the next.

Hey, can I try?

Yeah.

All right.

Hey, I got something.

Let me listen.

You hear that?

Move it over a little.

That's a rock.

How do you know?

Experience.

What you got?

I don't know.

Gently now.

Holy sh*t.

It got to belong to

one of the victims.

Else one of Keith's men

would've picked them up.

You think they're his?

The boy's.

The boy's... What's his name?

David Shelton.

You can't grow up here

and not feel something.

Whether it's

Christian or not, though...

I remember when my

granddaddy passed,

my grandma went around and

covered every mirror in the house.

She kept them that

way all winter, too.

She figured

they is portals

and the dead might find their

way back into this world.

See, that's old faith.

That's the mountain gospel.

But, hey.

You don't

believe that, do you?

I don't know.

God took to me early.

At least that's what

somebody told me once.

Tomorrow we'll take

those over to Hensley's.

I'll swing by

the vocational school.

See what you need

to do for that GED.

- Dr.

- Bradley to 744.

Dr. Bradley to 744.

Yeah.

Lori, your

little friend's here.

You're not

supposed to be here.

Here, come in here.

I just wanted to bring

these back to you in person.

Thank you.

I read them both.

I really liked them, too,

especially Hemingway. It's...

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

I mean, it's horrible, but

the writing is so beautiful.

Right, right.

That dude's badass.

Yeah, yeah.

- Um...

- Look, I was wondering if...

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