The Yearling Page #6

in mind or limb don't matter.

But, Lord, it pleasures us to think now

you've straightened out them legs.

It pleasures us to think on him

walking around as easy as anyone.

And Lord, give him a few redbirds...

...and maybe a squirrel or a coon

to keep him company, like he had here.

All of us is somehow lonesome...

...and we know he'll not be lonesome,

do he have wild things around him.

If it ain't asking too much,

put a few varmints in heaven.

Thy will be done.

Amen.

What's all this?

- You can't leave them in this storm.

- They'd get blowed off the place.

You keep them out of my way.

Why didn't you let in the cow and

Caesar and have everything to suit you?

Maybe we could let in Old Slewfoot.

Pa, when we gonna hunt

Old Slewfoot again?

Jody, you're wet to the skin.

I got to dry Flag.

Look how good he shines up.

Get out of them wet clothes.

Ain't it nice hearing the wind and

rain, and us in here safe and cozy?

That's right, son.

Maybe we can tell a few tales tonight.

How'd you like that?

- Hey, Pa.

- Maybe your ma'll tell us a tale.

- Eh, Ma?

- I might.

Hey, Ma!

Well, Uncle Miles looked at them

two bear cubs and he says:

"I'm gonna catch me one of them."

So he did.

But he didn't have nothing

to tote it in.

Being from Georgia,

he had on long underdrawers.

He took them off, tied knots

in the legs and made a sack.

He put the cub in it, and as he's

reaching for his britches...

...here comes a-crashing.

And that she-bear come

out of the thicket, right at him.

- Jody-boy, fetch me my pipe, son.

- Oh, Pa!

- What you grinning at?

- Oh, nothing.

I look all right?

You look just dandy, sweetheart.

Thank you, boy.

He takened out through

the swamp and dropped the cub.

And the old mammy gathered it up,

drawers and all.

She was so close,

she stepped on a vine...

...and it tripped him and throwed him

in the brambles.

Now, Aunt Moll

was kind of muddle-minded.

She never could make out

how he come home without drawers...

...and his bottom scratched.

Uncle Miles said:

"That weren't nothing to the puzzling

of that mammy bear...

...over them drawers on her cub."

Oh, Pa, you got all them tales

in your mind and don't tell them.

I ain't much for dogs, but there was

a dog once I takened a notion to.

She had the prettiest coat.

I said to the owner,

"When she finds pups, I'd like one."

He says, "But you ain't got

no way of hunting."

I wasn't vet married to your pa.

"A hound'll die," he says,

"if it ain't hunted."

"Is she a hound?" says I.

He said, "Yes'm."

I said, "Then I sure don't want one,

for a hound'll suck eggs."

Well...

Well, now, that's a mighty exciting

tale. You got any more like that one?

I might.

You reckon it's fixing to do damage?

Rotted!

Most of them rotted!

Our whole crop!

Keep turning them so's they all

get a mite of heat.

Most of these beans is molded.

Six days of rain. We just as good

to quit fighting and lay down and die.

Well, Job takened worse punishment.

That's right, find the good in it!

Get out of that,

you dad-ratted varmint!

Ma! Ma! Don't hit him again.

That ends it.

That critter gives me no peace.

He can't come in this house, never.

He's just hungry, Ma.

He ain't had much.

- Lock him up in the barn. If he...

- Leave off, the both of you.

Ain't it enough to have trouble

pouring on us out of the skies?

Has a man got to die to find peace?

What's happening now?

Seems like...

Pa, it's stopped!

Ma, it seems like times

a body gets struck down so low...

...ain't a power on earth can ever

bring him up again.

Seems something inside him dies...

...so he don't even want

to get up again...

...but he does.

They ain't much of a world left

for us, but it's all we got.

Let's be thankful

we got any world at all.

Here comes the sun.

Hey, Ma, look at this day!

If I was dead,

I'd notice a day like this.

Just right for corn.

Just right for okra. For tobacco...

...cowpeas, potatoes, greens.

Hey, Ma, we got us a planting Pa,

ain't we?

To hear him, you'd think

he'd plant the world.

I'd purely love to.

Come on. If we're gonna do

that planting, we best keep busy.

When these tobacco plants come up,

we won't have to tote water no more.

Ma's gonna have a well,

right outside our door.

Pa give us a lot of chores today.

There. Now we're all done.

Come on. You sit in the doorway.

Hey, Pa.

- Was that Jody?

- What if it was?

Now stand still.

You'll bust one of these seams.

Stand still, I tell you.

You want I should spoil it?

- I done the hoeing you told me to do.

- All right, all right.

- And I got the tobacco plants watered.

- That's good, boy.

Anything else I should do, Pa?

I guess not.

That's sure mighty pretty, Pa.

I'll pretty you with a piece

of fat wood! Get out of here!

Can I bring Flag to see

how pretty it looks?

- You gonna get...

- Be still!

You said you'd be through by now!

- He's gotta learn how dresses is made.

- Not on me, he don't.

Besides, I'm getting feverish.

Well, fight it a minute

and turn around.

How do you think I'll finish

in time for the wedding?

What wedding?

Who's getting married?

- Oliver's getting married.

- Oliver?

That ain't the worst of it.

They're going to Boston to live.

- We ain't gonna see Oliver no more?

- I'm afraid not, boy.

Now, tomorrow, I'm going

to Oliver's wedding.

After they're married,

they're going off to Boston...

...so we'll be kind of alone.

Take care of yourself while I'm away.

Be good.

You understand?

I been doing some figuring.

You're getting kind of big.

Now I don't care for girls,

and I don't never aim to get married.

But when you get a little bigger,

maybe you're gonna want a doe.

So someday I'm fixing to build

a house by the glen.

And I'm gonna get you a doe.

We're all gonna live there

together by the glen.

Do you like that?

Me living with you?

See, I'm gonna take care of you fine.

Now, good night.

It's right nice seeing a lot of people

again, and the buildings and stores.

My, how it's growed! That there

house never used to be there.

- It's been built a year.

- Ma don't get out enough.

- That's the truth.

- How do you do?

- Why, how do, Miss Saunders?

- How do, Miss Saunders?

- She won't recollect me.

- How do you do, Miss Baxter?

How do you do?

Well, I declare!

Well, best get going.

Bye, Penny.

- Jody and me'll miss you.

- Miss me enough to visit.

I'll visit you, Oliver.

Thanks for sticking by me. I won't

forget you. Not even in the China Sea.

Bye, Eulalie. Be a good girl and

maybe you'll look after Jody for me.

- Bye, Miss Baxter.

- Bye.

Goodbye, Jody.

Shall I kiss you goodbye, Jody?

Well, I guess

it wouldn't hurt nothing.

- Come on.

- You'll miss the boat!

Hey, come on, honey.

We'll miss the boat.

- Bye.

- Bye.

Bye, Oliver. Bye, Twink.

I don't like folks going away.

It's like they was dying.

The way Fodderwing done.

That's life, boy.

Getting and losing.

Losing and getting.

I'm glad I got Flag.

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