Tobacco Road Page #4

"Shall We Gather At The River. "

Cut that out! What's the idea of blowing

them horns? Get out of them cars.

- Get out of that.

Us is gonna buy one.

You ain't gonna buy one

if you bust it up.

Stop it, Dude boy, until it's ours.

- You got any money?

- Yeah. I got enough...

...if it don't cost more than $800.

- Who is that, your kid?

- That's Dude Lester from Tobacco Road.

Him and me's gonna get married.

It's in the bank at Augusta.

You're gonna marry? How old is he?

None of your business. All you

gotta do is sell us this automobile.

Get out of that car.

Call the bank and check on that.

I got a nice little jalopy right over here.

I know you're gonna like it.

I'll fill it up with gas

and you can drive it out right now.

You can use those tags

until I get some from Atlanta.

- Shut up! Shut up!

- You like it, Dude boy?

- Ain't nothing wrong with it so far.

- We'll take it.

- Here's the check.

- That's fine.

- Now you sign right here.

- I always make my mark.

- What's your name?

- Sister Bessie Rice.

- Sister Bessie Rice, touch the pen.

- Oh, no. Wait a minute.

For a big thing,

we always ask a blessing.

- What?

- First we sing a little hymn...

...then kneel down

and have a prayer.

Now, just a minute, Sister Bessie. Is all

that necessary? I'm a religious man...

"In the Sweet Bye and Bye,"

everybody.

Ain't that a pretty automobile.

He's driving it too.

Oh, I wish all my children was here

to see it and hear that pretty sound.

He hit a tree.

That's driving, Dude boy.

How come you ain't

got that out of there?

Can't get this automobile through...

...if you don't get that old one out.

- Sure you can, Dude boy. Shove it.

Just shove it out of your way.

Yeah.

I told you you could do it, Dude boy.

Oh, ain't this a pretty automobile?

Oh, I knew you could do it, Dude boy.

I knew you could do it.

If this ain't the prettiest thing

I ever seen in all my life.

Yes, sir.

This is sure a fine automobile.

Take your hands off there, you old fool.

Yes, sirree.

Here, give me...

Let me fix that for you, Dude boy.

You got it all upside down

and every which way.

Broke, all right.

But say, that don't hurt

the running of it none, does it?

No, runs like it was brand-new yet.

The horn wasn't hurt none at all.

Sounds as pretty as it did

this morning.

Say, this is a great day

for Tobacco Road.

Bessie, is you...?

Is you and Dude gonna get married...

...clear all the way

or just by leave of the county?

We is married already.

Hey, you touch my car, woman,

and I'll hit you with a stick!

Dude, you sure is a lucky boy.

A brand-new automobile

to run around in...

...and married all at the same time

and on the same day.

Ain't many a man lucky enough

to get a wife like Sister Bessie...

...as pretty as she is at her age.

Why, yes, sir. You know,

she'd make a great wife for any man.

I don't care where you'd find him.

Shut your mouth, Brother Jeeter.

You know, Ada, why,

Sister Bessie is just like...

She's just like one of the family.

Yeah. Just the same

as if she was born in it. Yeah.

Why, everything we got is half hers...

...and everything she's got

is half ours. Yeah.

She's just, you know,

like blood relations.

Oh, that's powerful nice of you,

Brother Jeeter.

You know, Bessie,

Ada and me's...

...mighty proud of you and Dude

and that automobile.

I'm just wondering

how much it cost you.

Why, I paid $800 cash for that car,

and look at it already.

Eight hundred dollars.

You know, Ada...

...$800 to a lot of poor folks...

...would be a whole heap of money,

but not to Sister Bessie.

After the money she got

from her dead husband's insurance...

...why, it's just chicken feed.

- You know, if I was to ask her...

- Eight hundred dollars, that's all it was.

What did you say?

I said, that's all the money

there was in the insurance.

Of course,

maybe I got 75 cents left over...

...but that's all the big money

there was.

You mean to tell me

you ain't got no $ 100 to lend me...

...to keep me from being

put off of this ground?

Nobody gonna give you

no money, fool.

If Bessie had another $ 100,

she'd give it to me.

- But I ain't got no more $ 100.

- But I was counting on it.

You ain't gonna get it, so shut up.

- Oh, now, Dude boy...

Then why don't he shut up

about $ 100 if you got it?

You'd give it your husband,

wouldn't you?

- Come on, let's ride somewhere.

- But you don't understand.

- You're gonna put me off of here.

You're so old...

...you're gonna die soon anyhow.

- Dude boy.

If you don't, they're gonna

put you on a poor farm.

If you was a natural son, you wouldn't

be saying that to your folks.

You wouldn't be making things worse.

Oh, shut up.

Yes, but, Dude...

Oh, Dude boy. Dude boy.

Oh, Dude. Dude boy!

Oh, don't go, Dude boy.

Sometimes I feel like if I just had me

a stylish dress to be buried in...

...I'd be ready to find me a nice place

to lay myself down in and die.

Get out of the way. You ain't never

gonna get no new dress.

Pa been promising you that...

...but you're gonna die and be buried

in just what you've got on.

- Don't say that to your poor ma.

- Who's gonna stop me?

She's gonna be buried in...

- Don't say that.

- Let go of me, you old fool.

You got a nerve

putting your hands on me.

Gonna sit there

on that cold ground all night?

Looks like the Lord sends me...

...about every misery

he can think of just to try my soul.

Hey, you know, he must be gonna do

something powerful big for me...

...or he wouldn't test me so hard.

Well, hope he can see his way clear

to doing it before Sunday.

Yeah. You know,

I bet if Tom was here he'd help us.

Tom was just about the best

of all the children, I reckon.

Yeah. Lizzie and Clara Belle,

they were the best of the...

But Tom, Tom was...

He was about the best of the boys.

I guess Pearl was about the prettiest,

with all that long, yellow hair.

Yeah. Tom, he was even good to me.

I used to hope some of them

would write to me.

About give up looking for them

to come back to see me...

...but I did think maybe Lizzie Belle,

anyway, would write.

Well, maybe they did.

How do you know?

Didn't you never ask

at the post office?

Well, what was the use?

I couldn't read what they said anyway.

I must have a whole lot

of grandchildren somewhere.

Bound to have, with all of them

boys and girls off from home.

Everybody says I have, anyhow.

Sure don't know how other people

know more about such things than I do.

Looks to me like I ought to be the one

that knows the most about my children.

Yeah, it looks like all we know

is Dude and Pearl and Ellie May.

And five buried out there in the field.

You know, I'll bet if Tom knowed the fix

we was in, he'd give us the money.

Well, it ain't no use wondering about it

if you can't get to him in time.

Sunday ain't but two days off.

And if the Lord's figuring on doing

anything for us, he had better hurry up...

...or else it's gonna be too late.

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