Turn The River

Hi, Mr. Quinette.

Whoa!

Come here!

Come on back up!

I got one for you.

Really?

Yeah!

Here.

Thanks.

No problem, hombre.

Nope, still fours.

Pair of kings.

Who knows? And... crap.

Kings bet.

Five.

God, what the f*** are

you doing in this hand?

What?

For the last three hours,

you've been playing

cards like a moron.

Yeah, I know.

Hey, uh... what does

"cotillion" mean?

I don't know.

A flower?

Yeah? I don't know.

Dance, it's

a dance class.

Can we have the

next card, please?

Take it easy,

Randolph.

Twenty.

Call.

Twenty.

Up 20.

Up 20 again.

Up 60.

Fine.

Full house.

Kings full.

Four fours.

Oh, for f***'s sake!

You should never go

up against her.

She's already got

your new truck.

No, she does not

have my truck.

Well, she's driving it.

All right, cash me.

She rivered the four,

for f***'s sake!

Yeah.

Well, that is f***ing

ridiculous.

I know, I'm not proud of it,

but there it is.

I gotta go.

Oh, great, now she scats.

No, I said I was going

an hour ago.

Okay, thanks for the game,

and thanks for the vocab help.

Play a few more hands

and I'll go with you.

I can't; I got

to go to the city.

Right.

Drive safe.

Yep.

Take care

of my truck.

It's not your truck.

Hi, Sal.

Hey!

Still open?

Not really, but I'll

get you a beer.

Thanks.

Thanks.

How are things?

Tired.

You going to the city?

Yeah, got a little

ahead of myself.

You keep watching us.

Yeah.

You want to play?

What do you

usually play for?

Five bucks a rack.

You know what?

I got to be in the city soon,

so, uh, how about 20 a rack?

And I'll give a lot of weight.

Dad, I got to go

to school early today.

What time is it?

Morning, Gulls.

Morning.

It's like 7:
00, but remember,

I told you we have to do

a project in English class?

Yeah.

So, I gotta go.

Okay.

Oh!

Crap, Mom.

Hi, Gulls.

Get off the

sidewalk, will ya?

Yeah, in a couple years,

when you're taller.

But not yet.

What's this?

I just

busted my hand.

How'd you do that?

Just fell.

You didn't

write me about it.

It's not a big deal.

What, don't kids

sign casts anymore?

Not really.

And this is what

you have to wear?

Yeah, sixth grade.

Coming down the street, I

thought maybe you'd become

a lawyer

or something.

So, how's sixth grade?

You know, now I'm the youngest

in middle school,

instead of the oldest in lower,

so... you know, it's cool.

You mean, you're

picked on a bit?

Yeah, sometimes.

Is that how you got

your hand busted?

Nuh-uh.

I just fell.

Okay, well, uh... don't pick

back too much, okay?

I got a letter for you.

Oh, that's great, Gulls.

You know that I had to

look up "Cotillion"

from your last one.

Yeah? That's horrible.

So, what else... what else

is middle school like?

Well, it's

kind of the same.

It's boring. I have to read

Johnny Tremain.

What's that about?

This kid who makes silver bowls

with Paul Revere

and gets his hand burned.

You like it?

It's okay. Not really.

I can't finish it.

Yeah, and anyway,

silversmithing

will probably get in the

way of your lawyering.

Yeah.

How's your dad and Ellen?

Fine.

Yeah, you like her

any better now?

She's okay.

She's a pretty good cook,

but she gets angry

about the weirdest things.

Like what?

Like sometimes, after

I wash my hands,

she says I leave

the soap dirty.

What does that mean?

I know. It means I'm supposed

to wash the soap

after I wash my hands.

Well...

But sometimes when she talks to

her friends, she says things.

Like what?

Like once I heard her say--

about you, I guess--

that they wanted you

to get a... annulment?

That who wanted?

I guess Dad and Grandma.

Oh.

And I asked Eric

Muftie what that was,

and he said it was

something dirty.

A sex thing.

Who's Eric Muftie?

A kid in my class.

Well, Eric is wrong.

Good.

It's-It's not a...

it's not a sex thing at all.

Good.

It's sort of like a...

Sort of the same

thing as a divorce.

Oh.

You already got one.

You don't really need to worry

about it, okay?

Okay.

I promise you,

Eric is wrong.

Good.

It's not a dirty

thing at all.

Okay.

Here's your letter.

Thanks, Gulls.

Got to get going.

Why can't you just

write to me at home?

Why? You don't

like Mr. Quinette?

He's nice, but sometimes

he isn't there.

So I think maybe

I missed one.

No, if there's a

letter, he'll be there.

Okay.

I think it's a pretty cool

system, don't you?

I guess.

A secret system.

Yeah.

Gulls, you got to keep it

a secret, okay?

I know.

And after you read

one of my letters,

make sure to just

throw them away, okay?

I do.

Good.

Okay, tell me more.

Are you on a team?

- Yeah.

Soccer, but B team.

What position?

- Left wing.

Left wing. Really?

That's pretty hard, right?

You got to be kicking

with your left foot a lot.

Yeah.

- How are you?

Okay. I mean, it's B team,

so it's mostly 'tards.

Well, better to be a big

fish in a small pond.

Even if all the other fish

are 'tard fish?

Yeah. Even then.

I, uh...

I should stop here.

When are you coming back?

Well, it'll be sooner

than last time.

Probably a couple of weeks.

Two weeks?

Probably three.

- No, four.

No, definitely not four.

But send me

letters, okay?

Okay.

Okay.

Keep your nose

clean, kid.

Okay.

Okay. I love you, Gulls.

Me, too.

Mm. Okay.

Now, go on.

I'll see you soon, okay?

Couple of weeks?

Yeah, a couple.

And try reading that

Johnny, uh,

what's-his-face book

one more time, okay?

I can't, Mom.

I swear, it's horrible.

Forget it. Forget it.

Go on, don't be late.

Okay.

Kailey, Jesus.

Look at you.

I know, I know,

I know.

I've been up for a few days.

I'm not so sure

it's the long

hours hurting you.

Yeah.

Well, I see Gulley

every day.

He looks good.

I saw him

this morning.

His arm's broken.

I saw that.

It's okay.

Yeah. He's

doing great.

He's a good kid.

Is there a game around?

You see anything?

Even if there

were, I mean...

you're a mess.

You got enough

for hotel room?

Yeah, but, uh, I'd rather

use it to get a game.

Want to sleep here a bit?

You mind?

Go ahead.

Thanks.

Come get me if there's something

I should be awake for, okay?

Got you.

How was that

English project?

The what?

That thing

you had to be in early for.

Oh. It was good.

Yeah? What book

was it on?

Gulley?

It wasn't

a book.

It was...

We had to make

an advertisement.

Oh. For what?

Well, everybody got

different things.

What did you get?

Hot chocolate.

- Huh.

In English class?

Why would they do that?

I don't know.

They didn't

give you a reason?

No, they did.

Well, what was it?

Gulls, your dad's

talking to you.

Don't call me Gulls.

Hey.

Lose the tone, young man.

Now, what was

the reason?

My teacher says

that poets sometimes make

advertisements for money.

So, instead of writing

a poem, we could do an ad.

Hmm.

Swear to God,

if it was up to me,

you'd be in

public school so fast.

So, how'd you do?

We won.

- You did?

With hot chocolate?

- Yeah.

Well, what

was your ad?

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