Vigil

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You know, the more I think about it,

the more I reckon we're heading

for the South Pole.

Maybe the Pole's coming up to us even.

Huh!

Ice-cap shifting...

...coming north.

That's why we're getting

this wicked weather.

Lisa!

Dad! Wait for me!

Hey, Dad!

Where are we going?

To the tops.

A dead hawk

is a good hawk, eh, Dad?

Yeah.

Wire 'em up,

the live ones keep away.

- Are we in the clouds now?

- Fog.

Same thing, Granddad says.

He would.

Clouds, alright.

Dad!

Dad!

Dad!

Dad!

One potato, two potato,

three potato, four.

Coming!

Ready or not!

Coming!

Huh!

Thought I'd lost you.

Toss, when you're working as a team,

you don't lose the boss,

so stay near me.

- Got it?

- I got it.

Oh!

Uh!

Uh!

Uh.

Uh... uh!

Mom!

Mom!

Mom!

He fell.

In nomine Patris et Filius

et Spiritus Sanctus.

Thou shalt not be afraid

of the terror by night,

nor the arrow that flieth by day,

nor for the pestilence

that walketh in darkness,

nor the destruction...

One potato, two potato...

Three potato, four...

Coming!

Ready or not!

Coming!

I better go and fix the carburetor.

What am I going to do with it all?

Burn 'em, give 'em away.

I've got such a lot to do.

I wanted you to know

about the other day.

No need, it's over now.

- Thanks for all that you've done.

- No trouble.

I was shooting your goats, and...

The coroner said it was an accidental death,

now let's leave it at that.

Right.

I just wanted to get it sorted out.

Do you feel better now?

Yeah. Thanks.

Well, now you can piss off.

Pass me the Big Tom.

No, the big one.

Whatcha been doing this morning?

'Coming.'

Here, give us a go.

Huh.

Ha ha!

You got it going, Grandpa!

Keep her in your sights, Toss.

She's got a mind of her own.

Where's she taking us, Grandpa?

That tractor's been sitting out there

watching, waiting.

Before you know it,

she's up and off and after us.

Do you mean the tractor's alive?

Stands to reason.

How do you see it otherwise?

Look...

It sends out little miniatures of itself.

Du-du-du-du-du...

They hit your eyeball and explode, flash.

Get that tractor fixed,

and the world's my oyster.

I'll have time to do the things

I need to do.

Good man, that Ethan Ruir.

Good pair of shoulders on him.

At the funeral, the priest talked about

a valley of death and ashes.

Oh, it's just the sort of thing they say.

See, I've got this idea for a sheep dip

where you make the sheep do all the work.

Where is the valley?

Maybe I could combine it with the turbine.

A small one to start with, and then...

Ho ho!

Where is it?

Oh, it's just priest's talk.

Don't bother with it.

They make simple things complicated

so as to keep themselves in work.

I can use this jacket.

- Got us a new shepherd.

- What do you mean?

- New shepherd. The bloke who...

- Oh, you shouldn't have done that.

There's too much for this old back

to carry. And yours.

Besides, we owe him a favor.

A favor?

We're not staying here.

I'm getting out.

Huh!

We're going to get out, are we?

Well, we'll bloody soon see about that!

Go on, clear out of it, the lot of you!

Go on!

Oh, Mom!

Keep your head down.

It won't take a minute.

Well, maybe we'll get you a ballet teacher

when we leave here.

Mind you, you should have started

a lot earlier.

You'll just have to practice and not let up.

Let your hair grow long, tie it back...

not a loose strand.

Shiny, smooth, clear sharp lines.

How are you, Birdie?

Great set-up you've got here.

Come on in.

That hut on the hill suits me fine.

Now what have you got lined up for me?

What's the matter?

Nothing.

Silly bugger, Justin.

Only time I ever saw him worked up

was over them hawks.

Oh, he got a bit toey

when he thought I was shirking,

but not worked up though.

Not like the hawks got him going.

His passion was hawks.

Or killing them.

Silly bugger.

Takes more than him or you

to wipe out hawks.

He wasn't a smiling man, Justin.

But when he was wiring them

to the fences, he smiled.

And I got to thinking

about Justin and the hawks,

how he saw them,

what they looked like in his head.

You follow?

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

Now, when you think of hawks,

what do you see?

I see them diving out of the sun,

so that their prey can't see them.

And racing just above the ground

without moving their wings.

Ah, there you are.

What you see depends on who you are.

He just saw them as something bigger

and tougher than he was -

smarter too,

though that wouldn't take much.

I watched him through the years.

And I tried to see the hawks

like he saw them.

Mom! Mom!

Mom, I'm scared.

I've got something to show you.

Surprised, are you?

Of course it isn't finished yet.

Don't seem right to work on it

now he's gone.

Well, no sense in getting Liz more upset.

You had a bit of dust-up

the other day, huh?

Best keep your head down

till she blows warm again.

- When's that gonna be?

- Oh, can't say.

Getting a bit of work done

might warm her up.

Go on.

Grab the parrot beaks

behind the chimney.

'Toss. Toss.'

Course it's here.

Listen.

Sounds hollow?

Course it is.

Known about it for years.

Right.

What's first?

Peg her out.

Right.

Eight foot square.

No sense in skimping.

Here.

Here. Uh!

Bit to your right.

Here.

And... here.

Right.

Twelve-six on your diagonals.

Now.

How high do you reckon

she'd be from that?

About eighteen feet.

Huh, sixty-two.

You see,

it's your base that counts.

She's down there at eighty feet,

maybe eighty-two.

Deep.

But this is the thinnest part.

The key to all this is your rig.

If your rig's not right,

you've got no show.

All the stuff's all here,

it's a matter of assembling it.

It's a question of precision,

timing and strength.

Oh, Christ, here comes Lizzie.

I was going to burn that stuff

I cut down yesterday.

- Anything else to go on the pile?

- The burning can wait.

There are twelve hundred lambs

should have been docked three weeks ago.

You get your head up and what happens?

- Dad, you took on this farmhand, now...

- That jacket's a bit small for you.

We'll see if there's another lying about.

You think you're so clever.

Now, don't tell me you're going to go

and have a go at them hawks as well.

Oh, I thought I might look out

for some deer.

In my own time.

Good, go for it.

- Here! Come in here!

- Take it easy, Birdie.

Another half day to go

and we'll have finished.

The boss has asked you down for lunch.

- You must've made an impression.

- I could do with a bit of home cooking.

I don't know if these bloody sheep

are getting faster or I'm getting slower.

Come here, yer...

Er...

Are you alright, Grandpa?

Go on.

Wash it off.

I suppose I should have taken

my boots off.

Nobody else does.

How's it going?

Not bad.

Got through that lot.

A thousand in two days.

It's good going. Just about finished.

Clear it in an afternoon.

I think the old boy's just about

had enough, though.

Got his leg, has he?

He's really been going at it.

When he works, you can't stop him.

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