Leaves of Grass (2009) - full transcript

The scene is Athens, 400 BC.

A bunch of the local braniacs have
gotten together, the wine is being passed,

and the ideas are flowing fast and furious.
The debate's in full force,

and Socrates has the floor.
Who enters? Alcib?ades,

drunk, a beautiful man, hopelessly
in love with his mentor, Socrates.

And, uniquely, in all of
these dialogues,

Socrates doesn't get the last word.
Alcib?ades does. Why?

Because passion, Plato seems to be saying,
is essentially and mercilessly human.

And the best that we can
hope to do is to quell it,

through relentless discipline.

To Socrates, the healthy life is comprised
of constant focus by the individual,



to excise those forces that weaken
or... or confuse his

understanding of the world
around him.

He implores us to devote our
lives to this kind of control.

Meaning, our every waking moment.

Socrates recognized what
every philosopher

and religion, for that matter,
in the history of the world,

from Plato to Aristotle,
from Epicurus to the Stoics,

from the Judeo-Christians to
the Buddhists, have all observed,

which is that the balance
needed for a happy life

is illusory.

And as soon as in our
gorgeously-flawed human way

we think that we've attained it.

We're pretending divinity,
and we're gonna crash,

like Icarus, flaming
into the sea.



So think about that this
weekend, when you think you're

on top of the world,
and then you pour a pitcher of beer

down your throat and chase that
upper-classman, who's out of your league.

Aristotle is next week.
Don't just look at it as words.

Imagine the scene. These were people.
They were alive, like you and me.

They thought these things.
Breathe 'em into life.

So, I was thinking about
doing a sort of contrast

between dialogue and
chorus in Sophocles.

Now you should check out
Nietzsche's Birth of Tragedy.

He says that tragedy emerges from
the clash between Apollo,

god of reason and harmony, and
Dionysus, god of intoxication.

And that their struggle within our
human condition is inevitable, and

that is what has produced the most salient
form of art the world's ever known.

- Tragedy?
- What, you don't think so?

I like comedies.
'Ya wanna see a movie?

No, Miss Greenstein, I'm sorry.

- Did you get my note?
- I did. - And?

It was very clever of you
to write it in Latin.

With the repeated use of the
passive periphrastic?

- It was quite propagate.
- And how I was sending up Cicero

with all those alliterative adjectives
thrusting themselves into the verbs?

- None of this was lost on me.
- So?

Miss Greenstein,

you are very, very bright and
very profession in your way,

But there are certain rules,
mores (mawr-eyz), if you will,

lines that we don't cross.

(Laughs) Ah, ha.

I'm not joking, actually, and I'm gonna
ask you in the future to refrain...

No! No, no, no... No!
Please, don't do that!

I'm gonna ask you to open
that door, Miss Greenstein.

Lingua sed torpet, tenuis sub artus
[But my tongue becomes immobile]

Flamma demanat, sonitu suopte
[A thin flame goes down under my weak limbs]

Catullus 51, the Lesbia
cycle, yes. However,

Oh, no, no, no!
Abs... Absolutely not!

Miss Greenstein!

This is not good for either of us!

No, Miss Greenstein! No!
Restrain yourself!

Oh! Oh! Excuse me! Um... I... I... I...

Maggie! Mag... Maggie! Please don't go.
Miss Greenstein was just leaving.

- Maggie. Absolutely nothing.
- You don't have to say anything.

I would never...
She... She... She went and just puh!

They're all in love with you.
Just like Harvard.

Who told you that?

This is the classics department. No one is
more gossipy than you people.

Ok, I am going to Cambridge in
the morning. It's just a lunch.

I don't wanna know.

We don't deal in crystal meth.
We don't deal in cocaine.

Not your rock stuff or your powder.

We don't do nothing ya gotta cook up
in a spoon and shoot into your arm.

Pills? Pharmaceuticals?
Hell, no, by and large.

Maybe, well, maybe the black molly's
gonna pass through these hands

on his way to somewheres else, just
on account of the fact I used to like

pop in high school, 'cuz I had
to get my homework done.

But that's generally where
we draw the line.

No, sir. We deal in 100% pure
Oklahoma grown, exclusive. Why?

Because I ain't gonna blow my house up
mixing up antihistamines into dynamite.

And, spiritually, I don't
cotton to somethin'

that's gotta pass
through a needle.

Chemicals, well, I just don't like 'em.

My people was bootleggers
before all this.

It was a backyard operation.
They did it natural.

Little bit more of a science nowadays.
I will grant ya that.

You say you changed your mind,
getcha up north.

- He mentioned Texas.
- Texas ain't gonna happen.

Dick, we don't wanna sell in Texas.

Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri.

I ain't interested.

He say you'd better get your
mind around being interested.

Meaning what?

Meaning your choice is to expand your
business, or we shut you down entire.

Then how you gonna pay your debt?

- Well, what happened to Fat Back?
- Arrested last week.

- And the Rawls feller up in Liberty Mans?
- Blowed his house up.

Oh, see, that's.. that
what I'm talkin' about.

Well, it's tough times.

Well, ain't it the truth.

Used to be, you could get a couple
of trip wires, a couple of booby traps,

a good set of dogs,
you pay off your local constable,

and you just live out on the property.

Feed her a little 13-13-13 fertilizer,
like growing summer beans.

Even the war on drugs passed us by.

Course, now they come up
with the war on terror.

Not that I ain't interested in the travails
of a small-time drug dealer,

- Oh, you calling me small-time?
- We gotta make it to Tulsa.

Do you know that I was the first grower
in the State that ever employed hydroponics?

What's hydroponics?

Germinating the seed in water,
you shit-for-brains.

Do you know how many
generations of hybridization

I've had to do to get my
top three varietals?

There is a goddamn reason
I grow the best!

- Enough, Brady. What's it gonna be?
- Pug wants his money!

Well, If I'd a known about a timetable,
we'd have been doing that.

Shut your face about a timetable.
He's offering you a way out.

You sure as shit better take it,

or he's gonna bust up in your
glory hole, like nobody's business.

We should turn it loose.

I ain't gonna manufacture or purvey

anything that I won't ingest into my
own sweet self. Lookit here.

How you gonna call that
a controlled substance?

- Well, the government do.
- Look at the bud structure on it.

The crystal density, the smell of them
terpenes. You can't synthesize that.

That is nature's delivery
system for goodness,

distilled into a pure form.

It glides down into your belly,
and blooms into a feeling of peace,

in this world beset by evil.

That world is gonna be there, no matter
how much grass you smoke.

Now, look here. You wanted to build
the fucking Taj Mahal to hydroponics.

- Well?
- And you done it.

But you know what you
was gettin' into with him,

and he sure as shit
ain't goin' away.

Brady!

My mind's workin' on it.

Well, I sat down in the
closet, with all my overalls

Tryin' to get away from
all the ears inside my walls

Dreamed the police heard
everything I thought... what then?

Well, I went to court and the
judge's name was Hoffman

- Howdy, Sharon. Where's she at?
- Oh, she's in her usual spot.

- Hi, Joe!
- Brady.

...to escape reality

And you may see me
tonight, with an illegal smile

It don't cost very much...

- Hey, mama.
- Oh, hey. Whatcha got there?

Oh... It's a new article on Billy,
and a theory he wrote hisself.

Thank you.

- Ya know, I've been thinkin'.
- Hmm?

Maybe, maybe your daddy
wanted to get killed.

Somehow, I got this picture of him,
runnin' toward a machine gun,

because he'd rather die that way,

than come back to Little Dixie, and
grow old, stare through a window.

Well, seeing how he was on about
every drug imaginable,

I... I wouldn't spend my time
trying to figure out

what was in his head
over 30 years ago.

Do you remember him at all?

I remember smelling weed the
first time... on him.

Well, that certainly had its impact.

Daisy, why... why don't you
come home with us

and live with me and
Colleen for awhile?

- Colleen and me.
- Colleen and me.

What's your version
of proper grammar?

Rhythm, maybe.
Dumb Dutch question.

You're 12 years younger than
anyone in here. This is ridiculous!

I like it here. I can do what I want,

and I'm not eager to get stranded when you
get yourself killed or taken back to prison.

Mama, Colleen is pregnant.

You don't say?

I've been dying to tell 'ya!

Ahhh, well, I'm happy for you.

Well, how 'bout you?
You're gonna be a grandma.

Are you gonna be a husband?

I ain't dead.

Your father was a freaked-out
genius who wasted his life.

He could have done anything.

Got a higher IQ than your brother,
and he just passed you by.

I... I... I ain't tryin'
to keep up with Billy.

I ain't him, and he ain't me.

Mama, I like who I am just fine.

You think I'll see him again before I die?

I think it's gonna take one of us dying
to get him to come back down here.

Well, nice sittin' with ya.

Gorgeous.

This is wonderful. I... I... I almost
never eat out in Providence.

Ya know, now and then on Federal Hill,
but not nearly enough.

I hear your book on Marcus Aurelius
has the whole community astir.

- Oh, thanks.
- Which press was that again? -Oxford.

But they did your translation
of the Menaechmi last year.

They did. They've been terrific.

Plautus. How do you find the time?

Well, I don't have a life.

I read some biographical material
on you last week, Bill.

You, ah, you come from
humble beginnings.

I do, yea.

- Where was it? Omaha?
- Oklahoma.

Oh, why don't you, ah,
why don't you have an accent?

With some considerable
effort, I lost it.

- Your father was a bootlegger.
- It was my grandfather, actually.

- Fantastic.
- Why fantastic?

I don't know. So many of us were
trained for this life.

Fancy private schools,
parents in academia.

I'm always astounded by those
who made their own way.

Oh, thank you. I, ah, my
family is a bit eccentric.

I found discipline in books.

Well, you're probably wondering
why Dean Sorenson is here.

Bill, we'd like to offer you
a position in the Law School.

You can't be serious?

We've been wanting to incorporate
more philosophy into the curriculum,

and when we got wind of your hesitancy
in transferring up from Brown in Classics,

we came up with the idea
of letting you create

your own institute
for our law students.

I, ah, don't even know how to begin to
respond. That is such a precipitous offer.

Savor it. Digest it.

Moments like this come
too seldom in life.

I, ah, I'll say.

We all want you here, Bill.
You've crafted your career diligently.

It makes absolute sense
as your next step.

You've a dollop of japeno.

Mmm, honey, that's better,
you're the best.

Thank you, Brady.

- Look how sexy you look.
- I do not. - You do.

How long the doctor give me till I
got to throw up that old detour sign?

Well, just wait till I'm
done with these dishes.

Oh, well, push that... Gonna put
you right on the burner. Bring it, electric!

Comin' at ya. Dug in
and comin' at ya.

Hello?

Well, can I ask who's calling?

Can I ask what this is about?

Because I'm the girlfriend
he's fixin' to marry, is why.

- Who is it? Who is it?
- Some fellow named Pug.

- I'll take it in the back there.
- It better not be...

It ain't, it ain't.
It's a man about a truck.

Hey, Brady!

- Hey, Pug. How are y...
- [indistinct] down there, Brady?

- Ooh, oh, ah, yes we did.
- They told you I needed an answer?

Yes, sir, they made that pretty
clear. I was just hopin'...

I want to see you tomorrow evening.

- Well, tomorrow night's gonna be...
- You heard me, Brady!

- Yea? - Bolger! - Hey, buddy.
- Pug just called me.

Pug called you hisself?

Yea, he want us up there.

- What does he want?
- No, he want to see us.

- You gonna change...?
- No, I ain't changin' my mind one bit.

- I don't like this at all, Brady.
- Well, we just gonna have to

be ready to deal then
and come what may.

You know me, I'm gonna
be up there with ya.

I'll see ya.

Hello?

Lola who?

Ah, ah, ah, hang on, hang on.

How did you get this number?

Hi, did that man get a hold of you?

He did, yea.

He said it was an emergency, so I...

You did the right thing, thanks.

Was there something else?

Is everything all right?

Well, my brother's been murdered.

Bill, that's awful!

I didn't even know
you had a brother!

How?

He got shot with a crossbow.

I beg your pardon?

They're inexplicably popular
where I come from.

Was it an accident?

No, because then it
wouldn't be a murder.

Ah, oh, I don't know even know what...
When was the last time you saw him?

Um, it had been a long time.

What will you do?

Well, ah, I suppose I
have to go home.

What brings you to Tulsa?

Pardon? Oh, ah, family matter.

I was gonna say, because
nobody visits Oklahoma, ya know,

and it's one of those states where you
live there, maybe you got business there,

but you don't see people
coming for the attractions.

- Right.
- What do ya do?

I, ah, I write and teach.
I'm a professor.

- Of?
- Classical Philosophy.

There's not too much
use for that these days.

Humanity hasn't changed
that much, actually.

Do you have family in Tulsa?

No, no. Idabel.

Little Dixie?

I hope it's not tragedy
that brings you back.

- It is for someone.
- I'm sorry. - Thanks

I'm an orthodontist.

Was, I mean. Will be again.

Have you had work done?

- No, no, actually, I haven't.
- Yea, I can.. I can tell.

You got a nice face, though.

Thanks.

- Ken Feinman
- Bill Kincaid

- You have kids, Bill?
- No

I'm starting out
all over. Yea.

People don't realize it, but it's...
it's tough to break in, and you get

most of your business, ya know,
through your kids' school, in your church,

synagogue, in my case, ya know,

but it's tough, I mean the costs
of a practice these days

is just, ah, it's
downright humiliating.

Honestly, it's
downright humiliating.

- Hmm, yea, I believe you.
- We were living in Manhattan,

but, ah, I grew up in Tulsa, so,
ya know, we just moved back.

Are there a lot
of Jews in Tulsa?

That's.. that's what..
that's what everyone asks,

but.. but there are. No, it's...

it's a small community,
but very cohesive,

and, ya know, the pull
was unimaginable.

Kenny, do you see
the man is reading?

I don't think he wants
to sit and listen to you

chronicle the evolution
of Tulsa Jewry.

I'll let you get back
to your reading.

Thanks.

It's a little embarrassing.
I don't.. don't mean to be..

It's just, ah, if you've got
family down there.

- Ya know, nieces and nephews...
- I don't.

I mean, if you did or,
you know...

It's, ah, it's.. it's not too far away,

- and, ah, you know, I do great work.
- I.. I know you do.

I never take accidental
encounters for granted.

- Kenny! Kenny!
- So... I'm gonna run.

- Rick Bolger
- Hey, Rick.

-Folks call me Bolger.
- Nice to meet ya.

Man! You sure do
look like him.

I think that's what they
mean by identical.

Your brother was
a great friend to me.

I... I hadn't seen him
in awhile, but.. thanks.

- You ain't got no bags?
- No, that's it.

Nice to meet you.

My wildest dreams grow
wilder every day

There's nothing I can
think or do or say

I ain't been up here in awhile.
I was gonna stay in a hotel.

Where'd ya go?

Found me a dead-end in a
construction site near the airport.

Laid out, counting stars. Crazy how
much building they got goin' on up there.

Folks just don't take to the
country no more, I guess.

You figure?

Mystery...

I swear I'll get it right

My wildest dreams grow
wilder every day

I'm wonderin' just how far
my mind can stray

Just how wild is too
high a price to pay

You need a drink or anything?

Comin' up on Broken Bow.
Can stop off at the Me Tote Em.

Sure.

Me Tote?

Oh! I almost forgot.
This here is your brother's.

I don't know if you want it.

You're shittin' me.

Buddy!

You clean up nice.

How's that?

Where's the tux from?

Oh, God, no, no, wait a second,
wait a second. You, you...

- Where's Bolger at? - He's around back,
but I'm... I'm not who you think I am.

- Oh, you're not?
- No, you don't know me.

Oh, well, what I wanna know is what
you're doin' up here in Broken Bow,

when we don't want
you in Broken Bow?

Um, it's my mistake.
I'm... I'm just gonna leave.

Yea, well, not till Buddy
gets here, you won't.

Buddy?

Calm down! Calm down!

- Keep it up, Brady.
- I'm his brother! I'm not... Ohhhh! Ohhhh!

You don't wanna be comin' up north,
where you ain't got no tripwires,

or booby traps, and hos you done bribed.

Maybe even sell your souped-up turbo
grass to whoever you... [Gunshot]

- I wondered where you was at.
- Don't seem like too fair a fight.

Well, nobody asked you two
to come up north, neither.

Well, we had some business
to take care of up in Tulsa.

- I heard somethin' about that.
- What you heard?

Heard that Brady here
owes Pug a lot of money.

Will you explain this, please.

The less you say to these two
fuckin' inbreds, the better.

Heard he thinks you're gonna expand
business down to our Little Dixie.

- The young pussy already said.
- How 'bout I say THIS!

How ya feelin'?

- Brady?
- Hey, buddy.

What the hell is goin' on?

Well, I think Sally got razor happy.

- What? Are you out of your mind?
- Okay, easy now.

Hold on to him, now. Hold on.

- No, let go of me! Let me go!
- Not until you calm down, he won't!

You had him tell me you were dead?
With a fucking crossbow?

Well, all right,
I'm sorry 'bout that,

but there were no other way for me
to get you to come down here.

Ow! Ow! Ahhh...
Down here for what?

- I'm gettin' married.
- As if I care. What kind of excuse is that?

And I'm having a baby.
You're gonna be an uncle.

Who... Who would be dumb enough
to have a child with you?

I would.

You remember the Dentons?
On Luminus back home?

- Colleen Denton?
- You remember.

I babysat you when
we were in high school.

You was my favorite. You used
to sit in the kitchen reading books.

I got to watch all the TV I wanted,
as long as I kept the door shut.

You were reading Shakespeare sonnets
when I was going to sleep.

And now you're gonna
marry this pothead?

- No, he's not no more.
- Ah, leaving all that behind.

Oh, oh, yea, I can see the
evidence for that everywhere.

I get to keep on smokin' till my baby comes,
and then it's cold turkey on that, too.

But me and Bolger's gonna smoke
till the bottom drops out, ain't we?

Oh, what a... what a great time.

Anyway, you know what? I wanna leave
as quickly and painlessly as possible.

- Hang on. Just stay through the weekend.
- No. - You could go see mom.

Look, Brady, I am leaving. What... What you
did here is cruel and irresponsible

and exactly why I stay away.

No. You... You know I read every
goddamn article you write.

I read 50 pages on the interpretation
of one word in Aristol.

Sat there the whole fucking
day with a dictionary,

and not the Merriam Webster,
either, the motherfucking OED.

Ain't 20 people in the world
read that whole piece, I'll bet,

and you're lookin' at one of 'em.

What do you... What do you want, Brady?
I mean, what do you fuckin' want?

I just want to see my brother,
who I love. What's the crime?

Why couldn't you pick up the phone, and
call me, and just ask me to come down,

- like anyone normal person?
- Because when I do, you never call me back.

And, if you did, you'd just
say no. Am I lying?

- Well, am I lying?
- No. No, you're not.

- Wow... We ain't bad people, Billy.
- I know you're not.

You know mom put
herself in a home?

- A rest home?
- She did. - Jesus.

You want her to die down here, and
you don't even come to say goodbye.

- Is she still using drugs?
- Just go see her and find out for yourself.

I can't. I c.. I.. I.. I just
can't. I can't go and...

What the hell did any of us ever
do that made you hate us this way?

I don't hate you.
I really don't. I just...

And.. And where you're from don't
matter to ya? Your family?

Your own fuckin' brother?

Look, I try to live my life with a
purposeful measure of control.

I adhere to certain philosophic tenets
that were laid down centuries ago

by some very
introspective thinkers.

I'm talking about three
fucking days in Idabel.

Son of a bitch.

Ok, look, I will stay through the
weekend. But then I'm out of here.

Do you understand?

Hey! Hey, don't you
fuck around. Stop! Jesus!

God! I think he thought
we were selling dime bags.

What is all this?

Well, let me enlighten
you on a point or two.

It all starts in the mama room.
Ya got your young'uns over here,

your juvies, and your
adults in the back.

All these lights are sodium-vapor.

Portalux HP 1000 watts

Incandescent's got too much
far red in the spectrum.

Makes the plant grow
too tall on the stem,

and the leaves get all nine,
and the whole thing just keels over.

Plus, it reduces the potency,
which is definitely not what we want.

Now, LED's gettin'
to be all the rage

'cause it's cooler and
saves ya on power costs, but...

I'm a sodium-vapor man!

Ya know, we got your
electronic digital balance

Hey, raise 'er up, Bolger!

- Who built all this?
- Me and Bolger.

Had a few buddies help
us with the heavy liftin'.

Your brother designed
every bit of it.

The horticultural part.

Quonset, ah, comes in a fuckin' catalog kit.
Grade-schoolers could've assembled it.

We should've got a contractor
to pour the pad,

but we couldn't likely hire
one of those, could we?

- And, and, what... what are all these?
- Oh, NFT Spiral System. - NFT?

Yea, nutrient film technique.

No soil in there. These pipes
are filled with hydroclay.

It's like an expanded clay aggregate,
supports the active capillaries.

It's just that and coconut husks,
if you can believe that shit.

No acid, no alkaline in the base,
totally sterile medium.

You're lookin' at cell generation
of hybridization cloning,

through all my special
little children.

And we feed ya good,
too, don't we?

Pump the nutrients, see, up into the
medium from underneath.

Big Bud, Connoisseur, Nirvana, Jungle
Juice, Tarantula, the whole shitteroo.

You're looking at the
motherfuckin' state of the art.

I don't know what to say.

You hear that, Bolger, we
rendered him speechless! Huh!

- You wanna try some?
- No

I make my living with my mind,
and, so, I like to keep it clear.

I forgot who I was talking to.

Traveling through his
optic space-time. Shit.

Let's go sit on the back porch.
I've got a new varietal.

I really gotta give her a test drive.

Now, I read an article you wrote in
the New York Review of Books,

- 'bout a fellow called Heidegigger.
- Heidegger?

That's the one.
What kind of name is that?

Oh, it was a review of a book exploring
Jacques Lacan's take on Heidegger.

Exactly! That right there is what I
don't understand about y'all! I mean...

Y'all ever... hardly ever
write about a topic!

I mean, you write about what some
other fellow wrote about the topic.

So, so Heidegger's got some idea, and then
some, some French guy's got a take on that,

then you write a review of that,

and some other fellow's gonna come
along and on and on and on and on.

You very neatly explained
academia, Brady.

So, I'll write and say for all y'all.

It's just called,
"What the Fuck's the Point"?

Ya know what? I think this is
right about where I leave.

Come on, come on.

- Give you a tug on that.
- I said no.

You used to do this more'n I did.
You couldn't get enough of it.

Well, I just don't do it anymore.

Oh, I know you want some.
It's written all over your face.

Look, the shit I grow is better than
anything you're gonna taste anywhere.

Makes that Jamaica shit we
used to buy taste like tobacco.

Oh, I'll bet it does.

A tiny taste. A little, little,
bitty, ole taste. Just.. Taste!

Fine, fine. Fuck, I don't believe I'm
doing this. This is so fucking stupid!

When was the last time you did it?

- Graduate school.
- I'll bet this is gonna lay you out.

- You remember the first time? With ma?
- I remember.

[Both] Fucking ridiculous.

I guess she just figured we were
gonna find out on our own, anyway.

I... I don't wanna know
what she was thinking about.

Oh, come on, give it a real pull there.

Now, how many buds are you
gonna smoke that's that

smooth after you ain't done
it in a number of years?

I've been lengthening the maturing
process more in the Dutch tradition,

- and I got just the right amount of resin.
- Wow!

Ooohhh! Now we're cookin'.

So, anyways, I seem
to recall you didn't..

you didn't think too much
of this fellow, Heidegigger.

What? No, he was a fucking fascist.
He... He held down the National Socialists.

All right, but this article was about
logic and... and truth, and

about him and some other fellow
related to, uh...

- Analytic philosophy.
- What was it? - Analytic philosophy.

Analytic philosophy.
Analytic philosophy.

There was one word I didn't know.
I had to look it up. Epista...

- Epistemology.
- Epista what? - Epistemology.

Epistemology, bingo, bingo.

Why are we talking about this?

Just solving problems.

Just solving problems.

Like... Like, when all of a sudden,
you get hit with a answer,

to a mess you've been in,

and as soon as it hit ya, ya can't hardly
believe ya didn't think of it before.

What is it you want, Brady?

- Here, git ya another pull on that.
- No, I'm fucking euthanized.

Go on, now.
Go on!

All right, now, here's the thing.

All that equipment you see
out yonder. It was expensive.

So I had to go see this Jew up in
Tulsa, who's kinda in the business.

- What do ya mean, he's in the business?
- Well, the dope dealing business.

A Jew in the business?
How do ya know he's a Jew?

Well, he... Trust me, he's a Jew.

Well, what does that mean?
He has a Jewish last name?

He's a goddamn Jew!

- Don't be anti-Semitic.
- Anti what? - Anti-Jew.

I ain't anti-Jew!
I loves everybody!

Oh, Jesus! So, okay, he's a
dope dealer. So what...

Well, he's not really a dealer. He's...
He's a little more upstream than that,

but I've been his main supplier of grass.

- I still don't see...
- Will ya listen? Ya just..

Ya know, ya never listen!

Okay, okay, fine, I'm listening.

I need you to be me.

What?

Down here, just like we
used to back at home,

while I go up there and
figure out this whole situation.

No fucking chance, Brady.

Well, look, I've got this one
figured. It's so simple.

All you gotta do is go and visit mom.

You don't think mom is gonna know
the difference between you and me?

It ain't about mom, goddamn it.
It's the sheriff. It's he we're gonna fool.

We don't even look alike, anymore.
Has that occurred to you?

Bolger said when you walked into
that Me Tote Em, it took all of

five seconds for them boys to figure
out it was me with a shave and haircut.

- Which is why he took me to Broken Bow.
- He said you wanted to go.

Brady, Brady, I swear
to God, even for you...

Well, that might have
been Bolger's idea,

but I didn't know nothing about
it till you all showed up here.

And let me tell you something else.
We're going back up to Broken Bow,

and we're gonna whip some country ass.

No, no, you're not.

Started without us?

Well, you know you can't have
none of this good stuff.

I know, but I'm being polite.
The rest of 'em came.

That is so weird.

Oh, Janet, this is my dear brother, Bill.
Bill, this is our good friend, Janet.

- Hi, I'm Bill. - You havin' a smoke?
- Oh, I wa... I was, yea.

- Oh, uh, do you want some?
- Oh, I'm gonna get a beer, thanks.

Yea, I... I... I usually
don't, either. I... I...

Actually, actually,
I never do. I... I'm...

It's all right. Nobody
can say no to Brady.

Mojo, I got the mojo.

I kinda forgot.

So, Bolger says you're a famous,
what was it you said, Bolger?

- A famous thinker.
- A famous thinker.

- He's real famous.
- In certain esoteric circles, aught maybe.

And they pay you for that?

Well, I... I... I lecture,
and I... I teach. I am a professor.

- I was just fuckin' with you.
- Ah, you're... Yea... - Nice to meet you.

Go ahead, get in the coda.

- She's a poet. - What?
- Seriously, she writes fuckin' poetry.

And she's the ladies
noodling champion of '05.

125 pounds of catfish, in under 10 hours,
with nothing but her bare hands.

I tried to get her and Colleen
in a three-way once,

but wouldn't neither of 'em go for it.

- I'm... I'm leaving on Sunday, you do
understand that, right? - I understand that.

- I am not gonna participate...
- No, no, we'll talk about that later.

Hey, Bolger, crank her up, man!

All this happened in one day.

Almost everything that has happened here
has only served to vindicate why I stay away.

Oh, come on. Don't tell me that goblet of
goodness in your hand hadn't made ya happy.

No, even that, whatever it actually is.

That's Ambrosia, Billy.
That's pure Ambrosia.

Oh, ride the blue wind high and free,
she'll lead you down through misery,

Leave you low, come time to go,
alone and low as low can be.

Well, if I had a nickel, I'd find a game.
If I won a dollar, I'd make it rain.

If it rained an ocean, I'd drink it dry,
lay me down dissatisfied.

Oh, legs to walk and thoughts to fly,
eyes to laugh...

- So, where do you live now?
- Mmm, Providence, Rhode Island.

- Why, why would you come back here?
- It's where I wanna write.

- I teach for money. - Is it a college?
- High school, here in town.

High school?

I tried the tenure track,
but college students are already

too culturally informed.
Closes their minds.

How come there aren't more
girls, like you, writing Hugo?

Maybe they don't know
how to look.

Well, you... you teach... English?

- I do.
- Hmm...

- My mother used to do that for awhile.
- She must be very proud of you.

- I haven't talked to her in quite awhile.
- Why not?

That is a very complicated subject.

- You're some world-famous thinker?
- Har... Hardly

Some minorly famous thinker?

- And you don't let your mother enjoy that?
- That's correct.

It's not good to have unresolved
problems with your mother.

- Why? - Because some day, she'll
be gone. Then where will you be?

- Probably the same place I am right now.
- Exactly.

- You're smart.
- You aren't as smart as you think you are.

Well, hey, I just got tricked by
my dope-dealing brother.

We all get tricked some time or other.

- Mmm, I don't think so. - No?
- No - Why?

A combination of what you've been
smoking and what I'd do with you.

You'd never recover.

I'll do my best.

I'm goin' home.

Well, can't light a cake.
Can... could we just like, um...

I mean, we were, we were
kind of lost... having a hug.

I'm going noodling tomorrow,
if you want to tag along.

My brother said that
you did that.

Sweet dreams.

Here you go.

Check out the best part.

- Holy shit!
- This here's why I keep it alive.

- Wait a minute. Some of these
are from our room. - Oh, yea.

Yup, a few more I picked up along the
road, but all originals. Ain't no knockoffs.

- Wow
- Now sit you down.

Ain't that the coup de grace?
I got her off from Taylor in Ponca City,

before me and Colleen hooked up.
That was my deal closer, baby.

If Colleen knew what went on in that
bed, she'd never let me [indistinct].

- Lovely. - Let's get you somethin'
for that buzz you got workin'.

- Hey! Remember this?
- You still goin' with vinyl, huh?

Oh, hell, yea! I don't go in for no digital.
They can't improve a phono classics man.

- Come on, lay you down.
- Lie down.

- Now you sound like mom.
- Sorry.

Lady in a turban, a cocaine tree

- How's that for a lullaby [indistinct].
- Ahhh...

Does a dance so rhythmically

Hey, don't think that this
means that I'm in any way...

We ain't gonna talk
about that right now.

Having a time

I'm just glad you're here, Billy.

Cocaine tree lookin' fine

Gotta put on your sailin' shoes.

Put on your sailin' shoes

Everyone will start to cheer

When you put on your sailin' shoes

Doctor, doctor, ahhh

Oh, cut it out.

How ya feelin', professor?

- Mmmm, what did you do?
- Well, I bumped into some clippers.

Hmm, feels weird.

- Whaddya think?
- Ahhh...

- Oh, God. What time is it?
- It's time to get up.

Here, I bought you a few
things. Put 'em on.

What? Why?

Remember that thing we were
talkin' about [indistinct].

- No, no, Brady. That's... that's
just not gonna work. - Why?

Well, for one thing,
because you've given

yourself the stupidest
haircut in human history.

Oh, bullshit, you ain't that fancy.
Can't hardly tell the difference.

No, I'm... I'm sorry, I never said...

Haven't I fixed you up with Janet?
And then you like her?

My opinion of her is totally unrelated
to your infantile scheme.

You listen!

I ain't foolin'. You gotta help me,
because if I don't get up to Tulsa,

I'm gonna be in some real trouble.

Then go up to Tulsa.
Why do I have to...

Because some shit might
happen in Tulsa to where I...

Where... Where you would rather be seen
down here, so that you're not implicated in

whatever typically insane
criminal behavior that you intend.

No fucking way!

All I'm askin' you to do
is go and see mom.

That one little good deed.
That's all.

Well, it's not a good deed,
and I really don't wanna see mom.

You come all the way down here!

No! No! You tricked me
into coming, actually.

Oh! Please! It's...
It's so simple!

All you gotta do is walk
into a fucking rest home

and see your own mother you ain't
seen in 12 years, for God knows why!

I don't know why you wanna
pass a pig eatin' a bear claw.

They don't call them that anymore.

- What? - Nope! They aren't called
pigs anymore. That's exactly...

Called the police.

How do you even know
that he'll be there?

'Cuz he's got a shine on his heifer
who sits behind the desk.

All you gotta do is walk in and say,
"Hi, ya, Sharon. I'm goin' to see my ma."

And don't say another fuckin' word.
And just walk on by.

That is the most ridiculous alibi.

All anyone would have to do is find out that
you have a twin and that I was down here.

When we ever been busted before?
You took tests for me all the time.

- And I let you go on dates as me.
- No, I did that one time when we were 16.

- And she guzzled your custard, didn't she?
- I have felt bad about that ever since.

Come on, Billy.
I'm trying to change my life here.

- Fucking hell.
- I'm asking, as your brother.

Ugg.. I just walk by.

I got kicked off of Noah's Ark
I turn my cheek to unkind remarks

There was two of everything
but one of me

- Say, ain't it Saturday?
- Yeah, so?

Think the Jews is in church Saturdays.
You know where it's at?

- Can't we look it up?
- What if it's more'n one?

There can't be more than one.

- Can I ask you a question?
- Shoot

Do you believe in a higher power?

Yea, I do. I do. It's the only
way to make sense of all this.

Otherwise, it's just pure fucking chaos.

Like, the world was created by Him,
and He judges what we do?

No, I think it's more
like, like parallel lines.

Parallel lines?

Ya know, like two lines go on and on
forever and don't ever touch.

Yea

'Cept, 'cept they don't
actually exist in nature.

And man can't create no true parallel.
It's just more of a concept.

I learned that shit in
high school geometry.

Ah huh

Well, that concept, that perfection...

We know it exists,
and we think about it.

But we can't never
get there ourselves.

I think that right there is God.

- You ready? - For what?
- Come on over here.

- Jesus!
- You just gonna stand there?

You have a spiritual aversion
to monofilament?

This is the way it was done
a thousand years ago.

I think I can understand that.

You still leavin' tomorrow?

I think so.

- I'll miss you.
- And we barely even know each other.

You have not known what you are.

You have slumbered upon
yourself all your life.

Your eyelids have been the same
as closed most of the time.

What you have done returns
already in mockeries.

The mockeries are not you.

Underneath them and within
them, I see you lurk.

- Who is that?
- Walt Whitman

I don't think I ever imagined
hearing him recited to me by a

girl getting a 40-pound catfish.

That's exactly how he should be recited.
He wrote without rhyme or meter.

Free verse... just
whatever he felt inside,

coming out in his own intricate rhythm.

Pure, unashamed passion,
without definable restriction.

- I'm sorry, see, I ha.. have a few
issues with that. - Why?

Because some have dared to suggest
that even poetry has rules.

Or you make your own.

Right there, that's the
part I never bought into.

- Because? - Because if everybody runs
around, making their own rules,

how can you find what's true?

There's nothing... There's
nothing to rely on.

One night,

I [indistinct],

devoured your leaves,

knowing no poison,
no love nourishment

in that larval blindness,
a hunger finally true.

- Who's that?
- That's me.

Maybe what's true is in front of us,

and we're moving toward it
without even knowing it's there.

Once you think you've got it all solved,

what's left?

Don't get any fish innards on me, okay?

Shut up.

So, what is the Halakhah?

It's the law.

It's the path we follow
in our daily lives.

It comprises those rituals that
make our lives complete.

Without them, the violence and
anarchy of the world prevail.

When Moses talks with
God on Sinai,

the Jews abandoned the law,

and danced ecstatically
before the calf,

forgetting the one who brought
them out of Egypt.

My friends, in every generation,
we are threatened

with chaos and slavery and despair.

And then this... this spirit
and confusion.

Halakhah allows refuge in a
world we can't explain.

Violence, anarchy

in which the workings of justice may falter,
there is a larger and deeper coherence.

Who the fuck is that?

To know this with certainty
is to belief as a Jew.

Without law, we are lost

Fuckin' faggot.

in an arid wasteland.
No good to each other.

Not this mess

No good to our God.

- Shabbat Shalom
- AUDIENCE: Shabbat Shalom

So, I would like to thank
the Taubmann family

for the beautiful flowers
that adorn our bema,

and please join us after the
Musaf service for Kish [fades out]

- Thanks for doing this.
- Happy to.

All right.

- You sure you don't wanna come in?
- I'll be waitin' right over there.

But will look kindly later on boys who
sort shit out with their mamas.

How do I look?

Well, hi ya, Sharon, just
goin' to see my mom.

Officer

Oh, oh, oh, ah! Whoa! Whoa!
Whoa! Whoa! Wait! Wait!

Oh, okay, okay, hang on, man!

No, no, not a word from you, Brady,
you hear, you're just gonna listen.

The staff here, they found your
mama smokin' pot the other day.

Now she's a crazy lady, don't
even belong in here,

but it wouldn't do nobody no
good to put her away.

The only reason I ain't
haulin' you in is 'cuz

I ain't got proof it was
you give it to her.

As soon as I do, we gonna get on
your property and we gonna

find every last ounce of that super
charged grass you're growin' out there.

I don't care how many money men you're
payin' off. You understand?

Yessir.

You ain't foolin' a soul
by cleanin' up.

I know just what you is.

That ain't at all what I asked you.

I asked you why you was supposed
to be here three days ago,

and you just walk in here now?

We just had some business back at home
we had to take care off, is all.

I heard you made an appearance
in Broken Bow.

Well, I just stopped in at
the Me Tote Em, there.

My girl wanted some licorice.

Everybody knows those Fuller boys
work out of the Me Tote Em.

Even the police know that.

She wanted the licorice.

I sure hope my money's in Yonder Bay.

Well, that's just the thing.

Either that, or you got samples of what
you goin' be up to down there.

Don't tell me you done interrupted
my day of rest.

To other shit, I got no interest makin'
its way between my ears.

We went to the wrong temple at first.

- Temple Jester?
- Over on Utica.

If I wanted to go to church,
I'd be a Krustian.

Might make your life a little easier.

Who says my life ain't easy?

I don't know. Maybe folks ain't
too partial to Jews.

Law would never mark out a
Jew as a dope dealer, neither.

They leave me alone,
by and large.

The way of the world is mysterious,

but every man has his place,
each accordin' to his lights.

That could be.

Shaver and Wendell done presented
to you a deal, Brady.

Uh, opportunity. Now, either you
got my money in that bag,

or we gonna talk about expanding
your situation down there.

Well, I can't do neither.

- Why not?
- I wanna have a family.

I ain't never had a dad myself,
so I aim to be a good one.

So, I'm done. I might be
growin' for myself,

but I ain't gonna be growing
for you or nobody no more.

At least, not in the
selling facet.

So, that's a bag full of money payin' me
back for settin' you up down there.

- Well, now, hear me out, Pug.
- That's gettin' harder,

because of all the shit I'm listenin' to.

Okay, look. Me and Bolger. We gonna
take that whole operation

that you paid for, we gonna
haul it up to Broken Bow.

We gonna set it up, turn
it over to the Fuller brothers.

I'm gonna teach them
everything I know.

You can take Bobby Fuller and brain,
and stick it in the head of a cat,

that animal will keel
over and die.

- Me and Bolger will do whatever it takes.
- Who is paying me back?

I'm working on that, but you ain't never
said nothing about a timetable.

- Ohhh! It has been over a year, hadn't it?
- Yea, so?

In all that time, have you heard
me ask you for a nickel?

In all those 12 months?

No, but you and me both know I've
been selling you at a cut rate.

Ohhh! So! Now you
want me to be nice!

Well, I guess I do. What the fuck
is wrong with that?

Brady, my people been kicked out of
near every country on this planet.

My granddaddy came here, because
of the pogroms in Russia.

He traveled all over the South,
selling czachkers out of a wagon,

because nobody else wanted the job

of taking a wagon 50 miles a day.

Jews got good with money, because
Krustians didn't wanna touch it.

Now, Krustians say, Jews
got all the money.

I wonder how that happened?

I give nearly every cent I make
to the State of Israel,

because Israel is where we put our
foot down, and we said no more.

We ain't gonna be took
advantage of no more!

I would just like a little
more fucking time.

Well, ya know what I'd like?

I'd like everybody in the world to call me
a cocksucker and give me a dollar!

Why is that?

Because that way I'd be rich and
everybody'd love me!

Shaver, check that pickle. And if they ain't
got my money, kill those sons-of-bitches!

Now, Pug, it ain't gotta go this way.

Oh, bring it on, sonny.

You tricked me, motherfucker!
I sure as shit gonna bleed.

All right, shit! All right, shit!

Get the spray paint!

Because Jesus is a loving and forgiving God,

He don't care where you've been.
He don't care whatcha done.

He just wants to love ya up, and
wants you to do the same to him.

Ya know, He was there
when you was born,

and He just wants you back
again before you perish.

He loves ya and holds ya
and He comforts ya,

and gives ya everlasting rest,

because Jesus is a compassionate God.

Brings to mind the story of the old
man who's walking down the beach,

He stops and he's just... he's just
takin' in the glory of the creation.

And, suddenly he realizes there's somebody
behind him, and he turns, and he looks,

and it's Jesus!

And he says, "Lord, Lord, if..."

Are you listenin' to this bullshit?

Hey, Mom.

Billy?

Well, you've got a nice view.

I like watching the storms come in.

You used to get so scared of 'em.

Do ya still?

I don't think anything like that
scares me anymore.

If you aren't scared these days,
you aren't alive.

I'm sure many people would agree with you.

Coming here didn't scare you?

- Nah, ah, maybe a little.
- Why?

Ah, I didn't come here to have
that conversation, Daisy.

So, one minute you were there, and
then you were gone. What happened?

No, I'm... I'm serious, I'm really...
really not gonna do this.

Why, Billy?

Billy? Why?

All right. Because we
needed a mother,

and not another friend
to get fucked up with.

- I could be both.
- But you weren't both.

Are you saying that I didn't raise you?

I don't know what the
fuck you were doing.

Reading every book you read,
every paper you wrote,

even when they were beyond me.

I didn't need you to tell me I was smart,

- I needed guidance.
- You never needed anything.

- Brady did!
- You don't have to tell me about Brady.

I... I don't need to be reminded. Don't you
think I know that every time he comes here?

All I ever wanted was a
tiny taste of something

resembling a normal
and rational life.

Where everything's a lie?

Do you know that I actually
went away to school

and took a class in the
culture of the 60s,

just to try to understand
the way you lived?

The... The choices that you made,

just to... to try to make sense out
of all that new freedom,

and... and upheaval
and fucking anarchy?

Ya know, and the... the problem is
you tore everything down,

but you were too lazy to actually
build anything, as an alternative.

As usual, you've got it all figured out.

Am I ever gonna see you again?

I don't know.
I don't think so.

I'm sorry.

Yea, me, too.

They say everything can be replaced.

They say every distance is not near.

So I remember everything
- [indistinct]

- [indistinct]
Of every man who put me here.

I see my light come shinin'

From the west unto the east

Any day now

- He's gonna get here in time.
- Ugh! Brady! Ugh! Oooh!

[indistinct]

Now you tell Buddy, the next time
I slide into Broken Bow,

if Bolger wants to shake a snake,
or if I just want a refreshin' potable,

I expect a little more fucking time...

[Screaming on and on and on]
They say that every man must fall

Yet I swear I see my reflection

Somewhere so high above this wall

Jack Rothbaum, known as
Pug to his friends,

was a controversial figure in
Tulsa's small Jewish community.

An enormous success in the
oil bill equipment business,

he gave millions of dollars
to the State of Israel,

- as well as, other Jewish and
statewide causes. - Uh, oh.

Pug Rothbaum was a man of
generosity and valor.

Every nickel he made, most of it
went to help others,

- Jews, Christians, everyone.
- He didn't. - What?

Our community and the city of
Tulsa have lost a great man.

Indeed, Pug Rothbaum's name adorns buildings
and signs all over our city and state,

including various hospital wings,
his Museum of Indian Heritage,

and this rest stop on the
Will Rogers Turnpike.

Hey, y'all, we're home! Hey, buddy.

- What have you done?
- What's it all about? - This?

One curious aspect of this case is that
the swastikas were drawn backwards,

indicating either haste

or a lack of familiarity with this most
infamous of anti-Semitic emblems

or, perhaps, rather more implausibly,
that Hindus were involved.

I ain't no Hindu!

The guy you owed money to,
a Jew up in Tulsa?

Don't point your finger at me!
I've been with Bolger all day!

Oh! Come! Ugh! Hey, Billy! Hey!

Ah! Calm 'er down now, I don't
want to upset Colleen. I mean it.

- Tell me that you didn't do this.
- He was gonna kill us, and I had no choice.

Ugh, ugh! You... You... You... You go to
the cops and explain things.

You go and hide! You do anything
but that! And... And... What...

What were those swastikas?

Well, those were the symbols that
the Nazis put on all their little trinkets.

I... I... I'm familiar with the
contextual history of the swastika.

Why would you want it to
look like a hate crime?

So it don't look like a drug crime!

Great! Perfect! Just...
just confirm that we're the

rednecked hick state that
everybody thinks we are.

Don't you talk down on Oklahoma!

How? How is it possible that
you are so brilliant,

and so monumentally, selfishly
ignorant at the same time?

Oh, look! When you ever been in a
situation you had to fight your way out of?

Whether it was you or someone else?

I don't put myself in
those kind of situations!

Well, that's the real world, Billy.
I hate to tell ya,

and if you had to kill
someone to protect you

or your own, you'd do
the same thing I done.

I got a baby coming.

I... I... I am leaving tomorrow.

You gonna turn me in?

No. I don't know. I don't know
what I'm going to do!

Listen, listen. This guy. He hauled
drugs all over this state.

- You said he didn't sell.
- He sold to the ones what sold 'em.

All right? Now, he will come
down here to force me

to explain the shit I don't
even wanna talk about.

They're gonna find you,
and you're gonna get killed,

or you're gonna go to jail, and then
where are your wife and kid gonna be?

That's the beauty of it.
Well, I wasn't up there.

I was down here. Remember?

Ah! You asshole!

Do you have any idea
what you're doin' to me?

Son of a bitch!

Billy! Ugh!

- You are going to ruin my life!
- Ain't nobody gonna know! Ugh!

[Phone ringing]

Go answer the phone.

- Colleen'll get it!
- Just answer the fucking phone!

Hello?

No, it ain't. It's his brother.

- Who... Who is it?
- Well, he's right here, I know.

Hello?

- Bill, ah, Nathan Levy.
- Nathan?

Ah... How did.. How did you get this number?

I hope you don't mind. I, ah, spoke to
Maggie Harmon down at Brown.

Is this a bad time?

It's fine. Ah, you know what?
Hang on one second.

Sorry, Nathan, go ahead.

Well, you didn't hear this from me, Bill.
But you're about to be ambushed down there.

- By whom?
- Something about a coed and a poem,

and some other behavior, which I would
rather allow you to infer.

What? You've got to be kidding me.
Nobody would say that.

Apparently there was
a witness, Bill.

Nathan... Nate... Nathan, listen to me.

- That is absurd.
- That's why I'm reaching out.

But until whatever happened
blows over, we can't...

I understand.

- Everything all right?
- No, it isn't.

Now, where can I find the signal for this?

I wrote a poem for you in Latin
for when you got back.

It was incentive of Virgil
in dactylic hexameter,

and it was all about what would happen
if we were together in the [indistinct].

Stop. Inappropriate. I
don't wanna hear it.

So, I was in the library, and Mark Laub
read it over my shoulder.

He site-translated it?
Oh, no, he was really good.

He had like five hortatory subjunctives.

Anne, didn't you tell him that it was just a
fucking poem, that it never happened?

Yes, but he didn't believe me, so
he went to the Department.

I guess he was really pissed about some B+
you gave him on a Lucretius paper last year.

Fucking hell!

- Did you give him a B+?
- I don't remember, Anne.

So, that bitch, Maggie Harmon,
said she caught us that day

- making out with my shirt
off in your office. - Ohhh!

So, I went to her, and I told
her the truth, and I begged her.

But the door was closed, and I was
partially undressed.

And then Professor Lockwood said that,

in a world of phenomena,
appearances are truth.

Going around quoting the cynics.
He's such a fucking lightweight!

- I don't.. I don't wanna hear any more.
- Bill! When are you coming home?

Stop it!
I told you to leave Stacy alone!

She's been on my nerves since Hebrew school.

- Eat shit, Gabe!
- Well, after you eat mine!

Don't you dare speak to anyone
that way, Stacy Feinman!

He cusses all the time!
And so do you!

You both make spectacles
of yourselves back there!

The pizza there sucks compared
to the pizza in New York!

Well, it is the pizza that we have!

And, by the way, did I hear you
ask your mother for money?

Honey, I don't wanna talk about it.

- Don't you have any pride?
- Of course, I do.

- It's your mother!
- We're strangling, Suzie. Strangling!

The credit card bills alone.

- Now, until I get my practice up...
- When? When? - I told you. I told you.

It's when the kids make friends at school,
and we meet the parents.

I hate the kids at school! They suck!
They're a bunch of idiots!

A brutal murder occurred earlier today,
after Mr. Rothbaum attended Sabbath services.

- I said, when?
- Yea, Dad? - Shh! Everyone be quiet!

Sources close to the investigation
say it was a hate crime.

Mr. Rothbaum was last seen alive
at approximately 1:00 pm

by fellow worshippers in
Congregation Nevei Kodesh, here in Tulsa.

I'm supposed to get three kids
out of the car by myself?

Just give me a minute!

Bill Kincaid

Hugo Central High School

Honey! I'm just gonna, ah...
Don't wait up for me!

What?

Well, 180 dollars will limit ya, but it
don't mean you can't put a bullet

in there that's gonna pack a wallop.

I... I really don't need...
need the bullets.

None of my business, friend, but you carry
a firearm, you'd better be ready to use it.

Uh, huh. Well, ah, see, it's... it's
really more for protection.

Now, these here is hollow points.

I... I appreciate that, but, um,
like I said, I... I'm content...

Dog eat dog. You wanna be the
one who's chowin' down.

I really don't... I don't plan to chow down.

I'll just take the gun.

Yup, nope. Well, that's what... honey,
you just got to trust me on this.

Yes, right.

Tomorrow night at the latest.

Just give 'em... Give everyone a big kiss.

And I'm telling you, you was at
that rest home, plain as day.

And Erica. Looked like a choirboy.

So, how could he have been
there, here, and in Tulsa?

He was in Tulsa before
he was here.

This is one big waste of my time.

And I tell you what else! I'd better
not hear about any vigilante bullshit.

And you know why he
would've been in Tulsa?

No, Buddy, educate me!

Because him and Pug Rothbaum was fixin'
to make a lot more than grass down here.

- Who told you that?
- Pug Rothbaum

He was gonna push me and
Jimmy out of Broken Bow.

He was into Pug for more than $200,000
for the equipment in his grow house.

You tellin' me the truth, Buddy?

Ya know, there's... there's rumored to be

excellent noodling in the
rivers around Boston.

How about that.

Something you might want to confirm.

Okay

Hey

You ain't gonna stop off and
see mom one more time?

I don't think so.

Well, I'll see ya when I see ya.

Hello, there.

You have got to be kidding me.

- You know this guy?
- Sort of.

- Well, I'll be damned.
- How can we help ya?

Okay, ah, which of you was it
I met on the airplane?

You! And you murdered Pug Rothbaum!

- Get in the house! Get in the house!
- No! Don't go there! Don't go there!

- Over there!
- Just calm down! Just calm down!

Calm down! It's all right!

No, no, you get back...
Get back... No, no...

No, no, no... Back! Back!

- I got hollow points!
- Hollow points?

Join it! Join over! Get in the
cluster! Get in the cluster!

No, this is not happening.
I've got a plane to catch.

Well, I'm afraid I can't let you do that.

You are not pointing that gun at me.

- Join the group!
- This is not happening!

- Join the group!
- Billy, Billy, come on.

Thank you!

Now, lis..., now, listen.
Wha... Wha... Wha...

Why don't you stop waving
that thing around?

I don't wanna hurt anyone.

No, all right. Then let's... let's just
put the gun down, then.

I just wanna talk.

- Why are you doing this?
- You flew down here to be his alibi.

Making him a murderer, and you an
accessory, and this is a Christian state.

We're very Old Testament,
when it comes to murder.

He'll get the chair, and you'll get life!

Who the fuck is this guy?

You're an orthodontist.

I am drowning in debt! I've been
trying to set up a new practice,

but I still owe on the insurance
premiums from the last one!

Plus all the equipment!
I have a wife and three kids!

Why don't you get to the fucking point?

Until my kids can make friends
at school, and we meet their parents!

No, no, no, listen. Bill, Bill, hey, Bill!

- I am a guy that you met on an airplane!
- Keep back! Keep back! I said keep back!

- Really, really, please.
- I really mean it.

Get the hell back!

Pull the trigger. Put a bullet
in my skull. I give up. It's perfect.

I'm sorry! I'm sorry!

It's fine. Just go home.

- Billy, we can't let him go now.
- We are.

Just let it go, and
everybody just go home.

Go, go.

-Brady! Brady!
- Hey, hey, you!

Where do ya think you're going?

- Get back!
- Aaahhh!

- Bill, no!
- Aaahhh!

Brady!

Janet, call 911!

Baby, I think my mama
might have called it.

She might have been right!

Police coming.

Bill. Hey, Bill!

We're gonna need an EMT.

- Bill... Hey, Bill!
- Bill... Bill... Bill...

Gimme that! Gimme it.

Look at me... at me...

Go see that rabbi up in Tulsa.

All those drawings we did at Pug's.
Tell her we didn't mean nothing by 'em.

Just promise me. You promise me?

You're gonna tell her yourself.

Okay. Now you ain't killed nobody.

Diogenes Laertius has recorded for us
the Greek philosopher, Epicurus's

thoughts on death.

It is irrational to fear an event,

if when that event occurs,
we are not in existence.

And, since when death is, we are not,
and when we are, death is not,

then it's irrational to fear death.

One might just as well, Epicurus argued,

fear birth.

I was born just a few minutes
before my brother, Brady.

He lived life on his own terms,
indifferent to fear,

either his own, or those of others.

And, let's be honest.

By any normal measure, my brother
was a criminal and a colossal fuckup.

But, in the years that we were together,

when we were growing up,

he gave me the happiest, freest times

that I will ever know.

I don't know why it took
me so long to realize that.

I left Little Dixie because of my own fears.

My greatest regret is that

I never told him how
difficult that really was.

Bolger, how'd you get those scars?

- Prison, with your brother.
- My brother wasn't in prison.

Two years on possession. I think he
ain't wanted you to know that.

Saved my life, too.

Three guys jumped me with box cutters.
Your brother, Brady, went berserk.

Kept the both of us alive in there.

Can't believe he never...

Wished I could've repaid the favor.

So tell my baby I said so long

Tell my mother I did no wrong

Tell my brother to watch his own

Tell my friends to mourn me none

I'm chained upon the face of time

Feelin' full of foolish rhyme

There ain't no dark till something shines

I'm bound to leave this dark behind

So, to what do I owe this visit?

My brother killed Pug Rothbaum.

Your brother?

Who's the... same man who was
shot by Ken Feinman.

Have you told the police?

I will.

He wanted you to know
that it wasn't a hate crime.

I find it hard to believe your brother
didn't have something against Jews.

I know, but he didn't.

Then I'll have to believe you.

Is there something else?

Why... Why do you think...

Why do we...

We are animals, Professor Kincaid.

Brains that trick us into
thinking we aren't.

What do I... What can I do with that?

- Repair.
- What?

All of us. You, me,

your brother, Pug...

We break the world.

Help repair it.

Hey, come on over here.

- What's this about, Bolger?
- I'll let Billy speak.

Have a seat.

Well, go on. Say whatcha got to say.

- My brother had a lot of equipment.
- His grow house. - Yea

We talked to a lawyer.
The police can't confiscate it.

Now, it's a high quality system.
It's hydroponic.

I'm proposing to sell it to you.

That's the whole list.

That's at a... a discount price.

Yea, well, I don't see it quite like this.

Why not?

Because your brother never paid
Pug for that equipment.

- So what?
- So why I gotta pay you for it?

Because my brother is dead.
I have to cover funeral costs.

He had bills that weren't paid.

He had a mortgage, and his wife
is expecting a baby now.

Okay, all I'm trying to do
is to cover his debts

and leave his family
with a little something.

- Can you understand that?
- Well, I'm one of his debts, see.

Ya know, before your brother and
Bolger got out of the penitentiary,

I had this whole area,
southeastern Oklahoma.

And Pug Rothbaum come
to me for his grass!

And now you're going to have all of that
again and better product besides.

Your brother owes
me that equipment!

Come on, man! Don't you
want to repair the world?

- What? - We're breaking the world!
Don't you want to fucking repair it?

What I want is for you to give me that
equipment and then to go back East

with all the other faggots who think that
New York City is the only place on Earth.

- I don't live in New York.
- Well, that don't mean that

you don't think you're better
than us! Now, do it.

You know what? We are better than you!
We use our powers of thought!

- Don't you turn your back on me!
- Fucking hick!

- Don't you walk away!
- Just keep walking. Don't look back.

- Watt's wife.
- Who?

She turned into a pillar of salt.

Motherfucker.

Help! Help me!

- I can't.
- Get it out!

It's a bow. I think got a fletchette.

Oh, my God! No, no, no!

He's been shot! Fuckin' arrow!

Folks, wanna come with me.

Now, the arrow missed
his heart by an inch

and his spine by centimeters.

So, what does this mean for him?

Well, it'll be a long recovery.

I guess I don't need to tell ya this,
but you saved his life.

[Baby crying]
Yes, yes, yes, dear...

Billy, it's fixin' to rain.

Thanks, mom.

Think I'm just gonna
sit here for awhile.

In the rain?

I used to be so scared of
these summer storms.

And when I went East,
I missed them.

I was so frightened, I used to hide in
the closet and cover my ears.

And I hated that.

So, I went to the library,
and I studied them.

Learned everything I could about them.
How they happened. What made them happen.

The name of every cloud.

And?

They still happened.

Mind if I stay out here with you?

I wish you would.

Lonely are the free

'Cuz there ain't that many of 'em

They don't walk like you and me

They just tumble in the breeze

Lighter than a feather all
together separately

That's how it supposed to be, no matter
where they wander, from post to in-between

From here to over yonder,
there's no place for them to land

Lonely are the free

The silent are the strong, not so much as
a whisper, tell ya anything is wrong

You've known all along that you
can't help but listen

And now the moment's gone

It keeps you hanging on until the
stillness signaling the breaking of the dawn

is shattered by the sirens,
singing sacrificial songs

The silent are the strong

Every line was edited by Deb Ackley, Michigan,
and took over 30 hours. Final version-06/23/10.