very much. it's beautiful country. anyone? like a forfeit? hello. i'm ada monroe. inman? w. p. inman. if you were to take a glass of lemonade your friends might stop staring. inman. and what do you do? clear fields? so, was there something in particular you wished to say to me? i've been missing it. oh dear. and then he had nothing to say. really? men? i don't know. i don't even know what a woman should be like. in charleston i was called a thistle, twice, by two different men. both of them -- they were hunting for a simile, what was i like -- and thistle came right to them. were you planning to come inside? there's a good fire going. somebody said you were enlisting. are you? if there's a mountain we'll all climb, if there's an ocean we'll all drown. did you get a picture made? a tintype, with your gun and your courage on display. i don't know you. i'm taking a drink over to the negroes in the barn. mr. inman is more comfortable outdoors. perhaps we might take a walk. well, you have your war. but then who'll be waiting for you? and then there'll be a coffee or two, a brandy or two. i found you this book. william bartram. they tell me it's good. i think he writes about these parts, the author, so. and this. i'm not smiling in it. i don't know how to do that, hold a smile, so now i'm solemn. what? what? every time you see the doctor you get melancholy. he gives you alcohol and you get emotional. yes. but then i've tried counting the number of words which passed between mr. inman and me. is that a bonfire? so close to the barns. what's going on? no, daddy, it's not real. i'll get help. keep away from the flames. amen. that was the last of the ham. i have to learn how to cook. i can't have people coming here and cooking for me! i'm not sorry, but i don't know how we'll get through another winter. daddy, bring the tablecloth in with you! daddy, come inside before you drown! dear mr. inman. -- i'm still waiting, as i promised i would, but i find myself alone and at the end of my wits -- is there a letter for me? i know. thank you so much. what do you hear? thank you. didn't somebody try? no. but not to volunteer for the war? you've got no spleen. i'd really prefer it if you didn't do that. i was raised in the good manners of the south where a gentleman doesn't enter a house with a woman alone. i'm sleeping fine. should i imagine you are dead and, that it is to your spirit i am writing? no word from you in all this time. if you receive this please know i am here and warring, too, with a faint heart. i can't. i'm not -- i need to clean some clothes. i was saying to sally, i wasn't expecting to be visiting, so. i don't expect - there are no people. and no money. my father had some bonds and investments. they're worthless now, of course, the war has. they're not worth anything. i love it here. in spite of everything. what kind of mirror? i don't know. yesterday i found myself crouched over a well like a mad woman, which i suppose i have become -- and staring down into its secrets, i thought i saw you there, walking back to me -- -- or wished i did. i don't know you. i need help, i need, i do need help, but i need a laborer -- there's plowing and rough work and -- i think there's been a misunderstanding. the rake? my plight? you're not a servant. right. right. yes. the rake: there's a rooster devil, i'm sure of it. he's lucifer himself. i go near him he's at me with his spurs. yes. it's still dark. i have to eat something. a novel. maul? i have no idea. sixteen. what's a gourd house? actually, yes, i think we do. no. what? no. we bought our hams. i don't know. locust? north is, north is -- i can't! i can't! all right? i can talk about farming in latin. will that do? i can read french. i know harmony and counterpoint. i know my bible. i can name the principal rivers of europe, but don't ask me to name one stream in this county. i can embroider, but i can't darn, i can arrange cut flowers, but i can't grow them. if a thing has a function, if i might do something with it, it wasn't considered suitable. ruby, you could ask why? about pretty much everything to do with me. this fence is about the first thing i've ever done that'll produce an actual result. agricola poetis viam non monstrat. the farmer does not point out the road to a poet. which means, i suppose, which means the poet should know where he's going. terra mutata non mutat mores. it's appalling what's in my head. no, it means: a change of place does not change a character. you can keep those earrings. i have to keep the bangles. they were my mother's. you're done. i like it. my father always wanted sheep on this land. oh ruby. and your mother? sally's right. we should both stop toiling and stand a while with our arms stretch out. i'll volunteer. for all your kindness. coffee. and a pie. i made it. what? sally? perhaps, i don't know, perhaps she was busy. what about them? you sure? i cried for my daddy. i dressed up the scarecrow in his suit and he came back, his arms out, said you never cried enough, you never cried enough. then i thought, it's not my daddy, it's my sweetheart. i saw him once that way, when i looked down sally's well. so i dressed the scarecrow in the dress i wore the day he left. in case his spirit flies over looking out for me. that looks terrible. cabbages. such as? dear lord in heaven. wait! there's someone down there. i think it's esco. what is? you're not going to shoot him! yes. what? i'm not ruby's employer. so that's stobrod thewes. my love for heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath -- a source of little visible delight, but necessary. we'll find out. tomorrow. ruby, i'm falling asleep. it's bitter, they could stop one night. it started off being over in a month. merry christmas. pangle. georgia. it's where he comes from, it's not his name. why do you care what his name is? orion. that's taurus the bull, and that's gemini and that's orion's big dog, canis major. i could always name the stars, ruby, that was never my problem. i love you darling. in case that big old sky falls on our heads. and i love you, too. sal. do you think he's dead? this snow. isn't it supposed to fall with bad news? i told georgia he can stop here, sleep in the barn. he's got nothing inside him. he'd walk out of here and die in the snow. okay. ruby, i'm so sorry. i don't understand. ruby! ruby! let's get him home. we have herbs there and it's warm. he'll die lying here. this horse is weary. he's ready to give up the ghost. good boy. that's warmer, isn't it. i'm getting firewood. that wood -- that sound when it burns that mean more snow? turn round and go back where you came from. i do not know you. inman? you'd better come with me. ruby, this is inman. stobrod? he's asleep. they both are. i saw him. i realize now. in sally swanger's well. a tunnel of trees. the man like a black smudge in the snow, the sun behind him. funny thing is it wasn't the same. the image. it wasn't snowing. and in the well, he was, as if he were falling. i remember it exactly. there were crows, these black crows flying towards me. i thought i was seeing him fall. instead i was seeing him come back to me. all this while i've been packing ice around my heart. how will i make it melt? i know you have. i couldn't sleep. i can't see your face. did you get my letters? i must have sent 100. did you write to me? no, it's -- but how did i keep you? we barely knew each other. a few moments. your boots, one polished, one not yet polished. i'm playing a piano and you're standing outside. every day of my waiting. now i can't see anything. i don't think ruby's vacating my hut so that you can sleep in a different one. come in. whatever comes to pass between you and me, i want ruby to stay in black cove. as long as she wants. and if she never leaves i'll be glad. and you understand she's my friend, she's not a hired hand and she doesn't empty a night jar unless it's her own. this war's made some things pointless. it's hard to imagine a wedding. i think even my father would recognize that. isn't there's some religion where you just have to say i marry you, three times, and then you're man and wife. no, i think it's i divorce you three times and then you're not married anymore. you waited enough. i certainly did. i marry you. i marry you. i marry you. i'm sorry about the way i look. in these clothes. and there are so many buttons. will you turn your back? we can all go together. you be safe. and am i the fly in this story, or the cow? i thought you were thinking on him! i'm saying nothing. you bring that lamb outside. he came out dead, love. i'm not going to kill him. but we have to try something or else he's going to die. isn't that a small mercy. hot hot hot hot hot!!! grace inman, nobody said eat. mr. thewes. for good friends, good food, good family: for all our blessings -- oh lord we thank thee. amen.