1. and I'll tell you what,
the storm system's still moving west.
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2. What are you looking at, Caroline?
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3. The wind, mom.
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4. They say the hurricane is coming.
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5. I'm on a boat.
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6. I'm drifting.
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7. Can I do anything for you, mom?
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8. Make anything easier?
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9. Oh, sugar...
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10. There's nothing left to do.
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11. Is what it is.
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12. Finding it harder to keep my eyes open.
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13. My mouth's full of cotton.
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14. There, there, miss Daisy.
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15. You gonna scratch yourself to ribbons.
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16. Do you want any more medication, mother?
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17. Doctor said you could have
as much as you want.
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18. No need for anybody to suffer.
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19. A friend told me
that she never had the chance
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20. to say goodbye to her mother.
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21. - I wanted to . . .
- It's okay.
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22. I wanted to tell you
how much I'm gonna miss you so...
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23. Mom.
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24. Oh, Caroline.
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25. Are you afraid?
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26. I'm curious.
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27. What comes next?
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28. They built the train station in 1918.
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29. My father was there the day it opened.
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30. He said they had
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31. a tuba band playing.
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32. They had the finest clockmaker
in all of the South
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33. to build that glorious clock.
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34. His name was...
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35. Mr. Gateau.
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36. Mr. Cake.
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37. He was married to a Creole
of Evangeline Parish
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38. and they had a son.
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39. Mr. Gateau was, from birth,
absolutely blind.
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40. When their son was old enough,
he joined the army.
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41. And they prayed God would
keep him out of harm's way.
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42. For months,
he did nothing but work on that clock.
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43. One day,
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44. a letter came.
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45. And Mr. Gateau, done for the night,
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46. went up, alone, to bed.
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47. And their son came home.
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48. They buried him in the family plot,
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49. where he would be with them
when their time came.
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50. Mr. Cake worked on his clock,
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51. laboring to finish.
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52. It was a morning to remember.
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53. Papa said
there were people everywhere.
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54. Even Teddy Roosevelt came.
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55. It's running backwards!
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56. I made it that way
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57. so that perhaps the boys
that we lost in the war
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58. might stand and come home again.
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59. Home to farm,
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60. work,
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61. have children.
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62. To live long, full lives.
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63. Perhaps my own son
might come home again.
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64. I'm sorry if I've offended anybody.
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65. I hope you enjoy my clock.
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66. Mr. Cake was never seen again.
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67. Some say he died of a broken heart.
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68. Some say he went to sea.
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69. Excuse me.
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70. Do you mind if I make a call?
Somebody's watching my little boy.
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71. Sure.
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72. I hope I haven't disappointed you.
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73. You couldn't disappoint me.
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74. Well, I know I don't have much
to show for myself.
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75. Find my dark suitcase.
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76. There's a diary.
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77. This?
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78. Could you read it to me?
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79. Is this what you want to do?
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80. I tried to read it
a hundred different times.
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81. Mom, it's not exactly...
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82. It's just the sound of your voice, darling.
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83. Okay.
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84. It's dated April 4th, 1985.
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85. And it says New Orleans.
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86. "This is my last will and testament.
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87. "I don't have much to leave,
few possessions, no money, really.
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88. "I will go out of this world the same way
I came in, alone and with nothing.
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89. "All I have is my story,
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90. "and I'm writing it now
while I still remember it.
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91. "My name is Benjamin.
Benjamin Button."
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92. And I was born under
unusual circumstances.
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93. The First World War had ended,
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94. and I've been told it was
an especially good night to be born.
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95. Thank God it's over!
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96. We won the war!
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97. The Great War is over!
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98. What are you doing here?
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99. Thomas,
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100. I'm afraid she's going to die.
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101. What?
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102. That's enough.
All of you, get away from her.
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103. I came as quickly as I could.
The streets are filled with people.
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104. Thomas.
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105. Promise me he has a place.
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106. Yeah.
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107. She gave her life for me.
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108. And for that, I am forever grateful.
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109. Mr. Button.
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110. Thomas!
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111. Thomas.
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112. Thomas? Where are you going?
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113. Hey! What are you doing there?
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114. What do you have there?
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115. - Come on, Queenie.
- Now, Mr. Weathers!
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116. Come on, now, you know I ain't got
nothing but work to do around here.
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117. - Come on. Just take some time.
- Stop all this foolishness.
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118. The air is sweet.
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119. You look very handsome tonight,
Miss Queenie.
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120. Handsome as I've ever seen.
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121. The brown matches your eyes.
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122. Oh, hush!
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123. Let's see here.
You ain't no slouch yourself.
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124. Hambert's back in town.
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125. He came home legless, but he's home.
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126. I know you were sweet on him one time.
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127. Sweeter than I should've been.
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128. Miss Simone messed herself.
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129. Oh, sweet Jesus.
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130. She got to stop doing that
or it's diapers for her.
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131. - I'll be right there, Miss Jameson!
- Now, Queenie, now come on.
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132. Okay, Queenie'll be right there.
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133. It's awful nice out here.
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134. Come on out back for a moment.
Take your mind off things.
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135. You're so bad.
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136. - What in God's name?
- What's this?
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137. Oh, the Lord done something here.
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138. Hope I didn't hurt it none
stepping on it like that.
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139. We best leave that for the police.
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140. Poor baby.
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141. I'll go.
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142. It's for sure nobody wanted to keep it.
Come on, baby.
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143. Queenie? Where are you, Queenie?
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144. Hold your water! You go deal with it.
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145. Okay. No, go, I'll be back.
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146. Queenie, Apple, she went and messed
herself all over again!
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147. Jane Childress, start her a bath!
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148. And mind your own business,
Mrs. Duprey.
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149. You'll be messing yourself
soon enough.
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150. Somebody stole my necklace.
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151. Okay. All right, Mrs. Hollister,
I'll be right with you, okay?
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152. Go on back upstairs, hear?
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153. You are as ugly as an old pot
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154. but you're still a child of God.
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155. Queenie, Apple,
she won't take a bath without you!
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156. Mercy.
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157. I'll be right there!
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158. Okay. You just wait right here
for me now, okay?
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159. My sister gave me those pearls.
I can't find them anywhere.
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160. - Somebody's been stealing my jewelry.
- They're right here, Mrs. Hollister. See?
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161. Right around your pretty white neck.
Now, come on. Hush all that noise.
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162. - Is Dr. Rose still here?
- I don't know.
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163. Your heart is strong.
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164. You just want to avoid
any undue stimulation.
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165. I trust you ladies
will help me out with that?
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166. I have something.
Could you come downstairs?
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167. Never seen anything like it.
Nearly blind from cataracts.
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168. I'm not sure if he can hear.
His bones indicate severe arthritis.
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169. His skin has lost all elasticity,
and his hands and feet are ossified.
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170. He shows all the deterioration,
the infirmities, not of a newborn,
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171. but of a man well in his 80s
on his way to the grave.
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172. He's dying?
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173. His body is failing him
before his life's begun.
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174. Where'd he come from?
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175. My sister's child. From Lafayette.
She had an unfortunate adventure.
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176. The poor child, he got the worst of it.
Come out white.
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177. There are places for unwanted babies
like these, Queenie.
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178. No room for another mouth to feed here.
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179. The Nolan Foundation,
despite their good intentions,
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180. thinks this place is
a large nuisance as it is.
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181. - A baby . . .
- You said he don't have long.
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182. Queenie, some creatures
aren't meant to survive.
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183. No, this baby, he is a miracle.
That's for certain.
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184. Just not the kind of miracle
one hopes to see.
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185. Y'all listen. Y'all listen up here.
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186. We're gonna have us a visitor
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187. that's gonna be staying with us
for a little while.
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188. My sister had a child
and she couldn't see right by it, so...
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189. He's known as...
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190. Benjamin.
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191. He's not a well child, so we're gonna
have to take good care of him.
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192. I had 10 children.
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193. There's not a baby I can't care for.
Let me see him.
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194. God in Heaven.
He looks just like my ex-husband.
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195. Look, he's prematurely old.
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196. Dr. Rose said he ain't got much more
time on this earth.
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197. Join the club.
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198. He's smiling!
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199. Hambert sends his
remembrances to you.
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200. Are you right out of your mind?
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201. I know you ain't got all the parts
it takes to make one of your own,
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202. but this ain't yours to keep.
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203. It may not even be humankind.
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204. Mr. Weathers, come back here.
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205. Please.
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206. You never know what's coming for you.
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207. It seemed I had found a home.
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208. Is any of this true?
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209. You have such a lovely voice.
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210. Mom, it's an ancient streetcar token.
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211. That clock just kept going,
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212. year after year after year.
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213. But I didn't know I was a child.
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214. Same old crap every day.
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215. I thought I was like everyone else there.
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216. An old man in the twilight of his life.
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217. Could you make him stop that?
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218. Stop banging that fork.
It's used for eating, not for playing with.
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219. And use your napkin, please,
Mr. Benjamin.
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220. Queenie!
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221. Hey, boy.
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222. Always had a healthy curiosity.
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223. What was up the street?
Or around the next corner?
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224. Go get him!
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225. Benjamin! That is dangerous.
Come back over here.
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226. Stay put, child.
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227. I loved her very much.
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228. She was my mother.
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229. Mama.
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230. Some days I feel different
than the day before.
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231. Everybody feels different about
themselves, one way or another.
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232. But we're all going the same way.
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233. Just taking different roads to get there,
that's all.
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234. You're on your own road, Benjamin.
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235. Mama? How much longer I got?
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236. Just be thankful
for what you're given, hear?
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237. You're already here longer
than you're supposed to.
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238. Some nights, I'd have to sleep alone.
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239. I didn't mind.
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240. I would listen to the house breathing.
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241. All those people sleeping.
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242. I felt safe.
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243. It was a place of great routine.
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244. Every morning at 5:30,
no matter the weather,
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245. General Winslow, U. S. Army, Retired,
would raise the flag.
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246. Mrs. Sybil Wagner,
once an opera singer of some note,
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247. well, she sang Wagner.
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248. All right, baby, come on.
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249. We got to put some life
into these old sticks for you.
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250. Get you walking so you can help me out
around here. Come on now, hear?
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251. No matter the season,
supper was served promptly at 5:30.
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252. Molasses.
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253. I learned to read when I was five.
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254. My grandfather was a dresser
for a famous actor.
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255. He brung home every play
for me to read.
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256. "Kind keepers of my weak decaying age,
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257. "Let dying Mortimer here rest himself.
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258. "Even like a man
new haled from the rack,
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259. "So fare my limbs
with long imprisonment.
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260. "And these gray locks,
the pursuivants of death,
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261. "Argue the end of Edmund Mortimer."
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262. You thought I was plain ignorant,
didn't you?
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263. The actor my grandfather worked for
was John Wilkes Booth.
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264. He killed Abraham Lincoln.
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265. You never know what's coming for you.
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266. On Saturday nights,
Mama would make me go to church.
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267. Benjamin!
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268. - Amen! Amen!
- Amen! Amen!
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269. What can I do for you, sister?
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270. Her parts are all twisted up inside
and she can't have little children.
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271. Lord, if you could see clear
to forgive this woman her sins
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272. so she can bear the fruit of the womb.
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273. Out, damnable affliction!
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274. - Praise God!
- Praise God!
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275. Hallelujah!
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276. - Hallelujah!
- Hallelujah!
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277. And what's this old man's irrediction?
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278. He's got the Devil on his back,
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279. trying to ride him into the grave
before his time.
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280. - Out, Zebuchar!
- Yes!
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281. - Out, Beelzebub!
- Yes!
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282. How old are you?
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283. Seven. But I look a lot older.
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284. God bless you.
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285. He's seven.
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286. Now, this is a man
with optimism in his heart.
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287. - All right.
- Belief in his soul!
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288. - Yes!
- Yes!
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289. We are all children in the eyes of God!
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290. - Yes!
- Hallelujah!
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291. We are gonna get you out of that chair.
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292. - And we're gonna have you walk.
- Amen.
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293. It's all right.
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294. In the name of God's glory...
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295. Rise up!
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296. Come on.
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297. Come on. Walk.
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298. Come on, son. Come on.
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299. - Come on with it, son. Come on.
- Come on.
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300. Now God is gonna see you
the rest of the way.
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301. He's gonna see this little old man walk
without the use of a crutch or a cane.
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302. He's gonna see that you walk
from faith...
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303. - Hallelujah!
- . . . and divine inspiration alone!
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304. - Yes.
- Hey, Ben!
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305. - Go, son!
- Now walk.
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306. - Yes.
- Come on.
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307. Don't touch him.
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308. Rise up, old man.
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309. Rise up like Lazarus.
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310. I said, rise up!
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311. Hallelujah!
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312. Yes.
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313. Come on.
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314. Say hallelujah.
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315. - Hallelujah!
- Hallelujah!
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316. Walk.
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317. Walk on. Yes.
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318. That's right, Benjamin.
Copy !req
319. Now when I look back on it,
it was miraculous.
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320. But you know the saying, the Lord
giveth and the Lord taketh away.
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321. Glory in the highest!
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322. Sweet Jesus!
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323. - No!
- No!
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324. There were so many birthdays.
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325. For he's a jolly good fellow
For he's a jolly good fellow...
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326. So we wouldn't run out,
we would spare the candles.
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327. Queenie, you know I don't like birthdays
and I don't like cake.
Copy !req
328. And death was a common visitor.
People came and went.
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329. You always knew
when someone left us.
Copy !req
330. There was a silence in the house.
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331. It was a wonderful place to grow up.
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332. I was with people who had shed
ail the inconsequences of earlier life.
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333. Left wondering about the weather,
the temperature of a bath,
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334. the light at the end of a day.
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335. For everyone that died, someone would
come to take their place.
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336. I've been married five times.
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337. My fifth wife and I are captured
by a neighbor tribe of cannibals.
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338. Oh, goodness gracious.
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339. We escaped across the river.
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340. My wife, she can't swim,
so, sadly, she eaten.
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341. Oh, my God.
Copy !req
342. My second wife steps on cobra
and dies.
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343. It was very bad luck
to be married to me.
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344. That's Mr. Oti. He's an acquaintance
of an acquaintance of mine.
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345. - The next summer I'm captured . . .
- He's a Pygmy.
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346. . . . with three others
by the Baschiele tribe.
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347. They trade us for pigs, shoes, and beer
to a very strange American man.
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348. I hear you're not so old
as you're looking.
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349. You just fooling everybody.
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350. What's the matter?
Did you get Madjembe?
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351. What's Madjembe?
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352. Worms.
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353. I don't think I have worms.
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354. This is just how I am.
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355. - Did you take your pills today?
- No, ma'am.
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356. Come. Let's get a cold root beer.
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357. I found the medication
under your pillow.
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358. I'm not supposed to. It's dangerous.
Copy !req
359. Who said that? Come on, little man.
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360. Hello, children.
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361. Hold, please.
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362. Then I'm in the monkey house
at Philadelphia Zoological Park.
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363. Three thousand people
show up my first day.
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364. Look.
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365. What's it like living in a cage?
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366. It stinks.
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367. But the monkeys.
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368. They do some tricks there.
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369. I throw a spear, wrestle with Kowali.
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370. She is orangutan.
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371. When I'm not playing with the monkeys,
they want me to run to the bars
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372. in my cage, with my teeth.
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373. So then what'd you do?
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374. Then I leave zoo, go here, go there.
Wandered most of the time.
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375. You were all alone?
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376. Plenty of time you'll be alone.
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377. When you're different like us,
it's gonna be that way.
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378. But I'll tell you a little secret.
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379. Fat people, skinny people, tall people,
Copy !req
380. white people,
they're just as alone as we are.
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381. But they're scared shitless.
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382. I think about the river I grew up on.
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383. It would be nice to sit by my river again.
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384. Come, I have an appointment.
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385. There's my little man.
You ready, sugar?
Copy !req
386. Always ready. Always ready.
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387. Filamena, Mr. Benjamin.
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388. - It's a pleasure to meet you, sir.
- My pleasure, ma'am.
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389. You can find your own way home,
can't you?
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390. Take the St. Charles line to Napoleon.
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391. Hey! Hey!
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392. Where in God's name have you been?
Get in here.
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393. I mean, you take my breath away,
you know that?
Copy !req
394. Oh, Lord, I was so worried about you.
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395. It had been the best day of my life.
Copy !req
396. - How's her breathing?
- It's shallow.
Copy !req
397. They say it'll reach us in a few hours,
Copy !req
398. so I gotta get my baby
and take him to my sister's.
Copy !req
399. They say there's nothing to worry about
here in the hospital.
Copy !req
400. Nurses'll be right here if you need them.
Are you okay?
Copy !req
401. - Yeah, I'm okay reading.
- I shouldn't be more than an hour.
Copy !req
402. Was there just company?
Copy !req
403. It was just Dorothy leaving.
Copy !req
404. Go on, Caroline.
Copy !req
405. "On Sundays, the families would come
and visit."
Copy !req
406. It was Thanksgiving, 1930.
Copy !req
407. I met the person
who changed my life forever.
Copy !req
408. Well, Benjamin.
Copy !req
409. Might I say you are looking
strikingly youthful.
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410. Good day, Mrs. Fuller.
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411. A single cane,
back straight as an arrow.
Copy !req
412. What elixir have you been drinking?
Copy !req
413. - Thank you, ma'am.
- Grandma! Look at me!
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414. That was really something.
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415. Come on over here, you.
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416. Now, this is my granddaughter, Daisy.
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417. This is Mr...
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418. I'm afraid, Benjamin,
I don't rightly know your last name.
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419. Benjamin's fine.
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420. I never forgot her blue eyes.
Copy !req
421. Good people, supper is served.
Copy !req
422. Health and food, for love and friends.
For everything thy goodness sends.
Copy !req
423. Amen.
Copy !req
424. - Amen!
- Amen!
Copy !req
425. Did you know turkeys aren't really birds?
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426. Why do you say that?
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427. They're in the pheasant family,
can't hardly fly.
Copy !req
428. It's sad, don't you think?
Birds that can't fly?
Copy !req
429. I love birds that can't fly.
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430. They are so delicious.
Copy !req
431. - That's terrible.
- I have something to tell y'all
Copy !req
432. while we're giving thanks
for God's blessings.
Copy !req
433. I had a miracle happen.
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434. The Lord saw fit to answer my prayers.
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435. What does she mean,
answered her prayers?
Copy !req
436. Thanks. Thank you.
Copy !req
437. She's gonna have a baby, silly.
Copy !req
438. That's what my mama said
when I was gonna have a baby brother,
Copy !req
439. but he didn't live long,
Copy !req
440. 'cause he didn't breathe right.
Copy !req
441. "In the afternoon, when he had got
his beautiful hind legs
Copy !req
442. "just as Big God Nqong had promised.
Copy !req
443. "You can see that it is 5:00,
Copy !req
444. "because Big God Nqong's
clock says so."
Copy !req
445. Isn't that something?
Copy !req
446. Again, read it again.
Copy !req
447. Oh, read it again, please.
Copy !req
448. All right.
But afterwards, you must go to bed.
Copy !req
449. I promise.
Copy !req
450. "Old Man Kangaroo."
Copy !req
451. Are you sleeping?
Copy !req
452. Who's that?
Copy !req
453. It's me, Daisy.
Copy !req
454. Oh, hi!
Copy !req
455. 'Kay, come on.
Copy !req
456. Where are we going?
Copy !req
457. Come on. Under here.
Copy !req
458. Here, you light it.
Copy !req
459. I'm not supposed to play with matches.
Copy !req
460. Don't be a chicken. Light it.
Copy !req
461. I'll tell you a secret if you'll tell me one.
Copy !req
462. Okay.
Copy !req
463. I saw my mama kissing another man.
Copy !req
464. Her face was red from it.
Copy !req
465. Your turn.
Copy !req
466. I'm not as old as I look.
Copy !req
467. I thought so.
Copy !req
468. You don't seem like an old person.
Copy !req
469. - Like my grandma.
- I'm not.
Copy !req
470. Are you sick?
Copy !req
471. Well, I heard Mama
and Tizzy whispering.
Copy !req
472. They said I was gonna die soon,
but maybe not.
Copy !req
473. You're odd.
Copy !req
474. You're different
than anybody I've ever met.
Copy !req
475. - May I?
- Okay.
Copy !req
476. What are you doing under there?
Copy !req
477. You come right out here
and get back up to bed!
Copy !req
478. It's after midnight!
Copy !req
479. You are not to be playing together.
Copy !req
480. Yes, ma'am.
Copy !req
481. Now you get back to bed, little lady.
Copy !req
482. You're too young to be wandering
around in the night on your own.
Copy !req
483. And you ought
to be ashamed of yourself.
Copy !req
484. You are a different child.
Copy !req
485. A man-child.
Copy !req
486. And, baby, people aren't gonna
understand just how different you are.
Copy !req
487. What's wrong with me, Mama?
Copy !req
488. Come here.
Copy !req
489. God hasn't said yet, baby.
Copy !req
490. Now go on to bed, hear?
And behave yourself.
Copy !req
491. Go on. Say your prayers, hear?
Copy !req
492. Did I ever tell you I've been struck
by lightning seven times?
Copy !req
493. Once when I was repairing
a leak on the roof.
Copy !req
494. Once I was just crossing
the road to get the mail.
Copy !req
495. I never forgot her...
Copy !req
496. " . . . blue eyes."
Copy !req
497. Mom?
Copy !req
498. Did you get that this Benjamin loved you
from the first time that he saw you?
Copy !req
499. Not many people experience that.
Copy !req
500. Want me to go on?
Copy !req
501. He crosses something out.
Copy !req
502. When that baby came,
things were different.
Copy !req
503. Your mama gone away
And your daddy gonna stay
Copy !req
504. Didn't leave nobody but the baby
Copy !req
505. Babies were born, people died.
Copy !req
506. A lot of folks been through
that old house.
Copy !req
507. I've come to say goodbye.
I'm going away.
Copy !req
508. Going?
Copy !req
509. Where?
Copy !req
510. I haven't figured that out yet,
Copy !req
511. but I'll send you a postcard
when I get there.
Copy !req
512. What about your friend, the tall lady?
Copy !req
513. We are not friends anymore.
Copy !req
514. That's what happens
with tall people sometimes.
Copy !req
515. Well, goodbye.
Copy !req
516. Spent a lot of time by myself that year.
Copy !req
517. Hello?
Copy !req
518. - Hi.
- I'm moving in today.
Copy !req
519. Welcome. We've been expecting you.
Copy !req
520. Can you please show her up
to Mrs. Rousseau's old room?
Copy !req
521. I'm sorry, but we usually
don't allow dogs in the house.
Copy !req
522. Well, she's old as the hills.
She's almost blind.
Copy !req
523. She won't be a bother much longer.
Copy !req
524. Well, all right,
long as she stays from up underfoot.
Copy !req
525. Right this way, ma'am.
Copy !req
526. As hard as I try,
I can't remember her name.
Copy !req
527. Mrs. Lawson, or Mrs. Hartford.
Copy !req
528. Maybe it was Maple.
Copy !req
529. It's funny how sometimes
the people we remember the least
Copy !req
530. make the greatest impression on us.
Copy !req
531. I do remember she wore diamonds.
Copy !req
532. And she always dressed in fine
clothing, as if she was going out.
Copy !req
533. Although she never did
and nobody ever came to visit her.
Copy !req
534. She taught me to play the piano.
Copy !req
535. It's not about how well you play.
Copy !req
536. It's how you feel
about what you're playing.
Copy !req
537. Try this.
Copy !req
538. You can't help putting yourself
in the music.
Copy !req
539. There were many changes.
Copy !req
540. Some you could see,
some you couldn't.
Copy !req
541. Hair had started growing
in all sorts of places,
Copy !req
542. along with other things.
Copy !req
543. I felt pretty good, considering.
Copy !req
544. Darling, the pain.
Copy !req
545. All right, Mom, I'll get the nurse.
Copy !req
546. Look at this eye.
This is a major hurricane,
Copy !req
547. a slow hurricane,
with maximum sustained winds of...
Copy !req
548. Not doing too good?
Copy !req
549. Nobody seems to know
whether to stay or leave.
Copy !req
550. I'm gonna ride it out.
Copy !req
551. There.
That should make things much easier.
Copy !req
552. Have you had a chance
to say your goodbyes?
Copy !req
553. My father waited four hours for
my brother to get here from Boger City.
Copy !req
554. Couldn't go without him.
Copy !req
555. - She seems like a sweet woman.
- Yeah.
Copy !req
556. I haven't had as much time with her
as I would've...
Copy !req
557. - You busy? I could use your help.
- Excuse me.
Copy !req
558. Sure.
Copy !req
559. "Queenie would let me go
with Mr. Daws . . ."
Copy !req
560. to Poverty Point to watch the boats
go up and down the river.
Copy !req
561. These were hard times.
Copy !req
562. Did I ever tell you I was struck
by lightning seven times?
Copy !req
563. Once when I was in the field,
just tending to my cows.
Copy !req
564. My fourth hand didn't show up.
Copy !req
565. Anybody want to make $2
for a day's work 'round here?
Copy !req
566. What's the matter?
Copy !req
567. Nobody wants to do an honest
day's work for an honest day's pay?
Copy !req
568. He never pays.
Copy !req
569. - Nobody wants a job?
- I do.
Copy !req
570. You got your sea legs about you,
old man?
Copy !req
571. I think.
Copy !req
572. Well, that's good enough for me.
Copy !req
573. Get your ass on board.
We'll sure as hell find out.
Copy !req
574. I was as happy as I could be.
Copy !req
575. I need a volunteer!
Copy !req
576. I would do anything.
Copy !req
577. Yes, Captain!
Copy !req
578. Scrape off all this bird shit!
Copy !req
579. Right away, sir.
Copy !req
580. And I was actually gonna be paid
for something I would've done for free.
Copy !req
581. His name was Captain Mike Clark.
Copy !req
582. He'd been on a tugboat
since he was seven.
Copy !req
583. Get moving, then.
Copy !req
584. Come here.
Copy !req
585. Can you still get it up?
Copy !req
586. I do every morning.
Copy !req
587. The old pole, huh? The high, hard one?
Copy !req
588. I guess.
Copy !req
589. When was the last time
you had a woman?
Copy !req
590. - Never.
- Never?
Copy !req
591. Not that I know of, sir.
Copy !req
592. Wait a minute, now.
Copy !req
593. You mean to say you've been
on this earth however many years
Copy !req
594. and you've never had a woman?
Copy !req
595. Damn, that's the saddest thing
I've ever heard in my life.
Copy !req
596. Never?
Copy !req
597. No.
Copy !req
598. Well, then, by Jesus,
you are coming with me.
Copy !req
599. What did your father do?
Copy !req
600. I never met my father.
Copy !req
601. You lucky bastard.
Copy !req
602. All fathers want to do is hold you down.
Copy !req
603. Out on my father's boat,
workin' the two-a-day,
Copy !req
604. this little, fat bastard.
Copy !req
605. "Tug Irish," they called him.
Copy !req
606. Anyway, I finally work up the nerve
and tell him,
Copy !req
607. "I don't want to spend the rest of my life
on a goddamn tugboat."
Copy !req
608. You know what I'm saying?
Copy !req
609. You don't want to spend
the rest of your life on a tugboat.
Copy !req
610. Absolutely! Damn right!
Copy !req
611. So you know
what my father says to me?
Copy !req
612. He says,
"Who the hell do you think you are?
Copy !req
613. "What the hell do you think you can do?"
Copy !req
614. So I tell him.
Copy !req
615. "Well, if you're asking,
Copy !req
616. "I want to be an artist."
Copy !req
617. He laughs.
Copy !req
618. "An artist? God meant for you
to work a tugboat, just like me.
Copy !req
619. "And that's exactly
what you're gonna do."
Copy !req
620. Well, I turned myself into an artist.
Copy !req
621. A tattoo artist!
Copy !req
622. I put on every one of these myself.
Copy !req
623. You have to skin me alive
to take my art away from me now.
Copy !req
624. When I'm dead,
I'm gonna send him my arm.
Copy !req
625. That one.
Copy !req
626. Don't let anyone tell you different.
Copy !req
627. You gotta do what you're meant to do.
Copy !req
628. And I happen to be a goddamned artist.
Copy !req
629. But you're a tugboat captain.
Copy !req
630. Captain Mike?
Copy !req
631. We're ready for you and your friend.
Copy !req
632. Let's go, old timer, eh?
Break your cherry.
Copy !req
633. - Hello, my lovelies!
- Hey, Captain.
Copy !req
634. - Hi, Captain.
- Hi.
Copy !req
635. - Hi.
- Hi.
Copy !req
636. He gives me the willies.
That is not for me.
Copy !req
637. How are you tonight, grandpa?
Copy !req
638. It was a night to remember.
Copy !req
639. What are you, Dick Tracy or something?
I've got to rest.
Copy !req
640. Again.
Copy !req
641. - Thank you.
- No, thank you. You have a nice night.
Copy !req
642. - Will you be here tomorrow?
- Every night but Sunday.
Copy !req
643. It sure made me understand
the value of earning a living.
Copy !req
644. Good night, sweetie. Come back now.
Copy !req
645. Things money can buy you.
Copy !req
646. It's nasty out.
Copy !req
647. Can I offer you a ride somewhere?
Copy !req
648. Well, that's awfully kind of you, sir.
Copy !req
649. My name is Thomas, Thomas Button.
Copy !req
650. - I'm Benjamin.
- Benjamin.
Copy !req
651. It's a pleasure to know you.
Copy !req
652. Would you like to stop somewhere
and have a drink?
Copy !req
653. All right.
Copy !req
654. Evening, Mr. Button.
Copy !req
655. What'll it be, sir?
Copy !req
656. - I'll have whatever he's having.
- Sazerac for the both of us.
Copy !req
657. With whiskey, not brandy.
Copy !req
658. You don't drink, do you?
Copy !req
659. - It's a night for firsts.
- How's that?
Copy !req
660. I've never been to a brothel, either.
Copy !req
661. Well, it's an experience.
Copy !req
662. It certainly is.
There's a time for everything.
Copy !req
663. - True enough.
- Your drinks.
Copy !req
664. I don't mean to be rude, but your hands.
Is that painful?
Copy !req
665. Well, I was born
with some form of disease.
Copy !req
666. What kind of disease?
Copy !req
667. I was born old.
Copy !req
668. - I'm sorry.
- No need to be.
Copy !req
669. There's nothing wrong with old age.
Copy !req
670. My wife passed away many years ago.
Copy !req
671. I'm so, so sorry.
Copy !req
672. She died in childbirth.
Copy !req
673. - To children.
- To mothers.
Copy !req
674. What line of work you in, Mr. Button?
Copy !req
675. Buttons. Button's Buttons.
There isn't a button that we don't make.
Copy !req
676. Our biggest competition
is B. F. Goodrich
Copy !req
677. and his infernal zippers.
Copy !req
678. Would you gentlemen like
anything else?
Copy !req
679. One for the road, Benjamin?
Copy !req
680. Only if you let me pay for it, Mr. Button.
Copy !req
681. So, what line of work do you do?
Copy !req
682. I'm a tugboat man.
Copy !req
683. I enjoyed talking to you.
Copy !req
684. I enjoyed drinking with you.
Copy !req
685. Benjamin?
Copy !req
686. Would you mind if, time to time,
I stopped by and said hello?
Copy !req
687. Anytime. Good night, Mr. Button.
Copy !req
688. Good night, Benjamin.
Copy !req
689. Drive on.
Copy !req
690. Where have you been?
Copy !req
691. Nothing. I met some people
and listened to some music.
Copy !req
692. Oh, sweet Jesus, boy!
Copy !req
693. Growing up's a funny thing.
Sneaks up on you.
Copy !req
694. One person is there, then suddenly
somebody else has taken her place.
Copy !req
695. She wasn't all elbows
and knees anymore.
Copy !req
696. Benjamin! Come on!
Copy !req
697. Okay.
Copy !req
698. I loved those weekends
when she'd come
Copy !req
699. and spend the night
with her grandmother.
Copy !req
700. Daisy. Daisy.
Copy !req
701. You want to see something?
Copy !req
702. You gotta keep it a secret,
so get dressed. I'll meet you out back.
Copy !req
703. Come on.
Copy !req
704. - Can you swim?
- I can do anything you can do.
Copy !req
705. Here, put this on. We gotta hurry.
Copy !req
706. Is he okay?
Copy !req
707. Captain?
Copy !req
708. Captain Mike?
Copy !req
709. Morning, Captain. Can you take us out?
Copy !req
710. Do you know what day it is?
Copy !req
711. Sunday?
Copy !req
712. Do you know what that means?
Copy !req
713. Means I was very drunk last night.
Copy !req
714. Well, you're drunk every night.
Copy !req
715. - Is that a girl?
- Close friend.
Copy !req
716. I want to show her the river.
Copy !req
717. You're not supposed to go joyriding
with civilians.
Copy !req
718. I could lose my license.
Copy !req
719. What are you waiting for?
Copy !req
720. Pulled in for repair a wounded duck.
Copy !req
721. She's flying now, huh?
Copy !req
722. Ahoy, sailor!
Copy !req
723. I wish we could go with them.
Copy !req
724. Did you say something, Mom?
Copy !req
725. It's getting really bad.
Copy !req
726. Can you hear me, Mom?
Copy !req
727. Time just seeped out of me.
Copy !req
728. "Things were changing quickly."
Copy !req
729. I don't know how it's possible,
but you seem to have more hair.
Copy !req
730. What if I told you
that I wasn't getting older,
Copy !req
731. but I was getting younger
than everybody else?
Copy !req
732. Well, I'd feel sorry for you,
Copy !req
733. to have to see everybody you love
die before you do.
Copy !req
734. It's an awful responsibility.
Copy !req
735. I'd never thought about life or death
that way before.
Copy !req
736. Benjamin, we're meant
to lose the people we love.
Copy !req
737. How else would we know
how important they are to us?
Copy !req
738. And one fall day, a familiar visitor
came knocking on our door.
Copy !req
739. You want to go with me
to the drugstore?
Copy !req
740. She taught me how to play the piano.
Copy !req
741. - Amen.
- Amen.
Copy !req
742. And she taught me
what it meant to miss somebody.
Copy !req
743. Let's go.
Copy !req
744. I had gone to a brothel.
Copy !req
745. I'd had my first drink.
Copy !req
746. Said goodbye to one friend
and buried another.
Copy !req
747. In 1936, when I was coming to the end
of the 17th year of my life,
Copy !req
748. I packed my bag, said goodbye.
Copy !req
749. - Bye, Benjamin.
- Goodbye.
Copy !req
750. I knew, life being what it was,
I'd probably never see them again.
Copy !req
751. Bye, Mr. Benjamin.
Copy !req
752. - Good luck to you, son.
- Thank you.
Copy !req
753. - I love you, Mama.
- I love you, too, baby.
Copy !req
754. I want you to say your prayers
every night, hear?
Copy !req
755. Be safe, hear?
Copy !req
756. Benjamin!
Copy !req
757. - Where you going?
- To sea.
Copy !req
758. I'll send you a postcard.
Copy !req
759. From everywhere.
Copy !req
760. Write me a postcard from everywhere.
Copy !req
761. Can you imagine?
Copy !req
762. He sent me a postcard
from everywhere he went.
Copy !req
763. Every place he worked.
Copy !req
764. Newfoundland. Baffin Bay.
Copy !req
765. Glasgow. Liverpool. Narvik.
Copy !req
766. He had gone with that Captain Mike.
Copy !req
767. Captain Mike had contracted
for three years
Copy !req
768. with Moran Brothers Tug and Salvage.
Copy !req
769. The old ship had been refitted with
a diesel engine and a new sea winch.
Copy !req
770. We went around Florida
and up the Atlantic seaboard.
Copy !req
771. We were a crew of seven now.
Captain Mike and me.
Copy !req
772. Cookie, Prentiss Mayes
from Wilmington, Delaware.
Copy !req
773. The Brody twins, Rick and Vic,
Copy !req
774. who got along fine at sea
but, for some reason,
Copy !req
775. once they were on dry land
couldn't stand the sight of each other.
Copy !req
776. You know, one in every
eight boats never returns.
Copy !req
777. There was John Grimm,
who sure fit his name.
Copy !req
778. All hands lost at sea.
Copy !req
779. From Belvedere, South Dakota.
Copy !req
780. And Pleasant Curtis
from Asheville, Notch.
Copy !req
781. Never said a word to anyone,
except himself.
Copy !req
782. I wrote him constantly.
Copy !req
783. I told him I had been invited to
audition in New York City
Copy !req
784. for the School of American Ballet.
Copy !req
785. Please stay.
Copy !req
786. Thank you. Thank you.
Copy !req
787. You can stay.
Copy !req
788. But I was relegated to the corps.
Copy !req
789. Another dancing gypsy.
Copy !req
790. Benjamin!
Copy !req
791. How is it when you showed up
Copy !req
792. you were no bigger than a bollard
with one foot in the grave,
Copy !req
793. but now, either I drink a hell
of a lot more than I think I do,
Copy !req
794. or you sprouted?
Copy !req
795. What's your secret?
Copy !req
796. Well, Captain,
Copy !req
797. you do drink a lot.
Copy !req
798. We stayed in a small hotel
with a grand name, The Winter Palace.
Copy !req
799. You have no idea
what you're talking about.
Copy !req
800. The hummingbird
is not just another bird.
Copy !req
801. Its heart rate's 1,200 beats per minute.
Copy !req
802. Its wings beat 80 times a second.
Copy !req
803. if you was to stop their wings
from beating,
Copy !req
804. it would be dead
in less than 10 seconds.
Copy !req
805. This is no ordinary bird.
Copy !req
806. This is a frickin' miracle.
Copy !req
807. They slowed down their wings
with moving pictures,
Copy !req
808. and you know what they saw?
Copy !req
809. Their wingtips are doing that.
Copy !req
810. You know what the figure eight
is the mathematical symbol for?
Copy !req
811. Infinity.
Copy !req
812. Infinity!
Copy !req
813. Everybody, no matter
what differences they had,
Copy !req
814. the languages, the color of their skin,
had one thing in common.
Copy !req
815. They were drunk every single night.
Copy !req
816. Three, please.
Copy !req
817. Could you hold, dear, for us, please?
Copy !req
818. Thank you very much. Good evening.
Copy !req
819. Her name was Elizabeth Abbott.
Copy !req
820. She was not beautiful.
She was plain as paper.
Copy !req
821. But she was pretty as any picture to me.
Copy !req
822. What are you looking at?
Copy !req
823. if you must know,
we have a longstanding agreement
Copy !req
824. never to go to bed sober.
Copy !req
825. - Isn't that right, darling?
- Whatever you say, darling.
Copy !req
826. Her husband was Walter Abbott.
Copy !req
827. He was Chief Minister of
the British Trade Mission in Murmansk,
Copy !req
828. and he was a spy.
Copy !req
829. - Darling.
- Oh, thank you, my darling.
Copy !req
830. - Key, darling.
- Oh, yes.
Copy !req
831. I broke my heel off one of my shoes.
Copy !req
832. I'm not in the habit of walking about
in my stocking feet.
Copy !req
833. They were long days there.
Copy !req
834. And even longer nights.
Copy !req
835. One particular night,
I was having trouble sleeping.
Copy !req
836. I'm sorry.
Copy !req
837. I couldn't sleep.
Copy !req
838. I was gonna make some tea.
Would you like some?
Copy !req
839. Oh, no. Thank you.
Copy !req
840. Milk? Honey?
Copy !req
841. A bit of honey, please.
Copy !req
842. I hope you like flies in your honey.
Copy !req
843. Oh, perhaps not.
Copy !req
844. Oh, maybe better to let it steep a little.
Copy !req
845. Steep?
Copy !req
846. Soak.
Copy !req
847. I don't know, I mean,
there's a proper way of making tea.
Copy !req
848. Well, where I'm from,
people just want it to be hot.
Copy !req
849. Well, quite right.
Copy !req
850. - Now, you're a seaman.
- A sailor.
Copy !req
851. I hope you won't think me impolite,
but I have to ask,
Copy !req
852. aren't you a little old
to be working on a boat?
Copy !req
853. There's no age limit,
as long as you can do the work.
Copy !req
854. And you have trouble sleeping?
Thank you.
Copy !req
855. I didn't think I did.
I usually sleep like a baby.
Copy !req
856. Something's been keeping me up.
Copy !req
857. My father, in his 80s,
Copy !req
858. he was so convinced
he was gonna die in his sleep,
Copy !req
859. he limited himself
to having afternoon naps.
Copy !req
860. He was so determined
he was gonna cheat death.
Copy !req
861. - Did he?
- Did he what?
Copy !req
862. Die in his sleep?
Copy !req
863. He died sitting in his favorite chair
Copy !req
864. listening to his favorite program
on the wireless.
Copy !req
865. He must have known something.
Copy !req
866. My husband's the British Trade Minister,
and we've been here for 14 months.
Copy !req
867. - Good God.
- We were supposed to go to Peking
Copy !req
868. but it never seemed to work out.
Copy !req
869. Have you been in the Far East?
Copy !req
870. No. I've never been anywhere, really.
Copy !req
871. I mean, outside of harbors.
Copy !req
872. And where is it that you're from?
Copy !req
873. New Orleans. Louisiana.
Copy !req
874. I didn't know there was another.
Copy !req
875. And she told me about all the places
she had been, and what she had seen.
Copy !req
876. And we talked till just before the dawn.
Copy !req
877. I'm just a lush, myself.
Copy !req
878. And we went back to our rooms,
to our separate lives.
Copy !req
879. But every night,
we'd meet again in that lobby.
Copy !req
880. A hotel in the middle of the night
can be a magical place.
Copy !req
881. A mouse running, and stopping.
Copy !req
882. A radiator hissing.
Copy !req
883. A curtain blowing.
Copy !req
884. There's something peaceful,
even comforting
Copy !req
885. knowing that the people you love
are asleep in their beds
Copy !req
886. where nothing can harm them.
Copy !req
887. Elizabeth and I would lose track
of the night
Copy !req
888. until just before daybreak.
Copy !req
889. I think I may have given you
the wrong impression.
Copy !req
890. Beg pardon?
Copy !req
891. Well, married women don't customarily
sit around
Copy !req
892. in the middle of the night
with strange men in hotels.
Copy !req
893. I wouldn't know what a married woman
does or doesn't do.
Copy !req
894. Good night.
Copy !req
895. Murmansk.
Copy !req
896. "I've met somebody,
and I've fallen in love."
Copy !req
897. Mom?
Copy !req
898. That was over 60 years ago.
Copy !req
899. Did you love him, Mother?
Copy !req
900. What does a girl know about love?
Copy !req
901. Well...
Copy !req
902. - I'm not dressed.
- Oh, you look splendid, just as you are.
Copy !req
903. Don't waste any time bothering about
the wine or the cheese in Murmansk,
Copy !req
904. 'cause they're really
completely ordinary,
Copy !req
905. but the caviar and the vodka
Copy !req
906. are sublime and plentiful.
Copy !req
907. So.
Copy !req
908. Savor it.
Copy !req
909. And don't eat it all at once,
Copy !req
910. because that way,
there's nothing left to enjoy.
Copy !req
911. And now, take a little swallow of vodka
while it's still in your mouth.
Copy !req
912. You haven't been with many women,
have you?
Copy !req
913. Not on Sundays.
Copy !req
914. And you've never had caviar before,
have you?
Copy !req
915. No, ma'am.
Copy !req
916. When I was 19,
Copy !req
917. I attempted to become the first woman
ever to swim the English Channel.
Copy !req
918. Really?
Copy !req
919. But the current that day
was so strong that,
Copy !req
920. for every stroke I took,
I was pushed back two.
Copy !req
921. I was in the water for 32 hours.
Copy !req
922. And when I was two miles from Calais,
Copy !req
923. it started to rain.
Copy !req
924. That's it! Steady on!
Copy !req
925. When I couldn't go any further,
Copy !req
926. I stopped.
Copy !req
927. I just stopped.
Copy !req
928. And everybody asked me,
would I try again?
Copy !req
929. For why wouldn't I?
Copy !req
930. But I never did.
Copy !req
931. As a matter of fact, I've never done
anything with my life after that.
Copy !req
932. Your hands are so coarse.
Copy !req
933. I can feel the wind in your cheek.
Copy !req
934. I'm afraid it's the witching hour.
Copy !req
935. It was the first time
a woman had ever kissed me.
Copy !req
936. It's something you never forget.
Copy !req
937. I think you make me feel younger.
Copy !req
938. You make me feel years younger, too.
Copy !req
939. I wish I was.
Copy !req
940. So many things I'd change.
Copy !req
941. I'd undo all my mistakes.
Copy !req
942. What mistakes?
Copy !req
943. I kept waiting, you know?
Copy !req
944. Thinking that I'd do something
to change my circumstances.
Copy !req
945. Do something.
Copy !req
946. Such an awful waste.
You never get it back.
Copy !req
947. Wasted time.
Copy !req
948. if we're going to have an affair,
Copy !req
949. you're never to look at me
during the day.
Copy !req
950. And we're always to part before sunrise.
Copy !req
951. And we will never say "I love you."
Copy !req
952. Those are the rules.
Copy !req
953. - Are you cold?
- I'm freezing.
Copy !req
954. Oh, you! You're frozen.
Copy !req
955. What an idiot, I'm standing here
in this fur. How thoughtless of me.
Copy !req
956. She was the first woman
that ever loved me.
Copy !req
957. You want me to skip some?
Copy !req
958. No, I'm glad he had somebody
to keep him warm.
Copy !req
959. "I couldn't wait to see her again."
Copy !req
960. We saw each other every night.
Copy !req
961. We always used the same room.
Copy !req
962. But each time seemed new
and different.
Copy !req
963. Come here.
Copy !req
964. Elizabeth.
Copy !req
965. Good night.
Copy !req
966. Until one night.
Copy !req
967. Yesterday, December 7th, 1941,
Copy !req
968. a date which will live in infamy...
Copy !req
969. It's a meeting, a policy meeting
regarding your future,
Copy !req
970. possibly beyond.
Copy !req
971. There's been a change of plan, lads.
Copy !req
972. As you may or may not know,
Copy !req
973. the Japs bombed
Pearl Harbor yesterday.
Copy !req
974. Frank D. Roosevelt's asked
each of us to do our part.
Copy !req
975. The Chelsea's been commissioned
to serve in the United States Navy.
Copy !req
976. To repair, to salvage, and to rescue.
Copy !req
977. Anybody doesn't want to go to war,
now is the time to say so.
Copy !req
978. Once you set foot on that boat,
you're in the Navy, friend.
Copy !req
979. Yeah, I've been meaning
to talk with you, Mike.
Copy !req
980. My wife's doing poorly.
Copy !req
981. I'd like to maybe see her one more time.
Copy !req
982. You're free to make your way home
any way you can, Mr. Mayes.
Copy !req
983. Well, if he's leaving, who's gonna cook?
Copy !req
984. Food poisoning's one of the leading
causes of death at sea.
Copy !req
985. Right after
inadequate safety equipment.
Copy !req
986. I can cook, Captain.
Been doing it all my life.
Copy !req
987. I don't know.
You're a little moody for war, Benjamin.
Copy !req
988. What the hell?
Copy !req
989. I'll take any man wants to kick the shite
out of the Japs and the Huns.
Copy !req
990. That's it, pack your gear.
We're going to war, gentlemen!
Copy !req
991. She had left a note.
Copy !req
992. She wrote,
"It was nice to have met you."
Copy !req
993. And that was it.
Copy !req
994. It wasn't the war any of us expected.
Copy !req
995. We would just tow crippled ships,
scraps of metal, really.
Copy !req
996. if there was a war, we didn't see it.
Copy !req
997. There was a man assigned to us.
The Chief Gunner loved the Navy.
Copy !req
998. But most of all, he loved America.
Copy !req
999. There is no other country in the world.
Copy !req
1000. When you spell America...
Copy !req
1001. His name was Dennis Smith,
and he was a full-blooded Cherokee.
Copy !req
1002. His family had been Americans
for over 500 years.
Copy !req
1003. These pacifists.
They say they won't fight on conscience.
Copy !req
1004. Now, where would be
if everybody decided to act
Copy !req
1005. - according to their conscience?
- Keep it down, would you, Chief?
Copy !req
1006. Hey. I've been watching you.
Copy !req
1007. You seem trustworthy.
Copy !req
1008. if something happens to me,
Copy !req
1009. could you see that this gets to my wife?
Copy !req
1010. He'd given me all of his pay.
Hadn't spent a dime of it.
Copy !req
1011. I want my family to know
I was thinking about them.
Copy !req
1012. All hands on deck!
Copy !req
1013. Get your asses up here,
you lazy bastards!
Copy !req
1014. The war had finally found us.
Copy !req
1015. All stop!
Copy !req
1016. Pleasant, man that light.
Copy !req
1017. A transport carrying 1,300 men
had been split by a torpedo.
Copy !req
1018. We were first to arrive at the scene.
Copy !req
1019. - Cut the engines!
- All stop!
Copy !req
1020. We were the only sound.
Copy !req
1021. Fellas!
Copy !req
1022. Sub!
Copy !req
1023. We sure as hell
can't outrun them fuckers.
Copy !req
1024. Battle stations!
Copy !req
1025. Thank you, Chief.
Copy !req
1026. What?
Copy !req
1027. Is that the last one?
Copy !req
1028. Captain!
Copy !req
1029. They shot the hell out of my painting!
Copy !req
1030. Give me your other hand.
Copy !req
1031. You'll be all right, Captain.
Copy !req
1032. They got a nice spot in Heaven
waiting for you. Nice spot.
Copy !req
1033. You can be as mad as a mad dog
at the way things went.
Copy !req
1034. You could swear, curse the Fates.
Copy !req
1035. But when it comes to the end,
Copy !req
1036. you have to let go.
Copy !req
1037. Captain?
Copy !req
1038. Thirteen hundred and twenty eight men
died that day.
Copy !req
1039. I said my goodbyes to the Cherokee,
Dennis Smith.
Copy !req
1040. John Grimm, who was right,
he was gonna die there.
Copy !req
1041. I sent Pleasant Curtis' wife his money.
Copy !req
1042. I said goodbye to the twin, Vic Brody,
Copy !req
1043. and to Mike Clark,
captain of the tugboat Chelsea.
Copy !req
1044. I said goodbye to all the other men
who had dreams of their own,
Copy !req
1045. ail the men
who wanted to be insurance salesmen
Copy !req
1046. or doctors or lawyers or lndian chiefs.
Copy !req
1047. This don't get fixed.
Copy !req
1048. Out here, death didn't seem natural.
Copy !req
1049. I'd never seen a hummingbird
that far out to sea.
Copy !req
1050. Before or since.
Copy !req
1051. And in May of 1945,
when I was 26 years old,
Copy !req
1052. I came home.
Copy !req
1053. I'm ready! I'm ready!
Copy !req
1054. I'm coming!
Copy !req
1055. - I'm ready!
- All right, I'm coming, Miss Alfalina.
Copy !req
1056. - Queenie?
- Yes?
Copy !req
1057. Sweet Jesus! Oh, you're home!
Oh, Lord, you came back!
Copy !req
1058. - Let me look at you.
- Who's that, Mama?
Copy !req
1059. - Child, it's your brother, Benjamin.
- I didn't know he was my brother.
Copy !req
1060. There's a shitload of things
you don't know, child.
Copy !req
1061. Get on out there and finish sweeping.
Copy !req
1062. Come here, wash your hands,
help me with the table. Go on, now.
Copy !req
1063. Turn around.
You look like you've been born again.
Copy !req
1064. Younger than the springtime.
Copy !req
1065. I think that preacher laid hands on you
gave you a second life.
Copy !req
1066. I knew it that moment I saw you,
you were special.
Copy !req
1067. I tell you what, my knees are sore,
Copy !req
1068. 'cause I've been on them every night
asking the Lord,
Copy !req
1069. I said,
"God, just bring him home safely."
Copy !req
1070. Remember what I told you?
Copy !req
1071. "You never know
what's coming for you?"
Copy !req
1072. That's right. Sit down.
Copy !req
1073. Well, you learn anything
worth repeating?
Copy !req
1074. - I sure saw some things.
- Oh, you seen some pain.
Copy !req
1075. - Some joy, too?
- Sure. Sure, I did.
Copy !req
1076. Yeah, that's what I want to hear.
Look at you.
Copy !req
1077. - Where's Tizzy?
- Oh, baby.
Copy !req
1078. Mr. Weathers died in his sleep
one night last April.
Copy !req
1079. - Mama, I'm so sorry.
- Don't you worry about that, baby.
Copy !req
1080. Yeah, well, it's only
one or two of them left now.
Copy !req
1081. They all just about new.
Copy !req
1082. Guess they're waiting their turn
like everybody else, huh?
Copy !req
1083. I'm so glad you're back home with me!
Copy !req
1084. Now, we're gonna have to find you
a wife and a new job! That's right.
Copy !req
1085. Come on in here,
help me with this table.
Copy !req
1086. Benjamin.
Copy !req
1087. You're wasting your time, baby.
She's stone deaf.
Copy !req
1088. Oh, and you'll be staying in
what was Mrs. DeSeroux's old room.
Copy !req
1089. You're too big to be rooming
with anybody else.
Copy !req
1090. It's a funny thing about coming home.
Copy !req
1091. Looks the same,
smells the same, feels the same.
Copy !req
1092. Did I ever tell you I've been struck
by lightning seven times?
Copy !req
1093. Once when I was sitting in my truck,
just minding my own business.
Copy !req
1094. You realize what's changed is you.
Copy !req
1095. And late one morning,
not long after I'd been back...
Copy !req
1096. Thank you.
Copy !req
1097. Hey.
Copy !req
1098. - Excuse me, is Queenie here?
- Daisy?
Copy !req
1099. - It's me, Benjamin.
- Benjamin?
Copy !req
1100. Oh, my God!
Copy !req
1101. Of course it's you! Benjamin!
Copy !req
1102. How are you?
It's been such a long time.
Copy !req
1103. There's so much I want to know.
When did you get back?
Copy !req
1104. Well, I got back a few weeks ago.
Copy !req
1105. I spoke to Queenie, she said you were
in the war, somewhere at sea.
Copy !req
1106. - We were so, so worried about you.
- Oh, I'm okay.
Copy !req
1107. Well, look at you. You're so lovely.
Copy !req
1108. You stopped writing.
Copy !req
1109. "When I had left, she was a girl.
And a woman had taken her place.
Copy !req
1110. "She was the most beautiful woman
I'd ever seen."
Copy !req
1111. Beautiful.
Copy !req
1112. "The most beautiful."
Copy !req
1113. - You remember Grandma Fuller?
- Why, sure I do.
Copy !req
1114. - She passed.
- I heard that. I'm sorry.
Copy !req
1115. I just can't believe we're both here.
Must be fate.
Copy !req
1116. No, no, what do they call it?
Copy !req
1117. Kismet.
Copy !req
1118. Do you know about Edgar Cayce,
the psychic?
Copy !req
1119. I don't believe I...
Copy !req
1120. He says
that everything is predetermined,
Copy !req
1121. but I like to think of it as fate.
Copy !req
1122. I'm not sure how it works,
but I'm glad it happened.
Copy !req
1123. Have you been to Manhattan?
It's right across the river from me.
Copy !req
1124. Now, I can see
the Empire State Building
Copy !req
1125. if I stand on my bed.
Copy !req
1126. What about you?
Where have you been?
Copy !req
1127. Tell me everything. Last time you wrote,
you said you'd been to Russia.
Copy !req
1128. I've always wanted to go to Russia.
Is it as cold as they say?
Copy !req
1129. - Twice as cold.
- My goodness.
Copy !req
1130. We always said you were different.
But I think you really are.
Copy !req
1131. You wrote that you met somebody.
Did it work out?
Copy !req
1132. It ran its course.
Copy !req
1133. Hey, do you remember this?
Copy !req
1134. "This is the picture
of Old Man Kangaroo
Copy !req
1135. "at 5:00 in the afternoon."
Copy !req
1136. Would you like to have dinner?
Copy !req
1137. Did I tell you
that I danced for Balanchine?
Copy !req
1138. Oh, he's a famous choreographer.
He said that I had perfect line.
Copy !req
1139. You know, in a rehearsal once,
a dancer fell.
Copy !req
1140. And he just...
He just put it right into the production.
Copy !req
1141. I mean, can you imagine that?
Like in a... In a classical ballet?
Copy !req
1142. You know, a dancer,
intentionally falling.
Copy !req
1143. There's a whole new word
for dance now. It's called "abstract."
Copy !req
1144. No, he's not the only one, though.
Copy !req
1145. There's Lincoln Kirstein
and Lucia Chase, and oh, my...
Copy !req
1146. Oh, there's Agnes de Mille.
Copy !req
1147. She's just torn up all those conventions,
Copy !req
1148. you know,
ail that straight-up-and-down stuff.
Copy !req
1149. It's not about the formality of the dance,
it's about what the dancer's feeling.
Copy !req
1150. As she told me
about this big new world,
Copy !req
1151. names that didn't mean a thing to me,
Copy !req
1152. I didn't really hear very much
of what she was saying.
Copy !req
1153. It's new and it's modern
and it's American.
Copy !req
1154. They understand our vigor
and our physicality.
Copy !req
1155. Oh, my God.
I've just been talking and talking.
Copy !req
1156. No, no, I've enjoyed listening.
I didn't know you smoked.
Copy !req
1157. I'm old enough.
Copy !req
1158. I'm old enough for a lot of things.
Copy !req
1159. In New York, we stay up all night,
Copy !req
1160. watch the sun come up
over the warehouses.
Copy !req
1161. There's always something to do.
Copy !req
1162. I have to go back tomorrow.
Copy !req
1163. - So soon.
- Wish I could stay.
Copy !req
1164. Dancers don't need costumes
or scenery anymore.
Copy !req
1165. I can imagine
dancing completely naked.
Copy !req
1166. Have you read D. H. Lawrence?
Copy !req
1167. - Well . . .
- His books were banned.
Copy !req
1168. The words are like making love.
Copy !req
1169. In our company,
we have to trust each other.
Copy !req
1170. Sex is a part of it.
Copy !req
1171. You know,
a lot of the dancers are lesbians.
Copy !req
1172. There was one woman
who wanted to sleep with me.
Copy !req
1173. - Does that upset you?
- Which part?
Copy !req
1174. Somebody wanting to sleep with me.
Copy !req
1175. You're a desirable woman.
Copy !req
1176. I would think most of them
would want to sleep with you.
Copy !req
1177. Let's go back to the house.
Copy !req
1178. Or we could get a room somewhere.
Copy !req
1179. - We could lay down your jacket.
- I don't know, Daisy.
Copy !req
1180. It's not that I wouldn't like to or anything.
I think I'll just disappoint you.
Copy !req
1181. Oh, Benjamin, I've been with older men.
Copy !req
1182. You're going back to New York
in the morning.
Copy !req
1183. You should be with your friends.
Copy !req
1184. - You're only young once.
- Oh, I'm old enough.
Copy !req
1185. Daisy, just not tonight, is all.
Copy !req
1186. We could go hear some music.
Copy !req
1187. Our lives are defined by opportunities.
Copy !req
1188. Even the ones we miss.
Copy !req
1189. You look so handsome
and so distinguished.
Copy !req
1190. They're saying the hurricane's
gonna miss us, blow right on by.
Copy !req
1191. - Oh, that's great.
- I'll stay under the blankets with Mother.
Copy !req
1192. She says nothing . . . Benjamin?
Copy !req
1193. "Things were becoming different . . ."
Copy !req
1194. for me.
Copy !req
1195. My hair had very little gray
and grew like weeds.
Copy !req
1196. My sense of smell was keener.
My hearing, more acute.
Copy !req
1197. I could walk further and faster.
Copy !req
1198. While everybody else was aging,
I was getting younger, all alone.
Copy !req
1199. Come in.
Copy !req
1200. Benjamin.
Copy !req
1201. - Do you remember me?
- Well, sure I do, Mr. Button.
Copy !req
1202. - What happened to you?
- Darn foot. Got infected, so...
Copy !req
1203. Welcome home, my friend.
Copy !req
1204. I see you're still drinking
your Sazerac with whiskey.
Copy !req
1205. Creature of habit.
Copy !req
1206. You still visiting the house
on Bourbon Street?
Copy !req
1207. Not for a long time.
Copy !req
1208. Interesting times, though.
Copy !req
1209. We went from making 40,000
to nearly half a million buttons a day.
Copy !req
1210. We employed 10 times
the number of people.
Copy !req
1211. We were operating around the clock.
Copy !req
1212. Damn shame.
Copy !req
1213. The war has been kind
to the button industry.
Copy !req
1214. You know,
Copy !req
1215. I'm sick.
I don't know how much longer I have.
Copy !req
1216. - I'm sorry to hear that, Mr. Button.
- No...
Copy !req
1217. I don't have any people.
I keep to myself.
Copy !req
1218. I hope you don't mind,
but, whenever possible,
Copy !req
1219. I'd enjoy your company.
Copy !req
1220. I'll certainly do what I can.
Copy !req
1221. Benjamin, do you know anything
about buttons?
Copy !req
1222. Now, Button's Buttons has been
in our family for 124 years.
Copy !req
1223. My grandfather was a tailor,
and he had a small shop in Richmond.
Copy !req
1224. After the Civil War,
he moved to New Orleans,
Copy !req
1225. where my father had the wisdom
to make our own buttons.
Copy !req
1226. So, with his help,
the tailor shop grew to this.
Copy !req
1227. And today, I can't sew a stitch.
Copy !req
1228. That's very, very interesting.
Copy !req
1229. You sure have done well for yourself.
Copy !req
1230. So, what can I do for you, Mr. Button?
Copy !req
1231. Benjamin? You're my son.
Copy !req
1232. I'm so sorry I never told you before.
Copy !req
1233. You were born
the night the Great War ended.
Copy !req
1234. Your mother died giving birth to you.
Copy !req
1235. I thought you were a monster.
Copy !req
1236. I promised your mother
I'd make sure you were safe.
Copy !req
1237. I should never have abandoned you.
Copy !req
1238. My mother?
Copy !req
1239. At the summer house
on Lake Pontchartrain.
Copy !req
1240. When I was a boy,
I'd love to wake up before anyone else,
Copy !req
1241. run down to that lake
and watch the day begin.
Copy !req
1242. It was as if I was the only one alive.
Copy !req
1243. I fell in love the first time I saw her.
Copy !req
1244. Your mother's name
was Caroline Murphy.
Copy !req
1245. She worked
in your grandfather's kitchen.
Copy !req
1246. She's from Dublin.
Copy !req
1247. In 1903, Caroline and all her brothers
and sisters came to live here,
Copy !req
1248. in New Orleans.
Copy !req
1249. I'd find excuses
to go down to that kitchen
Copy !req
1250. just so I could look at her.
Copy !req
1251. April 25th, 1918.
Happiest day of my life.
Copy !req
1252. The day I married your mother.
Copy !req
1253. Why didn't you just tell me?
Copy !req
1254. I plan on leaving everything I have
to you.
Copy !req
1255. - I have to go.
- Where?
Copy !req
1256. Home.
Copy !req
1257. And what does he think, anyway?
Copy !req
1258. He thinks he can just show up
Copy !req
1259. and everything's
supposed to be fine and dandy.
Copy !req
1260. Everybody's just supposed to be friends.
Copy !req
1261. Well, he got another thing coming,
that's for sure.
Copy !req
1262. God be my witness,
he got another thing coming.
Copy !req
1263. He left us $18 that night you was found.
Copy !req
1264. Eighteen ratty dollars
Copy !req
1265. - and a filthy diaper.
- Good night, Mama.
Copy !req
1266. Good night, baby.
Copy !req
1267. Did I ever tell you
I was struck by lightning seven times?
Copy !req
1268. Once, I was walking my dog
down the road.
Copy !req
1269. I'm blind in the one eye,
can't hardly hear,
Copy !req
1270. get twitches and shakes out of nowhere,
always losing my line of thought.
Copy !req
1271. But you know what?
Copy !req
1272. God keeps reminding me
I'm lucky to be alive.
Copy !req
1273. Storm's coming.
Copy !req
1274. May I help you, sir?
Up the stairs, first bedroom.
Copy !req
1275. Thank you.
Copy !req
1276. Wake up.
Copy !req
1277. Let's get you dressed.
Copy !req
1278. Now that's something.
Copy !req
1279. Thank you.
Copy !req
1280. You can be mad as a mad dog
at the way things went.
Copy !req
1281. You can swear and curse the Fates.
Copy !req
1282. But when it comes to the end,
Copy !req
1283. you have to let go.
Copy !req
1284. Well, it sure is a beautiful service.
Copy !req
1285. He'll be buried
right next to your mother.
Copy !req
1286. You're my mother.
Copy !req
1287. My baby.
Copy !req
1288. Now, I'd never seen New York.
Copy !req
1289. - Excuse me, I'm a friend of Daisy's.
- Right this way.
Copy !req
1290. - Daisy has company. Daisy! Daisy!
- Yes!
Copy !req
1291. - We need the wardrobe.
- Is somebody looking for me?
Copy !req
1292. - Benjamin.
- Hi.
Copy !req
1293. - What are you doing here?
- Thought I'd come visit.
Copy !req
1294. Spend some time with you, if I could.
Copy !req
1295. Oh, well, I wish you would've called.
You took me by surprise.
Copy !req
1296. - You can just throw them out.
- No. Thank you, they're lovely.
Copy !req
1297. I couldn't take my eyes off of you.
I thought you were mesmerizing.
Copy !req
1298. Thank you.
That's very kind of you to say.
Copy !req
1299. I better get changed.
A group of us are going to a party.
Copy !req
1300. - Would you want to come?
- Someone told me about a restaurant
Copy !req
1301. I thought you might enjoy.
Copy !req
1302. I made a reservation, just in case.
Copy !req
1303. Just, all the dancers go out
after the show. You're...
Copy !req
1304. You're welcome to come with us.
I'll get changed. All right?
Copy !req
1305. She choreographs
for the Ballets Russes.
Copy !req
1306. She's divine.
Copy !req
1307. You were breathtaking.
Copy !req
1308. Sweetie.
Copy !req
1309. This is David.
He dances with the company.
Copy !req
1310. - This is Benjamin.
- Who?
Copy !req
1311. - I told you about him.
- Oh, yeah. How you doing?
Copy !req
1312. - I'll go get you a drink.
- All right. Thanks.
Copy !req
1313. So, you were a friend
of her grandmother's?
Copy !req
1314. Or something like that?
Copy !req
1315. Something like that.
Copy !req
1316. Hey, excuse me.
Copy !req
1317. Come on.
Copy !req
1318. Hey!
Copy !req
1319. Now, I had no idea you were coming.
Copy !req
1320. Lord, Benjamin.
Copy !req
1321. What did you expect?
What, you want me to drop everything?
Copy !req
1322. Now, this is my life.
Copy !req
1323. Babe! You going downtown?
Copy !req
1324. Come on. You'll have a good time.
Copy !req
1325. There's lots of musicians,
interesting people.
Copy !req
1326. You don't have to do that.
This is my fault.
Copy !req
1327. I should've called.
Copy !req
1328. I thought I'd come here
Copy !req
1329. and sweep you off your feet
or something.
Copy !req
1330. - Daisy! Come on! Let's go.
- Be right there.
Copy !req
1331. Seems nice.
Copy !req
1332. Do you love him?
Copy !req
1333. I think so.
Copy !req
1334. I'm happy for you.
Copy !req
1335. Maybe I'll see you at home.
Copy !req
1336. Okay.
Copy !req
1337. I enjoyed the show!
Copy !req
1338. He came to tell me his father had died.
Copy !req
1339. - You couldn't have known.
- I was 23. I . . . I just didn't care.
Copy !req
1340. What did you do next?
Copy !req
1341. Some photographs, I think,
in the front of my bag.
Copy !req
1342. I was as good a dancer
as I was ever gonna be.
Copy !req
1343. For five years, I...
Copy !req
1344. I danced everywhere.
Copy !req
1345. London, Vienna, Prague.
Copy !req
1346. I've never seen these.
Copy !req
1347. Mom.
Copy !req
1348. You never talked about your dancing.
Copy !req
1349. Well, I was the only American
Copy !req
1350. to be invited to dance
with the Bolshoi, sugar.
Copy !req
1351. It was glorious.
Copy !req
1352. But Benjamin was never far
from my thoughts.
Copy !req
1353. And I'd find myself saying...
Copy !req
1354. Good night, Benjamin.
Copy !req
1355. - "Good night, Daisy."
- He said that?
Copy !req
1356. "Life wasn't all that complicated.
Copy !req
1357. "If you want, you might say
I was looking for something."
Copy !req
1358. Benjamin?
Mrs. La Tourneau just passed.
Copy !req
1359. - Letter for Mr. Benjamin Button?
- That'd be me.
Copy !req
1360. Thank you.
Copy !req
1361. Miss Daisy Fuller.
Copy !req
1362. - Just a minute. Please have a seat.
- Sure.
Copy !req
1363. Sometimes we're on a collision course
and we just don't know it.
Copy !req
1364. Whether it's by accident or by design,
there's not a thing we can do about it.
Copy !req
1365. A woman in Paris was on her way
to go shopping.
Copy !req
1366. But she had forgotten her coat,
went back to get it.
Copy !req
1367. When she had gotten her coat,
the phone had rung.
Copy !req
1368. So she had stopped to answer it
and talked for a couple of minutes.
Copy !req
1369. While the woman was on the phone,
Copy !req
1370. Daisy was rehearsing for a performance
at the Paris Opera House.
Copy !req
1371. And while she was rehearsing,
the woman, off the phone now,
Copy !req
1372. had gone outside to get a taxi.
Copy !req
1373. Now, a taxi driver had
dropped off a fare earlier,
Copy !req
1374. and had stopped to get a cup of coffee.
Copy !req
1375. And all the while, Daisy was rehearsing.
Copy !req
1376. And this cab driver,
who dropped off the earlier fare
Copy !req
1377. and had stopped
to get the cup of coffee,
Copy !req
1378. he picked up the lady
who was going shopping
Copy !req
1379. and had missed getting the earlier cab.
Copy !req
1380. The taxi had to stop
for a man crossing the street,
Copy !req
1381. who had left for work five minutes later
than he normally did
Copy !req
1382. because he forgot to set his alarm.
Copy !req
1383. While that man, late for work,
was crossing the street,
Copy !req
1384. Daisy had finished rehearsing
and was taking a shower.
Copy !req
1385. And while Daisy was showering,
Copy !req
1386. the taxi was waiting outside a boutique
for the woman to pick up a package
Copy !req
1387. which hadn't been wrapped yet,
Copy !req
1388. because the girl
who was supposed to wrap it
Copy !req
1389. had broken up with her boyfriend
the night before and forgot.
Copy !req
1390. When the package was wrapped,
the woman, who was back in the cab,
Copy !req
1391. was blocked by a delivery truck.
Copy !req
1392. All the while,
Daisy was getting dressed.
Copy !req
1393. The delivery truck pulled away,
and the taxi was able to move
Copy !req
1394. while Daisy, the last to be dressed,
Copy !req
1395. waited for one of her friends
who had broken a shoelace.
Copy !req
1396. While the taxi was stopped,
waiting for a traffic light,
Copy !req
1397. Daisy and her friend
came out the back of the theater.
Copy !req
1398. And if only one thing
had happened differently,
Copy !req
1399. if that shoelace hadn't broken
Copy !req
1400. or that delivery truck
had moved moments earlier
Copy !req
1401. or that package
had been wrapped and ready
Copy !req
1402. because the girl hadn't broken up
with her boyfriend,
Copy !req
1403. or that man had set his alarm
and got up five minutes earlier
Copy !req
1404. or that taxi driver hadn't stopped
for a cup of coffee
Copy !req
1405. or that woman had remembered
her coat and got into an earlier cab,
Copy !req
1406. Daisy and her friend
would have crossed the street
Copy !req
1407. and the taxi would have driven by.
Copy !req
1408. But, life being what it is,
Copy !req
1409. a series of intersecting lives
and incidents
Copy !req
1410. out of anyone's control,
Copy !req
1411. that taxi did not go by,
Copy !req
1412. and that driver was
momentarily distracted.
Copy !req
1413. Daisy!
Copy !req
1414. And that taxi hit Daisy.
Copy !req
1415. Daisy! Help!
Copy !req
1416. And her leg was crushed.
Copy !req
1417. Daisy?
Copy !req
1418. - Who told you?
- Your friend wired me.
Copy !req
1419. Very kind of you to come all this way
to see that I was all right.
Copy !req
1420. You'd do the same for me.
Copy !req
1421. My God.
Copy !req
1422. Look at you. You're perfect.
Copy !req
1423. I wish you hadn't come here.
I don't want you to see me like this.
Copy !req
1424. Her leg had been broken in five places.
Copy !req
1425. And with therapy and time,
she might walk again.
Copy !req
1426. But she'd never dance.
Copy !req
1427. I'm gonna take you home with me.
Copy !req
1428. - I want to look after you.
- I'm not going back to New Orleans.
Copy !req
1429. Then I'll stay here in Paris.
Copy !req
1430. Don't you understand?
I don't want your help.
Copy !req
1431. I know I'm feeling sorry for myself,
but I don't want to be with you.
Copy !req
1432. Tried to tell you that in New York.
You don't listen.
Copy !req
1433. You might change your mind.
Copy !req
1434. We are not little children
anymore, Benjamin.
Copy !req
1435. Just stay out of my life.
Copy !req
1436. I was awfully cruel.
Copy !req
1437. He didn't understand.
I couldn't have him see me like that.
Copy !req
1438. "I didn't leave right away.
Copy !req
1439. "I stayed in Paris for a while
to look out for her."
Copy !req
1440. I never knew that.
Copy !req
1441. Oh, darling, could you get the nurse?
Copy !req
1442. I taught myself to walk again.
Copy !req
1443. I took the train to Lourdes.
Copy !req
1444. Let's take a look. That's normal.
Pulse rate is slowing.
Copy !req
1445. She is gonna struggle to breathe.
Copy !req
1446. - Will you be all right?
- Yeah.
Copy !req
1447. All right, he says, "I went back home."
And then there's a lot of pages torn out.
Copy !req
1448. "I listened to the sound of the house."
I read that already.
Copy !req
1449. He...
Copy !req
1450. He spilt something on it,
so it's hard to read, Mom.
Copy !req
1451. Something about sailing,
does that make sense?
Copy !req
1452. I learned to sail an old boat
of my father's from the lake house.
Copy !req
1453. I can't lie.
Copy !req
1454. I did enjoy the company
of a woman or two.
Copy !req
1455. Or maybe three.
Copy !req
1456. Don't know why you bother, Sam,
just gonna be there again tomorrow.
Copy !req
1457. Mama.
Copy !req
1458. And in the spring of 1962,
Copy !req
1459. she came back.
Copy !req
1460. - You want to know where I've been?
- No.
Copy !req
1461. How come you didn't write or nothing?
Just disappearing like that.
Copy !req
1462. It was something I needed to do
for myself.
Copy !req
1463. Yeah, well, I never took you
to be the selfish type.
Copy !req
1464. I sure hope I'm not wrong.
Copy !req
1465. I'm usually not wrong about people.
Copy !req
1466. - Good night, Mama.
- Good night, baby.
Copy !req
1467. Y'all have fun.
Copy !req
1468. - You haven't said two words.
- I don't want to ruin it.
Copy !req
1469. - Sleep with me?
- Absolutely.
Copy !req
1470. I asked her to come away with me.
Copy !req
1471. We sailed into the Gulf
along the Florida Keys.
Copy !req
1472. I am so glad we didn't find one another
when I was 26.
Copy !req
1473. - Why do you say that?
- I was so young.
Copy !req
1474. And you were so old.
Copy !req
1475. It happened
when it was supposed to happen.
Copy !req
1476. I will enjoy each and every moment
I have with you.
Copy !req
1477. I bet I can stay out here longer than you.
Copy !req
1478. I bet you can't.
Copy !req
1479. Barely a line or a crease.
Copy !req
1480. Every day I have more wrinkles.
It's not fair.
Copy !req
1481. I love your wrinkles. Both of them.
Copy !req
1482. What's it like growing younger?
Copy !req
1483. I can't really say.
I'm always looking out my own eyes.
Copy !req
1484. Will you still love me
when my skin grows old and saggy?
Copy !req
1485. Will you still love me when I have acne?
When I wet the bed?
Copy !req
1486. When I'm afraid
of what's under the stairs?
Copy !req
1487. What?
Copy !req
1488. - What are you thinking?
- Well, I was thinking how nothing lasts.
Copy !req
1489. And what a shame that is.
Copy !req
1490. Some things last.
Copy !req
1491. - Good night, Daisy.
- Good night, Benjamin.
Copy !req
1492. Mom?
Copy !req
1493. - When did you meet Dad?
- Some time after that.
Copy !req
1494. - Did you tell him about this Benjamin?
- He knew enough, darling.
Copy !req
1495. Mama?
Copy !req
1496. Queenie?
Copy !req
1497. Hello?
Copy !req
1498. Oh, hi, Mrs. Carter, it's Benjamin.
Where is everybody?
Copy !req
1499. Oh, Benjamin. Queenie died.
I'm so sorry.
Copy !req
1500. I'm so sorry for your loss.
She was a great woman.
Copy !req
1501. Our deepest condolences.
Copy !req
1502. We buried her
beside her beloved Mr. Weathers.
Copy !req
1503. And so we might have memories
of our own,
Copy !req
1504. we sold my father's house
on Esplanade.
Copy !req
1505. It is a wonderful old place, darling.
Copy !req
1506. I think we are going to be
so happy here.
Copy !req
1507. Oh, what a long family history you have.
Copy !req
1508. They come with the house.
Copy !req
1509. - Come on.
- You have to see the master suite.
Copy !req
1510. We bought ourselves a duplex.
Copy !req
1511. I loved that house.
Copy !req
1512. It smelled like firewood.
Copy !req
1513. Don't . . . Don't stop, darling.
Copy !req
1514. "It was one of the happiest times
of my life."
Copy !req
1515. We didn't have a stick of furniture.
Copy !req
1516. We would have picnics
in the living room.
Copy !req
1517. We ate when we felt like it.
Stayed up all night when we wanted.
Copy !req
1518. We vowed never to fall into routine,
Copy !req
1519. to go to bed or wake up
at the same time.
Copy !req
1520. We lived on that mattress.
Copy !req
1521. Our neighbor, a Mrs. Van Dam,
was a physical therapist.
Copy !req
1522. We lived four blocks from a public pool.
Copy !req
1523. You know, you might've got
a few more years out of it,
Copy !req
1524. but you chose to do
something so special and unique
Copy !req
1525. that there was only
a short window of time you could do it.
Copy !req
1526. So, even if nothing ever happened,
Copy !req
1527. you'd still be right here
where you are now.
Copy !req
1528. I just don't like getting old.
Copy !req
1529. They put too much chlorine in here.
Copy !req
1530. I promise you I'll never lose myself
to self-pity again.
Copy !req
1531. And I think right there and then
Copy !req
1532. she realized
none of us is perfect forever.
Copy !req
1533. She found peace.
Copy !req
1534. She opened a studio
and taught young girls how to dance.
Copy !req
1535. And tendu.
Copy !req
1536. Come back the other way.
And spot, spot, spot. Excellent.
Copy !req
1537. - Good night, Miss Daisy.
- Good night.
Copy !req
1538. You certainly are beautiful to watch.
Copy !req
1539. Dancing's all about the line.
Copy !req
1540. The line of your body.
Copy !req
1541. Sooner or later, you lose that line,
and you never get it back.
Copy !req
1542. I figure, you were born in 1 91 8,
49 years ago.
Copy !req
1543. I'm 43.
Copy !req
1544. We are almost the same age.
Copy !req
1545. - We're meeting in the middle.
- We finally caught up with each other.
Copy !req
1546. Wait.
Copy !req
1547. I want to remember us
just as we are now.
Copy !req
1548. I'm pregnant.
Copy !req
1549. You know, I swear the nurse slipped
and said it was a boy.
Copy !req
1550. But I think it's a girl.
Copy !req
1551. - I know you're afraid.
- I'm not hiding it.
Copy !req
1552. Okay.
Copy !req
1553. - What's your worst fear?
- Baby born like me.
Copy !req
1554. Then I will love it all the more.
Copy !req
1555. Okay. How can I be a father
when I'm heading in the other direction?
Copy !req
1556. It's not fair to a child.
I don't want to be anybody's burden.
Copy !req
1557. Sugar, we all end up in diapers.
Copy !req
1558. I am gonna make this work.
Copy !req
1559. I want this, and I want it with you.
Copy !req
1560. I want you to have everything you want,
all of it.
Copy !req
1561. I'm just not sure how to reconcile this.
Copy !req
1562. Would you tell a blind man
he couldn't have children?
Copy !req
1563. Here you go.
Copy !req
1564. You'll be a father for as long as you can.
Copy !req
1565. I know the consequences.
I've accepted that.
Copy !req
1566. Loving you is worth everything to me.
Copy !req
1567. I have to go pee.
Copy !req
1568. The oldest woman
to ever swim the English Channel
Copy !req
1569. arrived here today in Calais...
Copy !req
1570. - Keep it.
- ... having made the swim in 34 hours,
Copy !req
1571. 22 minutes and 14 seconds.
Copy !req
1572. The 68-year-old Elizabeth Abbott
arrived at 5:38 Greenwich mean time,
Copy !req
1573. exhausted but happy.
Copy !req
1574. Miss Abbott, how would you sum up,
in words, this achievement?
Copy !req
1575. I suppose...
Copy !req
1576. Anything's possible.
Copy !req
1577. - All right?
- Yes. Thank you.
Copy !req
1578. - You ready?
- Thank you very much.
Copy !req
1579. Thank you. Thank you all.
Copy !req
1580. - Yeah.
- You're very kind.
Copy !req
1581. In the spring, on a day like any other...
Copy !req
1582. I'll be back in an hour!
Copy !req
1583. Honey?
Copy !req
1584. Go and call an ambulance!
Copy !req
1585. The baby's coming.
Copy !req
1586. Operator, I need an ambulance.
Copy !req
1587. - The baby's coming!
- 2714 Napoleon.
Copy !req
1588. There you go. Keep breathing.
Copy !req
1589. Deep breaths. Push.
Copy !req
1590. There we go.
Copy !req
1591. Everyone's fine.
She's a perfectly healthy baby girl.
Copy !req
1592. Honey?
Copy !req
1593. She gave birth to a five pound,
four ounce baby girl.
Copy !req
1594. Did you count the toes?
Copy !req
1595. She's perfect.
Copy !req
1596. "And we named her
for my mother, Caroline."
Copy !req
1597. This Benjamin was my father?
Copy !req
1598. And this is how you tell me?
Copy !req
1599. Excuse me.
Copy !req
1600. because all the ingredients are there
for a major storm,
Copy !req
1601. possibly even up to a Category 5.
Copy !req
1602. Hey, I know it's hard.
You can't smoke in here.
Copy !req
1603. Nobody can tell you exactly
where it's gonna hit,
Copy !req
1604. but we have to go with the guidance
that we have,
Copy !req
1605. incorporate that information
and then pass it along to you.
Copy !req
1606. "You grew as the doctor had promised,
normal and healthy."
Copy !req
1607. You're gonna have to find a real father
for her.
Copy !req
1608. What are you talking about?
Copy !req
1609. She's gonna need someone
to grow old with.
Copy !req
1610. She'll learn to accept
whatever happens. She loves you.
Copy !req
1611. Honey, she needs a father,
not a playmate.
Copy !req
1612. - Is it me?
- Of course not.
Copy !req
1613. - Is my age beginning to bother you?
- Of course not.
Copy !req
1614. - Is that what you're telling me?
- You can't raise the both of us.
Copy !req
1615. It was your first birthday.
We had a party for you.
Copy !req
1616. The house was filled with children.
Copy !req
1617. - How are you?
- Hey, man.
Copy !req
1618. Before you turn around,
they'll be in high school, dating.
Copy !req
1619. I sold the summer house
on Lake Pontchartrain,
Copy !req
1620. I sold Button's Buttons,
Copy !req
1621. I sold my father's sailboat,
put it all into a savings account.
Copy !req
1622. And so that you
and your mother might have a life,
Copy !req
1623. I left,
before you could ever remember me.
Copy !req
1624. "I left with just the clothes on my back."
Copy !req
1625. I don't want to read this now.
Can you just tell me where he went?
Copy !req
1626. I don't really know.
Copy !req
1627. It's for me. 1970. I was two.
"Happy Birthday.
Copy !req
1628. "I wish
I could have kissed you good night."
Copy !req
1629. They're all for me.
Copy !req
1630. Five. "I wish I could have taken you
to your first day of school."
Copy !req
1631. Six. "I wish I could have been there
to teach you to play piano."
Copy !req
1632. 1 981, 1 3.
Copy !req
1633. "I wish I could have told you
not to chase some boy.
Copy !req
1634. "I wish I could have held you
when you had a broken heart.
Copy !req
1635. "I wish I could have been your father.
Nothing I ever did will replace that."
Copy !req
1636. I guess he went to India.
Copy !req
1637. "For what it's worth, it's never too late,
Copy !req
1638. - "or, in my case, too early . . ."
- ... or, in my case, too early,
Copy !req
1639. to be whoever you want to be.
Copy !req
1640. There's no time limit.
Start whenever you want.
Copy !req
1641. You can change or stay the same.
There are no rules to this thing.
Copy !req
1642. We can make the best or the worst of it.
Copy !req
1643. And I hope you make the best of it.
Copy !req
1644. I hope you see things that startle you.
Copy !req
1645. I hope you feel things
you never felt before.
Copy !req
1646. I hope you meet people
with a different point of view.
Copy !req
1647. I hope you live a life you're proud of.
Copy !req
1648. And if you find that you're not,
I hope you have the strength
Copy !req
1649. - to start all over again.
- " . . . start all over again."
Copy !req
1650. He had been gone a long time.
Copy !req
1651. I'll see you next Thursday.
Copy !req
1652. - Good night, Miss Daisy.
- Oh, good night, sweetheart.
Copy !req
1653. I'm sorry, we're closing.
Copy !req
1654. Can I help you?
Copy !req
1655. Are you here to pick somebody up?
Copy !req
1656. Why did you come back?
Copy !req
1657. Mom?
Copy !req
1658. You ready yet?
Copy !req
1659. Mom, what's wrong?
Copy !req
1660. I was just hearing a very sad story
about a mutual friend
Copy !req
1661. who I hadn't seen for a very long time.
Copy !req
1662. Caroline, this is Benjamin.
Copy !req
1663. You knew him
when you were just a baby.
Copy !req
1664. - Hi.
- Hi.
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1665. Hey.
Copy !req
1666. - Oh, I'm sorry, I thought you were done.
- Oh, this is a friend of my family's.
Copy !req
1667. Benjamin Button,
this is my husband, Robert.
Copy !req
1668. - How do you do?
- A pleasure.
Copy !req
1669. Well, it was very nice to meet you.
Copy !req
1670. - We'll be in the car, darling.
- All right.
Copy !req
1671. Bye.
Copy !req
1672. I'm just locking up.
Copy !req
1673. Wow.
Copy !req
1674. She's beautiful. Like her mother.
Copy !req
1675. - Does she dance?
- Not very well.
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1676. I guess that'd be
from my side of things.
Copy !req
1677. She's a dear, sweet girl.
Copy !req
1678. She seems a little lost.
But then, who isn't at 12?
Copy !req
1679. A lot of her reminds me of you.
Copy !req
1680. My husband, he's a widower, or was . . .
Was a widower.
Copy !req
1681. He's an incredibly kind, just bright,
adventurous man.
Copy !req
1682. - He's been a terrific father.
- Good.
Copy !req
1683. - You are so much younger.
- Only on the outside.
Copy !req
1684. You were right.
Copy !req
1685. I couldn't have been raising both of you.
Copy !req
1686. I'm not that strong.
Copy !req
1687. So, where are you staying?
Copy !req
1688. What are you gonna do?
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1689. I'm staying at the Pontchartrain Hotel
on the Avenue.
Copy !req
1690. I don't know what I'm gonna do.
Copy !req
1691. But...
Copy !req
1692. They're waiting.
Copy !req
1693. I remember that. That was him?
Copy !req
1694. The hurricane has changed directions.
Copy !req
1695. It's going to make landfall
sometime soon.
Copy !req
1696. - Am I supposed to do something?
- Arrangements are being made
Copy !req
1697. to move people, but it's up to you.
Copy !req
1698. No. No, we're . . . We're staying.
Copy !req
1699. I'll let you know if anything changes.
Copy !req
1700. "That night, while I was sitting
and wondering why I came back at all,
Copy !req
1701. "there was a knock at the door."
Copy !req
1702. Come in.
Copy !req
1703. Are you all right?
Copy !req
1704. I'm sorry,
I don't know what I'm doing here.
Copy !req
1705. Nothing lasts.
Copy !req
1706. I have never stopped loving you.
Copy !req
1707. Oh, but, Benjamin,
I'm an old woman now.
Copy !req
1708. Some things you never forget.
Copy !req
1709. so few people even know
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1710. that you were ever in jail
in the first place.
Copy !req
1711. I'll tell you, I am sick about it, too,
Copy !req
1712. because, please,
if they're not gonna give you an award
Copy !req
1713. like "Man of the Year,"
at least what they could do
Copy !req
1714. is stop having you listed
as an ex-convict
Copy !req
1715. which I think is, again, so unfair.
Copy !req
1716. Good night, Benjamin.
Copy !req
1717. Good night, Daisy.
Copy !req
1718. And as I knew I would,
I watched her go.
Copy !req
1719. That's the last thing he wrote.
Copy !req
1720. Sometime after your father passed,
Copy !req
1721. there was a call.
Copy !req
1722. Hello.
Copy !req
1723. Yes, speaking.
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1724. I'm sorry, I don't understand.
Copy !req
1725. It's the corner house.
Copy !req
1726. Come on in.
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1727. - I'm Daisy Fuller.
- I'm David Hernandez,
Copy !req
1728. with the Orleans Parish Department
of Child Welfare Services.
Copy !req
1729. He was living in a condemned building.
Copy !req
1730. The police found this with him.
Copy !req
1731. This address.
It's got your name in it a lot.
Copy !req
1732. He's in very poor health.
He was taken to the hospital.
Copy !req
1733. He doesn't seem to know who
or where he is. He's very confused.
Copy !req
1734. I was telling Mr. Hernandez
that Benjamin is one of us.
Copy !req
1735. if he needs a place to stay,
it's all right, he can stay here.
Copy !req
1736. Benjamin?
Copy !req
1737. You play beautifully.
Copy !req
1738. He doesn't seem to like to be touched.
Copy !req
1739. He goes in and out
of states of recognition.
Copy !req
1740. The doctors say,
if they didn't know any better,
Copy !req
1741. he has the beginnings of dementia.
Copy !req
1742. Do you remember me?
Copy !req
1743. I'm Daisy.
Copy !req
1744. I'm Benjamin.
Copy !req
1745. It's nice to meet you, Benjamin.
Copy !req
1746. Would you mind if I sit with you?
I would love to hear you play.
Copy !req
1747. Do I know you?
Copy !req
1748. - I want some breakfast.
- And every day,
Copy !req
1749. I would stop by to make sure
that he was comfortable.
Copy !req
1750. - No, I didn't.
- You just finished eating.
Copy !req
1751. Don't think I don't know
what you're doing!
Copy !req
1752. You're all fucking liars!
Copy !req
1753. He doesn't believe
he just had his breakfast.
Copy !req
1754. Now, why don't we see
Copy !req
1755. if we can't find something else
for you to do?
Copy !req
1756. I have a feeling
there's a lot of things I can't remember.
Copy !req
1757. Well, like what, sugar?
Copy !req
1758. It's like there's this whole life I had,
Copy !req
1759. and I can't remember what it was.
Copy !req
1760. It's okay.
Copy !req
1761. It's okay to forget things.
Copy !req
1762. Many times, he would simply forget
who or where he was.
Copy !req
1763. There he is, he's up there on the roof.
Copy !req
1764. It wasn't easy.
Copy !req
1765. - Benjamin!
- I can see everything!
Copy !req
1766. - I can see the big river!
- That's right,
Copy !req
1767. you can see everything, sweetheart.
Copy !req
1768. I can see the graveyard
where Mama's buried,
Copy !req
1769. - and all those other people.
- I want you to come down!
Copy !req
1770. - What if I could fly?
- I knew a man who could fly.
Copy !req
1771. You come down
and I'll tell you all about him.
Copy !req
1772. Somebody go up there.
Copy !req
1773. He was five when I moved in.
Copy !req
1774. Nearly the same age I was
when I had met him.
Copy !req
1775. "This is the picture
of Old Man Kangaroo
Copy !req
1776. "at 5:00 in the afternoon
Copy !req
1777. "when he had got
his beautiful hind legs."
Copy !req
1778. The days passed.
Copy !req
1779. And I watched as he forgot how to walk
Copy !req
1780. - and how to talk.
- What's my name?
Copy !req
1781. I'm Daisy.
Copy !req
1782. Can you say "Daisy"?
Copy !req
1783. In 2002, they put up a new clock
in that train station.
Copy !req
1784. And in the spring of 2003,
Copy !req
1785. he looked at me
Copy !req
1786. and I knew that he knew who I was.
Copy !req
1787. And then he closed his eyes
as if to go to sleep.
Copy !req
1788. - I wish I'd known him.
- Now you do.
Copy !req
1789. Mom, I think I should go see
what's going on.
Copy !req
1790. Good night, Benjamin.
Copy !req
1791. We're expecting flash flooding
after the levee break.
Copy !req
1792. It occurred in the Ninth Ward.
Copy !req
1793. Some people are born to sit by a river.
Copy !req
1794. Some get struck by lightning.
Copy !req
1795. Some have an ear for music.
Copy !req
1796. Some are artists.
Copy !req
1797. Some swim.
Copy !req
1798. Some know buttons.
Copy !req
1799. Some know Shakespeare.
Copy !req
1800. Some are mothers.
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