Places in the Heart

Possum, put that up, now.

Our Heavenly Father...

bless this meal and those who are about to receive it.

Make us thankful for your generous bounty and your unceasing love.

Please remind us, in these hard times...

to be grateful for what we have been given...

and not to ask for what we cannot have.

And make us mindful of those less fortunate among us...

as we sit at this table with all of thy bounty.

- Amen. - Amen.

Turn your plate over.

Put your napkin in your lap.

Frank, you want to take some...

- okra and pass it to your pa? - Yes, ma'am.

Forgot to tell you, we got a letter from your Aunt Gladys.

She was hoping we could come to Oklahoma and visit them...

during your vacation.

But, I don't know. I was hoping we could paint the house.

I'll get it.

Thank you.

- Frank, one biscuit. - Yes, ma'am.

Right on my biscuit.

Excuse me, Mrs. Spalding. The sheriff home?

He is, but we just sat down to dinner. Can't this wait?

No, ma'am. It seems like we got a problem down...

It's all right! I'll be right there, Jack!

Sorry to bother you, sheriff, but there's a drunk Negro by the track.

- I thought you ought to... - Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- Where are you going? - With Pa.

Royce?

No one excused you from the table, young man. You stay here.

I won't be gone long.

- Who'd you say it was? - That Wylie boy, sheriff...

Hey, boys, get on back now, you hear me? You hear?

Wylie!

Wylie!

Howdy, Mr. Royce.

Nice day.

Wylie, you're drunk as a skunk.

I sure am, Mr. Royce.

You know better than that.

I'm sorry, Mr. Royce.

- You ready to come with me now? - Just a minute.

Wylie, are you done?

Royce...

Frank!

Frank!

Frank, give me my doll!

Frank. Possum.

- Give me my doll! - Frank. Possum.

Come here.

Come on.

Something's happened to your pa.

- What do you think? - Get her out here.

Ma?

Ma?

Never you mind, hon. Don't you look.

Come on.

For pity's sake, what do you think you're doing?

You get out of here. Right now.

- Right now, Glen. I mean it. - Guess we can go now.

Oh, sis.

Rosalie, you go down.

Go inside, both of you.

Oh, sis.

Sis, I'm so sorry.

I am so sorry.

I don't want anybody to see me.

- I don't want anybody to see me. - I'm not gonna let anybody see you.

Nobody's gonna see you.

We would have been married 15 years this October.

We had two children.

And I never knew till just now Royce had a scar right there.

I never knew that.

I was afrai...

I was afraid you wasn't gonna make it.

Just don't worry about anything.

Darling, I'm sorry.

I just heard. I got here as fast as I could.

You all right? Come here. It's all right.

It's all right.

Oh, honey, everything's gonna be all right.

I'm here now.

I know how bad you feel.

There now, there now. I'm sorry.

All I could think of...

when I saw that poor man in there...

was what would I do if it was you?

What would I do if something was to happen to you?

Ain't nothing gonna happen to me.

I'm too ornery.

I don't think I could live without you.

Oh, I love you.

I love you so much.

I love you too.

Sorry to hear about it.

Thank you. We appreciate it.

- Wayne. - Viola.

- Where's Edna? - She's in the kitchen with Margaret.

All right.

Hi, Buddy.

Hello, Wayne. How you doing?

- How's Mrs. Spalding? - She's all right.

Excuse me.

Vi...

You want to take this for a minute? I'll be right back.

Here, sug.

Come on, you gotta eat something.

Marie Thornton made that.

It's real good.

Margaret.

What's gonna happen to us?

I can't support this family.

I haven't the least idea how to go about it.

It seems...

like I have never done anything all my life...

but raise kids...

and take care of this house.

Royce paid all the bills.

I never even knew how much salary he made.

What's gonna happen to us?

And thou shalt eat the herbs of the field.

In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread...

till thou return unto the ground...

for out of it wast thou taken.

For dust thou art...

and unto dust thou shall return.

Amen.

Lord, I thought those people would never leave.

- Margaret, let me get this now. - No, you go on and rest.

I'll get that.

Evening, ma'am.

Excuse me, but I was wondering if you have any work around here?

No. There's nothing here.

You go on now. Shoo.

What is it?

I was just asking if you had any chores I can help with.

Oh, no, there's no work around here.

I can make you a plate of food.

Thank you, ma'am.

You wait out by the gate.

Yes, ma'am.

Excuse me!

Morning!

I thought I told you last night you can't stay around here.

Well, I seen you was almost out of firewood...

so I thought I'd chop some for you.

I could fix you some breakfast, but after that, you got to go.

Thank you, ma'am.

You know, ma'am...

you got a nice henhouse over here.

Of course, it's about ready to fall down.

A mighty good-looking milk cow.

She sure need taking care of, though.

There must be close to 40 acres out back.

I reckon with the right kind of help...

you'd make yourself a handsome living just farming cotton.

All you need is somebody like me...

who knows most everything there is to know about farming cotton.

I was thinking that maybe...

I could work around here for food and a place to stay.

No. I can't give you any work.

I could fix you some breakfast, and then you've got to leave.

- No such thing as a job, nowadays. - I'm sorry.

I'll fix you a nice plate of food.

You go wait out there and I'll bring it to you, okay?

Yes, ma'am.

I can mend this fence with no trouble at all, right after breakfast.

Oh, that'd be fine, just fine.

Okay. I'll be right out here.

Good afternoon, Mrs. Spalding.

Mr. Denby.

I hope I'm not bothering you.

- No. Won't you come in? - Oh, thank you.

- Please. - Thank you.

Mrs. Spalding, on behalf of everyone down at the First Farmers Bank...

if there's anything we can do in this hour of need, please ask.

Thank you.

Mrs. Spalding...

I don't know how much your husband told you about his business.

But at the close of banking hours yesterday...

you had a balance of $116.72.

However, when your husband bought this place...

he did borrow money from the bank.

At the time of his death he still owed...

$3681, to be paid twice a year.

What that means, Mrs. Spalding, is...

come October 15th, you will owe the bank $240.

We were wondering if you had any idea how you were gonna make that payment.

Yes.

Matter of fact, I do.

I was thinking...

Rilla Langsford and her sister have that nice little gift shop...

and, well, I thought I could do the same thing.

I could get some pretty little things, and I could set them out...

Mrs. Spalding, why would someone come all the way out here...

when the Langsfords' place is there on the square?

Oh.

Mrs. Spalding, what we at the bank suggest is that you sell this place.

Now I know times are hard...