Carolina Caroline

Hey.

$8.99.

I'm sorry, can I trade you a five and five ones

for that ten back?

No. No, there should be ten ones in there.

No, I'm telling you, I got nine ones and a ten.

How about I just give you one more and we'll call it 20?

How about I give you one more buck for a 20?

Oh, my mistake.

I'll just give you another one and we'll call it 20.

Nine, ten, makes nine, ten plus one more, and that's 20.

Now boarding for Charleston, South Carolina.

Now boarding.

- Howdy, partner. - How are ya?

Let me... Let me get a bag of nuts.

Bag of nuts, yes, sir.

Filling up?

No.

Ain't another station for 50 miles, sir.

It's alright, I'm staying in town.

- Oh. You got family here? - No.

You work for the oil company, huh?

- No, sir. - Ain't got family here

and ain't with the oil company, but you're staying in town.

Ooh, all right. Well, $69 then.

Okay. I have a ten...

Okay, six.

And then 31, here you go.

- Great. - All right.

Actually, you know what? I need the larger bill.

- The ten. I need the ten. - Sorry?

That ten. Would it be all right if I traded you all this back

plus an extra one for that ten?

Well... All right, so...

- All right, here you go. - Great. Thank you.

- That's yours. - All right.

Whoa. Wait, hold on, hoss.

You gave me the ten back.

No, no, no. No, I gave you... I gave you one.

No, no, you gave me too much. I got 19 here.

- Thank you. - Yeah.

Thank you for telling me. I appreciate that.

Look, how about we do this?

Why don't I just give you one more

and then we just make this 20?

- One more? - One more.

Nine, ten, 19, I give you one more, 20.

Mm, all right.

- Great. - Okay.

- Good? - Yeah. All right.

And 20.

- Thank you so much. - Yeah, anytime.

See you when I'm ready to fill up, huh?

Yeah, I'll be waiting on you.

Is that right?

God damn it, Charlie.

Excuse me, sir?

Yeah, I saw what you did in there.

You got a 20 for a ten and ten ones,

but half of that money belonged to the store.

That's right.

Well, you walked out this store with money that ain't yours.

What's your name?

Excuse me?

Your name?

Caroline.

Caroline.

Is it Caroline Daniels?

You're clever, Caroline Daniels.

Hey, how did you know my name?

Why don't I give you another buck

and we call it a 20?

What do you say?

Sure. Fine.

Hey, Caroline.

- Whiskey. - Double?

Yeah.

How did you know my name today?

Next to the register at the filling station...

there's a list of employee tasks.

Mop the floors, clean the bathroom.

- Stock the shelves. - Stock the shelves.

I see Daniels is written next to all of 'em.

You... You like that kinda work? Do you?

Mopping floors, cleaning bathrooms?

How 'bout this? If you could do anything, what would you do?

What, like my dream?

Sure.

I don't know, travel, I guess.

Okay, travel. Travel where?

South Carolina.

South Carolina. That's a dream?

- Don't make fun. - I'm making fun of you.

I'm just wondering what you're still doing here.

Well, what about you?

- What about me? - You got a name?

Oliver.

Oliver.

And what are you doing here?

- Passing through. - Passing through?

Passing through is filling up and buying lunch.

- This ain't passing through. - I like small towns.

You like small towns.

What do you like about small towns?

The people you meet.

I grew up in California.

Orange County, people out there are made out of fucking drywall.

So you left? And what do you do now?

Travel.

You wanna go somewhere with me right now?

Up here.

- Here? - Yeah.

Shit!

You scared the shit outta me.

Come in here.

- I thought you died. - I didn't. Come in.

Tell me something about you.

- Something about me? - Yeah.

What do you wanna know?

What do you do?

- What I do? - Yeah.

Well, I...

You know what I do.

What do you do if you get caught?

- I don't get caught. - I caught you.

Maybe I wanted you to catch me.

Why?

Something about you.

Just passing through. Huh?

You know, you never answered my question.

What are you still doing here?

Why haven't you gone to South Carolina?

Same reason anyone doesn't leave what's no good for 'em.

It's what they know.

I had this job once at a body shop.

The kind of place where missing cars come through.

They get stripped down for parts. You know?

I hated it.

I hated my boss. I hated the guys I worked with.

I hated how trapped it made me feel.

And then one day I was sitting outside

on my break in the alley...

and I look up.

And I see these birds perched on the telephone wire.

I think to myself,

"These birds can fly anywhere in the world."

"So why do they always seem to stay in the same place?"

And then I asked myself that same question.

That really happen?

No.

I read it on a greeting card once.

But I did think about it a lot.

You can go on like 500 dates with me.

Uh-huh.

Caroline?

- Morning, Daddy. - Hi.

TV was playing goddam soccer all night.

I went to wake you to ask what country we're living in.

But you weren't home.

Yeah, I was out.

Yeah? With who?

- A friend. - Oh yeah? That's something.

Friend have a name?

Oliver.

Oliver. Well, it's good to have you back home.

I thought you'd run off to Ecuador.

- Hmm? - Come on. You remember Ecuador.

Come on. When you were little.

You remember? I went down to Beaumont.

The train. Barge rigging.

You were staying at Walt and Jennie's, right?

- Right. - And you were afraid

I wasn't gonna come back.

You made me call three times a day, it's true.

And when I missed that one time, you hollered at me.

Yeah, I remember that.

- Yeah. You remember that. - Yeah.

And I said, "Sweetheart, the day I stop calling

is the day I moved to Ecuador."

And then that became our game.

A little thing every time you misbehaved,

I'd say, "All right, that's it. I'm moving to Ecuador."