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The scarecrow. Ben. The woman
stood in the doorway of the ramshackle,

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tumbled down shanty. Her hands were
cupped at her mouth. The wind blew

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loose s whitish blond wisps of hair
around her face and slashed the faded blue

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dress into the uncorseted bulk of her
body. Benny, Oh, Benny,

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Her call echoed through the still evening. Her eyes staring straight before her down

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the slope in front of the house, caught sight of something blue and antiquatedly

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military, standing waist deep and rigid
in the corn field. That old scarecrow.

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She muttered to herself, that thou
old scarecrow, with that thou old

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uniform on too and too. The
sun was going slowly just beyond the farthest

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hill. The unreal light of the
skies reflected colors held over the yellow waving

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tips of the cornfield. Benny,
She called again, Ah, Benny,

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and then she saw him coming toward
her, trudging up the hill. She

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waited until he stood in front of
her supper Ben, she said, was

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you down in the south meadow where
you couldn't hear me call? No?

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He was young and slight, He
had thick hair and a thin face.

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His features were small. There was
nothing unusual about him. His eyes were

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deep set and long, with lids
that were heavily fringed. Yo, heard

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me callin yer? Yes, ma? He stood there straight and still,

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his eyelids were lowered. Why'n't you
come along? Then? What ails?

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Yeer? Benny? Let me shout
and shout that way? Nothin? Ma?

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Why was yer? He hesitated a
second before answering her, I was

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to the bottom of the hill.
And what was you doin down there?

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To the bottom of the hill?
What was you doin down there? Benny?

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Her voice had a hushed tenseness to
it. I was watchin' ma,

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watchin, Benny, That's what I
was doin. His tone held a guarded

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sullenness. Tain't no such a pretty
sunset? Benny? Wan't watchin no sunset?

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Benny? Well, he spoke quickly, What do you want me to

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00:02:01,840 --> 00:02:05,120
put it? Therefore? What do
you want to do that for? In

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the first place, there was birds, Benny? You know there was birds.

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That ain't what I mean? Whatfore
do you put on that their uniform?

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I ain't had nothing else that want, nothing but your granddad's old uniform.

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It's fair in rags, Benny.
It's all I had to put onto

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00:02:20,719 --> 00:02:24,199
it. Where you done it yourself? Na, Benny, Nah, ain't

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nothing but an old uniform with a
stick into it, just a frighten off

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them buds. Tain't nothing else,
honest, tain't Benny. He looked up

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at her. Out of the corners
of his eyes. He was waving its

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arms. That's the wind, Na, Ma, waving its arms before the

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wind it come up. Shush,
Minny, tain't likely, tain't. I

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was watching my seeing it wave and
wave. Suppose it should beckon. Suppose

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00:02:51,719 --> 00:02:54,159
it should beckon to me, I'd
be goin then, Ma, Shush Benny,

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I'd fair have to go. Ma. Live your mammy, naw,

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ben, h you could never go
off and leave your mammy, even if

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00:03:01,520 --> 00:03:05,599
you ain't able to bear this here
farm. You couldn't go off from your

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00:03:05,599 --> 00:03:09,159
mammy. You couldn't not you'll mob
Benny. She could see his mouth twitch.

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She saw him catch his lower lipping
under his teeth. Oh say you

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couldn't leave, Benny, Say it. I fear hate this here farm.

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He mumbled, morning and night and
morning to night, nothing but choes on

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earth, and then some more of
them chores, and always that their way.

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So it is always and the stillness, nothing, lie, nothing.

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Sometimes I ain't able to stand at
no house. Sometimes you'll get to like

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it later, Mabby. No,
no, Ma, you will, Benny,

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sure you will. I won't.
Never. I ain't able to help

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Threaten. It's all closed up tight
inside of me. Eating and eating it

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makes me feel sick. She put
out a hand and laid it heavily on

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his shoulder. Likely it's a touch
of fever in the blood, Benny,

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Oh, I ain't got no fever. You'll be feeling better in the morning,

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00:03:58,439 --> 00:04:01,080
Benny, I'll be feeling the same
ema. That's just it, always

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00:04:01,120 --> 00:04:04,960
the same, nothing but the stillness, nothing alive. And now they're in

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00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:09,960
the cornfield that ain't alive, Benny, ain't it. Ma, don't you

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say that, Benny, don't.
He took her hand off of him.

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I was watching, he said,
doggedly. I've seen it. Wave and

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wave. She turned into the house. That old scarecrow. She muttered to

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herself, that the old scarecrow.
She led the way into the kitchen.

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The boy followed at her heels.
A lamp was lighted on the center table.

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The one window was uncurtained, with
the naked spot of it. The

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evening glow poured shimmeringly into the room. Inside the doorway, they both paused.

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You sat down, Benny. He
pulled a chair up to the table.

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She took a steaming pot from the
stove, and, emptying it into

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a plate, placed the dish before
him. He fell to eating silently.

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She came and sat opposite him.
She watched him cautiously. She did not

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want him to know that she was
watching him. Whenever he glanced up,

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she hurried her eyes away from his
face. In the stillness, the only

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live things were those two pair of
eyes darting away from each other. Benny.

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She could not stand it any longer. Benny, just you, just

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you. He gulped down a mouthful
of food. Oh, Ma, don't

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00:05:13,800 --> 00:05:17,240
you start nothin', Not no more
tonight, Ma. She half rose from

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her chair. For a second,
she leaned stiffly against the table. Then

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she slipped back into her seat,
her whole body limp and relaxed. I

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ain't going to start nothing, Benny. I ain't even going to talk about

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that's here, farm. Honest,
I ain't all this here, farm.

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I gave the best years of my
life to it. She spoke the words

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defiantly, You said that all a
form, Ma. It's true, she

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murmured, terrible, true. And
I've done it for you, Benny.

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I wanted to be givin you something. It's all I'd got to give you.

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00:05:48,600 --> 00:05:53,360
Benny. There's many a man,
Ben that's glad of his farm and

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00:05:53,560 --> 00:05:57,879
grateful too. There's many that makes
it pay. And what I'll do if

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00:05:57,879 --> 00:06:01,160
it does pay? Ma? What
all do then? And I don't know,

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00:06:01,319 --> 00:06:05,439
Benny, it's only just beginning now. But if it does pay,

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00:06:05,600 --> 00:06:09,720
mall, what'll I do? Go
away from here? No, Benny,

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00:06:09,959 --> 00:06:14,079
not away? What would ye go
away for? When it pays? After

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all them years I gave to it. His spoon clattered noisily to his plate.

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He pushed his chair back from the
table. The legs of it rasped

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loudly along the uncarpeted floor. He
got to his feet. Let's go on

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outside, he said. There ain't
no sense to this here. Talkin an

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talkin'. She glanced up at him. Her eyes were narrow and hard.

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All right, Benny, I'll clear
up. I'll be along in a moment,

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all right, Benny. He slouched
heavily out of the room. She

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sat where she was the set looked
pressed on her face. Automatically, her

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hands reached out among the dishes,
pulling them toward her. Outside, the

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boy sank down on the step.
It was getting dark. There were shadows

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along the ground, blue shadows in
the grain skies. One star shone brilliantly

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beyond the mist slurred summit of a
hill. The full moon grew yellow.

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In front of him was the slope
of wind moved cornfield, and in the

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center of it the dim military figure, standing waist deep in corn His eyes

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fixed themselves to it. Oh uniform
with a stick in to it. He

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whispered the words very low, stale, standing there still the same wooden attitude

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of it, his same cunning watching
of it. There was a wind.

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He knew it was going over his
face. He could feel the cool of

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the wind across his moistened lips.
He took a deep breath down there in

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the shivering cornfield, standing in the
dark blue shadows. The dim figure had

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quivered. An arm moved, swaying
to and fro The other arm began swaying,

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swaying. A tremor ran through it. Once it pivoted. The head

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shook slowly from side to side.
The arms rose and fell and rose again.

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The head came up and down and
rocked a bit to either side.

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I'm here, he muttered, involuntarily. Here. The arms were tossing and

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stretching, he thought. The head
faced in his direction. The wind had

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died out. The arms went down
and came up and reached Benny. The

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woman seated herself on the step at
his side. Look, he mumbled.

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Look. He pointed his hand at
the dim figure shifting restlessly in the quiet,

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shadow saturated cornfield. Her eyes followed
after his. Oh, Benny,

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Well, His voice was hoarse.
It's moving, ain't it? You could

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see it moving for yourself, can't
you? You ain't able to say you

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don't see it? Are you the
wind? She stammered? Where's the wind?

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Down there? Do you feel a
wind? Say? Do you feel

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a wind? Maybe? Down there? Ain't no wind? Not now?

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They And it's moving, ain't it? Say it's moving? Ain't it?

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It looks like it was dancing.
So it does, like as if it

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00:09:00,480 --> 00:09:05,559
was making itself dance. His eyes
were still riveted on those arms that came

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00:09:05,679 --> 00:09:11,159
up and down, up and down
and reached. He'll stop soon now,

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00:09:11,200 --> 00:09:13,480
he stuttered. It more to himself
than to her. Then it'll be alive.

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00:09:13,559 --> 00:09:18,000
I've watched it mighty often. Maybe
it knows I watch it. Maybe

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00:09:18,000 --> 00:09:20,960
that's why it moves. Oh,
Benny, when you see it, don't

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00:09:20,960 --> 00:09:24,919
you? You thought there was something
the matter with me when I come and

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told you how it waves and waves
by you seeing a waven ain't you?

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00:09:28,720 --> 00:09:31,080
It's nothing? Bend Look, Benny, it stopped. The two of them

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stared down the slope at the dim
military figure standing rigid and waist deep in

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the corn field. The woman gave
a quick sigh of relief. For several

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moments, they were silent, and
somewhere in the distance came the harsh,

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00:09:43,559 --> 00:09:48,919
discordant sound of bull frogs croaking out
in the night. A dog bayed at

140
00:09:48,919 --> 00:09:54,279
the golden full moon. Climbing up
over the hills. A bird circled between

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00:09:54,360 --> 00:09:58,799
sky and earth, hovering above the
corn field. They saw its slow diss

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and then for a second they caught
the startled whirr of its wings as it

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00:10:03,919 --> 00:10:09,960
flew blindly into the night. That
old scarecrow, she muttered. Suppose,

144
00:10:09,159 --> 00:10:13,240
he whispered, Suppose when it starts
us moving like that, Suppose someday walks

145
00:10:13,240 --> 00:10:18,320
out of their cornfield just naturally walks
out here to me? What then if

146
00:10:18,360 --> 00:10:22,080
it walks out, Benny, That's
what I'm thinking of all the time.

147
00:10:22,360 --> 00:10:26,080
If it takes it into its head
to just naturally walk out here, what's

148
00:10:26,120 --> 00:10:28,279
going to stop it? If it
wants to walk out after me? Once

149
00:10:28,320 --> 00:10:31,600
it starts moving that way? What, Benny, It couldn't do that.

150
00:10:31,720 --> 00:10:35,240
It couldn't. Maybe it won't.
Maybe it'll just beckon first. Maybe it

151
00:10:35,279 --> 00:10:39,399
won't come after me, not if
I go when it beckons. Kind of

152
00:10:39,440 --> 00:10:43,399
figure it'll beckon when it wants me. I couldn't stand the other couldn't wait

153
00:10:43,440 --> 00:10:46,120
for it to come out here after
me. Kind of feel like it'll beckon

154
00:10:46,279 --> 00:10:50,799
when it beckons. I'll be going, Benny, the sickness coming on,

155
00:10:50,840 --> 00:10:56,039
you take no sickness. The woman's
hands were clenched together in a lap.

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00:10:56,639 --> 00:10:58,480
I wish to God, she said, I wish. I ain't never seen

157
00:10:58,519 --> 00:11:03,240
the day when I put that their
thing up, that their cornfield. But

158
00:11:03,360 --> 00:11:07,000
I ain't thought nothing like this could
never happen. I wish to God,

159
00:11:07,039 --> 00:11:09,360
I ain't never seen the day.
It ain't got nothing to do with you.

160
00:11:09,559 --> 00:11:13,080
His voice was very low. It's
got everything to do with me.

161
00:11:13,200 --> 00:11:16,639
So it has. You said that
afore yourself, and you was right,

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00:11:16,759 --> 00:11:20,679
And I put it up, and
I looked hard and low the house through.

163
00:11:20,759 --> 00:11:24,559
Ain't that old uniform of your granddad's
been the only rag I could lay

164
00:11:24,600 --> 00:11:26,919
my hands on? Was there anything
else I could use? Was there?

165
00:11:28,639 --> 00:11:33,080
Oh? Ma? Ain't we needed
a scarecrow down there? With them birds

166
00:11:33,120 --> 00:11:37,399
so awful bad, pecking away at
the corn and pecking Thain't your fault?

167
00:11:37,519 --> 00:11:41,120
Ma? Now? Wasn't nothing else
but that the old uniform. I wouldn't

168
00:11:41,120 --> 00:11:45,799
have took it otherwise. Poor Paul, so desperate, proud of it as

169
00:11:45,799 --> 00:11:48,240
he was, him fighting for his
country, and it all was saying that

170
00:11:48,320 --> 00:11:52,759
he was he couldn't be doing enough
for his country, and that the old

171
00:11:52,840 --> 00:11:54,679
uniform meant so much to him,
like a part of him. I used

172
00:11:54,720 --> 00:12:01,799
to think it, and you wanting
to say something, ben Nah. He

173
00:12:01,840 --> 00:12:05,600
wouldn't even let us be burying a
minute. Put my country's flag next to

174
00:12:05,639 --> 00:12:07,919
my skin. He told us,
when I die, keep the old uniform,

175
00:12:09,120 --> 00:12:11,879
just like a part of him.
He thought it. Wouldn't I've kept

176
00:12:11,879 --> 00:12:15,279
it fallin to piece it as it
is? If there'd I've been anything else

177
00:12:15,320 --> 00:12:18,919
to put up there in that there
cornfield, she felt the boy stiffened suddenly,

178
00:12:20,159 --> 00:12:24,399
and with him a soldier, he
broke off abruptly. She sensed what

179
00:12:24,480 --> 00:12:28,639
he was about to say. How
Benny, that was different, honest it

180
00:12:28,840 --> 00:12:31,000
was. He warn't the only one
in his family. There was two brothers.

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00:12:31,200 --> 00:12:33,679
The boy got to his feet.
Why won't you let me go?

182
00:12:35,120 --> 00:12:37,000
He asked it passionately. Why do
you keep me here? You know I

183
00:12:37,039 --> 00:12:41,120
ain't happy. You know all the
men have gone from these here parts.

184
00:12:41,519 --> 00:12:43,600
You know I ain't happy. Ain't
you going to see how much I want

185
00:12:43,639 --> 00:12:46,559
to go? Ain't you able to
know that I want to fight for my

186
00:12:46,639 --> 00:12:50,000
country the way he did his fighting. The boy jerked his head in the

187
00:12:50,000 --> 00:12:56,600
direction of the figure standing waist deep
in the cornfield, standing rigidly and faintly

188
00:12:56,679 --> 00:13:01,320
outlined beneath the haunting flood of moonlight. Nah, Benny, you can't go.

189
00:13:01,600 --> 00:13:05,159
Nah, why Ama, Why do
you keep saying that and saying it?

190
00:13:05,639 --> 00:13:09,279
I'm all alone, Benny. I've
gave all my best years to make

191
00:13:09,320 --> 00:13:11,759
the farm pay for you. You
got to stay, Benny. You got

192
00:13:11,759 --> 00:13:16,240
to stay on here with me.
You just plain got to. You'll be

193
00:13:16,360 --> 00:13:20,440
glad some day, Benny, later
on you'll be right. Glad, she

194
00:13:20,519 --> 00:13:24,159
saw, and thrust his hands hastily
into his trousers pockets. Glad His boy

195
00:13:24,240 --> 00:13:28,519
sounded tired. I'll be shamed.
That's what I'll be. Nothing. Do

196
00:13:28,600 --> 00:13:31,919
you hear nothing but shamed? She
started to her feet. Benny, I

197
00:13:33,039 --> 00:13:37,240
know the fear shook through the words
you wouldn't wouldn't go. He waited a

198
00:13:37,320 --> 00:13:41,679
moment before he answered, if he
ain't want me to go, I'll stay.

199
00:13:41,000 --> 00:13:46,080
God, I guess I plane got
to stay. That's a good boy,

200
00:13:46,159 --> 00:13:48,279
Benny. You won't ever be sorry, now, how I promise you.

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I'll be making that up to you. Honest, I will. There's

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lots of ways I'll he interrupted her. Only Ma, I won't let it

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come after me. If it beckons, I got to go. She gave

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a sudden laugh that trailed off unsuddainly. Tain't goin to Beckon, Benny.

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If it beckons, Ma, tain't
goin to Benny. It tain't nothing but

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the wind that moves it. It's
just the wind. Sure, maybe you

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got a touch of fever. Maybe
you'd better go on to bed. You'll

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be all right in the morning.
Just you wait and see. You're good

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boy, Benny. You'll never go
off an leave your man the farm.

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You're buying lad, Benny, if
it beckons, he repeated, and weary

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on a tone, tain't Benny,
I'll be going to bed, he said.

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That's it, Benny, good night, good night Ma. She stood

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there, listening to his feet thudding
up the stairs. She heard him knocking

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about in the room. Overhead,
a door banged. She stood quite still.

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There were footsteps moving slowly. A
window was thrown open. She looked

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up to see him leaning far out
over the Sioux. Her eyes went down

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the slope of the moonlight bathed corn
field. Her right hand curled itself into

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a fist ull scarecrow. She half
laughed. She waited there until she saw

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the boy draw away from the window. She went into the house and bolted

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the door behind her. Then she
went up the narrow steps. That night,

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she lay awake for a long time. The heat had grown intense.

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She found herself tossing from side to
side of the small bed. The window

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shade had stuck at the top of
the window. The moonlight trickled into the

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room. She could see the wind
famed, star specked patches of the skies.

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When she sat up, she saw
the round, reddish yellow ball of

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the moon. She must have dozed, because she woke with a start.

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She felt that she had a fearful, evil dream. The horror of it

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clung to her. The room was
like an oven. She thought the walls

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were coming together, and the ceiling
pressing down. Her body was covered with

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sweat. She forced herself wide awake. She made herself get out of the

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bed. She stood for a second
uncertain, and she went to the window.

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Not a breath of air stirring.
The moon was high in the sky.

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She looked out across the hill down
there, to the left the acres

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of the potatoes. Potatoes were paying, she counted on a big harvest.

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To the right, the wheat.
Only the second year for those five fields,

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she knew that she had done well
with them. She thought, with

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a smile running over her lips,
back to the time when less than half

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of the place had been under cultivation. She remembered her dreams of getting the

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whole of her farm in work.
She and the boy had made good.

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She thought of that with savage complacency. It had been a struggle, a

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bitter, hard fight, from the
beginning. She had made good with her

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farm, and there down the slope
just in front of the house, the

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corn field, and in the center
of it, standing waist deep in the

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corn the antiquated military figure. The
smile slid from her mouth. The suffocating

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heat was terrific, not a breath
of air. Suddenly she began to shake

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from head to foot. Her eyes
wide and staring, were fixed on the

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moonlight, white and cornfield. Her
eyes were held to the moonlight streaked figures

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standing in the ghostly corn moving.
An arm swayed, swayed to and fro

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backwards and forwards backwards, the other
arms swaying. A tremor ran through it.

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Once it pivoted. The head shook
slowly from side to side. The

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arms rose and fell, and rose
again. The head came up and down

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and rocked a bit to either side. Dancing, she whispered, stupidly dancing.

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She thought she could not breathe.
She had never felt such oppressive heat.

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The arms were tossing and stretching.
She could not take her eyes from

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it. And then she saw both
arms reach out, and slowly, very

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slowly, she saw the hands of
them beckoning. In the silence of the

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room next to her, she thought
she heard a crash She listened intently,

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her eyes stuck to those reaching arms
and the hands of them that beckoned and

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beckoned Benny. She murmured Benny silence. She could not think it was as

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talk that had done this, Benny's
talk. He had said something about it

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walking out, if it should come
out, moving all over like that,

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if its feet should start, if
they should have a sudden begin to shuffle,

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shuffle out of the cornfield. But
Benny wasn't awake, He couldn't see

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it. Thank God, if only
something would hold it, if only it

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would stop. God, nothing stirred
out there in the haunting moonlight at night.

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Nothing moved, nothing but the figure
standing waist deep in the cornfield.

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And even as she looked, the
rigid military figure grew still still now but

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for those slow, beckoning hands.
A tremendous dizziness came over her. She

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closed her eyes for a second,
and then she stumbled back to the bed.

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She lay there, panting. She
pulled the sheets up across her face,

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her shaking fingers, working the tops
of them into a hard ball.

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She stuffed it between her chattering teeth. Whatever happened, Benny mustn't hear her,

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She mustn't waken Benny. Thank Heaven, Benny was asleep. Benny must

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never know how out there in the
white and night, the hands of the

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figure slowly and unceasingly beckoned and beckoned. The sight of those reaching arms stayed

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before her. When hours laid her
she fell asleep, she still saw the

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slow moving, motionless hands. It
was mourning. When she wakened. The

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sun streamed into the room. She
went to the door and opened it.

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Benny, she called, Oh,
Betty. There was no answer, Benny.

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She called again, get on up, it's late, Benny. The

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house was quiet. She half dressed
herself and went into a room the bed

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had been slept in. She saw
that at a glance, his clothes were

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not there down in the field,
because she'd forgotten to wake him. In

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a sudden, stunning flash, she
remembered the crash she had heard. It

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took her a long while to get
to the little closet behind the bed.

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Before she opened it, she knew
it would be empty. The door creaked

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open. His one hat and coat
were gone. She had known that he

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had seen those two reaching arms.
He had seen those two hands that had

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slowly, very slowly beckoned. She
went to the window her eyes staring straight

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before her down the slope in front
of the house, caught sight of something

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blue and antiquatedly military, standing waist
deep and rigid in the corn field.

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Your scarecrow, she whimpered, Why
you standing there? She sobbed, what

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a standing still on now end of
the scarecrow? By G. Ranger Warmser