Winter's Bone

Ree Dolly:
[to Sonny and Ashlee] I'd be lost without the weight of you two on my back. I ain't going anywhere.

Sonny:
Maybe they'll share some of that with us.

Ree:
That could be.

Sonny:
Maybe we should ask.

Ree:
Never ask for what oughta be offered.

Gail:
[about borrowing her husband's truck] He said no.

Ree:
Did you tell him I'd spring for gas?

Gail:
I told him. He still won't.

Ree:
Why not?

Gail:
He never says why not to me, Ree. He just says no.

Ree:
Man, that's so sad to hear you say he won't let you do something, and then you don't do it.

Gail:
It's different once you're married.

Ree:
It really must be. Cause you ain't never used to eat no sh*t.

Teardrop:
You ought not do that. Don't go running after Jessup. Show or don't show that choice is up to the one going to jail, not you.

Ree:
You know where he's at, don't you?

Teardrop:
Where a man's at ain't necessarily for you to know neither.

Ree:
But you do...

[Teardrop abruptly shoots a warning look at Ree]

Teardrop:
I ain't seen him.

Ree:
Could be running around with Little Arthur and them, you think?

Teardrop:
Don't you ever go down around Little Arthur's asking them people about sh*t they ain't offering to talk about. That's a real good way to end up et by hogs, or wishing you was.

Ree:
We're all related ain't we?

Teardrop:
Our relations get watered kinda thin between here and Little Arthur's.

Victoria:
You know all those people, Teardrop. You could ask.

Teardrop:
Shut up.

Victoria:
None of them's gonna be in a great big hurry to tangle with you.

Teardrop:
I said shut up once already with my mouth.

Ree:
Jesus, Dad's your only brother.

Teardrop:
You think I forgot that? Hmm? Jessup and me run together for coming on forty years but I don't know where he's at, and I ain't going to go around asking after him neither.

Little Arthur:
You want a line?

Ree:
No.

Little Arthur:
You wanna blow some smoke?

Ree:
No.

[Little Arthur slaps the table and stands up]

Little Arthur:
Then I guess I got nothing for you. [He waves his hand to dismiss them] Go on!

Megan:
Don't tell nobody it was me who told you this, okay? But you're going to have to go on up the hill and ask for a talk with Thump Milton. Now, I hope he'll talk with you - he generally won't.

Ree:
That man, scares me way more than the rest.

Megan:
Well, scared ain't a bad way to be about him, neither, hon. He's my own granpaw, and I still make damn sure I never piss him off none.

Merab:
You ain't here for trouble, are you?

Ree:
No, ma'am.

Merab:
Cause one of my nephews is Buster Leroy, and didn't he shoot your daddy one time?

Ree:
Yes'm, but that ain't got nothing to do with me. They settled all that theirselves, I think.

Merab:
Shooting him likely settled it. What is it you want?

Ree:
I got a real bad need to talk with Thump.

Merab:
And he ain't got no need to talk to you.

[Merab turns away towards her doorway]

Ree:
But I need to. I really, really got to ma'am. Please!

[Merab turns around to face Ree]

Ree:
Some of our blood at least is the same. Ain't that s'posed to mean somethin' - isn't that what is always said?

Merab:
[irritated] Ain't you got no men could do this?

Ree:
No, Ma'am, I don't.

Merab:
He ain't likely to have time for you, child.

Ree:
I've got to talk to him. If he don't know, nobody does.

Merab:
Nope. Talking just causes witnesses. And he don't want for any of those.

Ree:
I'll wait.

Merab:
You need to get yourself on home.

...

Merab:
Thump knows you were in the valley, child. With Megan. And at Little Arthur's. He knows what you want to ask, and he don't want to hear it.

Ree:
And that's it? He ain't gonna say nothing to me?

Merab:
If you're listening, child, you got your answer.

Ree:
So, I guess come the nut-cutting, blood don't really mean sh*t to the big man. Am I understanding that right?

Merab:
Don't you dare. Don't! I want you to listen to me, child. You need to turn around, and get yourself on home. Don't you make me come out here and tell you again!

Ree:
Jessup Dolly is dead. He's lying in a crappy grave somewhere or become piles of sh*t in a hog pen. Maybe he's been left out plain in the open, but wherever he is, he's there dead.

Satterfield:
And you know this how?

Ree:
You must've heard what Dolly's are, ain't you, mister?

Satterfield:
Well, I've heard what some are anyhow, and I have bonded a few.

Ree:
I'm a Dolly, bred'n buttered, and that's how I know Dad's dead.

Satterfield:
How old are you?

Ree:
Seventeen.

Megan:
What are we ever gonna do with you, baby girl?

Ree:
Kill me, I guess.

Megan:
That idea has been said already. Got any others?

Ree:
Help me. Ain't nobody said that idea yet, have they?

Megan:
I tried to help you some before, and this is what come of it.

Teardrop:
What Jessup done was against our ways, he knew it, I know it, and I ain't raised no stink at all about whatever became of him. But she ain't my brother. She's about all the close family I got left, so I'll be collecting her now and carrying her on out of here to home. That suit you, Thump?

Thump Milton:
You're gonna stand for her, are you?

Teardrop:
If she does wrong, you can put it on me.

Thump Milton:
She's now yours to answer for.

Teardrop:
This is a girl who ain't gonna tell nobody nothing.

Ree:
What I really can't stand is how I feel so ashamed--for Dad.

Teardrop:
Well, he loved y'all. That's where he went weak. Lots of us can be tough, plenty tough enough, and do it for a long stretch, too.

Ree:
But snitching.

Teardrop:
For lots'n lots of years he wasn't. He wasn't, he wasn't, and then one day he was.

Ree:
You always have scared me.

Teardrop:
That's cause you're smart.

Satterfield:
I'm Mike Satterfield, A1 Bonds.

Ree:
What is it you want?

Satterfield:
We hold the bond on Jessup Dolly. Now he's a runner, it looks like.

Ree:
Dad ain't no runner.

Satterfield:
He didn't show for court. That makes him a runner.

Blond Milton:
Ree, I know losing Jessup leaves y'all hurting over there. I know it's a lot to handle.

Ree:
We'll make do.

Blond Milton:
Sonya and me talked about it. We feel we could take Sonny off your hands. Not Ashlee, I don't reckon, but we could take Sonny.

Ree:
You what?

Blond Milton:
We could take him and raise him up the rest of the way.

Ree:
My ass you will.

Blond Milton:
We'd raise that boy way better than you and that nutjob mama of yours can. Maybe on down the line, we'd take Ashlee, too.

Ree:
You go straight to hell, you son of a b*tch. Sonny and Ashlee will die living in a cave with me and mama before they spend one night with you.

Sheriff Baskin:
I didn't shoot the other night cuz you were there in the truck. He never backed me down.

Ree:
It looked to me like he did.

Sheriff Baskin:
Don't you let me hear that's a story gettin' around.

Ree:
I don't talk much about you, man. Ever.

Satterfield:
Look, I don't want to kick your dad's ass, all right? I just want to keep the judge off mine.

Ree:
Dad's dead. He didn't show for court 'cause he's lyin' dead somewhere.

Satterfield:
When was the last time you saw him?

Ree:
A couple weeks.

Satterfield:
Who's he running around with? Where they all hanging out?

Ree:
He doesn't tell me that stuff, sir.

Satterfield:
Now, you know I got the legal right to go in there hunting the man, anyplace I want.

Ree:
I know you'd be wasting your time and pissing me off. Jessup Dolly is dead. He’s lying in a crappy grave somewhere or become piles of sh*t in a hog pen. Maybe he’s been left out plain in the open, but wherever he is, he’s there dead.

Satterfield:
And you know this how?

Ree:
You must’ve heard what Dolly’s are, ain’t you, mister?

Satterfield:
Well, I’ve heard what some are anyhow, and I have bonded a few.

Ree:
I’m a Dolly, bred’n buttered, and that’s how I know Dad’s dead.

Satterfield:
How old are you?

Ree:
Seventeen.

Blond Milton:
This right here is the last place me or anybody seen Jessup.

Ree:
He never blew no lab before.

Blond Milton:
I know, but something must have jumped wrong this time.

Ree:
He's known for never f***ing up labs or cooking bad batches. He's known for knowing what he's doing.

Blond Milton:
Well, you cook long enough, this is bound to happen.

Ree:
You're sayin' dad's up there burnt to a crisp?

Blond Milton:
That's what I'm saying.

Ree:
[starting to climb out of the truck] I'm going up there for a look.

Blond Milton:
[pulling her back] No! That sh*t's poison. It'll rip the skin off your bones.

Ree:
If dad's up there, I'm bringing him home to bury.

Sonny:
Are you wanting to leave us?

Ree:
I'd be lost without the weight of you two on my back. I ain't goin' anywhere.