Original subtitles

Good evening.

This is a wishing well.

It is a very ancient, romantic, and profitable institution.

Naturally, we throw the smaller ones back.

into the water, of course.

It's the sporting thing to do. It is very interesting how the wishing well

its name.

It seems a young man was wishing he could find a way to make money. Then he

thought of this.

You will find no wishing well in tonight's story, but the setting is a

one where there is privacy and quiet and where help is far, far away.

All this begins in just 60 seconds.

Hard work ahead of you.

Take some more ham.

I guess I'll need the energy.

Want another glass of milk?

It wouldn't hurt.

Well, good morning.

Good morning.

Good

morning.

It's raining.

Uh -oh.

That's the water, isn't it?

them something to drink here.

Emory?

Emory?

It's like somebody's coming down the road.

It's a public road.

See, it ain't paved, but it's a public road.

Pretty little thing, you. Why don't you get some water, huh?

Maybe he's looking for work.

He could use some help.

No, he's six dollars a day.

He looks like a tramp.

Maybe you could get him cheaper.

Clamp, huh?

Well, now, that makes a little difference. If I can get my peaches off

trees a few days early, I can get a better price for them. Thought that

make a little difference.

Now, what does that mean?

Nothing.

He's a tramp. He's probably broke and hungry.

Room and board and $5 a day might be all he'd ask.

Oh, don't take them all now.

Goodbye now.

This is Jesse. He's going to help me pick my peaches.

I've seen the peaches and I figured that y 'all needed some help.

Yes, my husband does need some help with the peaches.

Don't you, Emory?

Like I said, I've seen all the peaches.

Yeah, we got some that need picking.

Of course, we don't let hard hands have the run of the house. We've got a

separate place out back.

Oh, that's all right.

And your name's Jesse?

Uh -huh.

Well, Jesse, you can eat here in the kitchen with us, but you come in the

door and you knock. Don't forget that.

All right.

Now, you get room and board and $3 a day.

I guess you're hungry, ain't you?

Yeah, I am hungry.

Stella, you lay some more beans out there for Jesse. That'll be enough ham.

And there's plenty of milk.

Stella?

Get some eats for Jesse.

Now, you just sit down there, Jesse, and eat.

I'll be scattering the picking buckets out in the orchard.

I got a contract with Cannery. They won't buy nothing picked off the ground.

And the way I look at it, it's better to have them a little green than a little

ripe. And they ain't getting no bigger.

You come on out just as soon as Stella's fed you.

All righty.

You got any more of them, Mater?

Slice them, huh?

No. Just bring me the mater.

I'll slice them.

We eat like a hog.

I wouldn't say eating's my worst habit.

It's just the way men eat.

You got a husband, you ought to know that.

Yeah, I guess so.

Where'd you come from?

Nowhere. A dozen places.

Where were you before you come here?

Up the road away.

Is that all you can say?

Just up the road away?

I could say more.

But I ain't.

My husband likes to know a little something about his hired hands.

Looked to me like he wasn't interested in anything but whether or not I was

going to pick his peaches.

Well, he is.

He ought to ask me then.

I was trying to save him the trouble.

Wouldn't have been no trouble.

What's your other name?

Jesse.

That's all.

Don't you have a last name?

Just Jesse.

First name, middle name, last name.

That saves a lot of breath, don't it?

Get that knife out of sight.

Does that make you nervous?

Yes.

Put away now, here.

If you say so.

Emery. Now, I know what you're going to say.

I should have paid him five dollars a day.

Well, if a man is fool enough to work for three, well, then I'd be a fool not

take him up on it.

You know that's not what's bothering me.

Now, what's that supposed to mean?

Emery, do you need him real bad?

Now, look, Stella. We got a good crop of peaches on the tree.

As soon as we get them picked and into the cannery, we'll have a crop of money

in the bank.

Now, that's all I'm after.

If having Jesse around...

Makes you unhappy?

Well, you're just going to have to be unhappy for a few days.

Because I aim to get these peaches picked.

And I don't aim to lose a hired hand that I can get for $3 a day.

Now get on back in there and see that he gets what he wants to eat.

Did you tell him about my knife?

Did you tell him about my knife, Stella?

No.

What did you talk about, then?

The weather.

Where you eat, I guess.

Look, I hired out to pick peaches, not to give lessons in table manners.

Besides, I get it ate, don't I?

Yeah.

Is that a pet squirrel?

Yes, he's a pet.

Comes around here for eats.

He's a fat one, ain't he?

Maybe I ought to kill him.

And then you can make Emery and me a duper supper.

I'll take half supper. You leave that squirrel alone.

Say something.

You get enough to eat?

Just about.

A couple more bites. Well, eat all you can hold. We got plenty of work to do.

What am I married off for?

Nice squirrel the wife's got there.

Yeah. A fat one too, ain't it?

She feeds that squirrel better than she does me, don't you, Stella?

No.

Well, unless you've got some more eating to do, I guess it's time for us to get

to work.

Well, this will hold me till supper.

Well, you start the work here by the house, and I'll join you just as soon as

finish scattering the picking bags.

Ha, ha, ha.

What?

How'd it happen?

Jesse, what'd you kill it for?

That squirrel was Stella's pet.

I didn't mean to kill it, but the animal attacked me.

Attacked you?

Why, that squirrel's so friendly, he would... Look, I can't help it. Even

friendly animals have a way of disliking me.

That's why I always carry this knife with me.

Because no matter how friendly an animal is, it always seems that it takes a

dislike to me. Must be my scent or something.

Well, there's nothing we can do about it now.

Stella, you go on back in the house, and I'll get a shovel and bury the

squirrel, and you go on back to work.

Get me some sleep.

Good night, Jesse.

Good night.

Good

night.

Good night.

Emory. Wasn't that a little puff of wind?

Yes, but the radio said clear.

Henry, tomorrow I'll... Tomorrow I'm going to get up real early, take that

truckload of peaches into the cannery. I know. And that way I'll get back in

time to do a full day's work.

I want to go with you.

What for?

I want you to let me off at the hotel.

The hotel?

Yes, I... I want to stay at the hotel till that man's gone.

Now, there you... What did he ever do to you? I wish you'd tell me. Kill that

squirrel? Yes.

The squirrel attacked him.

No, sir. He's been out with me all afternoon. He's a good worker. I need

I aim to keep him.

Abby, please, just this once. What did he do? Did he say anything smart

Did he do anything?

About that knife.

I seen the knife.

If he wants to carry a knife, that's his business. Not mine, not yours either.

He didn't have to kill my squirrel.

Stella.

You heard what he said. The squirrel tried to attack him.

I don't care.

All right. All right. You can go to the hotel.

Three dollars a day, plus meals.

You can stay. No, no, no, no. I'll stay here.

No, no. Go ahead. Go into town. Spend my money.

I know I'm not much of a farmer.

Nobody ever said I don't work hard.

As far as I know, this is the first time you ever said I can't protect my wife.

You might have thought it, but... You never said it.

Can't you stop to say that about yourself?

You're a good husband.

Good protector.

I trust you.

No matter what, I love you.

You still want to go to the hotel?

No.

I'll stay here with you where I belong.

Can't you wait till daylight?

Now, Stella.

All right.

I'll fix you some breakfast before you go.

No, I'll wait till I get back to eat.

Jesse will be waking up pretty soon.

He said he's an early riser.

You fix some breakfast for him and tell him by the time that he's finished

eating, he'll be light enough to get to work. You hear me?

All right.

That won't take me long.

I'll be back sitting down at the breakfast table before you know it. All

All right.

Breakfast isn't ready yet.

I know.

Emery ain't back yet.

Did he tell you his plans?

That's right.

Wait outside till I get breakfast ready.

How come I can't wait in here?

You know my husband's rules.

Hard hands aren't allowed in the house except at mealtime.

Why come you're so afraid of me?

Huh?

Makes you think I'm afraid of you.

There's a way you look.

You know that the blood drops it down from your head.

Your face gets all pale.

See, that means that you're afraid of me.

Don't make sense.

If looking at you makes me scared of you, why don't you tell me what there is

about you that scares me?

I don't know.

You're lying.

Why did you stop here?

You weren't all that interested in picking peaches.

You'd really like me to tell you that, wouldn't you?

Yes. Yes, I'd like to know.

Because I've seen even from out there on the road that you didn't want me in

here.

You're scared of me.

Why do you want to scare me?

Because that's the way I am.

And that's what I like.

A lot of people scare me, Stella.

Especially women.

See, other men, they get invitations from women.

But I don't get that kind of invitation.

See, what I get from women is the other way around. They're always saying to me,

stay away from me now.

Just like you say.

I didn't say that.

You know, it used to bother me still.

But it don't bother me anymore.

Now, hadn't you better get them flapjacks on the stove?

Because I have to set my breakfast and dinner off working by the time that

come home.

And it's going to be right back here now. You better leave me alone.

I haven't laid a hand on you.

Talk back to me.

No, I'm going to have some molasses on my flapjack.

It's in the icebox.

Come get it for me.

No.

No, you get it.

Oh, no, you get it.

You know, it used to bother me that women didn't like me around.

They still don't.

And do you know that one time a woman told me to get away from her and I made

that woman sorry that she ever said that to Jesse?

What'd you do to her?

You'd really like to know that, wouldn't you?

Huh?

Yes.

Because I'd like to know.

Well, then call me Jesse and say, Jesse, I'd like to know.

No.

You call me Jesse, and you say, Jesse, I'd like to know what you've done to

woman. No.

All right, Jesse. Now, say, I'd like to know what you've done to that woman,

Jesse.

No.

Come on.

I'd like to know what you've done to that woman. Jesse.

Jesse. That's it.

Now I'm going to tell you just what I did to that woman.

Oh, she was so pretty.

She said to get on away from me.

Now, I don't want to hear another word about Jesse. You're safe, not a thing

wrong with you.

Prime quality.

That's what they said at the cannery. Prime quality.

What do you know about that, Jesse? My peaches are prime quality.

Now all we gotta do is just get the rest of them picked off of these trees.

Sir, you got yourself a real fine orchard.

Prime quality.

Stella.

Here you go.

Just a little peculiar sometimes, ain't you? You have trouble with them?

No, she's just a little bit scared of me, that's all.

So, Jesse, that squirrel didn't attack you, did he?

No. Why'd you kill it, then?

I don't like animals.

I kill every one of them I figure I can get by with.

Well, I ain't got much love for him myself.

Well, I figured that.

Fact is, that's the reason I kill him. I thought that's what you'd want.

Well, I'm not so blind.

It kind of gets on my nerves watching a woman feed that squirrel.

She's got enough to do just to feed me.

That's why I'm married.

I don't like to see her spread her work too thin.

I understand that many of you have been wishing to know the identification of

the station which is bringing you this program.

We shall now grant you that wish.

After which, we shall continue our story.

What happened to your appetite, Jesse?

It'll be all right in a minute.

I don't know why you should be tired.

We didn't get many peaches picked today.

Three truckloads of peaches. A lot of peaches.

What happened to you, Stella?

Nothing.

Something must have.

This chicken tastes like leather.

I can't turn out a good day's work on feed like this.

Well, Stella?

I don't know. I don't know what happened.

I can't understand women.

You've been cooking for me 12 years. Never late with a meal. Best cook in the

county. And all at once, well, taste it yourself.

See what I mean?

Well, I guess you've got the right to cook one bad meal in 12 years.

Thank you.

What? Speak up, Stella.

Nothing. Nothing.

All right, nothing.

Hey, was that wind?

Sounded like it.

Yeah, there's a little thunderhead coming up in the southwest.

I thought you told me the radio said clear weather.

That's right.

Well?

A little rain ain't gonna hurt your pictures.

Well, the rain wouldn't hurt. A little hail would.

I've even seen hail this time of year.

Did you ever lose a crop to hail?

No, but there can always be a first time.

Where are you going?

Me. Without doing the dishes?

I can wait till morning.

No, do them tonight. I've heard how you laugh at women for leaving their dishes

overnight. Do them tonight.

Mine's ready to be washed right now.

I'll wait till Emory's through.

I need some rest.

Jesse?

Yeah? You better turn in. We got a full day's work ahead of us tomorrow.

Yeah, I guess you're right.

Good night.

Good night, Jesse.

Good night, Stella.

Good night, Stella.

Good night.

She answered you, Jesse.

All right, come on. Let's hear it.

Please, Emory.

No, you owe me some explaining.

Up until noon yesterday, I couldn't ask for a better wife.

And since then, I couldn't have a sorrier one.

And I want to know why.

I'm scared of Jesse.

Well, you told me that. I want to know why you're scared of him.

He's done the work of two men. He's making me money.

You're scared of him, too.

What? You are. You're scared, too.

Now, you act like you're trying to get rid of me or something.

What's the matter with you?

Talking don't help.

Well, then we won't talk about it.

But you start acting right, you hear?

Emery? What?

I heard you talking to Jesse in the orchard.

Is that against the law or something?

You told him that you married me to have somebody to feed you.

Is that why we never had any children?

Now, Stella, you know that is just man talk.

That don't mean anything.

Don't it?

Of course not.

We've been married 12 years.

I've never even looked at another woman, and you know that too, don't you?

Yes, you've been a good husband.

Well, then what's all this talk about?

I don't know.

I guess I just don't understand.

But you're still scared of Jesse.

Well, you're just going to have to get used to him.

I got my peaches to pick, and he's going to be around for at least three more

days.

Yes, I guess I just got to get used to Jesse.

Well, good.

Now, don't you think you better get in there and do your dishes?

I'll be there in a minute.

Well, don't forget them.

I'll be listening for the weather report on the radio.

They promised to be.

Stella? Is that stuff on the weather I promised you, folks?

The cool front has changed to a cold front.

All peach farmers in this valley are warned that the approaching cold front

produce a severe thunderstorm and hail.

Stay with us now for all the weather reports.

Now, what'd you have to go and scream for?

Answer me!

You scared me.

You scared me, Jesse.

Yes,

Jesse. You scared me, Jesse. Say that to me.

Henry will come out here. He ain't gonna come out here. If that scream of yours

didn't bring him in, nothing gonna bring him.

Now, you scared me, Jesse.

You scared me, Jesse.

That's better.

Very good.

You like for me to hold you, don't you?

Yeah, you do.

Yeah, you do.

Oh, you don't like it?

Well, I want to teach you to scream out again, girl.

Come on.

We're going to move around here right close.

I want you to scream again.

Come on, we're going to move around close. We can scream right here.

Wake him up, huh?

Boy, that wouldn't bother me one bit.

Have him come on out here.

That boy's a slave driver.

He's a tightwad, too. Do you know what? Everybody else in this valley pays $6 a

day for picking peaches.

But old Henry pays me $3.

Yes, sir, I'd love for you to scream again.

He'd come on out here and try and protect you.

I'd like to see what old tightwad would do.

Come on, Jesse.

Come on, Jesse. Sonny, how do you think, Jesse?

Come on, Jesse.

Lift them buckets up higher, Jesse.

Higher, Jesse.

Sweat a little bit, Jesse.

Come on, Jesse. Sweat's good for a man.

Take a deep breath!

He's just scared to come on out here.

Emery isn't afraid.

He's scared half to death of me.

All day long it's been me, so one's been giving him orders in the orchard.

Sir, old Emery's just a coward.

Now, old Emery, come on out here. If you was to yell at us, I was about to stick

this thing right in your neck.

Let's just see.

Now come on, scream!

You're ruining it, Stella.

Now why are you ruining it?

Why? Because you're killing him. You're right.

You're just as right as rain.

Oh, I'd just love for him to come out here one more time.

Just one more time.

The size of these peaches of his, and I'm going to stick him in a bucket and

take him off to the cannery.

What kind of labels do you think that they'll put on the cans with Emory

of them, huh?

Barbecued Emory?

Brian!

It's razor sharp now. Don't be fooling with it.

I think you better get it tight.

Poor Emery.

You've worked so hard.

You don't know that we both almost lost everything tonight.

Work.

It's all you understand.

You poor, hard -working peach farmer, you.

I'm going to be a good wife and a good cook.

But, Emery, I'm going to make you be a good husband, too.

Emery?

Emery, wake up.

Emery?

Emery? Emery, wake up.

Jesse stole the truck.

Jesse?

Jesse drove off with the truck.

But it had a load of peaches on it.

The truck's gone, all right.

Yes.

There's a thunderstorm on the way, too.

I've seen the lightning.

Is that all it is, just a thunderstorm, I mean?

Yes, just a thunderstorm.

Hadn't we better call the sheriff?

What?

Well, if we want the truck back, we'd better call the sheriff.

Oh, leave me alone.

All right, Emory.

I'll call the sheriff.

Don't bother.

What good's a truck anyway?

The radio said there's a hailstorm coming. My peaches will all be ruined,

just don't bother.

Henry?

If you heard the radio warning about the hailstorm...

You heard me too, didn't you?

You heard me scream out there, didn't you?

Answer me, Emory.

You heard me scream, didn't you?

You heard me scream, didn't you?

I heard you scream.

I could hear Jesse carrying on too.

Why didn't you come help me?

Answer me.

Well... Answer me, Henry.

Well, I didn't figure he'd kill you, but... If I went out,

he'd have killed me.

And you're afraid.

Is that the only reason?

Well, I figured...

You could take it a little more till he settled down, anyhow.

And... And if he settled down,

you'd still have your three dollar high at hand, is that it?

Sheriff's office, please.

Sheriff Prime speaking.

Oscar, this is Stella.

Something awful's happened here.

What's that again?

There's so much thunder here, I can't... Our hired hand has killed Emery and

stole our truck.

Oh.

You feelin' all right?

He stabbed him, Oscar.

Now, Stella, don't you touch anything till I get there.

Oh.

Well, I already did.

I pulled the knife out of him.

I was trying to help Henry.

Oh, well, that's all right now, Stella.

You just keep your chin up till I get there.

You're going to be all right now, Stella.

Please hurry, Oscar.

It grieves me to report that the sheriff was not taken in by Stella's story.

He detected a domestic touch to her husband's demise and promptly arrested

heroine. You may be thinking that my wishing well is gone.

Not so.

Except that my wish obviously came true.

Until next time then, good night.