Original subtitles

Thank you.

And the yard was full of bamboo.

And we liked to play in the bamboo.

Pretend we were car vans.

And there was a fish pond.

A large one.

Full of the fattest goldfish you ever saw.

And they were tame.

Our parents had told us, never go near that house.

So, of course, we went.

We wondered if anybody lived there.

Weeks went by, and we never saw anybody.

Then, one day, we heard a voice from the house.

You goddamn whore!

It was Matt's voice.

Then the screen door of the house was flung open, and the man walked out.

He was holding a fifth of whiskey in his right hand.

He was about thirty.

He had a cigar in his mouth, needed a shave.

His hair was wild and uncombed, and he was barefoot in undershirt and pants.

But his eyes were bright.

They blazed with brightness.

And he said, Hey, little gentleman.

Having a good time, I hope.

Then he gave a little laugh and walked back into the house.

We left, went back to my parents' yard.

and thought about it.

Our parents, we decided, had wanted us to stay away from there because they

never wanted us to see it.

We went back to that house and the bamboo and the tame goldfish.

We went back many times for many weeks, but we never saw or heard the man again.

The shades were down as always, and it was quiet.

There was nothing left, just a smoldering, twisted, black foundation.

And we went to the fish pond, and there was no water in it, and the fat orange

goldfish were dead there, drying out.

We went back to my parents' yard and talked about it, and decided that our

parents had burned their house down, had killed them, had killed the goldfish.

Because it was all too beautiful.

Even the bamboo forest.

They were afraid of the bamboo forest.

We were afraid then.

That all through our lives. Things like that.

I bet many people.