Original subtitles

I'm still louder.

Boys.

Wait for me.

Neither of you have the basket.

Cal? Okay. Your brother's turn.

"Some of the men who had been to…" I lost my spot.

You probably stopped right there.

"The more we're told…"

- Can we still eat them? - Yeah.

What's the Chinese word for rice?

I told you your father doesn't want me teaching you Cantonese anymore.

- He wouldn't have to know. - Cal.

It's Aron's turn.

- Why do we rinse the rice? - So that it isn't gummy.

Mm-hmm.

Who taught you to cook?

The man who raised me.

He was a cook, like me.

And what about your mother?

My mother died when I was very young.

Like yours.

Are they lost?

Well, the sky just opened up, and there we were with the top down.

I can't tell you how pleased we were to find your ranch.

Oh, come say how do you do, boys.

I am Mr. Bacon, and this is Mrs. Bacon.

My daughter's name is Abra, and we live in Salinas.

Children, why don't you go play?

Go on now, dear.

Abra, mind your dress.

Aron, hurry up. Let's go. Come on. Hurry up.

Am I to understand that you've never planted your land?

Well, I guess I'm a lazy man.

And my father didn't help when he left me enough to go on without working.

Well, a rich man who doesn't work isn't lazy.

He's simply using his head.

- Hm. - Are you all alone out here?

Who takes care of the dear boys?

Lee is their nursemaid and their tutor.

A Chinaman's no substitute for a mother or proper schooling.

Can he… can he read?

Lee try he best, missus.

Very hard language, English.

Why not move into Salinas so your sons could attend our good public school?

If you don't live off your land,

there's no reason why you shouldn't profit off it.

My firm would be happy to secure a reliable tenant for you.

I could arrange things myself.

Aron, let's play like we're grown and this is our house.

You'll be my husband, and I'll be your wife.

Maybe we could play something else?

Like what?

We could pretend you're my mother.

Come here, my good little baby. Put your head on Mother's lap.

Do you wish you had a mother?

Everyone wants a mother.

Where is yours buried?

Salinas, I guess.

You should find out where so you can put flowers on her grave.

I know a secret.

What is it?

Aron will tell.

He always tells.

I wouldn't if you said not to.

I heard some men saying our mother isn't dead at all,

that she only ran away.

Who said?

Some men in the post office at King City.

They thought I couldn't hear.

When I'm big, I'm gonna find our mother and bring her back.

Our mother's dead. Father said so.

Maybe he told a lie.

You're making this up! What would our mother run away for?

Maybe she didn't like us.

Aron!

Aron!

Are they gone?

I didn't much like them.

Did you?

You know that star Lee gave me to look at?

He said

it was our mother.

And she would love us as long as that light was there.

Do you think Lee is a liar?

I was only joking, Aron.

Honest, it was only a joke.

Samuel.

Adam.

Lee.

It's a beautiful house still.

Seems a shame to leave it half done.

It's mine to do what I like.

All these years sitting on your pile, clinging to what you lost.

Do you take pride

in your hurt?

Does it make you feel large and tragic?

I didn't ask for a lecture, Samuel.

Oh.

Lee says you hardly speak to your sons.

Your wife left them motherless.

Don't leave them without a father.

I haven't.

Just because you haven't left doesn't mean you're here, Adam.

Did you ever hear a rumor that Cathy was in Salinas?

Oh, let it go, man,

for the sake of the boys.

Can I tell you what you do so you won't think you invented it?

When you go to bed at night,

she stands in the doorway, her nightgown sheer in the light.

And she comes over to your bed, and you smell her skin,

and it smells like no other in the world.

Stop. Stop it, goddamn you!

A… a woman came to me like that.

Night after month after year.

And for Liza's sake, I should have closed my heart to her,

but I… I didn't.

You know, I… I sifted through my mind

the way men pan the dirt under a barren floor for gold dust.

You are too young a man to be panning for memories.

You should be getting yourself new ones.

Did you come all this way to recite poetry to me?

No.

No.

I didn't.

I, uh…

I came to say goodbye.

My daughter Olive has asked Liza and me to go and stay with her in Salinas.

So we're leaving our ranch.

And when will you come back?

I suspect we won't.

Boys, why don't you get ready for bed?

- Don't forget to wash behind your ears. - Good night, Father.

Mr. Hamilton.

Good night, Aron.

Good night, Caleb. Cal.

You know, uh…

They seem older than 11.

With no woman around to put a value on babies,

it was never an advantage to them to behave so.

I have a parting gift for you, Sam. Something I've been sitting on for years.

- A present? - A story.

Do you remember the day we named the twins,

you read to us from Genesis?

- Yeah. Cain and Abel. - Yes.

Right.

There was one place in the scripture that bothered me,

when God rebukes Cain for his anger.

In the King James Bible, God tells Cain, "Thou shalt rule over sin."

He makes him a promise.

But then I got my hands on the American Standard Bible,

and in that version, God says, "Do thou rule over him."

More of an order.

Exactly.

So I began to wonder what the original words had been

that could produce such vastly different meanings.

Wait, don't tell me you studied Hebrew.

With some assistance.

Adam, did you know this?

He doesn't talk to me like he talks to you.

That's because you weren't listening.

My friend knew some Jewish scholars in San Francisco.

They identified the original Hebrew word.

Timshel.

It means "thou mayest."

You may triumph over sin.

And you think that's important?

It might be the most important word there is.

It offers a choice.

Our future isn't determined by God or by our past.

Even Cain, in his weakness and filth and the murder of his brother,

can still choose his course.

Because timshel.

Thou mayest.

You've had this horse forever.

And he was old when we first met.

Aye, he's 33.

I have to feed him mash with my fingers.

Sometimes he cries in his sleep.

You should put him out of his misery.

Would you shoot him, Adam?

Why not?

His lifespan is long over.

So you'd shoot this horse because death might be more comfortable.

Yes, I think I would.

Hey.

Do you like your life?

Of course not.

If I had a medicine that could cure you

but also might kill you, should I give it to you?

- What medicine? - Sam.

Whatever happens, Lee, I'll take responsibility.

Do you want the medicine, Adam?

Yes.

Cathy is in Salinas.

She goes by the name of Kate Albey.

She was a whore. Now she owns the whorehouse.

And the house she runs is the most vicious and depraved

in this whole end of the country.

You're a liar.

I'm not.

Your medicine acts like a poison.

Thou mayest, Lee.

Out of knowledge comes choice.

And to have any chance,

he had to know.

I arranged to have a wreath sent

and posted a card to Mrs. Hamilton from all of us.

- Will you see anyone you know there? - Louis Lippo, perhaps.

Rabbit Holman. They were both friends of ours.

Will you visit our mother?

In the cemetery.

In Salinas.

Your mother's grave is clear across the country.

But how'd she get there?

We put her on a train.

It's not so unusual.

Nearly every Chinese gets sent back to China after they die.

Samuel Hamilton was a jack-of-all-trades.

Inventor, philosopher, jester, confidant,

friend.

But above all, husband and father,

because his family meant more to him than anything.

Sam used to say a real man had no right to let sorrow destroy him.

Let it not destroy us now.

Cold out there.

How about a rum to knock the chill from your bones?

Yes, thank you.

We have rooms available if you're planning to stay the night.

- I'm just waiting out a train delay. - Where you headed?

Out near King City.

You've been in this town long?

- Since before it was a town. - Hm.

What do you know of a place called Kate's?

You'll leave that alone.

Yes?

I wanna see Kate.

You'll have to come back later. We're not open yet.

Tell her Adam Trask is here.

Mister.

She says she'll see you.

Come in.

Hello, Adam.

Joe, you can go.

Do you want another drink?

By the smell of it, you've been having rum.

It's funny.

For a long time, I expected you, and then when you didn't come,

I guess I…

Well, I guess I forgot about you.

I didn't forget you.

Thank you.

You still on that dusty old ranch?

Yes.

So you came all this way to see me?

Oh, no. No, no.

No. I… I came into town for Sam Hamilton's funeral.

I'm glad he's dead.

Why?

He was a good man.

I didn't like the way he looked at me.

You know, he looked at me too, and it helped me.

- The two of you, a pair of fools. - Come on, Cathy.

Kate.

Were you always like this, or have you changed?

- No one stays 19, Adam. - That's not what I meant.

- You've gotten old too, you know. - No. God…

I want to understand the woman that I loved.

You didn't love me.

I loved you more than anything.

How can you love someone you barely even know?

All right, then tell me.

Tell you what?

Tell me who you are.

Please.

Please.

I always knew…

what stupid lying fools they all were.

Who?

My mother.

My father, our neighbors, all of them.

Pretending goodness, but they didn't know me.

"Isn't she sweet?" they'd say. "Isn't she a pretty little thing?"

I could do whatever I wanted to them, and they didn't even see it.

No one saw a thing.

Like what? What… what… what didn't they see?

I…

I made a man kill himself

when I was 14.

He pretended to be moral and kind, but he wasn't.

He just wanted to go to bed with me.

And I was just a child.

Is that what you wanted to hear?

Is that what you wanted to know?

So in the whole world, there's only evil and folly?

Is that what you think?

- I know it. I can prove it. - You can prove it?

I can prove it.

That's a state senator. He thinks he's going to run for Congress.

That's a councilman. He owns half the county.

That's a professor.

He travels all the way from Berkeley to have his face smashed into a toilet.

That's a doctor.

That's a judge.

And that's the minister of the gospel.

There's your proof of who these men really are.

And if they were ever a threat to me,

those envelopes would find themselves

in the place where they would do the most damage.

So these men are evil.

And I'm a fool.

So what about you?

What about me?

What kind of a mother abandons her children?

Is it an evil or is it a foolish one?

I may be their mother, yes, but…

how do you know you're the father?

How many times did I let you come close enough for us to have children?

Charles, though…

I think I could have loved him.

He was like me in a way, don't you think?

Aren't you gonna say anything?

I feel sorry for you.

You feel sorry for me?

You know the ugliness in people,

but you can't see the rest.

You only see the one side.

You don't believe that I really loved you.

You don't believe the men in those pictures

could have goodness in them.

You only see the one side, and you think that that is all there is.

- I see the truth. - Maybe you do sense it.

A goodness… all around.

But how terrible it would be to know

that it was there

and not be able to reach it.

What the hell are you talking about?

Goodbye, Cathy.

Adam? You think you're free?

I could crook my little finger and have you crawl back to me.

Adam!

You'll come crawling back!

You'll come back begging!

Oh…

Aron. Cal. Come here.

Come here.

Oh…

How would you boys like to move out of this house and into Salinas?

Hm? What do you think? You can go to school with other children.

We'd leave here?

Yes, we'd find a new home in town.

- Could we go to a baseball game? - Sure. Why not?

We can do whatever we like.

Boys, you have your chores. We can talk about this later.

The chores can wait, Lee.

Well, the horses need to be fed. Boys, go on.

Oh.

Let's go. Come on.

Okay.

You saw her, didn't you?

I never knew her, Lee.

The wife I had, I made up.

I… I feel free now.

I can leave this place. I can be with my boys.

I can start a new life.

Well, if you're free,

maybe you could let me go.

You wanna leave?

Haven't you been happy with us?

I'm not sure I've ever known what people call happiness.

It's hard to be content with so many things left undone.

Like what?

One thing it's too late for.

A wife.

Sons of my own.

Surely you still have time.

There was another thing.

I thought I might have my own business.

Oh.

A laundry?

I think there are enough Chinese laundries, don't you?

No, I dreamed of having a bookshop.

In San Francisco, with books in both English and Chinese.

- I… I can lend you the money to start. - I have the money already.

Then why haven't you left?

Being needed is hard bait for a lonely man.

Could you wait?

Until I get the boys settled in Salinas.

Help see us through the change.

Dear brother Charles,

I think you will be surprised to hear from me after all this time.

I have twin sons.

Their mother is no longer with us.

For a number of years, I felt poorly.

And now I'm finally well.

Aron, walk. Aron, walk.

We lived on a ranch in the valley but are moving into Salinas town.

Why don't you visit us?

- It's a great country. - And I will take these. Thank you.

You might even find a place of your own out here.

I have much to tell you that I can't put down.

Write quick and say that you will visit.

Your brother, Adam.

P.S. Charles, I never hated you.

No matter what.

I always loved you because you are my brother.

Why does Father want that hung in his room?

- I thought he hated his father. - People aren't just one thing.

Stop that. Electricity is expensive.

- Lee? - Hmm?

It's her,

isn't it?

Yes.

Who?

Our mother.

She was beautiful.

Is that a scar?

Boys, why don't you go finish up in your room, hm?

Go on.

You should tell the boys the truth about their mother.

Better they hear it from you than someone else.

Maybe, when they're older.

She's just across the tracks, Adam, not ten minutes' walk from here.

They deserve to hold on to the good thoughts of their mother,

and I won't take that from them.

Did you know my mother died when I was a baby?

No.

Because in all the time I've cared for your family,

you've never asked about mine.

The man who raised me was a cook named Lau.

Back in China, Lau had had a debt he couldn't pay,

so he signed himself up for the railroads.

Lau discovered my mother at sea.

She was dressed like a man,

hiding her sex.

They took a liking to each other.

He told her stories.

She told him her secret.

She was pregnant.

He promised to help her.

In San Francisco, they were pushed into cattle cars

and brought up the Sierra Mountains to dig the tunnels.

My mother did her best hiding her condition.

Why wouldn't they just go to the bosses?

They… they would've helped her.

Do you know why they brought only men from China?

So we wouldn't breed here.

God knows what they would have done to her if they found out.

So my parents made plans to escape.

Days before they were going to flee,

a little boulder jumped down a hill and broke my father's leg.

Whether with work or worry, my mother went into early labor.

When my father heard the shout…

"Woman!"

he knew.

You see, these indentured men

have been driven half-crazy with hunger and exhaustion and loneliness,

being treated as less than human.

The many crimes committed against those men

flared up into a kind of madness.

By the time my father got to her,

my mother hadn't even eyes to see out of.

She died

on a pile of shale

in the afternoon sun.

My father managed to claw me out of her.

Alive.

My father told me that story again and again from the time I was very young.

I'm glad he didn't spare me.

There's a beauty in the truth…

even if it is a dreadful beauty.

Lee…

Adam, if you continue to tell your sons this lie about their mother,

it will infect everything.

When they find out the truth, and they will,

they'll lose all trust in you.

You will lose them.

And what would you like me to tell them?

That their mother is a whore? That she is a mistress of whores?

That she tried to kill me? That she abandoned them?

What exactly would you like me to tell them?

When you forbade me to teach the boys Cantonese, did I protest?

When you went months without so much as looking at them, did I say a word?

In this matter, I must insist.

Tell them. Tell them enough so that you all don't suffer later.

I'll think about it.

Hmm.

- I'm done wasting my time on you. - Don't talk to me like that.

- Are you lying to yourself or just to me? - Shut up!

Your course is drawn, Adam!

Faced with two morals, you'll follow your training.

What you call thinking won't change that. What you call love won't change that.

Nothing will change that! You cannot change.

Dessie Hamilton has agreed to take in the washing.

I left a box of recipes for easy meals.

The boys can help. They know their way around a kitchen.

The boys can write to me at the Lee Tong. It's a club of sorts.

Oh.

My books are in crates.

If you don't mind,

I'll ask you to ship them to me when I find an apartment.

You better hurry if you're gonna make today's train.

Cal! Aron!

- We'll see each other. - Make sure to come visit us.

- Be good. Take care of yourselves. - We'll try. I promise.

As long as you write to us.

Hey, boys!

Let's go buy an automobile.

Really?

Why not?

Come on, get ready. Hurry.

Go, go, go. Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up.

Uncle.

Are you lost?

Do you know the Lee Tong?

I was certain it was here.

The Lee Tong no longer exists.

It was lost in the fires,

after the earthquake.

Do you know a scholar called Lau?

Connected to the Lee Tong?

Lucky Lau?

Don't worry, uncle.

He's alive and well

and still running his baccarat game.

You want in?

You must be mistaken.

This is a learned man,

a principled man.

Uncle.

You need a place to stay?

How many share this room?

It depends,

how many people come tonight.

- Cheers. - Cheers.

My Cantonese isn't what it should be.

It's been some time.

Good news. My English is excellent.

- Where are you from? - Right here. I was born in California.

An American uncle.

What brings you to San Francisco?

Well, I intend to open a bookstore.

You need a protector.

I can look after myself.

How will you negotiate the tongs?

Hm? Do you have funds set aside to pay off the police?

The Black Hand?

What is your plan?

It's funny.

I've always been the one preparing for every outcome,

but now it seems my dream has made me a stranger to myself.

I think all dreams do this.

It was a dream Lau and I shared,

our bookstore.

We wanted to make a place to serve the community.

Lau is serving the community.

By taking their money?

Even if they lose,

all gamblers eat at Lucky Lau's.

It must have been lonely,

living so long in the white world.

How did you survive it?

I used to imagine I had a wife.

I would tell her everything about what I did, all my troubles.

Did she say anything?

She wasn't much of a talker.

But a wonderful listener.

Hm.

And then I…

stopped talking to her.

Why?

Too busy, I suppose.

In my job, I had many responsibilities. Cook, housekeeper, accountant,

nurse,

tutor.

It sounds like you were someone else's imaginary wife.

Hmm.

Hm.

Advance the spark, retard the gas.

- Oh boy. - That's what he said.

Why isn't that going now?

- Maybe the engine's too hot. - I said, just give me a minute.

Okay.

Should I run and get the mechanic? I'm sure he'd show you again.

We don't need the mechanic.

- Mr. Trask. - What?

Package for you.

- Golly, is that your car? - Yes.

If he can ever get it to start.

Did you toggle the switch to battery? My brother always says

he forgets to switch it to battery.

- Yeah! - There, you see?

- Took you long enough. - Tell your brother to stick it.

Boys, I'll be right back.

Father?

Come on.

I'm all right.

I'm all right.

I had a brother,

just like you.

Charles.

We hadn't spoken in a long time.

And I've just received word that he's died.

Okay. Oh, okay. Thank you.

Thank you.

Cal?

The other night, it sounded like Lee and Father were fighting.

Do you think that's why Lee left?

No.

You got out of bed, didn't you?

I woke up, and you were gone.

Did you hear what they were arguing about?

They…

They weren't arguing. They were only excited.

What about?

Father's gonna send a wreath to our mother,

to her grave.

A big wreath of carnations.

How's he gonna get it there?

On a train. Don't talk so loud.

But how's he gonna keep it fresh?

They'll pack ice all around it.

Won't it take a lot of ice?

A whole hell of a lot of ice.

A big wreath.

That's nice.

I hope it gets there nice and fresh.

Dear Lord, please let me be like Aron.

Don't let me be mean.

Don't wanna be lonely.

Don't wanna be mean.

Don't wanna be mean.

Don't let me be mean.

Don't let me be mean.

Cathy.