The Petrified Forest Page #3

"Six killed."

- Did he do all that?

- Oh, yes. Yes, indeed.

- He doesn't look very vicious, does he?

- I tell you here.

You can't tell a killer except by his

chin. There's a funny thing about that.

A killer always holds his

chin in. You ever notice that?

- I don't think I've ever seen a killer.

- Oh, I have. Plenty of them.

- You ever hear tell of Billy the Kid?

- Yes. My soup's getting cold.

I knowed him down in the Pecos Country.

He took a couple of shots at me once.

Well, congratulations.

I mean, on still being with us.

Hey!

But I don't think you understand.

You see, it was kind of dark...

and the Kid had had a few, and I think he

was just trying to scare the pants off of me.

- Did he do it?

- No. No, no.

I see'd he was just a-funning,

and so I said to him, I said:

"Kid, you're drunk."

And he said to me:

"Well, what makes you think that?"

And I said, "Because you missed me."

Well, you ought to heard him laugh.

- Say, you're kind of hungry, ain't you?

- Well, you can go just so long without food.

What line of work you in?

None at the moment.

I had been a writer.

- A writer?

- Yes.

- Well, that's a funny thing.

- Yes, it is.

- I knew the greatest writer ever.

- Really?

Sam Clemens. Ever hear of him?

Well, now, let me see. Sam...

- Did you ever hear of Mark Twain?

- Yes.

- Well, that's the same feller.

- Oh, that's right.

I knowed him well when I was

a boy back in Virginia City.

Yeah, he used to write funny things

for the paper there, the Enterprise.

Yes, sir. He was the darnedest

feller I ever see'd...

and I've see'd plenty. Yes, he used

to write, he said, on the principle...

that people that read his

writings didn't want the truth...

so that's what he's

gonna give them.

- Are you a famous writer?

- No, no. I'm... No.

Oh, you're just modest

about it? What's your name?

Alan Squier.

- Your supper's ready, Gramp.

- And I'm ready for it too.

Watching this feller eat has made me hungry.

Well, I'm glad to know you, Mr. Squier.

- Glad to have met you, sir.

- Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.

- Like the soup?

- Oh, it was glorious.

Did I hear you say

that you were a writer?

Yes. In a way.

I've never known any writers.

- Please don't go.

- Do you want something else?

No, I just wanted to talk to you.

Won't you please sit down?

All right.

- I suppose you want to go into the movies.

- Not on your life.

I want to go to Bourges.

- Where?

- Bourges, in France.

You might never guess it,

but that's where I came from.

- Really? You're not French, are you?

- Partly. I was born in Bourges.

I left there before I

was hardly able to walk...

so all I know about it is from

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