The Last Picture Show by Larry McMurtry

Author:Larry McMurtry [McMurtry, Larry]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Literary, Coming of Age, General, Texas, Fiction
ISBN: 9781451606584
Google: 9eMWCRXHd8wC
Amazon: B003NHR7R6
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 2010-06-01T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER XIV

“KEEP AN EYE on them corks, Billy,” Sam the Lion said, getting to his feet. “I’ve got to go water the grass a little.”

The corks bobbed undisturbed in the brown water of a large stock tank, and Billy, also undisturbed, sat by the water’s edge, watching them. Sonny was stretched out on his stomach in the Bermuda grass along the base of the tank dam. The May sun on his back was so warm that it made him drowsy, and he was almost asleep, content to leave Billy in full charge of the three fishing poles.

Sam the Lion took a long time to water the grass, but he finally came back, grumbling and buttoning his pants.

“Be nice to be able to piss,” he said. “If I last another year I’ll be dribblin’ it on my shoes. I’d almost be willing to be young again if I could take a real piss. Looks like we ain’t gonna catch much today.”

“We never do,” Sonny said. Once every year or two the pretty spring weather would tempt Sam the Lion to get out and, as he put it, get a little scenery. The rest of the time he was content to get his scenery from the pretty calendars the local foodstore put out.

When the urge for the outdoors came on him he would get Billy and the three fishing poles, enlist Sonny as a driver, and take the boys year after year to the same tank, perhaps the worst stocked fishing tank in the whole county. Once in a while they caught a perch or two, but always such undernourished specimens that old Marston refused to cook them.

“Hell, Sam, you wouldn’t have nothing but two ounces of fried bones if I did cook them,” he maintained.

Sam the Lion didn’t much care, and neither did the boys. Billy loved to sit on the bank and watch the rings in the water or the dragonflies that skimmed along the surface. He was always surprised and a little disconcerted when Sam the Lion grabbed one of the poles and actually pulled up a fish. When he looked into the water he saw no fish, and he was never really sure where they came from.

After a while Sonny got tired of dozing and got up and walked along the tank dam a little way. It was a beautiful afternoon, a good day not to be doing anything—the sky was very blue and the pastures were green with spring grass and mesquite. In a moment he himself had the urge to water the grass in the way that Sam had, and he walked to the edge of the dam to do it. He felt warm and well and was faintly pleased by the spurt of his own water, even stretching himself a little to see if he could send a stream all the way to the foot of the dam. He didn’t quite make it, but it was a high sloping dam and he came close enough to be fully content with his own range.

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