Ellis: You lookin' at it. I got to say you lookin' older.
Ed: I am older.
Ellis: Got a letter from your wife. She writes to me pretty regular,keep me up on the family news.
Ed: Didn't know there was any.
Ellis: She told me you were quittin'.
Ed: You want a cup?
Ellis: 'Preciate it.
Ed: How fresh is that coffee?
Ellis: I generally make a fresh pot every week even if there's some leftover.
Ed: That man who shot you died in prison.
Ellis: In Angola. Yeah.
Ed: What would you’ve done if he'd been released?
Ellis: I don't know. Nothin. Wouldn't be no point to it.
Ed: I'm kindly surprised to hear you say that.
Ellis: Well, all the time you spend tryin' to get back what's been took from you more is goin' out the door. After a while, you just have to try to get a tourniquet on it. Your granddaddy never asked me to sign on as a deputy. Loretta tells me you're quittin'. How come're you doin' that?
Ed: I don't know.I feel overmatched. I always figured when I got older, God would sort of come into my life in some way. He didn't. I don't blame him. If I was him I'd have the same opinion about me that he does.
Ellis: You don't know what he thinks. I sent Uncle Mac's thumb-buster and badge over to the Rangers. Put up in a museum. Your daddy ever tell you how Uncle Mac come to his reward? Gunned down on his own porch over in Hudspeth County. Seven or eight of 'em come up to here. Wantin' this and wantin' that. Uncle Mac went back in the house and got the shotgun, they was way ahead of him. Shot him in the doorway. Aunt Ella came out and tried to stop the bleedin'. Uncle Mac all the while tryin' to get that shotgun. They just sat there on their horses watchin' him die. After a while, one of 'em says somethin in Injun and they all turned and left out. Well, Uncle Mac knew the score even if Aunt Ella didn't. Shot through the left lung. And that was that. As they say.
Ed: When did he die?
Ellis: 1909.
Ed: No, I mean was it right away or in the night or when was it?
Ellis: I believe it's that night. She buried him the next mornin'. Diggin' in that hard old caliche. What you got ain't nothin new. This country is hard on people. You can't stop what's comin'. Ain't all waitin' on you. That's vanity.
妙語佳句，活學活用
1. keep up on
這個片語也寫作keep up with，意思是“to stay informed保持信息靈通”，比如：Ann and I haven't seen each other since college, but we keep up through our annual Christmas letters. 安和我大學畢業后就沒見過面，不過我們每年圣誕節都會通信保持聯系。
