Mama's got a boyfriend now. His name is Doyle Hargraves. He works construction so he makes...

Frank: Mama's got a boyfriend now. His name is Doyle Hargraves. He works construction so he makes a pretty good living, but he don't help Mama out with any money though. He ain't no good. He's mean to her. He don't like me at all. Mama says it's 'cause he's jealous that I belong to my Daddy instead of him. He spends the night at our house sometimes and he's got his own house, somebody told me it's where he can have more girlfriends. I like it on the nights he ain't at our house. I ain't so nervous then. Karl: How come her still being girlfriends and all with him if he's mean to her? Frank: She says it's for the times he's good to her. She's lonely since Daddy died, sometimes she says she don't know why. He threatened to kill her if she ever left him. My daddy would kill him if he were still here and somebody was mean to Mama. Vaughan, he's real good to Mama. Vaughan that you met. But he's not able to do anything to Doyle. He's funny, you know. Not funny "Ha-Ha", funny queer. He likes to go with men instead of women. That makes him not able to fight too good. He sure is nice, though. He's from St. Louis, people who are queer get along better in a big town. I wish he liked to go with women, I'd rather he be Mama's boyfriend than Doyle.

That's the way I feel about Momma now. Momma has a boyfriend now. His name is Doyle Hargraves. He works construction, so he makes a pretty good living. But he still don't help Momma out with any money, though. He ain't no good. He's mean to her. He don't like me at all. Momma says it's 'cause he's jealous, 'cause I belong to my daddy instead of him. He spends the night over at our house sometimes, and he's got his own house. Somebody told me it's where he can have more girlfriends. I like it on the nights he ain't at our house. I ain't so nervous then. How come her to still be girlfriend an' all with him if he mean to her? She says it's for the times when he's good to her. She's lonely since Daddy died. Sometimes she says she don't know why. He threatened to kill her if she ever left him. My daddy would kill him if he was still here and somebody was mean to Momma. Vaughan, he's real good to Momma. Vaughan that you met. But he's not able to do anything to Doyle. He's funny, you know. Not funny ha-ha, funny queer. He likes to go with men instead of women. That makes him not be able to fight too good. He sure is nice, though. He's from St. Louis. People who are queer get along better in a big town. I wish he liked to go with women. I'd rather him be Momma's boyfriend than Doyle. Karl, you know when I told you Daddy got hit by a train? Yes, I recollect that. It ain't the truth. He shot himself with a shotgun on purpose. How come he would do that, reckon? 'Cause he didn't have enough money to take care of us the way he wanted to. That's what the letter said. He got laid off at work and started working odd jobs. I thought he took care of us just fine. Karl, did you really kill somebody? - Yes, sir, I did. - Who did you kill? - Two people. - Were they bad people? I thought they was. Well, maybe they needed it. Well, I growed up and learned that you ain't supposed to kill nobody. It's all right if you're looking out for yourself. If it's self-defense. Was it self-defense? My daddy was good. I think too many good people die. That's what I think. Karl, are you sure you wanna go stay with these folks? You're welcome to keep on staying here. It's working out real good. That boy wants me to. All right, then. I'll see you bright and early. How are you coming along with that garden tiller? I fixed it. It's working pretty good now. Mm-hm. You done fixed it? Well, I'll be damned. Scooter told me it couldn't be fixed. Of course, Scooter's about as shiftless as one poor son of a bitch can be. You done fixed it. Well, I'll just be damned. - Well, I'll see you tomorrow. - All right, then. I don't guess I give a shit, 'cause, I mean, I ain't here that much anyway. If you want a retard living out in the garage, I guess that's your business. Of course, I do got some tools out there and a set of sockets I'd rather not have stole. I could take those home with me. He's real honest. He wouldn't steal nothing. Now, Frankie, I wasn't talking to you, was I?