'We are all haunted
by things other than the dead,
'as Grace MacDonald
was haunted by a dream,
'an innocent dream
which became a bridge to horror.'
Daddy!
Daddy!
Daddy, help me.
Daddy, please help me.
Daddy, please help me.
Where are you?
Please help me, Daddy.
Daddy! No, no!
Daddy, please help me!
Oh, don't let them get me!
Daddy! Oh, please save me!
Daddy! Daddy!
- Help me! Daddy! No!
- Come on...
You'll wake up all the other children.
My daddy's coming
to take me out of this place.
You have no daddy.
I do so, and he's coming.
Grace, be quiet. Don't force me
to have to strap you to the bed.
Daddy, help me! Help me!
Help me, Daddy, please!
Please, Daddy, help me!
Where are you?
Daddy!
Right, all of you,
back down in your beds.
And get your heads covered.
I want all of your heads covered.
Alright, young lady.
Now, back to your bedroom.
Come on, march.
Our cheeks to our pillows, girls.
With a night's rest,
our day will be shining.
Cheek on the pillow.
My daddy will come.
No, Grace, he will not.
Daddy?
What is this sweet child's name?
Grace MacDonald.
Grace MacDonald?
Take one step forward.
Alright.
Now, the rest of you, right turn.
Now, back to your classrooms.
'From year to year
and town to town
'Grace stayed on
with her adopted church
'to continue searching
for her father.
'She became engaged
to young Patrick Bundy
'who gave up the ministry
to study medicine.
'Now only his older brother,
Jessie, remained,
'turning a once respected church
into a carnival.'
Jessie?
I just can't put this on.
- Well, why not, Grace?
- It's just not right.
Suppose my father should be out there?
Your pappy's dead just like mine.
Did you put that make-up
on your legs and back?
- Yes.
- This is full dress, Grace.
It's got to be just like it is
in front of the people.
Now, you come on
and get into that costume.
But two different truck drivers said
that they knew my father,
that he's alive
and lives somewhere around here.
I'm gonna go look for him this evening.
Well, they're just mistaken, Grace.
The orphanage
my pappy picked you out of
has no records
of any mother or father.
Now, you just come on
and get into that thing.
Are you sure nobody's out there?
At six o'clock in the morning, Grace?
Now, you come on.
You only look at me
when you have to, Jessie Bundy.
Damn it, Grace!
You're gonna be my sister-in-law
soon as you marry Patrick.
Now, I think of you like family,
covered round or naked out.
I got that platform up
a full 30 feet this time.
We got this far by hard work.
You're gonna bring 'em in,
Grace MacDonald,
and I'm gonna save their souls
and cure their ills,
just like my pappy.
Better than my pappy even.
No time for scallywagging.
Good Jesus!
Will you look at that?
You're queen of this here desert, Grace.
And of everything
that ever lays eyes on you.
Patrick's a very lucky man, Pa.
Now, it's 30 feet, Grace.
You did it three times from 25
with no trouble.
Keep your confidence and take
that deep breath like I taught you.
You can do it easy, Grace,
as you're an angel
in the service of the Lord.
Now, you go on my cue:
"the fires of hell".
Here it comes, Angel Grace.
For they shall fall
into the fires of hell.
Shirley?
Shirley, you up yet?
Shirley!
Exams today.
Don't oversleep.
Shirley?
Shirley!
Mrs. Jordan?
- Mrs. Jordan?
- What is it?
Shirley doesn't answer me.
She was probably up all night studying.
She's gonna sleep
right through her final exams.
I'm gonna have a heart attack
going up and down these stairs.
I'm gonna choke to death
while you all stand around watching.
It's an emergency.
I almost bled to death once
with an emergency.
- I'm sorry, Mrs. Jordan.
- The medical profession is a disgrace.
Look at this filthy place.
It's harder for Shirley.
- She's a slow reader.
- Ah.
Shirley!
It's time to get up.
Shirley?
Shirley, this is Patrick
and we both have an exam
in less than one hour.
Come on.
That's it. Okay, now,
I'm gonna get the shower ready for you.
A hell of a doctor you are,
turning your back on a naked female.
- You have a point there.
- Just promise me one thing.
That you won't leave patients
in the outer office, waiting,
when they're in pain and bleeding.
I won't, Mrs. Jordan.
Hard wooden bench it was.
Like you'd expect to find in church.
And the nurse keeps telling me
I'll be alright till the doctor comes.
The blood's pouring out of my foot,
and she's sitting there smiling and
saying I'll be alright till the doctor comes.
- She's stopped brushing.
- Nurses are very dumb.
She's stopped brushing and
I didn't hear her step into that shower.
Come on, girl. Come on.
- But I was up all night.
- You gotta take a test.
Take your hands off me.
I'll get black and blue.
Alright, a cold shower will do it
if nothing else.
Oh! Turn it off!
- Turn it off!
- Now you're awake.
Oh, I'll call the police!
You get out of here or I'll call the police!
- Do you promise to stay wide awake?
- Oh, no more, please.
- Do you?
- Yes.
Are you gonna get dressed
and go down and take your exam?
And you're gonna pass
and be a good lady doctor?
- Yes.
- Alright, then.
And take good care of the sick.
If you don't stop that crying,
I'll turn the shower back on.
Now, you hurry and get dressed.
She's really a good girl.
You're good, too,
to be so concerned about her.
Thank you, Mrs. Jordan.
How come you two have never...?
Well, you know the others
are always lying to me
about helping each other study
till three or four in the morning?
And I'm the idiot landlady
who believes them.
But you two, nothing.
Hm? Never.
Well, I've got a girl, Mrs. Jordan.
Oh. I never see her.
You never mention her.
Well, she, uh...
She does church work.
Church work?
- You mean, like bingo?
- No, no, not like bingo.
What, then?
Well, she, um...
Are you running around with a nun?
No, no, but something like that.
- A nun?
- Well, she travels, preaching the Bible.
Oh, oh, oh.
- A faith healer.
- Yes.
Well, she's raking in the money.
And she's gonna marry a doctor to boot.
She's no fool.
I'll be dressed and ready to go
in five minutes, Patrick.
I'm deeply indebted to you both.
'She's really a good girl.
'You're good, too,
to be so concerned about her.
'She's very nice looking
when she ain't with the books.
'Why don't you take her
out to dinner tonight, just once?'
'I'm driving out
to the desert tonight to see Grace.
'I haven't seen her in nearly six months.'
'The divine healing services
of Reverend Jessie Bundy
'will commence in 30 minutes.
'Cars and buses, please take your
parking instructions from the deputy.
'Now, if we will all follow
Mr. Ronnie on the piano,
'the Holy Spirit will cure us.'
'The visit of Patrick was
an intrusion on Grace's dream.
'Finding her father was more important
than loving or living.
'She could stall no longer.
'The dream had to be given life,
'here, tonight.'
It all comes back.
I've dreamt so many times
of us sitting like this.
For hours.
I love you.
And I love you.
Beautiful Patrick Bundy.
We're going along
on that holiday together.
And we'll make love in a big, warm bed.
I'm still a virgin for you, Patrick.
You didn't have to say that.
I know.
But I am.
And you like that better, don't you?
I don't think about it.
But isn't it better that way?
A little?
Yes.
Is Shirley a virgin too?
How would I know?
All those nights reading medical journals
until the sun comes up.
Now, you can't tell me, Patrick,
that two people of the opposite sex,
so intimate for so long,
have not made love.
Have you and I made love?
- But we're different.
- How?
Well...
It's more beautiful between us.
I mean, I can understand
weakness of the flesh,
with Shirley or with anyone.
I just don't wanna hear about it.
From all your letters, it seems like
she's fixing stew meat or hamburgers
every other night of the week.
That's about it.
Well, then, there is something going on.
Am I right?
I thought you didn't wanna hear about it.
Jessie will be preaching soon.
- You should listen to how good he is.
- I will.
Now, I've gotta go get dressed.
Well, I'll see you around
for the services.
There's something
I have to tend to later.
I'll help you.
No, I've gotta do it alone.
Look, I can only tell you
that it involves my father.
Have you contacted him?
I'll know more later.
Now, you may escort me
to my dressing trailer.
I'm sorry,
my brothers and my sisters.
I can't do anything
for your aches or your miseries.
And God,
God cannot help your aches
or your miseries.
I am powerless, and God...
God, he's powerless too.
And I'll tell you why.
Because God gave that power to you.
He took the almighty power to heal
and through my body
and my bones and my heart
and my voice,
he's passing it onto you.
Praise be to God.
He said...
"Gather close,
"my beloved creatures,
"because I'm giving it to you."
God is giving it to you.
God is giving it to you!
Good.
Good enough to straighten out
that twisted spine
or limb that ain't working right.
He says, "Put that limb to use."
God don't want you sick,
he wants you whole and well.
You got a cancer in there?
He says, "Reach in, pull it out."
And if you can't reach in,
then take my hand
and I'll reach in for you.
Let God reach through you,
through me, back to you.
I mean cancer!
Yes!
The incurable kind, yes.
You are so beautiful, Grace.
You! You! You!
All of you!
Why must you dive from so high?
There's no danger.
I'm confident in myself now.
And I'm confident in you.
I know we will marry,
and there'll be children
that are loved.
And I'll leave Jessie's work
and join you in yours.
Grace...
I don't wanna just kiss you anymore.
There'll be time enough for the other.
I'm not gonna walk away
half bent over from that pain anymore.
I mean it, Grace.
- Soon it's my cue to enter.
- Later, then.
No, not tonight.
Please, not tonight.
I have got exams all next week.
I can't come back.
Look, I'll call you
from wherever we are.
We'll make plans.
But I've gotta go now.
I've gotta make my entrance
from the other door.
Grace, please!
Sister Grace and I will now demonstrate.
Watch closely,
my brothers and my sisters...
There she is, half-naked,
just like those who seek
to destroy God's power.
But they shall not,
for they shall fall
into the fires of hell.
Raise your arms.
Raise them, brother.
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.
You believe too?
God's here tonight.
I believe in the Spirit.
Praise the Lord!
Aren't you young Patrick Bundy?
- Yes.
- I'm Sheriff Pender.
Mike Pender.
I couldn't breathe on the left side
for more than three months.
Your daddy prayed for me,
pressed his hand right here.
I can't explain what came
from that man's arm and filled my chest.
It was a current,
a lullaby, a belief.
I wept in his arms,
so much that I got him
to weeping too.
We wept that pain away.
A doctor at the County General
signed a paper
sending me back to full duty.
Said there wasn't
a thing wrong with me!
Hallelujah.
Why aren't you up there
preaching with your brother Jessie?
Well, I've left my father's church.
I study medicine now.
Oh.
I'm sorry.
Nothing to be sorry about.
That's just the way it goes.
Heal Her! Heal Her!
You ever need anything,
you call me at the Phelan office.
Sheriff Mike Pender.
Okay, thank you.
Jesus! Jesus! Jesus...
- Heal him, brother.
- Heal him.
You can do it, I know you can.
'Now Grace felt
the almighty power.
'She could turn fantasy into reality.
'Later that night, her search ended
in a hotel for retired men.
'The people, the places, the events,
all real to Grace,
'but they are in fact the beginnings
of her imaginary world.'
Excuse me, sir.
I'm looking for my father,
Timothy MacDonald.
Do you know him?
Maybe one of them knows him.
Sir?
I'm looking for my father,
Timothy MacDonald.
I think he used to be
a truck driver at one time.
I like that.
Oh, that's a good one.
Hello, honey.
Hello, cutie.
Come on, sugar.
Wake up.
Wake up, lovey. That's it, beauty.
That's a nice boy.
Hey... Hey, who are you?
Get out.
Hey, Dan, I thought we had a deal:
no independents.
Now, wait. Wait a minute.
What's the matter? Are you lost?
Down on your luck? Huh?
Let's go.
Let's have a bally-wally.
- Come on.
- Hey...
Mama's gonna take you
to your playpen.
How'd you like to work
in a whorehouse, huh?
I got some nice clean rooms.
Sir, your talk frightens me.
They come from three states
to work in my house.
Shut up, you old goat!
You know...
I got no old goats in that house,
only young, beautiful girls like you.
Satin dresses,
red and blue and gold.
Every meal served
with silver and champagne.
And music, with colored maids
to look after you.
I don't think you understand.
I work for a preacher.
Ah.
Wait a minute...
Are you the girl
that's gonna dive from that tower?
- Yes.
- You couldn't be.
Oh, no...
You wouldn't be
Tim MacDonald's daughter Grace?
Yes.
Do you know my father?
Forgive me.
Come up here
and smash this dirty...
I told you to shut up.
I'm talking to a young lady here.
Won't you tell me about my father?
I'm sorry but your father's dead.
He died yesterday.
I got him at my place.
See, officially I'm an undertaker.
But I'll take care of him good.
No charge.
He was a friend.
Don't be frightened.
This is the preparation room.
Come on in and see your father.
Come on.
Just a dead old man.
He's your father.
I'll leave you here with him
a few minutes.
Oh, my office is down the hall
to the right.
You can come there
and sign the papers.
Oh, Daddy.
Why did you die?
Please! Please come!
Come see him!
Hey, hey, hey, hey.
Now rest. Rest a while.
He's alive.
I assure you that's not so.
- Now, rest. Rest.
- He's sitting up.
I swear by God he was sitting up.
My father's alive!
Alright, alright.
We'll both go take a look.
Are you alright?
Yes. Look, shouldn't we call
a hospital or something?
- Maybe they can help.
- Believe me,
that's the first thing we'll do.
Let's... Let's go take a look.
Come on.
He was sitting up.
Here.
The doctor pronounced him dead, not I.
But I always make double sure.
Grace, there are no signs of life.
Call the doctor again.
Please don't do anything to him.
- I'll have to embalm him.
- No, don't touch him.
He sat up.
He wants me to help him.
The bereaved always imagine life
in the remains.
They swear the chest expands
with breath.
Some even hear them speak.
Please don't touch him.
If I wait any longer,
embalming will be impossible.
The blood hardens.
You see, I have to do...
I have to do what I have to do.
It's in vain.
This has to be done.
It has to.
Yes, of course.
If you want to cry, darling,
it's good for you to cry.
I have to do what I have to do.
It's really necessary.
I know, I know.
Yes, I know, I know.
Everybody feels the same way but...
But you had to do
what you did, Daddy.
Now they'll... take you away.
We'll be separated again.
I know, Daddy,
I'll hide you.
Come on.
Come on.
Come on.
Come on.
This way.
Now, come on, Daddy.
There's Papa riding Sultan.
That medicine fella, Patrick,
- is he coming?
- He can't get free from the hospital.
- He's the one I like.
- Pa!
Oh, Preacher Jessie will just have
to get used to me speaking my mind.
- No offense, Jessie.
- Not at all, sir.
After all, it was you and your father
and your brothers that took Grace in
and it was you that brought her to me
and I'm indebted to you.
We're happy to have done it, sir.
For a preacher
you talk in awful short phrases.
- Do I?
- What are you so nervous about?
Papa, you're overpowering him.
Be hospitable and gay.
I am not overpowering him.
You are.
Reverend Jessie Bundy is a guest
in my house and he is welcome here.
I am Timothy MacDonald.
I am the host
and I am hospitable and gay.
- You are not.
- Oh, I'm not, am I?
- No, you're not.
- Alright.
Fetch me my tobacco and my pipe.
And a match.
Sit down, Reverend.
Sit down.
Now, fetch the Irish whiskey.
Two tall glasses for the men
and a noggin for yourself.
Oh, um...
Do you take water
with your whiskey, Reverend?
Uh, no. No, sir.
Oh.
Say, now bring me my squeezebox.
Do you jig, Reverend?
- What?
- Irish dancing, can you do it?
No. No, sir.
Oh.
This is a combination
of "Stack of Barley" and "Highland Fling".
Open the gate, Grace.
It must be a hundred times a day
I wish there were no Patrick at all.
I wish I could say I loved you, Grace.
And I wish I could want to rip out
the eyes of everyone staring at you.
But I enjoy dangling you
in front of them.
I know how they must be aching.
But they ain't gonna get any.
I should have shame
for the way you make me feel.
But I don't.
You pigs!
Damn pigs!
No, Daddy!
No!
No, Daddy!
No, Daddy, please!
No!
No. No, Daddy!
You whore!
It's all your fault.
You slut! You're causing
all this trouble.
Daddy?
Daddy?
Daddy!
Sultan?
Jessie.
Oh, Jessie.
Grace?
Baby Grace, where are you?
Baby Grace, can you hear me at all?
Oh, Grace, come and see
how I fixed the front gate.
Before I was lying in my bed,
crying from the pain
from where you struck me.
All of a sudden
there was this cold wind.
And the room all around me was...
It was dirty.
The walls weren't fresh painted
like they are now.
The floors were barren
and splintered from neglect.
Another bad dream, Grace.
It's that devil's church
you belong to.
They're a bad lot and you ought
to keep away from them.
- It's not a devil's church.
- It is.
It's you, you're the devil.
I'm going back to work on that gate.
When you've got a civil tongue
in your head, I'll hear your apology.
I ran to the barn, thinking
you'd be tending to Sultan.
There was no Sultan.
The stall was broken and...
the hinges were sticking out
from decayed wood.
There were holes in the barn roof.
And the small pile of straw
in the corner...
...was soaked through with blood.
My hand was made wet
as I brushed it aside.
And there was the body
of Reverend Bundy.
Right where I put him,
and I'd kill him again,
or anyone else that tried
to do harm to my baby Grace.
I ran to the house looking for you.
I told you, I was down
by the gate all morning.
Your room was empty.
The smell of your pipe tobacco
was gone.
Oh, I'd like to get my hands
on those damn preachers.
And those phonies you have
throwing themselves in the aisles,
squealing and fainting
like they had the epilepsy.
There's no fresh paint.
And the curtains are gone.
You're gone too.
The body of Reverend Bundy...
There sure enough.
So I ask myself,
who is it that killed him
and covered him with straw?
I killed him, I tell you.
I killed him.
I killed him, Daddy.
Because I'm thinking
that you're not even here at all.
Oh,
my sweet daughter,
Grace.
Here, join hands with me.
See if it isn't life and warmth you feel.
I'm flesh and I'm blood.
And I will not abandon you.
- It's no trick, then?
- No trick, my sweet Grace.
Oh, Daddy, I want us
to love each other.
We do.
I wanna hold you.
Then do.
Isn't that better?
The walls are painted.
The curtains are blowing
in the cool afternoon breeze.
And Sultan is down in the stall,
kicking up his anger
because I'm late in feeding him.
We'll have to clean out that barn,
make things just like they were.
Oh, we will.
When I bring Patrick home
you'll be nice to him, won't you?
Surely I'll be nice to him.
I can smell the tobacco
from your shirt now.
I'm not afraid anymore, Daddy.
Bring your Patrick home.
I've invited him this weekend.
It's about time I met him.
Mm, you will, Daddy.
'Grace's own
phantom father image
'convinced her
that fantasy is reality.'
'She moved Jessie's body
to a county disposal site,
'believing she was covering up
for her father's crime.'
'Now she must get on
with her next order of business.
'As she brought Jessie home
to meet her father,
'she will bring home Patrick.'
I'll get the shears.
Shirley, your duck
is bleeding very badly.
Oh, damn it.
We could go out
and get something.
First let me finish this.
Take your time.
You're always very comforting, Patrick.
I don't ever want us to move
from this apartment house.
I wanna keep coming downstairs.
I wanna keep making love to you.
I won't move.
- You are just...
- You don't have to say anything.
Six years.
I'm gonna see Grace.
- And I'm gonna tell her...
- You don't have to do anything.
I'm just gonna see her.
And I'm gonna tell her
that I believe that...
...that something happened
very quickly to me...
...that made me grow up.
Could you have Dr. Patrick Bundy
paged for me, please?
Are you a patient of Dr. Bundy's?
I mean, we just don't page people.
Oh, I can imagine
how that could get.
No, I'm Grace MacDonald.
Dr. Bundy and I
are going to be married.
Today?
Oh, heavens, no!
But soon.
I'm Grace MacDonald.
He'll ring the house phone
in the waiting section.
'Dr. Bundy, Dr. Bundy
to the emergency entrance immediately.
Grace!
Um, look, I can't just now.
Some other time.
Is this Shirley
who you went to school with?
Yes. Let's go.
Let's go. Come on!
I found my father.
- He's alive.
- That's wonderful.
I can't talk now.
I just can't.
No face left at all, Sheriff.
Nothing in the pockets,
no laundry marks.
Sure got some fancy clothes on, though.
You got any ideas?
I've learned to keep my ideas to myself.
Yes, sir.
Hello, this is Dr. Bundy.
This is Sheriff Mike Pender
from Phelan.
Yes, Sheriff Pender,
what can I do for you?
Well, I'd like to speak
to your brother Jessie
but I don't know
where he's preaching.
It just so happens
he isn't preaching at all right now.
Uh, he and Grace have taken
a couple weeks' vacation.
They're visiting with her father
at this small farm she's leased.
Where's the farm at?
It's not too far from you, actually.
Uh, right near the intersection
of Star Route 2
and State 138.
Yeah, I know that.
That's the old Demile place.
But it's vacant,
been boarded up for six months.
Yeah, well, that's it.
I need to take a drive out there myself
if I can get away from here.
Could you give me the phone number?
There is no phone.
Says her father doesn't believe in them.
Oh?
She says he lived in that hotel in Phelan
for the last 20 years without a phone,
he doesn't need one now.
- What hotel is that?
- Well, you must know.
It's the only place in town I guess.
Uh, Grace remembers that
it was right next to the barbershop.
Oh, thank you. Thank you, Patrick.
You've been a big help to me.
I hope you can get away
for that day or two.
Goodbye.
'What hotel is that?'
'Well, you must know.
It's the only place in town I guess.'
'Uh, Grace remembers that
it was right next to the barbershop.'
Grace MacDonald?
Reverend Jessie Bundy?
Is anyone here?
Grace MacDonald?
Reverend Jessie Bundy?
Is anyone here?
Reverend Jessie Bundy?
Thank you, sir.
But can you really be sure,
Grace, darling?
I'm sure.
But from all the things you told me,
he seemed like such a dependable fella.
He's dependable alright, Daddy.
He just doesn't love me anymore.
He loves her.
I'll never love anyone except Patrick.
Oh, but of course you will.
They'll be lined along the roads
waiting for you.
But Patrick will be with her.
You'll fill yourself with hatred, Grace.
I know.
- And there's no stopping it.
- Oh, yes, there is stopping it.
- What are you gonna do?
- He's broken your heart, hasn't he?
Hasn't he?
No, Daddy, please!
I'll hear no more about it.
You want me
to take care of you, don't you?
Don't you?
- Don't you?
- Yes.
Well, then, I'll take care of it
in my own way.
Grace?
- He's come to say goodbye to me.
- Grace?
She's come along
to make it easier for him.
Well, you can't be sure of that exactly.
I'll tell you what,
you ask him straight out,
no bones about it.
And if what you say is true,
you turn your back and walk from him.
I'll be watching.
Grace?
Grace, are you alright?
Shirley and I saw
the windows boarded up
and we thought that maybe
we weren't at the right place.
We're only gonna stay a short while.
There are some things
I couldn't say in my letters.
Grace? Grace!
Please listen to me.
Grace, where are you going?
Grace, what's happening here?
Sheriff Pender.
Grace.
What's happened here?
What is it?
Grace!
Oh, Grace!
Let's get out of here!
She's gone crazy.
The keys!
Roll up the windows.
All of them, quick!
She's running around to your side.
Keep down, away from the glass.
Grace!
Stop it, for God's sake! Stop it!
No! No!
No!
Please!
Stop!
Hurry, my black bag.
No!
The pentothal.
Grace...
No...
They're bringing her out now.
She's still a bit woozy but...
she'll be alright.
Well, what else, John?
Patrick, if there's one thing I've learned
in my 20 years of psychiatry,
that is never to second-guess.
She has projected herself
into a father image.
All of her life, from what I can tell.
Now, a chronic psychosis
is very difficult to dislodge.
She very well may wanna remain
in her fantasy world.
- Not Grace MacDonald.
- And why not?
Look at the drab world
she has to accept now.
Look at what she has to give up.
I'm deeply sorry
about your brother Jessie.
And Sheriff Pender.
And the undertaker from Phelan.
Father will just have to pay
for those horrible things he's done.
Would you mind
looking after Sultan for me, please?
We'll take very good care of Sultan.
Thank you.
Excuse me.
What undertaker?
Her fantasies include a hotel for old men,
a sort of a combination of whorehouse
and undertaking parlor in Phelan.
Now, she believes that she brought
her father back from the dead.
Then he had to murder the undertaker
to keep from being
embalmed and buried.
Now, the deputies have found no hotel,
no whorehouse, no undertaker.
But if another body
should turn up somewhere,
I wouldn't be a bit surprised.
She went through all the motions.
She killed him.
But to her, it was her father
doing the killing to protect her.
'From the dust and
rotting timbers of the abandoned farm,
'Grace gave life to her dream,
'and Sultan, the ghost
of some wild part of herself,
'would wait
until she and her father returned.
'Never again will there be
an unloving world for Grace MacDonald.'
'The walls are painted.
'The curtains are blowing
in the cool afternoon breeze.
'And Sultan is down in the stall,
'kicking up his anger
because I'm late in feeding him.'
'I'm not afraid anymore, Daddy.'