ELISE: Can I be honest with you?
ISAAC: Of course Mama.
ELISE: I'm worried about the girl.
ISAAC: What's that supposed to mean?
ELISE: I don't want to make you upset. And I don't want to butt in where I don't belong. But the girl walks around here as if she's always looking over her shoulder. She looks so lost, and afraid, and she's running from something. She needs help from somebody and I reckon I might be the one who needs to help her dagum it.
ISAAC: (Sigh.) Okay I'll be honest with you.
ELISE: Please yes do.
ISAAC: You're butting in where you don't belong.
ELISE: Isaac—
ISAAC: There is no problem Mama. I would know. I would tell you.
ELISE: You are your daddy's son.
ISAAC: Stop saying that.
ELISE: Stop living it.
ISAAC: Mama, can I ask you a question?
ELISE: You can ask me a million questions.
ISAAC: Do I disappoint Daddy?
ELISE: Absolutely not.
ISAAC: You sound too confident. You're never that confident about anything so I can tell you're lying.
ELISE: I'm not lying Son. Your father could never be disappointed in you. He loves you so much.
ISAAC: I need you to not talk to me as my mom right now.
ELISE: But I am your mama.
ISAAC. But I'm talking about Michael Fudge here. Not my Dad. That man demands control in a way where I reckon he would try to tell Jesus how to run this place if he came down here.
ELISE: He's complicated. He's a mighty man and he uses that passion both for God, but for his family. For better or for worse, he does the best he can.
ISAAC: He does the best he's willing to do.
ELISE: (Pause.) He can be hard to deal with.
ISAAC: Yeah.
(Beat.)
ELISE: Hey honey?
ISAAC: Yeah Mama?
ELISE: I'm proud of you.
ISAAC: Thanks. I'm proud of you too. I'm sorry I'm so snippy. Emotions are hard to handle. (He looks up at her, jokingly.) It's not you, it's me.
(They laugh; pause.)
ISAAC: Dad sucks.
ELISE: Yeah he does.
