No Country for Old Men

2

Chigurh stops at a gas station/grocery in Sheffield to buy cashews from the elderly proprietor. At an isolated dusty crossroad. It is twilight. The Ford sedan that Chigurh stopped is parked alongside the pump. Chigurh stands at the counter across from the elderly proprietor. He holds up a bag of cashews.

"How much?" Chigurh asked. "Sixty-nine cents." The proprietor said. Chigurh and the Proprietor are talking about money, gas, and rain. Chigurh is from Dallas and the Proprietor is from Dallas too. Chigurh tears open a bag of cashews and pour a few into his hand. The Proprietor doesn't mean anything to Chigurh.

The proprietor apologizes to Chigurh for not passing the time. Chigurh stands chewing cashews while the old man works the register and puts change on the counter. The proprietor looks at Chigurh and asks him if there is anything wrong with anything. Chigurh stares at the proprietor, uncomfortable, and looks away. The proprietor then needs to see about closing.

Chigurh and the Proprietor are discussing closing the store. The Proprietor explains that it usually closes around dark, and Chigurh stares and chews slowly. The Proprietor then asks Chigurh what time he goes to bed, and the Proprietor replies that it is around nine-thirty. Chigurh is deaf, so the Proprietor suggests around nine-thirty.

The Proprietor and Chigurh have been living in the house behind the store for a long time. Chigurh has lived there all his life and married into it. They have lived in Temple Texas for many years and raised a family there. Chigurh has come out here four years ago. The Proprietor doesn't have any way to explain the situation.

He finishes the cashews and wads the packet and sets it on the counter where it begins to slowly unkink. The proprietor's eyes have tracked the packet. Chigurh's eyes stay on the proprietor. The most important idea is that the recipient of the coin toss does not know the most they have ever lost on a coin toss. Chigurh is digging in his pocket. A quarter: he tosses it. He slaps it onto his forearm but keeps it covered.

"Call it." "Call it?" "Yes." "For what?" "Just call it..." Chigurh and the Proprietor are discussing what they are calling for. Chigurh wants to know what it is, but Proprietor can't call it for him. Chigurh has been putting something up for a long time, but he doesn't know the date on the coin.

Chigurh said. "Nineteen fifty-eight. It's beentraveling twenty-two years to gethere. And now it's here. And it's either heads or tails, andyou have to say. Call it."

The proprietor said No. Chigurh is playing a game of heads or tails on a coin that has been traveling for 22 years. Chigurh takes his hand away from the coin and turns his arm to look at it. Chigurh hands the coin across to Proprietor, "No". Chigurh, who tells him not to put it in his pocket as it is his lucky quarter.

Chigurh must be kept away from the pocket, or else it will be mixed in with the others and become a coin. He turns to leave and goes.The proprietor watches him.

__________

Moss is pushing open the door to his trailer and Carla Jean is inside. Moss enters and the door closes. Carla Jean is finishing bandaging her arm and Moss tells her to stay with her mother in Odessa. Moss tells Carla Jean that it is midnight Sunday and Moss will call in the vehicle number from the inspection plate on his truck around 9:30. Carla Jean stares at Moss, thinking when she will stop looking for her two million dollars.

The most important details in this text are that Carla Jean and Moss are on a cattle guard road at night. Moss' car turns off and rattles over a cattleguard, and a Ramcharger parks on the other side. Outside, Chigurh emerges from his Ford and wears a Western-cut suit. The Ramcharger stops and discharges the three men, the driver, and his partner, both in suits, from either side and then Chigurh from the middle seat. They have pulled over at Moss' truck.