Song #8: The Story of the Tucks

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MAE: once upon a time, once upon a time... can I start like that?


MILES: shouldn't start like that.


MAE: be patient with me, Winnie; I've never told this before. Once there was a man, a man with a wife and family-


JESSE: that's Miles and me!


MAE: Jesse, let me tell the story. I don't wanna start a war. We tore from the west to settle in the east, looking for a farm or some land at least.


JESSE: get to the part where I fall from the tree-


MILES: no, you've got it all wrong!


MAE: Miles, Jesse! Then we found a wood-


JESSE: yes, we found a wood. Can you guess which wood?


WINNIE: mine?


JESSE: you're good!


MAE: when we found ourselves a clearing and camped for the night, just the four of us-


MILES: plus the cat and the horse. They play a crucial part.


MAE: yes, Miles, of course. We slept by a spring near an old ash tree.


JESSE: and that's where I carved a "T"!


MAE: Jesse!


MILES: in the morning, in the morning...


MILES, JESSE, MAE: we had no way of knowing. Without even thinking, we drank from the spring. Who knew that spring would change everything?


MAE: except for the horse, everybody drank, even the cat.


MILES: remember that?


JESSE: you can lead a horse to water-


MILES: I think she knows the phrase.


MAE: so then days went by, then months, then years, with an ordinary life...


MIlES: so it appears.


MAE: the old horse died at twenty-five.


JESSE: but the cat was still alive!


MILES: we weren't changing


JESSE: we weren't changing


MAE: we weren't changing


MILES: we weren't growing


JESSE: we weren't growing


ALL THREE: we had no way of knowing; nobody was thinking it was because of the spring... who knew that spring could change everything?


MAE: the town began to talk, the people shied away. (JESSE: Winnie, look at me, Winnie, listen here, though...) They were so outraged, we hadn't aged. Our lives in pious, our looks perverse. (JESSE: I survived a tree fall!) He's survived much worse.


MILES: shut up, Jesse!


MAE: Still we didn't know (JESSE: yes, of course we knew), didn't know the spring was the cause of it (JESSE: how could we not know, though) or where we'd sit on the delicate balance (JESSE: the greatest family) between a blessing and a curse.


JESSE: in the universe!


MILES: don't confuse the girl.


ALL THREE: the cat and the horse, the "T" on the tree, the drink that changed us eternally. That's our secret, keep it locked up tight.


WINNIE: but I still don't understand!


MILES: enough! Alright. We're not aging, we're not growing, and none of us know why. Once upon a time, we drank from your spring, and now we'll never die.


JESSE: that's the story of the Tucks. The end.

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