851
I'll walk back.
852
- Evening.
- Who are you?
853
- Just going past.
- Know anybody around here?
854
No. Just going past, I tell you.
855
- Casy!
- Well, if it ain't Tom Joad. Hiya, boy.
856
- I thought you was in jail.
- No. They just run me out of town.
857
Come on in. Tom Joad.
858
- This the fella you been talking about?
- That's him. What are you doing?
859
Working, picking peaches.
860
I heard fellas shouting when we come in.
I came to find out what's going on.
861
- What's it about?
- This here's a strike.
862
Five cents a box ain't much,
but a fella can eat.
863
- Five cents? They paying you five cents?
- Sure. We made a buck1 since midday.
864
Looky, Tom. We come here to work.
865
They tell us it's gonna be five cents,
but there's a whole lot of us.
866
So the man says two and a half cents.
867
A fella can't even eat on that
and if he's got kids...
868
So we says we won't take it.
869
So they drive us off.
Now they're paying you five cents.
870
If they bust2 this strike,
you think they'll pay five?
871
Dunno. Paying five now.
872
They'll get two and a half cents
just the minute we're gone.
873
You know what that is.
874
One ton of peaches,
picked and carried for a dollar.
875
That way you can't even
buy enough food to keep you alive.
876
Tell 'em to come out with us, Tom.
Them peaches is ripe.
877
Two days out and they'll pay us all five.
Maybe seven.
878
They won't. They're getting five now.
That's all they care about.
879
But the moment they ain't strike-breaking,
they won't get no five.
880
Next thing you know you'll be out.
They got it all fixed3 down to a T.
881
Soon as the harvest is in you're
a migrant worker. Afterwards, just a bum4.
882
Five they're getting now.
That's all they're interested in.
883
I know what Pa would say.
He'd say it's none of his business.
884
That's right.
He'll have to take a beating before he'll know.
885
Take a beating? We was out of food.
886
Tonight we had meat -
not much, but we had it.
887
You think Pa's gonna give up his meat
on account of some other fellas?
888
Rosasharn needs milk.
889
You think Ma's gonna starve that baby just
on account of fellas yelling5 outside a gate?
890
Tom, you gotta learn like I'm learning.
891
I don't know what's right yet myself,
but I'm trying to find out.
892
That's why I can't ever be a preacher again.
893
Preacher's got to know.
894
I don't know.
895
I got to ask.
896
- I don't like it.
- What's the matter?
897
I can't tell. Seems as though I hear something
and when I listen there ain't nothing to hear.
898
- It ain't out of the question, you know.
- We're all a little itchy.
899
Cops been telling us
how they gonna beat us up and run us out.
900
Not them regular deputies6, but them
tin-seal men. The ones they got for guards.