Libby! They're here!
They're here! Sarah!
-They're here! -Tisha, have you seen them?
Yes. Over there.
Come quickly.
Run!
Hurry! Hurry! They'll be gone.
Come on! Hurry, hurry!
Libby! Libby, come on!
Hurry!
-Mr. Randall! -Mr. Randall!
Mr. Randall! Hello!
-Mr. Randall! -Have you seen the whales?
Morning, ladies.
Morning, Sarah.
Have you seen the whales?
Sure l have.
Where?
Out there.
Come on, come on.
Hey, Libby.
Let me see. Let me see.
-Look. -Quick. Come on.
There.
Thank you very much.
-Thank you, Mr. Randall. -l hope you have good fishing.
Don't let the tide catch you.
There you go.
Libby!
Your breakfast is ready.
Sarah?
Sarah!
Good morning, Mrs. Webber.
Oh, good morning, Mr. Maranov.
What a lovely morning it is.
lsn't it beautiful?
You came by water?
Yes, yes. Mr. Randall was kind enough...
to bring me over.
Oh, how nice.
What beautiful roses.
Yes, aren't they beautiful?
And don't they smell sweet?
Mrs. Webber, l would like to ask you a favor.
May l fish from your cove?
Oh, any time, Mr. Maranov.
Your fish are the finest of all the islands.
Oh, but they're not our fish, Mr. Maranov.
Well, perhaps you would do me the honor...
of sharing my catch with me.
Oh, how generous of you.
Yes, indeed.
You've come at a good time.
Yes, the fish should be biting now.
The tide will just be on the turn.
And the herring will be running.
-Yes. -l must be on my way.
-Yes. Good luck. -Thank you.
Oh, dear.
You must be thirsty.
l'll give you a nice drink of water...
and you'll feel better.
l just don't know...
where all this dust comes from.
Hello, Mother.
Oh, dear.
Hello, Philip.
Just think. lt's 46 years.
Doesn't seem like it.
Talking to yourself.
Yes.
Anybody answer?
Not yet.
But your tea's cold.
And your cereal, too, dear.
Yes, it was.
But you shouldn't do without your breakfast, Libby.
This is my blue dress, isn't it?
Oh, l see. Why don't l fix this?
There.
Hey.
You did without your shoes.
l couldn't find them.
Perhaps they're under your bed.
-l'll get them for you. -Probably.
But you really should eat something, Libby.
Blue has always been a favorite color of mine.
Well, l'll be right back.
You didn't answer me.
Answer what, dear?
l asked you if this were my blue dress.
Yes, it is, dear.
l don't forget things, you know?
Oh, yes, l know.
What are you doing?
l'm dusting.
Busy, busy, busy.
Always busy.
l wish we were in my house in Philadelphia.
Oh, but it's so hot in Philadelphia now.
l like the heat.
lt keeps you from being so busy.
Well, dear, this is Maine...
and this is my house...
and somebody has to keep it tidy.
What are you doing now?
My animals for the fair.
You're late, Sarah.
Aren't you usually finished by August?
There seems so much this year.
What would the town's annual fair do...
without Sarah Webber?
lt's a worthy cause, dear.
The world is full of worthy causes.
Yes, indeed.
This is a little koala bear.
They live up in the trees...
and they won't come down...
if there are a lot of people around.
Very sensible.
Oh, you'll never guess what l found.
What, Sarah?
The old stereopticon. You remember?
And, Libby, l found the cards, too.
All the old family pictures.
Oh, l wish you could see them.
That's you and me...
and Tisha...
down in the cove.
And here we are back in Philadelphia.
One of our tennis parties.
And Mother and Father all dressed up.
l'm going to donate this to the silent auction table.
They say they're very valuable these days.
Well, perhaps we'd be valuable, too...
if they'd put us up for sale.
Don't give them the cards, Sarah.
l won't, dear.
Wouldn't you like the radio on, dear?
lt's time for Arthur Godfrey.
Thank you very much, and how do you do?
But that's your favorite program.
l don't want the radio.
Are you all right, dear?
l'm all right.
Just a touch of November in my bones.
Didn't you tell me...
someone was coming by this morning?
Yes, dear. Tisha.
Then l should have my shoes.
l forgot.
l left them in the bedroom.
l'll bring them right in.
Oh, and my glasses.
Do make me look presentable.
You always look presentable, dear.
l expect l'm a great bother to you.
l'm here to take care of you, dear.
You could change your mind.
People do.
l'm here as long as you need me.
There's always my Anna.
Your Anna has never wanted to be involved with us.
She is my daughter.
Anna has never been very daughterly...
and you have never been very motherly.
And that's that.
Careful.
Hold still, dear.
Do you remember the swans in the park...
when we were children?
Yes, dear.
Mother had hair like the swans.
ls my hair as white as Mother's was?
l expect so.
What color is your hair now, Sarah?
Oh, it's faded.
All the brown is gone.
Everything dies sooner or later.
So you always say.
Do you know why old ladies sit on park benches, Sarah?
No, why, dear?
To hold them for springtime lovers.
Even the benches want to get away in November.
But this is August, dear.
What does time matter?
Well, time is time.
Yes, if you wear it like a wet blanket.
Matthew died in November.
l tell you, Sarah...
Matthew's month will be--be mine.
Why don't you go about your chores, Sarah?
l'll...
l'll hold down the bench.
Bravo!
Bravo.
Oh, Mrs. Doughty.
What a pleasure to see you.
And how lovely you look today.
Well, l'll remember you in my will.
l see you've had some luck.
Yes, l've caught several of these...
and some of those, uh, sea perch.
What is the name that you give them?
Cunners.
We call them cunners, Mr. Maranov.
Would you like a berry?
Oh, thank you.
-Delicious. -Good.
l was so sorry to hear about Hilda.
lt's a wicked shame, her passing so sudden.
Yes. Poor lady.
l'm afraid nobody realized that she was so ill.
Will you be staying on-- l mean, at Hilda's?
l expect her daughter will be taking over the house...
now that she's gone.
Yes, l believe so.
Yes. Well...
it'd be a pity to miss the rest of the summer.
Well, l must say l have come to feel...
very much at home here.
Well, l'm sure you'll find someplace else to stay.
Happy fishing.
Sarah?
Sarah, where are you?
l'm here in the garden.
What are you doing?
Just finishing a picture.
l want to go for my walk.
All right.
Baron Maranov is fishing from our rocks.
Well, l hope he doesn't want to give us...
any of those nasty fish.
Dear, for heaven's sakes.
Sewer fish-- that's what they are.
Nonsense.
The currents are very strong there.
l will not eat any of those fish.
-Well, don't. -You, of course...
would do anything to flatter that fraud.
He's not a fraud.
l will not eat those fish!
You know, l believe we'll see the whales this weekend.
That would be surprising.
lt's time for them.
Whales don't come anymore.
The herring are running.
That's a sure sign.
Signs fail, you know.
Our hydrangea bush is doing very well.
See?
l bet that they're beautiful.
Mother planted this when we were very young.
l'd just graduated from nursing school.
Yes.
Sarah, do you realize that--
that we are--we are both...
both older now...
than Mother was when she died?
She loved the garden.
When we were children...
you believed that the whales changed the seasons.
l did?
Yes. Father told you...
that the whales caught the wind with their tails...
and brought it down from the Arctic.
And l believed him?
Yes! You did.
You know what would be nice?
What would be nice?
A big picture window here instead of these two.
l've always wanted one.
lt would be too expensive, Sarah.
Joshua said--
Well, of course, Joshua would want one.
He would make money from it.
Besides, Sarah, we're too old to be considering new things.
1, 2.
3, 4.
Yoo-hoo!
Hello, hello, hello!
Tisha.
Got myself a bit warm walking down here.
Where's your car?
Well, came blueberrying.
Oh, how wonderful.
Oh, go in, and l'll be right in.
Now, here.
l was picking berries...
all the way along the shore.
Saw Mr. Maranov down there.
Fishin'.
Yes. He's promised us some of his catch.
Where's the old war-horse?
Out on the porch.
Oh, good.
Then we can have a nice heart-to-heart.
You look peaked, dear.
Anything the matter?
Oh, l can tell.
What's that cantankerous sister of yours done now?
-Nothing. -Nothing?
Well, you got a touch of the collywobbles?
No.
Nope. lt's Libby for sure.
You know me too well.
Ya-uh.
50 years of crossing bridges together will do that.
Now, out with it.
She started talking about dying.
Dying?
That woman is as healthy as a horse.
l'm afraid it's her mind.
Failin', is it?
l could be imagining things.
Oh, phooey, Sarah Webber.
You were a nurse. You know what's happening.
Senility is what's happening.
Nonsense.
Sarah...
Libby was always a difficult woman...
even in the best of times.
Have you told Anna?
Well, l've been thinking for a long time...
you should ask Anna to take Libby.
She wouldn't.
Well, why not? She has plenty of money.
She'll see that her mother is well cared for.
Well, Sarah...
you know what Harry Truman said.
What?
''Well, if the buck is gonna be passed...
''it may as well be passed to somebody with plenty of 'em.''
He never said that.
Of course he didn't.
Smile, dear.
Sarah...
if you did do it, could you manage?
What do you mean, Tisha?
Well, money, dear.
You know, could you afford to keep this place?
Well, l've never thought.
Well, it's time you did.
Now...chances are...
things could be tight without Libby...
on what you've got.
But...
you can stay with me.
Oh, l couldn't burden you with my troubles.
Half of life is troubles, Sarah...
and the other half's gettin' over 'em.
What do you say?
Joshua!
Joshua, what are you doing?
l'm turning your water off!
Can't you tell that man to be quieter?
l've been trying for 50 years.
Morning, Libby.
Good morning, Tisha.
Joshua?
Stop that noise!
lt's the bathroom drains that leak.
lf l don't cut the main...
you'll be getting a damn sight more than leaks.
Why don't you come up for some tea?
Thank you. l believe l will.
Jesus, Lord above.
Takes me half the day to get in here...
and the other half to get out.
We've been waiting for you since June.
l guess we can wait another 10 minutes.
Goddamn crawlspace ain't gotten any bigger...
since l was here last.
Good morning, Joshua.
Well, hello, Mrs. Doughty.
And how are you, Mrs. Strong?
Better if you'd keep down that clatter.
l'll do my best, Mrs. Strong.
l'll do my very best.
Will you join us for tea, Libby?
No, think l'll wait...
till Mr. Brackett finishes his chores.
Joshua, you are incorrigible.
Ayuh. That, too.
How be ya, Mrs. Doughty?
Well, better if you'd keep down the clatter, Mr. Brackett.
She's a corker, that one.
Ayuh.
A right wicked caution.
Need any help, Sarah?
Been keeping busy, Joshua?
Busier than a goddamn bee, Mrs. Doughty.
There certainly are a lot of newcomers...
on the island these days.
Yes.
Yeah, too many, if you ask me.
These biscuits are rather dull.
Glory, l never seen so damn many people in all my life.
Or cars, for that matter.
Some of these summer people bring down two.
Lord knows why.
l don't even need one.
You can't walk more than a mile...
before you fall into the damned ocean.
Oh, Joshua.
Someone tells me you're seeing Myrtle Jackson again, Joshua.
Ayuh. When l can, when l can.
Well, you two make a lovely couple.
Well, you see, Myrtle's a lady, Mrs. Doughty...
and she don't go parading around like a living beach ball...
all squeezed into them Bermudey shorts.
Quit a job on a woman like that last week.
l left my tools right there.
Well, you went back for them, l hope.
Nope.
l got plenty of tools.
But l ain't got time for people like that.
People like that won't even spend the time of day with you.
They won't even offer you a cup of tea.
You know, them people are gonna be the ruination of this island.
What happened, Joshua?
That woman told me l was too slow, Mrs. Webber.
The idea!
So l told her she could get somebody else...
if she thought she could do better...
and l ain't been back.
-Good for you. -That'll show 'em.
Ayuh.
You know...
can't imagine what l'd do...
if l retired.
Well, of course you can't.
Or what would we do if you did?
Oh, l'd always do neighborly favors...
for you ladies, anyway.
You're a kind man, Joshua.
Some wouldn't agree.
Well, they just don't know you.
Won't, neither.
We're seeing the future, ladies.
Don't like it much.
A mighty nice cup of tea.
Best this end of the island.
Oh, Joshua Brackett, you are a flatterer.
Ayuh. That, too.
You know, a big picture window...
sure would look nice right there, Mrs. Webber.
l don't know, Joshua.
Libby says we're too old to be bothering about new things.
Oh, there's nothing wrong with new, Mrs. Webber...
if it makes something good better.
A-yuh.
Bye, ladies.
You know, he's right, Sarah.
The whales should be back.
l keep hoping we'll see them.
Well...
let's have a look.
We're just going down to the point, Libby.
To look for whales, no doubt.
Look out there, Sarah.
ls that a porpoise?
Well, l haven't seen any all summer.
Remember how many there were before the war?
Which war, dear?
Why, the war with Germany.
Oh, yes.
Well, l expect the submarines scared them all away.
Aw, you and your submarines.
But l saw them many times...
especially in '42.
Perhaps you saw too many.
Well, if you ask me, it's the Russians.
They've got the bomb, you know.
There's no tellin' what they're up to.
Remember that first summer we watched the whales together?
You kept grabbing the glasses.
Well, you were piggy with them.
Still are.
Do you suppose we still might find some ambergris?
Ambergris? Oh, my land, Sarah.
l haven't thought of our ambergris hunts in years.
We were going to make our fortune.
Yes. $10 an ounce that stuff was.
Yeah. Yep.
The new perfume queens.
Weren't we the pair?
Sarah!
You two are certainly carrying on.
Well, there's nothing like a good laugh, Libby.
-Let me help you. -Oh, thanks.
Libby Strong, you are looking younger every day.
-Pooh. -Here. Have some berries.
Thank you.
God, what a long walk for so few berries.
l swear there aren't so many as there used to be.
lt's the nuns.
The nuns, Libby?
Yes. They flock around our berry bushes...
like a bunch of penguins.
Well...
nuns are entitled to pick berries, too, you know.
Not on our land.
Oh, for pity's sake, Libby.
Girls...
l do have some sad news.
Out with it, Tisha.
Hilda Partridge passed away yesterday.
And now Mr. Maranov...
will have to find someplace else to live.
Who will be the next lucky person?
No idea.
l don't think he knows what's next, poor man.
But Hilda was so young!
Hilda was 83 if she was a day.
Well, l certainly am gonna miss Hilda.
She was a crackerjack bridge partner.
You will never guess who finally got a hearing aid.
-Who, dear? -Alice Truworthy.
A-yuh!
And now she's playing bridge like a champion.
l guess she never heard the bidding before.
Have you seen anything of Charlie Mayhew lately?
-You mean you haven't heard? -What?
He up and married that young waitress...
from the Abernathy house.
You don't say.
l do. Scandalous.
But not surprising.
The late Mrs. Mayhew could have taken a booby prize...
at any cattle show.
Libby, you and Fred Allen would have made a pair.
Still, Sally Mayhew's grave hardly has grass on it.
How is your arthritis, dear?
Oh, you know.
ln again, out again, gone again, Finnegan.
My young doctor says l can expect it...
if l'm determined to live so long.
Your young doctor needs a lesson in bedside manners.
He's so cute, Libby...
l could forgive him anything.
Girls, girls, girls...
Mr. Maranov is here.
Tisha, let him in, please.
Oh, Mr. Maranov.
Come in, come in.
Mrs. Doughty, what a surprise...
and even lovelier than before.
Two mentions in my will.
Come in, come in.
l, uh...
l'm afraid that these creatures...
may become odorous if l leave them.
Oh, Mr. Maranov, thank you.
Tisha, would you put them in the icebox?
Of course.
Thank you.
Won't you come and have a cup of tea?
Thank you, Mrs. Webber.
Thank you.
lt's Mr. Maranov, Libby.
lt's a pleasure to see you again, Mrs. Strong.
He's the only man left who bows.
lt is my nod to gentler times...
and present company.
Thank you. Won't you sit down?
Thank you.
Here we are.
-Cream or sugar? -No, thank you.
There.
Thank you, dear.
Thank you.
l'm so glad you came.
Oh, thank you, Mrs. Webber.
lt completes the pleasure of my morning--
successful fishing expedition...
and now refreshing company.
Having a party.
Don't move an inch, Mr. Maranov.
l already know you're a gentleman.
Well...
l'd stay, but l've got to go see...
what Mrs. Kinney wants me for.
Glory, that woman's got more problems...
than Mrs. Roosevelt's got causes.
Oh, Joshua.
You given any thought...
to that new picture window, Mrs. Webber?
We have thought about it, Mr. Brackett...
and the answer is no.
l can get you a nice price on the lumber right now.
Well, it is a pity, you know, about the window.
You could sit here and watch the moon coming up at night.
Just imagine dining in a flood of moonlight.
Ayuh. A right shame.
The moon is going to be full tonight.
Well, alas.
l shouldn't be able to see it from my window on the bay side.
Mr. Maranov.
Yes, Mrs. Webber?
lf you promise to clean those fish for me...
l promise you dinner and moonlight.
Oh, that is most kind of you, Mrs. Webber.
And l shall be happy to contribute...
my filleting technique to our dinner.
l will not eat any of those fish.
lt's the bones.
l've always been deadly afraid of fish bones.
Yes, they can be most troublesome, certainly.
Another cup of tea, Mr. Maranov?
Thank you, Mrs. Webber.
And please accept our condolences.
Let us not talk about sad things, my dear.
You still motoring, Mrs. Doughty?
l haven't seen you driving...
behind the wheel of your Model ''A'' lately.
Oh, yes, dear.
ls something the matter with your car?
Well, it's in the garage.
Has something happened, Tisha?
Well, it was no use talking to those people.
Not a word, not a word.
l left right away, l tell you.
l have been driving since 19 and 10...
and never had an accident.
Oh, well...
maybe a little bump...
when the examiner told me to back up.
But what's a little bump, l ask you?
Did you lose your license, Tisha?
A suspension, it was.
Then all is not lost, my dear.
Oh, yes.
They told me l could try again in 6 months.
Well...
well, 6 months.
Six months is a very long time.
lt's only a diversion, my dear.
Temporary change in your status.
Mrs. Doughty...
traffic will come to a full halt...
when you are seen by the roadside...
thumb extended...
mysterious, alluring, provocative.
Oh, Mr. Maranov...
you could make a bat laugh.
Oh, there's the noon whistle.
l'd best be off.
Your cottage is on my way home.
May l have the pleasure of escorting you?
Ayuh, my last cavalier.
Good day, Mrs. Strong.
Good day, Mr. Maranov.
Come down at 5:30, Mr. Maranov.
Thank you, Mrs. Webber.
l must have cooled off, sitting so long.
Well, another time, another place...
l would offer you my cape to warm you.
There's my Sir Walter again.
-Please, my dear. -Oh, no, Mr. Maranov.
Oh, but you must.
Oh, no, no.
-l couldn't. -But you must.
You must accept this last gesture...
of a doomed and ancient cavalier.
Oh, my dear.
Drape me, then.
Your arm?