Christina walks towards the stables And talks to Joey as she prepares the harness. "How are you today, Joey? I don't know much about life, boy, but I do know that there are big days and there are small days. And most days are small days, and, well, they don't matter much to anyone - but this -well, this is a big one. This is our big day. Well, it's cold out there. So I'm going to take this off -" Christina takes off her dark green coat and hooks it up. "Well, if it's tough for you - it should be tough for me, too..." She is left in just a loose-fitting white shirt and black pants. "Now, I'm gonna teach you how to plow and you're gonna learn. Is that understood? And then we can be together, which is how I believe things are meant to be."
Joey instinctively balks, but Christina is stern with him. "Boy. Steady, boy. Here we go. Here we go." As she approaches Joey with the harness, Harold the goose enters the stable to watch. Christina approaches gently and slowly puts the harness over her own neck and shoulders to demonstrate - "Easy, easy... Look at me, Joey. See? See? You've just gotta put your nose through."
there is a moment between them, shown in the eyes about their relationship. The horse looks in Christina's sparkling green eyes, then yields. Christina comforts him and show there is nothing to fear. Finally she gets the harness in place. "That's it. See? You've got it. You've got it. Good boy. There..." Harold honks his approval, Christina turns her head and giggles.
She leads Joey out across the yard, through the broken gate and she gives Joey to Albert.
It is a grey day as they walk across the plowed fields towards the huge lower field. They come to a rusty, primitive plow left in the grass. Albert looks around the field - it is overgrown, it seems to go on forever - even if Joey was a plow horse this would be a heavy task. From the side Christina is seeing watching them with a hopeful look filling her face.
Si Easton and Andrew stroll up the road to watch. "Too large, too rocky, matted with grass roots. Even a sturdy plow horse'd never manage it alone." Si told his son.
"Yet he will, I say."
"You'd swear he'd sprout wings and fly if Albert had told you so." The Si starts smiling at his son "It's a fine thing, loyal to your mate. Even if he is a bit barmy. A team of two might manage, given a month and good weather." They're interrupted by the honk of a horn as Lyons and David pull up in a car. Lyons and David get out. Their driver remains inside.
"Ted too squeamish to watch, is he?" Lyons asked with a slight smirk.
"`Course he's watching." Si nods in the direction of the house.
Albert steadies Joey and starts to tie on the heavy plow. It just seems too big and bulky for Joey's sleek frame. Albert sets Joey right and fixes the plow. "That's it Joey."Christina whispered from her spot "that's a good boy.£
Lyons, David, Si, and Andrew walk towards Ted, who looks on anxiously from a nearby hedgerow. Lyons gestures at David to stay back and walks over to Ted alone. He stands beside him and begins to talk gently. "Well, you've raised him up a true Narracott, Ted, picture of his father, he is: not a dollop of ordinary sense but that thick stubbornness that'll lead him to insist on the impossible." Down in the field, Albert continues to prep the plow. "Wasn't a farmer in Devon didn't admire you, myself among `em, leaving your brothers that fine farm and setting yourself at this stoney patch of unpromising ground. You've fettle enough for twenty men, but with a gimpy leg and the drinking - for the pain, isn't it, that you drink? - yeah, none of us could have anticipated an ending better than this. Makes me question the wisdom of the charity that urged me to rent you this place, not only looking at you, me old pal, but that pretty little wife of yours, thought you were a spark, she did."
Ted hasn't acknowledged Lyons for a second; he's never taken his eyes off Albert. He simply stands and walks away as Lyons concludes "And now your son's sinking into the selfsame bog that's swallowing you."
Albert has been meticulously preparing everything, positioning Joey, checking the tethers, digging the rusty plow in the earth. He takes his position behind the plow, throwing the rear leather harness over his own neck. "See Joey - I got the collar, too!" Christina smiled upon hearing that and rolled her eyes but it was soon lost. Albert gently snaps the reins. Joey doesn't move, confused by the whole affair. "Come on, boy. Walk on. That's it. Walk on! Walk on, Joey. Come on, boy, walk on."
"You'd be better off startin' at the top of the hill and goin' down! Gravity's the only friend you're gonna have today, young lad." Lyons called to Albert but Albert ignored him
"Walk on, Joey! Walk on! Come on, Joey, walk on. Walk on, boy." Ted, standing alone by the fence, only looks at Albert. "Walk on. Come on, walk on."
"It'll take the whip to move him." Ted whispered to himself. Christina who had heard that, glared at him then turned to Albert and Joey.
Just as Ted is saying this, Albert, as if hearing his father, takes a breath and then abruptly produces a whip. Joey's ears prick up. Albert, grimly determined, snaps the whip at Joey. Joey panics and bolts. The plow spins to its side, pulls Albert off his feet. Joey drags them all the way to the top of the hill, right by the farmhouse.
Lyons, yelling, starts laughing and can't stop. "Bravo! You've reached the top of the hill! Off you go again, boy! You'll make even better time comin' down!" He continues past Ted, laughing.
Townsfolk begin arriving, climbing the hill to the lower field.
Ted looks down, ashamed. While Christina looks at Albert, mortified, bruised, setting the plow right again.
Later
Albert has made no progress. Joey is moving, but only in a useless circle. "Good boy. Good lad. Good lad. Now walk on. Good boy." Albert kept muttered
More townsfolk clamor to the fence. Andrew calls out. "Albie, we're all with ya!"
Albert tries to encourage him forward but Joey still isn't pulling sufficiently. The plow skips uselessly over the surface stones.
"Look look look! The plow hasn't even cut yet!" Lyons called out to the crowd
As Albert struggles with the plow, he sees Ted walking up the hill behind the spectators. He doesn't even turn to his son. Joey strains as Albert pushes with all his might. there is a sense the strain on the horse and the inappropriateness of the task. But Joey perseveres. The plow limps along. "Do you know - I believe we can do it, Joey. I knew when I first saw you that you'd be the best of us. That's why he bought you. He knows you've all the courage he never had. I knew when I first saw you that you'd be the one who'd save us."
The plow skips and Albert falls. Joey's legs buckle and he goes to his knees. Christina gasps and goes to run to them but her arm was caught by Andrew . She watches as Albert rushes to Joey's side. "Whoa. Whoa."
Lyons calls from the crowd as rain starts to fall. "You've got no chance, lad. He'll not turn over half an acre. Give it up now. You've done well. You've tried hard. You're more of a man than your father."
Albert examines the collar - he sees it is ripping into Joey's flesh. He grabs his shirt, tears a piece off it, tenderly folds it and puts it between Joey's shoulder and the collar.
"Come on now, Mr. Lyons, that's a bit rough, isn't it?" Si asked
"Well, he'll destroy that horse." Lyons answered with a shrug. The crowd's beginning to disperse. One of Lyons' cronies holds his umbrella as he returns to his car. He passes Ted. "I'll be over Thursday. Give you a day to close it up."
Mrs. Narracott emerges from the house and heads to the fence - holding her knitting in the rain, ignoring the leaving crowds. A Sympathetic Neighbor hands her "Your wool. I'm sorry, Rosie."
Lyons passes behind her, almost speaks, but then thinks better of it.
As the rain intensifies, Albert digs his toe into the wet soil and notices how it has softened. The now very wet Christina smirks with an idea in her head now that the ground was wet. she moved her wet hair from her face when the same idea flashes through Albert's mind. He leaps into action, runs through the rain to shout at Joey. "Now, boy! You've got to do it, Joey. You don't know, so I'm gonna have to do the knowing for you when the rest of our lives depend on this! So get set to pull - and pull straight! And pull hard!" He races back to the plow and sets himself. "Now, boy! Go!" Joey pulls firmly and finally the inertia is broken - the rain has softened the earth. "Walk on, Joey! Walk on! That's it! Good boy, Joey! Good boy!"
Finally, the plow bites deep into the soil. "Walk on! Walk on! Walk on! Walk on, Joey!" Andrew and Christina cheered.
Albert notices a large rock in their path. Andrew sees it, too. "Go around it!" He yelled
"Whoa, Joey! Whoa, Joey! Joey! Joey, whoa whoa whoa! Joey, stop! You'll break the blade -" Albert hauls back on the reins, but Joey throws his flanks forward, straining and lurching until the plow blade splits the rock completely in half and now the plow moves more easily through the wet ground. Christina's eyes widened and she laughed with disbelief for a short while.
The ground yields. Soon Albert and Joey are making great progress. The wet earth slipping open beneath them.
Andrew is loving it, speaks in wonder. "Will you look at you?"
Mrs. Narracott looks very happy, a smile breaking slowly across her face...
The crowd begins to return. Lyons notices and looks out from his car - sees the plow digging through the field. Annoyed at the progress Albert's making, he gets out of his car and walks over to Mrs. Narracott. With great disdain he says "I'd not let a child of mine slip in the mud alongside a plow blade. He could lose a foot!"
Mrs. Narracott brandishes her knitting needles, backing him up. "You'll likelier lose an eye, Mr. Lyons, if you carry on prating at me how to manage my son! Or my plow, or my horse, or my field, or my farm!" Christina smirked while walking up to her mother.
Lyons stares at her, gape-mouthed, as she turns her attention back to Albert. Christina put her arm around her mother as Rosie shouted. "Come on, Albie! Push on through!" The two women smile at each other and cheer together.
The rain becomes torrential. Lyons turns towards the car - gestures, frustrated, to his driver, who runs forward with the umbrella to shield his boss from the rain. David remains on the running board, watching Albert plowing.
The plow speeds through the earth. The boy and the horse are working as one. It is a moment of triumph.
"Get it done, Albie! Get it done!" Andrew cheered.
As Lyons' car passes, Ted steps forward, takes in the scene, and almost smiles.