Cookie's Fortune (1999)

Donald Moffat: Jack Palmer

Photos 

Quotes 

• [playing Scrabble in Willis's cell] 

  Willis Richland : "A-we". Triple word, that's it, I'm out.

  Lester Boyle : "A-we"? A-we? A-we is not a word!

  [He hits the table, upsetting the board and scattering letters everywhere] 

  Jack Palmer : AWE, Lester, "awe". From Old Norse, derived from the reconstructed Indo-European base "Agh!" A combination of fear, reverence, and wonder.

• Emma Duvall : So Jack, then tell me exactly how this happened.

  Jack Palmer : Well, old Donny, he was a good-looking hunk, but he was not much of a provider, to say the least. So, he and Cora moved in with Camille right after they were married, and Camille ended up taking care of both of them. I guess there were times that got pretty tight in that little house.

  Willis Richland : Boy, I bet that's right.

  Jack Palmer : Of course, nobody knows what happened behind those walls, not even me. But a few months later, old Donny just up and disappeared. And shortly thereafter, Cora and Camille leave town on an extended vacation. And when they got back, little Emma belonged to Cora.

  Emma Duvall : What do you mean "disappeared"? I was told that he went to Africa on a church mission and gave his life saving children during the famine.

  Jack Palmer : Well, not exactly what happened. He died all right, about four years later, somewhere down in Alabama, in a button factory accident.

  Emma Duvall : The button factory?

  Jack Palmer : Yep. Seems the hole-poker machine broke loose and fell on him. They said he had 273 holes in him before they could get it off him.

  Emma Duvall : Willis...?

  Willis Richland : Huh?

  Emma Duvall : What's wrong with all these people?