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“Can You Pick Me Up?”

Creator:
Published:
December 18, 2023
November 13, 2023
An image of a man standing in a mountain landscape, pointing at the sky.

After graduation, John O'Connor made the bold decision to move out to Colorado to work on a farm.

Producer Jane: This is my brother, John. He asked if I would help him drive back from his job in Colorado over a thousand miles away. I said, "Sure."

John O'Connor: You want to see me climb that thing?

Jane: Yeah, sure.

John: For fun. You know? Something to do.

Jane: Be careful. I don't want you dying.

John: I won't. Oh my gosh. Looking down is the worst part. It's a good shot. You should get up here.

Jane: You can come down.

John: So, I just graduated from college a few months ago. I studied math and philosophy. This opportunity came up to work out in a farm in the Rockies, and I decided that, I don't know, do something different. 

(John fixes wire fence) I need some fence. You learn a lot about hard work out here. It's definitely been good for me. You can cut it to make it seem like I did a lot faster, right?

Jane: Yeah.

John: Oh man. I wanted to quit because it was getting... It's kind of lonely out here. There's only like 900 people in the nearest town and my family's all a thousand miles away. I didn't realize how much I'd miss them when I took this job. This is the grape graveyard. Call it the grapeyard. This one's a lot harder. Oh, it's really warm, kind of gross.

(John feeds turkeys)

Jane: Stop throwing it near me.

John: He's on top. Get off. Oh my gosh. Look at this one. This one's ugly as hell.

(John loads up car with boxes)

Jane: All right, where are we headed now?

John: Headed to go see Vern, my only friend in town. He's my 90-year-old neighbor, so I thought it'd be good to say bye before I headed out.

Jane, talking to Vern about his model train track: How long have you been working on this?

Vern: How long? I don't know. About 20 years. It is lonely here. I'm getting better all the time. You're young. You're ambitious. You haven't figured out, I don't think, exactly what you really want to end up doing in the end. You've got to do what you want to do in life.

John: Definitely.

Vern: Not what somebody else wants you to do.

(Footage plays from John and Jane’s drive home through the mountains)

John: Family relationships are definitely hard. When you're younger, you fight with your siblings and whatnot, and I would fight with my parents a lot too because I was a little bitch. When you get older, more mature, things sort of cool down and I don't know. It's easier. They're the people who understand you best and you understand them best. I feel like things make more sense when you're around them.

[Siri]: Turn right into the parking lot.

John: She will not lead us astray.

[Siri]: You've entered the parking lot for your destination.

(John and Jane arrive at a Cracker Barrel restaurant)

John: Yes, we have.

Creators:
Grotto
Published:
December 18, 2023
November 13, 2023
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