ReadWest

by Elmer Kelton

  SIS (CONT'D)

  Ma hushed crying just before I left the room. She'll be all right.

  TODD

  You both will. You're plenty tough.

  (turning to her)

  And I'll come home to y'all.., Sister, however long I'm gone.

  SIS

  You will, Brother. I'll pray you home.

  They grab each other then and stand in tight embrace, her head pressed in the hollow of his neck. After a long moment he gently begins to disengage from her, ending with a long kiss on her temple. Sis draws near again and plants a hard kiss on his cheek, then squeezes his hand tight and kisses it too, as they draw apart finally. Todd swings quickly into the saddle.

  SIS (CONT'D)

  Yes, we'll be here when you come back, Brother. Yes, and it'll be time then to settle scores. Keep that in your heart for Pap's sake.

  Todd grips the saddle horn and stares down at his clenched fist.

  SIS (CONT'D)

  (hissing out each name)

  Ticknor, Dexter, Scanlon, old Dan Montague... All the hellhounds that murdered Pap!

  TODD

  Yes, a day of reckoning's on the way. And I don't mean the Last Judgment.

  Todd pauses, then bends toward Sis to speak fiercely.

  TODD (CONT'D)

  It ain't only the men, Sis. It's the whole town. I mean to put a torch to all of Milcourt. Starting with that infernal courthouse.

  Todd rides away. Sis watches him out of sight over the shadowy, snow-lightened ground.

  EXT. ROAD TO MILCOURT - NIGHT

  Todd has gone a little way up the road. He now stops to get his bearings on how to cut through the timber to come out near the Grantley cave. Suddenly he is alert, hearing HOOVES ON THE ROAD. He swerves quickly into cover and waits. In a view along the road we see a shadowy rider approaching. We recognize him about the time Todd does. It is Cabus, as usual riding his mule.

  TODD (CONT'D)

  Cabus? It's me. Todd. You can put that razor away.

  Cabus had whipped out his weapon. He slips it back in its place and rides over to Todd.

  CABUS

  Lawd! You scared the possum piss out'a me!

  TODD

  Couldn't help it, Cabus. I had to get your attention.

  CABUS

  Sho'. Listen, now. Miss Jenny she sent me. She say tell you they's after you.

  TODD

  I figured that. They're not on the way out here tonight, I hope.

  CABUS

  Not as I know of. But tomorrow mawnin for sho'.

  TODD

  By then I'll be...

  He stops, thinking hard.

  CABUS

  Say whut?

  TODD

  Where's Jenny? Still at Ticknor's?

  CABUS

  If you thinking whut it look like you is...

  TODD

  I might could see her. I just might.

  CABUS

  Lawsy Godamighty! You gonna get youself caught'n hung, dat's all!

  TODD

  Where'll she be tomorrow?

  CABUS

  Uh...Well, the kunnel he let her come to town to help Miss Jane. They plans to go out to the Wharton place tomorrow for some mo of Miss Jane's belongings. But now three or fo' them militia mens goin too.

  TODD

  Listen, you tell her to think up a way to stay out there tomorrow night.

  CABUS

  (shaking his head)

  Man!

  TODD

  You tell her that now. You hear!

  CABUS

  Awright!! Awright! It's yo' neck!

  EXT. WHARTON FARMHOUSE - NIGHT

  Jenny sits in the porch swing, a robe over her nightgown. The weather has cleared. It is only chilly now, with a gusty north wind. The big pecan tree sighs and hisses more than

  ever. Todd has left Comanche in the brush and crept very

  close. When he says softly "Jenny," she starts. In a second he is on the porch and they are in each other's arms.

  JENNY

  (whispering in

  Todd's ear)

  The militiamen are camped down by the barn. We have to get upstairs out'a sight fast. Jane'll keep watch.

  INT. WHARTON FARMHOUSE, BEDROOM

  Once inside the bedroom door, they stop. Todd strips off his own clothes in a near frenzy, while Jenny slips out of her robe and stands in her nightgown. Todd sweeps her into his arms and carries her to the bed. Once in, he gently removes the gown. They make love. This act should be free and passionate, but through the suggestion that goes with a little naked flesh. Let them not eat each other alive, in the current film fashion. Now and again we hear the wind in the tree. Dead leaves flying sometimes strike a window.

  INT. BEDROOM - JUST BEFORE DAWN

  Todd and Jenny are wrapped in each other's arms side by side, very still, until Todd says softly:

  TODD

  Jenny...

  JENNY

  Yes...

  TODD

  We know I have to leave the country. As for what lays ahead... I love you, my precious

  Jenny. The day I come back, we'll get married. Oh, how I wish we could right now, before I go.

  JENNY

  Before God we're already married. My husband! My Todd!

  TODD

  Yes, we are. I'll remember that every minute I'm gone. It may be a year. Maybe more. But I'll come home. Keep your hope strong, because I'll never fail you.

  JENNY

  I know you won't. No matter how long before we see each other again.

  They go into passionate embrace again--for their final love-making of the night.

  INT/EXT. WHARTON FARMHOUSE AND YARD. FIRST DAWN

  After a last long kiss in the doorway, Todd slips out onto the porch and down the steps. An upsurge of glow in the east dims the flashing morning star. The last we see of Jenny, she is standing dimly framed in the doorway, her hands crossed on her breast.

  EXT. WOODS NEAR WHARTON FARM - FULL DAWN

  We hear a SOFT WHINNY. Todd follows it to Comanche, pets him, mounts. They pick their way quietly through the timber.

  EXT. BANKS OF RED RIVER - JUST AFTER SUNRISE

  Todd stands looking at the river in surprise. It is flooded, not a raging torrent but yet a high and swift current.

  TODD

  (to Comanche)

  We would run into this, wouldn't we? That storm shore dropped a lot of water somewhere upstream.

  Todd now goes about preparing to cross. First, he spreads his slicker on the ground and kneels resting back on his heels, then starts arranging his goods on it so that with

  his lariat he can make a watertight bundle. Coming to the bag containing the Spencer ammunition, he stops, holds it up.

  TODD (CONT'D)

  This has to last me all the way to Fort Gibson. Plenty for shooting game, but if I hit real trouble--. I wonder how many rounds I got left.

  On a corner of the slicker he pours out all the cartridges in the bag. He pulls the spring-loaded tube from the stock and lets the cartridges from the magazine pour out onto the slicker. Then, absorbed as in a game, he begins counting the cartridges into a neat pile. A toss of Comanche's head alerts him. But not in time. He looks up to see Harley Dexter standing a few feet away, covering him with his rifle.

  DEXTER

  (with a twisted sneer)

  Well! If it ain't little Todd Blair ajacking off on his play-purties!

  Todd freezes with cartridges in both hands. The Spencer lies beside him on the spread-out slicker. A deadly stillness now.

  DEXTER (CONT'D)

  The rest of the bunch give up looking. Decided you was plumb

  gone. But I knowed better.

  Plainly Dexter means to taunt his victim. He eyes the Spencer.

  DEXTER (CONT'D)

  I've heerd about that Yankee shitpipe. Now who'd have a Yankee

  gun only a God-damn spy! And it's gonna get you hung from the same limb as your ole daddy was.

&n
bsp; TODD

  It ain't no shit-pipe. It's plumb accurate. It's fast handling too.

  DEXTER

  (guffawing)

  If'n it's loaded, that is!

  Todd looks at the Spencer longingly, which adds to Dexter's merriment. Then, with a sudden thought:

  DEXTER (CONT'D)

  Hold on! I'll tell you what. Let's give you a chance not to be hung. Fast handling, you say. I bet it

  ain't no match for Old Chief here. Stand up!

  Todd does so, slowly, calmly.

  DEXTER (CONT'D)

  Now fill up that magazine.

  Todd looks surprised but obeys, with steady hands.

  DEXTER (CONT'D)

  Now pick up that gun and come right over here.

  He walks to a young tree nearby, motioning Todd to follow.

  DEXTER (CONT'D)

  Now hold that tube in your right hand and the gun in your left'un. Kinda fur apart.

  Todd complies.

  DEXTER (CONT'D)

  Now here's what we'll do. I'll uncock Old Chief and lean him again this tree. When I say 'Go!' you ram that tube in and work the lever. I have to pick up Old Chief, cock, aim and fire...

  TODD

  (deliberately screeching like a kid who's been outsmarted)

  Why, that ain't fair! I'll have to make more moves than you do!

  DEXTER

  (snickering)

  It's a better gamble than a son-of-a-bitching traitor deserves. So get ready!

  While Todd stands as if paralyzed for a moment, Dexter cannot help throwing out a last insult.

  DEXTER (CONT'D)

  You won't never lay eyes on no fucking Yankees. Yo' ass is gonna be buzzard vittles.

  Dexter lets the hammer down on his gun and leans it against the tree. Todd stands poised with his rifle in his left hand, the magazine tube in his right. Both men tense up.

  DEXTER (CONT'D)

  Go!

  What Dexter is not aware of--knowing less about the Spencer than he bragged he did--is that Todd left a cartridge in the chamber with the hammer let down. As Dexter reaches for Old Chief, cocking it while he swings it up, Todd drops the magazine tube, lifts and cocks the Spencer and fires. Dexter realizes in the last instant that he was mortally wrong.

  But he is truly fast. He gets his shot off. The bullet nicks the lobe of Todd's ear and takes a plug out of the pommel of his saddle. Comanche does not move a muscle. Dexter falls

  heavily, dead still. With a tiny trickle of blood down his neck, Todd sinks to his knees shaking like a leaf. He has difficulty pulling out a handkerchief to stanch his wound. After a moment he calms down some and looks at Comanche with a tight grin.

  TODD

  Wasn't smart enough to figure on that'un in the chamber, was he, ole hoss?

  He stands now and hesitates only a moment in deciding what to do with Dexter's body. He drags it a little way to a cutbank

  and rolls it off into the river. The roiling current catches it and carries it away. Next he picks up Dexter's rifle and hurls it far out into the river.

  TODD

  (shouting into cupped

  hands downriver)

  I'll send you some comp'ny, Harley! Once I cross this river coming back.

  EXT, RIVER BANK

  Todd has by now wrapped all his goods, including the Spencer, in one tight roll and lashed it on top of the saddle. He fastens a piece of lariat to Comanche's bridle to control him from a few feet away. He gazes at the swollen river with dread, then looks at Comanche again and says:

  TODD (CONT'D)

  We gotta make a stab at it, ole hoss, want to or not. So let's go.

  For a moment Comanche shies back from the stream, but after a little coaxing from Todd, he steps off into the current. Todd enters the water behind him, holding to his tail and the guide rope. Comanche begins to swim for all he is worth, and Todd too with his legs. They are carried a ways downstream then struggle ashore.

  EXT, RIVER BANK, INDIAN TERRITORY

  Todd stands shivering, his goods repacked and repositioned, now rechecking the Spencer and sliding it into its scabbard. Then he mounts, turns Comanche's head north, bends over to his ear and shouts.

  TODD

  Yee ha!

  Comanche tears out north as if he'd kicked the earth out from under him. We watch them diminish and disappear over a distant ridge.

  FADE TO

  EXT. RIVER BANK, INDIAN TERRITORY (1865) - DAY

  The same scene Todd rode away into in the fall of 1862, at first empty, but in a moment we see FIVE HORSEMEN coming from the north toward us over the horizon. SUPERIMPOSED on this scene first is the phrase:

  APRIL 1865

  DISSOLVING INTO THE PHRASE:

  A UNION TROOP SCOUTING FOR AN INVASION OF TEXAS

  As the horsemen approach we see Todd among them, in the uniform of a Union corporal, still riding Comanche.

  EXT. NORTH RIVER BANK

  The party reaches the river brakes and veers into them. They dismount and creep to the water's edge to study the Texas bank. They all lie prone with rifles ready. Todd still has the Spencer. Their LEADER, a SERGEANT, scans the territory with a spyglass.

  EXT. THE OLDHAM-TICKNOR WAGON ROAD

  SEVEN HORSEMEN riding single file come toward us along the Texas bank, headed west. Some are still in Confederate uniform, some in rough frontier clothing. They laugh and talk. One of them--a jolly man--shouts for all to hear:

  JOLLY SOLDIER

  Listen, y'all! This feller comes afogging through camp ayelling, "General Lee done surrendered. The war's over." So I hollers back, "Why, you're the sonofabitch I been looking for fer four years!"

  The others laugh and whoop, AD LIB: 'It's over! Going home!' and the like.

  EXT. NORTH RIVER BANK

  The Union scouts hear some of the words. They look at each other incredulous. The sergeant lays aside the spy glass, stands up and shouts across through cupped hands.

  SERGEANT

  Hey, you fellers!

  EXT. SOUTH RIVER BANK

  The horsemen stop and look across, surprised and curious but making no move for their weapons.

  JOLLY SOLDIER

  Hey yourself! Whatta you want?

  SERGEANT

  You say the war's over?

  JOLLY SOLDIER

  Shore as hell is! General Lee done went and caved in!

  SERGEANT

  We're Union soldiers. You got any grudge again us?

  JOLLY SOLDIER

  (with a chorus of

  assent from the others)

  (CONT'D)

  Nary a damn' bit! Come on over.

  SERGEANT

  We shore nuff will! Just let us

  get our horses.

  EXT. RIVER AS SEEN FROM SOUTH BANK

  The men on the south bank dismount to watch while the scouts slowly ford the river. They arrive and dismount. All the men are quiet, looking each other over. They cannot quite believe this is happening. Todd faces the jolly soldier, who is still in Confederate uniform. He becomes grave, as Todd is. Todd reaches out to him. They are the first to shake hands. All the others follow suit, laughing, determined but embarrassed.

  JOLLY SOLDIER

  You boys et lately?

  SERGEANT

  Fact is, we ain't. How about y'all?

  JOLLY SOLDIER

  Us neither. We got some...uh,

  Confederate rations.

  SERGEANT

  Well, we got some Union stuff. What say we put 'em all together?

  JOLLY SOLDIER

  Suits us. Y'all got any coffee?

  SERGEANT

  Why yes, we do!

  A chorus of whooping, laughing, voices of Confederates AD LIB: "Coffee!" "Real coffee!" DOLLY BACK as ANGLE WIDENS to show the men busy bringing rations out of saddle bags and packrolls. One of them is building a fire. Much joviality

  with an air of gladly communing together. The Union sergeant holds aloft a small bag of coffee while the Confederatesr />
  cheer.

  EXT. RIVER BRAKES - DAY

  Todd is riding through the brakes just entering the glad where he and Jenny first made love. He draws rein and gazes around: at the carpet of spring grass under the cottonwood

  tree of wondrous memory; up into the tree also. In a few moments he takes the handkerchief Jenny gave him out of his pocket, clutches it in his hand and rides on.

  EXT. TICKNOR PLANTATION - DAY

  Todd rides across the grounds and up to the edge of the front porch, dismounts and stands with eyes searching the apparently deserted house, the handkerchief wrapped tight around his fist.

  TODD

  (voice echoing through house)

  Hello!... Anybody home?

  (after a pause)

  Jenny!... Jenny!

  CABUS (V.O.)

  (from behind the house)

  Hold on! I'se coming.

  Cabus appears around a corner of the house, halts in disbelief.

  CABUS (CONT'D)

  Todd! Is that you? Is that sho' nuff you?

  TODD

  In the flesh, Cabus. In the flesh.

  Todd goes toward Cabus with right hand outstretched. Cabus comes to meet him. They grip right hands in a powerful shake. Then each man adds the left hand to the grip. They stand thus in clenched handshake, unable for a moment to speak.