Blue Page #3

What in damnation was that for?

If we're in it, we're in it,

and we might as well see it through.

- He knows.

- He only suspects.

Nobody pays Jess any mind.

They can't forget.

Why should they?

I don't belong.

It can't work.

You do belong.

I guess I was brought out here...

about the time your kin

settled this spread.

What was it took them to Mexico?

What takes hold of most people

who keep on the move...

if that's the kind they be?

A place that sounds like it's the answer,

I guess.

My folks settled in Mexico when I was...

How old?

Five? Maybe six.

There was no trouble

with the Mexicans at first.

Of course, in those days

it was all one country, you know?

It was just their kind of people

and our kind of people...

living side by side.

Ranching, farming.

Till the war came.

The war with Texas, that is.

Then one night...

a group of nice people from the village

paid a call on us.

Said we'd have to clear out by morning.

My pa stood up to these nice people...

and he said to them:

"You'll have to burn me out to make me go."

So the next day, they did just that.

They burned him out.

Burned him...

and Ma when they wouldn't quit the house.

When it was over...

there was this smell...

and smoke.

And I just walked out of there.

Just walked...

walked right out to the prairie...

where another kind of Mexican...

a bandit named Ortega found me.

Then he took care of me...

brought me up

to be just like one of his own.

Let's go.

Jess here says

his sister's come down with the fever.

I'm gonna stay on a piece

and talk to Joanne.

Would you care to honour me

with your company?

Don't be too late.

We should be back in time for supper.

Come on, boy.

Now, there's a mighty fine piece

of farmland...

just waiting for someone

to lay claim to it.

He's one of them. I know it. You know it.

For you and your pa to hide him here

and try passing him off...

You've no proof of anything,

Jess Parker. Not a damn bit of proof.

I'll wager you and Doc

heard some sobbing tale out of him.

That's what I wager you heard.

I wager you two think

you can change him over...

just by snapping your fingers.

People do change, Jess. They can.

That's the wondrous thing about people.

They change.

Jess, what are you aiming to do?

I haven't said a word

you can honestly pin to him.

Please, Jess, leave him be.

I swear to you he's good.

- I swear to you that he's...

- Changed?

I wonder about that.

I really wonder about that.

And I maybe reckon to find out if it's so.

Jess, please, leave him be!

You comfortable squatting like that?

- You know how you're sitting, don't you?

- You tell me.

That's how a greaser sits.

You're sitting like a greaser.

- What is it you want?

- I don't like you.

- What's that gonna prove?

- What sort of person you really are.

- Which is what sort of person?

- One who ain't changed.

Don't prod me, boy.

Make sure she takes her quinine

and she'll be up in a day or two.

- Jess!

- No, Pa.

Are you gonna get yourself killed

for some crazy, damn fool notion?

Don't forget the quinine.

It has been a long time, Azul.

These people saved my life.

Permit me to thank you...

for saving the life of my son.

It will be good to have you back with us,

Azul, as before.

Things have changed. I have.

Azul is no more.

Then I have lost three sons here...

not two.

Azul was murdered...

as Antonio was...

and Manuel.

You did not save the life of Azul.

You took his life from him.

Why?

Leave him alone.

It's all right, Blue.

I can look after myself.

You?

You can look only after dirt because

that is what you are, nothing else.

And that is what she is: Dirt.

Yanqui dirt!

No, we do not kill him.

Not this way.

So finally it is you who defies me.

All right, defy me then, and with the fist.

Yours against mine.

I don't wanna fight.

Have they turned you into a coward...

as well as a traitor?

Fight me, I said.

Fight!

This business between us is not finished.

I will be back with all my men.

I will avenge the murders...

of Antonio, and Manuel...

and Azul.

And in their memory...

I will put the torch

to each building and farm here.

I will burn out the murderers of my sons!

Look, clear out.

Clear out while there's still time.

Waiting around to be slaughtered,

it's stupid.

I don't see we have any choice but to wait.

There's only one choice

that makes any sense...

and that's to live and go on living,

and not to die.

I can't say I disagree with you.

But where do you want to do your living?

Don't you feel you belong here now?

Maybe I do, maybe I don't.

But I'm tired of hearing, thinking...

worrying about where I truly belong.

Whether I'm one of you, or one of them,

or one of anybody.

Maybe I just belong to me.

No, Pa. Let him go.

What do we know about fighting?

I'm a farmer and so is my son.

You're asking me what should be done?

I just don't know.

But to my way of thinking...

we'd all stand a better chance of it

by sticking together...

instead of each one of us

trying to make it alone.

That the only choices we got, Abe?

Why wait to see them set fire

to our crops and houses?

I'll be damned if I leave my claim

to some greaser to burn down!

I came out here alone,

and I fought Indians alone!

- I'm with Jim!

- You ain't fighting a few Indians!

Those Mexicans are like an organised army.

Some of us once fought

a real, organised Mexican army.

- You're no match for it.

- Abe's right! Let's get out!

- Maybe we should get out.

- If Abe goes, he goes without me!

I'll tell you one thing.

My husband never would've given up.

Maybe he should have.

Then he'd still be alive!

Hold on!

Quarrelling is not gonna get us nowhere.

We need to find a way to stand up to them!

I still say we should be back home

defending our farms...

instead of heading down to the river.

You argued that back at the meeting,

and then we all agreed to go his way.

Agreed, hell.

You all agreed, but I'm still asking.

Why is he heading us down to the river?

Did you hear him talking

as if he was the Lord Almighty himself?

"I'll lead you if you do what I tell you to...

"when I tell you to, and how I tell you to."

Why are we trusting him?

He could be leading us into a trap.

And he could have killed my boy Jess

when he had cause.

No, Alma. I say we trust him.

Who called a halt?

I thought we could use a minute's breather.

It wasn't called.

- The heat.

- A breather's not gonna hurt anyone.

You'll do your breathing

when I tell you to. Now move on.

You, too! Move on!

Take them wagons back to the canyon

and hide them.

Most of you, stay here.

The others, cross over.

Jess, take the men across.

Start digging holes.

Dig them deep and brush them over.

All right, get those tools and follow me!

We start doing the same on this side.

Women, too.

BLACK POWDER:

Cover it.

When you light them,

how quick will they fire?

Come on, fellas.

You're in your own line of fire.

Fill them in and start over. Up there.

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