Dances with Wolves Page #18

KICKING BIRD:

I cannot make the white man talk.

Loo ten tant does not know Sioux.

Kicking Bird waits. Still she does not raise her head.

KICKING BIRD:

You have a certain medicine which no

other Sioux -- man or woman -- has.

STANDS WITH A FIST

It has been a long time since I made

the talk.

KICKING BIRD:

I do not ask this for myself... I

ask this for all our people.

STANDS WITH A FIST

It's dead in me.

KICKING BIRD:

I want you to try and remember the

the word.

STANDS WITH A FIST

I don't know how.

KICKING BIRD:

You don't want to know.

This outburst shocks Stands With A Fist, she runs out of the

lodge.

EXT. KICKING BIRD'S LODGE - DAY

Stands With A Fist rushes past BLACK SHAWL, her face covered

with tears. Now Kicking Bird comes out. Black Shawl looks at

Kicking Bird, his face is not happy.

BLACK SHAWL:

Will she make the white words?

KICKING BIRD:

Perhaps I am asking too much.

EXT. RIVER - DAY

Stands With A Fist is tearing through the thick willows

growing alongside the river. She's crying her heart out.

EXT. RIVER - DAY

The big cry is over, but Stands With A Fist is still sniffling

as she emerges on a little patch of beach-next to the river.

She sits herself down under a cottonwood and looks hollowly

at the surface of the water in front of her.

Somewhere in the distance is the sound of many drums, with a

sigh she drops her head.

Then, as if shocked by some unseen force, her eyes spring

open. Wide and unblinking, her eyes stare deeply into space.

Someone is calling. The voice is so faint at first that the

word can't be heard. But the calling grows and suddenly the

word is upon her.

VOICE:

Christine...

EXT. PRAIRIE - DAY (FLASHBACK)

A little girl of seven, CHRISTINE, is lying in the grass of

a sod roof. Next to her is ten year-old WILLIE. They are

planning their wedding and staring up at the sky.

Like many youngsters she's not eager to heed the persistent

call of her mother.

MOTHER (O.S.)

Christine... where are you?

Reluctantly, the little girl gets up and looks over the edge

of the roof to see her mother holding yet another child. She

seems anxious.

CHRISTINE:

I'm right here mother...

MOTHER:

Get inside both of you.

CHRISTINE:

Why?

MOTHER:

Just do what I... oh God! Stay where

you are. Keep down do you hear me?

FOUR PAWNEE are riding up in the background. TWO MEN are

moving out to meet them.

CHRISTINE:

Who is it Willie?

Willie is peeking over the edge of the roof. An old muzzle-

loading rifle is by his side. He whispers to her.

WILLIE:

They look like Pawnee... my father

and your father are talking to them.

Down in the yard, out beyond a rough table set with the

leavings of a Sunday dinner, two white men on foot are talking

to the four mounted Pawnee warriors.

It's an argument. As a baby cries somewhere inside the house

the two white men sign the Indians to go away. The Pawnee

make no move to go however, and with their patience at an

end, the two white men turn back to the house.

One of the warriors brings his hatchet down and nails a white

man between the shoulder blades. The injured man grunts and

hops sideways. The other runs for the house but is cut down

by arrows.

Women begin to scream.

Willie is scooting down the roof, his face white with fear.

WILLIE:

Run Christine...

CHRISTINE:

Why?

WILLIE:

Just run!

He gives her a hard shove which sends her rolling down the

roof.

WILLIE:

Run!

Christine runs past the point where the roof meets the natural

hillside and down into the draw. She's running toward us. In

the background we can see Willie on the edge of the roof,

aiming his squirrel gun into the yard. He fires once, then

grasping the gun like a club, he leaps off the roof and

disappears.

Christine never looks back. She runs up the draw as fast as

her skinny young legs can carry her.

EXT. HOLE - NIGHT (FLASHBACK)

The moon is up. Christine is feebly clawing at the ground,

trying to pry herself out of a tiny hole. She gives up. Then,

from the burrow's dark entrance comes the thin, cracking

voice of a little girl.

CHRISTINE:

Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray

the lord my soul to keep. If I die

before I wake, I pray the lord my

soul to take.

EXT. RIVER - DAY

Stands With A Fist is still in shock. The drumming in the

village is very loud now. She rises unsteadily to her feet

and starts back to camp.

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