Dead Man's Burden

---

(Silence)

(Noise)

(Horse Galloping)

(Noise)

(Gunshot)

(Horse Neighing)

(Noise)

(Gunshot)

(Footsteps)

(Music)

(Noise)

(Gunshots)

(Noise)

This must be the

saddle bum

they damn ran off our deer.

Well, we'll be.

You do that?

You run off our deer?

Only deer that's been

through here passed that way,

about an hour ago, I reckon?

You calling me a damn liar?

(Noise)

Ain't one to judge a man

before I've had a chance

to meet him.

Wade McCurry.

(Noise)

Archie Ainsworth.

He ain't apologized

for the deer.

That there's my brother

Ben, we're out of Georgia.

(Noise)

Where do you hail from, Wade?

Cheyenne.

Before that?

Texas originally.

Pleasure is all mine.

And you reckon your brother

might lower his sidearm?

Ain't going to shoot a

fellow Southerner, are you Ben?

(Noise & Music)

Hood's Texans, you

know at the sight of them,

them damn Yankees just throw

down their guns,

run like a wind.

You should have seen

them at CHeckamauga.

Yellow-belied cowards,

the whole damn lot.

Running don't

make a man of coward.

Who do you serve under?

Was it Hood?

What you all boys doing now?

We're heading west.

I heard there's a strike--

Shut your trap.

I ain't got no interest

in mining.

That's like saying

you ain't got no interest

in making it rich.

Can't rightly say I do.

The fact is, I'm trying

my hand at farming.

Farming?

You don't look like

no farmer I ever saw.

That's on account

of being Deputy

of Cheyenne the last two years.

Well, Deputy, you ain't

said who you served under.

I thought.

Hold it there, Ben.

(Music)

We're keeping

company with a deserter.

I thought.

Under Taylor then?

Not under Taylor.

Not under Smith.

Hector or Hood neither.

I served in the

command of General Thomas.

[Background Music] Don't

know no General Thomas.

Thought you boys

said you're CHeckamauga.

Yankee traitor!

(Gunshots & Music)

(Noise & Music)

Don't.

(Gunshot)

(Noise & Music)

I got to go before a judge.

Promise me, next time,

a self-respecting Southerner

asked you who you served under.

I ain't no traitor.

Next time you ought to lie.

I ain't no liar neither.

Yeah, just 'cause

you made peace

with your past don't

mean the world has.

Well, that damn well

cooled off already.

(Noise)

I got to go before

a judge or not?

No. It seems like

a fair fight to me.

I'll just have stovetop Charlie

bring his China man over.

Yep. You're going

to be pig food.

Yes, you are you

[inaudible] dirt.

Wade, seeing as how you

ain't been around lately.

By the by, the way [inaudible]

has been talking sounds

as though she's aiming to make

a respectful man out of you.

Thank you kindly if you'd

dispose of that for me.

Joe McCurry your Pa?

I reckon that depends on

which one of us you're asking.

Don't you think you

ought to read the thing?

Ain't as though

he read any of mine.

(Noise)

That's your family.

(Noise)

No. This man said he'd shoot

me if I ever came back to him.

(Noise)

This is why we have

horses in the first place.

Can't ride them all day.

Just give me a

gosh darn minute.

Sh*t. I'm starting to have

second thoughts whether you're

going to be all right

without me.

Hell Wade, you were my

Deputy, it ain't like we're kin.

I ain't your responsibility.

I told you to quit

about the damn letter.

My boy is hiding down

in Mexico on account

of a killing over a girl.

That's a hanging offense.

And yet a day don't

go by where me

and Janie [phonetic]

don't think on him.

'Cause that's the thing about

blood, Wade, ain't nothing

in this world can

truly break it.

Come on.

He really threatened

to shoot you?

I ain't home now, am I?

Well, ever occur to you

that he just might

have changed his mind?

(Noise)

(Noise & Music)

And so saith the Lord,

"As the heavens are higher

than the earth, so are My

ways higher than your ways."

All we know is this

world around us

and the people who inhabit it.

We trust your grace of love to--

This ain't no saloon.

Fine sermon Reverend.

Sure is. Ain't for

his ears though.

There ain't no kind words ever

escaped your father's lips

about that fella.

We are here to remember

the dead not dishonor them

by brawling on their grave.

Well, this here

greedy carpetbagging son

of a b*tch is a doing your

family the damn dishonor.

Now, you know, I would

never do Joe no disrespect,

but it ain't right.

(Noise)

It'd be fine if you

come stand by Heck and me.

Pa would've wanted

it that way, I think.

You mean that?

He lost to you at cards

more times that he could count.

Still he kept on coming back.

But you think you and

Heck might maybe want to come

and visit the lonely old

man one of these days?

You sing with me?

[Singing] Shall we

gather at the river

where bright angel

feet have trod.

With its crystal tide forever

flowing by the throne of God.

(Footsteps)

Mr. Lane.

My apologies for the

trouble my presence has caused.

As far as meetings

with Three Penny Hank go,

I'd say yours wasn't

all that bad.

Best not begrudge

a man in mourning.

Me and your father

were very close.

Well, ain't nobody else

could stand neither of them.

Well, my thanks to you for

allowing me to be in attendance.

You've come to understand

a man sitting

across a negotiating

table and your father was

as fine as he was hardheaded.

Well, perhaps one day soon,

you'll get to know us that well.

Is that a fact?

I'm not my father, Mr. Lane.

And you certainly are not.

I do imagine you

have an asking price.

Mr. Lane, you're paying

respects to my father.

Business will be conducted

at the proper time.

I appreciate your support

in this [inaudible].

(Noise)

Lady said her goodbyes.

Well, you let her

know I'll be back

in a month's time

with a bill of sale.

Well, I do think Martha aims

to be done with this place,

a might bit sooner than that.

[Background Music]

Tell me, Mr. Kirkland,

you ever traveled

to Morris, Kansas?

I may have ridden through.

Well, I hear it

used to be beautiful,

especially by firelight.

It'll be a pleasure

doing business with you.

(Noise & Music)

(Noise)

Damn mule got in

the locoweed again.

I have to put it down.

(Noise)

It needed to be done.

(Noise)

Lane ain't by today.

He'll come.

A few weeks is what he said.

You got to eat.

I like how much

you like my food.

(Noise)

We got enough.

(Noise)

These all the food we'll

have in San Francisco?

Well, I heard [inaudible]

took another herd up to Kansas.

It could be.

Cows are no better

than crops.

We're opening a hotel.

I ain't exactly

the hotel type.

We weren't exactly

the farming type either.

It'll be a grand place.

Grandness in San Francisco

with large green drinks,

a polished wood entrance,

children running all through.

Lane's coming.

(Noise)

That ain't Lane.

(Horse Galloping)

(Footsteps)

Do we have to?

Stay in the house.

(Noise)

This McCurry place?

Who's asking?

I ain't angling for a fight.

Folks don't ride out this

way lest they're angling

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes