Klondike Page #21

the night.

CUT TO:

THE COUNT:

He is playing poker with a few of HIS MEN. He is holding out

his forearm, while talking, making his muscle taut.

A MOSQUITO:

is sucking the blood on his forearm, bloated red almost to

bursting.

COUNT:

(boasting)

You hold the muscle, he can’t fly

off. He tries but he’s stuck-The

Count suddenly goes quiet. Through the window, he sees

the cross. His eyes flash and (in his moment of distraction)

the blood-bloated mosquito flies off.

WIDE SHOT - TOWN OF DAWSON - NIGHT

In the darkness there is only one thing that stands out. It

can be seen from anywhere in town.

THE WHITE CROSS:

on Father Judge’s just sanctified... church.

CUT TO:

45.

A DARK FIGURE:

comes toward us out of the storm moving into the entrance-way

of a tall lean-to-like structure. This is CHEYEHO, chief of

the Tlingit tribe.

He comes into clearer focus. Blue-grey hair, decorative scars

on his cheeks. DEEP BLUE EYES a jewel-like surprise in his

Indian features. Strong eyes. No promise of mercy or

vengeance there. A survivor’s eyes.

IN THE TENT BEFORE HIM

sit Bill and Jack (not bound), guarded by the Tlingit hunters

who brought them here. Cheyeho sits across from them, making

himself an equal of sorts.

CHEYEHO:

I did not ask you here but I

welcome you.

BILL:

(to Jack)

He speaks English.

JACK:

That’s good because I don’t speak

Tlingit.

Bill gives Jack a look. Cheyeho stares only at Bill. Bill is

the man who interests him.

CHEYEHO:

I know about your friend. I mourn

him with you.

A charge comes into Bill’s eyes.

BILL:

What do you know about him?

CHEYEHO:

I know everything in these woods. I

am like an owl. You and your friend

have what you call “a claim.” In

the hills. You buy land you don’t

own from a man who doesn’t own it.

BILL:

We have different principles of

commerce.

CHEYEHO:

Why don’t you buy waves in the

ocean? Pieces of sky. Somewhere,

there is a white man who thinks he

owns the moon.

46.

There are tears of anger in Bill’s eyes.

BILL:

Did you kill him?

CHEYEHO:

We kill only for a purpose.

BILL:

That’s not an answer.

CHEYEHO:

Are you a God fearing man?

BILL:

(a challenge)

I am.

CHEYEHO:

And God is everywhere. He is in

everything?

BILL:

Yes.

Cheyeho smiles. It’s a surprisingly easygoing smile. It

lightens his face. He turns to his fellow tribesmen. He

speaks in Tlingit, but subtitles translate.

CHEYEHO:

You see? The white man fears

everything.

He turns back to Bill. No longer smiling, the storm whipping

the trees behind him.

CHEYEHO (CONT’D)

Your fear is misplaced here.

Cheyeho’s eyes are tinged with rage.

CHEYEHO (CONT’D)

You are in Tlingit territory and

this is the land of no God. I’m

sorry for the loss of your friend,

but we did not kill him.

BILL:

Who killed him?

Bill’s eyes burn. The question that haunts him. That might

haunt him to the grave.

Cheyeho stares at Bill. Two men. That’s all they are. Two

men. Something passes between them. Some sort of

understanding.

47.

CHEYEHO:

The sky killed him.

CUT TO:

A CRACK OF THUNDER

EXPLODES in the sky. The sky is murderous.

OUR VIEW drifts down from THE RAIN-SPATTERED CROSS to the

image of Bill and Jack arriving back in Dawson.

CLOSER - BILL AND JACK

The two taking leave of each other.

JACK:

You think they killed your friend?

BILL:

They didn’t act guilty.

JACK:

Maybe they don’t feel guilty.

A conundrum. Bill feels it. The two men take leave of one

another. Jack heading to the tavern.

Bill alone with his stormy thoughts.

ON BILL:

walking along the main street of Dawson. His mind churning.

He glances at the display window of a supply store. What he

sees makes him stop.

ANGLE ON WINDOW:

Bill’s reflection is a spectral presence. He looks ragged,

harrowed, pale. He almost doesn’t recognize himself.

ON BILL:

He sees something else in the window. Something that sends a

chill down his spine.

THE WINDOW:

We RACK FOCUS from Bill’s reflected image to reveal the goods

on display. Prominent amongst the other items are...

... EPSTEIN’S BOOTS.

Etched in the leather, we make out the cowboy whirling a

lasso.

48.

CLOSE ON BILL:

The emotional vagaries of his own adventures are brought home

to him by the strange journey of his friend’s boots.

Bill turns emotionally from the sight... and he sees

something else...

THE WHITE CROSS:

standing like a beacon on the roof of Father Judge’s church.

Bill approaches the store, eyes blazing. His gaze falls on a

heavy piece of rotted lumber in the street.

He picks it up... heaves it against the store window,

shattering the glass.

CUT TO:

EPSTEIN’S BODY

lies on a the makeshift knave of the church, lit in trembling

lightning. He’s been arranged carefully on a table. Hands

folded.

Boots back on his feet. Where they belong. We are:

INT. CHURCH - NIGHT

Father Judge and Bill stand over the body, sharing a Kaddish

prayer book. Father Judge has not slept in a long time, but

is voice is firm.

He is doing what he came here for.

FATHER JUDGE:

May his great name go exalted and

sanctified.

BILL:

(quiet)

Amen.

FATHER JUDGE:

In the world that He created as He

willed. May He give reign to His

kingship in your lifetime and in

your days and in the lifetimes of

the Family of Israel... swiftly and

soon.

Bill’s cue.

49.

BILL:

(tears in his eyes)

May His great Name be blessed

forever and ever.

FATHER JUDGE:

May His great Name be blessed

forever and ever.

Father’s Judge’s VOICE breaks. This next passage has great,

great meaning to him.

FATHER JUDGE (CONT’D)

... Blessed, praised, glorified,

exalted, extolled, mighty,

upraised, and lauded be the Name of

the Holy One, Blessed is He.

A FLASH OF LIGHTNING

bleaches Epstein’s face in white light...

... It also lights up the window near the body where...

A DARK-BEARDED MAN

is staring in at them. Sees Bill and father Judge staring at

him and backs off, grinning.

Bill turns with suddenly alert eyes to father Judge.

FATHER JUDGE (CONT’D)

(a growl)

This is not your fight. They are

here for me.

COUNT’S VOICE

(shouting)

The Pearly gates beckon you, your

holiness!

Father Judge’s eyes are wild. Instinctively, he turns toward

the AXE sitting on a small table.

Bill sees the moment. Father Judge sees Bill see.

A defining moment. It’s like we’re between the ticks of a

clock.

THROUGH THE WINDOW

we see The Count, with A DOZEN OF HIS MEN. Several hold

flaming torches.

COUNT:

You have three seconds to show

yourself, your holiness!

50.

Bill pulls out his pistol. Father Judge grabs his wrist with

surprising force. He stares searingly into Bill’s eyes.

FATHER JUDGE:

Leave this place. If you’re a man,

leave this God forsaken place...

before it unmans you.

Bill pulls his arm away. Moves with his pistol toward the

door.

EXT. CHURCH - NIGHT

Bill exits. Before him stand The Count and his murderous

gang.

THE COUNT:

Who the hell are you?

BILL:

This is a place of worship.

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