Reflections in a Golden Eye Page #5

...sweat pouring down his face.

Doctor told her she wasn't

bearing down hard enough, so he'd...

He'd bear down right along with her.

Bending his knees.

Screaming when she'd scream.

Hell.

Leonora, I didn't know

there was anything wrong with her.

I mean, I didn't know

she was really sick.

I just thought she was...

I didn't realize, that's all.

Of course you didn't realize.

Nobody did.

Well...

...I guess there's just

two things left for me now:

Keep myself fit and do my job.

Serve my country.

Only two things?

Only two things?

No.

Not here, now.

I'll tell you what let's do.

Let's go riding.

May be some blackberries left.

Now, a man does not flee because...

...he's fighting in an unjust cause.

He does not attack

because his cause is just.

He flees because he's the weaker,

and he conquers because he's the stronger.

Or more to the point,

because his leaders made him feel stronger.

Rommel...

...Patton, Marshall, MacArthur. They...

They had it.

How did they...?

How did they make their troops

believe that they were stronger?

Leadership is intangible.

It's hard to measure, difficult to describe.

Leadership must include

a measure of inherent ability...

...to control and direct self-confidence...

...based on initiative,

loyalty to superiors...

...and a sense of pride.

Pride.

It's far easier to recognize a leader...

...than to define leadership in clear

and in universally understood terms.

Now...

Is leadership learned?

Is it taught?

Is a man born with it?

How did it come to Patton?

Class dismissed.

Sergeant.

Afternoon, Major Penderton.

I'll have the black mare.

Sorry, sir. Williams has her out.

Well, saddle any horse then.

It doesn't matter.

Yes, sir.

Blackjack.

Damn.

You know, I used to tease

Anacleto all the time...

...about what I'd do to him

if I got him in a battalion.

Of course, I was kidding him mostly...

...but I think if he'd joined the Army, that

would have been the best thing for him.

He certainly would be flattered...

...if he could hear the way

you carry on about him now.

He wouldn't have been

happy in the Army...

...but it might have made

a man out of him.

Knocked some of that nonsense

out of him, anyway.

It is a pretty awful thing

to see a grown-up man...

...dancing around on his toes

to some kind of silly music...

...and painting all kind of funny-looking

pictures with watercolors.

Oh, we'd have run him ragged

in the Army, all right.

He sure would have been miserable...

...but I think anything would be better

than all that... All that other mess.

Any fulfillment obtained

at the expense of normality is wrong...

...and should not be allowed

to bring happiness.

In short, it's a...

It's better,

because it's morally honorable...

...for the square peg to keep

scraping about in a round hole...

...rather than to discover and use

the unorthodox one that would fit it.

Well, yeah, that's right, Weldon.

Don't you agree with me?

No.

No, I don't.

Excuse me.

Oh, Weldon.

Poor Rufus.

I've had him ever since

I was in boarding school.

Now you've broken him...

...after all these years.

I'm sorry, Leonora.

It's just all this clutter is...

What's the matter with clutter?

I like it.

Well...

...I'd rather live without it.

Bare floors. Plain white walls.

No window curtains. Nothing but essentials.

If that's the way you feel about it,

why don't you resign your commission...

...and start over again

as an enlisted man?

Of course you're laughing...

...but there's much to be said

for the life of men among men...

...with no luxuries, no ornamentation.

Utter simplicity.

It's rough and it's coarse, perhaps,

but it's also clean.

It's clean as a rifle.

There's no speck of dust inside or out...

...and it's immaculate in its hard,

young fitness.

Its chivalry.

They're seldom

out of one another's sight.

They eat, and they train,

and they shower, and they play jokes...

...and go to the brothel together.

They sleep side by side.

The barracks room offers many a lesson

in courtesy and how not to give offense.

They guard the next man's privacy

as though it was their own.

And the friendships... My lord.

There are friendships formed

that are stronger than...

Stronger than the fear of death.

And they're never lonely.

They're never lonely.

And sometimes I envy them.

Well, good night.

Well, I guess Alison's death

has kind of hit him hard too.

Well, do you want a card?

No.

I wish Anacleto would come back.

Well, I wish Alison would come back.

I wish everything would be

the way it was before.

Come on, you guys.

Get out of here.

Out!

Hey, what is this?

Hey, come on. What's wrong?

Son of a...

Come on!

What's the matter?

You started it. Come on.

Come on.

Bastard.

Where's my towel?

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