Unforgiven Page #2

And Little Bill enters from the back of the bar room, stooping

to pass through the doorway under the sign that says "Billiard

Room."

Little Bill is huge and ominous. Some say he acquired the

bearskin by staring the bear to death and others say he

drowned the animal in spit. Anyhow, he's big with a drooping

moustache and he is sucking on his church warden's clay pipe

and you know he isn't scared of anything.

And the two cowboys are scared to death, not just shivering

from the cold, and Bill just looks down at them and sucks on

his pipe and Alice comes in from the back way too and then

Skinny and a couple of the whores gather in the doorway.

LITTLE BILL:

Clyde, step across to the German's

an' fetch up one of his bullwhips.

Stark terror on the faces of Davey and Mike as Clyde exits.

ALICE:

A whippin'? That's all they get?

After what they done?

LITTLE BILL:

(sucking on his pipe)

Whippin' ain't a little thing, Alice.

ALICE:

But what they done, they...

SKINNY:

(he has a piece of

paper in his hand)

Shut up, Alice. Little Bill, a

whippin' ain't gonna settle this.

LITTLE BILL:

No?

SKINNY:

(showing the paper)

This here's a lawful contract...

betwixt me an' Delilah Fitzgerald,

the cut-whore. Now I brung her clear

from Boston, paid her expenses an'

all, an' I got a contract which

represents an investment of capital.

LITTLE BILL:

(sympathetic to the

argument)

Property.

SKINNY:

Damaged property. Like if I was to

hamstring one of their cow ponies.

LITTLE BILL:

You figure nobody'll want to f***

her.

SKINNY:

Hell no. Leastways, they won't pay

to do it.

Alice is listening to this and her eyes are like coals and

you can hear Delilah moaning in the other room.

SKINNY:

She could maybe clean up around the

place or somethin', but nobody's

gonna pay good money for a cut-up

whore.

LITTLE BILL:

(making up his mind

and turning to the

shivering cowboys)

You boys are off of the Spade Outfit.

Got your own string of ponies?

DAVEY:

(nodding)

I... I got f-f-f-four.

LITTLE BILL:

You?

MIKE:

(sullenly)

Six.

Skinny nods, pleased, and Alice watches, her eyes still hot.

LITTLE BILL:

Guess you boys just as soon not have

no trial an' fuss, huh?

Davey and Mike nod, willing to say anything Little Bill wants.

LITTLE BILL:

(to Mike)

Alright. You done the cuttin'...

Come the thaw, you bring in five of

them ponies an' give 'em over to

Skinny here.

MIKE:

Five!

LITTLE BILL:

(to Davey)

An' you... you give over two ponies,

hear? -

Clyde bangs in out of the snow with a buggy whip in his hand.

CLYDE:

I couldn't find no bullwhips, Bill.

The German...

LITTLE BILL:

Don't matter, we don't need no whips.

(to Mike and Davey)

Spring comes an' Skinny don't have

them ponies, I'm gonna...

ALICE:

You... you ain't even gonna... whip

'em?

LITTLE BILL:

I fined 'em instead.

ALICE:

For what they done? Skinny gets some

ponies an' that's...?

LITTLE BILL:

(approaching her)

Ain't you seen enough blood for one

night? Hell, Alice, they ain't loafers

nor tramps nor bad men. They're hard

workin' boys that was foolish. Why

if they was given over to wickedness

in a regular way...

ALICE:

(furious)

Like whores?

SKINNY:

Alice, tend to Delilah.

For a long moment Alice just stands there glaring.

INT. DELILAH'S ROOM - DAY

DAYLIGHT AND A BASIN OF BLOODY WATER and Little Sue is just

dipping another towel in the hot water next to Delilah's

bed, changing the bandages. All the whores are there in

various states of dress, lounging on the floor, leaning

against the wall.

SILKY:

(to Alice)

If Delilah don't care one way or the

other, what're you so riled about?

ALICE:

(passionately)

Just because them smelly a**holes

like to ride us like horses don't

mean we got to let 'em brand us like

we're horses. Maybe we ain't nothin'

but whores, but by God we ain't

horses.

Silky is thinking it over, frowning, and then she makes her

decision.

SILKY:

(to Alice)

I got a hundred an' twelve dollars.

That's everythin'.

ALICE:

What about you, Faith?

FAITH:

(reluctantly)

Two hundred...

(there are gasps)

Two hundred an' forty.

ALICE:

(laughing)

Jesus, Faith, what you been doin',

givin' Skinny somethin' special?

All the women laugh and Delilah through her bandages makes a

gurgling sound and Little Sue's eyes light up.

LITTLE SUE:

(indicating Delilah)

She laughed.

ALICE:

With what Kate got, Silky got some,

an' mine, an' Little S...

SILKY:

(soberly)

It ain't enough.

ALICE:

(determined)

Not yet maybe.

EXT. HOG PEN - DAY

The hog in the mud, snorting and squealing, ugly as hell and

BILL MUNNY in the mud with him, pushing and shoving, trying

to move the stubborn animal and Munny goes down face first

and comes up more covered with mud than he already was and

the words on the screen say,

WRITTEN WORDS (SUPER)

Some months later, Hodgeman County,

Kansas.

Munny is thirty-five or forty years old, his hair is thinning

and his moustache droops glumly over his stubbled jaw. If it

were not for his eyes he would look like any pig farmer with

his canvas overalls tucked in his boots pushing on a hog. He

is pushing on the hog again, grunting with the effort, when

he hears the voice.

THE KID'S VOICE (O.S.)

You don't look like no rootin',

tootin', sonofabitchin', cold-blooded

assassin.

MUNNY:

(looking up, startled)

Huh?

THE KID is only six feet away, the sun behind him, sitting

on a very big and very ancient Morgan horse. He's wearing a

wide-brimmed Texas hat, a vest, a holstered pistol, and he

is a wiry kid, maybe twenty years old, with scraggly blonde

hair, four of his upper front teeth missing, and a funny,

squinty way of looking out of his watery blue eyes. Most of

all, he doesn't look very prosperous.

THE KID:

I seen how you got only three fingers

on your left hand, though, so I guess

you're calling yourself Mister Bill

Munny.

Munny does indeed have three fingers on his left hand and he

doesn't like this conversation at all.

MUNNY:

William Munny, yeah.

THE KID:

Same one as shot Charlie Pepper in

Lake County?

A VOICE:

Paw! Hey, Paw!

The voice belongs to WILL, a skinny ten-year-old who dashes

up with his seven-year-old sister, PENNY, right on his heels.

The kids are ragged and dirty, they don't look well fed or

even very healthy. Even as Will speaks to his father, Munny,

his eyes, and Penny's too, go to The Kid.

They don't see many strangers.

MUNNY:

What is it, son?

WILL:

Two more hogs got the fever.

Munny winces. The Kid ignores the interruption.

THE KID:

You shot Charlie Pepper, didn't you?

And you're the one killed William

Harbey an' robbed the train over...

MUNNY:

(sharply)

Hold on, mister.

(to Will)

Son, this here pig gotta be moved

outta this pen, away from them others.

Penny, you give yer brother a hand...

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