Unforgiven Page #5

Skinny Dubois is standing there, in the clearing wiping his

brow and catching his breath and watching Little Bill.

SKINNY:

Hit your finger, huh?

LITTLE BILL:

(surprised)

Huh? Hullo, Skinny. Snuck up on me.

(indicating the house

proudly)

How do you like her?

SKINNY:

(looking critically)

Heard you done the roof yourself.

LITTLE BILL:

Roof? Jesus, Skinny, I done

practically every damn thing myself.

Roberts boy hauled wood, that's all.

SKINNY:

What's all that wood?

LITTLE BILL:

(enthusiastically)

Porch. I'm puttin' a porch on her

so's I can puff my pipe of an evening

an' drink my coffee an' watch the

sun set.

Little Bill is back at it, hauling a four by six into

position.

LITTLE BILL:

(over his shoulder,

proudly)

You come clear up here just to get a

look at her?

The train whistle screams loudly below in the valley and

turning nervously, Skinny can see a puff of steam above the

distant trees.

SKINNY:

Them whores...

(he pauses, reluctant

to go on)

Little Bill isn't really paying attention to anything but

his house.

LITTLE BILL:

Yeah?

SKINNY:

Them whores, they been f***in' an'

f***in' all them cowboys that come

into town the last two weeks...

LITTLE BILL:

(chuckling)

Sh*t, Skinny, we got railroad barons

an' cattle barons, but you' re gonna

be the first of the billiard barons.

SKINNY:

(ignoring him)

...They been f***in' 'em, 'an tellin'

every bow-legged one of 'em how

they're payin' a thousand dollars to

whatever sonofabitch kills them two

boys which cut up Delilah.

Little Bill drops the board he's holding up and turns sharply

to Skinny. Down in the valley the train whistle screams and

after a long, tense moment, Little Bill turns and looks out

over the valley, frowning.

LITTLE BILL:

An' all them cowboys been riding

that beef down to Kansas an' Cheyenne?

SKINNY:

(unhappily, dropping

his eyes)

Yup.

LITTLE BILL:

All week?

SKINNY:

(apologetically)

I didn't hear nothin' till last night.

LITTLE BILL:

Word must have got all the way to

Texas by now.

SKINNY:

(quickly)

Oh, sh*t, Bill, I guess nobody's

gonna come clear from Texas.

LITTLE BILL:

(sitting down)

They really got all that money, them

whores?

SKINNY:

(sitting beside Bill)

You know how women kin lie... I knock

'em around a little, ask 'em where

the money is, they say they don't

have none?... but they coulda

squirreled away that much, the five

of 'em. Maybe.

(pause)

LITTLE BILL:

That much, huh?

SKINNY:

(hopeful)

You could run off them two cowboys.

LITTLE BILL:

(sharply)

I could run off them whores.

SKINNY:

(after a pause)

Well, I guess they'll just up an'

run anyhow, them two.

LITTLE BILL:

(glumly)

Nope. They'll stay out on the Spade

country where they got friends.

The train whistle screams down in the valley and the train

is chugging in the distance, pulling out, headed South.

SKINNY:

Sh*t, Bill, could be nobody won't

come at all.

EXT. LOGAN HOUSE - DAY

SALLY TWO TREES, weeding under a hot sun. She is an Indian

woman about forty years old, heavy, and she is pulling weeds

from a neat garden near the Logan House and she looks up and

she sees something and frowns and keeps looking and doesn't

like what she sees,

HER POV:

A MAN IN THE DISTANCE RIDING AN ALBINO MARE, making his way

slowly through the prosperous fields of young corn.

VIEW ON SALLY:

She looks over at her husband, NED LOGAN, who is working not

far away and he seems to "hear" her look because he turns to

her and, seeing her troubled expression, he follows her look

and he too sees the rider on the Albino mare.

NED:

I'll be damned. It's Billy Munny.

Ned is about forty, balding, a farmer, but not as seedy

looking as his old friend, Bill Munny.

VIEW ON MUNNY:

Trying to dismount and the Albino prancing and Munny

staggering and Sally looking at the scene grimly.

MUNNY:

(awkwardly)

Hullo Sally... I... uh, I ain't seen

you in near as long as this, uh...

as this horse ain't felt the saddle.

Munny gets up out of the dust looking uncomfortable and Sally

just stares at him coldly.

NED:

(warmly)

Come on in outta the sun, Bill. Sally,

you see to Bill's horse.

Munny nods an uncomfortable thank-you to Sally as Ned leads

him toward a house that is very different from Munny's. It

is a two story frame house freshly painted and surrounded by

a well-tended garden, a tool shed, a barn and lush fields.

As the men disappear into the house Sally leads the Albino

toward the barn. Her sharp eyes don't miss the stock of the

shotgun where it protrudes slightly from the bedroll. Her

eyes seem to see even into the future... and all they see is

trouble.

INT. LOGAN HOUSE - DAY

CLOSE on CLEAN CERAMIC COFFEE MUGS as NED takes them from a

tidy cabinet in his cozy kitchen with the cast iron stove,

the solid table.

Munny is sitting at the table looking moodily into space.

NED:

(earnestly)

We ain't bad men no more, Bill. Hell,

we're farmers.

MUNNY:

(thoughtfully)

Should be easy killin' em... supposin'

they don't run off to Texas first.

NED:

(taking the pot from

the stove)

How long since you shot a gun at a

man?

(pause)

Nine... ten years?

MUNNY:

Eleven.

NED:

Easy, huh? Hell, I don't know that

it was all that easy then... an' we

was young an' full of beans.

(pouring coffee)

Bill... if you was mad at 'em... if

they done you wrong... I could see

shootin' 'em...

MUNNY:

(looking Ned in the

eye)

We done stuff before for money, Ned.

NED:

(sitting down)

Well, we thought we was doin' it for

money...

(he pauses, remembering)

What'd they do anyhow? Cheat at cards,

steal some strays, spit on a rich

fella?

MUNNY:

Cut up a woman. Cut her eyes out,

cut her tits off, cut her fingers

off... done everythin' but cut up

her cunny, I guess.

NED:

(after chewing on

that one)

Well, I guess they got it comin'...

(and he pauses and

looks Munny in the

eye)

But you wouldn't go if Claudia was

alive.

It hits Munny like salt in a wound and he just takes it.

They both know Ned is right and they think about it silently.

Finally Munny speaks glumly.

MUNNY:

(getting up and going

to the door)

I guess you wouldn't mind to look in

on my youngsters next week. Might be

you could help them move a couple of

them pigs if they got to separate

'em more.

Ned has been thinking about it while Munny's talking,

wrestling with it and now Munny is out the door.

NED:

How long you gonna be, Bill?

MUNNY:

Two weeks, I guess.

NED:

This Kid, what's he like?

Munny turns and looks at Ned and their eyes meet and Munny

realizes Ned is coming.

NED:

Three ways?

MUNNY:

Yup. You still got the Spencer rifle?

NED:

(grinning)

Yeah, an' I could still hit a bird

in the eye flyin'.

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