West of Thunder Page #6

---

laid to rest all throughout

that...

RANCH OWNER OTIS:

Look, guess what?

I don't rightly care about

any of that. All I'm thinking

right now is getting you

the hell out of here.

HENRY SEED:

Otis, Do you know that all

mankind...

every creed, every color

has a respect for the dead.

You're not planning on

expanding your farmland and

defiling these

grounds are you?

RANCH OWNER OTIS:

You know I don't know yet.

But when I do decide

it will be my decision.

HENRY SEED:

That is true,

it is your choice...and I'm

going to make a decision..I

think I may want to

stay right here...

RANCH OWNER OTIS:

You know I think I might

just forcibly remove you.

HENRY SEED:

I may want to kill you...

although...

although I am making a conscious

decision. I am making an

amorally correct choice.

RANCH OWNER OTIS:

You lost me there jackass.

HENRY SEED:

I'm choosing the lesser

of two evils.

RANCH OWNER OTIS:

Oh so you've chosen to

leave my land...

that's a good decision.

HENRY SEED:

No, actually I'm choosing to

beat the hell outta you

instead of killing ya...

FLUTE SOUND:

FLUTE SOUND:

SHERIFF CHAPMAN:

Do you believe in the sins

of the father?

PASTOR CALMES DOYLE:

No, we sail our own ships.

We choose our Captain.

SHERIFF CHAPMAN:

Well, I've been thinking that

Henry Seed is punishing us for

what our grandparents and our

parents did to the Indian.

PASTOR CALMES DOYLE:

Sadly, we haven't done much

better than our parents and

grandparents before us.

SHERIFF CHAPMAN:

How so? I treat the Indian

fair and square.

PASTOR CALMES DOYLE:

We ignore the Indian as a

whole though.

Do you remember

two winters ago?

SHERIFF CHAPMAN:

Yeah, worst one we've ever had.

PASTOR CALMES DOYLE:

We could only house 12 Lakota

in our church, but if each

family in town had taken in just

one Lakota family no one would

have starved, not one

froze to death.

SHERIFF CHAPMAN:

I guess that would

have helped some.

PASTOR CALMES DOYLE:

My uncle fought for the South

during the Civil War.

He once told me a story about

when he was stationed as a

guard at the POW camp

in Andersonville, SC.

SHERIFF CHAPMAN:

Sadly, I've heard of it.

PASTOR CALMES DOYLE:

My uncle was placed in

charge of guarding the

foodstuffs for the other

confederate soldiers.

One night a Yankee prisoner

slipped past him and stole a

bunch of apples. The thief was

eventually caught and when he

was questioned he confessed that

he was stealing the apples to

give to his dying friend.

SHERIFF CHAPMAN:

Did they show him

any mercy?

PASTOR CALMES DOYLE:

No...a fellow guard, a friend

of my uncle, shot the man

to death. My uncle sat by in

silence.

SHERIFF CHAPMAN:

What could he have done?

PASTOR CALMES DOYLE:

He could have explained

the reason for the theft,

he could have offered

to whip the prisoner,

he could have pulled

the gun from the guard's

hand...anything

besides death.

SHERIFF CHAPMAN:

Maybe his hands were tied and he

didn't have a choice.

PASTOR CALMES DOYLE:

We always have a choice...

you know the damndest

thing about this story is that

a few years later my uncle

found out that this particular

Yankee prisoner was a

a shirt-tail relation to him.

He sat idly by while a man

murdered his own flesh and

blood... Silence in the face

of evil is itself evil.

INTERIOR TAVERN --

MUSIC BY THE FISHKILLERS:

(singing)

There's a break in the circle,

there's a crack in the hoop,

there's a rupture in time,

we're all in the soup...you

can think you're a loner,

do it all by yourself,

but you're nothing without

everything, just gathering

dust on a kitchen shelf You

can go it alone, you can make

a new plan but there's no

such thing as a

self made man.....

BARTENDER ZEKE:

You alright?

HENRY SEED:

Yeah I think so,

I just need a little solitude

and confinement to let my

thoughts ponder and let my

spirit stretch its legs...

ELIZABETH JANE:

Sir, be careful.

HENRY SEED:

Don't worry about me;

I have a real good connection

with the sunka wakan.

ELIZABETH JANE:

You speak Lakota?

HENRY SEED:

I do. Do you?

ELIZABETH JANE:

A bit...my friend Gusty's

teaching me.

HENRY SEED:

I have a question for

you...how do you come

to have a Lakota friend?

ELIZABETH JANE:

Well, after my father died the

Lakota helped my mother out

with the farm and the horses.

Without them we wouldn't

have been able to survive,

we help each other out.

HENRY SEED:

Not everyone seems to

feel the same way though.

ELIZABETH JANE:

Gusty's grandfather says that

hatred and revenge break the

circle and that we have to be in

harmony with the four-legged

and the two-legged

in order to survive.

HENRY SEED:

Mitakuye Oyasin,

we are all related...thank

you Elizabeth Jane.

HENRY SEED:

Sheriff I respectfully give

myself up to you. I will

put myself under your bond and

shackles of confinement.

INDIAN MUSIC PLAYS

INDIAN MUSIC PLAYS

SHERIFF CHAPMAN:

Henry, I saw that

scar on your chest,

was that a bullet wound?

HENRY SEED:

Actually it was a large

lance that was thrown at

me and we lost the battle

because of it.

Then every one of my

followers then was

shackled and chained

and then they were.....

we were cast from our home.

SHERIFF CHAPMAN:

When the hell was that?

HENRY SEED:

Many, many years ago.

SHERIFF CHAPMAN:

Well last night all of Peter

Lewis' horses were stolen

do you know anything

about that?

HENRY SEED:

Hey Sheriff have you

ever heard of the

term Sunka Wakan?

SHERIFF CHAPMAN:

No I haven't.

HENRY SEED:

Well, it actually means Sacred

Dog and it's the Lakota's name

for horse.

SHERIFF CHAPMAN:

Hmm..interesting...

HENRY SEED:

You know I don't exactly know

where it came from, but

if you'll let me I

could venture a guess.

Well as it is told, when He...

kicked Adam and Eve out for

eating an apple...he also sat

them down and he told them

that they would lose all

connection, all

communication with all the

animals....although I do

believe that the horse and

the dog walked into His

office and they begged him

for a continued communication,

a continued connection.....

When the government stole

all of the horses from the

Lakota, it may have broken

their spirit but it did not

break that bond....

The horse, the dog, sacred dog,

Sunka Wakan...

EXTERIOR BADLANDS

SHERIFF CHAPMAN:

He's all yours.

LITTLE THUNDER:
(inLakota)

HENRY SEED:
(in Lakota)

RED WOLF:
(in Lakota)

HENRY SEED:
(in Lakota)

MINOR RUNNING CLOUD: (in Lakota)

HENRY SEED:
(in Lakota)

CHARLIE LITTLE FEATHER:

(in Lakota)

RED WOLF:
(in Lakota)

LITTLE THUNDER:
(in Lakota)

HENRY SEED:
(in Lakota)

MUSIC IS HEARD and THUNDER IN

THE DISTANCE...

MUSIC IS HEARD and THUNDER IN

THE DISTANCE...

INDIAN CHANT STARTS

AND CONTINUES...

INDIAN CHANT STARTS

AND CONTINUES...

HENRY SEED:
(in Lakota)

No more silence...

World keeps turning, turning

it's back, turning a blind eye

to all that has been done

here... History redacted by

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