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West of Thunder (2012)
WIND CAN BE HEARD,
EERIE IN NATURE. RED WOLF (VO): In Lakota language. HENRY SEED: (voiceover) In English RED WOLF: (voiceover) Hecena iyuha unnipi yelo. (Lakota Language) GUITAR NOTE PLAYS SORROWFUL IN NATURE MUSIC CONTINUES MUSIC SLOWS...THEN STOPS. DRUMBEAT INCREASING IN TEMPO. FOLLOWED BY A FIDDLE. SUDDENLY STOPS HENRY SEED: Silence in the face of evil is itself evil. HENRY SEED: Good afternoon Sheriff. My name is Henry Seed. Nice to meet ya. SHERIFF CHAPMAN: Nice to meet you. Have a seat. HENRY SEED: Thank you. SHERIFF CHAPMAN: Now,what can I help you with? HENRY SEED: Well Aahh..I've got a question to ask... and a favor to ask of you as well. SHERIFF CHAPMAN: I'll do my best to answer your questions. HENRY SEED: Do you know Jonathan Brown? SHERIFF CHAPMAN: Jonathan Brown... I've known him for going on now about 20 years... he's the proprietor of our blacksmith. HENRY SEED: Is he the same Jonathan Brown that was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor at the Massacre of Wounded Knee? SHERIFF CHAPMAN: I believe he was awarded that medal for the Battle of Wounded Knee. If you wish to talk to Jonathan he's probably having dinner..he lives about two miles south of town. HENRY SEED: No, no that's all I need to know...I appreciate your time sheriff...thank you. SHERIFF CHAPMAN: Uh..What about your favor? HENRY SEED: Would you be able to console Mrs. Jonathan Brown..? SHERIFF CHAPMAN: Why...has something happened to Jonathan? HENRY SEED: Not yet... SHERIFF CHAPMAN: Are you planning on harming Jonathon? HENRY SEED: No no no...but I have a strong suspicion that in exactly ... seven minutes he will be putting his gun to his head and taking his own life. SHERIFF CHAPMAN: Stay right there! Don't move! JONATHAN BROWN: Charlie just.... HENRY SEED: Hello Jonathon... how was your dinner? JONATHAN BROWN: It was good my wife's a helluva cook. Do I know you? HENRY SEED: No... no you don't but my name is Henry Henry Seed. JONATHAN BROWN: Alright Mr. Seed what can I do for ya? HENRY SEED: Actually this gentleman was here first. JONATHAN BROWN: Hmm mm but you're here now....what do you need? HENRY SEED: I don't need anything but I would very much enjoy seeing your old pistol. JONATHAN BROWN : Oh!...yes, this is my old sidearm from my cavalry days... it's a standard issue Colt 45.. HENRY SEED: I bet you this has seen a lot of action. JONATHAN BROWN: A helluva lot actually, I rode with Col. John Forsyth in the 7th..... Whoa! I don't have loaded weapons in the shop. HENRY SEED: I'm sorry...but why don't you put that bullet to good use this time. JONATHAN BROWN: You need to leave now. HENRY SEED: I'll go... I will go but, you need to leave first. Put the gun to your head and you leave.......... HENRY SEED: Sir your timing is impeccable... We are in need of a credible witness. GUNSHOT IS HEARD LITTLE THUNDER: (in Lakota) PASTOR CALMES DOYLE (OS): I walked in and saw Jonathon with his gun to his head. I immediately tried to grab it from him but I was too late. SHERIFF CHAPMAN: Did he say anything? Was he in anguish? PASTOR DOYLE: Actually he looked like hell. He was shaken up a bit and muttered something right before he pulled the trigger. SHERIFF CHAPMAN: Was it anything discernible? PASTOR CALMES DOYLE: Barely. I think it was something to the effect of walking young or walk kenya...I'm not sure. But sheriff I need to get to Emily's house for some counseling so if you'll please excuse me.... SHERIFF CHAPMAN: Thank you Pastor. PASTOR CALMES DOYLE: Charlie... SHERIFF CHAPMAN: You're Birgil's little brother. You're Charlie Little Feather. Charlie when you were in the store did you see anything, hear anything, was there anybody else in there with you? CHARLIE LITTLE FEATHER: I felt a dark person in the room with him... SHERIFF CHAPMAN: So there was another person in there with you...was he Mexican? Was he black? CHARLIE LITTLE FEATHER: I'm not sure if I'm saying it right... ...a dark power...a spirit. SHERIFF CHAPMAN: OK, so this wasn't a walking talking man this was a ghost... CHARLIE LITTLE FEATHER: (in Lakota) I was in the presence of something strong and dark. MINOR RUNNING CLOUD: (in Lakota) SHERIFF CHAPMAN: Tom, Pastor Doyle said you wanted to talk to me. TOM LEWIS: I've been working on the body of Jonathan Brown. I've got strict orders from the military that we will not bury a war hero with a self inflicted bullet in his head. SHERIFF CHAPMAN: Did you have trouble extracting it? TOM LEWIS: No...I found it neatly tucked in his medial lobe. But we ah we seem to have a problem. SHERIFF CHAPMAN: What kind of problem? TOM LEWIS: The bullet was never fired. SHERIFF CHAPMAN: I'm not getting you. TOM LEWIS: This is the bullet that was in Jonathan's brain. It has no grooves, no scratches and the load is still intact. SHERIFF CHAPMAN: Are you sure you didn't misplace it or exchange it with another bullet? TOM LEWIS: o, no Sheriff there are no her bullets in this building and I swear to everything that is Holy this is the bullet that I removed from Jonathan's brain I, I, I pulled it out and I immediately noticed that the bullet had not been engaged and I have no earthly explanation for that. SHERIFF CHAPMAN: Hmm Is that your laudanum? TOM LEWIS: Yes My arthritis has been acting up recently and it's the only medicine that I know that will take the edge off. SHERIFF CHAPMAN: OK Tom. Give my regards to Margaret. A FIDDLE CAN BE HEARD. A FIDDLE CAN BE HEARD. COLIN: Hey! HENRY SEED: Pardon me my friend.. COLIN: Don't touch me! BARTENDER ZEKE: Hail there Henry. What brings you here this time? HENRY SEED: Hello Zeke...I've got an itch, a little noise to make. It's been a long journey. WANDA (OS): Hello Henry. Looking good. How are you holding up? HENRY SEED: I am getting my bearings Wanda, although today was a pretty good day. BARTENDER ZEKE: So I heard. WANDA: You'll be sticking around then? HENRY SEED: As long as it takes... I've got a lot of work to do... BARTENDER ZEKE: Got a lot of noise to make... WANDA: You sure you know what you're doing? HENRY SEED: I do know this...sometimes a deafening silence needs to be broken with a thunderous roar. BARTENDER ZEKE: Perhaps so. HENRY SEED: It just seems to me like a lot of people are turning a deaf ear and a blind eye. WANDA: You should keep your own eyes and ears open. CHARLIE LITTLE FEATHER: Hello. PETER LEWIS: Good afternoon. ELIZABETH JANE: Mr. Little Feather! CHARLIE LITTLE FEATHER: Elizabeth Jane. ELIZABETH JANE: Good afternoon Mr. Little Feather. May Gusty come over today? CHARLIE LITTLE FEATHER: Yes I'm sure she would like that. She will be over in a little while. ELIZABETH JANE: Thank you. EUGENE RODGERS: Peter... PETER LEWIS: Afternoon, Eugene... EUGENE RODGERS: Something on your mind? PETER LEWIS: Indians should stay on the reservation. EUGENE RODGERS: Scalp trading vermin. KNOCKING ON DOOR EUGENE RODGERS: Hello, can I help you? HENRY SEED: Hello, I'm sorry to be bothering you at mealtime but I was wondering if you would like these blankets... They are made by Lakota artisans. EUGENE RODGERS: How much are they? HENRY SEED: I believe in that old adage that if you cast your bread upon the water, it comes back ten-fold. EUGENE RODGERS: Well that's mighty kind of you. They appear to be well made blankets... They must have been hard to come by. HENRY SEED: Well I... I do have my sources. EUGENE RODGERS: Well, we appreciate the gesture. Would you care to join us for dinner Mr....? HENRY SEED: Seed... Henry Seed. EUGENE RODGERS: Henry this is my wife Katherine and our son Matthew. KATHRYN RODGERS: Pleased to meet you. HENRY SEED: It's my pleasure Kathryn. KATHRYN RODGERS: Please join us. HENRY SEED: Thank you. What's your name? MATTHEW RODGERS: Matthew. HENRY SEED: Matthew my name is Henry Seed. Nice to meet you. MATTHEW RODGERS: Nice to meet you too. KATHRYN RODGERS: Thank you for the blankets, they're lovely. HENRY SEED: Thank you and you're welcome, they're very talented artisans. No grace, no thanksgiving? EUGENE RODGERS: You'll have to excuse us, Henry, we just aren't into that habit anymore... but you are more than welcome to have a silent prayer if you wish. HENRY SEED: To be honest with you it's been a very long time for me as well... What do you do for a living Eugene? EUGENE RODGERS: I am a rancher. Got the state's only long horn cattle. I've got over 200 head. HENRY SEED: You must have a hell of a lot of land. EUGENE RODGERS: Well... we started with 160 acres deeded to us by the government and then we were able to buy up another 640 acres per the Treaty of 1873. HENRY SEED: Let's see... if memory serves that was the amended treaty of the Nez Perce Treaty of 1873 that stated, once Indians were removed either peaceably or forcibly, the land was then given... I'm sorry, sold to ranchers and homesteaders. EUGENE RODGERS: Yeah I guess that was it. HENRY SEED: Did you have any problems getting them off your land? EUGENE RODGERS: I had no problem whatsoever... CREEPY MUSIC PLAYS HENRY SEED: Matthew do you like drawings? MATTHEW RODGERS: Yeah...I've got a big book of them. HENRY SEED: I'd like to share these drawings with you. They were done by a friend of mine. He's a Lakota medicine man. He's a spiritual man... a man who has visions. Do you like them? MATTHEW RODGERS: Yeah! HENRY SEED: Do you want to know a little bit about the story? MATTHEW RODGERS: Sure! HENRY SEED: OK. This drawing represents mankind and the space right there means that the circle is broken... And these are Lakota people. MATTHEW RODGERS: Are they sleeping? HENRY SEED: In a sense they are Matthew... But these are yours. MATTHEW RODGERS: Thank you Mr. Seed. HENRY SEED: You are welcome. Well, I must be off. Thank you so much for the meal. EUGENE RODGERS: Thank you for the nice gifts. We appreciate the kindness. HENRY SEED: It was no problem whatsoever... NATIVE AMERICAN MUSIC PLAYS ELIZABETH JANE: Hey Gusty I got this book in town for you. GUSTY LITTLE THUNDER: Thank you and I got this necklace for you... ELIZABETH JANE: Oh, Thank you. It's beautiful! I wonder if I'll ever get to use these things like my father did? GUSTY LITTLE THUNDER: Do you ever wonder what he was like? ELIZABETH JANE: He died when I was so young. My mother doesn't really like to talk about it, but she says that he was a good and handsome man. She says he was a dreamer with a good heart and would have liked the fact that you and I are friends... I wish I could have known him. GUSTY LITTLE THUNDER: Well, our family who is no longer here, are always watching over us. ELIZABETH JANE: I'd like to think that... Hey Gusty, if you had to pick one boy in all the world to be with who would you choose? GUSTY LITTLE THUNDER: I am partial to strong boys... with a soft voice and nice smile...I like your brother... ELIZABETH JANE: Do you think you would ever like to live in the big city? GUSTY LITTLE THUNDER: I think I'd like it to be... how it used to be... ELIZABETH JANE: Was that thunder? GUSTY LITTLE THUNDER: I think that was just the wild horses...Hello Gaka. ELIZABETH JANE: Hello Mr. Little Thunder LITTLE THUNDER: Hello Tacosha...are you ready to go? GUSTY LITTLE THUNDER: Gaka can you tell us a story first? LITTLE THUNDER: When I was a child I had a vision..I was standing on the highest mountain of them all and beneath me was the whole hoop of the world. And I saw the sacred hoop of my people was one of many hoops that made one circle and in the center grew one mighty flowering tree to shelter all the children of one mother and one father. Slowly all circles will widen connect just like your les are connected in friendship. INTERIOR TAVERN : BAND PLAYING CALLED THE FISHKILLERS: (singing) This is our world, This is where we live and it takes our lives just as it gives and it nurtures us and burns us too and it taunts us to make it through.... HENRY SEED: (in Lakota) HENRY SEED: (VO) There are things in my past, present and future that I am equally proud and equally ashamed of. FIDDLE MUSIC PLAYS ERRATICALLY COWBOY #1: Hey you Jackaninny you stole land from my uncle! COWBOY #2: It was legal..and I know what you did with my sister! PASTOR CALMES DOYLE: A few of my church members have been asking me about this Henry Seed. He's got'em spooked a bit. Who do you think he is? LITTLE THUNDER: He's a spirit...a thunder being, a Wakinyan, who is from the West. He inhabits an earthly body for his purpose. PASTOR CALMES DOYLE: Is he a vengeful spirit? LITTLE THUNDER: He is. PASTOR CALMES DOYLE: In the Old Testament Book of Daniel...the prophet saw four winds carrying four creatures from the north, south, east, and a man-like creature coming from the west bringing retribution and revenge. LITTLE THUNDER: If we choose his path it will only bring us destruction and separation. PASTOR CALMES DOYLE: "They shall mingle with the seed of men... but they shall not cleave to one another.... CLARENCE O'LEARY: If we can get this here right up at the top here if one of you wants to bring it up? HENRY SEED: Hello Father. Do you have any work today? CLARENCE O'LEARY: Actually we do! We need help with one job rightly. You seem pretty strong....Boy that must have been a close call there. HENRY SEED: Actually it wasn't a close call...it went straight through my heart. CLARENCE O'LEARY: Ooh! You must have had the saints watching you that day... HENRY SEED: Well someone saw it... CLARENCE O'LEARY: Well, I've got about two days worth of work to offer. Everyone on my crew gets paid $1 a day. Is that agreeable? HENRY SEED: Yeah, that's very agreeable. Do the Lakota men get paid a dollar as well? CLARENCE O'LEARY: Well, Just between you and me... I pay them $1.10 a day. They're strong as hell and smart as a Dickens novel. By the look of your skin are you a little Indian? HENRY SEED: I'm a little bit of everything. CLARENCE O'LEARY: Mr. Everything!...You're hired. HENRY SEED: Thank you....Mr. Everything. I love the sound of that but you may call me Henry...Henry Seed. CLARENCE O'LEARY: Mr. Seed nice to meet ya and you may call me Father O'Leary or Clarence or Jugsy. HENRY SEED: Jugsy? CLARENCE O'LEARY: Henry I am Irish... well, we need to get started here with this windmill... CLARENCE O'LEARY: Boyos, grub is ready. Come and get it. Gather round...shut the hell up...please. Mrs. Grey Eagle has prepared this meal for us and first I'll say a little grace. Heavenly Father, thank you for this food. Thank you for the sun, and our strength. Mitakuye Oyasin. We are all related in your Holy Name....Oh, I almost forget... ...Thank you for the whiskey. Amen. CROWD OF WORKERS: Amen. CLARENCE O'LEARY: Boyos... raise your water mugs. We have been gifted a bottle of the finest spirits from Cork County. So after work if you'd like to help yourselves to a little snigger... by all means. But I shall be starting now... you be in heaven a half hour ore the devil knows you're dead! HENRY SEED: That is great! That is the type of toast that's going to keep me on my toes. CLARENCE O'LEARY: Well you've got half an hour...enjoy. SHERIFF CHAPMAN: Henry I want to see you in my office. Right now. SHERIFF CHAPMAN: What do you know about this? HENRY SEED: It is a bullet. It is my bullet. SHERIFF CHAPMAN: I received this from our mortician, he said he found it in the brain of Jonathan Brown....although I know that he has become sorely addicted to an opiate and sometimes his judgment is clouded. HENRY SEED: I believe that opiates add thunder to a man's clouds. SHERIFF CHAPMAN: Henry how did your bullet get mixed up with the offending bullet? HENRY SEED: It came in with the deceased. SHERIFF CHAPMAN: You mean that an un-fired, pristine bullet went through the skull of Jonathan Brown and scrambled his brains? HENRY SEED: Actually Sheriff, sometimes self-inflicted trauma is justice in its purest sense. SHERIFF CHAPMAN: How so? HENRY SEED: Twenty three men of the 7th Calvary were awarded the Congressional Medal of honor for bravery during the Massacre of Wounded Knee. Twenty three men who shot unarmed women and children. SHERIFF CHAPMAN: I'm very well aware of the battle. HENRY SEED: Please let me finish... The cowards behind those Hotchkiss guns not only shot and killed noble people. They killed thirty of their own cavalry men. SHERIFF CHAPMAN: It was tragic... HENRY SEED: Yeah tragic...Sheriff, did Jonathan ever regale you with his act of heroism that garnered such an august award? HENRY SEED: (voiceover) After the melee, Jonathon on his own accord, tracked down two Lakotas who had escaped the brunt of the massacre... For about a mile or so he tracked a 20 year old squaw named Mary Two Horse. ...Jonathan shot her in the back. She died immediately. Her one year old son, that she had been holding... froze to death that night, If I had to live with that horror, if I had to live with that raw unbridled cowardice. I would kill myself too. HENRY SEED: (voiceover) The bullet didn't kill him sir... Justice killed Jonathan Brown. SHERIFF CHAPMAN: Henry...I am asking you to go back from whence you came. HENRY SEED: And if I don't.... SHERIFF CHAPMAN: I will arrest you. HENRY SEED: You have no cause to hold me and I, sir, have unfinished business to attend to. SHERIFF CHAPMAN: You have 24 hrs... do you understand me? LITTLE THUNDER: (in Lakota) My dream today has the healing power of the Great Spirit and my grandfathers... but it comes in equal measure a seed of great destruction. FLUTE PLAYS FLUTE PLAYS MINOR RUNNING CLOUD: (in Lakota) RED WOLF: (in Lakota) LITTLE THUNDER: (in Lakota) INTERIOR TAVERN HENRY SEED: I give each one many chances to show change, I extend mercy in a merciful fashion. WANDA: Your new friends should inspire more raindrops of mercy. Gusty and Elizabeth are proof that things may change. HENRY SEED: Elizabeth Jane's father died in vain. WANDA: He died defending and protecting a Lakota woman from being savaged by two gun-slinging idiots. HENRY SEED: He died and the Lakota woman also died from her wounds. They both lost, nobody won...they all lost. WANDA: Gusty and Elizabeth are proof...that he won... BARTENDER ZEKE: You know Henry you can either spread the truth or you can spread sickness. HENRY SEED: and sometimes I can parcel out both with pinpoint accuracy KATHRYN RODGERS: Where is Dr. Bernhagen? SHERIFF CHAPMAN: He's just north of Eagle Butte. He should be back on Thursday What was he muttering? KATHRYN RODGERS: He kept pointing to this picture right here. He kept saying thunder, Thunder. SHERIFF CHAPMAN: Did Matthew do these? KATHRYN RODGERS: No. They were given to us by a gentleman just a couple of days ago. SHERIFF CHAPMAN: Did he give you anything else? KATHRYN RODGERS: These blankets. He said that they were.... umm... Indian made. SHERIFF CHAPMAN: Kathryn you need to burn these blankets right away. SOUND OF WIND MINOR RUNNING CLOUD: RED WOLF: MUSIC STARTS - MELANCHOLY IN NATURE. COLIN: Miss Wanda, did I tell you that my pop now owns 1600 acres and I am our ranch's leading cow puncher. MISS WANDA: I could see you punching cattle... COLIN: Yes ma'am KIPPY: Now Colin, that is impressive...but I am the 12th in command of the South Dakota Railroad Division number 245. COLIN: Kippy that is not impressive, there's only 13 people that work in your office. KIPPY: That is true Colin but let me tell you something, I am climbing right up that ladder... COLIN: Well I am friends with world famous people. WANDA: Like who, pray tell? COLIN: Like Mr. Thomas Ederson...he happens to consider me a very close friend and confidant. KIPPY: What? THE Thomas Ederson?...the inventor of the vacuum pump. COLIN: Well the vacuum pump, the candle under glass...which I think I invented anyway and he took it from me...Well I was a guest of his, right, about 5 or 6 years ago in 1893 back at the Chicago World's Fair. KIPPY: What that one in Chicago? COLIN: Yeah, the very same one...where he showed me his latest, greatest invention. As a matter of fact Miss Wanda I think I'm the first person in the world to see his "moving pictures"... and Mr. Ederson liked to refer to it as watching his "flim" WANDA: Flim? KIPPY: Flim? You punch drunk turd rambler it is "film"...film. F..I..L...L.M BARTENDER ZEKE: Gentleman I'm sure Miss Wanda is very impressed with your bilateral, chronically diminished mental acuity...but why don't we give Ms. Wanda a little bit of breathing space. COLIN: Thank you very much sir for your heartfelt compliment... KIPPY: Yeah, yeah I appreciate that. My daddy he used to say my brains were a thing of beauty...and now I know they're "a cutie." Thank you. Thank you. BARTENDER ZEKE: ....Yeah....you're welcome... WANDA: I like your jewelry Henry. It is very handsome. HENRY SEED: Thank you Miss Wanda. It is Lakota made. The warriors of their tribe wear it as a sign of honor and respect. WANDA: Gosh how....French of them. COLIN: Hey where I'm from the only males who wear jewelry are steers with those big ol' pins in their noses and flagholes who like to bump butts with other animals. HENRY SEED: Guys leave Wanda alone. Leave me alone. Or I will literally let hell loose on you. KIPPY: You know that whore was right about you. You are a French tickler and...a....oh Colin! COLIN: Oh damn you got me good Kippy. KIPPY: You want a drink? SHERIFF CHAPMAN: Pastor can you make anything of this drawing?.... I think it may have some religious significance. PASTOR CALMES DOYLE: I've seen drawings like this before. It reminds me of the visions of Little Thunder. SHERIFF CHAPMAN: The Lakota medicine man? PASTOR CALMES DOYLE: I tend to think of him as a modern day St. Paul with a touch of St. Peter thrown in. SHERIFF CHAPMAN: Well what makes you that he's a modern day Paul? PASTOR CALMES DOYLE: Paul originally chose a path of hatred and vengeance. The Lord split Paul's sword of hatred in two with a blinding flash like terrible thunder and lightning, leading Paul to a new path of peace and love. SHERIFF CHAPMAN: Are any of his visions like Peter's? PASTOR CALMES DOYLE: Instead of a cornucopia his visions involve circles or hoops. Each circle represents a different race or creed of mankind. The beautiful part about his visions are each circle becomes concentric and connected to each other. They all become brother circles, all connected to, and under, the eyes of our Heavenly Father. SHERIFF CHAPMAN: But this circle here seems to be broken. PASTOR CALMES DOYLE: Yes it does... HENRY SEED: Dr. Fixer I am in dire need of your medicine. DR. FIXER: Hold your horses I'll be out in a minute. Now, how many bottles do you desire sir? HENRY SEED: I actually need 12 bottles. DR. FIXER: Twelve! That's a healthy bill of sale... let me see that'll be 3 dollars.....three sir. HENRY SEED: There you go. DR. FIXER: Now, what is your ailment sir If I may inquire? HENRY SEED: None! I am as fit as a fiddle. DR. FIXER: Really? Well then you must have someone in your household who is suffering from a liver problem or maybe the yellow disease. HENRY SEED: Actually no... as a matter of fact I just thoroughly enjoy the taste of your elixir. DR. FIXER: Oh...OK..... HENRY SEED: Would you mind joining me for a few pulls? DR. FIXER: Well I have been feeling a little under the weather so to speak so I don't mind if I do... I could use a little shot of the cure-all you know... HENRY SEED: A toast... DR. FIXER: A toast.... HENRY SEED: May you be in heaven a half an hour before before I know you're dead. DR. FIXER: AAhh... I feel better already. HENRY SEED: So you are a doctor... you are a medical doctor? DR. FIXER: Ah no but I do have P.H.D. HENRY SEED: A P.H.D in what? DR. FIXER: In philosophy...but that does allow me to say that I am actually a doctor. HENRY SEED: Well doctor, what medicinal qualities does your elixir have? DR. FIXER: Well it has been known to treat anybody that has liver disease or that horrific yellowing of the skin that may accompany it. HENRY SEED: Are you sure your elixir isn't causing the cirrhosis of the liver and the yellowing of the skin. DR. FIXER: Now sir to suppose that... HENRY SEED: ...to suppose that this is actually 80 percent alcohol and 20 percent taproot? DR. FIXER: Well there is a small percentage of alcohol in there as a soporific... but that is actually a proprietary blend of the medicinal herbs and roots and proteins and vitamins. Yep. HENRY SEED: Who do you sell this to? DR. FIXER: Every man and woman of every walk and talk of life. HENRY SEED: Do you sell these to the Indian people? DR. FIXER: Yes we do in fact, I've been told that it helps them to think straight and, you know, be more healthy and have better self esteem! HENRY SEED: Do you know that it is illegal to sell alcohol on the reservation? DR. FIXER: Sir, this is not an alcohol... this is not classified as an alcohol, I'm telling you this has been classified as a medicinal by the medical council of the sovereign state of South Dakota. HENRY SEED: I've seen what your "medicinal" has done to the Indian people. I've seen the putrid condition that your alcohol has left them. I've seen them give you their last monies... DR. FIXER: ...well... HENRY SEED: ...I've seen them spend their monies on your alcohol instead of blankets and food... DR. FIXER: ...Sir, that is their choice. That is their choice. HENRY SEED: That is true...that is 100 percent true, that is their choice...but it's an interesting choice on your behalf. DR. FIXER: How so? HENRY SEED: That you actually see... that you actually bear witness to their seeds of despair and then water them with your elixir. DR. FIXER: Now sir. Sir, I take no moral responsibility for what certain people... they abuse my medicines... HENRY SEED: And I sir have no moral responsibility with the way I am going to leave you after I make you drink every one of those bottles...... DR. FIXER: ...thank you... HENRY SEED: ...you're welcome.... PASTOR CALMES DOYLE: Good afternoon...Little Thunder this is Sheriff Chapman...Sheriff Chapman, Little Thunder. The sheriff would like you to take a look at this drawing. LITTLE THUNDER: Who has done this? SHERIFF CHAPMAN: A man named Henry Seed. LITTLE THUNDER: I had a vision this morning..this is what I drew... this man is a Thunder Being, they watch over two spiritual roads. One is rain and thunder, the other is the growth and the peace that comes with the rain. He is only one road. SHERIFF CHAPMAN: He obviously isn't the peaceful road. LITTLE THUNDER: He wants to break your people's circle which in turn breaks all circles. SHERIFF CHAPMAN: This X on his chest... is there any significance to that? LITTLE THUNDER: A spear took his heart, replaced it with hate and left a scar of revenge. SHERIFF CHAPMAN: I need you to talk to him. LITTLE THUNDER: I will, after I talk to my people. HENRY SEED: My name is Dr. Henry Seed Fixer and I have the elixir of elixirs! FEMALE TOWNIE IN CROWD: Sir you have to have a permit to sell any wares in our town. HENRY SEED: Ma'am I have the correct permits here. I have all the permits and I have the backing of a higher authority every single step of the way. DRUNKEN MALE CROWD PERSON: Sir, what kind of medicine are you hawking here for us? HENRY SEED: That's a great question my brain addled drunken friend... DRUNKEN MALE CROWD PERSON: Well thank you very much. HENRY SEED: This medicine is a proprietary combination created by the United States Pharmacology Department. Its most beneficial, most important ingredient is this......This is the canine tooth of the Bovidae Bison Bison commonly known as the buffalo. We at the USPD extract the tooth and grind it down to a fine powder and then we add pure Wisconsin spring fed waters and our own combination of medicinal herbs, roots, proteins and vitamins. MALE CROWD PERSON: What's it good for? HENRY SEED: You sir have palpitations of the heart. You ma'am have hot flashes and pains in your wrists. You sir have residual back pain from falling off your horse exactly 26 days ago...And you sir have the bane of modern man. You were once young and virile My elixir can put the Jesse back in your James, put the Charles in your Dickens, put the Bat in your Masterson, put the Kid in your Billy and put the Wild Bill in your Hickok....But first let me tell you about our extraction process.We slowly slaughter the buffalo and then we, as it is still alive, pull the tooth. The carcass is then laid to waste like carrion, the rotted flesh for the crows and critters of the plains. We let the carcass go to waste... all of it... We use no meat for sustenance, no hide for warmth, no skin, not a bit, for leather, no bone for knick knacks or patty whacks nothing but this. LITTLE GIRL IN THE CROWD: His medicine is bad... it will hurt you! HENRY SEED: From the mouths of babes comes the truth on a white horse I have lost all my authority to sell you this elixir. BOOKSTORE OWNER: Ah a wonderful choice. I think you will enjoy Oliver Twist. Are you familiar with the story at all? HENRY SEED: No, a little, not much though. BOOKSTORE OWNER: I like to call it the preeminent rags to riches story. HENRY SEED: That's right; I do remember that he grew up in an orphanage. BOOKSTORE OWNER: Even with that humble beginning he is able to exhibit integrity and the power of choice. Even when no choice is given he still chose. HENRY SEED: How is that possible? BOOKSTORE OWNER: I like to call it the magic and mastery of volition... pure undiluted free will. HENRY SEED: So I guess you must be from the school of thought of John Milton then huh?...Creating a heaven from hell and a hell from heaven. BOOKSTORE OWNER: Exactly...there are no inextricable situations. The situation only takes meaning in the way that we perceive it, in the way that we handle it. HENRY SEED: So even if a man were shackled and bound he'd still have a choice? BOOKSTORE OWNER: Even more so. SHERIFF CHAPMAN: Michael lock your doors and meet me in my office. SHERIFF CHAPMAN: Michael did someone put rotting meat in your store... did you get a bad a delivery? MICHAEL: No I don't get no deliveries until next Tuesday. You were in my store this morning it was fine then wasn't it? SHERIFF CHAPMAN: Yes it was. MICHAEL: Well it ain't now, everything in the store has gone bad. The seeds have meal worms in them...even the damn hard candies have gone putrid. SHERIFF CHAPMAN: Did someone else enter your store after I left? MICHAEL: Well yeah about 6 or 7 people. SHERIFF CHAPMAN: Was one of them a tall gentleman with dark hair? MICHAEL: Yeah he didn't buy nothing, he just circled his hands around...I didn't know what the hell he was doing. I thought it was some damn European way of saying hello.... Well, I gotta go see what I can salvage from the store. HENRY SEED: Michael, your place smells really bad. MICHAEL: What did you do to my foodstuffs? HENRY SEED: Actually the question should be... what did I do to my foodstuffs? MICHAEL: I'm not getting you... I did nothing. HENRY SEED: You are absolutely correct. You've done nothing at all... nothing except lock your front door. Two winters ago you hoarded all of your food for your kinfolk, for your townsfolk. Any Indian looking for food you locked the front door. MICHAEL: They were beggars... I run a business. HENRY SEED: They were not beggars... they had federally issued vouchers... just as good as any minted money. MICHAEL: Well I was afraid we were gonna run out of food. HENRY SEED: You didn't run out of food Michael. You ended up with a large surplus that eventually went bad. MICHAEL: I think I may have been wrong in my judgment. I have thought about that almost every day for the last two years. I know what I did was wrong. HENRY SEED: Have you tried to rectify that wrong? MICHAEL: No but... if ever that happens again, I will do the right thing. HENRY SEED: I actually...I actually believe you. I appreciate your heartfelt manner...I do. Michael are you married? MICHAEL: No... HENRY SEED: Do you have any children? MICHAEL: No... HENRY SEED: I will not show you any mercy... LITTLE THUNDER: (in Lakota) MINOR RUNNING CLOUD: (in Lakota) RED WOLF: (in Lakota) SIMON: How's Gusty? ELIZABETH JANE: Very well. She asked about you. SIMON: See you after work. ELIZABETH JANE: Have a good day Simon. HENRY SEED: Simon, you're Elizabeth Jane's brother? SIMON: Yes sir. HENRY SEED: So Elizabeth Jane has an Indian for a friend? SIMON: Yes sir, they've been friends for 8 years. HENRY SEED: I heard that Gusty kinda likes ya. SIMON: I like her too. WANDA: Hello Henry........ HENRY SEED: (voiceover) ........When the drum was created it was created with a sole purpose--a heart and soul purpose to mirror all mankind's heartbeat and pulse, a rhythmic connection and a common percussive thread that is the backbone and building block of all of our heart songs....... A TRIBAL SONG PLAYS A TRIBAL SONG PLAYS HENRY WHISTLES RANCH OWNER OTIS: What the hell...you got no right to be here, this is my land. HENRY SEED: What's your name? RANCH OWNER OTIS: Otis HENRY SEED: Otis, do you know that in the Lakota language there are no words for ownership of land... That all land, all of this, only has One owner. RANCH OWNER OTIS: Really? See I got a deed that says otherwise. I own this land and I'd really like you to leave... HENRY SEED: Do you know where I was sitting, like what I was sitting next to? RANCH OWNER OTIS: Yeah, you're sitting on my land. That's my field, those are my trees. HENRY SEED: In this grove of trees is actually an Indian resting site. There are 18 souls, 18 bodies that have been 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 the bullies who won here, We're all in denial, the nations honor is still being defiled. You say zip about sin. Go on then... let evil win...You sittin here in shit and give in? Confess, yell it out! Let's exercise this - confess! Confess! |
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