"Callie and Decca were two sisters." "They were on a boat." "They're in the water, and Callie said to Decca," ""Decca, will you tell me the story about the upside-down tree again please?"" "And Decca said, "Once upon a time," ""there was an upside-down tree." ""And anyone who walked in through the door of its trunk" ""would be immediately turned to good if they were bad."" "Callie said, "I would really like to see that tree sometime."" "They went on and on in the water." "Can you make water?" "Yeah." "And then all of a sudden, they hit land." "Oh." "And all the animals joined them, 'cause they wanted to see the upside-down tree, too." "They had a bunny rabbit." "Can you make a bunny rabbit?" "Yeah, the bunny rabbits went, and there were... wolves." "And there was a cheetah." "And..." "No, don't eat my nose." "I'm trying to tell a story." "Are you a monster?" "Are you a monster eating my nose?" "I'm so scared of monsters." ""I wish I could find the upside-down tree,"" "and they ran and they found the upside-down tree, but outside was a lion." ""Get away from my tree." "This is my tree."" "And Callie said," ""Well, if it's your tree, Lion, why don't you go inside it?"" "Lion said, "All right, I will."" "And he went inside his tree." "And his claws went back in his paws." "He started smiling." "He started relaxing." "He said, "You're my friends, and all my friends are welcome here."" "And so Callie and Decca went into the upside-down tree, and they all lived happily ever after." "Do good people ever turn bad in the upside-down tree?" "No." "Good people never turn bad." "Sweet dreams, baby." "Daddy!" "Daddy!" "Ham!" "Gunpowder." "Okay." "Ready?" "I'm ready." "And... now." "Son of a...!" "Watch your language." "Last one." "This one's not coming out." "Jane." "Jane." "What?" "The Bishop boys." "They're coming." "They're coming?" "I'm sorry." "I'm so sorry." "If them bullets don't kill you, and this storm you somehow brought upon us don't kill you, goes without saying..." "I will kill you." "But I reckon," "You might just be immortal." "Don't go jumping up the second I leave, starting gunfights." "No." "I can't feel my legs." "You..." "You get going." "Get Katie safe with you." "I'm not gonna have you lose another child." "Jane?" "Mm-hmm?" "You don't have to come back." "I understand." "You know me better than that." "Mommy, when are we coming back?" "Real soon, sweetheart." "Coming back real soon." "Remember where you came from." "What was there?" "A cord." "Right." "And wherever you are, I feel you." " Okay?" " Okay." "Okay." "Didn't I make it clear last time?" "You ain't welcome here, Jane." "Get out." "Bishop boys are coming for us." "I need help." "You roll over in that bed of yours, Jane," "I think you'll find someone who can help you." "He can't help." " That's why I came." " That's funny, isn't it?" "Isn't that also the reason why you left?" "There is so much you don't know, Dan." "What I know... is I seen everything I need to know with my own two eyes." "So whatever you gotta say to me," "I figure you go back to that little house of yours and best tell it to your husband." "'Cause me, I'm busy." "And I don't got time to entertain every girl I laid with back in Missouri." "Dan!" "If my husband could help, I wouldn't have come here." "He's in rough shape." "Well, that's too bad." "What did he do?" "Bishop boys have been hunting us down for years." "They finally found Ham, and they shot him to hell and back." "Well, I ain't no doctor." "I don't need a doctor." "I need a gunslinger." "Them Bishop boys are coming for you... you don't need a gunslinger." "You need a goddamn regiment." "If I were you..." "I would just go home, and I would toss that big sack of shit on a wagon and I would ride him into town yourself, so they can hang him quick." "Bishops would be sated, and you'll still have your life." "Maybe even a little bag of gold for your troubles." "Anything else you choose to do... is pure ignorance." "I thank you for your hospitality." " You're welcome." " And judging by the looks of things, you wouldn't have been much use to me anyway." "Probably not." "I'll hire me somebody in Lullaby." "He's not worth your life, Jane." "My life's worth isn't your concern." "Hasn't been for years." "I understand that you were engaged in the trading of fur with my old... friend, Bill Hammond." "Somehow he managed to execute four of my men and then ride off, despite the fact that he was peppered with bullet wounds." "Now, how would he have done that?" "I seen it through the window, Mr. Bishop." "Hammond walked to his horse." "A bunch of guys came around the corner." "All hell broke loose." "Hammond got the best of them." "You ever see him in the company of a woman, significantly more attractive than he is?" "Goes by the name of Jane Ballard." "Would you happen to know where Hammond resides, then?" "You're a fur trader!" "Here I am trying to trade with you, and you've nothing to offer!" "Don't know where he lives." "But I see him... always heading north." "Please." "Please." "I..." "I have a family." "How long you been there for?" "Got enough firepower here to start another war." "What you want all this stuff for, anyways?" "Just do." "Yeah!" "Well, mama said we can bring 'em with us if we pack 'em up." "Excuse me." "Do you know where I could find John Bishop?" "Well, Mr. Bishop's a very busy man." "Vic could help you." "He's his right hand." "Sometimes his left." "He's right back there." "All right." "Thank you very much." "Pleasure." "Come on, Mary." "Bye." "You Vic?" "What'd you want?" "I want to join the trek." "Well, that wagon's full." "What?" "You don't hear good?" "Something I can help you with?" "I'm hoping to ride west with John Bishop's party." "Fella outside said there's no room." "That's my brother, Vic." "He's an unyielding sort." "What's your name?" "Jane Ballard." "Tell me something, Jane." "How many's in your party?" "Just me and my little girl." "Husband?" "Had a fiance." "He's dead." "Died in the war." "You're only a slight thing, Jane." "I think we can accommodate your request." "We're assured protection?" "Passage and protection, most assuredly." "Thank you." "Seem to recall you putting up more of a fight last time, Jane." "The years do take it out of a person, I guess." "How about you scoot on back there?" "Hmm?" "Hmm?" "Yeah." "Yeah." "Get us a little privacy." "Now, let's you and me talk about a certain... fur trading son of a bitch named Bill Hammond." "I haven't seen Bill Hammond in years." " That right?" " That's right." "Ooh!" "Is that a Walker you got there, Jane?" "You know, that's a very particular model of firearm you got." "Yeah." "Believe I've seen that very one right up close in the hand of Bill Hammond." "Mm-hmm." "You remember when he shot me, don't you, Jane?" "Want to touch it?" "Let me get this straight." "Hammond shoots four of my boys with a Walker that looks just like that one there." "Then, a couple days later, his prize whore shows up right here in Lullaby." "I haven't seen Hammond in years!" "You know, Jane, I could believe you." "I really could." "But I like to be sure." "So now you're gonna stand up and take me to your house." "If he ain't there, I'll give you my word," "I probably ain't gonna kill you." "Hmm?" "But I sure as hell gonna..." "The hell are you?" "You okay, Jane?" "What's your stake in this, cowboy?" "Well, I'm not sure yet." "Why don't you holster those Colts... let that lady be, and we can talk." "How about you lower that rifle... and I make it worth your while." "Really?" "How so?" "Split a bounty with you?" "Fixin' to get Bill Hammond." "Well, how much?" "Enough." "Dan." "Shut up, Jane." "You help us out, we cut you in." "Maybe I even share this one with you." "Course, I get to go first." "Me and Jane got some..." "We gotta get out of here." "Give me a minute." "Katie?" "She's fine." "How are you feeling?" "Turn me over." "Turn me over." "I'm here." "Okay?" "Sorry I was gone so long." "I brought help." "Lie down." "Relax." "That all seems so far away." "They already got plenty of men." "I gotta go, Jane." "No, you want to go." "You know, the war isn't gonna last very long." "They say I'll be back in a couple of months." "Jane, really." "I will be back... in a couple of months, and we'll go wherever you want." "Well, I want to go see the Pacific." "I want to step my feet where there's no further to go." "Well, that is what we're gonna do." "I love you." "Then stay." "We best get moving." "Mm-hmm." "Boys, we got another one dead." "Found Fitchum all shot up in an alley." "Half his head on one side, half his head on another." "A man and woman seen leaving Lullaby before the blood dried." "And the girl fit the description of our old friend Jane." "Now, Fitchum's demise brings Hammond's tally to five dead men, disregarding his heroics at the whorehouse we all remember." "Now, we'll spread out across this valley here." "Question every living soul." "We will turn over every rock until that snake slithers out into sight." "Well... let's hope the Bishop boys are all very big and fat." "Ham taught me how to hunt." "Rabbit stew doesn't taste very good without rabbits." "Is that a way in?" "There's only one way in, one way out." "That's why we chose to build here." "What about the ridge?" "You can maybe get up there." "Good luck getting down." "Okay, so he says, "They're coming."" "Well, how many might "they" be?" "I don't know." "Used to be more than a dozen of them, but that was a long time ago." "Could be any number of them by now." "Minus the four your husband shot." "And the one that you sent to the bone orchard." "Pardon me, ma'am." "I was wondering if you could take a look at this photograph." "I'm searching for my fiancee, Jane Ballard." "Pardon me, sir." "Take a look at this photograph." "Last I knew, she was traveling on a train of wagons." "Uh, from Missouri." "Been searching far and wide for her." "Yeah, she is." "She's beautiful." "Thank you, ma'am." "Thank you for your time." "Pardon me, friend." "I'm, uh... seeking to find someone." "Believe she might have traveled here to Raphael." "Name of Jane Ballard." "You wouldn't happen to be the same Dan Frost who gained such renown during the late war, now, would you?" "I believe you put a Reb general, as well as a lot of other high-profile grays, under your belt early on in the conflict." "Is that correct?" "Why, he don't look like no hero to me." "He look more like Spoons." "Or kin to him." "He's a former associate of ours who had an unfortunate proclivity for the pilfering of silverware." "He's no longer under my employ." "He's dead." "Beauregard carried this in Shiloh." "Now, that is the prize of my collection." "Did you know that Shiloh means "place of peace" in Hebrew?" "Ain't nothing peaceful about Shiloh." "No, indeed." "Indeed." "So, what is your, uh... interest here, Mr. Frost, in that woman?" "I know that she traveled west with a train of wagons." "Wagons belonging to you." "And I've been tracking her path." "Why would you do that?" "She's my fiancee." "And I..." "I hope to bring her home." "Then I suggest you find Bill Hammond there, Sure Shot." "Uh, who's Bill Hammond?" "Who's Bill Hammond?" "Bill Hammond... is another former associate of ours." "He fixated on Jane along the journey." "He absconded with her in the dead of night." "They haven't been seen in roughly a year's time." "Now, we searched for them, naturally, but, uh... well, it's a big country." "There's negatives and positives here, Mr. Frost." "The negative is that..." "Bill Hammond is a wretched and remorseless individual." "The positive is that I would presume that he's kept Jane alive." "Now, I imagine one could fight a case for that also being a negative, now I come to think on it." "He's worth 2,000." "Now, I would be happy to double that if you saw fit to bring Hammond back here to Raphael for a reckoning." "I'd like to offer you two of my best men to assist you in your quest." "Now, what befell Jane is very troubling to all of us, and we would like to help you to set it right." "Shall I have the men saddle up?" "Well, with respect..." "I, uh..." "I prefer to ride alone." "If you cannot hold your tongue, I will cut it out of your head." "Goddamn it." "Where's my horse?" "Best chance we got." "If they only see the one horse... you're home alone." "Listen, if it all falls down, we're gonna need an escape." "Now, you say that you can ride up that ridge but not down." "Does that mean you've ever ridden it?" "Ham's not fit to get on a horse, Dan." "Well, all right, then." "Well, I'm gonna need your help, then." "I'm gonna need you to fetch all the wooden planks that are inside the shed, and I need you to pile them up on the porch, and I'm gonna need to take a look inside the house." "Ham." "This is the help I told you about." "Shh." "I'll start a fire, all right?" "No, no." "Jane." "No fire." "Smoke is like waving a flag." "You know, if he's cold, he... he can piss all on himself." "What's this?" "What's in here?" "So how old's the child now?" "She's five." "Took her to my friend's." "Mm-hmm." "Kerosene that you got in the shed... you got any more of that?" "Uh... think I got a couple more tins in the kitchen." "All right." "I'm gonna need you to empty all of these." "Jane." "Go around the ridge!" "Take your men to the east!" "Jane!" "Jane!" "Where are we going?" "It's a surprise." "Just wait." "They're not gonna let you in the army if you run like that." "Hey!" "Jane!" "Come on!" "Come on, cousin!" "We only got an hour before we pack up for Topeka!" "Come on, get a move on!" "Dan." "How are you?" "Come on board, Dan." "All right, squeeze by there, partner." "There we go." "All right, little cousin, hold on for the ride." "Ah!" "Wonder if we'll be able to see the ocean from here." "What if we just stayed up here and never came down?" "Wouldn't that be something?" "That would be something." "Oh, my." "That's Dan Frost, ain't it?" "You told me he was dead." "I thought he was." "He was the only one I could go to." "This is a job for him." "Nothing more." "Jars are empty." "I need you to fill about 20 of them with kerosene." "And leave two fingers at the top." "Oh, and break some of the bottles into shards, too." "And round up all the nails you got left." "Why'd you change your mind to help me?" "I don't know." "Well, I'm grateful that you did." "Well, that's okay." "I got all the gratitude I need right here rolled up in my pocket." "You are such a prick." "A prick that's come to protect you and your piece of shit husband." "You don't know the first thing about Ham." "Well, I know that he's a criminal." "You know, he could've taken those five bullets and laid down by some pretty river somewhere and let the Lord take him." "What kind of man brings that shit home to his wife?" "The kind of man who doesn't quit." "The kind of man who always comes home, no matter what." "Goddamn it!" "I came home, Jane." "And you were gone." "And I rode halfway across the damn country looking for you." "Yeah, showing your picture to everybody from Missouri to New Mexico like a beggar." "When?" "When was that?" "'Cause I waited for three years, Dan." "You might as well been dead." "If I were dead, you would've seen my name on the list at the post office;" "That's how it works." "Well, if you'd been alive, I would've seen my name on a letter at that same post office, Dan." "Hell, you got tired of waiting, you just found yourself an outlaw." "Ah, I guess a fickle woman's grief moves very quickly." "Oh, what would you know about grief?" "You know what, Dan?" "You might want to see a day where the sun don't just shine on your story." "'Cause there is a whole world out there of other people's tales, you just care and listen." "Okay, well, if we get through this, you can tell me all about it, Jane." "But right now, I'm busy digging." "Probably our graves." "Dan." "I'm getting the dynamite." "Howdy, friend." "You didn't happen to see an Appaloosa back there on the trail?" "With no rider, no saddle?" "Pea-brain wife gone and left the gate open again." "No." "Maybe you seen what I'm looking for." "I don't know." "What's that?" "Fella by the name of Bill Hammond." "Little on the big side." "A little shot up." "No, sir." "This here is my property, and, uh..." "You telling me to get off your property, mister?" "Well, no." "It's just, I would've seen a man bleeding on my property is all." "Well, this here is the last place out here for miles." "Uh, next house is over yonder ridge." "Couple by the name of Johnson." "Everything else you probably would've seen the way you came." "And that there ridge... that's the end of the line, mister." "I know you?" "I damn sure know her." "Where are the rest of them?" "Where are they?" "I said, where are they?" "All over this fucking valley, you goddamn cocksucker." "How many?" "Are you deaf?" "I said, how many?" "Maybe ten." "Could be a hundred." "Minus one." "Getting his horse." "What'd you do with the body?" "I buried him under some rocks." "I don't want that bastard on my land." "We get through this, Jane," "I will be happy to move him for you." "It pain you to take a life like that?" "Pain me a lot more to let him do it to me." "Only point of a battle, Jane, is to end it in your favor." "You kill the other guy." "Otherwise, he'll kill you." "You know, fear is good, Jane." "Fear will keep you alive." "We're gonna be outnumbered." "The hell with numbers." "We had the Johnnies outnumbered well and truly." "You know, it took us four years to do what we should've done in a few months, because they had will and purpose." "If you got those two things, numbers ain't shit." "Now, I didn't understand that until I went through it myself." "Lived it." "The Rebels, they captured me just outside of Seven Pines." "And they put me in a prison camp not a lot of men made it out of." "It's the ones that had something really strong to hold on for." "If I didn't have a picture of you... in my mind's eye..." "I never would've made it." "A man loses purpose, that's when a man dies." "After the war ended, they let us go." "Jane." "I gotta get to work." "The first thing I did was come looking for you." "When I finally found you... seeing you holding another man's child..." "She's a good girl." "I knew you weren't mine no more." "And that did something to me that the war never could." "What's the matter, outlaw?" "Don't tell me you got a problem with a... a man taking a thing that don't belong to him." "Huh?" "Acting like he got a claim to putting his hand on something that he don't?" "Here you go." "A man pays for everything he takes, Hammond." "You're no different." "Oh, I've been wanting to kill you all day." "You know, I've seen a lot of men carry that same look of death that you got right now." "Yeah, you're fixin' to make the very big jump, my friend." "Straight to perdition." "And while you're burning... just know that Jane and I will be right up above you." "And I want you to..." "I want you to think about that with the shank of time that you got left." "Don't know what it is you ever see in that man, Jane." "You want to have a word with us, Hammond?" "Well, you know what I been thinking, boys?" "I'm starting to take a shine to that Jane over there." "We did notice that." "Well, I was fixin' to go and declare myself... in Raphael." "You want to keep Jane?" " Like to." " For yourself?" "Yep." "Settle down." "Were you fixin' on marrying her?" "Intend to ask her." "Girl like that could set me straight." "Man gets tired of running from the law." "Well, come on, now." "Think about it." "A woman like that... how much money she'd make for me." " Wait, wait, wait." " Now, Hammond, Hammond, Hammond." " Easy now here, Hammond." " Calm down." "Now I'm starting to have a problem." "The problem is that that is not your property." "You telling me she's your property?" "The money that she's worth..." " Are you fuckin' kidding me?" " This is just horseshit." " Easy, Ham." " We'll talk about it in the..." "Fixed the wagon." "They don't show by dawn," "I say we load Ham up... try the ridge." "What about your daughter?" "She stays with Bekah till we get settled." "Jane." "You can let the sun shine on your story... if you s... still have a mind to." "Not much sun in my story." "Yeah." "War was... ceaseless, you know." "The smell of death... everywhere." "Our road we used to walk to town..." "I saw..." "I saw dead bodies hangin'." "Girls I knew, widows, they said... said they were going out west, town called..." "Raphael, New Mexico." "And sunshine all day and silver streaming from the hills." "You weren't there." "So I... decided we should go." "And Bishops, they offered protection, but... they had other intentions." "Bishop was setting up a new town." "What's a town without a cathouse?" "And then, of course, you need girls." "Girls with no one to protect 'em." "That man dying down there... one you call a criminal... he was the only one who tried to stop 'em." "He was the only one." "He tried to help us." "Who's "us," Jane?" "You keep saying "us."" "Two months after you left, I found out I was with child." "I named her Mary after your mother." "Hey, Vic." "You seen where Jane's at?" "In Lullaby with Bishop." "Workin'." "And what about Mary?" "Mary." "Bishop told me to take care of her." "Wasn't sure what he meant by that, so I just took a guess." "Did you know she couldn't swim?" "We were just outside Raphael when they took us." "Ham tried to go find Mary." "It was too late." "So, yeah..." "I settled with another man." "Had another child." "That girl you rode so far to see..." "I ain't her anymore." "Life stopped being something that you live after that day." "Just something you endure." "Shit!" " Ham!" "Ham!" " You piece of shit!" "Ham!" "Easy, Ham." "Easy." "I didn't do nothing." "Mary?" "Jane." "Jane, get up." "That day I came to your house, that first time, I..." "I wanted to tell you." "You were so filled with hate." "Do you think that Bishop is gonna come himself?" "Or is he gonna send his men to do his bidding?" "He'll come." "He wants more than Ham." "I pray that he comes." "Well, this is not how I pictured life turning out, Jane." "How did you see it?" "Mostly from up high." "I'd imagine... we just never came down that day." "Just chose to live in the sky." "It's hard to remember though... how things seemed when you know... how they actually turned out." "Hmm." "You have to go, Jane." "You gotta get your girl and get clear of all this." "I've been running my whole life." "Doesn't end." "They come to my house..." "I'm gonna protect it." "Whatever happens, I gotta put my face to it." "Shh." "Jane?" "You got 30 seconds to get your pretty self inside and send us Bill Hammond." "If he comes out, you live." "If he don't, then we're just getting started here." "Are you okay?" "Jane!" "Tick-tock!" "You're gonna be all right, okay?" "Time's up, Jane!" "Jane." "You leave with him." "You get out of here." " Go." " You don't talk like that." "We're all leaving here together." "Come on." "Hold on tight." "You hold on." "Son of a bitch." "Jane!" "We have to get him down below." "Hurry." "We'll get you safe." "You hang on, Ham." "You'll make it through." "Get him up." "Can you hold that?" "Anybody ain't us opens that door, you gotta start shooting." "Jane, get a lantern." "Get behind the bed." "Cover me." "Jane!" "Jane!" "It's okay." "Ready?" "One, two..." "You didn't think it was over, did you, Jane?" "I'm gonna burn the house down!" "Jane, listen to me." "Look at me, look at me." "You and me, we're gonna make the ridge." "All right?" "All right." "Just hang in there." "We are so close." "Now, listen, we're gonna get your girl." "We're gonna light out for California." " Does that sound good?" " Mm." "Doesn't that sound good?" "Hands high." "Now, Hammond's dead." "You can take what you came for." "Oh, I will." "Drop the guns." "Dan Frost." "You still have a taste for battle, I see." "Now, you say our friend Ham has passed?" "Love to hear how the three of you ended up playing house here, but... well, that's a tale for another time." "Let's go see Jane." "That your handiwork or mine?" "No." "That's on you." "Where is she?" "I don't know." "Jane!" "Putting a bullet in your boyfriend!" "You're gonna shoot me in the back like the coward you are?" "It appears she's left you once again, Mr. Frost." "You so much as flinch and I will blow your head off." "Drop 'em." "Now!" "Turn around." " Now, Jane..." " You don't even want to know what a mother comes up with when someone kills their child." "Shooting you didn't even make my list." "It's too kind." "Your child's not dead, Jane." " What?" " Mary is alive." "You're a fuckin' liar." "No, Vic told Bill Hammond that your daughter was killed." "I don't know what to tell you other than to offer that my brother has always had a troubled sense of humor." "Now, I may be an outlaw, but I don't kill little children, Jane." "It's a trick, Jane!" "Shoot him or I will!" "I swear!" "I swear that she's alive and well!" "I'll gladly take you to her." "Where is my daughter?" "Where is she?" "Now, but, Jane, if I tell you that, what am I left with?" "Nothing." "Where... is... my... child?" "Jane!" "Are you counting'?" "'Cause I still got a pair of bullets and a question that I ain't gonna ask again!" "You know where she is, Jane." "Everyone misses you there." "Mary?" "Mama?" "We're gonna put him in a wooden coffin and stand him on the corner over there." "I want every man, woman and child to see what this son of a bitch looks like." "All right." "Girls, you want to give your mom the flowers?" "Thank you." "Thank you." "All right." "Shall we?" "Let's go."