"Okay." "Settle down." "Go!" "your ears open? a laughin' baby and a weeping' sword." "far away there lived a warrior" "Warrior with empty eyes." "He'd trained his entire Fife for one purpose." "To be the greatest swordsman in the history of mankind. but his heart felt emptier than ever." "These two clans had been warrin' for 500 years." "And they vowed to keep on warrin' until one of them didn't have a single man left above Styx. peering' down at this very last of his enemy." "It did somethin' to him inside." "But this was no time for feelin'." "He put his name at the top of his own clan's death list. he decided to pay a visit to an old warrior friend in a faraway land." "Johnny." "I don't like your stinkin' face." "Ronald." "The name's Eight Ball." "Like in the game bad luck for others." "my friend from the mystical East?" "Uh oh." "Haven't been here since Smiley kicked the bucket." "Was a 3 day wait just to get your shirts pressed." "he sure liked to make a mess if you know what I mean." "See you in the morning." "You came to me to be strong." "I have made you the strongest." "She will always be the enemy." "Here it is." "Just rub some on your shoulder." "Smiley's Oriental cure all." "Works like a charm." "I didn't forget about you." "ssh." "Sorry about the tap I gave ya." "I thought you knew the sword." "Smiley was always yabberin' on about a guy who was gonna roll into town." "But I shoulda figgered." "What do you call her?" "I do not know." "Oh." "She's not yours?" "Where's her folks?" "Dead." "best we find you another diaper." "Alright." "Smiley like your uncle or something?" "Friend." "maybe he would like for you to take over his laundry." "Do not know how." "So I'll teach ya." "I always done the laundry around here." "That's how I repaid Smiley for teaching me time sword." "Tell you what I'm gonna do." "I'll teach you how to tie a diaper properly." "60:40." "You are the 40." "time to get to work." "you're slower than molasses in January." "yellow boy." "As clean as Snow White's panties" "If I find the smallest bit of Condor crap on my fancy duds we gonna have us" "Didn't I tell you I'd rip 'em oh' if you don't watch yourself?" "evil midget!" "we were just havin' us some fun." "Really?" "Ah!" "Okay okay Let go." "Get outta here!" "How 'bout a home cooked meal for you and your little 'un? And then we can take the word "travelling" out of "travelling circus." "Ron." "Welcome to the Eighth Wonder of the World!" "Get down here!" "The chow bell ringin'!" "Ha!" "bravo." "Gonna grab some vittles with us?" "Not hungry." "I I I b baked a cake." "Ron!" "What the hell's up with her?" "I knew you was trouble the moment you walked into this" "Sounds even better from inside." "You ever seen one of these before?" "The sound it's makin'?" "It's called "opera he went out and bought this thing." "Listen." "Here's my favorite part. the warrior began to learn stuff he shoulda learned a long time ago." "no!" "Rough!" "Like the joy of gettin' dirty things clean." "Yes!" "Woo hoo!" "That's me!" "Thank you!" "not at the coin!" "An right!" "He also learned the joy of losing." "You're gonna need blood and bone of about 100 dead buffaloes as fertilizer." "Smiley always tried to get something to grow." "ever lasted too long." "He learned you could be happy working' with folks." "And finding' the simple peace in some private time after a hard day's work." "What's takin' you so long?" "Skinny!" "You gonna miss it Come on." "And he found that it's nice to have a few friends around when the sun goes down." "But most of all the warrior learned there's a heck of a lot more pleasure makin' things grow than there is in cutting' 'em down." "You bunch of pups!" "Gimme back that goddamn bottle!" "You win." "Show me what you got." "God damn!" "I shoulda never taught you this game!" "You a shark with a poker face." "What happened to her?" "Please!" "Help me!" "Help me!" "Lynne!" "help me!" "Eight Ball!" "Lynne!" "Hungry?" "No?" "Pretty thing." "Aagh!" "Agh!" "Aah!" "Damn you!" "Noooo!" "No!" "Lynne!" "Lynne!" "Agh!" "No!" "No! she was still breathing." "Never known nobody that close to kickin' it." "if'n she was gonna live or die." "So we just put her in bed and waited." "and she was eating soup." "she was already sitting up somehow and slinging daggers at the wall." "But God ain't fair." "And some people just ain't cut out for the knife." "Dang it." "My arm ain't worth a damn." "It is not your arm." "Wha'd you say?" "Ouch!" "Now you sure about this?" "'Cause I'm not so good with my eyes open." "Throw." "I can't do it." "Do not talk." "Focus." "It is your heart that shakes." "You dead?" "Not yet." "are ya?" "shit!" "Ha!" "I did it!" "Mr. Sad Flute." "Smiley told me everything." "I just taught you to focus." "Why you do that?" "Okay." "I've always been dyin' to know." "Why are y'all called The Sad Flutes?" "too?" "Sad Flutinas or somethin'?" "Yes." "Wow!" "That's nice." "Jumpin' in the moonlight and kissin' as you both fly under the stars to the tunes of The Sad Flutes the last sound is like a sad flute." "Dang!" "don't ya?" "Why'd you become a Sad Flute?" "To be strong." "That it?" "My father was working in the Held." "I was helping him." "A swordsman came." "Killed my father." "Just to test his sword." "That musta hurt you somethin' bad." "Not hull." "Angry." "Course." "No" "I was angry at my father." "Here." "Take it." "My momma gave it to me. it takes away all your sadness." "It works." "Kinda." "Present?" "Yeah." "That is your only friend here." "Take good care of it." "master." "tarnations." "not kill." "an armadillo?" "Is that what I think it is?" "You've sealed it." "So they cannot hear." "Hear what?" "The weeping." "Of all the souls I have taken." "Who's listenin'?" "My past." "And if it hears?" "No more music." "This is a big country." "Where do we look?" "Do not look." "We listen." "He will show." "Think of the sword as part of the body." "Like a finger." "Like a tooth." "Rather think of it like metal slicing' through a herd of buffalo!" "Show me what Smiley taught you." "You do not have the power." "thank you very much." "I did not know that." "But you are fast." "Just have to be faster." "Ouch!" "Ouch!" "Is this 'cause of yesterday?" "'Cause I said I was sorry!" "Skinny." "I'm serious!" "You are slower than molasses in January." "then!" "Ah!" "(laughs) Ouch!" "Skinny!" "Owl" "Skinny!" "Cut it out!" "I'm serious!" "Stop!" "You bearded nut!" "Laundry Man!" "Merry Christmas!" "Merry Christmas." "Yeah!" "We go!" "May I have this dance?" "Whose birthday?" "Well It's sort of a long story." "hey!" "ya young punks!" "Ya gonna take me for a spin or what?" "I win." "No you have not won." "Is that so?" "Did that stop your heart?" "Ha!" "That's better!" "Merry Christmas!" "I didn't get my invitation." "Has anyone seen it?" "No?" "Huh." "Never mind." "We're all here now." "No harm done." "ho." "little boy?" "Huh?" "Why." if it ain't a clown." "Huh." "I never found clowns that funny myself." "clown." "I'm a pretty good shot." "Especially when I've been drinking." "Hey!" "Don't go wastin' good moonshine." "This shit's smoother'n a calf's ass." "But this this party's for girls." "Let's all go to the spilloon!" "What have we here?" "Looks like we got ourselves another clown." "Take this clown for a walk." "Never quite understood the attraction of a circus." "Till now" "Join the others in Stockton." "I'll catch you up." "Hyah!" "Hyah!" "I have a few old memories I'd like to revisit." "Follow me." "Dang it!" "He killed my whole family!" "lei me go or I swear I'm gonna" "Lynne." "you know." "It's for the whole goddamn town." "Let me see!" "We have a winner!" "Gentlemen?" "Maria!" "uh marido?" "My apologies." "I am not the kind of man who sleeps with a married woman." "No" "Senor!" "Mommy!" "No!" "Oh!" "But their daughters Clean them up." "You get a bullet in the head for every louse I find." "I once strung a man up by his own hamstrings because he cooked me a steak well done." "What?" "Find that funny?" "Or is it because of this?" "gentlemen." "This girl says she'll serve herself up to you instead of the spics." "met before?" "No." "We haven't." "This is bound to be a night you will never forget." "You have good teeth." "I like that." "I'm sure you will find there's a whole lot more of me to like." "I have no doubt of that." "I was hopin' you could teach me a thing or two." "Life's best lessons tend to hurt." "Sharp pain can bring sharp pleasure." "Tell them to get." "This ain't the theatre." "you heard the lady." "Make yourselves scarce." "Lynne!" "She's not here!" "I might say some things during." "Feel free to answer if you like." "Nothing is too wrong." "I've been waitin' my whole life for a place where it's right to be wrong." "I don't think any part of the body is dirty or bad." "Just as long as it's well scrubbed" "Yes." "Assemble." "Now." "Now where do you plan to begin the inspection?" "I like where the skin creases" "Go on." "Between your nice big" "Moment I smelt your neck" "It all came flooding back." "No girl could ever smell as sweet." "My world." "My face." "little girl." "And now I'm I'm going to change yours." "That certainly is a beautiful scar I gave you." "A hard on for a scar." "Now that is wrong." "Oops." "I forgot." "Nothing tonight is wrong." "Tell the cook to fry up some potatoes" "I thought I should give you what I was so generously offering ten years ago." "Enjoy the show." "No!" "He's mine." "Lynne." Are you all right?" "Cover me!" "Hold on!" "Lynne!" "Agh!" "Pull it off." "She got the wrong guy." "That ain't him." "God help us." "Merry Christmas!" "it's a goddamn butcher shop in here!" "I must go or you will all be in danger." "We're in danger already." "Colonel's on the loose." "Lynne here smoked the wrong guy." "and he's bringing the whole damn family." "We need the guy who did that butcher job in the saloon." "I say we all just pack up and leave." "you'll die like rats." "What rifles?" "You got a Chink with a sword and a buncha juggling idiots." "How dare you?" "!" "That ain't all we got." "Hey!" "Beth will understand." "Follow me." "I ruined everything." "Didn't I?" "You did what you had to do." "You coulda just grabbed April and hit the trail." "But you didn't." "Knowing saving me would ruin every new thing you found here." "without you" "Not so new." "let's say somehow they all come and go and we're still breathin'." "right?" "That is the plan." "Um" "Maybe I could go with you?" "alright?" "Hey!" "That's my primo cactus juice!" "Yee haw!" "Whoo!" "I knew what you was from the get go." "Don't need to look at the size of a man." "I can smell the blood." "too." "Yeah." "Good." "get my jacket clean if you can." "I want to look good doing it." "Why die?" "'Cause we only got about a hundred sticks of dynamite and a few weapons." "That ain't much more 'n to sting them with." "You also have that." "for a laundry man." "You do a good shooting." "For a drunken man." "Why you stopped the shooting?" "hitting trains till I ran into the only force that can truly bring down any outlaw." "Sheriff?" "Woman." "I didn't wanna run." "What happened then? They ambushed me." "Bullets flying' everywhere." "One of 'em found Beth." ""Don't never pick up no gun again." "So far at least till today" "I done what she asked." "Laundry Man" "You get as far away from 'em as possible." "'Cause we're sand." "They're flowers." "These are yours." "These are to kill." "Come." "Closer." "Here." "Here." "Here." "Remember these places." "Fastest ways to Kill your enemy." "I will remember." "Company charge!" "Oh" "Hey!" "What the hell?" "Agh!" "Come on!" "Whoo!" "up there!" "Come on men!" "Agh!" "down there!" "Get down." "Shoot them!" "Ah!" "let's get out of here." "Shoot them!" "Shit" "Dynamite!" "Run for your lives!" "Take cover!" "Ya hoo!" "Shit!" "We did it!" "They hit Jacques!" "Come on!" "Back to town!" "Come on." "Let's close this damn circus down!" "Burn it!" "Come on!" "Kill." "Run." "come on!" "Into the hotel!" "Keep low!" "Get them!" "Here!" "Take her!" "Skinny!" "I I couldn't protect April." "Guard the hallway!" "And don't let a damn soul into this room!" "What the" "Agh!" "and she's soup." "I said stop!" "Yah!" "Agh!" "That sure is a purty scar I gave you." "Agh!" "Ooh!" "Ooh!" "Ugh!" "little girl." "Wear something nasty." "Yaah!" "Is this the new life you have found?" "Funny." "Look much like the old one. her father and her entire clan?" "She is the enemy." "She will always be the enemy." "You came to me to be strong." "I have made you the strongest." "Kill her now." "You do not belong here." "I do." "I did." "You have the perfect body for an assassin but the heart of a priest." "Your heart will become your biggest enemy." "You must kill your biggest enemy." "We are assassins." "we will destroy." "You are assassin." "you'll destroy." "Did we win?" "We survived." "Some of us." "I'm not goin' with you." "Am I?" "I guess that's the end of them." "No." "It is just the beginning." "What about the baby?" "She gonna be safe?" "They are listening for this to cry." "Not her." "Sand Man." "Keep walkin'." "The warrior walked away. always making sure to keep as much distance as possible between himself and the little gal he loved." "How much?" "Free."