"Martha!" "Martha, what time is it?" "Nine-thirty" "Why didn´t you wake me?" "Because it´s Saturday" "Harry?" "Want some breakfast?" "What is it?" "Pancakes" "Later. I´m working" "Aw, Hal!" "That little bastard been bugging you again?" "Don´t call him bastard" "Pardon me, Hal. I´ll get the paper" "Why don´t you go after breakfast?" "Well, I want to look at the ads I don´t want to spend another day looking at places we can´t afford I can go by myself" "It´d be silly to leave here" "Do you think the roads are clear?" "They´ll be all right" "Sorry I got mad at you" "Hi" "Watch it, honey." "What´s this?" "That smells good." "Haven´t had anything to eat all night." "Don´t throw anything." "Put them there" "Harry, you look terrible Your eyes are all red" "You take good care of your Daddy, don´t you baby?" "You just remember to eat those" "Come on, Mac, it isn´t that cold!" "Why you´re hungry, huh?" "Look what I got her, boy" "There you go, huh?" "There you go, Mac" "is this where Bill Schmidt lives?" "Yes" "We´re friends of his from the army ls he around..." "Bill?" "We´d like to say hello to him" "He went to get the newspaper Why don´t you come in?" "Thanks." "Hey, Sarg!" "I´m Tony Rodríguez and that´s Mike Nickerson." "Sergeant Nickerson" "Maybe you´ve heard Bill talk about us" "He never talks to me about the army" "You´re his wife, huh?" "Sarg, I´ll introduce you... I´m sorry, Martha" "Hello" "Won´t you come in and sit down?" "Sit down" "Bill won´t be long" "That´s a boy." "Have got friends visiting you..." "Hello, Bill" "Hello, Sergeant." "Hi, Tony" "Hi" "Looks like you struck it rich" "How many acres you got?" "A hundred and seventy" "Wow, that´s a lot, huh?" "Well, it´s Martha´s father." "We´re just care-takers." "Free rent" "Her old man pretty well off?" "He´s a writer, Harry Wayne He writes mostly westerns" "Oh yeah, I´ve read a dozen of his books." "Josephson had a whole stack" "He works at night most of the time Sleeps all day" "Thanks" "We couldn´t afford this place on what I´m making" "Harry Wayne, huh?" "I thought he lived out west" "No" "What kind of job you got?" "Oh, it´s in a plant near here, that makes helicopters" "Yeah, I know that´s funny" "They´re the same choppers we used in Vietnam. I swore I´d never go near the army again." "But the work was there and I´m doing it" "Can´t stop" "What´s his name?" "Hal" "Real cute little baby" "Tired?" "We´ve been driving all night" "You want a bed?" "No" "If I´d just lay down on that sofa over there for a while I´ll get you a blanket" "Can I look around a little?" "I didn´t know anybody had so much space" "Sure" "I´ll go with you" "It´s cold!" "is that your place, too?" "Yeah. lt´s her old man´s ls that a lake out there?" "It´s a pond" "Who´s dog is that?" "That´s the neighbours" "You got chickens, huh?" "My uncle used to keep fighting roosters in Puerto Rico." "Bantams" "This one´s too heavy to be a fighter" "But he´s a lover" "Shut up, Mac!" "Shut up!" "Does he bites?" "Harry wouldn´t have a dog that didn´t bite, but he won´t bother us" "Who the hell´s that with him?" "Just a friend from the army There´s another one up here" "Come on!" "You can walk on it This ice is a foot thick" "I thought you drained the water and put a cover in the winter" "No. ln the spring is drained, painted and filled up again" "Sounds like a lot of work" "There´s a company...does it all" "Everything´s taking care of, huh?" "Yeah" "We couldn´t visit you last summer We´d have been sunbathing" "But we were busy, you know" "They threw the confessions out." "Like you read in the papers, "Failed to inform the defendant of his rights" "What about Reilly?" "He´s still in He didn´t confess, see?" "Boy, he is pissed off!" "I mean, I´m glad to see you but I want..." "What?" "I don´t think you´re glad to see us" "What did you come here for?" "I don´t even know whose idea it was We were both at Leavenworth" "They gave us all our back pay, for the whole years." "We decided why wait for transportation, so we got the car" "Jesus, what a bum!" "We broke down outside Philadelphia last night" "We had to wait all night in a garage while a guy put a new head gasket" "And we... started drinking and talking about you" "How did you know where l lived?" "Sarge´s lawyer had your address, in case you had to testify I told it all the first time" "Yeah, I know" "Anyway, here we are" "But why?" "I just wanted to tell you..." "What?" "That I forgive you Anyway, no hard feelings" "No" "We figured you must be worried, thinking about what we might do" "Yeah" "So I wanted you to know that as far as I´m concerned bygoes are bygoes" "As far as you´re concerned?" "Yeah" "Ssssss..." "Be quiet" "He gets a little fussy sometimes lt´s all right I can´t sleep anyway" "Well, well." "How is my baby?" "Never mind, I´ll fold that" "What?" "Nothing" "Do you want a paper to read?" "No" "Hey, you got a coke?" "Sure" "Where are the guys?" "I think they´re still walking around" "Thank you" "Do you think I could use your..." "Yeah, sure. lt´s upstairs, turn to your left." "You´ll see it" "Okay" "Yes." "Come on" "There you go" "Oh, you scared me!" "You were in Vietnam with Bill?" "Yes, madam" "What´s it like?" "Do you ever watch television?" "Sometimes lt´s just like it´s on television" "Did you like it?" "Like it?" "Nobody likes it I meant the coutryside ls it really so green?" "I guess it´s." "After a while you don´t notice." "Didn´t Bill tell you?" "Never talks to me about Vietnam He was involved with some trial ...there, courtmartial" "Yeah" "You want stay for dinner?" "This is too big. I´ll put in more potatoes" "Maybe we can" "They´re there now, with my father Want to meet him?" "He´ll like you" "He was a sergeant, too, in the Second World War" "We never took any prisoners in Guadalcanal." "There wasn´t time" "We were outnumbered for months." "You don´t know about that" "You didn´t even dare to leak into the bushes." "One´d wait for you" "And we didn´t have the weapons you guys got." "Hands, rifles, bayonets...any way you got one of them was all right" "How is your beer, Bill?" "Fine" "Maybe we need a little more wood" "Even later, when we had ice cream and movies, they used to come and sit and watch." "Bastards!" "I admired them though. I don´t think these North Vietnamese have the guts the Japs did" "But they keep on fighting" "There, you don´t know who´s your friend." "No sides but your own" "So it´s easier to shoot everybody" "Bill doesn´t believe in fighting You´d got a job in a hospital, patching a brave guys I got shot at." "By an old man..." "civilian." "He was scared to death" "Did you shoot back?" "Sure...over his head" "You might have hurt him" "What´s that?" "God damn it, look at him!" "Jesus Christ" "Damn, look at that poor..." "Spread some newspapers by the fire" "Get some alcohol and some cotton" "There he is" "I told that son of a bitch to keep his dog off my property" "He can´t keep him tied up all the time!" "I couldn´t find alcohol" "Use whisky, for Christ´s sake lt´s chewed almost all the way through!" "A three-legged dog." "What the hell I´m going to do with him?" "I told him next time the dog came on my place I´d kill him" "Kill his dog, he means" "You can´t hit him with a pistol I can damn well...try" "You need a rifle I´ve got a shotgun, but at this range it´d just tickle him" "We got a rifle in the car" "Six point five millimeter" "Yeah, it´s Swedish" "The Great Dane again?" "What are they gonna do?" "is your father" "Harry, you can´t just shoot the man´s dog" "Mac´s the one who picks the fights" "Yeah, he´s tough" "Let´s go" "You need something to rest it on" "Not at this range I don´t even really need the scope" "Can´t you stop them?" "Legally he´s within his rights." "That dog attacked you once, remember?" "Why the hell didn´t you shoot it then?" "Perfect" "Tony don´t miss!" "Nice looking dog" "Do you want to bury him?" "Bury him!" "I´m gonna dump right at that son of a bitch´s door and let him do something about it" "Those are the men, aren´t they?" "What men?" "You´ve to tell me about it now" "We were just supposed to look for supplies" "By the third day we hadn´t found anything and Nickerson began to get edgy." "We get to this village lt was marked friendly on the map" "But Nickerson got everybody out and search the huts for arms" "We lined them while he and Tony looked the place over" "They thought we gonna shoot them I think Nickerson almost did" "He was so angry about not finding anything" "Well, in the last hut a girl was hiding" "Nickerson pretended she was a Viet Cong." "Then he told one of the old men in the village that we took her as a hostage" "What did she look like?" "She was young, 15 or 16." "Pretty I guess that´s why she was hiding" "That´s what her mother said at the courtmartial" "A couple of miles up the road..." "Nickerson took her into the tall grass" "The sound she made was well, after a while it was like like Mac down there lt was just...whining" "And then Reilly went next Josephson..." "Tony" "And then they were waiting for me to do it. I couldn´t move lt didn´t take any thought of bravery I just couldn´t walk" "Nickerson looked at me" "For a long time, you know the way he does..." "looks at you" "He had a rifle in his hand" "He handed it to Josephson, jerk his thumb toward the grass and..." "And you turned them in" "When we got back to camp" "It was the bravest thing you´d do I should have stopped them." "What´s the point of punish them afterward?" "Criminals have to be punished" "The Viet Cong do the same thing Everybody does, every day..." "Why blame these guys?" "They were my friends, my buddies!" "Let´s go home, boys" "Sound off!" "One, two, sound off!" "...three, four..." "Take it on down!" "One, two, three...!" "What did they come here for?" "It wasn´t because of the scenery" "Tony said thet he wanted to tell me that..." "What?" "That there were no hard feelings on his side" "Shit!" "I knew the Jerries were in there. I take a granade I pull the pin." "Got up, open the door Oh, Officer" "Come on in" "Call the police" "What would I say, I´m afraid of these guys?" "Yes!" "You know, I am I thought about it every day since it happened" "But I can´t do it to them again They don´t even know why they came" "All right!" "Don´t call the police" "Here we go!" "Come on!" "Pass it to me!" "If they bust up your meeting, it´s pigs. lf you need them, it´s police" "Yes, that´s funny, Bill" "Yes." "Wait a minute The football game is on" "Harry wants to watch it on your set" "Oh, Christ!" "I don´t give a..." "Sure, Harry." "That´s fine" "Hey, kid, you got the set warmed up yet?" "I didn´t know it was on yet" "Hell yes!" "Come on We´re gonna miss the kick-off" "Hey, Bill...ayyyy!" "See you in a little while" "Bill, how do you adjust this thing?" "Later" "It´s crowed." "The Tigers and the Blue Panthers are in the playground." "The match will be interesting cose both teams are equaled at general classification" "No player in the entitle alignment is been missed" "There will be tension during the match" "Thanks, kid." "Want a drink now?" "Yeah" "Here it comes." "Just in time" "He dropped it." "Atta boy!" "Come on, baby!" "Don´t let him...for pete sakes!" "Come on." "Get him!" "Hey kid, why don´t you bring us some ice and glasses in here so we don´t keep running back and forth?" "Look out!" "Look out!" "Go, go, go!" "Twenty-five yards!" "Now let´s go!" "There you go, kid" "They´re gonna beat them, right?" "Come on now." "Let´s not have another funeral like last week, huh, Mike?" "The Blue Panthers try to brake Robins´s stroke" "Football is a great game." "Elemental" "Because it´s a conflict That´s what life is about lsn´t it?" "If you make it" "Always." "Life against death Like in Vietnam" "We just see one corner of it..." "...above the surface" "You´re mixing your metaphors Harry" "Look at the football field Each team´s got one color jersey" "That´s easy to see." "But the world is set up the same way" "The communists on one side, and us on the other lf you´d face that, look at Vietnam in the context and you´d understand it" "Right now Europe is stabilized" "Power is shifting in Asia Vietnam is the fulcrum" "That´s what they tell us" "You´d better believed it, soldier" "Looks like a duel between the two players who we are talking about Tiger´s new man´s caught the ball." "A good opportunity to show his game" "How´s your beer holding out there..." "Hal?" "You never did like it very much, did you?" "Did you?" "What the hell am I gonna do with a three-legged kid, huh?" "Come on!" "Why he was out of bounds!" "Let´s see the play-back!" "Pardon." "You know..." "I watch football, I notice one thing" "What´s that?" "There aren´t any Puerto Rican guys playing." "Did you notice that?" "Yeah, why is that?" "I don´t know." "They´ve got plenty of Puerto Rican baseball players" "Yeah, stars." "But not football" "They´re too small to play football" "They don´t eat the right foods They eat too many chili peppers lt´s a racial difference" "The first part is ended" "He got back in, finds a lot of daylight" "Racial difference. lsn´t that illegal?" "They can´t play cose they´re too small, not cose they´re Puerto Ricans" "Some people are naturally smaller than others." "Like Orientals I´m not goddam slopehead!" "Just an example, Christ sake!" "When I was in college, that´s what it was all about." "Football" "Everybody wanted to play football" "Even the guys that spend most of their time in the library, secretly wanted to play football." "You know why?" "Why?" "Football players got more pussy" "Not that anyone got a lot but the football players got more" "A guy your size could play college football if he was strong" "The pressure the Blue Panthers did during the second time has decided the final result of the game" "Now the kids give it away to each other." "They don´t ask for it... nicely." "There´s no challenge to it So, who the hell wants to play football?" "I asked once some of Martha´s friends if they wanted to watch a game, they looked at me as if I´m a freak" "Where the hell is Bill?" "He went upstairs" "I don´t know" "Why shouldn´t they act the way they do if they get away with it" "Nobody cares anymore" "She´s a cute looking girl" "Martha?" "They aren´t married, huh?" "No" "Get him, you stupid son of a bitch!" "The baby´s nice He smiles all the time" "Broke his arm" "No, he´s all right" "Look at it. lt´s hanging there" "Yeah, the baby is all right I always wanted a grandson I don´t even know what this kid is" "is he my grandson?" "is that what I should say to people?" "I don´t know" "Ya hemos visto todo lo que había que ver" "You know...he looks a lot older." "Bill" "His hair is getting a little gray Do you remember how he looked when he first got over?" "Like a little kid" "Goddamn!" "I hope dinner´s ready soon because I got to get to the city" "What´s your hurry, Tony?" "I got to see about getting a job" "Tomorrow is Sunday" "There´s a guy I can talk to" "Yeah, he´ll really give a job to an old war hero like you I wish you guys would stick around a couple of days. lt´s great to have someone to talk to I bet you´d like to use that rifle again." "There´s a moon tonight and there´s a cop I know" "He´s gonna be coon hunting back in my woods." "We could all go there Hell, they´ve got two bedrooms upstairs they don´t use!" "Right, Bill?" "Yeah, they´re empty" "Christ, what a weirdo!" "See that I shot that bear and now look at it" "Martha!" "What time is dinner?" "As soon as we get the table set" "What´s the matter?" "Nothing" "Nothing´s ever the matter" "Harry wants them to stay a couple of days. I don´t think they´ll stay" "Bill, this is our house and..." "The hell it is. lt´s Harry´s!" "It´s as mine as Harry´s." "Because it´s mine, it´s yours. lf you don´t ...want them to stay, tell them to get out now!" "He was in some trouble in Vietnam." "Do you know about this?" "We were it" "Yeah?" "What happened?" "I was leading a patrol We found a woman, a Viet Cong" "Had to shoot her, couldn´t take her with us and Bill turned us in" "He turned you in for that?" "Well, we had a little fun with her first." "That´s what made him mad" "He didn´t even touch her I always thought he was half queer" "There´s salad in the ice-box I´m surprised you didn´t slit his throat l thought about it a lot when I was in the stockade" "But then, what´s it gonna get me?" "Dinner is on the table!" "Oh" "Do you want to carve, Harry?" "Sure" "Mike" "How do you like it, Mike?" "Rare." "Still moving, if you got it" "Tony, how about you?" "A little rare" "He likes it burnt" "We forgot the water" "Oh!" "Son of a bitch!" "Will you let me look at it?" "I hardly felt it" "Come on, let me wash it" "Hold still!" "You need some stitches" "No...it´s nothing..." "Harry, please don´t drink anymore I think you´ve had enough" "Harry..." "That Mike´s quite a guy, isn´t he?" "Did he tell you what Bill did to them?" "What Bill did to them?" "You all right, Harry?" "It´s just a scratch" "I remember one time a Filipino captain was trying to make one of them talk" "He took him out in a boat and he cut off his hands." "One by one" "And he dropped them into the water" "Harry, be quiet" "And then... his arms" "And he watched the sarks eat them" "Harry..." "Martha... I asked these boys to stay a couple of days" "Thanks, Mr. Wayne but I really got ot get back I think...there might be a book in them." "Yeah" "Harry, they don´t want to stay" "Well..." "We´ll talk more about it tomorrow afternoon" "I have a work to do in the morning" "Well...where´s my cap?" "Thanks I think..." "Thank you very much" "Harry...have you got your glasses?" "Do you think he´ll make it?" "He might bleed to death I´ll check on him later" "He´s a very interesting guy" "Do you think so?" "Yeah." "He´s been through it" "My mother couldn´t stand him Neither his other two wives" "Well hell, I wouldn´t want to be married to him either" "I´ve had to get Hal´s dinner" "We better be going" "Let me make you some coffe before you go, if you´re going to drive lt´ll just take a few minutes Please, sit down" "Bet it´s nice around here in the summer" "Yeah" "Great chow" "Martha is a great cook" "Dammit, Hal, you know you liked creamed corn!" "Come on, Hal!" "Miss, you´re a pretty woman to get angry." "Wait till he´s hungry" "A lot you know about it, don´t you?" "He has to eat his vegetables" "Yeah." "So he can grow up big to be a football player" "Bed for you." "Hal has decided he wants to go to bed" "Say goodnight to everybody" "Goodnight, Hal" "Goodnight, bambino" "Want to say goodnight to Hal?" "Goodnight, Hal" "What kind of job are you looking for?" "Who the hell knows!" "You used to be interested in cars" "Yeah. I think I´ll get myself a job in a garage" "To get the experience" "The most important tool in any garage is the stem cleaner. I know ...this guy named Feldman He has a garage near the river" "A guy comes in with his car He doesn´t know a thing about cars" "But comes over and starts saying, "that transmission is about to fall out"." "He says, Bill, "and it´s a good thing you brought it now"." "Everybody knows about the transmission" "You know what I mean?" "You tell a guy his valve lifters are shot, he gets worried But the transmission, you´ve that" "The guy comes back the next day and Feldman shows him a shiny clean transmission. lt´s the same!" "He used the steam cleaner" "You know what I mean?" "Gracias." "Now..." "Rebuilt transmission, right?" "A 180 dollars, maybe even more" "Hal, I simply can´t stand another night of this!" "What´s the matter?" "Come on" "Goodnight" "With all that back pay, maybe Feldman´d let me buy a piece of his place, huh?" "Hell, I don´t even know if his garage is still there" "Tony does all the driving." "Will your father mind if I´ve a little?" "He´ll think he drank the whole thing himself when he wakes up" "He´s really a famous writer?" "He writes a lot of books and a lot of people buy them. lt´s like a compulsion." "When he gets going, he stays all night writing" "They´re good books?" "A long time ago, they used to be" "The first two he wrote were really good serious books" "But now he´s full of anger and self-disgust." "The books are empty" "They´re good stories, full of dramatic events and flashy characters." "Easy to read. I enjoy reading them, but they are meaningless" "I liked what he said about being a book in Tony and me" "Bill told me what you did ls it true?" "Sure, whatever he said" "What made you do it?" "Everybody was doing it Why pick on me?" "Why pick on that girl?" "She was a Viet Cong She was hiding from us" "You proved she had a damn good reason to hide" "What do you think a Viet Cong looks like...wear a uniform?" "They don´t look different than anybody else over there" "Listen, your husband cost me two damn good years over there" "He didn´t cost you a thing and you know it!" "I forgot he´s not your husband What kind of arrangement is that?" "My living with Bill has nothing to do with morality!" "You´re sick!" "I see, you can judge me, but I can´t judge you" "What hurts someone else is immoral That´s the only standard you can have" "And your father?" "It tears his guts out the way you´re living" "That´s his problem. lt´s different from stick someone with a bayonet ls that what Bill told you?" "Sorry, all you did was shoot her!" "We couldn´t take any prisoners on patrol." "That was orders" "The solution to the problem Nothing can justify what you did!" "I don´t have to justify it The Army already has" "Why do you think I´m here?" "We were heroes to our boys" "And Bill?" "He got shipped out of combat area lt was good cose you can get shot" "Because he reported a crime" "You got to do things in war that you get locked up for in peacetime" "Do you think I´m some hoodlum?" "I was an honor student in high school." "And I was a good soldier, more than he was I´m glad" "Oh, you got it safe here" "You don´t know until you have been there, been shot at" "What would you do, lie back and take it?" "Until you´ve gone through a village handing out candy bars to the kids" "And then you see your best buddie´s legs blowed off by a mine ...because the people you gave the candy bars to, forgot to tell you Charlie was in town" "That happened?" "It happened!" "You´re right. I haven´t been there and I can´t imagine it" "Man...." "I couldn´t wait to get back to the folks" "The first thing you notice in the city is people." "The way they walk, especially if they´re important" "The whole city is in a state of warfare." "Just like over there" "Did you ever march in one of these peace parades?" "Carry a sign?" "Why?" "I don´t know." "You liked somebody who´d march in a peace parade" "I used to wonder over there what kind of people went to those things" "I thought they were long-haired freaks with clothes like Indians" "Bill asked me to marry him once." "Before the baby was born" "He was gonna do me a big favor" "You´re a real old nut-cutter, aren´t you?" "Dance?" "My uncle´s got a restaurant" "Leave it in the sink I could work there for a while lt´s a big responsability, having money to invest What´s that?" "Coon hunter" "Coon hunters, huh?" "Yeah, give it time, Tony" "Hey, Sarge!" "Let´s get the hell out here!" "What´s going on?" "That´s enough. I said that´s enough!" "You better go now" "Come on!" "You really want to go?" "Go away!" "Stop it!" "Come on" "What´s the matter with you?" "Stop it!" "Look out, Billy!" "Shoot him!" "You´ve got a gun, haven´t you?" "Shoot him!" "Go on!" "You´ll be okay, Bill" "Lady, you´re nuts You think you can change the rules in the middle?" "Well?" "Are you all right?"