Twist of Gold (6 page)

SEAN
: A thousand miles!

LIL’ LUKE
: So we’d better get goin’.

    
They set off in the wagon.

ANNIE
: We won’t see them again, Sean, will we?

    
SEAN
doesn’t answer.

    Why did Miss Martha give us her father’s gun?

LIL’ LUKE
: If you goes on askin’ questions all the way, you’ll talk yo’self dumb before you git there.

SEAN
: I’ve never ever fired a gun.

LIL’ LUKE
: Well let’s hope you never have to. I’m gonna teach you how to lasso, and how to trap a rattlesnake safely, how to light a
fire with damp twigs –

ANNIE
: I know how to do that already – I’m from Ireland, remember.

LIL’ LUKE
: Now I’m feelin’ kinda sad myself, leaving Miss Martha and Miss Henry behind, so why don’t you git out your fiddle
Master Sean and we can sing sumpin’ to cheer our spirits. ’Sgonna be a long, hard road.

    
And they sing a Spiritual, and play the fiddle, and tap their feet, as they travel on their way as Winter turns to Spring, and…

    
Interval.

America. Spring 1848.

LIL’ LUKE, SEAN
and
ANNIE
set up camp. Music dies away…

ANNIE
: Why can’t we come hunting with you?

LIL’ LUKE
: One person’s got jus’ two feet; two persons’ got four; and three’s –

ANNIE
: Got six!

LIL’ LUKE
: Three persons always smell thrice as bad to a critter. You get the fire goin’.

    
He goes off. The cicadas chirr. The flies buzz.

SEAN
: We should get the fire going like Lil’ Luke says. These flies’ll eat us alive if we don’t smoke ’em out.

ANNIE
: Sure they’re not as bad as the midges back home.

SEAN
: Maybe they’s all partial to Irish blood the world over? There’s not a bit of me they haven’t eaten.

    
ANNIE
is looking off into the trees, worried.

    Is something the matter, Annie?

ANNIE
: The trees: they moved.

SEAN
: Don’t be daft. ’Tis just the wind.

ANNIE
:
(Whispering.)
But I think someone’s looking at us.

    
He goes towards the trees and peers into them.

SEAN
: No. No one. It’s the wind and the noises it makes. Sounds will carry along a valley, you know. ’Tis nothing, Annie.

    
LIL’ LUKE
returns with a rabbit.

    And here is Lil’ Luke. It was him all along.

LIL’ LUKE
: What was me? And why haven’t you got the fire goin’?

SEAN
: Annie thought she heard things in the trees.

ANNIE
: And saw them moving too.

LIL’ LUKE
: There’s nobody here but ourselves.

    
ANNIE
sees something move again.

ANNIE
: There!

    
They all look in that direction – and as they do so, a
BOUNTY HUNTER
dressed in shredded leather jerkin and
wide-brimmed hat enters behind them, rifle at the ready.

BOUNTY HUNTER
: Nice an’ easy.

    
They freeze.

    I don’t want to hurt no one. Not ’less I have to.

LIL’ LUKE
: Miss Annie, Sean, you stay right by me. This man won’t hurt us none. He just wanna take our things. That’s all. And things
ain’t that important, not ’nough to git killed for anyhow. Anyways, he won’t find nothin’ in that ole wagon ’cos we ain’t got nothin’, ’cept a
few blankets.

BOUNTY HUNTER
: That’s where you’re wrong – now I’m gonna have a little look through your wagon, ’case there’s
somethin’ worth havin’ in there. And I sure as hell could do with a-eatin’ of your rabbit there. But it’s
you
I’m after.
(To
LIL’
LUKE
.)
I trade in men like you. Bounty Hunter they calls me. I comes up north every spring, catches me a fine crop of runaway slaves and I sells them down south. All I gotta do is
git you down into Kentucky and there’s folk there’ll pay me more’n fifty dollars apiece for runaways. Better trade than horse thievin’ – ’cos it’s
legal an’ you don’t git hung for it. They got cotton down there an’ they ain’t ’nough people to pick it, so I’s takin’ you back home.

LIL’ LUKE
: I’m a free man – bin free for thirty years or more.

BOUNTY HUNTER:
You’s a slave, you all are, don’t you know that yet? You born a slave, you die a slave. Now you kin die right here if
you’ve a mind to, or you kin ride out with me nice and easy.

ANNIE
: Don’t go, Little Luke, don’t go!

LIL’ LUKE
: Miss Annie, the man’s got a rife. There ain’t nothin’ I kin do; and, what’s more, there ain’t nothin’ you kin do.

SEAN
:
(To
BOUNTY HUNTER
.)
Mister: if we were to have something maybe worth fifty dollars or more, would you take that
instead of Little Luke?

BOUNTY HUNTER
: ’Pends on what you got, son.

LIL’ LUKE
:
(To
SEAN
.)
Don’t bargain with the devil, Master Sean; don’t do it.

SEAN
:
(Ignoring him.)
’Tis gold, mister. If I let you have it, will you let Little Luke go and leave us alone?

BOUNTY HUNTER
: If it’s worth more’n fifty dollars, son, then you got yourself a deal. But I gotta see it first.

SEAN
: Shall I be fetching it then?

BOUNTY HUNTER
:
(Motioning with his rifle.)
Let the little girl do it.

    
ANNIE
, about to protest that she’s not little, chooses to bite her lip.

SEAN
: Fetch it, Annie.

    
ANNIE
goes to fetch the fiddle case – taking her time, stuffing something else down her shirt.

    Have you got it, Annie?

ANNIE
: Got it.

    
She returns with the fiddle case.

BOUNTY HUNTER
: So it’s a fiddle, a golden fiddle! Stop wasting my time.

SEAN
: Open it, Annie. Take it out and show him.

    
She takes out the golden torc – it dazzles the
BOUNTY HUNTER
, but then he snatches it from
ANNIE
, and bites it – as he does so,
ANNIE
whips the revolver out from beneath her shirt and points it at the
BOUNTY
HUNTER
.

ANNIE
: Mister: you drop that rifle and throw down the torc, else I’ll shoot you, mister, I will, I’ll shoot you.

    
A Mexican stand-off. Then the
BOUNTY HUNTER
chuckles.

     Don’t you be laughing at me, mister…

BOUNTY HUNTER
: You forgotten to cock it, little lady.

    
And he simply reaches forward and takes the revolver out of her trembling hands.

BOUNTY HUNTER
:
(To
SEAN
.)
Now you tie the slave’s hands behind his back.

    
SEAN
does as he’s told.

SEAN
: What’ll you do with little Luke?

BOUNTY HUNTER
: Don’t you worry none; I’ll take real good care of him. He’s worth more to me ’live than dead – but even
’live he ain’t worth the gold in this necklace of your’n. There’s enough gold here to buy ten a’ him. So I’ll be thankin’ you for the gold as well,
an’ I’ll be on my way. I’m much obliged, my friends; mighty obliged. Be seein’ you.

    
And the
BOUNTY HUNTER
leads
LIL’ LUKE
off at the end of his rifle.

ANNIE
: How was I to know you had to cock it first?

SEAN
: Wouldn’t have helped, Annie. It wasn’t loaded anyway. Miss Martha forgot to give us the bullets.

ANNIE
: So what’ll we do?

SEAN
: Well, we got the fiddle.

ANNIE
: How will that help?

SEAN
: Follow me.

    
She does

    
LIL’ LUKE
is in shackles by a camp fire. The
BOUNTY HUNTER
dozes, rifle in hand. The wind
rustles the bushes – and an eerie whining wafts on the breeze. The
BOUNTY HUNTER
awakes.

BOUNTY HUNTER
: You hear that?

LIL’ LUKE
: Cain’t hear nuttin’.

    
The whine whines again.

BOUNTY HUNTER
: You deaf, or sumpin’?

LIL’ LUKE
: No, I hear that, and I’m afraid, mighty afraid.

BOUNTY HUNTER
: What?

LIL’ LUKE
: Ain’t you heard about the Injuns and their summonin’ up o’their ancestors’ spirits?

BOUNTY HUNTER
: Hogwash!

LIL’ LUKE
: Hogwash or not, I’m sure as I’m livin’ that that is a sound of somethin’ mighty fierce. An’ I don’t
want to lose my scalp.

    
The scraping whining comes closer – the
BOUNTY HUNTER
is scared.

    It’s a’ comin’ for us! It’s a’ comin’ for us!

    
And just as the whining reaches an excruciating climax – the
BOUNTY HUNTER
runs off, terrified.

    You ain’t foolin’ me, chillun’. I’s heard you practising that fiddle enough to know you can make it squeak and scare the fleas
off the back of a cat. Now untie me quick and let’s get outa here.

    
ANNIE
rushes on –
SEAN
keeps lookout – and unties
LIL’ LUKE
and then they all
scarper.

    
Then
LIL’ LUKE
gives
ANNIE
and
SEAN
a kiss.

SEAN
: Hey! What’s that for?

LIL’ LUKE
: I ain’t a kissin’ kinda man, but I ain’t got nuttin’ else to thank you with. You saved my life.

ANNIE
: ’Twas nothing.

LIL’ LUKE
: You kin drive horses, cook beans, play the fiddle, sing and dance like a princess and scare off bounty hunters without ever
firin’ a shot. Ain’t nothin’ gonna stop you children, nothin’.

ANNIE
: But he has still got the torc. Without that, we have nothing.

LIL’ LUKE
: Well, we still have each other.

    
The sound of a river.

SEAN
: What’s that gushing noise?

LIL’ LUKE
: That’s what we came for. That is the sound of the great Ohio river. And we’s gonna find us the sisters’
Colonel-brother.

ANNIE
: Where should we look?

LIL’ LUKE
: In the nearest saloon bar on Main Street.

ANNIE
: How d’you know he’ll be there?

LIL’ LUKE
: ’Cos he’s a drinker an’ a gambler an’ that’s the only place he can be entertainin’ such past-times.
Now you wait here.

    
And
LIL’ LUKE
enters a saloon bar – a thwackatackatack of the swing doors momentarily releasing the sound of male
laughter, honky-tonk piano, breaking glasses – leaving the
CHILDREN
outside.

ANNIE
: D’you think the Bounty Hunter will come this way too, looking for Little Luke?

SEAN
: Not while he’s got the torc.

ANNIE
: D’you think he’ll try to sell it?

SEAN
: I’m afraid he will.

ANNIE
: But it isn’t his to sell!

SEAN
: It’s his to do with as he wants now, Annie.

    
The doors to the saloon bar open – thwackatackatack, laughter, honky-tonk piano – and a tall,
ELEGANT MAN
in grey
suit stands there, leaning on his silver-topped cane.

ELEGANT MAN
: I’m told I have to take you under my wing. But I’m not going to do what I’m told. If I do take you on, it will be because
I want to. You will both accompany me to my riverboat. She awaits.

ANNIE
: Who are you, mister?

ELEGANT MAN
: I am the brother of your benefactresses.

ANNIE
: The Colonel?

ELEGANT MAN/COLONEL
: Follow me.

    
The three-tiered paddle-steamer sails into view – the paddle-wheels, the funnel.

COLONEL
: I have considered what will be done, and you will not like any of it. First, I have sent Little Luke home to Boston. My sisters will be missing
him and he’s done all he can for you.

SEAN
: But we never said goodbye!

ANNIE
: Couldn’t he have come with us?

COLONEL
: It’s dangerous for him out West, as you now, no doubt, appreciate. Second, I can offer little hope that you will recover your golden
torc, as I believe you call it. There are many such scoundrels as this bounty hunter, wicked men who feed like vultures on the unwary and innocent. We’d be lucky to find his needle in
that haystack. Thirdly, as for finding your father, I can be no more optimistic. I have seen many an Irishman pass through, heading West, but who knows if any of them were your father; and even
if one of them was, who’s to say he made it across the plains and desert? Finally, your journey to California will take you longer than you imagine. You will have to be patient. You will
need to prepare before you set out on the two thousand mile journey across the great plains towards Oregon and California. You will rest aboard this boat as she sails down river. I cannot
pretend that I like the arrangement, but what has to be done has to be done.

ANNIE
: Hm. Firstly, we would have liked to say goodbye to Little Luke, but we were once told to never look back. Secondly, we’ll find our torc, I
know we will, Mister Colonel. Thirdly, if you point us in the right direction, we’ll find Father too. And finally, why do you call this paddle-steamer ‘she’? Does she have a
name?

COLONEL
: She does. The
Henry Martha
, after my sisters.

ANNIE
: Back in Boston, your sister Miss Henry said you were ’spicable, whatever that might mean. Why did she you call you ’spicable?

COLONEL
: Annie O’Brien: if I was to ask you to tell me the wickedest thing you had ever done, would you tell me?

ANNIE
: Yes.

COLONEL
: Well you tell me and then I’ll tell you.

ANNIE
: When my brothers and sisters were dying, I wished them dead all the sooner so as I could have their food.

SEAN
: Annie!

ANNIE
: I had lots of thoughts like that. Still do. But my thoughts are wickeder than what I do.