Scene 3.07 - Pocachicalot
EST: EXT. Ranch - Night.
POCACHICALOT
(Melodramatic, overly stereotypical and just sarcastic enough to make one wonder if it truly is sarcasm or just plain innocence from ignorance:) How, white man. I’m Pocachicalot, tribal chief for my people, the Caught-cha-lyin’-ta-me tribe.
TEX RANGER
(Flicks badge on his chest.) Tex Ranger, deputy sheriff, crime-scene investigator. Why, we’re investigating the mutalation of cattle in these here parts. Do you know what's really going on, Chief?
POCACHICALOT
I follow the beast’s trail. Beast has den in caves below.
MARSHALL LAW
I don’t understand, Poke, are you saying you think this thing that’s manglin’ all this cattle is some kind of mythical creature?
POCACHICALOT
Yes, Marshall Law, I know it is. The beast is legendary among my tribe. It looks like a bear with a beak of a toothed lizard mottled with with fur from a moss-covered beaver. It walks on its hind legs and can move very quickly.
DOC BONEBRAKE
You seem pretty specific, and your description correlates to the evidence I’ve discovered. What makes you think that’s what it is?
POCACHICALOT
(Communicates in his own tribe's brand of well-practiced, Native American Sign-Language as if his companions’ collective ignorage could be easily solved by visually-illustrating what he literally speaks. [He can do this again any time he wants]) People of my tribe notice fish in river sick and dying, and I see many, many bad omen. I consult with sacred ancestral elders at tribal burial ground to know if in our ignorance we had angered the Creator somehow. You see, since white man moved us from our fertile bison grounds to cursed Black Prarie, and now once again to Many-Moon Hill, we must appease our Creator with prayer to avoid any furthur wrath from white man.
(Tops it off with his palm slapping the crook of his elbow while making a fist with the other hand -- the traditional, international sign for “Up-yours, whitey.” He drop his hands and looks blankly at the men, having spelled-it-out as clearly as possible.)
TEX RANGER
I’m not following you.
POCACHICALOT
(A hint of an exasperated sigh. Once again he signs, patient:) Our sacred burial ground is in black caves, deep inside the Mine of Paleface Madman. While smoking the sacred herbs and reciting ancient chants, the beast we call Smokey-on-anabolix tried to attack me.
(Illustrated via flashback. That’s all the Sign-Language for now.)
DISSOLVE TO:
FLASHBACK INSIDE CAVE, DREAMY, ANIMATION STYLE 1
TEX V.O.
You were attacked?
POCACHICALOT V.O.
The beast was strong and fast, indeed. It looked like great bear-god who once walked on two legs. First I try to converse with it, for legends say bear-god was once kind and friendly to my people. But this beast was no friend. It attacked me like any other wild animal. It had me backed-up against the hole that has no bottom, and I thought for sure ol’ Pocachicalot was a goner.
MARSHALL LAW V.O.
What did you do?
CUT TO: Back to EXT. Rusty’s well
POCACHICALOT
As it lunged for me, I buried my two-headed hatchet in its skull. I ducked and rolled and moved out of way, and the beast fell into the hole that has no bottom.
TEX RANGER
I don’t understand. You mean the beast is dead?
POCACHICALOT
One such beast, yes. But as I stood there, I noticed a second pair of eyes staring back at me in the darkness. This great bear... has a mate.
MARSHALL LAW
A mate?
POCACHICALOT
Yes. And the female of the species seems bigger and smarter. I cannot rest until I know this beast is dead and my people are safe. I still have my trusty one-headed hatchet, but I fear I may need to trade much more to have guns of the cursed white man if only to help protect my frail, yet strong-hearted people.
DOC BONEBRAKE
We couldn’t agree more, Chief, you’ve got all the guns you need for this. No need to trade nothin'. It's a threat to red and white alike. No one is safe while this beast roams free.
MARSHALL LAW
That settles it. This well gets sealed-up. If it is a feral animal like ya say, we mus’ hun’ it down and kill it.
TEX RANGER
What should we do? Form a posse?
MARSHALL LAW
It’s been a long day for all of us. (Hands him a dollar coin.) Tex, here’s your first day’s pay. Get some rest at the hotel tonight. Doc, get some lanterns and I’ll round up some rifles. I’ll meet you, Tex, at Todd Sweeny’s barbershop 'cross from the hotel at the crack of dawn. Where you say this particular cave was, Chief?
POCACHICALOT
White men have a way that leads to our most sacred cave. You call it the Madman's Mine.
MARSHALL LAW
That’s near the Black Prairie, on your people’s land. Your... former land. Now we know this thing hunts at night and is bound to be in her den in the daytime. Come light tomorrow we’ll all meet up over yonder at the Black Prairie treeline and go check out them there caves. Good enough, Chief?
POCACHICALOT
Very well. Until tomorrow.
(Without noise or distraction, POCACHICALOT is gone.)
DISSOLVE TO: