31 Plays in 31 Days: #16 - "Not My Brother"

Another piece drawn from the back story of The Stand. Buck and Kenneth Dillon were a team of brother who were some of the most successful US Marshals in the territory, until Kenneth was rescued by a Yurok woman by the name of Negahse'wey and found he wanted to follow her way of life instead of the one he'd been raised to. But when he returned to his brother Buck, he did not find a warm reception to his new identity. I'm surprised I never worked on this scenario before, because it has a lot of dramatic potential.


Day #16 - "Not My Brother"

BUCK DILLON, a US marshal
TALL BEAR, his brother, formerly Kenneth Dillon, recently become a member of the Yurok tribe
~~~

BUCK: Look at you! What the hell’s this getup?
TALL BEAR: It’s what they wear.
BUCK: Them, Ken, not you!
TALL BEAR: Buck, don’t call me that no more.
BUCK: Don’t call you what?
TALL BEAR: Well… “Kenneth.” That ain’t my name.
BUCK: Are you joking me?
TALL BEAR: I got a new name now. A Yurok name. I go by Tall Bear now.
BUCK: Are you outta your mind!?
TALL BEAR: It’s who I am now!
BUCK: You’re my brother. You’re my partner. That’s who you are.
TALL BEAR: That part ain’t going to change.
BUCK: How you going to tell the bosses that you’re playing redskin now? They won’t let you serve like this.
TALL BEAR: Then I ain’t doing that no more.
BUCK: The marshals need us! What could be worth giving all that up?
TALL BEAR: You don’t understand, Buck. The Yurok live like I always wanted to. They’re close the land. They’ve got ways of hunting and tracking like I never seen. It’s everything I ever wanted from life on the trail!
BUCK: But… we’re the Dillon boys. We’re a team.
TALL BEAR: Don’t go taking it all like this, Buck.
BUCK: You shut your mouth! What am I supposed to take it like, you telling me you’re leaving me for a lot of naked savages!
TALL BEAR: They ain’t naked savages! You don’t know nothing about it!
BUCK: That can’t be it. You can’t be blowing out on your own blood just to sleep in a damn plank house. What’s got you, Ken? What’s got you?
TALL BEAR: Nothing’s got me!
BUCK: You telling me there ain’t nothing else?
TALL BEAR: That’s the life I want, I’m telling you! It’s just…
BUCK: Just what?
TALL BEAR: Just… Negahse’wey’s part of that.
BUCK: Negahse-what?
TALL BEAR: Negahse’wey. It means “rainbow.” She’s part of that life.
BUCK: So that’s it. Some red woman’s got you in her spell.
TALL BEAR: It ain’t like that, Buck!
BUCK: There’s plenty of gals in the world that won’t make you eat raw fish and wear animal skins!
TALL BEAR: Not like her.
BUCK: You can’t be throwing me over for some— red savage slag!
TALL BEAR: Don’t you talk about her like that!
BUCK: You’re right. You ain’t Kenneth no more. Kenneth was my brother, and you ain’t him.
TALL BEAR: What are you talking about? Of course I’m still your brother, I’ll always be your brother!
BUCK: Not no more. Not now.
TALL BEAR: Don’t you say that, Buck. Don’t you ever say that!
BUCK: No. I thought you was dead. Then I prayed, and then you came back… like this. Now, I don’t know if I was right… or if I just wish I was.