Chapter Eight
To date, Henry Michael McCarty, alias “Billy the Kid,” has been the subject of 263 articles and newspaper accounts, 153 books of fiction and nonfiction, 149 copyrighted toy products, 58 moving pictures, 36 government documents (three classified as “Top Secret”), 24 scholarly essays, 14 recorded songs and ballads, six museums, three grave sites, two newsletters, a symphony and a ballet.45
In total darkness, I feel my way to the kitchen gliding a finger along the wall and search for breakfast by the refrigerator light. Supplies are dangerously low. I’m forced to mix Hershey’s Instant Hot Chocolate powder with water and pour it over the last crumbs of Cocoa Puffs cereal. Water is added to apricot jelly for juice. An expedition must be mounted and provisions procured or I risk starvation.
However, more people have come to know of Billy the Kid through the movies than any other medium. It is for this reason that, for better or worse, film has had more to do with the mythology of Billy the Kid than any other factor. In so doing, Billy the Kid on film reveals how America views not only the history of the West, but the very mythology of what it means to be an American.46
Closing the refrigerator door, I’m embraced once again by the night. Hands occupied, I toe my way down the hallway, negotiating the crowded darkness. I pass sideways between overstuffed bookshelves, step over piles of old newspapers, and squeeze through a door that no longer opens all the way.
This is important, for in America, where few can trace their actual history back beyond a few generations, mythology often becomes their only sense of identity, and therefore, far more essential to one’s sense of self than genealogy.47
Taking my mind off breakfast, I review the day’s schedule and scratch off each accomplished task
MON
1) Wake
2) Eat
3) Shower (wash hair?)
4) Dress
5) Clip fingernails
6) Outside
a) mail
b) grocery
Two so far. The next three will be easy. I draw a box around them. I’ll return in triumph after they’re completed.
When history is impossible to trace, mythology takes over.48
INTERIOR: HOUSE LIBRARY—EVENING FADE IN
The room is fitted in late 18th-19th century English decor: an oriental rug, velvet drapes, flocked wallpaper. Furnishings include a Chippendale sofa of inlaid marquetry, two Louis XIV revival armchairs, and a grand piano. Lined neatly with bound volumes, a long walnut bookcase occupies the back wall.
Two men enter through an archway framed with laced portieres. One man is dressed like an English gentleman smoking a pipe. The other is dressed like an American western outlaw wearing a holster with a pistol.
BILLY THE KID
What kind of room is this?
TUNSTALL
This is the library, Mr. Bonney.
Billy looks about in childlike wonder as Tunstall lights his pipe.
BILLY THE KID
You don’t see much of rooms like this around these parts. Look at all them books. Have you read all that?
Tunstall smiles and lowers his pipe.
TUNSTALL
Many, but not all. Some books are meant for other purposes than reading cover to cover. This set of volumes, for example, is an encyclopedia. You use it for reference … to look up things.
BILLY THE KID
Like what?
TUNSTALL
For example, earlier today you inquired about my accent and why I carry no sidearms.
BILLY THE KID
Yeah, you talk like a King of Diamonds, but act like the King of Clubs.
TUNSTALL
I come from England. Our ways are different over there. You could read about England in an encyclopedia.
BILLY THE KID
I don’t take to far away places. Seems a waste of time thinking about where I ain’t. I like to think about where I am.
TUNSTALL
What about your forefathers, do you not care about the country from whence they came?
BILLY THE KID
My mother said we holler from a place called Ireland, but I never gave it much thought.
TUNSTALL
Are you not interested in learning about your past?
BILLY THE KID
The past don’t concern, me. I only care about today—right here, right now.
TUNSTALL
There are those who might consider that a practical view.
Billy rests his hand atop his pistol.
BILLY THE KID
Oh I’m practical all right.
Tunstall casually lights his pipe.
TUNSTALL
Your reputation with a pistol precedes you, Mr. Bonney. Please forgive my forwardness, but may I ask if you also possess the ability to read?
BILLY THE KID
I had me some schooling.
TUNSTALL
Have you ever read the Bible?
BILLY THE KID
Ma read parts to me.
TUNSTALL
Have you read it since then?
BILLY THE KID
Never owned a copy.
TUNSTALL
Do you own any books, William?
BILLY THE KID
Books weigh a saddle bag down.
Tunstall reaches to the bookcase, pulls out a Bible and hands it to Billy.
TUNSTALL
Accept this copy as a gift.
Holding the Bible like it was fine china, Billy looks down at the book, hesitates, and looks back up at Tunstall.
BILLY THE KID
I … I can’t carry something like this around. Why … it weighs near as much as my six-shooter and I’m not about to lay that down.
TUNSTALL
What if you had a place to lay your Bible, William, or for that matter, anything else that weighed you down?
BILLY THE KID
What do you mean by that?
TUNSTALL
I mean that I am offering you a job, my dear fellow. You told me before that you found Murphy’s methods distasteful. You also said that you would never shoot a man in the back or one that was unarmed, but how long will you be able to say that if you ride for Murphy? Hang your spurs here and you can earn an honest living. Is that not what you really want? Is that not what your dear mother would want?
BILLY THE KID
My dear mother’s dead, Mr. Tunstall, and I’m wanted, dead or alive, for shooting the man that insulted her.
TUNSTALL
You said before that you are not concerned with the past. Well, neither am I. I care about the kind of man you are today, Mr. Bonney, the man standing before me, right here, right now. That’s the man I want working for me.
BILLY THE KID
But I’ve never punched cows Mr. Tunstall. I don’t even know if it’s in me.
TUNSTALL
I believe whatever William Bonney decides to do, will be done.
Billy looks back down at the Bible in his hands.
TUNSTALL
I’m offering you a way to start over again, man, a way to wipe the slate clean, to begin anew. With the past behind you, your future is an open book.
BILLY THE KID
I just don’t know Mr. Tunstall.
TUNSTALL
Don’t make up your mind right away, my boy, just promise me that you will give it some thought. In the mean time, you are welcome to stay the night and leave in the morning. Darkness has settled upon us and I fear a storm is brewing.
Tunstall smiles a moment before resuming.
TUNSTALL
It would be a shame for that Bible to get wet.
FADE OUT49
Referring back to the list, I update my progress.
3) Shower (wash hair?)
4) Dross
5) Clip fingernails
Each achievement, each bold scratch of pen, marks my daily progress. Already a day well spent, now to forge ahead.
6) Outside
a) mail
b) grocery
Grocery … I should expand upon this. If I’m to go out there, I should be prepared to face the wilds in as civilized a manner as possible. Organization is the weapon of choice. The list needs detail.
b) grocery
- Hershey chocolate bars
- Marshmallow Fluff
- Skippy Honey Nut Peanut Butter
- Reddi-Wip Instant Whipped Cream
- Mini-Oreo Cookies & Cocoa Puffs
- Milk
- Rolaids
I hear what sounds like a puppy yelping, a bark mixed with more fear than intimidation. I didn’t know my neighbors owned a dog. Not Mrs. Moss of course. Nothing could live with her I fear, not even a dog. These two are a childless couple. The man has a voice that goes through walls.
“Shut up, you mangy mutt!”
Now they’ve got something new to fight about.
“Good lord!” His voice rises. “Come over here. Look at this. I thought you said you walked the dog?”
Such interruptions are terribly distracting. How can anyone get any work done? Her voice is so low, I can’t make out her response. I grab a glass from the kitchen and cup it against the wall, my ear pressed to the bottom.
“Did I want the dog?” He asks accusingly.
“I thought it was your idea,” she answers meekly. I can barely make her out.
“My idea? So now it’s my idea. You always say it’s my idea when anything goes wrong.”
“No I don’t.”
“Are you calling me a liar?”
“I didn’t call you a liar. I just said it wasn’t my …”
“Now you want to change the subject. We’re talking about the dog here, about the mess your dog made on that brand new rug, the rug that was bought with my money, the money I sweat my balls off for and you throw away on stupid pets.”
“But it was …”
“Don’t but me,” his voice crescendos. “Who’s responsible for the dog?”
“I am, but …”
Now shouting, “Answer me—don’t but me!” There’s a pause before he speaks again. This time his voice is ominously low.
“Now, who’s responsible for the dog?”
“I am.”
“So who’s responsible for that shit on the rug?”
“I am.”
“Then why did you let it happen?”
“But …”
“Don’t but me!” I hear the hollow sound of a fist hitting the side of a face. The puppy resumes its frightened barking from the other room. Involuntarily, I spring back losing contact with the glass. I carefully place it upon the wall again.
“Look what you made me do.”
I make out muffled sobs.
“When I let you get the damn dog, you said you’d take care of it. Now we’ve got a little eat, piss, shed and shit machine on our hands. You say you want kids? You can’t even take care of a dog. Are you listening to me?!”
“Yes, yes,” she says between sobs.
“LOOK AT ME WHEN I’M TALKING TO YOU!”
“I’m sorry, please, I’m looking, I’m looking.”
“Train the fucking dog or you get more of this!”
I picture his hand raised again. She cringes and covers up.
In conclusion, the actual facts concerning Billy the Kid, or anyone’s life for that matter, has no historical relevance or meaning, per se. One’s actual life remains private, unexposed, a mystery. Its meaning, value, or actuality exists only in what people believe to be true. The public mind determines history and, subsequently, its relevance or meaning from that context. This historical consensus then, reveals not only how we view ourselves, but how we wish to be viewed by others. Billy the Kid, as a factual entity, exists only in the present public perception (continually in flux) and therefore functions as just another barometer of the American mind.50
A door slams. In the distance, frightened barking resumes. Then I hear the man’s voice merge with the puppy’s in the echo of the other room, “Damn mutt!” There’s a thud like a foot kicking fur-lined ribs. The puppy whines in short frantic yelps.
My phone rings sending a lightning bolt through my heart. The glass drops from my hands and crashes to the floor. The answering machine clicks in. I desperately clasp my hands to my ears. I don’t want to hear anything anymore.
CUT TO
EXTERIOR: PORCH—EVENING
Tunstall walks out of his house on to the porch. Lighting a pipe, he looks into the distance deep in thought. Unseen by Tunstall, Billy walks out of the darkness and stands at the bottom of the stairway.
BILLY THE KID
Excuse me Mr. Tunstall, are you busy?
Startled out of his deliberations, Tunstall turns to face Billy.
TUNSTALL
Oh, good evening William. I’m never too busy for a friendly chat. Is there something troubling you, my son?
As Billy climbs the stairs to the porch, light shines upon the Bible in his hand.
BILLY THE KID
I’ve been looking over this here book you give me. I believe I have a question.
TUNSTALL
Tell me, my good man, how have you enjoyed your reading?
BILLY THE KID
Well, it starts out riding high and wide, gets bogged down a bit in all that begettin’, then whips up agin’.
Tunstall smiles benevolently.
TUNSTALL
Where are you up to now?
BILLY THE KID
That’s what I wanted to ask you about. It says in this here Book of Moses that God gave out these commandments.
TUNSTALL
Yes, ten of them.
BILLY THE KID
Got no problem with most of them, at least them I make sense of, but this one, this deal about not killing. What do they mean by that?
TUNSTALL
Ah, “Thou shalt not kill.” According to prevailing Protestant and Orthodox Christian Practices, that is The Sixth Commandment.
BILLY THE KID
But a man’s got to kill things to survive.
TUNSTALL
Indeed, my dear fellow, but I believe that God meant one must not kill his fellow man.
BILLY THE KID
But that just don’t make no sense. A man has got to protect his self. Some people just need killing.
TUNSTALL
Remember when we first met, you asked why I never wore a gun?
BILLY THE KID
You said you didn’t need one.
TUNSTALL
You see, William, violence only begets more violence. Personally, I would rather be killed than kill.
BILLY THE KID
Then you’re lucky to be alive, Mr. Tunstall.
TUNSTALL
It’s not luck, William. It’s God’s will.
BILLY THE KID
And if someone dusts you front to back?
TUNSTALL
Then that is God’s will as well.
BILLY THE KID
Will it be God’s will when I dust the man that dusts you?
TUNSTALL
No, William, you must not dirty your hands. We all must learn to forgive. God will punish he that sins.
Billy opens the Bible and points.
BILLY THE KID
But what about this part here. It says …
Billy reads haltingly.
BILLY THE KID
… “And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life, eye for an eye, tooth for tooth.”
TUNSTALL
Only the authorities can administer such laws.
BILLY THE KID
But it says nothing about authorities here, Mr. Tunstall. And look at the way the law was run in old Egypt. That don’t seem a far cry from Lincoln County today. Them Israelites got about as much justice out of this Pharaoh and the Egyptians as we can expect from Murphy and the Sante Fe Ring.
TUNSTALL
You have an interesting argument, William, and I’m impressed with your diligence, but if you read on, you will find that God does punish the Egyptians and the Pharaoh. The parallel you draw between the wanderings of the Israelites and our situation is acute, but have faith, William. Our Egyptians—Murphy, Dolan and the Sante Fe Ring—they shall also be punished. You see, my son, civilization is coming to the Southwest. Swords shall be melted into plowshares. The desert will blossom into ranches and farms. Casinos and houses of ill-repute will be transformed into schools and churches. Those who don’t change with the times are doomed; those who do, will reap the rewards of their conversion. Yes, William, the West is changing and it will be a wonderful thing to behold, a wonderful thing indeed.
As Tunstall finishes his speech, a cowboy rides into the ranch through the main gate, dust billowing behind his speeding horse. As he dismounts, fellow ranch hands surround him and voices rise up in an angry chorus.
TUNSTALL
Excuse me, William. Who goes there? Is anything wrong?
The cowboy leads his horse up to the porch followed by the other men and enters into the light. It’s Richard Brewer, Tunstall’s foreman.
BREWER
I’m afraid so, Mr. Tunstall. It’s about the cattle, sir, the cattle we had grazing south of the Rio Feliz.
TUNSTALL
Speak up, good man.
BREWER
Well, they’ve been stampeded, right through our camp destroying everything. We spotted rustlers heading northeast towards the Murphy ranch. I recognized Jesse Evans and his gang with Morton, Baker and Hill loaded for bear. Those boys have the Murphy/Dolan sign branded to the bone. It doesn’t take much head scratching to figure out who’s behind this.
TUNSTALL
Anyone injured?
BREWER
One of ours and he ain’t breathing.
BILLY THE KID
I bet their fixin’ to change those brands as soon as they get ’em home. I say we ride over to Murphy’s ranch tonight and wait for them to arrive. Then we can give them a dose of their own medicine, eye for an eye, tooth for tooth, lead for lead.
A murmur of assent is raised among the men.
TUNSTALL
Now William, men, we do not know for sure that Murphy and Dolan are behind this. It would be better for us to collect evidence, make affidavits and then I can present this to Governor Axtall in person. I will ride to Sante Fe myself and demand a new sheriff. Then we can put the perpetrators on trial.
BILLY THE KID
But what are we gonna do now? Aren’t they gettin’ away with the real evidence.
TUNSTALL
We must document the full story, and not take the law into our own hands. Then when I go before the Governor, he’ll be forced to take action.
BILLY THE KID
But what makes you think Murphy, with his connections to the Sante Fe Ring, hasn’t already gotten to the Governor?
TUNSTALL
If that is the case, by Axtall’s inaction, I will be able to present an even more convincing case to Washington if need be. I have a new partner, Alex McSween. He runs my store in town, but he’s also a licensed lawyer. He worked for Murphy and Dolan before me until he refused to do their dirty work. With his assistance, Murphy and Dolan’s days are numbered, but we must do it legally. I must have no blood on my hands when I go to meet the governor or travel to Washington. Only from atop the moral high ground can we convince the authorities that the time has come for New Mexico to take its honored place among the rest of the United States of America. The Lord has shown us the light. The time has come for us to lead the way. Abide by my wishes men and welcome a new era to Lincoln, one of law and order and freedom from under the monopolistic yoke of Murphy, Dolan and “The House.”
Billy looks down at the Bible in his hands.
BILLY THE KID
Lord, I hope you’re right.
FADE OUT51
The outside hallway reverberates with tension. Tears, yelps and shouts, long ended, echo off the cheap ribbed paneling, seeping into cavernous elevator shafts and tumbling into the basement below. Can I go out there now and wallow in such ill will? There are other things on my list that need doing.
7) Tasks
a) tape “Billy the Kid vs.
Frankenstein” (ch 5, 2-4pm)
b) organize closet
8) Visit?????
The red light on my answering machine blinks accusingly.
8) Visit?????
I skip to the next item.
9) Dinner
10) Sunrise
a) make out new schedule
b) bed prep
- unplug phone
- draw curtains
- slumber mask
- earplugs
11) Bed
It’s hopeless. How can I ignore the light?
“He was universally liked. The native citizens loved him because he was always kind and considerate to them and took much pleasure in helping them and providing for their wants. He thought nothing of mounting his horse and riding all night for a doctor or for medicine to relieve the suffering of some sick person.”52
The phone rings again. I unplug it.
“Billy was a graceful and beautiful dancer, and when in the company of a woman, he was at all times extremely polite and respectful. Also while in the presence of women, he was neat and careful about his personal appearance. He was always a great favorite with the women, and at a dance he was in constant demand; yet with it all, he was entirely free from conceit or vanity. It was just natural for him to be a perfect gentleman.”53
I don’t have the stomach to listen to these messages anymore, nor the heart to erase them. I can delay no longer. I must go out there. For food, yes, but I must also stop him.
“The Kid often said that he loved Mr. Tunstall better than any man he ever knew. I have always believed that if Mr. Tunstall had lived, the Kid, under his guidance, would have become a valuable citizen, for he was a remarkable boy, far above the average young men of those times and he undoubtably had the making of a fine man in him.”
Mrs. Susan Barber (McSween)54
The answering machine clicks in again. I cut it off.
“Hel …”
I’ll go tomorrow.