Lonesome Dove

Curtis had a mild stroke a couple of weeks ago. I was concerned this might have caused some damage to his brain. I lost my concerns the other night when I asked him about the plot line of Lonesome Dove. We were in the midst of watching a spinoff called Return to Lonesome Dove when I asked:
"So what's the original about?"

Curtis:  "Well this one fella, he's hidin' from the law. Cause he accidentally shot this man. He came from Arkansas. Turns out that fella he shot was the Mayor of that town. There's this one woman - she's pregnant with this baby by her husband - but he got kicked by a horse and went into some kind of coma - he finally dies so she's headed Ogallala, Nebraska to find this one guy she really wants, Dee Boot."

Me:  "I'm sorry, what?  His name is Dee Boot?"

Curtis (Like nothing is strange about the name Dee Boot):  "Yeah.  So, anyway, she hooks up with these two guys who kindly protect her. One is a big ol' boy. He says 'I'm gone marry her' a lot. He's not real bright. Ha ha ha.

Anyway, Robert Duvall is in love with this whore and they come across this fella. I can't figure anything out about him except he likes killin'. That fella kills some people and steals Robert Duvall's girl. Then he tries to trade her to these Indians. There's a really good shoot out but then that killer guy slips off and stabs almost everybody. I mean he stabs almost EVERYBODY.  Then he's gone. Well you know, Robert Duvall and them have to bury those folks before they can go anywhere..."

At this point he stops the story because of some action on the TV. 
"Watch this," he says, "its a really good part.  My favorite scene."

I turn my attention to the TV where I see Barbara Hershey flirt with some guy.  They're talking about how they could fall in love with each other.  Lots of smiling and laughing is going on when all of a sudden an ambush happens.  Barbara Hershey gets shot, the guy she was flirting with gets shot 3 or 4 times.  One of the children gets shot in the leg. Another man and Native American woman are shot dead.  Barbara Hershey's potential love didn't die from the 4 bullet wounds, but instead rallies to protect her and go after the bad guy.  He kisses her while she's passed out then rides off on his horse and is ultimately mowed down.  Barbara and the kids live, but barely.

Me:  That's your favorite scene?

Curtis:  Yeah.  What?

Me:  I mean, they're all like, happy, about to fall in love, moving to a new land, full of hope.  Then they're just gunned down, barely able to defend themselves.

Curtis:  It was hard times in those days.

Me:  Hard times?  I'd say that getting shot up is more than just hard times dad.  I think I'm depressed now.

Curtis:  Don't be so dramatic.  It was rough country.  You had to be tough back then.  You need to toughen up.

He the proceeded to tell me the remainder of the original Lonesome Dove story (which took a good 20 minutes), breaking down into a fit of laughter when he recounted the part about Gus refusing to have his leg cut off because he might want to "kick a pig" sometime.  I think his memory's still good.