32 The Dutchman Tavern

Step into "The Dutchman Tavern", a bar-restaurant clinging to life in the middle of nowhere, Nevada. This short audio drama, based on a scene from Blue Highways by William LH Moon, is a gritty, slice-of-life look at the people who are "dug in" to the far corners of the country.

The scene unfolds as a traveler, Bill, stops in for a beer and finds himself immersed in the stark reality of life in Dutchman, Nevada—population, four. Over beers poured by the bar's owner, Rose, Bill meets Tom, a tow truck driver who's just pulled two weeks-dead bodies out of a ravine, Old Hank, the postmaster and local philosopher, and Shyryl, who lives upstairs and plies her "trade".

Major Themes

• Isolation and Resilience in the American West: The most striking theme is the stark isolation of Dutchman, Nevada, a former express-stop and mining town that withered away. Rose and her mother, Mother May-Bell, have kept the original building going as a watering hole, tavern, inn, and gas station, surviving on a "mighty thin living" from "folks from the highway". Despite the hardship, Rose insists, "Believe it or not, we like it here", revealing a deep-seated resilience and loyalty to their forgotten home.
• The Proximity of Life and Death: Death is a casual, everyday topic in the Dutchman Tavern. The story opens with Tom recounting the gruesome, visceral details of pulling the bodies of a young couple from a ravine. The scene is immediately followed by a shot of whiskey for Tom, suggesting a ritual for dealing with the constant presence of tragedy. The proximity of a Navy bombing range—where planes "drop the bombs here, for practice" —further underscores the sense of living on the harsh, dangerous edge of civilization.
• The Unsentimental Economy of a Ghost Town: The inhabitants of Dutchman operate on a raw, practical economy. The town survives by catering to passing travelers, providing gas, beer, and Shyryl's services, which are openly discussed for the price of twenty dollars. Rose jokes about using discarded religious mail as kindling when the weather turns, and Hank, the postmaster, is a regular customer of Shyryl. This lack of sentimentality about basic needs, including sex, money, and even death, defines their day-to-day existence.
• The Wanderer vs. The Dug-In: Bill is the outsider, a traveler "with no real plan", representing the classic American search for new experience. He contrasts sharply with the "dug in" mentality of Rose and the locals who have made their lives in this place. This dynamic highlights two distinct American identities: the wanderer who seeks to see the world's "corners", and the settler who finds freedom and contentment in staying put.

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Scripts Aloud.

The Dutchman Tavern
by
Rick Regan
(Based on a scene from Blue Highways, by William LH Moon)
July 18, 2024

INT. THE DUTCHMAN TAVERN - LATE AFTERNOON
This small bar-restaurant is in the middle of nowhere
Nevada. There is a long bar, some tables, old pictures on
the wall and trophy elk heads on the wall.
ROSE sits behind the bar, chatting with TOM, a man
dressed in orange protective gear.
TOM
We got the call a couple of days
ago. Took me a while to get out
here.
ROSE
Who called it in?
TOM
Didn’t say. Just a traveler, I
guess. Probably a truck driver.
The front door opens an BILL comes in. He’s in casual
clothes but not rugged or Western style.
ROSE
Can I help you?
BILL
Can I get a beer?
ROSE
Sure. Two-bucks. Take a seat.
BILL
That’s great. Thanks.
Rose pours a beer and sets it on the bar. Bill puts cash
on the counter.
ROSE
Five dollars? You want change?
BILL
Maybe I’ll have a second. You keep
the rest.
ROSE
OK. Let me know when.
BILL
Will do.(MORE)
2.
ROSE
Tom here, was telling me about a
car he pulled out of the ravine
this morning.
TOM
Young couple. Probably dead a
week.
BILL
In a ravine?
TOM
Car went off the road, skidded
down the bank, maybe a hundred
feet. Ran smack into a chunk of
granite.
ROSE
Tom drives a plow for the county
but...
TOM
We got this big winch on the
front. I’ve hauled out all manner
of car, truck, trailer, even a
boat. When somebody gets stuck
someplace, they send me out to
clear it up. Why once, there was a
log truck, jack-knifed on a downgrade switchback. Damnedest mess
you ever saw. Logs all over the
road. Both lanes blocked. Traffic
all stopped-up.
ROSE
But Tom got ‘em out.
TOM
Took a while but we cleared it up.
BILL
What about today?
TOM
(shakes head)
Sad to see these too young ‘ens.
Both buckled in, dead as stones.
Been at the bottom of the wash for
awhile. I had to reach in and put
the car in neutral, so’s I could
drag it, and gott-almighty! I
opened that door and that smell
hit me!
3.
I spun around and just started
heaving. When I could, I put a rag
over my face, moved the shifter
and closed that door, quick as I
could. Pulled that little car all
the way back up the hill.
BILL
What happened to the car, the
bodies?
TOM
I called for a flat-bed when I’d
seen it. No need for an ambilance. No emergency now.
ROSE
They take ‘em up to Reno?
TOM
Far as I know.
Rose pours a shot of whisky into a glass.
ROSE
This one’s on the house.
Tom bumps the glass on the bar twice then downs the shot.
TOM
Got to roll out.
ROSE
Stop in anytime you’re nearby.
Tom exits.
BILL
That’s some kind of life.
ROSE
Well, out here, you see it all.
BILL
Where’s here, exactly?
ROSE
This is The Dutchman Inn, in
Dutchman, Nevada. Population,
four.
BILL
Four? Including you?
4.
ROSE
Me. Mother May-Bell. Old Hank, the
postman. They don’t count his dog,
I guess. And Shyryl. She lives
upstairs.
BILL
That’s the whole town?
ROSE
Pretty much. You want another?
BILL
Not just yet.
The door opens up and OLD HANK comes in. He has a bluegray USPS vest over his buttoned-up shirt.
ROSE
Afternoon, Hank. Done with the
deliveries?
HANK
Not much today. Water bill for
you. LL-Bean catalog for herself.
ROSE
Just put ‘em in the box.
Hank deposits the items into an Inbox.
Rose pours a whiskey and puts it on the bar.
HANK
(sips)
Thanks.
BILL
Howdy.
HANK
Just passing through?
BILL
Yep. You the mailman?
HANK
No, I’m an undercover detective.
I’m on a stake-out!
ROSE
HA!
5.
HANK
Yes, I’m the postmaster. And you
are?
BILL
Bill Rivers.
Bill reaches out to shake hands but Hank just lifts the
glass and sips. Bill, hand hanging in the air, puts his
arm back.
HANK
Where you headed, Bill?
BILL
Can’t say. Just out looking
around.
HANK
Well, you found the ass-end of the
world here. Fixing to stay a
while? Should I open a PO box for
you?
(laughs)
ROSE
Ha! PO box!
BILL
Well, I guess I’m kind of in
between. Like I said, out looking
around.
HANK
What line of work you in? You’re
not some bible thumper, are you?
BILL
No, I...
HANK
Cause them fellas send all kinds
of mail. Make a lot of work for
me. A lot of pamphlets, manifestos
and treatises. Folks just throw it
out. And I think, what in the hell
am I doing bringing it out for? I
can just throw it in the trash
myself.
ROSE
You could stack ‘em all up in the
corner. Use ‘em as kindling when
the weather turns.
6.
HANK
I won’t say I haven’t done that.
Say, was that Tom I just saw?
ROSE
Yep. Car went off the road,
crashed down into the ravine.
HANK
He pull ‘em out? Any survivors?
ROSE
Been dead a week, he said. By the
smell of ‘em.
HANK
It’s these folks from California,
dammit! Come cruising up in their
Subarus, heading to Reno. But when
there’s beef cattle in the road,
and they’re not watching out,
Boom!
ROSE
And school’s-out when a half-ton
of hamburger comes across the
hood.
BILL
There a lot of cattle around?
Seems too dry?
ROSE
In the summer like this, it is.
But it’s cool and wet in the fall.
Sometimes we’ll get a herd move
through.
BILL
Or a bull elk. You hit a fourthousand pound elk, buddy it’s
game over.
SHYRYL comes down the back steps, into the main room.
She’s in her late thirties, in a faded yellow tube-top, a
short denim skirt and chunky running shoes.
ROSE
Just wake up?
SHYRYL
(groggy)
Time for work. Hello, Hank.
7.
HANK
Hey, Shyr. You busy?
SHYRYL
You got the twenty you owe me from
last time?
HANK
Just cashed my check!
SHYRYL
Well hand it over and then I’ll
decide if I’m busy.
Hank fishes around in his pocket and hands her a twenty
dollar bill.
HANK
Man of my word!
SHYRYL
(smiling)
Howdy, stranger!
BILL
Ma’am. What’s your name?
ROSE
That’s Shyryl. She lives upstairs.
SHYRYL
You got twenty dollars?
BILL
What do I get?
SHYRYL
What do you want?
BILL
Maybe I’ll just have another beer.
SHYRYL
You buy me a beer? I’m good
company.
BILL
(nods to Rose)
Set ‘em up?
ROSE
(shakes her head)
Every time...
8.
BILL
What kinds of things you do here,
town, population of four?
SHYRYL
For twenty-dollars, whatever you
want.
BILL
Upstairs?
SHYRYL
Just there.
(looks up the
stairway)
HANK
I’ve got another twenty, Chyryl!
SHYRYL
(annoyed)
Hank, I’m trying to show some
hospitality to our guest. You’re
around every day.
HANK
My money’s still good, ain’t it?
SHYRYL
Contain yourself, mailman. We’ll
get there, all in good time.
(winks)
You know how mama takes good care
of you. Even on layaway.
HANK
Just don’t be stingy, is all.
ROSE
So where you come from there,
Bill?
BILL
Well, I started in Missouri.
Started travelling around, with no
real plan. I’ve seen a few of the
‘corners’ of the country,
Maryland, Florida, Texas and such.
Now I’m taking a look at the
middle parts.
HANK
Well, not much to see in Dutchman.
This is pretty much it.
9.
ROSE
Mother May-Bell is in back. That’s
the whole town.
BILL
Why is it called Dutchman?
ROSE
That’s what they called Loy, the
Dutchman.
HANK
Loy van Diemen, he set up a
express-stop here, round nineteeneight. That’s what eventually
became the USPS.
ROSE
But this here, this is the
original building. Watering hole,
tavern, travelers inn and a gas
station.
HANK
But when the mines all played out,
there just wasn’t any more town
left.
ROSE
That’s when Loy made his own
liquor and beer, during
Prohibition. The only place around
to get gas, and get gassed!
BILL
What happened to him?
ROSE
He and Mother May-Bell ran the
place for years and years. Then
his son came back, with me in-tow,
and we set up here.
BILL
How do you survive out here?
There’s nothing.
ROSE
Just folks from the highway. Gas,
beer, and sometimes Shyryl makes
some business.
BILL
I get the picture.
10.
HANK
Speaking of, Chyryl, I’ll see you
later. Gotta feed the dog.
ROSE
See you later, Hank.
Hank makes his way out.
SHYRYL
So, Bill...you got time to spend
twenty-dollars?
BILL
I’d better finish this beer first.
ROSE
We’ve got plenty more of that.
BILL
That’s what I’m afraid of.
The door opens and INJUN JOE comes in. A weathered older
man in Western clothes and boots.
ROSE
Hey, Joe. How do you go?
JOE
Yet-ay!
Joe makes a gesture with his arm across his chest, like a
greeting from the heart.
Rose pours a beer for Joe.
ROSE
Joe, this is Bill. He’s just
passing through. Looking around.
Joe looks at Bill, staring strangely at him.
BILL
Uncle, are you Native?
JOE
Navaho.
BILL
I’m Cherokee, band of Missouri.
Joe gestures with his arm again.
(MORE)
11.
BILL
What is that, Uncle?
Bill makes the gesture.
JOE
You don’t have this? Maybe just
the Apache, Navaho.
BILL
We say, Osiyo! Hello.
Joe stands and sips the cold beer.
JOE
You come to see the rez?
BILL
It wasn’t on the plan, but I don’t
really have a plan. Anything to
see?
JOE
The Sacred Valley.
(hesitates)
But only for Navaho. No, no.
Nothing to see, really.
BILL
Oh. Right. Only Navaho.
JOE
I read that Cherokee live in the
places with rolling waters, mighty
forests and by the sea with plenty
of fat fish. That where you’re
from?
BILL
I suppose. There’s the Missouri
River, that’s something to see.
And the Ozark Forest. Lots of
Short Leaf Pine and Bitternut
Hickory trees.
JOE
Sounds like easy living. Not like
here. Too hard here.
ROSE
Oh, come on, Joe. Not like people
are living off the land no more.
12.
You get a check from the
government, just like everybody
else.
BILL
What’s the check for?
JOE
Mineral rights payments, mostly.
Also the Navy.
ROSE
We’re right up on the edge of a
Navy bombing range. Can you
believe it? They send planes off
of ships out in the ocean and drop
the bombs here, for practice.
SHYRYL
You get used to it. I like the
noise. Say Joe, you got twenty
dollars?
JOE
No, but I’ve got a silver coin in
my hat. Will that do?
SHYRYL
(looks at Bill)
Going once...going twice...
BILL
(shakes his head)
Too rich for my blood...
SHYRYL
Sold. Come on, Injun.
Shyryl leads Joe up the stairs, out of sight.
BILL
So what happened to your husband?
Is that right? Husband?
ROSE
Well, when Loy died, it was just
Mother May-Bell, Ned and me. Then
twelve years ago, Ned passed on.
So, population - four. Not
counting Hank’s dog.
BILL
You going to keep on here? Seems
like a mighty thin living.
13.
ROSE
Maybe you don’t know how it can
be, if you’ve got the wandering
itch. But me, I’m one of those
that gets dug in. I mean, there’s
no crime. See the stars at night,
except when the bombers fly low.
And hell, most of the town lives
with me.
BILL
But Shyryl, she could ply her
trade anywhere. And you could pour
beer in Reno and make a lot more
money. Why stay here?
ROSE
Believe it or not, we like it
here.
BILL
That’s good enough for me. Thanks
for the beer and the good time.
ROSE
That’s what we’re here for.
BILL
Is that right? Only thing missing
is a slot machine.
ROSE
Oh no! Mother May-Bell, she won’t
have any gambling. Devil’s Work,
she says.
BILL
(laughs)
Right. Thanks again.
Bill gets up to go.
ROSE
Stop by anytime!
Bill exits.
Rose wipes down the bar.
END