EXT. - Village of the Windmills

KUROSAWA
Good day!

OLD MAN
Good day.

KUROSAWA
What's the name of this village?

OLD MAN EWING
Doesn't have one.  We just call it "The Village."  Some people call it Windmill Village.

KUROSAWA
Do all the villagers live here?

OLD MAN EWING
No.  They live in other places.

KUROSAWA
There's no electricity here.

OLD MAN EWING
Don't need it.  People get too used to convenience.  They think convenience is better.  They throw out what's truly good.

KUROSAWA
But what about lights?

OLD MAN EWING
We've got candles and linseed oil.

KUROSAWA
But night's so dark.

OLD MAN EWING
Yes.  That's what night is supposed to be.  Why should night be as bright as day?  I wouldn't like nights so bright you couldn't see the stars.

KUROSAWA
You've got dunks.  But not an outside game to support them?

OLD MAN EWING
We don't need them.  Dunks get us on television, where casual viewers watch and remember us as legends.

KUROSAWA
What do you use for fuel?

OLD MAN EWING
Kimble, mostly.  And Anthony Mason takes care of most of our stone and brickwork.

KUROSAWA
(thoughtfully)
Yes, he does brick a lot.

OLD MAN EWING
We don't feel right putting one player in charge of The Village.  John Starks takes care of the assists we need.  We drink from Doc Rivers, and Charles Oakley protects our eyes from the blinding sun.  We dunk, but only because it's the easiest way to score.  And scoring points helps us win as a team.

That's the natural way of life.  People today have forgotten that they're really just part of a team.  Yet they seek to overshadow the very teams on which our legacies depend.  They always think they can be something better.  They may be smart but most don't understand the heart of a team.  For example, I couldn't hit a jump shot if somebody held a rifle to my head or the lives of Jesus and a thousand cancerous orphans depended on it.  But the heart I bring to the Knicks is immeasurable.  I play my role and we win, together.  And that is a miracle.

We're just playing a simple child's game and people worship us.  They don't know it, but they're losing us.  They don't see that we're going to perish.  The most important things for a human being are clean air and clean water...and the trees and the grass that produce them. Everything is being dirtied.  Polluted forever.  I miss a jump shot and people curse.  The heart is broken and forgotten.  Dirty air, dirty water.  Dirtying the hearts of men. 

KUROSAWA
On my way in I happened to see some children putting flowers on a stone beside the bridge.   Why?

OLD MAN EWING
Oh, that. My father told me once. Long ago...a teacher from Massachusetts died by the bridge. The villagers took pity and buried him right there. They placed a large stone on his tomb and put flowers on it. It became a custom to put flowers there. Not only the children, all the villagers put flowers there as they pass. Though most don't know why.

KUROSAWA
(hearing a noise in the distance)
Is there a celebration today?

OLD MAN EWING
No, a funeral. You find this strange? A nice, happy funeral. It's good...to play hard...and live long and then be thanked. We have no temple or priest here, so all the villagers carry the dead to the cemetery on the hill.

We don't like it when young adults or children die. It's hard to celebrate such a loss.

But fortunately the people of this village lead a natural way of life. So they pass on at a ripe old age. The game we're burying today lived to be one-hundred plus one. You must excuse me. But I'm going to join the procession.

To tell the truth, she was my first love.

OLD MAN EWING
Some say life is short, and to play hard.  That's just talk.  In fact, it's good to be alive.  It's exciting.