scene 9

Previous.

EXT. BENCH ALONG THE LARAMIE RIVER GREENBELT TRAIL - DAY

Wanda and DAISY, 70-something, sit on a bench along the path that parallels the river spanned by the Historic Laramie River Bridge.   

DAISY: Did I tell you Mabel Armstrong passed?

WANDA: Opal Meredith told Tom and I at square dance last week. Tom went over to see Bill the next day. They're going to camp at Bear Lake for a night when Tom gets back.

On the path behind them, a MAN, 30, on a bicycle, rides behind a BOY, 3, on a tricycle. Both wear helmets.

DAISY: The day after the sixtieth anniversary of their first date.

WANDA: That's what Tom said. Hud at the WYO in Sheridan. 

DAISY: I want to say Hud was based on a Larry McMurtry novel.

WANDA: Horseman, Pass By.

DAISY: That's it. 

WANDA: Cast a cold eye. On life, on death. Horseman, pass by.

DAISY: Yeats?

WANDA: Very good.

DAISY: Wild guess. Some fragment from college literature that stuck for some inexplicable reason.

Wanda's PHONE RINGTONES an instrumental rendition of the Townes Van Zandt song, If I Needed You.  

WANDA (CONT.): Speaking of a horseman.  

She gets phone from pocket.

WANDA (CONT.).  Hey, hon'.

Sitting with Daisy on the bench down from the bridge. Where are you?

(Her face expresses her surprise at the news. Daisy notices.

I'm here. Tom, did you know you were going to do this when you left?

Alright. So what's the plan?

Okay. Well, call me tonight, okay?

I love you too. Oh, and Tom, if you can, maybe take a picture.

Okay. Bye.

(She pockets her phone.)

DAISY: Do I need to ask?

WANDA: Tom met someone he knows in Las Cruces. He's staying the night.

DAISY: Someone you know?

WANDA: Know of. So. Are we ready for that ice cream yet?

DAISY: We are.

They get up, walk to the trail, let a DOZEN RUNNERS in shorts and University of Wyoming Cross Country singlets run past, follow them hand in hand away from the bridge.

scene 8

Previous.

INT. FOYER - DAY

Navajo rug on hardwood. Sofa under window to street. Another against a wall under a PAINTING REPRODUCTION tbd. Arrangement of a dozen wooden tribal masks on the opposite well. Hallways from each side of the back wall, against which a piano and bench are under a mirror. Hat rack near the door. TIK-TOK of grandfather clock against the wall near the painting. 

Hunter, sunglasses propped on forehead, enters from one hall, crosses to the other, leaves view when he enters it a beat before the DOORBELL CHIMES. A beat before Hunters enters, approaches the door, looks through the peephole, ponders, looks again.

EXT. HUNTER'S FRONT PORCH 

Tom stands at the door, hat in hand, truck parked on the street near the bins. Hunter opens the door enough to frame his face.   

HUNTER: Can I help you?

TOM: Howdy. My name is Tom Walker.

Hunter surveys Tom, looks past him to the truck.

HUNTER: Tom Walker who was in Reno, Nevada fifty-one years ago last month? 

TOM: One of 'em anyway.,

HUNTER: What's my mother's name?

TOM: She went by her middle name Olivia. Her first name was Edith. If I got the right Hunter Hardyn. 

HUNTER: You know she's dead.

TOM: I do.  

HUNTER: Just happen to be in the neighborhood?

TOM: Sorta. On my way Texas.

HUNTER: From?

TOM: Laramie, Wyomin', where I live.

HUNTER: What's in Texas, if you don't me asking?

TOM: You can ask me anything ya want. My sister's in Texas. Town called Kerrville. 

HUNTER: What if I didn't know who you are?

TOM: I'da been turned around and askin' for directions back to Drippin' Springs Road.

Hunter considers, finally opens the door.

HUNTER: Come in.

Tom steps in, Hunter gives the truck another look.

INT. FOYER

Hunter closes the door.   

HUNTER: I'm on my way to pick up my daughter at the airport in El Paso.

TOM: Yessir.

HUNTER: When will you be back through on your way home to Laramie?

TOM: I reckon four or five days.

HUNTER: We won't be here.

TOM: Yessir.

CUT TO 9