EXT. CREEK IN WOODS - DAY
Mixed conifer forest. A modest CREEK GURGLES IN A WHISPER interrupted by the CUH-LIP COH-LOP of approaching horses. Tom is the first rider to emerge from the woods to lead the others along the narrow trail that parallels the creek. He is followed in a line and in order by Chloe, Hunter, Jackie, Claire and Sess, the last to ride out of frame.
EXT. PINE FOREST - DAY
Hunter, Tom and Chloe stroll through the woods some distance away from where Sess, Jackie and Claire are setting up lunch at a picnic table in a clearing near where the horses are tied.
TOM: Anyone know why they're called ponderosa pines?
CHLOE: Pinus ponderosa, from the Latin ponderosus, large and heavy.
TOM: Oh. Thus ponderous.
CHLOE: Thus ponderous. But you knew that.
She looks at Tom. Tom winks.
TOM: Just checkin' my recollection, which ain't what it used to be. What else ya speak besides Latin?
CHLOE: I wouldn't say I speak Latin. I going into my third year of Spanish. How about you?
TOM: Poquito español. Suficiente para meterse en problemas.
CHLOE: Bastante suficiente, I reckon.
Tom smiles and winks.
TOM: Hunter?
HUNTER: Two years of French in high school.
TOM: Ever come in handy?
HUNTER: As a source of humor courting Barbara, who is fluent, and the summer after college I traveled in Europe. I took it because of a girl.
TOM: Remember her name?
HUNTER: Charlotte Barbier. What was your first girlfriend's name.
TOM (TWO BEATS): Ana Baca.
CHLOE: How old were you?
TOM: Fifteen. Met in history class.
CHLOE: Bandera high?
TOM: Bandera high. How'd you know there's a Bandera high
CHLOE: Didn't. Still there?
TOM: Still there. San Luis Obispo high?
CHLOE: Yep.
TOM: Mascot?
CHLOE: Tiger. Bandera's?
TOM: The bulldogs.
CHLOE: Did you play sports?
TOM: Me and your dad was talkin' about that. I did rodeo through my high school years. Ruth ran track and field.
CHLOE: My grandmother ran track and field at Berkeley.
TOM: What event or events?
CHLOE: Eight-eighty. Yards. Ruth?
TOM: Four-forty. High school, not college.
CHLOE: Did she go to college?
TOM: She did. It's Texas State now, Southwest Texas State when she was there.
CHLOE: San Marcos.
TOM: Yep. How'dya know that?
CHLOE: They sent me a letter about softball.
TOM: Sounds like maybe you got a few a those letters comin' in.
CHLOE: A couple.
We see past them to Jackie raise something that RINGS LIKE A TRIANGLE DINNER BELL.
CHLOE (CONT.) Chuckwagon ringeth.
TOM: Whaddaya know about a chuckwagon.
CHLOE: Everything you're about to tell me.
They walk toward lunch.
EXT. PICNIC TABLE
Jackie, Sess and Claire with the sandwich and potato salad lunch laid out on the gingham table cover. The triangle bell hangs from the table near Jackie. They watch Hunter, Tom and Chloe approach.
SESS: So Jack, Claire says Hunter could be the doppelganger of her dad's favorite author, H C Hardyn, with a Y.
JACKIE: Not doppelganger.
SESS: As in one and same.
JACKIE: One and same.
CLAIRE: I knew it. Do you think he would mind if I took a picture?
JACKIE: I think he would not mind, but I'll ask.
CLAIRE: Thanks. My dad would shit his pants.
SESS: Speaking of dads.
CLAIRE: Yes?
SESS: Could you say anything one way or the other about this sense I have that Tom might be Hunter's.
JACKIE(BEATS): I could.
SESS: Gottit.
JACKIE: And will, later.
SESS: Roger that, cuz.
They watch Tom stop at the horses to point out to Hunter and Chloe different parts of the saddle. He holds a stirrup briefly and gestures as he talks about it. He lets it go, strokes the horse's neck, then Chloe does. They resume their approach to the table.
