about Ruth

Chloe with Barbara, Jan and John. 

JAN: What do we know about Ruth?

CHLOE: We know she was a high school teacher in Johnson City, Texas, then a junior high administrator in Tulsa, where she met her husband, Ed, who was a petroleum engineer. She was thirty when they married. They had a son, Charles. Ed and Charles died on Charles's fifteenth birthday when their Cessna crashed on the landing strip of a ranch they'd flown to for a deer hunt. Ruth sold their house and traveled in Europe for a year, lived in Maine for two years then moved to Bandera when their mother, Opal, was diagnosed with breast cancer. She died five months later. Their father, Randy, died from a heart attack a year and a day later. Ruth moved to Alaska, lived there for three years, then bought the house in Kerrville. No relationships after Ed that Tom knew of. She started painting a few years ago. The pictures on his phone indicate a very quick learner.  

meet Barbara, Jan and John dialogue

PLAYING SCRABBLE.

JOHN: Do we know where they're going horseback riding?

BARBARA: Jackie's family has land north of Ruidoso. She has a cousin who manages a riding stable.

JAN: Do we know what Jackie does for a living?

BARBARA: History professor at New Mexico State. From whom, by the way, Chloe received a letter last week.

JOHN: Do we know if Chloe is meeting an Arizona coach, by the way.

BARBARA: She is not. They're going to walk the campus, hang out in Tucson for a couple days.

JAN: Do we know where they're staying?

BARBARA: We do not.  

Barbara's PHONE RINGTONES TYPEWRITER.

BARBARA (cont.): I'll ask.

(into phone) Hey.

Her face expresses surprise.

(cont.) Hunter, I trust your judgment. 

They're right here.

Alright. 

Okay.

Bye.

(sets phone down.)

Tom Walker is at Hunter's house. He's spending the night.