INT ROVER

INT.  LAND ROVER - DAY

Hunter driving, Jackie front passenger, Tom behind Hunter, Chloe behind Jackie. 

Top of San Augustin Pass, Highway 70, expansive view to Tularosa Basin.

CHLOE: When's the last time you were on a horse?

TOM: Few months ago. We got friends up in Sheridan with land and horses. How 'bout you?

CHLOE:  Well, if a mule ride counts, then two summers ago at the Grand Canyon.

TOM: I'd count it. You were on a saddle. Good time?

Chloe nods.

CHLOE: Have you ever been?

TOM: I had an uncle, aunt and two cousins who lived in Flagstaff. We came out one Christmas and drove up one day. Got a little snow. Ruth has pictures.

CHLOE: How old a kid?

TOM: Eleven.  

HUNTER: Came out in what?

TOM: Mom's car. Pontiac Ventura.

HUNTER: What year?

TOM: Sixty. 

CHLOE: What color?

TOM: Skymist blue with a white hardtop they called ivory. First car I ever drove.

CHLOE: How old were you?

TOM: My thirteenth birthday. 

HUNTER: Where and with whom?

TOM: Me and my dad and grandad on highway one-eighteen headed south outta Alpine, Texas. My grandad Randy and gramma Emily retired there.

HUNTER: Your dad's parents.

TOM: Yessir. Jeff, the uncle in Flagstaff, was mom's brother. Ruth's got the family tree goin' back a-ways on an ancestry website, if y'all're interested.

Chloe nods.

HUNTER: Very. 

TOM: Remind me to give ya the link before I leave.

CHLOE: We will.

JACKIE: Thirteen seems a little young to be out on the highway.

TOM: Yes ma'am.

JACKIE: What if you'd been pulled over?

TOM: I was. They set me up for it. One a grandad's best friends was a retired state trooper. They called it in. I seen the cruiser parked at a ranch gate just south a Calamity Creek. Got my heart racin' but I was doin' the speed limit and he was lookin' down when I drove by, like maybe doin' paperwork. Dad said whew that was close and grandad said sure as hell was. Close enough for me and to wanna get outta the driver's seat and I was about to suggest that  when I seen him in the rearview, comin' up quick. Then the light and siren.  I about fainted.  Grandad suggested I pull over, like maybe I had some other notion of makin' a run to the border. Course I pulled over. I looked at my dad and grandad, they was just lookin' straight ahead, serious and concerned, like we was off to jail for sure. Trooper killed the siren, got out and came up on me. Even now I can hear the crunch of his boots on the gravel. And he was takin' his time. Finally got to the window, wearin' his aviators. Bent down, leaned in, asked if he could see my license. I looked over at my dad and grandad, seen their shoot-eatin' grins and figured out pretty quick what was up. Looked back at the trooper with the same ear to ear smile. Took off his glasses, told me happy birthday, young man, and handed me an envelope with three tickets to the Houston Oilers home opener against the Oakland Raiders a few weeks away.

HUNTER: Sixty-four season. 

TOM: Yessir. At Jeppesen Stadium. It ain't there anymore. 

HUNTER: You were an Oilers fan.

TOM: I was.  We stayed at what was then the Auditorium Hotel and made a long weekend out of it.  

CHLOE: Do you remember who won?

TOM: Oilers, forty-two to twenty-eight. Clem Daniels caught two passes for touchdowns and ran for another. Bobby Jackson ran it in twice from a yard out.  

HUNTER: Did you play in high school?

TOM: My freshman and sophomore years. I was a defensive back and receiver.

HUNTER: Why not your junior and senior years.

TOM: Wanted to focus on junior rodeo.

CHLOE: You had a horse?

TOM: I did. Kept him at friend's place outside Vanderpool.

CHLOE: What was his name?

TOM: Butter.

CHLOE: You named him?

TOM: I did.

CHLOE: Why Butter?

TOM: He was a palomino. 

CHLOE: Trigger.

TOM: That's right. You ever seen the Roy Rogers show?

CHLOE: A snippet last year in my American popular culture class. What event or events did you do? 

TOM: Started out barrel racin', ended up doin' what's called tie down ropin'.

CHLOE: That's the one the calves love so much.

Tom smiles.

TOM: Probly ain't the most fun they have.

CHLOE: I imagine that would be being branded. 

Tom's smile grows. Hunter and Chloe meet eyes in the rearview. Chloe winks. Hunter smiles.

TOM: My experience indicates maybe not.

CHLOE: Did the barrel ever win? 

Tom's smile grows larger.

TOM: Once. In Fort Worth.  A story for another time.

CHLOE: I'll hold you to that.

TOM: I might need remindin'.

CHLOE: Not a problem. Did you win any buckles?

TOM: A few.

HUNTER: Do you still have them?

TOM: In a shoebox at home.

HUNTER: Did you do pro rodeo?

TOM: No. That was the plan but I got drafted and went off to Vietnam.

Silence but for the HUM OF THE RIDE. 

HUNTER: Another story for another time?

TOM: Sure. So we'll be comin' up on White Sands here in awhile.

HUNTER: We will. Have you been?

TOM: No sir.

HUNTER: I thought we might stop by for sunset, take a walk out on the dunes, if everyone's okay with that.

CHLOE: Yay.

JACKIE: Seconded.

TOM: Thirded. Which reminds me to ask y'all if ya mind bein' in a few photographs today.

CHLOE: I was going to ask you the same thing.

JACKIE: I brought the selfie stick.

CHLOE: Seconded.

TOM: Thank you. 'Cause I done promised my wife and sister I would.

Chloe gets her phone, puts it in camera and selfie mode, captures herself and Tom, leaning into frame and flashing a peace sign. Chloe takes the picture, checks it, shows Tom.

CHLOE: Thank you.

She SENDS the picture to MOM.

TOM: If I give you my phone number wouldja send that to me?

Chloe preps phone to ADD CONTACT, enters TOM WALKER, hands phone to Tom, watches Tom enter his number. Tom hands phone back, Chloe calls the number. TOM'S PHONE VIBRATES in shirt pocket.

CHLOE: Contact.

She pockets phone. Silence but for HUM OF RIDE. 

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