EXT. FORT PARK - DAY
Hunter and Gil in ATV aimed at view to tops of Texas Hill Country, and the boys at work/play, and their ATV.
HUNTER: How long have you been here?
GIL: My dad bought the first parcel when I was four. We'd come up on Sundays after church and play while my dad and a few friends got started on the house.
HUNTER: Come up from where and what did your dad do?
GIL: San Antonio. My dad and a cousin used their G-I Bills to start an auto shop.
HUNTER: World War Two.
GIL: Yessir.
HUNTER: Where were they?
GIL: Dad was in the Pacific, Danny in France.
HUNTER: What branches?
GIL: Marines and Army respectively.
HUNTER: My grandfather was Navy in the Pacific.
GIL: What boat?
HUNTER: Helena.
GIL: Did he talk about it?
HUNTER: He was on it in Kula Gulf. If you've heard of that.
GIL: I have.
HUNTER: He was in the water for two days. He would talk about it a little but nothing in detail. And in a way that let me know he wouldn't mind not talking about it.
Gil nods.
GIL: Any military time?
HUNTER: No. Closest was when two Army recruiters came to the house one day my senior year.
GIL: How'd that go?
HUNTER: Quickly. I listened to them pitch putting off college and letting Uncle Sam pay for it, said no, thank, walked them to the door. You?
GIL: Military?
Hunter nods.
GIL (CONT.) Yes. Marine, Vietnam.
FAINT THUNDER.
HUNTER: Was Tom?
GIL (beat): Yes. Army. First Air Cav.
LOUDER THUNDER
GIL: Here it comes. I don't think you're going to get to Ruth's without getting wet.
HUNTER: Was he drafted?
GIL: Got our cards the same day.
HUNTER: Can we talk about this more when I'm back.
GIL: We can do that. I've got some photos.
HUNTER: Thank you.
GIL: My pleasure.
LOUDER THUNDER.
GIL (CONT.): Now might be a good time to head back.
Gil nods to a whitetail buck seeming to look back at them from fifty yards away. Hunter sees it and watches it take its time walking into the woods and out of view.
GIL (CONT.) Have you ever hunted, Hunter?
HUNTER: No. I killed a squirrel with a slingshot when I was a kid and watched it...die, and that itch was scratched and bled to a scab that will always be there.
Gil nods.
HUNTER: Did Tom?
GIL: Got his first here on his thirteenth birthday. Pretty sure the mount is on a wall in Laramie. He was a helluva shot. Couple years later he got an elk from a few hundred yards in the Guadalupe Mountains when we there with our dads. But if he ever picked up a gun after he got back, I never saw it.
HUNTER: Back from Vietnam.
GIL: Yessir.
LOUDER THUNDER and LIGHTNING BOLT in the far-off grey. Gil turns and WHISTLES at the boys, who hurry to their ATV. Gil starts the engine.
GIL: Ever fished?
HUNTER: Once, sort of, when I was a kid. Tom and I talked about meeting up for a fly-fishing lesson.
GIL: Maybe when you're back we can take the boat out on the lake and I could give you a start with chasing bass around. If you'd be interested.
Rodrigo starts the engine of the ATV, drives away.
HUNTER: I would like that very much.
GIL: It's a date. Maybe add a handful of Tom's ashes.
He turns the ATV around and follows the boys into the woods and out of view.
LOUDER THUNDER and CLOSER LIGHTNING.