scene 10

scene 9

EXT. HANDSOME HOME - DAY

One of several handsome homes leaning toward Southwest style widely spaced near the base of the Organ Mountains, trash and recycling bins where each driveway meets the street. Open garage door features a Range Rover SUV ("Rover" hereafter) rand Harley-Davidson Street Glide.  

Down the road Tom's truck turns onto the street and nears.

INT. TOM'S TRUCK - CONTINUOUS

Tom in aviators drives slowly past the homes, taking them in.

GPS VOICE: In one hundred yards you will arrive at your destination.

He nears and stops at the open garage, engine idling. He gets phone from pocket, sets in camera mode, aims at the garage just as Hunter comes out through door to house, recyclables bag in hand.  He looks up at the truck, stops, Tom takes the picture, pockets phone, drives away. Hunter keeps his eyes on the truck as he nears the bins.

INT. TOM'S TRUCK - CONTINUOUS

Tom drives toward the house near the corner where Hunter's street turns right onto another, keeping his eyes on HUNTER IN THE REARVIEW MIRROR,.

HUNTER'S DRIVEWAY/STREET - CONTINUOUS

Keeping his eye on the truck, Hunter drops the bag into one of the two bins, closes it, watches the truck turn right onto the next street, then obscured behind the house near the corner. He waits for truck to come into view but after awhile walks back to the garage, eyes watchful, then into the garage and the house through the door.

INT. TOM'S TRUCK - CONTINUOUS

He idles in front of the house near the corner, hands on the wheel, looking straight ahead. Finally he makes the U-turn back toward Hunter's street, turns left onto it, obscured by the house. 

scene 9

scene 8

INT. NOVELIST'S HOME OFFICE - DAY

If the big window view to the up-close Organ Mountains is the front of the room, then the old wooden desk facing it is at the back of the room near open door to hallway. San Luis Obispo High and old school California Angels baseball caps on rack near the door. Map (TBD) on wall behind desk attended by wooden swivel chair with padded seat.

Loaded bookshelf against wall between desk and window across room from old leather sofa under a framed print of an Ad Reinhardt "Red Painting." Navajo rug on hardwood. Stool and telescope in corner where bookshelf meets window, potted young Saguaro cactus between window and sofa.

Printer on stand adjacent to desk populated by globe, old baseball, stack of yellow legal pads near pens and pencils in NMSU coffee mug, framed photograph of Chloe smiling at the camera from where is "tubed" in the jade-green wave she is surfing, and a computer open to text we cannot discern other than FADE IN at top of page before it gives way to screensaver: Chloe and HUNTER, 50-ish - the H.C. Hardyn on Gil's Foglost's about-the-author page - smiling wildly from where they sit in the front of a roller-coaster in motion. 

Hunter, 50 - jeans, running shoes, raglan-style shirt (grey body, blue sleeves) - enters from hall, leans to close file and power down the computer. He leaves into hall.  

INT. KITCHEN - MOMENTS LATER

State of the art appliances, stone counter and center island, Saltillo tile. View into adjacent dining room and, through the window over the sink, the shaded patio and smallish xeriscaped yard bordered by a low stone wall on which a roadrunner rests. Door from dining room to patio featuring grill and table with four chairs. Stack of mail, bananas in a wooden bowl on center island. 

Calendar on the refrigerator turned to July and features a picture of a girl who would be correctly identified as Chloe at 10, smiling at the camera with a fireworks "sparkler" in each hand, the night sky above and behind her lit with exploding fireworks. The boxes of the days are checked off to the 19th. CHLOE in blue pen populates the 20th, the remaining days empty. 

Hunter,enters from hall, gets half-empty plastic water bottle from fridge, finishes in two swallows, crushes empty bottle, puts it in plastic bag filled with recyclables he gets from closet. He ties off the bag, leaves into hall. 

scene 8

scene 7

INT. TRUCK - DAY

Tom driving a two-lane road nearing what signage makes clear is The Talavera Fire Department east of Las Cruces, New Mexico, where the high desert meets a community of handsome homes heavy on southwest style near the base of the Organ Mountains under a brilliant sun in a cloudless blue sky.

The portable GPS on the seat tells him in a WOMAN'S VOICE to turn left onto Soledad Canyon Road. He does so and drives straight at the mountains. He gets aviator sunglasses from sleeve on driver's visor, puts them on.