ON THE ROAD TO CHICAGO

Wide Shot – two men walk down dusty road, heat haze, tumbleweed roll past.

Medium shot tracking the gentlemen’s conversation.

MARCUS GRANT

I still can't believe it, Joe.

JOE CARLYLE

You've been saying that since we left St. Louis.

MARCUS GRANT

This is serious! I think I might be losing my touch.

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JOE CARLYLE

Here we go!

Both men remove their hats. Joe smiles big. As a man walks by on the road.

JOE CARLYLE

Spare some change for the train?

The man walks by without a word.

MARCUS GRANT

Maybe I'm not alone. That smile used to seduce nations.

JOE CARLYLE

I'm out of practice. And I lackmotivation.

MARCUS GRANT

Is that so?

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JOE CARLYLE

Mark my words. A good-looking dame comes walking down this street, we'llbe swimming in pocket change.

MARCUS GRANT

A shame such confidence was not present in St. Louis!

JOE CARLYLE

Woah woah woah! It was not I that wastrying to sell worthless cotton futures.

MARCUS GRANT

No one knew they were worthless!

JOE CARLYLE

Well they do now. And we're both penniless. I say, such a measly rewardfor having every banker in Cincinnati out for blood.

MARCUS GRANT

I know.

(He stops in his tracks)

Tell you what, Joe, I am just going to curl up over here and die.

Marcus Grant sits on the ground

JOE CARLYLE

Ah, come on, Grant! Don't be like that! You've just had a tough break.

MARCUS GRANT

Breaks. Plural. Remember Memphis?

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JOE CARLYLE

Oh yeah... Alright, tell you what. I take full responsibility for Memphis.

MARCUS GRANT

Knock it off.

JOE CARLYLE

No, I mean it! And besides, Grant, our luck is going to change...Hey look!

Joe walks up to a welcome sign just out of town.

JOE CARLYLE

(Reading the sign)

Welcome to Pineville Illinois, the land of the Pine.

MARCUS GRANT

Nothing like a little redundancy. JOE CARLYLE reads The Founding of Pineville.

JOE CARLYLE

In 1832, Frances Jean Thibodeaux...

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Medium tracking shot - Flashback to THIBODEAUX nervously walking through a moonlit (changed to moody) forest. As JOE CARLYLE narrates

JOE CARLYLE

Left his Missourian home, and travelling on his own --

THIBODEAUX

Through the forest I shall roam!

JOE CARLYLE

Now legend says that as he leaned, against the trunk of a great pine tree, forgetting his troubles and unaware...he was clawed to death by a ferocious bear.

THIBODEAUX

I say, did you say bear?

Close-up on THIBODEAUX’S face - Frances Jean Thibodeaux looksin terror, as a bear tackles him.

JOE CARLYLE

In 1848, the loggers were quite irate.

Medium Shot circling – 3 men sit around a campfire as the men talk

JOE CARLYLE

The legend through the years had spread, how Thibodeaux lost his head.

Camera holds steady on the leader of the loggers

LEADER OF THE LOGGERS

We will not sleep till that bear isdead!

All four men raise their axes and pitchforks, and run screaming into the dark forest behind them

JOE CARLYLE

And this is how that fateful day, this very town got its name. For those working boys from a lumber mill...

The four men walk back through the forest with bloody axes and a bearskin

JOE CARLYLE

Feeling victory from the kill.

LEADER OF THE LOGGERS

I say we call it Pineville!

JOE CARLYLE

Now it was 1862, and a nation split in two. These good ol' boys...

Medium shot - The three men dawn soldiers accoutrements and pick up guns

JOE CARLYLE

From south Illinois --

LEADER OF THE LOGGERS

I think it's time we made some noise!

LOGGER

But sir, we cannot fight northern might.

LEADER OF THE LOGGERS

Son, we can't lie down while they take our rights! Those northern boys better run. Because though we may never seetomorrow's sun, we'll teach them rotten Yankee scum!

Medium shot pan tracking the men’s movements - All four men charge into the distance As a cannon and muskets are fired at them, they fall.

Medium shot – Joe and Marcus still standing at the sign

JOE CARLYLE

Now the wind blows quickly in Pineville, sweeping folks over the hill. But you'll never deprive, our spirit and pride. Population 305.

MARCUS GRANT

Yep, nothing to see here.

He starts walking away. Joe stops him.

JOE CARLYLE

Now wait, we haven't seen anything.

MARCUS GRANT

Believe me, I have seen enough.

JOE CARLYLE

We've been walking for two days. I could use a moment to shake the dust out of my shoes.

MARCUS GRANT

Kiddo, I spent my whole life in a tank town. And I'm STILL shaking dust off my shoes.

JOE CARLYLE

Look. I'm beat, and if you want these feet to ever operate a piano pedalagain, you'll let them simmer over awarm fire and buy me an ale!

MARCUS GRANT

...No.

JOE CARLYLE

Come on, Grant! Look, I even got my smile back.

JOE CARLYLE smiles a big goofy open-mouthed smile. Marcus Grant looks away.

Stop it.

MARCUS GRANT

JOE CARLYLE

Please, Grant! Look at my face, Grant!Come on, Grant, look at my face.

          MARCUS GRANT ALRIGHT FINE!

JOE CARLYLE

I knew you'd see things my way.

MARCUS GRANT

...I swear, mark my words, one day I'll knock a tooth out of that smile!

JOE CARLYLE

That would only make it more effectual. Let's go...