Tom in pajamas in Hunter’s guest room.
HUNTER: Knock knock.
TOM: C’mon in.
HUNTER: Love the pajams.
TOM: Wanda made ‘em.
HUNTER: Tom, I just read an email from Barbara at request of Kate at request of her boyfriend who wonders if you might remember meeting Army Warrant Officer Cedric Turner in Vietnam,
Tom is clearly moved.
TOM: Is Warrant Officer Turner Kate’s boyfriend?
HUNTER: He is. He remembers meeting a Marine Lance Corporal Tom Walker who was also born and raised in Bandera, Texas.
Tom is stricken.
HUNTER(CONT.): Were you a Marine Lance Corporal?
TOM: Yessir. I do recall meeting an Army Warrant Officer Cedric Turner. Born and raised in Long Beach, California.
HUNTER: What a coincidence.
Chloe arrives.
CHLOE: What coincidence?
HUNTER: There’s an overwhelmingly statistical likelihood that Tom and Cedric have met.
CHLOE: Really? Where and when?
TOM: Vietnam.
CHLOE: Oh.
TOM: Any chance I could get a note to Warrant Officer Turner?
HUNTER: I have the okay to give you his email.
TOM: Thank you.
HUNTER: Naturally I’m curious about the details but Cedric requests that he talk with you first.
CHLOE (SINGS): It’s a small…small…world.
TOM: Ain’t it. What’s Warrant Officer Turner doing in Wilson?
HUNTER: Retired corporate security consultant. Not so retired backcountry helicopter pilot. Hunters, fishers, hikers and climbers.
TOM: Warrant Officer Turner flew helicopters.
HUNTER: More uncanny coincidence.
TOM: You’ve met him.
HUNTER: I have not. I will at Chloe’s birthday. Maybe you’ll meet him before then. Will I see you at sunrise?
TOM: I’ll set my alarm.
HUNTER: You will leave a note in the guest book, won’t you?
TOM: Just about to sit down and compose my thoughts.
(Goodnights, Tom sits, opens guest book, gets pencil, hovers it above page, scratch scratch of pencil on paper.)
