EXT. THE SANTA RITA MOUNTAINS - ARIZONA - EARLY MORNING
A lonely weatherbeaten sign says "No Trespassing". Apache Peak to the east, a riot of spring color paints the rugged mountains and desert beyond. A hawk circles in the sky as a dust plume rises over a ridge, an engine STRAINS...
A dust-covered SUV 4x4 bounces over the crest of the ridge, past tumbleweeds, a saguaro cactus sentry...
DANIEL MARTIN, black, mid-30s, gets out, walks to the sign, takes out a map and consults it. He wipes sweat from his brow, walks around the sign...and discovers an even less-used track that heads higher into the mountains.
EXT. WILLIAMS RANCH - MADERA CANYON - LATER
A lonely windmill CREAKS. The weatherbeaten ranch house grows out of the scenery. Two horses stamp in the small corral. A rooster tail of dust becomes a shape, becomes the 4x4. The dusty vehicle rolls to a stop in the barnyard.
Daniel climbs out, attempts to square away his clothes, walks to the front door of the house and KNOCKS. A moment, no answer. He KNOCKS again.
WILLIAMS (O.S.)
Hold yer water, I'm a comin', I'm a comin'...
The front door opens to reveal MARCUS WILLIAMS, black, age indeterminate but old, a cowboy who's part of the landscape.
DANIEL
Regimental Sergeant Major Marcus Williams?
WILLIAMS
(smiles)
Ain't nobody called me that in sixty years, son. C'mon in then, Colonel Martin, sir.
INT. RANCH HOUSE - DAY
Absolutely spotless: a place for everything, and everything in its place. Not what Daniel expected.
WILLIAMS
Sit down, take a load off, son. Want coffee?
DANIEL
Yessir.
WILLIAMS
You don't "sir" a sergeant, sir.
DANIEL
It's respect, not protocol, Sergeant Major. I called my platoon sergeant "sir" when he saved my butt in Kuwait City.
WILLIAMS
I was right proud of you men over there, I surely was.
Williams goes into the kitchen. FROM (O.S.)...
WILLIAMS
How many times you get lost gettin' out here?
DANIEL
Only where you said to make a right, sir. I had to get out and walk around to find it.
Williams returns, sets down two large, gold-rimmed porcelain mugs of steaming coffee, and sits opposite Daniel, who picks up a cup, stares at the 10th Cavalry Coat of Arms.
Williams looks at the young man a long moment as he decides whether or not he's the one to hear the tale.
WILLIAMS
These're prob'ly the last two left. From the Noncommissioned Officer's Mess.
DANIEL
Yes, sir. As I told you, I'm writing my dissertation at the National War College, about the Buffalo - uh, I mean the 10th Cavalry.
WILLIAMS
The Kiowa named us the Buffalo Soldiers, Colonel. It was a badge of honor. We were the ones whipped them, Geronimo, Red Cloud...
Actually, that was back in my grandfather's days. I'm an old man but not that old! Born over at Fort Huachuca. My father was Regimental Sergeant Major before me.
Daniel flinches at the HOT coffee. He sets it down to cool.
DANIEL
My interest, Sergeant Major, is in the last days of the Tenth, the policy of using African-Americans to guard German...
WILLIAMS
Nazi prisoners. That wasn't the end of the 10th Cavalry.
(Daniel's attentive)
No indeed, the 10th did in fact see action during the war.
DANIEL
That’s the rumor, but there’s nothing in the records...
WILLIAMS
That’s because as far as the Army's concerned, it never happened. Doesn't exactly put them in the best light, that. Yes, sir. It's history you won't read anywhere. But we were there at the dawn of a new age, four Buffalo Soldiers and one officer...
Daniel raises his mug to try again - the steam rises up in front of his face...
DISSOLVE TO -
EXT. MESILLA VALLEY - NEW MEXICO - EARLY MORNING
Below, the town of Las Cruces still slumbers in the shadows beside the sparkling waters of the Rio Grande.
BEVERLY (O.S.)
Ray! Ray! Where are you?
A RIDER ON HORSEBACK is silhouetted on the ridge.
BEVERLY HAMILTON CLINE, late 20s, Veronica Lake hair, is a refined Easterner in jodhpurs. She spurs her mount and heads toward the promontory.
BEVERLY
Ray?
AT THE PROMONTORY - Beverly reins in and looks around.
RAY (O.S.)
I heard you twice the first time, Bev.
BEVERLY
Darn it, Ray. This isn’t funny!
RAYMOND "RAY" CLINE leans against his horse’s flank in the shade of the junipers. 30s, at home in Western clothes, he adjusts his Stetson as the sun hits his eyes. She dismounts and goes to him, then stops as...
RAY
I needed to get out. By myself.
(off her hurt expression)
But I’m glad you followed me, honey.
He reaches his right hand to her, though his left is closer.
BEVERLY
It was the phone call?
RAY
Orders. My days as an official invalid are over.
BEVERLY
That’s wonderful! Now we can be a real family.
RAY
Not yet - I've been assigned as deputy commandant of Camp Gladden, a German POW camp over in Arizona.
BEVERLY
They said you’d be discharged!
RAY
Not until the war’s over. I asked them to give me duty that would free up a man for combat.
Not what she wanted to hear. She dismounts, confronts him.
BEVERLY
You’ve done enough!
He stares off and rubs his left arm.
RAY
(more to himself)
I shoulda been with my guys at Pointe Du Hoc - on D-Day.
BEVERLY
You were there, Ray! You were there at Dieppe! You saved so many lives...
RAY (over)
Not enough of them...
BEVERLY (Cont - over)
...and all this time in the hospital while they put you back together.
RAY
(Stares off)
They were my men. I shoulda been there with them...
BEVERLY
(Upset)
So you could have died with them? To capture guns that weren’t there?
He says nothing to that. His grabs a lanyard tied to his saddle’s pommel with his right hand and pulls himself up.
BEVERLY
You don’t have to go! You told me yourself they said you were too badly injured to hold down an assignment!!
RAY
The war’s not done.
BEVERLY
(Really upset)
You’re already a hero, Ray! You’ve already lived up to your grandfather! You don’t have to do any more!
He smiles at her as she mounts up.
She sees that and frowns.
BEVERLY
Don’t you try to placate me, Ray Cline. Don’t think those puppy-dog eyes are going to make me change my mind. We’re about to become a family. We need you home with us. You fought your war! We need you here!
RAY
You and Mom will be...
Suddenly, he realizes she said “we.”
RAY
You... you said... “we”...
BEVERLY
I found out for sure when I saw Doctor England yesterday. I was waiting for the right time to tell you...
Ray reaches over, takes her hand tenderly.
RAY
How...long...how long till...?
BEVERLY
He said the baby will be our Thanksgiving present.
Confronted with the reality of fatherhood, Ray looks away a moment, back at her.
RAY
This - is the best news - the best ever!
The two of them ride off together.
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Looking forward to Part 2.
OK. I'm in.