Following the Captain

By R. Earle Harris
All rights reserved (c) 2015 (r dot earle dot harris at gmx dot com)

`FADE IN:`

`EXT. WOODED FIELDS - DAY`

Farm country in rural Georgia. We hear the voice of JOSHUA Durham, an eighty-four-year-old lawman, filled with strength of character.

                         JOSHUA (V.O.)

                My father survived the War. Captain 
                saw him through all that. But Sherman 
                put him in the ground. All Sherman 
                left us in Georgia was bare dirt and 
                a plundered farm. Trying for years 
                to bring our good farm back killed 
                my father. Because there were still 
                too many of us left with mother, I 
                had to leave. So I went to find Captain.

`EXT. FARM - DAY`

Durham family farm in Georgia.

`EXT. FARM - DAY`

Dooryard of Durham farm. JOSHUA is a big, strapping seventeen. He has a passable farm horse saddled with a worn-out farm saddle lacking skirts. His MOTHER, OLDER BROTHER and YOUNGER BROTHER are here.

                         JOSHUA

               Goodbye, momma.

                         MOTHER

               Goodbye, Joshua.

                         YOUNGER BROTHER

                Are you really going to find Captain?

                         JOSHUA

               I am. I know he's in Texas.

                         MOTHER

               I know you'll find him, son.

                         OLDER BROTHER

               Joshua.

Joshua turns to his older brother.

                         OLDER BROTHER (CONT'D)

                Father gave this to me. But I think 
                he'd want you to have it where you're 
                going. You take it.

He hands Joshua a good old cavalry pistol, well cared-for.

                         JOSHUA

               Thank you, Eli. I'd best go.

Mounts and leaves, accompanied by their farewells.

`EXT. ROAD - DAY`

Joshua rides away from his family.

`EXT. ROAD - DAY`

Rural road through Georgia. Joshua is riding west.

                         JOSHUA (V.O.)

                All this happened a long time ago. 
                And some parts of it, the killing 
                parts, are hard for folks to understand 
                now. They don't believe we did it 
                like that. Back then we trusted in 
                the Good Book. And that means we took 
                it to heart when it said that the 
                day and hour of a man's death were 
                written on the day he was born. Captain 
                and the Good Book got us through many 
                a hard place. That and praying. Maybe 
                you don't believe we prayed. Well, 
                the hell with you.

Then suddenly -

`EXT. ROAD - DAY`

Sunrise on the Texas coastal plain, near Burton.

Title Over:
               Texas, 1875.

`EXT. ROAD - DAY`

Joshua nears the fair-sized little town of Burton.

`EXT. BURTON - DAY`

Joshua rides into Burton and up to the post office. He dismounts and goes in.

`INT. POST OFFICE - DAY`

POSTMASTER and Joshua.

                         JOSHUA

               Morning.

                         POSTMASTER

               Morning.

                         JOSHUA

                I'm looking for Captain McNelly, Captain 
                Lee McNelly.

                         POSTMASTER

               He know you?

                         JOSHUA

                My father rode with him in the war.

                         POSTMASTER

               He did, did he?

Joshua is silent under the postmaster's gaze.

                         JOSHUA

                I guess I just wanted to shake his 
                hand.

                         POSTMASTER

               Where you from, son?

                         JOSHUA

               Georgia.

                         POSTMASTER

                Long way to come just to shake a man's 
                hand.

Joshua does not respond.

                         POSTMASTER (CONT'D)

                McNelly has a soldier's headright, 
                planted in cotton, just north of town. 
                But he's gone to Austin.

                         JOSHUA

               When is he due back?

                         POSTMASTER

                He may not be back at all. The governor 
                called him.

`EXT. STREET - DAY`

Joshua comes out of the office and, after looking around, rides out of town.

`EXT. FARM - DAY`

Farm outside Burton. A team of horses is plowing up the ground and members of FARMER's family are seeding it.

`EXT. FARM - DAY`

George gets off his horse and leads it up to the plow.

                         JOSHUA

               Mornin', sir.

Farmer pauses in his work.

                         FARMER

               Mornin'.

                         JOSHUA

               Could ya'll use another hand?

Farmer studies Joshua a bit.

                         FARMER

                We could. You ever follered a plow?

                         JOSHUA

                In Georgia. We been farmin' it since 
                my pa died.

                         FARMER

                Alright. We can try you. How would 
                fifty cents a day and found be? You 
                could sleep in the dog run.

                         JOSHUA

                That would be fine. Thank you, sir.

                         FARMER

                Why don't you see to your horse and 
                then rustle back out here?

                         JOSHUA

               Yessir.

`EXT. FARM - DAY`

Joshua works with the farmer through the day.

`EXT. FARM - EVENING`

Joshua and the farmer head in for supper.

`EXT. FARMHOUSE - EVENING`

The farmer's WIFE is cooking in the kitchen which is on one side of the dog run. The rest of the little house is on the other.

`EXT. FARMHOUSE - EVENING`

Continuous. The WIFE hands him a plate of beans and such.

                         WIFE

               Here you are, Joshua.

                         JOSHUA

               Thank you, ma'am.

                         WIFE

                You come all the way from Georgia 
                to farm with us.

                         JOSHUA

                No, ma'am. I mean, I'm grateful, ma'am. 
                But I came to follow Captain.

                         WIFE

               Follow who?

                         JOSHUA

                My father's Captain, ma'am. Captain 
                Lee McNelly. My father rode with him 
                in the war.

                         WIFE

                So you won't be stayin' with us long?

                         JOSHUA

                Long as I can, ma'am. Till the Captain 
                comes back from Austin.

                         WIFE

                You go over with my husband and kids--

She gestures to where they are eating out in the cool of the evening.

                         WIFE (CONT'D)

               --and I'll be along to say grace.

                         JOSHUA

               Yes'm.

`EXT. FARMHOUSE - EVENING`

Family eating dinner at a wooden table. The kids are being seen and not heard.

                         WIFE

                What is it you hope to do with Captain 
                McNelly, Joshua?

                         FARMER

               That's his business, dear.

                         JOSHUA

                I don't mind, sir. Ma'am. I guess 
                I don't rightly know. He was my father's 
                captain and if he's still an officer 
                I'm hopin' he'll take me on.

                         FARMER

                I don't believe the captain is in 
                the army these days, son.

                         WIFE

                But he's still an officer. After the 
                war he was with the State Police.

                         FARMER

                And the only decent man in it if you 
                ask me?

                         JOSHUA

               How was that, sir?

                         FARMER

                The State Police was put on us, son.

                         WIFE

                Part of our punishment during the 
                reconstruction.

                         FARMER

                Redestruction, it was. We lost the 
                war. Then they freed the slaves, gave 
                them guns, and made them policemen.

                         JOSHUA

                They did that to us in Georgia, too. 
                All the judges were from the Union.

                         FARMER

               The damn Union.

                The wife nods at the staring children.

                         WIFE

               Dear.

                         FARMER

                The damn Union. We lived ten years 
                with no justice. A lot of men joined 
                the Ku Klux Klan to fight back.

                         WIFE

                But that just got a lot of innocent 
                people punished.

                         FARMER

                It seemed there was only one part 
                of Texas where justice for Texans 
                meant anything - and that was where 
                Captain McNelly was in charge of the 
                State Police.

`EXT. DOG RUN - NIGHT`

Joshua beds down between the two rooms and looks out and up at the stars.

`MONTAGE: FARM - DAY`

A sequence to indicate passage of some days. Joshua continues to work the farm.

`EXT. DOG RUN - NIGHT`

Joshua beds down between the two rooms. Farmer enters.

                         FARMER

               Joshua.

                         JOSHUA

               Sir.

                         FARMER

                I hate to lose you, son, but you may 
                be done here.

                         JOSHUA

               Is it something I've done?

                         FARMER

                Oh, no. Not a thing wrong. But I was 
                in town today and heard a piece of 
                news.

Joshua waits to hear.

                         FARMER (CONT'D)

                The captain is back from Austin. I 
                hear he's lookin' for help.

`EXT. STREET - DAY`

Burton. Some weeks later. Joshua rides into town.

`EXT. POST OFFICE - DAY`

Joshua dismounts and heads inside.

`INT. POST OFFICE - DAY`

Joshua, jingling coins in his pocket, walks into the post office. As he enters, he holds the door for MCNELLY, who is leaving.

`EXT. STREET - DAY`

McNelly is in his early thirties. He is slight, about 135 pounds, with silky, wavy hair worn a bit long and a neat, silky beard to his chest. He looks like what he almost became - a preacher. McNelly mounts his horse.

`INT. POST OFFICE - DAY`

Continuous.

                         JOSHUA

               Morning, sir.

                         POSTMASTER

               Morning, young Durham.

                         JOSHUA

                I heard Captain McNelly is back and 
                wanted to ask you where I could find 
                him.

                         POSTMASTER

                Look right out that window, son. There 
                he is.

McNelly turns his horse and rides up the street. Joshua watches him critically.

                         JOSHUA

                That can't be him. Captain was guerrilla 

Screenplay truncated at 500 lines.