POV at modest CRACKLING FIRE ringed by rocks. TILT UP to reveal across the fire a WORKING COWBOY whose face is obscured by the brim of his hat as he feeds twigs to the flame. His silver hair rests on his shoulders.An AUSTRALIAN SHEPHERD at repose next to him.
WHISPER OF RIVER, LOWING OF CATTLE and SNORT OF HORSES we can’t see in the dark sparkled by approximately sextillion stars and a quarter moon. We finally notice what seems the blinking eyes of an owl looking back at us from behind the cowboy, over a shoulder.
A WOLF’S DISTANT HOWL alerts the dog and lifts the cowboy’s gaze from the fire. He’s Tom, silver beard and mustache, twinkle is his eyes and smile on his face. He looks to the sky and quickly gathering clouds that soon enough eclipse the moon ad stars then drop snowflakes that cover the fire and finally Tom as the last ember of the fire is extinguished.
BLACK for a moment before SUNRISE on the distant mountains we could not see behind where Tom had been. The sun ascends quickly on the snow-covered Big West High Country. Horse and dog tracks in the snow lead from the bare tree with the branch the great horned owl flies from without a sound, toward the cowboy, his black horse and the last few of a dozen head of cattle completing the crossing of the steaming river shallow over and around gravel bars.
After the last cow has completed the crossing, the cowboy turns his black horse to us, takes off his hat and waves it over his head before finally turning anf continuing out of view.
ROOSTER CROW.
INT. HUNTER’S BEDROOM - DAWN
