The War Train (Sample)

                                                                     1

               FADE IN:

               EXT. PULLMAN CABOOSE PLATFORM - ROLLING - NIGHT

               Snow whipped by an icy wind.  You'd hear the gusts if it
               weren't for the hellish THUNDERING of the wheels on the
               track and the rough LURCHING of the car.

               The steel door CLANGS open.  A craggy old CONDUCTOR pokes
               his head out and growls.

                                     CONDUCTOR
                         Watchin' good are ya, mister?

               Hunkered down on the platform, one leg hooked around the
               brake rod, student conductor CASSIUS "CASS" McGILL lifts
               his head.  Eighteen or 19, he possesses Midwestern good
               looks, and an alert presence that belies his years.

               He clutches a trainman's lantern in one hand and a
               tattered dime novel in the other.

                                     CASS
                         Sure am, Cap'n!

                                     CONDUCTOR
                         Yard's comin' up!  Maybe they let ya
                         sit on yer duff when ya was playin'
                         baseball -- but yer workin' fer
                         Pullman now.  Look sharp!

               The conductor disappears inside, but not before Cass
               catches a glimpse of a yawning OLD FLAGMAN warming
               himself by a Franklin stove, offering a flask to the
               conductor.  The steel door CLANGS SHUT, leaving Cass to
               freeze his nuts off in solitude.

                                     CASS
                         It's good o' you to invite me to
                         your little party, sir!  Only us
                         micks much prefer it out here in all
                         this fine fresh air!

               Cass peers through the murk.  Visibility's zilch.  He
               returns to his book, using the dim lantern light.  The
               pages blow back, revealing the cover:  Zane Grey's
               Riders of the Purple Sage.

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