Preston: ... And I saw the picture, and I suddenly knew what life was meant to be! No more advertising for Johnson's Jam, no more long days at the office, no more rainy nights in a crowded apartment! This will be the life! We'll dance through the fields and catch butterflies in the mid-morning sun! (Dramatically, as if reciting from some long-forgotten poem:) The sun filtered through the trees on the forest animals...

He trails off as thunder rumbles and a drop of rain falls, making Chanel stir. She sighs with exhaustion, and half-awareness.

Chanel (in a sleepy voice): Go back to bed, dear. It's too early to be up.

Preston (grandly): This is no time to sleep! My dear, we’re home!

Chanel (sitting up and shaking her head): Well, of course we're at home! Where else would we be? In the middle of the country? (She looks around her.) In the middle of the country. I forgot.

Preston: Lucy! Wake up! We’ve reached our new home!

Chanel (tapping her husband on the shoulder to get his attention): Preston, I've been meaning to ask you: where is Lucy to go to school?

Preston spreads his arms wide - as if to encompass the entire property and the wealth of resources offered therein.

Preston (grandly): Who needs school? All the education one needs is right here! The fantastic air, the sparkling climate, the sunshine reflecting on the dew...

The rain falls in torrents, and the decrepit rooftop of the old house drip waves of water.

Chanel: You were saying, dear?

The rain is now falling hard and fast, drenching all three of them thoroughly, and also waking Lucy thoroughly. She looks around her, and spots the house.

Lucy: Daddy, is that our new house?

Preston: Yes, darling, isn't it wonderful?

Lucy: It's the kind of house that I've always wanted! Like out of a book.

Preston (smiling): I think the expression is "like out of a fairy tale."

Lucy (pretending not to hear him): You know, with an old house, beyond repair. Falling to "wrack and ruin". And then, through some miraculous magic, it is restored to life. From it's devastated and decaying state.

Preston grimaces.

Preston (hurriedly): Yes of course. Let's go see the house, shall we?

Chanel is staring at the house and grounds in shock. She brushes her red hair off her forehead for a better look. A dismayed look takes over her face as she glances toward the coral to the side of the house.

Chanel: Dear, what did you plan to do with the cows?

"Cows, Preston. Those lovely creatures who provide you cream for your coffee every morning. Cows, Preston. Large, swollen, smelly creatures that have no better sense than to stand in the rain staring at us. Can we PLEASE get out of this pouring rain!"

"But darling! This is fresh, country rain! Rejuvenates the skin!" Preston presents his face to the sky for a liberal dose.

Chanel narrows her eyes, marches to the front porch of the house, turns and looks to Preston with exasperated expectancy. "Are you going to let us into this ..." She looks from one end of the porch to another and sighs heavily. "Only Noah could provide enough country rain to rejuvenate this place."

"Noah?" Preston asks as he reaches the porch and gallantly opens the unlocked door. "No need for keys in the country! Everybody's honest, everybody's neighborly."

He throws the door open wide, stands aside, spreads his arms wide and announces, "Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home."

Chanel takes a cautious step across the threshold and peers into the gloom. Something small scurries across the floor in front of her. She shrieks and jumps backward, nearly toppling Lucinda down the stairs.

Preston grabs Lucinda with one hand and steadies Chanel with the other. "What's wrong?" he demands and looks toward the doorway.

"Just one of the friendly neighbors," Chanel glares.

Preston rushes to the door as if expecting visitors.

"Preston, this is insane. There was a nice motel about 30 miles back. It's nearly dark. We're soaked to the skin, Lucy's teeth are chattering and we haven't eaten for hours. We'll face all this ..." she waves her hand toward the house, "this country hospitality in the morning."

She grabs Lucinda's hand and begins pulling her toward the truck.

"Now Chanel," he gropes about on the wall inside the front door, "as soon as we find the lights, we'll get ..."

Preston stops speaking when he notices a large black pickup truck pulling in behind theirs.

A tall man in a cowboy hat climbs out. The tall man stops to speak quietly with Chanel as she and Lucinda scramble, unladylike, into the cab.

Preston stops groping for the light switch. He watches with curiosity as the stranger helps first Lucy, then Chanel into the truck and then gently closes the door. Preston raises an eyebrow as he notices Chanel roll down the window and then as the cowboy's head leans in. Chanel laughs.

"Act like they know each other," Preston mutters.

Chanel reaches up to push back a soaked strand of hair. An act of femininity, not an act of vanity. It's one of those intimate gestures that those long married recognize in the one they love. Preston recognizes the gesture well. He jams his hands in his pants pockets. "Act like they know each other well!" he mumbles.

Chanel's laugh & Lucy's voice tinkle in Preston's ears. "Well, I think I'll just see who this jack-o-napes is!" Preston yanks his hands from his pockets and takes determined steps down the porch stairs and toward the truck. At the same time, the tall stranger has tipped his hat to Chanel and has turned to approach the house. He and Preston meet halfway.

The stranger's smile is wide, his blue eyes welcoming, and his hand is outstretched, inviting a handshake a yard before the two actually meet.

"Mr. Suits! Is great ya made it here in one piece." The stranger's handshake is viselike, yet warm, radiating genuineness and sincerity. Preston looks at his own hand as the stranger withdraws his.

Preston looks into the stranger's face, trying to decipher the strange drawl and the fact that the man talks as if they're the oldest of friends.

"...and your missus thought it was a fine idea. Of course, that youngun is so tuckered out ah don't think she'd even argue with a stampedin' bull. Whadya say?"

"Have we met before?" Preston asks, then looks up at the sky, noticing that the rain has finally ceased.

"Tex. Tex Arkana. Ah'm sorry. Forgot to introduce mahself. Just felt like ah knew ya after all our correspondence."

"Tex!" Preston’s face lights up. He grabs Tex's hand and pumps vigorously. "Come on inside!" Preston gestures eagerly toward the house.

"Naw. Ya'll aren’t set in yet. I was just tellin' your missus that Ella's got the house all red-up for ya'll. Great food and the beds turned out. Ah new ya'll'd be worn out, travelin' all that way. Ah'd hoped to get here before ya and spruce up the place. But the roundup took a coupla days longer than usual. Rattler spooked the lead. Ya know how it is. Took us a while to gather up the strays."

Preston nods in sage agreement, not understanding a word Tex just said. Except the food part. Preston understood the food part. "Yes, I think that would be fine."

"Well, let's get along then. Ella will be waitin' on us. You can follow me to the main house." Tex heads toward his truck, tipping his hat to the ladies on the way.

Preston glances at the house and decides there isn't anything to close up. He tucks his hands into his pockets and begins to whistle "Home on the Range," his steps lively and cheerful toward the truck.

Lucinda and Chanel are engaged in animated discussion as Preston climbs into the cab.

"Daddy! Tex is going to teach me how to ride a horse! Can I start tomorrow morning?"

"That sounds fine, Luce! You'll be a cowgirl in not time at all. See Chanel, Lucy sees the potential to expand her horizons, broaden her scope, refresh her spirits." Preston's right hand alternates between sweeping gestures and shifting gears as he follows Tex down a teeth jarring gravel road.

"Oh, give me a home, where the buffalo roam ..." Preston bellows. His voice is staccato as the truck bounces down the road.

"Daddy, Tex says we can see a real rodeo!"

"Grand idea! Where the deer and the antelope ..."

"Tex says he'll teach me how to throw a lasso!"

"A handy thing to learn. ... play. Where seldom is ..."

"Tex says I can rope a calf when I get good enough!"

Preston stops singing and looks down at his daughter.

"And Tex says I can get a cowboy hat just like his!"

Preston's eyebrows draw into a V. He looks over Lucinda's head at Chanel to gauge her reaction to their daughter's enthusiasm.

Chanel isn't paying any attention whatsoever to her daughter's ramblings. Her eyes are focused on the truck in front of them, a bemused look on her face.

"Chanel?" Preston asks.

"Darling?" he tries again.

"Chanel!" he says sharply.

Startled, Chanel looks up at Preston, "Yes, dear?"

"What on earth did Tex say to get Lucy so excited? She's talking about horses, and rodeos and roping calves."

"And Tex says I can watch the brandin'!" Lucy exclaims.

"That's branding dear," Chanel corrects. "Yes Preston, he did mention showing Lucy about. And he said the strangest thing. Do you know what Tex said?" Chanel's eyes get a dreamy look; she smiles a small smile.

"At this point it would be safer to ask what Tex didn't say!" Preston retorts. He winces as the truck hits a deep rut and his head hits the roof of the truck.

"Tex said ..." Chanel unconsciously pushes back a limp strand of damp hair.

Again, the gesture is not lost on Preston. He thinks to himself, "For a man who speaks so slow, he sure does say a lot!"

"Tex said my eyes look like a newborn foal's. All soft and warm, moist and brown." Chanel sighs. "Wasn't that just so sweet of him. Here I am looking like a drowned kitten and he says something like that. What a dear man, trying to cheer me up like that."

"'Tex said'," Preston grinds his teeth. Maybe this guy isn't all he's cracked up to be. "Perhaps my first impression was right," he thinks. "Maybe this guy is notorious ladies man in these parts. Maybe that friendly handshake was just to throw me off his trail." He looks over at Chanel. "Foal's eyes my Aunt Fanny!"

"And Daddy! Tex said ..."

The scene fades with a long shot of the two trucks winding their way down a long drive. Beautiful countryside with a backdrop of majestic mountains in the distance, burnished with the glow of the setting sun. Far in the distance is a magnificent ranch house, windows aglow.