excerpt from my screenplay - Nashville Dreams

The bullet ricochets off the steel and the sound zings away. The trio crouch in one motion. FDR's eyes are wide. They're watching the speeding car, helpless to evade.

JACKSON
If them guys ever stop to aim, we're goners.

ELIJAH
Well they ain't aimin' t' stop.

They lie flat atop the boxcar. The road beside the tracks curves away and the automobile disappears behind a cluster of roadside trees. The train heads into a long slow curve toward a trestle in the distance, crossing a green river.

JACKSON
That car out there's gonna cross this river somewhere too, an' then the road 'll join up with the tracks again. This's our chance comin' up.

ELIJAH
The river. Yep.

FDR
You m-mean j-j-jump for it?

JACKSON
Them hillbillies in that car's gonna get beside us again an' get a good shot. We're the targets.

FDR (wide-eyed)
I don' th-think I c-c-can jump.

JACKSON
You got twenty seconds to decide boy!

The river appears deep and slow moving. The road is no longer in sight.

ELIJAH
This be our only chance.

The train nears the trestle. Elijah stares hard at Jackson.

JACKSON
Quit lookin' at me like that. You're all grow'd up, a free man you keep sayin’, you didn't have t' come!

ELIJAH (smiling)
Didn't say nothin', man. You jus' feelin' guilty.

FDR
Y-You jumpin' Elijah?

ELIJAH
I is jumpin’, Boy. Socks need a wash anyway.

JACKSON
It's all in the timing.

They brace themselves as the train starts across the trestle, clutching their instruments and bags. Whistlestop has been forgotten. Jackson hands his violin case to FDR and whistles for the dog. Whistlestop runs to Jackson who picks him up, holding him tightly.

JACKSON
We can't forget your dog, FDR.

FDR turns to look at Jackson, surprised.

FDR
MY dog? I th-thought he was YOUR dog!

Elijah jumps.