INT. PTOLEMY'S APARTMENT, LIVING ROOM - TODAY SIX MONTHS FROM NOW * Ptolemy is sitting at a card table in the living room. On the table is a small portable tape recorder, a .38 Caliber pistol, a half pint bottle of bourbon, a disposable plastic cup, an 1841 Coronet Head Gold Quarter Eagle $2.50 Piece, and a standup frame with the photo-portrait of Sensia smiling out at him. This is a very neat room with a TV/radio console that is off. A foldaway sofa-bed that his ward, Robyn, uses as her bed. There’s a bookcase filled with hard and paperback volumes. Ptolemy is wearing a pretty snazzy dark blue suit and a light blue shirt with a muted red tie. He studies the treasures, memories, and tools set before him and then turns his attention to the tape recorder. He turns on the recorder and says... PTOLEMY Two plus nine makes eleven. He rewinds the tape and plays it back. PTOLEMY’S VOICE Two plus nine makes eleven. He rewinds again. Turns on recorder again. He pauses a moment before speaking. PTOLEMY Robyn, I want you to know that
everybody in my family is counting on you. They might not like you. They might be mad that I put you in charge of my affairs. But in the end they will be better off for your strength; that and Coydog’s crime so many years ago.
Ptolemy turns off the recorder and ponders the words he must say next. After a beat or two he turns the recorder back on. PTOLEMY (CONT'D)
You’re off with Billy Freres on Catalina Island and I am here waitin’ for the man with two names to come and tell me the truth.
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