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around Beverly Hills in her new convertible, it would have spoiled her euphoria. There was no reason to mention it to her, really. He put it out of his mind.

    Three days later Rick was at his desk when a phone call came from Manny, the location director.
    "Manny? Where are you?"
    "I'm in a place called Jackson Hole, Wyoming," he said. "I spent a day in Colorado, then I heard about this place."
    "What's in Jackson Hole?"
    "Absolutely nothing; it's perfect!"
    "Tell me about it."
    "It's ranch land, with the Grand Teton Mountains in the background. I found a sixteen-thousand-acre ranch owned by an elderly couple who lost two boys in the war. It has every location we need, except the town; we'll have to build that. Lots of cattle on the ranch."
    "What about housing for the cast and crew?"
    "I found a war-surplus dealer in Denver who has a whole bunch of prefab barracks buildings sitting in his storage yard."
    "You think the unions would sit still for their people living in open barracks, on cots?"
    "There's a version that has one-man rooms and another that has two-man rooms. They were used as bachelor officers' quarters on military bases, and we can buy them for five hundred bucks apiece."
    "Who assembles them?"
    "The war-surplus guy. He trucks them up here and puts them up for fifteen hundred apiece, including running hot and cold water and toilets. We'll have to put in a septic field for a couple of grand."
    "Are they heated?"
    "A couple of pot-bellied stoves in each, plus we can wire each room for an electric heater."
    "How many will we need?"
    "We can get away with six," Manny said. "There's room in the main ranch house for you and the two stars. We can assign first-level people to the two-man rooms, which are fairly roomy: a single bed, a comfortable chair and a radio. We'll need another, open building for a mess hall and bar; there's no entertainment around here. I figure we can run a picture every night."
    "What else do we need?"
    "The dealer has half a dozen surplus trucks we could use and a whole bunch of Jeeps. There's a good five-thousand-foot dirt landing strip; we could fly the first-level people up here and bus everybody else. We'll need a bunch of phone lines, but those are available. It's really beautiful up here, Rick. You're going to love it."
    "All right, Manny, draw up a list of everything and a budget and special-delivery it to me tomorrow. Then you go ahead and start putting everything together. How much is the use of the ranch and ranch house going to cost us?"
    "Five grand, and they're tickled to get it."
    "How long do you need to put the whole thing together and be ready for us?"
    "Two, maybe three weeks."
    "I'll give you a month, but you have to think of everything."
    "Leave it to me."
    "Thanks, Manny. I look forward to your budget." He hung up, feeling a surge of enthusiasm for his new project. He walked to Eddie's office and filled him in.
    "Okay, you start exteriors in a month. What's your shooting schedule up there?"
    "Five weeks, and they'll be building sets for the interiors while we're up there. We'll be back here before the snow flies up there, then we'll need another three weeks for interiors, and we'll be in postproduction."
    "So, even if you have to deal with bad weather, we could handle a spring release?"
    "That should be fine."
    "How's casting coming?"
    "It's going quickly. Because we're using so many new faces, most of the cast is working for scale."
    "You got a budget yet?"
    "No. In a couple of days, though, and it will be very complete."
    "Can you bring this in for a million dollars?"
    "Less, I expect."
    "Looks like you've got yourself a western, kid."
    "Looks like I have."

9

    Later that afternoon a call came from Rick's father.
    "Hey, Dad."
    "Hey, Boy. Your airplane's finished."
    "Good news!"
    "Yeah, I flight-tested her yesterday, and the overhauled engines are right on the money. We're painting that Centurion thing on her right now."
    "So she's ready to fly?"
    "She is."
    "I might want