EXT. POWER STATION PUB - NIGHT

Liz is walking up to it, goes inside.

INT. POWER STATION PUB - NIGHT

Liz searches through the place in a few quick passes, but no luck.

EXT. EDGEFIELD MANOR - NIGHT

Liz entering the Edgefield Manor.

INT. BLACK RABBIT BAR - NIGHT

Liz walking up to it, peering around the place but in vain, then asking the bartender something.

EXT. EDGEFIELD MANOR - NIGHT

Liz leaving out the other side of the Manor building, coming down the ramp past the gas light lamp and consulting the quirky, multi finger-pointer sign at the bottom, then goes off to her left.

INT. WINERY TASTING ROOM - NIGHT

Coming down the stairs and glancing around at the wine tasting patrons, shaking her head, then heading on through.

INT. LUCKY STAEHLY'S POOL HALL - NIGHT

Liz entering the room looking hopeful, checking out the people at the pool, snooker, and shuffleboard tables, at the dart boards and pinball machines, sweeping her eyes over the tables, then sighing and turning around quickly.

She almost runs into a server who had come up behind her carrying a steaming fresh pizza pie in one raised arm - Liz lets the server by but takes an appreciative sniff at the pizza as it passes under her nose.

EXT. WATER TOWER - NIGHT

Liz walking up to a tiny little shack in between some tall bushes under the water tower, and grasping the door handle - but it doesn’t open.

CLOSE UP of an out-of-the-way sign saying ‘closed through winter’.

Liz walking away, this time continuing straight on past the water tower, soon coming to another place you never would have noticed until she stops there. We see a small sign reading ‘Jerry’s Ice House.’

Liz enters.

CUE GRATEFUL DEAD MUSIC.

INT. JERRY'S ICE HOUSE - NIGHT

We come in from her POV to see a room dedicated to the Grateful Dead - memorabilia literally covers the walls, the eye is drawn to concert footage projected onto a screen in the back, and then the music sinks in.

CUT to Liz. She makes a ‘no way, they’re not here’ face and steps back out, closing the door quickly.

END MUSIC.

EXT. JERRY'S ICE HOUSE - NIGHT

We see Liz laughing silently, then looking like she wants to scream, then she’s laughing at herself and looking around, not knowing what to do.

At that moment the guy in his late twenties and his buddy come walking by, and seeing him looking at her - which makes a nice opening - Liz flags him down. The two guys stop and say ‘hey’ a little uncomfortably, but not in an unfriendly way.

LIZ
(grinning)
I’ve lost my friends! They’re here somewhere, but I can’t find them. I’ve looked everywhere, but no luck.

GUY #2
Then you probably haven’t looked everywhere.

Nudging his friend to be quiet, the first guy offers a different response.

GUY #1
You been up there (he points in the direction of the Distillery Bar, even though you can’t see it from here)...

Liz looks at him when he says this, as if wondering how he knew that, but figures it out quickly.

GUY #1
...and in there (he points at Jerry’s with a flick of a smile)...

LIZ
And there (Power Station), and there (Winery), and there (Black Rabbit House), and to both the bar and the pool hall inside there (Manor).

The first guy goes through it all in his head and then a light bulb clicks on.

GUY #1
You’re missing one more bar. Yep, there’s one more. And it’s not in the ‘village’ or up the hill, but on the other side (he points passed the Manor in a direction we haven’t been before).

GUY #2
You mean The Little Red Shed!

LIZ
The little red... shed?

EXT. THE EDGEFIELD - NIGHT

We see Liz walking a path through grass and trees towards a small structure - it looks like a cottage in the woods. She’s being escorted there by the two unnamed guys, though they’ve fallen behind.

A trio of people emerge from the little ivy-covered building and pass them on the path.

GUY #2
Oh good, there might be room for us now.

LIZ
Ha, ha.

GUY #1
No, he’s right. The place only seats ten.

LIZ
Ten?

GUY #1
Well, it used to be the incinerator when this was the poor farm.

LIZ
Typical! And so they turned it into a bar...

INT. LITTLE RED SHED - NIGHT

The Hursts, Carrie and Darcy are sitting at a four person table inside the shed-bar that could be in the Shire, it’s that cozy/rustic/quaint.

Mr. Hurst puffs on a cigar, Louisa stares off in a stupor, while Carrie is attempting to engage Darcy in conversation.

The door opens. Carrie and Darcy look up to see Liz enter with her escorts.

Carrie isn’t happy to see her, Darcy looks as nonplussed as ever, and only when Mr. Hurst turns to see what they are both looking at does she get a greeting of sorts.

MR. HURST
There you are!

LIZ
I could say the same thing!

MR. HURST
Was wondering where you’d got to.

Both Carrie and Darcy are surprised to hear this, so we can infer Mr. Hurst never mentioned calling her to them.

LIZ
I could say the same thing.

MR. HURST
Now that you’re here, you must have a drink.

Before Liz can reply, the first guy, who’s been hanging back, steps up and seconds Mr. Hurst

GUY #1
At the end of a lengthy quest like you’ve been on you must have a celebratory beverage.

LIZ
I actually just came top pick up my car...

MR. HURST
Who’s this? Your date? Boy-friend?

He looks like he knows the guy is neither, but would love to embarrass them both. Darcy gets up at this point and goes over to the bar. Taking up the first guy’s theme, Liz retorts

LIZ
This is the wandering knight who kindly helped me track down a certain “errant rogue” after he left the Distillery Bar with no forwarding address.

She sticks her hand out expectantly.

MR. HURST
Let me make it up to you by buying you a drink.

GUY #1
(pointing over at Guy #2)
At least come over and warm up by the fireplace before heading out back out into the cold.

The other guy has procured himself a pint of ale and is drinking it over by a brick fireplace that blazes nicely. But now Darcy returns and he sets a Roy Rogers down in front of Liz, then returns to his seat. Liz feels like she ought to thank him but it’s almost as if he did it to correct some wrong, not to be friendly or inviting, so the words don’t make it past her lips. The first guy grabs a chair for her to sit down on and then goes over to join his friend. Liz sits down somewhat unwillingly.

DISSOLVE forwards.

Liz is now sitting with the two guys by the fireplace having a laugh. Carrie is still trying to engage Darcy in some lively interaction, but he looks, if anything, even graver. Mr. Hurst gets up and makes it over to the bar, walking extra carefully.

CUE Swing MUSIC.

The music in here, which has been low background music up until this point and mostly unheard among the patrons and fireplace SOUNDS, now changes. A swing song starts up at a louder volume.

Inspired, Carrie tries another tact. She gets up and calls out to Louisa

CARRIE
Louisa, come dance with me!

She moves to an open spot, the only one big enough to dance in.

CARRIE (cont’d)
I love swing and have to dance to it if it’s playing!

Louisa rouses from her stupor and tries, but getting up from the chair is iffy in her condition and she falls back down into it with a grunt and a laugh.

CARRIE
C’mon, Louisa, you can do it!

But she says it looking at Darcy, hoping he’ll volunteer instead. Darcy ignores this as studiously as he has everything else. Desperate to make something happen, she turns to the only other person she can - Liz.

CARRIE
Then you have to dance with me, Liz! C’mon, it’ll be fun!

Liz feels self-conscious with almost everybody in the shed looking at them, and might have passed, but then she sees Darcy and he looks as if he’s against it. Not liking to be deterred from anything because someone disapproves of her, Liz nods to the guys and gets up to join Carrie.

LIZ
I haven’t done this in a while, so I’ll be pretty rusty, especially in the beginning - but if you don’t mind, I won’t.

Carrie looks pleased to hear this, she is ready to show off her talent. She also has the pleasure of seeing Darcy turn his chair a bit so that he can watch them.

They dance the remainder of the first song, Carrie leading, Liz following as best as she can. Although Carrie knows the moves well and performs them technically much better, it’s Liz’s easy going spirit of having fun that is most enjoyable to watch. As Liz gets back into it, she improvises a couple of fun moves that elicit cat calls from the two guys at the fireplace.

Again things aren’t going the way Carrie hoped and so when the song ends, she calls over to Darcy

CARRIE
Join us, Darcy. I know from your sister that you were big into the Lindy Hop in college, so don’t pretend you don’t know how or wouldn’t enjoy it. We can rotate partners easily enough.

The next song is beginning, so Darcy now has to speak up to be heard over the music, but he only raises his voice just enough to be heard by them, not the rest of the bar.

DARCY
You don’t mean that.

Carrie has no such scruples and talks louder, carried away by flirty enthusiasm.

CARRIE
Of course I do - I mean, why wouldn’t I? Dancing’s always more fun in numbers, and with both genders.

The two guys are looking over again, but as they can’t make out what’s being said, they go back to their conversation, in which it looks like the second guy is trying to convince the first to leave.

DARCY
(as close as we’ve ever seen him come to flirting back, though it may not be aimed at Carrie)
Because there are really only two likely reasons why you’ve chosen to get up and dance here and now, and my joining you would interfere with both of them.

CARRIE
What? Please explain yourself. I have to know what you mean by that.
(to Liz)
Do you know what he’s talking about?

LIZ
I have no clue, but I somehow doubt we’ll like the answer, as it will probably be an attempt to expose us in some way as silly females. The best way to foil his plan is not to ask for any further clarification.

CARRIE
Oh, come now, Darcy would never do that.
(to Darcy)
Go on then, if you’re so clever.

DARCY
All right.

Darcy takes a small sip of his drink before continuing, possibly enjoying this situation more than it shows and wanting to prolong it.

DARCY (cont’d)
You are either truly in the mood to dance, ‘overcome’ one could almost say by the music, in which case the addition of a third person will only make it harder for you to dance as much as you would wish to because sometimes you’d have to sit one out; or else you are dancing in order to show off, get attention and be admired, and in that case I can give you my attention and admiration much better from here than if I got up and came over to dance myself.

Feigning modesty, Carrie laughs, but more like a school girl laughing at her date’s jokes.

CARRIE
That’s outrageous! How can you say such a thing?
(to Liz)
You were right! So now how are we going to punish him for it?

She sidles closer to Liz, as if ready to conspire together.

LIZ
That should be easy, if you really want us to - it’s not hard to take people down a notch, you just have to know their ‘buttons’. And you surely know him well enough to know where most of his are.

After hearing this, Carrie moves closer to Darcy as if in his defense.

CARRIE
No, I can’t say that I do. Or what I mean is, knowing him as well as I do has not exposed any such sensitivities to me. Sorry, but you’ll just have to take a different tact with Darcy.

Liz moves a step closer now, mostly so she doesn’t have to work as hard to talk over the music, which has reached it’s most frenetic in jumps, jives and wails.

LIZ
Darcy can’t be laughed at?! Really? That’s a rare thing, and I hope it remains uncommon, because it would be a great loss to me to meet many such people, for laughing is one of my favorite things.

The first guy wants to get up and go over to Liz, but his friend holds him back.

DARCY
Carrie has painted my character better than I could ever hope to be in real life, but even so, the greatest of men can be torn down and made fun of if it’s all about making a joke.

LIZ
Too true, some people will joke about anything and anyone, but I don’t think I’m one of them. I have no desire to ridicule what’s good in the world, but things like egos, eccentricities, lame and flakey behavior, these do amuse me, I have to admit, and I make fun of them as often as I can. But I suppose you have no flaws or quirks to contribute...

DARCY
That’s not possible for anyone, I’m sure, but one of my driving goals in life has been to work on - with the goal of working out, any character flaws I find in myself, especially those that invite ridicule.

LIZ
Oh, like vanity, and pride?

DARCY
Vanity, now that is a definite flaw, but pride, where pride means a natural pleasure in one’s good traits and accomplishments, and an assuredness when self-confidence is due, is a healthy, right and good thing.

Liz turns away to hide a smile. The second swing song ends and there is a moment of relative quiet, during which we hear Mr. Hurst’s crass laugh coming from the bar. Second guy has emptied his pint glass and we see in the background is insisting that he and his friend finally leave. Carrie addresses Liz just as the third song begins.

CARRIE
Are you done with your examination of Darcy? How does he score in your book?

LIZ
You have convinced me that he is a person with zero defects. He even says so himself, and if that’s not proof enough, I don’t know what is...

Darcy gets up himself now, and joins the other two, forming a small, private circle where they’re standing, not wanting to be overheard, even in public where no one knows him. Seeing Liz look so intently at and absorbed in this intimidatingly well-dressed and confident man, the first guy consents to leave, and he and his friend exit the shed during Darcy’s next bit of dialogue.

DARCY
No, I never said anything like that. I do have flaws, but they are all, I hope, ones I’m well aware of - I know that my temper is a problem, because it’s more inflexible than I’d like - - certainly less yielding than is often convenient in dealing with the world. It’s hard for me to let go of other people’s ‘lame and flakey behavior’, let alone ‘insulting and disrespectful’ deeds.

Darcy is speaking almost entirely to Liz now, making full eye contact, and she’s returning it full on.

DARCY
My emotions are not swayed by people’s moods and attitudes, so you might call my temper ‘resentful’ and say that my goodwill, once trifled with, diminishes, and once lost, is lost for good.

LIZ
Not to be able to forgive easily, that really is a character flaw! But have no fear, it’s the kind of failing I wouldn’t dream of laughing at - so you are completely safe from me and my mocking.

DARCY
Every personality, I believe, has a weak spot, a natural defect, that no amount of personal work or soul-searching can overcome.

LIZ
Well, yours certainly is to look down on everybody else as if they are beneath you.

DARCY
(shaking his head with an unreadable smile)
Then I’d say yours must be to twist and misinterpret people’s behavior!

Completely uncomfortable with this sort of raw and intimate communication going on right in front of her, Carrie locates Louisa and Mr. Hurst visually and then raises her voice to include them all when she bursts forth with

CARRIE
I’m so sorry, but I’m going to have to be the party pooper tonight - I just realized I have an appointment before work tomorrow morning and what that means about getting to bed on time!

She not only breaks up the little circle, but returns to the table and starts pushing in chairs.

CARRIE (Cont’d)
I really need to get home as soon as possible... but maybe we can do this again another time.

Louisa is amenable and immediately begins the process of getting up for real. Mr. Hurst waves his acknowledgment from the bar without looking around. Carrie begins to gather up her things with gusto.

Darcy and Liz keep looking at each other for a long moment, as if unwilling to stop in the middle of such an argument, but then the moment passes and they separate, each to prepare to leave.

FADE UP swing music to a new song.

A couple, inspired by Carrie, take the space vacated by them and begin to jitterbug energetically as Liz collects her keys from Mr. Hurst - who toys with giving them to her, tossing them up in the air as a prank, but Liz catches them handily and gives him a victorious grin.

We FADE out as she takes off, but hear the SOUND OF A KEY TURNING IN A LOCK...