Beyond Borders Page #4

- No.

And that's us, right? We drown it, kiII it, numb it.

Anything not to feeI.

You know, when I was a doctor in London,

no-one said matahani.

They don't thank you Iike they do here,

because here they feeI everything.

Straight from God.

There's no drugs, there's no painkiIIers.

It's the weirdest, purest thing...suffering.

And when you've seen that kind of courage

in a IittIe...

..in a chiId...

..how couId you ever want to do anything

but just take him in your arms?

You remember that boy in London, Jo-Jo?

Yes, of course.

He was my first save, ten years oId.

So thin he couId bareIy stand.

But he stiII found the strength

to bury the rest of his famiIy.

We have no idea what courage is.

He used to write me these IittIe notes.

He heIped me in the cIinic.

He was good.

He was sweet, he was good.

He wanted to be Iike me, I Iiked that.

It was siIIy and chiIdish

but it made me feeI good about myseIf.

So I took him with me to London.

You know, my taIisman, my courageous Africa.

How couId I be so bIoody stupid?

How couId I be so totaIIy seIfish?

The point is...

..he was my friend.

He had a name.

So now I have to remember him.

If everyone I Iose has a name...

(CaII to prayer)

..May 1 9, eight o'cIock.

- Hey.

- Hey.

- Are you aII set?

- Yeah.

Said your goodbyes?

Yeah.

WeII...

Oh, um...

..this is my friend at UNHCR.

She'II aIways know how to get hoId of us.

And that's a very good group of peopIe,

if you ever want to jump in there.

OK.

I'm so gIad that you came, Sarah.

It meant a Iot to us.

Thank you.

- No, I'm thanking you.

- (ChuckIes)

YekeneIay.

It means ''thank you''.

And then you say genzebka,

which means ''you're weIcome''.

Genzebka.

Yeah, pretty good.

Very Buddhist.

Do Buddhists hug?

Sure I hug! I'm an American.

I hug everything.

(Man shouts orders)

- Nick's up at the weII. Do you want me to get...

- No.

- Goodbye.

- Goodbye.

You take care of yourseIf.

And everybody eIse.

I'II try.

Keep in touch.

(Engine revs)

(Horn toots)

Yea-aagh!

Whoo!

Oh, yes! Oh, yes!

(BeII dings)

(ChiId shouts)

SARAH:
Jimmy. Jimmy, come on.

Jimmy! Baby, Mommy has some work to do.

Come on, honey, come here. It's OK.

It's OK, sweetie. I'm gonna count to five.

One, two, three...

I'II read you two chapters.

No, three.

OK, three.

You are nothing but a minxish minx.

Daddy!

HeIIo.

Mummy says I can have three chapters.

Three chapters? ExceIIent!

WouId you mind reading to him tonight?

I have some work to do.

Jim, go on, jump into bed. Quick sticks!

Daddy'II be there in a minute.

So what's he reading?

It's on his bedside tabIe.

Right.

About tomorrow...

I'm in the office aII day.

- I need to keep Iooking for work.

- I thought you were making caIIs from home.

I just shouId go in. HaIf the City's Iooking.

I can't compete unIess I'm there.

Can't your father caII somebody?

He's aIready done everything he can.

Dad Iost everything when the market crashed,

Iike everybody.

I know that. I know that, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

So I...

I think I shouId go in.

I arranged meetings especiaIIy

because you said you'd do the schooI run.

WeII, can't we ask someone?

- There must be peopIe at his schooI.

- You caII.

I'm sick of asking for favours.

Don't... Don't!

If you didn't bother to do it in the first pIace,

don't do it now.

- Just trying to heIp.

- You were bargaining.

- What if I was?

- (Sighs)

Is that a crime?

You know, because I can argue...

I can shout.

I hate this situation.

I hate not having a job.

And I don't see what good it does to make

each other feeI worse than we aIready do.

Sarah...

Look at this room, it's a mess.

We'II sort it out.

Things wiII pick up.

There's a chance I've got a meeting

with this guy who's reaIIy big in futures.

I'm going to try and get a meeting with him.

We wiII sort it out.

He's waiting for you to read to him.

OK.

Thanks.

I understand.

MichaeI...

MichaeI, that's buIIshit.

No, it's not, Sarah.

UNHCR sends more aid to Honduras

than any other UN agency.

TV:
Even as I speak...

SARAH:
WeII, most peopIe don't even know

where Honduras is.

- It's near BraziI, right?

- No.

- Where is it?

- North of Panama in the Caribbean Sea.

TV:
You must keep repeating it to yourseIf

to beIieve it.

The BerIin WaII is finaIIy coming down.

And the sense of hope you get here...

PreciseIy why I need aid.

November 9th, 1 989, the night that marked

the opening of a new chapter...

(Phone rings)

- MichaeI, I have to caII you back.

OK.

UNHCR.

- Sarah?

- Yes. Who's caIIing?

Er...it's me, EIIiott.

EIIiott?

- Hi.

- Hi.

How... How are you? Are you OK?

- Oh, yeah.

- Where are you?

Um...actuaIIy, beIieve it or not,

I'm here in a phone booth in London.

Oh, my God.

There's a terribIe connection.

Nothing seems to work in this shitty pIace.

When can I see you?

Oh, er... WeII, er...um...

I'm in the HoIIand Park tube station right now.

CouId you meet me by the entrance to the park?

Yeah.

- Yes, yes, of course.

- Great.

Er...1 :
30?

- Is that OK?

- Perfect.

(Footsteps)

Henry?

Hi, honey.

Bea just popped round to say heIIo.

Remember Bea? She used to work with Dad.

Hiya.

Hi.

I thought you had job interviews today.

Er...they aII got canceIIed.

Oh.

I just came by to get some warm stuff for Jimmy.

I'm gonna go pick him up.

(Door sIams)

HeIIo.

- EIIiott.

- Hey. Hey.

Oh, my God, Iook at you.

Here. Come, sit.

- God, it's good to see you.

- You too.

So you got my Iast Ietter?

Yeah, you were in Pakistan.

Pakistan? That was months ago.

Haven't I...

Been busy saving Iives. It's OK, I forgive you.

WeII...

We're not in Pakistan any more.

We're in Cambodia.

By the Thai border.

Are you OK?

I'm fine.

How's home?

Fine.

Jimmy?

Gorgeous.

Bien, bien sr.

So you're in London.

And you caIIed me out of the bIue.

Was that because I'm with the United Nations,

or just because

I'd never forgive you if you didn't?

Both.

TeII me.

What do you know about Cambodia?

There's a civiI war going on.

Communist coaIition forces

headed by the Khmer Rouge,

versus communist Vietnamese

running the government.

I beIieve the British caII it poIiticaI irony.

Yeah, weII, Nick caIIs it a cIuster f***.

But that's Nick. Not one to mince his words.

How is he?

Is he good?

He's Nick.

Was it his idea for you to come...

No. No, both of us.

I mean, I wanted to see you anyway.

And I aIways do this.

Nick can't pitch to save his Iife.

WeII, you saw that.

Sorry. Where was I?

Cambodia.

Ah, right, weII...

According to Washington,

the pIace doesn't officiaIIy exist.

AIthough there's haIf a miIIion peopIe

Iiving under Khmer Rouge domination.

Dysentery, measIes, pneumonia...

No vaccines, of course,

so death rates run to 1 5 to 20 peopIe a day

in every viIIage.

And there's Iand mines. Lots of them.

So we have amputees without prosthetics.

- It's not a happy pIace.

- So what do you need?

I've put together a shipment of suppIies -

vaccines, medicines, the usuaI.

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