Five Graves to Cairo Page #4

Go away.

Do you understand English?

Go away, I said.

No.

No, Your Excellency.

I stayed on while this place was bombed.

I could have run away.

I waited for the German troops.

I waited for Your Excellency.

Why?

I wanted to talk to Your Excellency.

- One piece of sugar.

- Yes, Your Excellency.

Your hands are neat.

Why isnt this spoon?

Sand.

Sorry, Your Excellency.

Two steps back, please.

Now, what do you wish to say?

Its about my brother, Your Excellency.

Hes in Germany.

Continue.

I have two brothers.

One was taken prisoner.

Hes in a concentration camp in Wittenberg.

The other was killed.

Fighting the Germans?

They were just boys. Their classes

were called. They had to go.

They didnt hate the Germans or anybody.

Of course.

Nobody hates the Germans.

Proceed.

What I wanted... I know that one

word from you, Your Excellency.

He was wounded. Hes lost one arm.

He cant even work for you. Hes useless.

Maybe Im not.

If theres anything I can... do.

Youre suggesting some sort of bargain?

This is a familiar scene.

Reminiscent of bad melodrama.

Although usually it is not the brother

for whose life...

... the heroine comes to plead,

it is the lover.

The time is midnight.

Place:
The tent of the conquering general.

Blushingly, the lady makes her proposal,

and...

... gallantly, the general

grants her wish.

Later, the lady very stupidly takes poison.

In one Italian opera, the two even

go so far as to sing a duet.

Schwegler!

If I had shed tears or wept,

maybe youd listen.

There will be no duet today.

Schwegler!

He is not an enemy of yours.

Hes only 19 now.

A boy. And hes dying.

Petitions for the release of prisoners

must...

... be addressed to the commander

of the prison camp.

They must be submitted in triplicate.

You can also have the Red Cross write

and then there are the Quakers.

But everything must be in triplicate.

We can use paper in Germany.

A great deal of paper.

Youre to keep out of this room,

from now on.

Yes.

Who do you think you are to open

your mouth to him. Are you crazy?

You get a little crazy if you think about

something all the time for a long time.

I could have told you exactly

what he would say.

Only, if you would have come to me,

you wouldnt have had to go to him.

May I come in?

Yes.

So stupid. Never ask a very big man

for a very small favor.

Sometimes, a lieutenant can be of more use.

Or are you still afraid of lieutenants?

No.

I know people in Berlin

who can pull some wires.

We dont need the waiter here.

Get out of here.

- Did you take that gun?

- Yes.

- Where did you put it?

- Never mind.

You give me back that gun.

Or would you rather have me report it?

Get out.

- Good morning, Lieutenant.

- Good morning, Davos.

Of course, Ill have to have your brothers

name and the camp hes in.

Hes in Wittenberg.

His name is Louis Marie.

Careful. I dont want anybody

to know about this.

Whats the matter?

You dont go to hostel, I go to hostel.

You go back, Ill take it.

- Whats happened?

- There are British officers...

... in the lobby. Prisoners.

Not from my outfit.

Theyll never recognize me.

Its not that. Its not that.

Its that they have been stationed here.

Colonel Fitzhume, he lived in the hotel.

He knew Davos.

One suspicious look;

one eye of the lift brow, oh...

I mean one lift of the eyebrow.

Go back. Go back, please.

Back where?

Ill keep to the kitchen.

- Davos!

- Davos?

Oh, Davos, seems I neglected to tip

you when we...

Thats quite alright, Colonel Fitzhume.

May I say, it would be a pleasure

to serve you again, sir.

It is too early in the morning

to offer you gentlemen a drink?

Oh, dont let the clock stop you, Colonel.

- Drinks, Davos.

- Yes, sir.

I will announce your arrival to the

Field Marshall, if you will excuse me.

If you will excuse us,

we forgot our visiting cards

What is wrong?

Heart trouble.

From bringing up to my throat so much.

What will it be, Colonel,

cognac, sherry, whisky?

Whisky for me with a little soda.

Very well. I beg your pardon.

Whisky and soda?

- Yes.

- The same for me.

- For you, sir?

- I am on duty.

Oh, yes sir.

Very little soda. Ill do it myself.

The whiskys over here, sir.

- Smells good.

- I hope so, sir.

Intelligence?

Royal Tanks.

Just ambled in, so to speak.

- Davos is dead, and he was a German agent.

- Go on.

I have a gun.

I also have a plan.

- What plan?

- Just waiting to get Rommel alone.

No, no. None of that.

Why not? Isnt it sporting to shoot

a sitting Field Marshall?

Dead Field Marshalls tell no secrets.

What secrets, sir?

You have their confidence. You have

your freedom. Theres a bigger job.

Yes, sir.

Standby. No ill-considered heroics,

understand. Thats orders.

Yes, sir.

- I tell you it was in my holster,

last night. - You lost it.

Listen, maybe I have lost a few battles;

Ive never lost a gun.

Gentlemen, the Field Marshall requests

the honor of your company at...

... luncheon before you leave.

- Thank you. - Enchanted.

- Very kind of the Field Marshall.

Gentlemen, I am General Sebastiano.

Waiter, just a moment.

- Cinzano?

- No, sir.

Lets see what you have here.

Cognac, sherry. What is this?

Bramble, sir.

Bramble?

If I didnt know it was Bramble,

I would swear it was whiskey.

Rice pudding in Egypt.

One never knows whether its

raisins or flies.

Take this away.

Coffee ready?

Cream, sugar. Wheres the sugar?

Farid is getting it down in the cellar.

Im disappointed in you, Mouche.

Having set out for a Field Marshall,

I didnt expect you to settle for a lieutenant.

What is it to you?

Well, now that youre down to lieutenants,

how about a corporal?

Let me remind you, this foot of mine

is only camouflage.

Or perhaps you should see me

in my black bowler.

I bought a black bowler two weeks

before the war.

A singularly imprudent investment.

Or perhaps if you imagine me as a German.

No, Id rather you didnt imagine

me as a German.

Eight coffees.

Ah, obviously Im in the wrong army.

You are.

If the circumstances, in which we find

ourselves werent so peculiar.

I might turn you over my knee

and spank you with abandon.

- Thank you for your interest.

- Not at all.

But if you think youll carve yourself

some sort of niche with these Germans.

Let me point out that we too

tried to do business with them.

We threw our arms around them, kissed them,

went on a honeymoon with them.

In Munich, it was.

Im getting what I want, so shut up.

Thats a very agreeable mouth,

you're casting before these swine.

- Whats the matter?

- Ive seen him.

- Who?

- In the cellar.

His hand stretched like this.

All yellow.

With fingernails white.

- But I thought I was way down under

everything. - Yes, me too.

- Well who?

- Davos.

When I climbed over for the sugar.

The wreckage started giving way,

you know like apples

And then I see this hand, all yellow

with finger...

Careful.

What did you do?

I piled up the rubble over him,

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