Hope and Glory Page #13

INT. ROHAN HOUSE - LIVING ROOM - DAY

GRACE and DAWN are cleaning up the debris. Some plaster has

fallen and there is a pall of dust. They are singing

merrily, glad to be alive, to have survived the night.

Outside the front window, BILL and SUE can be seen, having

ventured out, eager to explore the damage done to Rosehill

Avenue.

EXT. ROSEHILL AVENUE - DAY

BILL picks up shrapnel. Several houses have been damaged,

one heavily so. Outside this house, a handful of people has

gathered watching the ARP MEN as they comb through the

smouldering ruins. Two of them are working a stirrup pump

as they extinguish a small fire in a corner of a room. Some

children come up to BILL and SUE. They are flushed and

excited, bursting with news. One buy, ROGER, blurts it out.

ROGER:

Pauline's mum got killed.

BILL:

No, she didn't.

ROGER:

Yes, she did, didn't she?

He appeals to his companions, particularly to a GIRL, JANE,

a little older than the others.

JANE:

Yes, she did. Killed stone dead.

ROGER:

You can ask her. Ask Pauline.

He points over at the ruined house, and sure enough there

is PAULINE, a girl of twelve. From time to time, a

silicosis NEIGHBOUR goes over to her, offering help, but

PAULINE shakes her head and looks away. She just's stands

there as though her mother has told her to wait on that

spot and not to talk to any strangers until she got back.

The children drift across towards her and stop a few feet

away. They stare intently, studying her face.

ROGER:

Isn't that right? You're mum got

killed last night?

PAULINE nods affirmatively. A BOY throws a miniature

parachute into the air. It opens up and drops neatly at

PAULINE'S feet.

ROGER:

There you are. I told you.

He jabs BILL in the ribs, finding a physical vent for his

excitement. BILL lashes back at him with a violent anger

that scares and quells the other boy. The group falls

silent.

PAULINE steals glances at them out of the corner of her

eye. She is not a popular girl, careful and self-conscious,

and she cannot help enjoying this situation. She flushes.

JANE:

Do you feel rotten, Pauline?

PAULINE shakes her head. The children move away from her

and start to fool around, scrapping and laughing, but when

they get back within a certain distance of PAULINE, they

grow quiet and move away again. BILL nudges SUE.

BILL:

Go and ask her if she wants to

play.

SUE:

Ask her yourself.

BILL:

You do it. You're a girl.

SUE edges slowly towards her, not without nervous glances

back at her brother.

SUE:

Pauline.

PAULINE does not deign to answer the little girl.

SUE:

Pauline. Do you want some

shrapnel?

She has fragments in her hand. She offers then to PAULINE.

It is possibly part of the bomb that killed her mother.

PAULINE shakes her head.

SUE:

Do you want to play?

PAULINE shakes her head again. SUE goes back to BILL who

has been watching carefully at a distance. After a moment,

they turn back and walk home. ROGER sees another newcomer

approaching. He calls out.

ROGER:

Hey, Terry. Pauline's mum got

killed last night.

TERRY:

She never.

ROGER:

She did too.

INT. ROHAN HOUSE - LIVING ROOM - DAY

BILL and SUE enter, bursting with their news. GRACE'S

sister, HOPE, has come to help and so have MOLLY and MAC,

and a Neighbour, MRS. EVANS, on whom DAWN wished a bomb.

GRACE'S arm is bandaged, MAC is scoring panes of glass with

a diamond cutter. He has a dollop of putty. BILL is

immediately distracted and cannot resist kneading the

putty. DAWN brings in a tray of tea. They are all in high

spirits, almost festive. SUE tugs at her mother's skirt.

SUE:

Pauline's mummy got deaded.

GRACE'S attention is elsewhere. She does not hear.

MOLLY:

You're lucky up here. The East

End's been burning for three

nights. Incendiaries.

DAWN hands the neighbour her tea.

DAWN:

Still not been hit, Mrs. Evans?

MRS. EVANS

Touch wood.

DAWN:

You had a near-miss the other

might.

MRS. EVANS

I hear they're dropping diseased

rats on bomb sites.

DAWN:

BILL found this tiny little

parachute. So that's what it was

for.

They all slurp their tea and talk at once. HOPE is dusting

the piano.

HOPE:

Is the piano all right, Grace? It

was knocked clean over.

GRACE goes over to it and opens the lid, runs her fingers

over the keys.

GRACE:

It seems to have survived.

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