Hope and Glory Page #17

BRUCE:

Don't sound the Dunkirk I was at. I

saw no fighting. We did a lot of

running backwards, though. Then we

got to the beach and we couldn't

run no more. And Jerry just sat

there and let us alone. If he'd

come after us, boy

shakes his head and laughs as though it would have been the

funniest moment of the war.

We were beat so bad, discipline was all to Hell. We told the

soldiers to jump in the briny. There was no grub but we broke

into the wine stores, and everybody got smashed. When the

boats came, a lot of guys threw away their gear and filled

their kitbags with loot. One buddy of mine burst into a

jeweler's, his backpack was full of gold and silver. We had

to wade out to the boats and he was so heavy he couldn't haul

himself up. He slipped and sank like a stone.

He laughs again. The broadcast comes to its moving climax.

GRACE:

How can you say such things? Can't

you hear what happened?

BRUCE:

I was there.

NARRATOR (V.O.)

God laid his hand upon the waters

and they were still. The armada of

little boats brought their precious

cargo into safe havens. They lived

to fight another day.

BRUCE:

He who turns and runs away lives to

fight another day.

The inspiring, patriotic music, Elgar, wells up.

GRACE:

I don't care what you say. It

filled our hearts that day. The

little people stood up for once

against the tyrant. Stood up and

said no!

BRUCE impressed, despite himself. DAWN is quite affected too,

by her mother's deep feeling.

GRACE:

That's how we put up with the

bombing and the rationing, because

of Dunkirk. Because of the spirit

of Dunkirk, and because of that we

shall never give in, never.

The Elgar continues into:

NEWSREEL:

BACK AND WHITE:

A shot of troops being ferried from Dunkirk beaches by the

little boats. An open fishing boat is packed with soldiers,

mostly standing, while two men row. The soldiers begin to

sway and 'la-la' to the Elgar soundtrack. They are serious

and sombre, except for one, BRUCE, who is grinning.

SMASH CUT:

INT. ROHAN HOUSE - CHILDREN'S BEDROOM - NIGHT

COLOUR:

BILL in bed, smiling and in his sleep.

EXT. DUNKIRK - DAY

Back to BRUCE singing and smiling.

EXT. ROSEHILL AVENUE - DAY

CLIVE, leather helmet and goggles iced up, rides to the Rohan

House on a Norton motorbike. The street is snow-covered and

the road is covered in brown slush. BILL and SUE run out to

greet him. He dismounts painfully, his huge army greatcoat is

also rimmed with frost. His face is so stiff with cold that

he cannot crack a smile and presents an intimidating figure

to the children, who draw up short. When he speaks, he can

hardly form words. He staggers alarmingly from the stiffness

as he walks, and cramp in one leg makes him hop up and down.

CLIVE:

On the bike for five hours. Only

got a thirty-six hour pass.

He holds out his arms. They cower back, then turn on their

heels and scurry into the house, calling their mother.

INT. ROHAN HOUSE - DINING ROOM - NIGHT

CLIVE has changed into civvies and is soaking his feet in a

bowl of hot water. Tea has been laid and the family

assembled. They watch CLIVE warily. They have learned to live

without him and his reappearance has upset the new ballance.

CLIVE:

Hand me my backpack, Bill.

BILL hands it to him and CLIVE proudly pulls out an un

labelled can and plants it firmly on the centre of tea table.

GRACE:

And what's that?

CLIVE:

Jam.

BILL and SUE jump for joy.

BILL AND SUE:

(chanting)

Jam! Jam! Jam!

GRACE:

Jam? What kind of jam? It's not

like any jam I know.

CLIVE:

German jam. It's German jam.

The table falls deathly silent. They stare at the can as

though it was a time bomb.

CLIVE:

It's all right. It came from a

German chip. It got sunk, and this

stuff washed ashore, crates of it.

Jam. Our fellows found it on the

beach, by the rifle range.

GRACE picks it up gingerly, turns it, searches the blank

silver-grey metal for a sign, a clue, a portent.

GRACE:

We don't know anything about it

CLIVE:

Well, it's off ration. We know

that.

GRACE:

How do we know they didn't plant it

there? They know we're mad on jam.

They could poison half the country.

CLIVE surveys the suspicious hostile faces. Angrily, he

seizes the can and jabs it clumsily with the paper opener.

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