Hope and Glory Page #6

GRACE:

Don't be so daft. Act your age.

(extricates herself)

I can't cope on my own. I'd

better let the children go.

EXT. ROHAN HOUSE - GARDEN - DAY

CLIVE leads BILL out on to the lawn, goes down on one knee

and puts his hand on the boy's shoulder. He looks solemnly

into his son's eyes.

CLIVE:

Billy boy. Before I go, there's

something I want to tell you.

You're old enough now. It's time.

(produces a cricket ball

from his pocket.)

The Googly. Your hand is too

small to master it, but not to

start practising. Anyway, I'm

going to pass on the secret now,

father to son, in case anything

happens to me.

(demonstrates)

You know the off-break, right?

He flicks the ball out of his wrist. BILL nods.

CLIVE:

And the leg-break?

BILL knows that too. The ball comes out of his hand,

spinning the other way.

CLIVE:

Now, the googly looks like a leg

break, but it's really an off

break. Got it? Like this.

BILL:

It's like telling fibs.

CLIVE:

That's it. When you tell a lie,

you hope to get away with it.

When someone else does, you want

to find them out. A good batsman

will spot a googly. A good bowler

will hide it. Always remember

that, son.

BILL flicks the ball this way and that, experimenting.

CLIVE watches him tenderly, a moment of perfect harmony. He

folds BILL in his arms, holding him fast.

EXT. ROHAN HOUSE - FRONT DOOR - DAY

BILL swings on the front gate looking back at his mother,

SUE and DAWN bidding their farewells to CLIVE in a

confusion of tears and forced gaiety.

EXT. ROHAN HOUSE - FRONT GARDEN - DAY

CLIVE finally strides away, head high, a military spring

already in his step. Behind him GRACE shuts the door as

though closing a chapter of their lives.

BILL:

Dad! Dad!

CLIVE, now some twenty yards away, looks back. BILL throws

the cricket ball and CLIVE catches it neatly. He smiles and

marches down Rosehill Avenue. BILL is puzzled as CLIVE

shows no sign of returning the ball. He calls after him.

BILL:

Dad!

CLIVE is now eighty yards down the street. He suddenly

turns smiling broadly, and with a prodigious throw he send

the ball in a high arc towards his son. BILL juggles his

position, cups his hands, gets under it as the hard, heavy

ball hurtles downwards. At the last moment he loses his

nerve and jumps back, letting the ball thump onto the lawn.

He looks towards CLIVE, full of shame. BILL is relieved to

see that CLIVE has turned the corner.

INT. ROHAN HOUSE - LIVING ROOM - DAY

BILL winces as he and SUE are passed from hand to hand,

hugged and kissed by many female members of the family -

DAWN, GRANDMA and GRACE'S three sisters, FAITH, HOPE and

CHARITY. MOLLY is on hand with MAC, the only male. On the

table are the remains of the farewell party, an iced cake,

balloons, gaudy wrapping paper. Encouraging cries fly

about. "Aren't you lucky?" "Isn't it exciting?" "I wish I

could hide in your suitcase." From the smothering embraces,

BILL casts a pleading look to MAC who reaches out and hauls

him from the women.

MAC:

You survived that. The war should

be no problem.

GRACE ties a label to BILL'S lapel. It declares his name

and other details.

GRACE:

Time to go.

She leads the children out MAC follows, carrying two

suitcases.

EXT. WATERLOO STATION - DAY

MAC and GRACE lead BILL and SUE into the concourse where

hundreds of children are assembled, each wearing an

identification label. The noise is overwhelming. The

organizers shout into megaphones. One buy has fainted and

is put on a stretcher by St. Johns Ambulance men and, to

get through the crowd, they hold the stretcher above their

heads. The boy recovers, sits up and waves to his friends.

The parents throng behind the barrier and they follow him.

WOMEN'S VOLUNTARY SERVICE (W.V.S) Volunteers stand by.

W.V.S. WOMAN

Australia?

GRACE nods. The W.V.S WOMAN examines the labels on SUE and

BILL and checks them against her list. The steam ad noise

have suffocating effect on GRACE.

W.V.S. WOMAN

Say goodbye and pass them

through.

GRACE weeps as she embraces SUE. BILL fights back the tears

and turns away embarrassed when his mother wants a kiss

from him.

BILL:

I'm going to miss the war and

it's all your fault.

They are sucked into the enclosure and quickly disappear

among the throng of refugee children. GRACE tries to follow

with her eyes, searching for them hungrily. They disappear.

MAC flinches at the pain he sees in her face. She lunges

forward, and tries to push through the barrier.

GRACE:

I can't do it. What's the point?

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