Hope and Glory Page #7

MAC:

It's just the wrench, Grace. It's

for their sake.

He tries to restrain her, but she breaks free.

GRACE:

Let me through, I want my

children.

W.V.S. WOMAN

No one goes in there. You signed

the forms, didn't you?

GRACE:

Yes, I did. And now I want them

back.

W.V.S. WOMAN

Too late. Plenty of others

would've been glad of their

places.

The W.V.S. WOMAN and an ARP MAN are forcibly holding her.

MAC cannot bear to watch her pain. He leaps over the

barrier, grans SUE and BILL and hoists them out of the pen.

BILL is acutely embarrassed at the scene his mother is

making. He struggles to get free of MAC.

BILL:

Let me alone. I want to go. I

want to go.

MAC swings them over to GRACE. She snatches up SUE and hugs

her. Over the child's shoulder her eye is drawn to a poster

depicting a ghostly Hitler hovering over a mother and her

children. He whispers in her ear "Take them back".

BILL:

In front of everybody. They were

all looking at us. Why did you

have to do it?

GRACE is shattered, drained. She becomes calm almost

dreamy.

GRACE:

Please yourself.

(turns to Mac)

Let them go, if they want.

MAC:

Grace!

GRACE turns back to the barrier, which is still defended by

the W.V.S WOMAN with the clipboard.

W.V.S. WOMAN

Changed your mind?

GRACE:

Yes.

W.V.S WOMAN

Well, you're too late. Apply

again. On your head be it.

INT. ROHAN HOUSE - LIVING ROOM - NIGHT

BILL glues balsa wood wings on to a model Spitfire.

Opposite him, across the dining-room table, GRACE is

cutting something out of the newspaper. DAWN'S school books

are spread out on the table, but she has abandoned them in

favour of a dancing lesson by Victor Sylvester on the

wireless. She steers her imaginary partner between the

furniture, her face concentrates, trying to follow the

steps.

VICTOR SYLVESTER (V.O.)

Slow, quick, quick, slow. Right

forward.. left together.. Three,

four.. Back together.. Turn..

One, two.. Quick, quick, slow.

GRACE crosses the room towards the kitchen. DAWN passes in

from of her and she falls into step partnering her daughter

in the dance.

DAWN:

You know it? It must be an old

one.

GRACE:

Ancient. Have you finished your

homework?

DAWN:

After this dance.

She mouths the steps, "Forward..quick, quick, slow"

INT. ROHAN HOUSE - KITCHEN - NIGHT

GRACE pins the newspaper cutting to a bulletin board which

also displays a 'war map' with pins in it showing the

progress of hostilities. The cutting is a David Low cartoon

showing a soldier standing defiantly on a rocky promontory

looking across a stormy sea towards France, saying 'Very

well alone.' She is deeply moved by it. BILL enters and

watches her, sensitive of her mood, but he has a mournful

duty. He takes out the pins, representing the German Army

in Russia.

BILL:

I've got to move the Germans to

Minsk. They've taken Minsk.

GRACE lays a restraining hand on his shoulder.

GRACE:

Tomorrow. Give them one more

night of freedom. Move them in

the morning.

INT. ROHAN HOUSE - LIVING ROOM - NIGHT

Swirling to the dance music, DAWN comes face to face with

the clock on the mantelpiece and registers the hours. She

dives for the wireless and searches for another station.

She is satisfied when she hears the stenorian tones of Lord

Haw-Haw's nightly propaganda broadcast from Germany.

DAWN:

Quick! Lord Haw-Haw! He's

starting.

BILL scampers in. GRACE hovers by the door.

LORD HAW-HAW (V.O.)

..the soldiers like to wager

among themselves, what day will

the German army enter Moscow? One

thing is certain: much sooner

than anyone thought. From here in

Berlin, listeners in Britain, I

can give some very definite news.

There will be a bomber raid on

London tonight, the fourteenth

night in succession. Look out for

bombs if you live in Carshalton

or Croydon. There will be

incendiary attacks if you live in

Fulham and Hammersmith. And watch

out in Kew; be alert in

Walthamstow.

BILL looks at his mother, DAWN gets up and goes over to the

wireless, staring at it.

BILL:

That's us.

GRACE:

It's just German Propaganda.

DAWN:

He always knows.

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