Petulia Page #11

64 INT. EMERGENCY ROOM HOSPITAL

Half a dozen people are working to keep Petulia alive. They're used to their work, it's no big deal for them. Actually the feeling should be that they're as relaxed as if they were mechanics working on a motor car. Archie sits on a white stool in a corner, watching everything, not as a doctor any more but as a deeply involved man. When one of the doctors hits a vein by mistake and murmurs "Whoops...," Archie can take no more and leaves.

65 INT. DOCTORS' SHOWER ROOM

Archie sits on a little stone shelf, just letting the water from the shower hit him.

BARNEY'S

VOICE:
Hey you.

Barney is looking over the shower door at Archie with a mixture of concern and anger.

BARNEY:
(shouting over sound of shower) Did you know there's a policeman outside wanting to talk to you?

Archie nods dully.

BARNEY:
What the hell is going on?

Archie nods dully.

BARNEY:
Can you have dinner with us tonight?

Archie nods dully.

66 INT. BARNEY'S DEN–(LATE AFTERNOON)

Barney is working the film projector showing slides of a recent holiday with Wilma and their daughter. Each slide projects an enormous colored image against an entire wall. Archie is slumped on a couch popping peanuts into his mouth.

BARNEY:
You like this new lens, Archie? Is this the greatest lens you ever saw?

ARCHIE:
Mmmmm ?

BARNEY:
(annoyed) What am I supposed to do—spend the money on belly dancers?

Wilma enters from another room. She's exhausted.

WILMA:
(to Barney) Ask me what your daughter put in her steam inhalator.

BARNEY:
I don't want to know,

WILMA:
Ask me. Cottage cheese.

BARNEY:
Actually I'm relieved,

WILMA:
(to Archie) I'm afraid she's madly in love with your Stevie.

ARCHIE:
(absently) Steven.

Wilma looks at the pictures on the wall.

WILMA:
Wasn't that a gorgeous week! I just adore Big Sur!

BARNEY:
It rained every day. You kept insisting you were pregnant.

WILMA:
(to Archie) You must take Polo and the boys—

She stops, embarrassed.

BARNEY:
Wilma-The-Magic-Talking-Machine. Put a dime in and she talks all night.

WILMA:
I'm sorry Archie.

ARCHIE:
Forget it.

WILMA:
(she might cry) I just can't think of you without thinking of Polo.

Archie nods.

BARNEY:
(reminiscing) Made me run a frog test on her. Had to drive forty miles in the rain. Almost hit a truck. Could have been dead and buried three years. Through this Barney keeps changing slides. Suddenly there is a picture of Archie, Polo and Wilma on another vacation. In this slide they are posing in corny T-shirts. The T-shirts say, "Kiss me you fool" and "I love the Rolling Stones"., etc.

BARNEY:
Oh, hey, I'm sorry.

Wilma looks very superior.

WILMA:
I'll bet he's sorry.

BARNEY:
There's nothing wrong with a little old-fashioned nostalgia.

WILMA:
Do you remember that crazy Labor Day weekend we drove to Tahoe?

BARNEY:
(too quickly) I've got them right here.

Archie frowns at Wilma and Barney. But they are clumsy and obvious, and he is somewhat touched.

BARNEY:
I keep everything. They just happen to be here. What do you think this is, a conspiracy?

ARCHIE:
Yes.

Really they are all good friends, and they laugh good- naturedly.

WILMA:
Let's see them Archie.

Barney starts showing different slides of the Tahoe vacation. Archie watches scratching his ear, and eating peanuts. Wilma looks like the tears are about to start.

O.S. A child cries "Mummy!"

WILMA:
(to Barney) You go this time.

Barney goes, leaving the slide still showing on the wall. Wilma looks at Archie for a long moment.

ARCHIE:
(shrugging) Wilma what do you want me to say? They were great old times.

WILMA:
Archie, what's happening to you?

ARCHIE:
Nothing.

WILMA:
Don't say nothing—the policeman even called here!

ARCHIE:
I'm sorry.

WILMA:
I've had a splitting earache all day. Friends have certain rights, even the right to be obnoxious. Do you love this woman?

Archie shrugs.

WILMA:
Well you must feel something.

ARCHIE:
Yeah I guess so. Pity.

WILMA:
Pity. Go to the dog pound. You'll find two hundred dogs ready to be gassed. Policemen.

Then Wilma sighs.

WILMA:
Shall I tell you something? I wish I had your guts.

67 INT. INTENSE CARE UNIT–DAWN

Archie is in Petulia's little cubicle slumped on a chair, sound asleep. Petulia lies on the bed, tubes protruding from arms and neck. She is still unconscious. Archie is awakened by a nun entering the cubicle to hook up another pint of blood. Archie's presence disconcerts the nun. She can't show her annoyance openly, but is so disturbed she does her work badly this time.

NUN:
Who would do such a thing to a girl like this? She's a child. Is there an orthopaedic problem, Dr. Bollen?

Archie doesn't answer.

NUN:
A doctor should get his sleep.

ARCHIE:
You left the needle in.

The nun would like to scream at Archie about the impropriety of his presence here but she can't. She is proud of the bottle of blood.

NUN:
From the Archbishop's Fund.

ARCHIE:
Take the needle out.

NUN:
All races and creeds. Why hasn't her husband been notified?

ARCHIE:
I suppose they've tried.

NUN:
It would be such a nice surprise to have his picture here when she finally awakens. Wouldn't that be nice?

ARCHIE:
Yes.

NUN:
It would give her some small comfort.

ARCHIE:
I would put a bit more tape around the needle.

NUN:
I mentioned her this morning in the chapel. I mention all my criticals.

ARCHIE:
In the future be more careful of the needle.

NUN:
She hardly makes a bump under the sheets.

She leaves. Archie moves closer to Petulia examining her throat and eyes for vital signs. He pushes open an eyelid and Petulia's dead eye stares glassily into his living face.

68 INT. HOSPITAL–DAY

We spend awhile watching Archie function as a doctor, moving through the wards, examining broken legs, arms, or whatever. In one of these scenes we pass through the orthopaedic room.

69 INT. ORTHOPAEDIC ROOM

Oliver is being given therapy in a whirling bath. He's only one of some twenty patients and. Archie barely notices him, simply waving to him as he does to other patients who don't need his care anymore. Oliver is too frightened of the whirling bath to give a damn about the doctor. Archie goes and we stay with Oliver.

OLIVER'S

ATTENDANT:
Come on, come on, get on with it.

70 INT. A SMALL BEDROOM IN THE DANNER HOUSE JUST BEFORE DAWN

Three weeks ago. Oliver is wide awake, wolfing down a loaf of bread that he has stolen from the Danner kitchen. As he gnaws on the bread, he listens to indistinct sounds from the master bedroom; moans and groans, a sudden cry, all of which he supposes are the sounds of love-making. He grins to himself in the dark, Abruptly a door opens and Petulia is coming down the hall. She has hastily put on a pair of slacks and a blouse, and is struggling into a coat. Her hair is tousled, her face filled with anguish.

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