Testament of Youth Page #11

VERA:

I - think so.

SISTER JONES:

You think so. Really.

She reveals a tray of instruments underneath that haven’t

been touched.

SISTER JONES:

What about these?

VERA:

(shame)

I forgot

SISTER JONES:

You forgot. And what if someone had

used them, not realising?!

VERA:

I’m sorry

SISTER JONES:

It’s human lives that could be put

at risk! And I thought you were

supposed to be intelligent.

Vera smarts - but says nothing.

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SISTER JONES:

Well get on with it, then!

Vera hurries forward, she catches another Nurse - Scott -

smirking.

SISTER JONES:

(disgusted, to Scott)

Help her, will you. (Callingafter Vera) We’re waiting!

84 INT. ANNEXE - CONTINUOUS 84

Vera is hurriedly sterilising the instruments as NurseScott enters - she manages to drop some clattering to thefloor. Vera is shaken, as Nurse Scott helps her pick themup, her expression milking every second of it.

NURSE SCOTT:

Bloody bluestockings....

Vera looks at her, dismayed.

85 INT. 1ST LONDON GENERAL 85

MONTAGE of Vera -

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1) WARD. As she correctly arranges the instruments under

Ward Sister Jones’s eagle eye

VERA’S VOICE

The nurses here know I’ve come

from Oxford, Roland, they’re

determined to break me.

2) CORRIDOR. She carries a tray of sputum cups out of a

ward -

3) OMMITTED.

VERA’S VOICE

Little do they know, the harder

they push, the more grateful I

am.

4) ANNEXE. She stands in a production line of three VADs,

as they pass medical trays along, quickly assembling them.

VERA’S VOICE

Anything to stop me thinking, and

fill the hours between news of

you.

END MONTAGE.

86 INT. DORMITORY, CAMBERWELL - NIGHT 86

Vera is sitting on her thin mattress, pulling socks off her

damp feet. They’re swollen and red with painful chill

blains. BETTY, a pale, middle-class Northerner in the bed

next to her, is gazing mournfully at a photo of a soldier.

BETTY:

(tearful)

Do you have a photo of yours?

VERA:

No.

Betty kisses the photo.

BETTY:

Personally I couldn’t get through

the day without seeing his face.

I don’t sleep at night for the

worry.

VERA:

(dry)

Really.

BETTY:

I’m too sensitive. I wish I was

more like you!

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She flings herself across her bed. Vera sighs to herself.

87 INT. DORMITORY, CAMBERWELL - NIGHT 87

Vera lies in bed, wide awake, while next to her, Betty

snores loudly in her sleep.

VERA’S VOICE

I hate it sometimes, of course I

do. But then I think of you, out

there in the danger, darkness and

cold - precious life, a thousand

times more tired than I!

She gets a newspaper out from under her bed and reads an

article, frowning to herself. Then she gets up and studies

a map of France on her wall. Drawing pins mark the front

line of battle. Carefully, she repositions a few of them,

as Roland’s voice rises.

ROLAND’S VOICE

(a letter)

"One of my men has just been killed

- the first. I’ve been taking the

things out of his pockets and tying

them in his handkerchief, to be

sent back somewhere, to someone who

will see in them more than a torn

letter, a pencil and a piece of

shell..."

88 INT. WARD, 1ST LONDON GENERAL - LATER 88

Vera hurriedly carries a basin of hot soapy water across

the ward to a curtained-off bed. The other beds in the ward

are dotted with neatly bandaged men, but it’s not full.

Vera enters through the curtains to find Nurse Scott and

another nurse, Miss Milton, working with urgency on an

unconscious man; one is cutting away his ragged, filthy

uniform, the other is completing the dressing to a head

wound. We should suddenly feel the mud and stench of the

trenches.

NURSE MILTON:

Fancy sending him over in this

state.

NURSE SCOTT:

We’re seeing more and more of it.

Vera watches bits of blood-soaked khaki cloth fall to the

floor. She puts the basin down, arranges some towels. When

she turns round again, the man is suddenly naked; lying

there Christ-like, broken, strangely beautiful.

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Nurse Scott sees her.

NURSE SCOTT:

Since you’re so eager, Brittain,

you sponge him down.

The two nurses leave. Vera hesitates, slightly awe-struck by

her task. She squeezes a wet sponge out, and, tentatively,

starts to wash the blood and mud from his chest. His eyelids

flutter.

WOUNDED SOLDIER:

(hoarse)

Vera...

Startled, Vera leans in close.

VERA:

What did you say?

He opens his eyes wider now, looks at her...

WOUNDED SOLDIER:

Sister...

Vera realises her mistake - continues sponging him, smiling.

VERA’S VOICE

I felt so close to you today,

Roland. As though we were touching.

89 OMMITTED. 89

90 INT. CORRIDOR, 1ST LONDON GENERAL - DAY (AUTUMN/WINTER) 90

A tired Vera hurries along a corridor, rounds the corner to

see - up ahead, Edward, with a friend, GEOFFREY, a willowy

young man of delicate features.

She reaches Edward and hugs him close. He looks at her,

concerned.

EDWARD:

You look exhausted, what’re they

doing to you here?

VERA:

I’m alright.

Edward turns to make introductions.

EDWARD:

Vera, Geoffrey Thurlow. A friend

from the battalion.

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VERA:

(anxious)

You’re not leaving for France?

EDWARD:

Not yet.

VERA:

(relieved, to Geoffrey)

I’m sorry, forgive me...

She shakes Geoffrey’s hand. He’s shy, can’t make eye

contact with her.

GEOFFREY:

No, the relief is all mine.

Vera smiles.

VERA:

A peace-loving soldier?

GEOFFREY:

Or a cowardly one perhaps.

EDWARD:

Nonsense. Geoffrey was about to

train as a priest, that takes

courage.

They both smile.

GEOFFREY:

Saved by the War, imagine that.

He glances at Edward, a shy, intense look.

EDWARD:

(to Vera)

So, shall we go?

VERA:

Where?

EDWARD:

Didn’t he write and tell you?

Roland’s home on leave!

VERA’S FACE -

91 EXT. GARDEN, LEIGHTON HOUSE, LOWESTOFT - DAY 91

Vera, Edward, Geoffrey, and Victor are in the Leighton’s

front garden with a flamboyantly-dressed Mrs. Leighton. The

family house is perched dramatically above the beach.

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MRS. LEIGHTON

He walked in the door yesterday and

fell asleep for twenty hours

straight. He’s hardly said a word,

he’s outside - just sitting

there...

She gestures beyond the window, to a field.

91A EXT. BRACKEN FIELD, CLIFF, LOWESTOFT - A LITTLE LATER 91A

Vera approaches Roland, sitting in a bracken field adjacent

to the family house, gazing out across the sea. He hears her,

and turns. He’s still in his dusty officer’s uniform, and he

looks different - worn, somehow, his expression full of

anxiety, and remote.

ROLAND:

(as soon as he sees her)

I have to go back in three days.

Vera is shocked - but sits next to him.

VERA:

Let’s not think about that.

Roland looks at her almost as though at a stranger -

Then he sees Edward and Victor approaching. He leaps to his

feet, suddenly more relaxed.

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