Testament of Youth Page #8

MRS. BRITTAIN

Who on earth rings at this time of

night?!

VERA:

Hello?

ROLAND’S VOICE

Vera?

She can barely hear him.

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VERA:

Roland? Are you alright?

At a look from Vera her mother makes a token retreat, but

she’s all ears.

ROLAND’S VOICE

...When do you leave for Oxford?

VERA:

(not wanting to be heard)

Tomorrow morning’s train. I change

at Leicester.

ROLAND’S VOICE

We can travel together, I’ll meet

you there-

The line crackles - and cuts off. Vera tries, but he’s gone.

She hangs up, smiling to herself. Her mother bustles over.

MRS. BRITTAIN

Why did he want to know that? You

can’t travel alone together!

Vera looks at her, half-pleading, half-defiant.

VERA:

Please, mother..?

She waits.

MRS. BRITTAIN

Alright. Don’t mention it to your

Father.

Vera smiles gratefully.

54 INT/EXT. TRAIN, LEICESTER STATION - DAY 54

Vera’s train is stopped at Leicester station. She hangs out

of a window, looking for Roland among the crowds climbing in

and out, some soldiers in khaki visible amongst them.

55 INT. TRAIN, LEICESTER TRAIN STATION - A MINUTE LATER 55

Vera is moving down a crowded train corridor, lined with

private compartments. Her eyes search for Roland, straining

to find him. Then she sees him, coat on, further down the

corridor, looking for her, emerging from a compartment.

She hurries towards him, drinks him in with her eyes. Then

she notices -

VERA:

Where’s your luggage?

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The flicker of something in his face - he indicates a

compartment, leads her inside.

56 INT. TRAIN COMPARTMENT - CONTINUOUS 56

Roland shuts the door. They’re alone.

ROLAND:

Sit down, there’s something I need

to tell you.

VERA:

I don’t need to sit down, what is

it?

ROLAND:

I’m not coming to Oxford, Vera.

Her shock -

VERA:

You’ve signed up...

ROLAND:

A commission with the Fourth

Norfolks, I’m joining them

tomorrow.

VERA:

Tomorrow!

She sinks down onto a seat under the impact of this news.

Roland sits next to her.

VERA:

How...? Edward’s still waiting,

everybody is!

ROLAND:

My Uncle Theo’s a military man. He

pulled some strings.

VERA:

Did he push you to it?

ROLAND:

No! No I - asked him to.

She looks at him, stricken, betrayed.

ROLAND:

Vera...I have to go. How many

generations get a chance to be

involved in something like this?! I

can’t let others do my duty for me.

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Vera’s reeling...she sees his excitement.

ROLAND (CONT’D)

I’ll be in Norwich, it’s not even

active service. You wouldn’t want

me not to?

She shakes her head miserably.

ROLAND (CONT’D)

There’ll be months of training, by

which point the whole thing could

be over. Ted and I will probably be

coming to Oxford with you in the

new year!

Vera has tears rolling down her cheeks. Roland is upset,

confused himself - he puts an arm round her.

He turns her face to him - they KISS, finally, for the first

time, a hungry, passionate, long-awaited kiss.

CUT TO:

- The BLUR of TRAIN WHEELS chugging along the tracks -

57 INT. TRAIN COMPARTMENT - LATER 57

Roland and Vera sit holding each other in exhausted silence,

as, outside the window, a vista of the dreaming spires of

Oxford comes into view.

VERA:

Isn’t it strange, that I’m the one

going to Oxford without Edward or

you.

Roland holds her closer...his uncertainty showing...

CUT TO:

The TRAIN wheels churning round...

-As a SPADE DIGS into brown earth - We see a MAN digging a

trench.

Behind him, other men are digging.

CLOSE ON the man’s spade as it uproots a beautiful flower -

As THE TRAIN speeds on

The man, cigarette in mouth, climbs out of the trench

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He throws his cigarette down, crushes it with his boot, gazes

around him. We see what he sees - a tranquil, silent meadow,

SLASHED across with trenches -

Like open wounds in the green earth.

58 EXT. QUAD, SOMERVILLE - DAY 58

Vera is walking along a quad, books in her arms, when Miss

Lorimer nearly bumps into her.

MISS LORIMER:

Ah, Miss Brittain, surprised to

be here no doubt?

VERA:

Considering I had no tuition...

Miss Lorimer’s rudeness always manages to be eccentric

rather than spiteful.

MISS LORIMER:

Yes, and how it showed. Luckily you

also displayed an original mind.

Although whether you can bring any

discipline to bear on it is quite

another matter.

And with that, she walks off. Vera looks after her, lost

for words.

59 INT. LIBRARY, OXFORD - DAY 59

Vera is getting some books down from a shelf, she carries

them over to the desk where she’s working.

VERA’S VOICE

I’m trying my best, Roland. But

there’s little peace of mind for me

anymore. Every time I open a book,

it’s your face I see.

60 OMMITTED. 60

61 INT. VERA’S ROOM - DAWN (AUTUMN) 61

Vera is scribbling an essay. Through her window, we see an

early sun rising over the Oxford spires. Vera stops writing,

pulls out a half-written letter to Roland, and adds to it.

VERA’S VOICE

Of course I want to ask you to

leave the army and come to Oxford.

(MORE)

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VERA’S VOICE (cont'd)

We should be here together! But I

can’t do that. I won’t.

62 EXT. BROAD STREET, OXFORD - DAY 62

Vera is making her way along Broad Street, among students on

foot and on bikes - ahead, on the other side of the road, she

sees -

VERA’S VOICE

Victor’s been turned down because

of his poor eyesight...

- EDWARD, in a soldier’s uniform. He hasn’t seen her yet,

he’s looking for a way through the traffic - her view of him

is blocked by a passing vehicle -

VERA’S VOICE (CONT’D)

But Edward’s joining the Sherwood

Foresters soon.

Vera catches another glimpse of him -

Suddenly he’s a CHILD of 7, in baggy shorts and a short

haircut, beaming at her

A cart passes - and it’s him again, the grown Edward in his

uniform. He sees her, smiles and crosses over

VERA’S VOICE (CONT’D)

My heart lurched at the sight of

him - my little brother, suddenly

so grown up - at the thought of all

of you, headed for the unknown. It

comforts me at least to know you’re

both on English soil.

Vera and Edward embrace.

63 OMMITTED. 63

64 EXT. QUAD, SOMERVILLE - MORNING 64

Vera emerges from a staircase entrance to see, around the

area of the porter’s lodge, stacks of metal beds and

mattresses piled up, while porters carry more in. One of them

says to a colleague - “convalescent ward’s in the next quad”.

Vera turns to see a man in a wheelchair at the college

entrance - a war veteran. He’s young, barely twenty, with

bandaged stumps where his arms once were. He’s slumped

awkwardly, to one side, and slides a little further down

without being able to right himself. Vera feels his

humiliation. Their eyes meet briefly.

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A NURSE comes bustling over, sees his predicament and helps

sit him up. Vera watches the nurse’s smile, the boy’s

gratitude...

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