The Body Snatcher Page #4

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GEORGINA:

(studying him)

What you really want to ask me is

about my back, isn't it -- about

where it hurts?

FETTES:

Why, yes.

GEORGINA:

Well --

She leans forward and reaches around with one hand.

GEORGINA (cont'd)

It's sort of all around here --

then down my legs -- it aches as if

I had been walking an awfully long

way --

(looking up at Fettes)

That's funny, isn't it -- because I

can't walk at all.

FETTES:

Would you mind very much if I

lifted you --

(pointing to a table in

the other room)

-- onto that table in there?

She holds out her arms to him. Fettes lifts her up and

carries her into the other room.

The CAMERA PULLS BACK to reveal Mrs. Marsh and MacFarlane

watching Fettes and the child. They stand in the f.g.

talking together while in the other room Fettes puts the

child down on her stomach, opens her dress and examines her.

MACFARLANE:

Child seems to take to the lad.

What sort of an accident was it,

Ma'am?

MRS. MARSH

A carriage overturned. My husband

was killed and Georgina was hurt.

MACFARLANE:

How long ago?

MRS. MARSH

Three years.

FETTES:

(calling from the other

room)

Dr. MacFarlane --

MACFARLANE:

(to Mrs. Marsh)

Excuse me.

He strides forward. Mrs. Marsh remains where she is.

INT. EXAMINATION ROOM -- DAY

MacFarlane comes into the scene, bends over and examines the

little girl's back. He feels the spine with first one hand,

then the other. He nods to Fettes and turns away. Fettes

begins to button up the little girl's dress.

INT. SITTING ROOM -- DAY

MacFarlane is walking back to where Mrs. Marsh stands. In

the b.g. Fettes can be seen as he buttons up the little

girl's dress, picks her up in his arms and brings her back to

the wheel chair. MacFarlane comes over to Mrs. Marsh.

TRUCKING SHOT of MacFarlane.

MACFARLANE:

Meg, give Fettes a hand there --

help him wheel the little girl into

the hall.

He turns back to Mrs. Marsh.

TWO SHOT -- Mrs. Marsh and MacFarlane. She is looking at him

anxiously; waiting to hear his verdict. He glances at Dr.

Maximillian's letter before speaking.

MACFARLANE (cont'd)

(tapping the letter in his

hand)

It seems that Dr. Maximillian is

right. The violence of the

accident must have disturbed the

tissues and caused a traumatic

tumor -- a sort of growth that

presses against the nerve centers.

MRS. MARSH

But can anything be done for her?

MACFARLANE:

Perhaps -- a delicate operation --

an operation which has never been

performed -- but it could be

performed. I'm sure it could be --

I could incise the columna dorsi --

He is quite excited as he speaks, almost as if challenging

himself. Mrs. Marsh's interruption is ill-timed. It stops

him in full tide of self-persuasion.

MRS. MARSH

(eagerly)

And you will try -- you will

operate?

CLOSE SHOT -- MacFarlane. He is silent; thinking.

MED. FULL SHOT. MacFarlane silently turns away from Mrs.

Marsh and goes to his desk. Having reached it, he turns and

faces her again.

MACFARLANE:

Not I, Madame.

She starts toward him impulsively as if to plead with him.

MRS. MARSH

But, Doctor, in Leyden -- in Paris

- wherever I've taken Georgina --

they've mentioned your name. I've

come to think of you as our only

hope.

MacFarlane looks at her, takes a step closer to her and

speaks very sincerely.

MACFARLANE:

Believe me, Madame, if I were only

a doctor, I would undertake this

operation at once. But I'm more

dominie than doctor -- I've a

school to run.

MRS. MARSH

But, Doctor, surely in a case like

this -- a child -- a little child

who can never walk or run --

MACFARLANE:

I regret it, Ma'am, but I have the

responsibility of training thirty

other doctors to attend a thousand

children like your own.

MRS. MARSH

There's nothing I can say for one

small child?

MACFARLANE:

I'm not heartless, Ma'am. I have

every sympathy for you and for the

little girl, but if I were to

consent to every operation brought

to me, I'd have no time for

teaching -- and that's a great

responsibility upon me, Ma'am -- a

great responsibility.

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