The English Patient Page #11

ALM�SY

#NAME?

Which Mariners called the sea of

darkness. Red sand from this wind

has flown as far as the south coast

of England, producing showers so

dense they were mistaken for blood.

Almasy checks to see if Katharine is still awake.

KATHARINE:

Fiction. We had a house on that coast

and it never rained blood. Go on. More.

ALM�SY

All true. Herodotus, your friend, tells

of a wind - the Simoon - so evil that a

nation declared war on it and marched

out to fight it in full battle dress,

their swords raised.

87*.EXT. THE DESERT. DAY.

MORNING. The sand has almost COMPLETELY ENGULFED the car on the

exposed side, covering the windshield like snow, and encroaching onto

the door of the protected flank.

88*.INT. CAR. DAY.

Alm�sy is woken by sound of A DISTANT ENGINE. He jerks up, waking

Katharine in the process, and heaves against the door. He can't open

it, and has to lean his feet against the passenger door, lying across

Katharine, kicking it open.

89*.EXT. THE DESERT. DAY.

By the time Alm�sy emerges from the car, the sand pouring into the

cabin, MADOX'S CAR IS ROARING ALONG THE HORIZON. Alm�sy waves, shouts,

and then runs back into the car, finds his flare-gun, and SENDS A FLARE

high into the sky. Katharine is with him now, and they watch,

helplessly, as the car bounces away from them, Madox a man on a

mission. Katharine panics, THE SAND HAS ERASED ALL TRACES OF THEM.

She speaks quietly, shocked.

KATHARINE:

Our tracks, where are they?

Alm�sy is preoccupied. He's gone back to their vehicle and returns

with a shovel, STARTS TO DIG FRANTICALLY.

ALM�SY

Madox will have calculated how many

miles, they'll soon turn around.

KATHARINE:

(realizing what he's doing)

Oh my God, the others!

She kneels with him and helps to shovel away the sand WHICH HAS

COMPLETELY ENGULFED THE OTHER VEHICLE containing the three Bedouin.

ALM�SY

(during this)

Could I ask you, please, to paste you

paintings into my book? I should like

to have them. I should be honored.

KATHARINE:

Of course. Is it, am I a terrible

coward to ask how much water we have?

ALM�SY

(shoveling hard)

Water? Yes, we have water, we have

a little in our can, we have water in

the radiator which can be drunk. Not

at all cowardly, extremely practical.

(anxious at not uncovering

the boys, egging himself on)

Come on, come on!

(then back to Katharine)

There's also a plant - I've never seen

it but I'm told you can cut a piece the

size of a heart from this plant and

the next day it will be filled with a

delicious liquid.

KATHARINE:

Find that plant. Cut out its heart.

They hear NOISES, scrabbling, faint thumps. Alm�sy scrapes at the sand

and they find the glass of the car. The angle of the cab, tilted up to

the sky, has made it impossible for the trapped boys to lever it open.

Their oxygen is rapidly deteriorating. Alm�sy pulls the door and it

cranks open.

90*.EXT. THE DESERT. DAY.

Katharine sits in the car, putting her pictures into the Herodotus.

It's full of ALM�SY'S HANDWRITING, PHOTOGRAPHS, SOME PRESSED FLOWERS.

She deciphers a page of his words and drawings. It's almost

exclusively about her, the lines studded with K.s. She reads,

astonished, then looks at him as he and two of the three Bedouin circle

the area of the cars in ever-widening circles, like water-diviners,

like Kip searches for mines. Kamal is slumped against the front of the

car. He's sick. Alm�sy suddenly drops to his knees and begins to

shovel into the sand. He pulls out A CAN OF WATER. Turns to Katharine

and holds it triumphantly in the air.

91*.INT. THE DESERT. NIGHT.

There's a small, weak fire. The group crouch around it. The boys talk

noisily to Alm�sy. Kamal is wrapped in a blanket and shivering.

Alm�sy gives him water, speaks to Katherine.

ALM�SY

Kamal is passing blood. He must have

had some internal damage in the crash.

He needs medicine. I think we must risk

the other flare.

He gets up and loads the flare with what is clearly the last charge.

This time the effect is dramatic with A RED UMBRELLA OF LIGHT.

Katharine comes up beside him. They wait, hope fading with the flare.

KATHARINE:

(blank)

Geoffrey's not in Cairo.

(Alm�sy looks at her)

He's not actually a buffoon. And

the plane wasn't a wedding

present. It belongs to the British

Government. They want aerial

maps of the whole North Africa.

So I think he's in Ethiopia. In

case you were counting on his

sudden appearance.

ALM�SY

And the marriage - is that a fiction?

There's a beat. Katharine has a hundred answers.

KATHARINE:

No, the marriage isn't a fiction.

The light from the flare fades on them and they stand in the dark.

Suddenly on the far horizon, behind their heads, AN ANSWERING FLARE

fireworks into the sky.

KATHARINE:

Thank God. Oh, thank God.

There's excited shouting from the two fit boys. They leap up and run

towards the couple, who meanwhile have realized that the flare has not

come from Madox, but from an approaching CAMEL CARAVAN. Alm�sy shouts

to the boys for some identification.

KATHARINE:

Do they know them?

ALM�SY

(squinting at the horizon)

No, but I think I do.

The Caravan slowly comes into focus. IT'S FENELON-BARNES. Katharine

touches Alm�sy's arm - an almost imperceptible gesture.

KATHARINE:

Am I K. in your book?

I think I must be.

Alm�sy turns to her. He runs the blade of his arm across her neck -

the sweat leaving a clear stripe.

Fenelon-Barnes approaches, dismounts from his camel, and addresses

Alm�sy.

FENELON-BARNES

I recollect your saying to ignore

your bones but I assume you have

no objection to my rescuing your

companion?

(to Katharine)

Good evening, Mrs. Clifton.

KATHARINE:

(accepting his handshake)

Hello.

FENELON-BARNES

I'd like to introduce you to my camel -

the most notable beast on earth.

(to Alm�sy)

I understand you found some

remarkable caves.

A goatskin bag of water is offered to Katharine. She drinks and hands

it to Alm�sy.

FENELON-BARNES

Paintings of swimmers? Remarkable.

92EXT. CAIRO. DAY.

ANOTHER WORLD as a honking TAXI containing Alm�sy and Katharine

negotiates the incredible bustle of Cairo.

93EXT. SHEPHEARD'S HOTEL. DAY.

Alm�sy, still in the same clothes, and evidently weary, emerges from

the cab, and pulls Katharine's belongings from the trunk, then holds

open the door for her. As she walks towards the hotel, he hands her

bag to a porter. Katharine is stung.

KATHARINE:

Will you not come in?

ALM�SY

No.

KATHARINE:

Will you please come in?

ALM�SY

(a beat)

Mrs. Clifton -

Katharine turns, disgusted.

KATHARINE:

Don't.

ALM�SY

I believe you still have my book.

Katharine fishes the book from her knapsack, shoves it at him, then

disappears.

94INT. ALM�SY'S ROOM. DAY.

Alm�sy lying on a camp bed, face down. The walls are covered with

maps, enlargements of photographs. A fan whirs over his kit which is

spread, unraveled but ordered, on the stone floor. An ineffably male

room, the shutters closed, just the thinnest shaft of light piercing

the gloom. Alm�sy hasn't even removed his clothes, his boots kicked

off below his jutting feet.

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