The English Patient Page #14

THE PATIENT:

Are you outside?

A beat and then Caravaggio shuffles in. Like an old boxer.

CARAVAGGIO:

I can't hide anymore.

(jerks up his hands)

I breathe like a dog. I lose my

balance. Stealing's got harder.

Caravaggio stares at the Herodotus.

CARAVAGGIO:

Why do I feel if I had your book I

would know everything?

THE PATIENT:

I don't even know if it is my book.

The Bedouin found it in the plane,

in the wreckage. It's mine now.

I heard your breathing and thought

it might be rain. I'm dying for rain -

of course I'm dying anyway - but I

long to feel rain on my face.

Caravaggio comes close, scrutinizing the face, trying to repair the

features. Exasperated.

CARAVAGGIO:

Is it you? If I said Moose... I look

different, f***, why shouldn't you?

THE PATIENT:

(impassive)

Moose.

CARAVAGGIO:

(a different tack)

First wedding anniversary - what

do you call it?

THE PATIENT:

I don't know. Paper. Is it? Paper?

(sharp, not wanting to think)

I don't remember.

108INT. MONASTERY LIBRARY. DAY.

Hana stands at the PIANO. It's still lop-sided, propped against the

wall. She tries but can't move it. So she pulls off the dust-sheet

and, with the instrument still on a tilt, begins to play the Aria from

Bach's Goldberg Variations.

109INT. THE PATIENT'S ROOM. DAY.

HANA'S PIANO CONTINUES. Upstairs, Caravaggio chats with the Patient

while working his arms to RAISE A VEIN, a boot-lace tied around it,

preparing an injection for himself, tapping the syringe. During this:

THE PATIENT:

I have come to love that little tap of

the fingernail against the syringe. Tap.

110*.INT. MONASTERY LIBRARY. DAY.

Hana plays. GUN SHOTS punctuates the music. She's totally engrossed

and only hears the second or third shot. Her hands falter, she looks

up to see A SIKH SOLDIER RUNNING ACROSS THE FIELD WAVING HIS ARMS, his

REVOLVER held aloft. He approaches the door, his face creased with

anxiety, and raps on the shattered frame. It's KIP.

She gets up and walks past Kip standing at the door, and continues the

seven or eight feet to the right and out into the garden VIA THE HOLE

RIPPED OUT OF THE WALL.

HANA:

Excuse me. Yes?

(of the doors)

I don't have the key to that door.

KIP:

The Germans were here. The Germans

were all over this area. They left mines

everywhere. Pianos were their favorite

hiding places.

HANA:

I see.

(then mischievous)

Then may be you're safe as long as

you only play Bach. He's German.

Kip is looking around the piano. Hana giggles.

KIP:

Is something funny?

HANA:

No, but, no, not at all. I'm sorry.

You came to the doors, that's all and -

(a little laugh)

#NAME?

worried about mines. That's all.

KIP:

I've met you before.

HANA:

I don't think so.

Hana bends to see what Kip's looking at under the piano. Wires run

from the wall to the instrument onto which is taped an EXPLOSIVE

CHARGE. If Hana had succeeded in moving the piano she would have

triggered the charge. Kip looks at Hana who conceals her dismay with a

shrug.

110a*.EXT. THE MONASTERY GARDEN. DUSK.

Across from the terrace, HARDY AND KIP ARE PUTTING UP THEIR TENTS.

Caravaggio stands, chatting amiably to them, holding a haversack,

smoking a cigarette.

111*.INT. THE PATIENT'S ROOM. DUSK.

Hana looks down from the Patient's room, watching the tents go up.

HANA:

He wants us to move out, says there

could be fifty more mines in the building.

He thinks I'm mad because I laughed at

him. He's Indian, he wears a turban.

THE PATIENT:

Sikh. If he wears a turban, he's a Sikh.

Kip glances up at the window. Hana, suddenly shy, backs away.

HANA:

I'll probably marry him.

THE PATIENT:

Really? That's sudden.

HANA:

My mother always told me I would

summon my husband by playing the piano.

She goes over to the Patient's bed.

HANA:

I liked it better when there were

just the two of us.

THE PATIENT:

Why? Is he staying?

HANA:

With his Sergeant. A Mr. Hardy.

THE PATIENT:

We should charge! Doesn't anyone

have a job to do?

HANA:

They have to clear all the local roads

of mines. That's a big job. They won't

stay in the house. They're putting up

their tent in the garden.

THE PATIENT:

In that case, I suppose we can't charge.

112*.INT. OFFICE, BRITISH HQ. CAIRO. DAY.

A SMALL OFFICE, shared by two men, and a mountain of filing cabinets

and paper. There are AERIAL MAPS all over the walls. Clifton is on

the telephone, while his colleague, RUPERT DOUGLAS, works at the desk.

CLIFTON:

(into the phone)

Darling, it's me, I'm sorry,

something's come up.

(Katharine responds)

Don't sulk - I'll be back tomorrow

evening. I promise.

(Katharine responds)

Okay my precious, I love you.

Rupert makes a face at his friend's sentimentality. Clifton beams.

RUPERT:

I didn't know you were going anywhere?

CLIFTON:

I'm not. I'm going to surprise her.

It's our anniversary. She's forgotten,

of course. What's the symbol for your

first anniversary? I should get something.

Is it paper?

(he knocks sharply on the wall)

Moose! Moose, you there? First

Anniversary - is it cotton?

CARAVAGGIO:

Is what cotton?

CLIFTON:

First Wedding Anniversary.

RUPERT:

(of Clifton)

He's hopeless!

CLIFTON:

Your day will come, my sausage.

CARAVAGGIO:

Your first anniversary is Paper.

113EXT. CAIRO STREET. O/S SHEPHEARD'S HOTEL. DAY.

The approach to the Shepheard's Hotel. Geoffrey Clifton in a TAXI,

champagne between his knees.

The car ahead of them SCREECHES TO A HALT as a WOMAN hurries across the

street. The driver honks his horn angrily. The woman puts up a hand

in apology as she skips across the street to another taxi. IT'S

KATHARINE - she's dressed for a date, carries flowers, an overnight

bag.

Geoffrey, at first excited, is troubled by the accouterments. Then he

sees Katharine skip and his whole being punctures.

Katharine's cab roars off. His own car jerks forward.

CLIFTON:

Stop!

CABBIE:

Please?

CLIFTON:

Stop here.

CABBIE:

Yessir.

Geoffrey sits in the cab. Fifty yards short of the hotel. The world

rushes by. He finds a cigarette.

114INT. ALM�SY'S ROOMS. LATE DAY.

Katharine is in bed. Alm�sy has just put A RECORD on. It's the folk

song heard at the beginning of the film. He slips back under the

covers. Their clothes are scattered around the room. He lies over a

happy Katharine. She listens.

KATHARINE:

This is - what is this?

ALM�SY

It's a folk song.

KATHARINE:

Arabic?

ALM�SY

No, no, it's Hungarian. My daijka

sang it to me.

KATHARINE:

(as they listen)

It's beautiful. What's it about?

ALM�SY

(as if interpreting)

It's a long song - Szerelem means

love...and the story - there's a

Hungarian Count, he's a wanderer,

a fool. For years he's on some kind

of quest, who knows what? And then

one day he falls under the spell of a

mysterious English woman - a

harpy - who beats him and hits him

and he becomes her slave. He sews

her clothes, he worships the hem of -

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