The English Patient Page #5

Hana looks up from the Herodotus, sees the Patient's eyes closed.

Gently touches his face and whispers.

HANA:

Are you asleep?

THE PATIENT:

(lying)

Yes. Dropping off.

And Hana closes the book, gets up, and blows out the lamp.

36INT. FENELON-BARNES TENT. POTTERY HILL. NIGHT.

PITCH BLACK and then A TORCH flickers on as Alm�sy enters Fenelon-

Barnes' tent. He pulls apart his luggage, quickly and methodically.

He finds what he is looking for inside a trunk: A LARGE FOSSILIZED

BRANCH; a collection of stone leaves, wrapped in a piece of tarpaulin.

Then he's distracted by a noise from Fenelon-Barnes' bed. Alm�sy

stiffens, turns to investigate. There's A LUMP in the cot. A dog?

Alm�sy eases back the blanket to reveal a YOUNG GIRL, no more than

fourteen, bound hand and foot. He holds the torch to her face.

37EXT. BASECAMP AT POTTERY HILL. MORNING.

The next morning. Alm�sy and Madox prepare to take off. As they talk

Clifton's Rupert Bear taxis past them, a wave from Clifton and

Katharine. Madox is very disturbed by what Alm�sy is telling him.

MADOX:

What did you think you were

doing in his tent?

ALM�SY

Looking for the fossils. Why should we

wait until we're in London? This girl

was probably twelve years old.

MADOX:

(getting into the plane)

You shouldn't go into another man's tent.

It's inexcusable.

ALM�SY

Her hands and feet were tied.

MADOX:

What did you do?

ALM�SY

I looked at them. They're shrubs,

small trees. Exquisite. And

fossilized, rock hard.

He walks away to the nose of the plane.

MADOX:

I was talking about the girl.

ALM�SY

Cut the ropes. I left a note,

on his blanket.

(gleefully)

At the next Geographical Society I

shall await with great interest the

announcement of the Fenelon-Barnes

Slave Knot. The Girl wouldn't leave,

of course. Her father had sold her

for a camel.

He turns over the propeller, the engine cranks up.

38EXT. GILF KEBIR PLATEAU. MORNING.

Both planes are scouting the Gilf Kebir region. Geoffrey flies up

alongside Madox and wiggles his wings. Madox waves.

They're flying over a distinctive group of GRANITE MASSIFS, Crater-

shaped hills. The broken towers of the Gilf Kebir. Almasy is

distracted by them. He turns to Madox and points down, indicating they

should explore them.

Madox gestures to the Cliftons to PHOTOGRAPH the Massifs. A THUMBS UP

from Geoffrey.

39*.INT. THE PATIENT'S ROOM. MORNING.

Hana gives the Patient his injection, now she begins to change the

sheet. The light streams in from the open window. She looks up at the

green hills rolling away from the Monastery, the village in the

distance.

HANA:

I should try and move your bed. I want

you to be able to see the view. It's

good, it's a view from a monastery.

THE PATIENT:

I can already see.

HANA:

(bending down to his level)

How? How can you see anything?

THE PATIENT:

Not the window - I can't bear the light

anyway - no, I can see all the way to

the desert. I've found the lost fossils.

HANA:

I'm turning you.

An awkward moment as she rolls him on to his back. He grunts with the

pain. She washes him very tenderly.

THE PATIENT:

Zerzura, the White City of Acacias, the

Oasis of Little Birds. As me about the

scent of acacia - it's in this room. I can

smell it. The taste of tea so black it

falls into your mouth. I can taste it.

I'm chewing the mint. Is there sand in my

eyes? Are you cleaning sand from my ears?

HANA:

No sand. That's your drugs speaking.

THE PATIENT:

I can see my wife in that view.

HANA:

Are you remembering more?

THE PATIENT:

Could I have a cigarette?

HANA:

Are you crazy?

THE PATIENT:

Why are you so determined to

keep me alive?

HANA:

Because I'm a nurse.

40EXT. THE MONASTERY GARDENS. NOON.

The TORTOISE heads towards the trough, to the gurgling accompaniment.

It reaches the shade only to be greeted by the obstacle of some tennis

shoes, a frock. It clambers over as the water begins to belch out.

Hana, naked, kneeling in the trough, receives the shower with a great

YELP of shivering joy.

41*.EXT. THE MONASTERY CLOISTERS. NIGHT.

It's dark, but something is going on here. Hana is caught by the stray

shafts of moonlight. She is SCRATCHING something on the flagstones.

Her skirt is bunched up around her thighs. She throws something in the

air. It's a SPILE, used to tap into the maple tree for syrup. It

lands with a crack. Suddenly she is flying across the space, a hop, a

skip, a jump. Then turns at the other end, dips for the stone, then

back again, in this blindman's version of HOPSCOTCH.

42*.INT. TRAIN. ITALY 1944. BEFORE DAWN.

AS HANA HOPS AND JUMPS IN THE SHADOWS SHE IS SUDDENLY ON A TRAIN IN

1944. A HOSPITAL TRAIN ploughs through the night carrying the wounded

back to Naples.

Hana walks through a long carriage. HER HAIR IS LONG. She could be

ten years younger than the Hana at the Monastery. And easy. She stops

at the bunk of A NEW PATIENT. Hana bends to the boy. He's had

shrapnel in his legs and cheek. She speaks softly to him.

HANA:

How are you?

BOY:

Okay.

HANA:

Your leg will be fine. A lot of shrapnel

came out - I saved you the pieces.

BOY:

You're the prettiest girl I ever saw.

HANNA:

(she hears this every day)

I don't think so.

BOY:

Would you kiss me?

HANA:

No, I'll get you some tea. Wait till

you're in Naples. You'll find a

girl there.

BOY:

(innocent)

Just kiss me. It would mean

such a lot to me.

HANA:

(tender, believing him)

Would it?

She kisses him, very softly, on the lips.

BOY:

Thank you.

He closes his eyes. Is almost instantly asleep. Hana smiles,

continues along the compartment. VOICES CALL OUT.

#1 INJURED MAN

Nurse - I can't sleep.

#2 INJURED MAN

Nurse? Would you kiss me?

#3 INJURED MAN

You're so pretty!

#4 INJURED MAN

Hinky-dinky parlez-vous!

HANA:

(good-naturedly waving

away their joke)

Very funny. Go to sleep.

She gets into a corridor. Mary is coming the other way. She carries a

blood-soaked bundle. Hana questions her appalled expression.

MARY:

Don't ask.

43INT. RAILWAY STATION. DAY.

The train is arriving. Hana hangs out of a window, scouring the crowds

to find her sweetheart, STUART McGANN, a young Canadian Captain, who

seeing her runs up to her window.

HANA:

Where are we going? I don't want to be

kissing in a crowd. I have six hours.

She jumps out of the moving door and into his arms.

STUART:

(laughing at her ferocity)

Whoa - give me a chance!

HANA:

Sorry. I took a Benzedrine.

The Station is full of desperate people trying to make do. the couple

hurry through, oblivious to anyone except each other.

STUART:

I've got a surprise. A boat! We can go

to Capri. It's got a cabin, it's private.

HANA:

I'd like to spend a night with you

in a bed.

STUART:

We can do that when we're very very old.

44INT. THE MONASTERY. HANA'S ROOM. NIGHT.

Hana lies alone in her bed covered by a curtain. There's a sharp

NOISE. She's very frightened. She has her pistol under her pillow and

pulls it out, listens, holding her breath. Another BANG. She listens.

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