The English Patient Page #8

59*.EXT. THE MONASTERY. HANA'S GARDEN. MORNING.

A battered open backed TRUCK comes into the Monastery. An ITALIAN

PARTISAN sits in the back, a SHOTGUN resting on his knees. The truck

stops, and Caravaggio emerges from the passenger door. He collects

some packages from the PARTISAN, including a dead RABBIT, and then

exchanges a few words with the driver. Hana, who's watching all of

this from her garden, sees that the driver is a WOMAN. The woman's

name is GIOIA, and Caravaggio leans into the window to make his goodbye

to her.

Caravaggio approaches the Vegetable Garden as Hana comes to greet him.

He throws her the rabbit, and hurries up the stairs without pausing,

clutching the other boxes.

CARAVAGGIO:

Supper.

Hana calls after him.

HANA:

Where've you been?

CARAVAGGIO:

(not stopping)

Rabbit hunting.

Hana looks at the rabbit. She's angry. Caravaggio hasn't been around

for a week.

60*.INT. THE MONASTERY. DOWNSTAIRS CORRIDOR. DAY.

Hana heads up for the kitchen, then stops as there's a faint CRASH from

upstairs.

61*.INT. THE MONASTERY. UPSTAIRS CORRIDOR. DAY.

Hana, the rabbit still in her hands, comes along the corridor to find

Caravaggio SLUMPED on the floor, retching. The discarded NEEDLE lies

beside him, the new package of MORPHINE CAPSULES ripped open. He looks

up at Hanna, glazed.

HANA:

I could help you. I could

get you off that.

CARAVAGGIO:

Can you cook the rabbit or will you

try and bring that back to life?

She bends, starts clearing up, putting the morphine phials back into

the box.

HANA:

It's a week. We didn't know where you

were - or if you coming back, or -

CARAVAGGIO:

(of the drugs)

You should be happy. What were you

going to do for him when it ran out?

He pulls out more phials from his jacket.

HANA:

What do you do? What are you doing here?

CARAVAGGIO:

Some gave me a dress.

(starts to tear at a parcel)

You know what's great? What I'm learning?

You win a war and you not only gain the

miles you get the moral ground.

Everywhere I go, we're in the right.

I like that.

62*.INT. THE PATIENT'S ROOM. DAY.

Hana comes in, carrying a batch of the new morphine. She's wearing a

different FROCK. It's not new, and it's faded, but the change of color

is startling.

THE PATIENT:

Something smells so rich. My

stomach is heaving -

HANA:

He came back, he says he caught a

rabbit. I'm cooking it.

THE PATIENT:

That's a different dress.

HANA:

He keeps asking me questions about you.

Do you know him? Do you recognize him?

THE PATIENT:

Do I recognize him? I recognize what he is.

I like him. He's Canadian. He can read

Italian. He can catch rabbits.

63*.EXT. BASECAMP AT POTTERY HILL. DUSK.

Alm�sy squats with an ANCIENT ARAB outside his rudimentary house, while

he draws on the sand, talking in some arcane dialect, scratching out a

possible location for the lost oasis. The man stops speaking and

scours the sky a beat or two before we or Almasy hear the faint noise

of a PLANE. It's Clifton's Steerman, Rupert Bear, coming in to land.

Almasy doesn't look up.

The Arab continues to talk. The newly-arrived Katharine has scrambled

up the hill to speak to Alm�sy.

KATHARINE:

(diffident)

Hello. Not to interrupt but

we're celebrating.

She makes to leave but Alm�sy puts up a hand to keep Katharine there,

but quiet.

ALM�SY

This is an incredible story - about a man

hunting an Ostrich, he's been telling me

about Zerzura, he thinks he's been there,

but his map, the route he's describing,

he couldn't survive the journey now, but

he's a poet, so his map is poetry - and

now we're onto an Ostrich.

(to the Arab in ARABIC)

I'm telling her your map is poetry.

The Arab shrugs.

KATHARINE:

What do you mean, poetry?

ALM�SY

A mountain curved like a woman's back,

a plateau the shape of an ear.

KATHARINE:

Sounds perfectly clear. Where does

the Ostrich come in?

ALM�SY

The Ostrich is a detour. A poor man hunts

an ostrich, it's the method. Nothing to do

with Zerzura. To catch an ostrich you must

appear not to move. The man finds a place

where the ostrich feeds, a wadi, and stands

where the ostrich can see him, on the

horizon, and doesn't move, doesn't eat -

otherwise the ostrich will run. At nightfall,

he moves, fifty, sixty yards. When the

ostrich comes the next day, the man is

there, but he's nearer.

(to the guide)

Haunting the ostrich.

The Guide speaks, amplifying something, picking at his robe.

ALM�SY

Yes, the ostrich, it will feed a family,

not just the meat, but by selling the

feathers, beak, the skin, a year from

this one animal. So, each day the

man gets closer. And the ostrich is

not sure - has something changed? -

now the standing man is only a few

yards from where it feeds. And then

one day, the man is in the wadi, in

the water. And the Ostrich comes, as

always, dips into the water and the

man JUMPS UP - and captures it.

He shrugs. The Arab has more to say. Alm�sy doesn't respond, quieting

him with a dismissive gesture.

KATHARINE:

What is he saying?

(Almasy, awkward, shakes his head)

Come on, what did he say?

ALM�SY

He said - be careful.

KATHARINE:

Be careful? You mean you - or me? Who?

ALM�SY

(to the Arab)

Her or me?

The Arab speaks again. Almasy speaks without looking at her.

ALM�SY

The one who appears not to be moving.

64*.INT. TENT. BASECAMP AT POTTERY HILL. NIGHT.

Katharine comes in. Then, a beat, and Alm�sy. Clifton is holding up

the champagne.

CLIFTON:

Gentlemen, to Zerzura.

ALL:

Zerzura.

MADOX:

And a special thank you to Geoffrey

and Katharine, without whose

fund-raising heroics we should

still be kicking our heels.

They toast the Cliftons.

CLIFTON:

To arm-twisting.

MADOX:

(to Alm�sy)

Did Katharine say? -

Geoffrey has to fly back to Cairo.

CLIFTON:

Have to return the favor - take a few

photographs for the army.

KATHARINE:

Darling, Peter says I could stay...

MADOX:

(checking with Alm�sy)

Why not?

ALM�SY

What kind of photographs?

CLIFTON:

Portraits. The Brigadier, the Brigadier's

wife, the Brigadier's dogs, the Brigadier

at the Pyramids, the Brigadier breathing.

KATHARINE:

(to Clifton)

Why do you think? About my staying?

CLIFTON:

Well look, if nobody minds, truly, then

I suppose - I shall, of course, be bereft...

KATHARINE:

(playfully poking his ribs)

Oh.

CLIFTON:

But finally able to explore the Cairo

night-life. I shall produce an

authoritative guide to the Zinc Bars

and - I want to say Harems - am I in

the right country for Harems?

65*.EXT. BASECAMP AT POTTERY HILL. MORNING.

As Clifton prepares to leave in the Steerman, Alm�sy approaches.

ALM�SY

Safe journey.

CLIFTON:

You too. Good luck!

ALM�SY

Clifton - your wife - do you think

it's appropriate to leave her?

CLIFTON:

Appropriate?

ALM�SY

I think the desert is, it's - for a

woman - it's very tough, I wonder

if it's not too much for her.

CLIFTON:

Are you mad? Katharine loves it

here. She told me yesterday.

ALM�SY

All the same, I, were I you I would

be concerned -

CLIFTON:

I've known Katharine since she was

three, my aunt is her aunt, we were

practically brother and sister before

we were man and wife. I think I'd

know what is and what isn't too much

for her. I think she's know herself.

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