The Mercy Page #7

---

(Banging and heavy footsteps)

(Children laughing, chatting)

(Cheering and applauding)

- Front page, "Sunday Times"!

- (Whooping)

(Hallworth chuckles)

"Before he left Teignmouth,

"Donald Crowhurst was little more

than a weekend sailor.

"He was unknown.

"Many club-tie yachtsmen

thought his strangely shaped boat

"would sink or turn back

before Land's End."

George...

There he is! Eh? Mouthy.

"Today his name is

added to the famous."

Bloody marvellous.

"And behind that brief statement

is a story

"almost as long as the gruelling

29,000 miles he travelled.

"A story packed

with courage, self-discipline,

"and an unswerving belief

in his own capabilities."

- "The Sunday Times"!

- (Crowd cheers)

That's not local!

That's not a local paper.

That's from London!

Anyway, all raise your drinks, and...

Tell you what, they're on Ian.

- Young Ian here.

- (Cheering and laughter)

(Morse code machine beeping)

No. No, you have to stay

away from me.

This is Mike, Zulu, Uniform, Whisky.

Vessel:
Teignmouth Electron.

- Read me?

- (Clare) 'Imagine us there with you.'

Mike, Zulu, Uniform, Whisky.

Vessel:
Teignmouth Electron.

Do you read me? Over.

(Operator) 'This is Halifax station.

Please identify. Over.'

I'm trying to reach my wife,

Clare Crowhurst of Teignmouth. Over.

(Operator) 'Halifax Station.

Please identify. Go to channel...'

(Signal crackles)

(Clare) 'Careful, Donald!

'Donald?'

(Distorted voice) 'Who are you?'

Who are you?

(Voice) 'You are a cosmic being.

'What is your sin?

'What is your sin?

'Who are you?'

(Crowhurst) 'I'm a cosmic being.'

(Voice) 'A cosmic being.'

(Crowhurst) 'A cosmic being.

'A cosmic being.'

Crosse & Blackwell want

photos and statements.

BBC and ITV are sending helicopters.

Why has he not written?

I've scheduled the press conference

at the Carlton per your instructions.

Just need to give them an exact date.

I'm predicting July 3rd.

Upstage the Americans

and their astronauts.

All we need is another

couple of those 200-mile days.

How is it he can't find five minutes

to give us an estimate

of when he'll arrive?

Maybe there's another problem

with the radio?

Oh, look, it's going up.

Look, look. "Welcome home, Donald."

- (Wheeler) Oh, it's looking good.

- Oh, it's smashing. Think he'll like it?

(Crowhurst) 'During his lifetime each man

plays cosmic chess with the devil.

'It's difficult to know who's winning,

because God plays with one set of rules,

'and the Devil plays with the other

exactly opposite set of rules.

'But one thing is clear.

'The only real sin...

'...is the sin of concealment.'

(Clinking)

(Clare) 'Wait for me!'

Can you see him?

(James) Wait!

(Clare) Yes?

(James) I see something!

(Clare) What do you see?

- Oh, it's a cloud.

- Oh, dear. Let me have a look.

I think he'll be back on 21st.

The same day the Americans

arrive on the moon.

(Rachel) I want him back tomorrow.

(Clare) Oh, me too, sweetheart.

You have a look.

See what you can see.

(James) There's something sort of there.

(Clare) What do you think it is?

(James) I don't know.

It doesn't look like the trimaran.

(Crowhurst) 'Clare?'

I thought I could play the game better.

I tried.

But in the end,

I was forced to admit that nature...

...forces on cosmic beings

the only sin that they're capable of.

The sin of concealment.

Darling, I'm the only man on Earth

who understands what this means.

Over.

Come home.

I can't.

There's no way back.

I can't write stories

of where I've never been.

I'm something else now.

It's 10:
28... nine seconds.

The only beauty...

...is truth.

I am what I am.

And I see the nature of my offence.

I'm so sorry.

I hope you can forgive me.

It's finished.

It's finished.

(Sighs)

It is the mercy.

(Man) This is exactly

how we found her.

Hmm.

(Hallworth) There's the logbooks, eh?

Left 'em out like that.

In plain sight.

Suppose he could've

thrown 'em overboard.

- Yes.

- (Camera shutter clicks)

But he didn't, did he?

(Man) As far as I can tell,

the poor bastard never rounded the Cape,

or crossed the dateline.

Looks like he invented the whole thing.

It seems he gives up

after Commander Tetley goes over.

Stops sailing.

I'll tell you

what I think's happened here.

He never had any intention of winning.

Yeah. He never planned

on being held to account.

Who looks at the logbooks

of the last man home?

Think about it.

"It is finished.

"The mercy."

What "mercy"?

(Best) Has Clare seen these?

Her husband wanted to be famous.

Well, now he's about to be.

(Reporters clamouring)

(Camera shutter clicks)

(Reporters clamouring)

I can see that you've all come

to inspect the damage,

to take a picture, write a story.

Perhaps you'd all like a word

from the bereaved widow.

Is that what you've come

scavenging for? Yes?

- (Reporter) Yes, please.

- All right, well, write this down.

I don't know if my husband

slipped and fell,

or if he jumped...

as you're now saying.

But I would like you to rest assured,

that if he did jump, he was pushed.

And each and every one of you here

had a grubby hand on his back.

Every photographer,

every sponsor, every reporter,

every sad little man

who stands at a newsstand

to feast on the scraps

of another's undoing.

And once he was in the water,

you all held him under

with your judgement.

Last week you were selling hope,

now you're selling blame.

Next week you'll be selling

something else.

But tomorrow and every day after,

my children will still need their father.

And I will still need my husband.

I'm afraid that doesn't make

a particularly good story,

but then I suppose

the truth rarely does.

Thank you very much.

(Clamouring)

(Crowhurst) 'My most fervent desire

is that you never see this writing.

'If you ever do, it will mean

that by pursuit of my own ends

'I have placed

an intolerable burden on you.

'But nothing can touch

or tarnish our past happiness.

'Not time, nor brief future misery,

nor anything that lies ahead.'

How long do we wait?

You don't have to decide

when to stop waiting.

Your heart will do that for you.

(Crowhurst) 'The end must come

to all human experience

'and that alone is certain.

'May you find joy in life

and in your children.

'May they grow

to reflect credit on you.

'To testify to our love.

'To give you the love

I will not now be able to.'

(Simon) 'What do we do now?'

(Clare) 'Every day...

'...I want you to welcome Daddy

home with open arms.'

Even the parts you don't understand.

Because that's what you do for someone

you love who has gone away.

Even if they don't make it back.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes