The Night Watch Page #4

spring an extra two quid on me

at the eleventh hour!

God, Viv, you're freezing cold!

Another gauze thing.

Something's happening, Reggie!

Oh, Jesus!

Get a towel!

It won't stop!

I can't stop it!

He'd said there'd be bleeding.

Not like this!

We have to call someone.

A doctor or...

No, no. He'll know

it's an abortion!

He'll call the police.

We'll end up in the bloody clink!

Please, Reggie, get help!

Before the sirens start. Get help!

Yeah, eh, ambulance, yes.

It's, eh, Devon Hotel,

Weston Street, room 21.

For my wife.

Yeah, yeah, hurry please!

AMBULANCE BELL RINGS

Can you tell us

your name, love?

Pearce. Vivian.

How long have you been

bleeding this way?

Where's Reggie?

Is he your husband?

No... Yes, my husband yes!

How far along was the baby, Vivian?

You must lie still. Where is he?

Why isn't he here? Reggie?

AMBULANCE BELL RINGS

At the hospital, if they

send for the police,

don't tell them my real name!

Tell them I'm Mrs Harrison.

Why would they send for the police?

Getting rid of a baby.

They'll know it's an abortion.

The ring. Oh, it's gone!

We have to find the ring! They'll

know I'm not married without it!

You must stay calm, Vivian!

AMBULANCE BELL RINGS

Vivian? We're at the hospital.

Listen to me!

I've made a tear in your coat,

put your ration book in it.

They won't find it there.

You're Mrs Harrison,

like you said.

I have no ring!

Let me do the talking.

Leave it to me, OK?

What have we got tonight?

A Mrs Harrison. A miscarriage,

with complications.

She's had a fall,

lost a lot of blood.

Is it Kay?

I'm taking you at your word...

if I needed company.

I prefer to be out in the

open when there's a raid.

I can't breathe in

that bloody shelter.

I'm the same.

Which way? You choose.

You got a death wish?

Wear something white!

Keep yourself visible!

Maybe we like being invisible!

It's like they're putting

on a display just for us.

Bravo!

Encore!

After a raid, the first

thing everyone asks is,

"Did St Paul's make it?

" Have you noticed?

Never mind the scores of families

bombed to oblivion, so long as

the symbol of our

illustrious past survives.

It reminds us what we're

fighting for, doesn't it?

We like to think love and

altruism define human nature,

but savagery and hatred

are part of it, too.

In a war, that part of us wins.

Sometimes it can give you

courage you never knew you had.

Come on!

I've got something to show you.

Christopher Wren built this,

too, after the Great Fire.

His daughter Jane helped

him design the tower.

I remember the

night Kay met you.

It's like it's

scored into my brain.

She always wanted a wife.

Someone she could look after,

protect.

Someone innocent.

When she came home that night,

told me how she'd met you,

I knew she'd found what

she was looking for.

We were over.

But it was you who

left her for someone?

She said what you had was...

"misaffection".

Is that what she calls it?

She still wears the snake

ring you gave her every day.

It's just a piece

of jewellery to her.

Of no more significance

than I was.

EXPLOSION:

Are you frightened yet?

Not of the bombs.

EXPLOSION:

Now I am!

Tell me this isn't about punishing

Kay for what she did to you?

It's real?

Now we're invisible again.

EXPLOSIONS AND MEN SHOUTING

Unlock this bloody door!

In God's name, have pity!

Me and my pacifism!

When it comes to it, I'm

just a bloody coward,

like anyone else! Oh, God...

Oh, sh*t!

Talk to me.

And keep talking!

Tell me about the boy,

about what happened.

His name was Alec.

He lived across

the road from me.

They catch you at it, did they?

The police? Was that it?

No, that's not how it was.

EXPLOSION:

What?

We just got word.

Rathbone Place has been hit.

Section 58 are on their way.

They'll keep us posted.

Helen will be in the shelter.

She never uses the damn shelter!

Give me the keys!

Section 58 will report back.

I have to go to her!

Nancy?

Give them to me.

There's nothing you can do, Kay!

Stop, Kay! For God's sake!

It's Section 58's. They'll deal

with it. You know the bloody drill!

It's not our call!

You want to be thrown off the

service? She worth that much?

Help us! We need help!

Somebody, please! Help us!

WOMAN SCREAMS:

Kay?

I thought you were gone.

I thought I'd lost you!

You're not rostered

for tonight.

They changed the rota.

I was born at night,

Kay, but not last night.

You volunteered

again, didn't you?

You just can't keep away

from that damn place!

I don't begrudge you your writing,

do I? Why do you this for me?

I'm just afraid one night you won't

come back. I always do, don't I?

I'm indestructible.

Don't you know that yet?

Check the black-out

before you turn in.

Can I tempt you, love?

I'm watching my figure.

You're not the only one.

Is the guard about?

The ticket inspector?

Tickets, please.

Miss? Miss, he's coming, the guard!

I've lost my ticket, you see.

Let me in, just

till he's gone by.

I go to the front next week.

I've only 24 hours leave.

I've already lost five of them

waiting for the bloody train!

If he throws me

off, I've had it!

Tickets, please!

One minute.

You are heaven sent,

you know that?

Glad I could help.

Wait.

One more minute, eh?

Make sure the coast is clear?

Try anything,

I'll scream blue murder.

You spending your

leave in London?

My wife just had a baby.

Boy or girl?

Girl. We already had a boy.

You might say

we've the set now.

Does it scare you,

going to the front next week?

Maybe if I stop and

think about it.

The home front's

no picnic, either.

Every time I go back,

I dread it more.

It'll end up like always.

Minutes after stepping

through the door, my wife

and I will be arguing again.

Good luck - at the

front, I mean.

The memory of this will

keep me going there.

That once, I got a break.

I got to spend a few precious

minutes with the most

gorgeous girl who

ever drew breath.

I can die a happy man.

Maybe one more cigarette?

SHARP KNOCKING:

Alec, is that you?

My papers came.

This is it Duncan!

I'm to report to some

training place in Salisbury.

Mine aren't through.

They'll come soon enough. When I

told my father I wasn't going,

I thought he'd tear

my bloody head off!

I said to him,

"They're bloody quick

enough to send you

to war, they don't

"tell you about the gas Hitler

uses to fry your brains, do they?"

I wrote the letter,

like we planned.

"To whom it may concern..."

I was going to put

"To Mr Churchill",

but this way, it's to Hitler

and Mussolini, too, see?

"We, the undersigned, do not

undertake this deed lightly.

"We are two young people who

choose to die to save others.

"We would rather

take our own lives

"than collude in the waste of war.

" They'll have to take notice

of a gesture like

that, won't they?

We might even end the war!

We've not planned how yet.

What are the options?

I know, rat poison!

Shh, shh, shh! Shh.

There's only bleach.

The pain would kill us!

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